I have officially begun calling myself a Boston gal. Not because I was born and raised here, but because I have spent the last four years of my life here. There is also a slight possibility that I hate Connecticut and only spent my first four years of life in Queens, NY, therefore making me feel like an imposter if I call myself a New Yorker. To me, Boston is a smaller much more managable version of New York and I have grown to love it. The power of a city exhilirates me… the ability to have almost anything delivered and picked up at anytime, being able to just quickly run outside your apartment for a pack of butts, and always having your friends very close by are all things that I have grown accustomed to… possibly a little too much.

I have spent most of my summer indoors, isolating myself for no particular reason, but spending most days inside. The convenience of the city had gotten the best of me and I have found myself beginning to resent it… I don’t get the charge that I used to get from Boston and since I am not a drinker and rarely, if ever, go to bars… I dont have a lot to say about being over 21 in Boston. I suppose it doesn’t really matter what age I am… I find myself in a jaded state of mind over Boston.

My most enjoyable moments of the summer were actually spent outside tanning and swimming in small-town rural New Hampshire… not in a fast-paced city. I didn’t want to go back to Boston, but was convinced to do so for the Fourth of July. I dragged my feet on the issue ever moment, although I purchased a grill and everything needed for a BBQ, I didn’t want to spend my Fourth in a city I had grown to hate. I hate to use the phrase, but my day sparkled. I loved being on the roof of my apartment building over-looking all of Beacon Hill… and when the fireworks with the Boston Pops started and I had a front-row seat and I remembered why I fell in love with the city in the first place.

Holly, Kendra, and Brigette, oh my! Last summer, while trapped in a temporary exile in rural New Hampshire, I had plenty of time to catch up on TV. One of the new shows I was introduced to by my little sister was “The Girls Next Door (TGND).” TGND is a reality show which follows the lives of Hugh Hefner’s three girlfriends. Each of the girls – Holly, Kendra, and Bridget – has distinctive quirky attributes which helps set them apart from their bleach blonde hair, huge fake boobs, and made-up faces.

Personally, I can’t stand the show. I don’t find it funny or interesting at all. However, it is essentially harmless, and should be treated as such.

Are these women being overly sexualized? Yes. Are they made to appear ditzy and stupid? I sure the hell hope so. Is TGND intended to make all women look like dumb sexualized bimbos, while men have all the power, despite their age? No. TGND is carefree, sugary fluff. It’s an escape simply intended to make us smile.

I thought about some of the shows that I used to watch on the Disney Channel over the last few years and remembered the show “Kim Possible”. A high school student, crime fighting, cheerleading girl that was designed to appeal to younger girl and maybe even a few boys.

But there was something about Kim Possible that I never paid much attention to before. She wore less clothing than the “average” teenager in my opinion. I don’t know too many parents who would allow their daughters to walk out the house everyday wearing tight pans and crop tops with their navels out. Even at the age of 20, my dad tries to give his opinion on my attire when I go out with friends (not that I really listen to what he has to say anyway). But all of Kim Possible’s clothes were extremely tight and her stomach was ALWAYS out from what I can recall and she had an hour glass type figure which I envied. Her crime fighting black suit included tight black pants and a crop top, her everyday outfits were similar and her cheerleading uniform was a skirt with another half top.

To some parents who are over analytical, Kim Possible may be too sexy for their daughters to watch and maybe even look up to. To younger girls she is a hero and a cheerleader, to younger boys the cartoon is violent and what 10 year old boy dosen’t like violence?

Maybe Kim Possible is just some guy’s idea of his dream girl. She kicks ass, she goes to school she’s a cheerleader and she kicks more ass. There’s some sex and some violence in the form of a cartoon. And who dosen’t enjoy a nice balance of sex and violence today??? Yes Kim Possible may be a little too “sexy” in the eyes of some parents BUT I’d rather my child watch Kim Possible then watch the New Brittney Spears “Womanizer” video….Wouldn’t you???

I am a huge Soprano fan. I love the series because of its storyline, the characters, and the overall plot. However over time many people have become skeptical of the Sopranos, especially Italian Americans. I myself have received criticism from my grandparents for watching the show because it gives off a bad image of Italian Americans.

