Batman wears rainbow

The reading that I did for this week was about Batman and his queer tendencies. I must say I found pretty interesting as I have never considered Batman to have homosexual innuendos or symbols. This reading kind of reminds me of the one about Seinfeld and the hidden homosexual symbols in that show.

I liked how the author's style and tone of this essay. However, parts of it did seem to come across as, "Well, duh, if you people would pay attention, you'd notice these things." Also, her reading kind of ruined the childhood icon of Batman for me. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay, one of my closest friends is gay, but as child you think, "WOW! Superhero man is tough." And now every time I'll see Batman, I'm going to scrutinize his actions and think, "Gay!"

Ok, I guess I couldn't leave the Batman thing alone because I asked my gay friend Audrey to read the essay. She totally agreed with what the author wrote. She also said something interesting. When a director or author has their character have gay tendencies that straight people wouldn't pick up on, they are doing it as "secret" message to all other homosexuals that they are on their side and that it is okay to be gay. Hmm...never even would have thought that.

So, all in all, I think if Audrey's right about the secret message thing then by all means let Batman be gay.

Hero Love

The episode of Heroes that I watched mainly revolved around the character Hiro. He is the character that is able to control the time space continuum. Be able to do allows him to stop time, go back in time, and travel to the future. Quite handy when you want things to work out in your favor.

Anyways, the episode starts off with Hiro in a diner known as The Burnt Toast. He accidentally (he still doesn't have full control of his power) traveled back in time 6 months. The cause for all of this is because he has fallen in love with a waitress, Sandy. If you watch the episode right before this one you'll learn that Sandy gets her head cut in two (gross, I know) by the mysterious killer, Sylar. Hiro traveled back in time to warn her and save her as well.

As the plot progresses, Hiro and Sandy start falling for each other. Sandy then tells Hiro she has terminal cancer is going to die in six months, but also that she is in love with him. Hiro returns her love and just as they are about to kiss, he is returned back to the future and the diner.

This episode made me think that what is it about love that makes people take the actions that they do. And how can you describe love? I mean just because Hiro held Sandy's hand and looked into her eyes and said he loved her, does that make it love?

Something to think about for a rainy day.

Heroes among us

Gilmore Girls as sort of taken a hiatus from my blog entries since I loaned out my DVD box sets to a friend, and I have gotten a little bored with it.

The show I want to write about is Heroes. The cool thing about this show is that you can watch all the episodes on-line from the network's website for FREE.

I watched the first two episodes last night and they were pretty amazing. I know the story plot may seem a bit outlandish because five of the characters have "powers" that aren't realistic such as the power of flight.

As I mentioned earlier, the show is centered around five main characters. Your first hero you are introduced to you Peter Petrelli. He is a male nurse and has an older brother, Nathan, who is running for Congress. Seemingly normal, right? However, Peter has reoccurring dreams that he can fly and so can his brother. A series of events, which seems to most like a suicide attempt by Peter, leads the brothers to discovering they both can truly fly.

The second hero is Issac Mendez. He is a heroine addict who can paint the future. The question seemingly is: does he truly see the future or is it just the heroine doing it? The creepiest part about this is that Issac has painted a huge skyline of New York with an atomic mushroom cloud over it right on his loft floor.

The next hero is Nikki. She is a single mom who owes 30 grand to the mob. They are after her and her son. When two mobsters come to threaten her, she passes out and when she comes to, realizes they are dead. She then looks at her mirror and sees her reflection smiling and puts a finger to her lips and says, "Shh." Apparently, her power is use her reflection to do whatever she wants.

I would have to say my favorite hero is a Japanese office worker named, strangely enough, Hiro. He is hilarious because he is the only one out of all the heroes so far so far to embrace his power. Hiro's power is the ability to teleport, stop time, and travel back and forth through time. In episode two, Hiro teleports himself to New York, which resulted in him being missing for FIVE WEEKS in Japan. However, when he is in New York he experiences the nuclear bomb that Isaac painted, but teleports himself just in time back to Japan and in the time where he left off.

The last hero is Claire. She is a cheerleader who has attempted suicide SIX times. You'd think she was depressed, but, no. She has the nasty ability to go through any harm or pain and not be affected. She is indestructible and doesn't want to be.

All these characters are intertwined with each other, but they don't know it yet. Plus, they are being sought out by a genetics professor named Suresh whose father wrote and studied about people with new genetic codes that may lead to the new human evolution.

After watching this show, it made me think, why do people who ARE different and unique long to be normal, and why do normal people want to be different? Well, the second question is pretty obvious to answer. Being different is a lifestyle that isn't mundane. But why do unique people want to be the same? Is it too hard to be different? Why wouldn't you want to live a life with meaning?

Thoughts to ponder on a rainy day...or a snow day considering this is Michigan.

Horror or Whore or?

So, I hate horror films.

I loathe the blood, the scenes where things just pop out of now where, and monsters. Not to bash people, but I just can't handle horror films because they are almost ALL the same.

