Juliannapaige's Weblog

Reaction to Bamboozled

juliannapaige — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:42:55 +0000

When I first watched Bamboozled, I did not know how to react. I watched it and laughed, but I did not know if I was laughing because I was uncomfortable or if I actually thought it was funny. I waited until after I saw the entire movie to blog on my reaction because I was not sure how to react to the first half. The second half of the movie had a much different ending than I had anticipated. The beginning was more comical and funny, where as the ending was very depressing and dark. Five or six people ended up dying in the end. There was not one specific message that the producer was trying to send out, but there were many underlying messages. The producer was trying to make the movie kind of awkward so that when the audience laughed, they would ask themselves if it was okay to be laughing. He also wanted to make the audience think about racism as a whole, and see where it still plays a part in our society. Overall, the movie was very moving and made me think a lot. However, it was still confusing and I am not sure exactly what the message was that the producer was trying to send.

Masculinity

juliannapaige — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:16:02 +0000

In the article, “Where do Boys fit in?” it started off by saying that “boys are resented, being seen both as the unfairly privileged gender and as obstacles on the path to gender justice for girls.” I think this is a very unfair stereotype because boys in no way are “more privileged” than girls are. In the older days, they were allowed to do many more things than women were, but times have changed and women and men have equal rights. Celebrity men are seen as if they should be extremely masculine and many people look up to them. I think that men have almost as much pressure to look good and be in shape as women do. However, I don’t think it will ever be quite as bad.

5 Sources and Topic Proposal

juliannapaige — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:24:24 +0000

For my final paper, I am going to write about teenage girls drinking and the different reasons behind why they drink. I am going to interview five or six of my friends so that I can get their stories behind drinking. I am going to ask questions such as “Why do you drink,” and “How do you feel when you drink?” Then I am going to compare their answers with different statistics and studies on teenage drinking. I am going to tell whether my friends’ encounters are similar or different and how so. I am also going to relate their stories to the story of Koren Zailckas.

1. Interview with friends:

Melissa King

Christen Economos

Jordan Lyons

Kelly McAleese

2. Zailckas, Koren. Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood. New York, New York: Pengiun Group, 2006

3. Ryan, Sandy F. “Wasted Lives: the Truth About Teen Girls and Drinking.” Find Articles. Oct.-Nov. 2004. 1 Apr. 2008 .

4. Armstrong, Elizabeth. “The New Face of Underage Drinking: Teenage Girls.” The Christian Science Monitor. 08 July 2004. 1 Apr. 2008 .

5. “Teen Drinking Statistics.” Family Guide. 1 Apr. 2008 .

Social Networking

juliannapaige — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:13:56 +0000

Social networking sites are a great way for someone to show off his or her creativity. For example, Myspace allows users to upload different backgrounds and add music to their profiles. Just by seeing someone’s profile, you can tell if she prefers country over rap, or if Grey’s Anatomy is her favorite show. Many of the social networking sites provide as much information as the user is willing to give. I have seen Facebook pages that have someone’s address, phone number, college and current job. Many times people will list all of their likes and dislikes. It can range from “I love reading” to telling their top 100 favorite things. Even though I don’t read the “About Me” section very often, I usually don’t have a reaction to the things they like and dislike. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion and it is not my job to say whether or not it is good. I think the purpose for many poeple signing up to have an account on a social networking site is to stay in touch with current or former friends. However, there are people who are looking for relationships and making new friends. For example, on Facebook, there is a section that says “Looking For” and people can fill it out to say “A Relationship,” “Random Play,” or even just “Friends.” These are different clues to know whether or not someone is looking to stay in touch with his or her old friends or if they are out to meet his or her new relationship.

Book Review

juliannapaige — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:04:07 +0000

I have chosen to read the book Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood by Koren Zailckas. I chose to read Smashed because I have read many different reviews about this book, all of which were very good. I know that a good portion of the book is based when the author was in college and she revolved her whole life around drinking. However, at the time, it was acceptable how much she drank because, since she was in college, she felt as if everyone drank as much as she did.

I hope to find out how she stopped drinking and how hard it was for her. I also want to know if she still has any problems with drinking today.

I read that this book is very moving and it is a great read for a college student. I hope that I will learn a lot about the struggles that students have with drinking.

News in the Blogosphere

juliannapaige — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:57:44 +0000

After reading many different blogs and news sources about people involved in the War in Iraq, I think that the people that are blogging about their experiences are more accurate than news reporters. I say this because, in many circumstances, the news is not allowed to say many things that might offend some viewers or make them lose some of their audience. The people who are blogging about their daily lives in Iraq don’t care about who is reading their blogs, they are just blogging to have somewhere to put down their thoughts.

For example, and Iraqi girl blogs about her fears and how unsafe Iraq is during this time of war.

Before two weeks, our neighbor’s brother who is about 30 years old, married and having a kid did’t return to home. They thought that he was kidnapped and they waited a call from the people who kidnapped him, wanted money for the sake of his release. Unfortunately, no one call. And two days later he was found in the postmortem room. Today, our neighbor called and said that he is leaving Iraq to Armenia .

