FAU

So apparently there was a shooting at the Florida Atlantic University last night and the school is now on lock down. If searched on Google news articles all over the internet pop up but I didn’t hear about it until I imed my best friend that actually goes there. 

Her final exams are this week and she was supposed to come home tomorrow, May 1st. Unfortunately, her exams that were scheduled for today are now post poned and she doesn’t know when she’ll be driving back.

Things like this really scare me. What has our world come to? I mean the shooting at V.T. was the biggest news and it was so dangerous. I didn’t know any one that actually attended the school so as much as it was horrible I didn’t really feel what was really going on. Having my best friend in a place that is locked down and not knowing what is going on freaks me out to no end and I’m really scared. It might not be a big deal in the end but it’s just the fact that someone so close to me is in danger. 

I hope this guy gets caught. The law on owning a gun should really be looked at and some how tweaked because it seems to me that just about any one can have a gun these days and look where it’s getting this country. School shootings and possible deaths and injuries. 

Top Ten Worst Singers

So i was on Yahoo and I saw this article pop up, “The Ten Most Annoying Singers”.  Well I saw the list and recongized about 5/6 names off  the top of my head.  Now, here is the list on yahoo.

10) Celine Dion 9) John Mayer Conor Oberst 7) Lily Allen 6) Devendra Banhart 5) James Blunt             4) Frankie Valli 3) Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) 2) Scott Sapp (Creed) 1) Michael Bolton

 

I agree that Mayer, Dion, Sapp, and Bolton belong on the list.  Now all because we know the words of some of there songs does not mean they are good singers, it just means they have catchy tunes and EVERYONE can sing along too because there singing is not very good. CELINE was described as: “She sings 15 notes where one would suffice and turns every song into an anthem for self-empowerment. It’s like getting an hour of Oprah condensed into four minutes. She sings. It’s time to start the lawnmower.”  MAYER was described as: “Im not sure where John Mayer learned his vocal craft. I hesitate to call it singing. It’s more like whimpering. And for some reason, this has become a trend not stopping anytime soon.” AND last but not least BOLTON was described as: “Who else can take a love song and turn it into a hernia? When a man loves a woman he doesn’t do so by screaming in her ear–so why should it be acceptable for a man to sing a sensitive love song as if he’s directing traffic for the hearing impaired? R&B classics deserve their place in musical history and should be protected from this man’s desecration of all that is holy. It’s only right. Let’s make it a law.”

Now I would like to give some HONORABLE MENTIONS that just missed the list (or should be on it).

PARIS HILTON, PRINCE, KURT COBAIN, OZZY OSBOURNE, KID ROCK, NEIL DIAMOND (although i love Sweet Caroline), VANILLA ICE (gotta get old school rap in there), CHINGY, and THE BACKSTREET BOYS.

So thats my list of the worst singers. Let me know what you think.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/17793/the-ten-most-annoying-singers

-Tommy-

Feist-y

I’m sure most of you have seen that iPod commercial with that super catchy song that goes “One two three four, tell me that you love me more…” And perhaps if you really liked that, you might have “youtubed” it and came across the music video of Canadian sensation FEIST. You know, the one where she wears that glittery blue jumpsuit and there are all these people dancing around and doing a little number as the camera dizzily moves all over the place…

Well, I was intrigued by this artist that I knew nothing about so I downloaded a couple of her songs and ended up really liking them. They’re really refreshing and fun! On top of that she was the guest on the Colbert Report the other night and I was able to hear a little more about who she is. Apparently, the Apple people offered her citizenship after that commercial…(?) I’m not really sure if she was just kidding or if in fact Apple is taking over the world and can offer something like citizenship to people!!!

Anyways, before I continue to ramble on pointlessly…I guess what I’m trying to say is, CHECK HER OUT.

