Her Name is Ursu-bleuhhg

My entire freshman year was an absolute blast, but the most exciting thing was definitely "music theory bootcamp". When I first heard about it I was completely nervous and scared, but it proved to be thought-provoking, hilarious, and, of course, memorable.

Music Theory Boot Camp (MTBC) was a 3 day long adventure at the beginning of the school year where music theory students wrote an opera and a conjoined composition. To try to explain it here would be like trying to fit a giraffe into my sock drawer, but I'll give it a whirl.
There were about 20 students there, including 5 counselors (one of which I hope to be in a couple of months!) For our opera we made up an absurd plotline and then put it to well known music. Our main character woke up to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me", became depressed to the tune of "Carmina Burana" and went on his first date, waltzing away to "The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". You can't buy this stuff, folks. It's priceless.

For our conjoined composition, we each wrote 8 measures of music and then mashed them together into what became one giant orchestration of awesomeness. Turns out we had an avid drum player, 3 violinists, 4 pianists, and a few awesome singers in our midst. What started out as a drab hymn sounding piece (with a bunch of conservative Lutherans dare you ask for something different?) quickly turned into an Irish jig with an upbeat first section, slow but somber middle section and a instrument and chorous filled ending.

Yep. I will NEVER forget those 3 days.

It's a Jungle Out There.

*diaclaimer! Written as a Scholarship App*

The other day I was camped out on the couch, mindlessly watching commercials when I noticed something odd. A good chunk of the
commercials were not for products but for the station itself.

"Watch THIS show!" They screamed. "Coming up next!" They hollered.

*insert deep hoarse voice here* "And now....coming up....you won't want to miss the world-shattering event that will leave you STUNNED"

Give me a break. Most of the time these ads are more annoying than the actual commercials. What, did they think I was going to get bored and switch off the TV before my show was over?

For what reason are TV stations advertising for themselves? Is it because of the increased usage of DVR and Netflix that less people are buying the spots for ads? Is it because they hope to draw more people to their station for shows that are so enticing that people don't prerecord them?

Even with more and more people using DVR I don't think it will necessarily cut into TV advertising revenue; I do, however believe it will (or already has) change its nature.

TV advertisers are going to cater to the people who actually watch their shows. For instance, Life Alert isn't going to advertise during some risquè program, and 5 Hour Energy is probably going to stay away from traditionally "gram and gramps" shows (like, say, the Wheel of Fortune). That said, to some extent this smart advertising has always existed.

There is also a large group of viewers who do not have DVR, and even more who have it but prefer to watch live. I know from personal experience that I like to sit down and watch whatever's on TV, or if a show I like is coming up, I prefer to watch it right away and not record it. I can only assume that others feel the same way.

There are also shows that, while they can be recorded and played back later, the majority of the audience will want to watch live. These shows, such as season finales or sports games (most notably the Super Bowl) will probably have more advertisements. These type of shows also have noticeably better commercials because advertisers pay more money to have their spots. If only all shows had Super Bowl commercials.

Well...

I HAVE noticed that advertisers have started to get much more creative with their ads to draw viewers in. I've got my popcorn. Bring it on, commercials. Bring. It. On.