YOLO!

Hey there! So, if you don't know what YOLO is, the acronym-cum-word means You Only Live Once. It is an American revolutionized version of saying "Carpe diem - seize the day". It's really just substituting one term for another (something I think America is also good at). But I realize in today's world that YOLO seems to be catching on with the younger crowd in our midst. YOLO to teenagers nowadays means partying, drinking, sexing and every other taboo or law breaking/ body-banging thing there is to do out there. It's seen mainly in today's music especially in mainstream pop and rap where almost every song nowadays is about living it up for the night until you pass out. Hence the music video I posted above, We are Young by Funn ft. Janelle Monae - it's about the act of living YOLO, but I think it slightly mocks the idea or at least gives us less idyllic or idealized notion of YOLO.

I notice that today's music (whether rubbish or not) has made major influences in the way teenagers decide to live their lives nowadays. Teens believe that they're having hard times with 'all that they have to go through as teenagers'. I do agree that teenagers in this world have many more distractions and a lot of issues to work through; (it's hard life for us with so many paths to choose and we just don't know where to go). Music it seems, is for us a good method to cool down and recollect any sense of peace we have with ourselves. However, I won't discount that today's music is much more than ever influential and I cannot deny that many of the things posted in videos, teens do or try out at home. Living the YOLO life is one of them. For today's teen populace, it may be the sure-fire method of letting out steam. On the other hand, the interpretation of carpe diem by today's musicians might be a little over the top but they sure appeal to teens more than anything else they see. Teens believe that since they're young, they should have as much fun as they can before they get older or before anything happens to them or just for the sake of enjoying life. Yet they disregard the consequences and only see the effects the next morning when they find out they can't remember the night before - (the hangovers, the vomiting, the nakedness is what they find when day breaks).

So, watch the video. It's a truthful and still fresh perspective of what exactly goes on when teens decide to try the YOLO experience. You get crazy trying to liberate yourself but then you realize you're only wasting yourself. The video is quite correct in portraying a fight in a bar scene - it happens all the time. One person gets utterly drunk and the silliest things trigger unnecessary violence. Soon, everybody partakes in the mob-like frenzy and then it becomes a 'REAL' party. (It's not a real party without breaking some bottles.)

Now, for all the parents out there, think about what your teenagers say when they claim they're trying to live YOLO. Teens, think about your life clearly when you state that YOLO is your life now (unless you have made the commitment to Die Young like Kesha says in one of her latest songs).

 

The Screen Addiction!

Don't you just love a good fight scene in a movie or a juicy scandal in a TV series? Don't you just crave for something exciting and interesting to happen in a show or video game? Sometimes you like to be in control of what's happening too in the game. I bet you sometimes wish you were actually in the action. *Sigh I'm sure we've all been dying to watch the latest horror movie or action film. But do you ever realize what's the effect it may have on you? Now honestly, we may think that our talking to the TV is a harmless feat and we may think that what's in the film, we will never do in real life (no matter how much we shout advice to the characters from the living room). However, I believe that some of these things, seemingly harmless, may actually have some effect on us. You realize that after watching these things everyday, all we think about is the next move that characters will or can make. Whether it's "Kill Him!" (from watching Spartacus) or "Sleep with the girl, she's worth it!" (no mind the fact that that specific character may already be in a relationship - from  Scandal). We have, along with the movie producers, followed the line of commemorating the acts of the absurd, egged on the acts of sick and twisted things. Probably in our subconscious we think of these things and in some situations wish that it could happen in real life. Is this the type of behaviour we want to be around all the time or is this the type of thinking we want to revel in? (It's kinda fun though). Think on these things.

American media: Open access to your life

This blog post is inspired by a very sad story I read and I realized it's a pretty important message. Whether this is a true story or not, I'm sure there are many real stories like this. (By the way, if you're squeamish, don't read the story. It may be a little offensive because it is extremely graphic. However, I believe that there are some things that need to be told.)

My name is chinwe, I am 26 years old, I never graduated for university, simply coz I was stupid and careless. On my 24th birthday, I received a nice gift. It was a blackberry phone. I always wanted one, it was like a right of passage. My ex-boyfriend got it for me. He was a student like me, didn’t have a job, and I really never cared to ask as he could afford it. My concern at that point was, yes I had finally arrived. Other girls in my hostel had blackberries and I would always get pissed when I heard sounds of pings and messages coming into their phones at all hours and I would stare at my nokia phone and wish I could throw it away. But half bread they say is better than none, so I hoped and even fasted to get a blackberry phone. Looking back now, if I had the opportunity, I’d have a landline with no internet activity what so ever. Anyway I got the blackberry phone and even got free BIS subscription. 

