Random Videos playiing on a page near you!

Hi there, long time no see right? Hey, do you surf the internet obsessively like I do? No, okay that's fine but if you've browsed any media sites lately I'm sure you've noticed this.... So you're on your favorite blog and everything is good. You're reading up on the latest Chris Brown shenanigans and you're having a good time. Then all of a sudden your speakers start blaring, that annoying whistle from the Frebreeze commercial starts playing and you are scrambling to adjust the speakers so no one else gets to hear about the freshness of Frebreeze. Meanwhile some white lady is telling you about how you can visit the website and get 50 cents off your next purchase and that's all fine and great. As you scroll up and down the page you find that the video in question seems to be playing out of thin air. No tiny little embedded player in sight. So you're forced to just sit there and let it play with no way of knowing if another one is coming up after that (that you can't pause or stop). This has happened to me REPEATEDLY and it grinds my nerves up into finely ground powder fit to be sprinkled on top of only the finest, freshest county fair funnel cake. Sometimes I get lucky and find the evil video before I'm ear raped by an ad for ERUPTIVA, the latest pill for erectile dysfunction or something. All other times I'm sitting there completely helpless. It seems like this is the new thing for advertisers. Banners don't work. Making you stare at an ad for 30 seconds before you visit the blog doesn't work either ( I just close my eyes really tight and count to 30). So I guess the next best thing is to just violently invade my senses by inserting an untraceable video on my page and laugh while I try to find it and kill it like a roach in a dirty apartment. Well guess what advertisers?!!! You won't crush my spirit!!!!!! I will enjoy my blog time. Next time I'll simply insert my fingers in my ears and scream until it's all over. Naw, that might get me arrested if I'm out somewhere on my computer. Nevermind, but I will tell you this Mr. Ad man, this invasion of random videos makes me hate your products even more. If I see some Frebreeze in the grocery store I'm going to shudder and think of that one time on the computer. So the joke's on you. *Dramatically points finger* HA!

*P.S. I was not sponsored by Frebreeze to write this post, in face I love Frebreeze. I have a can at home. It's lovely.Simply used it for example purposes. Oh, and I love white ladies too.

Don't you hate it when...

For those of you who are lucky enough to be able to attend college,  for those of you who are still in there (you poor bastard) and for those of you who don't even remember yesterday let alone college life you will relate either way. I didn't find this to be much of a problem until I got to school with acquaintances. You don't really start collecting them until you get to college. Usually in high school, you meet someone and then after that, you "know" them. When you see them on the street you speak and move on.  What I hate is the time it takes for an acquaintance to become a friend because for the time in between it just so ....awkward. Just like the spelling of that word. AWKward, haha. Anyway. So you meet somebody at some random function and you tell them your name and they tell you their name. For the rest of the time you are within reach of each other you talk and schmooze until you both part ways. But then next time you see each other in a more real world setting, let's just get crazy and say on campus the next day , what happens when they act like they've never seen you before? Never mind the fact they were high-fiving you to no tomorrow and the both of you were the champions at the ConnectFour table that night. You both shared a plate when they ran out them at the serving line for pizza. Swore up and down you would find each other on Facebook and hang out again. It was going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. But now in the harsh light of the day, you see them and they see you but no greetings exchanged? What? Do you just pretend you don't know this person and that night never happened? Do you try to wave anyway, risking looking like a complete idiot if they STILL don't acknowledge you? Maybe they do this sort of thing all the time. Leaving people hanging at various functions only to move on to the next. What's up with this? Why do people pretend they don't know you after CLEARLY meeting and hanging out with you previously. I find that it's only when you are forced to be in really close quarters with this person or they happen to breeze into the office you work in asking where the so and so building is when you have to go,"Hey remember me, from that thing a while back?", that they are forced to go , "oh yeah, hey!" Like they knew all along. Hey, I get it, I can play that game too. I know how to not know somebody. We'll see, don't let me catch you out on the sidewalk, you buster......lol, just kidding. Call me lame but I bet you're mad. 

