Dayglow - 2nd Art/Culture event.

Day glow was the first concert I attended in my life. Day glow is suppose to be “The World’s Largest Paint Party” and all I could think about was what is going to happen to the Bryce Jordan Center and how are they going to make sure that the court and the bleachers are not covered in paint. As soon as I enter my question was answered. They had covered everything in what looked like tarp, but I was less worried about it then because I just saw a huge crowd of people standing near the stage and my friends and I ran towards it. The concert was supposed to start at 7:00 and we reached there around 7:15. The guy playing was the show starter. I didn’t know that there is always a guy who performs before the main event starts.

I had done some research before I had gone so I knew that there is a dayglow blast at some point where they shoot a lot of paint from the stage and other areas. I was really excited for that. I was really close to the stage and one point I was right in front of the DJ. But there were a lot of people, lot of pushing, and shoving so I decided to go a little farther so that I can stand without the fear of getting stampeded.

As soon as the next DJ came I knew that this is going to be one of the top ten experiences of my life. They showed a little preview of what the paint blast is going to be like and even though none of the paint really hit me, it was really cool to see how the paint gun was working.

The timer for how long before the dayglow blast had started behind the DJ. It showed 60 minutes on there. There were people already who bought some paint from the paint shop setup on the floor. They were throwing it all over the place and I could feel some of it on my face.

At the end of 60 minutes the paint blast was phenomenal. I was in the middle of the floor so I was kind of far away from the stage and kind of far away from the paint shop, so I got very little splashes of it but the crowd had purchased a lot of paint and I got a lot from them.

The music throughout the night was mostly remix, electronic, Dubstep, house, and pop with a variety of songs from early 2000s. There were some originals by the two DJs who played for Day glow. Between the two main DJs there was a short movie that they played about Life in Color.

Overall, I had a great time there and I was happy that Dayglow was my first concert. I was able to immerse well into the American Culture. It definitely lived up to it's motto of ‘World’ Largest Paint Party’.

Summary

This year has been one heck of a roller coaster. Taking this class gave me an opportunity to talk about that ride I had. This course gave me an opportunity to introspect and learn something that isn’t science and maths but much more than that.

            Starting from the memoir I was able to talk about my immigration to the United States and how challenging it was. It wasn’t until I started writing that I realized the extent of the experience I had. I had a lot to talk about but very limited space.  I learnt to express my feelings in a way that the reader can go through what I was going to as he/she is reading.

            Next came the Ad analysis and this is where I got really deep into Penn State and Penn State football and how it ad campaign is run by the Penn State football marketing. I did the who/how/why research on Penn State footballs slogan “The Greatest Show in College Football”. I found the 2008 Nittany lion football poster and talked about how just using the poster they are able to send a message to all the football fans that not only want to see a great football game but also great group of fans cheering in the second largest stadium in the United States. I talk about how the motto is not “the greatest games” but “the greatest Show….”

            Exploring an Issue was the next topic and I talked about my favorite band U2 and about its relevance in today’s world. I talked about their message in their songs and their involvement outside the music world. While writing I realized even though they are superstars and they have always been down to earth and involved in the community. They are always there to help in case of a natural disaster and their fundraising efforts have helped people in Africa get proper medications, food and shelter.

            The revision of my memoir really helped me understand the flaws in my writing and I tried to improve upon them and made a lot of changes to make my memoir a lot more emotional. I tried to make it so that the reader gets a mental picture of what is going on.

            The blog posts helped my brain relax for sometime from formal writing. It also gave me an opportunity to explore some of the issues that we couldn’t cover in form of papers. I was able to go to the Palmer Museum of Art and talk about one of my favorite poets of all time H W Longfellow. I was able to explore and define the term ‘art’ and what it means to me. I was able to address the issue of Penn State being a party school. This was my second time writing a blog and I had blast writing and I definitely hope to continue writing it.

            I attended Aron Ralston’s lecture and dayglow as part of my two art events. DayGlow was the first concert I attended in my entire life. It was definitely one of the best events that I have attended here at Penn State. It really helped me immerse into the American Culture. Aron Ralston’s lecture was extremely emotional and motivational. There were times when it was nauseating but the fact that he had gone through it and was still able to talk about it really inspired me.

            Over the past semester, my writing has definitely improved. I could tell the difference in my revision and my original memoir. Even though English is my second language, this class has really helped me in my writing. Exploring the paper using the ethos, pathos and logos scheme was something new that I learnt this year and has helped me a lot in writing papers. 

http://ajf5302.blogspot.com/2012/04/cultural-event-2.html?showComment=1335824418854#c3166615521902438609

http://hearwhatcristinahastosay.blogspot.com/2012/03/after-listening-to-podcast-this.html?showComment=1335825112185#c8942807597787946395

http://alexbentz.blogspot.com/2012/03/penn-state-party-school.html?showComment=1335827116094#c8187418205386187962

I completed my SRTEs!!

Aron Ralston - Art/Culture event 1

Aron Ralston came to Penn State on April 5^th as a part of the distinguished speaker series by SPA. I got the tickets for it the day they came out and I was really excited to listen to him talk. I had seen the movie 127 hours (amazing movie) already but I saw it again just so that I had a better understanding of what he would be thinking during that time.

