drewstahhh

[drewstahhh]

The Manifesto, of the Manifesto

The dark humor, seriousness, and volatility inside my blog is a wooden rollercoaster. If you're reading this, it's too late. My class is done, Bye Tumblr. While this was a spot for my assignments, it's also got some life history. Will someone find this after? Who knows…Doesn't matter. I've touched on everything from life as a child, to current events. Yes, some things are absolutely a lie. You can figure that out for yourself. My first blog, for the most part is true. Other than looking forward to any course. To then quickly jumping into a deeper topic, which included a backstory of when I was a child and was a caretaker for my grandfather. Which don't get me wrong, living with a "crazy" person was fun! The following two assignments had to do with some form of art. We had the choice to pick just about anything, but after reviewing it I noticed a weird theme. Analyzing a poster, and a sculpture assignment somehow both led me to black and white. These colors usually relate to more of an unhappy or neutral feeling to most. Personally black and white has just always been my two favorite colors, I promise I'm okay. As well as the image of mountain tops peeking through the tops of the clouds. That image was taken from a film called Moonlight, which was about a kid who grew up in Miami in the 80s. If you enjoy dark humor, and war movies it’s for you. Switching gears into another point, I tent to come up with humorous or catchy titles when they are included. For example, "Spooky Szn" which was around Halloween time, related to a Halloween poem. The other one I found a funny was "You can't park there!" which was referring to images of cars and boats in random spots after hurricane Ian made landfall. Which was also a little early to make jokes about, but personally I thought I could bring some light to the situation with some good dark humor. As the saying goes, humor during a dark time, can sometimes make it a better time. Out of all my blogs, this was my proudest work. I think the collage was great! As I look over a lot of the blogs I had created, I find it interesting that this was how the class was laid out. I remember each and every assignment that I had to do, and which blog went to it. I found the fact that we were able to blog our “homework” it made it a lot easier to go back and see what we have touched on. As well as makes it a lot easier to complete assignments like the Manifesto. Having everything posted in one place makes it much easier to analyze. After many different assignments and analyzations, I came to conclusion that my overall theme was someone who was doing the bare minimum, but also putting out good work on the other end. There were some blogs that I enjoyed writing about, and others that were very dreadful. Which were mostly the ones where we didn’t have the freedom to find our own work or topics. After a long semester of being what seems to be a journalist, the class was a lot of fun and entertaining. It was easy, and not super boring like most. As the semester is wrapping up, this will be my final post (I hope) I hope you enjoyed some of the topics I touched on. But most importantly I hope you enjoyed my The Manifesto, of the Manifesto.

[drewstahhh]

Mona Lisa - Ekphrasis

The strong grin, dark eyes, and light skin.

As her silky wardrobe hangs freely.

Forever most famous for; Mona Lisa

As the image radiates to your eyes and soul.

Surrounded by windy dirt roads, that lead nowhere.

Water mountains, and stunning views.

Darkness actually awaits in the eyes.

As I was trying to find an interesting one, I came across the famous Mona Lisa. I decided to dive deep into the painting to see what I can really gather from it. Mona Lisa is a very realistic portrait. The subject's softly sculptural face shows Leonardo's skillful handling of sfumato, an artistic technique that uses subtle gradations of light and shadow to model form, and shows his understanding of the skull beneath the skin. I tried my best to explain some of the things that I mainly notices, such as the light colors for happy emotion while also having a lot of darkness within. I always just looked at the Mona Lisa as just a portrait of a women, but it is way more than that.

[drewstahhh]

Jocko Homo Deep Dive

A little background info to start off; Jocko Homo means "Monkey Man." Mothersbaugh was a student at Kent State University when a friend gave him a pamphlet called "Jocko Homo, Heaven Bound King of the Apes." It was a religious pamphlet debunking evolution, explaining how absurd the idea was that a man would descend from a monkey. It begins with an interstitial scene of Booji Boy running through a Cuyahoga Falls parking lot, up a fire escape, and into a building. There, he meets with General Boy, who is played by Mark Mothersbaugh's father (Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr.), and hands him papers. After an announcement from General Boy, there are a series of rapid fire cuts of the letters "D-E-V-O" set to the intro of the Devo song "Mechanical Man," and then the main video begins. In it, Mark Mothersbaugh plays a professor, lecturing to a class of students in surgical masks, caps, and 3-D glasses. As the song progresses, the class begins to riot.

The whole song was meant to be a theme song for the theory of de-evolution and for Devo, what we were about. It was meant to lay out the story right there. It was a collection of discussions they had Kent after students had been shot, and decided that what we were seeing happening on the planet, when they looked at the news and read the paper, it was not evolution but was more appropriately described as de-evolution.

