Featured Weblogs
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Mickey Mouse Gets a Makeover
America's favorite mouse may soon be getting his rat on. After years of the same old white-gloved cheeriness, Disney is revamping its mousy mascot to be, well, interesting. According to The New York Times, it's a two-prong process:
First, Disney is developing a new Nintendo Wii game slated for fall 2010 called Epic Mickey, featuring a titular mouse with more sass than we've seen in years. Players will essentially be able to choose if they want new Mickey or old Mickey—whether they want to benevolently aid their fellow characters or, as the game's creative director describes, act "naughty" and "selfish." Apparently, Mickey will even begin to look more ratlike for players that elect to go the sinister route. More Here... -
Who Is Responsible
In America, and perhaps elsewhere in the world, we seem quick to place blame. Often, we're quick to take litigious action as well. Slip on the ice in front of someone's house? It's there fault for not salting, so sue them. It certainly isn't your fault for being not being aware of your surroundings. Burn yourself on coffee? Sue the restaurant who, heaven forbid, thought you might like your hot beverage- well, hot.
I think we've all heard these types of stories, unfortunately. There is also the desire to blame others for things that really are your fault. You don't have a significant other? It's because all men (or women depending on your preference) are jerks/idiots/insert other fitting term here. It can't possibly be because you don't shower and spend your free time picking your nose. These are some light hearted examples, but I think you can get the idea. It feels better to blame others for things that we don't like. That way we don't have to change. That way we can somehow imagine we are better.
There is another, less obvious problem with responsibility assignment. More Here... -
I am not a Muslim...
...but I was so disappointed to hear that the shooter in yesterday's Ft. Hood massacre was Muslim.
Major Nidal Malik HasanI felt sort of the same way I do when a black celeb is in trouble with the IRS, or when sports stars are arrested for marijuana misdemeanors. Do we really need this shit?
All this does is turn an already tragic situation into something that has the potential to cause enduring harm. For many this will become an issue about religion, race, or false patriotism. It's more a matter of the safety and psychological well being of our armed forces.
I fear that for many close minded people, this will be another opportunity to discuss the problems that having Islamic soldiers in the military pose, when really we should be focusing on the problems Islamic soldiers in the military face. A fellow Ft. Hood soldier said of the situation, More Here...
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Wal-Mart's Unrealistic "Family Moments" Ads
I had no major quarrels with Wal-Mart, you know, besides the fact they are a soulless McCorporation against which mom-and-pop stores cannot compete and for which employees work for depressingly low wages. But after seeing their recent "Family Moments" ad campaign where the perfect photogenic, culturally diverse family sits down for a night of video games and everybody gets along no matter what game they play...now it's personal.
Don't get me wrong: I don't mean to suggest families can't have Game Nights or that they can't have fun with video games. The choices Wal-Mart makes in their commercials, meanwhile, are almost insultingly unrealistic. One memorable ad has Mom, Dad, Sis and Bro all huddled around the Xbox 360. Bro is apparently the family champion of the system, and on one lucky night, Sis "crushes" him. Mom and Dad are worried about Bro being angry, but he shows restraint and congratulates her on a good game.
Of course, no gameplay is ever shown; your imagination is left to wander as you hear the random bleeps and bloops coming from the TV set. Given the ages of the kids, though, I'd really like to know what game Little Sis is actually able to beat Big Bro at, possible coaching by Dad be damned. At the very least, playing the Wii would make more sense. And how many boys would really be that nice to their sister if they got killed in a game they were supposedly good at? I don't care if you're 12 or twice that age, you're probably going to want to smash something.
In one of their newer, more game-specific ads, Mom is practically the first one on the couch, eyes all lit up, demanding the kids get over to the system for...NBA Live 10? No offense, ladies, but even if you're not a mother, chances are you won't be salivating to play this game with your family. If Commercial Mom is anything like my real mom, chances are she'd be pushing buttons in a random fashion, asking questions like, "Who am I?", "Who are these people supposed to be?", "How do I move?" and "Whose idea was it to buy this damn game?"
There are other commercials in the series, which can be viewed here. At least the Nintendo DSi spot is kind of funny; Mom is a bit eccentric, but her accomplishment is realistically proportionate even if her response isn't. For the most part, though, game enthusiasts will want to do a face-palm upon seeing these ads. Perhaps I'm a cynic, but most parents will be buying these games and systems so their kids will entertain themselves. More likely would be a family gathering around a board game or a movie. Moreover, the whole "all smiles" world where everyone is happier than you will ever be is nauseating. It's bad enough I have to see it in Olive Garden ads, but don't let it ruin my gaming too.
