Thanksgiving Break

So as everyone knows, Thanksgiving is coming up. Hopefully, I will not have a traditional Thanksgiving with eating dinner at 3 or 4 o'clock with family and friends. I plan on having fun even if I am in boring ole South Carolina. Sorry for those who are fans but it does not do a thing for me but keep me extremely bored. But that was before I turned 18. Maybe I can see the night life in this city that I thought was completely lifeless. In order to get there, I will have to sit on a bus for about five hours but I guess it will be worth it if fun follows so let the journey begin. My first few days in South Carolina should be family free, except if my cousin decides to join me (She's cool people so that won't matter). One of my best friends is picking me up from the bus station around 7 and after that I hope it's a night of fantastic festivities. She goes to the University of South Carolina so she should know what's going on. She claims she is having fun, but I have to see it for myself. I plan on meeting new people and making new friends. That's always good right? I plan on staying with her until Sunday night because she isn't coming back to Georgia until Monday. Gosh, this should be great. I finished my bibliography and my essay. Now, there isn't much to worry about. Maybe after this weekend my opinion of South Carolina may change. It has a long way to go if it wants to be considered one of my favorite places, but I'll give it a chance.

Punk Music Part II

I thought the second half of the video was a little more interesting than the first half. It showed the problems that Punk bands had to face more than the earlier segment. I liked how the video focused on Punk's waves of progress. As years went on, Punk began to change itself. Its artists actually wanted to be musicians. In the early years of Punk, no one could really play well. That changed when bands actually started to want record deals. For a while, it seemed like Punk bands had fallen off the map. Their popularity and success came in waves. The time between these waves gave the genre time to change. Within this time, sub genres of Punk were created. Punk music became more hardcore. Punk still expressed the same "I do not care what you think of me" mentality but had a different ways of portraying that expression. I also thought that the black Punk band Bad Brains was interesting. Before this video, I had never heard of them. Another interesting part of the video was when the Sex Pistols had to face so much rage when they went on tour in the United States. I knew there were problems with the music but I did not think that people would be against them in the way they were when the Sex Pistols performed in San Antonio. By the end of the video, I had learned a lot. I never was really into the whole Punk music genre, but after watching this video I might give the music a chance. I do know a few songs here and there but not enough to go out and buy an entire album.

Punk Music

Even though my favorite genre of music does not have anything to do with Punk, I may know a few songs. Despite my brief understanding of the genre, the history behind the music is still interesting. I like the concept of which Punk music was started under. It was about not conforming to everyday society and breaking rules. Individuality is one of the most important things for a person to create. Punk artists expressed their individuality by playing music that was usually seen rowdy to people who did not believe in this form of expression. The genre was more liked by young people rather than the much more traditional older generation. A lot of early Punk musicians offered their political views in their music. Most of the time, the artists tended to be against whatever was going on in the world, such as the Vietnam War. These bands represented progress, like the Civil Rights Movement. The fact that this genre spread so quickly was surprising because it seemed that a majority of Americans, more adults than youth, were against this type of music. They thought it was just pointless noise. While American Punk was beginning to define itself, London Punk was just starting. The political and economic climate of London fueled Punk's influence. Young people were angry and rebellious. Their emotions were starting to be portrayed through their clothing. Once Punk began to grow, it split into other sub genres. Punk is still a very popular genre of music today.

Rupert Murdoch

According to the New York Times article at http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/rupert-murdoch-unalloyed-unbound/, it seems like Rupert Murdoch is blaming President Obama and Google for everything that is wrong in the business world. He believes that Obama has not done much to fix the global crisis and Google is destroying all relevant news sources. According to Murdoch, Obama is making the financial crisis worse by giving away money that the country does not have. He even goes to defend Glen Beck from Fox News when Beck stated that Obama was racist. All Murdoch had to say was that Obama did make a racist statement. The article did not give too many details on this argument. Though he criticizes Obama's job in the White House, the article mainly focuses on Murdoch's problems with search engines. He believes, search engines, like Google, are stealing content from his News Corporation. He even claims that he is going to prevent google from accessing any of News Corporation's content. He insults search engines as if he is familiar with them even though the article states that the first time he used Google was about a year ago. There is no way he could go up against Google. Google is the main search engine basically used by anyone with a computer and internet access. After bickering on about how Google and other search engines are destroying news, he also back talks the BBC calling it a, "scandal because it uses tax dollars to compete against private media." He seems like an interesting man to listen to but he does not give enough facts to back up his accusations.

The Box

After reading the review, The Box seems to be put in a negative light. John Swansburg does not seem to take the movie seriously based on the director's other failed attempts to create a decent movie. As Swansburg writes, he continuously throws in jokes trying to make the reader feel like the movie is pointless. The reasoning for Norma and Arthur pushing the button has no real meaning. Swansburg makes it seem that if they just gave up on life's luxuries, they wouldn't need to press the button. It almost seems like they don't really need the money if they stop trying to spoil themselves. According to Swansburg, the director Richard Kelly, creates another unsatisfying movie. If I was placed in a similar situation as Norma and Arthur, I don't think I would be able to push the button. I know one million dollars is a lot of money, but I don't think I could live knowing that I killed someone even if that someone was a complete stranger. Killing for money is a little unethical to me. I could be killing a single mother whose children have no other family or a child itself. The only way I could push the button was if I was guaranteed that the person I was killing was a criminal like a murder, rapist, or a child molester. Something serious. No petty crimes like taking a baseball bat to a mailbox. I might not know the person, but I wouldn't want someone's death on my conscience.