The music video has very interesting clips/moving images throughout the scenes. The way the band would use these to show some seriousness about what message they were trying to create and get across to their audience. The song's verses primarily concern themselves with the view of de-evolution, noting foibles in human society.

[drewstahhh]

The Question

To be or not to be? As one of the most popular Hamlet scenes I decided to chose this for other reasons. It bring back memories in High School when I had to memorize the whole speech in three days. It was the hardest things I have "studied" for, the language is just so different, you begin to almost feel crazy yourself rehearsing it.

The scene is very eye appealing, the visual design of the stage is extraordinary. From the white and gold squeaky clean mirror, to the overall room setting. As Prince Hamlet is talking to himself, talking to his most inner heart and soul alone and away from all the people of the world. He, himself and the Universe are having this conservation alone. Prince Hamlet is asking if the Universe cares if he lives or die. Words and thoughts are becoming funny to our human brains when talking like this. The way the actor in this particular scene speaks the lines of Shakespeare language is impeccable, the calm voice and proper pauses puzzles it together which makes it one of the most popular play scenes of all time. Some things many people may not notice is the perfect camera work, as well as the fact that Kenneth in the mirror does not blink once throughout the speech.

[drewstahhh]

Anatomy of a Scene

Anatomy of a Scene

My first synopsis is on the film Moonlight;

Chiron AKA Little, was the child in the film Moonlight that wasn't so much a child at such a young age. Chiron grew up in the streets of Miami in the 80s. Miami in the 80s is a scary sight for anyone, a drug ridden hotspot for anyone. As he finds his way through life he eventually begins working for his neglected mother's drug dealer/lord "Juan" by the time he was 16 years old.

My second deep-dive synopsis is on the film Dr. Strangelove;

Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 dark humor comedy film that relates to the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States. With a little bit of hilarious content, sexual and subtle the film is a perfect view of how things were. The film is often considered one of the best comedies ever made, as well as one of the greatest films of all time. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it twenty-sixth in its list of the best American movies (in the 2007 edition, the film ranked thirty-ninth), and in 2000, it was listed as number three on its list of the funniest American films.

The first ten minutes of the film gives a great basis of how it will be, from the subtle dark humor jokes, smart remarks, and looking at sexual pictures while at war. One interesting scene to me was the opener, as I was amazed at how it looked for a film produced in the 60s. So I looked into it more, turns out the producer had put cotton strips with rocks to make it look like clouds with mountain tops showing on the horizon. This is just a glimpse of the genius minds behind this film to make it as great as it was.

[drewstahhh]

You can’t park there!

This theme seems to be popular these days. As the hurricane Ian left southwest Florida devastated, I was up the next morning going from Marco Island/Isles of Capri to Cape Coral doing work. Working just about all day, as I was not affected at all it was the least, I could do for the community. These photos were captured through some of the houses, and neighborhoods we were working in. It’s devasting to see how much money was lost in just these 5 photos. Well over 2 million dollars in damages. The reason I chose these photos, was to show how powerful this storm was and how bad the surge really is. Water is undefeatable, picking up and lifting boats, cars, and homes wherever it feels like it. As the community comes together, we are going to rebuild back and better quickly! As to the title, I figured a little humor in times like this can lighten people up. As these are some weird spots to park your toys! As we recover I hope everyone is doing well and we will recover from this together!

[drewstahhh]

Musical Theme

The Men Behind The Wire - The Wolf Tones

Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2

Don't Tread On Me - Metallica

Fuck Tha Police - NWA

Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

Game Over - Playaphonk

The theme of my playlist is all about resistance. My father’s side of the family is Northern Irish. During a period of history known as The Troubles, my father and his parents fled from North Ireland. In 1992, they decided they were done being in a country with an outstanding amount of civil conflict. Even though they are Catholics, they still felt unsafe.

It wasn’t until 1992 when they were able to save money and be able to flee North Irealand. During Operation Demetrius, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had broken into their home and arrested my grandfather. They believed that he was working with or a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). While it was a completely false accusation, he ended up going to jail for a month without trial.

My family’s story in America comes from the escape of tyranny in religious and civil conflict. Having Northen Irish heritage I feel that it is necessary to sympathize with my history. Not only that, but the USA also had to fight the British Empire in order to live in a free country.

The Men Behind The Wire- The Wolfe Tones

Begging with this song, my grandfather was arrested during Operation Demetrius. This song represents the time my grandfather served jail time for simply living in an area where many insurgents lived (Belfast). It describes how all Northern Irish people were encouraged to stand up and support the men who were falsely imprisoned. The line, “armored cars and tanks and guns, came to take away our sons,” perfectly describes what happened that day.

Sunday Bloody Sunday- U2

This song, with its somber instrumentals, actually refers to a very violent part of North Irish history. The song describes an event during The Troubles in which the British were violent belligerents. In the city of Derry, 20+ protesters were shot while fleeing from the British soldiers. Unfortunately, my grandfather’s best friend took a bullet as he was fleeing and died seconds later.

