Athlete Role Models Be Careful What You Do!

Athletes are important role models for kids because they show them that hard work and perseverance can pay off. Most athletes use their fame and money for good things like breast cancer awareness, donating to charity, or spending time with troubled teens. There is nothing wrong with the endorsements and commercials because let’s face it who in their right mind would say no to thousands of dollars to be in a coke commercial for thirty seconds. Also who would say no if Jessica Simpson or Carrie Underwood wanted to date them? Good deeds, endorsements, commercials, and celebrity girlfriends make up the average athlete. There is nothing wrong with doing these things as long as they don’t let becoming a celebrity themselves become more important than being an athlete.

            Once you become a professional athlete you are in the spot light and you have to watch what you do. They signed up to be role models and it is their responsibility to uphold a good reputation. When they do something it sets a bad example for everyone who looked up to them. When Michael Vick was involved with the dog fighting everyone turned it into a joke. The very following Halloween there were tons of people dressing up like him and making fun of the dog fights like it wasn’t that serious and he didn’t need to be punished. What kind of example is this Michael Vick?! As a dog lover myself I think dog fighting is sick and there is absolutely nothing funny about it.

            I know I am pretty hard on Michael Vick, but doesn’t he deserve it? However, someone I will take up for is Michael Phelps when he was caught on video smoking marijuana. This is setting a bad example but at the time he did this I don’t think he thought he would become a famous role model. Everyone was too hard on him. It was obvious that he felt bad about it but let’s cut him some slack he was just a college student having fun and he didn’t know the seriousness of what he was doing.

            Most athletes are great role models; especially with the other role models that we have today like Britney Spears or Lil Wayne. Those guys make Michael Vick look like an angel! Since athletes are looked up to so much they need to be careful what they do and continue to do great things. Keep up the good work athletes!

Top of the Line Celebrities Getting Discovered on YouTube

     I think YouTube is a great way for new artists to get discovered. It gives the people an option to view different musicians that they might like. Using only record companies to make someone famous limit’s the public to only seeing the musicians the record labels decide to sign with. YouTube is giving people an opportunity to share their talents with everyone and not have to rely on a record company to do that for them.

            YouTube puts a face on the music and makes the musicians seems like real people. This aspect of YouTube really draws people in. One of the reasons why I love Colby Cailat, other than I think her music is great, is because she seems like a real person or like a girl that might be like me or one of my friends. I first seen her on YouTube and absolutely loved her. Tons of people, including myself, where rooting for her to become famous, makes cds, music videos, and be on the radio. It didn’t take long before Colby Cailat was just as famous as Britney Spears or Beyonce. She did it by winning over millions of people on YouTube with a webcam and a guitar. I think this is much more respectable than getting signed by a record label because millions of people love you, instead of just one record company that is trying to make you famous.

            I don’t think that record companies are any less important because they still sign contracts with these YouTube stars, they just discover them a different way. They are probably appreciative of YouTube because instead of taking a chance on a musician that they are not sure people will like they can sign contracts with the YouTube celebrities that they know everyone already loves. Justin Bieber is a good example of this and whatever record company that he signed with is VERY lucky. Some people may say for an artist to get discovered on YouTube is the easy way to do it but, I disagree. There are billions of videos on YouTube so to make yours stand out and get attention is a very difficult thing to do.

            I love YouTube and I respect any artist that gets discovered on the website!

Nancy Grace vs. Boring Cooper

After watching an hour of Nancy Grace and an hour of Anderson Cooper I realized they are both sharing the news based on their own opinions but they are doing it in different ways. Both of them make their position on whatever topic they are talking about very clear right from the start. It seems like the whole show their only goal is to not share the news but to make you feel the same way they do.

            Nancy Grace was discussing an unsolved murder of a pregnant veterinary technician, and boy was she mad! Although, this is an unsolved murder Nancy makes is very clear that she thinks the father of the unborn baby, who is also a married man, is the murderer. She thinks the man killed the girl because she was pregnant and he didn’t want a baby to ruin his current marriage. Nancy had three different people on the show discussing this murder case. Two of them agreed that the father of the unborn baby was the murderer and one of them believed that the wife of the man could be the murderer. Nancy Grace didn’t allow the man who thought the wife was the murderer to speak a whole lot and every time he did get a chance to say anything she would say something back that would make him look like he didn’t know what he was talking about and was an idiot. Even though the man should have had more of a chance to talk about his opinion, I really enjoyed when Nancy did this to him. His face would get red every time and I thought he looked like he wanted to cry a few times. This was so funny and really made me want to keep watching to see what outrageous thing Nancy would say next. Another way Nancy draws you in to think her opinion is right is by playing dramatic music and having an on-going sad slide show of pictures in the bad ground of the girl who was murdered. When Nancy would talk about the man she thinks murdered her she would put up the same big mean mug shot of him. Although, Nancy had no solid evidence that proved this man was the murderer she made me a believer by the end of the show.

            Anderson Cooper was talking about tap water in Japan and if it was safe for infants to drink. I don’t think Anderson could have been any less enthusiastic about the news he was sharing. He makes it clear that he thinks the situation in Japan is not good but he just doesn’t show any emotion the way Nancy does. Not showing emotion is probably a more professional way to deliver the news but it definitely makes it a lot more boring. The whole time I was watching Anderson I was wondering what Nancy would have to say about the infants in Japan and I bet she would be really mad about it; she would be so mad that she would make me mad too.

