Popular+Culture+1995-2009

Tell the World Your Story
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 * Since you were born, what has happened in the Popular Culture? **

Facebook
Facebook is a social network for chatting and catching up with friends. It was created by Mark Zuckerburg in 2003.

When you first start your Facebook profile you must put in some personal information, although some information is most likely optional. Once you make your profile you can add friends by searching peoples names in the friends search toolbar. This will give you access to your friends profile. When you make friends you now have access to see their personal updates.

Facebook now has over 300 million users worldwide. By: **Naomi S.**

MySpace


This social networking website was founded in 2003 by Tom Anderson. It is owned by Fox Interactive Media and it has 1000 employees. Myspace’s slogan is “A Place for Friends”. Plus it is available in 15 languages. It was redesigned in 2007 and 2008 to look a little bit more modern. Facebook & Twitter in recent months, Rupert Murdoch has no plans to sell off MySpace, nor buy out Twitter. Murdoch gave the site his personal support, while feeling that Twitter still has to find a way to make money on its own. For children’s safety you must be 14 years old to register for Myspace. The 100 millionth account was created on August 9, 2006, in the Netherlands. For more info click here
 * By: Kiley S.**

Texting
Texting is getting more and more popular each day. Everyone is texting around the world it's a shorter way of talking on the phone but by sending short messages. The very first text message was sent in 1989 by a simple Motorola beeper but it was not all that popular. By 1995 deaf people also started texting that made it easier for deaf people to message to their friends.In the year 2000 text messaging became very popular all over the world and today. Texting is the most used mobile data service world wide today. You can also picture message now days which is a text message with a picture in the text,that mostly only works for the phones with cameras on them. Now days people go around and talk with there friends through text messaging.



Source: Wikipedia**
 * By: J.R. S-K

Twitter
Twitter was created in 2006 by Jack Dorsey. Twitter is a free social networking service. Twitter allows users to send and read messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the authors subscribe who are known as followers. Twitter is ranked one of the 50 most popular websites worldwide also Twitter is the third most used social network. Twitter has 6 million unique monthly visitors but 55 million monthly visits.
 * By: Cassie G.**
 * Source: Wikipedia**

Harry Potter Published
Harry Potter was published on June 30th, 1997 when J.K. Rowling took the book to the editor of Bloomsbury publishers, Barry Cunningham, in London. She'd taken her books to twelve other publishers before that, but all of them turned her down. Barry Cunningham published her books only after her gave the first chapter of the first book to his eight year old daughter who demanded to see more.

After Cunningham agreed to publish Rowling's work, he advised her to get a day job because he thought there would be little chance to make a lot of money on children's books. However, once Harry Potter was out there, it was an instant hit! //Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone// won its first award- the Nestle Smarties Book Award- after only five months after being published! Then in 1998, Scholastic published the first book under the name //Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone// instead of its original name. Rowling said she would've fought for the original name if she would have been in a better position.

When the sixth book, //Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince//, came out, it also broke selling records. The sixth book sold 9 //million// copies in the first 24 hours it was on the bookshelves! But the seventh and last book took the prize for selling the most copies. It sold 11 million copies during the first day of its release, breaking tons of records. To this day, Harry Potter remains to be a best seller and an award winner.

By: **Ashley O.** Source: []

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Opened
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame officially opened on September 2, 1995. When it opened that year, many rock bands and singers were inducted, including Led Zeppelin. Not only does the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induct artists, it induct journalists, songwriters, producers and more.

By: **Kyle J**. //sources:// [] []

**Billy Mays**
Billy Mays famous Pitchman died June 28, 2009 at the age of 50. He was the Michael Jordan to infomercials. He was so big he even had his own T.V. show called Pitchmen. Pitchmen had entrepreneurs make their own product and try to sell it over T.V. media type="youtube" key="LyTEKhkB8OM" height="265" width="320" By: **Corey W.** Edited By: **Nate B.** sources:[|wikipedia]

**Steve Irwin's Death**
You might know this guy as the “Crocodile Hunter” who was a legend in any child's eyes, a passionate wildlife enthusiast, a great dad and husband, a massive contributor to the world, and a brave soul. He died doing what he did best. Sharing the knowledge of nature to the whole world.

