Censored Radio

When I was a child, as soon as I would get into my moms car I immediately started flipping through the stations to find something good.  If I came across Howard Stern cussing up a storm, talking about the way women's butts and boobs look my mother would not be happy camper.  This is why I believe that the FCC censoring terrestrial radio is a good thing.  Here is an example of why the FCC regulate what they air.  Satellite radio is like cable television, you know what you are getting.  People pay, and should pay, to have a wide variety of channels and a few promiscuous ones that might show a woman's breast if they're lucky, HBO and Showtime for example.  If parents do not want their children to hear indecent or obscene things then they should of thought of that before they purchased satellite radio.  According to this article there are an increasing amount of parents complaining of profanity, which is lame!  Satellite radio is paid for for the same reason, they have wider variety of stations and if listeners are lucky they might hear one of George Carlin's (RIP) seven filthy words you cannot say on TV.  The people that buy into cable television and satellite radio are adults, which can listen and watch these adult topics.  Terrestrial radio is free and available for everyone if they have a radio and a good antenna. This means under age people would be able to hear profanity, which is why censorship the FCC regulation is good for terrestrial radio.  

Water for Elephants

Class system changes within all communities. Within the overall community one can be low class, but inside a small tight-knit community the same person could be upper-middle class. Jacob Jankowski is one of these people. He was brought up into a middle class family during the depression. His is father an established Veterinarian with his own practice and Jacob is a student in an Ivy League University studying to follow in his father’s footsteps. It all came to a halt when his parents died in a car accident in his last year of college. His social class immediately went from middle class to out on the streets with nothing. That morning he had parents, a home and attended a great school. Now because of his father not keeping up with the mortgage and accepting beans and eggs as payments for the last two years, Jacob is left with nothing. He is now not even on a social class scale, he is a bum.
When Jacob results to leaving town and hitching a ride on a train with no idea it was the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He fell upon Blackie, Bill, Grady and Camel. Camel set Jacob up with a job on the show the next morning. Jacob’s class went from a bum to a “First of May”, which they called new workers on the show. Jacob realized that he was placed in a social class right away from the department he was working in, by his first visit to the cookhouse. The “Kinkers” are the performers, which are the upper class group of the show and they are given special treatment. They are given red and white tablecloths, silverware, and vases of flowers and they also get to sleep in late. The table Jacob is told to sit at is a bare wooden table with just salt and pepper and there is a canvas divider between where he is sitting and where the Kinkers sit, which informs him that he is classified as low class.  The social ladder among this circus starts with the bosses, Uncle Al and August, which are at the top of the ladder. Next down the ladder are the performers, which are upper class because without them there would be no circus.  Then the animals follow the performers for the same reason they are a necessity.  At the bottom of the scale are the workingmen, which are called “Roustabouts” they do everything from cleaning out the stock cars, feeding and bathing animals, and putting up the big top.
Everyone is very serious about their specified departments, which defy their social class. Sleeping quarters, eating arrangements, and bathing are completely segregated. A perfect example is when August suggests that Jacob sleep with Kinko who is a performer. When they arrive in the ring stock car, Kinko’s reaction was that he is a performer and he will not sleep with a menagerie man who is low class workingman. Ironically, later they became good friends and Jacob got to call him by his real name, Walter.  They decided upon these sleeping arrangements after Uncle Al and August found out that Jacob is a veterinarian. This is their way of promoting him and giving him a step up on the circuses social ladder. Not only does Jacob get better sleeping quarters because of him being the shows new vet, the next time he goes to the cookhouse with August his eating arrangements have changed to.  As he walked over to the workingmen’s tables August said that, that was nonsense, he was the shows vet. Just from one conversation with Uncle Al his social class completely changed, he was suddenly bumped up to the nicely dressed tables where the upper class performers sit.  His bathing situation also changed.  August said we can hardly expect our vet to live like a workingman, and he arranged for him to get two buckets of water daily and new set of clothes from the Monday Man, which only the performers and bosses received. Jacob’s new social class changed everything, where he sleeps, eats and bathes.  Not only does he get all these new amenities he also got what he really wanted, to see Marlena more. He also was invited to enjoy extravagant dinners and liquor with August and Marlena up by the front of the train where the ride is a lot smoother and looks a lot nicer, which is a very rare honor. 

