Rodriecea's Blog Comment

The blog I read and have decided to comment on is Rodriecea’s post entitled “…..Obama and His Crew….,” which is the blog where we were asked to discuss what we think about the government’s current crackdown on protests and whether we agree or disagree with it.  Rodriecea felt the government was overstepping their boundaries when it came to trying to crackdown on the protests.  She feels protesting is a way for Americans to get their point across if they don’t agree with something.  By causing a ruckus, more people are informed about the problem and are able to decide how they feel about the situation.  She feels as long as nobody is being harmed in the process of the protest, they should be allowed.  Also, she wrote, videotaping public events or protests shouldn’t be considered a problem.  Again, as long as it’s not harming the public there isn’t a reason they shouldn’t be allowed to do it.

            I agree with her blog post 100%.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I wrote a lot of the same ideas in my own blog about this topic.  Protesting is a way for people to voice their opinion and also exercise the right of freedom of speech.  Rodriecea and I had the same thoughts when it comes to public protesting. 

Bangarang and Unthinkable

            I chose to watch the video Bangarang by Skrillex.  Throughout the video there are three boys trying to “take down,” the ice cream man and his truck.  They eventually accomplish this and rob the ice cream man.  They were the lost boys.  The song is entitled Bangarang, which is the battle cry of the Lost Boys in the movie Hook.  That is why the movie is talking about lost boys. 

            The video I chose to post was “Unthinkable” by Alicia Keys. This is one of my favorite music videos ever in life!  It is set back in the day when it would have been unthinkable for a black woman and a white man to be together which is just what that video shows.  The song talks about doing the unthinkable, even if it makes you look crazy and people won’t approve.  In the music video the young couple is in love and people don’t want to see them together.  Alicia Keys’ (the girl in the video), family tries to stop them from being together by fighting him and making her stay away because they think he isn’t good enough for her.  In the end the two are finally able to be together and be happy.  The family realizes this is what is going to make her happy and that she really does love this man.  They also realize he is not going to do any harm to her, loves her, and is going to treat her exactly how she deserves to be treated.

Fantasy Factory

I was watching Rob Dyrdek’s show Fantasy Factory this weekend, and that has to be one of the funniest shows out today.  Television today sucks and I usually get mad when I’m watching, because it’s just horrible, but not with this show.  I can never stop laughing.  First off, how did he even get his own show? I have been trying to figure that out for so long.  There are so many skateboarders out there, what made MTV decide to give him a show.  The only reason I came up with is because he is so funny and reckless.  Rob Dyrdek loves doing crazy things like trying to be attacked by tigers and sharks.  Sometimes he makes his Big Cat and Drama do the reckless things he comes up with.  They always cooperate and do what he tells them no matter how stupid or even dangerous, even though they never really want to at first.  In the episode I watched this weekend he bought a falcon to attack and kill the pigeons that were around his Fantasy Factory.  He bonded with the falcon and trained it inside the factory, and eventually he told Derrick (the falcon) that he had become one of his really good friends.  He took Derrick outside to start attacking the pigeons and he flew away.  He was so distraught and sad.  It was so funny but depressing at the same time.  He thought Derrick was going to attack and then come back to him, but he didn’t.  Even though I don’t know why Rob Dyrdek has his own show I’m glad he does.  It provides entertainment for me and is one of the few television shows I can watch and not get annoyed and question why I watch it.      

Getting Rid of My Aunt

Some people are really inconsiderate of other people’s schedules and times.  I was told by my aunt to make sure I am free for my cousin’s First Communion, and that it was on a Sunday in April, she just didn’t know which one.  So I find out this weekend it’s on April 22.  I was upset because she isn’t even the one who told me.  I was told by my grandmother.  I’m glad she told me because I was planning to go out of town that weekend and would have missed it.  My aunt always just expects me and my mother to automatically know things and just show up.  I was mad because I was planning a getaway for that weekend, but those can be rescheduled.  My mother was furious because she was not told.  She didn’t even know my cousin’s First Communion was this year.  Also, at her job, they have to request a days off over a month in advance because Home Depot writes the schedules by the month, so she might have to work this day.  My aunt never takes other peoples schedules, feelings, or plans into consideration and really makes things for other members of the family hard.  I guess I have to deal with her inconsideration since she is part of the family and I can’t kick her out, even though I have tried multiple times.

