Why do people waste money on brands?

A brand is defined as a product manufactured under a particular name. Seeing as we live in a capitalist and materialist society, brand names are given a big importance. Brands are all around us. If you need more convincing, go to any shopping mall or coffee shop. Basically you will see people being slaves to a brand. Why are we, as a species, so compelled to buying specific brands? Why do people become what is considered a Brand Slave? In my opinion, there are three reasons: we find routine in purchasing certain brands, it comes subconsciously, or there are social influences.

There are many reasons why people buy certain brands. I think it’s because humans love to follow routine.  We have used a product before and we have become comfortable with it.  Therefore, we will follow that routine and continue to purchase that same item. I would be lying if I said I don’t buy specific brand products. I do buy certain brands, but I have my reasons behind it. Those reasons include price, quality, functionality, the purpose for which I'm buying it, good reviews and even if it's environmentally friendly. It can be as simple as choosing a type of soda. When it comes to choosing between Coca Cola vs. Pepsi, I will always pick Coca Cola. Coca Cola has a more caffeinated taste to it which I prefer over the more sweetened taste that is Pepsi. I also have preferences in brands when spending a larger amount of money. For example, when it comes to snowboards, I have favoured Burton  which coincidentally was the brand of the rental board I first learned on. There are many different snowboard companies, obviously some are better than others. The reason I always get a Burton snowboard  is because the technology put into the board works with exactly what I need. Burton was the first ever snowboard company. They have been in the business for a long time and still continue to improve the quality of their boards. However, I still do my research and look at other options for a board that suits me and fits with my style of riding as well as my budget.

Another reason we buy certain brands is more from a subconscious level. Many companies have been around for a long time and we have learned to associate certain products by brand names instead of the item itself. For example, when we say: "I need a Kleenex", we really mean that we need a tissue. Kleenex is just a brand name but it has been used for so long that we automatically call it that. Another example is Under Armour. It’s a company name that became big for its tight fitting sportswear, but the actual term for that product is compression shirt. Because we use the brand names instead of what the item is actually called, it increases the likelihood of purchasing the product of that actual brand instead of another.

Finally, I think that the main reason for buying specific brands is due to social standards and influences. Humans seek to fit in with others. Therefore, we are willing to spend money, sometimes a large amount, to have something that gives us that sense of belonging to a certain crowd. Unfortunately, some people think that it’s okay to spend a lot more money just for the brand name and not necessarily the quality of the product. The biggest example is Apple. I can walk into any public place and see a lot of people with iPhones. Since there are so many people with this type of phone, people will think that it must be a great product and will purchase it. Don't get me wrong; it is a genius marketing company. The issue I have with Apple is the way it presents things to the public. Apple advertises their products to be revolutionary  when in fact they are like every other product out there. For example, a MacBook is around 1700$, when in reality the specifications that are inside the computer are the same as any other laptop that is around 700$. Which means that if you are interested in buying a Mac computer, you will be spending near 1000$ for the light up Apple logo on the back. It’s not just their computers, but everything. Now the new iPhone 5 has been announced and is soon to be released. However, it’s a product that is trying to catch up. It’s now a product that is almost two years behind the technology available today, but Apple pretends like it changes the technology industry every time. To be honest I can’t explain why people are so compelled to buy Apple products. It could be because they make it sound so good and the less tech-savvy and trend-following people believe everything Apple tells them, just like sheep following their shepherd.

As you can see brands are all around us. There is no problem with buying the cheaper brand or the more expensive one, as long as there is a good reason behind your purchase. If you’re not sure if you’re buying a product just because of the brand, ask yourself this: Why do I want to buy this? If you can’t come up with many reasons do some research, read reviews, look at other products for different options. Do you really want to become just another Brand Slave?

Let the Olympic Games Begin(forgot to post it)

This is one of my favourite times of the year summer and winter. It a time where people come togheter as everyone is proud of the nation in which they reside. To begin every olympics there is an opening ceremony. 3 hours that the host contry can show there heritage. But sometimes there are things that arent right. For example i live in cananda and i can tell you that the over exagerated the native americans.

