Final Blog... :[

I won't lie...I've been having a good time with this blogging. Thanks Mrs. Sander :]

1) I am a respectful mind.
The respectful mind notes and welcomes differences between human individuals and between human groups, tries to understand these "others," and seeks to work effectively with them.

I try to see different points of view while I also display my point of view. In this blog I have written summaries of the Glee episodes with my opinions on them and then I have connected them to real life--well my life atleast. In Glee there are many stereotypes and problems that happen in real life, but usually they are more dramaticized [then again..that's TV]. I have drawn many parallels to Glee's high school and Roncalli, but at smaller intensities. I am accepting that people make mistakes and go through rough times in their lives that lead to different ways of coping. In Glee's world, they get through the rough times by singing. Ironically, I do too! :]

2) I have exhibited curiosity, generated hypotheses, and exhibited respect for other viewpoints.

Exhibited Curiosity: In general, I am a curious person. I can't think of a time when random questions are not running through my mind. I'm curious as to why high school absolutely stinks sometimes. I'm curious as to why there are mean girls and boys who think they're better than other people. I'm curious as to why we have passion and strong feelings for things we love and hate. That's just how I'm getting through my life. I have asked many rhetorical questions in this blog because they show what I am thinking of and what I want others to think of.

Generated Hypotheses: I have come up with many hypotheses in the time frame of my blogging.
-Fine Arts kids are usually more accepting of people because talent is spread across a wide variety of people in general.
-BE YOUR OWN PERSON
-Life is not easy and it's full of pressures. Sorry, they're never going away.
-Rumors will happen. I make mistakes, you make mistakes, and everyone else around you makes mistakes.
-Labeling stinks...and yet it's almost impossible to make it go away.
That's life. Gotta live it :]

Respect for Other View Points: It's important to take in both sides of situations. One-sided arguments or situations tend to not go over well, espcially if they are disrespectful to the other side. It is also important to have more information about the subject by learning both sides. That guarantees a more intelligent point of view. I have developed a habit to be able to look at both sides of the spectrum in high school to allow for more understanding. There are reasons for all the crazy things that go on in Glee, just as there are reasons for the crazy things in life.

3)Developing my blog was one of the most fun things I have done in an English class. I love posting and seeing comments on my writing. Even if I'm the only person who is looking at my blog on a daily basis, I still enjoy it. Blogging is kind of like keeping an online journal that is public. It's nice to think that I can freely state my opinions, even if no one else shows interest in them. I learned how to incorporate exciting features onto my blog, and that maybe I will continue a blog at some point. I also really like the smartprettyawkward.com blog that Mrs. Sander showed us.

Well that's all for now folks. Who knows...maybe I'll continue blogging until the Glee season is over. Well...Glee is on tonight!!!! :]

Love&Music
-Emily

As I Understand it...

So silly me forgot to blog about last Tuesday's episode of Glee... :/ So I am going to remedy that problem right now.

I probably forgot because it was not my complete ultimate favorite. Sue Sylvester is crazy as ever of course, but this time she got to meet Olivia Newton John [my mother's personal favorite] and remake the music video for Physical.

The plot for this episode included the kids of New Directions researching their newest song assignment. Mr. Schue assigned them to find an older song with a bad reputations [preferably circa 70s-90s] and remake it to give it some pizazz.

Songs from the past episode "Bad Reputation":
1. Physical x2 -- first by just ONJ then ONJ and Sue Sylvester collaboration
2. Ice Ice Baby -- Mr. Schue with some background vox from New Directions
3. U Can't Touch This -- Kurt, Mercedes, Arty, Tina, and Brittany
4. Run Joey Run -- Rachel Berry, Puck, Finn, and Jesse
5. Total Eclipse of the Heart -- Rachel, Puck, Finn, Jesse, and New Directions

In this episode there was a "hot or not" type of list published for everyone to see for the Glee club-- with Rachel at the bottom and Quinn at the very top. At the same time, Sue Sylvester's video of her dancing at home to Olivia Newton John's "Physical" was leaked on to YouTube by Kurt, Mercedes, Arty, Tina, and Brittany. Sue nearly blew her top from [SHOCKER!] EMBARRASSMENT! yes, you heard it here -- SUE was embarrassed.

There was also a new character thrown into the faculty position!!!!! I can't remember her character name, but it looks like she's about to give Sue a run for her money as the ultimate BA feminist of the school. Anyway, the character is played by actress Molly Shannon, who if you know ANYTHING about her..she's hilarious. Here's her IMDB Biography if any of you are interested.

