Tears and Lyrics

Here is my final project.

Week 3: How do graphic novels and zines depict a kind of reality?

Graphic novels and zines are an extension of reality really. If you look back to my post on Week 2 you'll see how I discuss music being a way of expressing opinions and ideas to people who may not be prone to watching the news or reading the paper. Graphic Novels and Zines can put an everyday situation into our brains through animation and word bubbles. One graphic novel I just got through reading (a second time) was Alex by Mark Kalesniko. Now Alex is about a man named.... well.... Alex who has recently come to his hometown after being in L.A. for a while. It's about his struggles with his passion, old friends, and high school memories. You're probably waiting for me to tell you about how Alex discovers his ability to shoot magic missiles or photon rays or something cool right? Nope. It's just a story about a man who had a disappointing job, drinks every night, and watches Gilligan's Island. But in it's own way it was able to teach me a lesson that I may not have been able to experience unless I went through this same ordeal myself. Sometimes being successful doesn't make you happy. The story followed an average person which is almost the purest sense of depicting reality. And I don't mean real life like soap opera real life where everyone has love triangles, kills someone, and finds everlasting love. Real like he goes to buy some booze and see's one of his old teachers. Now this is just one example of the topic, but there are many more out there as well. It's up to you though to find that reality.

Photoshopped Photo

So our letter was N and we chose napping not sleeping (which is quite ironic since I named this photo sleeping.jpg). First off I gave this photo a blueish hue to make it seem as if it was earlier in the day. Next I gave it a watercolor effect and softened the edges to give it a more dream like state. By doing this it changes the photo from a nap to full out sleep. It makes it seem like we, after a hard night of studying are asleep early in the morning.

Now, napping relates to college in a few ways (for me anyways). For one, I find myself tending to taking two naps a day sometimes rather then one session of sleep. Second off it seems like most college students try to cram and do things later at night (just don't look at when THIS was posted) and end up napping in class, the library, on the bus, etc.

Here is the original photo: http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b303/DXmaster13/sleeping.jpg

-Alex

Week 2: How can media promote democracy?

There are many different ways media can promote democracy but the key is that it this is much more easily accomplished through independent media. Mainstream media usually has a corporate sponsor and will have some control over the content they let air, be published, etc. One of the best ways media can promote democracy in my opinion is through music. One of my favorite bands, Rage Against The Machine, has been making great music throughout their entire career and all the while had strong political messages in their songs. Music can speak to people on issues that may be lost among them otherwise. Another band, Flobots, did a song entitled "Same Thing" which had some lyrics that I didn't quite understand the meaning of. The notable one of these was "Free Mumia and Leonard Peltier". Now I did not know who these two men were, why they were needing to be freed, or even if they deserved it. Well by this one simple line I was inspired to look up these two figures and learn not only the answers to these questions I had earlier, but make my own judgement on the matter at hand. One lyric in a song consisting of three verses, 16 lines each, a chorus, and some killer guitar playing encouraged me to go figure out what I believed was right and wrong. Music can, and does, promote democracy in many ways.

Welcome to the mind of Alex Siddons...

Here is where I shall be posting my innermost secrets and thoughts for all of you to nitpick at and fuss over. We shall see how this develops and what not.