2 year

since i post

News…

I never thought I would say this, but I’m quitting WordPress. Nah, I guess I shouldn’t say that, I’ll still get on, comment on my friend’s sites, and keep in touch with everyone.

If you’re wondering why, well, there’s many reasons. First of all, I’m busy. I have more and more school-related responsibilities that I just can’t keep track of along with a website anymore. Second, almost all of my friends have quit or left for the same reasons. There isn’t that many reasons to stick around. Third, I just don’t find the same joy in WordPressing as I did before..

There’s more, but I really don’t feel like listing them all. Now, don’t worry, I will still be on the Web, so you can email me if you really miss me that much.

Farewell, and don’t worry, I’ll be around.

Stellar

Nirvana ™

so we all know stell went to nirvana recently (inside joke) so heres a post about nirvana…thanks to wikipedia. xD

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the most notable being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990.
With the lead single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” from the band’s second album Nevermind (1991), Nirvana entered into the mainstream, bringing along with it a subgenre of alternative rock called grunge. Other Seattle grunge bands such as Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden also gained popularity, and as a result, alternative rock became a dominant genre on radio and music television in the United States during the early-to-mid-1990s. As Nirvana’s frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the “spokesman of a generation”, with Nirvana the “flagship band” of Generation X.[1] Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention and placed his focus on the band’s music, believing the band’s message and artistic vision to have been misinterpreted by the public, challenging the band’s audience with its third studio album In Utero (1993).
Nirvana’s brief run ended with Cobain’s death in April 1994, but the band’s popularity continued in the years that followed. In 2002, “You Know You’re Right”, an unfinished demo from the band’s final recording session, topped radio playlists around the world. Since their debut, the band has sold over twenty-five million albums in the US alone, and over fifty million worldwide.[2][3]
Disenchanted with Sub Pop and with the Smart Studios sessions generating interest, Nirvana decided to look for a deal with a major record label.[15] Following repeated recommendations by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Nirvana signed to DGC Records in 1990.[16] The band subsequently began recording its first major label album, Nevermind. They were offered a number of producers to choose from, but ultimately held out for Butch Vig.[17] Rather than recording at Vig’s Madison studio as they had in 1990, they shifted to Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California. For two months, the band worked through a variety of songs in their catalog. Some of the songs, including “In Bloom” and “Breed”, had been in the band’s repertoire for years, while others, including “On a Plain” and “Stay Away”, lacked finished lyrics until mid-way through the recording process.[18] After the recording sessions were completed, Vig and the band set out to mix the album. However, the recording sessions had run behind schedule and the resulting mixes were deemed unsatisfactory. Slayer mixer Andy Wallace was brought in to create the final mix. After the album’s release members of Nirvana expressed dissatisfaction with the polished sound the mixer had given Nevermind.[19]
Initially, DGC Records was hoping to sell 250,000 copies of Nevermind, which was the same level they had achieved with Sonic Youth’s Goo.[20] However, the album’s first single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” quickly gained momentum, thanks in part to significant airplay of the song’s music video on MTV. As they toured Europe during late 1991, the band found that the shows were dangerously oversold, that television crews were becoming a constant presence onstage, and that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was almost omnipresent on radio and music television.[21] By Christmas 1991, Nevermind was selling 400,000 copies a week in the US.[22] On January 11, 1992, the album reached number one on the Billboard album charts, replacing Michael Jackson’s album Dangerous.[23] The album also topped the charts in numerous countries worldwide.[24] The month Nevermind reached number one, Billboard proclaimed, “Nirvana is that rare band that has everything: critical acclaim, industry respect, pop radio appeal, and a rock-solid college/alternative base.”[25]
In February 1992, following the band’s Pacific Rim tour, Cobain married Hole frontwoman Courtney Love in Hawaii. Love gave birth to a daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, the following August. Citing exhaustion, the band decided not to undertake another U.S. tour in support of Nevermind, instead opting to make only a handful of performances later that year.[26] Just days after Frances Bean’s birth, Nirvana performed one of its best-known concerts, headlining at the Reading Festival in England. Amid rumors about Cobain’s health and the possibility the band might break up, Cobain entered the stage in a wheelchair as a practical joke, then proceeded to get up and join the rest of the band in tearing through an assortment of old and new material.[27] Dave Grohl related in 2005 on the radio program Loveline[28] that the band was genuinely concerned beforehand that the show would be a complete disaster, given all that had happened in the months leading up to the show. Instead, the performance ended up being one of the most memorable of their career.
Less than two weeks later, Nirvana performed at the MTV Video Music Awards.[29] During the first rehearsal for the show, Cobain announced that they were going to play a new song during the broadcast, and the band rehearsed “Rape Me”. MTV’s executives were appalled by the song, and, according to show producer Amy Finnerty, the executives believed that the song was about them. They insisted that the band could not play “Rape Me”, even threatening to throw Nirvana off the show and stop airing their videos entirely. After a series of intense discussions, MTV and Nirvana agreed that the band would play “Lithium”, their latest single.[30] When the band began their performance, Cobain strummed and sang the first few bars of “Rape Me”, one last jab at MTV’s executives, before breaking into “Lithium”. Near the end of the song, frustrated that his amp had stopped functioning, Novoselic decided to toss his bass into the air for dramatic effect. He misjudged the landing, and the bass ended up bouncing off his forehead, causing him to stumble off the stage in a daze. As Cobain trashed their equipment, Grohl ran to the mic and began yelling “Hi, Axl!” repeatedly, referring to Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose, with whom the band and Courtney had had a bizarre encounter before the show.[31]
Nirvana released Incesticide, a collection of rarities and B-sides, in December 1992. Many of Nirvana’s radio sessions and unreleased early recordings were starting to circulate via trading circles and illegal bootlegs, so the album served to circumvent the bootleggers.[32] The album contained songs from previously released singles and EPs, including “Sliver” and “Dive”, as well as material from the band’s sessions for the BBC, including “Been a Son”, “Aneurysm”, and covers of songs by The Vaselines and Devo.

