Overview

I've always dragged my feet when it came to writing and generally disliked any English class I've taken. But, English 15 was a pleasant surprise and actually got me involved and let me write about things I wanted to. It actually got me to enjoy the writing and build upon my writing skills. The variety of opinions kept classes very interesting and helped motivate me to get up for an 8am class. The assignments also got me to look at art more closely. I've never really been an art guy but I grew to enjoy it. I'm actually planning on going to a few museums over the summer that I wouldn't have otherwise. Overall I really enjoyed myself and may even take an English class as a gen ed at some point since I'm no longer anti-English class.

Responses:
 http://georgenelson11.blogspot.com/2012/03/3-ways-to-fix-what-broken-at-this.html
 http://alexbentz.blogspot.com/2012/04/one-down-three-to-go.html?showComment=1335713149277#c2296887479315439404
 http://meeten3.blogspot.com/2012/04/harry-potter-review.html?showComment=1335714152196#c5856273464388548097

SRTE DONE

Cultural Event #2

On March 24th I went to the Michael Jackson Immortal World Tour by Cirque du Soleil at the Bryce Jordan Center. I have been to Cirque shows before so i had an idea of what to expect but this show threw me off a bit.

The opening was very video oriented which I didn't really care for as Cirque shows are know for their acrobatics/dancing, not videos. This was followed by a bit about Neverland Ranch and some audio from Michael Jackson about kids. I found this to be very odd since Jackson had fought legal battles regarding sexual abuse of kids in the 90's. This portion of the show lasted maybe fifteen minutes if that. The rest of the show was amazing though.

The songs were well chosen as most were huge hits from either Michael or the Jackson 5. One of my favorite bits was "ABC" where the performers all were wearing giant afros and late sixties clothes. Each song had their own unique performance which was quite a feat since most songs were melded into one another, instead of playing each one completely.

The show ended in typical Cirque fashion with all the performers coming out to take a bow. But, afterwards one performer dramatically put on the one glove and all the lights went to it. It was so bright you couldn't look directly at it. Overall it was a great performance although the beginning caught me off guard.

Cultural Event #1

Back on February 4th I had the pleasure of attending the Lady Antebellum Concert at the Bryce Jordan Center. I don't listen to much country music so I wasn't really familiar with their work but knew that they have a huge following. I had no idea they were about to blow me away.

I actually was more excited to see the opening act, hoping that Darius Rucker would play some stuff from his Hootie and the Blowfish days. He did not disappoint. It may as well have been his concert with the way he rocked the house. After starting his set with some of his popular country songs he threw in some of the best Hootie songs my favorite being "I Only Wanna Be With You". The quality of his performance gave the feel that he wasn't the opening act, just part one of what was to come.

Thompson Squared was up next. I had never heard of them, so having no idea of what to expect I was pleasantly surprised. Although their performance wasn't as good as Darius Rucker's they were still really good.

Finally Lady A came out and they blew me away.  They played mostly their hits which were much better live than  on the radio. But my favorite part of the entire show was when Darius Rucker and Thompson Squared joined Lady A on stage and they all sang "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. It seemed like the selection took the crowd by surprise and they loved it. Lady A put on one of the best concerts I've been to on par with the Eagles or Elton John.

Boots on the Ground by Dusk: A Review

Millions of kids dream of someday playing professional sports, yet very few ever achieve this dream. If you were one of the lucky ones to get there would you give it up for something you believed in? The book “Boots on the Ground by Dusk” follows such a person. Although a biography, it is the single most moving story I have ever read. Written by his mother, it follows the life of Pat Tillman from childhood through college and on to the NFL. He was offered a multimillion dollar deal to play safety for the Arizona Cardinals but walked away from it to join the Army Rangers along with his brother after 9/11. His personal sense of patriotism and wanting to do more than just play a game are refreshing in this materialistic word in which we live. His story was big news back in 2004 but not for all the positive contributions he made to the world this one was far more tragic.

Pat Tillman was a real American hero, proud of where he came from and willing to do what he felt was right despite what others may have thought. As a young man playing in the NFL he left the fame and money that so many dream of for the belief he was going to help protect our United States from a foreign threat. He left his wife and young child behind for his ideals. He is a man every American should seek to emulate.

When I first read this book I already knew who Pat Tillman was and his story. But I wasn’t prepared for the roller coaster I was about to go on when I opened the cover. I couldn’t make it five pages without tears streaming down my face. His mother tells the entire story with vivid imagery and really opens up so you feel her pain. “Boots on the Ground by Dusk” is one of my favorite books despite making me cry every time I read it. It’s a two thumbs up must read.

