New Cultural Icon Bill Clinton by Laura Colwell

Bill Clinton is rocking a fashionable gold spray tan with his hand held high as Albanians cheered him on. Peering over a crowd at 11-feet is this shining image of Clinton, constructed for his efforts with helping Kosovo become its own state and return thousands of Albanians back to their homes. Despite the fact that it may not resemble Clinton too well doesn’t matter; its always the thought that counts. As this statue was unveiled many surrounded the square to honor Clinton and praise him. This was certainly a momentous occasion, which many people were not a part of. The Serbians of Kosovo disagree completely with the statue and blame Clinton for war crimes. However, with a crowd of 120 to support him, maybe the press was not as excited as the residents of recently independent Kosovo.
Also, I wonder, why is it that he had to be sprayed with gold paint? Why not bronze or silver? The gold is incredibly bright and seems considerably out-of-place. The gold may be a representation of Clinton being a savior for these people; a winner always wears gold. And on another note, why is it that I only see statues being built everywhere but America? Even in little places like Kosovo, where they honor political figures. I may be a terrible citizen, but I honestly cannot remember a statue constructed for any reason. Actually, our first statue symbolizing a new America may have been the Statue of Liberty, which was given to us. The statue of Clinton was built by the hands of an Albanian to show their gratitude and independence. Meanwhile, our statue of independence was constructed for many of the same reasons but not a single American hand physically crafted it. What does that mean? When I think about it, I really do not understand why America cannot build monuments of importance other than what was built hundreds of years ago, or what sidewalk has the most celebrity handprints in it.
Bill Clinton will forever live in the center of Kosovo, smiling, with one arm raised and another at his side holding a book representing NATO and the dates Yugoslavia was bombed. After the unveiling,

Clinton was excited and as giddy as an average first grader at recess.

I Spy Another Spy Movie

Looks like it’s George Clooney’s (Thin Red Line, O Brother, Where Art Thou) turn to star in another spy movie with a quirky protagonist and a goofy storyline. The upcoming movie “The Men Who Stare at Goats” puts Clooney in the role of an American spy with telepathic powers in a ridiculous mission through the desert. I haven’t seen this movie yet but I can’t help but think about the recent similar movies such as “Burn After Reading” with Brad Pitt and “The Informant” with Matt Damon. Both of those movie boast large casts of superstars playing offbeat characters on secret missions that seem to the American public to be “original” storylines. However, I wonder how long the same idea be repeated and continue to be considered “original”.

Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on seeing “The Men Who Stare at Goats”. After all, any movie with Jeff Bridges (Big Lebowski, Tron, Iron Man) and Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, Usual Suspects, Superman Returns) is certainly worth a peek. My point is that my patience for these imitative movies is wearing extremely thin, and I wonder if anybody else notices these types of trends.

-Tim Howe

Gaby Rodriguez

The Iraq War is one that has caused controversy on many levels, politically, socially, and economically. The Iraq War is one that, from every direction, there is another option and another way to go about it. However, that is presently the problem, there are too many solutions to this one situation. If one goes about it with the help of “The Criteria of a Just War,” and the guidance of “Iraq and Just-War Thinking,” you can make some very valid points rather quickly. Our country went into this war with the supposed reason being to help “re-establish important international norms,” but once in Iraq, chaos ensued and suddenly The United States became everyone’s enemy. Quite possibly because The American government went about helping Iraq in the same way as their own government would have, with force and providing no alternative for them. Also, our military has changed the meaning of re-establishing norms from just that, to adding more change that is seen fit. Another line The United States has crossed is the line between effective war strategy and inhumane treatment of civilians. This war does not follow the “Criteria of a Just War” because it violates the first necessity, “There must be a just occasion that is, there must be a violation of or attack upon strict rights,” We are violating their rights just as badly as their own government, if not worse.

Free Movies..Get Your Free Movies Here by Kevin Towell

In the past almost 10 years now the music industry has had so many problems with illegal music downloads that it has inspired change in the music industry. Internet programs like napster which used to be free let anyone who downloaded the program get access to any song they basiclly wanted. blah blah etc etc you know the rest, which led to lawsuits and now programs like napster and itunes charges per-song and if people download illegal music now they risk a chance of getting sued by the music industry. One thing that isnt mentioned that much is illegal film downloads. Music industries and muscians have filied lawsuits on these internet programs because they noticed their pockets getting slimmer and CD sales went down enormously ever since the release of these programs. So is it a matter of time before sales at the movie theater goes down and the box office starts to realize they have the same kind of problem of their hand.

