Final Assignment

Catfish Final Paper

It was what I thought to be a sunny bright day in Michigan. Nev and his brother Ariel had just arrived at Abby’s house. When they arrived and went to knock on the door, no one answered, so Nev and his brother Ariel walked around the to the back of the red and white house, peaked through the window and yelled “hello, hello, anyone home, anyone here?” Nev, turned to his brother and said, “I see someone moving inside the house.” Then someone answered the door. It was an older lady but, looked nothing like the lady in a recent photo, who supposedly went by the name Angela and was said to be Megan Faccio’s mom, the girl Nev had allegedly been talking to for 8 months on Facebook. Was this really Megan’s mom? Was Megan a real person? What was going on?

The name of the movie is called Catfish. It is directed by acted out by, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost, and Nev Schulman (main character). This movie was filmed in 2007 in New York and Ishpeming and Gladstone Michigan, and was released to the public eye on September 17, 2010. The movie Catfish is mainly about the disturbing relationship between Nev, “Megan” and Angela. It’s a must see about today’s world and the eye on social networking.

The main characters in the movie Catfish include, Nev (main character), Ariel (Nev’s brother), Henry (Nev’s friend) Abby, (Angela’s daughter), Megan, Angela (the mom), Angela’s husband and his twin sons who were both mentally handicapped. Nev, is a 24 year old photographer who lived and worked in New York and would receive paintings in the mail from an 8 year old girl named Abby you lived in Ishpeming, Michigan, she would get pictures off line that Nev had posted and she would paint them and then send them in the mail to Nev, in New York. Abby, is an 8 year old girl from Ishpeming, Michigan, who was interested in Nev’s pictures and would paint him pictures of his photographs. Ariel is Nev’s older brother who traveled with him in hopes to find out what was going on and who these people Nev was associating with were. Angela is Abby’s mom, and also “Megan’s” mom. Henry is a friend of Nev’s. Megan is the girl that Nev was talking to over the internet and over text messages for 8 months until the pieces started to come together.

            The movie Catfish I thought overall was a very interesting movie to watch. It was relatively strange but very interesting. I think when someone goes out of their way to film a real life documentary like this it’s neat, especially about something that is becoming more and more popular Facebook. Social networking sites are becoming further and further  more popular whether it’d be, Facebook alone, Twitter, Linkedin, flickr, Myspace, or blogspot and many, many others, it’s what people are doing now days to stay in the “loop”, to stay connected. I just really liked how this movie fit right in with the most popular social networking site now days, Facebook. It shows a real life model of what can happen if the people you are “asking” or “accepting” others to be your friend when you really have no information about them,  and in reality you don’t know them at all for that matter. This movie illustrated just exactly what can happen. Someone you would meet on a site like Facebook, and decide to get to know more based off of their profile picture and other information when actuality hits, they’re not a real person! The whole profile is just a sham, either it is someone else or just completely made up all together. I think our society needs to be more careful about what they are publicizing, to others over online sources. Not everyone out there wants to just be you’re “friend.” People need to be more careful.

  To finish, I would recommend this movie for generally all ages, but for the mature individual. It has some parts that may not be suitable for the younger generation, but only for the mature eye and ear. I think though that it is a very good documentary and provides a good lesson to all, making sure that we know what we broadcast over social networking sites and just really anywhere in general. People need to be more aware of their surroundings, like I mentioned before not everyone out there just wants to be a mutual friend with you or just your friend in general. There are going to be those people in life that are going to be keeping others on their toes, be constantly exploring, keeping others in check. We as mature social networking users just need to be careful.

Catfish Day 3 - Final

I thought the movie Catfish was really interesting, I feel like it just kind of ended, no real clear ending. I also feel like things kind of skipped around like we didn't get the full story. The whole movie just kind of bothered me. Nothing seemed right at all. Between the 1,500 messages and her husband not really being all "there". I just though it was kind of sad. The family seemed really disfunctional. If I were Nev, I think that I would honestly be really upset, with Angela lying about having cancer, having an older daughter Angela who supposedly was 19 years old. Angela seemed like a hibutal lier. The ending also really bothered me! How everything just ended so calmly and how Angela and Nev are still currently facebook friends, if it were me I would delete her for life. She's clearly not right in the head, crazy. I mean I understand she felt tied down with 2 disabled twin boys, but really why do this when you're married with a family. I feel bad for Nev. That's just horrible. Yuck.

