Some normal, some bizarre marvelings of a little Icelandic girl

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Colors, toys and babies/kids

Yay, I just finished a section of my B.A. thesis that I was scheduled for today and now I can allow myself to write a new blog post!

This thought occurred to me when I was at the gym last Sunday (yeah, I'm the kind of person who would sacrifice a Sunday for health, but hey, it's only an hour!):

Why is that when it comes to colors, blue usually represents boys and pink represents girls? And I'm not talking about....you know, regular blue and pink but that disgusting light, fuzzy blue and pink that make most people, who absolutely ADORE babies, go "awwwwwww shooooo kyuuuuute!!!"

I'm sure that some of you have wondered about that too. So I did a little research online and came upon this article.
Apparently two neuroscientists were wondering about the same thing, so they did an experiment where men and women between the ages 20-26 sat in front of a computer while two rectangles of different colors flashed on the screen. The neuroscientists divided the color spectrum into two halves, red-green and blue-yellow. The rectangles were sorted into these two categories. Then they asked the person tested to choose the rectangle they most preferred and after that, the computer would move on to another set of rectangles.

It turns out for this set of experiment that both men and women preferred blue out of the 4 basic, original colors. But then when they had to choose from mixed colors, the men really liked the idea of color blends, while the women were more leaning towards the various shades of red, like pink and lilac.

It was an interesting article but I noticed one flaw though: Those test subjects were people at the age of 20-26. Why didn't they test it on babies or little kids? According to the article, the neuroscientists suggest that the reason for the clear distinction between genders regarding color preferences are found in humanity's distant past.

Damn, I really thought they would have an answer for this. it has been bugging me for quite some time. I still remember the time when my room was painted pink and as a kid that was hoping to become the first female Indiana Jones (sadly Lara Croft beat me to it.....), I HATED IT!! Pink wasn't my favorite color, it was both red and blue!

This happened also when I was watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother. Lily, Marshall, Robin's new boyfriend, Robin and Barney were preparing to paint L & M's baby's room yellow because they didn't want to know the sex of the baby. Only when they did find out, they rush out to buy blue paint (can ya guess what the sex of the baby was? -_-;; ).

I don't think I know any parents that painted their baby's room green or purple or just plain white, instead of blue or pink. And then I'm not just talking about the light colors...Really what's wrong with the regular base color? It's not like the baby is going to go blind from the strength of the color.

Here's an idea that I will utilize whenever I will have the urge to have a kid myself:

Paint the baby room white. Then when the baby will be old enough to know what it likes, let it choose the colors for the room for themselves. Then you can have a good parent-child time painting the room together. White does represent the symbol of purity and babies are supposed to be quite "pure"....It will also keep the tooth fairy monster from Darkness Falls to take away your child! Win-win situation!

The same applies for toys.

When I was a kid, I didn't get why I had to settle for Barbie dolls when my brothers were allowed to have He-man figurines, toy cars and water guns. Those toys looked WAY more fun than Barbie dolls!

Eventually my parents caved in to my constant whining (while also seeing that I preferred not to wear girly clothes at all), and gave me similar toys.

Again, why do girls have to have dolls while boys anything that has to do with destruction and stuff? Is it because it's considered manly for the boys? So that they can become strong, just like the figurines they were holding in their tiny hands? Why can't boys play with dolls too (well, some toys, like Action Man, do look A LOT like dolls in my opinion....)?

That brings me to an episode of Friends, when Ross's boy Ben came to stay with his father and he was holding a Barbie doll. Ben was allowed to pick any toy from the store and he picked Barbie. Of course that upsets his father Ross to the point that he tries to make his son prefer army figurines, like Dino Soldier or G.I. Joe instead. Apparently he feared that his son Ben might grow up and start liking the same sex as he is.

I really don't think that toys will change a kid's sexual orientation when they grow up. It just doesn't make any sense. Then what will happen to girls who used to play with toys that were more suited for boys?

