Phiggnewton's Blog

The Pantene commercial was filmed in a what seemed to be an urban, bustling city somewhere in Asia. Withing four minutes, the director shot a short story about the triumph of an underdog. The opening scene has a young girl watching an older man who is a street musician that plays the violin. She is drawn in by his passionate playing and admires his musical abilities. The next scene shows her and a friend or possibly her sister practicing a piece of music with the main character playing a violin and her friend on the piano. The scene builds because her friend becomes frustrated by the main character’s imaginative thoughts and wandering mind. Then the main character comes back to the streets and listens to the street musician from when she was younger. They talk by sign language since the street musician is deaf and they share their feelings about life. The street musician understands how she feels because I think he’s gone through the same rough patch she’s going through then in her life. The violin is a way both the deaf musician and the quiet girl could express their emotions to the world without having to talk. The protagonist is the quiet girl who ends up stealing the music contest at the end and the antagonist is her “friend” that broke her confidence in the beginning. The evil friend devised a plan for a gang to beat up or possibly kill the street musican and the main character, which is where the climax took place. It’s ironic in that the underdog came out on top even though her friend tried so hard to take her out of the competition. The audition for the music contest was almost over until the violinist shows up with her mended violin to win the crowd’s heart. I believe the theme of the commercial was that your goal in life can be acheived no matter how many bumps in the road there are.

When I first watched the video, the bird’s calls and noises seemed unreal. How could something this grandiose not be that well known to the rest of the world?! especially when YouTube is watched by millions every day! Wikipedia confirms that the bird is indeed real with links and videos to prove it so I suppose it’s real. The lyre bird can mimic natural and artificial sounds from its environment ranging from the birds in Australia to a camera shutter! Civilian life is slowly, but surely encroaching on the natural state of life. The lyre bird is becoming a more and more rare animal each day because it’s habitat is being destroyed by people trying to build homes wherever  they wish. The birds can imitate the sound of chainsaws, fire alarms, car engines, rifle shots, and so many other human “resources” that advance construction, but end up destroying nature. As I’ve learned over and over again in all my history classes, there is always land somewhere else in the world to conquer and change. Some people need to open their eyes to realize when enough is enough and simplicity is best.

cap, capt, and cept

At this point in our life, we’ve all been affected by the media. They have slowly, but surely brain washed us. Images and videos have distorted our thoughts of true beauty.

beauty – the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations

As children, we followed mommy and daddy’s rules. They raised us to be good, moral people. Judging others was wrong and was reprimanded with a time out. TV showed episodes of Elmo and Mr. Roger teaching us how to count and be nice to others. Cartoons were innocent and were silly like Tom and Jerry. It’s hard to find a true kid friendly show on TV today. Sesame Street has been thrown out of the window while Laguna Beach and Hannah Montana have taken over the nation. They lack substance and have no message to its viewers. Little kids watch these shows and eventually believe that having a boy in their life will make life a fairytale. Flip through the channels that are supposed to be kid friendly. Every show is filled with “hunky dudes” and “hot girls.” Not a single average weight person to be found.

No one can escape the propaganda of what beauty is. Look at the stores in the mall. Stores like Hollister and Abercrombie intentionally hire the good looking bunch to work for them. In order to save lawsuits that they are prejudice against someone’s weight, they’ll occasionally hire someone “average,” but they’re only there for inventory or a job that doesn’t show their face to the public. But this little stunt gets people in the door…

Boys are supposed to be a man’s man.

Nice tan. Ripped.

Macho. Lean.

Perfect white teeth. Tall.

For girls, eating is a no no. The media has transformed beauty into a skeleton with couture clothing.

Oh yeah, that’s hot.

Are we ironic or what?

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FACTS

The link above shows the statistics on how media has affected us.

The link below shows the visual aspects of it.

Photoshop Bonanza

At the end of they day, propaganda for staying youthful and beautiful will surround us forever, but it’s up to our personal beliefs to which ads we follow.

On on added note, I just remembered the word diet. Diet is the foods eaten by a particular person. The term diet doesn’t have anything to do with weight loss, but that’s the initial thought that pops in our mind once “diet” is said. Because the average person wants to lose a few pounds or gain it to be “beautiful,” thousands of adds for a better “diet” are thrown in our face to become our desired weight.

When do we learn to draw the line between appropriate weight and taken too far?

With celebrities promoting awful habits, how are kids supposed to know the difference between wrong and right? In a kid’s mind, if so and so can do it, why can they?

Parents can only do so much, but it’s the individual’s decision at the end of the day to believe what true beauty is.

/End of rant.

