As news got out that Osama bin Laden was killed, people rioted the streets in celebration, college students partied and celebrated, even baseball games emptied out for fans to party in the streets. In a baseball game with Phillies vs. Mets, the fans left a one to one game when they found out about bin Laden's death to go out and celebrate. Two major schools who celebrated were Penn State and Umass. Students draped themselves with American flags and partied. Some people think that it is a little strange that kids are celebrating something that they are probobly not even old enough to remember. It seems as though the main theme associated with his death is celebration.
Although it is natural to want to celebrate the death of one of America's biggest terrorists, someone is still dead and the partying and celebration may have gotten a little bit out of hand. It is one thing to be glad about a bad person's death, it is another to go completely nuts over it, which is what I feel the whole country has done over the last couple of days.
The catholic faith is not supposed to be glad about anyone's death, however some catholics and even preists admit that in this circumstance, it is alright to feel happy and celebrate. I personally feel that there should not be any exceptions to this rule and that rules are rules no matter what. I do feel a little weird celebrating someone's death even if it is Bin Laden. The common emotion associated with death is sadness and sorrow, but I doubt that many people feel this way about Osama's death. The death of one of America's most infamous terrorists is certainly something to feel a little happy about, but taking this joy too far is bad because it is still a death.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Blog 5
College Board, the site that many teenagers use for facts about colleges, is nothing more than a money hungry monopoly organization. I will admit College Board can be helpful in giving ball park estimates of admissions statistics for colleges, however the money they charge people for SATs and AP tests is ridiculous. The cost to take the SAT is about $50 while the cost to take the AP exam is about $100. It is unbelievable to me that a test that almost all colleges require costs less than a test that most elite colleges don’t even give credit for. Not to mention the fact that teachers pressure kids into taking the AP exam for that class. So teachers are not exactly off the hook as far as pressure on students goes. Some students may not want to take the exam because their college does not give credit for it or because they simply cannot afford to take it. Either way teachers should not make kids feel guilty about not taking an exam that they do not want to take in the first place. Perhaps if College Board lowered the price of the AP test more students would want to take it. However that is pretty unlikely to happen given that a major way that the site can stay in business and make money if off of students paying insanely high prices for difficult tests. I feel that as long as the SAT test remains as important to colleges as it presently does, kids will not stop signing up for them. However, because of the price and dropping of importance of the AP tests to colleges, more and more students will choose to not take the exam which will eventually cause College Board to lose money and business. Students at Sharon High School generally do well on the AP exams. However, just because they do well on them doesn’t necessarily mean that they want to or should feel obligated to take them.
Blog 4
Newspapers have continued to make their transition online for quite some time now. The age of technology has definitely taken its course and as a result, print news is suffering. However magazines continue to be popular. Magazines such as Vogue, Seventeen, and People continue to sell copies even though these publications have their own online websites too.
The newspaper publications are not necessarily suffering. It is just their print versions that are. People need to still get their news so it isn’t that people will stop reading news from papers like Boston Globe or New York Times, they will just go online to get it. Getting news online is faster and more efficient than waiting for a newspaper, even if it does come everyday. News not only changes on a daily basis, but on a minutely basis and the only way for people to keep up with the news is to check it online where it is updated faster.
Publications such as Seventeen, Teen Vogue and People are more feature based, so the types of things that are written about in them are not exactly updated daily. So people are fine with reading them from their print versions.
I personally like the glossiness and look of a magazine rather than a newspaper which attracts me to magazines more. I still read print newspapers from time to time, but when I need news fast I would rather go online. Online publications are easier to access and easier to read.
I feel as though eventually all print publications will be gone and people will no longer even be able to get a daily newspaper. All jobs will be gone and print news will go out of business. Honestly I am a little surprised that colleges still offer print journalism as a major and especially that people are still interested in majoring in it. Magazine journalism I can understand people majoring in, but now a days majoring in print journalism would to me, seem like a dead end major.
As print journalism continues to die down, and online becomes more popular, this issue is just another example of how technology is changing our world everyday.
The newspaper publications are not necessarily suffering. It is just their print versions that are. People need to still get their news so it isn’t that people will stop reading news from papers like Boston Globe or New York Times, they will just go online to get it. Getting news online is faster and more efficient than waiting for a newspaper, even if it does come everyday. News not only changes on a daily basis, but on a minutely basis and the only way for people to keep up with the news is to check it online where it is updated faster.
Publications such as Seventeen, Teen Vogue and People are more feature based, so the types of things that are written about in them are not exactly updated daily. So people are fine with reading them from their print versions.
I personally like the glossiness and look of a magazine rather than a newspaper which attracts me to magazines more. I still read print newspapers from time to time, but when I need news fast I would rather go online. Online publications are easier to access and easier to read.
I feel as though eventually all print publications will be gone and people will no longer even be able to get a daily newspaper. All jobs will be gone and print news will go out of business. Honestly I am a little surprised that colleges still offer print journalism as a major and especially that people are still interested in majoring in it. Magazine journalism I can understand people majoring in, but now a days majoring in print journalism would to me, seem like a dead end major.
As print journalism continues to die down, and online becomes more popular, this issue is just another example of how technology is changing our world everyday.
