Mon
Mar
16
So this show I watched just watched this past weekend called “The Unit,” on cbs, which is about a unit in the military that does not technically exist unless to those who are in the government or in the unit itself. The show was about a terrorist attack from an extremist prison group, known as the arian warlords, on the water system in the Sierra Ridge, California area. These cities in this area are being taken over by an extremely toxic gas. A person in these conditions cannot withstand being outside for any longer then 30 second without being effected, causing them to sophisticate and die. People are lining the streets dead from the gas pouring through the sprinkler systems.
I found this show to be interesting because even though the attack on 9/11 was almost eight years ago the majority of media has in some way or another alluded to terrorist attacks. Whether it is re-enacting the attack of 9/11, or suicide bombings, or even other attacks that people are not aware of, like one in the case above. Keeping these situations in the media is just causing people to become more paranoid about our nation being under attack yet again. I’m not saying it is bad to be aware of the things around you, because I do think it is important to be cautious of what is happening in our world. But to be continuously reminded about it over and over again, is that really necessary? We have thousands of our military men and women still over in the mideast fighting and taking care of the situation that was thrust upon us eight years ago. It is not healthy to live in a state of fear all of the time. People need to walk tall and show these countries that we are not afraid of them and that this situation will come under control. It is just taking time, lots of time. We must be patient and put faith in those who have the power; not live in this state of fear.
Sun
Mar
8
I just recently watched the movie Bye, Bye Birdie and it is a pretty old movie that was remade in 1995. The movie is about a pop singer, Conrad Birdie, who is every girls fantasy man. Every young woman wants to meet him they only problem is he is being drafted into the army. To make one last big bang before he leave his manager plans to pick one lucky girl, Kim Mackavy, to get a kiss from Conrad Birdie. A kiss that will send him off into the hands of uncle Sam. This sends his status into an even bigger craze sweeping through the nation, and especially Sweet Apple where Kim lives.
This movie really got me thinking about about how obsessed girls can get when it comes to teen superstars. These girls are all apart of fan cubs in which they take pledges to love Conrad and practice their screams for when they see him on the television or hear his songs on the radio. I mean we all have seen those girls who scream and cry at concerts just being able to see and be in the general presence of thier favorite superstars. Girls who will camp out over night just to be the first to get their CDs signed by the band. I see this craze coming back in full force when it comes to the Jonas Brothers. What has this world come to that we have become obsessed with the thought that could never be?
I truly believe that girls these days need to focus more on reality and they everyday, rather then the fantasy idea that one day they might be in the presence of a superstar. Girls are growing up too fast. Thinking too much about boys and wanting to rush into relationships, or even just thinking about getting in a relationship. We need to help set a role model for younger girls to show them how they should make the most of being a kid because there is so much time for them to grow up, there is no hurry.
Mon
Mar
2
People today see reality television as trashy. Although I do agree with this that it gives people the wrong idea on life tactics, I admit that am one of those people who become infused in their schemes and plots. We recently read in class an article on reality television and the lengths those on the show will go to, to be named the ultimate player and winner of a sum of money. Specifically I am fascinated by the show Survivor on cbs and have been since the very first season. There are so many different aspects that are in the dynamics of becoming the winner. From social skills to athleticism and from secrecy to alliances, there are so many contradictions that one must face to achieve the prize. It awes me the extents players will go to “out wit, out play, and out last” their fellow survivors. One player in a past season, nick named Jonny Fairplay, created a scheme even before he came to the island. He told his friend back home that if were ever to come to his aid in a challenge to tell him that his grandmother died. When it came to the challenge the friend followed through with the plan and all the members of the team gave him the sympathy vote and allowed him to win the challenge. In the end his grandmother never truly did pass away, which we find out right away, but the players do not find out until the final reunion. These players begin their game play before they even step foot on their remote location which goes to show you how devious and cutthroat people will go to be on top.
All reality shows seem to be the same. The must work together as a team to win challenges and at the same time be working an individuals game on the inside. Does this give people the wrong impression on how to make it to the top of the ladder of success? I mean yes most must realize that it is fake and the majority of those tactics would not technically work in today’s culture, but there are those few who take these ideas to heart and use them to get what they desire in life, both material and status wise.
