margoial paragroph

Even though many people see just what I showed before there are also
many messages that are "marginal" meaning that are not as said as the
dominant messages but are still showed from time to time. Often these
messages are contradicted at the same time they are presented. But
still being there they sow us how to live a good and meaningful life
even though the message may be contradicted or even rare to find. The
marginal messages for example show up in some movies, TV, books and
magazines the same space that most dominate messages occupy. But do
not show up that of then in those forms of media. The problem with
marginal messages is often not marginal for too long. But the they
some times stay marginal if for example they do not make good money or
people just don't take a liking to them but it is still they are
present to the masses as a way of living a good and meaning full life

A example of a marginal message in at least America Is a song by the
band Rammstein
Call " Amerika" it is a song sung in mostly German and in the music
video take place on the moon mocking the moon landing also in other
places in the world to show how the American culture has spread and is
changing the way of people. Here is a link if you want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w9EksAo5hY
The link to the English translation is
http://german.about.com/library/blmus_rammst04e.htm

The lines in the song are important to. The song is lines can be read
almost like orders like some one is telling another person to do some
thing and the person telling all this to is America. This song is
showing that following the American life style is not the best thing.
Even though every one looks happy with all this stuff but at the same
time the show how it says "I'll show you how it's done right."
Showing how America controls people and has to tell people to do what
is "right" it counties to say
I know steps that are very useful,
And I'll protect you from missteps,
And anyone who doesn't want to dance in the end,
Just doesn't know that he has to dance!"
The "I" is America. And the message in this song is to live a good and
meaningful life is to stand above all this and not to get caught up in
the American culture. Again this is clarified when the band becomes
Native Americans showing that they're the real Americans and that we the world is lost to these fake Americans that are the ones who went to the moon.

Another cooperate marginal message is I feel is in star wars. A lot of the time it is contradicting also there are many of them. It is a long series but in the 6 movies there is a lot of messages that tend to go against what our society look at the norms. For example in the movie the empire strikes back , Luke meets a great Jedi master not is some grand temple nor a magnificent Mansion but in a dirty swamp. When our society we thing to be powerfully you must be rich as I mentioned for the good life song that the better you are the more you have. But in this slum there is suppose to be a extraordinarily power full person. This shows that to have a meaningfully life you don't need lots of stuff or a big house. Even further Yoda was not the pinnacle idea of strength he was small and old. This also shows to have a good and meaningfully life you don't need to be beautifully or physically strong this contradicts all those ab commercials that are on so often in magazines and on television.
All these message often are presented to us and it is up to us toy find out which is right for you and even the community you live in marginal messages is usually give us the battling aspect of all these messages often hidden are covered up by the dominate messages. These messages even though the are covered up that still doesn't mean that there less important. But can marginal messages become dominant I think because they are hidden we feel that they are even more important or more meaning full.

rough draft so drafty

once were born we are expected to live a good life. Some times many months before were born

we are expected to live a life with meaning. But how can we lives a life with meaning? People are bumbared with answers all there lives usally conerdicting ideas that ofthen make it much harder to to find a way to live a meaningfull life because people are getting so many mixed answers. So what do poepel get out of this mess of answers and exsamples . In our class we asked random people qustions that we chosse that might show there view on a meaningfull life. The qustion I choose is what is beuty because this can refelct that what they think I buetyfull can show its's singafiance to them and it will show what kind of a person they are also there vaules in life.

So what is to live a meaning full life to me. Well I think the best way to do that is to look at what I like. I believe to show what I hold dear is what usaly what I find meaningfull things that I think made the world in to a better place...OR at least showed ways to make the world in to a better place. But over all I thing that the ideas , people, music or even books. I like them because of there significance or either I find some thing that I find sigfigante and hope it is sinigaganet.“significance” to me is able to give me some thing to aspire too. Like the Jedi and batman's control I try to achieve that in my self, not that I hope once I do achieve that control(if I ever) that I would be a jedi or batman I just hope that i'll be able to become a better person to the people around me. and also the accept I showed was I want a lot of stuff to change but I know I cant do it by my self but I hope I could achive that aspect of control.