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if you guys read any part of that, i owe you a lolly xD

josh

South Dakota!!

Hey, guess what? I’m going on vacation!! We’re leaving tomorrow and should be back in the middle of next week. We’re going to bring food to an Indian reservation, see Mount Rushmore and the Badlands, and alot more!! We’re also going to Nebraska on a side trip to see my great grandmother!

So, I may post from the hotel, but I’m not sure. I’m going to be pretty busy… gosh, I hope it’s not too cold. Wouldn’t that be awful if the weather was horrible??

Oh, and I’d like to let you all know, if you already don’t, that one of my best friends, Josh, is leaving WordPress. Just to let you know, Josh, we’ll all really miss you.

Well, see ya either at the hotel or when I get back,

Stellar

Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been.

Ok, so right now I am listening to a song called “Who I am Hates Who I’ve Been…” and that spurred the idea for this post. I’m sorry for not posting for, well, about a month, and leaving you all in the dark. It’s been at least more than two weeks since I posted, and boy, am I sorry. I would like to thank you all who commented in my absence, keeping Stellar Blogging going for a while. So, I hate who I’ve been. Understand?? If you don’t, read that last sentence and the title over and over… oh, never mind….

Anyways, I wanted to tell you what’s been happening in my life!!
This last Friday, I went to a lock-in at my church, and it was awesome. My record for staying up late was 4:30 AM, but on Friday night, I stayed up the entire night. I was so, so tired!! Well, I supose I wasn’t awake the whole night, I did fall asleep for 10 minutes (yes, I looked at my watch) and then got woken up by some loud fellow teenagers. Never fell asleep again that morning. 🙂

Oh, almost forgot…. last Wednesday, I bought an Ipod NANO!! I am very, very happy with it and haven’t had any problems with it that couldn’t be solved myself. I’ve got somewhere around 260 songs and 3 pics on it. It’s so awesome, I definitely reccomend it. 🙂

So, what’s been going on with you? ? Let me know by commenting!

 

Stellar

Baby Names!