Im typing this as im watching his and this is cool because england has alot of history to show. But in the begining they hads farmers that came out from trees and they looked like hoobies or some sort of mystical creature. There is the syncronysed drumming, sure it takes practice but the thing is that it was done in bejing so thats all i could think of.They showed the beetles with the colourful jackets but the issue it that there was a giant trumpet on a bike so it looked like who ville from the grintch. 

But after that was great because they showed the industrial power that england was and made olympic rings which was awesome. 

Then after they had daniel craig as james bond and went to go pick up the queen of england and they parachuted into the stadium so that was funny but when see was introduced as she entured she didnt even smile or wave like come on. This should be happy.

This ceremony has alot of dancing and coreagraphy in this which i personly like bcause its not boring its more fun and upbeat. They are even showing some part of the culture like litterature they had j.k. rowling speek and showed charaters like peter pan, captain hook, corella devile, mary poppins and valdermort which make it more fun for people of all ages.

This make me laugh so har. They have rowan akitson in an orcastra playing one note and boy he made it so funny with is antics. I cant wait for it to be ok youtube so i can post the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZC7eH_39P4

The commentator of the channel i was watching said that Tim-Bernes Lee is the inventor of the internet. Well that is sooooooooooooo WRONG. He just made up html which is the language of the internet.

Holy shit, during the country entrence, cuba came up and the flag beror was huge and was able to wave the huge flag around with only one hand.

This was so funny when czech republic was up. They were wearing rubber boots and carring umbrellas because you know england is a very soggy place.

I always like to see a country with only one atheletes

Let the games begin.

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

I haven't done one of these but here we go and maybe in the future ill do more but this movie made me want to write a review.

The dark knight rises was directed by christopher nolan. This is the set to put an end and answer some questions about batman.

Before going to this movie i decided to do some research about the movie and what people were saying about it. Some said that the movie dragged on to much between the interesting parts and that there were new characters that were put in that shouldn't have because they have to spend time talking about there back story.  I will be addressing those parts and throwing in my opinion.

The two opinions from other reviews i had mentioned previously i found semi false. Yes some new charscters were added but the backstory was explained in a more brief manner(being inside of a conversation).
The running time of the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes so of course there will be gaps in excitement but we can't forget that is it was all excitement all the time, you would get sick of it. When watching this i did not find myself saying "oh come on whens the next action scene."

If you want a comparison between both dark knight movies, well you can't get a completely accurate one because they are not entirely the same type. Sure there is action and super heroes and bad guys in both but in the original dark knight the story had more chaos put on the city in a short amount of time thanks to the joker. In the dark knight rises, it is more emotionally and with a deeper plot with a back story.

Lets compare the vilans

In the first dark knight heath ledger played the joker. Sadly passed away after but his version of the joker was one of the best of all time. Everything from the way her talked and walked and even sat. You were thinking this guy is a nut job. There is a line he says to harvey dent that he is like a wild dog chasing cars, and he wouldn't know what to do if he ever caught one and that was a very believable methafor to explain what the joker was doing to gotham

In the dark knight rises the villain played by tom hardy as bane. He was playing a role of a man who was inpresioned in a hell hole and then later becomes a terrorist toward gotham to attempt to give back the city to the people. I found some of the fight scenes with batman a little boring but still some what exciting. But its when you had bane taking over the city or ruling the city thats when you got scared of him. I was a bit scared of him also. And the mask he wore that changed his voice made tom hardy even more intimidating.



**************************************************************************************************************SPOILER ALERT************************************* *********************************************************************************

The point of this movie was to put and end to the christopher nolan batman trilogy. So the question is did he do a good job? Well I think he did close it fine but also gave room for a new series of movie. When bruse wayne "died" he was left the bat cave to an orphan cop named Blake played by joseph Gordon-levitt. We find out that the characters real name is Robin!yes the same robin. I cant lie to you i knew that was going to happen because there was a conversation between batman and blake about wearing a mask. So from that i thought he must be batman and later on he quits the force and that just confirmed it. But a thing that confused me is that bruce wayne or batman died to save gotham from a nuclair blow. Then alfred was crying infront of a 3 tombstones of thomas wayne, martha wayne and bruce wayne saying that he had failled tem and thats when u get all choked up.  But the confussion comes when alfred goes to a cafe in france. like he was done for the passed eight years when bruce left gotham, he was hoping that he'd see bruce sitting across the cafe with a family to show that he moved away from the batman part of his life. So sitting there alfred looks up and he sees bruce, that brings a question, what the hell happened, is he done with batman, will alfred help robin. Im sure that the batman nerds will know but for most people they dont.