I can see how the I view the world and what my meaning is but im only 1 out of 6 billltih of the population so there are a lot of ideas being given by all these people or they choose to make other people ideas of a meaning full life there own. I think some are bad for people while others can be more helpful then others. For exsample the song “ a good life” by knya west . This song is what I thihk many peopole want to live like this song is saying the only way to live a good life is money, being rich, have loads of crap. Never any thing that will make one happy for a long time it is all just things that will last for a short time then you spit it out and get another one every thing is short little “fun” things. Just it is a bad way at looking at life and the world we live in. also I mean what is this sending for people to be happy drink get cars and like big asses that's what the song say it is to have a good life. Be rich be a pig for example “and watch the money pile up, the good life” he says this while stacks of money come down. Another image in the video was when he said shit the best things in life are free at the same time he is sprinkling diamonds so that is meant to be a gag like sarcastic comment the over laying is that you need to have money and spend it one real crap. So how can you have money if you spend it always on real crap that a contradiction.the other themes are ME and I I thought I was bad as I said before. Just feeding in the worst part of us. So people learn to think for them selfves and make nothing good for people that are not them selves.

But what about real people not every one think like kanye and most people have there own view on the meaning of life.
While interviewing the people around me, the common answers were those that would justify their present situation. The questions I asked were "what is meaning?", "how meaningful is your life?", and "what is beauty?". I got various answers but most were characterized by a lack of thought. But over all, I thought it was interesting and helped the person realize aspects about their life that they overlook.

Then I asked people about their idea of beauty. Asking this question would help me find what they valued. I was inspired to ask this when I heard on the radio how quickly evolution can happen. Women in Romania could grow full mustaches because the men there found women with mustaches to be more beautiful for what ever reason. So I thought about every one else. Would there be a pattern like there is in Romania? Would it be a favorite color, or a flower, or something? So I asked my cousin first and he said “Ian, what is beautiful is very simple.. a fat ass.” I was very disappointed with this and thought it was a not a thought out answer so I asked again... I posed the question in a different way: “Well, why is a fat ass beautiful and what if a rhino or a chicken had a fat ass would that make it beautiful?” He said it is always “in the eye of the beholder and yes, those animals would be beautiful. Ian, how can one not like a fat ass?”

What struck me was that he said everyone has their own taste but it is weird for me to think differently than him. Basically, he has a strict idea of beauty and that every one else is wrong but he will tolerate them. This connects to my idea that most people will make what they like more beautiful or meaningful because they like it and want to be right.

Another person I asked was my little brother and he said that beauty was our city. So, I asked further clarifying questions like "what make makes it nice?". Through talking to him, he was able to narrow the most beautiful traits about the city to the "peace" and "security". He feels the city has peace between people. So I asked “how about just 'peace' in general? Is that beautiful to you?” he said “yeah and I like dads neighborhood.”
Our dad lives in the north Bronx where the Botanical gardens are. He added that “nothing is dramatically changing and that every thing is the same. I think.” So I thought my brother likes his environment to be like really smooth glass and any imperfections on the glass would stand out and he wouldn’t like it. I was able to understand that Eric finds beauty in the places he can consider home.

The last person I asked this question to was a man in union square who I know little about. He was smoking a a cigarette on the bench when I asked him for his definition of "beauty". I was surprised since he was so short with me. So I asked him what aesthetically pleases him. He looked puzzled and seemed to be in deep thought. Then I took the pressure off him by saying "how about just knowing it when you see it?" and he nodded, relieved and said "yeah that's cool." So then I asked him how meaningful he felt his life was, and he replied with a "7", one of the lowest numbers I had heard someone rate. I decided I wouldn't keep him any longer, so I shook his hand. His handshake was pretty weak. I could tell he did not think very highly of himself and also he was unsure of where he stood in all aspects of his life. His idea of beauty was not firmly established because he is unsure about his own meaning. He is an example of how meaningfulness and beauty are linked at their cores.

