Tuesday, April 28, 2009
L8tEr Sk8Ter
This is the original song "Heartbeats" from the swedish brother/sister duo The Knife. This video makes me want to start my own little family of numerous pairs of twins, all dressed in goofy outfits, and trained to be rediculously good downhill old-school beach skaters. Jose Gonzalez makes a really good cover of this song too.
The only cool thing to ever come out of Canada.
I think Grandmas should run the world. My Grandma would certainly make a better world leader than that pin-head Obama. She would fix the economy by selling her amazing apple and pecan pies (thus raising demand for consumer items)and settle international conflict over a spirited game of tile rummy.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Banned Commercial.
This is a very funny commercial from Sweden. It was banned in Europe and I'm not surprised why. This goes against just about everything I've learned in my Advertising Ethics class this semester. While the commercial is hilarious and gets its message across in a creative way, It clearly doesn't speak to the intrinsic beauties of raising a child. This ad especially hits home to young 20 something college students like myself. I really can't watch this video more than once though, because that kid is so loud and obnoxious it makes me want to beat him with a club while gouging my ear drums out with rusted nails. Guess I should hold off on having kids for awhile.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Empire Of The Sun
This is another incredible band that will undoubtedly be making a big splash in the 2009 new music scene. It's Empire of the Sun, and this is the video for their song "Walking on a Dream" which was recently filmed in Shanghai, China. The music is cool, unique and fresh and the video is incredible. These guys are gunna be big, and you heard it here first.
Iglu & Hartley
This is my favorite new band, Iglu & Hartley. Their sound has been described as Tom Petty meets The Pointer Sisters in a neon karaoke bar in Tokyo singing Tina Turner. The music is a sonic milkshake, a genre blending, culture-defying laser show. Synths, raps, explosive hooks, colorful bridges, sailboats, inspiration. They are from Echo Park California and dropped outta college at Boulder Colorado to make music and do what they love. All their music is catchy and the lyrics are inspirational.
Everything I Know About Women
1. "Pick me up at 8" really means I won't be ready till 9:30
2. Don't argue with them, you'll get nowhere.
3. Don't get in between a woman and her golden spoon zero calorie frozen yogurt.
4. Don't even think about looking at another woman, none the less speaking to one.
5. When she says it's "okay" or "that's fine" it's not. She's testing you.
6. Men drink beer or Jack Daniels, woman drink cosmos or martinis.
7. If a woman orders beer in front of you or tells you she "actually likes beer", she’s lying. She just thinks drinking beer in front of you will impress you, and make you think she's different that other girls.
8. Girls suck at beer pong.
9. Girls suck at men's sports.
10. Every girl claims she has more guy friends than girl friends, and that she prefers to just hang out with the guys. That's bullshit.
11. Never go shopping with your sisters. It will take hours.
12. Never introduce your girlfriends to your sisters. They will intimidate them, and scare them off. I've learned this the hard way.
13. When she cooks, It always tastes amazing. ALWAYS.
14. Don't ever make a girl cry. You will regret this dearly.
15. Pay for her.
16. If you don't call her the next day, she'll probly have a mental breakdown.
17. If she's texting you back one word answers, she's pissed at you.
18. Give them compliments. It will get you further than you think.
19. They always have to talk during movies.
20. Don't try to take away her cell phone.
21. Grey's Anatomy and old FRIENDS re-runs are GOD and you shall not forsake them.
22. She's always up for sushi, but ironically doesn't eat any uncooked fish.
23. Don't forget her birthday or an anniversary. For God's sake don't forget.
24. She will hate any movie you like, and you will hate any movie she likes.
25. She will never understand or appreciate guys night out or how cool smoking cigars is.
26. Don't be sloppy drunk in front of them.
27. Don't try to make her jealous. She will win that game.
28. Women forgive, but they don't forget.
29. Her girlfriends are blood sucking whores, and will sabotage you at any opportunity.
30. IF SHES YOUR MOTHER...SHE'S PERFECT IN EVERY WAY AND WITHOUT HER YOUR MASOGANISTIC PUNK ASS WOULD HAVE NEVER TAKEN A BREATH OF AIR, SO YOU LOVE HER VERY MUCH.
2. Don't argue with them, you'll get nowhere.
3. Don't get in between a woman and her golden spoon zero calorie frozen yogurt.
4. Don't even think about looking at another woman, none the less speaking to one.
5. When she says it's "okay" or "that's fine" it's not. She's testing you.
6. Men drink beer or Jack Daniels, woman drink cosmos or martinis.
7. If a woman orders beer in front of you or tells you she "actually likes beer", she’s lying. She just thinks drinking beer in front of you will impress you, and make you think she's different that other girls.
