Entertainment Media Archives - Page 48 of 50 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

Kids Multi-tasking Internet & TV

Posted on: 03/12/08 8:29 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Any youth worker or parent who has read anything about this young generation has frequently seen the word “multi-tasking.” Today’s kids can multi-task like no generation before them.

Media Life came out with an article yesterday about kids browsing the internet WHILE watching TV and how marketers are using this opportunity. TV watchers have probably noticed this phenomenon in the last year. You can’t watch American Idol or even a football game without being repeatedly pitched to jump on their web site and vote or participate in a poll. You might not be responding to these plea’s… but our kids are.

According to the above article:

overall 64 percent of kids go online while watching TV. Just under half do so frequently, between three times a week and several times a day.

It also found that 73 percent of those who are watching TV while online are engaged in active multitasking. That’s up dramatically from the 55 percent of kids who said they had engaged in active multitasking back in 2002.

Some 50 percent said they had visited a web site in direct response to something they’d seen while watching TV. That’s up from 41 percent.

Some 35 percent said they had sent an email or instant message to someone who was watching the same TV show, compared to 18 percent in 2002.

Further, one third said they went online to participate in polls, contests or games after television programs have directed them to while still watching the tube. That’s up from 21 percent.

Another interesting thing to come out in the study is that when kids are on the internet while watching TV, it’s the internet that tends to hold their attention as the primary medium.

I found that last fact fascinating– when in comes to engaging in internet and TV simultaneously, the internet wins in the fight for attention. Perhaps because it is “interactive” by definition.

More on this research in this article. (thanks for this one Anastasia)

Today’s teenagers have never known the world without the internet. That, combined with all the other gadgets readily available to them has created a generation of media junkies who can handle more than a couple mediums at once. I talk about this in Chapter Four (click here for that chapter in article form on our web site) in my book THE NEW BREED, describing how to recruit today’s young professional as a volunteer.

Years ago every report was about the effects of TV– families who leave the TV on during homework or during dinner. Now we’re seeing a shift to people doing everything “while browsing the internet.”

Hmmmmmmm.

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TV Pilots Going Too Far

Posted on: 03/11/08 10:46 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Is it just me, or is the trash we see on that screen in our living room getting a little trashier?

Wow… it’s been hard to find clean television entertainment lately. My wife Lori and I tried some more new TV pilots lately. We’ve noticed something: every pilot had a sex scene. The new show “Unhitched” included a monkey watching two people having sex. The monkey pulled down its pants and jumped on them to join in. In the next scene we see a proctologist examining the guy’s butt assessing the damage. (Yes… this was on Fox)

USA Today’s Bill Keveney puts it this way.

“Take a couple having sex, add an aroused orangutan, and you’ve got an opening scene worthy of a Farrelly Brothers film. That it’s in a network TV comedy, ‘Unhitched,’ might raise some eyebrows.”

You can read more about the show here.

Now I haven’t seen every pilot, but of the four we’ve watched in the last month, four had sex scenes.

Hmmmmmm.

Wow! We’ve come a long way since Gilligan’s Island.

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The “Lyrics Survey” Results

Posted on: 03/10/08 10:43 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’ve been receiving emails asking me about the results of our music “lyrics” survey. As many of you remember, in a past blog I asked you to survey your kids about whether they think the lyrics affect them.

It all started with the discussion about Soulja Boy’s song and what those lyrics mean. I noticed that a girl in a chat room wrote:

i love this song, and

I don’t care what the lyrics mean

:p

This prompted some comments, and before we knew it, we were surveying you to see what your kids thought.

I wanted you to know that we collected, tallied, and analyzed the results. The Source’s David R. Smith just wrote up a YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW article about it that is on our front page now (look for the magnifying glass) and will appear in this week’s EZINE NEWSLETTER. (If you don’t already get our ministry’s free weekly EZINE, jump on any page of our website now and sign up in the upper right hand corner!)

I think you’ll find the results fascinating!

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A Dab of News to Know

Posted on: 03/4/08 10:34 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Surfing, Kid Rock arrested, American Idol contestant a stripper, new iPod technology, Moses and the Israelites stoned??? What do these have to do with each other?

