Reflection post kapish?

I would say I consume a fair amount of media. I listen to a lot of music, watch a lot of television, and watch movies all the time. And this constant consumption has made me subconsciously  become similar to people I enjoy following in the media. For example, I have been watching Seinfeld since I was about 13. But I realized just a little bit ago, that I desire a similar lifestyle to Jerry. I want to live in an apartment by myself, I want to have friends pop in all the time, I want to have a job where I can be creative, and I don't want to be busy. My consumption has made me a reflection of the people I see on television today. 

I believe that it is important to have media literacy. If we are not knowledgeable about the media, we can form certain connections to products that we buy and believe that it defines us. We form these connections without really knowing who we are. For example, I'm sure we have all heard this before, "I'm just a nike type of guy." These nikeheads must ask themselves, what does this really mean? Most might find that they actually want to be prosperous, as an effect of seeing and analyzing nike commercials. But a nikehead cannot actually discover this unless they have media literacy. 

Sayonara media blogs. I will miss you, especially because I have come to realize that the media know a lot more about me than I actually thought. Like after watching Merchants of Cool, I now see that these companies trying to get my money by trying to figure out who I am. Somewhat disturbing, it reminds me of The Truman Show, where we are surrounded by media trying to figure out who we are we no longer see it as media. Wow, quite an eye-opener. Anyways, peace!

Rotten Tomatoes

Rotten Tomatoes is a website that rates movies. And being a movie fanatic, I am always looking up new movies to see on wikipedea. And the Rotten Tomatoes score appears which is such a pain. This is because more often than not, they don't people form their own opinion about the movies. Sometimes my friends or I will see that the movie scored low, like below 50%, and I will just not watch it. For example, a friend of mine said that he wouldn't watch Kicking and Screaming because it only scored a 41% on Rotten Tomatoes. Come on guy, how could you not even give the Ferrell and Ditka duo a chance?

The movie was about an overly competitive soccer dad who would do anything to win. It was hilarious! Did you even read the description? I also think that's the problem is the descriptions. The description comes after the rating. So if you even want to read the description, you have to see the score first. Already people gain a bad impression without even reading the description and might not give it a chance. Save your opinion for later Rotten Tomatoes!

Let's talk about iPhones

I still have an iPhone 4. Some people may say, "I live in a cave" because I am so far behind in the latest trends. First off, I must have heard the cave joke a thousand times, your'e not clever bud. And second, why would I spend my money on something that is practically an exact replica? The iPhone 6, what is the difference between that and the iPhone 4. And don't just tell me it's bigger. Whenever I ask someone the difference that's the only thing they tell me. Okay so it's bigger, does that make any improvement on my life at all? So I can play more games? So by those standards, would you also buy this phone?

Probably not right? I was actually holding my friends iPhone 6 and it didn't even fit in my pocket. Why would you want that? That's not very convenient. What are some other differences? Are you stumped yet? Exactly, there is no difference. So why would you spend money on that junk? I can already tell that the next iPhone will look exactly the same. Maybe it will be a little bigger, maybe the home button will be the shape of a triangle. No matter what little change apple does to the next iPhone, it will still make a heaving load of money because people will just buy anything that is new.

Miss Representation

Women in our society today feel pressured to meet mens' standards of perfection. This is through the media constantly conveying attractive and desirable women through magazines, television, movies, etc. One might argue that women don't have to try to meet these standards, they could just not pay attention to the media. But is that actually possible in this day and age, when on average 3,000 ads are see a day by teens? Since women are constantly seeing billboards, commercials, magazines with very attractive women, they are obviously going to feel that they need to look like these models to be noticed by men. As a result, women of all ages will feel obligated to always look attractive by putting on makeup, wearing appealing clothing, undergoing procedures to change their looks, and so on. That is tragic, that women will not accept who they are as a result of marketing to men. I recently asked a few of my fellow classmates if this is true, and they said it is. They even went as far as to say that some of their friends will put on makeup just to go to get some donuts at night. This definitely reveals the pressure of appearance of a woman compared to a male my age. Most days I wake up, eat a muffin, and go to school. No shower or anything. It is also tragic knowing that most women nowadays feel that the only way they can attract a man is through appearance, not a personality. How does one expect to form a relationship based on appearance? There is no possible way of having a love connection based on these standards. A woman's, or a man's for that matter, worth should not be based on appearance. But it is in this day in age as a result of the media constantly revealing beautiful women, and in effect, shapes mens' ideals of a perfect woman.

