Hell-oween

I loathe Halloween.  Maybe that's a little much, but it's really not my favorite "holiday."  I read a blog the other day referring to it as "Hell-oween," and I thought it captured my feelings perfectly.  So, here are some reasons why I think this is a pointless holiday:

1. I despise scary things (i.e., haunted houses).
2. Only fun if you have kids to dress up.
3. I don't trust people (i.e., drug-induced candy).
4. My dad always said it was "Satan's holiday," so that must have just been ingrained in me..
5. Trick-or-treaters (you need an income, this comes back to #2 - needing kids).
6. Parties (introvert much?).

Now, it is probably not "Satan's holiday," but here some Halloween History Facts for you:

• Dates back to the Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).
• The new year was celebrated on November 1, and it was believed that on the night before (October 31) that the worlds of the dead and living became blurred.
• On October 31, the people would gather together, build bonfires, and burn crops and animals as sacrifices to Celtic deities.
• Costumes were worn during their "festivities" (mainly saints, angels, and devils).
• It was believed that ghosts of family members returned on October 31, and the living thought this return made it easier for making predictions of the future.
• Basically, this was/is a holiday for the dead.

I won't keep going; by now it is crystal clear how I feel.  In short, my  feelings can be summed up with three things.

First, this quote (and clip, see left - watch it!) from the movie "Mean Girls":

"In 'Girl World,' Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it."

Second, watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," and "Hocus Pocus."  Lame?  Maybe so.  But I'm a simple person, and I don't need all the gimmicks of Halloween.  In all honesty, I just want Thanksgiving and Christmas to come.

Finally, my favorite Halloween tradition - "The Life and Death of a Pumpkin."  I know it is tad lengthy, but it is definitely worth your time!  Sorry to burst your bubble, Halloween, but you're just not my "cup of tea" as they say.  But for all of you Halloween-ers, dresser-upers, and trick-or-treaters out there, here is my treat for you...

Happy Hell-oween!!

Jennifer Garner: Permanent Baby Bump

A few weeks ago, I shared this article on Facebook that I had read about Jennifer Garner, and then we discussed it in class today!  It was one of the coolest things I have read in a long time; super humbling, and brutally honest.  Garner was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and Ellen didn't waste any time clearing up the rumors that Garner was pregnant - again.  Here is how the conversation went down:

"Supposedly...you have a baby bump," Ellen DeGeneres said. "So, I guess you're pregnant again?"

"I get congratulated all the time by people that I know, saying, 'I hear you're pregnant!' You know, this one woman who had babysat for us said, 'OMG! I can't wait for baby No. 4!' and I thought, 'What is going on?' So I asked around and apparently I have a baby bump. And I'm here to tell you that I do—I do!" the actress said as the audience erupted with applause. Garner left them hanging before admitting that she was only kidding. "Hold up. Hold right up! I am not pregnant, but I have had three kids and there is a bump," she said. "From now on ladies, I will have a bump. And it will be my baby bump. And let's just all settle in and get used to it. It's not going anywhere. I have a bump. Its name is Violet, Sam, Sera. Well, but I see you guys are really eager for us to pop out another one. Gosh, you're exhausting!"

DeGeneres told her guest, "You look fantastic and it really is crazy that people are looking for something and saying that you have a baby bump...Anyway, thanks for clearing it up. So, you will have a baby bump forever." Garner laughed and replied, "Yes, forever and ever." The host asked, "But not another baby?"

"No, just a bump," Garner reiterated.

HOW COOL IS THAT?!  I love Jennifer Garner, and I love and respect her so much more after reading about this.  She gave real insight to life after having children - no fluff, no lies, just the truth.  I just loved it so much that I thought I should share it with everyone.  If you have time, you should watch the clip from her interview below.

Share this!  We should all be this confident with our bodies and who we are - and we should be proud to be moms (or future moms).

Sources:

http://www.eonline.com/news/586421/jennifer-garner-s-baby-bump-is-not-going-away-plus-she-says-ben-affleck-s-penis-is-her-gift-to-you 

Child Porn Is Not So Bad

Many of us know John Grisham for his amazing crime novels.  However, last week he made a comment about how America is unjustly imprisoning too many people for viewing child pornography.  Basically, he was defending adults who view and/or download child pornography.  Grisham believes that viewing is not a crime, or as bad as, touching or molesting children.  If you LOOK but don't TOUCH you should not be punished.

You're joking, right?

Now maybe "viewers only" shouldn't be punished as harshly as those who are actually pedophiles (touching children as Grisham put it) - but the fact is this: viewing child pornography is a crime.  Children cannot consent to any kind of sexual act, be it photographs or sexual acts.  Children are not of legal age - including the 16 year old girls on the porn site he referred to in his interview (it doesn't matter if they look 30 or that they weren't 10 year old boys - because that would be the same thing).  It is simply against the law to view child pornography.

The definition of a pedophile is "a person who has a sexual interest in children."  It doesn't matter if you get drunk or are just bored or whatever your "excuse" may be.  If you happen to come across a child porn site and enter that site you are committing a crime.  It is even worse if you download those images, because you are more capable of printing and distributing those images.  IT IS A CRIME.  Oh, and it is a crime if you are white, black, Asian, Mexican - whatever!  Just because you are a 60 year old white man you think you should be exempt from punishment?

