The New Proposed Driving Laws are More Reckless than the Accidents that Caused It

As of today, a new law was proposed by Dalton McGuinty to target young drivers (ages 16-21). This law includes the following,

-zero blood alcohol level, always
-drivers ages 16-19 are only allowed to drive with one other young driver in the car, with the exception of siblings.
-zero speeding tickets; one ticket and you’re off the road

Personally, I understand the blood alcohol level part of the proposal, and the speeding ticket proposal is a little bit ruthless, but I understand. As for young drivers not being able to drive with more than one ‘teenage’ passenger in the car; I am outraged.

First of all, the government claims they’re working hard to save the environment. Well this law would just backtrack itself, since carpooling is going to be virtually impossible for anyone under the age of 19. Second, it doesn’t make sense that at age 18 you can vote, join the army, be in college or university, etc. But not be able to drive with more than one ‘teen’ passenger in the car. How are you considered an adult and be able to take on tasks that could change the future/safety of your country, but you can’t be trusted driving a car with more than one teen passenger in it? Third, this is an insult to university students. As many choose to go away for school, it’s extremely common to carpool to get back to hometowns, or to extra-curricular events. Also, by third year university (yup, even someone almost out of university can be affected by this law) can’t even go out for a glass of wine with a friend. People ages 20 and 21 aren’t even teenagers anymore, why should they even be considered in this law? Fourth, the economy is bad enough. Carpooling was a great solution to saving money on a new car, or gas. I guess it won’t be any more if this law goes through.

This is an incredibly unrealistic law to pass. If passed, the government will be demanded for refunds for G2 exit tests, parking passes, car insurance, and pay for parking or public transportation fares.

Personally, if this law passes I’m not even going to bother getting by G2. It’s not right that I’m being punished and judged because of my age. Just because some teenagers can be careless doesn’t mean we all are. You don’t pass your G2 driving test by slacking off. You have to work hard for it and deserve it. I don’t see much of a reward anymore.

Thanks, Dove

As random as it is, promoting positive body image is very important to me. When people, mostly girls, tell me things they don’t like about their bodies, I don’t even know how to respond because 99% of the time there’s nothing even wrong with them .


I truly commend Dove for putting together these self-esteem commercials promoting positive body image, and boosting self esteem. Females in today’s society are still taking on such a negative image, and I like to see someone trying to change that.


and my personal favourite Dove ad..

It's Not Just Fast Food

I know you’ve been to one...fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Wendy’s, Harvey’s, Burger King, and all the other thousands out there. In this message, I’d like to represent every teen employee at one of these restaurants. Most fast food employees are between the ages 15-19, and for many of us, it’s our first job, and we do in fact try our hardest. We work for minimum wage, and have to balance school work, a social life, family life, and a work schedule. I don’t understand what possesses full grown adults who should know better to treat teenagers working with such disrespect. Even this evening, working 3:30 to 8:00pm, I had numerous customers act incredibly rude towards me.

Some examples of the ridiculous complaints and actions my co-workers and I have faced:
-we don’t serve multi-grain buns for breakfast, therefore our managers were “stupid”
-we don’t accept $100 bills; I was brutally ridiculed for this one.
-accidently handing out the wrong change, and being intensely yelled at even after accepting responsibility
-not accepting an expired coupon
-having burgers thrown at us in frustration
-being an incompetent employee because we weren’t serving breakfast anymore (lunch at McDonald’s begins at 11:00am. The customer came in at 10:58am asking for 2 hotcake orders, and 2 egg mcmuffins)
-“I thought it was fast food”
-“The computer added up the total wrong”
-being asked if we’ve even graduated high school since we’re working at McDonald’s
And I’ve thousands of other ridiculous complaints.

Now, I know working at a fast food restaurant isn’t the most glamorous job in the world, but someone has to do it. But hearing degrading comments and being treated without respect by customers actually brings us down, and makes us not want to try. Personally, I get thrilled when a customer starts a conversation with me or thanks me for doing a good job. I’m not asking for praise every order I take or for every burger I make, but a simple thank you and a smile is so appreciated. Yes, it is called ‘fast food’ but trust me, it’s not as easy as you think.
Think about it.

Thank you.

The Future Begins Tomorrow..

Soo tomorrow is the day that the whole world has been waiting for; the new American president is announced. Personally, I'm not too worried. From the way the polls are looking, it looks like American is going to make the right choice.

