Happy LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! \m/ Today's non-categorized blog assignment asks us to explain how writing in this blog has helped us in our academics over the course of the school year.

I have literally NOTHING to write about, so I'm going to write an assorted list of facts I know that you probably don't care about.

1. Mermaids aren't real, but Animal Planet made this special mockumentary about them and they released a sequel last Sunday. Everyone's freaking out about it for some reason. Anyway, Paul McCartney is real, and I think that by itself is pretty amazing. 
2. In Japan in 1986, there was this one Kleenex commercial that was said to be evil because the actors in it died or had misfortune during or after its filming. That was said to be due to this baby who was dressed sort of like an ogre. Also, even though it was in English, people complained that the background music sounded like German swearing.
3. Keith Moon died... in the exact same room that Mama Cass Elliot died, at the same age, 4 years later. 
4. Mermaids still aren't real.
5. We're dissecting a squid in Science today... and get this. We're going to make it into calamari after we dissect it. We're going to cut it open, fry it, and eat it in 42 minutes with our own hands. I love the human race.
6. Chocolate releases special endorphins in your brain that make you happy. So people who don't like chocolate probably have brain chemical deficiencies or something.
   
7. Avocados do the same thing.
8. Napoleon Bonaparte was not actually 5'2, or 5'4, or whatever. When he died, his skeleton measured roughly 1.69 meters or 5'7, about average for a Frenchman of the time. His title "Le Petit Corporal" was a term of affection.
9. Everybody dies. Except Ian McKellen. And Keith Richards.
10. I'll never understand the human pathological attachment to the number 10. 

Today, I'm going to write about Emilee. I'm going to write it in the form of a song I already know called "Martha My Dear" by The Beatles!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay. Here goes.

To the tune of "Martha My Dear"
Emilee, you're weird
Sometimes you get in trouble for conversation, please
I'd say shut up
But that would be rude
And uncouth
Emilee, you're weird

Take a good look around you
Take a good look and see
That you and he
Were together for two weeks
You weird girl (do do do do do do do do)

Hold your phone up, you silly girl
Get it confiscated (do do do)
When you find yourself in lunch detention,
Remember that your hair looks better than you think
You weird girl (do do do do do do do do)

Emilee, you're weird
You are this blog post's inspiration, whee
Remember me
Emilee the Weird
Don't forget me
Emilee my dear

Original songwriting credits go to John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Oh, gosh, happy Friday! On this week's edition of "Carson and Laura Switch Blogs", I'll be reflecting on my knowledge of Ben Bruce, the lead guitarist for one of her favorite bands, Asking Alexandria. As usual, I'll write in bullet-point style.

• When you Google Ben Bruce, the first Wikipedia page that comes up is about an old folk singer.
• He is in Asking Alexandria.
• He formed the band in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which is strange, because he's English.
• I'm not sure who the lead singer for Asking Alexandria is, but I think James Cassells might be the drummer?
• This band is darker and less parent-friendly than the already-not-parent-friendly Sleeping With Sirens.
• Carson resents them because they haven't yet named their upcoming album, the first one in a while.
• Maybe last year or the year before they released an album of electronica versions of their already-released songs.
• Wait, I'm supposed to be talking about their guitarist...
• He has big eyes.
• He often wears a Led Zeppelin tanktop during shows. I don't know if I should like or dislike him for this.
• He probably lists Jimmy Page as one of his inspirations, or rather, influences. I've never listened to Asking Alexandria, but he's probably nowhere near as good.
• I don't understand his band's name. Who is Alexandria, and what are they asking her?
• I don't think he was ever in jail.
• They act questionably and have strange hair for publicity, probably.
• Their style is probably around a midpoint between the literally disgusting theatricality of Black Veil Brides and the normalcy of what Sleeping With Sirens wear.
• I would talk about his band's lyrical content, but again, I've never heard a song by Asking Alexandria. They probably play so loud that it drowns out the vocals, anyway, and I don't think Mr. Bruce sings.
• He'll probably be at Warped Tour this year.

Happy Friday! On this week's edition of "Carson and Laura Switch Blogs", I'm going to be writing about one of Carson's favorite bands, Pierce the Veil. Like usual, I'll write bullet points.

