Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I keep telling you

At least once a week, I say that bullying is a major issue, but the stories are adding up. Two middle school girls in Minnesota committed suicide at a sleepover together a few weeks ago, leaving behind notes saying that they loved their families, but what's been left out of the story is that the pair was bulled over weight and hair color. Both were being treated for clinical depression, but according to the parents and friends, none of them saw anything different, and it was all on Facebook. One of the girls had just been expelled from school because she had been defending her friend. These two girls were victims of bullying, and they took their own lives because of what they felt everyday because of bullying. Just thought I should let you all know that.

Monday, April 25, 2011

GO GREEN!

So, I'm quite aware I missed Earth Day 2011 with you all, but next year I'll be able to join you (hopefully!) from Kent State University. Today, I wanted to talk to you all about recycling. I know that I'm so incredibly behind, but I'll throw in a review of Adele's "21" which is so incredibly orgasmic.
So, recycling. We hear about it all the time, and corporations are going green at ridiculous speeds, driving the prices of everything up. But why should you care? You should care because recycling and these other "going green" initiatives are helping to save the planet. We've hurt Mother Earth to the point where we exploit the natural resources until they're gone. When I last checked, 27 different species of both plant and animals were going extinct each day because the habitats that they live in are destroyed to the point of no return. In my AP Lit class today, we read a poem. I know you're probably thinking "she's in an English class, of course she's going to be reading.", but that's besides the point at the current moment. This poem, written by Norma Millay Ellis, and I doubt there's a relation to Edna St. Vincent Millay, but that's just speculation on my part. This poem, and the old AP exam my teacher took it from doesn't have a name, warns us about abusing Mother Nature. One line says "all this was done before; we do it better, fouling every shore" and it's true. There's a Barenaked Ladies song called "It's All Been Done", just I reference it more to let you know. The poem, with it's main theme being that we should study history because everything has been done, but by who and when it what changes.
Going green can save millions of gallons of water and oil, thousands (if not millions) of trees, and best of all, help to maintain healthier water ways. Some ways you can help save the planet:
-Buy organic foods. Then, there's no factory usage on what you're purchased and every animal is fed actual grass. Plus, it's healthier for you.
-Cut down your shower time. I've been working on it, but by cutting shower time, you have more time to yourself, plus you can save water.
-Invest in solar panels.This gives you a way to save money as well as the environment.
-Walk, bike, or carpool to places. It's healthy and you can save gas AND money.

I have two reasons for writing about it.
1)To let you know what you can do to take part in the green initiative.
2)I'm applying for a scholarship that you can vote for by clicking here:  http://www.castleink.com/_scholarship-thankyou.html 


ALBUM:21
ARTIST:Adele
SONG LIST:
1)Rolling in the Deep
2)Rumour Has It
3)Turning Tables
4)Don't You Remember
5)Set Fire to the Rain
6)He Won't Go
7)Take It All
8)I'll Be Waiting
9)One and Only
10)Lovesong
11)Someone Like You
12)I Found A Boy
RATING:4.8 Stars (out of 5)
SONGS TO LOOK OUT FOR:"Set Fire to the Rain","Rolling in the Deep","Turning Tables"
SUMMARY: Adele's voice is wonderful and moving. She has a ballad touch to the entire album, but the catchy back beats make it wonderful to listen to because she's able to connect with everything that people think of, from leaving someone that you love to getting over someone that you used to be with. Her voice is unique and it's powerful, and you can never get used to it or immune to the passion that she sings with. While she was mentioned on the cover of "Rolling Stone" magazine this past month, they fail to get the true depth of her talent totally encompassed. From the slow beats of "Someone like You" to the fast-paced, rolling, piano notes of "Rolling in the Deep", this whole album is perfect for anything, other than to grind to.

Monday, April 11, 2011

boom boom pow

So, I spent my weekend in Albany with my fine states assembly members and senators where we discussed political ideas and bounced new legislative ideas off of them. I'll tell some of them to you tomorrow, but I just wanted to let you all know about that.
MUSIC:
ALL TIME LOW-Running From Lions
LIGHTS-Lions!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Can't Make it Through this night alive

So, I got my first official rejection today.... From American University. OH WELL. ALBUM REVIEW TIME!