On September 4, 2006 Australian born dare devil Steve Irwin was diving off the coast of Queens-land and Port Douglas filming a live/new broadcast to the world. He was spending the time to study and observe a rare sting ray. As we all know there are risks to anything. Not to mention venomous sting rays but in Steve's world risks didn't exist. He conquered and discovered and nothing stood in his way. He was up for anything! I guess he thought that if he didn't take those journeys that he would have never seen and witnessed the cool things he did. He wouldn't be the person we know today. The fearless "crocodile hunter." Being an animal, the sting ray probably felt threatened by Irwin's close presence. The footage shows that Irwin was actually swimming above this mysterious creature. The massive sea creature stung through his heart puncturing his body. The venom spread through his body. Everything was done to try to save him. He was also videotaped pulling the barb from his heart right before losing consciousness forever.

He will be remembered as the man who did everything and anything to share his passion with the world. He fought to save the lives of the inhabitants of our planet until the end. He will inspire generations forever.

media type="youtube" key="aQxcugbmg9M" height="265" width="320"

Edited By: ** Madelyn Elyse G. and Jamie W. ** Picture Put On ** : Ashley O. ** Edited by: **Caitlin C.** Eidited By: **Charles X.** **Metallica** Metallica is a band that performs a mix of Heavy, Trash and Hard metal. They started in 1981 and they are still play and still strong.

The members of Metallica are James Hetfield (Vocals), Lars Ulrich (Drums), Kirk Hammett (lead guitar), and Robert Trujillo (Bass). Former members of Metallica are Ron McGrovney, Dave Mustaine Cliff Burton, and Jason Newsted.

Their first album they ever made was Early Years and there newest album that came out about 3 years ago was Death Magnetic. They have 15 albums to date.

media type="youtube" key="3GyElO32Mmw" height="265" width="320" By: **Joe O.** Edited By: **Corey W.** Source: **[|wikipedia]**

** The Bell Witch **
What if you were vengeful and utterly unrestricted by the veil between the physical and the next dimension? That’s exactly what Kate Batts had going for her. She was a spiteful old woman who believed that she had been cheated in a land purchase by John Bell and was hell bent (literally) on tormenting him and his children, or at least his favorite 12-year old daughter, Betsy.On Kate’s deathbed, she vowed to haunt the family of the Bell’s who had done her wrong. After her death, she made good her promise. It felt to the Bell family that this ghost took no other pleasure than tormenting them incessantly. Kate pinched their noses, poked needles into them, threw kitchen objects about, screeched at them in her now notorious high-pitched voice, pulled hair and was a presence that none of them could escape.Kate’s wrath was particularly directly at John and his favorite daughter, Betsy. With the wife and other children she was sometimes heard crooning softly, saying something pleasant, or just ignoring them completely. John and Betsy were not so fortunate. Kate enjoyed mentally and physically torturing them with her shrieking voice or physically punishing antics.Gossip moved as quickly then as it does now and this was a much talked about event in the small farming town of Adams, Tennessee. People were deeply fascinated by the rumors and some even came from hundreds of miles away to visit the place of unrest. Some spectators were greeted with handshakes, some with shrieks and some with a full dialog of warning.

So popular did the story become that General Andrew Jackson, the future President of the United States, gathered a few friend to investigate the story himself. He and his cohorts wanted to either debunk or repel the feisty spirit of Kate Batts.Jackson and his men were in for a surprise though. When their wagons stuck fast to an otherwise smooth and flat road, their jests of dealing with the witch came to a halt. No matter how they examined, pushed, cursed or whipped the horses, their wagon was not moving. Ịt was said that Jackson, in a fit of frustration and resignation, declared, “By the eternal, boys, it is the witch." Much to the amazement of Jackson and his men, the legendary screech could be heard from a nearby bush that replied, “"All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again to-night." Moments later the wagon and horses were suddenly free to move about. There wasn’t a person present that could account for the voice’s owner or its whereabouts.Kate wasn’t miserly in her haunting antics and bestowed upon Jackson and his men the same torturous treatment as she had John and his daughter Betsy. Jackson’s bedcovers were repeatedly yanked from his body and his men were delivered the same pinches and pokes as the family were. Jackson and his men realized they were no match for the Bell witch and hastily abandoned their adventure first thing in the morning.