No, no, don’t worry, it’s not MY baby. 🙂
But, my older sister (no, it’s not Narnia either!) is having a baby (it’ll be born in July sometime)
And, she’s asking me for names. Now, she wants really unusual names. I suggested Ivory, because I love that name. I need name suggestions here!! Now, think unusual, and I’m not thinking like Mary or John or anything. 🙂 I wanna see your hidden name-thinking talents!!

🙂 😉

Ok, well, I apologise for not posting since Feb 26th! It is now March, which also means Spring. Thank goodness for spring. 🙂
 So, what’s up?? You know, not one person has entered my contest yet, and it’s about a month old. The contest was suposed to end a couple days ago, I think, but I am going to extend it because, obviously, I’d love entries!!

TTYL,

Stellar

Stellar Music

Hi everyone!! I’ve decided to do my post in blue to try and match the theme… this is the wrong blue, though, I think. 🙂
Anyways, as you may have guessed, this post is about music. 
  I’ve heard it said that music is the only universal language. It’s true, in a sense, because music is everywhere. I think that emotion should also be a universal language, because everyone regardless of race has feelings– but that is another story. I’ve got to try and stay on subject- and the subject is music and not emotion. 🙂 
 Anyways, I know there are people who visit this blog from all around the world- I’ve had people from Scotland, Australia, and all around North America. I’m sure everyone has one style of music that really reaches them- deep inside. Can you think of yours? Maybe, if you can’t, you haven’t found it yet. But have no fear, it will find you eventually. I’ve heard music where I just want to cry because it is THAT beautiful. Have you ever experienced that? Anyways, there is MILLIONS of styles of music. No joke. In fact, there is styles that haven’t even been created yet. But beleive me, they’re out there. I’ll list a few famous ones (and maybe not so famous)

• Jazz
• Pop/Rock
• Blues
• Classical
• Rap
• Hip Hop

Those are some of my favorites. I love classical music. Some of those songs reach somewhere inside me and stir up these emotions…… ah, maybe that’s unusual. But I do know, for sure, that out there, there is a song that will do that to you.

 Do any of you play an instrument? I do, as I’m sure I’ve told you. I play the piano, and have for going on 4 years now. I love it. I won’t say it’s my life, because it isn’t, but it’s a small part of what makes me who I am. One day I hope to compose beautiful music- but I am not sure how that’ll work out with  my NASA career. ❓ I also love to play some of Tchaikovsky’s stuff,  he was a really, really good composer. I played one of his songs for my recital piece last year and am doing another this year.

So, what I want to know is…..What is the best kind of music, in your opinion? Was there ever a song that was so good it was indescribable? (Whoa, I probably spelled that one wrong 😛 )

In other news.. my really, really good friend Crysatal97 is leaving 😥 and I would like everyone to..uh… say good bye. I will miss her alot. 😦

In other OTHER news….
In southern Minnesota there is a huge snowstorm on the way…..ugh. A few flakes started falling every few seconds at exactly 10:10 AM CST, (yes, yes, I kept track. Hey, I had nothing else to do!) and now, at 11:31 AM CST, it is nearly a whiteout. It’s crazy! I was hoping we were done with this whole snow thing… guess I forgot I live in Minnesnowta.

Well, that’s gotta be a big enough post… 🙂 The word count says like 518 words. Although I have done one with over a thousand words. Now THAT’s crazy.

Also, I’ve updated the “The Info” page, which is basically my bio, so check that out!

Well, hope you enjoyed another Stellar original post (these are going to be worth millions someday…. )

Stellar

♥ Day!

So, did you all have fun on Valentine’s Day? I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. Me & my family stayed at home and did.. zilch. 🙂  No, Ididn’t get any Valentines or chocolate. But yesterday we did make chocolate chip cookies!! YAY!! I haven’t heard from many of you over the weekend, how’s it going? Have you done anything worth telling about? Do you even have school today? I don’t…. that’s why I’m bored and I’m posting. 😉

IMPORTANT EDIT!

I made a new page!! Its a game! Come on over to the “Outrageous Claims” page to check it out! Thank you! Why am I doing exclamation marks?!?! I don’t know! YAY! HI! How’s it going?!?! Ok, I’ve got to stop this! Bye!

