What I'm Listening To...

I figured I'd end the machine gun blast of blog posts tonight with a few select choices of music that I've been listening to lately. Granted, we all have different tastes when it comes to music, but I feel that we can all enjoy the beauty of a simple, feel-good song.

1. The XX - Islands - My favorite song by the breakout indie kids, it's great for either a jog/run or something to listen to when you wake up in the morning. The back n forth between the male and female singers works really well here, as it does throughout their whole album. Listen

2. Minus the Bear - Absinthe Party at the Fly Honey Warehouse - I've really gotten into these guys lately and I am anxiously awaiting their new CD. Despite the quirky title, this is a really laid back song with one of my favorite lines repeated "Let's get a bottle and drink, alone tonight". Listen

3. Gorillaz - Stylo - Few people do the whole "head-nod / car-riding" songs better than Damon Albarn and his animated friends. Stylo is sort of in the same vein as their song "Clint Eastwood", but it has a different sort of flow to it. Definitely check it out if you haven't heard it already. Listen

4. Arctic Monkeys - Cornerstone - This band has grown on me so much in the past few months, it's ridiculous. Their latest album is a little darker than their older, poppier stuff, but it is still worth checking out. This song however is calm and relaxing and shows off lead singer, Alex Turner's talented voice. Listen

5. Modest Mouse - Float On - Here's what I always see happening to me and bands I like. First I'll find out about one of their popular songs (Float On in this case). Then I'll learn about the rest of their catalogue and be blown away. Then other people will discover songs like Float On and subsequent singles that they release, and I'll be like "Yeah, but their old stuff is way better!" Then I'll listen to the first song I heard by them again and fall in love with them all over again. I'm back at this last point for this band. I'm sure you've all heard this song before, but next time you get blindsided by a test and are just looking for some reason to feel good again, this song never fails. Listen

Must Be... Some Kind Of... Hot Tub Time Machine....

Ok so if there's one kind of movie that I'm always down for watching, it's a comedy that features either Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, or my new favorite, Craig Robinson. And the last one is one of two stars in the recent comedy, Hot Tub Time Machine.

Now, going into this movie and watching the previews, I had pretty low expectations. But I still wanted to see it because I enjoy a few good laughs (who doesn't?) even if I know it won't necessarily be Scorcese-esque quality stuff.

However, I found HTTM to be a surprisingly good movie. I think that the previews made it look so outrageous and such a simple/dumb concept that my expectations were lowered and I thus embraced the film.

If you're bored and given the chance, don't be afraid to see the great white buffalo...great white buffalo... sorry, the movie Hot Tub Time Machine.

TV on DVD

Maybe it's because I'm in college now and constantly pressed for the minimal hours that I have to use in my free time, but I've found that there is a terrific alternative to watching a tv show habitually once a week (or less when it's not new). And that is to watch tv series' on DVDs.

There are numerous pros to method. First, I can watch the show where I want, when I want. If I have to work a shift late at the desk, I can just bring over my Season 2 box of 30 Rock and watch episode after episode until the tedious 4 hours are over.

Second, I don't have to wait in between episodes. I finally got caught up with watching the first few seasons of How I Met Your Mother, and now I watch it on Mondays at 8pm. But a part of me wants to just wait until this season wraps up and is put into DVDs. I often find myself having to ask someone else what the characters are referencing since it's been so long since I've last seen an episode of the show.

Another thing that goes along with that, I can re-watch things that I've missed in previous episodes. The week (or sometimes more when the episodes aren't new) that goes by in between episodes on TV just creates more opportunities for me to forget what has happened last time.

Now, again, the one show where I don't really have a problem with watching it once a week, is LOST. They give a solid recap in the beginning of each episode, plus they usually leave my brain twisted after each one that I normally can't fathom watching another one right after it anyways.

Previously on LOST

I could not go on any longer without devoting a post to the most frustrating, most captivating show on television, ABC's LOST.

Lost is unlike any other television show that I have come across. I am a big fan of the show, but some of friends who watch it claim they are only watching it because they are addicted. And believe me, there's nothing one can do about it. The way the writers crafted the show, there is almost no way to stop watching it once you become addicted.

