It's a Girl!

Elle isn't only a nice name for a baby girl, it's the name of a pretty nice magazine. Elle is targeted to women, but not just anyone--women with enough cash to spare on a Vera Wang gown or Manolo Blahnik heels. Also, the magazine is approximately $3.50 per issue. The amount is small in retrospect, but for a magazine? Some people won't even bother. Even though I am unfortunately not one of those women, I still enjoy reading it. Perhaps, even the fashion savvy transvestite will pick up a copy. After all, there are ads for Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton, among others.

Suffice to say, I'm a happy and proud consumer of Elle magazine. They have all kinds of contibutors under their belt. Each of them is an expert in their field. A standout article I recently read was written by Jennifer Weiner. She's the author of "In Her Shoes," which the Cameron Diaz starrer is based on. The article was about the so-called genre dubbed as chick lit. It was as refreshing as it was interesting. Weiner supports her ideas with the chick lit currently in print, and her mentions of the books makes me want to devour them with my eyes.

There have been four other notable articles that I've read in Elle. Granted they were all about celebrities, the articles enlightened me on things I have yet to read elsewhere. First, I learned more about Channing Tatum and life after Step Up, which involves an upcoming movie where he gets to display his acting chops. Second, who knew that Ellen Page stole Ben Foster from right under our noses? I didn't until Elle came along. Truly, ignorance is bliss. (Both were in X-Men 3 playing Kitty Pride and Angel, respectively.)

Third, how much does Ashton Kutcher love his wife? Too much! I've never been a fan of his or his relationship, but now I kind of am. (He has two new movies opening this weekend: The Guardian and Open Season, and I mention this for no personal reason whatsoever.) For one thing, he said that most people don't know how their wives are going to look like 20 years into their marriage but he already does and he loves it. Insert "aww..." here.

Fourth, a rave review on the work of a relative unknown actress caught my eye. She's so unknown that I forgot her name, but I can't wait to see her performance in We Are Marshall, a movie based on real life events. It's about a plane crash that killed members of a football team in Texas I believe. It chronicles how the remaining players and coaches rise from the ashes. The aforementioned actress plays the fiancee of one of the late players. The Elle article brings up the scene where she returns the engagement ring to the boy's father. Prepare the Kleenex!

It should stop surprising me that everytime I have a new interest and then, I happen to be flipping through the pages of Elle dating back a month or more, I find an article about it. For instance, right now, I'm liking Joshua Radin's songs. As I was flipping through an old issue of Elle for this assignment, lo and behold, there was an article about him I never noticed before! Normally, I don't like surprises, but I'm willing to make an exception for the kind that Elle springs on me.

I'm Taken

Danger lurks around one of my favorite new television shows, Kidnapped. Admittedly, by its name alone, it is sort of ironic. Anyway, 7.3 million is a big number...depending on what you're talking about. In terms of dollars, it's huge! Anyone can retire with that amount of cash in their pockets. However, in terms of the number of viewers tuning in for a show, it's relatively low. So low, in fact, that USA Today didn't even rank it in their top 20 for that week or the top 20 for ages 18-49. (Why they even rank the latter is beyond me.)

PLEASE WATCH IT!!! Or at least, turn your television sets on to channel 3 (NBC--It's not even on cable so, no excuse!) on Wednesdays at 10 pm. The show revolves around Leopold (Will Denton), the kidnapped son of the wealthy Cain family. Upon receiving the cliche of a note that says, "Don't call the police," Mr. Conrad (Timothy Hutton) and Mrs. Ellie Cain (Dana Delany) go on to hire Knapp (Jeremy Sisto), a rogue specialist. Privacy be damned, the FBI (Delroy Lindo) gets involved so, they always clash, which makes for interesting television.

Until tonight's episode, the Leopold's older sister was missing as well. (That was just the second one so, there's time to catch up! Plus, they have a quick review at the beginning of the show for those just coming out of their caves.) All the actors are relative unknowns but they're good, and they could be great given enough buzz. Hint, hint. I dont know if I can take this clash of the networks anymore. Quite a few of my favorite shows have been cancelled in the past. Most notably, Reunion on FOX, a mystery show that was cancelled half-way (Not even. Maybe, 1/4 way?) through the first season. Cancelled mystery shows are especially hard to take.

