THEN - Emilio Pucci Official Website and Online Store: Luxury fashion made in Italy.

THEN - Emilio Pucci Official Website and Online Store: Luxury fashion made in Italy.

I bet he likes star trek too...

I love this ad... I laugh just as hard at it now as I did when it first came out.

As a society, our technology has evolved more in the last hundred years than we have in the last thousand years.  The role television plays in furthering technology is undeniable.  The 60's Star Trek mobile communicators look remarkably like the first versions of flip phones.  Many medical revolutions were inspired by movies and futuristic concepts.  It's amazing, to me, how the artistic mind of a screenwriter can stimulate the scientific mind of engineer or scientist.  The flip side, of course, is when an inspired scientist gives ideas to a screenwriter.

This back and forth movement continues to stimulate our minds and plays an integral part to our continued momentum.  I hope to be around for a long time to see what amazing things we come up with next.  Who is to say what the future holds?  Maybe someone soon will unlock the genetic drift that causes us to age.  What if we can, one day, move the marker back and stay 25 forever?  The scariest part  for me is wondering how we will handle technology in the future.  I worry that if our morals stay how they exist now, we will only offer the newest and hottest ideas to the highest paying bidder.  If I'm 95 years old one day and a scientist offers me a way to be young and healthy again, but I can't afford it, do I just die?  Can we stand idly aside and allow people to perish because they can't contribute enough to a doctors' retirement fund?

I've staged this question in the future and I truly do worry about how we will handle situations like this as they arise... but we face a similar dilemma now.  How many hours of debate transpire in Washington over how to treat illegal immigrants in medical emergencies?  How many hospitals have closed in the last few years because insurance companies won't pay for the treatment of a human being?  How many people are refused a better life because we refuse to add them to our precious society?  Our neighbors to the south and across the seas sometimes live in reprehensible circumstances--but we'd rather go to Chili's and eat twenty dollars worth of ribs than consider a hungry family in Mexico.  As the planet and humanity evolved, it didn't place borders between our countries; that's a man-made concept.  Unfortunately, your life can differ greatly if you're born on one side or the other of about 100 feet.

So where does that put us in a few hundred years?  Will we still be cheering our successes while simultaneously scorning our neighbors or are we capable of evolving to some level of equanimity?

I've stopped laughing.

...Don't say "wind farm." I'm already feeling gassy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mTLO2F_ERY

I really really really love this advertisement.  Our society has had an enormous push in the last 25 years for finding renewable energy.  Finding renewable sources of building materials.  Finding things to incorporate into our lives that wont tax our planet any more than we already do.  Out of all the animal species in the world, we are the only ones that are truly detrimental to our home.

Science has proven that our planet continuously cycles through regeneration over millions of years.  We have a very limited existence compared to our planet, but we understand through the shifting of tectonic plates and the earth's molten core, there is a recycling process that occurs.  By extracting fossil fuels and burning various elements out of our planet, what building blocks are we removing that will be necessary in a future earth?  It is no wonder to me that by burning these elements we are also destroying the atmosphere--those elements belong in the earth, not in the air.  Most scientist believe there were hundreds of pivotal moments in evolution that brought us into being.  The miracle that is human life came to exist because certain elements happened to merge together. Those elements happened to be photosynthetic and stimulated by the sun.  The resulting combination of precise heat and chemical combinations started the building blocks that created blah blah blah... each step in the process has a critical moment that must have occurred or none of us would be here.  So what inertia have we ceased by removing such a large percentage of fossil fuel variables?  The equation of the future has been dramatically altered by our existence--and it needs to end before we become our own undoing.

Looking forward, there are so many awesome, renewable substances we can use that have such a low impact on our environment.  Recycling innovations are even starting to find uses for discarded plastic bags by turning them into wood composite products to make weather resistant decking.  By harnessing wind and water movement and transitioning into vehicles and utilities based solely on electric, we could greatly reduce our footprint.   As we look into the future, we need to make sure our planet is still the beautiful, lush, green place it was when we came to inhabit here.

...take a left at Starbucks and when you see a giant ass, go inside...

First of all, despite the giant ass they must walk through, people are clamoring for the prospect of a new career--that is funny and sad to me at the same time.

During ancient times, people worked jobs they were good at because it helped their neighbors or community.  If you were a skilled craftsman, you made that your livelihood.  If your family worked as farmers for generations, it was important to continue that tradition because it supplied food for miles around.  People found satisfaction in what they did because it was rewarding and fulfilling.

In today's society, I feel that too many people find jobs because they are trying to support families or because they need to provide for themselves--not because they enjoy work.  I have met dozens of people who have law degrees, criminal justice degrees, music degrees, and so on, working as managers and area directors at Chilis.  Granted, running a restaurant can be a fulfilling career, and some of those people are very happy in the corporate casual dining world, however, it is a trap for others.  It was becoming a trap for me as well.  I worked with Chilis for 11 years and had been promised positions within the company that pay upwards of $100,000/year plus potential for an additional $30,000 in bonuses. I quit without giving notice.  I burned that bridge when school started to focus on being a student.  Why?  The money isn't worth it.  I was a miserable person to be around and felt like such a looser every time I got dressed for work.  It's a great company and there isn't anything majorly wrong with the job except that it didn't make me happy.