8. Girls suck at beer pong.
9. Girls suck at men's sports.
10. Every girl claims she has more guy friends than girl friends, and that she prefers to just hang out with the guys. That's bullshit.
11. Never go shopping with your sisters. It will take hours.
12. Never introduce your girlfriends to your sisters. They will intimidate them, and scare them off. I've learned this the hard way.
13. When she cooks, It always tastes amazing. ALWAYS.
14. Don't ever make a girl cry. You will regret this dearly.
15. Pay for her.
16. If you don't call her the next day, she'll probly have a mental breakdown.
17. If she's texting you back one word answers, she's pissed at you.
18. Give them compliments. It will get you further than you think.
19. They always have to talk during movies.
20. Don't try to take away her cell phone.
21. Grey's Anatomy and old FRIENDS re-runs are GOD and you shall not forsake them.
22. She's always up for sushi, but ironically doesn't eat any uncooked fish.
23. Don't forget her birthday or an anniversary. For God's sake don't forget.
24. She will hate any movie you like, and you will hate any movie she likes.
25. She will never understand or appreciate guys night out or how cool smoking cigars is.
26. Don't be sloppy drunk in front of them.
27. Don't try to make her jealous. She will win that game.
28. Women forgive, but they don't forget.
29. Her girlfriends are blood sucking whores, and will sabotage you at any opportunity.
30. IF SHES YOUR MOTHER...SHE'S PERFECT IN EVERY WAY AND WITHOUT HER YOUR MASOGANISTIC PUNK ASS WOULD HAVE NEVER TAKEN A BREATH OF AIR, SO YOU LOVE HER VERY MUCH.
Hot Potato
So in class this week Dr. Griffin gave a blog topic assignment: Take a political issue that you have a strong stance on (it can be any issue you care about), and argue the opposite side of it, as if you were someone else who felt differently about the issue. At first I was kind of scared, I’m not a very politically involved person, I mean I vote and I have a stance on most issues, but I knew it would be difficult to argue the other side of something for once and actually go against what I normally believe. But I guess that’s what Dr. Griffin is trying to get at. By arguing the opposite side of an issue, you can open your eyes to different opinions and beliefs, allowing you to relate to others and actually open your eyes up to how other people see things. It may just be what everyone needs, to step out of your own values and opinions and see it from the other side, who knows it might open your eyes and help you to learn something new.
So I decided to give it a try. Having just seen the movie MILK I’m going to try to argue for Gay and Lesbian Marriage.
My whole life I've been against gay marriage. Not because I knew much about the issue or because It felt wrong or unnatural to me, but because its what I thought I should believe. What I was supposed to believe. Now this had nothing to do with my parents, yes we are a generally conservative white Jewish family from Rancho Santa Fe, but that had nothing to do with how I felt about Gay Marriage. My parents have always been loving and open to me and my sisters, never forcing us into the same political views as them. They always believed we should make up our own minds and shape our own values; they even encouraged thinking about things differently than them. So why did I feel Gay Marriage was bad? Or that Gay people were somehow inferior or evil?
Because society told me it was. I went to school, football practice, lacrosse practice, watched TV. and movies, all the while surrounding myself with peers and media outlets that made it clear subtly or not, that a man and a women together was normal and natural, and that two men together or two women together was wrong and immoral. I worked out, played sports, hung with friends who would call each other "Fags" or "Queers" for doing something stupid or weird. Sadly I’ve been guilty of it myself. It was just commonplace for us, and no one ever thought for a second about what it actually means, or the hurt those words can have on certain people. I'm not saying we were bad people, or we were intentionally ignorant, we just didn’t know any better, or frankly even realize or care that there were people "different" from us. For as long as I can remember, this was the way it was, growing up in a conservative republican-dominant neighborhood, where we lived our cookie cutter lives in quiet denial of anyone different from the "norm".
As trite and 1960's hippie cliché as it sounds, as I've grown older and gone off to college I've started looking at things differently, and questioning my long held beliefs, trying to mature myself through looking at life in a different, call it fresh way. It took watching Sean Penn's amazing performance in MILK this past weekend to really open my eyes to the other side of Gay and Lesbian marriage. Now I wasn't completely blind to the news and pop culture growing up, and I was always aware of the growing trend of acceptance toward homosexuals in our country, but for me it was pretty easy, I’m not gay and didn't know any gay people, so it didn't affect me, and I would continue my life thinking it was just plain wrong and unnatural.
