Social Media Update

I get these e-mails about Public Relations issues and trends from PRSA, so I thought I would share some of them with you. There was this one article about teenagers and twittering. According to a Morgan Stanley analyst “teenagers aren’t using twitter.” The basis of this statement comes from the company’s 15 year old intern who says that, “[teenagers] resent intrusive advertising on billboards, television and the Internet and they are willing to chase content and music across platforms and devices such as mobile phones and Apple Inc.’s IPod. They do not listen to the radio, preferring music Websites that stream music for free and allow them to choose their songs. They are “very reluctant” to pay for music and 80 percent download it illegally. Most have never bought a CD”. Now, this really isn’t a study as only one teenager was involved, but is this true? My friends and I all use twitter, I can’t think of very many people who haven’t at least opened an account, but I wonder if we still fit into the “teenager” category. The report said that “teenagers don’t use Twitter, the short-form Web messaging service…they realize that their ‘tweets’ are pointless as no one is viewing their profile.” But isn’t that the point? I am in college and I think twitter is primarily popular in college and the business world. But that’s how Facebook started out. Only college students used it; it took a while before High School teenagers joined, but they did join.

I still enjoy old fashioned advertising on billboards and television, but I do resent some overly intrusive internet advertisements, I think those drive everyone crazy. Most of my friends and I still listen to the radio and we still buy CD’s or at least remember buying CD’s. It’s hard to think that there is a generation below ours that won’t even remember the time before the internet boom. I mean I can remember the first day I signed on to the World Wide Web; it took about a half an hour, and we couldn’t use our phone while we used the internet. Now it seems like kids are born with cell phones in their hands that have internet access built in. Public Relations is definitely changing quickly, and with the technological advances, it divides markets up even more. High school students are vastly different than college students, who are vastly different than college graduates who are vastly different than college graduates with a stable career… The way each group uses social media is so diverse that we need to hear from members of each to understand their trends.
See the entire article here http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aG2UIb23pNQ0

I also found this statement to be interesting: “Public relations students can write like advertisers or marketers, but advertisers and marketers cannot write like public relations practitioners." It was written by Jarrett Cocharo, a senior at the University of Alabama and the PRSA summer intern. I was thinking about this and I suppose it’s true. My major at Chapman University is Public Relations and Advertising. Usually students in that major at Chapman pick either one as their emphasis. I have been struggling to figure out which one I want to focus on. Right now, I am leaning towards PR. It just seems so much more broad. This statement reinforced that. I mean, someone who only studied advertising would definitely not be able to work in the PR field. They wouldn’t even know the first thing about writing a press release. But advertising is something that public relations practitioners may utilize sometimes. Copy writing can be used for both, but press releases are only used for PR. Cocharo also stressed that it is important that PR students build an online identity with Facebook, twitter, and Linkedin (I just opened a LinkedIn account after reading that.) PR and Ad is an increasingly attractive career path, making it more competitive with each year. To stay ahead of the game these things are just the essentials.
Read the entire post here http://www.prssa.org/blog/?p=224

Social media is at that the cornerstone of the field and sometimes I feel us students may be a little obsessed, it’s nice to see that we are on the right path after reading articles like Cocharo’s. It’s also important to put things in perspective by seeing articles like the one from Morgan Stanley.

"Royal Pains" Is No Pain To Watch

Royal Pains is the new television show on the USA Network that airs Thursdays at 10pm. It follows highly successful New York Doctor Hank Lawson after he is fired from his position for treating a dying child over a billionaire benefactor of the hospital. He and his accountant brother, Evan, take a trip to the Hamptons and find themselves permanent residents as the area's concierge doctor service. Pretty much they make house calls whenever one of the Hampton’s billionaires has a stomach ache. His brother becomes the CFO for the newly launched Hank Med Company.

