Shaq Retires After Playing Basketball for 19 Years

       I just found out yesterday on the news that basketball player Shaquielle O’neal is retiring. Apparently Shaq tweeted his plans to retire from the NBA after 19 years the other day. Shaquillle O’neal is  currently the  Boston Celtics center and he is most commonly known for playing for the LA Laker’s. To be perfeclty honest I didn’t even know Shaq was still playing basketball especially since he stopped playing for the lakers. I thought he was still trying to pursue his career in being a police officer. I havent really been hearing much about him in the media lately until now. I think Shaq is a really good player but I think he isn’t getting the success he had when he was playing for the Lakers so it just might not be fun anymore for him. I think this is one  reason he wants to retire and the other reason is because he has been playing for 19 years and i’m sure thats pretty taxing on the body so it isn’t as easy to play basketball. Overall, I’m not sure how long Shaq’s retirement will last being that a lot of celebrities retire and come right back but we will definetely see. Something else I found interesting about Shaq was an ad for Oreos cookies Shaq and his Mom did. Heres what it say’s on the ad I posted below, “First dunk. It was at the kitchen table. And my mom showed me how. We always had fun with Oreo cookies and milk, and still do. Like us, they’re the perfect team.”

Underlying Messages in the Media

                             

                         There is an ad by Dove that shows three different women that are using the Dove product to try and get more beautiful moistuuized skin. The before and after type thing is somehting i’ve seen before on mosturizing products but this ad in particular is not like the others. If you take a closer look at the aAd you will see that the full figured African-American women is standing at the left in front of the dry skin picture and in the middle besides the women at the left is another women that appears to be hispanic in what I would say is the transitioning phase and besides this women is a skinny, white women that is standing in front of the after picture of what is suppose to be the result of beautiful skin. It seems to me the message that this Dove ad is portraying is that if you use our product and you don’t meet society’s image of beauty, which would be full figured and dark skinned then you can use Doves product and become beautiful which is white and petite. I feel like this ad by Dove will unconsciously affect peoples mentality. It will cause people to feel negatively about themselves and their image. I think the problem with the media is that they have a lot of control over how people view themselves and I think because of that fact the people that controls the media needs to be more wise about the message they are trying to portray. The message they put out on their latest Dove ad could cause a person to have low self esteem because they will be trying to represent one persons point of view of beauty that is un attainable. This is why people starve themselves, get cosmetic surgery, and basically just have body image problems. But I think in particular ads on the cover of almost all magazines which show women that are supposed to be what the definition of beauty is in my opinion is not tangible. To be perfectly honest those women on the cover of magazines are air brushed and photoshoped to look the way they do. So in actuality they don’t even meet the standards they are trying to set. Overall, I just want Dove and other company’s like Dove to be more conscious or take more responsibility for the products they sell and how they sell them to the public,  because it really can have a negative affect on peoples self esteem. It’s sad that people look to ads like Dove and magazines to tell them what is beautiful but it is true. And I just hope oneday people can just love themselves regardless to what an ad displays or what someone says because beauty truely is in the eye of the beholder.

Update: After seeing the ad by Dove I went on their website and saw the same ad except their was only the full figured model standing alone next to the before and after picture. I don’t know if the last ad was changed to this one because of the controversy surrounding it but I do think this ad is more tasteful, and this is what it should have been in the first place. 

You can see the picture of the Dove ad more clearly at this link below:

http://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/DOVE-VISIBLE-CARE-AD.jpg

