Song Review: Now by Paramore

              So this is like the first time that I'm actually reviewing music, which has been a while. Well, in my defense there isn't much music to review out there especially full albums because for some reason there aren't any artists who have released albums. Now that I think about it I don't think people ever release albums in January, probably because it's after the holidays and stuff. Anyways, since there isn't much music that has been released that I can review, I decided to just write a song review. My first song review will be the new single by Paramore called Now.
        Paramore now consists of three members after the departure of its two founding members back in 2010 after some conflict they had with each other, they thought it would be best for all of them if they just went their separate ways. When I learned about their breakup, it was shocking but if that's what was best for them then I was fine with it. I knew that each individual was talented and I knew that I wouldn't hear the last of them. 
        With the remaining members of Paramore left: lead singer, Hayley Williams; bass guitarist, Jeremy Davis; and guitarist, Taylor York they are planning on releasing a new album. It's set to be released on April 9, 2013 and it's a self-titled album called Paramore. This will be their fourth studio album but their first one without Josh and Zac Farro. 
         Their first single, Now, definitely has a new sound to it. Though it's difficult to get used to, it's not bad. It reminds me of something I would hear in the nineties. Though I'm not a big fan of the song for the reason that it just sounds so different, I'm sure it will grow on me like most songs do. It's exciting that they're releasing a new album soon and I'm sure it's not going to be disappointing. 

(323 words)
        
         

Complicated and Confusing

         We're all human and we all have our complications and we have our moments when we're just confused not only by simple things like algebra problems and science class but also because of other human beings, like our freinds and family. Why are we so complicated and confusing? I guess it just comes naturally to us and it's just the way we live that makes us this way. But we all wish we weren't this way a lot of the time. Especially when a person you care about is mad at you, for what seems like no apparent reason a lot of the time.
        When they're mad at you they seem cold and distant, not their usual selves. With everyone else they give them a smile or a wave or joke around but with you they just act differently with you and you have no idea why! You drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why he or she is mad at you and yet you still don't know what's up with them. You also don't want to ask what's wrong because when you do ask them they say something like (if you're lucky): "Nothing's wrong." or "You should know what you did to me." or "Nothing, I'm just tired." or most of the time you'll get the most typical answer: "Nothing. I don't know what you're talking about." I know from personal experience I give people the latter.
        Why do we act like this? Why can't we just be upfront? It would make things a lot easier then holding a grudge, right? We're all fully aware of the fact that if we were honest with one another then things in life wouldn't be as complicated and confusing in our lives, it could be one less thing to stress over. Trying to figure out why your best friend or whoever is mad at you is a lot of work and it's just not fair to either person. That's why when I'm mad I try to be as upfront as soon as possible and it usually works because me and the person I'm mad at end up being cool after a while.
        Then again it's one thing to be the one who's mad but it's a whole other thing to be the one that's being mad at. The latter isn't fun, especially of the person who's mad at you isn't as upfront as you'd like them to be.
        So next time someone is mad at you, just take it one day at a time. There's no way they can avoid you forever, right? Also keep in mind that if you don't like it when a person is mad at you, try to take it easy on the person that you get frusturated with. It'll make everything less complicated and confusing for you and everyone else.

(474 words)

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

         The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is by Jennifer E. Smith. The book spans for a period of twenty-four hours following protagonist, Hadley Sullivan, who is on her way to London to see her dad get married to the women she's not so fond of, (even though you know, they haven't actually met).  When Hadley misses her flight to London by four minutes, who knew four minutes could have such an impact in your life! Because that's when she meets British boy, Oliver. When meeting Oliver, it almost seems like fate is in the works but when they lose each other in the airport after arriving, will they be able to find each other once again?
        What I liked about this book was it was an easy read and there's an innocence about it that makes you fall in love with the book that you just can't put it down! Starting it I immediately liked it because it's different than what I usually read. I liked how endearing and simple yet complicated the characters, Hadley and Oliver came across. Initially, when I first saw the book and the read the summary I thought it was just going to be filled with "fluff" but I was pleasantly surprised. There really weren't any cheesy moments, they seemed real and the connection between the characters definitely intensified that experience. Hadley coming to terms about her feelings towards her dad was a constant struggle for her throughout the book and I'm happy about the way it ended with them.
        There's nothing that I didn't like about the book except that it felt so short! I wish it had been longer but than again I don't think there would have been more to the story, it felt like that it was the perfect length and it ended at a beautiful moment. I love the idea that in such a short amount of time you can have such a powerful connection. I give The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith 5 out of 5 stars! 

