Used to be Valentine’s Day was a time when guys would ask a girl out on a “date.”

That seems like the distant past with “hanging-out” replacing “dating” and women doing outrageous things like paying for their own meals. 

A recent New York Times article goes as far as to claim that our generation is witnessing “the end of courtship.”

However, this may not be a bad thing. Gone are the age-old formalities, excessive chivalry, and pre-determined gender roles. Enter texting and social media.

But these modes of communication have their limits too. Interactions with romantic interests can often be vague, confusing, and unfulfilling.

Another recent article proclaims that our generation’s hook-up culture and media dependency has left us unprepared for the basics of a commited relationship. 

The basics involve sharing and, often (gulp)… some vulnerability.

But as Brené Brown, a University of Houston researcher states:

“Staying vulnerable is a risk we have to take if we want to experience connection”

So… what does all this suggest? Do we college students of generation Y really lack connection? Dating skills?

What are you doing on Valentine’s Day? 

These days it seems like politics and ideological divisions are spilling over into every aspect of American life.

Case in point: the new Lego Movie, which opened on Friday to rave reviews.

So what could possibly be the issue with a movie based on plastic bricks?

According to Fox News, the movie’s villain, appropriately named President Business, represents a cruel caricature of the American business executive and looks too much like Governor Mitt Romney.

This is despite the fact that Lego Movie is probably the most thinly veiled toy marketing movie in recent memory. What’s more capitalist then making a hugely profitable movie that also promotes your other products?

This isn’t the first time that Fox has cried foul to “Hollywood’s” supposed liberal agenda for kid’s movies.

Of course, every movie will be impacted by the perspectives of those who made it; that’s a big part of what makes movies valuable as an artistic medium.

But it seems to us at USDemocrazy that maybe we should just LEGO of all the political posturing and enjoy Lego Movie for the harmless entertainment that it is.

Does Hollywood have a problem with liberal bias? Or is Fox grasping at plastic straws here?

There’s a new viral game sweeping the nation, and it is the chubby most infuriating bird ever… Flappy Bird. Despite his quick rise to fame, there have been rumors floating around that Flappy Bird is about to meet its untimely demise. 

For those of you still the dark (consider yourself spared), it is a highly addicting yet simplistic game. You tap your phone’s screen to fly a little bird through a series a pipes. That’s it. No power-ups, no levels, no extra obstacles…just a bird and pipes.

It is extremely frustrating, increases adrenaline levels, and causes unnecessary expletives. Yet, why have over 18 million people downloaded the game that apparently took only 3 days to create? 

Though the game only took off since the end of January, the app was released in May 2013 by Dong Nguyen, a creator based in Vietnam.

Neither the iTunes nor Android store have promoted the game which makes many speculate that bots were used to boost its visibility in both app stores. Twitter posts, mostly by gamers sharing their frustration of the little bird, also helped to make Flappy Bird the success it is today.

Apparently Dong Nguyen wasn’t prepared to see Flappy Bird become so famous. On February 8th afternoon, Nguyen tweeted…

“I am sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take this anymore.”

He went on saying it wasn’t for any legal reasons. Regardless, Flappy Bird  aficionados restlessly await the departure of their favorite little bird.  In the meantime, you can tweet with #saveflappybird to get your voice heard. 

But in the age of phenomenal computer-graphic potential and highly complex games, it’s hard to believe that a little pixelated bird has grabbed the attention of such a wide audience.