The reading by Greg Kot was interesting. Kane west is a spoiled brat. Because, he did not look at the conscience of what could have happened, if there were riots or civil war in the country. I understand the political implications Kane’s comment had on Gorge Bush. But the media was labeling affected people by Hurricane Katrina as blacks and whites.
I don’t know much about western rap music. I know enough to say western rap is infiltrating every nation from Arab countries to Asian countries and even African countries. Ethiopia is a country that has its own language and music. I listen to Ethiopian music all the time. In the past decade or so Ethiopian music is being influenced by a western culture music called rap music. The song below is an Ethiopian song by a famous Ethiopian artist called Tilahun Gessesse.
Tilahun used to sing from his heart as you can see from the video above. But the current generation is changing to western rap songs that have no mining what so ever. I will let you compare how Ethiopian music had changed.
Ethiopian music is changing from time to time. The influence of western culture is to blame. Ethiopians are slowly but gradually clanging their culture. This is also seen in the way music is presented to the public. When I listen to an Ethiopian song I understand what the musician is saying word by word, but in recently understanding the musician is getting harder day by day. The musicians are not only changing their phase but they are also changing their names. Joni Raga is an Ethiopian musician but has the name of a Jamaican. Joni Raga also plays an Ethiopian song but it seems far off what an Ethiopian song was supposed to seem like. here is a song By Joni Raga called Habsawi.
Joni Raga in this video is singing about being a true Ethiopian, I don’t buy it because he is singing about being a true Ethiopian while he is sailing his culture.
Listening to music is one of the most refreshing and enhancing experience in my life. When I hear music I like, I forget about everything and just give it that 3 or 4 munities it deserves. Giving all your attention to a song while it is playing is hard, especially if you are not good at hearing the instruments like me. Ever since I was a child I have been listening to Ethiopian music. Ethiopians have different instrument that would be somewhat familiar to some westerners. This is called kirar it is somewhat familiar to guitar.
A kirar is used in the northern part of Ethiopia and in Eretria. I like how the Kirar sounds. Kirar is what makes an Ethiopian song sound good. Listen to the music below and see how you could relate it to a Kirar.
The painting Personal Values by Rene Magritte is interesting because it is surreal. It is surreal because the features on it cannot be easily explained, and no one can have a true definition of it. In my opinion Rene made this painting because he had a rough child hood. However while the painting is about his rough child hood people did not understand it because of their lack of knowledge about Rene. Although many people see the painting as a surreal representation of a box in the sky, it is really a cultural critique of confinement, and the time we miss due to this confinement.
Personal Values by Rene Magritte
Magritte was born in Lessines, Belgium in 1898. Even though little is known about Magritte’s early life he started painting in 1910, and lived to be 68. However his work will live on to dazzle the millions who come to see it, like the people at the San Francisco Art Museum when we first saw Personal Values we all had nothing to say about it, it made us all stop in our tracks and think what to make of it, after a minute of silence our tour guide asked an old woman what she thought of it, “I think the room is floating in the sky. “That was her answer. I see why she Saied that, It looks like that doesn’t it? My uncle gave me this answer when I asked him about it “It is a bed that is covered by cloud” who knows he might be right though? I know they are all wrong, because they have not done their homework on Magritte; see the difference is knowing about the painting when we are talking about it, isn’t that what John Berger wants us to do. I have looked at Rene’s background and this is what I came up with, Magritte lost his mom at the age of 13, she committed suicide, this must have left a scar. Just look at this painting and think about it for a minute
It is called The Lovers, I think Magritte painted his parents, “looking at the painting” they love each other but it is no good, they can’t see each other. In personal Values this was what Magritte wanted us to see, “life is short just live it like every day is your last.” Looking at personal values scares me, look at the appliances they are bigger than furniture, the room is filled with a sky, the window is open, letting a small breath in to let us fly like a bird. This all points to one thing we are living a life of confinement, Magritte is saying you are bigger than that, you make your choice, make yourself big and have fun on the world that is waiting for you or just be in bed till 8:00 in the morning or be in your so called comfort zone, well I don’t call it comfort zone in fact It’s torture, look at all the stalk breakers the CEO’s the Senators the president, people who think they rule the world this is what Magritte left them
The Painting above is called The False Mirror. Magritte is saying to them, I don’t see this world the way you do, we are all going to die in this life and we should make the best of it, one may have all the money in the world but that’s no good if he doesn’t do something with it, because he or she is not going to die with it. Let us face it people we all want what we don’t have but the Irony is that we have what we need and we are losing it people, we are losing time chasing money, fame, power and prestige. But the fact of the matter is that they are no good. How many people have you heard of that have money and did not have life? Look at Charley Shine for example, his life is a wreck, he seems to find his way on the news somehow every day. Looking at him makes me feel sorry for him. He and others like him are wasting their lives doing silly things that are costing them the most important thing that is their god given time on earth. Look at this painting below and say this people, which group do I belong to?
