Taylor Swift

            Taylor Swift is going out with a bang this year.  Her new album “1989” is currently the #2 album on iTunes, but it has previously been #1 for a while.  One of her songs, “Blank Space”, is the number 1 song on iTunes.  From what I know, that album is gold.  I haven’t listened to the full album yet, but I really like Blank Space, Welcome to New York, and This Love.  Her performance of “Blank Space” at the America Music Awards was really good too.  Her music video for “Blank Space” was really cool too.  I mean who wouldn’t want to film a video in a huge mansion wearing amazing clothes and bashing an amazing and expensive car?  I would love to.  Also on her 1989 album, “Shake it Off” was a huge hit.  

Taylor Swift also performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show and she was stunning.  She's accomplished so much this year, I wonder what 2015 will look like for her.

Blank Space music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg

            In other news, she just celebrated her 25^th Birthday!  She started off the night by performing at the New York City Jingle Ball.  She kept the party going to her apartment where guests were Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Sam Smith, Karlie Kloss, Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Jaime King, Emma Roberts, Ansel Elgort, Kelly Osbourne, Chrissy Teigen, Charlie XCX, Olivia Culpo, and the band HAIM.  25 and she has everything in life that any person could dream of.

 (Picture from www.perezhilton.com) 

The Power of Words

            I just want to address a well-known issue: the power of words- especially through social media.  You see cyber bullying EVERYWHERE nowadays and I think that’s a major issue in today’s society.  Attacking people through the internet is cowardly and it creates a ripple.  If you can’t address something to someone’s face, then why do it?  Anonymously hurting someone does nothing but makes you look dumb.  When one person writes/types one thing, it can cause a lot of damage to not just one person, but many.  It tears people down and pushes people to terrible places.

            I’ve seen people post videos on YouTube just for fun and to make other people happy, but there’s just one problem; there’s a comment section.  There will always be people who are very egocentric and who will always criticize anything and everyone.  People are choosing to put snippets of their lives on the internet because they enjoy it, and so do others.  People like Zoella have addressed the issue and Zoella blogged about it (like I am)

Check it out:  http://www.zoella.co.uk/2014/11/why-i-stopped-daily-vlogging-hate-on.html

           

            It’s not just YouTube.  People get harassed through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.  One fad of 2013 was an app called Ask.fm.  You could ask people questions anonymously and when you answered them, they appeared on your profile page.  Obviously it was a very bad invention.  Just describing it makes me realize what a mistake it was.  It was giving people the opportunity to hide their identity and hurt people.  I feel like people are always going to find a way through the internet to cause unnecessary problems and when you’re a teenager especially, what people say matters. 

            

           You have to think before you speak (or type).  What if you found out someone was hurting them because of a comment you posted?  Would you feel guilty?  I hope so.  That’s not something to just brush off, we’re all humans.  Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions and you should feel free to speak them—without hurting others. 

            

            It’s in everyone’s best interest if we all look at things from multiple points of view before acting, make a good choice.

AMA's

            I realize the America Music Awards were quite a few days ago, but I’m just now blogging about it!  What did you guys think of Pitbull as a host?  I’ve always kind of found him weird but he did fine.  The night was full of great performances and wins for amazing artists.

            

            My absolute favorite performance was by our dear Selena Gomez.  She’s had quite the rough patch which I believe is due to on-again off-again ex, Justin Bieber, and the song she performed captures a lot of the emotions and  struggles she’s gone through.  This was the first performance of “The Heart Wants What it Wants” live and Selena was amazing.  If you watch any of the videos of her performance, you can see her crying and she whispers, “Thank you Jesus”.  You can also see clips of her close friend Taylor Swift shedding a tear or two for Selena during the performance.  The announcers kept calling it a very “personal performance” and it was definitely personal.  The beginning of the song starts with Selena crying about feeling crazy and worthless and it’s almost painful for everyone to hear what she felt.  Home run for Selena.

Selena’s performance of “The Heart Wants What it Wants”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQvutRHsaoc

Iggy Azalea was definitely under the spotlight that night.  During some of the categories, she was up against artists like Drake and Eminem and proved to be superior and she also triumphed against other talented artists like Lorde.  This breakout sensation performed live also just taking the night away.  Good for her!

Other performers in the show were Jennifer Lopez, Fergie, YG, Lorde, One Direction, 5SOS, Taylor Swift, Jesse J, The Weekend, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Skyler Grey, Pitbull, Ne-Yo, Charlie XCX, Magic!, Wyclef Jean,  Imagine Dragons, Sam Smith, A$AP Rocky, Lil Wayne, Christina Milian, Garth Brooks, and Mary J. Blige.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show.  What did you think?

Feminism vs Meninism..?

            When you hear the term “feminism”, what pops up in your mind?  Do you think of self-righteous women?  Do you think of equality?  According to http://dictionary.reference.com/, it’s the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.  There is a lot more to think about other than “making women equal” as some would put it.

         

            I personally have seen a lot of tweets that are advocating “meninism”.  For one thing, that is not a word.  Another thing is that the standards for “meninism” and “feminism” seem to be completely different.  For almost all of time, females have been inferior to men in more ways than one.  They’re the people you look for to complete household chores, take care of the children, and please those of the opposite sex.  For a long time, they “didn’t deserve” to vote because they had little to no knowledge of the world and they couldn’t obtain jobs because that was for men and women had jobs of their own at home, where they belonged.  Being in 2014, a lot has changed for women.  Women do have a stronger role today than they used to, but they aren’t completely equal to men.  There are some cases where women are paid less than men, even when they work the same job, put in the same amount of effort (more or less), and receive less.   

I have seen multiple twitter accounts named “meninism” in support of advocating social, political, and all other rights of men equal to those of women (I assume).  With the 144 characters you’re allowed to use through Twitter, the accounts point out women receiving better treatment than men, but also some of their tweets can be harsh and sexist.  I do see some of the points they’re trying to make, like when a man hits a woman, he’s to suffer, but with women, it may or may not go in that direction.  There are some tweets, however, that seem silly and just starting an unnecessary fire.  There was one I specifically saw that criticized women asking men to run and get them some ice cream and men being criticized for asking women to make them a sandwich.  In society, it’s really hard to change an image and create a different way of thinking that everyone can agree on.  Really, no matter what you say, someone will have something to point out and criticize, because everyone is different.

I am a feminist myself, but to a certain extent.  I think chivalry can be a way of expressing someone cares.  I also think women should be able to be independent and powerful.  Each person seems to see feminism in a different way and to a certain point.  I can see both views for the different sides, but I think some of what the “meninist” people were saying was ridiculous.  Emma Watsons speech about Feminism was really powerful and made a lot of good points, so you should check it out! (also linked in my previous post all about her)

Emma Waton’s speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Dg226G2Z8

What are your views on the matter? Do you favor a side or share views on both?