Funny news

People are crazy, heres proof.

http://www.wgme.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wgme_vid_2754.shtml


This article is a report from WGME in Maine that there have been numerous "bigfoot" sighting in the area. People claim to have seen a 7ft tall hair man crossing the road (sounds like Chewbacca). A crypto-zoologist (is that the latin for "nutcase"?) visited the area and did his own investigation on the rumors. Giant footprints can be seen in the above video that seem to indicate the existence of bigfoot. The best part of this report was this (FTA): "In 2006 - there was a mysterious beast thought to live in Turner. It was later confirmed to just be a dog. Wow, good work guys making all of Maine look bad.

Well Walmart has managed to piss more people off, specifically the Black Community. This news story tells us how Walmart has discounted "Black Barbie" in order to clear more shelf space for their spring inventory. This is rediculous. Not only is Walmarts move and reason rediculous, but it is rediculous that people actually care enough to call this news. Who cares about barbies, even if one is painted black. Clearly they are both plastic toys and equating them to people would be ludicrous in itself. If anything wouldnt it be better for young kids wanting to play with black barbie. SHE'S CHEAPER NOW! Fail.

Lil Wayne is going to jail for having a gun on board his tour bus. Wow, I didn't know rappers used or claimed to have firearms. Interesting strategy, I wonder how it will work out for him. I think the funniest part of this story comes at the end. From the Article: "His sentencing came after several delays. The first date was postponed to allow the rapper to have dental work." I guess
being a good lawyer is really being good at making excuses. I should be king of the lawyers.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/03/06/window-cleaner-kills-himself-with-giant-souvenir-pencil-inquest-hears-115875-22088838/

In this article a man kills himself with a giant souvenir pencil by repeatedly stabbing himself in the groin. Jesus Christ what is wrong with the world.

Parenting

Forget branding and logos, one of the most powerful forces in our society has to be parenting. Fortunately for my future child, I am not a parent right now, but I nearing the border between offspring and potential parent. I know that my parents have been an extremely large influence in my life and I am thankful every day for that fact. The role my parents have played in my life is significant not just because they have taught me how to act in certain situations, but because of the freedom they have given me. Giving me freedom while keeping me in bounds has been a very effective and enjoyable parenting technique for both my parents and myself. Each of my parents have a different style of parenting, but both have their pro's and con's.

I found a CNN article on how each parent has different parenting techniques and what that means for the child. As mentioned in the article, Mothers tend to be more concerned for the childs physical safety and dont allow their children to take risks as often as the Father does. This balance is effective in giving a child experience while keeping him or her intact.

From the CNN Article:

"If kids don't experience somewhat risky physical fun, it might make them more cautious and less willing to try things they haven't quite mastered yet," says Kyle Pruett, Ph.D., a clinical professor of child psychiatry at Yale University and author of "Fatherneed: Why Father Care Is as Essential as Mother Care for Your Child.

I agree with this statement because to my knowledge most of my progress as an athlete and a human being has been because of risk. There has always been a risk of being rejected, but the steps forward have definately outweighed the times I have stumbled.

Thank you parents. We love you.

- Children

The award winnign short film: Logorama

This short film seems to tie in perfectly with the media studies class I am currently enrolled in. Logorama is a short film about a thief and smuggling Ronald McDonald who is chased by the police unti he falls into the crumbling world around him. The film is comprised totally of corporate logos, that bring clutter in Times Square to a whole other level. Everything is a logo. The street lamps are T-Mobile signs, the helicopters are Logos, all the people are logos, even the butterflies are little MSN logos. At first the sight is quite comical, as you see AOL people walk around and look at the Hot Wheels rollercoaster, but then it dawns on you. This world is not totally unlike our own. Most things in our society are branded, and if not probably will be in another couple years.

The characters in the movie were all very unapealing and rude at every turn. Even the Michelin Man police man were mean. Not only were these lively logos mean, but they were selfish. At every turn the people in this corporate world were exhibiting the dark side of capitalism and the corporate structure: greed. I thought this was great symbolism for a part of the corporate business model that a lot of times preaches philanthropic ideas, but practices whatever behavior brings in the most profit. This is an effective economic model, but sometimes economics need to be differentiated from other solutions that dont involve a profit.

I am not preaching anti-capitalism, I am just trying to better the capitalist model by identifying the bad parts. There are certan ideals that are good to strive towards, even if they do not provide the highest financial return. The problem with corporate intentions is that it will go against the society's moral ideals if the risk is financially suitable.

The short film ended with all the corporate brands collapsing and ruining the earth and the society that they have dominated. This might be a subtle suggestion that what we create might actually lead to our downfall. That sort of irony would be painfully funny to any historian. With this in mind, I urge you to think as a citizen and not as only a consumer of brands. The clutter that surrounds us can be removed if we as citizens do not want it.