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Our Media Consumption

           The media has become a part of our lives and these days it's even easier to stay connected to it because of technology becoming more and more advanced. With that in mind, how long do we (teenagers) spend dealing with the media? Let's take a moment to really think about it and think about all the attention we give the media such as the Internet, our phones, watching television, listening to the radio, even something as simple as reading a magazine or the newspaper.

         When I get up at six in the morning I watch music videos on MTV or VH1 while I'm getting ready for school for about half an hour to 45 minutes. That's how my day usually starts. Then I would say that I spend about five minutes on my cellphone, usually sending a text, between my classes everyday. So that would be five minutes before school starts then five minutes between first and second period and so on. In total that's about 30 minutes on my phone before the school day ends and maybe even more if my teachers let us have our phones out or if I feel like I need to send a text during class. So in total maybe about an hour everyday on my phone, just for texting someone, if not more. Meanwhile I'm texting my friends I'm usually listening to music on Pandora, YouTube, or usually my own music which is another form of media. So on top of my hour of texting throughout the school day and listening to music accumulates to about two to two and a half hours. Sometimes my classes require me to get on the computer so we'll say about one hour every once in a while. When I get home, I work on my homework at my desk in my room which happens to have my computer in there. So I'll spend about two to three hours on the computer doing homework and checking social networks like Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr. Afterwards I'll watch television for about two to three hours as well. So far, starting from my day to the end I would say I spend about 8 hours and 15 minutes dealing with the media a day then add some additional time when I'm on my phone while I'm at home, we'll say about half an hour. So in total that is roughly 8 hours and 45 minutes to 9 hours everyday dealing with the media, which seems outrageous now that I'm really thinking about it. Take about 9 hours by 7, you get 63 hours a week dealing with the media out of the 168 hours in a week.
             An article here shows that the average time kids spend watching television each day is about 4 hours. 54% of kids have their own T.V in their room which most definitely would be easy access for children to the media as well as a computer in the room. 
         What I'm trying to say is I think it's very possible to spend so much time dealing with the media. If you think about it a majority of us are always on our phones in between classes, during classes, before and after school. Because there are intervals and we're not constantly on our phones, or listening to music, or watching T.V as much as we like it feels like we aren't getting on the media often when the truth is we are on it more than we probably should be. 

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Planning For the Next School Year

           For the past two weeks we've been planning our classes for next year at my school which is always stressful in its own way and difficult but also relieving because I'm not putting my future into someone else's hands, it's all up to me to decide, which again emphasizes why it's stressful. 
        Actually, I think this is the first time that it's been difficult for me when it comes to deciding my classes. When I was in eighth grade planning for freshmen year I knew what I was going to sign up for, mostly because I just took classes required in order to graduate. As a freshmen planning for sophomore year was also easy to decide, I knew what classes I had to take and I also wanted to challenge myself so I took my first ever AP class which turned out to be AP Euro and I don't regret taking that class. I've always been interested in European History so I thought taking it was a good thing for me, I can honestly say I probably would have been bored out of my mind if I had ended up taking World History, it just didn't hold the appeal European History had for me. When I was a sophomore planning for this year, junior year, it was a little bit more difficult because I was considering whether taking three AP classes was a good thing or if I wouldn't be able to handle it, in the end I decided two would be good enough. Now I'm a junior planning for senior year. My last year of high school. It's sort of terrifying and intimidating because after high school you never know what's going to happen because it's all up to you now to make choices that could have a huge impact on your life. Right now I'm feeling like planning my classes for senior year is just the beginning of bigger choices ahead of me and I can't really decide how I feel about that. Being in control is a nice feeling but it's also bittersweet because you realize you're growing up and you can now do things that you had always wanted to do when you were younger as you looked up to your older brothers or sisters or other relatives. 
        I don't know where I'm going after high school, most definitely college but what I'm going to major in is a different story. It would help to know what I want to do so I could decide what classes could be the stepping stones to that goal. Right now I'm torn between nursing or a career in journalism, based on those two choices, I feel like it'd be best to go with science and language arts related classes for senior year. Other than that I don't know what else and I need to know soon because the deadline is coming up soon.