For example, the movie The Hills have Eyes. I maybe physically watched 20 minutes of it because of all the blood. It's like horror films all follow the same plot. There is some catastrophic event or some mindless characters that aren't aware of the horror that is to follow. Then there is always some monster such as: demons, zombies, vampires, mutants, psychos, and the list goes on. Then the monsters hide and pop out a suspenseful moments and usually eat or kill someone. So all the characters are sad and then seek revenge at the monsters. And they succeed and live happily ever after.

The movie in class was just like all other horror movies. I will say this that now that I have been doing some extra research for our paper, I think I'm starting to at least tolerate horror films.

*I really don't know what else to write about. Sorry*

Oh, no, you can't touch this

So, in the crazy week of having my basement flood and my mom being admitted to the hospital, the only show on at 2 in the morning was Scrubs. And lo and behold, this show is so chess-tastically funny, that I decided to write about it for my blog entry.

The show centers around four friends that work at a hospital. Three of the characters are medical interns, and the other character is a friend. The show is narrated by J.D, who is 26, and trying to get through his internship. He is best friends with Turk, who is a surgical intern and later falls in love with one of the nurses, Carla. All three make friends with another intern named Elliot.

The show is crazy because it is a typical sitcom that is really predictable, but it's so hilarious that despite all it's negative points it's a good show. Also, there are some episodes that focus on deeper meanings than just making an audience laugh.

The episode I watched had to do with the interns first bout with death while on the job. This sounds like it would be a very somber episode, but it wasn't. I think it mainly has to do with the character, Dr. Cox. He is so sarcastic and crazy, that it makes you think how anyone could really work with him. But he adds to the show the necessary drama and comedic affects to make the show work.

Anyways, what I liked most about this episode was J.D's interaction with an elderly woman. The woman had cancer, but didn't want to go on further treatment. J.D tries to convince her that she should continue to live and go on treatment. He makes a list of things he feels that every person should have done before they die and reads them to her. The woman says yes to all of them and in return asks J.D if he's done any of those things, to which he replies, "no."

I liked that part in the episode the most because it made me think really hard about my own life. Like how many times do I just go through the motions and take things for granted? I think you can be physically alive, but not really live life. As cheesy as that sounded, I do not want life to pass by and regret not truly living. Who knew one episode of Scrubs could make me think all this?

Change of pace

I was watching Gilmore Girls this week and started to criticize how unrealistic some parts of the show are. I think our last paper about reality TV kind of got to me. Even though, I did write my paper to say Gilmore Girls is realistic; I still found some things to be unrealistic.

The episode I watched was of the Grand Opening of the Dragonfly Inn. So, all of the people of Stars Hollow are invited to spend a weekend at the hotel as a test run. I find it funny that the townspeople always consist of the same twenty or so people such as Luke, Babette, Kirk, Miss Patty, etc.

As the episode progresses, Lorelai's ex, Jason, shows up unexpectedly. However, the whole time Luke was at the Inn and flirting with Lorelai. The audience can tell that Lorelai is interested in Luke. Anyways, she gets furious at Jason that he shows up because she knows it'll ruin her chances with Luke.

Ok, snore, and what a bore! Is it really realistic that Lorelai hooks up with a guy, then, goes to Luke, then back to a different guy or to Christ? Come on! Get a new script. The vicious cycle of Max to Chris to Luke to Jason to a maybe with Luke to a definetly with Chris to Luke and back to Chris in marriage and now a divorce and possibly back to Luke. It was exhausting just writing that.

Anyways, I guess most shows need unrealism to let their productions run through smoothly. But it's kind of cheesy that the audience can tell.

The Classics

This week's reading focused on an introduction to film. I particularly liked Ebert's essay about film classics. I would have to say that I agree with Ebert's statement that some of the greatest films are from old Hollywood.

All my friend's think it is really cheesy that I like to watch old black-and-white movies. There's something about old movies that really appeal to me. I think it may be that back then everyone seemed to have a sense of decency toward one another. Also, to me, the plots seem to be very intense because they are so through with the details of the story.

One old movie I really like is The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart. It's the original version of You've Got Mail. So, instead of having e-mails, Jimmy Stewart and his co-star use snail mail to fall in love with one another. If you've seen You've Got Mail, you'll notice that they pay tribute to this movie. Meg Ryan's book store is called The Shop Around the Corner.

I am a sucker for Audrey Hepburn movies as well. Who could forget her stunning entrance in Sabrina? That's the best part of the movie. Hepburn walks into a party the Larbe's are having in this AMAZING dress. And everyone is speechless because she is so beautiful.

It's stuff like that that make classic movies so great. There doesn't have to be so much action or drama. It's just the simple every day life that surprisingly can hold your attention.
I did read once in some magazine that my generation biologically has a hard time watching classic movies because the scenes are so drawn out. My generation is used to something like every 5.3 seconds there is a scene change. Where as in old movie, the scenes usually take a few minutes to pass. That's probably why no one from my generation likes old movies.
But I'm weird like that.

Jerry gay?

