It’s intrinsic to want what we can’t or don’t have.  Whether it’s putting on that extra layer of lipgloss for that special someone, or swearing to put down the tub of ice cream and start doing leg lunges so you remember that you still have muscle there; we all, naturally strive for an idealistic world.

Wanting what you can’t have makes life spicy, fun and spontaneous.

Have you heard of the expression, “Stay true to yourself?”

How do you interpret that?

You can infer that it means stick to your morals, judgments and beliefs, but I find holes in this ideology.  You may call me a skeptic, but I believe this phrase restricts change.

I am a strong believer in representing the person who you want to be, but does that mean being the same person day in and day out?  What if you were to alter your personal character every so often, would you be called a poser or a fake?

I’d like to argue not.

While versatility has its boundaries, don’t be afraid to spice it up.  Wear those outrageous flower tights, raise your hand in a lecture of 200 people, and take someone into the stacks for an unforgettable kiss.  So what if these things are out of character.  Stretch your comfort zone a little.  If you want that desirable ‘other,’ work hard to be free from yourself in order to allow yourself to encounter your infinite possibilities.

Let your artistic creationism shine everyday.  No painter painted the same scene over and over again, so why not start fresh with a new canvas from time to time?

Enjoy life and the world around you!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.

Oh the joys of a sale! There is nothing that makes me happier than the sight of red tags and discount signs. I love the rush of scouring through racks and racks of clothing while simultaneously utilizing my knowledge of algebra (who knew those percent problems would be useful past the seventh grade?!). It’s that feeling of beating the “Man” at his own game that warms my heart. Just the idea of finding eight-dollar jeans and five-dollar sweaters makes all the lines and chaos seem worth it. However, my love for bargain hunting was tested this past week when I braved the cold and made my way down State Street to Urban Outfitters.

For those of you who were unaware of last week’s proceedings, Urban Outfitters had a season ending sale where sale items were an additional 50% and on Friday, regularly priced items were 10% off (with a valid student ID). As one can imagine, there was quite a buzz on campus. Every recessionista/recessionistor (the gender variations of this noun are still up for debate… as is the spelling) made their pilgrimage to their holy land in hopes of getting their hands on the latest in homeless chic.

As I neared the store I prepared myself mentally and physically for what I was about to endure. I quickly made sure my credit card and cell phone were easily accessible in the event of a shopping catastrophe. Clutching my bag close to my body I swiftly moved through the endless lines and clusters of people. I eventually made my way to the sale section, which was painfully bare. As I scanned the hangers that were still holding clothes, I noticed a gorgeous orange and blue racer back tank hanging in the corner. I rushed over as quickly as I could and snatched it up. I excitedly checked the price tag ($10!) and then the size. To my utter dismay it was a large, but I tried to convince myself that it would be perfect for the days on which I was bloated/housing a burger from Wendy’s. But alas, I couldn’t help but notice that most everyone who was waiting in line with me had the same tank top as I did. Did they have my size in their possession? It didn’t matter. After spending a few minutes in the dressing room grabbing at excess cloth in various places, I couldn’t keep convincing myself. The top didn’t fit. I had failed.

I left the dressing room empty handed and began walking towards the exit sign when the shopping gods above decided to give little ol’ me another chance. Awkwardly hanging behind a support beam was a collection of orange and blew racer back tank tops in seemingly different sizes. Hallelujah! I deftly squeezed myself between a fellow shopper, the support beam, and the rack in hopes of picking up my one true desire. However, I couldn’t reach the shirt- the other girl was deliberately standing in front of what was rightfully mine. As an avid shopper I used my previous shopping experience to wiggle my way to success. I began inching closer and closer towards her, all the while trying to be polite and excusing myself of my clothing inspired craziness. She didn’t budge. I then had to just go for it and make my move. As I reached over her to grab the top, she immediately intercepted my hand with her overgrown nail, scratched me, and proceeded to snatch the shirt away. “Sorry,” she said as she placed the top on a pile of other clothes and walked away. What a bitch. I couldn’t believe what had just happened. As I walked out of the store I was no longer consumed by the thrill of shopping, but by the large mark on my skin. The lines and chaos were no longer worth it.

It’s commonly expected that when a book is made into a movie, the original is typically better. There simply are things that are better expressed in writing than in visuals.

Feelings for one.  Books allow readers access to the character’s thoughts and motivations. A lot of personal conflict is internal, something that is hard to transfer into movies because it is such a visual medium. And a lot of the beauty in writing is the arrangement of words on the pages, the metaphors and mental images that have no business in film.

At once she was looking right through her with a sharp inscrutable expression. Chihiro jolted as it felt like someone kicked open the back door to her soul, tromping through her insides with muddy feet, ripping open closets and overturning tables while anxiously searching for something.
~A Road to Somewhere

This image is very vivid;  how would it be able to be transferred on to film and still make the images on the screen coherent? It’s not possible.  And what about other times, where an experience is described in relation to a past one, such as using a story of getting kicked in the balls for the first time in the character’s life to talk about the now sudden and overwhelming feeling of helpless pain he feels? Some things just do not translate.