Going back, Kidnapped will keep you on the edge of your seat. You can't help but feel for the characters. You root for Knapp, the reluctant hero (Think Nicolas Cage in Con Air or Dustin Hoffman in Accidental Hero.) and Leopold who's anything but the victim (like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone 1 and 2 but sleeker). I could go on, but it's more important for the show to go on, so keep your eye on the boobtube!

Same Difference

For this assignment, I opted to read the Saturday issue of the San Jose Mercury News. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer to read the newspaper in print. Yes, it leaves annoying black smudges on the fingers, but trust me, the newspapers here are better than the ones abroad--at least ink-wise. In other countries, some of the newspapers in print are like squids, just squirting away black ink.

In spite of this, print is better because one can find all the articles regardless of member registration/subcription. Additionally, since people can share print newspapers, they carry bonding value--bonding with friends, family members, and even one's spouse. I address all this and more in the list below.

THE DIFFERENCES
1. The ABCs of completing a story:
a. Online, the story can be read on a single page after clicking on one or more links.
b. In print, one has to turn pages in order to finish reading the story.

2. There are more options online.
a. People can listen to audioplay.
b. They can watch an audioshow versus looking at still pictures.
c. Readers can search the archives for more information on stories they find interesting.
d. People can post their comments regarding the articles.

3. In Living Color
a. All the ads online are in color as opposed to those in print.
b. The pictures online are colored as well, unlike some of those in print.

4. Online, a number of stories are restricted to subscribers/members only (i.e. "The Kindness of Strangers Exemplified" by L.A. Chung). Print newspapers, on the other hand, aren't limited to the direct subscribers alone. For example, SJSU housing subscribes to the San Jose Mercury News, but students like me can get a copy of it.

5. Readers of the print editions end up with dirty fingers whereas four eyes await online readers.
6. People at say, a breakfast table, can share the newspaper if it's in print, but not if it's online.

7. Online, they read articles in one direction only. With print newspapers, some sections such as the Real Estate or Entertainment, have to be turned up from its side before anyone can read it upright. Also, the latter can be folded up.

THE SIMILARITIES
1. Stories are the same--word for word.

2. Both versions have the weather forecast on the very first page.

3. They both have listings on the left side, which serve as previews of other articles.

4. Ads are everywhere.

I'm in Love with a Stripper

Fall is here and new television shows are popping up right and left! Last night, I watched the premiere of the critically acclaimed "Studio 60 on Sunset Strip." The show's been on every critic's top ten list and for good reason!

The show is so good! Yes, I know that I keep saying "good" and I should stop but really, that's the adjective to describe the show. "Nice" may be overrated but sometimes, it's the only word to describe something/one. I admit "Studio 60" wasn't on my list to watch, but I'm glad I did.

It's about the inner workings of an SNL-like show. "Studio 60" boasts of a star-studded cast that includes Matthew Perry ("Friends"), Bradley Whitford ("The West Wing"), and Amanda Peet ("A Lot Like Love"). The show also has bragging rights to Aaron Sorkin, the writer and executive producer of the show. Whitford, who worked with Sorkin on "The West Wing," claims that Aaron is "the best writer in television."

"Studio 60" is witty, suave, and oozing with charisma. Whitford and Perry work well together. They're both rubber bands just bouncing humor off of each other. It was genius, pure genius, casting those actors on the show. Perry brings in the "Friends" audience while Whitford draws in "The West Wing" crowd. After all, ratings do matter and disappoint they did not. The pilot hooked over 13 million viewers.

Not bad for a bunch of strippers.

Y/N

I think Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of propositions over the course of a governor's term. Prop 87 is his latest venture. You've seen the commercial. It's otherwise known as the Clean Energy Initiative, but you and I know that names can be deceiving. The proposition is about California's oil supply, which is of course, related to the ever increasing gasoline prices.

If people were to vote yes, they would be making oil companies pay--literally. There are going to be taxes imposed on oil production itself, which is approximately $200-380 million. That big chunk of change is going to go to good use, specifically towards alternative fuel research. So, Prop 87 is definitely better for Mother Nature. In turn, it will lower cases of lung cancer and other related diseases.

