Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Drillbit Taylor, CNBC, and how do we define what is an Opinion Editorial article nowadays?

Finally saw Owen Wilson's latest, Drillbit Taylor, the other day. I cannot say that I am a fan of it, though. I felt the plot was full of holes, entire portions could be cut out, it was unfounded and included too much violence. The pinnacle concern regarding it, however, is that is glorifies high school hazing as a normal ritual and retaliation because of it as an expectation. From my own experiences in four separate high schools, I have to say that it is pretty unfounded. While there is some hazing, in no way would students ever be allowed to pursue the types of violence, hazings, and mockering shown in the film, and certainly not to the extent it portrayed. I was dissappointed at the cheap humor in the film and found myself wishing for it to be over at times. Did anyone like this film?

A note: CNBC requested viewers send in their comments this morning regarding the protests and outspoken citizenry in Europe, particularly on display now because of the G20 summits over the next few days. I sent in some e-mails and one was excerpted from, in part, along with two other viewers' comments as of 2:30 this afternoon. They sent a confirmation e-mail about it, which makes me pretty happy. CNN did the same thing when my comments have been used in the past. It's a great way to stay up-to-date and conscientious about your communication with television media outlets and whether or not your comments have been used. I have now had my questions read from three times on CNN and twice on CNBC. I also have received two e-mails from the Beat360 (Anderson Cooper 360's daily photo caption contest) crew awarding me second place in the Beat360 contest. While this makes me happy, I'd love to say I have won. Neither of these are necessarily resume-worthy material, but in today's digital age, would viewer-submitted comments be interpreted as mini-Op. Ed. articles? Hmm...that's a question for a Journalism class to answer. My personal opinion...yes, they should be. Especially if the current trend in newspapers continues and many more are placed online. If digital regulations can take place and the webmasters, publishers or producers of the online content can extract and excerpt from particular comments they deem important or noteworthy, I would label those as mini-Op.Ed.s.

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