TSU Homecoming 2018

Texas Southern University also known as TSU celebrated this year’s homecoming from October 22nd to the 27th. This year’s theme was to celebrate “The Heart and Soul of Houston.”. TSU has produced some amazing people like Barbra Jordan, Loretta Devine, Yolanda Adams, Michael Strahan just to mention a few.

This year’s activities started with the launch and gospel concert which brought together local gospel artist to perform to kick off the week-long festivities. The TSU school choir were not left out of the fun including students who performed songs from their various gospel artist and gave them a chance to display their God-given talent. Other activities also took place during the week where students were also given the opportunity to give back to their community and went to different elementary and high schools to donate and spend time mentoring. “It gives me so much joy to come back and help with students I consider as my younger siblings, Erin said.”

The week-long festivities kept people busy, Thursdays was the welcome back event for Alumni who had traveled far and near to participate in the week-long event. Friday also marked the yard festival which had vendors ranging from food, drinks, souvenirs and other items displayed on sale. Saturday morning started off with a parade where students and staff march through downtown Houston to celebrate the year’s activities. Later in the afternoon was the highlight of the fun where it was a 24-hour tailgate party. During this time there are several activities that go on.

Another outstanding thing TSU is known for when it comes to education is being one of the top HBCU’s (Historical Black Colleges and University) and it was founded in 1947 when colored people did not have access to tertiary education. Since then it has opened its doors to everyone regales or race, sexuality, and religion. Homecoming is one of the things that bind people together and allows them to explore so much more,  9 Awesome Homecoming Traditions . these traditions including a step show including the divine 9. The divine 9 are very common in predominately black institutions. They always show off their dance moves through a step showing  Nine Of The Best Black Greek Strolls We’ve Seen From The Divine Nine.  It is always a wonderful time to see them at every homecoming because they also bring in the fun and help people to reminisce their time back to when they were in college.

Horror made here – Festival of frights

October is known for two major celebrations one of them being Breast cancer awareness month and the other being Halloween. Some people around the world celebrate Halloween and its nothing compared to the celebration in America.

In America, Halloween is considered to be Americas Darkest Holiday. Most people do not celebrate Halloween because of their personal religious believes. They believe it is the process of inviting evil spirits into their homes. And some people do not believe in such things. Certain schools do not celebrate Halloween and most Christian schools do not allow that. This has caused a challenge for some parents whose kids attend schools that do not celebrate Halloween. “I brought my kids to this event, so they can also enjoy the fun part of it because their school doesn’t allow them to celebrate, Jenise said.”

Jenise is a single mother of 3 teenagers who believe that kids should have fun and learn about certain things. Though she is a devoted Christian she believes in teaching them what they need to know whiles she allows them to have fun. She allows them to dress up for Halloween parties and gives them the time to explore. “Being a devoted Christian and celebrating Halloween doesn’t mean you worship the devil, Jenise said.”

She shared an interesting discussion about how she read 7 Ways a Christian can celebrate Halloween. Chantel Moore manager at the Halloween haunted house event expressed why they hold such events on weekends during the month of October. “We do encourage parents, families and the general public to come and enjoy the haunted house event to have a feel of certain things they see in Halloween movies, Chantel said.”

The haunted house also consists of  A Horror show event  with different mazes from various Halloween movies such as IT, The Conjuring, Exorcist, Batman; Arkham Asylum just to mention a few. They had actors dressed up as characters from those movies to create scary scenarios to scare guests whiles they went through the maze. Horror made here event takes place each year and it brings together a lot of people to enjoy a night of fun and scary adventures.

Exploring Warner Bros Stage 48

Warner Bros is known for its incredible works in the television and movies industry. It is well known for their Detective Comics (DC) and its franchise as well. Founded by four brothers Harry, Albert, Sam and Jacker Warner. According to an article published by Tom Shone in The New York Times, titled David Thomson’s ‘Warner Bros,’ a History of the Studio and the Family It talks about their journey into the filmmaking business and the legacy they have built through the studio. It has opened its doors not only to Hollywood but has studios in different countries like London, Australia and the recent one which was commissioned in Abu Dhabi.

 

A visit to stage 48 at the Hollywood studios gives one some interesting view on how most of their movies and television shows are created. Whether on location or in the studio. Every production goes through three main phases namely Pre-Production, Production and Post-production. Through these processes, there are different tasks assigned to everyone on set to make sure things run smoothly. This article  20 Awesome Behind-the-Scenes Secrets of Moviemaking  also gives an insight into how most movies are made and showing some tricks to it.