Obviously, I'm still terrified for the worst that could happen...which would be John McCain winning. It really bothers me that him and Palin keep saying they want to "shake up the white house." Really, not much will not change if McCain gets into power. He's been in congress for 26 years and agrees with Bush almost all the time, how much can really change? The only other thing that would get shaken up is that Palin would be the first female in the white house, which is just a whole ridiculous arguement on its own.

The whole world is watching America right now, urging anyone who is registered to make the right choice and vote Obama. McCain will just serve another Bush term, while Obama truly has the charisma and the right plan to save his country and the world.

Still Mind Boggled..

I know this was a few weeks ago, but I'm still SO mind boggled by Sarah Palin's performance on Saturday Night Live!

The first time I watched this, I had to do a double take. I never thought I would see a politician on a show such as SNL "raising the roof" and whatnot. This just made Palin look like more of a joke than she already is.

John McCain thinks Obama acts like a celebrity? I think the real Sarah Palin should please sit down.

Copyright Infringement should go on a VERY long Holiday

In my opinion, the 1980s was the only time in music history where pop was original. Even Madonna; I mean, she was the one of the first pop artists to do choreographed music videos. Plus, she just knew how to sell herself.

Now comes hip hop onto the scene, and what went from rapping about real life issues throughout the 1970s and 80s soon turned into only rapping about sex, drugs, pimpin’, and violence. The new millennium also brought sampling into the hip hop industry, where an artist uses something from another artist’s song (a legal example being MC Hammer using the background music from Rick James’s Superfreak in Can’t Touch This).

Hip hop has become a copyright infringement zoo, and Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Eve contriubute even more to this trend in their song, Not Today, used in the Barbershop 2 soundtrack, by obviously ripping of Madonna’s 1983 smash hit, Holiday.

Vs.

Notice that the beat is exactly the same? It’s especially noticeable though the chorus. Now, the Copyright Act clearly states that an artist may sample 10% or 30 seconds from another song, whatever is less. But this 4 minute 16 second song definitely violates this rule.
New York MusicServices, musicologist, Judith Finell [1] was called to the court to be an expert witness on copyright infringement . "Both the pitches and the rhythms sound closely related," Finell told the press. "I don't think they're identical, because Madonna's song is in what we call 'major key' and Mary J Blige's song is in a minor key." [2] I would think that a producer as great as Dr. Dre wouldn’t let something like this happen. But this was obviously a sampling gone too far.

When I take a look at the music industry and how artists treat copyright infringement laws, it looks like such a joke. The artists that take the obvious shots at other people’s work are always rich enough to pay the fine that’s charged to them (for example, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, and Eve...three of the most successful artists in the hip hop industry...). Madonna’s publishing company may have been suing for $15million, which looks like a huge sum. But even if the three hip hop stars couldn’t afford that, they’re each successful enough that they could’ve pooled their money together to have enough to pay the fine. Also, the $15 million probably didn’t mean too much to the Madonna empire in the long run anyway, since that’s a multi-billion dollar business in itself. I can hardly even call music art these days, what with artists “sampling” others to credit it as their own. It’s totally unfair.

[1] MusicServices Inc. “Judith Finell: MusicServices Inc.” <http://www.jfmusicservices.com/>
[2] Dave. “Madonna sues Dre, Eve and Mary J Blige.” Rap Basement: Hip Hop Lifestyle Network. <http://www.rapbasement.com/news/dr.-dre/madona-sues-dre-eve-&-mary-j-blige.html>

Madonna image: <www.eightiesonline.com/eighties-photos>

Dr. Dre image: <http://raparagente.blogspot.com/2007/08/dr-dre-unreleased.html>

Got Money.. duh.

Before I begin, I love Got Money by Lil Wayne ft. T-Pain. It's currently number 4 on my current favourites on my iPod. But I'm not going to lie, the video almost ruined it for me.

I only have three complaints about this video.

First of all, why is Lil Wayne robbing a bank in the first place? He is so glorified in the rap/hip-hop industry, that I really don't understand what would posess him to rob a bank. He's clearly loaded with cash. Otherwise, he wouldn't write or rap a song called 'Got Money..'

Second, look at those bank tellers! Not only are they all gorgeous, they're all just standing around, smiling, and flaunting cleavage as someones robbing the bank. That just doesn't make sense.

Third, and most importantly to me, is the end. Just fast forward right to it: Lil Wayne is being escorted out of the bank by cops and there's hundreds of people surrounding the bank. At the sight Lil Wayne in handcuffs, a young boy starts clapping. Then everyone else starts joins in. Tell me, why is crime being glorified? Robbing a bank is a serious offense. This music video is insinuating that robbing a bank is an every day event that all the cool kids in school are doing.

