Beautiful Boy

I didn't have much time to update so I'm just going to leave you with the lyric and video of the day. Anyway, this is John Lennon's Beautiful Boy, which was released on his last album Double Fantasy. The song was written for his 5 year old son, Sean whom he had with Yoko Ono. I chose this song as it's my brother's birthday, who happens to share the same namesake as John's son.



‎"Before you cross the street take my hand. Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." John Lennon



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Sometimes

For today's song of the day we go back to 1992 when No Doubt released their first album. If you were to ask if I'm a No Doubt fan, I can't give you a clear answer. To me they're one of those bands that started off hot and then over time they slowly went downhill until they became pretty much toxic to the ear. "The B sides and rarities" album don't count as most of those were from their early days.



This rare gem from the self titled album would have probably gone unnoticed by me if I would have never heard an amazing acoustic cover done at Frenchwoods a few years back. Anyway here's Gwen Stefani and the rest of No Doubt in their prime.

"From now on I will behave, but in the back of my mind I will be enslaved." - No Doubt



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

Cruel To Be Kind

I have a lot of things to do tonight so I'll make this quick. Today's song of the day is Nick Lowe's 1979, "Cruel To Be Kind." It was his best and only known hit to reach the top 40 billboard. The song would later be covered in 90s by Letters For Cleo for the film 10 Things I Hate About You.



Fun Fact: 10 Things I Hate About You is a modernized version of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. The title "Cruel to be Kind" is often contributed to another Shakespeare character, Hamlet.

Here's today lyrics of the day.

"You say you've got to be... Cruel to be kind in the right measure. Cruel to be a Kind it's a very good sign." - Nick Lowe



And here's the Letters For Cleo version



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

November Rain

This one is a given for this month. I should've done this yesterday since it pretty much poured all day in New York. Anyway, this Guns and Roses classic was released in 1992. At almost 9 minutes it is one of the longest songs in their repertoire and is considered by many to be an epic classic. The video is quite amazing and went on to win an MTV movie award. Anyway, here's your lyrics of the day.



"So if you want to love me then darling don't refrain. Or i'll just end up walkin' in the cold November Rain" - Guns N Roses



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

El Scorcho

Yesterday, Weezer released the deluxe edition of their 1996 album Pinkerton. The band's second album, it followed the release of the Blue Album, which featured popular hits such as the Sweater Song and Buddy Holly. When it came time to record a second album, Weezer attempted to create a concept album, which is now the abandoned "Song from the Black Hole." Some of the tracks from that album would wind up Pinkerton. The album Pinkerton as a whole is much darker than the Blue Album.



Upon its release, Pinkerton was a commercial failure and it would become popular until years later. "El Scorcho" was the first single released from the album. As i said it's completely different from Buddy Holly and therefore this is one of those love it or hate it. Anyway, here's your lyrics of the day.

"I'm a lot like you so please, hello, I'm here, I'm waiting. I think I'd be good for you and you'd be good for me" - Weezer



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Electioneering

Since it's Election Day, I found this Radiohead tune to be a perfect day for today's mood. Electioneering comes off Radiohead's third album O.K. Computer. Although, it never became a single, it's become one of my favorite Radiohead songs. The lyrics pretty much speak for themselves. Anyway here's the lyrics of the day.

"Say the right things when electioneering. I trust I can rely on your vote" - Radiohead



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Go ask Alice when she's Ten Feet Tall

Today's song of the day is the 1967 hit single from psychedelic rock group Jefferson Airplane. "White Rabbit" captures the essence of the late 1960s drug culture through drawing metaphors to Lewis Carrol's classic Alice in Wonderland books. The line "Go Ask Alice" would serve the title of anonymous novel written a few years later about a troubled teenage drug addict. The song which was popular during the late 60s and early 70s resurfaced in the 90s when it appeared in the cult classic "Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas" Anyway here's the lyric of the day.

"One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small. And the ones that
mother gives you don't do anything at all" - Jefferson Airplane



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Cause this is thriller, thriller night

I don't have much time to update today. This is a great song and an even cooler video.

Here's today lyric of the day and the 14 minute thriller video.

"It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark" - Michael Jackson



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

This Is Halloween

Today's song of the day comes from the Tim Burton stop motion animated feature, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I have mixed feelings toward Tim Burton's later work particularly those that over-exaggerate the presence of Johnny Depp. However, I regard The Nightmare Before Christmas as one of his epic masterpieces. "This Is Halloween" is the film's opening song and right away it captures the atmosphere of Halloweentown and the film. So here's the lyric of the day and the video to follow with it.

"In this town we call home everyone hails to the pumpkin sun." - The Nightmare Before Christmas.



