May 28-Suddenly

Bonjour!

Well, I think I realized today that I am fully an adolescent.

• easily frustrated with parents/authority figures: check
• increasingly interested in the opposite sex and/or sexuality: check
• seeking independence: check
• greasy hair/acne: check

Ah yes. Haha, the transformation is complete. I remember when I was little, my science class watched a video called "Teen Dreams", one of those videos that everyone watches at some point and whose images never escape the sub-conscience. I always thought: well I'm not going to be like that! Angry at my parents, obsessed with makeup. But it's really a transformation that's against your will. I don't feel like I've lost myself though. I still love my family more than anything in the world. I don't party or do drugs, and it disappoints me when my friends do. I don't have sex and I don't dress provocatively. I am ultimately an open, very creative person. I love the world around me, and I simply want to explore it more. Sure there are the rebellious teenagers out there, partying and "not giving a fuck". But there are a lot out there like me. Young adults with good intentions but way too big dreams.

Suddenly, we're who we never thought we'd be.

May 27-M.I.A-Bonafide Husseler

Hola!

Today's topic is everyone's favorite Sri-Lankan lady rapper, M.I.A.

I discovered her when I heard her song "Paper Planes" from her new Kala album in my friend's car. I immediately became infatuated. The thing about M.I.A is that you either see her, fall in love with her style, and THEN hear her music and fall in love with it too, or the reverse. That's how I came to know her first. M.I.A's style is intoxicating. She wears daily what we all wish we could indulge in. Shiny, neon outfits with everything from metallic Converses to candy-colored bangles. Even Marc Jacobs can't get enough of her playful charm, casting her in his latest photo shoots. Or maybe It's her London street accent that has us swooning, like that of Lily Allen or Lady Sovereign.

I believe that the most refreshing thing about M.I.A is her message. While Fergie and Mariah Carey seem to surrender themselves to pop culture's expectations of female artists, what with songs like "Fergalicious" (Everytime I turn around/Brothers gather 'round/ always lookin' at me up and down/Looking at my "uh") and the self-explanatory "Touch My Body", M.I.A raps about war and poverty. Two of M.I.A's music videos for Kala were filmed in poverty stricken-areas, "Boyz" in Africa and "Bird Flu" in India. Her song "Hussel" communicates with third-world refugees scrounging for survival. One of the most entertaining and insightful songs on the album is "Mango Pickle Down River" which features a group of amateur boy rappers called the Morganics.

But don't worry. If you're not in the mood to empathize with third-world civil wars, songs like "Boyz", "Jimmy", and "Paper Planes" should satisfy you're sugary pop appetite. And don't miss M.I.A's collaboration with Timbaland on the final track.

I recommend that everyone should have a healthy dose of the lovely M.I.A!

And yes-that is the Pixies song "Where Is My Mind" for the chorus pf "20 Dollar"

May 26-Personal Triumph

Salut!
Okay-Well since NOBODY reads my blog, I thought I'd post this to myself.
I did this through the Sims 2! I found a cheat online which explained how to make your sims paint your own photos. It took some maneuvering, and my sim's pregnant mother died during the process from neglect, but i made this ubercool product! It's Bill Kaulitz-Me-Tom Kaulitz.
I am very very proud :D

May 25-An Apple a Day Keeps Competition Away

Guten Tag!
So many topics were running through my head today, but I decided to focus on Apple's revolution in modern culture. Apple is currently the most popular electronic entertainment company in existence, and has a solid stake in both pop and business culture. I believe that one of the reasons for Apples's success is its subtle charm. Even with what must be an amazing revenue on their part, Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind the company, still shows up to demonstrate his newest electronic brainchildren in a black turtleneck and boot-cut jeans. The stores are streamlined, yet still personable, with helpful, resident geeks at the playfully named customer service desk called the "Genius Bar". If anything, it's Apple's witty and winning Ipod commercials that do the trick. Here are some of my personal favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDFkRMNeZo4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxp5kHEzv70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKxGfLo7Cqo

Also, their funny and simple Mac (Apple's computer) vs. PC commercials.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQb_Q8WRL_g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PwiljBN5-8&feature=related

Tip to all musicians: have a song in an Apple ad. Indie bands like the Fratellis, the Ting Tings, Feist, the South American group CSS, and Israeli folk singer Yael Naim have all been aided in record sales by the geniuses behind the Apple advertisements.

Apple has three main products (the Mac, the Ipod, and now, the Iphone) and all are hugely popular.
Tip to rising entrepreneurs: take a page from Steve Job's book, and you'll be on the fast track to success.

May 24-Sweet Home Alabama

Hello!
I'm Anna (pronounced like Ana, like "ON-A table")
This is my first post on my new blog and I'm very excited to join the blogging community.
I'm 16 and I live in Alabama. Let me say a little bit about Alabama. Alabama is among the most prejudiced and ignored areas of the United States. I don't have a Southern accent, and neither do any of my friends. I'm proud to say that my father is from Ireland and my mother from Michigan. However, I am still proud of my state. Yes, some prejudices are still true. The majority of people in Alabama live in cheap homes or trailer parks, enjoy beer, barbecque, and NASCAR, and consider Wal-Mart clothing "high fashion". However, I'm sick of all this "Southern people are racists" stuff. African-Americans make up a huge percentage of Alabama's population. Montgomery is the home of Civil Rights. Southerners face the issue of racism everyday, and because of that, we as a whole have become a thousand times more tolerant. I have never met a racist Alabamian in my 16 years living here. I know they're out there, but from what I have seen, there are problems with racism in every state. Also, Alabama has a profoundly beautiful culture. The Gee's Bend Quilts (http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/) and musicians like Emmylou Harris are proud to call Alabama their home. Southern Literature is hugely prized, with world-renowned authors like William Faulkner (The Sound and the Fury), Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire), Truman Capote (In Cold Blood), Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird). I have met extraordinarily talented Alabamians, people who don't get any of the credit that they fully deserve.
Stop sneering at Alabama and consider that it has something to give. Because it does. There is a warmth (both physical and spiritual) in Alabama, that I have never witnessed in any other part of this Earth.

"The South. You can't understand it. You'd have to be born there."
-William Faulkner