The workingmen of the show know they would never be offered anything of the sort. The working men are located further down to the back of the train, they call it the Flying Squadron where the environment, is nothing compared where the performers live.  The performers is very clean and has a nice paint job on the outside.  The Flying Squadron is very dingy and mangy from the outside and filthy on the inside.  The working men are even father down on the social ladder from the animals.  They get better treatment then the working men.  The reason behind it is that they can replace working men but not the animals. 

Even the shows payday is dependent upon social classes. The performers and bosses always get paid, with the exception of one time the performers did not, but it is the workingmen who do not get paid if Uncle Al decides to hold back. If you do not get paid four weeks in a row that is Al’s way of saying you better just stop showing up. If certain men were not needed and could not afford to pay them anymore Uncle Al would send Earl to “redlight” them, which means throw them off the train while its moving, which results in death. 

Jacob’s new class and responsibilities brought him good things and also bad. He all of the sudden had it all pile up on him. He had to deal with August’s schizophrenic personality, which had led to him taking his anger out on Rosie and Marlena. He also had to take care of Camel because of the disease he got from drinking jake. Lastly, being put up to act as mediator to August and Marlena for Uncle Al to get them back together so the circus would not fall apart. Plus he had already fallen in love with Marlena, made love to her and had his child on the way. The fight Jacob and August had because of August suspicion of adultery (socially unacceptable) between Jacob and Marlena, left all three of them black and blue. When Jacob brings Marlena to a hotel the man at the front counter judges them both when he sees their battered faces. Jacob asks for a room and he denied them even though the sign said vacancy. He also stated that they do not rent to unmarried couples. Just because they had bruises on their faces the clerk immediately placed them as low class and denied their room. As they were leaving a woman notices Marlena’s face from the circus poster and then the clerk changes his outlook when he realizes that she is a circus star, which places her in a higher class and says they might have a room after all. 

When Jacob is in his nineties his life is a lot different then it was when he was younger. His situation is similar to the lives the animals lived during the circus. He is told when it is time to eat, sleep, bathe and is contained in a space. The animals had the same treatment they were fed when food was available, bathe when water was available and were locked in their cages until show time. His favorite nurse, Rosemary plays his role when he was young. She helps bathe him, makes sure he is fed and makes sure he is in good health. Young Jacob as the circuses vet did all the same tasks to the animals. His social class has changed because now he is old and most believe that ninety three year old people are worthless. He is back to the bottom of the social ladder again after a long life, but he proved to everyone at the end of the story that he was still able to run away and go back to his so called home where he will keep going until he can’t go anymore.

Lovemark

The description of a lovemark is something that is close to your heart and mind and creates an emotional connection you just can not live without. This emotional connection makes a relationship with that product, which is very true. As do many other people, I have a large list of lovemarks such as, Disneyland (Anaheim), Oregon, In-n-out, Weekend at Bernies, The Rolling Stones, Lifesavers, ChapStick (the black label), Coke a Cola (glass bottle), Lipton Noodle Soup and Premium saltines.  With every one of my lovemarks I have a story and a feeling attached to them, which makes them my love marks. Though I do have a lovemark that I have a relationship with above all the rest; Caress soap.

My mother used caress soap long before I was born, so it has been in my shower and bath tub since I was born.  When I was a child I was a tom boy and I hated bathing.  My mother knew that when I would take a shower I was not cleaning myself so she would make me take showers with her once in a while.  I hated it and the only thing that made the experience enjoyable was Caress soap.  I remember the Caress commercials I used to watch when I was a kid and their slogan was always stuck in my head; "Before you Dress Caress".  The way they made their soap different from all other soaps was the added bath oil that leaves your body soft and smooth.  It really does, I will not use any other soap and if I have to my whole day will be off because of it. It is kind of like breaking a routine.  Other soaps like Lever 2000, Dove, Zest and many others make my skin feel like rubber after I wash off the suds.  Hotel soap is the worst and makes me want to go home immediately, which is why I bring Caress every trip I take.  Caress does not give that feeling, it feels like silky smooth baby skin.

