Rammstein

Rammstein is a band from Berlin, Germany formed in 1994. As of 2009 they sold over 15 million records worldwide. Rammstein will be be going on a small 12 show North American tour starting May 5th, 2011. On May 10th, 2011 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, Rammstein will be taking the stage at 8 p.m. Get your tickets now!!

Rammstein is SICK in concert! Check out videos from their INSANE concerts at the Volkerball!

Click here to see more videos, or here to visit their webpage.

The Academy

     Last Sunday, February 27, was the night of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. Tons of celebs flooded the Red Carpet that night, wearing stunning gowns and top of the line tuxedos. My favorite gown of the evening was worn by Mila Kunis. She wore a lavender chiffon gown by Elie Saab Haute Couture. Click here to read more about Mila's gown. 

    Another "best dressed" in my book is Natalie Portman. She wore a violet silk gown from Rodarte. She looked as stunning as ever. Click here to read more about Natalie's gown. 

     To view the best and worst dress on the red carpet this year, visit Cbs.

 

     This year there was a total of ten films nominated for Best Picture of the Year. These include: Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, 127 Hours, Toy Story 3, The Social Network, True Grit, and Winter's Bone. The Oscar went to Colin Firth's The King's Speech. 

    One of my favorite all time favorite movies had three nominations. Johnny Depp's Alice in Wonderland took 2 out of the 3 Oscars it was nominated for. The 3 nominations were for Art Direction, Costume Design, and Visual Effects. It took the Oscar for Art Direction and Costume Design. The Oscar from Visual Effects went to Inception, which is also a fantastic film. To view results of the Oscars, click here.

     The Oscars were hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco this year. They did a fantastic job, keep audiences world-wide hooked. They also had a fabulous introduction to the awards show. If you missed it, you can find it here. Not to mention that Anne had a total of EIGHT costume changes during the show! Click here to see them all.  

My Birthday

I had the great fortune of having super-bowl Sunday land on my birthday this year. So naturally, like 111 million other people in the world on Sunday night, I watched the big game. Not to mention the infamous super-bowl commercials. I observed what people thought of certain commercials and took note of whether they liked it or not. The top favored commercials (at this particular party) were:  1. Darth Vader Kid "That commercial is so cute!!"

2. Best Buy "Haha at least Justin has a sense of humor!"

3. Doritos "We need to get doritos now!!" 

4. Carmax "'I feel like an acrobat in a mattress store!!' Haha" 

5. Pepsi Max "Haha that must have hurt!" 

The commercials that got criticized were: 

1. Brisk

2. Xoom

3. Chevy

First of all, the eminem commercial was just pointless and not entertaining. the xoom commercial was building up nicely and the end was just a let-down. Lastly, the chevy commercial.... really? Do we really need facebook in our cars!? Talk about the spread of social networking sites... 

If you want to check out all the ads, see the top ads from this year, or top ads of previous years, visit http://superbowlads.fanhouse.com/

Skins & Midterms

I have been studying for midterms and finishing so many projects and homework assignments this weekend I have had almost no time for anything else. There was few things I did accomplish including washing the dishes, vacuuming my room, and watching MTV's new show Skins. MTV describes the show as "Be it sex, drugs, the breadth of friendships or the depth of heartbreaks, Skinsis an emotional mosh-pit that slams through the insanity of teenage years. They'll crush hearts and burn brain cells, while fearlessly confronting every obstacle head on...or slightly off." While this description is an accurate one, the show is just insanely ridiculous. Have any of you seen this show? I couldn't stand it being on my T.V. for more than ten minutes. 




I'll take Degrassi any day...

Google: Convenient or Addictive?

Recently in class, we have been discussing Google, how it operates, and the rapid increase in its usage. One question brought up during these discussions was whether or not people are addicted to the Google search engine. 


The way I see it, people these days love convenience. Efficiency is key in this world. Google is, (for the most part) reliant and correct. People have a fast, accurate way of finding what they are looking for, rather than going to a library or search for themselves online, page by page. It can be considered that people are addicted to the internet itself, not necessarily just Google alone. 


I, myself, have become somewhat dependable upon the great Google, but I wouldn't go as far as saying I am addicted to it. I love the convenience of the search. It is a free service that I am very happy with, so why not use it again and again? Does that make it an addiction? 

Why blog?

In April 2006, Rebecca Blood interviewed blogger Meagan Reardon about her blog Not Martha. 

Reardon started her blog in 2001 to document things that sparked her own interest. She was blogging for herself, and the popularity of her blog was just an added bonus. 

During the interview, Blood asked Reardon:

"Is there something about blog writing that is easier or less threatening for you?

I think of it as something completely separate. I don't have to write on a specific subject or fulfill a number of words. Simply because I'm not responsible to anybody else takes away all anxiety. All the potential humiliation is completely my own. Even more important — I have control over the final product. I can edit it, or remove it and pretend it never existed."

I like this answer because I agree with Meagan's blogging philosophy. It should be personal, non-threatening, and enjoyable. Meagan mentions she doesn't have to fulfill a certain number of words or write about a certain topic. Despite that this class, however, does have prompts, and has a minimum number of words I have to write, I believe I am given enough freedom to make this blogging experience personal, non-threatening and enjoyable. 

Another question Blood asked Reardon is:

"How has your weblog changed your life?

It's made me aware of a much larger world and put me in touch with people I would never know otherwise. It's also made me aware that people are much kinder and weirder than we allow ourselves to be in public. It's such a relief."

I take comfort in reading Reardon's answer because I agree 100%. People tend to be "more themselves" when the pressure of being in public is off. Online, you can be the person you really are and branch out of the box of "norms". When in public, I find it much harder to be who I really am, for fear of humiliation, judgement, failure, etc. Personal blogging, however, will free you from the harsh world public humiliation, and you can get in touch with people who have similar interests, similar hobbies, and similar personalities. Everyone is weird. Most people are afraid to show that weird side in public though. Online, however, you take a weird person with good writing skills, and you've got one interesting blog to read.