Sunday, March 30, 2008
MTV, where has the music gone?
MTV, the acronym for Music Television was launched in 1981 with the primary objective to play music videos. It began with music being its main focus but today MTV features more reality shows than probably any other network and almost no trace of music. Since the beginning, MTV has revolutionized the music industry. It has made it possible for new musicians to become household names such as the legendary Michael Jackson. TRL or Total Request Live started in 1998 at its Times Square studio and continues to run over 10 years later. In 1999, the show introduced a live studio audience which I been a part of numerous times. Tickets for TRL are free; all you have to do is request them. Being a part of the audience is a fun experience. I’ve gone about 4 times and you get to see what goes on behind the scenes and see the VJ’s and the celebrities. I’ve met Mariah Carey, Christina Milian, Ciara, my personal favorite Chad Michael Murray and others. TRL is now almost the only show on MTV that is about music, but even with its top 10 video countdown only about a minute of each video is shown. Nowadays MTV consists of a variety of reality shows. Its most famous has to be MTV’s The Real World. First broadcast in 1992, The Real World is the longest running program MTV has had to date and is now about to enter its 20th season in Hollywood. While most of the reality shows on MTV such as The Real World, The Hills, Laguna Beach, Made, Life of Ryan, and True Life are some of my favorite shows to watch MTV sure is lacking in the music department. With the name of the network being Music Television I think music needs to be put back into the picture and hopefully as time goes on it will be.
XOXO, GOSSIP GIRL
Josh Schwartz, creator of the highly popular, “The O.C.,” is at it again with his new teen drama, Gossip Girl. The show displays wealthy and privileged Upper East Side high school students and their families go through their everyday and not-so-everyday lives which are shy of uneventful. The show is based off of the series of books, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar. Serena Van der Woodsen, played by actress Blake Lively, is the shows main character, a privileged prep-school teen who has changed her attitude and become a kind and down to earth girl since coming back from a mysterious trip to boarding school. Her best friend Blair Waldorf, played by actress Leighton Meester, is the complete opposite. Blair, the typical privileged princess is the schools resident mean girl and leader of the in crowd. Serena’s new boyfriend, Dan Humphrey played by actor Penn Badgley, is from a completely different world, Brooklyn. Dan goes to school with Serena and all of her prep-school friends but is not in the same social scene, until he met Serena that is. He is a loner and is still not completely accepted by her friends, mostly why Gossip Girl refers to him as “Lonely Boy,” but he and Serena have something special and they try not to let anything get in the way of it.
The show has a different aspect to it being that it is actually narrated throughout by “Gossip Girl,” an unknown person, who attends school and parties with the characters. “Gossip Girl” has a blog about them telling their every move, which all of the students at the prep-school read. The show portrays these characters in many serious situations such as relationships, sex, drugs, and alcohol, but in a different light another main focus of the show is fashion. The people on The Upper East Side such as Serena, Blair, their mothers, classmates, and others treat everyday like a fashion show by dressing to the nines. The fashion on the show has become as well known as the fashion on Sex and The City. In its first season it has achieved great ratings and has become a favorite to many teens including myself. So if you have nothing to do on a Monday night at 8 o’clock turn on the CW11. You’ll be sure to occupy your time with some juicy gossip.
XOXO, Danielle
The show has a different aspect to it being that it is actually narrated throughout by “Gossip Girl,” an unknown person, who attends school and parties with the characters. “Gossip Girl” has a blog about them telling their every move, which all of the students at the prep-school read. The show portrays these characters in many serious situations such as relationships, sex, drugs, and alcohol, but in a different light another main focus of the show is fashion. The people on The Upper East Side such as Serena, Blair, their mothers, classmates, and others treat everyday like a fashion show by dressing to the nines. The fashion on the show has become as well known as the fashion on Sex and The City. In its first season it has achieved great ratings and has become a favorite to many teens including myself. So if you have nothing to do on a Monday night at 8 o’clock turn on the CW11. You’ll be sure to occupy your time with some juicy gossip.
XOXO, Danielle
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
BEST SHOW EVER? I THINK SO !
One Tree Hill is a teen drama on the CW 11, and in my opinion is the greatest show ever! The show is about two half brothers Lucas (played by Chad Michael Murray, who I actually got to meet recently) and Nathan (played by James Lafferty) who are connected by their horrible father. In the beginning of the series the two brothers hated each other but as the years have progressed they have grown to become best friends. They live in Tree Hill, North Carolina where they are high school basketball players. Also in the mix are Haley (Lucas' best friend and Nathan's wife), Brooke (Lucas' ex-girlfriend), and Peyton (Lucas and Nathan's ex-girlfriend).
They are all best friends and go through situations like normal teenagers encounter in real life and some out of the ordinary, whether it be fights, love triangles, breakups, sports, music, pregnancy scares, and marriages (yes, they're still in highschool and married). But an interesting occurance this season is that instead of showing them go through college, the show skipped ahead four years with them now 21 years old and all adults. This show is so great because it really centers on certain things with two of them being writing and music. Each episode is named after a title of a song and each episode contains lots of music that is kind of "under the radar." There are always different new bands on the show which keeps music a main focus. One of my favorite things about the show is that it begins and ends with a voiceover. One of the characters, usually Lucas (a writer), opens and ends the show with quote or thought. Most of them get you thinking, and they are actually quite inspiring. I love this show because it has so many different aspects to it and i think ultimately is very entertaining and sends a good message.
