Everyday we're hit with messages to buy things that if they are put simply, they mean "buy this and you will be pretty" or "buy this and you'll be the most masculine man around". One way teens are influenced by media is through music music can have many different effects on a person. It can cause a simple reaction of bobbing your head, it can lead to a major dance party or it can be as simple as listening to the words. For some artists, listening to the words is what they want most for their listeners. Sometimes their message in the song is more than "Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone" or "It's friday friday gotta get down on friday" sometimes it's a message about American politics, cancer reasearch and how the world needs to change.

Even some of the songs that are at the top of the charts right now have positive messages in them, two prime examples are Pink's Prefect and Katy Perry's Firework.

naturalnews.com a healthy dose of independent news

For The last couple of months I've been implementing various new healthy habits into my life, this may seem a little uncharacteristic of a 18 year old in the modern age, but it shouldn't seem uncharacteristic of a teenager who is informed about such matters as I am. My change towards a healthier lifestyle which has really been a part of great transformation that has been ongoing since I entered highschool, but most recently I have become more conscientious of my health because of the influence of the website naturalnews.com and the various useful and unuseful information provided by it. Through the websites I have been educated about the influence of diet in either preventing or creating disease, and various toxic substances that we are exposed to on a regular basis that pose tremendous risks to our health.
Naturalnews.com was started by Mike Adams a computer software entrepeneur, who after years of living the standard american lifestyle had reached a point in his life where he was no longer function in a manner that afforded him any joy in life; he had developed type 2 diabetes, was overweight and depressed. Having delt with the conventional medical system before and receiving little results, he was determined to find alternative means of rectifying his condition. So after scouring the web for information on curing diabetes, he became aware of the immense role diet and exercise played in his disease(type 2 diabetes). Throughout the next period of time he devoted himself to living a healthy life, by going out for walks and eating a diet high in whole foods which are high in nutrition and eliminating processed foods which are typically riddled with harmful chemicals.
The result of his new healthier lifestyle was that he felt much happier, had way more energy, and most astoundingly (to some) cured his diabetes. Since this critical shift in his life, he has gone on to give public lectures on the importantance of maintaining our health and created the website naturalnews.com with his background in computer software. Over the years naturalnews has grown rapidly, and has a monthly readership of approximately 1.8 million individual people. naturalnews.com offers what the mainstream media doesn't, a independent, non financially motivitated perspective on health issues. The site has contributions writers from various backgrounds; either health lecturers, medical doctors who've come to realize the effectiveness of natural forms of medicines, naturopathic doctors, homeopaths and health and food activists. This site has been primary source of information on health matters for the last year or so, i don't have any intentions of switching sources, simply because the site in itself offers perspectives from many different sources, and allows for clashing views to be presented on the website without censorship. This is because the site has no corporate interests and is independently funded. I hope you will at least check out some of the information provided by the site and at least gain a deeper understanding of health and holistic medicine.

NHL 12 goalies and goals

Goalie V-H Technique what does V-H stand for? Well I’m glad you asked. It stands for vertical-horizontal. It is a technique used by goalies similar to the hug post. Goalie V-H is something you see many NHL goalies do throughout the game but something we’ve been missing in the title. The purpose of this technique is to put goalies in better position for passes behind the goal line and also allows for them to more easily push off the post into butterfly. How does this affect your goalie in NHL 12? From the goalie V-H, you will be able to make saves, poke check, and cover the puck. You will also be able to push off the post from this stance and right into butterfly or into the desperation saves.

Updated goalie saves Goalies are always a work in progress. The thing with goalies is that we have to make them balanced. Any tweaks to shooting or AI, and we have to rebalance goalies. They are what one might call a house of cards. Tune a shot this way, and you have the potential to unleash always goals. Much like every other year, we go in and look at all the saves we have in the game and try to tune goalie behavior to allow for goal scoring, yet still have goalies feel natural. We have also improved the puck tracking for goalies this year. What this means for goalies is that they will be better at fighting through the screens and battles in front of the net, and be more agile when skaters are pulling dekes on breakaways and in close.

And theres Goalie fightss When you run the goalie, you can expect a tough guy to stand up for his goalie. At times, the goalie will stand up for himself by dropping the gloves and there’ll also be times where the opposing goalie will want a piece of the action too. We saw it happen a couple times this year in the real NHL…if it’s in the game, it’s gotta be in the game!

Boston vs Vancouver

The Boston Bruins haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1972, Bobby Orr's heyday. The Vancouver Canucks have never won a Cup, period, in their 41 year history. One of those streaks ends tonight in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. Already the hard-fought series has featured hard hits or cheap hits depending on your perspectiv, biting ,retribution, heart stopping goals and blowouts. What will tonight bring?

The Canucks will need to solve two problems that have plagued them through much of the series. Boston has outscored Vancouver 19-8, with Roberto Luongo getting blitzed at TD Garden. They'll need something resembling the Luongo who's 3-0 at home with just two goals allowed in three games to have a chance tonight. Meanwhile, the Canucks also need to solve the Bruins' stellar penalty-killing unit, which has allowed just two power play goals all series.

The Bruins, a grinding and opportunistic team but one lacking multiple snipers, will need to find ways to get to Luongo and give Vezina Trophy favourite Tim Thomas a lead to protect. Milan Lucic was Boston's lone 30 goal scorer this season, and Nathan Horton, one of Boston's best scorers during the first three rounds of the playoffs, is out after taking that big hit from Aaron Rome in Game 3.

