Ringu

This week i watched Ringu for my research paper. I gotta say it was pretty predictable and not at all scary. It should be interesting when I watch the American version. I watched it with my friend Allyssa so she could help me decipher some of the different aspects of the two films. Before i go into that i guess i should tell the basic story. There's a video tape that kills people. The tape is still pretty screwed up when you watch it but it is much more tame then the American version. As to be expected the Japanese ring video was more about superstition and featured some cultural scenes that would be lost on most American viewers. One such clip from the video is the scene where you see many men crawling across the ground almost in pain. One man is int the foreground crawling forward, another backward. All of the men in the clip seem to be in some sort of pain. My theory as to why this is is that it's a symbol of yin yang. I don't know how wide spread the concept of causality and the symbolic yin yang is in Japan but being that Americans adopted this symbol from the Japanese I think it is safe to say that this is what the Japanese meant. This same clip is not in the Americans ring video. It could be because in Japan leprosy was a major epidemic and one that scared the nation for quite some time. Leprosy is a quite nasty disease where a person gets sores on their skin and their skin eventually falls off (this is possibly where the Japanese zombie comes from), it is very painful and a very horrific way to go. With this in mind it is easy to see why the Japanese chose this clip for their video. When such a scary plague is still fresh in most peoples history books an image of it can chill you to the bone.

Scrubs and other things

In this episode of scrubs JD was asked to be turks best man. Of course he said yes but he later found out that turk had already asked his brother. Feeling like a second choice JD was mad. I would be too if I was second best I know what that feels like. While this is going on Kelso had to close down a wing of the hospital to save money. Cox decided to change this while on the Janitors epiphany toilet. After Kelso made Cox get a bed for Kelso’s gardner Cox at first refused because there were simply no beds available. Until of course he found a room, Dr. Kelso’s office. I love how everything works out in this show. Even with Elliot’s intubation fear she was able to solve her problems on the epiphany toilet. I gotta get me one of those. The essays coming along to be honest I am actually not entirely dreading writing it. I think it’ll be fun. BUT I still don’t want to write it. I rented the ring and ringu I have yet to watch them though, mostly cause im scared and because I don’t want to watch a scary movie at 3 o’clock in the morning. I thought all my ghosthunting experience I wouldnt be afraid. I mean I never usually am in a haunted house. I guess its something about that dam girl.*shutters*. Wellp I am off to my first day at my new job. I hope this one goes well. I hope

Batman's gay?

Since when has wearing tight shorts, spandex and taking in underage kids to become your partner considered gay? In all honesty I always could tell the queer undertones of the Batman franchise but I always assumed it was just me being immature. I guess the mere basis of superheroes could be construed as gay. A guy with a secret identity, always have a “partner”, usually wearing tights, always buff, most of the time have trouble with women or just no heterosexual romantic relationships. How are they not gay? With Batman Forever especially, I must say I did not realize all the gay things in that movie. Such as Jim Carry’s spandex or tiara, or the towel scene or the thousands of other scenes that have a lot of gay iconography. Personally I don’t care if Batman’s gay let him be gay. I just find it ironic that in the cartoon series when Batman and Superman had a cross-over, Lois Lane (Superman’s girlfriend) was in love with Bruce Wayne (gay batman). Ironic don’t you think? But I guess you put a piece of visual out there ten different people are going to take it 10 different ways. I guess that goes with anything. I mean, I never thought there was any actual evidence of Batman being gay or any other superhero for that matter, course I have not done the research to prove or disprove that point. I’ve never been a big comic book fan. I know the basic stories of the major superheroes but beyond that I am at a loss.

