Navigations are at the top
ABOUT {what i've}
LINKS {been looking for}
TAG {all this time}
bold italic underline link
P.p.s. Sorry, I had to.Okay, so apparently, I'm NOT yet done. Well, not until this blog post where I state the blogs on which I commented on... so here it is... :)
Inggrid Wibowo, Post Number 2
Vanessa Lee, Post Number 6
Michelle Seguin, Post Number 6
Vanessa Lee, Post Number 4
Inggrid Wibowo, Post Number 7
Alex Depompa, Post Number 5
Vanessa Lee, Post Number 5
Debbie Lee, Post Number 6
Kaitlin Cruz, Post Number 1
Ps. I'm still ending it in a way I want to. As everyone knows, my fave Twicouple. :) :) <333
I really hope you liked that little walk down my opinion lane. Anyway, the journey's been fun and long, but that's the end of this path. Hmm.. I was r i g h t. I actually enjoyed doing this assignment. How disgruntling. Here I thought Media Arts was going to be a subject that I'd have to suffer through. No offense. :)
'Till next time.
p.s. I leave you with a poster of a movie that I honestly cannot wait for, and you all know it. :)
p.p.s. I just screamed. 155 more days! (As of today, anyway)
But, mmm... just look at that. I am getting off track here, and getting back to the main topic: Yes, our cafeteria has started serving healthy food. Yes, our vending machines are now serving "baked chips" and granola bars. That is a good decision in the school board's part... but many students I know were very upset by that. The french fries that were once good turned baked, which don't taste as well. In all seriousness, I find the fries now to be fine, but I am not exactly the best person to ask if something is good or not, because I eat everything. And if you think I'm kidding, you're wrong. I, literally, will eat anything if I am that hungry. Well, anything edible.
I must tell you in all honesty, that this movie, "Supersize Me" did gross me out. Again however, telling you the truth, it did not make me stop eating McDonald's. I actually eat an unhealthy amount of it, and I see myself getting fat in the near future if I don't stop this. Seriously, when I fatten myself up at McDonald's, I know how damaging it is to my health, and no matter how many times my friends tell me how gross it is, I will still keep eating it. Call it my self-gratification. Or maybe I'm just stubborn. Either way, I never listen to what anyone tells me. And McDonald's... well, "it's just so good..." This is what I tell myself to justify my love for such harmful food. I know I'm not alone in this view either. But I wouldn't go and make any judgments so quick. I do eat my fair share of fruits and vegetables, but there are just those days when you have to pig out on McDonald's or Pizza Pizza... or a fast food chain near you. Dairy Queen... well, I live near one and I sort of need a Blizzard on those hot summer days, which admittedly is everyday. What a waste of money.
Getting back on track, if the "Supersize Me" movie didn't scare me off from eating McDonald's, and I know I'm not alone on this because of the b i l l i o n s of people that McDonald's serves worldwide, do they think that making a scare campaign to stop drinking pop and eating chips will work on the people? It may work on some, but I know for a fact that my family won't stop eating these said foods anytime soon. We eat a pretty balanced diet, and our family is okay in the health department. The video, of course, did disgust me... who would not be disgusted by that? But, I won't stop drinking pop or eating the chips that I eat now. It's just the way it is.
Yes, the growing obesity in our nation should be cut down, but this isn't the way to go about doing it. Imposing a tax on the pop and chips... it doesn't really do anything. If people want it bad enough, they could and will still purchase it. I mean, it's not like it's illegal or anything, but even at a slightly higher cost, people will still buy their pop and chips. And even if it was illegal, that wouldn't really stop anyone much. Why do people buy marijuana when it's illegal? That's right. They want it, so they buy it. This is obviously going to go the same way with this new tax that they are putting on. This isn't going to make anyone any healthier. It's nice of the government to try, but it won't work. Maybe they could try the Japanese diets. I've heard that in Japan, once people are eating, they will stop once their 70% full for about 15 minutes, and in the end of those 15 minutes, if they are still hungry, then they can eat. If not, then they just cut out 30% of what they would usually eat. This is just an idea thrown in there, but I think it's better than tax on pop.
