#ThatIsNotCorrect

Oh Vine, how you amuse me. So, basically, there is a meme of a guy snickering and saying, "That is not correct," which is edited into a Vine after someones does slash says anything stupid. Here are some of my favorite ones that I have seen:

DJ Khaled is doing an interview and is very proud of all his JEWELRY.

And here we have Miley Cyrus saying that drugs are for idiots and she will never be that person. Truly inspirational.


...flash forward a few years and...


Even Oprah has her moments too.


Raven. Oh Raven. She truly hit rock bottom in 2015. From her interview with Oprah where she said she's not African American to her tweet saying she identifies as "dark white" (really girl?), and now this interview where she is supposedly from every continent in Africa except one. My question is which continent is she not from?


Back to DJ Khaled with his accurate* sound.


And to wrap this up, this Vine really speaks for all of America. "We may not be the most intelligent country, but we smartest!"

God bless America.

Sleepy Thompson song!!!

this. song. is. iconic.

New blog!...again

Hi! So at the beginning of the year, I created a Tumblr to write blog posts on...then I didn't like that, so I moved my blog to Google...I really didn't like that either, so now it's here! As you can obviously tell, I hate making decisions, so if I'm not bound to one, chances are I will change my mind! But anyways, here is my new (and final...99%) blog. I hope you enjoy it. Please comment on my posts with your thoughts! Thank you!

That's So Raven

So the best Disney Channel show to ever exist is undoubtedly That's So Raven. No argument. In addition to having amazing acting, comical yet thoughtful writing, and a stellar cast, it tackles both small and large issues that very few other forms of media have been able to capture and delivers them to young audiences. I watched this show (and sometimes still watch it...), and many of the messages delivered have stayed with me to this day, and will continue to stay with me. A constant theme in the show was the problems that came along with high school: bullying, having insecurities, self acceptance and discovery, and finding a place in the world while facing societal pressures. Although I didn't relate to many of these as a small child, I find more and more truth in these as I grow older. In addition to making awareness to these issues, the show excelled at showing that it was OK to have them; if Raven can accept herself for who she is, I can.

One of two episodes I remember clearly is "That's So Not Raven," in which Raven wants to design and model her own clothes, but is told that she cannot model them because she does not have the right body type. Throughout the episode, she struggles with what do do, and triumphantly comes out wearing her dress in the finale of the episode, and gets a standing ovation from the crowd. As superficial and cheesy as this whole plot sounds, the theme introduced stays strong, as it goes beyond just not being the perfect weight. In high school, outside the academic pressures of doing well in school, there are also social pressures, one of which is having the "perfect body." The episode addresses weight, which is the most common one to think of, but there are far more. There is also a misconception that these pressures are gender-specific: they can apply to both males and females. I have personally dealt with and am still dealing with not having the ideal body. The "perfect" male body is a built body with just-right dimensions filled perfectly into a stylish outfit. That isn't me. But I have come to accept that I was not meant to be like that, and I am OK with it. Yes, there are still times when I wish that could be, but I know that I am not the only one. Everyone, including you, the person reading my blog, wishes there is something, whether big or small, that they want to change. And this is where Raven comes in. This episode is just one way of letting people it is fine to be who they are, and will not always fit into another's standards.

The second episode that has stuck with me is "True Colors." To be honest, I can't even count how many times I have watched it. In this episode, Raven applies for a job, but is denied of it because the racist manager refuses to hire any person of color. Raven has a vision of this (if you have never seen the show, just know that Raven has visions into the future – it's complicated) and after devising an elaborate scheme with her friends that involves pretending to the CEO (again, this is ordinary for those who watch the show), she eventually exposes the manager to the public and the episode ends happily ever after.

Although a huge issue such as this obviously cannot be solved in a 22 minute time slot, That's So Raven doesn't aim to do that, but instead makes large steps to that goal. It introduces and ingrains the realism of everyday racism to young (and older) minds. Often, racism is seen as a thing of the past that is not prevalent today. However, this episode combats that belief and exposes the reality that racism happens everyday in all sorts of places by ordinary people to ordinary people. The fact that I remember this show the impact that the show has had: it shows issues to young audiences, and they grow up with them ingrained in their minds. In addition to showing that racism still exists, it also shows it in an everyday situation, which can help to relate it to the show's viewers.