Viewing Seinfeld through a homosexual looking glass is something that I never thought of. As a heterosexual, I never picked up on anything that might mean Seinfeld could have gay cues in it. I just thought the show was extremely hilarious.

As a heterosexual, I viewed the characters as always pursuing the opposite sex. But according to the reading, as a homosexual viewing the show, the characters are being homosexual because they fail miserably in their pursuits. Also, it appeals to a homosexual audience because it uses gay slang and innuendos.


One example is that George has a relationship with a woman that fails miserably because it has the quirks of a heterosexual relationship. You then find out that the same woman is having a successful relationship with a woman.


I though the reading was interesting, but I wonder if it's possible to read too much into a plot and discover things that really aren't there. For example, it's funny that their relationships fail or could perceive that the show just has homosexual undercurrents. It just depends on how you look at it. But apparently the author has done research for the essay so from her point of view and since she pointed out all these homosexual subtleties, I would have to say that she is correct.


From her richly expressed and deeply personal writings, the author of this essay does point out extremely interesting facts that as a heterosexual I would have probably never picked up. In today's complex world, the author re-affirms that the things truly that are important in life are precious gifts that can be ours when we open our eyes to what is already there.

Clothes make the woman

This week's episode of Gilmore Girls was the Pilot episode. It was kind of weird seeing how young everyone looked when the show first began. Even the filming of the show was completely different. Everything was in darker colors and everyone work a lot of dark, heavy make-up.

A sixteen year old Rory Gilmore is the genius of her public high school. However, the audience soon learns that she is accepted to the prestigious private school of Chilton.

Rory is in every aspect a typical teenager except for her intelligence. She likes rock music, eats a ton of junk food, and hangs with her best friend, Lane, every chance that she gets. But there is another thing that sets her apart--she is also best friends with her mom, Lorelai.

Lorelai is the fun loving mom, who likes rock music, eats a ton of junk food, and hangs with her best friend, Sookie (hmm...sounds familiar). Even though she may not act her age, Lorelai works hard as the manager of an inn and tries to be the best mom she can be to her daughter.

Rory and Lorelai both share their excitement over Rory's acceptance to Chilton. However, Lorelai realizes that tuition is a lot more than she can afford. This is the first time the audience learns about Lorelai's estrangement from her parents. Lorelai takes a big step to ask her parents for the money.

Lorelai's mom, Emily, is very controlling and always has to have her way. So she says they won't give her the money unless her and Rory attend Friday night dinners with them. Lorelai agrees not too happily, but for Rory she would do anything.

The Pilot episode was where every Gilmore-ism began. The inside jokes about crazy words such as, "Oy, with poodles." It began the coffee addiction 24/7. It began all the crazy love triangles that would form through out the seasons.

I think the writers did a good job the first time around and made all the character memorable. They have made Gilmore Girls into a 21st century icon.

Gilmore Girls Friendships

For this blog entry, I wanted to write about the friendships that take place in Gilmore Girls. I'm not going to focus on just one particular episode, but a collective series of episodes.

The first friendship is between Lane and Rory. They were best friends since high school and have continued to be best friends. You know the saying, "A friend sticks closer than a brother," well in this case, it's true of Rory and Lane.

I like that the show emphasizes how important it is for girls to have strong friendships with other girls. For example, when Lane found out she was pregnant, she told Rory first instead of Zac. She tells Rory she needed to get a woman's reaction first before she could tell her husband. Of course, Rory was extremely happy for her and has even helped her out by getting baby stuff and fixing up her house.

Another example would be when Lane joined a band. Lane's mom would have sent her to a convent if she would have known that Lane was playing rock n' roll music. So, Rory, being the best friend, went to her mom to ask if Lane could practice in their garage. Lorelai is a cool mom so she allowed her to.

Now the show also portrays friendships between the adult women as well. Lorelai's best friend is Sookie. They met back when Lorelai was just starting out at the Independence Inn. Just like Rory and Lane, Lorelai and Sookie have been through a lot together.

Lorelai and Sookie were not only best friends, but also business partners. They worked so well together that they opened up their own inn. Since they know each other's strengths and weaknesses, they have been able to work together through hard times and succeed.

Another example of their "true friendship," is when Lorelai breaks up with Luke, Chris, Jason, etc. Sookie was always there for Lorelai when she couldn't decide who to date. She was also always letting Lorelai cry on her shoulder whenever she went through a bad break up. Only your best friend can comfort you through hards issues like break ups and make everything seem okay in the end.

As a result, many women enjoy watching Gilmore Girls with their best friends because they can identify with all the drama and situations the characters work through.

Lorelai Gilmore

I've decided that each week I will focus one character so when people read my TV blog they'll understand the person I am writing about. It's taken from Wikepedia because I attempted to write my own character guide and failed miserably. Plus, I have 800 other things to get done for today. : )

The first character is LORELAI GILMORE

As a teenager, Lorelai dated Christopher while in high school, and became pregnant right before her society debut, which embarrassed and disappointed her parents. ^[Christopher's and Lorelai's parents tried to convince them to marry, and Christopher was amenable, but Lorelai refused. When she realized she was in labour, she drove to the hospital alone.

