The Project So Far

Well, I have made it half way through my blog, and I must say that I am beginning to enjoy doing this. When we began this project, I knew right away that this wasn't necessarily my thing. If it weren't for this project, I wouldn't have started a blog or a journal in a million years. Now that I have done this, I am starting to learn a few things about myself. First of all, I am learning that I definitely don't take in the world around me as much as I should. Getting going on this was really difficult for me simply because I felt like I had nothing to write about it. However, I feel like I have come a long way and I am learning to pay attention to everything that is going on in the outside world. I am also learning that I actually do have opinions. I have never thought of myself as an opinionated person simply because my first instinct is not to share my opinions of things. Now that I have an outlet to share them, I feel like I am starting to be able to form them easier and more often. So pretty much this project is going well for me, and I am excited to be doing it. I am ready for the second half, and I can't wait to develop my mind even further.

Quilt

Here is a quilt that I designed that I finally got to finish this weekend. I know it is pretty silly, but I definately got creative as I was making this.

Books as Movies

I spent a good portion of this summer with my guilty pleasure... the Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella. I absolutely adore the books, and I read all five of them faster than I have ever read even one book. Because I had become so obsessed with the books, I was ecstatic to hear that they were turning the books into a movie. Well, I got curious and went online to watch the trailer for the movie. I was absolutely horrified. It was not how I imagined it at all, and they have changed many of the fundamental things from the books. This always seems to happen when people attempt to turn books into movies. No matter how good the movie is, people always say that the book was better. There is no way to appreciate the story in both mediums. If you have already read the book, the images you have created in your head are not what is presented in the movie, and you are disappointed. If you see the movie first, your thoughts are tainted by the images from the movie while you are reading the book. There is just no way to win in this situation, so I don't think that stories should be told in both ways. Writers must decide if it should be a book or be a movie. Both simply shouldn't be an option. Here is the cover of the first book and a picture of the actress playing the main character in the movie. Not a good match in my opinion.

Halloween Stores

It just blows me away how every year Halloween superstores take over unrented buildings just for a month or two during the holiday season. All over Dallas these have popped up. There are also definately an abundance of billboards to go with them. It is amazing that there is enough business every year for multiple companies to put up multiple stores each in a single city. Apparently even a holiday can create a thriving business. Just something I was noticing so I thought I would share. Its that time of year...

Photos

Here are some photos that I took this weekend. These pictures are of Temple Bar, Arizona on Lake Mead, my absolute favorite place in the world.




Here are just some mountains on the side of the lake, but I absolutely love the reflection in this one.

Here is the sunset. The sky and the background look completely fake.

This is weird, I know, but thank goodness they have a handicapped sign on the floating bathroom.

Drawing

Here is my attempt at drawing...

Stomp

Last night I was able to see Stomp Out Loud in Las Vegas. This was an amazing show and it was possibly the most innovative thing I have ever seen. I expected them to bang on trash cans and use brooms to create their music, but they blew me away with all of the other things that they used in the show. Even when they did bang on trash cans, they did it in a way that I did not expect. At one point they had long socks with balls stuffed in the ends of them and they were swinging the socks around to hit the trash cans. They also strapped trash cans to their feet to make noise. There was one scene where they had several people who threw sets of keys up in the air to make a song. There was another scene where they flicked lighters open and closed to make a beat. They used Sparklett's bottles in another, and basketballs in another. In the "water scene" they simply banged on bowls and moved them in and out of the water to make different sounds. There was even a scene where four of the men came out wearing sinks around their necks. They proceeded to bang on the sides of the sink and pots and pans in the sink. You know someone was simply washing the dishes when they came up with these concepts, and that is simply amazing to me. Taking the ordinary everyday task to the level of being entertainment is simply amazing. I absolutely loved the show and I am blown away at how they took ordinary things and turned them into something extraordinary. Here is a picture of the show...

Communication Breakdown

Today I was talking to my brother, and he was telling me that he was planning on taking his girlfriend to Taylor's Steakhouse for dinner. This restaurant belongs to my uncle and has been in our family as long as it has existed. Sadly we do not dine there as much as we should. Anyway, I assumed that my brother had talked to my uncle to tell him that he was coming in just so he could possibly see my uncle. Not only did my brother not call the restaurant to make a reservation, he made a reservation at our family restaurant through Open Table on the Internet! This is absolutely ludicrous in this situation but as I began to think about it, I realized that people our age barely use the telephone anymore. The creation of the internet and so many easier ways of communication has let us to be afraid of human contact. I am not going to lie anytime I can do something on the internet I will do that. It may be easier picking up the phone to make a reservation but I would feel more comfortable making one on the internet if that option was available. My dad also absolutely dreads using the phone at work and will go out of his way to use email and text messaging. While many things on the internet are bringing our societty closer simply because of the mass amounts of information available, it is just sad that all of this new technology is briniging our population further and further apart as human beings.