Fun fact: Chris Sarandon performs the voice of Jack Skellington. However, he didn't feel comfortable singing so Jack's singing is done by music composer and longtime Burton collaborator, Danny Elfman.

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

Dr. X will build a creature

The cult classic "Rocky Horror Picture Show" is one of my favorite films. I first watched it at an early age on cable television and oddly enough I didn't find it to be that weird back then. Anyway, I've become a big fan of Rocky Horror as the years past and I've even had the pleasure of going to a midnight showing back in 2004. I even got to portray Brad for a bit at Frenchwoods Rocky Horror night. It's a really great experience and I'll never forget getting my friend Mark Gordon into the film. I don't know if I can pick my favorite song as I pretty much like them all except for Superheroes, which I was happy they cut from the American version. The song of the day, "Science Fiction/Double Feature" opens the play and film version of Rocky Horror. The red lips that appear in the opening credits belong to Patrica Quinn, who plays Magenta. But the voice belongs to Richard O'Brien, who plays Riff Raff. Here's the lyric of the day and if you're Rocky Horror virgin, I recommend you check out the film.

"And
at a deadly pace it came from (Where) Outer Space. (Thank You.) And
this is how the message ran."(Freeze those lips.) -Rocky Horror Picture
Show

If you're wondering what the words in parenthesis are ask anyone who's a Rocky Horror fanatic and they'll happily educate you. Tonight if you're interested in learning more about Rocky Horror, you can check out the Glee episode, which is paying homage to the film and the play. This won't make you lose your Rocky Horror virginity though.



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Welcome to my Nightmare

So I'm doing a special halloween theme for this week's song of the day. Check every Monday-Friday on my facebook or here for the daily pick of the day. Here's today's pick:



how awesome is that picture.

There's no argument. Alice Cooper is one of the greatest performers around. Who cares if he looks so old nowadays. The bottom line is he's cool and I've head from people who've met that he's such a nice person to talk to.

Here's the lyric of the day.

"Welcome to my Nightmare. Welcome to my breakdown." - Alice Cooper



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

It was like lightening... everybody was frightening

Today's song of the day dates back to 1973. Originally released by the English band, The Sweet, Ballroom Blitz has received a dozen or so covers including a cool one from the Misfit's. Here's your lyric and video of the day.



"And the man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom blitz" - The Sweet.



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

I'm a blonde single girl in the fantasy world

Today's song of the day I'm not a particularly big fan of. In fact, I only chose it because my education course was introduced to our unit plans and this song was used during someone's unit plan slice.



Released in 1997 by the Danish-Norwegian group Aqua, Barbie Girl became their most successful single. It caused a bit of controversy when Mattel decided to sue MCA Records as the song portrayed Barbie as a sex object. The case was eventually dismissed in 2002 because quite frankly Barbie is technically a sex object. Anyways, here's the quote of the day and video for Barbie Girl

"You can touch, you can play. If you say, I'm always yours."



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

Dream of Californication

Today's song of the day comes from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' seventh album "Californication." The album itself marked the return of guitarist John Frusciante, who's drug problem and dislike of the band's growing popularity caused him to leave the band. It was actually a much needed return as their last album included Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro as lead guitarist and the album stunk. I have nothing against Dave Navarro or Jane's Addiction, but he just wasn't the right fit for the Chili Peppers. Anyway, many tracks from "Californication" including the self titled track received rave reviews. The song "Californication" has become a staple of 90's music and the music video that was released along with it is pretty amazing. Anyway here's Californication.



Born and raised by those who praise control of population. Well, everybody's been there and I don't mean on vacation.



P.S. I'm only doing the song of the day Monday-Friday

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Song of the Day

I know it's been months since my last post, but school is literally driving me crazy and I needed to take a short break from my blogging. Anyway, I'm here to talk about a new daily section that I will be adding every day. So I'm a pretty big music lover and there's always a song or two that's constantly playing in my head. Every once in a while, we need to be reminded of a song that will help get us going through the day. This is where I come in. Every morning, I'm going to post a lyric from a song in the hopes that it may jump start your noggin and bring back precious musical memories. In addition, i may also post a music video along with it. You'll notice this morning, I posted a lyric from "Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2" For a good amount of you, that song will most likely stick in your head for the rest of the day. So make sure to check my Facebook every morning for the music quote of the day. If you don't have a Facebook or miss the lyric of the day, then I will be posting it here every afternoon. So make sure to check out today's lyric and feel free to make some comments. If anyone has requests for a song, then please let me know.

Here's today lyric of the day:

We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control." - Pink Floyd



This has been Ian K Feldman speaking words of wisdom

Who needs the boogeyman? We'll always have Cropsey

This is not a film review.

