Trayvon Martin case

I have been hearing about this a lot and from all that I have heard I think there is one clear solution to the whole thing, ban the media. The second the news of the death of Trayvon Martin got out, people cried foul. Picture of a sweet looking Martin was all over social media sites, as was the unflattering mugshot of George Zimmerman, taken years prior. After few days, more recent pictures of Martin surfaced, in which he didn't look quite as sweet faced. There have been accusations of media manipulating the public into making Martin look more innocent than he actually was, which of course outrages many supporters of his family.

To extremely succinctly summarize the case, George Zimmerman, 28 (Hispanic/White) shot and killed Trayvon Martin,17 (Black) in what he claims was self defense. Following this situation Zimmerman was taken to a police station but was not charged with a crime and was released. Thanks to social and conventional media, half of the country was convinced that the only reason Zimmerman was let go, was because the killed teen was black. Zimmerman has since been charged with second-degree murder.

The reality of the situation is that a person is dead and another is facing prison and none of us were there to know what happened and because of that, none of us should be making judgements about Martin or Zimmerman. The media should be completely banned from reporting on the situation, or at least from reporting on anything that isn't strictly factual. It's the only way that will allow for the trial to be fair and deliver justice and not an emotionally charged decision. People have already taken sides calling Zimmerman a racist or Martin a thug when they really don't have enough information to comment on either of the men. This is all thanks to the speedy spread of information provided by the media, which is a business that makes money from people's emotional involvement in the current news stories. The media wants people to take sides because it makes people become interested in the story and if they're interested in the story then they will buy newspapers or go to the websites or watch the news and that will make them money. So at the end of the day, when neighbors, families and friends are fighting with each other about whether or not this was a case of racism, the media outlets are making money and Trayvon Martin is still dead and his family and friends are still heartbroken and George Zimmerman's life has been changed forever.

Oh Angelina

Yup, I completely believe you Angelina Jolie. The whole leg thing was unplanned. Yup. Mhhhm. Yeah. In other news, many flights to and from North America have been cancelled or delayed due to the air space congestion caused by an influx of flying pigs.

Mistaken Identity

So ummm am I the only person that constantly mistakes Leslie Mann, Julie Bowen and Elizabeth Banks for one another? I can't be.

Looking at their pictures I can easily tell them apart but whenever one of their names gets mentioned or I see one of their pictures I always have to think about which one of them is being talked about. I'm not really sure why this is. Is it because they are all blonde, pretty comedy actresses?  What about Amy Poehler or Christina Applegate? I can easily tell which is which. Anyway. Maybe I just exposed how dumb I can be, but this has been bothering me for a while.

Life in a Day

Life in a Day is a movie featuring people from all over the world videotaping their lives on one particular day, July 24th 2010. The people come from all walks of life, some of them are dealing with death of a loved one, some live in war torn countries, others live in extreme poverty and one guy even shows off his Lamborghini. There are plenty of people with "normal" lives too. The idea is interesting. Being able to see what people do on any given day and hearing their stories, some of which are touching while others are truly just annoying. Apart from the parts that feature animal slaughter* I thought the movie was good, until the last clip. It is that of a young woman who complains about having to work on a Saturday and not having a life interesting enough to film. She them goes on to talk about why participating in this project was important to her. Had that clip been put in, in the beginning of the movie it would've been perfectly fine but to see this girl talk about how uninteresting her life is after seeing a family dealing with the mother's cancer and a mentally challenged young man being tied up by his family so that he doesn't wander off, it just comes off whiny. And my main issue with it is actually the fact that what she says makes perfect sense. Majority of people can relate to wanting to matter, wanting to be more than they are, wanting to do something remarkable and there's nothing whiny about that, unless of course you say that in a room with people who are ill, incredibly poor or are mourning the death of someone they love. Obviously, the fault lies with the editor and not the poor young woman who now seems like an ungrateful bitch.












