It seems like every time something new comes out in the news, whether it's some miracle food, or the easiest way to save money, something comes out to contradict it less than a week later. What I want to know is how much the studies and things that go down really have an affect on us. Like scientists saying large levels of mercury are found in tuna so you really should only eat it once a month, how many other facts do you think contradict that?

putting age in perspective

Isn’t it kind of funny-interesting to picture our grandparents even our parents at our age? To imagine how different life was for them compared to how it is now. And then to even imagine what life is going to be like for our own kids and grandkids. I find it mind blowing on how much can change in a single year, and how fast time goes all together.

I personally have no idea what the youth is going to look like in 20 years. Some may think it’ll go all to hell and that they will have little to no morals or values, because we’re seeing that at an increasing rate today. But maybe the awareness of what is going on will spread and have the opposite effect, making everyone perfect and respecting little beings. I would personally prefer that, but I’m thinking the likeliness of that happening is pretty slim.

What is to become of future generations? I know there is the whole global warming theory and the hum of nuclear war (a very faint hum I might add.) But what will it look like? What kind of music will be coming out in 20 years? It is so weird to think that artists like Chris Brown and Rhianna are going to be considered oldies when my generation has children. What will they call what we consider as oldies now? Will the Temptations even be spoken of or in movies or commercials in 20 years? They will be considered practically ancient by then.

Then there’s fashion! What will be considered hip in 20 years? Right now it seems like nearly anything goes, it’s just how you wear it. Trends from all time eras are inspiring top designers’ newest fashion, will that just continue? Will there come a point in time when nothing is original? When it seems like just about every plausible idea has already been done and then there is no longer any creativity? And then musicians, will they really need any actual personal talent? Or just enough money to pay for all the electronics that generate their sound? Will raw talent even be admired after people see computers can do the same thing at the click of a button?

I know this is all relatively extreme, well, really extreme, but I can’t help but wonder about it. And I’m sure I am not the only to ponder such, which also happens to support the no longer any original ideas theory. But I do think that a vast amount of time will make such happen. Twenty, even fifty years sounds too short to me.

I know I have a good year before graduation, but I sincerely cannot wait for my class reunions. It will be so much fun I think to see how people change throughout the years and see what they end up doing with their lives. I don’t even know what I will be planning on doing with my life, but finding that out will be interesting as well I’d have to say.

sponge bob :)

So this is supposed to be the first sponge bob episode to be aired on television, haha and I love it. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lM79f2JrUVU

The never ending evolution of technology

sidekick.....

It seems like nearly every other week there’s some new gadget or ipod or phone or any sort of technology device. It’s impossible to keep up with it all and its impossible to always have the new thing, because the new thing most likely starts in some foreign country and by the time you pay the pricey shipping and have it delivered to your door, a week later there’s a new version of the device or something that is claimed to be better. (Like have more features, or is more durable, or whatever. )
The electronic industry is an extremely competitive field, and very fast paced. I don't think I could keep up with it. Even though, thanks to back to the future, we all thought we'd be in flying cars by now. Apparently, not the case, I'll give them another 10 years.

However what I really like about the industry today is how conservative they're trying to be. But it seems like every industry is "going green" in some way, so they would be frowned upon by everyone if they didn't.

Whats cool about technology now, is that nearly nothing is impossible, there is some scientific way to make just about anything happen. Some ideas would call for more attention then others, but still obtainable.

Facebook ratings

Wooow people this rating thing is getting ridiculous. Why is it so addicting to look online and stir up drama to see who thinks what about who? I admit, I have done a bit of looking around on facebook ratings, just to see what it is all about, but it's nothing but a bunch of people just trying to create drama. Seriously, cursing someone out via facebook does not make you tough. I honestly just sit there and laugh at some of the stupid things that people say.

I don't know why someone would make some of the different applications that are on facebook. Like honesty box? If you really have something to say about someone just tell it to their face. It is so irritating on what some of these applications are doing, it's literally tearing people apart. It's breaking down self esteems, its just plain dumb I think.