• Pierce the Veil are a post-hardcore (I think I explained before that this is politically correct for "screamo") band formed sometime in the late 2000s, probably.
• Unlike the similarly-named Black Veil Brides, Pierce the Veil do not wear theatrical makeup or ridiculous clothes.
• The lead singer's name is Vic Fuentes. He doesn't have any outlandish tattoos and he dresses normally, so I guess I'm okay with him.
• According to Carson, a few of the band members are of Hispanic descent and some of their music has Hispanic elements in it. That's cool.
• They probably ride skateboards.
• They have faces.
• They sing a few love songs.
• They're probably playing at Warped Tour (concerts for Coachella rejects) this year.
• They don't abuse substances, if my sources are to be believed, so they're at least a better influence on kids than Black Veil Brides are. Carson likened them to Sleeping with Sirens.
• Their name sounds kind of Islamophobic to me. I think it's a personal choice whether or not someone should cover up.
• Vic Fuentes is probably a nice dude and some of their music is probably tolerable, but the genre they're in is associated with many negative names and themes.
• They're one of those bands whose lyrics you will see written on girls' wrists all the time, which is probably another reason people mix them up with Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides, and Sleeping with Sirens.
• I have no intention to listen to them. I don't vehemently hate them, either. I'm sort of indifferent to this one.
• I'm still very confused about the name? For example, with Black Veil Brides, the name is a (stupid) way of representing something innocent and pure (a bride's veil) and tainting it with darkness. Pierce the Veil, though, I'm not sure. What would that represent? The end of the betrothal? Or is it perhaps a Harry Potter reference and Vic Fuentes is a huge Sirius Black fan?
• I'm still scared of them.

Happy Friday! For this week's blog, Carson and I have decided to write about each other's favorite band member. In bullet point format, I'm going to write everything I know about Kellin Quinn from Sleeping with Sirens.

• He's in Sleeping with Sirens, which is another post-hardcore band. Supposedly they're more mild and dress more normally than Black Veil Brides. I think he's the lead singer.
• He's from California. I think his birthday is sometime in April. 
• He's either 29 or 30 and he dresses like a seventeen-year-old.
• He has swoopy hair that his fans defend at any chance they can get.
• He has a lot of tattoos.
• He probably has pretty eyes.
• He has this one quote: "Wrists are for bracelets, not for cutting." I think that's a nice sentiment for people to hear, but I'd probably appreciate it more if I didn't see it posted everywhere in the universe all day.
• He probably skateboards.
• I think he has a wife and/or kids and doesn't do drugs, which is good, because that means he has his life put together more than most of the lead singers of his genre and is a somewhat good influence on children and teens.
• Apparently his lyrics are pretty soulful and actually intelligible, which is also good.
• He probably writes most of his band's songs.
• He's one of those artists that doesn't have very many photoshoots of them available for public viewing or in existence, I believe, but he probably has a Twitter.
• He's slightly more acceptable than Black Veil Brides.
• I've actually never heard one of his band's songs on the radio, though, so I'm not exactly sure how famous they are.
• Like Justin Bieber and pop sensations, his fans are mostly what ruins his image, which is unfortunate.

On this week's edition of Carson and Laura Switch Blog Topics, my assignment is to write all I know about Black Veil Brides! Here, I'll do it in bullet point format like I did last time.

• Black Veil Brides are a potentially American screamo band. The politically correct term is "post-hardcore".
• They probably say that Nirvana is one of their influences.
• They probably promote self-harm and sing about apathy.
• Their lead singer's name is Andy Biersack. I think he's German.
• They wear a lot of black makeup and clothing. Their hair is also styled quite ridiculously and is dyed black, among other colors. In short, they like the color black.
• I have a theory that they dye everything black because either A) they want to be Mick Jagger or B) they have arm pimples and want to cover them up. I still haven't finalized my thoughts.
• There will never be a frontman as good as Roger Daltrey, so I don't know why they try.
• A lot of my friends like them and I don't really know why. I thought that their "scene" image and its origins faded away in 2009, but apparently I was wrong.
• I don't know how their vocal chords are intact with all that screaming.
  
• I don't know why their parents even let them listen to them? They have a lot of tattoos and probably do illegal things.
• I am very confused about this band.
• They're probably playing at Warped Tour this year, which means that they wear Vans shoes, I guess.
• Do they have any singles?
• They wear eyeliner...