At that moment my life was complete, no more going to the cyber cafes to check my emails, my face-book or twitter. I had it all at my finger tips, life indeed was complete, or so I thought. Anyway, I became addicted to my blackberry and also my social media applications, and since I had constant access, I quickly gained enough followers, and especially guys, mostly because I had a lot of erotic pictures on my timeline. I was popular, finally I felt I was the main girl, everyone wanted to follow me. I didn’t care if it was virtual, it felt good, checking out my profile and having well over 8,000 followers, more than half of which were guys. But one particular guy caught my attention, till this day I don’t know what made him stand out, but we got chatty. He sent me direct messages and I replied. He was quite a gentleman, and I can’t remember him ever asking for a nude picture unlike the rest of them, so this made me comfortable with him. His name was Tobi. He said he was a doctor. I didn’t have any cause to doubt him. He had extensive knowledge and even gave me some medical advice from time to time. We eventually moved from twitter to blackberry chat. We chatted all the time, I got so comfortable with him. I gave him my number, and that would come to be the biggest mistake I ever made. 

Tobi called me every day. Some days he called more than once. At night he would call and I would lay on my bed and have phone sex with him. His voice was so soothing. He made me do things I never thought possible. He had gained so much access into my head. I realized later I had done some very sick and twisted things just to please him. I would take nude pictures of myself. I would send him videos of me touching myself in private, and send him voice notes of me making moaning sounds and simulating orgasms; and all this while we had not met, not face to face at least. Eventually I played into his hands. I began pestering to meet him in person. At this point I had lost my mind. I assumed I was in-love with him, and when my boyfriend at the time broke up with me, I really welcomed it, for me it meant no more sneaking around.
 

Tobi eventually agreed to come to lagos to meet me. All this while he had made me to believe he was in calabar, and would take time off work to spend a weekend with me in lagos. When I heard this I was excited, he told me to book a reservation for him, stating he would pay me back as soon as he arrived and also he said it would make him more committed to the visit and would convince him of my seriousness. I bought it all. He was smart, he was cunning, and I was stupid, oh how stupid I was. The funny thing was I had sent him tons of pictures, and all I had was just one picture of him, and whenever I asked he would claim he wanted to be sure I loved him for him, and not for his looks; Sheepishly I would try to convince him of my undying love, and would try to appease him with nude pictures of my body.
 

He eventually made it to lagos, I met him at the hotel. He was tall, handsome and had a wonderful smile, he made love to me over and over, and convinced me to spend the night with him. I told him I couldn’t, because I had a test the next morning. Now at this point I don’t know what triggered his anger, don’t know if it was because I couldn’t spend the night, or maybe I said something else I can’t remember saying, but whatever it was, brought out a very ugly side of him. He called me foul names, and kept going on and on about how he always knew I was cheap, and he knew I was sleeping with other men. The same man whom had swept me away, slammed me on the floor, he told me of how he had shown his friends all my nude pictures and how they had watched the videos and listened to the voice notes. He told me he had made a bet with his friends, that I would actually pay for him to have sex with me, just to prove how stupid I was. Well you can imagine how I felt - I was confused and shocked, but I attempted to regain any little dignity I had left. So I tried to mouth off at him. Suddenly he punched me in the face, and I tripped over, and hit my head on a stool. The next thing I remember was waking up on the bed, I was tied up, and he was staring at me, his eyes were dark and he had a sinister smile on his lips. He stood up and walked towards me. I tried to scream and realized my mouth was taped, my head was racing. The unfortunate part was that no one knew where I was. He turned me over, and told me he was going to teach me a lesson. At this point I was naked, he raped me from behind, and I mean my anus. The pain was mind blowing. I struggled, and he hit me, when he was done he brought out a small blade, and he looked at me for a minute and said, this scare is going to always serve as a reminder, for girls like you always trying to be more than you are, for stupid fools like you. He put the blade to my nipple and cut it off, and anytime I think of it, I still feel the pain. It was like nothing I had ever felt before. He was calm, like he had done it a million times. I could feel the warm blood dripping down my mutilated breast; tears of fear and pain running down my face, and suddenly he turned around again, this time all I saw was a flash.
 

