GOODBYE

Goodbye, AP Lang blog.
It's been a long, painful process, but I am done with you.

I have never been more relieved.



sdla;knhrweportgwrepighehfoirqegh4pt5oug4rjdsg9y54gpreioghwrep;ihgrjehgdjkslkgdsfglfsdhgkfsdl

Apes has changed my life.

This year, I took APES (AP Environmental Science). I didn't think it would be a significant class. I just wanted to avoid chemistry because I'm afraid to take it. Something about chemistry kind of frightens me. So, I avoided chemistry and opted to take APES this year and then take physics the following year. I didn't realize how much APES would change my perspective about the earth and pollution. As the year went on, I started to notice that I would feel guilty about not recycling, driving instead of walking, buying from companies that rely on child labor, etc. I think APES should be a required class because it makes you care about the environment. Humans have always altered their environment to satisfy their needs. These alterations were at first negligible, like small scale agriculture and chopping down trees for homes. However, we began to believe that we could do whatever we wanted with the earth. As technology has progressed, our ability to do real damage to the earth has increased. We, as a society, should care about the environment because once a certain point of pollution and environmental degradation is reached; we can’t reverse what we have done. Fresh water is something everyone needs to survive. 98% of the world’s water is found in oceans, meaning only 2% is fresh water. Of that fresh water, 70% is frozen in glaciers,only about 0.024% of the earth’s water supply is readily available to us as liquid freshwater. Fresh water is not a renewable resource when used unsustainably. Some places, like the United States, have plenty of fresh water for people to sue. The poorest people are the ones who suffer the most from shortages of fresh water. According to a study by the UN, 1.1 Billion people don’t have access to water for cooking, cleaning and drinking and 2.6 billion don’t have access to basic sanitation. This imbalance in water use between social classes is because of corporate monopolization of water use. Big companies, like Coca Cola, for example, take water from aquifers in poor areas of India where citizens themselves struggle to afford drinking water and use it in their bottling plants. The irresponsible use of fresh water is an environmental problem and a moral responsibility. The increasing human population is the biggest problem with degrading out environment. This is because the larger the population, the more resources necessary to support it.Many question whether an adequate standard of living for everyone is possible with 7 billion people on this earth.   The earth’s population started out small, as a whole not much was affected. As technology has increased our ability to pollute has as well. A growing population only makes this worse, with billions of people consuming nonrenewable resources daily, leaving an ever increasing ecological footprint. The largest problem is that more people create a larger demand for more space. This demand is satisfied by clearing trees for places to live and most often farmland to feed our growing population. Rapid deforestation is especially devastating to the environment. The burning of trees releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a gas largely responsible for global climate change. These trees were once preventing extra carbon dioxide to enter the atmosphere by absorbing it via respiration. When these forests are gone, habitats are destroyed. Habitat loss is the number one cause of species extinction. Many people believe that the best way to protect endangered species is protecting them from poachers and exotic pet trades, but protection from these businesses only goes so far. The majority of species loss occurs when an animal loses its native habitat and is forced to compete for resources in a foreign environment. While there are many negative aspects about the environment that we should without question care about, there are new technologies that will help improve our situation. Renewable energy is quickly becoming part of our daily lives. Using water for power isn’t a new idea. Windmills, which have been around for centuries, use the energy from a flowing river to crush grain. Today, hydroelectric power is generated by building dams on large bodies of water. We can use the wind to turn a turbine and generate electricity without any pollutants or external resources. The sun is the supreme energy source for all life on earth. Photovoltaic cells convert solar energy directly into electric energy. These cells can be incorporated into glass windows and stored on the roofs of virtually any building. Although solar energy is only 1% of the world’s current energy supply, by 2040 photovoltaic cells could potentially account for 25%. We should care about the environment because it affects all of us where we live. As humans, we are responsible for the care of the earth, and we know we haven’t been doing a great job. Now is a crucial time for environmental awareness. If we do nothing and continue a life of irresponsible resource use and pollution causing our climate change, we will soon reach a point where our negative contributions cannot be stopped. At the same time, technologies to support responsible resource use are being developed, presenting a great opportunity to become environmentally responsible. We should care about the environment to preserve life for our future generations and because it is what’s right. I think that some form of environmental science should be required for any student, kind of like how government and econ are required to graduate. Not everyone has to take AP, but maybe an easier version where everyone watches lots of documentaries.

Culture vs Fashion?

The other day, I saw a girl wearing a bindi to school. If you don't know what that is, it's a little gem worn between the eyes that is symbolic of marriage in Indian culture. I don't know why she wore it, but it really bothered me that she did. It’s a shame when people can’t recognize that somethings aren't about them. Cultural appropriation is not about infringing on a white person’s ability to wear what they see fit. It is

disrespecting a culture, trivializing history and infringing upon another person’s identity

People put on prints and jewelry and not realize that they are playing dress up with other people’s lives. It does not make you innovative or special or smart. It makes you foolish, disrespectful, and an upholder of white hegemony. The pieces of another’s culture are not for us to wear when the fashion trend swings that way. It is not a means to earn money. Putting on a bindi or kente or a headdress does not signify that you are attempting to be connected to the respective cultures each of those items come from. It doesn’t inherently teach you something. It doesn’t make you a part of that identity either.What’s incredibly pathetic is that when some people are told that they are engaging in appropriative behavior, behavior that hurts others, that effects an entire group of people they ignorantly cling on to said behavior. They feel attacked and lash out like a smile child who has been scolded for doing something improper for doing something that is hurtful.

The Avengers is awesome

The Avengers is a really awesome cinematic event, while I didn't get to see it on its opening night, I did over the weekend. Its the culmination of a decade of different movies made about the back stories of the Marvel super heroes. While it wasn't perfect, the Avengers definitely lived up to my expectations.
The movie begins right were Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America left off. Loki, Thor's mischievous brother, is heading for earth with a new weapon, one that can fire beams of energy and brainwash people. S.H.I.E.L.D leader Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson... awesome) has gathered various superheroes together to create the "Avengers Initiative" and attempt to fight and stop Loki from taking over the world blah blah blah. In the beginning solo films we’ve gotten to know Tony Stark, old-fashioned idealist Captain America, arrogant Thor, Black Widow and the uncontrollable Hulk – but Avengers takes things a step further by showing us how these characters are growing and evolving – and better yet, growing and evolving because of their interactions with one another. For all of the impressive action the best moments in Avengers are arguably the slower, character-driven scenes. Whedon’s penchant for snappy dialogue is on full display, and it’s a great experience to see.Tony Stark and Dr. Banner talking about science so no one else in the room understands, or debating the value of the traumas that made them both into tragic heroes. The special effects in the movie are pretty great, especially Hulk, who finally looks like the actor playing him, and the classic version of the character first created by artist Jack Kirby. The aliens, Iron Man, Thor’s hammer and the rest, all look great. Visually, the movie is the most impressive work that Marvel has done to this point. As for the 3D version it’s totally unnecessary. It’s not a bad conversion and doesn’t detract from the viewing experience – but it rarely adds anything, either. If you’re debating which way to see the film: go 2D. However the story is very predictable in terms of its plot. A lot of the big sequences still have a very “TV” feel to them – and on the whole, Avengers plays like several episodes of a very well-built TV series, rather than a feature film that has truly “cinematic” moments in it. There are a few, but only a few.
Overall, it was a pretty great movie and I'm absolutely certain there will be more.