Now if you were new to Lost and I were to just tell you a synopsis of the series, I would sound like an idiot, and you would not be interested. It truly is the strangest thing. Whenever I'm talking to one of my friends on the day after Lost airs, I always think about what we're talking about for a brief moment and just imagine how strange we must sound to someone who has not watched the show.

Sample dialogue between my friend and I:

Me: Dude, do you think that guy is the smoke monster?

Friend: I don't know, he might be. I think the smoke monster just comes back in the forms of people who have already died.

Me: So do you think that Jack's dad on the island was the smoke monster?

Friend: Oooh. Possibly. I wonder if that's the case with Locke too.
(end scene)

Now that sample conversation didn't even touch on the time-traveling, flashbacks, the entire island moving, or the random polar bear.

It clearly is not a show that one can jump right into an episode and understand. But oddly enough, that was exactly how I got hooked. The first episode that I saw was at my friend's house. It was the finale of season 3 (the episode where Charlie dies). While I tried not to be the one who was always asking annoying questions, that's exactly what I was. After that episode, I found myself wanting to find out more. I got caught up on the first three seasons during the summer and the first part of my freshman semester, and by that time was ready for the show to air late January. I, and millions of others, are now anxiously awaiting the last 4 episodes of a show that has caused us both frustration and energy in coming up with theories on how it will end.

The thing that both makes Lost the show that it is, and the reason why a lot of my friends have the love-hate relationship with it that they do (but usually won't admit), is the cliff hangers. You can almost pencil in one at the end of each episode. There are numerous twists within each episode as well. Also, each episode is likely to have 4 or 5 flashbacks (in the first 3 seasons), flash forewards (in seasons 4 and 5), and now flash sideways (this season). What's more, no one really knows as to the significance of these sideways flashes. Hopefully they will tie it all together. If not, a lot of my friends will be frustrated with the show forever.

Fantasy Sports

Yes, I realize it's the last day to blog and I am a modest 5 blog posts behind. But before you all throw me into procrastination-nation, let me say that I did this on purpose! For I knew all of you would be in a rush to comment on blogs, that I found that this was the best time to release daring new material to the world. ... Yeah, honestly, I've just been procrastinating. Anyway, I got a mind full of ideas, a bottle of mountain dew, and lots to talk about.



First up, I'd like to talk to you first on a subject that I'm sure hits home with at most if lucky 5% of this class, fantasy sports. You may be saying, what does this have to do with pop culture, to which I say, find a different blog to comment on.

Wikipedia defines fantasy sports as a game where participants act as owners to build a team that competes against other fantasy owners based on the statistics generated by the real individual players or teams of a professional sport. Probably the most common variant converts statistical performance into points that are compiled and totaled according to a roster selected by a manager that makes up a fantasy team. These point systems are typically simple enough to be manually calculated by a "league commissioner." More complex variants use computer modeling of actual games based on statistical input generated by professional sports. In fantasy sports there is the ability to trade, cut, and sign players, like a real sports owner.

This is strikingly similar to something we talked about recently in class: an imaginary social relationship. The difference here is that this imaginary social relationship is completely one-way, but completely dependent nonetheless. For example, if I own Peyton Manning on my fantasy football team, I am connected to how he performs, how many TD's he throws, how many yards, etc.

Although it was alive prior, the craze of fantasy sports took off during the rise of the internet in the mid-1990's. And it really took off. In 1999, it was discovered in a survey that 29.6 million people over the age of 18 take part in fantasy sports in the US alone.

The top two fantasy sports are football and baseball, with basketball and hockey coming up behind. My favorite sport is football, which could also be why I generally do the best in those leagues. And while it definitely helps having a good knowledge of the sport beforehand, there are plenty of guides in magazines, internet sites, tv shows, and more to lend you advice on how you should run your team. It's essentially an RPG where you are the owner and the professional players you draft are on your team. Although I don't think there are too many cases where fantasy football players fly across the country and live together... but who knows.

The Creepiest Thing I've Ever Seen

If you've never seen a trailer for the upcoming independent horror movie, "The Human Centipede", brace yourself. It is probably the creepiest thing I have ever seen in my life.

Click Here

Then again I'm not too big on horror movies as a genre in general. So I'm curious as to if this is as grotesque for people who usually are in to them as it was for me.

