"Kim K Game"

Kalila Bell

To all the avid Kim Kardashian fans, those just fascinated by her lifestyle, or for those of you who say Kim who? In American pop culture, Kim Kardashian is the mega star who ascended into stardom out of what most consider nowhere, but her name alone is the face of multiple brands, media appearances, and entrepreneur endeavors. 

One of which is her new, easily accessible App entitled simply Kim Kardashian Hollywood, or more commonly referred to as the “Kim K Game”.  As a regular follower of all things Kim K, I decided to download the app. The storyline behind the app is that you create an avatar of yourself, and are guided by the advice of none other than Kim Kardashian herself. 

As you navigate your way through Tinseltown, you learn how to climb the social ladder. The only main objective of the game, through dating famous stars, is to grow in your career as a model, actress, or some variation, and to go on exotic trips to countries like Paris, Australia, and Italy. As you charter your life around obstacles such as your annoying yet sweet manager Simon, Willow Pape spreading nasty rumors about you, or any crisis such as losing fans or falling down the social ladder.  

All in all, the game is perfect for killing some free time, and with the new updates such as new clothes from Kim that you can buy, daily prizes that you can win, and energy or ‘K’ star, the game’s options continue to increase. 

Be wary though for her game can become addictive, and before you know it you’ll find yourself counting down the minutes before your energy is stored up to finish that photo shoot.

Director of the Secret Service Steps Down

Charlee Cobb

On October 1, Julia Pierson resigned as the Secret Service director after a lot of major complications within the White House security. The most recent security breach occurred when a man with a knife was stopped after he had jumped the fence and entered the White House. Another security breach took place in Atlanta when an armed contractor, with a criminal record, was able to ride the elevator with the President.

Congress did not feel comfortable with the latest incidents that fell under Ms. Pierson’s responsibility. After a hearing held on September 30^th, they asked her to step down.

However, some feel that Ms. Pierson is not the only one to blame. Congressman Elijah Cummings said in an interview with MSNBC, “This [breaching security] culture didn’t just come about because of Ms. Pierson. There are probably some other folks that need to take the exit sign—exit ramp—out too.”

Pierson had been working as the director for only a year and a half, but had over 30 years of experience in the Secret Service. President Barack Obama personally appointed her, and after her resignation he expressed his thanks for her time on the job. Joseph Clancy, of the Presidential Protection Division, will now take the interim position of Secret Service director.

A Blurred Reality

DuShuan Headd

Judging a book by its cover, most people would assume someone with a top hit music single and a beautiful actress wife has it all, but the chapters inside that book detail something much less attractive.

Grammy nominee and four time Billboard Award winner, Robin Thicke, was atop of the mountains during 2013. Already prominent in the music business with hits like "Lost Without U" and "Sex Therapy," Thicke saw his stardom rise to worldwide fame when he collaborated with musician/producer Pharrell Williams and rapper T.I. to create the smash single "Blurred Lines."

Becoming the second best-selling digital song of all time, Blurred Lines was a hit all over the world. Having an old-school sound mixed with a touch of "new generation," Thicke described the title and song as "The good-girl, bad-girl thing and what's appropriate thing." The song was being played on televisions, radios, and stores all over and Thicke quickly found himself the center of attention. Seemingly the motivation behind all of his success and happiness, one needs to look no further than his then wife and mother of his child, Paula Patton.

Childhood sweethearts, Thicke and Patton began dating at the age of 16, and eventually got married in 2005. True love some would say, so when it was announced the two were separating in early 2014, the world was stunned. What is even more stunning however are some of the events that have transpired afterwards.

Since the split, the world has had to endure the man who seemingly had everything going for him, look completely "Lost Without Paula Patton." Taking complete blame for the split, for four months Thicke recorded songs and went on tour, singing songs all towards getting the attention of Patton and possibly winning her back. Thicke released his seventh album titled Paula in late June and in a July interview reveled to the world he has not seen "the love of his life" in four months.

A sad story gets even sadder when in a deposition obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, Thicke admitted to being addicted to Vicodin and alcohol. He blames his addiction as a reason for why his marriage may have fallen apart saying, "I've been sober for the last two months... When your wife leaves you, it gives you a good reason to sober up." Also in the deposition, Thicke talks about how his drug problem led him to take more credit than he should have for the Blurred Lines single, saying Pharrell Williams came up with the beat and wrote almost all the lines.

