Mele 4.2

I was checking out some articles on my Google reader and found this one article off of Reuters which said that officials think at least a third of the worlds population will become infected with the H1N1 (swine flu). Its pretty scary to think that much people will get infected by it....

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5430S820090508?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

John 3.5

I just listened to a song that Kyle made on Garageband. I really liked how he put together the two guitar tracks, piano track, and drum track to make a great sounding song. It was simple, but also very elaborate at the same time.

http://www.archive.org/details/ASimpleSong

Mele 4.1

On my google reader there is this really cool site offered called think geek. It is a page that shows new technology like iPod accessories and shirts that probably only geeks would wear. I really recommend checking it out it has a couple cool things that are definitely worth looking at!!
http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.thinkgeek.com%2Fthinkgeek.rss

derek d.-4.1

An article that I found on google reader talked about how the new "Star Trek" movie is actually a really good movie. I was surprised about the good response it got because from the previews it looked pretty inane. But it probably didn't look good to me because I am not a Star Trek fan. I tried watching one episode of it and I couldn't do it, it was just to weird. But I am interested in movies and when I heard that they ere going to make a Star Trek movie I expected everyone to be mad because a lot of people are devoted fans to the franchise and probably want people to leave its legacy alone. But I guess that J.J. Abrams rendition of Star Trek is really good and a lot of critics are praising Star Trek.

http://www.google.com/reader/view/#search/movies/3

Mele 2.4

With The Pussycat Dolls now finished with the circus tour they are now releasing more singles. Their new single is called Hush Hush and I am pretty excited for it to come out. They just recently finished filming the music video and should be releasing it to the public soon. Here is a link for the song (lyrics included) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoxVsoYnnzs

Cameron 2.4 (5.7.09)

Here is a video that we took at the concert we went to this past Sunday! This was from the front row of the west wing because it was set up like a three-ring circus because the tour is The Circus Starring: Britney Spears, and her newest album is titled 'Circus.' It was an amazing concert, and it was so cool being this close to her!

derek d-2.3

A book that I have a connection to is "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" because I remember when Ms. Smith, my kindergarten teacher from years ago, would read it to the class. I don't know why I remember that specific book because she read like tons of books to us but it just stood out to me because it had pop up pictures and it was a pretty interesting story. But whenever I read it to the kids in mentoring I just think back to my kindergarten days and remember how much fun it was.

Cameron 2.3 (5.7.09)

The hype for the sequel of 'Twilight' is building as they are getting ready for the new movie, 'New Moon.' Though I am a fan myself of the 'Twilight' series I have to say 'New Moon' is by far the worst book of the series. I really do not think this movie will be as good as the last one. This book just seems so boring and not as interesting as the last one. If you really want to like this book you really need to get use to the Jacob Black character which I am having a hard time doing because I just don't like him, he is not interesting. If you were a Edward Cullen fan then you are out of luck because he is hardly in this book, and it is kind of disappointing because what makes the Twilight series is when Bella and Edward are together, and it is not happening. But I guess reports are saying that the cast thinks this movie will actually be better than the book itself. I guess we will have to wait until mid November to really find out.

Mele 2.3

I really good book that I just recently read is Nick and Nora's Infinite playlist. It is nothing like the movie in away except maybe theme wise. In the book its about Nick wanting to seem over his ex girlfriend so he ask Nora to be his girlfriend for 5 minutes and become sort of attached. After a long night of fun they end up falling in love. In the movie its Nora who ask Nick to be her boyfriend for 5 minutes because she wanted to impress his ex. They really emphasize gum and a band in the movie that really didn't have to do with the book. I think when they make movies they should try their best to really to make the movie more like the book!!!!!!!

derek d-2.4

A song that I got a connection to is "Sweet Dreams" by the Eurythmics. I use to listen to that song all the time as a child and I don't remember why I liked that song but I was just drawned to it because of its music video and the lead singer had like bright orange hair in it and I was just like "wow, orange hair, cool!". But whenever I hear it I just take a trip back to those good ole days when I was young and it just brings back memories.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moqodfkprs0

derek d-2.2

I watched this pretty cool news broadcast on a dog that saved his owners life from a mountain lion. He took his dog on a hike and a mountain lion came out of nowhere and was about to attack the guy when the dog chased after it and attacked it. The dog did get injured but not to badly.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2009/05/06/lopez.ca.dog.mountain.lion.kcbskcal

Cameron 2.2 (5.7.09)

