WILD CARD

Ultra Music Festival

Ultra Music Festival is an annual outdoor electronic music festival that takes place during March in Miami, Florida. This festival was founded by Russell Faibisch and Alex Omes in 1999. This festival is named after the 1997 Depeche Mode album, Ultra. Basically, Ultra Music Festival is held in Downtown Miami at Bayfront Park. From 1999 to 2006 it was a one day festival but it slowly grew into a two day weekend festival from 2007 to 2010. But, since 2011, Ultra has taken place the entire weekend (Friday to Sunday) during the month of March.

In 2012, a record attendance of 155,000 people attended the festival. In 2013, for the first time in Ultra’s history, the festival took place across two consecutive weekends welcoming a combined attendance of 330,000 people. In 2014, the festival returned to its original one weekend format, selling out pre-sale tickets in under five minutes. The most recent edition of Ultra, in 2016, welcomed 165,000 people to the festival. As of 2016, Ultra Music Festival is home to seven stages that span the picturesque Bayfront Park which include the Main Stage, the Live stage, the MegaStructure, the Worldwide stage, the UMF Radio stage, the Resistance stage, and the Oasis stage. Although they share names, Ultra Music Festival was not directly tied to Ultra Records, an electronic music record label. However, the two entities did announce a "global alliance" in August 2012, which would allow them to collaborate on marketing and cross-promotion.

Other Ultra Worldwide festivals and events take place across the world in locations like Ibiza, Spain, Seoul, Korea, Tokyo, Japan, Hvar, and Split, Croatia, Singapore, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and many other destinations. The twentieth edition of Ultra Music Festival will be taking place March 23–25, 2018.

Ultra Music Festival 2017 (Miami, Florida)

The Ultra Music Festival 2017 (Miami, Florida) has to be one of the event I always wanted to attend. By the looks of it, this festival must be one of the most entertaining event of Spring. On March 2017 in Miami, four of my most favorite DJs/artists had performed. They were Afrojack, David Guetta, Zedd and DJ Snake. I am very much fond of their music and would definitely want to see them play live one day in one of the Ultra Music Festivals. 

                   AFROJACK UMF 2017

Nick van de Wall who is known as Afrojack was born on September 9, 1987. He is a dutch DJ, record producer and remixer. He released his first debut album "Forget the World" in 2014. He regularly features in the top 10 of DJ Mag Top 100 DJs. On Ultra Music Festival which was held in Miami on March this year, Afrojack was on of the DJs who performed.

                 DAVID GUETTA UMF 2017

Pierre David Guetta was born on November 7, 1967. He is a French DJ, record producer, remixer, and songwriter. He was the co-founder of Gum Productions along with Lisa Dodgson. He released his first album named "Just a Little More Love" in 2002. Later, he also released "Guetta Blaster" in 2004 and "Pop Life" in 2007. Until now he has released many hit singles such as "Where Them Girls At", "Little Bad Girl", "Without You", "Titanium", and "Turn Me On" merging with many famous artists. He was one of the performer in the Miami Ultra Music Festival March 2017.

                                                                        ZEDD UMF 2017

Anton Zaslavski better known by his stage name Zedd was born on September 2, 1989. He is a Russian born German record producer, DJ, and Musician. He primarily produces electro house music, but has diversified his genre and musical style, drawing influences from progressive house, dubstep, and classical music. His famous songs are "Clarity" ft. Foxes, "Break Free", "I Want You To Know" with Selena Gomez. He also performed on the March 2017 Miami Ultra Music Festival.

                                                                                                                                                                                                           DJ SNAKE UMF 2017

William Sami Etienne Grigahcine who is professionally known as DJ Snake is a French born Algerian DJ and record producer born on June 13, 1986. DJ Snake is a Grammy-nominated producer and artist who debuted into the international scene with singles "Bird Machine" and "Turn Down For What" in 2013. In 2015, he released a single named "Lean On" along with Major Lazer. On UMF March 2017, he also performed in Miami.

Official Website for Worldwide UMF 2017-2018

                                                https://ultramusicfestival.com/

Conclusion

The Ultra Music Festival is definitely on my to-do list. First time I heard about this event from my sister and some of my friends. I was shown some videos about it and since then I've always wanted to attend one. Someday I would like to attend The Ultra Music Festival which is held on Miami, Florida. It seems like a very fun event to be a part of. By looking at the videos, anyone can say that it looks very entertaining. 

