Fahrenheit 9/11 By Leo

The documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 is about George.W.Bush during his presidency and war during this time period. This is another documentary by Michael Moore. Like Moore’s other movie “Bowling For Columbine” it is a very well thought out, had great footage of Bush, the actual war in Iraq, and numerous interviews with different types of people. The only negative comment I have on the movie is that it seemed like that when Moore put in a video of President Bush speaking, he would crop out everything that he didn’t want to hear.

I think he would crop Bush short to make him look like more of bad guy then he really is. Bush still a horrible person if what was said in the film is true regarding Bush ignoring his work and papers about terrorists and how he had a relationship with the Bin Laden’s. And how there was no valid reason to be at war in Iraq. Out of these three points, Moore stated through out the documentary, I only truly believe the third point is true. This is because I have a hard time believing that some one, especially the president, would do this to his country. The way Moore presented this information was not convincing enough for me.

I think the most interesting part of the movie was when Moore was outside the Saudi Embassy. I found this most interesting because this foreign nation of Saudi Arabia has an Embassy in the U.S and they own 7% of our currency. This is a huge portion of America’s money, and this is giving the Saudis too much power. Another interesting thing from this part of the film was that the Saudis called the police because Moore was shooting film in front of the building, and police officers actually came. This is shocking to me because now our nation is protecting the Saudi Arabians who are gaining power. This power is gained many ways, through property and oil profits as well as collaboration with the American government.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Review by Charlie

Fahrenheit 9/11 Review

Fahrenheit 9/11, one of the most successful documentaries of all time, is a film that criticizes the Bush Administration with everything they do, but with good reason. Moore makes a great case of why he thinks that Bush is a failed president, and that his actions are dangerous and harmful. Moore shows that the U.S. Government uses tactics to keep their citizens afraid, like raising and lowering the threat levels, telling people they may be targeted using poisoned pens or RC planes.

Bush is characterized throughout the film as someone who wants to please his elite friends and the Saudis, who have given him billions of dollars. Bush also comes off as an unauthentic, inarticulate, simpleton who goes on vacation too much. He also paints him as a person who wants to be like his dad, and someone who associates with the wrong people.

One of the saddest points in the film comes from Lila Lipscomb, a woman who works at a Christian unemployment office in Michael Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. She is introduced early in the film as someone who’s patriotic, and who teaches her kids that joining the military is a good option, as she cannot pay for them to go to college. Later in the film, Moore sees her after her son has been killed in Iraq. She reads her son’s last letter begins to question his and Bush’s involvement in the war. She goes to the Washington, not only for closure but to also show her anger. The saddest part comes when she is crying steps from the White House lawn as she explains the White House is now a place for her to put her anger and sadness, and she puts it towards the government she used to love.

Overall, I’d say this is a great film, one of my favorite documentaries of all time, and my favorite by Moore. I learned many things from this film, the thing that hit me the hardest was when Moore was taking about fear-mongering tactics used by the media and the government.

Bowling for Columbine Review by Lillo

In the movie Bowling for Columbine, Micheal Moore tries to figure out why America’s culture is more violent than many other places including countries Canada, Australia, and Japan. Moore shows this perspective he has of why America is more violent, by accusing the media or news of scaring the American people over small threats including the “Killer Bees” epidemic.

I think this is a great movie because Moore gets his point across that in other places other than America, people are more friendly and less scared of their surrounding environment. In an example from the movie, when Moore travels to Canada, he interviews many Canadians and asks them various questions. One common question he asks all of them is if they lock their door at night. Every single person who answered this question said “no.” When Moore asked the people the reason for this they responded simply because, “we’re not afraid of our neighbors.”

Moore does some field work while in Canada, and tries to open several random house doors. Every door he tries to open is unlocked. One of the doors he opens has a house owner behind it. To Moore’s surprise the owner of the house is not alarmed at Moore opening the door but more friendly than expected, willing to have a conversation with a total stranger.

