Today's Lyrics (from Jason Mraz)

Selected Lyrics from "You and I Both"

Was it you who spoke the words that things would happen but not to me
Oh things are gonna happen naturally
Taking your advice and I'm looking on the bright side
And balancing the whole thing
But often times those words get tangled up in lines
And the bright light turns to night
Until the dawn it brings
Another day to sing about the magic that was you and me

Cause you and I both loved what you and I spoke of
And others just read of
Others only read of the love, of the love that I loved

And it's okay if you had to go away
Oh just remember the telephones, well they work both ways
But if I never ever hear them ring
If nothing else I'll think the bells inside have finally found you someone else
And that's okay
Cause I'll remember everything you sang

Cause you and I both loved what you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now well then i'm almost finally out of
Finally out of
Well I'm almost finally, finally out of words

Just in Time

Tony Bennett is one of my favorite singers, so I was very excited to see him on the front of the "Arts and Books" section of the AJC this morning. The article focuses on his new album "Duets: An American Classic," which is set to come out on Tuesday. Check out this list of people he's singing with on the new album:

• Bono
• Michael Buble
• Elvis Costello
• Celine Dion
• Dixie Chicks
• Billy Joel
• Elton John
• Juanes
• Diana Krall
• k.d. lang
• John Legend
• Paul McCartney
• Tim McGraw
• George Michael
• Sting
• Barbara Streisand
• James Taylor
• Stevie Wonder

It's amazing that at 80 years old (his birthday was August 3, the day before mine), he can still sing so well and collaborate with so many famous artists.

My favorite quotes from the article:

"So he comes to the studio prepared, expects his partner to do likewise, and after a little relaxation and rehearsal, the idea is to nail it —- 'three or four takes and you have it.' (You may have heard a song by Bennett about leaving his heart in San Francisco. That version released in 1962? One take.)" Wow. One take. That's amazing.

"'He completely shaped pop music,' singer K.D. Lang once said. 'You hear his influence and his phrasing everywhere.'"

Headlines

Headlines. Every story has one. It has to sum up the main thrust of an article in just a few words, depending on the amount of space the story gets. And I thought it was interesting that something as simple as a headline could be considered unethical. But my media ethics professor pointed out that some can be more inflammatory and one-sided than others. Take, for example, the front page news of the AJC vs. that of the New York Times yesterday. Both papers covered the speeches that Bush and Ahmadinejad made, but they used very different headlines to describe the events.

AJC: "Bush Calls Out Iran: Tough speech at U.N. labels regime a threat to peace."
NYT: "Leaders Spar Over Iran's Aims and U.S. Power."

See the difference? As much as I love the AJC and defend it (especially since my dad writes for it), my professor made a good point. Their headline is one-sided and borderline inflammatory, whereas the NYT headline covers both sides of the story. And that's our duty as journalists--to get the whole story to the public, not just one side of it. We need to be more careful about covering both sides and letting the readers make judgments on their own.

Ribbons

Every so often, when I have a large break between classes or I just need something to occupy my time after I've read the paper, I check Banterist.com. Writer Brian Sack writes all sorts of stories, from interviews with the guy who created the "Tiny House/GEICO" commercial to conversations he's overheard in New York. But I particularly like the article and website devoted to ribbons. Yes, the "support (fill in the blank)" ribbons people so frequently plaster on the back of their cars.

"See? We can make a difference. That difference starts with you. Don't be discouraged by the seemingly overwhelming task ahead of us. Though there are countless un-ribboned causes--like Fat Acceptance and Dandruff Pride--we can come up with ribbons for all of them. But we need you to help. "

You can read the article here and check out the website where you can custom-design your ribbons here.

Today's Lyrics (from the musical "Wicked")

Selected Lyrics from "For Good"

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led to those
Who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better
Because I knew you
I have been changed...for good

Post Secret

My friend Alison is addicted to Post Secret, which, for those of you who don't know, is "an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard." There's a book out filled with them and there's a blog that updates with new ones every Sunday. Some of them are really sad, some are funny, some are serious, some are just downright scary. I decided to look at the website this afternoon and here are a few of my favorites:

I'm an anglophile. And I love Spongebob. I do believe it's evident why I like this one.

Awww. Too cute.

Yesss. Story of my life!

There are a lot more on the blog, and they change them every Sunday. Check them out!

Baby Steps

As of late, I've realized just how afraid I am of challenging myself. I'm afraid to take really hard classes. I hesitate to challenge where I am in my faith because I'm content to stay right where I am. I'm afraid to go past the "Easy" setting in Guitar Hero. And I'm afraid to tell people how I feel about something because I'm afraid of their reaction. If I have something on my mind, I can write about it, tell the friends that it doesn't affect, think about it at great length. But when it comes to telling them, I chicken out. At first, I set a deadline. "I'll talk to them about it tomorrow when I see them." But the time comes and I freeze. I can't bring myself to express what's going on inside.

Once I find my comfort zone, I stay there and tell myself that I'm content where I am--why mess with a good thing, right?

Wrong.

It's easy to stay right where you are, to convince yourself that if you just continue on the track you're on, things are going to be okay. But how do you grow as a person if you're content to stay exactly where you are for the rest of your life? Let me answer my own question--you don't. So now that I've realized this, where do I go from here?

Baby steps. I'm working on it one little step at a time. For example, I played a few select songs on Guitar Hero on the "Medium" setting today. I know that sounds lame, but I'm trying. And I went to a Bible study group last night...I'd never been to one before last night. But I tried it, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Like I said--baby steps.