Attack of the Itty Bitty Titty Committee : MyFreeImplants.com revisted.

By Zachary Huff, Life and Leisure Editor
The article I had written last week on myfreeimplants.com has garnered me the most comments for any of my stories ever on our paper’s website (www.rutgersobserver.com). Most of those comments weren’t too positive. So I figured that I should say a few words about it.

It was an attempt at a humorous article written by a person who is clearly speaking as an outsider to the site. I did not present the front that I was an active member of the site. I was merely a person who found out about the site and wrote on what I saw and read on the parts of the site available to the general public. I also never asserted that I had spoken to anyone involved in the site.

Like most people who stumble upon a site they’ve never seen or heard of, I poured over all of the available information on the site. Consequently, that’s exactly what my article is based on: direct quotes given as a description of the site as a description and enticement for people to learn about and to make them long to join the community.

In the case of Betty, I felt compelled to mention her. She looks like a normal, everyday girl, not hyper glamorous or perfectly done up with makeup and hair styling. The sheer discrepancy in the amount of money she had raised compared to the other girls on the homepage seemed rather insulting and offensive to the woman. She’s out there, her face attached to a minimal amount of money, as one thing that visitors to the site are bound to see first. I’d be pretty hurt if I was Betty, so I felt the need to point out her situation in my piece.

But the major thing that needs to be understood about my article, as well as Sheena’s article, is that they were written for the Life and Leisure section of the paper. Not news, and not even opinions; rather, it was bound for the happy-go-lucky, anything goes entertainment section of the paper. The idea behind the site, as well as aspects of the site, really struck me. No personal attacks were intended; if anything, it was a commentary of the way that the site is presented through the home page and frequently asked questions. It was a joke. It’s not that serious.

And, just for the record, I will not be joining the pep squad.

By Sheena Quashie, Managing Editor

On April 7th 2009, rapper Jim Jones , was arrested in Teaneck, NJ during the whole ordeal he kept making updates on his Twitter account via blackberry. The next day local papers ran the story . The rapper retaliated by - well- writing another Twitter message about how the papers were writing about him Twittering.

When I read this story I couldn’t help but throw my head back and lol a hearty lol. The same way I find it amusing when any public figure does something foolish then wants to pretend like they suddenly need a moment of privacy.

Making a website is a lot like like being Jim Jones, it doesn’t take a lot of talent and for reason when people see it it gets attention. Also like Mr. Jones nothing about it is private. In his case it's because he can't blow his nose without micro blogging about it.

Making a public website is much akin to displaying a box on a side walk. In this instance, the box had “Free Implants!”on it. If one is not meant to laugh at something like that then I really don’t know what should we laugh at.

It seems that a selection of Myfreeimplant.com users felt outraged that someone would have the audacity to poke fun and chaste ladies and honorable gents of the site. Well my good noble-people to you I say “HUSH”. Seriously. I would have never thought such a joyless lot would be attracted to free implants.

Okay, that’s a lie.

I never thought such joyless and vocal lot would be attracted to a site like that. I soundly advise the lot of you get over yourselves. I refuse to believe that sane adults can join a site that tells men to give it money so it can pay for breast implants and not expect a chuckle from someone.

You joined this site:

the one with a girl in stripper shoes on the logo and a woman in lingerie standing in front of two giant silicon monsters.

I don’t know if I should be offended by the wanton ignorance or the multiple insults to reader's intelligence posted on both articles.

I’ll quickly address some comments that made me facepalm.

First, up was any comment claiming that I’m bragging about having large breasts, big boobs are awful. I don’t even think my ex boyfriend even knows what my face looks like and many women suffer back pain as well as -gasp- poor self image because people see them as a talking inflatable sex dolls. I don't see how talking about possible long term disfigurement or people underestimating one's intelligence can be a ringing endorsement.

Next, there was a gentleman that claimed our articles was libelous because it misrepresented the site. Zach quoted word for word text from MFI, commented on pictures posted on MFI and ZACH is the one misrepresenting? Its like looking at a mirror and telling your reflection his face is crooked.

Lastly, to the several commentators that claimed an attack on MFI was an attack on breast cancer survivors, MFI is not a charity for cancer survivors. It's a site for-profit site that tells men that implants will make women feel better about themselves.

It was a site founded when a guy was at a bachelor party where party goers gave a stripper extra tips to go get her breasts done. A stripper, its right on “About Us” page. No where on the site is it presented as a charity for the reconstruction of breast cancer survivors.

Instead of feeding into the heterosexist, patriarchal wasteland that is MyFreeImplants.com how about donating directly to the many non-profit organizations that specialize funding reconstruction. There are many that exists, and are fairly easy to locate.

It took me about 2 minutes to locate Vanity 4 Humanity, founded by Dr. Donald Roland of NYC. This orinazation holds fund raising events for cancer survivors. The also don’t require anyone being teased with “sexy pics” nor are there any strippers in the logo. Don’t try to sell people debochery as philanthropy, you’ll just end up embarassing yourself.

MyFreeImplants.com - Healing women one boob job at a time.

Some might see a sea of refund gaps , broken dreams and disappointment. Others might think this site is a testament to the complete moral collapse of society. Those squares would be over reacting, its not like wherever there is a woman desperate for attention, with low self esteem there will be several men behind her scheming of ways she can make them a buck.

You can’t really call this exploitation, at least not solely on the part of men. Clearly there are two parties being pimped here, the men AND the women that sign up for this site are suckers for the select group of doctors that the women have to go to for surgery. Vertical integration never looked so hot. Ain’t capitalism grand?

This site links people together with idea that they are helping a woman profoundly with breast implants. Take this stunner for example.

Before she could only charge, what? 23 dollars for sex so she can fuel her horrific meth addiction.

Meth mouth aside, if it was 1989 she could be an extra in the White Snake video of her choosing. Just check out some of the satisfied customers in the sites before and after gallery. This is the Lord’s work.

The only complaint I have is the laziness; some of these women really need to be asking for boobies to save their floundering adult entertainer careers as they reach their cellulite checkered twilight ,but the others are just in it for the thrill. A bunch of college girls who you could use their financial aid to pay for a new set of breast and many even some lipo. What happened to the days when a gal had to be swinging on a pole 4-8 hours a day to EARN her silicon twins, back then work meant something.

I must say it’s hard for me to relate to these women, not because I’m much better educated, lack daddy issues and have never woke up in a bus station bathroom with a condom up my nose but because in all fairness I live the massive mamoried shangrala these ladies strive for.

I have an AMAZING RACK.

Au natural and I'm not even wearing a bra in that pic. I know they aren’t going to last forever so I’m milking them for all they’re worth now. Ipods, fur coats, laptops, Bentley rides you name it -tittes will get you there.Honestly, I’m only doing this whole school thing so I have something to fall back on once they start to sag. I might find myself in need of a melon upgrade myself, but not too soon, my sweater puppies are perky as the dickens.

Seriously, I base my entire worth as a woman on the fact that my boobs are literally bigger than my head.Not only are they like two massive ten-pound free rides permanently adhered to my chest, which will no doubt leave me looking more like a weeping willow than a human female in the years to come, but they help not only men, but women as well gauge my intelligence quickly and easily.

The correlation between the amount of cleavage on a woman and her IQ was proven in 1956. At a 40G it’s safe to say that I couldn’t possibly achieve much outside the realm of valued sexual conquest or worlds squishiest paper weight. I don’t even care, I have knockers that say ‘gravity be damned, LOOK AT ME! And my isn’t it cold in here.’

I’m happy a site has finally acknowledged just how influential large breasts are for a woman’s self esteem. I mean without them can you imagine what it would be like to suffer poor body image because some unrealistic ideal of beauty has been pushed on you?

It would be like some crazy upside-down world were the natural assets of a woman are tossed in favor of rock-hard chest skin stretching atrocities that seem to exists only to be a dark affront to the very deity of creation.

Man, how could we all sleep in a world like that? Especially if in that dystopia doctors would rather make a quick buck off shallow women and pathetic men than donate their time to help people who need it, like I donno maybe breast cancer survivors?

Who's Watching the Watchmen? Hopefully you!

Action/Adventure, Thriller
March 6th, 2009

Rated R
strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.

STARRING
Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Carla Gugino, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Patrick Wilson

DIRECTED BY:
Zack Snyder


Watchmen is an intellectually heavy and intricately created masterpiece of sequential story telling.

To say the least, I was an established fan long before I ever thought a movie would be possible, even though such rumors are almost as old as I am. Simply put, I’ve always thought Alan Moore was the comic book world’s equivalent to Kafka.

There has been no piece of literature to touch me more than his masterpiece, Watchmen. When I first flipped through the comic’s pages in the loud food court of Paramus Park mall, it made me confront fears about the world and myself, even about the very basis of our system of morality. It has influenced my choice of major, but simultaneously causes me to question that choice everyday.



