Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present!!
15 Mar 09

Lowering the Drinking Age

I went to my cousin’s house this weekend and we were having fun until we randomly began debating about lowering the drinking age. He believed that the drinking age should stay at 21(he is 22) and I obviously was the one that thought that it should be lowered. I believe that the drinking age should be lowered to 18 because people are legally adults at this age. We are able to do to things on our own like go to college, be able to vote, be allowed to buy cigarettes legally, joining the military to fight for our country and do other important things as well like get drivers licenses, so why can’t eighteen year olds be allowed to legally buy alcohol. An individual is able to make a conscious decision to drink or not drink and that should be up to the individual. Having the drinking age at 21 just pushes those 18 year old individuals that cannot legally buy alcohol to binge drink and buy it illegally. Binge drinking occurs when many individuals take advantage of the alcohol provided to them because that is the only time they are able to get their hands on alcohol. Not only would it stop binge drinking but would also stop illegal alcohol drinking among young adults. My cousin said that lowering the drinking age would just cause many more deaths to occur on the road because of drunk drivers. People already drive when they are drunk but it is because they are not really educated in the problems they could cause because of their drinking. To help this idea, young individuals should be should be warned about the effects of drinking and driving. Every two years, my high school put on an educational experience involving students from our high school. One day they would do a live simulation the dangers of drinking and driving. They would have actual students be drivers and victims in the simulation. Between the two days, those students that were supposedly killed because of drunk drivers were not allowed to talk to friends and were kept away from family. The next day, students and parents would share their stories on how it felt to be apart from their family and how their families felt thinking that their children were dead. Having the drinking age at 21 only make alcohol something that 18 year old want to have and because they want to have it they will do anything to get it . If 18, 19 and 20 year olds would be treated as the rest of the adults then many of the behaviors that occur because of the age difference like binge drinking would decrease.

08 Mar 09

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

A young German kid, named Bruno, has to move to a new home because of his fathers job (His father is  a nazi officer and he is being relocated). Bruno has no fun at his new home being away from his friends and looking out the window he sees a barb-wire fence and many people in striped pajamas. He heads out the fence and befriends a young jewish kid named Shmuel who is on the other side of the fence. Shmuel and Bruno become friends and they play around with checkers and Bruno brings him food at times. Shmuel tells Bruno what is happening to him in the camp and Bruno is confused not understanding much of it. The family has a jewish servant who is treated badly by the subordinate of Bruno’s father, Kotler. Bruno’s father brings a man to tutor his children and his main job is to show them Nazi propaganda to ultimately make them anti-Semitic. His sister likes it but Bruno finds it boring and confusing.The servant makes a mistake and is beaten badly by Kotler and is never seen again.Shmuel becomes the new servant and Bruno offers him some pastry. Shmuel is caught with the pastry by Kotler and is accused of stealing. Shmuel says that Bruno gave it to him but Bruno denies it because he gets scared. Shmuel disappears for a while until he is finally seen at the barb fence where he has been beaten up. They become friends again. Bruno’s mom does not like the environment for her children and decided that she will move away with the children. Bruno is sad because he does not want to leave Shmuel. Shmuel tells Bruno that his dad is missing. Bruno tells him that he will help him and the next day they begin digging a hole to get to Shmuel side. Shmuel brings him an extra set of pajamas so that he fits in. Maanwhile. Bruno’s mom notices that he is not playing outside and begins looking for him. Bruno get s to the other side of the hole. Bruno’s mom and sister are looking for him and see his clothes near the barb wire, next to the hole. The kids get stuck with the rest of the prisoners and are forced to undress and put into a gas chamber. Bruno’s dad runs to the camp looking for his son and doesnt see a single prisoner left. For some reason, I like seeing movies that tell the story of the people who lived during the holocaust and what their experiences were. Most of the movies that I have seen seem to revolve around young kids who were put into the concentration camps and tell their story of survival. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas tells the story of the holocaust through the eyes of the a german child who has no idea of what is happening. I found this story to be very touching. You see the innocence of the children being lost because of what is happening. Even with the problems that they were facing the two kids were still able to become friends and it unfortunate that death is what was waiting for both kids. To think that a Nazi’s son was killed because of something he supported is sad but shows him what he was really fighting for. I still find it crazy how one single man led to the mass murder of millions of people because they were not german. This is an amazing movie and although i wrote about it, it is still worth seeing.

02 Mar 09

Roses will get you caught!

