Ads on the Internet

            Ever wonder how they choose which ad to put up while you are browsing the internet (Facebook, Youtube, Google, etc.)? Well the answer is fairly creepy. The government monitors your activity of internet use to discover what your interests are and what kind of ads would attract your attention. 

            For example, go to your Facebook home page. Now scroll down and when you see an ad, stop and look at what this ad is about. Now think back a bit. Does this ad have anything to do with a website you recently visited, something you looked up on Google, or a page that you ‘liked’? Odds are, it probably is. 

            So why does the government do this? Companies pay to get their ads on websites, and every company needs to get their ads seen so that they make profits. The only way that the companies will make profits is if the right people see their ads. So in order to get the ads seen by the right people, the government monitors what you are doing on the internet so that they know where to put certain peoples’ ads so that they will be seen and noticed by people who will be interested in each ad. 

Adult Humour in Movies

How many of you have ever seen a childrens' movie? My guess is all of you have at some point in your life, but have you ever really paid attention to the comedy in said movies?

                I'm going to narrow it down and focus on mainly Pixar movies. Animators and writers at Pixar have stated that their movies are for adults, just as much as they are for children. So what they do is throw in humour that only the adult are supposed to understand. Most people have seen the classic movies such as Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Cars, So let me use these three as examples.

In the movie Toy Story, made in 1995, there are actually numerous jokes and humourous occasions made so that only adults, and possibly some children, would understand.  For instance, When Bo Peep says to Woody, "Whadda ya say I get someone else to watch the sheep tonight?", it is inferred that she is probably referring to having sex.

Mr. Potato Head draws a threat to hang Woody

In the movie The Incredibles, made in 2004, there is a montage after Bob accepts a job and kissed Helen. During this montage, Bob and Helen are seen sneaking past their daughter, Violet's, bedroom, and they both pinch each other's butt's while passing through each other.

In the movie Cars, made in 2006, there is a truck stop called the Top Down Truckstop, and on the sign for the stop, it reads "All Convertible Waitresses", meaning that all the waitresses are, in a sense, topless.

All of these are examples of jokes and remarks made within Pixar movies, and there are many more. I realize that these remarks are designed so that only adults should understand them, but as our generation grows, it seems that the minds of children are maturing rapidly, and many children are finding these jokes humourous already at a very young age. Although adults need to enjoy the movies that their children watch, I feel as if companies need to cut down on the level of their remarks and humour, and just use jokes that are funny for all ages. 

Disney and Copyright

Over the years, copyright laws seem to have been getting more and more strict and serious. Today, it seems that copyright laws are getting too far, but is it a good idea to be taking these laws to the next level?

                Take Disney for example. One of the most famous corporations in the entire world. Disney has created and used millions of songs, clips, movies, shows, et cetera, and the company's first original characters, songs, and shows are starting reaching the age where their copyrights will no longer exist. Since their copyright will soon expire, anyone will be able to get the right to characters such as Mickey Mouse, and the first person to get it, gets it, which means that Disney has a very small chance of getting the rights to their own characters after the copyrights expire.

                Because of the soon to expire copyrights of Disney, the corporation is trying to extend the copyright laws to 150 years instead of the usual 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation (whichever comes first) so they have longer rights to their own creations.

                In my opinion, this may be a good thing, but it is kind of pointless if you think about it. What is 30 extra years going to help them with if their copyrights will expire eventually anyways? I feel that Disney should just take a risk, like they will have to eventually, leave the copyright laws as they are, and try their best to get their rights back as soon as they expire.  Even if they don't get their rights back first, I'm sure they have enough cash to buy them back from whoever it may be who got them first.