What We Are Worth

Society makes our grades define us. How well we do in school defines us. Others tell us it’s not what defines us. But how are we judged in life? By the jobs we have, what car we drive, how we dress where we live. Everything we do defines us and is how we are judged.

How do we get the career we get, the car we drive, the clothes we wear and the place we live? We get them by going to school to get good grades so we can get that career that will pay for our car, clothes and home. All that goes back to grades. It goes to how well we did in high school. What grades we got our junior year. What extra credit we did. Everything leads back to these four years that we are stuck with kids who chain smoke behind the dumpster, drink until they vomit their guts out, are as mature as a five year old kid, think who they date and what they wear is the most important thing ever, these years do matter more than anything.

All your life, it is drilled into you head you have to get good grades to get into college so you can get the education you need so you can succeed in life. So you are worth something. If you don’t get good grades, you won’t get into college and will end up working at McDonald’s your whole life, have to ride the bus, wear clothes from goodwill and not be able to pay rent on even the smallest apartment. That is what you are worth. It is what is drilled into our brains and what everyone thinks.

Some people tell us, we are not what are grades are. That is not what we are worth, but is that really true? If we can’t get good grades in high school, if we can’t get the best grades possible our junior year, we will not be able to get the education to get the high paying job that will make us worth something in societies eyes. 

They say that what we do defines us. Not just our career, but what we do as people. The good we do and how we treat each other, the lives we touch, but in the end, it sadly goes back to our career and how we got it. How did we get our careers? College education. How did we get to college? The grades we got in high school (most importantly junior year.) it all leads back to that. We get a career based on what we are good at. And if you are not good at school, it is sadly unlikely to find a career that will pay enough so you can make it in the real world and not live in your parents’ house forever.

Sure, there are the people who are lucky, and don’t go to college or aren't good at school and are able to make a career where they do what they are good at and are able to live comfortably, but how likely is that? Not very.

My name is Kristen Marie Kostenick. I have a D in Algebra II, C in U.S History, C in English, and a “Passing” in Writing for Publication. I recently failed a math test and my English midterm. It doesn't matter that I have a good heart. It doesn’t matter that I am a good person. It doesn’t matter that I want to help people. That is what I am worth in society’s eyes.  D’s and C’s. Not smart enough to accomplish much and not good enough to either. 

Blood On The Dance Floor Steals From Skillet

Once again, another rant on how much I cannot stand the “band” that is Blood on the Dance Floor. This will be short.

A little over a year ago, I discovered the amazing band called Skillet. I instantly fell in love with the band and even saw them live about a month ago (Best concert I ever attended).  Skillet is a four piece band with vocalist and bassist John Cooper, rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Korey Cooper, guitarist Seth Morrison and drummer and back up vocalist Jen Ledger. They are an amazing band and despite having a lot of lineup changes have been able to maintain their fan base and still make amazing music. They recently released an album titled Rise, are signed to Atlantic Records, have four popular albums, Collide, Comatose, Awake, and Rise, and were on the Carnival of Madness tour with Papa Roach, In This Moment, We As Human and Shinedown. Although labeled “Christian Rock,” Skillet is more of an “Uplifting Rock,” and “Positive Rock,” and don’t tell you to praise Jesus and God every two seconds. Instead they just have a positive message and positive songs that talk about positive topics such as rise above hate, you are not alone in this world, you are loved, etc. Now, this isn’t me just talking about how amazing the band Skillet it (which it is pretty amazing). This is me ranting on another thing Blood on the Dance Floor has done.

Off the album Comatose is an amazing song titled “The Last Night.” The Last Night talked about a girl who has a hard life and is a self-harmer. Opening up with the line “you come to me with scars on your wrist/you tell me this will be the last night feeling like this” the song goes into saying “this is the last night you’ll spend alone/look me in the eyes so I know you know/I’m everywhere you want me to be/the last night you’ll spend alone/I’ll wrap you in my arms and I won’t let go/I’m everything you need me to be” This is my favorite Skillet song. It is no secret I used to have a self-harm problem, so this song hits home, and is beautiful.

