Brittani's Blog

No. I do not believe that ‘Dear Evan Hanson’ is an overrated broadway musical. I may have to admit bias though because I personally believe that if any musical is able to make its way to Broadway, then it deserve whatever amount of hype and attention it gets.

A lot of people miss a key point of the musical, and this is what leads people to believe that it is not as great as people make it out to be. The audience doesn’t know anything about Conner Murphey.

The beauty of this musical is that the audience forgets that they only saw five minutes and know very little about him, yet throughout the progression of the pay, the audience feels a close connection to the ‘Conner’ the Evan has made up.

It isn’t till you sit back and realize that this behavior is mirrored in the world today, people make heroes out of people they don’t even know. Evan made up a whole friendship with this guy and managed to convince everyone that deep down he was a troubled kid with a heart of goal who adored his sister. Evan made all of it. Evan didn’t even know Conner, so how would the audience really know Conner, yet you feel like you do.

‘Dear Evan Hanson’ speaks volumes about the rise in suicide cases and the troubling heartache as well as the ability for people to take advantage of others.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/dear-evan-hansen-the-trail-of-a-musical-comet/2017/06/06/bff6d580-4579-11e7-98cd-af64b4fe2dfc_story.html

https://time.com/4696451/dear-evan-hansen-musical/

The year 2020 has already been like no other year that most of us have ever experienced. There have been many natural disasters, as well as a pandemic that has shut down the entire world. As of April 2020, there is one more thing that can kill you, murder hornets.

These murder hornets, “hitchhiked” their way and were first found in Washington state. Scientists have been working to locate and ride the country of these dangerous creatures.

While only two of these hornets were found in the U.S it is believed that there are more to be found. Japan reported that these insects are responsible for roughly 50 deaths a year in their country.

While the threat does not seem to be extremely urgent to everyone living in the United States, the announcement of the invasion of these dangerous insects was decently the ice on the cake for the pandemic we are all going through right now.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/murder-hornets-united-states-hitchhikers-shipping-container/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/just-how-dangerous-is-the-murder-hornet/

In short, the main difference between writing broadcast news and writing print news is that broadcast news is intended to be read aloud for the viewer or listening, while print news is intended to be read by a reader.

When writing broadcast news, the writer has to keep in mind how it is going to sound to the audience. The have to keep the amount of information in mind, as well as how much time they are going to have to announce this information.

When writing print news, the main concern is keeping your sentences short, clear and concise. The author has to keep in mind that someone is gong to be reading this, so the length of the article and information is more important than how long it take to read out loud.

I prefer print news because it is easier for me to envision someone else reading a news lead that gets people attention versus trying to create a broadcast lead that someone will listen to.

Print vs Broadcast Journalism: Understanding The Differences

https://wcj2.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/broadcast-news-vs-print-news-emphasizing-the-differences/

I have been watching the series Dance Moms for years, ever since it first aired and I have noticed a few things about the dance instructor, Ms. Abby and the moms on the show.

A lot of people like to throw hate on Abby Miller for her treatment of the moms and especially of the girls on her competition team. I however that the moms are more to blame than they like to admit.

Mainly focusing on the first few seasons of the show, moms such as Christi and Jill were always jealous of the attention Maddie Zielger got from Abby. While I do not agree with the difference of treatment between some of the dancers, the way the moms would verbally insult Maddie and McKenzie’s mom Mellissa to her face, and try to make her feel guilty was only adding fuel to the situation.

There were many situations when the moms would get angry, yell at Abby, curse at other moms, insult and degrade the other children, and storm out of the studio. Provided, I am sure a lot of it is staged, but the fact is, their behavior is just as bad, if not worse the Abby Millers.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/crazy-reality-dance-moms-perfection-worth-price/story?id=16460341

https://screenrant.com/dance-mom-dark-shocking-trivia-facts/

The video game Animal Crossing has been around for about a decade when it was first released on the Nintendo DS, and it was always a big hit amongst gamers. in March of 2020, just in time for a nation-wide pandemic quarantine, Nintendo has re-released the game for the Nintendo Switch.

Not many video games cause as much as a stir as this game has. Even people that admit that they are avid gamers have raved about this game, others have been anticipating the release of this game for almost a year now.

People have been obsessing over their islands that they build themselves, and the cute items that you can buy and sell that are original to the first release of the game. Now, people are even more excited because of the added features where you can visit your friends islands, trade and sell with them and host parties on your island.

Another feature that people have been raving about is the games ability to mimic the weather and day patterns of your actual location. Animal Crossing also enforces rules about when you are able to buy and sell based on your actual time zone.

https://animal-crossing.com/new-horizons/?cid=N1043-01:ch=pdpd&sid=1112

https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/19/21185977/animal-crossing-new-horizons-local-multiplayer-island-sharing

There are many similarities between public relations and advertising that many people don’t know the difference. Both are used to build a relationship and communication between a brand and its audience.

In short, public relations is free and advertising is paid for.

Public relations encompasses the stories that reporters and editors write about a brand or product. Public relations is earned and builds trust. It also utilizes words and language while advertising tends to use more visual aspects.

