Many Apologies and Reviews

Hey Readers,

So, I know I’ve neglected you for the last two weeks. I truly am sorry : (

It was completely unintentional, I promise. See…I had this little thing called Swine. (I always squawk when I say that word, like it’s associated with death or something, so if you could hear me it would sound like SWINE!) Really, it’s what I get after seventeen years of unhealthy eating and sleep deprivation. But still, I’m here to tell you: Swine? NO FUN.

But anyway, on to more important things. Like movies!

I had a lot of TV-watching time while I was lying on my sick bed, so I have a couple new BlockBuster suggestions for you.

Erin Brockovich

This is the story of a once-beauty-queen single mother who's seriously down on her luck. In desperate need of a job, she pottymouths her way into an office job where she stumbles upon a sketchy real estate case involving the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. With a little investigating, one discovery leads to another and sudden Erin’s knee deep in a cover-up and one of the biggest lawsuits this country has ever seen.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not your typical success story. No, no, no, Erin Brockovich is far from a cliché. There’s contaminated drinking water and partially exposed cleavage and enough witty comebacks to keep you laughing all through the night. And of course, the fact that it stars young(er) Julia Roberts makes this film an absolute must!

Speak

Melinda Sordino used to be a regular teen. And then IT happened. Now, feeling numb and unable to face the aftermath of this traumatic event, she turns completely inward, becoming a As her freshman year progresses, her fragmented past is slowly revealed through her sarcastic stream of consciousness, allowing the viewers to relate more closely to her troubling but worthwhile story.

This is such a touching film. I love Kirsten Stewart, and this is one of her earlier ones. With her haunting eyes and soft-spoken but powerful demeanor, she’s a knockout.

Amelia's Book Room: The Outsiders

Hey, guys! Ready for this week's book review? In S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, we meet two rival gangs: the Greasers, and the Socs (pronounced so-shees). While the Socs are rich and popular, the Greasers are poor, and looked down upon. Among the Greasers is 13-year-old Ponyboy Curtis, an orphan, who lives with his older brothers Darry and Sodapop. Unlike the older, tougher members of his gang, he often lives in fear of being cornered and beat up by the Socs; the same thing happened to his best friend, Johnny.

When he and Johnny befriend Cherry Valance, a nice Soc girl who sees things the way Ponyboy does, things start to go bad. Cherry's boyfriend, Bob, finds them after Pony runs away from home, and Johnny does something he never imagined he'd have the courage to do... but you'l have to read the book yourself! Something that may surprise you about this novel? It was written by a 15-year-old girl! And it's one of my favorite books, which is surprising because I usually like stories with more than one female character, haha!

The Outsiders was made into a movie in 1983, starring some people you may have heard of, including Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, and Tom Cruise. Hope you enjoy this classic must-read! I also wanted to mention NaNoWriMo in this post. I am currently participating in this 50,000 word one-month challenge! You should go check out Ariel's column to find out more about it. Don't forget to read Violet On The Runway for the Dekoposh Book Club, and have a good week!

Going Green!

Hello Guys!
This is Celina,
I'm here to talk about going green!
Well,at my junior high we are for surely going green,we are recycling!
We all were asked to give all our electronics that don't work anymore to the school.
Reason?
When you throw away electronics,that particular electronic contains toxins which is very harmful to our landfills.
Please,please donate or recycle electronics,Let's be a part of making a difference!
Here are some sites where you can find places to recycle your electronics,
http://www.eiae.org/
xoxo,
Celina

Have you ever thrown away an electronic?

One Pimple is One Too Many - NaNoWriMo

Hey Everyone!
Welcome to November! Can you believe how the time has flown?
Let's talk about something wild, crazy exciting, a little nerve-racking but a WHOLE lot of fun! :)

NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month - is very simple:
Write 50,000 words (about a Novel length) by November 30th and voila'! You are now a novelist!

I know from experience that this works - I published my book Chasing Dandelions because of NaNoWriMo!