Just a year ago, Robin Thicke was living a rock star life. While his rock star life may have garnered him worldwide fame, his personal life suffered and in the process lost the star that shines his world. Now, the "Blurred Lines" singer must wake up every day and face the grips of reality, and ask himself one question -- While constantly being high and drunk, how did he lose one of the most valuable things to him all in the sense of a blur?

I've Been Waiting All Day for Sunday Night!

Bianca Long

“All right Sunday Night where are you? Just kickin’ back from the things that you do. You want the big game we want it too.” Sound familiar? Those are the catchy song lyrics that you hear country superstar Carrie Underwood sing every Sunday night right before the kickoff on NBC.

The weekends are filled with football. High school football games take place underneath the Friday night lights; College football is on all day Saturday, followed by a Sunday where NFL players jump over defenders and compete for a spot on Sports Center’s Top Ten Plays. All of these games are leading up to the highest rated and most watched TV program: Sunday Night Football.

Sunday Night Football, SNF, is more than just the big plays, the records, the cool player introductions, the commentators, and the trash talk; it is a lifestyle. SNF is something that brings about 20 million viewers in front of their television sets at 8:15 p.m. to tune in and watch the world’s biggest stars compete.

Occasionally, one team runs up the score, and the game gets boring. So we turn it off, go to sleep, and prepare ourselves for the upcoming week. However, most of the games leave fans all across the country on the edge of their seats until the clock strikes 00:00 in the 4^th quarter (or if we’re lucky, we’ll get free football in overtime).

Once the game, the highlights, and the post-game interviews are over, it is well past midnight, and many of us dread the early morning responsibilities that we have to attend to. But as a football fan, you don’t care how late you stayed up the night before or how tired you’ll be the next morning. You know you’ll do the same thing next week, and any good game on Sunday night is well worth it. It is what you waited all day for, and you can’t wait to tune in next week and watch Sunday Night Football, America’s favorite pastime.

Women Want Sex Too!

Lauren Cartwright

From a young age, there are expectations defining each gender’s role and behavior in society. In early childhood, girls are taught to be timid, dainty, and sweet. Boys are taught to be strong, aggressive, and bold. Gender socialization teaches that when a little girl gets in trouble for fighting, she is told that her behavior is “unlady like." However, when a boy gets in trouble for fighting, people use the phrase “boys will be boys." 

Double standards continue to dominate our culture into adulthood. The biggest standard women and men are judged differently on is the amount of sexual partners one has. In today's society it is referred to as one's "body count." Single women are perceived as wanting a monogamous relationship, while men just want casual sex. Men are given high praise the more, and the prettier, women they engage in intercourse with. Yet women are scrutinized with derogatory slurs such as “slut”, “skank” and “whore” if they engage in casual sex. 

Even within marriage, there are double standards about sexuality. Men are seen as the unfaithful sex in a relationship. Studies have shown that is a myth, and women cheat equally as much as men, if not more. According to the National Opinion Research Center, a 2010 study shows that women are 40 percent more likely to cheat than men within the last 20 years. 

Why were men considered the unfaithful sex? Men have a stronger sex drive, and are considered to think about sex every few seconds of the day. When men have a wandering eye in a relationship, they are “just being men” because they can help themselves. It’s a fact that men do have a stronger sex drive, but women have a high sex drive as well. 

Women and men should be seen as equal, including sexual activity. A woman should not be deemed as “loose” because she explores her sexual desire with various partners. Men should not be pardoned from cheating because it’s "their nature" due to a stronger sex drive. Times will continue to change and gender stereotypes, though they are fading, will still exist.

Jury finds Dunn guilty in Loud Music Trial

Bianca Long

Recently, the state of Florida has been receiving worldwide attention, and in the worst way possible.

The recent acquittal of George Zimmerman, who claimed that he killed teenager Trayvon Martin in self-defense, stimulated many people to question Florida’s "Stand Your Ground Law". According to the law, it is acceptable to use deadly force if someone feels that they are in serious harm. However, Florida resident Michael Dunn says that his life was in danger the night he shot at a car full of teenagers, killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

Dunn claims that he shot at Davis because he saw Davis reaching for a gun. Investigators later revealed that Davis never had a weapon and neither did the vehicle.

In February 2014, a jury convicted Dunn on four charges of attempted murder, but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the most serious count, murder. This verdict sparked outrage among the African-American community nation-wide, many losing what little faith they had left in the justice system.

