Beach Volleyballs Love/Hate Relationship With the Olympics
August 9, 2008
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BEIJING (Reuters) - Beach volleyball’s popularity has created something of a love-hate relationship with television. The highly-photogenic sport has been a winner for broadcasters at the Olympics, where according to the International Olympic Committee it accumulated 3.5 billion television viewer hours during the Athens Games.
In turn that has raised the profile of beach volleyball, inspired more countries to build up teams, and lured in sponsors.
The downside is that broadcasters start to demand games be played to fit their schedules and in a style that makes better television.
In Beijing, the semi-finals and finals will be played in the morning to catch the all-important evening prime time viewing in the United States and Brazil, where beach volleyball has a wide following.
This year, officials have also tightened up the enforcement of a 1999 rule that players must serve within 12 seconds of the last point ending - a decision some players put down to broadcasting needs.
“It’s a very dynamic sport and the international rules have been changed for television,” said Australia’s Natalie Cook, who has competed in every Olympics since beach volleyball joined the Games in 1996 and won the gold medal in Sydney.
Quicker turnarounds make for faster-paced television but are not easy on the players, particularly in Beijing.
“The more time you have between points, the more you can recover from the last point and get some water. It’ll be tough on the players in such hot and humid conditions,” said Brazil’s Renata Ribeiro.
For all the time pressure television piles on, players also hope that their moment in the media sun will help bring in more cash for courts, training and prizes as well as educate people about the sport.
“There’s still an element of people thinking it’s all about bikinis,” said Cook. “But once they actually watch a match, they realize how dynamic and athletic it is so they stay and stop talking about sex.”
So in honor of this amazingly fun to watch (and play) sport we have decided to put together a little slide show of sorts to highlight some of beach volleyballs biggest stars:
So the GOP Doesn’t Like “Celebrities” who Visit Europe, Speak Well & are Adored?
August 5, 2008
Here is a new ad coming from the Democrats which is aimed at pointing out the sheer hypocrisy, and down right baseless attacks that have been levied at Democratic hopeful Barack Obama over the last week or so. Specifically this spot takes on the notion that McCain and company have been pathetically attempting to peddle, which claims Obama is too much like a “celebrity”, and because of the high levels of adoration both here and abroad, that he is somehow disqualified or discredited too run the country. Oh how far this country has lowered it’s bar of expectations over the last eight years - clearly another Bush success story…
John & Cindy McCaub Flex Their Mainstream Media ‘Flak Jacket’ Yet Again
July 16, 2008
As the current Presidential election continues to play out throughout the dog days of summer, John McCain has yet to disappoint in regards to his steady stream of gaffes, flip-flops and stories of a raging temper with a lovely streak of sexism to boot. Then there is his wife, Cindy who has had quite the “eventful” past herself. From marrying John while he was still legally wed to his then current wife, to her chronicled addiction to drugs McCain’s ’sugar mama’ is far from the angel the media portrays her as. This really isn’t surprising seeing as though they seem to enjoy expending all their bitter, personal, and speculative attacks on Michelle Obama.
Obama, the ‘Youth Vote’ Supporting Him & the Impact they’ll Have in Nov.
June 28, 2008
Throughout the Democratic primary there was one demographic who really didn’t waver in their support of Sen. Barack Obama regardless of what their region, race, or religion was - I am of course talking about the always coveted, but equally equally as absent ‘youth vote.’ Politicians have been trying forever to really mobilize the youth, throughout the years candidates have attempted everything imaginable too mobilize the youth vote on their behalf, however none have really been successful in doing so. Well, that is until now.
AskMen.com’s Top 10 ‘Worst Male Bashing Ads”
June 24, 2008
AskMen.com, a necessity for any male between the ages of 18-35 has come up with the Top 10: Worst Male-Bashing Ads for us too take a look at - and ask ourselves why male bashing is considered “funny”, while anything directed towards a female besides praise is considered “sexism.”
I am sure you have an idea of what I’m referring to, you know - the fat, dumb, simple, “bumbling idiot of a dad on the nightly sitcom”, who no matter how hard he tries, just can’t do anything right. While this is GREAT for cheap laughs, the male bashing phenomena is beginning to rub off on children, in a “not very funny” kinda way:
“a survey from an organization called Children Now found that two-thirds of kid respondents described men on TV as angry, while respondents from another group‚Äôs survey said men were portrayed as corrupt on TV by a 17 to 1 margin.”
