Inspiration Information

- This song has an psycadelic, groovy feel.
- The funky guitar effect and bass give it that electric feel.
-The musician had to decide to make the osycadelic organ/ bass/ guitar combo and have it at an upbeat tempo to get this feel.

"Semeadores" -Diego Rivera

Subject: In Spanish, Semeadores means Sowers. These sowers are sowing an apparently barren field.
Occasion: These people seem to be South American Immigrants, working to sustain themselves in America. This probably was a scene from the beginning of the heavy inflow of South Americans to North America, when cheap farmwork was a common job for immigrants.
Audience: People that he can influence to see the wrong in capitalism, and the hardships faced everyday because of it.
Purpose: To convince people that communism is a better alternative to capitalism (Rivera was a big advocate of communism) and to show the oppression of immigrants.
Artist: Diego Rivera was known for painting influential historical South American murals.
Tone: There is an oppresive, somber tone expressed in the colors and the way the organic lines are used to "bind" the workers to the ground.
-Oppression is shown in the dark sky and the way the man's body is made with organic lines that match the curves of the field and hills, and the fact that he looks like he is clinging to the shovel. The fact that his body's curves blend in with the contours of the land shows that he is bound to working there, and the way he appears to be clinging onto the shovel simulates how his exhausted body ishas to cling onto hope to keep moving through the hardships he is undergoing. He respresents every man in his situation, and that is why he is faceless.

Wilco

-Wilco puts instruments together and plays around until they find something that sounds good, and then they deconstruct the song and see if there is a way to do it better.
-I might brainstorm a little bit on paper, not outlining or anything, just random unorganized ideas and bits of information scattered on a page. I just have to get some of my ideas down on paper before I can start organizing them. Then I start writing what comes into my head. I will write a sentence over and over until it successfully expresses what I want to say, and how I want to say it.

What is Nostalgia?

-Nostalgia is remembering the past, reminiscing on the good old days.
-This song reminded me of dancing with my cousins at my aunt's house to "rock around the clock" and "Build me up Buttercup" and "Knock Three Times." I also think of a 60's malt shop with rollerblading, poodle skirt-wearing waitresses.
-I remember being with my cousins a lot during my childhood, we would play games that the eldest cousin, Mackinnon would make up and dominate. She would tell the guys we were playing power rangers, and to dress like a power ranger they had to tie their shirts like Britney Spears. I was the princess, who they had to rescue from the treehouse, which was guarded by Mackinnon, who, being 4 years older and physically superior to us, would just throw the boys down or throw walnuts at them if they got near. It was awesome.

The Pinch of Poverty

1. Poor education
Difficulty getting jobs in the current economy
Disabilities
2. The somber expressions of the subjects, the faded colors used and the huddled position of the family portrays poverty in a negative light, but in the bright yellow flowers the girl is selling, there is a positive, hopeful light.
3. It is an unfortunate and desperate life to live in poverty and impoverished families have to seek shelter, and wen there is nowhere to go they turn to eachother.
4. The dark, somber colors show how hard and sad the life of poverty is, but the basket of yellow flowers the girl is tring to sell portray a glimmer of hope in the wake of this dreary setting, something to work towards.

Poverty

The article "Live Free and Starve" pointed out the interestingly unheard of point that children being forced into child labor, although being deprived of their childhood, at least have somewhere to sleep and enough to eat. Divakaruni tells a story of a young, impoverished boy, hired by his mother to do things like "sweeping and pumping water from the tube-well", in exchange for having a home to live in and money to take back to his family. The author states "Still, I would not disagree with anyone who says that it was hardly a desirable existence for a child. But what would life have been like for Nimai if an anti-child-labor law had prohibited my mom from hiring him?" It is true that without any income, the children from these impoverished families might live an even more desperate existence, but is it worth it to have freedom? I think so. America should do more to help those families pay for meals and school, etc. but it is unacceptable to have children working 9 hours a day in such harsh environments as crowded factories filled with toxic fumes.

Singer focuses more, not on whether impoverished children would be better off with small wages or freedom, and more on the fact that while Americans are disgusted that someone could directly choose their posessions and own well-being over a suffering child's life, most of us are sitting at home surrounded by wants, not needs and unwilling to give it up. These two opinions voiced in these article clash, but not directly, more the author's beliefs on morality oppose. Singer talks more about the difference, morally between people who directly choose their things over lives of sufferring children, and those who are disgusted by the previous, but themselves indirectly choose themselves over impoverished children. Divakaruni talks about what is best for children in third world countries, on labor laws. I agree with Singers views on this situation more. He points out that we are snuggled up in our comfortable homes, feeling sorry for the needy, but unwilling to help them ourselves.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Grafitti

This song had a lot of bass, and one pretty rad bass line in particular i really like. I think I like it so much because I play bass guitar and cello, so I kind of listen more to lower sounds. I really like the synth sounds in this song too, because I listen to some electronic music.