BMEzine.com

BMEzine.com is a website dedicated to education people about body modifications. In it's nearly ten years of existence, BMEzine.com has managed to become the largest, most visited body modification website. The name "BMEzine" comes from the abbreviated words "body" and "modification", along with the added "Ezine". BMEzine.com offers advice, suggestions, pictures, stories, movies, and experiences on nearly any type and category of body modification. In case you aren't fully aware of exactly what body modification is, the following definition from Wikipedia.com fully explains it in one simple sentence: body modification (or body alteration) is the permanent or semi-permanent deliberate altering of the human body for non-medical reasons. So, body modification could be as simple as an ear piercing, or something as wild as, say, tongue splitting, or a lip plate. Many of the photos on BMEzine, however, are heavier (and permanent) modifications.

BMEzine.com has photo galleries for nearly every type of piercing. For example, if you were to click on the "nose" gallery, a new page would show up, giving you the option to look at the septum, nostril, or stretched nostril galleries.Most of the pictures in the albums are ones that aren't common. I must warn you, though, that some of the photos may be slightly shocking. One downfall of the website is the fact that it recently became a website which you must pay for to get the "full" website. You must become a member to the website, contribute to the website, and pay a monthly fee to be able to view the entire website and all it offers. Without a subscription, you are still able to look at all photo galleries, read stories, and ask for advice, but the photo galleries are only viewable for roughly one hundred pictures. After the one hundred pictures, a screen will show up which tells you that you must subscribe to the website and pay a monthly fee to view the remaining photos.
This website is extremely helpful when deciding whether (or not) to get a piercing, tattoo, or any other type of body modification you may want to get. For example, when I was contemplating getting a septum piercing (the skin inside your nose, between your nostrils) I read several experience stories, and looked at the septum photo gallery. I would highly recommend this to anyone considering getting a piercing of any sort.
Another addition to the site is BMEink.com. The name says it all. This is a branch off of the original BMEzine, dedicated to everything tattoo related. BMEink has organized folders, each catagorized based on the type of tattoo. Some of the many folders include butterfly tattoos, straight edge tattoos, religious tattoos, and portrait tattoos. Just like BMEzine, BMEink offers stories and advice, along with suggested artists to visit.
Overall, this website is an excellent source for any help with body modification of any kind. I recommend BMEzine to anyone who wants to learn more about body modification, or is considering adding a piercing or ink.

Total Drama Island

TOTAL DRAMA ISLAND

I remember the good old days of Cartoon Network. Back when you could watch the classics: Scooby Doo, Johnny Qwest, Captain Planet (GO PLANET!), and anime every afternoon. Now, it’s much different. Toonami rules Saturday nights (until Adult Swim takes over), and many of the former shows we all loved haven’t been aired for years (except for Scooby Doo). In this day and age, it’s all about cartoons with easily forgettable names, with recyclable plots you saw over five years ago. Total Drama Island brings something somewhat new to the table. It uses the classic elimination method of shows such as The Bachelor/Bachelorette (Example: “If you do not receive a *insert symbolic object here* then you must leave.”), some stereotypical elements, a bit of crude humor at the characters’ expense, and combines it all with American animation. It is rated PG- D (D meaning suggestive dialogue), which would cover all the stuff they say in the show. Let’s begin with the description.

“DESCRIPTION!” :D

Total Drama Island takes somewhere in Wiscoca (sp?), Ontario, (Canada) at Camp Wawanakwa. The host is Chris McClain, a wise-cracking narcissist that delights in coming up with a challenge every three days to torture the 22 campers that are present at the beginning of the show for a full eight weeks. The campers are divided into two teams- The Screaming Gophers and the Killer Bass. They must work together with their teammates in order to win a challenge- and whichever team doesn’t win must vote off one of their teammates (which is often the camper they dislike the least at the time). A way for the campers to voice their thoughts would be in the bathroom stalls, where they often complain or ponder current events (or just the people they don’t like). This is often a time where their true feelings come out. Anyway, the symbols of their freedom are marshmallows, which they get to roast at the campfire if they receive one. As Chris says, “whoever does not receive a marshmallow must immediately go to the Dock of Shame, catch the Boat of Losers, and get the heck out of here! And you can’t come back. EVER.” This is a phrase you will hear every episode. The one person who manages to make it through all the challenges will be rewarded with fame and $100,000. Who knows who will get that far? With crazy challenges like jumping off a 1000 foot cliff into shark-infested waters to complete, it could be a complete mystery… (Or not. Just don’t go on YouTube- they’ll spoil it for you D: )

LINKS TO THE FIRST EPISODE:
Part 1- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j8Db4WHEFk
Part 2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5B4Au7xqg
Part 3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJwdjoQMzI

Here are short descriptions of the characters (in the order of who appears first in the video above and what team they will be on):
Beth- a friendly girl who follows the commands of the other, more confident characters (mostly Heather). [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
D.J. - fun teen who happens to love animals, an all-around team player. [KILLER BASS]
Gwen- nicknamed “Goth Girl” by Heather, a girl who likes her space and tends to make sarcastic remarks. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Geoff- nice guy, says “man” a lot, and tends to hang out around his male teammates-turned friends D.J. and Duncan. [KILLER BASS]
Lindsay- not the brightest crayon in the box, but nice regardless. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Heather- a bossy, conniving female who is always looking out for herself and only herself, which gets on other campers nerves. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Duncan- a delinquent who has a penchant for getting in trouble or causing trouble. [KILLER BASS]
Tyler- goofy athletic guy who likes Lindsay. And fears chickens. [KILLER BASS]
Harold- a Napoleon Dynamite impersonator [in personality] that has a few surprising secrets. [KILLER BASS]
Trent- musician that hits it off with Gwen and is usually the unfortunate receiver of many painful accidents. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Bridgette- a girl who likes to surf and swim with the dolphins, an overall nice person. [KILLER BASS]
Noah- the know-it-all, non-athletic guy as we perceive him. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Leshawna- team player, tough girl who is also friendly at the same time. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Katie & Sadie- two girls who can’t be apart, “BFFFL”s (Best Female Friends for Life O.o), who even dress alike. [KILLER BASS]
Ezekiel- not a very bright young man, who is disliked by most of his teammates once he says a very sexist comment. [KILLER BASS]
Cody- somewhat of a dork, yet a nice guy who tends to get himself in trouble as well. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Eva- a girl with a very violent personality and anger management problems. [KILLER BASS]
Owen- the main source of comic relief, who tends to say too much or do the wrong thing unintentionally. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Courtney- also bossy, but means well, and a CIT. [KILLER BASS]
Justin- the residential good-looking guy who doesn’t need to say much in order to get the girls to fawn over him. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Izzy- a strange and hyper girl who is often affectionately called “crazy girl” by her fellow campers. [SCREAMING GOPHERS]
Chef Hatchet- he’s the man who cooks all the meals and helps Chris out with the challenges, and can be intimidating at times.