15 year old boy killed as a result of being intoxicated

      A family from UCLA sued the alcoholic beverage company named Four Loko because they claim the company is responsible for their 15 year old son’s death. The family expalined that while their 15 year old son was at a concert with his friends he consumed two cans of the alcoholic beverage Four Loko which caused him to act irratically after they had picked him up to take him home. Which then caused him to jump out of their car, and run in the street which resulted in the young boy being hit by a car and killed. According to Huffingtonpost.com the parents of the young boy said, “We could hear the ambulance sirens from our home.”  “My husband and I just knew the sirens were for Bo (The 15 year old boy.)  It was a parent’s worst nightmare come true.”  According to the article the family filed a wrongful death suit against the makers of Four Loko, in Cook County Circuit court Thursday, claiming the company “was careless and negligent in formulating a caffeinated, alcoholic beverage that desensitizes users to the symptoms of intoxication, and increases the potential for alcohol-related harm.” I also found out that this was not the only time the company has ran into trouble regarding their product. There has been numerous occcasions where people have blacked out or had negative side affects as a result of this alcoholic beverage. Several college campuses went as far as to bann the alcoholic beverage from their campus. In addition, the article also pointed out that, “The FDA eventually forced Phusion (the makers of Four Loko ) to remove caffeine from the beverage, but the high alcohol content remains. One 23-ounce can contains nearly as much alcohol as a a six-pack of beer, according to the lawsuit. Critics of the beverage have also accused the company of targeting underage drinkers with its fruit flavors. ” When I first learned about this case I really felt bad for the parents because their child died over somthing that could have been prevented. But when I read the article further I really had to think to myself and say why would a 15 year old boys parents even allow him to attend a concert where there is alcohol served? I know that if I had a child I would be making sure there is no alcohol or drugs at the concert they would be attending. So why didn’t these parents make sure their child was being supervised correctly and wasn’t in the wrong environment. Don’t get me wrong I do not think these parents deserve to have their child loose his life. But I am merelyquestioning the actions of the boys parents to ensure the safety of their child.  It seems to me that they knew already of him drinking already and was ok with that. So this leaves me to question these parents wanting to sue this company because they feel the company was negligent when in actuality the parents in this case in my opinion were being neglignet parents. And I wonder why they are so quick to point fingers at  someone to try and find someone responsible for their sons death when the people they need to be looking at is themselves.  They probably allowed his behavior and im sure this was not the first time he had a drink. However, I will say I do put some of the blame on the company because it’s obvious there is too much of a high volume of alcohol in the drink and on top of that they are trying to target kids with the fruity flavors they sell. But at the end of the day all businesses care about is the bottom line which is to make profit regardless to what harm it may have on the consumer. If the general public wants something they are going to provide it to them. Just look at how many people smoke cigarettes even though it’s clear that it can cause all types of medical  problems and the bottom line here is people want to smoke so tobacco companys are going to provid their product. So people need to step up and educate themselves and their children.

What ever happened to little girls just simply playing dress up?

                       The other day I turned on the news and there was a story on that was talking about a little girl that was eight years old that had gotten Botox injections. At first I didnt believe it but when I listened further I heard the mother say unapologetically that there wasn’t anything wrong with what she had done. The mother named Kerry is a beautician, from San Francisco, and in the interview she explained how her eight year old daughter, Britney, has aspirations of being a celebrity and she thinks it is beneficial to inject her with botox injections because she participates in Beauty Pageants and she thinks it is going to help her win the contests. Another thing she said that shocked me was that she orders the Botox injections herself  and injects her daughter  herself in her home. Kerry injects around her daughter’s eyes, forehead and lips. Regardless of the fact that these Botox injections could be dangerous Kerry insist’s that they will make her eight year old daughter a star. In the interview the little girl named, Britney also said, “My friends think it’s cool I have all the treatments and they want to be like me. I check every night for wrinkles, when I see some I want more injections.” And when she was asked anout the injections she said, “They used to hurt, but now I don’t cry that much.” And she added as well, “I also want a boob and nose job soon, so that I can be a star.” From what I’ve been hearing this type of thing has been becoming a trend in Beauty Pageant Competitions. I also was surprised to learn that in the UK and US there are no criminal laws stopping a child from having these types of procedures because the industry is self-regulated. It really makes me wonder how different is it for little girls getting other things done like acrylic nails, arching of the eyebrows,waxing, make up, spray tans and hair extensions. These are things That I have seen first hand and have never really given too much thought about until now. It really makes me wonder about today’s society and the price people will pay to fit in with what the media portrays as beautiful. It also makes me wonder about this case in particular and how the mother Kerry is influencing her daugheter in a negative way and that it seems to me that she already has body image problems at such a young age. Shortly after Kerry and Britneys interview aired on television the San rancisco Division of Child Protective Services began investigating the case. Over all, this case makes me wonder about family values and the innocence little girls no longer have. Such as, playing dress up in their mother’s clothes. I remember when I was a little girl and I would play dress up in my mom’s clothes all of the time. But now in today’s society it’s almost like anything goes and playing dress up has been replaced with botox injections.

