Inside - people’s inner beauty
Outside- how the people look like
Narcissism- inordinate fascination with oneself
Enchantment- something that enchants
Virtue - moral excellence
In Susan Sontag essay, she shows the meaning of beauty for women and how society treats beauty. She uses history to deliver her opinion to the readers, like “the Greeks to distinguish between a person’s ‘inside’ and ‘outside.’” The Greeks thought that if a person was so intelligent, brave and seductive, then that person must be very ugly. In early Christian time, Christianity considered beauty as one of moral virtues.
I agree with this essay. In this world, many people pay more attention on the appearance. They even use the appearance to judge other people. Sontag tells us that beauty is very important for women, because women are often being judged in beauty from their body parts, but the men are totally different. They are being judged as a whole, not only their appearance but also their intelligence. Beauty has become a burden for women. They think that only dress up themselves can show their intelligence. I hope that there will be no more judgment for one’s appearance. That’s what the other girls hope too. Women’s real charm will be proved by time.
How do you think about beauty of women?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Chu Yi Kang - Billie Holiday's Lady Sings the Blues
1. Definitions
A) Blues-A state of depression or melancholy. Often used with the.
B) Jazz-A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
C) "Lady Sings the Blues"-A song writen by jazz singer Billie Holiday, and jazz pianist Herbie Nicholas, which chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
2.Summarization
Billie Holiday(April 7, 1915-July 17, 1959).Nick name Lady Day, born Eleanora Fagan,was an American jazz singer and singwriter. In the book "Lady Sings the blues" is basically talked about Lady Day's life. Billie born in a young and poor family, "'Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three''(Billie).Her father was a guitarist in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, and played a significant role in Billie's musical apprenticeship. Later years Billie's father divorced with her mohter and gave none money for them to live, so Billie and her mother worked hard to earn money for lives. Even though Billie faced many obstacle during her life, she still trys her best to overcame it, and became a famous jazz singer and song writer in front of the stage and to show the people her successful. Billie Holiday wrote many songs which symbolysis her life and the thing happened in the period of the time.
"I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music; it's close drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music"(Billie).
3.Question
Billie Holiday loves music and respects music.And she became a famous jazz singer. Why/How she used music to represent her life, and how did she overcome and face optimistic obstacles in her life, if there's no one can help?
A) Blues-A state of depression or melancholy. Often used with the.
B) Jazz-A style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom.
C) "Lady Sings the Blues"-A song writen by jazz singer Billie Holiday, and jazz pianist Herbie Nicholas, which chronicles the rise and fall of legendary blues singer Billie Holiday. Her late childhood, stint as a prostitute, early tours, marriages and drug addiction are featured.
2.Summarization
Billie Holiday(April 7, 1915-July 17, 1959).Nick name Lady Day, born Eleanora Fagan,was an American jazz singer and singwriter. In the book "Lady Sings the blues" is basically talked about Lady Day's life. Billie born in a young and poor family, "'Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three''(Billie).Her father was a guitarist in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, and played a significant role in Billie's musical apprenticeship. Later years Billie's father divorced with her mohter and gave none money for them to live, so Billie and her mother worked hard to earn money for lives. Even though Billie faced many obstacle during her life, she still trys her best to overcame it, and became a famous jazz singer and song writer in front of the stage and to show the people her successful. Billie Holiday wrote many songs which symbolysis her life and the thing happened in the period of the time.
"I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music; it's close drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music"(Billie).
3.Question
Billie Holiday loves music and respects music.And she became a famous jazz singer. Why/How she used music to represent her life, and how did she overcome and face optimistic obstacles in her life, if there's no one can help?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Steve - The Erlking
The Erlking was a fictional character that was used as the object of many German poems. This fictional creature would originally haunt forest and carry travellers to their deaths. The name originally means in Old German "Alder King".
