Assignment #5: Dylan

     In my mind, Bob Dylan is without question a renaissance man. The man is probably the most influential act in popular music, with the possible exception of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. He defined an entire generation with topical songs such as “Blowin’ In The Wind”, “They Times They Are A-Changin’”, and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” While his topical songs tend to define his acoustic folk years (1961-1964), the man wrote some of the greatest love songs ever, such as “Girl From The North Country”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, and “To Ramona.” It was in 1965 when Dylan went electric, combining folk and rock together and starting a musical revolution at the same time. What many consider his finest song, “Like A Rolling Stone”, climbed the charts and peaked at #2. This was a bizarre feat for the day because the song runs over 6 minutes in length. Most singles back then only lasted about 3 minutes.

     Today Dylan’s lyrics are regarded as poetry and he is one of the only musical artists to ever be seriously considered for the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature. As Dylan aged he began to branch out into other aspects of art. Along with being an outrageously brilliant and influential musician, he is a painter, author, and radio show host, to name a few.

      I will always consider Bob Dylan to be a renaissance man. The man is without question a genius of epic proportions.

Assignment #2

     The line between beauty and fantasy has been blurred. Oh yes, through the years the media and popular culture has (sadly) succeeded in changing our perspective of beauty. For the most part, our idea of beauty is out of reach. As that video shows, the media VERY frequently use computers to transform an already gorgeous woman into an impossible specimen of beauty. Women then push themselves to attain this beauty, be it through crash diets or whatever, without ever fully realizing it isn’t quite possible. Even if they do attain this “beauty” they will most likely not look like that for a long time.

     While the main focus is on women, men are also pictured unrealistically throughout the media. Firm abs, muscular arms, and square-jawed handsomeness is what we are exposed to day in and day out. I am a smaller “wormy” guy and I realize that it is impossible for me to attain this Schwartzenegger-esque physique, so I’m not going to strive for it.

     Click here for an article about the effects the media has on people.

Sorting People

     For the sorting people game I guessed 6 out of the 20 correctly. As I was playing the game I pretty much knew that I was going to be almost completely wrong with my choices. I briefly considered doing the opposite of what my mind was telling me to do, and I figured that if I had done that I would have made pretty much a similar score. I tended to look to they eyes for answers, which in hindsight wasn’t probably the best way to go about it. I even singled this one white fellow out as a Latino just because of his thin mustache. There was even this one white guy that I am still not positive he is who he says he is, but I know better.

     I knew I was giving in to the stereotypes as I was playing the game, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go against those stereotypes. Even as I was looking for the four Indians, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Who could I see wielding a tomahawk the easiest?” That is a horribly ignorant way to go about it, but I couldn’t help it.

    I hope that as I grow older I will become less likely to stereotype people. We’ll see, I guess.

Blog

This is my first ever blog.  I am looking forward to this because this entire realm of the Internet is a completely new experience for me. I think this will be a fun and rewarding experience.