Hollywood ScrutinizationLIVE YOUR OWN LIFE

It baffles me that our society is so obsessed with Hollywood and celebrities. It seems that the smallest events in their lives consume ours; the public is so focused on them that they sometimes forget that their lives are just as important. Honestly, who cares if some actress half way across the country named their baby 'Apple'? Not I. Why should I listen to Paris Hilton? What outstanding achievement has she accomplished that deems it reasonable for me to listen to her advice? She tells me to vote, I should probably go vote. I'm not saying that you shouldn't vote, voteing is extremely important (especially amongst our age group), but I'm not going to do it just because some rich blonde girl in California tells me to. Paris herself didn't even cast a vote after being one of the covergirls for P. Diddy's Vote or Die campaign. How's that for irony? Or idiocy, for that matter. Speaking of which, I fail to comprehend how Paris came up with the idea that she created the phrase 'that's hot'. I don't understand how she thinks she's original in saying this. I believe it was VH1's Best Week Ever that said "please, somebody coin 'that's cold' before she comes out with winterwear".


And Britney Spears; the posterchild for our generation, the product of today's media. It's no wonder she's going crazy and shaving her head, she hasn't had a moments peace since she was on the Mickey Mouse Club when she was six years old! Having cameras constantly shoved in your face for two decades when you go to the grocery store is enough to make anyone a little looney. Honestly, I feel terrible for Britney. Her six year old self had no idea what she was getting into.



The media's focus on celebrities is a negative on both ends. It causes distress amongst those who are constantly scrutinized by America as well as those who spend their free time stalking the actions of people half way across the country (whom they've never met and know only through television screens). There's all this talk about the image of celebrities and how it's having a negative impact on how we see ourselves, causing us to overanalyze our bodies and nitpick at the little things. No one is perfect. Celebrities obviously aren't (one word; airbrush). We know this, we are constantly told it, and yet we continue to base our perceptions of what we should look like from the media. If our society focused less on those publicized by the media and more on our own lives this idea of what we SHOULD look like would dwindle. I fail to understand why I should look like people who are making fools of themselves in front of the entire nation. Most of the civilized world, come to think of it.


Take Lindsay Lohan, for example. She's been in the spotlight since she was young; we all remember her in the remake of The Parent Trap. Since then she's been popping up continuously in various movies, as well as on the news quite often lately for her drug use and DWIs. She's grown to have a image completely different than who we saw her as when she first appeared on screen. If this is the image everyone seems to be going for, then I'm slightly confused; I wasn't aware that it was a good thing to look like a strung out cokehead. And yet, we continue to focus on them. If she's having her own problems, let her deal with them. Don't stalk her with videocameras and broadcast it for the world to see, how is that helping her get over her addiction? It's just putting more pressure on her. I'm not saying that she should be acting how she is, she's a role model whether she likes it or not and she needs to pull herself together. I'm merely saying the media should focus on more vital matters instead of the trivial trash that gets thrown on 9 o'clock news. If celebrities were left to live their own lives and not persistantly hounded by paparazzi they might be able to calm down and straighten themselves out, and we'd have more appropriate role models.


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After writing this post I proceeded to watch some of Dave Chappelle's stand up on Comedy Central. If you haven't had the pleasure of watching Dave Chappelle, take my word for it; He's extremely hilarious and induces genuine laughter. I mention this because in the act Dave was performing he the actually mentioned the topic of this post. He talks about how foolish it is that we're all so focused on celebrities and that our concentration on them is ridiculous (once I find out which act it is I'll attach a video of it on this post).

I,Robot; Will Smith's One Negative

Although it was not my intention to blog about movie reviews, I cannot refrain from stating my opinion on this subject. I recently watched the movie I,Robot. Never wavering as a Will Smith fan, I went into it with much anticipation; I expected nothing less than excellence from Will. However, I found myself sorely disappointed merely minutes into viewing.

