Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Addicted

I'm an addicted media consumer. First of all, I am almost always in cyberspace. In order to stay in touch with my friends, I e-mail and chat with them. I also read their blogs and update two of my own. Let's not forget my friendster, multiply, and myspace accounts.

Secondly, I watch tv practically everyday. Some of my favorites still on the air are Gilmore Girls, House, Grey's Anatomy, and Veronica Mars. To fend off my reality show cravings are American Idol and America's Next Top Model. Though I was sad to see Sex and the City and Friends go, I look forward to this fall's new shows such as Heroes, Ugly Betty, 6 Degrees, and Kidnapped.

In connection with that, I like to watch movies. The most recent movie I watched was Step Up, whose soundtrack is way better than the movie. However, I think Invincible and The Covenant will be well worth the money, and I absolutely can't wait for Eragon!

Whenever I have the time, I enjoy reading books and magazines. For the latter, I like to read Elle, Seventeen, People, TIME, Newsweek, In Style--anything really. As for the former, the last one I read was Eldest by Christopher Paolini. (They're coming out with a special edition of that on Sept. 26 although I have no idea what the difference is going to be.) I was planning on reading Traveling Mercies next, but I guess I have to put that off for The Kite Runner, which I had heard about before but never planned on reading.

Last but certainly not least, I love to listen to music. I carry my iPod whenever and wherever I can. Some people think it's overrated, but I don't think so. It's convenient because you can put all your favorite songs in one place and carry it around anywhere. It's even adaptable to your car. Plus, depending on the type of iPod you have, you can put music videos and episodes of your favorite TV shows.

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

My Bad

I read two articles in the New York Times today. First, NBC has apologized for their introductory skit, which involved a plane crash. They acknowledged that it was insensitive to the fact that roughly 50 people died in a Kentucky plane crash recently. This brings up the question of when is the right time? Some people thought it was too soon for movies on the 9/11 attacks ("Flight 93" and "World Trade Center") to be shown in theaters. The same goes for television shows albeit on a different level. Should we move "Grey's Anatomy" to TV's big night, Thursday or keep it in its original timeslot of Sundays? What is the right time?

Second, Britney Spears is stirring up some controversy all the way in Japan. Her photograph on the Japanese Bazaar edition has had an on again, off again relationship with the Tokyo Metro (a subway station). As of today, it's on again after commuters complained about the Tokyo Metro's request that the magazine conceal the picture below the elbows.

I don't think that giant ads like that are appropriate, but there are hundreds, if not more, of them out there and to only condemn Britney's is wrong. You're probably saying, "Well, it's going to be on magazine stands everywhere anyway. What's one more place?" The difference is that those who buy the magazine are actually interested in things other than the cover whereas the commuters see the cover and only the cover. On the flipside, it's good to know that the people's opinions are being heard--even though it's in the east side of the world. Take comfort in the fact that we are not the only country fussing over Britney Spears.

Then again, this whole incident only brings to light how majority perceive the human genitals as taboo. We can most likely put the blame on parents teaching their kids that either their penises are birdies or their vaginas are flowers. It sends the message that they should be ashamed of their sexuality and that it's not okay to call sex for what it really is, let alone talk about it. Thus, the kids look to other sources for information such as the media, which is often worse than having the parents do the actual talking. So, really, the reason that the parental units are trying to protect their children is bogus. If I have kids, I'm telling them that their penises are penises and their vaginas are vaginas just like their heads, shoulders knees, and toes are heads, shoulders, knees, and toes. Will you join me?

Friday, August 25, 2006

Conspiracy Theory

Whenever I go to a GAP store or just by pass by one, I don't look for clothes anymore. I look for Chris Evans's ("Fantastic Four") picture. He's one of the latest spokepersons for the GAP t-shirts. (the black and white photos.) I already saw one in the window of a GAP store in San Francisco and on the side of a bus. However, today, I went to the Valley Fair mall and the GAP had the lieu of black and white photos on their walls, but lo and behold, the Human Torch wasn't there!

Sacrilege!

I mean, they have a bunch of people up there who I don't even recognize (and I'm sure most people won't know either). Sure, there's Mia Farrow (who honestly, I wouldn't even know if not for Tyra Banks's constant references about Farrow's hairstyle in "Rosemary's Baby," which is awful of me considering all her charity work), Jeremy Piven of "Entourage" and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, but come on! Evans hurt his leg and was on crutches the day of the photo shoot and he still killed it. He worked one of his crutches into the picture, for goodness sake.

Well, I guess all the other t-shirt spokepersons' pictures were displayed more often because they were not as famous. I learned in high school that most advertisements use ordinary people because it makes their product/s all the more relatable to the consumers. That's probably why GAP uses everyday citizens in their denim commercial. This technique also provides better chances to models who are just starting out.

However, I'm short on ideas why GAP changes their celebrity spokeperson so often. Hmmm... I guess it depends whoever is the new "it" thing. Hollywood is so fickle.

Btw, do you know the number 1 cause for smoking?

Billboards!

Can you believe that? A professor mentioned that a town conducted a survey and believe it or not, that was the result. Then again, that same town had a not-so-hidden agenda to eradicate all the billboards in their area. The bottomline is you have to follow the money and then you'll have a better informed idea of what's really going on.

Take GAP for example. The agencies of the not so famous t-shirt spokepersons are probably paying bigger bucks to get their clients more exposure than say, Chris Evans's agency.

*lightbulb*

It's a conspiracy.

No, seriously. It is.