Walk On The Wild Side

The Twin Tower Attacks: Al Qaeda or the U.S. Government

           There are many conspiracy theories in the world, especially when it comes to the terrorist attacks of September 11^th 2001. What looked like an accidental plane crash turned into a scene of horror as the second and third planes crashes into the World Trade Centers, and yet another plane crashed into the Pentagon. In the aftermath of one of the most catastrophic attacks in the United States people began to wonder, why did this happen? Who did this to us? And why, did two towers that were built to withstand tremendous disasters collapse so fast, in the manner of a staged demolition within only hours after the planes hit?

            Many theories have been created supporting the likelihood that the attacks of September 11^th were a result of corruption in our own government. There are certain events that happened that can lead us to believe that there was prior knowledge of the attacks. In the days prior, a very large amount of “put options” were placed on United Airlines and American Airlines stock. These airlines happened to be the same airlines that were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon.

            Also, the fall of the Towers very closely resembles the falls of buildings that are undergoing controlled demolitions. The buildings fell straight down, as if their interior structure was weakened just like those during controlled demolitions. If the interior of the Twin Towers had not been tampered with they should not have fallen straight down, especially in the amount of time that they did. Many people believe that the inside structures of the building had been tampered with and filled with additional explosives thus explaining why the Towers fell straight down, in such a short amount of time.

            Many people, such as Brigham Young Universities physicist Steven E. Jones and architect Richard Gage,  argue that the aircrafts’ impacts and the resulting fires could not have weakened the buildings structures enough to even initiate a collapse at all. They also argue that even if the fires had burned as hot as the jet fuel would have allowed, the buildings would have required additional explosives to further weaken the structure to allow the buildings to collapse as completely and quickly as they did.

            In the weeks after the attacks, many major media sources claimed that the towers had collapsed due to the melting of the inner steel structure of the buildings. The knowledge that the temperatures of burning jet fuel are not high enough to melt steel added to the beliefs that the terrorist attacks were staged by our government. 

            There are two main reasons why people believe that our government would want to do such a harmful thing to our own country. The first one, which is more widely believed than the other is that staging of the Twin Tower attacks gave our government reason to invade Afghanistan, to “stop terrorism” aka get our hands on more underground oil fields. The second reason, which isn’t as widely accepted, is that there were certain official government documents in the World Trade Centers that held top secret information that high people in the White House (George W. Bush) didn’t want to leak out to the public so he made sure that they were completely destroyed.

            I trust the sources that I used because, for instance, Brigham Young Universities physicist Steven E. Jones and architect Richard Gage  have enough background to make educated theories about whether something is possible of not. For them to agree that the heat produced from the burning jet fuel was not enough to melt the steel structures of the World Trade Center’s makes it seem like a valid argument.

            I believe that the reason that more people don’t believe that this was a government set up is because one, people (some more than others) are much too trusting in our government. They don’t want to believe that our very own government would have done something like this just as an excuse to start a war for oil purposes. And two, the government did a pretty good job at keeping the plan a secret. Although some evidence points directly at the government (how the buildings fell, how stock trade when up the days before the attack) that information isn’t enough to convince most people. Although I can’t say for sure if it was our government, or Muslim radicals from Afghanistan, I can say that there is a probability, with the evidence shown, that it was a government plan. There is motivation, and some evidence that links the United States government to the terrorist attacks of September 11^th, 2001. 

Movie Poster Remake

The movie Gone in 60 Seconds is about a guy that must steal 50 exotic cars in one night to save his brother’s life. The movie was originally made in 1974, and was remade almost 30 years later in 2000. When looking at the advertising done for both versions of the movie it is quite obvious that they are both focused on attracting audiences from two very different generations.

           The movie poster for the original is very different from the common movie posters that we see today, especially movies revolving around hunky men, sexy women and fast, exotic cars. Across the top of the poster is a message written in plain, bold, black text. It says, “HIS BUSINESS IS STEALING CARS… When he goes to work the excitement starts… and GOES… and GOES… and GOES. This message is supposed to excite viewers, and attract a larger audience. The poster also talks about watching cars get destroyed in the “most incredible chase ever filmed”. All of these statements make the film look thrilling, and full of action, but it’s almost as if in the last thirty years we have come to realize that the less wording you have on an advertisement, the more powerful and impactful it is. With less wording it leaves more room for the imagination.