Time Machine

If someone invented a time machine, where would you go? If I was given the opportunity, I would go back to the 90s. I, along with a large majority of my peers, agree that the 90s was the best decade. Though there were problems, they didn't seem as big as the problems we face today. People seemed to appreciate living more instead of being caught up on problems. The mood of the decade can be seen in shows from that time period, such as Living Single, A Different World, and the Cosby Show. Television shows were the greatest in the 90s. Shows were more culturally diverse. Television programs today mainly have a majority black cast or a majority white cast with a few other minorities sprinkled in. The 90s were not afraid to push boundaries or bring up topics that most people might not want to talk about. People were not afraid to deal with race or other differences amongst the people that surrounded them, like interracial relationships were seen in more shows in the 90s than they are today. Another aspect that made the 90s great was the music. No matter what genre a song was under, everyone knew the words. Songs still had a point in the 90s. There were no Soulja Boys making a genre sound stupid. Fashion was also a plus. Like the decades before it, the 90s were all about expression through individualism. You didn't have to match in order to have a nice outfit. Another thing I liked about the 90s is that people seemed more determined to better themselves. They weren't caught up on being cool. They wanted to make something out of themselves later on in life. I have a similar mentality. Even though I was young in this decade, the 90s still speak to me. If I could get stuck anywhere in time, I would definitely pick to be my age now in the 90s. If I couldn't leave, I might not even have a problem with that.

Random but Good Questions

Have you ever had a question that no one really thinks about, or one nobody could really answer? Some of these questions actually end up being good ones. My friends and I put together a list of some of those questions that really make you think.

1. Why does toothpaste say you'll get better results if you squeeze from the bottom?
2. Why do we drive on the parkway and park in a driveway?
3. Why do people say, "I slept like a baby," when babies wake up every two hours?
4. Why do dogs get mad when you blow in their face but stick their heads out of a moving car's window?
5. When do you become important enough to be assassinated and not just murdered?
6. If you can't spell, something won't it be a little difficult to find it in a dictionary?
7. Why do doctors call what they do "practice"?
8. How do you draw a blank?
9. If you rush to buy something that is on sale, are you really saving money?
10. Why does putting batteries in the freezer supposedly make them last longer?
11. Why is the alphabet in the order that it's in?
12. What is the Hokey Pokey actually about?
13. How far East can you go before heading West?
14. Are eyebrows considered facial hair?
15. Why is vanilla ice cream white if vanilla extract is brown?
16. How did the funny bone get its name if when you hit it, it's not funny?
17. Do you yawn in your sleep?
18. Why do people say, "heads up," when you should duck?
19. If you blew a bubble in space would it pop?
20. Why are there holes in crackers?
21. Why are women and men shoe sizes different?
22. What is the color of a mirror?
23. If we say, "It's Greek to me," what do Greeks say?
24. Why is a round pizza in a square box?
25. Why is a boxing ring a square?
26. Do illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?

Just some random questions. Can you answer any of them?

Accepting Oneself

The poem "Accepting Oneself" spoke about getting over the problems that you face in life and learning to be yourself no matter what the world may throw at you. I chose this poem because it felt like I had written it. Every line was a statement that I could relate to. After my mother passed away, my life drastically changed. The old me was no more. After that, I felt like my situation kept getting worse. I was forced to leave my home state of 14 years at the end of my sophomore year in high school. Junior and senior years are suppose to be the best, but mine were not. Shortly after my mother passed, my grandfather died a few days before Christmas. One of my friends collapsed and died while jogging after graduating and before turning 18. Today, I just learned that one of my mother's best friends that I was also close to just passed away on Friday. I feel like God made me his target to practice death on. I can't take another funeral. It seemed like everyone I was close to began to slip away permanently. All these problems have frustrated me as said in the poem. All these complications with death brought complications into college and into my personality. Though I had lived in Georgia for the majority of my life, I still had to pay out of state tuition because I hadn't graduated from a Georgia school. Tuition is now a big problem and I may have to take a year off to get in state tuition. I'm also more shy around new people than I once was, but now, I need to face my problems and learn to be myself again instead of hiding behind everything that troubles me.

The poem can be found at quizilla.teennick.com/poems/7345746/accepting-oneself

Halloween

Personally, I love Halloween. It is not my favorite holiday, but you are never too old for free candy. I will take it with pleasure and no remorse. This Halloween, I am not being anyone specific. I am simply wearing a purple toga. I guess I can consider myself to be a royal Roman because only the wealthier people in Rome were able to afford purple clothing. I also figured that everyone usually wears a white toga, and I wanted to be different. I wore my toga to a pre-Halloween party and everyone loved it. Some guy even offered to pay me to make him one, but there is not much to make. Buy some fabric and wrap it around your body and pin it to hold it up. What exactly was I suppose to make? Did he want me to wrap it around him because he could not do it himself? Who knows. He eventually caught my drift and walked away. I do not have much reason for picking a toga. I guess I chose it because it was cheap and easy. I did not have to put much thought into it, but it was not so thoughtless that I made the toga out of a bed sheet. No, I did the real thing and bout actual fabric. The fabric and all my accessories only came up to around $30, which is cheaper than most costumes without accessories. I plan to have a fun but safe Halloween. Hopefully my pins will hold and nothing will slide off. I would not want the treat in trick or treat to be me revealing myself.

Awkward but Fun

Thursday started off as a normal day, except for the whole getting a shot thing (I hate needles). After that, I went to the post office and returned to my room. I was minding my own business when someone knocked on the door. When I answer it, there are two guys that I have never met standing there. They asked me if I wanted to be an extra in a movie. I asked questions and got names and details. If I decided to go, I wanted to know what I would be getting into. It turns out that they just needed some people to make it look like they were having a party. I thought it might be fun so I decided to join them. They gave me a few minutes to get ready. When they knocked on the door again, I was a little surprised at who was standing there. One of the two guys was wearing this long blond wig and this thick blond mustache. It was quite disturbing but hilarious. I could not help but to stare at him. We walked to where this so called movie was supposed to be filmed. There were other people there anxiously waiting to be informed. We basically had to walk in and act like we new each other. I could do that. We walked in and started to mingle, acting like we were at an actual party. People were introducing themselves and acting drunk. These two girls were dancing on the couch and the table. We started having random conversations, anything to make the situation seem real. I met some new people. I kind of wish it was a real party.