In the movie some statistics are shown about the number of people killed by guns in different countries.

1. United States - 11,127 (3.601/100,000)
2. Germany – 381 (0.466/100,000)
3. France – 255 (0.389/100,000)
4. Canada – 165 (0.484/100,000)
5. United Kingdom – 68 (0.109/100,000)
6. Australia – 65 (0.292/100,000)
7. Japan – 39 (0.030/100,000)

You can see that the U.S’s death rate from guns exceeds all other countries mentioned by almost 10,000. This shows that the U.S is a more dangerous place than all these other countries, but some countries statistics aren’t shown. Many places are more dangerous than the U.S including Africa, Brazil and Colombia.

Firearm related death rate
1. South Africa - 74.57
2. Colombia - 51.77
3. Brazil - 14.15

United States death rate by firearms is 10.2, as you can see these three countries have a higher death rate by firearms than the U.S. Africa’s death rate is just about 7 times the U.S. This is only 3 of the countries that have higher death rates, there are more places in the world that have higher death rates. To sum it up, Moore does a great job in the way he produces and directs this movie to show the people of all the ways celebrities or politics are totally ignorant towards the common person and only care about themselves and their money. Moore shows this with his interview with Charleston Heston when he asks Heston why he held a rally for the NRA after the Columbine shooting and Heston has no other answer then to walk away from the interview and lock himself in his house.

Bowling For Columbine Review by Charlie

By: Charlie O’Donnell

Bowling for Columbine

by Michael Moore

Bowling For Columbine is a documentary in which Michael Moore examines and tries to explain why there is so much more gun violence in the U.S. than similar countries, why the Columbine massacre happened and why people from the U.S. have so much more fear compared to other countries.

Early in the film, Moore goes to a bank that offers a free gun to those who open a new bank account, Moore gets a rifle soon after, he also learns that the bank has many guns on the premises and that they are a licensed firearms dealer. Moore also looks towards why Americans shoot each other so much, because Canada has a similar ratio of firearms to citizens but they have far less gun violence.

Moore goes on to show that the U.S. has a lot more fear, especially from the news. Moore shows that news stations cover violence and bad things much more than they do with good news. He finds that Canadians are less scared in general, as many have their doors unlocked. He also points out that on the day of the Columbine massacre, the U.S. dropped more bombs on Kosovo than any other day.

Later, Moore takes two victims of the Columbine shootings to buy all the 9mm bullets at a local Kmart and then attempts to “return the bullets,” some still lodged, in their bodies to KMart’s headquarters. A KMart near Littleton is where the shooters bought their ammunition. After going back a few times, KMart agrees to phase out the selling of ammunition within 90 days.

Later, Moore displays the following gun related deaths per year statistics to prove his point: (The statistics next to the actual deaths is deaths per 100,000 thousand)

1. United States - 11,127 (3.601/100,000)
2. Germany – 381 (0.466/100,000)
3. France – 255 (0.389/100,000)
4. Canada – 165 (0.484/100,000)
5. United Kingdom – 68 (0.109/100,000)
6. Australia – 65 (0.292/100,000)
7. Japan – 39 (0.030/100,000)

Overall, I think this is a very thoughtful, well made, and informative film. I already had the opinion that there is a culture of fear in the U.S., but Moore uses very good examples. I think this is a movie that more people should see, especially Americans, because maybe if they did they would realize how much more fearful they are than other countries.

Bowling For Columbine Review by Leo

The documentary called Bowling for Columbine was created by Micheal Moore. This documentary was not really about one specific thing, instead it was generally about guns in America. This being why I don’t agree with the title given to the movie “Bowling For Columbine.” During the movie it only briefly speaks about the incident that occurred in Columbine. The entire movie is basically about how guns are “bad.” Also I believe that in some parts of the video, Moore stated false statements, or he simply didn’t mention important facts to try to prove his point.

