Pop Culture

IntroductionMy name is Clarissa Tanner.

I was born on October 6th, 1996, and I am 13 years old.

Way back when…

• When I was younger, I didn’t have much interest in pop culture; I basically listened to what my parents listened to, and wore what my mom chose. I preferred hanging out with friends to worrying over fashion and music.

Music back then…

• One of the more popular bands around the house were the Beatles.

• The lyrics were mostly easy to memorize and we would listen to their music endlessly.

• We even watched the movie “A Hard Day’s Night.”

Music back then…

• My family is a very musical family, and at the age of 6 I began playing violin.

• At first, I hated it, but now, 7 years later, I love playing.

• Because of this, my family has always listened to a lot of classical music.

Music back then…

• My dad has always been interested in all things Indian, and he studied under Ali Akbar and plays the sitar as a result.

• This also meant that the whole family got to enjoy the long Indian ragas he would always play, including the works of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar.

Music back then…

• Another main type of music heard around the house is jazz.

• Besides playing sitar, my dad also played the guitar, so he was constantly playing jazz songs or classic rock until we got tired of them.

Music I like now…• My taste for music grew

considerably when I received an iPod and light was shed on the more modern-day music I had been shielded from for so long. I could now drown out the aforementioned music with my own songs.

• I don’t really have a particular favorite genre or band, and instead download songs that appeal to me, no matter who the artist is.

Music I like now…

• So many of my favorite songs were suggested to me by friends in California who share the same tastes.

• We’ve always liked the more soulful, or even what you would call depressing music.

• Examples of this would be Evanescence and Emilie Autumn.

Music I like now…

• Another artist whose music I usually like is Lily Allen. She’s spunky and sassy and always speaks her mind.

Music I like now…

• I was recently introduced to Taylor Swift, a country singer whose songs are a mixture of pop and country.

Music I like now…• Another artist I like is “Owl City.”

• The songs are mostly electronic with a lead singer, and the songs are always laid back and calm.

Music I like now…

• The artists that I’ve devoted a slide to are only a couple of my favorite artists. I’ve also loved songs by the Black Eyed Peas, Estelle, Lady Gaga, Greenday, Pussycat Dolls, Rihanna, Paramore, Sean Kingston, etc.

Clothing back then…

• When I was younger, my mother bought most of my clothes, which resulted in me mostly wearing a dress. I had very short hair for most of Kindergarten and 1st grade

As you can see…

I definitely didn’t choose my clothing back then…

Clothing I wear now…

• Nowadays, I usually wear jeans, T-shirts, tank tops, large sweatshirts, scarves, etc.

Clothing I wear now…

I guess this is an example of what I wear now…

Television shows then…

When I was younger, I really did not watch any television at all, except when I was at my grandma’s house, where I would sit around for hours with my cousins watching Cartoon Network or Disney Channel, depending on who I was with. The only other show I was exposed to was the Simpsons, which my dad would watch regularly with us.

The Simpsons

Somehow, the Simpsons were, and probably still are a big part of life around our house. If you haven’t already heard about them, the show is about a somewhat silly family living in America, and who are constantly being dropped into odd or extreme plots and are forced to deal with new characters and challenges.

Television shows now…

• Although I still do not watch much TV, I have picked up on more trends, and have seen shows on MTV or VH1.

• There is one TV show that I absolutely love, and even though they are fairly new, (having only come out this year) they’ve become fairly popular in the U.S.

Television shows now…

• The show is called “glee.”• It is about a high school glee club, and the

problems each member of the glee club must face as they compete with other high school choirs.

Books back then…• As you can see, I didn’t spend most of

my childhood watching TV or listening to music, and instead spent countless hours reading. Surprisingly, books can also fit under the category of pop culture, and this was definitely something I was plugged into.

Books back then…

• One of the most popular series back then was the Series of Unfortunate Events.

• We would collect the books and race through them, waiting for the next book to come out.

Books back then…

• Another series that I absolutely loved was the Harry Potter series, which lasted throughout elementary school because the author, J.K. Rowling Rowling was still writing the boo the books.

Books back then…

• Yet another series I liked back then, was “The Clique” by Lisi Harrison, about a bunch of middle school girls living in New York.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

And then, when I was a little older, I loved the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, which was about four girls who share memories and one pair of pants on their adventures all over the world.

Some Series I love now…

• It would be nearly impossible for me to name all the books and series I have read and loved.

• However, some of the series I like now are…

Series I love now…

• I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have To Kill You– a series about a spy school for girls.

Series I love now…

• I absolutely love the Uglies series, about a post-apocalyptic world where you are considered an “Ugly” until age sixteen, when you receive major plastic surgery.