Media Resopnse 4

ustream.tv

I have been spending a lot of time on ustream.tv recently because I've had multiple people tell me about live streaming videos they watch (Brother Parkin watches the panda habitat at the San Diego Zoo).

The idea of the website didn't appeal to me until I saw this ad:



I watched the Virginia Beach board walk for thirty minutes on ustream.net at 9pm while it was raining. No one walked by.

Reality television gets stronger each season. This is partially because it's a lot cheaper to produce, but also because people are watching. My wife watches The Bachelor, and even though she says this season isn't as good, she still watches it because she enjoys talking with the other teachers at lunch about it. The appeal seems to be the realness of it. We aren't talking about fictional characters or manufactured experiences, but real people with real consequences (feel free to go back and add quotation marks around real if it makes you feel better).

If I Can Dream gives you more control. You can change the camera angles. There is more to talk about with much more access.

I'm interested to talk about this in classes because it almost seems like we are regressing to a greater time. I loved making movies and putting on plays when I was a kid. It was all about storytelling and make-believe. Being given more control and less structure allows my mind to create. While watching the Virginia Beach boardwalk, it was nice to not be told what to think other than look this way.