Wednesday, June 4, 2008

How to Help Teens Cope

Well, I was on Public Health Agency of Canada; I looked through it a little more and I found information on how to help teens cope. What I see and hear from my peers is violence and how one person does someone bad and they want revenge. For example, someone beats up a friend and they will fight them to hurt someone close to them. Then that guy wants revenge again and it goes on. We have to take that energy for revenge and turn it into "conversation to the underlying feelings, tell them how you feel and discuss positive options other than revenge."

Another thing that is going on is that my peers are dieing for affection. Some children don't have parents or if they do have parents the parents are never there or they are a drunk or a drug user. Some have no home at all so they join gangs for affection and money.

A lot of things I see with girls is that they want the perfect image that they see on T.V. and they have to be like that and look like that.

The website listed some suggestions, some more helpful than others. Most of the information I got was for parents to help their teens. There was not any specific for teens to do to help them cope. But I did get some good information like reactions. How to help- listen and be affectionate to your teens.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

As i write my final reflection i will look back and examine a lot of my research in order to come up with a conclusion. I am pretty sure on were i stand and believe that i found an answer to my question. The revitalization of Buffalo, Is it really possible. A city which looks like it can never be what it was. A city that was known for its ports and an always busy downtown, to now being known as the second poorest city in the United states. I believe that we can become that again. however this change will not be any time in the near future. The change will have to start not only with the government but with the people of this city as well.

Many obstacles are in the cities way. For example the cities tax rate, bad economy, vacant homes, even are teen pregnancy rates. It does not sound to appealing for upcoming business owners who are the people who can actually help rebuild this city. It is difficult to say when or how it is possible for this city to get back to what it was. It Has been to many years of a declining economy to bring back up in the matter of a couple years.

All the research that i have found should have lead me to the conclusion hat Buffalo,NY has no hope. Such as are difficulties with are social security issues and are poverty rate being second in the nation. This is a great obstacle to overcome. So i decided to conclude with all the information that i have learned and researched that it is in fact possible for this city to get back to its old ways, although i can not guarantee that its going to happen this decade. So the new question would have to be, not if the city would become successful but when will it become a popular city again.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Learning How Teens Cope

When i started my research on how teens cope with too much responsibility, I soon learned there are many different problems that teens cope with.  I went to Google and did a search on effective strategies for teen coping.  I found an article titled "Helping Teens Cope" published by The Public Health Agency of Canada.  The article explains a few things that teens may have difficulty coping with.  For example, "natural or human caused disasters, such as earthquakes, health emergencies, terrorist attacks, or acts of war" ("Helping Teens Cope").  If I was in one of these situations, I can imagine what they're going through.  The article said that is  was normal for teens to worry about their surroundings.  Most people I know don't stress about natural disasters, but they tend to worry about gangs, drugs, violence, or their parents fighting.  

The article says also shares couple of expected ways that teens react to stress.  For example, teens drink or do drugs to cope with the stress.  Teens may also have problems sleeping, eating, have a poor attitude, or do have poor grades.  I have sleeping problems all the time.  Before I go to sleep I always think about things that are going on in school with me, family, work, and the world around me.  Sometimes it takes me hours to go to sleep.  I toss and turn, move to the couch or into another room where it's colder, try to always think about one thing, but it turns into thinking about many things.  I see people I know and care about take drugs to help deal with life.

"Helping Teens Cope." Public Health Agency of Canada 21 July 2005 28 May 2008 http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/oes-bsu-02/teens_e.html.


Thursday, May 22, 2008

The Final Reflection

Well with the last entry, I hoped to have made a major step in this project, in that I have found different views of both wars, and one in particular that stuck out was the draft situation.I didn't live in the 60's but I asked my Dad and a few other people and it was an intense situation. People were risking going to jail, going to different countries to avoid it, it was just outrageous. So many marches, protests, burning draft cards, and speaking your mind really broke through a lot, especially after the "safe era" of the 50's in which everything was so proper and well.

Finally, people were able to see the war first hand from home with all the video equipment and the excessive media coverage. It gave people a better idea of what was happening, because before this technology, anyone could lie to you can say the opposite of what was really happening. Coming with this were more educated opinions about the Vietnam War, such as: the US was fighting a war against the wishes of the majority of the Vietnamese people. And it's true they were. It was as if the US was forcing themselves and this push for democracy on a people that didn't want our help.

But as this project went on, I was researching the similarities and differences between the Vietnam and Iraqi war, but as this project went on I fell upon the topic of the draft. This was not included in my essential question, or my foundation questions, but it was a very large part of my research, because it was the largest difference between the two wars, and it is still argued whether or not the draft should be re-instituted.

With this project I learned that there as no actual answer just opinions to my essential question of "What are the similarities and differences between the Vietnam and Iraqi War?" But the idea of a draft coming back was intriguing to me, because maybe more people would start to pay more attention to the current war, and as I have stated in a previous post, more people know who was the last contestant voted off "American Idol" was, rather than know that the current war is a major cause in the inflation of their economy.

All in all though, I felt this search was successful, however now that I have this information, I planned to have a more educated opinion about the war, but even after all the research, and the composing of these blog posts, I don't think I have a full opinion quite yet, but I will be sure to keep more of an eye on what is going on in my country, because not only does it effect what will be my job, but it will effect my everyday life as an American.









Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Should we draft again??

When I posted those pictures about the draft, I thought maybe I should research how the draft was in the 60's and why we don't much of a draft now. I know just from history classes that the draft was a huge deal, and many people were against it, and I also can understand why, but I want more of an in depth answer.

During the Vietnam War, people at home could finally see what was really going on in the war, and were personally affected by it. Because of the mandatory draft, everyone knew of someone who went to war, died in war, evaded the draft, or protested against the war. Also, this was known as the poor man's war, because the rich could easily evade the draft by sending their kids to school (Yahoo Answers).

With people burning draft cards, protesting the war, and people such as Norman Morrison, Roger La Porte, and Alice Herz literally burning themselves to death over this war, why did they do it ? Also, was this considered an attack on people's rights to decide whether or not to fight for their country (Vietnam Protest)? As this may be true, it is also an opinion, but we are all citizens of the United States, and if we are called upon for duty, why evade it? In some Scandanavian countries, it is mandatory for young men at the age of 18 to do two years of service for their country, and they don't protest about it. And I understand that this is a country built on democracy, and freedom, and the right to free speech, but if someone may harm your homeland, would you not be mad?

So the question is "Should we draft again"? And if so, how can it be done? Before the lottery was implemented in the latter part of the Vietnam conflict, local draft boards called men classified 1-A, 18 1/2 through 25 years old, oldest first. This resulted in uncertainty for the potential draftees during the entire time they were within the draft-eligible age group. A draft held today would use a lottery system under which a man would spend only one year in first priority for the draft - either the calendar year he turned 20 or the year his deferment ended. Each year after that, he would be placed in a succeedingly lower priority group and his liability for the draft would lessen accordingly. In this way, he would be spared the uncertainty of waiting until his 26th birthday to be certain he would not be drafted (Draft Laws). With these laws implemented, restricions do apply, and no person under 20 could be taken, which does save many young lives, but is a draft really that bad? Every person is entitled to their own opinion, but I can understand why people would despise the draft. But, usually the only people that support it are the ones who can't be taken, such as, politicians, and the rich who can't have their kids taken. So it all comes back to being a rich man's war, so in my opinion a draft is a bit far off of what should be done, and if a young man or woman would like to voulenteer themselves, more credit to them, because you are doing something that is extraordinary, and it is to protect your homeland.





