Jimmer's Dance Off

One of the reasons I love youtube is it can connect you to so many cool things happening in the world! Like this gem of a clip. Who knew that Jimmer had the moves? I enjoy keeping up with the goings on of one of our famous Cougars.

Letter to Nutri-Grain

Dear Mr. Baynes:

I am writing as a concerned consumer. I recently saw a disturbing Nutri-Grain advertisement. This poster had a woman with two large cinnamon rolls for a bottom and the caption, “respect yourself in the morning.” This advertisement was for Nutri-Grain’s apple cinnamon breakfast bars. Though attention-catching, this ad did not motivate me to eat apple cinnamon breakfast bars; rather, it discouraged me from supporting this product. Please allow me to explain why, and what I hope can be done in the future so that I may continue to purchase Kellogg’s’ goods.

I feel that this advertisement is degrading to females. Some women are body-conscious, and I believe that this Nutri-Grain advertisement capitalizes on this insecurity. Distorting the female body image to sell a product seems very unnecessary to me. In fact, I find it disrespectful. As an educated and thoughtful consumer, I find it illogical to assume that choosing alternative foods over a Nutri-Grain bar will destroy my self-respect and add inches to my waistline. It is wrong to represent females in such a body-conscious and self-oriented light, and I feel this advertisement may only add to the growing problem of female body consciousness.
I hope to have a family one day, and I want my children to appreciate women for their intellect and acts of kindness. I do not want them to be exposed to advertisements that negatively represent women’s bodies and place emphasis on what they must do to be thinner.

I believe that Kellogg’s produces wonderful products, and I enjoy eating Nutri-Grain bars. I encourage Nutri-Grain to employ more positive advertising messages. Rather than use a degrading poster based on weight gain or loss, please emphasize that fact that healthy foods give a person greater energy or strength. Please do not pinpoint and degrade overweight females. This type of negative advertising does not encourage your consumers to support you. I am happy to purchase Kellogg’s products so long as its advertisements reflect positive values and do not perpetuate psychological harm.

Melinda Cummings

(Here is an example of a similar ad)

Cupcakes and Cashmere

This is one of my absolute favorite blogs. The author appears to live a charmed life - she's a fashionista who has turned her blog into a business. I love her posts because she is an expert at noticing the small, beautiful things that make life rich. While her fairy-tale job is the exception rather than the rule in today's world, I love escaping for a few minutes into her dainty and tasty life!

So What Even IS a Katniss Braid?

So I still haven't seen Hunger Games. Gasp! I know, I know. I want to, and I'll get around to it, but I just haven't been able to squeeze it in with all the HW, tests, and papers that have been due! I'm sure you know what I mean. :)



A bunch of my friends went to a midnight showing and got back around 3:30 AM because of traffic. I declined going because, as I've gotten older, I've realized that I really don't like midnight showings that much! The hype is sure a lot of fun, but you have to go hours early to get a good seat and by the time the movie starts I sure am exhausted and cranky! Lately I've been a fan of waiting till the weekend after the midnight premiere. I can stay awake and enjoy all of the movie. Midnight showings are a big part of American media culture - what's your opinion on them?

This Is My Phone

And I use it. ALOT. When I was a freshman my dad had me on some crazy texting plan that only allowed 5 a month, "for emergencies." :) Needless to say, I missed out on a lot of fun outings because I never got the memos! I now have unlimited, and I actually feel like my social life is more extensive as a result. You don't HAVE to have texting to have a good social life, but it definitely helps me keep involved in the goings on at BYU. Do you agree? Or does it just annoy you?

The Artist

Wow, what an amazing movie! It's a silent film, and so artsy and beautiful! Really touching and also clean! I would recommend this to anyone. It was a surreal experience to sit in theaters and have it be DEAD silent for the first part of the film (till the soundtrack came on). It was actually quite uncomfortable, and it made me think of how we have been socialized differently from the movie-goers of the early 20th century. Oh well, being shushed isn't the end of the world. :) Go see this movie!

"Oh You Know 'dat's Right."

I don't watch TV shows very often, but I have some roommates who are obsessed with Psych and I have to say I really like it as well. :) It's entertaining and most of the episodes are squeaky-clean. I've heard the latest season is a little more risque (why does that always happen?) but the first 5 are still pretty classic.

By the way, did you know that this exists?



Did you know that my roommate has one? Yeah. She's pretty much awesome.

Have a happy day. :)

Virtual Scrapbooking

I'm going to be honest - I don't do this very often.



Never, in fact. A) It's expensive. B) It's time-consuming. C) I'm impatient and not hugely crafty? While I love scrapbooking stuff, it's not a hugely practical pastime for me (personally! Though I wish it were).

I do, however, have a personal blog in addition to this one that I've been semi-keeping up for 3 years. It's fun to look back over old posts and remember what was going on in my life at that time. I view blogs as virtual scrapbooks - much less expensive and time-consuming ones at that. Think about it, so many memories and so much history is recorded on the internet. If it ever crashes (Y2K) we'll be in trouble for a million reasons, but for now it's a great way to reminisce.