(484 words)

Putting Boys on the Ledge by Stephanie Rowe

      Putting Boys on the Ledge is the first book in The Girlfriend's Guide to Boys by Stephanie Rowe. The book centers on freshmen girl, Blue Waller with the help of her best friends in order to help Blue get "the most amazing boy", senior guy named: Heath Cavendish. Throughout the book Blue and her friends try to get Heath to notice her by trying a variety of tactics, from joining the school play to changing up her look. Meanwhile, Blue develops a friendship with Colin, the guy who's taking care of her barn chores while she's a part of the play. 
       When I started reading this book I realized that this book would have been better for a younger audience, mainly for kids in middle school. Despite the realization, I decided to continue reading it and I can honestly say that I didn't mind it! While reading the book, I definitely thought the book was quirky and cute and I couldn't help but compare my middle school self and even younger high school self to the over-dramatic main character, Blue Waller. To the young freshmen, Blue, a lot of the things that happened to her seemed like life and death situations even though they really were't. Most of us can agree that we used to have those moments all the time when we were younger, some still do it today as well, and when you look back at your younger self, you just can't help but smile and even laugh at how silly you were! That was what definitely happened to me as I was reading this book.
      Something I didn't like about this book was that the plot felt slow and there wasn't really anything unique about it that made this book stand out. It just followed Blue on her quest to get the guy which got a little boring and redundant at times (sidenote: for some reason a lot of the books aimed at younger girls these days have the female protagonist after a guy for at least half of the book. Talking about gender roles and media in AP Lang. and Comp. really gets me thinking about this kind of things now). The characters didn't seem to develop at all, such as Blue's friends, they just kind of popped up when they were needed for some reason. I would have liked to see more interactions and relationships between the friends instead of being told about them. Just because this was a novel aimed at younger kids doesn't necessarily mean that these kind of elements should be thrown out the window.
        Putting Boys on the Ledge by Stephanie Rowe did affect me as a reader because it really made me think about and look back at my middle school and younger high school self. It really hit me that I'm growing up, that I'm graduating next year and it made me think how it feels like I was just in middle school yesterday, being a complete drama queen back then and even sometimes today. Because it did have this affect on my I'm giving this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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An Intangible Image

          According to Merriam-Webster the definition of Photoshop is: To alter (a digital image) with Photoshop or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes).
       Photoshop is a digital software that most magazines use, more often than they should; from magazines to book covers to billboards and posters, not only to remove small blemishes or acne anymore but now they're using it to alter bodies in which they deem as "acceptable" and give impressionable girls the idea that that's how they should look. In every magazine I've see and read (such as Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and even magazines aimed at young girls like Girl'l Life) you can always tell that it has been Photoshopped  now why might you need to Photoshop to the point that the altered image is almost unrecognizable to the actual person? Especially when no one actually looks as thin or has perfectly flawless skin as they Photoshop some actress to look like, why the need? It's because we're so accepting and we've grown up thinking how you and I should act that more and more young girls are trying to reach the level of the digitally altered image, the intangible image, that the percentage of negative thoughts in body image are affecting more women.
      But you should ask yourself: Should the media be the only ones held accountable? Not necessarily. Parents have a huge influence on the lives of their children. Each choice the parents make for the child does influence the child. How? When young, impressionable children aren't supervised while interacting with the media, no one is there to tell them what's right from wrong and why it's right or wrong and why they shouldn't always believe in the media. Without being taught what's right from what's wrong, the child is at risk of attempting things that they see in the media such as what they see in magazines like the digitally altered images of the "perfect body". With the thoughts that we need to look like that, only has an impact on who we are, how we act, and what we try to aim to look like unless someone tells us why we don't need to look like the actresses and musicians in magazines, movies, and other forms of media. 
      The fact that we keep allowing the media to impact us in these ways is what causes the negative affects, not necessarily the media itself. If more parents taught us and encouraged us that we don't need to look a certain way, or act a certain way to get someone's attention or to fit in, we wouldn't be in the hands of the media. The reason that they keep Photoshopping and showing impossible standards we could never live up to is because we continue to encourage and accept that those images we see is what "normal" actually is. 

