50th

And this post makes 50. I have to say that this class has been rather interesting and very much unlike other classes I've taken at Stony Brook.

I learned much in the short time we had. I'm going to attempt to keep up with some photoshop work because I think it could be beneficial to me in the future.

Sketch-up and I had some difficulties, and I can't really see myself using it in the future, but I imagine someone benefited from it.

Flash was interesting and I wish I had been able to spend more time on it because we really only got to skim the surface of it and I think there is so much more I could accomplish with it. Maybe I'll end up taking a course on it.

Well I hope everyone enjoys their summer. Mine officially starts now!

Music

Last week, I went to see the James Taylor/Carole King concert. It got me thinking about the state of the recording industry today. Would a woman like Carole King be able to find success today? I'm just not sure. She didn't have a gimmick back in the day. She was a songwriter who tried her best to become a performer also.

If she came out today, I don't think we would have gotten an album like Tapestry. Or we would have, but a hot chick would be singing all of the songs. It's unfortunate, but that appears to be the state that we're in.

This is part of the reason why Lady GaGa is trying to be so outrageous. Without all of her craziness, would people have taken notice of her? If she got rid of all the gimmicks today, she'd be fine and still be successful, but starting out, no one would have ever given her the time of day.

My parents were awesome.

My friend made this website a little while ago: http://myparentswereawesome.tumblr.com/


He gets a lot of people to send in photos of the parents before they were parents. He is currently taking some of the photos and publishing a book because of the amount of interest the website has been given.

I've gone through much of the website and find the photos to be so interesting. It's similar to that of the class assignment we had. I had to explore my parents and grandparents in a light where they were no longer parents, but actual people.

I think it would be beneficial for everyone to view their parents in this light. After all, people don't lose who they are when they have kids.

Reality tv

Why are reality show stars famous? These are talentless people who should not be allowed to be on tv in the first place. Why is the world so fascinated by reality tv? Personally, I think it's boring. And most of it isn't even real anyway. Half the shows are scripted to some extent or at the very least, the "stars" are put into situations conjured up by the producers.

The fact that we know who Heidi and Spencer are is terrible and it would be acceptable to me if they faded into oblivion after losing all of their "hard earned money."

Anyone who has 10 elective surgeries in a day is deplorable in my book. This girl wasn't physically unattractive before, but her horrid personality made her ugly. No amount of plastic surgery could ever remedy that.

Beaches

A friend of mine is down in Mississippi working on cleaning up the oil spill and it got me thinking: while we can enjoy our beaches for now, how much longer are they going to be clean?

And by going in the water, even though it appears clean, are we risking our health? Animals are already starting to be affected by this spill, so what makes us think that we won't be?

When will this spill be cleaned up? Will it ever be cleaned up? The first thing that needs to be done is it needs to be stopped, but people seem to be dragging their feet or at a loss for how to stop the oil from flowing.

When will BP decide that people are more important than money?

uh basketball.

Once again, as they did with the World Cup, people who never cared about basketball before suddenly care about Lebron James and what decision he made last night.

I think it bothers me most because I know a lot of these people very well and know that they're being fake in order to try to impress others. I don't talk about sports because I don't watch sports. I like to go to sporting events every once in a while, but I don't pretend to know what's going on all of the time and mostly I just go because it's a fun experience.

So who cares about Lebron James? Basketball fans do. Non-basketball fans shouldn't pretend to be fans one day out the year. Are you really being true to yourself when you feel the need to lie about something as trivial as caring about certain sports that we all know you don't care about?

Nominations

I like award shows. They're very interesting. I think it's intriguing to see the way people vote each year. Usually it's all the same people being nominated over and over, but for the Emmys this year, there have been some big changes. Yes, the old standards are nominated (and some of them will win), but the amount of newbies is fantastic.

I'm especially happy for the cast of Modern Family. While it's not breaking any boundaries, it is opening up the general viewing public to a new meaning of family. It's not just all about the Brady Bunch anymore. There are families that come in different packaging, yet are just as close as any others.

