Andrew's Blog, Part II

Alegria

2004-04-22T02:02:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I went to the Cirque du Soleil showing in Cobb and once again I was impressed. I’m not really a big fan of the traditional circus, but Cirque is different. The shows are made for an older audience, and aren’t all about being loud, boisterous and comical. There is a fair degree of comedy in the shows, but the comedy is smart comedy, not senseless comedy. Cirque is also artsy. The shows are always very visually stunning. The stages have elaborate setups and the lighting always fits the mood of the presentation. And each show has a different theme and different acts, so seeing them never gets boring.

The only complaint that I have about Cirque is that it has become so corporate. They have booths selling merchandise at every show, and the merchandise is always overpriced. I understand that it is probably a large source of income for the show, and helps to keep it running, but the premise behind Cirque is that it is unique and artwork. Art should not sell out. Artists should concentrate solely on their work because they love their work, not because they want to get rich.

Group Presentations

2004-04-22T01:36:00.000-05:00

On Monday in English we listened to group blog presentations. One of the groups did their blog on sports and technology. Overall I think the group did a decent job of presenting, but I think there are some areas where they could’ve improved. At points it was a very repetitive presentation. I had the feeling that some of the members were not too prepared to present, and, as a result, did a sloppy job. They seemed nervous, and often when people get nervous they say things that they have already said. I also got the impression from this that the people repeating themselves felt like they didn’t have enough material. Another problem I had with their presentation was clarity of speaking. Some of the group members mumbled a lot or did not speak loud enough or clear enough. Because of this I didn’t know what they were talking about and would tend to zone out or get distracted. And one final thing that bothered me about their presentation: it was too long. The presentations were supposed to fit within the class period and this one ran over. I realize that it can be difficult to fit a presentation into an exact time constriction, but the audience will often lose interest or become annoyed with the presenters if it goes on for too long. Personally, I was ready to leave, and I needed to study for a physics test that I had in two hours, so I was kind of impatient.

Their presentation had its high points as well. I believe they were well organized with an interesting and informative PowerPoint presentation. I also thought that they transitioned well between topics and I thought they balanced the amount each person spoke well. Several of the presenters seemed very well prepared and very well spoken. They also covered a wide variety of topics from golf to fantasy sports, which enhanced their credibility as sports bloggers.

Good or Bad? Tarantino Challenges Common Perceptions in Reservoir Dogs

2004-04-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

     This past weekend I watched the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs. Tarantino does an excellent job of blurring the boundaries between bad and good. At the beginning of the movie Mr. White is driving Mr. Orange in a car to the warehouse. Mr. Orange is in the backseat of the car bleeding from a gunshot wound to the gut. He tells Mr. White that he’s dying, but Mr. White is able to convince him that he’ll survive. Mr. White divulges his true name to Mr. Orange and even tells him about where he is from. Later we learn that they have bonded since the beginning of planning the heist.

     Tarantino shows the two criminals as compassionate, friendly and loyal individuals. He makes them into people that anyone would want as a friend. But Mr. Orange’s reason for befriending Mr. White is not sincere. Mr. Orange is an undercover cop working to get evidence for a conviction against Joe, the gangster who organizes the entire operation. Mr. Orange is a cop; his job is to protect and serve. He is risking his life to put a known thief and murderer behind bars. This makes him traditionally a ‘good guy’, but at the same time we realize that he is deceiving Mr. White. He is using Mr. White to get closer to Joe, and in the process of doing this Mr. White will be put in jail for a long time. Mr. White is a criminal; traditionally thought of as a ‘bad guy’. Mr. White is not deceiving anyone, though. He becomes friends with Mr. Orange for purely honest reasons.

     But then Tarantino includes the character Mr. Blonde in his film. Mr. Blonde is not a good person. He is just out of jail, and Joe gives him a spot on the operation. But when a clerk at the diamond retailers sets off the silent alarm, Mr. Blonde starts killing everyone in the store. He then takes a cop hostage to get away. Mr. Blonde is a ruthless killer. Later on in the movie he is left alone in the warehouse with the cop he took hostage and Mr. Orange, who is passed out. He decides to start torturing the cop just for the enjoyment he gets out of it. He derives pleasure from being cruel and causing pain to others.

     To blur the line of good and bad even more Tarantino redefines the relationship between Mr. White and Mr. Orange. It began with Mr. Orange using Mr. White for information, but after Mr. White saves his life from Joe and gets shot in the process, he changes. This change occurs when he is lying on the floor with his head in Mr. White’s lap. He admits to Mr. White that he is in fact an undercover cop. This shows that Mr. Orange feels wrong for lying to him and wants to come clean, even if it might get him killed. His only reason for telling him is to clear his conscious of the guilt he feels about lying to him. Tarantino blurs the line between good and bad to create confusion and make his audience question their perception about the actions and behaviors of ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’.

Spike Lee's 25th Hour

2004-04-08T00:55:00.000-05:00

     I just watched Spike Lee’s most recent film 25th Hour and thoroughly enjoyed it. The film is about a drug dealer named Monty (Edward Norton) who gets sentenced to seven years in prison. The film focuses on his last 24 hours before he must go to prison. Monty uses this time to visit his father and friends and try to figure out who sold him out to the police.

     One of my favorite scenes in the movie is the opening scene in which Monty and one of his partners in crime Kostya are driving to a deal and Monty spots a dog in the middle of the road. They stop to examine the dog and see that it has been beaten badly. Monty thinks at first that he should shoot the dog and end its misery, but when he approaches the dog it snaps at him. Monty realizes that the dog wants to live and will fight for his life. Instead of shooting the dog he opens the trunk of his car and pulls a jacket out of it. He covers the dog with the jacket, picks him up and puts him into the trunk of his car. In the process of doing this he gets a bite on the neck from the dog.

     This scene illustrates Monty’s character excellently. First of all, just stopping for the dog is far more than the average person would even think to do. And then to approach it, find that it is beaten, have it snap at him and then decide to try to save its life gives a good perspective of Monty. This shows us that Monty is compassionate. It shows us that Monty is a warmhearted, friendly person. Also, Monty decides to save the dog after seeing it fight for it. He admires the dog and even sees himself in the dog. Monty is a survivor, just like the dog.

     This scene also draws connections to other parts of the film. At a club that he goes to with his friends he is taken into the office of the Ukrainian gangsters by Kostya. He is told there that Kostya sold him out. The head gangster gives Monty a gun and tells him to shoot Kostya. He holds the gun to Kostya’s head, but he can’t do it. Monty can’t end Kostya’s life even though Kostya betrayed him and ruined his.

DeLillo's use of Narratives in "In the Ruins of the Future"

2004-04-04T21:41:00.000-05:00

     In DeLillo’s essay on 9/11 he writes that "There are 100,000 stories crisscrossing New York, Washington, and the world." His essay contains several examples and summaries of these narratives based around the events of September 11th. DeLillo uses these narratives as a way of describing how people manage to deal with the terrorists’ attacks. He writes in his essay that “We need them, even the common tools of the terrorists, to set against the massive spectacle that continues to seem unmanageable, too powerful a thing to set into our frame of practised response.” The stories help us understand the situation. They make us feel a personal connection to the events.

     Another reason for the narratives is that they make the situation real. DeLillo writes “It was bright and totalising and some of us said it was unreal. When we say a thing is unreal, we mean it is too real, a phenomenon so unaccountable and yet so bound to the power of objective fact that we can't tilt it to the slant of our perceptions.” The narratives that we all have around the attacks make it more real. They make it so that we can comprehend a situation that seems impossible, yet we know is real. Before the attacks very few people would ever believe such a thing possible, and, now, after the fact we must somehow accept the reality of the situation. We must accept our vulnerabilities.

