Say It With A Condom!

You don't have to be a prominent figure in media or marketing manager to know that in almost any way, shape, or form, SEX SELLS! The ingenious idea of using the humility of serious situations to promote the positivity of safe sex belongs to a man named Benjamin Sherman. Back in 2008, Sherman elated the election season by "lampooning the campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain" with creative condoms. If you were strolling New York City mid-election year, you most likely passed a young entrepreneur and his friend proudly waving around the unmentionables and reminding you to "Remember the election with your next erection!"

Fast forward 10 + years. What once was a sidewalk hustle is now a highly sought-after marketing tool and in the best way! The company's formal brand name, Say It with A Condom™, does just that as they work with clients from every industry - music, film, commercial, manufacturing - in order to fluently promote "awareness of their brand, product, service, or event." They even serve individual interests with things like "gag gifts", "party favors", and "organizations promoting events".

Funny Condoms™ is just one of their many campaigns that uses relevant graphics and clever jokes in a rhetorical, meme-like fashion that immediately catches your eye. See Is Life Just A Meme. It is the brand's very first campaign, launched in 2012, as a response to what BuzzFeed calls "the year 'the meme' went mega-mainstream."

The newest campaign is the Consent Condoms™ to shift focus on sexual assault awareness "through empowerment and a healthy dose of comedic relief", says an article by HuffPost. The condoms image quickly jumped on the current "rape culture" trend to promote the proper mentality and usage of proper language when engaging in any intimate activity,

Say It With A Condom's brand truly is an immersive way to speak to all ages. Their mission of starting a conversation of safe sex definitely resonates as a future integration for the millennial entertainment and marketing demands.

Classmate Blog Critique

It's that time of the year again, and I know you all missed me! Well, if it makes it any better, I have been keeping up with you guys and I am excited to say that my favorite blogs of this year would have to be from Mary Alice Cole and Lauren Estes.

Mary Alice's blog was definitely something to envy. I love your choice of theme; the flip cards are very entertaining. Before I get into your posts, I would like to say I love the choice in background. The texture asks character, but I think it would look better if the texture was more detailed. As someone who is, in my opinion, aesthetically inclined, I appreciate the consistency of your blog and how easy it is on the eyes. Your graphics are very eye-catching as the post opens. My favorite post would have to be "Forever My Miss America". You could tell that it was something that you were well informed about. I also liked your juxtaposition between light more fun details and hard facts.

Lauren's blogs always come off as fun and I hope she is rubbing off on me! What always catches my attention is here consistency in her graphics and how well they tell about her post without even reading. I like the choice of color schemes, but I would suggest playing around with your blog titles font or structure. The pop of orange is fun and attractive, but that gray block around the title kind of throws it off for me. My favorite post would have to be the one about "You" the Netflix series. My main reason being I also did my post over "You" and I got the chance to compare our ideas. I like how you included several reviews to help validate someone's decision over the show. I also like how you got more personal with the characters and their viewpoints. It definitely shows in your research that you were involved in the show.

Try Harder America!

Press TV - Why American Cars Don't Sell Well In Japan

It is no secret that the American economy thrives by the influence of foreign markets. As a citizen, I can honestly say that a "MADE IN U.S.A.." label is a rare thing to come across. If you do then you feel just a little more patriotic then yesterday, but your response is still fairly anticlimactic. What does this say about the quality of American products? Is the American brand a formidable opponent to our international counterparts? 

Well, there is a reason why you stand very little chance of seeing an American car on a Japanese road. According to CNBC, Japanese people don't buy American cars. 95 percent of all cars currently in Japan are made by Japanese companies. "Roughly 40 percent of the cars sold in Japan are a special class of extra small cars called Kei cars. Nearly all of those are sold by Japanese brands, such as Suzuki and Daihatsu." The few American car brands still selling in Japan are Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Jeep, Volkswagen, and Audi. After "Ford left Japan entirely in 2017" and "GM [(General Motors)] only sold about 700 cars in 2018", Tokyo-based CLSA analyst Christopher Richter stated in the article that "American carmakers 'don't really try'" because of the tough native competition.

It was also noted that "President Donald Trump has called it unfair, as has the American Automotive Policy Council." that the US parking lots are filled with Japanese brands, but there is so little for America to show in Japan. As confident as we are in our work, our cars don't really aid their common lifestyles. "Japan is a crowded country, and drivers like the convenience and efficiency of small vehicles that are easy to maneuver on narrow streets or fit into tight parking spaces." The real reason that Japanese buyers do not spend money on American merchandise is because the US lacks in dealership presence in Japan. Because the US has not taken the time out to analyze their target, "American firms don't really make cars that suit Japanese tastes."