Ghosts never die so it was not surprising that the haunting of Kate lasted the duration of John Bell’s life. In fact, the ghost of Kate Batts was said to have been responsible for John’s death. In October of 1830, John Bell was rumored to have suffered a stroke and taken ill. While he was bedridden, his family found him in a particularly bad state of stupor and position. Alarmed, his son ran to the medicine cabinet to fetch what he thought was his father’s medicine. After administering it, the family heard the witch’s glee as she victoriously declared she had poisoned John herself the night before with that vial and this last dose was surely his undoing. True enough, it was. The contents were later examined by a doctor and found to be very poisonous.Kate was not satisfied with death alone. She sang in merriment at John’s graveside and was still heard singing happily as the last person hastily left.Notable points: This story is popular enough to have spawned several recent movies of which include the Blair Witch Project and The American Haunting. It is also noted as one of the very rare poltergeists that caused a man’s death. By: **Anna K**.

**Michael Jackson Dies**
Michael Jackson, "The King Of Pop" died on June 25th, 2009. Michael Jackson came out with some of the greatest songs ever like "Thriller", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean". His unique music and dancing, along with constantly publicized life, made him a popular figure in the music industry for years. Video Here.

media type="youtube" key="r6dx3Zm86P4" width="425" height="350" By: **Richard C.** Edited by: **Antoinette H. & Corey W.**

Patrick Swayze
Hollywood icon Patrick Swayze, star of the movies "//Dirty Dancing"// and "//Ghost"//, lost his long battle to pancreatic cancer, on Monday at the age of 57. He was battling the painful cancer for 20 months. He died peacefully at home with his wife by his side, after being in and out of the hospital for months. [|Video Here.]

By: **Sasa M.** Source: @http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obit_swayze

** Alfred Yankovic ( Weird Al) **
Alfred Al Yankovic is an American singer/songwriter, music producer , actor, comedian, and satirist. He has warmed the hearts of many by making fun of other artists videos,

Yankovic (also known as Weird Al) was born on October 23, 1959. . Yankovic is known mostly because of his hilarious songs that often parody specific songs by bands. The Offspring later allowed Yankovic to record a parody of " Pretty Fly (For a White Guy) " on his next album. By : **Cody D.** Edited: **Joey P**,**Antoinette H.**

** The Milwaukee Art Museum **
The art museum has stood as a home to the unique population of magnificent works of art that surround the walls for generations upon generations. Since the 1800’s it has been loved and encouraged by the layers of our blooming artistic communities in Milwaukee. It started as a couple of art groups and all of them collided together to form our wonderful Art Museum in 1957; although, it didn’t get there on its own. Architects like Santiago Calatrava, Harry Lynde Bradley should be given a great amount of credit. As well as many of the early European settlers who brought with them a vast cultures full of rich languages, dedicated craftsmanship, and much more. They built the ground in which it now stands, they were the ones who sparked the ideas and cherished the beginning of galleries and groups which turned into what we know call the //War Memorial Museum// on November 11th 1957//.// The architect is – Eero Saarinen.

This museum is actually the original museum where a lot of the art is still held. When I mentioned Harry Lynde Bradley, I meant to tell you that she was a spectacular woman who donated over six hundred pieces of artwork and generously gave one million dollars to help develop the Art Museum even more! It’s unbelievable, what she did. She now has a whole floor of her donations! Now, thanks to all the people who gave the Art Museum its strength we have a piece of art in itself the //Quadracci Pavilion.// An addition put on to the Art Museum in the late 1990’s early 21st century by Santiago Calatrava.

The building is genius! I mean who would have thought to put art inside an architectural piece of art? It reminds me of a white dove or a whale’s tail. It resembles hope and faith, so that whenever anyone passes by it they feel welcome and enriched with happiness. Every time they walk through the marble halls or look out its angelic windows to see our beautiful lake they’ll feel the moment each artist picked up a paint brush. Now, every day I feel myself wanting to walk into the pure building to look at all of the breathtaking artwork. Sometimes I questioned its color but now I think I understand. It resembles a canvas. Untouched, so that it can be anything you imagine. It wants you to paint the canvas for yourself; it’s also pure that way.

Now we can walk through the Art Museum and admire the work of so many talented people because of the generous and miraculous people who put the time into making it an enjoyment and treasure to the city for years to come. Thank you!



By: **Madelyn G**. Edited By: **Rm. 207** Source: []