After her daughter -Lorelai Leigh Gilmore "Rory" -was born ^[4], she lived with her parents for a year before running away to find a job at the Independence Inn in Stars Hollow. The owner of the inn, Mia (Elizabeth Franz), took her in, gave her a job as a maid, and let her and Rory live in the potting shed (after renovating it). ^[5] Lorelai worked her way up over the years, and was eventually promoted to manager. The inn is where she met her best friend, Sookie, a talented chef.

For many years, Lorelai had almost no contact with her parents, except for visits during major holidays. The rebelliousness of her teen years stayed with her in adulthood, something her parents still resent. As they both grew up, Lorelai and Rory's relationship evolved into something resembling the relationship of two sisters rather than a parent to her child. Lorelai appears uncomfortable playing "the mom card", but will use it as a last resort. It wasn't until she needed to borrow a very large sum of money for Rory's education at the exclusive Chilton Academy that she started seeing her parents regularly again, since a condition of the loan was that Lorelai and Rory join Richard and Emily for dinner every Friday night until the loan was paid off.

Lorelai repaid her parents for the loan when a real estate investment that Richard had made in her name at the time of her birth paid off, but Rory soon made her own bargain with her grandparents for Yale tuition. Lorelai continued to attend occasional Friday night dinners, partly as a way to see Rory while she was busy at college. Lorelai's relationship with her parents is still strained, but she appears to prefer her father Richard over her mother Emily, despite moments showing that she clearly loves her mother.

Besides an on-again, off-again relationship with Rory's father, Lorelai's romantic relationships have included Alex Lesman, an outdoorsy coffee house entrepreneur (for whom she learned to fish), Max Medina, a teacher at Chilton, Jason "Digger" Stiles, and Luke Danes, the owner of the local diner. Despite rejecting his marriage proposals, Lorelai remained friends with Christopher throughout the years, and helped him to cope with the birth of his daughter Georgia, nicknamed GiGi, after his girlfriend Sherry Tinsdale deserted them to pursue a job in Paris. Despite his mistakes, Lorelai's parents like Christopher and have continually pushed her to pursue a relationship with him in their adulthood, so that their family can finally be together and whole. However, Lorelai broke off contact with him after he attempted to break up her relationship with Luke in Season 5, Ep. 13 "Wedding Bell Blues" (granted, Emily manipulated him in that direction beforehand). She proposed to Luke at the end of Season 5, Ep. 22 "A House is Not a Home", and he accepted at the very beginning of the next episode. They plan to renovate and live in Lorelai's two-story home in Stars Hollow. Lorelai fears that the wedding will never take place and has presented Luke with an ultimatum. Her relationship with Rory has been considerably strained after her arrest for the theft of a yacht and leaving Yale, and the two did not speak for several months. Rory was especially angry about Lorelai not informing her about the marriage plans. They have since reconciled.

Lorelai attended Hartford Community College and earned an Associate of Arts degree in business while running the Independence Inn. After the inn burned down, she and Sookie owned and operated The Independence catering Company in order to fund renovation of the Dragonfly Inn, their long-term dream, which opened to rave reviews on May 6 during Season 4.

Lorelai's eating habits are famously unhealthy; she subsists almost exclusively on Pop Tarts and takeout. She and Rory had regular food-and-movie nights, for which they would order enough food for several people and then use the leftovers as food for the rest of the week. A running joke on the series is that food rarely, if ever, makes it all the way to Lorelai's refrigerator.

Lorelai is innately humorous and has a witty remark for every situation, often with a pop culture reference. Often, however, her remarks do come at the expense of others, and can confuse people who aren't familiar with her. As such, most of the characters do not find her amusing. These kinds of interactions with people, among other things, often make Lorelai seem like a case of arrested development - a fully grown adult woman who somehow never quite outgrew her adolescence.

Lorelai tends to isolate herself from friends and family after extremely unpleasant arguments. Rather than try to work through the dispute like a mature adult, Lorelai will simply alienate the other person, whether it's her mother or her daughter, until the dispute is more or less forgotten, indicating that she never really learned how to deal with conflict.

Lorelai is somewhat insecure when it comes to the relationships between herself, her parents, and Rory. Because her daughter gets along better with her grandparents than she herself ever did, Lorelai often feels that her parents prefer Rory over her. She thinks they view Rory, who is considerably more subdued and more classically "feminine" than her mother, as the daughter they should have had. This seemed very evident when, following a rift between Rory and Lorelai after Rory attempted to steal a yacht and dropped out of Yale, Rory moved in with her grandparents, who welcomed her with open arms. Her fears were further cemented when Rory adapted very well to her grandparents' lifestyle.

