nothing to be afraid of

the names of the classes i took for all three courses of study and the topics they covered managed to overlap. the class i wrote this paper for was called social media and culture, which was as up-and-coming, current and relevant as it sounds. for the final, i chose to look into a youtuber’s channel and online persona as they related to topics and readings we covered for the class. the popular beauty and style vlogger jenn im of @clothesencounters is not someone i personally follow, but who served me well for the purpose of this assignment. again, this paper is long, but it is divided into neat little sections for easier navigation and hopefully faster reading.

Are You Jenn Im?

 

and of course a song to provide the title of this post and to end this day of spamming blog posts. have you noticed that’s been happening here?

touch the sky

in my final semester at school, i had a lot of chances to write about things that genuinely interested me, as i’ve been going on about for the last few posts. hopefully, if you are following these posts, you are not doing so in order in one sitting because how awful and boring would that be… if you have, though, for whatever reason, thank you, and here is a much shorter, simpler and less pretentiously-themed paper for a class called media and popular culture. the subject is selena gomez’s music video for “who says.” pretty much the entire paper is about the video, so you will definitely have to watch it to get the full effect.

Who Says I Am Perfect

yesterday is gone

this post goes out to anyone who is still interested in radio stations today and to anyone interested in reading about what i wrote about radio stations today. while i was not particularly horrified or surprised by any of the information i gathered for this long-term final paper, i am an avid listener of the radio and took an interest in the ethical debate of the current system. mind you, the paper is a bit on the long side, so if none of this sounds remotely interesting, perhaps this is not the read for you…

Media Ethics/Law Controversy Analysis: DJing to voice-tracking

 

a driving-down-the-highway song by my girl sia that unfortunately does not have a music video, as it was not a single… but you can’t understand what she’s singing without the lyrics anyway, so you’re welcome~!

faster than the wind

even though it is usually a dreaded requirement for all journalism majors, media ethics and law was one of my personal favorite classes. i learned a lot and was given the liberty to write about topics that interested me. so what did i do? i went and wrote about the music industry, which i love and which the ever-popular taylor swift is unfortunately so relevant in. this paper is about the ethics of how many of us are ripping off the system and getting our music today.

Media Effects and Media Ethics: Today’s digital music sales

 

disclaimer: while i don’t like taylor swift the celebrity or the singer, the relatable girl songwriter was bound to be come up in this blog at some point. this song is not from her current album, 1989, but a better one from a better album. please hold the judgment– we have to know those we don’t like in order to be at least somewhat justified, right?

not what they say

for the required final seminar class for the english major, i unknowingly, unintentionally chose a class focusing on some of the works of virginia woolf. linked below is the final paper, which i slaved over for months, reformatted specifically to remain consistent with the rest of the documents on this blog site. it’s long, so read fast! …or not at all if this is not what you’re looking for from me.

Beauty in Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse

 

here is a song i love by an artist i enjoy very much. it will provide nice, light background music for this long read. i would put two links, but i don’t want to overwhelm anyone with my keen, superior musical taste… haha.

never got the memo

here is a bit of proof that i was a blended english and journalism major. i took the final assignment of my literary theory class, the two papers that are linked below, as an opportunity to analyze parts of the music industry that fascinate me: the pop star and the music video.

“Each essay should provide a critical reading of a cultural artifact (a text, an image, a piece of music, etc.) that employs a theoretical lens taken from one of the essays we explored during the second half of the semester. In other words, your task is to think like one (or to be more precise, like two) of our thinkers. And, in so doing, to offer two readings that shed new light on the cultural artifacts that you choose to explore.”

Gilbert and Gubar’s Madwoman: Miley Cyrus

Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams: “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video

losing track of time

my apologies for another lame straightforward post– these two news stories were written for the class writing for print media. why did i take this class and broadcast newswriting when the two teach completely different writing styles and only one was required? i probably wanted to cover all my bases and optimize the learning experience, like the time i voluntarily took calculus during the first semester of freshman year.

feature story: REACH

final story: Students on Sibling Academic Performance Study

 

this song is also from my Spring 2014 playlist and by my homegirl demi. light and breezy like monica on richard’s answering machine…

take me home

pretty straightforward– the pdfs below are short written assignments formatted for the class broadcast newswriting. over the course of the semester, we learned more formatting rules and ways to word stories so that news reporters could more easily and smoothly read them aloud.

