Tuesday, December 16, 2008

blog #10

As you probably know, Jingle Ball was last night. It featured Rihanna, Chris Brown, T.I., Boys like Girls, David Archuleta, Lady Gaga and Chantel. The article I read was titled Rihanna red-hot with Brown at Ball by Chris Riemenschneider. Some say that Rihanna and Chris Brown stopped dating but after last night's performance, no one believes that. The both performed there own songs, plus one together called Umbrella while holding hands. This was a almost sold out show at the Xcel Energy Center and was headlined by rap star T.I. He performed for awhile, cutting down all of his songs cramming them together. It was one of the best concerts of the year. I was at this concert and I liked it a lot. All the artists were amazing. My personal favorites were Boys like Girls and Chris Brown. They stood out to me. But overall this was a very successful concert and it will hopefully have fun artists next year too.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

blog #9

I read an article called "Twin Cities gets blast of Will (Smith) power" by Colin Covert. Will Smith appeared at Edina's AMC Southdale theater for a premiere of his new film and a fundraiser for the Second Harvest Heartland (the state's largest hunger-relief organization). The first 250 people who donated nonperishable food to the charity received tickets to his new movie "Seven Pounds". This movie opens nationwide next weekend. But other than the premiere of his movie, Will was trying to send a message. He said, "What I'm really promoting is a much bigger idea, and this one film is part of a bigger message of hope and the power of a single human spirit. These are ideas connected to this film but the film is not the whole of why I'm here." Will also spoke saying "The value of a human life is not measured within itself. It's measured by its qualitative and quantitative effect on the lives of others. It's cool to have the goal of being the biggest movie star in the world. But why? It's been revealed to me that the question is: Whose life is better because you woke up today?". I personally think that Will Smith is a hero and he shares a great message. He also went to schools to talk to children and even hospitals. He is doing a great job promoting his movie and sending a positive message.

Monday, December 8, 2008

blog #8

I read an article titled Minnesota teens cutting tobacco use, state says written by Paul Walsh. The article was about how the use of tobacco of teenagers is declining. The Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey has previously been conducted in 2000, 2002, 2005 and now 2008. The percent of middle school students that used any tobacco products in the past 30 days fell from 9.5-6.9%. The percent of middle school students that smoke cigarettes in the past 30 days fell from 5.2-304%. The percent of high school students that used any tobacco products in the past 30 days feel from 29.3-27%. Also, the percent of high school students who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days fell from 22.4-19.1%. In the past 8 years, for middle schoolers, smoking dropped by 63% and tobacco used dropped by 45%. For high schoolers, smoking dropped by 41% and tobacco use by 30%. The state really encourages this decline and hopes to make it decline more and more over the next years.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

blog #7

Who would have ever thought to have kept a fruitcake thats 97 years old. I definitely wouldn't have. The article titled, Hear the one about the fruitcake made in 1911? It's still a holiday joke, by Bill Ward is a popular article being read. This cake was baked just a few months before the Titanic sank, and was found in St. Louis Park closet shelf while doing an estate sale assessment in 1992. The resident had passed away and Pierre Girard inherited the gift from Staber and Scheimo. The cake came in a box labeled "Xmas cake Baked in dec. 1911" on the top, and "Xmas Cake baked by my mother's brother Alex died Dec. 27 was operated on Xmas day". Girard decided to keep the cake surprisingly. The cake is hard as a rock and has a slight scent of spice with knob-like mints on the sides. Most people responded to it saying, eww im not touching that or why would you keep that in your house! I would react the same way. This is a very interesting story and amazing that one would keep a cake thats 97 years old. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

blog #6

I read an article from cnn.com titled Customers injured in crush suing Wal-Mart by Kristen Hamill. The article was about the rush of post Thanksgiving bargains that left one employee dead and others injured. The Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, was crushed by customers when opening the doors at 5am. He died of asphyxiation after being trampled. Also, Fritz (51) and Jonatan(19) Mesadieu are suffering pain in their neck and back from the rush of people with a sum of $2 million. The police department realized there were many ways this could have been avoided, with more security, police and barriers. The officers were said to have been back and forth to check on the crowd but had noticed no disturbance. But there was obviously more assistance needed. I think that this situation should have been handled better and that people shouldnt have been so careless. I hope these problems will be solved in the future.