I think this is pathetic. There's kids out there watching this that idolize Lil Wayne and now think that crime is "cool."

Lil Wayne obviously isnt the only one to do this: 50 Cent in 21 Questions, or Amy Winehouse in Rehab are also examples of artists glorifying breaking the law. Why does the media today feel the need to portray such an act as heroic? Is this normal?

Smile for the Pap-Pap-Pap-Pap-Paparazzi

Us Weekly, People, The National Enquirer, Star, Ok!, and hundreds of other celebrity obsession magazines are sold every day. It’s no wonder that there’s such a craze for stalking the stars in their everyday life with tween celebrity magazines like M!, Teen People, and J-14, initiating the obsession at a young age.
All these magazines seem innocent enough as you casually pass them in your local grocery store, but have you ever considered the chaos and danger that’s put into taking that million dollar picture? I strongly believe that the paparazzi have become an embarrassing nuisance, and are taking their “job” way too far. First of all, I’ve been to L.A. I was constantly in celebrity hot spots for five days and did not see a single celebrity. The stalkerazzi must truly have to mission it to find whatever celebrity they’re looking for. Second, Celebrity Worship Syndrome has officially been identified as an actual psychological condition at the fault of the paps [1]. Of course, enjoying an artist purely because of their talent is one thing, but seriously…what has Paris Hilton ever done to be truly worshiped for? Most people would say nothing, yet there’s a reality show premiering soon called Want to be Paris Hilton’s BFF? (click here to read the details) I’m just saying, but THINK OF HOW RIDICULOUS THAT SOUNDS. Just about anyone could feel the pleasures of CWS. While watching a Boyd Hilton documentary, Britney: Speared by the Paps, I noted that while Hilton was interviewing journalists and paparazzo, he tended to look very confused and unimpressed as to how and why anyone could gain such an obsession. That was until he tagged along on a typical Britney chase. He couldn’t believe the rush of adrenaline he felt from just taking a simple picture of the pop star. [2]

There are plenty of (actually) talented, celebrities that mostly stay out of the media (ex. Mandy Moore, Rihanna, Natalie Portman, etc.) But then there are these other icons like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton who are their own breed celebrity causing their own breed of paparazzi. A picture of Britney Spears could be with $100 000s. That easy money could encourage anyone to go out and risk the lives of themselves and others, but what ever happened to good ol’ self control? The paparazzi have given themselves the reputation of being selfish, law breakers who will do absolutely anything for a newsworthy shot. In fact, the paparazzi have become such a hazard in L.A that a new law is on the verge of being passed.
Britney’s Law (soon to be renamed) is enforcing a 20-yard safety bubble for celebrities that are paparazzi targets.[3] Los Angeles councilman Dennis Zine proposed this law after Britney’s first rush to the hospital in January, 2008. “It cost $25,000 dollars to take an ambulance with Britney Spears to the hospital,” Zine told Access Hollywood. [3] “They are reckless and they don’t police themselves.”[2] I can imagine this law being rather difficult to inforce, but I think it's what Hollywood needs right now: some control on how far these photographers can take their job.

Britney Spears truly has created quite the name for herself. Who’da thunk that America’s Sweetheart from The Mickey Mouse Club would have ever become so incredibly famous? At the young age of seventeen, she was the highest paid teen. That wasn’t a surprise then though; she was a cute, fun, sensation that took the pop scene by storm. It didn’t matter what genre of music you listened to back then, everyone knew the words to Hit Me Baby One More Time. Actually, I bet you started singing it in your head when you read the title. Don’t be embarrassed, that was during Brit’s glory days. Totally acceptable.

