R.I.P. QUE (Q)

Nearly twenty years ago, a friend of mine invited me over to pick a kitten from the litter her cat had

the litter of silver-grey tabbies was the cutest thing,

it would be more than a dozen years before my ancestral journey would reveal I had an Egyptian Mau 

as we sat down and talked a female snuggled against my thigh while her siblings vied for attention

all but the scrappy little runt with the white paws scurrying and darting about the floor, pouncing at our feet

when asked which I wanted, I said the little one with no interest but playing

the one who has not stopped moving for even an instant

the one with the white paws being her favorite, she picked him up asking about the girl snuggling against me

while she was sweet as a button, it was the scrappy little one with the white paws

squirming and playfully biting my friend to be put down 

when I picked him up he settled some, like putty in my hands

seeing how happy I was, she agreed although parting with sweet sorrow

she asked what I was going to name him 

I told her I'll wait till it comes to me

his head darted about, seeing the room from a different vantage point

eyes shifting, ears turning while I carried him to the car outside

his head tilted up seeing the big blue sky for the first time

I realized I needed to stop to pick up a few things for my new friend

but as he didn't sit still the whole car ride I decided to drop him off first

I introduced him to his new home, watched him explore his new digs with curious fascination 

turned on the TV, turned the channel to Star Trek, and left

got cat food and cat bowls, cat litter, and cat box

decided to put off till tomorrow what I planned to do today

in an excited rush to get home to my new friend

once I got in the side door I smelled burning

followed the smell down the stairs to my apartment opened the door finding a tornado had torn through my room

maybe I should call him a tornado I thought following the path of destruction to the knocked-over lamp

up on my dresser without a shade, the naked bulb had landed on a stack of blank paper

burned a black patch the size of a ping pong ball through sheet after sheet halfway down to the stack's bottom

ready to flare up, making me glad I came straight home

I found my new friend sitting on my Enterprise D toy, watching Star Trek no less

an episode featuring Q, the Enterprise crew's greatest nemesis 

it came to me clear as day, 

I'll name you... Q

on his veterinary file, it was misspelled, Que

a file of nearly twenty years of checkups, shots, getting snipped but keeping his claws

being the scrappiest of the litter he never required much affection, preferring play fighting instead

some might say it was just a cat, not a child or friend 

nearly twenty years Que was with me, making me roll on the floor laughing at his comedic antics

comforting me when loved ones passed

infuriating me with his rebellious behavior

cleaning up fur balls and sick, nearly twenty years of scooping and cleaning his litter box

of feedings, watering, cleaning his bowls, sweeping the floor around his food bowl so as not to attract ants

of being there for the highs and lows, 

of being an energetic cat never requiring much affection

nearly twenty years of being so playful he learned to play fetch with a ball

a cat that loved the outdoors and was content exploring the boundaries of the property  

while I attended never more than a few feet away

a cat disciplined enough to obey and follow when it was time to go inside, 

nearly twenty years of never taking the chance of leaving him outside unsupervised in a suburban world filled with dangers natural and not

in nearly twenty years only going missing two or three times when sneaking through a gap in the fence when out of my sight for but a moment

he was there for breakups and new beginnings, he was around to meet my love

my love who was allergic to and didn't like cats, grew to love him the same as I

once warning us when the cigarette butt from the ashtray dumped in the kitchen garbage was about to flare

a friend that always helped capture or kill spiders and centipedes

a friend who had to adapt when we brought home a kitten left locked out of an uncaring friend's home

left to fend for itself while they took the dogs and went out of town for the weekend during the New Year

in the middle of winter

our fat orange ball of hair Minkya

he taught a cat raised with dogs how to be a cat 

had relations when she was in heat despite being snipped

comforted her each time she would freak out after being sick

ran around the apartment together, fought, and cared for one another

seemed concerned the week she was quiet and unlike herself

gave her space when she sought human comfort when we didn't see the signs she was not well

he followed her around as she walked aimlessly suddenly struggling in what were her last breaths

I left her struggling and shot outside to start my car wanting to warm the engine on that cold winter's night 

I raced inside with the step-by-step plan to get her to the vet, let the car warm while digging out the carrier 

he stood beside her as she lay dead upon my speedy return inside too late

he shared our mourning the loss of our Minkya, rescued 5 years to the day

proving indoor cats live much longer than those allowed outdoors unsupervised

he was sad for a long while, no longer played by himself

became needy, constantly craving the affection that comforted him during his time of mourning

refused to come out from his spot under the bed when checked on by family while a week on vacation

becoming even more needy upon my return

taking long to adapt to the addition of our dog Lola

no longer having the energy to keep up with our spirited young pup

eventually growing accustomed enough to her to sleep again in his regular low spots

