Life Gimmicks

People constantly look for someone or something to tell them what is going to happen to them and how to feel. Whether it's a daily horoscope telling them they will find love, a mood ring turning red because they feel passion, or a $5 psychic telling them they will marry a Leo people believe it. Most people are incapable of making their own decisions, or want something to look forward to so they buy into these gimmicks. When my Sagittarius daily horoscope tells me I am going to have a good day or that I will find love on the 31st I want to believe it and so I do. People want excitement and are more inclined to create it if someone tells them its supposed to happen. People want decisions made for them and they look to these vices as an excuse. I think this is another reason board games like Life where you find out different things that are going to happen to you throughout your life are so popular. People like learning and hearing about themselves.

Multitasking

There are days when I'm doing so many other things while driving that I don't even remember how I got from point A to point B. I have made it a personal new years resolution to take my time and enjoy things. I feel like there is so much going on and a pressure to get them done as soon as possible and it reduces the quality of the things that I am doing and my memory of them. I want to get the most out of the thing's I do and I would rather do something really well then get everything done but produce mediocre work. This led me to wonder whether I was a performance oriented learner or a mastery oriented learner. I care about the quality of my work but more than often I am doing it for someone else, to please a teacher or a boss which makes me a performance oriented learner. As of this year I am taking y time to get the most out of everything I do, in attempt to make myself a more performance oriented learner. The more time I spend on something, the more attached and proud of it I am and I will be doing the work for the work, not to please others.

The Vampire Craze

It's impossible to miss the sudden obsession with vampires. Twilight is what seemed to kick off the vampire craze but it was followed by shows like The Vampire Diaries and True Blood as well as other movies like Daybreakers. All of these have one specific thing in common: they're all gorgeous. The vampires that we see in movies that were a big hit 50 years ago are scary and out to hurt everyone but the vampires that are in Twilight and The Vampire Diaries are all gorgeous and fully capable of having a relationships with humans. Not only do vampires exist in these shows but a set of rules and guidelines have been created as well. The traditional stake through the heart and no sunlight rule seems to have stuck but now they sparkle in sun (Twilight), are hurt by silver (True Blood), and drinking their blood gives you an amazing high (True Blood). I've developed an amusing theory that vampires are real and that the government is just preparing us for their debut. I wouldn't mind if they all looked the way the actors in these shows do.

Hallmark Religious

I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who is giving up everything but fish and vegetables for lent. She was clearly using lent as a reason to diet, and not to observe the holiday itself. I find that a lot of the religious holiday's have become extremely superficial. Christmas has become about Santa Claus, reindeer, and presents and not about the birth of Jesus. Easter has become about a rabbit hiding candy in plastic eggs around your back yard and not the day that Jesus was resurrected. Chanukah is about dradels and potato pancakes and Good Friday is a day off school as far as I'm concerned. I won't deny the fact that I was brought up this way and that I still think every child should be brought up to believe in Santa and the Easter bunny, I just believe the religious significance should play a part. Although religion is not a large part of my life, it is meaningful and serious and something that I respect. I am embarrassed to say that if I asked my eight year old sister who Jesus was there's a good chance she wouldn't know. I think it would be a shame if hallmark religion spread and a commercialized culture took over completely. Not everyone needs to be religious and believe in it, but knowledge about why the holiday is even there should be taught.

Expressions

I was sitting outside my 11 am class the other day in Dallas Hall and watched all of the different facial expressions of people as they walked through the doors. Some were timid and didn't know who to walk in front of or when they could open the door, others were courteous and held the door open, some had huge grins on their face probably from a good test grade or a text from the person they like, and others the polar opposite with huge bags under their eyes either near tears or punching a wall. It was amazing to me how even before I looked up at their face and just saw the way the door was opened, how much I could tell about the person and the kind of day that they were having.

21

Turning twenty-one is every college student's dream because it marks the end of fake ids, lectures from parents, and the occasional alcohol violation or cop run in. I think the fact that we can go to war before we can have a drink is ridiculous but until the rest of the world agrees the only hope is look older. Obviously a fake id is the quick fix solution but there's always the guidelines that come along with that. There's the debate over whether it's better to walk in to a liquor store or bar with make up on so that you look older or if that makes it look like you're trying to hard and that you shouldn't wear any to look relaxed and carefree. There's also the question of whether walking in with a group of people makes you appear younger, as if you need someone by your side, or if that's thinking too far into it. Basically, the question is whether its independence or appearance that make you appear older. I personally think its a mixture. I think that the way you hold yourself is the key.

Ignorance

I recently went to dinner with a group of people and one of the guys that was there started telling us how one of his fraternity brothers just came out and how they want to beat him up and kick him out because of that. This struck a nerve for me, not only because I know the guy that he was referring to but I couldn't believe how ignorant he was. They obviously liked him as a person prior to this change, does him being gay really make that much of a difference? My personal belief is that anyone THAT homophobic has to be latently gay themselves but I also realized how much views like that develop from your upbringing. My parents are very liberal but on top of that I was brought up in the melting pot of Los Angeles where there is an abundance of diversity and tolerance. This guy was obviously brought up in a completely different environment by people just as ignorant and uptight to the idea of change if he felt like he had the right to say something like that out loud. I just hope that the people in this world start to evolve and accept more people and change.

Reform This: Fast Food

It's interesting to me that there are extra taxes on cigarettes and alcohol, things that are considered bad for you, but that there isn't taxing on fast food. The media makes a huge point of showing how bad fast-food is and how obesity is a growing epidemic in our country. They made documentaries such as Supersize-Me, have shows on the health channel called "The 610 pound virgin", and have written books like Fast Food Nation hoping to sway people away from unhealthy food but why haven't they taken the extra step and made fast food less attainable by making it more expensive. One of the biggest reasons that there are so many obese people in America is because it is so affordable, so why not put taxes on it. It has large health risks just like cigarettes and alcohol do and is something that hurts people emotionally and physically.

When Did You Realize You Were Wrong?

For the longest time I believed in super-heroes. I believed that there were these amazing people with masks who could fly and stop all the "bad guys". I would draw pictures and imagine what they looked like or even that I was one of them. This shows how much more creative children are than adults. As we get older we are smothered by social norms and the creative gap becomes smaller and smaller. Only certain things are considered beautiful or unique and only certain people's opinions matter. This is a harsh reality considering the fact that when you're young your mom tells you everything, blobs of paint included, is beautiful as long as you made it. I think it's a shame that people are snobs about creativity when literally anything someone makes is unique because it was their idea, only they could have made it. Yes, certain pieces of art are easier on the eye than others but who am I to tell someone what they have created isn't special. I think society today is missing it's imagination and that people need something to believe in.

Super Bowl

Although this ad is short and comes off as low-budget I think its hilarious. It reminds me of the other movies like Madea's Family reunion and Norbit that highlight stereotypical african american behavior. "Mama's" are always included in these movies whether its Yo Mama jokes or the protection and possessiveness shown in this ad, it is always included in comedic black movies or shows. This ad demonstrates Vertical Intertexuality because the meaning portrayed in it reminds me of other genres.