The version of the Erlking that Johann Wolfgnag van Goethe used in his poem is a monster that preys on children. In 1815, Franz Schubert adopted the poem and turned it into a musical composition. Scubert's musical composition only used a piano and one vocalist. The musical composition has four main characters: the Narrator, the Father, the Son, and the Erkling. All four voices are don differentyl by the one vocalist in order to capture the individial character. The piano imitates in its hurried triplets (notes played together in three for one musical beat) the hoofs of a horse in order to create a sensation of fear.
The main idea of the musical composition is that the Erlking takes the Son away and therefore has him end up dead in the Father's arms. The theme of the composition is repeated huriedly and the music even gets louder in the final two stanzas of the poem. This helps create the helplessness that the Son is going through
"My father. my father and don't you see there
the Erlking's daughters in the shadows?"
"My son, my son I see it clearly;
the old willows look so gray"
During this stanza the music gets louder and louder until finally during this part of the last stanza:
"he reaches the courtyard weary and anxious:
in his arms the child was dead."
the music almost comes to an abrupt stop.The final musical parts of the composition are minor chords. Minor chords are usually used in music to create a sad feeling as well as a depressed mode.
How does Schubert's musical composition relate to other literary works that we have read in class
The version of the Erlking that Johann Wolfgnag van Goethe used in his poem is a monster that preys on children. In 1815, Franz Schubert adopted the poem and turned it into a musical composition. Scubert's musical composition only used a piano and one vocalist. The musical composition has four main characters: the Narrator, the Father, the Son, and the Erkling. All four voices are don differentyl by the one vocalist in order to capture the individial character. The piano imitates in its hurried triplets (notes played together in three for one musical beat) the hoofs of a horse in order to create a sensation of fear.
The main idea of the musical composition is that the Erlking takes the Son away and therefore has him end up dead in the Father's arms. The theme of the composition is repeated huriedly and the music even gets louder in the final two stanzas of the poem. This helps create the helplessness that the Son is going through
"My father. my father and don't you see there
the Erlking's daughters in the shadows?"
"My son, my son I see it clearly;
the old willows look so gray"
During this stanza the music gets louder and louder until finally during this part of the last stanza:
"he reaches the courtyard weary and anxious:
in his arms the child was dead."
the music almost comes to an abrupt stop.The final musical parts of the composition are minor chords. Minor chords are usually used in music to create a sad feeling as well as a depressed mode.
How does Schubert's musical composition relate to other literary works that we have read in class
Monday, November 17, 2008
Maria - Fugue in c-minor
Assigned Reading: Fugue in c-minor
1. Definitions
A) Fugue: An imitative polyphonic composition in which a theme or themes are stated successively in all of the voices of the contrapuntal structure.
B) C-minor: refers to the key the fugue is being played in
C) Allegretto: refers to the tempo of the piece, moderatly fast and generally light
D) Clavier: any musical instrument with a keyboard, piano, harpischord, organ etc. etc.
2. Summarization
The Fugue in c-minor is one of 24 fugues and preludes in a book called the Well-Tempered Clavier. It contained one fugue or prelude in all 24 minor and major keys. It was intended to be sold as a book for people who wanted to either learn or practice their piano playing skills. The book was composed in 1722. Of all the fugues fugue in c-minor is the most popular and widely known and was an important influence on music after its publication.
3. Question
How does this piece of music connect to the work we're doing in class?
1. Definitions
A) Fugue: An imitative polyphonic composition in which a theme or themes are stated successively in all of the voices of the contrapuntal structure.
B) C-minor: refers to the key the fugue is being played in
C) Allegretto: refers to the tempo of the piece, moderatly fast and generally light
D) Clavier: any musical instrument with a keyboard, piano, harpischord, organ etc. etc.
2. Summarization
The Fugue in c-minor is one of 24 fugues and preludes in a book called the Well-Tempered Clavier. It contained one fugue or prelude in all 24 minor and major keys. It was intended to be sold as a book for people who wanted to either learn or practice their piano playing skills. The book was composed in 1722. Of all the fugues fugue in c-minor is the most popular and widely known and was an important influence on music after its publication.
