Addicting.... to say the least

Online gaming is without a doubt popular in our society. While teens are most often found gaming until the wee hours of the morning, people of older and younger ages are also falling into the madness. I've never considered myself a "gamer" but found a website that I've totally become addicted to. The website is called Addictinggames.com and it's just that...addicting. It contains games of all sorts: puzzle games, board games, sports games, action games and the list keeps going. Each week new games are posted to the site, helping to keep it fresh and new. I think it's such a popular website because ANYONE can become addicted to these games. My personal favorite is a daily jigsaw puzzle that contains a new picture each day. Every day I do the puzzle and compete with others to see who can get the best time. While it hardly constitues an online community, it certainly is fun to browse around on for hours at a time. For anyone who is bored a looking for something to do, it's really fun to check out. Take it from one "non-gamer" to another, it's easy to become addicted!!

DUMB OR DEEP

You can find the article Dumb or Deep on azcentral.com It is a good article, mentioning the Simpsons and proves to be very helpful in addition to our own class discussions. I was constantly remembering this article during th discussion but was not quite sure what I wanted to say about it so I found it easier to write on the blog. The article shows the "actual brilliance" behind the hilarious stupidity in our television shows like THe SImpsons. It says the jokes create a lighter way to force us to focus on issues in society by forcing ourselves to understand the humor. It uses "clowns" to get at larger truths about society. It is about understanding the humor and digging into the underlying context that the writer is putting in a more humerous light. The point is the writers are not trying to look immature and ignorant, they have a purpose and have succeeded as writers for a reason. It will change with society, but the main point is in the end the decisions are still forced to give us an identity in our own culture and society.

Pandora!

My roommate recently introduced me to this website and I am absolutely addicted. For those of us college students living in fear lately that Ohio State will strike a deal and give away our names for pirating music off of sites like limewire and torrentspy, there is still hope for obtaining new music without having to pay. Pandora.com is a unique site that allows every individual to obtain music to their own personal liking. Essentially, one enters their favorite artist/band, then the website seeks out similar artists for that person to listen to through free internet radio. Everyone who logs on has the opportunity to create a personalized profile, while a blogging community also exists through the website. This site is great when you want a mix of similar music but don't feel like making that mix on itunes or searching through your library of 10,000 songs to do so. Now you don't have to waste any time at all. . .just log on and enjoy!

http://pandora.com/

style.com

Style.com has everything in fashion. It features top tens best dressed of the week, videos of fashion shows, topics from magazines such as vogue, and so much more. It relates to pop culture by stressing how much what we wear actually means and represents. Half of the things found on the website's ten best dressed we would never be found wearing, but in Hollywood, and on the runway, they are the best! Check it out and see what you think. The site contains all kinds of stuff that would appeal to many!

Texas Hold 'Em

A few of the poker sites that didn't copy were www.toptexasholdem.com/, www.pokerstars.com/poker/games/texas-holdem/, and www.internettexasholdem.com/.

Texas Hold 'Em

Texas Hold 'Em has definately become very popular in the last couple of years. A couple of years ago, one could never find a game of poker on TV, but now it seems like its always on at least one channel. People that play Texas Hold 'Em have definately created a community, where it's very easy to play Hold 'Em all day every day. There's movies about Hold 'Em (Rounders), television shows (Late Night Poker and World Series of Poker), and books that instruct people on how to play the game. Online Hold 'Em has also become very popular. Online poker is probably so appealing because it allows people to make money from home and also provides endless entertainment. A few sites for online Hold 'Em are: <www.pacificpoker.com/>, >, and . Texas Hold 'Em constitutes popular culture because it has exploded in popularity over the last couple years and is popular amongst a wide variety of people.

Energy Drinks

Over the last couple years, it seems that energy drinks with ridiculous amounts of sugar have become increasingly popular. It started out with the little 8 oz. cans of Red Bull with about 27 grams of sugar and it seems like the cans have just been getting bigger and bigger with more and more sugar. I was watching the Winter X Games recently and, in the span of ten minutes, saw several athletes "conveniently" tipping back some Red Bull, Monster, and Rockstar energy drinks in front of the camera. I guess these companies are trying to portray themselves as extreme and market their product to people who live on the edge. If energy drinks continue to come in bigger cans with more sugar, I'm pretty sure we might actually be drinking rawberry and shockolate at some point (refer to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrPIRYhdnqs). I just hope it never comes to that. Energy drinks seem to be growing in popularity with young people who are either don't like coffee or just want to look cool and spend $2 on a drink. http://www.screamingenergy.com/ shows many different energy drinks and reviews. If one were to just look at the pictures of the energy drinks, it would be pretty easy to see the companies are trying to target young people and have an extreme edge.

Everything You Could Possibly Want...and MORE!

I thought this site was interesting because it literally has the most ridiculous things for sale. The scary part being that I'm sure they do a great business selling latex squrriels, bacon mints, and orange lollipops that look like Abe Lincoln. So go browse and purchase wisely!

http://www.mcphee.com/