It was said several times that the presumption of American cars being "unreliable", "poorly built", or "inefficient" is outdated. These ideas stem from as early as the 60s rendering any judgement to quality as subjective.

Press TV is a 24-hour English- and French-language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Press TV is headquartered in Tehran and is extensively networked with bureaus in the world's most strategic cities.

Start Your Glow

Listen up ladies! It's that time of the month and the red carpet is rolled out. Between all of the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, it 's nice to have some assistance once in a while. To keep up, you may have a period tracking application. If you don't have one, think of it as a predictive calendar for your cycle.

There are several apps to choose from, but my #1 choice would be Eve. Eve by Glow is described as "a savvy period tracker and sex app for women who want to take control of their health and sex lives." Eve is just one of Glow's several programs designed to aid women in their sexual experiences and phases. Other apps include Glow Ovulation & Fertility Tracker, Glow Nurture, and Glow Baby.

What makes Eve so great? Eve is more than just a cycle diary; it's an entire community! Thousands of women around the world connect and share there thoughts, stories, and questions. You can post statuses into specific categories, ask women for advice, and learn new methods and tricks from several different ages and perspectives. The categories or "communities" make it easy to cipher through the posts and to filter what you do and don't want to see. Although some features are only available through the premium option, it does not limit you from having a great Eve experience!

Eve is very detailed with its logging options. It has a variety of choices from current emotions to symptoms to whether or not you over indulged yourself today. It asks for the specific times and days, and it even give you advice and topics created by other people that relate to what you logged last. To advertise that all around connection, Eve provides quizzes and polls that you can answer and see broad results from the Eve population. There is a thing called "Gems" that give specific advice directly from specialists and professionals of those topics, Eve is so advanced, sometimes it knows that my period is here before I do.

So far, I have not had any problems with Eve. It has been extremely informative during my transformative years. The Eve's social media network has done a lot for my self=esteem and confidence. To know that there are other women out there that want to help and uplift me is a feeling that I definitely don't mind sharing!

Berleezy: EXPOSED

Whether you are an adamant subscriber or an occasional user, by now we have all had some experience with YouTube. Some people use it for tutorials and DIY research. Others like to keep up with latest music videos or their favorite vlogger. I like to think of myself as a universal watcher. I will tap into anything that I have interest in at the time. Recently I had gotten into watching videos that provide underlying theories over cartoon shows. There are channels that would focus on finding imperfections, some over-analyze the shows for hidden messages, and others just plain criticize.

One channel that I always find myself going back to is called berleezy. I first found out about Berleezy through a friend while having a discussion about Caillou. Now I know what you are thinking. "Why would a bunch of well-educated, mature, young adults be discussing a children's show?" And to that I would say "mind ya business!" But in a formal manner, I would explain that 90's kids basically live for nostalgia, and I would also add that shows like Caillou become questionable as we get older so a discussion of our opinions was in order for the occasion. Anyway, in the discussion over the show, one of my friends exclaimed that she hated Caillou and proceeded to inform me of her reasoning. To back up here reasoning, my friend asked if I had heard of this YouTuber named Berleezy? Before I could say no, she had already pulled up a video of his called "CAILLOU: EXPOSED". I would be lying if I said I didn't hate him too after watching it. 

Berlin Edmond, more commonly known as Berleezy, is a 26-year old YouTube commentator from California. His main channel, berleezy, holds almost 1.5 million subscribers to whom he displays various types of content like Vlogs, Skits, and Talks. He has a second channel called iBerleezy where he plays, demonstrates, and reviews video games. This channel has nearly 500,000 subscribers. Berleezy's popularity rose because of his "EXPOSED" videos where he takes the title sequence of cartoon shows, new and old, and criticizes the content in a humorous manner. In older videos he would begin his videos with an iconic introduction himself as the "the host with the roast" and then his name "Berleeeezyyyy!" Other trademarks of Berleezy would be his hashtag #eezygang used for apparel and social media content identification, saying "let's… get it!" to signify the beginning of the "roasts", and other material that will be mentioned later.

