In our class with Mrs. Brinkman we watched both the old and the new Footloose movies and now she wants each of us to compare and contrast the movies. Both of the movies had the classic yellow bug, the Footloose song (of course), some pretty awesome dance moves. I was disappointed in the new movie that he didn't do a backflip off the truck during the fight scene like Kevin Bacon did in the first Footloose. Towards the end of the movie Ariel's parents went and danced outside the party in the first one, but they didn't do it in the remake. Also instead of a chicken fight with tractors like the first one, the new movie had several buses going in a figure eight until only one was left. There were other small differences, but the over-all idea of the movies was the same. Dancing and playing music too loud was illegal and eventually Ariel stops her rebellious ways and gets together with Ren McCormack. And they have an AMAZING SCHOOL DANCE at the end!
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O.K. we watched the MTV video about how music videos kind of started and that led to MTV or the other way around, whatever. I was really freaked out by how weird the movie was and how the videos really changed your perspective of the song itself. One of the people that were interviewed in the video said the same thing. He said how music videos killed the listeners imagination about the song and didn't allow them to make their own picture of what the song means to them. Madonna was the really scandalous video-ster. Her music videos were as "naughty" as Brittney Spears in the early 2000 and now Miley Cirus's videos today. This video made me realize how many of the original artists did not want to have music videos, but when MTV started creating videos for them and brought them more money and fame other artists started doing it as a way to become known and famous. In my final opinion MTV WAS MESSED UP!
For the entire month of March our Haydn to Hip Hop class, along with the entire Mountain Lake Public School, celebrated MIOSM (Music In Our School Month). Since our class is a music class, and is led by the amazing choir teacher, Mrs. Brinkman, we had the great privilege of creating the schedule for each week in March. The first week was Country and we had a line dancing competition that the Senior class won-of course. Brianna S. and I were the two senior candidates and I must say it was a lot of fun dancing with that crazy girl. The judges were Mr. Funk, Ms. Brown, and Mr. Appel (the A.G. department). We tried to have trivia throughout the week, and we did have a few questions that counted as C.O.T.Y. points, but with the craziness of March and classes being gone at different times, we only had a few days of trivia. This happened throughout the month of March and it kind of messed up our plan. The other thing we wanted to do was play music in between classes, but the office ladies would not allow it because they needed that time to have announcements and other stuff (WHATEVER). O.K. so the second week of March was A Capella week, which was "created" by Lydia, Jenny, and I. We had A Capella lingo and a C.O.T.Y. activity of Guess that group, where a student representative from each grade would write down one of five A Capella groups and if they were right they got C.O.T.Y. points. The third week was rap and the C.O.T.Y. activity was pretty awesome. Mrs. Svehla, Mrs. Brinkman, Ms. Cattryse, Mrs. Banks, and Mr. Funk all rapped to a rap that they wrote or we wrote for them. Mr. Funk won that competition and he was the senior representative (of course). Although, all the other rappers did very well. The final week in March was Hip Hop week and we went to the High School for Recording Arts. And we ended the week with the Student Talent Show featuring the CLASH OF THE CLASSES! Which was AMAZING!!!!! Right after the Talent Show there was a dance for the 9-12th graders and that was great, but I was so tired the next day. The next night (which was Saturday) we sponsored a dance for the 6-8th graders and it was so funny to see how awkward the kids were at first. Well, that's really all I have to say about that.
On February 6, 2015 Bob Dylan took the stage and spoke of his life and those who had helped him make it and those who had tried to discourage him. This morning Mrs. Brinkman read us some of the speech and I have to say it was a very good speech for someone who I've never known to be a good speaker. Many of the points he made in his speech about other musicians and other famous people actually made sense to me because we had learned about them throughout our previous years in this class. Bob Dylan really knows how to politely make a point, although it would be considered a slam to most people, and then move on to the next point without even a single thought. He is a very direct speaker and tells it how it is even if other people may not like it. I think that more people should be like Bob Dylan, in that they should not be afraid to say what they think and follow their dreams no matter what other people may say to them to bring them down or tell them they can't.
FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS AND DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU YOU CAN'T! August Rush is the musical journey of a young musical genius who grew up with everyone telling him he was an orphan, but knowing that his parents were out there. All he had to do was follow the music that he heard with his ears and his heart and eventually he would find his way home. Throughout the movie he continually shows his belief in this fact and he risks everything to find his parents and on the way finds friends, enemies, and a realization that music connects everything. My teacher asked us if Evan (a.k.a. August Rush) believes in anything and I think he does and I think he believes in music and the power it has to join groups together and he uses that belief to try and draw his family together. Many of the people at the orphanage thought that Evan was crazy and that he'd never find his parents because they didn't want him, but he didn't listen to them and strove to find them through the one thing he knew about, music. Throughout the movie you get to see Evan's amazing talents and how he feels the music and projects it through whatever he is playing (guitar, piano, organ, and directing an orchestra). This is a great movie and I encourage everyone who hasn't seen it to get it because as August/Evan says, "
For those of you who haven't seen the movie Friday Night Lights I will try not to spoil it for you. For our class with Mrs. Brinkman we are supposed to reenact a scene from a film, or make our own scene, then use different types of music to project a different feel to the video. We (Eric, Austin, Hayden, and I) decided to do the inspirational speech at the halftime of the teams highest and most challenging game of their career. The speech is given by Coach Gaines, played by Eric, and the prayer at the end is led by Roger, played by Austin. The basis of the speech is that it isn't about winning or loosing, but about being perfect. Which isn't about the scoreboard but knowing that you did your absolute best and you didn't let your teammates down.
Why are scary movies scary? I believe that what scares people the most is not knowing what will happen and also the music that adds a lot to the mood of the movie. If you listen to the sounds of the movie, the music and background songs, then you will be able to tell when "something" is about to happen. One example of this is when our class watched Cher Noble and right before a huge grizzly ran through the group of people and freaked everyone out, there was a long pause in the music that led me to believe that something was going to pop up and I wasn't as scared by it as some people were. . .Logan. Why do some films make you cry? I personally try to keep my emotions in check and don't usually cry even if a film is sad because the films are usually fictional and didn't actually happen. The reason that most people cry at sad or emotional films is that they draw you into the story and make you feel as if you are a part of the actors' lives. The Soloist is a movie about a man with amazing musical talent and another man from the L.A. Times Newspaper. They help each other out by Making each other realize what being a real friend is and also bringing each other out of the darkness of their past lives. Our teacher Mrs.Brinkman asked us to answer certain questions about the movie. . . 1. What does it take to make us happy in this world? Being happy in this world doesn't take money, fame, or a perfect childhood and family. All it takes is one person or group of people that take the time to help you out when you are down or love you unconditionally no matter what is going on in your life. 2.Why do you help others? I help others because it is the right thing to do and if you want to have a good life you should be kind to others even if they aren't kind to you. 3.What do we gain from helping others? We gain a better perspective on others lives and how we can affect them in a positive way. 4.What do we lose? We may lose things that aren't really useful in the long-haul of life (money, cars, house, food) but you gain so much more in the end. 5.Is there an "effective" way to find inspiration? Whatever gets you inspired is the most effective way to get you inspired. 6. How do you find inspiration for writing, music, or creative pursuits? I find inspiration in words or speeches that people give, music that I hear, and by the actions of people who help others with what they do in their life. 7. To what extent can music help and/or heal a person? Music has been scientifically studied as a healing agent in some forms of treatment. I think that even for the everyday person music can heal or help them get through the day or unwind after a long hard day. I enjoy listening to music while I work because it helps me focus on the one thing that I am doing instead of listening to what others are doing and distracting myself. "All he cares about is the moment and music. It's peace for him, it's sanity, it's his home." ~Los Angeles columnist Steve Lopez on Nathaniel Ayers- (Quote from the actual people which the Soloist is modeled after.)
To start off the new year we had to think of what we could do with a hundred thousand dollars that involves music and helps others. I decided to use the money to help the music program in Mountain Lake Public School. To help the school there will be a new sound and light system which will cost around $20,000. Music will have to be purchased so that the children have something to sing and that costs about one hundred dollars for fifty copies and choirs sing about twelve songs every year. That would be around twelve hundred dollars per year and I would like to fund the first five years, which is six thousand dollars. Then donate ten thousand dollars to the Feed My Starving Children volunteer building that Mountain Lake goes to every year with the students. I would donate because the more money that the kids usually fundraise the more they could bag/make food. The rest of the money will be used to make a website that will help schools that do not have adequate equipment or sheet music for the students. This site will also gain money through donations and advertisement so that it could continue to help people through the years. It would cost anywhere from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars to make a website that will last throughout the years like I hope this one will. To total it up it would cost $66,000 to do everything I just listed and I would use the leftover money to start saving up for the money I would need in the future to help the schools that would send in a video of why they think their school needs to have money sent to help them in their music program.
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Ben Black
I was born on May 4th 1997, I am attending Mountain Lake High School. I am on the Football, Basketball, and Baseball teams and I attend choir and band. Archives
April 2015
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