            Any news commentator that you watch is probably going to have a bias opinion on whatever topic they are talking about. I prefer that if they are going to be bias they should just come right out and say it like Nancy and not try to hide it by “trying” to seem neutral like Anderson.

When Did Teen Pregnancy Become Cool???

Unfortunately, I have to admit that I am a huge Teen Mom fan. Do I think it sends a good message to teenage girls? ABSOLUTLEY NOT! Being a teenage parent has never looked so glamorous and this is effecting the current teenage generation in a negative way.

            The girls featured on Teen Mom are now celebrities. Everyone cares about these girls lives and wants to know everything they can about them. These girls are viewed by teenagers as cool, mature, and respected. Teen pregnancy has always been an issue but I think this show is making it seem much more socially excepted. I like Dr. Drew and I would like to think he made this show as an informative documentary to show teens the struggles of being a young parent, however, this backfired big time. The girls on Teen Mom are beautiful girls with a lot of friends, boyfriends, expensive clothes, and cars. This is far from the reality of being a teen mom. One of the biggest problems is that Dr. Drew, the host, is a big softy and seems to sugar coat everything to make it sound better than it really is. These girls are not victims of teenage pregnancy, Dr. Drew!!  There is no such thing; they are just pregnant teens who made a decision that changed the rest of their lives. I think that most young girls look at the girls on Teen Mom with envy. It is one thing to respect these girls for being mothers but, a whole other thing to envy them and want to be like them. I even heard of young girls getting pregnant on purpose after seeing the show. I have never heard anything more ridiculous than a teenager trying to get pregnant!!! I think the show needs a little less glamour and a lot more struggle. Teen Mom is sending an inaccurate message to teenagers about teen pregnancy.

A Small Town Feeling

The Dundalk Eagle is by far my favorite Newspaper I have ever read and I’m sure I speak for the most of the people who live in Dundalk and surrounding areas and communities. It really gives you that small town feeling when you read it. If you are from Dundalk you would be crazy to not enjoy reading the Dundalk Eagle because all of the information is personal to you and where you live.  The paper makes everyone relate or feel involved in at least one article if not more. Most likely if you are from this area you have been in the paper a few times with a name mention or even a picture. It seems like anyone you talk to always have that story, “Well one time I was in the paper for…” This makes people feel connected and important. I know personally my mom has a folder of cut outs of all the times me and my brothers and sisters have been in the eagle. You can get in that thing for anything you do; like scoring one goal against Patapsco in lacrosse your freshman year. Although that’s not really important news it’s important to this community and it’s pretty cool to see you name or picture in the paper.

Other ways the Dundalk Eagle gives us the Small town feeling if you’re from here is by adding fun and entertaining articles or sections geared towards the locals. I love the Eagle on Vacation, where people go on vacation with the Eagle and take pictures with it at their vacation spot. This is very silly and I don’t know if I would every do it but I never skip that section in hopes of seeing someone I know standing in front of a” Welcome to Hawaii” sign holding the Dundalk Eagle. I will never understand what the incentive of doing this is, however, this is not up for me to judge! I also really like the mystery beauty section where if you call in and name the “beauty” you win some sort of prize to a local hair salon. Nine times out of ten I am sure we can all name the “beauty”.  Although this may not be fun and entertaining to some people I like to read the local police beat; I found my neighbor in there once for possession of some sort of drug. What other kind of news paper has entertainment like that? You can also find articles about accomplishments of local schools churches, or organizations and any events they may have coming up.

The Eagle publishes not only fun news but important news. This news is especially important to its audience because it’s things that are directly affecting them and are happening right in their communities. The news that is happening around you seems more important than news in other larger papers like the Washington Post or New York times because these things usually aren’t happening right in your community and most likely not effecting a lot of us directly.  This is like choosing to read between a robber loose in Carroll County Vs. the new plans to rebuild the VA hospital in Fort Howard. I couldn’t care less about the robber in Carroll County but I would be interested in hearing about the VA hospital in my community. I am not saying the other news papers have nothing valuable to say I just feel like the Dundalk Eagle pertains more to me and the Dundalk community.  

               

Blog 1: Magazines in the checkout line

I read gossip magazines for entertainment but i don't always believe everything i read or see in them. As for the pictures in these magazines they can either make you look really good or really bad. It seems like there is no in between, no real pictures. The bad pictures are of celebrities at bad angles making them look 20 lbs heavier then they are just to make fun of them. Or pictures of them as they are leaving a bar in the middle of the night. No one looks good in those types of pictures and to publish them is not fair. I really hate when they put a celebrity in a magazine, especially a women, and criticize her for putting on to much weight, having a bad hair day, or having on an ugly shirt. This is an awful message because these pictures of the celebrities who have "gained weight" are the average size of most women in real life if not smaller. These magazines can say really cruel things about the way people and celebrities look. This can not make anyone feel good about themselves. So what is the point of pictures like this? To make people feel bad about themselves?  for some reason these magazines are irresistible for people, including myself, to read.