During the videos, Berleezy is rather careless with his opinions. He curses a lot and he doesn't mind saying exactly what is on his mind. He does an amazing job at catching details that you would otherwise ignore and emphasizing them by yelling dramatically, laughing, or using some kind of sound affect. His responses are quick and witty and the visuals often aid in the humor even though I am certain he doesn't need help. Berleezy strategically uses older cartoons as well as new ones to attract all ages with a sense of youth and relevance. His method of speaking informally and loudly throughout the video keeps the attention of the audience and establishes himself to be on an attainable level. In other words, even though Berleezy's entertainment is unique, it is also mimic-able and you may feel as though you could do it too. Sometime during the critique, you may hear a melodic or jazzy snippet music play as the video is slowed down or paused. This is one of my favorite Berleezy trademarks that signifies his attraction to a female character with hopes that the "sexy" music will help persuade you to agree.

There are several things that I do not like about Berleezy's videos. The first thing would have to be how in his newer videos, he began to add a skit (usually featuring himself in a roach costume) in the beginning that would eventually introduce the show that he would later talk about. I do not like this because it seems very unnecessary to the video, and it is always way too long in my opinion. Another thing I do not like is the quality of his sound. Most of the time there will be a volume issue or some kind of unwelcoming feedback that makes it hard to listen to with headphones or without messing with the volume a bit. Although I do enjoy him as a comedian, I do not actually appreciate his objectification of women and his stereotypical judgement.

With that being said, I think that Berleezy is very funny and his thorough analyses makes him an awesome critic. On the other hand, he could be seen rude and unorthodox. Aside from a few good points, I would not say that he is a good judge of character (pun intended).

Polar: A Netflix Original

Common film sequence proves time and time again that unfinished business in your past will haunt you. But in the case of Duncan Vizler, also known as The Black Kaiser, a visit from the past turns into much needed closure.

Hitting [Netflix] on Friday, January 25, Polar feels like John Wick cranked up way past 11. The action may not be quite as exquisite, but there’s a brutality to Polarthat’s just as satisfying, even when director Jonas Åkerlund (a goth punk Scandinavian best known for his Beyonce music videos) seems most interested in making the audience squirm in their seats.\There’s endless violence, torture porn, and an actual (softcore) porn scene starring Mads Mikkelsen. Buried under all that, there’s also a touching story about two depressed people struggling to find their own humanity, but considering its launchpad on Netflix, Polar makes it dangerously easy to switch over to The Office when things get ugly.

For years, Duncan has been a top employee at Damocles, a shadowy cabal of killers run by doughy-faced psycho Mr. Blut (Matt Lucas). Duncan's scars are plentiful and even if he's still very good at his job, retirement is beckoning. Upon joining this butcher's guild, each assassin signs a contract complete with IRA or the equivalent. Duncan's post-service take-home is topping out at $8 million, so it seems like a good time to live that quiet cabin life he's been dreaming about. The problem is that Mr. Blut has been pulling a fast one. Also in his workers' contracts is a clause that states if an assassin dies pre-retirement, all their money goes to Damocles. Once a hitman calls it a day, the last hit is on him.

Polar feels like two separate movies stitched together. While the evil assassins go around slaughtering random civilians or shaking their butts for the camera, the Black Kaiser moves to a small town and befriends a nervous local woman called Camille (Vanessa Hudgens). We know he’ll end up protecting her from something, because it’s that kind of movie. While the female villains dress like Sin Citycharacters, Camille is vulnerable and wears modest cold-weather gear.

Alexa's Echo Wall Clock

From Amazon's peak in popularity in 2003 up into the present, they currently bask in the glory of being one of the world's largest and most trusted distributors. The company has come a long way from just being a book store. By adding the Amazon Prime subscription in 2005 as well as new categories like "sporting goods, outdoor equipment, gourmet food, health and personal care products", Amazon would go on to surpass world runners like Walmart, Costco, and Target. According to an article from Fortune, Amazon’s market cap was reported as $439.8 billion in 2017 and they are projected to experience a turnover of about 238 billion dollars in the year 2019 alone.

The current digital era has given us several common names that expand the limitations of technology and make us feel at home. Most smart devices provide a virtual assistant; an integrated software that is conversational, listens, and carries out tasks when given a standard trigger phrase like "Hey Siri." or "Alexa." that would be recognized as calling their name. Amazon is the host of Alexa. Just like Apple's "Siri" assistant, The Alexa Voice Service (AVS) "has been integrated into many of Amazon’s services and can be used with products such as the original Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, or Amazon Fire TV." But of course Amazon will not stop there. Having already entered the homes of millions, the AVS has ventured into smaller everyday appliances like light switches, thermostats, wall plugs, and even wall clocks.