Sidney Bechet, Myths, and Legends

Sydney Bechet was a great musician, but he was also crazy. In his case, and the case of other famous artists, his insanity was the reasoning for him being such a great musician. Bechet felt like he could do no wrong. All of his actions had meaning whether or not people agreed with that logic or not. Bechet also felt that he had to be the best at everything. If anyone came to him with a challenge, he had to prove he could do ten times better than the challenger. Sometimes a myth or legend is created about an artist in order to glorify there greatness. Myths and legends make the artist seem more interesting. Sometimes people seemed to be more intrigued by lies than actual proven facts. Some cannot even tell the difference. Myths and legends are used to make that particular artist stick out in one's mind. One may tell a story about a "normal" artist that does not have any tales to complement their name. The next story might be about one who has many tales, and the listener may pay more attention to the artist who has the tales attached to their name. Sometimes myths or legends are created to keep the artist living. Their fans may not want to believe the truth about their death or that they just were not interested in what they were doing anymore. Tupac fans do not want to believe he is dead because he was considered to be a great rapper. They just do not want to let him go. If an artists just stops what their doing, people may create their own versions of why. The made up story may even be ludicrous compared to the truth, and people will still believe it. Myths and legends are a way to remember people even if they have nothing to do with what really happened.

Coming Up With Sesame Street

At first, I was not really sure what the third essay was really about. The librarian had thrown me off when we had the library presentation because she kept talking about pop culture. I had been pretty sure that that was the topic of the second essay. I played along and acted like I new what was going on even though my brain was really making a strand of question marks throughout most of the presentation. Once we got back to class and actually spoke about the topic of this last essay, my brain became focused again. The strand of question marks from the class before was finally broken up. I went home trying to focus on a topic that I would be interested in. When I first heard the essay was suppose to be about art, I thought of famous artists and writers. I even played with the idea of writing about Shakespeare or Oliver Twist, but I knew I was not really interested in those topics. Those were just ideas that seemed relatively possible given the subject at hand. I thought a little harder and came up with "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. It was the first rap song. That has significance, but then I remembered I wrote an 18 page term paper on hip hop my senior year. Wouldn't that be just a little repetitive? There was no challenge there. I threw that idea out the window and thought some more. My brain popped when it thought of Sesame Street. If light bulbs really did hang over people's heads, I'm pretty sure mine would have lit up. I knew Sesame Street was perfect. It was a subject that most would never come up with and one that many could probably never link to art. This paper might be the most original analytical essay that I have ever written.

Stax Records

I have heard of Stax Records, but if someone wanted a detailed description of the record company, I would not be able to give it to them without doing some research first. After reading up on it, I learned that Stax did play a major role in American music. First of all, it was a leader when it came to the creation of soul music that started in the south and later spread across the world. Another important fact is that even though the record company was founded by a white family, they still recorded and released numerous African American artists. This was during a time where America was seen as black and white. Stax was one of the most integrated companies during the 1960s. Some of the company's earnings even went to magazines like Jet and Black Enterprise in order to keep them operating. The company eventually became largest African American owned company in America until financial problems would drive it into bankruptcy. Despite hard times, Stax Records opened the door for minorities in Hollywood. Stax Records also made a communal effort by feeding the needy and promoting school programs. Stax Records was one of the first record labels to become a multimedia company. One of their first movies was Wattstax. Big names in music today have created their own versions of Stax singles. Stax Records made many genres of music possible by bringing people together from all different backgrounds. Though Stax Records did not keep its original name throughout history, the record label still remains a legacy.

Italian American or American Italian

Yesterday, we be began learning the names of food in my Italian class. Turns out a lot of food that most people think is Italian is not. Instead, a few of our so called Italian meals are actually American Italian. First of all, my professor stated that Italians never mix their pasta with some type of meat. So chicken alfredo is out as an actual Italian cuisine and so is spaghetti and meatballs and chicken parmigiana, which is just supposed to be made with eggplant. Italians might put a white cream sauce on their pasta but they would never put chicken on top of it. Meatballs would be served as a side to the spaghetti rather than on top of it. I guess it was the American concept of Italian foods to add meat to everything. My professor also stated that an Italian writer who lived in the states for a while thought it was basically a sin to put meat and pasta in the same dish. We Americans are simply thinking it's Italian when actual Italians have nothing to do with it. Garlic bread is not even Italian. In Italy, they have bread and they have garlic but never garlic bread, another American Italian food. Our professor also told us that Italians rarely eat bread with their pasta because both bread and pasta have a lot of carbohydrates. I understand that, but don't most "Italian" restaurants serve you bread with your meal? Americans have basically taken food from other cultures and made it their own.

John Stewart Versus Real News

I watched the clip where John Stewart makes fun of CNN. Personally, I do not understand how the Daily Show with John Stewart is considered news. John Stewart is not reporting on anything. He is simply taking coverage from other actual news sources and making fun of them. Not once does he cover his own story. He makes the news seem less important than it really is. Stewart finds a way to bring down events that most people consider to be extremely important. In this clip, all Stewart did was find numerous ways to bash CNN. His point of view was not even relevant. Sometimes he does not even comment on the news itself, just on the people reporting it. He speaks about how news sources like CNN need to check their facts when he is the one being nonfactual about everything else. His jokes are not even funny. News is suppose to be serious with opinions that help define a situation rather than bring a situation down. When I watch the real news, I see a purpose behind most stories. When I watch John Stewart, I see no reason for watching the show in the first place. Stewart can only have the right to bash other news networks if he decides to create and report on his own stories instead of making "news" by making fun of people reporting for CNN. I would never consider John Stewart a real journalist or a real reporter. He is just a bad comedian looking for laughs made from other people's work. I just cannot see why people would replace actual news for the non-humorous statements of John Stewart.

