Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! Halloween dates back 2,000 years when the Celts celebrated the marking of the end of the summer and harvest season. This night was the beginning of the new year. The Celts believed that on this night the boundary between the living and the dead world were blurred. When the ghosts returned to earth on this night they caused chaos and damaged crops. To help celebrate the event the Celts built large bonfires where people would gather. During the bonfire Druids or Celtic priests would dress in animal skins and attempt to tell each other’s fortunes. In AD 43 when the Romans took over the Celtic land they continued the tradition. Today’s Halloween is celebrated by young children and teenagers dressing up and going “trick or treating” Trick or treating is when you go out on the town and go door to door collecting candy. Older teenagers and Adults have Halloween parties. Halloween is every year on October 31st. What are you doing for you Halloween? What are you dressing up as?

"The Brand Expands"

The Brand Expands by Naomi Klein was about the branding culture. Logos no longer just represent a brand; they are now a culture, a lifestyle. The little story Klein tells at the beginning of the article about being obsessed with brands when she was only eight is true for a lot of people. I remember when my little brother was only in 4th grade and he had to have a Ralph Lauren polo because his friend had one; and it couldn’t be a Lacoste polo either, it had to be Ralph Lauren. So it’s not only the girls that are brand and logo conscious the boys are just as aware.
I agree that brands are becoming a culture. Certain brands represent certain lifestyle. For example if you’re wearing an Etnies t-shirt you are usually a skateboarder and embrace the skateboarding culture. When you like a brand you are going to want more and more things by the brand.

Did you agree with the article? Do you think that brands are becoming a culture?

Supersize Me Please

This week in class we watched Morgan Spurlock's film where he ate only McDonalds for one month. This food is very unhealthy. It consists of processed meat, grease and fat. Spurlock was determined to eat only McDonald’s for a month to see what happened to him. Not only did Spurlock eat three meals a day, he also cut down on his exercise because the average American does not get that much exercise. The mass majority of American’s diet consists of fats and processed foods. Most Americans do not have a stable diet. A stable diet includes a portion of grains, fruits vegetables, meats, dairy and controlled amount of sweets. America’s population has an obesity problem and it might be due to the mass amount of the fast food restaurants. Recently restaurants like McDonald’s were sued because people thought they were the cause of all the growing health problems in so many young Americans. What did you think of the video?

Should Barbie be a "Role Model"?

When you think of what a young girls favorite toy is what do you think of? When I thought of this I pictured Barbie. The classic doll that has been around for several generations. Barbie is supposed to be the perfect women other than her being made of plastic of course. She has the perfect figure and a perfect family. She also has had every career imaginable. Some women would say she is a role model. However the two words “role model” have a heavy cost. In class we read several articles that attacked the little plastic doll. Saying she’s to perfect. No girl could ever live up to her standards. I do not agree with these attacks. Women need to realize she’s just a doll. It is hard to find any doll that isn’t picture perfect. Even action figures for boys have the huge muscles and supposedly perfect man figure. I think that people need to relax. However the Barbie company has been working on making Barbie a more typical women figure. She has larger hips and a somewhat smaller chest. What do you think of Barbie?

The Tyranny of "Abercrappie"

Well studying American Advertising and how it effects our country we read an article called “The tyranny of Abercrappie”. The article was about a young boy that was probably around junior high age that was all about wearing the “in” clothing. All he wanted for Christmas was Abercrombie and Fitch clothing. His brother however was totally against wearing the clothing because of its brand name and what it meant to people. He knew that the brand label meant that you had the best clothing when it came to age group. Abercrombie mean that you wore the same thing as everyone else and you were not unique in the slightest bit. Then when Christmas came and the younger brother received his Abercrombie clothing the older brother began to like the cloths. He wanted some of his own. He shouldn’t pre-judge the clothing just because of its label. Next time he should just judge the clothing on if he likes it or not. People should not buy or not buy clothing because of its brand name. What was your response to the article? Do you ever find yourself just buying something because of the brand name?

Response to Men Just Want Mommy

The article is mostly about how men like wives that will take care of them because it reminds them of their mothers. Men don’t want a corporate wife that works in the real world like they do. They like the idea of their wife staying at home, watching the kids, cleaning, and cooking their food. When their wives work in the corporate world with them, it intimidates them. They don’t want their wives to overpower them, or earn more money than they do. I am not really sure why. It may make them feel intimidated, or shattered their self-esteem because they grew up thinking that the man is suppose to support the family, not the women. On the other hand, I think men’s views may be changing. They are starting to not care that the women may make more money than they do. It is harder and harder it find a women that doesn’t have a job and a college education, so it would make it harder for a man to find a women that would want to stay at home all day.

Mean Girls

The movie Mean Girls shows how girls interact with one another. The girls in the movie are very mean, especially to one another. It also is a good example of cliques, and how girls can be very backstabbing. In Mean Girls, there is a burn book which has bad things about every girl in the school. Most of the things are not even true. No one should write mean things about anyone, whether they are true or not. Mean Girls also has a lot of cliques. A girl is not allowed to talk to someone who is not in her clique. The Plastics, Jocks, Nerds, Cool Asians, and Band Geeks are just some examples of the cliques in the movie. In the movie, Katy sabotages Regina. She gives her food to make her gain weight, foot cream as face wash and many more. Although, I hate to admit it, I think this movie does portray how girls act. I know there have been times when I have talked behind someone’s back or done hurtful things to them. It is really sad to think that girls are so mean to each other. Do you agree that girls act how they are portrayed in the movie? Are there Cliques in our school? Do you have a personal experience where you have been mean or when someone was mean to you? Do you think there is a way to change this type of behavior?