Mark Feuerstein and Paulo Costanzo, who play Hank and Evan respectively, have both had unsuccessful runs on other television shows. Feuerstein with the short lived Good Morning, Miami, and Costanzo in the even shorter lived Friends spin off, Joey. But I have a feeling things are different this time. Royal Pains was the highest rated premiere on USA and its ratings are continuing to climb. It is currently the highest rated cable show, getting about six million viewers a week; more than any show on the CW gets. The success is the combination of the delightful writing and brilliant comedic timing and acting. Feuerstein plays Hank’s "medical MacGyver" persona perfectly and Costanzo is hilariously scene stealing as the goofy yet likable Evan. Evan is offset by the straight faced Divya, Hank’s Physician Associate, who leaches onto Hank Med after trying to start several unsuccessful concierge services.

Royal Pains is not just about helping the rich spoiled residents of the Hamptons but about helping the everyday person that lives there, too; the fisherman, the gardener, the dog walker. Jill Casey, Hank’s love interest and executive-level administrator at the Hamptons Heritage Hospital, wants to make sure these people do not get overlooked in regards to health care. Hank struggles between his want to help the helpless with Jill and his need to have a sustaining business. In last week’s episode, Jill offers Hank a position at the Hamptons Heritage, but that would mean he’d have to give up Hank Med, leaving Evan and Divya out of a job. He declines the position, “for now”.

Some of the best scenes of the series involve the exclusive clientele of Hank Med, many of whom reoccur throughout the series, much to the delight of the viewers. Teenage couple Tucker and Libby were “patients” of Hank in the first episode. Libby is a cyberchondriac, a hypochondriac that uses the internet to “self diagnose” herself, and Tucker is a wise cracking hemophiliac whose neglected by his rich father. Then there is “New Parts” Newberg; A middle-aged cosmetic surgery junkie whose new breast deflates in the first episode.

Royal Pains is a light hearted show that’s enjoyable to watch and doesn’t require you to know anything about medicine. Hank does make use of medical jargon, but because the surrounding characters have no idea what the hell he is talking about, the viewer can relate, creating hilarious situations and enjoyable dialogue.

***1/2 (3 and a half) stars out of 4

So.....

So I have a lot to talk about, but I’m going start by just a basic update. My family and I are on a vacation in Cambria, California. I’ll have a post up about that soon. It’s a place that’s just full of art, so hopefully I’ll get some pictures up for you. Last night was the Season Finale of Harper’s Island. In my previous review of it, I said that the ending would make or break the show. Unfortunately, I think it broke it. They revealed who John Wakefield’s accomplice was and the explanation for all of the killings, but that explanation seemed a little contrived, not to mention just plain creepy. I don’t want to spoil it in case people actually want to watch it, but it just wasn’t there for me. I was saying to myself, “13 episodes and this is all there is to it.” I kept waiting for more and nothing. I was expecting at least some kind of creepy twist in the last few minutes, but it was just a happy ending, well as happy as a horror show ending can get.

Things did get interesting over at Harper’s Globe, but not everything has been explained yet. I hope there is at least one more episode left of it, because if there isn’t, then it sucked harder than Harper’s Island did. BTW, if you live in the SLO area and you get KCOY 12, please write to them about getting their act together. Harper’s Island aired on this channel. The show before it ended and it went to black, HI started up and then about a minute in, commercials started airing again; about two minutes of the actual show were missed. This happened again toward the end of it,and I along with other viewers missed parts of the explanation. C’mon KCOY, even you have to know how unprofessional that looked.

Anyway, my friend Gina made a comment on a my previous post about NYC Prep saying that it looks like a Gossip Girl reality show. And it is. Bravo seemed to try really hard to cast a group of teenagers that emulate those on the CW show, however, I wouldn’t call it reality. I’m sure some parts may be “real” but I have a feeling that the producers egg on the rich teens on several occasions. And even if they don’t, the editors do a pretty good job at manipulating events and creating storylines. They do this the most in the advertising of the show. For last Tuesday’s episode, they advertised by showing people at a funeral with Kelly saying, “I didn’t want her to die” and PC with a “male friend” in Cancun revealing that he may be bisexual. Well the funeral was for a family’s dog, and PC’s friend was making a joke to flirt with two bikini clad girls. Is the show real? no; entertaining? yes.

