Renascent Rants: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly…

 

     Maybe I should start by compiling my first official rant. I mean a lot of bloggers do it, so I figured I’d join the bunch since so much goes on in the world on a weekly basses that really catches my attention, whether it be positive or negative; little or big. So here goes nothing…      

The Good:

      For starters, I am extremely elated and content that Usain “Lightning” Bolt has won the 2008 Beijing Olympic Men’s 100 Meter Final with a New World Record Time of 9.69 seconds winning Jamaica it’s first Olympic Men’s 100 meter Gold Medal. Usain is an outstanding athlete and is a great inspiration to all sprinter alike. Whilst Bolt took the Gold Medal, Richard Thompson of Trinidad took the Silver Medal, and Walter Dix of the United States took the Bronze. Check out some pictures and a short “Unofficial” Video clip with more specific details below… 

Alan Abrahamson of NBC writes, “In the most outrageous display of speed to ever burn across the Olympic Games, Usain Bolt of Jamaica rocketed to gold in winning the men’s 100m dash in 9.69 seconds — not only a new world record but the first time in the history of human beings a man has run the distance under 9.7 seconds without a significant tailwind. 

Incredibly, Bolt, 21, could have gone faster. With a full seven strides to go, he dropped his arms and let them fall outstretched to his sides, appearing almost to run sideways as he played to the sold-out crowd of 91,000 at the Bird’s Nest.

Just before the finish line, he started high-stepping and, for good measure, executed a chest-thump. All that, and still — 9.69 seconds. Bolt simply ran away from the rest of the best of the world.“

      With Usain Bolt making history on the men’s side, the Jamaican women also made history as little-known Shelly-Ann Fraser won the 2008 Olympic Women’s 100 Meter Final running a 10.78, and was followed up by her fellow country mates Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who both finished in 10.98 and both collected silvers medals giving Jamaica the first sweep of medals in a women’s 100 by any nation at any Olympics or world championships.

“I was speechless yesterday for a while. Today I cried,” Jamaica’s minister of sport, Olivia Grange, said Sunday, after watching Fraser win. “Little Jamaica – our country is blessed with some of the best, if not the best, talent you can find.”

These outstanding and impressive displays of hard-work pose, determination, and athleticism gave Jamaica the first sweep of men’s and women’s 100 golds at any Olympics since 1988.

AP Sports writer Howard Fendrich reports that The United States protested the results in the women’s 100, asking that the race be reviewed because of a possible false start by American Torri Edwards – who wound up last. The appeal was swiftly rejected, and the biggest consequence was that the Jamaican women would have to wait until Monday to receive their medals at a postponed ceremony.

“Not that a ruling for the U.S. would have made much of a difference. The Jamaicans, particularly Fraser, were so much better that it’s hard to imagine the outcome being much different if the race were run again.” – Howard Fendrich

More Good…

      Secondly, over the past week I have seen numerous advertisements for some of televisions hottest and most intriguing shows (many of which happen to be my personal favorites) previewing their new up and coming seasons scheduled for this Fall and early 2009, and I am glad to say that I am very excited and can’t wait to see what’s in store. These are some of the shows that most certainly make television worth watching regularly in our day and age: LOST, House, Heroes, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, 24, The Office, etc.

      I am particularly a big fan of the shows LOST, House M.D. and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and am slowly growing into a big fan of Heroes, and The Office, and not much of a big fan of 24 (though it is a great series). The only down side it that I  as well as other fans have to wait until January 2009 for the new season of LOST (which is my favorite), but will soon have some of my television show cravings filled by the new seasons of House M.D. and Heroes this September, and am currently satisfied and kept at bay with the current season of CSI (Season 7) which is definitely another great season thus far.

       With a whole new line up of seasons launching this coming Fall and in Early 2009, two brand new television shows will be introduced to the mix; NBC’s Crusoe and Fox’s Fringe. Both show previews really caught my attention and interests and I’m looking forward to seeing these two new shows and what they are all about; as they both look pretty interesting and seem to have fairly compelling story lines and structures and also seem to bring something new to the table.

