When Authors' Names Are Bigger Than The Book's Title

Whenever I walk into a bookstore like Barnes & Noble, I look around at the piles of books in the "best-selling authors" section and I notice the same thing every time:

The authors' god damn names are always bigger than the book's title.

Seriously, every cover just looks like:


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DAN BROWN. I'M DAN BROWN. 

I'M A FAMOUS AUTHOR PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE ME

By the way my book is called Angels and Demons.

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I mean, I get that it's about self-promotion, but come on. Have some integrity. It makes novel writing as a whole look like a gigantic jerking contest.

Axe Commercial is Beyond Ridiculous

This is a recent commercial for Axe body products that has been on TV lately. Go ahead and watch it if you haven't already. Done? If you didn't find anything wrong with that, consider yourself a simpleton.

Axe commercials have always been known for being a bit sexist, but this commercial is just a step beyond ridiculous. For me, it's not even that it's blatantly misogynistic. What really drives me over the edge is just how idiotic and misinformed this commercial is.

The views we have right here, right now are going to be true forever. Right guys?!

"Girls are getting hotter"? Seriously? How about, society's perception of women has changed over the years? People used to value a different type of woman back then. Just look around for pictures of models from around a century ago. Or perhaps some Ancient Greek statues of women. What we consider "hot" now has only been the status quo for a few decades. Beautiful women from the past would be considered "fat" in modern society. 

But to the people at Axe, none of this obvious information even exists. Honestly, I find it hard to believe that the people who make these commercials are even human adults. I wouldn't be surprised if they were teenagers, or monkeys. 

Don't Take Things for Granted

I'm still pretty young, so there's a lot about life that I don't know about. I've yet to experience anything beyond an education, and I've never had to worry about the essentials like food, shelter, or even money. My family has had plenty of financial issues stemming from our immigration status, but I was always too young to understand the struggle my parents were going through.

In the end, it seems I was spoon-fed through most of my life. I guess it was good parenting on my mom's part for loving me and caring for me so much that I didn't even realize how much my family was suffering. Though, at the same time, I never learned how to appreciate what I have. Even as a young adult, I find myself having trouble doing the simplest tasks.

My point is, if there's any lesson I can share with the world, it's that you should never take things for granted. Just because people love you and care for you, doesn't mean they'll always be there to hold your hand. People come and go. It's up to you to take care of yourself.

If there's anything I'm good at, it's taking things for granted. I take my terrific home life for granted, my education and opportunities, and even my loved ones for granted. Keep sitting back and letting others live life for you, and you'll end up confused and miserable. Trust me, good things never last.

Today is Valentine's Day, so even if you're single, just take the time to think about what your loved ones have done for you, and how your behavior might impact them. The problem with most people is that they don't do this quite enough. Don't regret growing old and finding out that in the end, they were the only parts of your life that really mattered.

Phones are Terrible

I don't know about you, but I'm a little ticked about the state of the modern telephone. It's just god awful. Before you say "What?! The telephone is one of the greatest inventions in human history!", just hear me out. I'm not talking about the telephone as an invention in general. I'm talking about the state of voice quality in modern phones.

"It's up to you"

Everybody should be familiar with this one. You're with a friend or a group of friends, and you ask "what do you guys want to eat?" At that moment, there will undoubtedly be a person that says "I don't mind anything, it's up to you". At first, it might seem like they're just being open-minded and polite, but that's just wishful thinking on their part. In truth, "it's up to you" basically translates to "Don't ask me, I don't feel like deciding". It's dismissive; an avoidance of responsibility. It contributes nothing to the situation; if anything, it makes everything more frustrating.

It doesn't just stop there, either. There are people who say "anything is fine", only to shoot down every suggestion you give. It makes absolutely no sense. If you have a preference, just say it! I've actually seen people get mad about a decision after specifically stating that "ANYTHING is FINE". Please, just try and help make a decision. Don't try to hide your indecisiveness with this pretentious bullshit. You're basically just dead-weight in a survival situation...or an asshole.

Not Dressed for Winter

It's currently 20 degrees Fahrenheit. My college campus is up on pretty high hills, so it feels closer to 10 degrees. It's so cold that my face hurts. It...it just freaking hurts. A lot. No amount of bundling up seems to be enough to stop this blistering pain.

So I'm walking, and everybody is covered in parkas, scarves, and hats. Then there's that one guy who's wearing a T-SHIRT. I see this constantly. My question is, what is wrong with these people? Do they have super-human abilities? Are they poor? Is that why they don't have a jacket on? It's a college campus, these kids have parents. There is no way that money is an issue.

Therefore, the question is still in the air. Why do these people choose not to dress appropriately for winter? It's really just beyond me, and I haven't been able to understand for years... 

Paparazzi are Shameless

I don't think I need to explain to you why paparazzi are garbage, so just watch this video. If you're particularly stupid, you'll be thinking: "Wow! Leonardo DiCaprio is a douchebag." See, this is what paparazzi do. They harass celebrities in order to incite (hopefully) a violent response, and if they succeed, they get to post videos with titles like "Alec Baldwin is crazy, breaks camera".

This is how shameless their profession is. Their job revolves around smearing famous people and reaping the benefits of negative attention. Are angry celebrities really assholes? Of course not; how would you feel if you were greeted with flashing lights and cameras every time you walked outside? I think any sort of response is an acceptable one.

They think they're "exposing" the ugly sides of celebrities when the truth is, they're just being human. Even the most patient people would eventually break from the frustration. As I said, paparazzi are shameless people with a shameless profession. They're no better than criminals, as far as I'm concerned.

"I'll Pray For You"

"I'll pray for you". If you are surrounded by enough Christians (or go to church), you've probably heard this sentence uttered countless times. Now, this isn't a post about religion. Rather, it's a post about people and their social habits. You see, whenever someone claims that they'll pray for you, they're really just trying to avoid the situation altogether. It's kind of the equivalent of saying "Alright....well good luck with that!" The picture really explains it all. Whoever bothers saying "I'll pray for you" simply doesn't care. They don't care enough to actually do something to help, so they just try to get away with pretending like they care.

Obviously, there might be an occasional person that actually does end up keeping you in their thoughts, but how often does this actually happen? I'd rather have them put some actual effort into helping me. I guess this is what you would call an empty promise. It's like when someone says, "Just let me know if you ever need something". They don't actually want you to bother them, and they definitely don't want to do anything for you. It's an empty gesture.

Maybe it's just simple etiquette and I shouldn't be complaining, but I find the whole thing completely disingenuous. Nothing bothers me more than people who are fake, so obviously it irks me when someone says "I'll pray for you", only to do absolutely nothing forever. If you're going to say anything, just say "I hope it works out". Say something meaningless rather than lie. Trust me, it's the right thing to do. Maybe... What. Hot dogs.

The Bystander Effect

So I was just surfing youtube, and I stumbled upon the video above. The video itself isn't interesting, but the comments below it got me a bit riled up. Almost every user was complaining about how the onlookers just stood there and did nothing. They called it disgusting, and cowardly. I used to think like this when I was immature too, but I don't bullshit anymore.

Answering "I don't know" on the Internet....

This is something that I'm sure most people have noticed, and it's something I've witnessed hundreds of times but it never actually bothered me...until recently. I've been looking up a lot of questions on google and it has been frustrating me to a small degree. Why, when faced with a question on a forum thread or yahoo answers etc., do some people choose to answer "I don't know"?