I Believe in Clean Teeth

Spoonful of Sugar

Saturday night, Allyssa started coughing. Each time we heard it, she sounded worse, as if her chest were trying to explode through her airway. She had a fever and she shivered consistently. Her roommate Hannah and I made an executive decision; Allyssa needed to see a doctor.

             

She protested, claiming she could take care of herself. She was fine; one more Diet Pepsi would do the trick. We didn’t buy that. I tried first to convince her to come with me. Obviously not swayed by my words, she clutched her Advil bottle and continued to object. I turned to Hannah and said, “You talk to her.”

            

 In a matter of minutes, Hannah had Allyssa dressed and stumbling towards the elevator. We got her to UHS, University Health Services on campus at PSU, and the cute little doctor with curly hair diagnosed her with the flu.

            

 What did Hannah say that motivated Allyssa to roll out of bed and seek help? I can’t imagine her words were so drastically different from mine, yet they yielded a drastically different result.

I’m wondering why we connect to certain people and allow their words to influence us, whereas we tune others out and ignore their message. In this case, the message was the same (SEE DOCTOR) but I’m guessing the delivery was the mitigating factor. I think Hannah used her dry, teasing wit to stimulate a positive reaction from Allyssa, and subsequently she was more receptive to the proposal. I, on the other hand, didn’t even think about trying to make light of the situation. I flat out stated, “Come on, you’re sick, we need to get you to a doctor.” I’m sure Hannah said something like, “Hey. So you’re just going to die on me? It’s cool, I get your xbox.” I think it’s fascinating how manipulating someone’s reaction to your words helps you to change their mind about how they want to act on your message.

2 Stars

“Hey Adam…”

Natalie Portman’s voice cascades into my ear drums, battering my auditory senses without mercy. As much as I love Pandora, the online personalized radio website, I am resentful that it lets commercials attack me in between a track from the Braveheart soundtrack and the Star Wars theme (courtesy of James Horner and John Williams).

They don’t even play a variety of commercials! It’s the same one every time; No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and yes, Natalie Portman, release date January 21^st, 2011. I suppose my misery will end once the 21^st pulls up, but I think after hearing the same annoying clip more times than I can count, I have a right to be irritated.

Why these ads? Why pay a free online radio website to broadcast 30 seconds over and over to promote a product? I suppose, theoretically, doing so will convince me and most others that we want to spend $10.50 to go see Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman fool around. This is the company’s argument; that two visually appealing people who have a moderate amount of talent can make a movie that deserves my attention and therefore my money.

 If you’ve seen the preview, you’ll notice that Ashton and Natalie both look delicious, as movie stars should. However, the dialogue sounds a bit cheesy and forced. The plot isn’t anything new; it’s a love story. Obviously no one put a exorbitant amount of effort in attempting to attract movie goers who prefer an intricate plot with intelligent dialogue. Even if the movie doesn’t have those qualities, I’m sure they could find a way to fool us into thinking it. My conclusion is that the movie relies on the promise of a visually stimulating experience without provoking too much thought. They also probably expect to make a profit, which means they expect a large number of people to see this film. I don’t know if that’s disgusting or really sad.

My theory as to their promotional effects on the public is this: that because they have repeatedly mashed this movie into my brain a thousand times, I feel obligated to see it. If I don’t, I will always wonder if that movie was any good, if No Strings Attached starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman was worth all the trouble of me having to hear about it 40 times a day. That’s where I’ll be Friday night, if this influenza hasn’t killed me.