Sunday 8 May 2011

Rebecca Black vs Jenna Rose

It is also believed that they have been costuming cabbages and passing them off as human beings. – Principia Discordia

It seems that everyone loves to hate Rebecca Black's impossibly vapid single "Friday", and for reasons that are mostly apparent: it's mindless, repetitive, and speaks to nothing but a privileged adolescence. One thing I noticed about the song that nobody seems to be saying is that it makes Jenna Rose look good.

Jenna Rose, another YouTube darling, has a single called "My Jeans" about, you guessed it, Jeans. The song is pretty mindless and is about a girl who has a pair of Jeans that she sees someone famous wearing in a magazine and therefore feels superior to her peers whose jeans are not featured in a magazine. By comparison, Rebecca Black's "Friday" is about how Friday is when the weekend starts, and weekends are "fun, fun, fun, fun, etc…"

 

When you compare the two songs, both of them are about the simpler concerns of a relatively privileged adolescence and lack any real emotional depth. They both have a catchy repetitiveness, but not so catchy that you feel compelled to listen to them again. However, "My Jeans" comes off as more genuine and whimsical. It's shallow, but in a way that you feel a young girl might actually have written it, enjoyed writing it, and felt proud when it was finished. Rebecca Black's video comes off as a little too polished to be the whimsical work of a young girl and ends up taking itself too seriously, which is why she's now an internet joke.

 

Rebecca Black's "Friday" is about such privilege that her life is made up of nothing but fun and school. While most kids have reason to look forward to the weekend, many have to work or help the family with chores. While Jenna Rose's song also speaks to privilege, there is nothing in the song that prevents a teenager who had to get a job to buy their own clothes from relating to the thrill of wearing something that was featured in a magazine.

While both Rebecca Black and Jenna Rose are shallow and simplistic, Jenna Rose manages, by comparison, to have more content and to be more relatable, and generally seems less manufactured. This raises an important question: Is it actually a good thing to have someone who makes Jenna Rose look good achieve as much fame as Rebecca Black?

Friday 6 May 2011

Vaccine for cat ladies discovered

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. - Mark Twain


I think we all have one of those friends. The one with 2 cats that she obsesses over, buying them toys, treats and the latest designer litter box. She lets them sleep with her, she buries her face in their fur with affection, and maybe, just maybe, she will actually complain about her allergies. Whether she complains or not, you can see them: those big, puffy red eyes begging you to take the cats away from her. Of course, you never step in. You know that those cats are your friends surrogate children and you wouldn't dare get in the way of that relationship. The most you could ever do is fetch your friend a pack of antihistamines and hope it works out.

It has always been a mystery why cat allergies weren't enough to keep someone from becoming at cat lady. Surely the universe was trying to communicate to these people that they should not live with cats, or at the very least not sleep with them. Were they fanatics who considered themselves martyrs for some feline cause? Do they somehow feel that they deserve to suffer? Do they own stock in an antihistamine manufacturer? These questions may never be answered, and thanks to a recent discovery, we may soon be able to stop asking.

Researchers at McMaster University have discovered a cure for your friend's troubles: a vaccine that reduces, or even eliminates completely, allergies to cats. That means that your friend can love their furry companions and not have to suffer for it (unless, of course, the stuffy nose was saving them from smelling the litter box). The vaccine, currently in clinical trials, is supposed to have very few side effects compared to current immunotherapy shots and requires fewer injections.

This vaccine's potential is seemingly endless when it comes to benefitting cat ladies: every friend or love interest who kept their distance because they didn't want to deal with their allergies is suddenly going to be able to pet those adorable kitties and only be thinking about how soft and friendly they are. The vaccine could also have benefits for people who aren't particularly fond of cats, such as people who come into contact with cat dander through their jobs, such as house cleaners or veterinarians. Even better, the researchers are working on developing similar vaccines for other environmental allergens such as hay fever. If the trials are a success, taking antihistamine tablets for allergies could become a thing of the past.

The only question that remains is if the vaccine will remove the stigma associated with being a cat lady. If so, the prescription will probably come with directions: "For best results, limit number of cats."