Final Grade-Memoirs of Boo and Lou

Countless Days of Sleeping on Chelsea's Tramp starting in first grade and ending with last summer, I will never forget those near sleepless nights together; talking about our future as if it were inevitable and set in stone. I ended up moving away my senior year and when we graduated from different high schools, we went our seperate ways in college...but though our paths are differnt, they have endless meeting points and junctures that continually tie us together and help keep our friendship alive and thriving.

My acting "career" bagan as early as grade school, learning the art of "Romeo and Juliet" and the wonderful meaning of the words "artistic license." I will cherish every silly line from that play and never forget the fun Chelsea and I had making it together.

One of the disadvantages of being a leader is people follow you mindlessly, even though you may not have any idea where it is you're supposed to be leading too! I will never forget the corn maze Chel and I spent pointless, lost hours wandering through and the haunted house we traditionally attend every year. it provides for great memories between us and a sense of security in our future.

As a rule, a first attempt at a music video is usually a failure to say the least...not so with my Boo (Chelsea) and I. Our first music video was amazing and is still something I go back to when I'm having "Boo Withdrawals" as I like to deem them. It was sophomoric perhaps, but more than worthwile making together none the less.

Ahh. Our anual fall pictures. It started the fall of our sophmore year and is still going on to this day. We are both photogenic with a few hundred pounds of make-up and a few hours of doing our hair! The purpose of the fall pictures was just to have great pictures we can scapbook and look back on fondly when we're sitting together in one of our living rooms, old and wrinkly...what it turned into however, was a way for us to keep memories of each other in the present, as I unfortunately moved away two years later.

At last the final and most enduring memory of my Boo and I. We Will always go back to the silly, yet catchy one liners in this "Cops" video and it provides a way for us to keep inside jokes alive and thriving in our relationship. This silly little video has provided a way for us to stay together and have a stronger relationship in spite of all that life throws at us, whether it be distance, age, relationships or any other inevitable factor. We are truly best friends forever; Chelsea will always be my Chel Boo, and I will always be her Libby Lou...I love you "Kitty."

First Music Video Remembered

As a kid I was used to a world of board games and family activities. I suppose you can call us old fashioned, I call us "tight-knit." There was never a feeling of being left out of some grand, important thing when it came to my sisters, brother and I concerning our lack of internet, secular radio or cable. My family was accustomed to living "under a rock with no technology," as I like to define my lack of knowledge over popular discourse in the present cultures during my gradeschool and part of highschool years. No, we were not depraved, at least we never felt that way, as children. In fact we were sheltered from many of the influences you inherit from a lifetime of consuming subliminal messages from the internet and tv. This lack of objection towards never knowing what our classmates were referring to when quoting television, recalling internet rendezvous and singing the most popular songs of our generations did not last however. Soon I was to object, effectively presenting an argument worthy of recognition for a fourteen year old mind, rallying supporters among my siblings.
It was simple really, all that was needed was to convince my father that he need not get all channels presented by cable, only a select, family-friendly few. Also, the easiest and most effective method was to give him what he really wanted to hear. "If we have our own cable dad, you wouldn't have to go to friends houses to watch the games. And you can check the news as long as you want. It's your tv, so you control the remote." With these enlightened revelations, I was able to aquire television and eventually secular radio for my family. Internet, however, I am currently at war for.
As a sheltered child, my first experiences of any kind of music video was of a christian video by Christian artist, Toby Mac, entitled "Xtreme Days."
XTREME DAYS - TOBY MAC