Crossing Ova!

When is the point where you stop drooling over expensive cosmetics that you will never ever buy in your life and start making actual purchases, amounts that used to only be on a check for a bill, towards said expensive items. I mean I could get eyeshadow all day at a dollar a pop and be fine. Or so I thought until I was able to make my first insanely expensive cosmetic purchase. Now if you were me these past couple of months you would have been obsessed with cosmetics. Most of all you would be obsessive with cheap cosmetics. I've been buying makeup in bulk pretty much since this thing started. First I would click on a picture of something high end to see what the big deal was. Why would anybody want to spend that much on (insert: lipstick, eyeshadow, blush, whatever) when they could buy it for a few dollars and be fine? I would read about people ranting and raving on how awesome this or that is thinking,"I'll just stick to my cheap stuff". But I gotta say after trying out this expensive mess, I feel like I've been converted into some sort of secret society. It really does make a difference, a very subtle difference, but a difference indeed. That being that you don't have to work as hard to put the stuff on. But playing with the stuff is half the fun. With the cheap makeup, depending on the brand, you have to grind it into your face to make it show. Not so with the expensive brand, and for how much you're paying it better not. Now that I actually have something of substance I find that all the hype has matched to the product but it's pretty much just makeup I could get anywhere for any price. I think I'll indulge in the good stuff every once in a while but stick to the dollar stuff for now.

Road Rage

Does anyone else get offended when people pass them on the road (and by anybody else I mean generally sane people w/ clean driving records) when they're doing the speed limit? Have you ever been driving, obeying the speed limit and having yourself a nice cruise when everyone around you is whizzing by. They toss you evil looks as they pass as if you're the one going granny slow. It makes you feel as if you should be speeding and then as you speed up you notice everyone slowing down again. Since you are at the tail end of this madness you are the only one the cop in the empty parking lot sees speeding along. Yeah, happens to me all the time. When I'm behind the wheel I like the think the world is revolving around me so it's safe to assume everyone is thinking the same thing. So when I get cut off or someone is riding my back bumper like there's no tomorrow I take it personally. Not so much now as I did when I first got my license but always more so when I probably shouldn't. It's like someone invading your personal space. That's how I feel when I see someone coming up from behind in my rear view mirror. I can tell when they're gonna pass me and then I get all offended. What? my speed isn't good enough for you? I mean the sign seems to suggest that my speed is in fact good enough. How dare you imply that my driving skills are sub-par. Then they pass me only to cut me off in the front to then proceed to.. gasp... go slower than they were going in the first place. It's like I get passed just for the sake of passing. Just wondering if this was just me... does anyone out there feel like that?

If your going to cheat, let's be real about it

By now you know that I'm very sensitive about the double standard. What is viewed as okay to do by a male in a relationship is an absolute deal breaker with a female. Now, I get it. Men and women have quite a few differences. Although I do believe intellectually we are equals, I am aware of all the subtle differences we have physically and emotionally. I can't expect scenarios to play out the same way for me as they would a male in the same situation. With that being said, I still do not understand the difference between a woman cheating and a man. When a man cheats, it's usually just shrugged off, it's what expected of the male species... they cheat right? The woman can make a big deal out of it but it seems like people get sick of it after a couple days. When a woman cheats, she is a low down dirty no good ho-bag who doesn't deserve the very breath in her lungs. At least that's how it is in the movies.The man acts like he cannot believe that a woman is capable of wanted anyone else but him. I think it's crazy to even portray anybody like that. Can you actually be in a relationship thinking, truly believing, that the person you are with has never been attracted to anyone but you and will never be attracted to anyone else? Really? You never see a plot line that involves the man taking the cheating, lying woman back. No, she's untouchable, he gets as far away from her as possible. It's like the woman is no good, as if she's bad produce, unable to be useful ever again. Then on the flip side when a woman finds out her husband cheated on her, she looks like an ass for thinking the same thing, a la Miranda in the Sex and the City movie. There is always the option of whether the female should take the male back versus no consideration whatsoever by the male. What do you think? Have you ever seen the situation play out differently, movie or real life?