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Draft Laws." 21 May 2008 .
"Vietnam Protest Movement." 21 05 2008 21 May 2008 .

The Buffalo News..

In the city, the Buffalo news paper often consist of many interesting articles which have to do with the way the city is doing. Such as new jobs, a business opening, or new talk of what the city plans on doing to attract new people or keep people here.

So this time i decided to read the local News paper and obtain some information from there. I found many interesting things. Both good and bad stories That could help out he cities case. For example an Article read "Falls plant to bring 500 jobs" articles like this are popular because it seems that in this city the employment rate is so terrible they must advertise every single job opening in order for readers to believe here are in fact jobs that are still here. (McPherson A2)

However of course there are still some negative statistics in the paper. I began o read an article tittled "Waiting For a Lifetime". As i began to read more i discovered that it was talking about the social security benefits in buffalo. One statistic really stood out. "buffalo office is ranked 19th worst in the nation". In the rest of this article Sharon Linstedt presents many different cases in which waits for a court appearance to appeal for social security could be up to 668 days. It is very interesting to me that almost every thing that follows a topic on Buffalo is followed by nations worst. These findings are interesting too me because i feel i begining to conclude on finding my answer.

Linstedt, Sharon. Waiting For a Lifetime." The Buffalo News 21 may 2008: A1.

It All Comes Down to This

Everything has a story behind it, and you think that you can find answers to anything but thats not the case for me in this project. I thought I had some good questions that would be answered but I was wrong. I found nothing except for peoples opinions on what motivates them and how they become prepared. I guess noone really thought about doing a interview on this topic until I came across it. I really havent learned anything I already knew but Ive learned that every body I talked to found that music helps people cope and motivate themselves. I didnt find out what the bigger percentage of people do but I did find out that the people I did talked to had very limited answers. They all told me that they like to listen to music before and during there skate session and they also need to skate with there crew. They also stated that if your with your crew you feel more hallenged to better your self because one person is always better then you unless you are the best of the best

After this project I was thinking about furthering my search and really trying to find an answer because I would really like to know what people do for this. Now I had a short amount of time for this project so I didnt really have alot of time but in the end it was all just a failure anyways. No matter how hard I tried or how long I sat at my computer and searched for something, anything I found absolutely nothing. Its frustrating becasue here you sit thinking you are all set and you think you will find something but then you get shut down with blocked sites or sites with no information about the topic.

I dont know about anyone else out there but to mean this makes me feel like I have failed, its nothing big but I dont like to fail at anything I do weather its school work or sports failure is not in my vocabulary, so now Im disappointed. Now that I am disappointed and frustrated I am determined to find an answer weather its in a few months or when im 50 I will get to the bottom of this sooner or later.

Friday, May 16, 2008

No more lazyness!!



Well lately I've been putting this project off, because it was irritating me. There were so many websites to go to, and reading some of this stuff in a way bores me, but I am still interested in the topic. But, today I finally stopped being lazy and started looking again, and found a very interesting view on my topic. It stated that the only difference between these two wars is that in the current Iraqi War there is no draft...yet ("Differences and Similarities"). Also, these two wars seem to be profit motivated. Not to mention that the difficult task of establishing the appropriate balance between winning hearts and minds with aid and reconstruction and using force to root out insurgents ("Why Compare"). What all that means is that you are really fighting two different wars, because you are not only fighting the army of the country, but the citizens of it as well, because we are intruding their country, their land, their home. And I'm sure if a country were attacking us on our home land we wouldn't like it very much, just as we didn't like when we got attacked on Pearl Harbor, or when the 9/11 attacks happened.

But I can see why people think this war is profit motivated for example, when I went to my DEP meeting in fact every time I go down to the recruiting office there are always people screaming to me "Don"t do it son!!" or some kind of jeer like that and they always have signs saying "Rich man's war, poor man"s blood!",or "Blood for Oil!". All of the signs and chants they do are all about the war and how the United States is only doing it for oil,money, and it's "greedy pride". But at least this shows people are somewhat paying attention, even though it may not be my opinion or the "correct" opinion the people that do this have a right to do so, and if they weren't so naive they would realize that they can do this, because of the young men and women enlisting everyday. And as you can see above in the photos each generation, each person has his/her own way of going about things and decisions. For example the two photos at the top show young men protesting their war. In the 1960's burning your draft card was a demonstration of not wanting the Vietnam War to continue, and maybe since what happened in the 60's is the reason why we don't have draft cards today..yet. So even though you may not support the war, support your troops America they are the reason you can freely protest, practice any religion, and have the opportunities you do such as, going to school, having a healthy meal, and even waking up safely in the morning. And although I may not have an educated opinion on the war yet, I am proud that I enlisted and by not having an opinion makes me feel like I HAVE to research this topic, because if I don't I would be blind to what I am about to get into.




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Blunden, Andy. "Burning draft cards." 19 003 1966 08 08 2008 .
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"Oil War." 08 08 2008 .
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Yahoo Answers, "Differences and similarities between Iraqi War and Vietnam." 07 05 2008 .
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Yahoo Answers, "Why compare the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars." 08 05 2008 . http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070302065118AA59ROP

Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Reflection

Well the end of my project is here and I have learned allot about music artists and internet piracy and how they are still making profit.As we already know, Bands make allot of money and illegal downloading takes away from that. It is obvious that money is being lost due to internet piracy but most people would not think that it would really take as much money out that It already does. Between 2000 and 2006 illegal downloading has accounted for 23% loss of profit. That is nearly a quarter of their total profit. It is true that they still generate profit because of merchandise sales but that is not the point. If they are going to sit there and work to make the music, they should get profit for it. It should be their choice as to weather or not people have to pay for their music, not "the consumer".During my research I found the drummer from Metallica was also upset at the situation (Internet Piracy). He even took Napster (a file sharing website a.k.a. illegal downloading) to court. The head of Napster said that if people listen to the music offline then they would but the albums but I disagree with this because if people can get it for free offline then they are going to keep it that way and just download it.I brought up my idea in an earlier post that the music industry should have find a way for blank Cd's to have some profit generating for them. Because if people are going to keep illegally downloading music offline then they should make some money for the sale of blank Cd's. then they are at least generating some profit off of it. Some agencies are also taking action against internet downloadingers. It is called the three strikes regime. If people are caught illegally downloading music offline then they are suspended from their internet privileges. If they are caught doing it more then three times then they will permanently lose their privileges. Internet companies have to enforce this also and if they are caught not enforcing this then they too will be penalized. So this is a lose lose situation for everybody if they do the wrong thing so they should just the right thing. It will make life easier for everybody, especially the artist that created it because then they will get profit off of it.Plus this is a bad situation becaue like i said earlier that if you get caught using illegal sites more than few times you could get in trouble like losing your internet privliges. But what soe people don't know is that you can also go to jail if you continue to dissobey these rules.

So next time you or somebody you know is about to illegally download music offline maybe you should reconsider what you are about to do after reading my reports. I hope that It helped make people realize what they are doing wrong and that it does matter if they do or not. Not just because it is the right thing to do but because it effects peoples' work. Remember, it is stealing. If you wouldn't steal something tat somebody made then why would you steal some one's music(their project).