ANALYSIS

In Total Drama Island, there are several patterns that can be spotted throughout the episodes as well as several movie or tv show references. Just to name a few references that I spotted, it would be Napoleon Dynamite, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and Fear Factor. There may be more, but that is what I found.
As for the patterns, first of all would be the ongoing pairing up of certain people. For some, it isn’t obvious, but it becomes apparent as the episodes pass. One of the most obvious pairings would be of Gwen and Trent. Another pattern would be the repeating betrayals. Early on in the show, Heather convinces Beth and Lindsay to join her in an alliance where she has total control over them and they must do as she says, because “she’s going to take them to the final three.” They were gullible enough to believe her, and she treated them badly even though they had done nothing wrong to her. But if they dare show any defiance, she will find some way to make their lives miserable. The same goes for Duncan and his other chums, D.J. and Geoff as they continue to make fun of and prank Harold throughout the series. He gets his revenge later, and continuing dissent is generated because of this. While at the same time there is intense dislike between some teammates, there is also friendship. In the Screaming Gophers, Leshana sticks up for the other girls being controlled or abused by Heather’s tyranny, like Gwen and Beth. In the Killer Bass, Courtney and Bridget stick together when taking on challenges. And most notable is the friendship of Katie and Sadie, which is a little extreme if you ask me- yet it’s almost sweet how they are so devoted to each other. With so many different people of so many different backgrounds and personalities, Total Drama Island is in a way a unique experience for those who watch it. It shows me some of the elements you can see happening with young people in junior high/high school, such as romance, betrayal, friendship, alliances/groups/cliques, bullying, and making decisions on who you hang out with. With those elements, it feels a little bit more familiar to those who watch it (even if you may or may not have been to junior high/high school, you can sense the feeling of that atmosphere). Also, it seems to be one of the first shows displayed on Cartoon Network that is actually geared towards young teens and preteens, instead of the usual younger audience (seven year olds and up). From watching it at my brothers’ insistence, I have come to see some of the reasons why they like it so much. Total Drama Island has scored a viewing from many people so far, and they like what they see. I will be awaiting the conclusion of the first season when it’s over!

Total Drama Island is copyright to FreshTV.

That '70s Show

That ‘70s Show

Description:

Be Groovy. Be Very Groovy.
That ‘70s Show is a comedy that ran from 1998 to 2006 on FOX; reruns can be seen on FX and ABC Family. The show takes place in Point Place, Wisconsin and revolves around the daily lives of a group of teenagers during the 1970’s.

The show revolves around Eric Forman and his group of friends: Donna, Hyde, Kelso, Fez, and Jackie. Eric is the somewhat awkward, Star Wars obsessed, typical teen growing up in the ‘70s. He always has a big mouth which gets him into trouble with his strict father, Red (who is always looking to put his foot in someone’s ass). His mother Kitty is always looking to protect Eric, which often involves embarrassing him in front of his friends, although Eric can do a good job of that himself at times. He vies for his next door neighbor Donna’s affection, which is a central focus in the show; eventually they develop a long term relationship. Donna is an example of the modern girl in the show: witty, confident, and strong, with feminist principles. She is the opposite of the other female in the circle, Jackie. Jackie is all about flash and appearance; it matters more to be popular and adored than to have a close group of friends. She gets involved in an off and on relationship with Kelso, the other member of the group who is also obsessed with image. Kelso is the dimwit king of the group, always falling for pranks, injuring himself, and not always aware of what is going on. Hyde being the mischievous one in the group is usually the one to give Kelso dumb ideas to follow. In addition to being the ring leader in coming up with stupid stuff for the gang to do, he is also the one who started “the circle” bringing his mom’s stash of hash and his paranoia of the government with him. Fez is the foreign kid in the group (it is never revealed where Fez came from). Fez has two main loves: candy and affection, although he has a hard time getting lucky with women. The gang “teaches” him about American culture, which can lead to awkward situations.

Other notable characters in the show include Bob and Midge Pinciotti, Donna’s dimwitted parents. They often socialize with Red and Kitty Forman although the two couples couldn’t be anymore different. Then there is Leo, Point Place’s resident pothead (played by Tommy Chong). Somehow he owns and runs the Photo Hut, even though he is stoned all day and doesn’t really work.

With all the different personalities in the show, the interaction between the characters is entertaining and hilarious to watch. The situations they get in are funny and relatable because those situations can cross the generation line.

Analysis:

I think the key to That 70’s Show is that it is relatable to all ages. Those that were teenagers back in the 1970’s can relate to the plot situations as well as the clothes, cars, and the somewhat tacky furniture. Those that are teenagers now may not relate to the styles and fads but can relate to the storylines with the parents as well as the gang; we all know people who are like them. People can connect with Eric and his friends, “hanging out in the street, the same old thing we did last week” (a line from the theme song In the Street by Cheap Trick).

Another appeal to the show is that it is a retro show. In an age where there is a resurgence of interest in groups like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, there is an audience that wants to get a glimpse of what life was like during that time.

Facebook.com

Facebook: a social utility that connects you with the people around you. After myspace.com came out, Mark Zuckerberg developed another way to connect you to friends and family all around the world; facebook.com. Basically the way Facebook.com works is you make an account using your e-mail to build a profile for yourself. When you first sign up you use your e-mail as a sign-in user name and create a password. From there, you add a profile picture, enter information about where you work, what school you attend currently, what schools you used to attend, and start searching for friends you may know.
Based on the information you inputted about yourself, facebook.com matches people within the same networks as you to help find people to connect with that you already know. Aside from the basics of information about yourself, and connections to others, facebook.com offers many more applications and time-wasting activities. You can have a bakery and buy "treats" for your friends, or pay a dollar and give them a gift. You can play scrabble, music and movie quizzes, and even make "flair" for your friends and family. Anyone who has a faebook.com account know how annoying these application are. Every day I get at least one invitation to be recruited for a "jetman war" or pending approvals of "bumperstickers".
In addition to your own profile and applications, you can make a photo album and start your own blog in the notes section. Mark Zuckerberg created a brilliant, easy to use networking webpage that has caught the attention of millions-even billions of people around the world ready to spend countless hours wasting time sending cookies, and being asked to build a green garden. On the surface it looks like a decent webpage. It keeps people connected, connects long lost friends, and gives you the ability to make friends based on things you may have in common. But what has this really done to the youngsters of today? What has it done to grown adults? What will it do to the children of the future?
Analysis
I'll be the first to admit that I was part of the facebook.com craze and had a profile that I updated daily, along with "facestalking" others on facebook. I will also be the first to admit that I spend countless unnecessary hours a week tending to my account and keeping it up to date. Originally I used it to keep in touch with a sister in Japan, a sister in Tennessee, and a brother in North Carolina. We could leave messages to each other about how our days were going, and post up the most recent photos and get a little glimpse of what was going on. I still do use it 90% of the time, but I also enjoy make flair for friends, and posting up hundreds of photos. I also use it as a good time-killing. It's easy to spend an hour of two just looking at a few select friends’ profiles without batting an eye at that.
With that last statement I find it both entertaining and a bit disturbing. Of course many of us have much better ways to spend our time, but why spend it working on homework when you can chat live with friends, leave messages and have hundreds of photos right at you finger tips? I think that my generation and for many generations after mine, we will continue to see a decrease in productivity at work, and activity with children. I find this to be very sad but I don’t think that I can be upset about it because I am part of the problem.

Gossip Girl

The show Gossip Girl is based on a popular book series of the same name Gossip Girl. This show airs on the CW channel on Monday nights at 8:00 PM. It was written by Josh Schwatz and Stephanie Savage, it is also directed by Mark Piznarski. This show first aired on September, 19 2007 and the second season just started on the 1st of September. It is a series of soap and drama amongst young and privileged teenagers. This series revolves around the lives of socialite young adults growing up on New York City’s Upper East Side who attend elite academic schools while dealing with sex, drugs, jealousy, and other teenage issues.

Serena van der Woodsen; is a smart and super pretty girl but is always being told she is not working to her full potential. It may seem on the outside that she has it all together but she is quiet vulnerable. The relationship with her and her best friend Blair Waldorf is very stressful. Serena’s family which includes her mom Lily van der Woodsen and her younger brother Eric van der Woodsen and they are very prominent in New York society. Which her mother married one of her friends Chuck Bass’s dad named Bart Bass.

