One of the funniest and weirdest commercials I've ever seen was from Hot Pockets, a stoner staple that used stoner rap legend Snoop Dogg to advertise their cheesy, melty, roof of your mouth burning, mediocre goodness. The most obvious propaganda technique would be the use of repetition. The slogan "Pocket like it's hot" is constantly used and repeated in a musical manner which makes the slogan stick in your head. After watching the commercial I found myself constantly singing in my head "pocket like it's hot" and it was hard to get it unstuck since it was so catchy to me.

This slogan was repeated by none other than rap legend Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Doggy Dogg, aka Snoop Lion), which was an obvious appeal to authority (since Snoop is a prominent part of pop culture) as well as the beautiful people type of propaganda (not the beauty part, but the fact that he is a famous person). They obviously chose him to do the commercial based on his fame and popularity with their customer base (generally younger men). They also are parodying a famous song he did in the 00s called "Drop it Like it's Hot", which ties the ad in with one of his hit songs.

Best of the New and Old School

My favorite album of 2012 was 1999 by emerging hip-hop artist Joey Badass. The reason I enjoyed it as much as I did was because his sound blends the sound of 90's Golden Era hip-hop with a new, fresh, and young perspective. I've been waiting a while for mainstream hip-hop to go back to its roots, or at least stop being so unoriginal and poppy, and I feel guys like Joey Badass and Kendrick Lamar are helping change the new school scene for the better. I was first turned onto his music through MTV Jams (a music video channel that focuses on rap and RNB) and heard the rest of his stuff online (his mixtape is free on datpiff.com).

As for my favorite oldie, I guess I won't go far back at all, because I prefer music made after the late 60s. Sticking with hip-hop, my favorite old school album is Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by the Wu-Tang Clan. That album got me into the genre in a major way, and their use of samples blew my mind and changed how I saw music. They also managed to not only have amazing instrumentals, but they had a crew of 9 guys that could all rap better almost anyone else in the game. I first heard of Wu-Tang when I was a little kid when I saw a music video of there's on MTV (when they still played videos) but I didn't get into them big time until I was 16 and downloaded their tracks illegally on Limewire. I have since bought their records since I actually want to support them.

Reading Makes Me Sleepy

One of my favorite books of all time has to be 1984 by George Orwell, especially because it reflects my own anti-aithoritarian politics. Being 23, my politics were formed during the troubling Bush administration, and that was the time when I stumbled upon 1984. It was incredibly relevant at the time and continues to maintain it's relevance today, as depressing as that is. It was a warning about what was to come and it seems much of it seems to be coming true today, from the big brother cameras to the doublespeak that is creeping into our language and politics.

One of the few classics I still keep dear to my heart was Huckleberry Finn, which not only had the adventure story characteristics most young boys enjoy but also had a sociological aspect that a nerd like me loves to delve into. This book turned me onto Mark Twain and to me it represents the zenith of American literature. I really enjoyed the fact that a young white kid in the antebellum south not only became friends with Jim, who was a slave, but ended up trying to protect him and never turned him in despite what the larger society taught him. To me this book represents the old America like nothing else, and Twain portrayed it in a very realistic and moving way.

Finally, as a history nerd and agnostic, I loved the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine. What I love most about the book was that he put his stellar reputation on the line to go after one of the biggest sacred cows of all time, religion. He put forth a logical argument against the dogmatic beliefs many hold dear and for that Paine had to deal with many personal repurcutions. His booked sparked intense ire from the populace and in the US, Paine's name was tarnished beyond repair. I personally respect him for his impact on the spread of democratic ideals but his views on religion puts him over the top. He was no atheist, since he came from a Deistic perspective, so I relate to him even more. A true maverick and liberal of his time.

Gangsta rap made me do it!

Ever since rap music began discussing the realities of the neighborhoods many rappers came up in, out of touch politicians have been pointing the finger at hip hop music. Instead of trying to figure out why these lyrics are being written, rappers have been in the easy scapegoat. They think rappers are creating these environments but they are instead putting a mirror into a big part of our society. Rap has been blamed for the problems in the inner city, despite those problems existing before the genre was even created.  In the clip below, someone has put a compilation of various politicians making awkward comments about rap music, many blaming the genre and others trying to relate to it.

Media Authobiography

Of all the forms of media, the one that I always remember being apart of my life would be television. With the advent of the internet, my use of television has dropped off a lot in recent years, so outside of a few shows I record on DVR (Breaking Bad, Archer, Louie, Always Sunny, stuff like that) and live sports, I really don't have the same love for TV that I used to. As a kid I would watch probably too much TV, everything from cartoons (Simpsons, King of the Hill, etc) to history and nature shows (before History and Discovery became about redneck reality shows) but these days I'll watch 2 hours a day at most.

As far as all the print media, I can't say I've ever considered any of them a big part of my life or any kind of preference. Newspapers are at this point a little outdated, by growing up I'd look forward to the Sunday paper for the comics and the sports section. I actually do keep with with world events, so I'd also skim through the important news of the day. Now I read articles online and haven't purchased a newspaper in years. I never really cared much about magazines, they were always just something to read in waiting rooms. Finally, books were never really my thing, mostly because they make me sleepy. Jokes aside, I always viewed reading books as school work and I would rarely read for fun. If I do read a book, I actually prefer non fiction historical.

I've never been a huge film buff, but I watching movies every now and then. I don't really enjoy going to movie theaters that much, but I will go if the film is either really good (Django Unchained was the last movie I saw in theaters) or it requires the big screen and surround sound (something like Avatar). Generally I prefer to watch comedies and I really don't like horror movies as much as it seems the rest of my peers do.

Of all the types of media, music is my favorite and it is literally a media I have not a gone a day without for as long as I can remember. Radio isn't the best, mainly because they play awful music that seems catered at either old people or teen girls. Pandora, Spotify, and other internet radios have completely replaced FM and AM radio in my own life. As a kid I listened to the radio quite a bit and I even used to sit around and tape my favorite tracks (until CD burning and eventually MP3s took over), and listened to plenty of rock, hip hop, and even shows like Howard Stern (before he went to satelitte). I consume music in various ways, and I even buy CD's time to time and I also use internet radio and Youtube to listen to and discover the music I listen to. The best way, however, to consume music is by going to shows. Nothing better the live experience.

All I can say for the internet is that it is the most important type of media right now and I can access all the above medias through the internet.