Rachel, determined to move up on the list, decided to do her project on the song Run Joey Run, originally performed by David Geddes. She made a music video and tricked the three guys who she's had a thing with into acting/singing with her. She manipulated the video into making it seem like all three guys were chasing after her, and boyfriend Jesse was quiiite the angry fellow :/ We'll see how this one pans out in the upcoming episodes.


Okay well I feel like I have given an incredibly thorough explanation of basically everything that happened in this episode. Tying all of this back to the mother ship, aka good ol RHS, the real world is not run by physical "hot or not lists," but instead by the "hot or not" lists we come up with ourselves. How many times have you walked down the senior hallway and seen, say, 10 people you may or may not know well and automatically labeled them? *This is the time when every person reading this blog must raise their hands.* Yeah, I know you all do. Because I do too. It's not even on purpose...it's just that in high school, word travels and forces people to make assumptions based on fabricated stories. No one except the actual person can claim whether or not these stories are true, and yet we still spread them around for entertainment. Am I proud to say that I do this? Heck no...but I am human and I can 100% guarantee I will make mistakes and bad judgments in my life. So you may not like the way I roll, but I'm going to keep on rolling with it :]

That's all for now.
Thanks for tuning in :]
And don't forget the new episode tomorrow!!!! Rachel loses her voice :O

Love&Music
-Emily

Listen to emilylooneys Playlist

Ho Hum..Monday...

''You think this was hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they're going in another direction. That was hard.'' -- Sue Sylvester

Good morning, world. How was everyone's weekends? I was feeling a Sue quote to start out my lovely Monday. I'm so tired of Mondays...well Mondays that involve getting up early and going to school. Atleast there are only 14 more school days and then finals. Oh, and don't forget the lovely AP testing we have going on this week...I'm just ecstatic for Friday. :P

Okay, looking past my ranting, today has been a pretty good day so far. We have these crazy schedules this week that involve even numbered class periods for an hour and a half today...which means I'm currently in Mr. Stratton's class with not much to do besides study for APUSH and blog because we don't have any dye for our projects. Oh well...guess I just get to write :]

I was on one of my favorite website ever [Google of course] and I was searching for Glee related things to wittily incorporate into my blog. I found some songs that will be performed later on in this season and I am extremely excited. Here's a little rundown of what's to come...

[+] Olivia Newton John --> needless to say, my mother is ecstatic about this one. She came into my room last week in the Wednesday morning before school and was very excited to inform me that one of her favorite singers was going to be on Glee :]

[+] Lady Gaga --> Bad Romance and Poker Face -- hecks to the yeah! Hopefully they have crazy costumes as well...

[+] Ice Ice Baby and U Can't Touch This --> blast from the past :]

[+] a medley of Journey songs --> I applaud Journey for being one of the first bands to allow Glee to take on their songs... and now a medley?! Oh geez..brings me back to that summer night before school started this year at the Journey concert with Rachael Rode and Kristen Thomas :]

[+] last but CERTAINLY not least...the rumor going around is BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY will be featured in a later episode of Glee. Pause for a moment and take that in.
...
...
...
Happy? I thought you might be. :D

And I also ran across this Personality Quiz.

Feel free to take and and comment on which Glee character it says you are! :]

Here's my results...

Which Glee Character Are You?

More on Glee. Created by BuddyTV

Yay Mr. Schue! :] Until next time...
Love&Music-Emily

My thoughts..

Firstly I'd like to give a shout out today to my AP Lang class...during our fire drill today some of us were discussing how weird words sound when you repeat them multiple times. Kudos to us sounding silly :] [PS...try it! Scissors is such a weird word...]

Anyway, back to the topic. GLEE WAS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC LAST NIGHT!! Anyone agree or disagree? If you disagree, I will be extremely upset with you. :P The songs were fabulous...there was A House is Not a Home performed by Kurt, Fire and One Less Bell to Answer performed by Mr. Schu and Kristen Chenoweth [EEK..again..another reason why this episode was FABULOUS!], Home performed by Kristen Chenoweth, and Mercedes' heart wrenching rendition of Beautiful.

Ahh. That right there is the sound of great appreciation and satisfaction. Personally, my favorite song of the night was Fire. Beautiful rendition of the song originally by The Pointer Sisters.