The basic is:

We are still insecure and in danger even when we are in our own house. But life goes on.

Many times in the news, we do not get first-hand stories like we do from people who are actually involved in the war. The news is made up of things that journalists say and assume, which many times can be false.

However, many blogs are not advertised nearly as much as newspapers and news websites. I think they should be advertised equally so that people could get news from many different sources, instead of just one or two.

Pop Culture

juliannapaige — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:30:04 +0000

Popular culture is what is popular or socially accepted among a society. I think that there are many positive and many negative things that can come from popular culture.

One thing that I really like about pop culture is that magazines and websites focus a lot about celebrities doing good things for the society, such as volunteer work. I think this makes our society more willing to volunteer for different things because our role models are setting a good example for us. I think some stereotypes that come from this is that if someone is a celebrity or is making a lot of money, he or she has to donate money or volunteer in order to not be looked down on.

However, I think this is a good stereotype because our society can only benefit from people helping others in need. Although there are many other things that I like about popular culture, there are many more things that I very strongly dislike. For example, I can’t stand how Hollywood has made the stereotype that everyone has to be skinny. There are millions of girls who have suffered from eating disorders just so that they can look like Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie. Even people who think it is stupid to try to look like others or be skinny because it is considered normal subconsciously try to eat healthier and exercise more so that they can fit in.

Take a look at the picture of Keira Knightley below. She has bones poking out of her back. I’m sure many people look at this picture and think of it as “normal”. I hope that, one day, the view of women will change and it will be accepted to be a normal weight.

Another thing that I do not like about pop culture is how everyone focuses on celebrities lives, especially when a celebrity is going through an extremely hard time. I think everyone is entitled to his or her own privacy and I do not think we should spend so much time worrying about what a celebrity is doing at one specific moment. Celebrities get photographed while they are on honeymoons, going to the gym, and even grocery shopping. People act as if they are not normal people who do not need to buy groceries. One example of a celebrity who is constantly being photographed during a hard time is Britney Spears. She is in magazines almost every day talking about something she did that is “not acceptable”. I think that once someone is in a hard time, it is hard to get things back together when everyone is constantly watching his or her every move.

This picture of Britney was taken when she went to a coffee shop to get an Iced Latte. It seems that the paparazzi and everyone else can’t seem to get enough of her.

I think these types of things say that our culture is too obsessed with what is going on in other people’s lives. We should focus more on what we are doing instead of what someone else is doing or where he or she is buying his/her groceries.

Introduction

juliannapaige — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:40:51 +0000

Hello,

I am Julianna Graham and this is my new blog for English 102. I was in English 101 with Elyn, so I already had this blog to begin with. I am going to start off my telling a little about myself. I am the youngest of four girls and I love being the baby. One of my sisters, Danielle, is 5 months pregnant and I can’t wait until her little girl is born. I am half- brazilian and I just spent the past ten days in Brazil. My whole family lives there, including my great-aunt (we went to visit her). I am a freshman at the University of South Carolina and I hope to major in International Business. I also want to minor in Spanish and Portuguese!

My favorite movies are:

Grease
Dirty Dancing
27 Dresses

My favorite website is facebook.com.

Hilary Duff Battles Weight Issues

juliannapaige — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:15:49 +0000

Spotted out at Barney’s of New York in Beverly Hills on Saturday for a little retail therapy, Hilary Duff recently spoke to Access Hollywood’s Maria Menounos about weight issues in Hollywood – offering up her take on the controversial issue.

“In Hollywood there’s a lot of pressure, at least in the weight category. How do you deal with that?” Maria asked Hilary.

“They said things before, you know like, ‘Oh my gosh! She’s gained weight!’ And then I lose weight and then it’s, ‘Oh my god, she has lost too much weight!’ I think that when you just laugh about it and you don’t let it effect you. It’s easier said then done, definitely, because it hurts your feelings and it gets to you, and we’re just human,” Hilary tells.

And while the 20-year-old is quite comfortable with her current physique, that doesn’t mean that she goes without working out.

“I work with a Pilates trainer,” Hilary revealed, adding, “I am so bad at exercising outside of Pilates. It’s just not fun, it’s like I just can’t make myself go.”

I could not imagine having to live up to the standards that celebrities have. I think Hilary Duff has done a great job staying in shape and looking normal, even though she was a little too skinny not too long ago. I am glad to see there are girls who can be happy with themselves instead of always bashing themselves and not eating. Hilary Duff is definitely a good role model, and more girls should look up to her.

Jennifer Love Hewitt Gets Criticized

juliannapaige — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:59:16 +0000

It was the bikini shot seen ’round the world: Last week, Jennifer Love Hewitt was blasted for wearing a bikini – and not looking like a size zero. The blog commentary led Hewitt to speak out saying “I’m not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image.”

I think it is great the Jennifer Love Hewitt is okay with her body. Even though she may not be perfect, she is still happy with herself, which is all that matters. I wish more girls could have a good body image like she does.