Hit Song Science?

I completely disagree with the Hit Song Science software. While it is an interesting concept, I do not think that a computer should be the one deciding whether a song is good or bad. Those decisions should be left to the fans. If a song is a no go according to actual people, then don't release it. The whole point of being a musician is seeing whether or not one has what it takes to please a large group of people, not what it takes to please a machine. The software is not the one who will be buying the artists' albums, so why should its opinion be so important? Why should it be the one making the decisions when it comes to releasing a new song? Plus, people have all types of tastes in music, and the software is just making a generalization based on previous songs. Most people like hearing a different song. I do not think a lot of people would be happy if every song they heard was a bit too similar to the last one. What if the software is wrong? The software might give a low rating to what could have been the next biggest hit across all genres of music and give a high rating for a song that people might end up hating. When it comes to likes and dislikes about music, opinions should be left to people and fans with emotions, not wires and microchips.

Art: 21 Identity

When I first chose this video, I thought it would be about how art formed a personal identity. Once I started watching the video, I found out that I was wrong. The video followed four artists (Bruce Nauman, Kerry James Marshall, Maya Lin, and Louise Bourgeois). Each of them spoke about their experiences as an artist. Nauman spoke about how he became an artist because he had little passion for any other subjects and hated being repetitive. He also spoke about how accidents affected his art and made it better. His art was different from other forms because it was in a video format that others might think was a little peculiar. His favorite artworks were the pieces that made one question its function. The next artist was Marshall. Marshall was my favorite artist from the video because he explained why he did a certain thing and not just that he did it. All of his art was based on art from previous centuries. He liked to make old things seem fresh. He is known for his dark figures in his art. Some people questioned those dark figures, but he clearly stated that the blackness of the figures represented the beauty and power of the color black. He said that he was trying to reclaim the image of blackness as power. One of his influences was the artist Charles White. He remembered only reading about European artists in his art history books and White changed everything. His current project is reanimating unrepresented African heroes. The next artist was Maya Lin. She spoke about her project but never focused on why she was doing it. Besides her thoughts on her project in the park, Lin only spoke on how her works blended art and architecture. Many of her works were based on astronomy, naturally occurring phenomena, geology, and landscape. Bourgeois was the last artist. My favorite part of her segment was when she stated, "I am what I do with my hands." I felt that really expressed who she was and what she wanted to accomplish when creating something. In her segment, she talked about her memorial she had done for Jane Addams. She stated that the fragility of the hands represented the sensibility of the art as well as the personality of Jane Addams. Bourgeois felt a work of art didn't need to be explained. One should just be able to embody the emotion. Though parts of the video were dull, it was interesting. It might not have been on the topic of identity that I thought it would be, but it covered a lot. I learned a little bit about why art is the way it is sometimes. I would consider watching another episode of the Art:21 series.

Interesting Weekend

This weekend started early Thursday morning. One of my long time friends, Sadie, came to visit during her fall break. It was like 1 in the morning when she called and told me she was outside. I was super excited because I had not seen in her in about a year. We reminisced in the lobby until her ride said they were ready to go, but that was not the end of this glorious weekend. The next day, I hopped on the train and headed East where I would hang out with Sadie and some other friends. Sadie, Bri, and I decided to surprise some of our friends who did not know they were in town. We went to our friend Chanel's house while Bri was on the phone with her trying to convince her that she was in California. When we arrived, Chanel was in shock. After Chanel, we surprised our friend Nataljia, who worked at McDonald's. She ran from behind her cash register when she saw us, completely forgetting she had customers. All of us hung out for the rest of the day, eventually returning back to State to relax in my room. Thursday was the day that through us off. We were thinking it was Friday. When Friday came, it felt like Saturday and so on. We had no idea what day it was half the time. After class on Friday, I headed back to Stone Mountain for Shiloh High School's homecoming game. We won even though it was close for a while. Our band shocked us because they had finally got some rhythm. Friday night ended with Sadie and I rummaging through her cabinets for something to eat. We found a can of soup from Cub Foods that expired in 2003. We just threw that in the trash and kept searching. We finally landed on some chili beans. We heated those up, threw some cheese on it, and grabbed a bag of chips. That was dinner. Saturday we visited some more people and went to the club. The people in the club obviously didn't understand the concept second hand smoke also kills because I walked back out with a tight throat and a serious migraine. I might not go back there again. Sunday morning came, and I was headed back downtown. Pretty much, my weekend was spent being extremely random with some good friends, but now it's back to the real world.

Favorite Movie

My favorite work of art probably has a very little role, if any, in changing society, but I still love it. One of my favorite movies is Bad Boys II with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. I can watch this movie over and over again. I actually know a few lines. Bad Boys II was definitely a sequel that lived up to the first movie. Some people, including myself, think it was actually better than the the first Bad Boys. I am a big fan of action and comedy movies, and Bad Boys II mixes both genres. With people like Will Smith, who plays Mike, and Martin Lawrence, who plays Marcus, one can assume that the outcome will be hilarious. Even though I have seen this movie numerous times, it still makes me laugh every time. The plot line seems like it should be serious, but something always happens to change it. Even in the beginning where Mike and Marcus are surrounded by a group of Ku Klux Klan members, the writers still bring in a touch of humor. There are a lot of explosions and chase scenes and a lot of parts that are just there for a good laugh. One of my favorite scenes is when a guy named Reggie comes to take Marcus' daughter out. Marcus and Mike do their very best to scare him into not trying anything with Marcus' daughter Megan. Marcus plays the crazy father while Mike is the crazy, questionably gay godfather that just got out of jail. By the time Megan gets to the door, Reggie looks like he just wants to go home. I think Marcus and Mike did their job. The critics did not give this movie a great rating, but then again, I never agree with the critics. I have seen ratings from normal viewers as high as 9.4 out of 10. I agree with that rating. If I want to be entertained and have a good laugh, I can always count on Bad Boys II.

