Boobs, boobs they’re everywhere. March 26, 2007

Do we all have a little Booberexia?

Well I have to say I don’t usually think about my boobs, until now! But I do think about other things. The things on my body that I feel ‘don’t meet the standards’. Well the standards are freaking everywhere for us to compare ourselves to.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Well it seems that our perfectly fine, milk carrying breasts are okay, but we fix them anyways. They are not medically diseased or damaged, just not big enough or perky enough. They just don’t look like the air-brushed boobs in Maxim, so we have to go get them cut open, stuffed and sewed back up. In hopes that they will reflect an image into the mirror we will be happy with.

But where does it end? So you get the boobs “fixed” will you be happy or just have to buy new bras? I mean honestly it will never stop because we are inundated with pornographic images everywhere in our culture so we will constantly feel inferior.

To split or not to split? March 26, 2007

The answer is generally no (in formal writing it is probably good to avoid using the split infinitive).

The split infinitive is a grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, occurs between the marker to and the bare infinitive (uninflected) form of a verb. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A famous split infinitive is: “TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE”
Boldly (the adverb) splits to go (the full infinitive).

Bloodshed for a diamond? February 10, 2007

If you have not seen the movie BLOOD DIAMOND, you MUST. This move gave me a new perspective on my life, my world and my jewelry. This is one of those movies that are so important for everyone to see. After watching this movie I was able to see the value of mass media again. People in North America need to be made aware of what is happening on a global scale and portraying it in a 2 hour movie seems to reach more of the population than a few minutes of news coverage.

They said it in the movie, “we see it between the sports and weather broadcast” but not enough to do something about it. Now I am not saying that if everyone in North America saw this movie we would band together and stop the atrocities on the continent of Africa, but public awareness is the first step towards a better future.

I think mass media in the form of “Hollywood movies” and some documentaries are more effectively generating awareness than TV news broadcasts or a tiny column in a newspaper.

I know I would think twice about that sparkling rock on my finger after seeing this movie and I hope it does the same for you.

BUT IT MUST BE SAID, my initial thought after the lights came on was, “there are people living in the most unimaginable situations and here we are with our bags of popcorn and jumbo soft drinks watching a movie about it…”

Pop culture — who owns it? February 2, 2007

How can companies own the rights to pop culture? Pop culture only exists because of the audience, therefore, at some point its ownership is no longer within the big corporations that put it out there. It becomes public domain.

Don’t they say all publicity is good publicity. Well a YouTube video of someone lipsinking a song is a form of publicity. They are just pissed cause they can’t get any money in their pocket from it.

I get that we are all driven by $$$ in this capitalist society and the big corporations need to make some too. Here’s the thing, sales are down, but they can’t be too bad because all of the big ones are still in business — they are still making money off us, just giving a little back now!

IS THIS REALLY ILLEGAL??? Max singing Madonna

What is cool? January 29, 2007

Last class we watched “Merchants of Cool” and today I watched the end of The Simpsons, where Homer was trying to be cool. At the end Marge was asking the kids if she was cool and how to be cool. It is an interesting thought… Really what is cool? Is being cool having the “cool” clothes and lots of friends or is it also about the attitude you personify? In the class film they were “cool hunting” but said it was hard to catch because it was constantly changing. I disagree I think cool is about a person’s ability to be a leader.

I remember in high school. The “cool” jock guy, could do/wear anything and he was still cool — why because he had a posse of little followers. So I think the “cool” they were talking about in the movie was really more like “fad hunting”. They were simply trying to find the next fad that might catch on… What is cool is the person portraying the fad, not the clothes, piercing, bag or shoes.

If it ain’t broke, don’t change it January 19, 2007

Television has become so generic. There is such a fad process to TV. For example, it was the sitcoms (Seinfeld, Friends), those ended and then it was reality shows (survivor, big brother…), now all you see on TV are game shows. Seriously I probably watched 10 different shows over Christmas holidays in which a contest was playing a game of luck to win 1 million dollars… I think the “TV bosses” are all just one person. They get an idea, North America tunes in and they just make the same show but change the characters or prize at the end of the show. Talk about copyright issues.

The text mentioned “borrowed ideas” come on; every game show on TV right now is based on one idea. It caught on, spread to other channels, we get sick of it and “the boss” thinks of something else to entertain us with for awhile. And everyone copies it. That is one fine line between copied and borrowed ideas.

You know what never fails — Hollywood. I am more interested in watching ET to see what Brangelina said about Jen Aniston then reading the 400 page book for my history class. Come on! Why do I care? Well when my girlfriend calls or a bunch of us go out for drinks, guess were the conversation does not lead to — my history book. I need something to contribute to the conversation, so I watch ET. Nobody talks politics as much as they talk celebrities anymore.

This clip is 100 seconds of Brangelina… The fact that this is out there and so many people (I am not excluding myself) know about it and waste their time is really depressing.

My class shopping is finally done… January 12, 2007

Yes, although I think mass media is embedded in our society I have to argue that access is limited.  As Professor Lawton said in class, this limitation is based on the factors of location, economics and education.  Those individuals living in a country with access to computers, internet and education are the individuals who are most able to participate in mass media communication. 

In this class I would love to delve deeper into who controls the mass media we see all around us, in some places it is the government and in others it is the producers of consumer products.  I think our North American lifestyle is centered on being consumers.  That is what we do seven days a week, whether we are in public or private we are bombarded with advertisements and messages about things we “need” to buy.  So is our mass media communication being censored and controlled by Swiffer Mops and Colgate Total? 

                                           

Furthermore, I think this sociology class is going to allow us to share our opinions and experiences with a form of anonymity that some students need in a class of 65.  Not only will weekly blogging allow us to develop and publish our own perspectives, but it will also create a unique form of social networking in a university class that I myself have never experienced.