Again, similar suggestion: Just like Carol & Susan (Ben's lesbian mothers), let your children pick their own toys. It's for their enjoyment and who knows, they might mix their selection and pick BOTH a Barbie and a skateboard.

Until next time,

Catch ya laters!


Questions of the day:

~ What was/still is your favorite color?
~ What used to be your favorite toy as a child?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

My opinion on the Westboro Baptist Church

I just finished watching Louis Theroux's documenturies about the Westboro Baptist Church. I really had to take a moment before writing, so that I wouldn't turn this post into a complete rage post....

Soooo many emotions were churning inside as I was watching it: Anger, confusion, sadness and pity. I felt really sorry for Louis Theroux as he was only trying to gain an understanding about this weird family gathering and they kept condemning him, even putting his face on one of their posters!

Why does this family have to live with such hate? Why can't they see that their children will never have friends outside of that gathering, will never get to see the world with an open mind? Their kids can't even speak their mind, in fear of getting thrown out!

It saddens me that they even would throw away anyone who actually wants to belong to the outside world and they never want to hear from them again. Like that one girl said: "Some kids lose their parents because of cancer, or accidents. I lost mine because of a cult".

Whatever happened to "Treat others as you would treat yourself"?

According to the documentaries, they seem to show care and respect between themselves, so why can't they just live among us and keep these notions and feelings to themselves? Why go all the way to another state, just to scream at a mourning mother that her son was a "filthy faggot"?

In my honest opinion, I really pity them for their shallow minds and a big part of me feels like they really enjoy being in the spotlight. (Haters gonna hate! is what came into mind just now....).

That's all for today.

Question of the day:

~What do you feel about those kind of people?
~ Do you just ignore them or according to your own beliefs, do you feel like you have to say something?

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Nostalgia Path: My favorite 90's cartoons

I'm the kind of girl who really likes to delve into my childhood memories. Because face it: when you were a child you had nothing to worry about!

Oh how I miss my childhood. If I could go back in time and do it or witness it again, I would do it without hesitation!

Those of you who know me, I used to watch a lot of television as a kid. Don't get me wrong, I was out playing imaginary games with my friends as well. But I have to admit, most of those games wouldn't have been created if it weren't for some of my favorite 90's cartoons.

I was one of those "fortunate" kids to have a Cartoon Network channel (when it showed GOOD cartoons - not the crap they're showing now) in my house and usually right before or after elementary school, I would be sitting in front of the television, with my eyes glued to the screen.

Maybe some of you might remember these cartoons, but most of them are my favorites.

Inspector Gadget


Still this day today, I find myself humming the opening song of this cartoon. It wasn't probably the best cartoons out there but at that age (6-10), I found it hilarious whenever Inspector Gadget failed his missions and his little causin & dog had to go and rescue him. Too bad the live action sucked though....

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles


Hands down the best cartoon at that time! I was a HARDCORE TMNT fan when I was a kid (still am!). I practically owned every merchandise, the backpack, the costume, the shoes, the pyjamas, the plushie (which I still own today!) and of course the figurines. My favorite turtles were Leonardo and Raphael. Why? Probably because red and blue are my favorite colors. Whenever the video renting store had those gems on video, my little brother and I would always go there and rent at least 3 videos! What's not to like about this cartoon? They're turtles that know ninjutsu!

The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest

This was a cartoon I never tried to miss. There was just something about three kids going into a cybernetic /Tron-ripoff world that intriqued my innocent brain that I just had to watch it. It didn't hurt that the world and characters were portrayed in early computer graphics too. I based A LOT of my childhood games from that cartoon, where I always played Johnny. Yeah, I know there's a girl there but Johnny was just way cooler! Just the opening intro made me believe that I was watching a hardcore action film!

