Personal Paranoia: Fuelled by Law & Order or the media?

            During class yesterday when Professor Harris asked who watches shows such as the CSIs, Law & Order (Special Victims Unit, Los Angeles, United Kingdom, Criminal Intent and plain ol’ Law& Order), Criminal Minds, etc, etc. I really should have raised both hands. Yes, I am a HUGE crime show nerd. Every night before bed I watch at least one episode of  the above listed and keep up to date on the regular L&O: SVU and Criminal Minds. To be honest, the creator of Law and Order Dick Wolf is always on my list to be one of the people invited to my fictional ‘if you could have ten people over for dinner dead or alive …’ However, my somewhat obsession has its negative effects. My friends joke that I am paranoid about walking outside alone after dark, I don’t like staying over night in my house alone and am nervous about my big move to London this fall alone (because on so many episodes the victim is always the girl living alone who has no one to check up on her). When Professor Harris mentioned the substantial difference between the homicides in Manhattan on prime time (108 over four shows in one season) versus the actual amount (59 in one year), it actually was kind of reassuring for me. I know that I must sound like a nut bar who should just stop watching crime shows and separate what is fiction and what is real. However, whenever I do put on the news, the headlines are always speaking of shootings, car accidents, break ins, trials, child pornography, and wars. In my neighbourhood newspaper The Village Post, there is a page devoted to the burglaries and violence in my area since the last issue. After reading these excerpts in each issue, I become frightened that my house will be next. This causes me to wonder, is my irrational fear of something happening to me rooted in my love for crime shows and overactive imagination? Or is it driven by the medias constant reporting on violent crimes?  

Response to Marica's "Can we REALLY say sports are religious?"

Hi Marica!

I really like your post, however I think that in your discussion of sports and religion, it would help to add a personal experience of determination, passion and endurance found in sport that led the athlete to treat it like religion.

            Coming from a competitive athletic background, I understand the pain, pressure, endurance, passion and commitment one has to undergo in order to succeed at their given athletic activity. I remember missing countless birthday parties, semi-formals and family events, as well as seeing my friends go off to camp during the summer and family holidays because I was always in the dance studio practicing or traveling to competitions. Although I maintained to be a strong Catholic and went to mass every Sunday at 8 am (I had to be in Mississauga by 11 for a 4 hour class), Irish dancing for me was my religion. I lived, breathed, ate, thought, and dreamt about dance. For fifteen years, the only music I would listen to in the car, on my iPod or in my room was dancing music thinking up new steps and practicing a new move that I learnt the night before. I spent over 25 hours a week in the studio, and sometimes had two practices a day.. one before school at home with my mom and then another after out at the studio when a big competition was coming up. However, all of the work paid off as for ten consecutive years I held the Canadian title for team dancing and in 2005 was chosen to represent Canada at the World Championships in Ireland. After representing Canada for a few more years, my Irish dancing career came to an abrupt halt when I was placed in hospital with severe kidney disease. To be honest, having kidney disease really does put a big damper on my life, but the real thing that I was most disappointed with was that I was left so weak from being so sick that I could never train the way that I did ever again. Within a month I went from getting ready to compete in England to being never able to competitively dance again. I remember laying in the hospital bed after being told that my body could never handle the vigorous schedule that I was used to and thinking “God, why did you do this to me?” I felt betrayed and left with nothing. Because really, my passion and my personal religion, was taken away from me. The studio was my church, my coach was my preacher, my jigs and reels were my hymns and my satisfaction lay in doing a really good performance. It took me a long time to come to terms with this change in my life, but finally after three years of not competing competitively I have been able to look back on my time with fond memories and realize that I just had to make room for the other passionate young dancers to take my place. Now, I share my love of Irish dancing with little 3 to 7 year olds and instead get great satisfaction in seeing their little faces light up when they master a step.

            Phew! What a long post haha. All that I wanted to do is share my experience as someone who has experienced their sport being their religion. I also know that I am not the only one with a story like this. Any high level or professional athlete has the exact same story as me. I remember seeing a Sidney Crosby commercial a few years ago (see below) with him talking about all the events that he missed. I couldn’t help but think that he was really talking about me. To finish I will recite a line that is on one of my favourite t shirts: Eat, Breath, Irish Dance.

Sidney Crosby

"Time Well Spent"

 World Championships 2005

On stage at the World Championships 2005

Winning our tenth consecutive team Canadian championship

Response to Josh's Confessions of a Cult Member

Hi Josh!