Don’t Tread on Me- Metallica

The heavy and lingering guitar of the intro of this song is very interesting. This is one of my dad’s favorite songs as the album shares the name of the song. It was released in 1991 close to the time they fled to the United States. This album and specific song were particularly popular in my dad’s part of the neighborhood.

Fuck Tha Police- NWA

While this one is relatively self explanatory, it has a deeper meaning to my family’s history. NWA’s song describes how black men are treated unfairly by the police. Similar to Northern Irish citizens, the mem were routinely beaten and arrested for little to no cause.

Folsom Prison Blues- Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was my grandfather’s favorite American musician when he was still alive. He had mentioned before his passing that this song really resonated with him. The lyrics, “I aint seen the sunshine since I don’t know when.”

He had described the atmosphere and conditions of the jail he was in. They had no windows in the jail and they were rarely allowed outside. It seems as though when he was alive, being imprisoned never left him.

GAME OVER- Playaphonk

The melody and bass in this song is absolutely incredible. The name of the song itself ties back to my heritage. We all feel that the UK is unjustifiably using North Ireland as their toy. While in modern times we’ve gained more autonomy, the country is yet to be 100% independent. Because it is an EDM song, the idea that once the British finally let us be, their games they’ve played are over.

[drewstahhh]

Spooky Szn

Halloween Party

BY KENN NESBITT

We’re having a Halloween party at school. I’m dressed up like Dracula. Man, I look cool! I dyed my hair black, and I cut off my bangs. I’m wearing a cape and some fake plastic fangs.

I put on some makeup to paint my face white, like creatures that only come out in the night. My fingernails, too, are all pointed and red. I look like I’m recently back from the dead.

My mom drops me off, and I run into school and suddenly feel like the world’s biggest fool. The other kids stare like I’m some kind of freak— the Halloween party is not till next week.

I chose this poem for a few reasons, it's that time of the year currently. As well as it reflects something that I myself would do in reality. I also as a child felt the same way as him about Halloween, I was overly excited the whole month just to wear a costume maybe three times. Especially school parties, they were the best, you dressed up and ate candy almost all day. How can any child complain? Much less resist the dress up factor, and be so overly excited you show up on the wrong day of the party as batman.

As the narrator of the poem, who seems to be the child in the story he is telling us about does a fantastic job building it the story up to the best part. He tastefully paints the image of a kid getting ready for his school Halloween party, by using a few metaphors while describing his costume;

"My fingernails, too, are all pointed and red.

I look like I’m recently back from the dead."

The author also uses many examples of Assonance and Consonance throughout the short poem.

"We’re having a Halloween party at school. I’m dressed up like Dracula. Man, I look cool! I dyed my hair black, and I cut off my bangs. I’m wearing a cape and some fake plastic fangs."

Personally, I find these poems easier to understand and more enjoyable to the reader as it feels catchy too me.

In conclusion, I chose this poem because of the time of month. As in Florida spooky season, is also Hurricane season which is even spookier. During this time, I've had a hard past few weeks and this poem actually allowed me to remember Halloween is right around the corner as my mind has been so scrambled.

[drewstahhh]

One thing leads to more

On a early Friday morning, I was on my way to work. My vehicle began dinging at me to let me know I need fuel. Looking down I noticed I had only 3 miles till empty, with the nearest fuel station being 5 miles away panic began to set in. Going slow and steady to reduce fuel consumption I was thinking about how I am going to be late for work if I were to run out of gas.

With nearly 1 mile till empty I pulled into a fuel pump, a sense of relief was felt throughout my body knowing I was going to make it to work on time. As I began fueling up my car, I put the automatic lever on so I did not have to hold the handle.

Last thing I expected, things started to escalate. The fuel was spraying everywhere outside of the fuel cap. While attempting to get the pump out and release the handle I was now soaked by almost two gallons of fuel. After getting in my car and realizing I am now going to be late to work as I had to go home and change and shower again because I was a walking fuel tank. This made me appreciate the fact that this was probably still better than having to push my car half a mile if it had ran out of fuel on my way to station.

[drewstahhh]

Home & House

The first picture is of my house in the living room. I like it particularly because of a step down from the kitchen area. The way the home is divided is for privacy for the master bedroom. The way the home is structured is very cozy, yet fairly spacious. The division created by the builder to actively separate common areas and rooms was achieved without flaw. Although my parents collect a lot of antique furniture and vintage decor, it does not subtract from the general spacious interior.

The second picture is the living room of my brother’s condominium. While it is less square footage, whoever built the space did a great job with making it feel more open. The heightened ceilings along with how the rooms are divided makes the space feel much more open. You would think that a condominium, especially in the North Naples area, would feel a lot more cramped. I enjoy visiting my brother’s home more because it feels less cramped than my own. Even though my home is just as spacious, the lack of decor and minimalistic furniture design makes if feel more open.

