Whats wrong with some Christian bands? Just because they dont sing about drugs, sex, or violence and do not use profanity does not mean they are no good. And i think their ideals are more in line with the ideals of FIRST than some bands that sing about questionable causes.

P.S. Kane i agree, the Supertones rock. I have seen them in concert 5 times and each time they put on a great show.

maybe the hippos if you dont want to go the christian way, but still want a good band with out profanity sex violence and such.

I belive what she ment was that not everyone is christan and it would be disrespectful to promote a religon that not everyone is. the one thing i hate most are christans (extreamests, basically every religon applies to this but im just using christans because its part of the subject at hand) that think that everyone should convert to their religon because their right and im wrong. Not that these bands will do that but its just like the message that first is sending

Ok.. You can't go wrong with New Found Glory... they would definitely own the stage.. or throw a techno DJ up there.... say... DJ Illusion, DJ Keoki, Prodigy, DJ Summerjoy (philly local)... make the closing ceremony area into a big dance floor... that'd be super chill... Imagine Crystal Meth spinnin in that huge area with lasers and schtuff goin all around.. i think i'd breakdown and die... nothin beats some good techno...

Personally i think what they have done in the past is awsome. For thoes of you who forgot or just dont know, they weoul have some crazy lazers and dancers and fireworks. And on the big screen they would play a video compilation of the competition and they play music and have a real cool animation of the "magic kingdom" It was awsome and i missed it this year, it was by far an awsome way to finish the year off. I rember the goosebumps it gave me.



Andrew

Good Idea
 

I actually felt bad leaving the Einstein area for the Park when Mandy Moore was on stage, because I thought it was great that they got a "big name" to perform, but I can't stand her music! I TOTALLY missed the "Compilation Video" from the past years! Every year I love that video because you get to look for your team! and this year I thought we might actually be in it!!! I wanted the GRAND fireworks show they usually have, I did see the fireworks show they had in EPCOT later in the evening, and I'll post a picture of the sign that they burnt in the Picture Gallery, but still, it wasn't as grand as last year, and I missed the DANCING!! I'm not a Dancer, but in past years there was ACTUAL DJ's and Dance areas, this year not so much:( But I think that FIRST is moving in a good direction, promoting through big names like Will Smith and Mandy Moore, personally when Will Smith spoke I was laughing my butt off because he was like "I need more engineers because I need to see my kids more!" and I thought that was great!
Oh my team figured out one great thing that make the NATS that MUCH MORE exciting and enjoyable... winning! If only we had figured that out TWO years AGO! hehe

But back to the subject, I think that Mandy Moore was a step in the right direction, and I do appreciate FIRST's (or Disney's) effort, unfortunatly she didn't appeal to me, and as others have said, The people who build bots, aren't your usual "Teeney-Boppers" and she wasn't the best choice for the audience.
GREAT COMPETITION! I CAN"T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!! WOO HOO!:D

I do not listen to Mandy Moore, yet i still respect her deeply. She has a wonderful voice, and i respect the things she sings about, and i thought "A Walk to Remember" was a wonderful movie. Any other time i would have been privileged to watch her perform, but i was one of the people who got up as soon as she came on stage. I was hungry, i was tired, my head was throbbing from the speakers already, i had been sitting in those bleachers 5 stinkin hours....i simply could not sit there any longer. My sincerest apologies to Mandy...i hope she doesn't think too poorly of us now.

I have nothing against Christian bands (I live in the buckle of the Bible belt for goodness sake) I just know from working in a performing arts theater you have to be very careful about these issues when having public events, you wouldn't think it would matter, but when one person gets mad and then their friends get mad and then they cry foul, and it all goes downhill...

asher
as PC as possible

A Step in the Right Direction
 

I think having a named artist, whether you all like her or not, is a step in the right direction for FIRST. However the format of the closing program could have been improved to make it shorter and flow better. Here's my 2 cents on it

1. award the Autodesk winners (and whatever others were ready then) on Saturday morning right after the scholarships. It would give those teams a real adrenaline boost for the day and shorten the evening program when everybody is already cooked from the day in the heat.

2. I felt the actual awarding of the Chairman's Award was embarassingly short. They never even listed the regional candidates up for the award (unless you count that 2 second fly through their team logos in their Hall of Fame video) and the brief description of all of the great stuff Buzz has done for FIRST over the years was far from adequate. I got the impression that they were rushing through it- probably to be on time for Mandy Moore. For what FIRST calls the "highest honor" I think it could have been handled better. My opinion.

3. I never did figure out what the second "surprise" was inside Epcot. I went in to the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" ride and by the time I came out the whole place was leaving. Somebody clue me in here.

If they really wanted to surprise us they should have staged Mandy Moore inside the park and had the teams "discover her" when they got to the venue there. That way the program could have been shortened, the hungry would be fed and the crowds could be pleased.

4. As for their choice of music, as an old fart, if FIRST turned the party into a headbangers ball I would protest. Thats my opinion there.

5. At one point we were asked to designate 2 students to go up and accept awards for the team. Then EVERY team went up in total for EVERY award. The recognition is nice but it was very time consuming. I don't know why they allowed that to happen. For the medals yes, for the judged awards no way!

Hey- it was fun nonetheless. I hope all had a good time.

WC :cool:

I just hope FIRST people read this so they know what we all like and what we don't... maybe next years finals will be incredible thx to us... :D

What I understood to be the big surprise was the fireworks show that was at the end. We watched it and it was cool, but it was a little short. As for the rides, we went to go to Honey I shrunk the audience but, they said it closed at 10 and...it was only 9:59!!!!!!!

Oh well, we moved on with our "HEEEEEEEY" chant around epcot.

It was just great!

:D

I think they should give all of te teams a list of possible performers and them have a huge team vote. 1 vote per team. couple hundred votes in all. better than having all of the students voting (20,000+)