Well Past Her "Sell By" Date.

Meryl Streep is a 60 year old female actress still playing lead romantic roles in huge hit movies!! She is a strong woman fighting the idea that she is to old to be romantically involved with someone in a film. She has recently played in Momma Mia, The Devil Wears Prada, and the new movie coming to theaters, It's Complicated. In these movies she is a strong independent woman facing some romantic issues with men from her past and present. Most women her age do not play such roles. They are usually mothers or saints of some kind, but she showed Hollywood! Below is a preview to her most recent movie coming to theaters, It's Complicated. This will show you how no matter her age, she is still spunky, in action, and highly romantically involved.



This movie looks great. She plays a divorced older woman that is desired by multiple men! She is still having fun and experiencing life after what most women take as a tragedy they can not get through! Meryl Streep is a great actress and I hope she begins to set a trend for Hollywood's older women. Showing that they can still be desired in movies just as most older men are. She told the magazine Vanity Fair that she passed her "sell by" date and shocked many people in Hollywood with her recent lead romance roles. I hope she continues to shock them because this is a great positive image for women every where.

The Seven Deadly Sins on One Island...

Gilligan's Island is an old television show that played in the 1960's. Its reruns continued years after the show ended. They also made some TV movies to remake the short lived series. I was reminiscing about this show with someone the other day and they pointed out the most interesting thing I have heard in a while. The Seven Deadly Sins. He mentioned how this television show in particular, discretely had each character represent one sin. When I looked into the show more and watched some old episodes I realized he had a very good point and decided to share it with you. To refresh those of you who don't remember or who don't know, the seven sins are;


1. Pride: is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individuals recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise.

2. Envy: is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

3. Gluttony: is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

4. Lust: is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

5. Wrath: is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. Also known as Anger.

6. Greed: is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual.

7. Sloth: is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

After going through the list of characters we matched them to each sin we saw best fit to them.

Ginger represented Lust. She was the "temptress", she was always wanted by the other men and desired to be wanted by them. She was very flirtatious in the series.

Mrs. Howell a.k.a. "Lovely" represents Gluttony. She always wanted more than she could have because she was so materialistic and obsessed with power.

Mr. Howell represented Greed. He always bragged of his riches. He was known as the millionaire on the show.

Skipper represented Wrath. He was always angry and rude to mostly Gilligan through out the series.

The Professor represented Pride. He was "always right" during the show. He didn't usually take others opinions because he thought of himself as being smarter then every one else.

Gilligan represented Sloth. He was very lazy through out the series. He barely ever wanted to help do work to get them off the island.

Mary Anne represented Envy. She desired to be Ginger "a real movie star".

There is a possibility that the director of this show began to see the sins in people all around him. With the growing economy in his time period he may have began to realize how people started to change. Many people don't appreciate what they have or the opportunities they were given. I think the director was trying to show that through this series. By making a show that had a person represent each sin gave people the opportunity to compare themselves to someone on the show. When people begin comparing others to the characters in the show it allows them to see how almost everyone they know runs mainly off one sin, even themselves. Do you think this show was trying to pass a message to the public?

Being Positive and Successful Can Happen!!!

Recently in class we discussed all of the talk shows on television that are so negative, but try to say they are helping people. Shows such as Oprah, Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil, and so on. The networks say that the drama of these shows pull people in to watching it, creating their revenue of money. But, I want to point someone out that is positive on every show and still makes a very good amount of money, Ellen DeGeneres. In my opinion she is more interesting to watch opposed to all of the drama shows that discuss horrible life situations of the guests and the talk show hosts. Ellen uses a lot of comedy on each of her shows, allows of lot of children to show off their talents and interacts with her crowd a lot. She makes fun of a lot of infomercials and people doing things for attention. She points out most of the stupidity and laziness of a majority of America. For example; she had an episode where she ordered the Hawaiian Chair, it is a chair that supposedly works your abdominal muscles while you are being sedentary at work. She got someone out of the audience to ask their opinion of the chair as well and they sat in it trying to function, but had a pretty hard time doing so. She was discretely pointing out how it was a very unintelligent idea. Watch the video and see for yourself.



