GMU's Comm 399 students on pop, art, fashion, and more
Wanted to share this with the class. It shows the impact of celebrity kids. This is Will Smith’s 9-year old daughter singing her new single. The video was just released today and there is already a sesame street remake of her video that is taking the world by storm! Willow Smith vs. Sesame Street
Enjoy!
AbsolutePunk is the go-to source for pop-punk fans. It offers news, album reviews, free MP3’s, fan forums and more. Since its creation nearly ten years ago, it has become one of the largest and most trusted online sources for punk fans.
AbsolutePunk offers readers a forum for news, new music, interviews and more. What makes the site so unique is that it allows readers to create profiles and comment on the content and/or post their own content. This creates an interactive forum, where members feel included in the site. AbsolutePunk is a place where fans can be heard. The site features things like daily polls, AbsolutExclusives (which are songs or interviews that are only released on AP) and discussion forums with links to different topics (not just music, but sports and politics as well). There are currently 332,000 active members in the discussion forum. The site also features album reviews and often streams new music that has not yet been released directly on the site.
AbsolutePunk is a great site, but it is not without weaknesses. While AbsolutePunk has been increasing the number and frequency of their more in-depth feature articles, there still are not enough. The site is too much of a forum than a respectable source for news. Letting everyone post their own links is cool, but I think they need to be more selective about what gets posted, because it can be overwhelming at times. Another weakness of the site is that there are too many links to outside stories from other pop-punk sites or magazines, as opposed to creating their own stories. AbsolutePunk has enough writers/members to do their own stories, and just linking to other stories seems lazy, and again, prevents the site from becoming a reliable source for first-hand news. The layout of the page is too busy, and at times the number of posts can be a little overwhelming- most casual users could not realistically hope to read every new post made to the site each day.
AbsolutePunk features a variety of content. Some of their more popular postings are their album reviews, which give a brief review and an author rating and an average member rating (in percentages). Their staff reviews tend to be the most popular, like this recent review of the new Sufjan Stevens album. The site also features exclusive interviews with pop-punk bands, new and old, like this recent posting of an interview with the band Valencia. AbsolutePunk also has more in-depth features, articles which tackle larger issues in the music industry. This recent article about smaller labels surviving the onslaught of illegal downloading was one of the best examples of their features.
If I were to pitch article ideas for AbsolutePunk I would stick to the longer more in-depth feature stories. I would want to write an article about how smaller bands are using the Internet (Myspace, Purevolume, etc.) to get their songs heard by labels, and how often bands are actually contacted by labels as a result of posting their songs online as opposed to bands sending their music to the labels. Another story idea could be a review of a show. AbsolutePunk doesn’t normally review shows, but I think that a review of the first night of a big tour would be well-received, so I would pitch a story about the opening night of the Saves the Day/Say Anything co-headlining tour that is coming up later this month. A third story I would pitch could be an article about the best pop-punk music venues throughout the United States. It could be a list of the top ten, with a little description about who has toured there and what makes that particular venue special.
There is only one website (that I know of) that has everything a person needs to know everything that is currently going on in the world of comics: Comic Book Resources.
They truly have it all: interviews with creators, reviews of each week’s comics, analyses of each month’s sales, videos, blogs, a twitter page and a popular message board.
One of my favorite blogs hosted by CBR is “Comics Should Be Good,” which is posted on by a few regular writers, but mostly by it’s creator, Brian Cronin. Cronin rarely reviews individual comics, but writes more about the people who create comics in his “Comic Book Legends Revealed” feature. He often takes a comical approach to his writing and tends to poke fun at comics and it’s creators, an approach that is normally rare from comic book fans that see writers and artists as gods that can do no wrong.
Also one of the best features of the website is its message board. There, fans can argue to no end on what comic book company, series, hero, villain, etc. is better. It’s always fun to read the crazy crap people write.
One of the biggest drawbacks to this site is that they focus mainly on mainstream comics like Marvel and DC, and not some the smaller and independent companies. Which brings me to my first story proposal.
I propose a monthly feature column in which a comic book is highlighted as something good that an independent company is doing, and would be worth buying. This would do better than just a simple review that people tend to pass over indie reviews on their website and this would be given a prominent space.
Second, I would love to see a NCAA bracket type competition where super heroes or villains are matched up against each other, and fans who go to that site would vote to see who would beat the other character in a fight or who is more popular. This is something I’ve seen done on other websites, but never on CBR.
Third, I would also propose a weekly or daily section were they highlight and review an old comic. This would help remind people that comics aren’t just about what’s new, but also what’s old. Plenty of people search for good back issues to buy, and having a feature that highlights older comics would help fans find the best of the back issues.