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My sisters and I loved television the minute we achieved it. We would literally zone out any other external influences happening in our environments, totally enthralled with the television, just as soon as that tv flipped to life. To an extent, I am still like that to this day. This music video was nothing less than beautiful to me during my initial viewing of it. It was pure artistry, played out in the form of dance, creativity and music, all contained in a small box, electronic box that captivated us.
The way in which Mac cut, viciously across the screen, belting his lyrics towards his audience was worthy of admiration. My sisters and I watched the video, taking in the message, the creative scene it was set in, his vivid, amazing, blue eyes and the music encorperating the whole thing and we were converted...to the channel that is. We were avid watchers of that channel for years.
Looking back on this video today brings a small smile of rememberance. It is true, the way in which I perceived this video as a seeming depraved, fourteen year old with her nose pressed against the screen is so much different than my acuity is of it today. The whole music video is done with an amature eye. It is set with relatively no artistic variation. The mood is gloomy, and fierce, yet in the cheesiest way possible. What is going on with the faceless, nameless creepy as crap guys in place of his band members? I truely laughed my heart out when I saw him pop the tennis ball with his hand...he could at least pretend to pop a basketball in one hand or bite through a huge phone book or break a stack of bricks with his mind or something! He may as well have popped a balloon in one hand for all the effect it presented to me. I'm so used to stunning graphics, I would now be satisfied with nothing less than dodging bullets or stopping them with your mind, Matrix style.
A video that was once impressively done and captivating, is now actually kind of pathetic! This is not to say the song is pathetic, it is still good, but the overall layout and content of his music video is rather poorly done. His eyes are still hot though. In any case, it was an interesting experience bringing up old memories from my childhood and re-experiencing a video that held such positive sway with my siblings and I. It was fun! This assignment truely demonstrates the changes in technology and expectations therein. It was a great revelation and a pleasant walk down "memory lane."

Music Video I DON'T Like!

Tourniquet-Evenescence


I really don't know where to begin. This video brings out emotions in me that are so disturbing I can't even watch the entire thing without getting goosbumps and feeling sick to my stomache. Blood has never truely bothered me, when I'm the one doing the bleeding. However, if there is one thing I can't stand, it is when other people are in pain. Pain. That is exactly what rubs me the wrong way about this video. Pain is its theme, its plot, its subject matter and its subliminal message. This video is about pain and hopelessness.
I suppose it started when I was a small child. I could never stay in the livingroom with the rest of the family as they watched the ending to a Lutze family favorite, Ben Hur. This old movie has been a tradition in my family as long as I can remember. I have seen it countless times and not once in all those episodes was I able to watch the poor-graphic, low-budget scene when his best friend/arch enemy is trampled underfoot by chariots and lies, bleeding and crushed, awaiting death with open arms. Though the scene was painfully lacking in convincing visuals, the result of his pain I knew was death, hopeless death and I was still unable to watch.
This music video shows the deepest of all pain; emotional strife. The actress in the video is so torn within herself you can imagine her bleeding and cut open with angry slashes all over her body, though she is intact. Her internal suffering is so intense I just hate watching it. I felt so helpless as I sat through a song pleading for help, pleading for someone, anyone...God to notice her, to help her out of her depression, out of her anguish.
The video doesn't end on a happy note by any means. It ends in hopelessness, regret, and despair. She ends up cutting her wrists and dying in a pool of her own blood. Laying helpless on the ground as her life's blood is poured out onto the bathroom tiles. Alone in the world, hopeless. Her love finally breaks the door down to find her dead in his bathroom. Hopeless.
I had a friend who was a cutter. I know what it is like to find someone in a pool of their own blood. Thank God he didn't die...hope. She dies in this video. She dies with pain, and anguish and is left utterly alone in her final moments on this earth. I have had so many in my life who have been in so much pain that they felt that there was no other way out except to just not be, to not feel. This movie wrenches your compassion from your being and throws it on the ground in the pool of her blood as there is nothing left to feel compassion for except for her abusive boyfriend or lover.
The end is no better. He is left with a boquet of flowers to place on her grave, knowing he contributed to her death in the most violent of ways. He is forced to have to live with that fact for the rest of his life as he attempts to move on. How can someone move on from something like that? As he kneels there on her grave, you see an embodiment of her ghost, leaning over her tombstone staring at him. Never again able to hold him or feel him holding her. Hopeless.
The very last of the movie shows her tombstone. The incription says "I cannot say, and I will not say, that she is dead she is just away." This is a hopelessness that reaches far beyond self denial. It is a hopelessness that will stretch on and effect his life and the life of everone in contact with him. How can anyone enjoy watching a video portraying pain and at the end of the tunnel, despair and hopelessness? I can't critisize the video for its lack of good material or actors. It is well done. That is probably what makes me loath it so much. It does an excellent job of portraying the two things that are the hardest for me to witness, pain and hopelessness.