Yet again I absolutely love your blog post (as I gushed in my post that has already commented on your article). I definitely agree that the series LOST has attracted a cult following, with viewers scheduling time to watch the show around the rest of their lives, generating debates between friends on aspects of the show, and of course, becoming attached to the characters.

            To be honest, I am one of the people who scheduled by week around LOST. For the first few years of my university career I made sure that NOTHING came between me and the TV on LOST nights. Similar to me, my cousin also was an avid viewer and watched every single Wednesday (except with her, no one else was allowed to watch with her in case they talked, commented, sneezed or breathed haha). During each episode we would wait anticipating the commercial breaks to call each other and “OH MY GOD” for four minutes until the next segment came on. After the show, we would then call each other back and have a full (almost) hour (the length of an episode) dissecting every tiny detail. Upon the series finale, she actually went through each of her favourite moments on LOST and took screen shots then commented on them and posted it to Faecbook. Some people may call us crazy or obsessed, but we were sucked into this life on The Island and fell for all of the characters (she had a thing for Sawyer, me for Jack). In fact, to this day, every time we see one of the characters on another television series or movies, we either watch that series or episode (lots of TV watching, I know) and still refer to them as Jack (Matthew Fox in Vantage Point), Sayid (in Law & Order) and Jin (in Hawaii Five O… however, I have yet to see an episode of that as I really don’t like the show in general … my cousin instead is a fan).

            I am just waiting for school to be over to book off a few weeks and watch the complete series over again. My cousin (as she was making the stills) re-watched it and actually created a chart of when characters first came up, how they know each other, what episode it was in, etc., etc. It actually is astonishing the connections between them and how different themes are evident throughout the entire series (not just the general themes, but for example shoes. Shoes become a symbol throughout the series either right after the plane crash when they are found in a tree, Kate stealing shoes from another passenger, etc etc).

Anyways, I am very happy to have found another LOSTie! Great Post,

K

PS. check this out! http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Finding Positive Pop Icon Role Models (Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack)

 JUSTIN BIEBER 

VERSUS 

 KE$HA

LADY GAGA

    LIL WAYNE

Today we focused a lot of our time on the great pop phenom Justin Bieber. Within our discussion my colleagues had a myriad of opinions on not only Bieber himself, but also the music video for his hit single Pray. In Pray, Bieber sings of hope, change and striving for a better tomorrow. Imagery in the video include Bieber visiting patients in a local hospital, the people of Haiti both in field hospitals and on the streets, Bieber meeting with Make a Wish children, soldiers going to Afghanistan and praying behind the scenes at his show. The first feeling that I felt from the video was that it is incredibly refreshing. Although Bieber functions as a money making entity (with t-shirts, dolls, pencil cases and hair clips (to name a few) made in his image), he also stands as an inspirational figure for the younger generation. Think about it, who are the other icons found in the top 10s of the pop world? Katy Perry? Lady Gaga? Lil Wayne? K$sha?!?! Can they function as good, wholesome role models? I believe this to be untrue. Some of these pop icons have prison records, sex scandals, music videos that border on being pornographic and lyrics that truly disgust. However, Justin Bieber, as found in his lyrics and the video Pray, stands as a positive role model and inspirational figure for teens all over the world.

            

     It is here that I would like to prove my point: Justin Bieber (and his entire media campaign) is not meant for twenty somethings or people within our age bracket, rather his target audience is 14, 15, 16 year olds and even younger. After hearing the negative feedback from our classmates regarding the Bieber video, I first considered their comments and thought that “yes, he is being marketed in a certain way to make money”, however, I think that we need to get over this and recognize that really, his entire career and mantra is really a positive. He stands as a figure young people can recognize and look up to. To add, a fellow classmate mentioned that what Bieber was doing in the video (visiting hospitals) is nothing new. She spoke of Avril Lavigne in her hayday visiting a hospital under the watchful eye of the Much Music cameras. I think that it is here that really my point is proven, Bieber does not stand for someone who we (University students) watch. As we watched programs of Avril Lavigne and other celebrities taking part in philanthropic activities in grades 7 and 8, Bieber is now their Lavigne, Backstreet Boy or Spice Girl.

          

      Another point of interest that a classmate brought up is that really, Bieber does not have to make a video like this. He is a teenage pop idol who could really do ANYTHING in the world and still people would watch. However, in Pray he chose to raise awareness of world issues such as homelessness, health care, economics, disease, hunger and natural disasters. With this, Bieber is acting as a medium between what is going on in the world and younger citizens of humanity who may not necessarily be aware of the world around them.