When it is revealed in the sixth season that Luke has a daughter, April, from his previous relationship with Anna Nardini, Luke and Lorelai delayed their original wedding date again, after having already delayed it once so she could settle her feud with Rory, and continue to postpone as Luke tries to make up for lost time with April. There is no interaction between April and Lorelai until Luke asks Lorelai to help him with April's birthday party, during which time April comments that Lorelai is a lot like her own mother, Anna, and says they'd like each other; Lorelai hoped this would be a major breakthrough in moving things along. Unfortunately, Anna got mad at Luke for asking Lorelai to help him with the party without asking her first, after which Lorelai confronts Anna to assure her she doesn't mean to harm April, and that her relationship with Luke is serious, Anna throws her into doubt because, as she puts it, "people get engaged all the time." Lorelai eventually grows impatient and resentful of Luke taking so long to sort out things with April and in the season six finale, after having avoided him for some time, she gives him an ultimatum - elope with her now or never - and then storms away without giving him time to think it through, perhaps ending their relationship. Lorelai goes to Christopher for comfort and the season ends with a scene of her in his bed the following morning having slept with him. The next day, Lorelai threw out everything that reminded her of Luke, which included almost everything in her house. The day after that, Luke - following the destruction to his diner in a public event planned by Taylor that went horribly wrong - showed up at her home with his truck packed and passionately professed his love for her, only to have her reveal that she'd slept with Christopher after their fight. Without saying anything, Luke slammed the door behind him in his truck and drove away. After Luke verbally took his anger out on Lorelai while her passing her by in the street, Lorelai had to confront Rory on what happened when Rory overheard her father's phone message about "the other night"; Rory angrily berated Lorelai for her actions and left, only to come back later to comfort her mother when she was in tears. Lorelai had a chance encounter with Luke at a grocery store, where he attempted to apologize and summed things up as being that they simply weren't right for each other, but whether or not he really believes that is questionable. When she told her parents she and Luke had broken up, their reaction was strangely subdued to the point of being non-existent, which Lorelai found annoying.

After being unable to get her on the phone, Christopher ran into Lorelai after he had dinner with Rory; she offered him coffee, and Christopher responded by telling Lorelai that he still loved her, had always loved her and would never stop loving her, and that he didn't want to spend the rest of his life without her. Following this and her failed relationship with Luke, Lorelai decides to take a chance on rekindling her relationship with Christopher.

At the start of Season 7, Episode 7 ("French Twist"), Christopher and Lorelai return from Paris, apparently married -- Christopher calls her "Mrs. Hayden." She does not reply, but looks at the ring on her rather sadly, suggesting she is not quite content with the event. They have maintained a reasonably normal married relationship for a few episodes, but it seems as though Luke is not quite out of the picture, much to Chris' chagrin.

Real Indentity of twentysomethings

The readings for the week have been about Reality TV and racial and stereotypical identities. The essay I'd like to focus on is Twentysomethings.

Walter Kirn must think he is the greatest thing since, as cliche as it sounds, sliced bread. It must be nice to have lived and have an established career especially in the '80's during the Reagen Era, where everyone was prospering economically. So, I guess this gives him a license to rip on the generation right after. It's great that he had it pretty easy in a time of economic wealth and then can turn around deem the next generation as slackers because the economy of their time isn't doing so great.

He starts his article by listing qualities that describe the "slacker" generation. One of these traits was "a distrust of authority." The authorities of the "slacker" generation basically suck, to put it mildly, at their jobs. The authorities were set up to help people, not to screw them over. Is it any wonder that the "slacker" generation distrusts authorities?

Another ridiculous statement his makes is: "A generation whose defining collective experience is its lack of defining collective experiences, whose Woodstock was watching The Partridge Family with a couple of friends and whose great moral dilemma is "paper or plastic?" is unlikely to produce a crop of quick-witted passionate radicals."

(Argh, this comments just makes my nerves on edge).

First of all, the twentysomething generation he wrote about was fighting for issues of their time. Their Woodstock wasn't one of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. There Woodstock was fighting the Gulf War, dealing with President Clinton, the Oklahoma City bombing, the shootings of Columbine, and Grunge music. So, don't sit here and say that twentysomethings didn't have enough on their plate and call them "slackers."

Also, as a result of these things I would have to say twentysomethings are quick-witted passionate radicals. They have done a lot things to fix the problems of the generation before them in hopes of a better future than their parents had. It's just that when the generation before you messes things up so badly that your generation has to fix the problems and even hand over the work to the generation after them, then it's going to take a while to fix these problems. Also, since it takes so long, the results aren't going to be immediate, therefore, it may look like you are "slacking."

He then goes on to rip on the movie Singles. He says, "...the world having shrunk to the cramped dimensions of one's wacky, sad, starter apartment, with its sardonic, cheap, recycled furnishings."

What is he thinking? Did he have a wonderfully, brand-new furnished, home or apartment at twentysomething? Um, seriously, it takes a while for people to have things like that. My friends are all in their mid or late twenties, and only two of them, because they are married, have their own house. Everyone else lives in dumpy apartments with three other people. That's just what you do until you are more financially stable.

Kirn needs to stop blaming pop culture on the twentysomethings and attitude, and start blaming his own neglectful generation.

Real Reality TV

I have to say that it's sweet that in an English class we are learning about Reality TV. Ok, back to the blog.