I worried every day about what to do with him during our upcoming destination

Lola is a two-year-old bichon poodle that will adapt more easily to temporary surroundings 

Que was the nearly twenty-year-old cat that clung to me after I got home from work

Que was much more than just a cat

it's scientifically proven we experience increased activity along a broad network of neurons

feeling the pervasive impact a loss of any kind can have

it's a process that doesn't distinguish between the loss of human and animal 

he was there when I received word my best friend Marlon died nearly twenty years ago

a member of the family that could never talk but always listened

I had things to do with my mom, planned to take him to the vet after, 

it was my mother and her common sense who advised to do it now

he was weighed and checked, with her stethoscope she listened to what his body could only tell her

what he couldn't tell me

when the vet advised putting him down, I had to ask three times what she meant

despite understanding through her heavy East Asian accent

I thought back on the three times I took him in this last year alone

because he was throwing up his food and becoming dehydrated

three times the shot and medicine prolonged the inevitable

then I thought about how he looked, despondent, confused... barely able to stand

this time no appetite, no interest in water

how I used a plastic syringe to force him to drink then gave him coconut oil, his favorite treat

for a bit, he seemed fine, until the familiar caterwaul that signaled the onset of getting sick 

I called her back, canceling the blood test

all it was going to do is confirm the inevitable

in the meantime, he could be suffering, and I could not abide

for nearly twenty years he was well loved, fawned over by every visitor

lived a happy life of play and comfort, never wanting for much

I spent private time while waiting for my love to arrive, allowed Suzanne a few minutes with our final time

until no longer able to draw out the inevitable

the first injection was an anesthetic to dull his eyes and numb his body

the floodgates opened as he drifted into waking slumber

the second needle took him from me, closing an important chapter in my life 

I raised him from a kitten, trained and taught him well

for nearly twenty years he was my best friend

R.I.P. Que

Lost: A Puzzle Boxed In A Mystery...

LOST

From the very first episode, Lost is exactly what I was. To me it was a Puzzle Boxed In A Mystery, wrapped in an Enigma, hidden in a secret room, in a house on the corner of Question Mark Lane and Haven't A Clue Circle in the city of Timbuk3. In truth, as a writer at that time working on a screenplay, I really hadn't the time nor the inclination to engage in any of the hundred new shows that are released year after year (to which my fiance had excited initial interest in 75% of them, Sci Fi or not)

As stated in previous posts on Sci Fi TV, I rarely get on board with new shows earlier than the second season, partially to give all involved the time to work out all the details with characters, story and the magic that keeps viewers coming back week after week, although mainly, I don't want to waste time investing in a series that won't see beyond season three to the comfortable (and fair) season seven (I am of the opinion shows should at least have seven seasons before a solid wrap up, but it seems these days, TV can't even do that right (as a matter of fact, that will be my next post)

Lost did manage six seasons without being moved to the Friday night death slot (although the routinely scheduled disruptions of the regular schedule left many wondering if our beloved show was being prepped for cancellation due to low viewership) it weathered Presidential addresses, playoff games, reality TV season finales, premiers of new shows, and lengthy between season hiatuses, but in the end they managed to reach the end.

                                                             *SPOILER ALERT*
IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST EPISODE, YOU SHOULD STOP HERE... SPOILERS


CHARACTERS













Coupled with the cost of filming primarily on location in Oahu, Hawaii, the enormity of the cast made Lost the most expensive series on television. The size of the cast is also why I'm not going to be discussing them much at all, at this point I'm not inclined to do multiple parts of this post and I've been trying to make my posts smaller, so we'll discuss the show' mythology and interpretations.

MYTHOLOGIES

 At a time when interest in African History had been rekindled by the Internet and advanced through social media, the inclusion of the Egyptian goddess Tawaret was a no brainer. Like Transformers 2's use of the Pyramids to expand their demographic, Lost takes it's place among the many shows doing the same since the start of the 21st Century

In a Lost Podcast, it was revealed the Egyptians on the Island built the statue sometime well before 1867, leaving behind many other signs of their culture on the island, including hieroglyphs and other structures. Considering the end of the show and the fact that all who had ended up on the island were actually dead, or spirits or physical beings existing on another dimensional plane, the use of the crocodile headed Tawaret, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility was very appropriate.