ALBUM:Love Like This
ARTIST: The Summer Set
SONG LIST:
1)The Boys You Do(Get Back At You)
2)Punch-Drunk Love
3)Chelsea
4)Young
5)Take It Slow
6)Can You Find Me?
7)Love Like This
8)Girls Freak Me Out
9)Passenger Seat
10)This is How We Live
11)Where Are You Now
12)Papercut
RATING: 4. 8 Stars (not actually based on anything)
SONGS TO LOOK FOR: "The Boys You Do(Get Back At You)", Chelsea, Love Like This, Girls Freak Me Out, Where Are You Now
The album has all sorts of different beats on it, from the ballad of Papercut, to the upbeat tempo of Chelsea. It's all over the place, and it's got a feel that you just have to love. My personal favorite song from the album is Chelsea because of the way that the band references the Plain White T's "Delilah" and Metro Station's "Kelsey". The feminine touch on Where Are You Now makes the song that much more enjoyable, and you have to love it. For a debut album, they kick ass with the variations (but mainly upbeat) tone of the album. You can tell that they love what they're doing, and having seen them live, they definitely do. This band is one to watch for, with the quirky songs and names of songs, to some of their new songs like Someone Like You, which will debut this summer on their new album, whose name is unknown at the moment.

I hope you liked it, and I'll be back next week. DEUCES. <3

Thursday, April 7, 2011

You've made your bed

Now, you have to sleep in it. So, like I told you all last week, I made a twitter account. One of my followers on twitter is this band, and I'm really glad that they did. The band is called You Had Me At Six. They're kind of old, but the music is fantastic. If you're a fan of The Maine, or A Rocket to the Moon, which I would assume anyone who reads this likes them, then they're definitely the band for you.
You also might be wondering why I'm posting at noon on a weekday when I should be in school. It's because I'm home sick and it's not pleasant. At all. Especially because this is my second day home, and it's not fun.
I'm too lazy and tired to write about a rant, so I'll give you an extra long one next week.
MUSIC:
YOU HAD ME AT SIX-Save it For the Bedroom
HOLY GHOST!-Say My Name
ALLSTAR WEEKEND-Not Your Birthday
THE TEMPER TRAP-Science of Fear
YOU HAD ME AT SIX-Underdog
MADNESS-House of Fun

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Back to You

So, I know that I said I was going to start off with book reports, but I'm still in the midst of the book that I'm going to review-War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. I just wanted to let you know that nothing was wrong with me not reviewing a book, but I'm going to tell you all that you have to watch BONES.
In it's 6th season, it's a show about a forensic anthropologist named Temperance Brennan who works with FBI Agent Seeley Booth. This pair is chock full of sexual chemistry, and it's one of the best parts of the show to watch for. Brennan, or Bones works at the Jeffersonian with Angela Montenagro who is a facial re-constructionist, Jack Hodgins who is a forensic entomologist, Cameron Sorroyan who is an medical examiner (and the boss of the forensic department), and any one of the students that Bones takes from her graduate classes. They also work with FBI profiler Dr. Lance Sweets, who analyzes the dynamic between Booth and Brennan, especially after drama involving Brennan's father.
Much of the tension between Booth and Brennan, especially in the work dynamic comes from Brennan's analytical and almost overly logical look on life contrasted with Booth's "open heart" and his instinctual pull towards what he believes happened to the victim. Brennan likes to know the "how" of the victim's death, while Booth is almost obsessed with the "why". The pair rarely seems to agree on much, and the most common dispute that they seem to have is over religion, with Booth being a strict Catholic and Brennan being an atheist. Booth is also extremely noble and he views himself as the protector of the group, which makes sense because he used to be a Sniper in the Rangers, which comes back a lot during the investigations.
The only problem about the show is that you actually have to watch from the beginning and work your way through because much of the storyline is overlapping. They deal with drama concerning serial killer Howard Epps, then the serial killer nicknamed "Gormagon", and the loss of one of the members of the original team, Doctor Zach Addy. They deal with another serial killer nicknamed "The Gravedigger", who kidnaps Brennan and Hodgins, and then Booth. They also deal with the mystery behind Brennan's parents disappearance when she was little.
The show is very fast paced and definitely worth watching, though it's not for the weak hearted, or the squeamish.

MUSIC:
PHONE CALLS FROM HOME-Wait to see This
THE HINT-The Things We Do in the Dark
ONEREPUBLIC-Waking Up
ALPHA REV-New Morning
BOYS LIKE GIRLS-Someone Like You

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I wish you were here

Since no one actually reads this, I wish you were all here. So, today I'm going to rant about the internet. I know that I keep coming back to it, but today, I have to rant about its ups and downs, because it has both.
UPS:
It provides information more quickly and makes writing papers easier in a way, and it can help provide study aids, especially for tests when they post previous ones on. Plus, it makes ordering things much easier. Writing letters are no longer necessary, and you can get responses and keep in touch with family much more quickly than we used to. You can connect with people from high school, or college, or catch up with a show that you missed. Unfortunately, there are more down points.