Your x factor tonight is Henrik Sedin, who had 94 points during the regular season and 21 points through the first three rounds of the playoffs but just a lone goal and no assists against the Bruins. With the last change tonight on home ice, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault will try to move Henrik and his brother Daniel away from Zdeno Chara and Boston's checking forwards, in an effort to gain exploitable matchups. If he succeeds, Vancouver might finally get to hoist the Cup.

50 Cent tattoo removal

Rapper 50 Cent is reported to soon have all his tattoos removed from his body. This just shows how stereo typed certain people are. Not only who he is but the way he looks could cause him to not get as many endorsments or other advertisment deals. 50 said himself hes doing this to hope for new opportunities hopefully in the movie business. 50 feels removing all of his tattoos and and not having such a crazy image will make him a better candidate in doing so. Do you think 50 is doing the smart thing or is this a waste of time considering hes already ridiculously famous and loaded. I think it shows a bit more character in him and it shows hes trying to prove he can do more than just rap a few lines.

League of Legends

As my blogging time comes to an end I figure I may as well write something that isn't random, and that I can actually talk about. And because of that, I have chosen to write about League of Legends.

About a year ago League of Legends was released, based on the popular MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). The object in the game is to kill the enemy team as much as possible, destroy the enemy turrets, and kill the enemies nexus. LoL has quickly destroyed the competition in the MOBA game type, like Heroes of Newerth, and even the popular dota which is a popular game which is even made by some of the same creaters as LoL. The objective in the game is won by pushing different lanes by leveling up, killing creeps and enemy champions and earning money and buying items. Although the game is very enjoyable, and has a massive amount of players, the servers are very awful and are very unstable, and have even been hacked very recently.

This game is what I was doing before I started writing my blogs a few hours ago, and is what I will continue to do after I publish this blog and log off this site. So adios blogger!

Bruins shake up city of Vancouver

NHL playoffs are finally finished. After game 7 Boston Bruins took the series to win the stanley cup. After a close series Vancouver couldn't bring it back to Canada. Recent riots and people going crazy in Vancouver is representing the disappointment in the city. Even if you werent a fan of Vancouver this year, most canadians wanted them to win over Boston just so the cup can come back to Canada. Although theres something most people probably didnt look at. The majority of the Vancouver Canucks roster are American players. So why do us canadians want the canucks to win? Now if you take a look at the Boston Bruins roster, the majority of the players are canadians. So why not want the Bruins to win so canadian players can bring the cup back to their canadian cities? So when people say they were rooting for Vancouver because the team is canadian its ridiculous because the team is contained of all american players. I'm happy Boston took the cup this year knowing this doesnt make it so bad to see an american team win built with all canadian players.

Banning smoking tobacco outdoors?

Recently in New York there has been a new law settled about smoking tobacco in public spaces outdoors. This includes community parks and other public areas. If you are caught smoking in these areas you will be ticketed around 50$ and if you continue to smoke you will be charged 250$. Is this law going overboard? Some people feel it is going over board considering not many places indoors allow smoking inside anymore. If smoking is going to be illegal in areas outdoors there better off just making it illegal. Banning it in certain areas isnt going to stop people from smoking. The government obviously doesnt want to ilegalize smoking tobacco because they make too much money off of it. Making a law banning it in certain areas will minimize second hand smoke and will be another way to get money out of our hands. If the government thought smoking was that big of a deal they would just make it illegal, but they can't do that.

Blog Rush

As the time for writing the blogs is coming to an end, the search for topics becomes harder and harder. Maybe its because I've had months to write my blogs, and maybe its because its 12:15 at night. Who knows? But the topic of "I can't think of anything to write about" is pretty popular at this hour. this is because a handful of people have also delayed writing their blogs, which brings me to my topic: procrastination.

Procrastination by definition is: "The action of delaying or postponing something", sounds kind of like myself with my blogs. Personally, I think as far as words to describe my effort to do my blogs and homework goes this work describes me like no other. But why do people procrastinate? Is it because they just don't feel like doing the work? Is it because they think that they can do it later? Or is it because they just don't care? The truth is, the answer can be any of of the the things I have just said, and others. Procrastination of something usually starts with a confident feeling as if "You can do it later" but as you procrastinate more and more time quickly runs out, leaving you with a feeling of "Oh no, im never going to get _____ finished now, may as well just not do it at all!". Procrastination is usually started as a way to balance an anxiety to start or complete something with a confident feeling, which usually turns out bad later on.

Because of procrastination many people with the ability to do great things will in turn say "meh, I'll do it later". And for now I'll have to beat my own procrastination and write my final blog!

Why is it so hard to think of a blog topic

You may have noticed that it is really hard to think of something when you are forced to think of something. You may be thinking "all the ideas are taken" or "i cant think of something out of the box". well relax cause you have a typical condition called Writer's Block. It really isn't your fault, its the fact that you are pressured to do something that has no right answer. Creating these Blogs is like doing an English assignment, it is all information created from your mind. Nothing can be the same it is all original work from you, no Blog will be the same. The reason you may have writers block is because either you do not really care about this project and don't want to think about it, or because you have some other issue that is distracting you. To generate ideas i suggest you take a break and do something else while thinking of what to write about you may get an idea from what you are doing.

About 11 hours left

Like my previous blogs im still at a loss for topics, and probably still screwed. Its 11:45 at night and im currently talking to a couple other people still having the same problem as I am. Either way, heres another failed attempt at a blog.