Unfortunately, the fame started to overwhelm Britney. The stalkerazzi took over her life and what ever she was doing was always in the spotlight. Within five minutes of Spears leaving her house, it can be expected that approximately 32 paps will be waiting for her outside. Owen Beiny, a true blue Britney paparazzo spends 50% of his time on a hunt for Spears.[2] She began a late rebellion stage in her 20s, by getting herself involved in spur of the moment marriages [4], or by putting herself in awkward situations, such as going out in public panty-less [5], etc etc. Britney’s crazy antics aren’t unusual. What was unusual was that while Spears was in the middle of a mental breakdown, all North America could do was laugh, talk about her badly, and just wait for the paps to shoot another interesting photo of her doing something stupid. Of course, a lot of people thought that Spears was asking for the attention. But when someone is mentally unstable, they’re bound to do anything. Society usually accepts that. When you’re walking through a mall and you see someone talking to themselves, or screaming for what appears to be no reason, do you go take pictures, then sell them to magazines? When it’s put that way, who’s more unstable: Britney Spears or the paparazzi following her around?
In 2007, just as Britney’s breakdown was on the verge of breaking point, Spears opened the MTV VMAs with a less than stellar performance that lacked energy and skill. Yet, the headlining news the next day had nothing to do with her unusually lacking performance, but her weight. First of all, the woman has had two kids and was on the verge of a breakdown, of course she was going to pack on some pounds. Second, it wasn’t like she got on stage and was suddenly morbidly obese. She merely looked like an average human.
This year, after spending some much needed time in rehab and having her parents take control of everything she owned, she came back and opened the 2008 MTV VMAs. And to be honest…she looked good. She looked like the old, seventeen year old, happy, lovable Britney Spears that America fell in love with first. And since society has become so shallow, that was all America needed to see.

Do you really think artists want to be constantly followed around? Most artists get involved with the industry because they’re doing what they love and what they’re good at. The fame is just a frill to come with it. For example, remember the days when Lindsay Lohan’s talent was glorified? At only twelve years old, Lohan played a double role in the popular Disney movie, The Parent Trap. After a couple small, straight-to-television movies, she played the role of a full grown woman in yet another Disney hit, Freaky Friday four years later. A couple more hit movies after that, and she had earned her keep in Hollywood. In 2004, Lohan attempted a shot at a solo singing career. Her first hit was a song I’m sure everyone has heard called Rumors. Now, let’s ignore the fact that in the video she strips for a security camera in an elevator, or that she shakes her female parts in a very loose and low cut camisole. Hollywood is Hollywood; the video had to be marketable to the teen population. So let’s focus on the lyrics… “I’m tired of rumors starting/I’m sick of being followed/I’m tired of people lying/saying what they want about me./Why can’t they back up off me?/Why can’t they let me live…” CLEARLY when this was written there was actual anger and frustration there. She has become a very large paparazzi target, and has been in danger because of it. (Note the picture of Lohan looking very upset in her damaged car..)

Lohan isn’t the only artist to have a privacy related song…but Britney Spears had Lady Gaga write Piece of Me, a song written in a way, I felt, is almost mocking the paparazzi. Spears has just come to accept that she’s Mrs. Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Shameless, Mrs. Extra, Extra This Just In, Too Big and Too Thin. But, of course, we still want a piece of her.

Now, I’m not saying that the paparazzi need to disappear and any celebrity gossip magazine should be burned to the ground. No, not at all. Of course I’ll read the occasional celebrity gossip magazine. But is it really necessary to hound celebrities in such a way that it’s risking lives? The late Princess Diana’s life was already lost because of the paps, is that picture really worth it?

[1] “Celebrity Worship Addiction: a study.” The Age Online. APP. 10 Sept. 2008 <http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/14/1060588497208.html>
[2] ‘Britney: Speared by the Paps.’ Dir. Pip Banyard. 2008.
[3] “Britney’s law’ not a bad idea.” Daily Vidette. Illinois State University. 10 Sept. 2008 <http://media.www.dailyvidette.com/media/storage/paper420/news/2008/02/11/Viewpoint/britneys.Law.Not.A.Bad.Idea-3199831.shtml>
[4] Susman, Gary. “Me Against the Marriage.” Entertainment Weekly. 12 Sept. 2008. 6 Jan. 2004. <http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,571226,00.html>
[5] Free Brittany. “Britney Spears. No Underwear. Again.” She Knows. 11 Sept. 2007. The Hollywood Gossip. 12 Sept. 2008. <http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2007/09/britney-spears-no-underwear-again/>

Before I forget about this...we have another Miley Cyrus on our hands..

I'm totally going to forget to bring this topic up if I don't post this right now..
But I'm currently watching the Demi Lovato (from Camp Rock) video premire of her new song on MOD, Get Back. I can't help but think it sounds EXACTLY like Miley Cyrus's, Start All Over, with the same exact poppy, catchy beat.

Compare:
Demi Lovato vs. Miley Cyrus ?

I'll post the actual videos when I get the whole youtube on blogger thing figured out.
Stay pumped for a sick wakeup call about the paparazzi in the next few days ;]

Peace,
Rachael