* apparently one very graphic clip was not enough, when you see the white cow in a metal stall just look away, trust me there is nothing worse than looking a creature in the eyes while it's being slaughtered

Leave Bieber Alone

Dear people of the world, mainly those of you who spend a lot of time on the glorious invention of the internet, and of those, mainly those of you who spend a lot of time on social networking sites, I ask you to please leave Justin Bieber alone. No, I am not an obsessed teenage girl who would absolutely die if he as much as looked at me or said my name on TV even if he wasn't actually referring to me. I am only familiar with one of his amazing musical works-the one that goes "baby, baby, baby,baby ohhhhhhh"- and that's about it. But seriously, if I see one more post that talks about the complete decline of the music industry because of his existence I might just explode. Stupid pop music has existed for many years and many, many hours great of music has still been produced since. If you're not a female between the ages of 7-17 Justin Bieber isn't here to appeal to you. Of course you don't have to be between those ages to enjoy his music but don't be surprised that you don't if you're a 35 year old man. Another point that I would like to bring up is Frank Sinatra. I have seen so many posts, reblogs, pins etc. that have a picture of him and one of Bieber below that and a quote saying something like "what happened to real music". Frank Sinatra was almost 30 when he was first signed and most of the music you remember him for was probably his later work. Bieber is not even 20 years old yet. If you are going to compare a child to a 30 year old man you seriously must not have your marbles in the right places. Also, calling him a lesbian in a way of an insult only speaks to your intelligence or lack thereof. It makes no sense whatsoever and at 18 he's probably gotten laid way more than you ever will in your life, unless you're a whore, in which case I hope the downturn in the economy isn't leaving you out to dry...heh. Stop trying to pick on him because you fancy yourself some sort of music connoisseur or because you think he's overproduced, of course he is, you aren't exposing any sort of secret by constantly moaning about it. Now, to help you live your life Bieber free I have complied a few tips for how you can accomplish that.

How to live your life Bieber Free:

1. Do not ever look up or download any of Justin Bieber's music.
2. Do not click on any headline which features Justin Bieber's name.
3. Do not click on any picture of Justin Bieber
4. Do not click on any parody music video that makes fun of Justin Bieber...just don't.
5. When you see a post, a reblog, a pin making fun of Justin Bieber fight your urge to "like", reblog, repin, comment etc. just take a deep breath and move along with your life
6. If you ever hear a Justin Bieber song on the radio, switch the station. Once again, just take a deep breath and switch the station
7. If you ever see Justin Bieber on TV, switch the channel. Yup, you got it, take a deep breath and change the channel. No bitching about it, no moaning, just doing.
8. When your friends are talking about dear Justin, in a positive or negative way, don't participate. If asked about your opinion on him just say "I have none". Shrugging sometimes helps.

It will take some effort but I hope that you will be able to stick to these tips and they will help you living your life, Bieber free, unburdened by the existence of a teenage boy who likes to sing and dance.  

Hunting with the Trumps

All week I have been hearing about the whole Trump sons hunting thing and I couldn't help but wonder if the outrage would be just as great if the animals that were killed were deer or something else that normally gets hunted in the US. Now, I don't know if what they were doing was illegal, I would've checked but I am afraid that I would see those pictures again and I am not interested in that in the least, but from the coverage it does not seem like it was illegal. So why the big deal? Don't get me wrong, I am no fan of the Trump family inc. at all but why are people more outraged by dead animals in Africa but not the ones in the US? Now if it is in fact illegal then obviously they should be held responsible.

Jessica Simpson is pregnant and nude.

I don't know if I am the only person that remembers when Jessica Simpson was a virginal pop starlet but those days are definitely over. In the good old days Jessica was known for three things: her voice, her breasts and her saved till marriage virginity. Then she married Nick Lachey, got rid of her virginity and starred in a reality show I blame for making reality shows a thing. She then of course divorced Mr. Lachey, went on to date a whole lot of douchebags, ironically enough became known for having nasty sex with John Mayer. Well now, this happened:

Of course Jessica isn't the first person to do this. An increasing number of famous women decide to shed their clothes after getting knocked up. But why? Why do people think that for some reason it's classier to pose naked just because a little swimmer managed to get into an egg? A pregnant woman's body is beautiful, yes, but so is a not pregnant woman's body. To me it seems just like an excuse to get naked in front of the cameras. Like they always wanted to do it but thought they would be called trashy if they did. Well, I don't think it's any less trashy just because you're pregnant. I don't think all nude pictures necessarily are trashy, but let's face it, when celebrities are concerned they often are. So I wish that all of these famous women would stop using the belly excuse when all they really want to share is their massively photoshopped naked bodies.

Oscar Winners

It is now time to see how well I understand Hollywood and the Academy. Who did I pick and who actually won?

