Final Project: Toddlers and Tiaras, Do We Love It or Hate It?

Hidden Message in Sports

Growing up, I have always been a pretty big sports fan. It wasn't until the other day in class that I learned about how big politics plays a part in it. Before every major sporting event there is always a small ceremony usually where the American flag is shown to the crowd as the national anthem is sang by thousands of fans and players. I feel like without this act of patriotism, we would view players as a less important part of our society. But with this act of patriotism, it sort of gives the players some eligibility or makes them more legitimate to the fans. I thought it was interesting that Michael Jordan was wearing a Reebok sweatsuit, but instead of saying that he wont wear it for the sake of his brand, instead he just covered up the logo with an American flag. This made him seem patriotic rather than coming off as a jerk who doesn't want the Reebok logo to be seen on him. So even though sports plays a huge part in our society, there will always be that underlying message.

Food inc.

In class we watched this film titled, "Food Inc". We were told before watching the film that if you have an uneasy stomach then it might be sort of hard to watch. At first I thought I had a pretty strong stomach, but some of this film was too much. I knew a little bit about where our food comes from, but I had no clue about how cruel it is in all actuality. When they showed the scene with the chicken farmer, it made me sick how filthy the environment was and how cruel they treated those animals. The only purpose of a chicken farmer is to raise chickens to just be killed when they get big enough. Same goes for any other animal like cows. So next time you go into the grocery store to buy a few steaks, look around at all that meat and really think about how it all actually got there. It wasn't grown from the ground or picked from a tree, but it was a living creature that was slaughtered for your own personal gain, which is having food on your table.

Playing the War on Terror

This article written by, Roger Stahl, talks about how video games are correlated with the military. It even went to such extents that the U.S. Military designed a remote control truck whose controller was designed after the PS2 controller. I believe that this makes it easier for the younger generation to be more comfortable with military equipment if they decide to take that path in their life. With all these war games out there like "Call of Duty", "Battlefield", and "Modern Warfare", it makes people who play these games feel like war heroes. I think that people get so caught up in this virtual reality "war world" that they feel like they can do it in real life. So then they go to join the military and it is nothing like they had anticipated. Personally, I believe that it definitely helps improve your hand-eye coordination which is important when in war, but when you are sitting on your butt all day playing these video games then it becomes a little harder to be in shape for the military.

Video Game Culture

Ever since I can remember, I have been playing video games. Growing up playing Tetris and Super Mario Brothers was a great part of my past and I strongly believe that video games have sort of "shaped" who I am today. I once was asked, "Do you think that video games effect behavior in children?". I immediately responded, "yes" because I am living proof. My brother being about five years older than me would always be buying violent video games when I wasn't allowed to, like Grand Theft Auto and Halo. Even though my parents frowned upon these games, I would still be locked up in my brothers room for hours playing these games. In the game Grand Theft Auto, you play as a mafia member who goes around putting hits on people, stealing cars, and basically everything that you were taught was wrong. Now I wouldn't say that I am a trigger happy mafia member trying to go on a heist, but sometimes I can get a bit aggressive and I have these video games to put the blame on. Even though these games were a lot of fun to play, there were also other games that I enjoyed that were quite educational that I played. For example, I owned this game called "Math Blasters"where you needed to solve math problems in order to be save from meteors that are flying toward your ship. Today, I would say that my strongest subject would be math and this is one game that I can reflect upon and correlate it with. So even though there are violent video games out in the gamer community, there are also educational games.

Dads are the Original Hipsters

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"Dads are the Original Hipsters"

Hipster is defined as a person who basically follows the latest fashions and trends. And as many of you think that you are "hip" and up to date with the latest fashion, maybe you are not so much. If you think about it, all the "new" trends today consist of the plaid shirt, aviator sunglasses, and moustaches... Or if you're a girl, you might wear maybe a ponytail to the side, skinny jeans, and those big glasses that make your eyes look huge. But if you really think about it, aren't these the exact same things you saw your parents wearing in those old dusty photo albums?! So really aren't your parents the original hipsters? You may think of your self as a hipster because of these clothes that you supposedly started wearing because it was trendy. But really they are the clothes that had been brought back from the sixties but in a more modern way... So next time you go to put on those aviators, or decide to put your pony tail to the side, think about why you're doing it and remember that chances are that you actually were not the first one to do it.