Week 2

Week 2
ABC Media Report - “The Gruen Division?“
Date: 7th August 2008
Available here : http://www.abc.net.au/rn/mediareport/stories/2008/2323653.htm
Firstly, let me state the first thing I remember about this show on the ABC that has turned into a freight train of success for the ad-free network. When the logies were on late last year, there was a tiny amount of uproar over the fact that every chance he got, Andrew Denton (who at the time had begun as the co-producer and creator of the show) had shown a specific bottle of beer to the cameras. The beer was a fake brand.
He got away with it because he stated that Security and the producers of the logies were too busy keeping an eye on the chaser.

Read about it here, http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/05/abc-viewers-fooled-by-fake-ads.html
I thought this was a brilliant way to start a show. It got me interested from the very start, from the very first whisper here, I was hooked. Until I actually watched it.
I know there’d be a couple of lecturers and tutors who might not agree with me, but I can’t honestly say that by the end of the season I really cared about the show. It’s not because of petty things like Wil Anderson is not funny. And let’s face it, he isn’t.
Let’s all point at someone who isn’t funny.

That’s right Wil.

The thing that really got me was the choice of regular panelists. Mainly, Todd Sampson.
Why? Because all the wonder, the amazement, and every little thing that I felt was creative and interesting about advertising. Well, all that died the second he opened his mouth.

T.S. (Todd Sampson, Thug Smug, Thinly Satanic, etc.)
He continued to, weekly, explain why advertising was a corrupt and evil business, and in doing so, revealing himself to be one of those guys who seems to be envious of the success of others, and probably a real drag to know in real life.
He wasn’t very well balanced out by his (i guess you could say) opponent, Russel Howcroft. I liked Howcroft, he was your average Australian, had a sense of humour and was what I believed the advertising industry within this country to be; funny and clever. But even he couldn’t balance out old Sourpants Sampson .

Howcroft.
It was interesting however, to hear the terms of semiotics used on television. When they used simple explanations for the process of signification, and separating connotations from denotations. It was interesting to hear how the current industry uses these terms. I’ll give them that.
I also should mention that I like Denton, he’s clever, funny and has attained a nesting spot within the Australian media that affords him respect and almost fear I guess. Few peeps could take on the Packers and live to tell the tale like Denton.
The Australian lift out – “Free Tibet ads on Seven “
Date: 7th August 2008
Available here : http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,24138953-22822,00.html (but scroll down a bit please)
I selected this because I can’t believe this story was not bigger. It may be that someone is trying to bury it by leaving it here, but come on. It should be bigger I feel. Not earthquake big, but a hell of a lot more important that Brangelina. Pfft, so what, you have a brother from Nicaragua and a sister from Somalia and a cousin from Darfur and a vaccum cleaner from the Solomon islands. Doesn’t matter. 15 million dollars, jeeeeze, at least it went to charity. But I’m ranting.

My point is, apparently Get Up paid over 10, 000 dollars to get the ads on, and even sent one to Kevin Ruddy Wilson who has pledged his support. I can honestly say, I am impressed with the Seven network for deciding to do this. The games is a tricky issue. There are people screaming (not stating or telling you, but SCREAMING) that it is immoral to support an Olympics held by a country that continues to violate the rights of humans. I personally believe in not looking at the nonsense about China “revealing itself to be a country of the world”. Screw China proving itself, it’s not what the games should be about. It should be about the pursuit of excellence. My theory is, don’t support the Chinese. I’m glad to see the ad’s are on tv. It’ll will work to balance out opinions from viewers. I can;’t think of a better anchor than these ads. Watch one here. http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/OlympicSilenceIsNotGolden&id=373

Also, check out this nifty little piece of writing if you wanna see how a blog is REALLY done.
http://randomclicks-horatio.blogspot.com/

Reference
Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, 'Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout' in Bell, Alan & Garrett, Peter (eds) 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Blackwell, Oxford, Chapter 7, pp. 186-219.

The reading seems to be abput the basic process that happens when an infdividuals sights a front page of a newspaper, and the functions of the combined elements and what effect that has on the reader.