CVS to cease tobacco sales

Kim Yuna figure skating controversy and career end

Free hugs at Rutgers Student Center

 

a song from the playlist of Spring 2014 for your hearing pleasure:

head in the clouds

**the following is a creative social media assignment for Spring 2015: Social Media Culture.**

you’ve probably never heard of me, but i am a celebrity. on what grounds? when i go to set up a online social media, video-streaming, school-related, or bank account, my online identity, kattyk711, is never taken. the world maintains its special place for me.

years ago, when i was just starting out on facebook, i kept my tagged photos hidden from everyone and barely posted anything. then, I made a private twitter account, not because i was hiding anything, as i also barely ever posted there. it wasn’t until i created an instagram account that i began to post more regularly so others could see, and by the end of sophomore year of college, my online self was completely exposed to the public.

according to a study about immaterial labor 2.0 (Cote 2011), and most people in the world, what you post on facebook, how many likes and comments it gets, matters. social media allows, really forces, everyone on it to be “social” and “performative.”

last year, when my family went through the loss of my dad, i felt that everyone who knew about the situation was watching me online for whatever reason. my assumption was proven true when i uploaded a new profile picture and it received much attention. While i didn’t upload it for attention and it wasn’t on the same caliber as some of my facebook friends who get hundreds of photo likes, I appreciated people trying to be there and acknowledging that they knew what was going on in my life.

however, the downside of going through something difficult in a very public way online was the pressure of what and how to post afterwards. the eyes that were on my family and me watched through the rest of the year, as evidenced by the amount of social media attention my siblings and i received. two profile pictures later, people were still giving me more affirmation than usual, something i suspected might happen, and the pressure of how to seem—how to look, how to sound—was too much. If i looked too “happy,” would people forget or not take my family and me seriously? Or would they encourage my “getting better”? while it was trivial on the surface, how i presented myself to my friends following the loss was a big deal at the time. consequently, i gave up trying to figure out how to sound online.

similarly, the first subsequent posts I made on instagram and twitter made me very conscious of how i seemed. i hadn’t tweeted for two months prior to my loss and chose to leave a single tweet up sort of about my dad for about a month after. 

"You are so brave and quiet I forget you are suffering."

— Jeeny (@kattyk711) March 15, 2014

because i like to remain consistent in tone and style for my friends and fans, the things i post and the way i do it across social media platforms matters.

Speaking of my fans—i have recently begun doing something that became popular among my fellow celebrities a few years ago: direct online communication. a study done on lady gaga’s very successful tactics that resulted in her wide range of dedicated fans (Click 2013) states that social media give us the sense that we know celebrities by communicating through a personal medium. we are given access to their personal lives, so we can see where they are, who they’re with, and what they’re feeling after a long day on tour. upon realizing this, i, too, began tweeting at people in response to their tweets at me and to remind them that i’m a “regular” person, attainable and available to connect with online.

this conversation shows me participating in a random conversation. i maintain my usual minimalist tone in my contribution of two seemingly-irrelevant-but-relevant pop culture references. 

@thief_like_me @EdwinGano like Katy, American Beauty

— Jeeny (@kattyk711) March 17, 2015

sometimes, i directly acknowledge my celebrity in tweets i sign as “kk,” alluding to my famous friend gg, better known as gossip girl. here, i’m making a pop culture reference while giving a weather report and style advice for the day. 

