at the movies...

So, I realized something sitting in the theatre tonight. That previews have become something I now look forward to at the movies. When I was young, I used to hate previews. I used to get to the movie 15 minutes late so that I could just see the movie. But over the past several years, I have found that I have progressively wanted to see them more and more, and that my love for the previews has really developed a little bit of a movie routine.

Firstly, I have to have some food on my stomach, so, dinner is a must. And knowing my food tendencies, that is always an event of its own. After the food, it’s straight to the theatre. And I can’t be late. I, actually, have to be quite early, and by early, I do mean at least a half and hour before the previews. What is that half hour for? Good seats, $5 candy, and talking about movies with whomever I’m with. Then it’s time to sit back and enjoy. No talking in the movie. Unless extremely necessary. The film is followed by a post-film discussion over coffee, and then the goodbyes. Oh, how I love the movies.

So, thanks previews. You’ve redefined my experience.

An online routine...

My everyday website is YouTube. It has become my reference point for anything and everything that can be encompassed into the social realm of today. Whether I am looking up a stand up comedian, a musician, or popular news feed, YouTube is my first stop. It serves a purpose as a reference (politics, news) but at the same time holds strong entertainment value (music, comedy, film).
I think one of the reasons I enjoy it so much is due to the community that forms it. YouTube is completely user based. People have their videos, upload them, and those videos are suddenly for the world to see and enjoy. Brilliant.
While there are similar sites on the web (FunnyOrDie, etc), YouTube is the only one to encompass many aspects and still stay strong. So, bravo, YouTube guys. You keep me well informed, well updated, and quite entertained.

New Media Project

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8lbjwGh_uVU

Reply: What Happened to Women with Class?

FACING THE FACTS: WOMEN WITH(OUT) CLASS

By: Stefan Alexander Kempski

So, the question stands: What happened to women with class?

Where are the girls who know how to hold themselves? Where are the girls who know how to look sexy without looking like sluts? Where are the girls with culture? Did a giant asteroid wipe them all out like the dinosaurs? Since when did the majority of cute girls take life advice from MTV? How do girls expect to find guys worth dating when they're idea of partying is acting like they're on Spring Break in Cancun in front of a Girls Gone Wild camera crew?

The answer is that "class" is no longer a solidly defined term in the pop culture dictionary.


Taking a step back, it's easy to see why girls from their early teens to late 20's act the way they do. So, why? The answer is in the simple concept of where society has put the standard.

Before jumping in, let's take a few things into context: One, morals today are more like traffic lights in Italy; They're suggestions, nothing more. Two, the bar for how girls should act in a social setting has never been set lower. With mass marketed programs such as 'Sex and the City' and the quasi-reality TV shows MTV pumps out, women are presented as materialistic, shallow, sexual objects. The truth in that? Should be none. Yet due to popular public reaction, there is. Why? Because there is a significantly large group of viewers that take a look at that fiction and see it as a behavioral standard.

Not ok.

Really, really, really not ok.

But thanks anyway, MTV, for ruining the majority of dating as I know it.

Now for the hopeful part: There still are girls with class out there. I've met my handful girls that have really caught my attention as something more: They are the women with culture, realistic morals, and ideas that they can describe without using the word "like" as an adjective, noun, pronoun, verb, and all together thought.

I apologize if this seems cynical or judgemental. I don't intend it to be. There just hasn't been much evidence pointing away from it. Let's just be happy I didn't write an article on how love is shit, and we're all doomed to live Shakespearean tragedies with broken hearts. Thankfully, I can say I've got a little bit of hope.

So, to the girls who think this article is ridiculous because they embody the MTV standard: Please, for your own sake, snap out of it. No guy worth having is ever going to really look your way. Except to check you out, and move on to checking out the next generic girl wearing two popped polo’s, a mini skirt, and Uggz.

To the girls with class: Strut your stuff. It is unique, attractive, and, damn, is it sexy. I know guys can fall into stereotypes of their own, but there are still plenty of us out there that are looking for more than a one sided conversation.