Lily van der Woodsen is mother of Serena and younger brother Eric. She is a former ballerina and rock groupie, she is aware that her daughter deals with sex, drugs, and other bad influences at school. Lily is very understanding about it all, and thinks that it is just a part of being in the spotlight of an elite clique. Lily is also intrigued with the mystery of gossip girl who seems to know every secret in the complex world of the rich and glamorous.

Eric van der Woodsen; is younger brother to Serena van der Woodsen. He is a troubled boy who attempted suicide and is a patient at the Ostroff Center. He decided to come out to everyone at a party confessing he is gay.

Blair Waldorf; Serena’s best friend who is a hopeless romantic who idolizes Audrey Hepburn, Blair is often referred to as Queen B she has a sensitive side which contrasts with her tendency to be bitchy and controlling. She is vain sometimes but her friendship with Serena makes her insecure at other times. Blair uses her charm, money, and social status to get whatever she wants. Blair’s mother Eleanor Lively and dad are separated and her dad lives in France with his now lover Roman (a guy) one of Eleanor’s models she used to work with.

Nate Archibald; his best friends include Chuck Bass, Serena van der Woodsen, and on again off again girlfriend Blair Waldorf. He grew up in a very wealthy family and went to the prestigious all boy’s school of St. Jude’s.

Chuck Bass; who is Nate’s best friend he is a rich kind of ass whole character who loves the finer things in life like luxury, alcohol, and sex. He is just as obnoxious as he is rich. Everyone despises chuck but they don’t ever show it because chuck always throws the best parties on the Upper East Side.

Dan Humphrey; who dated Serena he is a romantic whose imagination runs wildly at the worst times. He over-analyzes everything which is never good and he often gets frustrated. He is best friends with Vanessa Abrams and big brother to Jenny Humphrey. Dan has a close relationship with his sister and father Rufus. He is not on the high end of the social class’s they are middle-class and live in Brooklyn and does not really fit in to well with the Upper East Side crowd.
Jenny Humphrey; who is Dan Humphrey’s little sister she is only 14 years old and the youngest of the Gossip Girl characters. She is an aspiring social climber; her physical appearance resembles Serena van der Woodsen. Even though she tries to fit in with the rich girl clique of Blair and her friends she does not have a place in their social world because she is only middle-class and living in Brooklyn. She is very spunky and driven to get what she wants and her nick name is Little J.

Rufus Humphrey; who is Dan and Jenny’s father who lives in a crumbling apartment on the Upper West Side of New York. His children are outsiders wanting into the lives of the rich and glamorous.

Vanessa Abrams; she is Dan’s best friend she is a young, beautiful artist who remains an outcast among New York’s most wealthy teens. She works at a coffee shop in Brooklyn and has a history with Dan.

The series is narrated through the eyes of the unseen character, “Gossip Girl” voiced by Kristen Bell who runs a blog about her fellow Upper East Siders.

Analysis:
To me this show relates to young adults going through life experiences that all young adults go through in high school. It is about friends fighting, pressures of drugs, alcohol, and sex. It relates to young adults everyday life with all the gossip and relationship drama that goes on in high school. It is interesting just to watch it and keep track of what is going on because the show always keeps you thinking what will happen next because you never know since there is always new twists’ being thrown in to the show.

"CLUELESS"

This comedy film, which was released in 1995 titled “Clueless”, was based on Emma by Jane Austen and set in Beverly Hills high school. Amy Heckerling wrote and directed this film and Scott Rudin produced it. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1995, it was finally released on July 19, 1995 and it runs for about 97 minutes. The stars were Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Jeremy Sisto, Stacey Dash, Donald Faison, Brittany Murphy and Dan Hedaya. After this comedy film was released, it became a television series where the same actress does not star Cher; instead Rachel Blanchard starred it. Not only that, it also spun off as a series book and came out with its own soundtrack.

Here’s a little video clip of the trailer

Now that we have an idea of how the movie got started, lets get to know the characters. Alicia Silverstone which plays Cher, the main character, is very popular, rich, and attractive. She is a sixteen-year-old high school student, and loves the fashion world. Cher lives in a big mansion in Beverly Hills with her father who is played by Dan Hedaya. He is a litigator and makes about $500 an hour. Her mother on the other hand is long dead, having succumbed to complications while undergoing liposuction. Her stepbrother Josh that is played by Paul Rudd is always teasing her because he says that she is too selfish and her only direction to life is “toward the mall.” This is where she comes to try to prove him wrong. Her best friend who is quite as wealthy as her, Dionne, but “D” for short was quite hip and she knows exactly how it feels like to be envied. Miss Tai Fraiser who is played by Brittany Murphy is the new girl at school. She is considered the ugly duckling at school and gets transformed by Cher and her best friend D into a beautiful swan.


In this movie Cher tries to prove her stepbrother Josh that she is not selfish and that she, too, has a social conscience. With that being the case, she starts off by trying to hook up two, lonely, nerdy hard working teachers. Her main purpose was to try and renegotiate a bad report card, and when she realizes their true happiness she realized that she wanted to do good deeds by giving back to the community. So this is where the new girl Tai gets in the picture. Cher plans to adopt Tai and give her new look, so Cher and D transforms Tai into one of them. She also tries to extinguish the strong mutual attraction between Tai and Travis, an amiable skateboarding slacker, and to steer her toward Elton, a rich snob but that didn’t quite work out. Cher, herself, has always had boy mishaps first with Elton, and secondly a handsome classmate with great fashion sense who turns out to be gay.

Cher’s world comes to fall apart when she doesn’t pass her drivers license test and can’t renegotiate the result. What makes it even worse is when she gets home and see Tai dressed exactly like her, and comes to find out that she is starting to like Josh and wants Cher to help her get him. Cher didn’t think Josh was right for her, so they began to quarrel. She finally realizes that she has created a monster of her own image and starts to wonder why she seemed to care so much about Josh but it turns out she has fallen for him

In the end everything turned out to be perfect for Cher. Her two nerdy teachers ended up getting married, Tai and Travis are in love, and she too has now finally found love and meaning in her teenage life.


ANALYSIS

This comedy film would probably have to be my all time favorite old school movie. I am sure all girls wish they were in her shoes living her lifestyle as the rich, popular girl living in Beverly Hills or maybe some of us didn’t like those kind of girls back then in high school. I think this movie can relate to us in a general way, not the lifestyles or the behaviors in the movie but the fact that we were once at her phase. Especially when we’re trying to find that special someone, and at the same time trying to figure out the person that we are.

Sex and the City

Sex and the City

The hit series now movie, “Sex in the City” takes place in New York City. Where four friends; Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte are true New York women in all sense of the meaning of New York. All four women have very different jobs and personalities. Carrie, who is a writer for a local newspaper who writes about relationships, the city itself and through her own experience’s, comes up with her weekly column. She also has an on again off again relationship with Mr. Big who has a tough time committing to a monogamous relationship with Carrie, but later marries a younger woman and then meets Carrie for lunch and they start the relationship once again, but this time with more sneaking around and not telling her closest friends until she gets caught. Carrie has had other relationships but always ends up with Mr. Big. Once Mr. Big was divorced, Carrie by that time was living in Paris with her then boyfriend, a Russian, but wanted to move back to her city was rescued by Mr. Big who flew to Paris to bring her home to New York and make that commitment she had been longing for throughout their relationship. Once home in New York all four women meet and pick up exactly where they left off. We also cannot forget her love for shoes, Manolo Blahniks specifically. A girl can never have to many shoes.

Samantha; is in Public Relations and has quite the appetite for sexual adventure and seems to be the most fierce of all four women. Samantha has loose morals and has no problem being open about all aspects of her life. She has had only a couple of long term relationships and found with Richard that he had the same sexual appetite she did; she also found that she could not trust him to be monogamous hence, ending their relationship. Then her next long term relationship came with a much younger man; Smith Jarred an actor; who she represented as his PR Agent. They fit together very well and seemed nothing could stop them until Samantha was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Smith stayed by her side through all her treatments and Samantha had thought she had found her perfect man.

