Idols

Yesterday (or the day before?) Kim Kardashian wrote on her blog the following about the MTV show Teen Mom:

'It seems that shows like Teen Mom are all of a sudden making teen pregnancy seem cool in the eyes of young girls...but girls, these are not people you should idolise!'

Orly? I'll attack this argument on two sides: 1. who are you to determine who is famous/idolized? 2. I think the show does the opposite.

So, Kim. Kim, Kimmy, Kimber. You're a celebrity because...
You're famous because...
You've done...
You've helped...
You can...

I'm really drawing a blank here. According to Wikipedia, she got her fame from her reality show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, which is a show, like most reality shows, about some really rich, overprivileged girls and their daily romps with drama and buying expensive things they don't need. She is also a model, because she's posed nude for Playboy. Ooh. She is famous because of her spoiled and lavish life, and because her daily half-naked twipics keep the boys busy and the girls crying for her bod. Oh, and she was in a pretty popular sex tape.

All very good things to idolize. She is aware, and noted, that she has many young fans. She says she regrets her sex tape but continues to parade around the public dressed like a common party slut. Now, this is of course something that she has the right to do, she can be whoever, but her being willingly put in this kind of spotlight, I can criticize - especially because she's decided to point out to her blog followers/readers - who you could say, like her or look up to her or want to be her (oh, like idolize her) that the show Teen Mom is responsible for boosting teen pregnancies.

Which leads me to the second side of my argument. To anyone who has watched Teen Mom as I have, the show shows life for these girls as it is. Do I want to be them? No. They have lost their freedom and youth for their children; sacrificed their education and have been encouraged, in most cases, to move out, get married, and start careers all before they're old enough to even drink alcohol in public. It's an entire lifetime of milestones done in an incredibly short period of time.

Only an idiot would want their life.

They are not people to idolize, but people to watch and learn from. The intent of the show is to show how hard it is to have a child so young and to discourage viewers to follow their paths.

I know they get paid a large sum for being on the show, and thanks to magazines like US Weekly and the other paparazzi mediums, they are household names and a lot of people know their business outside of the show. Yet on the show, they do not flaunt this money or show how being on the show has affected their daily lives. Thus, the show itself is not responsible for the irresponsibility and downright stupidity of its viewers who get pregnant to imitate what they see on TV or to attain the short lived but always glamorous fame of a paparazzi-stalked teen. It's their parent's fault for raising children who think that by either getting pregnant and put on TV or rising to fame for being talentless and slutty, they will be happy and successful in life.

MTV knows that when they're not helping teens or putting their lives on TV as expository, even educational, programs (like True Life, Made, I Used to Be Fat, Teen Mom, 16 & Pregnant), they also have shows that are for pure entertainment, like Jersey Shore, Disaster Date, The Real World, etc etc. It is not Kim Kardashian's fault that people want to be like her and live her pointless, shallow life, but for her to critique a show that, arguably, has helped teens and other viewers learn about the troubles of raising a child, is ridiculous. Has her show or any modeling/writing/acting that she has done promote anything but being famous for being rich and beautiful? Nope.



Looks like fun... not!

Dignity

A while ago I found out the esteemed cast members of the very popular show Glee did a "wild" photoshoot for GQ. I saw it and was disgusted. While I know my opinion is mute, I was a little saddened when I was talking to some of my friends about how slutty the photos were and how they were obviously doing this for the money. I heard them complain that they were coaxed into wearing next to nothing for the photos, but all the while they still posed for them. Nobody looks forced or unhappy in this:



The brunette, throughout the shoot, is shown with the least amount of clothes, which indicates she's the one with the most to prove.

And it's nothing I haven't seen before. More "tame" celebrities having to bare-all to shed their good image. What's so wrong with a clean image, I don't know, but you don't have to show the world your goodies to get some grown-up respect. As for me, they lose it.

How the hell did a show about high school theater geeks come to be the biggest TV show in America? Well, T&A helps. (That's talent and ambition, you pervs.) But so does a generous helping of pot-laced brownies, girl-on-girl subtext, and choreographed dry-humping.

Gross.

Now, going to my previous post, I don't have to look at these photos. They are adults, they can be naked and that's their right.

Both true statements. Here are my answers: I can look at these photos. They are adults, they can be naked, and it's my right to make any kind of comment I want to about the image they've projected to the public.

This shoot isn't about fashion. It's not about what these actors have accomplished in their careers. It just shows them (well, the girls) tramping around a typical high school setting wearing next-to-nothing, fulfilling a long-played out and thousand times duplicated bad-schoolgirl fantasy. A comment on the GQ page featuring the shoot reads:

GET OVER IT. The whole point of them being ACTORS is that when they go home at the end of the day they're not the same person they pretend to be on screen. When will people learn this? Its refreshing not to see them so angelic and halo adorning. Grow up. The truth is the majority of you idiots think its hot, and you mothers out there - your daughters are going to probably be ten times worse than this, the only difference is at least Rachel and Dianna have their bras and panties on while the pics are being taken. Move on.