I graduated from the YouTube school of makeup

I've recently come off of a very serious, coma-inducing makeup binge. I blame it on the lack of beautification obsession I guess every average teenage girl has. Let's just say, I barely combed my hair in high school. It was a rare occasion if you saw it in anything other than a ponytail. Makeup was definitely out of the question. So now that I've become an adult and got a hold of some disposable income, I've lost my mind. Only problem was, I had all this makeup with no earthly idea of how to use it. Cue another wonderful discovery. Makeup tutorials! Short YouTube videos, usually 5 to 10 minutes in length of some chick showing you how to wear or what to do with this and that. When I needed to know how to put on false eyelashes, there was a tutorial for that. How to groom eyebrows, got you covered and if I wanted to do psychedelic rainbow eyes, I had plenty how-to's to choose from. But after watching haul after haul, I discovered something was off. A lot of the girls' makeup looked more drag queen in heat then natural beauty. I found some good stuff by a few people who were actually makeup artists. They had helpful tips on how to do real makeup but the majority not so much . Some girls try to play it off and do "looks" with themes "inspired" by movies or music videos. Some girls just straight up pile it on until they hit the metal in the bottom of the eyeshadow pot and have the nerve to call it their "everyday look". I'm worried. I'm sure there are a lot of girls assuming that it's cool to go to school with a "Kim Kardashian" smoky eye or costume makeup. The girls in the video know that shit is coming off as soon as the red light goes dim on their camera but what about me? I believe I'm going to ride to the grocery store looking like I just graduated from Sasha Fierce's Beauty School for Dummies thank you very much. I'm just saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but if can't see with that eye your real face underneath all that slap, it's time to lay off.

I think I like waiting for packages

I’ve been buying a lot off the internet lately. Everything from pens to shoes to clothes and electronics have been arriving in neat little taped up brown boxes at various times in the week. Internet shopping is fun and all. You get something not everybody in town can just run to the store to get. You feel exclusive because most likely you are getting items much cheaper than you would in the store anyway. The only turn off to shopping online really is the fact that you can’t touch, feel, weigh in your hand. All you get is a picture and hope that it will arrive like you imagined. Anyway, I’m getting off topic here. My point is usually I get a tracking number and from there it’s a self torture session. I check it and I check it often. I have to know where it is. Did it get to the next hub? Why is it taking so long to get here? Why hasn’t the status changed? Oh my gosh, I’m never gonna get it. You should see me on the day of “expected delivery” I literally check the tracking information 7 to 8 times a day just to see if it moves. I swear when I finally get the package. I’m happy and all, but a part of me misses having something to check on. It doesn’t really matter what the package is as long as I have a tracking number. I guess in a sick way a part of me likes to have something out there that belongs to me. It’s like a game that I have no control over concerning if my merchandise will get from point a to b without incident.