CNET recently announced the restock of Alexa's Echo Wall Clock. They were originally stalled because of some "Bluetooth connectivity kinks", but the problemed seemed minor considering it took less than a month to correct. The Echo Wall Clock is not considered a traditional echo device meaning it does not have a microphone or speaker of its own. This also means that in order to operate the clock you must own and pair it with an existing echo speaker. The beauty of the device lies within its simplicity and minimal visual aspects. On the face of the clock there are LED light notches that aid in detailing the time when setting a timers or when requesting a reminder of something. Aside from the prior Bluetooth connectivity issue, a "hiccup" you may want to think about before purchasing this item could be the lack in display of the timers. Some people have reported that even after resetting the command, the timers "weren't displaying as expected". Fortunately this bug has already been addressed and is less likely to occur. Another thing to think about would be the clock's battery usage. "Some users reported that they needed to regularly swap the batteries out whenever the clock would lose connection." In the video provided below, Executive Editor, Rich Brown, explains how he received 4 Amazon Basics AA batteries that were only strong enough to go through the setup process. After exchanging them with 4 Duracell batteries, the device functioned "just fine".

REVIEW

I personally would not purchase this item due to the cost. One clock is priced at $30 retail and seems expensive considering that is how much I paid for my speaker (Echo Dot 3rd Generation) alone. However, having a smart analog clock is not a bad idea. Since the display is larger and tailored towards time, you are able to watch the time and how much of it you have. This is something that cannot be done with just the speaker.

Is Life Just a Meme?

Ever since the debut of the smart phone, digital entertainment has replaced magazines when it comes to spending time on the toilet, and memes are a large reason for that. Teens and young adults have created a new cultural movement in the form of the “meme” (pronounced /mēm/ for those who have yet to fully immerse yourselves in modern art). The new comedic art form of the up-and-coming generation can be summed up as jokes told over photographs or cartoons, occasionally (or more often) in poor taste. This cultural “meme-ent,” if you will, has confused our parents and theirs, begging the question why.

What Makes Memes So Special? | Lessons In Meme Culture

It's not the spread or virility of a pure, unaltered idea. In fact, the whole point is that it's altered, taken out of context to convey something more amusing than before. Arguably, each alteration results in something less original and even more derivative before, calling into question its legitimacy. Even though this may be the case, it seems to be this unoriginal quality and universality that make memes so appealing to people.

The term “meme” comes from evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. For Dawkins, cultural ideas were no different than genes—concepts that had to spread themselves from brain to brain as quickly as they could, replicating and mutating as they went. He called those artifacts memes, bits of cultural DNA that encoded society’s shared experiences while also constantly evolving. Dawkins coined the term in 1976, in his book The Selfish Gene, long before the modern internet, before memes morphed into what they are now. Back then, Dawkins was talking about passing along culture—song melodies, art styles, whatever. Today, denizens of the internet think of memes as jokes passed across social media in the form of image macros (those pictures of babies or cats or whatever with bold black-and-white words on them), hashtags (the thing you amended to what you just wrote on Twitter), GIFs (usually of a celebrity, reality star, or drag queen reacting to what you just wrote on Twitter), or videos (that Rick Astley video people used to send you).

Although not always decorous or remarkably innovative, these instances of virality are a pretty appropriate modern adaptation of the 1970s namesake, encompassing the cyber-spread of only the most popular and universally appealing ideas. Some may despair at calling this an artform or even decry the meme as a cultural component, but the reality is that it's a fairly accurate representation of popular media and daily issues. It's so deeply entrenched in millennial circles that I'm confident memes will continue to hold their own in terms of popularity.

Memes In 2019 [Comedic Predictions]

In the early days, memes started slowly and stuck around longer. (Seriously, Nyan Cat was around for literally years.) But the speed of social media meant memes could blow up and be over in the span of a week, if not a day. Overall, memes are about more that just LOLs. They’ve picked up two new purposes: to pledge allegiance to your in-group and to make you lots of money. Memes used to appeal to humanity’s fundamentals—everyone feels awkward sometimes, everyone likes watching a kitten acting a fool. But now people flash political memes like gang signs. Modern-day American memes are about political correctness or the Second Amendment, about the emptiness of offering thoughts and prayers to shooting victims or the satisfying inclusiveness of Black Panther. These memes are seen as a public declaration of your political positions and cultural identity, and, increasingly, an invitation for people with opposing viewpoints to come sass (or harass) you in the comments. Is this casual yet hostile behavior a symptom of how contentious and polarized the internet has become? Most definitely. Memes are just snapshots of culture. Does it seem likely to stop anytime soon? Definitely not.

YOU: Committing Lovecide

Season 1 Trailer

Do you believe in love at first sight? According to Reuters, a poll by 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair was given back in 2012 with the result of 56% of Americans are believers; In fact, "the percentage is even higher for married people and those in relationships." This blissful phenomena of pure intuition has no hardcore facts, aside from those who can testify, but could this rare aligning of two souls be built solely off of coincidences?

