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The Beatles

For the week ending April 4th 1964, The Beatles held the top 5 slots of the Billboard Hot 100. They also had another seven positions lower down the chart. One week later, they still had three discs in the top 5 and a further 11 slots within the Hot 100. In the UK, the mono version of the Please Please Me album was rush-released by EMI on March 22nd 1963. The stereo version was released in late April. All other albums up to and including Yellow Submarine in January 1969 were issued in stereo and mono simultaneously. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the album selling the most copies in the United States is Abbey Road. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a close second followed by the White Album. August 20th 1969 was the last time that all four Beatles recorded together, they finished on ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy’). In the UK, The Beatles have topped the charts with fifteen different albums. In America, there have been 20 singles that topped the Billboard Hot 100 and 19 albums that made No.1 in the Billboard album charts. On the Help! album sleeve the semaphore letters that the four Beatles are spelling out with their arms does not say H E L P, but N U J V. When they were known as ‘The Silver Beetles’, they did a seven-date tour of Scotland backing singer Johnny Gentle. Countries in which the Beatles have had the most No.1s include Australia, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Canada and Norway. The Beatles had eight No.1 hits in Zimbabwe and Switzerland, but only two in Ethiopia. A Hard Day’s Night is the first album entirely written by the Beatles – all thirteen tracks are by Lennon & McCartney. The mono mix of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds is a semitone lower, than the stereo version and therefore slightly slower. After recording Love Me Do, P S I Love You, Please Please Me and Ask Me Whyin 1962, the remaining 10 tracks for The Beatles first album, Please Please Me, took just ten hours to record. It took 129 days and 400 hours of studio time to record and complete Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band established the trend for artists to include their lyrics within the LP’s design. There are around seventy famous, and not so famous, people on the cover of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band including, Aleister Crowley, Mae West, Carl Jung, Edgar Allen Poe, Bob Dylan, Stuart Sutcliffe, Aldous Huxley, Marilyn Monroe, Laurel and Hardy, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Lewis Carroll, Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich and Diana Dors. The Beatles have been named, collectively, as among the 20th Century’s most influential people. 

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Balloon Girl

 Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist who became popular from his extraordinary paintings and graffiti on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. His Balloon Girl graffiti was ranked as the favorite artwork in United Kingdom in a 2017 Samsung poll. The image shows a young girl extending her hand towards a red heart-shaped balloon being pushed away by the wind. He used this image several times to support social campaigns such as the West Bank barrier, the Syrian refugee crisis, and the 2017 UK election.

 Banksy’s graffiti has beauty and meaning in various ways. The way he paints his graffiti to address certain issues is just pure and amazing. The fact that he is anonymous till this day adds suspense to his drawings and makes more people follow his work. Banksy’s work and character relates to the history and culture of the British literature as he uses modern ways of painting his graffiti, creates another identity for himself without anyone knowing his real identity, and displays his art in an illegal way. Overall, Banksy’s work is a great way to view the British literature culture as he is considered one of the greatest British artists.

-Mahmoud Qamhieh 

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Jude The Obscure

 “Jude The Obscure” is written by the English novelist and poet Thomas Hardy. Jude Fawley was a boy who dreamt of studying at the university in Christminster but his background didn’t allow him and ended up working as a stonemason. Jude falls in love with a girl named Arabella and was tricked into marrying her, but the marriage ended up being loveless and withholding Jude from achieving his dreams so Arabella moved to Australia. He was then able to achieve his dream and go to the university at Christminster where he meets his cousin Sue and falls in love with her. Jude ends up having two kids from Sue and a child from Arabella which was difficult for him due to the fact that he wasn’t married to Sue and forced to live in separate inns from her and the children. The ending of this novel is very disturbing as it shows Jude’s son from Arabella hanging the children and himself because he felt that Jude and Sue would be better off without them. 

 This novel relates to the history and culture of the British literature because it shows the imperfections of marriage and the harshness of social expectations, which both represent the British literature culture and the effects it had in the past. The way Hardy wrote the novel and the way it played out shows how much of a good novelist he was. He used literary devices and themes in which help view the British literature and its modern way of writing.    

-Mahmoud Qamhieh

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Persuasion

“Persuasion” by Jane Austen talks about a well-known family that undergoes debt from the lavishly overspending Sir Walter. This well-known family owns land and is very respected. The family moves to bath to rent the family house and manage their expenses. Anne, Sir Walter’s daughter, stays with her sister Mary at Uppercross Cottage for a while and hopes to meet Mrs. Croft’s brother who she was engaged to be married to a while back.