Barack Obama's endorsement of gay marriage

President Barack Obama made a risk taking descision to openly endorse gay marriage, becoming a civil rights figure and slightly changing the way his re-election campaign will run. Obama’s decision thrilled many of his supporters at a time when the president needs additonal backing and some financial support, even though it has outraged some of his more conservative supporters. This may be especially true in the state of North Carolina, which voted the night before to ban same sex marriage, and in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, all states that currently have strong amendments defining marriage only as between one man and one woman. President Obama told ABC news last night that he had decided “It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Obama being the first president to openly support gay marriage is a milestone to many supporting gay rights/civil rights. Maybe presidents before him supported same sex marriage in private opinion, but it is an impressive first step to openly declare a postition on an issue that, in this decade especially, has become a very prominent civil rights issue. Religious conservatives that did not originally support Mitt Romney may now support his campaign. I don't think that this will be a large help to Romney's campaign much because people who were already against same sex marriage probably weren't going to vote for Obama anyway because of his more liberal beliefs. Obama's beliefs encountered a similar reaction when he announced that he is "pro-choice", supporting a womans right to make their own opinion about abortion. Within 30 minutes of the president's announcement, recieved many generous contributions to his re-election campaign. (up to $10,000, which is the maximum amount allowed for a private contribution.)
I think this is all really interesting, but not as big of a deal as the media portrayed it to be.

Oh my God I love Pancheros

I wrote about food again because I was really hungry.
First, just look at this for about ten seconds.

That, my friend, is a burrito from Pancheros. Beyond that tortilla is whatever you want it to be. Chicken? You bet! Rice? Yes sir? Deliciously warm and just-spicy-enough queso? For a dollar extra you sure can! Puppies? I sure hope not! Really though, a Pancheros burrito is probably one of my favorite things in life. I've been a regular customer (once or twice a week) for about a year now. This blog post isnt all about my love for Pancheros. Its also about my biased admiration for their business model and how they market their product.

Pancheros is set up in the same way as Subway (which I'm sure everyone is fimilar with). You walk in and are asked to choose between a burrito, quesadilla, taco, or salad. The most popular is obviously the burrito, which has become it's calling card. You then choose the type of meat (my favorite is chicken) then add rice, (or beans, which I think are gross) cheese, salsa, corn or really whatever is your preferance. Pancheros chose this model probably to put an emphasis on customer choice. The one thing from Pancheros that is standard is their tortillas. They press a lump of dough at 420 degrees and then allow it to achieve a golden brown color. Pancheros is proud of their "fresh pressed tortillas", adopting the slogan "it's all about the tortilla".

I admire Pancheros business strategies as much as their food. Pancheros (or 'Panch' as dubbed by youth) originally set out to be a quantity Mexican restaurant with no specific intended audience. Their first location was in down town Iowa City, Iowa. Its close proximity to popular shops frequented by college students at the University of Iowa made it an instant hit. The chain has been expanding ever since. Although it exists primarily in the Midwest, a few locations exist in other states such as Arizona, Maryland and Florida. Recently, Pancheros has been making an effort to attract itself to more young people (even though that is already a good majority of its business). Pancheros opened up its own blog, named after its slogan Bob My Burrito. There the social/marketing manager posts many videos talking to his audience. The manager, a young man named Reid, creates a young feel about Pancheros. He connects with his audience using twitter, a popular social networking site among young people. There, followers of Pancheros' twitter account can win prizes via "twiter trivia" where the first person to tweet back can win a free burrito. Pancheros has an "ambassador program" where young people who love Pancheros can become a representative for the store. I'll apply for the position soon, as my obsession level should be apparent.


Alright, so I'm really hungry now. I'm going to go get a burrito. Bye.

"How Its Made" is mind numbing but you cant stop watching it.

Earlier today, I was practicing a usual teenager's ritual of doing absolutely nothing on Sundays up until about 5 pm. Around 5, people my age realize all the homework they'd pushed back and then sit for a three our block of pure misery and procrastination. I'm come to accept the fact that this is how it always will be. Before 5pm, there is literally nothing to do. I found myself laying in my room, completely immobile for hours eyes glued to the TV. The dreary weather made my room a dull gray color, and I was almost in a trance. Then, I made the horrid mistake of turning on the Discovery channel, where the most dull show ever created was streaming. That show is How It's Made.

Every single episode is the same format. Choose any item you like, say a bicycle. You will first be greeted by a frame of a finished bicycle sitting there. And then you hear a dull description of what a bicycle is used for. At this point you are already sucked in, and don't even question the fact that you already know darn well what a bicycle is for. This is America, we all have them. Then the narrator will give some unnecessarily awful back story to the preparations of a bicycle being made. "First measurements are taken for the proper height for handlebars." At the time, this completely passive information just made me continue to be sucked in like a zombie. Now that I am free from How It's Made's trance, the fact that they stuff this incredibly dry informational show with useless information (ironic) makes me rage. I understand this show isn't targeted at my age or gender demographic at all, and that someone else probably does enjoy it. I don't think the show is flawed in what it does. All its job is to tell you how something is made. What I really find humorous now is that because the show is so dry, you can easily end up watching a few episodes without really noticing. That is exactly what happened to me. I cant recall whatsoever what I learned about watching those shows. All I know is that from 1 pm to 3 pm that show had me in a trance that I was unable to get out of.

Part of the reason why this show is so flat is because of the chosen audio. The voice over work is done by Brooks T. Moore, who's website is hilariously depressing looking. Moore seems to be only known for his work on How it's made, which he restates very often throughout the few-faceted website.

Lolla!

Next summer, I want to go to Lollapalooza, or Lolla. I really want to go this year, but I think I should save that experience for later. See, at Kennedy, going to Lolla is kind of like a senior trip experience. The summer after I graduate high school I will be a completely independent adult, and going to Chicago by myself wouldn't be a problem at all. Being young sucks sometimes, especially the age of 17. I'm old enough for plenty of responsibilities but not quite old enough to go out on my own. Life is a dance around the boundaries of age.
 Lolla is an annual music festival held in Chicago. Lolla started back in 1991 by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farewell. Back then, the festival was mainly underground Grunge bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, rap such as Ice-T and industrial music such as Nine Inch Nails. It was at Lolla was where the term "Alternative Nation" was coined. The explosion of alternative rock in the early 1990s propelled Lollapalooza forward; the 1992 and 1993 festivals leaned heavily on grunge and alternative acts, and usually featured an additional rap artist. Punk rock standbys like mosh pits and crowd surfing became part of the canon of the concerts. These years saw great increases in the event with the inclusion of booths for open-microphone readings and television-smashing pits, and tattooing and piercing parlors. Lolla began receiving some criticism when corporate marketing became intertwined with the kiosks at Lolla. Journalist Steve Albini criticized Lollapalooza for its corporatization of "alternative" music. In a 1993 interview, Albini commented:
"Lollapalooza is the worst example of corporate encroachment into what is supposed to be the underground. It is just a large scale marketing of bands that pretend to be alternative but are in reality just another facet of the mass cultural exploitation scheme. I have no appreciation or affection for those bands and I have no interest in that whole circle. If Lollapalooza had Jesus Lizard and the Melvins and Fugazi and Slint then you could make a case that it was actually people on the vanguard of music. What it really is is the most popular bands on MTV that are not heavy metal."
The festival ran annually until 1997. From 1997 until 2003, Lolla became a music tour and traveled all around North America. In 2003, Lolla re-gained its lease with the Chicago Park District and has been there ever since.
Oh man, there are so many awesome bands going this year. My favorites from the long line-up are: Passion Pit, The White Panda, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, Frank Ocean, FUN, Neon Indian, Florence + The Machine, Sigur Ros, Childish Gambino, and Of Monsters and Men. Of Monsters and Men was originally a very little heard of folk-type band in Iceland. I came across them one day on the music website Pitchfork and immediately fell in love. I listened to them for months before one day I was sitting in Pancheros and heard one of their songs playing. Somehow, Of Monsters and Men had been discovered and the were no longer my little secret. They are still considered underground, but I really miss how relatively unknown they used to be.