Essay Number Two

The image was bold and stood out among the rest of the still-life billboards recorded on a website by some interested viewer wandering the Nebraskan byways and highways. With its catchy phrases, the solid black background with striking red and white lettering and the giant, accusatorily lit cigarette, the well calculated aspects of the billboard all collaborated into a collage that made a well argued statement.
The billboard’s theme is clear. Documented in July of 2003, this Nebraskan billboard speaks to the detriments of second-hand smoke in a visually enticing and verbally catchy manner. It left behind formalities, neglected niceties and spiraled headlong into accusatory rings of smoke aimed at displaying what is commonly downplayed by the tobacco industry. It appealed to the sympathetic side of humanity, commiserating those innocents who are forced to deal with second-hand smoke.
Even though the foremost subject remained still, its apparent action seemed to make it a “larger than life” reality. The focus of attention, a large, smoldering cigarette, lay across the billboard, while an attention grabbing catch phrase floated in large, white letters above it: “Causes Chronic Coffin.” Below the smoke issuing from the cigarette, spread a hazy cloud which incorporated the names of hazardous chemicals that are contained in each manufactured cigarette. Ingredients such as carbon and methane were displayed in a foggy, white blur of accusation. In the midsts of this myriad of words, a smaller statement stands out in vibrant, red strokes: “Second-hand smoke is a first-rate killer.” In addition, a small white box stands out against the black backdrop and contains the phrase “Tobacco FREE Nebraska” (with “FREE” as the only red, capitalized, and much larger print than that of the white letters surrounding it). The final statement made, “for a great state of health,” is placed in the bottom, right hand corner of the billboard.

The message presented by this billboard is valid. Second-hand smoke has been medically proven to be detrimental and even fatal to its victims if they are subjected to it for lengthy periods of time. The billboard shows the harmful chemicals used to make cigarettes, entwined in the wisps of smoke issuing from the lit cigarette, displaying the toxins that are absorbed into the human body with each inhalation, and projected into the surrounding air with each exhalation. This is an appropriate image use, as approximately half of the toxins from the cigarette are inhaled by the user, while the other half floats, dissipating into the atmosphere, mingling with the air that is unsuspectingly inhaled by innocent bystanders.

With the use of a witty pun, the logos of the billboard rings its message out loud and clear. The pun-intending catch-phrase employs “coffin” as a clever allegory for the word “coughing,” which adds a realistic, yet effective twist to the fact that second-hand tobacco smoke causes a chronic cough, and is potentially deadly to the consumer. This figure also hints at the impressive number of harmful chemicals that are stuffed into a single cigarette. With 599 possible additives approved by the United States Government, second-hand smoke alone contains 40 cancer-causing substances, which can, in turn, lead to frequently fatal lung cancer.

The smoldering cigarette gives a very visually supporting image of a reasoned argument: second hand smoke kills. The harmful effects of the general consumption of tobacco products is shown vividly in the image of the chemicals printed in the cloud of smoke issuing from the cigarette. Taking it a step further, the creators of this billboard touch on a more heart wrenching subject: the detrimental effects of second-hand smoke. It is one thing for the general consumer to take responsibility for what effects smoking might have on his own body. It is quite another when faced with the reality that the people closest to you are also affected.