This episode was centered around Kurt and his feelings for Finn. Could be kind of awkward to some...but it was pretty amusing and sad at the same time. I won't give any spoilers away...but there's some serenading, some falling in love, and some awkward exchanges. Who doesn't love watching awkward encounters!? :]

Mercedes had a huge role in the episode as well. This second half of the first season has been extremely successful in delving into the lives of the other Glee characters. Mercedes is told by Sue that she must lose 10 pounds in a week to stay on the Cheerios squad. Quinn [by the way...where the heck has she been?] talks to Mercedes and is [shocker] nice! Then Mercedes sings her cover of Christina Aguilera's Beautiful. This was definitely the feel good moment of the episode.

Pressure to be skinny...difficulty with relationships...finding love...yep basically sums up my teenage life so far. I'm not 100% certain, but I think there's a lot of that at Roncalli and every other high school across the nation. It's not just one group of people who suffer from these problems--it's all across the board. So if you think you're you-know-what don't stank and you don't have problems.. well, you've got a major reality check coming to you [or as my dad calls it, a "Come to Jesus meeting"]. Life is not easy, and no one ever said it would be, but that's why we have friends and groups of people we can connect with to make this ship sail a little more smoothly.

Well, off to study. Oh the joys of school :P
18 days of school left [before finals] for anyone who's counting!
Love&Music-Emily

A Little Bit of Sue...

Alright so in between my day at work and my studying for APUSH [ugh :[ please save me], I decided it was time for an entry on the one and only... Sue Sylvester. Personally, she's one of my favorite characters and I love her quotes. They're so full of wisdom ;]

Here's a lovely collection of Sue Sylvester quotes...any favorites of yours or any I'm missing?

CAUTION: May be slightly offensive. But...that's Sue :]

Sue: I will go to the animal shelter and get you a kitty cat. I will let you fall in love with that kitty cat. And then on some dark, cold night I will steal away into your home and punch you in the face!

Sue: My parents were famous Nazi hunters, so they weren't around a lot.

Sue: I just lost my train of thought because you have so much margarine in your hair.

Sue: You think this hard. I'm passing a gallstone as we speak. That is hard!

Sue: What would Madonna do? Well, the answer to that question would normally be: date a younger man.

Sue: Get ready for the ride of your life Will Schuester. You're about to board the Sue Sylvester Express. Destination horror!

Sue: All I want is just one day a year when I'm not visually assaulted by uglies and fatties.

Sue: You think this was hard? Try auditioning for Baywatch and being told they're going in another direction. That was hard.

Sue: I empower my Cheerios to live in fear by creating an environment of irrational, random terror.

Sue: I don't trust a man with curly hair. I can't help but picture little birds laying sulfurous eggs in there, and it disgusts me.

Sue: I always thought the desire to procreate showed deep personal weakness.


Oh Sue...always the politically incorrect one. Well, until Tuesday!

Love&Music
-Emily

MADONNA

Hello all you beautiful cyber world people...most of which who are sitting in my classroom as I write this. :]

I find it all too appropriate to begin my entry with a quote from Madonna...

“I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art.”

Why else would I begin my entry with a Madonna quote? Well if you don't know why by now, then I'm not exactly sure why you are reading my blog. But thanks anyway :]

So does anyone else think that Glee last night was absolutely spectacular? I'm not even the hugest Madonna fan like Sue Sylvester, but it was pretty epic.

My top 3 songs:
1. Vogue
2. Like a Prayer
3. Like a Virgin

And then that cover of "What It Feels Like For A Girl" by the men of New Directions-- ABSOLUTELY beautiful and great harmonies. Wow. I was not disappointed last night by the newest Glee.

Tying back into the earlier Madonna quote, I feel like more people need to see themselves as their own work of art. There are billions of people in the world, and yet no one is just like me or just like you--that's called INDIVIDUALITY. High school is full of cliques and groups [not to be picking on anyone, but especially girls] who try to be just like everyone else. Why do we do that? Why can't we accept who we are for what we are and rock that instead?

On last night's episode, three people were struggling with losing their "V-card." They were being pressured into doing something they may not have wanted to do, or they did it and regretted it afterward. Madonna is a great, powerful influence because she is her own woman and stands for individuality and independence. The Glee characters, especially Rachel, were struggling with their identities last night as some decided to give something up that they can never get back. While Madonna is an infamous sex-symbol, she's also a symbol of power. So since we love to emulate celebrities and other people, take after Madonna and BE YOUR OWN PERSON. That's what this life is all about right? :]

Well that's all for right now. I'll leave you with some Sue Sylvester wisdom
Until my next post :]

Love&Music
-Emily



^^This is actually a cool side-by-side video of Sue's Vogue and Madonna's Vogue...it's basically perfection. Enjoy ;]

After a long weekend...

