Album Review

Matchbox Twenty
More Than You Think You Are
Genre: Rock
Released Nov. 19, 2002
Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States
**** (4 stars)

Matchbox Twenty's album "More Than You Think You Are" is responsible for the majority of the group's fame. A group who gained popularity in the 1990's, made a comeback with this new album and the popularity of Track 2 "Disease".

It is obvious why this track in particular is so popular, it is one of their best songs. This song has the same feel as their most famous song of the 90's, "Smooth", in which the lead singer collaborated with Satana. This song is very catchy and one of the album's faster paced songs. It is a nice change of pace from the other songs, but could be placed so it intertwines with the album's slower songs.

The placement of the album starts with the faster paced songs, but unintentionally instantly drops to a slower pace. It continues to be less upbeat for the remaining of the album. If you enjoy this feel in music and tracks like number 7, "Hand Me Down" than I would definitely recommend this album.

Overall this is a good album, with a classic rock feel. Though may of the songs are not very upbeat they are still very catchy and easy to sing along to. This is a great album if you are fan of the band the band or a new listener.

Required Listening

For the rock and roll portion of the project we are being introduced to various musicians during earlier time periods. We were required to listen to quite a few songs each day and now I am writing my response to three of these songs the impacted me. I have actually previously heard many of these songs, but there were also many that I didn't know of before this project.

Song number one: Joni Mitchell "Big Yellow Taxi" (1970)

I really enjoyed this song by Joni Mitchell. I had previously heard the Counting Crows version of this song and enjoyed that one, but this one I enjoyed a lot more. It had a different feel than the remade version and was a lot more folk-y. Her voice is sweet and entertaining to listen to. Also another thing that I noticed was that the lyrics had a definite message, that fits the time period it's from. I also liked how the song is in definite sections. There are quieter sections, really upbeat sections and parts where it seems she is just having fun. I liked the overall feel of this song and definitely recommend it. I only wish that I would have thought of this song when completing my documentary, because it does talk about pesticides.


Song number two: Herman's Hermits "Henry VII" (1965)

My other favorite song was "Henry VII". I really liked how the song was just fun and whimsical. I enjoyed listening to it and thought it sounded like something from like a show (either tv or musical). Although I liked this song a lot I find it interesting that they became popular, because I just can't see many people saying "Oh play 'Henry VII' again". I think this is because I live in current day and people were very different in the 60's because it was such a different time period. I think the main reason I was struck by this song is because it was so catchy and whimsical, also it's very different from most songs I have heard before.
When finding the picture of Herman's Hermits I thought that they looked extremely young, especially considering that they were part of the "British Invasion". This means that they had to be popular in Europe than in America. Despite their age I think that they are very good and I enjoyed their music a lot.

Song number three: The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows"(1966)

Although I really like The Beatles, and listen to a lot of their music, I did not like this song. It seems like people would enjoy it if they were on drugs, which because it was the 60's many people were. I liked the sound of them singing and the base music of the song but I did not enjoy the other sounds that were layered on top. I know that the Beatles used technology and experimented with that, but I did not like it in the particular instance. I of course realize that this is psychedelic rock and that is the reason it sounds like it does, but I enjoyed the other songs from this genre except for this one. Overall I enjoy the Beatles but did not like this song.



Overall I liked this assignment and enjoyed listening to the music. I think it helped to show me all of the different types of music from that time period and helped to show me new music I had never heard before.

literature circle book response #2

Section A:

I think that what is most interesting about this book is how there are many similar themes in Amir's life and many average American's life. It's interesting how people who live in completely different worlds and have completely different cultures can have certain things in common.
I like the book a lot and I think that it is very engaging because of the descriptive words and it is a captivating story.

Themes
1. father son relationship
2. guilt
3. honor
4. pride
5. culture

Section B:

Our group was wondering why Baba didn't tell Amir that Hassan was his brother? Personally I think that it was to protect Baba's honor, because honor is so important in the Afghan culture. I was also wondering what important events occurred in Amir's teenage life.