The picture on the poster for the original is also quite interesting. It shows pictures of cars flying through the air on fire (of course), cop cars for suspense, and a sexy woman wearing short shorts resting her foot on a tiger. Although the picture represents what the movie is about it is almost cartoon like and childish. They also made the title look as if it was flying through the air which adds to the childishness of the picture. For the period of time that the original was created it probably really surprised the audience and people probably felt as if it were a pretty “bad ass” movie.

The remake poster is quite different. The first thing that really jumps out is the colors. Unlike the black and white colors of the original poster, the new one is full of warm colors, black yellow, orange, and red mostly. Also instead of having all of the pictures in the middle of the poster and the words around the edges, they are all incorporated together. The entire poster is a big picture of Nicolas Cage looking extremely serious, and Angelina Jolie looking sexy with her mouth slightly open. The pictures of them are separated by a picture of a fast moving car, but it’s not. The colors and the lack of wording on the poster really give it a mysterious aura. And since in today’s age a lot of people like to see serious, fast paced movies with nice cars, sexy girls this poster is almost perfect at capturing the audience’s attention. The title of the movie also really stands out. With bold red and white fading away text it’s almost as if the title is jumping off the page at you. 

Map

Here is a link to the spot on that advertising map that my group did. My group what the Cafeteria Hallway group.

Pop Music Website Analysis

                In my opinion Modest Mouse is one the most amazing bands that are together and still performing today.  Their style is kind of American indie rock or alternative. They were created in 1993, and their first album was released not even a year later in 1994. They were formed in Washington but are now based out of Portland, Oregon.  The music they create is simplistic, yet very creative and unique. I have never heard another band, or type of music that even compares to how great Modest Mouse is. Six albums, and many singles later they are still one of the most famous bands in the world. That right there says something about how amazing the music is that they create.

Their website and the way that it is set up goes hand in hand with the style of music they create.  At first glance it looks a little bland, it’s only a couple of colors and there isn’t much going on unlike many other bands web pages. The more you pay attention to it though, the more you realize that although it may be simplistic with not a lot going on it is very unique. The main thing you see is a big black and white fly, which at first glance might not be to interesting until you notice that it is moving slightly around on the page.  There are also three other types of bugs in the upper right corner that when you move the mouse over them they move and when clicked on they take you to different sections of the website. The big fly on the front page reminds me of a song that they did called Fly Trapped in a Jar, because the beginning of the song is just the sound of flies.

Scrolling down further on their web page I noticed two things. First off, it’s very easy to navigate. There are big bolded letters telling you the different place on the website to go and different things to see. It is set up vertically so not a lot of information is on one line so it is very easy to follow. Second, it is very visually appealing (that is to me at least). Every section uses the same simplistic font so nothing gets jumbled and hard to read. The headings of the sections are also in the same font, but they are slightly bigger and bolded which makes it easy to identify the different announcements and posts.

Although very easy to navigate and uncluttered they still have a couple of weird out of place things on their webpage, which exactly mirrors the way that their music is. A song can be going very smoothly, not a lot of change and then all the sudden BLAM, something weird that doesn’t belong happens, but it is done in such a creative way that it only makes the music sound that much better!  I never thought about how something so simple as a webpage could help define a band and what their music represents. 

Dueling Pop Culture

       When looking at today’s pop culture it’s easy to see how easily influenced we are by messages portrayed by the media. Even messages that make no sense like “I only ate chocolate for ten days and I still lost weight!” still have a profound impact on the way that we think and feel about certain products. Even statements like the one above convince people to buy this magazine, or special product that will help you lose weight no matter what you eat. Many advertising tricks are used to sells products that will make us thinner, happier, or even live longer, when in reality they aren't what they seem to be at all. Now, I’m not saying that all advertising is bad but we tend to believe what we want to think is true over what we actually know is true.

For example, something we see commercials for every day, it’s in our grocery stores, it’s on the web, and sometimes we actually use them ourselves, or know someone who has. Diet pills. Advertisements for diet pills are extremely misleading. They tell us that if we use them we can shed off 20 pounds in two weeks the “healthy, fast” way. Overall people know that losing weight that fast is not only unnatural and unhealthy but it can also be life threatening, yet we still see people everyday buying and taking them in hopes for a miracle. The advertisements for these products show skinny, sexy women and men in bathing suits, or looking good in that dress that used to be a little too tight to wear. What they don’t show you or tell you is the profound negative effects that these pills have on our bodies. They don’t want us to know that there are extremely harmful chemicals that could potentially kill us because then the product wouldn’t sell.

