Here Comes Another Garbage TV Show

It's not a secret that TV shows have been progressively getting stupider and stupider. Whatever happened to those great long running shows like ER and Law and Order? It seems like now, all people care about is what dress Kim Kardashian wore or who that oh-so steamy guy from the bachelor picked to be his fiancee. Now, I'm not completely immune to the plague of reality TV. I have watched my fair share of the Kardashians and have watched all seasons of the Jersey Shore, but there is one show, just one reality TV show that I will never, ever, EVER watch again. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a new type of garbage. Unfortunately, I am not analyzing the content of the show (which is awful) rather, the effects of such a TV show and the possible frameworks for interpretation.

So I think everybody here knows who Honey Boo Boo is so I'm not going to go into a deep summary because frankly it's not necessary. I think the effects of a show like Honey Boo Boo can be both positive and negative. I know many people who for some weird reason actually like watching Honey Boo Boo and think it's a great show. But why? Not going to lie, but it's probably because they are funny people. But not funny like ha-ha nice jokes. Funny as in ha-ha you did something dumb so I'm going to make fun of you. And that to me is not OK. In my opinion the show's producers have this show just to make fun of and stare at the family, like animals at a zoo. Who wants to be treated that away? Also, this show is adding unnecessary stereotypes to our culture. People who don't understand might think that all Americans act like that when many clearly don't. To me, shows like these only give negative stereotypes to Americans and I don't appreciate such shows appearing on my TV screen.

Also, lets inspect this through a classicist point of view. Some people might view this to be very rude and disrespectful because we are making fun of the poor people of our nation. I don't know how to look at this. I mean yeah, we do have a TV show where we are basically ridiculing a family but it's not BECAUSE they are poor. The show is for a different reason the purpose that I personally don't understand. So, I think now that the show has been going on for some time it can be seen as though a poorer family is being made fun of but I don't think that was the original purpose.

Like I said, I think the show is dumb but my opinion doesn't matter. I think the content is dumb and I don't get why these people are on TV but that doesn't stop me from believing that these people are being exploited for the wrong reasons. It doesn't matter if the producers say it's just for "fun". It's rude and offensive.

Analysis of Lyrics

I'm really lame and have absolutely no taste in music. I honestly listen to anything that KDWB plays and if that makes me "basic" I really don't care. Fight me. I definitely have a few songs that piss me off because they are over played and annoying (Roar by Katy Perry) but there are some that I also really like. Recently, I've been listening to "Alone Together" by Fall Out Boy and I just sat down to listen, to actually listen to the lyrics. Not gonna lie but this was kind of hard.

First of all, the title is an oxymoron. I'm really proud of myself for being able to notice that. Alone together.. what? How does that work. Yep oxymoron. 

I also just read through the lyrics and realized that there are only 5 parts to the song and the rest is being repeated. I don't know what's up with that. Is F.O.B lacking originality with this song? Come on. 5 versus? Kind of disappointing. Also, the main point of this song is that this guy wants to be alone with this one girl. Just the two of them. Ok. That makes sense. There is also a metaphor because F.O.B compares his heart to a stallion, which I personally don't get. Anyways, like I said in my opinion this song kind of lacks creativity because there are only 5 versus. But I still really like it. Why? Because of the message. Of only one of the 5 versus. I think it's super cute to just be alone with one single person whether it's your boyfriend (blech, mushy i know) or with your friend. I also think it's super cool that the song's title is an oxymoron. But, my favorite part of the song is the instrumental version, not the words. And I know that kind of defeats the purpose of this assignment because it's supposed to be an analysis of the language but hey, I just really like the song and the message. 



"Alone Together"

I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we're starting at the end

Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

You cut me off, I lost my track
It's not my fault, I'm a maniac
It's not funny anymore, no it's not

My heart is like a stallion
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna?

I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet

'Cause I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we're starting at the end

Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

My heart is like a stallion,
They love it more when it's broke in
Do you wanna feel beautiful?
Do you wanna?

I'm outside the door, invite me in
So we can go back and play pretend
I'm on deck, yeah, I'm up next
Tonight I'm high as a private jet, yeah

Yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
Scream it from the top of your lungs
Say yeah
Let's be alone together
We could stay young forever
We'll stay young, young, young, young, young.

I don't know where you're going
But do you got room for one more troubled soul?
I don't know where I'm going but I don't think I'm coming home
And I said I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead
This is the road to ruin
And we started at the end

Pet Peeves!

A little while ago in class we talked about my pet peeves and this got me thinking: there is a crap ton of things that I don't like.
Enjoy my list

• Mismatched Socks
• Pajamas out in public
• Clingy People
• People who can't get lunch by themselves.
• When people touch my hair with their greasy hands
• Those hideous rubber hunter boots
• Crocs
• People who don't shut up
• Those kids in your class who think they know everything
• Super aggressive people/those who walk by and hit you for no reason as a "joke"
• People who come into Caribou Coffee, sit down, and don't by anything
• Those individuals who continuously argue with me when I know I'm right
• Being criticized by my peers- not your job, an adult can do that
• When girls go to the bathroom in groups- do you need help flushing the toilet?
• When tv shows kill the best characters
• People who say that there was room for Jack on the door in Titanic. THERE WAS NOT. I have watched the movie like 22 times and there is a point where he tries to get on and the door starts to sink. There might be ROOM but it can't support both of their weights. Jeeeeez.