Scrubs

Ok so I am officially JD from scrubs. Why? I don't know, all I do know is that there is no other person on t.v. right now that better describes me then JD. On this last episode the moral of the story was about listening. I've always notice that there are usually three different storylines in each episode that correlate with the theme of the episode. This installment had Dr. Kelso had his ear drums popped by a pair of tight stethoscope, JD and Dr. Cox didn't only listened to a patient for fifteen seconds at a time( they said that is all they need), this however turns out poorly when they realize that in those fifteen seconds you can miss a lot, even a patients clear signs of depression. In addition to this Elliot and Carla had a dispute about what medicine to give a patient, and while Elliot (the doctor) chose Carla’s (the nurse) opinion over her own Elliot learned that experience doesn’t always dictate the best choice. Overall again the moral was listening. We take for granted the fact that our eardrum can transmit sound waves into audible speech. Most of the time we just don’t care. Either from years of caring too much or just having to much on our mind to care. The thing we don’t realize is that listening is actually what brings us closer together. Anything from listening to your girlfriend complain about her day or the sounds of Detroit on a busy afternoon. I’ll admit I used to take a lot for granted in this world because I always thought “it’ll still be there in the morning”. The thing is though.....it may not be

Deciphering I, Robot

I feel bad for the movie. It was good movie, with a good story, but somewhere along the way it got lost. It is sad how nowadays all movie studios care about is money but at the same time it is understandable. When you make a movie you want money. And to do that your going to make movies that get you money and lots of it. Me? I personally loved I, Robot but, I am a geek, I, Robot is made for geeks. The special effects and futuristic setting only personify that. However the more philosophical aspects of the human-technology relationship were something that I thought was dumped down a lot. Instead of spending time on in-depth dialogue and thoughtful satire, the producers and director decided to have intense chase scenes and witty repertoire`. When did film become so materialistic? I thought this was supposed to be art filmmakers are making. I guess everyone has to make a buck somehow. But still I can understand making a film that has no possibility for anything remotely philospical or thought provoking, but still why can’t art and the commercially driven media coexist in harmony? Why does my intellectual film need to be muddied up by burger king ads? Such is life I suppose. My only wish is that the media would stop being so concerned with money, money, money and start making films that express life, love and anything that makes us stop and think about who we are as human beings.

The F Word

I know we're supposed to write about whatever television program we watched this week but on the independent film channel was a movie title "The F Word" with a very intrigueing premise. The story goes that in New York, Joe (the radio announcer of "The F word") is being shut down by the FCC because of this obcene remarks. Now instead of having a "best of" show for his last broadcast he decides to go out to the streets of New York and find out what people think about what is going in this country. This film is taped like a documentary style but is instead a drama and takes place during the week that the Republican Nation Convention is in town for the 2004 election and the day that Bush is going to accept his nomination for president. The documentary style of the film oftentimes makes it hard to see when something is real and is not. After watching the movie I must say that I was mortified. It made me just think "Why did I not do anything?" At the time this movie takes place I was still in high school. I worked a meiger job as a busboy at an italian restaurant but I still knew what was going on then and still know what is going on now. The world is changing. America is changing and it's not for the better. In the film you see all the different viewpoints of the political scene. From anti-bush democrats participating in the march against Bush rally with over five hundred thousand attendees, to the five or six republicans that honestly wanted to march right along side the democrats in a peaceful protest, to the single mom who did not attend the protest for fear that it would endanger her only child. It really gives you a spectrum of things. I must say that the most poinent part of the film is when the mayor of New York is addressing the RNC. In his speech he says "Welcome to my New York" after he utters these words it cuts to a biker being arrested for just crossing the street "This is you New York" again the same biker is almost vicisausly beaten by the cops. This is the better America? This is the great society Bush has brought? Well over one thousand people were arrested that day (actual fact), most were just wanting to express there opinions as. I mean that is what America is all about right? That's what makes us special if we have a problem with the government or how it is run we can protest and change it.....right? Yes there a lot of sides to this issue, and yes we are dealing with arguments and paradigms that stretch FAR beyond the years of our lives or even those of our parents. But at the end of the day what are we? Yes we're americans but what does being an american mean? Does it mean that we should bend over, accept and even trust our government and it's actions? Or is it instead a fear and hate of this system that our founding fathers created. Maybe it's neither. Maybe being an american is expressing yourself and how you feel or what you think. Be it with words or actions, or neither I think the point, the real truth, is to just do it. Go out and express yourself in whatever way you feel fit. And if the government has a problem with that .......THEN FUCK THEM.