Sun
Feb
22
I am not ashamed to say that I am a huge country lover. My favorite music is country music because it tells a story about an experience that person or someone close to them have gone through. I also really enjoy the outdoors and have been called the small town country atmosphere. However many people tend to disagree with me on these terms. There is this show called My Big Redneck Wedding that plays on CMT (the country music television). This show exploits all the negative aspects of being a small town man or woman in the country and shows all the stereotypes that normal people in the same situation try to stray away from. These couples go all out “redneck” style for there weddings; complete with camouflage bridesmaid dresses, potluck style reception, and a mud pit. Yes there are people out in our society that live up to these standards but this is not the norm, and yet this is what the media portrays as the typical southern couple. They depict them as unintelligent with no clue to how to live a normal life, a life in which most of our culture is accustom to. It is as if these couples are a completely different species but they are just like us. Is it fair for us to judge them on their way of living? Everyone is different and everyone is brought up a different way. There is no reason to judge someone on their definition of the perfect wedding, let alone the perfect life style. Weddings do not always have to be this glamorous, thousand dollar wedding with huge center pieces and ice sculptures. Weddings are about two people in love dedicating themselves to one another. Who cares if it is in a fancy ballroom or a barn, as long as they are happy and content with it so should we. These weddings and couples are definitely odd in some ways but they are so in love and the receptions they have appear to be the hit of the town.
Wed
Feb
18
All this talk about race has really got me thinking about movies in the last decade or so and how they are portraying interracial romance. The movie industry has been branching out and producing more movies that present love between different races; movies like Save the Last Dance and Guess Who. Although these are steps in the right direction, are they really representing a society that supposedly does not care about the color of peoples skin? Interracial romance movies seem to be all the same, the couple is content with falling in love and the yet it is those people that surround them that tell them it is unethical. Like in Save the Last Dance, Sarah, a caucasian teen who has moved from the suburbs of Chicago to the ghetto projects of the east side to live with her dad, falls in love with an African American named Derek. This couple is happy to have found one another until their peers begin to get in the way calling Sarah a man steeler. It is society that drags these two apart. A society in which Caucasian women and African American men do not interact romantically. It is unfamiliar for them to see, thus they do all in their power to right the wrong they see. In Guess Who it is the same situation except the man in Caucasian and the women is African American and instead of peer it is her family. The couple, Simon and Teresa, have neglected to tell her parents that Simon is Caucasian when they come to spend a weekend with the family. When Teresa’s parents find out, her father is out to dig up dirt because when it comes to race there is a huge mistrust. It is the family in this movie, well mostly the father, that causes a wedge in the newly engaged couples relationship. Culture today has deemd interracial marriages and relationships to fail, is this really fair?
Having an African American boyfriend myself I see the the looks people give us when we walk down the street holding hands and the comments that are whispered behind our backs. It all still awes me. For a country that has overcome so many obstacle in its history in regard to race, it just shocks me how people cannot accept couple’s choices on love. One cannot help who they love. One does not fall in love with the color of a persons skin but rather what is inside. It does not matter whether someone is black, white, yellow, pink, or polka dot, it is whats on the inside that truly matters most!
Sun
Feb
8
A ninety’s classic “Josie and the Pussycat,” stars three young girls who are striving to become the all american rock stars. When a major record company just happens to hire them on a whim because they look good on an album cover, the girls jump in with both feet, not thinking of the precautions. What they didn’t know was that the company was using subliminal messages placed strategically underneath their music to sell not only a variety of consumer goods but the band itself. The movie shows how advanced technology can become and how company’s could possibly send messages through there products in order to get consumers to buy exactly what they want.
I think this idea is a bit farfetched. I do not believe in the whole sending subliminal messaging through music or movies, at least not to the exaggerated extreme the movie presented. Everyone still has free choice and it is there choice on whether or not they want to buy a specific color or specific brand of clothing. If someone wants to go out and buy pink puma sweatpants then they are going to buy it, with no help from others.
Yes advertising can lure you toward a type of style but it is not forcing you into buying it. Also there are those people in the world that long to be like Paris Hilton or Chris Brown, and will do or spend whatever it takes to look and become just like them, but there is no movie or music that is sending hidden messages to them to be just like these super stars. They themselves are the one who instill in their own minds that they are going to everything in their power to make themselves look like them, and it is their money they are spending. Nobody is changing their minds and nobody is telling them they have to do this, it is their personal choice.