Catfish Day 2

Today was day 2 of catfish. Things were really weird today. The part that really got me was when Nev drove to Michigan to find out only that Megan or the girl said to be Megan was really the mom all along, Angela. Nothing fits. The pictures are not being painted by the young girl Abby, like we thought from the beginning. Angela is painting them, the mom. The picture that was said to be Angela was actually really a family friend. I'm confused why the girls were at a beach house alone, when they went to visit (Nev & Angela). Were there adults present with the girls? Why didn't they want to be seen...?

Catfish Day 1

I think that the movie is really interesting, the first part was kind of different. Things just don't seem to falling together like they should, things seem a little out of place. Like most people now days don't or don't find it safe to date over the internet. I mean 8 months seems like forever, especially when you've never seen the person face to face. Another thing that almost seems disturbing is the fact that Abby is 8 years old and Niev is a great deal older, like why? Why are the communicating, and what's the big obsession with Abby's older sister Megan? & the music recording posts, is this all fake? Is she trying to be someone shes not (Megan) to try and impress Niev?? What's going to happen when they meet face to face, is the family really not real? What's real and what's not real? I'm so confused...

Memories will last Forever.

Texting & Driving

Driving distractions is a leading factor for crashes in Minnesota. Cell phones accounting for at least 25% of all crashes annually result in at least 70 deaths and 350 injuries alone. 81% of Americans admit that they text while drive. Using a cell phone while driving whether hands-free or hand-held, delays a driver’s reaction time as much as having an alcohol concentration level of 0.08% which is considered to be driving while intoxicated and drivers who take their eyes off the road for up to 4.6 out of every 6 seconds when texting is equivalent to driving the length of a football field at 55 mph hours without looking up.

With texting is on the rise and many new phones out with new and improved internet and advanced applications. Cell phones have become a huge distraction, whether it’d be at the dinner table with the family, at school under your desk, while a teacher is trying to teach, or even now days behind the wheel. I think the biggest problem with texting is when it takes over a person’s concentration on the road, pretty soon instead of focusing on the road a person is looking down texting a message like “hey” to a friend, but do they realize what the consequence of that could be? Does that person realize that could be their last words, their last text, do they realize not only are they responsible for what could happen to them but they could also become responsible for what is happening to the other person when they read that text.

            Driving is an activity that requires full concentration 100% of the time. With texting and driving your concentration time is cut because you are too engaged in what is happening “later” when later may not be an option if you don’t focus on what is happening “then”, while driving.  On average a person texting or making a call while driving is three times more likely to get into an accident. Texting while driving is considered to be even more dangerous than driving while intoxicated, because driving while intoxicated you are at least looking at the road and have some concentration and faster reaction time then if you were texting and had no concentration what so ever. On the other hand, texting while driving you have zero concentration, you are looking down and have no reaction time, because when you look up it could be too late. When texting behind the wheel and you crash you can cover a span of 25ft, compared to an intoxicated driver who usually only covers 4ft. It is not legal to operate a cell phone in any way while behind the wheel for anyone under 18 already, but I think it should be illegal for everyone. Think about how many lives could be saved, how much we could cut down on injuries in non-fatal crashes and many other components and risk factors would be almost eliminated. So why not put down your phone and drive, because after all it is the law, and you could be fined up to $300, Is that a big enough consequence?  The question still remains.

Social Blogging & Your Life..Be Careful.

I think that the social media once again is very strong. You need to be careful what you do on the internet anywhere and everywhere. Almost everything that you do can be traced backed to you. Besides would you want someone you don't know or for that matter someone you've never met before viewing personal things about you that you've posted on a certain site? I think that social media has got a control on some people lives. What happened to talking to people in person? Almost all talking is based through networking now days, on certain sites, but then we need to realize that what we say online, someone else could see rather then talking to someone in person, it would be basically between you and that one person. It's scary, the social networking sites, ever wonder why you are getting friend requests from 'friends' you aren't even friends with, people you have never met before, people requesting you that you have no 'mutal friends' with? It's actually quite frightening if you think about it..why did they friend request you, that's the question. People need to be more concious on what they post to the 'public' through sites and forums.