These days almost opening day of when a new movie hits the theatres, some way, somehow it is posted online. It could be from movie theater co-workers but who really knows. As long as they keep getting posted the people on the internet are going to watch them. The difference between this and this music downloads is most people who watch movies on their computer are not downloading them because people like music to be portable so they can listen to it where ever they go but most people dont want that big of a file to download and dont need the movie portable. So this is what happeneds, first of all the website that hosts the movie doesnt get in trouble because the person who posted it usually posts it on websites where the website has nothing to do with the posts. Second of all the poster is annoynomous and most of the time the movie companies cant do anything except get in touch with the website manager and remove the file for infringment. But usually the next day some annoynomous poster will repost it and it becomes so much of a hassle that so many movies are overlooked daily.

The question is what is going to happen? Are we going to be able to download brand new movies to our ipods and cable boxes the day the movies come out. Are they going to banish movie downloading websites like surfthechannel.com? These websites are definitly effecting the movie buisness and not even to mention the bootleggers. It will be interesting to see how the illegal downloads of movies online evolves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyrkcz7msfY

There is gonna be something new to learn about today’s popular Culture. What i have gotten to about the American culture is that the media builds someone’s reputation and they can also break it in a matter of time.
After Micheal Jackson court case was over i thought i wouldn’t hear Micheal Jackson ever again because he had also left the country. After he had passed away that’s when i was really confused about what people in this world wanted. It all comes back to Popular culture, i mean MJ was the king of pop who had broken boundaries for other artists i thought that a lot had to be owed to him. Years before MJ had died i rarely heard his music on radio and neither were his videos getting any airplay but then right he passed all you seen on tv was MJ and in fact that same week about 2 more celebrities died but he over shadowed them i mean just simply because people liked him and no one could change that. His old albums once again topped charts and more money started pouring into his estate. who would one explain this for someone who had once been dumped and forgotten by the world that had cherished him in his golden days?…… now the ‘This is it” movie is sold out. what do you think Micheal would have thought, thats if he is alive?

Pop Culture the Reality by Kevin Towell

Do you ever think, “what is this world comming to?” while your watching your television. As I sit at home flipping through channels on my television that is the thought that often runs through my mind. It seems like every station has some kind of reality tv show. There are some shows that I have watched for over ten years, for example, the simpsons, home imporvment, etc..When I think back to when I first started watching these shows I don’t remember so many reality t.v shows on so many stations. This weekend I was observing the tv show listing on my cable guide and I was trying to figure out what genre of show seemed most popular. As I was going through them seeing numerous dating shows, comedy, etc…I realized that all these genres fell into the genre of reality. It seems everyday people like watching everyday people on tv, no longer does a tv celebrity need to aquire acting skills to be famous and have a televesion show. In magical tv land it seems that filming and airing reality shows is “in” right now, bigtime because networks are banking off the shows.
One very popular reality show right now is John and Kate plus 8. For those of you who dont know John and Kate have 8 kids, 2 of the kids are twins and the other 6 and septuplets. The show is nothing more than camera crews following around the the family as they do everyday normal activities. America loves the show though, John and Kate plus 8 is on its 8th season and they make over a reported $50,000 an episode. In my opinion, The popularity this show recieves is honestly ridiculous in my opinion. Not only is this show constantly on TLC but John and Kate and their family seem to be all over the News all the time. Almost every move they make is followed by media coverage and America loves watching it. They have risen to celebrity status in a matter of a couple of seasons and for what, parenting their children? Believe it or not their are many other reality shows very similar to this one. Funtrivia.com polls say 99% of Americans own televsions and 66% watch them for over 2 and 1/2 hours per day. I definitly believe Reality tv is televisions zeitgeist and at the rate were going, in a few years I might be watching you on television, watching television .