Miranda; is an up and coming attorney working her way to partner. Miranda has had not so good luck when it comes to men, she has had them stand her up, one died, one turned out gay. Along the way she met Steve a local bartender she happened to meet at the end of a bad date and they started to see one another. They found out that they were very different and decided to split but not before Miranda found out she was pregnant. She then became a single mother and dated a few more men but eventually married Steve and moved from New York to Brooklyn to raise her family with Steve, the dog and her mother-in-law.

Charlotte; is an art museum curator and loves the idea of being a “Park Avenue” wife with the perfect man and family. She met her perfect man when the taxi she was riding in hit him. Trey McDougall, the man of her dreams. He came from “old” money and Park Avenue. They had the big wedding she had always dreamt about but all things come to an end when he looses his desire for Charlotte in the bedroom. She then hires one to the best attorney’s in New York for her divorce and falls in love with him. He is Jewish so Charlotte converts to Judaism and they marry and stay on Park Avenue but cannot conceive a child and turn to adoption. China is the place to go for that perfect child to their perfect world.
All women meet up and discuss the trials and tribulations and most of all the fruits of their experiences and their friendships with one another each week at the same diner.

My Analogy

This show to me shows how women hold their friendships close to them and how women band together with one another not just when they need each other but on a daily basis. It also shows that women can be just like men when it comes to relationships with the ability to be open and adventurous, no strings attached unless it’s mutual. It also shows that life is too short not to have fun each day.

Star Trek Blog

Star Trek Blog


The media that I want to talk about is the TV series Star trek from the late 1960’s.
This show is one of the main science fiction series and many offshoot movies that still today have a very big following. From the first Star Trek series four decades ago many movies have been made with the original cast. The Star Trek saga did not end there either. There have been many television shows and movies, including Star Trek the Next Generation, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and some others.
The original show captures your attention within the first few minutes. Either something bad happens or Kirk, our captain, has a new love interest. No matter what happens in the beginning, you always want to see how it resolves, your interest is caught and then held right on to the end. The show had some very good writers that not only told great stories but also put in deep messages about the character of man, both good and evil. Many shows nowadays have no substance to them at all, and do nothing but degrade the audience that chooses to watch them.
There are many relationships of Star Trek, between Jim Kirk the captain, Spock the 1st officer, McCoy the doctor, Scotty the chief engineer, Ohura in communications, Sulu the defense controller, and Checkov in navigation. All of the aforementioned characters are the main cast of the show and are, everyone of them, excellent actors. They are all very believeable and to me that is good acting. Captain Kirk ia the ideal captain. He is wise, smart, fair, and cares not only about his ship the Enterprise, but also has great fatherly concern for every member of his crew. He always tries to do what is best for everyone. Kirk is also single, and many of the shows introduce a love interest for the captain. Sometimes it is an old flame of his from out of his past, and sometimes it is a new and exotic woman from the space frontiers that they are always exploring. Whoever they are they are always gorgeous and add alot to the story as they are most often gifted in many other ways as well. Often it is part of the mystery of the episode, who is this lovely creature they have come across in their space travels and what is she doing in the story and how is her interaction with Captain Kirk going to affect the future of our spaceship.
Yes, did I neglect to mention that this show is about a crew of men and women who belong to a federation of peacekeeping and exploring humans way out there in the future who fly around in a very large spaceship called the Enterprise. They seem like ordinary men of our day in their speech and actions but they are very smart in their own particular area on their starship, as they call it. They visit new and exciting planets all the time, meet some very strange and incredible beings and get themselves into some of the riskiest situations you can imagine, when they are exploring. You often wonder why they always take the greatest risks possible and seem so fearless, yet I think that is one of the secrets to why people are still fans of theirs almost 50 years after the show first came out in the late 60’s! We all have obstacles in life to overcome, though not in deep space for most of us, so to see some very likable characters who work together well as a team week after week encounter tremendous obstacles and then put their combined efforts and various talents together to solve them is kind of like life lessons in problem solving our own adventures and difficulties. After all most of us have near ancestors who were very adventurous and came over to this country out of great bravery and difficulty to explore this new world. Likewise the theme mentioned at the beginning of each episode of Star Trek is to explore the galaxy and search out new worlds and go where no man has gone before. The Theme music is quite fantastic I am sure you will find it fits with the futuristic theme. I think you will like the show, here is a small clip for you to enjoy!




http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/index.html

Pandora.com

Greed, vanity, slander, envy and pining are all evils of mankind brought out by “Pandora’s Box”, with only hope remaining.  Now you think by going to Pandora.com, you think you would be greeted by some sort of twisted evil prepared to devour your very essence. This is not the case. Instead, Pandora.com is a music recommendation and Internet radio website, ready to appeal to any music lovers ears.

In a more detailed explanation, Pandora.com was created by the Music Genome Project. This project, created by a group of avid musicians and music lovers, embarked on a quest to “capture the essence of music”. In short, they created a complex mathematical algorithm, organizing music by their “genes” (think genetics, where this term is used from) or the characteristic of how they sound. Pandora.com uses a program to sort out what kind of music you want to listen to and it creates your very own playlist: playing only songs you like (hopefully!)

The best thing about Pandora.com in my own opinion is that it is free, easy and very simple to use. When you open Pandora.com for the first time, the site allows you start creating your very own playlist right away. You can start by putting in a band name, genre of music or just the title of the song and Pandora does the rest. For example, I put in “Foo Fighters”, Pandora.com explains to me what kind of “genes” the Foo Fighters have and then starts to create a playlist of what other songs I may like from other artists and the original artists/song you typed in.

The first song to appear is “Dani California” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“Oh I love this song” I tell myself

Pandora.com gives you options on what you want to do with the song now. You can either click on the tab below the CD cover that shows a thumbs-up that means “I like this song, save it to my playlist” or a thumbs-down meaning “Never play this song again or ill rip my ears out”. You can, like a media player, pause, skip and adjust volume. The playlist will continue on as much as you like, always mixing up the songs!

Now be warned, you can only skip up to 6 songs per hour (to prevent pirating of music) and cannot rewind/back track to a song you either skipped or just played. This is why the site is free and is considered an “Internet radio” website.

You CAN subscribe to Pandora, paying a 36$ annual fee, but the benefits don’t really appeal to me in the since that the features stay the same unless you have a Sprint phone. You can look for yourself if you want to know more.

Other features include: Music blogs, user comments on artists/songs, create multiple play lists, buy songs and customize your profile!.

Analysis

The site is simply amazing.

What can be better than a site that plays music that I like?  Quick and easy to use.

The site also expanded my music experience. I have been introduced to new bands, old bands and even more amazing songs by artists I already like. This site can help people really expand their own play lists and appreciate other genres of music they never thought they would listen to!

Also, this saves me the agony of crappy, large corporate bought radio stations that play the same crap over and over.

Holly, Bridget & Kendra: "The Girls Next Door"

The Girls Next Door is a comedy reality series which premiered in August 2005 on the E! Television network. The supposed “reality” show loosely follows the life of Playboy conglomerate Hugh Hefner, and is based on his three (much younger) blonde and extremely tan girlfriends. Each episode generally concentrates on the events of a typical day at the Playboy mansion, ranging from the preparation for several well-known, annually held costume parties, including Hugh Hefner’s 80th Birthday party along with the infamous “Midsummer Night’s Dream” party; to the girls participating in a celebrity-sponsored golf tournament, or the planning of various pictorials for the magazine. The show allows viewers inside the private gates of the mansion and exposes them to Hefner’s world through the eyes of his current three girlfriends. Each show begins with a paper animation of each girl doing what it is that distinguishes her from the next. For example, Kendra is considered to be the “athletic” one of the three, so in the opening credits she kicks a soccer ball into a net. Prior to Kendra’s clip, Holly is seen cheerleading, and Bridget is seen playing with her dogs and cats.

