All That Remains ....... Is A good CD!!!!!!

Whoever said that grinding metal and yelling into a microphone wasn't considered music? The Fall Of Ideals by All That Remains was the catalyst of the fame of the band from Illinois. With Tracks like This Calling and Not Alone, this was the powerhouse behind the success of their newest album, Overcome. Overcome is an album that has had an obvious amount of time spent on it and is so technically sound that there are very few flaws in nearly all of the tracks.

The first thing you notice listening to this album, if you've heard earlier ATR, is the vocal intricacy, and how Phil Labonte has obviously put forth a ton of effort into his vocal quality and tone. from the low screams to the clean cut vocals that have such a unique tone, Phil Labonte is deffinately going to new places to affect the band's style, and make it more appealing to the masses. The Pruduction of his voice is improved too. It seems more glassy and smooth than previous albums. Also, the sheer lyrical genius that Phil puts forth in the tracks on this CD is almost unimaginable. They are generalised so they can apply to virtually anyone, but specific enough to create a personal connection to the song. These two factors combined establish a connection with the listener that makes some songs on the album a huge success.

The next noticable thing about this album is the skill and incricacy of the instruments. the melodies of both guitars are impressive by themselves, but when put together they just fit so well and seem to magically create a new more rediculous melody, and is truely amazing to listen to. The guitar solos in this album are not quite up to par with those of The Fall Of Ideals, but they are still insanely rediculous. And the most distinguished member of the band, Jeanne Sagan (bass) is also intricately woven into the guitar chords in a masterful blend of treble and bass. Also the drummer, Jason Costa, is one of the best out there. his impressive beats and patterns with perfectly played fills at breakneck speeds are impressive to even those who do not know much about drums. Together, they make a great blend of both skilled playing, well fitting and placed fills and solos, that make this album enjoyable from virtually any perspective.


though this album did have it's flaws, like believe in nothing, which was an absolute train wreck of a track, this album can be listened to repeatedly and has changed to fit an audience that craves the old All That Remains, and still change the sound enough to attract a new audience, and with this album, they have added to their library of great CDs.

a very frustrating 3rd blog

Over the last 20 years, blockbuster films have become more of a genre than something to achieve. When Jaws was released it was considered a blockbuster because of how much money it made and how successful it was, which in part is still true today, but today its not necessarily good that drives the sales, or is the basis of any kind of success. movies like Indiana Jones And The Crystal skull were very successful, but were reviewed to be terrible and were indeed, terrible movies.

Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull was the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones movies. It was a huge movie, people just watched as the money came in from this movie. But does that make it a good movie? In my opinion, this was an absolutely dreadful movie. it completely went against the principle of Indiana Jones, relying on luck and almost magical occurrances, And many audiences agreed with my point of view. Then Why was it so successful? In this day and age, everything is being pushed as far as it can possibly go, even if it takes away from the value of the movies. People see the sequels to any movie that was a classic, or good, and that gives that movie money regardless of whether it is a good movie or not. This is how This new Indyiana Jones movie made so much money, of the value and power of the first three. in this day and age the preserveation of a good film is not even considered, it's all a money grab.

But this is not always true, some sequels like Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen are good quality movies, that still somewhat owe their success to the first movies, but are still good movies. Granted that it was not reviewed to be as good as the first one, but some movies destroy the possibility for a good sequel by being rediculously good, so that the second could never be as good. but if comparing these movies as themselves, not as a sequel, they are still very good movies, and their success is still partly due to the first, but some is based on actual quality, not just mindless violence and explosions.

But these points are not only true for sequels. G.I.Joe The Rise Of Cobra was nor a sequel, nor good. the basic rundown of the movie is 15 minutes of backstory, and the rest is mindless explosions and sword fights, with clips from the guy's memory, which don't contain quite as much violence as the rest of the movie. This was the perfect example of blockbusters today. People went to see this movie because it was a childhood character, and it looked action packed. There was action packed to the point of overflow. Seriously, my friend saw this movie with me and was in virtually a violence induced coma for the next three days. but this movie hd no value whatsoever. theres nothing to base this movie on except the special effects, well, I am forgetting the 15 minutes of backstory, but regardless, we would like SOME story to our violence. This illustrates how blockbusters are now a genre, its alot of explosions, with no backstory or value to it.