Another absurd advertising scheme is one of the biggest in the world. We see it everywhere every day. Alcohol. According to the media not only will alcohol make us sexy, fun and energetic, but it also gives us a great excuse for that really stupid thing we did last night.  Any person in their right mind knows that drinking too much makes you sloppy, sick, and sometimes even violent or depressed, yet it still is one of the biggest money making businesses in the world. It’s not to say that 100% of people who drink are bad, and that drinking can’t be fun, but the negative effect of alcohol far outweigh the positive. People die every day as the result of alcohol. It’s one of the main causes of teen death, and car accidents.

Although there are so many organizations that put forth the dangers of things such as diet pills and drinking they are still portrayed in our media to be good for us. Organizations like DARE or the Live Above the Influence commercials put out the exact opposite messages that diet pills and alcohol do. They show us the dangers of drinking, and the show pictures that are meant to scare us, and make us think twice about the substances that we put into our bodies.  They teach us from a very young age that drugs (even legal) and alcohol are things that we should stay away from. If these organizations spend millions of dollars a year to promote the dangers of drugs and alcohol then why do so many people still use them? It’s all because advertisement like ones for Hydroxycut or that great bottle of Patron are sending a message that we want to think is true so we accept them, but organizations like DARE and Live Above the Influence are sending a true message that we don’t want to believe is true so we don’t accept them. 

Lovemark- Vans shoes.

       A Lovemark is something that consumers like and buy for other reasons besides what the product does for them. We see them in our everyday live, Nike's will make you jump higher, Gatorade will improve performance. People buy these products because they think that it will be more than just a shoe, or a refreshing drink. We almost feel an emotional attachment to the product that causes us to buy the name brands, even if the off brands look, or taste the same.

       Personally, I can only think of two lovemarks that I have and those would be Apple products, and Vans shoes.
     
       One of the main reasons that I prefer and Apple products over anything else is the fact that in my eyes they represent the future. Apple is always coming out with new technology that blows our minds, and all their products are very visually appealing. To me things such as Macintosh computers are better built, longer lasting, more visually appealing, and more environmentally friendly than any other computers out there. Also when comparing the iPod to the Zune, the iPod is much more technologically advanced, they had touch screens first, you can get free apps on the iPod Touch, and they are easier to get music onto because most music is bought and stored in iTunes. When looking at any products whether its a new computer, a music playing device or a phone I will always choose Apple products over everything else.

       Apply also puts out that they have better values and morals than other competitor companies. They are always coming out with some new environmentally green batteries that won't help in the depletion of our ozone. Or a new recycle program so old pieces that could be reused aren't filling up our landfills. When I see someone with a Mac one of my first thoughts it "If they chose to have that mac over a PC they are probably more inclined to recycle."

       There is also the idea that people who prefer Mac's, or Apple products in general are more "hippies" and "environmentally friendly, because at least in my experience, when I walk in to Prescott College, or the local, "fair trade" coffee shop I see the majority of people using Mac's. The reason for this can go both ways. Yes, maybe some of those people to care about the environment, and want the best for our earth. But also, who wants to be the odd one out? A lot of the reason that people choose Apple products is because other people choose Apply products and no one wants to be the odd one out.



       Now the reason that Vans are a Lovemark for me is more personal. When I first started caring about my appearance, and I was beginning to figure out who i was as a person, my mother took me shopping for the first time where I was able to pick out clothes and shoes that I liked. I remember walking into Journeys shoe store and seeing the section of vans. They were all very visually appealing to me so I decided to get my first pair. I ended up loving them so much it was almost like a comfort thing to me, every time from then on out when I bought shoes they were always Vans.

       Over the past 10 years vans have been very popular shoes, they are comfortable, lightweight, and stylish. Van's company has done a very good job at keeping up with incoming and outgoing trends also. Van's are such  versatile shoe that there is almost one fore every kind of person. For the California surfer or the local skate boarder there is the original, for the goth kids there are black ones, for the scene kids there are bright colored ones, and for the hipsters there are ones with little designs or old fashioned floral patterns. No wonder they are one of the most popular shoes brands, they know what people want and they give it to them. That's why Vans are my favorite shoes out there.

                                                                                               








                               

Terrorism PSA

To watch the video section of my PSA click here.  After watching read below.


Did your child do this? Teach your children to play nice.


Visit www.antiterrorism.org for more info. 

Pop Culture Tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfhwqhrEAus This is the URL to my Pop Culture Tour Video.