**************************************************************************************************************DONE THE SPOILER********************************** *********************************************************************************

Overall this movie is really good you should go and see it. This is a rating from rotten tomatoes.

Ps. what happened in aurora colorado is a great tragity. But i dont not want people to say that christien bale when to the hospital because of a petition. You are fucking stupid if you think that. Im sure he is a good person with a good set of morals and went there for him not because some idiots on facebook who think they help anyone with any sort of facebook petition.

I'M BATMAN!!! shhhhhhhh

Wisdom teeth removal: Day 4

Yes i forgot to post yesterday but nothing really dosnt change. I get a bit better and i get a little more adventurous with what i eat. 'The main thing that this surgery has caused me is becoming very depressed because im basicly trap inside bcause all the things i like to do, im not being permited to do because it could either cause the stitches to break or i may fall and hurt my self making the healing process longer. So that really what i have to report i just wanna go out and have some fun again.

Wisdom Teeth removal: Day 3

well its been 3 days. nothing really special to reports its pretty much the same thing as day 2 except a little less pay and eating and chewing a bit more. But mirrrors make me sad because the swealing dosnt change to much and my face looks like i weight around 300 pounds.

thats it

Wisdom teeth removal: Day 2

Day 2 has started and well sleeping was hard because I have to find the perfect position. Anyway I managed to get a decent amount of sleep. Today i was thankfully able to have a little more varity in my diet. My visiting aunt being the loying caring women she is made me crepes for breakfast. For lunch i had tomato soup with white bread(no crusts) and for dinner had mac & cheese which mad me really happy. Kep in mind will all of these meals i was not able to chew and i dont think i will for a while because i an so paranoid about the stiches but i digrese, so i just put smaller amounts of food in my mouth used pressure from tounge and palette and some seliva to help it go down. after i was done eating my stomach wasnt to happy about the unchewed food.

For some reason my left cheek swealing went down a good amount but my right side may have increased over night and after continuing to ice it there has been no change in size so that has me a bit worried. but the right side is also the same side the blead more and was more swollen to begin with.

Let's see what tomorrow brings me.

Wisdom teeth removal: Day 1

I will be documenting my experience with the removal of my wisdom teeth.  so today is when i remove them. I had i surgery. they put me asleep with anestetics and then i didnt rememeber anything. im thinking that if its a man made sleep i dont think you dream. The nurse keept yelling "Eric! Wake Up!" and when i was finally up, i was ready to get out of there but obvious i had to spend 30 more minutes so they can make sure i was good to go even if i felt perfectly fine. 

             How I think I look                                                        What I really look like

                                                                    this is a picture of me a few minutes after waking up.

The moment where i sat in the car to go home i was imediatly hit with a massive hunger and pain in stomach due to not eating since midnight last night because you need to fast. So that made me really pissed off and violent. The moment i got home i grabbed a smoothie, drank that and boy did i feel better. 

On the first, my diet is mainly smoothies and soft ice cream but i did have a bit of white bread with butter just to and a bit of variety and so i can eat solid foods. Do you remember as a kid you always wanted to have ice cream for every meal isteand of anything else. Well once that came true for me, let me tell you it sucks. sure its nice once and a while but this is the only food i cant have and all the other delicious foods are laughing at me. 

 i stop bleeding a few hours after the surgery. as the freezing wore off i started to feal pain, my spit glads went back online and into over drive, im icing my face quite regularly to help  the swealing go down. 

That pretty much concludes my first day lets hope sleeping goes well and that tomorrow will be better.