I can understand where my grandparents are coming from, their parents immigrated to this country in the early 1900’s and had to make their way in America with a then small Italian music company. The fact of the matter is my Grandparents felt that it portrayed Italian Americans incapable of hard labor and truly working hard for every dime. I disagree.

What I see is a difference in Italian American styles. I can easily say that my Uncle from Long Island acts and has almost the same exact mannerisms as Tony Soprano. However take any of my family born and raised in upstate N.Y and you will see a big difference. I believe that the series “The Sopranos” shows that of an urban Italian family. My immediate family in upstate N.Y is much more quiet and subtle than our Family from the city. We share the same taste in food and culture, however our image is different.

Popular culture has fallen in love with the N.Y city “Goomba Italiano”. This has been the Popular image of Italians for years. So therefore I believe that the Sopranos does show an accurate image of a different style of Italians, not Italians as a whole. Even at this very moment I have friends that call me “The Godfather” and “Goomba”. They get their images of Italians from the Sopranos and films like Goodfellas. I guess that in the end its a stereotype I’m gonna have to live with.

Boston has some of the best colleges and universities in the U.S but has probably the worst nightlife imaginable. If you’re a person that doesn’t enjoy going out or if you just like events that end early then Boston is the place for you. The clubs let out by 2 am and if you aren’t 21 you might as well forget about going to anything downtown. For a city that depends on the colleges and their students as a major source of income, it denies its residents a variety of things to do at night, at least until your 21.

College advertisers give speeches and talks about the appeal that Boston has for college students. From the fine dining to shopping and certain attractions, Boston is a “College Town”. I disagree with Boston being called a “College Town”, I believe Boston is a “21 and over College Town”.

What Colleges seem to not realize is the fact that college freshmen and sophomores have almost no place to hangout aside from campus in the evening hours. An example would be when one evening myself and some friends decided that we wanted to play a harmless game of pool at the Beantown Pub. We were, however, not allowed in because we were only twenty. Hmmm. Twenty. That seems like an adult to me. So instead of being able to go out, students end up binge drinking on campus and getting in trouble with university police. Let’s wise up Boston.

Another problem I have with this town is the fact that the T closes at midnight on some evenings and 1:30 on others. Not just the T closes this early, most bars and resturants have their last call at 1:00 AM or sometimes 2:00. Interesting, isn’t Boston advertised as America’s Bar town? Then why does everything close so early?

I live less than an hour from NY City and most places including the subway are open 24 hours. Boston has always tried to be a cosmopolitan city, very artistic and intellectual. This may be true, however for nightlife, New York is miles ahead.

Cecily von Zeigesar, the author of the Gossip Girl books, paid no attention to class inequality. Her books looked at the personal lives of New York’s Upper East Side rich girls, simply enjoying the limousines, elegant dining, private schools, and drinking where kids were never ‘carded’ for being underage. It was an elegant world of luxury where the ups and downs of teenage life were blissfully set apart from any limitations imposed by anything so ugly as mere lack of money.

But along came the CW television network and suddenly affluence was a problem. The first season of “Gossip Girl” on television was full of the priggish, self-righteous Dan Humphrey snootily condemning the Upper East Siders as mindless clones and cyborgs. The new show never stopped trying to show that the Brooklyn living Humphreys were hard working, honest, middle class people, while Manhattan’s rich were cold hearted parents, snobbish socialites, and hypocritically hiding their own wrong doing. Would the television audiences hate Lily van der Woodsen for having four marriages, Captain Archibald for his investment fraud, Chuck Bass for being a seducer, or Blair Waldorf for having a diva attitude?

Of course they didn’t. By the second season this Fall, all that class hatred and outer borough, chip on the shoulder stuff has been forgotten. And good riddance. Dan has fallen in love, and broken up a few times, with the richest girl of all, Serena van der Woodsen. His sister Jenny Humphrey is competing with Blair Waldorf to be top girl. And now even Manhattanites don’t consider themselves polluted when they enter the Humphrey loft in Brooklyn – Nate Archibald is actually living there now.

Our conclusion? Television audiences are more shrewd than show producers. Class inequality isn’t what this show is about. Maybe it’s not even, in this the most unequal of cities, what life is about. What we care about is any scene with Blair in it – Leyton Meester is the best actor in the show. It’s about seeing Jenny go from daddy’s girl to wearing so much black eye liner and eye shadow that she looks like a raccoon. And, reading Jacob’s great review of the Visiting Yale episode on televisionwithoutpity.com . Rich or poor, we only sometimes get what we want, and the hardest part is learning what to want. This is what Zeigesar correctly understood. It’s why her books became best sellers. And thank goodness the CW has finally learned this too.