The beginning of the song is an instrumental piano before going into the more lairs of cello and violin Skillet is known to add (while still sounding like a kick ass rock band). Since I listen to this song every day, I know it pretty well. I logged into Facebook one day and noticed a page I follow, (either Blood on the Dance Floor is the Diarrhea of Music or I Hate Blood On The Dance Floor) posted something about them ripping off Skillet, so I read their entire post, and then quickly listened to the beginning of their song “Something Grimm.” The beginning sounds just like “The Last Night.” That pist me off. First they have had issues with plagiarism before by stealing lyrics from an Otep song, but as a huge Panhead (yes, we Skillet fans are called Panheads) it made me hate them even more. (I know in a previous blog I mention how “Monster” by Skillet sounds just like Three Days Grace’s “Animal I Have Become, so I am not looking the other way when it comes to that) I really hope Skillet will find out that BOTDF stole from them and sue, but just like the guy running the Anti BOTDF Facebook page stated, all they would get is hairspray, hair dye and crappy face makeup, and knowing Skillet as being a Christian group, they would take the high road and not sue, and maybe just tell him to not ever do that again before offering to take him to church or something (and hopefully John and Korey would know not to let him around their two kids, because Dahvie is a pedophile and rapist after all)

So Jackass Dahvie and sidekick Jayy, grow some balls, admit to copying someone’s music, whether it’s Otep’s lyrics or Skillet’s melody (I nearly failed Music Lab, so I have no idea what terms are what in music except basics like beat, rhythm, chord, and note.) and then write your own stuff. Stop being a plagiarizing jackass and at least attempt to be original (although you have failed at it so far) Stop copying others work and maybe get a haircut while you’re at it. You need one. Seriously. And maybe do something with that muck on your face.

Don’t think they are similar? Listen below. 

also, here is a video of a guy from Youtube proving that Blood on the Dance Floor stole the melody. Video is by OfficialGATG

Why I Hate Blood On The Dance Floor

Yesterday, a freshman came up to me and asked if I liked Blood on the Dance Floor since my school bag is a Black Veil Brides bag. When I replied no, I do not like Blood on the Dance Floor, the Freshman looked at me weirdly then walked off. I honestly don’t care what she thinks. I get judged all the time for the music I do and don’t listen to. I but when it comes to BOTDF, I have a huge opinion.

When I listen to music, the music has to have at least one of two things. First, an “Organic” sound (not computer generated and made with instruments and not a computer program. Also, Dubstep is NOT music) and meaningful lyrics. If the song has none, then, I don’t like it all,

Examples of not following the two things:

• ·         Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepson
•  Stupid Hoe by Nicki Minaj
• Boyfriend by Justin Bieber (seriously, swag, swag, swag…my generation is doomed)
• The Motto by Drake
• Sext Me by Blood On The Dance Floor
• We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together by Taylor Swift
• Birthday Cake by Rihanna and Chris Brown
• Blah Blah Blah by Ke$ha
• Moves Like Jagger by Maroon 5
• Gangnam Style by Psy (Vote Obama Style is aweome though)
• Suit & Tie by Justin Timberlake
• Thrift Shop by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
• Harlem Shake by Bauuer
• We Are Young by fun.
• Anything by Skrillex
• Live While Were Young by One Direction
• Beauty and a Beat by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj

·          

Examples of ACTUAL music

• ·         A Match Into Water by Pierce The Veil (currently one of my favorite bands)
• Therapy by All Time Low (one of their most meaningful songs)
• Go by Boys Like Girls (slow, but beautiful)
• Story of My Life by Automatic Loveletter (I miss them)
• Never Too Late by Three Days Grace (this song saved me from a lot of pain)
• Zombie by The Pretty Reckless
• A Trophy Fathers Trophy Son by Sleeping With Sirens (you can feel Kellin’s emotion)
• Never Give In by Black Veil Brides
• We Won’t Back Down by Escape The Fate
• Hallelujah by Paramore
• Bring Me To Life by Evanescence
• Prayer for the Refugee by Rise Against
• You Only Live Once by Suicide Silence (R.I.P Mitch Lucker)
• The Broken by Stars In Stereo (check them out! they are pretty cool!)
• Never Surrender by Skillet (amazing band, even though they are Christian Rock, they don’t sound like the stereotype of it, even atheists listen to them!)
• Hold On Till May by Pierce The Veil

I will admit, that most artists do have at least one good song, as much as I hate Justin Bieber, his song Never Say Never has a good meaning, I hate Selena Gomez but the message of Who Says is awesome considering how messed up society is today with no one ever being good enough, pretty enough or skinny enough. So is Mean by Taylor Swift (check out the Artist Vs. Poet version on Youtube, its pretty awesome) Although, I am not sure about Drake, Nicki Minaj, or Carly Rae Jepson. Definitely not Blood On The Dance Floor.