Early morning surf

I’m not sure if anyone else is into surfing as much as I am but surfing is a way of life.  I believe that there is nothing better than waking up in the early morning and traveling to the beach with a couple of your buddies and seeing that early morning break right when you walk over the dunes.  The water is usually a little cooler in the morning but its a great feeling when you first enter the water because it wakes you right up.  People that are surfers look at surfing at a totally different way than people that don’t surf.  It is a different experience riding waves than anything else in the world because surfing is an all natural thing.  It is the only sport where the object that you ride is not man made or can not be controlled by anything done by a human.  Surfing is a place where you lose yourself and find yourself.  I know that if I am having a troubled time and have a lot on my mind, if I go surfing I lose every thought that I had that was bothering me because I go into a different world while in the water.

why, hello again … matters of the “less than three” <3

so its been a while since iv written anything on here…anyways.. im one of those where its all about trying to start a paper, article, blog w/e…as soon as i start i cant stop..its a matter of finding the right topic (or like for a paper finding the first 2 sentences…then it all rolls out. (is tht just a me thing?) -but ..im not going to ramble tonight….so for my topic, i was just wondering what everyones thoughts were on intercultural & interracial dating/marrying. This might be a little off to left/right field (w/e the saying is, im not into baseball :p ) being that America is a “melting pot” so a grand majority of people living here are a little bit of everthing.  but im sure you can all think of people you know, or yourself if you fall into this predictament & can relate. – - a good friend of mine is a white male – dating a black female, theyve been in a steady & strong relationship for the past 4 years & plan on getting married (they are in their mid 20’s..) but offcourse the racial card comes up, and they get a lot of people judging them for it and people saying “you should stick to your own” blah blah. and taht “say your child comes out black, and grows up and marrys another black person…their kids could turn out white…”  **PS im not agreeing with the people that were making comments such as those, just saying what people have told them** back to my story…  – so theres that issue right. –but what if its not racial..wut if its cultural.

what happens when a couple is from a country *(hmm…lets use Greece as an example!) and they move to america to make money, and have children in america. Well, those children are going to grow up in America’s system, and even though they are 100% Greek – (or w/e nationality) they still live in america, and when it is time for them to date and meet people, they are going to find americans that are mixed, pure irish, italian, colombian, ect. –is it right for the parents to want their offspring- even though they live in america – to find the same nationality as they are? to “stick to their kind”. becuase it will “mess up the pure blood-line” because then your children will turn out – half and half..and your grandchildren will become a mix of who knows what ect, n quickly that pride in your country and that 100% (greek-ness for example, is gone). even when living in america, these kids growing up, have more pride for their mother-land than anthing else. not that they are anti-american by no means, but their country plays a very big role in who they are – “cultural identity”…. - now the automatic response to if they should stick to someone from their own culture is usualy “No one can put boundaries on the heart! its whoever you fall in love with”  (sounds so simple) …and i do agree with that… but the people on the cultural side will say time in & time out that the other person will never be able to fully understand you (and i dont mean language, they can learn a language..) but they wont be able to feel what you feel inside when you hear a song from your part of w/e country – or that proud feeling you get in general for your country…whether you are on vacation there laying on teh beach seeing a F16 fly overhead & tht feeling of pride that those are your soldiers.. the customs the traditions, the religion. the smile on ur face when you find ppl in america from your country & how even though they might be complete strangers, you get that instant bond, because you are both from -w/e country.  -the feeling of being at an airport, in a mall, some kind of public place and you hear someone speaking your language. everything your parents instilled in you as a young child revolves around the culture you are from when you are 1st or even 2nd generation here from anther country, because in most cases the parents/grandparents came to america in hopes of making money & always going back to the mother land. so much about who you are and what you believe in revolves around that when your from another country & raise in the usa. so what happens when you try and “colaborate” if u will, with another person from a totally different culture? i guess you wont know if it’ll work till after youve tried it…but will it be too late then? -a close friend of mine is cuban and her mother tells her *(and my mother has said it as well..oddly enough, and i disagree with it completly) - that you need to put yourself around your “kind” (culture/race) inorder to find what your looking for, and that if you put yourself around people that arent of your “kind” you need to keep your guard up & not let yourself fall in “love”, that you should catch it before it happens.  but who can control who they like? because then you could be purpously walking away from someone that could have been the most important person in your life, in hopes of finding what parents from the “old country” believe is the perfect match.

so i ask you, are differences what draw people closer or push them farther apart? its a double edge sword …

Smoltz at 3000

Most of you sports fans out there probably heard about John Smoltz, pitcher for the Atlanta Braves reaching a national milestone about a week ago.  Smoltz joined many hall of famers and baseball greats about a week ago when he reached the 3000 strikeout amount for his great career.  I just think that he should be congradulated and even more noticed through his amazing career now that he has reached this huge milestone and will go down in history in major league baseball for being one of the few pitchers that have played the game of baseball at the professional level and was able to reach 3000 strikeouts for his career.  This is an amazing feat because baseball is one of the hardest sports to become a professional in and then excel in it to be able to go down in history as one of the games greats.

“Call me, so I can make it juicy for ya”

Hahahah sorry, I hope that title isn’t too inappropriate.  No, really, please don’t call me.  I’m not talking about myself, I’m talking about someone else who is currently taking over the music industry at the moment.  We all know the song that has been playing throughout all our radio, ipod, and car speakers for the past month.  Always being criticized for just being a guest performer on tracks to make a remix, Lil Wayne finally proved he can stand on his own.  Currently holding the #1 Video on TRL and the #1 Song on the Billboard Charts, “Lollipop” is an instant mega hit around the states.  Just being in Banana Joe’s here in Tampa in Channelside last Thursday, the DJ played the song TWICE because its that good.  Weezys new album, “The Carter III”, comes out in stores on June 10th, but whats even better than that is the cover artwork for the album.  I think it is absolutely hilarious and an amazing idea.  It is a picture of Lil Wayne in a light blue suit at probably a year old, and they photo-shopped his current tattoos that he has on his face into the picture, which includes two teardrops under his left eye, another under his right, and a design on his forehead. I think the picture is original and clever, totally not what any other rapper would think to do.  We still have more to look forward to, with Lil Wayne announcing that two weeks before his album is supposed to drop, he is releasing a brand new, first ever, official remix for “Lollipop” (He stated there is a track out there featuring Jeezy in it, but that is NOT the official remix).  I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited, and the featured artist on the remix track will not be announced until its released on the airwaves.  Not one to ruin a surprise, but at the club I heard he’ll buy you a drank…………

Ignorance is NOT Bliss

Last Wednesday I was eating lunch with a bunch of friends and we started talking about the upcoming election. My one friend really surprised me when she said, “Is that black guy still running.” Not only was that racist but extremely ignorant. This election has been going on for so long to not know the name Obama. I feel like she must be living in a box or something because obviously she has never watched the news or even glanced at a newspaper. Her comment got me thinking about how uninformed many people probably are. How can people not take an interest in who will be the next president of our country? Many of my friends feel absolutely no need to vote because they don’t know anything about politics. This year more than ever it is important for young people to start take an interest in the election and the future of our country.

Big Foot is Real!!

In recent weird news on AOL, a fashion shoe designer, Tatyana Manshykh, shows off a pair of 25 size shoes for men in Vitebsk, Belarus. That’s right, size 25 for men. I never knew shoes could be made that huge. But to  one man, Leonid Stadnyk, from Ukrain, theses shoes are a big deal. At 8 feet and 5 inches tall, Leonid has trouble finding shoes that fit. Luckily, there’s still hope for him to stay fashionable with the help of X-Large clothing…or would it be XXXXX-large?? 

I personally think it’s great that designers are now paying attention to all different sizes of people. While, not everyone can be a size 2, you can still be fashionable. Just find what fits and mix and match your style as much as you can. For Leonid, as the world’s tallest man, he’s got some pretty big shoes to fill and hopefully he won’t have too much trouble trying to find the right style.  

Black vs. White

Last night I was in the BSU (Black Student Union) Charity Fashion Show. I’ve been practicing for the show for about 5 weeks and am so glad its over. Through out the whole experience I made so many great friends and all of different races and ethnic backgrounds. When people think of BSU they assume that it’s only for black people but honestly, it isn’t.

Last fall I was also in the BSU Dance Team and everyone who found out would say things like, “Wait there can be white girls in that?” or “Hahah of course you would be in an all black dance team.” Things like this could be humorous at the time but after a while got rather annoying. I couldn’t understand why it was such a big deal that I was one of two white girls on a dance team. These reactions are also the reactions I got from being in the fashion show and sometimes I just wanted to hit someone in the face and be like, “Shut up! What is the big freaking deal?! We’re all human!” Many of the people that said those things obviously didn’t mean to say it meanly but I HATE racism so I guess that’s just why it gets on my nerves…

On a happier note, we raised so much money from the fashion show and I’m so excited to send it to the charity that we were walking for. 

My names Olivia and I have best friends of all different races. And I’m PROUD of it!