Twitter, It's Not That Bad.

When we first began twitter project I was skeptical, I hadn’t had a twitter before the project and being so involved with Facebook I couldn’t see myself adding another social networking site to the list. I never updated my status too much while I was on Facebook so I thought the idea of having a network just for updating your status was a bit ridiculous. Once we started our project and I had to break down and create my very own twitter I was annoyed, I didn’t really understand how it worked and I didn’t really want to either but I sat down with a friend and got my first twitter lesson. He taught me about all of the different aspects of twitter and how people use twitter for very different things, some for more personal issues and others to get their cause out to the world. I enjoyed learning the ins and outs of twitter so much that I created a personal twitter of my own, one apart from the twitter we used in class. I wanted to keep them separate because I was just starting both twitters out and didn’t want to have my personal account bombarded with tweets of the 90’s. After I had learned all there was to know about twitter I started exploring the site on my own, following my friends, family, celebrities and a fair amount of organizations I was interested in. Twitter wasn’t what I had anticipated at all. It wasn’t just a forum for people to update their status it was a tool, a tool used by many companies to advertise themselves. I now get on my twitter religiously and follow a number of very interesting people and organizations. Starting out I would have never thought I would actually like twitter but now I am eating my own words.

The Superhero Vs The Princess

When you look at the super hero culture most if not all of the superhero’s have an alter ego, whether its Bruce Wayne for Batman or Clark Kent for Superman. The super hero alter ego gives human qualities to an otherwise superhuman character. In my opinion this helps the reader or viewer to connect better with the character. When I was younger I was very much so apart of the “princess culture” and to this day I still enjoy the entire princess world but at the same time I enjoyed the aspect of the superhero world. In all honesty if I hadn’t been so influenced by my peers I think I would have resonated more with the superhero culture because the characters were so well developed. Where as in the princess world most of the princess characters could be interchangeable with each other. Do I think that in some ways the superhero culture could harm the boys who watch them yes, but I believe that they do more good. The superhero characters are always flawed in some way, like every human is in one way or another and I think it teaches children a lot about difference and how differences in others shouldn’t matter. The superhero culture to me is much more positive than that of the princess culture because it shows a much more real world take on life, aside from the superhuman powers. If you stripped the comic books or movies from all of the superhuman characteristics the stories would be about someone who struggled with their differences and prevailed in the end. The princess stories are much more superficial and the characters in the stories are underdeveloped and at times shallow. Although I enjoy the princess world I do believe that the superhero world is much more beneficial when it comes to teaching children about the real world.

The New Generation of Artists

No longer are we subjected to the same commercialized artists that record companies and management pour to the masses. In the 90’s the public was spoon fed their music in neat little packages. Each artist was labeled and categorized. Fitting into well-ordered groups, there wasn’t much room for the unique and truly talented. That was then. This is now. Ordinary and traditional artists are being traded in by the music biz for the unique and corky. From artists like; Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Kid Cudi, to lesser knowns ; B.O.B, The Flobots, and The Roots, just to name a few, they are all rebelling against normality and trying to make it in the business by not falling into place, but standing out in the crowd. Normal isn’t normal anymore. Instead, consumers are looking for the abnormal. “Weird” for lack of a better word is in. The weirdness factor of an artist in today’s music world is being amplified and the normal all-American artist is being reduced and taking a backseat. I would like to think that the reason for this change is because the masses have realized that just because something is different doesn’t mean it isn’t normal but I’ll have to agree with what we had previously talked about in one of our lectures. I believe that the advertising companies have created an artist culture that seems to fit nicely with the hipster movement. They completely did away with the norm and made it “hip” to be weird. Is it a good thing? I think it could be if it opens peoples mind to different.

Advertising an its Effects on Children

My older sister is currently pregnant and is due at the beginning of September and I can’t help but be scared about the amount of gender based children’s toys. You can’t turn on the TV to a youth centered channel without seeing an overabundance of Barbies putting on makeup, cleaning house, cooking dinner, or even being pregnant themselves, on the opposite side you see boys playing with racecars, G.I Joe’s, Dinosaurs, etc. Children are subjected to thousands of different toy commercials each day but the companies trying to sell these toys aren’t only advertising the toys themselves but are also advertising the way boys and girls should behave. Young girls are pushed at a young age to do all of the things a woman should do; they must learn how to cook, clean, and take care of the children. While younger boys learn that to be a man they must be tough and never show emotion. The toy companies are instilling values in the minds of children that make it hard for them to be who they feel comfortable being. Boys are being ridiculed for enjoying things that other would consider feminine or “girly” and it’s the same for girls. Children should be able to freely choose their interests but because of the toy companies and their marketing strategies, it makes it hard for boys and girls to be individuals when they also must fit into either the masculine or feminine category. I don’t want my sister’s child or even my own to be ridiculed or judged because they like something that is only supposed to be liked by the opposite sex. If my son wants to be a baker or if my daughter wants to play football in the future I think they have every right to, feminine and masculine characteristics should not be limited to the sex that it is appropriate for.