Violence in Video Games

Hey all, just browsing the good ole Internet and I happened to come across an article that was related to the violence in video games topic that we discussed last week.

http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.html

I thought it was interesting that like Dr. Alperstein said, even after all of the research (40 years in this case) they really still do not have a difinitive answer. Although I found those myths interesting, particularly the one about cartoonish violence. I agree that that type of violence is probably more destructive for children and young teens as it mixes something they normally embrace (cartoons) with unrealistic/fantasyish violence.

Anyways, that's all for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Oscar Preview

Tomorrow are the Oscars, I figure since I'll be guessing anyway might as well put down my predictions for the major categories here. This is based on my opinion/what I've heard from the media, but it's all just speculation. * are for the movies I have seen.

Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart
George Clooney: Up in the Air*
Colin Firth: A Single Man
Morgan Freeman: Invictus
Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker

Prediction: Jeff Bridges. He took the Golden Globe, and there's really no reason to doubt that he will lose this either. Freeman and Clooney were good, but I've seen them both perform better.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Matt Damon: Invictus*
Woody Harrelson: The Messenger
Christopher Plummer: The Last Station
Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones
Christopher Waltz: Inglorious Bastards*

Prediction: Christopher Waltz. He essentially made this movie for me, so I'm giving it to him.

Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side
Helen Mirren: The Last Situation
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious
Meryl Streep: Julie and Julia

Prediction: Sandra Bullock. I have no idea on this one. No, I haven't seen Blind Side, yes I know I need to. I do know she beat Helen Mirren in the Golden Globes, so that's got to count for something, right?

Actress in a Supporting Role
Penelope Cruz: Nine
Vera Farminga: Up in the Air*
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick: Up in the Air*
Mo'Nique: Precious

Prediction: Penelope Cruz. When in doubt, go with Penelope Cruz - (unwritten rule on Oscar guessing #13). Kendrick was really good, as was Farminga, but even between them, I couldn't choose.


Best Director
James Cameron: Avatar*
Kathryn Bigelow: The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino: Inglorious Bastards*
Lee Daniels: Precious
Jason Reitman: Up in the Air*

Prediction: Quentin Tarantino. I, too, enjoyed Up in the Air a bit more than Inglorious, but I think that the actors made Air what it was while Tarantino's brilliance made Bastards.

Best Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air*

Prediction: Up in the Air. This is a tough, but I'm going with the only movie I saw. Just call it a hunch.

Best Original Screenplay
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Bastards*
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Prediction: The Hurt Locker. "While the dialogue wasn't the strong suit of this movie, the suspense was. That wasn't accidental, it was written that way." - Brian Klein, fellow Oscar predictor. For me, this is a toss up between Locker and Basterds, but I'm swinging towards the Locker, just because it's my Best Picture pick.

Best Picture
Avatar*
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Bastards*
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air*

Prediction: The Hurt Locker. So many nominations, but in the end, I've got to go with the movie that I think the Academy is most likely to pick. Avatar was visually extraordinary, and Up in the Air was my favorite movie of 2009. But from what I'm told, Hurt Locker is better, which means I really should see it.

BTW - I was right last year with Slumdog... and I was right last month with Taylor Swift, not tooting my own horn or anything.

I Wish It Was The E.N.D.

I just have to say, that the Black Eyed Peas used to be good. They used to make well-written/well-constructed hip hop music. Now, not so much. “The E.N.D.” (The Energy Never Dies) is their latest CD, which, from every song I have heard, is a disgrace to the hip hop industry.

Don’t get me wrong, “I Gotta Feeling” and “Boom Boom Pow” are both extremely catchy (and maybe that's the goal??), but are they any good? No. Not at all.

Both songs utilize the auto-tune effect, which completely takes the singing aspect out of, well singing. “Boom Boom Pow” is especially bad, having not only horrible lyrics and the auto-tune mess, but having absolutely no background sound other than the muted bass and occasional snare drum.

