Wednesday, September 24- Endearing Quality

                                 Endearing Quality
              I am a very loving person. I am very committed in my relationships. My friends and family are very important to me and I feel it's important to be nice and accepting to everybody. I am likely to pick up on if something is not going well with a person before anybody else. I have very few relationships because I think it is important to really get to know a person and make time for them.

Tuesday, September 23- Strange Fruit

                     Dragon Fruit

                          This is actually not strange to me at all. This fruit is called a dragon fruit. It is actually quite good. The texture is that of the inside of a grape and it has a very mild, sweet taste. It is an Asian fruit and is actually very common there. The reason I do not think it is weird is because I am half Vietnamese and have grown up eating this. It has tiny seeds on the inside that are fine to eat. The taste on the inside is rather disappointing given the vibrant look on the outside.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya LINK TO INFORMATION ON DRAGON FRUIT

Tuesday, September 16 - The Spoon's Perspective

                                                    The Spoon

                        Everyday I lay in this drawer awaiting the horror that is being used to eat by these nasty humans. Some days they do not pick me up depending on how recently I have been washed. Oh no the burning light is back! This means they are opening the drawer. Today I am the first spoon in the pile. I silently scream as the grubby hands of the small child pick me up and dump me into the cold, sticky yogurt. It smells rather bad and I can't seen a thing except the cloud of pink. However, this is far better than peanut butter. The child takes for ever to eat and it keeps using me as a drumstick on the table. This is my life. Pure torture everyday. This is not even the worst part of the process. The worst is what comes next. The vicious storm of water I will be thrown into. The child throws me into the sink and I make a loud sound as I hit the bottom.  All day I sit in silence in the smelly sink until it in finally night. Hands are coming towards me. These are the hands I hate the most. The hands of the child's mother. She picks me up, runs scolding hot water over me and dumps me into the small basket in the dishwater with my other friends. We all sit grimly in silence as a the door to the dreadful machine closes. I hear buttons being pushed then it starts; oh the horror. I still am just as scared every time as the angry waves of water and burning soap engulf me. I hear my friends screaming. The spatula has the most raw horrible scream. She is new. This is her first time being washed. The water burns for what seems like eternity. The screams of me and my friends turn into whimpers. Eventually, it stops. We are all left sitting cold, wet and violated. The woman pulls us all out one by one, dries us off and throws us back in the dark drawer that we call home. I sigh and wait for the next day. I wait for the vicious cycle to start up again as it always does.

Monday, September 15 - What the Deuce?

                                        La Mariee

      La Mariee or "The Bride" in French is a very complex painting. Marc Chagall did not usually use such contrasting colors in his pieces, but this particular piece was meant to capture your attention. The bride is wearing a bright red dress with a traditional white veil and flowers. She stands out because it is as if she is be presented directly to the viewer of the piece. Compared to the rest of the picture, she is rather bright. The rest of the picture is very blue and muted. The characters seem to be celebrating the bride. Perhaps this is how Marc Chagall viewed his fiancée who, at the time, was separated from him. The piece is very beautiful and a stand out in Chagall's collective works.

Thurday, September 11- Music Critic

      
       "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People

                                  "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People is a good song if you are just paying attention to the music. It has a very indie - alternative vibe to it. That being said, the song's lyric's require understanding. Foster the People have no comment on if the song is about a specific person in the group or someone they knew. The song is about "Robert" (a metaphor for any angry- crazy kid overwhelmed with these feelings). His home life is awful, he has an abusive father and Robert is jealous of "all the other kids with the pumped up kicks" are the normal kids with lives Robert wants to have. His anger is directed at them and they better run because Robert has a gun in hand. This could be interpreted as reckless song that individuals should not be exposed to or it could be looked at as a message. The message is  that you never know what is happening inside a person. The instrumentals and different auto tunes the voices are put into represent this persons mind well.  In an interview for this article, Foster the People said they had no comment on specifics of the song; they want people to interpret it the way they want to. They do not care about the hate they get on the song. Everybody views things differently. "Pumped up Kicks" is a very attractive song instrumental wise however, lyric wise it depends on how you choose to view it.

Tuesday, September 9 - Film Review

                                   HUGO
                                  By: Ingrid Butler

        Hugo was a poor representation of the imaginative story in the book, Hugo Cabret.
The writers for the movie obviously had no passion for the story- they were only after money. This fail of a movie did not get nearly the money the expected nor did it tell the story correctly. The characters were of in their individuality. Hugo, the main character was not at all like he was in the book (a spunky, imaginative boy.) In this movie adaptation he was simply a reckless child. Save yourself the time and money and do not go see this film. One minor pro of the movie was the fact that they at least got the setting right. It is in the city with clocked all around. I do not however, remember Hugo singing in musical number in the book. This is not a musical it is meant to be a lesson teaching story. Not everything has to be turned into some cheesy Hollywood adaptation. The author of this book deserves an apology as I'm sure people are not going to go buy his book after the absurdity of the film. In the end, Hugo was a major disappointment and I would strongly recommend not seeing it. Save your movie for something worthwhile


                              

Monday, September 8- America, Fairyville?

                                            The Color of the Leaves

                Mariska the fairy looks out her dorm window as she wakes. She looks over distastefully at her human roommate, Ana. Ana doesn't know Mariska is a fairy. Mariska came here to the human world for adventure. She wanted to experience what the humans had. However, the human world was not as magical as she expected. She is in an art college of course. Her talent as a fairy is the art of the seasons. Those beautiful, warm colors you see at fall? That is all Mariska. Mariska thinks she won't stay in the human world for long. It gets uncomfortable to hide her wings all the time and, she would rather pant with her magic than a paint brush. Ana is awake now, she rolls her eyes at Mariska. It is safe to say the roomates do not get along. Mariska stays up all night and causes Ana to lose sleep. Ana always makes a mess out of the room. Mariska slams the door on her way out. That will teach her she thinks. Mariska drags herself into her first class, Modern Art 3. These humans have no talent. They simply paint with paint brushes on dead trees and the paint is manmade. 20 more mintues of this dreadful class. Mariska fiddles  in her seat. She is itching to fly. The leaves outside are not changing colors as they normally do at this time. Mariska finally can't take it. She pops out her huge, luminescent wings and smiles as the naïve humans all stare and gasp. Mariska flies out of the school returing to her normal tiny shape as soon as the crisp air hits her. With a wave of her finger the leaves change into the orange, red, and even burnt yellow colors that they are supposed to. The sky gets a little darker. Mariska promises herself she will never return to the human world again.