            

      All in all, I believe that Justin Bieber is not only a positive role model for young teens, but also a role model for the rest of us to be an agent of change and live out our lives full of compassion, love and understanding for others.

PS. Justin Bieber reportedly promised to donate a portion of sales from his last album to Childrens hospitals throughout the US. He tweeted “"I am in the position to give back thanks to my fans and God. I wrote Pray thinking I wanted to help others and I feel like I have a responsibility to do so. "What is the point of doing all this if you can't make a difference in others' lives? This album is a gift to my fans and the money raised from it allows us all to help out."...

found here: http://www.metrolyrics.com/2010-justin-bieber-donates-to-charity-news.html

Katy Perry's video for California Girls

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOhcwksG4hE&feature=fvst

Ke$ha's video for Take it Off (make note of the lyrics... really great for 14 year olds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edP0L6LQzZE

Ke$ha's video for We R Who We R (note her lyrics.. 'getting sexified')

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXvmSaE0JXA

Lil Wayne's video for Gonorrhea 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMuiDT33gHs&feature=related

Lil Wayne Trial Date Set in Yuma

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/10/lil_wayne_trial_date_set_in_yu.php

I believe in God, America and the Packers

            As I sat watching the Super Bowl on Sunday I couldn’t help but think of the millions of viewers across America glued to their screens watching ‘the big game’. In a statement released by Fox TV on Monday, this past Sunday’s Super Bowl drew an American TV audience of 111 million viewers (over 1/3 of their population!). This number of people watching a single televised event is recorded as being the highest in the past twenty years. This causes me to think, what does football mean to Americans? As discussed a while ago in class, Lynch mentions that sport is comparable to traditional forms of religion specifically in mentioning the essence of community it derives. Using the Super Bowl viewer numbers as an example, one can determine that the American religion is football.

            Joseph L. Price, an associate professor of religion at Whittier College in California also viewed the Super Bowl having a religious function in his article The Super Bowl as Religious Festival (1984). Price identifies American mythology surrounding the Super Bowl – the founding of a nation and providing hope for a nation. As seen in last Sunday’s pre-game presentation of The Journey with voice over by Michael Douglas, images and videos of American history blaze across the screen. He speaks of the American dream and that ‘through it all, generation after generation we never give up. How could we?’ He also questions ‘what life would be like if they (American soldiers in battle during WWII) did not show the world on our darkest day that our flag was still there’. Douglas mentions briefly the history of the two teams, one founded by the Indian packing company and the other ‘named after proud steel mills that forged this great nation’. However his overall message relies on the belief that the Super Bowl is one night ‘to dream, to believe, to remain united and celebrate their journey, and our journey’. I think that it is here in this video and voice over that the religiosity of football in America is encapsulated. Douglas is the voice for the nation, creating pride and providing hope for all and uses this event as a pinnacle of both pride and hope.

            I also wanted to touch upon one of my favourite shows Friday Night Lights that revolves around the drama surrounding a high school football team in the fictional Dillon, Texas. Briefly in last weeks episode one of the main characters, Vince, admits that football saved him from the streets, going to jail and possibly ending up dead. The passion and commitment that the boys have towards the game and the sense that if it weren’t for football, they wouldn’t have any chance at not just college, but a successful life, astonishes me. I think that overall we cannot just find American football religiosity in Michael Douglas’ words to inspire a nation, but more importantly, we find this deep belief in the power of the game in small towns throughout the United States and in the hearts of millions. 

'The Journey' Super Bowl 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdDNkh98XZE

Response to Georgia's "Thoughts on Marketing"

Please find Georgia's original post here.

Hi Georgia!

What a wonderful post!

            First off, I am so happy that you brought up Facebook. I too was surprised that no one mentioned it in class, so I wrote my post from last week on the future of social networks and not only our relationships with each other, but also God. I agree with your points regarding online advertising and Facebook. I have been ‘in a relationship’ for the past two years and have recently been getting ads pop up in my side bar for ‘Getting engaged? Wedding planner here!’ and ‘Diamonds rings for less!’ I also recently have been thinking of moving abroad to study and yet again, ads have been popping up asking me ‘Thinking of Studying Abroad? Look no further than the University of XXX’. I understand the marketing aspect of it and getting the product out there, however, it just is downright creepy. I remember last year during UTSU elections I logged on once and a candidates face was taking up my sidebar. The candidate ended up winning the election in a landslide and after talking to friends they said that they heard of them and their platform from the Facebook ad.