Stellar!

Music

So, what’s going on?? I’m kind of bored, and the last post isn’t even mine, it’s Josh’s, so I thought the owner of this site should post for once. 😉

There’s no entries to my contest yet, I may have to resort to advertising on websites, which I haven’t done in a very, very long time.

Hey, I’d like to get everyone’s opinion on a song. Please visit here: http://www.last.fm/music/Switchfoot

Just scroll down a bit and click the play button next to the number 5.
Then, please, tell me what you thought here!

Oh, I just had an idea! Every time I make a new post,I will also add another song for you to judge!!

Stellar

P.S. Sorry for the brief post. I’m being weird today…..

The Victorian Bushfires

Good evening.

On Saturday, February 7th, the mercury soared to 46.4 degrees Celsius – Melbourne’s hottest day ever.

That day is now known as “Black Saturday”.

Dozens and dozens of bushfires tore apart the state, with the death toll currently sitting at 126. That figure is expected to rise.

Some fires are still raging.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

It is the worst natural disaster to ever strike Australia.

Here is an article from “The Australian” Newpaper.

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http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25027160-601,00.html

Ewin Hannan, George Megalogenis and Julie-Anne Davies | February 09, 2009

THE death toll in the nation’s worst bushfires has risen to 108, and senior police fear more victims will be found.

(32 votes)
Death toll continues to soar
At least 108 people are dead, with more expected, in Australia’s worst natural disaster.

Police confirmed today the numbers of fatalities had reached triple figures, as firefighters discovered more bodies overnight.

Victoria Police chief commissioner Christine Nixon warned the public to prepare for news of more deaths.

”I still think that we do have more to find, and that will be because we are getting into different areas that were previously too hot for us to go there,” she told Melbourne radio.

”Now the CFA and Victoria Police are going there and, of course, finding people in those locations.”

Police said 20 people had died at Kinglake West; 12 at Kinglake; 10 at St Andrews; 10 at Callignee; 8 at Marysville; 7 at Steeles Creek; 5 at Hazelwood; 5 at Flowerdale; 4 at Wondong; 4 at Humevale; 4 at Koornalla; 3 at Taggerty; 2 at Strathewan; 2 at Jeeralang; 2 at Mudgegonga; 2 at Hazeldene; 1 at Arthurs Creek, Eaglehawk, Long Gully and Yarra Glen.

Firefighters continued to battle fires this morning, with the town of Stanley near Beechworth potentially under threat. .

Victoria Police had confirmed 108 people dead, including four children in one house, while the CFA said more than 100 people were still unaccounted for.

Up to 700 homes and 340,000ha of land were destroyed. More than 3730 people had registered with the Red Cross as having left their properties and the total homeless figure is expected to be much higher.

Among those confirmed dead was Brian Naylor, one of the state’s most recognised faces as a long-time newsreader for the Nine Network, and a resident of one of the worst-affected areas in Kinglake. Mr Naylor’s wife, Moiree, also perished.

State government officials were worried the final number of people killed could double to about 130 by the time the search of all properties was completed.

“Hell in all its fury has visited the good people of Victoria in the last 24 hours and many good people now lie dead, many others lie injured,” Kevin Rudd said yesterday as he pledged both financial aid and the support of the Australian Defence Force for the recovery effort.

Despite repeated warnings in the lead-up to Saturday’s heatwave, the state was overwhelmed by a series of fires, some of them believed to be deliberately lit, that stretched from the South Australian to the NSW borders, up the centre of Victoria, and down toward the coast in Gippsland.

“The firefighters were hit early and hit hard and the fires were impossible to control,” Victorian Premier John Brumby said last night. “It was worse than Ash Wednesday and Black Friday.”

In a cruel twist of nature, while Melburnians greeted a cool change late on Saturday afternoon after the mercury had hit a record high of 46.4C – the highest for any Australian capital city – the shifting winds turned a fire one hour to the city’s northeast in the Kinglake area into a raging inferno.

