Good Bye and Hello

Since this is the last blog post that would be counted, I really have no motivation when knowing IB exams are coming up; but at the same time I feel the urge to express my sentimental attachment towards the IB-time to the world and I decide to give it my last try.

When I first joined IB, though I can hardly remember the reason I decided to join (as I have short-term memory loss, if someday I forget your name, please understand that you will always remain in ma heart♡, jk) I was excited because I was surrounded with such amazing people. Now thinking back about it, I think I just wanted to know the feeling of being surrounded by cool people while realizing how uncool I am, and that's why I joined IB. Haha, no I'm serious. I think it was kind of like a mistake but not really. I learned so much from them, therefore I'm really grateful towards...mmmy mistake. On the other hand, I think that I decided to join because I know IB would force me to learn English faster, as to write better (I know my writing is bad but believe me it was wayyy worse and at least I've improved, THANKS TO IB moehe). The benefit that I received from the past 2 years was truly precious and I know the pain, I mean the memory, would remind me that I can always grow to become larger - not physically but I wish I will miracally grow taller.

I realized my life changed so much since I joined IB. It was not my surroundings that changed, but the view of my surroundings has changed. The way I see things and the way I judge them have been influenced by IB, and of course in a positive way. IB has trained me into a critical person as I learned to judge everything that I came across. Though I'm well aware that I have turned to be so judgmental, but I also acknowlege that I was once a judgmental person as well. The only difference that distinguish myself in the past and myself in the present is that I have learned to judge the right ways, to judge for the sense of fairness, for the justice of a being in order to learn more about the thing being judged....
There are new things that are waiting to be discovered and I hope to find myself stumble upon them someday.

I dedicate my gratitude towards the people who helped me through rough times and have been there for me, I love all of you so much!!!! Give you kisses!!! moaz ♡♡ and my laugh of gratitude in different languages  kekekeke háháhá híhíhí ㅋㅋㅋㅋ ㅎㅎㅎㅎ
Here are the list of songs that I'd
 love to have you listen to
 *someday in the near future I will put in the songs---> therefore, make sure to check my blog frequently xD

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c-cOZgaotPY

p/s: hope you will have fun watching this!

Witty Whitman

Step1:
Taking a look at Whitman's journals, his cursive handwriting was difficult to read (seemed like he was jotting down the stream of ideas for his poems), which caused difficulty for me to understand what the journals were really about. However, I was not meant to be judgmental about his handwriting, but it would be much more helpful to the audience if his handwriting were to be clearer...

Through his notebook, I noticed that on page 925, there's written "Two characters as of a dialogue..." and "lesson for President elect". He also mentioned "the Jew the Christ". The presence of religion in his notebook made me wonder if his notes were about the separation between different religions in the nation. That his inner voice was to scream out the liberty of freedom of religion, as he wrote "lesson for President elect" on the page above. On other page, he wrote "Have more throne there stood so low? Does the Queen of England represent a thousand years? And the Queen of Spain a thousand years? And you". The significance of this quote was that he mentioned the two most powerful nations of Europe at the time and they also had great influence on the US. For what he meant about "a thousand years" I could not figure out. The quote "Welcome the star- welcome the trial - let the waves. Why now I shall see what the old ship is made of. Any body can sail with a fair wind, a smooth sea" and he also mentioned "The ship of Libertad" which represented his ideas of liberty. The last few pages included his sketches of an unidentified man who resembled Abraham Lincoln as there was one sketch of him with the hat on. This could link to the admiration of Whitman towards Abraham Lincoln and I think that Whitman wanted to become someone as great as Lincoln. 

Step2:
It was very surprising to know that the journals were about the dream of having a talk with Abraham Lincoln. I can relate this to him as I also sometimes find myself day-dreaming talking to my "favorite idols". I know this and that are different things but dreaming about having a talk with the person whom one admires very much is a very normal thing. In my opinion I would not think that Whitman would be the type of person who would look up to other people because he appeared to be so great himself. His dream about having a conversation with the person he admired, the one who would understand his longing for liberty just as much as himself, represented the worry that he had towards the future of America.

Am I living my life passionately?

Isabel Allende:

How to live passionately—no matter your age

Summary: Isabel Allende is a novelist and a memoirist who has written several stories of passion. In this TED Talk, she shared her story of how she lives her life passionately despite the fact that she now is 71 years old. She started with the introduction about her age and the family's members' ages, including the dog's. She made a point of how society enforces the idea of aging on people as most of us would think that we would start to age around 65, which is when we get Medicare. Precisely, aging started since birth and people have always been getting older but they did not notice that until they started to have wrinkles. She also talked about how the other people have done great things despite their circumstances such as a woman that was disabled due to a terrible car accident but she still had a positive attitude and thought about herself surfing in the ocean. Then, she argued about how her body was getting old and starting to fall apart, meanwhile her brain was staying strong and positive. As Allende shared her experiences and things that she has learned to let go, she reminded people that the greatest things that she gained from getting old was spirituality and freedom. She realized that passion was what she wanted to keep by herself as she keeps on living. By telling the stories of the others, she showed the audience that her life was inspired by other people. She made it clear that even though time can make human body weaken and fall apart, spirituality and passion are what would keep the brain to stay young.