Between the actual footage of scenes are quick, bubbly interviews in which each of the girls separately offer spunky descriptions of the events which took place at the time of the taping, “walking” the viewer through the incident. Each episode also offers further insight into each girls’ personality, which have all become understood by loyal viewers. For example, Holly, also known as “Hef’s #1” girlfriend, is the only girlfriend to share a bedroom with Hef. She often nags him to plan a marriage (which he is visibly reluctant to hear about) and having a baby. Holly is the “organized” one and enjoys planning parties and events. Bridget is a college student; a Halloween-enthusiast; and is generally thought of as the silliest of the three. Several episodes involve her dogs and cats (which whom she regularly conducts full conversations with). Kendra is the youngest (a mere twenty years old), and is the most outgoing, energetic, and craziest of the girls. Considered more of a “tomboy”, Kendra is known mostly for her swearing, raunchy dancing in her room, and a very limited use of the English language. Each episode features the girls, either together or individually, going about their daily business and doing various tasks in their minuscule and sometimes questionable attire. Taglines introducing different characters and people in the show appear inside pink blocks with floral designs at the edges. Furthermore, the music chosen for the opening theme is “Come on A My House” –an upbeat, catchy tune which immediately becomes cemented into the viewer’s mind. These features ultimately give the viewer an impression of a fun, stress-free, and very “girly” lifestyle.

Analysis

As a whole, the Girls Next Door gives off a bubbly, easy-going, and positive vibe. In between clichéd “hot girl” pillow fights, the girls come across as both oblivious and rather innocent (with the exception of Kendra, who is irritatingly dense…see clip), which is somewhat contradicting, considering their lifestyles and “careers” (If they can in fact be called careers).

Though I have several criticisms of E!’s program (and although I’m somewhat ashamed to admit it), I have found The Girls Next Door to be one of my favorite “guilty pleasures”. From the carefree attitudes of the girls, to mocking product placements in various episodes, to being entertained by stereotypical conversations of young blonde Californians, I always find the program to be light relief from everyday stress. However, while this “light relief” is refreshing and free of stimulating thought, I often become simultaneously outraged by the program and its triviality. While I agree it is a “reality”-based show and loosely documents some truth of their lifestyles, average viewers do not share the same reality as the beautiful and monetarily-comfortable girlfriends of Mr. Hefner. On the surface, the girls have each a distinct personality and separate opinions from one another. But although there is no script, the dialogues of Holly, Bridget, and Kendra are so similar that the three could basically be considered identical. The show covers the attitudes of three California-blonde; tan; wealthy women who are fortunate in their “assets”; women who happen to be girlfriends of the legendary Playboy creator. So, although each girl on the show has a distinguished personality to the viewer, I will make the assumption that each girl in life is likely very similar to the next.

Another main concept of the show is that it is produced to feed into the stereotypical Playboy image: attractive, ditzy, blondes who just want to have fun. While the girls’ actions and comments are lacking in intelligence to begin with, it is almost certain that for the purpose of entertainment producers aim to make the girls appear even more so clueless. The events and issues on the show are all trivial, and the conversations shallow, which may be the easy-going appeal to the everyday viewer. In my opinion, the goal of producers of the show is to aim for easy and instant entertainment which the viewer can chose to either roll their eyes at or to laugh along with the girls.

I know we're all tired of this issue because it exists everywhere in the media, but one more thing to consider on the program is the issue of female body-image. While the voluptuous girlfriends dance around in tiny ensembles, girls as young as 7 or 8 years old sit attached to their TVs idolizing their favorite Girl. Younger girls, and even teenage-girls (which remains a vast part of the targeted audience) aside, even women in their twenties and thirties buy into the Playboy image and begin to wish they could afford lavish lifestyles and various plastic surgeries. In addition, GND memorabilia and products serve the interests of females and males alike –including posters, coffee, mugs, calendars, and T-shirts.

Viewer ratings of the show span from near perfect to mediocre to “abysmal.” Individual opinions aside, the show has been one of the most watched “reality” series on the E! network. The show has been such a success in part because of its appeal to both genders and multiple age groups. For me personally, while the program has served as an amusing deflection from the stress of everyday life, it has likewise been a catalyst for extreme annoyance and outrage as well.

(Finally, I would like to warn that the clip below is likely a huge waste of your time and may drive you to your wit’s end. I caution that you not watch it unless you have absolutely nothing else to do, and even in that case you may regret wasting seven minutes of your life on the following).

If you only knew what I know.......

Description:
I know, you know, that I’m not telling the truth you just don’t have any proof. Reading that initially might arise the question of what is it that I know that you don’t, well for that case I can’t tell you or I might lose my true identity. Ok enough with those antics, the truth is the first sentence I wrote is a few lyrics from theme song of the show Psych. I don’t tend to follow many shows on TV, I only tend to watch Pro wrestling and Sportscenter, however since WWE Monday Night Raw is on the USA Network(NBC Universal), I was turned onto a this show.
Psych is a fresh new twist on a cable series. Shawn Spencer who is played by actor James Roday takes what he was taught as a young lad from his father a retired cop from the Santa Barbara police department about the finer details of a crime investigation. Though Henry his dad doesn’t want Shawn to become an office , Shawn uses the gift he has and doesn’t become a police officer he is named lead “psychic”

In the pilot episode when viewers such as myself were first exposed to his “gift” the show started out as a flashback to he and his father at a diner and Shawn would like a piece of cake, in order to prove himself his dad makes him close his eyes and recall all the hats in the room. He asks for some clarification such as does a beanie count as a hat and so forth. After not only naming off how many hats there were he also gave details about what was on each hat

Though Shawn feels he got them all it’s always his dad he finds some way to scrutinize him. It is then they fast forward to the present time and Shawn is on a date he comes to notice some news about a burglary and uses his photographic memory of what he observed the police department and reports all that he noticed and is brought into the police not to claim a reward but as a lead suspect. While they are ready to arrest him for having known everything about the situation, he comes out that he’s psychic. Still finding it hard to believe he starts to have “visions” and wows everyone in the department. Once observed by the then interim Chief police Karen Vick she assigns him his first case much to the satisfaction to everyone on staff except for head detective Carlton Lassiter. Throughout the series Shawn is always finding ways to get on Lassiter’s cases and solving them before Lassiter can in his very unconventional ways. A lot of the humor that takes place in the show is the interaction between Shawn and Lassiter since their personalities clash so well.

After being assigned his first case Shawn enlists his best friend as his assistant. Burton Guster better known as Gus is the totally opposite of Shawn, where Shawn tends to be messy, unorganized and unemployed when he doesn’t have a case. Whereas Gus is a clean cut sharply dressed pharmaceutical salesman. When Shawn feels he’s on the brink of greatness of how to utilize his talent for detective work, he pitches the idea to Gus to open their own private detective agency for side jobs in addition from the cases he gets from the police. Gus is never is too fond of Shawn’s ideas claiming he has a real job and knows it’s a federal offense to lie like Shawn is. Just as Lassiter and Shawn clash, so do does Shawn and Gus they are a winning team, as reluctant as Gus is to aid Shawn in the cases the rewards are worth the stress he is put under.

