Bad Romance

In the beginning of the song there is a bit of circus music that plays, which comments on the entire song. In the song she is talking about how she wants to be with this guy even though he isn't perfect. She wants everything about him, even the bad. She wants his love, disease, drama, ugly, etc. Unlike a regular love song, (and like the shakespeare sonnet) she isn't talking about the convention reasons that you love somebody. She challenges these conventions by talknig about how she could love every last bit of him. The tempo of the song is very upbeat and happy. There is a dominant base that is reminicant of continuous punching or banging. The tone and mood that it gives off is very happy. When most people listen to this song they can find themselves dancing, jumping up and down and singing along. Whats funny is that the lyrics aren't talking about very happy things but the music gives off the happy upbeat tone so it creates that mood for the entire song. The lyrics are interesting because a lot of her lyrics are made-up words and sounds. "Ra Ra Ah Ah Ah" and "Roma" aren't actual words but she incorperates them into her songs and makes them seem like actual words. The music is kind of techno even though the song's genre would be considered Pop. It definetly has an electronic/techno feel to it because of the upbeat melody. Unlike a lot of pop songs though her voice and vocals are very dominant. You can really hear her voice and the tones that she hits and its not drowned out by a loud backround or base.

Rihanna's Russian Roulette

Rihanna's song Russian Roulette is a somber, slow beat love song. The tempo is very slow and very different from most of her upbeat, happy songs. It has a very persistant beat in the backround that creates this soft, slow melody. The song is very much about her vocals instead of about the music or the beat. Because its slow, her voice is very loud and isn't drowned out by the music. The lyrics go along with the slow tempo with long, dragged out cords which creates a depressing mood. The song is a love song but its more of a sad love song than one that talks about love in a happy light. The lyrics are about the fears of love and talks a lot about death, which most love songs don't touch upon. If i had to put a color to the song it would be navy blue, red and black. The navy blue would be for her vocals because they are dragged out and feel almost long and painful. And the actual lyrics would be red and black because they are dark and depressing and talk about death which reminds me of bood. The genre of the song i think would still be considered pop but more of a jazz/blue base. It has a sort of rythm and blues feel to it but you can still see how it is pop because thats what Rihanna mostly sings. The song gives off a sad mood while at the same time its almost inspiriring and thought-provoking. It makes you think about death and being in a life-or-death situation and how that would make you feel. The lyrics create really strong images such as "you can see my heart through my chest." The imagery is so vivid that we can picture her heart pulsating through her chest because of how frightened she is.

Coors Light

This Coors Light ad is showing a can of coors light that has been cut in half. The can reads, "Colder than Kim when you called her Katie." This ad is obviously targeting men and trying to get men to buy the beer. They are enticing them by giving them an analogy of how cold the beer is and relating it to a situation that most men have found themselves in. The saying is demeaning towards women because it is about a woman sleeping with a man and the guy not even having the decency to remember her name. The ad is supposed to make it relatable to men and also has a humorous element to it. The can is peeling away from the can, which is a testament to how cold the can is. It's so cold that the can is pulling away from itself, making a guy want to drink it even more. I think that the ad achieved its goal in getting men to buy this type of beer. But, as a woman, I don't appreciate the message its giving off. It makes it seem as if all woman are going to have one night stands with guys who don't care and are therefore going to call her by the wrong name.

I Got a Woman

Ray Charles's song I Got a Woman is a jazz song with an semi-upbeat rythm and melody. The song itself is talking about how Ray has a woman that is really good to him. Unlike the Kanye song, it is not demoralizing women but instead talking about how good this one woman is. He exlpains how she takes care of him and is only demoralizing once when he says, "she knows her place is in the home." But, back then the womans place was in the home. The tempo is kind of slow because of the jazz element. Its genre also could be categorized as rythm and blues because it gives off that melody a little bit. But the jazz part is more apparent because the lyrics are happy and talking about something good, not depressing. It gives off a happy mood and kind of makes you want to jump around and dance a bit. The instrument used are all of the jazz instruments like saxaphone. There is a sax solo in the middle of the song. Its funny how Ray Charles's song is all about how good woman are and how this one particular woman is so good to him and then Kanye takes it and completly turns it around to say how all woman are gold diggers and to watch out for them. He takes his message and flips it on its side. He takes exact lines of the "I got a Woman" song and will change one word of the song to suit "Gold Digger." Its interesting how by changing one word of a line of the song, it changes what that line means altogether.