Here are two voiceovers that were on that show:
"Tree Hill is just a place somewhere in the world. Maybe it's alot like your world, or maybe it's nothing like it. But if you look closer, you might see someone like you. Someone trying to find their way. Someone trying to find their place. Someone trying to find their self. Sometimes it seems like you are the only one in the world who's struggling, who's frustrated, unsatisfied, barely getting by. But that feeling's a lie. And if you just hold on, just find the courage to face it all for another day, someone or something will find you and make it all okay. Because we all need a little help sometimes-someone to help us hear the music in their world, to remind us that it won't always be this way. That someone is out there. And that someone will find you."
"Did you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder, how many strangers have pictures of you? How many moments of other peoples' lives have we been in? Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in, as if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shock take us by surprise? Just think you could be a big part of someone else's life…and not even know it."
They are all best friends and go through situations like normal teenagers encounter in real life and some out of the ordinary, whether it be fights, love triangles, breakups, sports, music, pregnancy scares, and marriages (yes, they're still in highschool and married). But an interesting occurance this season is that instead of showing them go through college, the show skipped ahead four years with them now 21 years old and all adults. This show is so great because it really centers on certain things with two of them being writing and music. Each episode is named after a title of a song and each episode contains lots of music that is kind of "under the radar." There are always different new bands on the show which keeps music a main focus. One of my favorite things about the show is that it begins and ends with a voiceover. One of the characters, usually Lucas (a writer), opens and ends the show with quote or thought. Most of them get you thinking, and they are actually quite inspiring. I love this show because it has so many different aspects to it and i think ultimately is very entertaining and sends a good message.
Here are two voiceovers that were on that show:
"Tree Hill is just a place somewhere in the world. Maybe it's alot like your world, or maybe it's nothing like it. But if you look closer, you might see someone like you. Someone trying to find their way. Someone trying to find their place. Someone trying to find their self. Sometimes it seems like you are the only one in the world who's struggling, who's frustrated, unsatisfied, barely getting by. But that feeling's a lie. And if you just hold on, just find the courage to face it all for another day, someone or something will find you and make it all okay. Because we all need a little help sometimes-someone to help us hear the music in their world, to remind us that it won't always be this way. That someone is out there. And that someone will find you."
"Did you ever look at a picture of yourself and see a stranger in the background? It makes you wonder, how many strangers have pictures of you? How many moments of other peoples' lives have we been in? Were we a part of someone's life when their dream came true? Or were we there when their dreams died? Did we keep trying to get in, as if we were somehow destined to be there? Or did the shock take us by surprise? Just think you could be a big part of someone else's life…and not even know it."
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
THE END OF AN ERA
A highly-paid top fashion model who is known world-wide for consistent and concurrent modeling work in haute couture and commercial modeling, usually for top fashion designers and labels, such as Chanel, Prada, and Gucci. Whats that you ask? That is the definition of a supermodel. In the 1970's models became more prominent as their names became more and more recognizable to the general public. Women such as Janice Dickinson, Cheryl Tiegs, and Christie Brinkley were among the few who truly rose to fame through modeling.
By the 1980's models were becoming even more prominent, they included such beauties as Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson, and Cindy Crawford. These women were all fixtures on the covers of fashion magazines and print ads making them incredibly famous household names and also incredibly exclusive because there were no others like them. The "era of the supermodel" then arrived in the 1990's with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. A very famous model out of the 90's who is still causing controversy today is Kate Moss. She was just a teenager in the 90's with her slim hips and accentuated cheek bones but her very thin appearance became know as the "waif" or "heroin chic" look which was extremely "in" during the 90's.
Since then the supermodel era has faded, very few models today are household names mostly because of the increased use of actresses, singers, and other celebrities on the cover of magazines and promoting different products. While there still are the few supermodels nowadays such as Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima, Heidi Klum, Karolina Kurkova, Tyra Banks, and Alessandra Ambrosio, it is not like it was years ago when supermodels were seen on the cover of every magazine and every ad. Also the supermodels of today are not donning that 90's "heroin chic" look which is actually quite relieving. Some models have been so "scary skinny" that they have died in the past few years because of it. Although the 90's supermodel trend has faded, the unhealthy, unsafe look of models has changed for the better as well.
Christie Turlington
Cindy Crawford
Kate Moss
Alessandra Ambrosio
By the 1980's models were becoming even more prominent, they included such beauties as Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson, and Cindy Crawford. These women were all fixtures on the covers of fashion magazines and print ads making them incredibly famous household names and also incredibly exclusive because there were no others like them. The "era of the supermodel" then arrived in the 1990's with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington. A very famous model out of the 90's who is still causing controversy today is Kate Moss. She was just a teenager in the 90's with her slim hips and accentuated cheek bones but her very thin appearance became know as the "waif" or "heroin chic" look which was extremely "in" during the 90's.
Since then the supermodel era has faded, very few models today are household names mostly because of the increased use of actresses, singers, and other celebrities on the cover of magazines and promoting different products. While there still are the few supermodels nowadays such as Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima, Heidi Klum, Karolina Kurkova, Tyra Banks, and Alessandra Ambrosio, it is not like it was years ago when supermodels were seen on the cover of every magazine and every ad. Also the supermodels of today are not donning that 90's "heroin chic" look which is actually quite relieving. Some models have been so "scary skinny" that they have died in the past few years because of it. Although the 90's supermodel trend has faded, the unhealthy, unsafe look of models has changed for the better as well.
Christie Turlington
Cindy Crawford
Kate Moss
Alessandra Ambrosio
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