One more character I need to mention before I end this blog is detective Lassiter's assistant Juliet O'Hara. Shes a blonde bombshell and she carries a gun (how hot is that?), anyways I digress, but Juliet better known to serious viewers as Jules is a great character to put in the mix she is always so impressed by Shawns gift during their cases. Throughout the series thus far Shawn has grown a crush on her and because they're co-workers they cannot cross that line, but that stop the producers and writers to tease avid fans such as myself of possible connections with them. She much like Shawn is very free spirited, but when it comes time for a case shes all business(man I wish I could have a girl like that....)

With twists, turns, screams,fake psychic visions even some romance mixed in with detective investigation and whole lot comedy psych delivers a great new way to view crime based shows. Even though the cases they work with tend to be very serious, Shawn can always find a way to tie in one liners with references to movies, other TV shows and overly exaggerated actions from Shawn with his noble assistant Gus it makes it a classic can’t miss show.

Analysis:
I personally love this show, as I mentioned before I try to stay away from all the reality show garbage and shows like the hills, but this show gets to me. As shows like the hills have drama some people can feel that emotion, in this show I can feel a sense of myself within it. As an inspiring actor myself this show has really opened my personality more than it already was and I too sometimes look deeper into situations and play as if I were Shawn. I know that sounds crazy, but its fun to over exaggerate a little bit. I personally own both seasons that are out on DVD and haven’t missed an episode. Every aspect of the show just clicks there is just something about it that keeps me watching.

One of the many patterns that can easily be identified on this show is the connection from the beginning of the episode to the ending of it. I may be wrong, but all but one episode begin with a flashback mainly of times where Shawn was younger and some things that took place that have an impact in the present time of the episode. The flashback usually relates to the crime that is being committed in the present time of the episode or something Shawn recalls to further adapt his “visions”.

Another pattern that is very comical between Shawn and mainly Gus, but a few of the other characters as well is his references to movies, one hit wonders and current things going on in the entertainment world. In one of the most recent episodes Gus, Shawn and his father get into some trouble so they are brought in to the interrogation for questioning and Shawn asks if he can have a phone call and Lassiter says no and Shawn replies how about a text message all I want to say is OMG LOL which to todays generation is pretty funny. In addition to that Shawn also gets in argument with his dad and Shawn exclaims is it because he has more friends on facebook.

One truly interesting pattern is the shows adaption of using Pineapple in every episode. In the pilot episode Shawn is in Gus’s apartment and before he leaves he grabs one out of the fridge and the rest is history. There’s a feature on the second season DVD set that shows incorporates all the pineapple discussion or the fruit is actually shown. A new twist to this season (3) the producer has hidden the pineapple in each episode and turned into a sweepstakes to those who supply to their mobile text messages (which I do) and you must identify where it was its great fan interaction.

Truly a great show, Steve Franks the creator does a great job evolving the characters and their interactions with the whole cast throughout the episodes, not to mention if you don’t get enough laughs from the entire episode before the credits roll they have a “Psych-out” at the conclusion which is either ridiculous renditions of the cast singing songs or outtakes of lines in the episode and are always a joy to watch. Heres a taste of some of their wild antics:

Well now you know what I know and the only way if you’ll know if I’m telling the truth is if you watch Psych for yourself!
Psych usually airs Friday nights on the USA Network @ 9:00 before House and after Monk, they are currently done airing the first half of the third season right now, but the second half returns in January

Trailer Park Boys

Description
Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian television show that focuses on a couple of ex-convicts who live in Sunnyvale Trailer Park. Trailer Park Boys is a “mockumentary” that has become extremely popular in Canada and is gaining popularity in the United States. There have been 7 seasons aired on Canadian television and there is also a Trailer Park Boys movie. The major characters are Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles, all of whom grew up together in the trailer park. The pilot episode explains that ex-convict Julian had a near death experience and becomes compelled to have his life documented.
Ricky and Julian are schemers who commit small time crimes trying to get money quick. Some of their schemes are: stealing barbeques and selling them at the flee market, siphoning gas and opening a gas station in the park, stealing massive quantity’s of change. Ricky and Julian are always working towards finding the “big dirty”, a single job that would make them enough money to retire from crime. The guys are constantly dealing with problems caused by Jim Lahey, the drunken ex-cop who happens to be Trailer Park Supervisor. Jim Lahey and his buddy Randy (a former male stripper) go to great lengths to get Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles kicked out of the park because all they do is cause problems and break the law.
Ricky is short-tempered, extremely stubborn and loves to curse and drink. Ricky is most commonly seen with a cigarette in one hand and a handgun in the other. He dropped out of school after 10th Grade and this becomes very apparent. Ricky doesn’t understand big words and has trouble explaining what he is thinking so he is forced to make up words. One of his trademarks is the way he butchers the English language. Ricky has a “don’t worry about it” type of attitude that gets him into trouble.
Julian is Ricky’s best friend, as well as his partner in crime. Julian is the smartest guy in the park and is relied on by many of the residents when they face trouble. Julian is an alcoholic who has a Rum and Coke in his hand throughout each episode. Julian lets his friend Bubbles live in his tool shed and watches out for him. Bubbles is a sidekick character to Ricky and Julian. Bubbles steals shopping carts from the local mall and sells them to a different mall a few miles away.

Analysis
The entire story is told from the camera mans point of view who follows them everywhere. Trailer Park Boys is shot in a similar way to “The Office”. The hired film crew often gets in the way and becomes part of the storyline. The seasons start with the boys getting released from prison and going back to the park to prep for their latest idea.
There is a noticeable pattern throughout the episodes. There is typically some problem that arises and they deal with it in their own way. They all have conflicting opinions on how things should be done which causes their plan to fall apart. You can tell by some of the episode titles that its not a deep show by any means, for an example one episode is titled “Screw Community College Let’s Get Drunk And Eat Chicken Fingers”, however it’s a very entertaining show and has many other good characteristics which make the show worth while.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Description:
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is an alternative unscripted reality series on Sundays at 8pm, on ABC. EMHE is on its 6th season, which will begin September 28th, 2008. It first aired December 3rd, 2003 and since has kept the rating #1 for it’s 8 o’clock time slot on Sunday evenings. The show's cast consists of Ty Pennington, with designers (who alternate episodes); Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, Michael Moloney, Ed Sanders, Tracy Hutson, Eduardo Xol, John Littlefield, Rib Hillis and Didiayer.


Each episode of EMHE is self-contained and the goal is to demolish the old house, and then completely rebuild a new house in one week from everything to the furnishings and design, to the exterior and landscaping. It involves a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers and volunteers. All the money to do this comes from their generous sponsors. Some of the key sponsors include: Sears, Kenmore, Craftsman, Disney, Serta, Sony and many more.


The whole point of the show is to help deserving families who live in run-down, un-safe, or un-suitable living environments. Most of the families are in a great deal of hardship either financially or some other type of burden that they need help with. Each family enters with a video or letter, explaining why they would benefit from having EMHE come to them.


The Show:
Each episode begins with the design team on their RV, watching the video of the family they’re going to help. In each video, the families usually introduce themselves, what their problem is and then give a short tour of their house. Once the design team arrives at the location of the house, team leader Ty Pennington takes his now-famous megaphone and does his "Good morning!" wake-up call, to surprise the unsuspecting family with news that their home has been chosen to receive a makeover.


Once the design team has been introduced, along with the family, the family shows them their house and all it’s issues. After that, Ty Pennington tells the family where they’re going on vacation for a week (the families are usually sent to Disney resorts). Once the family is gone, Ty takes out his camcorder and tapes everything. He records the demolition of the house, and the family watches their home being torn down, and viewers are allowed to watch both the demolition and the reaction of the family.