Gold Digger

Kanye West's song Gold Digger is a rap/hip-hop song about women who date men and are just in it for the money. The song has a very upbeat tempo and is meant to inspire a good and happy mood. The lyrics talk about what a gold digger looks like and how they act. He talks about signing prenuptual agreements and child support in the lyrics. The lyrics have a set chorus that basically is repeating the line, "now i aint sayin she a gold digger." The chorus has the title of the song in it, so that is how you know it is an important part of the song. Since it is a rap song, there are two elements to it. You have the chorus which is has a melody and is actually sung to the music playing. And then the second element is the rapping. The parts that surround the chorus are Kanye's way to express himself-the rap. The rap is much differnt then the chorus because it is just spoken word that is much faster and upbeat then the rest of the song. It usually rhyms and is described as really fast talking. Also since its a rap song there isn't a band involved. The music was prerecorded and was a track that Kanye recorded over, not a live band thats playing while he is singing.

What is Music?

Music is a lyrical song that is put to a melody. The outcome is song that is played together to create a piece of music. That music is then a "track" and is either a single or part of a CD, which has multiple songs. The parts of music are lyrics, melody, rhythm, beat, accoustics, and the band-guittar, piano, bass, drums, etc. All of these parts come together to create a song which is considered music. The different genres of music are pop, rock, country, rap, r&b, hip-hop, jazz, folk, metal, childrens, and soundtracks. A lot of the time, music can fall under multiple catagories and does not strictly have to be one genre only. To me music is very important. Its a way that I can express my feelings because when im in a certain mood i like to listen to certain genres. Music is an outlet for me to express how im feeling at that particular moment. Music is a motivator to me, whether it be for excercise or simply for doing homework. The right type of music for the right time is crutial to my life. We read music by analyizing it the same way we do with a poem or a novel. We pick apart its words and try to analyze what those words are trying to say and what those words symbolize. We also can get a better "reading" of the song by simply reading the title. The title can tell us a lot about what the artist was trying to convey. Other ways to read music is to listen to the beat and rhythm to try to further understand what type of message the artist was sending out and what particular mood the song gives off. The different ways that music is expressed are through song, dance, theatrical performances, drama, tv shows, movies, plays, and musical theatre. Music is a very important element in all types of entertainment whether it be TV or movies- without music it would be a very dull and boring world.

Have a Man Head over Heels

This advertisement is for an old swimsuit company called Jantzen. The picture is of a sexy woman laying in a seductive pose wearing a one-piece bikini. There is also a man wearing a bright-yellow Speedo while looking at the woman in shock. Not only is he enthralled with the woman but also his dog looks very excited as well. We can tell that this is a dated ad because of the way it looks and the portrayal of both the man and woman. The text reads, “there’s something about a Jantzen.” The advertisement is implying that by wearing a Jantzen bathing suite you will have all the men flocking towards you and staring at you. The woman is just sitting there without regard to the way the man is acting or what is going on around her. The ad makes it seem like the only way a woman can get a man is with her looks and seemingly great bikini body. Personally I don’t like the ads implication because it makes it seem like all a woman is worth is how she looks in a bathing suite.  This ad is directed towards women because its trying to encourage them to buy their bathing suites but I think making them seem more worthy would sell them better.

Essay Outline

Intro: Introduce the show, introduce the episode

-explain Lorelia’s financial situation

-explain the grandparents financial situation and what role they play in Lorelia’s education

-Friday night dinners

-Lorelai and Rory

Thesis: Gilmore Girls is a critique the unfairness of class systems through the relationship between Loreilai and her parents, the role that money plays in Rori’s education, and the strong relationship between Loreli and Rory despite the absence of wealth in their family.

Paragraph #1: Through the apparent financial divide between Lorelai and her parents, Gilmore Girls conveys the stereotypes portrayed of the lower and upper classes.

                Evidence1-judge her for becoming pregnant at 16, not the life they wanted for her

Analysis1-depiction of an upper vs. lower class stereotype: rich people don’t get pregnant at a young age

                Evidence2-didn’t finish college, how they don’t appreicate her going back to school       

Analysis2-people with money go to college and graduate right after high school, she did something different and they couldn’t accept it, even when she tried to fix it it wasn’t enough to win back their respect, idea that going to college grants you “respect” and “honor” in your family

Paragraph #2: As Lorelai runs out of funds for Rory’s education, she becomes financially dependent and indebted to her parents reflecting how our credit system is unfair and propagates the class system.