I drive to school every day that I have class and what I like to when I’m stuck in traffic in the morning (which is about 80 percent of the time) is listen to the radio stations because they always have things that they talk about and I get a lot of laughs out of their nonsense. Well, since I started driving to UCLA I listen to a segment on 102.7 KISS-FM called Ryan’s Roses. The host of the segment is the American Idol host, Ryan Seacrest, and what the segment does is give people who suspect that their significant others are cheating on them to set up a trap for their loved ones to admit that they are and have been cheating on them. On one of the segments, a young woman believed that her husband of 10 years was cheating on her because he would leave for trips with co-workers and he did not treat her the way he had before. She had even found condoms in his car and he said that they were her cousins. Anyways, Ryan had his assistant, call the husband because he was on a trip for work offering him a free dozen roses that he could send to anyone. If he were to send them to his wife, he would be faithful but if he sent them to someone else that meant he was cheating. When the assistant called the husbands number, a woman picks up and says that the man is in the other room and to call back but not to mention that she had answered the phone because he would get mad. The husband was obviously cheating and when they call back, the couple gets in a huge argument on the air so that all of Los Angeles and other counties could listen. Although I do find it hilarious in the ways that men are caught cheating and what their excuses are, I still believe that it is not right for someone to put someone else’s business out in the open like they do on the show for others to hear. I think that it exploits the relationship problems just so that the station could have good ratings. I don’t think that their business should be put out in the open because it is all a matter of privacy. Imagine if you were cheating for some reason, would you like to be put on the spot for others to get laughs out of your problems. Other radio stations don’t go to these length to make their listeners laugh and have good ratings, so why should they.

22 Feb 09
A couple weeks ago, as I was once again watching television, I accidentally changed the channel and stumbled onto a show titled “True Beauty.” Without even seeing any part of the show, I knew that it was going to involve people who thought they were hot and sexy and who other people also saw as being hot and sexy. The contestants believe that they are playing to be the prettiest person on the exterior, but in actuality, the whole time they are being tested on being beautiful on the inside. The episode that I saw had the contestants split in two groups and compete against each other to be safe and still compete for the grand prize. They were given sports to practice and their challenge was to make the best set of pictures. While, the contestants thought that they were going to be tested on having the best pictures their actual challenge was to test who would be compassionate to a complete stranger. Before their photo shoot, the wardrobe assistant was an actress who was suppose to break down and begin to cry to get some reaction out of the contestants. Only two of the contestants comfort her and the rest get mad that she is not paying attention to them. They take their photos, one group is chosen to be safe and then two people are the bottom two and are at risk of being eliminated. The final challenge before one of them is eliminated is to see who picks up a bottle that is thrown in front of them instead of the trash and disposes of it. After one is told they have lost, they are given the news that they are being eliminated because they were not pretty on the inside and that is what they were being tested on. I found this show to be phony because all the people are doing is giving the contestant time on the air. I don’t see how the contestant can possibly learn to be beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. They are just given opportunities to show how good looking they are and don’t make any advancement in showing them to be better people. I think that there are many shows that are just made to advance the careers of other people much like the bachelor and “Flavor of Love” shows and its many spin off shows that are obviously fake. You can’t really be ready to marry a person after you have known them for 1 month.  Media should worry more about making shows that bring awareness of topics and help resolve issues rather than add to problems. I think that the “True Beauty” show just adds to the idea that if you don’t look like them you won’t be able to do the things that they do like be on television shows and  or become famous because that is what most of the people on these types of reality television shows want.

A couple weeks ago, as I was once again watching television, I accidentally changed the channel and stumbled onto a show titled “True Beauty.” Without even seeing any part of the show, I knew that it was going to involve people who thought they were hot and sexy and who other people also saw as being hot and sexy. The contestants believe that they are playing to be the prettiest person on the exterior, but in actuality, the whole time they are being tested on being beautiful on the inside. The episode that I saw had the contestants split in two groups and compete against each other to be safe and still compete for the grand prize. They were given sports to practice and their challenge was to make the best set of pictures. While, the contestants thought that they were going to be tested on having the best pictures their actual challenge was to test who would be compassionate to a complete stranger. Before their photo shoot, the wardrobe assistant was an actress who was suppose to break down and begin to cry to get some reaction out of the contestants. Only two of the contestants comfort her and the rest get mad that she is not paying attention to them. They take their photos, one group is chosen to be safe and then two people are the bottom two and are at risk of being eliminated. The final challenge before one of them is eliminated is to see who picks up a bottle that is thrown in front of them instead of the trash and disposes of it. After one is told they have lost, they are given the news that they are being eliminated because they were not pretty on the inside and that is what they were being tested on. I found this show to be phony because all the people are doing is giving the contestant time on the air. I don’t see how the contestant can possibly learn to be beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. They are just given opportunities to show how good looking they are and don’t make any advancement in showing them to be better people. I think that there are many shows that are just made to advance the careers of other people much like the bachelor and “Flavor of Love” shows and its many spin off shows that are obviously fake. You can’t really be ready to marry a person after you have known them for 1 month.  Media should worry more about making shows that bring awareness of topics and help resolve issues rather than add to problems. I think that the “True Beauty” show just adds to the idea that if you don’t look like them you won’t be able to do the things that they do like be on television shows and  or become famous because that is what most of the people on these types of reality television shows want.