Once building of the house starts, it moves very fast. They construct the actual house in about 4-5 days, and the rest is used for the final touches such as painting, landscaping and furnishing. Throughout this building process, the show takes you to each of the designers, and they explain what their project is. Each designer works on a different room. Most bedrooms have certain themes, which are inspired by the family. In each episode, Ty always has a “secret” project, which viewers aren’t allowed to see until the end. If the family has some sort of disability, the EMHE team always makes the house accessible and suitable to accommodate the family’s needs.


Once the house is built, furnished and landscaped, the family returns in a limo. As they pull up, the home is surrounded by hundreds of people from their community, cheering for them, along with all the volunteers and contractors. The limo always pulls up behind the EMHE RV, so the family can’t see their new house. Once the family comes out and people are greeted again, the family, design team and crowd chant the infamous, “MOVE THAT BUS!” As the bus pulls away, the family reacts to their new, beautiful home.
Ty then invites them to go “check out their new house”. As the family runs in, viewers are given a complete tour of the new home, including before and after shots. After the family has gone through their new house, including the unveiling of Ty’s “secret project”, the family is introduced to the contractors. In each episode, the contractors usually add a gift, usually being a check, or paying off the old house’s mortgage.
Throughout the episode, each design member and family member does little private testimonials, which ads raw emotion to the show and draws viewers in.


Through tears and happiness, the episode wraps up with hugs and goodbyes and final before and after shots and final testimonials of the family, showing their appreciation for EMHE coming to bless them with a home makeover.


Analysis:
One of the key elements of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition would have to be the use of raw human emotions. The use of such strong emotions helps relate the viewers to the people on the show, and it gives views a glimpse of the true goal of the show—which is changing people’s lives.


Aside from sympathetic tendencies of the show, it also uses humor to lighten the mood and keep the audience entertained. Ty Pennington is definitely the ring-leader of the show, and always makes things fun for everybody.


A definite pattern of each episode would have to be the attitude towards the old home. They always make it seem so horrible, so that in the end, the new house looks like a dream. Which it always is.

“What Not to Wear”

“What not to Wear” is a show on the TLC channel that is basically all about picking apart people’s wardrobes. It just so happens that the people that end up on this show all have the most bizarre collection of clothing. That’s where the two fashion-forward hosts come in to play. Stacy London and Clinton Kelly are there to tell the fashion victims just how bad they look. And trust me, they are definitely not afraid to be brutally honest with these people.

The show pretty much follows the same routine every time I watch it. It begins with what could be called a summary of the episode that you are about to see. You’ll get a few glimpses at the fashion victim’s outfits and see a few shots of them out trying to update their wardrobe. After that, it cuts to the usual opening that introduces the viewers to the hosts. This section shows Stacy and Clinton out on the street “magically” transforming people into fasion law abiding citizens. When I say “magically” I mean they literally push a woman into a store and she comes out a second later looking gorgeous. Of course, before this the woman looked like she just rolled out of bed.

After the viewer is stunned by the “powers” of the hosts, they are actually able to get the scoop on the participant of that episode. The people who become participants are nominated to be on the show by their friends and family. The friends and family nominate the person by secretly video-taping them for two weeks and pleading on the video for Stacy and Clinton to come and help their friend shape up their wardrobe. The person doesn’t find out about any of this until he or she is literally ambushed by Stacy and Clinton and an entire camera crew. Once that person figures out what’s going on, they are told that they can have a Bank of America card with $5000 on it to buy themselves a whole new wardrobe in New York. The catch is, they have to agree to give up their entire current wardrobe, meaning whatever Stacy and Clinton say goes, goes. They all then proceed on to watch the secret footage to further humiliate the surprised nominee.

The next step is for the fasion victim to pack up their entire wardrobe and bring it with them to New York in order to be critiqued by the hosts. Once there, the participant needs to face the dreaded 360 degree mirror. This involves putting the person in a small mirrored room which forces them to see themselves from all angles in their offensive clothing. This is yet another place for Stacy and Clinton to point out just how bad his or her fashion choices are. Clips of the 360 degree mirror are shown between clips of the fashion savvy hosts ripping through all of the clothes and literally throwing away the really offensive stuff into the garbage. This almost always ends up with Stacy and Clinton throwing everything out and the participant fighting and failing to keep their favorite pieces of clothing.

After they have finished going through the entire wardrobe, it’s time to get down to business. The two fashion experts begin the participant’s fashion education by showing the person three example outfits that would be perfect for them. From these outfits, a list of rules are made for the fashion victim to keep in mind while out shopping for their new clothes. They have two days to spend the $5000. The first day they go out alone and the second day, Stacy and Clinton go along to offer their fashion expertise. While out on the first day of shopping, the participant is being watched by Stacy and Clinton. They make funny comments about how poorly the fashion offender is doing. Generally, The first day involves the participant complaining about outrageous prices and saying the they, “Just can’t see themselves wearing that.” Little comments like that really make Stacy and Clinton mad which, in turn, means a good laugh for the viewer.

The next day, with Stacy and Clinton in tow, the participant spends the rest of their money and ends up with a more sophisticated wardrobe. Once they have their new clothes, they get a hip new haircut and, since the participant is almost always a woman, they also get a brand new make-up routine. After they get all of this new stuff, it’s time to put it all together for the final product. The newly trained fashionista comes out in three different outfits and thanks Stacy and Clinton for all of their help. Once and a great while, the change is so drastic that it actually brings the hosts to tears.

The last step of the show involves the participant going home to reveal their new look to the people that nominated them. This usually entails the participant walking into a huge party of people chanting his or her name until the person finally walks into the room and everyone roars their approval. It all wraps up with the participant explaining how grateful they are and how much they appreciate the experience.

Analysis

After describing the show in such close description, I really notice how alike all of the episodes are. They all involve a person who is always a woman. This person is always represented in the worst way possible as far as their looks go. They always just happen to be shown in their pajamas and sweats instead of any nicer outfits. This is probably done to make the viewer believe that the participant is actually much worse off than they really are. I suppose if the audience saw the person looking at least halfway decent, the show wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining.

Another thing I noticed while describing “What Not to Wear” is how brutally honest Stacy and Clinton are with the people who are nominated. They don’t hold anything back when talking to the participants about how bad they look. I can recall a few episodes where the person was told they look like a prostitute or a bag lady. Stereotypes such as these are thrown around so often during the show that the viewer probably doesn’t even notice all of them. Again, this is all probably done to make the audience laugh and feel entertained.

I think overall, the repetition throughout all of the episodes is there to make the viewer feel comfortable. They know what will happen everytime they tune in yet, they still get excited to see it. A viewer can take comfort in the fact that they are going to see a certain show at a certain time and they’re going to feel a certain way after they’ve seen it. Recently, the layout of the show was changed a little bit and I know that it just isn’t the same for quite a few people that watch it. They want the show that they have become accustomed to seeing. Basically, change is not good when it comes to a show that people watch religiously.

The Soup

The Soup (which was talk soup a long ways back) is a T.V show about other T.V. shows. During every episode which is 30 minutes long, not only do the talk about other T.V. shows but also celebrity news. Now this is not a normal recapping of entertainment that has been going on. It will usually pick the ones that have the most interesting (by interesting I mean should not be on T.V.). They hold nothing back when making fun of whatever the situation is. The show is somewhat broken down into a few parts. Starting out it’ll just talk in general about all the stupid programs that are out there, then later on they will go to a segment called reality show clip time, talking about all the reality T.V. shows and just how horrible they actually are, then they have chat stew which is about all the talk shows. What I also like about this show seeing it’s on the E! Network makes fun of all of their shows also. Which in fact they get most of their stuff from because, honestly, all their shows are terrible. The show, because it is weekly, will have the same shows they are talking about every episode which can get very entertaining. The Hills is always on because it is an easy target to make fun of, and pretty much MTV show gets ripped apart and everyone on it. Also, because it is weekly there are running jokes that they will bring up that may have happened months ago and they keep bringing it up and adding something new to it. They will also sometimes take clips that are old and play it when introducing a new clip making it funny if you have seen the prior episode, if not it does not have the same comical effect. However every once in a while they will have special hour long episodes on random days about one topic in particular. The did one on people who won't go away, they did another one called Things your mother wont let you watch.

