More music.

Since people seemed to like the last post I did that talked about / reviewed music, I thought I’d do another post where I listed some awesome music.

Some of these Songs/Albums aren’t new purchases for me, but I felt like making this post all Alternative albums/songs…

–Note, the listing is in no particular order, I just ordered them by whichever songs/albums are showing up first on my iTunes

#1- (Album) Forgive Durden’s “Wonderland” ….I’ve loved Forgive Durden for a while, but I just kept forgetting to buy the Wonderland album. If you’re an alternative / rock fan, I suggest you at least listen to this. Forgive Durden also has another album, “Razia’s Shadow: A Musical” which is phenomenal as well. That album really is a musical, but it’s just on the album/CD. Both “Wonderland” and “Razia’s Shadow” are so entirely different, it really shows you how talented  this band is.

#2- (Song) Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” ….This is a fun song. It starts with piano, which I usually like in a song. It’s different, so it may not be for everyone, but I sure thing it’s great. It’s catchy, upbeat, and happy. This song can be found on Grizzly Bear’s ‘Veckatimest’ album.

#3 (Songs) Phantom Planet’s “Do the Panic” and “Leader” ….These songs are also a lot of fun. “Do the Panic” is a super catchy song, that makes you want to sing along and tap your feet to the beat. “Leader” is also really catchy, and although I really like it, this one may not be for everyone. Oh… and props to them for the album cover, it’s a guy duct taped to the wall. These can both be found on the “Raise the Dead” album.

#4 (Album) The Hoosier’s “The trick to Life” ….Although I do not own the entire album yet, I’ve listened to the songs and they’re all great. My favorites (the ones I own) are “Goodbye Mr. A”, “Cops and Robbers” “Money to be Made” and “Worried About Ray”. This British alternative band is absolutely wonderful. ‘Goodbye Mr. A’, ‘Cops and Robbers’, and ‘Worried About Ray’ are all extremely fun, upbeat, catchy songs. ‘Money to be Made’ is a slow, shorter song, but I still love it. I strongly recommend these songs / the entire album. + The singer has a british accent, enough said.

#5 (Song) Neon Trees’ “Animal” ….This song is currently the iTunes free song of the week, so get it for free while it lasts! This song is actually really good in comparison to some of iTunes’s previous free songs, and once again it’s an alternative / indie-ish style of song, so if you like that kind of music, then you should download it. Plus it’s free, so there’s nothing really bad about downloading it.

#6 (Album) Panic at the Disco’s “Pretty Odd” ….Most of you  have probably already heard the hit song from that album “Nine in the Afternoon”. If you like / love that song, then you need to listen to the rest of the album. I too hadn’t listened to any song from that album except ‘Nine in the Afternoon’, but one day I just decided to listen to the rest of the CD, and I was amazed. None of the songs are the same, and overall it’s just such a wonderful album, he songs just make you want to turn up the volume.

#7 (Song) Ghostland Observatory’s “Sad Sad City” ….This song is different than most of what I’ve posted already, but it’s still an amazing song. It has a little bit more of an electronic influence than the selections above, but it’s still an alternative song. The beat is pretty catchy in this song, and overall the song is just really good.

#8 (Album) Animal Collective’s “Merriweather Post Pavilion” ….This band is not for everyone. Really, you’ll either love them, or hate them. Their music is really different, it’s actually kind of trippy and doesn’t always make very much sense. But I like it; I think it’s really interesting. If you want to listen to something that sounds really different, check out this album.

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It’s really nice outside today.

I’m really loving this warmer weather.

It seemed as though winter would just never end, with all of the snow, the super low temperatures, and the wind.

I didn’t mind the snow at first, but after the last snow day, I kind of just wanted it to be GONE.

Then the streets were covered with sand for what seems like forever, just making everything look dirty.

But now the snow is gone, and it’s beautiful outside.

I love it so much, the nearly seventy-degree weather is just perfect.

I can’t wait for everything to start blooming, because even though there’s pollen, everything is so unbelievably gorgeous.

If you hadn’t guessed already, spring is my favorite season.

Do you have a favorite season? If so, which one is it?

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First part of Social Science fair paper.

The Black Plague

             The Black Plague isn’t something people worry about nowadays, but in the past, it was a major threat to the human race. It’s hard to even imagine one third of our population dying from a few variations of a single disease. The Black Plague in Europe during the mid 1300’s affected religious beliefs, mythology, and humanity as a whole.

The Black Plague, also referred to as the Black Death and the Bubonic Plague, is cause by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, which is carried in the stomachs of fleas that live on rodents. Under normal circumstances, the bacteria will live in the flea without causing a disturbance, but for unknown reasons the bacteria started to multiply rapidly during the time of the epidemic, completely filling the stomach and causing the flea to starve. As the flea would feed, some of the Yersinia pestis would transfer into the host’s bloodstream. The most common hosts were black rats  (Corzine 27-28). The first European country infested with the plague was Italy. From there, black rats, hiding away in numerous merchant ships, carried the plague to many other countries,. By January 1348, it reached one of France’s largest seaports, and one of the main seaports of the time on the Mediterranean Sea. By the time summer rolled around, almost all of southern France, including Paris, was infected. Around September 1348, the Bubonic plague reached London, and by the end of 1349, all areas of England, Scotland, and Ireland were suffering from the Black Death. Only one year later, the disease also consumed Denmark, Sweden, Holland, Finland, and Germany. At the end of 1351, the plague epidemic had completed a ‘full circle’ back to where it first originated, the Russian steppe in central Asia. Even though the epidemic lasted for a few years, it stayed in each location for less time.