Another show that I watched of hers that really caught my attention was when she sang in the bathroom with the singer Pink. They were making fun of two girls that call themselves "Rin on the Rox", that started making home videos of themselves singing in the bathroom. Even though they are not bad singers, you wonder why they may be wasting their time singing in the bathroom!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK-D3CFqQlY

Even though Ellen made fun of them she eventually invited them to come on the show. My main point to this blog is to make people see that funny and non-dramatic television shows can be successful. You do not have to include negative and depressing stories on just so people will watch the show. Do you feel that drama is the only thing that attracts the audience or is it something else?

Skinny is an Insult...

Skinny means to be very thin and of a natural small frame. To a person that works out almost every day and eats healthy a vast majority of the time, skinny is an insult. You see women in the media being sexual and flaunting their seemingly perfect bodies, but some of them like Jessica Biel, Nicole Scherzinger, Jessica Alba, and more have the right because they worked for it. They show that you can have a great body as long as you put the time and effort into it. I have read articles with Jessica Biels diet and work out and she can eat quite a bit, but she does very complex work outs every day to counter the affect the food she eats may have on her. When she does eat unhealthy she will balance it out with eating good for the rest of the day and adding something to her workout, whether its an extra set of squats to ten more minutes of walking/running. If she doesn't have time to do the work out she wants she goes on walks after her meals. Nicole from the Pussy Cat Dolls (and the entire Pussy Cat Doll group) dances constantly to keep in shape. These women have the bodies to prove it. They don't look like they are skin and bone, you can see their muscle lines on their stomach, arms, legs, pretty much anywhere! Women like them should be advertised more frequently to show girls that if they work at it and stay healthy they can be of a nice fit figure.



I have talked to many women at the gym and almost all of them that have lost weight or toned muscle that get called skinny feel insulted. People make it sound like they didn't work as hard as they did to have the body they achieved. I highly encourage people to seriously analyze their diets. The obesity rate in America has increased drastically over the past few years! Being fit is hard work, if you don't work out on a regular basis, try doing it just 3 days a week for an hour each time and make it as intense as you can handle. Then eat well for a week and see how hard it is to resist delicious fattening foods and cravings of the sweets that you get. But, stop and think of how much more energetic and refreshed you feel by the end of the week that you try this. If you want to continue to eat healthy, but you are unsure of how to change your diet (not go on a diet) go to www.mypyramid.gov. You can make an account and analyze your diet based on the food guide pyramid to see what you are missing and what you are over eating in.

It is a lot of hard work to stay fit. Fighting cravings, dining out with friends, and parties! Then having to make time to get in that work out every day or every other day! But, if you do this regularly, don't you find it insulting to be called skinny instead of fit?

Politians Hit Below the Belt.

Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds are the two men running for governor of Virginia. There campaigns have been on more frequently for the past few weeks due to election day coming closer. I noticed their campaigns involved a lot of women, but personally I do not think either of them represent women in a good way. They went after our pride and spite against men to win the election. Creigh Deeds has many campaign ads accusing Bob McDonnell of making 35 bills opposing women rights, saying that working women are detrimental to the family, and he is against married women taking birth control. But, Deeds does not say any of this information himself. He gets other women to do it. He knows that we would take that better from other women, but this is a majority of his campaign ads. Attacking the fears of women, saying if they vote for McDonnell they may lose some of their rights to choose. Even if they do not have any proof of McDonnell making such bills. Below are two ads approved by Deeds so you can form your own opinion on if he is protecting women or using them.



You see that McDonnell may have a record, but you see that Deeds ends the ad with a photo of him speaking to a woman. What do you think about that?



Again, he lets the women do all the talking and ends the ad with the same photo. Personally if there is some proof that McDonnell does feel this way about women, I would not vote for him. It does slightly make me angry that he could possibly vote in such a manor and say such things about women being equal, but the point is Creigh Deeds is also guilty of doing something that can hurt women. He used them to get ahead in his campaign against McDonnell.

It doesn't stop there. Bob McDonnell came back with his own campaign ads using women to defend himself. He started putting ads up with him walking with his wife and daughters outside and getting working women to speak on his behalf. He could have just defended himself in a campaign of him speaking and explaining that these accusations came from what he wrote in a paper for his masters degree when he was 34. But, do you think what he said still matters? And do you think his way of defending him self was done right?



He does not say a word in these ads, just lets the woman talk.



This is very insulting that they used women to get ahead in their campaign ads. Even though Creigh Deeds did start the battle, McDonnell did say harmful words and has yet to properly defend himself against such harsh accusations. They both hit women below the belt with this battle. They are using them knowing that they make up a very large population of the votes. Do you think either man running for governor handled this correctly? Or could they have done it in a better way, keeping women out of their battle?