The Post Script: Top Ten Things a Classy Guy Looks For

1) We care about what you think. Don’t be afraid to express your views. Because, guess what! If you agree with everything we say, we won’t care about what you think!

2) There's a fine line between dressing 'sexy' and dressing 'slutty.' It's very easy to cross, and it makes all the difference in the world.

3) Traditional isn’t a bad thing. If a classy guy hears a girl say “Hey, I’m not going to bang your brains out right away,” guess what, that’s actually great. It let’s us know two things: A) You have standards and B) You don’t have Herpes

4) Realize that dating is not a ‘game,’ it shouldn’t be a ‘game,’ and if you decide you’re going to play ‘games,’ we will very quickly find someone who doesn’t.

5) A kiss should say something. Don’t get me wrong, I like making out just as much as the next guy, but if there’s not anything behind it, why are you kissing me? Is it my abs? Or my deep, piercing eyes? I knew it. Just leave.

6) Clingy screams insecurity. We know you have insecurities. Truth is, EVERYONE DOES. But clinginess is not a good reminder. So, breathe. We are thinking about you. Probably more than football and videogames. Except on weekends, but still.

7) Romance and chivalry is a lost art. Don’t look at us like we’re crazy when we open a door for you.

8) Intimacy doesn’t always have to mean something sexual. Sometimes it means a couch, a blanket, hot chocolate, and an old movie.

9) Know yourself. Know your limits. Know your standards. If you don’t know yourself, how can you expect us to want to know you? If you have a big question mark over your head, it doesn’t exactly scream ‘keeper.’

10) I’m very well aware a lot of this can be applied the other way, so, no need to comment on that. Note that this article is written from the perspective of what a gentleman is looking to find in the world of dating and romance.

Hope you got something out of the read. I'm going to go take a shower now, and sing "Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones while shampooing my hair.

~Stefan

What We're Looking At...

The “Two Cultures” discussion and debate, between Neil Postman and Camille Paglia, zeroes in on two separate forms of media present today: Television and Written Word; Postman standing with the Written, and Paglia with TV. The debate gets rolling with the topic of early Christianity, and the necessity of images in the early church. From here, a slight bickering continues as they move to related topics of TV and literature.

To be honest, I felt as if I was reading a political debate gone wrong. Both arguments do not emphasize any positives of either medium. Instead, Postman and Paglia simply poke holes in the others preference.

From an opinionated standpoint, I agree that there are weaknesses in both mediums, but I also feel there are significant strengths also. TV has the advantage of pulling in several aspects of art into itself. In addition to the visual, there is the heavy bonus of audio. The sound and music adds a good deal of ‘attention grabbing’ material to the medium. But at the same hand, TV cannot hold depth as easily as literature can.

I don’t think Postman and Paglia did justice to either medium in their debate. If I would agree with any statement wholeheartedly it would be Paglia’s reference to how messages are stronger in the written texts because their emphasis is on that message and not on picture and sound. But regardless of the message, the future of media as a whole is through the integration of visual and audio mediums. Literature has been on a significant downward slope for quite a bit of time, and will continue down, whereas TV has been steadily heading up. TV has also been taking on more cinematic style in several shows, which contributes to the “reality” of the medium, which also pulls viewers in even further.

I don’t think either TV or Literature can take full superiority over the other. Both have their unique strengths and weakenesses.

Dropping the Pencil

The Current Questions of TIME:

How much is content worth in the digital age?

Is content really worth something to the media consumer?

ANSWER - Content is worth quite a bit in the digital age. Now, although some may argue that traditional, whole hearted 'content' is fleeting (to which they would be correct about), does not make content as a whole worthless. It merely depends on what the content is, how it is presented, and what it is intended to deliver. Clever writers will keep up and deliver what the general public wants to see. Reality TV is dying. Aside from MTV, the general public is beginning to get its fill. People are waking up. It is a 'media phase.' More traditional programming, however, such as "Heroes," has been around since the birth of television. And considering the attention spans of the average American TV views re-runs are not going to suffice.