Hopefully they live up to the high expectations and provide good quality viewing pleasures and add to the mix of great television shows. Check out the preview trailers for the new up and coming shows Fringe and Crusoe below…

FRINGE

When an unlikely trio uncovers a deadly mystery involving a series of unbelievable events, they discover it may be part of a larger, disturbing pattern that blurs the line between science fiction and technology on FRINGE.

CRUSOE

Crusoe follows the novel and it’s treasured tale of adventure; this high-action, fast-paced, thirteen part series will combine for the first time the pace and energy of network television while remaining faithful to the authur’s original classic story.

The Bad:

I am extremely disappointed with NBC’s Olympic Coverage. They have in my mind without question displayed some of the most biased, selfish, and unfair broadcasts and coverage of the Olympics time and times again. For one thing, they act as if there aren’t other athletes and countries participating in the Olympics other than Americans. Yes, it is important and necessary that a country high light and focus on it’s own athletes and representatives, but it is also important to take given time to high light the accomplishments of other athletes and countries.

      The United States embodies a very braggadocio approach in almost every situation and in common fashion regularly down plays other country’s athletes and put their own athletes on a towering pedestal of supreme greatness. Yes, Michael Phelps is indeed an outstanding and great athlete and has performed the unthinkable on countless occasions, but there are numerous other athletes who have waited their entire lives to perform on the Olympic stage and deserve their rightful moment of fame and glory. It seem like every single time I turn on the television or log onto the net I am bombarded with Michael Phelps Media. Michael Phelps this, Michael Phelps that, Michael Phelps here, Michael Phelps there…It’s as if NBC and the media are trying to permanently brand Michael Phelps into the minds of viewers and have them only remember him and his accomplishments and no one elses……It is all honestly really starting to get extremely annoying and redundant (I bet even Michael Phelps himself is tired of all the hype and would like some breathing space).

      Secondly, the 2008 Olympic Games are taking place in Beijing, China which is 1 days times ahead of the United States, which then means that almost all of the Olympic Coverage we see on NBC (who owns the Olympic Broadcasting Rights) has already taken place, been recorded and then re-broadcasted here in the United States. So NBC purposely decides to show us what they want when they want and I find this to be highly unfair and inappropriate. How is it that NBC will have Live Coverage of a Swimming race that lasts 15 minutes long, but not show (at a respectable time of day) recorded Track & Field Events that last only a mer 10 seconds each…??? I waited all day to watch the Men’s 100 Meter Heats and Final, and along that wait I must have seen Michael Phelps at least 50 times both in broadcasts and commercials…I sat through entire medal ceremonies of Bronze Medal American Athletes (particularly swimming), saw cameras focused sharply on American Athletes who didn’t even win their events placing in third, fourth, fifth and below, or even qualify for final events (cough, Tyson Gay…) etc, etc. But couldn’t catch one glimpse of the Medal Ceremony for the World’s Fastest Man Usian Bolt, or many other events where the Unites States did not win. But NBC and a host of fans, athletes, representatives and supporters don’t see anything wrong with this…………..Who knows………Maybe it’s just me…………….

The Ugly:

      Some things just never change and it seems like the “Pants Hanging Below Butt” trend will never remove itself from our society. It is totally disgusting to see males of all ages and races walk around with their pants hanging below their butts in a bold fashion statement supposedly said to be considered as “cool”……(Shaking my head) It is really a sickening sight and very disappointing. 

      However, authorities (particularly those of Flint, Michigan, and places in Atlanta and New Jersey, etc.) have also been growing tired of this ridiculous disease like trend and have set new laws into place in hopes of cracking down upon and putting an end to sagging pants.

From: The Fashion eZine

TRENTON, N.J. – It’s a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle – low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law, including a stint in jail.

Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 (U.S.) fine. A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta. And in Trenton, N.J., getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed.