Watchmen, the comic and film, follows a small group of former masked vigilantes in an alternative 1985: the US won Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers never were printed, Russia and the US are about to have WWIII and super heroes are just part of the fabric of everyday life. The murder of a government-sanctioned hero, The Comedian (who isn’t as funny as the name would suggest), sets off a chain of events that may save or destroy humanity.

Many nerds felt Watchmen, the movie, was like StarCraft Ghost; Sure, it sounded sweet, and you might see some concept art or some set designs, but it just wasn’t going to happen. That not withstanding, I’ve been waiting for this movie for the better part of my adult life.

As an elitist fan of the comic, I actually thought the Hollywood version of Watchmen would be a travesty and I would go opening night so I could be the first person to rip it a new one. I was delightfully disappointed. No sardonic paragraphs calling for Zach Snyder’s head will be found here. The movie was as good a movie as one could hope to be made from such rich and deep source material.

While Snyder does give Watchmen his own brand of stylized violence, he had sense enough to know that this isn’t a “super hero” movie; this is a movie about the very flawed and very human people “under the hood.” Those of you that go to the theatre expecting to see X-men 4 are going to be extremely disappointed.

Calling Watchmen a superhero action movie is like saying Ralph Ellison’s Battle Royal is a story about a really zany graduation party.

This movie for the most part is not going to make you feel good; instead, it rips out the darkest part of the human heart and smears it across the screen. I’m not referencing the gore, though there is plenty. What I’m talking about is how excruciatingly human every character is, even the god-like Dr. Manhattan.
The characters, despite being covered head-to-toe in latex or not being covered with anything at all, will seem more real to you than most people you know. They seem real because they inhabit our real flaws, hopes and fears.

There are a lot of scenes and subplots cut out. Some of them had some of the best dialogue in the graphic novel. But as sad as I was to not see them, I think they would have overloaded the movie and confused viewers that were unfamiliar with the comic. The editing of the movie was as seamless as is probably possible.

As a fan familiar with the novel, it was a little jarring to feel gaps missing, but I can see the reason for cutting those parts. I hope that some of it will see the light in a director’s cut, but I know there will never be a page for page, word for word Watchmen movie.

I think the movie works because the team behind it opted for omission and editing as opposed to adding a lot of content to the story that was never intended to be there. It kept the integrity of the story intact. Even the ending that was changed due to content being taken out of the movie made sense. And I’ll be brave enough to say, it was an improvement on the ending of the graphic novel.

What really shines about the movie from a design point of view is the wardrobe. While some characters had their trademark outfits overhauled, it worked. NiteOwl’s suit reflected more a man who studied aerodynamics. Silk Specter II’s outfit was a lot sexier than in the graphic novel, but to me seemed to be a nod to the outfit overhauls of many female comic book characters in the 80s. I remember as a little girl wondering why the Uncanny X-men started having an uncanny resemblance to a Fredrick’s Of Hollywood Catalog.

All in all, this isn’t a film I recommend you just see; I recommend you see it at least three times, as well as getting acquainted with Moore’s masterpiece, the inspiration for the movie! Unless you think Twilight was good. In that case, I hear Wal-Mart has some neat coloring books (and bleach tastes like sunshine. Try it!).

Update on Dusty

Saving Dusty ( and my faith in my fellow man)

The whole premise of this column has been to show the disgusting underbelly of the Internet and in turn the human soul, but I wouldn't be a responsible writer if I let an example of everything good about the to internet go unnoticed.

Anonymous though rumored to have launched the first cyber attack to physically harm people, (posting flashing gif images on a epilepsy support forum) and single handily making Rick Astley relevant again, they did something Valentine's weekend that warmed the heart more than any hallmark card or overpriced rose.

The Internet Hate Machine saved Dusty.

An Oklahoma teen uploaded a YouTube video depicting him and another teen viciously attacking his black cat Dusty.

The two laughed like maniacs while a sad and broken cat mournfully cried.

In the video two teen locked a cat in a shower stall, picked the cat up by the neck and slammed it into the tile wall and then punched the cat .

The offending video was brought to the attention of the random board of one of the group's anonymous image boards, their cold hearts melted and a glimmer of humanity shone through.

The two broke the most vital rule of the internet, not Rules 1 and 2, but they messed with a kitty on Anonymous's watch. Anonymous might not think the internet is serious business but those guys do not screw around when it comes to their kitties.

Not only did the group get the offensive video off YouTube and the teen's channel deleted, they went above and beyond what many people would have done.

They went through great lengths to have Dusty the cat rescued from his abuser.

When the video hit YouTube and the Anonymous websites people from all over the world, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America all pooled their resources together to help a little kitty that couldn't stand up for itself.

Calling themselves "Operation Dustyice " to locate the boy, it took the group three hours to identify the teen and alert his mother to the abuse.

Not satisfied with teen just having his dirt bike taken away the group went to the news outlets in the teen's Oklahoma town.

The town's Sheriff Kenny Stradley, was called into the station to view the video and arrested the two boys in the video; they also found more abuse videos of another cat, Patches.

The teen uploaded the initial abuse video on February 16th and by the next day the boys were arrested and charged with two counts of animal abuse.

Dusty was taken from the house on Sunday and the second cat was rescued that Tuesday.

The Anonymous run Neverforgetdusty.com has a link for those who wish to make donations in Dusty's name to the ASPCA so more abused animals can be rescued and cared for in a less unorthodox matter.

What touches me so much about this story is that none of these people had to do anything for this cat. It wasn't their cat and in the scheme of things the cat's happiness and well-being will have no bearing on their lives.

It took thousands of people helping a little to make a world of difference for one poor creature.

They are anonymous , and thus will never get any recognition for the work that they did, they won't make any money and most likely never even get to see the cat they did so much to save. Their efforts in the long run will benefit hundreds of animals yet to be born.

I can't ignore the irresponsibility of some who posted the name , address and email of the teens in question along with their families' information.

Animal abuse is horrible, but the act of outing the sick children will basically have the same effect as registering them as sex offenders. The next time anyone searches that teen online, they will know him only as the "Animal Abuser".

I don't personally feel sorry for this at all, because the tool did broadcast himself punching a cat and slamming it into a tile wall for "fun" and calling himself the "Animal Abuser."

I do think that branding him the animal abuser for life won't help much with any possible rehabilitation.

The damning video like, Mr.Hands, is going to be around forever and its always going to point an accusing finger at him.

This may insure a lifetime of joblessness and suspicion making him all the more deranged.

Of course, this child is all of 14- years-old and already a hateful, racist and violent being, so it's a toss up that any help for him could ever even come.

Though the two teens are reportedly going to be tried as juveniles according to www.kswo.com, there's an online petition with almost 9,000 signatures from around the world demanding they be tried as adults.

I think they have already been tried and convicted as adults in the court of public opinion all over the world. So justice…and then some has been carried out for Dusty.

Anonymous might want us to never forget Dusty because his rescue shows just how swift and accurate they can attack and take down a target, but I'll always remember Dusty for reminding me that no matter how bleak the soul, there might be some goodness left in there.

Thanks to Dusty I think there might just be hope for us after all… if we could care this much when other humans are abused. © Copyright 2009 Observer

Fetish Supersized : Feederism

fetish |_feti sh |
noun. a form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body, etc.

feederism |'feed er ism|
noun. deriving sexual pleasure from the act of feeding or being fed. Deriving sexual pleasure from gaining or helping another gain weight.

I thought I had seen the weirdest of sexual fetish until someone emailed me a link to a "Size Acceptance" community where I was introduced the phenomenon of "feedees" and "feeders". While this is nothing new, in fact it was the subject of a fairly popular indie horror movie 2005 "Feed" , I had never seen anything like it.

The Feeder/Feedee community is an offshoot of the "fat admirer" community and divides its mother community often. While most fat admirers have a visual fetish for obesity, a feeder is aroused by the watching someone consume food, monitoring weight gain or literally feeding another person food. The feedee is aroused by the act of being fed, eating and gaining weight.

I can see how such a fetish could surface, especially in our extremely weight conscious culture. When Jessica Simpson gaining ten pounds can land on every other magazine cover, it might feel liberating to just say, "I'm letting it all hang out!". Rebelling against an unreachable goal might feel great, but like every great feeling taking it to the extreme is dangerous.

What disturbs me about the feedees is that many of the vocal feedees are owners of pornographic websites, were gluttony is aligned with submission. They draw subscribers in by promising to fulfill fantasies by expanding their bodies, ignoring their own health and a few extreme cases going to so far as to wish to be fed until they are immobile.

Some of these same people feel that they are working to help the world accept fat people. As a fat girl, this makes me see red. This is like NAMBLA thinking they are pioneers in gay rights crusade. I can't think of a bigger mockery of fat people than for a person who claims to have started 5'11 and 160 and ballooned to 450 pounds for the sexual gratification others to say they are representing size acceptance.

