Black Friday... Adventure

It's only 7:30pm and I am officially saying Black Friday is over. For those unfamiliar with today, it is the shopping day that the stores drop the prices. Some stores open as early as 4am and let the deals rip right in time for Christmas. It's called "Black" Friday because it is the day the proverbial arrow leaves the red and heads North to the Black. I guess the arrow is not completely proverbial, it was and maybe still is an actual arrow used at staff meetings.

Having said that...

I walked to Target today. I'm not a fan of shopping by the way, at all. The reason I went to Target is because my girlfriend and I live close, we got out of the house and took a walk. We went to the "West Hollywood" Target located on Santa Monica Blvd. While walking I reminded myself I am person whose claustrophobic around too many people. It's similar to being in a elevator that just decided to stop out of the blue which has 43 people trapped inside. Heading into Target I prepped myself and dove in headfirst.

We walked in... Dirty....Coughing People...Kids.... Strollers...Mindless Individuals....People just "roaming" with no purpose. Misery. At one point I felt as if I was going run out of the store, but I didn't. I focused, I focused hard and I willingly became engulfed from the sea of bodies.

Walking around was a miserable experience, I just kept thinking that the majority of the people didn't know what they were doing. As soon as my girlfriend turned her head I walked away and had to find solitude in the halls of Target.

My main thought: How can I turn this into a positive? Maybe I can't turn this shopping into a positive but how could I make the store better?

Then it hit me! Greeters at the door. I thought a Greeter at the door would have made me enter a little more delighted, they needed to loosen the mood. Then I ran to my girlfriend to explain the thought of Greeters. From there on the Greeter is optional, if you want the help you can get greeter help around the entire store and answer all questions. However if you don't want the help a universal sign of "no thanks" should be accessible. I think this alone would make someone appreciate the store, and maybe make it a little lighter.

THEN:

The man or woman who is checking out should be required to make conversation and jokes with the individuals checking out. It's called CAJ (Conversation and Jokes). No matter what, make observations and jokes. Even if the customer is angry, permission to joke with the customer is available. This would always keep the store LIGHT and EASY and EASYGOING.

Shopping must be a easygoing experience. Black Friday has a rough connotation, it's hell in Major Stores.

BUT, maybe people are inspired by the Black Friday challenge, Personally I'm not, I need light shopping.

Moral of Black Friday... I want to own a superstore to test these things.

In with fear Out with fear.

Remember Y2K? Let me refresh your memory. It was described as event horizon. It was billed as a time when all machines weren't going to be able to rollover to the year 2000 from 1999, it was called a computer crisis. Absolute shock and horror was buzzing in the United States, and what happened...Ah... The computers easily rotated to the year 2000.

Now it's 2009, we have roughly 30 days left until 2010. I'm not too sure if you've read the news but fear is floating in the air. Fear of another economic collapse, fear that the government will "change" health care and fear that our president will continue to fight a un-winable war.

Although these are actual things and yes of course they are things to be concerned with because it directly affects us. Or does it directly affect us? Isn't there something else to think of? Does anyone else get the feeling that our TV's, magazines, and most importantly our minds get flooded with the problems that surround us.

Why is this? Why does fear push us the way it does. And in America who is creating this fear? Are we comfortable with problems? When things start moving in a direction of comfort do the powers that be step in and shake things up. I think so. I don't think we can live as a society with out complaint about something.

As we depart a decade that began with a fictitious computer bug lets not take a second and admire the positives that may actually be happening. Take a moment and ask why we are presented the platter of fear to dictate our day.

Happy Turkey Day!

The Internet removing the moviestar.

What happened to our movie stars? Do we still have them? Why is this really even important? What we're witnessing now in the ever accessible time that we live in is diminishing allure of the entertainment industry. The allure is being brought down but also restructured because of the internet.

"Brought down" may not be the perfect word usage but what I mean is the over saturation of our "movie stars." The people who were draws for the entertainment business have now because run of the mills everyday entertainment figures. When I say the allure is being brought down it is because at one time the ever elusive actor is nothing more than a regular.

Let's take Youtube for instance, it was the game changer. It's in the top 5 of most viewed sites on the internet (In the mix with Google, Yahoo, msn, Facebook). On youtube we have a selection of anything we want to watch. You can watch a cat falling asleep on a snake, you can watch your next door neighbor singing his favorite cover song, and you can watch Jessica Alba desperately promoting her husband's website. What youtube did is bring down the level of who we hold "special." In our minds the people who were on the silver screen were somebody different than us and they did something we didn't do. Now, not so much, now I could be posting a video and on the same site a movie star is doing the same thing.

