Black Friday. Except, much worse.

The last time a teenager created as much hype as Rebecca Black has these past weeks, was Justin Bieber.

Of course, we all know him, and most of us have very heavy opinions about him.

It's no different with Rebecca Black. Let's start from the beginning.

Rebecca Black, 13, wrote and sung a song called 'Friday' which she recorded with the help of ARK Music Factory.

I wouldn't say her song is 'bad'. It's absolutely TERRIBLE.

Saying that it is the "worst song ever" would be an understatement.

There is practically NOTHING to like about the song. The lyrics are monotonous, her voice is insanely auto-tuned. Even with the auto-tune, her voice is very screechy. You would actually think the song is some sort of parody.

I mean, she says she's going to 'catch her bus', and gets into a convertible driven by 13 year-olds at a bus stop. She doesn't even go to school, but just has FUN FUN FUN.
She is terribly puzzled about which 'seat to take', when there is actually only one available.
She stands up on the backseat with her two friends, who are both evidently wearing braces. I have braces, and it almost looks like they are trying to mock the concept.
I shouldn't even mention the wannabe-rapper sitting in the car trying his best to cool.

And if all that wasn't enough, stating-the-obvious has hit a new low thanks to Black.

Yesterday was Thursday. Today it is Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday. And Sunday comes afterwards.

I hope you see what I mean.

I also hope that didn't sound rude, I'm just making a point. 

Publicity is publicity, whether it's good or bad. 

Right about now, this video is very close to 70 million views, which is quite remarkable.

Admittedly, I've watched the video myself about 15 times already which I am not proud of. The video has something that makes you want to 'replay' and have a good laugh all over again. For me, at least.

Lady GaGa has apparently praised her for some reason. I'm as baffled as you are.

I've heard her real voice in acoustic videos, and it isn't horrible. I just hope she picks herself up, improves her singing (not to mention her lyrics) and becomes a very successful artist. For now, she has a lot of work left.

But each to their own!

-littleavocet

Is love horrible or magical?

The image on the right is all bullshit. Yup, I've been in love and it isn't horrible. It's the opposite. No, I'm not new to love. It's not like I've just 'fallen in love' and after sometime I'm gonna fall and cry in darkness. Lol. Yes, it opens your heart but not for someone to mess you up but for someone to touch your soul. The ones who need a suit of armor are afraid. The ones who need security or protection, are afraid. They are afraid to live, to experience. The only kind of love I believe in, is life long love. All else is just attraction or infatuation or obsession or attachment. Attachment is selfishness+love. Even to the ones who fall in love again and again and get hurt, I'd say it's an experience. No emotion shall be left unexplored. Pain, gain, love, joy, happiness, sadness, anger, all of them teach us something. It's upon you to learn or regret.

Yes, I'm in love, I've been for years and will be, for years to come. And even after a long time of separation, I don't regret it. In times of distress, it gave me hope, it made my life meaningful. It gave me joy, made my life worth living. In times of separation, I felt something was missing but the beautiful feeling could still be felt. It makes my life worth living. Never losing hope helps. My life is still mine, and his life is his. I don't believe in saying, he is mine, I'm his. My love is like attachment with freedom. It's a feeling which connects us but also lets us be free. I don't think of marriage as a necessity. You don't have to live together even if you are bound by a life long connection. Love makes you a better person, at least with the one you love. And at least it increases the desire to be a better person. It becomes a way of living. I'm soaked in love and I'm sure it will give me far more excitement than despair. You don't fall in love, you rise in it.

With love,
Sanya Batra

How To Choose A Hairstyle (for women)

A good hairstyle is one of the key aspects in good looks. It should suit your face, hair texture, hair elasticity, hair density and most importantly, reflect your personality.

Believing or not believing in zodiacs is controversial but most of us do. Western Zodiac is more popular but it's the Chinese version that's got me interested. Totalbeauty.com has assigned hairstyles according to Western zodiac but since Western zodiac seems highly inaccurate to me, I applied Chinese zodiac to it.