3. Question
How does this piece of music connect to the work we're doing in class?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Bahram - Billie Holiday's Lady Sings the Blues
1. foundling-a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown
2. commericial-Adjective used to signify a business activity, regardless of whether that activity has been undertaken by an individual or business
Billie Holiday who originally was called Eleanora, tell the story of her life. Her parents are poor and are in the early teens when they give birth to her. She almost never would see her father, he was drafted for the army and soon after he came back he went on to be a musician who was always on tour. Her father never came and gave Billie's mother a divorce and married another woman. Her mother left her with Billie's cousin Ida, when she left to work and save up money for them to have a nice life.While living with her cousin Ida she would be beaten and would have to fight of cousin Ida's son from raping her. She got sick of it and went to work cleaning people's house. After some time her mother came back and she had saved $900 for them to live on which during that time was a nice amount of money.Living with her mother was quite nice untill she was almost raped, sent to jail, and treated horribly at a catholic institution. When she grows up she becomes a singer, singing infront of a large crowd witha thirty-four-piece band behind her.
Question:
Her mother and her worked hard to save up money to live a normal life and she ended up becoming a famous singer. If they can work so hard and make money and have a successful life should the government support single parents who have no money and jobs or should they have them work hard like Billie and her mother without support from the government?
2. commericial-Adjective used to signify a business activity, regardless of whether that activity has been undertaken by an individual or business
Billie Holiday who originally was called Eleanora, tell the story of her life. Her parents are poor and are in the early teens when they give birth to her. She almost never would see her father, he was drafted for the army and soon after he came back he went on to be a musician who was always on tour. Her father never came and gave Billie's mother a divorce and married another woman. Her mother left her with Billie's cousin Ida, when she left to work and save up money for them to have a nice life.While living with her cousin Ida she would be beaten and would have to fight of cousin Ida's son from raping her. She got sick of it and went to work cleaning people's house. After some time her mother came back and she had saved $900 for them to live on which during that time was a nice amount of money.Living with her mother was quite nice untill she was almost raped, sent to jail, and treated horribly at a catholic institution. When she grows up she becomes a singer, singing infront of a large crowd witha thirty-four-piece band behind her.
Question:
Her mother and her worked hard to save up money to live a normal life and she ended up becoming a famous singer. If they can work so hard and make money and have a successful life should the government support single parents who have no money and jobs or should they have them work hard like Billie and her mother without support from the government?
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Jatinder - X-Men
1. Mutants- People born with superpowers
Professor X -Professor Charles Xavier, a mutant telepath
Cyclops- Scott Summers, a mutant with an beam controlled by his visor and glasses
Iceman- Robert "Bobby" Drake; a mutant with ice powers
The Angel -Warren Worthington III, a mutant with wings
The Beast -Henry "Hank" McCoy, a mutant with enhanced strength and agility
Marvel Girl -Jean Grey, a mutant with telekinetic powers
Magneto- a mutant with magnetic powers
2. Professor X trains his young students that he has called X-men. They are mutants born with abilities that set them apart from normal humans. The X-men are Cyclops (Scott Summers), Beast (Hank McCoy), Iceman (Bobby Drake), and Angel (Warren Worthington III). The Xavier school for gifted students gains a new student Jean Grey who will be called Marvel Girl. Professor X built this school to train mutants to use their powers responsibility. He recognized that more and more mutants were appearing ever day and that some mutant may decide they should rule the planet, Professor X called these mutants "Evil Mutants".The first evil mutant to threaten humanity was a mutant named Magneto. He made is presence known to the world by sabotaging multiple top secret US missile tests before demanding the surrender of a military base to him. He was able to take over the military base and hold the army out with a magnetic force field. He hadn't planned on the arrival of the X-men though. Cyclops was able to breach Magneto's force field. They were able to hold Magneto off until he fled the scene.
