Danielle's Blog

Religion, what is it? This was the main thought in my mind when I clicked on Danielle's blog. I never really thought that deep into it and this was a chance for me to learn more about it. In Danielle's blog she explored religion, but also Atheism and the many struggles different religions face. Even though America was founded by different religions there are many people in the same country who won't except other religions. Many small religions face discriminance and hate by other major religions. I once heard that religions were made, because they were a reason for war. And this seems true, just look at the facts, there were so many wars because of religion, for example the Crusades and World War II. All religions are meant for peace but all cause war. I learned one of the reasons why this happens in Danielles slideshow. People just need to accept other religions and stop throwing such a fit about it.

Matan's Blog

Matan's blog was very interesting and I was well aware about his topic. In his powerpoint I became more aware of what automobiles were doing to our planet and how we could prevent this. I knew about pollution, and cars played a huge part in it, and Matan's blog only broadened my knowledge of it. One thing I didn't know muh about was the electric car or the hybrid, I knew that it was better for the economy and polanet than the regular gas guzzler, but that is all I really knew about. After seeing his slideshow I realized how it could help us and how much better it is. Matan presented the problem, lack of natural resources and showed us the solution. After seeing this I realized how little we cre about our planet. Most people barely notice what cars do or they dont' care. I know that I was ne of those people, but now I see what a big problem it is. I also agree with Matan on how the electric car is easier said than done.

The Chosen One's Final Slide Show

I open this blog, knowing a little bit about the topic. When I think about Hispanics, one of the first things that comes to my mind is illegal immigrants. In Carl's blog he explores that and deeper. In his slideshow, he explores, immigration and how hispanics can't really make a living because they don't have an education and they can't get one because they need money and the quickest way to make money is to get a cheap job. they can't get a good job because most well paid jobs require an education. So, this is just a giant cycle that hispanics cannot get out of. another big issue focused in this blog was how some Americans think that Hispanics are taking their jobs, and sometimes the Americans response is violent. I learned a lot from the blog of The Chosen One, it has also changed my view on Hispanics. I now realize thart they are facing a huge struggle. The struggle that they are facing is in some ways similar to slaves faced so many years ago. The hispanics come here for the American dream and many never really achieve it. It makes me wonder if it is really better to come to America and face these hardships or if it better to just stay in their home land.

Works Cited

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Caramanica, Jon. "For young superstar Taylor Swift, big wins mean innocence lost.(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. (Feb 2, 2010): C5(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .

Greenblatt, A. (2003, November 21). Future of the music industry. CQ Researcher, 13, 989-1012. Retrieved February 11, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2003112100.

Katel, P. (2007, June 15). Debating hip-hop. CQ Researcher, 17, 529-552. Retrieved February 10, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007061500.

D. Stanley Eitzen " American Sport at the End of the Twentieth Century," Annals of American History. http://america.eb.com/america/article?articleId=387715>

"jazz." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010.

"Scott Joplin." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .

"American film." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. http://www.americanhistory.abc-clio.com/.

"American theater." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2010. .

Analytic: Current events

Many people think that gang violence and hip hop are related, like when there is a shooting in a black neighborhood, people think that hip hop has had something to do with it. Because of this many black public figures like Oprah and Hip Hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons have tried to make artists change their lyrics as Simmons said "We recommend that the recording and broadcast industries voluntarily remove/bleep/delete the misogynistic words 'bitch' and 'ho' and the racially offensive word 'nigger,' " They want artists to get rid of swears and dirty words in their songs, because they think that it would lead to young black listeners use of those words. Many artists have refused do this, most saying that it would alter their image and less people would buy their music. Rapper Fifty Cent said on this topic "For me, don't expect me to compromise myself," like most rappers Fifty cent has built his music career on his thug image and the whole drug dealer turned rapper ordeal. It is easy to see how hip hop and violence is connected, many young listeners see their favorite artist getting arrested or involved with firearms. Rap legends Tupac Shakur and NOTORIUS BIG were both shot to death, and rap superstar Lil Wayne is going to jail because of illegal firearm possession. What these performers are doing effect all of their fans. If a kid thinks it’s cool to have a firearm because Lil Wayne had one then who is to blame. Changing the lyrics to a song won’t change what is happening. Artists have to realize what they are doing affects millions of people.
Violence is not the only problem hip hop is having. The other problem is happening to every genre of music; it is illegal downloading and piracy. Since the advancement of technology, the music industry has been losing money, cd sales have plummeted and record stores have started closing done all over the country. Less and less people are buying cds and more people are downloading music illegally. As Mitch Bainwol said “At any given time, 3 to 5 million people are on the Internet, downloading music and violating copyright law,” avid listeners download music because it is free and cds are too overpriced. Many artists are mad about this also because they are losing money and they want to be paid for their work. As LL Cool J “The majority of artists want to be compensated,” the people who are downloading music illegally don’t realize that other people are being affected by this, that people are losing money because of what they are doing. In an article about the future of hip hop the author says that most of the listeners that buy cds are rich white suburban kids, but this is not necessarily true, because many rich white suburban kids download music illegally. The main reason that people download illegally is that people don’t want to spend more than ten dollars on a cd especially if they want to listen to just one song. The music industry has tried to fight this by filing lawsuits against piracy and illegal downloading, like Napster which shut down then went back online as a low fee music downloader. Some bands have found ways to make money of this, by offering their listeners the ability to download music off their website for free, or they can donate a small amount to a “penny jar” on the website, that would pay for the album. Surprisingly many people donated to the website. Even though music has been through many changes it still has survived and will always be around.