The Post Office

This isn't a rant. I promise you there are enough of them out there for you to read if you're into that kind of stuff. It just amazes me. I've always wanted to know what goes on inside the post office. Letters and junk mail get to me fine. When it comes to packages, it's like taking the money and just burning it. Better yet, I might as well just put the money I spent in the mailbox for the postman (or woman) to deliver straight to the mail sorters. I've had things that took twice as long to not get to me. Rerouted packages returned to the sender looking like someone did everything to it to see what was inside just short of just opening the damn thing. I've had things delivered completely open, with the contents thankfully still shifting around inside. The one that tops it all is the package that was delivered completely empty. The bag around it was an apology letter from the post office about how they were sorry they mishandled my package. Okay, stop right there. You mean to tell me that someone swiped the item in question and then put a sticker on it that basically says sorry we stole this but hey! at least you got the box! How would any postal sorter( not sure if that's even the official name, not sure I care) know that the box was maybe supposed to be shipped as light as it was. The only way the note is justified is somebody took the item. I'm also puzzled at their delivery confirmation service. It's supposed to guarantee the delivery and complimentary scans are made along the way just in case you were curious. But when the package goes missing they can't tell you where it is. So the point of the delivery confirmation is to make sure the package is delivered, wouldn't it be necessary for the scans to be mandatory just in case the package doesn't make it? I don't know maybe that's just a wild idea. It's not like they give you your money back if you never get your package (with or without insurance, it doesn't really matter). I'm so done throwing money away to these guys trusting them with merchandise I paid for. The last few problems I've had, I didn't even bother calling the post office because I already know I'm going to get some pissed of customer service rep who tells me to go kick rocks because they don't give a sh*t where I or my package ends up.

Boys can be whores

I'm the first girl to cry foul when I see a boy get away with something a girl could never do. I notice more and more things the double-standard applies to everyday. I know one day I'll have to just lay it down and know that girls can't get away with EVERYTHING that boys can. I was just thinking aloud the other day about it. I wondered why are young girls encouraged to remain chaste, good and pure while fellas are encouraged to explore (with the opposite sex that is). It's weird that a girl can go all her life being careful about who she hangs with, what she does and how she's viewed to keep her sexual integrity. A guy the same age can whore it out without even thinking about how girls view him. A whole life is spent by each doing this and when the two finally end up together who wins? That's right the guy wins. He had all his fun in his younger days and now he's ready to settle in with a wife. A wife who (hopefully) didn't whore it out in her youth; a wife who is now vulnerable to whatever disease her husband may have contracted. A wife who has to accept the fact that her man has been with way more women and has probably done everything there is to do sexually with them. She can't surprise him (or maybe she can) because she's had less experience. However, she's stuck with whatever's left of the man's desire for a woman. That's okay? I'm not saying girls should be encouraged to whore it out when they are young but young men shouldn't be encouraged either. Everybody should just chill out. God knows I don't want to end up with a man who's been around the block so many times he's worn a path in the ground.

Hooker Heels

After years of anticipation, my mom and I finally made it to the much hyped $9.99 shoe store in Dallas. Every time we took the three hour drive from home we would see the sign pointing to the store where all shoes were only 10 bucks. We’re not talking busted shoes or no name kicks. We’re talking cute heels and boots. Things that we just couldn’t buy at home. Too bad all that anticipation was for nothing. When we entered this holy grail of shoe stores we were first hit by the odd but familiar mildew/must combination. Most likely coming from the flat, dark warehouse carpet lining the layout. Then, row after narrow row of stretched-out shoes in dingy boxes, some lining the floors. Since it was Saturday, the store was filled to the top with bargain hunters (like ourselves) thirsty for a deal. Unfortunately, the deals were solely dependent on one's taste. If you like strappy, 3-inch heel metallic red sandals with the extra thick sole at the bottom to help you if maybe you were a stripper to balance while you dip it low for a dolla then that's the $10 deal for you. Hey, you'd technically only have to do one dance (if you dip it enough) to pay 'em off. The shoe store discriminates against the rest of us sane individuals who can barely go clubbing in a pair of 2-inchers. High heels in general were not made for walking. I don't know who came up with that idea. I mean REAL walking: Walking in grass, over grates in the streets, walking down the block. NO! High heels, I'm talking about over 2-inches were meant to only take a female (or male, insert long snap 'cross the chest and a drawn out heeyyy! for all my feminine brothas) for a short trip down the imaginary catwalk in her room once or twice. That being said, nobody really wants to waste any amount of money on shoes that hurt or might seriously damage their feet after standing in them for a while. I don't really know were all these discount shoe retailers order their shoes but they all seem to be coming out of the same place. It seems like you can't even leave the store without seeing at least one pair of spike heel,peep-toe patent leather pumps with shiny, black varnish or the lime green floral print joints with the jewelry hangin' off the ankle. Better yet top that off with the boat like 3-inch pointy-toe heels in any color and you've just about been to every cheap shoe store in the nation all in one stop. Of course, all of them being only $10 bucks what more could we expect. Anyway, I know where to go if I need a pair of hooker shoes to go clubbin' in for a night.