LIFE

My personal favorite Mormon Message. :)



The music is soothingly beautiful, it has a clever facebook color scheme to draw you in, the doctrine is true and simple but is presented as an IM conversation - the church was really smart to create this Mormon Message! It's really effective for sharing the gospel with your friends! I encourage you to post it on your facebook wall.

The Hunger Games

Okay media class, I've been going back and forth on seeing this. I loved the books, but it's different to read about violence than see it, right? I think it will be fabulously well done and that I would probably enjoy it, but I don't know if I can handle the gore - the books are pretty gruesome! I read one review that said it was pretty bloody and pushed the PG-13 rating, but then I remember all those scenes in Lord of the Rings that I am not even giving a second thought to...is anyone else in the same predicament?

I personally love movie adaptations of books. It is so fun to compare what you imagined to what filmmakers come up with. I love how individual our minds and creative juices are. So that's definitely a pull for me. Whatever you decide, may the odds be ever in your favor!

So, I Have One of These...

I got a Kindle for Christmas. It's awesome! The pages are carefully tinted so they don't hurt your eyes after reading for a long time, like reading a computer screen would. I haven't set up my kindle account yet, but I'm excited to do so because there's a website called the Gutenberg project that has lots of out-of-copyright books that you can download LEGALLY and for free. Here's to a hugely increased library and $10.00 saved on a bookshelf from DI!

Divine Comedy

This is one of my favorite Divine Comedy videos. So funny, and so true!

The World Spins Madly On

I saw this animation by Ryan Woodward a year or so ago, and it really captivated me. I haven't forgotten about it. I can't decide what the storyline is - it's obviously about true love, but I can't understand why the girl is alone and shaded darkly at the end. Maybe it was the kind of love that leaves you worse off - or just a really difficult breakup? What are your theories? Anyways, I like this video because it has an introspective effect. It makes you stop, makes you think, makes you reflect on the love you've experienced in your own life. It's a pretty powerful piece of art!

Astronomy Picture of the Day

I really enjoy this website. It's NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" project. Everyday they post a beautiful or interesting picture. I like to look back through the archives and see which ones were posted on my birthday. :) It's fun to see all of the things that exist in space and it makes me more aware. With texting and social networking being so abundant today, the world seems kind of small. I like to remember just how HUGE the universe is - there was a great forum speaker at BYU once who talked about the expanse of the universe and encouraged us not to feel small because of it, but to feel important because we are a part of it.

Falling Slowly

I love this song. It's quiet and lovely and talks about real, everyday love. I adore the video's simplicity. It's not hollywood-ized or glamorized, it just shows two people in normal situations. It makes for a refreshing change. Enjoy!

Bear Grylls

Memes and "demotivators" are a definite fad of this decade. Which makes me happy, because the appropriate ones are hilarious. :)

My All Time Favorite Book

My favorite book growing up was Little Women. It is a story of four sisters living during the Civil War and their struggles with poverty, their father’s absence, and the little trials of everyday life. Each of the sisters is very different, but they are bound by strong family love and they manage to have fun with whatever means are theirs. My favorite book today is still Little Women! I really enjoy the Hunger Games and Harry Potter series, but the novel that is closest to my heart is still the one that impacted me the most as a child. Reading Little Women was a very significant formative experience for me. I myself have seven sisters, and so I found that I could relate to the experiences of the four main characters. I read Little Women when I was ten years old after my eldest sister went to college. She loaned me her copy, and I missed her so much that I actually opened it! It made me feel close to her. :)

I had gained a tender connection with the book, but I soon learned to love it for its own merits. It is a beautiful story with morals of kindness and family closeness. It is also really funny! The sisters frequently have mishaps that are both exasperating and entertaining. Reading Little Women made me want to be a good woman because the main characters are so virtuous and down-to-earth. My greatest goal is still to be a good woman, so I can say that my life has been very influenced by that book.

The Young Victoria

I re-watched this movie last night. It is so, so beautiful! It's the true story of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (who, by the way, have the most adorable love story ever) and their struggles and triumphs - both as a married couple and as the sovereigns of England. It's a dramatic film, and very clean. You should check it out from the Library - I'm sure you would enjoy it!

I like how it portrays the love and faithfulness of a married couple, and the best part is it depicts their struggles as newlyweds. Romance isn't all fairy tale love and kisses! It takes work, and I think this movie is great because of its realistic take.



The movie won an award for its costuming. No surprise there! Look how gorgeous these are!

For Those Days When You Just Need a Laugh...

This little gem has been a favorite picture of mine for a long time. :) My professor introduced me to it during a parenting and child guidance class. I like showing it to my friends because it always gets a good laugh - oh, the things we have to look forward to when we become parents! Poor baby.

Phobias

We were talking about phobias in my abnormal psychology class, and my teacher had us watch this clip. Pretty funny stuff. :)



I wonder if the phobias represented here are real. This video got me thinking about what it would be like to live in mortal fear of a certain word or awkward silence. Good thing we have good treatments and therapies today, because that certainly would be a miserable way to live!

