WTF?! Are You Serious?! (Season 1. Episode 2)

I am now a part of the "it" generation.

Or as I like to call it, the "I" generation.

What does this mean? It means that I can update my blog, format my iPod, and check on my bank account while sitting on the toilet (I like to call it iDump). It's a wonderful feeling of freedom to know that anywhere I go, I can be in constant communication with the outside world.

Ok, there's a bit of sarcasm there.....

The problem lies in the details of Mass Media Communication. No one disagrees that the internet is a wonderful idea, complete with millions of gigabytes of information right at your fingertips. Nobody disputes the usefulness of cell phones either. These devices allow us to keep constant tabs on one another and keep everybody in constant communication. This, in theory, sounds like a wonderful idea. However, we now face a different problem than any other generation has had to deal with. This problem arises with the thought of privacy, and how much anybody has anymore. Think about it. Everyday we are constantly barraged by countless texts saying anything from; "Hey, how are you? lol :)" to "Where are you? What are you doing right now?" Sure, these sound like nice, thoughtful questions, but what happened to the days that people were able to just fade out for a little bit? People (guys) like to relax for some afternoons and play video games by themselves in their underwear with a bag of Cheetos hanging off their inner thigh, only to be now interrupted by the intrusion of the ringing cellphone. (Ironically, as I type this, my cell phone is now ringing.) (Thanks Aaron, I will check out the band Kiss, Kiss).

I probably sound like an old coot sitting on my porch with a shotgun yelling at kids for their new darned technology, but I miss the old days when I didn't have to worry about having a constant chatter with everybody. As mass communication increases with the inclusion of internet .. phones and iPods, thinner and lighter computers, and video chatting; I feel as though the institution of actual face to face communication has diminished. I can't remember the last time I chose to call somebody when I could just text them, or more embarrassingly send them a Myspace message. I am fearful for the next generation and how much their social skills will lack because of our diminishing social patterns.

That's all I have for now, I'm outtie 9000. Peace.

Ryan

WTF?! Are You Serious?! (Season 1, Episode 1)

I feel like I've just crash landed on an alien civilization.
I don't feel like a human being at UNLV.

It is August 27th during the two thousand and eighth of the Lord's year...also known as the third day of classes.

I am surrounded by boots made of animal (or human) carcass, brightly colored cloth hanging from necks (mostly males surprisingly), and animal fur decorating every article of clothing and accessory. I feel like I am living on Hoth and I should be fearful of a Wampa attacking me, but no....this is Las Vegas and it is still 100 degrees out.

Don't these creatures around me sweat?! I mean, they look like humans....but they dress like indigenous people of an Alaskan tribe. I'm wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and flip flops; I'm sitting in an air-conditioned room; and I'm still sweating. WTF?!

When did the fashion industry force layers of clothes upon people instead of comfort? It baffles me! On second thought, is it the fashion industry or the music industry that creates these fashion norms? Do bands such as Panic (Exclamation point or not?) at the Disco really create these disastrous ensembles and make them mainstream? We're living in a period of zombiness tailored by the MTV Studios. These trolls of mainstream culture make me question the reason I'm here, I truly feel alien on this campus.

Remember that scene in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi when C-3P0 enters Jabba's Palace and is surrounded by the strangest of aliens, covered in reptilian skin and drooling green saliva? That's how UNLV feels. I am sitting in the UNLV Library, in a booth in the back, and right next to me is a guy with sunglasses on (in a covered building which is a pet peeve on a whole different level) and slouching in a chair with his legs on a table...sleeping. I guess this doesn't sound too strange in context, but just try to imagine him. He's wearing really short, green Oregon basketball shorts with a sleeveless blue shirt on, with his head at a 45 degree angle and his feet positioned a full six inches above his head.

Oh, speaking of sleeveless shirts, yesterday at the hospital there was a guy with down syndrome that had on a sleeveless Corona shirt with a 1998 Bulls Championship hat walking down the hall with his brother with a Malibu rum shirt on. I wonder who dresses him?


Anyhow, that's the end of this first installment...I promise the next episodes will be much more entertaining, I'm just aimlessly writing this in between classes and such.

Peace. Grapefruit. Amelia Earhart.

Ryan