Funny airline pilots, by Nasar Kasirye

I would say very very funny. this was a comedy staring John Cleese. This clip has had mixed reactions from both pilots and also passengers. To some people this is funny because of the funny pranks they are pulling on people. Some pilots didnt like it with the argument that it doesnt get that boring in the cockpit for anybody to start making jokes. Other pilots say that this is giving a wrong impression of what happens in the cockpit. i mean me being a pilot myself i just find this hilarious and if there was a chance for me to do it without losing my job i would go for it.

A concert, by Samantha

This past saturday I went to a concert, no it wasn’t for a rock band, or a new pop group. It was actually for a really old r and b group Boys II Men. And yes they are still around. I know it seems odd but I do enjoy the talent that this group has and I happen to enjoy their songs. Anyway besides them being a 20yr old music group, which people probably forgot about, I wanted to comment on the observations I made at the concert. I thought for sure my friend and I were going to be the only 20 somethings there surrounded by a bunch of middle aged woman, but to my surprise we weren’t. We fit right in with the people around us. It was also interesting to see the amount of men there. I bet most of who were forced to go by they’re gf’s and wife’s. But I wanna say there was a pretty good ratio of males to females. Something else I observed was the variety of music they sang, They went from their greatest hits, to Motown, to of all songs, WAR UH GOOD GOD YA’LL, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. I think we, as was the crowd, were very thrown of by this. Me being a person who likes all genres of music found it to be very entertaining, but I could see other in the audience did not. After that was over they covered The Beatles, which yet again threw a shock wave through the audience and still everyone in the audience sat. I thought it was a good attempt for them to cover The Beatles, but the audience didn’t seem to be enthused. It for sure wasn’t what anyone was expecting. All and all besides them not having a live band playing behind them, I had a good time. Not sure if it was entirely worth the amount I paid per ticket, but non the less it was fun.

High-Tech staff by Ben Senyonjo

People all over the world are increasingly getting addicted to high-tech devices. Most especially gadgets, technology has has single handedly given people new devices to look at besides them selves in the mirrors. Just the other day I was walking through Down Town  Boston and almost half of the people I saw had their minds buried into the cellphones in their arms. Most were texting and for others it wasn’t clear to me what they were staring  at. This is just another way through which people’s minds will be slowly manipulated by popular culture its self. Popular culture has given people High-Tech cell phones which are almost equivalent to holding the world in one’s hands, since cell phones are more than just simple communication devices. This actually makes me wonder what happened to those days when people would great them selves on their way work, or when they met in the park, ‘Good morning Mike, good morning Tim. Its a nice day today, isn’t it?’ This collaborative society is slowly being replaced by a world where everyone is looking down on to a device or listening to some thing on their cell phones (with their attention turned away from their surroundings). On the other hand, the manufacturers of such devices, like Apple company, Blackberry are making of fortune. People, just like blood thirst vampires, are constantly demanding for these things. They just wont get enough of the same product that is only slightly manipulated every year, and will single heartedly surrender their hard-earned-dollars to get them.

Where is my show? By Samantha

What surprises me is people who can make money off of living they’re everyday lives. I am talking about the reality shows that show people doing their day to day routine, but broadcasted to millions of people across the country.  Since when did waking up out of bed, going to work, coming home, and making dinner become something people wanted to watch? It’s sad sometimes that this makes them money, I mean where is my show??? I go to school, do hw, go to work, and then go to bed. That’s interesting enough. Its no different than what is being shown in these shows, but yet their making money. Really doesn’t make sence.
I think we are compeld to watch it because we are able to relate. Its nice to see other people going through the same problems we do on a day to day bases. What this shows us is that, we are not the only screw ups. This is probably why fml.com was invented. Its a website of  people writing embarrassing moments that happen in they’re day.
I do have to admit that I find myself watching these shows. Some are funny like my favorite  Rob and Big or Run’s house and some are  just so stupid you cant help but watch like Keeping up with the Kardashians, or the Real Housewifes of orange county or w/e. But I think mainly I watch for the same reason everyone is in America does, you get to watch other people screw up and know it is not you for once. It also makes you feel good knowing your family is not the only crazy ones on the planet. I am sure as long as people keep making fools of themselves these reality shows will never extinct.