Personally, I think the reading is getting much more interesting. I guess with the ad reading it was always the same kind of message that ads are bad and affect you negatively. However, with the Reality TV reading, it seems that there are different view points. It's nice to get a variety of opinions.

I think one of the essays that stood out most to me was by Justin T.P Ryan. He wrote about dating reality shows. I liked it because it reminded me of my English teacher in high school. He was a staunch Republican and (ahem) elderly, but he always spoke about how young men need to respect women when they are dating. I guess this just brought about nostalgic memories of his class.

Justin Ryan wrote in his essay the same thing. American culture is taking a decline and showing these people who are looking for "true love," but it's just a gross misrepresentation of what that really is.

I remember watching this show VH1 did one time like three years ago about reality TV. It interviewed some well-known people that were on reality TV like the guy from Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire? and asked them what really went on behind the scenes. The guy (I can't remember his name for life of me) from above mentioned show, was being interviewed for one of the segments, and he said something really interesting. He said that the majority of the time in dating shows all the participants are liquored up--a lot.

Final question: How can you find your "soul mate" being all liquored up? I seem to recall that alcohol has an affect on your judgment.

so stupid

I am starting to get really annoyed with this whole Luke, Lorelai, and Chris love triangle. Seriously, these writers first decide that Chris and Lorelai should get married. That decision caused a whole upheaval among fans because everyone wanted Luke and Lorelai to finally get married. Then they gave you basically the whole season to get used to the idea of them being married, and now, they drop another bomb.

Lorelai wants out of the marriage.

I guess I am just so sick of Lorelai always choosing Chris, then changing her mind because she doesn't want to be with, then going back to him, then dumping him. It's just a vicious cycle with her. Also, this cycle gets old really vast as an audience member. It was okay for say the first three seasons, but Gilmore Girls is in their seventh season, you'd think the new writers would have at least tried to make the show more interesting instead of playing off of an hold hit.

However, on Rory's side of things, it was bit more interesting.

Rory started to have a crush on one the T.A's at her school. However, she was really worried that Logan would get mad. Towards the end of the show, she sits down with Logan and tells him that she has a crush on this other guy. Surprisingly, he doesn't freak out. He actually tells Rory that it is okay because they both know they are in love with each other.

To me, that seemed like a very mature thing for Logan to say. The general view is that most guys would FREAK out on the girlfriend for even looking at another guy or commenting that he is attractive. However, Logan was mature enough to know that even though you are in a relationship, you are still human and still find other people attractive. You can't turn off your sexuality.

paper review

I have to say that this was one of the most fun papers to compose. I've had Advanced English in high school and took a few English courses at Macomb, but this paper doesn't even compare to the others I have had to write. The other papers were always so boring and "dry." Plus, it was always the same thing like write about what you read, or character analysis, or do an opinion essay BUT it has to be the way I (the teacher) tell you, you have to do it. So, it was really refreshing to finally do a paper that was creative and unique. I like that this essay was actually analytical, but FUN.

I visited my friend at her dorm earlier this week after class, and she had to the exact paper. However, her paper had to be about objects that describe her. So, I like how you (Ellen) made our paper actually tie in with what we have been learning and that is interesting to do.

The other thing that I liked about this paper and class is that it INTERESTING. This class and my communications class are the only ones I enjoy this semester. I'm going into journalism so I guess that explains it. I feel like this English class is my own personal pop culture gossip coulmn extravaganza. If I ever find myself working at People or US, I'll know what to do because of this class. : )

Well, I'm not going to lie to you, but the paper was actually hard to do. I seriously don't ever pay attention to ads, even on TV. I am an avid magazine reader, but I usually skip over the ads. On a side note, the worst magazine to read is Oprah's magazine O. Seriously, EVERY OTHER page is an AD! It's so annoying! Anyways, since I don't ever pay attention to ads, it was hard to find and analyze one that truly describe me, but doable.

Overall, I'm happy with this class and the assignments. I just hope I can keep up with everything.

New writers does NOT equal better episodes

I was watching a re-run of one of the episodes this week of Gilmore Girls from the new season. The more I watch the new episodes, the more I want to scream profanities (okay, that's a little harsh) more like write a strong letter to the writers telling them they are doing a horrible job.

The episode I caught this week was when Christopher and Lorelai go to Paris. Towards the end of the episode Chris and Lorelai decide to get married--without Rory there!

The main thing anyone knows about Gilmore Girls, even if they aren't fans, is that Rory and Lorelai go together like PB&J, like Burt and Earnie, like Bevis and Butthead, like...okay, I couldn't think of any good best friend analogies, but you get the point.

All hard-core Gilmore Girl fans know that Loreali would want her daughter and best friend to be in her wedding. The new writers just don't seem to understand and know the characters at all. Loreali and Rory are known for their witty banter and how easy it is for them to do this. However, the new writers make them sound stupid like teeny-boppers who are just rambling about the most pointless things. It makes their conversation seem akward, when it has always been easy-going.