The perception of fat people as wonton immoral gluttons is exactly what feeds the apprehension many have for overweight people. I certainly did not spend hours upon hours of my day eating and rubbing my belly with chocolate sauce and I'd vouch for most plumpers when I most have no interest in gaining for pleasure. Why are these gainers and fetishizers of fat mad the mouthpieces of overweight people so often on talk shows?

I don't want a suicidal person talking for me, that's the only word I can use to describe a person that wants to gain over 300 pounds in under 10 years. The human body just isn't made to withstand that.

Obesity carries so many health risks. The quality of life of a person who is 400 pounds is just not something to be desired. Labored breathing, aching joints, not to mention the increased risk of infertility all things that come with morbid obesity.

Being a feedee is simply not worth it. A feeder who is interested in you willingness to hurt yourself cannot have any long term interest in you. The feedee to the feeder is no more than a shoe to a shoe fetishist. , they are just a vehicle to get thrills from. When you die another feedee can be found and fed until she dies. A feeder can do this forever but a feedee's body can only take so much abuse.

To me it is a disgusting and immoral act to encourage someone to commit acts that will hurt and in the long run kill them. While there's nothing legally to be done about feederism, all there can be done is to actively voice opposition to the objectification of women in the guise of admiration.

Perhaps these women feel that this is their only way of being admired and worshiped, many claimed to love themselves- but how can you love yourself without taking care of yourself? Heart disease is the number one killer of women, and the number one cause of heart disease is obesity.

Does that turn you on?

2008: Year of the Cam-Whore

2009 is already here, but I wanted to take a look back on the worst the Internet had to offer us in 2008. There were so many train wrecks to watch on the net mainly because 2008 was the year of the webcam, now that high quality cameras are readily available everyone wanted to be a star… and oh lordy how our eyes and ears suffered.

Emily before and after youtube fame, Forrow Your Dreams Emiry -___-'

YouTube makes a star… a soft-core porn star. Two years ago a young girl obsessed with Japan with much love for their language started making “ pretty intense” Japanese lessons, she became a YouTube sensation.

Applemilk1988 by 2008 was the darling of Youtube. I know what you’re thinking, how is this the worst? Well around September 2008 Emily ,now living in Japan, announced that she was doing some modeling and releasing a DVD. She called herself an “Idol” which is Japanese for “video ho”.

Though the video and still shots earned her a spot on G4’s women on the web, you can’t help but think, if the poor girl has only been in Japan for a year and was already making soft-core wank DVDs what does the future really hold for her? Many of these Japanese DVD idols end up doing porn… and if there’s any porn worst that Japanese porn I’ve yet to see it.

My prediction - by next year she’ll have eels in at least one of her sexual orifices. She says that she wants to become a singer and that’s the only reason why she’s bouncing around in wet lingerie but as the second most subscribed YouTube user in Japan wouldn’t it be easier to just make a YouTube video showing off your vocal skills? It’s Japanese pop music not the Metropolitan Opera, you don’t have to try that hard.



Video sharing sites became heaven for pedophiles. It seemed almost every other week in 2008 there was some YouTube video shot by children or by parents that had other users screaming for child protective services. Children yelling profanity sometimes even children pole dancing (next to mom of course)

Mommy and Me Pole dancing, there's nothing wrong with that...except everything.

It seems that everywhere you looked there were children being exploited for the entertainment of their parents and to the delight of all the Humbert Humberts of the world. I’m not saying that any mother that videotapes their toddler attempts to dance is exploiting them, but when the toddler is grinding to Britney Spears in booty shorts and belly shirt I think we have a problem.

Larry Sinclair- I had sex coked up gay sex with Obama! Obama girl wasn’t the only person, who had fantasies about Obama in 2008 Larry Sinclair went on YouTube during the primaries to tell the world that he had gay sex with Obama in his limo.

The seemingly toothless Sinclair sat in front of a webcam to annouce that he was at an upscale establishment in Chicago when he met Obama ( he calls him Barry), they got in Sinclair’s limo where Obama gave him cocaine while Obama smoked crack. Oh Jebus, how I wish I were making this up.

This tool made more money than me in 2008...RAGE! Seriously where is his teeth.

Well, Sinclair was pretty much ignored by every respected news source and he made more videos and a blog blaming that on liberal media bias. That doesn’t explain why Fox News snubbed him, they thought Barak the Magic Negro was appropriate.

Sinclair went on to make a website www.larrysinclair.org which looks pretty much like the website that everyone made in their high school HTML class. On the site he begs for paypal donations and pre-sells copy of his book BARACK OBAMA & LARRY SINCLAIR: Cocaine, Sex, Lies & Murder? What makes this sad is just how embarrassing it is.

I’ve never seen a human being so desperate to be a news story. When he was approached by Whitehouse.com (a satire/adult) website to take a polygraph test, he failed to see that they were openly mocking him.

Perhaps , he was just in it for the cash- Whitehouse.com did offer to pay him ten thousand dollars to take the test and another $90,000 if he passed.

Well he failed the test. Undaunted Sinclair went to Antipolygraph.org for help, to say that he’s still telling the truth and it’s the machines that can’t be trusted. It seems kind of damning, at least to me that he keeps all his posts up, especially those where Sinclair pleads that all he needs is a polygraph test, then when he gets one and fails suddenly the tests aren’t trust worthy?

It also doesn’t help that Sinclair’s websites and videos are used to prove that Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, apparently the anti-Christ has to be a gay crack head. Sinclair claims he has pre-sold over 200 copies of his book through paypal, at $25 each, that would mean that Sinclair has made $15,000 off this stunt. If that’s not the worst I don’t know what is.

Bonus Video-
Larry being clearly insane.

Twilight Sucked ..and not in a good way

original print: 12/16/08

How the movie Twilight has managed to make over $30 million for its opening day is baffling, but the fact that it has made over $150 million in the last three weeks, I find just disheartening. There is no other way to say it; Twilight is a god awful sorry excuse for a movie. This movie is awful.

Last year I wrote an article about Two Girls One Cup, and had to watch the shock video twice, I watched it both times without getting up- I had to walk out of Twilight twice just to keep myself from attacking the screen.

That pretty much means my tolerance for scat eating lesbians throwing up feces on each other was higher than it was for this stoic, drab insult to women's intelligence.

Twilight, which opened Nov. 21, is the teenaged "love" story of Bella Swan, the town sheriff's daughter and a local vampire pretty boy, Edward Cullen. The movie is based on the four book series by Stephanie Meyer.

I would usually advise to read the book, but they too are terrible.

You can't quite call it a vampire love story mainly because all supernatural elements of the story take a back seat to adolescence self importance and babbling about how special and great the two main characters are.

What this movie really consists of is two pale brunettes staring at each other with their mouths open for over 90mins.

There really isn't a love story either, about 10 minutes after meeting Edward, Bella wakes up and announces that she's in love with him.

Literally, she rolls out of bed , makes a short soliloquy about how much she can't stop thinking about him, and BAM- she's in love.

Its frustrating watching this, because the writer of the movie, has written several episodes of the hit show Dexter, a smart witty and sometimes gruesome show about the worlds most lovable serial killer. I kept asking myself where did all that talent go? In all honesty you have to remember that an adaptation can only be as good as it's source material, and comparatively the writer of the movie made Bella a much less offensive character.

The book has Bella more of a self-loathing ugly duckling and Edward, well he's still as much of a creepy stalker as he is in the book, but most of Edward watching Bella sleep at night was thankfully cut. The movie version of Bella opted to have her have no personality at all than have her be pathetic.

This is no Romeo and Juliet, Twilight lacks the bite of conflict. Sure Bella is a human, and Edward is a vampire, but he's a vegetarian vampire…he doesn't eat people. Note to the author of twilight- Deer are not vegetables as they are made of meat.

The reason that Edward doesn't want to go into the sunlight, spontaneous (awesome) combustion?

Nope, the reason is he'll sparkle like stripper that went overboard on the Fredrick's of Hollywood body dust.

Bella is the new girl at school did she feel like an awkward outcast? No,everyone instantly loves her, Edward's family instantly loves her, there's absolutely nothing to keep one invested in the cardboard problem free characters.

The first set of characters we meet are the children at Bella's school, they are all stock characters, the geeks, the pretty popular girls and the dumb jock , the all American stud. The second group are the Cullen's Edward's beautiful incestuous family.

They all seem to serve the purpose to tell the viewer that they love Bella, and we should accept that she's lovable even though she's given us no reason to care about her.

Bella's multi-culture pals were white in Meyer's book; the casting director decided that throwing in some minorities would liven up the film. I'm all for multi-ethnic casts, but when the dumb jock is the only black man in the movie, and the only two Asians are "nerds" you have to ask what was the point. Why not just stay at stereotypes without upgrading to racism.

This is most uncomfortable when the dumb jock loses control of his car and almost kills Bella in the school parking lot, of course her vampiric love is there to save the day, Bella is not harmed.

The Jock driving has a bleeding head wound and as he hangs out of the smoking car all he can do is apologize to Bella, as those around him scream and admonish him for almost hurting her.