The painting above is The Pilgrim by Rene Magritte
A photo of Rene Magritte with the painting The Pilgrim
As you see Magritte is painting a picture in the photo he took, he is saying I belong to a certain group and I am in the right track because I use my head and do not west my time, Look at the painting next to Magritte the man in the painting is dressed as well as Magritte if not better, But he is no good because he has got no head to use.
Magritte used oil in the painting Personal values because that was the most convenient to that work, because it involve a number of color medium, Personal Values has a bright and detailed color, it shows every little detail about the painting just look at how the glass is painted it looks real, the shadow of the shaving cream and glass on the matters made it look like Magritte took a picture and fooled us all. Rene was challenged by another painter that his work on personal values was fast and he did not give it enough time Magritte convinced this man and told him Personal Values took him about two month to paint. Magritte is known for surrealism most of his works are odd but interesting personal values is no different than the rest of his paintings. Rene paints in a way that when you see his work the first thing that comes to your mind is that, what is that and how did he think of that. I conclude some of Rene Magritte’s works.
Looking at Magritte’s panting is a fascinating thing; I always wonder what he was thinking when painting them. To say the list Magritte had a rough child hood he lost his mom at the age of 13, most of his paintings are Surrealistic. look at his works.
If you see his painting he is just odd, and I don’t blame him for being so. Most of the women in his paintings are either being painted by a man or are posing nude but are sort of covered in some kind of cloth or hiding behind something, I think this relates to his mother’s life and death, his mother committed suicide by drowning herself in a river and that was not her first attempt, so Magritte’s dad often kept her locked at home, when she was found dead Magritte was there, and her dress was covering her face, You could just imagine what he must have felt seeing her like that. I think that is what relates to most of his works. I found this video, it’s about the painting I am working on, and I think it’s hilarious.
I came from a culture that does not appreciate art a lot. If you ask me three or four weeks about art this would have been my answer. “I don’t see the point of it except the Monalissa.” I liked it just because my mom told her face changed on different angles. When I compared myself to the old me I have changed a great deal, not only I could understand art I like it too. I chose a painting by Rene Magritte called (personal values) this painting is a piece of art to say the list. It has a surrealistic character to it. You just don’t know what it is about, lots of people give different opinions about what they think of it, some say it’s a nightmare others say it’s a new day, but I think Rene was trying to show us how small our life’s are and how confined we might be. Just look at how big those appliances are we make our selves small by being lazy and sleeping up to 8:00 sometimes when we are missing the world, I just might remember this painting when It’s my time to leave earth.
The first time I saw this ad I had no clue what it was about, I said to myself what does a pig had to do with an insurance company and how would it work for them? I think people see it in different ways, that’s because we are not just imagining it; we have a picture and a video to interpret for us, just forget about the images that we have now and imagine a pig crying wee… To home, it seems more like an animal farm story. Pictures and video cameras give us images we can’t imagine, this pig is a kid and has a ride to his home but he bugs the people who gave him the ride so they interpreted him like that little pig. I would say it worked out for GEICO, the creativity and imagination behind this ad is marvelous, it ironic in a way too, kids are the once who like it the most. The way I saw it, having that 15% off gave them a car they could drive which got them bugged by this little kid, I laughed a lot when I got this. I am looking more into what I did not understand in commercials nowadays.