The purpose of this story is to share the experiences of the person who lives 71 years and to inspire those who are still at a young age that want to live a more passionate life. This TED Talk was a lesson to educate people how to live life more passionately and encourage having the positive attitude in them as a way to lighten their life. Allende's intentions were to invite the audience to change their lifestyle as to have a positive mindset and learn to let things go, as well as to communicate the idea that passion can help to fight against the difficulty that one could face.

The tactics that Allende used as the tools to persuade her audience were involving using Logos and Pathos. When using Logos, she shared several accounts of other people. She meant to give their stories as inspirational tools which would help to inspire the audience, as well as to say that she was inspired by their stories. She was making a personal connection with the audience between her experiences and the other people's experiences. Humor was also involved as a way to entertain people but its main purpose was to emphasize the idea of making a positive mindset. Another persuade technique was using Pathos. As she was sharing the stories of other people, these stories were mostly of people who have special circumstances such as having been in a car accident or saving 12.000 girls and changing the cultural value of a country. These stories were appealing to the audience's emotion and made people more related to the main story.

I chose this TED Talk because as a female, I think that the idea of getting old and losing all the things that I'm now having is somehow terrifying (because the unknown is always scary and more powerful than anything else). Therefore, not knowing what will happen in life later makes me nervous at times. When I had to face difficulty I would be overwhelmed and stressed out so much that it is nearly impossible for me to be positive. I was training myself to become more positive and to have stronger mentality. I had learned many things through the passion that I have towards Kpop, I noticed that I have become a better person as I stopped holding grudges or hating on people, as well as making false judgments about others. There are many sides of myself that I want to fix and perfect them. This TED Talk really inspired me in many aspects and it taught me that there are people out there who are trying to figure themselves out and also wanting to live their lives passionately, just like me!

Film noir

2.  Film noir literally means “black film.” As you are watching the film, keep track of all the elements in the picture that seem dark or depressing. Think about the characters, the setting, and the storyline.

Life is but a Netflix queue created by an idiot...

Yohooo~

Oh no that is not how Lady Macbeth should sound like...

Ehem! 

Anyway, this is the list of shows that I'd like to recommend for you to watch. Why you ask. They are the most splendid (uhm maybe not) shows that showcase the lifestyles of the people who want to achieve something that simply cannot be obtained, unless there is bloodshed....which resembles "my" life so much. And here is the list:

- The Moon Embraces the Sun - this is a Korean historical drama (or Korean series, but in Konglish refers as Kdrama). The story revolves around the destiny of the young King who was surrounded by conflicts and unloyal subjects. His life was pretty much messed up when the person he loved most was "murdered" as to sacrifice for the peace of the whole nation. The reason why I recommend this show is because it portrays the character Queen Dowager who resembles myself so much. She is indeed a wise and wicked woman. However, she only wants to protect her people, but the method she uses brings bloodshed and disorganization to the Kingdom, which is against the God's will and she should be punished for her own sin. However, when she sinks too deep in her own greed for power and wealth when she manages to gain more power and wealth, there are also people who want to steal what she has and it brings the Kingdom and the whole nation in chaos. As she has already "killed" someone in order to protect the throne for her son, she will do anything and even more killings as to keep the throne in her hand (for her family clan). The person who has to face with all of that is no one else but her "beloved" grandson, the young King. 

- Once Upon A Time - you can see the combination of all the fairy tales and they are all mixed up in this American drama series. There are as many characters in the fairy tales and Disney movies (I think there's even Elsa from Frozen hahaha...). I know some would not take this as serious because somehow it sounds like a show for little kids, I was the same. But hey, I think I will not grow up as long as I still remain on the ground, therefore I will stay as a child  as much as possible. Both kids and adults have great imaginations; having said that, we all need an open mind in order to let imagination leads further. The show takes place in a fictional seaside town called Storybrooke, Maine, whose residents are characters from various fairy tales and are transported to the "real world" with their memories taken away by a powerful curse. The one who did the curse was the "evil" Queen. This Queen could be my bestie if I were to meet up with her. Everyone thinks of her as a person who is selfish and purely evil that she only wants to destroy others' happiness. To be frank, no one was born purely evil. However, there was resentful moments when her happiness was taken away by the people we, as audience, would consider as good and innocent. Therefore, the Queen builds up hatred and vengeance years after years of holding in her anger as to please the others. Therefore, when she was determined enough to kill others, she was willing to to take it to the end and could not stop herself or even distinguish right from wrong (or vice versa) and that she was so blind from her piling hatred overflowing her judgment. 