                        

The Death of Osama Bin Laden

                            After I found out that Osama Bin Laden was killed last week I was really surprised that it happend. Osama Bin Laden and the attack that took place on Septemeber 11th was something that I had left at the back of my mind. It was something that I didn’t give too much thought on. I could imagine this was so because the September 11th attack occured about ten years ago and I think because of that it had became an issue of the past. To be perfectly honest I really wasn’t sure if Osama Bin Laden was even dead or alive before I heard the news about him being infact dead. I think this was because I would hear a lot on the news about how Osama Bin Laden had kidney problems and if he was in hiding not getting the proper attention then he would have died a long time ago. In addition, since the death of Osama Bin Laden people in the U.S. have been celebrating, but I don’t feel the type of excitement that everyone is feeling because I really don’t care. Maybe because I don’t think he should be getting as much attention as he is getting, and by people celebrating and talking about it everyday it is just bringing him back into the spotlight like he probably wanted in the first place. The death of Osama Bin Laden also makes me wonder whether or not their is going to be some type of retaliation targeted toward the U.S. by Osama Bin Laden followers. I read in the Los Angeles Times this morning that Osama Bin Laden and his followers had already been plotting an attack on U.S. railroads. Even though I think it brings a sense of relief to people to know that Osama Bin Laden is dead, I also think that his death doesn’t completely solve the problem because now their will be people like Osama Bin Laden that will want to take his place. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have been captured but i’m just merely bringing up things that may occur as a result of him being killed.

Coverage of the Royal Wedding

                                                         

                                        I turned on my TV early this morning to watch the news channel so that I could see what the weather was going to be for the day, and the only thing the news anchors were talking about was what they called the “The Royal Wedding”, Which is the wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. I don’t remember ever getting a chance to see the weather at all but what I did see was the coverage of  “The Royal Wedding.”  Later that day I decided to see what was on day time  time television and I was surprised that all of the TV shows like Extra and The talk were dedicating their whole show to “The Royal Wedding.” They talked about  Kate Middleton’s dress, they talked about what celebrity’s wore at the wedding, and they even made comparisons of Kate Middleton’s dress to Princess Diana’s dress. I even turned to Oprah and she had a show as well that was dedicated to ”The Royal Wedding.” On the Oprah Winfrey Show one of her guest was the former Chef of Princess Diana and Princess Diana’s sons, and he spoke about his memories as Princess Diana’s friend and chef. When I turned to the news later that day I was surprised to find out that there were people that stayed up all night so they could watch the wedding. I kind of felt bad when I started seeing all of these shows about ”The Royal Wedding” because I didn’t get to see the wedding actually take place and it seemed to me based on what I was watching on TV “The Royal Wedding” was an important event. But when I think about it further it really made me wonder whether or not this wedding was as important as the media was portraying it to be. I thought it was a little outrageous that all of the TV shows I saw gave a exact account of what happend at ”The Royal Wedding.” But then again I am a type of person that likes to watch wedding stories on TV and I also like stuff about celebrity’s. But I must say I think it was a little bit much. But  you really couldn’t expect anything less especially being that Prince William and Kate Middleton will always be linked and compared to his mother that died tragically. I think people are just really infatuated with the idea of a Prince and a Princess. Especially if you look at it from the prospective that most people as children would hear stories about fairytales where you live happily ever after just like in Cinderella. So I think the media influences how important this wedding has become to people but I also think if there is a demand for something and it attracts peoples attention then there is going to be coverage of it in the media.

“Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life”

                                                           

                 I was watching the news earlier today and there was a story  about a gang member that was caught after many years of investigation. At first I didnt think anything of it as it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for there to be a story of this sort. But when I listened more I was surprised to learn that the gang member that had commited the crime had tattooed the whole incident on his chest. And this is what helped investigators to prosecute the gang member for the crime that took place a couple of years ago. The tattoo depicted on the gang member’s chest was of a liquor store in Pico Rivera where the crime scene took place, it had a character named ”Mr. Peanut” which is the nickname of the rival gang memeber, that same character being shot from a helicopter under the banner of the liquor store, and in bold across his upper chest “Rivera Kills. The Los Angeles County sheriff’s homicide Sgt. Kevin Lloyd discovered that “peanut” was a term for a rival gang and “chopper” was the nickname of the tattooed gang member named Anthony Garcia. I also learned that investigators were shocked to see that the tattoo depicted the exact crime scene perfectly from the position of the victim to the lamp pole on the street.  This week Garcia, 25, was convicted of the 2004 murder that he has tattood on his chest  and he is set to be sentenced May 19 in Norwalk, Calif., and faces a minimum of 65 years in prison. I suppose this is one of the true meanings of what it means for art to depict life or life to depict art.

