Newspaper anyone?

I presume everyone of us has read a newspaper at least once in their life right? Some people can't even start their day without flipping through the newspaper with a cup of coffee by their side. I'm not going to deny that newspapers are a source of information. But there's more to it than what's going on locally and internationally.

My favourite part of the newspaper is the travel reviews. As travelling is one of my passions, I would desperately flip through the pages just to see what new places I can travel to. Some writers really know how to capture your mind by words. The way they describe the places just make them seem irresistible.

Another one more favourite column of mine is the "Dear Thelma" In case some one of you are still clueless, this column is where readers can send it their problems in hopes of getting advice from Thelma. Why do I enjoy reading it? Well, I can't really say it relates to me, but sometimes I would try to solve the problem. I would think, "If I was in this situation what would I do?" However, some situations are too complicated to be true. Reading these kind of articles kinda makes you appreciate that you're not so messed up as you think you are.

Anyways, even though the internet is pretty much the new everything, some people just love the feeling of holding (and even smelling) a newspaper. It has a little bit of everything for every one.

Dependent much?

How many of you think you can live a day without any forms of media? And yes, the internet is included. Chances are, none of us can. So why can't we survive without the media? It is because we depend on media. We rely on it to provide us with information and to be up to date with the current events, to entertain us and so on.

Dependency theory states that the more dependent an individual is on the media, the more important the media becomes in his life. What does this mean? Well let's use YouTube as an example.

YouTube has been (and always will be) one of the best things on the Internet. It allows bands and artists to share their music and videos to everyone. Well, everyone can make a 10 minute video and share it. It can be either on something serious or something stupid for the sake of humour. But it's not the videos I'm going to focus on today, it's the comments people make on the videos.

Just go to any video on YouTube popular or not, and you see various types of comments being shared for the entire world to see. It's basically like sharing your opinion. Some comments are good while others are just totally random or hate comments towards the video.

But look closely at some comments and you can find some individuals that share their experiences or personal comments on the videos. Meaning that they can relate emotionally towards the video. I know what your thinking, what does this have to do with the dependency theory? Well it's simple. Some people prefer to keep to themselves. They prefer to type out their feelings than actually saying it out loud. They depend on YouTube videos to feel something, to relate to. They feel as though YouTube is their only "friend". I know you what must be thinking about how miserable a person has to be to depend on YouTube for companionship. Well, some people just prefer to hide behind words. We too depend on YouTube sometimes.Like when we search for videos, either to entertain us or to inform us.

YouTube has become a platform for everyone to share their thoughts. Aspiring singers and dancers share their videos in hopes of becoming the next big thing. Their depending on it in order to achieve success.

Well, all I can say is Youtube pretty much is a platform for everyone. To share their talent, opinions and feelings. And it's here to stay.

Delicatessen. A movie.

When my lecture told us that we were going to be watching a French movie, the only thing I could think of was, "2 hours of romance I'm guessing" Boy, was I wrong.

Delicatessen definitely was not about romance. Well, there was romance but this movie had a little bit of everything. A twister thriller, weird comedy, unusual romance and post apocalyptic horror combined equals to Delicatessen. I'll tell you one thing though, it was the most original movie I've seen.

This movie is set during the post-apocalyptic times in France. Where food becomes a currency. A butchers literally kills for food but things change as an ex clown comes into town looking for a job in the apartment belonging to butcher. Romance soon blossoms among the clown and the butcher's daughter.

The characters in this movie are written so carefully. You can see it easily as each actor portrays certain characteristics. Each scene was filmed with the actors really in character. The minor characters in the movie, although they make no sense, brings something unique to the movie. Let's take the woman who was obsessed with killing herself. She does not have much lines the movie but the way she was portrayed by the actress really sold her part. She constantly tried to commit suicide and fail each time in a humorous way. Each time she popped up on the screen, we were itching to see what would she do this time.

I will not lie, it did take me some effort to watch this movie. I think it was mainly due to the fact that it was in another language. However I most definitely enjoyed the movie. After all, who wouldn't enjoy a movie with crazy characters in it?

9gag that!

"OMG, you should totally 9gag that!" How many of you have heard that phrase and gone, what the hell does that even mean? Am I that old that I don't know what a 9 gag is? Chances are, you are old if don't know what 9gag is by now.