Sex Sells!!

In our most recent reading "Naked Capitalists" it talks about how pornography is the most popular media product. It makes over ten billion dollars a year! According to the reading it makes more money the N.F.L or the M.L.B(pg.49). They also say "adult industry is in many ways a mirror image of Hollywood." But, do you think it could now be the other way around? Yes, porn makes many videos that are comedy, sci-fi, horror, and so on, just like Hollywood does. Now that porn is making so much I think Hollywood and major companies are copying them. Sex has become such a huge part of our society over the past few years. Even though it is not fully accepted, it still gets larger.The music industry, magazines, movies, music videos and more are adopting the sex idea more and more. There are more rap, hip hop, rock, and even country songs that have something sexual in it. For example; Trace Adkins song 'Honky Tonk Badonkadonk'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9VzEulip9Q

The magazine industry also uses sex, especially cosmopolitan. They include funny sex stories, new ways to "attract men", and ways to have a better sex life. The cover of their magazine is always a celebrity with a side caption saying "not as innocent as she looks" or "How she is a good 'bad' girl". Whether the celebrity is looked up to for being a good figure or not.

After seeing some of these trends of sexual acts in music videos and magazines who do you think is copying who?

What is the "L" word?...

The show The L Word was about a group of women that were great friends and most of them lovers. This show tried to represent lesbian women and their daily lives. They were friends with straight people, gay men, transvestites, and cross dressers. They owned businesses and were successful at what they did. Some were married with children, but most were just in a relationship or sleeping around. But, this show represented lesbian women pretty well compared to other shows, it still over dramatized most of the characters actions.

Some of the character personalities were over dramatized, like most shows. There was Niki, a beautiful successful girl that used her good looks to get what she wanted from anyone. Which I think was targeting beautiful women, saying they use their looks to be successful instead of their knowledge. There was Shane, the "manlier" lesbian that slept around with women and didn't want a relationship like most men don't. She constantly had one night stands until the end of series. Some of the characters were just representing why some women choose same sex relationships. Possibly not just because they were truly attracted to the same sex, but they knew what they really wanted out of a relationship. But, the manlier lesbians tend to be just like actual men. They just want sex and no relationship.

http://www.sho.com/site/video/brightcove/series/title.do?bcpid=1304999811&bclid=8324659001

The video link above is a short skit of how Niki reacts after her girlfriend breaks up with her. She is over reacting like most girls do in any relationship, at least how girls are shown reacting after a break up in some form of media. I don't think all girls react like this, but it shows how lesbian and straight women are represented as over dramatic. I think, The L Word was a good show, but definitely represented lesbians as more sexual and dramatic then they really are. This is what most people think of lesbians. Just like when most people think of gays, they may relate their thought to Jack from Will and Grace.

After watching this show, I am curious... Does the L in the title of the show stand for lesbian or love? What do you think?

Defining Masculinity...

Many people know that the media targets and victimizes women. But, what most people do not realize, is that men are strongly targeted and victimized by them as well. When people see ads that have a man dominating a woman or two men fighting over a woman, they assume that the woman is the only victim of the commercial. But, they target the men in reality by showing them what a "real man" does to get what he wants. So in turn, both men and women may possibly become victims of a real reckless act. Many advertisements show athletic/physically strong men accomplishing something due to their physique. So men are victims because they are being told that if they are not strong, they will not be considered a "real man" and will most likely not succeed. A person can become a victim by being mentally or physically abused which many advertisements are doing both.

I believe advertisement agencies are now reaching out to the "weaker" crowd of men in a new way. Now, advertisement agencies like Viagra and Enzyte are showing commercials with "nerdy" and less physically fit men. But, they are showing these nerds how to give women "what they really want"... A larger penis and more exciting, longer lasting sex. So, these companies are trying to pass the message that you may not have to be that young, successful, and attractive to succeed. Pretty much all you need is large male parts and performance in bed for you to be desired by women and envied/admired by others.

Watch this Enzyte commercial below and try to notice all of the targets in the advertisements. It opens to a large man sleeping at his desk during a party. And the women at the party are talking to them until Bob comes in and rumors start to spread of his stamina and new size. See what else you may notice that targets certain men.

A new series with a new message.