The hallmarks of a Lovemark are mystery, sensuality, and intimacy.  Every shower I take I am taken back to when I was a child, which is the mystery.  The comforting smell of my mother that has never changed to this day is the sensuality.  The intimacy is the luxury of being home in your own shower receiving the same experience as ever that is like no other.  Also it is just great soap that has never let me down.  If they ever go out of business I will go all over town to buy up a lifetime supply!

Book Banning

Book banning by the government should not have ever been done.  Everyone should be able to write and read whatever they want.  It is your choice to read it or not read it.  We have freedom of speech, which means we should have the right to write what ever we want.  Banning classic novels that were written years ago and have been read by the past generations, is like banning well- known art.  Banning Huckleberry Finn is like banning a piece of history.  We can not change history.  What if Manet's painting Olympia was banned, it does show a naked woman and an african-american woman shown as her slave.  The painting was painted when it was socially acceptable and same goes for Huckleberry Finn and people need to understand and accept that.  Keeping pieces of history from the younger generations is just wrong.  Book banning was done by the Nazi's in Germany and by the communists in Russia.  Haven't we gotten past this?  

I can see that people for book banning want to spare children from reading any racist, sexual or any religious beliefs in books, but I believe it is up to the parents to keep them from books with this kind of content if the choose too.  Take television or the internet, they both have content that is not suitable for children and in this situation it is the parents job to set the parental controls.  The situation should be the same for books.  I am aware that it is not as easy as a click of a button, but come on, how hard is it to take the book away from your child.  If worse came to worse and the child read the book anyway, do you really think it is going to change their lives that much? It is a book for God's sake, I have forgotten the content of all the books I read when I was I child.  By the time they are in their teens or even younger the will be exposed to the horrors of American society anyways.  So, why not get them ready for it.  The topics that cause banning are not of anything to make a fuss about anyways, such as, certain words or messages.  

Take Harry Potter for an example,  it is completely ridiculous that people believe that a story for children that mention witches and spells is considered evil and that children will not be able to distinguish between good and evil.  It it obvious that the only people who believe this are religious freaks.  Why cant people just see it as fantasy and ignore it so children can enjoy it.  If we ban Harry Potter books because of this reason, then we might as well ban witch costumes to be worn by children on Halloween.  Where does it end?

  

Good Night and Good Luck

    Good Night and Good Luck, a film written by George Clooney, tells a story about television broadcaster, Ed Murrow and his team at CBS, that took a stand against senator McCarthy in the 1950's when communism was at it's peak and everyone was a suspect of being one.  The question is why was this movie written today and not closer to it's time period?

    George Clooney was close to home while writing this film because his father was a news broadcaster.  The story depicted a great time in broadcast journalism and seemed to be a tribute to his father and Ed Murrow.  I believe he chose the to write this movie today to show what real investigative journalism is supposed to be like, which we are not getting today from our news broadcasting.  The broadcasting we receive on a daily basis from our regular news channels  is very minimal and you can tell that there is a lot left out in their broadcasts.  Take the war in Iraq for example, there are many missing pieces to the puzzle.  They military is closely controlling what information the media gets on the war.  So close it is like they gave up completely on trying to cover the war.  Since the war started its like stories on war have disappeared from the papers.  Alternet explains how the media abandoned Iraq.

This is very similar to what was going on during the 50s with mccarthyism. Back then a film like Good Night and Good Luck could have never been made.  Had it been back then the creators would just have been accused of being communists themselves.  Today we don't fear communism like we did back then, so Good Night and Good Luck can be made. But most importantly it can be made in a way that truly represents what was happening.

