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.







link

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.
Other Ballad of Gay Tony reviews.
Ballad of Gay Tony Game Tips.
Ballad of Gay Tony in Stores.

BLOG REVIEW

Your review can be of a book, movie, album, video game or television series.
Please follow the review format of
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/movies/reviews/index.html
All blogs must include pictures and links.
Please make sure your grammar and spelling is checked before publishing.
This is part of your homework grade.

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.

Michael Fowlin

I thought that watching Micheal Fowlin preform in our school was an incredible and inspirational experience, that I am glad I witnessed and been part of. I think what made Michael performance so great is that he himself has had a rough life and has had his share of screw ups and mistakes as well as many of us, thus making us able to relate to him in some ways, and the fact that despite everything in his own life that had happened, he was able to come up on stage and teach us all about it through humor. This was inspiring, inspiring because it was the first time that I had ever seen someone who was able to do such a thing, using his own life experience to teach us all something through the power of laughter, that I though made his performance ten times more powerful. Some of the things he has taught me as that many of us as students who've screwed up a whole lot aren't actually bad people, we just don't use our brains like his six year of daughter, and that we need to start doing that. Another important thing that he has taught me is about what we're suppeosed to do and what we need to do, and I though that was also another very powerful and meaningful thing for him to say. There was still more to it than that, but overall Michael Fowlin has taught me alot of meaningful inspirational things on how to be a better person and how to feel better about myself, and I am thankful that I got to see him perform and I hope I get to see him again someday to learn more.

Michael Fowlin Biography

Michael Fowlin Website

Michael Fowlin

I really enjoyed the show that was put on by Michael Fowlin. Mr. Fowlin's performance was not only educational, but it was done in a way that it was entertaining as well. After watching his performance, I came out of the auditorium with a completely new attitude. I realized after watching him, that I was at times being ignorant to other people and their feelings. Michael Fowlin changed me for the better. My favorite character by Mr. Fowlin was the gay football player, because it shows that people are insensitive to certain people, and completely stereotype certain people.

This is Michael Fowlin's website

Domestic Violence

The domestic violence meeting we had yesterday as seniors was very meaningful and should be heard by all males. It was to tell the guys how beating or harassing your spouse or girlfriend doesn't make you a big tough guy, but shows your weakness. I think that the whole school should have heard the speech about domestic violence, it would have gotten into everyones heads and shown them the real dangers and how it doesn't make them the man they think they are. We heard how men were killing their wives over things like breaking up with them or getting into a simple argument that escalated into physical or mental abuse. Every male should take a oath to not harm a female because they're angry or for no reason at all, it can only help overall.

Michael Fowlin

In Michael Fowlins's "I'm still here" He asked us ' would you rather fly or be invisible?' I thought I would rather be invisible see how you could have so much more fun with the power until he said "you don't need a super power to be invisible" and it's true kids go ignored by there parents at home and in school by their piers. Also when that man committed suicide because not one person smiled to him on the way to the bridge was sad but true. I learned it's important to be friendly to everyone that you see or meet even if its just a smile, because you don't know what there going through or what type of family there going home to. Watertown high school students need to stop doing what there supposed to do and start doing what they need to do.

Michael Fowlin

Yesterday, Michael Fowlin came to our school as a guest speaker to talk about how bullying affects people. He also talked about kids with depression and things such as kids that are gay and hiding it because they don't know what people would think and racial profiling. Things he mentioned were people because of bullying became extremely depressed and some even committed suicide. I knew that this was going on because you see stuff like this on the news but what I learned was how things like this affect everyone in different ways and how one comment can hurt someone really bad. I liked the assembly and when I came out of it I felt that it was a good experience to see how they felt after being bullied or judged.