Others do so surprisingly well.  J.K. Rowling’s descriptions of Hogwarts are only solidified and made more real to the reader because of the movie, and I will never be able to view the Balrog in the Fellowship of the Ring in any other way except as rendered in the movie.

Though perhaps Peter Jackson was too good at imagery. I have been unable to match the fulfillment I got from reading Tolkien’s books since I have seen the movies–all my mental images are replaced by Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortinson. And then there are others like the The Seeker, based on Susan Cooper’s amazing book The Dark Is Rising that are just so completely wrong. Nothing is as I imagined it.

And that is another beauty of books over movies, they allow you to see things the way you want them to seen. They are a more active medium of entertainment than cinema and that is why there will always be a market for them. And that is why books are better than the movies based off of them.

But what about cases where it is the other way around? When the movie predates the book? Or at least the production of it; it’s not uncommon to release the book as a promotion for the movie.

Because  cinema is visually driven, there is usually a lot of action. And I don’t just mean car chases and explosions, but dance numbers in musicals and the day to day hustle in chick flicks. Dialog is important, but there are very few times where we actually know what the characters are thinking. It has to be said aloud and when it’s not we are just taking a guess.

This of course can be remedied through a narration, such as JD’s usual narration in Scrubs. But it’s a rather uncommon use of sound and sometimes seems like an old fashioned Dragnet episode. But then again, Dragnet typically was spewing a metaphor of some sort and not personal feelings.

Because of this, ideas and aspects of the characters are left out of the film. When a younger sister protects her older sibling, is she doing it to help her family member or simply to one-up them? When someone hesitated to pull a gun, was it because of the face of the person it was pointing at or an inner moral struggle? The production crew may know and you can make an educated guess, but things really only become more clear when it’s expressed verbally.

This can be done through guide books, interviews with cast and crew, or novelizations of the movie. The novels add a whole other layer to the story, answer so many different questions, and perhaps explain what went on behind the story followed on the screen. How did so-and-so know where to show up and how did he get the information he has?

The books can answer such queries and make a more rewarding and realistic integration into a world whose characters you enjoy.

Your bookworm blogger,

Jenny

(cont. from last week’s post)

The media is a double-edged sword.  On the one hand created by the people for the people, particularly in this nation’s political revolution, it is also an outlet for the dissemination of tyrants and profit-seekers.  Yet, isn’t what the media gives us what it thinks we want?  As much as it was conceived to be a public service, what is a public service but something the public wants for itself?  Yet, by doing us this service of feeding us the latest news on Tiger and the whereabouts of Paris Hilton’s lost chihuahua, is the media actually providing a disservice?

But maybe that’s unfair.  After all, we can’t say that we all want to hear about celebrity news or the watered down versions of the war in Afghanistan.  We can’t say that none of us are interested in international affairs and that’s the reason for which foreign news coverage has decreased by almost half in the past decade.  I am certain there are many out there who desire to know about all of the things this world has to offer; equally certain that there are many who do not.  Then, who is to blame?  Is there any one specific person or entity?

Journalists have a hard job.  That job is to report, “objectively”, on every situation at hand.  What does it mean to be “objective”?  That we provide all different viewpoints?  That we quote any relevant parties?  Is there such a thing as objectivity?  Some reporters believe that, no, there is no such thing: once a journalist decide to report on something and not on another thing, then in that moment, that journalist has stopped being objective.  After all, what makes one story more worthy of being reported than another?  Why is one quotation inserted while another is ignored?  How come Person A gets to be interviewed yet not Person B?

And after considering this argument, I would have to say that they are right: there is no objectivity.  In fact, the journalistic ideal of objectivity may even be harmful to journalism itself; journalists strive to maintain the appearance of being objective that they subsequently attempt to incorporate as many point as possible, people as necessary, quotations to be credible, etc, that the true story is lost underneath all of the weight of “objectivity”.  As readers, what are we really being told– that Haiti needs the money or that the US doesn’t believe Haiti deserves the money?  What is with this portrayal of Haiti as an entirely corrupt, immature nation that needs outside guidance for providing stability to its people?  Especially when the real problem has been rooted in centuries of neglect and sometimes even hindrance by the outside world?  And is this story objective?  The way it begins is not like a journalistic, “objective” report but rather a fictional, dramatic novel.  What is this saying about journalism?  What is this saying about objectivity?  Is this written in a way that shows distance and removed reporting?