Espresso & milk

For the short period that Caribou has been open, I've seen a lot of people come in. Most of them aren't really coffee fans, but enjoy drinks mixed with coffee in them or smoothies from the store. Its a lot like how people just like being associated with brands, so they get drinks from us that aren't what true coffee is all about. I have had a woman order a cappuccino (probably because it sounds cool) and then say she didn't like it. When I asked her what she didn't like about it and what else I could offer her, she responded with "Ohhhhhhhh, there's just too much coffee in here. I don't really like the taste of coffee." she ended up getting a Snowdrift, which is a mixture of flavored syrups, milk, oreos, and ice. She loved it. It just makes me laugh at how much people want to be thought of as a coffee drinker but can't even have a lightly-coffee based drink. Often people ask what the difference between many drinks are because they really have no idea. So I'll go through the most common coffee drinks and explain how they're made.
Most people know what a latte is. Lattes are probably my favorite drink. To make a latte, you brew two shots of espresso while preparing milk to be steamed. You put the steamed milk into a pitcher with a thermometer to monitor it. On the espresso machine, there is a wand used for steaming milk. You would then dip that wand into the very edge of the milk and press a button to begin steaming. Until 100 degrees, you keep the tip of the wand underneath the milk to create air bubbles. This is known as frothing. Once the temperature passes 100 degrees, dip the wand completely in the milk to heat the rest of it. The machine is timed to stop when the temperature of the milk passes 160 degrees. After pouring your shots of espresso into the cup, you take the milk canister and, while using a paddle like spoon, hold the froth back and pour the milk into the back of the cup to mix it evenly with the espresso. Once you start approaching the top of the cup, you pull the ladle back very slightly. This allows a small amount of foam to enter into the drink, forming a shape. At Caribou, we strive for what is referred to as the "half moon shape", which leaves a little froth at the top. Or if you want to get creative...

There is another important aspect to the latte, the crema. Crema is a sweet, sugary texture that forms at the top of espresso. When brewed perfectly, the crema will sit at the top of the latte and create a very subtle, sweet taste when first drinking the latte. I always add raspberry syrup to my latte before entering the milk, making it a raspberry latte. This could be done with any other kind of syrup, vanilla lattes are the most popular. If you don't really drink coffee but want to try it, a latte is usually one of the first steps.

Caribou Coffee!

A couple weeks ago, I was hired to be a barista at the Caribou Coffee being built inside the Oakland road HyVee. What is Caribou Coffee? Well I'd love to tell you so I can get some words out for the sake of a blog post.  Caribou Coffee Company is the second largest in the United States after Starbucks. Caribou sells coffee, tea, and bakery foods in 415 coffeehouses in 16 states. In 1990, on a trip to Denali National Park in Alaska, Caribou Coffee was imagined by newlyweds John and Kim Puckett. The couple raised money to start the first Caribou Coffee shop in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. After several years of mixed performance, the Pucketts sold the company in 1998 for $120 million to Crescent Capital, which has since changed its name to Arcapita.
Since opening, the chain has expanded to 415 locations in 16 states, making it the second-largest operator of non-franchised coffeehouses in the United States, after Starbucks Corporation.Caribou maintains its headquarters and coffee-roasting facility in the Minneapolis metropolitan area.
Arcapita was Caribou Coffee's majority shareholder. In 2002 Yusuf al-Qaradawi's involvement with the bank led to a protest of Caribou Coffee. That same year al-Qaradawi stepped down as chairman of the bank's Sharia board. I read about this on Scopes, people were creating controversy and protesting because the main shareholder was an Israeli. On the Scopes entry of the email, people were saying all sorts of things like "how can we trust this company?" It kind of horrified me that people think that just because this company was partially owned by someone from a certain country that it isn't to be trusted.On September 28, 2005, Caribou Coffee became a publicly traded company. In 2011, Arcapita sold their shares of Caribou Coffee. As of September 30, 2011 no one entity owns more than 8% of Caribou's outstanding shares. On February 28, 2010, Caribou announced a corporate-wide re-branding, and began using their new "coffee bean caribou" logo officially on March 1, 2010

.

So, I realized that I filled my word requirements for this week when I started writing a lot more for these past two posts than anticipated.  I know it's recommended that we write three, but in all honesty if I've already met the requirement I think it would just be a waste of my effort. I had a pretty good idea for what this was supposed to be about: my new job at Caribou Coffee. I could write A LOT about that because there is just so much to know and I'm sure there are lots of stories to be told once I start working there. Being a barista is fun. I'll save those posts for when I really need them. Ciao.

Friday the 13th (dun dun dun)

Today is Friday, April 13th. (well it was when I began this blog post, even though I didn't finish it until now) Nothing about today would normally be special, except that today is considered one of the unluckiest days of the year. Obviously this is just supersition, but everyone is still a little wary of today.
Why? Well after a little research on Wikipedia and other random google searches, I can give a basic backstory to why Friday the 13th is such a dreaded day.
In numerology (the study of numbers and their significance) the number twelve is considered a lucky number. There are 12 hours on the clock, 12 months in a year. The number twelve is often incorporated in religion. In Greek mythology, there were twelve gods that lived on Mount Olympus. In Abrahamic religions, there were 12 tribes of Israel (I don't know what that means exactly, but according to Wikipedia its a significant aspect of Christianity and Judism) There were 12 apostles of Jesus, and in Islam there were 12 succesors to Muhammad (again, I don't know the signifcance of this). The number 13 is considered unlucky because it offsets the good luck created by the number 12. Some believe that having 13 people seated at a table was unlucky and would result in the illness or death of one of those seated at the table.
Of all the days of the week, Friday is considered be more unlucky than any other day. This has a lot to do with biblical connections like Good Friday, the day Jesus was supposed to have died. Other dates surrounding plagues and acts of the wrath of god often are discovered to have occurred on Fridays based on specific translations. Translations from ancient texts often differ depending on the language and then whatever language it was translated into. This is where different versions of the bible have come from like the King James bible, which is probably the most read version.
The connection between the Friday the 13th superstition and the Knights Templar was popularized in Dan Brown's 2003 novel The Da Vinci Code. The Knights Templar were a group soldiers commissioned by the Pope during the bloody religious battles known as the crusades. There were many trained soldiers in the crusades, but none as specialized and mysterious as the Knights Templar. It is rumored that the Knights Templar were sent to Temple Mount in Jerusalem to retrieve the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant (a sacred chest containing the original ten commandments. The Knights were unable to retrieve the objects but were forever seen as mysterious and cult-like. On Friday, October 13th, 1307, the Knights Templar were arrested by the suggestion of the new Pope Clement and ordered by King Philip to relieve him of his debts to the Knights. With the blessing of the Pope, the Knights were convicted of random crimes such as  apostasy, idolatry, heresy, obscene rituals and homosexuality, financial corruption and fraud, and secrecy. Some Knights were sentenced to be burned at the stake, including Jacques de Molay. His final words are really creepy.

"Dieu sait qui a tort et a pëché. Il va bientot arriver malheur à ceux qui nous ont condamnés à mort" ("God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death") 

I wish I could make dramatic statements like that.

Friday the Thirteenth became a date of note in Thomas W. Larson's novel, Friday the Thirteenth. In the novel, an economic panic based on the fear of this day on Wall Street allows a broker to take advantage of the system and make it rich. After reading this, the public as a whole began to recognize Friday the 13th as a date many were weary of.

