Well after tonight’s class, I can officially say what I never thought I could…I was completely disturbed and disgusted. Now I have never really had an issue with porn, its one of those things I have really never given a second thought to. I don’t judge people for watching it…hey if it turns your crank, so be it. But after tonight’s class I feel like I saw a world that I never thought I would be exposed to. The extreme side of hardcore porn. Wowzers… I honestly felt like I might puke after watching the documentary.
For me I didn’t know that porn could be so extreme and what really disturbed me the most was the rape, execution video that was being made. But what really got me was that there is a market for this kind of stuff. Obviously or they wouldn’t make this kind of porn. Some where there is some sort of demand, or at least someone who is willing to pay to see this. Now I don’t know about you guys, but thats pretty twisted if that kind of subject matter gets you off.
Another surprising thing in the documentary for me was the involvement of the huge company AT&T in the distribution of porn. I believe that they were named the biggest porn pipeline, channeling some of the most hardcore porn out there. Which is quite funny considering they are the main sponsor of one of america’s most family friendly shows, American Idol. They say they do it to stay in business and that it is a way to compete with General Motors. Which is kind of a cop-out but I guess money makes business and the world go round and porn is a billion dollar industry where anybody can have a piece!
Gay culture….What is it?? Well as a person who has been immersed in gay culture from a young age (I have a few relatives who are gay) it is nothing short of what so called straight culture is. Although there are a few exceptions, gay culture is practically no different from any other culture. And what exactly defines a culture. My cousin and I really have lead similar lives…we both participate in sports, go to university, work and virtually want the same things in the end like a good solid relationship and a loving family, except she just happens to want it with another woman.
When my cousin came out to our family, it was not a big ordeal. We still accepted her and loved her all the same. But I guess from an early age I have been taught to have a open mind to things and never to judge people based on the things that may make them different from myself. She helped coach my basketball team and for many of the parents who had found out that she was in-fact gay, this was unsettling to them. The fact that a gay person was teaching and influencing their kids was some what disturbing to some. It was like they were scared that somehow she led some sort of perverse and evil life, that they didn’t want her to rub off on their kids. It was this attitude that made some of the kids feel this way.
I guess that this is societies fault for teaching us through the media to judge and discriminate against those who are “different” and don’t fit the norm. It is almost like people are scared of gay people because it is like being scared of the unknown. There are all these preconceived notions about what gay culture and gay lifestyle is all about. It is like gay people are defined by the labels and limitations that people of less open minds put on them.
The quote by the governor that says “They have no special language, no special clothing, no special food, no special dress-wear, so what … makes them a culture? They don’t fit into any definition of what a culture is.” Is obviously homophobic and has really no idea what she is talking about at all. Gay people definitely have a distinct culture. Has anyone ever been to a gay pride parade??There you will see gay culture in all its splendor!!! And what about all those stereotypes of what a gay person is…the lisp, the flamboyant dress, the bent wrist…even these things are somewhat society has defined as aspects of gay culture. And why is it that homosexuals need to have this distinct culture. Why is is that we feel the need to separate the straight from the gay.
Also gay culture is rarely portrayed in society and in the media at all and if so it is usually in some sort of negative light. One show that is trying to improve the image of gay people around the globe and inform us what gay culture is , is Queer as Folk. It is a unapologetic look at the life of a group of homosexuals(both male and female) living in Pittsburgh. It is an in your face look at the lives and relationships of a group of friends. and it is honest and shows a frank look into these characters lives, giving many an inside perspective into what it means to be gay. It has become one of my favorite shows and though it can be quite graphic at times, it is an honest portrayal of gay life and culture. It shows that when it comes right down to it, homosexuals are like everybody else and have the same problems and issues as everybody else they just prefer at the end of the day to go home to somebody of the same sex.
The following is one of my favorite scenes from the show from season one and for those who aren’t comfortable with this type of thing you may not want to watch the clip(its nothing graphic or anything like that) The scene is of one of the main characters Justin and his lover Brian at prom. this cause quite the controversy and doesn’t sit well with one of the students who goes to drastic measures to stop it.