Have you seen the Wal-Mart Family Moments ads on TV? What was your reaction? -
Personal URLs are Back!
Personal URLs are back on Xanga! Personal URLs let you change your site address from the standard username.xanga.com to a totally custom address like yourname.com! (A "URL" - also called a "domain" or "domain name" - is just a fancy word for a site address.)
And if you want to see a Personal URL in action, please swing by my site and say hola!
http://www.scienceandinquiry.com
(Yes, I'm a science geek; I'm hoping the new URL will inspire me actually to write more about that stuff.)
URLs are one of those features that are important to be competitive in the market... we've been meaning to add it back for a while, but we had to finish some backend work to prep for it first. We actually had this feature a looooooooong time ago (about 9 years ago!!
), but we ended up taking it down because the technology wasn't there to let us offer two big features people kept asking about: More Here... -
Please forgive me...I have my reasons
Now, if that title didn't grab you, nothing will. I am asking forgiveness because I am going to be discussing a topic that I have covered, oh I don't know, a thousand times already? No, that isn't really possible because I don't think I have reached a thousand blogs, but you get the idea.
I started this blog just over a year ago for a few reasons. Reason number one; I wanted to be famous. Okay, not really, but I am in a weird mood today. Seriously, I started writing mainly because I wanted to tell Emily's story. Prior to having her, I knew nothing about Down syndrome and I realized that I was probably not the only one. I never wanted, nor do I want now, to be known as "that woman with the kid with Down syndrome", but I have come to realize that those that read me often do not think of me in such a manner.
In my time here I have had a few people reach out when they were facing the potential diagnosis of Down syndrome. I have tried to give them a realistic version of what life with Emily is all about. I am writing this today because a few days ago I was put in touch with a family that is dealing with this very issue. I won't mention names because that isn't my place, but I will say that the family was unaware of the diagnosis until after the birth. In the interest of giving them some words of encouragement and not forcing them to search my blogs for the ones that have dealt with this; I wanted to give a brief retelling of Emily's story. I am going to try and go about it a bit differently. Not so much from her perspective, but from my feelings when I found out. More Here...
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Why are All the Disney Princesses Size Zero?
I watch a lot of Disney movies, both because I like them and because I live with a two year old. Her two favorites happen to be Snow White and The Little Mermaid. Since I'm taking a History of Hollywood class, I've been paying more attention to who produced what and when it came out. Especially for movies from the 1920s and 1930s.
Now that I'm watching these with an older set of eyes and paying attention to dates, I've noticed one thing. You can tell that our culture shifted its view of beauty. It just so happens that Snow White came out in 1937, The Little Mermaid in 1989 and Aladdin in 1992. That's a 55 year difference between the first and last. What differences do you notice about these heroines? More Here...
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On Shaving And Kids
So a lot of times people ask, "At what age are you going to let your kids wear make-up?"
Often this sparks discussion about whether kids are becoming too grown-up too soon, or whether we're telling children they're just not pretty enough by making them think they need make-up, and so on.
Well, here's my question.At what age are you going to let your kids shave (or wax, or pluck, or whatever they're going to prefer to do)? More Here...The perfect Xanga post
I dream of writing the perfect Xanga post, the perfect journal entry. A short, simple few paragraphs that sums up all there is to be said about politics, religion, ethics, education, relationships, and life in general. Not everything I have to say, but everything there is to be said. I know I'm right. I think most people know they're right. Knowing you're right is the easy part, it's convincing everyone else that's tough.
I want my post to explain my life to even the most distant of observers. I want someone who has never met me before or read my site before to say, "Wow, I feel like I really know that guy" after reading what I have to say. Preferably they'd like me too, but I know that not everyone will. I can accept that. I'm not everyone's cup of tea. I just want the people who don't like me to dislike me for the right reasons. I want them to truly understand who I am before they dismiss me. More Here...
Stressful Jobs that Pay Badly
Social worker: $43,200
Special events coordinator: $35,900
Probation/parole officer: $38,400
News reporter: $32,900
Music ministry director: $40,800 More Here...
About Featured Weblogs
How to be featured on the Xanga front page?
- Write about something interesting to everybody, not just to your friends and subscribers.
- Don't be afraid to be controversial, but keep the profanity to a minimum.
- Turn off Your Signin Lock or Friends Lock so that everybody can read your post.
- Nominate a good post by submitting it here. Feel free to submit your own posts!
