Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler, Rachel, and Phoebe - True "Friends"

 According to BBC, the classic sitcom "Friends" had its 20th anniversary. Airing its first episode in the year 1994, it became one of the most popular comedies of all time. The plot of "Friends" is that of the lives of six New Yorkers who are, you guessed it, friends. Originally, "Friends" had a few hoops to jump through. The writers had issues casting the roles. They knew they wanted David Schwimmer as Ross, but the question was the other five members. Then, Lisa Kudrow became Phoebe, but then there were more hang ups. Matthew Perry, later becoming Chandler, and Jennifer Anniston, who became Rachel, were already assigned to other shows, but those shows never took off, so it just happened to work out for the writers of "Friends." Courteney Cox and Matt LeBlanc were just put on the show by the network. And thus, the cast was together at last. The show had such an influence in pop culture, that lines are still being quoted from it today. Joey's classic "How you doin'?" or Ross and Rachel's "We were on a break!" are just some of the truly memorable quotes from the truly great show. The friends of "Friends" did not just forget each other after the final call of "cut." Around the time of the 20th anniversary of their cherished show, the three girls of the show dined out at the Sunset Tower Bar. Kudrow tweeted "20 years ago..." in reference to the fact that show was having its 20th anniversary. The stars do not just go to restaurants together, however. They have all had successful careers since "Friends," even if it may not have been as successful. Jennifer Aniston went on to star in more movies, Courteney Cox moved on into acting in the "Scream" series of movies and another comedy called "Cougar Town," Matt LeBlanc is now staring in a show called "Episodes," Lisa went on to act in multiple movies and a few series on HBO and Showtime, Matthew Perry also acted in a variety of television shows that were short-lived, and last, but not least, David Schwimmer has done voice acting for "Madagascar," acted in a few shows, and even played roles in a variety of serious films, including "Band of Brothers," "The Iceman," and "Apt Pupil." No matter what the six stars may find themselves doing in their lives, they will never be forgotten as the six friends that everyone watched growing up.

"Friends" stars when they were young.

"It Ain't Real Music Without Guitar"

According to USAtoday, rock stars are losing popularity to the much younger and, for whatever reason, more popular pop and rap artists. Shakira had over 100 million likes on Facebook, while the great band the Rolling Stones only has 19.4 million likes. Facebook is not the only social media site that rock stars are just "too cool" for. Twitter has become very popular with pop artists, but rock stars just do not seem to accept it. Bob Dylan had created his Twitter account in 2009.  Since then, Mr. Dylan and his band has only posted 389 times to date, while Katy Perry, who had also joined the same year as the legendary Bob Dylan, posted around 6,000 times to date. I do not blame rockers for trying to stay off of social media as much as possible. As Revolver magazine writes, "You can't be a rock god if you're going to take photos of your cup of coffee." Even the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has failed to introduce only rock related icons, the title for which it is named, and has actually added in Beyoncé's leotards.  That's right, a pop artist's piece of clothing was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! The only redeemable factor of that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as of recent days has been the addition of Nirvana, Kiss, and the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein. Rock and Roll was one of the most popular kinds of music in the '60s through the '90s, but for whatever reason, it has lost popularity for younger artists that lip-sync at concerts or, in recent days, songs that do not even have words in them, such as dubstep or Electronic Dance Music, known as EDM. But for a rocker like me, my motto will always be just as the band Hinder sang, "It ain't real music without guitar."


Crows: The Most Intelligent and Misunderstood Birds

 According to BBC, crows have the ability to understand and recognize familiar human speech and bird calls from other species. It is common knowledge that crows are extremely intelligent and analytical birds, as they have already been able to adapt to many different surroundings, from cities to rural towns. Some crows are even capable of mimicking speech patterns. Researchers wanted to find out just how well crows could recognize sounds, so they studied eight crows and how they reacted to five recordings of the word "Hey" from voices of people that had spent time with them and five recordings of the same word from voices of people that had never even spent a minute with the birds. The crows reacted much more cautiously toward the unfamiliar voices, as humans tend to harm crows. This act of harming crows extends all the way to Tokyo, Japan. As much as I may love Japan and Crows, the two do not have the same mutual feeling for each other. In 2000, there were 21,000 crows flocking to Tokyo, but the number kept on growing. The citizens said that crows would attack pedestrians just simply walking on the streets. Some citizens remain kind to the black feathered friends, but others chase them, trap them, and there is even talk of eating the crows. Actually, this latter treatment of the animals may be the reason for the attacks on the people of Tokyo. A study done in 2012 shows that crows can not only remember a person's face, but they also hold grudges, just as humans do. Seattle researchers found that captured crows can remember a captor's face, even after years of not seeing that face. When the crows' menace was reintroduced to them, they taunted and attacked him, suggesting that the crows still hated their captor. While crows may have an association with death and darkness and are seen as nothing more than a pest to some, but the truth is that crows are very intelligent and magnificent creatures.

Police and Soldiers, What's the Difference?