Oops i dont know what happened to the font half way through this post!!
well the other day when i walked through the new health and wellness center doors i saw that we are getting a tim hortons….Is anybody else as excited as i am, maybe i am just a gigantic dork but i love timmy’s…their coffee, those apple fritters and i can’t say enough good things about their sandwiches!! i am pumped…what can i say , dumb things make me happy
ok…so i am a huge comedy fan and the other night my roommate and i were checking out some videos on youtube(what else is new ) when we came across this video of impressions. i had never heard of this comedian before but i might just say that he is pretty damn good… i especially love the seinfeld bit….so if you want a good laugh i recommend checking out this video.
Well its official, i am completely and udderly addicted to youtube. You can find anything on that site and since i love dancing here is a little video about the evolution of it. i personally find it to be quite humorous and oh so true of the dance trends of the past decades.
Well instead of doing what i actually should be doing which is write a blog regarding media for class, i have decided to procrastinate and post things that are more for entertainment purposes! Over the weekend i ended up going to a movie…which i clearly didn’t have time for but nevertheless did anyways (because what else are you to do on a Sunday afternoon after a weekend of too much indulging and its just soo cheap at the movie mill i couldn’t pass it up) SO anyways i went to a little movie called Keeping Mum, now i had never heard of it before but i ended up looking on-line on comments about it and people had nothing but good things to say and in the ‘what it was about section’ it simply just said it was a British dark comedy…well i love a good dark comedy so off i went. The movie was surprisingly good, although a little quirky…but who doesn’t love quirky!! and it starred the most bizarre cast who did a phenomenal job. It had Maggie Smith playing a housekeeper with a hazy past….Rowan Atkinson(aka MR.bean) in a very uncharacteristic yet surprisingly good role…and Patrick Swayze in a role that will have you longing for his character in dirty dancing! i don’t want to give too much away about the film but if you are in the mood for some light hearted humor and have nothing else to do its just a suggestion and i have also posted the trailer so you can take a sneak peak.
Wow…so this is very my very first blogging experience. It is all so new and exciting, yet a little scary. What does one write in a blog?? Technology and computers really have never been my thing or something I have particularly excelled at. (You may say I am a little computer dumb when it comes to these types of things. ) When looking at the course outline, I was a little hesitant to stay in the class knowing that so much of it is based on keeping and maintaining a blog. It is kind of unnerving to have a group of people you don’t know see your thoughts and potentially comment on what they think of them. Especially when this is something that is out of my comfort zone. I am one of those people who generally stays away from things like emailing, msn and facebook, I prefer to communicate face to face with people or over the phone. I feel that technology has taken the personalness( I don’t think that, that is a word but oh well) out of communication. I like how in person you can have that banter back and forth. But over the internet you lose emotion and the sense of a continual conversation. Even on say something like msn, it can be a long time before you get a reply and you often are having several other conversations at the same time. Although I do find something fascinating about things like msn and facebook and how they have changed the way we communicate with people. With the advent of these things it is now possible for anyone to communicate with anybody else in the world. It allows us to keep in touch with people we know from all over the world that we may not normally get to converse with on a regular basis. It is inexpensive and for the most part extremely convenient, with most people owning or having easy access to computers.
Now I did say before that I usually stay away from emailing and such, but as of lately, as facebook mania has hit and as more and more of my friends have gotten facebook and constantly urged me to do the same, I finally caved under the pressure. I got it about a month ago and though I don’t check it very often I have found it to be a very useful and addictingtool. It allows me to easily contact friends and is so much more convenient then trying to hunt someone down over the phone. (I hate playing telephone tag with people) It is so crazy to think that this gadget can allow you to get entirely filled in on a persons life without even having them speak a word. Technology is such a crazy and nifty thing and this idea of mass media has really reached new heights in the last couple years…who ever thought that this type of communication would ever exist??
In regards to the class, after writing this blog(which I hope makes some sort of sense) that I must admit I was absolutely dreading, I realize that it wasn’t that bad and wasn’t that hard. It is something I have never really done before and I am kind of excited about that. It is something fresh and new and I think it will make for a very unique and interesting class. And now that I have gotten my first blog out of the way and seen how quick and painless it is, I kinda can’t wait to do my next one.See you all in class!
