Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Does music bring us together or separate us?

It is a world wide fact that people connect to music. There is a song for every situation in a person's life, even for riding a bicycle! (I want to Ride my Bicycle: Queen)It's impossible to not connect to music. Music also has different genres. Some include:
Rock 'n' roll
Rock
Emo
Country
Jazz
Classical
Rap
Blues
Reggae
Soul
R&B
Pop
Techno
Swing
Punk
Hip-hop
Metal
AND MORE!!!!

Different people are interested in different types of music. There is some types of music you love and some that you hate. They type of music that you like shows others a little bit about the type of person you are.
But are genres in music just like "clicks" in school? People tend to hang out with the people who they can relate with. One way is through music. Music can help you make friends but sometimes people get carried away and judge others on the music that they listen too. Sometime people will only hang out with others who are like them, Music wise, like clicks.
The different genres of music also promote different trends that people follow. There are good trends like inspiring you to make a band or group and be a performer and bad trends like taking drugs, going gangs or suicide. One big trend is clothing trends. Here are some examples:
Emo


Rap


Punk



There are many, many more. Aren't these genres that cause trends what make the "clicks" in schools? Are different types of music separating people apart?

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Even though different types of music attract different types of people there are ways where music brings people closer together. There are some people that like a lot of different types of music and not just one or two. These people become friends with people that like all the different forms of music. They are like bridges of the music genres.
Another way is through Disk Jockeys. A DJ's job is to mix different music together and connecting then whether its through the beat, sound, or just timing. They fuse different forms of music together into one amazing mix.

Here's a video of a DJ explaining how to mix different genres of music:

The songs were:
1. "Get ready for this" 2 unlimited, 1991
2. " A little respect" Erasure 1988
3. " Stay" Sash 1997

One more way different genres intertwine is through the artists themselves. Some artists like Timbaland, make a lot of music with other artists that work in a different genre "fields". Timbaland has made music with Madonna, Pussycat Dolls, Justin Timberlake, One Republic and more. Another example is the song "Two is Better Than One" by Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift. This song mixes a rock band with a country/pop singer.

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So what do you think? Do you think music is bringing us together or separating us?
:]

Monday, February 15, 2010

"Love is the only shocking act on the planet."

"Valentine's Day is the day when your love life is put on display", as quoted from the movie Valentine's Day. In my opinion that movie was great. It captured all aspects of love. Both the benefits and consequences. What causes the beauty of it and what causes the disasters. What stuck with me the most from this movie is how much the meaning of love changed between generations and also how naive young love can be.

These are two trailers of Valentine's Day so you can get an understanding of what I'm talking about. That's if you haven't seen the movie or any of the trailers:






When you're a teenager there are a lot of stressful things that go through your mind and the big "L" word is one of them. Most teenagers don't really understand love or how to express it. I believe everyone has their own meaning of love. A lot of teenagers think that to really be in love is to have sex with that other person. In the movie the character played by Emma Roberts believed that having sex would create a bond between her and her boyfriend so that when they go to collage they wouldn't break up. What do you think about this? I think just being in love is the bond that keeps you and your partner together. Sex is nothing but another expression of it, just like kissing. There is just more consequences to it.
Her character also says "It's not like I'm guna sleep with one person for the rest of my life right? I mean, who does that?" and Hector Elizondo's character says "Crazy people like us." Also in the movie he says that times have changed and love is different. I guess back in his days love and sex were intertwined. Love used to be strong and unbreakable so having sex with one person wasn't "crazy". Nowadays sex and love are two similar but very different things. You can have sex without love and love without sex. One doesn't complete the other. Maybe what changed is that these days it is openly permissible to be promiscuous. How do you feel about this change? I kinda like the idea that sex is something special for only the person you love.
The Taylors' parts also stuck out to me(Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner). Their characters are basically the stereotypical high school couple. All goo-goo gaa-gaa over each other and very public about their relationship. As the reporter in the movie says, they represent "young love. Full of promise. Full of hope. Ignorance and reality." Their characters are an extreme example of how naive young love can be. There are actually young people who believe they're in love after two weeks of being in a relationship. (This also goes along with how people have different opinions on what love is.) Some people call it "puppy love". What do you think about love?
I talked about it with one of my friends and we came to the conclusion that love has different sizes. You know how in friendship you can have acquaintances, friends, and best friends? Well love is like that. You can have little love, medium love or big, deep, passionate love. And it's not just narrowed down to three sizes. I believe there is an infinite amount of sizes. Love is unique for each person. Your size is your love. <3

P.S. Jenny, I like Taylor Swift's character. It was funny and dumb and she played it well. She didn't dumb herself down she just played a really good cute dumb character. xD

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Teenage pregnancy is okay?

It's not new news that pregnancy is a big deal for teenagers across the world. Television shows that have been running for decades have had a character or two that dealt with this problem. For example "Degrassi's" character Mia has a daughter and it affected her school life. But has teenage pregnancy become such a big problem that there are shows and movies based on pregnancy alone?
Shows like "The Secret Life of an American Teenager" and movies like "The Pregnancy Pact" express the reasons behind teenage pregnancy and the consequences for it. Since all these shows and movies have been coming out, does that mean a lot more teenagers have been getting pregnant? Explaining these situations through media is a great way to make the young teenage mind understand the consequences. What I wonder is, is having shows and movies about teenage pregnancy a warning for teenagers or is it promoting the idea of being pregnant at a young age; saying it's okay?