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Finishing up in my Project

Well it is toward the end of my project and I have got allot of information that has helped. I have answered my questions the best i can.The last question that I am going to try to answer is "what are some other ways that the music industry makes money because of internet piracy?"? One way is by concert. A lot of people go to concerts. Even though you can still download them offline, it is not the same. It is a whole different experience to see the band live. Almost every band has concerts. Even if they are just coming up they still have little concerts in coffee shops or local places and they still generate some money. I know that Extreme Wheels have some concerts. That is just a local place in my neighborhood that is an indoor skate park. But either way, no matter where you go there is always going to be a place that a band will perform.A good example of this would be classical music, they have concerts and allot of times they would be in a church.St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church had a classial band perform and had 400 people come.it cost 5500 dollars to perform amd they slod tickets for 20 dollars each. So that is 8000 dollars.That is a 2500 dollar profit (CARNEY, Leo. "Turning the Profit." The New York Times). Now picture that on a larger extent such as a "big name band" that allot of people are in to where thousands of people go to and an average of 60 to 80 dollars a ticket.Another way they make money is by merchandise sales. This contains shirts, wrist bands, hats, posters, and etc.The Desdon Dolls make over 1000 dollars a night in merchandise sales(UnArchived ArticlesBand Merchandise, a journal artical). If they are just starting they can also start fund raisers. There are allot of people that would happily donate money for the starting of a new band. they would start with their friends and they would tell their friends and etc.The more attention that you have the better chance of making money you will have. bands become well known if several ways. A band can start a myspace and then get allot of friends and then post the dates of their concerts and then there is a better chance of more people coming. So like I said, there are many different ways for bands to make money, even if people are illegally downloading music offline.

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CARNEY, Leo. "Turning the Profit." The New York Times
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"Promote and Support your Music." UnArchived ArticlesBand Merchandise:

Monday, May 12, 2008

frustration is building

From all the interviews and all the research I have done I decided to take a step back and find out what motivation actually is. I've found out that motivation does not really have a specific meaning to it and its basically whatever you can do to perform better in whatever your doing. Not everybody can do the seme thing as everyone as does to get motivated but some people listen to music others just sit around and think about whatever they are about to do so they can get there head into the game or school work or whatever they are doing. Different things can motivate people as well like some people will be motivated by there family, freinds work, or even school work. Some people seek motivation bytrying to improve themselves at whatever they are doing or whatever the goals are that they are trying to reach. Theres only one problem its tough to stay motivated you have to keep building your skills and keep building your mental and physical preperation for the task you are trying to reach.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Clashes of Feelings Between The Industry and The Artists

Finally I have found some information on how some artists feel and how some of the downloading sites feel on this subject.Lars Ulrich is the drummer for Metallica, a heavy metal band, talks about how he feels. He said that it is his work and he should be rewarded for it and he should pick what happens to it and how it should be distributed.He compares his work to that of a carpenter. He says if a carpenter makes a table then it is his choice if he wants to sell it, keep it or just give it away. This is a good point because if you make something it is your spot to decide what should happen to it. He says this is just like music artists, they made the music so they should be able to decide what should happen to it. The rapper Dr. Dre agrees with him and in April of 2000 they took Napster to court for copyright infringement(is the unauthorized use of material that is covered by copyright law). Napster is a web site that allows you to get fies offline without paying for it and allows you to share it with other people.In court Napster's head(Hank Barry) states that his website is actually helping the music industry because by letting people sample the music it will make them want to buy the album. I disagree with this because if people are going to download the music offline then they already have it and there is no point to buy it. And if they do want the CD then all they have to do is go to the store and buy a pack of blank Cd's. So in my opinion that website is not helping the music industry. Some ideas that i have to help is maybe we could let those sites have the music on them but instead of having the whole song, just have like a quarter of the actually song. then if people like that part of the song then they will want to buy the CD to listen to the rest of the song and album. Or maybe since allot of people just buy blank Cd's to put there own music on, maybe a percentage of the sales of blank Cd's could go to the music industry. Those are just a few ideas and I'm sure that if people just sat down to think about the situation that they could actually think about more ideas or more effective ideas.




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" Rock Musicians Warn Legislators of Internet Piracy Peril." The New York Times (2000):
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

As my search continues and the end of this project is near, I decided to give up on researching online. I decided to interview some of the people i know on what motivates them and what keeps them pushing themselves. I interviewed my buddy Mike Matesick he's a well known skater in Buffalo. So i asked him what he thinks the best way to become prepared and what motivates him. When i asked him he stated "Music is a big part of it and friends, you need your friends or else you have no one to compete with and get better" this is basically what every one says but the question is, is it true? Or do people just like to say this because there's no true answer to this question. He also stated that people give up to easy and that's there problem they do not work for what they want. (Matesick)

I also interviewed my friend Dave Soluzo he skates for a well known company named blondie. i skated with him gor a few years so i asked him the same question. what he thinks the best way to become prepare and wha motivates him. His anwser was almost the same but he stated that "To me you need your crew, its never fun and competitive if your alone, I like to stretch and get my head into it by listening to music" Which for some people works just as good. Stretching is a huge part of it because you dont want to get hurt because you dont stretch thats never good. Some people have different ways of becoming prepared but it seems like everyone listens to music and likes to skate with friends because its more competitive. I guess its what people are comfortable with wheather its musci, friends skateing alone or even just cruising down the street no matter what people do they always have something that motivates them. (soluzo)


Soluzo, Dave. Peronal Interviem. 4 May 2008
Matesick, Mike. Personal Interview. 3 May 2008.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

What Needs To Be Done.

In order for buffalo to become a successful again the city wold have to find a way to create attractions in order to attract people. One of Buffalo's ideas is to re-create the Buffalo harbor and waterfront which has all the potential to be the cities local hot spot. With this information i have decided to look up on how the city is going to do this and will it be happening soon. So i came across a website Buffalowaterfront.com and it gave me the information that i was looking for. Everything sounded great such as adding condominiums over looking the water, town houses, other restaurants and attractions. All this is good but will it be done? Stuart Bridge wrote in this article that the ideas were good but with the contreversy and differences in ideas are really going to set back all these plans. "Many good ideas are being presented, but if none agreed on this will never happen" Bridges said. So i am still getting the impression that this city has some hope. Rather or not it will happen in this lifetime or next is probably the question. It will be difficult because the decrease in population in New York as a state. I am looking foward o finding out more.


Bridge, Stuart. "New waterfront plans opens access, Might spur harbor rebirth." Buffalo Waterfront development 19042008 14may2008 .

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Finally Action is Being Taken

I have been side tracked from my question that i wanted to answer next about how bands are feeling about my issue because I have found some interestion information.I have just found that starting next week that people are going to be given something known as the “three-strikes” regime. this is when people are selected of wrongfully downloading illegal files offline(not paying). First time caught they will be sent a warning email telling them not to do it again or they will be in trouble.If they ignore that warning and continue to illegally download files off line then they will be suspended of thier internet privliges.And if they continue after that, besides the fact that they're stupid, they will be terminated from the internet useage altogether.France is already doing this. And broadband companies have to enforce this as well. If the companies are caught not enforcing this then they will get in trouuble and possibilly even taken to court."Six million broadband users are estimated to download files illegally every year in this country in a practice that music and film companies claim is costing them billions of pounds in lost revenue annually."(Eliott and national researchers) That is a lot of people coasted a lot of profit loss.Ryan Peterlee,from England brings up a good point. He believes that it is going to be near impossible for this internet piracy to be totally rid of. So he believes that if internet downloading is going to kept illegal then the price of songs and cd's should be dramatically lowered.
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Eliott, Francis . "Internet users could be banned over illegal downloads." timesonline.com (2008):
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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Are You Motivated

It's about 2 or 3 weeks into this project and once again I'm stumped.i cant figure out how to get around all the blocked sites and what not. So I am taking a different approach to things and instead of looking everything up online I think im going to start interviewing people on my own because I know alot of skateboarders that are really good and they have there own little routine. So im going to start by interviewing my freinds then work on interviewing sunday skate shop (almost pros) but until then this is where it ends.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Third Blog......

