The Runaways

So last weekend I went and saw The Runaways; the move with Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart. I didn’t really know what to expect. The only reason I went to that one was because my friend’s brother was in it. (and he was paying for my ticket) I had never heard any of that music before and I didn’t know what it was even about.

I went into it with an open mind. I guess the story was good, but I just couldn’t get passed the fact that Dakota Fanning was all grown up, doing drugs, and half-naked in many of the scenes.  After seeing her in movies such as Uptown Girls, and I am Sam, this was a totally different genre than she usually works with. It was hard to really take her seriously in this type of role.

 And Kristen Stewart I don’t like to begin with. I haven’t seen Twilight, and I am not planning on it. But from what I’ve seen of her at award shows and in interviews, she just really annoys me.

The movie itself wasn’t bad, and I have talked to people who really seemed to like it. I don’t really recommend it though.

This Doesn’t Make “Scents”

I was watching tv the other day and a commercial came on. I usually don’t watch commercials because I can just fast forward through them, but this one caught my attention. A pretty young woman was in a room and this blissful and light music started playing. All of these shiny and shimmery lights were dancing around the screen and she followed them up some stairs and into a bedroom. It gave off a very happy and romantic vibe, and was very reminiscent of a perfume commercial. (which I think was their goal) She found her self faced with a big bottle of what looked like perfume until it spun around and presented her with the words “Cervical Cancer”. And then a woman’s voice started talking and said “Maybe it’s unfair to get your attention this way, but nothing’s fair about cervical cancer….” And then she went on and spat some facts about it.

To me, this commercial was in very bad taste. Cancer isn’t something you can make light of. It is a serious issue and to get people’s attention about it like that isn’t right. I thought it was kind of disturbing but I guess they got the point across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HumoHUC8yQ

“Daddy Like”

After taking a few communications classes at SMC I now find myself noticing things I usually would not have ever paid attention to. For example, the other day I was driving down Wilshire and one billboard in particular caught my attention. It was a huge one, lit up with bright lights. On it a mini van was pictured and the words “Daddy Like” were displayed huge and bold. Nothing else was written or pictured. I began thinking about the target audience. Usually mini vans are ”soccer mom vans” and aren’t portrayed as glamorous. Usually the commercials or adds are geared towards woman since they are the main people who drive them. This billboard though took a new approach. By stating “Daddy Like” it is giving the impression that this mini van is more attractive, or acceptable to women or men. I just thought it was funny that they would target men for a car that is so much made out to be a womans’ vehicle. I have also seen a few commercials where mini van companies are targeting children as well. They focused mainly on the tv and back seat room so the kids would enjoy it more.

Celebreality.

The first day of class we talked a little bit about celebrities and how people idolize them. We see them in the movies or on tv or in magazines and we shape our thoughts around what we are shown. Most people have never seen them in real life, let alone met them.

For example, our teacher asked us how many people were sad when Michael Jackson died and a few people raised their hands; me being one of them. He proceeded to ask how many of us actually knew Michael Jackson, and obviously none of us did. The next question was why, then were we sad? No one really had a straight answer other than we liked his music. No one had a personal reason as to why they’d be sad that he had passed away, therefore proving the point that we have our own impression, and create these imaginary “relationships” with celebrities. 

For the past three weekends my two friends and I have been hanging out and partying over at Ryan Sheckler’s house. All of us had watched his show “Life of Ryan” on MTV and we each admitted to having a crush on him. I am sure many girls can relate as to why. The drive from our place to his in San Clemente is about an hour so we had plenty of time to talk about what we were expecting. Of course we were nervous and excited, but didn’t really know how to act. We arrived to his place and were welcomed very nicely. Although, Ryan was not what we had expected at all. He was not very nice at first and didn’t have that great of a personality. (He also wasn’t as cute in person as we had thought, but hey, looks aren’t everything…) Not to mention it was a little surreal being in his house, and partying with him. We barely associated with Ryan throughout the night. Instead we became good friends with his friends. Our reaction to Ryan has not stopped us from going there though. Since that first time, we have been invited back every weekend after, and we are even heading there tonight!

This may not be the case with every celebrity out there, but from my personal experiences and from what I have heard from others, this happens quite a bit. Sometimes things might just be better left to the imagination.

Comfort Zones

When you go off to college most of the time you don’t know anyone when you get there. Maybe a few people from your highschool will go to the same college, but the majority of people will be strangers. Stepping out of your comfort zone and getting to know new people can be really hard for many students. Coming from highschool where everyone had their core group of friends, to a place where we know no one can be quite a shock. If you go to a Junior College then for many students, like myself, still live at home so they aren’t too concerned with making new friends. But for those people who either go to a 4-year or move to a different state for a JC then things can be difficult.

