2004 Grammy Nominee—College Dropout by Kanye West
When Kanye West first came on the scene with his breakthrough hit, “Through the Wire,” from his album, “College Dropout,” he became omnipresent. He worked with Twista on “Slow Jamz” and Brandy on “Talk About Our Love.” He then released two more singles, “All Falls Down” and “Jesus Walks.” Interestingly enough, West has a past life as a producer. He has produced successful singles for artists such as Jay-Z, Ludacris, and Alicia Keys. “College Dropout” is one of the most accomplished albums this past year, along with the ultra-successful “Confessions” by Usher and the CD I can’t get enough of, “American Idiot” by Green Day. “College Dropout” was nominated for the Album of the Year award at the Grammys. Ray Charles’ “Genius Loves Company” won the award, due to sentimentality, in my opinion. You can find it at your local record store.2004 Oscar Nominee—Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman star in one of the best movies of the year. Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman as Frankie Dunn and Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris were having just a regular life by owning a gym. Frankie was training a soon-to-be star boxer and Scrap was helping keep the gym from literally falling apart. Then Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) walks in and convinces Frankie to train her; even though she’s a 32-year-old ‘girl’. What happens next is breathtaking. It will leave you with one phrase; “Mo Cuishla.” The dialogue between Frankie and Scrap is both hilarious and profound while the relationship with Maggie deepens. All of the actors play their characters with such depth you can feel their presence and they make you feel real emotion. I would recommend this movie for anyone who likes to see great movies.Hobby of the Month
I’m a movie-lover. So much so, I keep a list of all the movies I’ve seen in my lifetime (as far back as I can remember). Currently, I’ve seen over 300 movies. The last movie I saw was “Ray” on DVD (absolutely magnificent).Anyway, in the 9th grade, the Sports and Arts Foundation sponsored a filmmaking course at my school. My friends and I got a hold of cameras and built up to our final project, which was a video that has something to do with our school. My best friend, Channa Smith, and I made a commercial for the school store. We got to skip class to film it, edited it after school, and scored it to a rock song. It was then compiled with our other friends’ videos as a showcase and it looked terrific.
Unfortunately, I never got the video camera I’ve asked for since I was about 7 years old, so I never got to pursue that career choice. Writing and creating movies can extend your creativity and give you a better knowledge of today’s powerful digital editing technology. You don’t have to be a millionaire to enjoy the technology, however. You can purchase a video camera for a reasonable price and utilize movie-making software pre-installed in some computers. So if you’re interested, go for it! You just may become the next Steven Spielberg!