For people who are film buffs, there are numerous film festivals held in different places for you to see. From Cannes, Berlin and Venice to Tribeca and the New York Film Festival, there's always a place to catch good films. However, if you're not looking to go far away to catch a good film on Staten Island, you can always catch the annual Staten Island Film Festival, which is currently in its fifth year has gained a steady following over the years as locals head to the St. George Theater and The College Of Staten Island to watch the work of other fellow Staten Islanders.

It's really a great opportunity for Staten Islanders to showcase their talent. Last year, Pharmacist/Director Dave Broitman scored rave reviews for his zany pharmacy comedy, "Don't Shoot the Pharmacist!" This year, the guys from Dogandponyshowwebsite.com produced a mystery short entitled "17 to Midnight."

While looking through the film selection for this year, one films that caught my eye was a documentary entitled Cropsey. Reading about the film brought back memories of the days when I went to the JCC Summer Camp at Family Park. Now camps are notorious for having their ghost stories to give their campers a little fright. While the camp legend of Cropsey was somewhat over the top, there is some truth to it, especially when you learn about the Willowbrook State Institution err I mean school, which is not far from where the remains of the Cropsey house stands. Matter of fact, if you take a short hike behind what is now JCC Bernikow Building, you'll find the broken down house.

The last time I went to the JCC, they had guards stationed in front of Cropsey's house and all campers and staff were prohibited from heading into forest. However, I have this memory of the camp giving us a tour of the area one day and I remember seeing a rusted, old car.

The Legend of Cropsey, like most other legends has slightly different variations, but it's believed that Andre Rand, who may have been a patient at Willowbrook killed a 12 year old girl with down syndrome in 1987. It's believed that he may have killed other children, yet she was the only body that police found. Thankfully that wasn't the story they told us when I went to camp.

I always wanted to see them make some form of movie about the Cropsey legend and after several years, filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio have made that happen. I'm quite glad to see the story is going to be portrayed as a documentary rather than a cheap, gory, bloodfest film. I don't know if I'm going to see it tonight, but based on the trailer, reviews and awards, it seems like an interesting film. If you're not sure what to do tonight, then you should check it out tonight at CSI. The film is scheduled to be screened at 10 in the recital hall in 1P. For more information about this film and other films that are screening tonight, you can check out the links below.

Staten Island Film Festival - Shows

Cropsey Films

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Conceptual Units. EPIC FAIL!

“We Need to Finish This Lesson Class! Why Conceptual Unit Planning Won’t Work in Today’s School System”


"If Only I Could Remember Those Key Concepts"

I’ve wanted to do a post like this since the middle of the semester. I was going to hold off on this post until about June but a recent epic Facebook commentary made me realize that this issue needed to be addressed sooner.

Before I go further with this issue, I just have to put it out there that I’m not the most vocal person in the world. However, as my anxiety levels reached a near boiling point last Monday evening, it’s safe to say that I share my classmates’ disgust with the unit plan project. This post will serve as my retaliation and for those in my EDS methods course you guys can feel free to post your opinions.

One final thing before I begin is that even though I will be making criticisms on some of my professor’s viewpoints, I will in no way belittle, or berate him. I’ve learned from past mistakes to never burn bridges and if you want to leave comments make sure they’re nothing less than cordial.

In my previous post, I mentioned that the hardest part about being a teacher is becoming one. Actually, if you think about it, most jobs feel that way. I’ve been in the education program for a year and a half. Between the three education courses I’ve taken and the student observations, it’s enough experience to warrant your opinion on the curriculum.

I find it rather funny that 85% of the stuff we’re taught about schools in EDS 201, 202, and 316, I have yet to witness inside a high school classroom. In EDS 201, we’re constantly reminded of the poor, underachieving schools in New York, which has no effect on future Staten Island teachers, since we don’t have a single school on the island that’s in danger of failing. Also a teacher will NEVER tell you, “I use the Vygotsky method to get through to my students.” I learned this during my first observation when the teacher said, “Ah! You must be starting out.”

“Conceptual Unit Plans” are another of these things you learn during your education curriculum that serves no useful purpose in a real life school setting other than to give you heart palpitations as you figure out how to draw key concepts and make text to self connections to 17th century Salem witch trials. For those of you who are asking, “what’s a conceptual unit?” In a nutshell, it brings all the ideas you want to cover within a set period as one whole, meaning you pick one big text and four other poems or short stories that relate to a theme and you just teach it. Everything is interlinked and it might sound good until you realize you only have four weeks to get through all of it. I know what you're thinking, "Sorry I asked!" So that’s the best way to define that since Google didn’t seem to know much about it. For those who do know what it is, please forgive me for robbing a minute of your life.