Who knows? Any day now, our cars could be running on water--like Jesus, only faster. Perhaps our motor vehicles will operate on helium (the type of gas in balloons), then we'll really fly just like every first grader imagined they would in the future. Aww...

What's the catch? Well, some people argue that gasoline prices are still going to be on a high, despite Prop 87, because oil companies will keep it that way. They'll import oil from foreign countries, which aren't subjected to heavy taxes, and keep charging on.

Yes or no? Simple answers to a not-so-simple question.

The Art of Publishing

I'm a trendy person but...not. Allow me to explain. There are some things I'll do because they are so popular that I want to try it too, if only for the experience. However, there are some trends that I feel no desire to follow. Call it schizophrenia, rebellion, or just plain normality. I mean, people just like different things. Let me provide an example. I read "Harry Potter," but I have no plans of reading "The DaVinci Code" or "The Alchemist." Believe it or not: I'm not the only one. My best friend won't read "Harry Potter" because she believes that it's against her religion. I have another friend who's with me on "The Alchemist." Her reason is that she hates the people who read it and suddenly think they're all philosophical.

I think if I wasn't given an iPod as a gift, it would be one of those trends I despise. I heard a classmate talk about it once. She was saying that she doesn't understand the iPod explosion and won't be buying one for herself. However, I've grown to love my iPod. (My fourth grade teacher would be so disappointed in me. She said that it's gramatically incorrect to say you love something. You can only love someone. For things, places, and the like, one should say that he/she likes it. Example: I really liked fourth grade English.)

Anyway, the reason I brought this up is whatever despise exists for the iPods can't last for long. I read not one, but two, articles on even newer trends as related to the beloved Apple gadget. First, more and more museums are offering audio tours that you can download at your convenience-legally and everything! This may be old news to some, but it's certainly news to me. You can download them before you go to the museum, or you could download them at the museum, or you can borrow an iPod already equipped with the audio tour at the museum.

Some of the museums that offer or will offer this service are as follows: Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), Akron Art Museum in Ohio, Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washinton D.C., Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, San Francisco de Young Museum, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach (CA), and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Second, according to the New York Times, "public domain books [are] ready for your iPod." Books, whose copyright has expired (i.e. published before 1923), are being made into audiobooks by everyone from amateurs to professional voice actors. Even you can submit one! This is all made possible by Project Gutenberg which supports the following services: LibriVox, Telltale Weekly, Spoken Alexandria Project, and LiteralSystems. Listeners can have their pick of the litter--anything from theBible to the Declaration of Independence to Jane Austen. Each audiobook title has different versions. Librivox, for one, has three versions of the Gettysburg Address.

There has been a lucrative market for audiobooks and downloading the actual book on one's computer, but now, there's the downloading of audiobooks onto one's iPod. I think this is the new direction that publishing companies are going to take. Perhaps they'll sell them on iTunes for 0.99 cents.

In line with this is an article in this semester's Reed magazine, "A Conversation with James D. Houston." He was asked how things have changed in the publishing business over the last 50 years. The noted author replied, "When I first started publishing books, there were probably 30 or 40 separate publishing houses in New York, and now they've one by one been bought up by larger conglomerates or merged with other publishers...The business is more and more controlled by, not a literary mentality as it used to be, but by corporate mentality."

Unfortunate but true. I have to agree with Houston. It saddens me that publishing companies are all about the business behind the books and not the books behind the business.

Season of Zits

I read an article in the New York Times that explored whether or not "acne is affected by changes in season." According to the article, "many dermatologists say it is generally thought to flare up in the winter and improve in the summer." The article then goes on about two studies that were conducted in 2002, but they both came up with different findings. One agreed with most dermalogists while the other said the opposite: more outbreaks occur in the summer than in the winter.

Who to believe?

Well, one problem with the studies that found more acne rear their ugly heads in the summer is that "they were based largely on participants' own reports. "

Going back, the reason why pimples lay low in the summer is because of the "increased exposure to sunlight. Studies have found that light, particularly ultraviolet light, destroys an acne-causing bacteria called porphyrins." A study that was out in 2000 claims that light works even better than traditional acne medication such as benzoyl peroxide.