First of all, find out your Chinese zodiac, here is how:
Rat - 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996
Ox - 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997
Tiger - 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998
Rabbit - 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987
Dragon - 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988
Snake - 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989
Horse - 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990
Sheep - 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991
Monkey - 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992
Rooster - 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993
Dog - 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994
Pig - 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995

For other years of these zodiacs, add or deduct 12 years from each of these. Also, note that when the Chinese New Year begins, it's February 4 in the Western Calender. So, if you are born between January 1st and 3rd February, take the previous year. Like, I was born on 20th January 1991 and I'm a horse. Now for the fun bit...

Rat

Charming, charismatic, sociable, shrewd, sensitive, intellectual.

Lea Michele: Tiger

Ox

Ambitious, hard working, conventional, conservative, stubborn.

Jessica Alba: Rooster

Tiger

Colourful, passionate, powerful, daring, independent, rebellious.

Michelle Williams: Monkey

Rabbit

Kind, sensitive, soft-spoken, elegant, artistic, romantic.

Julia Roberts: Sheep

Dragon

Strong, fiery, noble, generous, self-sufficient, eccentric, adventurous.

Rihanna: Dragon

Snake
Wise, mystic, graceful, sensual, soft-spoken.

Carrie Underwood: Pig

Horse

Cheerful, popular, intelligent, talkative, balance of best qualities.

Vanessa Hudgens: Dragon

Sheep
Peaceful, sympathetic, artistic, creative, gentle, compassionate.

Cate Blanchett: Rooster

Monkey
Self-assured, sociable, innovator, intellectual, factual, versatile.

Selma Blair: Rat

Rooster
Meticulous, perfectionist, critical, alert, practical, self-assured.

January Jones: Snake

Dog

Attractive, sociable, judgemental, easy-going, idealistic.

Reese Witherspoon: Dragon

Pig
Passionate, intelligent, sociable, peace-loving, individualistic.

Ginnifer Goodwin: Horse

See, how similar these signs are: Sheep and Rabbit are sister zodiacs and a Sheep was chosen for a rabbit's hairstyle. All actresses chosen for yang (male) zodiac have a yang zodiac and all actresses chosen for yin (female) zodiac, have a yin zodiac, except Ginnifer Goodwin (Horse chosen for Pig). Horse and Pig have quite a few similarities. So do Dragon (Vanessa Hudgens) and Horse. With these hairstyles, your hairstyle will truly reflect personality.

Sources: 

• Your 2011 Hair-o-Scope
• Chinese Zodiac

Related post:

• I'm a horse! 

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Lie to Me: Detecting Lies

Just about 2 months ago, I read a few Researches on lying, including Men Lie six times a day and twice as much as women, people lie more on the phone than by email and today while searching for those articles to link them for you, I read, people lie more in email than handwritten letters. The latter two didn't surprise me any bit. In fact, I'd have told you so before reading these. Although it's easier to lie in email, people certainly lie more on the phone. I'm sure there are more reasons but one reason is that many lies are told when replying instantly. When people have time to think, they consider that the truth won't hurt. When they have to reply instantly, sometimes they lie to save themselves even if the offence is small.

I've found a sudden interest in catching lies through TV series Lie to Me. I started watching it about a week ago. Some of the reasoning given in the show about catching lies made me wonder if that happens in reality too. Today, I looked it up on Wikipedia and found many things related to it, notably, Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition on which the show is based. I read some pages on Amazon for free already. The writer, psychologist Paul Ekman, says that psychologists and psychiatrists are no better than other people in detecting lies. And you don't need any training to detect them either. Of course, not all lies can be caught. The thing about lying is that if you lie a lot, the people you lie to, are more likely to doubt you. But if you lie a lot, you practice lying which makes you a better liar. Though I think lying a lot helps the lie catcher more than liars.

Lie to Me is interesting but given how humans feel and think while watching TV, we are far more likely to learn from a book than the TV series, which is fictional anyway. But hey, there are ways to learn from everything. The best thing considering them, analysing everything, not just reading and watching.

External links:

• Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition on amazon 
• Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage on amazon.co.uk
• Men lie six times a day and twice as often as women, study finds
• People lie more in emails than handwritten letters
  

Life Of A Snake: Shahrukh Khan

When I go to a party, I stand in a corner and observe people. That's what I do, I'm always observing.