Death Comes to Pemberley

I've been reading this book. It's a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, written in an imitation of Jane Austen's style. It's been really interesting so far! I like how it is true to Jane Austen's social witticisms and stream-of-consciousness prose. It tells what happens to Mary (she gets hitched! woohoo!) and the rest, only...there's a murder! I won't tell you who dies, and I can't tell you who did it because I don't know yet. If only I had more time for reading in college!

Anyways, I'm enjoying hearing more about these two.

Mitch Hedberg

I like reading comedians' quotes online, because I can skip the bad ones more easily. Mitch Hedberg died of a drug overdose, but he left behind a memorial of HILARIOUS material. Below are a few of my favorite Mitch Hedberg quotes.

"Once I had a parrot that talked, but it did not say 'I am hungry' so it died."

"Every book is a children's book if the kid can read!"

"Every time I go and shave, I assume there's someone else on the planet shaving. So I say, 'I'm gonna go shave, too.'"

"The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, I'll never be as good as a wall."

"I'm against picketing, but I don't know how to show it."

Sometimes reading funny quotes online is just a great pick-me-up when I need one. :) His death was sad, but luckily he's still making people laugh and I'm sure he'd be happy knowing that.

Singin' in the Rain

Two nights ago I re-watched one of my top ten FAVORITE films, "Singin' in the Rain." This movie makes me nostalgic for days I never even lived through! The glamorous costumes, heart-felt songs, clean humor, and INCREDIBLE dance routines make me feel so wistful for the talent of past decades. I think the tap dancing in this movie stands today as a memorial to a lost art. But I digress.

Interestingly, this movie's plot documents a huge change in media that took place in the 1920's - the transition from silent to "talkie" films. While the storyline follows the struggles of the actors during this transition and what it meant for their personal lives, it was interesting to see how the film portrayed the technical glitches that came along with implementing early sound systems. I enjoyed thinking about how thrilling it must have been to hear words connected with actors movements in early films.

Well, "In the words of that immortal bard, Samuel J. Snodgrass" - this is one of the best films ever made. And if you're confused about that quotation, just watch the film clip below. :)



Donald O' Connor = Amazing.

Carryin' the Banner!

Sorry, couldn't resist the Newsies reference. This blog post is about the newspaper I read embarrassingly often: The Daily Universe.



Let me preface this with a few key statements. I am a college student - hence, I have little to no free time! I like to fill the free time I DO have with naps, movies, time with friends, or catching up on the million to-do's that get pushed out of the way when it's paper time. I am not a hugely political person. It's interesting, but I simply don't get enough exposure to issues to have concrete opinions or political preferences. I don't read the Washington Post or Wall Street Journal. I don't have time, remember?

I realize that's completely my fault. I see other noble students pulling out the Times and keeping up-to-date on world events and feel a twinge of jealousy at their political know-how. Call me crazy, but I feel like you need to have political opinions to be an educated, contributing adult. Hence, I have a goal to read more newspapers and take a stance!

Okay, here's how the Daily Universe fits in. While I don't seek out random newspapers during the week, I do enjoy reading BYU's paper as I eat my delicious L&T wrap in the cougareat. I get snippets of world news, laugh at the police beat, catch up on the cougar sports, and marvel at the meat prices at Smiths. It may seem silly, but reading the Daily Universe makes me feel a bit more cultured (don't laugh!), simply because I'm taking time away from books and online databases to get a peek at what's going on around me.

Imagine my disappointment that after this year, the Daily Universe will be available in paper format only once a week! Do I really need to spend more time online? Nope. I don't think this bodes well for my personal newspaper-reading goal.

Cupcake Fetish

I ADORE cupcakes. Whenever someone hands me a slice of cake, I rarely finish it because it seems so dry and there is too little frosting. Cupcakes are a different story - a moist, perfectly sized serving of cake with a deliciously proportional heap of frosting! And they are just so gloriously cute (see above for evidence).

Where does media come in? Well, as a result of said fetish, I spend at least an hour a week on cupcake blogs. My favorite one is this website, because the author works mainly from cake mixes and adds sour cream and different proportions of oil to get that gourmet cupcake density. Being a poor college student, simple recipes with few ingredients are exactly what I need. Plus, she comes up with all kinds of interesting recipes. Cinnamon toast crunch cupcakes? Nutella cupcakes? Raspberry neapolitan? Hello?! Awesome. I'd like to think that this particular media exposure has a good effect on me (my cupcake-eating friends certainly think so). I'm expanding my baking skills, and that thought makes me happy. Or, at any rate, hungry!

Other favorite cupcake-related blogs:

www.cupcakeproject.com

www.cupcakesandcashmere.com

"The Coat" Warms My Heart

Okay, Mormon Messages are amazing. I love them because they are short, simple videos that speak truth (with beautiful music in the background!). Watching them makes me take a break from a crazy college day and think about something outside of myself. It's a great way to feel the Spirit and the church is SO smart to be using youtube to spread the gospel. The video below is one I found a few weeks ago - I've watched it multiple times a week since I found it!

The animation is beautiful, the feelings are powerful. I've shared this with lots of people and have watched their faces soften and eyes fill as they view it. I could see in their faces what I felt as I watched it - this is the kind of media that motivates us to be better people!