So we here at HyerStandard have decided to support AskMen.com in their effort to highlight companies pushing anti-guy messages. That said, let us invite you too check out the “worst male-bashing ads” and the main offenders cashing in on the anti-Male stereotype:
10) Pizza Hut: Need to cook a meal? Better call for pizza because you surely can’t do it on your own. In this worst male-bashing ad, Pizza Hut rolls out the tired stereotype that men are completely useless in the kitchen. Take a look at the real world, however, and you’ll see a much different picture than the one painted in this worst male-bashing ad:
9) Magasin: Apparently, men are pushovers and women are the superior voice in relationships. It’s unclear what product or service this No. 9 worst male-bashing ad is pitching, but its cliched message comes in loud and clear. You’ve seen this script play out on sitcoms like Everybody Loves Raymond and King of Queens all the time. The formula in this worst male-bashing ad is simple: Man + Outside World = Dumb:
8 ) AT&T: A guy is in Las Vegas, probably for a convention, and he’s never gambled before. He gets a taste for it, and loses money at the tables. Sounds like it could happen, right? Now here’s the AT&T version: same setup, but the guy calls his wife to report how much fun he’s having and explains in the naive tone of a kid going to school for the first time that he lost “chips” he wasn’t aware were worth money. Believable? Sure, as a science-fiction plot in which men are house pets:
7) Whiskas: While men are regularly called dogs, Whiskas is comparing men to cats. In this worst male-bashing ad, a guy is lazing on top of a sofa. When company comes over, he slides down and asks his wife if they brought food. He finds out they haven’t and he slumps over the edge of the couch like he has an antisocial personality disorder. The message revisits classic male stereotypes: Men are simple, unrefined creatures that need to be given direction. This is similar to previous male cliches on sitcoms like Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond and Home Improvement where men were reduced to having three interests: sports, food and power tools:
6) Domino’s: Does this sound familiar? Guy propositions girlfriend/wife for sex, girlfriend/wife rolls her eyes/yawns/laughs and retorts with a variation of: ‚ÄúWhat‚Äôs in it for me?‚Äù Cue laugh track. Sitcoms and comics have squeezed every inch of life out of male sexual inadequacy jokes that they‚Äôve now become as limp as their punch lines. Not for Domino‚Äôs, however. Clearly, they didn‚Äôt think this comic horse was dead and beat it a few more times for laughs. Here again, for the millionth and first time, is the joke of the under-performing man:
5) Sony Cyber-shot: To make sure no one misses the joke in this spot, Sony takes an actual horse, turns it around and gets characters to talk to its rear end like its a dad. The message is about as subtle as a jackhammer: Men are horses’ asses. Like other ads, this one ignores that dads do help their kids with homework, play with them outside, sit in the audience for their plays and recitals, and also work to contribute money toward food, health and the mortgage:
4) 1st For Women Insurance Brokers: Men are involved in more fatal car accidents than women. Does this make us idiots? This South African insurance company thinks so. This male-bashing ad shows a car full of guys taunting another man who’s trying to get back in their car after a pee break. The driver’s not paying attention, however, and drives off a cliff. Here’s the real story: Men spend around 20% more time driving than women. We still have more fatal car accidents, but in the past 30 years female deaths have increased 14%, while ours have declined by 11%. Plus, evidence shows that women get in more minor accidents than men. Clearly, women aren’t the timid drivers previous stats would suggest:
3) Polysporin: In our No. 3 worst male-bashing ad, a guy tries to fit in his with his kids when he dashes head-first down the Slip-n-Slide, only to find himself crashing into a strategically placed heap of garbage bins. The moral of this story: Dads are even dumber and more childlike than their own offspring. Apparently, they’re also terrible babysitters, seeing as they’d let their kids play in an area where they could potentially plunge into garbage themselves:
2) Roomba: Stealing from Sony’s playbook, this worst male-bashing ad goes one further by saying men are not merely horses’ asses, but complete jackasses. A woman describes her frustration of living with animals while the jackass (her husband) is physically tearing apart the house around her. At the end, she sits down with him on the couch to pet him condescendingly. Wow. Forget men sharing baby duties, knowing how to vacuum, doing dishes, and picking up after themselves and others. Instead, the cliched message is that women are the civilized voice burdened with managing men and their ingrained frat-boy mindset:
1) Dairy Queen: Meet the future man: a vacant moron ripe for manipulation. A young girl passes on an ice cream with her mom. The two sit down and a DQ employee gives her an ice cream, saying it‚Äôs from the young boy wearing ‚Äúthe donkey shirt.‚Äù She smiles at the boy and turns to her mom to say, ‚ÄúIt‚Äôs like shooting fish in a barrel.‚Äù Insane. The idea in our No. 1 worst male-bashing ad is that guys are not only disposable idiots in women‚Äôs eyes, but they‚Äôre also idiots for trusting women. Forget that being trusting is a positive quality. Actually, the most disturbing portrayal of all is the little girl’s arrogance and sense of entitlement. Warning: After watching, your awe may turn to anger; take a couple deep breaths before engaging in any further activity:
Wow, I don’t know about you but there is some serious double standards going on in the videos above. Apparently, in this country at least, “sexism” is quite alright if it is the male getting shredded, judged, stereotyped, put down, or mocked. However it’s the absolute end of the world if the subject of ridicule is a female.
Kind of dissapointing when you really think about it - but hey, I’m a guy, how long will I really be able to dwell before I drift back to sports and tools ya know…
The Internet Is So ‘Elitist’: Tracking Political Websites & Their Party Affiliation
June 24, 2008
Earlier this morning I stumbled across a fascinating article that discussed the political “blog-o-sphere” (I hate that word, mainly b/c many of the sites aren’t even ‘blogs’) and where they fell in terms of the ideological scale ranging from “very liberal”, all the way to the far right, “very conservative.” The results were somewhat surprising, mainly because they manages to debunk an argument often heard from those on the right that claims; “internet politics is dominated by liberals“. That argument, is simply not true (surprise, surprise a conservative argument proven completely wrong), the result is a tight, “pretty” map that shows a decided red/blue (conservative/liberal) split in the US political blogosphere.
Have Newspapers Finally Met Their Match?: Ad Revenues in ‘08 Set to Hit Record Low
June 23, 2008
The last two or three years have seen a drastic change in how many in the United States, and around the world for that matter, go about getting their daily fix of news. Whether it be politics, sports, entertainment, financial happening, heck - even the classifieds (IE: craigslist.com), people are turning to the internet as their primary source for finding out whats going on. While this is good news for those involved in the still fairly young world of online business, Newspapers across the board are in trouble - big trouble.
“Keep It Up”: Why the Far Left Needs to Tone Down Their Obama/FISA Outrage
June 21, 2008
Over the past 36 hours I have encountered article after article, comment after comment, from those positioned on the extreme left who write as though Obama’s statement regarding the passing of the FISA bill yesterday has them literally feeling a physical pain throughout their bodies - I mean it’s really getting rather obnoxious and annoying more then anything else. Thats why I am prescribing some on the left a good, old fashioned “chill pill.”
Watch Barack Obama’s First General Election National Advertisement
June 19, 2008
Here is a look at Senator Barack Obama’s first general election campaign video. Appropriately titled “Country I Love,” Barack speaks to voters about the core values this nation was founded on and how they have guided him to work hard for his education, to bypass jobs on Wall Street to work as a community organizer, and to lead the fight for America’s families and veterans as an Illinois and United States Senator.
Wow- My Interesting Ordeal With a Lawyer Representing Hillaryis44 Mainstay
June 19, 2008
Wow, I wish I recorded the conversation I just had with a Liese Howarth, a lawyer from Connecticut (I didn’t record it however, mainly because that is illegal) who basically has been threatening me over the past couple of days regarding a story I did regarding Paula Abeles and the whole Monticello Association debacle she was involved with years back. Well, we now know that (thanks to the good people over at Kos) that Howarth is in fact Paula Abeles sister, as well as a lawyer whose primary focus in terms of law is shipping and transportation.