Mon
Feb
2
Last night I watched the movie Eagle Eye for the first time and well it made me a bit uneasy about how advanced technology has become. The movie is about a top secret government run program, called Eagle Eye, that has control over all aspects of the technological world in the entire nation. This program is able to tap into anything from cell phones to stop lights video cameras. It can even track objects by vibrations. This is a bit unnerving to me because it is the whole idea that big brother is watching. Something or someone that is constantly watching and recording your every move and who knows your most intimate moments. There is nowhere to hide!
The expanse of technology these days is continuously growing and there looks to be no end on the horizon. Its like what Henry Jenkins explained in his Convergence Culture article, he went to buy a simple “single-function phone” to make calls with and no mobile company carries them. Just a few short years ago it was a luxury to even have a single-function phone and yet in today’s culture everyone is in search of the latest and greatest products the markets have to offer. Everyday new advancements are evolving and everyday these advancements get that much closer to being able to control itself. It is scary to think that one day there could be a program out there, in which we had a hand in creating, that may possibly be a threat to our nations security and innocent people’s lives.
By all means I am not saying that all technology is bad. There are many developments that are helping in our health fields to fight fatal diseases and ultimately save lives. There seems to be no right way to handle this every growing process of technological evolution. Its a blessing for now, but could possibly become a curse.
Sun
Jan
25
As silly as it may be for a college student to still be watching kid shows, I have been a bit obsessed with this show called The Secret Life of an American Teenager. Its about a fifteen year old high school student who gets pregnant from a one night incident at band camp with the school’s bad boy. I enjoy this show because it shows how easily it is for anyone, even a fifteen year old, to get into a difficult situation and how one handles that situation.
In this past weeks episode the young girl and her new boyfriend, who are supposedly in love, decide to get married because she believes that will make everything easier and remove the stress she is having. I really disagreed with this because it seems to show that marriage will take away all problems when in reality it can make things even more difficult, especially for a couple of fresh into high school students. Getting married adds an even bigger responsibility to a persons life. You are now not only caring for one person but for two, and in Amy’s case, the young pregnant girl in the show, two other people.
However in the same way this show provides a good message to young woman who are thinking that having unprotected sex is alright and that nothing bad could ever happen to them. This young girl got pregnant after the first time she had sex and is now having to endure a very heavy burden. This show illustrates the true struggles a teenager goes through when they are pregnant, both the ups and the downs. Difficult decisions such as should I give the baby up for adoption? Or should I go to a different high school so nobody can gossip about me? All these questions are not unusual to think about. Sex is not something to take lightly. I believe its a big decision that one needs to make on there own and not be pressured into. Also, that person needs to use the proper protection because you never know when something unexpected will happen. So look to the future and take it into your own hands.
Sun
Jan
18
I watched the movie “Just One of the Guys,” the early version of “She’s the Man,” the other night and it hit me on how many movies out there revolve around the transformation of gender identity to gain something that cannot be accomplished in ones own physique. Also, I noticed that those who are transforming their gender are always woman wanting to become a man. In this movie a young woman switches schools, and genders, to get an article published; one in which she believes is not published due to the fact it was submitted by her, a female. The message here seems to be that woman are inadequate of getting what they desire due to the fact that they are insubordinate to the male race. I see it as unfair that directors of these movies only portray woman as the ones who want to change. Why can’t it be a man who longs to become an interior designer or a nurse and decides to change into a woman to be taken seriously? This might seem like a ridiculous example, but you get my point. Its always woman who are feeling like their value in society is being challenged. We as woman are told from a very young age that we can do anything that men can do, but everything in society seems to contradict that. When you look at professions such as firefighters, police officers, lawyers, and engineers there are very few woman in those fields. Why is that? Are woman intimidated by the high numbers of men in those fields? Or do they think that because there are so many men in these professions that it would be too difficult to even try, and if they did try they would be denied because they are female and therefore incompetent? Women should not always be shown as insufficient and should be shown as equal to men, but in today’s culture that doesn’t seem to be something that will be accomplished anytime soon.
Wed
Jan
14
I found this quote and I really liked it so I thought I’d share it with you.
” Stress is like a rocking chair, gives you something to do, but gets you no where”
- Author unknown