iPhone

I’m sure most people have seen the commercial for the new iPhone applications. I don’t have an iPhone, but today someone was telling me about some of the applications that you can now get for them. One of them is called bubble wrap, and the screen has a picture of bubble wrap on it and you have to “pop” as many bubbles as you can as fast as you can. There is another application where a beer pops up on the screen and you pretend to drink it. These games are simply hilarious to me simply because people have proceeded to get them. Whoever thought to create these games must really have no faith in the intelligence of our society. They must have figured out that people love to do absolutely useless things to pass the time, especially on their phones. I am so impressed that they knew that these applications would catch on as a sort of phenomenon. Obviously if I have even heard about them they definitely have people talking. Below is the link to the iPhone commercials just for fun. They obviously don't show applications like the bubble wrap and beer “games”. Maybe they should since people seem to like them so much.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/gallery/ads/

Flight

Last night I was on a plane from Dallas to Las Vegas. As you could imagine, it was quite the rowdy flight on a Friday night. We were pulling out of the gate even two minutes early, and everyone on the plane was buzzing with excitement. Almost as if it were a scene out of a movie, the power went out before we had made it anywhere. It was really interesting to watch the reaction of the people in the plane. Obviously there was a group sigh as the plane went pitch dark. Then, it was really interesting to watch the people in the plane bond as we all went through this experience together. It’s funny that being essentially stuck together for three hours didn’t get people to warm up to each other, but now that we were all going through this frustrating experience together, we were able to warm up to each other. The man next to me had almost the entire plane laughing as he was cracking jokes about our situation. Absolutely everyone including myself started chatting away about all the problems that they would have if we were going to be delayed for a long time. It was just so interesting to me to watch this happen, and it is something that I feel like I normally wouldn’t have noticed so I thought I would share it. Next time you are on a plane, watch the reactions of the people around you since you will probably be delayed in some way.

Project Runway

I have been catching up on my Project Runway since we have a little break. Watching the designers has inspired me to attempt to draw a design for a dress of my own. Let's just say I don't think I will be making it on the show anytime soon. Here is a sketch from my favorite designer and a sketch of my own.

Gap

I definitely frequent the Gap store much more than I should, but one of my favorite things about going there is looking at the window displays. It's something you don't really think about very often. For some reason I find them so different from other stores even though they are completely simple. They take their relatively plain looking clothes and make them look so vibrant and fun. I also take notice to the window displays because they change them so often. Today I was driving down Mockingbird, and took my eyes completely off the road to check out the new display at the Mockingbird Station store. They use so many different themes and often don't even play up the clothes that much. It just made me think about how distinct Gap is, and their distinctness really has nothing to do with their clothes. Their clothes are really not that exciting but somehow they have made everyone want them. This was just something I was thinking about because it is pretty amazing that they have built their brand so well. This isn't a picture of the window I was staring at today, but here is one I found that I think is really cool.

Power

I absolutely hate it when people that really have no power whatsoever believe that they possess all the power in the world. Last night I was attempting to go to a sneak preview of a movie here at SMU. There were people at the door with metal detectors, which I thought was very extreme. They were checking all our bags, and physically watching us turn our phones all the way off. I just happened to have my camera in my purse, which turned out to be a big problem. The lady told me that I needed to take it back home. If I had taken the time to take it back I would have easily missed a good portion of the movie. This lady was not interested in helping me out at all. The girl next to me was asking if I could give her my batteries, or if I could put it somewhere while I was watching the movie. The lady was just being absolutely rude to me, and had already moved on to checking the next person. Now, I was stuck. My friends were inside without their cell phones so I couldn't tell them that I was being forced to leave. I asked if the lady could keep my purse while I went in to tell them I had to leave, and she was busy so I just proceeded to do so. When I turned to leave to table (without my purse), she physically grabbed me to prevent me from going in. At this point I absolutely lost it. This lady who had no authority over me, was acting like I was about to commit a murder. I was absolutely livid and I stormed off after removing her hand from my arm. My friends didn't even know what happened to me because this stupid lady felt that her job was so important that it gave her the authority to physically touch me. It was not a big deal, but she made it absolutely ridiculous, and ruined my night.

Parks

I am the kind of person that likes to be outside so I have started to explore all of the parks around SMU. Most days I sit and study at them for a few hours. Here is the view from my bench today. I just wanted to share this because I think it is absolutely beautiful. I am so lucky to be able to take advantage of things like this while I am here at SMU.