Other than those ideas, I’m not sure what else I can add to CBR because, like I said, they already do so much and do it well. If you ever want to know what’s going on in the world of comics, go to CBR.
Tags: Comic Books, website response
Although no respectable music collection is complete without the Beatles’ entire discography, tomorrow marks the reissue of two compilations that, taken together, provide a suitable slice of their catalog for casual fans. “1962-1966” and “1967-1970” serve as a beefier alternative to the “1” collection, including some of the band’s best album cuts and B-sides.
If you still haven’t gotten your Beatles fix, check out the recently reissued John Lennon solo catalog, along with the upcoming George Harrison/Ravi Shankar box set, the remastered Apple Records catalog and a deluxe release of Paul McCartney and Wings’ classic “Band on the Run.”
Lauren Conrad said she was over reality shows but this teen entrepreneur is teaming up with MTV once again for her newest reality show that is set to film in Los Angeles, following her fabulous career.
Famous London street artist Banksy directed The Simpsons’ intro video this past Sunday. Is it actually funny, or does it cross a line? You decide.
A website I look for to learn about movies is Entertainment Weekly. It doesn’t only give information on movies but gives an overview of different entertainment outlets such as music and television as well. One thing I like about this website though is that it gives a chart with all the movies currently at the box with a brief summary and the grade reviewers have given the movie. As a strength for the website, this gives readers an idea how good or bad a movie is before going further into reading it. They also give suggestions for movies to watch on DVD if viewers aren’t interested in going to the movies. This is helpful especially when there is nothing good to spend money at the movies. Something that is interesting is that some reviews have videos added of either interviews, trailers, or anything related to the movie being reviewed. Just like in the review for “The Social Network”.
A weakness can be that the focus is not only movies, which can lead readers to different sections as opposed to continue reading about movies. What I don’t like is that for the movies that are bad, reviews tend to be much shorter, which could be a weakness because it doesn’t give support to itself for saying why the movie is bad. For instance in the review for You Again, the review is really short, giving a brief summary of the movie and some bad parts of the movie but the only negative part is really saying that the idea of the movie is not new.
A movie that is better than “You Again” is Easy A.
With the section dedicated mainly for reviews, ideas for pitches could be to write a review for movies that have already come out. Similar to the section of older must-see movies. Basically this could be a review for a particular movie from the previous year. This can also be about a movie to avoid as opposed to a movie that should be watched.
Another idea for a pitch: for every bad movie have a review talking about the good parts of the movie.
Movies are always an easy way to escape reality and are entertaining as there are movies for all ages and groups. If you enjoy watching movies either at the movie theater, on netflix, or buying DVDs to watch at home, this website gives you an overview of what should actually be something worth your time.
Hearya, a Chicago-based online publication for indie music, provides indie music fans with everything they are looking for. At hearya, one can find tons of information on new albums and bands.
One of the best things about this site is that it is interactive. There is always a video or mp3 that follows after every post. The publication is set up in a no-frills blog style. Hearya says on their website that they give “indie music enthusiasts a destination to cut through the clutter when discovering new music.” And this is true. The website does not overwhelm you with too much information, and usually provides one or two posts a day about new music.
As for the style of writing, it is pretty creative. The writers provide the readers with a good sense of what the music sounds like without even listening to it first. But, the best part of all is that Hearya has a whole section dedicated to live music sessions. Yes, you get to hear live versions of your favorite songs. Hearya does these live sessions with many different indie bands from their own studio, and then shares these music sessions with the community. And an added bonus—the music can be sent right to your itunes library for free. It’s great to hear the bands in a more raw state, as if they are jamming out right in front of you. This is what makes Hearya unique, and, ultimately, a great place for indie music fans.
There are, however, a few weaknesses at Hearya. The site is not nearly as professional looking as other publications such as Pitchfork, which may turn some viewers away. Also, the website lacks a search bar so one can’t just look for a particular song or band to read about. But, these weaknesses are overshadowed by the strengths of this site.
If I were to contribute to the Hearya website, I would try and add an album review section so that viewers can go directly to the reviews and not have to search down the whole entire blog. Also, as there are new indie songs produced everyday, I would want to start a “Song Of The Day” section and write a small critique about a new song everyday. This would make Hearya even greater than it already is.
Check the website out here.
A Jacksonville, Fla. man has been receiving numerous phone calls and tons of fan letters from Bieber fans, simply because his name is Justin Bieber. The kicker? He’s 35 years old.
Read more about what has happened and what he’s tried to do to solve the Bieber fever mania here.
One of television’s most talked-about new shows, Glee, has the internet abuzz with their latest episode, during which there is a same-sex make-out scene between two cheerleaders. Given that this is considered to be a “family” show, is this too much for audiences to handle? Or is this simply being blown out of proportion, considering that straight couples on the show have been known to have much racier clips.