BLOG 9 CLASSMATE BLOG CRITIQUE

Classmate Blog Critique: Anna Kirksey http://aek3503.blogspot.com/

Among all my classmates, I think Anna's Blog has been one of the most interesting one. From the very beginning I've always liked the way she has chosen the particular topics and has presented it in a very specific and proper manner. before doing the classmate blog critique, we have done like 8 blogs and I think all of her 8 blogs are very well written. The other thing I like about her blog is that she keeps it simple which is every easy to understand. But there is top 3 blogs that I mostly liked from her blog. They are as follows: 

The first on would be the first blog on Music in which she had written about "Troye Sivan" was very nice. I myself listen to his music and when she talked about it in class, I could totally relate with her blog. In this blog she has thoroughly mentioned about why she likes this artist and his music. 

There are many things I was unaware about him before she wrote in her blog. I didn't know that Troye was best known for being a * for LGBTQ+. I was also unaware from the fact that him and his music had to struggle because of that. But soon he ended up focusing in presenting about the LGBTQ+ community in his music which is very impressive and everyone should respect that.

Moving on to the 2nd one, Anna's third blog on Lifestyle and Popular culture was another impressive one and I also could related to this one as well. On this one she had written about "Two Favorite Beauty Trends and Two "Hacks"" which I thought was well researched and presented.

This blog is basically focused on women as women are the ones who look through beauty trends and hacks. As a woman, I thought this blog had tremendous amount of information which would definitely be helpful. I am not the type of person who is very much fond of make up but I was impressed by the knowledge given to me by this blog. This blog by Anna can be useful mostly for women. She has completely described about things like if hacks really work for people or not. So her blog made me think about this which is a good thing.


The third one on my top 3 list for her blogs would be the seventh blog on Social Media in which she wrote about "Social Media Stories". I think this has been the blog which I can relate to in the highest level. I am a social media person so for me this blog also has been super interesting one. I can relate to this because I am always on my social media and I am also updated to the new changes that take place in the various social media I use.

So basically, in this blog Anna has mentioned about the various Social Media Stories in social medias such as Snapchat, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram. She has also mentioned how much people are liking it so far. Even though Snapchat was the one who invented this feature, other social media have been copying it and trying to make it work among people which can be a nice thing to go. Therefore, I feel that Anna has done a great job as far as her Mass Media Criticism Blog is concerned and I wouldn't mind going through her blog every now and then.

BLOG 8 INTERNATIONAL MEDIA

International Media : The Himalayan Times (Nepal)

The Himalayan Times is an English-language newspaper distributed in Nepal. It is published by International Media Network Nepal Pvt. Ltd. It was founded in November 23, 2001. It is a Daily newspaper in a broadsheet format. It is published only in English language. The headquarter of The Himalayan Times is located in Anamnagar, Kathmandu which is the capital city of Nepal. The online version of the newspaper is also popular in Nepal. It is ranked as one of the most-visited websites in the country. The Himalayan Times is the highest-selling English broadsheet in Nepal. It has also been credited with putting the murderer Charles Sobhraj behind the bars by publishing his picture in a tourist hub of Kathmandu.

About the Himalayan Times

Basically, The Himalayan Times is one of the most famous and stable source of news and information in Nepal. It is targeted to those people who can read English but to those as well who come to visit out country and are not aware about the "Nepali" language. So, in that case this newspaper tends to be super useful as for the visitors to understand the current affairs going on in the country. According to me, the other main purpose of publishing this newspaper is to encourage more people to learn the English language so that they are able to read it. English is an universal language so there is no harm in people being encouraged to learn it. I like the fact that my country is promoting these things because it doesn't have any negative factor, rather it has so many positive points which should be understood and followed by people of my country. 

The website

                                       https://thehimalayantimes.com/

The website of The Himalayan Times is very popular in my country. It focuses on the current affairs going around in my country Nepal, worldwide news as well, and other basic knowledge on business, environments, entertainment, education, science and technology, travel, mobile and apps, automobile, health, food, lifestyle, women, fashion, and people.

TGIF

TGIF (Thank god it's Friday) is a newspaper that comes along with The Himalayan Times every Friday. In simple words, TGIF is the entertainment sector of the Newspaper. There are definitely fun things on The Himalayan Times as well but TGIF comes every Friday along with THT letting us know about the entertainment world of my country. 

TGIF has to be one of the major part of THT. It helps to keep the user hooked to the newspaper so that they are not only bombard with political, worldwide, or technological news. TGIF gives the overall idea of what the celebrities of the country are up to and who is new in the showbiz. Therefore, the whole idea of publishing TGIF every Friday along with The Himalayan Times is very refreshing.

Conclusion

The Himalayan Times has to be one of the most highlighted media related subject that is very important and popular as well. I have literally grown up reading this newspaper. Everyday, my father used to bring a bunch of newspapers from his work and I used to always grab on The Himalayan Times go through it. My favorite part about this newspaper used to be the horoscope page which was right on the end page and on Fridays my favorite part of THT was TGIF of course. Basically, in a developing country like Nepal, it is pretty amazing to see something have so much value and importance among the people. 

