Soon, we’ll all be frolicking in our summer-induced bliss, forgetting the tests, projects and papers that are currently tormenting us.

Come June, we won’t even remember that the Rotunda is round. It’s the summer with its heat and sunshine that keeps us moving forward, helping us trudge through the work that awaits us in the coming weeks. What’s interesting is that our entertainment choices don’t necessarily reflect that same optimistic outlook.

Over the recent years (okay, decades), Americans have flocked to apocalyptic movies that make us face an event that will spell our doom.

Movies like Armageddon exposed us to the idea of the end of the world, but the heroes won out. It was a fun rush (if you can call anything involving Ben Affleck “fun”) while it lasted and we all had warm fuzzies knowing that we would be able to carry on with our lives, unaffected by the mindless action of the movie. However, these near-end experiences weren’t enough for us. With time, we needed something stronger than just the idea of the world ending. We wanted to see it actually happen.

We received movies like The Day After Tomorrow, 2012, and Knowing (a movie that Nicolas Cage deserves to be punched for), three movies that should traumatize anyone that’s forced to endure their special form of torture. Of course, there are movies that do a better job with the post-apocalyptic genre. The Book of Eli, I Am Legend and the TV show, The Walking Dead all make you feel the events that are taking place rather than just throwing mindless special effects at you.

With these movies, it’s not just action. They bring the reality of the event home by focusing on the emotional and psychological impact the end of the world (no matter how it happened) would have on people.

Those three programs, along with a multitude of others, feed on our need to know what comes next. We, as a people, seem to have this latent understanding that we’re destroying the world or that we’re going to shortly. None of these programs are set in the far future. They’re set just close enough to now that we feel like it could be tomorrow. They show us what we all seem to know: the end is near and our time left doesn’t look pretty.

We can kid ourselves all we want about our true nature. We can say that deep down we’re all good people, but look at our entertainment. If we’re all so good, why does so much of what we watch, read and listen to expose the reality of man’s evil nature? Where are the movies that show everything working out perfectly?

If that’s our real nature, then why would it bore us and not make us happy? Yeah, I could be looking too much into what entertainment represents but I also think it’s wrong to brush it off as having no root in who we are and what makes us tick.

This isn’t a call to stop watching dark movies that show the effects of man on the world. Instead, think about what you watch and what it means. Don’t be the ostrich that sticks your head in the sand so you can ignore the reality all around you.

There are ways to make this world a better place and they’re all around us. These movies aren’t prophecies but they still have a hint of truth to them about our nature.

We can ignore what they’re hinting at or face the truth. Let’s stop trading the truth for a lie that only hurts us in the long run.

With that happy message, go off and have a great summer. Just be sure that there aren’t any zombies waiting for you in the dark recesses of your home.

How do you get your news?

Think about that before you move on. You get information from somewhere, so is it the evening news, a news network, the Internet, Twitter or your friends?

According to some reports, most of us (people going to college) get our news from Jon Stewart and his cohorts at The Daily Show. Really, who can blame us? Have you ever tried to watch Diane Sawyer on ABC’s World News Tonight? Let’s just say that she doesn’t have many poop jokes. Heck, she barely has any jokes at all. Isn’t the news supposed to entertain me?

Yeah, that was heavy in sarcasm but let’s face it, when we watch the news, we want to be entertained. Look at the rise of Fox News. I’m not going to make the claim that the news world was unbiased before Fox News surfaced because that would be completely wrong.

The history of news is more interesting than it sounds. Type “yellow journalism” into a Google search (please avoid the horrible excuse for a search engine called Bing) to see what past, so-called journalists were capable of doing when they swayed public opinion. Seriously, the yellow journalists make the current crop of news demagogues look like the crowd from

Sesame Street.

When it comes down to it, we (children, college students, adults, etc.) love to be entertained, even if it comes at the cost of reliable news.

Make no mistake, I do enjoy watching The Daily Show every now and then. The people on that show have a knack for pointing out the idiocies on both sides of the political spectrum (even though they typically focus their jokes on the conservative side). However, what does that actually do for us? What is that giving the viewing audience?

There’s an argument that the people watching the show will want to learn more about current events. In order to do that, they’ll turn to more venerable news sources.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I certainly don’t do that. When I watch The Daily Show, I laugh at the jokes and then I go about my day. If that news topic is brought up in conversation, I reference the pieces of information that the show gave me and sometimes I throw in the jokes for free (I’m a good guy like that). At no point did I go out and brush up on the actual facts. I just trusted the “information” that was giving to me.