From a time when a husband and wife didn't even sleep in the same bed on tv, the industry is finally showing some progress, although it's been at a glacial pace. I hope it keeps moving in the right direction.

Charity benefits

In May, a friend and I went to a benefit for a cancer foundation. We were excited to go because it seemed like it was going to be a fun experience. And it was fun (so was the free wine), but it was also odd and we felt very out of place.

First off, the amount of socialites and wannabe celebrities that were there was absolutely outrageous. We could tell that these were people who didn't actually care about the foundation, but just went to every benefit under the sun in order to attempt to get their names out there. It would have bothered me more if they hadn't spent an exorbinant amount of money to come and to auction.

I met an actual celebrity there. He was the host. I use to the term celebrity very loosely because it was Al Roker. The most famous weather man in the world, apparently. Well, he was boring as anything. My friend and I got our picture taken with him because there wasn't much else to do, but he didn't really find his personality until he got on the stage. And he also left early. I would have been disappointed if I had ever cared about him in the first place.

Creepy Crawly

I got attacked by bugs last night. Not really attacked, but there were a bunch in my basement and I felt like I was being attacked.

I have an irrational (or is it?) fear of insects. I know they are so small, but they are so scary to me. Just thinking about them makes my skin crawl, so you can imagine what typing about them is doing.

Someone asked me to go to a butterfly exhibit one time and I had to refuse because while some may think butterflies are beautiful, I think they are frightening. If one landed on me, I don't know that I'd be able to prevent myself from slapping it off me and possibly injuring it. As much as I don't like to kill anything, my fear comes into play and I kind of go into a "it's me or them" mode. Why are such little, mostly harmless creatures such a big deal to me?

Italia

My dream vacation is to go to Italy. That's actually going to be my graduation present. I don't want a party, I just want to go to Italy.

I've been learning about Italy for years and have read a bunch of books on it. It looks so beautiful in pictures, so I can't even imagine how it would look in person.

I'm most excited to go to Capri and Venice. It would probably take a couple of trips to see everything that I want to see in Italy, but it would be worth it.

Just the amount of history that is flowing from all of the towns and cities is incredible and the stories behind everything are amazing. I'm very excited to be able to view such important works.

Long Island

Are people still watching the show, The Jersey Shore? Is it currently on?

I had seen a couple of episodes in passing and I must admit that it was like a trainwreck. I so wanted to look away, but I couldn't. Are these people for real? The answer to that is: a resounding yes.

They are, unfortunately, very real. And they are plaguing my world. I am from Long Island (which is often compared with the Jersey Shore) and I am nothing like these people. They are giving the good Long Islander/New Jerseyers a bad name.

People who are new here often think much less of Long Island because of the bad rap that it gets, but it's not that different from anywhere else. You just need to know where to look to find the right people.

That being said, I am going to move off the island in a bit, just to be able to experience life outside of this overcrowded little place.

Too much work.

This is my last weekend of working. I asked my boss to give me off most weekends for now because it just became too much to handle. What with two jobs and going to school, I was getting overwhelmed.

All I have to do is get through tomorrow (and I hope I can go home early) and I'll be set. I have off on Sunday and I'm finally going to go to the beach. Hope I remember that I am super pale and I don't try to overdo it and end up looking like a lobster.

I got a little burnt over a week ago and I am still red. That cannot be healthy. I should have been smarter about my skin. After all, it is the largest organ of the body and I definitely do not want wrinkles before they're due. It's bad enough that the grays are coming...

the sims

I can't believe people spend (what probably is) a lot of time to make a Sims music video for any song, much less a really bad one. Think of how creative these people could be if they spent time doing other things instead of reenacting a Katy Perry video.

Attempt 5604

Just another one of my attempts at sketchup. It's a grass covered shack with no way to get in and out, but it does have a sweet breezeway. Ugh.