You might think that conceptual units are not such a bad thing and I can understand that feeling because quite honestly it sounds really good on paper. Then again, Communism looked like the perfect economic solution on paper and we all know how that turned out. The primary problem with conceptual units and unit planning in general is that they could really never hold to be accurately achieved in today’s classrooms. In fact, it’s very difficult to pre-plan how every lesson and unit will go because for the most part your students will make you decide how you will run your class. You’re going to have some days where students are going to be lost in the book they are reading and you’ll have to alter your lesson plan to make sure that they understand everything. For other days students might not care about the book, you’re reading so you might have to restructure and figure out a way to get them interested. Plus other things come up that need to be addressed. If you have a student, who’s in tears over a bad break up, you can’t pacify the issue with a group activity.

Now just because I’m against conceptual unit planning, doesn’t mean I see a problem with having a structured system. In fact, if you don’t use any type of structured system, then you’ll never make it out alive for your first year. Now there are different options you could choose in making your structured teaching plans, but I personally feel the best is a student set goals structure. This is when you allow students to create their own personal goals to reach at the end of a marking period or the school year. This gives you the opportunity to work your curriculum around helping your students achieve those personal goals. I feel this is much more realistic set up than giving students a bunch of key concepts, which they will never use again.

You’ll notice that I’ve been referring to unit plans as unrealistic and this has a lot to do with time management and the change of politics in the public school system. It’s nearly impossible to run a classroom like it’s a factory assembly line because each student requires different kinds of needs. For example, if I had to teach Romeo and Juliet to a regular class and ESL class, I would be able to complete it with both classes, but it would take longer with the ESL class. I also witnessed a middle school teacher reading “The Giver” with her “SP” class and a street lit book with her other classes. So if we have different expectations for different students then how can we incorporate a universal conceptual unit plan?

One of the things that irritated me was that my professor hadn’t taught in a New York City Public High School in over ten years. That ten years plus is a long time not to be teaching in a high school and especially since “No Child Left Behind” has changed the way English classes are run, conceptual units may simply just be suffering the issue of being outdated. Also, the mayor did not have control of the schools back when my professor was teaching in high school. So it doesn’t matter if you teach a conceptual unit or one book at a time, if you can’t make the right connections, you won’t be able to get a job in a school.

As I sum up my thoughts and feelings, I feel I need to tug at the heartstrings of this issue. I feel frustrated over the fact that all of this hard work had to be put into a bogus 29 page conceptual unit plan, which I nor any of my classmates will use once we receive our masters.

The only good thing that came out of the project is the fact that we all got to watch a group of great, potential teachers.

I hope that you'll find this argument compelling and hopefully one day we can live in a world where we won't need teachers to teach us how to be teachers.

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom

School's (Almost) Out For Summer

Well, it's been two months and as the semester reaches it's final week, i figure it be a great opportunity to pick up a little on my blogging and talk a little about what's been on my mind for the past few months. Now my postings won't be as frequent as they were last year, but you should still check back every now and then for the latest entry.

As of today, I've completed all of my classes for the spring semester and all I need to do is take three finals, which I will be doing on Tuesday.

So how did this semester sum up in the end?

I wish i could tell you that it was easy or hard, but it's more complex than that. I think the best place to start is by saying compared to the fall semester, it did not drag and it felt like the semester began a month ago. I can't really say too much on my grades since I haven't taken my finals yet, but overall I think I did a better job this semester. I felt that with the exception of the last month the workload for this semester was not the abundance that I continually felt piling up during the fall semester.

However, this semester did not sail through without its fair share of problems. It's difficult to break down the types of problems but, in a nutshell, it ranged from the personal, which always shows up, to the absurdities and antic of the classes. One of the biggest problems with this semester happens to be the realization that the process of becoming a teacher is more complex then teaching any lesson in front of a classroom. If you don't believe me, you can ask anyone who took EDS 316 with me this semester. I will be addressing this matter in greater detail for a separate entry.

On a last note for tonight, I feel that it's important that i bring up this last part. There's always something that you discover about yourself during a semester that you choose to apply to the things that lie ahead. For this semester, I finally realized I have to do what's best or what's going to be beneficial to me. Some people might find this to be selfish, but it's the only way you get ahead in life. Even though I wished I would've picked up on this advice earlier, I'm really glad that i learned it when I did.

