Impressions of Toledo

I have moved in and settled in at my new place. It seems like I think of at least two or three things everyday to add to a list of knick-knacks to get at Wal-Mart or Target.

If you are looking for a computer, check out the Best Buy stores and the like for some great Back to School sales. I had an old bulky computer monitor and with prices as they are for new flat screen monitors, it just makes better sense to plop down the money and get a new computer.

Now to the real stuff...
I have to say that the radio stations are better over on this side of the state as compared to Cleveland. In Toledo alone, there's a lot of variety between top 40, classic rock, country and urban contemporary. On the AM side, there's some good talk radio stations here, including one that plays easy listening music on the weekends. And of course, Toledo is close enough to Detroit to pick up their signals.

At the University of Toledo...I LOVE IT! UT is a great school. Beautiful campus. I starting putting up some stuff in my office. The couple people that are in during this summer break are very supportive and welcoming. I am getting excited for the upcoming fall semester. But I have a lot of work to do to get prepared. It's an exciting adventure that I am about to start.

Even though I am a Bowling Green State University grad (Bachelor of Arts in 1993), I just might have to switch allegiances to the "backyard rival" to the north. GO ROCKETS!

Pictures will be posted later.

The Dark Knight

I saw The Dark Knight yesterday and was impressed. At 2 and a half hours long, you get your money's worth for a summer movie. Heath Ledger does steal each scene he is in and in effect, the movie.

With Ledger's death, the movie studio knew interest in the movie was going to be huge and heavily promoted Ledger's Joker. In the picture above, the shot of the Joker is slanted. In photography and/or videography, anytime a camera shot is slanted, it psychologically gives off the feeling of uneasiness or mental instability. With the Joker, that's obviously his m.o.

In the bottom picture, again, the focus is on the Joker. As I have pointed out in past photo examples, anything that takes up most of the frame has the most importance. If the object is centered, that means it is literally the "center" of attention. Plus, the lines of the street lights as well as the angles of the buildings all are leading to the Joker.

Titletown USA

Paul Brown Tiger Stadium (above) will be the site of a rally this Monday as Massillon tries to earn the title of "Titletown USA." Fans had to submit essays about why their hometown is a city of champions. ESPN's live show will begin Monday at 6 p.m. from this stadium. Friends of this blog, if you have been to Massillon, you know what a special place it is in terms of high school sports. When voting opens, vote often for MASSILLON, OHIO!

I'm a Rocket Man!

University Hall (pictured above) on the campus of the University of Toledo will be my new "home" this fall. Yesterday, I accepted a full-time lecturer position there in the mass communications department. This begins an exciting new chapter in my life. I had an on-campus interview at U-T last week and the campus and the friendliness of the staff really impressed me. The University of Toledo has a remarkably beautiful campus. If you aren't planning on going to school there, or are on the way to Detroit or are driving through that part of the state, you need to stop by to see what the campus looks like. It's amazing.


I said 'good bye' today to many people at my now former job at Aurora High School. I have so many good things to say about Aurora High School. It's one of the best districts in the state of Ohio, without question! So many colleagues made working there worthwhile. I had a lot of fun teaching. Sure, it had it's stressful moments as any job does but the kids and especially my co-workers, some of whom I have introduced to you on this blog, are really great people and made the job what it is.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!

Attentional loyal readers and passersby to this blog...major news is coming later today, Wednesday, July 9th.

Many thanks!

Cliff aka WIXYGrad has bestowed this award to me and Media Matters.

Here are the rules for the Arte y Pico award:
1) pick five (5) blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.2) each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.3) each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.4) award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award which is here: Arte y Pico."

Regarding my blog and why Cliff nominated it first for this award, here's what he said, "Struke does a great job using a newer form of communication-blogging, to give his views of the "more traditional" forms of mass communication and what they are lacking nowadays."

Being recognized by a fellow multi-blogger like Cliff is quite an honor. Cliff got me started on the blogging and it's been fun.

