Music Mentality and Motion (Guest Blogger: Nick Guns)

Nicholas Guns

Enjoying music is a part of people’s lives all around the world. It has been vital to culture since the beginning of human settlement as ingenious people constructed the first bone flutes, animal hide drums, and primitive maracas. Music’s development over thousands of years as produced great artists as well as great instruments, and styles. Such creation is a new kind of invention; not for work, but for expression. As people look back on the greatest musical artists in history they envision people like Ludwig Van Beethoven, George Harrison, and Tupac. However, could they ever imagine creating art themselves? Learning how to play an instrument and musical abilities could make anyone the next star, but do they have the guts to try it?


Music is defined as sound organized over time. Simple, it seems but is there more? This is a great question many have asked themselves but only few answer. People need to explore the vast realm of which could be their song and if they play it on a guitar, on the court, on their desk, or in their head during algebra class. To really answer these great questions and to truly feel self expressed, music is the only way to go. Just think, how you could change and opinion, or even the world with a single note, rhyme, or line. So yell the song of you, and feel how it feels. Express yourself in music, so you can pass the time. Music is a form of expression, and it is up to you to make an impression.



Small Assignment: 1) Think of the music that inspires you the most. Describe this music and tell why it interests you. Is it the lyrics? Instruments? Beats? etc. 2) Do you agree with my definition of music or is there "more" to it? Make an arguement and explain why you believe so.

NJ All Day (Guest Blogger: Ryan Ross)

If you're looking for good basketball, and I'm talking really good basketball, you don't have to look very far. Right here in our backyard, the state of New Jersey, there is some of the best high school basketball in the country. In total, their have been over 30 McDonald's High School All Americans from the Garden State. NJ has three teams that are regularly in the country's tom 25 teams: St. Patrick's of Elizabeth, St. Benedict's of Newark, and St. Anthony's of Jersey City. This year, the state was shaken up when the state championship did not include any of these three giants. Instead, the state championship came back close to home for me, going to the Trenton Catholic Academy team of Hamilton, NJ. Because my friend plays on the Trenton Catholic team, I attended nearly every game in the tournament. Even though the tournament was missing St. Patrick's because of an illegal practicing scandal, the tournament still displayed top talent across the board. Some famous alumni from the state are Charlie Villanueva and Luol Deng who both played for Blair and now are in the NBA. Others are Joakim Noah, J.R. Smith, Al Harrington, Andrew Bynum, Tim Thomas, and Jay Williams, all of whom are or were recently in the NBA.

Speaking NJ high school basketball, our school is one of the many competitive teams in the state.

One of the NBA's all time greats, Willis Reed is played basketball in NJ. He was raised in Cedar Grove, NJ. If you don't know who he is, here is a video

This video shows Willis Reed's heroic return from an injury in Game 7 of an intense playoff series. His Knicks would go on to win the series thanks to his stellar play. Willis Reed's heart and skill epitomizes the New Jersey Basketball Player.

What's your favorite sport to play or watch? Is the sport popular in your state? What professional athletes are from your area?

Caroline's Glee Blog (Guest Blogger--Caroline Campbell)

I love watching TV, and my favorite TV show is Glee. Glee is about a group of teenagers in high school. Most of them are not very popular, but they all have one thing in common: they can sing. So one of the Spanish teachers at the school in Lima, Ohio, Mr. Schuester, takes over the glee club at the school, where the students can come and sing together. Glee club used to be popular at the school, but after time it became known as something only the outcasts and losers do. So when Will Schuester takes it over he tries to change it back into the popular club it was before.

The show is a good mixture of drama, comedy, and singing. All of the characters have specific personalities. Rachel is the lead girl singer, and Finn is the lead male singer. The other people in the glee club are Puck, Kurt, Quinn, Mercedes, Santana, Brittany, Artie, Tina, and Mike. The students in glee club are typical high school students, so there is a lot of drama going on. There are many relationships between the people in the glee club, and there are also a lot of problems with the cheerleading coach at the school, Sue Sylvester. She tries to do whatever she can to ruin the glee club forever. The show has been a big hit, with millions of viewers each week.

This is a video showing the commercial for season two of Glee.