"Estimates of how much music CD sales have suffered from Internet piracy in the last three years vary from about 14% to the figure most of the panelists used -- 30%. National estimates say some 60 million Americans regularly "pirate" copyrighted music online, a practice that's costing the industry at least $700 million in lost CD sales annually." This has to be hard for bands to deal with because this is alotof profit lost basically in cyber space. Other studies show that most people studing this subject states that it is litterally impossible to stop illegal downloaders from downloading because in all reality there really is no way to prevent it. Without a warrent a police official could not even go in your house and if they did say they were going to go in your house all youwould have to do is turn your computer off, its not that hard. The next question that i want to try to answer is how bands are dealing with this. And if they are trying to prevent this what are some ways or tecniques they are using to go about this.And if so is any of this working? Because they might not even be trying because they are still making money even though thier songs are getting acquired without any profit but if i was in the music industry i would still complain because if I am putting the work in then I want all the money that should rightfully be mine. According to AJJ an editorial writer, he thinks that money and music should be kept far away from eachother. He thinks that money should only be taken by artists that need it to better thier work. But if they already have good music they shouyld just let people listen to it free of charge. In my opinion thgis is a nice jesture but, it doesnt help the industry at all. It also is different for him to say that because he doesn't know how it feels to do things and not get paid because he is not a music artist but my next queston to answer is how bands feel about it.




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Konsynski, Benn. "Facing the Music: How Piracy is Transforming the Music Industry." knowledge.emory.edu (2003):
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A.J.J., A.J.J.. "Glasswerk Editorial - 15th October." Glasswerk Editorial.com (2007):
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Can we change anything with fighting?

I have been looking for days for more information, and websites that would fit my topic. Much of the stuff I was finding was from the earlier years of Operation: Iraqi Freedom, but then I came across something that was more of an opinionated site. Though it was not my idea of a good opinion on the war, it was an opinion nonetheless. It was stated that both the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War were both wars of choice. Also, both presidents at the time were saying almost the same thing, in that Johnson and Bush did not want to pull out of the war, because it would show weakness, and give incentive that the United States is not as strong as perceived (St. John).

However there are some questions that come to mind when you think of both wars. Such as, is it fair to the Iraqi or American people, was it fair to the Vietnamese people, and is either war necessary? Some say yes, others say no, but there is a large difference between the Vietnam and Iraqi War, and that is during the Vietnam War, the U.S. was never attacked on their soil, but when 9/11 happened it directly hit America's heartland, one of America's busiest cities, it put the United Stats on its' toes and into disarray. With 9/11 happening all of America was for war and now all of a sudden when casualties are taken, and inflation hits, people are grinding against the war. The people of America need to make up their minds', because without this government, without this freedom given to us as Americans, we couldn't even change our minds' and live to speak about it. One of the reasons Vietnam was unsuccessful was, because at home, America was not getting along, just as it is now. If a country, or a people feel that they want something it must be unanimous to work. But if we pull out now, within six months all of the "changes" we made won't be there, the "democracy" we instilled will be gone, and our stronghold on the Mid-East will be gone, this is all too similar to what happened in Vietnam, so it does make you wonder, can you even change the way people having been living for thousands of years, and is this assimilation to the "American" lifestyle for other countries worth our nations' youth?





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St. John, Ronald Bruce. "Sorry, Mr. President, but Iraq looks a lot like Vietnam." 28 04 2008 .

Further on in the project.........

Now I,m going to try to start answering my initial question, as long as my "helping questions". P2p is known as peer-to-peer networking, which is a way of sharing files. This is used to share illegally downloaded files between people. One of my questions is "Are bands tryint to stop illegal downloading?" And yes the music industry is trying to abolish this. Between 2000 and 2006, this has been responsible for 23% worldwide decline in sales of music CDs.Apple's iTunes service, which has sold just over 2 billion songs since it launched back in 2003, which also represents over 70% of the legal music download business. Big Champagne estimates that over 1 billion tracks are exchanged monthly. This is ridiculus because that is alot of music and by the way none of that is getting paid for so that is not helping the ,usic industry at all is it? And say one person does pay for all of the songs. Okay that person is on the right track. they did help the music industry. Okay now lets say said person has friends that likes the same type of songs that the purchaser has bought. This that person wants to be a nice friend had send him the songs for free over the internet. Now that person has just recieved said music for free. That is the same as downloading for free the way i look at it because that person just got it for free and the music industry is not going to make any prfofit off of it. Thats one thing. Now lets say that person decides to send it to some of his friends and those friends send it to their friends and the line of sending goes on and on and on etc. That was just alot of free music going down the line. Even though that one person did pay for the music, all those other people just got it free of charge. All that right there could have been thousands of dollars in profit if all those people paid for the songs. Now that just started with one person. Now multiply that by how many people int he world do that without even having a starting person that paid. Most people do that without even paying."Russ Crupnick, an analyst at consumer research group NPD, noted a 7% rise in the number of U.S. households engaged in filesharing, and a 24% increase in illegal downloads over the past year"(James).

_______________________________________________________________________________________
james, Delahunty . "Ilegal Music Downloading Still on Rise." afterdawn.com (2007):

Thursday, April 24, 2008

work in porgess

Between the ages of 10 and 11, I always would try to ride a skateboard up and down my drive way, but I would always fall. Doing the simplest thing was riding it and i could not even do that. I was wearing pants and a Bam Margera shirt And i remember falling and ripping my pants because i hit a rock. i scrared my knee, ran inside and washed it off then after I did this I went to lay down on my couch and started to watch t.v and then I noticed as I was flipping through the X games were on and it has a part for skateboarders so I watched it. The show made me realize what I can become if I were to stick with it and get better at it as well. A few years later as I got older and started to learn more and more about this sport I became better and better. As I got older I watched more of the X games and I heard Tony hawk say "Im the bird man" After I heard him say this I sat there and said to myself I want to be the next bird man.

At this time I know quite a bit about this sport. I know that it takes alot of concentration and dedication. It's a tough thing to do but when u do it it's worth the frustration. Yea i said it, it's a frustrating thing to do, it also takes time and effort. It's not alway's about hanging with your friends some days its alright to skate and hang out but other days you just want to skate so hard that you get hurt and do it again. Nobody is persfect it takes time and effort to get it all down. One day you can get a certain trick and the next day its like u never did that in your life. The most important part of skateboarding is you need to be dedicated and you have to love the sport or else it's a waste of time. There's alot of things that go around this sport but I have a few questions that are unanswered.

Through out this project I want to know how these skaters become mentally prepared for there long day of skating? How do I become mentally prepared? What are the mental aspects of skating? and what are the physical aspects of skating? In my quest to answer these question's it's going to take hard work and DEDICATION.


I started my search and I was getting frustrated because there was nothing I could use for this project. When I went to Google and searched for answers I didn't find what I was looking for and/or the sites were blocked. After a while I got frustrated and wanted to give up because I thought if I don't find anything now I'm never going to find anything at all. You would think that there would be something on this topic but I guess I was wrong, but then my luck changed I was searching on Google and something great happened. At last my luck has changed and i can begin my research on this topic. It starts like this i typed in skateboard motivation and Bam there it was.


I stumbled across this website that had a whole bunch of little interviews of skateboarding and how they become focused and prepared for skateboarding.Now I focused on the best of the best because obviously there methods work. I went to Google and typed in skateboard motivation and this website had a whole bunch of pros's that were interviewed on this topic.Ryan scheckler was only 13 when he became a pro and he said what motivates him is fast music and the rush of the sport. He also said that people should never give up because that's the first sign of saying you are weak and cant handle the pain and frustration. Now everyone says that music improves there ability and as being a skater I think that's true , I focus more when I'm listening to music. He stated that it all comes from the self-confidence and self motivation, and if you don't believe in your self you mines well not skate at all. Now unfortunately this sport is really hard to become a pro but anything can happen u just have to motivate your self even if your having an off day get back up and do it again.


Cave, Steve. "Ryan Sheckler Interview." 04 18 2008 .

The bound between a son and his mother

Things that I know im willing to give up my life for her,I have give up all my free time and my money. than she wont lose her house for no payments. I got suck into helping my mom because her ex-boyfriend of ten years. Every time that i got to see my mom it always ends up fighting with me, my sister ,and her boyfriend. It is because she was sad that the person she had love for ten years is now a crack head its sad,we went from having evarything to nottin. I tould my mom that i will get her out of this situation,Whatever it takes.I no im not the ownly person that is in this kind of situation,But i want to know how people theses days cope with this.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

To find an answer to my question about the revitalization of buffalo i knew i had to find real information. Meaning i had to differentiate the difference between biased opinions and actual fact. In order for Buffalo to become a successful city again we first have to discover the problem. So i began to research that question and really discover the source of Buffalo's major downfall. I decided to look up some important statistics that show the negative aspects of the city. Many of Buffalos jobs in the past were all manufatured based companies. Due to the loss of many of these companies buffalos unemployment rate decreased yearly by six percent. Although many jobs are being created in many different fields in order to try and revolutionize the city and to bring the economy up without the "machining" industry.

Some eye opening facts that i have found was that a little over 30% of the cities people live under the poverty line. We are also americas second poorest cities. We are second in america as well as having the most vacant homes and buildings. Although on a good note we are number one on affordable housing.(wikipedia. 23 Apr 2008 . .)

From the research i have done so far it looks like its not going to be easy but it is still possible. I look to find some more information to help conclude my search and hopefully find the answer to my question

Monday, April 21, 2008

2nd post

I started my search and I was getting frustrated because there was nothing I could use for this project. When I went to Google and searched for answers I didn't find what I was looking for and/or the sites were blocked. After a while I got frustrated and wanted to give up because I thought if I don't find anything now I'm never going to find anything at all. You would think that there would be something on this topic but I guess I was wrong, but then my luck changed I was searching on Google and something great happened. At last my luck has changed and i can begin my research on this topic. It starts like this i typed in skateboard motivation and Bam there it was.


I stumbled across this website that had a whole bunch of little interviews of skateboarding and how they become focused and prepared for skateboarding.Now I focused on the best of the best because obviously there methods work. I went to Google and typed in skateboard motivation and this website had a whole bunch of pros's that were interviewed on this topic.Ryan scheckler was only 13 when he became a pro and he said what motivates him is fast music and the rush of the sport. He also said that people should never give up because that's the first sign of saying you are weak and cant handle the pain and frustration. Now everyone says that music improves there ability and as being a skater I think that's true , I focus more when I'm listening to music. He stated that it all comes from the self-confidence and self motivation, and if you don't believe in your self you mines well not skate at all. Now unfortunately this sport is really hard to become a pro but anything can happen u just have to motivate your self even if your having an off day get back up and do it again.


Cave, Steve. "Ryan Sheckler Interview." 18 04 08 .

first entry on project

To start off, I want to find out how the music industry is making profit while people are illeagally downloading music form the internet.Well that is my main question that i want to answer. I'm going to answer some other questions on the way to finding out my main question. Some other questions i'm going to ask is like how bands and artists are dealing with this money loss.If thy are din anything to stop or try to prevent this and if so what are some techniques that they are using to do so.First lets atart off with some sites that are used to get ilegal music. Limewire is one. All you have to do is type in the name of a song or even the name of the artist to get the entire ealbam for free.Then you could transfer the music downloaded from limewire to Itunes amd then put it on your music devices and there you have it, ilegal music.Thats just one of the many ways to aquire illegal music. Stuies show that some music can be downloaded from the internet antwhere from three hours and earlier as to when the music was origianally going to be released to the public. So that gives the public a chance to litterally steal the music before the artists actually get a chance even atempt to sell it. This is obviously going to be hard for the artists because its a big chunk of profit missing. I know it is not the only way they have to make money but taht is beyond the point because just because they have other ways to make money that doesn't mean that they should work for free. If they are doing the work I think they should get rerwarded for it... as shoud everybody else.

Friday, April 18, 2008

So Far....

I have started my search on the essential question of, what are the similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War, and how can peace be brought? I used Google as my search engine and typed in similarities between the Vietnam and Iraqi War and there are many websites, and opinions about this certain topic, some of which are perhaps true, and others, maybe not. I found a CNN article from 2005 in which Sen. Chuck Hagel explained the similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War. Iraq and Vietnam still have more differences than similarities,he said, but "there is a parallel emerging." However, in my opinion, the longer we stay in Iraq, the more it will turn into Vietnam. For example, both were/are wars you cannot win, because you do not know who the enemy is, and the cause of us going to war, whether it was McCarthyism, stopping the spread of communism or fighting "terror"is impossible. The United States is supposedly the police of the world, but we cannot police what other countries, or people want to do. "The longer we stay in Iraq, the more similarities will start to develop,meaning essentially that we are getting more and more bogged down, taking more and more casualties, more and more heated dissension and debate in the United States," Hagel said ("Hagel: Iraq"). Even though this is only one article it was very helpful, in that it was informative and from a reliable source.

This topic has a lot of information on it and i realize now that this will not be such an easy question to do, but I am not only interested in finding out more about this topic, but i also look forward to finding the answer to my essential question of, what are the similarities between the Vietnam war and the Iraqi war, and if so how can peace be brought?





___________________________________________________________________________________

"Hagel: Iraq growing
more like Vietnam." 19 08 2005 17 04 2008)http://edition.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/18/hagel.iraq/

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

THE SOUND..

I remember when i was younger i was at my first wake, the room was silent. I personally did not really know who exactly had died i sort've was dragged along by my parents. Besides the sound of people praying underneath there breath and low cry's nothing else could really be heard. But eventually then began to play a song which happened to be "Say Goodbye" by Boyz 2 Men. As the song proceeded to play i look around and noticed more and more people began to cry. Some seemed that they were holding in more than they can bear.soon it seemed like everybody was in an even deeper mourning. hear is when i began to wonder what exactly happened that turned the entire mood of the crowed. i realized then its music! The theme of the song which touches on the difficulties of saying good bye is what moved the crowed and some how touched everyone. Hear is when i seen the power of music. This is what brings me to research more on how can music really effect a person.

I always had an interest of music since i was younger and had seen music change peoples lives. like young girls who were in trouble joining church choires to turn arouned there lives.i know that many people look for music as a form of expression such as writing songs or through poetry. Or like drummer Travis Barker who says playing drums is the only form of stress relief that actually works for him. Music can have many positive effects on people but could also be scrutinized as the cause of many bad things. For example columbine which one of the causes was supposably due to the music of Marilyn Mason.