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/gossip_girl/new_haven_can_wait_1.php

I remember first hearing about MySpace when I was in middle school. It was brand new at the time, and I remember people’s reactions. Instantly, it seemed, two sides were taken; those who loved the site, and used it almost religiously, and those who deemed it “sketchy.” I was one of the protesters who deemed it sketchy, yet I still remember creating my own page and joining MySpace. I don’t recall what my page was like at the time, or how frequently I checked the site, and it never became an important part of my life. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered Facebook, and my social networking skills took off.

In my freshman year of college, I remember hearing about a new social networking site called Facebook. I figured (correctly) that it was similar to MySpace, and instantly shunned it. I didn’t want anything to do with it, and as the site grew and became more popular, this only fueled my stubbornness. Eventually however, I gave in. I remember creating my page and trying to make it funny. I also remember searching for old friends and acquaintances from high-school, and adding them as my friends. Facebook soon became an outlet for me to show the world how I was doing, or at least what I wanted them to think. I could post pictures of myself looking cute, or change my interests in the hopes of impressing someone; and I did this often. Facebook became an addiction. I would check my page several times a day to see if someone had written a comment on my wall, or posted new pictures of me, or left me a message in my inbox. Facebook provided an easy and quick way to both identify myself to my friends, and be aware of their latest activities as well. After the first couple years however, the novelty wore off, and Facebook is now reserved mostly as a reminder of my better networking days.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become a very important creative force in recent generations. Although a few of my Mom’s friends have made their way onto the pages of Facebook, it ultimately remains an activity for the younger generations. It allows the user to share personal details about their life, and build friendships with people. It has become a new way to socialize, and the popularity and need for social networking sites continues to grow and adapt.

To me, in the world of networking sites, Facebook is the be all and end all. Facebook provides its users with necessary facts about friends, birthday reminders and even precise stalking ability. Facebook never ceased to make me feel warm and bubbly inside; even those times when sitting alone on my couch… I always had a friend in Facebook. That is until I logged into Facebook and could not recognize the face of my reliable and old cyber friend. Facebook has been changed… and not for the better.

After the intial shock subsided, I took a deep breath and promised myself to make the best out of a very sad situation. Unfortunately, my anxiety mounted as I fruitlessly searched for friend’s pictures and statuses. I was simply unable to locate anything. I felt out-of-control. Tears began to well in my eyes… I couldn’t even find the “about me” section in my own profile! How was I to know what I liked and I didn’t? How would I know what movies I would like to watch? What music I preferred listening to? My identity was gone with one swift key-stoke from a very bad and very mean website graphic designer. I resigned that the only way to remedy this situation was to find this man… or woman… and kill them in the name of the original Facebook.

After realizing that this would probably not be the best course of action, I sat back down and slowly opened my laptop, secretly wishing that I would find the old Facebook smiling back at me. Sadly, I did not, but I did spend some time begrudgingly looking around the new website. After several hours of painful research, I can now say that I have figured out the new Facebook… but I’m still not happy about it. Although, you will never find me joining groups like, “One Million People Sign Up To Bring Back The Old Facebook!!!”, I still would very much like to see the old Facebook to come back.

As a child, I have fond memories of fighting my sister for the opportunity to play one of the many games my parents had lovingly purchased for the both of us. My sister, Aviva, would often take the various games -Connect Four, Monopoly, Candyland- and hide them in her room, a place where I never dared to venture as it would certainly result in my demise. One of these games, Operation, seemed to have a certain power over Aviva, because it was the one game that remained in the family room. At first, I was elated that Aviva had decided to keep that particular game out of the dark tresses of her room, but soon afterward, I began to understand why…