I honestly can’t see how anyone can listen to them. All there music is about is sex. Seriously, they have a song called Sext Me! all their songs talk about is sex, drugs, and violence. The fact that they have fourteen year old girls worshipping them, makes me a little bit queasy (actually, I’m really queasy, but that is mostly from the stupid pain meds from my foot surgery I just had.). If I had a fourteen year old daughter, she wouldn’t not be allowed to listen to Blood On The Dance Floor. At fourteen, the worst thing I listened to was Eminem, and I only listened to the songs that had meanings, like The Way I Am, Mockingbird, and When I’m Gone.  

It’s not only the music that Dahvie and Jayy make that makes me not like them, it’s how the two act and how they are not decent people.

Not only has Dahvie been accused of rape many times (which I honestly am not sure a lot of it is true simply because some people do accuse famous people of things, i.e Bieber’s “baby momma,” Michael Jackson being a pedophile) I don’t believe that chick Jessi Slaughter, but it is on record that he has been arrested for statutory rape. Most likely because idiotic preteen girls are the only people who are attracted to that creep. (Bad joke, I know)

Not only that, but he is just so mean to people and his fan base is mean.

I am a huge fan of All Time Low; I will defend those four amazing souls to my death. Everyone who knows All Time Low know they are jokesters and never really take a lot of things seriously. Apparently in an interview, Jack said “the one thing I learned from Warped Tour is that music genres don’t even matter anymore. It’s like everyone is just chillin with each other” and Alex added as a joke “unless your Blood On The Dance Floor, then everyone hates you.”

I get it. he got offended by that. But his response was unnesicary. His response was “EF @AllTimeLow all time blow, you guys SUK each other’s dicks and shit on each members chest. You are a bunch of rectal raiding fudge packers”

Yeah. Not cool. He also then tweeted “strong people don’t put others down…they lift them up.”

Which one is it Dahvie, are you “Strong” or are you a douchebag. I am pretty sure he’s a douchebag. Not to mention, a perverted hypocrite. He has been mean to people on Twitter.

As for Dahvie’s partner in crime Jayy Von Monroe, he has said “if you don’t like me cause I’m not a bratty scene boy. Kill yourself teach people to be themselves, and I practice what I preach.” No Jayy, sorry, that is Andy and Black Veil Brides who preach about and do. You guys talk trash and don’t even say nice things to people. If you practice what you preach, then you preach mean things Jayy. Not to mention YOU DON’T TELL SOMEONE TO KILL THEMSELVES! I am not even going to go off on how much that pisses me off. You don’t know how someone’s life is. You don’t know that they could feel like that and telling them to do that is what pushes them to the edge to actually kill themselves. It’s not ok to do that.

Here are a few more random things this pair has done:

·         Jayy flashed his butt on a live webchat with teenage fans.

·         During a concert, Dahvie held up a sign that said “Flash Me”

·         Started a petition to be in Kerrang! Magazine and apparently got pist and got blocked by their twitter. He tweeted saying “oneday I am going to go into your office…smile! Jand take a shit on your desk because your magazine is absolutely rubbish

As you can see, he is not a decent guy, let alone deserves to even have fans. Here are a short list of things that some artists have done that show off their character:

·        

• no matter how bad Alex Gaskarth feels, he always makes sure to put on the best show possible.
• The sea of hugs at the Sleeping With Sirens concert
• Vic Fuentes wrote a song for his ex-girlfriend. Not a breakup song, but about her and how she had breast cancer. They aren’t dating, but he avidly supports Keep A Breast and said that now she is just trying to pay off her medical bills and he might get the fans involved so he can help her out.
• How Rise Against wrote Make It Stop (September’s Children) in honor of the children in 2011 who commited suicide that September because of bullying because they were gay
• Kellin Quinn’s quote “wrists are for bracelets, not cutting.”
• Austin Carlile saying “if you're a fan of hurting others, talking down to, or trying to bring others down, then never call yourself a fan of mine.”
• Alex Gaskarth saying “I want you to fucking pinky promise me you don’t do it. No fan of mine will kill themselves. Don’t do it, for me. I love you."
• Jack Barakat saying “hey! If someone says “well, your beautiful on the inside.” Just slap them.”
• Andy Biersack stood up for Bryan Stars in an interview after Christofer Drew was a douchebag to him.

