Commercials

Advertisement is something that all companies must work on to some degree. Whether they are selling shoes, life insurance, or comic books, producers need to find a way to get their potential buyers aware of their products. With the advent of television, commercials were born.
It seems like commercials have gotten much more tongue-in-cheek lately. Humor is being used to greater amounts than it used to. For instance, an advertisment promoting "safe drinking" used the following joke.

Man: if your friend has been drinking, then ask for his keys.
Drunk man: *refuses to give man his keys*
Man: If he refuses, then ask for his pants.
Drunk man: *removes pants and gives them to Man*
Man: You now have his keys, and his pants!

Where in the past this subject (safe drinking) would probably draw a much more serious style of commercial that focused on statistics and the severity of drunk driving, this newer commercial is approached with levity. I'm sort of curious as to why. Is it because, after so many advertisements bombarding us with slow music and horrible statistics, we just got desensitized? From a personal standpoint, I know that this humorous advertisement was far more memorable, and made a bigger impact on me than any serious one.
I've often thought that the best advertisment of all would be 15 seconds of a black screen, with plain white letters, simply saying "buy X". With all the lavish designs for ad campaigns nowadays, the starkness of such an ad seems like it would put it so far out there as to be very recognizable and memorable. And isnt that the point--to be memorable?

Pokemon

Although Punahou’s a good school where a lot of the usual “high school stereotypes” don’t apply. However, a few are ubiquitous, and still persist even here. One of those is of course, th at people who play video games, specifically “anime/Japanese video games”, are nerdy. Normally “nerdy’ people then get harassed by “cool” people, presumably because they fail at life for playing “Japanese video games”. Yet, there is one video game that crosses all such boundaries. I’m of course talking about Pokemon.
Recently, the latest installments in the Pokemon line, Pokemon Diamond/Pearl were released. Since my friends and I are into that sort of thing, we had known about the release. A few of my friends got the game, and of course, since its on a portable system, played it at school. I saw a few other “nerdy” people playing the game as well. All in all, there was a marked increase in the number of Nintendo DS’s that could be seen around the campus, Pokemon games at the ready.
One of my more “nerdy” friends was playing Pokemon before class as other people filtered in. pretty soon, a “cool” person walked in, went up to him, and commented on the pokemon. Because my friend sometimes gets targeted by the “cool” people, I was getting ready to stand up and chew him out when something funny happened. A conversation began in earnest between the two over strategies for beating the game, different tricks to try, and whatnot. Pokemon was common ground.
Since then, I have been amazed by the prevalence of Pokemon. I’ve seen people who would never be caught dead with a gameboy in hand play pokemon between classes. It’s served as a common ground between the cliques that sometimes form, and gotten people who would normally ignore each other to start talking. All in all, its been a good influence on the school (not counting the people who play it in assembly and chapel).
I wonder if anyone’s told Nintendo about this.

Formalities

About a month ago, I was getting ready to go to my last debate tournament. Although I enjoy debate, there's a couple of things about it I just can't stand. One of them, of course, is the tie.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind wearing "nice clothes". But a tie just crosses the line. Its uncomfortable and dangles all over the place. I've frequently referred to them as "stylized nooses". Now, I don't see what exactly makes wearing a length of cloth tied in a noose-like fashion about your neck "formal". For that matter, I don't understand why exactly anything is considered formal. What exactly makes ties formal? What makes coats and jackets formal? What makes putting the salad fork on the outside left of the plate, (with the bread plate and butterknife slightly to the left and up) formal?
I'm not sure. Somewhere back down the line, I'm positive (hope) there's a perfectly logical reason. But that reason doesn't really matter anymore, does it? For whatever reason, ties are formal. If you want to show that you're trying to put on your best face, you wear one. That's just the way things are.
I remember in 9th guide, way back when, the teacher likened the creation of social norms to a bunch of monkeys surrounding a banana. Problem is, whenever a monkey touched the banana, all the monkeys would receive a shock. Naturally, the monkeys soon learned to not touch the banana, even if they all wanted to. When one monkey is taken out and replaced with a fresh monkey who doesn't know the rules, he'll of course reach for the banana. The other monkeys, knowing that reaching for the banana causes pain, will stop the new monkey. This new monkey will then learn that he is not supposed to reach for the banana, without knowing the reason why. If you continually replace old monkeys with new ones, this pattern will extend, and soon you will have a bunch of monkeys who don't do what they want to (touch the banana) without knowing the reason why.

