“Two and a Half Men, and Sex and the City.”

These two shows are hilarious and they really show that the single people have the cool lives and jobs and boyfriends/girlfriends.  These characters are not made dumb or ugly because they are the cool ones on the street. 

Married couples have cool lives but they are not seen like that because the media is trying to make it seem like married life is hell and the wife is always in charge.  These shows are fiction but the men in society see this and they get the thought in their head that they never want to get married.

The media is really affecting how are lives go these days and it is sad.  It is affecting the way we look the way we act and the way we choose to live our lives.

Media Fast

It is crazy how relient we are on technology now.  I am a server and if I didn’t have a calculator or computer I would not be able to get my job done.  I would actually have to add my tickets using my math skills which are lacking at this point.  I was able to give up television and my computer for 2 days however.  I got lucky and didn’t have any homework to turn in.

That is another thing some of my classes all of my homework is due through blackboard so therefore I need the internet and a computer.  If I did not have these things I would fail my classes.  It is also a great way to communicate with your instructors.

So giving up media is virutally impossible in this century and centuries to come.  It is probably going to get worse and the future generations will not be able to go to college without a computer.  It is interesting to see how things evolve and grow.  Pretty soon we will have flying cars like in Back to the Future.  You never know.

Peelander Z

I was at the bar the other night and I was able to see this very interesting Japanese band perform.  This band had no musical or vocal talent but they got the audience completely involved.  They dressed up like power rangers basically, each member was a different color.  There was the pink bassist, yellow electric guitar, green drummer, and pink helper.  Their songs made no sense the crowd went crazy.

One of the songs was called “how do you like your meat,” and the crowd would yell “medium rare.”  It was ridiculous what the crowd was doing myself included.  We were puddy in their hand, we did everything they said and we loved it even though this band had no talent at all.  When I got home I started thinking about other celebrities, and artists that we see that some people would do anything for.  I also started thinking about the marketing industry and how we are just “puddy in their hands.”

I had no idea who this band was but I joined in the activities and did what they ask.  How many times have we done that?  It is crazy what people will do for fun and just to fit in.

Burts Bees and Clorox

I don’t know how many of you read City Weekly, but last week they had an interesting article about the bleach and the bees.  The story talks about burts bees and how it is a natural, organic and eco-friendly product.  Burts Bees was only sold at certain stores, like independent markets.  But since 1998 Burts Bees lip balm has been popping up everywhere.  The reason the lip balm is popping up everywhere is because Clorox purchased this organic product.  Clorox a corporate company who does not care about the environment, and whose main industry is directly associated with harmful chemicals.

When I started reading this story I got so frustrated.  I really like Burts Bees and it really upset me to learn that they are now owned by Clorox, the company that makes the most deadly chemicals in the world.  Why does Clorox own Burts Bees?  Simply because of greed.  The woman who took over Burts Bees sold because she wanted money, she wanted 5 houses and nice cars.  It is all about greed and material things.  It is really disappointing!!

Ben & Jerry’s also sold out, Breyers now own them.  I understand that these companies need to make money to pay the bills but when they sell their products usually get changed and they are never the same again.  It is sad that these companies sell out but no one knows because they will not tell the public.  For everyone who uses Burts Bees you will never find anything that says they are affiliated with Clorox because Clorox is not stupid and they know they would lose business if their customers knew.

If anyone has an comments about this I would like to know.

SideWays Hats

Did you know they actually make hats sideways now.  It is ridiculous.  I guess I don’t go with the trends because I like guys who wear their hats straight.  I was talking to this kid I work with and he was the one telling me they actually make hats sideways.  He said you are totally lame if you wear your hat straight and I just started thinking about what we have been talking about about teens and how the marketing industry focuses on them.  He is the prime example of a trend setter.  I ask him why he doesn’t just do his own thing and he said you have to fit in.  I thought it was interesting because I didn’t peg him for the trendy type.

The Hip-Hop movement changed everything.  It changed music and style and trends.  It is funny though because these hip-hop stars will still probably try to wear their hats sideways even in their forties.

Why can only Middle Easterners be terrorists?

