Category Archives: Columns

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Modern music lacks talent

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By Paige Thompson

Back in the 1960’s and 70’s, it took a lot to get into the music industry. It used to be that people would look for talent and originality in the bands and musicians they would sign. The classic rock ‘n roll music we know today was the only music teens our age would listen to. But anyone can break into the business these days.

Take American Idol for example, the contestants in previous seasons have not even had to win to get a record deal. Some of the castoffs have been more successful than the actual season winner before. Has the music industry become desperate?

Music companies are looking for anyone that people will listen to on the radio. They can be just the normal person, with an average voice, who doesn’t write their own music, and people will fall in love with their music because of their “story,” and how they are just “your average Joe.” That is all fine and dandy, but now they just want to sell something instead of caring about how their artists actually sound.

But what ever happened to talent? There are a great deal of talented musicians and bands out there, but I am talking about the radio. Our radio stations like 99.7 and 98.9 play all of the music many people listen to. Ke$ha, for example, writes a lot of her own music, and I do like that,  but does that really matter if she can’t sing? All Ke$ha is a girl in a trash bag, prancing around the stage, talking in weird voices. She never even sounds like she is singing.  I thought that a musician had to be able to sing.

The music industry has changed drastically. I know I was not alive, or even a thought, in the 60’s and 70’s, so what do I know about the music industry then? Well I have heard a lot from my dad, who was there, and I listen to a great deal of classic rock. The industry wasn’t commercialized back then like it is today. You would pay a whopping fifteen dollars for a concert ticket, and t-shirts would not be the thirty-five dollars you see at concerts today.

Today everything is materialistic with music. In the 70’s, there were not Led Zeppelin barbie dolls or huge televised competitions to find the “next great artist.”  Music was just music, and the industry was not full of commercialization like it is now. The way the music industry is now just goes to show just how much it has changed. I love the music I listen to so much because it isn’t commercialized. I like not hearing about it every day on TV or the radio, and I like not going to Target and seeing my favorite band plastered all over t-shirts and magazines. 

I find it hard to be able to like someone so much, for such a long time when everyone else does and when they play that person’s music all the time. I avoid the radio as often as I can because I am afraid that if I do, I will hear Lady Gaga too much and I will not like her anymore. Sure, Lady Gaga can be commercialized as well, but at least she is talented. She has the ability to write good pop songs, she went to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU at age seventeen, and learned piano by ear at age four. 

The music from the 50’s-80’s was so great because most of the bands and musicians were talented back then. They did not seem like they were concerned with being super famous or rich. But while there is still going to be commercialized music in the music world, I can only hope this dies down and the days of future music become more like the days of past music.

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Just go with it

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 By Anna Boone

Throughout my life, I have developed one motto that seems to work for me best: Do not over-think it.

I can completely overanalyze my situations until it causes me physical and mental anguish happened not too long ago. Just like any other morning, I was up before the sun and contentedly munching away on my Bite-Sized Frosted Wheaties when I heard a cat yowl outside the window. I put down my spoon and began to think.

I cannot remember adults saying in grade school that I had an overactive imagination, because I was never too good at imagining different worlds or making up strange creatures in my head. I was, however, amazing at making up possibilities that could actually happen. These possibilities can occasionally help me because they give me a very insightful look on what I believe the outcomes of my choices will be. Usually, however, I just begin picturing the very worst thing that could happen. So although I wasn’t scared when I first heard the cat, I soon was frightened after I convinced myself an ex-convict was outside slowly cutting off its tail.

I jumped back from the table, let out a huge, ear-splitting shriek, and ran, sobbing uncontrollably, down the hallway. I busted down my parents’ doorway and on my way in slammed my hip into their dresser. I collapsed on the floor and just bawled. While my parents tried to make sense of the overly-emotional mess in their room, the rational part of my brain tried to make sense of how I could completely overreact to something that hadn’t even scared me originally.

Just like the huge purple bruise on my side, the lesson I learned from that particular incident didn’t fade for some time. Whenever I found it difficult to believe that I managed to convince myself of those crazy delusions all I had to do was poke my right hip and the throbbing would remind me that I certainly did believe it a little too well.