Routines

I always buy the same headphones. Not the cheapest ones, but one increment up. They're the blue sony ones (earbud style, that way I can wrap them up in my pocket) that loop around the back of your ears and fit in just so snugly that you get a good amount of sound, but not so tightly they're uncomfortable to use for long periods of time. They're pretty hardy and last a long time. Yet, I recently had my last pair break, so I went back to Longs to get a new pair.
I couldn't find them. I looked and looked, but there were none to be found. Finally, up on the top shelf, my eye spotted the Sony headphones. Just one problem--they were black, not blue.
I bought them and all, and theyre functionally the same headphones they always were. Yet, every time I pick them up to listen to some music, theres a brief nagging feeling. After years of having the same blue headphones, black somehow doesn't mesh, doesn't quite fit with the mental image I've made over all these years. It's interesting to think about how much you get used to a familiar thing, such as the sight of your alarm clock first thing in the morning, every morning--or the routine way that you put your cell phone in your right pocket, and your wallet in your left. Everyone has these familiar sights, sounds, and actions, and when they change they can be just a little uncomfortable, even if they're things as small as the color of your headphones.

Shaving the Legs

So, recently I had a talk with several of my friends on the subject of leg/chest hair. Many of the girls were of the opinion that chest and leg hair are now not "manly and masculine" as they supposedly were several decades ago, but now are gross. A couple of us guys looked at our legs for a second before coming up with a response. "Well, would you rather your boyfriend shaved his legs, since you think that leg hair is gross?" The answer was of course a resounding no.
"So we're not supposed to have much leg hair?"
"yes"
"but we're not allowed to shave it to make it the 'right' amount?"
"ewwww, no"
I'm sure you see the paradox.
In my opinion, it seems simpler for girls, who are simply expected to shave their legs. Yes, it is true that they have to put effort into it, but on the other hand, girls leg hair is standardized, and girl's are allowed the freedom to alter their appearance to the "right" one without ridicule. On the other hand, guys (with respect to leg hair), must innately have the "right" amount. If a guy decided that he didn't like the way it looked, he wouldn't have the freedom to change it (in this case, by shaving his legs), because of the general stigma. If I had to choose, I'd rather have the freedom to change my appearance, even if doing so was tedious.

Wind (in class)

Wind is one of those forces that you don’t realize. It can be a gentle breeze or a completely destructive hurricane that uproots trees and houses. In either form, the wind has one constant advantage—it is invisible. You cannot see the wind, only the effects it has. It’s always a surprise. If it’s a hot day and a breeze kicks up, you’d be pleasantly surprised.

***revised***

Wind has many forms. It can come as a slow breeze, languidly cooling, relieving, and refreshing you on the hottest of days, a constant comfort in the face of a harsh summer. But it also blasts in brief bursts, blowing all way. No matter the form, one thing remains constant. It is invisible. Surprising, always. You could look an approaching wind front head on, and not know its size, power, or temperament. You’d be left with clues to guess. Its howling and whistling might belie and angry and tempestuous nature, or a cloud of displaced dust and violent leaves might show its power. Yet just as easily, it could be a soothing, gentle wind, blowing softly on a muggy day. Once again, only one this is constant—the wind cannot be predicted.

Colors

Colors are one of those things for which we have no descriptions. There is no way to really objectively describe a color, rather, you must be shown it. How would someone describe the color blue to someone who has never seen blue? The only way to really describe color thus far is to describe it in relation to another color. For instance, you'd describe purple by saying it was like a mix of red and blue. You could describe pink by saying that it was a light shade of red. In these ways you can approximate a description, albeit one that relys on the other person having some knowledge of color already.
The other thing is, how do I know that me and you see the same colors? Theres no way to tell here either. When we were both younger, we learned what the color green was. Green was that color that the trees and grasses were, and the outside of watermelons, and the top light on a stoplight. That was green. But maybe the color I percieve as being green is the color you percieve as being yellow. Would there be any way to really tell? I would still point at a tree and say "hey, thats green." and you would agree. Because we cant describe color, theres no way to know for sure.

