Restaurant review

Today, I will introduce my favorite restaurant in Buffalo, Jack Astor’s. Jack Astor’s is located in Walden Galleria Mall second floor. Jack Astor’s is a restaurant branch that came from Canada. I thought it was very unique of Buffalo that it is so close to Canada that it is the only city in America that has Jack Astor’s, one of the most casual bars and dining places in Canada. Comments vary on the Internet, some loving the food, some not that happy about their services, and some complaining about waiter working there. I know that Jack Astor’s is not the most unique dining place in Buffalo but I like it because of that. Since it is not that expensive with amazing food and great services makes me keep going whenever I do not know what to eat or where to go. Jack Astor’s has a casual pub décor that is pretty common in America. It has a bar that recently got renovated with bigger screens and bigger tables around. The new décor at the bar attracts Buffalonians to all visit there when games are on. Since there are sometimes special deals for drinks, wings, or pizza for the game day, you might want to visit then. One of the special things I realized in Jack Astor’s, though, is that they have various kinds of hot sauce I can access whenever I wish to. I am very interested in trying many kinds of hot sauce (because I am “spicy food” fanatic) I really enjoy their hot sauce. One of my favorite food there is fish and chips. Anyone who goes there should try their fish and chips. It is absolutely fantastic. It is crispy and properly battered in beer. Another thing I enjoy eating there is their cheese fries called poutine. It comes with cheese curds, gravy, bacon, and guacamole or spicy mayo and it is great explosion in your mouth. I usually prefer not to get mayo nor bacon because they are not my favorites but still it is the best appetizer. Another thing about Jack Astor’s is that their services. They are very nice and friendly, which makes the casual environment more fun and enjoyable. If you live in Buffalo and have not been there (My friend is from Buffalo but he has never been there once. I was shocked!) please give them just one chance. If you do not like fish and chips or cheese fries, you can access all kinds of other food including Chinese food, Thai food, Mexican food, or American food. Personally I do not like their Thai food but I see others having it a lot so I guess I am not 100% reliable on that. (I just do not like big vegetables inside of their dish) Price of their food is not that expensive unless you get steak which I would rather get in Outback Steak House. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions about Jack Astor’s, please let me know!

24/7 news media

Both article, “Conflict and control: The war in Afghanistan and the 24-hour news cycle” and “Live TV and Bloodless deaths: War, infotainment and 24/7 news” reflect the same issue, constantly generating media, with different perspectives. Kieran Baker, the author of “Conflict and control: The war in Afghanistan and the 24-hour news cycle,” approached the writing as a diary while Daya Kishan Thussu, the author of “Live TV and bloodless deaths: War, infotainment and 24/7 news” approach it more informative and factual.

Baker as a journalist expressed her feelings and personal experiences in Afghanistan. Baker’s approach was a lot easier for readers to understand her feelings and her sentiments based on what she saw and what she heard in the country. “My most vivid memory if of a boy, maybe eleven or twelve, coming up to me and asking if I could teach him English. He said that he had had to learn in secret with a woman teacher and when I asked him how life was here in Heart, he just looked at me with desperate eyes,” makes us understand the author as a person. She had to go to Afghanistan with other journalists because audience’s longing to see the real Afghanistan in a fearful situation. With her sharing her little stories in Afghanistan enables readers be more emotional and sympathetic.

Thussu’s approach was slightly different from Baker’s approach. Thussu helped us understand the situation more objectively as a reader. Thussu criticized the trend of news being ongoing for 24/7. Readers are not necessarily able to understand the situation emotionally but it has more information, which complete the Baker’s diary-style journal article. Thussu effectively expresses how it is very stressful to live report. “The pressure to be first with the news can create a tendency among news channels to sacrifice depth in favour of the widest and quickest reach of live news to an increasingly heterogeneous audience,” clearly states how the tendency of being fast and competitive news channel completely destroys quality of the news. However, the tendency of readers or watchers to seek for the channel that can bring information as quick as possible is inevitable. As a viewer, it is unavoidable to search for the news that can provide information as quick and much as possible because we cannot in reality watch what happens all around the world, which possibly affects us indirectly.