Gina also mentioned how she would like to get into True Blood. I would too, but I haven’t had a chance to watch it. I think I’ll watch the first season; I’ll let you all know when I do. I have a few posts about other summer shows to come, so stay tuned.

Criminals With Style

John Dillinger was a bank robber in the 1930s. Considered as a hero to many Americans, he orchestrated at least two dozen bank robberies, two police station robberies, and two prison breaks during the Great Depression. The film Public Enemies directed by Michael Mann depicts the legend and time period with Johnny Depp playing Dillinger. Christian Bale plays FBI agent Melvin Purvis, who after running down and killing Pretty Boy Floyd (played by Channing Tatum, more of a cameo than an actual role) is promoted by J. Edgar Hoover to hunt down America’s Public Enemies. Public Enemy #1 is Dillinger, and the film follows this cat and mouse type chase, with Dillinger continuing to rob banks and escape Purvis.

The acting in the film is amazing. Depp does a great job in the film which will most likely warrant him an Oscar nod come next year. I loved Marion Cottillard as Dillinger’s girlfriend Billie Frechette. You may not know who Cottillard is, but I think you will soon. She’s the French actress that won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in La Vie En Rose. I think she will be nominated again. In addition to the great acting was a stellar set design. The viewer is immersed into the time and period. The careful use of mise en scene is impressive. Mann never focuses on the set as many historical films do. It is just there, but cannot be missed. Mann did his research too, not only on the locations, but the story itself. At some points it feels as though the audience is watching raw footage taken at the actual time. Depp even has a strong resemblance to Dillinger and the costumes complete the verisimilitude.

The film however is scattered with no clear focus. It’s not just about Dillinger, it’s about the other public enemies, it’s about Purvis, it’s about J. Edgar Hoover, it’s about Billie, it’s about the crime systems of that time. It is repeated that Dillinger is considered a public hero, but I never saw that; it took place in the Great Depression, but I never saw any indication of economic troubles which was the reason Dillinger began to rob banks; It is revealed in the end credits that Purvis later kills himself, implying that he was tortured by his killings of the public enemies, however I feel like there wasn’t enough character development to indicate this torture. The character I felt like I knew the nest was Billie, due to a clever and well done motif utilizing the song “Bye Bye Blackbird”.

I haven’t really seen a lot of crime dramas, maybe if I had and was a fan of the genre, I would have looked pass these flaws. It is a good film, but there are parts that just seem to drag on and I didn’t really get in to the story until the third act. The ending is well done and satisfying, so are the shootout and prison break scenes. I do have to say that criminals of that day had style. Not only in clothing but in the way they operated, loyalty ruled and being a gentleman was key. American criminals today like Bernie Madoff could learn a thing or two from Dillinger and his accomplices.

I give this film ***(3) out of four stars

Happy Belated Birthday America!

It’s a little late, but Happy Fourth Of July! When I was younger I used to enjoy watching the 4th Of July programs on TV. There’s the Capitol Fourth on KCET, Boston Pops on CBS, Macy’s Fireworks show on NBC, and the Ford’s Theater program on ABC. Well the Ford’s one has been permanently canceled and the other programs have been shortened and are much less entertaining. I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting older, but there have to be better acts than the Sesame Street characters, a lip syncing Barry Manilow, and poorly edited shots of fireworks. The highlight was the cast of Jersey Boys performing on the Capitol Fourth, but that was about it. I also just find having a European host a US Independence Day program or having a British singer perform is a little odd. The Boston Pops was hosted by Craig Ferguson, his third year doing so. He did become a US citizen last year, but two years ago when he began hosting, he wasn’t. Natasha Bedingfield performed at A Capitol Fourth, it was strange, but what was stranger was her duet with one of the Sesame Street puppets. She has a nice voice, the puppet didn’t, and unfortunately the puppet seemed to be trying to sing louder than Bedingfield, making the performance obnoxious. My advice, skip these programs and go to a local event or just watch a movie to celebrate, that’s what I ended up doing.