An example of this happening during the movie was when Moore was talking about how “violent” America is. What Moore left out while he talked about this is the many other countries in the world that are much more violent then the U.S. He only mentioned extremely peaceful countries such as Canada. Countries in the Middle East such as Israel, Iraq etc, are much more violent then the U.S.

Despite it’s occasional propaganda, the whole movie wasn't like this. One part of the movie I enjoyed was when Moore and two of the boys who were shot during the shooting of Columbine (one being in a wheel chair) went to Walmart and were able to take action to terminate the selling of 9mm bullets. This was a very respectful act by Walmart, this demonstrated that they really do care about the safety of the people and not just the income of money to the store. I believe that there’s also another big reason why the sales of 9mm bullets are were discontinued. The reason is that when Moore went to Walmart , he brought the power of media with him, and a lot of it. The power of media is that they can and quiet possible did pressure Walmart into stop selling the bullets so that they don’t like the bad guys.

I think that another alternative that could of been used to solve the problem of guns is that instead of completely shutting down the sales of 9mm bullets, they could have made it so you could only buy a certain amount or you have to be a certain age.

Although I don't agree with everything said in the movie, the structure of the video was good. This is because I feel like as the movie went on and you weren't too sure of what was going to happen. For example, there a could be a little cartoon made that looked like it was created by the creators of South Park, which would then lead to some other “liberal act” to demonstrate that guns are wrong, and even though I may not agree with all of them, his acts were interesting.

Another interesting display of action from Michael Moore during the movie was when he went to the aging actor Charleston Heston’s house to interview him. This part of the movie was particularly interesting for numerous reasons. This including that Heston was generous enough to allow Moore to come in his own home and interview him. Also, Moore accused Heston of purposely holding NRA rallies in the cities of Columbine and Flint, Michigan shortly after tragedies. These tragedies both being a result of murders by fire arms. I personally don’t believe this is true. After watching the interview and other reviews on the interview online, I’m not completely convinced that Heston held the rally purposely after the murders happened. I think there was adequate distance of time, but Moore accuses him of it being otherwise.

Bowling for Columbine, although it does not quiet fit it’s name, is in all a very well thought out and interesting documentary by Michael Moore. I enjoyed watching this video even though I don’t 100 % agree with everything Moore does and says through out the movie. In conclusion, I’m impressed with the documentary and am excited to watch any other’s out there by Michael Moore.

Movie Reviews

In your GOOGLE DOC you will write a movie review of Bowling for Columbine. After writing it, you'll then post it along with pictures.

Here is a great description of how to write a review based on http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/how-write-a-movie-review

1. Watch the movie

The first step in writing the review is to watch the movie.  Watch the movie in a relaxed environment you are familiar with.  You do not want to be distracted by an unfamiliar room.  Watching the movie a second time will help you absorb a lot more detail about the movie.  Most movie reviewers take notes as they watch the movie review.

2. Start an outline

Brainstorm about the film, what were scenes, stories, or concepts that were notable or memorable. 

3. Begin writing your review. Now that you have a good outline and have all your important information, it's time to begin the actual writing process. It's a good idea to type this, as that is most likely the format you'll need when turning in the review. Keep your writing clear and easy to understand. Keep in mind that the person who reads this might not have seen the movie, so if you expect them to know who a certain character is and they don't, they likely will not appreciate your review. It's good to be very explanatory when writing a review, and careful to keep things simple

4. Give your opinion

Most movie reviewers will give their opinion of the movie.  This is important as the reviewer can express the elements of the movie they enjoyed or disliked.  However, as in all good journalism, the reviewer should also give impartial details, and allow the reader to make their own mind over an issue the reader liked or disliked.  Opinions should be explained to allow the reader to determine whether they would agree with your opinion .

5.  Structure

Did the movie follow a regular predictable story line, or did it get you thinking in a non-traditional format.

6. Cinematography and lighting

Give details about how well the movie was shot and directed.  Was the lighting good in the moody scenes?