Workaholics and the Youth Culture

One show that is definitely popular right now for teenagers is Comedy Central's Workaholics. I would say the show targets my friends and I and other males ages 13-25. The premise of the show is that three guys, around the age of 23, dropped out of college and end up rooming together. They work at the telemarketing company "TelAmeriCorp" in Rancho Cucamonga. Adam, Blake, and Ders take a wide variety of drugs, talk sex, inflict physical pain to each other, and just hang out (which is often seen in any sitcom). I believe this show definitely reveals a change in the common assumptions of youth culture. Common television shows targeted for teenagers a few years ago included Zack and Cody, Drake and Josh, iCarly, and so on. They contained clean content and obviously targeted for teens considering that they aired on "TeenNick" or "TeenDisney." But the sitcoms aimed for teenagers today are much more foul and inappropriate than these shows. This shows the change in assumption about our youth culture that kids are going to talk about sex, take drugs, and choose poor decisions. In some respect, I think Workaholics is a reflection of our youth. It's a reflection because those who were creating television shows realized that their clean content was not precisely following youth culture. As a result, they had to change to something more accurate to attract the youth. However, the characters of the show are the common mook archetypes. I believe these mooks mold our teenage culture to become more mook-like themselves. Ever since watching shows that include mooks such as Check it Out! with Dr. Steve Brule and The Eric André Show, I have felt more inclined to act like them and attract attention like they do with their shows. So in a sense, the shows are both reflections of the youth and shape our youth. 

This is Spinal Tap

Rockumentaries, I can dig those. Just to name a few I enjoyed were Gimme Shelter, Woodstock, Searching for Sugarman, etc. But there was one that stood out to men, and was anything but an ordinary rockumentary. I first saw Rob Reiner's spoof/ rockumentary This is Spinal Tap the seventh grade, and it has ever since been one of my all time favorite movies. The movie follows the parody english heavy metal band "Spinal Tap" and their struggles to get back on the charts. "Spinal Tap" was actually a real band, they were actually pretty good for being a bunch of goof-offs. They were around the same time period as the British Invasion, with a similar sound to the bands of that era. Imagine an Animals/ Zeppelin hybrid. One of their songs was actually on the first guitar hero, "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You." Anyways, Rob Reiner created one of the best movies ever for a number of reasons. Firstly, the songs included are quite good. They range from their early hippy beatles stages as seen in their song "Flower People", to their late metallic sounds as seen in their song "Rock 'n' roll creation". The songs span from soft and easy to heavy metal, which were most definitely included in their soundtrack, revealing their true talent as great musicians with a broad horizon. Secondly, the movie gives an insight to the disorderly life of a rockstar making it big, and on the other end trying to get back on top. Their times as admired rockstars can be seen with their numerous concerts and fans, but their moments that were not so hot can be seen with their performances at puppet show venues, failed choreography onstage, and their split ups. This all gives an interesting look at life as a rockstar. Lastly, the great one-liners and characters are what make it laugh out loud funny. Here's a clip from the movie so you can see what I mean.  Overall, this is one movie that I wish I could have created as a director, which is a field that I hope to go in someday. Oddly enough, it was inspiring to Paul Thomas Anderson. Anyways, the movie is currently on netflix, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Thoughts on Meeting Michael Cera

Now here is one guy that I really want to meet. Michael is hilarious, talented, and he sounds like an overall good guy. And boy is he handsome, but I'll try not to get carried away here. You see, I enjoy watching Michael Cera because he I feel like i can relate to the roles he plays. Like in Arrested Development, he played the innocent George Michael. He stayed out of trouble and was always working to prove himself to his Dad and just being a goofy kid. Like George Michael, I feel like I have also stayed out of trouble to remain loyal to my parents. I have worked hard, and I have a close relationship between my family members. He was also in Superbad, which was rollicking. He played Evan, the awkward high-schooler who had two close friends. Similar to me, I also know very few people I would call my best friends. In fact I don't know many people at all I could call friends. I am also I kinda awkward person. But recently, he began to lose his innocence to some extent in some of his recent movies. He was in This is the End. Horrible movie, I may add. I was expecting something funny, but it turns out it was entirely hyped up by the media. Never mind that, but in the movie he did a lot of cocaine. It was startling to see that. He also did a lot of drugs in the movie Crystal Fairy and the Magical Cactus. Now this movie was hard to watch. Primarily because Michael did a lot of insane drugs. Although Michael has began to take a different approach in the roles he chooses, I would still very much like to meet him.