After listening to a classmate today ramble about her not-so-great parents, a seemingly mindless comment caused me to debate on the subject all day. Now I want to know what you think.

She explained that though she sometimes hated her mom, that she had no choice, she had to love her no matter what because it was her mom. The first thought I had was to object to her statement, but I instead sat back and thought. Just because a mother is a mother, does not mean that love is either deserved or earned. On the other hand, in this case, the mother has provided for the daughter for her physical needs. So respect should be given based on that.

 What I want to know is if a person is obligated to give madatory respect and love based on anything. Like in this example to parents. Should you love and respect your elders simply based on the fact that they are your elders? It is obvious that in this day and age many people are taken advantage of and not respected for their abilities, but is there really anything that should force a mandatory love/respect from everyone? Let me know what you think!

Every year at the Academy Awards, there’s a montage of old clips and photos of actors who passed away during the previous Oscar year. Typically, I struggle to match a name to a movie. It’s almost like a trivia game to see how many people I recognize, something I’m not too proud of out of respect for the deceased. But this year (barring the continuation of the writers’ strike), an actor from two of my favorite movies will be among those faces: Heath Ledger.

I realize I’m a week too late to spread the word about his death, and a few weeks too early to have groundbreaking coverage on the cause of it, but I’m blogging now because I’ve finally realized what his death means. In short, it means no more knights jousting to a Queen-heavy soundtrack and no more Australian bad-boys romancing Julia Stiles in a Shakespeare-esque romantic comedy. But mostly, I’m afraid that his death marks a turning point, a sort of beginning for the time when all of the actors from “our generation” (I hate that phrase) will pass away.

Up until now, my mom’s been doing most of the gasping during the Academy Award montage of deceased actors, but will this pictorial parade now be crying territory for my sister and I as well? I feel that the other cloud surrounding his death is involved with the fact that every three seconds (statistically), somebody dies from HIV/AIDS, but in the past week, America has become entirely engulfed in the death of one celebrity.

I’m as guilty of this as the next person, but I’m just hoping that everybody’s shock and realization of mortality and how suddenly death can come will galvanize people and help bring awareness to life and death situations around the world.

Hey all, I have two indie outfits for you to check out this week, both of which are on iTunes and YouTube for you to explore.

The first is (deep breath) Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.  Not the most concise name, but definitely an entertaining and chill listen.  I liken them to the Shins, but in a more lo-fi rough-around-the-edges kind of way instead of the nicely polished sheen on the Shins’ material.  Their self-titled debut is a bouncy yet relaxing record, great for a pick-me-up on rainy days.

The other group I have for you this week is a San Francisco establishment called Deerhoof.  I just recently discovered this group, despite their quite prolific catalogue.  The group consists of four Caucasian individuals with a female Asian singer.  They play a very quirky form of noise rock (think Sonic Youth with a very squeaky singer) that incorporates alternative tunings and rhythms  to create a very captivating and surprisingly dense musical experience.  Their newest album, entitled Friend Opportunity, is supposedly their most accessible work yet, as they tend to be more experimental and dissonant on their earlier releases.  Alas, Friend Opportunity is the only one of their releases I can afford as of yet, but I am attending their upcoming Petaluma show in February, so more Deerhoof is definitely in my iminent future.

And for those of you who aren’t totally keen on what I’m describing in these blogs, I have added the Allmusic Database (aka allmusic.com) to the blogroll/links section.  This is my primary resource for finding new music: typing in one of your favorite bands will give you qualified reviews of their complete discography, all the genres they belong to, and all their similar artists and influences.  The entire site is linked, so one can easily find yourself crossing genres with a few clicks.  Almost every profile has audio clips, and the site covers every sect of music from rock to rap, country to electronica, jazz to pop.

Enjoy! - Craig Dathe

This past weekend was pretty wet.  It rained basically all three days of my post-finals vacation time, but I wasn’t upset.  I love rain.  But, with the rain and all, I spent all of my time inside; and since I didn’t have any homework, I did a lot of thinking and writing.  Cerebral stuff.  So I decided to watch a cerebral movie.  Through a reccomendation from a parent I picked up the film American Beauty directed by Sam Mendez (also the director of Road To Perdition, one of my favorite gang movies).

The movie features Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening as an emotionally detached married couple with a frustrated and directionless teenage daughter.  I will never be the one to give away the plot of a movie, but I can say that this film helps one to appreciate a new dimension of beauty in the world.  There are some scenes in this film that are simply incredible.  It definitely deserved the numerous Academy Awards it garnered.

The film came at a perfect time for me.  I already am one of those people who can sit in the woods somewhere and be fascinated by nature’s majesty (garnering me a sufficient amount of hippie accusations), but this film helped to open up a new perspective in me on the beauty of people and ideas and their connections to other people and ideas.  During the weekend I intended to finish a piece of short fiction that I have been working on, a horror short with a particularily disturbing theme.  I initially intended to make the ending just as disturbing, but after seeing American Beauty I devised a very dense and emotional finishing conversation that would inject beauty and complexity into what had previously been a very gruesome piece of gore-horror. 

Don’t you love it when an experience totally alters how you view reality?

 -Craig Dathe

Valentine’s Day may seem like it is quite a while away but if you had the opportunity to sit in on my fourth period all-girls class and listen to some of the conversations, you would probably think that this Hallmark Holiday was right around the corner.

Ever since we returned to school from Winter Break, and even during the last few weeks of Decemeber, I have had to endure listening to all the girls that sit around me in Government class discuss what they were going to do for their boyfriends on Valentine’s Day. It is simply disturbing how frantic they are in their quest for the perfect gift. The boys, too, seem to been bitten by the love bug.

I have to admit, however, that, in their case, it is surprisingly amusing to listen to them “discreetly” tell their buddies in my physics class about how they plan to stick roses in their girlfriend’s locker or how they will write the words “PROM!?!?!?” all over the windshield of their crush’s car.

Just a little piece of advice: both of those have been done about fifty million times. The only benefit I can see from this holiday is that people are handing out candy like it’s another Halloween. I have to give it to Hallmark, however, for doing a wonderful job of commercializing this particular day designed for celebrating love.

- Jasmine Nasser

100 million. It’s a pretty big number. I struggle to believe that 100 million children around the globe lack basic access to books and libraries, yet the statistic rings true.

When we think of karaoke, we imagine a bunch of drunk, middle-aged adults singing at the worst of their abilities as if they were trying to be featured on “American Idol” as the next William Hung. Karaoke has become a standard traditional at weddings, bars, parties, and clubs all around the world for its easygoing attitude and fun-loving atmosphere. It is probably the only game were the worst participate get all the praise the best get all the yawns. This surely isn’t the case for hip-hop karaoke.

Starting in December 2004, hip-hop karaoke began as a monthly organized event by Hip-Hop Karaoke NYC at New York’s Knitting Factory. Every month, hundreds of hip-hop heads would crowd the venue and take part in this exclusive gathering. Anyone can sign up prior to the show and have a chance to perform as one of their favorite MCs while being backed up by a DJ and hypeman all on stage. Don’t expect to hear lame one-hit-wonders such as Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” and MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This.” Hip-hop karaoke specializes in song performances composed the real hip-hop greats from the 1980s to today. There are no gimmicks, no screen displaying the lyrics, just the crowd and the MC. Sounds like real karaoke to me.

Today is the 1st Annual Hip-Hop Karaoke Championships at the Highline Ballroom in New York, featuring 12 of the best participates who displayed there skills in the previous months. Supported by celebrity judges and media coverage, expect tonight’s performances to be something memorable. Recently, hip-hop karaoke events have sparked all around the world, with a local one taking place monthly at San Francisco’s BOCA until the venue closed last year. The ability rap is a gift everyone doesn’t posses, but hip-hop karaoke allows everyone to unleash their inner MC.

Check out the profile for contestant Elizabeth below:

On Wednesday morning, after studying so hard the night before for my AP German and my AP English midterms, I woke up with the flu and hives. “Mom,” I whispered, “I don’t feel good…” My legs were turning purple and my lip was swelling with hives. “Oh Dani,” she said, “You know why you are getting sick. You are just getting nervous about your tests!”

I knew this was a definite possibility. What if the only reason I am sick right now is because of nerves. Am I really that mental? “I am sick,” I replied, “I feel like I am burning up.” She believed me when I was not entirely sure whether I believed myself. Am I really sick? I sure do feel sick. She gave me medicine for the hives, and I then fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up hours later still with a headache and flu symptoms. I forced myself to study for my tests. My teachers responded to my mother’s e-mails, and they were genuinely nice about my absence. They arranged for me to take the tests on Friday if I feel better. I am now studying for my History and Biology finals still not feeling well. My stomach is full of butterflies. Are these “butterflies” the reason I am sick? Will I be sick tomorrow morning when I have to face two highly important examinations?

– Danielle Douvikas

I just walked in the door from a VERY LONG day today. There were many times when I found myself about to snap at people and get extremely irate. I guess the trick to getting through these long days is remembering to laugh, to smile and to know that the day will be over soon. Maybe not soon enough, but soon. It’s funny though, when you seem to be having a hectic day, most of the people you talk to are bubbly and relaxed. Well I guess that works out…Imagine what the world would be like if everyone had a crazy day all at the same time. Maybe that’s what started wars.

      For everyone who’s glum about Christmas lights going back to storage and 96.5 KOIT changing back to “Light Rock, Less Talk” from constant Christmas songs, don’t fret. Because you might still get a holiday card from my family.

            Our approach to the classic pictorial greeting is far from the norm. While it seems more and more families are donning red sweaters at professional photography studios in September, we simply hope that our self-timed digital camera atop a tripod can capture the four of us in all of our January glory. We’re still not really sure whether or not we’re aiming for a card that prolongs the yuletide season, or the first Christmas card of the new season.

            In a family with a former A/V techie and two self-professed nerds, I’m not sure how we managed to have so many pictures that just didn’t work. But I can tell you we had enough to make me late for a meeting. The tripod leaned over conspicuously, the third leg not quite long enough to take a straight-shot, and just short enough to give the camera angle a peg-leg effect. The self-timer turned out to be a setting that takes a picture every thirty seconds, ready or not. And more often than not, it was the latter. With trying to fit in our dog, my tall sister, and the adorned Christmas tree, there are plenty of pictures framing our chins, foreheads, and hardwood floor.

            I’m really not trying to make my family look like a bunch of baboons, or anything of the sort. In a way, it’s nice to not have the pressure to be, or at the least look like, a perfect, cookie-cutter family of plastered smiles and Christmas necklaces. Even if it is hard to explain a February-postmarked Christmas card.