Author: saurena32

Social media has made a huge impact on every generation, especially Generation Z. While social media has many positive effects, such as giving people the ability to express themselves creatively and even provide jobs such as being an influencer. With the positives come some negatives such as putting pressure on young women to look a certain way and strive for perfection. The use of plastic surgery and photoshop make instagram influencers seem like the perfect human being. This makes women strive for an unachievable body standards. FaceTune is a photo editing app that can help to reshape facial features and your body as well as smooth out any imperfections. It can also fix lighting in photos and add filters to the picture as well. I do not see any issue with adding filters in a photo or fixing the lighting but the issue arises when it becomes taboo to see imperfections posted online. Many women and men will often get hate on their posts if the public sees any flaws in them such as having acne or not being the “ideal” body type. While this is problematic, there has also been a rise in the body positive movement on social media which challenges beauty standards seen and does not conform to the pressure of social media. Overall, social media has its pros and cons but it is important to shed light on the negative aspects of it.

In the new age of technology, most of us can not imagine leaving the house without our phones. While I am guilty of this, and do try to disconnect from the internet and be more present in my daily life, it is a very hard thing that I have to consciously do. Privacy has become more of a luxury rather than a necessity in modern times. Many people have posted their daily life on social media from how they’re feeling at the moment to where they are located at a moment in time. Additionally, our phones are tracking our information using cookies and track what you are looking at in order to try to cater to what ads you should be receiving. It is also speculated that our phones are recording our every move using the front and back camera. While facial recognition does this in order to unlock our iPhones, the recording is possibly never ending. It has also been speculated that our phones are listening to what we say as well. For example, if one was to talk about getting a new dog toy for their dog, they could receive an add for dog toys hours later. I have had this personally happen to me. I was sitting with my phone talking to my friend about wanting to get red hair dye and a day later I got many advertisements from a variety of companies trying to sell me red hair dyes. There are evident problems with the lack of privacy we have nowadays it has been often times overlooked by many.

My typical day in quarantine consists of waking up around 9 or 10 in the morning and then getting up to make some breakfast for myself. I typically make avocado toast and eggs to start my day. After eating breakfast I go on iLearn to see what assignments are due today and what needs to be done in the future then add all my assignments to a virtual post it note on my computer. Although I check my iLearn I prefer to start my assignments in the evening as I work best at night time. During the day I am usually at home but on the days I am not home all day I go out on hikes with my friends while keeping in mind to social distance. All of my friends have dogs so they usually bring them as well so it always makes me super happy to see some of my furry friends. After my mid day hike I will usually return home and then make some lunch for myself. Since I have been taking this time to learn how to cook my new favorite recipe to make is eggplant parmigiana. After lunch I have been trying to do 15 minute ab workouts I find online some of my favorites include Chloe Tings workout. Since I do not go outside everyday I try to incorporate at home excersizes I can do to keep healthy. When it hits around 7 pm I will usually have some dinner then start doing my school work up until 10 or 11 pm while listening to a study playlist. After I finish my homework I will usually be on a zoom call with my friends up until about 1 am then go to sleep after. Although there is not much to do now in a time like this I think it is important to keep yourself busy without being the problem of continuing the spread.

Since the quarantine started our spring breaks it has been over a month since we have been home. I am thankful to be with my family during this time and we are spending a lot more time together than we ever have since we all live pretty busy lives. Some things I do to not become too stir crazy is FaceTime or Houseparty my friends whenever they are available to talk and we can stay on the phone for hours at a time just virtually hanging out. Additionally, I have been keeping pretty busy with school work as well. When I am not on the phone or doing homework I try to pick up on new hobbies. Recently, I have been brushing up on my cooking skills and trying new recipes that I would have not have had the time to do anyways if I was at Marist right now. Now more than ever I have been active and going on social distance hikes with a best friend from high school. It is important to stay inside but if you do go outside protective measures should be in place also. We always make sure to wear masks and gloves and to stay six feet apart. I think during this quarantine it is an important time to self-reflect and think about life as this is the first and most likely last time that we can be in the house all day and not be doing too much. Even though I am ready for quarantine to end and I don’t like to not be able to do regular things such as going out to eat with my friends or going to the movies I think it is important to stay home out of respect to the nurses and doctors who are working so hard everyday to try to help out affected people.

