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.  

Advertisement and Seven Deadly Sins

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 

Source: http://sokoniadvertiser.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/samsung-note-3-and-Gear-lady.jpg

Source: http://adsoftheworld.com/sites/default/files/note3-astral-transitbacklit-tor-1_aotw.jpg

Denotation:

Samsung used the pictures above to advertise for their Samsung Galaxy Note 3 last year. In the first piece, there appears the hands of a woman. One hand is holding the phone, the other hand is holding the Smart pen while touching the side of the Gear on her left wrist. There is a bold text "DESIGN YOUR LIFE", below it is another text "Visually Elegant, Intellectually Powerful. Helping you achieve your life's work every day". In the second piece, there appears the hand of a man under his sleeve. He is holding the phone and the pen in one hand, and wearing the Gear on his wrist. There is a bold text saying "LOOK WHAT WE HAVE UP OUR SLEEVE". Both pieces are edited in black and white, but the colors are still remained on the main objects (which are the phones, the S pens, the Gear) that the creators intended to emphasize.  

Connotation:

As technology is getting more and more advanced, we see advertisement and commercials for the newest products everyday. These billboards and posters are found mostly in the bus stations, subway stations, on the buildings, by the high ways in big cities From the first piece, we can infer that the woman is an independent woman and she is using these products in order to be more convenient for her work. The text "DESIGN YOUR LIFE" conveys the message of being a woman who is having control for her own life. In addiction to that, the text "Visually Elegant, Intellectually Powerful. Helping you achieve your life's work every day" aims to encourage the audience to buy the products. That would help to increase the desire of owning these products. Because women would want to have the kind of phone that is not just elegant, but also able to make work more convenient for them; and it would also become their favorite accessory along with the Gear because the image shown in the picture depicts a fashionable woman. The intended audience of this piece is mostly women who are financially independent that can afford these products, which implies that these women would be from middle class or higher class.

In the second advertisement, the intended audience is men who are also from middle and upper class. In here, the Gear features as a symbol for business and/or successful men. It serves as an accessory and also helps to replace normal wristwatch with more modern functions. The text "LOOK WHAT WE HAVE UP OUR SLEEVE" indicates the Gear as a powerful tool that men should have. The idiom "Have something up one's sleeve" means to have hidden or secret plan, idea, etc., to use to one's advantage when the time is right.  It emphasizes the usefulness of the Gear and how the idiom would apply to it as it is amazingly helpful to its users. Through that, the audience would desire for these products more because they would think that "I would look as fashionable and stylist as that guy when I have those!" The creators used Lust of the Seven Dead Sins in the two advertisements to persuade the consumers into buying new products. Lust is a strong desire for something. In this case, lust is as the desire for these fantabulous technologies. They also intended to not include the face of the two persons in these pictures with the aim of having the audience thinking that they could be anyone. 

ohoho check out this ADORABLE commercial~ it's really cute xD :3  

Can't bury these tales: Canterbury Tales & Jane Eyre

2. How would you best describe the central idea of this chapter? Which phrase from the chapter best helps develop the central idea? 

In Chapter 7 of Jane Eyre, the author portrayed Jane in Lowood, which was a Christian boarding school. The girls were having a hard time while living in Lowood, as they were mistreated by the supervisor of the boarding school for the orphaned girls, Mr. Brocklehurst, who was depicted as an antagonist and a hypocrite by Charlotte Bronte. The author often showed that Mr. Brocklehurst tried to manipulate the girls and the ladies who run the orphanage by using the influence of Christianity. Through it, we can see that the reference to Christianity was just a reason for Mr. Brocklehurst to be able to practice his ideas/beliefs (or in fact, his lies) on the girls, who were in no positions to oppose him. Despite knowing the conditions that the girls had to go through hardships (such as not having enough food to eat that caused malnutrition, not having enough proper clothes for the cold weather, and most important is that they did not have basic necessities provided), Mr.Brocklehurst wanted them to sacrifice as of God's sake, and as if them being suffered is really important to Christianity. 