 Anne meets her cousin Mr. Elliot who was In a fight with her father but made peace for unknown reasons. Mr. Elliot wanted to marry Anne to ensure that he would be the sole heir of the family estate, but Mrs. Croft’s brother Captain Wentworth grows jealous and writes her a love letter. Eventually, Anne was happy to receive the letter and went on to marry Captain Wentworth. This story relates to the British literature culture as it shows that the importance of class to people and the use of marriage to improve their class. Mr. Elliot wanted to marry Anne to ensure that he will acquire Sir Walter’s land and improve his class status, while Captain Wentworth wanted to marry her for his true love towards her. It was known that at the time of the of the story, the husband would do all the work outside the house while the wife would deal with the matters inside of the house, but the story shows both Mrs. Croft and her husband helping each other in the matters of everything. “Persuasion” by Jane Austen is a good example for people to view the British literature culture and history as it shows all the traits of the British literature culture.

-Mahmoud Qamhieh

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Jane Eyre

“Jane Eyre” is written by the English writer Charlotte Bronte. This story gives an overview of Jane Eyre’s life from the beginning to the very end and shows a quest to be loved. Jane was raised by Mrs. Reed, her cruel, wealthy aunt and then sent to school after fighting her cousin. The school was run by an abusive man that took all of the school’s fund to himself and his family, but was then replaced by a group of more sympathetic men. Jane Eyre’s life was filled with obstacles and hardships such as poverty, cruelty of others, mixed beliefs about religion, and dishonesty from others. She was able to overcome all of these obstacles by the help and actions of other main characters in the story such as St. John Rivers and Edward Rochester.

 One of the themes in the story was love vs. autonomy. Jane was undecisive about many things but one thing that had a big role in her life was love. In the story, jane talks about the two men, St. John Rivers and Edward Rochester, she experienced love with and compares both of them. While she really liked Edward and believed that there will be love between them, she couldn’t marry him due to the fact that he was already married and she didn’t want to lose her autonomy. On the other hand, St. John Rivers offered autonomy but with no experience of love or any emotion. This story relates to the British literature history as religion and love was a big deal at that time. 

-Mahmoud Qamhieh 

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The Best British Actor?

Idris Elba is an award-winning British actor known for roles in screen projects like 'The Wire,' 'Luther,' 'Thor,' 'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom' and 'The Dark Tower.' Born on September 6, 1972, in London, England, actor Idris Elba starred in British productions before making his way to the United States, earning acclaim as a crime boss in The Wire. He turned to film with a mix of lead and supporting roles in fare like Daddy's Little Girls, Thor, Prometheus and The Dark Tower. Elba won a Golden Globe Award for his role on the television series Luther and played Nelson Mandela in the biopic Long Walk to Freedom. Idrissa Akuna Elba was born on September 6, 1972, in the Hackney section of East London, England. An only child of Sierra Leonean and Ghanaian descent, Elba eventually attended the National Youth Music Theatre's training programs. He landed a number of British television roles and worked with his father in a car factory before eventually making his way to America. He settled in Brooklyn, New York, and Jersey City, New Jersey, working as a doorman at the comedy club Carolines and DJing while struggling to make ends meet. Idris Elba got his major break starring as crime boss "Stringer" Bell on several seasons of the highly acclaimed HBO drama The Wire. Other parts followed, though Elba later lamented that he was continuing to get lots of offers for gangster roles during this time. Elba also continued his TV work over the years with series like The Office, The Big C and The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The actor has received multiple Emmy Award nominations and won a 2012 Golden Globe Award for his lead role on the BBC America series Luther, portraying a driven yet tortured detective whose conduct brings up ethical issues. Elba has continued to spin as a DJ internationally. He's also performed as a singer and rapper, going by the name (Big) Driis.