I was a huge fan of John Grisham.  He writes excellent books.  But I cannot dismiss the fact that he said what he said.  Just because you are a multi-milliondollar, lawyer, author, and 60 year old white man does not make you "holier than thou" in a sense.  A crime is a crime.

Needless to say, I don't think I will be reading another book from him..

What are your thoughts?  On this clip and this argument in general.  A clip from his interview is below; listen for yourself.

The Real Story?

Yesterday in BYU's newspaper, The Universe, an article was written entitled "Royal, Strong and 0-2."  My husband came and visited me for lunch yesterday, and he was reading this article.  After discussing it with him, I thought he made some pretty valid points.  There are some misleading statements in this article, and I wanted to address them since they are kind of media-related.

The first frustration with this article is this: the title was clearly written before the article!  The title doesn't match the message.  It is misleading on so many levels.  If you read this story, it contradicts itself.  Sterling Randle, the writer of this piece, was trying to play off of BYU's "Royal, Strong, and True."  Randle manipulated facts to meet his own story, and then buried the facts at the end.


Which leads me to frustration two: in journalism, writers use the inverted pyramid style.  What this means is the writer puts the most important information at the beginning of the article, that way, if cuts need to be made, the editor can cut from the bottom up.  The third to last paragraph is where the accurate statistics are.

I will end with this frustration: was this article supposed to be about the pants or about the jerseys?  Randle stated that BYU's football record wearing the royal blue jerseys is 0-2, but that is FALSE!!  BYU is 0-2 wearing all royal - royal jersey and royal pants (see picture to the right); they have a 2-2 record wearing their royal jersey and white pants (as shown in the picture above, left).

Okay, fine, one more - white is the official uniform, not an alternative!

Here is the link to the original article if you are interested:  Royal, strong and 0-2

And here is a question for all the readers out there: is this trend common in the media?  And if so, where and why?

AFSP Dating Profile

Alright, I may be doing a risky thing today, but I really am curious about what people think about this.  Last month, Americans for Shared Prosperity (AFSP) released the two ads below.  I think there is this unspoken rule about not getting into politics, but in all honesty, I believe these are statement ads.

So..  What do you think?  I know, I know, politics are a risky thing to get into anywhere - but I think this ad says a lot!  I don't care if you agree with it or not, I just want some of your opinions on it.  What do you think about it?  Is it accurate?  How does it make you feel?  Just some thoughts and insights would be nice.  Simple blog today, because I want to here from YOU.  Comment below.

Hump Day

I have been waiting for a good time to write this blog...

and today is the day!

Yes, everyone - today is hump day!  I had the idea to write this blog LONG ago, but then in my media class a few weeks ago we talked about advertising, and I knew that it was time.

In 2013, Geico aired their first "Hump Day" commercial.  Some have referred to this as a stroke of "social video genius" (Jarboe, 2013) while others have referred to it as "disruptive" (Wenzel and Lucey, 2013).  I can see both sides of the coin, but there is not arguing the fact this this commercial really captures the feeling that we all get on Wednesday.  Please, bask in the awesomeness of these commercials (see below).

Alright, alright!  Distracting.  But you feel better don't you?  I have more desire to get through my day, and the rest of the week, now.  Granted, it doesn't need to be said everyday, but on Wednesdays, yeah, I will gladly jump on that bandwagon.

Now, to get away from my personal opinion, I want to look at some of the statistics that were done after the ad was released.  Do you think this commercial helped or worked against Geico?

Figure 1.  Two weeks after the first ad aired, numbers were pulled.  This figure is in regards to peaks in shares since the ad launched.  David Waterhouse, Unruly's Head of Content and PR, provided Geico with the stats tot the left.  Waterhouse said this: "We pulled the data today, and to be honest, it's better than I though, with 67.3 percent of the 1.64 million shares it has attracted so far occurring on Wednesdays."  How crazy is that?!  A simple change in marketing and advertising strategies upped Geico's shares sold each week.

Figure 2.  Waterhouse also shared the graph to the left with Geico.  Each of the humps (or upward spikes) on the graph, are Wednesdays.  Isn't that awesome?!  The first thing that came to Waterhouse's mind when asked if this had ever happened before was Rebecca Black's "annoyingly-catchy music video 'Friday,'" (Jarboe, 2013).  Research in Google trends show that the web search interest in the keyword Wednesday peaks on Wednesday.  That same pattern applies to Friday or any other day of the week.  This truly was a stroke of genius.

The numbers and statistics may not interest you, but they do prove a point.  Advertising makes all the difference - especially in HOW it is done and WHEN it is done.  Some companies just wait around to "make it big" during the Superbowl (you know how famous those commercials and ads are!).  But this can give brands hope, I think.  I agree with Jarboe (2013) when he said that this ad was a stroke of genius.  Online video shares increased, shares sold increased, and more customers were buying during the week (Wednesday).  Coincidence?  I think not.  Genius is what this is.  Take a look at the ad below if you don't believe me yet.