Idiocracy

Idiocracy is a film written by Mike Judge in 2006, who also wrote the well known film Office Space.   The film is yet another classic in my book and others like Josh Tyler who wrote this great review.  This film brought to it's viewers attention what our world may come to if ignorance leads our economy, in a humorous but literal point of view.  The opening scene begins with a financially stable, smart couple trying to come to an agreement of when the right time to have a child would be.  Then it cuts to a poor, ignorant couple that cannot stop breeding, bringing more ignorant people into this world.  Resulting in a long family tree of dumb people having dumb babies until the world is full of dumb people with absolutely no intelligence.  Natural selection no longer favored the intelligent.  Luke Wilson plays Joe Bauers, a not-so-smart army man, who takes part in a military experiment, which freezes him and a woman.  The base was then shut down and the frozen bodies were forgotten until they opened 500 years later.  The outcome of the world went down hill.  The landscape consisted of shopping malls and fast food chains placed in the middle of mountains made of trash and piled up cars.  The crops failed because they were watered with an energy drink called Brawndo, because "it's got what plants crave, electrolytes".  Water was only used in their toilets.  Three large companies owned everything: Brawndo (Gatorade), Costco, and Carls Jr. (their main food supply).  TV shows soon became "Ow! My Balls!" that featured guys kicking each other in the balls.  The well-known restaurant Fuddruckers became Butt:Fuckers.  Starbucks became a place for male pleasure where they order "latte's".  The president is ironically a black man.  He shoots guns in the air to get peoples attention, drinks beer and smokes cigarettes.  Joe takes an IQ test and turns out to be the smartest man in the world because everyone became illiterate.  He later became president and fixed the crops by giving them water.

  This is not the best movie as far as acting or cinematography but I think it sends a great message to it's audience.  Though it did have some controversy from Century Fox before it's release.  It had no promotions and was only shown in 125 theaters and had no screenings for critics.  They obviously did not want this movie to be seen, which I am not sure why?  They advertise the hell out of movies that have a way worse message focused to the young demographics of today, so I am not sure what is wrong with the plot if this movie.  Idiocracy is educational in the sense that it is a wake up call.  We need to keep educating ourselves so the future does not end up like this.  If you think about it, it is not that crazy.  I would not be surprised if America was exactly like this 500 years from now.  Companies are already starting to buy other companies so we are not that far off from this exaggeration of the future.  The population is at a record high, we are having issues with water, waste and pollution, which is just the mear lining of the other problems we may face.  This is a hilarious movie that gives a you a look into the future giving us the chance to change it before it is to late.

Reality TV

Reality shows have taken over my TV!  I think almost every major channel has at least one reality show.  I understand that the reason they make them are because they are extremely cheap to make and pull in way more money then they spend, but they are getting out of hand.  The reality shows out numbering the sitcoms makes it impossible for myself and other Americans to ignore.  I admit I have watched my share of the reality shows.  I actually like a couple of them such as, Top Chef and Project Runway.  I like these because they do show real people that are not actors that compete in sane challenges like cooking and designing clothing.  The rest of the shows such as, Real World, The Bachelor, The Beauty and the Geek, Super Nanny, Dr. 90210, American Idol, Survivor, America's Next Top Model, So You Think You Can Dance, Rock of Love, A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila, etc., are a disgrace to our society.  The stars of these shows more often then not have no intelligence at all, the only thing they have going for them are good looks.  This leads one to believe that the only thing that our society cares about is being attractive.  When they choose the cast on these shows they only choose good looking people.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation the beauty and dating shows focusing on being sexually attractive may contribute to eating disorders among adolescent girls.  Other shows like Extreme Makeover and Dr. 90210 focus on reconstructing people's faces and bodies so they can feel better about themselves and feel accepted in our society.  A good point the Kaiser Family Foundation also made was shows like Survivor, Jackass and Fear Factor are rewarding risk-taking behavior and scheming, backbiting, betrayal, and callousness are portrayed as the ways to get ahead in reality TV.  In my opinion MTV is the worst channel for children and even adults to be watching.  When I was a child before there was reality TV all I watched was MTV because it was what my older sister was watching and I'm sure the same goes for the children of today.  The Real World (MTV's hit) was the first reality TV show I can remember and probably the worst.  The only message they are sending is be sexy, go to clubs, get wasted, smoke cigarettes, do drugs, get violent and have sex.  Other shows like Rock of Love and Tila Tequila is about a fight for love, which is a complete joke.  The girls and boys on these shows degrade themselves like pieces of meat.  Each challenger is passed around the dating pool and are put up ridiculous challenges that make fools of themselves, which is exactly was people are drawn to and enjoy watching.  I am embarrassed that I live in a society that eats this kind of behavior up.  I can understand the reason people are drawn to reality shows,which is the so called "real people" and "reality" as the focus.  In my opinion people have lost touch with reality and are unable to differentiate between good and bad, right and wrong, and positive and negative ways of living.  I think it is time we put reality TV to rest because soon our society will have lost all importance of humanity and morals.  