Back in August, I had set up a position working as a notetaker within the Office of Disabilities at the College Of Staten Island. In the spring, I chose to expand my duties to tutoring a couple of students with the Office of Disabilities. I'm not allowed to say much about the progress with my students, but I will say that they have come along way and I'm very proud of the help I provided them. I'm really glad that I established this job because now as I finish the spring semester, there's going to be a lot more opportunities for me and one of those opportunities will be occurring next Friday. I have been selected with six other students to help out at a convention in the city, which will help create an equal playing field in Corporate America for people who have a disability. So I'm looking forward to be taking part in this prestigious event.

With that thought, I leave you tonight and for those of you finishing up your semester, I hope it was manageable, if not bearable.

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

UnTITLED

It's been well over a month since my last post. I'm sure some of my readers were wondering if this was a done and said thing. Well, it's not. You could say time is the vice that had drawn me away from my blog, but I have to do what's in my best interests. Unfortunately, this means you're still not going to hear from me as much. Now that I move closer towards graduation, I need to put my focus on certain things to establish my stability within the education system and so forth. In addition, there are new challenges in my life with which I'm learning how to handle. Therefore, I have to make some sacrifices and for now this is one of them. This doesn't mean I plan to stop writing anytime soon. In fact after much debate, I've decided to go forth with one of my side projects, which I had to put down for a while. This is just to give my readers an idea of why I haven't been blogging. I want to send my personal thanks out to those that have periodically checked out my blog and I hope to post something sometime soon. (Alliteration. Ha.)

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Who Remembers... Mystery Science Theater 3000

I remember certain shows that I would watch while growing up during the 90s. Mr. Rogers, Beakman's World and Mystery Science theater 3000. While I was too young to get some of the jokes at the time, Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) was one of the shows that i recall quite well. It would air on SciFi Channel. In every episode the main character, originally Joel Robinson then replaced by Mike Nelson, and his two robot friends, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot would forced to sit through these horrible b-rated movies. The three characters would compensate the torture by heckling and riffing the film. The jokes ranged from puns to pop culture reference to the cheap effects and poor acting of the film. As I watch clips of the show online, I realize that this was one of the best, underrated programs during its time and I hope someone will resurrect this show sometime in the future. You can enjoy a clip from the original show below.



Although MST3K is no more, the brilliant creators haven't failed to keep us entertained. In 2006, Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett started RiffTrax. In the style of MST3K, the actors would record heckle tracks for mainstream films. The end result is if they had done this years ago, MST3K would still be running. You can have a lot of fun ripping apart Hollywood films and you'll probably look at them in a different life. I'm going to post the Best of Twilight and you'll probably never see the film in the same way again. Every time I'll see Jasper, I'm going to think of Harpo Marx.



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

Beatles+ Blue Meanies + 3D = Awesome? Not Quite

This week there has been a lot of news in Hollywood. First, Sam Raimi politely gave Sony the finger and walked off the Spiderman 4 set. Of course, the webslinger has followed suit. The good news is we'll probably see another Evil Dead film. The bad news is that the whole Spiderman series will be getting a reboot, which is kind of odd because when Spiderman was released in 2002, it was the closest comic book adaptation until Nolan resurrected Batman. I can't see why they have to start all over from scratch when Sam Raimi gave fans the Spiderman they wanted. Speaking of Spiderman, that musical has also been delayed indefinitely. Why would they spend so much money on a production, which will likely close within six months and half the fanboys cannot afford the ticket prices.



Another bit of news that I found out is that Robert Zemeckis will be using the computer animated technology from A Christmas Carol to remake "Yellow Submarine." Yes, you heard right. The guy, who once made hits like "Back To The Future", is taking one of the trippiest animated movies of all time and making it a 3-D adventure. I mean it's one thing to take the original movie and make it 3-D like Nightmare Before Christmas, but a remake is not necessary and quite honestly irrelevant.

Maybe I shouldn't hold my doubts because I don't know how close Zemeckis will stay to the source material, but we'll have to wait and see. I hope the actors who are playing the Beatles do the singers justice. The one cool thing is that the members of the Fab Four, one of the most popular Beatles tribute bands will be providing vocals. The most recognizable among American would be Cary Elwes, (Saw, Princess Bride.)

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom... You have been warned.

"New Year" Proves It's Not Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I've been so busy with work and other things that I'm doing a back to back entry.



Anyway, as much as I enjoy checking out a good epic blockbuster, independent movies often tend to find a way to win me over. Last week, I sat down and watched a little known film titled "The New Year Parade." The film follows a year in the life of Jack and Kat, a brother and sister whose parents have split and eventually divorce. In the midst of all the chaos in their home life, the family takes part in planning their annual float for the Mummers Parade, a tradition which there family has been a part of for several generations. As the film progresses, Jack and Kat each struggle to make sense of the situation, while trying to establish their identity at the sense time.

