Video Games and Mash-Ups

The Sims. I personally have never played, but I have watched my friends play and get absorbed into the game. To create a fantasy life. Everything that you've ever wanted. Not having to worry about money or laws. You can do whatever you want. For once you get to play God. That power over a world of your own gives you a sort of high. That's why people get addicted to it, but they will eventually get bored. They've gotten everything they wanted, so now it isn't fun or empowering anymore. 

Mash-Ups. I haven't necessarily made a true mash-up before, but I have manipulated songs to make them sound different. I've ever done it for school projects. I had no idea that it was illegal. I guess it makes sense, but I just didn't know. To be able to manipulate someone's creation/work and make you own is powerful in itself. You are changing someone's hard work and commitment. They made it that way for a reason and then some amateur goes and changes that for their own pleasure. Artists probably get pretty upset about that... unless it brings popularity to the song. I'm sure they don't mind when their sales go up because mash-ups. 

OSCARS 2011

It seems to me that the point of the OSCARS is to find out the current drama and to see what everyone is wearing. Who do you think was best dressed? The OSCARS should be about the movies and the hard work to put into them.

How come we never hear about all the little categories? I don't even know what half of them are. There are so many categories, yet we only hear about a couple. Usually Best Actor and Actress and Best Film. The most unusual category that I hadn't seen or heard of one single movie was short films. I didn't even know they existed.

Another thing I don't like about the OSCARS is that it is the same couple movies in each categories, why not change it up a bit. I doubt that those were the only good movies this year. I had only seen one of the popular movies, True Grit. I really liked it too, but I saw some other ones that I really liked also and they weren't even mentioned A couple of the other popular movies were King's Speech, Black Swan, Toy Story 3, Inception, 127 Hours, and The Fighter.

I heard there was some complaining about the hosting. How do you think Anne Hathaway and James Franco did? Personally I thought it could've been better, but I didn't think it was horrible.

Masculine and Media

Men are always linked to violence in some way. All boy's are raised that way. Men aren't wimpy, scared, or emotional, they're confident, strong, and will do anything to protect themselves. One way to show that is through sports. Boys are told to be tough and just push through the pain and to win at all costs. They're sometimes told to hurt other players on purpose. Men are told not to show emotion. And if they do that means they're weak. So men put on this "tough guise", meaning to act tough and confident, so others wont bother you. A good example of tough guise used in everyday life is jocks, or most jocks. They act all tough and strong, yet behind the scene's they're really insecure about themselves. 


The media has made it hard for men to come out of their shells. In a lot of movies, books, and TV shows the men are always muscular, tough, confident, and show no fear. It makes it hard for men to be who they are. If men do not have this "tough guise" then they are considered weak, sissy, or a fag. You can see in the picture how superman's image has been changed over the years. Notice how much more "masculine" he looks.

This is what are men have to look up to. They want to be exactly like him, which means putting on a disguise. I'm not saying we should get rid of super heros, but maybe they could make the hero cry every once in a while or have weak moments. Show that not everyone is perfect. 

Masculinity in American Sports

When I think of masculinity or being masculine, I think of an athletic, toned, good looking, and passionate man. Being athletic is almost always associated with being masculine. Why is this? Does our culture believe that you must be athletic to be a man?  I believe it is a huge stereotype that men are forced to meet. In football the men are huge, basketball they are tall and muscled, in  baseball they are all sizes, and soccer they are usually short and stocky. Football and Baseball are the more popular sports in America. They are seen as manly and almost mean. We compare sports to the military. In times without war we use sports as our dangerous and manly thing to do. Being in the military is what we consider masculine because they are risking their lives to save ours. All in all being masculine is a stereotype we put to things such as sports and military. When women are in sports and military are they considered masculine?

Favorite Reading

I found the Why Don't We Like the Human Body by Barbara Ehrenreich the most interesting, because I never thought about the types of things she talked about before. She brings up that we have abused our bodies through sex, murder, and food. At first I thought she was nuts, but when I looked further into it she was right.

Our society has an addiction to violence and horror. Her argument is that the horror movies now show that we have some to hate the human body because of all the gore in the movies. People still go and see the movies because they like that it is not happening to them. Or are they really just mad that they don't have the perfect body, so they like seeing the human body tortured

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Sex was once considered as a thrill and now it is deadly. Viruses can be spread through sex and kill someone.

Food ruins are bodies. Obesity is a huge problem and only growing. Now we can't eat for pleasure, only to stay fit and healthy.






The main point that she comes down to is that we need to treat our bodies well.  Her information is informative and valuable. It opens our eyes to look further into why we do the things we do. 

Ideal Beauty

Advertising affects everything about how people imagine ideal beauty. First of all we need to take advertising seriously. Ads sell values, images, sex, romance, relationships, and more. More importantly they show who we are and should be. Ads tell us that the most important thing should be is how we look, which takes time, energy, and money. Men don't have to worry about such things. Their bodies are not scrutinized, so why should women's be?

With ads it seems like to be feminine is to be devalued. You see ads with women with hands over their mouths because it shows that women don't have a say. You also see older women dressed and acting like children in ads. The women are usually acting sexy while posing, meaning that innocence is sexy? Men on the other are always active in ads, while women are passive. What does this say about our culture? Does that mean that men are more dominant?  I don't think so! When women are not passive in an ad is usually involves race. So this means the level of dominance starts with white males, white females, and then black males and black females? Why do we always have to put levels or find out that is dominant? Can't we just all live together and not worry about things like that? I believe that it is impossible to accomplish.

Teens are seriously becoming effected with the advertising. Their self esteem is really low. They always think there is something wrong with them. I knew when I was a teen that I wanted to look perfect, just like the women in the magazines. Present day teens are becoming hyper sexualized, because of all the advertising. You always see beautiful women advertised everywhere, but can you really attain the ideal beauty. No, advertising makes it impossible to attain ideal beauty. Everyone looks different, so that means everyone will have a different quality that will make them beautiful. Every woman is beautiful in their own way, they just have to find it and not let others tell them differently. Perfection is impossible to attain, so don't try and attain it.

Below is a picture of what is considered ideal beauty. Do you agree with this image?

Sexiness In Our Culture

Pamela Anderson

Marilyn Monroe

Sex has always been a part of our culture no matter how much we try to deny it. In class we compared two women, the sex symbol from the past and present. Marilyn  Monroe was known as an elegant and unattainable lady. Pamela Anderson is known as the perfect Barbie doll and is used as a fantasy for sex. Women are pressured to be sexy and appealing. Sex is everywhere on television, in music, and on fashion magazines. People show only what they want other people to see. It's all about attracting or luring people in, it is almost an illusion. Women try so hard to make you believe one thing and then you find out they are nothing like you thought they were.

 Sex is our culture's main interest. Everything in the media is about sex. We see sex everywhere; on TV and in ads. To be sexy is all about attention and everyone craves attention. The American dream is to become famous. To become famous requires you to be sexy in your profession. Whether it be modeling, acting, or singing. Everyone is just obsessed with sex. We can't help it, nor can we stop it.