While we were talking in the class the other day about people of Islamish decent only be cast as terrorists, I started thinking why can’t the television and film industry ever cast a white man. Look at Timothy Mcvay the Oklahoma City bomber and the two boys at Columbine. I consider those people terrorists and they are white men from America. It is sad that Muslim people are being type cast just because some idiots from their country decided to do some terrible things. There are several actors who are Muslim and darker who are not even from any of the Middle Easterner countries, they may be English, or Irish but people don’t even give them a chance.

My mom recently started a facebook page. She saw some friends she had met in Italy and they are from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. She was talking to me one day and said she was a afraid to add one of her friends because they were wearing a turban and they were of Muslim decent. I told her she was being ridiculous and just encouraging the sterotype we have all cast for these poor people. She is a very open-minded lady but she was worried about what people might think. It just goes to show the most open-minded people can be persuaded that just because you are dark and may be from Saudi Arabia you are a TERRORIST. That is completely erroneous!!

Quarter-million-dollar T-shirt

When I was at work tonight Istarted reading this article under the news of the weird section of the Tribune.  The article is about Raed Jarrar an Iraqi-born citizen, and his experience on a Jetblue flight.  He was on a flight in August 2006 from New York to Oakland California.  Jarrar was trying to board the plane wearing a t-shirt with Arabic lettering, when the airline denied him entrance.  After negotiating, he was allowed to board provided he cover the shirt and sit in the back row.  The shirt read “We will not be silent,” in both English and Arabic I guess.  Jarrar sued and was awarded $240,000 for his inconvience.

When I started reading this article I thought it was funny but then I thought about how that man must have felt.  He was racially profiled because of  his color and culture.  Even though he lives in the US and has an American wife people still sterotyped him as a terrorist.  People felt uncomfortable with him wearing that shirt because of his color and heritage.  We talked about this in class today, how people judge other races on the culture that they know them from.  Noone at the airport new this man but yet they still judged very quickly.  It is interesting, if a white guy was wearing the same shirt no one would have had a problem most likely.

Color

We are living in the 21st Century, the color of peoples skin should not be an issue.  But We still have white people that hate black people, black people who hate white people, latinos who hate white people, white people who hate asians.  I see the world like Stephen Colbert, with no color.

My dad and I were talking one day about walking at night alone as a woman.  He said, “If you were to see a large black man walking past you you would be more scared then if it were a white man.”  I yelled at him for the comment because each man could over power me no matter what color.  I thought it was a ridiculous statement.  After talking I thought about the movie Crash.  There is a scene where Sandra Bullock is actually put in the scenerio my dad talked about.  Sandra Bullock is walking down the street with her husband and a black man is walking by them, so she clings to her husband tightly and tries to make eye contact.  Her character is racist in this film but it is just interesting to see her reaction to this man because of his color.  I wonder what the other situation would be like, would she grab onto her husband if she saw a white man?

Actually “Crash,” is an excellent example of race and how is dealt with in modern times.  The irony is each character in the film ends up helping each other in a way, even though they are prejudice against one another.

Advertisements

Our discussion today made me think of an episode of Bones  I saw the other day.  Bones was trying to find the identity of a woman by using her skull but the woman had had so much plastic surgery it was impossible for her to distinguish between her real facial structure and the plastic.  The woman they were investigating continued to get plastic surgery every few weeks because she did not fell like she was beautiful.  She lived in LA and she needed to uphold an amazing body.  At the end of the episode they showed the young girls picture and she was very pretty the way she began.

The point I am trying to make is parts of our society are buying these advertisements.  I know not everyone believes what they see and I know that the television show is fiction but there are some truths.  Look at all the plastic surgeons, laser hair removal, botox doctors their are today. 

Last semester I was doing an internship at X96 and one day on the show one of the sponsors came in to do a live ad-lib.  I forgot the name of the company but they provided botox injections and Kerry, Bill, and Gina all decided to try a sample.  Bill was not going to but he said his wife has been hounding him about the wrinkles around his eyes.  I just couldn’t believe they were doing it right in the studio.  They are radio DJs no one sees them.  But because they had this opportunity they took it just to feel a little younger for awhile.

Like someone mentioned in class society is so desensitized.  Some don’t even realize that these advertisments are affecting their life.  Hydroxycut is that pill that helps you loose weight fast.  Well I will admit I have tried it and it does not help.  It made me sick.  It all depends on your body type and everyones body type is different.  We are all unique individuals.

This does not happen when you use this shampoo!!!

Beautiful Girl