In more rural areas, where the number of residents was fewer and the residencies were more spread apart, the plague usually lasted between four and six months, and then completely vanished from that area. In the crowded, more urban places, the population was much more dense and the living conditions weren’t great; sanitation in general wasn’t very important to people. The plague would normally die off during the winter, and would revive itself during the spring and wreak havoc for a few more months. Between one-third and one-half of Europe’s population died due to one single disease (Corzine 41-43). The Bubonic plague, which is the most common form of the plague, is defined by the nearly egg-sized bumps that appear at the site of an infected flea bite. The most common areas where the bumps were found are near the groin, neck, or armpits. The bumps would cause agonizing pain, and after the bumps would appear, hemorrhaging, or bleeding in large amounts, would start to occur under the skin. The bleeding caused purplish blotches that often covered the person’s waist. Unfortunately, it only took between four and six days for the infected to die (Brenden).

Scientists of the time tried to find a cure, or even just an explanation for the Black plague and its severity. The technology wasn’t very advanced at the time, making it extremely difficult to discover quite a large amount of essential information. As hard as they tried, no explanation or cure was found, and a number of scientists decided that there actually was a God, and he was unleashing his wrath onto the Earth. Not only did many scientists give up trying to find a cure, but some even fell victim to the plague’s monstrosity, as did quite a few religious figures. Devotees of God would pray vigorously in hope not to contract the disease and die this painful death. Many, both infected and not, would inflict harm upon themselves as an act of penance, believing it would save them from catching the plague, or that God would forgive them of their sins and cure them of the disease (Encyclopedia for Students 90-92).

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Music ADD

Well, that’s what my art teacher calls it.

I had never refered to this as ‘Music ADD’ before, but i think the name suits it well.

Do you guys have music ADD?

It’s when you have your iPod or iTunes or whatever on shuffle, and even though you like most of the songs that are playing, you skip through them all anyways because you want to hear a particular band/cd/song.

When she said that I realized I do that every single time my iPod/iTunes is on shuffle.

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Favorite color?

Now, for most people, this is a simple question that only requires a few words to answer. But for other people, it requires an entire explanation.

For example, today in study hall, someone asked Timmy what his favorite color was.

He replied seriously, ‘Red and green, but not because of Christmas, but because they’re both pretty and red creates feelings of anger and love, demonstrating the opposite and extreme reactions it contains.’

Of course, after he said that, he had a hard time keeping a straight face.

What are some out of the ordinary answers you’ve gotten to ordinary,  simple questions?

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January + Music = Great.

For me, this month has been a GREAT month when it comes to new releases for music. First, there’s Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ CD, which is amazing. If you like indie/alternative/pop, I reccomend that you check it out. Then there’s Ok Go’s new CD, “The Blue Colour of the Sky”, which is also wonderful. As many of you know, Ok Go has fantastic music videos. You’ve probably seen the one where all four of the band members are on the the treadmills doing choreographed moves to the music. With their new CD came 2 new music videos. One for ‘This Too Shall Pass’, and one for “WTF?!” The first video is of the four members in a marching band, and when other instruments come in, these guys pop out of the grass to play the other instruments. It’s hard to explain, but it’s interesting. In the second video, ‘WTF?!’, it’s the guy singing and the other guys doing random things in the background throughout the video. But as they move, wherever they just moved there’s a trail behind them. Once again it’s really hard to explain, but it’s creative and interesting.

Now on January 25th, ome more CD comes out that i’m super excited for. It’s the new Hadouken! CD, they’re a british band. (And yes, they got their name from something in the Fight Club)

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I didn’t lose it, i just forgot where I put it.

I hate it when that happens. Whether I put it down for a few seconds or a few minutes, sometimes I just can’t remember where I put things!
Then it ends up driving me crazy because it seems that I’ll never find it.

But of course, once I stop looking, it turns out it’s right there, in the most obvious place ever.
Does that ever happen to you?

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Snow!

At 1 AM tomorrow, the chance of precipitation will be 70%. At 4 AM, that chance leaps up to 100%! From 4 AM through 8 PM, there’s going to be a 100% chance of snow. Hopefully, that will mean that we’ll have a whole bunch of it, and maybe they’ll even cancel school on Monday and Tuesday. Personally, I love snow. I know a lot of people don’t like snow because it means they have to shovel, but I don’t have to worry about that. My 9 year old brother absolutely LOVES to shovel snow. My parents and I have no clue why, but he’ll volunteer to put on his coat and shovel the driveway for hours. My dad obviously loves it, he’s not a fan of shoveling…

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