I don’t know how I survived it, but I woke up in a hospital days after. well I was awake, but my eyes were swollen shut. It took a couple of days for me to open my one good eye, and realized the damage he had done. he had plucked out my eye, and cut my face. He had cut my breasts up real bad, they had to it out, like I had cancer or something. There was no record of who I was, coz he had taken everything. He had taken my bag, containing everything I had. I was able to tell the nurses about what I could remember, and also give them my mum’s phone number. The hospital felt so much pity, they actually treated me for free - hard to believe right? Anyway I was taken home after weeks at the hospital to recuperate, it was tough. I was blind in one eye. I had one breast and a hideous scar of my face, talk about your sinage. He did a number on me, how dumb was I? sometimes I wish he had killed me, but there are fates worse than death,
and I guess this is one of them. He was gone without a trace. The receipt from the hotel was in my name, so yes he had played me from the start. I didn’t dare go back to school. I was sure everyone would have heard, and I was not going to become a statistic. So I decided to stay home, and mind my business, besides what do I need an education for? I’d rather stay home, because there is no rising from this. 

There is no happy ending to this story. This is the simple ending. I was a victim if a sexual predator, and I let him into my life period, and I take full responsibility for that. I was driven by greed and lack of morals, I allowed myself fall into an abyss. But well saying all this doesn’t change anything. It’s a memory I will have to live with for the rest of my life. Well, not a memory, because I look at myself in the mirror everyday. Who would want to see a nude picture of a woman with one breast, one eye, and a stub? I have decided to publish my story, because with the rise of social media atrocities being committed. Every story can go a long way in saving a life, so while you read, SHARE and help someone back to the right path. These internet predators are real.

May Almighty God Help us all. "Amen"

 The internet especially has unlocked unbelievable channels of open and free communication. It has also been given over to 'internet abusers' who post themselves as one person online and in reality are total opposites or at least not what we think they are. It has given people the control to recreate themselves for the public and we (the public) become fools to believe everything we see online, disregarding our sense of control and common sense to know what is true or not. It has absolutely blurred the lines between the virtual world and reality. The story is an extreme example of what can happen when you open up your true self to the world of the fakes. A person can cheat her/(him)self by giving himself away for the rest of the world who prey on susceptible people like these. We should also take responsibility because we are the ones putting ourselves in vulnerable positions - celebrating and performing the most absurd things for everyone else to see us (no longer behind the curtains, but in full front and centre of the video camera). We don't truly know who's the person behind the computer screen but for some reason we put all faith and trust in them. There are some people who are the real deal but many of them make today's communication a real shame. There's this new show on MTV called Catfish which reminded me of this story. It's really cool - it helps persons from online relationships meet their online loves for the first time. There are some that work out but the majority bring lots of surprises (which aren't exactly so happy). Check out the trailer below and watch an episode some time.

Happy chatting and remember, be careful who you communicate with online! You never know - people aren't always who they seem to be, especially behind a screen.

Presenting: The Cinematic City!

The Keepers by Santigold

 I've also been in love with Santigold for a long time. I didn't know she had a new album out from last year and I'm realizing she has some pretty good songs on it as usual. This one is one of my favourites from her. I personally like this though for the video and my purposes for this post is to try to convert Santigold's video into an analysis of the American landscape - one fraught with illusions and a dream gone sour. I'm also going to compare this video to one of my favourite books The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West. The video i think is a stark representation of some of the scenes painted in the text. So look at that video very carefully (but i assure you it's an entertaining video).

 To make it a little easier, I'm just going to point out some scenes from the video and juxtapose them with some from the book:

The Keepers - The spoiled, toxic, glowing food
The Day of the Locust - “The SunGold Market into which he turned was a large, brilliantly lit place... Colored spotlights played on the showcases and counters, heightening the natural hues of the different foods. The oranges were bathed in red, the lemons in yellow, the fish in pale green, the steaks in rose and the eggs in ivory.” (pg. 63)         

 
The Keepers -  The mother turning, showcasing (I'm assuming her newly bought body...*smh)
 The Day of the Locust - “Mrs. Schwartzen was a big girl with large hands and feet and square, bony shoulders. She a had a pretty, eighteen-year-old face and thirty-five-year-old neck that was veined and sinewy. Her deep sunburn, ruby colored with a slight blue tint, kept the contrast between her face and neck from being too startling”. (pg. 37) – This may not be an exact description but it’s the closest I could get to make you see oddness of the characters.

The Keepers - The burning house

The Day of the Locust - “…he was able to think clearly about his picture, “The Burning of Los Angeles.”