     DeLillo uses one of his own personal narratives to strengthen his essay. He writes of his nephew Marc and his family, who live several blocks from the Towers. He presents this narrative in an interesting way. He begins the story without mentioning that Marc is his nephew. He does not reveal his relation to Marc until he finishes the story. The affect of this style is that without knowing who Marc and his family are, readers of his essay will be reminded of the stories they know. Once they realize that the story is DeLillo’s, he has proved his point that narratives are our way of dealing with the issue.

Research Paper Brainstorming

2004-03-21T15:24:00.000-05:00

     For my research paper I plan to discuss how each of the movies I am writing on stress a return to an emphasis on individual human accomplishment over the accomplishments of technology. I plan to include most of the material in this blogpost in my final paper. This return is used to signify the power of heart and emotion against the cold efficiency of the machines and technology. Each of the movies has a “chosen one” figure. This “chosen one” leads humanity to victory over the oppression from technology.

     In Terminator II the chosen one is John Connor, future leader of the human rebellion against man. In the movie John Connor is only a boy. A machine from the future called a Terminator is sent back in time to protect John Connor from another machine sent by the machines called a T-1000. The Terminator’s sole purpose is to protect John Connor so that he may stay alive to lead a rebellion in the future. John Connor is an almost Christ-like figure. He is prophesized as the savior of mankind and his initials are JC.

     The Matrix has a figure similar to John Connor. This figure is Neo. During the day he goes by Thomas A. Anderson, and he works at a respectable computer company from 9 to 5. But when he gets home he becomes the famous computer hacker Neo. He is dissatisfied with his life and looking for the answer to the question “what is the Matrix?” Neo is also searching for Morpheus. Morpheus is one of the most famous hackers in the world. Neo believes that Morpheus will have the answer. It is Morpheus who ends up finding Neo, though. Morpheus tells Neo that he is trapped inside the Matrix. He tells Neo what the Matrix is and that he has the ability to escape. Neo, of course, chooses to escape the Matrix. Once outside the Matrix, Neo begins his training. An assortment of fighting styles is downloaded directly into his brain.

     The figure in Equilibrium is John Preston. Preston is a member of the elite Grammaton Cleric police force. It is his job to find and eliminate “Sense Offenders”. Sense offenders are any people that are found to be experiencing emotion or feelings of any kind. Preston is gifted. He is recognized by the highest authorities as one of the best Clerics to ever live. One day he misses his dosage of Prozium and suddenly starts feeling emotions. This single lapse from a perfect record causes him to rethink his life. He stops taking Prozium indefinitely, and starts sympathizing with “Sense Offenders”. He remains a Cleric, and tries to hide the fact that he is feeling emotions. Preston falls in love with a woman that he himself had arrested, and who is sentenced to death. Preston manages to contact a leader of the rebellion, and plans to overthrow the government in place.

Academic Superiority Gone Bad

2004-03-17T03:30:00.000-05:00

     In class on Monday we discussed for a short while how professors can find ways of expressing their superiority. I mentioned a Chemistry teacher who had a hierarchical rule that students must see three people (A fellow student, their TA, and the head TA) before going to see him. I want to discuss this further in this blog entry. I cannot link to his webpage, not because I am scared he will find out, but because it was a class website for the Fall Semester and it was on WebCT, which makes users log in and once logged in, only shows courses that they are currently taking.

     On this website the professor had a clever little image that looked something like this: C₃B₄Me. This is read as “C Three B Four Me”. Behind this clever mock element is a shining example of academic hierarchy and superiority. The professor has created a hierarchy that makes it almost impossible to ever come in contact with him if you are a student in his class. The possibility that all three of the people he has his students contact before contacting him will not know the answer is very slim. I can understand that he does not want to be overwhelmed with questions that could be easily answered by someone else, but at the same time he gives off the impression that he is far more important than his students and that he does not want to help them or be bothered by them. There are also many professors who not only answer questions for students but also encourage students to ask questions. The professor almost elevates himself to a God-like status, requiring mere mortal freshman to pass through three trials before being allowed to face the Almighty.

