11.17ish.2010

Westboro Baptist Church


McKenzie and I went down to New Orleans for a morning in order to do our project on the picketers of Westboro Baptist Church. They were picketing St. Stephen's Catholic Church at just a regular church service. The four members that came to stand in the no press zone held up signs reading various sayings that they said were to warn the catholics that they were going to hell and God would continue to "kick their ass." They believe that all catholics are guilty by association because a lot of priests have been caught raping children. They say that every person who walks into the catholic church is guilty, and they are simply warning them so they can go to heaven instead of hell and do what God wants them to do in the long run.

While we were down there they sang many protests songs that called catholics filthy perverts and rapists. Some of the songs were to the tune of more popular pop songs, while others were older chants and songs. When approached, the members of the church had rehearsed answers and were very knowledgeable of both sides and seemed to think they proved their side to be true very well. People passing by managed to boo and flick them off because of their offensive signs, chants and songs. The Westboro members did not seem to notice them and when asked about violence, said they ran when people tried to attack because they were a nonviolent group.

Overall the trip and experience opened my eyes to the different religions and laws of free speech. I felt like a real journalist going down to a different city to cover a controversial topic. My multimedia project was fun to make so that I could give people a glimpse of what I saw while I was in New Orleans. I recommend you stepping outside of your comfort zone with as many assignments as possible because it prepares you for the real, exciting journalism world.

11.10ish.2010

Demi Lovato left her European tour with the Jonas Brothers early and checked herself in to rehab. Ever since then, the rumors have been flying on twitter, E! Online and People. Some of the magazines claim it is pregnancy others drug and alcohol abuse. The first accusation was eating disorders because she has recently lost quite a bit of weight.

If Lovato is a foreign name to you, she is a Disney channel star and many tabloids are claiming that she has the Disney curse and because she is already in rehab she is following in the footsteps of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

Defenders of Lovato say that she has done the right thing by checking herself in to rehab and proving that she wants to take care of her problem, what ever it may be. There are many other rumors but no sure reason for why Lovato joined the facility. Hopefully the confirmed reasoning for checking in to rehab will be displayed soon, otherwise rumors will be passed around and never proven true or false, a very devastating thing for a rising star.

Check back soon for an update on Lovato's rehab experience.

11.3ish.2010

Organization: a blog for Ben Corda

So you walk into your office with a little pink binder with everything you need to graduate strategically placed inside of it, loose leaf pages bigger than the notebook itself and millions of crumpled post it notes. How do you expect to be on top of things if all of the crucial information in your life is in a notebook the size of your hand? It is plain and simple, you can't. You're going to try to tell me next that everything that you have organized is in your intelligent smart phone. That is the thing about the present, technology is taking over present day teens and adults. Physically writing things down helps your brain remember what you have done and what you have to do for the day or week. If you type it in your phone and miss the memo or break your phone, the lunch date with that pretty girl could be thrown out the window in a seconds time. Do not get sucked into the new technology of organizing things, try it out if you are content with the old fashioned way and become a basic master. Get a binder, a date book, a bulletin board and a pad of paper or two. Plan things out the night before, on Sunday organize everything you can for the upcoming week. Always leave reminders for yourself, it makes you feel accomplished to have to check something off, cross it out or throw away a post it note. Bottom line is to train yourself to plan ahead and think of things days possibly weeks before they happen, easier said than done but everyone has to start somewhere!

10.27ish.2010

Ever since Woodstock, music festivals have been most popular with the collegiate generation. People set up tents and campers to prepare for a few straight days of the complete musical experience. Hundreds of bands line up to play all hours of the day and night. 


Next weekend is the last weekend for festivals this year and  Voodoo Fest in New Orleans was the closest one to Ruston. It will feature around 450 artists over Halloween weekend. The uniqueness of this event was the variety of artists, instead of just college aged kids it attracted an audience that was young and old. Since 1999 this festival has taken place and is growing in size of performers and fans over its 10 year course, taking one year off for hurricane Katrina. After Katrina it was the first full scale entertainment event set up in New Orleans. The fans this year will dress up in Halloween costumes as advised by the festival committee in different press releases. 


This  year Ozzy Osbourne will make his first appearance since 2001, brining in Ozzy fans from all generations. There are also a lot of Louisiania musicians including The Original Meters and Dr. John. Local musicians increase the local fan base as well. Fans far and wide are excited for the upcoming weekend to roll around and if you have time, you should stop by and experience one of Louisiana's best festivals of the year.