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The Shard

Irvine Sellar, The Shard’s developer and joint owner, had an ambitious vision to create an architecturally striking vertical city incorporating retail, offices, hotel, apartments, restaurants and a public viewing gallery. His idea was to build a diverse vibrant community, and provide multiple areas within which the public could experience the building and its magnificent views. And all of this astride one of London’s major transport hubs. Sellar acquired Southwark Towers, occupied by PwC, as an investment in November 1998. When the UK government shortly afterwards began encouraging high-density developments close to transport hubs, Sellar set about planning a world-class building that would capture people’s imagination. He arranged lunch in Berlin with award-winning architect Renzo Piano and, Sellar says, the architect’s initial reaction was far from encouraging: “Renzo said: ‘You know, I hate tall buildings – they are arrogant, aggressive, like fortresses.’ I thought it was going to be a short lunch. Some challenging years followed, during which the project overcame a lengthy planning process and a high-profile public inquiry, only for investment to slip away following the global economic crash. But The Shard’s future was assured in 2008 when the State of Qatar came on board as a partner who shared Sellar’s vision. The construction phase was exhilarating and testing in equal measure. The team overcame sub-zero temperatures, gale force winds and the Thames breaking through the protective dam. Pioneering engineering methods were used, such as top-down construction, where foundations are dug while the core is built up – a first for the UK. Over one 36-hour period – employing 700 lorry-loads, one every three minutes – the team poured 5,400 cubic metres of concrete. The years of hard work and ingenuity came to fruition in 2012, when The Shard was completed and officially opened by the Prime Minister of Qatar. Since then, its restaurants, hotel and viewing gallery have opened to the public and tenants have begun to move into its offices. Today, The Shard is a living, dynamic building, full of energy. Its sits proudly next to its stunning sister building, The News Building, now headquarters to News UK and illustrious titles and media brands: The Times, HarperCollins, Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal. These two Renzo-designed buildings will be occupied by 12,500 people and are already establishing a new vibrant community - Shard Quarter. The finished building remained true to the original vision of a “Vertical City” with multiple and different occupiers, many of which will operate 24 hours a day, including hotel, education, medical, tourist attraction, residential, retail, restaurant, and offices. The Shard’s proximity to London Bridge Station, which itself is being transformed into a 21st-century transport hub used by 75 million people a year, means travelling to it is a smooth experience for occupiers and visitors alike. On 5 July 2012 The Shard was formally inaugurated by His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, and HRH the Duke of York KG, in an event that marked the physical completion of the exterior of the building and represented the culmination of a 12-year journey to build a significant new landmark on the London skyline. The inauguration was also marked by a spectacular light and laser show that illuminated the building.

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Kids Don’t Want Rifles, They Just Want Supreme

           As a fan of the 1975 since 2013, their previous album released before A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships was definitely an evolution of their debut, and that trend didn’t stop with their latest effort.  Modernity, addiction, technology, and more are all themes that get covered across the nearly 60-minute work, and with plenty of witty metaphors and references.  Rather than looking all fifteen tracks on the album, I’ve picked a few that stood out to me upon first listen.  The fifth track, Love It If We Made It, is a bold, politically charged anthem of 2018, somewhat echoing We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel.  The instrumental of the track is a tribute to The Downtown Lights by one of the bands biggest influences at the start of their career, The Blue Nile. The first verse of the track finds vocalist Matty Healy speaking on American race relations, as well as the problems with falsifying information that technology has brought into the news. Modernity has failed us is a lyric and theme continuous throughout the track, with Healy struggling to see through the negativity that internet culture has infected the population with. After a short repetition of the title for a few measures, the second verse kicks in with the wildly viral internet vernacular phrase, poison me daddy.  Syrian immigrants, Lil Peep’s death, and a plea for Jesus to come down and save us are all mentioned in this verse as well.  Following the same repetition of the title track that occurred before the second verse the first chorus hits, and man, does it hit hard.  The bass line combined with sharp synth strings culminate to a Michael Jackson-esque groove with the title of the track repeated until the phrase, “tell me something I didn’t know,” closes out the chorus. This line is speaking to the wealth of information technology gives us, breeding a special arrogance when put in the wrong hands.  The third verse of the track focuses on American President Donald Trump and his recent viral tweet, “Thank you Kanye, very cool!”  After which the song jumps straight into the final chorus proclaiming, “I’d love it if we made it,” Which is Healy’s optimism in the tech generation shining through that the crazy world we live in won’t beat us into submission.  Another standout track from the album is the swaggering, chilled out Sincerity is Scary.  On this tune the band is supported by trumpet work from the late Roy Hargrove as well as a backing choir from the London Community Gospel Choir.  The lyrics revolve around the idea that millennials love to be ironic, and that being honest and truly sincere in conversation can be fearsome and outright impossible.  Healy even picks apart his own sayings, claiming that they stop him from having to be human and instead allow him to build himself into an internet celebrity.  It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You) comes around on the back half of the album and is a metaphor for Healy’s recent heroin and opiate addiction.  Following the story of a man named Danny who claims life is a simulation and works at a gas station, Healy states he’s in the same situation as the songs protagonist.  Explaining that his addiction felt like a “twenty stone monkey that I just can’t beat” helps the listener understand what addiction does do a person and the negative impact it has on quality of life.  The upbeat 80s vibe of the track juxtaposed with the bleak lyricism create an incredibly interesting combination for me, which is why it stood out to me so much. The final song on the album, I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes), is a brit-pop, 90s alternative rock ballad about the culture of suicide the internet has instilled in modern youth.  The first verse of the song speaks about the pressures of growing up, and the struggle Healy has had with thinking he isn’t following the path he should be.  The first chorus enters with distorted guitars and a falsetto that will give the listener chills as the lyrics of the title come in.  The second verse mentions the oscillation between good and bad times that are natural in everyday life, and the truth that just because things seem bad doesn’t mean suicide is the only option.  This track is an epic ending to the album, putting a beautiful finishing touch on the post-modern ideas throughout the work.  If A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationshipsis any indication of where the 1975 are headed sonically, I am very excited for the future of the band.