I'm official

Okay, so it's been a long, long, long time since I posted. That being due to the fact that I've finally graduated into the real world. I got a job! A real one. One that pays the bills... all of them.... with money left over for me to eat. It wasn't until after I landed a job that I really felt like I graduated. That's probably because my mom told me that getting a job was the last step of truly being a graduate ( I think she just said that to encourage me to keep the job search going). It's a shame how starving college kids turn into starving "real-world" adults without any real turn around time and it didn't help that I graduated into the dreaded RECESSION. So quickly one acquires a certain stigma. What once was family members and friends showering you with monetary gifts because they knew you were a broke college student turns into snubs from the same people when you become a graduate. I was still starving and poor but because I'm not a student I can't get no love? Anyway, I know that's how the world works. After all with a degree I am capable of finding my place right? Still, I was hungry folks. I was used to having no extra money but never was I used to not being able to afford food. That's a basic necessity! I thought people always had money for food. How wrong was I? So now, after three long or short months depends on how you look at it, I finally have a job that pays the bills! So I've been spending the past few weeks applying, getting hired, going through orientation, training, decorating my new office (yes, my own office) and generally settling in. Now that I'm official expect to hear more from me....

Bikes in the Street

I'm from Oregon, a eco-friendly place filled with lush, green landscapes and recycle bins. The city has a "do something good for the environment" attitude about everything. So I grew up around a lot of bike lanes and Earth day celebrations. Bike lanes are something I wish I saw nowadays in Texas. I've always had a indescribable hate toward people who rode bikes in the street. People who think they are riding in cars; people who signal with their arms and stop at the light in the middle of the road during peak traffic. Yeah, those people. Too many times, I remember riding 2mph in the car with my parents behind some idiot on a bike. What was worse sometimes that idiot was riding alongside a bike lane. I don't care how much patience you have this will make you lose it one day. When I moved to Texas, I loved how no one rode bikes like that. I would never have to worry about seriously considering ending someone's life because they were holding me up riding in traffic. I've seen so many people on bikes out in traffic lately it makes me wonder. There aren't bike lanes here but there are plenty of sidewalks why don't people ride on sidewalks when sidewalks are available? Even though I'm sure it's perfectly legal for bicyclist to ride in the street among regular traffic isn't it dangerous for that guy on the bike to be riding between cars going 3o or 40 mph? As the person on the bike, I'm not sure I would trust everybody behind the wheel to respect my bike. If hit and seriously injured I could only take legal action against whoever hit me after the fact when it's too late. I would love to see people on bikes use the sidewalk when it's there instead of opting for the street. In the end, no one in a car really cares that your on a bike they just want you out of their way.

Bare Feet

So lately I've been noticing more and more girls walking around the streets barefoot. I don't know about ya'll but I think that's nasty. What shocks me is how it's even comfortable to walk on grass, asphalt, bark dust or whatever. To give these girls credit they're usually carrying heels so I guess that's legit. I've never been one to take my shoes off and walk on God knows what. I'd rather permanently damage my foot muscles wearing the wrong shoes than risk picking up whatever is on the ground. The other day I saw this girl walking and talking on the phone with no shoes on. I just wanted to shake her and say, "What are you doing," but I didn't want to interrupt her conversation. Anyway just an observation.