I have found that beauty is highly subjective but is also derived from individual values, sense of worth, and a person's relative meaning. That is why there is no accurate, uniform definition for beauty, since it is only validated by an individual perspective.

After asking all these people what is infuliceing them to think that way so we studyed the copertae messgaes that are being literally trown at them and us to make things worse there are many different sorces sayign many different things oftehn conredicting each other. There are magaizens and popualr songs

a man lived 34 years to be steped on to death.

this makes me so sad to read because a man who died we cant blame any one. i mean imagine being there fingers breaking trying to move only to be steped by more poeple shit i mean i bet they steped on his neck and head and didnt care. like what did they think when they felt a hard bump on there foot. did they think "oh well", "nothing " or just "20 dollars off!!!" just how sicking i think that there are poeple out there that think like that. that there is a group of people who only consider what they want or to save money ocver the life of anther human. these poeple should not deserve to live i mean like there a tumor on the human race.so we can remove it or decided to fix it. i think we cant do one or the other which is sad. a way to fix it is to teach them or reverse engineer them to think less of the vaule of a dollar. i think that there is to much on this peice of cotton with black iron oxide on it. that so many people want it that it put us all at risk. for exsample in america we pay for college in europ you don't. but how is this relavent it is that kids have sold them selves for college, sold drugs , work and school ( which if you think about it , it is limiting the persons potential) if colege suppose to show a person full pontenail why can only these with money get in. but this shows a power of some thing that many agree on is worth some thing. a dollar is not will never can ever be more then a human life. but becuase they put worth to such crap that it becomes a infulence for life taking and enslaveing our entire country.

i think we should ask poeple what they would do for a dollar because it would shows how enslaved much of our population really is. im thinking how man jobs are just about money there are TONS just for some things so meaning less in the end. but money is people priotry it is as i see it a key to stuff it is not the stuff it self.

im not sure if this was home work but im doing it

the seller and the buyer.

they are polar opposites. one is trying to get the most money out of the other for an item while the other is trying to get as close to Free to a cost of a item. so each person is not there to agree with the person so they make a cost a agreement on the value of an item that is to be bartered.

so people with complete conadicting ideas both trying to do the complete opposite of what the other wants to do so there will be arguments. but why is it that the customer is now the one in control?
i bet in old times like the years 39 or some time when there wouldn't be a store for goods in 13 miles away the store owner needed you less. because you needed them they didn't need you. now the store owner needs you because there the completion now they need to serve you. so this serve is like a sub person.... let me explain they see it a thing to serve you and nothing else not to be a person and not thing more just what your needed for. because every one wants a there shit and nothing else it is that the desertions is better then the road it self. so lets say Alex's family was like that then they wouldn't have a good friend. but because they knew a restaurant is More then just food but also the people there and the road is important to they got allot more out of that resterrunt besides some food to poop out.

thanks giving and black friday

thanks giving this year was fine . i mean every one had there own way my couisn was dressed up really nice while my aunt waws where her pajamas and a weed shirt so we all had our own thing. i did talk about the genocide and yeah i started a fire about how white poeple are bad in my aunts. so it came down to that we have our own iscolated celebration. then my uncle said a praier and then every one talked about boats and how it would be to go down the river of life would it just be better to take a mottor and how getting there is the learning part not the place your trying to get to.
then later that night around 1 im laying on the bed thing i sleep on when i go to jersey and my cousin ivan was talking about going to the mall to his freidn carl over the phone at 4 in moring. to go and get stuff i asked him is ther any thing you plane to get . he looked at me and said "ummmm stuff" i was thinking wow so your doing all this to get to a place at 4 am to get some thing you do know about. so has black friday just become something for you to do to go and just buy with out really taking in to account if you need it or eve really want it. so it is really a day about consuming. so i woke up and he was coming back it as 10 in the morning. and he had bought all these foot ball cloths and yeah. i think he went there and said what do i not have.

i didnt go shopping i put up chirmas lights in the yard and helped out my uncle fix some sections of the lights and i learned some stuff about how lights woke and what they look like ( the wires i mean) also copper is a good thing to have laying around.

