Phyllis Chen Lecture

A few weeks ago I went to Phyllis Chen's lecture. The lecture began by Ms. Chen introducing herself to the audience. Following that, she told us about parts of her life, and the beginning of her music career, and how it started. Her passion for music began at the age of five. She first learned to play on a normal size piano. Years later, Ms. Chen developed tendonitis in her hands. To reduce her painful tendonitis and cramping in her fingers, Phyllis began playing the toy piano. A toy piano is a miniature piano, made of metal rods, and it can't be tuned like a regular piano. For the audience, Ms. Chen began playing the toy piano. My favorite song she performed was Irabella. I enjoyed this song because I liked the melody and the timing of the beats. The way Ms. Chen preforms really seems to drive the audience into her performance. She closed her eyes and seemed to bob her hair with the beat. It showed that she really loves what she does.
I enjoyed the lecture and short performance by Phyllis Chen. I'm not sure if I would really enjoy attending a full performance of her's because although I liked the toy piano, I can only listen to it for so long. I see why many people enjoy her though, because it is a very interesting talent. I would definitely encourage people to see her or at least preview her music.

Unstoppable

Last weekend I saw the new movie, Unstoppable. Unstoppable stars Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. The movie is about a large runaway freight train carrying deadly chemicals. At one of the train’s stops, the conductor was goofing around with his friends and hoped out of the train, not realizing the breaks weren’t secure. The train began to take off and they couldn’t get back in the train to turn the break back on. The train then continued to pick up speed and soon was traveling at a rapid speed through northern Pennsylvania through really small towns. If the train crashed it would destroy the surrounding town; therefore, people were asked to evacuate Denzel and Chris are teamed up as a crew on another train. Without giving away the ending, to attempt to stop the other train, Denzel and Chris try to attach their train onto the runaway to bring it to a stop or at least slow it.
I really enjoyed this movie; it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I love Denzel Washington and I always think his movies are really moving or enjoyable. I can't recall if the movie was based on a true story or not but it seemed very believable, not just a fantasy. I don’t usually enjoy action films but this was more of a combination between action and drama, because while they were sitting in their train, Denzel and Chris discussed their characters’ personal life. They both had a moving life, which really drew me into the movie. I would recommend seeing this movie, especially while it’s in the theatres because the sound effects are really good.

Night of the Living Dead

On October twenty-ninth I went to see the Friday Night Film Night of the Living Dead with my best friend Kelly who was visiting from home that weekend. Night of the Living Dead is a horror film that was created in the nineteen sixties and has become one of the most well-known horror films. It was the beginning of all zombie movies. Viewed today it seems a little corny and obviously fake, but when it first came out it was terrifying. I personally love scary movies, and had seen this one several times before, but I would never miss the opportunity to watch one. In my opinion, Night of the Living Dead continues to be scary because of how it was filmed. The screen is dark except for the figures and zombies and the sound effects are still scary. One thing I don’t enjoy about Night of the Living Dead is the goriness of it. The zombies eat people and the film really captures that. I don’t like watching them eat the flesh off a person’s bone. Aside from that, even though the goriness is a main part of the film, I really do enjoy it. Even after seeing it a few times, Night of the Living Dead still makes me jump and still makes me afraid of zombies. The idea of a bunch of humans knocking down your door because they have become zombies freaks me out, and they want to eat you. I think the Night of the Living Dead has greatly inspired many horror film directors, and has given them ideas about zombies or indestructible humans and other themes along that line. I think Night of the Living Dead will always be a horror favorite and will remain popular, especially since it has lasted this long. I would recommend seeing it, even if you don’t like scary movies because it truly is a classic.

Friday Night Film: Examined Life

On October twenty-second I went to see the Friday night film. Premiering was Examined Life. Although the movie was meant for philosophy majors I went anyway because I have an interest in philosophy and the movie seemed intriguing. Documented by Astra Taylor, the film follows different modern day philosophers and their ideas on life, the economy, and various other topics concerning today. The documentary captured four of what are thought to be the most influential thinkers of today: Peter Singer, Michael Hardt, Judith Butler, and Cornel West. While walking down Fifth Avenue in New York City, Peter Singer shared his thoughts on ethics. Judith Butler spoke to Astra Taylor in a park in San Francisco, California. Judith Butler discussed how interesting it is that society tends to focus on one individual and how society boasts the power of individualism but tends to follow one persons’ thinking, creativity, or style. She noted that in today’s society it’s hard to find one individual thinker who truly strands out, and that’s what she tries to do. I found Judith Butler very interesting and she clearly stands out, from her ideas to even her clothing in the documentary. Michael Hardt discussed the nature of revolution. Cornel West compared philosophy to jazz and blues, and discussed how intense and refreshing a life of the mind can be. I specifically liked the things Cornel West was saying. One of his quotes that has stuck in my head is “…we are all just a multi-celled organism that climbed from the primordial ozone into a biped with a sense of dogmatism and morality.” I’m not exactly sure what this means but it really made me think about life and the human population. I think he’s saying that we are all made from different genes and cells but we’re all still human that came from somewhere whether it be a god or not and that some of us just emerged and thought we had a sense of right and wrong when really right and wrong is learned. I really enjoyed this documentary and would like to see others like it.

Diigo Bibliography on 70s Fashion

http://groups.diigo.com/group/english101waa/content/user/allisonwaa

When it will be old man

When you are old and grigio
and full with I dream and launching of fire,
it takes this book in bottom and reads slowly
and dreams dell' ;
blow d' regular eye that their eyes had formerly
and of the relative tonalities deeply;
Quanto liked its moments of happy tolerance
and liked its beauty with l' ;
amore or the truth forgery, but a man liked l' ;
heart of the pilgrim in you
and you liked the pains his face changing;
And while doubling in bottom close to the bars which polish intensely,
mormorii, little sadly, like l' ; amore
it fled and established the passage on the expenses indirect of the mountains
and hidden the relative face in the d' means; a crowd of l' star.

So Percussion

About three weeks ago I went to see "So Percussion" with my roommates. "So Percussion" consists of four men, who are widely known for playing different objects and putting on a very unique performance. Prior to seeing them, I had heard their performance resembled the broadway play, "Stomp". The performers of "Stomp"play unique objects with different tools you would find in your garage or on the street. The performers also danced around the unique instruments, for example, a huge tire. I saw "Stomp" about two summers ago in New York City with my mom. I loved the whole show, except towards the end I had a horrible headache because of how loud it had been. Since I loved "Stomp" so much I was looking forward to seeing "So Percussion".
The group did a great job in interacting with the audience, one of the four kept making jokes throughout the night, and it really made me feel like I was involved in their group. However, I wasn't really a fan of their music. In the beginning I thought it was cool, and it didn't resemble "Stomp" but it was the same concept, so it was enjoyable. As the beats got louder and the songs dragged on, I became bored and started developing a horrible headache.
The group is very unique and creative, at one point they played a cactus. I never thought of a cactus as an instrument, so I did find that very attention-grabbing. I think the idea behind "So Percussion" is awesome because, it opened my eyes to everyday objects that can be played as instruments. It takes a simple concept of playing on pots and pans as a child, into playing all sorts of things, even things from nature and making it sound good.
Although my head really hurt after the show, I did enjoy it overall. I don't think I would go see them again, but they were definitely worth listening to at least once.