What I learned This Semester

At the beginning of the semester I knew I was not into the subject I was just taking it for credits for my degree. But as we went along I actually started to enjoy what we were learning and it was one of the only classes this semester I could actually get through without zoning out. My favorite parts were going into detail about certain paintings and looking at the very small details of what made them great and what made those household artist names as big as they are today. A date idea me and my girlfriend had a long time ago was to go to the art museum just for fun, but now I am even more into the idea. I can even go in there and look sophisticated knowing a little bit about what I am talking about. But most of all it will make the experience more fun for me cause I can actually go walk up to a painting and know some of its qualities and draw from things we discussed in class and have a new appreciation for this part of our culture. Just to add a small part about music, I can more appreciate how music has evolved and it is nice to see the roots of where music started from and how it has blossomed into what it is today.

Who is the Rich Man?

Who Is The Rich Man?

One day a wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country so that the son could see how the poor lived. They spent a day and a night at the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good, Dad!" "Did you see how poor people can be?" "Yeah!" "And what did you learn?" The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden; they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lamps in the house; they have the stars. Our patio reaches to the front yard; they have the whole horizon." When the little boy was finished, the father was speechless. His son then added, "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"


This parable was interesting to me because it plays on the multiple perspectives of happiness and fulfillment. While the father takes his son to see the poor in a low economical area, the boy was able to see good in everything.  This is because the boy was not fixated upon material things and what money could buy but rather the natural joys of life that can be enjoyed by all. But to add another dynamic to the parable, it could be discussing the bliss of childhood innocence and how that can be stripped from you as you age and have to conform to the social norms of everyday life. The kid, being young, is brought joy by less because the world is newer to him and is able to enjoy things like that worry free without bills and responsibilities. While on the other hand a seasoned father has been there and done that for those things and to add insult to injury has the weight of supporting a family lessening the joy as well.


https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/rich-vs-poor-two-way-street-road-signs-poverty-wealth-words-green-pointing-to-versus-to-illustrate-difference-35557024.jpg

Francisco Goya Paintings

Francisco Goya is known as a master painter, but what makes his work truly interesting is his willingness to address the darker aspects of human culture. From his Caprichos, Nadie se conoce a painting from 1796 was the one that I thought embellished this dark culture feeling. To me the painting seems to show the pig like nature of men. There is a girl walking through the middle and is the focus of the painting, but in the background you see men depicted in a creepy, monster like fashion. They seem to be staring at her which to me could symbolize the objectification of women. One more small detail is you can see another female leaning in to her looking as if she is giving her support trying to lift her spirits.



Now from the Black Paintings, the Duel With Cudgels painting had the strongest message for me. These two young men are shown ready to strike each other. But if you look deeper you can see a lot of emotion on either face. They both look like they do not want to do what they are doing. I see fear and uncertainty in both of them and it as if something is forcing them to fight to the death. To me this shows that fear can manifest in anyone and may cause you to act in ways you never thought you'd let yourself. The landscape adds a little perspective as well, seeing that they are in the middle of nowhere this could have been some kind of survival situation for both of them and being lost may have brought them to madness.

The Scourged Back

The Scourged Back photograph was and is extremely powerful even today as it brings to life how different things are from the civil war to now and those who tried to bring that change about. The African American in the photo was named Gordon and this picture takes place in Baton Rouge in 1863. The story of Gordon however starts with Gordon escaping his master cleverly by rubbing himself with onions to deter dogs pursuing him. This lead to him running into the Union after some time and joining the army. This is where I think the significance of the picture comes into play because you can see how poorly he had been treated by his master. This makes it interesting that he will now be fighting for the cause of ending the very thing he had endured for so long and that will give him a stronger motive. Also in multiple articles it stated that most African Americans were just content with being in the army because they were then seen as men and not property for once in their lives. That was the most powerful part for me is that just being acknowledged as a human being was as good as it would get for some former slaves. As for the reason that a photo is more effective than a painting in this case is that it hits you harder when you see it for how it truly was. It sticks with you more when you see a photograph because you know for sure that was a real person and that it was a real horrible situation with no exaggeration by an artist, you truly see the horror with your own eyes.