Retro posters <3

Of course, we cant forget about the classic 1980 horror movie Friday the 13th. Produced by nearly the same group as the very successful (and scary) Halloween, Friday the 13th is a slasher film about teenagers and a man in a hockey mask at a summer camp. Oh, and the serial killer only comes out on Friday the 13th. Why? I don't know, its just one of those days. Friday the 13th is forever a day that people will be afraid of.

My thoughts on the ITEDs... or whatever they are.

As everyone that reads this knows, (because I doubt anyone outside of Kennedy or even outside of AP Lang at this school reads my blog) us Kennedy students had to take our standardized tests this week. (Actually, I seriously doubt anyone reads this except for you, Dr. Ayers. I'll pretend I'm not aware of this though for my blog posts though.) The tests basically are to assure that our school is keeping up with national and state education standards. Kennedy already has a reputation for being fine school, so there isn't really a lot of stress associated with the tests.

Weird coincidence: last night I was watching the episode of King of the Hill on Adult Swim last about standardized testing. Basically the administration of the school that one of the main characters (Bobby Hill) goes to is scared about the upcoming standardized test because the students are low-performing and they don't want to lose their funding. To alter the results of the test, the majority of low performing students are deemed "special education" students and are put in a room to sit and wait while the rest of the school prepares for the test. I thought it was a really funny episode and it was kind of weird that it was playing during the week of ITEDs (or whatever they are)


The reading comprehension section was much more interesting than previously. This is usually my favorite section because I've always been good at reading and have always scored around 99% for this particular section. The reading sections are usually about interesting, random subjects. The questions are easy, you just have to read the section carefully at times. My favorite question from the reading comprehension section was
"Look at this picture of a cheetah, what is it doing?
A) about to attack
B) eating
C) yawning and stretching
D) cannot be determined

The picture was obviously of a cheetah that was yawning and stretching, attached to a reading section all about yawning and the human brain. Another question on the test was asking for how we would find more books on a certain author. The obvious answer choice was: do an internet search on the author. These kind of questions really make me think that the people who write the test questions are out of touch to how much teenagers my age know. My entire generation grew up using computers, we have no problem finding what we need on the internet. Questions about finding info are almost irrelevant in a world where the answer to any question is "just google it".

My trip to Nashville.

Wednesday
Happiness members got together Wednesday morning over break and had a group breakfast at Perkins. I realized that breakfast food is the greatest food of all time. Because I never grew out of being a picky eater, most of the time I struggle to find one thing that I want to eat at restaurants. Anything with vegetables is off the table, I only eat beef, chicken and turkey, and ketchup and cheese sauces are the only sauces allowed. At Perkins, most of the food meets my requirements for eating, so I had a lovely time. I even cleaned my plate.
After our lovely breakfast, we all had a morning practice in the black box at Kennedy. The practice was what we refer to as a "run-through" which is just doing the show start-to-finish minus the costumes, which are really a hassle to put on. Our director, Mr. Ziegler, told us to take the practice and the upcoming competition seriously, but we really found that hard to do. Nationals is really a huge deal, and its always stiff competition. None of us thought we could win, so we really were shooting for third or fourth place. Third or fourth place would be good enough for us and I'm sure it would impress people at home. Third in the nation isn't bad at all, it's definitely better than any other Kennedy activity has done.

Thursday
2 a.m: arrive at Kennedy. I figured my best strategy for this was to just not go to bed Wednesday night. This proved really difficult. I think my natural sleep cycle favors me waking up earlier than most people and going to bed early. I wake up every morning for school at 5:29 am and try to go to bed around 10. So from 10-2, I struggled to keep my eyes open and function. Sleeping on the bus is crucial because it passes the time. Being awake for an entire 12 hour bus ride would drive you insane. I survived until the departure time and immediately passed out on the floor of the bus. Fun fact: sleeping on the floor of the bus is weirdly comfortable. I think knowing that its the best position you can be in makes it really relaxing. I woke up around 7 am very confused. I forgot that I was on a bus somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Around 7:30 all 70 something travelers attacked a McDonald's somewhere in Illinois. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in line so I got my food quickly. McDonald's hashbrowns when you're starving = delicious. We got back on the bus and after some abuse of nyquil, I fell asleep until about 12. Then, we watched the wonderful film that is Baby Momma. Seriously, you watch the most random movies on show choir buses. It helped pass the time. Once we entered the Nashville area, we we are really excited and the torture that is a 12 hour bus ride was almost nothing. The first view of the hotel was astonishing. The Gaylord Opryland hotel is bigger than you can even imagine. I've been to Las Vegas numerous times and never seen anything so big, in fact I could'nt even get all of it in view for a picture.
We got our rooms, fixed our appearances and headed over to the Grand Ole Opry to watch some of the womens division show choir. I hate watching womens groups. Its hard to enjoy show choir when you're at a high level of performance. When I was younger and in bad groups, everything looked amazing to me. Now, you can't really appreciate other groups when you know you're better than they are. It sounds awful and cocky, but that's really just how it is. We were greeted at the Grand Ole Opry with some people who worked at Red Bull and were giving out free cans. It was great. After watching the groups, we went back to explore the huge hotel. For the most part, we hung out in the atrium and just enjoyed how pretty it was.

Friday
Wake-up time was 6:30. We all were fed a quick breakfast of granola bars and juice and then had to go to a practice outside the hotel on a large empty balcony by the Opryland convention center. We worked on making there were no crucial problems with our show for about 30 minutes and then were told to go get our costumes on and hair and makeup done. We got on the buses for a quick ride to the Grand Ole Opry, which was pretty close by. We watched a lot of really good groups. Almost all of them had huge sets with lights, fog, and many costume changes. It's really intimidating to watch lots of good groups with all of these additions knowing your group doesn't have any of that. One group, the Fairfield Choraliers, was especially scary to watch. They were the first group that could really sing. We left the auditorium after their performance to get ready for our own, scared. The performance went great. After the curtain dropped, we all screamed from excitement because we knew it was the best we had ever done. My favorite part of being on that stage is that in the front, there is a circle of wood from the original stage where performers like Elvis Presley and Hank Williams performed. At awards we were the last group announced to perform for the finals. We all got really nervous before the made the announcement and started to worry that we hadn't made it into the top 6. On the bus ride back, Mr. Ziegler told us that we were currently in second place, not far behind the first place group: Fairfield. We were fired up because we never thought we could even place that high. The rest of the day was spent shopping and exploring the hotel.