While search for a topic on the internet that seemed half decent to talk about I found myself searching randomness on StumbleUpon. This website is an awesome generator of random websites that suit your interests. The StumbleUpon website is as easy as signing up, telling the site your interests, and finding different sites at random about the things youve listed. The site will pull up other different websites while running a border in the background allowiing you to keep searching different sites. You can find websites on anything from Arts/History, Music, Home/Living, to Science.

Thanks to StumbleUpon I have found a cure for my current boredom of trying to get ideas for my blog, and has made itself an idea for me to write about. 2 more to go!

Want to improve your eye sight? Then take a look at this!!

I first got my glasses in grade 7, it was awkward at first but then I got use to it. As years progressed I realized my eye sight was getting worse. Then I realized if one spent a lot of time working with a computer, reading or watching television one is most likely short-sighted. Meaning you are unable to see objects in a distance, clearly.

After my third prescription, I decided to do something to improve my eyesight. Here are some things I did and still do to improve my sight.

1. When using the computer or even watching TV try to blink often. By keeping the eye constantly open we put pressure on them so its good to blink.

2. Do eye exercise! Make an effort to stare at something in the distance every 30-60 mins for 30 seconds. This exercise helps improve focus of distant objects, by preventing the eye becoming “used” to focusing only on objects that are close.

Nodding the head up and down is another exercise. This exercise will strengthen the neck muscles, therefore increasing blood circulation to the head and eyes.

3. Eat healthy! Consume fruits and vegetables that are rich in Vitamin A. Carrots contain beta-carotene, a substance that the body converts to vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health.

I haven’t had a new prescription ever since I started following these simple tips! I believe that the media influences us to watch TV and use the computer. Which make use more attached to our TV’S and computers. But by following these tips we can enjoy using the technology without sacrificing the health of our eyes!

I can't think of anything to write about

At this point in time, I have 3 more blogs to do and I can't think of a thing to write about. The only thing I can think of writing about is the same thing that Aaron already wrote about - blogging. When I initially got this project, I assumed it would be a cake-walk. "Oh, I'd be able to finish them all in a week, it's no big deal.", said I. But after the first blog was due, I found it increasingly hard to write about anything.

As I write this, it is the last day of school. Class is ending in a few minutes, and I'm only on my second paragraph of my 4th blog, and I have 2 more blogs to do. Am I gonna get them done? Not a chance, but I'm doing what I can within the time span that I have left.

Well, this is pretty much it. A mediocre blog about nothing.

The SHAM-WOW Does it work?

I first saw "Sham-Wow" at a sears outlet store. I had also seen it in a commercial advertised by Billy Mays. At first I was overwhelmed by its use. It soaked up everything. It seemed like a vacuum which left no mess! The "Sham-Wow" sold for $19:95 and came with four "Sham-Wows". I took it home, to try it out. To my disappointment I realized the company had cheated me! It didn’t work. It did not soak 12 times the liquid as they said it would.

I didn’t know why it wasn’t working for me when it worked right before my eyes at the sears. Could they have been using a different "Sham-Wow" for demonstration, or was the one I bought defected?

Why did I buy it? Maybe because the guy told me I wasted twenty dollars a month on paper towels, and for that same twenty dollars I could have eight Sham Wows. These Sham Wows are guaranteed to last ten years! I had wasted my money!

In my opinion I think the company cheat their costumers. They used different advertising techniques to sell their products to make the consumers buy their products. Their product doesn't do what they say it does.

What do you think? Is "Sham Wow" cheating their costumers to make money? Have you ever tried the "Sham-Wow" and did it work for you?

One more week and we're done grade 11! We all know what that means...exams. Exams are probably the single most thing I dread at the end of every semester. People start panicing, and stressing out, staying up all night to finish projects and papers that we were all too lazy to finish and hand in on time. Stressing already? relax, and breathe. Everything will be okay, instead of cramming the night before, just review for 30 minutes a day, for a week ahead of time.

If you're stressing over your exams, here are some helpful tips to 'de-stress'

• Keep your mind work oriented, and not result oriented
• Study actively in the day time, and get a good nights sleep
• Have lemon juice twice or three times daily
• After reading for some time, close your eyes and reflect for a few moments. It will help you relax.
• Long hours of static studying affects the lower body and blood circulation, change postions and locations often
• Do not panic. Practice pranayama. The art of breathing in through your nose, and out of your mouth. Hold for four seconds.
• Try some relaxing yoga

This is it guys, we're 3/4 done high school. 10 more months in this school and its off to be grown adults and look after our selves. Personally, im actually terrified of growing up, and I panic everytime i think about the fact that we have literally a year of high school left. It feels like yesterday that I walked into Cawthra Park, a niner and now here i am, a 16 year old teenage girl who can drive and has a job.

Good luck on your exams!

The best new show on the Comedy Network

On April 6th the Comedy Network released its brand new show Workaholics. The show features three characters (Adam, Blake, and Anders) who live in the same house and work at the same telemarketing company. The show is fueled by situational comedy within the workdays of the three main characters. However, the show contains coarse language, use and reference of drugs and alchohol, so if this doesn't sound like your kind of show than dont watch it.

The show first started when an executive at Comedy Central saw one of the groups many comedy sketches on youtube. The guys had originally had a sketch comedy group called MailOrderComedy on youtube, and produce their own music tracks as a rap group called "The Wizards", and even put some of their songs into Workaholics in their 9th episode. A few plot ideas for a few of the episodes are figuring out how to pass a drug test, camping out in the office while their house is being fumigated while burglars break in, and making friends with an online pedophile.