Customer Service

Anybody out there work in the service industry? Anybody out there truly believe in the phrase, "the customer is always right"? I didn't think so. Two weeks ago, I had an encounter with a customer that wanted me to perform something remarkable. I work in an office at a university and I deal with students all the time. I picked up the phone and instantly recognized the voice from when he called before. I remembered his voice because he did the same thing last time. Anyway, he had a question and I had no clue what the answer was. He said he had called someone at the university before and they told him the answer. The thing was he couldn't remember who he called or what they said. I took me almost 10 minutes to try to get him to understand that no matter how much rewording he did to his question he wouldn't be able to get an answer out of me because I didn't know, no matter how many times he asked for the guy in the office he would still be unavailable and most importantly I wouldn't be able to read his mind to tell him who he called in the entire unversity, which services 30,000 plus students, in the first place.

Yesterday, I was at Burger King when some guy went up to the front counter to yell at one of the workers. He keep saying, "Do they listen back there, do they listen?!"to a bewildered girl. She was shocked and didn't know what to say because apparently she had nothing to do with the order. I think the guy ordered from the drive-thru and came inside after he discovered his order was messed up. Had that girl been a complete stranger on the street I don't think he would've came at her like that. It was a bit disrespectful and I've been in her shoes before so I didn't appreciate it. Even if it is someone else's mistake don't lose your nuggets over something like a hamburger. I don't care how bad life is please don't take it out on others. We've all got something going on behind the scenes.

Don't expect a miracle out of people who are just doing their job. Make sure you evaluate yourself before you go blaming someone else for their incompetence when it was your impossible command that they were trying to satisfy.

So Exotic!

This post covers a topic that has been done to death but I've always wanted to voice my opinion about it so here goes... A couple months ago I wrote a paper for one of my classes about hip-hop music videos and what it does to the young, black female's perception of beauty. Naturally, after reading all this material, I realized that black females aren't really featured in hip-hop videos these days. Sadly, only their essence remains. There may be girls with "black" attributes, body shape, pouty lips etc. but they always have "other" attributes mixed in, long curly hair, freckles, fair skin to make them appear more exotic. If the girl is indeed "black", meaning she has more "black" attributes than "other" attributes, she is almost always over the top in some other area. She might have a huge booty or know how to shake it way better than the others. In other words she has to stand out or she doesn't get air time.

Anyway, I won't get into the whole light-skinned dark-skinned thing but do want to mention that to mention this... I've yet to understand why long hair on a black woman, any black woman, holds such fascination. It's like the whole world, or at least other black women and men assume that a black woman can't simply grow her hair past her shoulders without being of mixed race or having "good hair". If she does she's considered a wonder. The only reason this is attractive is because it gives off the impression that she is exotic or foreign and guys tend to swing more toward this hence the lack of real "black" women in music videos. This annoys me. All my life I've had long hair. I'm not mixed and I don't have special super powers I just took care of it and grew it long. I believe that any other black female can do the same if she takes good care of her hair and fights the temptation to cut it. Which brings me to my next point... Why is it such a big deal for a black female with long hair to get a haircut?

Yes, you guessed it, I've recently cut my long hair into a short bob and everytime I do it's a big deal. I've cut it before and grew it out again in high school and it was even worse. I get every kind of response. Anything from anger to shock. People, it's just hair. It grows back. It used to bother me when someone got mad at me for getting a haircut. I mean really mad. It's like they almost expected me to consult them beforehand so they could tell me that I couldn't cut my hair. I'm thinking they don't have to comb this everyday and take care of it non-stop. Long hair is pretty to look at but it's work to take care. Forgive me if I want to take a break from that. Even if it does make me look less exotic. If I'm that much less appealing by doing something as simple as cutting my hair I don't think I want those kind of close-minded people in my life anyway.

Keeping in Touch

I don't know what it is about keeping in touch that makes me run the other way. I'm not anti-social I do like talking to friends and relatives on a regular basis it's just that the whole concept of keeping in touch gets on my nerves. I tend to make it a chore. Then once it's a chore I don't want to do it anymore. I feel like there's an unwritten rule somewhere that says you have to call someone after a certain amount of time to catch up on everything you missed in their lives or else you're not a good friend, niece, grand-daughter, ex-roomate, etc. I just don't know what that time frame is. The end result: I go without talking to people for months for no apparent reason.