A lot of times students will try to make friends with people in their classes. This can be easy because you will see them every week for a whole semester. Sometimes though, there is no one in your classes that you’re really interested in being friends with. Either that, or you don’t know how to approach someone and start to talk with them. I have this problem a lot. I don’t want to make a fool of myself when I don’t know what to say, and no one likes an awkward silence.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions that I made with my best friend was to be more outgoing with people we don’t know, and not to be afraid to fail. Outside of school I have been doing very well with this. Although when it comes to the classroom I seem to freeze up. I can’t really explain why this happens, because I am not a shy person in the slightest. Maybe it’s because I still live at home and it’s not a life or death situation for me to make new friends. I can totally let loose when my best friend is with me though. Maybe it’s like a safety blanket kind of thing. Who knows.  It should be interesting when I transfer to a university to see how or if I change.

Taking this communications class I thought would help me come out of my shell in the classroom a bit. (I think I was wrong.) Even though a lot of our grade was based on class participation, I found myself keeping comments to myself even when I had something to say. I guess I’ll have to keep working on it.

Half-Time Bore

This past Sunday was the Superbowl; a huge deal here in America. Everyone gathers around their tv and watches the big game. The way this day is hyped up some would think it is a national holiday. Others think it should be. This was just another excuse to have a party and drink beer all day for many people. I bet some of the people who attended these parties didn’t even know who was playing before the game started.

If you’re not into football at all then the producers do a great job at keeping your attention with funny commercials and supposedly a good half-time show.

In 2004 as I am sure everyone is aware of, was the huge controversy about Janet Jackson’s little nip-slip during her half-time performance with Justin Timberlake. Because of the wide age group of viewers for the Superbowl this turned into a huge scandal. I guess to guarantee there will be no more nudity since then the producers have chosen old and boring performers/bands for the half-time show.

Here is a list from 2005-2010.

2005: Paul McCartney

2006: The Rolling Stones

2007: Prince

2008: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

2009: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

2010: The Who

Although these bands might be credible and respected, the main audience doesn’t want to see a bunch of old men performing songs they may or may not know. Also, hence the word “men”. There can’t be any nip-slips if there are no woman on the stage, right? 

Before 2004 they had performers like No Doubt, Nelly, Brittney Spears, Adam Sandler, Christina Aguilera, Chris Rock, etc. All of these people are young and current so the viewers could relate to what they were be performing. I think the producers need to get back with the times for the 2011 Superbowl and choose a hip performer. There were so many break-out artists this year, they could have made an awesome half-time show. 

This year when half-time started and The Who came on, my whole family left the room until it was over. Definitely not what the producers were going for I don’t think…

Skill vs. Popularity

A week or so ago in class we were looking at a bunch of different news papers from all around the area and we were told to take note on how many e and how many men were pictured and/or mentioned. The numbers we came up with were unbelievable. Men dominated all except the Calendar Section, and as expected, the section that had the biggest difference was the sports page. Basketball, golf, and hockey were the main sports that were talked about. The articles were about men, and written by men. One article about Tiger Woods was written by a woman, and that was it. We see this male domination a lot, even at SMC. 

I have played on the SMC Girl’s Soccer team for the 08-09 and 09-10 seasons. The seasons before that, their soccer team wasn’t very good. In the 08 season the freshman that came in seemed to turn everything around. Since then we have gotten better and better and we’re now the only team at SMC with a winning record. We made it to playoffs both years and have made huge strides in the soccer program.

After every game, the girls would all get a Corsair paper and look for the article written about us. There was always an article, but many times they would get names or quotes wrong which was really disappointing. We also had small black and white pictures, if any at all. Football is at the same time as soccer and they probably won three games all season. They would have huge color pictures and big headlines every time whether they won or lost. This obviously is because football is a more popular sport than soccer in general, but at SMC we pulled way more fans than the boys did. We even had the majority of the football team at our games.

This just shows us that men dominate the media, even if they don’t deserve it. Maybe since I already completed my two eligible years of soccer at SMC I will join the newspaper crew and report on only the girls sports.

“Liquid Courage”

Alcohol, otherwise known as “liquid courage” is something college students everywhere are familiar with, whether they drink it or not. As many people think, alcohol is used for a good time and can enhance any situation to the fullest. It can turn ugly people into hotties, it can make you a great dancer/singer, and it can make you extremely funny. Although, when you’re the sober one, these ideals seem quite foolish. Going to parties and not partaking in the drinking festivities can sometimes be just as fun. You can watch people embarrass themselves and it can make you feel a lot more mature than everyone else there.