I’m not entirely sure why anyone would ever think that Americans (not just college students) would be so ambitious about our news. What have we done recently to prove that we aren’t lazy when it come to anything that isn’t fun for us? I’m willing to guess that a lot of people can’t think of anything more boring than reading/watching the news. I could be wrong (I hope I am) but it would seem that our desire to be entertained overwhelms our desire to actually get reputable news.

We need to be more discerning about the news that we receive.

I have no problem with people like Bill O’Reilly or Rachel Maddow sharing their opinions every night. That right is constitutionally protected and it should be. However, that doesn’t mean that the rest of us should take what they say as the truth.

We need to read the news from both sides and figure out for ourselves what we think. We need to move past having other people tell us what the truth is. We’re more than capable of thinking for ourselves. So let’s get to it. Let’s stop calling people’s opinions and satire news.

After we start thinking for ourselves about the news, we can go back to using fart jokes that we heard on The Daily Show, and that’s what we all really want.

By now, there’s a fairly good chance that Rebecca Black has exposed you or someone you know to the song “Friday.” As of this writing, 78 million people have viewed the 13 year-old’s video on YouTube. This means that over one-fourth of the American population have seen this “unique” musical showcase.

If you’ve seen the video, then you know why the song is funny. It has nothing to do with the girl’s voice (at least it doesn’t for me). Instead, it’s the lyrics that make me laugh. Here’s a taste: “Gotta get down to the bus stop / Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends (My friends) / Kickin’ in the front seat / Sittin’ in the back seat / Gotta make my mind up / Which seat can I take?”

Seriously, she’s singing about which seat in the car to pick! Oh how great it would be to have so few worries in the world that where to sit in a car is a big decision. I won’t even paste the lyrics where she sings about the days of week because, seriously, that’s something that each person needs to experience on their own.

To say the least, my initial reaction to this song was how horrible pop music targeted at teenagers has become. My plan was to ridicule the lack of creativity and the lameness of the song. It was going to be a great article of a 20-something ripping on a 13 year-old’s attempt at a song. People were going to be proud of my maturity level. After that I was going to scream at babies for being too cute. However, before I could start writing that version of the article, I had to remember back to my youth and a little song called, “Mmmop,” by Hanson.

The classic gem that is “Mmmbop” came out in 1997 and I still don’t know what that song is about or how those brothers could have any huge insights to share. Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge) claims the song is about friendship but I have a feeling the Hanson brothers wrote the entry so I can’t trust it’s validity. It would be easy to repress that regrettable time in my musical past but I might as well own up to it.

We all have songs like that from our past. Almost the entire 80s fall into the category of music that people should be ashamed to listen to. In the 1990s there were enough boy bands to launch an all-out assault on Canada. I’m probably going to alienate a few people here, but the current crop of pop musicians aren’t any better than Rebecca Black, either (I’m looking at you, Ke$ha).

I say all this not to slam Rebecca Black, Ke$ha or Hanson but rather to remind us that we all have big gaps of musical logic from time to time. In the end, it’s extremely rare that any of the current popular songs are going to be considered classics in the future. Centuries from now, music students won’t be talking about brilliant lyrics such as, “brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack / cause when I leave for the night I ain’t comin’ back.” Instead, those students are going to be talking about the true geniuses of music, Mozart, Bach and Bieber.

My addiction to comics is so bad that it’s seeped into my daydreams to the point that I frequently imagine having superpowers.

Walking through a parking lot has my mind wandering to thoughts of flipping cars over just for kicks. At work, I sometimes (okay, at least twice a day) lightly drag my knuckles against cubicle walls and imagine the damage I would cause if I had Wolverine’s claws.

In my most bored and slightly violent woolgathering (a much cooler sounding word for daydreaming) state, I think about hurling cars through the air when they cut me off in traffic.

Apparently I have a lot of issues with cars.

Anyway, as a comic book nerd, I couldn’t be more thrilled with the bevy of comic book based movies coming out this summer. Most summers, Hollywood releases two or three with only one of them being centered on a big name character, but not this year.

This year we’re all going to be blessed with at least four movies that pull their ideas from comics.

The greatest thing about comic book movies is that they provide the ultimate form of movie escapism. Even with movies that are intended to be more realistic (i.e. The Dark Knight), there’s no debating that this is not our world these characters inhabit. In these worlds, there are (for the most part) clear cut good guys. We know which side to cheer for and which side to revile. In other words, it’s nothing like our world.

As a country, we could use some escapism from time-to-time. Since the first modern comic book movie made a big splash (X-Men in 2000) we’ve had a few big events hit us. Obviously there’s Sept. 11, 2001, which changed the way that our country operates. Financial markets came to a standstill, we went to war against Afghanistan, and our stance against terrorism changed how we travel and embroiled us in further conflict in the Middle East. Is it any surprise that we want to escape to worlds that provide quick, easy and satisfyingly violent answers to their problems?