Cheap Laughs

Al Franken-Sworn in as junior Democratic senator; gives Democrats Senate majority; focuses on health care and energy legislation; important because of what he is trying to do. Health care and energy are two heavily debated topics.

Death of Walter Cronkite-Considered most trusted man in the news; country doesn't know who to trust now; not all that relevant to my life; I watch the news, not a specific person.

Oxford Union-Debating society at Oxford University.

National Committee for an Effective Congress-Political committee created by Eleanor Roosevelt to support progressive candidates; important because this country needs to keep moving forward.

Gore Vidal-American author and political activist.

Emile Zola-Influential French writer; heavy belief in naturalism; not that important to my life.

Jonathan Swift-Irish cleric and writer; not that relevant to my life.

Heritage Foundation-Nation’s most broadly supported public policy research institute; important because they determine how laws will affect the country.

Hannity and Colmes-Show on Fox network; represented conservative and liberal perspectives; important because it talked about both sides of a political argument.

Red Handed (Sandy Berger)-Plead guilty to illegally removing classified documents from National Archives; it is important to know what he planned to do with those documents.

Citizens for Tax Justice-Working for a fair tax system; relevant because I'll have to pay taxes soon.

Religion in America

According to the article, Americans do not have the same faith in God as they did in previous times. Many Americans are factual and like information that can be proven. The question, "Does God exist," can not be accurately answered by fact. Discoveries in science are pushing the idea of a god farther and farther away. With notions like the Big Bang Theory and evolution, people may begin to question who is right. The Bible or the scientists? Religious extremist also seem to be a turn off for religion. When people begin to use the idea of God to justify wrong doings, people may think that there is no good in religion, especially when the gods in different religions are similar. For example, Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship what many consider the same god. Christianity was spread with war and bloodshed and Muslim extremists are not making this one god seem any better. People may also loose faith if they have been through hard times. No matter how many times they pray, their situation does not get any better. People like this may begin to loose faith because they believe that God is not doing anything for them. People who feel singled out in a negative way by the person or being that they are supposed to worship may begin to question the abilities of religion and the works of God himself. There are very few people who remain completely faithful when it comes to religion.

What Happened to Television?

As a child growing up in the 90s I could always find something to watch. My day schedule was literally planned around what time my shows came on. In my opinion, the 90s was the best decade. Every show was my show. I only flipped through channels when I was watching more than one show, which was pretty often. Now, I only watch three shows religiously and a few others that I watch when I see that they're on. Their times don't even affect my schedule all that much. Maybe the kid show in the 90s were the great ones because kid shows now suck. I might have to stab myself if someone made me watch Hannah Montana. I remember when the Hannah Montana Movie came out, and the promo said,"The show you grew up with." Who grew up with Hannah Montana? The person who did grow up with Hannah Montana is probably like three years old. I don't call that growing up. A show that people can say they grew up with is the Rugrats. The Rugrats was on for like thirteen years. That's growing up. Speaking of the Rugrats, Nickelodeon just went downhill. Nickelodeon was the best thing ever made when I was growing up. I had no problem with watching that channel all day. The show All That was like the best thing ever put on television thus far. Other Nick favorites included: Are You Afraid of the Dark, Angry Beavers, Doug, Taina, Keenan and Kel, Rocko's Modern Life, Rocket Power and the Amanda Show. I never had to worry about what was coming on next because I would most likely watch it. Even Disney and Cartoon Network are bad. On Disney, I watched stuff like Rollie Pollie Ollie, Bear and the Big Blue House, and PB&J Otter. I would wake up in the morning only to watch these shows. Other shows included Kim Possible, So Weird, Famous Jett Jackson, and In a Heartbeat. I won't bad mouth Cartoon Network too badly because they at least made a channel for their old shows, but its current programming is just as bad as the stuff on Disney and Nickelodeon. I want Scooby Doo and Dexter's Lab and Goosebumps back. I have no problem with being stuck in the 90s. People who write television shows now need to get more creative even if they have to draw on past time shows. Those were the best anyway. Everything on television now is either a crime show or a health show, unless it has a specific category like kids, food, or nature, etc. Somebody please fix television.

Unlike the AJC, CNN is broadcasted across the world. Stories tend to be more in depth then they would be if presented in just the AJC. Most newspapers tend to cater to the people in the area where they are highly distributed. Therefore, the AJC would be more appealing to someone living in Atlanta then someone living in Tokyo. CNN, on the other hand, is a global news source that appeals to many people across different nations despite the fact that its headquarters is also in Atlanta. Since CNN isn't a newspaper, it has a wider array of people that it can reach. Another good source for news is Fox 5. Fox 5 tends to be very informative concentrating more on the more important headlines. Fox 5 isn't CNN, but it does reach people in different states catering to that area's specific events. Fox 5 focuses on worldly and local events. Fox 5 may also have an entertaining segment, like cooking or what's new on television, while CNN tends to only focus on the news. Unlike the AJC, Fox 5 can be seen in different states and may vary within cities of those states. Fox 5 in Atlanta may be different from the Fox station in Savannah even though both cities are in Georgia. No matter what source the news is from, all stations, channels, newspapers, etc., have different opinions and different ways of getting their messages out.

Ignorant People

So when was being intelligent only a "white people" thing? I'm sick of people saying someone talks like a white person just because they can put a proper sentence together. People who think this way are really the ignorant ones. Just because I may not use slang and I know proper verb noun agreement doesn't make me sound like a white person. I speak like I have a brain in my head that actually works. I guess this is so hard to do for other people caught up in a black and white world. Are white people the only people that are allowed to sound like they have an education? No! So why is speaking correctly seen as a "white" thing to so many people? I don't want to be the idiot walking down the street who speaks like a 5 year old just because I'm not white. Since I'm black, am I suppose to sound like the people in the rap videos? I don't think so. It annoys me when people speak incorrect English on purpose. I don't see the reasoning. Do they want to sound stupid? Maybe, but stupid character trait is not one of my characteristics. Correct English is something everyone needs to learn. Next time someone says that I speak like a white person, I'm going to ask them,"What do you mean?" Let's see what their answer will be.

