Pole dancing?

In class today someone mentioned that Miley Cyrus recently did pole dancing at a teen awards show. When the show aired about a month ago, I read an article about how horrendously scandalous her pole dancing was. The article made it sound like it was a hyper sexual dance. At first, I was disappointed but not really surprised since so many tween queens become sexualized. Then I decided to actually look up the video and watch it. Skip to 1:05 if you just want to see the pole dancing part.

So, I don't know much about pole dancing, but from what I've seen in movies, it's a little different than holding onto a pole and singing... I'll admit, her outfit is skimpy and I certainly wouldn't want my daughter to imitate her dancing, but to call her dance hyper-sexualized pole dancing is pretty unfair. I just think that sometimes people are too quick to judge people in the media. And, if I had only read the article instead of watching the video, I would have had a worse opinion of Miley than I do. I guess it's just important to be always an active consumer of information and to form opinions based on fact instead of someone else's bias.

Anne of Green Gables

Tonight I went and saw my 16-year-old sister in her school's production of Anne of Green Gables. The kids did a really great job. As I was watching the play, I kept remembering all the times I read the book as a young girl. I loved to read as a child and did it all the time (now I just wish I could, but homework seems to get in the way...); I was often grounded from reading because I would do that instead of homework, cleaning my room, or going to sleep. I read everything I could get my hands on, including shampoo bottles and cereal boxes. I've developed a lot of my ideas about people, relationships, history, and life from the books that I read as a child, but most of the time I wouldn't realize that my opinions didn't originate with me. In class we talked about how books are often considered the "higher" form of media. I don't think that's always the case because there are hundreds of great movies that are better than hundreds of books. But, in general, I'm very glad that I grew up mostly reading instead of watching Rugrats. I think it's made me a less judgmental and more educated person. Here's to hoping my kids will be the same way.

Big Bang Theory

My favorite show is probably The Big Bang Theory. It's about these four physicists who are intellectuals geniuses, but very confused socially. I'd been looking forward to new episodes of the show ever since the season ended in May or whenever it is that seasons end... I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. Normally, the show is hilarious. But, this one mostly poked fun at over-the-top born again Christians and had a subplot about the hazards of friends having sex. I hope it's better next week because this is one of the few TV shows I actually like...

Library in my pocket

Last year, I bought an iPod touch. I felt like it might be a tad over the top and materialistic, but I did it anyway. I'll be honest, I bought it because it was pretty. I used it to listen to music, but rarely took advantage of the other features on it. But, a few months after buying it, I discovered the world's most amazing app. It's called Classics. And it is full of classic books! I'm kind of a nerd and my favorite books were written at least 100 years ago. Suddenly, when I have my iPod with me, I am never bored. 5 minute wait in a doctor's office? No problem. I have hours of entertainment at my fingertips. And, even though it does cause me to be continuously connected to my iPod, I'm okay with it because I read books that make me smarter. I've even found a new favorite: The Count of Monte Cristo. I might not have ever read it otherwise and I loved it. It took the latest technology to get me to read a book that's been around for over 100 years. Thanks iPod :).

Movie Party!

My husband and I teach primary. Our class is a combination of kids who are 8 turning 9 and 9 turning 10. When we started teaching in January, most were very well behaved, but there were one or two that we couldn't motivate to listen (granted, this year is church history which I think is the most boring primary manual there is, there's like 6 lessons on Joseph getting the plates, but still, they should listen and learn.) Then, one of us had a brilliant idea. We told the kids that if they were good enough to collectively earn 10 check marks in a month, they could have a Wii/movie party at our house. They earn checks by doing things like bringing their scriptures to class, paying attention in sharing time, and correctly answering the questions we ask them about the lesson at the end of class. They lose checks by talking too much and not paying attention.

The day we introduced the party concept, the kids were fantastic! Even though most of them have Wiis or friends with Wiis and they all have movies, they still really cared about our little parties. At this point, we've had about 6 parties. The funny part is, only 3 of our 7 kids have ever come... And they are the three that would be well behaved no matter what. But, that doesn't seem to matter. Every week if someone isn't listening, we'll threaten that there won't be a movie party and the kids automatically start to pay attention. They don't seem to notice that they've never even been to a party...

I just think it's really interesting that these kids that are infamous in the primary for not listening are so willing to do anything to come to our house to play a video game or watch a movie, especially when they've never actually taken the time to come.

So, I don't know if this is an indication of the power of media in these kids lives, or if they just want a party, but I think it's interesting to think about.

Obamedia

Obama is all over the media this week. Yesterday was his infamous (at least in Utah) speech to all of the students in the country and today he just finished up a speech on his plans for health care reform. I didn't watch the speech to the students, although I read it, and I only caught the tail end of the health care speech. But, my purpose isn't really to analyze his plan anyway. First of all, I don't know enough about it to do that and secondly, this isn't a blog for a political science class.

I think it's very interesting how riled up political media can make people. I know several people who were absolutely furious that President Obama was going to speak to children. One of my friends who teaches at a junior high school in Tooele wasn't allowed to show the speech because parents hadn't been able to prescreen it (which was ridiculous by the way, since the text was available publicly 24 hours before the speech was given). I wonder how many of those parents "prescreen" everything else that their children watch. I would hope that they do, but I have a sneaking suspision that many of the things those kids see portrayed in prime time television are much more harmful than the president's message to work hard in school.

I'm not saying that everyone should support Obama. If you have valid reasons for disliking him, that's your right. But, I do think it would be smart for people to be more rational when choosing what they will and won't let their children watch.

Here we go!

My goal this semester is to be one of those obnoxious over achieving, gets her assignments done ahead of time people. Of course, taking time to make a cute blog when I could be doing my independent study homework is kind of like procrastinating with the guise of working, but it's a start, right?

I guess this can count as my first post. Right now the media I'm enjoying is the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack. I really like it. It has a good mixture of the classic Harry Potter themes and music that is different than the other movies. I particularly like the song I'm listening to right now. It's called "Harry and Hermione". I liked the way their friendship progressed in the movie because in a lot of ways it reminds me of friendships I have. I don't really know what else to say about it the soundtrack. As far as the movie itself goes, that will have to be a post for another day after I go see it again in the dollar theater... This post feels very boring... Hopefully the appeal of the blog will increase as I get going :).