And now, they recently released another single/video called “Imma Be”. I did not think that it could get any worse. But it did. Not only is “Imma Be” essentially another “Boom Boom Pow”, with even more auto-tune and repetition, but in their music video for it, they debate over a fake machine that has itself sing (rap/talk … whatever you want to say they do on their tracks now) for them so they don’t have to do any singing anymore. Fergie even makes a comment, “It takes the soul out of it,” while Will.I.Am counters with “you can’t say your futuristic and be scared of the future.” Well, interesting, considering, the group’s latest album has absolutely no soul in it whatsoever, and the auto-tune effect makes it so they barely have to sing anyway.

I know more people use the auto-tune than just the Peas, but it’s just really irritating to me for them to do it. Listen to Elephunk, their first album with Fergie. “Hands Up”, “Where is the Love”, “Hey Mama”, and of course “Let’s Get It Started” all sound a lot more well-crafted than anything on “The E.N.D.” I haven’t even mentioned their songs before Fergie, such as “Joints & Jam” and “Call/Request”, which are some of the best they have ever written.

Maybe the energy never dies, but the soul does.

Grammy Preview

The 52^nd annual Grammy awards are handed out tonight, so let’s take a look at the nominees for the major awards that people care about. Below are my predictions for who will win, along with who should actually win. Prediction of the night: There will be plenty of opportunities for Kanye to interrupt Taylor Swift.

Album of the Year

Nominees:

Beyonce – “I Am … Sasha Fierce”

Black Eyed Peas – “The E.N.D.”

Dave Matthews Band – “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King”

Lady Gaga – “The Fame”

Taylor Swift – “Fearless”

Who will win: This one is really tough to call. Normally, the Grammy people like to throw in one non-mainstream (usually old) artist in the nominees and it’s always a safe bet that they will come out on top (see Herbie Hancock last year). This time, all of these albums are by people who get plenty of radio airplay. While it would be nice to see Dave Matthews Band win because they lost their saxophonist, this one is more than likely to come down between Beyonce and Taylor Swift (sound familiar?). I’m going with Taylor Swift. Lady Gaga is a possibility but remains the third most likely to win, while the Black Eyed Peas and Dave Matthews Band will most likely not win.

Who should win: Although most of these albums are decent, I wouldn’t give this award to any of them. If I had to pick from these 5, I would go with Beyonce. The fact that the Black Eyed Peas are nominated for album of the year is an atrocity, as “Boom Boom Pow” and “Meet Me Halfway” are two of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my life, and the entire album is ruined by auto-tune and lame background beats.

Should have been nominated: So many to choose from, but I’ll go with my favorite album of 2009, Silversun Pickups – Swoon.

Record of the Year

Nominees:

Beyonce – “Halo”

Black Eyed Peas – “I Gotta Feeling”

Kings of Leon – “Use Somebody”

Lady Gaga – “Poker Face”

Taylor Swift – “You Belong With Me”

Who will win: Also hard to predict. The Grammy Academy loves Beyonce, but I just get the sense that this is Taylor Swift’s year. Lady Gaga is once again a wildcard, and don’t be surprised if Kings of Leon make a splash in the big categories either.

Who should win: It’s hard not to give this one to Beyonce, because Halo is a very well written, beautiful song. “Use Somebody” is a very catchy and upbeat song that made it all over the pop charts, which is very rare for a alternative rock band, which is who Kings of Leon are at heart.

Should have been nominated: MGMT – Kids.

Song of the Year

Nominees:

Poker Face – Lady Gaga

Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Pretty Wings – Maxwell

Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) – Beyonce

You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift

Who will win: The difference between song of the year and record of the year is always confusing, but song of the year is an award for the songwriters, where record of the year is more about the finished product. Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me” sounds great, but isn’t the best written song. I wouldn’t be shocked if Kings of Leon or Lady Gaga won, but I think Beyonce beats Taylor in something, so I’m saying it’s this one.

Who should win: Kings of Leon

Should have been nominated: Pearl Jam – The Fixer.

Best New Artist

Nominees:

Zac Brown Band

Keri Hilson

MGMT

Silversun Pickups

The Ting Tings

Who will win: Unless the academy loosens up, this is Keri Hilson’s to lose.

Who should win: While Silversun Pickups are the better band, the year MGMT had should be rewarded.

Should have been nominated: Phoenix has been around too long to be eligible, so how about we go with Kid Cudi.