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A look into Tranquility Base

           On my first listen of the Arctic Monkeys latest LP, I wasn’t quite sure what to think.  Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino felt like a nostalgia trip to the mid to late twentieth century with references to film, literature, and music throughout.  I shelved it for a couple of months before coming across it again, and my opinion on it drastically changed.  After a trip to New Orleans I purchased the vinyl for the album and kept it on my record player for the next few weeks exclusively.  The introduction to the album, Star Treatment, greets the listener with jazzy piano chord hits and falsetto from lead vocalist Alex Turner. After the quick intro the first lyrics of the entire album are, “I just wanted to be one of the Strokes.”  This expertly sets the tone for Turner’s lyricism throughout the rest of the album, and the rest of Star Treatment finds Turner reminiscing his fame life and the idolization of celebrities.  One Point Perspective opens with a simple drum beat and piano rhythm similar to the stylings of American funk act Vulfpeck, and the lyrics of the tune open with Turner dancing in his underpants, running for government, and forming a covers band.  This quite possibly a metaphor for Turner’s opinions of current American president Donald Trump, calling him childlike and unable to form his own ideas much like a covers band doesn’t create any original music.  One of my favorite moments on this record is following the line, “Bear with me man, I’ve lost my train of thought.”  Following this line Turner stops his vocals abruptly for a few measures to mimic the previous lyrics, something that I have never heard in any song before. After a brief outro the drum track ends and instantly goes into the next track, American Sports; on first listen I had no idea they were two different songs until I went back to the track list and noticed there was an extra song I thought I hadn’t heard.  On American Sports, Turner makes a few jabs at the American obsession with the NFL as well as the childish nature of the leaders of British government.  Speaking about a weekly chat with God on a video call, is most likely mocking the fact that professional football is on Sundays (the holy day), and Americans seem to treat watching a game of football on Sunday as their religion.  Images of “parliament brawls and virtual reality masks” also come across throughout the song as Turner’s plea that these thing aren’t actually happening, and the unfortunate realization that they are.  Up next is the album’s title track, which takes the listener into the hotel mentioned in the title and shown around the place. Turner introduces the character Mark, who is the receptionist of Tranquility Base, as well as casually mentioning Jesus filling out information forms in the day spa.  Golden Trunks is up next and is the final track on the A side of the record, and is a form of love song with Turner mentioning that he reciprocates the feelings he’s been receiving from another.  However, the songs second verse gets political once again, likening the “leader of the free world” to a professional wrestler and giving him a “theme tune.”  A catchy guitar riff and clashing organ open up the B side of the record on Four out of Five. The lyrics of the song involve a new taqueria that’s been put up at Tranquility Base, and that is has been getting rave reviews (four stars out of five).  This explicit distinction that four stars out of five is so incredible explains Turner’s witty sense of lyricism and his ability to present the mundane in interesting ways.  The brilliantly titled seventh track, The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip, speaks to the devolution humanity is facing with the ease of access technology gives us to everything.  Lyrics like, “You push the button and we’ll do the rest,” further this idea and refer to accessibility that smartphones give us to any information or stimulation we desire. Science Fiction has Turner discussing the way that sci-fi can portray ideas and messages in ways that are fresh and new.  She Looks Like Fun furthers some of the ideas in The World’s First Ever Monster Truck Flip, discussing how the unfiltered nature of the internet can cause people to speak in a way unknown to face-to-face discussion.  In Batphone, the lyrics open with Turner trying to find a way to describe how everyone is on their phones all of the time by, none other than, using his phone to look it up.  The final track, The Ultracheese, closes the album with a waltzy tune reminiscing the impact Turner’s music has had on his life.  Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is one of my top records of the year, and finds the Artic Monkeys evolving their sound yet again with Turner never failing to entertain with captivating lyrics.

Parker Ardoin

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Brexit, Where are You Now?

