The Tweets of Rebellion

Unless you live in a shed, you've probably all heard of the "wanna-be facebook" site known as Twitter. Most of my peers view it as rather pointless, after all, we already have medium with which to update the world bi-hourly on our exciting lifestyles and opinions - Facebook status. So why Twitter?

Regardless of what it was intended to be, Twitter is not your hometown, circle of friends social networking site. For example, on Facebook I am "friends" with a few hundred people I know from the area, or have met through various activities. On Twitter, I follow 47 people, including a few reporters like Anderson Cooper, George Stephanopoulos, and of course John Stewart; a few politicians like John McCain, and the big guy himself Barack Obama; a few governments, like Downing Street (who also follow me, hmm..); a few public figures like DaveJMatthews ( <3 ), Jimmy Fallon and Tony Hawk; and news networks like CNN and NPR. In addition, I also follow a couple friends, including Beans, and my aunt Connie.

So do you think I'm on there posting DMB lyrics, hoping my buddy Obama will recognize them and "like" my status? Certainly not, in fact, I think I've only updated my status four times in the several months I've had Twitter. Really, I only have it so I can read what other, more intelligent and interesting people have to say. I get to read what's recently been going through Anderson Cooper's mind, or what's the big story of the day from CNN. Twitter is really just another convenient news feed, with the benefit of sometimes getting a more personal opinion from important people.

In the past few days, however, Twitter has become a bit more than frequent news updates - it's become one of the few forms of communication available to the people of Iran as they rebel against a rigged election. Journalists have been thrown out, and communication out of Iran has been extremely limited. Even with strict Internet censoring, a few Iranians have been able to upload video, photos, and audio to sites like Facebook & YouTube, broadcasting their situation throughout the world. Twitter has become a valuable source of information as Iranians use the networking site to update the world on Iran's current state.

Personally, I think it's wonderful that the Internet is starting to make the world smaller in ways it hasn't before. But it does get on my nerves a bit, when reporters take five minutes to report the Iran story and ten minutes to pat themselves and other reporters on the back for knowing how to use the web.

(kind of like how I just did.)

Music Snobbery Shoved in my Face.

In my previous blog, I used Rihanna as an example of a current popular artist, whose fame I only expect to last until a new fad takes over.

I must confess that, since I wrote that blog, I've become a huge fan of "Live Your Life" by T.I. featuring none other than Rihanna.

Funny how these things work.

Big Whiskey & The GrooGrux King

Overall, I think it's an awesome album, possibly DMB's best yet. Now that I actually know these songs, I'm super pumped to hear them at Saratoga (wooooooo)!

Here it is:

Grux- Nice little intro. Saxxxx pwn's.

Shake Me Like A Monkey - Meholick wants to play this in jazz band next year, and with good reason. The brass all but punches you in the face. Good luck finding a precussionist at LHS that can do this justice, though, because Carter tears up on this track.

Funny the Way It Is - The single. I've heard it so much that it's not my favorite, but I'm a fan of the lyrics and it's got a clear message. Good choice of a single.

Lying in the Hands of God - Not always into the slow tracks, so this one isn't a favorite either. I think it's got to grow on me.

Why I Am - The guitar part is reason enough to like this song, but the lyrics and melody make it awesome to sing along to. The winds really make this, in my opinion. One of the best on this album to dance to.

Dive In - I'm usually not one for chilled out tracks, just because I'd rather be crazy dancing, but I really like this one. I like the complex guitar part within the chorus. The lyrics are also pretty neat, who doesn't like a song about the seasons.

Spaceman - Big fan of this. It seems pretty Jack Johnsonesque to me, but it's a nice summer track. Especially the chorus. Some of my favorite lyrics so far:"I'm not all bad but I'm a faithful sinner/I might get lost but I'll be home for dinner/If God don't like me he can send me to hell/But I love the way you love me, girl". Mrs. Lawrence, however, does not like this song very much. Don't play it around her.

Squirm- The creepy, dark, badass song. I'm a fan.

Alligator Pie- I like running out here in the countryside to this, by fields and farms and woods, because it makes me feel like I'm in the deep south. It's comprable to Louisana Bayou, but I like it even better. The banjo is pretty badass, and I especially love when they break it down a bit in the middle and then at the end. I forsee some really great crazy dancing to this.

Seven - My personal favorite track. It's awfully complex. Dave's falsetto the start with sets up the funk feel of it, and it's got some really crazy rhythms - especially the chorus : "Mama told me boy someday that girl's gon' take your mind". This is the tolken song about Dave's facination with oral sex.

Time Bomb - Starts off soft but with unmistakable energy, and it just builds from there, until everything just goes nuts (much like a ticking time bomb).

Baby Blue - The beginning of this song is the same as sister which kind of wierds me out. I like sister better... I was actually surprised by the use of symphonic strings in this, it seemed a bit uncharacteristic of the group. Sort of neutral on this, I think.

You & Me - I'm not a huge fan of this, and I think it's just because to me, the chorus sounds sort of corny. It's pretty catchy and I wish it wasn't. I usually skip this one.

Music Snobbery: Rebuttled

Kaitlin (read her blog!) recently wrote a blog about music snobs and how they vex her, and I actually thought it was directed at me (1). As I read it, I began to realize: I'm a horrible music snob.

The difference between most music snobs and I are that, while I think much less of someone because their horrid taste in music, I won't actually tell them (2). I will, however, probably distance myself from them and be less likely to bond with them.

I'm not totally ashamed of my snobbery. I've learned that if someone likes Lil' Wayne and Rihanna or Nickelback over, in my opinion, quality artists, we will probably not get along well. We have very different ways of thinking. I understand guilty pleasures, and closest obsessions... in fact, I am queen of these. (3) But if your favorite artists, and the artists you choose to associate yourself with, coincide with exactly what's on the radio now... well that doesn't sound like you have a mind of your own, does it?

