No Impact Man

What brings me happiness during celebrations like birthdays, holidays, etc.?

Hm... That is an interesting question! Well what concerns birthday celebrations, I just hate them. Mine in particular. Every year I could not wait for that day to be over with. Mainly because you are not getting any younger and have to add another number to your age. By the way, I am sixteen during the last 10 years already ;-). Then I have such various friends, so get them in the same room is quite a challenge. Even though I find a common language with each and every one of them when we are one on one and consider everyone a unique personality, putting them together does not work that easy. Simply because they can not find a common language and have a crucial amount of different interests. So every year I wait for this day to come and get over it as soon as possible. 

What brings me happiness though?... I love when New Years Day coming to the end, you are going to bed being anxious for the Santa to come while you are asleep, you turn off the lights... the only thing you could see is Christmas lights in the windows and in this silence you feel how the last strangers are walking in the streets and you could hear how their winter felt boots squeak in the snow. This noise gets me into a different state of mind and, while my body is falling asleep, I could still hear those sounds of the squeakiness. It is almost like magic is in the air, outside the street, but you are missing on it. Until you wake up later and the story repeats itself again. 

When the family gets together for the holidays, you happen to escape in the washing room for a second. And, i am sorry, but while you are sitting on the toilet all alone, you could hear the noise coming from the family room. Somebody argues, the other tells a joke or an interesting story... You can not really hear what they are saying, but that noise put you in a place of happiness that everybody is right there. Just behind that wall. And it brings happiness to your mind and soul.

The other thing I really enjoy is how the Frost draws images on the windows. Those strange unique snowflakes... You catch yourself on looking at them and smiling... :-)

Enough of the good stuff. Back to No Impact Man.

Can I just say right away that I hated it from the beginning till the very end?! If it was not something that I have to watch for class, long time ago I would have stopped that insanity and switched the channel. While watching it, something inside of me was just protesting every moment of that clip. My anger was growing with each scene. Why? I think every one of us has a choice. To do particular things or do not. To play the "russian roulette" and do not. To watch TV or not. To use the electricity or not. To use cloth or "new era" diapers. I could go on and on with this list. But everything that has ever been invented on Earth has a reason for that invention. And when some things are getting lost in oblivion or obscurity, there is a reason for that. Some will do it faster, the others later. But eventually they will. On the other hand it is, in my opinion, important to respect the choice of others and not to roll your eyes seeing some nonsense going on in front your eyes. But, listen, we pass the ancient times and live in a civil society of light, transportation, garbage etc. What it is necessary to do is to be more cautious and accurate about the environment and those who inherit it. 

So here we are on a journey with the Beavan family in New York City. 

... to be continued...  

The Onion Exercise

For the Onion Exercise I chose the article named "Dwight Howard Makes Talking Look Almost Effortless During Lakers Press Conference"(see below for the actual media). I love sports, so no wonder article that caught my eye was the one dedicated to basketball. Knowing Dwight Howard from his Orlando Magic years and actually seeing him live on the court as well as watching the press conferences with his participation or reading media pieces written about him, I was not surprised by the way he was satirized/presented by the author. The way Howard acts in public and his smack talk about his former coach and team is the proof to it. I might agree that it is to the certain extent exaggerated by the media, but overall the critique/satire is quite in place. 

The article mainly concentrates on the norms of the behavior in public, about the behavior of that particular person, and what light the athletes should or should not present themselves as public speakers and examples for the others. 

Few statements were true in the article: Dwight Howard is really a Laker now; season opener game for Lakers was really on Tuesday; Howard is a true center basketball player.

As well our assignment for this exercise included finding an item that might be associated with the theme of the article. First thing that appeared in my mind was a basketball ball I had at home. A true NBA certified ball. It really resonates with the piece of media and really helps me remember about one another. But as our professor mentioned, there should be a few items she "stored" in the building. So I found this item (see attached picture). It has nothing to do with the article itself, but it gets my attention in the direction that something is really behind those close door. It may be, you do not have to be a regular-minded person to see it. 

"A Waitress at Duval's Restaurant" P.-A. Renoir

I love art in general. Looking at the paintings takes usually quite some time for me. In general I am not a fan of realism, I prefer the masterpieces of artists where you need to spend quite some time in front of the painting to get your sense out of it or to understand the author's approach. What I like about creations of the impressionists is their ability of creating their works by using the quick brush strokes. This technique really allows them to create the unique blends of colors. I find this quite fascinating.

In the suggested painting of Renoir we see the waitress of Duval's restaurant. At first  when I looked at the girl, my attention went towards her eyes. The little black dots on her face. In the beginning I thought that she was looking right at me, but when I really looked into her eyes, it seemed that the waitress was looking right passed me. In the depth of the unknown world. In the middle of nowhere. Slightly bending her head, she was almost visiting the other world that she might see behind the restaurant itself, behind the picture she actually saw in front of her... room full of guests, eating their supper or discussing politics with the glass of whiskey. I feel like she looks beyond this festivities, evaluating her role in this particular moment, in this place, in the world. It seems time to time that she is dull, while at times I might see that she has a slightly noticeable smile. Her hand on the waist is a sign of so-called power over the situation or guests needs. The painting is in dull colors. The curtain matches the waitress's apron, while her color the color of the wallpaper.

I do not think that my perspective has changed after reading the poem. I am willing to say, that the author has his own approach of understanding the painting. So do I have my own. Plus both creations were written in different times in world history, so I would assume that both authors have never met each other. So they are really coming out of their own perspective of one another.