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