This being said, it was a shrewd move to play to feelings of sympathy and guilt. The innocents that are affected in a potentially deadly manner are at stake, and the billboard silently screams at its tobacco consuming viewers to hear the inaudible cry of their victims; to listen to the whimpers of those helpless to guard against tobacco’s harmful effects, helpless to save themselves, helpless to do anything but continue breathing, as deadly fumes seep into their lungs and more of their life-span is cut, viciously from them.

The analogy of this billboard spoke to me of the similarities between second-hand smoke and death. This scare tactic has a hint of a logical fallacy. It is true that second-hand cigarette smoke, when inhaled by way of side-stream is in fact potentially detrimental to its victims (mainly babies and young children). However, it is not entirely factual to state that second-hand smoke is always hazardous to one’s health. There are certain factors that heighten the tendencies of fatality when dealing with second-hand smoke, and in many cases, these criteria are not met. To suggest that second-hand smoke ultimately leads to death is a misrepresentation and is not an entirely legitimate proposition.
The founders of the billboard were proven to be a well-known organization across Nebraska (Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services) and therefore, the ethos of the visually constructed argument is suitable. As the name suggests, the main aim of this organization is to strive for “a great state of health” in Nebraska. This goal is admirable and heightens the appeal of the billboard by adding a secure and familiar element of renowned good intentions.

As a respected association, the potentially offensive statement made by the visual and textual elements of the billboard are acceptable and stand a greater chance of being overlooked as negative by the guilty tobacco wielding perpetrators, instead creating a sense of guilt that, as was intended by the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services, instigates a decision to change. The goal naturally being that the tobacco consumers would be inspired to forsake their previously selfish and inconsiderate habits and attempt to better the health of those around them. This effort to consider the effects their actions have on others may, in turn, aid in the health of their own personal practices.

The billboard, manipulated to the extent of the portrayal of an unrealistically sized cigarette and words formed from its smoke, has an underlying message of cause and effect. The cause: second-hand smoke from a lazy cigarette slowly burning itself into oblivion, its toxins spiraling towards the sky, dissolving into the atmosphere. The effect: death.

This powerful statement and the effective visual and textual aids cause the viewers to pause for a moment to consider the message. The billboard’s effect: the possibility that maybe, just maybe, a fraction of those viewers would consider change. Consider the possibility that their habits may be affecting the permanent health of those around them. Consider others beyond their own personal agendas by choosing health, choosing life, choosing to be “Tobacco FREE.”

Favorite Music Video

One of the favorite memories of my childhood past took place in my beloved home of thirteen years in Chappell, Nebraska. My eldest sister, Becca, sprinted home from school one day with a new c.d. She had found what she described as "the next greatest hit", and she spent the next ten minutes prepping us for the amazing music video we were about to experience. We finally convinced her to stop talking and to play the video, and she enthusiastically popped it in and we listened to Weird Al Yankovich while watching an extremely visually stimulating video at the same time.
When we heard his music, we immediately fell in love with his hilarious lyrics and melodies. When we watched the hilarious clip, we fell in love with his visual comedian stlye. We loved his music(in particular "Amish Paradise")so much that whenever we went on long drives or trips, you would always hear his voice in our Chevy Minivan. Two of our family members who appreciated his songs the most were my brother and I. From that moment on, my brother James would sneak into my room at nighttime and we would sing loudly to the tunes of "Amish Paradise" and other Wierd Al songs, laughing hysterically. After the last strains subsided from our vocal escapade discussing our non-existant amish heritage, we would talk for hours. Oddly enough, these nights became bonding times for us. Through Weird Al Yankovich and his ridiculous hit "Amish Paradise," we found a common ground for the dismisal of our annoyances at each other. The lyrics to this music video are so cleverly done it makes me wonder how he could possibly have enough time on his hands to think them up. The song in itself is hilarious, but the music video makes the song golden. I would encourage anyone I know to watch this music video. The combination of Al wearing a beard and decked out in Amish apparel just does it for me. Even now when I watch it, I remember the times James and I had together and I am thankful for Wierd Al and his cooky tendencies, his clever lyrics and amazing sense of amish style.