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.