The next scene is in a hospital where Bella is getting the attention of nurses; the bleeding black man is sitting alone, and then is told by Bella's father that he's losing his license.

My movie-watching companion made a joke that there was probably a deleted cross-burning scene, I laughed but I have to admit it would have fit seamlessly.

I'm sure it would be a close up of Bella long black hair blowing in the wind as the sheriff's department drag the jock out of his house and stomp on him, blurred in the background. If they can have vampires playing baseball why not, right?

The last 30 minutes of the movie is the only part of the movie with an attempt at conflict. Three bad vampires show up during a baseball game, yes you read that correctly.

For no reason other than to fill time one of the vampires wants to eat Bella.

This results in Edward trying to take Bella against her will to "protect her". This is also the point were I realize that this love story is one backhand away from being a Lifetime channel movie.

The Cullens try to save Bella, because they love her for no good reason. The bad vampire beats the crap out of her , which I have to admit was strangely satisfying to watch.

The good vampires rip him to pieces and set him on fire. Sounds awesome right? WRONG, You don't get to see it!

While the bad guy is getting dismembered the camera doesn't focus on this, it focuses on Bella and Edward staring at each other, because that the director felt was more interesting than a dismembered dude on fire.

Well, Catherine Hardwicke it's not.

Twilight is a horrible movie, made from a horrible book. The fact that people are giving this movie a pass because it was made for teenaged girls should be an insult to women everywhere.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

The Monsters in Front of the Monitor

Posted: 12/2/08

On Nov. 19, a disturbed young man put an end to his life. This could be said of many people because suicide happens everyday in this country, but what sets the death of Abraham Biggs apart is that he died under the supervision of almost 200 people live on JustinTV.com.

Biggs started blogging on his myspace page about having suicidal thoughts, shortly after he went to a forum he frequented, BodyBuilding.com (posting under the name "CandyJunkie") he shared with his community his intent to end his life. Biggs had a history of mental illness and had told the community he was attempting to end his life before. Some believing they were being hoaxed and others generally indiffrent, several users "called his bluff".

CandyJunkie obliged them . He started a live stream on JustinTV.com, a website that lets users put on live scheduled or impromptu shows for others along with chat and recording capabilities, and shared the link. They wanted live proof that he wanted to die so, Biggs posted a suicide note (that was posted on another site) and proceeded to ingest a deadly combination of drug and alchol.

Once broadcasting he showed his audience the pills he intended to take, with alcohol. After taking them he appeared incoherent, and collapsed onto the bed behind him with his face away from the camera. He would never get up.

He appeared to be breathing for about 3 hours, according to one posting on BodyBuilding.com, and then his breathing became shallow, then all together stopped.

It was only after he had consumed the pills and liquor that a moderator or "mod" was called to help. The BodyBuilding.com mod "Roxie" dismissed the thread and called Biggs an attention whore". Users on BodyBuilding.com and JustinTV.com then looked at Biggs postings to see where he lived, one poster JJlee138 who had earlier admonished fellow posters for egging Biggs on successfully contacted the local sheriff department. Help arrived a half hour later, but it's too late. Shocked viewers watched as an EMT checked Biggs's vital signs and solemnly covered his web camera.

Even after friends posted condolences on the youth's MySpace page, many believed they were watching an elaborate hoax. It was not until CNN reported the death as well as a post from Biggs older sister, Rosilind did the community realized what had really happend. They had watched a man die.

There are obviously many disturbing aspects to this sad story, but there are three things that disturb me the most the fact that a emotionally disturbed person was asked to basically make a live snuff film for the amusement of others. That those that opposed this act remained silent for so long and finally that people waited as long as they did to seek help.

While in all honesty looking at the original thread (since removed) the majority of posters did not want to see CandyJunkie die. Despite objecting to his actions, why did so many still watch, and do nothing?

The compliance of posters that wanted to help, but did not, to me is the same as seeing a child about to walk into a busy street, and waiting until they were hit by a car to call fo help.

While its comforting to know that someone eventually did call the police, it happend too late.

After the death was confirmed posters hurled venomous remarks at Biggs's friends and familily, callous remarks like that of poster YoMaMa84, after sending condolences they added, " … if any one should have helped him it should have been you."

I cannot remember the last time I felt so ashamed of humanity, a young lady loses her brother and in an attempt to defend the act of watching him die she is told that she didn't do enough to help?

A human life was lost, a life that means no more or less than one's own. I was thankful to read poster CelticFan rebottle to YoMAMA84 saying," You would think it was his PC hard drive that died, It was a (explitive)ing human being , you moron."

Sadly CelticFan's voice was one of decent on BodyBuilding.com's "Misc." forum, a do and say anything section of the website.

Even more sad is what this tells us about our relationship with the internet and each other. How detached have we become on this web that is supposed to connect us that a man screaming for help is used for the basis of bad jokes?

Perhaps we have regressed to the point where we cannot feel connected to our fellow man, but more disturbing is the thought that this isn't a regression at all, simply an amplification of human nature.

When I first heard about this, long before the the story hit the mainstream news, was how could someone watch someone's baby die like that- of course just like me, all those who watched emotionless, were someone's' baby also.

The most disturbing part of this ordeal is realizing that we just witnessed humanities' true face, and it's ugly.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

Seeing Is Not Believing and Lil' Wayne isn't dead

original print: 11/11/08

Reports of Lil' Wayne's death have been greatly exaggerated… and annoying. A fake web page created to look like BBC.com made its rounds Halloween weekend, sending his fans into a text messaging and googling frenzy. This is the second death rumor involving the rapper; during the Summer, a rumor that his child was killed in a car accident also circulated. These rumors travel like lightning, and they chip away at the trust many had in Internet journalism.

I'm in no way saying this is the internet generation's Pentagon papers; this is far from it. But every time some bored person goes nuts with CSS stylesheets , the belief that there are reputable and safe internet sites wavers in the hearts and minds of young and impressionable people. Minds that are obviously already mushy enough to buy a million copies of a seemingly drunk man yodel into a mic and call it music are the same minds that aren't going to examine urls in a moment of panic. The page was cloned from a reputable BBC article called "Letter-bombing caretaker jailed." The fake page even had active links to email the story and print it.

When I saw the link to the "news story" I didn't believe it for a moment. The url, http://kineticnorth.com/BBCNews/?NewsGUID=fcf016e0-c92b-445a-aab0-735fdcecf0a3, was not even hosted on the BBC site. The fact that the story also strangely popped up across the pond before being plastered all over CNN didn't seem too likely. Of course I'm not a 14-year-old-girl who sees the Internet as a homework machine and mystical portal that somehow makes Facebook happen. A more casual user might not look twice at the url of a site, they just see they were sent a link that said "OMG THEY SHOT WEEZY OMGZ" and, as far as they know, the man plastered on their locker is no more. Grief and panic ensues and they express it the only way they know how: texting everyone they know.

It's easy to spread a rumor, and anyone that survived high school knows that if enough people believe a lie, in a way it momentarily becomes the truth. When someone plays a "prank" using news websites, they are directly attacking the credibility of not only that organization they are taking a swipe at; they are attacking journalism on the internet as a whole. A virgining of an entity as the Internet is, there are many that tend to find information found in a newspaper or on TV is more believable.

It is a logical conclusion, after all. We have been reared with the traditional producer/consumer model of information. Something happens, a journalist writes the story and it's broadcast through the one-way street of television, radio and print. The Internet is a completely different monster. We have blog sites like the Huffington Post blurring the line between blog and news, and sites like Youtube where a CNN story might not get as many views as a teen performing an interesting trick in their living room. So when something with a familiar logo pops up, some automatically assume that they are seeing a trusted producer, even when they are actually just looking at the handy work of a crafty netizen like themselves, a person with no access to "privileged information" and really is just looking for some "lulz".

It could almost make one paranoid. Whom can you trust in a situation where the same medium that's expected to give you trusted information is overrun with content not concerned with journalistic integrity. This is further complicated in situations like a hoax. A hoax like the death of Lil' Wayne has only one objective: to deceive you. How can you check facts on the Internet when the very sites that are lifted above the others are tainted? It's enough to make one log off and pick up a newspaper…

R U BEING PWND?
Sure signs its a hoax:
-Check the url. If it came from BBC.com , but the url doesn't look like other BBC stories, it's most likely a hoax.

- Are the links working? Most pranksters don't take the time to link to current stories, since it's very time consuming. Click around the site to see if the links are dummies.

-Check the Who is information of the site. Research who is presenting and spreading the information.

-If a celeb is reported dead, check their publicist page (it's usually linked to the celebs homepage). Death announcements are usually officially made to alert the press.

- Google! Google any and all names the article mentions.

Living in a Culture of Cruelty

Orginal print: 10/7/08

Last week, popular Korean actress Choi Jin Sil , was found by her mother hanged in her bathroom. She had taken her own life. The official statement from her management stated that the actress was depressed and susceptible to Internet rumors and nasty messages about her and her children.