Media Articles

I read an article from the Atlanta Journal Constitution about Facebook. According to the article, which was printed September 10, 2009, Facebook users can now tag friends in status posts like they can in pictures. Andrew Huang, the project manager, wants users to display their "real world connections in their status posts." Facebook users can now post a status that connects its readers to the people involved in that status. Though this article is short, it is a good article in reference to media because it focuses on one type of medium, being the social networking site, Facebook. The article also incorporates how Facebook is trying to perfect itself, which is common with all sorts of media. The article quotes the project manager, which increases the article's credibility. The link to this article is http://www.ajc.com/business/facebook-to-let-users-135698.html.

The second article I read was from the New York Times. The article linked conservative talk radio with rap music. The article is written from the reporter's, David Segal, point of view, causing the article to most likely be a little biased. David Seagal says he listens to a lot of "Gangsta Rap" and claims that he can make a connection between Jay-Z and Rush Limbaugh. Both Jay-Z and Limbaugh refer to themselves as "living legends." According to Segal, in order to posses a job in political talk radio or to be a rapper, one must posses an ego, have haters, have feuds, and have great verbal skills. Like freestyling in rap, a talk show host must be able to think off the top of his head. Segal also says," rap is among the most conservative genres of pop music. It exalts capitalism and entrepreneurship with a brio that is typically considered Republican...Finally, rappers and conservative talkers both speak for a demographic that believes its interests and problems have been slighted and both offer stories that have allegedly been ignored." Whether it's talk radio or rap, it's a form of entertainment. This article is great because it compares two types of media that most think would have no type of connection. Segal also adds humor to make the article more interesting. The article's link is http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/weekinreview/20segal.html?_r=1&sq=radio&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=print.

New Panda

Today, the world welcomed another baby panda born in captivity. Since panda's are endangered, countries are trying to do their part by protecting these animals. In my opinion, pandas are adorable even if they can be a little aggressive and protective. Baby pandas are even cuter, especially the one in the picture. In the picture, the new mother can be seen playing with her baby. The baby doesn't seem to be able to stand up on its own yet, but it will get there with its mother's nurturing attitude. The baby has a long way to go before it becomes as big as its mother. At least the mother can relax knowing that her baby is safe within those bars that confine them. It may not be where she would want to be, but at least she doesn't have to worry about the dangers of the outside world. Hopefully, living in captivity will not affect her new baby too much. The cub should be fine as long as it follows behind its mother. I think that it is somewhat of a good thing to keep endangered animals, like pandas, in captivity. There is a good and a bad side. The good side is that the animals are safe, and they do not have to worry about anybody hunting them or their young. Endangered animals have a better chance of their numbers increasing in captivity than they do in the wild. The bad side is that captivity can affect the animals' natural instincts. Since they are so dependent on human interaction and feeding, they may not know how to hunt or survive on their own if they were ever to be released back into the wild.

Student Blog

The blog I read was very interesting. I will not say whose blog it was because I do not want anybody feeling bad even though what I have to say is all positive. The writer of the blog I read really put her emotions into her writing. Every topic she wrote about voiced her concerns. Her point of view and opinion were clearly present. One did not have to ask themselves what she was writing about or how she felt about it. Her blog was a mixture of fact, opinion, and emotions that could easily draw the writer in to continue reading. She chose the right word to properly convye how she felt about a certain topic. She was never on the fence about a given topic. Some of her entries were short, but others were very detailed. No matter what they length, all her blog entries were farely interesting. Even the short articles were detailed in just fewer words than the longer entries. What I enjoyed was that there was nothing that was hard to understand. She writes as if she is talking to a friend rather than writing for an academic purpose. I made a connection with the personal appeal in her writings. Writings on a more personal level bring the reader in more unless they are specifically looking for an all academic piece. I enjoyed the blog.

So "room inspection day" is tomorrow. I have no problem with that because I know how to clean my own messes. One of my roommates (won't say any names) is like "cleaning challenged". Everyone else pretty much cleans their dishes and/ or messes when they make them. But this roommate will leave a mess and/ or dishes sitting there for a week. We made an agreement to clean our own stuff, but sometimes it's just nasty and I have to clean my roommate's stuff. I barely use the stove but I'm the one wiping it down every other day since my roommate got something from last night caked up on it. Since we've been here, I've cleaned the bathroom like every weekend. Has she picked up a bottle of any cleaning product? No. In fact, there is nothing under her sink. This is where most people keep products to clean their bathroom, right? Absolutely nothing. I have a vacuum and she has a vacuum, but does she use hers? No. I'm not a clean freak but I don't want to have to dust the crumbs off of my feet when I walk around the room. I don't want to see dirty rings around the toilet and the tub. A little dirt here and there is fine, but don't make it nasty. I guess I'll be the main one cleaning tonight making sure everything is in order. Maybe I'll just clean my stuff so the inspector may have someone else to blame.

When I normally think of Mississippi, I think of a hot southern state with nothing to do but eat. I never thought of Mississippi as having its own culture or its own specific thing period. Mississippi seemed like one of the nobody states. After reading these articles, I realized that Mississippi did have something that made it stand out. I read the barbecue article first. It never once occurred to me that barbecue had originated with the Lebanese or that Mississippi had such a diverse cultural background. I was expecting black and white and few in between. I also thought it was interesting how Pat Davis' family served everyone, including African Americans despite the segregation laws that made this idea even seem dangerous. Mississippi paved a road during the Civil Rights era that many probably don't know about. A Delta Manhunt, though not as happy as the barbecue article, was still interesting. Despite the "anti-segregational" ways of Pat Davis' family, racism is still a current issue in Mississippi. Two different worlds can be seen in the same town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. It seems like a few of the townspeople had brought every type of weapon they could get their hands on to go after an unsuccessful burglar, who just happened to be an African American. NAACP saw this as a racial hate crime. It was like war just to go after one unarmed man. Despite its happy endings when it comes to barbecue, like all states, Mississippi also has its bad side.