According to this article, the police have recently begun being supplied with equipment from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the small town of Roanoke Rapids, the police department has been supplied with Humvees and MRAPs, vehicles designed to withstand explosive blasts and ambushes, along with firearms very similar, if not identical, to those used by the U.S. Military. This equipment was given to the police department free of charge by the Pentagon. The "intended purpose is to prevent mass casualties and to extricate people," but many do not seem to believe this. Some people are even going so far as to call America a "war zone." A major outcry against police "militarization" followed right after the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson and the violent riots that followed. Police used tear gas to put down riots as well as a non-lethal, but very painful deterrent, rubber bullets when the protesters began throwing rocks and firing guns at the police. Some people are starting to call Ferguson "Fergustan," in reference to its similarity to a "war zone." Ferguson is not the only place receiving police with military equipment. School police around the country have been receiving equipment from the Pentagon as well. School campus police forces have received around $13 million worth of equipment, including 145 handguns, 780 rifles, and nine explosive resistant vehicles. There was major backlash with this as well, just as with the Ferguson case. Now, there have been bills proposed to curb this "militarization." The bill restricts programs to supply grants that give money to purchase drones, surveillance, ballistic helmets, and lethal weapons. I personally disagree with most people and believe that the police need more equipment, not less. The amount of deadly situations the police find themselves in, who knows, the MRAP that they were forced to return could have saved their life. And besides, really the only difference between the old police officer's equipment and the new are the vehicles and the colors.

Studio Ghibli Without Hayao Miyazaki, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

According to CNN, the legendary animator, Hayao Miyazaki, retired from the company "Studio Ghibli." He had worked for this studio for approximately three decades and was even the co-founder. Studio Ghibli has stated that it will be "changing the way [they] make (animation)," which I personal find disappointing due to Miyazaki's work playing such a large part of my childhood. There were even talks of completely shutting down the firm. Even if the animation company did close, however, there are still all of the award winning movies created by the legendary Miyazaki. These movies include the likes of "Spirited Away," "My Neighbor Totoro," "Princess Mononoke," and "Howl's Moving Castle." Miyazaki's final film, "The Wind Rises" was submitted for Best Animated Feature Oscar, just proving how strong his animations are even after 30 years and against those who are considered the absolute best in the industry who use the newest techniques, while Hayao Miyazaki still uses the same techniques he used when he started. Miyazaki is the number one animator in the world in my personal opinion. His animations played a massive role in my childhood. His retirement will definitely change the face of animation forever.

"Guns Don't Kill People, Video Games Kill People"

Dead Space: One of the violent games being blamed
for real life violence.

According to CNN, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court had a hearing on the impact of violent video games and young children. Some believe that violence in games can result in violence in the real world. In California, a law was passed stating that any game that gives the option to deface or kill another human cannot be sold to anyone under 18. The ironic thing about the law is that the one who passed the law was Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's right, "The Terminator," the king of violent movies, passed a law banning violent media. Many parents do not pay attention to these ratings and let their children play games rated with mature ratings anyway. However, the issue arose when parents blamed the extremely violent game "Manhunt" for the death of their son. The police investigating dismissed the statement and "Manhunt" was not involved in the case. Many teenagers and young adults do not believe that parents know enough about the games that their children play, but others believe that parents know what their children know and understand what their children play and it is their choice whether or not they play the games or not. This scapegoat of blaming violent video games is just an excuse because they have no other explanation as to why people are harming others. With youth violence at a 40 year low, and gaming still remaining popular, why are politicians still blaming the games for this violence of recent days? They used to blame movies and music, such as "The Matrix" and "Natural Born Killers" and songs by Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC, but instead of using that this time around, politicians use video games. Video Games are not to blame, but instead, politicians and therapists need to learn to solve the issue of mental health and not just look for more scapegoats.

Fallout 3 has some of the most violent gameplay seen in a
non-horror survival game of recent days.

 

Tattoos: Jobs Hate Them

 According to this article, many people are losing their jobs simply because of the fact that they have tattoos. One woman had her job interview terminated due to her tattoos. While she was in the middle of her phone interview, the issue of uniforms was brought up. The uniforms were short sleeved, so the woman informed her employer that she had tattoos, but the interviewer simply hung up on her, with no explanation or statement telling her that the company did not allow tattoos. However, while some companies shy away from tattoos, other companies are jumping right up to the rise in popularity of tattoos. Companies such as Dunlop have created ways to incorporate tattoos as advertisement. Goodyear's Dunlop tires promised a set of free tires for anyone who would get the "flying-D" logo tattooed on their body. 98 people stepped up to the challenge and one man returned to get his third tattoo and set of free tires. If you think that getting a tattoo just to get a free set of tires is crazy, that isn't even close to the weirdest thing in the world of tattooing.  That goes to the art of eyeball tattoos. Yes, you read that right, eyeball tattoos! This new craze just seems insane to me. The tattoos can basically change the eye color to whatever the person wants or a complete image can be inserted into the eyeball. Even though this may be fairly popular now, the standard body tattoo still reigns supreme. Tattoos have become a $3.4 billion a year industry. Tattoos are becoming more and more popular as the years go by, but companies do not seem to realize this. Businesses need to realize that just because someone has tattoos does not mean that they are terrible people, they may actually work better than those without tattoos, they are just normal human beings after all.