“Are they employed? Do they have a high school diploma? It’s a wonderful way to redirect at that point,” said Trenton Councillor Annette Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw saggy pants. “The message is clear: We don’t want to see your backside.”

The bare-your-britches fashion is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates aren’t given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 1980s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then went on to skateboarders in the suburbs and high school hallways.

“For young people, it’s a form of rebellion and identity,” Adrian “Easy A.D.” Harris, 43, a member of the Bronx’s legendary rap group Cold Crush Brothers. “The young people think it’s fashionable. They don’t think it’s negative.”

But those who want to stop them see it as an indecent, sloppy trend that is a bad influence on children.

“It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids,” said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councillor. “Teachers have raised questions about what a distraction it is.”

In Atlanta, a law has been introduced to ban sagging and punishment could include small fines or community work – but no jail time, Martin said.

The penalty is stiffer in Delcambre, La., where in June the town council passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months.

At Trenton hip-hop clothing store Razor Sharp Clothing Shop 4 Ballers, shopper Mark Wise, 30, said his jeans sag for practical reasons.

“The reason I don’t wear tight pants is because it’s easier to get money out of my pocket this way,” Wise said. “It’s just more comfortable.”

Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton’s proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks.

“Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?” Murray asked. “They’re stereotyping us.”

The American Civil Liberties Union agrees.

“In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling,” said Benetta Standly of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. “It’s going to target African-American male youths. There’s a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed.” (The Fashion Ezine)

 

Ben Schmitt, Free Press Staff Writer says, “Flint Police Chief David Dicks has said he will not back down from his policy of filing disorderly conduct or indecent exposure charges against those whose saggy pants allow too much underwear or their bottoms to show on city streets (see diagram, above).”

 

 

“It took Pleasure to make me and Pain to give birth to me…” - Kev

“It’s easy to conform to a double-bind, right…???

    

Playboy

Essence

XXL

      Maybe I should start by delving into the Magazine culture of America and taking a closer look at some of the messages delivered (both subliminal and obvious) and their meanings, motives and goals of magazine companies, and the effects these aspects (along with others) have on our shape-shifting society…

      The year 1731 marked the introduction of magazines into society where The Gentlemen’s Magazine, has stolen the title of “The first general interest magazine”. Founded in London by Edward Cave in January of 1731, the original complete title was The Gentleman’s Magazine: or, Trader’s Monthly Intelligencer. Wikipedia sources state that Cave’s innovative and original idea was to construct a monthly digest of news and commentary on any topic that the educated public would be interested in. It was equipped and packed with original content from a source of regular contributors, along with a variety of extensive quotes and extracts from books and other periodicals. Edward Cave edited The Gentleman’s Magazine under the pen name ‘Sylvanus Urban’, and was the first to ever use the term ‘magazine’; which meant ‘storehouse’, for a periodical. As time progressed, journalists, editors, organizations and industries have run with Caves idea and in many ways changed what a magazine is and the purpose it most commonly serves today.

      Today’s magazines are flooded and filled with inconsistencies and/or contradictions that exist in dominant cultural messages associated to addressing gender, gender identity and expectations, men’s or women’s social and sexual roles, and beauty or body norms. Above all, a great amount of pressure is placed upon men and women by society to live up to an almost impossible double-bind.

      Eat All You Want and Still Stay Lean and Fit, 10 Ways to Meet You Perfect Mate, Fashion Does and Don’t; these are just some of the ideal headlines used in magazines today with the purpose of luring in readers and bestowing upon readers the definition of what it means to be that perfect person and how they should go about reaching this goal. This then also implies that the reader may in fact not meet the certain standard of today’s society and their self-esteem is stimulated as they flip from one page to the next. There are even certain instances where words do not even have to be used; as striking images hit viewers with strong messages both obvious and subliminal; from women (and recently also men) being viewed as sex objects to the portrayals of the ideal ‘standard’ figure of one’s body. This then links to the plausible claim that “the body is a surface upon which culture is written.”

      Magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Maxim show unrealistically slim and trim women with long hair, and radiant skin as the epitome of women which leaves female viewers who don’t meet any of those standards feeling unworthy and men seeking to attain one of these women as a prominent goal in life. Readers are enticed to become comfortable with themselves by submitting to the changing of their character and appearance whilst being urged to transform the self, by emulating others, or getting what they don’t already have. With everyone being pressured into achieving this standard, what is to be said about those who are unable to do so? Are they cast out of the norm or not looked at as highly or worthy as those who do suit the standard, and are they not worthy of attaining happiness in life?

      Countless mixed messages are presented consistently leaving individuals at a fleeting fork in the road. Magazines provide information on thrift and saving whilst contradicting them selves later on by insisting that one indulge. Men and women are equally targeted where as women are told to be empowered, yet are still disempowered by magazine ads, and men are pushed to earn the title of being a ‘real man’. Magazines encourage conformity to external regulations and create an embattled relationship with the self rather than providing adequate support for one’s self-esteem based on the fact that everyone is in there own way different, unique and beautiful whether it be inside or out.

      Messages regarding ones individual, economical, and idealistic freedom or self-expression are weakened or contradicted by other messages about conformity to a mass ideal of beauty standards, economic essentials, and traditional non-political or power wielding roles for women where gender is portrayed in the ‘natural beauty’ trend (especially in instances where so much is ‘unnatural’ or ‘fake’). Polished females are depicted to represent the ideal female, yet on the other hand women are coached into making themselves prettier or more presentable by not wearing as much make up or polishing them selves up, when in fact the very women that they are looking at in the magazines are themselves polished. These messages most certainly carve out for women the difficult work of “looking like you didn’t work at it.”  The Magazine’s definition of natural beauty most certainly strays from the sole meaning of the word ‘natural’ in that something that is natural is not artificial or imitated.

      Susan Bordo’s, The Male Body uncovers the many forms of male depiction within magazines, media and advertisements. According to Bordo, until recently have men ever been portrayed as sexual objects like women have over the years. Men were never before allowed to be viewed or looked at, but instead be the viewer(s). Magazines now display men in little clothing posing with either masculine or feminine under tones in order to attract both men and women. Advertisers formulated a genius plan that has gone undetected by depicting men with more feminine characteristics such as being slimmer and more boyish looking.

“At the same time however, my gaze is invited by something “feminine” about the young men. His underwear may be ripped, but ever so slightly, subtly; unlike the original ripped-wear poster boy Kowalski, he’s hardly a thug. He doesn’t stare at the viewer challengingly, belligerently, as do so many models in other ads for male underwear, facing off like a street tough passing a member of the rival gang on the street”  (Bordo).

      This allows for both homosexuals and heterosexuals to continue buying products from that particular store or manufacturer with out them losing customers.

      Magazines have been transformed so much to the extent that they are now no longer centered on the original idea formulated by Edward Cave. No longer are magazines solely monthly digests of news and commentary on any topic that the educated public would be interested in; but are instead advertising powerhouses with an extremely manipulating force that plays on an individual’s self-esteem and rearranges wants and needs. People are rarely presented with real solutions and ideas, but rather with fantasy driven ideals which in reality almost never play out to be true. Playboy Magazine’s regular subscribers have a total annual salary that is roughly below 40,000 dollars, yet they have numerous advertisements of high end electronics, cars, and cloths that these readers would never be able to afford. Do readers, advertisers, and magazine publishers really see nothing wrong with this contradiction?

      Overall, one could argue that the main problem that causes these paradoxes is the fact that people have a difficult time contemplating and relating to the solid differences between fantasy and reality. Instead of providing a sense of reality to the public that can secure meaning and values that are relevant to one’s natural life, people are encouraged to fantasize and seek unattainable goals. All people have been created to be individual standards and unique beings rather than a population that must fit into a certain standard that weeds out those who do not conform or fit in. Fantasy is what people ‘want’, but reality is what they ‘need’.

“It took Pleasure to make me and Pain to give birth to me…” – Kev