Blogs are short and sparse of late… I’m on vacation with my wife Lori celebrating 17 years of marriage (Wow, I sound old!). We’re having a blast in a tropical getaway, our first time really away for a week in a spot like this (it seems like so many of our vacations are attached to a speaking trip to save money, travel, etc. This vacation is truly 100% VACATION. Wow!) My parents are taking care of our three kiddos (learning what it’s like to taxi three kids to different activities… they’ll sleep well when we’re back), so very cool of them.

I am very excited about today. This morning I talked Lori into going surfing. No, we don’t surf. But we’re going this morning. It’s amazing because all my wife talks about is sharks and somehow I still convinced her to go. I’ll report back about that. The vacation is a nice break.

Anyway… back to blogging- some quick random news for you to know. (I always like to keep you updated with the stuff your kids might be talking about… or stuff that’s just interesting to me. Hey… it’s my blog!)

In the media, all the talk is about American Idol contestant David Hernandez who used to strip for a living a Phoenix… at a male strip club. CNN reports:

The 24-year-old finalist from Glendale, Arizona, once worked as a stripper at Dick’s Cabaret, appearing fully nude and performing lap dances for the club’s “mostly male” clientele, club manager Gordy Bryan said Monday.

“He had the look and the type that people like, so he made pretty good money here,” Bryan said.

It’s not clear whether a history as a stripper could disqualify Hernandez from the competition. In 2003, finalist Frenchie Davis was dismissed because of her appearance on an adult Web site; but last year, Antonella Barba remained in the competition after racy photos of her surfaced on the Internet.

(updated)TV Guide spoke with Idol’s executive producer about the situation in this interview. Here’s a snippet:

TVGuide.com: Will the revelations about David’s stripper past have any impact on whether he stays on the show?

Ken Warwick: No, it won’t make any difference. The truth is, we’re never judgmental about what people do to earn a living. They’ve got to put food in people’s mouths. We’ve had strippers on the show before. Nikki McKibbon was one in [Season] 1. We’re never judgmental about people who do things like that. If it were some sort of heavy porn, then maybe we’d have to take action. But certainly not on this.

TVGuide.com: Were you aware of his past before it was reported?

Warwick: No, I wasn’t. [Laughs] But the truth of the matter is, it wouldn’t have made any difference. There are a lot of people I know who’d love to have the opportunity just to make a better living by taking their clothes off.

Sigh.

And another celeb in trouble. Outspoken musician Kid Rock got himself arrested for punching, kicking and hitting a victom with a chair in a Waffle House. Do I need to even say anything further about this?

The techno side of me just collided with my interest in working out in this news piece. Nike and Apple are working together to make the iPod compatable with gym equipment. I’ve been keeping my eyes open for anything iPod of late with the launch of our new podcast for teenagers. But this side article caught my attention:

The companies announced Tuesday that they are working with gym equipment manufacturers and health clubs to allow members to plug their iPod Nano into cardio equipment to track workouts, set goals and upload the information to a Nike Web site.

And in ludicrous news, I sure hope no one believes this:

The biblical Israelites may have been high on a hallucinogenic plant when Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai, according to a new study by an Israeli psychology professor.

Hmmmmmmm…

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Will Teenagers iBible?

Posted on: 03/2/08 11:16 AM | by Jonathan McKee

The podcast is called A Li’l Bit. It’s a weekly 10 minute Bible study for teenagers. It’s free, it’s quick, it gets them in the Word, and it provides application and a reading challenge for the rest of the week.

The idea is this: we’ve seen more Christian teenagers carrying iPods than Bibles (sadly, even at church camps and retreats). So, why not provide yet another way to get the Word into their heads… through their earphones.

In last week’s EZINE I shared about this and linked a report about podcast use among teenagers. Over 50% do listen to podcasts. More importantly, 78% of teenagers have a portable media player, of which 82% are iPods. If youth workers publicize the convenient little iBible-study to their Christian students struggling to get in the Word, chances are they will give it a shot.

We just launched the podcast a week ago with three episodes already– the fourth will be launching today. Last week we announced it for the first time in our EZINE. So far the responses have been very postive. But I’m curious what you think. If you have a few moments, do me this favor:

Jump on A Li’l Bit’s web site www.ALilBit.com and check it out.
Click on the link for any of the episodes (using the iPod controls on the site- pretty cool) and give a listen to an episode or two.
Use iTunes comment feature to post a comment if you like it.
Feel free to comment here in this blog as well. We’d love your feedback.
Most importantly, spread the word to your kids. Send your kids an email and have them subscribe to this free podcast. We’re all about getting the Word in their heads!