10.20ish.2010

The social networking topic of the last five years has been without a doubt, Facebook. This interactive website has become more and more like a friend to some of the 500 million(USATODAY) users. Features and items are constantly being updated and improved to make Facebook a better experience overall. Now Facebook is catering to people's feelings as well, in the Photo Memories section at the top right of your home screen, all pictures of your ex (recent or from a long time ago) will not be shown. In my opinion, this is ridiculous. If you do not want to see a picture of your ex boyfriend or girlfriend, then delete them as a friend. Hey Facebook, you don't know my life! Maybe I am still good friends with my ex and I want to have a photo memory with them in my corner. What if I had a fake relationship? Now that friend is excluded as well? Pretty soon Facebook is going to take over your life and  use your profile to post endless drunk pictures and create bitchy comments about your ex best friend. The human qualities that this website already holds is terrifying, it suggests friends and events for us to go to as well as alerts us what people are doing. Now it allows us to update and tell everyone where we are when we are doing that activity. One of my greatest fears is that computers are going to become too powerful in our world today, even more than they have now. Soon enough we will be obeying computers and computers will subconsciously run our lives. Have you ever taken a picture and thought to yourself, "Facebook needs to see that?" SEE!!!!! You are thinking about your friend, Facebook, and what you want to share with him. That is the problem with the world today, our dependence on technology is so great that we leave no room for our brains. If a computer approves it, it must be true. I am guilty of this as well, especially as a journalist it is hard to avoid. I know all of this seems a little far fetched, but is it really? I know I catch myself thinking "you know what computer or Facebook, you are right." Some of the things Facebook suggests actually broadens my horizons. It displays events that I would have never thought to go experience, which is good but also very terrifying. How does Facebook know so much about me that not even some of my closest friends would guess? What I am trying to get at is, do not let Face-book control your emotions and the way you think about your life. Sure, use it as an informational tool or fun network, but not as an advisor or pal. I believe adding Facebook as a friend on your real life list of friends might take it too far.

10.13ish.2010

I think HELL has frozen over, Justin Bieber has his own nail polish line coming out in January. Yes you heard me correctly, this teenage boy has six different colors that will soon be on the fingernails of girls throughout Canada and the US. The selling point of this polish is; they are named after each one of his songs. But wait, it gets better. The name of the nail polish is Nicole. Girlfriend? Mother? Sister? Grandma? Nope, none are named Nicole, he just chose a random girly name with no significance or meaning to him whatsoever. I guess the guy, I mean little boy, is trying to make some extra cash on the side of his millions he has now. (Reminding me of Travie McCoy, the millionaire singing about wanting to be a billionaire "So Freakin Bad"Click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about.) Normally I would support someone just trying to make an extra buck, but Bieber has taken it too far. Bieber Fever is out of control, it has to stop. Maybe when he hits puberty all the 12-year-olds will stop screaming "Baby Baby Baby."

Now I know a bunch of people think that Ashton Kutcher's Twitter is a big waste of time and a terrible excuse for you to tell everyone that you have to go to the bathroom or shave your legs. It is actually a website that you can use to your advantage. Besides the usual news or friend site, you can subscribe to any pop culture figurine or celebrity you can find. I found out about Bieber's polish from a tweet by E!Online. Something else I read on Twitter was about our favorite brother band, the Jonas Brothers.

Did you know that the Jonas Brother's show got cancelled because of Mexican drug violence? Apparently they are on their Mexico tour and the show in Monterrey was skipped because more than 400 drug related killings have taken place this year alone in the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located. That is a massive amount of killings, and frankly I applaud the JoBros for even setting foot into Mexico. Although I wonder, do people in Mexico like them enough for the brothers to hold life threatening concerts for their fans in this country? Maybe Disney should think twice before sending their singers to different countries and putting them in potential danger.

10.6ish.2010

www.Gap.com

Fall has arrived and the weather is beginning to feel just right. Maybe its even time to whip out those perfect curve hugging Gap jeans from last year. As you begin to slide them on, your face goes from excitement to determination as you try to shove the zipper up and barely fasten the button. If this happens to you, you are actually IN luck because you are qualified to get a brand new pair of Gap jeans for 30 percent off by trading in your old, slightly smaller pair. Want to score an extra 10 percent off? Add Gap as your friend on Facebook, after such a deal why wouldn't you want to be Gap's friend? So with colder weather ahead, take full advantage of this great deal for some of the best fitting jeans on the market. 

hollywoodreporter.com

Speaking of jeans, there is a new show in the making on ABC called "Awkward Family Photos." The picture to the left is just a little taste of what you might find on this show. How the producers are planning on making a show out of cheesy pictures like this is beyond me. I do not understand how you could do anything besides a slideshow type setup with an America's Funniest Home Videos type host. If they do set up something like that, then I guarantee it will not run longer than one season. What a boring show to watch, the web was created for a reason, an hour of TV would not pass up 30 minutes of channel space for a bunch of weird pictures of people you don't know.


Family can be awkward, but it can also be loving. Love is one of the key ingredients in order for the family to stay connected. Parents give advice because they love you, not to torment you. Moms really do have the best advice and sometimes when you are sitting in your apartment or dorm in college you feel an ounce of homesickness. This homesickness has a cure, staying busy. Keep yourself busy with school work and extracurriculars, this way you don't have as much time to dwell on the fact that your parents aren't there to cook you breakfast in the morning or wake you up for school. 


So next time you go shopping check out Gap, then think about awkward family photos and if you start missing your family, stay busy with your school work or extra curricular...its a simple cycle!