The comedy I think is quite good, although this is just an entertainment show that rips on other entertainment type shows seems odd. However, they will even at times poke fun at themselves. How they find the clips they play amazes me, and the how the writers come up with ways of making it look like, “what were these people thinking?” The way they bring it about is not just of look what she said or did. It’s more dressed up and somewhat of a hidden humor, the kind where you have to think about what was just said. The show is very appealing in many ways; one is that it’s just funny. Second is the way it is brought about. It is not all just thrown together in a cluster of clips, they neatly put them into categories that will make it better for the viewers Third, there is really something for everyone no matter what show it is, if there is a mishap it’ll find its way and be made to look like it is a bigger deal then it actually is. I believe that this does well enough to stay on the air is because, of all of the new shows are celebrity gossip and as long as that is around i think people will keep on watching it. Also, people in general agree with these new types of shows are just flat out stupid. Or they watch it because it is mindless entertainment and it requires no thought, but you can still get a laugh or two out of it, either way it works.

Vana'diel Report:: 9/17/08

Recently in the news, the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) has gotten press for a ridiculously long Notorious Monster (Boss, hereafter referred to as NM) fights. Two NMs in particular used to take upwards of 18 HOURS to kill. These two baddies are known as Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden

The story about the linkshell (an in game term for a group of players who work together) BeyondTheLimitation's unsucessful 18 hour fight against Pandemonium Warden was even reported on Yahoo News with even less research than would be expected from a blog, apparently under the assumption that World of Warcraft is the only MMORPG ever to have existed and FFXI, which existed before WoW magically discovered a way to copy them from the future. To correct some of their information: One, people felt ill and like they wanted to pass out, they did NOT actually become so, FFXI does NOT have guilds, and Pandemonium Warden was NOT perfectly fit after that time. They had succeeded in taking it down to roughly 5% of it's total health.

In the most recent update, however, the strength of both of these NMs has been greatly reduced to the point of which they should be beatable within two hours. There is nothing wrong with that. There was also nothing wrong with it to begin with. At no point in the game are you actually forced to fight Pandemonium Warden or Absolute Virtue. What is wrong is that in its new, weakened form, Absolute Virtue, a monster who would make adventurers quake with terror when he spawned has gone from a battle like this:



To a battle like this:




Now, I'm all for these big baddies to be killable, but that fight took 27 SECONDS. Admittedly, it's by using an incredibly cheap tactic using the weapon Kraken Club combined with the job Dark Knight's abilities Blood Weapon and Souleater, but a monster that used to take hours to kill should not, under any circumstances, be killable in under a minute.

This cutting of the Gordian Knot has caused Square-Enix (The makes of FFXI) to adjust AV yet again. He now gains resistance to melee damage when enough of it is dealt in a short enough time-frame.

This is not as malicious of a move by Square-Enix as one might think. Their reason for this is to keep these monsters a challenge. However, many linkshells possess the mentality that can be summed up by this picture.

The challenging nature of FFXI and necessity of cooperation has always been what has set FFXI apart in the realm of MMORPGs, but Square-Enix also knows that a game must be accessible by it's player base as well. Square-Enix has revealed that AV and PW have a weakness that players just haven't found yet. Maybe some day people will find the secret to these currently unbeatable monsters.

Political Ads Are Decadent and Depraved

Obama Smear



Description

Once every two to four years American citizens are incessantly bombarded with political ads for candidates seeking election to various political offices. No other type of political ad has become more pervasive than that of the smear campaign, especially when it comes to the Presidency.

For example, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has a smear ad attacking the McCain campaign. The ad starts with a video from a McCain rally where he said, “I will not take the low road to the highest office in this land.” When the four second video clip ends, a omnisciently serious deep voice comes through the speakers asking “What’s happened to John McCain?”. A photo appears at the bottom right of the senator. His head is facing down and his eyes are closed with a slight frown upon his face. As the omniscient voice tells us about McCain’s dirty ad tactics, quotes from the New Yourk Times, CBS News, Chicago Tribune, etc, flash on the screen. The dates of the articles are provided just below the quotes. Words like “sleaziest”, “vile”, “dishonest”, “liar”, “truth be damned” and “deception” are used to describe McCains political ads. This ad goes on to mention McCain agrees with President Bush 90% of the time and that if McCain is elected, he’ll be representing “the same disastrous politics”.

McCain Smear



On the other side of the coin, John McCain has produced a political smear masterpiece. Artfully done using special computer graphics making all the images look 2D, the ad starts with an image of Obama at the podium giving his acceptance speech at the DNC. As Obama fades in the distance, his is surrounded by all his supporters. A woman's voice can be heard saying, “take away the celebrity, the thrilling words”, then an explosion sound occurs leaving only Obama under a spotlight in the distance, “What's left?” the narrator inquires. Suspenseful violin music can be heard as if it is a chase scene in a thriller movie. She uses words like “old ideas”, “disguised change”, as images of democratic leaders appear and fade before the backdrop of the White House. Those images are less then gentle, more like “liberal” beasts. The ad continues, mentioning “promised higher taxes” by the Obama campaign on such things as “your income, savings, electric bill”. Corresponding images flash. That technique is repeated when saying Obama “opposes off shore drilling”. The ad is conclude with “Obama and his liberal allies are not ready to lead”. To my surprise, they show a smiling photo of Obama next to the words, “not ready to lead”. But wait, there is more, the music changes to a heavenly piano as a flash of white light starts from the top right of the screen and fades to an image of a proud white haired high chinned man John McCain. “He approves this message”.

Analysis

Smear campaign ads usually follow patterns of trying to make ones opponent look like a un-American baffoon. This is represented by showing video or still images of the opponent looking less glorious than the party that is producing the ad. Strong suggestive language is used, sometimes with the words appearing on the screen next to the opponents image. These ads also tend to take quotes from various news outlets regarding their opponent and place them in the ad to support the message they are presenting to the consumer. Most of the dates are provided near the quote so a viewer can check this information. That is if you can copy it down fast enough since they only appear for about a second.

With the use of suspenseful music and deep movie theater trailer voices, I would not be surprised to see smear campaign ads be taken to a higher level in the years to come. For example, have one campaign pay a television network to have their campaign ads be product placement in hit shows like CSI. Here is a story line: McCain campaign works with the detectives in trying to solve a murder. As the investigation goes on we learn about the perks of an McCain presidency, while the smear ads appear against the Obama campaign because someone close to him was involved in mutilating a 47 year republican senator somewhere in an abandoned parking lot. The motive being that this person was going to expose Obama for wanting to raise taxes on your “income, savings and electric bill”. This technique would revolutionize the way political ads are produced while gaining new patterns in delivering political messages.

What I think is most interesting, even comical, about smear campaigns is that they are all the same. Every candidate is going to raise your taxes. Every candidate does not have you or your family in their best interest. Every candidate fights smear ads with smear ads. Then more smear ads follow. It is a vicious cycle. They all follow the same pattern of making the other appear to be less than what they are by using quotes, which could be taken out of context, from various news sources and spin them to fit their need to steal your attention and your vote. This type of ad campaign is dumbing down democracy and, sadly, is becoming more dominant than positive ads where the candidates actually try to attract voters by informing them on what they, the candidates, stand for, or how they can help society with current issues at hand.