the election

This election was very hyped, but it was able to come through on it's promise of making history. what made this one special at least in my life time is that new york won. the dems are in control and now once in my life as i can remember we will not have a president who we iddmeadly hate and scorn. i saw this in the 2000 election yonge as i was but i still notice people being pissed , then again in 2004 when the white house was lost agaian. made it seemed that being a president was an iddeamly wroung thing to do but now every one is happy about a politian which i have never seen before.

what i feel is the amount of people that voted for republican is that maybe they wanted to stay on there team and that many people that been fighting the agianist the other that they couldn't make a change perhaps of pride or some other factors. were people expecting this to be like the election of 1936 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1936_Electoral_Map.png) . we had simlar problems then as we did today but those were more extreame times in compareistion. we could be on our way to one just like that if we continue the way we are so why would any one want to keep it this way. anyway there are still alot of obmama mamas but why?
the reason i think it is because the dems have been loosing for so long and they needed to really have some one they wanted to win and it seemed that obama was there only hope. this is a tad over reacting but we will see if they were right to such devoted people to him.

comments i made

i like yours aot it is short sweet and is done very well. like how a person would wright observeashtions of any thing else. also how you used the style of the video it self to how a child dreams in a craolya way. YOUR AMAZING.

To marco

i liike how you showed how some poeple there idea may of "a good life" may not work some. also i think you uncovered alot thanks for doing all 3. but one think i have to ask is would a poor family really be happy with golden rims or some of the other stuff that paraded to show a good life. i think they would be content in haveing what is needed and to just be able match socitys limit instead of sporting all these rediculas things. just an idea. also i feel that a family poor might want all that but what they sport for having a good life would be that they have love. you ever heard that saying "were rich RICH IN LOVE" so maybe to agree with the beetels they might go with that so they could have a win.

To dylan

great job sam you had a amazing end to this that leaves me thinking. i what i could get is that in our culture there is never enough. we need more and more thats why leaving a normal life is not good enough.(to our culture) the saying the grass is greener on the other side. we can only get better things and never do as good with what we have. you did a great job.

To sam

spelling bad i went on a rant

Annalise on pop culture.

Well the one I'm analysing is the good life by Kanya west the first thing I thought was people watch this shit. OK before I start I will give an introduction rant.

OK I counted how many times this man said I or me it was 44. 44 TIMES this guy said in a 3 min and 50 second song. Now when some one is listening to this what are they singing in there head Kanya got a car no there saying I got the car how the song really is. So first thing is that when you just listen to it you are now the main charter bragging about what you have even though you may or may not have any of that crap. So what happens a fantasy is made about you getting head on a plane and having lots of crap.so what does this do it changes how one views the world. Instead of the world being the biggest thing it then becomes that “ I “ is the biggest thing that a person is not worried about how this will benefit the world or some thing it is now how will it benefit me. Really music like this and my lip gloss feed on the human desire and lack of control so now people want to be the center of there lives they want to be I in the songs like this want thing's now to be about them. Little them . Why couldn't there be more meaningful more significant music that caught peoples attention why is it all this bubble gum crap stuff that just leaves you like wanting. Humans are better than this to let things like this brain wash people. It is not like by listening to it your a sheep just over and over it inspires you to be a backwards person. But this brings another question are people inherently self absorbed do we only care for our selves. On the day to biases no unless it is a life and death situation some can argue but what about people giving there lives to save others in life and death situations there not self absorbed. For example a gallion had been attacked by pirates and only 3 mongered to escape. Left maroon in the ocean was one crew man the captain and the nephew of the captain. They were floating in the heated sun for days. Thirsty and starved The nephew started drinking the sea water. He just couldn't take it and was doing the thing not to do which was not to drink the sea water it makes you more thirsty because of the salt in it and he was soon delouse and the others knew the end was soon for him. They say ( THE captain during his trail) that the nephew pale and sickly was going to die and he picked up the knife and held it to his neck and said eat me or some thing like that I don't remember it was on the history channel so any way the crew men and captain held the knife and stabbed him in the neck. They then proceed to eat him. As they reached shore days later they had blood all over them. People disgusted with the what they done they were put in court. They gave the story and pleaded guilty they had short sentences because of the circumstances. But I wanted to show with this story that not every one is evil or good this things are more complied then that it is control over one self that makes us “good” or “evil” and lack of control just makes us stupid.so this song promotes lack of control with the I WANT THING going on in this song.