Surfing In The Summer (Channel Surfing That Is)

So, I love Television, but I haven’t gotten to watch very much of it during college. Well, it’s summer now, and I’ve been surfing the channels to let you know what shows you should be watching. My favorite show of the summer right now is Harper’s Island. It airs Saturday nights at 9 on CBS. I know, TV on a Saturday, that’s usually reserved for SNL and a repeat of a Law and Oder or CSI, but Harper’s Island can be watched online at CBS.com. Harper’s Island is in fact a murder mystery show, extremely fictional, but mildly entertaining. I heard about this show last summer when it was in development. It was advertised saying that each week at least one or more characters would die and they didn’t disappoint. In last week’s episode five people were killed, and in the eleven episodes that have aired more than thirty people have died at the mercy of the Harper’s Island writers. The show follows good girl Abby, who left Harper’s Island after her mother was murdered seven years ago by the island’s resident serial killer, John Wakefield. Her mother wasn’t the only one, Wakefield murdered several other locals and strung them high up on the trees of the island’s forests.

Abby for some reason decided to come back to the island after seven years. Why? Well, first off she seeks to mend her strained relationship with her father, the Sheriff who supposedly shot and killed Wakefield years ago. And second she’s there to attend the wedding of her best friend Henry to rich princess Trish Wellington. The show started out slow. Seemingly unimportant events happened as you waited to see who would kick the bucket each week as well as try to find obscure clues as to who the killer is. Apparently, now there are two killers, one has been revealed, the other is still out there. The show really depends on its ending. If the explanation for all of the murders is good enough, then the show will be known as a great cult TV show, if not, it will fade away as a “oh remember that one show about that island, it had that horribly bad ending?”

Honestly the show’s not that great, but it’s the entire story that makes it interesting. Part of that story is the online viral marketing that was implemented to “enhance” the viewing of the show. Harper’s Globe is the online show, which unfortunately is faster-paced, more intriguing, and more suspenseful than the show itself. It follows Robin Matthews, a seemingly good girl with a dark past, who was brought to the island to create an online community for the town’s newspaper Harper’s Globe. She creates a myspace type environment, where you can post pictures and videos. Robin posts videos periodically and so do a few other members. The videos that they post, however, seem to bring up horrible memories that Robin has tried to escape from. Her video posts as well as the others are edited nicely each week to create the online series which you can watch at harpersglobe.com. If you haven’t watched either Harpers Island or Harpers Globe it’s not too late. The show is on hiatus this Saturday because of the fourth of July, but will return next Saturday with its two hour series’ finale. You have about a week and a half to get caught up. The Harper’s Globe episodes range from three to six minutes, so if you’re curious or just bored, watch those instead of the show and read the Harper’s Island Wikipedia page to fill in the blanks.

I give Harper’s Island alone ** (2) out of for stars
I give Harper’s Island with Harper’s Globe *** (3) out of fours stars

On to my next new show, NYC Prep which airs Tuesdays at 9 on Bravo. I never thought that I would learn anything from a show about a bunch of rich, spoiled, prep kids from New York City, but I did learn one thing; That “prep school kids are so much different than public school kids”, as was repeated every ten minutes of the show. But they were right, I mean they go to parties; that’s just crazy, and what do they do at these parties? They talk and dance. Oh, and in last night’s episode PC goes on a blind date. I mean, only Prep school kids could do that. They drink, they do drugs, and they shop. If only us public school kids could do all that. If you haven’t caught on, I’m being sarcastic. The only difference I really see is that prep kids feel the need to state that there is a difference. And maybe in a sense there is; they’re all filthy rich. There it is, it has nothing to so with what they do that makes a difference, it’s what their parents have done, or earned that makes them different than public school kids. Regardless, I still watch the show. Sometimes it’s good to watch reality shows like this, I can vent my “this is what’s wrong with America’s youth” anger. It’s sad that I’m only 19 and I’m saying that. But now that I’m older than all of the kids on these shows, it makes me so glad that I am no longer in high school. These kids think that they are more mature because they have been privileged. Throwing water bottles at your friends and calling people bitches for no reason is not maturity. Are these kids delusional? Yes, but it’s just fun to watch this and laugh at how ridiculously spoiled all of these kids sound. Maybe it’s jealously; of course I would love to live in NYC, but think of all the connections I could make. NYC is the Public Relations and Advertising capital of the country. I would probably have a job already at a highly ranked firm or agency. Of course that’s how I think, these kids don’t think at all.