Another area in which That's So Raven is stellar in is comedy. There is not a single episode in which I didn't find myself laughing uncontrollably. By combining the serious aspects and themes with comedy, it can present huge issues such as racism and more personal issues like body image in accessible and entertaining ways to people of all ages that will stay with them for years, making it one of the greatest shows. Ever.

Sure, Jan...

So this is one of my favorite gifs (not jifs. GIFS.) of all time. I feel that it accurately represents me as a person when I am in a disagreement with someone who is obviously, sometimes painfully, wrong. They (I know it should be he or she, but that sounds awkward...) hold onto their opinion the whole time, and even when I have facts and proof to back my argument up, that person is still stubborn and won't give up when they know deep down that they are wrong. It really is the most annoying thing ever.

Ze

form	masculine	feminine	neutral
subject	he	she	ze
object	him	her	zim
possessive adjective	his	her	zer
possessive pronoun	his	hers	zers
reflexive	himself	herself	zelf
singular noun	man	woman	zan
plural noun	men	women	zen

Gender-neutral singular personal pronouns. This is a topic that has interested me for a while. When writing, I either say "they" (which is grammatically wrong) or "he or she" (which is awkward and stops the flow), and I don't like either of them. So why is there not a gender-neutral singular pronoun that I can use to refer to an unspecified person? I have looked all over the internet and found that the most common one is "ze," which seems to be the most official non-official pronoun. However, this is not technically English, so I still cannot use it in formal writing. But then what can I use? Aside from being used to refer to a person whose gender is not know, it can also be used to refer to a person without a gender identity, which is becoming increasingly prominent in today's society. In the past, undisclosed people have commonly been referred to as "he," but this has become sexist, as many roles that were previously occupied by males are now largely shared by both, and vice versa. I think that as 2016 approaches, our English dictionary needs to evolve with society and add "ze." As a side note, I will be using it in my further blog posts (unless Mr. Yee specifically tells me not to...), so if you see it, this is why.

The Rashomon Effect

The “Rashomon Effect” works for opposite purposes in Rashomon, where it is used to further confuse the audience and question the reliability of all people, and in Hero, in which it is used to clarify and make clear what the truth is. In Rashomon, all the characters tell conflicting stories, and the audience is left with a lack of understanding as to what happened. With every version, the audience becomes further from the truth as to what happened and are even more confused. Even at the end, when the woodcutter, who is the theoretical testis, tells his story, part of it is false, which discredits the entire story. In Hero, the effect is used for the opposite purpose. The three stories get closer to the truth, with the white being the full truth. The red is the story that Nameless uses to earn Qin Shi Huangdi’s praise and get within ten paces of him. The blue is the story that Qin speculates, which reveals more of the truth, while the white story if the full truth about Broken Sword and Snow. The colors are used to separate the stories from each other and make clear which story is which: the red represents deception (red is the color of evil like hell and blood), blue is speculation (blue represents intelligence and imagination, as well as feeling of being lost in the blue, which is what causes Qin to doubt Nameless), while white is purity and clarity, which shown the truth. However, in Rashomon, the whole move is in black and white, so the stories are not distinguished from one another. The shades of grey can also represent the grey area between fact and fiction, which is what the movie tries to illustrate: there is not full truth, as everyone will slightly move into the gray area between white (truth) and black (lies) to make themselves look better. However, there are many different shades of grey at all times, while in Hero, there is only one color at a time to clarify what each story represents.

The effect is used not only in movies, but throughout life as a whole. In Rashomon, each character had a clear motive for lying: Tajomaru wants to uphold his reputation as being a ruthless bandit, while the woodcutter wants to hide the fact that he stole the knife. In Hero, Nameless’s motive for lying is to get closer to the emperor, while the emperor’s motive is to protect himself from being assassinated. Although everyone in both movies has a different motive, everyone retells the stories in a different way. This principle extends beyond just these movies into real life as well. Every time humans tell a story, we always change it slightly. Whether we want to skip around an embarrassing moment or exaggerate a part to make it more entertaining, no story will be exactly the same as the actuality of what happened. In addition to changing our stories, we also must listen to others’ stories and determine what the truth really is. Hero illustrates this principle well, as the emperor listens to Nameless's story skeptically and forms his own idea about the truth (but is not ultimately correct — showing that even when people think critically, they still might be wrong). Because of this, the gray area between truth and lies becomes even larger, as everyone is "playing" not one part but two: the witness and the jury. The point of these movies is to illustrate this reality and bring to our attention that there is no 100% truth and 100% falsity, but rather a large space in between, with stories shifting around as they are told and heard by different people and no set position.