3. What could have been the message of this comic book relating to society in that time in history?
Professor X -Professor Charles Xavier, a mutant telepath
Cyclops- Scott Summers, a mutant with an beam controlled by his visor and glasses
Iceman- Robert "Bobby" Drake; a mutant with ice powers
The Angel -Warren Worthington III, a mutant with wings
The Beast -Henry "Hank" McCoy, a mutant with enhanced strength and agility
Marvel Girl -Jean Grey, a mutant with telekinetic powers
Magneto- a mutant with magnetic powers
2. Professor X trains his young students that he has called X-men. They are mutants born with abilities that set them apart from normal humans. The X-men are Cyclops (Scott Summers), Beast (Hank McCoy), Iceman (Bobby Drake), and Angel (Warren Worthington III). The Xavier school for gifted students gains a new student Jean Grey who will be called Marvel Girl. Professor X built this school to train mutants to use their powers responsibility. He recognized that more and more mutants were appearing ever day and that some mutant may decide they should rule the planet, Professor X called these mutants "Evil Mutants".The first evil mutant to threaten humanity was a mutant named Magneto. He made is presence known to the world by sabotaging multiple top secret US missile tests before demanding the surrender of a military base to him. He was able to take over the military base and hold the army out with a magnetic force field. He hadn't planned on the arrival of the X-men though. Cyclops was able to breach Magneto's force field. They were able to hold Magneto off until he fled the scene.
3. What could have been the message of this comic book relating to society in that time in history?
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Daniel - X-Men
At first i was surprised to find that i would be reading a comic book and having to write a blog entry on it. I had felt that it would not have enough information write a good entry, however after completing the comic i had found that it actually had a lot of good information to write about.
The comic starts out telling the reader about this motionless character who is sitting alone in a room, and then later informing us of a certain institution which turns out to actually be a school for "mutants", who are people with extraordinary powers. As the comic continues we are introduced the different characters who are involved in this comic. we meet Angel,Cyclops, Beast, and Iceman, who all have individual powers of their own which we learn about as the comic continues, and are all members of the superhero team the X-Men. later on we see these characters training with there master, Professor Xavier.
As the X-men are training we see all of the amazing abilities that each of these characters have. I think that by showing these characters with all of these special powers it makes the reader more envious, and makes him almost happy to see the characters, and feels inspired by them that maybe the reader himself can also help do some good in the world that they live in. As the comic goes on we are introduced to another character who later joins the X-men, her name is Jean Grey. later Jean is given her codename, "Marvel Girl".
Later on we are introduced to the villain in this comic, whose name is Magneto who has control over all kinds of magnetic fields, and anything that is related to magnets. The reason that a villain is put into this comic is to instill fear in the reader and make him feel afraid. It also helps the reader get more excited as to what will happen to the main characters, who in this case are the good guys. After learning more about Magneto we see that he has taken over control over the military base and is threatening the world. after finding out about this news the X-men finally get to take action and do what they had been training for and that is to protect the humans. What follows after this in my opinion is the climax of the comic, and the most exciting part for the reader to read about. The reader does not know what to expect, and doesn't know who overall who is going to win the battle between good and evil.
The next scene begins with angel explaining to the military who the X-Men they are, and that they are here to help. After getting permission from the military to help, the X-men do what they did best and began to fight evil. After getting through magneto's protective barrier, and fighting off the missiles that he had fired at them earlier, they had ended up fending him off. However Magneto was able up escape, but the humans are left safe and the day was still saved thanks to the X-men. I think that the reason that this episode ended with the bad guy escaping was a very good decision. I feel that by having an ending like this it makes the reader get a sense of anxiousness as to what will happen next episode, and will make the reader want to buy another issue of this comic book. I also found that many movies these days will have a similar ending, were it is uncertain just what happened to the bad guy, this is because it makes the reader either want to see the movie again or maybe see the movies sequel. However in either case it will keep the movie and/or comic book on the readers mind, and that is what good authors do with their books. I also feel that this technique is used in most urban legends, due to the fact that it makes the reader remember the story, and keeps it on his mind so he wont forget, and will probably end up telling other people about it as well.