I got to Eisenhower Auditorium half an hour before time to get good seats. As soon as he came out it was clear that the next hour or so is going to be absolutely amazing. He started very philosophically and talked about how he conquered this feat and how everyone in the room had the ability to do so.

He showed video clips from the movie, showed some pictures from his trip, and would go on to talk about how he made the decision to amputate his hand. Parts of the lecture were rather nauseating with the details that he was providing but I had expected that going into the lecture.

He talked about how he tried to break his bone first on the 5^th day and just using the multi-tool that he had with him he amputated his hand. And not to lighten the amputation story but during the speech it wasn’t the most nauseating story. He talked about his eating and drinking supplies. He had four or five candy bars (finished by the time he was stuck) and a couple burritos with about 350 ml of water. His supplies were limited and he stayed there for 5 days, so he had to drink his own urine to survive. But immediately following this story he said that now every day before he goes to sleep he asks himself one question “Was today a good day or a bad day?” and usually the answer is “Well, I didn’t drink my own piss, so it has to be a good day.”

It's one thing to see a movie and be inspired but it's a completely another thing to actually see the guy who the movie is made about. His speech was really inspiring because he talked about how everyone has ability to conquer any feat in their life. One thing that I learnt from this was – you just gotta wait until you realize you can do something.

Harry Potter: Review

*IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOKS OR WATCHED THE MOVIE AND ARE PLANNING TO DO SO STOP READING HERE*

Else continue…

Harry Potter: A series of 7 books that defined an entire generation. J.K.Rowling, had the entire youth planning the next step based on what she was going to do for an entire decade. J K Rowling, came up with the idea when she was in a train at King Cross Station, and BAM!!, platform 9 ¾, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the character of Harry Potter were in front of her.

She went to write the first novel and had a hard time finding a publisher. After numerous failed attempts she finally got a publisher and year after year, book after book, movie after movie, it has increased its sales, readership, and fan base to the point that there were people who went through Harry Potter withdrawal at the end of the series. I know I was one of those people who went through Harry Potter withdrawal.

The books are so mesmerizing that even after reading them almost 15 times it's still hard not to read it. Each book has it's own magic and charm and keeps the reader fixed to the book until the end. The books have a common theme to it yet they are extremely different from each other to the point that if asked to a group of 100 people the ratio of ‘likeness’ of each book would almost be the same.

The books message about love, equality, unity, friendship, and peace is what makes this book series so different from others. It is because of qualities like love and friendship that leads Harry to finally overcome Voldemort and kill him.  

All the books cover a lot of story and in most cases various stories simultaneously that it is really hard to convert that into movies, yet the movies have tried their best to do it's justice for the books.

I got goose bumps the first time I read all the books and fifteen times later I still get goose bumps every time I read the books.

Penn State as a party school

I have lived here for 8 months and I have not seen "the mayhem thats going on" but I do agree to the fact that there is a lot of drinking going on. I have seen the life downtown and I have not seen much of trashcan throwing or peeing publicly (I am sure it happens though). If I look at it from the "nice guy" perspective I sure dont want that much drinking going on in my college or I dont want that much mayhem every weekend. But I am a very rational thinker and I dont mind people drinking.
College is the 4 years (5 for some) in ones life that they will remember forever and it could very well be the 4 best years of ones life. At the same time it could be very stressful for some because its the first time they would be living away from parents or having to deal with excessive amounts of studying/homework/quizzes/tests so drinking could be one of the ways of dealing with that stress while making it memorable. I am not saying by any means that everybody should get drunk every weekend, but as long as you know your limits and as long as you can control yourself drink all that you want. I think thats what makes Penn State a very special place. People know exactly how much to drink, when to drink, and have fun while studying for their classes. And in my opinion thats one of the reasons why we are ranked #1 in hiring by Wall Street Journal, because Penn State students know exactly how to live their life.
I also think that drinking and partying is also one of the reasons why the alumni have always been so faithful to Penn State because it reminds them of the good times they had when they were in college. The podcast mentioned about how people are so nice around Penn State because just like its name suggest people are always happy around Happy Valley and to my way of thinking I think its because of all the fun activities going around the campus almost everyday.
The one thing that I liked about this podcast was for the most part it was neutral. It talked about drinking, and partying but at the same time it called about people being nice and the pride that is associated with Penn State. To show their credibility they also included Graham Spaniers voice which definitely helped their argument and made it sound a much more reliable podcast.
All in all I think the fact that Penn State is a big party school doesn't change the fact that people come looking for Penn State graduates and recruit them or the fact that it is one of the finest research university in the world or one of the best academic schools in the country. If anything it makes people happier, more satisfied with their college experience and definitely helps them grow.

What is art

Wikipedia defines art as "a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, but is most often understood to refer to painting, film, photography, sculpture, and other visual media. Music, theater, dance, literature, and interactive media are included in a broader definition of art or the arts." To me art is anything that someone makes with an intention of it being art. With that said, my definition of art also includes nature and natural beauties on the planet and as an extension our solar system. 