Many readers of the Observer may not be familiar with the 20-year career that Choi left behind. She stared in many popular TV dramas and was called "the people's actress" because of her popularity and her seemingly ageless beauty. She was found in her shower stall hanged with an elastic bandage.

A woman only identified as Baek, was arrested on Sept. 30 for starting and circulating a false rumor that Choi had lent 2 million dollars to another actor that recently took his own life. The falsity fueled forums and websites of anti-fans as well as blogs and gossip sites in her home country.

Her life in the public eye was as dramatic as the movies and soap operas that made her who she is. Which in turn made her fodder for the tabloids. Everything from her storybook wedding to her abusive husband and painful divorce was covered. Now added to that is her somber Oct 4 funeral at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.

According to the JoonGang Daily, notes Choi left behind said that she was a solitary person, a victim of bullying, and that she didn't feel right. She called close friends and told them to look after her two children. Even though the woman that created the rumor called and begged for forgiveness the damage was done, it was becoming common knowledge that Choi had lent the money and she felt oppressed by the backlash.

It seems universal that all those in the public eye have given up a certain level of privacy because of it, but the worldwide trend of making the humiliation of celebrities entertainment now has a body count. When our popcorn entertainment is at the expense of another human being's mental health what does that say about humanity?

Celeb blogging has spawned its own celebrities because of it's popularity. Sites like PerezHilton.com or Bossip.com attract millions of hits A DAY. Those hits, all people waiting to comment on the latest snafu of Britney Spears or to call Sienna Miller a wife-stealing hussy.

The Celebrity "news" organization TMZ.com has made a fortune off their sea of paparazzi capturing the lowest lows of A-listers to D-listers a like. At some point when will enough be enough? We already have cable stations dedicated to talking about them. Countless magazines that tell us what they wear, eat and even disturbingly enough the contents of their garbage cans.

The question of cyber bullying has always been a hot topic when talking about ethical behavior on the Internet. When a mother impersonated a teen-aged-boy to seduce then humiliate her daughters' school rival, the incident lead to a child killing herself. The media foamed at the mouth and it seemed the courts teemed with frustration that there really wasn't anything they could charge her with.

There is no such fervor against celeb blogs or TMZ when Britney Spears is put on suicide watch. In fact Dr.Phil will just take the opportunity to self promote because he knew the cameras would be rolling.The whole affair is one bad joke.

Cyber bullying seems horrific when done to an average person but perfectly acceptable for someone in the public eye. I can accept that news of a divorce of a popular actress is somewhat newsworthy, but there's a large difference between reporting on a split and running a headline defaming one or both of the parties.

The average netizen cannot help what TMZ.com posts, but we can become more aware of our own actions. It's easy to disconnect oneself from responsibility when posting something horrible, its hard to see a public figure as a human being. Cases like Britney Spears, Mariah Carey or tragically Choi Jin Sil prove that they are. When it comes down to it all we are doing are building a figure up to enjoy tearing them down.

Why do we need humiliation to entertain us, not just reality TV, but to see a actual human being become undone. Where is the fun in that? How can our consciences be clear when we are willing participants in a culture that finds the need to poke fun at the looks or actions of a complete stranger?

I hope that everyone will become mindful of what they post no matter who it's about - be it the chick with the tramp stamp on facebook or a famous face your comments hold weight and could affect someone. Underneath the Mac makeup and Prada clothes they are people just like you, and me, post accordingly.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

The Trashman Cometh

originalprint: 9/2/08

If there is one invention that maxed out the life ruining potential of the internet it would have to be the web camera. No other device give people the ability to shoot themselves in the proverbial foot like these tiny little devils. Wither attached to your laptop, phone or the old standard Quickcam , people just can't get enough of incriminating themselves on the internet.

Before this summer I thought I've seen it all, if there was anything more shocking than pre-teens sadistically beating up one of their peers and then uploading it to YouTube for street cred I just couldn't fathom it. After the girl fight fiasco there was the infamous Burger King video that was uploaded onto Myspace.

An employee of the franchise apparently didn't think that employees should only wash their hands at work, he posted a short video of him laughing and joking with co-workers as he took a bubble bath in the store's sink- the same one where they wash the food that they serve to you the consumer.

What surprised me was the mans reaction to the consequences of his actions, not only was he fired, but everyone that happened to be working, even those unaware of what too place. Somehow, this young man had forgotten that just because you're filming yourself doesn't mean you're in a movie. Filming something in the name of entertainment doesn't render your impervious the results of your action.

There was no other incident this summer that personified this phenomenon like the Arrest of Anthony "Trashman" Dunn. Dunn , a pornographer, was gaining popularity on video streaming sites because of his outlandish claims of starting a one man genocide of Black and Latina women by infecting thousands with the AIDS virus.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around why thousands of people would watch a middle aged man dressed like a Wal-Mart ninja read off obviously made up names and spew hatred against Blacks and Latinas, but eh Uwe Boll still gets to make movies so there's always an audience for things that are tasteless and horrible.

I suppose that after his "success" with his AIDS video, Trashman decided to step it up a notch, and add infanticide to the mix. Dunn uploaded videos claiming that he had convinced employees of Gerber baby foods to put cyanide into random bottle of food in an effort to kill the babies of Black and Latin women.

The most shocking part of this story was that his fans were "shocked" that he ended up arrested and facing at the least 10 years in prison. It seems that people need a refresher in the basics of free speech and personal responsibility. When the "Trashman"'s account was suspended from YouTube there were cries of censorship.

Many of the "Trashman"'s fans believed he was making satirical public service announcements, warning women about the dangers of unprotected sex. I'm not really sure how they justify a man saying that he wants Black and Latin babies to die is a satirical statement, then again people think Tila Tequila is a champion for gay rights. If he was trying to make a point or not, there's some basic rules conduct.

If you make a video, or any public broadcast, that will potentially cost a large corporation massive amounts on my prepared to be sued. If you make a video where you say you are going to kill massive amounts of people, be prepared to go to jail. Just like if you scream fire in a theatre, you're going to have some explaining to do.

While you have the freedom to say whatever your heart desire, even say how much you want to kill babies, you then will become responsible for those words. If your words cause a mass hysteria then you are committing a crime. Broadcasting that you are tampering with a consumer product and intend to kill babies, not only makes you look like a bootleg Batman villain, but it makes you officially a criminal.

I don't get why people seem to think that they can post anything on YouTube and it doesn't have any bearing on the world around you. If you post a video of yourself dropping kicking a baby, you can best believe that Child Services will be knocking on your door in the near future.

Even If you though you were teaching the baby a lesson, or you were doing what you thought was brilliant performance art, just because it entertains bored college kids doesn't mean your accountability is any less than if the police witnessed you confessing to a criminal act.

If you must whore for attention on YouTube, take the safe route and post videos of yourself shot and an extreme angle, or booty pop for the admiration of the Internet. Claiming that you want to kill 4 million women with aids, going to poison children or killing political figures will land you in the clink.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

SEX, LIES & HTML

original print : 4/22/08

Frederick Knott dialed M for murder, but millions of users are logging on to commit their cardinal sins.

The internet super highway for many leads them straight to adultery. Not only are people finding digital solutions to their seven year itch, but sites are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year exploiting them.

From high end mistress brokers to sleazy sex hookup sites infidelity online is big business.

The approach of each site is a little different; some don't concern themselves completely with married men and women, while others are pretty explicit concerning jump starting affairs.

One of the most common less in your face, facet of internet adultery is the phenomenon of Sugar Daddies/Mommies and babes sites. The sites are plentiful and usually don't mention affairs, but you can usually choose what type of relationship you're after. One of the most common seen on profiles are "discrete relationships"

The Sugar Daddy Baby sites range in price from 19.95 a month to 35.95 a month with the gold-diggers - er- "sugar babes" usually paying the higher price. Ironically the most expensive of these sites MillionaireMate.com seems to be the same group of people that have joined Passion.com and AdultFriendFinder.com. You are paying 35.95 a month for the same guy that is worth 12.99 on another site.

On many they urge people to maintain a "classy demeanor", like on SugarDaddie.com.

I think this is pretty impossible. Even if you are wearing a turtle neck and wool slacks and none of your body is showing you are still auctioning off your body to the highest bidder in hopes that you will get money and gifts for simply being attractive.

I really can't think of a more classless and disrespectful act that a person can put their body through.

To be fair , on there are many profiles and posts on Sugar daddy websites that simply reek of desperation, while the sob stories posted are more than half the time fabrications, I'm sure the person that put them up was in a desperate bind.

Unfortunately, there are many people that seem just clueless. At 45 years old, no person should be calling themselves a "baby" and they really shouldn't be trying to live off their looks.

No matter how desperate their situation, I really think the sugar daddy route is not the best choice for them.

For the Sugar Mamas and Papas, signing up for one of those sites says two things. "Screw it, I have nothing to offer someone except money" and "I lack the patience and social skills to find a partner that will stay with me for free."

