The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path

I am going to review a concept album by The Early November. The more people I say this to the more I realize they aren't a very well known band, at least not among our English class. Maybe if I write a good enough review someone might be inclined to check them out!

I chose this album because it has a clear storyline which I think may make it a bit easier to focus on plot in my review. It is an extremely unique album, consisting of 3 discs, the last of which includes spoken dialogue between a psychiatrist and his patient. The album makes you think, the band makes you want to sing, and the core concept of it all is intriguing.

"It's time to learn,  it's time for people to try to look at things for what they are, and not the best story line."

Session 01: The first track on the third disc, The Path, sets the tone for the rest of the disc

Ad Analysis

Amnesty International Advertisement (New Zealand)

Original Photograph taken 1968 by Eddie Adams

I am going to do my ad analysis on this advertisement for Amnesty International from 2005. I like this one because it has a lot of layers to uncover. AI added the stamp and the text to alter the photograph to relate it to the campaign for human rights. But the original photograph was taken during the Vietnam war and has a story all on it's own. I can include the origin of the photo in my paper to help illustrate what the advertisement means

Definition Essay

art

¹    [ahrt] 

noun

1.

the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

2.

the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an art collection.

3.

a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.

4.

the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.

5.

any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art. 

 

This is the dictionary definition of art. Although 'art' can be viewed as a very broad term, and can be recognized in many different elements (visual, music, film, food, fashion, interior design, etc.) I believe that art represents some type of idea in your head that you bring to life through the physical senses. I will probably focus more on the visual arts (drawings paintings sculptures photography and so on) because that is where my main interest lies, and I hope to one day work with visual arts in an art museum. One of the ways I think this topic will be debatable is how to one person something can be seen as beautiful or meaningful and to another it appears to be nothing more than scribbles or lines and isn't art at all. Different pieces of art portray different things to everyone. We are surrounded by works of art everyday whether we realize it or not...whether it be the building we are in or the layout of the furniture in a room.

Onement - Barnett Newman 1948

Femme avec un parasol (Woman With a Parasol) - 

Claude Monet 1875

 

 

I Want a Wife

I found this reading to be humorous and at the same time the author was able to get her point across. She illustrates all the 'duties' of a wife as if they are very simple and easy to achieve but I thought the tone was kind of sarcastic. She uses the phrase "I want a wife who..." pretty redundantly, maybe to mock the mentality of men back in the 70's.

One of the reasons I liked this article is because I'm trying to do a lot of the things she described. Although I'm not a wife, I am a mother and a student and anyone else in the same boat as me knows we always find a way to get everything done. We somehow manage to have enough time to finish that seemingly impossible list of things to do!

Visual Literacy Narrative

Remember Shel Silverstein's children's books such as Where the Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree? When I was younger I spent a lot of time reading his stories and poetry, so I decided to make my literacy narrative about those experiences and how his collections have made me the reader/writer I am today. I'm not really sure what direction it will end up going and I don't have any specific ideas for the visual aspect yet.