I have noticed that my blog has been put up on websites like AOL news. There was a link to my blog on July 4th regarding the Obama barbecue survey. That's so cool.

To see what other blogs made Cliff's Five, go to http://whattville.blogspot.com/.

What really happened?

I don't mean to pick on WKYC in Cleveland. I love the station. I watch them and WJW channel 8 the most for news. I read channel 3's website the most.

Now that that's out of the way...

Tonight on WKYC's website, the following story is posted. Read the story and then scroll down and check the picture that accompanies the story on the website.

Akron man injured in fireworks incident
AKRON - An Akron man is recovering after a firework exploded in his hand early Friday morning.

The incident happened around 1:30 a.m. in the parking lot of Georgie's pub on Brittain Road.

Police say that 23-year-old, Justin Dalrymple picked up a lit firework which was thrown into a group of people.

Dalrymple suffered a serious hand injury and underwent surgery Friday.



Based on the photo that is shown, what can be implied about Mr. Dalrymple's fireworks accident? You got it. Justin might have had a Heineken (or maybe more than one) although the news story doesn't say it. Also, note the angle of the shot. The camera is tilted. This is referred to as a "Dutch angle" mostly because Dutch films way back when were the first to tilt the camera to signify mental instability, craziness, insanity, or just an overall feeling of something being not quite right. (Watch the Maury show for this when he does his DNA testing...which happens almost every other show.) Finally, what's the biggest object in the picture in terms of size? Yep, the beer bottle again. In the visual medium, things that take up the most space in the frame of the shot often are an indication of their importance. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Are you kidding me?

Let me preface the following post with this advisory to assignment editors: stop the nonsense with Obama and McCain.

Earlier this year in March, I pointed out the absurdity in the political coverage between Barack Obama and John McCain when their NCAA basketball bracket sheets were analyzed.

I'm still waiting to see how McCain does bowling.

What's next? Heck with a debate or town hall format, let's do American Gladiators with McCain and Obama.

Gas is over $4 a gallon. We have a war going on in Iraq. Parts of the country are still drying out from floods. E. coli cases are popping up everywhere. Immigration is a hot topic. Age and race keep coming to the forefront of this campaign...and then, a story that gets right to the heart of America makes the mainstream media. Check it out. Please read on.

Obama would get more barbecue invitations than McCain
WASHINGTON (AP) — People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack than munch meats with McCain.

While many are still deciding which should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Barack Obama than John McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll released Wednesday.

Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.

Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.

Party label means a lot, with three-quarters of Democrats picking the Democrat Obama and the same number of Republicans picking McCain, a Republican. Independents are about evenly split.

"John and I would probably have a lot to talk about," said Republican Michael Mullen, 53, of Merrimac, Mass., like McCain a Navy veteran.

One in six people saying they'd vote for McCain prefer Obama as their barbecue guest; just one in 20 Obama backers would invite McCain.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey of 1,759 adults was conducted online by Knowledge Networks from June 13-23 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. The margin of sampling error for subgroups was larger.

Who needs Hancock?

This past Monday, I was having a discussion with some educational professionals about how gullible people are in believing things on the internet. Whether it's a fake news story or a great video trick, there are some hoaxes out there that get people talking.

Here's the most recent one. It features former Bowling Green State University kicker Shaun Suisham as he "kicks" a 110 yard field goal. If Shaun really could do this, don't you think the Redskins would cut their punter and send Suisham on for a field goal everytime they get to fourth down?


How could I forget the ballgirl? Look and listen for a couple of things. First, the catcher has a patch (from our perspective) on his right shoulder. At :29, a baserunner is running the wrong direction, proving that the video was was flipped. Proof that the video was flipped was the catcher's patch is now on the other shoulder. Also, the fake play-by-play doesn't help the "authenticity" of the clip. Wouldn't you think the crowd would go nuts after something like that happened?


Here's Kobe Bryant's high jumping skills. Too bad it didn't help against Boston.