What easily sounds like a typical premise for a MTV True Life episode is made more appealing by providing us with protagonists who feel restricted and powerless, as opposed to being caricatured and self destructive. As someone who is going through a situation similar to the one facing the family in the "New Year Parade", powerless is the perfect way to describe how you feel and it's one of the reasons why I kept watching the rest of the film. I thought the actor who played Jack was really good and I enjoyed how he played the person, who tried to hold the family together despite the inevitable tension. The relationship between the father and the son made for some of the best scenes in the film. I would highly recommend that you check out this film, especially if you have parents that might have gone though a rough divorce. I think the lesson to take away is that there is nothing to do to prevent the inevitable, we just have to find a way to deal with it.



This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.

10 Greatest Cultural Impacts of the last 10 Years.

It's hard to believe that the end of the Millennium decade is here. Then again, I'm sure people were saying the same thing ten years earlier about the 90's. Looking back from 2000 to today, you realize that there was a lot of things that happened during those ten years and it's amazing how quick our lives have changed since 1999. There were a lot of things that happened in the past ten years and that's why I've decided to make a list of the 10 Greatest Cultural Impacts of the Last 10 Years. Since it's New Year's Eve, I find it appropriate to do a countdown for this occasion.

Choosing the 10 greatest cultural impacts of this decade is not an easy task and that's why we have to give honorable mentions.

First like any decade, we have seen amazing contributions from music and movies. In music, hip-hop has become an even bigger conglomerate than it was in the 90s. Other music genres that have grown the past decade is a new wave of metal music and screamo. The pop/punk and emo music had also become quite huge during the Millenium. Artists who have had a fair amount of success in the last decade include Green Day, Coldplay, Fallout Boy, Rhianna, Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Avenged Sevenfold,The White Stripes, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, Jay-Z, Kanye West, NAS, Kelly Clarkson, Taylor Swift, Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Jet, The Killers, etc. There was also a resurgence of classic rock artists such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin.

At the movies, we saw the technological advanced of sound and picture quality with the introduction to IMAX, motion capture and CGI animation that at one time was deemed impossible. A lot of documentaries found their way to the big screen, such as An Inconvenient Truth and Super Size Me. Art-house films and indie flicks are nothing new,but we certainly would remember "Pulp Fiction", "Mulhooland Drive" and "Being John Malkovich" when we lined up to see Requiem for a Dream, Donnie Darko and My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Of course there were the epic franchises and comic book/ novel adaptations that dominated this decade. The Lord of The Rings, Spiderman, Harry Potter, Pirates of The Carribean, 300, Watchmen, Sin City were among the highest grossing films of the decade. The Batman, Star Trek, and Star Wars reboots also did well. In fact, our of the top 20 highest grossing films worldwide for this decade, Finding Nemo (15) was the only which was not adapted from a work or a ride.

Another honorable mention is the new subculture that were formed over the past decade. The most famous is probably the emo movement. Others include the revival of the hipster movement, which is heavily associated with Williamsburg and vampire/zombie subcultures.

It's worth mentioning the fashion styles that grew and faded over the last decade. Many of these styles were popularized due to celebs or tv shows. Vintage T-shirt featuring classic rock bands, movie quotes or funny images, Uggz, Von Dutch hats, plastic jewelry, skinny jeans, Boho-girl style, vintage sunglasses, Wings and fauxhawks, crocs and polo shirts were among the hottest trends of the millenium.

Finally, we have primetime and premium television that gave television new life and preserved whatever reality tv hasn't destroyed. From great dramas like House, Prison Break, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Alias, Cold Case, Damages, Mad Men and 24 to brilliant comedies such as The Office, 30 Rock, Community, Desperate Housewives, and Two and A Half Men. There was also HBO and Showtime who knew where to draw the line on reality and entertainment. HBO provided us with great shows like Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, In Treatment, True Blood, The Wire and the fabulous miniseries Band of Brothers, Recount, and John Adams. Showtime has entertained us with The Tudors, Dexter, Weeds, Californication, The L Word, Queer as Folk, Diary of A Call Girl, United States of Tara, and Penn and Teller:Bullshit!

That in itself is a lot of stuff to happen over the last decade, but let's see what makes my top ten list.

Without further ado here is The 10 Greatest Cultural Impacts of The Last Ten Years.


