"Why do you love me? ...........I still love technology"

What is the reason that technology has become such a big part of our lives.  Maybe it is because doing everything manually is too much work.  Technology definitely makes tasks in life easier.  If I have to research something, it is much easier to search something on the web than to look something up in a book.  Technology is definitely a good thing.  It is used to make many breakthroughs in the world.  Scientists and doctors use computers and other types of technology every day.    Can technology be a bad thing though?  In my opinion, some people rely way too much on technology.  Could you imagine the chaos there would be if all the cell phones in the world were shut off for a week.  People wouldn’t know what to do with themselves, which is sad.   Schools aren’t even making students get text books in classes, because they have online editions.  Yes it saves paper to do things this way, but this day and age, children don’t ever read books.  I have met children who have never read a chapter book, but they definitely have played the latest xbox game.  When do we draw the line on technology. 

American History X

Movies are one of the best known pastimes for our generation and they bring big sums of money for the people who make them.  When someone asks what your favorite movie is, thousands of different titles rush through your head.  When someone asks me that question, only a certain few hit.  My favorite movie of all time is probably American History X.  This movie isn’t a comedy, which most people would think I would choose.  This movie has so many emotions all mixed into one.  It has the main message which is what life is like to be part of the Neo-Nazi skinhead society.  The main character, Derek, is looked at like a God amongst the rest of the skinheads.  Most of the film takes place in black in white, to show that the movie is in past tense.   Derek is thrown in prison for stomping someone’s mouth into the curb, when they guy was caught breaking into his truck.  This movie centers on a dysfunctional family of alcoholics, missing father, and a little brother. The reason that Derek hates black people so much is because his father died in a house fire, which he thought was caused by just black people.  The movie is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen, and one of my favorite.  When a movie is so realistic and can give you chills the way this one does, it has to be good.  I recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see a good movie. 

“So I guess this is where I tell you what I learned - my conclusion, right? Well, my conclusion is: Hate is baggage. Life's too short to be pissed off all the time. It's just not worth it. Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote. He says someone else has already said it best. So if you can't top it, steal from them and go out strong. So I picked a guy I thought you'd like. 'We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.'” 

Advertising Animals?

Is advertising really for the greater good of the product?  Or do all of the customers see the company that’s producing the product as pigs?  Well I personally believe anyone who takes advertising that seriously has issues to begin with.  Advertising is to catch people’s eyes and put the product in mind for when a person is need of a product of that sort.  In class we watched a video called “Killing Us Softly 2,” and then afterward we discussed it.  In class I thought it was pretty funny how some of the people in class got upset with how companies advertise.  Like I said, advertising is to catch someone’s eye, not to show what people do with their product or what their product symbolizes.  Ads that appeal to me are the humorous ads.  If an ad is funny, it will stick in the mind and I will most likely discuss the ad with someone else.  Ads don’t discuss me.  I have honestly not seen an ad that has made me upset of disgusted.    The one part in the ads I do not like is when all the ads are the same.  Yes, we all see the sexual ads, yes we see the funny ads, but when is someone going to come out a make something we haven’t seen yet.  The funniest add out there isn’t funny enough.  Companies, get creative and make people want to buy your product!

Facebook: Friend of Foe?

Facebook has become the most popular social network in the world in the past few years.  It has become so popular it inspired a movie that was a number one hit in the box office.  I have had a facebook for the past couple years.  Personally I’m not the biggest fan of facebook.  Honestly a facebook is good if you just meet a girl and you want to send her a message or connect with a long lost friend.  I usually delete my facebook, and then end up reactivating it to talk to someone or see an event.  I think that people should only be friends with who they actually interact with.  All of my friends are actively talking to me.  I have about one hundred and sixty friends.  If you have more friends than you actually have, you just have extra people creeping on your profile.   A big controversy of facebooks is employers looking at your profile.  What’s the big deal, if you post it, you shouldn’t be afraid to have people look at it.  Depending on the job, I think that it is completely appropriate for employers to look at the profile.  Now if it is an employer of a pizza place, they shouldn’t look.  If it is a federal employee or a state employee then yes, look away employers.  We want the best people doing certain jobs, so there can’t be fake people guarding the streets of our city or nation.  Facebooks can be alright, just don’t let them take over your life.