This is not the only incident where I have over-thought the situation, although, thankfully, it is the most extreme case. I am a very talkative person and this caused quite a few notes to be sent home with me in grade school. If I was lucky the note would come at the end of the day so I couldn’t sit in my seat and picture the reactions of my parents. If I wasn’t so lucky, then I would spend the whole day wondering how much time they would give me to pack before they kicked me out the door. Of course this never happened, but no matter how unreasonable my scenarios became I still would spend my schoolday bent over with the heavy feeling of guilt in my stomach.

Eventually I realized no matter what I did, things had a way of working themselves out. There was no point in imagining tons of different realities when none of them would even matter or could have affected my breakfast that fateful morning. Even if I had talked all the time the teacher was talking, there was nothing I could now do that would change the piece of paper demanding my parents’ signature I was now carrying in my bookbag.

Sometimes I still get caught up in the moment and begin thinking way too hard. I have to remind myself just to take a deep breath and slow down. Whenever my mind starts racing ahead thinking of the worst, I just close my eyes and force myself to think of the good too. I cannot change the outcomes. I can only forgive myself, remember the lesson that life has given me, and keep on moving forward with a positive outlook and bruise-free body.

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New year, new music

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New year, new music

By Paige Thompson

With the end of a year comes the beginning of another and I tend to start it by finding new music.  One group, recently introduced to me by my sister, is The Like: An all-girl alternative band from Los Angeles. They put a lot of personality into their music and have a modern look and sound that makes them different from any other all-girl band out there.
 
Analternative/folk group from England, Noah and The Whale is also a new band to me.  I had put some of their music on my iPod a few months back, but did not really listen to them much because I was stuck on other music. But last month I listened to their album “The First Days of Spring,” a concept album written about singer/songwriter Laura Marling.  It also has a film to accompany it, written and directed by the groups singer and guitarist Charlie Fink.
 
I have been listening to a lot of older music as well, and I have had Joni Mitchell’s “Blue” album on repeat for weeks now. “Blue” is my personal favorite. She has such an interesting voice and she is a timeless artist. Her lyrics are deep and they really speak to you. This album, and most of Mitchell’s songs, can really get me through nearly any situation.
 
Finding new music is one of my hobbies. When I want new music to listen to, I use a variety of sources such as family and friends, Facebook, and Paste Magazine to name a few. One way that is helpful to find new music is by browsing my iPod. Occasionally, I find music that I forgot I had, or never got a chance to listen to. I find that listening to the soundtrack of some of my favorite movies can lead me to new artists. Another great way is to share with friends. I love to have my friends make me mix CD’s of their favorite music, especially if we have similar taste in music because there will be a greater chance they will introduce me to a great new artist in a genre that I love.
 
I try to branch out and try new music. Lately, I have been enjoying artists like Kanye West, who’s latest album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy,” is one of my favorite albums of 2010. Though I am not always the biggest fan of hip-hop/rap music, West’s album is different. It features different artists, such as Bon Iver, Nicki Minaj, and Kid Cudi, and it tells a story through the music video for “Runaway,” in which West uses bits of every song on the album throughout the video.
 
I anticipate a great year for music. A new year means a fresh start. This also gives many artists another chance to redeem themselves. In 2010, Katy Perry redeemed herself for me with her new album. I hated her last album. It was repetitive and all of her songs sounded the same to me. But her new CD, “Teenage Dream” has caught my attention a little with catchy tunes like “Teenage Dream” and “Firework.” Both of these songs are definitely guilty pleasures.Though I do not tend to like much pop music, I do like it when a pop artist can make a solid good pop album like both of Lady Gaga’s albums “The Fame,” “The Fame Monster,” and Perry’s album “Teenage Dream.” 
 
Along with the start of 2011, artists are going to be releasing new tracks and albums. Recently, The Decemberists have released their new album “The King is Dead,” and I am still listening to it, trying to see how much I like it. It will be hard for them to top “The Hazards of Love” CD.
 
Albums that I am looking forward to are Devotchka’s “100 Lovers,” Adele’s “21,” and new material by Fiona Apple, Fleet Foxes, Franz Ferdinand, Lady Gaga, and many more. Hopefully 2011 is going to be a great year for music.
 