7. End the review with something memorable. You want the last sentence to give your reader a good idea of your general viewpoint about the movie. This is a good place to explain whether in general you liked the movie, or not. (For example: " 'The movie' was intriguing and exciting, despite a few less than stellar actors.")

8. Read through your review. Make sure your writing is clear, complete, interesting, and is written in a general viewpoint. Make sure that there are no factual errors, and check for any spelling or grammar mistakes. These may seem minor and unimportant, but they actually are very important to your reader, as they may not trust your review if they see you've misspelled a lot of words, or contradict yourself.

 Popular movie review websites:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/movies/index.html

Digital Worlds: Frontline

Based on the documentary we watch in class this Friday by Frontline Digital Worlds,
we will begin to discuss attention, multi-tasking, and addiction. We will take polls and quizzes found here to understand more about our interaction with technology. However in the meantime, please answer these questions to the best of your ability.

Americans spend more than 32 hours a week watching television and another five hours (or more) in front of a computer screen. Based on the video we watched, how do you think life in front of a screen affects human development, including the ability to focus our attention?

How do you think people shouid keep their Internet use in sensible balance with other important life activities?

See you on Tuesday! Have a great weekend. Enjoy the weather for it doesn't get better than this.

Growing Up Online Response

 Please comment on thoughts and reactions to the PBS documentary: Growing Up Online.
 Some questions to think about.....
Is internet the new Wild Wild West? Should teachers be entertainers?  How "informed" are your parent?
Has the internet created the greatest generational gap?
Talk about some of the characters, Ryan, Autumn, etc.

Responses should be thoughtful and  well-constructed. Please make sure all sentences are complete and capitalize when necessary.

Bollywood; Idia

Bollywood is the term used for the hindi-language based film industry based in Mumbai, India. Bollywood is by far the largest film producer in India and one of the largest film industry in the world. The 1940's to the 1960's were considered the golden age of Hindi cinema as some of the most critically aclaimed Hindi films were produced during this time. The 2000's saw a growth of Hindi movie popularity around the world which led the industries film making to new heights in all aspects. Also in the 2000's Bollywood began to influence music films in the Western world and played a significant role in the revival of the American musical film genre. A couple popular shows and movies include Khichidi(tv show),Bachke Rehnaa(game show) and My Name is Khan(movie).

Famous celebrities:
Shahrukh Khan

John Abraham

Sanjay Dutt

Media in Italy

Italy is in many ways very similar to the U.S, we have many of the same television shows and cars. Some wealthy Americans purchase Italian vehicle's such as Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati, Lamborhini and some women wear Armani,Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada.

In 2007 Amanda Knox an American citizen was accused of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia Italy, in 2009 she was proven guilty and sentenced with 26 years in prison.


Popular shows
- Vivere
- House

Celebrities
-Valeria Mazza
-Claudia Pandolfi

popular websites
-The telegraph
-la rebubblica

Armenian Media

Armenian media mostly comes from the radio and by going online. However, there are only four t.v. stations so most use the radio. Another form of media is newspapers. Some of these newspapers are Aravot, AZG, and Hayots Ashkhar. From its inception in 1991, the law has treated the print media as separate from the broadcast media. The internet and information technology have only begun to appear in the beginning of the twenty-first century. Some famous celebrities are Kim Kardashian, Adrienne Barbeau and Ken Davitian who starred in Borat.

Media in England

The X Factor
Britain's Got Talent

EastEnders

BBC online

Google UK
Facebook

David Beckham
Julie Andrews
Jude Law

The culture in England is very similar to the culture in America. Some of the media television shows are knock offs of shows in America. Some popular shows in England are "The X Factor", "Britain's Got Talent", and "EastEnders". The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent are talent shows, much like American Idol and other shows in America. EastEnders is a soap opera, which are popular in America. Some popular websites in England include BBC online, Google UK, and Facebook. Some of these websites are just like websites in America, other than BBC online. Some famous celebrities from England include David Beckham, Julie Andrews, and Jude Law.