The night before our concert, a crazy fan managed to jump on the stage and get right in Britney's face, of course without harming her. 20-year old, Kyle King, decided he would jump on the stage and do a little dance with Britney, on her encore of 'Womanizer.' He was quickly taken off the stage though by several of Britney's dancers. Though not mentioned in any news articles, Mele and I talked to Mohegan Sun security, where the incident happened, and they were telling us that the man was thrown off the stage and then tackled by security and beaten. King was then arrested for breach of peace and has to later appear in court in June, after posting a $250 bond. After his twenty seconds of fame and the huge lesson he learned, well not really, he claims he does not regret doing this and that he would do it again. He said he ended up getting so close that he could even hear Britney's reaction as she screamed, "Oh my god, oh my god!" Which made people speculate and try and put an end to lip sync rumors as it proved she might be because the microphone didn't pick up her screams. This makes me a little mad because when we went to our concert I can say you could tell she did lip sync some songs, but she definitely was really singing at some points. So just because of this incident people can't jump to conclusions and assume now she does really lip sync.

Kyle 2.4

Yesterday was Mr. Flateau's birthday. So, for a gift the chorus came up with their own version of Let It Be by The Beatles.

"When I find myself running the mile,
Coach Flateau comes to me
running like a banshee
he kinda scares me

And in my hour of physics
he is standing right in front of me
speaking words of speed
velocity

Velocity, velocity, velocity, velocity
speaking words of speed, velocity

He loves when students take his classes
all except for botany
stupid freaking plants
botany

But though they may be parted
there is still a chance that they may part
we'll use a solution
chemistry

Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry, chemistry
Chemistry's so much better than botany

Chemistry, chemistry, chemistry, chemistry
Chemistry's so much butter than botany

And when the night is cloudy
Lily's smile shines on me
shine until tomorrow
Liltle lily

I wake up to the sound of puking
Papa flateau comes to see
"GET ME BACK TO WOODSVILLE!
PRETTY PLEASE!"

He kinda scares me, velocity
dang botany, chemistry
little lily puking, please not on me.

teaching kids, coaching track
dealing with mrs. flateau's crap
happy birthday to, mr. flateau!!!!!"

derek d-2.1

Only about five more weeks are left of school and I am so excited! I can't wait for summer because I am going be able to get a car and I am going to have two jobs so I will be making a good amount of money. The only thing that I am worried about is that I am going to be working a lot and I don't know if I will be able to handle it. I think that it will tire me out after about the first week. I am going to be working 5 to 6 days a week and I am probably going to be so tired and burned out after the summer. But I am sure that I can handle it because not to brag or anything but I am a good worker and it takes a lot to tire me out.

Mele 2.2

On May 2 Britney performed at the Mohegan Sun and was nearly done with the concert when a crazed man jumped on stage and ran right up to her face. All he wanted to do was dance the last song with her but really didn't even get a chance. Watching the video you could see that she was very scared and wanted him off the stage asap so her dancers threw him off and he was arrested and a $250 bail was posted.

I really don't know why anyone would do this sober or drunk because it is REALLY stupid. Her body guards were pretty huge and I don't know how he got on the stage and was able to get right up to her face before one of her dancers pushed him away. Looking at this she needs some better security guards.
http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1170363&format=comments#CommentsArea

Cameron 2.1 (5.6.09)

This past Sunday was the best day I have had in a very long time. It was the day Mele, Alice, and I went to a Britney Spears concert all the way in Uncasville, CT. It was certainly a worry that we weren't even going to make this concert that we had purchased the tickets for because we had no ride. But then a good friend of ours offered to bring us like two days before the show and then we ended up actually going. I was very fortunate for this friend bringing us, even though it cost us an extra $150 on top of the $250 a ticket.
No matter what the cost was it was definitely worth it because we bought general admission tickets meaning we were on the floor near the stage but could have been front row, in the middle, or the way back. But once they opened those doors and started collecting tickets, I have never ran so fast in my life as I bolted for the floor and ended up getting us front row seats!!! And let me tell you having front row seats is the best experience ever, especially when the star of the show actually looks at you and notices you in the crowd. This happened when the opening act, the Pussycat Dolls, lead singer Nicole Scherzinger saw me waving my glow stick in the air, waving to her, and then she pointed right at me and said, "I love you too!" I could not believe that had happened to me.
After the Pussycat Dolls got off the stage the Big Apple Circus came on and performed for a little bit, hence the name of the tour being The Circus Starring: Britney Spears because her new album is titled 'Circus'. After 15 minutes of fascinating circus stunts the show finally started as we saw Britney, the star of the show, descend from the ceiling opening the show with her hit single, "Circus." The show went through pretty fast and it was sad when she came back on for the encore, "Womanizer" as we all knew this was the last performance she was going to do in the United States for a while. The whole stadium roared with cheers and screams for Britney, as everyone was definitely showing her the love which is great for her. She ended the show in a wall of fireworks surrounding her and her dancers, then quickly exiting off saying, "goodnight Connecticut, I love you!" Then she was gone. She was probably so fast to get off the stage so there wouldn't be another incident of a fan jumping on stage during her performance and scaring her half to death, the night before at the same arena, The Mohegan Sun.
This was certainly one of the best, well just maybe the best night of my life. It feels great to see Britney come back on stage and doing what she use to do, and not going back to bad habits from a year ago. I am just hoping she stays on this road and continues to put out new music, and maybe go on another tour in the United States because I can tell you I will be at that concert.