At PSU we know how to Party

This American Life's look at the party scene here at Penn State I thought was fairly accurate and I actually thought they didn't even make us look bad. Sure we are a party school..... every school is a party school we just have more people. More people = more parties. Sure there are a few people who can't handle themselves around alcohol but they make the rest of us look bad by doing dumb things. But the majority know their limits and don't cause problems. People concerned with the "image" this gives PSU don't make sense to me. We are considered a top academic institute and we have awesome parties compared to somewhere like Arizona State which everything I've heard about them is referencing their parties. (No offense I'm sure you have excellent academics) I'm just saying everyone has flaws just embrace our school as is the good, the bad and the ugly. Personally I'm not a big party person. The frats are straight up disgusting (again no offense) and I just get a bad vibe from them. The apartment parties I've been to are always super crowded so I'd much rather hangout with my friends in smaller groups. I actually prefer to walk around downtown just talking to hammered people while I'm sober. There is no end to the entertainment of the inebriated. The podcast was fair and showed both the students and the locals views. We don't need to redefine who we are as a university we are a top party school, top academic school, and a top athletic school. We don't need others to define who we are. WE ARE PENN STATE!

You call that art?

 What art is can be a tricky subject as it's up to the individual to decide how they feel about something others may call art. To me art is a interesting or beautiful.....thing. Really anything can be considered art but I consider art to be something that usually doesn't have a functional purpose other than to possibly voice an opinion/ view.

Art is something that you can appreciate just for its sheer beauty and mystery. http://www.philipcoppens.com/easterisle.html The heads found on Easter island have such mystery surrounding them and lets "face" it these things look awesome. (sorry about the pun) These sculptures make me want to visit the island for the sole purpose of seeing them. To me they represent the unknown and a lost people. I'm really love history and it just peaks my interest. I want to know more about the people who seem to have made these beautiful heads fanatically.
Similarly, the architecture found on the churches of St. Petersburg, Russia are breath taking.  http://www.europeupclose.com/article/exploring-the-churches-of-st-petersburg-russia/#.T2eDYdl2SSo (I know its a travel site but it nicely shows the churches) They are just different, you rarely if ever see churches like these anywhere else and they definitely don't look this good. Between the colors and the "domes" I don't even know which part is my favorite. I don't really know why I love these churches so much but for as long as I can remember I've wanted to go see them.
Oddly enough paintings don't really do it for me. I know they are art and a lot of them are very impressive but when things like http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/pollock.number-8.jpg are considered art I just don't agree. Sure it looks cool but I don't get it. It looks like a mess to me but to each his/ her own. Something by say Rembrandt I would consider art but that's because it's just so much more impressive. I guess for me art is a combination of Mystery, Beauty, and the Skill/ Difficulty needed. When your "art" looks like a kindergartener could have done it.... to me that's not art.

The Palmer

Growing up in town, I’ve made numerous trips to the Palmer. Whether it was on a field trip or something my family wanted to do on a rainy day,  I found myself walking these halls every year or so from elementary school until the end of middle school. Walking these vaguely familiar halls brought back some fond memories for me. This visit was once again a pleasant experience as the Palmer is like many other museums but with one huge advantage….. less crowds. Maybe it’s just my experiences with museums but they always seem to have so many people but not the Palmer, you can just enjoy the art without being jostled constantly.

                Having been at the Palmer so many times I had some difficulty deciding on an interesting piece to write about. The obviously interesting pieces I remembered so they seemed less interesting to me while many others seemed quite mundane…. a earthenware  jar without any distinct characteristics, so exciting. Ultimately I settled on a painting done by Robert Salmon titled The Lowlight, Moonlight from 1828. This painting had a foreboding yet hopeful vibe to it upon my first glance. The sun is about to set on the right, shining into the bay, flanked by the edge of a moored ship to the far right and a light house preparing for night in the center of the piece. The light house serves as a divider from the light hopeful right and the dark foreboding left. To the left of the light house was town consisting almost exclusively of what appears to be factories. The dark clouds seem to be rolling away from the right to the left. The bottom edge of the painting depicts a boy and a man in a top hat on the shore holding a mooring line for the ship at the right edge of the piece. Beside them on the far left of the beach is an obviously damaged ship (broken masts and missing sections of railing) being repaired.

                The painting is making a statement about the industrial revolution. The darkness represents the era before industrialization, a sort of “dark age.” While the right shows hope for the future while at the same time commenting with the setting sun that this era will too draw to close perhaps later than the artist realized. The broken ship is speaking to how the past appears with the new ideas and inventions of the early 19^th century.

                The artist, Robert Salmon, was a British painter who immigrated to the United States in the late 1820’s who painted mostly maritime scenes. But his life span stretched almost the entire length of the industrial revolution and growing up in England (where the revolution began) would have given him a unique perspective of the era giving him more credibility than someone trying to depict that time today.

                I once again enjoyed my visit to the Palmer and will be going back at some point so I can take my time instead of looking for a piece to write about. I love museums and the Palmer is one of my favorites and despite its limited collection has a surprising range of items.

And so it begins.....

I've always been a big believer in simplicity. Going through the backgrounds available I found a few that I liked but felt with text on top would be too cluttered. I found the birds on this one to be interesting while still maintaining the simplicity I love. I chose the tan color to make text pop without being boring white, the shades of red just look really nice with it.  Right now I'm still getting a feel for what I can do but I think I might enjoy this whole "blogging" thing........
                                                  -Austin