A friendly reminder for my Northeastsiders: on nights like this don't forget the rubber or you'll be drenched in regrets. xoxo, KK #wtdrizz

— Jeeny (@kattyk711) October 7, 2013

recently, i tweeted at a famous friend of mine in a public display of affection to let her know about my dream, as friends do, and because i knew she might see it, despite her hectic schedule. 

so nice running into you at Walmart last night in my dreams! missed ya~ @britneyspears #bff

— Jeeny (@kattyk711) March 21, 2015

a study about “transmedia teens” states that the access fans are given to authors and celebrities by online interactions mimics friendships (Martens 2011). more significantly, the study states that industries behind works and celebrities greatly benefit from the spreading of their content.

on october 3, 2013, i popularized the celebration of “mean girls day,” in reference to the film mean girls, in my communities with this one facebook status about my roommate. while i was not paid to do this, i unintentionally provided some immaterial labor for the movie. this sort of labor i unknowingly and unintentionally end up doing and the aforementioned pressures i feel at times make being a celebrity and being online more difficult than i expected.

however, it doesn’t end there. there is also the additional pressure of being a woman because according to the media we are exposed to everyday, the male gaze is a powerful thing that pressures us, both consciously and subconsciously, into looking our best for the camera. a study about performing gender on youtube (McMillan 2014) brings this pressure to light. there is an unspoken, sometimes spoken, rule that girls will be judged and picked apart for instagram selfies, youtube makeup tutorials and singing videos, and facebook profile pictures by everyone we’re connected to online and everyone they’re also connected too.

when i released my first 15-second instagram covers with my best friend uhohitsgracie, sometimes ohnoitsgracie, there was an understood pressure to look and sound our best during our performances. after many takes, these were the final products that went live.

https://instagram.com/p/r3CL9aF-P_/?taken-by=kattyk711

https://instagram.com/p/yVuP0Fl-GA/?taken-by=kattyk711

in conclusion, all I have left to say is: 

it's hard being so attractive all the time… #woeisme #jk #whoaisme #kk

— Jeeny (@kattyk711) July 5, 2014

works cited

Click, M., Lee, H. & Holladay, H. (2013). Making Monsters: Lady Gaga, Fan Identification, and Social Media. Popular Music and Society, 36:3, 360-379. Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03007766.2013.798546#

Cote, M. & Pybus, J. (2011). Learning to Immaterial Labor 2.0: Facebook and Social Networks. Cognitive Capitalism, Education and Digital Labor. New York: Peter Lang.

Martens, M. (2011). Transmedia Teens: Affect, immaterial labor, and user-generated content. Convergence. Sage Publications.

McMillan, L. & Wotanis, L. (2014). Performing Gender on YouTube: How Jenna Marbles negotiates a hostile online environment. Feminist Media Studies, 14:6, 912-928. Routledge. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2014.882373#

you keep passing me by

this is the last assignment post for this semester. it’s a couple months overdue, but let’s just be happy it’s here~ how was the experience of screencasting?

this was also probably the most awkward assignment we’ve had to do, in my opinion. the part of our podcast assignment that required us to record our voices somewhere in it was super awkward because i had nothing to say and i did it at a computer lab, but this one was just really awkward, too.

first of all, i’ve been sick and have had bad allergies (especially being around so many flowers for mother’s day D:) for the past few days, so talking feels weird in general. second, i decided to do the whole screencast in a really bad accent hahaha! i really thought that would make the video more exciting and less awkward…. third, there were a lot of times i didn’t know how to smoothly move the mouse/pointing arrow thing on the screen, so you will see what i think is the equivalent of a hoverhand throughout the video. fourth, i didn’t know what to say to end the video… fifth, even though i wrote out a bulleted list of things to mention, details to include, which pages to navigate to and when to do so, i stumbled over my words and spaced out a number of times. but that happens sometimes when i talk in real life too so….

overall, this was a very interesting experience. because i’m technologically challenged, i actually have wondered how people make pictures that look like computer programs and screens and make these videos that do similar things… then i learned what a screenshot was and now i learned how to make a screencast! hahah! i think that this skill could definitely come in handy in the future to present and teach things professionally, and in learning-intensive environments such as schools. maybe someday i’ll be the rich, powerful ceo of a huge company, but i won’t know how to navigate some website or use some account online and someone will make me a screencast! maybe even now i can finally learn how to photoshop or something by watching someone else’s video! who knowss…

the screencast:

the video i made on imovie that week in class:

a cool song: