Archives for August 2009

Volleyball is the resplendent sun piercing through every glistening bead of our sweat.$0$0$0$0Volleyball is the sun-sponsored moon hanging in the dark,evening sky waiting for our touch. $0$0Volleyball is the protractor in which we measure the angle and direction of our life. $0$0Volleyball is the force pushing us to meet higher expectations and to reach for the unlimited. $0$0Volleyball is the bump that we must overcome and learn to look beyond for solutions. $0$0$0$0$0Volleyball is the swoop we make to catch the falling glass from breaking. $0$0Volleyball is the collage we make through scrutiny and intense preparation to present to the class. $0$0Volleyball is the dripping blood of the ball when it falls casually onto the floor. $0$0Volleyball is the interchangeable voices that scream “GOT IT!” or “SET IT UP!” $0$0Volleyball is the vociferous ocean waves pounding against the shore of the beach. $0$0Volleyball is the labyrinth that gets us all confounded and lost. $0$0Volleyball is the clown’s desire to imprint a perennial impression onto his/her audience. $0$0$0$0$0Volleyball is the failing grade we receive on our final exam that motivates us to succeed. $0$0$0$0$0Volleyball is the musical component of a play that creates suspense and tensions. $0$0Volleyball is the prickling sensation when your funny bone causes you physical pain. $0$0Volleyball is the world, my world, that is. $0$0$0

 “Love Letter To Rock And Roll” is My Chemical Romance’s new album which they have just started recording this month. MTV News interviewed lead singer Gerard Way about the new album which he says is going to be “American.”$0 They offer a link for their three new songs. But the problem is that they all sound exactly the same. They all have the same punk beat with short-cut lyrics like in the recent “Desolation Row” cover for the movie “Watchmen.” It won’t be until the album is done that we will know if the album is worth buying, but for now we can hope that Way puts different sounds into the album.$0$0p.s. This blog was so much longer with background info, side projects and a lot more comparison between songs but NY.HSJ. decided to delete my blog. Sorry.$0$0$0

“The Pink Panther 2” is a comedy starring actor Steve Martin.  Before watching the movie I watched the first Pink Panther, and it was hilarious. Steve Martin and his assistant were hilarious as they slowly, clue by clue, tried to find the precious stolen pink panther of France.$0 In one part, Steve Martin, playing detective Clouseau, and his assistant were fighting off enemies. Clouseau just stands there doing karate poses while his assistant did all the work then he told him good team work. $0$0 “The Pink Panther 2” unfortunately didn’t live up to the first one’s expectations. The movies’s funniest parts were the same parts that were revealed in trailers; there were only about four or five other parts that were funny. $0$0 The story line was at least able to continue in a reasonable and sensible way. The Pink Panther was once again stolen, by the famous tornado. So the dream team, the best detectives from all over the world, joined Clouseau. Throughout the whole time Clouseau is considered to be dumb and useless. At the end it seems the dream team were the actual stupid ones. Overall, “The Pink Panther 2” was a somewhat good movie but could have been better, like the first Pink Panther.  $0

http://longisland.newsday.com/gallery/galleries/amny/pdf/20090806.pdf$0$0$0$0$0 Recently, a lot of debate has arisen about the New York Giants contract extension offer to quarterback Eli Manning. If he accepts the deal, it would make him the highest paid player in the National Football League.  $0$0$0$0 The offer is a six-year deal, which would earn him $97 million, would be about $1 million more than his brother, Peyton Manning.  Some people believe this offer is fair and that Eli is on his way to becoming one of the greatest players of all time–statistics and his play last season have not shown that. $0$0 Manning seemed shaky on the football field at times last season, and was not able to execute enough plays to push his team further in the playoffs.  Maybe he is not to blame fully though,because the team’s chemistry was affected when their wide receiver Plaxico Burress faced charges of illegal possession of a weapon after shooting himself in a nightclub. In the previous season when the Giants won the Superbowl, Manning made several brilliant plays to bring his team one of the greatest upsets in Superbowl history.  $0$0 The Giants probably considered that season more in their huge offer. Re-negotiations can still be made even if he accepts: $35 million is guaranteed, while the rest can change based on future circumstances.  $0$0 Manning faces the pressure of performing as a top-level quarter back, because if he doesn’t not only would he let down the giants and fans that saw his superstar potential,but the Giants would not have to pay him the full salary they offered tohim. $0$0 While the Giants are paying the young quarterback a ridiculous amount of money, they are not taking as big of a risk as everyone thinks.  They have a good amount of power in deciding whether Manning deserves the full salary, based upon his play on the field.$0$0$0

They say real women have curves, but the only women young girls see in the pop culture they’re surrounded by are ones who look more like pre-pubescent boys. It is also a terrible message to send a young girl who is at a crucial point of self development (which makes her very impressionable) that she is not womanly because she does not have an hourglass figure. $0 Culture is condemning these skinny images by countering them with those of “real women”: large breasts and a curvaceous bum, but slender everywhere else. It’s harmful to attach any body onto the elusive “real woman” because no singly type of figure applies to all healthy girls.  $0$0 The whole “real women have curves” idea may appease young insecure girls who feel judged by the ribs jutting out at them from the magazines that try to be the guides to their lives. However, it’s a jab to the girls who are naturally skinny and do not have curves.  $0$0 Culture and magazines, if they genuinely want to help teens in their awkward transformation to adulthood, should stop emphasizing any kind of body they expect will make people feel better about themselves. They should seek to help in development of the personal confidence and security so that advertisements intended for a flippant glance won’t resonate so deeply.  $0$0 What a real woman is shouldn’t be defined by appearance in any respect. If magazines emphasized the development and the value of other aspects of a girl, like unique talents and personal character as a friend, stereotypes of vanity could be broken and self worth and esteem would build.$0

$0  To start this off bluntly, there have been many times I have been called “white” personality-wise, though I never have been told that with malice or in mockery. I am in no way white; I’m “Panarican.” Half Panamanian, half Puerto Rican, completely Latina. The closest I come to being ethnically Caucasian is that I may be a wee bit Scottish about three or four generations back. $0$0            I have also been told by my parents that I have a Barbie complex. Still, not in a cruel way. Since I was a child I have loved Barbie. I have wanted to dye my hair blonde since I understood that one could dye one’s hair. I used to want eye lightening contacts but have since grown to like my eye color. The comparison is in some way true. $0$0            I annunciate and attempt to speak with polished grammar. When I read aloud in class I sound like Hilary Duff. I have the liberal views of an Oberlin College Alumna and have been called a bleeding heart. When I have the money I drink Starbucks coffee. One of my favorite shows is “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.” I’m academically obsessive and love Broadway shows. I’ve gone to SoHo and Chelsea more times than I can remember, yet have never gone to Spanish Harlem on my own accord. $0$0            For these reasons and more I have been called white. As I’ve said before I’ve never been called fake or aspiratory in my “whiteness,” many say it as a joke or as an observation. I’ve taken these comments at face value and even thought that they were right. For most of my high school career I’ve seen my personality traits more similar to my Caucasian peers. I am probably going to be judged badly for saying that but it is honest. $0$0            But due to a recent conservation with my mother I began to question my “whiteness.” Why is it that positive and intelligent qualities are attributed to one certain ethnicity? Why are only Caucasian Americans seen as intellectual and well-spoken? Why is it that when people of color attempt to better themselves and learn, they are seen as “being white?” Why aren’t they just intelligent people of their own ethnicity?$0$0            Both my own and other’s belief that I am white show our own misconceptions on ethnicities, the kind of false impressions that often goes unnoticed. They have attributed some negative qualities on Latinos that oppose my characteristics. They have based their opinion on my ethno-personality on stereotypes of my actual culture. $0$0            I have realized that I do not act white. I act like myself. $0

            On another deep contemplation on what to write a blog about, I turn and ask my good friend Ariana. Upon random conversation, the term “sea pig” comes up and not knowing what that is, (oh unforeseen horrors) I do what all Americans do – I googled.

It may not be as bad as I make it to be, but the image that popped up scarred me for life. Never again will I reference anything as ugly, never again will a guy who asks me out be rejected in terms of ugly, any clothing I browse through in Soho be labeled as ugly, the word ugly in my vocabulary has been replaced with… sea pig. That thing is hideous.

I suppose we dislike what we do not know, so I decided to look it up. Sea pig. You would imagine a nice before-bacon with gills or something of that fashion. No. It is a slug like thing that looks like a potato.. a pink, alive, fetus-like….. with shriveled bunny ears and a weird hermit mouthed…..potato. Gross.

The more official term for sea pig is the sea cucumber. (Ah, I like that much better…) Except for the fact that it is not green, not solid and lives miles underneath the surface of water on what is known as the”abyssal plain,” the “sea pig” is a type of sea cucumber that is similar to star fish and sea urchin (whatever that is).

“They look and act kind of like slugs do. They feed on mud on the seafloor, benefiting from the organic materials that settle to the ocean bottom.”

(From ExtremeScience.com)

Scientists say they don’t understand what makes these sea cucumbers so successful in such depths. What I don’t understand is how people managed to dig up such a creature. How did you manage to find the technology, funding, and time to bring such a horrific creature to life? Maybe, the how is irrelevant…

WHY would you bring up such creatures? Are humans so nosy and curious we manage to find interest in the most awkward of places? We come up with the strangest of curiosities…

They say curiosity drives us. I guess that’s good. But how relevant are the things we discover? Is it worth all the effort and time to discover?

…. sea pigs. Really?

          I babysat tonight and it was boring. Six hours of sitting earned me $120. My job was easy but emotionally stressful. I had to watch Lia, a seven-year-old civilized girl. My babysitting experience started at 4:30 pm. At 4:25 I walked to Wyckoff between Hoyt and Bond, where Lia’s camp bus promptly dropped her off. At 4:40 we entered the house and the first thing she did was…turn on the television.

            Sitting at the table, about five feet from the television, we sat in front of the moving figures displayed on the screen. We sat there for an hour and half. I asked her if she wanted anything to drink, she quickly glanced away from the magnet-like television to say no, and quickly readjusted her position, again glaring at the television. Sponge Bob was on, a popular but pointless one. Following SpongeBob came Scooby Doo and after Scooby Doo followed another episode of SpongeBob. After the third episode I suggested that we relocate to her bedroom, three levels above where we were sitting.

            We moved to her room. Her room was fashionably decorated. The white marble fireplace held photos of her with friends and family. The bookshelves to the left and right held shelves of Barbie dolls and books. Her leopard print curtains matched the leopard print hamper as well as the rug. It was an ordinary room but what surprised me was the television set, directly set up so she could sit in her leopard bed and watch countless hours of television.

            I offered we play a game; she just gave me a bored look. She suggested turning the television set on and I said after we played a game. We played a five-minute game and right before she was about to win the game of Candly Land she cleaned up the game and pushed the television’s on button. I sat on the leopard rug, afraid of the person she was to become and angry with her parents. A seven year old doesn’t need and shouldn’t have a television in their room. Sure, it makes life easier for a babysitter but communication is a necessary skill. We conversed but not nearly as much as we would have if the television weren’t on.

            I ended up reading her a book before she went to bed, but I realized the damage that televisions could have on children. Before the television was shut off Lia had a glazed expression on her face, just staring at the screen. I can’t explain the expression but it was as if she had seen a ghost, it was a delayed look.

When I was her age, in second grade, I asked my mom if I could have a television in my room just like Miranda. Miranda told me that she watched television in her room and when she got bored she sat for hours watching. I was jealous, sitting there sounded great! One time Miranda told me that one day she sat in her room all day watching television (not speaking to anyone). Tomorrow I am going to babysit Lia again, and I think I will casually bring up my Miranda story.

            In one of the smaller Broadway theaters that corner every street and intersection of  Times Square, the Helen Hayes theatre seats about 597 with a proscenium stage type in sight that is primarily staging Hitchcock’s 39 Steps, a play that gives a whole other meaning to the whole “man on the run” tale. 

            This one hour and 45 minute work—based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film, which in turn originated from John Buchan’s novel TheThirty-Nine Steps, first published in 1915—more often provokes smiles than real laughs, but there are moments when it’s apparent that there had been spontaneous applause that spur from the signs of utter genius on the creative juice that each scene reveals is necessary, and somewhat few lapses into jejune humor or, worse yet, boredom.

            However,the heightening for laughs are done sensibly all while making sure that the plot remains reasonably involving.

            39 Steps tells the story of Richard Hannay (played by Sean Mahon), a charming and somewhat bored Englishman who agrees to take home Annabella Schmidt (Jill Paice), a mysterious woman that he meets at the theater dressed in an all-black ensemble with a top hat that ultimately reveals her inner mischievous personality, which foreshadows the events to come. Once arriving at Hannay’s accommodation, she starts to explain that she’s a secret agent with knowledge of an important military secret who’s seeking a hiding place from two men who are after her. Hannay—of course being a human with human instincts—initially doubts her tale, but is then resolutely convinced of its truth the next morning when she stumbles in from the bedroom to the living room with a map of Scotland in her hands and a knife in her back.

            Off to Scotland, Hannay is in a hasty attempt to clear his name of framed murder and to discover Annabella’s secret—a mission that proves harder than it first appears. Along the way, Hannay encounters a host of characters, both good and evil—which are all impersonated by Jeffrey Kuhn and Arnie Burton—as well as two very different ladies (played by Jill Paice): Pamela, an arrogant young woman who turns Hannay in to the authorities while fighting her obvious attraction for him, and Margaret, an unhappy farmer’s wife who helps him escape from the police.

            But perhaps the most breathtaking part of the show is the versatility that Kuhn and Burton show—the ability to impersonate a big handful of characters and the ability to change clothes in an extremely swift time manner. It’s quite awe-inspiring—especially the scene where the pair plays a total of six different characters in about 30 seconds while constantly changing hats explicitly which is also hilarious.

            Even from the bigger roles such as the “bad guy,” Dr. Jordan, the two also take on roles of two mysterious figures that watch Hannay’s apartment from beneath a streetlamp which they carry on and off stage with them as they come and go, to the policemen who are hot on his trails. Their reflexes and timing when swapping hats and roles before our eyes take tremendous energy, as can tell from the energy streaming from the audience, they’ve done a great job. 

A few years ago, I started seeingp eople sporting t-shirts and buttons proclaiming, “Music is the Weapon of the Future”. 

“Yeah right,” I remember thinking.  Music has an unparalleled way of bringing people together.  Yet how could flimsy sheets of music and instruments protect us from guns and bombs? The documentary “Playing For Change” convinced me that music is a viable way to create a more peaceful world.

“Playing For Change” began with the performance of Roger Ridley, a street musician in Santa Monica, California who inspired Mark Johnson to travel around the world with a film crew, recording musicians’ songs of peace and harmony.  He went to the poorest townships in South Africa where 70% of the population has AIDS, to post- Katrina New Orleans, Northern Ireland, Israel, Sub – Saharan Africa, and Himalayan India, among other places. None of the musicians met in person, yet they were able to sing in unison by listening to each other via headphones.  Johnson and his crew edited together the recordings and videos.  The product is so beautiful and moving that it practically hurts to watch.

Perhaps the final product is so good because of the quality of the musicians who performed.  Johnson did not seek out the world’s pop stars (though Bono and several other internationally recognized musicians perform).  He went to nearly every continent recording vastly different artists, including street performers.  Yet Johnson’s team uses the video and audio clips they collected in an original and engaging way.  Among others, the video of Bob Marley’s song, “War, No More Trouble” is amazing to watch.  I love the way that the filmmaker wove together clips of today’s musicians playing that song with old footage of Bob Marley performing the song in concert.  Johnson’s documentary is an innovative work of art.

Perhaps music cannot be used as a weapon in the traditional sense.  Do we really need any more bombs and guns? According to Greenpeace International, a worldwide organization that campaigns to protect the environment and promote peace, the 27,000 nuclear weapons on earth could destroy all life many times over.  Music unites rather that divides. Even the boundaries of different genres of music do not bind musicians.  Every great movement has had music that motivated and bonded people.  Even Joseph Stalin recognized the power of music to overthrow injustice.  He did not allow any music to be played in his presence. 

Music is one thing that we all have in common.  Perhaps it can be the fuel and binding glue for a global outcry to save both human life and the ecosystem that we call home.  This documentary is a testament to the fact that people of different musical and regional backgrounds can come together.  As one musician in the documentary said, “because music knows no boundaries, knows no races, [it is] possible to bring peace around the world.”