Film Industry

Did we really need a new Karate Kid movie? Was the original film and its subsequent sequels so groundbreaking that they would need to be remade? I don't think so. It's all just becoming ridiculous. Now there's talk of a Spiderman "re-boot." It's absolutely ridiculous that films that came out in the 2000s are already being remade.

The problem is that Hollywood is having difficulty coming up with new ideas. Yes, there are some quality ones out there, but they are mostly put onto the screen by independent companies. The big production companies want to go with what will earn the most amount of money--and that's something that has been done before.

I'm hoping eventually people will get bored with this process and new ideas will be allowed.

Seasons

Why is it that we tend to feel better in the summer and spring months than we do in the fall and winter months? I don't get really depressed in the winter, but there is definitely a higher level of happiness in the warmer months.

Everyone seems to want to go out more often too. It's like all of a sudden people remembered that they are capable of having fun and going out. Do the seasons affect our mental well being? Studies have shown that people do experience seasonal depression and while temporary, they can be very difficult to deal with.

I know winter months are tougher to get through. Maybe it has to do with the hours of sunlight we have per day. Sunlight makes people happier, right? Or maybe it just has to do with the fact that people are spending more time outside. Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I feel happier so I'm noticing that others are also. Maybe they were happy the whole time and I never noticed.

Tweet it up.

Everything I don't think I can write on facebook (but want to type out anyway) goes on my twitter account. Most of the time what I've written is a reaction someone else's stupid status on facebook. I had gotten to the point where I was writing out replies to people on their statuses and almost posting them. They weren't nice and I figured these people must think others care, so why not just let them live with this notion.

I've gotten to the point where I have hidden people on facebook because I cannot bear to read the ridiculousness anymore. I have one friend who is constantly talking about how he wants us to join Arbonne cosmetics (or a pyramid scheme) and make lots of money. And he keeps posting about how he's going to be up for a Mercedes by the end of the month just by selling Arbonne. Not only do I not believe him, but if I wanted to read advertisements for stupid things, I'd drive down to Atlantic City and read all the billboards as I go by.

I think a post every few days is pretty acceptable, but every few hours? Every few minutes? Now that's a bit too much. I'll stick to ranting on twitter.

Second Life

Did a couple of trials of Second life as a few different people. I tried to stay in the same area and do the same things and talk to the same people, but as different characters. I started out as a woman and mostly got ignored by the majority of people who were there (who were mostly women). Then I tried three different men: a goth, a preppy and a rocker. The rocker was by far the most popular with one woman falling to the ground all around him doing the "we're not worthy" pose over and over. Weird stuff.

Cheating

I met a couple recently who have been together for about 5 years. He's married, but not to her. His wife apparently has no idea. It's not really any of my business about these two individuals' personal choices, but it got me thinking about similar situations.

First off, do the wives of cheating husbands (or vice versa) really not know about what is going on behind their backs? I bet they have some idea, but are just turning a blind eye to it.

My other question is, if someone is unhappy, why wouldn't he or she just leave? Are you really doing your spouse a service by lying behind his or her back? Monogamy sometimes doesn't work. It's not a failure, it just happens to be the case sometimes. There happen to be many people who can have a completely monogamous relationship, but there are many who cannot. Is it really fair to string others along? I guess it just has to do with circumstances.

Mad Men

Mad Men is, stylistically, one of the best shows on tv. Not only are the costumes and fashions beautiful, but so are the colors and themes. The actors and actresses fit so perfectly in the 1960s setting that it's amazing that they belong to the 2000s.

I also find it cool that Don Draper, the main character, is so flawed. He lives a far from perfect life, but if you ever met him for the first time, you'd never be able to tell. His personal life is a mess, but his professional life is flourishing. It's a common issue that has been rarely addressed in shows of the past, but seems to be a much more prominent theme now.

While much of what happens in Mad Men may be a little over the top, I believe that everyone could relate to just one character. The bored housewife, the philandering husband, the pre-feminist feminist, the determined young man who will do anything to get ahead... the list goes on and on. These characters can all be found in real life, but the amusing thing to figure out who falls where.