During the shows first aired episode on April 6th, they instantly had approximately 1 million viewers. By the third episode they already had 1.5 million viewers and were quickly announced back for a second season. Each season has 10 episodes at 20 minutes each. I personally cant wait for the airing of the second season in the fall.

Msn slang

Even Star Wars contain msn slangs.





















Fyi, lol, bac, ovr, mor, thn, hs, hw, lmao, rofl and ect.
So, what on earth does all this mean?

Well if you are a teenager, you may have a chance at understanding what I just wrote. Although I think that how people communication today is very clever, however, I do think it is killing the English language. School are accepting it exams and term papers, kids are forgetting when they write in a school text to a text message and it has gotten a little out of hand. I also think that it has left some parents feel anxious and suspicious over why this is happening and to the extent that it is. Like I said, I think that it is clever (I love texting myself). They can cut down words quite a lot. We use text slang here all the time. We accept it and most embrace it, so why is there much concern over this new wave of text language? I believe that it has to do with the fact some students use their slang words in their school work.

Maybe we should try to all look back and maybe discover that maybe there are few more concerns than getting sidetracked.

Could you do a better job?

When does fiction become a reality?

For teens, it may be something as simple as a brand of jeans they choose to wear or a new hair style they try after seeing Amy sporting it on The Secret Life of the American Teenager. Although, for the stars that have an impact in the media it can be a quick reality.

A prime example of this is Charlie Sheen with his character of Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men, that has entertained audiences for years with a character who is reaching middle age with girls hanging off his arms although, he also has to deal with a brother who does not have a lot of money and a nephew who grows up on the show to still be as dumb as a stump but still has some fantastic witty comebacks. Charlie Sheen over the years appears to have become unstable as a father and inconsiderate of those who surround him, mainly the mother of his twin boys and his producers. According to Charlie he is not bipolar, he is "biwinning" and ladies and gentleman, he has tiger blood running through him. His character of constantly having women hanging off of him has turned into a reality. He now lives with his goddesses.

Another example of a television character getting the best of someone is Jamie Lynn Spears, that's right Brittney Spears' younger sister. In 2007, at the young age of 16 she got pregnant. Although, her story is a little different, her character on television was a tween at boarding school dealing with roommate and boy drama. She did however make a statement after her pregnancy was public knowledge that said "I can't be judgmental because it's a position I put myself in."

The price of fame for some can be overwhelming, being constantly in the eye of others, with the constant judgement and disappointment. Celebrities in a lot of ways have it rough when it comes to their personal life being on display. As much as we believe that money will solve all our problems or they just should have known better, we've never stopped to think if we would do any better if we were in their shoes. We would all like to think we would but, would we really?

We always have the opportunity to experiment with things such as drugs, sex and alcohol, does it mean it is a smart idea? No, not really but do we anyway? Sometimes yes, for some all the time, for others no. I'm not say that yes we should go out and test ourselves to see if we can handle having a baby or "biwinning" although, I am saying that we don't actually know what could happen. We have the opportunity to do our best with what life hands to us, we try to make wise decisions and create better opportunities in the future.

The Pressures of Fitting In....and Not Fitting In

For all teenagers, there's always been the pressure of fitting in, or to be a part of the in crowd. We've all been down that path before; just some of us choose not to conform to what the media considers "cool", "trendy", or "the latest fad."

Teens are always concerned about the latest trend in everything; from bright American Apparel sweatshirts, neon coloured sneakers, silly bandz, and keds, to Formspring, iPhones, and Blackberries (and no, I ain't talking about the fruit, but you already knew that didn't you? My point exactly). Buy the right pair of shoes and BAM you're in the cool crowd all of a sudden. It's pretty crazy when a single materialistic object can change one's social status at school.

But in recent years, there's been a new trend...of not following the trend. And no, that was not a typo, you heard me right: not following the latest fad. Yes, ladies and gents, I'm talking about hipsters. Suddenly you're too mainstream, listening to Katy Perry and wearing a Hollister hoodie just like everyone else, and you're not that cool anymore. You're cool if you listen to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, buy your groceries at organic food stores, and wear slouchy knit hats, unlike everybody else. It's funny how the world works, isn't it?

It's actually kind of ironic. You don't want to try too hard, and yet you're trying too hard to not try too hard. You don't want to follow the latest trend, and yet you're following the latest trend of not following the latest trend. I can respect hipsters who do their own thing because they want to, and not because they want to seem cool, or "hip" I should say, because of it. It's always annoying listening to the guy criticize others because they wear the latest fashion trends or listen to radio stations like 104.5 CHUM FM. I sometimes follow trends, and sometimes I don't. I would not consider myself a trend follower or a hipster. I wear and listen to what I want, not because it's in style or cool to do so. But hey, if everyone else happens to like the same band or pair of shorts that I do, then that's cool too.

Ask yourself, who are you?

At this moment, this day, this hour, this second, this millisecond you have.. ask yourself. Who are you?

How do you fully know who you are as a person? Are you living the life that everyone think you have?

People on the streets, who are they? Are they just a poor person who doesn't have home? Yes, some may have debt or metal issues, but how do they know who they really are?

__________________________________________________________________

French Philosopher Rene Descartes' famous saying, "Je pense donc je suis (I think, therefore I am)."
As I was reading his book, I thought about it over and over. -"I think, therefore I am." What can this mean?