Our lives are too short to feel stuck in careers that do not fulfill us.  The average person sleeping 8 hours a night, will be awake for 112 hours a week... 40 to 50 of those hours are spent working full time at a job.  If you are going to commit nearly half of your time to something, shouldn't you be enjoying it?

So, my question to the world would be, are you walking in or out of the butt at this point?

Have you been born again?

I have literally laughed out loud for several minutes now at this particular advertisement.  First of all, I just thought it was funny to have used such an iconic painting with several deep meanings to do something as mundane as pushing the elevator button.  Secondly, the elevator takes you up to a Plastic Surgeon's office with a caption that reads, "Be Born Again."  Well, I think that is ingenious.  It precisely and effectively gives the impression of a doctor who has the confidence that he can shape you into the image you would have given yourself if you were god.

Most of my blogs go on for paragraph after wordy paragraph, but I think the advertisement speaks for itself here.  Basically, the world will never stop trying to improve how we look or at least be overly conscious of our looks.  We can talk all we want about how wrong it is for stereotypes to manipulate the way we perceive our bodies but honestly... are we really going to stop?  I want to go to this doctor and have work done myself.  I love my dad, but I'm going to start looking like him in another 20 years and that won't work for me.  I can't wait to make enough money to start having things fixed.  And I honestly don't think that will ever change.

Centuries from now, if someone comes across this ad, they will probably think it's funny and use it and everyone will say how clever he was--and of course he'll take the credit--and I don't think I would blame him one bit.

Smoke On The Water

Smoke On The Water is one of those iconic songs released in early 1972.  It refers to the events of the band repeatedly trying to find a place for making music and both times, the venue was destroyed by fire, hence seeing smoke seemingly rise from a water front.  The lyrics do not state wether this was a fictional sequence of events or if they were based on actual experiences of the members, but the intent is there... don't burn bridges before you cross them.  Or maybe a more accurate conceptualization would be, no matter what comes your way, don't let it interfere with your art.  Then there is the possibility that it was the 70's, it could simply mean, don't let your pot head friends set off flare guns in closed buildings.  Regardless, the end result is the same:  you have to be aware of how your actions resonate into the future.

Foreshadowing if difficult at best.  Many decisions in life are lain with the best of intentions, but may cause catastrophic effects.  The bottled water industry could arguably be one the greatest example of such an instance.  Most people love the convenience of a bottled water stuck in a purse, backpack or side pocket of your car for later.  There have been many times in my life when an allergy pill and a bottle of Ozarka have made the difference between a good day and a really bad day for me.  But what is the consequence of our creature comfort?

Millions of bottles fill our landfills.  The resources to manufacture and transport water tax our ecosystem in an extreme way.  I would love to see a report on the fuel usage just to distribute the various brands of water around the world.  I think the total would be staggering.  The electricity that is used by dozens of plants purifying the water to be bottled would also be astounding, I'm sure.  Then you must consider the fuel and energy dispersed to remove the trash from our homes, sort, redistribute to landfills, and then pushed around by trucks and tractors into their designated areas.  If anyone reading this has ever driven by a landfill on a hot summer day (like Lewisville, Texas at 100 plus degrees outside), you can attest to how terrible it is to live near a landfill.  The stench of a steamy, smelly, sun scorched pile of garbage stretched over 400000 square feet... not pretty.  

A clear alternative is to drink tap or filtered water.  Find some rockin reusable bottle at your favorite super-center and drink away.  Also, supporting alternate means of supplying filtered water is a must.  Some college campuses, Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, for example, has dozens of water dispensers installed by a filtered water company and the water is purified inside a unit that looks like a regular water fountain.  By supplying their students with resources to fill their own bottles, the students have almost stopped purchasing bottles all together.  It is no cost to the students and the water is completely pure (according to the manufacturer).  And lets face it... if my doctor tells me to drink two quarts of water a day, I think I can find better things to do with nearly ten dollars besides giving it to the coke company.

So, we can have purified water easily accessible with the proper supplies.  We can have less garbage in our landfills.  We can eliminate pointless waste of natural fuels by less mass transportation.  My foreshadowing feels like this is a no-brainer.  In Poland, 2009, a new Guinness World Record was set for the largest mass participation of a guitar solo in which 6,346 people played the rift from "Smoke On The Water" at the same time.  Maybe if Deep Purple had some foreshadowing of this occurrence, they might have disbanded in 1971.

Fattie, fattie, 2X4

Now there is a controversial ad if I've ever seen one.  Let's discuss some of the various points of view at work:  One could say that it's not the meat that is bad for kids... it's the processed, fried meat that is bad for kids.  Another would agree with the photo.  Someone else would say that fat is simply hereditary.  Where do we think the truth lies?

