Quack

For my presentation, I choose to write about my trip to Chicago. While in Chicago I got a chance to visit the famous Chicago Oriental Institute Museum. It was really cool and I saw some mummies on racks. However, the thing that stood out most in my mind was all the ancient Duck artifacts. I have included them below for your enjoyment.
































































It seems the ancients enjoyed ducks as much as we do today. I think we have a lot to learn from ducks, as they are more interested in sex and food than war and evil. If everyone was more interested in food and sex the world would be a better place. I learned a lot on my trip and I hope you learned a lot too. I hope you enjoyed my short presentation and that Mrs. McGuffy gives me an A so I don't fail because of my "lack of focus." Thank you!

The Top Ten Albums of the Last Decade - #1

Arcade Fire - Funeral

They might not have changed music forever with this album or pioneer their own genre or won the Nobel peace prize, but Funeral was the best album for its unique ability to rock out when talking about death, for it's accessibility combined with its indie cred, for the fact that it never gets old despite revealing new wrinkles with every listen, and for the fact that no other band came out with rocking music with so much raw emotion combined so many interesting images that create a sort of post-apocalyptic childrens' book world. What other album can you find some much zaniness combine with so much authentic emotion, so much rocking, complex tunes about death? The bottom line is that if this record is not on your best of the decade list, you probably have bad taste in music.

Honorable Mentions

• Appleseed Cast - Mar Vitalis - The Bear in park by the sea in my heart will never die 
• Sigur Ros - Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust - Sigur Ros is always good, but it is even better when you don't fall asleep before finishing the album.
• Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People - Anthems for a seventeen year old still makes me feel cold in my bones after listening to it over and over in my apartment in Japan without centralized heat.
• Sufjan Stevens - Illinois - I almost went to college with him, way better than going to high school with Clay Aiken. 
• Los Campesinos! - Hold on Now, Youngster - Sometimes I wonder if this band is from another planet. 
• The Go! Team - Thunder, Lightning, Strike - Who knew manic cheerleader music could sound so good? 
• Frightened Rabbit- The Midnight Organ Fight - These guys remind me of Yo La Tengo in the fact that they are smarter, more indie, and more classy than almost anyone else out there. 
• Latterman - No Matter Where We Go - Like Sun Kil Moon, this is another pick that no one else probably agrees with, except this time not even Joey. However, few other bands make better upbeat music with a purpose than this record. 
• The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot - When I got this record for Christmas, we listened to it during breakfast and mom and dad got freaked out by the crazy robot talk in the 2nd track. Then mom spilled orange juice in a bowl of sausage and Christmas was ruined.