His idea was tweaked and his original satire was made into the very thing that he was trying to satirize the whole time! The fine line between comedy and satire was blurred and I am interested to see what will happen because of that! It was also very interesting and genius that Lee used the solemn music when the actors were blacking out their faces. It was as though they had been transported back to a time when they may not have had the option of NOT doing the show. Sleep n’ Eat (Tommy Davidson) even began to cry a bit as he was applying his makeup.

All in all, this has turned out to be a very insightful, funny, passionate, well filmed movie so far!

by Justin buckley

The shallow cascade
Of endless beginning,
In joyous strife
Or graceful sinning
Until the planets
Stop their spinning,
Is ours to abuse.
Pardon my grinning…

No sources yet…
New idea…

Of course, rather than taking a job that would actually fulfill my moral duty as a human being AND still more than bring home the bacon, I OF COURSE have to be selfish and go with what brings ME most pleasure. We truly are a selfish animal eh?

Perhaps you are thinking, “you surely are…” To that I say humanity in general. Do you deny that the average human being would rather fulfill his (arguable) moral duties than make the most personal gain with the least possible input? I thought not. Selfish.

At this point i decided that our views would probably clash, seeing as I HATE (and by hate I mean loathe, despise, detest) that kind of music. Albeit, some country is allright: example: Willy Nelson, but the kind he was spewing was HORRIFYING. It was the kind that made you want to throw your computer out of a third story window in hopes that 3 stories will be enough to get it out of earshot.

From this brief observation / analysis, I had discovered that I did not like this man. However, he would remain my friend as far as MySpace was concerned. We’ve been over that. Friends make me feel special.

For example: Radiohead uses synthesizers and special pedals to distort and create sounds to get the sound that they want for the song that they are working on.

This topic has just always peaked my interest, why not kill two birds with one stone? I decided to research a topic of interest and do my paper at the same time.

Jan. 31, 2008

Elyn Blackman, sec. 82

In class Essay

Barrack vs. Clinton!

                I recently read an article in a state paper that discussed the battle between Hilary and Barrack. The article was written by two different people who agreed that neither candidate was going to win the election for various reasons (being a woman, being black, names, etc.). My interest in these two candidates was peaked over the past week while watching an episode of the Daily Show on Comedy Central. During this particular episode, Stewart was berating Hilary and former president Bill, as well as Edwards about ganging up on Obama. Hilary was using the system to the best of her ability to help her secure the most votes she could.

                The episode featured video clips of a debate in which Hilary and Edwards seemed almost like in their motive of making sure that Obama didn’t get a word in. Obama would say something, in response to a question, and Hilary or Edwards would be quick to respond showing why Obama’s views or opinions were CLEARLY wrong. It was pretty entertaining the way they set up the clips. It really made me think about how ridiculous debates are in general. All it’s about is who can keep talking past the allotted time for the longest without being snoody about it. (Yes I used the word snoody.)

                After these clips were through, Stewart gave the audience some time to reflect upon what they had just seen and then continued in to another piece regarding the big dawgs: Hil Dog and B-Bam. This one had more to do with former president Bill than with Hil Dog, however. You see, Bill said that the only reason Barrack won the primary in South Carolina was because he and his “brothas” were sticking together and he simply got the black vote, like anyone would have inspected. Colbert continued this story on his show directly following the Daily Show and had a black woman (a Clinton supporter) come talk about what Bill had said and why she still supports Hil Dog.

                The woman basically said that Bill was wrong to talk about Obama’s win like it was expected or unimportant because it was just the same as if Hil Dog had won one of the majority white states such as Ohio or Illinois or something like that. She believed that Bill was in the wrong and that he was being almost racist in commenting the way he did, however, she still considered herself a Hil Dog supporter because she agreed with Clinton’s ideals.

                The relevance between the two stories is HILARIOUS (no pun intended, Hil Dog). On the one hand you have a newspaper talking about how neither candidate is going to win the election, on the other hand you have a TV show talking about how one of them SHOULDN’T win because she is simply manipulating the system to her advantage. Sadly, this is almost always the case. The system justifies itself… The only reason our system works is because it can be manipulated in such a way that it is effective for those that manipulate it.

American culture in the form of a band. This is definately one form of culture that I can identify. Bang Camaro plays music with huge guitar riffs, huge drum beats, and HUGE vocals. Consisting of no one lead singer, the lead vocals are manned by 10-15 guys at a time depending upon which part of the country the band is currently touring in. Why am I so adement about this particular piece of popular culture, you ask? Well for one, I’ll be singing with them in Raleigh, North Carolina this Feb. on the 6th at the Lincoln Theater, however, the main reason is that they are a new and innovative sound breaking into the mainstream of popular culture today. But hey, don’t take my word for it, check out their myspace by clicking on one of the links at the top of the page! Their music is amazing.

 What don’t I like about today’s culture? WAAAAAY too much to list in a single blog post… actually i suppose i could list them all, however, im waaay too lazy to do that right now so I’ll just say this. I HATE our method of campaigning, for any office in general. I HATE our fast food restaurants just as much as i love them. I HATE that you have to be somebody to become somebody.

Wow. That was all I had to say after reading an article by Mark Tucci in the Burlington Free Press this afternoon. It is very obvious that Mr. Tucci is an opinionated reporter (not always a good thing) and believes, like me, that the issue of drug policy in Vermont should be brought to the table! I particularly like the way he brings up their current marijuana laws (in regards to medical marijuana) in conjunction with Vermont’s civil union and gun control laws, as though he is making a list of laws he would like reviewed.

Finally it brought him to his main point: TALK ABOUT DRUG POLICY! Everyone is thinking it and virtually no one is talking about it! What needs to be done to insure that at least someone (preferably someone with power) discusses this pertinent issue!?!

In the scene, one of the main characters, Judah (Martin Landau) was having a flashback to his childhood memory of eating dinner with his family while they carried on a semi-heated discussion about Judaism and ultimately religion in general. The scene was base and stark in its realism and allowed the audience to connect to all of the characters very easily, as though we were a part of the family. On the one hand, there was the ultra-religious, blindly following, faithful father who stuck to his guns arguing that even if non of it were true, he would still have been happier than not having followed. On the other hand was the aunt who questioned everything presented to her (like me). She basically argued that religion was merely a way for those who might otherwise be unhappy to draw some sort of order or happiness into their lives.

In short, after hearing the argument in its entirety, I came up with this: “To believe blindly is to be blind. To see the undesired truth is to at least see.” This is pretty much a consummation of my individual beliefs, which have been influenced partly by my mother’s beliefs to the contrary as a child and partly by my personal experiences thereafter. Do with this what you will and if I have offended anyone I apologize; it was not my intent. I was just proud of myself for thinking so clearly and idealistically!