I have many friends in the veg world, I was one of them for many years and loved being vegan.  Two of my closest friends are raising their kid vegetarian and he's the healthiest, most energetic kid I've ever known.  Plus, one of the skinniest times of my life was when I was vegan--but it isn't necessarily true for all because I have many heavy friends who are veg also.  I tried to make healthy decisions for every meal and be vegan at the same time, but it's not true for everyone.  It isn't cheap or easy to not eat animal products (especially in the great state of Texas).  Furthermore, eating healthy is making healthy decisions (i.e. being "veg" doesn't mean you get to eat brownies and mozz sticks all day, unfortunately).  A veg quesadillia could have upwards of 1200 calories where a 5oz sirlion and side of brocolli could have between 700-800 calories...which is really better?  Allowing an advertisement to suggest that going veg will fight obesity is a falsehood.

The bottom line is that there are multiple sides to every story.  I believe we need ads like these and ads like the cattle ranchers would put up portraying the benefits of beef.  Both are important because they push the envelope to each end of the spectrum so that the rest of us can fall into the middle category and be happy, healthy partakers of whatever we desire.  But don't blame your weight on cows--they're vegetarian too.

Assignment #2... fat barbie

fat barbie ad

So, I know we have already touched on the ramifications of societal views regarding self-image, but I felt the need to readdress the issue with this article.  Also, as the author of my own article, I must understand that for every individual on the planet, there is a separate opinion on weight issues--it's not as simple as a two sided or four sided argument.  To say that we have discussed the issue in class is to say that pouring a bottle of Fiji in the ocean is working to purify our planets water.  If you haven't opened the link yet, please take a second to do so.  I would have posted the pic directly into this article, but the link was the best I could do (BTW... I accidentally typed "oink" instead of "link" and even though it is the antithesis of what I'm trying to say, it made me giggle a lot).

I previously saw an episode of Oprah where they were discussing the effects of the internet on young girls with eating disorders.  A specialist on the show was saying that the web sites they visited headed banners that proclaimed, "Skinny Feels Better Than Food Tastes" and "When I Feel Hollow, I Feel Whole" among other mantras that encourage young girls, in particular, to continue on their journey to become anorexic.  Let me note that I do not recommend visiting those articles or sites because, according to a guest of the show, they are usually monitored by authorities to intercede for youth in trouble.

This ad depicts the opposite of that broadcast by helping show women that they can be happy in their bodies however they are built and it seems to encourage them to shop in this mainstream retail front, yet we have now banned the ad from running.

This mixed message that is being sent out is likely a source for the confusion and pressure put on our youth about weight issues.  There is constant barrage of conflicting ideas that hammer at our society and reinforce our stigmas and insecurities.

My family has a big issue with weight (OK, that pun was somewhat intended), so I can empathise with people battling this issue.  In my own life I have been everything from a 29 inch waist to a 38 and back to a 32 inch waist within a 2 year time frame.  The need to be healthy is a far and distant afterthought amidst the struggle to be accepted as an individual.  When do we stop the fight to be popular?  When do we stop picking at each other over looks and start joining together as a race that prefers people to be fit, not thin?  There is a battle against depression, obesity, anorexia, and many other compulsions... but is the battle waged because we want to be healthy as a society or because we want the popular girl in class to finally be nice to me?  Will our descendants revere us as the turning point when humans evolved into the healthy, improved us, or will we just blend into part of the problem?

We ask each other, "Why is this such a big debate?" or "why does Texas have the highest obesity rate in the world?", but our media hammers these issues into our brains at a very young age.  And aside from the media (personally, I didn't watch TV growing up), too many times food is no longer a means to sustain ourselves, but replaces emotional losses within our psyches.  How many millions of weigh issues stem from split homes or child abuse; maybe drug abuse, or maybe it's the anorexic girl who is already popular? When did the shift occur from "hunters and gatherers" into tee shirts that say "Hand over the chocolate and nobody gets hurt"?

Could it be that the media is just doing what most business owners do best?  They cater to their audience.  Maybe instead of fixing the advertisers who are just trying to make a paycheck, we need to examine our internal issues first and let the media cater to the new improved us.

The Cultural Artifact Pt 2: The Real Assignment

Discrimination has been a major issue for our society during most of recorded history.  Within the last several hundred years, we have struggled to move mankind forward and away from those antiquated feelings however slow the process may be.  As represented in this image, one of the most recent fights has been to encourage the acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle in modern society.

The author sends a message that these gay men are in a loving relationship that would be bonded by marriage if they were a straight couple.  Many commonplace values would insist that the allowance of these unions would challenge the sanctity of marriage or somehow alter the legitimacy of male/female unions.  However, most gay people simply want the legal recognition of their relationship.

If a person of another culture or a person of our future were to stumble upon this image, it could send several messages depending on the decision made by the public--since it still stands unresolved.  If we currently make a decision stating that it is wrong to allow same sex couples to marry, the debate could still be heated in 200 years.  Alternately, if the unions are allowed, a young person in 200 years could possibly see gay marriage as such commonplace that they could not understand why it was ever in question (much like we today perceive slavery).

It is my belief that regardless of the outcome from this particular situation, we will continue to challenge beliefs and ideas throughout the rest of human evolution on innumerable topics.  It is part of our nature and an exercise in our individuality to question and debate the circumstances of our collective lives.