Analytic Backround

Music has always been around since the beginning of time, people only started recording it in the 16th century. Music is all around us, it surrounds us, there are so many different types of music, but the two main categories are classical and popular. Classical, is usually jazz and other genres that were popular during the beginning of the 20th century. While popular music is mainly rock, country and hip hop. Music allows people to express how they feel and allows others to relax in it. It pumps people up and it calms them down, makes the happy or it makes them sad. Music thrives through people, it runs through their veins. There are so many different types of music; it seems that each person has their own individual genre. Some genres have died out over time, while some have survived through the good times and the bad. For example, jazz was invented after the Civil War and it thrived for a while, everything was jazz. Then something new came and replaced it, but jazz regained popularity again and still remains popular to this day. Music will always be around.
For people who are more visual than audio, there is the American Theater and American Film. Theater became more popular in America after the Civil War and continued to be popular. It became popular after the war because, before America wanted nothing to do with Britain and theater reminded them of it. Theater truly thrived after the Civil War, with its most famous play being Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The beginning of the Twentieth Century was not so kind on American Theater, with the invention of motion picture. Motion picture was first short silent, gag news reels, but then developed into feature length films lasting two to three hours. The first feature film was the silent film “The Great Train Robbery”. The actors in these films were celebrities among the people of America. After the first world war the film industry went through several changes, one of them being moving from the East coast to the West, going to Hollywood. The big change was the invention of sound in films. This completely changed films and it attracted more viewers, which was worse for theater. With the invention of television, the film industry entered a slump and fought through it by making movies people could only see at the movie theaters and gave viewers an experienced that could not be achieved at home. Movie still do this to this day, with films like “Avatar” and “Titanic”, that have special effects and 3d that can only be seen at theaters. The American Theater and American Film, have both been through hard times but, they will always be around because they allow people to escape into another world.

Current Event: Lil Wayne

Rapper Lil Wayne is the biggest star in the US, with "Tha Carter III" being the last album to sell a million copies in a week for the past decade and having formed the hot, new group Young Money. Everyone knows or has heard about Lil Wayne, but now that he is going to jail we have seen less and less of him. He is going to jail because of illegal gun possession and this will cause him to do one thing in life that he has always avioded, stopping. Many people consider him the hardest working artist in the music industry and now that he is going to jail he is working everynight till four in the morning. He has been featured on almost every hot song on the radio, has just released a new album and has formed the group Young Money. When asked about what he lloks in for people that he hires, his answer was work ethic and this is no surprise. Even though he is going to jail this won't stop him, just slow him down. He will still be working in jail on his upcoming album "The Carter IV", because they allow ipods in jail. And even outside of prison people who work for him will be making new songs and new Young Money songs will feature him in Autotune. Lil Wayne will be in commercials, videos, songs and other things. The main thing that Lil Wayne whats to do is to not be forgotten. He and his associates or doing everything to have America remember him. I think that what he is doing is smart, people won't completely forget about him, and it is hard not to. Everytime I turn on the radio I hear a song featuring him. What he is doing is smart a good move for his career.

Caramanica, Jon. "The trials of the hardest-working man in hip-hop.(Lil Wayne)(The Arts/Cultural Desk)(MUSIC)." The New York Times. 159. 54898 (Dec 23, 2009): C1(L). Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 11 Feb. 2010 .
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