Music Non Stop: Mid-Albums of the year this week

Not a long post, but just a heads up that I will be releasing my picks for mid-albums of the year. In the past, some have been keepers (like Testament's Formation of Damnation & Mercenary's Architect of Lies or all of 2007, what a year!). While others have been less than memorable (all of last year, seriously none of the mid-year albums made the top 10).

So what does this year have in store? Well, I only have 5 or 6 strong contenders. I will talk about why Exodus' latest isn't on the list. And musically, it is probably the best album I have heard the whole year.

That's it. Back again later.

Inside Four Walls: class of 2010...out

Yesterday was the senior's last day of the year. And this is an interesting class. I really didn't know many of the students, but was able to get to know about 15-20 really well through their 4 years at the school.

Watching them leave is no different than any other year. You always wonder what is going to happen to them and if they will end up safe and ok. You see a few of them maybe once or twice over the next 2 years and then...nothing. It's rough, but I am starting to get used to it.

I will post more about my classes and year once it is all over next week, but I will talk about my TA's this year. They were all seniors and they were without a doubt the best group of TA's I have ever had. They were either parents of teachers, well respected athletes, or students with interests in law enforcement. Can't go wrong there. I had problems with my TA's last year and wanted to avoid that and I did. These kids were awesome. They were always there to help me and never complained.

As the year was coming to an end, my TA and I were talking about her high school years. It hit me that I was her first teacher in high school. We laughed about how I was her first impression of what high school would be like for four years. Well then it hit her that I would be her last teacher in high school because she was my TA for her last class of the day. I have never had that happen before and since I don't have a 1st period anymore I don't see it happening anytime soon. To think I was someone's first and last teacher in high school, which spans 4 years, is kind of amazing. By the way, our staff is about 100+ (before budget cuts) so it seems like a pretty improbable task.

Each one was a little different than the other, but that's what made them so memorable. I had a die hard Red Sox fan, great athlete (she won female athlete of the year) and a budding conservative Republican (she admitted she watched Hannity a few times to me), the jock who hadn't changed since his freshmen year when I had him (except he was a lot bigger now), the TA who would work hard and do everything and when she was done would go to sleep, and the liberal hippie TA who I suspect always knew I was right, but didn't want to admit it. It worked, it was like my own version of the Breakfast Club. I will miss these students and I know I can't replace them, but hopefully I can find some to do the job.

Inside Four Walls: teacher gifts?

Ok so every now and then a student will give me a gift at Christmas or the end of the year (not like my wife who teacher's kindergarten). And every now and then a student will bring me some food, maybe a cookie or cupcake. No big deal.

Today, I found out that one of our teachers got the ultimate gift from a class/students (not sure how it broke down). Seems that this teacher is a big fan of the Final Fantasy game series. And apparently, the new one just came out on the Playstation 3. So he was telling his class that even though he would like to play the new one, he wasn't going to buy a PS3 just for the one game.

So what did his class (or some students) do? They went and bought him a new PS3! For those who don't know the price of one of these, it is about $250 - $300. Yeah, puts my cookies to shame.

I talked to him after school and you could tell he really wasn't sure about keeping it. I don't know what I would do if a gift like that came my way, especially if it wasn't from an entire class.

Music Non Stop: Bullet for My Valentine...they did it again

I have talked before about how I didn't want to like this band because I thought they were just another emo band. Their last release Scream, Aim, Fire was a solid album with tons of catchy songs and great musicianship.

Their latest, Fever, is really good. Is it as good as Scream, Aim, Fire? Probably not, but it is still a really good album. They cut back on the amount of screaming vocals in favor of the clean singing. But it's not as bad as Trivium's The Crusade .

I also mentioned their first single, The Last Fight, and how it definitely wasn't a rock song. It caught my attention in a big way. Here is the video;

So that isn't the best song for me. Right now it is Your Betrayal. This song is very catchy. The intro, the chorus, everything. I had a student who heard about 15 seconds of this song proclaim it was "a great song". Here is the video for this one;

So does that put this album #1? I don't think so, but I wouldn't be surprised if it made it into the top 5 again.

The Last Laugh: Baldwin Park pro-illegal immigration rally

Ahh illegal immigration. It pulls at the hearts of liberals everywhere. They want to open our country to everyone. They just want to make a living for themselves. It's not their fault Mexico is poor. Despite the fact that almost two-thirds (in some polls more) don't want amnesty for illegals and want them out, some cities are passing the "boycott Arizona" resolutions.

In Baldwin Park, they passed a similar resolution and wanted to have a pro-illegal immigration rally on Saturday. There was just one problem...no one showed up. In fact, within minutes of the 11 start time, they started to take down the stage and speakers.

The mayor said it was because their were other events going on in the city, but maybe it's that people don't think the Arizona law is that bad.

Remember the Time: Eveready Energizer - Mark "Jacko" Jackson

So I saw another one of the Energizer Bunny commercials a few minutes ago and I realized how long that bunny has been going, since 1989. That's a pretty long time for a company to be using the same ad campaign.

But what was it before the bunny you ask? How about Mark "Jacko" Jackson Eveready Energizer? Don't remember the name? He was the Australian Football player that ran around screaming knocking over batteries. If you weren't around when they aired, they were really popular. As a kid we would pretend to be him running around saying "Oi!" all the time. Fun for us, probably annoying to our parents. Here is one of his many commercials from the 80's;

The guy just looked crazy and he had an accent. What more could kids want in a spokesperson? How about muscles? Yeah, he's got those too. He was a winner in my book and I was sad to see him gone. Replaced by a bunny. I was surprised that he was gone, but I think that I am even more surprised that the bunny is still going. For those that don't remember, here is the first Energizer Bunny commercial;

The Sun Always Shines of T.V.: Grey's Anatomy & Private Practice

Ok, I think everyone who has been reading this blog for awhile knows that my favorite doctor show was Scrubs. Well I might have to make room for at least one more maybe two. I like my shows to be on the more light-hearted side of things and these two aren't most of the time.

