A New Year's Eve Post

 

     Hi guys, New Year's Eve is upon us and I'm sure that a lot of you are or are hearing people making New Year's Resolutions. Every year, someone promises that they are going to lose weight to have that amazing body to show off in the summer. A few people decide that next year, they will make an attempt to improve their love life by this time finding the right guy or girl so that they don't be alone like last year. Some people even make resolutions to just do better and not pass up any opportunity like doing better in school or get or find a better job. It's good that people are making a promise to do something to something different in order to make the upcoming year different or more better than the last but, the question is do you need to make a New Years' Resolution?
     Again, It's nice that you decide to make changes for the new year but, do you need a holiday to make a promise to do something different or better? Why do we have to have to decide that at the end of the the previous year and the beginning of the new one that we should do something better or different? I feel that since we make such a big deal out of making resolutions on New Year's that we choose resolutions that are too big keep. We get caught up on making the resolution instead on actually maintaining the resolution. You can decide that you need to change things in any time in your life without making a big deal about it, like we do with New Year's Resolutions. Change happens at any moment in our lives whether it is our decision or unexpectedly. So, don't wait for New Year's to make a resolution. Make a resolution when you come to a realization that need need to make a change.

Beyonce: The Album With No Gimmicks.... Or Was It

 

     This Friday the 13th had become the day of bad luck, for other female artists because Beyonce decided to stealthily upload her album on iTunes.

"I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it. I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans." - Beyonce commenting on her decision

     As expected, news of this act has swept the internet by storm. Countless posts and tweets have flooded the internet commenting and praising Beyonce on her album and her decision putting the album on iTunes just out of the blue without any form of promotion or teasers that you would expect her, along with many artists, to do in order to get people to buy their albums or announcing a release date to get people amp and ready to buy it. Some people are hailing it as the most genius move of promotion ever by posting an album without any promotion or gimmicks whatsoever, if that was the case. Beyonce's intention to release the album this way was the gimmick and we all fell for it.
     An important person told me that in marketing and public relations, knowing you demographic is the most important thing to know. Beyonce obviously knows her demographic. She knows that her deeply loyal and insane fans are the biggest method of promotion she has. She knows that all she has to do is just post something and her army of fans will go to every social media website and will make thousands and thousands of comments dedicated to whatever she posted and it will reach millions upon millions of people worldwide. If you have been following her closely in the past year, this wasn't the first time she did something like this. She unexpectedly leaked tracks from the album and even posted a selfie with her sporting a shorter haircut. One would have to wonder if these were just tests to see how the public will react.
     So has this worked? Let's see, just in a mere three hours, Beyonce has sold 80,000 copies and just after a day, she has sold over 430,000 copies on iTunes. So, did Beyonce change the way artist push out their music? Maybe that is the topic of another post but there is a lesson to be learned from her PR move, future female artists in the making and artist that are established now, take note. Know. Your. Fans.

Your Obligatory Famous Person Coming Out Post

     So, earlier this week, British Olympic Diver, Tom Daley posted a video announcing that he was bisexual and rumors are circulating that he is in a relationship with Milk Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. As a result of him posting the video, Tom has garnered tons of support from his fans and others online. The tons of support he has gotten, not to mention the growing support and legalization of gay rights and marriage here in the U.S and other countries, and the ending of DOMA shows how far we have gotten in supporting the LGBT community.
     Years ago, it possibly wouldn't have been possible for Tom to come out. I remember the absolute fear of being disowned by my family when I was younger and tossed out of my home, along with other people who were living in the closet. Back to the subject, with LGBT characters being portrayed in the media, countless protests and brave activists, and other public figures before Tom coming out has giving people an insight of who we really are and has allowed them to become more accepting of us. We have made huge leaps and bounds towards equality, but the question I'm raising is how much further do we have to go?

My Black Friday

     Black Friday. It is the name that sends a chill to the hearts of most people. For those who lived under a rock, it is the time of the year where stores give discounts on certain products in order to draws the masses to buy gifts for Christmas. There have been stories of people fighting to the death over the Toy of the Year. There have been videos posted all over social media of people scrambling and having all fights over whatever they can get off of the store shelves. Bloodbaths for the brand new gaming console. There have been even stories of people discovering human feces from impatient people who decided that getting the Plasma TV that has been marked off 30% is more important than finding the bathroom.
     Anyway, I decided to take part in this year's Black Friday, on Thanksgiving Thursday. I drove to the nearest Target hoping that I would make it in time to get what I wanted. I managed to get there a few minutes before Target opened. I found my self walking behind a long line of people waiting to enter the store. I happened to hear conversations of people telling their stories of other stores that they went to during their Black Fridays and what they would do when it comes down to someone taking their stuff. After suffering in the cold for a while,  Target decided to open the door and everybody rushed in. I grabbed myself a cart and rushed to the electronics to get some games and a 3DS. There, I saw a crowd of people grabbing TVs like crazy. I stood next to the Nintendo section until someone was able to unlock it and to make sure nobody cut in line and snatch up all of the 3DSs before I got one. After I got my stuff, I braved through the crowds to get some gifts for the rest of my family. I managed to get some DVDs for my mom, her boyfriend, and my sister. I went back to the games section to get my little sister something. As I was going back, I could still see crowds and crowds of people snatching up crap from the shelves. I made it to the checkout without having to wait in a large crowd and made it outside.
     On my way home, I was relieved that I didn't have to fight anyone or see any fights, but I was let down for those same reasons. I would have to say that the mob of people I was with had to be the most polite and ordered mob of Black Friday shoppers ever. I never saw anyone snatching something from somebody else, no fighting, not even an example of rudeness. Have we over exaggerated things a bit? Have we created all of this hype trying to make monsters of ourselves that we've made a monster out of Black Friday? Probably not, this was probably one example of how humanity isn't really as fucked up as you think. Anyway, what was your Black Friday experience?