In 2011, I plan on discovering even more music than I usually do. I love the idea of having another whole year ahead to find new music and listen to awesome new releases from artists that I already love.

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Tools to a strong mind

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Jon Ferguson

Co Editor-in-chief

The social atmosphere of our world today requires us to compete with one another

on several bases. This biggest battle between us, though, is the battle of our intellects. This

competition, though it is never won and no victory has even been achievable, has been waged for

as long as man has had a cognitive mind. Although the ultimate victory, intelligence, has never

been granted, now more than ever this victory is possible.

In the past, we tried to outsmart others by reading more novels. Novels were thought to

make man create the images he cannot see in his mind and involve him in the plot of the story.

For centuries novels were the main tool for learning. To this day, most think novels are the best

way to expand the mind. This simply isn’t true. The man who reads novels incessantly will

eventually develop several problems with his mind, leading less cognitive reflexes than others.

First of all, the man who reads a novel is submissive. He fills his mind with the ideas of

someone else. He has no choice in characters, plot, events, or climate of the story at all. To see a

different world, he does not make up his own but sees someone else’s created world. He has no

creative thought process throughout the course of the story. By virtue of reading someone else’s

novel, he has already lost the battle for outsmarting them.

In contrast, today’s world has the greatest tool for the intellectual race: the virtual video

game. In a video game, man is free to choose what he wants. He can choose the world around

him, the characters that accompany him, and he controls the plot instead of submissively giving

in to one.

Since a man has control of the actions of the main character, he has complete control of

the story itself. In a novel, it would read “Alex knew he could not take the monster face to face,

so he crept to the back of the building where the hidden ladder was located. He climbed the

Jon Ferguson

ladder and killed the beast from behind.” The reader has no control over what Alex does in this

instance. Yes they may have to imagine what Alex, the beast, and the ladder look like, but that is

as far as their creative mind goes. They did not have to invent Alex or the Beast, or have to figure

out how to defeat it for themselves.
In a video game, the player would have to do his own investigating to find a secret

ladder, and know that the beast could only be taken down from behind. This causes a lack in

logical reasoning and problem solving in the mind of the book reader.

Along with an investigative mind, the gamer also has another advantage over the reader.

In a video game, part of investigation is always failure. This failure most usually results in virtual

death, which is perfectly fine since he probably has several more lives to spare. Since the gamer

is used to spending lives and taking risks, they are more likely to take chances on different

aspects of their lives, which can usually lead to great intellectual success. Since the mind of a

reader has always been told what to think, it does not know how to comprehend the possibility of

taking a chance. A reader expects life to happen to them instead of them working towards a goal.

This, also, sets the reader behind in the race for intellectual

The simple truth about life is gamers will succeed in intellectuality far beyond the

intellectual capacity of the reader. As time progresses, more advanced video game technology is

becoming available to help prepare man for his competition with the rest of the world. Man must

be aware that without the help of the video game, he has no chance at any type of intelligence,

and therefore no chance at happiness.

Columns, Forum

Ask Alexandra about mens formal wear!

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“When choosing formal wear, what colors are best?”

 -Senior Hunter Hartman

Dear Hunter,

Men’s formal wear can be tricky, but I have a few helpful tips for you. Make sure that your clothes are fitted correctly, a baggy suit or tux could make you seem sloppy or unorganized. Also you should make sure your socks match, and your belt and shoes should match as well for a classy look. Shoes should always be in the best condition possible. Pants should hit right at the ankle, and your socks should never be visible when sitting down. You should be able to sit or cross your legs comfortably while still looking like you have proper fitting attire. If you need someone to help tie your tie, a good friend or family member is great to have around for extra help. A tie is too small if it stops in the middle of your abdomen. YouTube videos are also extremely helpful if you are not sure on how to tie a tie. As far as colors for formal wear go, limit yourself to wearing no more than three colors at a time. The colors in your outfit should be complementary or analogous. Complimentary colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Analogous colors are the colors adjacent to each other. Color wheels can easily be found on the internet. Hopefully that helped!

Your fashionable friend,

Alexandra