In a “Star is Born” I noticed that the movie had very intense lighting with colors that deeply contrasted one another. For example, in the scene where Ally is on stage at a Drag bar the curtain behind her is a vibrant firetruck red while the lights on her face and body are completely blue besides her bright red lipstick. I believe this was edited to give Ally importance and to make people focus in on her. Additionally, before Jackson Maine enters the bar he is in a taxi that is minimally lit and you can see through the window the bright neon signs of the city. I believe that this in some way shows symbolizes the need for importance. He is in some cast into the shadows even though he is a well known singer. This occurs in Ally’s first singing scene as well where the camera pans out to him in the background with the red light on him surrounded in the crowd as he watches her sing on stage. This lighting reoccurs in the film when Jackson tells Ally to come up on stage with him during one of his performances. Throughout the movie there are a lot of jump-cuts from one scene to another. I noticed jump-cuts are used a lot when Jackson is preforming it shows other scenes of him and Ally connecting to each other. The jump-cuts would show scenes from the beginning of the movie when they met at the drag bar, them on the tour bus on the open Arizona road, and their deep talk in the grocery store parking lot about how she would not sing or preform her own songs. The jump cuts are used as well to show progression on how their views have changed since they met one another. I believe this was to emphasize how their mutual love for music have brought them closer together. Additionally, there are a lot of close ups of faces when there is an intense scene. For example, when Jackson was fighting with his father about how he was what his father never could be the camera was very zoomed in to show the emotion on their faces to emphasize the heat of the moment. Overall, every scene that was shot of A Star is Born was carefully articulated and artistically beautiful which for me made the movie very enjoyable and one of my new favorite movies. 

Upon watching a Star is Born my overall thoughts of the movie was that it was fantastic. I would rate this movie an 8.5/10. The movie highlighted the struggles that celebrities face on a day to day basis. In the beginning of the movie, Jack first meets Ally at a drag bar and brings her to another bar after where people recognize Jack and beg to take photos with him. This happens another instance when they are in the grocery store and the cashier takes a picture of him without his knowledge. These scenes show that celebrities often times are not treated as normal human beings with normal problems that everyone faces as well. Going along with problems, throughout the movie we see that Jack struggles with alcohol and drug abuse. Many scenes shows his struggles for example, is in Memphis visiting a friend but didn’t make it to the front door as he was too intoxicated and ends up sleeping outside on the street. Throughout a Star is Born, it also highlights the struggle of finding yourself and being okay with the person you are. Before Ally was famous, her style of singing was more melancholy and emotional. After she got signed with a record label, she shifted into more of a pop theme. Her manager tells her that she has to change herself in order for her fans to love her. He suggests to go blonde and to change up her general style. In a performance she does alone she decided not to dance with her backup dancers and for that she gets yelled at. Later on she is preforming on a talk show with backup dancers. As her fame increases Ally is adjusting her life accordingly. What I loved most about a Star is Born was that it did not romanticize being famous and did not show Ally and Jacks relationship as being perfect. The movie showed them getting into multiple fights about numerous topics. It also highlighted Jacks struggles with his father and them having a rocky relationship ever since he was a child. A critique I would have for the movie is that at some points I had trouble understanding Jack and his father because they would mumble and they had an accent which made it a little harder for me to understand as well. The movie also had a tragic ending which made me sad but the ending scene of Ally singing the song Jack wrote for her made it a powerful movie.

The Coronavirus is supposed to apex in the next week we should take all necessary precautions to help stop the spread. While reading and listening to many news articles it is suggested that we only go outside when absolutely necessary during this time. This would include going to the grocery store. Additionally, when outside it is important to social distance 6ft apart from others. Although it is hard to not be able to see friends or extended family during this time it is so important that we learn to stay inside so the virus can stop spreading at the rate it is already at. Also learning how to wash your hands properly and frequently disinfect surfaces is vital during this time.

As a member of generation Z, this is the first time in many of our lives that we have experienced a huge global crisis. We were too young to remember horrible events such as 9/11 or other viruses that have occurred in the past. As I reside in New York City, I have never in my life seen the city so empty and gloomy. People are comparing the gloom of the city as it was after 9/11. Two weeks ago, I ventured out to get some fresh air and the streets were pretty much empty. It was insane I have never seen so few people walking around in my life. Many people have or are going to lose their jobs and I have seen posts on social media of a landlord in Brooklyn actually not making residents of the complex pay rent this month because of the fact that many are unemployed as their jobs are considered non-essential. We have 1/3 of the nations cases which is not surprising due to the fact that we are densely populated area. I hope in the next weeks to see a decline in the virus and to see many people heal from it.

While studying abroad last year, I decided I wanted to take advantage of the cheap air fare and see as much of Europe as possible. It was November and our first official break since the school year had started so my friends and I decided to start planning a trip and we decided on London. England is only a 45 minute plane ride from Dublin. As soon as I closed my eyes when the flight took off, I opened them and we were already landed! London is a huge city, much bigger than Dublin which we were expecting. We first stopped at the major attractions such as the London eye and Birmingham tower then as the week went on we made tried to find more lesser known attractions away from tourists. One of my favourite spots we found was Hyde Park. It was a large magnificent park that we got to bike through.

Introducing the all new, all improved bubble wrap! This bubblewrap is super effective at protecting products from getting damaged in the mail. The best part? you get to pop it after! Get your bubblewrap today.