In My Opinion: Is Barbie a good role model?

Hello people of the Internet! The chances are high that you have at least heard about the doll giant known as Barbie. Her and her friends and family are one of the most popular toy line in the world with more than 1 billion sold since the line's creation in 1959. Recently Barbie has gotten another notch in her job belt-which totals to a whopping 130-when she was made a girl scout by The Girl Scouts of America.

Almost instantly this development in the Barbie universe was dropped into a hot vat of controversy with people saying that Barbie, and her perfect skin and hourglass figure, would be setting a bad example for young girls. This is nothing new since the war over Barbies plastic perfection has been waging since her creation with people fighting to prove that she is either a bad or good role model. In my opinion Barbie is not a good role model simply because that is not what she was created for.

She wasn't made to empower young girls or show them that they can be anything they want but to be so sparkly and pretty that when girls see her on a shelf or on TV they will raise hell until their parents buy her. She is a toy, people, a modeled piece of plastic created in foreign country and posses not even a drop of the power her opponents claim she has.

I mean are you telling me that there are girls who didn't go to college because their chest weren't as full as Barbie's? Are you claiming that the reason why we don't have as many female engineers and scientist as male ones is because the girls of America couldn't get their waist as perfectly trimmed as Barbie's? Are you seriously proposing that the reason why so many girls have poor self esteem and body image is because they could not fit into the same mold that Barbie is? If you are then:

The reason why the girl's of America are suffering is not because of this toy but of how our society handles beauty and body image in general. For instants look at this meme:

Now, at first glance it seems positive, attempting to teach girls that some of the hottest women in history weren't the stick figures they know today. But once the empowerment wears off you realize that it is also teaching them that if someone doesn't live up to a certain image or ideal they are worthless and deserve to be shunned, mocked, and criticized; the same message that the TV, Music, and Fashion world puts out.

We need to teach our girls that a size twenty two is just as beautiful as a size ten and that a women with a gap between her thighs has the same value as the one with roles of fat on her back. We need to make them understand that what is considered beautiful  is a definition that changes with each new generation and instead of fighting to achieve it they should focus on doing things that makes themselves feel good.

That's all I have to say on the topic so until next post Live well, Laugh often, and Love much.

Sources 

https://www.dollgenie.com/new-blog/images/Barbie/girl-scouts.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivn-I0rvlXbwKfIkTK0ZNx-NApSWtkczErnPdMIae49pdcSW5zvSIw_esNCJ7Vou_KDWpf0ke-lPIpUGwKhlTKIi0pjP5JvrLZ0nlfxRp6kzYPRF_w1SNuOt5yokBBbR8hrbFISy3lNOo/s1600/aller.gif

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Why I like the RoboCop remake more than the orginal

Hello people of the Internet! As you can tell by the title today's post will be talking about why I like the remake of RoboCop  better than the original. Now before you rush to the comment section filled with fan boy rage let me make one thing clear: I do not think the original  RoboCop is a bad film. It had interesting characters, good acting, and impressive special effects. However I do believe that it failed in explaining what would happen if you put a human inside a machine.




What I like about the remake is that they showed us how Alex Murphy deals with becoming robocop. When he first wakes up and sees how little of him is actually human he is horrified and ashamed. In fact he would have rather died than have anybody-including himself-see him like that. The only reason he decides to live is because of the love he has for his wife and son and how much he wants to see them again; a need that people-especially thous who have been in major life altering incidents or accidents-can understand and empathize with. Also because of this when the doctors start tampering with his free will and draining him of his emotion we feel outraged. But when Murphy starts to fight back against the program and regain his emotions- because his family needs him-we feel his triumph and want him to succeed.

BTW This is one of my favorite movie scenes

But in the original we are shown none of this conflict. Yeah the original Murphy is a good cop and loves his family but I question how much since after he regains his memory he never tries to contact them again. Unlike in the remake Murphy's wife and son-who I don't even think are given names in the original film-think that Murphy is dead and decide to move on with their lives and Murphy lets them. Through out the three films he is completely okay with having his wife and child believe that he was brutally murdered in a warehouse. Another thing is that even though he knows OCP is behind this attempted theft of his humanity he doesn't really call them on it. He does end up bringing them down but that only after they kill a bunch of people and his partner! This all made me wonder at times if Murphy still was Murphy or was he just a machine receiving snippets of memories and emotions from the brain some scientist shoved into it.

Though both movies were entertaining and had me invested in the action it was the remake that had me invested in Alex Murphy and thus is better in my eyes. I'm sorry if you disagree but that is my opinion. So until my next post Live well, Laugh often, and Love much.

Sources 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b1/Robocop_poster.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Robocop_film.jpg

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/front-media/assets/08/b7/86/94/RoboCop_disassembled_472.jpg

My surgery exspirance

Hello people of the Internet! Sorry I haven't updated in a few days but it's pretty hard to write when you feel like you've swallowed a beach ball. You see, three days back I had my gastric bypass surgery and it was the most physically, emotionally, and even spiritually taxing experiences I have had to date!