I give this show **1/2 (2 and a half) out of 4 stars.

Shakespeare Never Sounded So Good

It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve never heard of the movie Were The World Mine, directed by Tom Gustafson. After all it is considered a gay cinema film, and was never released in mainstream theaters, but I am sure you heard the play that inspired the film, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Were The World Mine takes place at a high school and it is a musical, but I promise you, it bears no resemblance to the better known yet significantly inferior High School Musical. Were The World Mine follows gay teenager Timothy (The likeable Tanner Cohen) who attends an all boy’s school in a small town. I don’t think I have to tell you how he is treated in that specific environment.

He is however accompanied by his two friends Frankie (Zelda Williams, yes that’s Robin William’s Daughter) and Max (Ricky Goldman). Frankie and Max are kind of dating, but not really. Anyway, Timothy has a crush on the hunky rugby star of his school, Jonathan (Nathaniel David Becker). The movie begins with the boys at Timothy’s high school playing dodge ball. As a ball comes directly toward Timothy’s head, he slips into a musical daydream, as the boys dance in a surreal fashion. The film blurs the line between reality and fantasy. It seems as though the musical numbers all occur in Timothy’s mind but they directly move the plot forward to give the entire film a dreamlike feel. After Timothy comes back to reality, the dodge ball hits him in the head giving him a black eye; something his mom, Donna (Judy McLane), doesn’t like as she believes he got it by being beat up for being gay. She’s had a hard time accepting it, as she tells Timothy, “Every single day I come out of the closet just like you”.

Timothy’s eccentric teacher, Ms. Tebbit (The elegant Wendy Robie) chooses A Midsummer’s Night Dream as the Spring Play. Being an all boy’s school, all the parts will be played by male students, something that the close-minded rugby coach doesn’t agree with, even though as Ms. Tebbit says, in “Shakespeare’s day only men were allowed to take the Elizabethan stage, women were forbidden.” Timothy is cast in the part of Puck, and as he is practicing his lines, finds the secret recipe for Cupid’s magic love Juice; The pansy Puck uses to make people fall in love in the play. After he accidently uses it on Max, he uses it on Jonathan… and uses it on the rest of his school. Boys start to fall in love with other boys, which of course can’t happen. Jonathan thinks he’s in love with Timothy, but Max does too. Frankie who wants a relationship with Max is furious at Timothy for what he did; he claims he will fix it. Why should he though, things are going great for Timothy and Jonathan. But as all of the character sing, “The course of true love never did run smooth.”

The music of Were The World Mine is haunting and inspiring at the same time. Most of the lyrics come straight from the lines of the Shakespeare play. Not an original idea, but if executed well it can be beautiful, and that is the case with this film. There are some flaws in the film; The first act is way too long and the ending is rushed (most likely because it was adapted from a short film titled Fairies) but if you have an hour and a half, follow this link here, http://www.novamov.com/video/4a327c4764298, and watch it. Some of the scenes drag on and the dialogue at times is contrived, but it’s cute, fun, imaginative, and to some a dream come true. I mean who wouldn’t want the chance to make whoever they could fall in love with them?

I give this film *** (3) out of 4 stars

I'm Back

So I haven't blogged in a while. I was thinking about what I wanted the focus of my blog to be about. I thought it would allow me to consistently have blog posts of if I have a purpose here. I love art, music, entertainment and I feel that all of those things inspire and are inspired by life itself. So I think I will be mostly reviewing movies, TV shows, books, art exhibits, restaurants, and whatever I feel and then somehow relate that to the normalities of life. Thoughts?