* Display of awards won by Warner Bros studio

Through the pre-production, face writers come on board to work on the storyline for the production and that is when all the creativity and brainstorming is done with the creators of the upcoming movie or television show. During the pre-production process, the casting director also works on finding the actors who fit the roles whiles they also work hand in hand with wardrobe and set designers making sure the vision becomes known with their creativity.

After the pre-production process is done, production starts right away where scenes are being filmed either in the studio or location. During this time the creator, directors, set supervisor, and other production staff comes together to bring what was put together by the creator and writer come to live. This is the time camera crews also get busy making sure everything is captured. Stage 48 has created a unique way to give visitors the step by step process through which all their movies and shows come to life.

The final process of each production is post-production, meaning the process where sound editing, scene editing, visual effects, and other important adjustments are made. Also, this is when directors may need actors to reshoot certain scenes if they need to be done. After everything is done and approved by the directors it’s time for promotions and premiere dates to be set. A visit to Warner Bros stage 48 gives a person more insight into the magic that happens when it comes to making their favorite movies or television shows.

 

 

Warner Bros, host horror movie exhibition.

*Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 2007

October is known for the celebration of Halloween. Each year people dress up for Halloween parties or even decorate their homes and front yards for the celebration.

Warner Bros. studios tour Hollywood is exhibiting costumes, props, and pictures from some of their great works. Being known for their great productions they have warmed the hearts of people around the world for over eighty years. According to an article published by Tom Shone in The New York Times, titled David Thomson’s ‘Warner Bros,’ a History of the Studio and the Family I t talks about their journey into the film making business and the legacy they have built through the studio.

This year they decided to add an exhibition to show their horror side of movies and get the public to come to check them out because this is the closest they would ever get to actually items used during production.

 Tim Burton’s Exhibit

Some of their best works in horror movies include Mars Attacks, Sweeney Todd, Beetlejuice and Corpse Bride just to mention a few. The exhibit is scheduled from October first till the thirty first. which gives the public time to go check it out. “The purpose of this exhibit is to get fans closer to some of their favorite movies and the stuff that went into creating them”, said Drew, head of the production for the exhibit.

The exhibit includes Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon of Fleet-street (2007), Burton has always hated musicals. But, when he saw the first production of “Sweeney Todd: The Barber of Fleet Street” as a young college student he was immediately intrigued. Burton saw its macabre story of a barber in 19th century London who slits throats, and his downstairs neighbor, Mrs. Lovett who turns the bodies into meat pies as an old-fashioned, silent-era horror film set to music.

Corpse Bride (2005) marks the first feature-length stop-motion film directed by Burton as his fifth collaboration with Johnny Depp. Filmed at the same time as “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” Depp played an eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka by day and voice the nervous Victorian gentleman, Victor Van Dort, by night. In a scene from the film, Elder Gutknecht sends Victor and his accidental bride, Emily back to the Land of the living.

Mass Attacks (1996) based on the Topps 1962 trading card series of the same name, the movie delivers a comical look at a Martian invasion. Seeing the film as a chance to pay homage to the Sci-Fi b-movies of the 50’s, Tim Burton jumped at the chance to direct. As a nod to the era, Burton planned the animate the aliens using stop motion photography. When this method proved costly, the production turned to industrial light and magic to employ new “CG” technology to provide “live action” aliens at a fraction of the price.

*Mrs. Lovett’s meat processor which she used in tuning bodies into meat pies

Beetlejuice (1988) all through the movie titled “Beetlejuice,” the character is credited as “Betelgeuse”, which was the name of the ninth brightest star in the Orion constellation. Burton is known for his exceptional directorial skills in movie producing, screenwriting and illustrator. In an article published online about his life, one can get to know him more including his works  Life of Tim Burton .

*Beetlejuice 1998 – Costume designed by Aggie Rodgers and worn by Alec Baldwin as Adam Maitland, Geena Davis as Barbara Maitland and Winona Ryder as Lydia Deetz (From left to Right)

Global Evolution in African Fashion

 Have you wondered how African fashion has become a new trend recently? Especially after Black Panther came out back in February. https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/black-panther-premiere-inspires-filmgoers-world-dress-part/story?id=53165923

Nene Kabutey, took time to interview Kennedy Nana Kofi Ansah a renowned Ghanaian celebrity designer and CEO of Afriken Novelty and popularly known as “Afriken by Nana”. He expressed his excitement that African fashion is gaining global exposure, “I have never been happier with knowing my continent is being represented on a global platform, Nana said”. About two decades ago a lot of people did not know about the continent in Africa and the rich culture they have when it came to fashion. The continent has also experienced some groundbreaking designers such as Christe Brown

http://www.christiebrownonline.com/cb-life/ and Duaba Serwaa https://face2faceafrica.com/article/duaba-serwa-presents-dzun