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today!
www.nanowrimo.org

(And I know what you're thinking, "Ariel! I don't have time to write a novel!" Well the truth is, none of us do. Writing a novel is one of those "one day" things. As in, "One day I'll write a novel..." and before you know it that one day becomes never. If you write 1,667 words per day, you'll make 50,000 by the end of the month! And REMEMBER, if you don't win - that's okay! The goal is to get you writing and to have fun -- you'll have done more writing than some people do in their entire lifetime AND there's always next year :))

Happy Writing and I hope you have a great week!

Ariel

P.S. Need help on something I haven't covered yet? Send me an @reply (@arielsmiles) or an email to arielsmiles(at)rocketmail(dot)com :)

HALLOWEEN!!!

Hey everyone!! Hope all of you had a fantastic Halloween!!! In honor of Halloween, I decided to dedicate this blog to Halloween...and of course, the music played during the occasion :)

Well, we all know that spooky music is definitely played on Halloween...but there are a lot of songs that aren't necessarily considered "spooky" that are sometimes played on Halloween, or in honor of Halloween. One song (which I had almost forgotten :P) that our band performed was from Ghostbusters. An amazing song, and an amazing performance. My personal favorite, however? Thriller by Michael Jackson (<3). We had our senior pep rally this past Friday and all of the senior football players' moms performed to it and then later on that evening, the cheerleaders performed to it, while our band played it. It was definitely amazing to watch such a large group perform the routine. I remembering learning the dance freshman year in my Dance 1 class. I loved it then and I will probably love it forever <3

Of course everyone has their own opinion as to what songs are the best and which may not necessarily fall under the "best" category. But according to about.com, the top 10 Halloween pop songs are as follows:

10. White Zombie-"I'm Your Boogieman"
9. The Who-"Boris the Spider"
8. Talking Heads-"Psycho Killer"
7. Squirrel Nut Zippers-"He**"
6. Specials-"Ghost Town"
5. From the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show' soundtrack-"Time Warp"
4. Mike Oldfield-"Tubular Bells Pt. 1 (theme from 'The Exorcist')
3. Michael Jackson-"Thriller"
2. Bobby Pickett-"The Monster Mash"
1. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince-"Nightmare on my street"

What about you guys? Do you agree with about.com's top 10 Halloween songs? Which ones are your favorites?

Thanks for reading guys!!

Until next time,

Labanya

Learning Curve: Halloween

Hey guys!!

Tomorrow is one of my favorite holidays of the year: Halloween!! As a college kid I'm sure you're thinking that you're too old to dress up, trick or treat, or really do much of anything for this holiday. Really there's a lot your can do on Halloween.

HauntedHay Rides
Haunted Houses
Costume Parties

This year Selena Gomez is encouraging her fans to trick or treat for UNICEF. Instead of getting tons of candy ask the people around your neighborhood or dorm to donate a few dollars to the organization.

There's so many other options for the holiday. I hope everyone has a safe & fun weekend. I'm going out with my mom tonight (we seem to be doing that a lot lately. I don't mind. I like spending time with my mom) and then to my sister's last marching contest of the season tomorrow! Another BUSY weekend!! :D

Love you guys!!!

<3 Jen

Amelia's Book Room: Goosebumps & Un!

Boo! Did I scare you? Oh, I didn't? ...Well, these books will!

In this special Halloween book review, I've got two spooky series' for you. The first is one I'm sure we've all heard of: Goosebumps! One of the most memorable horror writers, R. L. Stine, has written over fifty of these creepy tales. The one that sticks most in my mind is Night Of The Living Dummy. Slappy the Dummy (one of Stine's favorite characters to write!), as expected, comes alive in #7 of the series to torment sisters Lindy and Kris. I remember this one giving me nightmares; just the cover makes me shiver at the memory of going against my instincts and reading it alone at midnight!