Posted in Entertainment Media, Faith, Youth Culture, Youth Ministry Planning | | Leave A Comment

Miley’s Faith

Posted on: 02/28/08 8:08 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I don’t know if you saw the Oscars… I don’t know if you even cared. But Miley Cyrus was one of the presenters, and one of the few to be interviewed by Barbara Walters on her famous post-Oscar interview show. I thought you might like to hear what she said about her faith.

Miley’s the hottest thing in the world of young girls right now. I’ve blogged about her before, about her popularity, and her as one of the biggest trendsetters in 2008. There’s no question why Barbara interviewed her. Miley is THE draw for young girl audiences right now.

The interview was short, but I thought Miley did well. She talked about her faith a little bit, and might have been perceived by some as a little cocky, once almost sounding a little condescending… but she’s young and I think she did fairly well for her age and degree of difficulty of the questions she was being asked.

We don’t know much about her faith, just that she uses the word “Christian” (which means nothing these days- 81% of Americans claim to be “Christian”) referring to herself, and she seems to reflect good morals (a breath of fresh air today) in the midst of a world full of poor role models. Barbara asked us about this.

We transcripted a snippet of the interview for you:

Barbara: Miley, you’re living here in California and you’re 15 years old and you pick up the papers and every day practically, you read about another young star, some of whom were Disney stars, how can you be certain that what happened to Brittney and Lindsay and to Jamie Lynn Spears won’t happen to you? What will be the difference?

Miley: For me, as I know, that some people don’t have a family to fall back on like I have and that’s when something greater than even that comes in and that’s faith and that’s what I have for me it’s what keeps me strong. And I know that some of these people you know do have Christian families and they’re just, you know, not seeing that they’re so much greater than the materialistic things that are there right now than, like, you know, going out and the parties and whatever, but the people that are the ones that you want to hold on to are the people that tell you the truth and that’s your family and that sometimes you know can be a little bit harsh and can you know say things that have to be honest and that can hurt sometimes.

Barbara: What do you think about Jamie Lynn Spears? I mean she’s pregnant, she’s only 16. Can you imagine that?

Miley: No, and I think, you know, it’s definitely hard when it’s your friends. Jamie Lynn is you know a friend of mine. But also I know how strong she is as a person. I just think it’s pretty cool that she has stepped away cause that’s what I would have to do.

Barbara: You know Jamie Lynn Spears?

Miley: Mmmhhmmm. I know basically all of those girls, which is really crazy to see that. But, my main goal for me is the reason that I also feel pretty confident that I won’t end up like that is because I can go out there and be kind of like a light to them and make them want to live the way that I, you know, long to live.

Barbara: Your birth name is Destiny Hope. What’s your destiny?

Miley: The reason my dad named me Destiny Hope in the first place is because he always said it was my destiny to bring hope. And I think that’s kind of the thing that I want to do. There’s been so many people that have come up to me and say, you know, the hour that we are watching your shows are the times that my kids are happiest, they’re smiling, they’re laughing. And that is what I long to do, is to be the person that you can, open up a magazine and see my face and there’ll be something, you know there’ll be a quote that’s so positive and that will be like, you know I’m having a hard day today, but you know what Miley said will get me through it. And so that’s what my destiny is.

Hmmmmmm.

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It’s Time to “Bully” Once Again

Posted on: 02/25/08 12:01 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Last weekend when I was in Pennsylvania I saw a video game cover that caught my eye in a Game Stop window. The game is called “Bully: Scholarship Edition” …and you’re going to want to know about this one.

Brought to you by Rockstar Games, the lovely people that provided the “Grand Theft Auto” games, the new “Bully” for Xbox 360 and Wii will hit the video game shelves March 4th. This game features exclusive content which was apparently unavailable in the PS2 version released in 2006. And now, with the XBox 360 graphics, you’ll be able to get into mischief and kick some butt in High Def! And now you can do it with online multiplayer features.

They say that pictures speak 1,000 words. Well… then previews must speak 10,000. This trailer will show you more about the true content of this new game than I could ever describe to you. (NOTE: Don’t worry… I’m not showing you something innapropriate for your eyes… this trailer would probably be approved for all audiences. When you see it you’ll just agree that it’s sad that this is the entertainment deemed acceptable for our kids today. We’ve come a long way since “Space Invaders”.)