Using normal people on spreads are also a nice way to stick it to those photoshopping backsides. It's a nice way to show that people don't look like pencils and they actually have figures. Not straight lines for bodies. This really is something that should stick around for a really long time. I think Saying No to Photoshop is one of those things in this world that I would love to stick. It feels nice to see some people who look normal for once and not stick skinny, or with perfect features. Make-up has a lot to do with the unachievable look as well, and I love the fact that well-read magazines are trying to promote the no make-up, no photoshop deal. I, myself, read People Magazine, and I have the issue mentioned in the blog post. It really was nice to see. Celebrities and magazines alike, see what the over-photoshopping and make-up is doing to the rest of society, and they are putting it on halt. I think they're just as fed up as we are. Good. Above is a book of celebrities without their make up. I don't know about you, but it's nice for celebs to stop thinking of how they look for once. Refreshing. I sort of want to buy it.
Talk about photoshop gone horribly wrong. And to make matters worse, I read in a magazine somewhere that she was recently fired from Ralph Lauren and she says that the reason that she was fired was the fact that she was not "slim" enough. Can one really be "slim" enough nowadays? Ugh, this really disgusts me. If you ask me, Filippa Hamilton is perfectly fine the way she looks. The photoshopped version of her even looks a little... creepy. In the "I'm a skeleton and I'm coming to get you in my designer clothes" kind of way. Just a little overdone, I think. Who am I kidding. A LOT overdone. I mean, she was perfect the way she was! I think this is very stupid. Photoshop is very cool. Awesome, I would even say. But I don't think this was a good way to use such an amazing invention. And this must make the people being edited feel bad about themselves. Their self-esteem's may have been hit very badly. I'm sure that it doesn't feel good to be edited because "you weren't good enough". I mean, really? Self-esteems must have hit new lows. In my opinion, everyone is good enough.
However, throughout the years, video games have evolved. Evolved like pokemons evolve. EVOLVE! Wow, I sound really crazy, but it's true. Video games really have evolved for the better. Wii Fit can show that. Wii Fit gave us all a chance to interact with our characters in the television. Be the characters. And what's better than getting fit while having fun? Instead of hitting the gym and running on the same spot for hours on a treadmill, why not surf your way into fitness? Or hulahoop? Or ski your way into it? Doesn't that sound much more fun than lifting up those hefty weights that can, at any time, fall on your feet and make you hurt really bad? Yeah, me doth thinks so. 
Consider the picture directly to the side. This is a picture of the infamous "Pong". This game, believe it or not, used to entertain people. Looks lame now, doesn't it? Well... back then, this was the form of entertainment, and this would keep the kids playing till the wee hours of the morning just as much as Modern Warfare would make us, or Assassin's Creed. Sure, parents would want us to sleep instead of playing video games all night, but who needs sleep when you can just play for five more minutes? And five more... okay, ten more... And those five more minutes turn into five more hours.. it just goes on and on. "I can do this! C'mon, I died? How did I die? I totally shot him first!" is usually what I yell at my TV. All of this, leading up to the fact that people can really get into our video games. Especially teenagers.
Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty has really inspired many people and changed the way many girls, and young women look at themselves. They see that they are beautiful the way they are, and that the media's portrayal of girls...well, it just isn't achievable. I feel that this campaign was something that should be endorsed by many more companies. Back in November, I picked up a copy of Seventeen Magazine, and there was an article all about body peace and accepting how you are made. Many celebrities are behind it, and I found it nice to see that celebrities have their insecurities as well. We all have our insecurities, I included, and seeing this campaign made me feel good about myself. The self-criticsm I used to give myself about the way I looked has lowered drastically. Young girls need to see that they are beautiful and that they don't need to look like a stick in able to be beautiful. They already are. We need more of this in our world.
The Axe Effect Campaign, however, contradicts everything that The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is trying to put out there. The Axe campaign basically tells men and young boys alike, that their body spray will make girls want you left and right. (Cue rolling of eyes). Right. Because that awful smell is just so attractive. In all honesty, their products...and there is no nice way to say this, but it smells really bad. I think just thinking of it's smell just made me throw up in my mouth a little. Why anyone find that appealing is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, their commercials will make you laugh, that's for sure, but what they're expressing in the commercial is just ridiculous.
It would be nice to say that parent companies like Unilever, a "parent" company should have some kind of ethical responsibility to ensure that all of their "children's" beliefs and values have some kind of semblance. They should uphold similar values at least. However, this isn't how the world works. Unilever owning Axe and Dove, two companies who have completely different views, is just a business strategy. By one "parent" company owning two separate "child" companies, they are catering to two different market niches. They are just trying to achieve the most money that they can. In other terms, they're just trying to "milk" it for all it's worth. It's true...Dove itself makes a lot of money, but so does Axe. Combining two separate companies' generated money, well... now, we're in business. This isn't uncommon either, as No Frills and Loblaws is owned by one parent company among with many other grocery stores and food places. Why own many separate grocery stores you may ask? Because of the same reason as Unilever owning Axe and Dove. They're just "milking" it all the way to the bank.