It's not all living dolls, though, if that's not quite your thing. There's also man-eating hamsters, swamp monsters, mysterious summer camps, and of course, ghosts. You'll definitely want to pick one of these up on Halloween night if you're tired of movies and want a good scare!
Next up is not exactly a series, but I like to call it the 'Un!' series. With titles like Undone!, Uncanny!, and Unbearable!, Paul Jennings tells an array of creepy, weird, and sometimes downright gross short stories. Zombie parakeets, anyone? A stuffed fox that's a little too lifelike, locked in a closet for years? Or how about ice cream that makes you smart?

These are some of the best and craziest short story collections for kids, and great if you like surprise endings and, well, disgusting stuff. Jennings also has a lot of other fun books you should check out. I hope you enjoyed this Halloween-themed review, and have a good time this Saturday! Also, don't forget to read Melissa Walker's book Violet On The Runway; we're reading it for November, too, so you have until the end of next month, when we'll have our Dekoposh Book Club meeting! Happy reading!

Concert of Hope

Hey everyone!
Hope you had an amazing weekend!

Concert for Hope was held on Sunday (October 25th) in Los Angeles. This is a great concert because all of the money raised is going to help fund livesaving cancer research and treatment programs at City of Hope, which is one of America's top cancer centers. The headliners were Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Jesse McCartney. Miley sang her song "The Climb" with a little cancer patient and according to a tweet from Debby Ryan, "...there wasn't a dry eye when Miley sang The Climb..."

It is amazing that stars as big as Demi, Miley and Jesse will take time and do concerts such as these. Because everyone is effected by cancer, or knows someone who is, and by simply doing another concert, they helped funding for research. Last year Concert of Hope helped raise around $1.2 MILLION for cancer research. How amazing is that?? I hope this year was as much of a success as it was last year! From the videos I have watched, all three of the performers did an amazing job!

It's good to know that stars like those three will help use their fame for such an amazing cause!

Thanks for reading! :)
Leah

One Pimple is One Too Many - Confidence

Confidence.

You can see them from a mile away.

They walk with their head high and their face forward.

They are friendly, polite and have good ideas.

But confidence isn't something that you're born with - it's something that you learn.

The first step, is believing in yourself.

What do you see when you look in the mirror?

You gotta swim out of your comfort zone to catch the wave that's going to change your life. - Surfing Wisdom

It's true. I'm not saying you shouldn't be grateful and content in where you are in life - by all means! However, I am saying that if you want things to change in your life, you have to act on it. Instead of complaining about the "jiggly bits", ask your doctor about an exercise plan. Acne problems? Drink lots of water and ask a skin expert (a dermatologist or the physician at your local pharmacy) for tips and referrals on products that help clear your skin. One of the marks of a confident person is someone who when confronted with a problem, doesn't wallow in depression but looks for a solution.

A candle loses nothing by lighting a candle. - Erin Majors

Maybe you are confident in who you are. Spread it around. Encourage the people around you any chance you get. "But what if they seem to have it all together Ariel? I doubt they need encouragement." Maybe so. Maybe you're friends with the most confident person on the planet. Still - we all need that little extra push in the right direction, or even affirmation that we're doing a good job. Like the quote suggests, you lose nothing in spreading love and encouragement to others.

I guess the thing I learned is that I may never completely figure out who I am. And maybe that's not so important. - Melody Carlson from her Diary of a Teenage Girl Series - Caitlin

Confident people aren't people who've got it all figured out. They've simply learned how to be comfortable in their own skin. You don't have to be a supermodel to be confident! I say this all the time but that's because it's important - half the battle is in your mind. If you believe that you are a confident, strong, secure person than you will be.

I have an assignment for you.

For the next week, every morning when you wake up look into a mirror - bedhead, morning breath and all - and say this:

"I am fearfully and wonderfully made."

"I am confident and secure in who I am."

"I am a peculiar treasure."

"I am beautiful//handsome."

"I will learn from my mistakes - not focus on them."

Add in anything else that makes you feel like the confident and beautiful//handsome person you are!