Saturday
The wake up call was 6:30. We were the last group scheduled to perform in the finals. We had breakfast and practiced again like we did the day before. Mr. Ziegler gave us some things that judges had specifically asked for and we tried to put them into our show. We were nervous and not very confident we could actually beat the first place group. Most of us had came to terms with second place and were excited by the idea. We went back to our rooms, got costumes, hair, and makeup ready. We got on the bus there in silence and nervously waited to perform once we got to the Grand Ole Opry. Groups are given about 20 minutes of time to warm up their voices and go over parts of their show before they perform. We had a guest with us; the man who created happiness back in 1968. He told us about how proud he was of what Happiness had become and explained to us where the yellow jackets came from: he went out to get a travel jacket for the group and was only able to get them in yellow to represent the school colors. When he showed them to the group, they were less than pleased, but wore them anyway. He made the members sign a contracts saying that they would only wear the jacket when at a Happiness event and to wear them with pride. We were all inspired and wanted to make him proud of us. The show went well, but we didn't all feel the same confidence we felt after yesterdays performance. I was so nervous for the results I could barely talk. Before the announcer said who the second place group was, we all held hands and braced for the announcement. When he said that second given to Fairfield, a feeling of relief and excitement overcame us that cant even be described. We were the national champions. The rest of the trip, we were too excited to worry about anything else. Being number one is a great, great feeling.


word count: 1328.

nashville pix 2

One of the views from inside the hotel.

nashville pix

Our Director, Mr. Ziegler, calling our choreographer Damon Brown to tell him the news that we won. He held the phone out to us, we screamed and he said "I think you know how it turned out."

dot dot dot

covered my word count yay

Locker DRAMA

Lately, there has been a lot of drama surrounding religion at my school, with a select group of students duct-taping posters to their lockers with bible verses on them. Not only have I heard over a dozen complaints from friends of mine personally, but a friend of mine had one put on her locker without her permission and wrote a post directed towards the young lady who supports the motion of taping posters to your locker. Personally, I don't really think it's a huge deal when done with permission, but some of the locker tapings occurred on random lockers, making the owner of the locker feel like a victim of some sort of religious rampage. 

(Side note: some people printed out Harry Potter quotes and posted them on their lockers to make fun of the recent bible verses being pasted on lockers.)

In regard for efficiency, I will give my friend’s blog the name of “Blog 1,” while the bible verse girl’s blog will be entitled “Jesus” Let’s begin.

After having a quick look-over of Jesus, I realized that the majority of it was centered around the person themselves – along the lines of “I’m a good human being who sets an even better example. Do what I do in life.” As you read through her posts on the blog, you realize bible verses threaded in here and there in the posts. If the owner of Jesus ever reads this, let me tell you – people don’t appreciate religion being stuffed down their throats, and neither does my friend, who owns Blog 1. I don’t think I need to stick up for her, though – she’s done that to a great extent through her own words.

Now let me inform you of something else. The constant quotations from the bible and references to religion get in the way of your credibility. A lot… No joke. People will see the constant quotations from the bible as  you having a skewed perception of reality – not a God-inspired stroke of genius. So there’s your credibility down the drain. And in blogging, you have three essentials:

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

You've kinda already lost #1. I’m about to explain to you why you’re going to lose #2. Content quality on a blog is simply that – the quality of the content you produce. I understand that this blog is meant for the use of a class, but the issue is that you’re using it in other ways. That’s completely fine with the rest of society, as long as you do not incorporate content that would otherwise bash someone’s happiness or pride. There are no laws that say you can’t have an opinion about someone or blog about how wrong their choices are. You can feel free to do that. All I’m saying is that, in order to better your reputation as a blogger (and a human being), you might want to have a little decency and not bash people for doing what makes them happy. After all, we were taught in Sunday school to love all people equally, regardless of their choices in life, or how they look, or act? You’ve successfully contradicted yourself. Hypocrisy is a big minus when it comes to saying something intelligent.

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

I think most would agree, through the above evidence, that your blog has a very biased morale, and a relatively self-centered attitude.

- Credibility

- Content Quality

- Morale/Attitude

#YOLO

Recently on twitter I've seen lots of people using the hashtag #yolo. It means "you only life once". Yolo isn't a celebrity quote or supporting any campaign, its simply an inspirational tag. The phrase is meant to encourage people to step outside what they normally do and try something new, because you only have one life and you should try new things etc. etc. etc. When I google searched the phrase, I found diverse examples of #yolo
Sometimes, it's used in a joking way, like the twitter account @yolojokes, which describes ridiculous situations and then ends with #yolo. I think yolo jokes are funny, kind of. Its not exactly what the phrase is supposed to be but more of a weird twist on it. I see a lot of people my age retweet these.
Por examplo:

One of the weirdest things I found when I searched google was "YOLO Restaurant - You Only Live Once". I didn't believe that someone opened up a restaurant called that. The tagline "you only live once" for a restaurant is actually kind of appealing, I could imagine a restaurant with lots of diverse weird options for you to try because... well... you only live once.
I took the phrase and applied it to my own life last night. It was storming, pretty badly. I was in my room listening to the rain and thought about how nice it would be to be out there and just run around in the storm. I immediately laughed off the idea because going out in the storm is something that people just don't do. Then I thought, that's what #yolo is all about, doing the thing that you wouldn't normally do for the sake of experience. I put on some slick sweatpants and an old sweatshirt and walked outside in the rain. It was bad and within a matter of seconds I was immediately soaked, but it was fun. The weather outside is so warm that I wasn't frozen, I felt refreshed. In fact, it was weirdly magical. I kind of made the connection between my spontaneous decision to go outside in the pouring rain and an insane person. It kind of seems like schizophrenic activity, but I promise I'm just trying to live in the moment. #YOLO.

March Madness according to my 9-year old brother

My 9 year old brother, Cole, knows a lot about basketball. I come from a family that is basically basketball 24/7. My dad played for Kennedy in 1984 when they won state, he started every single game. He got a lot of scholarships and could've played for Iowa, but chose the University of Illinois. After playing basketball for a year there, he decided he wanted to go to Coe College and played basketball and football simultaneously. Now he's an assistant coach for Kennedy's mens basketball team. So basketball is basically his life. I played a lot of basketball when I was younger but never really kept going with it. My Dad has influenced my brother a lot. I'm really proud of my brother because he's really very smart. He uses a lot of his knowledge for sports statistics and playing in general. Last year my brother entered his bracket into my Mom's office tournament and won the entire thing, beating out 200+ adults. He won $150 by predicting the final four and the overall champion. So I decided to ask him about a couple games. The following is my attempt to capture his rambling as best as possible.


North Carolina vs Creighton

"North Carolina, easily. They're my favorite team. Harrison Barnes will do the job for North Carolina on offense and John Henson will do the job for North Carolina on defense, they're the best players. Doug McDermott is Creighton's best player because he plays the post really well. He... umm... gets really big and scores... he does this power dribble and he scores! North Carolina has better uniforms because they're blue camouflage but that's only like one of their five uniforms. John Henson from North Carolina will do sweet dunks and if you're asking about 3 point shots.... Reggie Bullock when he gets the ball he isn't afraid to shoot it. Creighton could only win if Harrison Barnes gets hurt."

Kentucky vs Indiana


"Oh wow Kentucky is gonna beat 'em by like 500 points. They have Anthony Davis and he's gonna block all the shots and the point guard Miller is going to get every 3 pointer he shoots. Indiana is a good team but they just can't beat Kentucky. Nobody but North Carolina could beat Kentucky. Kentucky has sweet uniforms solid royal blue with white numbers! I only kinda like Indiana's uniforms but they look saggy. Jordan Holes is Indiana's best player because of his ball handling. Cody Zeller is a really good post because he rebounds really good, his brother is Tyler Zeller and he plays for North Carolina. Kentucky has an advantage because they're a little closer to Louisville.


He got bored and distracted after that and walked away.

Documenting my attempts to cure my sore throat.

This whole week, the lining of the inside of my throat has slowly been disintegrating. Or, at least, that's what it feels like. It's an absolutely awful feeling, I could best describe it as if someone took a knife, plunged it into your throat, carved off the first five layer of skin until it bleeds, takes the knife out, replaces it with sandpaper, and rubs all over where your throat touches together when you swallow. Basically I am in constant pain and when I swallow I feel like a part of me just died. Unfortunately, my body's natural reaction is to swallow constantly. I looked this up; your brain things a foreign object or infection is in your throat so it keeps swallowing to make the saliva cover it and protect the area. This has to be wrong because it hurts so very bad. On top of this constant pain, I have to sing a lot. I have two choir classes every day on top of voice lessons. So I was slowly killing myself. Saturday we had a show choir competition in Lacrosse and I didn't speak once until we performed. We won, so I guess that's what you call sacrifice. Currently, my ability to make sound is at a zero. I need something to cure myself.

google images never lets me down. 

