Korean Beauty Soaps

Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) is the korean government's public broadcaster. In the past, if one would want to catch a program on kbs outside korea that would be extremely difficult unless one has a major satellite dish sitting behind his or her backyard. So how did a television network such as kbs made it to tiny singapore?

It's called globalisation of mass media. It is a global phenonmenon that refers to the competitive process by which media companies attempt to acquire a larger share of the profits available in the international markets. the television launch was in 1961, and it only had KBS World, korea's international network, launched 1st july 2003. so why was there a 42 years lag?

Media groups begin their globalisation of media by enforcing a 2 part strategy. First, they have to establish strong domestic roots, KBS have done so that they have become the biggest of the 3 television networks in korea. after securing homebase, they are then able to spend surplus resources in implementing an international development strategy, the result being kbs world.
Of course there is more to globalisation than just a 2 prong strategy, there are other factors and methods involved, but that is the very foundation of globalisation of mass media.

At least when the day comes, I would know what I would have to do first in order to be a global television network. time to broadcast on youtube!

Rebirth Of Mother Earth

Nowadays, the media is constantly talking about saving natural resources and they have indeed come up with interesting advertisements. For example, in korea they have a KIA Forte Hybrid car commercial encouraging people to change to a much more eco-friendly car.



Narration: If you sit down and think about it, "green" nurtured us,
now its time to nurture "green" up. Decrease CO2, increase fuel-efficiency.

Its really comforting to see a multi-national corporation company such as KIA doing their bid to save "mother earth". To look deeper into it though, its rather peculiar as korea is known to be a high context culture, meaning that they place little or no importance on the message transmitted, the advert on the other hand seems to be a low context culture where more emphasis is placed on the message transmitted in hopes that it will reach out to millions of viewers.

On another note, there was a subway advertisment done for Samsung tesco, supermarkets and it was a really innovative and creative one! they wallpapered the wall with "groceries"! below is the picture.

Posse

Ever wondered why sometimes one would do something out of their comfort zone just to get along with a certain group of people? well i do. its called "group pressure" or more commonly known as "peer pressure".

Moreland & Levine came up with the evaluation process or group socialisation process which consists of 5 stages.

Stage 1 - Prospective member
from stage 1 you then become,
Stage 2 - New member
after which,
Stage 3 - Full member
now of course if you dont pull your own weight or if you have conflicts within the group then,
Stage 4 - Marginal member
then before you know it,
Stage 5 - Ex-member
bye bye.

So why do individuals do the weirdest things sometimes to gain acceptance in a group, because full membership requires time to obtain, thus one would then acquire idiosyncrasy credit by conforming to fulfill the need to be accepted.

Now during stages 1 and 2, the individual will conform, and learn how to balance between individual and group needs and also recognise the written and unwritten norms that comes with each level of the membership within the group. after which the individual would arrived at stage 3. Now here comes the fun part.

If the individual did not take note of the written and unwritten norms, he/she might step on the other group members' toes, thus creating friction resulting in stage 4, where increased avoidance and annoyance will occur.

If the situation is exacerbated, then sayonara posse, stage 5.

Euphoric Communication

I'm currently in a interracial relationship and in order my relationship to go strong, communication is a critical part or so I learnt from Knapp's model of relational development. It is a basically a description of the progression and development in relationships.

There are 2 parts, part 1 consists of stages 1-5 which is positive end meaning the coming together in a relationship, part 2 consists of stages 6-10 which is the negative end meaning the coming apart.

Coming Together

Stage 1 - Initiating
screening and filtering
Stage 2 - Experimenting
small talk, basically getting to know each other's cultures and backgrounds
Stage 3 - Intensifying
more intimacy invovled
Stage 4 - Integrating
becoming relational and slowly integrating into each other's lives
Stage 5 - Bonding
marriage

Coming Apart

Stage 6 - Differentiating
starting to reaffirm oneself in the relationship, having no regard for integration
Stage 7 - Circumscribing
communication is under restriction, one have to watch one says
Stage 8 - Stagnation
lack of joy and excitement within the relationship, no more "spark"
Stage 9 - Avoiding
withdrawing physically and emotionally
Stage 10 - Terminating

After learning all the 5 stages, I re-evaluate my relationship, and I say we are at stage 4. Though there are the occasionally jumps to stage 6 or 7 but never to the point where we withdraw ourselves physically and emotionally from one another. It has been said that couples in an interracial relationship have to go through the a fair number of conflicts due to cultural and background differences, but all can be solved with communication, without it, neither party would be able to express their feelings for one another and there would be a obvious lack of intimacy at that point.

I LOVE EUPHORIA.

Who Says The Body Can't Talk?

doing a communication module in school has somewhat opened up my eyes to many different forms of communication in everyday life. after watching a documentary, im actually able to hear people's bodies "speak" now, all thanks to joe navarro.

Joe Navarro is an ex-FBI agent who was working in the field of counterintelligence and behavorial assessment for 25 years during his time at the bureau. he specializes in teaching how to read non-verbal communication, on how to "speed-read" individuals to decode sentiments and behaviors, avoid hidden pitfalls and be attuned to deceptive behaviors. also importantly learning how to influence people on what they think of me. this showcases the "kinetics of non-verbal communication."

(please refer to the diagram below for the 4 examples of body language, for those that arent keen on visual communication then kindly read on)

1. Splaying Out
when an individual is sitting in a chair with his general body splaying, it shows a sign of comfort as well as asserting a domineering presence.

2. Arms Behind The Back
simply put it, "back off!"

3. Thumbs Up
usually a good indication of positive thoughts.

4. Toe Points Upwards
when an individual is standing up right with his/her toe pointing up to god, then it means they are in a good godly mood.

Clean Adulterated Laundry

Everyone! You really have to check this video out! the animation is somewhat unfinished, but in a way you could say its a work of art that it was the animator's intention to do so. The video is as simple and hilarious as it comes! The plot is basically ian and his better half cohabiting. While she was doing laundry, she found a dildo lookalike in ian's pants, so she begins to interrogate him like any woman would do. Ian obviously was put in a spot and really didnt know how to tell her, and then the "dildo" begins to vibrate. His girlfriend/wife assumed the worst and stormed off angrily out the door but before she could step out, ian showed her what the "dildo" is all about.

I absolutely love how the animator drew her expression right after watching ian play with the "dildo"! This is what happens when theres no communication between couples, women become all emotionally and they begin to think the worst, men become defensive and apprehensive at the same time, which really exacerbate the situation. To think that there are couples out there that dont confront each other when problems arise, how would you expect to relationship to grow.

kudos to Guillaume Chartier

one might feel that this video can be categorized under 'Cognitive schemata' as 'personal constructs' showcasing different people having their own individual point of view to notice in others.

Wasted Time Travel

yay! the time traveller's wife is out at the box office this week! i really wanted to catch the show as i thoroughly enjoyed reading the novel. nothing like having a novel coming to life on the big screen, and i admire rachel mcadams as well, but boy was it a letdown. wasted my $6!

they tried to cramp a 546pages book into 107mins and that resulted in the show losing its depth. the actors and actresses just wasnt able to bring out the personality and depth of the character. basically, they were trying to do too much in a short amount of time resulting in a mediocre film.

the time traveller's wife is about this guy who has a genetic disorder which causes him to time travel unpredictably and the ups and downs his wife has to go through. im not going to spoil the plot for an amazing novel. so everyone! just read the book! its a much better use of your time, unless of course, you have time to waste.