Those lines become twisted as you peak into the heart of Joe Goldberg, played by Penn Badgley, "an obsessive yet brilliant New Yorker, who exploits today's technology to win the heart of Beck", played by Elizabeth Lail, "amid the growing suspicions of her best friend Peach", played by Shay Mitchell. This love-driven horror story will leave you questioning your morals as you sympathize with a homicidal sweetheart.

YOU puts a unique perspective on the modern day dangers of today's society where the lack of privacy can become a real issue. Joe psychologically trumped Beck into believing that her life is greater with him in it. During every interaction, we can hear Joe meticulously analyzing. Through his point of view, which is held throughout the majority of the season, you will be shown several common mistakes that we all make. For example, we share our full name with people and allow it to be displayed on cards, files, and paperwork as a form of formal identification. Normally, you wouldn't find this alarming because in most cases it is needed, but what you don't realize is that your name is attached to EVERYTHING YOU OWN. Or maybe you just suppress the thought that you may be the top search of someone's internet browser. Either way, something as simple as a bookstore transaction can lead to your own personal stalker and, in Beck's case, anonymous hit man.

Although the show revolves around society's modern sin of trust, you cannot skip past the fact that several people were murdered in the name of love. In Joe's attempt to achieve elite boyfriend status, he took it upon himself to get rid of those he thought would harm Beck or distract her away from their relationship. And honestly, no matter how gruesome his murder spree became, Joe somehow always eased our tension with avocado toast and coffee. I guess the real question at hand would be, how far will you go for someone you love? Are you more skeptical like Beck? Or are you all in like Joe?

It's a Whack World...

"Female rappers no longer have a place among elite artists."

Would this be considered a statement, justified by NPR, or an unpopular opinion given the underlying fact that it has consistently been proven wrong? Back in 2010 I would have been generously pondering the situation myself, but the successor or maybe even the decadal salvation to the feminine touch that we all crave could only be explained in two words: Nicki Minaj. And her "commercial success", bridging 2007-present, gave light to new and underground artists, new sounds, and new attitudes towards what the rap game could be.

It is always an act of majesty for me as a young, black woman barely grazing the surface of any industry to witness women, notably those who look like me, to breakthrough in an institution that is polluted with aggression and male figures alike. Common obstructive stereotypes could be discouraging while also adding a limit/standard to what a woman's place is, but am I calling for equality in what has been foretold to be man's world? No. At this point I could care less for the source. All I ask is for some good ass music for my "Shower Time" playlist with hopes that 30 years from now I can reminisce over my probably less conventional ways of listen music while asking those 2-3 generations after my own the infamous and yet still rhetorical question: "What y'all know about this?".

Women Rap Renaissance: A Dope Time For Female Hip Hop

Amongst several other allusive artists lies the explicit talent of Philadelphia rapper Tierra Whack formerly known as Dizzle Diz in her teenage years. She debuted in 2018 with a 15-minute, 15-song, visual album named Whack World. I stumbled upon these tracks from a music suggestion on my YouTube home page. My initial attraction came from the thumbnail in which displayed an interesting mixture of real and non-realism; something that I would quickly learn to be a consistent theme.

Whack World is by far the most diverse conceptual albums I have ever witnessed. But what keeps each song from being far fetched is how relatable the content is to contemporary listeners. From love confessions to status proclamations accompanied by quality, colorful, and allegorical graphics, the project was especially designed towards the millennial crowd. My favorite piece on the album would have to be "Flea Market". Whack narrates someone who is in a long-term relationship where she would like to take the next step, but her significant other is either steadfast or drifting in interest. The visual ties into the line "Brushin' off fleas, baby" which alludes to how men are often referred to as dogs as an insult. The fleas most likely represent other people trying to move in on their relationship, but overall Whack is just about ready to move on.

Each song rolls right into the other and causes for re-watching for those small details or references you might miss. It is extremely creative and I completely agree with Fader that she should be the "poster child for a kind of post-clout-era artist". In fact, with the amount of variety in styles provided, I would take Whack World as a guide if I were trying to enter the world of rap. Here the track list:

1. Black Nails
2. Bugs Life
3. Flea Market
4. Cable Guy
5. 4 Wings
6. Hookers
7. Hungry Hippo
8. Pet Cemetery
9. Fuck Off
10. Silly Sam
11. Fruit Salad
12. Pretty Ugly
13. Sore Loser
14. Dr. Seuss
15. Waze