Lit Fest pt. 2

The second speaker i went to see was Ted Connover. He worked for a couple of newspapers and was an author as well. Most of his works were from his experiences by putting himself deep into the lifestyles of what he's studying. He spoke about 3 experiences he had one being riding rails with hobo's, working in Mexico with the natives, and also a correction officer at Sing Sing prison in New York. I personally didn't like care for him but that's just my opinion. He did have a good body of work and his presentation was great. I would encourage seeing him speak regardless of my personally opinion.

Lit Fest pt. 1

The first person i saw at the Lit Fest was author Buzz Bissenger. He has some notable books that turned into movies and later t.v shows, like Friday Night Lights, so right off the back he caught my attention. He also spoke with such passion for his work so his reading almost seemed like he was a professional oratator. He spoke as if we were actually there on the field with him and that was key because there were a lot of people there so keeping their attention would be hard. I believe he did an excellent job and i would have no problem going to see him speak again.

Tyler Perry's House of Stereotypes

There is only one show on T.V that i can not stand and it offends me to even watch and that's Tyler Perry's House of Pain. That show sets black people back 50 years and even further back to the Amos and Andy days of coonery. Still to this day Caucasian people get there glimpse into the black community and ideas by watching shows that are geared towards us. And by showing them this depiction of how the "black family" supposedly acts it only further encourages stereotypes. Some people try and say that because it has some religious undertones that its such a great show, but i call a spade a spade it just is what it is.

Beatles v.s Micheal Jackson

A discussion arose in class pitting The Beatles against Micheal Jackson arguing which one was better. For starters The Beatles were a band and and MJ was a solo artist. So to try and compare them would be unfair. But if you had to judge the only way is to check their album sales. Micheal Jackson Thriller is the sole album to ever sell over 100 million copies while the closet Beatles album is almost 80 million copies short. So in that retrospect M.J wins hands down in a landslide. Then if you added all their record sales then once again M.J wins by over 100 million copies. I cant say that album says makes an artist because some songs live forever and some are hot for a certain era. So in my opinion they are both great.

Really Listening

I believe that listening to music requires an open mind. Reason being is that simply listening to a certain genre of music can pigeon-hole your taste. Good music should be heard no matter if you only like rock or if you only listen to rap. Some of the best songs out today contain samples and song structure from old rock, metal, rap, and blues songs. Music was designed to mesh and overlap genre, styles, and color to accommodate with everyone. Allowing yourself to accept different genre of music will broaden your horizon and make you a more accomplished music enthusiast.

Government Assistance

When speaking about government assistance its usually a relative type of topic. If you have ever received help or had a family member that has then you would support government help. But if you are from a wealthy background then government aide would just seem like a waste of tax payers money. The truth is that government aide helps tons of people and is very important to their survival. Meanwhile, yes there are those that scam the system and use it when they do not need it but the good outweighs the bad in this topic in my eyes.

Bullying

These days there is a lot of reports going around with bullying being at the center of it. There has been a number of suicides and also video footage of violent acts of bullying. So the question has been raised;Are our schools bullying worst now then they ever have? My opinion, is absolutely not. Because we have a lot of new technology these days bullies are able to record and upload their acts on Youtube and we the media eat it up. If their were no Youtube or video cameras parents would not see what happens but only the aftermath as previous parents have gone through. Its not the bullying thats getting worst, its how we are seeing it that makes it worst. Thats just my opinion and again i could be wrong.

New and Improved

This year I have put in a lot work at the gym training and dieting. In the first six months I increased my body size and tone by 20 pounds. I did that all by doing a lot of triceps and biceps exercises. Then over the summer I started this 8 week fitness plan I got from Men's Health Magazine. In those 8 weeks I went from benching 185 on a good day 3-4 times to maxing out at 300lbs. Now I modified the workouts some by adding more reps and other exercises but the 8 week plan worked it's magic none the less. So if you are looking to get in shape I advice you checkout Men's Health Magazine sometimes because they have a lot of useful tips and workouts listed for their readers.