All I ask is originality. If, after exploring other music, you decide Rihanna is what you want to listen to... be my guest. If you're apathetic enough to listen to what the radio tells you to, and not find your own musical interests through exploration... you have lost a bit of my respect.

Maybe it's because this apathy may apply to other aspects of life. If you listen to what everyone else listens to, perhaps you're likely to dress as everyone else dresses, talk as everyone else talks, and act as everyone else acts. You're less of your own person and more like everyone else... what fun is that? I don't easily trust people who are heavily influenced by current trends. If their interests and preferences are easily changed with the times, will not their loyalties be as susceptible to change?

So when is music snobbery "bad"? When others are actually afraid to talk about music with you for fear of bashing. Some music enthusiasts almost go full-circle, and only like music that reviews tell them they should like. They aspire to talk about music so intelligently, that they grasp at any means to do that, even if it means missing out on enjoyment. If a multitude of reviews think that one album is "ingenious", suddenly it becomes the best album of the year, even if said music snob doesn't actually enjoy it. But the use of "this" and the inventiveness of "that" are so outstanding, it doesn't matter what you enjoy.

That is a true music snob. (4)

If a Rihanna fan can tell me that, after listening to other things, they like Rihanna and can give a respectable reason why, I will apologize and will award them the respect I stripped them of before.

1. It wasn't.
2. Except Jim when he listens to rap. and anyone who likes nickelback. and my brother.
3. These include: Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana, Beyonce, Jonas Brothers, Taylor Swift, country all around, Destiny's Child, on the music front... and the Disney channel, UFO Hunters, and iCarly on tv.
4. I would like to dedicate this blog to the same music snob who inspired Kaitlin's blog. Thank you for very pompusly introducing me to your favorite bands, I enjoyed some, and the ones that I didn't, I was scolded for! :]

Judgement

"Are you tired?" I was asked by a professor of Journalism at Ithaca College. It was rather awkward, I had been trying to yawn with my mouth closed for the past few minutes, and I obviously failed at being discreet.

I've been yawning really often lately, not because I'm lacking sleep, but because I can't really breathe. Sometimes I feel pretty short of breath, and the only way to get enough air is to yawn and hope my lungs fill enough. This gives me the appearance of an obnoxiously tired kid.

It's sort of funny though, to see how everyone acts when they think I'm tired. For example, my mom was especially nervous about me driving home from Albany. I'm pretty sure that some speakers I saw at my college visits this weekend thought I was bored.

One yawns to get more air, because for some reason, they have not been breathing efficiently, and it might be because they're tired. It never occurs to anyone though, that I'm yawning because I just need air. Everyone makes the assumption that I'm sleepy.

So I guess this goes to show that just because someone does something, doesn't mean its for the reasons you would assume. Let this be a lesson on judgement to you!!

When I'm Mayor of NYC

So you're walking down NYC, and somehow, between the shady hot dog you just ate, the second hand smoke infesting every corner of your lungs, and the trash thrown all over the street, you feel sick. Your stomach is freaking. You might puke... You need a bathroom.

Most restaurants only let costumers use their restrooms, not just anyone who walks in. Small shops and stores don't have any, or don't want non-employees to use them. Your best bet is a starbucks, fast food place, or small cafe of some sort. But if you can't find one quickly... you're pretty out of luck.

THANKS TO THE WONDERFUL ITALIAN MEN AT BOTTICELLI, I didn't get sick in the middle of 5th ave and a disaster was avoided.

However, I think I would require establishments that own a certain amount of space to provide public restrooms. Because.... it's just so wrong.

Everybody's On Drugs

Imagine, for a moment, that you are a high school student, and infront of you has just been placed a drug survey. This is completely anonymous, but your answers will be used to better understand the level of drug use in your school. In the following pages, you will be asked questions like, "How many times in the last week have you used crack cocaine?" or "How many times in your life have you used LSD?" or "How many of your close friends smoke pot daily?" Could you possibly resist the urge to tell the local substance abuse association that you drop acid every day, with no negative consequences?! Doubtful.

Our little prank came back to bite us in the ass though, with, as Farny says, "enormous, sharp fangs!" We are apparently too short-sighted to realize that, word got out that everyone in the school buys, sells, and uses ecstacy five times a day, there would be consequences. The people most bothered with our youth's hypothetical drug use is, not surprisingly, the clergy of Le Roy. Anyone who has attended a religious service in town this month has probably been warned about the evils of drugs. Catholics, even if they were zoning out, were lectured on the dangers of excess amounts of alcohol (small amounts are cool though, we have some in church).

Apparently, some young girl informed an unknown priest or minister or pastor that, students can buy any drug, at any point throughout the school day, in any hallway in the building. While I've certainly whitnessed a few shady (and usually pretty obvious) meetings in the hallways, I don't believe that I could easily pick up some acid after Calc (not that I would want acid after calc).

While we're not exactly going to be "punished", I think we can expect some more presentations like the anti-drug-use one we had last month... which some may argue is, in fact, cruel punishment. Although, I don't know what better way to keep kids away from drugs than showing video of destroyed organs, damaged brains, and teens dying from overdoses.

Does Le Roy have a drug problem? Sure. Is it worse than surrounding towns? Probably not. Drugs are always going to be present in a high school. While I don't see any harm in creating some programs to try to combat teens' drug use, I'm thinking that GCASA should rethink their source of information. Because even the finest, most mature students cannot resist to fill in the "yes" bubble next to, "Have you used heroin in the last 24 hours?"

At least I can't.

Disclaimer: I don't do drugs.