"...the networks and studios are making the depressing bet that "quality" — i.e., original scripts — doesn't matter that much to the market. But who's to say they're wrong? Media consumers are deluged with diversions, many of them free. Even the New York Times couldn't get enough subscribers to sustain a paid online-subscription plan..."

~Time

The networks are making the wrong bet: that they don't need them, and that hoping the writers will bend and come back is inevitable.

It is logical that the writers are thinking about their future. Entertainment is changing, and they're smart to want to change with it.

"...the producers and writers continue playing chicken on a railroad track, with you as the oncoming train. Maybe they'll be right after all, and at the end of the strike, the nation will fall in love with TV all over again. And if they're wrong? Well, there's always Break.com..."

~Time

I brought this topic up in a coffee house this past week. Several of my friends didn't quite understand why and what this, and any other strike for that matter, was about. I had to explain that it's still one of the few very American things we hold on to. These writers see change coming, they want to prepare and make sure they get what's fair. The networks are thinking dollar signs. But it's not like that is a new concept.

Who should be looking for the solution? The networks should find a solution. Since I'm not a financial expert, I can't say what that might be. But I think the writers should be given more credit for the work they produce. Most mainstream entertainment as we know it comes from these guys. And to push them to the side is really slapping the consumer in the face.

I also really want to see "Gigli 2." And that's just not going to happen with the strike.

Switching Off to Switch On

Thursday, Thanksgiving
The 22nd of November

Let's Wear a Media Hoodie

I pulled myself out of bed at around 9:30, and made my first move towards the cell phone resting on my dresser. Stretching, I brought up the screen. One new text message from my younger brother, who was asleep in the next room. I laughed, reading. "So, today's that day, Stef. Good luck. I call the Xbox. And the computer. And the TV." I sighed, and held on to the power button. "Alright," I thought to myself, "Let's see how this turns out."

The morning wasn't really much of an issue. I spent most all of it in the kitchen with my Mom and cousins visiting from Italy. And may I just say, thank God they were in town. If it wasn't for them, I would have probably blatantly failed in my efforts of deprivation.

For example, my first big obstacle hit while in the car driving to Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt's house. Normally, the radio is blasting, and everyone is enjoying the music during the car ride. But due to the fact that my cousins were in town, no one touched the radio. It was all conversation. And that conversation continued for most of the night. Before dinner, I just had to make an effort to avoid the football my uncles were watching. Thank God it wasn't soccer. Because to an Italian family, ignoring an important Italia soccer game could be punishable by excommunication, or a deprivation of food. And to an Italian, both are unthinkable.

Now, to the exciting portion of my story: My failure. May I point out that it was completely unintentional, but nevertheless, happened. In my defense, it was late, and since the tryptophan in turkey is known to have a tiring effect, I'm basically innocent... Ok, so, I watched my cousin play "Assassin's Creed" on his PS3 after dinner. And I didn't realize I had broken until the next morning. I woke up, quite refreshed. I rolled over, and turned on my phone thinking I had triumphed. "That wasn't too bad," I said to myself with another stretch. My phone powered up, and immediately buzzed with a new text message. It was from my cousin. "Hey, Stefan! What'd you think of Assassin's Creed?!"

Great.

So, I came close. Thinking about some of the students mentioned in "The Longest Day," from the Washington Post, I can relate to how some enjoyed the break, but at the same time had difficulty maintaining it for a full 24 hour period. I agree that we have "over-media medicated ourselves." My main source of news is the Internet, not newspapers. Yet on a counter point, my main source of entertainment is my guitar, not TV, gaming, or Internet.

As long as I consciously avoided media, it wasn't too hard. But the fact that I broke the fast and didn't even notice until the following day shows how much modern media is intertwined into our everyday lives.

We're media junkies. And we love it.