 

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's fall from grace

1. Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking that first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

Evil actions are sometimes formed not solely from evilness, but sometimes from the will of satisfying one's self that harmful actions to the others are not taken into account, or are considered less important than the satisfaction of an individual.

     At first, Macbeth was not thinking of killing King Duncan or taking over the thrown, because he didn't have the will to commit such evil acts. He had a fragile and genuine heart that he had always been such a great warrior and loyal friend of the King. Until Lady Macbeth was encouraging him to take his step to become King, she wanted him to take the throne for her because of her crave for power and fame, and because as a woman she did not have the ability to commit such act. Her words were what really motivated Macbeth to commit the evil action which was killing his King. He wanted to prove that he was a man (in Lady Macbeth's definition) as she was saying that he was not enough to be a man because he was mentally weak. As a result, Macbeth committed to become evil was partially because of his wife and also because of his greed for power. 

Lady Macbeth's words gave courage and determination for Macbeth to take his very first step into evil. For example, when someone says that it is okay to hit a wild cat because it can bite you if you don't do anything, you would tend to think that it is a normal thing to hit the wild cat because it is wild and because that person gave you the reason for hitting it. You would not empathize with that cat any more because you would systematically think that it is a right thing to do just because you were permitted to do so. This happens a lot in our society such as how kids were bullied as one kid tells the others that someone should be laughed at or made fun of.  The same applied to Macbeth because when Lady Macbeth encouraged him to kill Duncan, though he knew that it was a wrong thing to do but her words certainly motivated and he was more determined to kill Duncan after having conversation with his wife. I also think that Macbeth was reassured by the witches' words as he really believed that he was fated to be King and that his actions were all pre-determined by that thing called fate, but actually he WAS the one that made his fate. When the witches said that Macbeth will be the King, because he wanted to become King, he believed in their words. 

Betrayal is involved in taking the first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3) such as betraying himself as Macbeth did something that he didn't wholly want to do, he also betrayed his King whom he served for many years, and he also betrayed the people who used to trust him such as Banquo and Macduff because he later on sent his people to kill them/their family to cover up his actions.

The consequences of an individual choosing evil are loosing his/her trust-worthiness in the others, making more enemies for himself, having to hide the truth from others, and having anguish from committing evil acts as when Macbeth saw the ghost of Banquo in front of him at the feast, he freaked out that made the others confused and nervous. Macbeth had to continuously worried about getting caught and he had to commit more evil actions to conceal for what he had done. Therefore, the first evil act is the start of a long chain of more evil acts. The person who had taken first step into evil will sink deeper in taking more wrong doings. 

#IBmakingArt

Out of all the artworks that I've seen throughout the exhibit, the one that stood out the most to me was the combination of 84 black and white photos and its title was "89 Huicholes". The artist that created this artwork was Santiago Sierra (born in 1966, Spain). Its full size is 320 x 186 pixels. This piece of art was finished in January, 2006 at Jelisco, Mexico.

The artwork contains 84 black and white pictures of the back of people's heads. Each of them wore different clothes but the most of the women were wearing head covering. The people in the artwork are the Huichol people (aka Huichol Indians). They are indigenous people who live in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Western Mexico. As they have different customs and beliefs than other people, the artist respected their traditions and also showed us the significance of their belief through this artwork. In this artwork, the artist only took pictures of the backs of the people, because they believed that taking the pictures of their faces would mean that part of their souls being taken away. The fact that I could learn something so interesting through the people that I would never know their faces was impressive because I have thought that pictures of people's backs could have delivered a powerful message like this artwork did.

The purpose of this artwork was to inform the audience cultural value of the Huichol people. As Sierra showed us how he respected their belief, he was also "asking" us to perceive openly and appreciate the difference between our culture and their culture. The artist introduced us "his people"; even though they are indigenous people, Sierra showed that he respected them equally instead of discriminating against them just because their beliefs are different from his beliefs. That way, he taught us a significant cultural belief of the Huichol people. 

The 2 main colors that the artist used were black and white. These are the colors that would have high contrast when they go together. Because having the original colors would make these photos become confusing as it would have too many colors because there are various photos, and that would divert the audience's focus to other unnecessary details. In order to direct the audience's attention to the key point of the artwork more effectively, Sierra put these pictures in black and white. The whole artwork seemed to lack something as the end of the last row was empty. The artist created that emptiness as for saying that the pictures will never end and will keep on continuing for many more generations. It could also be said that the last place was for the artist himself as he could see himself being one of them, or it could be anyone of us.