However, the re-trial began earlier this month, and this time the jury was able to agree on a verdict. On October 1 2014, the jury found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder. Both of Davis’ parents spoke and expressed their satisfaction of their verdict, and how it gives not only their son justice, but also the many just like him, who deserve the same.

There is never a winner when someone loses their life, but Dunn’s conviction is one small victory for everyone deserving of justice.

black-ish Review

Erik Threet II
The new ABC television show called Black-ish, created by Kenya Barris, had its season premiere on September 24.

Image from tvline.com

Anthony Anderson plays a dad, named Andre, who grew up poor in a lower class family and became successful. Andre and his wife, Rainbow, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and Andre’s dad, Pops, played by Laurence Fishbourne, raise four kids in a wealthy, predominantly white neighborhood. The name of this TV show has stirred up a lot of confusion and anger because there are stereotypes that come with being African-American. Given this family’s circumstances, the show’s name can imply that they are fully black because they are wealthy and successful. From the first two out of four episodes, there were instances where Andre questioned his son’s actions because they weren't “black.” I did find the plot to be entertaining and original, but some of the scenes would hold up a certain expectation of how black people are supposed to act.

 Dre played by Anthony Anderson gives his son an African 

Coming of Age Cermony

Image from screenrants.com

However, the actions that Andre was trying to teach his son were positive connotations of black people such as nodding when you see another black person. I believe that the show deserves a 4/5 because it is original, funny, and amusing. The way that this family interacts with each other is very comical because they are all different. I believe that this show has the potential to be a hit, but it all depends on the perspectives on the audience. We’ll just have to wait and see.

End All, Bey All

Alex Bailey
Let’s make one thing clear, I like Beyoncé.

Image from Forbes.com

I won’t lie and say that I have every album that she has ever made or sang along to every song she performed at a concert. I would say that I’m the Beyoncé fan that followed her throughout the Destiny’s Child years and just happens to know all the popular songs that she's made as a solo artist. She has redefined elegance, grace, and sexiness with one foul swoop; simply put she’s a boss. She's had an extremely successful career in music while still having the time to be a mother, daughter, wife, and sister. They see her success, lavish lifestyle, and “perfect family” but don’t realize what she had to sacrifice to get that. She never had the chance to have a normal childhood, suffered a miscarriage, and had her parents’ marriage fall apart because of infidelity. Handling everything flawlessly, she is the all-encompassing role model that all black girls (or girls in general) look up to when we had no one else.

But what happens when the person that we aspire to becomes the epitome of who we should be? It seems as though girls today use the mantra “What would Yonce Do?” rather than looking to themselves for the answer. How can the same person who convinces us that we run the world, tell us to bow down to her and remember who really runs things? The intention of her message is confusing sometimes, especially to someone who isn't an avid listener.

Janelle Monae
Image from Grammy.com

I prefer the messages of current artist Janelle Monae who speaks on not sexualizing women in the music industry and using her music to start movements to spark change to social injustices. At the end of the day, both are strong black women who have changed the game of music, so it’s not about competition, but personal preference. Being able to think for yourself and taking a stand for something is something that is important to every girl to have and that’s the most important message the media should be telling.

Have Pranks Gone Too Far?

Kevin Jackson

What is a prank? Is it going up to a random stranger and stepping on their shoes? Is it going up to a stranger and farting on them? Or is it walking up to random females and groping them? 

If you think like me and many others in our society, then these are not pranks they are just assaults being masked by the “pranksters” saying it was a prank and all for jokes. Over the past few years we’ve seen the culture and climate of pranks shift from harmless fun to actual assaults. 

With the creation of Vine in 2013, we have seen people doing reckless and harmful things to themselves and others because they were “doing it for the vine” in order to get vine famous. There was the smack cam and knockout game trend that hurt many people who were not prepared for the “joke." Now there is a trend of prank videos where the pranksters go into the hood and just do obscene things to people in order to get a reaction. 

The majority of the time these pranks do not have any actual purpose or meaning behind them that would point something out about our society in a creative funny way. These pranks just generally end in violence and the sole purpose for the creation of them is to get views or go viral. In some of the pranks there have been near death moments, where the person getting pranked pulls out a weapon trying to defend themselves against the prankster. 

Is this really what we want? Someone dying or almost dying for what they consider a joke and the hope of some views on YouTube or WorldStar, probably not.