The Endless World of The Internet

I think we all agree that the internet has changed how we all live in many different ways. I never use a phone book, a subscription to a daily newspaper is no longer needed, most of my bills are all sent and paid online and it has also allowed us to expand the way we communicate with our friends and family and even meet new people. Social networking online is something that most of the people I know do on a daily basis even my mother has a Facebook page. It has allowed us to communicate with people we haven't seen since grade school or a cousin half way around the world.
I know many people who have used the internet for the purpose of dating. This has had mixed results from meeting many "weirdos" or liars pretending to be something they aren't to others meeting the person they eventually ended up marrying.
The fact that the internet allows us to keep in touch even daily or meet someone we would have never met locally is fascinating.
Of course there are risks and many precautions must be taken. Many people will live a completely different life online then what is really reality. Using old pictures or even pictures of other people. A perfect example of this is the movie "Catfish" which is a "documentary" about a photographer who begins a online relationship with an entire family through Facebook and in the end finds out the whole thing was orchestrated by one lonely housewife.
The internet has many pros and cons but the possibilities are endless......

FINALLY!!!

Osama bin Laden is dead! Good Riddance!

The Cool....

It's a slang that most of use to describe people or things that we find hip, different or interesting. It's hard to say what really defines what it is exactly makes something cool because that it a matter of opinion. What I find cool the next person may not. But that is the beauty of cool, it is universal.
I was watching Daniel Tosh's comedy special the other night and he was speaking about Johnny Depp (who I love) being 48 and wearing way to many accessories because he thinks its "cool" and Daniel Tosh believed that cool should have a cutoff age and that age should be 48. This made me laugh but it also made me think about this point...is there a point in our lives where we are to old to be considered cool? I don't think I agree with this but I do think that some people may try to hard and there is nothing more uncool than that. People also mistake trends with being hip or cool and often end up failing. Other trends seem cool for a moment and then they also just kind of fizzle out, like Beanie babies and Silly Bands, two things I personally never found cool.
The point is if you want to be cool then just be the best self that you can be. Be open to new types of people and experiences and be creative and explore every talent that you may have been blessed with. That is what cool is to me, someone that is 100% genuine and not just someone that is chasing the trends.

Lucy Vs. Ewok

Speaking of Star Wars...my favorite characters were always the Ewoks! Thought they were very cute. My Shih Tzu, Lucy looks very much like a Ewok, just wanted to share!

Iconic Films....Star Wars and Wizard of OZ...

Recently in class we looked into Star Wars and the impact it has had on people and generations who have grown up with these characters, story lines and "life lessons." I certainly did grow up in a time when Star Wars was extremely relevant and had a older brother who was a huge fan so I saw the films and played with the action figures. Back then I was more entertained by the characters in the film and had really never paid attention to the cultural and mythical meanings within the film. We were asked to compare this movie to another movie from our generation, well I am part of Generation X so Star Wars is certainly a product of my childhood.
When I started thinking about other iconic films that did shape my childhood the one that seemed most significant was Wizard of Oz. Now this movie was made in 1939 which was many years before I or even my mother was born but that is the beauty of this movie it is timeless and it has continued to influence many generations. When we were young long before DVD's and VCR's even they showed this movie once a year on television and we waited anxiously the whole year to see it, even though we had watched it every year before that.
As in Star Wars we have a young main character Dorothy who is lost, without her home and on a journey..very similar to Luke. They are both without their parents and both have lost mentors and aunts and uncles. Both characters are on a quest to find home, family and a place of belonging..along the way both Dorothy and Luke learn many lessons while battling archenemies, Darth and The Wicked Witch. They also both obtain a close group of friends who join them in their journeys essentially becoming a surrogate family for both young characters. In the end what we learned from Oz we learned from Star Wars, family is what you make it, you are stronger than you believe and there's no place like home.
True this movie was made about 40 years before I was born but in order for a movie to be TRULY iconic it lives on for generation after generation. The lessons and characters are very similar and both told in magical, fantasy settings which entertain while enlightening us to many life importance's.

I Love Reality TV....

I love reality TV and so do most of my friends. It's odd how we can get so wrapped up in our endless Real Housewives lives as though they are our neighbors or friends. Some we love and some we love to hate but the point is they have us hooked. Must be the voyeur in ourselves that stirs up the desire to be a fly on the wall checking out every intimate detail they display on cable TV.
Jersey Shore seems to be the next big phenomenon on MTV and this is one reality show that I refuse to watch. If that is the youth of today I am ashamed because it seems like all they represent is promiscuity, ignorance, bad hair and too much spray tanning. Not that the Real Housewives are a good representation of the adults of today, most of them are spiteful, materialistic and selfish. But all that "wrong" has me hooked.
I'm not sure what it is about reality TV that makes it so popular. Some people say it's because we aren't happy with our real lives, but I don't agree with that. I think maybe it's just the desire to see how the other half lives even if it isn't the better half.
Whether it's watching a woman with 4 nannies for 2 children or grown women constantly backstabbing or a bunch of "kids" from Jersey partying hard reality TV is a HUGE phenomenon that seems to attract more viewers than prime time television.

It isn't mentally stimulating and to me that's part of the reason I enjoy it. If I want to be mentally stimulated there is always PBS or National Geographic and I often tune into these channels as well. But every Sunday and Thursday night it's Bravo for me and my friends as we get to know the "Real" Housewives just a little bit more.

Hip Hop Vs. Country?

What can I say but that Hip Hop and Country are two completely different genres of music offering many facets of musical entertainment. Personally I'm not a huge fan of country but I am not a hater I can appreciate some of it, specially old country like Patsy Cline or Willy Nelson. One thing these two types of music do have in common is that they are both riddled with stereotypes and many people judge before they really know anything about the artists or the music they create. Most people just assume that Country music is about somebody's wife leaving them and then he spends the night crying into his beer and of course Hip Hop is always assumed to be all about making money and treating women like meat. But this isn't true and if people would stop judging and give the music a chance it may just open them up to something new and entertaining.
Stop taking everything certain artists say literally and listen to the lyrics and realize that rapping is a artform just like poetry and not everyone chooses to rap about violence and mysogyny it's just that unfortunately commercially that is what the "men in the suits" choose to put out there for the public.Same with country music, it really isn't all about rednecks and boot scootin..these artists also have many songs full of meaning.
Like many things in life we judge the book by the cover and because of this we miss out on many talented artists and an opportunity to appreciate something new and different.