The name "Taweret" means, "she who is great" or simply, "great one". She is the wife of Apep, the serpent god and deification of darkness and chaos, and although the ancient Egyptians essentially treated Taweret as a benevolent figure, She has been linked with the fierce, soul devouring goddess Ammit.

Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. As a protector, she often was shown with one arm resting on the sa (symbol of protection) and on occasion she carried an ankh (the symbol of life)

Episodes of Lost included a number of mysterious elements ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, using these elements to compose the mythology of the series forming the basis of widely demographic fan speculation.

Among the show's mythological elements are included a killer smoke "Monster" that roams the island, a mysterious group of inhabitants the survivors called "The Others," a scientific organisation called the Dharma Initiative that placed several research stations on the island, a sequence of numbers that frequently appears in the lives of the characters in the past, present and future, and a kind of synchronicity between the characters they are often unaware of.

The heart of the series is it's complex and cryptic storyline, which spawned numerous questions and discussions among viewers. Encouraged by Lost's writers and stars, who often interacted with fans on line, viewers and TV critics alike took to theorizing in an attempt to unravel it's mysteries.

Theories mainly concerned the nature of the island, the origins of the "Monster" and the "Others," the meaning of the numbers, and the reasons for both the crash and the survival of some passengers. Several of the more common fan theories were discussed and rejected by the show's creators, the most common being that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are dead and in purgatory, lol. (*note, I would like to say I understand wanting to keep the truth about the show from the audience till the end, but a lie is still a lie, and that's why many felt ripped off with the explanation that, oh everyone on the island is already dead)

Lindelof rejected speculation that spaceships or aliens influenced the events on the island, or that everything seen was a fictional reality taking place in someone's mind. Carlton Cuse dismissed the theory that the island was a reality TV show and the castaways unwitting housemates.

Lindelof many times refuted the theory that the "Monster" was a nanobot cloud similar to the one featured in Michael Crichton's novel Prey (which happened to share the protagonist's name, Jack) I wonder why?
   

 Perhaps the fact that from inside the black smoke face to face with Echo looked like what appeared to be some kind of "light based" circuitry performing analysis on Echo... (sorry, couldn't find the exact image but take my word for it) why would fans assume nano tech? LOL.

Throughout the consistent elements representing duality (ie. the colours of black and white symbolic of good and evil) The show touched on youth in revolt/rebellion, power struggles among the assumed leadership, morality from a certain point of view (Ben Linus remarked on his position that he and the others despite their nefarious actions are actually the "good guys") retribution, and resolving past issues all made Lost a great show. Again, I didn't get into the show until the end of the first season, mostly because what little I did see in earlier shows that my fiance was watching (I was too busy tweeking my screenplay) left me with the annoyed feeling Lost was a Puzzle Boxed In Mystery.

Being Fit In The 21st Century

Being Fit In The 21st Century

What does it mean to be fit in the 21st Century? To me it doesn't mean looking like the pros we see on the cover of fitness magazines, it means looking healthy and feeling good. As consumers in the 21st Century, companies realize we are much more sophisticated in as far as what it is we want, how we spend our money (especially since 2009) and perhaps most importantly in what we know or what we can learn about.

MEDIA

Yes, with everything from health segments in the daily/nightly news, the expansion of fitness clubs, cooking shows, diet and fitness magazines which often provide recipes for healthy alternatives, and of course social media and the PC and Internet, we are much more savvy when it comes to the human body and it's nutritional requirements.

What's more important, is the fact that physical exorcise as part of a healthy diet is just sensible these days. We don't have the excuse "we didn't know better" because living in the information age... we should.

REALISTIC                                                         VS.                                  UNREALISTIC

Setting goals is key when doing anything, but when it comes to fitness, too many people seek to attain that which is unattainable.

We don't take into account the fact that people in the fitness industry are not only professionals, but that fitness and body sculpting is their life as well as their livelihood. Which means a significant portion of their daily routine is dedicated to training in excess, the chief requirement of body builders.



BODY IMAGE

Okay, so you see celebrities with sculpted bodies in movies, TV and print ads and figure that's what you want, but again, most don't take into account the dedication required, or the fact most celebrities don't look that way year round. In fact, most hit the gym (personal) with a professional trainer when hired for a role and more often than not the dedication to excessive training is left behind at the wrap parties.

Unless your name happens to be Arnold, Sylvester, or Dwayne, and a statuesque physique is your bread and butter (or unless you have the time to dedicate to excessive exorcise) you don't need to look like them.

