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mmason11

Undergrad student at George Mason University majoring in communications with a concentration in journalism. I love music, snowboarding, motorcycles, and outdoor stuff. Also, abandoned buildings are neat.

Homepage: http://gnaaarwhal.tumblr.com

Media and modern Norway

Posted by: | November 6, 2012 | No Comment |

Norway is a relatively small country with a population of around five million and a geographical area slightly less than the state of California.  There are more people of Norwegian descent living in America than in Norway.  Despite it’s small size, Norway is a culturally rich country that has made many contributions to worldwide media. […]

under: Comm 455
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Propaganda on the big screen

Posted by: | October 30, 2012 | No Comment |

While a true-to-form propaganda film has not made it into American theaters for many years, there are still films being released today that critics equate to propaganda. Avatar, the immensely successful 3D epic released in 2009, had its fair share of criticisms and critiques.  There were many who said it was a blatant rip-off of […]

under: Comm 455
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iPad Mini: When will it end?

Posted by: | October 23, 2012 | No Comment |

Apple made waves in the tech world when they bridged the gap between the Macbook and iPhone with the iPad.  Now, it seems the company wants to bridge another gap – the gap between the iPad and the iPhone – with the iPad Mini.  Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a slightly smaller iPad. […]

under: Comm 455
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A saga for every interest

Posted by: | October 23, 2012 | No Comment |

Norse and Scandinavian sagas can be placed into one of several different categories.  There were the king’s sagas, contemporary sagas, chivalric sagas, Icelander’s sagas, sagas of the Greenlanders, short tales of the Icelanders, and legendary sagas. Some of these classifications resemble modern categorizations of periodical literature. The king’s sagas are accounts of the lives of […]

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On Oct. 3, Republican candidate Mitt Romney went head-to-head with incumbent Barack Obama in the first televised debate of the 2012 election.  For days after, the internet was humming with chatter over impressions gathered from the debate and predictions for the future. Many believed that Obama had a weak performance and that Romney dominated the […]

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Propoganda is not dead

Posted by: | October 4, 2012 | No Comment |

Propoganda is generally thought of as the comic-like posters on city walls or public service announcements that have been left behind in mid-20th century antiquity. However, all one must do to realize that propaganda is alive and well is turn on their television, especially during election season. It’s presence is ubiquitous: before practically every Youtube […]

under: Comm 455
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When the word “viral” is used today, we tend to think of a popular Youtube video before we think about the kind of infectious contagion that such videos derived this title from.  Most of the time, viral videos are exercises in the extreme, whether it’s an extremely cute dog or an extremely annoying music video, […]

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When modern people hear the word “saga,” images may come to mind of brawny Vikings heroically battling giant sea monsters, pillaging and plundering their way across unknown land, and drinking mead in the eternal halls of Valhalla.  However, what most people don’t know is that sagas were used as more than just vehicles of fiction. […]

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The origins of propaganda

Posted by: | September 10, 2012 | No Comment |

Persuasive literature and media have been used since the inception of written language.  However, it wasn’t until 1622 A.D. that it was finally given a name: propaganda. It was in this year that Pope Gregory XV created the “Congregatio de Propaganda Fide,”or “The Sacred Congregation for Propagating the Faith.”  It is unsurprising that the term […]

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