What Thussu claims is true that viewers seek progressively more theatrical news and that is why sometimes news can be not as factual as it should be. Viewers are getting increasingly dull to dramatic stories. War is one of the most dramatic stories in the world and viewers do desire to see thrilling pictures. Thussu states that “war on television that have emerged over the last decade of war reporting, which demonstrate the tendency of sing entertainment formats: video/computer-game style images of surgical strikes by ‘intelligent’ weaponry; arresting graphics and satellite pictures.” War is depicted as a movie somewhere in the world for viewers outside of the country holding the war. Baker’s writing efficaciously allowed us to understand the disastrous effects of war more emotionally while Thussu enabled us to see the reality of possibly of low-quality news due to the viewers’ desire. 

Social trend

There is no one who has not heard of Twitter or Facebook now. Social media has been a center of our life since Mark Zuckerberg (the inventor of Facebook) invented Facebook and spread among Internet users.  Social media has its own benefits including developing an easier way of building close relationships with friends or keeping in touch with others that live in different cities. Not only friendship but also important news has been updated easier from sources among Internet users.

There are usually downsides if there are benefits as well. Since it became a lot easier for users to access news or rumors in society, the quality of resources in our life became futile. Readers should filter and be cautious of information that is offered through social media. As the line between readers and writers has become extremely vague after the usage of blog and social media has become a huge trend, we as readers and writers should use social media with more care.

09/06 readings

            After looking at two readings regarding how Brazilian and Chinese respectively viewed Iraqi war, I found both authors’ voices very cynical. Brazilians were especially judging how American government was extremely selfish going against one country probably because of their desire to dominate oil reservation in Iraq. Also, another standpoint of Brazilians after watching news channel on the television was impression on their strong weaponry. The author described how Brazilian looked at the Iraqi war with one word, bully. It was an indirect way but reasonable way of looking at the situation even against United Nations’ opinion. America was being significantly stubborn and arrogant about their ability and they proved it with the war. America wanted to be always distant with other countries because they were afraid they would not be number one anymore. Additionally, author also emphasized how important it is to one country to choose the right president. The author believed that it was not the most intelligent idea for George W. Bush to be completely go on their own way when Brazil was on their way of becoming economically and politically more stabilized, which I completely agree with. George W. Bush did not have comprehensive idea of amalgamating countries all over the world but just thinking in a limited picture. However he succeeded in making other countries over America, he was not aware that he could have been closer with countries that wanted to be friends with America.

            After reading “The Chinese Watching the Iraqi War with Shock and Awe-As a spectacular Game,” I realized how lacking Chinese was with their media resources. A lot of media sources they received even at the point when the war broke out were limited and filtered. If there is one resource people can reach, the media has all the power to control what others believe. However, another media evolution changed their journalism. Other international media all tried to get into Chinese media channels that made Chinese media more awake with their competition. Chinese media realized that they cannot make their citizens to keep watching their channel with lacking and biased information. I realized how important media competition is. Think about it. If there is only one newspaper, we will definitely depend on the one and only newspaper we can obtain. However, when there are lots of newspaper companies that want more and more readers, they will try to ask what the readers want and that is when the democratic media comes out. Chinese national media finally realized that they could not always get the picture footage from the West. China feared that America had such strong arsenal through watching the Iraqi war through their televisions. Media is a way of learning about foreign countries and educating your citizens about outside of their own well as well. It is important for China to keep offering the country with precious and invaluable information from outside so that their media sources are competent enough to compete with other international sources and does not let other media to dominate their channel with most significant news. 

Intro

Hi guys, 

My name is Huikyeong but you can call me Hee. My name is actually Heegyung but it is written a little weird in my passport so I go with Huikyeong in school. Anyways, I am from South Korea. I am majoring in psychology. I love chocolate and timbits. Nice to meet you guys! Please let me know if you have any other questions! :)