Farewell to Blogs

In Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms" Morrison would find plenty to talk about, ranging from the defining of an act, to the racist remarks. This novel follows an American ambulance driver through World War One with an Italian ambulance unit. Though he never gets near the front lines, the main character defines the war is being a complete waste of time that's getting them nowhere. Talking about whether the Austrians or the Germans are coming and possibly taking some captives. This can be seen as a racially defining moment, even though both sides have the same skin color, they define their race by the country they fight for. The taking of captives can be seen as the capturing of slaves of a different race to keep to help them run their army more smoothly, by abusing them for information. Yet Hemingway didn't seem as much of the type of racially unjustified writer that Morrison usually went after. He seemed to create tensions in other areas instead of using the boring old race card.

Metanarratives

I feel that America was centered around the story of dreams. Everyone has their own dream of what they want to do in their life, and America has been the catalyst for these dreams for generations of people. People have always referred to America as the land of dreams, where they can dream and work at making that dream come true one day. But as the years have gone by, America seems to be getting worse. The land of dreams doesn't seem to be entirely what it's cracked up to be. With new policies on immigration and how people get education, it's becoming harder and harder for a lower class individual to get to the dreams that they had entering or growing up in this country. Dreams have been the driving force behind this nation for many decades, but that seems to be coming to an end.

Alex's late blog of the week

Over the past couple of years music has been "redefined" by rising artists. But this new music is sometimes just a poem being read in front of a repetitive rhythm of bass and melodic moves. The last time the classics of piano that were recognized by radio stations like Z104, which seems to be what the "average" high school student listens to, was Buble's "Haven't met you yet". No longer do we have the symphonic gestures of men like Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Khachaturian, and Gershwin. Actually, I bet most students don't recgonize the signifigance that these names have in the genre of classic music. Most people belive classic music is the Beatles, or Elvis, but what about the names as recent as Gershwin or going back to Mozart's time. Can we define "rap" as a type of music? It has no genius, no design to it, the beats and melodies have all been used, just shifted in ways to make it sound different from the last hit song. The best that we have at the moment is Bruno Mars, and even that can't compare to the utter brilliance of the composers of our past. I don't want to tell our future generations that the best piece of music to come out during my high school years is "Pretty boy swag". So can we count these abomonations as music? Or just cool grooves that are easy to dance to?

Criticism: A Dying Art

In Sam Anderson's "Why Criticism Matters", he talks of how the new-age critic should write to catch the attention of the shortened attention of the "Ipocalypse". He compares criticism across different genres to give the point that when one criticizes someones writing, they have the opportunity to write with a prose and style of their own. Much like criticising a poem with another poem. The author of the criticism is therefore creating one combined super poem. The style mustn't be the super boring dry styles of old, but a new way to catch the reader's attention.

When reading this I instantly thought of a game critic that has been nicknamed Zero Punctuation. He creates a short flash cartoon of himself playing the game and criticises it with a voice over that can involve vulgar language as well as apt descriptions incredible compliments of the game's finer points. When it comes down to it, if he gives the game an overall good rating then the game usually ends up being a hit anyway, but his style in which he criticises the game makes the person want to go back and watch them again. Because they are funny to us. Therefore I agree with Anderson that the new-age critic must find different styles in order to catch the attention of the younger generation of reader. Be that shorter sentences, longer sentences, vulgar jokes, or flash cartoons with apt desciptions of things that we know inside and out.

Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald loves to create cryptic thoughts of corruption throught his entire book. From creating the idea that Gatsby is involved in criminal activity to the infidelities of Daisy being with Gatsby while with Tom to reflect the idea of how many people cheated to get around monetarily, as well as socially, during that time period. At one point in the book Gatsby mentions that Daisy's voice "is full of money". I took this as the idea that Daisy had been around the rich, Gatsby had to find a way to convince her that he was rich enough to have an equal claim to her love, making me believe that he would cheat and steal to try to get this money for her. Then Tom mentions that Gatsby is involved in bootlegging, connecting back to Fitzgeralds theme of corruption in the 20's. Much like the crimes happening in the 20's, Fitzgerald keeps them very covered up from the rest of social lives so the people would not know of the activities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/opinion/19barrett.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The article talks about how the Taliban are beginning to fall apart because they are having troubles finding new people to control them. As such, the Pakistanis are beginning to get scared of the reconciliation that will come from opposing nations.

This article caught my attention because for years everyone has been talking about the taliban being the enemy. But then it seems like nobody has bothered to talk to the Taliban leaders about what they are doing. Now it seems like the Taliban are beginning to fall apart without anybody to control them.

Genres

Topic: Running

Song: I can go the distance, from Disney's Hercules

This song creates a feeling in the reader that makes them want to keep working towards their goal of being a better runner; however, there are limitations to this. This song is not specifically designed to help people run better by teaching them about running or getting good at it.
Article:
http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Tempo_Running_Tips_to_Boost_Your_Speed.htm

The article is about how one can become a better runner. Unlike the song, it doesn't make you want to jump out of your seat and go for a run, but it makes you think of a strategy that will help you to reach your goal of becoming a better runner.

Poem: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/running-61/

In a poem, it creates a different thought environment about the act of running. It makes you feel the writer's love of running instead of the idea of it.