Twittering During MTV Movie Awards

I was dreading the task of live tweeting an event simply because before this, I have never used twitter. Yes, I know I’m in the minority – but it’s not as if I don’t partake in social media. I regularly use Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr.

I’ll admit upfront that this is the first time that I’v attempted to use Twitter. And I couldn’t have done it without my trendy, in-the-know younger sister, Veronika, who I look at as an expert on social media and what’s “hip” nowadays (despite the fact that she’s only three years younger than me).

So Veronika sat with me while watching the MTV Movie Awards, showing me the windows of tweeting and sub-tweeting and how to properly use a hashtag. She explained that during major award shows, she regularly uses Twitter as a means of participating in a community of people, sharing similar thoughts and feelings at pivotal moments on a show. It was such a new experience for me to also participate in this event while live tweeting, and honestly it was pretty fun.

The opening of the show began with the cast of Mad Max Fury. Kevin Hart and Dwayne dressed up as Batman vs. Superman, parodying the movie in an attempt to see “who is the better host”. Both Kevin Hart and Dwayne Wade made the MTV awards definitely more dynamic and fun to watch – and many others agreed:

I wish all of the #MTVMovieAwards were this good. Love the Kevin Hart & The Rock combo. 🙌🏻

— Martha Myrick (@MarthaMyrick) April 11, 2016

While the Kevin Hart and Dwayne Wade duo was great – what I personally didn’t enjoy was the whole joke about “dickinabox”. I didn’t find it funny and instead just a bad attempt at humor. When Kevin Hart claimed that the hashtag #dickinabox would go viral, however – it did – with everyone tweeting it (and my sister demanding that I partake in this).

Another aspect of the show that I enjoyed was the fact that Melissa Mcarthy won the “Comedic Genius” award – being the first woman thus far to won this award. It was pretty awesome when she crowd surfed to go pick up her award!

YES SHE DID! @melissamccarthy just crowd surfed at the #MTVmoviesawards after accepting the Comedic Genius Award! pic.twitter.com/z6aGtVWyj3

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) April 11, 2016

Lastly – I’ve always been a fan of Will Smith. I enjoy his work, and he seems like a very genuine and nice guy. I’m not exactly sure what the “Generation Award” is – but I was happy that he won it! When he won the award, he joked that “When MTV first gave me this Generation Award, I thought it was code for the ‘old-ass dude award.'” Twitter seemed to explode when he won the award – with everyone saying how much he deserved the award and commenting on Will Smith’s past work:

I was OBSESSED with the Fresh Prince. I think Will Smith was one of my first crushes. #MovieAwards

— iO Tillett Wright (@iOlovesyou) April 11, 2016

I also partook in the Will Smith conversation happening on Twitter:

“With every performance you see his soul” #WillSmith #MTVMovieAwards #

— Gabrielle (@gabrielle3210) April 11, 2016

(I just realized I threw in an extra hashtag at the end of the post…I’m such a #TwitterNewbie)

Anyway, thank you all for reading!

Blogilates

It’s not always feasible to go to the gym – maybe you don’t have the time or you simply can’t afford a costly gym membership. It can also be hard to know what types of work outs to do – and a personal trainer is not always an option.

For years now, I have been following a person I found on Youtube named Cassey Ho, a pilates instructor. She posts wonderful videos on her Youtube channel where she demonstrates how to perform pilates work outs for whichever parts of your body you’d like to focus on – for instance, abs, back, or “booty”. Her videos are very similar to fitness DVDs you might find at a store, or how it might be to attend a fitness class at the gym. The videos are meant to be followed along – so she is doing the exercises at the same time you’d be doing them. She plays fun music in the background, and yells out encouraging words during the exercises. Best of all, the majority of her videos are free! 

Not only does she have great videos, but I also love that she sometimes creates these exercise guides which are able to be saved on your phone for later or to be printed:

She also focuses on being body positive, and helps promote a theme of positivity and staying both physically and mentally healthy to her community of followers.

Don’t worry, I’m not benefiting by endorsing her! I really just think she has great material which can be a great asset to anyone needing new exercises, encouragement while working out, or the ability to work out at home and at whatever time is most convenient. I’ve been following her for many years, and her popularity has soared – she now has a very active Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and website which boasts a very large amount of followers. I think it’s great that social media allowed me to find her and benefit from her material, while also helping her gain a following.