Section C:

My most memorable quote is on page 157 paragraph 1. The book states:
"What's going to happen to you, you say? All those years, that's what I was trying to teach you, how to never have to ask that question."

Baba is telling this to Amir and it explains his shame during Amir's younger years. I think that this shows that he was embarassed because he wants he to be tough and self sufficient. This is because Baba was extremely self sufficient and made a life for himself, for that reason Baba wants Amir to be like him.

literature circle reflection

The book that I chose to read for literature circles was Kite Runner. As of our second literature meeting my group and I have reached page 147.

1. PREDICTING
I predict that Amir's relationship with the Soraya Taheri (the swap meet princess) will grow. Also I think Amir will get a job, because he will have to support Baba. Of course eventually I think that Baba will pass away and it will be a huge event in the book. Maybe Amir will enroll in a University as well, instead of a Junior College, perhaps he will take classes other than creative writing too.

2. Picturing
As I read I was able to picture almost everything that was occurring. This was because of the descriptive writing that the author used, also it helped that I took notes of important events and new characters as I read. This helped a lot when the author discussed characters or referred to previous events. I was able to just look at my notes and easily picture what the author was referring to.

3. Making Connections
I started to think about illegal immigration into America when I read the section about Amir and Baba being smuggled into the country. When they spoke of the numerous people in the buses and trucks trying to get to the border and through it I thought of the project we recently completed. Although I personally did not focus my project on illegal immigration, I learned a lot about it when doing the project. I thought of the people smuggling stories that we were told when I read that section of the book.
Another thing that I thought of was Nazi Germany during World War II. When Amir and Baba were sitting and hiding in the basement with many other people and it was cold and dark and smelly, I thought of the Jewish people hiding from the Nazi's. I also thought of this in the beginning of this section when they spoke of people ratting each other out. I find it interesting how history seems to repeat itself.

4. Identifying a Problem
I didn't expect the author to skip from when Amir was 13 to when he was 18. This surprised me because the author skipped a lot of his teen years, which could have been very interesting because that is when kids really grow up and change. I do think that the story will still be good, but it could have been an interesting section (especially for teen readers).

5. Identifying a Solution
When I was unclear about different characters (mainly because of their names that I was not used to) I took notes on a separate sheet of paper. This helped me to better understand the story because I could easily recognize each character. I think that this was especially helpful because there have already been so many characters in the book.

Overall I have enjoyed reading this book. With my reading strategies I have been able to better understand the book and the characters. I look forward to finding out what comes next in the KITE RUNNER.

tuesday

today danielle, coco and i worked on our movie. Since we only have two and a half weeks till it is due we know we have to work hard. Today we uploaded some images and our flash onto vegas, which took a long time because our computer froze up a lot. We decided we needed more pictures after so we went to Trader Joes and took pictures of the produce. The man at the front of the store said to not take pictures of the people. Because of this I am in a few of the images to block out people shopping at the store.

Tomorrow we want to upload our interview and work on vegas.

BASICALLY I HOPE WE FINISH EARLY.

fires

so the mexico trip is postponed because of the fires. These same fires gave us the week off. I hope we weren't supposed to blog. I volunteered to help with hth. What is happening is horrible and I truly pity those people. School starts on tuesday so I will see everyone there.

The Weekend

I am currently in Yuma Arizona for a river trip so I haven't got to do much packing for the trip. I am very excited and think being a group leader will be fun. I hope that my group is cooperative especially when cooking. Andrew already said that he wants to cook, but he can only make breakfast. I said I don't mind pancakes for dinner. The family I went here with has been to San Quentin and their main comment is that it is very windy. I plan on brining jackets for night because it is going to be cold.

BASICALLY I AM EXCITED FOR MEXICO BUT MONDAY MIGHT BE KIND OF HECTIC.