I won't go into a deep description of either of these shows because they are pretty well known, Grey's Anatomy wrapping up their 6 season and Private Practice their 3rd. In fact, I don't even know some of the characters names still. I got into these shows through my wife. She was/is a big fan of G.A. Then P.P. spun off of that show.

I will say that these shows have some top notch writing. I can't tell you the number of times I have been passing through the room and catch about a minute of the show and I am hooked for the next hour.

The season finale for G.A. is a perfect example of this. I just came in from working out and was heading for the shower. It was 9:10 and I was tired and had to get up early for work. I asked my wife how her show was going and she said great. I turned and within a minute I was in. It was a 2 hour finale and I didn't even make it to the shower until 11:00...and we have Tivo! A couple of the minor characters get annoying, but out of a cast of 10+, I can put up with a few duds.

On a side note, the finale I saw last night was probably the best episode I have seen from this show, and I saw last years finale as well.

Private Practice is the same way. Watch a second...hooked. Both shows do something that more shows should do. They have the teaser 2-3 minute intro then the opening credits (which is nothing more than the titles you see above) and then the show is back on for the next 10 minutes. This is huge. In a world of Tivo and channel surfing, if a show can get you to watch 10 consectutive minutes, they have won.

Finally, the season finale of P.P. was a shocker as well, who saw Del dying after his wife blew up this season. Don't feel too bad for her though, she was a meth addict and the explosion almost killed thier daughter.

That's it of this one. I have been watching these shows for awhile now and can't believe that whenever I watch just a few moments of the show I can't stop watching until it is over.

The Last Laugh: Phil Jackson agrees with Arizona law...and the people protest

Phil Jackson. Now if you don't live in L.A., Chicago, New York, or follow basketball you might not know who this guy is. Let's just say he has coached a team to 10 NBA titles...that's pretty good. He has won 4 in L.A., including last year. They are looking pretty strong right now.

The people love him here in L.A., that is until he talked about the Arizona law. Jackson was quoted as saying;

“Am I crazy, or am I the only one that heard [the legislature] say ‘we just took the United States immigration law and adapted it to our state,’” Jackson said.

I told him they usurped the federal law.

“It’s not usurping, it’s just copying it is what they said they did, and then they gave it some teeth to be able to enforce it,” Jackson said.

Then he mildly scolded the Suns.

“I don’t think teams should get involved in the political stuff. And I think this one’s still kind of coming out to balance as to how it’s going to be favorably looked upon by our public. If I heard it right the American people are really for stronger immigration laws, if I’m not mistaken. Where we stand as basketball teams, we should let that kind of play out and let the political end of that go where it’s going to go.”

Sounds pretty reasonable right? Just enforcing federal law at the state level and then telling sports teams they shouldn't get involved in politics.

Well here's where it gets funny. L.A. goes nuts over this. They protested outside Staples Center before a practice and a game. And their reason?

Several dozen people waving signs and American flags gathered outside Staples Center before the Lakers-Phoenix Suns game in a protest over Lakers coach Phil Jackson 's refusal to criticize Arizona's new anti-immigration law, Los Angeles police said Monday.

That's right they were protesting because he didn't come out and criticize the law. How dare he. How dare an American citizen have an opinion.

It shouldn't shock me, by the way, this is the way the left operates. If you disagree with their views...you are done for.

One more thing, Phil Jackson is a democrat.

Thoughts Without Words: We apologized to China?

Someone try to explain to me why we are apologizing to China for a law that hasn't even started yet? Why are we apologizing for a law that is almost identical to the federal law? Why are we apologizing to China for "possible discrimination" when the law clearly says you can't do that?

And why are we apologizing to China who has probably the longest list of human rights violations today?

Inside Four Walls: Who says chivalry is dead.

Great moments in male chivalry.

Today in my Geometry class they were doing homework with about 15 minutes left in class (it was a block day). As I was walking around I saw Student F (female freshman) next to Student S (male sophomore), I somewhat snuck up and saw Student S with a cell phone out. Bingo! referral time. Student S says it's not his, it is Student F's and she was showing him something.

So I pull them to the back and find out Student F walked over to show him something on her phone. But technically, I could send up Student S for it because it was in his possession. I tell him that if he takes the phone he would get a detention and since he has never been caught with a cell phone he would get it back right away to give to Student F.

I tell them that if Student F gets the referral then she would get an all day in school suspension because it was her 5th time getting caught with her cell phone. She is looking scared. I told them to decide or I would send them both up. Student F tells Student S to just take the referral because she can't have the suspension. Student S isn't sure so I start to fill out another referral.

Student S stops and says "wait, wait I know what I am going to do." What came next was probably to biggest swerve I have ever witnessed (and I watch pro-wrestling growing up). He tells me "Send Student F up, it was her phone."

Her facial expression was priceless. She thought he would take the fall for her and he threw her under the bus.

Who says chivalry is dead.

By the way, for those that might think Student S got away, he wouldn't have gotten in trouble since he wasn't texting or anything else and it wasn't his phone. I have dealt with his counselor before and let's say that one is a little soft on punishment. I think he will have more trouble trying to get back on Student F's good side, since he was "courting" her.