Best Picture:

I chose: The Artist
The Academy chose: The Artist
+1

Actor in Leading Role:

I chose: Jean Dujardin or George Clooney
The Academy chose: Jean Dujardin
+1

Actress in Leading Role: 

I chose: Michelle Williams
The Academy chose: Meryl Streep
+0

Actor in Supporting Role:

I chose: Kenneth Branagh
The Academny chose: Christopher Plummer
+0

Actress in Supporting Role:

I chose: Octavia Spencer
The Academy chose: Octavia Spencer
+1

Animated Feature Film:

I chose: Chico&Rita
The Academy chose: Rango
+0

Cinematography: 

I chose: Hugo or War Horse
The Academy chose: Hugo
+1

Directing: 

I chose: Scorsese, Allen or Payne
The Academy chose: Michel Hazanavicius
+0

Total Score: 4/8= 50%

I think I did pretty well. I was rather surprised that Streep won, I was almost sure that Williams would win. I was also surprised that many people were so sure that Viola Davis would win, I really was not thinking that. Her character in the movie was very endearing and she played her very well but I just didn't see it happening. I was surprised that Christopher Plummer won, but very happy. I actually wanted him to win but did not think he had a chance. I wasn't surprised about the Animated feature even though my pick was Chico and Rita. I'm still convinced that it won because Johnny Depp was in it. 

Oh I guess I should also mention my little "it's safe to say Iran won't win in the Foreign Film Category" bit thing. Yeah...Iran totally won. I guess that's good. I really thought that the Academy would take a political stance on it, well maybe they still did but just in a different way. I think the speech that Asghar Farhadi gave was lovely. I also thought that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's speech was nice.  

As far as general thoughts on the Oscars, I just thought they could not manage to try to kiss their own a$$ any more than they have. It was funny at times but my goodness, so delusional about their importance and so out of touch with reality. I think arts are important. I think movies are important and can be life changing but it is not rocket science. Angelina Jolie-what was she thinking? I would've expected that kind of thing from J-Lo or someone (by the way what was that butt thing she and Cameron Diaz did? :S) but not Angelina. Jim Rash is forever my hero now. 

Oscar Picks

The time has come for my annual Oscar Picks post. By annual I obviously mean this is the first time I've ever  done one and hopefully I'll remember to do one next year. Anyway, let's get started.

Best Picture
Nominees:

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Prediction: I think it will be The Artist. I just think it's the kind of a movie that the Academy folk likes. It's different than most of the stuff out there but it's not groundbreaking or way out there.

Actor in Leading Role
Nominees:

Demian Bichir
George Clooney
Jean Dujardin
Gary Oldman
Brad Pitt

Prediction: It's between Jean Dujardin and George Clooney  for me. Clooney is basically Mr. Hollywood. They like him as a spokesperson for the rich, famous and marginally talented so I think he would get the popular vote but  Dujardin is sort of the new charming intriguing guy at school so it could go to him.

Actress in a Leading Role
Nominees:

Glenn Close
Viola Davis
Rooney Mara
Meryl Streep
Michelle Williams

Prediction: Michelle Williams. Meryl Streep is always a good choice and she probably will get loads of votes but I think there is more buzz around Williams and I'm sure that Hollywood finds Marilyn Monroe more interesting than Margaret Thatcher.

Actor in Supporting Role
 Nominees:

Kenneth Branagh
Jonah Hill
Nick Nolte
Christopher Plummer
Max von Sydow

Prediction: Kenneth Branagh. Once again the charm of Marilyn Monroe will be the deciding factor here. Unless the academy tries prove that they're hip and go with Jonah Hill but I doubt it.

Actress in Supporting Role
Nominees:

Berenice Bejo
Jessica Chastain
Melissa McCarthy
Janet McTeer
Octavia Spencer

Prediction:  This one is tough. I think it will be between Spencer and McCarthy. Personally I didn't find either of those performances Oscar worthy but their characters are much beloved. I am leaning more towards Spencer on this one.

Animated Feature Film
Nominees:

A Cat in Paris
Chico and Rita
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango

Prediction: I have not seen any of them. This category tends to be rather stupid for me because obviously there aren't many animated movies being made and so the Academy just throws in the ones they've heard of. I'm going to go with Chico&Rita  for the simple reason that the poster looks cute... I'm going to guess that that's how the Academy will be choosing a winner in this category as well. Or maybe they'll just pick Rango because Johnny Depp was in it.

Cinematography
Nominees:

The Artist
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
The Tree of Life
War Horse

Prediction: I am going with Hugo or War Horse.