…modeling the tongues of fire so that the licked even more avidly at a corinthian column…” (pg. 200-201)

I'm not sure if the two texts are related in regards to whether the video was intentionally inspired by the book or not but i will not deny that the two situations are highly analogous and present the same/similar idea(s).

The Day of the Locust is centred in the setting of Hollywood, California, considered as the promise land, the nexus of dreams, pleasure and hedonism. It is the land of eternal summer and perpetual youth - people go there to lose themselves and free to do anything, be anything or anyone. The city evokes mass production of fantasy and vision. But the downside to this life is that the city is in a perpetual state of readiness for impending disaster. The Keepers however is more encompassing of America on a whole. Similar to West's book, the people in music video are self centred, living in an illusion. The family - an "All-American" family is satirized to display almost an automated, corrupt civilization. The American perfection symbolized the family is illusory - the innocent domestic space is invaded by the grotesque (gross images of food and the exploitation of youthful dreams exemplified by the plastic woman with her enormous butt and fake shape). In fact, the very things that America tried to package as perfect has now been overturned to show that the country has gone too far in making things 'better', 'easier', 'more appealing/entertaining'. Instead, these 'improvements' have much more dire consequences than benefits. Also, the processes that America uses are actually toxic for the environment and the people. The large lips/fake butt (plastic surgery); chicken with growth hormones (explains why some teenagers look like 20s - jailbait); contaminated seafood (recycled water); tv (idiot box - turns children into zombies - addicted to popular entertainment); the boy taking a picture of the dead man (instead of helping the situation, we stand back and take pictures almost celebrating the morbid through popular networks). The house then signifies the country burning down, it is done.  

It's like someone told me one day - Instead of taking people forward, technology takes us two steps backwards. American popular culture, the advent of technology, mass production of fantasy again has again achieved the power to their own destruction.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

American lifestyle: Glitz and Glamour

For years, I've been in love with Lady Gaga's song The Fame. I find it ridiculously truthful to the world of Hollywood and she sings it with such a fun passion dedicated to a life of glitz and glamour. Below are the lyrics. Read carefully and possibly sing along if you feel so inclined towards your artistic sense.

Lyrics;
Verse 1
I can't help myself I'm addicted to a life of material
It's some kind of joke, I'm obsessively opposed to the typical
All we care about is, runway models, cadillacs and liquor bottles
Give me something I wanna be, retro glamour, Hollywood yes we live for the

Chorus
Fame
Doin' it for the
Fame
Cuz we wanna live the life of the rich and famous
Fame
Doin' it for the
Fame
Cuz we gotta taste for champagne and endless fortune

Fame fame baby
The fame fame
We live for the fame fame baby
The fame fame
Isn't it a shame shame baby
A shame shame
In it for the fame fame baby
The fame fame

Verse 1
I can see myself in the movies with my picture in the city lights
Photograph my mind and whatever else you'd like to shoot you decide
All we care about is, pornographic girls on film and body plastic
Give me something, I wanna see television and hot blondes in odd positions

Chorus

Bridge
Don't ask me how or why
But I'm gonna make it happen this time
My teenage dream tonight
Yeah I'm gonna make it happen this time

Chorus (2x)

I think the song is pretty explanatory so I don't think I need to say so much. But I'd just like to point out that honestly, Lady Gaga is right; either we as consumers/watchers of the Hollywood life or actual celebrities completely consumed by the life, this is what we live for (at least some of us, if you personally want to exclude yourself from this lifestyle). The life of the rich and famous is exhilarating and exciting. Fountains of liquor, hangars of cars and other objects of excessive wealth; Even the porn is what we live for. We stare at our TV or computer screens each day watching the daily routines and scandals of big-shot Hollywood names. No matter how decadent the life seems to be, exemplified by the E-news, deep down, we sometimes wish we had some of that excitement in our lives - that we can travel the world (despite getting drunk and hungover in every country or meet a new guy in every city). I especially like the line that says: "I'm obsessively opposed to the typical" - Being normal is boring but having your name in city lights and living the life of a carefree wild girl might not be the wisest decision in life, but it sure sounds very amazing.

Hollywood and American popular culture definitely glamourizes life so much that the lives on the TV screen and reality are blurred. Celebrities live their fantasies everyday, something I'm sure we as 'normal people' once dreamt of. I think Hollywood has succeeded in prostrating humans at the edge of scene stages. Hollywood holds our dreams and beckons us to catch them at the beginning of their banks of fake representations and re-presentations of life. It whipped us into a mob of salivating fools for the lives portrayed on the big-screen and we rush to make it a reality. Isn't it a shame?...