Scrubs.....

So you know that episode where those two people that your just routing for to get together FINALLY hook up? Yea that was this episode. Elliot and J.D. had some mad lovin goin on all day. I am pretty sure they liked each other since the show started. Everytime I saw them together in a scene all I could think was "Why don't they just get it on already?!" This was lead up to by the following series of events. J.D. started dating the hospital psychologist. but when perchaset starts missing Elliot (obviously jealous at J.D.'s relationship) accuses therapy lady. J.D. takes this as jealousy when Elliot confronts him with her suspicions, shrugs her off and says "You had your chance". Later when therapy lady and him are about to do it J.D. reaches into her purse to fetch a mint and instead finds the missing Perchaset. He confronts his pill popping girlfriend and they break up. J.D. apologizes to Elliot and to everyones surprise Elliot confesses her jealousy and longing for J.D. by ravaging him. this episode picks up where that one leaves off with Elliot and JD in a relationship. But as they soon find out sometimes relationships aren't as easy as people make it seem. And sometimes two people can love each other more than the world but just aren't meant to be. I have my own personal reasons for liking this episode, but i thought this episode showed how unique Scrubs really is. Instead of showing the happy couple getting together you see that relationships arent all flowers and candy. They take work and they have problems. It was a very real approach the show took to relationships and for that I commend them.

Fairly Odd Parents......

Albeit it is not an adult nor thought provoking show but i think that is why I like it so much. the show is about one very down and out boy name Timmy Turner. Who one day gets two god parents (Wandy and Cosmo) to grant his every wish. There are several rules that come along with having fairy god parents, but the number one rule is that you cannot let anyone that you have fairys. This rule was almost broken one episode when Timmy loaned a very sad girl his fairy god parents on her birthday.

The Queer Soluion and other things

Stupid blogger not letting me post all today, grr. Anyways The queer solution, personally i thought it was an attack against homesexuals at first. But after reading it I realized that it was actually showing how gay people are discrimnated against. I have always liked Will and Grace as well as friends, but once I thought back to how they viewed gender roles I realized that they were actually making fun of those roles. Like on Friends Ross's ex-wife i forget her name and her lesbian lover raise Ross's son together. Now while on the outside it may seem that NBC is showing lesbian couple in a positive light once you watch how the other cast members react and talk about the lesbian couple they are actually being made fun of on numerous occasions. This is to a lesser extent on Will and Grace I think. Will is a gay lawyer and while he may sometimes play the steroetypical gay man oftentimes you would never tell he is gay. Jack on the other hand is flamboyent, makes overly exaggerated gestures with his hands, and loves talking intimately about shopping. This show has some stereotypes not because Jack but Grace, she plays the traditional women gender role. She runs a interior design firm, is nervous, is waiting for "her perfect man" to come along and make her happy and she cannot solve problems on her own many times. Personally my view on gay people is that they are just like everyone else. They work, they date, they raise children. They are just like us in every way shape and form except for the fact that instead of being romantically involved with the opposite sex they prefer the same sex and thats it! A person's personally life should be theres only and no one elses. Again sorry for the late post but either blogger was down or my computer just was not working. Now I'm off to work on my paper for next week! Fun stuff.....

Heroes.....