Also, the characters seem more fake in the sense of them being unrealistic. Another huge problem is that Chris and Lorelai got married. EVERYONE who watches Gilmore Girls knew Luke and Loreali should have been together. It was until the new writers got brought in for the new season did everything start falling apart. The worst thing about this is that this is the last season of Gilmore Girls. Things can't get any worse...

Problem

I posted one entry about Cool Hunters and it's not here!

What do I do?

Stereotyping

So, this week in class, our reading focused on stereotyping in advertisements. And as it happened it got me thinking about stereotypes while I watched Gilmore Girls this week.

Every so often certain episodes will focus on Rory and Lane's friendship. Lane is Korean and sometimes this poses a problem in her. This week's episode was how Lane's mom was making Lane go on a chaperoned church outing with a boy because he was Koren, studying to be a doctor, and might marry if she would act like a "good" Korean girl.

Well, it got me to thinking if Gilmore Girls was stereotyping Asians. The stereotyping would mostly be about Lane's mom, Mrs. Kim. Some "typical" Asian things I noticed were, obviously, the name--Mrs. Kim. It seems like every show that has an Asian woman in it must be named Kim.

The most noticeable thing is that Mrs. Kim is portrayed as this little woman with a thick American accent who is a stingy business woman. She owns her own antique shop and is always trying to haggle with her customers so she can make the most profit. Plus, she is very traditionalistic and wants Lane to uphold Korean rituals.

For instance, in later episodes, Mrs. Kim wouldn't let Lane's boyfriend propose to her unless he made a hit single (he's in a band with Lane). Then Lane and Zach had to have TWO weddings because of her Korean heritage. The first wedding was everything Korean to make her grandma happy because her mom said, "You must respect your elders." Only then could they have the wedding they wanted.

Mrs. Kim was also really strict because she wanted everyone to think Lane was good a Korean girl. She wouldn't let Lane be alone with boys, listen to rock music (Lane hid rock CDs under a loose wood plank her room), and she made her go to a Korean church, and only date Korean boys.

Well, as we all know, you can't suffocate a person and try to make them to be something their not. As Lane got older, she began to be much more open with her mom. She joined a band at first secretly. Then she started dating Zach. Once her mom realized that Lane could still be a "good" Korean girl, she became okay with what she was doing.

I don't know this at all stereotyping since I don't know much Asian culture, but those were just some thoughts.

ads, ads, and more ads

The assigned reading was interesting in that it took on two opposing views of ads. After reading both sides of the argument, I think it really depends on what kind of outlook you have personally. If your negative, then you'll generally think ads are out to scam you and cheat you into a product you don't need. If your generally a positive person, then you just might get excited to see an ad because it's a product you want.

I really think people are a lot smarter than advertisers give credit to. I mean if someone is at least somewhat intelligent or educated, then I'm pretty sure they aren't going to buy more milk just because a famous celebrity is promoting it. Sure, there are some people who get some satisfaction knowing they are drinking milk just like their favorite actor. At least for me, I could care less which celebrity is drinking milk. Milk is milk whether it's in your fridge or being drunk by a celeb.

The reading mentioned a public outcry when Calvin Klein showed an ad with waif looking youths in provocative poses as an attempt to child pornography. Ok, think about this logically. CK is known for it's sexuality in it's advertisements. CK wants to appeal to the mass media and uphold their image as sexy. Thus, they were really just trying to do their jobs and make the consumer happy by selling sex. I mean I can see why people got upset because these were young looking kids, and being into pedophilia is disgusting, so CK should have been more sensitive in the matter. But, in their ad with the teens being sexual, you have to think to yourself, what teen ISN'T thinking about, wanting, or actually having sex?

Seriously, stop being naive.

Like Mother, like daughter

This week's episode of Gilmore Girls made me question if it was possible for mother and daughters to actually have a real-best-friends kind of relationship with one another.

The episode that I watched this week was the one where Rory lost her virginity to Dean.

So, I need to do a quick re-cap of why this is one of the hugest turning points in the show. When Rory was 16, she dated Dean. He was her first true love. After a while though, she met Jess. Jess was more her type, plus, he was her bad boy fantasy come to life. Although, their relationship only lasted a year, Rory was really in love with him and was crushed when he left town to get out of trouble.

But as we all know, human being are resilient creatures. Rory moved on, even though part of her will always be in love with Jess. At this point, in the show Rory is 19 and single. She's matured into this beautiful woman that Dean wants--again. The only problem is he has just recently gotten married to the over-bearing and controlling Lindsey. *Cue ominous music*

Anyways, in the episode that I watched, Dean is working in construction and is helping build Lorelai's new inn. Rory goes to visit her mom and sees Dean for the first time in a year. It's the classic, "and their eyes met and they fell in love," moment. Just watching them interact, you can see how the old flames were re-kindled (wow, that's so cliche).

The grand opening of Lorelai's inn finally occurs, but she forgets music. So, she sends Rory back home to get some CD's. As luck would have it Dean just drops by to see how she's doing. Well, as one thing leads to another, they end up sleeping with each other. A few hours later, Lorelai stops by and sees the bed all rumpled and walks out very angry.

