Monday, November 29, 2010

THE SUPER BOWL GLUTTONY


I speculate, the choices GE makes for their advertisers during the Super Bowl are carefully thought out. First, they would need to consider their viewers. The Super Bowl has become a social occasion where people gather to eat junk food and often times, to drink alcohol. This would mean advertising around those types of items would be advantageous to the advertiser and interesting to the viewer.  Another reason for allowing the gluttony of food and alcohol commercials is that those advertisers are willing to pay huge sums of money for the advertising spots. The Super Bowl is also in February, which is winter. People are more apt to over eat during this time of year. The bottom line is, it is the commercial spots go to the deepest pockets and those who feel it is worth it to them to pay that amount of money.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

TV- ARE PARENTS FORMING CHILDREN'S HABITS FOR A LIFETIME?



There is a lot of controversy over how much television a child should watch. I think that while it can be very entertaining, it shouldn’t be a big priority in a child’s life. I believe the way you are taught to use the television can stick with you as an adult. I believe my parents gave me good habits growing up and I still have them today.

I really enjoy watching movies. I don’t care for regularly programmed shows, but a movie, that’s another story. When I watch the TV I don’t like to be interrupted and I want to do it in my own time. With cable, I feel as though I would have to spend my time watching commercials and adjusting my schedule to watch what I wanted. I am not willing to do that and would prefer to watch something from beginning to end.  My time is too precious to me.

As a child, I was raised in a very active family, with boating, baseball, camping, downhill skiing, snowmobiling and much more. We didn’t have much time for television other than an occasional movie or the news. I can’t say I feel as though I missed out on anything. I learned to enjoy family and friends instead of “vegetating on the couch”.  I will be honest, movie night with my family or friends is fun and I have had my own television in my room since I was four; but, it didn’t have cable.  I could only watch a movie if I checked t it out from my parents movie library, we rented a movie or checked it out from the library. I think my parents did it right. They made sure that while we do enjoy watching a movie, television is not a huge priority in our life. That is, other than an occasional movie, the news, or sports on the family television.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

DO TVs BELONG IN CHILDREN'S BEDROOMS?


This is a decision that needs to be made with their child's best interest at heart. It isn't easy to not allow something that most parents are allowing, but each parent needs to base their decision on their morals and there child's individual personality.

Many parents are using televisions as babysitters. But, if you really sat and took a look at the morals being shown to your child on the television, would you pay a sitter and have them in your home day after day if they exposed your child to what mainstream television does? I would hope not.
Still, I don't disagree with a child having their own television if the proper precautions are put in place. I strongly disagree with a child having unrestricted access to television, but I don't believe there is anything wrong with a removable DVD player or video game that can be used for an hour a day if your child accomplishes their daily activities and chooses to have a friend over to share a movie or a game. 

Again, I think that each child is different and every family needs to decide what works best for them. I am not sure if when I have a child, I will allow a television in their bedroom or not. However, I do know that I will monitor the media that I allow my child to access.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Presidential Vote 2008


Voting for the President of the United States is not just a right, or a privilege, but a responsibility. If we as citizens want to keep our country on track, we should vote for the best leader we can. In the 2008 election I was not old enough to vote. I would have voted for Brarack Obama as our President. 
  
In my opinion, President Obama was the best choice available on the ballot, that had a chance of winning. I will be benefited by his having been in office. I am about to turn 18 and would like the chance to continue my health insurance through my parents. It is something that concerns me. 

I have a friend that receives medical insurance through his parents at age 19, because he is attending college full time. He was hospitalized recently, after receiving 3rd degree burns on 65% of his body. He had to drop this semester of college and probably next semester also because he will be in the hospital, trying to just survive. He and his family will be very affected by this tragedy, emotionally, physically and financially. But, thanks to Obama's medical plan, he won't be dropped by insurance or have to pay for the insurance to continue, at $450  or more a month just because he wasn't able to continue college full time. I appreciate that insurance companies are willing to pay for full time college students to continue insuring students, but is that fair to people who are not able to carry a full college load, either physically due to illness, emotionally due to unforeseen problems or intellectually? I don't think that it is fair and it places a burden on the tax payers to compensate financially.

I think that Obama has done some positive things for our country and he is trying to clean up a  mess that took eight years to create. Are we being fair as citizens to place blame on him or his party for not being able to fix in two year what Bush created in eight? I understand our Countries concern, but we need to have patients too. 

Monday, November 1, 2010

CHARACTER vs IMAGE

 In today's society we judge people, not by their character but by the image they present to us. We move quickly and have very little time to investigate the personal character our candidates for political office poses. Because of this, many people cast their vote based on the image the candidates present or the negative image their opponent's conger. Shouldn't we be concerned, we could be choosing, " A wolf in sheep's clothing?"

Image does have some importance; the person we choose for President of the United States has seven roles. One of which is Chief of State, as such, he is the human symbol of the American people as a whole. We wouldn't want a slob to represent us, but we also wouldn't want to sacrifice by choosing someone of poor character. The remaining six roles are: Chief Executive, Chief Diplomat, Commander-In-Chief, Chief Legislator, Chief of Party and Chief Guardian of the Economy. I believe every citizen would want someone with great personal character in these roles.

As our once great leader said, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -Abraham Lincoln

I feel media, candidates and the constituents of the United States should be more responsible in portraying and in choosing our representatives, not just for the image, but for the personal character and intellectual abilities they poses.

PIRACY- IT'S NOT FOR ME

Okay, it may seem uncool, I have never downloaded music for free. I choose to purchase my music through FYE or just listen to it on the radio. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of taking something from someone without their consent.

I have had many friends say that they download from places like Limewire for free and many of them have great selections of music. I can see why they are tempted to do it, because it's a faceless crime against people who have so much. Some of them don't even realize it is against the law. If you watch MTV cribs, it doesn't seem as though taking a song is the same as breaking into someone's home and stealing from them. So, for the people taking the music illegally, it seems like a win-win unless they get caught.

I was raised to believe that no sin is better or worse than the next. Stealing something even if it is small or comes from someone that has more than you doesn't make it right.

I am not passing judgment on others for their choices. That is their business. I just know that it is the wrong choice for me. How about you?

Me and Music

Back when I was a teen the cool music styles where pop, hip hop, mellow rock, rap, etc. They where all kind of mixed together and similar, singing about the same things and I Noticed it was more of a passive music not a stand out period. In my opinion The generation before us had much more creative and fun music I think I listened to classic rock quite a lot more than I listened to the music of my generation I felt like the past generations had more upbeat encouraging songs with great guitar solo's great voices such as the "Styx" lead singer "Creedence Clearwater", "The Scorpions", And "Billy Joel" To say the least they are some Of my very favorite singers however I also have a favorite of my generation his name being "Jason Mraz" who is one of the only singers I feel sounds as good if not better live than in a studio My favorite song of his would be "I'm yours" Other than Jason, I believe that the generation before it was by far superior. I believe that our predecessors are some times bothered by what music is becoming because, they are not used to it they have become so accustomed to the music they listen to that they have a hard time adapting to the current music and find it to be more of talking fast then singing as my dad says. In conclusion, there will always be conflict about which generation had better music because music will continue to change and evolve and peoples taste in music will follow behind closely.