I'll even admit that I have Geico auto insurance.  Maybe not because of this ad, but I'll jump on the Geico bandwagon.

Sources:

• Jarboe, G. (2013, July 24). GEICO Hump Day Commercial Dominates Social Video, At Least on Wednesdays. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2284622/GEICO-Hump-Day-Commercial-Dominates-Social-Video-At-Least-on-Wednesdays 
• Wenzel IV, J., & Lucey, K. (2013, October 2). Some teachers say Geico 'hump day' commercial is disruptive in classrooms. Retrieved October 15, 2014, from http://www.wfsb.com/story/23593314/some-teachers-say-geico-hump-day-commerical-is-disruptive-in-classrooms

Sex Crimes

Recently, nude photos of stars have been leaked - but what's new?  Seems to be a huge topic of discussion though in the media.

I read an article yesterday about Jennifer Lawrence, in regards to her nude photos being leaked to the public.  Long story short, she is not happy about it - but who would be?  There were two quotes that kind of frustrated me, so let me share them.

1. “I started to write an apology, but I don’t have anything to say I’m sorry for.  I was in a loving, healthy, great relationship for four years.  It was long distance, and either your boyfriend is going to look at porn or he’s going to look at you.”
2. "It is not a scandal.  It is a sex crime. It is a sexual violation. It’s disgusting. The law needs to be changed and we need to change.”

Here is my question: Can this really be deemed a "sex scandal" when Jennifer Lawrence posted her photos on internet based storage, with the knowledge that this is 2014, and pretty much anyone can access those photos if they wanted to?  I don't want to go "off" on this, because I easily could (I have very strong opinions on this, and cannot believe she said what she did).  Take a look at the link below, and then keep reading.

Nude Photo Hacking Sex Crime

First thing: This is not even the same thing as child pornography - she was a consenting adult!  Second: Technology is crazy!  Media is crazy!  We all have access to it, and anyone with basic hacking knowledge can access anyone's "cloud" or online storage.  

Definition of "sex crime": A statutory offense that provides that it is a crime to knowingly cause another person to engage in an unwanted sexual act by force or threat.

Jennifer Lawrence knowingly posted nude photos of herself on an internet based cloud account.  This was not forced upon her.  In fact, she did it to keep her boyfriend happy, and so that he would not look at porn.  Unless he looked at porn in addition to her nude photos.  Violated, maybe.  Sex crime, hardly.

I am not saying that what these hackers did was right, by any means.  But as a consenting adult, Jennifer Lawrence needs to take some responsibility here, as do the others involved.  We live in a day and age now that is run by the media and technology.  Be aware of the world that we are living in; it is different than ever before, and things like this happen - do what you can to prevent it if you don't want your nude photos to be seen by the world.

What are your thoughts?  Is this a sex crime?  How is media changing our view on things like this?

Groupon: Free massage, anyone?

How many of you have heard of "Groupons?"  How many of you have ever capitalized on an offer from them?  This blog is an offer you will not want to pass up - trust me!  My older brother (who is a major groupon, travel, saving money, GURU!) sent me this offer today, and I wanted to pass it along because of its awesomeness.

Timpanogos Chiropractic is offering, for a limited time only, this great deal:

$29 for Chiropractic Exam, X-Ray, Adjustment, and 60-minute massage (a $275 value).

Like I said, you will want to look into this offer.  I bought two because it is such a great offer!  If you are interested, you can follow one of the two links below.

I know that we are all "poor college students," but sometimes you just need to relax and get your head back in the game.  And if you struggle sleeping at night, or with general discomfort, your body will thank you for this!

Not only is this a killer deal, but you can also make money (the only catch is that you have to purchase at least one of these gems).

Anyway, I won't keep you any longer.  Your masseuse is calling...  Remember, the links are below.  At least take a look.  Groupons are here to save us money, AND make us feel better at the same time.  As there motto says: "Collective Buying Power;" - we are all just helping each other out, right?

Your Masseuse is Calling

This Should Do the Trick

Family Search - Indexing

This blog will be short, I promise.  I was just thinking about General Conference this weekend, and trying to conjure up something I could do to get myself prepared for it.  This has kind of been a busy week, and I don't exactly feel "in tune" and prepared for Conference - which is weird for me!

Anyway, I want to extend a challenge for the weekend: index.  This is such a simple task, and super easy since we are all on our phones, tablets, and computers as it is.  Plus, it is a good use of our media time.

If you've never done it before, no need to fret!  Here are some basic instructions for you:

1. Download the program: Get Started!
2. Click Run or Open to install.
3. This should save on your desktop, just double click to open.
4. Register for an account (if you don't have one already).  If you have and LDS account, you can use that to log in.

So simple!  If you want some more direction on how to index, or why we index, then click here for videos, resources, and guidelines. 

That's all.  Told you, short and sweet today.  I really hope you all can take at least 30 minutes this weekend to accept this indexing challenge, and I hope you all have a great Conference weekend - listen and watch!  Happy indexing, y'all!