Obama's speech was important. A lot of people have been slacking off when it comes to getting an education. Many don't take education as seriously as the country use to. Some students do just enough to get by rather than trying to actually achieve something. Education is what is going to get someone on the path that they most desire to be. Success shouldn't just depend on the school one goes to but how much effort they put in when attending that school. Slackers can't blame their teachers or their families, only themselves. Students need to learn how to live up to their potential through exploration in education. Good jobs don't come without an education. Everyone can't get rich by becoming famous. No matter what is going on in your life, education will help you get to a better place. Students need to learn how to take responsibility of their own lives. They can't rely on someone else to do everything for them for the rest of their lives. Commitment is important. Students can't give up every time they fail. Everyone should learn from their failures and mistakes. I don't see why this speech was so heavily debated. All students needed to hear this message. Nothing he said was irrelevant. He is right. Educating oneself is one of the best things one can do in their lifetime. Education creates independence, and independence creates new ideas. Don't be the one to use someone as a crutch. Get an education to learn how to stand without that crutch. Education leads to success because knowledge is power.

I went out with some friends on Friday night. The temperature was fair. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't too cold. The city was lit by nearby buildings and businesses. Street lights lit the way in every direction. Once I had got to the car that my friends were waiting in, we drove in the direction of Centennial Park. The streets were filled with tourists, football fans, people coming and going to Dragoncon, and Atlanta's homeless people. A few people were out to show their gay pride, and they were not afraid to flaunt it. When it came to the football fans, I guess Alabama had beaten Virginia Tech. They were the drunk excited people that blurted out random things and stood in the middle of the street chanting their Alabama cheers. There was an Alabama fan shaking his butt outside the Ellis Hotel. All he could say was, "Go Alabama!" when we walked by. A drunk guy with a cup in his hand stood at the corner with his friend swaying from side to side speaking to anyone who walked by. We got closer to Centennial Park. The Britney Spears concert had just finished. Exhausted people flooded into the streets while a line of cars began to build at the streetlights. Football fans and Britney fans were heard all across the city that night. Once we had made our way through the crowd and parked, we walked across the street to the park. As we walked we still had to dodge and weave between the people who had rushed to downtown for some football or for a little bit of music. Centennial Park was filled with the small steps of children who had just finished running through the sprinklers. A bar-b-que truck nearby gave off a sweat odor mixing with the light chlorine smell from the nearby fountains. Couples and families sat cuddled up on the park benches looking over the city. A couple of people from the football game decided to take a shortcut through the park. As they walked by, they talked about football and Britney. They even asked if we had come from the concert. After that, we started exploring the park. My friends and I walked around reading the names on the bricks occasionally coming to one we couldn't pronounce. We laughed as we picked our future children's names from these bricks. I landed on the name Smykes while my friend landed on the name Scihimich. After forcing ourselves not to look down at the bricks because they were a distraction, we walked from Centennial Park to Underground Atlanta in hopes of finding something to eat along the way. We passed more celebrating football fans and creepy homeless people lurking around muttering to themselves. We stopped at a map to make sure we were headed in the right direction. More drunk people stumbled by as they made their way to the Marriott. Once we had set our course, we began looking for cheap restaurants. We passed Hard Rock, which nobody but me seemed to have enough money for, and headed toward Underground. Homeless people slept curled up under statues and benches. City goers enjoyed a nice evening out at dinner. We walked down Broad Street thinking Taco Bell or McDonald's would be open at this time of night. We were wrong. Once we got to Underground Atlanta, the only place that was opened was the Waffle House, which was jam packed. We decided to give up and call it a night. We walked back to where we had parked the car and drove back to GSU. I walked in, made a sandwich, and fell asleep in my room around 2 AM. What an interesting night I had had.

My favorite song is "Gifted" by N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, Santigold, and Lykke Li. It is one of those songs that not many people know but can still get into when they hear it for the first time. The song itself is very different, and the video is weird, too. The beat starts off like it may be a techno song but quickly switches to a more a pop/hip hop flow. Kanye West has the first verse. I got addicted to his verse alone. The lyrics are very catchy. Santigold and Lykke Li sing the chorus, and Santigold takes the next verse. The song is basically about doing your own thing and being good at it. In the cases of the artists singing the song, music is their own thing, and it is was they are good at. I can listen to this song over and over again. Something about the beat and the meaning of the lyrics gets to me. I like that it also has a new sound. I love having music that a lot of my friends have never heard of. It feels great with they actually get into it. I have played this song around many people who were unfamiliar with it, but ended up loving it by the time it was over. I just wish the song was a little bit longer than two verses.

The link is youtube.com/watch?v=WZB7yswo6a0

A few days ago, I saw this girl walking down the street with no shoes on. She definitely wasn't homeless. Even if she was, the homeless people I've seen all wear something on their feet. She was just walking with a friend like there was nothing wrong. There must be something wrong if you are walking through downtown Atlanta barefooted. This is the city. Not some country road where you don't have much to worry about stepping on. The ground here is definitely not clean enough for me to put my bare feet on. Does she know how much crap is on a city sidewalk? I don't think she does, because she had no problem with exposing her feet to the elements. She could have at least had her shoes in her hand. There was nothing. I would never step outside in the city barefooted. Atlanta isn't the beach. I also want to know where she was going. I'm pretty sure most buildings require you to have shoes before you enter. Was she going to stand outside and wait for her friend? I don't know. All I can say is I hope she stepped in something to teach her to wear shoes when walking through a city. If not, I hope she washed her feet before climbing into bed. If she didn't, that's just nasty.

I grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. For the most part, my neighborhood was quiet. Every once in a while one might hear children playing outside. There were more teenagers than small children in my neighborhood. Once people hit a certain age, they don't come outside much to play. I was a little different. Until I was about 15, I would walk around the neighborhood with some friends. There wasn't much in walking distance, but the neighborhood was beautiful. There were a lot of foliage and hills that gave gave the neighborhood life. It was safe, quiet, and clean, basically the typical suburb. The Yellow River wasn't too far. My neighbors and I would take little weekend trips and swim in the river. One didn't have to worry about much in my neighborhood. There were little shops just a short drive down any of the surrounding main streets. Ice cream, grocery stores, video stores, Wal-mart, nail salons, hair salons, restaurants, etc., etc. Highway 78 wasn't even 5 minutes away. Everything is pretty much on Highway 78. Stonecrest Mall was about 15 minutes away. Nothing was ever too far. The Indian Creek Marta station was basically around the corner, meaning easy access to the bigger city life. I thought Stone Mountain was a great place to grow up. It was big, had stuff to do, diverse, and definitely not as expensive as other suburbs. I had fun during my childhood days. I still have friends who live in and around the area, so I'm never alone when I go to visit.

Annoying Roommate

It was a little difficult for me to pick a funny video, but I was able to narrow it down to two. One video was of a model falling on the runway, and the other was of a guy being bothered by his annoying roommate while he was trying to sleep. The model falling was hilarious. Even the news anchors were laughing, but I picked the annoying roommate because I felt it would be a little easier to explain why it was so funny. The runway model fell and when people fall it is normally funny unless they hurt themselves. Not much else can be said about that video, but the annoying roommate is great. What makes this video funny is that the "annoying" roommate is saying all these random things while his other roommate is trying to sleep. It seems like it is bright outside, so maybe the "annoyed" roommate should actually wake up, but he keeps complaining about his "annoying" roommate talking about nonsense. The "annoyed" roommate is cursing at him, threatening him, and fighting him. He even resorts to pulling the "annoying" roommate off of the top bunk bed, but the "annoying" roommate just will not shut up. The things the "annoying" roommate says makes you feel like you want to punch him in the face, too. Someone watching this video can see how it is funny but also understand why the annoyed roommate is so annoyed.

The link for the video is youtube.com/watch?v=iXp2ruZoxK8&feature=fvst

The Friend that I Just Can't Meet

Have you ever had a friend who was impossible to meet? I think i have had a few, and today was one of those occasions. I have a friend from Venice, and we have been trying to meet up since he got here in the beginning of the school year, but we just cannot get this meeting thing to work out. We must have completely different schedules or something. If he is here, then I am probably gone an no where close and vice versa. A few days ago, we planned to meet up at the cafe across from the bookstore around 1:30. I wait for him outside, and I look for him inside. I see nobody that evens resembles him. Since he is from Venice, his cell number is not working properly, and I have no other way of reaching him. I call him and text him, and I get the same recorded message. "This person is unreachable right now." By the end of the day, I was sick of hearing that voice. He has not called me, so I am clueless to how this lunch thing is suppose to work out. I end up waiting for almost an hour. I had nothing else to do other than write this blog. I call and send him one last message hoping that it would go through. No such luck. We need to try this again and meet somewhere that we can be easily spotted. I do not know when I will see him. If we can get on the same page, maybe it will be before he goes back to Venice.

I found this article about a little girl that used imaginary friends to get over her habit of sucking her thumb. It turns out that her imaginary friends are actually based on real people. One of the girl's imaginary friends is a guy named Jim. In "reality", Jim's father is responsible for assigning imaginary friends to children who are "weirdly abled". These are the children who are less abled than other children but have abilities that most think are weird, like they see things differently. The author of the narrative takes this information to try to discover the purpose of having imaginary friends. The author asks the little girl more about her imaginary friends and how they are assigned to children. According to the little girl, one would have to write a secret letter to Jim or imagine one describing what type of imaginary friend one would want based on age and characteristics of people one would feel comfortable around. The little girl also states that the most lonely "weirdly abled" children go first when it comes to picking an imaginary friend. The author asks the little girl how her imaginary friends helped her. The little girl says they help her when she is in trouble, help her get over her fears, and they even help her with her homework. An interesting part of the narrative is when the girl tells the author that imaginary friends are the best until real friends come, and they treat her the way she wants to be treated. Like the author, I was amazed at how the girl's imaginary friends had done so much for her. Most people think of imaginary friends as made up playmates for children. This little girl actually sees them as real people. They help her out like real people. It was also interesting how only certain people have imaginary friends. I would not have believed that. I thought creating imaginary friends was just something that kids do even if they are not "weirdly abled". Most people try to think of imaginary friends as just that, imaginary, but to this little girl, they were so much more than that.

Article found at: dulwichcentre.com.au/DavidEpstonpaper2.htm

Science Fiction

I have always enjoyed writing fictional stories rather than non-fictional stories. It is probably because I hate writing analytical papers. They are just no fun to me. Plus, I feel that I put more detail into fictional stories because they are based on what I actually want to write about. It is easier for me to be more creative when it comes to writing fictional stories than it is to write down fact and analyze them. I have written fictional stories with various themes and topics, but one theme that I have never written about is science fiction. I would probably enjoy writing a science fiction story. Since it is a genre that I have never written about, it might be challenging, but I believe I have enough creativity to write a pretty good story if I am given enough time. I like science fiction stories because they tend to stray away from everyday life but still have somewhat of a normal aspect of life left. Such a story requires thought. One must consider normality as well as uniqueness in order for a science fiction story to be at its best. One can not just write a story about aliens and call it science fiction. Science fiction is a challenging theme, but the challenge can be met. I would not know where to start. Simple thins like the title would probably be hard for me to come up with. I would get it done eventually.