The internet has killed the "movie star" but it has promoted so many other "stars." It has created a world of people that we never knew about, and these people are damn talented...Uh oh, so if their are talented people on the internet, and the internet is filled with people like me....! I'm talented, that's what this all means it means I am a star, I'm no different than any of these people I see...Or so we subconsciously think. Is this a good thing or bad thing? Both, it just depends how you look at it. I'm currently looking at it from the movie star stand point. So first off who are the CURRENT Movie Stars? Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Maybe George Clooney or Damon or Jack Nicholson. What do people in this category have in common? Well you don't typically see them showing up in mindless internet commercials. Maybe someone will show up in a funnyordie ad but nothing too serious.

So what does this tell me? Over Saturation can dumb down a "star" in Hollywood. Will we ever see people who aren't in the lime lite twenty four hours a day. The internet is rapid and it's growing, I wonder if anyone will be able to keep off it. It's a catch because it is a a amazing resource to promote your work and reach a mass appeal, I mean I am currently using it.

In a matter of years what we know now as a Hollywood Movie Star will be gone. Since the internet is ever growing we'll have no choice but to utilize it. The next generation is already here and it works in the social networking galaxy. The "movie star" you are fading, soon you will be gone. It's unfortunate.

We're so accustomed to living through individuals as a society that instead of living through a select few we'll live through more and more, because we'll all be the same. We'll all be the stars in our own regard. How is this important? Maybe the boxoffice will be affected by it, maybe not. Or maybe the internet will fade...but we know that's not happening. Keep a open mind about who is a movie star, maybe they'll fade. The world of gossip, youtube, twitter, and facebook will evolve into something else, new exploits await and the stars will find it.

Some kind of problem... US WEEKLY

When I ordered a US WEEKLY subscription for my girlfriend I knew that I would be saving money. What I didn’t know is that it was going to be a week late consistently when receiving the weekly magazine. Let me be clear and say I feel having this subscription is somewhat laughable. The reality is, the magazine is a gossip nonsense publication that displays pictures of celebrities filling up gas. However, it was a good gift to my girlfriend who likes to read it. Every week when I walk in the grocery store I see an updated US WEEKLY, I look in my mailbox… nothing…. a day goes by… nothing… another day… another… then HEY THERE IT IS, a few days later in the mailbox! Don’t worry though because my girlfriend has already seen it in the past four days. US WEEKLY how are you so consistently late!? Someone should have told me this little stipulation before ordering. I understand I’m saving money but I’d rather spend a little extra if it will ensure a timely delivery. Oh, and there is no number to get in contact with, just e-mail, so who can I complain to? I must complain. I take that back, I don’t need to complain I just need answers. I need an explanation. I want my girlfriend to be on top of all celebrity gossip. What the hell am I talking about? But seriously, I want it on time. I need a solution.

Yahoo.. How dare you!

Retro this and retro that. Yes we're in a time of retro and retro is fashionable. The 80's have made a comeback. If I wanted to get a new (old) pair of Jordans, uh, excuse me AIR Jordans I could if I wanted, and I have. Go into any shoe store and check out the “old school” because it’s back and trendier than ever.

Places like American Apparel and Urban Outfitters accentuate the fact and open the availability of fashion from past generations. In clothing this is fine and all, but never did I think I’d see the day that Advertisements took a step backwards. I’m not talking about let’s poke fun at ourselves advertisements, I’m talking real life try to appeal to people advertisements.

When I say take a step back I mean it is difficult to make certain styles appealing again. I have yet too see a certain style make it’s return, that style is the style of the 90’s. Yes you know the style. It was a colorful time, a time Spud McKenzie and Saved by the Bell. Think about those old 90’s ads with kids and the high tops wearing bright buttoned up shirts.

NOW-

Who did this… YAHOO! Yahoo, how dare you? Their new and current ads look like something out of 1992 when I watched Saturday morning cartoons.

If you answer yes to 3 or more of these then it is from

the 90’s. Big Sunglasses, Bright Colors, Bubbles, Big Dogs, Bad Font.

You know what… just take a look for yourself. OH, and also their new slogan is about making the Internet YOURS. Just look… (these are actually from 2009).

Does anyone else see this!? I feel like I'm taking Crazy

Pills and the doctor is Yahoo. A shiny guy with high tops skateboarding with his shirt off... really? Who does Yahoo think they are? Who ever gave the OKAY with these ads should look around at life.

Just because...

INVICTUS

Invictus. Sure it is now the title of a movie and also holds some recognition because Timothy McVeigh murmured it as his last words. However... this is great. British Poet William Ernest Henley's poem Invictus was first published in 1875. This was written over 100 years ago and it could stand as though it were written yesterday. Once again, proof that the times changes but the mentality stays the same. Invictus is Latin for unconquered. OUT of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.