9 am Sunday Morning. I wake up, still in a lot of pain. My first idea is to go to the medicine cabinet and see what I can do to fix myself. I see towards the back of the cabinet the words "cold & sore throat relief". I grab the bottle excitedly and down a lot of it. Normally I would be grossed out with what I assumed was cough medicine but the upside to having such a constant pain is that you don't really notice the taste of anything. I looked at the bottle to see exactly what it was. NYQUIL. Oh god no. If you don't know already, nyquil is basically a drug of its own. I've seen lots of things on the news about kids abusing nyquil and cough syrup because enough can make you have some hallucinations. I just drank about 3/4 of a bottle in desperation. I went and sat on the couch and waited for it to hit me. About 15 minutes later nothing had happened. Maybe 3/4 of a bottle isn't really that much. I laughed it off. I looked from the door to the tv and noticed my vision wasn't really working normally. I closed my eyes for what I thought would be a second to make it stop.


12 pm. I wake up very confused. With a sore throat.

I hate nyquil.

"Gorgeous Weather"

Are you feeling happier than usual? Does everything seem more carefree recently? You aren't alone, most people this time of year do too. Why exactly, is this happening? It just might by the weather. There are many different explanations to how weather effects our mood.
One such example is Seasonal Affective Disorder (also known as SAD). This usually relates to people who experience normal moods during the year and slip into mild bouts of depression in the winter. This disorder was first considered a myth until studies found that while 1.4% of people in the state of Florida report depression during the winter, over 9% of people in New Hampshire and other northern states report depression specifically during the winter. I know that while I don't get legitimately depressed when it's colder, it does effect my mood to some degree. When it's cold, people usually are focused on getting warm, making every other task they have to focus on very frustrating. Seasonal Affective Disorder establishes a link between weather and mood. I decided to write about this because the recent beautiful weather has really had a profound affect on me.

I googled "gorgeous weather" (I heard Joe Winters use that phrase) and this is what I got. How lame am  I?

This Sunday, when I usually dread doing the bulk of my homework, I flew through my assignments early in the  afternoon and had the rest of the day to relax, as Sunday should be. I was confused, I usually don't have that kind of motivation and have to force myself to get the work done. Then I noticed that I wasn't constantly cold. In fact, it was beautiful enough to go outside without a coat or jacket. I've always associated the spring and summer with great times, and I was starting to feel nostalgic. Weather really can affect mood.
I think when I'm older, I'll move somewhere warm so my productivity is always very high.

Brooms standing by themselves: physics or witchcraft?

A common trend I've been seeing on the internet is lots of pictures of brooms standing up by themselves. At first I thought it was just a trick; that people would hold the broom up and get a picture of it in the air. I was confused as to why people would think this is cool. But then I saw a comment explaining exactly what it is: that some sort of planetary alignment. I tried for quite a while to see if I could get it, but the broom kept falling over. After I did a little research (which for this generation means searching on google) I read that only a broom with a flat bottom will stand, and that is only at certain times of the day.

not my kitchen, just a random google picture. gotta site your sources yo.

UPDATE: In the middle of writing this post I tried to stand up a broom again. It worked. The broom seemed lifeless, then I felt a little kick when I let it go and it stayed stationary for a long time. When I walked to close to it, it fell over. Apparently, the brooms standing up by themselves have something to do with luck and finding the center of gravity, and less to do with "planetary alignment". Using planetary alignment as an explanation for something just makes you sounds like a crazy person.




PS I changed my background and color scheme.
More springtime-ish. I mean, its brighter.

#KONY2012

The most popular hashtag on twitter for the past couple days has been #KONY2012. What exactly does that mean? I overheard a girl in the hallway the other day

"Wait.. so who is that Kony guy? Is he...ummm....likeeeee... running for president?"

No. Joseph Kony isn't a candidate for the 2012 election. Kony 2012 is a campaign calling for his arrest, however. The goal of the project is to make Kony famous, because he is currently unknown.
This is the video that has been becoming immensely popular in the past week. It currently has over 32 million views, when I first watched it on Sunday it only had about 100,000.
hi

The campaign is organized by Invisible Children inc, which began working in Uganda to help children effected by the war there. "Invisible Children" are the victims of the war and the LRA, a violent rebel group in Central Africa (led by Joseph Kony). Children are taken from their homes, given guns and forced to kill their parents by the troops to sever their ties to home and make them into hardened soldiers. Currently, the LRA has abducted 30,000 children from Uganda. Children that escape live in constant fear that they will be killed if they encounter the LRA again. The film is the starting point to the campaign, which has been spread like wildfire and brought unbelievable attention to it. This is really a great example of the kind of power social media sites like twitter and facebook have over the world. A project like this could never be as successful without help from the internet.
Invisible Children, inc has gotten some scrutiny, though. Its hard to argue against an organization trying to stop child suffering in a third world country. I don't really understand why someone would try to keep people from supporting something like this, other than a need to be on the other side of the issue. I saw a youtube comment when I first watched the Kony 2012 video:

"Kony 2012 is run by Invisible Children, an organization that pockets 75% of its donations. Think this money is going to stop Kony?? You're WRONG. Let's just hope that instead of donating to Invisible Children, people raise awareness on their own." -BIGBenY

Invisible Children, inc, responded to these criticisms (I've seen many elsewhere questioning how much of their profits go to the actual cause) on their tumblr. They published a detailed account of their spending report and outlined exactly how their money is going to each individual cause.

I respect the organization because of their honesty and immediate response to anyone who questions them. They want to maintain their reputation because they believe in the cause so strongly. I chose to support the cause by purchasing a bracelet from their website.

Kennedy is having a night where KONY 2012 posters will be posted all over Cedar Rapids. On Friday, April 20th, we will cover the entire town with posters promoting the campaign.

The importance of napping.

When we were all in preschool, naps were part of our daily schedule. For me, nap time was a little after recess to calm us down. I haven't really noticed it until now, but I hardly ever felt tired back then. My bedtime was always 8:30, but I usually stayed awake long after that. Now, I get to bed as early as possible because I'll start fading out around 9:30. Why cant I stay awake at night? In the world of unending assignments and late night practices, my time after 9:00 is invaluable, but not useful. I've had to resort to getting all my work done between right after school and whenever my practice starts, which is not a large window. Once practice is over, I drop everything at my door and pass out. I wake up every morning at 5:30 so I can get ready properly for 0 hour, but it isn't easy. I'm usually miserably tired during the school day, which doesn't make it easy. I've tried coffee, but it isn't going to fix the problem. There needs to be a solution. 

Naps. The answer is naps. I discovered this one day after school where I was literally so exhausted I needed to take a nap right after I got home from school. I told myself I would just have to suck it up and do my homework later that night, for the sake of my mental health. 

3:03 pm. Pass out on my couch.

5:47 pm. Wake up. I'm confused and a little dizzy, but after that wears off I realize I feel like its about 12 in the afternoon. This is amazing! I hadn't taken a nap in so long, I forgot how useful they are. I went to practice that night and returned home with plenty of energy to do my homework competently. Magic!