Mele 2.1

Over the weekend me, Cameron, and Alice went to the last Britney Spears circus tour in the US. The ride was about 4 hours but wasn't that boring because the people that brought us were pretty funny and cool. Once we got there we looked around a little and the Mohegan Sun was HUGE. It literally had everything you could think of. We waited outside of the Arena for about an hour and saw all of Britney's dancers and crew passing us to prepare for the show. Once in the arena we ran to get a spot near the stage and luckily we got front row. Waiting for the show wasn't to bad because there was some pretty cool people talking to us and Britney Spear's brother in law was talking to us about how awesome the show was.

After we waited for about an hour The Pussycat Dolls to finally come on. They were amazing and really interacted with their fans. Cameron and me had glow sticks and were waving them in the air to get noticed, the lead singer noticed us and pointed and smiled. After another one came to our side and started dancing so I made a heart with my hands and pointed at her. She actually saw me laughed and waved. Towards the end my favorite Doll came over to our side to dance and was doing amazing. I waved and screamed that I love her and she looked at me and gave me the rock on symbol which was awesome. Shortly after they had to end. It was their last show with Britney so all the clowns went on stage and started to dance with them.

Once they ended I thought it was going to take forever for Britney to start but her crew got up on stage and started dancing and doing all this cool stuff like spinning a giant box and doing flips. They were on stage for about 10 minutes then Britney came on. Her show was really awesome and we were literally about arms length away from her. I was so happy until her GIANT body guard decided to stand in front of me and block my view.

Over all it was a amazing show and I would def go again.

Hannah 2.2

The UK has recently tightened its grip on who can come into the country. Since 2005 the government has been given permission to deny anyone who might harm the country or who seem to be extremely radical. Some of the 2009 list of people not allowed include "Islamic extremists, white supremacists and a US radio host", all of whom the government has decided are unwelcome for their radical ideas and anti-something propaganda.

I find this interesting because some people have remarked that is crossing over into discrimination, but aren't many Americans always preaching that we should protect our "homeland" better? It seems to me that this idea has roots in sanity, but at the same time when will it be deemed as going too far? Although I think countries should be allowed to choose who they want coming into their country (we do) I don't feel entirely comfortable with people such as Martha Stewart and benign people like that being put on the list. It seems to me that the more we cut down the lines of communication between people the bigger our problems will be. If dissenting ideas cannot be tolerated how will change come about?

Hannah 2.3

I find it kind of ironic that I am reading The Plague right now amidst all this panic about the swine flu. This book was originally written in French during the 1940s, so it makes references to places that I am not familiar with. I think the story is interesting, but particularly because the author is not talking about a physical illness, even though that can be assumed. It seems to me that the plague can actually be viewed as a way that people act towards things that are unusual. At first the townspeople don't really care about the disease, even though it killed many people. Later on they began to realize it was severe, but most didn't really care about being sick, what they hated the most was being separated from their loved ones. As the death toll mounts the lovers still feel optimistic that they will be together again soon.

The plague itself is described gruesomely and it seems to resemble the bubonic plague, but it is never referred to it as that. The government didn't acknowledge the disease until it had killed hundreds of people, which shows how oblivious people can be to things they don't want to see.

So far I like this book and am about halfway through. Hopefully I can finish it this weekend then start Moll Flanders next.

Kyle 2.2

Obama administration rolls out 'White House 2.0'

The White House has now launched pages on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Vimeo, YouTube, and iTunes. The White House thinks because of the great use of computers it is a great way to communicate with the nation.