Monday, February 28, 2011

Heart it Races

this song is unique in its own way. i appreciate this band in their individuality and originality and this song happens to be a good song and i enjoyed listening to it. It made my day.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Black smoke

In my opinion, this painting is a figure representing the "black smoke" which looms over today's societies like a terrible storm that never wishes to go away. This painting is a symbol of war, pollution, expansion, and destruction of nature that was not ours to destroy. In turn, the nature we are destroying and modernizing is the same nature that is killing us. I dont know. I think i may have read too deep into the painting. That is my point of view tho.

Monday, February 21, 2011

What We Forget

When u live in a fantasy world then u r bound to make the same mistakes u made in the past because u r trying to avoid making those mistakes again. This is the message i believe the quote is sending. Don't throw urself too far into fantasy and glory less u forget where u came from and the same exact circumstances creep up on u.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Matisse

this painting was obviously painted during the feminst movement. to me, the picture has portrayed a woman who has prepared a dinner for her husband who is not home because he is out drinking late again.  the woman is tired and hurt and she knows all to well that she is going to give her husband a scolding. then, he will get her drunk and the inevitable will happen.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Heroic matters

A hero is neither defined by his identitiy not by the super strength he may possess. Nor is he defined by how fast he can run. So, what is a hero? well, a hero could be anybody. Me, you, uncle sam, keeper of the zoo. a hero is defined by his ability to be selfless and self-aware of those around them. one who will go out of their way to make everyone else comfortable even at the expense of their own discomfort. However, my favorite definition of a hero would be "a person who, in the opinion of someone else, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regardes as a model or ideal" as portrayed by http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/hero. It is my opinion that everyone needs a hero. there is not one person on the face of the planet that has not been in a situation where they needed a hero. Spouses are heroes. Friends are heroes. Families are heroes. Religious beliefs are heroes. the list goes on and on and that is why i believe everone has a hero. Imaginary heroes such as superman or batman and the broad worlds of the comic book universe are needed to give an appeal much larger than life to those that we aspire to be. For a kid to compare his dad to superman is something that strikes the heart of even the thickest skin. My hero is myself. as conceited as it sounds, why idolize other people when you are your own hero everyday just by waking up and going throughout the day. You could be a hero just by choosing not to give that person that took your rightaway the bird. this goes back to the idea of love. You cannot love others until you first love yourself so why idolize the outer world when you can be proud of yourself.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Island

This was a very interesting song filled with many emotions, however, it is a difficult piece to disect due to its length. I would like to say there was a sense of sorrow and love written in this song but i can't be too sure. It would take forever for me to disect therefore i am not going to even try. It is an excellent song though. I espaecially enjoyed the part about the landlord's daughter in that it depicts a man stealing a woman's love and that is how things ought to be done. LOL. It was an excellent song though and i enjoyed it alot.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Just Like Starting Over

When you see some one with potential and good intentions, U think helping them wouldnt hurt. I never judge any one from their past. or what for what their wearing or how their grammer is when they speak. I only see them as the person their persenality shows me. I dont mind giving a helping hand to a person who actually WANTS it. because they're many people who need the help and will probably let you waste your time on them just to freeload. You do not just go around offering your help to everyone, anyone., But listen to your gut and make a move. its possible you might change someones life.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Beowulf

  1.  In your opinion, what view of youth and old age does Beowulf convey? In answering, consider not only the details in the last part of the poem but also the earlier portrayals of Beowulf and Hrothgar. According to the poem, life was short. Beowulf was young at the beginning of the story and had godlike strength. As he got "old", he became mortal and ended up dying because he had lost all his strength. Most of the people of this time died in their late twenties.
  2. On the basis of your reading Beowulf, what quantities or values do you think the Anglo-Saxons admired? How would you compare those admired quantities or values with those that we admire in present day San Antonio? Anglo-Saxons enjoyed adventure and thrill. They loved stories of courageous men who did amazing things because it drove them to be brave in times of danger and added meaning to their lives. San Antonio is very similar to this belief. We are Texans, therefore we are already followers of the idea of adventure and thrill. It runs in our blood. Many San Antonians follow stories of great people in history that did great things. For instance, the men who fought in the battle of the Alamo. These stories give us a higher sense of purpose in our lives and allow for us to perservere all the more.
  3. In today's society, we have our own kinds of "monsters" who threaten our safety or way of life. Who or what are today's monsters, and what threat do they pose? Todays monsters are those who are mentally unstable. These are people who will kill, steal, pillage, torment, and other related things. These are people who don't care that the decisions affect those around them. People like politicians are monsters in that they only want to pass laws and bills to their benefit. The media is a monster because it is manipulated by the government and is constantly trying to brainwash the minds of americans across the nation. Monsters of today includes terrorism both domestic and international. There are many kinds of monsters that pose great danger to our nation and its citizens. Yet the very monsters that are endangering us are the same monsters who are there to "protect" us from other monsters.
  4. Invent two original kennings and explain what they mean.
  • Mother-heart: the heart of a mother is a heart of love and nurishment for her children. Therefore, a mother-heart is one who loves and cherishes the feelings of those around them.
  • Life-giver: giving a life has more than one meaning in its figurative state than literal. One could be a life-giver if he feeds wisdom to the hearts and minds of those around him. One could be a life-giver by encouraging those around him to perservere. One could be a life giver by giving testimonies and deterring others from the path of evil. In this case, a life- giver is simply one who dedicates their own life to saving the lives of others physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Relativism