...I came back to my blog to see that I have 14 followers! Yay!!!! I love you all :]

Okay so...it's Tuesday... so all of my fellow Gleeks know what that means! Not only is a brand new episode of Glee on tonight, but it's an episode centered around Madonna. My expectations can be explained in one simple word. Epic.

Alright, so on one of my last entries, I received a comment from the lovely Claire Curtis that stated how she loves that Glee is so diverse. I thank you Claire because that was actually going to be leading into one of my next topics!

Diversity. While Roncalli is not too racially diverse, the activities that everyone participates in can easily throw individuals into cliques--whether knowingly or unknowingly.

For instance: My freshman year of volleyball was unbelievably fun and enjoyable. My team gelled together so well that we formed a sisterhood of sorts. It was hard not to with all the hours spent together training. Everyone wants to be a part of something, and when they become included, it can be hard to let that go.

For athletes, it can be difficult to branch out to anything different--especially somewhat successful athletes who are afraid of failure like I was. It's that fear though that became my driving force to try something different. After I finished my volleyball career, I decided I enjoyed the fine arts sector of the school much more than the sweaty gym I had spent countless early mornings in. Fine arts, choir kids, musicians, artists seem to be more accepting-- but that doesn't mean there aren't drama or diva attitudes.

What I'm trying to convey is that for the most part, show choirs and other fine arts groups tend to be more accepting of all kinds of people. The Glee kids are made up of football players, cheerleaders, unsocial people, and goths. Glee club is a way to fit in when you feel like you're standing on the outside.

Well that's all for now!
Off to watch Glee kids perform Madonna songs :)
Love&music
-Emily

Gleeks get Slushied

This is a fun little clip that I found on YouTube that shows various times that the Gleeks get "slushied." Rachel, the prima donna diva, gets slushied by the cool kids the most as this video shows.




Honestly...this is not a big problem at Roncalli because we're not allowed to have slushies during school except in the lunchroom..and I'm pretty sure I've never heard of this actually happening. If anything, the most bullying that goes on at Roncalli is verbal and behind-the-back comments. Any comments on this? Maybe I'm living in my own little world not noticing things...because that's been known to happen.

Anyway, tomorrow is Monday..which means that the next Glee episode is in one day!
Goodbye for now, cyber world :]

Glee Clubs...The Object of Humiliation?

In high school there are always going to be cliques-- the jocks from the artists, the nerds from the loners. How do we decide who gets these labels? Who gave themselves the power to typecast every person into a specific category?

Somewhere along the line, the musicians and artsy kids became nerdy. Their talent became overlooked and insignificant as the athletes came into power. Sports movies and television shows like Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, and Friday Night Lights were empowering boys to get involved in sports and girls to fall in love with the major players. Now a days, the tides are turning as musicals are more popular than ever before and the television show Glee is climbing to the top of the charts in both TV and music.

Combining an intricate plot line with sporadic and energetic dance numbers along with covers of famous hits from the classics [Don't Stop Believing, Sweet Caroline, and Imagine] to the songs burning up the Billboard 100 Charts [Take A Bow, No Air, My Life Would Suck Without You], Glee club is changing from nerdy to fabulous, bringing together underdogs from every kind of background and combining them to form a dynamic show choir, New Directions.

The Wonderful World of Glee -- REVISED!

As any other Glee fanatic would know, the season premiere for the spring just aired on Tuesday, April 13, 2009, at 9:28 pm...not to be exact or anything.

SO--Mrs. Sander is requiring us to create a blog over...well basically anything. So here it goes...

Subject: Glee clubs--in real life and on television.

Guiding Question: How much does being in a glee club or show choir negatively or positively affect one's life as is portrayed in the television show? How accurate is the TV portrayal of life for glee club/"uncool" kids in high school? Is society coming full circle, shifting more power to the artists and musicians?

Rationale: Glee's tagline reads, "A biting comedy for the underdog in all of us." The best part about this TV show is that it truly portrays what its tagline states. The choir/glee/band kids never seem to get the recognition they deserve for their talent. Glee is all about glorifying those kids who get picked on and pushed around in high school and how it affects them later on in life. I am curious as to how these actions actually play out in high school according to cliques. I am aiming to come up with a conclusion that explains how glee kids are no different from any other kid involved in extracurriculars. I mainly want to show how these applications play out in the real world.

And so my journey to the center of the choir clique begins!