Gambling Addiction

Gambling is a subject that much like smoking has been glamourised through the years but is denounced by many religions as a very bad habit. However just like smoking i wanted to look into more of the idea of it being addictive. Unlike smoking though we still see many advertisements for such things as online poker and casinos and in this country in recent years there has been a growth in casinos and although the idea was scrapped there was plans to build a super casino in Manchester a year ago. According to American statistics there are 15 million gambling addicts in the USA and people who are on much lower incomes gamble three times as much as those on high incomes. Far from showing the glamourous world of gambling that we see in places like Las Vegas. Another rather negative view as come from the American Psychology Assiociation who say Internet gambling shows signs of being just as addictive as drugs and alcohol therefore instead of being a pastime it becomes an addiction in which people who are worse off are more likely to get into that state.

Here is a link with more statistics on gambling in America

http://www.overcominggambling.com/facts.html

Ted Haggard

When listening to the being to religous lecture, it came to my mind that to me personally, another idea of being to religous would be to use your faith in trying to influence peoples political beliefs. So i tried to find a good example of this and Ted Haggard is a good example. This man was the head of The National Association of Evangelists (NAE) which represents millions of Evangelist Christians in America. He was even listed in time magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelists in America. He is firm supporter in President George W Bush and has supported him through out is presidency and rallyed evangical christians to follow his cause.It has even been said that Bush and Haggard meet for meetings every Monday. This shows the power he has in representing such a large community in America. However scandal struck for him. He has publically said that homosexuality is wrong and that is the stance of the NAE. However he was found out to have had sexual relations with another man in 2006 and also of buying the drug Methamphetamine. He has since resigned from his position as head of the NAE, not surprisingly.

Here is the article where he confessed to having Homosexual relations

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/05/haggard.allegations/index.html

American History X

When talking about bad film, this was the first film that came to my mind. Not that American History X is a bad film by any means, but the subject matter of the neo nazi underground and some scenes of harsh violence caused controversy. The film is about two characters who are drawn to neo-nazism as their father is killed by a black drug dealer the story shows us how the one character is influenced by the others actions as they are brothers. It shows the influence people can play on each other. One extremely controversial scene in the film however is when Edward Norton's character Derek Vinyard makes a black man put his face on the pavement and he stamps on it braking the mans jaw and killing him. The scene shows very much the bleak harshness of the film and the brutal reality involved. Although this particular scene is not easy watching the film is a great piece of work.

Bill Hicks-comedy hero or just a cynic

Bill Hicks seems to still have a strong popularity even after 14 years since his death. He has seemed to be remembered by the ones who love his work as "The Angry Man of comedy.". I have watched some of Bill Hicks's shows through the dvd releases that have been put out. He talked about topics such as being anti-war, as he was doing shows when the Gulf War was happening, Being pro-smoking, drug use and bashing advertising and corporations. But as the subject of smoking was covered in the Being Bad module here is quote from him on what he thinks of non smokers:

"“The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones that come up to you and cough. That's pretty cruel isn't it? Do you go up to cripples and dance to?."

I have personally found and im sure do a lot of his fans find, that Bill Hicks is not just a comedian but a commentator on the world around and a brutally honest comentator at that, and when i first watched something by Bill Hicks i found it refreshing because it was a person telling you of his experience and opinions instead of just rolling off joke after joke.

However Uk comedian Tim Harkness argues that all Hicks did was tap into a generation of cynics who automatically think the worst of people.

But i think people should watch and decide for themselves so here is a clip of his stand up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ySCcnoo3c&feature=related

Straight edge lifestyle Being good?,and straight edge tattoos

Throughout history tattooing has seemed to be used in branding and marking people, to belong to particular groups. For example in Mayan culture tattoos were used on men as a sign of courage. So what i wanted to do was research a community who use tattooing as a symbol of their beliefs but is present in society now all over the world. We can see this in the straight edge community. What is meant by straight edge is a lifestyle that abstains from recreational drug use, smoking, alchohol, casual sex and in cases where the person is very strong in their beliefs even such drugs as caffiene. The straight edge scenes roots can be traced back to the Washington DC hardcore punk scene of the early 80's where bands such as Minor Threat gave the message of straight edge through their lyrics. Here is an excerpt from one of their tracks "Out of Step"

"Don't smoke Don't drink Don't fuck At least I can fucking think."

As you can see from this lyric the straight edge message was a very straight forward one but the idea was that some bands in this scene wanted to concentrate on making music rather than taking drugs.

However this message over time has formed into a community, which has its own symbols to represent it. The most common symbol is an X. Which many people have tattooed on their body to show that they belong to the straight edge community. This symbol has come from the x's that were put on peoples hands on the door at hardcore punk shows. It was adopted by the straight edge community because it is used on the cover of an album by a band called The Teen Idles. This band included Ian Mackaye and Jeff Nelson who went on to form Minor Threat, who coined the term straight edge and are straight edge themselves. The community still thrives today although people have used straight edge as an excuse for elitism which according to Ian Mackaye one of the creators of the philosophy is absolutely wrong.

Here is a link to a website full of straight edge tattoos:

http://www.straightedgeink.com/

Here is also a link to the record label Dischord records who released the prominent Washington DC hardcore records, from bands such as Minor Threat, Dag Nasty and Teen Idles. This record label is ran to this day by Ian Mackaye and Jeff Nelson of Minor Threat, who have know gone on to do other musical projects the most famous being Ian Mackaye's band Fugazi.

http://www.dischord.com/

Above are photos of The teen Idles cover, An example of a Straight Edge tattoo and Ian Mackaye the singer from Minor Threat perfoming with the band.

Mad Men-smoking

I was watching TV the other day and ended up watching this drama called Mad Men for anyone who hasn't heard of it, it's about the ruthlessly competitive men and women who are part of an advertising firm, it is based in the 1960's and the members of the firm manipulate and exploit people to close their advertising deals. What caught my attention on this show however was the way smoking had a very glamourous appeal with all the characters, which is understandable really as the show is based in a time was smoking was still seen as glamourous, a particular scene caught my attention in where the main character, Don Draper who is the biggest ad man in the business and also it seems quite the ladies man is having a drink with a woman trying to close a business deal, at the start of this drink they flirt rediculously while smoking there cigarettes until, Draper makes a harsh comment about the business deal then the woman puts the cigarette out only halfway through being smoked ,and soon after leaves. I remember in the smoking lecture it being discussed how smoking has being used in the past in films to sexually charge a scene and this was very present in the scene in Mad Men, although it has been made very recently it seems to be a sort of homage to the way smoking was used in these more old fashioned films and showing the glamour also associated with smoking at the time.

Above is a picture of the woman Draper is talking with, and a photo of Draper himself both smoking.

The official website for the show is:

http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/