OK I had to get that out here is my paper

this song is saying the only way to live a good life is money, being rich, have loads of crap. Never any thing that will make one happy for a long time it is all just things that will last for a short time then you spit it out and get another one every thing is short little “fun” things. Just it is a bad way at looking at life and the world we live in. also I mean what is this sending for people to be happy drink get cars and like big asses that's what the song say it is to have a good life. Be rich be a pig for example “and watch the money pile up, the good life” he says this while stacks of money come down. Another image in the video was when he said shit the best things in life are free at the same time he is sprinkling diamonds so that is meant to be a gag like sarcastic comment the over laying is that you need to have money and spend it one real crap. So how can you have money if you spend it always on real crap that a contradiction.the other themes are ME and I I thought I was bad as I said before. Just feeding in the worst part of us.

Final Draft

before you read

i need a good spell check moms computer didn't have it so please bear with me


While interviewing the people around me, the common answers were those that would justify their present situation. The questions I asked were "what is meaning?", "how meaningful is your life?", and "what is beauty?". I got various answers but most were characterized by a lack of thought. But over all, I thought it was interesting and helped the person realize aspects about their life that they overlook.

Then I asked people about their idea of beauty. Asking this question would help me find what they valued. I was inspired to ask this when I heard on the radio how quickly evolution can happen. Women in Romania could grow full mustaches because the men there found women with mustaches to be more beautiful for what ever reason. So I thought about every one else. Would there be a pattern like there is in Romania? Would it be a favorite color, or a flower, or something? So I asked my cousin first and he said “Ian, what is beautiful is very simple.. a fat ass.” I was very disappointed with this and thought it was a not a thought out answer so I asked again... I posed the question in a different way: “Well, why is a fat ass beautiful and what if a rhino or a chicken had a fat ass would that make it beautiful?” He said it is always “in the eye of the beholder and yes, those animals would be beautiful. Ian, how can one not like a fat ass?”

What struck me was that he said everyone has their own taste but it is weird for me to think differently than him. Basically, he has a strict idea of beauty and that every one else is wrong but he will tolerate them. This connects to my idea that most people will make what they like more beautiful or meaningful because they like it and want to be right.

Another person I asked was my little brother and he said that beauty was our city. So, I asked further clarifying questions like "what make makes it nice?". Through talking to him, he was able to narrow the most beautiful traits about the city to the "peace" and "security". He feels the city has peace between people. So I asked “how about just 'peace' in general? Is that beautiful to you?” he said “yeah and I like dads neighborhood.”
Our dad lives in the north Bronx where the Botanical gardens are. He added that “nothing is dramatically changing and that every thing is the same. I think.” So I thought my brother likes his environment to be like really smooth glass and any imperfections on the glass would stand out and he wouldn’t like it. I was able to understand that Eric finds beauty in the places he can consider home.

The last person I asked this question to was a man in union square who I know little about. He was smoking a a cigarette on the bench when I asked him for his definition of "beauty". I was surprised since he was so short with me. So I asked him what aesthetically pleases him. He looked puzzled and seemed to be in deep thought. Then I took the pressure off him by saying "how about just knowing it when you see it?" and he nodded, relieved and said "yeah that's cool." So then I asked him how meaningful he felt his life was, and he replied with a "7", one of the lowest numbers I had heard someone rate. I decided I wouldn't keep him any longer, so I shook his hand. His handshake was pretty weak. I could tell he did not think very highly of himself and also he was unsure of where he stood in all aspects of his life. His idea of beauty was not firmly established because he is unsure about his own meaning. He is an example of how meaningfulness and beauty are linked at their cores.