When all is said and done, there is no denying that blockbusters CAN be good movies, but they CAN also be bad. Either way the common day blockbuster is a genre. Action packed with loads of destruction and violence, blockbusters do not necessarily have to be good to attract audiences. Unless that audience is a critic.

queston 3 from the modern times sheet

I believe that the silent film modern times is still such a big comedy movie today, not because of historical interest, but because of the quality of the film. I believe that because it is such a high quality film for entertainment, it is still popular. The film brings in quality, original ideas that are what makes it so good. Some people may watch it for historical interest, but that doesn’t deny the fact that the comedy used in that movie is still used today. Additionally, it is family friend, so all ages could like it, and watch it. I do believe however that this film is so popular because it is silent. I think that since it doesn’t have to worry about witty dialogue, it allows the director and writers to focus on the physical comedy, which is what it is known for.

Teenagers In The Media

I believe that in the media teenagers are portrayed in a number of different ways. I believe that every subculture of teenagers has its own way of being portrayed in the media. Not every portrayal of the subcultures is just or fair, but then again not many are about the culture in general. I think that with so many subcultures of teenagers, it is impossible to choose one accurate portrayal of the teenager.

Firstly I believe that since the teenager is such a widely portrayed stereotype that it isn't fair to those who do not fall into that category. The stereotypical portrayal of a teenager is summed up as a delinquent. They steal, the fight, they vandalise, that is how we are portrayed because thats all anyone ever pays attention to is the bad. This is not a fair portrayal because teenagers do a ton of good stuff, but it just never gets recognized. when i walk into a store sometimes the clerk will follow me around to make sure I'm not stealing anything. This is a rediculous stereotype that is unjust because they just assume I'm a bad kid, based on what the media tells them. This is a sign that people need to stop letting the media take over their life. The media is teaching humans as a species not to trust anyone.

Secondly I think that the subcultures of teenagers are being exposed for the worst possible side to be shown. For example, metalheads. People who are catagorized by the type of music they listen to. this is a problem because good kids who just like the music are getting negative stereotypes surrounding them. people as a community and a society judge people way too much, looks, the type of music people listen to, everything is under constant scrutany. This makes it virtually impossible for anyone to express themself or be individual, and that is where i believe most of the stereotypes start. But it's not always the case, people judge people by how they look, and thats not right. I like metal music and people aren't calling me a freak because of it, just because I don't look like some of the other people who like that same music.

Thirdly I believe that it's the human nature to pay attention to the negatives more than the positives that gives teenagers a bad reputation. Imagine there is a group of five teenagers walking down the street. one of them is smoking. now because one of them is smoking, the other four are now categorized into the same group as him, not matter what the kids are doing. people are automatically attracted to the bad side of everything, nothing gets as much publicity as the bad. people dont walk down the street going "Oh this boy looks nice, I think I'll say hello.", people automatically, based on the bad they hear about teenagers are thinking, "Oh no a teenager, I hope he doesn't try to steal from me, or pull a knife out on me." It's just rediculous how these stereotypes have been escalated to the point where people who have never met me before think I'm going to kill them.

For the most part in the media teenagers are portrayed poorly through stereotypes and negativity. It's not all bad though. There are some accurate portrayals of certain groups of teenagers, but there are so many subcultures of teenagers that it makes it impossible to categorize any one teenager into any one specific portrayal.

1st blog

1.I believe that media is very important in my life. I believe this because media not only informs you of current events, but can educate you about the past and history. I also believe that media can be bad though because people use the media to exploit others.



2. Music is the form of media that is most important to me because it can educate, or stand out against something that is unjust or cruel.



3.I think that pop culturecan be used well, but everybody gets spammed with the mindset of buy, buy, buy. It can be used for entertainment, such as t.v. and video games, but, at the same time there are commercials and advertisements within the entertainment. i dislike all the commercialism involved in popular culture because there is simply too much of it.



4. In my opinion music is the most powerful form of media. Every year benefit concerts all over the world make millions of dollars for world issues such as world hunger. This is a good form of media because it is contributing to society, not wasting everyones time with celebraties. Musicians also write lyrics about social issues to raise awareness for world issues, and to try and inform the listener of what's really going on in the world, however blunt they may have to be with it.



One of my favorite bands of all time is called Threat Signal. they are a metal band that released their debut album in 2006, and have just released a sophomore album this year. Threat Signal makes a difference in the world by writing about everything from political issues, to teen issues, bringing something to the table for everyone. This is an example of good media, media used to educate and show people what it's like to be in a war, or to be depressed, and brings emotion and feeling with it. if every musician donated money to charities, the world would have alot more funding for charities, because everyone would support the music, and even if they didnt support the cause, indirectly, would be contributing to it by liking the musician