Last Essay Topic

Well I didn’t write this blog in time and you already told the class our last essay was going to read a short piece of work and write an argumentative essay on it.  I think you said whether it was effective or not, but I’m pretty sure I probably made that up.  I tend to do that a lot unfortunately.  Anyways, I think this is a great subject to write about.  It’s a very broad topic, like the rest of our essays, and does not seem like it will be too hard to complete.  I enjoy the fact that we get such broad topics to write about.  In high school, we were always given topics that were so specific and you could only say so much on a certain topic, which led to many people’s essays becoming redundant and annoying.  With broad topics, you can pretty much choose everything you want to do, and I’m sure it makes your job a lot more interesting.  If our essays were really specific, you would probably be reading the same thing over and over, some people would just write better than others.

The Weekend, Drizzy, and Ross

I am going to start off with the Weekend. The author of the article describes The Weekend’s music to be unreal, skeezy, and pretty much not good at all.  Personally, I never really liked The Weekend or got into his music much.  He just sounds like he’s whining all the time to me.  But I’m pretty sure I am one of the only people who feel this way, because everyone I know loves him.  I wouldn’t describe his songs as unreal or not good, he is just an artist I haven’t really gotten into, because I don’t care for his music.

            The next artist is Drake.  The author describes him as an r&b artist who should pretty much go back to where he came from in Canada.  He compares him to the work Kanye West did in his album in 808’s and Heartbreaks, which was not a good album at all in my opinion.  Kanye is definitely not a singer.  I wouldn’t call Drake an r&b artist, because he still does rap.  I think he is just a little confused truthfully.  He singing isn’t really good, but at the same time it isn’t bad.  Drake is just in touch with his emotions.  He doesn’t rap and about selling drugs and killing people, like some artists, because he hasn’t gone through that.  He raps about what he knows, which is one of the many reasons I respect him as an artist.

            Lastly, we have Rick Ross.  The author of these articles loves Rick Ross and thinks he’s an authentic.  I feel the exact opposite about him.  Why does Rick Ross think he became rich off cocaine? He was a correctional officer.  He acts like something he isn’t to me.  Don’t get me wrong, I like Rick Ross, mainly because of that noise he makes, but he seems fake to me.  I feel like he wants to make everybody think all this stuff about him, but I just don’t feel like legit.

            I don’t think artists have to be authentic or real in today’s music.  All you need is a good beat, a cool voice, and a couple good adlibs and people will love you.  If you listen to the words of a lot of songs they don’t make any type of sense, well not to me at least.     

Mainstream vs. Not So Mainstream

I believe it depends on who you ask.  There are many different artists out there who are “mainstream” and those who are not so “mainstream” who I both have a high level of respect.  For example, a person I consider mainstream I suppose would be someone like Beyoncé.  I love everything she stands for, she makes different types of songs, seems respectable and well rounded.  A group I personally wouldn’t consider mainstream that I also have a high level of respect for would be Travis Porter.  I respect them so much because, since they’ve come into the music world their music hasn’t changed; neither has their image or things like that.  To me they are just a group of regular guys, who truthfully could be some of my friends that make music that everybody likes.  They aren’t really rebellious, but they aren’t going to change their style for anyone either.  Mainstream artist like Nicki Minaj, is one I don’t like at all.  I used to love her, but since she has gotten so famous she has changed for what she thinks the public wants her to be.  She tries way too hard to be different and over does it.  Her music isn’t the same at all and I have lost a lot of respect for her.  She tells her fans to be different and express yourself, but she over does everything and it’s all so fake to me.

            I don’t think either mindlessly following a mainstream fad or revolting without a purpose is worse.  In my eyes they’re kind of the same.  I think a lot of people do things because they see others do them and that’s one reason for people rebelling for no reason.  They think, “Oh, well he did it, so I’m going to do it too!”  Following the latest trends is following someone too.  It’s all monkey see, monkey do to me.  Everybody thinks they’re different or were the first person to do something, but nine times out of ten they are probably doing something because someone else did it.