                                                    

                                                                       A closer view of the Tattoo

Contaminated Japanese Fish

            Yesterday, I was watching a TV show called Daily Connection on KNBC4  and the topic was Japanese fish. They discussed the fact that U.S. officials have been inspectiong sea food imported from Japan looking for radiation. The inspection’s have been occuring often since radiation leaks from the crippled power plants have been found in the Pacific Ocean. Even still there has been concerns over whether or not fish from Japan is safe to eat. World Renowned Chef, Eric Ripert that was named “Mater of Sea Food” has stated, “I have seen a lot of paranoia from customers, my staff, and I have been concerned myself.” Because of this concern Chef Ripert has decided to use a radiation detector  to check all of the sea food he cooks. In addition, he says he will no longer buy fish from Japan. I also learned that contaminated fish has been turning up in the water off of Japan near the Fukushima plant. This is a result of Japanese officials dumping radioactive  water  from the plant right into the water. The Japanese officials say that they are going to be storing more of the contaminated water so they don’t have to dump it into the Pacific Ocean. This is suppose to take place allegedly by this coming saturday.

          I never thought about the fish in Japan being contaminated as a result of the power plants being crippled. So I was very surprised when I found out about this information. It really makes me more conscious about what I eat and where I eat. Another thing that was very surprising to me about the contaminated fish is that the Japanese officials are just dumping radioactive water from the plant into the ocean. It makes me wonder if they thought about wether or not doing this would contaminate the water. Which would make people very sick and possibly result in people not wanting to buy Japanes fish. But I also wonder if it is only Japanese fish that is contaminated because the U.S. is also apart of the Pacific Ocean. So I wonder if that contaminated water could spread to the U.S. resulting in contaminated fish in the U.S. aswell. I would say it is better to be safe than sorry and I wouldn’t eat sea food at all for a while until everything clears up.

What will the consequences of budget cuts be in the future?

                                               

                  In the Los Angeles Times I read an article entitled, “California community colleges to slash enrollment, classes” that talked about the recent budget cut’s that have been taking place in regards to education. The article talked about the fact that California’s community colleges will enroll 400,000 less students next fall and it also talked about the thousands of classes to be cut. According to the article, “The dire prognosis was in response to the breakdown in budget talks in Sacramento and the likelihood that the state’s 112 community colleges will be asked to absorb an $800-million funding reduction for the coming school year — double the amount suggested in Gov. Jerry Brown’s current budget proposal.”  It also discussed the price for classes which was initialy $26 dollars per unit and is now $36 dollars per unit and may possibly even jump up to $66 dollars per unit if according to the article, “ a budget compromise is not reached.”

         What shocked me the most was the fact that  students wanting to transfer to the California State and the University of California schools will be denied enrollment. This is somehting that hits close to home because I am expecting to transfer this year and to know I could be denied enrollment because of budget cuts is devastating. I don’t think cutting education is a smart solution in the long run because if you think about it college students are the future. And if they are denied enrollement and can’t afford to go to school what is going to happen to the econmomy in the future? Especially if people are not educated. If people don’t have an education and don’t have degrees then how can they contribute to the economy? The rate of people getting government benefits and the number of people on unemployment is going to rise. Although Cutting educational funds may seem like an easy way to solve a problem, if you think about the future of the economy it is going to be impacted negatively because of the budget cuts.

Fast Food Is Only One Of Your Options

                 

              I just recently read an article from the Los Angeles Times that talked about fast food. It explained that even though the U.S. Department of agriculture urged Americans to eat less,  fast food restuarants are making it harder for consumers to eat healthier. Fast food restuarants like Taco Bell and Burger King are cooking up some new food ideas to put on their menu that are loaded with calories. For example, Jack in the Box has a a new burger called the All-American Jack,which will feature two jumbo beef patties and two kinds of cheese, with 840 calories. And if you decide to make the All American Jack a combo for $4.99 the calories go up to 1,400. Not far behind Jack in the Box is  Taco Bell’s Beefy Crunch Burrito meal: ground beef, rice, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream and spicy Fritos wrapped in a tortilla, plus cinnamon twists on the side and a medium soft drink, for a total of 1,390 calories. 

               Ultimately I think that the choice is completely up to the consumer because they have the power to choose a more healthier diet. Especially since a lot of these fast food restuarants do have healthier alternatives to choose from. For example, Mcdonalds is serving oatmeal all day, apple  sticks, and they have a variety of different salads to choose from. Carl’s Jr. from what I have been reading is in the works of coming out with a turkey burger. And many of the other fast food restuarants have salads on their menu’s now. I personally have walked into a couple of these fast food restuarants and was surprised to see that on the menu next to the items being sold, there is also the amount of calories in each item. So I think fast food restuarants are trying to educate their consumers a little more but at the end of the day they are in the bussiness of making money so you have to expect some of the less healthy foods. And knowing that it is up to the consumer to make the right choice for themselves. And it is up to parents to educate their children about what is healthy. You can’t expect to walk into a restuerants called Burger King and get a menu full of healthy options, thats just not very realistic.