My last blog about Brexit outlined the general concept of what Brexit is, and how different aspects of it will affect the British population and surrounding nations. Since then a lot has happened in regard to Brexit debates, so I figured it would be a good idea to make an updated post.  In recent news, British Prime minister Theresa May was overseas negotiating with world leaders on post-Brexit trade deals, when Minister of Parliament Sam Gyimah resigned from his position.  This makes him the seventh Minister to leave since the birth of Brexit, and he states his reason for leaving as frustration following May’s latest Brexit deal; this definitely damages the chances of a Brexit deal being passed for the next vote on December 11th.  As every vote thus far has been rejected by the majority of Parliament, the reality of a no-deal Brexit is inevitable.  However, both parties are working hard to stop a no-deal result with a recent bid by the Labour party that ensures they are going to have some sort of deal.  Personally, I find this bid futile mainly because it just reaffirms the goal that parliament has been unable to reach since the Brexit vote passed.  Saying that the party is going to try to get a deal is no different from what has been going on for the past year, and success does not seem likely.  Also, in wake of Universities and Science Minister Sam Gyimah’s resignment, he has sparked the possibility of a second referendum, that is, a second vote held for the population.  Having a second referendum that overturned Brexit would definitely ease the minds of millions of Brits, but doing such would bring a massive wave of embarrassment to the country and delegitimize the process of Brexit; much like the way a child cries after burning its hand on a stove, even though their parent told them not to.  Having another general vote would have its benefits, but Britain can’t just try to reset their political state because they regret a decision made by the majority of their country.  This “People’s Vote” movement is gaining traction, but it is still uncertain whether or not there will be enough support for another referendum.  So, with all of that being said, what next?  Well with the next Brexit deal vote just around the corner on December 11th, this will be the deciding factor on what the future of Brexit holds.  And what about the future of rugby?!?  Economists have determined that a deal or no-deal Brexit will both damage the economy, with a no deal Brexit possibly hurting the British economy by nine point three percent. This is a frightening future for many, but they are just projections.  Canadian economist and governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney states that less than half of internationally involved businesses have initiated contingency plans, but that the hit to the economy could be lessened by the two year transition period that will follow the Brexit date in March of 2019.  This transition period will allow new British legislation to slowly integrate into society as opposed to a “cliff edge” that many Brits are frightened of, resulting in a rapid change in legislation that could damage the government and economy.

Parker Ardoin

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It’s Symmetrical

      I’m just going to come right out with it. I think the British flag is more visually appealing than the American flag. Before anyone freaks out, I do have a reason. Yes, I understand that they both use the same colors, but the execution is completely different. There is just something special about the design that catches my eye. I think I just really hate stripes. I never liked them, and I never will.

      The British flag is completely symmetrical. That’s it. Any way you try to cut the flag in half, it is perfectly symmetrical, just like the number eight. Something about a symmetrical flag with bold colors is extremely appealing to the eye. Anyone who says otherwise is just lying to themselves. Just for the record, I am pretty proud to be an American and I have nothing against our flag. I hope I don’t offend anyone who is super patriotic, but I mean just look at the United Kingdom’s flag. How can you not love that? Although, anyone who does not care about symmetry probably thinks the stars look nicer, I just have to disagree.

      On a different note, the army uniforms are amazing. They are a bit silly, specifically the tall hats. But, again, it’s those bold colors catching my eye. I get the practical uses of the camouflage, but we hardly see troops walking around in the city in a more formal uniform because it’s all they have. It must go back to the “dress to impress” unspoken rule. Either way, I am a fan.

- Nicole Mistretta

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The Best British Comedian

      Ricky Gervais is my second favorite comedian right after John Mulany but before Bo Burnham. He is a hilarious British comedian who specializes in offensive humor, my favorite. If you have never seen his comedy skits, you may know him from the British version of The Office, known also as The Office.

      I love comedy. Now, when I say that, I am leaning more toward actual comedians and not the people who appear in most “comedy movies”. It may just be me, but a lot of those movies I just don’t find funny. The ones that are “obscene” are extremely censored and usually revolve around sex. Sex jokes can be funny but if you overuse them it just becomes boring and expected. I love that uncensored and shocking comedy that is meant all in good fun. Even though some people take these jokes to heart and get upset, in the end it’s just meant to have a good laugh.

      Moving back to Gervais, he is absolutely my type of comedian. The accent and vernacular also make for some great lines that an American comedian would never come up with in a hundred years. Gervais is a known atheist and tends to make a lot of religious jokes having grown up Catholic. This is no surprise, similarly to America, Britain is a place of religion, specifically Christianity.

      One of my favorite bits that he does is his reading of Noah’s Ark. I’m sure anyone reading is familiar with the short story, but it is about God wiping out corrupted humanity with a flood but allowing one man and his family to gather a pair of each animal, put them on an ark and survive the flood. The book he reads from and projects on a screen is from a bible school he attended when he was a child. The story is untouched, but the pictures are hand-drawn, allowing him to make snide comments about the imagery portrayed. He goes line by line and picture by picture, sometimes stopping to use a pointer to get his jokes across. Having grown up Catholic, I related to his jokes and comments having probably made similar ones in the past. If you have never seen it, I definitely recommend watching it unless you are easily offended by religious comedy considering its an entire 14 minutes making fun of a famous biblical story.

