Disturbing

There are a growing number of bankruptcies in today’s youth; particularly in students.

According to comedian James Cunningham, “colleges and universities are fertile ground for financial disaster.” One of his firsthand accounts was from an American student who admitted to having over $100,000 in debt from student loans.

This is not an isolated incident; many Canadians do not know how to manage their money. A survey by the Canadian Certified General Accountants says that Canadians have $1.41 trillion in debt, which works out to about $41,740 per person.

Cunningham predicts that “this is the first generation of people who will sit back and say, ‘I don’t know if I can afford to live the way I was raised.’”

Hilarious

After MTV replaced two episodes of Jersey Shore several weeks ago, the online viewing records skyrocketed. In a normal week, 1.6 million viewers would watch the show online per week.

But after MTV took it off the air for a week, the online TV show got about 15 million views in one week; the most ever on MTV. The next best week of online streaming came from the 2010 MTV Music Awards, and it only got 12.3 million views. MTV says that this is all part of their platform to get more online users visiting the website.

Badass

Gay teens seem to be appearing in recent popular television shows, and the way that they have been portrayed has been changing. From being portrayed as ‘marginalized outcasts’, or ‘goofy sidekicks’ to being fun, interesting, and overall normal characters that both sexes can relate to.

According to Entertainment Weekly, characters Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) from Fox’s hit TV series Glee have been leading this revolution.

“I think there is definitely a lot of pressure on playing a gay teen on television,” Chris Colfer says in an Entertainment Weekly interview.

“And I’m the one who always gets the very heart-wrenching e-mails and Facebook messages from some of the fans who are watching the show. I think everyone is just so happy that there is finally a positive portrayal of a character like Kurt on TV.”

Just Plain Weird

According to Frank O’Brien, the founder of an independent advertising agency, there are three reasons why the Super Bowl is so popular among teens and youths.

1) It is a family event. The Super Bowl tends to be a tradition among families and friends; people get together, order pizza, and watch a classic game of football.

2) The halftime show. Although some people avoid it like the plague, the halftime show is designed to appeal to a younger, teenage audience.

3) Commercials. Apparently in some places, the Super Bowl is even used as part of a classroom curriculum. 60 per cent of teens surveyed said that their assignments would somehow reference the Super Bowl.