Death: An Enigmatic Occurrence

Last week marked the year anniversary of a devastating event that shattered the lives of the students and faculty at my high school. Several students had been driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, drunk, at speeds close to 90mph. They hit the side of the road and their car spun out of control, flipped, and crashed. I remember going to school that morning; only hearing about a horrible car crash on the news. The realization came that the people in the car were students from my high school once I got there that day. We watched the news, only to hear that the driver had died, and it was unknown what the fate of the other passengers were. Tears, sorrow, grief filled the room, the school. That day was silent, quiet; just an unspoken common acknowledgement of what had happened. It was heard that one of the passengers went into a coma. The others survived but were injured. A simple mistake, but there it was. Our school was a media frenzy that day; news reporters were circling the school. The event became just another statistic to the arrogant police chief who was more than happy to use it as a shameless way to spread the "problem of teenagers" on the news.

Sensitivity seems to escape those on the outside looking in. There was a candlelight vigil for the driver that night. I watched the news: one reporter said that they wanted to respect the privacy of the students and wouldn't ask for comments from them. I later found out from another student that the same reporter had been harassing students for comments, none would, and our principal had to ask him to leave. Other reporters were shoving cameras into students' crying faces. Everyone had an opinion about what happened: everywhere from "it was an unnecessary tragedy" to "they deserved it". It didn't matter though what it was. It was there, and it affected our lives.

I bring this up, because this past week, one year from that accident, a student who graduated from my high school a few years ago crashed on a street not far from my house and died. I can never hear a story about someone dying without me being affected by it; especially those who die young. I don't know why. I guess I always think that it could be me. Maybe not in the crash that happened last year because even if I were to drink, I would never drink and drive. But that doesn't protect me from being hit by a drunk driver, like the Anaheim Angel's pitcher, Nick Adenhart, and his three friends, Courtney Stewart, Henry Pearson, and Jon Wilhite, this past week. In fact, it almost did happen. Just a few months ago, my friends and I were driving and we were going through an intersection, the light was green, everything was fine. Suddenly a speeding car comes through the intersection headed for our car, I was in the back right seat, and my friend was in the front passenger side, the car came from the right; the two of us were in panic thinking it was going to hit us. My other friend who was driving didn't notice, which was a good thing; if she had, she probably would have braked and the car would have plowed into us. It just missed our car, we were lucky. Some aren't.

Why though? Does luck have anything to do with it? I mean Death can be so random; it is the reverberating effect of the very fabric of life itself. Are events ever just coincidental or part of a greater enigmatic design, unknown to anyone except for the very force controlling the universe? I guess we’ll never really know for sure. Do I just keep on living knowing that death is imminent, I guess I have to, but do I live in fear or live in joy, or neither. Where does death bring us, why does it happen? I guess it gives life meaning, but what is that meaning for? Do we live to die or die to live?

NPHS Art Show

Today I went to my High School's annual art show. Seeing as my University is on spring break, I thought I would attend. I was a participant in the art show last year, a requirement for IB art candidates. You see, at my high school, Newbury Park, we have the International Baccalaureate program, which is like AP, but different, I guess. Anyway, as part of the program, all IB art students have to display their work in an art show. Last year, we had to produce 12 pieces of detailed art work, and fill about 50 pages of sketchbook, with well documented and intricately detailed notes/sketches of our artisitc journey, all of which must be centered around a theme. My theme was art in an urban setting. I slaved away all last year to display that work, labor that payed off as I passed the IB test and gained college credit in the process.

This year's show seemed a little different from the one I was in. For starters, there were a lot fewer students who participated, about 20 fewer to be exact. To fill in the extra space of the exhibition, which was held in the school's cafeteria, the work of AP photography students was displayed. Such was the case last year, however there were less previously than there were tonight. Regardless, much of the artwork was superb. I find that young artist's seem to have the most innivation and creativity in regards to visual arts; fresh ideas are floating around.