9gag is pretty much the new teenage wasteland. Every single teenager I know 9gag's. So what is it? Why is it so fascinating? Well, 9gag tells the truth and nothing but the truth. It makes fun of society and makes us realize all the stupid things we do in everyday life. You will literally spend hours scrolling down reading every single post.

Based on the social cognitive theory, people learn through observation. They model how they behave in society based on what they see. This so called "modelling" happens in 2 ways. Imitation and identification. Imitation means the audience imitates what they see. Identification is where we respond to the media

9gag is everywhere. People from all over the world are getting into the act. Let's take the "True Story" meme which originated from the show "How I Met Your Mother" We can easily hear people ending their story by going "True story" This is an example of imitation. Besides that, we can see a lot of these meme t-shirts on sale. In addition, a lot of people are creating their own versions of popular meme, for an example the "Bad luck Brian" meme. It literally is everywhere these day.

So what is it that is so captivating about 9gag that it is getting everyone in to it? The main reason is because people can relate to it. Most posts on 9gag are about our everyday life. Those silly things we do that we think goes unnoticed is what that makes us laugh when we see it on 9gag. Some posts make us ponder. Like those post with the picture of the t-rex thinking.

9gag will definitely remain for a long time. As it always will remain relevant to society.

Taboo! Not what your thinking

No, I'm not gonna talk about that Don Omar song that I love dancing to. This is TABOO, the board game. What is it all about you ask? Well, I was just as clueless when our lecturer held up the box and went "we're gonna be playing this game" I was immediately intrigued. Taboo seems like a such weird name for game. Later on I realized that the name fit the game. Taboo is a game that consist of 2 teams. The objective of the game is to identify as many words as you can. Since its a game, there's always a catch. You are required to a select a representative from each group. The person must then get his group to identify as many words as they can in a minute without him saying any of the norm words used to describe the word. For an example, the word is 'Gamble' The player must not say words such as 'casino, dealer' and so on. I was immediately attracted to game. I was itching to play it at that second.

My experience playing Taboo was extremely fun. Even though I had one minute to make my friends guess the words, my brain managed to think of adjectives to describe the words I was given. Even though I stuttered, my friends managed to guess the words which made me feel happy. I loved every single of playing that game.

Playing this game has made me realize how we are so accustomed to our daily routine. We are constantly doing the same routine we've known ever since we could walk. We only live once (no, I'm not quoting YOLO, I can't stand that acronym) maybe we should step out of our comfort zone once an awhile? No, I'm not asking you to go bungee jumping or anything, what I mean is to switch up our routine. Try a new cuisine, take a road trip.

Taboo is definitely one of those games that you need to experience playing it at least once in your life. It tests your mind in ways that I can't explain. You'll never know until you try!

Review of Yalta, Crimea

Travelling is one my passions. It gives me an opportunity to get immersed in various different cultures around the world.

I was fortunate to be given a chance to visit Ukraine. The host country for this year's Euro tournament. The capital of Ukraine is Kiev, where Euro was held. However, there is more to Ukraine than Kiev.

Yalta is a resort city in Southern Ukraine. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black Sea. The city was highlight world wide after the Yalta conference between the 3 big nations, the Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom in 1945. This was held in the Livadia Palace

Livadia palace was a summer residence of the Russian imperial family in the 1860's. Take one step in it and you feel like a Queen. The first thing you'll take notice of is the beautiful Italian style architecture. You can't help but admire the amount of detail and precision that went into every single curve on the walls. The main attraction in this palace is the room where the 3 presidents discussed the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe. There is even a room with wax figure of the 3 presidents, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Secretary Joseph Stalin. Every single room is this huge palace is magnificently made that you can't help but to admire it. The gorgeous Italian style garden just takes your imagination to another world.

Livadia Palace

The wax figures that have implants for their eyes.

Besides Livadia Palace, another castle captured my heart. The Swallows Nest. The Swallows Nest is one of Yalta's main attractions. Why is it so popular you ask? The castle rests on a 130 ft high cliff called the Aurora Cliff just by the sea! The first thing that came to my mind when I laid my eyes on it was fairy tales. It looked exactly like the castles we read in fairy tale story books. There is even a small of part of castle that is off the cliff. Meaning, you are literally standing above water! I truly felt like a princess when I stepped to the edge of the cliff. There used to be a restaurant inside the castle but nowadays, it's just filled with information of the history of the castle. With the Black Sea surrounding you, you feel as though there is nothing wrong with the world.