The central idea of this chapter is to emphasize how the religious belief was taught wrongly  and how it was used as a tool to manipulate the people, but not essentially a belief. We could see that Mr. Brocklehurst took advantage on the girls who had learned that God sacrificed himself for them, therefore they would also need to sacrifice themselves for God. We also learned about  his shameless hypocrisy as he told the school that Jane was a liar, meanwhile he was the biggest liar of all. The phrase that best helps develop the central idea was: "A brief address on those occasions would not be mistimed, wherein a judicious instructor would take the opportunity of referring to the sufferings of the primitive Christians; to the torments of martyrs; to the exhortations of our blessed Lord Himself, calling upon His disciples to take up their cross and follow Him; to His warnings that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God; to His divine consolations, "If ye suffer hunger or thirst for My sake, happy are ye."" This quote portrayed the lecture of Mr.Broklehurst as he was saying that the girls' suffering was not at all suffering, but more like sacrificing for God, and that wasconsidered as something they should be honored about. The girls were being controlled like puppets by Mr. Broklehurst as they believed they were following God's words, in fact they were controlled by Mr. Broklehurst, who considered himself as a person that taught God's words. Through these details, the author revealed to us that Mr. Broklehurst was just using Christianity as a device to cover up his lies. 

What's in a name?

Freebie~

The Othering

The name of the picture I chose was Death Metal Girl that was taken by Wing Young Huie in Lake Street USA (around 1997 - 2000).  

Denotation:

In this picture, there was a woman wearing dark clothes with bare feet, was standing on the sidewalk with her face painted appeared to be very scary. She looked very suspicious, as if she was going to harm someone; but when looking with more attention, the calm (and a little sad) expression on her face would make people to sympathize with her, as if they would feel sorry for her to be not like normal people. Behind the woman, there was a little girl trying to get on her bike as if she was running away from the woman because she was scared. There were only two of them in the picture. The surrounding appeared to be calm but it gave the effect of an abandoned or deserted place because it was in black and white. 

 Connotation:

In the text that the author provided as he quoted what the woman had shared with him, it showed that the woman enjoyed being herself. She enjoyed doing whatever she felt like she wanted to do, disregarded of what people would have thought about her. Normally, people would think that those who listen to heavy metal would appear to be scary and having psychological/mental problems, or they would always have their dark sides (joining gangs, smoking, doing drugs) under the appearance of looking dead or unholy. People would simply want to stay away from the woman just because of her appearance, and also because of the stereotypes that people had made based on their own judgments. She said that it was funny to see how people reacted when they saw her walking around outside with her face painted. It made me feel at ease that she was such a cheerful woman as she did not feel wrong about being who she was. By looking deeper into this picture, we can discover that the woman who was judged wrongly because of her appearance had the story of her life just as normal as we would. She was not different because she chose to be herself, but she was seen differently by the people around her, by the society that she lived in. 

Both Margaret Atwood and Wing Young Huie represented the concept of "othering" through their work as they all try to accentuate the emphasis of stereotypes that would appear in any society and under any circumstances. There will always appear the stereotypes between the ones who hold higher social status and the ones that have lower social status; between the ones that would appear to be "normal" in people's eyes and the ones that would be seen as "unfit", regardless of whatever they think would be normal for them to do, they would still be seen as abnormal; between people who have power and people who don't. The way Wing Young Huie shaped the concept of "othering" in his work was excellent as he tried to draw emphasis of the picture on the woman by using the colors back and white, which gave the effect of having more contrast between the woman and the surrounding. That way, we could focus more on the details that the picture contains, and draw conclusions about the woman. Her story was placed right below the picture intentionally with the purpose of sharing the side story of the woman in order for the audience to get to know her more, and to see her as who she was instead of focusing on making assumptions based on her appearance. The othering was shown as Wing Young Huie showed us that people would have classified the woman in their minds as she was less human than they were (for she appeared to look dead/unholly). Margaret Atwood also did an excellent job with creating the concept of "othering" throughout her work. As she constantly told the side stories/the memories of Offred, she intentionally wanted the audience to focus on getting to know who Offred actually was, besides her name and what she wore. The "othering" was shown as in the text, she was just a handmaid without power and less value than other women. She was viewed as a woman with nothing more but her duty was to give birth to the child of the Commander. Her story that she told at Night was what that defined who she really was.