Canadian Media

Although Canada may not be the most popular country in the world, it is well known for its own little world in media, where it has produced many Canadian shows and movies such as Degrassi, Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan and much more, many of which are famouse, even here in America. It is also well known for its many famous actors featured in many of its Canadian media productions such as Drake, Justin Bieber, and Michael J Fox.

Canada, located just North of the United States is a rather large country, filled with some of the most well known cities in the world such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, many of which are homes of some of the biggest Media production Companies in the country. Toronto for one is home to the headquarters of MuchMusic, a music and television Channel owned by Bell Media, it is pretty much the Canadian version of MTV, where you can find many Canadian music Groups such as Billy Talent and The Skulls. Toronto is also home to CTV, a Television station working all through out the region for viewers bringing them many of the same shows you would see here in America, after all, Canadian Media is very similar to American Media. Despite these major three Canadian cities being the biggest film making cities in the country, many of the actors from there go to work in hollywood, thats one flaw for the Canadian Filmmaking industry. There are many flaws to the Canadian Filmmaking industry, aside from actors going to hollywood, a major flaw is the fact that the United States and Canada's Movie industries directly compete, and often, American films can appear more appealing to the viewers, this is the main difference between the American and Canadian Media. But overall the main importance to Canadian media and production is that it is very similar to the Media here in America and pretty much the same cultural trends, only sometimes in french, with all the music, famous actors, TV shows, and advertisement that are now part of our everyday life, only up North too!

CTV Canadian channel

Degrassi Canadian show

MuchMusic Canada

Drake-Canadian actor/artist

Justin Bieber-Canadian Artist

Canadian Google

Canadian Idol(equivilent to American Idol)

Shelbo, Netherlands.

The Netherlands use of Media is in a practice called pillarisation which is when a country's various religions and social groups all organize their own institutions, with financial help from the Government. All of this institutions include their broadcasting. The system of pillarisation had collapsed in the 1970's, but most of the broadcasting associations stayed at large and remained active. Most associations have several tens of thousands of members, they distribute their broadcasting time on the public channels in portion to their size of their memberships. Each of the broadcasting associations share three national T.V. channels (Nederland 1, Nederland 2, Nederland 3) and five radio channels (Radio 1, Radio 2, 3FM, Radio 4, Radio 5). Each of the channels have their own type of media. Nederland 1 is made for news, sport, and family programming, Nederland 2 towards culture, arts, politics, and religion, while Nederland 3 concentrates on youth and progressive programming.

Celebrities of Netherlands

Netherlands News Online

Popular TV for Teens

Globalization of Media

Media is a global phenomena, popular shows, sites, and celebrities vary depending on culture and country. For this assignment, you will pick a country of your choice to research.
In a blog form you will present a "mini-report" about the country and current media trends.

In your post include:

* Links to popular shows
* Links to popular websites
* Links to known celebrities
* Pictures of the country of choice.

What are some trends you notice within the culture? How is it similar to America's media? How is it different?

This assignment will be Due on Monday, May 23rd in class.

Shelby: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Brian: USA
Mohammed: India
Anthony: England
Ahmad: Canada
 Mike: Greece
Arielle: Italy
Chris: Armenia
Cathlyn: Spain

The Ad says "A Guinness A Day" alluding to the common saying "an apple a day will keep the doctor away". The ad also says Guinness is good for you which Im going to have to disagree with as any form of alchol is not infact good for you.

Heineken Game Day

This alcohol company is promoting their alcohol by video games. They're showing that you can drink and play games at the same time, maybe make the game experience a little more enjoyable. Kid's who play games and see this photo might find drinking cool like the games they play, and try it them selves.

They advertise it by making it seem like its cool to drink dos equis because "the most interesting man in the world" drinks it.

Cigarette Commercial

In this video they are promoting smoking by Volley Ball players. They're having an intense game, while telling you to smoke these type of cigarettes.

cigarette ads

This video shows all the commercial's from 1960 to 1964. It has commercial's from NEWPORT cigarettes and from KENT cigarettes.

http://youtu.be/uyCl3BdlICY.