Wow, his eyes are piercing!

Technically my ordeal began proper the day before, on July 9th, when I could not eat anything. You read right, for a whole twenty four hours not a single morsel of food could pass my lips and it was brutal! Not just because of the stomach aches-which were so painful at times it had me wishing for death-but that for some strange reason all my brain wanted to think about was food! I even gotten into a long winded YouTube comment argument about how society needs meet that lasted for three whole hours and  by the end of it-big shocker!-I was even more hungry than before!

Cliched but accurate

As horrid as I felt little did I know that the worst was yet to come. You see, in order to ensure that I wouldn't have any complications with the anaesthesia not only did my stomach have to be empty but my small and big intestines completely clean. To save me any more discomfort my mom decided that we should do the cleansing at night. Why I thought this was a good idea I'll never know.  At first everything was fine, just a quick jaunt from the bed to the toilet every time my stomach gurgled. But by the fifth time all hell broke lose: The burning, the aching, the constant wiping, it drove me insane!

Love this movie btw

But the worst of it was that I couldn't sleep! Just when I thought it was over and I started to drift into peaceful  slumber my colon would squirm and I'd be wide awake and off to the porcelain throne once again. This routine ended around three o'clock in the morning and I slept till I had to wake up at seven where the torture began yet again. I truly believe that my skin is addicted to moisturizer because the second I stepped out of the shower-after washing with some pink water soap that the hospital gave me at my last appointment-and didn't put on lotion my skin started to tighten, itch, and got so ashy I looked like Casper's African American cousin!

After my sister got dressed we hopped in the car-going back to grab my mom's phone and a package of  my school books that had been delivered-and headed off to the hospital. As my mom and sister chatted in the front I sat in the back, flipping through my textbooks in an effort to get my mind off what awaited me.

"You'll be fine,"  I thought. "Hundreds of people have had gastric bypass and nothing happened to them."

But I still had my doubts along with the cold fear that I might die. After what seemed like seconds we were at the hospital  and in the waiting room. Luckily-or unluckily-we didn't have to wait long and I was escorted into a room where I changed out of my clothes and into a hospital gown. The nurses did all they could to keep me comfortable, gave me a warm blanket and even used this freezing spray on my hand so it wouldn't hurt too much when they put my IV in. My "family" however weren't as cautious. They didn't scare me with statistics or yank on my IV but they did the most meanest, cruelest, and downright evilest thing you can do to a person about to go into gastric bypass surgery: They ate.

And they didn't just eat any food, no, my mother and aunt actually sat there munching on white Cheddar popcorn and Doritos! Why is this bad you ask, well for two reason:

1. The smell: It wasn't bad but absolutely fucking delicious. Slowly the antiseptic scent of the hospital are was moved away by the aroma of white and Cheddar cheese that found it's way into my nostril like the serpent in the garden of Eden.

2. The crunch: Lord all might I had never heard a more gratifying sound than the sound of those snacks being brutally broken between my kin's molars! And to make it worst when I asked them to stop or at least eat their bags of heavenly goodliness into the hall they said no!

Just to be clear: I thought this, didn't actually say it.

This tourture lasted until twelve when the nurses came to take me into the operating room. Instantly thoughts of a blood bounded smack down was replaced by fear.

"You'll be okay," My mom said after I looked to her for assurance. 

Thankfully a nurse gave me some meds that calmed me down enough to not burst into tears as my mom and aunt walked back into the waiting room. I wanted to close my eyes as the rolled my bed down the hall but I couldn't help but keep them open; looking around at the people in green scrubs and other patients on the way to their own operations. At one point I saw a man being wheeled down the opposite side of the hall and gave him a small wave and a smile and felt a bit of peace when he waved back.

But what struck me the most about the OR was how different it was from the rest of the hospital. Where the waiting and dressing room was warm and inviting the OR was cold and sharp, everything shinning with a hard glint beneath the bright white lights. My observation was cut short by the arrival of my doctor who instructed me to lay down on a narrow table so they could give me anesthesia.

Now I know most people count to ten when they go under but for me my last moments of conciseness  was repeating the sequences of colored bars on the TV set beside the table:  White, Red, Pink, Yellow, Light Green, and Black. Much like with normal rest I didn't know when I fell asleep but when I woke up I was in pain! I had had Laparoscopic surgery so only five little scars-held shut by super glue-dotted my stomach but at the time it felt like they had torn my torso open!

I was literally sobbing and begging for pain relief, pressing the button they had given me to release-what I thought at the time-sweet morphine into my veins! I still writhed and moaned as they wheeled my bed into my hospital room and my mom came to visit me. We talked, watched TV, and other stuff that got my mind off the pain till the drugs kicked in. After about an hour they left and I settled in for a nice-tender-sleep. Or I would have if not for the stupid IV filling my bladder up!

I swear to God, every hour on the hour I had to use the bathroom and unlike my colon cleansing I had to press a button and wait for the nurse to come so that she could unhook my IV, heart monitor, and leg vibrators-which are these pads they strap around your calves to keep blood clots from forming-so I could go. Not only was I embarrassed but I felt extremely guilty for keeping the nurses on their feet so many times.