Save the cheerleader save the world. That's the logo "heroes" has been going with for god knows how long. This episode the telepathic cop teams up with radioactive man. They also explained Claires father more and I was pretty surprised to find out he is actually a good guy. Made me sad when he died though. It is so cool that these people all know each other but they don't they are starting too however. Like when the telepathic cop and radioactive man take Claires family hostage her and telepathic cop are talking and Claire mentions Peter Petrelli. Peter saved Claires life and he was also arrested by the telepathic cop. All of these stories are intermengaling and through all this Peter can now not only absorb powers, but use them once they're absorbed. i love training episodes! But Peter screwed it up by leading Claire's dad right to his trainer. the invisible man. The invisible man also worked with Claire's dad at what is now called "the agency". Man I cannot wait for it all to unfold! I personally think Hiro's going to get the sword that let's Peter control his powers thereby allowing him to control it when he absorbs radioactive mans powers. I hope Claire and her biological dad get together thatd be heartwarming. Jessica needs to kick nikki's ass! im so sick of her playing the bad girl i want her to be good *tear*. If I had to choose a power I'd wanna be kids power. I'd love to get twelve hundred bucks from ATM without taking it out of my bank account.

Reading Analysis

This week's reading I thought was extremely poinent and oddly surreal, especially in regards to twentysomethings. I'm turning twenty tommorow, so I guess I'll be a twentysomething. It made me angry when I realized that the shows portraying our age group were under the genre of "reality t.v.". It made me sick to see that the things these depravities of human nature were the advertisements of the years from twenty to twenty nine. Black Bart was interesting. Just the whole idea of taking icons and making them your own. I don't know if they were making fun of Bart and what he stood for or if somehow the people of america that were wearing these shirt were embracing him. Suffice it to say that the event was still a great experiment in human and racial sociology.

BLAH

Man I had an epic sleep tonight. I mean EPIC. In the words of Tyler Durden "Babies don't sleep this good". Unfortunately now I have to do my rewrite, study for my computer science exam and start working on my NEXT essay. Awesome.

Scrubs

Man do I love Scrubs. The episode I was actually able to catch this weeek was the one where 5 people were dying and needed new organs. Just when all hope seeemed lost a person died from what was believed to be a cocain overdose. Unfortunetaly that person was someone J.D. knew and while a part of him knew it was not his fault she died, just that day he ignored her. Dr. Cox calmed J.D.'s nerves by basically saying it was not his fault. However the new patients' organs were infected with rabies. Only two cases are reported a year and J.D. tried to explain this to a very remose Dr. Cox, but just when Dr. Cox was about to feel better the last patient of his died. This sent him off the deepend and he left the hospital. I loved this episode and this show for the same reasons. They don't just give a one dimnesion comedy sketch, instead they try and teach a lesson in every episode which i think is rare but very welcome. I would definately recommend this to anyone who has the time to watch it.

Reading Analysis

Ah reality tv how I loathe it so. As much as I may hate the subject of reality tv and the irony of the title I did agree with many of the points brought up by the authors. Specifically " Voting Democracy Off The Island " I never paid attention to the underlying conservative themes reality shows portray. Such themes as family, marriage, and love. This all at first seems silly when one looks at the "Fear Factors" and "Average Joe" show's that pit people against each other in the hopes of love and fortune. I must say everytime I watch an ad for another reality tv show I can't help but think of the world that the movie "Idiocracy" portrays and how that world is more and more becoming our future. I weep for the future.

My Adobiography

Well after about 9 drafts and over 12 hours of writing I finally got my paper done last night. My into and conlcusion could've used more developement BUT I got my thesis statement in and I added a decent punchline. Right now I'm hoping for a B but we shall see. I gotta say even though english ISN'T my best subject, I'm starting to like the course. It's a breath of fresh air to get a teacher who actually cares about what she's doing and isn't a burned out zombie like every teacher at this school. I wish the other people would add more to the discussion part though. I mean I would venture my opinion, and I do on many occasions but sometimes it seems like it's just me and one other person carrying the discussion. Dah well at least I get the weekend off now!