This past weekend I was at a party at my friend’s apartment. The theme was “Heaven & Hell” so people were dressed up and were getting pretty into it. Everyone was having a good time, sober or not. The decorations were awesome so there was a lot to enjoy if you weren’t drinking. As the party started to come to and end, the people who were able to drive eventually made their way out and the rest of the group found their places around the apartment where they would sleep. I stayed the night to help regulate on the place, and also because it was quite late and I had a significantly long drive home. I made my rounds cleaning things and making sure people were okay. 4 AM rolled around and the majority of the people were sleeping so I thought I could finally go to bed as well. Then, I came across this one boy. He was drunk beyond belief and seemed to be struggling a little. I tried to help him out and get him situated, but he wasn’t having it. Before he finally passed out he got sick. (one of the more attractive effects from drinking) He went to sleep on a chair and I set myself up on the floor in the same room, along with two other people who were also still awake. We didn’t end up going to sleep at all that night because this guy kept getting up and making a fool of himself. He ended up taking all of his clothes off, and was talking nonsense. He also urinated 3 times, twice in the living room and once in the kitchen. He of course, had no idea what he was doing. 

This behavior is gross. I know not everyone gets to this point when they drink, but I’ve seen it happen plenty of times. Self control is a huge part of drinking and a lot of college students don’t seem to have it. It’s even worse when people think this behavior is funny, because it eggs on the drunk people. I know drinking is a huge part of the majority of college students lives and I’m not saying people shouldn’t drink. I just think a lot of people take it too far and never learn. It’s not hard to limit yourself to a few drinks to get a good buzz going. You don’t always have to take it to the extreme. 

It’s not only limited to college students either. I know many adults who have the same problem. It seems as if alcohol can be a blessing or a curse to some people, and others just really don’t seem to care.

Stereotyping.

This past week in class we talked a lot about stereotypes. These conversations got me thinking and I found myself doing it a lot. Not at all in a judgemental or mean way, but in a purely speculative way.

For example, I am taking a Stats class at UCLA on Tuesday nights and my teacher is this 20-something year old man. From appearance alone he is very attractive; he is muscular, tan, tall, blonde hair, light eyes, and athletic. He LOVES the Lakers, and seems to be really in tune with all things “sports”. Sounds like a man’s man to me. But when he opened his mouth and started to talk, it totally threw me for a loop. I know saying he “sounded gay” is a stereotype in itself, but his voice totally didn’t fit his appearance. Since then I find myself paying more attention to the way he sounds and not the words coming out of his mouth. He also does the tell-tale “gay hand movements” which also distract me. I’m not writing this to bash my teacher in any way; I could care less if he was gay or not. The point here is really to express how people can get so wrapped up in judging others that it takes over everything else about them.

On a different level, a few Summers ago I went to Sweden with my club soccer team for a tournament. First though we stopped in London for a week  and played a few friendly games there against some local teams. After we played the game (and won) both teams took a picture and started to talk a little bit. Of course all of us Americans were so intrigued with their accents we forgot about how we sounded to them. Here in the USA when we meet people with English or British accents it automatically gives them a one-up because they sound so smart and sophisticated. Although while we were talking to these girls, they told us that they look at us the same way where they live and they don’t find anything to be cool or special about how they talk at all.

These example are only two of the MANY that happen all the time. It’s funny to think about all of the different outlooks we have on people when they could have the same reaction to us. Just makes all of this stereotyping seem a little silly.

From Service Dog to SURFice Dog

Today I was doing my usual look-through of www.cuteoverload.com and although all of the pictures are extremely cute,  a video of a dog on a surf board especially caught my attention. I clicked on the link and eagerly watched. Some depressing music started playing and it said that Ricochet was born into the “Puppy Prodigies Neo-natal & Early Learning Program.” Now, confused at why the dog was on a surfboard and skeptical at what I was going to see, I kept watching.

As soon as I saw Ricochet, I was hooked. The cutest puppy I’d ever seen. She was going to help people with disabilities and her training began the moment she was born with obsticle courses and intense obedience drills. As she got older her training progressed, but when she started to prefer chasing birds over opening doors, her trainer sadly had to take her out of the program. This behavior could be dangerous when helping disabled people and they can’t take that risk.

After that training stopped, Ricochet suprisingly showed interest in surfing. This sparked the trainer’s imagination and she quickly utilized this new talent to again help disabled people. Her first fundraiser was for 15 year old quadriplegic surfer Patrick Ivison. They tandem surfed together and if Patrick fell off, Ricochet was right there to pull him back on the board.

Looks like dogs aren’t only man’s best friend, but life savers as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGODurRfVv4