This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for the awesome assignment that Prof. Harvey assigned for our final project! Making a media kit about ourselves will not only be fun, but it will also give us a chance to practice these releases and to be creative when designing them. And what better topic to write about than someone you know the best. Perfect!

Every year, the Grinch comes out in me when I see holly and twinkle lights weeks before Thanksgiving. I understand that people love this holiday for the family time and gifts, but I hate how Christmas is SO commercialized. Parents waiting in long lines so their kids can have the $400 gaming system under the tree, because if they dont get it, the kids Christmas will be ruined! It's too much stress when the focus of the holidays should stem from spending time with loved ones: family or friends. That's why my closest friends and I are escaping to Las Vegas for Christmas.

Twilight!!

A friend of mine has been obsessed with the Twilight books and encouraged me to get a copy. After I read the first one, I was hooked and sped through the first three before the movie came out. It was a brilliant plan for Hollywood Theaters to premiere it at midnight because they filled us about four theaters to the max! The entire lobby was packed with people dressed out in Twilight gear. Apparently the midnight shows alone made something like 7 million dollars. The tween-book-saga-movie equation is definitely a recipe for success because it's "in" to be obsessed with these movies and books.

Have you ever seen the reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8? It's about a husband and wife who had twins first and through invitro treatment, had 6 babies at once. When the show first began, it basically showed how the Gosslin's struggled and the logistics of feeding, clothing, and entertaining 8 children under the age of 6. It captivated many viewers as People magazine named the Gosslin's "America's Favorite Family" and is now promoting a month-long Gosslin Wedding special where Jon and Kate will re-new their vows in Hawaii with 8 children in tow. What I found particularly interesting about this, is that not only are viewers interested in things like Gosslin's morning routine, but now they are spending 4 hours out of their month to watch the family in Hawaii. TLC network recognized that viewers were beginning to love the family as whole, not just because Gosslins have 8 kids but because they are human, and they want to share a moment like this with the show's fans, thus the gigantic, television event for this reality family.

I realize that this is supposed to be one of the most important elections in a while because our economy is in the gutter, we're in a war, real estate and gas prices are out of control, along with several other things. But I cant help but wonder if the the voter turn out that has already broken records in just the absentee ballots, has anything to do with the SNL skits, the constant vote tie-ins in all of the commercials for sitcoms, and the asthetic appeal that comes with candidates like Sarah Palin and Barack Obama. The lowest voter demographic is the 18-24 age group and all of these things appeal to them and can easily viewed by them. I'm curious to see how the voting will differ from past elections as far as what kind of voters turn out this time around.

My company that I'm working with for our news release and SMNR is the American Cancer Society. Recently they put on a benefit called Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) This was a chance for the ACS to appeal to the public by blocking off two hours on ABC, CBS, and NBC to showcase famous musicians, celebrities, and testimonials by cancer survivors. I thought this would be a perfect thing to write about because it appeals to a lot of audiences and it's the only type of benefit of its caliber.

I think it was excellent for Sarah Palin's image to laugh at herself on SNL. Tina Fey's impression of the VP candidate is a fixture in the election and the fact that Sarah Palin got in on it was brilliant for her. Obviously viewers agreed because that SNL was one of the most viewed episodes.
While her appearance may not have earned more votes for McCain, it was a great image booster for their campaign. They probably felt the need to compete with the hip crowd that Obama appeals to.