While stars like Ed Norton (American History X), Christian Bale (Batman,The Machinist) Matthew Mcconaughey (Ring of Fire,The Dallas Buyers Club) and Curtis James Jackson A.K.A. 50 cent (Things Fall Apart) have demonstrated the uncanny ability to modify their look for a specific role, there are a few like Jamie Fox, Brad Pitt and Will Smith who appear to have made fitness a lifestyle. But again, take into account a more flexible schedule (not 9-5 year round) financial abundance allowing for personal training and years of dedication (for when they're ready to return to their normal look, and believe me, once you've become accustomed to having a certain look, anything less is hard to live with)

Problem is, we're denizens of a microwave dinner society. We seemed to have lost the very thing that brought this civilization into the 21st Century... patience. Meaning we want everything faster. Cars, Internet download speed, smart phone download speed, we want what we want now... and with the level of body shaping dreamt of, that's just not possible (and remember, we're not being paid exorbitant amounts of money to do so) we're doing it for something much more noble... happiness and personal satisfaction.

HISTORY OF PHYSICAL EXERTION

The great thing is the human body was actually designed for physical activity. It really wasn't that long ago the majority of human beings walked to our destinations, hunted for our food, ran from becoming food, and warred hand to hand for protection and conquest. What happened...? The 20th century. To balance the heavy labour requirements of the Industrial Revolution, a culture of comfort was created.

With TV being the platform used to deliver product advertising, most bought into the idea of luxurious living made for the common man and keeping up with the Joneses, and over the decades we've seen the emergence of the couch potato, the office desk worker, the driver, coupled with the global expansion of the Fast Food Industry. The scales were heavily tipped in favour of little to no exorcise, and as our work becomes less physically laborious in favour of a more cerebral work culture, the need for physical activity will only increase. Office workers and drivers generally seem to notice mobility issues that stem from sitting at a desk 40 hours a week, and while some companies actually implement some form of physical activity for their employees, I'm of the opinion it just doesn't go far enough. Why? Simple... technology makes us lazy, and that laziness is becoming a culture in itself... starting with today's youth.

GADGETS AND YOUTH

Now don't mistake this section as a condemnation of modern technology, it is here to highlight what I feel is part of the problem with our youth today. Too many gadgets equals less inclination to leave the bedroom much less go outside.

20 plus years ago, I used to skateboard... less than five years ago, my step daughter was skateboarding in her bedroom, on a faux skateboard hooked in to her play station while a digital representation of her performed tricks and skated the course... need I say more? Okay, how about the fact the hours upon hours children used to spend playing outside are now spent in front of a TV playing video games.

Like many things that have become important to our culture, education about healthy diet and exorcise has to begin at a young enough age as to make it second nature to the generation of the future.

INSPIRATION

I can't stress more how important having inspiration for weight loss or fitness goals is than the left picture. Body sculpting is a slow process especially if you're just starting out with little or no experience. The flip side of that coin is muscle memory. Regardless of how long a break you take from even the most novice weight training, your muscles will always remember being in prime condition and actually works to stay that way, but you have to get to a certain point for that benefit... you have to take action.

Grab inspiration from anywhere you can find it (when I first began weight training in my late teens back in the late 80s, my inspiration was... Arnold Schwarzenegger (I had this exact picture from his competition days on my wall) did I for a moment dream of attaining what he had...? Of course not, he was a professional body builder turned action hero star.

It did provide the inspiration to work to look and feel better than I ever could have before fitness became a lifestyle, and 20 plus years later, I still work out, not anywhere near what I used to (3-4 hour sessions 3 times a week) and being experienced I know exactly how to target the muscles I want to grow, and with muscle memory, I can break for the winter (3-4 months) hit the gym in the spring and regain what I lost by early summer.

PLAIN TRUTH

Good enough. No two words are more important to understand with health and fitness training. Too many reach for that unattainable brass ring, then the few that do (non professionals that is) end up allowing it to become an obsession. The rule should be, if you feel good, then that's good enough. If changes in lifestyle provide you with more energy, good enough.

If you're no longer gasping for air when you do something as simple as climb a few stairs, good enough. If you can play with your kids and not feel pain or stiffness afterwards, that's good enough. If you can finally fit into clothing you haven't been able to in a decade or two, that's certainly good enough.

Although I am long past the days of 9-12 hours per week workouts in order to maintain 155 pounds of solid muscle, 8% body fat on a 5'5" body, I have been feeling the urge to mass load again, mostly due to two forms of inspiration, Dwayne Johnson "the Rock" who is two years younger than me and the biggest he's ever been (even as a pro wrestler...)