The amount of advertisements placed throughout the show was unbelievable. There seemed to be no attempt to cover up the fact that they were trying to advertise the product; Smith spent more time in the first half of the movie talking about his Converses than developing the plot. The Audi symbol popped up more than five times, which was nowhere near the airtime the Converses got; flashes of the box, compliments on his shoes, footage of Smith's feet alone, etc. were constantly shown. The ads made the movie so unbearable I didn't know if it was worth it to continue watching.

However, I made it through to the end, and my overall conclusion is thus; I,Robot was a very good story idea, but it was delivered terribly. The advertisements alone ruined the movie for me, but it wasn't the only thing. The woman who played the main female role was a terrible casting choice. She attempted to portray the unbelievably cliche role of the pretty girl who's actually smart, proving her intelligence through seemingly advanced diction. Although she tried to surprise everyone and prove that she's more than a pretty face, she failed miserably. Her word choice was such that it was plainly obvious that she would never be using these sentences in real life; they sounded awkward when she spoke them. Most of her lines seemed as if the writer had simply taken a thesaurous and changed words in his script to sound more intelligent. However, he failed and his characters sounded like fools. Will's character even had a line pointing out her seeminginly intelligent word choices, that he couldn't understand what she was saying because her language was too advanced for him. I was very disappointed in Will for allowing the writers to make him look so unintelligent.

Also, the third 'rule' (one of three that were the basis of the plot) was worded so confusingly that I misinterperated it to mean the exact opposite of what it was supposed to mean. There were many aspects of the story that, if delivered differently, would have made I,Robot one of the top films of the year. However, that is not the case, and I am sorely disappointed to say that I have one notch against Will Smith.

I would also like to point out the ironic fact that I spent half of this post critisizing I,Robot for advertising, and I'm putting links to the products websites on the blog.

Chipotle vs Qdoba

It has come to my attention that there has been a lot of focus on the mexican chain Qdoba. It is said to be better than Chipotle; I disagree. After several trials, my tastesbuds lie with Chipotle without question. The only leg up that Qdoba has is the ever popular queso cheese sauce, which even cheese haters such as myself can appreciate. However, I see this as their only advantage. Qdoba is nothing more than a knock off of Chipotle. I realize this is a bold statement, but I believe that Qdoba is to Chipotle as Burger King is to Mcdonalds; second place, never as good as the original.



Qdoba is all around significantly blander than Chipotle. Their steak has absolutely no flavor, leaving the customer very dissatisfied. Their chicken is sub par at most, and the other choices for meat aren't even appealing. Their corn needs salt, their guacamole is a catastrophe, and their portions are so small I am often tempted to buy two (even though I don't want to waste my money on something I'm not even fond of, but if there's not a Chipotle around I really have no choice). The one dish I will give them credit for is the chicken nachos with queso; quite delicious, but no where near a steak burrito bowl from Chipotle.
Qdoba's lame attempt to overtake the spotlight in quick mexican meals is fruitless. While Qdoba may be open for breakfast (24 hours, if I remember correctly), I would much rather stifle my cravings for a good burrito until Chipotle opens the next morning.

Purpose of the Battleground

There are those who believe that keeping your thoughts to yourself is more than an acceptable policy; I do not agree. I have discovered throughout my years that I am a rather opinionated individual, and I do not like the idea of stifleing my thoughts. I find that I have quite lot to say on a large variety of subjects, and keeping a collection of what I think was very appealing to me. I do not mean the idea of a diary, but more along the lines of a place where I can state my opinion and await a rebuttle. Therefore, you are now reading what I plan to be somewhat of a battleground; I urge you to present your opinion on the subject matter of which I'm writing, whether it contradict or agree with what I say. For the most part, I'm looking for a debate.
I do not always intend on discussing subjects which cause an unreasonable heated rise out of readers, but rather issues which some may find slightly trivial. I find that with less important matters there is a larger base of people who can relate and give their opinion, instead of a topic which someone would be knowledgeable of only if they scrutinize the 5, 7, and 10 o'clock news on a regular basis. I intend to appeal to the average individual with a schedule and a life.