Seriously? Are you kidding me right now? Wow, I never thought it would be this hard to compose my thoughts on this in an appropriate way because all that I'm thinking right now shouldn't be going onto a school blog. This is such an inappropriate ad; and it just kills me that a company allowed this to run. But then again, when I look at ads that run nowadays for cigarettes, the concept has not changed. The concept is always that you'll somehow, become more attractive or cooler if you smoke this or that type of cigarette. But it really doesn't. What, is there something magical in the cigarette that has this affect when you inhale it? Is it cool that you're killing your own self slowly? Is that the definition of cool? No. And the only thing magical about these things are the magically horrible effects they would be having on your body. The discoloured teeth, the cancer, the senses that don't work as well, the raspy voice that doesn't seem to go away, the smell of smoke that follows you around? The list goes on and on. Oh, yeah. How attractive. (cue rolling of eyes). Having that said, I guess America hadn't changed as much as we all thought throughout the years. And that thought alone can kind of make you sad. I mean, isn't the world supposed to be progressing as a whole? I guess not.
And the way that the ladies are downgraded in the ad is just even more irritating. "Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere?" I'd like to see you blow in my face. Or anyone else's face for that matter. And what? Are the doctors that know everything always men in ads? Again, irritating. So, to finish this off... Sorry, but smoking doesn't make you cool. At all. Sorry.
So, obviously these are ads that promote being the "right" size. Which in most people's minds, (including my guilty one) is to be fit. Thin. But is there really a "right" size? What happened to the days when being plump was a good thing because that meant that you were able to feed yourself? What happened to those days? Nowadays, people feel self-conscious about their excess of flab when it's perfectly natural to have that. Sometimes they're even pushed to try things as ridiculous as these to lose weight. But c'mon! No one is really that skinny. That's what photoshop is for. But these ads themselves. Pretty ridiculous, don't you think? I mean, tapeworms? and lard? Really? So, the basic message is I will eat as much as I want and all I have to do is eat those things and I'd stay to a thin size? I don't understand how that could be physically impossible. Oh, wait. I think I got it. So, the idea is to eat as much as you want. Try to eat the tapeworms and the lard. Throw up all of the food that you had previously eaten, trying to do said thing. And ta-da! You stay skinny.
Consider the picture above. That's pretty cool to be able to do that, don't you think? It's like we're strolling down the streets of France through the Internet. The Internet really has evolved. Very cool indeed. When I first heard of Google Street View, I was quite amazed. I mean, I could track down where I had lived in the Phillipines before. Where I had gone to school. It was all and all, very advanced, and it made me feel like I was on a vacation when I go to visit Australlia or California (through the Google Street View, of course). Google Street View also came to be quite useful, when my family and I were going on a vacation to Florida. Before we had gone, we had plugged in the adress of the resorts we would be staying at while on vacation and came up being quite impressed when the results came up. The resorts were all nice looking, and our expectations were exceeded when we actually went on the vacation. Very cool indeed.
Then again, as with everything else, we can look at the downside of this. In every situation in this w o r l d, there are always pros and cons. Just like cell phones. I mean, they're great and all.... Until they start ringing when you were probably having the best sleep you've ever had. Take this picture, these girls were just...well... sunbathing? I don't exactly know what they were doing. But whatever it was, I'm sure they didn't want it to be posted online where EVERYONE can see. Sure, their faces might not even be showing, but I know that even though people wouldn't neccessarily know that it was them, it would still make them feel self-conscious. Then there's the privacy issue. This horribly invades their privacy. Again, even if their faces aren't showing, most of their skin are. Not something you would want posted on the Internet for some of those creeps to find. I, curiously, searched in my address. Thankfully, no doors were opened at the time, and so I was grateful. That is until my uncle had told me that he has seen me on Google Maps. I asked him how he had, because, as we all know well, they blur out the faces. He says that even though they do that, people are still recognizable. I went to check for myself, and I have to say that he is completely right. On a personal level, I don't find it invading at all. It wasn't like I was sunbathing like those girls above, so it wasn't a big deal. I find it kind of awesome in a way. In a way.In conclusion, Google Maps was a very good idea invented by the genius above all geniuses. However, like most things in life, it has its ups and its downs. Not everything can be all good. If everything was, we'd all be living in a perfect world, wouldn't we be? So, overall? I think Google Maps is a good idea. Pretty genius even. And to those girls? Tough luck.