      He is so witty and quick with his bits. Every single sentence rolls off his tongue, but you understand, clearly, every single word he is saying even though it is said quickly. Not many people, especially on a stage having thousands of people watch you, can perform that well. Some comedians can’t even do it. Imagine having to remember a load of jokes that roll one after the other for 2 hours on a stage where you can’t see anything but the bright lights beaming down on you. I could never do something like that in a million years. Overall, I am just always impressed and laughing at this man.

- Nicole Mistretta

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Who Doesn’t Love Satire?

      I adore satire. I can’t fully explain it, but I’m going to do my best. To me, satire is a genre that says, “here is something serious I want to discuss but I don’t want to bore anyone or scare them off”. Through satire, an absolutely crazy story comes alive. However, the best part is that these stories are never 100% out of our reach. Most satires seek to teach something. If readers are willing to analyze the story and perhaps do some research, they can come to see the message underneath the strange story presented. However, for anyone who just wants to enjoy a weird twist on reality, satire provides that fictional escape.

      I was always a fan of strange shows growing up such as Courage the Cowardly Dog and I used to occasionally watch Twilight Zone with my mom. I always finished an episode of those types of show and asked questions for hours, trying to figure out the “why”. Even now, when watching movies or shows that aren’t meant to teach anything and are purely for entertainment, I find myself asking why. I always feel like something has a message and I want to learn more. That’s probably why I’m on the road to Journalism. Right now, I am loving Black Mirror and I hope more shows and movies take some notes.

      In class we had to make a syllabus for our final project. Me loving satire above anything else, decided to make my project about modern British novels, with the exception of a Black Mirror episode. There were a lot of novels I had never heard of and authors I had heard of but never investigated their other works. After doing this project, I am looking forward to finding a few of them at a library. I’m not the biggest fan of reading long stories. I prefer things to be short, honest and to the point, but some of these books seem too good not to read.

      Something I find absolutely fascinating about satire is the person who wrote the piece itself. Most satirical writers have at least one piece that relates specifically to their lives. These are usually the more interesting of the bunch. There are more details and strange analogies because the mind can quickly make comparisons of personal experience. There is just a general vibe when reading a story that is personal to the author. It has this desperate tone to convey their point so that you understand exactly how they feel. In satirical writing it is far more dramatic zed and pushed to an extreme. The story has a larger impact on the reader, the crazier the ideas and events being presented.

      Satire is just so near and dear to my heart. I have tried many times to write satirically and failed. I think it is definitely a weird dream, but I hope to one day write a satire that I am proud of even if I don’t get to show it to anyone.

- Nicole Mistretta

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Traveling outside of your country can be a jarring yet exciting experience. One of the main concerns people in America have to worry is what to wear. Many countries do not allow you to dress the way we do. In Britain, this is not the case. However, if you strolled through town wearing short-shorts and a tank top, you would definitely receive some funny looks. The motto there is definitely “dress to impress”. Just going to the store requires a decent outfit for reputation’s sake. While I might see it as a lot, the citizens in Britain think nothing of it. Isn’t that interesting? I think so.

Another interesting thing about Britain is how rainy it is. I mean it rains all the time. In America, and especially Louisiana, we have the sun beating down on us constantly, but in Britain its cloudy and cool all year long. If it wasn’t for the constant rain, I think I would move there! Anything to escape the humidity. Not to mention everyone seems extremely polite and civil. In some parts of America people are very kind but usually people are rude and uncaring. In Britain, even if someone really might not care too much, there is still that common decency that they give to one another. All in all, from fashion to diplomacy, Britain is pretty nice.

- Nicole Mistretta

UK Fashion

  The fashion industry is a major thing in the United Kingdom.Almost every year, people come up with new idea’s of fashion styles and trends that go viral around the world. There is a fashion show almost every month which gives upcoming artists the opportunity their new arts and fashion styles.

   The fashion trend goes a long way in the United Kingdom as almost every person keeps up with the new fashion trends and styles. People in general like to go with the motto “Dress to Impress” and the United Kingdom made it possible for them as they offer a variety of different trends and style. The United Kingdom is a major player in the fashion industry and is recognized for their fashion styles as they offer people new products almost every months. Some major brands in the United Kingdom are: Coco Chanel, Alfred Dunhill, Charlie Allen, Anderson & Sheppard, etc. These world famous companies has been in business for more than 30+ years and dominated the fashion industry ever since.