But I'm not bashing facebook completely, it's still a great way to keep in touch with people and see how people are doing, even if you don't get to see or talk to them everyday. AKA an easy way to stalk people, but who hasn't facebook creeped on someone from time to time? I know I have, but mostly just looking at pictures. People who read conversations and things like that take it a little too far if you ask me. Just like everything, there is a fine line we should all be careful not to cross.

manipulation via media

I know the media is a subject that has been beaten to a pulp, but it is still something I find myself becoming more and more aware of it and how manipulative it is. It is so hard to sit and watch a half hour long program and see commercial after commercial and not think just for a moment you want to try this or get that. I suppose the media would call that a success, being it is their primary goal to get people to consume their products. I mean sometimes, like when I get home after being out during the evening, I'll sit down in front of the T.V. and eat a bowl of cereal or something. There will be a commercial on when I sit down and then by the time I finish my cereal, I realize I don't know what program is supposed to be on and that I had just spent that entire time watching commercials. It's almost like our minds have become immune to advertisement and it is now our subconscious behaviors reacting to them. Like we aren't aware how much they truly affect us just because they have always been around. And advertisement has been dumbed down a lot too. I remember being in history class and looking at some old magazine ads and how intricate their designs were and how sophisticated the vocabulary was on the ad.

Advertisement then....

Advertisement now...



(I'm not supporting smoking or tobacco use by any means, I just thought it would be the easiest thing to google.)

Honestly, seeing the difference in the ads makes me just feel dumb because we don't have ads like that anymore. Even if a company were to try and use such an advertising tactic, it wouldn't be affective, honestly, who is going to take the time to sit and read a multi-paragraph ad. No one that I know of.

But the media isn't all about advertisement. The more I think about, I think it just lead to the conclusion that the media is just a representative of culture. Like television you would see in England would be different from that of America or Japan or Germany or whoever. And I mean more of a difference than just the language being spoke. Actually ads that are done in the English language are considered to be cooler in Germany.

Personally, I'm not too fond of the fact that shows on MTV are whats representing us as Americans anyways, how much of American culture is really respectable? Ha ha at least we know we're free....

Anyways, I know none of these thoughts are new or original by any means, but I still think we should stay aware of how much the media and advertisement is around us and affects us.

I don't understand why people make youtube, or any sort of comments slamming the video/artist. If they hate them so much why are they wasting their time watching the dumb video in the first place?

people are dumb.

and I would say Spoon consistently has the best music videos
(behind Jack White of course)

May Day!

So it's May 1st, and I feel like I blinked and there February, March and now April went by. It's hard to believe that the school year is very nearly over and that summer is just around the corner. The end of the year is always an emotional time, full of excitement and sadness and wonder for what is to come next. However, my intentions for this blog wasn't to talk about the ending school year, it was to compare other cultures to ours.

When I lived in England for seven months due to my father's job, I celebrated May day. Actually, my whole school did, and since my school building consisted of three rooms total, (disregarding the bathrooms and offices) literally, my whole school was involved. I was in third year at the time (which is like second grade here). I remember the big kids would have to practice dancing around the May Day pole with long ribbons in order to make a colorful design until the ribbons were completely wrapped around the pole. I remember I was fascinated by this action specifically because it was so different from anything I had ever seen or done back at home.

^This is basically what it looked like^

Acknowledging the fact that today is May Day, it made me wonder just how other cultures celebrate May Day, if they even celebrate it at all. Once I first moved here to Iowa, I remember some of my peers talking about May Day baskets. I had never heard of a May Day basket, and I was only a couple states away, which I also found interesting. How we can all consider ourselves the same (Americans) and still have totally different traditions, which probably descended from earlier ancestors that came from other countries.

Which leads to me thinking on our really, our culture is nothing original or traditional. It's all bits and pieces from other parts of the world. America truly is just a big melting pot of the world around it.

I'm getting side tracked, going back to the holiday May Day...
It turns out many places in Europe celebrate May 1st, and each with their own little quirk. However they do all have somethings in common, like using flowers, and doing things to bring them luck or kissing.

Though I lived in England, I don't remember the tradition that is supposedly done in London. The children go from house to house and bring flowers to get pennies in return. They then throw the pennies into a wishing well, and afterwards are collected and donated to charity.

France is a little different, and cows play an important role in May Day. They led in parades with many flowers attached to their tails and the people watching the parade try to touch the cows. Touching the cow an May Day is believed to bring good luck.

In Germany, one tradition is for boys to secretly plant a May tree in front of the window of the girl they love. My grandparents are 100% German, and I've never heard of this, nor do I know what a may tree looks like. But I am suddenly curious and want to ask them about some of their traditions as kids. (I guess a quick thorn tree is a May tree.)

^I wouldn't mind having one of these planted by my window :)

The people in Hawaii celebrate their own version of May Day. It's called Lei Day. What they do is they give Hawaiian leis to each other. After they put them around each other's necks they sometimes give a traditional kiss.

So there's a little taste of what today is like around the world. Makes me kind of wish America made a bigger deal out of May Day, it all sounds like a great way to welcome the (hopefully) nice weather.

I got all of this information at http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/mayholidays/a/aa041700a.htm
and all of my pictures off of google.