This video is a tobacco advertisement trying to promote tobacco by making it seem ''cool'' to smoke because the cowboy in the video smokes. yet is really not but Marlboro is making viewers think that anyway

Cigarette commercial:Doctors smoke Camels

The way that people are selling their cigarette products are by using doctors as examples. The cigarette commercial is showing a doctor smoking a cigarette so people will think "oh he's a doctor, he knows what's good for my health." This is basically an influence on people thinking that smoking is good for them and if doctors smoke it then it must be good for your health.

Flinstones Cigarette Ad

This is an advertisement for Winston cigarettes. The type of technique that this company used at the time was using the Flinstones. At this time, the Flinstones were very popular. By using the Flinstones as advertising, people will subconsciously buy these cigarettes. Also, the company uses humor to sell their product.

Olympic Swim Star Sells Camel Cigarettes video

. c Camel cigarettes are selling a milder cigarette that does not cause throat irritation, and it's being smoked my an olympic swim star then it must be healthy.

http://youtu.be/5AfCVH4qgjY

They used a little bit of comedy in the advertisement

and made their brand of cigarettes seem better than

the other type of cigarettes he was using.

This Ad shows that smoking in the old days was viewed publicly as fine and that since physicians smoked then for some reason it made it ok for us all to smoke. when in fact i've realized these advertisements often don't make sense and is geared towards stupid people. a.k.a the mainstream public

Marlboro

Marlboro cigarettes company uses the slogan "Come to where to the flavor is, Marlboro Country" to convey the message that smoking Marlboro cigarettes will transport you to "Marlboro Country" or that all working class Western American's smoke Marlboro cigarettes

People were dragged into smoking by using nice advertisements like having nice pictures that would amuse the watcher or reader that was seeing these smoking ads. People also had thought that if you smoked than you would be healthy all your life or that you would be able to get anything you wanted in your life. These people didn't know that they were the one's that were going to have to pay for they're own mistakes.

Tobacco Ad

This is a typical vintage tobacco advertisement from long ago. Some of the techniques used in this advertisement to make people want to buy the product is the false assurance of a doctor, making people think that just because many of them might smoke it, that its okay and others may smoke it, however its not, and its still bad.
www.wellmedicated.com

Zig-Zag is a tobacco company who makes rolling papers for people who like to roll their own Cigarettes. In this picture they are showing two kids who are "happy" receiving and giving rolling papers. They try to use two happy kids to promote selling these papers, make it look like you'll be happy when you buy your self a pack of them.

Cigarette Ad with Ronald Reagan

A technique used to sell this ad was that they put Ronald Reagan in their ad. At that time he wasn't president but he was a famous t.v. and movie star and because of this more people bought and smoked cigarettes. The ad is basically saying that since this famous person is smoking you can all do it to.

This is a tobacco advertisement for the cigarette company Camel. This advertisement uses a couple of techniques in order to attempt to sell their product. One of these techniques that Camel uses is humor. The poster has a camel smoking a cigarette which some people may find funny. Another technique that the company uses is making smoking seem cool. In the poster, the camel is smoking, and he looks cool, and has a cool car.

Tobacco Ad

In the 1930's Tobacco was sold to both men and woman. Tobacco companies used advertisements to draw and get people to buy their products. For example they used slogans such as, "this will make you feel amazing". In this particular ad, the tobacco company used a woman and said that if woman smoke their products, they will be guaranteed that they will be in shape and slender.

Link

Inside the Teenage Brain

Based on the PBS Frontline Documentary "Inside the Teenage Brain," please create a blog response and reflection based on your thoughts and feelings. Create a blog, but for sake of confidentiality DO NOT POST. Based on your responses, I will compile a random anonymous summary that I will share with the class.