Pencil Face is by far on my top 10 of creepiest videos I’ve ever watched. The main character alone freaks me out. She’s tall, pale, lanky, awkward. She fits the stereotypical description of a creepy/scary kid in a horror movie. The short movie begins with her doing the most unnatural movements like swinging from a pipe coming out of the group and posing with drift wood in a barren landscape. To make it even more awkward, a huge human sized pencil comes into the shot with a Chuckie face. The mood is immediately stands out in my mind as disturbing.

The theme of the movie shows that when you get everything you want in life, some of the possessions you wish you obtain turn out to be bad for you. Some of the deadly sins come to my mind. The girl in the film was overwhelmed with greed when she figured out that the pencil could give her any material item in the world. She looked like she hadn’t been fed in days! The first thing she drew was a colossal 3 tier cake. While that may fill you up, meat and potatoes would have done the same which shows she was a big on gluttony. I think the pencil is a modern day magic lamp from Aladdin. You get 3 wishes, but they don’t always come out the way you invision them to. Your wishes tend to get misinterpreted to be a completely and probably awful wish. The video shows that being a greedy snob will not take you far in like. Take King Midas for example; his greed became his biggest downfall because gold isn’t worth anything in the long run.

If I had a creepy, human-sized pencil (which I will probably buy on eBay later today because who wouldn’t want one?!), I think I would use it to make History essay papers that are worth A’s because history is not my favorite subect so I lack motivation to write it on my own. ;P A maid to clean and rid my house of any living creature besides my family and dog would be nice. Oh! Because we all drive now, I would draw tonsssssssss of gasoline for cars and then sell it. I figure, at least work for the money! Drawing Franklins all day is boring. Drawing gasoline to sell is thinking outside the box. =]

I got 8/20 people right!  I’ve been mistaken as other races before so this just goes to show that you can’t judge others by their outward appearance. Although the stereotypical looks of a certain race may hold true sometimes, there are many exceptions. I’m an example of one! haa. It’s difficult to determine someone’s race, especially nowadays, because more and more people are the mutts of countless generations. This was definitely a difficult task to accomplish because I can’t tell what race someone is just by their face. This exercise reminds me somewhat of myspace and facebook. When you first see someone’s profile, you only get a picture. You can’t really tell who (or what) they are unless they give you extra information on their site. I think as humans, we’re prone to use the “guidelines” to guess what race a person is. For American Indians, you would think they typically had a dark tone of skin with black hair (and maybe a horse). As for Asians, I looked for squintier black/brown eyes and pale or tan skin. Black people typically have nappy hair, dark skin, dark eyes, and a big forehead. Hispanic/Latino are sometimes the hardest to recognize because it’s such a wide range of culture they come from! Personally, George Lopez and Jennifer Lopez is the first thing that pops into my mind. The guys are stout and have mustaches. My dad actually looks like a Mexican because they share the slicked back haircut with dark skin and a happy smile. The cholas typically have looooong black hair and are verrrry curvy. White people have a light to fair skin tone, eyes of all different colors, and hair that is different than the rest of the world while looking somewhat similar all at the same time. Which just means their ancestors are from everywhere and there isn’t truly a set appearance I think. In the end, I think it’s clear to say that looks shouldn’t matter when you meet someone new. It’s the beauty on the inside (if you can find it) that counts. =]

link to sort people:

http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_01-sort.ht\

Summer ’09! Ready for some late nights, endless laughter, and miles of cruising!! Oh, and some good ole fashion summer reading. whootwhoot.!

I’m fee phigg noogan. I think I’m going to start with Fahrenheit 451 since I’ve already read it before…I’m pretty sure Plus the plot and details will be easier to remember over this looooooooooooong summer. I plan on finishing my assignments with the help of my friends. I know my best friend will be on track and I’ll work hard to keep up with her. ahah. I have to work all summer and I have many practices for guard so there’s no time to waste! Plus I plan on shopping and spending time with mi amigos. I like to read last minute but I suppose I’ll have to change that plan this summer. I like reading when it’s completely silent or very loud around me, but with a few people around, I get distracted because I’m just special that way :]

Blogging (21st century term!) has taken over our classrooms…and Perez Hilton’s life. I feel like I’m in 6th grade again and Xanga was the hot new thing. Not as big as Neopets yet, but getting there. Fear of unusual site I’ve never used. Not sure which buttons to click or what to view. This is the first time I’ve blogged for a class assignment. I predict the averge blog our class posts will contain less errors since we get to use our handy dandy spell check button. I look forward to less hand cramps and am dreading more visits to the optometrist since my vision will get worse from staring at a computer screen for so long as I’m sure some of the assignments will be. I’m an official blogger, suh-weet. Watch out Perez, Honors English 11 from Pickens County is after your title.