Fashion has come a long way globally. Years ago, most brands were used d to send catalogs to customers to let them know the new items they were in stock. As time went on that changed and sales started having sales programming on television to showcase these new items on a model. Now that there are several ways to advertise these products through the internet it’s become much easier to have several options to choose from. Such online outlets are Foreerv21, H&M, ASOS just to mention a few.

https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/fashion/fashion_exhibit.html

Kennedy continued to explain why all these factors into designing a nice outfit for anyone, especially the African woman. “An African woman embodies curves and she needs to show them in every outfit she wears, Nana said”. He continued to say most African women have natural curves and that causes attention most of the time. So, when it comes to him designing outfits for women he makes sure he’s designing it to suit the personality as well and not to be exposing their bodies because that causes a lot of attention already and not every woman likes to be the center of attention when she steps out.

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2008/marchapril/feature/the-color-fashion

After the release of Black Panther, most celebrities in the African American community have been embracing the African fashion not only them but the majority of people around the world from different cultures and race are as well. Which makes us all believe fashion can bring us all together especially in the current situation we live in now.

 

*The chart above depicts the growing era of fashion from children, men and women over the years starting from 1970 till now. And as the world evolves these numbers would change.

Russians use of Social Media

Have you ever wondered how Russia is always involved in some type of “Hacking”? Recent studies have shown that, most of these hackers use several social media platforms for these tasks. Sara Fischer, wrote an article on “How the Russians operated under our radar”. As citizens of our country we have heard a lot about Russia meddling with our last election, which resulted in Donald Trump becoming our President. How well do we know if this was true?

According to the Sara, it would take a lot of reporting and investigation to get to learn more about how Russian disinformation caused them to meddle with the United States election. It caused a good amount of division but now there is a good chance to understanding how they were able to get this done. Spammers used traffic through ads to sell to some news outlets. They were able to automated platforms and advertising to target micro political groups.

One of the most talked about things they did was to use fake social media accounts and pages to trick people to believe what they were doing. They knew they could gain more information using these fake profiles to reach the masses. Other sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google just to mention a few had also sold ads to some of these Russians and they used that as well as a target for these activities.

With all these accesses the Russians have, it can affect the future of communications, the reason being. Social media came about as a way of people being able to communicate and interact. Facebook for example started as a social networking site that helped people to connect with old family and friends and it has stayed to that, but having these recent fake accounts that are being used to lure people for their money and even to the point that others lose their lives. At this point I think the government should be able to regulate each social media platform. This way it could help in monitoring how things work on there. The government would also be able to track down any illegal activities that goes on there, including other foreign countries trying to have access to confidential documents. We have all heard how the Russians were able to leak Hillary Clinton’s emails last year before the elections. If the government has strict regulations it would not only protect the people, but it would protect the government as well.

 

• Below are some charts that shows how Russians use of social media has been detailed on different social media platforms.

 

 

 

 

Future of Communication – “What I’ve learned first semester of Graduate school”

First and foremost, I did not know what to expect from my first semester in grad school, I had mixed feelings about starting my first semester. One of the classes I took was introduction to Digital communication, which was a broad topic to learn. After my first couple of weeks in the class taught by Professor Hedges I was overwhelmed with at that point. I had the opportunity to learn about the Media convergence, which simply means the ability to view same multimedia content from different types of devices and digitization of content (pictures, movies, music and voice). Furthermore, I learned about culture and evolution of mass communication through the years. Communication has also come through eras such as Oral, Print, Electronic, Written and Digital. Through that we also had three main media that emerged. Which are Telecommunications, Cable television and computers. As some who loves reality television I also I have always thought reality television was always be on the top list when it came to television shows, but unfortunately, it’s not, I got to understand the difference between Low media and High media as one of the Skyscraper models. After that I continued to learn about the elevation of digital media technologies which were Emails, Phone calls and Text, which took me to the difference between web 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. web 1.0 was static with web pages, 2.0 was when internet use became personalized and 3.0 generated content. Further down during the semester I also learned the impact of digital culture. Also looking forward to the future of communication I learned about Telepathy. “Telepathy is about communicating mind-to-mind, getting someone to feel or think or ‘hear’ something from far away, without the use of sounds or symbols or anything else but bare thought. There are several types of telepathic activity. Telepathic impression (planting a message, image, or word into someone else’s mind), mind reading (copying or sensing, but not interfering with, what’s going on in someone else’s mind), mental communication (a smartphone of the mind, but without the bills), mind control (commanding or compelling the thoughts, and thus the actions, of another person through telepathy).” Fast-forward this semester has been an amazing one, it was a lot to learn and even though I felt overwhelmed it was an amazing experience for me personally,

Airbnb launches platform to help recent global refugee crisis.