Candide Book Analysis

My interest in literature lies with Candide by Voltaire on this book analysis because of it's heavy emphasis in satire and my desire to find out every angle of it throughout the reading. This meaning I have not read it yet but am looking forward to seeing all the short stories tied together in full descriptive manors. This means scenes that were discussed in class such as Candide falling for Cunegonde in the first place, Candide's involvement in the army, and even simple things like his relationship with Pangloss. I find this very intriguing and as the story goes on it gets more and more complex and more and more satire is added on in the form of short stories regarding Candide and his quest to see Cunegonde. If I was to compare this to something I would say Candide has resemblance to the Forrest Gump movie. This is because the plot changes so extremely fast and to such a dramatic extent throughout the whole story. For example in Forrest Gump, he was a football star, then became part of the army, then became a pingpong star, and even went on to be a shrimp boat captain. This showed great irony that a person who is considered stupid, going off and being more successful than "average" people. This isn't how I think Candide's satire will be played but, it is uncanny that the ever switching story line is close in this case. As for what I expect, I think that once I read the actual literature, the satire will be a lot clearer than with a brief summary. This is because humor, irony, or exaggeration are hard to distinguish in summary, I feel like more in depth and captivating parts of the story will not only make the message clear but also make it stick in my head.  

https://www.google.com/search?q=candide&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwji9qDcmYrTAhUC4SYKHWzzD9AQ_AUICCgD&biw=1309&bih=777#imgrc=_mRCrizmK8i65M:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

When given the task of choosing an 18th century classical music composer, I came to select Mozart the iconic Austrian musician because of curiosity, I've heard the name countless times throughout my life but never investigated his actual works. So naturally, when looking his work up online I chose one of his most popular pieces to give myself the best chance of actually liking it. This piece was Andante and it did not disappoint. It automatically took my mind into a different place, not necessarily happy but just extremely peaceful and I was just free to think as it made my mind wander in a way it never normally does. If i had to describe it it was almost a nostalgic type of feeling. This piece was a concerto and the piano was undoubtedly the dominant instrument however the violins and flutes came in to add great feeling to certain portions further amplifying the zen type effect.  The tempo of the song was slow and the melody was rather static and this is what created the relaxing attributes the song possessed and what helped create the reminiscent or nostalgic mental stories I created in my head while listening. If I had to choose between a bright or somber feel I would have to go somewhere in between because it was in no means extremely happy with its slow tempo and non overwhelming instrument work, but it also wasn't sad. I think this matches well with how there is a bitter sweetness to nostalgia on looking back at moments from the past, enjoying it for the moment, but then realizing you can't relive it and things have changed. While just laying in bed and listening through the speakers on my laptop I could still definitely recommend this composer and specifically the song, and I couldn't imaging how it'd feel to listen to this audible art in a live scenario.



https://www.google.com/search?q=mozart+background&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS706US706&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwidlNGwmfjSAhXMzVQKHdj1AkUQ_AUICCgB&biw=1309&bih=733#imgrc=7V74ozj6DpoinM:

Locke vs Hobbes

The choice between Locke and Hobbe's premises is difficult because both bring important ideals to the table. For me Hobbes has the right idea when it comes to the true nature and morality of men. With no rule and no one to decree what is moral and what is not, there is much doubt and no control. This would lead to men doing only what benefits them at that point. A major part of this point is that God has been a huge part of the molding of men's morality in history, the right and wrongs in the bible have been obeyed and created the foundation long ago. While that part is true I do not believe one man should be in control of everyone's moralities because those ideas are not set in stone like the works of the bible, this leader whoever he might be could change his mind at any point. This could lead to extreme scenarios such as Hitler. This is where I think Locke becomes the front runner of the two theories because he would want to see the power to the, most of the time, good intent minded people. That leaves a lot less room for error by one man if a group of people can come to a consensus on moralities. For that reason and the fact that history has shown some horrible cases of absolute rule by dictators/kings I would have to side with Locke's ideals. Even in today's society we the people still have power even thought we have a president, there are also separation of powers, state, senate etc.


https://www.google.com/search?q=good+and+evil&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwic8MH9gOfSAhUNxGMKHYyTATkQ_AUIBigB&biw=1536&bih=695#tbm=isch&q=devil+and+angel+on+shoulder&*&imgrc=UyKh30Gj3DBubM:

Rijksmuseum Masterpieces

We talked a little bit about the Dutch Golden Age a little bit in class. If I ever go to Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam I would really like to see, The Little Street by Vermeer, Morning Ride Along the Beach by Anton Mauve, and Stillevan Met Vergulde Bierkan by Willem Claesz. First off The Little Street by Vermeer was eye catching to me because of the uniformity it had as a landscape, but then the brighter more vibrant colors that Vermeer had access to, which we spoke of in class, popped out quite intensely in comparison to the rest of the building atmosphere. It is also the feeling it gave me that made it stand out to me it reminds me not of 16th century, but of small towns in cities today, favela's and communities similar to that nature.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Johannes_Vermeer_-_Gezicht_op_huizen_in_Delft,_bekend_als_'Het_straatje'_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/827px-Johannes_Vermeer_-_Gezicht_op_huizen_in_Delft,_bekend_als_'Het_straatje'_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Next was the Morning Ride Along the Beach, this caught my eye because of the realism and over all good feel it brought about just by looking at it. The brush strokes where kind of sloppy (in an intentional way) and to me it looks like the beach, the water and the horses all blend into the scenery but it isn't a bad thing because the scenery is somewhere I'd like to be and reminds me of pure relaxation. Also I feel like a lot of the tones sort of mend together to draw attention to the men on the horses and makes you wonder where they are headed while trekking through this beautiful area.

http://paintingandframe.com/uploadpic/anton_mauve/big/morning_ride_on_the_beach.jpg

Lastly the Stillavan Met Vergulde Bierkan was the most amazing to me because it was insanely realistic and the almost perfect attention to detail in certain areas of the painting. The perfect details in my opinion were with the realism added to the metals displayed in the painting. If I was to not know this was a painting and looked at just the metal instruments on the table specifically I would have a really tough time knowing if it was a photograph or not, and to me that is impressive. Then another minor touch was showing the light sources off the class in the center, via window panels and that kind of draws your eye to the center of the painting and helps it make more sense in regards to lighting.

https://lh4.ggpht.com/yf01__YGn2oSRGIl3CW32IifUK7AoJc2J7vkSVr3EaWouHwiRmonJVxJNfE3RkKZHvd1Rvk1ZEfarN1JXi1sKcP1vWk

Romeo and Juliet at the Utah Shakespeare Festival

I chose the story of Romeo and Juliet to see as a live play at a Shakespeare festival because the story was the most gripping to me. This for me brought drama to a new level in the classic romance. It would be extremely interesting to see how the actors display the scenes where Romeo and Juliet fall in love and see if they make it feel real like movies can in present times. What would be even more interesting is to see how they bring to life the heartbreak and sadness of the suicides of both Romeo and Juliet. I chose to see this play specifically at the Utah Shakespeare festival because it claims to pay attention to detail and I wouldn't want to see it with any new added elements, what I find intriguing is the history and originality of the play. It also says that it will play after "Shakespeare in Love" which shows how Shakespeare may have written the play in the first place which again shows that it will try to remain authentic.

https://www.bard.org/plays/2017/romeo-and-juliet

The Bait by Donne

After the first few lines this poem has created a scene for me of a relationship between two people where they are moving away and having a fresh start on life. He talks of golden sands, clear brooks, silken lines and silver hooks which I believe is his idea of a sort of paradise that he wants to share with someone. Then he refers to the ocean as a live bath and talks about the fish swimming to this unknown partner he is speaking too, saying they will choose that person instead of him. This is where I'm going to interpret this as the fish having a deeper mean or even representing an emotion such as happiness. 
The lines "By sun or moon, thou dark'nest both, And if myself have leave to see, 

I need not their light having thee." This to me sounds like if he would need to leave that place or was to be consumed by darkness in this case being distress, depression, or even pain, then he would not want the person he's referring too, too give up or sacrifice any happiness or "light" they have, for him. The last few stanzas threw me off completely, but I think maybe  "For thee, thou need'st no such deceit, For thou thyself art thine own bait: That fish, that is not catch'd thereby, Alas, is wiser far than I." could mean that the person attracts happiness on their own, being their own "bait". Then he goes on to say the fish is wiser than him and that could mean happiness alludes him. So in all I think it's about a man proposing a perfect place to this other person, and would be willing to do the most for this person as well if things were to ever not be as great as expected.  And yes this was interesting to try and decode because I went stanza by stanza and that made it more challenging instead of reading the poem as a whole and then trying to interpret. That's because the story and scenery literally changed completely after each stanza but I was still trying to correlate as good as possible to my initial theory.