"Millennials"

   After reading Generations at Work: Millennials, I admit that I am a Millennial.  When I was born my mother was 31 years old and had already had a 4 year old daughter, so she fit in to the average age expectancy of parents in this time period.  As older parents they were more mature and ready to focus on their children.  The Millennials are said to be the busiest generation as far as tight schedules with extra curricular activities, which was true in my childhood.  My mother signed me up for acrobats, ballet, jazz, gymnastics, swimming lessons and girl scouts.  I was very busy child and had little free time.  Though I did enjoy all of these activities, I had a great childhood and I believe these activities made me a stronger more confident person.  

  As a Millennial at the young age of 5, I was lucky like most Millennials to do what most Baby Boomers were not able to do at a young age: Travel around the world.  My first trip at 5 was to Hawaii and a couple years later we went to Costa Rica.  Later when I was in high school I traveled overseas to China, Singapore, Seipadan, and Borneo.  These trips at a young age showed me and other Millennials different cultural ways of living and a sense of globalism. Though as a Millennial I did not have to go far to to see different cultures or ethnicities.  Since grade school I was surrounded by a wide diversity of ethnicities.  Millennials have always thought of themselves as equal to other no matter what race, religion, or sexual orientation, which makes us differ from the baby boomers.   

  Technology has also surrounded the Millennial generation since we were born.  As a child I was exposed to computers at an early age because my father worked at Apple computers, which was just the beginning.  Next came cell phones, lap tops, ipods, video game systems, which myself and all Millennials own.  According to C-Net News we are the multi-tasking generation, we depend on immediate conversations with cell phones, text messages and instant messenger.  Our generation is tech savy and we are the reason there are blogs, wiki, and instant messaging.  C-Net News also stated that most children in the United States, by their seventh birthday will have had talked on a cell phone, played a computer game or mastered the TiVo box, which amazes the technically challenged parents.  This statement struck me because it is very true, since I was a child I have had to teach my mother how to use all technological devices we own.  

    The way we were raised and our technology know how is said to be the reason of our work ethic that differs from the baby boomers.  CBS News explained Millennials as having knowledge and tools to get thing done but we believe it is our way or the highway.  They believe that because we grew up watching Mr. Rodgers telling us that we are special, that was the reason that we do not accept rules or criticism and our bosses have to act like a coach rather than a boss.  I hate to admit it, but this is definitely true.  At my last job, I always felt like I was the best worker there and I would tell my boss what I wanted my schedule to be, I chose my own department and I also chose the people I would work with.  I worked there for five years until they started taking advantage of my skills and I recently quit to find something better, which is a perfect example of a Millennial.  The reason I did this was so I could take as many classes as I can so I can graduate and get a good job in the field that I am studying in school.  My parents have pushed me to do good in school and get a good job that I am happy doing, which is the same for most Millennials.  My parents like other baby boomers got a decent job that paid well enough to get by and were just happy to have a job.  My mother has hated her job for a long time because she settled and I do not want to that to be me.  I learn from my parents mistakes and I am not going to settle.  

  CBS also stated that we put lifestyle and friends before our career.  I do not want to be like Michael Douglas in the film Falling Down, living day to day with a job that I hate and come home to an empty house.  Friends and Family are important to our generation.  Most divorces, like my parents divorce was because of distance.  My father was always at work or on business trips, because of this he became an alcoholic, which made their relationship even harder to deal with.  This is another way I learn from my parents mistakes.  I plan to do everything in my power to keep a good relationship with my boyfriend and friends because they are the most important things in my life that are hard to replace.  When it comes to my job I could replace it, but I cannot replace the love I have.