For those of you that are not familiar with the Fox series Bones, it is about a brilliant anthropologist, Dr. Temperance Brennan and her FBI agent partner Seeley Booth (Booth) that constantly solve crimes by studying remains of the human body. Dr. Brennan receives the nick name "Bones" because studying human bones is her passion, hence the name of the series.

Bones is brilliant, head strong, physically strong, and independent. In this series she is constantly jumping into investigations no matter how dangerous they may be. Constantly through the series Booth tries to protect her, but she continuously insists that she can handle herself and does not back down and the show is going into season five. I believe this show is spreading a new message, that women can protect themselves and be fearless. Women are constantly taken advantage of because they were taught to express so much fear and emotion, leading in men coming to their rescue. Unlike men, who were taught not show much emotion at all. In this series Bones constantly rejects the thought of emotion, such as sadness, anger, and so on. She analyzes every situation before showing any form of emotion. Now, some of you may be thinking, well she is single, smart, and completely focused on her job, which leads to the reason she is so successful. But, coming into season five she asks Booth to donate sperm so he will give his good genes to her child. She does not rely on a man to have her child or help her take care of it and she still has full intentions of remaining dedicated and focused on her career while mothering a child alone. Even though Booth is offering and desperately wants to help raise the child she insists that he should not be involved.

I think the producers of this show are subtly showing women that they can be successful while having a family and we can be strong in many ways. It is okay to show emotion but we should analyze the situation and make sure we are reacting with in reason. This series focuses on Dr. Brennan and she has hardly shown any signs of weakness, besides her love for Booth, whom she has constantly saved and protected in the series. They have equally rescued each other in this series so far. And I believe it will continue to be this way. In my opinion, this show lets women see that it is possible to have a family and be focused on their career. Also, Booth's character may be a message to men that it is okay to let the woman take charge, just be there to back her up when she needs it, just as she will be there for them. And, it is alright to be involved in your child's life with out being seen as a "Mr. Mom"

This is a great show and I would like you to watch a show from the series to give me your opinion on the message being spread.



This episode shows Brennan's strength, hope you enjoy it!!

What they forgot to mention...

THE SWINE FLU!!! Also known as H1N1, is a newly discovered virus that has millions of people terrified for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. The reason so many people are terrified of this illness is because they have only been presented with horrible facts, and over exaggerated fear. Constantly in the news we hear, "expected to kill over 10,000 people this year" and we hear about how contagious it is. People all over the country are taking these opinions from the media and saying they are fact just because they are publicly announced. The media is scaring people into buying so many unnecessary items such as hand sanitizer, face masks, gloves, and so much more. They are making you think if you don't spend your money to protect yourself you will become viciously ill, have rights to go out taken away, or die. This video provides me with proof that the media is manipulating.



Notice in the video the interviewee says, "Now we are not trying to scare the public...". In my opinion, he says that, so people who eat out of the palms of the media masterminds will believe him, so they will fall in to their trap. When the media first began speaking of the Swine Flu (H1N1) they immediately advised people to increase their hygiene, resulting in the sell out of anti bacterial products and over the counter medicines.

What the media failed to mention was the over use of antibacterial products and using antibiotics when unnecessary will eventually INCREASE your chances of catching this virus. And not only will it eventually harm you, it will make your body work harder to fight off the virus, decreasing your chance of winning the fight. Your skin has good and bad bacteria on it constantly. The good bacteria is what destroys the germs that get onto your skin. But when you use antibacterial products the alcohol in it kills both good and bad bacteria, there for it rids us of our first defense mechanism against this virus. Then, when antibiotics are over used, the body will eventually become immune to them and they will no longer have an effect in helping the body. So when it comes time to use them to help fight the virus, they will most likely not have much effect at all. Leaving most or all of the fighting to the natural defensed of the body.

The media also fails to mention that the Influenza also known as the common flu, hospitalizes and kills more than 200,000 people a year. The swine flu may infect and kill an estimated 9,000 people this year, that's more than ten times less than the common flu, which we have a vaccine for. Also, the common cold, kills an average of 4,500 people a year, so far the swine flu has claimed 900 lives. But, most of the people that were killed were either in Mexico, with little to no health care or had another health issue and the swine flu just increased their chances of death. The media has advertised the swine flu symptoms over and over, but they are almost exactly the same as the common flu! They are both contagious, are transferred from human to human, and affect the respiratory system. Also, their have been reports of many people that have caught the swine flu have recovered with no medical treatment. Here is some further research and a video to help you create your own opinion on the danger of swine flu.



