Miniature Media

this is beth….writing under erica’s name.  i was struggling to think of what to write for my second post.  and then when i was watching tv today i was a preview for oprah’s new show about the leadership academy she is opening in africa.  i think that this is such a great way for oprah to spend her time and money….it’s such a great cause. 

so many people have the resources to make others’ lives better…but they never do anything about it. so i really appreciate the fact that she was willing to do something to improve other people’s lives. this new leadership academy is going to give so many kids hope and a reason to live happier lives.

Beth and I were assigned a task in our Multimedia News Production class to do a documentary webpage about the topic of our choice. After some careful thought, we both agreed upon researching and writing about poverty both here in the states, but even maybe focusing more on foreign poverty.

 Not many people get to see or experience poverty firsthand, but Beth and I, both, got the opportunities to have some amazing experiences in the past six months. Although they were both very different experiences, Beth in Guatamala and me in India, we shared some common elements and emotions about our trips.

We both realized that poverty isn’t something that you can entirely understand until you can be in the midst of it. We want to shed some light on poverty… maybe help people understand what it is really like. We also want to give people ways to get involved here in the United States.

This blog will be dedicated to keeping whoever decides to read it updated on the poverty issue here in the U.S. and overseas.

This is an article I found about a law suit that the Coca-Cola company won concerned “My Cola” in Sri Lanka which was violating the Coke trademark. http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/05/11/new24.html

I love Coke.

Well if you have ever bought furniture, you must know that it is pretty expensive. Because we are paying 26,000 a year to go to school and we usually don’t have time to work a full time job, we are very broke. The way our dorm is set up, we have have a common room sortof like a den that is accessible to all 8 guys in our suite. There are several couches and a chair that we borrowed from our parents, inherited from seniors who graduated, and just got from weird sources that fill the room. Well we had this black futon that was always a little bit creaky and you were always afraid it was going to fall in when you sat down. Well it finally did. Since it was the only full size couch in the room, we had about 4 people sitting on it while we were watching a movie one night. When one of the girls got up and left, she was replaced with my suitemate dustin who had been sitting on the floor. Now dustin is not a small guy, so the second he sat down it crashed to the floor. Like I said before, we aren’t rich so to conserve money we threw away the torn metal frame and leaned the futon mattress against the wall.  This actually worked well for us for awhile but we wanted something that would look a little better because we like to have girls over every once in awhile. So, here’s where it gets fun. One night I was on the way home from work when I saw a wooden couch frame on the side of the road. It had just been put out to be picked up by the city in the morning. So we don’t have a truck but we thought this would be sweet to get this couch frame and put our futon mattress on it, so we did. We carried it about 2 miles in the cold at about 3 in the morning back to our suite. It fits right in. It has been named the new nap couch and there is almost always someone asleep on it.

Earlier in February I reported missiles etc being thrown on the field during a game in

So American Idol is not exempt from a scandal this year. Contestant Antonella Barba has been highly searched on the internet this past week because photos of a sexual nature have been posted. Amanda Coluccio, a former contestant and friend to Barba, says that these pictures are fake. Apparently she knows that the photos are not of her friend because the featured female has a different nose than Barba and acrylic nail tips. She says Barba has never had acrylic nail tips. Fortunately for Barba, this scandal doesn’t look like it will hurt her in the competition. Let’s be honest, she’s going to hurt herself if she keeps up these less than stellar performances that she’s been shelling out so far.

Since Verizon turned down the Apple iPhone me and some friends are looking to switching to Cingular.  Any input on their Cingular experiences would be wonderful… (even though I deal with cell phones for a job) it never hurts to hear things from current customers.

Competition (or so they say).

I appreciated Perry Noble’s blog post from a couple of days ago about spiritual impotence. What bothers me the most about crossover bands isn’t that they are vague as to whether they are Christian or secular, but that they have the outlet to make Jesus Christ famous, yet they choose to make themselves famous. Jeremiah 20:9 talks about how even when Jeremiah was mocked for telling of God to those in Judah, he knew that because the spirit so overflowed from his heart, he could not hold in his love of God, instead he had to let it out. I wish people were more like this in general, especially people who have such a huge role in the media. If they used what they had to share Christ to others, oh how we could see some amazing things happen!! Instead, they sing “positive” songs that still don’t lead unbelievers in the right direction. They have the outlet, but do they have the passion?

One thing that casual fans of combat sports don’t often see is the hell fighters often go through to get the fights they want(or in some cases deserve).  Sactioning bodies are frequently the cause of these issues.  Fighters pay thousands of dollars in sanctioning fees and then get screwed over before the checks clear the bank.  Recently, the WBC has denied Sam Peter the title shot he has rightfully earned……twice.

On September 2, 2006 Peter defeated James Toney in an eliminator to determine the number one contender for the title.  Instead of granting Peter his title shot, the WBC instead ruled that Peter needed to face Toney again due to the closely contested nature of the first fight.  Peter accepted the decision and defeated Toney again on January 6, 2007; this time winning a lopsided unanimous decision.  Now Peter would get his title shot.  Or not.

In 2004 Vitali Klitschko retired from boxing as the reigning WBC heavyweight champion.  Recently, Vitali has been talking about making a comeback.  The WBC has stated that if Vitali does indeed return to the ring, he will be granted “champion emeritus” status and will be given an immediate title shot, effectively pushing Sam Peter aside once again.

Who knows what the WBC may come up with next to deny Peter his deserved title shot and the millions of dollars a victory would no doubt bring.

These types of business practices is exactly what keeps boxing from reaching the mainstream audiences it once captivated.   With commissions that are free to legislate title shots and rankings to whomever they choose, the sport of boxing will forever be relegated to the basement of professional sports.