It's Black Friday People not Black Thanksgiving

So... Thanksgiving break is only a week away. This is a great thing and I have called my boss at Michael's to tell her that I can work over vacation. Again great I can get a little extra cash... Downside? Michael's is open from 4pm to 2am on Thanksgiving... I am hoping I will get it off and only have to work Black Friday, I know that sounds insane but I would rather work that than Thanksgiving. I know I know I shouldn't complain they are giving me hour over break when they don't have to but still... In my opinion it's one of those holidays that the only stores that should be open are grocery stores and even those should close at a reasonable time o allow employees to spend time with there families... and who exactly is going to go to a craft store at midnight.. I mean Black Friday should stay Black Friday and leave Thanksgiving be... anyway that's the end of my rant.

In other news I am getting a calendar with my photography professionally printed and if I'm not mistaken they will be available for purchase with all the proceeds coming to me... which is nice. Though I need to get more details on that let me know if any of you want the link. It should be available in a week or so.. I would appreciate the support.

Newspaper Video

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/national/energy-environment/obama-xi-reach-landmark-climate-pact/2014/11/12/c5e05faa-6a54-11e4-bafd-6598192a448d_video.html

The link above leads to the Washington Podt's posttv website which is found through their regular sites nav bar. I believe this is a good way for them to set this up. There are people who just want to read the news and not deal with videos and this allows them to do just that. But if you would like to catch the video real quick or don't have time to read the whole story you have that option too. Though not all stories come with a video.

Life at Pineberry

Pineberry Farm is a family run Christmas tree farm in the small town of Wheelock Vermont.

Owned and operated by the Potter Family for 25 years it has become well known in the community for their friendly attitudes and great customer service. Being the newest member of the Pineberry family I hardly know all the ins and outs of how the farm runs but I sat down with Nick Potter to find out just how you farm a Christmas tree.

Nick is the youngest grandson of Farm owner Bob Potter and hopes to take over the farm after graduating college next year.

When I asked Nick what the hardest part of tree farming was he gave this response “During trimming season it gets very hot and humid.”

I asked Nick to explain exactly what he meant by trimming season… After aren't Christmas Trees a winter thing?

 First he chuckled and then explained “The winter season is just the big push before we call it a year. Spring starts off our season with planting, we plant 3 to 6 thousand saplings a year. After that all 75 thousand trees need to be fertilized. Then comes shearing, this is how we get the trees to have that perfect cone shape that everyone loves. 3 months later we start cutting trees to send out to major retailers in the area.”

When asked, Nick told us that his favorite part of working on the farm was seeing the children’s faces after picking out their tree and bringing it back to the car to bring home. “It’s where I get the biggest sense of satisfaction.”

Pineberry farm also donates about 75 trees a year to local churches giving all the profits to the organizations. 

“For most farms it’s all about the money” Nick tells me, “for us it’s about helping people that may not be able to afford a tree have that small piece of Christmas that would otherwise be lost. We sell our trees for 25 dollars no matter the size or shape. A lot of other farms are getting 50 – 60 for their taller trees.”

His favorite part of running the farm? Driving his tractor.

“Being able to escape from everything even just for a few hours is great. I don’t have to worry about anything but not hitting trees while I’m in the field.”

If you would like to get in contact with Nick at Pineberry you can reach him at (802) 626- 8075. They would love to see you this year and everyone is welcome.

IReport

So after signing up and looking around IReport, I think this is a great new take on how to cover news from around the world. I mean, CNN can't be everywhere right?
Basically this program allows users to post their own news stories and then CNN can watch and read them and if they think they are good enough possibly use them on their TV news report.
They found a great way to get stories while only doing half the work while also giving upcoming reporters the opportunity to get their names out there.

Audio SlideShow

So I have to create an audio slideshow for class that is 2 minutes long with pictures and an interview. So what was my first instinct to do? This slideshow will be all about life growing up on a tree farm. I will use pictures of Pineberry Farm in Wheelock and interview one of the family members that has lived their whole life there and helped to raise the farm from the beginning. This interview will be a first hand account of what its like to grow up around Christmas trees and what it really takes to get that beautiful tree into your house from start to finish.

Slideshow Critique

Okay so more homework... I know I know.. I'll get to the good stuff soon... Halloween is coming up.. Anyway this time I had to find slide shows and galleries online and critique them.

The first is a Gallery by National Geographic that shows pictures of fall around the world. I believe this does a nice job as you can take your time to go through and read each description of where the picture was taken and the significance of it at your own pace without it automatically changing on you. Here is the link:
 http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/photos/autumn-colors/#/autumn-colors_27164_600x450.jpg.
The one downfall to this slideshow is it rounds back to the beginning and might get confusing if there were more pictures.

The second is a slideshow with sound, this is an audio slideshow called human planet on BBC New's website. It chronicles  people from all over the world while the audio track is the photographer discussing the pictures and why he took them. This type of slideshow is great for when you want to have a story told not by a distracting video that may take your viewers attention off of the story but still want to give a visual. Her is the Link:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-12618167

The final is a slideshow without sound, This was the most difficult to find in a specific news story but upon really thinking about it you see them all the time. They are at the top of most websites giving you the top stories of the day or giving you the program schedule for the night.
This is the link to CBS's homepage: http://www.cbs.com. The very top is a slideshow of their shows and when they are on. This is great for when you want to give the viewer a quick rundown of the big stories on your site in a quick way.

Though I don't believe any of these are a better form I believe they all thrive in there in way as I described in each critique. Though I don't believe slideshows without sound are often thought of as popular we do see them much more often than we think so don't be fooled into thinking the are the lesser of the three.

Data Project

The Chart above shows art sale be country in 2011.

According to this research the biggest art buying country in the world is China followed by the United States with Italy being the smallest. Why is that though? I believe this has something to do with the amount of art seen on a daily basis.

China, with the most art sales, is one of two things either highly industrialized and built up or farming country. Art is secluded to museums and to the people who can afford to buy it along with the few monuments that are still standing around the country. So it makes sense that with the amount of people they have and lack of art around them They would spend the most to get it.

Next is the United States, While we have many museums we also have that want to own the beauty in the art therefore we spend a lot to get it.

Finally Italy, in a country that is surrounded by art made by the Romans so many years ago all it takes for them to enjoy this art is to step outside. They have no need to buy what they can experience for free.

So that is my breakdown, there may be a completely different answer but mine sort of makes sense doesn't it?