Then I came into a weird mind map stage where I thought to myself, a common mistake that people make is that people take the statement as proof that they, as a human person, exist. However, it is a severely limited conclusion that does nothing to prove that one's own body exists, let alone anything else that is perceived in the physical state. I think that it is only proven that one's mind exist (person observing and doubting). It does not rule out other possibilities, such as waking up to find one to be a butterfly who had dreamed of having lived a human life.

So according to Descartes' theory, the physiological thinking within the person is what makes who you are.

However, If I think I'm a nice person, does that make me a nice person?Someone who have sinned greatly, but yet they think they did nothing wrong. Does that mean, they really did nothing wrong?

Moreover, Maslow's triangle also said we need to fulfil our physiological needs before we fulfil other needs.

Until now, I can't say "this is the answer to this question", since this question is open to interpretation. However, I think that the physiological mind set you have, shape the person you are.

Thus, because our senses sometimes deceive us, I would suppose that nothing is such as they make us to imagine it; and because I was as likely to error as another in reasoning, I rejected as false all the reasons which I had accepted as demonstrative; and finally, considering that all the thoughts we have when awake can come to us also when we sleep without any of the being true. I resolved to feign that everything which had ever entered my mind was no more truth than the illusion of my dreams.

BUT I observed that, while I was thus solved to feign that everything was false. I who thought must of necessity be somewhat; and remarking this truth. I think, therefore I am was so firm and so assured that all the most extravagant suppositions for the sceptics were unable to deny it.

Therefore, I think that the thoughts we have and what we are influenced into without knowing is the physiological thinking.

Advertising Techniques

Advertisements are all carefully constructed to appeal to your senses. You watch something on television, and think; "Hey, that looks amazing... I need to buy it." It probably isn't as great as it seems. The media and companies have carefully decided on advertising techniques to catch the eyes of certain targets, who are most likely to buy their products.

Well, there are things used for these products, such as color, camera angles, lighting, music, sounds, the product itself, and more. For example in the picture above, it shows a shiny new car the company is selling. What makes this car better than any other car? Nothing, except that its shiny, and looks nice. It probably doesn't have any other advantages that the usual cars don't have. The company hired the media to advertise this car, and they used techniques to sell this car. First off, the camera angle is a full shot of the car, and its showing the back of the car, which is the coolest looking part of the car, attracting attention. They make the lighting bright, but still showing shadow, though the brightness makes the car shine, and look pretty and appealing. The angle is overhead, and slanted slightly, because straight on angles aren't as appealing. Diagnal or tilted angles give a move

ment and exciting feel. The overhead view makes you look down on the car, but it makes it look like your main target, and you have to have it. The slightest little techniques will make a product look a million times better than it may be. Does the car below look as appealing? Noooope.

To appeal to gender, colour is often used. As described in my previous blog, stereotyping the colours boys and girls are suppose to like, takes place in advertising. Blue for boys, pink for girls. Cool, strong, manly colours for males. Pretty, bright, girly colours for the females. This car is directed mostly towards males. Its a grey/silver, and its a duller colour, not very bright, and its a truck. Directed more towards men. Also, its a bigger car, showing the strength of men. Now if you get a small white minivan, or tiny purple car, its directed towards woman. Isn't that odd? People should decide what they want no matter who its directed to, and that's what we do. Advertisements don't always work, though the techniques catch our eye, we don't fall for it all the time.

Other ways of advertising could consist of things directed to your country to show patriotism, or your background, your interests, or if your a regular person, living a regular life, there's the plain folk appeal. Other appeals would be snob appeal, card stacking (giving more and more positives without negatives), bandwagon, facts and figures, weasel words, and more. Most common in commercials is card stacking, like when they advertise Sham Wow, or things to cut vegetables in your kitchen. They stack the positives about the product, and don't tell you "They don't work as well as this product." Or "It'll break in 3 weeks and we wont give you your money back!" :D YEAH! They also repeat the product name to engrave it in your brain SHAM WOW. So when your watching television, take a look SHAM WOW at the commercials, and try to pick out the advertising techniques SHAM WOW used. You'll notice how they drew you in SHAM WOW in the first place. :) SHAM WOW.

By the way, the same goes for when the media advertises womens clothes. They make the women look sexier, so you'll buy the clothes, and that encourages EATING DISORDERS AND SELF CONCIOUSNESS! So beware, don't fall for the traps, be yourself, buy what you need, and don't give in to peer pressure.

- The Queen of Neptune.

Facebook Friends

So I literally just got Facebook in December. Yes, somehow I was able to live without it until grade 11, even though almost everyone else couldn't seem to live without it. I never really undeerstood the need/want for Facebook... until I got Facebook.


There is satisfaction in knowing what all your friends, enemys and even your crush is doing at that exact moment. Posting pictures from the exciting moments and events in your life is also fun and Facebook definitely keeps us connected.


But the real questions that I have here aren't why we feel the need for Facebook, but is how many friends do have on Facebook? have you considered when you have possibly have TOO many friends? Is there even a limit to the amount of 'friends' you can have on Facebook? How many of the people you have as friends are ACTUALLY your friends??


Some Facebook Stats said there are over 500 million active facebook users and that an average user has 130 friends. This might be average, but most people I know with Facebook have at least 200 friends!


More statistics say that the maximum amount of friends you can have is 5000!! In fact, there is a several groups on facebook for anyone who wants to have way more Facebook friends!!


The description I found on one Facebook page for the group to reach their maximum amount of friends was:


"Need to add Facebook friends? Want to reach the maximum limit of 5000 Facebook friends. Let's work hard together so that everyone can reach their goal!"