Book vs Movie (Where The Wild Things Are)

Where The Wild Things Are

           

In today’s culture books and movies are two of our most prominent forms of entertainment. There are constant changes in books and even more so in movies. Movies are remade and digitally altered to be more appealing to the people watching. Good movies are turned into books and more often good books are turned into movies. Sometimes audiences are disappointed in the change from a book to a movie like the first three Twilight movies. The Twilight books got people hooked, and the movies were just eh. Other times the movie remake of a book is just as good as the book if not better like the Harry Potter movies, or the Lord of the Rings. One of the most amazing transformations from a book to a movie, in my opinion is Where The Wild Things Are. (If you would like to watch the trailer click here.) What originated as a twenty page, ten sentence children’s story (Click here for a link to read the book online) was turned into a full length movie. There is a lot of controversy over the movie, but there is a reason why so many changes had to be done during the creation of the movie.

One of the biggest changes done to the story is the addition of many extra scenes that were not in the book. They added scenes of Max playing in the snow outside, his mother having people over, and Max’s older sister being mean to him. They also extended scenes to make them longer, like the scene of the wild rumpus that was two pages long in the book and was much longer in the movie. The main reasons for these changes are that a twenty page children’s book would most likely turn into a really horrible five minute film. The changes had to be done in order for the book to be turned into a full length movie.

The producers also made changes that made the movie more appealing to a different audience. Where The Wild Things Are the book is a children’s story that almost any aged child would enjoy, while the movie is a little m ore in depth and geared towards a different age group. The movie is also a little scarier, there is much more hatred, violence and depression which makes it more appealing to an older audience, from teens to adults. They probably did this because making the movie more appealing to a larger audience brings in more revenue.

Other changes were made to the movie because they just made more sense. For example it makes more sense that Max gets angry with him mom, runs away and finds the boat that takes him to the wild things than it does that his room just began to turn into the forest. Also, in the book when Max finally gets more he has a hot bowl or porridge waiting for him, while in the movie he has a slice of cake.

Although overall most people were disappointed in the turn out of the movie ( I wasn’t at all) we have to give some credit to them for turning  such a short children’s story into a movie. Not only were they very creative with adding details and extra scenes they still kept the same message – Don’t’ disrespect or disobey your mum because if you do giant monsters will threaten to “eat you up”. 

Compare and Contrast

 Where the Wild Things Are Book

·         He eats porridge at the end of the book.

·         The book is 20 pages, 10 sentences.

·         He literally sees his bed turning into trees and his walls turning into the forest.

Where the Wild Things Are Movie

·         He eats cake at the end of the movie. 

·         They build a large hut out of stick and rocks.

·         The book goes way more in depth about Max’s emotional issues. (fear, hatred, depression)

·         They add many more plot lines to the movie.

·         He runs away from home and finds the boat to take him.

Both the Book and the Movie

·         There is an epic wild rumpus.

·         Boy is misbehaving and goes to the island of the wild things.

·         The wild things look the same in both. 

·         The wild things make Max Their king

·         Max gets hurt (emotionally) learns a life lesson and decides to go back home.

·         Wore his wolf costume

·         Terrorized the dog

·         Threatened to eat his loved ones. 

Alien Tour Guide

Tour Guide: "Welcome fellow beings of the universe, today we will be taking you on a grand tour of one of the most important places on earth.... the restroom. The restroom is where us humans release our bodily waste"

Alien: "Why?"

Tour Guide: "Well, because it is the most private respectful way to do our business."

Alien: "Why?"

Tour Guide: "Because it is frowned upon to expose yourself like that in front of others."

Alien: "Why?"

Tour Guide: "It is just not accepted in our culture."

Alien: "Why?"

Tour Guide: "Our homeboys in the White House said so."

The reason that we have private restrooms in society today is because we as a culture have a common assumption that this is the only proper way to go to the bathroom. As small children we are taught that using a private bathroom is the only way to go to the bathroom, and because it is culturally accepted we don't question it. Because these views are not necessarily laws they are just a common agreement, things could easily change if the majority of people changed their views on how to properly use the restroom. Cultural views differ from one group of people to the next. Things that are unacceptable here may be very accepted in other parts of the world and vice verse.

Twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/Hannahbear1313 This is the link to my Twitter account.

First Week of Pop Culture Class

I'm in my first week of my Intro to Pop Culture class. We are using a new method of teaching where our assignments are online, and when we complete them we get "experience" or points towards our final grade. So far I am really liking the assignment, and I'm looking forward to completing more. :D