I've been hearing so much (too often in fact) about how much muscle mass we loose the older we get, and I didn't start to have doubts about my plan to be a healthy golden ager... but then I found my second inspiration...




... and proof I can (and will) be working out into my golden years. If the senior in the picture below left can look like that at 74 years old, what possible excuse do I have? What excuse do you have?

Maybe that's a special case?

A one in a million shot finding a picture of a one senior in a million .

Well, 74 year old Ernestine Shepard may say otherwise. So may 74-year-old Tsutomu Tosuka and Bob Delmonteque, who happened to be 84 at the time the bottom right picture was taken.

Okay, so perhaps you'll use the excuse that they are muscle heads and you don't like weight training. Is it possible to be fit without using weights? Ask the Australian aboriginal males, ripped and muscular without the use of a gym, calorie counting, or fat-burning supplements.

How then? Simple... they are contemporary hunter-gatherers. The way of life replaced by the machine of progress is what keeps them healthy. Now am I asking Westerners to cast off civilization as we know it in order to get healthy? Of course not. But living in the 21st Century, I'm certain we could come up with a world of alternatives.

21st Century Culture

21st Century Culture


21st Century Culture is very different than all that came before it. Now if you ask a senior about the state of the world today, more often than not you would likely hear how "things ain't the way they used to be", and in all honesty they would be right. For the 20th Century Culture, the future has brought forth a lot left to be desired, but being on the hill (as opposed to over) I have the unique position of being a middle child of the centuries (old enough to remember the 70s, 80 & 90s, but young enough to appreciate the differences of living in the 21st century)

I can not argue things have all changed for the better, less TV stations meant more family activities, children used to spend significantly more time outdoors, the world seemed much safer,  I recall gas as low as .30 a litre (before my teens) traditional movie sets were still being built, toys were fully functional (as opposed to just looking good today) and some would argue the world's moral fibre has diminished since the transition into the new century.

Being a middle child of history offers those like me a nostalgic appreciation for 20th century plus a level of gratitude for being present in the early 21st century. But in all honesty, despite the 21st century culture being very different, the 21st Century is the most exciting time to be alive.

THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE

Defined as the spirit of the current age, the 21st century boasts a number of sophisticated differences which effect society, most are good, some not so much, and others we can leave to the philosophers. With everything from mobile devices and the world wide web to reality TV and selfies, the most definable difference in my opinion would be the availability of information/technology. Digital technology, in its early stages of mainstream use in the 80s and 90s became widely accepted by most of the world, though many experts express concerns about increased stress from the overuse of mobile phones, the Internet and related technologies.

THE COMPUTER

No other device invented in the latter half of the 20th century has had as great an impact on world culture than the personal computer. Defined as any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals. Unlike it's predecessors, the PC is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator (this contrasted with the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time) and unlike the large data processing systems, PC's didn't require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

Early PC owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines lacking an operating system (I remember my early frustrating experience with the Commodore Vic 20 and 64 turned me off computers for a good 20 years) whereas today's users have access to a wide range of commercial software and freeware, which is provided in ready-to-run or ready-to-compile form (plug and play)

Today's PC also offers connectivity to almost all aspects of human life, music...? Simple. Film and video...? A cinch. Cable TV...? No sweat. Video gaming...? Please. Education...? Duh. Set to be the primary threat to the library, bookstore and news print, the speed at which information is processed, shared, and stored offers a world of information at ones fingertips. But while the computer (PC) had a fundamental impact on today's culture, it goes hand in hand with perhaps the second 20th century invention to change the world...

THE INTERNET

Like what mashed potato and gravy is to a t-bone steak, like what tomato meat sauce is to spaghetti, like what gravy melted cheese chunks are to french fries, like what fried dumpling is to ackee and salt fish, the Internet and the PC go hand in hand like a twix bar. You could have one without the other... but why would you want to?

Especially when there is a global system of interconnected computer networks that exists to serve billions of users worldwide. The Internet is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, all linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies.

The Internet carries an extensive range of information resources and services, such as the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support email and let's not forget the biggest and fastest growing aspect of the world wide web...

SOCIAL NETWORKS


The term is used to describe a social structure determined by on-line interactions between individuals, groups, organisations, or even entire societies. What began with a simple place where friends could share stories and pictures grew to be a cultural phenomenon, branching out to interconnect like minded individuals, groups with common interests, on-line dating and hook up sites, in everything from hobbies to employment, education, Charity and disaster relief and organised protests, social networks have become as important a part of today's culture as wheels to a car. But like everything else that has a flipside... it's not all good.