For those of us that missed the first “Bully” game–Bully or be bullied– that seems to be the name of the game.

“Bully” doesn’t have graphic gun violence like “Grand Theft Auto.” Instead, you fist fight with other kids. Common Sense Media describes the violence on the original version like this:

Parents need to know that this game is not Grand Theft Auto (the games were both created by Rockstar Games). It is, however, about bullying behavior in a school setting and therefore — given the sad state of school violence — a hot-button topic for parents. There is plenty of psychological brutality and physical violence (fistfighting, kicking, and “humiliating” finishing moves). Weapons include a baseball bat, garbage can lid, and fire extinguisher but, there are no guns, blood, or gore. Because this game deals with intimidation and violence with realistic language, parents who let their kids play it should absolutely talk about school violence (see next paragraph). The game contains some sexual remarks and alcohol references; and depending on the path taken, the main character, Jimmy Hopkins, can kiss another boy. Pranks include firing at football players from a tree with a slingshot and throwing marbles on the ground for others to trip over. The game does include consequences for misdeeds.

Gamespot.com describes the new game as a sort of “director’s cut” for the original “Bully.”

“The new version keeps the soul of the original PlayStation 2 game and adds a next-gen polish to its body. It also adds new graphics, extra solo missions, and multiplayer games.”

The game is rated “T” which means for teens. But that means that kids can purchase it. I called up my local Game Stop store to ask them about it. The rated “T” supposedly means you have to be 14. But that isn’t enforced. The only rating enforced is “M.” According to this Game Stop employee, everything below M is just a recommendation. “So a 6 year old can come in and buy this?” I asked. “Yep. We can sell anything to a six-year-old but M.”

Some think the game should be “M.” The National Institute on MEDIA and the FAMILY issued a KidScore rating of RED for the first”Bully,” commenting that they think the game should be rated “M” for only mature audiences. And when the original game was first going to be released, Miami lawyer and video game critic Jack Thomson filed a lawsuit against Rockstar Games parent company Take 2 Interactive, as well as Wal-Mart, and Game Stop, trying to prevent them from being able to sell the game to minors. TechNewsWorld reported that the Florida circuit court judge “decided not to ban the sale of the controversial game to minors.”

So the new “Bully” will be just like everything else in this world… easy access. That means it’s up to parents.

Hmmmmmm.

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2008 Trendsetters

Posted on: 02/19/08 1:55 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Which stars do teenage girls have their eyes on this year?

That’s a good question. And Seventeen Magazine’s Gina Kelly has made the self fulfilling prophecy this year, choosing Miley Ray Cyrus (Hannah Montana), Rachel Bilson (Jumper, The O.C.), Emma Watson (the Harry Potter films) and the “Gossip Girls.”

Kelly helped pick these “Style Stars” for the magazine’s last issue.

In 2007 Rihanna led the pack. You may remember her hit song Umbrella riding the #1 spot for what seemed like an eternity. And then… we started to see her influence on fashion. Think about it for a second. Didn’t you notice? (Maybe you did without knowing.) How many of her haircuts you’ve seen walking around town in the last few months? I saw a lady with one where I dropped off my car today!

But 2008 is a new year. And according to this recent AP article, Cyrus and the “Gossip Girls” are the main ones to watch:

Right now, Cyrus, the real-life “Hannah Montana,” is doing a good job connecting to the teens and “tweens” who love her, Kelly says, but she’ll have to walk a fine line as she gets older and likely becomes an even bigger star. “I’d love to see her evolve a little but also keep her youthfulness.”

Meanwhile, “Gossip Girls” has become the TV destination for style-savvy young women, in the way “The O.C.” and “Sex and the City” were for the girls who are now in their 20s and 30s, according to Kelly.

I blogged about Miley recently… I don’t need to revisit the subject. Anyone who spends any time with young girls, tweens and even teens knows that Miley is the STUFF! The Oscars even have added her to the presenting lineup on February 24th in hopes of drawing more of a tween audience (we’ll also see Miley as one of Barbara Walters’ in-depth interviews in her 27th annual Oscar® edition of “The Barbara Walters Special,” thanks Anastasia for that link).

And many of you might be familiar with the CW’s fairly new show “Gossip Girl,” the show that Media Life deemed “The top rated new show among 12-17-year-olds” last Fall.

