Yo, listen up!

Cover Songs

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Kanye West (Original)

Heartless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWzlD7Lc6w8

+techno style

+rap

+pronounces words differently (ex. "dawcter - docter")

+computerized voice & instruments

+meaning: upset with a girl for being heartless

+not much emotion

+repeats himself over & over again in the same way

+no emphasis on any words

+upbeat

Kris Allen (American Idol Winner - Redo)

Heartless

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZWif4Bo3e8&feature=related

+acoustic

+uses guitar only

+slower than original but still upbeat

+emphasizes "heartless"

+constantly changes the rhythm

+sounds like he's actually yelling at the heartless girl

+yells the word "me"

+sings more than raps

+more meaning

+doesn't repeat himself the same

+holds onto the notes longer

Written on the Body

VOICE #1:

Talking as a critic I believe that Written on the Body was a very confusing book and hard to interpret what the author was trying to convey most of the time. I was constantly trying to guess the gender throughout the entire book but every time I thought it was one gender something would make me think different. I really did not get into the book at all until towards the end when we find out that Louise has cancer. I think that is when it becomes more of a story. Up until that part I think the book is more like a bunch of quotes or poems thrown together rather than an explicit story being told. Overall I did not like this book much but there was one part that caught my attention though:

"When I say 'I will be true to you' I am drawing a quiet space beyond the reach of other desires. No-one can legislate love; it cannot be given orders or cajoled into service. Love belongs to itself, deaf to pleading and unmoved by violence. Love is not something you can negotiate. Love is the one thing stronger than desire and the only proper reason to resist temptation."

I think the author is trying to explain that when you love someone nothing else can get in the way. "Love is stronger than desires" means that you will never desire someone else if you actually love the person you are with.

VOICE #2:

Written on the body

Is full of words I do get.

Very confusing

Very twisting

&

weird.

First it is a guy

Than it is a girl

weird.

Neutral gender, I suppose?

No Louise?

That's sad.

=(

Okay, well I am not sure if I experimented correctly with 2 different voices, but I gave it a shot. The first voice was me just being a critic of the book and saying what I thought about it. The second one was basically just writing down whatever first popped into my mind, so I am not sure if that is exactly writing in another voice? It was fun though!

100% Skim Milk

The book, Skim, left me with many questions unanswered. I wondered about what actually happened to Ms. Archer and what happens to Skim in the future. Does she actually find love? What is it? or Who is it? It makes me feel a little uneasy not knowing.

I really liked how the pictures were setup in this graphic novel. There were many full page pictures with very little to no wording on them that I liked. I felt that made it more of a graphic novel than La Perdida in a way because I was actually looking at and focusing more on the pictures to tell the story in the novel Skim rather than in La Perdida where I was just focusing on the language. The graphics in Skim were much easier to follow. Maybe because most of them were extra large compared to La Perdida where they were fairly small in size and hard to distinguish what was going on most of the time.

The character Skim was very interesting. She wanted to be a witch and practiced with her tarot cards. I think she was in that teenage stage in her life where she was trying to find herself and it was difficult for her to fit in with a specific crowd in school. Maybe being a "witch" made her feel more powerful and in control in her life. Relying on what some cards said was easier to relying on others? She seemed very confused with the relationship she had with Ms. Archer. I thought it was bizarre to see a female teacher "hook up" with a female student. We never see or hear about that! So it really shocked me. I wonder, did this really happen or did Skim just want it to happen? Was the kiss a symbol of how she felt for Ms. Archer? hm.. was anyone else surprised by this?

What is Desire?

When I think of desire.. I think of shoes. I love shoes & like myself so do many other women. It's a materialistic desire that many of us have. That brings to question - can desire only fully be obtained by something that is physical? or can it be fully obtained by only a feeling? or both? & does it vary?