Blog 3
Rebecca Black’s new single “Friday” has become the next big thing for teens to make fun of and hate with a passion. Right after the video aired, Facebook groups were made such as “That awkward moment when Rebecca Black doesn’t know which seat to take” and “Getting down on Friday” to allow people to express their extreme dislike toward her and her song.
The most repelling thing about the song is perhaps the horrible auto-tuned voice, or maybe the fact that she repeats the days of the week as if we don’t know that Friday comes after Thursday and then Saturday then Sunday. Another thing that makes people cringe when they see the music video is that it tries to get away with the fact that there is a thirteen year old driving the car, and worse yet there is a rapper about three times the kids’ age with them and partying with them.
This girl is obviously just trying to be the next Justin Beiber or Miley Cyrus. But that will never happen because she will never match up to them or even get a fraction of the popularity that they have attained. At this point she is just another wannabe kid pop star who is headed nowhere in her singing career.
However, as many people mock this childish and ridiculous song about a thirteen teen year old who is excited about Fridays, the kinds of music that most teens today find more appealing may not be much better than this. Songs about drugs, alcohol, and meaningless sexual behavior could be considered stupid and ridiculous too. I find it odd that many teens find a song about Fridays stupid, but find songs about inappropriate things more interesting. Sure the “Friday” song is innocent, happy, and empty in real meaning, but how is a song about clubs and drugs much better in value and richness?
The most repelling thing about the song is perhaps the horrible auto-tuned voice, or maybe the fact that she repeats the days of the week as if we don’t know that Friday comes after Thursday and then Saturday then Sunday. Another thing that makes people cringe when they see the music video is that it tries to get away with the fact that there is a thirteen year old driving the car, and worse yet there is a rapper about three times the kids’ age with them and partying with them.
This girl is obviously just trying to be the next Justin Beiber or Miley Cyrus. But that will never happen because she will never match up to them or even get a fraction of the popularity that they have attained. At this point she is just another wannabe kid pop star who is headed nowhere in her singing career.
However, as many people mock this childish and ridiculous song about a thirteen teen year old who is excited about Fridays, the kinds of music that most teens today find more appealing may not be much better than this. Songs about drugs, alcohol, and meaningless sexual behavior could be considered stupid and ridiculous too. I find it odd that many teens find a song about Fridays stupid, but find songs about inappropriate things more interesting. Sure the “Friday” song is innocent, happy, and empty in real meaning, but how is a song about clubs and drugs much better in value and richness?
Blog 2
The movie “Red Riding Hood” is set to hit theatres in March if 2011. It stars Amanda Seyfried as Red Riding Hood. The film is obviously made by the makers of twilight in that it is about a character who is a wolf by night and human by day and falls for Red Riding Hood as she does for him, putting her in a dangerous position. The plot seems a lot like Twilight which I feel the makers of the film did on purpose, for the Twilight series was such a big hit. However, the Twilight series was original and people will catch on to this next film just trying to be a new version of it. So I don’t think it will be as successful. Others have said that this film is like Alice In Wonderland and is trying to be more like that only not as good. It is also argued that remakes of fairly tales are not always the best way to go especially if the plot and characters are not right, like in Red Riding Hood for example. For starters, the girl’s name is not even Red, it is Valerie. Although the newest version of Alice in Wonderland was a hit, I don’t believe that this film will get the same successful results.
Blog 1
Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, star of the show Jersey Shore, released her new book entitled "A Shore Thing" in early 2011. The book is about two trashy girls named Gia and Bella who spend their summer at the Jersey Shore and worry only about partying, meeting guys, and of course perfecting the "poof" hairstyle. What is unbelievable about this is that the girl who became famous by embarrassing herself nationally, and being a ruckus on TV is now an author. Yes- ans actual author like Hemingway, Fitzgeraled, and Stephen King. However, this "author" admits to only reading two books in her entire life: Twilight and Dear John. I personally can not understand how anyone could let her be an actual published author. People who write books are supposed to be smart, sophisticated people. Now I guess anyone can do it as long as they have the fame, money, and publicity. I mean lets face it, the popularity of Snooki is inevitable which means that most things she does will be watched and for some reason admired.
"She's sort of like a lovable cartoon,"says Peter Castro, deputy managing editor of People magazine. "She's beyond a reality star. People really believe she's living the life she's portraying on the show. And when you're a reality star, the cardinal sin you can never commit is giving the impression you are faking it. But those personalities (on Jersey Shore) really shine through and Snooki's leading the charge."
The Jersey Shore will always be a popular how especially if Snooki is still on it. Her crazy, immature, and outlandish behavior is what is what attracts people to it. But when she starts writing books as if she is some mature an educated human being, and tries to call herself a proffessional author such as King and Fitzgerald, that is where people should stop appreciating her.
"She's sort of like a lovable cartoon,"says Peter Castro, deputy managing editor of People magazine. "She's beyond a reality star. People really believe she's living the life she's portraying on the show. And when you're a reality star, the cardinal sin you can never commit is giving the impression you are faking it. But those personalities (on Jersey Shore) really shine through and Snooki's leading the charge."
The Jersey Shore will always be a popular how especially if Snooki is still on it. Her crazy, immature, and outlandish behavior is what is what attracts people to it. But when she starts writing books as if she is some mature an educated human being, and tries to call herself a proffessional author such as King and Fitzgerald, that is where people should stop appreciating her.
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