The Swallows Nest with the Black Sea surrounding it.

Yalta is one of the hidden gems of Ukraine. It's the place to go to escape reality.

G.E.N.R.E.

Genre. It's a french word which means Kind. We all associate with genre when we choose what we want to watch. Even when choosing a book to read, we must choose from a variety of genre to find what appeals to us. Today, I'm gonna talk about genre in music

All of us listen to music. But not everything catches us. There are many genres in music. There are literally hundreds of different genres. Some of them are, rock, pop, alternative, classical, dance, punk rock, electronic, jazz and many more. Recently, people have been going crazy for k pop. I can't stand this genre. Like I said before, people have a variety of options but choose a few.

Some people listen to a little bit of everything. I would say I'm categorized as one of those people. As long as a song has meaningful lyrics, I think everyone can relate to it. Which is why it appeals to everyone. However some song doesn't even need a meaning, a fun beat is all it needs. Let's take the latest craze. Gangnam Style. It practically makes no sense but yet everyone loves it. Why? It has a catchy beat. However, there are a few people that can't stand it. Count me in that group.

No matter what genre we like, we watch or listen to a little bit of everything whether we know it or not. This is due to cross genre. A lot of movies are getting into this.

Genre is a lot like a stereotype. Popular kids are loved by everyone, just like how a movie with a hot actor/actress or an Angelina Jolie movie always has a huge audience. Mean while, all the other movies with amazing storylines, are left out of the spotlight. Same goes to music. Justin Bieber sold 374 00 albums on the first week of release for his 'Believe' album. Meanwhile, Foster The People's album, Torches sold a mere 33,000 copies in the first week. Why? Well, it obvious that Bieber had the upper hand because of his teenage fan base and his cuteness (yes, I may get so much of hate from all you Beliebers but it's true). Like I said before, all the hot kids get to be at the top. But it is a shame, because Foster The People's album was really good. Although it's a different genre, I'm pretty sure it did not do well because Mark Foster and the gang aren't as "hot" as the Biebs. To sum it up, what I really mean is people pay more attention to genre's that they are more used to. This can be easily seen by the music we hear on the radio. Pop music is usually heard and alternative can only be heard once in blue moon as its not as popular. They way the singer looks just addson to his popularity.

Stereotyping degrades people and as for genres, people are so accustomed to one genre. In order for someone to fully appreciate something, they should experiment with the different angles of it. Which means that people should not stick to one genre, but experiment with others. Yes, genre is there to help us, but sometimes we should take a chance and step out of our comfort zone. It will open our eyes to a world of various types genres. And who knows, we might find a new favorite band, book or movie.

Semio-what?

Semiotics. It means how we interpret what we see in text. Everyone's different. Which means, how we interpret things is totally different from each other.

For me to explain it further, I would like to use a music video. This video is by Foster The People and it's called Call It What You Want. First look at the video and you can say so much about it. Most people would go with the basic. The dangers of fame. But I saw it differently. What I saw was, we are all trained to act a certain way in the beginning, but in the end, only some of us discover that we can be what ever we want. Even the song title says it all, Call It What You Want. A band is controlled by their record company. They are trained to look and sound a certain way. In the beginning we can see the band members all sitting in a room saying "we're locked up in ideas" Later on, we see one band member being told that something's missing. Which in other terms means that you need to look a certain way in order to make money. The band being blindfolded means that they are being strung along, going by life as how they were trained to. A few minutes into the video, we see them rebelling. The guy using his hand to shoot paint balls at the girls means that he's freeing himself from the shackles of his company. The paint being splashed and the fireworks all mean victory. The band are free to be who ever they want to be. They can make any type of music and are not bounded to one genre. That is how life should be. We should live life freely and not be on a leash 24/7. As we grow up, we slowly start to see a little freedom been given to us. We learn that we are not bounded to be who we were trained to be, instead we have the freedom to be who ever we want to be. And that is what I manage to understand from the video. What did you get?