 

 

Airbnb one of the largest sites that helps people find easy accommodation when they travel is offering a new and exciting deal to help refugees. This new feature is supposed to help those who have been affected by war, natural disaster and hurricane just to mention a few. These victims now have a chance to stay with any of Airbnb’s host for free without any cost. It all started in New York when one host wanted to offer help to people who had been affected by a hurricane and it got approved by Airbnb. Now people in other parts of the world where Airbnb is can enjoy this new opportunity to have somewhere to stay for free. Its purpose is to help with the global refugee crisis. In these modern times, it’s hard to find safe and sound accommodation for people going through such challenges and Airbnb has found a way to make it easier for these victims.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/airbnb-refugee-platform-1.4149958

 

• Why did it succeed?

This succeed because Airbnb is known for being one of the best places to find nice and affordable housing especially during vacation, and since this is free for refugees they are getting more attention for that.

 

• What was the outcome?

The outcome was to help people who have nowhere to stay especially refugees.

• How does it compare with other PR wins?

This wins because Airbnb expanded their kindness to people who are facing difficulties in times like this and the fact that it’s for free makes it more interesting and appealing to people.

Rating Journalism in the Wake of Trump’s election

In 2016 the United States became the topic in every international news, because it was an election year and the most talked about in years. The media was on top of all the campaigns and everything else that was involved in the elections. Personally, I would rate Journalism for an A and the reason being is they were on top on everything dealing with Clinton’s emails being hacked and Trump having the dirty talk in the van years ago. Everything that had happened in their past had come out because it was about who had a clean path and was going to be a great candidate for the presidency. The media played a very vital part in all because they were digging and bringing up all the information about both candidates, the public got to know more about most of their secret endeavors. For me I would definitely rate the media for an A because they stayed on top of everything and we as a country decided who wanted for a president.

2015 BET Awards June 30th, 2015

The Annual BET Awards came off live at the Microsoft Theater, L.A on Sunday, June 28^th 2015.

With this year being its 15^th year awarding and recognizing various talents in the film, music and sports industry in the Black Entertainment Community, BET promised to give nothing but the best its viewers.

The show had its’ jaw-dropping moments, funny and best moments, as well as awkward moments. Talking about the fashion piece, let’s just say some celebrities need new stylists and of course, Black Twitter did not let go of the shade while the event was on-going.

The show started with the red carpet hosted by Lala Anthony, Lloyd Boston & Terrence Jenkins with pre-show performances by Lil Mama, Machine Gun Kelly and so forth.

With Best Male Hip-hop artist- Kendrick Lamar performing to open the main event leading the introduction of two MC’s of the night, Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, These two did fabulously well as well as the various tribute performances for Smokey Robinson & Janet Jackson.

These performances seems to be the jaw-dropping & best moments during the event, as Neyo and co performed for Smokey whiles Ciara, Jason Derulo & Tinashae performed for Janet Jackson.

An unforgettable night for Sean “Diddy” Combs who unknowingly step in a whole meant for Lil Kim to appear on stage and fell whiles Rihanna was in-search for her money from co-celebs on the night.

The show ended with Fetty Wapp performing his most popular song “Trap Queen” and Rihanna premiering BBGMM video.

See complete list of winners below: Best International Act UK: Stormzy

Best International Act Africa: Stonebwoy

Best Female R&B/Pop Artist: Beyonce

Best Male R&B/Pop Artist: Chris Brown

Best Group: Rae Sremmurd

Best Collaboration: Common and John Legend – “Glory”

Best Male Hip-Hop Artist: Kendrick Lamar

Best Female Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj

Video of the Year: Beyonce – “7/11”

Video Director of the Year: Beyonce, Ed Burke and Todd Tourso

Best New Artist: Sam Smith

Best Gospel Artist: Lecrae

Best Actress: Taraji P. Henson

Best Actor: Terrence Howard

Youngstars Award: Mo’ne Davis

Best Movie: “Selma”

Sportswoman of the Year: Serena Williams

Sportsman of the Year: Stephen Curry

Viewer’s Choice Award: Nicki Minaj Ft. Drake, Lil Wayne and Chris Brown – “Only”

Centric Award: The Weekend – “Earned It”

Source: US Weekly Magazine.com