CYBER-BULLYING

I know as a writer I'm supposed to reflect a certain level of dispassion, but when it comes to this particular aspect of 21st Century Culture, I don't know... it just brings it out of me. In case you've been living on the moon, in a cave, with your ears plugged and your eyes closed you've heard of Cyberbullying. How it differs from the good ol' days of bullying is the use of the Internet and related technologies to harm other people, in a deliberate, repeated, and hostile (and often dangerous or tragic) manner.

In the very least the issue has brought bullying to light in a way never seen before, the main difference between the 21st and the previous centuries is the fact today's culture has at lease opened a dialogue (due in large part to seemingly unending news reports of our young taking their own lives as a direct result of the cowardly practice) With Cyberbullying, the victim never arrives at an opportunity to stand up to their tormentor, to confront and expose the person as the coward they really are. There is no glimpse into the bullies private world to arrive at the conclusion they were in fact bullied themselves (by a parent or sibling) No, the cyberbully can remain anonymous, or go public and draw attention from many who could perhaps lack the stomach to join in otherwise.

The best thing about being a young person in the 21st Century...? Dialogue. And as cyber bullying has become more common in society, particularly among young people, legislation and awareness campaigns have arisen to combat it. Cyber bullying also shed light on another topic that has waited a long time for honest conversation...

SAME SEX ISSUES

As a Black man I recognise a civil rights issue when I see it. I was raised to be accepting of all peoples, genders and cultures, and while I respect people's religious beliefs, I have always struggled with the many human characteristics God seems to have. All loving and all forgiving while simultaneously being an angry and jealous god sounds too human to me. We've tried to determine what it is God wants for thousands of years, shed the blood of billions and are apparently no closer to the answer.

The difference between the 20th and 21st Century however, is that the up and coming generation has shed yet another layer of social inequity (like the civil and women's rights in the 60s) understanding they are free to recognise their culture's edicts without being bound by them. The world is shrinking, cultures are merging, and most importantly we have dialogue. Citizens of the 21st Century talk about social issues. Create pages on social networks dedicated to discussion.

The Same Sex issue is just another stumbling block to overcome on the road to a unified culture and peaceful world ready to truly take on understanding the human condition and purpose of life. Unlike in my high school experience where there were only rumours of who might be gay, today teens are generally comfortable enough to come out before their 20s (depending heavily on geography though) There are all sorts of shows and movies celebrating sexual freedom, the fact celebrities are also coming out in support of same sex rights hasn't hurt the cause at all.

CELEBRITIES

Society has never had such a fascination with celebrity life and lifestyle as it does in the 21st Century. I think it was said best in an episode of Supernatural when a ancient demigod remarked (negatively) on the fact humans used to worship gods, now they worship celebrities (making his job of helping corrupt humanity easier)

We are so intrigued by what celebrities wore on the Red Carpet, tabloid reports on who's cheating, who's breaking up, who's in rehab, who has been arrested, who went on a wild rant, who was captured in a compromising photo, what starlets look like without makeup, who said what about something we probably wouldn't otherwise care about because we love the fall from grace arc, and celebrity quotes often demonstrate how dumb people can be and how much of a divide there is between us and the pedestal we place them upon.

Celebrities carry a lot of weight with culture, fashion, civil and human rights, politics and what's hot. Question is... why? Celebrities are just people. They have extraordinary gifts, have taken advantage of career building opportunities, and are wealthy. THAT DOESN'T MAKE THEM AN AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING (except in what it is they do for a living, and most are very humble in that regard) Yes, many are well educated or cultured and passionate about their interests/causes and as such can offer a unique perspective, but that's it.

We see these people driving the cars we want, sporting the expensive clothing we'll never wear, living in large houses we'll only see on TV in a music video, we love them for the songs they sing, the characters they portray, the five minute interview where they don't take off the mask of the well constructed public image until the cameras or tapes stop rolling (and we all wear masks BTW, anyone who's been for a job interview or stood in front of a judge knows this well) and that's part of the problem.

We expect our celebrities to be the people we admire for the things they do instead of who they really are. We envy their lives while they envy our privacy. Ever wonder how a celebrity can feel lonely with all the people constantly around them? Ever hear the saying careful what you wish for?