Video Games

Video games have been a popular fad every since the arrival of the Nintendo and Atari game systems were introduced to American households. The amount that video games have evolved is enormous, even when comparing the Playstation 2 to the X-Box 360. Video games have gone from games like Frogger and Pac Man to what some people call the best video game to date, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Video game designers have been seeking to turn the gaming experience into an experience that is more like an interactive movie. In the past there have been video games that are made after a movie has been produced, but that step has been totally cut out recently. The video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 aimed to bring the movie experience to you while you played the game. I own the game and I have to admit it is quite good.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/modernwarfare2/review.html

The action is intense and even gruelling at times but the story line is as good as a Hollywood action movie. The story line was very complicated and being able to play as two different characters was very appealing. In the game, a russian terrorist killed a airport full of civilians and pinning an American CIA agent with the crime. This sparks international controversy between the two superpowers and Russia declares war on the United States. In the game, you are a soldier fighting in suburban Virginia as Russian soldiers destroy local fast food businesses and drive millions of Americans from their homes. This really hit close to home for me, because fortunately for us, Americans have not experienced a war on thier own soil in quite a long time.

The video game ends with the main character unveiling a secret story about how an America general plotted the whole thing to strengthen America's patriotism especially when it comes to joining the millitary. At the end, the general and the main character fight to the death in the middle of a middle eastern desert.

This really brought the excitement of a movie into a video game. I think this is the direction video games will be heading, and this industry will only grow.

China update

As our debt increases, Americans are increasingly putting their political and financial fate in China. Right now China is keeping our lifestyle afloat to a certain extent. While many people are losing their jobs and companies continue to struggle, the reason we arent burning and crashing into a cliff is because of our recent "friend" China. Today, China's alliegance to our debt problem seems that much stronger because of this Reuters article.



I wonder how this current relationship will affect future relationships with China. I believe that while it does not empower our nation at the moment, this might instead entice these ideological opposites to become allies. This might be a very good, or a very bad thing depending on how you view a hyperpower squared. If the United States and China worked together in a symbiotic relationship, the two countries might benefit more than ever before.




Regardless of how this friendship turns out for the United States, I think it is a very good move by China to purchase our debt. This will enable China to have a stake in the most influential nation in the world. This might be a little scary for the average American, but this is just standard politics.



This alliegance will affect companies as well as nations around the world. Whether or not a company will prosper from a good China-US relationship. Google might not exactly prosper or even tolerate China's decisions if China tries to control the stream of information going through Google every day. Google is looking to provide the user of their search engine with as much information as possible without any roadblocks.

Companies that could use China's cheap labor force might really prosper from this relationship, because it would make outsourcing to China that much easier. A problem that I could see with China down the road is their violation of human rights, especially when it comes to their own citizens. I would not want to live under a system built upon fear.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/110317/saturday-night-live-china-cold-open

War in the media

After the Hurt Locker won so many Oscars at the Academy Awards, I have been paying more attention to war in the media. I was especially curious to see the reaction of soldiers to the movie itself. In this segment of interviews, the soldiers say they enjoyed the film, but thought that the idea of the main character "going rogue" was not a very realistic or accurate portrayel of people in the armed services. The Army is all about being "An Army of one" and listening to your superiors in order to function effectively as a group, so i can understand why the soldiers did not particularly subscribe to the notion of going rogue in the movie.

The movie and the movie's recent fame does a good job of highlighting the heroic actions of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan today. This self sacrifice needs to be appreciated even if your opinions on the war are negative. I believe that the film also highlighted all the problems that come with war, such as stress and the violence that affects people's lives on a day to day basis. The Hurt Locker really brought the war from the back of our minds to the forefront. I feel that people in America have sort of tuned the war out. It is not a recent development and the negative emotions associated with violence and death is not appealing to anyone. The news still covers the war but I feel like the number of stories decreases by the day.

And yet the reality of the war is still here with us. A British soldier just saved himself and other members of his troup by making an instinctual decision of throwing a live grenade away from the roof they were on.

This man above was a hero today regardless of the reason he was in the situation. The media does not need to repeat this to us, but instead we as people need to become the heros and pressure the politicians in our country to end this war. Maybe we are doing good, but the war piece of it is really bothering me. This difficult situation needs to be resolved so this man doesnt have to pick shrapnel out of his face for the next 4 years.

Nike: Just Do It... with Nike stuff on

Nike is probably the most influential sporting goods company of its time and the way they continue to promote this image is by giving the consumer evidence of their greatness. The best athletes of our time do advertising for Nike. Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods (well he did), and Lance Armstrong all do advertising for Nike. If the best athletes in the world are telling you, a young teenage athlete, to buy their product or work hard in Nike gear, there is a very high chance you will listen to the ads.



Personally I take my sport of hockey very seriously, much like a lot of other teenage athletes in America. The values of hard work and dedication against all odds have been instilled in us since we first started loving our sport. Motivation to become the best is a very powerful driving force in a young athletes life, and looking toward motivational sayings or speaches is a common thing to do if you are an athlete.

Personally, I find a lot of inspiration in Nike's advertisements. The ones with Michael Jordan are the most inspirational.



Here are a couple Jordan commercials long with some Mello commercials.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zSVu76AX3I



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvGDh9dd14o



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wIRTbY5HNM

Nike has also done a great job of transforming Lance Armstrong's personal battle with cancer as a symbol of strength and resilience that can be seen in the brand. Nike wants to be seen as a brand that can help you achieve the impossible and battle even the greatest enemies. By tagging onto Lance's courageous story, Nike builds a courageous brand.

These commercials strike a chord with aspiring athletes, because it highlights the hard work necessary for succeeding. Also they seem to tell the viewer that they too can do it with hard work. Hard work has to be done in the gym. I need gym shoes. Oh why dont I get Nikes.



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