     I don’t mean to completely bash this professor for I have heard that he is an excellent teacher and very funny, but I do feel that his “see three before me” slogan is absurd. If he limited it to encouraging students to talking to their TA’s first I wouldn’t have so much beef with him, but he must lay down the law for all, and that is where I have a problem.

A Source for My Research Paper

2004-03-15T11:11:00.000-05:00

I was looking around on the library database and I found a source that I think will be helpful towards my research paper. The article was written by A. Samuel Kimball and is titled “Not Begetting the Future: Technological Autochthony, Sexual Reproduction, and the Mythic Structure of The Matrix.” In this article, Kimball relates The Matrix to “the myth of the hero”. He points out that Neo follows the same path as mythical heroes. First he receives a “call to action” from Morpheus, then he has a “hard journey” into a place similar to hell, which is the matrix, and in the end he wins the treasure, which for Neo is Trinity. The journey gives Neo wisdom and the ability to lead a revolution against the machines. The machines are the films version of the mythical monster that all heroes must battle at some point in their journey, and they must overcome this monster, which Neo does when he defeats Agent Smith.

This article is similar to an article I found by Goldman. Goldman notices that modern popular films portray technology negatively and Kimball notices that The Matrix portrays the machines as a modern version of the mythical monster.

Jack and Consumerism

2004-02-27T11:39:00.000-05:00

In the passage on pages 82-84 of Don DeLillo’s White Noise Jack and his family visit the Mid-Village Mall. DeLillo’s description of the mall and use of imagery is very interesting. He uses metaphors and similes comparing the shopping experience to being in a jungle or a rain forest or some wild environment. For example, in one shop in the mall “A great echoing din, as of the extinction of a species of beast, filled the vast space” and “Rope hung like tropical fruit” (DeLillo 82). When Jack and his family enter the main structure of the mall DeLillo mentions “waterfalls, promenades, and gardens” (83) in the middle court of the structure. There is a strange artificiality to these objects. The mall seems to have been made to make consumers feel like they are in a completely separate world from the real world. Inside the mall Jack’s “girls scouted ahead” as “[his] guides to endless well-being” (83). Jack has been consumed by the artificiality of the world he has entered. He believes he can find “endless well-being” from material goods. Towards the end of the passage DeLillo describes the noises in the mall as “a roar that echoed and swirled through the vast gallery” (84) as if the people in the mall became almost wild at the prospect of shopping and consuming. DeLillo makes the new hunt of man not a hunt for food, but a hunt for material goods. The world of the mall makes Jack feel lost and confused. He becomes someone else; he loses his identity because of the awkwardness and confusion of this new world he has entered. He tries to find himself and define himself by buying stuff, but this doesn’t work. Eventually his family becomes “private, shadowy, even secretive” and they “drove home in silence … wishing to be alone” (84). The shopping trip does not leave him fulfilled or satisfied, he just becomes silent and wanting to escape.

Communication Technology in The Ring

2004-02-06T10:41:00.000-05:00

     In the movie The Ring, communication technology appears to be haunted. The movie is focused around a video with a sequence of strange events and pictures on it. If anyone watches the video they have seven days to live. The video has many haunting features. For example, the display numbers on the VCR do not tell the time of the movie. It does not even have numbers, just random lines. Also, when Noah examines the film he notices that it has no tracking sequence, which he says is kind of like “being born without fingerprints.” This makes it impossible to figure out where the tape came from. During the tape there is a straight on shot of a mirror and Noah points out that you should be able to see the camera in the shot. The lack of a tracking sequence and the lack of a camera make it seem as if the movie came about by unnatural circumstances.

