Finals 2009 Week Two

Today I took my final in my Spanish class, which is a huge relief, as it was the last Spanish test I will ever have to endure. I have now taken all of the Spanish classes that I must take in order to graduate. Tomorrow I will take my last Final and finally be free of college for a few months..., for the most part, for I still have a few things to do concerning my academic and professional futures.

The main things I will have to do during the summer that are school related are:

1) Work on improving my clarinet skills. Though in my mind I seem to have reached a plateau on the clarinet, there is much room for improvement especially in the tenseness of my left hand.

2) Decide what I would like to do after college, which is a chore. This will probably consume my thoughts for many days and nights during the long summer days, and like most of my problems, will not be resolved until after summer is long gone and I have used much of my time worrying instead of enjoying the time.

I hope that after Finals, when my summer break begins that I am able to enjoy the summer, and hopefully make the summer enjoyable. Though I must think about the future, the present is very important as well

Youtube's new commercial content ( Movies and TV shows)

Yesterday I discovered Youtube's new idea of having TV shows and movies as well as its standard content. Though I did not have time to examine it then, I did today. I have found the selection pretty good, especially since the content is free. The only price you must pay is the time it takes to watch a small commercial. I watched "Supersize Me", and it played flawlessly, with no problems throughout its hour twenty something minute runtime.



Many people believe that Youtube's introduction of this commercial content is a bad thing, and that it will ruin Youtube. I believe it makes the website much better and more fulfilling.

When I first discovered Youtube a long time ago, I was searching for content such as movies and TV shows. I instead discovered the very interesting user content that was greatly above my expectations, and I will never stop watching this content, but I want the commercial content as well.

I believe Youtube has taken a step in guaranteeing its continued existence with its implementation of commercial content, and I am glad I will not have to visit Hulu as much now to get the commercial content. I can instead get all of this content in one location.

Finals Spring 2009 Week One

Tomorrow I take the plunge into my first two finals of finals week. I have prepared for this endeavor by studying feverishly yesterday and from 7:30 am till around 9pm today. For my first test I will explain the change in Social Darwinism in the 2oth century through Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal Legislation. In the second part of the same exam I will compare the Joads from "The Grapes of Wrath" (which I just finished reading today, and read in about 3 days), to Jurgis in the "The Jungle", and why the Joads did not achieve the American Dream.

An hour after my first exam I will then proceed to take an exam in my History of China class.

After these exams I will practice my clarinet piece with my pianist for my jury, and probably go home and pass out.

Polka Dot Stomp, Sidney Bechet

Today I was searching on Youtube for Polka Dot Stomp. This is a great masterpiece by former jazz master Sidney Bechet. I was unable to find a recording of Polka Dot Stomp by Bechet in all of Youtube. I was then determined to present the mastery of Bechet in this piece to Youtube, so I made a video featuring the piece and uploaded it here.
Sidney Bechet was a master of both the clarinet and soprano sax. He had a vibrant and unconstrained style in which he played with a great heaping helping of vibrato that allows you to identify his sound instantly. I hope my video introduces the mastery of Bechet to more people.