Directing
Nominees:

The Artist- Michel Hazanavicius
The Descendants- Alexander Payne
Hugo- Martin Scorsese
Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen
The Tree of Life- Terrence Malick

Prediction: Well I think that it is a law that when nominated Scorsese and Allen  must win but I also think that the Academy will try to remedy the whole situation of The Artist winning Best Picture that they might award this to Alexander Payne. I know, my commitment to a decision is comparable to George Clooneys' commitment to a woman.


And that's about it. There obviously are other categories some of which are rather interesting but I'm not even going to attempt to guess the winners because I am that clueless. I do think it's safe to say that Iran will not win in the Foreign Film category.  

People suck

Yesterday I read a lot of news articles. About halfway though my day I lost the will to live in this world. Not only are there people out there doing horrible things to other people but there are also horrible people who comment on those stories. There are so many idiots in this world with completely distorted view of reality. I'm not talking about those people whose political and moral views oppose mine so much that I think they're morons, I'm talking about those people who read a story about child abuse, murder, death, illness and then comment things like "one less person in the world, no big deal". I know that some people comment those things just to upset others and they don't mean it but I think that makes them even worse than the people who actually do mean it. You know it's a horrible thing to say but you still think it would be funny to say, just to anger the people who just read a heartbreaking story. Real winner you are! 

The mirror of your life

Have you ever wondered if there is someone in the world who is dealing with the same things that you are?

The web is full of quotes that will tell you you're not alone, that people have felt the way you felt and got through it and all sorts of other cheesy affirmations, but is that really true? Sure, many people have experienced death of a loved one, an injury, illness, a broken heart, loss of job, abuse etc etc. but what about those more specific things. Is there someone who has experienced death of a loved one in the same way that you have? Lost the person in the same way and felt about it the same way? What about less tragic things that normal people seem to deal with without thinking twice but for some reason to you they seem like most horrible things that could happen? Is there anyone else out there who is as weird as you? For whom the obvious solution to said problem is the equivalent of deciding to climb Mount Everest by yourself while a firing squad aims at you and every person in the world is standing around pointing and laughing. I sure hope so.

Stuff

So I cleaned today, so that's nice. I feel a little better about existing when I have a clean area to work in. Maybe I'll paint my nails a little later. I meant to do it three weeks ago but I didn't. Time really does fly, which is why I have to go now and do stuff that I haven't done and now the deadline is too close for comfort. 

I decided that my new goal for this blog is that at least one of my posts this year will be interesting and I will actually say something of value in one of them. Here's to hoping! 

hi stranger

Hey,

so....long time no see. so, how's it going? oh yeah? good, good. me? oh yeah fine yeah. What? oh yeah definitely we gotta catch up soon, totally. yeah. ok. bye now.

Sticking to it.

It's January 8th/9th, are you sticking to your New Year resolution? I obviously am, I mean look at the many posts I made so far....teehee. Seriously. It's hard to stick to something you don't really HAVE to do. it's hard to make yourself make the time. I know that in the coming days there will be no posts, but that's planned. I don't mean I planned to specifically not blog during the second week of January, I just won't be able to. But once I am able to do it again I hope I can stick to it.And I hope I get rich overnight. I feel like whatever I write from now on will just be rambling so I shall go now.

Happy New Year!

As 2011 was coming to a close I thought to myself, what sort of "resolution" I should make. I normally don't make any because there isn't anything that I decide I should start doing once January hits. However, this time I thought, I have this blog that I would like to update more often and January seems like a good time to start to keep track of how much I post because it makes calculating much easier-math is not my strong suit. So there I was, in late December, resolving that I would post almost every day of the year. I figured I should give myself leeway, like certain number of days out of 366 or something but I should also be very strict and make myself post daily unless I truly can't. Well. It's January 6th today so I am clearly doing well.... yeah. I really do want to post here more often. Mainly because I am really good at explaining things to myself.I noticed this today when I was commenting on some news story and I started out with one thought but then as I kept typing I started to understand the opposing view. Me and myself have very thoughtful conversations with eachother. I think it's because all other people are idiots. Just kidding. Sort of. Maybe they aren't idiots, maybe they just think that I think they're idiots and so they withhold their opinion so as to not upset me...See what I did there? Yup. Clever. I know. :) I'm entertained by typing this so whatever, I don't care that you think I'm insane, you're just jealous that the voices don't want to talk to you.