That is true character. Being all around awesome people and acting like it and proving it. Something stupid Dahvie and Jayy aren’t.

I would also like to state that in order to write this blog entry, I had to go to this bands Youtube Channel and watch a few videos and read their lyrics. That, and help from my stupid pain meds did make me almost vomit. So understand that I DO know what I’m talking about when it comes to their music and how crappy it is.

The music video for Bewitched, I don’t understand how anyone can watch it, let alone play Dahvie’s love interest without vomiting. He looks uglier that anything I have ever seen in this video. Not to mention most of it is shot in some kind of green screen with some background that looks like hippie vision. The best part of the video was the end part when Dahvie’s girlfriend cheated on him and he got shot. (although, there was no blood)

The video for Rise and Shine takes place at a high school. the classic one kid gets made fun of by everybody else, they hate him. Blah, blah, blah. Dahvie and his stupid friend Jayy are in the hallway uglier than the first video. (I also noticed that his voice is so bad it can’t even be autotuned to be saved) then this kid is in the hall and pulls out a gun, classic scenario when it comes to bullying. It then shows a few flashes of news report for real school shootings (using clips from Fox News) and then all hell breaks loose and the kid starts shooting everybody and Dahvie thinks he’s all badass so he starts screaming. We see the kids who were mean to him all dead and covered in blood. We get close ups of the wounds. Then we see this kid in class, like he didn’t kill anyone, some teacher is writing I Will Not listen to Blood On The Dance Floor and the kid puts the gun in his mouth like he will kill himself. He wakes up, puts the gun away and then some statistics are flashed, making it sound like Jayy and Dhavie give about the bullying problem. (if they did, they wouldn’t be bullies on the internet to there fans and start all he drama they do) no solution to the problem in the video is shown.

Don’t Want To Be Like You Dahvie plays the acoustic guitar on the beach trying to be all sexy (failing epically of course) and is seen having people talk about him behind his back. We get flashed pictures of sunflower fields and beautiful landscapes. Then Dahvie and Jayy are there singing and trying to be all romantic and pretty again, epically failing. Especially by Dahvie’s green hair and skeleton body suit.

In Unforgiven, we hear these two again both auto tuned terribly wearing clothes that make them look like creepers and the music is freaking teachno or electronica but the two have a backup band. Dahvie slits some chick’s throat and has razors on his hand like Freddy Krueger. (Insult to Freddy Kruger)

After that, I had to stop because my eyes started bleeding and ears started swelling from the garbage that came from my computer. It took an entire two hours of listening to Pierce The Veil nonstop in order for my headache to show symptoms of going away. I also took a shower because I felt so weird and icky because of having to listen to them.

I honesty wonder how these two can have a freaking record deal, but bands like Artist Vs. Poet are unsigned while Hey Monday and Automatic Loveletter had very little success, Terry McDermott is still not signed along with Amanda Brown and Liz Davis.

Now, to end this rant on how much I hate this crappy band, I will repeat I HATE THEM and say that THEIR “MUSIC” IS GARBAGE, Dahvie is a douchebag along with Jayy and that they shouldn’t be signed and are not real musicians. They also are mean and not decent people and need to grow up. Maybe go to a rock concert and see what real music is, stop using auto tune, and maybe just go home and stop pretending to be musicians. 

Adam Gontier Leaves Three Days Grace

What the Hell? Why am I the last person to hear about Adam leaving Three Days Grace and it’s been almost two months? What the hell? I had to figure out on Tumblr while trying to figure out how to freaking work it!