This icon/image below was on the same Facebook page- Yes it is great to have friends, but there is a difference between regular friends and Facebook only friends











Who really needs that many friends on Facebook?? Or for that matter who needs 5000 friends in general???


Another group stated that by having more friends on Facebook, you would become more popular!


Do you really need hundreds or even thousands of friends on Facebook just to be popular?


Again, are they really even your friends?!


Some people add 10 or more friends every day! Chances are that if you are adding that many people per day, you either just got Facebook and are adding all your friends from school, work etc., or the people you are adding aren't even people that you know!


You really should not be sharing personal information or photos with peopl that you don't even know!


So, can you possibly have too many Facebook friends? When should you stop adding people?


In my opinion, you should set a limit for yourself as to how many people you are going to add, make it reasonable so that you can have a good amount of friends, but don't make your main goal in life to get the maximum amount of friends on Facebook! Its not worth your time or effort and it definitely does not make you any better or more popular! If you don't know someone, why add them?!

As we all know, the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup on wednesday night, after beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-0. As much as I love Vancouver, and im crushed that Boston won, the riot that took place shortly after is just ridiculous and completely unnecesarry. Sadly, this isnt the first time that Vancouver has rioted after losing a huge game, such as the stanley cup. They also rioted in 1994. Journalists blame this riot on the city's anarchists, and claim that these 'people' had only one goal, and that was to watch the city burn. I understand that Canada is very hockey oriented, and that we take our sport very, very seriously, but to start a riot cause we lost the Stanely Cup to the boston bruins? You're supposed to be grown men and women, acting responsibly and maturely, setting an example for your children, not acting like you're 8 and basically throwing a tempertantrum because you didnt get what you want, and that wouldve been having the Canucks win the Stanley Cup. WELL GUESS WHAT? THEY DIDNT WIN and starting a riot clearly is NOT the way to handle your anger. The riot involved burning cars, unconcious people laying on the ground from being beaten mercilessly, and uncountable fights between grown men and women. The beautiful streets were destroyed, and reeked of tear gas. People were thrown in jail, and children as young as 5 and 6 were amoungst this. Honestly, when i heard that this had happened, i was actually upset and embarrassed to call myself a Canadian. Its one thing to be upset, but to honestly cause a riot? Thats down right pathetic and i hope that EVERYONE who took part in that riot, is ashamed of themselves.

The cawthra park dress code honestly confuses me. It's there, but its like its not in effect at all. Girls walk around in shortshorts, crop tops, lace tank tops, etc and nothing gets said or done about it. It personally doesnt bug me all that much, because I think that if a girl wants to dress provocitvely then so be it, its her choice and she knows the consequences, well....at least i hope she would. I can understand to a point, because the weather lately has been ridiculously hot, but when your ass is hanging out of your shorts and your boobs are about to pop out of your bra and/or shirt, i really dont understand the need to be dressed like that. Wearing a little bit more fabric on your body, might make you sweat a bit more, but it surely wont kill you. Guys might enjoy seeing you dress that way, but as for me, i dont ever want to see that. Cover up.

The Internet

The Internet has become a very highly used form of communication, information and more. As a globally used resource, it can be used by almost anyone; the Internet is a great resource, but is it overused by some people? How much time do we really spend on the Internet? And how is it used?




Canadians are some of the highest users of the Internet in the whole world! Canada, India and the United States are some of the top users of the Internet. Although Canada is much smaller in population compared to some other countries, Canadians still log an average of almost 44 hours a month as of a survey from 2010- a lot more than any other country of the same population!















Believe it or not:

• Canada dominates the use of many popular sites: we rank first for the frequency of use of online banking, Wikipedia, and YouTube





• British Columbia accounts for 13% of Canada's online population, Ontario at 38% and Quebec at 24%
  
  




• Two-thirds of the world's Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, almost 10% of all the Internet time, according to a new report





• 99% of the Canadian youth report that they have used the Internet a some point
  




• Almost 8 in 10 youth say they have Internet access at home
  

The Internet is used for social, educational, business purposes,etc. Many of the networks have several purposes; Facebook is one of them. It is used by businesses and companies as a way of being well connected to the community or area that is serves. It also helps people to connect and reconnect with people as much as possible.


Internet may be a somewhat newer resource, but users range in age from youth to seniors. As everything becomes more and more based on technology, people rely on the Internet for many of their services, work and even as just a way to use/take up time. The fact that movies, music, the news and more can be viewed on the Internet, means that more people are just using the Internet and not making much use of the radio, television, magazines or reading newspapers as much.

How much time do you spend on the internet? Do you spend hours on Faecbook and YouTube while doing homework every night? Is the amount of time you spend on the internet more or less than the average Canadian?

Food for thought as you spend time searching the web!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