                Evidence1-Lorelia has to borrow money from her parents

Analysis1-Lorelai already doesn’t have enough money, borrowing money from her parents makes her have even less money, in debt. People who have money can go to college, people who don’t have to borrow money and thus have even less money then they started. Poor students poorer

Evidence2-Friday night dinners are an obligation

Analysis2-mirrors being indepted to a bank, they are obligated to go to dinner at their house every Friday night. Unfair- theres always strings attached

Paragraph #3: Rory and Lorelais reltionship is a depiction of the strong divide between classes as well as the relationship it engenders within classes.

Evidence1-rory wants to make her mothers life better-à asks emily herself for money so shes indebted and not her mother

Analysis1-unlike her grandparents she supports her mother, they are in the same class system so she understands, she can relate

Evidence2-supported her going back to school and her dream in opening the dragonfly inn

Analysis2-

Live above or get sucked under

This advertisement is one by “Above the Influence,” which is a company that strives to encourage teenagers to stay away from drugs and alcohol. In all of their ads and commercials, they show real situations that kids get put in and how you can avoid those very situations. In this commercial, there is a teenage girl who has passed out, either from too much alcohol or an overdose. She is lying on a cough while other teenagers write on her face and play with her like she is a puppet. They are making fun of her and making her look like a fool. They make remarks like “she is so gone right now” and “she is trashed…she’s going to have a headache in the morning.” What is especially disturbing about this video is that nobody is there to watch over her. Normally in a situation like this, your best friend or someone you trust would be there to look after you and make sure you are okay. But instead she is all alone and being taunted by other kids. The commercial is a very powerful one because most kids who party can relate to this very easily. In the end the words, “If you’re not in control, who is?” appears on the screen, which is a very powerful statement. It makes you want to never be in this situation and live about the influence. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5JHDupR24

Seinfeld Discussion

Genre: The genre of the show is a sitcom. We know that its a sitcom because of the upbeat music and the audience's laughter in the backround: laughtrack . It is full of jokes and laughter and meant to entertain.
The characters in the scene are Jerry Seinfeld, Elain, and George. They are eating in an italian place and talking about how the whole world has become obsessed with Pesto Sauce. I think that the scene is very true to reality and what goes on in everyday life. People go to dinner all the time and critique their food and people watch and judge other people. The situation with the waiter is also very common. They are all middle-aged, middle-class white people. Something that is missing or absent from the scene is presence of something different. There is nobody who is poor or of a differnt race or african american. Everything is the same and familiar to the average, white American. When Elain is talking about how she is having a "male visitor," this was very common as it's about a male/female relationship. These types of sitcoms are always about relationships and sex and it was not surprising that they brought up her possible new love interest. As we were watching we got to see first hand how shows, even when they aren't being watched on the tv, can be controlling. Since the internet connection was slow, we had to wait patiently for the video to load. Every few minutes it would pause and we would have to sit there and wait for the video to be ready so that we could enjoy it.

They Say I Say Excersice

A) A recent article suggusted that there may be something wrong with the Ohio groundwater and that all residents should take caution when drinking public water.

B) The New York Times has named My Sisters Keeper as “flawless” and deemed it one of the best American novels ever written.

C) The only people who tend to watch football are men because women find that the sport violent.

D) A recent study showed that when in a big, public space of people, women tend to become shy and self-conscious of what they want to say and tend to speak less.

E) The film 500 Days of Summer, the main problem was with the main characters communication and commitment problems.

F) There are many templates in They Say I Say that help students write clear and concise papers.