Best Pop Vocal Album

Nominees:

The E.N.D. – Black Eyed Peas

Breakthrough – Colbie Caillat

All I Ever Wanted – Kelly Clarkson

The Fray – The Fray

Funhouse – Pink

Who will win: Ugh. Black Eyed Peas

Who should win: Kelly Clarkson

Best Rock Album:

Nominees:

AC/DC – “Black Ice”

Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood – “Live From Madison Square Garden”

Green Day – “21^st Century Breakdown”

Dave Matthews Band – “Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King”

U2 – No Line on the Horizon

Who will win: Grammy people love love love U2, but I think even that won’t stop this from going to Dave Matthews Band.

Who should win: Dave Matthews Band

Should have been nominated: Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures. Hands down best pure rock album of 2009.

Best Rock Song:

Nominees:

Pearl Jam – “The Fixer”

U2 – “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight”

Green Day – “21 Guns”

Kings of Leon – “Use Somebody”

Bruce Springsteen – “Working on a Dream”

Who will win: Could there be an upset? No. Kings of Leon make it 2 years in a row with a “Best Rock Song” Grammy.

Who should win: I have no problem with either Pearl Jam or Kings of Leon winning, and since the latter will, that’s okay with me.

Should have been nominated: Alice in Chains – Check My Brain.

Best Alternative Album:

Nominees:

David Byrne & Brian Eno – “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today”

Death Cab For Cutie – “The Open Door”

Depeche Mode – “Sounds of the Universe” (will win)

Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (should win)

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

Should have been nominated: So Silversun Pickups get nominated for Best New Artist, but their album, “Swoon”, doesn’t get nominated in it’s genre?

Best Rap Album

Nominees:

Common – Universal Mind Control

Eminem – Relapse

Flo Rida – R.O.O.T.S.

Mos Def – The Ecstatic (should win, will win)

Q-Tip – Renaissance

Should have been nominated: P.O.S. – Never Better

Best Rap Song

Nominees:

Drake – “Best I Ever Had”

Kid Cudi – “Day ‘N Nite”

T.I. feat. Justin Timberlake – “Dead and Gone”

Jay-Z – “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)”

Jay-Z, Rihanna, Kanye West – “Run This Town”

Who will win: This should be interesting. T.I. just finished a sentence, and “Dead and Gone” is about how he’s changed. Will that be enough for the academy? Or will Kid Cudi steal the award in an upset? I’m going with Jay-Z for D.O.A.

Who should win: Kid Cudi

Should have been nominated: I always find it weird when the best album of a genre doesn’t get a best song nomination for that genre. I think Mos Def’s “Quiet Dog” will fall victim to that this year.

That's it for now, en

Gaga Ooh La La

So it’s not much of a secret that one of the biggest stars right now is Stefani Germanotta, or Lady Gaga as she is known to everyone except perhaps my dad who, no joke, thought it was a brand of women’s underwear. One thing seems to be universal, regardless of whether you enjoy her music or not, is that she is an interesting figure.

Here is an article from my Magazine Article class about the diva that I naturally found intriguing:

On a recent morning, Lady Gaga, the 23-year-old synth-pop musician, is making radio-station rounds to promote her Top 10 album The Fame in Los Angeles. Such on-air occasions are usually a time for an artist to reveal herself as personable and friendly, but Gaga doesn't let anyone get close, with her eyes hidden behind dark wraparound sunglasses and her five-foot frame encased in a sharp-shouldered lilac suit with matching zippered gloves. "The biggest misconception about me is that I am not a real person," she says before her radio spot, in a robotic, faux-English monotone. "The assumption is that my eccentricity is not who I really am, but it is." She leans in, to clarify things. "I have lost my mind," she says.
Mystery is part of the performance for Gaga, whose post-camp persona is a riff on disco-diva glam and a recession-age, downmarket, satirist-wannabe Britney Spears, and who is channeling no less than Madonna, patron saint of glitter, media manipulation, and Britspeak. Like the Divine Miss M, the Lady was also once a nice Catholic girl: In real life, she is Stefani Germanotta, who grew up in the West Seventies, an area that she refers to archly as "Manhattan's theater and opera district." (The name Gaga is a tribute to Queen's "Radio Ga Ga," bestowed by her music producer, who goes by Dada.) In 2004, she graduated from the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private girls school near the Guggenheim with a dress code of kilt skirts. "We were good girls, but we weren't nerdy like the girls at Chapin," she says. "We were the girls that guys still wanted to date junior year of high school, because we hadn't had sex or given blow jobs yet." Things are different for her now, as a bisexual adult who idolizes transvestite fashion. (A tabloid recently quoted Christina Aguilera dissing her-"I don't know if it is a man or a woman"; Gaga ate it up.) "I love sex," she says, tipping her sunglasses down a bit and leering. "You know, sense memory is a powerful thing. I can give myself an orgasm just by thinking about it."
At 19, Gaga dropped out of Tisch, told her parents she didn't need their money, and moved to Clinton Street to "become an artist," waitressing at the Cornelia Street Café, go-go dancing at burlesque bars like the Slipper Room, and performing at clubs like the Knitting Factory in a seventies-style revue with glitter-rock D.J. Lady Starlight-all while snorting her fair share of cocaine. "I wasn't a lazy drug addict," she says. "I would make demo tapes and send them around; then I would jump on my bike and pretend to be Lady Gaga's manager. I'd make $300 at work and spend it all on Xeroxes to make posters." Wrapped up in nostalgia, she drops the English accent. "Lady Starlight and I would spin vinyl in my apartment, sewing our bikinis for the show and listening to David Bowie and the New York Dolls." She laughs. "We thought, 'What could we do to make everybody so jealous?' We did it, and everybody was so jealous. And they still are." But fame has its price, and resettling from the Lower East Side to Los Angeles, as she did last year, is one of them. "What am I supposed to do, canoodle with celebrities at a nightclub, with a lemon-drop Midori in my hand? It's not the same as being in a bar that smells like urine with all your really smart New York friends."
Around noon, Lady Gaga's manager, a large man in a pink sweater-"you know you're a kindred spirit when you both arrive in pastels," she says-shepherds her into a recording studio at KIIS-FM, where 50 lucky callers are waiting for her to descend. She delicately unzips her lilac gloves, then pounds ferociously on her keyboard for an acoustic, bluesy version of her song "Poker Face," which recently hit number three on the Billboard singles chart ("When it's love, if it's not rough it isn't fun"). The hair-gelled crowd goes wild, cameraphones raised high in the air. Then Jojo, the station's spastic, redheaded D.J., attacks with a speed-round of questions. Strangest thing she's ever signed? "A dick, at a gay club." Is she ever going to record an album with Paris Hilton? "Never." Least-favorite food? "I'm a pop singer. I don't like food at all." Favorite book? "I read Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet every day." Favorite Sidekick or other type of technology? "Ugh," she says. "I'm not answering that."
"You can say 'pass' if you don't want to answer," Jojo says. "You can go pfffft."
"Oh, no," says Gaga, beginning to zip up her gloves. "I'm a lady. I don't make noises like that."


Copyright 2009 New York Magazine Holdings LLC
All Rights Reserved

Now I don’t know exactly what I find so intriguing about Lady Gaga. But I think it centers on the fact that you never know what she is going to say if you stick a microphone in front of her. It works the same way with Kanye West. If news broke tomorrow that either one of them had said something controversial, you would not even be surprised; you would just read the article to find out what exactly the figure said.

These figures are like the athletes Shaquille O’Neal or Chad Ochocinco (both of whom I find intriguing, even though I am not really a fan of either). If you Youtube either of them, you are sure to get some kicks from what they say or do.

The character trait that each of these individuals has that make them so appealing to us is the inability for the public to fully understand them. We simply must recognize them for who they are (or who they appear to be) and embrace them for it.

Me Again

What's going on loyal follower(s)? As you may have heard, I have recently developed a SECOND blog. Yes. That's right, two pages on the web run entirely by me. The apocalyse shall ensue shortly.

Anyways, the focus behind this blog is to take a look into the aspects of what is going on in the world of pop culture. With that said, a nice warm welcome to all of you in my Pop Culture in America class. I look forward to going on this new journey with you.

That's all for now.

(shameless plug for my other blog (F My Blog) which covers just about anything that is on my mind, usually sports, music, things at Loyola that bug me, and everything in between... that can all be found here http://adamromo.blogspot.com/)