Heroes

So yea heroes=awesome, like officially. This week the heroes are starting to mingle together more and more. But not only that but Claire has a super mom! Oh yea Claire's mom is a pyro but she also has a super dad. I think it's her step-dad because you just know there's somethin up with him. On Hiro's side f the story he got to see HIS dad, and guess who it is? George f-in Tekaa, that's right this show has officially become what we like to call "geek material". I just can't wait to see what's going to happen next. My personal favorite part is when Hiro and the flying Petrelli are talking and Hiro goes " you flying man, whoooooosssshhhhhhhhhh" to which Petrelli replies "hey can you keep it down?" Hiro then says "whosshhhhhhhhh". oh it was awesome. I got a date tonight which I'm happy about, but it's gonna be weird because now the women i loved doesnt love me anymore i guess.....dah well ill have fun

Writing Analysis

Since what has cool become a thing of life and death? I can honestly say I did not know there were "coolhunters" out there. I suppose this is just a part of company research. No more than scientists finding new ways to test atoms. They go and find what the "innovators" are doing and then bring that to the masses.It's really quite fascinating how the fashion industry works. The process may seem pointless and strange to some but once you see how it works, it's a whole different story. At first I was taken a back by the term "coolhunters". To think they're are people that make ends meet by studying whats "cool". But once I saw they're fascination with it I found myself also being fascinated by not only their profession but what the term "cool" meant. In school what's cool is your life, your friends obsess over it and in turn you do to. I must say I would like to chat with a coolhunter one day.

So at about 3 am last night/this morning i woke up to one thought "shit! i gotta write that essay!"Needless to say at 9am i was done. Or at least done enough to turn in something to my peers. I was dog tired last night from watching heroes, it's such a great show! In this one all the heroes are meeting and connecting and all these storylines are intertwinning...i think that's how u spell it. But yea I'm just waiting for when Peter or Jake dam I forget the name, goes nuke and blows up New York. but for now it'll serve me between lost and scrubs. I'm really REALLY hoping my essay's ok because yea I had NO idea how to write it when I did. But from what i gathered on HOW to write the essay I figured I go for the extreme of my steroestype and just go balls out and make fun of the ad's I chose so far it's been pretty good. Anyways hope everyone has a good weekend and lata!

Her WAY?

After reading this hanes her way article I got to thinkin, the media is more steroetypical then we realize. I mea think about when was the last time u saw a guy with the iq above that of a jar of mayonaise do housework? Or a respectable middle class women in a beer commercial? Or hell even a non-sexy commercial aimmed towards men? On a lighter note I heard about this group of high school kids that formed a club to get thhese t-shirts pulled from abercrombie and fitch stores. Bout dam time, I mean really women I love ya really i do but why do u get offended by us starin' at your butts when u got half the sports section of the new york times written on em? That's unfair and you know it. The other night I watched scrubs and i realized why i liked that show. Not only is it funny but it actually tries to teach you a moral. When was that last time a show did that? Boy meets world to my recolection. I dont know I think in many ways im a lot like J.D. I'm usually in my own world and I can be weird, but i guess the most common trait me and this fictional character share is our innate ability to screw things up! Anyways im about to get off work and go to sleep! but everyone should come to motor city joe's at 12 and hoover for open mike ill be playing along with some awesome other guys

The corporate machine

The media is an evil thing to say the least, it attempts to show us a world that could never be. Since when has wearing axe bodyspray gotten u crouds upon crouds of horny women? I've been using axe for about 4 years now and never once has a horny women or women asked me to have sex not once! Now granted I'm not nearly as attractive as some of the men in those commercials but come on! After 4 years doesn't probability dictate that a horny women has to at least once come up to me and ask me to have sex. Dah well. I should hope that the media tries to be fair but in our world of 15 second news bites, over 20 news shows and magazines that talk about the same 3 celebrities and critics that would rather complain about the issues and blame other people rather than solving the problem at hand, unbiased information is hard to come by. Thank god for youtube