I have a friend from high school who lives in another state she and I talk on a regular basis. Regular meaning that we talk just enough to know of the other's major life-changing events like ("Oh, I got engaged") but not everyday stuff ("Geez, I dropped my toothbrush in the toilet again"). She could call me and we'll talk. Then a few weeks later I get this tingling urge and something in my head goes, "I think it's about time to call her," but I never do. The tingling continues and I blow it off time after time. I can do this for months. I'd rather loose touch with a friend than follow the urge and dial the number. It's ridiculous and pitiful. Then I look like an inconsiderate prick when they call me days, weeks, months later talking about how they haven't talked to me in FOREVER. I can't help but feel guilty.

Then once someone does call me after some time I know it's never going to be a short converstation. I always feel like I have to make up for not calling them by staying on the phone with them for 45 minutes to an hour in order to catch up only to realize all that was done about 15 minutes into the conversation.

On the other hand, sometimes I don't hear from people for ages and then they call me. I don't feel bad about them because in my head I'm thinking they're probably being just as lazy about calling me as I am about calling them. Those people I don't have to worry about disowning me. It's a miracle I still have friends at all. Just kidding but I never could get the keeping in touch thing right.

Mp3 player Madness!

I'm an electronics addict. I love anything that plays music, videos and or picture slideshows. I have a handful of usb cords and headphones stuffed in a random bag somewhere in my apartment that I never use. I have about fifteen different devices all of which basically do the same thing and I can't stop buying them. I don't know what it is about gadgets that makes my mouth water. Seriously, I don't think I'll ever be satisfied. In addition to this unholy craving for handheld devices, I am also very cheap and buy the low budget stuff only to replace it two months later because (gasp!) it breaks. I can't stand knowing that there's a cheaper versions of something out there that does the same thing for less . Sadly I apply this to more areas of my life than necessary. I won't apologize for it but sometimes it gets me into more grief than I would prefer.

This unquenching desire for bootleg electronics lead me to want a new mp3 player one day. I discovered and then instantly had to have one of those knockoff Ipod nano off the internet. I know what you are thinking and no it wasn't one of those plastic toy pieces of crap from China. I was a high-quality version of one of those toy pieces of crap from China. Apparently any electronic device that is expensive and popular, like the ipod for example, is replicated in mass quantities over there like it's no big deal. Anyway, I ran across a website called digitalkinz.com, which looked very legit, was in the states, had impressive video demonstrations and took PayPal. It couldn't have gotten any better! Sadly, what's too good to be true probably is. I won't go into details and turn this post into a rant about bad customer service but I should. I'm sure we've all been wronged by an internet "business" so I won't go there. I put "business" in quotes because these people have no clue what that means.

In a nutshell, I ordered the player then they canceled it and keep my money only to respond to one of my million attempts to contact them for a refund after I got a little pissy on their forum. I eventually get my money back but in the end their responses weren't even remorseful. Their automated ordering system accepted more orders then there were players resulting in the canceling of God knows how many orders including mine. That wasn't my fault, but instead of offering me some kind of special discount or first dibs on a new shipment they recommended that I buy my ipod from somewhere else. This took almost two weeks of constant e-mails and posts on their forum. All the while I'm checking their regularly updated website thinking I may never see my hard earned dollars again. That experience put a little salt in my game as far as mp3 players go. I did end up buying a legit mp3 player from a corporation that makes mp3 players and I'm very happy now. Every now and then I go back to digitalkingz.com to see what customers are saying and it's very satifying to see that they are finally losing customers from their lack of communication skills. I think I'll spend the extra money next time and buy the actual item instead of knockoffs from some no-name, third party dealer. Lesson learned.