Do you abide by your parents rules? Do you agree with them?
How much sleep do you get a night? On average?
How did this documentary help you understand your own behavior---for instance, what did you learn about the production of the frontal cortex?
Are you surprised that the teenage brain is changing (gray matter that grows connections)? 
Do you have mental highs and lows? What do those look like (EXAMPLE)?
Do you engage in risky behavior?
Are you aware of your own mood swings? Are you aware that this is a natural part of teenage-hood?
Do you think adults have negative perceptions of you (as a teen)?

Dead Space 2

Dead Space 2 is a game that takes place 500 years in the future, and is based in Space. It's the sequel to the first one, and continues the gory and violent game play. Playing as Isaac Clarke, you're an engineer assigned to fix a mining ship's damaged communications system who awakens from an amnesic spell on the Sprawl, a big metropolis that orbits Saturn. You soon discover you're suffering from a disease called dementia from an ancient artifact you find in the first game. You have to escape the carnage, and also find a lady who claims to have the cure to your disease. This game contains a lot of blood and gore, so it's not recommended for children or kids below 17. It's a very fun game, but only if you can handle the blood and gore parts throughout the game, once you can handle that you'll acquire tons of new weapons, melee attacks and powers such as telekinesis.

Developer: Electronic Arts
Released in: January 25th, 2011
ESRB Rating: M for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Rating: 5/5 Stars.

Tangled in an Endless Web of Distrations

Please read this article seen in Boston.com :

Tangled in an endless web of distractions

Colleges worry about always-plugged-in students

By Tracy Jan

Globe Staff / April 24, 2011

Do you think colleges should unplug? Why or why not?
Do you think the internet is a distraction when you are doing your work?
How do you manage balancing the two?

Lasers

After several problems with his record label, Atlantic Records and a protest by his fans Atlantic Records finally released Lupe's much hyped up album Lasers. Chicago-based rapper Lupe Fiasco's third and most controversial album was released on March 8th 2011 and did indeed live up to the hype. The single released for this album, The Show Goes on gained a lot of popularity not only because of its catchy chorus and catchy beat, but also because of Lupe's meaningful lyrics. Considered one of today's best lyrical rappers this album sure didn't damage that reputation and even solidified it even further. Unlike most hip-op albums nowadays Lupe spoke out about the problems in society in songs such as Words I Never Said and State Run Radio. But the masterpiece in this album is the song Beautiful Lasers, where we get an inside look at who Lupe Fiasco really is and how he doesn't have a perfect life just because he's famous. Lasers was probably one of the only albums I was able to listen to straight through without having to skip over any songs. every single song had a little message of its own and really made you think about what he was saying which is why this is probably one of my favorite albums of all time and in my opinion the best hip-hop/rap album thus far in 2011. Here is an interview of Lupe talking about the struggles he had to go through to put out this album and how he felt about the whole ordeal.
Rating: *****

Wasting Light, Foo Fighters Review

The popular band, the Foo Fighters, released their latest album on April 8, 2011. The album is the band's eighth album, and it is arguably their best one yet. The album includes 11 songs, including the single, Rope. In my opinion, this album is one of the Foo Fighters best yet, with every single song being a success. My favorite song on the album is Walk. The album is a combination of hard rock, and alternative rock. I would recommend this album for ages 12+, as there is occasional cussing, and violent lyrics, although not enough for the album to receive an explicit rating.

Rating: *****
Other Wasting Light Review

Hop Movie Review: Bunnies and chicks

HOP is a childrens movie that is rated PG. The movie is about an animated bunny who has a positive message for children about reaching goals and dreams. The movie contains some words such as idiot, stupid, or freak that may be a caution for parents of young children. The movie is appropriate for kids over the age of 5 and it can also be talked about among families, especially among father son relationships. In the movie, the Easter bunny has a son who he wants to help him out with delivering Easter eggs. His son E.B doesn't want to deliver eggs and instead wants to follow his own dreams and become a drummer. There are also some messages in the movie that only adults will understand. For example E.B goes to the play boy mansion thinking that it's a haven for rabbits. Nothing is shown and children will not understand what the mansion is actually about. Overall the movie is a great family movie although some parents might find it boring.

