SUNDAY – JANUARY 16, 2005

8-10 pm FOX Sunday Night (Simpsons, Arrested Development, Family Guy x2)
- FOX post-Superbowl television: new Simpsons episode, new series: American Dad (integrating into media ritual, ensure attentive audience after ‘the big game’)
- Family based sitcoms: all white families – representative of dysfunctional family (thank you FOX!)
Yahoo! Online Euchre (online card game)
- Constant streaming ads: music, movies, other games, mortgaging home, win a free iPod…
10-11 pm Golden Globes
- Alerted to this program by FOX local news
- Reminded by CNN carpet coverage
o Joan and Melissa Rivers on Larry King Live (next day Colin Powell)
- Jamie Foxx acceptance speech: Applauds Ray as a “beautiful black film”
o Mainstream has made it no longer a “Black film” but a piece of American culture. Ray’s role in American culture independent of role as Black icon?
- Commercial: McDonald’s dependence on its integration into American life for its ads
- News on CBS comes on after the Golden Globes, regardless of time, accounting for this media ritual
- Turn out the lights, watch the rest of the awards ceremony in the dark in bed, reminded of movie going experience, seems appropriate as most of the awards are for outstanding films.
- Auteur in TV? Executive producer accepts GG and speaks first even though everyone is on stage.
- Set alarm on TV: 7 am, CNN

MONDAY – JANUARY 17, 2005

7-8 am CNN Live

8-9 am Swimming – Sans media!
- I had originally planned on running, in which case I usually watch CNN on the television in the exercise room
- Pool is on the roof, I cannot see the billboards in DTLA, most face south on Figueroa, not blocked by the buildings

9-10 am Online Euchre – streaming ads
- Read Boondocks Comic strip online (http://www.ucomics.com/boondocks)
- Post personal pictures online
- Peruse friends’ websites
- Add to Blog (http://themediamademecrazy.blogspot.com)

10-1 pm Research work (studying multimedia effects on education and learning processes)
- Online Euchre
- Check email

1-2 pm Jerry Springer
- Watch first 20 minutes, tape for class, mute TV while doing work
- I often leave the TV on mute, it provides an unobtrusive presences while I work, otherwise, I listen to classical music

2-3 pm Cosby Show (record for class, turn off TV)
- Continue doing work

3-4 pm Lunch: California Pizza Kitchen take out (three blocks from home)
- Listening to iPod
- Walking downtown (storefronts, taxis, buses)
- Sides of buildings – giant ads
o Are storefronts and marquees considered advertising? It is conveying a message and trying to attract customers
o New restaurant opening on first floor of my building, advertising in the windows, also blocking construction.
- Bus Ads
o Cheaper space is inside (accident lawyers, learning extension programs, money loans, etc.); people who ride the bus clearly do not have major disposable income, but everyone sees the bus as it drives down the street.
- Lunch on roof of building – Reading Economist
o Ads not visible from roof, I face south.

4-430 pm Girlfriends for class (tape/watch)

430-7 pm School work (reading about media)

7-730 pm Jeopardy

730-8 pm Simpsons
- Set TV to record Unforgivable Blackness (Jack Johnson biography)

TYPICAL DAY?
I don’t think that this was a typical day, I usually take the bus to and from school (four days a week) and on those days we usually have viewings in class. Also, some of the viewings were specifically because I was presenting in class, I have never watched a full girlfriends episode, nor to I regularly tune into Jerry Springer (anymore). On school days, I also carry and iPod. This Monday was different because I chose not to listen to the radio while I did school work; I typically listen to the classical channel because I cannot take in two textual streams at once. On weekends, I tend to leave CNN or MSNBC on mute while I do my work for a little company.

BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS
This is a typical graduate school pattern for me. I don’t get to watch so much television anymore because I cannot read and watch TV at the same time. Now I watch television intentionally, i.e. I turn on the television only when I’m expecting to watch something. In my undergrad and high school years, I would sit in front of the TV, and or computer and do my work (in high school, I spent most of that time on the phone as well).

WHAT IS MEDIA?
I tried to include everything possible (even the things that I usually see that I might have missed this day) including the discussions about the storefronts and other various advertising around DTLA. In one of my readings for one of my classes (they all blend together nowadays), I read that advertising takes three forms, broadcast, print and storefronts or direct advertising.

MEDIA CHOICES
Once again, I take in media intentionally as I find it difficult to multi task. I make the conscious choice to turn on the television when I’m expecting a program (which unfortunately leads to me missing a lot of things I had originally intended to watch) and turn it off when I have something else to do (usually work). Although Sunday was a prime example of what causes me to jump channels, just a reminder that I’m missing something that I had intended to watch.

PURPOSEFUL AND ENJOYABLE
I try to make my media consumption always enjoyable. Although being in grad school for media studies has caused me to overload slightly on media. This diary has made me realize that I’m constantly consuming media even when I’m not consuming media, unless I’m swimming or sleeping. I made a conscious break in my Monday when I went swimming and chose to read The Economist on the roof. My TV habits I also see as a break in the forced media consumption of schoolwork and research. I get to sit back and watch Jeopardy while I’m making dinner or just relaxing. I ended up watching the Golden Globes as a part of schoolwork as I knew that we would be discussing it at some point.

UNCOMFORTABLE ACTIVITIES
I’m not too uncomfortable with my media consumption activities but I probably wouldn’t include the other, personal tasks that I conduct while I’m watching my TV. It’s my private space at home and I know that the TV isn’t watching back if I’m wandering around my apartment in my underwear.

PERSONALITY, RELATIONSHIPS, SOCIO-CULTURAL BACKGROUND, INCOME LEVEL, RLEIGION, PERSONAL BELIEFS
I think that my choice to watch FOX Sunday night television says something about my personality. Those shows are marketed to a select demographic, young, college educated slackers (I mean slackers as an attitude, not as an occupation). Most of my time is spent alone in my apartment doing work or consuming media, so it’s clear that I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m not sure what it says about my socio cultural background, the fact that I have an iPod clearly denotes me as an active consumer but in LA this might be contrasted with the fact that I take the bus daily. The fact that I don’t go to work is acceptable and not really questions since we’re all students. As for religion, I don’t think that it says much, although if I had started earlier on Sunday, it would documented that I did not go to church. Waking up to CNN in the morning and reading The Economist makes obvious my political inclinations.