The Garden of Earthly Delights

I will be focusing on one of Bosch's most famous works, The Garden of Earthly Delights, and specifically on the second panel. This panel seems to show a sort of utopia where humans and nature have collaborated and are working as one. You see scenes of the sharing of food by animals and humans, and also scenes of animals allowing humans to use them as transportation and even shelter. This is depicted by the humans on horseback and one inside of a giant clam shell.

But then when you zoom in on the pond area of the picture it starts to show signs of things that lead to the collapse of a society. You can see three malnourished and discolored bodies and two others looking afraid of them near the edge of the pond, this could represent a famine starting to take place. That could be due to the greed of humanity overusing resources. Another small detail is that you can see a man with a woman that is devilish black color sitting by the side of the lake. I perceive this as Bosch's interpretation of evil this all black luminous figure. The symbolism I see behind it is that she appears to be pregnant and that could mean the birth of evil. When you tie the two together a famine mixed with greed and evil will eventually go on to represent the last panel of the piece showing death and destruction everywhere. 

The Characteristics of a Successful Leader

Machiavelli believed that there were 5 prominent things that defined a good leader. The first of which involved being feared by your people, and to him this was beneficial because if a leader was feared then there was less chance of revolt against him. The next was to be supported by the people as well, because without the people you are essentially powerless. Machiavelli's belief that virtue was also necessary builds on the previous point, seeing that to earn the support of the people you must be liked. The fourth trait or rather decision, is to use your own arms in battles, because hired mercenaries would likely flee before a soldier that is willing to die for his king. The final and most important thing a leader must have is intelligence because without it he could not manage all the previous necessary traits and decisions to be the perfect leader. Someone that fits this description would be Adolf Hitler. The fear factor was there because his troops knew of how mercy less he was on those who opposed him or didn't fit his agenda. But he was seen as virtuous and a great leader by the public when he would rally. He would use the people of his country in battle and they would follow all his commands even through all the unmoral orders. Lastly he was also an intelligent man that rose to power without being a very known or privileged person.

I agree with a few of Machiavelli's opinions but I would add a few different things. First of all I think that being loved would be a better approach in today's society. I think more people would be willing to lay down their lives for you and I think it would lower the amount of revolt in the first place if the people liked their leader. I do however agree completely with the approval of the people and virtue to earn it so those would be my second and third traits to have. Having a military background is also something that should be required for a leader to lead. This is because if you haven't been in a position to put your life on the line for your country, then it would be strange to be in charge of people that are actually out there doing exactly that. For the last and most important trait I agree with Machiavelli again because intelligence is what makes the other traits possible and easily balanced. Someone I think that had these traits was George Washington. He was elected unanimously to be president which showed the strength of his character and how he was liked by the people. This was done by his virtue. He served and even lead battles in the military showing his dedication to the country. Lastly he was intelligent not only when it came to leading the country but also military intelligence for battle tactics. 

Cultural Identity Post

Although it may seem very basic my cultural identity revolves around the pursuit of happiness as it does for most of humanity whether you realize it or not. I act with a sole intention of creating the most happiness to not only myself but those around me. Now to apply examples to the mentioned categories; being choice of music, what my hobbies are, and what self image I strive for. I choose music pertaining to my personality and what entertains me so I like things that are more up beat and keep me energetic throughout the day. In relation to culture this could tie me into this "millennial" era that 90's kids are presumably growing up in, and in terms of music this includes rap and hip-hop. As for my hobbies I like to get out as much as possible and experience new things, such as new restaurants, stores, parks, and geography in general.  These things play a large role in my happiness and to sum it up in a word I'd call it adventuring, resembling Christopher Columbus in the late 1400's I might add. As for self image I go with the look good you feel good mentality. This means I like to say fit, dress presentable and have a likable personality as well. This is the most closely tied to culture of all the examples because of how rapidly these things change in any society. The desired physique has changed vastly over the course of history along with fashion trends and social fads. So in regards to culture I would say I am an individual for the most part but for portions I would consider myself a cultural sponge, mostly with the cosmetic side of humanity. These portions of humanity put together however are what determine my happiness and that is the main objective for me. As for future avenues of culture I'm most excited about how technology is going to effect this future culture. Will it be beneficial or part of the demise of humanity. Demise meaning will humans begin to stop creating? Will humans stop having as big of a role as compared to AI and machines? These are all things that could be part of the near future.