Inception movie review

In the movie Inception directed by Christopher Nolan Dom Cobb and his partner Author perform an illegal corporate Espionage by entering the subconscious minds of their targets an "extraction job". When Cobb's wife dies he is accused of the murder and must flea the United states leaving behind his two kids. When a client offers Cobb a clean record in the United States in exchange for job he accepts not know the difficulty of an "Inception Job". The relationship between dreams and the human psyche have always been intriguing to me, so when Inception came out I was determined to see the movie. Overall I liked the movie, I thought some of the movie was somewhat confusing at times. To understand the plot you must sit and watch the entirety of the movie. The movie was a little long and I thought the plot could have been told in shorter duration. I watched Inception on my 55 inch LED screen T.V and it was amazing, the amount of detail the design team team took to make a movie as detailed as Inception must of taken thousands of hours. I recommended this movie to people who like science fiction, suspense, and action films. Also the minimum age to watch this movie 13 due to the complexity and content of the movie.







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Review: Grand Theft Auto Ballade of Gay Tony

Among some of the newest most exciting video games that are out for gamers to get a hold of is Grand Theft Auto Ballad of Gay Tony. Released by RockStar Games in October 2009, and distributed by Take Two Interactive, is a third person game set in the night life of one of the busiest, hardest cities in the world titled as ''Liberty City'', where one of the main characters that you control is running around the city getting his friend, Gay Tony out of all sorts of trouble and problems. Gay Tony, a gay business man and night club owner around the city is caught owing people money, going in dept, and having several people trying to kill him. As a results of these conflicts, Tony goes to one of his bouncers, Luis Lopez, in which the player controls, and depends on him to help him save his life and his business, and through out the course of these events, the player can find Luis Lopez in all kinds of jams such as hostage situation, drug deals, simply killing people for pay back, fleeing from police, and escaping by jumping off planes and rooftops. The plot is certainly quite interesting and exciting, but aside from that players can also have Luis do other things not related to the plot, such as pointless killing, drugs deals, car jacking, high jumping, and sex with various women and prostitutes, after all, isn't that what Grand Theft Auto is all about? Although the game doesn't show any nudity, but still has some graphic nature to it, the ESRB rated it 17+ for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, and Use of Drugs. However, some might not agree with the rating of this game, sure it shows its fair share of graphic nature and players should probably be mature for that, but age 17 is outrageous, this is mainly because many find themselves mentally mature even at younger ages, lets be real, its not like after playing this game, the player will go out into the world getting with prostitutes, stealing cars, and killing random people, Thus I think it would be better off rated 13+ rather than M for 17+.
But whatever the rating, Grand Theft Auto Ballade of Gay Tony is still the latest masterpiece Rockstar games has to offer, with so many things to do that will keep you entertained, solo or multieplayer, this game is still Beyond exceptionally great. I would certainly encouraged gamers to buy this game if you're looking for a fun entertaining way to Rome around a virtual city doing whatever you want, and if you liked the Grand Theft Auto IV, then Ballade of Gay Tony is definitely your game. You can find Grand Theft Auto Ballade of Gay Tony in stores, or downloadable online for $19.99, available for both PS3 and Xbox 360.
Rating:***** 5 Stars.
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Michael Fowlin aT WHS

Michael Fowlin came into our school, and helped us realize how affective a simple smile can be on the lives of others, because we don't know what they have to go through at home or even in school and an easy task such as giving them a smile when you pass by can make they're day that much better. He helped us realize that something can go from a joke to something very serious, such as a death in just a matter of time and how we don't know how the person being bullied actually feels on the inside. If he had just gone up there and spoke out about bullying in a lecture many people would not have payed attention and would have lost interest in what he was saying. Instead he gave his "lecture" through the eyes of a handful of different characters who at points had the audience laughing and at some points had them at a loss for words. I personally enjoyed his presentation a lot and it was easily one of the best performances I have seen in school.