Author: Tommy Grant

War Of The Worlds A Brief Background

The role of mass media, such as movies, in influencing the minds and perceptions of people has long been recognized. Even in the 1930s, when the technology for such media were still new, many saw how these can shape the way people react to long-standing conditions. One good example of such phenomena is the panic by many Americans caused by the radio broadcast by Orson Welles of the ìWar of The Worlds.î This was an adaptation of the book penned by H.G. Wells.

A context of the situation: according to the History about website, radio broadcasting during the 1930s was the main means of disseminating news and entertainment items for Americans.

In 1938, many Americans tuned into their radios only to hear a radio broadcast of what seemed to be an actual invasion by aliens. The broadcast was made on a Sunday evening, October 30. As mentioned by the HistoryAbout website, the broadcast of “War of The Worlds” had coincided with the airing of the “Chase and Sanborn Hour,” which had featured ventriloquy performances by Edgar Bergen’s dummy Charlie McCarthy. As quoted by Cruz in a Time Magazine article, the broadcast opened with the following lines pertaining to the discovery by a professor at an Illinois observatory of “several explosions of incandescent gas” on the surface of Mars. The gas was reportedly observed to be moving to Earth.

These lines were further followed by so-called accounts of alien attacks in New Jersey and in another farm. According to Cruz,Americans throughout the East Coast of the United States went out to the streets, some to go to church, presumably to pray for their deliverance. Others went to their loved ones, hoping to be with them in what seemed to be an apocalyptic moment for many, said Cruz.

But how did the broadcast came about?

According to Cruz, it was agreed upon that the broadcast of “War of the Worlds” be divided into two. The first part would consist of musical pieces. These would be then succeeded by what seemed to be actual news bulletins of alien attacks. Unfortunately, as Cruz mentioned, many had missed the first part and had only listened to the second part. Hence the panic. Subsequently, angry calls were made by listeners to the CBS office even as rumors of the alien invasion remained throughout the country. However, the panic made Welles a star instead of a “traitorous” culprit, says Cruz.

Getting A Girlfriend – Fiction Vs Reality

In today’s post I wanted to ramble a bit on the topic of “getting a girlfriend” – in terms of how it is portrayed in the movies and fiction books compared to how things work in the real world.

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What is the story with this perverse “nice guy” narrative we see running rampant in Hollywood and the young adult fiction that is setting todays young men up for heartache?

We’ve all seen it a million times in just about every (probably 97%) “young love story” that has been published/produced in the last 100 years or so. It goes like this: “guy sees/meets/knows a beautiful young woman that he wants to date. However, this young beauty is currently dating the EVIL captain of the football team, ski instructor, frat boy/or wall street douche bag. Then the guy (the first guy, who we’ll refer to as the “nice guy”) goes on a mission to prove how much nicer he is a what a better, more caring boyfriend he could be, without really “making a move” or doing anything assertive enough to actually work. Eventually the “bad boy” boyfriend ends up doing himself in by getting caught cheating, or something like that, and then just by being “nice” the nice-guy gets to ride off into the sunset with his lady love.

Is this how the world really works? Does the “good guy” really get the girl? Is this what we see happening in the real world?

I think a lot of self-identifying “nice guys” would beg to differ. The reason being ñ women are not attracted to “niceness” as a trait that makes them want get into relationship with a guy. Back me up here ladies!

Sure niceness is nice. It beats being a straight up asshole most of the time, but it’s not exactly the sexiest thing in the world either.

Further, a healthy dose of “niceness” is part of being a good person, but the idea of a guy who is trying to “be a nice guy” all the time to get girls to like him is kind barf-worthy. Its also highly manipulative, which if you think about it really isn’t all that nice.

Lets look at a few of the things that a lot of so called nice guys do, if fiction and in real life, which actually has the opposite of the desired effect:

Non-effective method #1 – Trying to play the “handsome card”. A lot of guys think that physical appearance is the key to sparking the attraction process for with a woman. Guys spend tons of time and money time trying to dress trendy and get in shape, but the fact is most women prefer a more manly man who is not so concerned with his appearance. In fact this kind of vanity is really much more of a traditionally feminine trait!

Non-effective method #2 – Hiding one’s sexual desire. One of the key aspects of a “nice guy” is that he is not sexual, and therefore he tries to avoid discussing sexual topics with women on dates. However, the fact is that women are sexual creatures to. This is something that more successful “bad boy” types know, which is why you will often sees these guys ending up discussing sexual issues with beautiful women even if they just met them a few minutes earlier. Although this can be effective, remember that just because woman may be a sexual animal, this should not be used as an excuse to get too graphic in your discussion of sexuality with a woman you just met. This becomes especially crucial in the dating scene when trust is still in the process of being established. Opening up any discussion that has very strong sexual connotations can easily destroy this trust and can even make a woman feel abused in some ways. So keep your sexual discussion light and playful at first, rather than just plain filthy.

Non-effective method #3 – Avoiding all physical contact. Again, part of the whole “nice guy” thing is going to great lengths not to offend a woman. This is problematic however since touch is such a big part of sexual arousal. Just remember that while light playful physical contact is not only acceptable, but generally a good idea, overdoing it and being to overtly sexual with touch is not a good idea, especially on a first date. This can give off a signal to the woman that her date is a pervert who is just looking to bang, when they hardly knew anything significant about one another.

Non-effective method #4 – Kissing her butt. On the part of the man, making his date feel special should be his priority. Giving her compliments on how she fixed her hair for their date is a good starting point. However, repeatedly making complimentary remarks makes you look like a goofy dork and appears quite artificial. Spontaneous and natural comments are more effective when it comes to attracting women.

