Ludwig & Nature

         Ludwig van Beethoven is known for his remarkable talent for music.  He has written and at the least 9 symphony's and composed many in his life time, which are still famous to this day.  For example his first movment in his 6th smyphony titled "Awakening of happy feelings on arriving in the country".

         Beethoven loved nature, which is where the inspiration of this music came from.  He would lose himself in nature and used what he could see, feel, smell, and cant forget hearing.  But what was so interesting about Beethoven was that he was deaf (Beethoven's deafness).How could a composer not have such what seems to be like a nessesary sense?

         The answers to that question above was writing. Beethoven would write down things in nature that would inspire him like the crickling of a creek, trill of birds, and even rustling of leaves. One of his journals were found from 1803 that quote "The greater the river, the more grave the tone" (AllABoutBeethoven)

        When I listen to this movement I get a happy feel from it.  I get this feeling from this sort notes he uses, which make transitions more surprising which keeps me entertained throughout the peice.  I personally life the combination of flutes and violens together and Beethoven uses these two interments alot and when he doesi think it gives off a more happy sound because they have a pretty high pitch compared to them, opposed to inturments like the chello.



Beethoven's first movement of 6th symphony:

Favorite Art

I think that music is one of the most beautiful kinds of art.  By this i don't just mean instermental music, I mean music that tell a story through words.  This is beautiful because the song writer is telling a story about feelings towards something or emotions, for example Eminem's song Stan.  This song tells a story about Stan not getting accepted my his hero Eminem.  And throughout the song it discribes the emottions felt throughout this procces.  Eminem is one of my favorite artists because he is always telling a story about his life, and he does it in a way that comes off smooth to me.

Stan by Eminem  <---- Click here

Three Little Pigs

When I was younger I looked at most fairy tales giving off very little meaning if any at all.  I would think that a classic story like Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood were just story’s for entertainment.  Little did I know that there are multiple meanings on most fairytale story’s. Some that are better than others.

I will be taking a look into the fairy  tale Three Little Pigs, and show you what I think this fairy tale is really all about.  By this i mean what kind of message it could be sending to kids, by them not even knowing it.

The three objects themselves represent something. Straw is something that is worthless. And in the sense of making a house is not durable to what is coming the first pigs way. The second pigs that uses furze which is an evergreen with a fragrant of golden flowers().  And as the third pig uses a load of bricks, which is used to make buildings (a stronger form of housing) will help the third pig on what is to come.

Now the villain in the story is a Wolf, which is common for most fairy tales for example Little Red Riding Hood.  The wolf goes up to the first and second pigs and says something along these lines “little pig, little pig, let me come in. To which the pig answered: No, no, by the hair of my chiny chin chin. The wolf then answers then ill huff, and ill puff, and ill blow your house down”(SurLaLune.com). 

Keeping up to his world the wolf blows the pigs house’s down and eats them up.  But there is still a third pig standing. The pig with the house made of bricks.  When the wolf got through all the huffing and puffing he could he came to a conclusion that he was going to have to try something else.  So the wolf thought that if he could not get into the little pigs house he would have to try to get the little pig out so he could eat him.    

So the wolf starts naming off things that he though may be tempting for the third pig to come out, one of the temptations he used was going to the fair.  So he invited the pig to the fair, but the pig wasn’t that foolish.  He most certainly stayed in his home resisting all the temptations the wolf threw at him.                 

In the end the wolf trys to climb through the pigs chimney, and the pig is prepared for this.  The wolf ends up falling into the pot of boiling water above a nice fire the pig prepared.  So the pig eats up the wolf and lives happily ever after.

I think that this fairy tale sends a clear message, that says don’t let people you don’t know into your home cause if you do then they will hurt you.  Because in this fairy tale if you let the wolf into your home it will eat you no matter what.  This is something that I find disturbing to tell children.  Because the overall theme of this story is trust, and it is saying do not trust anyone.

In my opinion I think this could set your children on a dark path in their future.  This could allow them to have trust issues for the rest of their lives!  Just because their life could suddenly be over if they let a single person into their home.  If my mom told me this and I took it the wrong way, I probably would want to make friends with anybody.

Even though most trust issues come from past hurts, mostly from childhood (head-cleaners.com).  This may not seem like it could really have that big of effect on a person’s life but in a child’s mind this could scare them so much that they could be frightened for the rest of their lives.  This is how I think most fairy tale story’s are.  Just because the characters in the book might live happily ever after, doesn’t mean that it is reality.  

             Finding Nemo vs. Joseph Campbell's Theory

         There is something the same about every story that draws millions of viewers to it.  Not many people are aware of what it is though.  It is what Joseph Campbell describes as the Monomyth.  Which is basically a continues cycle of 17 stages that occur in nearly every movie.  Now not all 17 stages have to occur in every movie, but most cover enough of them so that you can see the cycle.  I will be touching on around 7 steps from the Pixar movie Finding Nemo. This is a brief description on Finding Nemo “ A clown fish named Marlin living in the Great Barrier Reef loses his son, Nemo, after he ventures into the open sea, despite his father's constant warnings about many of the ocean's dangers. Nemo is abducted by a boat and netted up and sent to a dentist's office in Sydney. So, while Marlin ventures off to try to retrieve Nemo, Marlin meets a fish named Dory, a blue tang suffering from short-term memory loss. The companions travel a great distance, encountering various dangerous sea creatures such as sharks, anglerfish and jellyfish, in order to rescue Nemo from the dentist's office, which is situated by Sydney Harbor. While the two are doing this, Nemo and the other sea animals in the dentist's fish tank plot a way to return to Sydney Harbor to live their lives free again” (Internet Movie Database, Plot Summary for Finding Nemo).