This is just awful! I have been a Three Days Grace fan since seventh grade! Ok, that is not that long ago and it was far into their career but that is when I finally explored the genres of music and was able to actually stop conforming and being forced to like what society wanted me to listen to (Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, Ke$ha, etc.) my friend recommended them to me and I fell in love (thank you Taylor!). They played a big part of my life the following year when I went through one of the worst things that ever happened to me. The song Never Too Late helped me out so much and I will always be loyal to Three Days Grace and Adam Gontier for helping me when I needed it most. The album One X is my favorite because I can relate to most of their songs and feel connected. I look up to Adam with so much respect after what he has been through. My addiction wasn’t the same and he had it way worse, but I still have a lot of respect for him and the album.

After hearing why Adam left, I can understand it. He did battle a drug habit so obviously he needs to do what is best for him, and if staying in the band wasn’t that then he should leave. The album Transit to Venus definitely wasn’t my favorite, I only like a few songs off of it honestly, Chalk Outline, Anonymous, and The High Road. Hearing that Adam only felt a few were songs on it were from his heart, the album made sense to me I guess considering a lot of One X was written while Adam was in rehab.

I know Three Days Grace wasn’t just Adam, its Barry, Brad and Neil, but I am with Adam on this one. I see why he left and I will continue to support him and can’t wait to buy his solo album. I honestly don’t see Three Days Grace succeeding without Adam. Matt Walst is finishing up the rest of their tour since Adam left, and I heard his version of Riot and nearly cried. I adore the members of Three Days Grace, but if they release another album, I most likely won’t buy it or support it. Mostly because I like the songs that come from Adam’s heart better, along with Adam is just an amazing vocalist and I don’t feel anyone can compete with him when it comes to the band.

I honestly can’t wait for Adam’s solo album. If it’s anything like One X lyric wise, I will love it, even if it has some of the sound of Life Starts Now and lyric wise for a bit of it, I will love it.

Adam, keep staying awesome and best of luck to you in your solo career. As for the rest of Three Days Grace, I hope you guys can find a decent singer, but no one can beat out Adam Gontier. No one.

To Trisha Paytas, Why You Are Wrong, Wrong, Wrong

Sorry such a late response, but this recently came to my attention after this was a related video to A.P.T’s The Malarkey song.

You said you were voting for Romney/Ryan 2012. I have no problem with that. You have your opinion, do what you want. You are given the right to vote for a reason. Democracy. But your reasons for voting for him were very ignorant and very wrong. Stop watching Fox News.

You wanted to vote for him because he was hot and your cat’s name was Mitts. Not only is that sad, but also a waste of a vote since it went to someone who was not fully educated on the issues. You said you were right, right, and right. No, you were wrong, wrong and wrong.

Obama simply cannot take away your right to be catholic and is not against Christians. Obama is a Christian himself. (No, he is not a Muslim, and even if he was, why would it matter? It is a peaceful religion!)  The constitution is a beautiful document that I love. Our first amendment right gives us freedom to religion along with speech, assembly, petition and press. Even if somehow Obama wanted to take away your right to being catholic, he couldn't. The president can’t pass everything without it going through the congress and senate. Since there are a majority of republican’s in there, obviously they would be against, along with democrats. You simply cannot take a way a right we have according to the constitution. Obama would get impeached before he could do any of that. Also, he is not forcing you to commit sin! (Also, only media brainwashing is Fox) you talked about Democrats supporting medications that lead to suicide. That is not correct, all medications have side effects, and some are suicidal thoughts and tendencies. They are rare and also depend on the dosage. I am on three antidepressants. One for my anxiety, one for my severe depression and the other balances them out. If I wasn’t on the anti-depressant Trisha, I would be dead right now and I am pretty sure you can guess why. I had a too high of dosage last year that lead to thoughts and the doctor quickly fixed that. So, please educate yourself on the side effects of medications.

You're father and preachers don’t count as information sources, they are all biased and unreliable sources. MSNBC and Fox are also very biased. Try going to multiple online resources and watch the debates (even though Romney lied his ass off) and keep staying tuned to as much media that is mostly unbiased. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are working with Fox and Fox is banned in Canada because it is all lies. Don’t believe me? Google it! Seriously. Just do it like you told me to Google stuff that turned out to be complete lies (shocker!).