Sadly many of the profiles looking for legal Sugar babes sound eerily similar to those posted on Craigslist looking for illegal prostitution.

Sadly, it seems fitting; some adult models use their same pictures and screen names from their Eros.com page. A page where high end strippers, adult models and even escorts advertise.

Some would argue that the SugarBabes and nothing more than legal prostitutes, but in all fairness. Users are not allowed to explicitly say they will do certain sex acts for a certain sum of money. Are a number of the women and men on these sites escorts? Most defiantly, but I don't feel that the majority are.

Beyond the world of sugar, where one partner is usually married and looking for a younger single companion there is market for married folks that simply want to have a fling with another married person. The goal of these sites is to hook married people up so that both parties stay married.

Unlike the sugar daddy sites these sites come with a hefty fee for both parties, to receive unlimited emails and chat on ashleymadison.com one would have to pay a whopping $249 dollars every three months.

The site uses a credit system, so every time you talk, email or contact another member it cost you a certain amount of credits, like a wild adulterous carnival. The cost of 20 emails is about $49 dollars. Perhaps this is to deter married people that aren't serious, or just to exploit their weakness for monetary gain.

Surprisingly, sites like Ashley Madison and its skankier counterpart AffairMatch.com are extremely sexually charged. While the sugar sites ban members that talk about sex in their profiles these sites are the polar opposite.

Your profile is built mostly for you. You can pick options pre-made for you. When Ashley Madison.com asks you what you are looking for in a man, the choices sound more like your reading the back of a porno than descriptions of people.

Married hook up sites are like straight henny and no chaser, the Sugar sites dance around what they really are but AffairMatch.com smacks you in the face with it.

On its front page is plainly states they are the place to "Find a cheating spouse who finds comfort and satisfaction in marital infidelity" Both sites post numerous articles on the biological correctness of cheating as well as how to guides.

Every page you click through seems to try to convince users that what they're doing is "right" and may even lead to a healthier marriage. Perhaps because my moral compass is not currently set on a strong magnet, I find the idea of such a thing laughable.

The yin to the cheating spouses' yang is of course key logging programs. Ranging from free to well over $200 dollars, they can be downloaded or purchased and installed covertly onto the pc or laptop of the suspected Ho or man ho.

The programs come in many languages and for users of varying degrees of computer savvy. Some programs even automatically forward you all the mail that your spouse receives.

A free trick that is always a blow to the cheater is old reliable Google. If you suspect your partner of cheating, and you know the online ID that they usually use, pop the moniker into a search engine. All the profiles that they've created under that name will come up.

If you see AshleyMadison.com as one of them, the next thing you should pop into the search bar is "divorce lawyer".

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

OMG SHOES! : Online Shopping addiction

orginal print : 3/11/08

I, Sheena Quashie, was an addict. My Internet connection as well as friends and family have been enabling me for at least 4 years. I've been a fiend drooling at the mouth of every email promising savings, with my bank card info memorized.

My addiction?

Shopping.

I can remember the first time I made a purchase online. It was blouse from BabyPhat.com; it was a steal for only $39.95: a fraction of the original cost. The shirt was a size too big a month later.

Since that purchase I've been mouse-clicking my troubles away.

Got a bad grade? Buy shirt.

Feeling a little down? How about some 300 dollar shoes that you'll NEVER wear.

This was my life.

My shopping had got so bad at one point when I was living in the Robert Treat that my roommate made me round up all my purchases and start tossing or at least moving out of the room so we had room to move around.

I had crammed clothes and shoes where ever they could fit. I had over 40 pairs of shoes that I had never worn. There was over 300 dollars worth of lingerie still in the box that it was delivered in. Not to mention the $2,500 card that I had already maxed out that I was only making bare minimum payment on.

My closet was full of clothes and shoes with tags still on them or receipts in the box - just in case I needed to return them to get more clothes. I was even shipping things from my job to hide them from my worried suitemates.

I was a shopoholic, and online stores were my favorite destination. I have never ate, smoked or ingested any type of illegal drug. So I won't begin to try to compare the two; all I know was that when I was shopping I felt good, and when I wasn't I didn't.

I had never noticed how much of my online time was spent buying crap, until I noticed that I was no longer buying groceries, doing laundry on campus or even going to events - all so I could expand my shopping budget.

Shopping addiction is just like any other non-narcotic-based addiction, according to Prof. Ruth Engs, RN, EdD of the University of Indiana's website. Only instead of eating crack, you're "buying to get a high, or get a 'rush' just like a drug or alcohol addict."

It was a slow process, but I finally broke my cycle. I cut up my card and just paid off the bills, making payments well above the minimums.

I also cut down on clothing purchases by asking myself to imagine three occasions where I would wear any garment.

If I thought a garment was only good to wear to the club, I had to remind myself that I haven't been up in the club for at least a year.

Most importantly, I put a barrier between me and ads. I was always weakest when caught off guard, when I was browsing my favorite forums or checking my Myspace.

An easy way to stop this is by right-clicking on ads and blocking their source.

I found many a stupid impulse buys started with a cleaver lure. Old navy once got 130 dollars from me with an ad asking "Do you like cashmere sweaters?"… OF COURSE I DO YOU ELECTRIC DEVIL.

In the same vein as blocking ads, I took myself off of every mailing list I could. I'll be damned if Zappos.com isn't the devil in disguise.

Impulse buying because someone is offering you $25 dollars off every $100 you spend is not saving money. You are losing $75 you never planned on spending.

Lastly I made a budget. It might seem obvious but writing your all of your purchases down BEFORE you finalize is a great roadblock against spending money.

If seeing your savings dwindle physically on paper doesn't stop you, I'm not sure anything will.



ARE YOU A SHOP-A-HOLIC?

According to Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery, behaviors typical of compulsive shopping and spending include the following:

* Shopping or spending money as a result of feeling disappointed, angry or scared

* Shopping or spending habits causing emotional distress in one's life

* Having arguments with others about one's shopping or spending habits

* Feeling lost without credit cards

* Buying items on credit that would not be bought with cash

* Feeling a rush of euphoria and anxiety when spending money

* Feeling guilty, ashamed, embarrassed or confused after shopping or spending money

* Lying to others about purchases made or how much money was spent

* Thinking excessively about money

* Spending a lot of time juggling accounts or bills to accommodate spending

Identification of four or more of the above behaviors indicates a possible problem with shopping or spending.

Rutgers Health Services has councilors that can help you deal with these types of problems.

Center Hours:

M-F, 8:30am - 4:30pm

Center Location: 2

49 University Avenue, Blumenthal Hall, Room 104 Phone: 973-353-5231

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

THE INTERNET BREAKUP

original print : 2/26/08

February is at its end and thus dumping season is on.

All the people that were too chicken to get rid of their insignificant other before V-day are now dumping all the excess baggage. Networking sites and more are all filled with ammunition in the war to save face that is being fought in the hearts of many.

For the net savvy there are many options in going about showing the world how butt-hurt you are over being dispatched by your sweetie. For those that have done the dispatching and are looking for the most cold-hearted way to call it quits since the text message break up, the options are even greater.

When your heart is broken, you might be in such a weak emotional state that you are under the delusion that people on the internet care about your problems.This is a mistake; sometimes a grave mistake.

Everything you post about how horrible your ex was will no doubt be used as ammunition against you later to prove what a weak idiot you made yourself out to be.

When we're upset, sometimes we as human beings, have the tendency to overstate things. What you might not see through your blood-shot teary eyes is, that if you make your ex-lover seem like a filthy Lothario, everyone on your favorite forum will now think that you are a big old box of AIDS.

The longer the relationship, the more horrible an idea it is to bad mouth your ex, especially if you two happen to post on the same forum. This is especially true if you met your ex on that forum. Not only did you make an internet hook up into a relationship ( which should be a cardinal sin), you are now going to automatically be the bad guy for trying to pit the entire site on your lost love.

Bow out gracefully.

If you share the same cyber spaces spare everyone the spectacle and just take a break. You don't need to put a message on his/her Facebook wall to broadcast to the world that they are scum.

If someone is in a person's top 10, not only do they already know said person is scum, but they are pretty okay with it. After all is said and done with, you only made yourself the fool for putting your own business out there.

Not only that, but when you tell the internet terrible things about a person, nothing is stopping them from doing the same to you.

If a picture has been posted on the net once, it's there forever.

FOREVER.

Those cell phone pics you let him take when you both got drunk. Forever.

The picture she took of you wearing her panties during that fit of post coital giddiness.

Forever.

How many of us have come across a video of a random college strip shaking her money maker in front of the camera but not before she tells her beau "this is only for you , don't show anyone else , You promise right?" WRONG.

So before you make that entry on Dontdatehimgirl.com, or post her nudes in the revenge section of your favorite image boards, think about what you're doing.

The lulz will run dry, and in the end you'll only be left with your own bitterness about the situation.

Not to mention, now all virtual foot prints will point to you being a completely un-datable psychopath.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

Typing While Black

orginal pring: 2/19/08

Are the rumors true…are you really … BLACK?"
This was an IM that my brother received from one of his fellow World of WarCraft guild members.

It had never crossed that young man's mind that the people that he spent his time with online did not look like him. I've had many a similar experience.

I cannot try to speak for all women of the African Diaspora, but I can recall how my ethnicity and gender has influenced my internet experience.

Growing up an engineer's daughter, I always embraced anything tech and everything electronic. I can remember helping my father build the family's first frankenputer out of parts he salvaged from other machines at his job. It didn't have a CD-ROM drive and it ran on Windows 3.1, but it was my first gateway to this crazy internet thing.

My parents being ever so overprotective made sure that I was forbidden from ever sharing any of my pictures with my new-found AOL chat buddies.

My first taste of internet anonymity. It amazed me what freedom I had with a black profile and no picture.

I learned pretty quickly that online, I wasn't a little West Indian girl; I was assumed a white male child, unless I typed differently.

Even then half of the people I encountered thought I was joking. It was the first time in my life that I realized that there were people with dramatically different views of the world.

When I was older and finally had a PC of my own to dabble with, I noticed just how differently people would treat me once the dreaded "post your picture" topic came up in whatever message board I was on. No matter what the topic of the board, be it a board about dating, gardening or videogames, suddenly I wasn't just FoxyChoklatRobot: I was "the black girl".

This usually entailed being walleyed by all sorts of questions from curious non-black internet users. Some would ask ridiculous things like "What kind of black are you?" or "Do you speak that click language in Trinidad?" and my favorite" Can you teach me how to talk ghetto?"

It always put me in an awkward situation; by revealing that I was not a white woman, I instantly became the spokesperson for every black person who ever lived. If any situation would arise that involved any black man woman or child, I was now supposed to be the expert.

This was troubling to me because as a West Indian, I listened to mostly dance hall reggae and soca, so I can't name every Tupac song ever recorded, nor did I feel that instant mental bond that some of these posters believed all people of color had with others.

It seemed to me more often than not that I was usually forced to lose my individuality to my race. I found myself constantly being categorized; annoyingly I saw that most felt that it would be insane to categorize others in the same fashion.

I have never asked a random white person on any message board, "Hey, so I hear you people kiss your dogs on the mouth, yes or no?" So it boggled my mind as to why someone would feel the need to ask me, "Do black women want to be white?"

How on earth can I answer that question? I don't know all black women...

If I refused to answer the questions; I was labeled a "coconut" or a stereotypical black b-tch. After about a year of this, I found myself gravating to sites like BlackPlanet.com, LipstickAlley.com and other sites that were designed to cater to black women. It was a feeling of guilty relief.

As much as I wanted too, I had a hard time shaking off the feelings of alienation that I felt in many other communities despite having joined with the intent of sharing a common interest.

I hated the fact that my ethnicity made my thoughts become fringe opinions rather than just another voice in the myriad of voices that makes up any community.

I don't think that most of the people that I came across even realized how they were making me feel. Some people where from parts of the country and world where they never saw a black person with their bare eyes, let alone talked with one.

I felt guilty retreating, but it's an awful burden to expect any one person or small group of people to be a mouthpiece for their entire culture, class or race.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

Logging on for love...(you losers are going to die alone!)

originalprint 2/12/08

February the 14 th is fast approaching, you had a year to get your stuff straight yet here you sit, Valentine-less yet again.

I know , you almost went on a date, but you had that 40 man raid, and your guild was counting on you. Don't fret, it's not to late for you, you basement dwelling sad hunk of nerd.

There are many options available to get a quick V-day hook up in just under 100 clicks or a hundred dollars.

The key to successful online love is being truthful with your evaluation of yourself. You have to pick a website that matches your unique level of pathetic or weird.

For the basic run of the mill dork, Myspace is your best bet, but be wary as your competing against individuals with actual social skills and possibly charisma.

This might be too much for you, but if you are brave enough to venture into the social network web Myspace is a great way to go.

For those that like their potential dates ethnically categorized you can try BlackPlanet.com, Migente.com or AsianAve.com.

Success on these sites is all about pictures. Pictures for these sites should be taken in your bathroom and in the most awkward angles humanly possible. So if you break mirrors with your smile, or make babies cry you might want to find another way to get that oh-so-elusive-internet cutty.

If you can't handle your own on Myspace there are more desperate means of achieving human contact.

It may take a turn for the weird but Craigslist.org isn't only for buying other people's garage sale leftovers, now you can get the emotionally damaged leftovers of relationships.

The traffic from normal people making purchases create an off chance that you might find a regular good natured miss or fellow that is just open to trying something new.

Of course the majority of people posting are either there looking for email addresses to terrorize or are attention seekers wondering how many responses they'll get.

Sadly half of the posts in the dating section of Craiglist look like this:



Buttsecks?? - m4w - 31

In the back seat of my Kia?

* Location: Samsung Dong



So you might have to do some soul searching and ask yourself how much you really want that V-day sweetie.

Urchins of society aside, it's going to pretty easy to hook up with someone.

Of course after you do the Craiglist.com hook up the only place you'll be able to find a Valentine will be HerpesDating.com.

In the off chance that you can't score someone who can stand to be around you on Cupid day you could dig a little deeper in the bucket of sadness that is the internet dating pool, or perhaps you just have to find a more captive audience.

Sometimes you have to find someone that is amazingly more desperate than yourself, like the incarcerated!

To a woman that hasn't seen any other men than the ones that lock her cell you might seem like quite a catch.

Sadly internet access is forbidden in US correctional institutions but the good people at Meet-An-Inmate.com took the trouble of finding social and non lethal looking inmates that are open to having pen pal relationships.

It will be like one of those old period movies where two lovers have no other correspondence except the postman, the only difference is your sweetie is doing hard time.

Even more convenient for you is the fact the Meet-an-Inmate.com makes sure to tell you when your inmate's parole is up. That way you can skedaddle before the hearing, least this jail bird actually tries to track you down.

Now let's say that even women behind bars want nothing to do with you, no worries, if you can afford an average of 20 to 22.50 dollars a month you can skip the human aspect of a relationship all together.

You only need this valentine to prove to your family that you aren't going to die alone.

Well, why draw another person into your web of lies; just order a relationship, you can buy love with a PayPal account.

With Imaginarygirlfriend.com you can prove something to yourself with out the burden of guilt that you are lying to another human being.

They supply you with picture of your "girlfriend" that you can Photoshop yourself into, hand written letters sprayed with your "girlfriend"'s perfume, panties and some even will leave messages on your answering machine.

Pathetic? Yes.

Weird? Most certainly, but you wanted a valentine right?

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

Where's the Beef?

origial print: 2/5/08

Long ago, before people had Myspace and camera phones, when someone had a qualm with someone else, they were forced to deal with it face to face, or at least through a convoluted web of other people they've influenced.

That is not so today.

Thanks to the networking power of the internet ruining the life of another person over a minor squabble can be done in the comfort of your own home or in less than five minutes.

Sadly people have gotten wise and many are paying the price, but WHY?

I have never understood why people take things said over the internet to heart.

Message boards and newsgroups have always been, and most likely will always be popular on the internet.

They are one of the easiest ways to connect with people, drawing in people from all walks of life, age ranges and beliefs. It's no wonder that people or "fonts" clash from time to time.

What does leave me bewildered is that fact that some people log off and go to sleep at night angry about what a person they've never met and have no personal ties to, said about them on the internet.

It leaves an even more bitter taste in my mouth when I read about adults acting like catty pre-teen girls and squabble so distastefully and publicly.

In my opinion, there is something wrong with a person that can have actual malice against a figure they've complied in their head from a screen name.

If you can't even be sure what the gender of the person you are e-fighting with is, does it really matter what they say?

Are you really going to drive across the country in a diaper to smack them in the mouth because they pointed out your poor grammar, or made fun of your social standards?

If you've answer "yes" to that question, then you not only need to get off of the 'net, you need to get into a padded room.

When the e-fight stop being entertaining , and let's face it they always start out pretty good, at the end of the day it's sad to see two people that could have been friends have so much hatred for each other.

Even worse when people use the internet against someone they used to call a friend.

I'm sure everyone is now familiar with the case of the Myspace suicide which involved a young girl being tricked by the parents of another girl into thinking a handsome boy liked her, only to kill herself when the adults controlling the fake account berated and ridiculed her.

Sometimes words hurt, even though they shouldn't be taken seriously.

You may never know what kind of impact your words may have on another human being.

What might roll off your back might permanently scar another.

It doesn't take that much effort to dig for embarassing photo of someone as cams malfunction, people make poor choices about what sort of pics to put on Facebook or Myspace, and hell sometimes it "just seemed like a good idea at the time."

Posting those in the right places at the right time can be a pretty effective weapon against another person… but why bother?