"Why do you want to be a cop?"

A question a probably receive three out of the four times I tell somebody my major.  My major is intended to be Criminal Justice.  I chose criminal justice because I want to be a police officer, as you can see in the title.  For years, almost all of my life I have been jumping back and forth between whether or not I wanted to be an educator or a police officer.  I came in to college with the intent of being a teacher, but we all see how long that lasted.  Just being a freshman, I have plenty of time to figure out what I want to do.  I am pretty certain I would like to be a police officer.  I have wanted to be in the military at one point in my life, but since I am diabetic, the military will not take me.  I figure being on a police force is just like military.  Protecting people and serving the community is such a respectable career.  So many people my age dislike cops very much, but why?  I can tell you; it is because they are doing things they shouldn’t be doing and they are being stupid when they do it.  I know cops on the Centerville police force and they said they don’t know where parties are until neighbors call about it being too loud.  Cops aren’t dicks; they are just doing their jobs.  I plan on getting my bachelor’s degree from Wright State then move back down to Virginia Beach and try to get a job down on my old towns force.

What would our society be like if all the televisions were unplugged?  Would it really make a difference in our children’s lives by making them healthier, better educated, or more independent?  All Through high school it seems as if children watching television has always been a controversial issue. 

                To me I feel that the generation of children nowadays are more in to the cyber world.  Instead of going and playing football at the park with friends, they are sitting in their houses playing Xbox.  My generation caught the tail end of going outside and being in the fresh air.  As a child, my friends and I  would pick skateboarding or throwing the football over sitting inside any day.  The problem is the parents aren’t getting their kids up and making them get some exercise.  Parents buy the games and buy the televisions.  Parents have the say so with what their kids do, but it seems as if it’s a new age of parenting where the parents let their kids make the rules rather than them.      

If televisions were unplugged, kids would get a little healthier, it’s not a surprise.  Clearly if a child doesn’t have his precious television he might have to get up and go play outside, so he doesn’t die of boredom.  Playing outside will burn way more calories than sitting on the couch. Especially with all the sugary foods kids like they can afford to burn some, but that’s a different topic.  I really don’t think that education has much to do with television, some of the smartest kids I know are always gaming, whenever I see them.  Most kids don’t watch the news anyway, so they probably won’t read the newspaper.  Kids will definitely become more independent if they didn’t have televisions to rely on.  Kids running around building forts, scraping knees, and twisting ankles will not have to rely on mom and dad as much because they will know how to deal with those issues and be more innovative with materials that are right in front of their faces.  Unplug the T.V.’s, IT WILL NOT HURT ANYONE.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec; "The Two Girlfriends"

Clearly in this painting there are two controversial issues for the time in which it was painted. This painting is from the late eighteen hundreds, therefore homosexuality and sex are things that are not discussed.  The audience for this painting is to the older, more conservative crowd.  With these people being the audience, it is kind of a message to lighten up and open society’s eyes to things that are real.  The purpose of this piece is to get a point across that sexual feelings and sexual orientation should be freely expressed.  Clearly the artist feels like a change needs to take place with how accepting people are of others.  Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec probably got much grief and disrespect from society for his racy paintings.  The stance of this painting is punk in a way.  This painting is frowned upon by most people, but the artist has an attitude of “I don’t care; I do things the way I want.”  I say this because most of the people who would see this would be appalled. Besides the artist painting with this attitude, the painting speaks different than that.  The painting is like a cry out for understanding from society.  The painting is very serious, not a whole lot of bright color or happy images.  It clearly expresses intimate love between two people.  The stance is clear that he accepts the lifestyles people choose and that he doesn’t care what people think about how he expresses it.  This is how art and any other creative property should be.  The genre of the piece is persuasive art.  This piece is persuading people to not agree with what is in the painting, but to at least accept it. It has a tone to it that its almost begging for people to see what it is portraying.  Clearly the design of this piece is a painting.  It doesn’t take any intellectual reading skills to interpret what this painting portrays.  This is a great piece and I enjoy much of the artwork this man makes because it has a certain attitude that some artists wouldn’t tread on.