10. Death of Michael Jackson - At first, I wasn't sure if this would make my list. However, that's like forgetting to mention the deaths of Elvis, Lennon and Princess Diana in their respective decades. The truth is that Michael Jackson has touched the lives of so many Americans. (And no not in the sick Freudian way that you're thinking.) Thriller is one of the highest selling records of all time and despite his frequent change in appearance, he has one of the most recognizable names in American history. The video for the Thriller has been selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry. You don't have to like Michael Jackson. I couldn't care less about his personal life. However, the large crowds of mourners that gathered to mourn his death proves that they didn't care either. So for becoming the Elvis of our generation and leaving behind good beats for people to dance, Michael Jackson's death ranks number 10.


9. Going Green/ Hybrid and Electric cars - Environmentalism is nothing new. Many people were preaching us to save the environment. The only difference is now they have actors, musicians, and Al Gore telling us what to do. Ironically, this all started because of a little documentary called "An Inconvenient Truth." The movie got Al Gore an Oscar and a Nobel Peace Prize. After the documentary was released, more people seemed to be concerned with preserving the environment. People were starting to buy these weird looking cars called Hybrids. Hybrids are exactly what they sound like. They run on gas and electric. I know there must have been some nerd out there who said, "Yes, we're one step closer to making a DeLorean Time Machine." In New York City, the Mayor liked this concept of "Going Green" and started up this campaign. He plans to plant 1 million trees by 2017. I always wondered where they keep getting these trees from. In addition, on the subways, buses and billboards, you see signs that tell you to recycle. I have nothing wrong with helping out the environment, the problem is when people use the environment as a way to make a profit. However, the majority doesn't see it that way, so I guess we'll make signs and by our Chevy Volts and Ford Fusion. So because Al Gore has gotten people hyped up about alternative fuel and being eco-friendly, the Green Movement is number 9 on my list.


8. Reality Television - Back in the 1990s if someone said that they were watching reality tv, you probably thought they were either watching cops or The Real World. In fact, MTV's The Real World was probably the first true reality show in America. Now when people say they're watching reality tv, you probably assume they're watching one that takes place on an island or the one with the English Nanny. Back in 2000, CBS premiered it's first season of Survivor and it got a huge amount of viewership. TV producers who were watching this must have thought, "Wow I can't believe so many people would tune in to watch other people make idiots out of themselves. That gives me an idea. I can exploits average American families and make a crapload of money." Thanks to this brainstorm, we now have wife swap, trading spaces, nanny diaries and other family oriented reality shows. In another room, people sat around a table and thought how can we get people to make complete asses of ourselves on live television. I got it, we'll have a talent show. Thanks to Simon Fuller, we have American Idol, America's Got Talent, two shows about dancing, and Hell's Kitchen. Reality telvision has also gone as far as ridiculing the lives of celebs mainly D list actors, who don't have much going on for them in the first place. MTV and VH1, which only reserve an hour for music, air nonstop reality shows that features mediocre bands. So for TV producers letting us realize that our lives could be much worse, reality tv is number 8 on my countdown.


7. Text Messaging/iPhone - Towards the end of the 90s, the internet and cell phones were becoming quite popular. While this was a time when it was unheard of for an eight year old to carry around a cell, pretty much every adult had a cell by 1999. If people told in 1999 that they have a all in one cell phone and computer, you might ask them, how do you fit that in your pocket. In 2009, people will say to you "Your phone doesn't have texting, did you buy it from Alexander Graham Bell?" Text messaging is huge today and everyone from kids to parents to even grandparents text each other. People text so much that they should sell cortisone shots with phones just in case you feel the early stages of carpal tunnel. The concept of having the internet on your phone is really cool and it makes things so accessible. Who needs calculators when you have your apple iPhone? So for being able to send messages when we don't have a computer nearby and for creating phones that pretty much have it all text messaging and 21st century cell phones are number 7 on my list.


6. 2008 Economic Crisis - I had a tough time choosing 5 and 6 on my list and it's a very close call. The past year has been a tough one for all of us as we had to deal with the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression. People are exclaiming it's worse than the Depression, but I'm not ready to accept that claim. The fault of the economic crisis was the loose grip we had on business regulation and we let some banks take advantage of people. The results were ugly and unfortunately companies went under or bellied up, automakers suffered financial problems and there were plenty of people who lost their jobs. Now that it's been over a year, things are trying to make a turn around for the better, but it's still going to take some time. The 2008 economic crisis falls at number 6 on my countdown.