Why does this work so well? When we go to sleep at night, the deep sleep we enter that helps us rejuvenate is known as REM sleep. We get a couple solid hours of it at night, and mine is abruptly interrupted every morning at 5:29 (I set all of my alarms 1 minute before the regular time I would wake up. I don't really know why.) That's why its so hard to get up; you've been jolted out of REM sleep. When you take a nap (not a traditional 10 minute snooze, I'm talking over an hour) you get some valuable REM sleep that energizes you enough to make it through the rest of the day. There's a reason we often sleep when we're sick: its a lot easier for you body to heal itself when you are asleep then awake. A nap today can help you tomorrow, too. Because you wont be tired when you go to bed, you wont feel robbed of sleep when you wake up. I noticed immediately it is much easier to get up at the dreaded time of 5:29 am when you snuck in an extra hour and a half of sleep less than 12 hours before. 

Getting enough rest is crucial to your physical and mental health, so a nap might be just what you need to feel better.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

What is the first thing you think of when someone says Abraham Lincoln? The hat? The civil war? America? Log cabins? How about vampires? It sounds ridiculous, but that's the title for a new movie coming out in 2012, about Abraham Lincoln trying to save the United States from vampires.

I was initially suspicious of this idea for a movie. Something about it just seems... preposterous. (I like that word). We all know Abraham Lincoln didn't hunt vampires, and it seemed at first this would just be a cheap movie designed to entertain a not-so-bright crowd. Then I saw it was directed by Tim Burton, and it got my hopes up. I'm secretly a big geek for Tim Burton movies, the animated ones included. This film is supposed to be a hero by day- superhero by night type of film, following Abraham Lincoln as the runs for president and battles a political group of vampires trying to gain control of the White House. This film features an axe wielding Lincoln chopping up vampires (get it.....because he was born in a log cabin) and apparently quite a bit of danger involved. It looks good enough to watch like a scary movie as well as an action movie, and I'm sure will be very popular in the sci-fi community. My Dad, who really likes history, didn't like the idea. He said it was an abomination of American History. Any Tim Burton vampire movie is sure not to dissapoint. The title is kind of lame and stereotypical, and might turn off some people like it make me feel. Not much is known about this movie yet, only a trailer and some stills have been released, but I've been eagerly digging trying to find more.

This Borrowed Earth makes me scared to live by Duane Arnold

This Borrowed Earth is about man-made environmental disasters. The book is broken up into segments, each is about a specific environmental distaster from the past 60 years. Each of these segment describes live in the area before, the events that lead up to the disaster, the disaster itself and then a look at the long term effects of the disaster. The messege that This Borrowed Earth tries to deliver is that if we are not careful, we can do a lot of damage to our earth.
The kind of damage that can come from these disasters is horrific. The nuclear incident at Chernobyl, Ukraine didn't kill right away: it released deadly radiation into the atmosphere that is still around today. Those in the town of Chernobyl, Ukraine developed cancers and their children are genetically predisposed to thyroid problems. In 1986, millions of gallons of toxic chemicals were accidentally dumped into the Rhine River, all because of human error. This book really helps illustrate how we can harm our environment so easily through in-depth examples.
The fact that most of the incidents occured by simple errors at factories really made me think.
Factories that produce harmful chemicals and toxic residue are more common than you would think. The incident at Seveso, Italy involved a shut down in the reactor of the ICESMA factory. The factory produced hexachlorophene, a multi-purpose chemical with a lot of potential dangers. The reactor shutting down caused an explosion, releasing a toxic cloud causing blindness and killing animals. Similar incidents occured at plants like at Times Beach, Love Canal New York, and Bhopal India.
A disaster like this could happen at any moment. People had no way of knowing something would go wrong with this machinery. In Cedar Rapids, we live near a nuclear power plant. If that plant were to have a meltdown like what occured at Three Mile Island or in Chernobyl, we would be at an enourmous risk. This book shows that errors like this could happen at any moment.
This book truely showed me how capabile humans are of destruction of the planet, and that when people say we are destroying our earth, it isn't an exxageration. The in-depth description of environmental disasters paints a picture of how we are slowly destroying our home, and when things go wrong, large scare disasters create widespread misery. This Borrowed Earth showed the relationship between environmental degredation and the government. In Minimata, Japan, the government and Chisso Chemical Company refused to acknowledge that the mercury poisonings of villagers was the result of chemical runoff into the water. The poor villagers lost their livelyhood (poisoned rivers yielded no fish) and couldn't recieve compensation from the government until a 20 year battle and secretive research got the victims the help they needed. In Chernobyl, the Soviet Union remained silent after the nuclear incident. As a cloud of radiation spread all over Europe, they didn't find out until it was too late; many crops had been spoiled and people became sick. This book helped me understand that care of the enivronment is partially business and humans working to stop the destruction of our home.

Ben Ravencroft from Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost totally looks like Dr. Ayers

Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost was my second favorite Scooby-Doo movie when I was little (my favorite being Scooby Doo on Zombie Island). The basic story is that Scooby-Doo and the gang travel to cute a New England town called Oakhaven after being invited by Velma's favorite horror writer: Ben Ravencroft. They find that the town has been turned into a tourist attraction by the mayor and exploits the towns history of witch trials to sell merchandise. Ravencroft's ancestor, Sarah Ravencroft, was an accused witch and the townspeople claim that Oakhaven is haunted by her ghost. Ben Ravencroft wants the gang to find her diary to prove that she was not a witch, just a spiritual healer. After a bunch of wacky antics, chase scenes, and grotesque amounts of food eaten the gang finally comes across the diary. Little do they know, it is actually a spell book and she really was a witch. Also Ben Ravencroft knew all along, but apparently required the help of a ragtag team of mystery solvers to find a book that had been in the town the entire time. Seriously, that kind of was unneccessary. Ravencroft is supposed to be an intelligent novelist who has spend quite some time on the history of the town, but he can't seem to find one book accidentally stumbled upon by a dog. Anyway, Ravencroft apparently recieves magical powers when in posession of the book and starts to laugh manically while shooting beams of magic at Scooby and making objects come to life. In the end the gang is able to save the day and all is well.

Oh, and Ben Ravencroft is basically Dr. Ayers.

this one too

and leon trotsky

"Can't you just take a boat?"

People are stupid. To be more specific, Americans tend to be pretty stupid. To be even more specific, Americans are very stupid in the category of geography. I was talking to an ADULT who is a friend of my family. We were making very brief small talk, and she asked me about what I was going to do this summer. I told her I might go to Alaska for the first time because I have some extended family out there, and Alaska is a really cool place. 

"Ohh wow that sounds cool how are you going to get there?" she said, obviously with fake enthusiasm.

"Well, I'll probably end up driving there. Through Canada. It'll be kind of a hassle getting a passport and the trip itself will be boring. I'll have to drive for like... six days through the woods."

"You know what you should do?" she literally flipped her hair and popped her gum. This woman is a walking stereotype. "You should take a boat from California to Alaska."

"Well, I've never thought of that. I guess that could be cool, like a cruise ship for a couple days and then go to Alaska."

"No no no, it wouldn't take a couple days. You could just take a ferry or something and get there in a couple hours." 

I was really confused. At this point I just had no idea what she meant.

"I think taking a boat from California isn't that much faster than driving through Canada..."

"Well haven't you seen on maps how Alaska and California are like... right next to each other? I've always wondered... Hawaii and California are hot, but Alaska is south of  them and its cold there? How does that work? Is is something like global warming or global cooling?"

At this point I just stared at her.

For a while. This woman is in her mid thirties, and has a license to sell real-estate, but for some reason thinks that the states of Alaska, California and Hawaii are right next to each other. Then I remembered how she might think this. 