But that’s ignorance, and finally looking at the issue from the other side is long overdue for me. So what's so wrong with gay people, or being gay? Why can't two men or two women who love each other, share that love? After all, love is the greatest thing in the world that two people can have, and we somehow think that because were "better" or "normal" or "more holy" that we can deprive people of that love. It's shallow, incredibly ignorant and its bullshit. We have no right to deprive anyone from loving or being with whomever they want. Gay people are not animals, or subhuman, and they sure as hell aren't something to be afraid of. I mean seriously, how many gangs of cross dressing queens have ever busted into your house armed and dangerous? How many lesbian street gangs have done drive by shootings your neighborhood? That's what I thought. So if you think about it, this entire notion that gays and lesbians are somehow here to chase us down and convert us all is malarkey. All they want to do is love the people they care about, and live their lives in peace, just like the rest of us. They don't have an agenda to turn you gay or liberalize your home or your family values. They just want to be treated the same, like HUMAN BEINGS.
Now I understand what is foreign to people is sometimes frightening or uncomfortable, and I'm not suggesting Gay Marriage be thrown in people’s faces who are not yet ready for it. Hell, it's not like I'm suggesting we force people to watch a couple dudes make-out. I’m just saying that we should give Gays and Lesbians the same freedoms we all enjoy as Americans and that includes the right to marry the person they love. I remember one personal experience with this subject, when I was at the A-LEC getting tutoring for Stats last semester. I was working with a tutor, a chubby man, probably in his 30's. He went over to help another student for a second and I overheard him discussing his partner with the student. My demeanor to this kind, helpful young man immediately changed. Where I wouldn't have thought twice about this man ten seconds earlier and enjoyed being tutored by him, I was now disgusted, creped out, and scared of him. Why did I feel that way? Why would finding out his sexual orientation make me think anything less about him as a person?
Often in life, when young and emotionally immature people are insecure or uncomfortable with something, it becomes easier to deal with the unusual through laughter and humor. It makes it socially acceptable if we can poke fun and degrade those who feel different, look different, or live different, thus hiding our own insecurities with fitting in. And when that goes on unquestioned long enough, suddenly it becomes okay to call someone a "Faggot".
In the end Gays and Lesbians are not criminals or perverts or sexual deviants. They're just people, like you and me. People who deserve the same liberties as every American, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And if in that pursuit of happiness, they want to love another man or woman and get married, well then we should sure as hell let them do that too.
So I decided to give it a try. Having just seen the movie MILK I’m going to try to argue for Gay and Lesbian Marriage.
My whole life I've been against gay marriage. Not because I knew much about the issue or because It felt wrong or unnatural to me, but because its what I thought I should believe. What I was supposed to believe. Now this had nothing to do with my parents, yes we are a generally conservative white Jewish family from Rancho Santa Fe, but that had nothing to do with how I felt about Gay Marriage. My parents have always been loving and open to me and my sisters, never forcing us into the same political views as them. They always believed we should make up our own minds and shape our own values; they even encouraged thinking about things differently than them. So why did I feel Gay Marriage was bad? Or that Gay people were somehow inferior or evil?
Because society told me it was. I went to school, football practice, lacrosse practice, watched TV. and movies, all the while surrounding myself with peers and media outlets that made it clear subtly or not, that a man and a women together was normal and natural, and that two men together or two women together was wrong and immoral. I worked out, played sports, hung with friends who would call each other "Fags" or "Queers" for doing something stupid or weird. Sadly I’ve been guilty of it myself. It was just commonplace for us, and no one ever thought for a second about what it actually means, or the hurt those words can have on certain people. I'm not saying we were bad people, or we were intentionally ignorant, we just didn’t know any better, or frankly even realize or care that there were people "different" from us. For as long as I can remember, this was the way it was, growing up in a conservative republican-dominant neighborhood, where we lived our cookie cutter lives in quiet denial of anyone different from the "norm".
As trite and 1960's hippie cliché as it sounds, as I've grown older and gone off to college I've started looking at things differently, and questioning my long held beliefs, trying to mature myself through looking at life in a different, call it fresh way. It took watching Sean Penn's amazing performance in MILK this past weekend to really open my eyes to the other side of Gay and Lesbian marriage. Now I wasn't completely blind to the news and pop culture growing up, and I was always aware of the growing trend of acceptance toward homosexuals in our country, but for me it was pretty easy, I’m not gay and didn't know any gay people, so it didn't affect me, and I would continue my life thinking it was just plain wrong and unnatural.
But that’s ignorance, and finally looking at the issue from the other side is long overdue for me. So what's so wrong with gay people, or being gay? Why can't two men or two women who love each other, share that love? After all, love is the greatest thing in the world that two people can have, and we somehow think that because were "better" or "normal" or "more holy" that we can deprive people of that love. It's shallow, incredibly ignorant and its bullshit. We have no right to deprive anyone from loving or being with whomever they want. Gay people are not animals, or subhuman, and they sure as hell aren't something to be afraid of. I mean seriously, how many gangs of cross dressing queens have ever busted into your house armed and dangerous? How many lesbian street gangs have done drive by shootings your neighborhood? That's what I thought. So if you think about it, this entire notion that gays and lesbians are somehow here to chase us down and convert us all is malarkey. All they want to do is love the people they care about, and live their lives in peace, just like the rest of us. They don't have an agenda to turn you gay or liberalize your home or your family values. They just want to be treated the same, like HUMAN BEINGS.