BLOG 7 SOCIAL MEDIA

Social Media and older adults : Aging well 

The use of social media is significantly increasing among older adults with the 50 years and older group being the fastest growing demographic segment on the internet. In fact, internet users over the age of 55 are leading the growth in social network usage, according to a recent report from Nelsen, State of the Media. The picture below shows that seniors are joining Facebook, Twitter, and more, proving older adults are not too old for social media. 

In this info-graphic, it is clearly shown that Facebook is the social media that is mostly used by the older adults. I was surprised to see that Pinterest and Tumblr has also been used by the older adults because I've only seen most of the teenagers using it so this was a brand new information for me. 

It has also been said by the teenagers that because the older adults have been using Facebook so much so that they have loosen interest in using. I've myself heard a bunch of my friends saying the same thing. Teenagers nowadays prefer using Snapchat and Instagram mostly. But slowly, we can see that the older adults are moving on to those too. Not my parents but I've seen my friend's parents using Snapchat and Instagram almost as much as the teenagers do.

It is so different yet amazing to see that the older adults are becoming more active and showing the entire world that they can work their ways in things that teenagers are told to be good at. I like how they are not being dependent on us the teenagers and instead figuring out things on social media. Yes, they might have needed our help in the beginning but looks like they are working their way now.



                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpfR3JtaPA

Basically, this video shows how much parents know about the Social Media. Well, it was obvious to see that the app they are most familiar with is Facebook. Towards the end of the video, one parent said about Facebook that "It is for old people, that's what my kids say". I think this statement is being said by most teenagers nowadays as we can see too many older adults on Facebook which can totally be the reason why the teens are going away from it and moving on to other social media that are not being used by the adults. The app they were completely unaware about was WhatsApp. It is obvious that they didn't know about it because even teenagers don't quite use this app so it's completely normal to see why the adults wouldn't use it too.

My view

According to me, the connection between social media and older adults is something that is evolving day by day. At first, it was weird to see older adults using the social media but later I got used to the fact that they can also be independent and not depend on anyone else as far as the use of social media is concerned. My parents have Facebook and they like using it but I would love for them to know about other social media as well and learn how to use them. We can see that slowly the use of social media among the older adults is increasing in a good way. The teenagers should understand that the older adults are not going to stop the usage of social media and instead they will be using even more in coming days as we can see that they are really enjoying it. 

BLOG 6 CRITIQUING A MEDIA CRITIC

IMDb : Movies, TV & Video Games Critique 

Type of Site : Online database for movies, television, and video games.

Owner : Amazon.

Creator : Col Needham (CEO).

Website : http://www.imdb.com/

Alexa rank : 47 (February 2017)

Launched On : October 17, 1990

Current Status : Active

More about IMDb

The full form of IMDb is Internet Movie Database. It is basically an online database of information related to films, television programs and video games. This includes cast, production crew, fictional characters, biographies, plot summaries, trivia, and reviews operated by IMDb.com, Inc., which is the subsidiary of Amazon. How IMBb works for the the actors and crew is easy to understand. The Actors and Crew can simply post their own resume and upload photos of themselves for a yearly fee. The US users can view over 6,000 movies and television shows from CBS, Sony, and various independent filmmakers. When IMDb was launched in 1990 by Col Needham, it was incorporated in the UK as Internet Movie Database Ltd in 1996 with revenue generated through advertising, licensing, and partnerships. Then in 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVD's and videotapes. However, from January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, as well as 70 million registered users. The other plus point of this site is that it enables users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Even though all data is checked before going live, the system has been open to abuse and occasional errors are acknowledged. Users are also invited to rate any films on a scale of 1 to 10, and the totals are converted into a weighted mean-rating that is displayed beside each title, with online filters employed to deter ballot stuffing. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates among authenticated users. IMDb had shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20, 2017.

Users reviewing IMDb on : https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.imdb.com

On 2/17/17, laura m. gave 4/5 stars to IMDb and said : "So precise! All the ratings and stars given to movies, tv shows, and events are so precise. Can fetch all the details regarding the cast and the team."
On 1/12/17, Roy B. gave 4/5 stars to IMDb and said : "Good! A place to search for movie reviews if you're hesitating whether to watch or not. Can have some "paid" ratings, but it is good in overall."
On 11/10/16, Sam W. gave 5/5 stars to IMDb and said : "Informative! I use this often to decide whether I want to watch a particular movie or not. The only problem for me is that some movies have ratings much bigger than they got in fact."