However, according to Dr. Sumayah Jamal, a dermatologist at NYU, warns against excessive sunbathing just to relieve one's self of a constellation of zits. Instead, one should go to a dermatologist who can provide harmless light to remove the pimples.

One Way or Another

I think that one way advertising companies could persuade people to stop illegally downloading music is by having actual people, who've been convincted and punished for doing so, speak out. They could air commercials, print ads, and make billboards with people from all walks of life tell their stories about how they thought music piracy was harmless until they were fined large amounts of money.

In addition to that campaign, they should have celebrities encourage their fans not to produce or purchase illegal cds and/or DVDs. Product sales increase when a certain celebrity endorses it, why won't piracy decrease? Advertising companies will have no problem getting anyone and everyone from Hilary Duff to Sean Penn to Coldplay to Michelle Williams. By helping end piracy, celebrities would be furthering their cause and ultimately, their careers.

The musicians could continue to do their part by making quality cds through and through--not just put out 2 or 3 good songs out of 15 in a cd and expect people to buy it. Likewise, actors should consistently shell out great movies. This way, consumers would buy the original cd/DVD and never resort to illegal downloads.

One more thing (and I must say that I like this the best): celebrities should hand out free cds and DVDs. The more they give out, the more people won't get the pirated copy. Also, if they like it, they'll tell their friends to buy the original as well. This will in turn, increase the celebrity's sales.

MEGA-zine

I've been meaning to read a copy of Access magazine, and today, I finally did. I didn't read all the articles--just the ones I found interesting. I liked the articles on page 6: "How Will You Survive?" and "Come and Get It." The first one talks about how you can avail of free stuff on campus. I thought joining the spartan squad was funny just because "there's a free t-shirt involved [and] you can quit after that day."

The second article names reasonbly priced restaurants nearby. Honestly, I didn't know any of them until today. I guess that's mainly because I was on a meal plan during my freshman year here. So, I was limited to what and where I could eat. (In the long run though, I think having a meal plan is cheaper than having to buy and cook, or in my case, microwave food. But more delicious? I think not.)

I thought the Access staff did a good job with picking stories that SJSU students would find relatable. "Among the Elite" talks about how SJSU can be in a league of its own albeit not the Ivy League. Then, there's "From Grades to Glory," which chronicles the lives of 4 famous Spartans.

Then again, none of the articles were really all that current int its topics, which I would have liked to seen such as Steve Irwin's death and Suri's debut, just to name a few. I know that the magazine only comes out once a semester and the staff has to shell out timeless articles so they won't be out of date by the time it's available campus-wide. They managed to do that with more articles on marrying young, myspace, the environment, music, yoga, and weight issues.

Access saved the best for last. My favorite article was "Dirty Little Secret." The various postcards were both hilarious and heartbreaking to read. However, I thought the front cover could use some work. It didn't really catch my attention. I only got a copy because I needed it for a class. If I was majoring in anything else, I probably wouldn't have picked it up. They need more catchy headlines and highlight all of them.

Still, you've got to love the fact that the magazine was printed with soy-based ink and is recyclable. Also, if you pick up a copy, there's coupon at the back for 15% off any food purchase at Lee's Sandwiches on E Santa Clara and 6th St. ;)

Ahoy Matey!

The word, piracy, probably came from the fact that pirates stole treasure from people. In connection with that is music piracy. People who ilegally download music participate in this movement, if you will. They steal from the artists and the recording companies. Still, just like with the pirates, people have a fascination for music piracy.

I agree with what the professor said in class that record companies just don't get it. They should be coming up with new ways to distribute the music since that's the business they're in. They should realize that their business isn't in hot water. Everybody listens to music; lots of people love it albeit different types. Instead of scratching their heads for a new technology to put a stop to file sharing, they should be inventing something to expand it for everyone's benefit.

This whole issue also goes to the heart of how good (or bad) of a thing is technology. It is what's at least partly responsible for music piracy. In this situation, the advantage of technology goes to all the music lovers out there. Innovative technology has made it much more affordable to get their favorite songs on their iPods and what have you. The downside is that the hard work of the various record companies and artists go to waste.