Everyday after school, I would walk the brief ten minutes home looking forward to a bowl of fresh fruit and an afternoon filled with Chip ‘n Dale’s Rescue Rangers and Duck Tails. This was our routine everyday after school until that dreaded game came into our lives. Now, I would walk the too brief ten minutes home and before opening the door I would hear that horrible buzzing and I would know Aviva had been practicing since she got home from school. I would be forced to sit in front of that idiotic looking patient and watch as she seamlessly put the funny bone into place, followed by the “butterflies” and the “adam’s apple”. The “wish bone”, the most difficult of parts to replace on the already scattered patient, was the bane of my existence. I was promised that if I was able to replace our patient’s “wish bone”, I would then have permission to never look at that terrifying game again, but, alas, my hand proved to be less steady than Aviva’s hand. This tradition went on mercilessly for almost six months until the day I finally put the “wish bone” into place. I jumped up with sheer joy and went to the T.V., praying that this was indeed the end of this torture, but as I walked away I knocked into the game and knocked out the funny bone. To this day, that funny bone still haunts my dreams as it led to six more months of medical school taught by my sister.

Now, Aviva and I don’t play too many games together anymore, we’d much rather sit on the couch with Chinese take-out and watch Law & Order, but when Aviva left to start her surgical residency in Atlanta, I ventured up to the attic and found our old Operation game and forced her to play one last time before starting her real surgical career. It took me exactly five minutes to beat her… and it was the best send-off I could give her.

Facebook and Myspace have become 2 of the largest and most popular social networks for people that are in high school and college. Both of these social networks allow users to post personal pictures and pictures celebrities and other people that are popular figures that we see on TV, magazines and other forms of media. Users are able to post what they like and dislike on their profile pages and can create groups expressing their same likes or dislikes. On these networks the things that separate us and make us “unique” in a sense can also bring its users together to share their opinions on different figures and events we may consider being popular.

My Facebook page for instance has a small list of movies and tv shows that I like to watch and lists the genres of music i’m into. My myspace page on ther other hand lists, pictures and a play list that i had created to several artist within those specific genres. These social networks I feel could give people slight idea of what my interest are and what makes up my personality in this small “shrine” of my personal intrest.

Facebook is a social utility network used mostly by college students, but also by high school students. Facebook gives you the ability to communicate with others thru pictures, wall posts, messages, and now recently instant messaging. Facebook allows you to post pictures of youself and friends.

I know some people who put up photos of famous people and other images of popular culture. Also Facebook supplies you with an info page which allows you to supply info about music you like, movies you like, even food you like. Applications are also available through Facebook. For example you can ad the movie trivia application which allows you to answer trivia questions about movies and compete against others.

It is my personal opinion that Facebook itself has become popular culture. It is advertised on the internet and now on t.v. Ads for movies and music are placed on Facebook, and now Facebook is even mentioned in current popular movies. Most of all, Facebook gives you an opportunity to meet people that share the same pop culture interests as you.

An example I want to use is my Facebook page. My page consists of many things, from movies and quotes to musical artists. On my info screen it gives a list of my favorite t.v shows and movies. There is also a section for quotes, which most of mine are from movies or songs. Also on my page there is a section where you can post pictures of your favorite musical artists and little samples of there music. You can also post the covers of your favorite books and albums. My Facebook is a shrine to my favorite pieces of popular culture.

When I was about 10 my former best friend got me into this game “Golden Eye 007” based on the James Bond movies. At that time I hadn’t seen ANY James Bond movies, but I was completely obsessed with the game. In fact, I begged my mother for the game and being the brat I was at the time I got it.

And I played the hell out of that game. Me, my brother and his friends would play this for hours on end. They’d always accuse me of cheating because I always picked the “stack” level and managed to win almost every round we played. I can admit, I always picked that particular level because I knew where all the hiding places were and the good weapons. I wouldn’t consider that cheating just an intelligent strategy. And being that the game was in my room, and I was the oldest, I had the final say (at least until my brother would tell my mom). But like many of my dolls, games and other toys I became bored with it after a while because I couldn’t beat it. There was one level “The Jungle” that I would ALMOST beat but then I’d die at the final moments. I eventually unplugged my Nintendo 64 console and eventually put it in the back of my closet, but somehow it managed to resurface my freshmen year in college.

Me and a bunch of my guy friends ended up having a conversation about old games we played when we were younger and a week later me and about 5 other guys from my dorm were playing “Golden Eye 007” like we were 10 and 11 again. Apparently I hadn’t lost too much of my skill, being that I managed to win about 10 straight matches against a bunch of 20 year old testosterone driven game junkies. The only thing different this time: I wasn’t accused of “cheating”. I just happened to be better. ☺