Okay. I see your point. But is it really "refreshing" to see them not so angelic and halo adorning because they're half-naked? Stars shedding their clothes for the big time isn't that new, I mean, Lindsay Lohan, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears, Christina Aguliera, and hundreds more have done it. I think it'd be more refreshing to see them taking a new direction on acting, sharing some intuitive thought, or being productive or generous members of society.

It's not like I need to see any more sexy photos of celebrities on magazines.

My point is, to me, they look like sluts. Come on, people, don't you have anything else to offer?

"LOOK, IT'S MAH CROTCH!"

Because I Can

My 1st Amendment right says that I have freedom of speech (with limits, of course, to copyright laws and threats of violence). This is a right I feel that people don't understand what it really means.

It does not mean that you can only say nice things to people.

It does mean I can say mean things or controversial things without any type of legal repercussion, although the public will hold my words.

What I'm getting at is, I come across tons of Youtube videos, blogs, and memes whose contents trigger long forum debates and angry, unnecessary arguing and insults that basically boil down to these fundamental question:

If you don't like it [the video, the post, the content being discussed in the video/post/photo/etc.], why are you reading/watching/looking at it?

If you don't like it, why don't you keep your negative opinions to yourself?

The answer is simple: Because I can. Because I have the freedom to watch these videos or read these blogs at my whim, and whether I'm praising or criticizing it, if there is a forum or comment section, I have the right to make any comments I wish about it, even if they are unreasonable or ill-informed. If you make it available for viewing on a medium that caters to the general public, you have to be ready to eat the criticism, because like it or not, people are gonna give it, and even if their criticism is false, illogical, or stupid, you can't tell them to leave the forum. You made it public!

I'd like to quote from one of my favorite tumblrs. The author of the tumblr Reasoning With Vampires does grammatical and satirical criticism of Stephenie Meyer's horrendous "novels" called the Twilight series. I'm sure you're all familiar with them. Anyway, her tumblr is brilliant, and she obviously gets a lot of flack from Twihards and other angry people. Her FAQ features some of their complaints:

IF YOU DON’T LIKE TWILIGHT, YOU DON’T HAVE TO READ IT.
Touché. Got me there. While I reflect on that astute observation, you might consider that if you don’t like my tumblog, you don’t have to read it. (Oh, what now?)

To all the people sore about comments made, remember this:



In subsequent or even preceding posts, I may be mean to people and criticize their actions. You can tell me no, get a life, you can't judge them, that's their life. But when these people make it public, whether that be on TV, in music, through the Internet, or in movies, it's fair game. I can say what I want.

It's my prerogative.

To the Kind People of the Interwebz

I promise I'll be posting more regularly! Shew.

Anyway, I wanted to ring in the new year by saying "Thank you" to all of those kind people of the internet who help me every day, from when I google questions about my ridiculous eye health, read a huge 50+ page long walkthrough to help me get past a monster in Resident Evil 4, to when I've procrastinated (as usual) on an assignment and need a book summary and symbol analysis via Wikipedia.

Most of all, I appreciate the many millions of meme creators, the people who make me smile when I feel down, or am too awake to sleep but too tired to focus on reading anything legit and instead peruse Knowyourmeme.com and my favorite Twilight Sucks tumblrs.

During one of my excruciatingly boring classes last semester, I was trolling the web and found a gem called "Sad Keanu".


I could barely contain my laughter, and after I found even more, I actually burst and nearly choked, and covered my sobs of laughter with coughing noises.

Then after laughing my poor lungs to death I found its counterpart, "Happy Keanu".



With things like this floating on the internet, how could anyone be depressed??

Everything from great YouTube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpwAtnywTk) to huge databases of guitar, bass, drum, and piano tabs like ultimateguitar.com; from the Lara Croft cosplay sites with links to costume accessories and how-tos on making your own to the 1,280,000,000 (literally) google search results for "how-to"; from the memes on 4chan to the insane clips featured on tosh.o and original videos by Collegehumor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyTSOCnr2Rw)... everything you need and more is at your fingertips on the internet.

Sites like Mediafire (I LOVE YOU!!!) and the various torrent engines like ThePirateBay and isohunt allow anyone to obtain mp3s, m4as, audiobooks, pdf books, Kindle books, movies, television shows, and anything else in digital format. FOR FREE.

I can take any Youtube mp3 or video using a conversion site I just google for. FOR FREE.

I can listen new music tuned to my tastes on Pandora. For FREE.

I network with all of my friends on Facebook. For FREE.

I watch my favorite J-drama on mysoju.com FOR FREE.

I could go on for days with all the things I can do on the internet. The only thing it can't do is feed me, and I figure that one day that will change as well.

These people labor over walkthroughs, organizing all of the details and writing sequentially, making extensive lists and even FAQs; they compress files and risk life and liberty getting bootlegs of movies and other copyrighted materials so that they can not only use them personally but to make them available to everyone else in the world with internet access. They could keep their swag to themselves, but they take time and risk being tracked down to disperse their goodies with me. FOR FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My questions to you are, what have you contributed to the internet today?

Have you thanked those anonymous, unpaid (even if they are paid, you're not paying them) miracle workers who give you your daily fix of humor, knowledge, and support whenever you need it?

If you haven't, I suggest you do it now.

THANK YOU KIND PEOPLE OF THE INTERWEBZ.

A final meme for you all:



Happy New Year!