I, myself, am not a relativist. However, the idea of relativism is not one to be passed up hastily. Relativism is okay on certain levels. Like communism, there is the idea that everything is the same and that no one idea or belief is better than the other. There are extremes to relativism that i would not go to just as there are extremes in communism i would not go to; that no man should go to. Overall, I believe relativism is a good idea that i could follow to a certain extent, just like communism.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Sympathy for the Devil

Many times, we feel sympathy for our enemies because of the way they are treated even as our enemies. There is such a guilt in the way we treat eachother that we sometimes forget how it feels to be treated bad. When we are oppressed, we try to opress our oprressors on a higher level without realizing that we oppress them and how they have already been oppressed by others on levels we cannot even imagine. Every oppressor has been oppressed on great levels. No one wakes up and says, "I think I'll go oppress someone today because i feel like it" unless they are mentally unstable which can come from being oppressed for a given length of time. Oppressors oppress as a feeling of relief from whatever may be oppressing them. Most of the time, they don't even realize they are oppressing others because they are so far gone that it feels right to oppress because it surpresses the pain they are carrying inside themselves.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Landlocked Blues

The song represents the world from the artists point of view. It is confusing if you are not used to listening to this kind of music, but the overall idea of the song is pretty simple. In life, we find things that look odd and make you raise your eyebrows because it makes no sense. For this very reason, life is very complicated because there IS so much that does not make sense at all. There is so much that we do as people that doesnt make sense to other people.
This song has many good relations to life. For instance, in the part when they were singing about the little boys were playing guns in the street and he gave into their game. In life we try so hard to appease people to their comfort point but we still end up confused and often times hurt in the end. Life is a tiring journey that goes on and on and on into an eternity it seems. There are a lot of people on the earth and in our individual lives. We were not made to please all of them.
In the, it is clear that everyone gets to a point where they leave the reality of their lives with no place to go and just wander, whether it be into insanity, fame, or a career. everyone wanders at some point in time.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Escape into life

I have chosen art piece number one for a number of reasons. This piece intrigues me in a way tht no other art piece has. In its abstract form, it means that life is a beautiful death. In other words, beauty is also death. Like a rose lures one to its beauty and devineness, it is also a trap to many. One cannot look back on their lives and say that it was a beautiful thing until they have faced death. Death brings the best of memories and the worst. It helps to remind us where we have came from while enlightening us with the idea that we have nothing to fear. Most of us are okay with the idea that we are moving on to a better place. That is the only logical explenation that i can think of to explain why the artist would incorporate beautiful flowers in a field of skulls.
There is, however, another explenation to this painting. Death itself is beautiful. Often times, death is what brings most people together in love. It gives them a since of hope for those that they have lost. They treat the lost with a higher regard than they ever have in that person's life. I love the idea that death opens up our minds and gives us the since of security and satisfaction that other aspects of our lives may not have been able to offer. It is a reminder that there is nothing to fear. Nothing.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The Kiss

Gustav is an artist to be admired. He came out of his circumstances and made himself a something out of nothing. This painting is a reminder of the intimacy and the intricacy within the lifestyle of which Gustav lived and came to lead in the English world. It is one of the "fathers" of romantic paintings in Europe; comparable to the work of the French.
This is a beautiful painting and is very inspired. That is true art in itself and that is how all art should be.

Hymn of Caedmon

Caedmon has got to be the father of hymns. This is a very inspiring peace. Not too religious and not too controversial. It is hard to believe that such majestic pieces are cast out amongst societies. Such faith should be treasured to emaculate people and times. It is truly an intricate thing for a man to compose music through God's voice.
Man fails to realize that it is impossible to do the impossible through God's name if you are living in the flesh. That is why it is few and far between that man has been able to write such music or do great works.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Love

Love is no game. If you play with love, you will find only discomfort and pain. You can never love someone if you cannot first love yourself. To love yourself is to shun the words of the wicked and acknowledge the words of the kind, but nurish neither. Let not your neighbor label you for your neighbor judges you by your outermost appearance. If you cannot look in the mirror and say "I love me", then you shall be shamed when you say to your neighbor "I love you" for you know not what love is. Be selfless in love and you shall flourish but if you dwell in your selfish ways then surely you will fall.
Young ones. Do not say to your neighbor "I love you" when you are bound by insecurities for pain will strike the heart like a wild fire scorches a forest. You know not what love is. You have not yet experienced life. Nor have you met multitudes. One man can cause more pain than an army. A woman can devour like a lion does its prey. Compare and choose wisely for love lasts an eternity and the one you "love" is the one you will spend the rest of the days of your life with. You are feeling lust at this age. You want what feels good; what looks good. If you look at a man or woman and your insides start feeling funny or your mind tells you that person looks good, this is not love. Love is from the heart and the heart cannot see.
There is so much more about love that i need to learn and i am willing to learn. Are you?

Rabbit in Your Headlights

This song definitely has an intricate twist to it. Any man that has chased fame to the day fame bit them in the ass is miserable. Hope seems lost as they get sucked deeper and deeper into the seemingly never ending abyss of spotlight and mediocracy. This can be related to anything in life. Some things just aren't worth getting sucked into.
The video is an excellent portrait of the song in that it offers the audience a perspective of what many of us are going through other peoples eyes. We often let life drive us so far into insanity that we are constantly looking for ways out and are not fully cognizant of the things that life is hitting us with.