She was sitting Cross-legged on the hood of a Ford,Filing down her nails with an emery board!

In class we talked about music and I personally love country music. We talked about how many people view country music as this twangy music that only talks about trains and love! That's not true!!! Country music is flexible and like any other genre has evolved with the times. They also say that its very uncool to like country music, but I say, " You're wrong guys!" and " Country Music ROCKS!!!!!"

        What is considered authentic country music includes the following:

• Cowboys
• Alcohol
• Being in jail
• Cheating
• LOVE
• Trucks
• Trains      <------  And those points at one time did relate to country music and what it was all about, but times have changed and so has our music.



  Take Taylor Swift for example, she is one of country musics biggest stars. Not only is she a country artist; she is also a country/pop cross over! Her latest album, Speak Now, went platinum in one week after hitting shelves!! If you don't know what that means, it means that ONE MILLION Cd's were sold! If you read that and still tell me that country music is lame and weird and no one likes it well then honey you need help...

Did you know that country music radio stations make up over 50% of all radio air waves. And what radio air waves are left is split between everything else. For being a genre that they say no one likes and is uncool to like; it sure has a lot of stations if you ask me!

Toxic Heart




Britney Spears

 

 In my generation I've notice that most female singers have to appear sexy or beautiful in order to get people to listen to their music. And if people are listen to their music you hope that its for there talent and not there bodies. Look at these pictures and tell me I'm wrong! You can't.









Miley Cyrus

Two of the biggest female artists in the music industry are Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus. While Miley may be newer to the music industry she has made quite the splash. Britney has been around for a while and for some reason were keeping her here. Whether you want to admit it or not you know that it is true! They're the girls you love to hate! But that is beside the point. Look at what they're wearing; does it say listen to my lyrics? No! It says watch me bump and grid like a stripper. I'm not here to bash them because quite frankly I love Miley Cyrus and her music. But I will say the way she dresses is a little much; well less in this case. Today in our society women feel that they must look a certain way!They feel that they must hold up to society's view of what beautiful or sexy is. They feel that if they don't reach that standard they wont get noticed or recognized for there accomplishments! That influence really shows in the pop music industry with the big female stars.

Lil' Carrie Vs. Wayne Underwood

The question presents itself, " Where do you see similarities and/or connections between Hip Hop and Country Music?" Do they have anything in common?

If you walked up to someone on the street and you asked them if the two genres of music Hip Hop and Country have anything in common they would most likely tell you NO!

Take a look at these to pictures above you have Lil' Wayne who represents the Hip Hop Genre. To the right you have Carrie Underwood who represents the genre of Country. By looking at these two you'd never think that their two styles of music have anything in common.

These two styles while very different; share the idea of sing/rapping about life and relating to its listeners.

PCKCCBlogAndrew: Media Makes Us Smarter

PCKCCBlogAndrew: Media Makes Us Smarter: "I think that without any doubt our Pop Culture Media here in the United States makes us smarter, above anything else. We are constantly expo..."

Well if the rise of technology is making us smarter then why had the percentage of kids cheating sky rocketed over the last fifty years? That is all due to the advancement in technology. From using spark notes to cellphones and pod casts; kids are using these things to cheat. Now I'm not saying that the Internet is bad just that i personally believe the cons outweighs the pros.

Odd Girl Out :(

Different forms of popular culture media include:

·         The Internet

·         Cell phones

·         Television

·         Video games

·         Movies

·         Music

·         Magazines

·         Newspapers

When you think of Popular Culture media you probably don’t think too much of it and how it can affect the human behavior. We all know that it does affects us but we never really do take the time to look at how it is affecting our modern society. To be honest I know that I never really did take the time to look at the affect taking place. Until after our class read the  articles The Internet – Everything Bad is Good for You By: Steve Johnson  and  Editorial Observer: How Hip-Hop Music Lost Its Way and Betrayed Its Fans By: Brent Staples. Now these two articles talk about two forms of very popular media culture; those two things being the Internet and music. Now these articles made me really stop and really think!  Our society is become so aggressive and mean and I believe that it’s due to the advance in our technology.

Let’s start with the Internet, where cyber bullying has increase greatly in the last decade. It has in crease with the age of technology. I think another reason cyber bullying has become so common is because studies show that only 15% of parents are “in the know” about their kids’ social networking habits, and how these behaviors can lead to cyberbullying. Grow up for me my parents had the passwords to every one of my e-mail, facebook or any type of online account. To be honest I'm pretty sure they still do have all my passwords. The point I am trying to get across is that if parents monitored their young children when they use the internet a whole lot less of this cyber bullying would be going on. Look at the chart belowe. These kids are in 4th grade through 8th grade. That is very young for this to be happening.

http://isafe.org/channels/sub.php?ch=op&sub_id=media_cyber_bullying. 

  In 2004 i-SAFE did a survey of 1,500 students grades 4-8 on the topic of cyber bullying.

Just in case you don't know what i-Safe is it is a non is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and empowering youth and others to safely, responsibly and productively use Information and Communications.



*Taken from an i-SAFE America survey of students nationwide.  

Kids today are using what should be a great advance in our technology to a whole new level by using it as means of hurting others. It is not just e-mails that people are sending. They are also sending text messages which is considered another form of cyber bullying.

         Another aspect of our media culture is movies. And some of these movies are making us meaner and show us that it is okay. I remember in 2005 Lifetime aired a movie titled Odd Girl Out. This movie was about a young girl who was bullied not only at school but also online by e-mails and instant messages. This drove her to try and commit suicide by over dosing on pills. I remember watching this with a friend and at the time I was home schooled and she went to a local public school. When we were watched this movie I remember being horrified by how the kids were acting and treating the young girl.I looked over to see my friends reaction and I didnt see one on her face at all. The fact that it didn't affect my friend at all made me wonder. We got to talking after the movie was over and she told me that those were the kinds of things going on in her school and I'm sure its going on in every school across the country. Being mean and aggressive has escalated in a social norm for our society and it is wrong!