And finally , I should mention that I WILL be upgrading this site soon to make it a bit more visually appealing for you guys. My initial thought was to keep things as simple and black and white as possible, but I’ve received comments to the effect that it is looking a bit tired and old, so if you have any opinions of suggestions regarding this please let me know in the comments!

The Importance Of Maintaining A Healthy Weight After 40

Ever since Jack LaLanne burst onto the scene in the 1950s American have been getting more and more interested in physical fitness every year. And while people of all ages can benefit from going to the gym and eating a healthy diet, it is of the utmost importance that folks over 40 work to maintain a healthy weight and a healthy waist BMI. The reasons are many ñ from avoiding strained knees and other joints, to avoiding serious diseases, staying fit into middle age is clearly vitally important. This is not an endorsement or recommendation, but the Old School New Body system is something that some folks have been using to improve their fitness levels later in life. The idea is get exercise in a way that is not overly taxing on the body, but still helps you burn fat and strengthen your muscles.

One problematic factor is the fact that increasingly people are unable to save much for retirement in their 20s and 30s, and as a result they find themselves working extremely hard in their 40s and 50s so that they will be able to retire some day. All of these long weeks sitting at desk, hunched over eating snacks and drinking caffeine surely takes itís toll on our bodies. The most important thing is to have a frank talk with your doctor and see what he or she recommends to you for a fitness and nutritional regime, usually a good GP will be able to give you the most accurate and straight forward advice. From there you can seek out a personal trainer or accountability coach to keep you motivated and on track towards your fitness goals.

Getting Your Ex Back With Relationship Rewind

A lot of people get dumped and broken up with every single day of the year. Some take it well, others not so much, and then there are those people who have complete breakdowns after getting dumped by a partner who they felt deeply in love with. It is this last group that my heart really goes out to because I’ve been there and I know how hard it can be when it feels like you would give anything to get your ex back but your ex just isn’t having any of it.

The good news however is that there are now several new self-help products on the market that have been specifically designed to help folks who have just been dumped to keep their emotional balance steady and even in some cases use psychological principles to get their exes back into their lives.

One such program that has become quite popular is Ryan River’s Relationship Rewind system which promises to help readers climb on board a “time machine” of sorts that is said to help them return to the honeymoon stage of their relationships by exploiting certain psychological techniques. You can read a full Relationship Rewind review, but I wanted to share my opinion too, because I think that this is something that could really benefit a lot of people and something that the world should know about.

Another – called Brad Browning’s Ex Factor encourages people to incorporate a period of “no contact” which allows their ex-partners an opportunity to start to miss them, potentially leading to a reconciliation.

I think that the best thing about this new breed of self-help programs, and Relationship Rewind in particular is that they explain powerful, and sometimes somewhat complex terms into simple language that regular folks can understand. After all, when a person has just gone through a break-up the last thing that they want to do is to try to decipher all kinds of big words and vague concepts. And even if not everybody who follows a guide like is able to get their ex back at the very least everyone will be emotionally comforted and educated at the same time.

3 Reasons Why I Became a Writer

Becoming a writer was not the first thing that came to mind when I was growing up, I wanted to be something else which I could not quite remember. But there was a crucial turning point in my life that made me say “I want to become a writer”. At that time, I was in a point in my life where I had a decent job, but I felt like I was supposed to be doing something else. That feeling lingered for quite some time, three years to be exact. I decided to take a leave of absence from my job and travel to Asia for three months. That trip made me realize what I really wanted to do in my life. After returning from that trip I had three clear reasons as to why I wanted to shift from my current job to becoming a full-time writer.
3 Reasons Why I Became a Writer

Self-Expression

Looking back, ever since I was a child I liked writing in a journal. I did not care what I wrote I just wrote things on my journal and kept it a secret from everyone else. No one else knew about my journal and where I put it. These writings contained my thoughts, random scribbles, and some stories I wrote. In my journal, I was able to be who I wanted to be. I saved damsels in distress, fought space wars, or became Luke Skywalker. There was no one there to judge me, I transformed into anyone I wanted and said all the things I wanted to say. Writing gave me the avenue to express myself and the deepest thoughts that I had in mind. From childhood to now, I still feel the same way. It all just came back to me and came together at the right time. I am glad I made the decision to become a writer. I do not know what I would be doing if I stuck with my job for another year or so.

Creative Control

I like having creative control in the things that I do that is what writing gave to me. I created my own worlds and filled it with the people I wanted. I formed and shaped the characters of the stories I wrote and I loved it. I knew my characters inside and out, knew their darkest thoughts and their motivations. I was thrilled to create whatever I wanted through writing. The creative control that writing gave me liberated me from the monotony of daily life. Through writing I made things more interesting than they actually are. I was able to put motivations in, create character flaws, make twists, and make the most minute of details important to the grand scheme of things.

Bored Out of My Mind

I decided to take a turn from my current job because I was bored out of my mind. I was tired of doing the same thing over and over again, dealing with the same people, same problems, and same outcomes. I wanted a fresh start and something that I have more creative control over. I was doing OK with my job, getting promoted, earning some money, but something was missing from the daily grind. It took a while for me to realize that I wanted to do something else than collect a paycheck every month.

I can honestly say that the transition was not smooth, but I found my new career in writing far more rewarding compared to my previous job. There are days when I get bored or run into a creative bump, but the thought of doing something else never crossed my mind again.