For reasons like these i find my topic to be very interesting and i hope that further research would get me closer to the answers that i seek
This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.


Shmueli, Sandra . "'Flash mob' craze spreads." cnn 08 09 2003 14 04 2008 .

mike campbell

This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.

_______________________________________________________________________________________



dickinson, tim. "The Machinery of Hope:Inside the grass-roots field operation of Barack Obama, who is transforming the way political campaigns are run." rollingstone.com 20 3 2008 15 4 2008 .

_______________________________________________________________________________________



Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." cnn.com/technology August 8, 2003 march 15 2008 .

_____________________________________________________________________________________



Wikipedia, Wikipedia. "Global warming." Global warming n/a march 15 2008 .

Citations

Patrick Dickty Matt Martin
This is my MLA citation practice. I am copying and pasting this in order to have something to plop citations under.

Shmueli, Sandra. "'Flash mob' craze spreads." 08 08 2003 15 04 2008 .

"Global Warming." 15 04 2008 .


Friday, April 11, 2008

Before the Search

Recently, I have enlisted in the United States Navy and thought that since our country is in the war, and I enlisted then I should learn more about. Because, the more I know about this topic the better off I think i would be so I cannot be lied to, and so I could also form my own opinion. Also, this war is a big deal, yet according to a recent survey eighty percent of Americans did not know tat we were nearing almost four thousand soldiers in death in Iraq, but more than eighty percent knew who the last person voted off American Idol was. With this media coverage, more than there was during the Vietnam War, people should know more about it, and what is going on. And the people that are paying attention to the war are protesting it most of the time, which is similar to the Vietnam War as well. Therefore, I would like to answer the question of what are the similarities between the Vietnam War and the Iraqi War, and how can peace be brought? With this question many other questions come to mind, such as, what were the reasons we went into both wars, why was the United States involved, what do people say could have been done differently to bring Vietnam and the current war on terror to a better conclusion, how can peace be achieved, and what were the problems with both wars?

This topic has always interested me, I know that part of the reason we are in the Iraqi war is not only because of 9/11, but to attempt to bring democracy to the middle east. I also know that we attempted to do the same thing in Vietnam, because the United States wanted to contain communism. However, the way I look at it, both of these wars have a lot in common and I would like to find out more and further my knowledge on what i already know, and to form a better, more educated decision.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Mental Part's of Skateboarding

pregame intro




Between the ages of 10 and 11, I always would try to ride a skateboard up and down my drive way, but I would always fall. Doing the simplest thing was riding it and i could not even do that. I was wearing pants and a bam margera shirt And i remember falling and ripping my pants because i hit a rock. i scraoed my knee, ran inside and washed it off then after I did this I went to lay down on my couch and started to watch t.v and then I noticed as I was flipping through the X games were on and it has a part for skateboarders so I watched it. The show made me realize what I can become if I were to stick with it and get better at it as well. A few years later as I got older and started to learn more and more about this sport I became better and better. As I got older I watched more of the X games and I heard Tony hawk say "Im the bird man" After I heard him say this I sat there and said to myself I want to be the next bird man.

At this time I know quite a bit about this sport. I know that it takes alot of concentration and dedication. It's a tough thing to do but when u do it it's worth the frustration. Yea i said it, it's a frustrating thing to do, it also takes time and effort. There's alot of things that go around this sport but I have a few questions that are unanswered.

Through out this project I want to know how these skaters become mentally prepared for there long day of skating? How do I become mentally prepared? What are the mental aspects of skating? and what are the physical aspects of skating? In my quest to answer these question's it's going to take hard work and DEDICATION.

Music Industry

Other Ways of Generating Profit

..............The topic that interests me is music.Music is good for everything. No matter your situation that you're in the is music for it.Different music is good for different things. Slower music is good for relaxing while on the other and more hardcore music like metal is good for pumping yourself up for something such as a big game. Obviously there is romantic music as well but like i said, there is music for every occasion. Metal bands such as Bullet for my Valentine can get you pumped while R and B might be able to like calm someone down. People are downloading music illegally. I don't know anybody that actually pays for the music because there are so many sites that you can just get them for free off of. Some sites are like limewire or you could transfer music from itunes and if you are not paying for it then the artists are not making any profit off of it and if you think about it, its not really fair to the people that did the work. I've always been interested in music since i was younger so i thought this would be a good issue to look into, seeing that how this is a rising issue and i honestly can't see it stopping any time in the near future. So by looking into this i hope that i can find out if there is being anything done to prevent this or at least slow it down on a major level.

..........There are going to be some other questions that i am going to use in my essay to find out more on my main question. Is the music industry taking any action on this? If so what are some of their actions? How are some bands/artists dealing with this? Is this affecting their profit making on a major level? When people get caught illegally downloading do they actually get in trouble or do they just get a slap on the wrist and told not to do it again? These are just a few of the questions that i am going to use to in my research. I'm sure i will think of more and answer them as i proceed deeper in this project.I would like to know what are some ways the music industry generates profit seeing that how many people just download their work off line free of charge. This is known as illegally downloading music.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Dr. Jekyll's Explamation Of Mr, Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Pages Forty-Two to Fifty-Five

Dr. Jekyll's strange behavior comes to a final explanation in this ending to the book. Jekyll explains how he discovered a potion that allowed himself to turn into two different natures or sides of himself. I look at it was Mr. Hyde is the evil, creepy wild side of Jekyll that he normally can not express. I think being able to be two people is something that everybody would enjoy. But then Dr. Jekyll began turning into Mr. Hyde without the potion. Sometimes he would even go to bed as Dr. Jekyll and wake up as Mr. Hyde. I think that began happening because Dr. Jekyll was talking advantage of his ability to be someone else and changed into Mr. Hyde to often. I think that iwas greed that ruined him because he was trying to live two lives when he had only one body to live his days in. I think Dr. Jekyll lost control with his experiment and made it a lifestyle. His experiment even is responsible for the for the deaths two people, Sir Danvers Carew and Hid old friend Dr. Lanyon. But I thought that it was nice that it was a nice suprise that Dr. Jekyll left his will to Mr. Utterson. I think all the work Mr. Utterson did during the whole strange case for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was something that represents true friendship and curiosity of a lawyer looking for the truth. What is your guys' opinions on Dr. Jekyll's explanation of Mr. Hyde?

Louigi Pizzuto

The Death of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
Pages Twenty-Seven to Forty One

Dr. Jekyll's strange behavior comes to an end in this part of the book. After he locked himself in his laboratory and Mr. Hyde's voice was heard from inside the laboratory. Both Mr. Utterson and Poole decide to break open the laboratory door to find the dead body of Mr. Hyde. But Jekyll was nowhere to be found. I thought that maybe Mr. Hyde kill Dr. Jekyll and locked himself up in Dr. Jekyll's laboratory. But then Mr. Utterson read the letter written to him by the late Dr. Lanyon. Mr. Lanyon explains how he saw Mr. Hyde transform into Dr. Jekyll after he drunk a potion. So his sudden illness and death explained by the face that he saw the transformation with him own eyes. I think that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde being the same person comes as a surpose but at the same time, it explained the many strange events that occurred so far in the book. It is hard to believe that some one so evil could be the other person so respected and nice. The Death of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde brought the truth of the identity of Mr. Hyde and the reason why Dr. Jekyll left everything in his will to Mr. Hyde. What was everyone's reaction to the death of Dr. Jelyll and Mr. Hyde?