Advertising is the paid media that appears for the consumer to see. It is the ad that is obviously paid for and supplied by the company. The goal of advertising is to build exposure for the brand. Brands have total creative control when it comes to their advertising strategies.

There is a saying that helps to distinguish between the two: “Advertising is what you pay for and public relations is what you pray for.” Public relations is longer last, yet takes longer to build, while advertising is quickly changing and short

lived.https://www.marshallpr.com/advertising-vs-public-relations-difference/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2014/07/08/the-real-difference-between-pr-and-advertising-credibility/#4eecb8922bb9

By now, almost everyone has used their time in quarantine to watch the thrilling documentary, Tiger King. This documentary has people asking important questions, not about the treatment of big cats, but about if Carole Baskin killed her first husband or if Joe Exotic deserves to be in prison.

Carole Baskin?

The latest trend has been targeting Carole Baskin with memes and songs about the disappearance of her first husband. While Tiger King wasn’t’t focused on this case, the producers made sure to allude to the idea that she murdered her husband. Without any evidence in the show to back up this claim, everyone jumped on this bandwagon of hating this woman for one reason. It’s fun. It’s fun to collectively, as a country hate the same women and make parodies about her.

Joe Exotic?

After the blow up of TK, there has been a movement to free Joe Exotic from prison. He was sentenced nearly a life sentence for cases of animal cruelty, yet people are petitioning for his release. There isn’t any evidence to support that Joe shouldn’t spend the rest of his life paying for the crimes he committed. Yet, people have chosen to support Joe because he’s the crazy old man that everyone loves to love.

I believe that part of this is the fault of Tiger King’s producers. They claim to want to make a series about the treatment and preservation of Big Cats in the country, but yet they turned their documentary into a TV drama focused on alleged murder, polygamy, and crazy cat stories. Everyone is focused on talking about Joe and Carole that no one is actually worried about the big cats and their safety.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/20/entertainment/tiger-king-review/index.html

https://www.foxnews.com/media/tiger-king-jeff-lowe-doc-antle-fox-nation

After I finished my first semester of college, I decided to buy myself an iPad. I saw many people utilizing iPads in their studies and after months of my roommate persuading me to get one, I finally did it.

I got the basic 6th generation model with the first generation Apple Pencil. The total cost was around $500, and while that is a lot to spend, I didn’t want to spend anymore until I knew how much I would like it… spoiler… a lot.

I have had it for three semesters now, and I could not imagine not having my iPad. I store all of my notes, textbooks, schedules, and files on my iPad. I never forget anything anymore, I barely have to cary anything around campus, and it is so much less to worry about.

I always hated typing notes, but because of my iPad, I could hand write notes without having to worry about papers.

I’m now looking to upgrade my iPad because at this point, I use it twice as much as laptop. I couldn’t imagine having to revert back to going to school without my iPad and pencil.

If you are considering investing into an iPad (or any tablet and pencil) for your education, do it. You will not regret it.

https://www.apple.com/ipad/

https://www.pocket-lint.com/tablets/news/apple/141854-7-apple-ipad-features-for-students-when-ios-11-arrives

I’m going to sound like a “boomer” but the internet is making increasingly difficult to communicate clearly in today’s world, mainly because of how quick it is changing and how easy it is to put information out there.

The internet is allowing people to stay connected, even if they’re not always together. On a micro scale, it helps the individual communications, but when it comes to broad macro communication, there are a few challenges to overcome.

The internet is running at an extremely fast pace, causing the information and communication to as well. The blow up of trends is a perfect example of this. Internet trends, which are often based on current events (like the blow up of Tiger King) have a short shelf life. This means that if you have something to say or share, you have to do it quickly before everyone moves on the next big thing.

People live on the internet now, if you want to reach people with information, you have to put it online.

With this being an issue, I don’t really know if there is a way to change it, people have short attention spans now. Personally, I don’t think we need to. Information moves quickly now, and people need to stay onto of it to keep up withit.

Ten Challenges for The Internet

@ethantrace

Real Talk 🐯

♬ original sound – ethantrace

Coronavirus virus has been worrying everyone as it has been spreading throughout the world at an alarming rate. As of March 11th, the World Health Organization officially classififed as a pandemic.

This is a situation that is new to everyone as we have not seen a pandemic of this magnitude in roughly a hundred years. The country is essentially shutting down, and nearly everyone is experiencing anxiety during these uncertain times.

Universities are beginning to send students home. Restaurants are starting to only offer curbside services. Nonessential stores are closing their doors. Stay-at-home orders are being put into place.

The country is officially in a state of emergency, and nobody knows are to react. Toilet paper is being hoarded, people are panic buying in bulk, and people are price gouging.

There is no way to accurately predict how long this pandemic will last, or the lasting effects that is going to take on the economy.

These are uncertain times that are new to essentially everybody that is alive, and the truly unnerving part is that we don’t know how long this will last.

What we do know is that are children will learn about this in their history class.

https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-who-timeline—covid-19

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-declaring-national-emergency-concerning-novel-coronavirus-disease-covid-19-outbreak/