Write a comment saying your favorite TV show or who your favorite character on Glee is if you watch it. Thanks for reading my blog
Caroline Campbell

For Tonight:

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Write your first blog passage on your top interest. Please put effort into using proper grammar and correct spelling. Also, make the reader truly learn something about this interest of yours...not just that you really, really, really like it. Email your writing to mhoban@hunschool.org tonight. We'll work on posting it on the blog tomorrow during class.

-Mr. Hoban

Maritza Correia (Guest Blogger - Janine Cadet)

Maritza Correia is the first African-American female swimmer to make it to the Olympics. She was born in 1981 in San Juan, Puerto Rico but her parents moved their from Guyana. At seven years old, she was diagnose with a severe case of scoliosis, therefore to help cure it her parents started her up with swimming. She started to become very good and started to win championship after championship. She attended UGA (University of Georgia) and during her college career she was a 27-All Time American and 11-time NCAA Champion. In 2000, she had high hopes of making it to the Olympics in Sydney, Australia and went to Olympic Trials but missed the cut off and slipped into a depression. With help of friends and family she finally re-emerged to becoming a top swimmer. She then made it to the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece in the 4X400 Freestyle Relay.


Video I Made of Maritza Correia:



Now retired, Martiza Correia is a promoter for USA Swimming and Nike. She also speaks to young inner city kids about her swimming career and encourages them to follow her dream. I've met her even a couple of times and her story ahs inspired me to keep trying harder. Is their anyone who has inspired you to do the same? Thanks for reading!

Sports town P-way (Isaiah West: Guest Blogger)

Piscataway New Jersey is a decent sized town in Central Jersey. Right in the backyard of Rutgers University, it is the home of very competitive football. Over the years It has been claimed Sports Illustrated Sportstown, home to many Pop Warner championships and High School football championships. From 2002 to 2006 Piscataway brought the championship trophy back to Piscataway.

Here is a clip of highlights from P-way high school football



In Piscataway's years of dominance came dominant players including Kyle Wilson, Malcolm Jenkins and Anthony Davis

Kyle Wilson recieved a scholarship to attend Boise State in Idaho for football. At Boise he was a three year starter and achieved success with the team during his career. He was the favored to go the farthest back ever since pop warner football days.
Here is his Boise State foorball clips



Whereas Malcolm Jenkins, who was a 4 year starter at ohio state, did not even get recruited by Ohio State's Jim Tressel He was the overlooked player in high school and worked twice as hard to end up recieving a scholarship from Ohio State.
Here is Malcolm's Ohio State highlights

Lastly Anthony Davis another hometown native, ended up staying in his hometown to enjoy a great 3 year career at Rutgers University under coach Greg Schiano.
Here is a clip of Anthony at Rutgers. He wears number 75


These three guys have been apart of success since high school. now all of them are in the NFL. Kyle Wilson a rookie playing for the New York Jets, Anthony Davis also a rookie for the San Francisco 49ers and Malcolm Jenkins a second year veteran for the New Orleans Saints.
In his first year in the NFL Malcolm became a Super Bowl Champion. Here is his interview after the win.



Do you think that the other two players mentioned in this blog will achieve the same success? Or do you know of any people in a similar situation or sport that is on a road to success from your town?

Three Topics: Technology, Hockey, and Pranks (Guest Blogger Alex Vukasin)

Today, I have written this post to show you 1.how media changes over time, 2.which video is the funniest,and 3.the techniques used to sell magazines. The technology of media is very different from 20 years ago. A GREAT example of this is hockey interviews.

The first video (below) is one of the greats of hockey, a former Red Wing named Brett Hull. The second video is of rising hockey star Sidney Crosby (of the Penguins who just lost to the Canadians... HA!) Your assignment today is to watch both interviews and comment on the key differences in quality between the two media clips. After that, list media technologies that have improved over the course of many years.

Secondly, watch the third video and ask yourself which was the funniest-- the class taking the lights out video, or Mr. Hoban's prank video or the one I posted below. Explain why. (there is a reason for this).

My third and final question is about what draws the attention of the average joe (you) to watch a certain news channel or to read a certain newspaper. is it the graphics, setup,or just the info? also take a look at this New York Times newspaper article and this Celebrity magazine cover, which one looks more interessting to you?




Brett Hull Interview ( guy with the mullet):








Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury Interview( Marc is the first guy with the funny accent):













Funny prank video: