Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa, from his megalomaniac attitude, to his innovations in music, to having the greatest mustache of the 20th century, can be called nothing short of a legend. Though he was notorious in setting fires at his school during parent-teacher night, some teachers recognized his intrinsic drive to make his own way in the world, going to far as to let him conduct and compose for the high school orchestra (Auto). Leader of the beatniks, Zappa formed the first racially integrated band in his county, raising an outrage which escalated to violence at times. Formed by classical avant-garde composers, Zappa had a drive to create what he saw as real art: symphonies, ballets, complexity, nuance. Like Kafka’s Hunger Artist, the drive within him was…

When I first began reading Dombey and Son, I expected it to focus heavily on the business world in Victorian England and the lives of Mr. Dombey and his son, Paul, throughout the novel. I assumed the novel would delve deeply into the lives of men during this period and not touch much on women. What I found instead was a novel that portrays several personalities of women and how they can make powerful changes on the men in the novel. Two of the most unusual and interesting women we discussed from…

Developer Total Monkery has released their new ID@Xbox title, MagNets: Fully Charged, which is an overhauled port of the original game that came out on Steam last year. I never got a chance to play the original myself, nor have I indulged in any arcade-style collectathon games in quite a long time, so I was hoping this would be an interesting change of pace for me. Sadly, this wouldn’t be all that interesting of an experience for me. MagNets is a pretty simple game in both its gameplay and…

Bradley cooper is one of many famous actors who has received many awards in his acting career, however, there is more to Cooper than just his talent for acting and his striking appearance. Looking past all of the fame and fortune, we have come to find more to Bradley Cooper during his very prominent life. On January 5, 1975, Bradley Cooper was born in Philadelphia where his father was a stockbroker and his mother Gloria Campano who worked for a local NBC station.When he was young, Cooper…

The concert that I will be critiquing is the late Amy Winehouse, Live at Shepherds Bush Empire in London, England. On May 29th 2007, solo artist, Amy Winehouse performed along with her backing band, a soul group called The Dap-Kings. I chose to view this concert because Amy is my all-time favorite jazz/ soul singer. Amy performed songs from her masterpiece album "Back To Black" and a few songs from her debut album, "Frank". The Dap-Kings, male only band, consists of Dale Davis on the bass, Zalon…

Alfred the Great, the famous Saxon King during the late 800s is the main character in G.K. Chesterton’s The Ballad of the White Horse. History tells us that Alfred is the one responsible for protecting England’s Christian religion from Danish pagans in England. Alfred lost much of his authoritative power as a result of the successful attacks from Danish tribes. Reacting quickly, Alfred constructs an army by asking three of his closest friends, better known as chiefs, to each assemble an…

Charlemagne reformed Europe for the better. He was a real force in the European empire; his people idolized him during his reign. He really innovated the empire. Charlemagne united the Germanic tribes because he forced them to convert to Christian (R) (P), he had a good relationship with foreign dignitaries (P). Finally, he created a one rule set.(P) (S) Charlemagne forced the Avars to accept Baptism. For example the document shows,”Charlemagne's armies would force the Avars to accept…

Charlemagne is considered as “the father of Europe.” During the years that Charlemagne ruled, he made many contributions for the future of medieval Europe. “Charlemagne was a determined and decisive man, intelligent and inquisitive. A fierce warrior, he was also a wise patron of learning and a resolute statesman.” (Spielvogel 215). Although Charlemagne corrupted the system of government to where we would maintain power, Charlemagne made many contributions for the success of medieval Europe. The…

After he would conquer a region, he would require the defeated Saxons to convert to Christianity, and be baptised. When the war finally ended, the terms Charlemagne laid out for and accepted by the Saxons included, “...namely that they would reject the worship of demons, abandon their ancestral [pagan] rites, take up the Christian faith and the sacraments of religion, and unite with the Franks in order to form a single…

Joan of Arc A simple, small farm girl made a great difference when possibly saving the French from the English command. She is an inspiration who would lead the French to many victories. This inspiration is knows as Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc a girl living in a small town had enormous dreams of forever fighting for her country. Joan wanted to show to the world that even if you didn’t know how to read, write, and have no background with the military you can still be able to do amazing things. Joan…