SNAPS SNAPS SNAPS

Snaps to Riches: The Rise of Snapchat Celebrities, Ellen Huet
The article opened up on snapchat stars such as, Shaun McBride , and how he creates "snap artworks" and make money off of them. The article also mention Jerome Jarre, who is a famous viner and brings in his comments about Snapchat being the new vine. Jerome's right on how advertisers use this to their advantage now. I mean, now, snapchat has updates where ads would pop up in-between stories. I believe that it would have an effect on your unconscious mind because you would be going through your friend's stories and then all of a sudden an ad pops up, and just seeing the ad you acknowledge it and it gets into your brain somehow. It is especially in a millenial age group because we are really just on the run for the next big thing and have no patience. Like with youtube videos or anything loading, we hate waiting; so the 10 seconds snaps are easy, quick, and gone so we move on with our lives. It is also easier because it would virtually feel like you have no digital footprint since the snaps only appear for 10 seconds then disappears "forever", and the you would know who kept it or not because snapchat would notify you. I believe snapchat is mostly popular because of the fact that particular social platform gives off an almost virtual perspective vibe. It makes Snapchat different because it's different seeing a snap of a celebrity doing their own "private" thing because it feels like you are basically there with them.

NONVIOLENT CHILDHOOD

The author of this article argued that violent media is good for kids. He talks about how his parents held him back because they thought violence bad, then his mom was influenced by a friend of hers and let him. He also gave examples about this one girl, who the more teachers and parents put down her "violent and bloody drawings", the more she did it. For me, this article brings back a lot of sexist childhood incidents. It took me back to my childhood, since I was raised by two highly traditional Asian parents. As I grew up, I saw everyone else casually doing something I would normally get in trouble or yelled for, like climbing a tree or wanting something that was for "boys". It created a sort of rebellious mindset and the feeling of constantly being trapped and held down by parents.

KOREAN IDOLS AND ZOMBIES

ROBIN BRENNER, Teen Literature and Fan Culture 

This article was like a flashback to my middle school days where fan fiction was the trend. Brenner talks about modern fan culture of expanding a story or alternating the universe in which a story occurs, but the ones I usually read were based off Korean band members. Fans would create stories as if maybe the band members were brothers, scenarios where a band member would be dating a fan, or how a scene would go about if two of the band members were dating each other. I remember staying up on a school day reading chapters of fanfics that involved my favorite bands. There were also stories where the plot that the writer had was more interesting than the band they used. Fans would critic the writer on how accurately they portrayed the band members. The band member’s personalities were only based on how they normally act on reality shows, interviews, or behind the scene music video shoots; so the writer had to form the quirks and personality of the members based on what they can observe from a computer screen (unless they flew all the way to Korea to see them). 

CHUCK KLOSTERMAN, My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead 

Upon reading the title, I knew this article was not going to be a standard read. And looking at the article deeper, Klosterman just shows how “zombified” of a society we have become, and I’m not talking about all the shows. I’m talking about how we mindlessly follow the trend, or even how mindlessly attached to our phones. While I was reading, I remembered the movie “Warm Bodies (2013)”. It seemed like another typical zombie movie, but there was a certain twist to it. The movie portrayed a whole different concept that goes against Klosterman’s description of zombie as “mindless” creatures with no depth. In the movie, it centers on a post-zombie apocalyptic world where everything is basically run down and zombie infested with a small amount of human survivors. The main character, “R”, who is a zombie, falls in love with one of the human survivors, Julie. And throughout the movie, R slowly turns back into human form because of the “feelings”  he had that started growing for Julie. It was basically a zombie version of Romeo and Juliet. The only reason I mentioned that movie is because I felt that it humanized zombies instead of victimizing them, which was what all of the examples, that Klosterman gave, did.

HAWAII SHOPPING

BENJAMIN BARBER, Overselling Capitalism with Consumerism    
      While I see what Barber is trying to bring our attention to, the problem with Capitalism and Consumerism together is that it creates an illusion of a “better”; we could do better with our lives, we could be better with this product in our life. I see the abuse of capitalism and consumerism that Barber talks about everywhere, and I cannot help but fall victim to it too. Over this year, I’ve bought a new iphone, a new laptop, and other things I bought because I “needed” it. Although that is probably an exaggerated fact, I found that more times than not, I’m glad that I have my phone or my laptop because it makes my life way easier.

VIRGINIA POSTREL, In Praise Of Chain Stores
     As I was reading this article, I had that moment of realization that every time I went somewhere for vacation, I’ve always managed to visit the same chain stores I see in California. Like this summer in Hawaii, my family went around the Waikiki Shopping Plaza, and my aunts would stop by big stores like Louis Vuitton, Prada, Macy’s, etc. I thought to myself, “ We have those same stores in California, where we live. Why are they wasting precious traveling time at stores that sell the same thing online and at home?” I mean, I guess it’s nice to see these stores and beneficial for the locals there when they want to get in on the trends, but seeing all the same brand name chain stores at every mall while traveling and at home just give the impression of “if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen it all”.