Movie trailers that deceive; why Watchmen sucked

Aren't movie trailers supposed to whet one's appetite for a good time out at the theater without making the story out to be something it definitely is not? Aren't trailers supposed to be brief yet precise representation of the plot and not completely done over to look like a certain type of movie just to get people in the seat? The trailer is to the film what the resume is to the unemployed and like a padded resume from an under-qualified candidate the trailer totally had me fooled. Lets flash back to last weekend. I thought I was doing a good job when watched the trailer for a movie called Watchmen. I knew it was based on a graphic novel I had never heard of but that was about it. I watched the trailer and I got a comic book super-hero gone bad vibe. Eh.. whatever. I figured it was no different from all of the other super-hero movies I'd seen in life. I gave it a try on Saturday night thinking I knew everything I needed to in order to get this film. I realized about 20 minutes into the movie that the reason why I didn't hear that alarm in my head screaming, "Oh girl, this is not it!" was because they probably couldn't put all the unessecary nudity, pointless plot and violence into a 60 second trailer meant for a PG-13 audience.

Never before had I been so blindsinded by a movie in my life. Yeah, I could've done my research but looking back I would've had to read the whole novel to know what I know now. That's what trailers are for, or so I thought. If I had taken my younger, mature for his age sibling he would have been exposed to all kinds of things none of them positive. Instead I took mom and we spent a good chunk of time watching awkwardly inappropriate movie footage together. Everything from guts hanging off the ceiling to softcore porn got its screen time. Even if you had seen it all before it would have still bored you out of the theater. The plot spread itself out all over only it never put itself together agian.

The moral of the movie was that there is no moral, humanity is hopeless and people are savage. We're all going to destroy ourselves anyway so lets just have a good time. Uh, okay what's the point? Does the director want us all to just lay down and die? All I really want to do is destroy any evidence that this movie ever existed. It only satifies those who knew about the novel and even then it's not a comic book I'd want to be a "fan" of. I've learned my lesson; do your homework especially before you drag your mom out to the movies.

Cho Chen

I was watching the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a few weeks ago when I spotted a lotus blossom. Harry's love interest in the movie is Ms. Cho Chen, a girl of Asian decent. The way she is portrayed in the film is synonymous with the Lotus Blossom stereotype. At first, she is only featured in glimpses stolen by Harry. She is seen as delicate and inaccessible. She is exotic because she is the only prominent Asian girl the viewer sees. Later on in the progress of the film, Harry and Cho finally get a moment alone together. She cries during their kiss and basically crumbles under Harry's attempts to make her feel better. Turns out Cho sells Harry and his friends out to the authorities and blows the plot out of the water. Then Harry discards her and refuses to talk to her for the rest of the movie. Cho goes from being a potential love interest and good girl to being a traitor. The Lotus Blossom theme doesn't line all the way up with this but it's similar. Cho doesn't tragically die from a disease in the end but in the world of high school she has committed social suicide. Maybe Cho will see better days in the next Potter movie but for now she's another tragic stereotype.

The Playhouse Dilemma

I was watching t.v. the other day and this commercial came on advertising a life size dream house for little girls. The commercial was going great. I thought, "That's cute, the little girl has her own place to go to do whatever she wants". Then I started noticing the things that she was doing in her playhouse. She was washing clothes with her cute little washer and dryer, she was baking muffins in her kitchen and serving her stuffed animals. Then I started thinking why is this little girl's dream house only contain a kitchen and a utility room? All of her activities involved doing house work. At the end of the commercial, there was also another version of the house geared toward living a royal life. It was the princess version of the former and I kind of liked it better because it didn't condition little girls to want to grow up to be housewives. I thought if I had a daughter she would definitely be getting a princess dream house. She'll probably be doing enough house work once she's an adult. I wouldn't want her waste her childhood cooking and cleaning too. I never see commercials for boy's toys that involve house work and I'm not too sure that girls need to be encouraged to think house work is fun either.