Of the 700 or so properties destroyed so far throughout the state, 550 were from this pocket of the picturesque Yarra Valley.

Across the Great Dividing Range, the postcard-perfect township of Marysville was flattened to a ghastly mess of rubble and soot, with only one or two buildings left standing. So far two people have been confirmed dead, including 73-year-old Marie Walsh, but townsfolk fear there are up to 11 bodies lying in those ruins, or in the surrounding ashes. Some of those are feared to be children.

“I asked one friend about her dad and she just looked blankly at me and said, ‘He’s gone’,” said Stephen Collins, manager of Marysville’s Kooringa resort. “I believe 11 friends have perished.”

When snow comes to Victoria’s high country, Marysville is a charming coffee stop on the road to the ski slopes. When the wind and heat came on Saturday, bringing with it fire of devastating intensity, Marysville was razed.

On the suburban outskirts of Bendigo, the home town of Mr Brumby, a cigarette butt flicked from a passing car is believed to have started a fire that claimed at least two lives.

The nation went to bed on Saturday night with the news that 14 were already dead and with police saying the final number could be in the 40s.

By 5pm yesterday, the count had been put at 50, which surpassed the 47 Victorian lives lost in the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. The Ash Wednesday fires had claimed a further 29 people in South Australia, for a total of 76 dead. That unwanted record was matched at 8.10pm yesterday when police confirmed 76 dead and at 9.30pm the toll was raised to 84. Although it is too early for explanations or recriminations, CFA officials said many of the victims lost their lives because they fled too late.

“If we want a key message out of this – and I’m not second-guessing the cause because we’re not far advanced – it is about keeping off the road,” CFA deputy chief officer Steve Warrington said. “It about not being anywhere near a road during a fire event, and that probably refers to late-minute evacuations, do not do it.”

But for every horror story of people who failed to outrun the flames, there are heroic escapes. Gary Hughes, a senior writer for The Australian’s Melbourne bureau, writes today of his family’s brush with death. They lost their home at St Andrews, in the Kinglake area. But they count themselves lucky as 12 of their neighbours are already confirmed dead. St Andrews had the largest individual death toll as of 8pm last night, followed by 12 in Kinglake and a further 10 in Kinglake West.

As survivors and firefighters emerged from the Kinglake area, they would hear the earlier bodycounts, shake their head and say: “No, it’s many more than that.”

Throughout the area’s blackened rolling hills and gullies there were dreadful accounts of death.

People perished in their homes and on the roads as they fled. One woman, a firefighter, died at St Andrews when she returned to her home to save her animals.

A man from Mount Beauty was found on the outskirts of St Andrews separated from his motorbike. Firefighters believe he was running for his life.

Firefighters described chaotic scenes of cars that had crashed into trees or into one another and that were yesterday black and smouldering, some of them with their doors flung open.

Police believe that six people died in a pile-up of cars on the outskirts of Kinglake.

Reaction to the unfolding drama was swift, and moving. Authorities received offers of help from firefighters in NSW, Canberra, South Australia and Tasmania.

The Prime Minister spoke to Mr Brumby in the early hours of Sunday and offered the services of the Australian Defence Force.

The offer was accepted. The federal Government will match dollar-for-dollar what the state raises for a community relief fund.

Mr Rudd visited a CFA command centre in Kangaroo Ground, south of the Kinglake area, and joined Mr Brumby and Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon for one of many sombre press conferences held through the day.

Mr Rudd said this was an appalling tragedy for the state, and for the nation.

“To echo what the Premier said before, our first response as human beings is one of just the deepest empathy for people whose lives have now been devastated,” Mr Rudd said.

“This loss of life, the numbers of injured and horrific injuries, our thoughts and our prayers go out to each and everyone of them as they now try and deal with this tragedy and recover from the damage which has occurred.

“Also as human beings we salute the extraordinary courage of all the emergency services workers. And, the Premier and I’ve heard just some small stories of this today, there’ll be others larger told later on.”

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I think we owe all the firefighters a big thankyou for their efforts fighting the fires around the clock.

I think it would be nice to not post anything else for the day, and remember those who have died in the fires.

Josh