I have found that beauty is highly subjective but is also derived from individual values, sense of worth, and a person's relative meaning. That is why there is no accurate, uniform definition for beauty, since it is only validated by an individual perspective.

blog comments - assignment 2

ian said...

your band has a really great sound, i loved the lyrics..

oh and you and your mom look exactly alike.. it's great that you and your parents have a good relationship.

September 20, 2008 6:47 PM

ian said...

the techno music was pretty cool, and i can relate to the way you IM with people.. me and my girlfriend im alot..

my favorite part was wehn you were video taping the people passing by, it was showing the beauty in evryday life.. good job

September 20, 2008 6:57 PM

ian said...

the footage of the ocean in italy was really tranqil and relaxing and the music suited the video. from your video it is clear that your friends and family mean the most to you.

September 20, 2008 7:16 PM

ian said...

the song was cool, and you and your family look so happy together.

i think the video makes your life seem very meaningful because you can tell how much love you have in your life.

September 20, 2008 7:49 PM

ian said...

hey i thought the pictures from china were really colorful and cool, you are lucky that you get to travel. this video proves your life is very meaningful.

September 20, 2008 8:01 PM

three things I noticed were that alot of people in my class have a place that is a sanctuary to them, and that they get to travel. to me this is a luxury in life and it shouldnt be taken for granted. Another thing was that alot of kids share a loving relatonship with their families. also, alot of videos served as a means to broadcast their social life. why are friends so important to americans? do you think the average american could survive without human interraction? the last thing i want to mention was that the music matched the asthetic of the videos. everyone did a good job :)

Video analysis and reflection

DESCRIPTIVE

the aspects that I inclued in the video were things that I felt had some significant part of my life ether by the way I acted on it and is an aspect that is still with me. For example those aspects were like science , batman , star wars, mom and dad and stuff like that I felt it to be meaning full because a lot of those things make me who I am today and might effect you and then some one else. There were some accepts I thought were meaningless like the part about my mom being a cat lady because really who cares about some ones pets. I'm not like holy mother of god they have a fuzzy dog and I feel the same with mine maybe i'm just not an animal person but still I thought it served no significance I could of put some thing more me like going to central park because I like it there and I find nature to be more meaning full then my mothers cats hair color. Also I sent a lot of time in central park but I wasn't able to show it so I which I could of included that. Also maybe like some Godzilla toys or some thing. But I thought the video was getting long and is already way too long so I stuck with the most appairrent and I guess basic to me.

ANALYIS AND INSIGHT

what I found as I was thinking about what to put in the video I realized that the things that were meaning full were things that I thought made the world in to a better place...OR at least showed ways to make the world in to a better place. But over all I thing that the things I like I like them because of there significance or either I find some thing and say that aspect I like and the rest I don't because they lack any real significance.

What I notice the pattern of the things that had “significance” to me were that they were able to give me some thing to aspire too. Like the Jedi and batman's control I try to achieve that in my self, not that I hope once I do achieve that control(if I ever) that I would be a jedi or batman I just hope that ill be able to become a better person to the people around me. OH and also the accept I showed was I want a lot of stuff to change but I know I cant do it by my self but I hope I could change.

Once reviewing the video I think it very very boring. I wish I could of done some thing more with it. i could of inclued some charter and made it shorter a bit more and it is too me to eh it is not entertaining you need some way to make it entertaining and some realisim so that the people watching it could enjoy it. I think this is because I rushed the project thus it feels almost empty to me because it's me, I know me . you know what mi saying. If some one is just meeting me and whats to know me better than sure its cool but I would rather have the person talk to me rather than watch it but it's cool I think. My mom said it was cute so thats the only outside perspective I can get so I guess to some it is cute.

Does what we like make us meaning full or is it what we do?
What makes a life meaning full or a life meaningless?
What can one do to make life more meaning full.

ians project from ian garica on Vimeo.

FIRST TIME TEST TEST

AMERICA