Look at a Marvel movie coming out this summer, Captain America. Cap (as he’s lovingly referred to in the comics) is the ultimate patriot. He was a scrawny kid that was rejected for military service only to be part of the Super Solider program that made him into a one man war machine.

Who doesn’t dream about being transformed into something greater than themselves? Cap fights Nazis. There is no other clearer enemy in American history than the uber-villainous Nazis. While we concern ourselves with hard to define real world issues, our on screen heroes know exactly who to punch and how to save the day.

We yearn for a simple world; one where the big issues have splashy answers, but it’s not that simple.

This world is gritty, confusing, and it’s ours. Some people look to a higher power for help, while others try to rely on themselves. Either way, a comic book movie offers a temporary respite from the volatile nature of this world.

Plus, who doesn’t like to see a Nazi get punched?

Email your comments to Josh at joshadams47@hotmail.com.

@joshadams47
Juice Columnist

Prepare yourself for the most obvious statement of the year: Charlie Sheen needs help.
It’s easy to make statements like that when he says things like,
“I have a different constitution; I have a different brain; I have a different heart; I got tiger blood, man.” Or, “What they’re not ready for is guys like you and I and Nails and all the other gnarly gnarlingtons in my life, that we are high priests, Vatican assassin warlocks. Boom. Print that, people. See where that goes.”
It’s clear from reading those quotes (and painfully apparent when watching him say them) that Sheen is in trouble.
This article isn’t about that glaringly evident truth, though. This article is about us, the American viewing audience and our addiction to celebrities.
Fun Fact: Charlie Sheen is the first person to reach 1 million followers on Twitter. He reached that “achievement” in twenty-five hours; just days after his showdown with CBS started.
Sheen’s breakdown obviously resonated with people in a big way. What I struggle with, is why? Why are we so struck by this fight between a non-David and Goliath?
As the star of the most watched comedy in America, Sheen was hardly someone that most people can easily, or honestly, say they relate to. Nor was he really wronged by the network or the producers of the show. Most companies do not react happily with employees that have repeated instances of illicit and illegal behavior that impact the company in a negative way. If you question me on that, try it tomorrow at work. I doubt that they’ll work with you as much as CBS and Warner Bros. worked with Sheen.
So that brings me back to my confusion. Why are we so enamored with Sheen? It’s certainly not because we’re lacking viable options for our attention.
During Sheen’s outbursts there have been a bevy of battles in the Middle East as people fight for more freedoms. These issues actually matter, too. Why have gas prices been going up lately? That’s because of the fighting in Libya, not Charlie Sheen being fired from Two and a Half Men. Yet Sheen still gets more attention.
Ask yourself how much you know about Libya and compare that to your knowledge about Sheen. Chances are most people know more about the latter despite the minimal to zero impact on our actual lives. So why are we so enthralled by Sheen, and celebrities like him?
The only thinking I have for why we are addicted to Charlie Sheen’s roller coaster ride through crazy town isn’t a new one. In my opinion, an old episode of South Park (“Britney’s New Look”) laid it out pretty well. We prop up certain celebrities when they make their big splash. After a while, we lose interest in them or we start to vilify them for something they did (think about Britney Spears and the various incidents involving her children), turning our back on someone we once held high.
Some celebrities don’t handle that change too well and they start the hard spiral downward. At that point, they gain America’s attention again, this time for negative reasons.
We salivate at the newest stories, waiting to hear about their latest fall. Look at the tabloid magazines that still talk about Lindsey Lohan. Think back to how Britney Spears was treated during and shortly after her K-Fed years. Now think about Charlie Sheen.
There is, however, a somewhat disturbing difference with our treatment of Charlie Sheen. This time people are cheering his self-destruction on.
We follow him on Twitter to see what he’ll say (oh yeah, that’s not actually him writing his tweets but a company called Ad.ly that specializes in celebrity endorsements in social media).
We watch his videos on Funny or Die where his troubled state is used to generate revenue for the site. We feed on his self-destruction for our own entertainment. We had a similar circus act with Michael Jackson until his unfortunate death.
Americans are serial offenders of idolizing celebrities until they burn out, no longer able to entertain us. We treat them as fictional characters whose lives have no connection to reality. We see them as nothing more than real life fictional characters.
I doubt that we’ll ever change how we treat our celebrities. We’re too fascinated by what they do, the lifestyles they lead and the supposed freedoms from real life that they enjoy.
Let’s not forget that Charlie Sheen isn’t just here for our entertainment. He’s a father and a son. Despite his protestations otherwise, he’s just like us; fragile and human. He needs help, not our laughs.