Jersey shore a self-tanner tinted train wreck
7/27/10 4:21 PM
O.K., I’ll admit it, my – along with the 4.8 million viewers who turned in for the finale of season 1 – fascination with the hair gelled house mates of Jersey Shore doesn’t make any sense. Well, at least it shouldn’t. Formulaic in its conception – The Real World mixed with the Sopranos and a little bit of the Girls/Guys Gone Wild franchise added for flavor – Jersey Shore hasn’t redefined or enriched the “reality” of reality television. It may, in fact, be detrimental to the state of today’s youth. But who cares about that when you have fist-pumping? The first season of the reality show, for those who have been stuck under a boardwalk or...How a word gets watered down
7/20/10 1:43 AM
As we move into a post-Mel Gibson-verbally-abusive-rant society, the way in which people employ sexually-charged words and phrases as invectives should be put under a rose garden. People use colloquial terms and offensive idioms on a daily basis, sometimes without thinking about their constructed meanings. As students trying to further our education and understanding of the world, we need to understand the effects speech – even if flippant – can have on people. Some people have started using the term “rape” to denote an egregiously bad, or inversely, extremely good outcome – e.g. that test “raped” me or I “raped” that test. This usage is a relatively recent development (at least that I’m aware), but it seems that some...Living the dream
7/13/10 12:45 AM
I must thank the VH1 gods (or executives) for bringing back one of the most influential television shows of all time and recently playing an all-day marathon of Behind the Music. Yes, all day Behind the Music. During Courtney Love’s episode (I’ve now seen it twice) she said something that really stood out to me. Talking about success, Love stated, “You want to live the dream? You do what you want on your terms.” While her mental health may be debatable (personally, I think it’s a requirement for all rock stars to be a little crazy), I think her sentiment of doing things on one’s own terms is a sound, rock star argument that can be applied to college students as well. It seems that far too often in life we, as...Student advocacy groups prevent students from being left behind
6/23/10 1:14 PM
Last week, I received an email from the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities about the Golden Rule Review Committee.They’re now accepting applications for the school year of 2010-2011. I, for one, think that everyone should apply. With UCF’s increasingly rapid expansion, student advocacy groups are becoming extremely important. These groups help determine the way in which the university addresses procedural issues regarding students. With UCF’s 53, 000 plus (I think we’re losing track of the number by now) enrollment, some students may feel that their personal needs in the academic realm are not being properly addressed. A large public university is kind-of like a corporation. And with any large conglomerate, a bureaucratic, red-taped...Conversation surrounding BP's oil spill
6/14/10 12:26 PM
Conversation surrounding BP’s oil spill made a big fuss out of a little word. In a taped interview with “Today Show” host Matt Lauer, President Obama said the word ‘ass’. He used a colloquial term for human anatomy, and that, almost as much as his message, made headline news. When discussing BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico with Lauer, Obama stated, “I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick.” For some, Obama’s ‘curse-word’ usage muddied his sentiment, and more than a few political talking heads and commentators disparaged his word choice during...
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