Will you feel better at the end of the day?

Will it make the world a better place?

NO.

It usually only escalates situations that could easily be squashed if the two parties talked like civil adults.

Besides…the other person was most likely just in it for the "lulz" anyway.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

When old and new media collide

Oringially printed: 1/22/08

Am I the only one that notices just how lazily old media has been piggy backing on new media to try to seem "hip" and "in the know"?

It always comes off like hearing your mother try to use slang properly, alienating and wrong.

Why do respected news organizations find it necessary to write story after story about Second Life, why do I keep on seeing recycled YouTube videos on TV shows.

I remember a time not to long ago when I could turn on a TV and watch a well written show, okay not well written, but it wasn't shot on a grainy cell phone camera.

What I also appreciated is that my disposable entertainment didn't mesh with my TV or movies.

Now there is a parade of movie that looks like they were lifted right off of Break.com.

Even greats like George Romero are falling into this pit. His new movie Diary of the Dead is shot to look like footage caught on a camcorder,While a group of good looking young people talk about their feelings.

Why can't we go back to a time where no one felt that just because they had feelings they were important enough to be heard?

Why can't movies be happy being their own genre without trying to imitate bored college kids with webcams?

The worst is when shows lazily play the same clips all your friends have sent you in secession and call it original. VH1 is one of the biggest offenders with their Web Junk series.

If it's junk then why show it?

Why bother showing the most popular of clips, these are the ones that everyone has seen before.

If anything they can at least strive to show something new or - gasp- make original content.

It doesn't make sense , TV wants to get back viewers lost to online content.How is showing the same content repeatedly, which will only bring more people to the site that originated it, bring viewers back to TV?

While this might break the hearts of all the "webcelebs" out there, but there is a good reason why they are internet famous and not actually famous, this is perfectly explained by the career (or lack there of) of one Miss Tila Tequila.

The things makes one a scream on Myspace doesn't translate well to other facets of entertainment.

Generally making you just plain annoying especially when you can't sing, dance, act or doing anything other than swing on a pole and have oddly shaped implants.

Women of that caliber should stay on the hoods of imported cars and off of my television screen.

Now when mindless entertainment gets lazy I'm annoyed but not as disappointed when respectable news sources fall into the same routine.

Every month or so I catch some news organization that I once respected falling for the hype around Linden Lab's dull and sometimes downright bizarre Second Life.

Second Life is one line joke for most in the MMORPG playing field, if a bunch of ever-virgins aren't taking this seriously why on earth is CNN or MSNBC?

These news organizations are clamoring to classify and report on something that most likely won't even be here in two years. What for?

Even G4TV, a channel that is dedicated to mindless web junk, doesn't want to report on what they called "Second Hype".

Every over hyped report just feeds into the whirlpool of frivolousness that is Second Life. These organizations don't have to pander to this media hungry void.

It seems like every time Linden Labs has a new press release suddenly news outlets care, trying to be the most "in the know" organization.

Well, in actuality those in the know, know that the average Second Life user only spends under fours hours a month online, in fact according to the Yankee Group , global connectivity experts "less than one percent of the total Resident population engages in the site [Second Life] in a regular and sustained fashion."

I have yet to see World of War Craft or GaiaOnline.com written about monthly in economic news.

No matter how you feel about these sites, you can't deny the fact that they are pulling in a lot more unique visitors than Second Life.

Where is the media hype about that? So why aren't they seen as news to the trend hungry?

Just because a company says they have the next big thing are you to just believe them?

Sadly with most news outlets, the answer is , "Yes". Lindon labs is having a parade for every press release that these poor gulible old media heads are eating up. Please.

There's nothing I hate more. An educated consumer acting like an air head.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer

Interacial Dating Sites : Full of Crap

This was another article that I cuaght a lot of flack for, but only from people who were angry that I made fun of the name of thier site in the article... well that and I voiced my opinion of how full of crap I thought the majority of them were. As you can imagine that made me quite unpopular. I've since decided that some people are "happy in the matrix" and even if I think something is unhealthy and wierd it makes others happy. So to each their own and lets hope those nutjobs stay off this blog.

original print: 11/6/07

There are thousands of dating sites and forums around. Some started as newsgroups in the early days of Yahoo and AOL. Others are newer to the game offering hot flash sites and of course porn (if you click long enough, all sites link back to porn).

Of these dating sites the most popular and common have been interracial groups.

It seems harmless enough, people uniting in love and fellowship despite the colors of their skin; doing their part to rid the world of injustice and bigotry one passionate union at a time.

Like a Vera Wang wedding dress on a 40-dollar Broad Street hooker, the net can take a good thing and make it bad, very very bad. With names like PollyWannaCracka.com, Aznlover.com and the thankfully now defunct "Mandingo Lovers" [ed. note: site was actually called "Mandigo Love"] how can anyone take these places seriously?

And how can anyone not resist messing with these people?

Stupid people in large numbers are dangerous, history has taught us this valuable lesson many times over.

In the information age of course not only are they dangerous they can be down right hilarious and a never ending source of morbid entertainment. This phenomenon has spawned an off shoot of humanity; sometimes basement dwelling- always hunched over a computer screen laughing at the misfortune of others, this thing is called a troll.

I am sad to say. a recovering troll-a-holic.

Last year, I found one of my most lulz worthy of targets, AznLover.com, which I can say I've been banned from at least 4 times. I was invited to through Myspace, by a woman who thought we were kindred sprits simply because my boyfriend was Korean, and her boyfriend was Korean also.

I'm sure it made a lot of sense to her: she's a white lower class 35-year old All-American Christian divorcee from the mid west with a vocational school education, and I'm a frist generation Black/Asian Caribbean agnostic middle class college student.

Obviously we see the world through the same eyes all thanks to the unifying effects of genitals.

It's widely known that when people date a person of another race they instantly become bonded with everyone else that has a beau of the same hue.

If the above paragraph made you want to punch a kitten in the face, then we see eye-to-eye.

So if you so choose to journey into this dank corner of the internet you too will be amused as I was.

It was not the first time some random person sent me an invite to some group or site.

Eventually I decided to make sure that no one would ever bother me with their crap again. I decided to troll with the strongest weapon in my arsenal - the truth.

Many sites have funny taglines like, "Love is Color Blind" or "Loving All Things Asian;" filled with stock photos of multi racial models that are somehow supposed to entice someone into joining. The easiest way to cause drama and get cheap laughs is to point out the faults in them.

Any place that has a tag line suggesting color blindness but is only supporting the relations of one race with others can easily be called out for bullock.

If you posted something like, "If love is color blind, then why does this site only allow white women and black men?"

It will be the equivalent of dropping some fresh meat in a pool or piranhas. Posters lament, spew hatred and of course type insults using numbers and letters and you will have at least twenty minutes of entertainment. After spending a few months looking around sites like this I've found a few similarities and sure finds on them.

Racism and homophobia: just because a site is promoting tolerance of two races won't stop them from spitting venomous hate about other races. Many of these sites won't even permit homosexuals joining. So love is love...unless you don't love in the correct color coded heterosexual fashion.

Many sites try to make their cause sound less shallow by trying to frame it as not just partner seeking, but some kind of socio-political revolution.

One Myspace group, "White women who want to be impregnated by black men," claims to not be about unprotected sex but trying to end racism through mixed children. It worked so well for Thomas Jefferson and Strom Thurman. How can they be wrong?

Vilification is always prominent. I suppose the weaker minded can never just say they are with someone of another race simply because that person is the best partner for them and they love them. It must be the sinister workings of another larger entity.

Asian men need white women to combat negative media stereotypes of them. Indian men and black Caribbean women need to unite against sexist English colonialism. Black men need to be soothed by gentle white lasses after being emasculated by evil calculating black welfare queens.

Stereotyping is always lingering around these sites. Either perceived as positives such as Asian woman are petite, attractive and smarter than western women or negative like white women have oversized vaginas.

Sentiments like these are repeated and ground into the psyche of users. These sites should stand against stereotyping, but unfortunately a good deal of the members are there because they are so enamored with the idea of another race. An idea that is constructed mostly out of stereotypes than actual cultural identity.

It's sad and ironic that sites that were mad to foster some kind of tolerant environment end up being the dumping ground for insecurities and anger.

Ultimately these sites are doing more damage to the reputations of interracial unions than anything else. How can a healthy relationship develop is one or both parties are having a relationship with the ethnicity or race of a person and not the actual person?

When I went on my first date with my boyfriend, he took me to a restaurant mostly filled with whites and Asians. I felt uneasy with all the stares coming our way. When I asked him about it he just smiled at me and told me, "Of course they're staring, you're the most beautiful girl in the room."

I wasn't a black girl, or a Caribbean girl. I was just the woman that he had the most interest in. You shouldn't love your [insert race here] partner; you should just love your partner.

If you don't feel the same way about the person you are with, perhaps you need to re-evaluate your reasons for being with them.

---

© Copyright 2009 Observer