  In conclusion, the United Kingdom is recognized for their fashion trends due to the fact that the entire economy pursues new styles and trends everyday. The United Kingdom capitalized on the fashion industry and has been a major player for decades. At the end of the day, who doesn’t like to dress up and look good and trendy. The motto “Dress to Impress” does in fact go a long way these day.

- Mahmoud Qamhieh

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Since I started watching videos on Youtube, I have been subscribed to Pewdiepie. His videos back then consisted of himself screaming and overreacting to games with poor quality mic and camera quality. I got so much joy out of his content. Over the years I kept up with his content but the videos he puts out now are absolutely hilarious. It’s a wide variety of content. From video games, to news reports, to reviews on shows and books, he makes short videos that make you wish they were longer. I was extremely concerned, way more than anyone should be, about his battle against T-Series. I will admit to having tossed the link in a few group texts and emails. I really hope he can keep his title as the King of Youtube for another year or two, but things aren’t looking good. A lot of his content revolves around memes and popular jokes going around on social media. Even if you are out of loop with the trends, I think his content is still enjoyable. Please, please, please do him and all his fans a favor and take a second to subscribe to his channel. We need all the help we can get to win the fight!

Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/user/PewDiePie/featured

- Nicole Mistretta

Do Your Part

           Hearing the phrase “do your part” may be reminiscent of a nationwide call to action after a natural disaster has devasted an area or helping the less fortunate to get out of their impoverished state to benefit the community, but right now that phrase has embodied a subscriber battle between giants on the social media platform YouTube.  Felix Kjellberg, also known as Pewdiepie, is a Swedish youtuber who moved to the United Kingdom within recent years.  Since he has joined the site, his popularity exploded and given him the title of the most subscribed member on the entire platform and has also put him under the microscope wielded by the media, searching for any controversy imaginable.  Regardless of his media disputes, he has still managed to continue growing his channel at an extreme rate, recently hitting seventy million subscribers.  However, this growth has not come without competition.  Indian record label Super Cassettes Industries Private Limited, also known as T-Series, has seen even larger growth on its channel than that of Felix.  T-Series content on YouTube includes music videos and film trailers for almost every artist and filmmaker in the country of India, which can explain why it is so extremely popular.  Growing at a rate of over 100,000 subscribers daily, it is only a matter of time before they surpass Pewdiepie, unless he takes action quickly. As of January 2017, T-Series had roughly 13 million subscribers compared to Pewdiepie’s 50 million. Over the rest of 2017 and now 2018, T-series has seen exponential amounts of growth, rapidly catching up to the number one spot on YouTube, with estimated daily earnings for the channel in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  However, Pewdiepie has not allowed this growth to go unnoticed.  His videos have become his campaign to rapidly increase his subscribers to the rate of T-Series’ and prevent them from overtaking his place.  The battle has become an international event with American YouTuber Mr. Beast purchasing billboards, trucks with digital screens, urinal advertisements, and more, all with the same message, “Subscribe to Pewdiepie, unsubscribe from T-Series.” Media outlets are writing daily posts, updating their audiences on the state of the ongoing battle between the two channels.  Pewdiepie’s fan base have taken the phrase “do your part,” and applied it to their goal of growing his channel by posting across various comment sections online to spread awareness for the subscriber war; putting up posters across school campuses and cities have also been methods of recruiting new subscribers to their cause.  This event has been extremely beneficial for Pewdiepie’s channel, even if he does get surpassed (he probably will.)  His channel has seen growth that he hasn’t had in years and has kept him relevant in the online community by constantly occupying the minds of millions with the event. Arguably the biggest battle between the United Kingdom and India since it gained independence, we’ll have to see if the imperialist mindset will again be overthrown by India and make T-Series the most subscribed channel on YouTube.

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#Death To

Going into the Black Mirror episode Hated in the Nation, I was already very self-aware about my actions on social media platforms and my online presence in general.  This segment glorifies the dangers of recklessly posting on the internet without fear of consequences, which is unfortunately the mindset of many people online.  This lack of accountability is the cornerstone of this episode and should leave viewers with a new perspective on how they should spend their time online. The belief that the things we do online are some form of an alternate reality and have no real-world repercussions is absurd, and black mirror pushed this to an unfortunate extreme.  Although it is doubtful that hundreds of thousands of people will be murdered in response to their actions online, the constant evolution of technology is leading to an era where this wouldn’t be entirely impossible in the wrong hangs.  Accountability for one’s actions is a main focus of Hated in the Nation, with the hacker leading the attacks on the population of England eventually receiving accountability for his actions at the end of the episode when Blue discovers his whereabouts in a foreign nation and is following him to presumably interrogate him.  Black Mirror is explaining the inevitable repercussions that online interactions harbor, and that the anonymity of the internet doesn’t make it any less damaging to the person at the other end of a hate comment.  One thing I took away from this episode is the paranoia a show like this could cause for those with fear of technological advancements going too far.  A swarm of