My review for IMDb

I personally think that IMDb is one of the most useful entity in the sector of media. Over the years, it has been very helpful to people and they have been liking it as well as using it. I honestly found out about this last year while looking for a critique for my media related assignment. But now when I got a chance to explore more about it, I find it to be a very sensible and important site to view movies, television programs, or video games. Sometimes before watching a certain movie I go through IMDb just incase to make sure that I am not wasting any time watching that particular movie. IMDb gives a correct sense of review and helps the user understand how it works. I would definitely give 4/5 for this site as it is helpful in many ways.

BLOG 5 MOVIES

The Jungle Book (Animated 1967) vs The Jungle Book (Live action animated 2016)

The Jungle Book (Animated 1967)                                          

• Produced by Walt Disney.
• Inspired by Rudyard Kipling's book.
• 19th Disney animated feature film.
• Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman.

Plot : The plot of this movie follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear try to convince him to leave the jungle before the evil tiger Shere Khan arrives.

Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNVTKXIK7q8&t=92s

The Jungle Book (Live action animated 2016)

• Produced by Walt Disney
• Directed and co-produced by Jon Favreau.
• Written by Justin Marks.
• Live action/CGI film.

Plot : It tells the story of Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who, guided by his animal guardians, sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the threatening Shere Khan. 

Trailer : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcgJRQWxKnw

                                                       Comparison

                            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK2yuSQbIjI

Basically, these movies both are very entertaining and well presented in their own ways. Obviously, both consists of the same story plot but the major differences among the two include the version. One is animated and the other is live action animated. There is a huge difference between these two entities. Animated movies are ones in which individual drawings, paintings, or illustrations that are photographed frame by frame. Whereas live action animated movies is a genre that combines both live action with traditional animation or computer animation sequences that add to the plot or sequence of films which can include portraying animated characters interacting with cast members.

Animation has an endless stream of possibilities that cannot be restricted by any such laws of our simple physical dimension.  Animation can stretch across the fabrics of space and time, and even many popular "live action" movies are made with special effect animating. Animating represents infinity, which is a pretty neat concept in itself.  Animation also takes much more work and effort as live action shots only require the movement of a body part or a stunt double to do something crazy, while there are an incredible amount of artists focused on drawing each individual frame, as well as matching audio with visual elements to blend together a spectacular show of emotion and reality. Some animations have given the style a bad name, or bad taste temporarily, but in my opinion, animation is just that much cooler.

My View

I've watch both of these movies and I thoroughly enjoyed both. But if I had to choose one over the other, I would choose the 2016 live action animated version. I am not quiet fond of animated movie so I would prefer the other one. I am not saying that I dislike the animated version, but I feel that the new version is the better one. I have watched it 2 times already and I wouldn't mind watching it again without getting bored. I think the awesome and unique live animated version made me like that movie even more. 

BLOG 4 TECHNOLOGY

Hoverboard 

• Fictional levitating board used for personal transportation.
• It was first described by author M. K. Joseph in 1967.
• It was created by Robert Zemeckis.
• It was popularized by the Back to the Future film franchise.
• The Hoverboard concept has been used by many authors in various forms of media.

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G4yiO1Cmv4

A hoverboard (or hover board) is a fictional levitating board used for personal transportation, first described by author M. K. Joseph in 1967 and popularized by the Back to the Future  film franchise. Hoverboards are generally depicted as resembling a skateboard without wheels. During the 1990s there were rumors, fueled by director Robert Zemeckis that hoverboards were in fact real, but not marketed because they were deemed too dangerous by parents' groups. These rumors have been conclusively debunked. The hoverboard concept has been used by many authors in various forms of media.

Guinness World Records recognizes the term hoverboard to include autonomously powered personal levitators. In May 2015, the Romania-born Canadian inventor Cătălin Alexandru Duru set a Guinness World Record by travelling a distance of 275.9 m (302 yd) at heights up to 5 m (16 ft) over a lake, on an autonomously powered hoverboard of his own design. On April 30, 2016, Guinness World Records recognized a new record of 2,252.4 m. The Flyboard Air was powered by jet engine propulsion, and its use allowed Franky Zapata, in Sausset-les-Pins, France to beat the previous record by nearly 2 km. Another method of achieving self-levitation is superconductivity, used by the Slide  hoverboard.

Price

It's impossible to say how much a real hoverboard, like the one seen in Back to the Future II, costs because none are currently commercially available. On the other hand, the prices for scooters calling themselves hoverboards can start from as little as $300. Prices of current popular models: IO Hawk $499.99.

        According to: http://selfbalancingreviews.com/hoverboard-prices/

Review

Hoverboard is one of the coolest technology especially for the teenagers. It is easy to function and is not at all complicated. I've used a Hoverboard once and I thought that it was super fun. These days it is very difficult to find a technology that is as cool and easy as this one. Therefore, I think Hoverboard is a nice technolgy and I would definitely like to use it again.