To focus more on the man-made art, I think if a person made something with an intention of it being art, then it would be art. But that would just define it as art, not as good art or bad art. For example, Rebecca Black's song Friday was a piece of art but that doesn't justify it for being a good piece of art. To me it was just some words put together and some music put together with the word Friday so it was bad art. Counter to that, if we take a look at Coldplay's Paradise, or J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter, or Beaver Stadium, its art and also a very good one at that. 

Over my life, I have admired a lot of places, music, paintings, movies, sculptures, murals that it would hard for me to select one so I am going to post some of the stuff that I consider is art, but I am going to talk about one particular piece of art that stands out the most and has been with me throughout my teenage years. It is the books and movies of Harry Potter. 

I have admired Harry Potter more than anything in my life. I have read the books a billion times (more like 23) and seen the movies/clips of movies a  billion times (that might be right). What JK Rowling did with Harry Potter is something that no other person can re-create. Now whenever I read any of the Harry Potter books I would know exactly where I was when I read it the first time or how I was eagerly waiting for that book or which grade I was in and what I was studying(or not studying) as I read the book. The more I read it the more I get the ultimate message of love and friendship that JK Rowling was trying to send out through these books. Two particular moments in (one in movie 7 and one in movie 5) that stand out are Snape's memory and Dumbledore vs Voldemort battle scene where Harry tells Voldemort that he is the one who is going to lose because he doesn't know what love is or what friendship is. Those two scenes bring out the true essence of the book.

Some other pieces of art that I like are:

Beaver Stadium

Most of Coldplay's songs. 

Most of U2's songs.

This dance to dubstep

and many more. 

H W Longfellow

The sculpture at the Museum.

When I saw the sculpture of H W Longfellow, I remembered reading his name when I was in middle school. Immediately I pulled out my iPod to see what poems he had written and what I had read. As soon as I read some of the poems that he had written my entire childhood flashed in front of me. Turns out I had read 7 of his poems that I could remember.

Henry Dexter, the sculptor was a “self-taught genius,” as mentioned in the explanation below the sculpture. The sculpture made out of marble, was made in 1868. The sculpture is an exact depiction of H W Longfellow and shows the expertise of Henry Dexter in an elegant way. The marble sculpture raises Longfellow’s greatness by the classical Roman drape giving a kingly effect to the poet but the hairstyle and the shine on the forehead give a note of humanity to the sculpture.  

As per the explanation provided below the sculpture, both men sat down when they were in their sixties and Henry Dexter created this masterpiece. Dexter used American marble to create the portrait referring to the poems of Longfellow which were distinctly American and the fact that he hadn’t learnt classical sculpture abroad.

My initial reaction to seeing the sculpture was “oh, H W Longfellow. I have read poems that he wrote”. After that my brain blacked out on what poems I had read. In order to satisfy my need to know what poems I had read, I opened H W Longfellow’s Wikipedia and found out that I had read 7 poems that I could remember reading. I read at least one poem from 6^th grade to 10^th grade and parts of my middle school and high school flashed in front of me. I read A Psalm of Life again after I saw this sculpture and remembered how inspired I was when I first read this poem. The poem talks about taking charge in life like a hero and acting in the present and not living in the past or worrying about the future. I remember my teacher telling the class to keep pursuing in the goals no matter what the outcome is. All this took place at the museum and when I was done I realized that I had just been standing at the same spot for almost 45 minutes reading the poem and trying to infer it.

The claim that the piece is making is to not forget the art (literature or artistic) that existed in 1800s and especially to remind students of the great poets and authors that lived back in the day. The claim seems convincing to me to the extent that I stood there and took my time to remember what I know about Longfellow. The claim would be more persuasive if there are more visitors to the museum and not just students asked to go their because of their class.
This was my second time going to the Palmer museum of Arts. The first time I was there was two weeks ago when I went there with a friend to help her find paintings for her Art History class. I loved the paintings that were there; especially Harlem Rose, football sculpture, mother and son and the stone painting. I definitely imagine going back but not anytime soon. I would definitely go there to show the museum to my friends and family but also sometime to just appreciate the art.

For the first time

Seeing my elder brother blog when he was 17, I felt like I should blog too. So, I started blogging when I was 13 but not having much to write about I updated it rarely. Finally, when I turned 17 everything had come to Facebook and blogging to me became stupid, so I deleted my blog and here I am 2 years later making another blog. This time the only thing different is - I have a lot of things to talk about.

The foreground of my template is rather simple. It doesn't have any add-ons or gadgets to it yet. I am planning on adding once I see the necessity of having one. The background (which is going to change) is of the day I met my hero. The day I was the happiest person on the planet. I chose this just for a simple reason that it reminds me how happy I was that day and to keep my posts positive. To me, a blog is not somewhere you complain or vent our your anger because the reader doesn't give a rats rear end about my problems in life. (And I see myself complaining again). The new background that I am planning on making is going to be a collage of all the good times and achievements of my life. 

As of now I have nothing on my About Me page but I will probably keep it simple and give the readers the basic information they would like to know.

I think this time my experience should be much different than my last one. It should be a learning process for me to find out what people like or not like to read on the internet. 

May the force be with you until my next post.