Obama did promise change. He brought it. He was left a mess by the stupid Bush government and looks how much he has done since he inherited that mess. The unemployment rate is down, he has created jobs and he is doing the best anyone can do when it comes to the economy considering how much republicans are letting him do.

You said you weren’t comparing Obama to Hitler, you did. Until Obama murders over a million people because of their religion, don’t compare them. So do not use them in the same sentence. Seriously. Obama is not a dictator.

Also, you need to research what “Satire” means. Satire is using sarcasm, irony and ridicule to denounce something. It is taking a view of one side and making fun of it by exposing how stupid it is. Below, I am going to include the satire I wrote for my Writing for Publication class last year on gay marriage.

Gay Marriage should be illegal for so many reasons. Stupid Barack Obama is just going around allowing it! We must fight for it to stay between a man and a woman! Here are some reasons why it must remain illegal.

1. We have to protect marriage. It is a holy thing that binds two people together. Gays will just ruin that! We need to protect marriage so Britney Spears can get married for 55 hours and Kim Kardashian can for 72 days.

2. What's next? Goats? Cars? My imaginary llama Lorenzo? Yes because a goat, car and imaginary llamas have the same legal standing as a US citizen and can sign a marriage certificate.

3. If gays can marry, they could have their ceremony in a church! Letting them get married in a church will be expanding the tolerance and force us to teach our children more tolerance! We all know children are meant to be full of hate and intolerance.

4. Everyone knows that marriage is only between a man and a woman. Not love and love. That is why we still have arranged marriages all the time! Just to make sure everyone gets married to the opposite sex and no one is "in love"

5. Marriage is a religious right! That is why we don't let atheists and Satanists get married. The laws of the religion ALWAYS come before the laws of the land. That is why we still burn people at stake for prostitution

6. If you want to get married then just be straight! Being gay is a choice, just like being black, Mexican, of Asian. All those scientist who have proved the gay brain is different than the straight brain are all just liars trying to ruin everything by present gays and lesbians with equality.

7. Everyone knows that forever this country has been all about no equality whatsoever! That is why blacks, Asians, and Mexicans do not have the same drinking fountains as the beautiful white race and women still are unemployed and only work at home.

8. it’s unconstitutional! There is no way gay marriage is constitutional! It is as bad as killing somebody! The preamble is only gives us the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness! There is no way gay marriage is the pursuit happiness (even though gay means "happy")

That might be a little too straight forward, but when I came across both your videos, I honestly thought it was full on satire because of how stupid your reasons are but you said you were totally serious. And then said satire was used and how if that video was totally serious, what part was satire?

You then said Obama won the first time because of how he looked, and how he presented himself, and how he spoke and engaged people. I will be the first to admit I thought it would be awesome to have a black president. So, back then I researched the issues for the paper I had to write that year for Health class and decided Obama was the best choice for the issues and his views on them and how they matched mine. (Not to mention, Sarah Palin just scared the hell out of me) Obama won because he was the obvious choice in 2008 and was the obvious choice in 2012. I am sorry to inform you, but your hot Mitt Romney doesn’t care about you. You are a woman. He only cares about old rich white men. Not to mention he flip flops on everything. He is pro-choice one minute, then pro-life and then pro-choice and then pro-life. He can’t make up his mind!

I would like to inform you, I am a Christian who believes in God and Jesus and the bible. After doing research, I would have voted for Obama. He supports women, minorities, gays and the less fortunate. He doesn’t want to go to war when not needed and he understands human rights. I believe in God and Jesus but also believe that gay people are human beings and deserve to be treated as them. I also am pro-choice. I do not want an old white man tell me how my body works and what I can and can’t do with it. I don’t believe abortion should be used as a form of birth control, but I honestly believe it is better than having a child living on the streets starving because republicans don’t give a fuck and won’t help them out because they don’t believe in “handouts” because it will cause “dependency.”

So please Trisha, do not vote ever again when you are being this ignorant on the subjects. GO TO UNBIASED SOURCES! Stop going to Fox News and before you preach about the “evil” of Obama, realize that he is not evil and not a dictator and certainly CANNOT take away your freedom of religion.

 

Here is Trisha's original videos:

 

 

A.P.T's Malarkey Song!

Vote Obama Style!

I'm Never Ever Gonna Vote For Romney