Snowflake:

Cloud:

Zac Brown Band is a country/folk band from Atlanta, Georgia. The bands members are Zac Brown, Jimmy De Martini, John Driskell Hopkins, Coy Bowles, Chris Fryar, Clay Cook, Matt Mangano, and Daniel de los Reyes. 

Zac Brown Bands music style is contemporary country and the bands music is hugely influenced by Hootie & the Blowfish, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jimmy Buffett and the Allman Brothers Band.

I had the pleasure of viewing one of their concerts this summer at the Molson Amphitheatre in Toronto,Ontario. It seemed like there was not one person sitting down from time the Zac Brown Band came on stage until they left. They were full of energy and they played a variety of their own songs such as Colder Weather, Highway 20 Ride and Sweet Annie. They even sang covers of many well know songs including “Patience” by Guns N’ Roses and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band. 

The band played for over two hours with only a 10 minute intermission. The sound of Zac Brown and the other members was absolutely amazing and the musical talent of the band was outstanding. There was also a segment where Jimmy De Martini was able to show off his amazing skills on the fiddle. 

Their concert was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. It was absolutely amazing to watch. Most bands and singers tend to sound differently live or they do not sound good but Zac Brown Band sounded exactly like their cd’s. I would go to another one of their concerts in a heart beat. It was very entertaining especially when Zac Brown stopped the concert so a guy could propose to his girlfriend. Zac Brown has a charity called Camp Southern Ground. It is a camp for children with special needs. During the concert, Zac Brown announced to the audience that $1 from very ticket sold for this concert will be donated to the camp. I would highly recommend others to listen to their music, you will not be disappointed. 

This is a picture of me and my sister Olivia. It was taking on the day of my grad. Within the past few years we have become extremely close despite the 4 year age gap. We are always together and there is never a moment where you will not catch use laughing about something. You never know what will come out of my sisters mouth and she will always speak her mind without giving it a second thought…. I admire my sister because she’s not afraid to speak her mind if something goes against what she thinks, you will know loud and clear. Even though we fight a lot, I love my sister to death and would do anything for her. I love this picture because we did not know it was being taken and it catches us in one of our moments where we are joking around. 

This picture was captured at Ripley's Aquarium in Toronto, Ontario. There is a huge tank that takes up most of the wall containing around twenty jellyfish. There are neon lights in the tank which change every few minutes causing the colour of the jellyfish’s to change. Surprisingly I was able to get a picture because there were hundreds of people walking around, making it hard to get close to the tank. I especially love the movement of the jellyfish and how it makes this picture look whimsical. I wanted to share this picture because I think that it is very striking how the pink of the lights cause the jellyfish to juxtapose against the dark blue of the water.

"Royals" by Lorde 

I've never seen a diamond in the flesh

I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies

And I'm not proud of my address,

In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,

We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash.

We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood,

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

My friends and I—we've cracked the code.

We count our dollars on the train to the party.

And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this,

We didn't come from money.

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom.

Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room,

We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams.

But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash

We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz.

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

Ooh ooh oh

We're bigger than we ever dreamed,

And I'm in love with being queen.

Ooh ooh oh

Life is great without a care

We aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals).

It don't run in our blood

That kind of luxe just ain't for us.

We crave a different kind of buzz

Let me be your ruler (ruler),

You can call me queen Bee

And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule.

Let me live that fantasy.

The song I chose is “Royals” by Lorde. It does not follow a rhyme scheme, therefore it could be considered free verse. The song is made up of two refrains, two verses and a bridge. The first refrain is 6 lines whereas the second refrain is 8 lines. The verses are four lines each and the bridge is 6 lines. There is also several literary terms within this song such as irony, allusion, personification, and alliteration. 

The speaker of this song could be the singer and her friends, but it could also be fictional and not  based on anyone in particular. There is no direct indication as to who is the song’s speaker. The tone of this song is indifferent because the speaker is comfortable with the lifestyle they have and is not concerned with what others are doing within the music industry. The speaker is comfortable with doing their own thing whereas others within the music industry are consumed by living up to a certain luxurious standard.  As it is demonstrated within these lyrics: “That kind of luxe just ain't for us” and “But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash”.There are several examples of poetic language within this song such as irony, allusion, personification, and alliteration. There is an allusion to brand names within the lyrics such a Grey Goose vodka, and Maybach luxury automobiles. Personification is given to diamonds when the speaker says “never seen diamond in the flesh”. They are giving the human quality of flesh to a diamond even though a diamond does not have flesh. Alliteration is used within the song by saying things such as “ torn up town” and bloodstains, ball gowns”. Irony is used when the speaker says, “We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams”. The irony within this is that the speaker and their friends do not need or care about luxurious items but yet they are dreaming about Cadillacs. 

This song is controversial because the artist, Lorde is implying that the hip hop and rap world are obsessed with money and materialistic items. The music industry tends to glorify a luxurious life style. The artist is also hinting that these genres of music are all the same by implying the lyrics “But every song's like gold teeth, Grey Goose, trippin' in the bathroom, blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room” within the song. What this song says to me is that the speaker and their friends are not obsessed with the expensive things in life and that they would much rather “count our dollars on the train to the party” than be caught up in all the luxury. The speaker is not proud of where they come from and there is nothing envious about where they live whereas most people within the music industry are obsessed with everyone knowing how high of a title they are. I think the singer is comparing her life towards others within the music industry. I like this song because it is not similar to most songs that are on the radio today. It is somewhat mocking todays music but you do not realize it is until you take a closer look at the lyrics.

Hi, my name is Danielle Costello!

I enjoy hanging out with my friends and relaxing with my dogs. I love basketball but I don’t play it anymore, which I sometimes regret. Music is a big part of my life even though I don’t play any instruments, I tried playing piano for a while but I kept forgetting the notes... Reading and watching movies are things that I also like doing.I love meeting new people, even though I’m really shy. 

I love biology and chemistry but I’m not taking these courses this semester.I was very heavily involved with basketball for many years and I found that the more I played, the more time I spent with my physiotherapist due to injuries. During that time I became very interested in physiotherapy. I’m currently doing the Kinesiology program but in all honesty that could change within the next few years because I'm a very indecisive person. I’m hoping that if I do follow through with this, I’ll go on to pursue Rehabilitation Physiotherapy in Dublin,Ireland.

I’m hoping to do well in my first semester and to try and make it through one day without telling my friends that I’m dropping out. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and seeing what mun has to offer.