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Getting a Pet

      I've always wanted a pet and lately I've gotten the obsession of getting a pug! I mean, come on! Look at that adorable face! How could you not want a pet, especially one as adorable as a pug! I don't know what it is about them that is so appealing to me!
      Anyways, even though I really want a pet I also realize the big responsibility it is. Which is why my parents aren't really considering the idea as of now, even though they should, but maybe in the near future. My best friend and her family have two yorkie's which are the most adorable things ever! But when I'm at her house I see how a huge responsibility taking care of them can be but despite that she adores her dogs. 
      The responsibilities of having a pet, that I've learned so far, would include taking care of them, you obviously shouldn't neglect them (Who would ever do that? Why would anyone ever do that or want to do that?) such as feeding them but you also don't want to overfeed them or else they'll get overweight or become on the verge of overweight, I've seen my friend deal with her dog's diets. With that in mind, finding the right food for your pet would be best, it would probably help getting recommendations from a fellow pet owner or maybe even the vet. 
      Another thing is, when you have a pet, it's like taking care of a child because like children they can't take care of themselves. You'll always have to pick after them, sort of like my friend does with her dog, she's always picking after Bella and I honestly find it kind of funny. So if you're not willing to pick after a pet, a good hint would probably be that you don't even bother picking up after yourself, than you're probably not ready to have a pet. 

(320 words)

Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick

         The second book of the Hush, Hush Saga (Crescendo) starts off a few months after the events of Hush, Hush. At the beginning everything seems to be alright in Nora Grey's world. She feels calm and safe after the events of Hush, Hush especially now that Patch is her guardian angel and not only that but also her boyfriend. Life couldn't get any better for Nora. But then a seed of doubt is planted into her head concerning Patch and that's when everything falls into place. 
      Though Hush, Hush didn't seem like the ideal beginning for me, Crescendo definitely made up for it. This book was filled with ten times more mystery and surprises than the first book and it kept me guessing, it definitely wasn't predictable like the first book was. Like the mystery surrounding her dad's death, it was definitely something that had my interest throughout the book. 
      I liked how Nora grew on me in this book, though she continued to make reckless choices, this time I saw them as something that she had to do because there was a valid reason behind her choices. In the last book it felt like there was never any rational reasoning behind her choices which was the main reason that she annoyed me in the last book, ruining some of the reading experience for what could have been a really good book. So her character developed which made the book more enjoyable, for example, some of the things she did made her seem more fun. Meanwhile, Patch and Vee were their same old selves; Vee was hilariously inappropriate in the most inopportune moments and Patch still had that mysterious edge to him except this time he was the character that really bugged me because of the things he did. It would be nice if neither of the main characters got on my nerves in the next book, Silence. Hopefully I'm not asking for too much. The new character added was Nora's childhood friend who moved back to town, Scott. Like Patch, Scott was sketchy bot I still enjoyed reading about him because of his personality, it was different from Patch.
      Becca Fitzpatrick's writing was amazing, like the first book. I always enjoy reading her descriptions because they always inspire ideas of my own to add to my writing. 
        All in all; the characters developed for the most part, the plot was mysterious, and the writing was better than the first book. I give Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick 4 out of 5 stars. 