In the beginning of the movie it shows a group of friends, Erin, Kemper, Morgan, Andy, and Pepper on their way to a Lynard Skynard concert in Texas. As they are driving they come across a confused looking hitchhiker. They take her in the van and offer to drive her anywhere that she needs. Once in the van they all notice that she is very distraught, tired looking, and shaky. They ask hegr what happend and she talks about a "very bad man" that did terrible things to her. She becomes very nervous and pulls out a gun from under her dress and shoots herself in the head. As the group is in shock from what had just happend they decide to call the police and tell them what happend. They drive to a local convinience store and ask the clerk to use the phone. The clerk informs them that the local sheriff is at the old mill. Once at the mill a young boy tells them that the sheriff is at home. Kemper and Erin decide to go intot he woods in search of the sheriffs home, they come across a old home with a amputee man on the porch. They ask to use the phone and only Erin is allowed in. When she is inside the man, Monty asks Erin to help him in the tub. As this is taking quite a long time Kempur decides to enter the hosue to see whats taking so long. As he is searching forErin LeatherFace comes up behind him and stabs a sledgehammer into Kempurs back. He then drags his body into the basement and closes the steel heavy door. Meanwhile at the mill the sheriff arrives and wraps the body in seran wrap and shoves it into the trunk of his cruiser and leaves. Erin than notices that Kempur is missing and goes back tot he group to get them to help her look for him. Once again they arrive at Montys home and Erin distracts him while Andy goes in. the man notices him and Leatherface arrives and chops off one of Andys legs. Erin is still running even though Leatherface left to hang andy from the ceiling in one of the plants. The sheriff arrives ocne again at the scene and searchges their van to find marijuana which leads them to arrest. Pepper and Erin are left in the van when LeatherFace attacks and slices pepper in half. LeatherFace being as disturbed as he is peeled off Kempurs face and placed it on himself. A very scared and confused Erin runs from Leatherface, she manages to escape and comes across a cabin where two women let her in. She then finds out she was drugged and runs away to find Andy. Leatherface attacks again and Erin runs to hide out in a locker. She escapes again and at the very end of the movie it shows policemen at the scene investigating and they bothy ger severly beaten and you can hear them both screaming. This is supposed to suggest that Leatherface is still alive and out there in Texas murdering people. At the very last seconds of the movie it shows a captoon that says "The case is still open today", and the screen turns black.

Horror is a understatment for this movie because it incorporates, murder, suicide, brutality, kidnapping, and most importantly torture.

Friday the 13th

In this movie, Friday the 13th, They show a scene from 30 years ago that shows a boy, Jason, and his mother at at a camping trip at Crystal Lake, the boy had to watch his mother get killed by a camp councelor, after that traumatic incident he stayed to live in Crystal Lake and kills anyone that comes by. A group of friends, Whitney, Mike, Richie, Amanda, and Wade decide to take a road trip to Crystal Lake, because they heard that there is marijuana growing in the woods, but did not know about Jason. After ythe group decides to explore the woods, Jason decides that this is the perfect time to attack. Jason begins to kill members of the group, he kills them but spares Whitneys life and keeps her captive because she resembles his mother. A few weeks later after this incident another group of freinds, Trent, Jenna, Chelsea, Bree, Chewie Lawrence, and Nolan come to enjoy a week at Trent's cottage on the shore of Crystal Lake. Before this group of friends arrived a boy named Clay arrived here in search of his sister Whitney who he believes to be alive. He stumbles upon trents cottage and asks Jenna, Trents girlfriend to go help him look for clues, she agrees and they head to the other side of the lake. Chelsea and Nolan are relaxing on the beach when Jason decides it is a perfect time to kill them both. While Clay and Jenna are out looking for clues to where Whitney might be they witness Jason dragging dead bodies into a abandoned cabin and they run back to the cottage to warn everybody and leave. When they arrive, Lawrence and Chewie do not beleive this and go outside to check and they both get killed by Jason. After that Jason sneaks into the cabin in search of more people to kill, he comes upon Bree and kills her. He notices Trent, Jenna, and Clay but they all run out and escape the cabin. When they reach a main road they search for help but Trent is killed, so Jenna and Clayt run for their lives down the road. They suddenly realiuze that they are back at the campground, and find Clays sister, Whitney, they free her and they all make a escape plan. Sadly Jenna does not make it out of the cabin and Jason brutally murders her. The only two people left, Clay and his sister Whitney run out of the cabin and come face to face with Jason. Since Whitney reminds Jason of hjis mother she plays with his heart and brings up memories which distracts Jason and she manages to stab him in the heart with his own knife. They dump his body into the lake and when their leaving Jason grabs whitney through the dock into the lake. Guess hes never going to leave Crystal Lake. While you are watching this movie it brings up many thoughts, such as: Did Jason kill Whitney already or is she alive and waiting for her brother to come save her?, What was Jason planning to do to Whitney if Clay didnt save her? Was he going to keep her as a mother figure? All these questions are buzzing through your head as your sit at the edge of your seat waiting for answers.

Stealthy Advertising

Did your parents ever disguise spinach, or beets, or some other food you didn't want to eat as something you enjoy?





Mine didn't either. But I've heard about it. Anyway, during our trip to Toronto, I noticed a mural painted on a wall. it was advertising a product while trying to look like graffitti. Ads are being disguised as anti-establishment action, such as grafitti. Once I saw this ad, I began to notice it more and more, such as a tampon commercial (I can't remember the brand so I can't find the video) where a boring tampon ad is covered with graffitti, in which a different, more exciting tampon mural is created to symbolize the individuality and artistry of having a period. This rattled with my head a bit, as I was trying to grasp the concept of turning art into a commercial strategy. They are using illegal acts to advertise, saying, in layman's terms, "Don't buy into big business. Buy from our big business." Anyone else see a problem in logic here? We're hip we're cool, we're in tune to youth needs. Buy our tampons.

Duke Never Forever - 15 Years For THIS?

Duke Nukem Forever was initially announced over a decade ago to be the follow up to the popular first person shooter Duke Nukem 3D. The game was crass, rude, and just plain fun. Duke Nukem Forever is the exact same thing with a graphics update (and I use the term update loosely). Ignoring the cover-shooter style that make up the majority of the first person genre these days (Call of Duty and Battlefield are the best examples), it goes for straight up run-and-gunning like the old school Quake and Doom games, and I think that that's great, it's good to have a change of pace in a largely similar genre, but when it's as sloppy as Duke Nukem Forever, there's just no excuse.