Journalism doesn’t have to attain the ideal of objectivity– in fact, what is an ideal but that which cannot be attained, only striven for?  Maybe they should just be honest.  Corporate, governmental, external influences/power notwithstanding, the sole responsibility of a journalist is not to be objective, but truthful– in any and every way that may hurt.  The responsibility, first and foremost, of a journalist, is to deliver accurate news and give power to the unheard and oft-ignored, not to serve the powermasters of profit.  I must acknowledge that the “truth” to everyone may be biased– however, we are already in a biased news environment– pundits from the left and right, Fox News, CNN– what are these but biased, partisan news figures and outlets?  And the matter of truthful reporting is hard, particularly in situations where little information is available to anyone and reporters must dig somewhere for the facts, from which they then have to build a concrete idea or story to inform the people.  Being a journalist is HARD.  Yet that is the responsibility that comes with it– full of freedoms and blessings, burdens and hardships.  Being a journalist is like being a soldier or a doctor– they take one for the people.  When those who are to protect the meek become pawns of the strong, where are their priorities going and whom are the serving?

Not all journalists have to be like Mika Brzezinski and throw away their news scripts.  And not all of us should discredit the importance of those who report on celebrity news– they shape our culture and define the trends of our times.  It must only be recognized that “proper” reporting is a hard one– not only because telling the truth is hard, but also because knowing what the people want is sometimes even harder still, because that is what drives a lot of the content we see today.

—–

Gabby Park is a triple concentrator in Communications, French, and History of Art who likes to play with snow.

Fundamentally, literature is a means of introspection, an intuitive method in which human psychology over the span of millennia can be preserved, retrieved and then deposited on the lap of a new unsuspecting reader. It is an anthology that every author who wanted to share his or her two cents contributes to; their knowledge is made relatable. We can see literature (and there are a vast number of examples) as some vessel to impart philosophy, allow for the progress of civilization, provide a unified narrative and a model for ethical conduct, and to create a union between the past and present. Many other commendable functions of literature exist as well. We see that authors bring into the light the ensuing battle between the inexorable human instincts and the societal structures we’ve created for ourselves, beautifully detailing the virtues of both in, the best of which are written in subtle, tactful yet penetrating manner. There’s a quote by Adam Smith, and it dictates that “Happiness never lays its finger on its pulse.” I think that similarly, literature never lays its finger on its pulse – good literature aspires for its readers to not be actively aware of the effects it has on us until it is just too late. I feel that literature is about bringing forth the paradoxes of life while also defamiliarizing us (ridding us of that godforsaken ennui) with what we see to be the encrustations of the mundane in order to reinvent the world as something “new” again – or at least so, reinvigorated in our eyes.

Literature is then, a method to achieve awareness of our lives, to see into the heart of things, and to realize that most of the time, these things we feel are not that unique although revisions are made tailoring the common human experience to particular time periods – essentially, all small alterations. Good literature is the sort that does not bombard you actively with morals so that you are keenly aware of it; it is not didactic, but is passively absorbed the reader through the narrative which is exactly what allegories and other literary techniques do. Though, being aware of literature’s own limitations is also a good thing to keep in mind. Borges puts it well in his short story, The Aleph in the lines: “What my eyes saw was simultaneous: what I shall transcribe is successive, because language is successive.” It’s these little morsels of wisdom and truth, about writing and more importantly, about living that are contained within every piece of good literature. We soon realize that we are not the first people to be confused or sickened at human behavior or notice the paradoxical patterns in which we behave. One of my favorite quotes by J.D. Salinger follows appropriately with “Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You’ll learn from them — if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It’s a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn’t education. It’s history. It’s poetry.” I think it’s this extension of the invitation to take part in a discourse about human nature that makes literature so worthwhile.

Sue majors in Neuroscience & English and tends to lurk in bookstores.

Blogging is synonomous with twittering, facebooking and myspacing (although, I think Myspace is outdated even in this new technological world.)  These three verbs are recent introductions to the English language and holistically represent the consumption of the technological world.

These forms I am referring to are linked with sharing tidbits of information about who you are and what you do.  Status updates and blogs such as this reveal personal thoughts and actions in my life.

The great thing about Facebook and Blogs is that you get to meet somebody without a face-to-face interaction.  You are able to learn about those around you through their words.  If you like what they are saying, seek them out and meet them in person.  Some call this stalking; I simply call it resourceful selection.

This introduction leads me to tell you the point of this here blog today.  I will tell you something about the events in my life that I want to share with you.

This past week I utilized one of the many events this enormous campus has to offer.  I went to the University Musical Societies Orchestra concert, where I contently found myself partaking in an archaic pastime.

Instrumental concerts are like entering a time machine and going back 200 years.  You don’t worry or bother with your cell phone, computer, or any other electronic device.  You are meant to sit back and listen with your ears and eyes to the musical cohesion coming from man made, cordless, batteryless instruments.

You are able to close your eyes and picture yourself in any antiquity setting.  It’s the one activity I have found that can really remove you from your reality and into another world.

Amongst all the technology, attending concerts are still extremely revered and will hopefully never be outdated.

Have a great week!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.