(422 words)

Best Songs of the Year 2012

          Most of us can agree that music is an essential part of our lives. We all have a favorite band, or musician, that we love to listen to when we're doing homework, or driving in our cars or after we've finished our Algebra 2 test. So most of us can agree that we all had a favorite song, if not more, last year in 2012. It was that song that got constantly played on Z102.9 and you just enjoyed to blast it to the point where everyone around you got annoyed. Most people have a song in ind. I know I had quite a few that I just couldn't stop listening to and those are the same songs that I just can't get enough of today. That's what music is supposed to do, it's supposed to stay with you because you enjoy it and you're able to relate to it in some way or another.
        The top five songs I enjoyed in 2012 were catchy, fun, entertaining, and most people couldn't help but sing along. Here are my top five, in no particular order:

• One Thing by One Direction. One Thing is from One Direction's first album: Up All Night, the song was released as a single about a year ago in January. I adore this song because each member of the group has their own, unique voice that contributes to the track and the lyrics to the song are so sweet and it's just a fun, catchy song to listen to overall when you're feeling down.
• I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift from her fourth studio album, Red. I know, of course this had to make the list! Whether that's a good or bad thing is up to you to determine but this song is totally different for Taylor Swift. She's singing about the same old, same old, I know but it's because she's going through life and she's just writing what she knows best and what she has experienced to let her fans know that they're not the only ones who ever feel the way she does in I Knew You Were Trouble. Because at one point we're all going to experience that toxic relationship we should probably let go of because it's what's best we but don't want to have to.
• Castle of Glass by Linkin Park from their fifth album, Living Things. The lyrics and the metaphors used in this song are just amazing, I love them for the reason that their lyrics are so powerfully conveyed in different ways. My favorite part is probably when they sing: 'Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass, hardly anything for you to see, for you to see. I enjoy this song because I like how I interpret it, what I'm able to get out of this song.
• This Kiss by Carly Rae Jepsen from her second album, Kiss. The reason I like this song is just because it's a fun song to listen to, to dance to, to sing to just because it's catchy.
• Madness by Muse from their sixth studio album, The 2nd Law. One of my favorite songs by them because I think it's different from their usual sound which I enjoy because their lyrics are still meaningful to me.

        Music, it's all around us and it's something we can all enjoy. I can't wait for the kind of songs I hear this year.

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The Holiday After Effect

        Unfortunately, the holidays are now over. No more stuffing your faces with friends and family and forgetting about school, no more anticipation for Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Year's Eve, and we're forced to say goodbye to the family that came into town to visit. All of that is gone. Then the holiday after effects kick in where we're forced to go back to normal. We have to go back to school, to work, you know all of that stuff that isn't always fun to do but we still have to. 
       To wake up after a long, relaxing break at 6 in the morning to get ready for school is really depressing, that's the best way to put it. It's even more depressing when you have to go in for a zero hour class because you can't get at least another half hour of sleep in like most people. Not only that but you also have to get up from your warm, comforting bed while it's like 15 degrees out, clear ice is on the ground, and you still can see the moon out, that's really depressing. And then, you shudder at the thought that the next break isn't until March! Until March! Until. March. Which means that from now until March we have school everyday, the only things to look forward to are early dismissals and a few days scattered in that time period with no school. 
       So how am I going to get through it? Easy, I'm not. All I can do is take it one day at a time, keep up with my school work and get ahead if possible, reward myself with an occasional movie or shopping trip with friends or maybe even head over to Orange Leaf (yes, it's perfectly fine to have frozen yogurt in Winter, who said you couldn't?). That's how I'll get through these last months until the next break. I think pretty much everyone would agree that the time after all the holidays is kind of depressing but we always find a way to get through it. 
       We get back into the swing of things to get through. We go to school or work or practice like normal, we hang out with friends like usual, and we stress about that upcoming Algebra 2 test because we really suck at math so we ask our good friend for help and love driving him crazy during the process, that's how we're able to get through the holiday after effect. 

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