Both of the spaces achieve their goals in the same way. The way the rooms and common areas are laid out are very similar. Lots of space between the rooms achieved by the separation of the common areas is present in both places. If there was no furniture or anything in either places, they would both feel very warm and welcoming. The amount of unobstructed natural light would be very prevalent without furniture or other décor.

[drewstahhh]

The following photo is a product of Jim Rennert’s, “Things Are Looking Up.”

This sculpture can be located in the affluent downtown area in Naples, Florida. Along the city’s most premier shopping and business district known as Fifth Avenue (5th ave).

Things Are Looking Up is an astonishing example of Rennert’s ability to create sculptures and statues that emphasize movement and action. While there is no deeper meaning behind it, its mere presence works very well with the environment. The contrast of its dark appearance against a brightly painted wall is makes it pure eye candy.

As previously mentioned, there is no literal significance of its beautiful bronze existence. It is fairly large, reaching close to 10 feet from the ground. It’s so tall it almost grazes a second story office window.

[drewstahhh]

"Black Untitled" Painting, 1948, Willem de Kooning.

The painting Black Untitled painted by the artist Willem de Kooning, was an eye catching piece for me on the website we were provided to find a piece of work.

The first eye catcher was the use of maybe two-three colors; White, black, and some parts that look brownish. These colors usually show neutrality to the painting. The artist used three colors to create a painting that to me allows the viewer to make up it's own meaning or picture. Personally, what I saw is what the artist seemed to have wanted or what others came to conclusion on. To me the black and white scrambled painting looked like a super flimsy women almost running or dancing. There seems to be a lot of chaos going on in the painting, making it a little tough to decipher the exact picture the artist is trying to paint.

The artist stated he used these two colors of enamel paint for financial reasons which also was very interesting to me. Enamel paint in black and white by the gallon was some of the cheapest paint/materials Willem could get his hands on to create his masterpieces. This goes to show, you don't always need the luxury/expensive material to create something beautiful on a blank canvas.

[drewstahhh]

Do not as me to remember...

Do not ask me to remember,

Don’t try to make me understand,

Let me rest and know you’re with me,

Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I’m confused beyond your concept,

I am sad and sick and lost.

All I know is that I need you

To be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me,

Do not scold or curse or cry.

I can’t help the way I’m acting,

Can’t be different though I try.

Just remember that I need you,

That the best of me is gone,

Please don’t fail to stand beside me,

Love me ’til my life is done.

– Owen Darnell

This is a poem that I was touched by when I was 12 years old. I remember the day my mother told me my grandpa was very ill and was diagnosed with Dementia. Dementia is another form of Alzymers and can actually escalate a lot more quickly than Alzymers. Both of these are terrible diseases and basically unstoppable as of right now.

The poem Do not ask me to remember was in a brochure from the Alzymers Disease Association. Which my mother had given me to read when I had asked her what is going on and what are we going to do. At this time, my mom and I were moving into my grandpa's house and leaving my brother and father behind in our house for the reason of school zones. For the next 6 months, my mother and I were living and took care of him ourselves. I would sacrifice my outside bike time with friends to go home and cook his dinner, make sure he was okay, and give him all I could at my age to make him feel not alone. I would see my brother and father on weekends for family dinners, and that's about it.

Finally, the whole family moved in. We worked as a team for 6 years to do our best to never put him in assisted living, as that was my grandma's one wish for my mother before she passed. This experience changed my perspective on my family and loved ones. I could write a novel on the sentimental value of this poem, but I will now begin explaining the parts that looking back now make complete sense to me.

To start off the poem is very touching, it explains every bit of detail of what goes on in the mind of a Dementia paitient. It really brings out the thoughts of both the person taking care of them, and the ones mind who is leaving. The author starts off, and titles the poem "Do not ask me to remember" which to me has two meanings. The one with dementia has a very hard time remembering short-term or long-term memories. Asking them to remember something is almost mean in my opinion, it is very hard for them and will make them feel even worse or crazy if they don't remember the event you are refering to.

In conclusion, Dementia is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S living with and taking care of someone who is so far gone will really shape a person down the road. After being 12 and having to cook/feed my 80 year old grandpa still touches me to this day and helps me understand how I became the person I am today in a good way.

[drewstahhh]

About Me

Hello, I am Andrew Lawson. This is now my 3rd semester at FSW. I am pursing a degree in Business Administration, I am currently a part-time student with a full-time job. I have worked for a micro-mobility/ advertising company for the last 5 years. I have also worked at my parents retail shop since a kid always learning new things and motivated me to hopefully one day own my own business and be my own boss. I really look forward to the new things I will consume from this Humanities course.