The game was released June 14th, 2011. It started development in 1996. See the gap there? Duke Nukem Forever has gone down in history as the king of vaporware (a term used to describe products that were announced and never officially cancelled), and it probably should've stayed that way, as it's 5 hours long, completely linear, with ridiculous load times and full of jokes that connect mostly with a 12 year old audience. It had the potential to be a fantastic sequel to a great shooter, but due to constant development delays and the switching of hands it just turned out to be a garbled mess.

Since it's release earlier this week, the game has gotten mostly negative reviews and lackluster sales. Hopefully this won't be the end of Duke though, as although the game has many faults it does have the potential to be a fun shooter if it wasn't so dated.

My blog about blogging

So I've left too many blogs to write in a short period of time. And instead I've chosen to write a blog about blogging. I've had many months to write about whatever things I wanted to write about. But now, as the time to write the blogs comes to an end... I seem to have no clue what to blog about, and unfortunately my passing mark in this class highly depends upon me writing something... so here it goes.

Up until now I really have been concerned at all with the work in this class, I did the first few assignments then decided to bail on the rest. The first few assignments (storyboards, animation, photo essay) I did without a problem, then when it came to the other stuff like the script, movie review, and the PSA I just decided that I wasn't even going to attempt to get them done. And now its gotten to the point where I've paid no attention to the blogs which will either save me a passing grade, or fail me. And now because I can't think of a topic im writing a blog about how I have to do a blog about blogging to save my ass.

The point I'm trying to make is that I've had so many easy opportunites to increase my mark in this course and I've said "screw it" to all of them. At this point, as long as I get my blogs over and done with I'll be happy. And with that said... 2 down, 4 more to go.

Is This REALLY a Law?

Laws, they protect us and the people around us and help our society run smoothly.

So obviously they are important to respect and they make sense if we are still using them...
...right?

Not Really.  If you look up some of the laws we have within Canada... you'd wonder if perhaps the Government was a tad...drunk when they wrote them.

A couple interesting ones where I can tell aren't even followed are:

" Comic books which depict any illegal acts are banned"

In a city in Quebec it is "Illegal for a teen to walk down mainstreet with their shoe untied"

These aren't really follows. Of course there a some banned comic books but...I have seen MANY comic books showing illegal acts that are availible in stores.   Shoes untied? REALLY?   I can highly doubt that's really followed.  That's a little outrageous.

A few that I think are a tad outdated are:

In Alberta " If you are released from prison, it is required that you are givena handgun with bullets and a horse so you can ride out of town."     and " Businesses must provide rails to tie up horses" .

In Toronto "you may not drag a dead horse down Younge St. on Sunday".

I'm pretty sure horses aren't used often as a mode of transportation and I pretty sure they arent going to give a just-released convict a GUN and WHO is going to be dragging a horse down Younge Street? It is to busy now with cars to even walk across Younge Street.  

Some other just interesting ones were:

"Citizens may not publicly remove bandages"
"The colour of house and garage door is regulated by city bylaws ( a purple door gets you a fine)"
In B.C its " illegal to kill a Sasquatch".


Some of these laws are extremly outdated and some are just outrageous because some of them are as "illegal as J-walking" since I've never seen or heard of them being regualted or anyone being arrested or fined for breaking one. Perhaps the governments makes these laws just for kicks to have some fun or maybe they were being serious but it makes me wonder what type of people run our country and whether oe not they pay attention to the laws that were passed years ago.  

Fashion: It's a Culture

I would consider myself quite the avid reader, as I enjoy reading works from a wide range of genres. From Harry Potter to The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, I would say that I'm pretty well-read. But I also enjoy reading fashion magazines. Yes, reading fashion magazines. My friend got me a Teen Vogue subscription for my birthday and ever since then I look forward to picking up the mail.

The magazine is not comprised strictly of clothes, shoes, and accessories, as most would assume, but more of fashion as a whole. Fashion as a culture. Teen Vogue also includes new indie music and articles about designers/journalists/artists/models that talk about their life ambitions and dreams. Fashion isn't just a bunch of random clothes put on a model; it's an art form that artists(designers) use to express themselves and show the world.

And it's not just the content of the magazine that is intriguing, it's also the actual layout and design of the magazine. The bright and bold colours invite you in along with headlines screaming out at you in block letters or pretty cursive. The magazine delights all of your senses; you see the glossy bright photographs, you smell the Givenchy perfume escaping from the middle of the magazine, you touch the smooth feel of the pages, you hear that satisfying flipping sound from turning the pages, and you can practically taste that ice cream sundae that's in the background of the photo shoot.

I love how the magazine often features models of different backgrounds wearing clothing reflecting another culture. In a recent issue there was a model wearing a dress influenced by the people of Africa and another issue had Selena Gomez wearing a kimono which is obviously inspired by the Japanese. I also like the way the teen models are portrayed in Teen Vogue. It breaks the stereotype of snobby anorexic models who worry about their hair and makeup 24/7. Instead the models shown in the magazine have dreams (not necessarily relating to fashion) and have normal hobbies like horseback riding, singing, dancing, ice skating, and listening to music. I would encourage more teen girls to give this magazine a go; it's not "girly trash" as most would think. I'm not a sparkly pink loving girly girl, and neither am I tomboy, but I love Teen Vogue.