Election

I am going to put it out there and say that I am truly not that interested in politics, however, I have been attempting to follow the election simply because it is the presidential election which is obviously a pretty big deal. Following the election news really frustrates me because so much of the information simply talks about the negative things about the candidates. What is even worse is what the candidates say about each other. As much as I have learned about the policies and the candidates, I have finally learned one thing that has decided my vote. This decision maker is really unfortunate because it has pretty much changed my vote. Today I learned that Obama is a smoker, and although he was talking about quiting in an article in Men's Health, this still completely taints my view of him. How can someone who is supposed to be a role model for all Americans do something as stupid as smoking. He says that he wants to quit but the stress of the campaign has him reaching for a cigarette every once in awhile. How does he think that he will be able to quit if he becomes the President. Obviously the job will just have him smoking more and more since the job is so stressful. I don't think it would be a good thing to have the President stinking up the Presidential Office with cigarette smoke. Honestly, I am surprised that I feel so strongly about this, but this information has completely changed my view of Obama as a person because I think that smoking is such a disgusting habit.

Valet Parking

Valet parking may be my least favorite thing in the world. I went to a fancy restaurant today and there was not even the option of parking yourself even though you could have easily found a spot in their humongous parking lot. It is such a waste of money when I am completely capable of parking, and it is so frustrating when they are just stealing from you since you don't have a choice. This past weekend I was also at a restaurant with valet, but I didn't have any cash. I had to borrow money from a friend just to park my car by the restaurant. It bothers me even more when their is no choice of self-parking at hotels. It makes life so much more difficult because it takes you twenty extra minutes if you ever want to go somewhere. I have often found myself in hotels wanting to go somewhere quick but then deciding against it when I remember that I have to get my car from the valet. Valets are just no good for anyone, and they are pretty much a scam of a business. I absolutely hate valet parking.

Dallas is Creative

I was in Northpark mall this past weekend, and I practically ran into a museum exhibit in the middle of the mall. This made me think of our discussion of creative cities. I think this really shows that Dallas should be recognized as a creative city. This particular exhibit was full of random objects that were used to create other images. I have also seen an exhibit where different artists used cans to build monstrous objects throughout out the mall. I absolutely loved both exhibits that I have seen. During a day when I had planned some selfish retail therapy, I was lucky enough to experience the creativity of local artists. I know that nothing like this would happen at the mall in my hometown, so I think that Dallas is truly lucky to have this integration of culture into the everyday commercial world.

Junk Food

I wish that the world could simply get rid of all junk food. We all know that there are many ethical dilemmas when it comes to advertising food, especially to children. These dilemmas could be eliminated if we just got rid of these questionable products. Companies think that they are making people's lives easier by providing junk food and fast food. Personally, I know that my life would be a lot easier if I didn't have to stress about making healthy eating decisions. I don't know a lot of people who's happiness outweighs the unhappiness that they experience from consuming junk food. I truly think that we would be a better nation if we simply eliminated all food that contains above a certain unhealthy amount of fat grams. People could eliminate stressful decisions regarding their health. We would not have to worry about our weight because someone would be worrying about it for us. I know this is a very big brother opinion, however, I almost see it as necessary because so many people, including myself, have gotten out of control. If only this could really happen...

Zogby

I really enjoyed Zogby's discussion of the global generation. Today I was reading in the park. There was a girl who was riding her bike around the neighborhood, and she saw some trash in the park that was blowing around in the wind. This girl went completely out of her way to stop in the park, get off her bike, and pick up the trash. I thought that this was amazing especially considering that I had seen a handful of people walk much closer to the trash without even thinking about picking it up. Zogby's lecture popped right into my mind when I saw her do this. This girl was a part of our global generation, and she obviously cares about the environment and things that go beyond her own little world. I also thought about how Zogby discussed our nation's improvement on litter, and how we are capable of change. Who knows if someone would have cared to pick up the trash in the past. Obviously Zogby has an accurate picture of America because many points from his lecture have popped up right in front of me in just a regular day in my life. I am very glad that I have been exposed to Zogby's views because it has helped my to see the world in yet another way.

Pepsi Max

This Pepsi Max commercial is a good example of intertextuality. Everyone is nodding their heads to the music from Night at the Roxbury. Anyone who hadn't seen the movie or the SNL skit would not fully understand the commercial and its humor. The commercial even has one of the actors from the movie at the end of it, and if you hadn't seen it you would not understand his joke. The knowledge of the movie or the skit clearly ads to the commercial.