3-D printed killer bees with facial recognition technology is pretty frightening, and more so to someone not too fond of new tech.  As someone who enjoys learning about new technological advancements this episode is frightening, but more along the lines of why the government allowed the bees to exist in the first place.  Seeing the program that created the bees as a way to use their video capabilities for surveillance methods sounds very familiar to present day, with the government using recordings from home assistant devices like Amazon’s Alexa to solve police cases.  This aspect of the episode is much more frightening than fearing that a robotic Barry B. Bensonis hunting me down for saying something on twitter.  The unfortunate truth that this never ending surveillance of every aspect of life is already underway is reinforced by Hated in the Nation, and emphasizes the importance of understanding the technology we so frequently use.  The terms and conditions we blindly consent to aren’t everything we think they are, and the government taking advantage of this to monitor our every move is only getting worse.  This thought provoking episode of Black Mirror definitely piqued my interest and gave me things to think about in regards to how I use the technology I own and the permissions agreements I say “yes” to.  I look forward to watching more episodes of the series and hopefully don’t have to face the reality of a swarm of android killer bees.

Parker Ardoin

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Black Mirror: A Modern Masterpiece

      Black mirror is absolutely genius. The popular series was created by Charlie Brooker, a British screen writer. Each episode is modern satire with a specific theme or moral lesson hidden within it. I absolutely adore this series although I have yet to finish it. I have always loved strange shows with big plot twists. I have probably watched about one season, maybe two and I have never figured out the plot twist before it occurs. To me, that makes it more fun. I think everyone who loves the show can agree that even though you want to figure out what is going on, spoiling the ending before it happens can be boring and predictable. The whole appeal of this show is its odd relatability and shock factor.

      My favorite episode is probably The National Anthem. It could be because this episode is the very first one that exposes you to the strange world of Black Mirror, but I find it to be the most memorable and shocking. I mean, the whole story begs the question: is the President really going to screw a pig? If you have not watched this episode, stop reading now and go watch it because I am about to spoil the ending. While it is not as hard to figure out as the other episodes since the main question only has two answers: yes or no, the main plot twist arises from somewhere else. The beloved Princess was kidnapped and is supposedly being tortured until the President screws the pig on live television. If he does it, she is freed. This is non-negotiable. So, in the end, although people are disgusted, they want their sweet Princess to be rescued. The President complies, much to the displeasure and disappointment of his wife. The scene approaches the line of obscenity for what should be shown in a TV show, but it never steps over the line. You hear pig grunts and see the President’s face as well as the disgust and horror of the citizens watching the event. The main plot twist comes when you discover the “kidnapper” was an artist who wanted to show how the media influences the public. He felt horrified that the act was going to be committed and although he let the Princess out 30 minutes before the performance, the President went on with the show. No one had been on the streets to find her, everyone too distracted by the live performance. The President is seen as a hero and the Princess is a survivor. The artist kills himself from guilt and all seems to be somewhat okay. Until you see the fallen relationship between the President and his wife. She no longer wants to be touched by him and can hardly stand to look at him. The ending was extremely frustrating, and I felt unfulfilled, a feeling Black Mirror, makes you feel over and over.

      That is another thing I absolutely love about this show. While it is completely fantasized, nothing in these shows is impossible for the future of the world. The endings are realistic. No happy endings because in real life, tragedies don’t have a happy ending. If all goes well when all is said and done, it is more bittersweet than anything. You still have that taste of tragedy that ruins any feeling of pure happiness and relief. A great example is the episode Hatred in the Nation.

      This episode of Black Mirror is another one of my absolute favorites. We watched it recently in class. It was both satirical and ironic. The episode revolves around the effects of social media and how although you might say something anonymously or believe it is without consequence, your words hold power and you should be held accountable for them. The citizens in the episode find out that using a hashtag, #DeathTo, and adding a picture of the person you want to die, the most popular person will be killed every day at 5 pm. People continued to use the hashtag even after finding out it actually worked, participating in a “Game of Consequences”. The killer was none other than robotic bees who were created to replace real bees that were killed off by humanity years ago. In the end, the plot twist is that anyone who participated would be killed once the game ended because they had to face their own consequences of their actions. A large portion of the population died. The ending of the movie is also extremely unfulfilling not allowing you to see exactly how it ended but giving you an idea of what could have happened.

      I stand by the fact that Black Mirror is absolutely genius and I think everyone should take the opportunity to watch it at least once. It is without a doubt my favorite show to date. People will leave the series feeling strange about the future of the world and thinking about how the things society is doing could affect our future.

- Nicole Mistretta