          

The Perfect College Essay

I went to this seminar last week about how to write a good college application essay. The professor said the key is to write about how you overcame a challenge- college's love that stuff. The essay has to show that you had a struggle in your life and how you dealt with it. This got me thinking, I'm 16 and nothing has really happened to me. I mean nothing serious at least. Nobody has died (thank god), no near death experiences (yet), and no... well nothing. Nothing has happened in my life that is worth writing about.

So, if you're one of those unfortunate (or fortunate in a normal world) people who has had nothing horrible happen to them, what the heck are you supposed to write about? College's have heard millions of times about how "I failed a test and ended up getting an A in the class" or "My dog ran away and it was really hard".  What else can you write about? I'm sure you can pick a different prompt but the classic "list a time when you overcame adversity" always pops up. I think it's a really important question to answer. It shows colleges that you were capable of overcoming a challenge in your life and it also shows how you dealt with the situation, not that you just gave up.

I'm a junior in high school and it's about time to start thinking about colleges. I know I still have about a year before I need to start submitting applications but still. What could I write about? The closest thing that I can think of at this point is that one time in 6th grade when I fractured my spine, but even that wasn't a big deal because it wasn't a life altering event. It was kind of hard on me, but I wasn't hospitalized or anything. I just wore a back brace for 3 months. This gets me thinking, maybe it's not about the actual event rather, how you write about? Maybe, colleges will think you're phenomenal if you write a great essay about how hard it was when your dog ran away. I don't know. I'm worried about this aspect of college. I have absolutely NO idea what I would write about. I NEED IDEAS!!

Satire Video

DISCLAIMER: This is late because I was absent the day this was assigned. Also, this video has nothing to do with my opinions on Gay marriage. It's just a video I found on youtube. The purpose of the blog post is to analyze the satire not the concept of gay marriage. k cool.
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The purpose of this video was to show that all the reasons that people are against gay marriage are.. well wrong , hence the name of the video " 10 reasons why Gay Marriage is wrong". The person who put up this video made a list of the 10 most common reasons that people are against gay marriage and then inserted his own satirical examples. For example "Gay marriage is unnatural". He then followed up with explaining how this is a "valid" response because Americans are against everything unnatural. This video was very funny and sarcastic and I think it did a good job at getting the audience's attention and proving the point. I liked how humor was added in, which is obviously one of the main points of satire. The rest of the video was structured in this way:
argument (gay marriage is wrong)
10 reasons why gay marriage is wrong and the author's/video makers own remarks.

As mentioned I thought the reasons were hilarious.

Here's the video.

Afraid of Fire

Zach had been afraid of fire since he was a little boy. It was the weirdest thing because his dad was a firefighter and was in burning buildings constantly but Zach? He wouldn't even let his mom light candles in the house. He hated everything about fire. The smell, the warmth, the "feeling" of having something burning next to him.
One time, Zach's friends decided to pull a prank on him and invite him to a party. That party had a bonfire pit and there was a fire burning in the middle of the backyard. Zach tried to be brave and not freak out but after his friends starting messing around and almost pushed him into the fire Zach totally lost it. It's safe to say he no longer hangs out with those people.
For most people, fire is calming. It brings a sense of warmth and peace to a situation. But for Zach it brings fear and anxiety. He can feel his lungs and throat tense up when fire is near him. He can feel his nose start to burn when the smell of smoke reaches his nostrils. When he feels the warmth of the fire his whole body feels like it's scorching. All of his senses are intensified by 100 times.
Because of his feelings towards fire, it was a real shock that he even ran into that house that day. It was late on a Friday night, Zach was coming home from his friends house. From far away he could see some orange in the distance and as he was pulling up closer to his neighbors house he saw it. The raging fire in the garage of his next door neighbors house. His first instinct was to run, run away in the opposite direction but then he remembered. Lily, the 8 year old girl who he baby sat so many times before was in that house. Alone. Her parents were out for the night and Lily was alone upstairs. She was probably so scared. So what did Zach do? He ripped of his jacket and ran. He burst through the front door and he heard a screech. It sounded like a truck's tires slamming against the asphalt. Zach realized it was Lily standing at the top of the stairs screaming and crying. "JUMP!" He yelled back. Lily, trusting Zach made a run for it and jumped into his arms. They both ran thought the scorching hot flames. Zach could feel the smoke piling up in his lungs like bricks but he didn't stop. He had to help Lily. He could barely see anything because the smoke was cutting his eyes, but they finally made it to the front door. The fresh air was cold like ice. It was the most relieving feeling. Zach was so incredibly happy and proud of himself for saving that little girl. He had just faced his fears in the most intense way possible.