     During one watching of the video, Rachel notices what appears to be a fly on the screen of the television, but when she tries to touch the fly it is only in the movie. But later when she is watching the film again she tries once again to touch the fly and the fly is actually real. She holds it in her hand and her nose starts to bleed. The video has the ability to interact with the real world, and has the ability to come alive.

     Another way in which the video comes alive is the way in which it affects Rachel’s life. Upon leaving Noah’s building she sees a ladder leaning against the wall, which is similar to a scene in the video. The dream also makes her have visions. She sees the little girl in her son’s room one night and when she walks up to her, the little girl grabs her arm. When she awakes from this vision, there is a burn mark on her arm, where the girl grabbed her. The little girl has used the video as a means of entering into people’s lives and coming into the real world. She can even walk out of television sets and “come alive”.

     The Ring has taken technology and distorted it in ways that people have never thought of. Technology has always been separate from both the real world and the supernatural world in many ways. Television is similar to the real world, but there has always been a boundary between the two. And most people do not link the supernatural to technology. Technology is supposed to make sense; it is supposed to be scientific and made by humans. In this movie the boundary is eliminated. The world of television and video coincides with the real world and the supernatural. It brings all three of these places into one horrifying situation.

Consumer Capitalism and Fight Club

2004-01-28T05:05:00.000-05:00

Giroux and Szeman argue that Fight Club offers no effective alternative to consumer capitalism. They refer to Project Mayhem as “a vanguardist political movement” led by Tyler Durden. But their argument becomes rather meaningless if Palahniuk’s Fight Club is analyzed deeply. The book is not trying to offer an alternative to capitalism. Palahniuk is merely demonstrating the flaws in a capitalistic society. He wishes to make a point about society, and show how a seemingly perfect system is really just as flawed as any other system of social organization. Palahniuk does not mean for Project Mayhem to be a solution to capitalism. On the contrary, his book tells of the insanity and awfulness of Project Mayhem. Project Mayhem is his way of showing what capitalism can do to an individual driven over the edge. The system caused Jack to go insane. He created Tyler because of capitalism. Before him, Jack was a capitalism poster child. He endorsed the lifestyle completely. He was absorbed in IKEA, drove a luxury car, and had nice clothes and a nice apartment. But none of this made him happy. So, he creates Tyler and eventually Tyler controls Jack, and starts to take everything too far in Jack’s opinion. Palahniuk clearly shows his objection to Project Mayhem towards the end of the novel, when Jack comes to terms with his insanity and realizes what he has done. Giroux and Szeman see Project Mayhem as an alternative to capitalism when it is merely a product of capitalism.

The Writing Style in Fight Club.

2004-01-16T03:56:00.000-05:00

     Chuck Palahniuk has an effective writing style in his novel Fight Club. It’s a very different writing style than what I am used to reading, and so far I have really enjoyed it. I like that he doesn’t stick to any sort of timeline. He likes to explain the end result and then explain what lead up to that result. The story starts with the end, then jumps to the beginning, and makes several more jumps through time. It works really well because the main character is disoriented just like the writing style. He talks about waking up in various airports. How he loses hours and gains hours as he changes time zones. He also discusses the idea that he could be a different person. It makes the readers feel the disorientation that the main character feels.

     The main character is also very emotional. When Marla Singer enters the story he is very angry with her because her lie exposes his lie. His anger comes in spurts. He sees her and it causes him to get very angry. The writing style during these parts shows this very well with short sentences and fragments. This causes the readers to feel the emotion.

     Palahniuk is an excellent writer. He uses his writing style to make the reader understand the situation of the main character. By reading this book readers become confused and disoriented at first. This is Palahniuk’s goal and he achieves it well.

Welcome

2004-01-12T15:30:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my blog. This blog is part of the course requirement for my English 1102 course at Georgia Tech. I will be using this blog to respond to articles, online journals, novels, etc. that are required reading for the class.