Say it outloud every day for a week. It might seem a little weird at first, talking to yourself, but trust me - it works. Hearing yourself say the words - and taking the inititave to believe them - will boost your confidence immensely.

Keep on rockin'!

Ariel

postscript: I know Halloween's this weekend so just a little reminder to be safe. Pranks may seem like fun at first but remember that your and everyone else's safety is the FIRST priority. :)

If you need advice on something I haven't covered yet you can @reply me on twitter (@arielsmiles) or contact me at arielsmiles(at)rocketmail(dot)com. :)

Music World--Hindi/Bengali/Spanish

"Music is the universal language of mankind." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Outre-Mer

Hey everyone! I apologize for not blogging at all the past two weeks....senior year has started a lot tougher than I thought but thankfully, I am slowly adjusting, adapting, and overcoming!! :) How's school going for all of you? Hopefully, you guys are all doing great!!

Anyway, for today's topic, I thought I would talk a little about music in different cultures!!

As I'm sure I've mentioned a million times before, music is something very close to my heart. It is my way of expressing myself--sometimes thru lyrics and other times, thru melody. English music isn't all I listen to though. My parents are both originally from Bangladesh (and my maternal grandmother grew up in India for some time) so I got a taste of Bengali and Hindi music as well. Some countries, like India for example, have started to incorporate English into their lyrics and I've found a lot of songs in Hindi movies especially that have "westernized" their music.

Bengali music, in my opinion, has very soft melodies. From what I have heard from my parents' cds and tapes, most of the music is love--relationships, family, etc. A lot of it also seems a bit on the mellow side. You will probably not find anything near rock or metal in bengali music. All of the singers tend to have softer voices and the melodies are often soothing...almost like lullabies. I have found a couple of tunes that are extremely catchy and easy to just get up and dance to. Unfortunately, I can't remember some of the names of the songs I really like, but you can definitely find a lot of the songs on YouTube (www.youtube.com) or by googling "bengali songs."

Hindi music, on the other hand, I find to be extremely lively and catchy...and of course, very easy to dance to. While surfing YouTube one day, I saw that a lot of users used Hindi songs to make videos about American celebrities (and the video turned out great too!!). It was really cool to not only watch the video, but it was awesome to see both of my cultures meshed into one video. Hindi music is probably one of my favorites. Even though most songs last about 5-6 minutes, the tunes and melodies are super catchy and it's really easy to get a piece of a song stuck in your head. My sister and I have performed to a lot of the songs too...and it isn't that hard to choreograph too either.

Some of my favorites:

-Lakdi Ki Kathi from a movie called Masoom (One of my all-time favorites....it's been a favorite since I was 4-5 yrs old) Watching this video brought back so many memories of listening to it!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uafP78m_v9U

-Ghanan Ghanan (I love this song!! And I know this is a bit off topic, but I strongly suggest you watch the movie--Lagaan. A lot of my non-Indian friends have watched it, with subtitles, and loved it) Here's the actual clip of the song from the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpTCnl36gZI

-Deewana Hai Dekho (Also a great song from a great movie! It's from Kabhi Khushie Kabhi Gham...really sad movie, but great songs and plotline :) This song actually has some English parts in it...and it was really interesting to hear it in there) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4RqHGxcpkM

Those three are just a couple of examples (I could go on and on :P) but if you are interested, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LET ME KNOW!!! I would love to give you music or even movie suggestions if you're interested...so don't be shy. Hit me up on twitter (@Lalalabanya) or if you would like my e-mail, please leave me a comment down below.

Spanish music is also something I've listened to...well, not too much in depth, but I've heard a couple of songs on the radio here and there and last year in my AP Spanish 4 class. And although I can't really understand what they're saying, the songs are actually great!! :P I love listening to singers like Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, David Archuleta, etc, add in Spanish into their music. It's great to hear both languages in one song!!

Whoops, this blog is getting longer than I thought it would be...sorry about the length!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and this upcoming week!!

Until next time,

Labanya