We need to appreciate what celebrities do for their living and stop fixating on what they say, think and do, what they're wearing, what they have or what kind of trouble they've gotten into and take time to consider how we feel about our social issues and what our own role in 21st society is. Remember, the downturn in which millions lost their livelihoods (and homes) to didn't affect celebrities or their spending habits much, lol.

NERD ACCEPTANCE

Now I can say I've almost seen it all. Growing up in the ladder half of a century where Nerds were looked upon with great disdain, I never thought I'd witness such a turn around. Nerd is the new N word, meaning what was once a derogatory name is in the process of a (positive) revamp. It's so okay to admit to being a Nerd these days that Nerds are now coming out accusing people of being fake nerds.

What a world. I've written three blog posts on the 21 Nerd, no need to go over it all again, but I will say this, you know something is cool when it has it's own style niche in the fashion industry and is being promoted by none other than... celebrities.





REALITY TV

An interview on Space with the actors who play Sam and Dean Winchester where they were asked to give choose one answer on a variety of subjects, when asked Vampire or Werewolf, Dean answered "ugh... Jello". That's what I think about Reality TV.

There is nothing real about Reality TV, if viewers think that the drama doesn't get played up when the cameras are on, or if they think Producers and staff aren't offering tidbits of making things more interesting (conflict) then they should go back and watch Jerry Springer. And regarding the effects on our young?

When a child not much older than a toddler can turn the TV on Saturday or Sunday morning and instead of watching cartoons tune in to a show to hear every other word spewing from the gateways of hell (the player's mouths) having to be be censored it should be a problem. We're seeing people of all ages yelling, screaming profanities, and being disrespectful to each other for our entertainment and we are somehow left wondering why our children have such negative behavioral issues. Really?

SELF SHOTS

Believe me, I had a world of images to choose from, females from older women to surprisingly young looking girls are taking unabashed part in this cultural phenomenon. My view of riske self shots...

Ugh... jello (I think the picture says volumes more than any more words need to say)












CELEBRITY UPSKIRTS AND WARDROBE MALFUNCTIONS

 
Being a man who spent his teenage years in the 80s, I`ve seen my share of adult movies that glorify the male need to peek.

You know something is part of our culture when otherwise professional photographers strive for the perfect position to capture the most compromising and distasteful shots. It's when you turn on your computer and the latest Red Carpet Nip Slip highlighted as being in the popular videos section of any web site.


You know that something is a part of the culture when it has it's own category on porn sites. How did the current fascination of underwear peeking explode...? I'll leave it to your imagination.


LIVE AMATURE CAMS

The Billions of Dollars a year industry has made significant advances with respect to the PC & Internet. The current sexual revolution and sexual freedom is a double edged sword. More exposure to porn sites has engendered a new form of sexual exploitation in Live Sex Cams. Today the average (young) woman can earn a buck as long as she's connected to the Internet via PC and high speed modem.

 As long as there are horny men with money to spend on their fantasies more and more inexperienced young women will engage in activities that would probably make most parents burst into tears.



COSPLAY

With the rise in popularity with all things Nerdy (Sci Fi, comic books, anime, gaming) and living in an age where you can research how to do/make... well just about anything, and add to that the latest cultural declaration of sexual freedom since the 60s and 70s and you have Cosplay. 

I didn't know it was a cultural phenomenon until I did research while writing a post on it, like most (despite my love of Sci Fi) I dismissed cosplay as Star Trek fans with too much time on their hands (or no life like is commonly portrayed in media) there are thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions who have a passion for dressing up in their favorite characters.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

I don't actually. Like most people overindulging in Internet usage (and who happened to be a fan of X Files) it's not hard to get caught up in the nonsense (and I did for a while) Conspiracy theories, secret agendas, clandestined activities, doomsday prophecies all seemed to be designed to do one thing (mainly) make money. But since December 21 2012 came and went without incident, I think many are waking up to this reality, after all, if not for this cultural phenomenon, 2012 the movie wouldn't have done half as well on it's own merits (not that it wasn't entertaining)

The internet is abuzz with all sorts of accusations against the music and film industries, analysing secret hand signs, secret handshakes and not so secret public displays of hand gestures, symbols, clothing and accessories which have many concluding involvement in some sinister plot to install a New World Order. As if the world and living in the 21st Century isn't complicated enough.

911

The beginning of the 21st Century will be forever linked to what is perhaps the most painful chapter in late 20th century American history. It installed increased safety measures, the War on Terror and wars in the Middle East. It did unite the U.S. in a way not seen since Pearl Harbor, and garnered much sympathy from countries the world over. Those lost and the loved ones left behind should never be forgotten.




THE WAR ON DRUGS

Nuff said really.










Global warming

Climate scientists have postulated that the earth is undergoing significant anthropogenic (human-induced) global warming. They say the resulting economic and ecological costs are hard to predict. Some scientists argue that human-induced global warming risks considerable losses in biodiversity and ecosystem services unless considerable sociopolitical changes are introduced, particularly in patterns of mass consumption and transportation.

My opinion...? The difficulties of living through the ice age is deeply ingrained in our cultural memory. Most people aren't aware the Earth has in fact had as many as a dozen ice ages. The Earth is billions of years old, has endured the never ending cycle of life, death and rebirth. Continents have fractured, drifted apart and are expected to drif together and reassemble again.
First, most experts spent most of the 20th century scoffing at the idea of Global Warming, then pulled a 180 now that going green is an industry. I'm not saying our civilization's soon to be post military industrial lifestyle isn't effecting the environment, and it's good our society grows more concerned with the succeeding generations, like everything else we need balance.

MASS ANIMAL DEATHS AND EXTINCTIONS

Many attribute mass animal deaths as a key indicator something worrisome is happening in our world, but again the truth is species indicative of a specific age have been known to become extinct. We haven't been around long enough to know if mass extinctions begin with mass animal deaths.

Is it tragic? Whether you love animals or not the answer may be yes. Is it part of Mama Nature's normal birth pangs moving from one age to the next? Let's hope we're here to find out (it's estimated there may have been as many as twenty major events when over 50% of animal species died in the past 540 million years. Is that tragic?

Global warming is seen as a cause of mass extinction is supported by several recent studies, the most dramatic example of sustained warming is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, which was associated with one of the smaller mass extinctions. It has also been suggested to have caused the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event, during which 20% of all marine families went extinct. Furthermore, the Permian–Triassic extinction event has been suggested to have been caused by warming. From what I understand, human industry, mass consumption and transportation weren't in existence during those periods, but that's not to say we shouldn't reevaluate our consumerist lifestyle.

PROTESTS FOR CHANGE

An expression of objection, by words or by actions, to particular events, policies or situations. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or change government policy. They may undertake direct action to directly enact desired changes themselves.

Where protests are part of a systematic and peaceful campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as cases of civil resistance or nonviolent resistance. And in the 21st Century our culture has had plenty of reasons to make our voices heard. From Occupying Wall Street to the Arab Spring and the effort to stop Violence against Women, our well informed and empowered society has no reservations about taking to the streets to make our issues known.

Use of Acronyms & Text Message Shorthand

OMG, I am S2D (sick to death) of texting short hand and acronyms being substitued for everyday language. S2S I am finding it increasingly difficult to lol when I hear SOWM say things like OMG when they can just say Oh my god. In less than a decade the English language is going to require some QC B4 TWT SUB 2 DA SA LU AALFW and DTACOUP. (ok, I making up my own now but you get the point right? FOMCROFLCOPTERUTSMBHPM)

BIG BOOTIES

Anyone old enough to recall might remember that up until the present time, mostly women of colour had ample behinds (predominantly Black Women) with men of colour being the primary lovers of "thick women" and white men generally being more interested in women's breasts, there was never a rush to change the paradigm

White Women being posteriorly challenged was widely known (due in the largest part to the fashion industry's impressing the idea of the waif look being what women and therefore young girls) should strive for.

Enter sex selling hip hop videos, hip hop music glorifying large booties, the spread of (young) women engaging in on-line booty shaking and the prevalence of interracial dating all coupled with women reshaping the idea of what beauty looks like for the 21st century, making healthier choices with regards to diet and excorcise (even White Women are developing the kind of booty one only used to find on Women of colour

However, my research has uncovered a not so startling truth explaining the phenomenon... implants, padded inserts and chap-like cut out panties. hope I'm not giving away any trade secrets, lol.

Globalisation, Overpopulation, Abortion, Atheism, Gun control, Human Trafficking, Child Abduction, economic concerns, declining empires and rising competitor super powers also make up some of the features of 21st Century life, but living in the information age, I believe the human race has never been more awake, and never more empowered by knowledge and ready to help change the world for the better, making 21st Century Culture the best in history.


you can also follow me on 

https://www.facebook.com/Shell?ref=stream#!/alex.pink.921

if you'd like to learn how to earn 100% commissions blogging click here http://empowernetwork.com/apink/