On maps of the United States, Alaska and Hawaii are put where Mexico is because they are both very far away and can't be shown in relation to the rest of the map without a lot of awkward extra space. Everyone knows this. Or so I thought. But this woman seriously thought that I could go to California and take a boat across that small space by Alaska on the map. Seriously, this is why other countries laugh at us. Because lots of people are terrible at geography.

The Grey

I say this every time but hey look its the trailer for The Grey

This movie was awesome. Usually when I come to write a review I'm disappointed. The Grey was really great though! Its about an Alaskan oil drilling team who's helicopter crashes in the middle of the frozen wilderness. The main character, played by Liam Neeson was hired to protect the facility from wolves and takes charge while everyone else freaks out. They soon discover a pack of wolves is circling them. I never really thought about it before, but wolves are really scary. This situation terrifies me. Watching this movie, you're always on the edge of your seat, wondering if a wolf will lunge out of nowhere and rip into one of the main characters. There are so many things that make The Grey a great movie, but the tension is what I  remember. I literally couldn't relax the whole movie. Few movies can duplicate the sheer amount of tension and suspense this survival movie offers.

Spoiler alert: everyone dies a bloody, brutal, wolf-related death. In most survival films, characters are killed off and there is a major lack of emotional impact. This is not the case in The Grey, however, as I found myself caring about the characters more and more as the movie went on. The characters arent the usual stereotypes that everyone hopes will get killed off soon enough. On top of it all, Liam Neeson is such a badass.

Phone Charging Stations

Have you ever been out in public and you realize (often too late) that your phone is about to die? Usually when this happens to me, its only when I really need it the most. This is becoming a more common problem for lots of people. Cell phones are becoming more advanced: bigger, more detailed screens and more data capabilities like WiFi and 3G use along with gaming and other "apps". While this is progress, battery technology is far behind. Batteries are not as capable as phones demand. To use my smartphone all day (I have a HTC Hero 2) I need to charge it at least twice. Lots of people have this problem and usually have to resort to using their phone only when necessary. There's a new technology breakthrough that soon fix this problem when you're on the go.

It's called an ACM (automated charging machine). The thing about it that I found hilarious is the guy next to it.
In this CNN article he is referred to as an entrepreneur, but really all he did was get the rights to selling it in America from a Chinese company that had already done all of the real work in inventing. I was skeptical when I first opened it up "there's no was that douche-y looking guy actually invented something."
He got the idea when his phone died on his way to the airport and noticed that he had his roommate's only house key in his pocket. If he didn't call her to arrange a return, she would be locked out all weekend. Without his phone, he didn't know her number. He wound up driving back to his house to leave the key under the mat and missed his flight. On his return, he drove past a number of ATMs and convenience stores. That's when the idea struck him: You get cash anywhere. Why can't you charge your phone anywhere? He later on went to contact that Chinese company that had previously invented it and gained exclusive rights to sell the system to many locations in the U.S. Stupid people with a little motivation get rich sometimes.

I've seen this technology before at an airport, but it seemed to be kind of flawed. The ACM back then didn't charge your phone any faster than a regular charger, so at most maybe you would get 30 minutes of charge (which doesn't really equal much to some phones). Also, the system was set up that you would leave your phone, unattended, in a locked box next to a bunch of other unattended phones in a semi-metal case. No guard, just a key. In an international airport. I saw this charging station when my phone had died, but I opted out because I wanted to protect my belongings. The modern ACM charges at a quicker speed, but this does some harm to to battery when it is suddenly flooded with too much energy. Again, battery technology is falling behind.

My weird experience in Lava.

So last week, a new restaurant in Cedar Rapids opened up: Lava. It claims to be a latin-asian fusion restaurant. It's owned by the same people as Cibo, who happen to be my neighbors. I know exactly what every room in the restaurant looks like, but I've never eaten there.

Last Sunday, I thought maybe I could get an application there to be a host because they advertised that they were hiring. I drove over and pulled into the parking lot. No one was there, which I found to be a bit peculiar, because it was around 10:30 on a Sunday morning, just enough before lunchtime that some staff should be around. I awkwardly walked up to the door, assuming I would pull the handle, it would be locked, and then I could just turn around and go home without anyone seeing me. The door opened, though. I slowly stepped in and saw that it was dark aside from the light let in from all of the windows. Asking for applications is always awkward, I dreaded doing this. In my head I wanted to just turn around and go home, but my feet kept walking. I was relieved to see that no one was at the front counter and not within sight. I stood a few feet from the counter for about thirty seconds, but no one came to the front. Maybe I just wasn't heard walking in, so they were all in the back. Its a new restaurant: there's lots of work to be done. I let out a cliche impatient cough hoping that would cue someone to come and greet me. Silence. You could hear the cars driving by outside in the distance. It was time to step out of my comfort zone: "....Hello?" Still nothing. I tried again, but louder. "HELLO?" Not a soul heard me. I realized I was alone in an unlocked restaurant.
When I was younger, I often found myself wandering off and exploring. My favorite thing to explore were schools because of the unlimited corridors and staircases that could be. I've never really had a fear of getting lost or being by myself. I would just dart off with the goal of mapping out the school. I wouldn't say that I was weird, just adventurous.
So naturally, my first instinct was to walk around the restaurant. I walked alongside the bar and the small adjacent booths. It kind of looked like a rip-off of old jazz clubs. Lava is the kind of place my mom and her friends would probably hang out. The rest of the restaurant was just tables and was explored from one glance. I walked into the empty kitchen. The restaurant had only been open one night before so it was in very clean shape. The kitchen looked exactly like you would expect it: stainless steel everywhere and lots and lots of cooktops. I noticed that there wasn't a shortage of knives, which made me instantly paranoid that there would be a serial killer lurking in the building with me. I quickly ditched, but on the way out saw I cup full of pens and took one. I needed a memento of this weird event.

The Woman in Black

You've probably seen the trailer for this sometime over the past couple weeks. Its the trailer for Daniel Radcliffe's new movie, The Woman in Black.

It looks really good from the trailer. You get lots of eerie images, like a carriage driving past a grave and at the very end, a ghostly face appearing right behind Daniel Radcliffe. The Woman in Black has lots of your basic elements of horror: a scary old house, creepy children, old warped photographs, the fear of being alone in the dark and black, shadowy figures. It sounds like a recipe for a perfect horror movie. The Woman in Black is actually based off of a 1986 version of the same movie. I watched the old version, and even though the acting wasn't great and the effects were on a budget, it gave me a better impression. There was more plot involved in the 1986 version. Radcliffe's character is supposed to be a very innocent young man who is slowly driven insane in the house and we as the audience get to watch his drop into insanity. There are more aspects to the background of exactly who the woman in black is explained in the original that would have made this version better. Because of my previous knowledge of the story, I thought this movie abruptly ended. Often, movie makers think that just showing a scary face is enough to scare the audience, but there's an art form to it. There needs to be an element of mystery, because most fear comes from not knowing. The remake tried to do this, but it ended up being a movie where you get to watch Daniel Radcliffe walk around for about five minutes following the sound of a noise until FINALLY something happens. It kind of bothered me that such a popular actor didn't really need to act in this movie. I like it when you can tell the actor has been challenged by a role and that's when their talent comes out. Daniel Radcliffe has the potential to be a great actor, but only if he eventually takes roles that take him farther than walking around, looking frustrated or scared (basically all of the last 3 Harry Potter Movies.)

The premise and plot could've made made this movie a ten, but throughout the movie there were dull spots. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride of quality. The only thing about the ending I will say is that it came too soon, there could've easily been more story line added. The Woman in Black wasn't very long, there was definitely room for more horror. Overall, this movie will make you scared, but when its all said and done you will feel dissapointed.