I did find that last year's work had more innovation to it, with students turning the flats the art was displayed on into installation art pieces themselves, me being one of them. A girl brought in squares of grass from a home and garden store to add to her collage/ instant art display (which included a peice of work she through a raw egg at). One student through trash all over the ground in front of his flat which was focused on recylable art. Another hung music notes above her flat, for her artwork was based after famous lines from popular songs.

The art this year wasn't bad, one of my favorite pieces however was the callaborative exquisite corpse piece shown to the right. Exquisite corpse is an art "game", if you will, where one artist starts the peice and passes it to the next artist, creating an eclectic work of art.

I think it was just a little weird to be back at my high school. I mean, I feel like coming to college, I've let that part of my life go. That it's part of my past now. I feel like I so badly wanted to escape the daily routines of high school, of my family, of my life, but I am constanlty pulled back into that world...that world that I worked so hard to escape. I also feel like, in a sense, that I no longer belong. I don't know, it's almost like I miss certain parts, but those aren't found when I try to go back. Maybe I just need to keep lookimg. Anyway, the art show is all this week, if you're around Newbury Park, then check it out.

Spring Awakening!

So I had started this blog on Wordpress a while ago and never kept up with it, here is one post from it, enjoy:


First off I want to say that no words can truly describe the experience Of Spring Awakening. I saw it in November and it was an amazing show. There is just something that’s bugging me. I’ve been wanting to see this musical since I found out about it a year and a half ago. I first discovered it by a happy accident. I was home sick one day and flipping through the channels. I changed it to MTV where it was showing one its attempts at airing actual music videos. They general have one of their VJ’s hosting it, but they had a special episode where the cast of Spring Awakening was taking over the show. They showed a brief clip of "My Junk" and I was in awe. The cast was all young, some were my age and they were singing about things that I was actually going through. After I got over the initial amazement, I went to the computer to look up what I thought the name was. Sure enough I found the web sight. In it they had a music video for "The Bitch Of Living" which I watched, and the complete "Totally F*cked" song. Just the pure shamelessness of the song’s names immediately gravitated me towards the musical.

As I got my brother to enjoy this newfound obsession, we listened to the soundtrack. Since then, I have read the reviews and the complete summary of the show. I knew everything about it and I hadn’t even seen it. I was excited for the 2007 Tony’s for it was nominated for 11 awards, including Best Musical. I was waiting to see the performance and even taped it. I watched that over and over again for a few weeks. Anyway, it won and I knew I had to see this thing. When I found out at the end of the school year that it was going on tour and would be coming to a theater in LA (The Ahmanson) that I had been to before, I was ecstatic. My brother and I begged our parents to go see it. After they heard from a friend how good it was, they decided they wanted to see it too. My dad bought the tickets in August and I waited until Thanksgiving Break to see it.

We got to the theater early and waited. I get bad anxiety, and for some reason I was extremely anxious, my heart was pounding. I realized that I had extremely high expectations for the show. When I heard that the person playing Melchior was being replaced by the understudy I got even more nervous, “Would this be as good as I thought it would?” I asked myself. The cast came out and the sound department made some kind of mistake and my heart sunk, would this seem professional with the young cast? But as the show went on my doubts went away. The music to me is haunting and inspiring. It’s contemporary style, the product of the brain behind the operation, Duncan Sheik, resonates so well with the youth of today. The set and costume design as well as the choreography all add to the fluidity and movement of the play. Spring Awakening was based after a 1890s German play by the same name. Obviously, it was highly controversial and criticized for it portrayal of sexual discovery, abuse, homosexuality, rape, abortion, and various other themes, elements, and plot devices that were seen as obscenities at that time and place. Even today some of its themes are taboo. A story where teenage sexual awakening is shown in a tasteful manner is rare, but Spring Awakening achieves it. I also strongly agree with the messages the play displays. As a strong child advocate, I feel that America needs to reform it sexual education. First parents need to have open discussions with their kids. In Spring Awakening, the character of Wendla asks her mom where babies come from. Her mom tells a lie saying that a woman gets pregnant when she truly loves her husband. This results in Wendla unknowingly making love and getting pregnant. She asks her mother why she never told the truth and is replied with a slap in the face by her mother. After this she arranges for Wendla to have an abortion, Wendla dies during the operation.