5. War in Iraq/Afghanistan - America is a country that always loves a good war. We had a war to be free from England, we got ourselves involved in two world wars that we planned to stay out of and when there was no one to fight, we fought against each other. So it's no surprise that after September 11th attacks, we knew war would be imminent. I don't think any of us predicted that we would be fighting two wars though. I don't think there's a logical explanation as to why we would stop a search for a criminal to pursue another person, who we assume has weapons of mass destruction. If we've learned anything from our government, it's that they don't know how to torture their victims. If you capture a person that has knowledge of possible whereabouts of weapons of mass destruction, why would you kill him before he ever fessed up. Also people won't be able to talk if their head is being held under water. It's not like i have sympathy for these terrorists, but if you want answers then you have to do it right. The question remains is that were these necessary wars and unfortunately this will be something that will have to be looked at repeatedly over time. I don't know if it's a repeat of Vietnam, but there are certainly similarities between them. So for all the brave soldiers, who have spent the past decade fighting and protecting us, number 5 belongs to you.


4. George Bush and the Bush Administration - Number 4 goes to people partially responsible for 5 and 6. We can't look back at the cultural impact of the millennium and forget about good old Dubya. From his decreasing popularity to his abusive Vice President to the fingerpointing of Hurricane Katrina, George Bush received a lot of scrutiny from the American people, fellow politicians, and the media. A lot of things were said about the former President and the members of his cabinet. Some of them were dead on while others were over-exaggerated. People have stated that he was the worst President, but when you put him up against Andrew Johnson, who like Cheney tried to have control over everything, and Richard Nixon, who basically tried to cover up an extortion plot, the real problem with Bush was that he wasn't fit for the job. George Bush needed to have a personality like Franklin Roosevelt especially when it came down to what we had to deal with during his term. We needed a person who was going to keep our heads up, while seeking out a probable solution and President Bush failed do that. It became difficult to take them seriously and that's why we have to look back and laugh at the stupid things the Bush Administration did. George Bush came into office with the intent of building legacy. I'm sure he's not thrilled with the way everything turned out, but his legacy is definitely one for the ages and that's why he lands at number 4 on my countdown.


3. The Black President - Back in the 1980s, when a raunchy, foul-mouthed Eddie Murphy was still touring the stand-up circuit, he laughed about the idea of having a black president. Sixteen years later, President Obama sits behind that desk in the Oval Office. Sure people will claim that it was narrowed down to that decision, but it still is an important milestone in American history. Whether Obama turns our country around or brings it down further into chaos, he fulfilled the dream that Martin Luther King shared to a crowd in Washington D.C. four decades and for becoming the first African American president, he's number 3 on my countdown.


2. September 11th 2001 - I find it very hard to believe that this year will be the 9th anniversary of September 11th. Now that all those smoke is gone and we're rebuilding what terrorists tried to destroy, the spirit that was present on that day still hasn't quite left. Here's an interesting fact. Before and after the Twin Towers collapsed, the weather was reported as clear and sunny. The only time clouds appeared were between the hours of 9-3. Just think that if 9/11 never took place it might have been literally a perfect day. The September 11th terrorist attacks not only affected New Yorkers, it affected the whole country. It changed the way people thought about security and reminded us that not everyone is a fan of America. I had a chance to visit Ground Zero back in November and it's amazing to see how far they've come in repairing that part of the city back to normal. One of the pivotal moments of the contemporary world and an event, which will leave it's mark for starting off the 21st century, the September 11th terrorist attacks and impact lands at number 2 on the countdown.


1. Social networking/Expansion of New Media - Some people might ask how does social networking and new media leave a bigger impact on our culture than 9/11? Well for one, you're taking the time to read my blog and afterward there's a chance that you'll go on Facebook, Twitter, and/or MySpace. In the 90s, we were introduced to the internet and the cell phone. In the Millennium, we were reintroduced to the internet again. Only this time, it became a place where you could read your news without buying a newspaper, communicate with friends, including ones you haven't seen since elementary school, and meet people, who like the same weird stuff as you. Social networking itself was a brilliant idea and I don't believe the creators of MySpace knew the impact that it would have on American culture. People enjoyed having their own website where they could "express" themselves. "MySpace music and film" became a way for up and coming artists to be seen. When Facebook launched in 2006, it tried not to conform to the policies that MySpace implemented. Unfortunately, that didn't work out too well for them. Facebook did become one of the most popular websites in America and it's at the top of the social networking empire. Among other great sites that came out of the social networking and new media are Twitter, YouTube, Hulu, and Wikipedia. Although social networking and new media is great, it's become a threat to other media sources. Although many newspapers have been closing circulation due to the financial crisis, newspapers are losing business because people are going online for the same news that's found in the paper. The Times is supposed to close circulation within the next two years. As you can see, our lives have been changed so much due to social networking and new media. We often joke about people trying to live without technology, but sadly I don't think most of us would be able to function without it. So because we've become a technology dependent nation, social networking and new media is the biggest American cultural impact of the last 10 years.

This has been Ian K. Feldman speaking words of wisdom.