Paper 1 Freewrite

I am thinking that I will write about and episode of Nip/Tuck. Nip Tuck is a series about 2 best friends who are partners in a plastic surgery buisness. It takes place in miami and is about sex, cheating, lies, scandal, beauty, love and controvery. There is one episode where Seanwho is one of the partners falls in love with one of his patients. He discovers that his patient has cancer and had her breasts removed and she is coming in to get breasts reconstructed. She chickens out and ends up not doing it and they notice that they have a connection for eachother. After some time she comes back after deciding she really does want to have her breasts done and her and Sean get together. They start to have an affair. Sean has a wife and kids and a family but he is going through a rough patch because him and his wife had lost a child. Seans mistress's cancer gets so bad and comes back that she decides to end her own life by overdosing on pills while sean holds her hand. I would like to explore some different themes of love. Like how Sean could be madly in love with both his wife and his mistress, does the heart have the ability to love so many people at once? And also about her suicide. Was it wrong for Sean to let her do it? Was he therefore commiting murder by watching and letting her kill herself? And then the notion of actually killing herself bc the cancer got worse, should she of gotten 2nd opinions, what if there is a cure? In the end Sean and his wife went to her funeral and his wife was suspicious about how utterly depressed he was and figured out that he was having an affair. She cant forgive him, Do marriages ever get over bumps in the road like these? Does betryal make our heart stop loving someone? These are very broad topics about life and death but I could narrow it down to the value of life and the dynamics of a marriage and love and how dishonesty and cheating play a role in almost all marraiges

Pro-choice

I disagree with the belief that women should not have the choice in whether to keep or abort their pregnancy. There are some situations where women need to be able to decide for themselves if a pregnancy is right for their current predicament. For example, if a woman is raped and therefore becomes pregnant, she should have the right to abort the child, as the pregnancy would create excess trauma in her life. There are many instances where the choice to have a baby should lie solely in the hands of the mother.

Pro-life

Personally, I believe in pro-life. No matter what the situation at hand, a child should never be aborted. A human fetus, even in its first trimester, is a person and thus has a right to life. Life should be valued from the moment the egg is fertilized. If you kill this embryo or fetus, you are killing a person. If murdering a human being is ethically wrong, then so is killing an innocent fetus.

Miley Cyrus Unleashed

Miley Cyrus is growing up. The 17 year-old pop star recently released her video for her new single “Can’t Be Tamed.” This video acted as a way that she could “come out” and breakaway from her squeaky clean Disney tween image. Miley is portrayed as a sex symbol and a bird-like creature that people have traveled to look at. She is in a cage and breaks away from the cage as to metaphorically show her coming into her own and leaving Disney behind. The entire video she is wearing nothing but what seems to be lingerie and hooker boots. Her dance moves are sexual and sensual, as to symbolize her transition into becoming a woman. She is surrounded by dancers the entire video, while they simulate same-sex kissing and provocative dancing. It is fine that Miley wants to grow up, but the problem lies that some of her fans have not. Most Miley Cyrus fans are around the ages of 5-12. These girls are certainly not grown up and may not be mature enough to see a video that is so raunchy and sexual. Personally, I think that she could have weened her way into this “new and improved” Miley instead of just shocking all her fans and parents with her overt sexual behavior. But, she certainly accomplished what she hoped for: Miley version 2.0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjSG6z_13-Q&ob=av2e

Don't Tread on Me

This news article is about a man, Andy McDonel, who put up a flag in front of his house in Arizona. It is a 3x5 yellow flag that reads “Don’t Tread on Me,” with a serpent coiling above it. The neighbors who saw this flag were obvously offended and called the Home Owner’s Association to take care of the issue. McDonel put up this flag as a representation of all our founding fathers have done for our country. The Home Owners Association on the other hand, does not believe that the flag stands for anything significant. They are claiming that the flag, “doesn’t fit [their] rules” (Webb). McDonel has no intention of taking the flag down because he thinks it is a symbol of patriarchy. He plans to leave the flag up and do whatever it takes to show he is not in the wrong.

Women Empowered by Dove

Dove has always been a company that is known for using real women to sell their products. This advertisement is for a dove self-tanning body lotion. There are 4 women in this advertisement. They are all in their bra and underwear and are proudly showing off their bodies next to each other, embracing their differences. Unlike most ads where women are half naked, these 4 women are "real," everyday women. They are not size 0 models but women of all different size, shape and color. Some of the women are thin and some of them are not. Unlike other ads that are misleading and try to make you buy these products simply to look like the skinny women in the photos, this ad appeals to the universal women and is true to what real women look like. Some of these women are tall, some are short, some are big breasted, and some are not. This is the reality of our world, which makes this ad appealing to not only model-sized women but to all women. The ad’s text says, “good for your skin great for your look.” This text is a feel-good line that appeals to everyone. As an individual, each woman can use this lotion as a way to make her personal look great. I personally like this advertisement and think Dove’s marketing approach is empowering and I hope that many other products will follow in their footsteps. Dove Ad