The Mask: Animated Series

When The Mask the motion picture came out in 1994, I was 7 years old. I watched it, laughed my ass off (especially the scene when the Mask blows the little car horn) and probably watched it for a second, even a third time without getting tired from it. So you can imagine my joy when I found out that Cartoon Network was showing the animated series. I watched it every single time and I think I was annoying my mom a lot by quoting sentences from the series, especially his catch phrase "Sssssssmoking!" Ahhhh good times, good times.

Little Dracula
Does anyone remember this one? It was about a little vampire who had a magic wand/sceptor-kinda-thingy and he got into a lot of troubles, who had to be rescued by his dad. I don't have a lot of memories from it but it still is stuck in my head for some reason. Even watching the intro, you can see that they're kinda ripping off from the Adams Family. But hell, I'm just glad to see that I was interested in vampires at a such tender age.

Widget, the World Watcher
Okay, I don't think this one was showed on Cartoon Network but I remember it being aired on our Icelandic channel 1, I think it was called "Völundur" or something. They were pretty entertaining at the time. It was about this little purple alien who came to Earth in order to guard the nature and animals from all kinds of bad people. He could turn himself into almost anything and was apparently a mighty foe against....you know...people with guns and stuff. Even though it was aimed for educational purposes, I remember it wasn't that bad. I actually found little Widget or Völundur to be quite endearing.

Honorable mentions:

Back to the Future, the animated series
One of my favorite films of all time, so of course I LOVED the animated series!

Swat Kats
It's like Batman meets Cats, it was pretty cool.

Captain N, the Game Master
Even though I had no idea what kind of games they were making fun of, I enjoyed watching that show, just because a REAL boy went into his tv!

The Super Mario Super Show
Yep, I was into the Super Mario Bros. games, I mean who didn't? Watching that shows with my cousins was one of my all favorite past times whenever I visited them.

The Muppet Babies
Sigh.....Yes, I did watch that show and I'm embarrassed to say that I liked it. Now I prefer adult muppets anytime!


Well, that's it for reminiscing.

Question of the day:

~What are your favorite old cartoons?

Friday, November 25, 2011

First Blog post!!!

Yep, I've joined the bandwagon.

As much as I immensely enjoy reading blogs, I really don't know if I will be able to keep it up. You know, sometimes real life outside the great wide web is just too tempting and despite how much you struggle, it can become really busy out there too.

I've decided to write my blog in English. Why?

2 reasons:

1. I have many foreign friends that might be interested to read my blog *wink wink nudge nudge*

2. Even though I am Icelandic and a grammar nazi, I have completely lost my knowledge in writing or even in speaking in Icelandic!

Sad but true for a person who holds high regard for any mother tongue. Besides I find myself more fluent in English - to the point that my thoughts and dreams are in English (and some Japanese as well).

So what will you find in this blog of mine? Like the name suggests, I like to wonder about some stuff. Stuff that hopefully won't sound stupid once I post it here...

Since 3 years ago, I've become conscious about my health and therefore I've put a lot into mainting my healthy figure, whether it be from food or fitness. So you might see some posts about recipes that I tried out and if I'm brave enough, post some of my own recipes. I might even post some work outs if anyone is interested.

I consider myself somewhat artistic, even though my style is centered on one subject: Anime & Manga. I know that some people consider this art style as "Pokemon" but I really enjoy drawing that kind of style, so there might come some posts about my recent drawings and shout-outs to people who are truly inspiring when it comes to art.

I like funny stuff. Who doesn't? Be it from films (which is hard to come by nowadays....), tv shows or the internet, you can bet that I have probably seen it, read it and laughed my ass off from it!

And like any other quiet person who is probably too timid to voice out their opinions to the public, I like ranting. There are just so many stupid things in the world that make me want to scream in annoyance. So beware Twilight fans, I will NOT go easy on you!!

So there you have it, that's basically the main things I intend to cover in this little blog of mine and I hope you will enjoy reading it.

Catch ya laters!