Sexually repressed Germany can still be seen in America today. The themes of the musical, as well as the messages it sends should not be taken likely by the audience. Teaching "abstinence only" is not enough, and not teaching children about sex is just plain irresponsible, even though it still happens today. As one starts puberty, undeniable and inevitable changes occur. Urges arise that cannot be stopped. Though religious fanatics and conservative parents would rather ignore this, it does happen. Teenagers are going to have sex. Something needs to be done to prevent the consequences. Ignoring it and teaching abstinence is not going to make it go away.

With that all said, the musical did reach my expectations. I would have liked to have seen the original cast, for they are who I was familiar with, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. The thing that’s bugging me is that it’s over. I saw it and that’s it. There’s nothing more to it. Since it ended its run on Broadway in January, I don’t know if I will ever get the chance to see it again. I feel like there is more to it, and maybe there is, I just have to find it.

What am I doing?

Sometimes I wonder what I’m doing. Not in the moment, but what I’m doing with a situation, an event, an idea. What have I gotten myself into pops into my head again and again. I always make things harder for me than they have to be. It’s easier to lie than to tell the truth. Easier to deny what has happened than to explain what has. It’s not, but I feel like it is… easier. Sometimes I can’t control it. It’s like a wave is crashing over me, the immovable rock. I lie before I have a chance to even realize the truth. But once the lie is told it becomes the truth in my mind. Am I a pathological liar? I don’t think so, rather a convenient liar. I lie when it suits me, when it gets me out of trouble. Yes, it’s a lot of work but I get a strange sadistic pleasure from doing it. Once the lie has run its course, the relief I gain is so powerful, that I guess I don’t mind the pain caused during the lie itself. The pain, I mean, is guilt. I never make a lie that I know I can’t hold. I only make lies that keep me going in the moment. A lie about a homework assignment, about what I did in my free time, what I did at a party, what I’m going to do. Will it stop, I don’t know, but I don’t think it will. I don’t believe that honesty is the best policy. I think whoever truly believes that doesn’t fully comprehend the complexity of the human race. Which means that if god condemns it, well… I’ll leave it at that. Lying, bending the truth, they all can help people just as much as it can hurt. But again it’s not the lie that hurts, it’s the truth.

Twitter Anyone?

The new buzz word among college students and various adults seems to be Twitter. What is it you may ask? Twitter is a status. You say what you are doing or thinking. People can choose to follow you, and if they do, they will be updated everytime you post a new status. I heard about it because I am a Public Relations and Advertising student and utilizing social media to market is on the rise. I understand where it helps PR practitioners or advertisers. Let's say a reporter follows one of your clients, whether it be Barack Obama or Apple. You write in your status that a press conference is to be held, or a new product is going to be launched. The reporter immediately gets that information, allowing them to use it in a story. It can also promote a product, place, idea or person, to a direct audience. I get how that is useful. What I don't understand is how it helps an everyday college student. I mean Facebook has a status along with various other media, like pictures and videos. It also allows you to actully have a conversation with someone. Regardless, I admit that I have a twitter account. Do I use it, not really, but there it is. Anyway, this brings me to my first poll: Do you have a Twitter? Answer yes, no, or what the hell is twitter on the left.

The Happy Accident

Sometimes I just need to write my thoughts down. It's not enough for me just to think them, but to physically see them, to have others read them, and then to have other's thoughts to include my own; that makes me happy. If you stumble upon these very strange and unique combination of lines that I have created simply by pressing various plastic buttons on an electrical machine, I hope that it gives you not only something to think about but provides a Happy Accident for you as well.