15 Feb 09

“THE GIRLFRIEND”..”THE BOURBON”

15 Feb 09

“The Girlfriend”

I saw another good commercial that I found really funny. As you can tell I watch a lot of television. I’ll post it up as soon as I find it. The commercial begins with an attractive young woman sitting on a couch. She talks with a soft and sultry accent. She begins to describe how she would like her boyfriend. She says that she would like him even with a little bit of fat on him and even with a hairy back. She would like him to watch a lot of football and to hang out with his friends. She would not be angry at her boyfriend if he did not bring her flowers and she mentioned she would not get jealous if her boyfriend visited strip clubs either. Her last words are that he can do whatever he wants and that she does not care. What is really surprising is that at the end a man’s voice says “The Girlfriend” and compares her to alcohol. The last part was the funniest part of the commercial. My initial reaction when the commercial started was that the woman was very appealing to my eye.  I thought that the commercial was promoting a dating site because it was describing the ideal girlfriend for some men. I said to myself that they were probably going to get a lot of new men on their dating site. I started laughing when the man said that she was “The girlfriend” the same way that the alcohol that they were promoting was “The alcohol.” I thought it was a good strategy to use that woman saying those things because they would certainly get men to drink their alcohol because men would think that it is the same as having the perfect girlfriend. I found this commercial to be quite interesting since it is a good way to make people to drink their alcohol. Other commercial just show the alcohol and their new “drinkability,” (whatever that is) and their characteristics. But the commercial appeal to men by making woman equal to drinking the alcohol that the creators are promoting. Although I think the commercial disrespects women by saying that they need to be like the young woman in the commercial for their boyfriends to love them, it is a good tactic to get men to buy their bourbon.

08 Feb 09

 I saw this commercial a couple weeks ago, before the Super bowl banned it from being shown during its game, and i just wanted to see what your guys reaction is to it. When it first came out on the screen, I was watching a basketball game and the women began walking around in lingerie. Of course it caught my attention but when they began making out with vegetables and rubbing them all over their bodies , it just got plain awkward. This commercial is from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) which is an animal rights organizations. Almost all of their advertisements include animals whether it is showing mal treatment of them or telling its audience not to makes animals into clothing. The main point of the commercial is that according to studies, vegetarians have better sex. I found that the way PETA wanted it viewers to stop eating animals was by telling them that if you ate only vegetables you would have better sex and that the commercial went a little too far in the way it tried to get its point across and that it does not even involve animals in their commercial like they should have because they are fighting for animal rights.

Sometimes PETA does take the way it wants to make it point across way too far. A couple years ago, PETA encouraged the drinking of beer instead of drinking milk. This campaign encouraged underage drinking and many colleges and universities opposed this campaign. I also believe that the Super Bowl was correct in its action of banning the commercial during its game because of it many young viewers that would be watching the game. I do not think that it was because of the nudity because we see more nudity in television now a days but because of the sexual content that it included. Activist organizations  also make themselves look bad in the way they choose to spread their believes. Instead of making commercials like these, they should have used that money to help animals. Actions do speak louder than words.

18 Jan 09
The thing that I found interesting is from Barack Obama’s inauguration poster. The poster is the most important one seen around these days because of how close President-elect Barack Obama is to be sworn in as the President of the Unites States. Of course, this is history but what I found very interesting was about the person behind this poster and many others seen during his campaign like the HOPE poster with Obama’s face on it. The creator of this poster is Shepard Fairey, a contemporary artist who is best known for his clothing line Obey Giant. This poster was not created by an individual, whose life job was to come up with these types of campaigning posters but a young influential artist whose creations were first and still are part of the streets. Shepard Fairey has put a lot of his drawings and images across numerous parts of the country on streets and he has received much praise and critique for his actions. Fairey has been arrested and fined numerous times for having put his drawing up on street walls but that has not stopped him from doing what he has a passion for. What I am trying to get at with this is the idea that this presidential election was a historic one not only because of having the first African American in office but the amount of young people who have taken initiative for their country. You would not have seen street artists in the past two elections campaigning for presidents like Shepard Fairey did for Barack Obama. This election got many young individuals thinking about the country and taking a stand for themselves and what they believe in. Barack Obama even thanked Shepard for taking part in his campaign by making numerous posters in support of Obama.

The thing that I found interesting is from Barack Obama’s inauguration poster. The poster is the most important one seen around these days because of how close President-elect Barack Obama is to be sworn in as the President of the Unites States. Of course, this is history but what I found very interesting was about the person behind this poster and many others seen during his campaign like the HOPE poster with Obama’s face on it. The creator of this poster is Shepard Fairey, a contemporary artist who is best known for his clothing line Obey Giant. This poster was not created by an individual, whose life job was to come up with these types of campaigning posters but a young influential artist whose creations were first and still are part of the streets. Shepard Fairey has put a lot of his drawings and images across numerous parts of the country on streets and he has received much praise and critique for his actions. Fairey has been arrested and fined numerous times for having put his drawing up on street walls but that has not stopped him from doing what he has a passion for. What I am trying to get at with this is the idea that this presidential election was a historic one not only because of having the first African American in office but the amount of young people who have taken initiative for their country. You would not have seen street artists in the past two elections campaigning for presidents like Shepard Fairey did for Barack Obama. This election got many young individuals thinking about the country and taking a stand for themselves and what they believe in. Barack Obama even thanked Shepard for taking part in his campaign by making numerous posters in support of Obama.