DOWNS:
It gives high schoolers an outlet for procrastination and now students don't even have to learn how to write because almost all of the assignments are supposed to be typed. They loose the ability to write or read hand written letters. It's made books obsolete, and many people spend too much time on the internet. I'll admit that I spend time on Facebook, or working on this lovely blog that no one actually reads, but the internet provides outlets for students to cheat and copy assignments by avoiding the basics that they need, like diction and syntax. Students loose this ability to have appropriate sentence structure because computers provide spell check so that people don't have to worry about it. I can spell quite well, and I have excellent grammar because I speak the exact same way that I type. I do use colloquialisms, and it is nice to be able to check myself, but I still know how to spell and how to appropriately structure sentences. Then there are things like the "smut list" that went all over the country because of cyber bullying, but students seem to think this is normal. Yes, it's exceptionally nice to be able to talk to my friends in college and make plans over the internet, because booking plane tickets, or concert tickets is easier, but that doesn't mean that people don't like to hold a book in their hands, or go to the library and read a book rather than get everything off the internet.

Let's face it though-if we didn't have the internet, we would at a different point of development, and people would loose track of each other.

MUSIC:
HEY MONDAY-Wondergirl
TOBY LIGHTMAN-This is Love
CASH CASH-Cash Cash
LIGHTS-Saviour
TLC-Scrubs

Monday, April 4, 2011

He's made of money, but he's straight out the trash

So.... I found out that I got into Kent State University in Ohio as well as Hood College in Maryland. Kent was my 2nd choice, right after Albany, but I was waitlisted there. I'm not going for pity,  I was just letting you all know, since that what I said Mondays were going to be about. Me. Myself. So, I don't know if I told you, but I watched all of the show "Firefly", which now I'm seeing the characters all over the place, even though the show was cancelled, and I'm really upset. The show is fantastic, and you don't know how much I love it. Nathan Fillion is fantastic, and I love him to death. I at least get to see him on my other favorite show "Castle" which is about to go on, so I don't think that I can talk too much while I'm watching it, and when it's over it'll be too late, so I'll write for you all later, and I'm just happy that I have some ties to the fantastic show.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

I'm really terrible at the this

Oh, you don't even know. So, I made a twitter. You can follow it, or you don't have to. Either way, I'm cool with it. My link is http://twitter.com/#!/amusicfanatic and my name is Devon Marie, but that's my first and middle name, so that's cool. I guess you could even stalk me, but I don't think I'm that interesting so that people would want to stalk me, but that's cool either way.
So, I promise to try and get back on track this coming week, I really promise to try, but I'm a forgetful person, as I'm sure anyone who reads this might have noticed, especially because I skip all over the place.

BUT, since I promised you an album review, I'll come through for you all on that front. Natasha Bedingfield's New album, called "Strip Me" is one of the better albums I've heard. It's catchy, it's moving, and it's pretty fantastic. My favorite song on the album is called "Weightless", and no it's not a cover of the All Time Low song that was on the album "Nothing Personal" which came out in November of 2009. It's one of the catchiest songs on the album, minus "Strip Me" which is really good as well. The album has a song featuring Rascal Flatts called "Easy" which is good, and has the country vibe, but I'm not too big a fan of it. It also features Kevin Rudolph for a song called "All I Need". It's full of feel good songs, like "No Mozart" or "Run-Run-Run", and I would recommend the album for everyone because it's overall fantastic, and she's truly outdone herself. Plus, if you ever get a chance to see her in concert, do it. She's fantastic live, and I saw her two summers ago, and she's got a great stage presence, which you all know I think is important to have a good concert. Only problem-you have to get the deluxe version, which is only available on iTunes, because it comes with all of the songs, or at least a good portion of them as acoustic, which is really good.

So, I hope you enjoyed the album review of the week, again I'm sorry I've been slacking, but here's the music that I've downloaded this week, which is also slacking.
ALLSTAR WEEKEND-Not Your Birthday
PLAY-Destiny
ADELE-Rolling in the Deep
SELENA GOMEZ-Who Says?
NINA GORDON-A Time Comes
TOBY LIGHTMAN-This is Love

Have fun with that, and you'll have some new stuff next week? Or on saturday, I don't even know anymore.