I hope after all this information that you have created your own opinion on how "dangerous" this swine flu really is. If you really want to protect yourself you should wash your hands with soap with out antibacterial substance in it because it cleans your hands just as well, but with out killing the good bacteria. Spread the message to your friends to create their own opinion by getting the real facts.

Honestly, this "pandemic" of the new virus may just be a way for the government to make money. Think about it.

What's The Message?

For those of you who don't know Walter Elias Disney, best known as Walt Disney, allow me to fill you in. He is the creator and owner of all Walt Disney production companies. He is best known for creating Mickey Mouse, who was and still is the most loved character Walter created during his life. He is what launched the sales of Walters business, soon making him one of the most important men in history. But, Walt did not stop there, he created many more animated motion pictures that lead to his success story. Walt Disney was born in 1901 and died in 1966, 43 years of his life was dedicated to creating Walt Disney Productions.

In this blog, I want to decipher the messages that Walt Disney may have been putting into his animated films, if any at all? Personally I adore Disney movies, but there has been much controversy in the past and present of Walt Disney sending hidden messages through his films. These messages have been argued to have sexual content and abuse in them, on many occasions. But, those arguments arose more towards the movies that were created after the death of Walt Disney in 1966. I am going to discuss the messages that he may have been trying to send through the movies that he was involved in and mostly created between the 1940's and 1960's.

In almost every film that Walter was involved in creating had a main character that started off with a biological parent that later deceased, the child was forced to leave home, or no biological parents at all. It was the most common dilemma used in his films, but why? Do you think he was trying to send a message about the affect of parents on children? Here are some examples to help you think about the question.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937): Snow White had an evil step-mother that was jealous of her, so the step-mother attempted to kill her to maintain her power in the land. But Snow Whites' seven friends (dwarfs), saved her life. Along with the prince in the story.

Pinocchio ( 1940): A wooden puppet that desired to be a real boy, there for he had no parents, just his maker. But, had a curse; every time he lied his nose grew. Meaning he may have learned on his own by making mistakes.

Cinderella (1950): A girl that did not have a mother, lost her father in the beginning and was left with an evil step mother. She was turned into her step mothers slave. By rebelling against her step mother, she found love and happiness.

Alice in Wonderland (1951): In this move a young girl (Alice) goes on an adventure through a place called wonderland. There were no parents present in this film and she makes all of her decisions on her own while traveling through wild, adventurous area.

Peter Pan (1953): A boy that lives in Never Land comes to find his shadow, but finds Wendy while on his trip. He takes her back to Never Land to be the mother of the Lost Boys. During the movie you only see Wendy's parents getting ready to leave for a party and don't see that their children are missing when they return home.

Sleeping Beauty (1959): A girl (sleeping beauty) is threatened with her life while only being an infant. So her parents send her away until she is an adult with three fairies as her guardians. They did not once visit her and her friends consisted of wild life creatures because she was not permitted to see any one other than the fairies.

If you have not picked up on it yet, I shall point it out. In each movie listed the main character did not have their real parents present for nearly the entire film. Each character discovered something on their own, which resulted in a happy ending. So, could the message be that parents are not necessary? Or possibly that parents or children can be lost very easily if they do not keep a close watch on each other? Or maybe the message really isn't directed to or about the parents at all.

A longer more detailed biography about Walt Disney, mentions that Walt blamed some of his compulsions in adult hood to discomforts he had with his father as a child. Possibly meaning Walter resented helping his father with his problems instead of taking care of himself and his dreams. So I believe the real message behind the loss of the parents in these films is directed towards the children. He may be trying to influence children to keep their imagination and follow their dreams. By taking parents out of the picture it allows the young characters to chase their dreams, which I believe to be the message Walter is attempting to get to the young audience, but he does so in a discrete manor.

Many people like myself, originally focus on the loss of the parents which automatically makes you ponder the ideas that he may have had something against parents. But in turn, he may not have had a problems with parents, just wished that he was able to start chasing his dreams sooner. Even though this could mean Walt Disney thought parents held children back from their true potential does not mean he had an issue with them or deemed them unnecessary. He may just believe that younger people should be able to make their own choices before they are even considered adults. Because their choices at young ages will affect who they will become. With out parents/biological parents there are less restrictions and more room to try new things.

But, this is only my opinion and interpretation of these few movies that I have seen made during his time period. What's your interpretation of the messages Walt may have been leaving?