By the next day I was feeling a lot better and was even able to eat some soup and jello while watching my newest TV obsession, Shipping Wars. I was released from the hospital around three and my mom and I went to Wal -Mart to get some broth and yogurt for me to eat since I can't eat solids for another week. Now since I was still healing  I decided to ride around in one of those electric scooters and after I learned how to drive it without knocking people over it was pretty fun. However that fun went away when I realized how I looked.

There was no way to tell that I had just had major surgery so in the eyes of strangers I rode past I was just a chunky black girl so lazy I was willing to take a scooter away from the old and "truly" wounded shoppers! Again I was so embarrassed and eager to get out of the store. As we climbed into the car my stomach started aching and I asked my mom if she could get me a yogurt. This is where I fucked up.

You see in our stomachs there are enzymes that are responsible for breaking down lactose which is the sugar found in dairy products like milk, cheese, and yogurt. For some reason after weight loss surgery, like gastric bypass, these enzymes go away and can sometimes stay away causing the person to become lactose intolerant. I didn't know this at the time but soon found out after my torso bloated up like a Macy's Thanksgiving parade float!

People it was awful. Not only did it hurt but every time I moved it felt like a water balloon was sloshing around in my torso. It was so bad that at 4 o'clock in the morning my sister and I drove to a CVS miles from my house in hopes of finding the liquid pain reliever the doctor proscribed me. Unfortunately they were out but fortunately my sister brought me some extra strength liquid Tylenol that allowed me to get some sleep.

As of today I am feeling and healing great. I am having a bit of an issue with the food but that's for another post. So until I see you again Live well, Laugh often, and Love much.

Sources 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEjE1EhYW9v7mDkagC3HXqEptVnUcUtpk3bLhGsLekk8LoZAvxyat50r5-m7Kk2TqaVY1Ita6x0Wj08jj3-M9tSDchCd-vc-v7w0gij9NyRABSHKHHsabaESGn9H6_7HcB8O5AusVplxH5FTo3HHw4hZRHDA=

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Two more days to go!

Hello people of the internet! The picture above is of my incentive spirometer which is a machine that encourages me to breath deeply.  I have to "exercise" with this every day because am going into surgery on the 10th! And yes, I am nervous as hell!

The Ignored Wall: Sexual segregation in professional sports

Hello people of the internet! Team USA's success in the world cup has gotten the whole country abuzz with soccer fever, it's even gotten me hooked and I usually turn my brain off concerning anything sports related! But this tournament has not only awakened the sports fan inside me but opened my eyes to an issue I have never really noticed before: The sexuall segregation in sports and why we don't seem to care about it.

Even though people in our country have fought, sacrificed, and literally died to make sure no one is discriminated or denied something just because of their race, gender, sex, or religion the NFL,NBA, and NL have a strong barrier between blue and pink with no spots of lavender. And even though the matter of gender equality has been a hot button issue in the US since the days of corsets and bloomers I have yet to hear any real protest about this.

Now to be clear there is no rules in sports saying a woman can't play on mens team but the number of woman who actually do are close to none. A search around the internet hinted that the reasons these numbers are so small is that the thriving belief that woman are physically inferior to men. And while I do see the worry, especially in high contact sports like football, but woman have proven they can take a hit.

All over the country and the world woman are police officers, firefighters, soldiers and other jobs that were thought to be too hard for them. And really in most sports the deciding factor between victory and defeat doesn't really come down to how big you are but to your endurance and skills and their are skilled female players out there.

We have demanded that men and woman be on an equal field so shouldn't we at least ask that they also be seen as equals on the playing field?

My thoughts on: Dracula Untold and The Book of Life

Hello people of the internet! Seeing as I couldn't get through my writers block I decided to surf around IMDB and found these two movies:

The first is a trailer to a movie that will tell the story of the worlds most famous and and feared vampire: Dracula. I am really interested about this film because even though I've seen hundreds of films on both Bram Stoker's Dracula and his real life inspiration Vlad Tepes I haven't seen one where the history and mythology are mixed together like it is in this film. Also the action looks looks awesome! When Dracula waterbended those bats to take out that army I knew I had to see it!

The second movie is basically a mexican retelling of The Knight's Tale from the Canterbury Tales where two friends fall in love with the same girl and two Gods-or spirits in the movie-have a bet on which one the woman will chose. However the movie focuses on one of the suitors, Monol, as he fights to return to the land of the living after one of the Gods killed him when he was about to get the girl. Even if this film is completely terrible I wouldn't regret seeing it because the animation is just breath taking. In this day and age the art of animated films is leaving the realm of hand drawn sketches and moving into CGI. Though I have seen CGI films both good and bad-I'm looking at you Food Fight-I haven't seen one like this. Instead of making the characters look like stylized humans they look like puppets and toys which is appropriate since the film is a story within a story with the main tail being told by a museum tour guide to a couple of kids.

I really hope I can catch these flicks and I suggest you do the same.

Sources 

https://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png

https://img2.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png