some definitions that the reader may need to know for this story is the definition of a mutant- which is a person who has super/extra ordinary powers or mysterious abilities. the reader should also know what each mutant in the story can do and that is that angel- has wings and can fly. marvel girl- she has the ability of telekenesis. the beast- a large mutant who is very large and big and has ultra super strength. magneto- he is the villain in the comic and he has super magnetic powers can can control all magnetic things. cyclops- a mutant who can shoot beans out from his visor over his eyes. professor x- he is the professor who founded and helped trained the x-men and he himself can read peoples minds. iceman- he is a mutant who has special ice powers and can create and control ice to do whatever he pleases.
Question- why do you think that they ended this issue of the comic with the villain escaping and getting away?
The comic starts out telling the reader about this motionless character who is sitting alone in a room, and then later informing us of a certain institution which turns out to actually be a school for "mutants", who are people with extraordinary powers. As the comic continues we are introduced the different characters who are involved in this comic. we meet Angel,Cyclops, Beast, and Iceman, who all have individual powers of their own which we learn about as the comic continues, and are all members of the superhero team the X-Men. later on we see these characters training with there master, Professor Xavier.
As the X-men are training we see all of the amazing abilities that each of these characters have. I think that by showing these characters with all of these special powers it makes the reader more envious, and makes him almost happy to see the characters, and feels inspired by them that maybe the reader himself can also help do some good in the world that they live in. As the comic goes on we are introduced to another character who later joins the X-men, her name is Jean Grey. later Jean is given her codename, "Marvel Girl".
Later on we are introduced to the villain in this comic, whose name is Magneto who has control over all kinds of magnetic fields, and anything that is related to magnets. The reason that a villain is put into this comic is to instill fear in the reader and make him feel afraid. It also helps the reader get more excited as to what will happen to the main characters, who in this case are the good guys. After learning more about Magneto we see that he has taken over control over the military base and is threatening the world. after finding out about this news the X-men finally get to take action and do what they had been training for and that is to protect the humans. What follows after this in my opinion is the climax of the comic, and the most exciting part for the reader to read about. The reader does not know what to expect, and doesn't know who overall who is going to win the battle between good and evil.
The next scene begins with angel explaining to the military who the X-Men they are, and that they are here to help. After getting permission from the military to help, the X-men do what they did best and began to fight evil. After getting through magneto's protective barrier, and fighting off the missiles that he had fired at them earlier, they had ended up fending him off. However Magneto was able up escape, but the humans are left safe and the day was still saved thanks to the X-men. I think that the reason that this episode ended with the bad guy escaping was a very good decision. I feel that by having an ending like this it makes the reader get a sense of anxiousness as to what will happen next episode, and will make the reader want to buy another issue of this comic book. I also found that many movies these days will have a similar ending, were it is uncertain just what happened to the bad guy, this is because it makes the reader either want to see the movie again or maybe see the movies sequel. However in either case it will keep the movie and/or comic book on the readers mind, and that is what good authors do with their books. I also feel that this technique is used in most urban legends, due to the fact that it makes the reader remember the story, and keeps it on his mind so he wont forget, and will probably end up telling other people about it as well.
some definitions that the reader may need to know for this story is the definition of a mutant- which is a person who has super/extra ordinary powers or mysterious abilities. the reader should also know what each mutant in the story can do and that is that angel- has wings and can fly. marvel girl- she has the ability of telekenesis. the beast- a large mutant who is very large and big and has ultra super strength. magneto- he is the villain in the comic and he has super magnetic powers can can control all magnetic things. cyclops- a mutant who can shoot beans out from his visor over his eyes. professor x- he is the professor who founded and helped trained the x-men and he himself can read peoples minds. iceman- he is a mutant who has special ice powers and can create and control ice to do whatever he pleases.
Question- why do you think that they ended this issue of the comic with the villain escaping and getting away?
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