At the end of episode, all you see is Lorelai hold Rory as they sit on the bathroom floor while Rory is crying. To me, that is what a true friend does. They let you cry and vent about what you've done, while holding you and not judging. However, it was ironic to me that this was a mom and her daughter.

Now I don't know about you, but how many of you can say your mom would be comforting you after she caught you having sex? Umm.....yeah.

I think the why they are friends is because they actually TALK to one another and DO stuff together. I guess your relationship with your parent is pretty much like any other relationship and Gilmore Girls shows that it is possible to be friends with your parent. But I think parents need to keep an open mind like Lorelai does and treat them like an adult with real thoughts and feelings.

So, are mother daughter relationships possible? You decide.

I can't get started

"The funniest word in the entire world is, "oy." Another funny word is, "poodles." In fact, if you put oy and poodle together in the same sentence, you'd have a great new catch phrase, you know? Like, oy with the poodles already. So from now on, when the perfect circumstances arise, we will use our favorite new catch phrase." ---Lorelai
Who wouldn't love a show that starts off like this? This is the usual, witty, comebacks known as the Gilmore Girls. I'm sure most of you have heard or seen commercials for the show, but for this blog entry I'll be writing about the episode in which Sookie gets married (that's the only one that was on last night on ABCFamily).
Anyways, Sookie is having a particular nervous breakdown because it's the night of her wedding. She starts freaking because there are pink flowers on her wedding cake and worries that Jackson will hate the pink. So she says, "Pink is for girls. Jackson's not a girl. Jackson doesn't like pink. I have all this pink, it's like saying, 'Hey, screw you. You want a say in this? Well, grow some ovaries.'
Ha, that's classic. Next time your boyfriend is bothering you about something just say, "Screw you, grow some ovaries."
I liked this episode because both Rory and Lorelai sort of go through the same issues dealing with the men in their life. Funny, that always seems to be their problem. Anyways, in the classic shocker moment, Jess comes back out of nowhere to Rory. She is so stunned that her reaction is to kiss him. And for all the Jess and Rory fans out there is that was one of the most statisfying moments ever to finally see them together again. I tell you, this Gilmore Girl show is worse than a soap opera.
Now for Rory's mom, Lorelai, she has to deal with her first love, Chris, which is Rory's biological father as well (told you soap opera). Chris tells Lorelai, that his girlfriend is pregnant and that he can't see Lorelai anymore. Heartbroken, Lorelai does the "right" thing and lets Chris go. For all the Lorelai and Luke fans, though, this was perfect because everyone knows that Lorelai belongs with Luke.
Overall, the show was did it's typical witty charm thing, but it played on your human emotion of true love with Sookie and Jackson, broken love with Chris and Lorelai, and rekindled love between Rory and Jess.

Look who we've got our Hanes on now!

Ok, since when has the male species thought that dirty, old underwear is a comforting thought of one's wife and mother? And isn't that werid for guys to group their mom and wife or girlfriend in the same category?
I don't think I caught what year the ad was showed on TV, but all I know is that now a days, it is drilled into girls to buy the "sexy" underwear to get a man. I know in the essay Hanes was trying to show that they can fufill the American Dream, but what teenager thinks about the American Dream when they are just trying to get through the school day? Also, the ad was targeted towards the middle-aged, but aren't most middle-aged people at work when said ad is on TV? Thus, they are missing the ad anyways.
The essay was written well, but very detailed. I don't think I've ever seriously dissected an ad so throughly to write a few pages about it. Other than that, the ad was just lame and chessey. Instead of the guy admiring his wife's ratty, old underwear, he should have been admiring her.

I got birds in my ear and devil on my shoulder

So, yeah, that song has been stuck in my head for waaaaay too long today.

I mean, seriously, sitting in class and the teacher says, "Ok, so Mass Communication exposure leads to the chain reaction of Mass...I got birds in my ear and devil on my shoulder, so what's a crush to do?!"

Anyways, this is my first post, and it feels like an akward blind date. What do I say? Am I saying too much? Did I say the "right" thing? Wow, that had no point, but I'm so hyped on a caffine pill mixed with a marble mocha machiatto (sp?) that it's starting to get to me (I got birds in my ear...)

So, as I was saying, this being my first post and all, I thought I'd do the customary-obligaratory- first- entry -information introductions thing. (...and a devil on my shoulder...) First the boring stats. I'm 19 and a sophmore at WSU. I transfered over from Macomb, and I'm majoring in journalism. Hopefully, find a job in this sad state we call Michigan after graduation.

(and the phone to the other end, and I can't get ahold of her) Um, yeah, and something interesting soap opearish...I left home this summer and have been on my own for the past six months. Hmm..what else? I love to read anything and everything. I'm 100% Polish. I love the movie What the Bleep do we know?! It's amazing in case you haven't seen it...YOU SHOULD! It'll change your view on everything. So, yeah, nothing too fantastic, just your average college girl trying to make it. (So, what's a crush to do?!)

I need to listen to a new song...