Now I understand what is foreign to people is sometimes frightening or uncomfortable, and I'm not suggesting Gay Marriage be thrown in people’s faces who are not yet ready for it. Hell, it's not like I'm suggesting we force people to watch a couple dudes make-out. I’m just saying that we should give Gays and Lesbians the same freedoms we all enjoy as Americans and that includes the right to marry the person they love. I remember one personal experience with this subject, when I was at the A-LEC getting tutoring for Stats last semester. I was working with a tutor, a chubby man, probably in his 30's. He went over to help another student for a second and I overheard him discussing his partner with the student. My demeanor to this kind, helpful young man immediately changed. Where I wouldn't have thought twice about this man ten seconds earlier and enjoyed being tutored by him, I was now disgusted, creped out, and scared of him. Why did I feel that way? Why would finding out his sexual orientation make me think anything less about him as a person?
Often in life, when young and emotionally immature people are insecure or uncomfortable with something, it becomes easier to deal with the unusual through laughter and humor. It makes it socially acceptable if we can poke fun and degrade those who feel different, look different, or live different, thus hiding our own insecurities with fitting in. And when that goes on unquestioned long enough, suddenly it becomes okay to call someone a "Faggot".
In the end Gays and Lesbians are not criminals or perverts or sexual deviants. They're just people, like you and me. People who deserve the same liberties as every American, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And if in that pursuit of happiness, they want to love another man or woman and get married, well then we should sure as hell let them do that too.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Vinny Barbarino Vs. The Fonz
If television's two notorious Mr. Cool’s squared off, who would you put your money on?
I'd put my money on the Fonz. In my opinion Fonzie was the ultimate tough guy, mr.cool icon. He brought being cool to a whole new level, and I think he'd toss Vinny Barbarino around like a ragdoll.
Undercover Mother
This is an incredible story about a woman named Doreen Giuliano who was obsessed with saving her son from a life behind bars after he was convicted of murder.
She gave herself an extreme makeover — blonde dye job, fake tan, sexy wardrobe, phony name — and began spying on jurors. She befriended one juror, Jason Allo, who she believed knew her some and lied to the judge during the jury selection. For nearly 8 months Giuliano, drank at bars, smoked marijuana and shared meals in her tiny Brooklyn hideaway with Allo, all the while secretly trying to root out any possible misdeeds at the trial.
The juror eventually opened up to her about his time as a juror, completely unaware that this seductive older woman was the same dutiful mother who sat through the entire trial just a few feet away from him.
Here are web addresses where you can see pt.1 and pt.2 of the nightline story. It's unbelievable the love a mother must feel for her son, to risk her life and throw all caution to the wind and go undercover to try and save his life. I smell a movie coming...
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7007264
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7005626
I'm going to live forever
Check out this crazy video my Dad sent me about the advances in regenerative medicine. If this stuff can already grow tissues, blood vessels and limbs, imagine the regenerative capabilities we will have in the future. I mean if someone’s heart gives out, can we just grow them a new one? If someone drinks too much can we just produce them a new liver in a lab somewhere? Modern day medicine is moving in a fast and exciting direction, and is even looking scarily reminiscent of Marry Shelly's Frankenstein.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm is a very large and successful technology company based in my hometown San Diego, California. Besides having our Chargers football stadium named after the company, I attended high school with the granddaughter of the CEO and founder of Qualcomm, and have been to her ridiculous beach house mansion a few times. Anyway, I got these videos in an e-mail from my mom and I was pretty shocked to see a large technology company like Qualcomm doing this. I mean don't get me wrong, the videos are hilarious, but why is a technology company branding themselves? In this economy, where do they have the money to be spending on this satirical ad campaign? What's Qualcomm's end game here?
I first thought it was some kind of inside joke among the Qualcomm employees, possibly something to keep worker moral up during uncertain financial times. This theory was shot down however, when I actually visited the website and saw an entire interactive section of the site devoted to this shark-falcon, wolf-hawk, crocet-eagle "convergence" thing. I mean it was really weird. I also get that it may be a big fun metaphor for how Qualcomm's technology capabilities are growing at an unprecedented rate, while simultaneously poking fun at themselves as a nerdy technology company. But, in the end I'm still wondering what spawned this campaign and the strategy behind these videos. Regardless they're great videos, and my hat goes off to whoever came up with this unique idea.
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