These trendsetters have our kids’ attention. I encourage you to take a peek at either of these shows (Hannah Montana and Gossip Girl) once or twice, just to keep aware. (Acts 17)

(thanks to Anastasia at YPULSE for the AP link)

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Hollywood Pro-Life?

Posted on: 02/13/08 12:14 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Is Hollywood slowly turning pro-life?

I must be seeing things. No, it’s true. In the past year I’ve seen more secular movies and TV shows address the issue, not in a militant Operation Rescue fashion, but in a very real sense of simply proposing, “I think having the baby is the right thing to do!”

The current issue of Christianity Today just chimed in on this fact in this article, proposing…

In some ways, 2007 was the Year of Pro-Life Cinema. From the church-friendly Bella to the raunchy Knocked Up, film after film depicted its main character facing an unplanned pregnancy and opting not for abortion, but for carrying the unborn child to term. Sometimes the mother kept the baby (Knocked Up, Waitress), and sometimes she gave the baby up for adoption (Bella, Juno, August Rush). But in each of these films, the mother, and sometimes the father, made a critical decision that was decidedly “pro-life.”

And last weekend, NBC’s Friday Night Lights delivered one of the most powerful pro-life speeches I’ve heard in recent years. Crippled quarterback Jason Street pleads with a “one night stand” to keep their child. He goes on to describe the baby growing in her, the little hands forming… a powerful talk.

The incredible thing about all of this attention on the issue is the fact that these aren’t obscure little films. Juno is huge right now (it’s made over 109 million) and a ton of our kids are seeing it. And sadly, a ton of our kids saw the very R-rated Knocked Up (really raunchy film, with a really cool theme). The value of the life of the unborn child is being placed on kids’ minds, and this generation is always open to share their point of view on an issue.

If you’re looking for discussion starters on the subject, a few weeks ago we wrote a free MOVIE CLIP DISCUSSION on our web site using a scene from Bella that’s a great one to use.

This is a good time to have conversations with kids about the issue.

(thanks to my brotha Thom for the email and CT link)

Posted in Entertainment Media, Movies, News, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

She’s Like So Whatever…

Posted on: 02/12/08 3:06 PM | by Jonathan McKee

On March 5th Avril Lavigne kicks off her two-month-long tour, named in true Avril fashion, “The Best Damn Tour.”

If you don’t recognize her name, don’t worry… your kids do. Or you might have heard her lyrics in the checkout line at Wall Mart:

She’s like so whatever
You can do so much better
I think we should get together now
And that’s what everyone’s talking about

Hey hey, you you
I don’t like your girlfriend…

Or, maybe you heard the “unedited” version that hides in the “Favorites” section of many of our kids’ iPods with these lyrics:

Don’t pretend
I think you know
I’m damn precious
And hell yeah
I’m the mother f***ing princess
I can tell you like me too
And you know I’m right…

Avril has been on my mind lately. I was just reminded of her when I heard her mentioned in our recent podcast– Episode #11 about women in ministry– Danette, Brandon and I commented about Lavigne and some of her recent choices. We like her spunk, and she’s really talented. But like most celebs of late, she seems to be ignoring the fact that children (yes, literally children) everywhere look up to her as a role model.

She doesn’t seem to mind that bad press. Last Summer she opened the door to more criticism when she showed up “almost topless” on the cover of Blender Magazine (a shot of her topless with a banner blocking her chest saying, “Hell Yeah, I’m Hot!”). MTV news interviewed her in this May article for the truth behind the cover:

Lavigne has certainly come a long way since her innocent days as punk princess of the mall. In recent months, she’s been known to spit on and flip off paparazzi. She’s also bragged about booze-soaked nights — “I wrote ‘Girlfriend’ when I was drunk,” she told us back in February. And now she’s taking it all off?

The blogosphere is abuzz this week over the June cover image for Blender magazine, in which the singer appears to be naked from the waist up. What really lies beneath that strategically placed headline?

Truth be told, Lavigne revealed to us before taking the stage last night, the photo shoot was a little more innocent than you think. “Actually, I’m not topless on the cover,” she said. “I was wearing a tube top, and they just kind of put a banner on top of it.”

Anyone who looked the popular music magazine would probably argue otherwise.

Her tour is catalysted by the success of her recent album, “The Best Damn Thing” which debuted at the number 1 slot on the ‘Billboard 200’ album charts, an album that included the #1 hit “Girlfriend.”

Keep your eyes on Avril… our kids are.

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