            Your mention of Nazi- related products hit home with me as well. My grandfather, who was in the navy during the war, could never understand why his Jewish Holocaust survivor neighbours had a fleet of Mercedes. He mentioned it to them one day and they blew him off saying that they liked the design and how it drove, not addressing what his point was in the first place.

Hitler and his Mercedes in the 1930s

           In speaking of the American Apparel fad, I understand the draw in wearing their clothing because of its ‘no sweatshop’ mentality, however I will never, ever, ever wear American Apparel. Not only is the quality atrocious, (my brother has a zip up hoodie that has already fallen apart from Christmas, while I am still wearing my Gap hoodie from grade nine), I just cannot stand the hipster mentality of the brand. I find the store incredibly irritating and have noticed that none of their products are unique. You know the nightmare of showing up to a party and wearing the same thing as twenty other people? Well, if you are an American Apparel fan… be ready for it. Speaking of which, I still cannot understand the fad of wearing a lace top with just a bra underneath from last summer, but that I will rant about on another blog.

            I too have seen the Hermes colouring book, however it was marketed as being ‘create your own Hermes art’ in Vogue. Other brands such as Louis Vuitton, Ugg Australia, Hugo Boss and Burberry (to name a few) have launched children’s lines with mini purses, boots and clothing to start little ones on the luxury good road early. 

Car companies such as Mercedes Benz sell mini foot peddled convertibles for toddlers to roll around in. My little cousin who is seven has a closet full of luxury clothing, a jewelry box full of Tiffany’s and a vintage 1960s Mercedes car that she can sit and drive. My aunt and uncle think it is ‘cute’ that she can match mummy and daddy. I keep thinking, just wait till she is sixteen and expects her own Mercedes to add to the family fleet. Maybe she’ll let me borrow it in exchange for my metropass. For some reason, I doubt it.

- K

Here is a blog of a very excited mother who recently found out that Saks carries Gucci for kids... exciting! 

Are you 'Friends' with God?

Last week as I took a break from some schoolwork and decided to check out few of blogs saved in my bookmark bar. One of my favourite blogs is from the University of Toronto Center for the Study of the Religion called The Religion Beat. Each week bloggers post a ‘Link Roundup’ of interesting articles, pictures, videos and journals that they find on the web. The journal primarily focus’ on the relation between religion and pop culture with links leading readers to articles about Priests rescheduling masses around football schedules, graphic novels depicting the end of days and most interestingly the Vatican on Facebook.

            Last week (January 25-January 31), ‘Link Roundup’ led me to an article on Canada.com addressing the Pope’s warning of social networks. He gave a ‘qualified blessing’ of social networks and spoke of their benefits but also warned of solely relying upon them for human interaction. He urged users to keep in mind that virtual relationships must and cannot replace real friendships.

            In this electronic world, we are constantly getting caught up on the internet, Facebook, YouTube, Google, iPhones and BlackBerrys (the list goes on and on). We are constantly connected. Upon reading Pope Benedict’s address, I thought of my younger brother (a child of the late 90s) who is always ‘connected’ with the world outside our home. In the middle of the night I hear his phone tinging with text messages, Skype calls and Facebook chat bleeps. I remember last year my grandfather said that he remembers when his family didn’t even have a telephone. My brother of course looked at him like he had seven heads. “But how did you talk to your friends Papa? And make plans?” my brother asked. “Well, we saw each other at school, played in the park, met at the corner store… we just talked when I say them face to face,” my grandfather responded. My brother still couldn’t grasp this idea.This begs me to ask the questions, what will our relationships with each other turn into? Will our children of the future be totally electronically dependent? More importantly, what will our relationship with God become?

            When I was very ill a few years ago in the hospital, a friend of my mother’s brought me a book called Emails from God. It was an entertaining read, with ‘God’ providing insight into almost any problem (‘Dealing with a break up? Turn to page 64’), but there was just a feeling that I couldn’t shake of this being wrong. I understand that the writers were attempting to create a ‘hip’ religious read for teens, but is the relationship one has with the Lord really supposed to come down to humanity looking for salvation in emails and text messages? Or are we, in our modern era, meant to find it on the Vatican's YouTube Channel, iPhone App and Facebook? Only God knows.

- K

ps. here are a few interesting articles from the Globe and Mail about social networking, the internet and friendships

The Great Disconnect: Using Facebook for Social Distance

In the age of social media, can we have some discourse?

Stop the internet, I want to get off!