To find her work, you can check out her website, Blogilates, Instagram, or Youtube.

I hope this helps! Let me know what you think of her workouts!

 

 

A Mealy Mouthed Reply

I was browsing through Tumblr the other day and came across an article that caught my interest – “London Man Who Asked Muslim Woman to “Explain” Brussels Terror Attacks Arrested“. Apparently the man in question had released a tweet stating “I confronted a Muslim women (I believed he meant ‘woman’) yesterday in Croydon. I asked her to explain Brussels. She said “Nothing to do with me”. A mealy mouthed reply.”

The original tweet:

(By the way, in case you didn’t know, “mealy mouthed” is defined as “afraid to speak frankly or straightforwardly”.)

This tweet is a clear demonstration of a person being blatantly racist. It also shows ignites the issue of how important it is not to generalize a race, ethnicity, gender, and more generally a group of people. By blaming a Muslim woman for the actions of ISIS, this man, Matthew P. Doyle, is so quick to generalize and associate ISIL with Muslims and Islam. In reality, ISIS is not a representation of Islam or Islamic beliefs. According to this article, “Even from the viewpoint of a casual observer, ISIS is an abomination to Islam.” Another excellent quote from the article states,

“But ISIS clearly has little regard for this or other fundamental tenets of Islam. They have sparked the rage of Iraqi Muslims by carelessly blowing up copies of the Qur’an, and they have killed their fellow Muslims, be they Sunni or Shia. Even extremist Muslims who engage in warfare have strict rules of engagement and prohibitions against harming women and children, but ISIS has opted to ignore even this by slaughtering innocent youth and using rape and sexual slavery as a weapon.”

However, while this tweet is disheartening, the internet’s response to it was nothing short of brilliant. People decided to respond to the tweet in a similar fashion that highlighted exactly what was wrong with Matthew’s statement.

A few of my favorites:

I confronted a dog today & asked him about that time when I was 4 and a dog bit me. “woof” he said. A mealy mouthed reply.

— TechnicallyRon (On all the platforms) (@TechnicallyRon) March 23, 2016

https://twitter.com/LeeJasper/status/712954053093892096?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I truly love how sometimes the internet can come together to confront a statement of hate and ignorance.

Mr Lee Jasper’s response is especially accurate and hits home. I feel as though “White history” tends to brush aside and attempt to “forget” about slavery and their role in it. By using the exact same wording but by having the “White woman” in the wrong, Mr Lee Jasper is forcing Matthew and White people to confront their past and confront any negative stereotypes or generalizations they may have about Muslims and Islam. Just as you can’t blame any White person for slavery, you cannot think to blame any Muslim for Islam – it simply doesn’t make sense.

The same, I think, can be said about the KKK – a group known for its White supremacy and hate crimes against people of color. To even further the similarities, the KKK is claims itself as being a “Christian organization” – just as ISIS claims to be “Islamic.” Through a quick search on google, I was able to find a website called the “White Camelia Knights of the Ku Klax Klan” where they identify as being Christian. But honestly, I felt sick reading the messages of hate and ignorance on this website and for that reason refuse to link back to it. However, you get the idea – the average Christian would in no way identify themselves as having any association with a hate group such as the KKK, just as the average Muslim would never think of ISIS as being associated with the Islamic faith.

Matthew attempted to backpedal and rebuke his tweet through a series of other tweets, but did so rather unsuccessfully. One of the worst of these says:

https://twitter.com/MatthewDoyle31/status/712615148410773505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

What a man of compassion right?

But if you read the original article I link at the front of this post, you’ll see that Matthew was later arrested in London for “on suspicion of inciting racial hatred”, which is pretty great.

It’s interesting how social media can be used in so many ways – to spew racism and to fight against it. Just as Matthew revealed his ignorance, a storm of people were quick to use the same platform, Twitter, to rebut it. In a similar fashion, I showed this article to my mom and her first thought was to share it on Facebook to her hundreds of friends. All of this was done through social media, and even by simply sharing it on Facebook, she played a part in spreading a message.