When you look at a painting, don't think that the sky's colour is too light or dark. Think if the whole painting creates a good effect. Don't work for parts, work for the whole. If you work for parts, you'll only be partially successful.

In this profession, you are not advised to do this, you just can't, but I only work with the people I like.

People always say that acting is about wearing masks. I say, no, it's not about wearing masks, it's about revealing them. When I've nothing to reveal, when I'm completely naked, I'd stop acting.

Shahrukh Khan was quoted as saying in Living with a Superstar

May be I'm a foreigner with fair skin, blue eyes, blonde hair. May be I choose the right films. May be it's the directors I choose. Or may be I'm just a fluke.

Shahrukh Khan on what made him successful

The title must have left you wondering why I'm calling him a snake if you are unfamiliar with Chinese zodiac. Now, don't be put off, this post is more about the life of Shahrukh Khan than Chinese zodiac. About a week ago I watched the first part of Living with a Superstar: Shahrukh Khan on TLC (formerly Discovery travel & living). And the second part a few days ago. I've liked the guy from the day I first saw him till now. No one in Bollywood comes close. In the recent years, I have moved away from Bollywood and closer to Hollywood and British movies. I've not liked most of the Bollywood movies I've seen in the past few years much. But, I've still enjoyed Shahrukh Khan's films and some of Aamir Khan. The liking goes back to his early days. When his first film, Deewana was released, I was only a year old so obviously didn't watch it at that time. But I did watch it and many others. He was great in his third movie, Chamatkar too. At that time, actors stayed away from negative roles, fearing about the image it would create. But Shahrukh Khan's negative roles in Darr and Baazigar are what brought him to the limelight. And everybody loved Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. I watched them on the theatre with my family. And many other Shahrukh films before and after that, including Duplicate. Naturally, I loved his pairing with Kajol and even now, no actress comes close to her for me.

But behind this successful side of him, is a lonely person. Yep, snakes are lonely. My first notion of snakes was that they are unhappy and lonely. But it changed when I found out that Shahrukh Khan is a snake. But the second part of Living with a Superstar made me realise that he too, is lonely. He says that he doesn't struggle with acting, which we already know. What we don't know is that he struggles with reality, which he said himself. Acting comes naturally to him but even without trying, he becomes the character. While doing My Name Is Khan, he became Rizwan Khan and I saw that he shed a tear or two, after a shot during the filming of the movie. And said that off-sets, he became sad, started finding sadness in things he normally wouldn't. He says that after the shooting of the movie completes, he washes away the character of the movie while taking a shower. I had thought about this but in a different way. I had thought that actors might behave like one of their characters and get confused about what they are in reality. But Shahrukh Khan has actually spoiled his real life because of acting. Though I'm not suggesting that he must have chosen a different career. He says that it's fun for him, it's like a video game to him. This tells you that there is far more to a person and especially celebrities than you think.

The writer is an aspiring psychologist. 

Related Posts: I'm a horse!
                      Chinese Zodiacs Of English Cricketers

What you can do to end the all important water crisis

Celebrate the Global Handwashing Day by taking the plunge of washing hands before eating, after eating, using the toilet, before touching your eyes or mouth and many other times.

When I told my bro that by donating $25 I can provide clean water for a lifetime for one person, he said I shouldn't jump with joy because there are lots of problems in the world and if I start donating, there will be no end. He also said that I can't really wipe off a problem with the money I have. Lets see what the world population is... 6.5 billion (February '06) and there are nearly 1 billion people worldwide who currently rely on bacteria-infested water. So if 1 billion out of 6.5 billion donate, this problem will be solved!

In the US alone, 200 bottles per person each year are consumed. 17 million barrels of oil are needed to produce all the plastic water bottles we use in the US each year, 86 percent of them will never be recycled. So do you understand the need to recycle?

In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply. (via unwater.org)

Contribution of the food sector to the production of organic water pollutants:
- High income countries: 40 percent
- Low-income countries: 54 percent 
(via unwater.org)

Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There's an app for that. More Info »

If you want to calculate how much water you use, try the Water Footprint Calculator

Shun bottled water starting today! For more information, visit BlogActionDay2010 

I've writtern more about this issue, here:

What causes more death than war?