Louigi Pizzuto

The After Effects of the Carew Murder Case

The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
Pages Fourteen to Twenty-Six

Sir Danvers Carew was seen murdered by a maid when he was clubbed to death by Mr. Hyde. Mr. Hyde seems to have fled from London and abandoned his apartment in presents a letter form Mr. Hyde saying that Jekyll has nothing to fear but the letter is written in hand writing very similar to that of Dr. Jekyll's. I also do not understand why all of a sudden after Mr. Hyde's disappearance, Dr. Jekyll has become more of a social guy he once was but then all of a sudden he shuts himself out of the world again. He even refuses to see his old friend Mr. Utterson. The weird events following the Carew Murder Case definitely grew as the story went on. When Mr. Utterson Dr. Jekyll and his mutual friend, Dr. Lanyon. Dr. Lanyon refuses to talk about Dr. Jekyll, he dies a week later. I feel something happened between him and Dr. Jekyll, it would explain his disgust for Dr. Jekyll. Something happened that was both terrifying and strong enough to ruin their friendship. One day Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield talk with Dr. Jekyll through the window of his laboratory. There are left stunned and speechless when Dr. Jekyll's appearance begins to transform. I believe that something similar happened with Dr. Jekyll when he was with Dr. Lanyon, which would explain Dr. Lanyon's sudden dislike for Dr. Jekyll. What do you think about Dr. Jekyll's strange behavior soon after the disappearance of Mr. Hyde?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

The Mystery of Edward Hyde

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
Pages One to Thirteen

In the book the identify of Edward Hyde is immediately questioned as well as his relationship with Dr. Jekyll. Hyde is explained as a deformed looking man that is creepy and reserved to himself. He introduced in the book in an incident he was associated in, involving a mysterious door. He was the man that ran over the little girl and in turn compensated the girl's family with a check signed by Dr. Jekyll. Dr. Jekyll also left everything he owns to Mr. Hyde in his will. Dr. Jekyll also prefers not to talk about his relationship with Mr. Hyde. It is wonder why a respected, friendly guy like Dr. Jekyll would associate with a creep like Mr. Hyde. But it is a greater wonder why he would leave all of his fortunes to a him when he doesn't even like talking about him or having people know of there friendship. Since Poole, Jekyll butler said that Mr. Hyde comes and goes by the laboratory, maybe Dr. Jekyll and Hyde are work partners. Or maybe they are good friends interested in scientific experiments. But if they were just work associates or friends, why is Dr. Jekyll so condescending when it comes to Mr. Hyde? What do you guys think about the identify of Mr. Hyde and his weird relationship with Dr. Jekyll?

Louigi Pizzuto

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

TRAGEDY! FRANKESTIEN CHAPTER 22

IN THIS CHAPTER VICTOR FACES A GREAT TRAGEDY. HIS BELOVED WIFE HAS DIED. THROUGH OUT THIS TIME BEFORE HER DEATH HE WAS IN PANIC.. NOT ONLY FOR THE FEAR OF LOSING HIS WIFE BUT ALSO AWAITING FOR THE APPEARANCE OF THE MONSTER HE HAS CREATED. kNOWING THAT HE WOULD BE VENGEFUL AT THE TIME OF THERE NEXT ENCOUNTER. SO AT THE SAME TIME VICTOR IS MOURNING THE DEATH OF HIS WIFE HE APPEARS. THE MONSTER ACTUALLY LOOKED HAPPY TO SEE HIS CREATOR SUFFERING. WHY WOULD VICTOR REMAIN IN THIS PLACE? WHY WOULDNT HE FLEE AND AVOID THE CREATURE FOREVER?

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.. pages 188-

THE ENCOUNTER!

The story has reached is climax or what i believe to be the climax. The encounter between the creator and the creation which are not under the best circumstances. The creator whos promise to the beast still left unfufilled. His promise to create another like him broken. His mind changed he did not want to give the world another creature with the same deformities suffering from the same wretchedness. The monster furious with the thought of being the only one like
him, living life alone without a companion who is able to share at least the least amount of similarities. "You are my creator, but i am your master" is what he said. this is what the creater has created. He must be feeling a sense of regret. would you feel like you owed the beast something after promising him a companion?

a letter from my father pg75-100

As he was waiting for the letter from his father it had finally come.In the letter was the date that his father had given him to arrive at his house like he had expected. But there was more. There was also his father talking about nature. About how he appreciated it. He tells of a lighting storm that suddenly came about. It was sort of a passing on service for his son given by nature..... He also came to the conclusion that the thing that he created was the murderer of his brother. Wanting to chase it down and confront him, although he couldn't because he became too weak. if i was in this situation i don't know what i would do because it would be very hard on me to know that something that i made became the very murderer of my brother. I would feel partially responsible for the murder because after all, if i never created this thing and tried to interfere with nature... this never would have happened. If you were in this situation what would you do? Would you chase down the thing you made, the murderer of your brother, to confront it and maybe even destroy it? Or would you just wilt away in your own regret? Well what did our main character do? Only time will tell.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Is it Love or Lust?

Title: The Phantom of the Opera
Author: Gaston Leroux
Pages: 104-144

As this story leads on it is actually a love story. As with Gothic literature this is not uncommon there usually is a love destined man/woman, in this case it is neither, it is a phantom. He is madly in love with a lovely, beautiful, young singer, Christine Daae. However, he is fearful that since he is a phantom he has but of no chance to obtain her love. And as we get older we may or may not have this same feeling as the phantom does, but if we do, what can we as mere humans do about it. There is no "cupid", and it leaves us no choice but to accept this fact that the one we love/like does not feel the same way as we do for them. Also, the phantom may be a gruesome figure, but there has to be good in everyone, somewhere, and at some point in time. So maybe the phantom can prove this to his distant lover, Christine Daae, if not who knows what disaster it could lead to for her and everyone around her. However, if this were you would you simply move on and accept defeat to the feeling of love or would you stay and fight for her/his attention?

Friday, February 22, 2008

It's Alive pg 60-75

Now he has created this monster. He tried to sleep only to find out that when he awakens the thing that he has created has come to life.It was amazing for him. It's body had motion, it could walk, it could talk, but only when it started walking toward him with an extended hand that he realized what he had created. Extremely frightened, he got out of bed and ran downstairs and looked refuge in the courtyard. Not knowing what to do because every noise was as scary as the last. He never knew if it would be that thing coming for him or it could just have been something completely explainable. If you were in this situation what5 would you have done. Would you have just stayed there and hoped for the best, or would you have gone back inside to try to greet the thing that you created? Only time will tell what this awesome creator will do next.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Life or Death Decisions

Title: Phantom of the Opera
Author:Gaston Leroux
Pages:75-104


As I read into the story, the opera manager has a choice to make and that it whether or not to hold box five for the phantom. The manager does so, because of the recent killings in the opera, however he is losing a large money profit and rumors of him being mad are being said throughout the opera house. If I was put in this predicament I would have probably done the same thing, because the price of your life is priceless and to lose a few measly dollars to be sparred your life is a small price to pay. The manager made the correct decision...for now. If this were you, would you let this "phantom" scare you into doing whatever it is that he wants?

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ahem...