Psychic Residue

Ever had one of those moments where you do something stupid, like drop your toothbrush on a super-grungy gas station's restroom floor? Now, everyone knows how dirty those floors are, so obviously you are grossed out by the thought of putting that toothbrush in your mouth. You turn a sink on so that you can wash your toothbrush off, but an odd phenomena occurs. No matter how much you wash and sanitize that toothbrush, the thought of it landing in some odd puddle on the restroom floor prevails. Ten minutes of washing later, you know that there's no way it could still be dirty, yet the thought of it being there makes you completely refuse to put it in your mouth. Eventually, you get a new toothbrush.
This phenomena is that of Psychic Residue, where the mere thought of something being dirty or used makes you think that it is actually filthy. No matter on what concious level you may know that you've washed something to the point that it is squeaky clean, the imagined filthyness prevails.
This also applies to the percieved grossness of using someone else's personal items. For instance, you may be spending the night at a friends house, and forgotton a change of clothes. You have no clean underwear. Your friend (who wears the exact same brand and type of underwear as you) offers to lend you a pair. Naturally, you'd be reluctant to wear another person's underwear. Despite the fact that you intellectually understand that his underwear is clean, the psychic residue prevails.

Reincarnation

Some people believe in reincarnation, or the beleif that your soul is reborn into another body upon your death. In your next life, you could be reborn into a higher social standing as a reward for your good deeds, or you could be brought back as a pig as punishment. But if people's souls are constantly being brought back in different guises, how many souls are there out there? If each person has a soul, and is reincarnated the moment their old body dies, then the population should never grow. Every time someone dies, someone else should be born. This obviously isnt the case--After all, our population is steadily increasing.
Why assume that you have to be reborn the moment you die? For that matter, why assume that your past life has to have actually been in the past, or your future life at a later date. Time seems to be a fluid concept, not a linear one. For this reason, it makes sense that a person's next life could be anywhere and anywhen. My current life would be that of a high schooler in 2007. My next life could be that of an 18th-century accountant, and the one before that a doctor from 3994. Time is not an issue.
But if time is not an issue, is it not also possible to be reincarnated when your first life is still in progress? To me, it seems possible. I could be living out my 2007 high schooler life right now, and cooexisting with myself 534 incarnations down the road, when I am reborn as one of my classmates. If you look at it this way, its possible for every person who ever lived to be an incarnation of the same being. Beats being reborn as a mosquito.

RENT and minimum wage

So I watched Rent again the other day, and was reminded how aggravating I find that movie/musical. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good story and I love most of the music, but the personalities of the main characters frustrate me. One of the main themes in the movie is the motto “No day but today”, which refers to the philosophy that one should live as if that day was the only day that they had to live. While this is idealistic, and I suppose carefree, in my opinion, it is wrong. Living with no regard to the future or past is almost a form of escapism. After all, if today is your last day to live, then it’s easy to justify putting off whatever may be troubling you. Now, if the main characters of Rent had no problems, I suppose it’d be easier to begrudge them their little philosophy. Yet, we know that they’re hardly without problems. They’re struggling artists with little money, incapable of paying their rent (they get evicted at one point), and some carry HIV. Living “in the moment” doesn’t seem to work in this situation, yet they cling to it anyways, remaining unemployed for the sake of their “bohemian way”. Personally, I’d have looked for a minimum-wage job at McDonalds if I wanted to pay some Rent, but that’s just me. On the other hand, they believe so strongly in their morals that they're willing to make sacrifices for them, and thats something.

Frazzled Hair

There’s a really easy way to tell if someone’s having a bad day. Just look at their hair. If its all in line and sleek and shiny, then it can’t be that bad of a day. However, if their hair is disheveled and full of those little wispy hairs that stick up from the head, then you can bet that their day has been stressful. Frazzly hair is a perfect indicator of stress.
What is it about this hair that is so closely linked to stress? Maybe people who have a large amount of other, more stressful things would not have time to brush their hair or comb it out. That would be one that made sense. Perhaps stress does just make your hair frizz. Who knows.

People have many tells such as this one. Emotions can make physical impressions. Look at ulcers. Stress leads to a painful stomach condition. An attraction to someone can make your heart rate rise with no particular reason. Perhaps the telltale frizzy hair is just another way you can see how someone’s feeling.