Dinosaurs: A Child’s Obsession

 

In 1993, the first Jurassic Park movie hit the box office with incredible success. The movie had visual effects so sharp that it almost looked real. The dinosaurs depicted were so realistic and true to the originals that it made a whole generation of kids become fans of dinosaurs. It literally sparked a frenzy among kids of the 90s to search and read anything about dinosaurs.

Publishers rushed to release books, magazines, and comics about dinosaurs to profit from such a high demand. Museums opened new collections that include dinosaur fossils. Children were led to activities consisting of digging for dinosaur bones at various sites. Toys and miniatures of different dinosaur species became very popular, selling tens of thousands.

It was fun for kids to enjoy those amenities. However, the real benefit of the dinosaur madness came with the fact that it instilled a sense of scientific curiosity in children. They were curious about how these creatures lived, how they were fed, and sadly, how they all died and went extinct. No wonder most of these kids wanted to be paleontologists back then.

The generation that had been through this frenzy is believed to have engaged in STEM more than the generations that follow. Some of them sought careers in engineering and academics. Others, when grown up to become adults, have been into science as a hobby.

After this “dinosaur frenzy” died down, new generations got addicted to areas that do not always benefit them. Kids of today are so very much bound to video games and mobile phones that they have been made to neglect any interest in science.

Economics of Football

Football has been at the forefront of the entertainment sector for the last 50 years. Masses of people gather around to watch their favorite team play. Not only do they fill the stadia, but also they use televisions or their phones to follow their teams’ performance on the pitch.

Because it has been so popular all over the world, football generates an insane amount of income for the clubs. Tickets, sponsorships, and advertisements bring in cash to the clubs. With such a steady source of income, clubs invest in bigger stadiums, which in turn lead to more income through sales of more tickets than before. Clubs also buy young talents who have the potential to grow into robust players, who could be sold to richer clubs for a considerable profit. This is the business cycle that we see surrounding the triangle formed by clubs, players, and fans.

Yet, football cannot always be profitable as one would expect. Ill-decisions given by clubs as to the transfer policies might be a step backwards. Make too many of such transfers and you will end up with an income loss. If clubs do not behave professionally in managing the team, they might also lose their competitiveness in the sports arena, which might deprive them of a valuable fan base. Without a reliable fan base, the club will not be able to sell tickets or merchandise, which poses as another loss-incurring reality.

Clubs getting poorer in such a fashion experience a downward spiral that can see the team off, making them struggle for years in lower leagues.

No matter how dependent on money football is nowadays, it still is beautiful.

K-pop Hype

 

K-pop Artists

It all started with "Gangnam-Style", a Korean song listened to billions of times on Youtube, breaking all the records for most watched music clips of all time. Korean Pop, or K-Pop, created its own genre of music, gathering an avalanche of fans from all around the world quickly. This new genre combines dancing with singing, boasting catchy words and fast tunes.

Korean culture has been attracting a lot of attention for the last two decades. Surprisingly, Korean films were the first to reach the rest of the world. These movies introduced the Korean culture to the audience, helping people get a glimpse of how interesting and diverse the Korean culture is. Then came the Korean TV shows, love stories that have managed to get millions of viewers to glue their eyes to the TV screens.

When they first became acquainted with Korean music, young people enjoyed it almost instantly. They embraced the music right away, impressed by the way they danced and sang. K-pop groups have been followed so heavily that their way of dressing became fashionable among fans. In the eyes of their fan base, K-pop has been a cult, and the artists have been idols.

K-pop’s rise has proven that the next generation wants a change from the mainstream entertainment that has been put forward by the West. They want alternatives to what's been around lately. It appears they have found that in K-pop, and they intend to keep it as a lifelong expedition. The torch that has been kindled by the K-pop stars does not seem to vanish for quite some time from now.