The first stage in Campbell’s theory is the hero’s call to adventure. This is usually an irresistible action that the hero always ends up taking.  In the movie Finding Nemo Marlin needs to find his son Nemo after he has been abducted by scuba divers. Marlin can’t live with out his son after all he has no other family members other than Nemo. This would be his call to adventure (stage 1).  Marlin cannot complete this task by him self he needs a supernatural aid (Stage 3) or some sort of guidance along the way.  Which will be Dory a blue surgeon fish that suffers from sort term memory loss.  Despite that she is certain that she saw which way the boat that had abducted Nemo.  With that Marlin knew that he needed to stick with Dory if has a chance of finding his son.  There is a transition into a new world or a Crossing the Threshold (stage 4) in this movie as well, which is when Marlin leaves the Great Barrier Reef where he has stayed his entire life.  He crosses over into the dark deep ocean that he is terribly afraid of.

During Marlins heroic journey Dory and him are put through what is known in Campbell’s theory as road of trials(stage6).  This part of the theory is where the hero finds out if he is worthy enough or strong enough to continue on his quest.   There are many of these trials in Finding Nemo such as when Marlin and Dory encountering 3 “vegetarian” sharks.  But when Dory and Marlin are fighting over a Scuba mask that has fallen from the boat that Nemo was in, Dory got knocked by Marlin and she got scratched.  The scratch caused Dory to bleed, and one of the Skarks smells her blood he wants to eat her.  The two other skarks restrain him down enough for Dory and Marlin to get away.  This now leads them to the second road of trials.  They run into a field of jellyfish which have long stingers attached to them. All these jellyfish are surrounding them by now and in panic they rush through the bunch though Marlin made it out of the Jellyfish okay, Dory was not beside him. Marlin saw Dory on top of a jellyfish. Marlin rushed to get her and after helping her regain consciousness they continue on there path through the ocean.  Where they yet encounter another trial, which is the East Australian Current, where there are debating on taking this risky chance going into the speedy current.  They do end they end up riding on a turtles back which knows the East Australian Current like the back of their fin.  Knowing that the turtle drops them off in a harbor in Sydney, Australia.  

Once they make it in a bay in Sydney Australia they now realize that they are limited, because they are fish.  They cannot walk around looking for Nemo.  They do attempt though and are almost attacked by seagulls.  But one bird in particular saw this, a pelican.  This pelican heard about this magnificent journey Marlin and Dory have made, it spreaded all across the ocean.  Knowing about all the things Marlin and Dory went through he offers to take them to the dentist office that Nemo was taken to.  How did they do this? They flew in the pelican’s mouth that was full of water.

Now this is my personal favorite part of the movie, The Ultimate Boon (stage 11).  This is where Marlin is finally reunited with his son Nemo.  This is the happy part of this movie! In other movies this could be a gift that someone was looking for the entire time, or even the truth that is wanting to be found. Now Marlin has concurred what is Campell’s 17^th stage which is the final stage. The Freedom to Live, now that Marlin has found his son he has the freedom to live the life he wants to.  This is kinda like the life at the beging before Nemo was lost.  Finding Nemo is a very popular movie upon most kids and even adults enjoy this family film.  This follows campbell’s theory and that is why this movie did so good on the market.

Beethoven's 6th

I really like the energy I feel from the begging of Beethoven's 6th Symphony (first movement). It sounds like something new is being discovered.  And when the flutes and violens pick up speed and increase lundness, it sounds happy.

I also like how it starts to slow down and get clam. Then it builds up again. I find this more mysterious. I am a very visual thinker, so I picture in my head a character from a movie finding something magnificent. Like a treasure they have been looking for the entire movie. And then they have there happy victory!

With the positive energy i get from beethoven's 6th, it also reminds me of dancing music. Music you would expect to hear in Ballroom dancing.  Or even music playing in a book store.

From listening to Beethoven's 6th over and over again, I've noticed he decrescendos alot. Then crescendos right back up again.  I like how he did this because it gets my attention when I can barely hear the music. Then all of a sudden BOOM! I hear loud violins playing. 

My over all opinion on his first movement was good! I liked it, and I surpisingly enjoy listening to it.  This is strange to hear coming from me because I like to listen to songs that are more up beat and songs that have words in them. Even though I can barley hear what people are saying in half of my songs, it kind of sounds like meshed together.

Beethoven on the other hand actually sounds like there is a deep, thoughtfull meaning behind it. Which is why I like it.

Someone Special

Someone that makes me feel special is my boyfriend, Zack Forbes.  I met him when i was in 6th grade, and always found something special about him.  Out of the fives years i've known him we've only been dating for about two.  The offical date is May 27, 2009, and i couldn't be happier!

There is alot of special characteristics about my boyfriend. The one that cought me was his sense of humor.  There is not one thing thats more importat than to be able to have a humours outlook on life.  This is something I find important when being around people. I don't like to be around complainers and whiners.

When I think of "somone special" the first name that pops into my head is Zack Forbes. I think that everyone has that special someone that fits about everything they've ever wanted in someone.  I was just lucky enough to find mine so early in my life.