Gents, aside from Matt you are all behind.  You need to post more regularly.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

THe Sciences Frankenstein pg 45- 60

Now he is getting into his interest in sciences in more dept. HE is telling how the sciences tell of seeking immortality . This interestes him and gets him to thinking if it is really possibl and can be done.The ancient teachers tell of all the immpossibilites but he believed different.
It has to be possible he thought. I thinkl this is going to be a better book now because now he starting to think about making this idea a reality. i am excited to see where this idea will take him. I want to see the flaws and realities in his masterplan

stand out

A man in the crown
edgar allen poe

this story is about a guy that sits in a small coffee shop.he stares at all of the different kind of people wondering what there doing. After a few days sitting there this one old man catches his mind so he desides to follow him home. This is more of a thinking story it makes you think alot more then you usually would. What do you think happen to the old man he followed?

Frankenstein pgs 1-45 mike c

So far the book has just started and it is talking about the soon to be profffessor's life. He is talking about his childhood and his parents. He also tells of his interest in philosphy. when he was 15 he saw a thunderstorm that struck his tree and set fire to it. They had just moved there ( near Belrive) . The tree was totally demolished.Soon after that his mother died. So far i think this book is going to be good because it sets a good theme and mindframe and it sort of sets a guidline for the rest of the story.

Friday, February 8, 2008

secrets in a bottle

edgar allen poe, ms. found in a bottle
pg 324-336

This short story by poe is actually another good one. He talks about how he don't talk to his family anymore. But its really about storms and how he see's Ships that are bad like big black ones. He examines the ship and find's nothing because the ship knocked him off his ship and he hid in the vessel for a little while. At the end his ship went down and couldnt do anything about it. If you were on this ship with the narrator what would u do to safe your self?

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Enhanced Settings in the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera
Gaston Leroux
Pages read:40-75

The Phantom of the Opera has a meaningful setting in an opera house, hence the title of the book "The Phantom of the Opera". Usually in gothic literature stories take place in sublime landscapes, old ruins, decaying castles, and dungeons. However, the setting of being in an opera house does not lack any detail to what gothic literature is all about. In fact, this setting enhances the story, because of the eerie feeling any old building can give away, especially an old opera house, because of the many people that have been in and out of it and the history of the place. The way Leroux uses pathetic fallacy to enhance the characters feelings is outstanding, for example; the first two chapters went over how a man was murdered in a room and on the way to the room, it was very dark, and eerie, and it gave pathetic fallacy, because it was as if you, as the reader could feel the characters' hearts beating on the way to the room. I look forward to continue reading this book for now can truely see why it is a classic.

Monday, February 4, 2008

STILL AWAITING..FRANKENSTIEN BY MARY SHELLY CHAPTER 8-9

IM STILL AWAITING FOR THIS BOOK TO REALLY INTENSIFY. DO NOT GET ME WRONG THE STORY HAS BEGUN TO DEVELOP SOME DEPTH. IT IS BEGINING TO PULL ME IN WITH COURT CASES AND NEW PLOTS BEGINING TO DEVELOP AND GETTING A BETTER LOOK AT THE CHARACTERS WHO ARE INVOLVED. THE READ IS GETTING BETTER AND SMOOTHER AND I AM BEGIGNING TO MAKE THE TRANSITION WHICH IS GIVING ME A BETTER FEEL OF THE STORY.

First impression of Frankenstien by Mary Shelly, pages 1-24

My first impresion of this book was not the greatest. the way that i know Frankenstien is not the one being depicted in this story. Wen i think of it i think of a monsterous creature that causes destruction, but so far i have yet to read anything about this. It is to early in the book to really tell so im not going to jump and make any assumptions and call it a bad book. the format which it is written, which is through letters kind of throws me off as well. i am still lokking forward though to really see what this book has to offer.

Friday, February 1, 2008

First Impressions of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Pgs. read-1-31


This book is a classic and its text shows me so. This read is not as much of a struggle as I thought it would be. The gothic literature genre is not what I thought it would be, and though I am only three chapters into the book it has exceeded my expectations and the typical thought of what gothic literature really is. The suspense Leroux gives in the first three chapters is great and gets the reader immediately into the story, also he introduces the "phantom" into the story quickly as well as the story behind it. I look forward to reading this story as it unfolds and what happens, because we have all heard of the musicals and the movies of The Phantom of the Opera, but not many people know the actual ending, and I personally would like to know.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

the eye of it all

Tell Tale Heart, edgar allen poe
Pgs, 415-425

This is one of my favorites from his storys. he gets so into dept about his plan to kill this old man because his eye haunts him. He waits at his doror for a week straight and plans out how he is going to kill him and at the end he just end's up getting caught because he couldnt take the suspense anymore.what do you think he should of done to be more relaxed and get away with his crime?

Short scares

short story's, Edgar Allen Poe

My first impressions on this book was that it was a little strange. then again edgar allen poe just writes like that. He has a weird style of writing. In this book there are a whole bunch of short storys and so far i find them pretty intresting some are hard to understand but others are easy and i catch on really quick. All the story's end up having a weird ending to it but in some kind of way there actually good.

Monday, January 14, 2008

gothic study

We have picked this genre because it sounded interesting and different. It is called classical for a reason so it must be good. Plus it has stuck around for a while and if it lasted that long it must mean something. We hope by reading this that we will learn more about this genre.

Pat - Phantom of The Opera by Gaston Ceroux
Mike g- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Mike c- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Louigi p-The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Matt- Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe

Friday, January 11, 2008

The Pigmen

Well John and Lorraine were playing that game again.when it was Lorraine turn she went to the phonebook and open she look at the page will fast and she saw the name of a sheet close to her house so she pick that number.so when she called it she ask for if there were a Mr or Mrs Pignati there.so there was a Mr Pignati that pick up the phone,Lorraine said that she was calling to see if he would give a donation to the L & J funds.They talk for hours the guy did't even ask what the donation was for and what they would use it for.Mr Pignati was a old lonely guy that missed his wife.Mr Pignati tould them that he will give them 10 dollars and how would he get it to them. Lorraine did't want to do nothing with it so john started to talk to Mr Pignati that they will come and pick it up.Lorraine did't want to go so john talk to her into it.So they went to Mr Pignati house.when they got to the house Mr Pignati answer the door.They came in his home and they sat at the kitchen table.They played a few games and he show the them his pig but they aren't real.he collected pigs with his wife the whole living was full of pigs.then after that he ask them one day will they go to the zoo with him so they said yes.

Louigi Pizzuto

Monday, January 7, 2008

Independent Reading Project Blog Assessment

Pat - 5/5 Responses 
The bleeding hearts of Oprah's show?  What do you mean by that?  Man, you're tough.  Anyway, I enjoy reading your responses.  I've never read the book, but I thought you might come away with it with a more sympathetic view of the main character.  Obviously not, huh.  Nice job overall.

Matt - 5/5 Responses
Nice job meeting the requirement, but your responses are a tad short, and I'd like to see some further development next time.  The last response was mostly plot summary, and the one before that begs more explanation.  

Mike C - 5/5 Responses
Love your exploration of Morrie's lessons, especially the last one.  You're right, and so is Morrie.  People tend to over romanticize their pasts and often miss the present as it whizzes by.  We have to live more in the moment.  Nice job.

Louigi - 3/5 Responses
Louigi, don't make me move you back to 5th period, lol.  You've got to pull it together, man.  I need to see a more consistent effort.

Mike G - 3/5 Responses
Michael, you have now shown up on my radar.  I need you to complete all your work, and I am now going to be on you like wax on a school floor after a week's vacation.  Your responses are good, but there aren't enough of them.  Get it together.