Hey, that blog title rhymes! Today, my friend Carson and I have decided to write all we know about each other's favorite poet. Since I can name literally two poets and Sylvia Plath is too dark for school content, I told her to write about Jim Morrison. I'm going to write about her idol, Edgar Allan Poe... in bullet format!

• Edgar Allan Poe was a fan of insanity motifs and themes.
• He had a talking raven that liked to say "nevermore". I can see where the previous bullet point comes from.
• Edgar Allan Poe was not as cool as Jim Morrison.
• He died in 1849, I think.
• He was American and from Boston, but apparently he spoke with a Southern accent.
• Teenage boys and girls all over the world like his poetry because they think insanity is cool. I've never experienced it, but I would guess that it is not much fun. I blame TV and the media for glorifying things like that, though.
• He had a cool mustache?
• He was Irish American.
• He was probably married, as most men are and were, but I don't think he had any children.
• Apparently he died in the middle of the street or something? I don't remember. But apparently his life was going average and he just began to cough up blood and die?
• The Beatles talked about him in one of their songs, "I Am the Walrus".
• He was pretty young, for our standards, when he died.
• A lot of people 50+ years ago wrote sad poetry because there was no medicine to cure their depressive thoughts. Is that a conclusion?

Hello! For my free-write, I've decided to make a list of my ten favorite bands and artists, in somewhat of an order of the extent to which I like them. I'll also write my favorite song by them.

1. The Beatles (Across the Universe/Sexy Sadie)
2. Led Zeppelin (The Ocean/The Wanton Song/Dazed and Confused)
3. The Who (Behind Blue Eyes)
4. Nirvana (Come as You Are/About a Girl)
5. Marina & the Diamonds (Teen Idle)
6. One Direction (Gotta Be You)
7. The Kinks (Victoria)
8. John Lennon (Watching the Wheels)
   
9. George Harrison (My Sweet Lord)
10. Paul McCartney & Wings (Let Me Roll It)

Good morning! I have no other ideas for a blog, so I'm going to write about something that I like for my own self-expression. Today I'm going to talk about one of my favorite bands, Led Zeppelin.

If you didn't already know, Led Zeppelin were a British hard rock/metal band who were active from 1968 to 1980. The band was formed in 1968 by Jimmy Page, a former member of the band The Yardbirds. He wanted to direct his creativity into a new project. He somehow came across vocalist Robert Plant, drummer John Bonham, and bass guitarist John Paul Jones. The band were originally called "The New Yardbirds", but Jimmy chose their final name by remembering a sentiment by The Who's drummer, Keith Moon, who said that Jimmy's idea for a supergroup would go down "like a lead zeppelin". Robert didn't want people to mispronounce the name as "LEED zeppelin", so he took out the "A".

Led Zeppelin released their first album -- accordingly titled "Led Zeppelin I", in January of 1969. Most of the material was taken from blues music and mixed with distortion, heavy drumming, and unique but not incomprehensible vocals. At the time, it was the heaviest music around, and very inventive.

The next album, which was just as heavy, was called "Led Zeppelin II". Very original, right? It was dropped in October of 1969. The third one ("Led Zeppelin III") was softer and more complex. It was released in 1970.

The fourth album (1971) took the band to a whole new level of stardom. Technically, the album is untitled, but the sleeve featured four symbols, each one representing a different member of the band. Typically it is called "Led Zeppelin IV". It features famous songs like "When the Levee Breaks", "The Battle of Evermore", "Going to California", and one of Led Zeppelin's most notorious tracks, "Stairway to Heaven".

Led Zeppelin toured for two years before releasing the next album, "Houses of the Holy", in 1973. The next one followed the same interval and "Physical Graffiti" started selling in 1975. In 1976, "Presence" was dropped. "In Through The Out Door" in 1979 was the last album before drummer John Bonham died of asphyxiation in 1980. 

Since then, Led Zeppelin has performed 2 reunions, one of which had a real studio album (1982's "Coda") and the other of which had a movie ("Celebration Day", 2007). They were also featured in a concert film titled "The Song Remains the Same" in 1979. They are still widely known and celebrated as musical pioneers of several genres.