Life is but a Netflix queue created by an idiot...

Watched by Macbeth

1. Resident Evil (movie series)

This movie is about a lady who has survived the zombie apocalypse. She is the last hope to save the world from the virus. Macbeth just before his battle with Macduff would have watched this movie. He feels just like Alice, invincible. He has all the confidence in the world that he is safe from the prophecy that the witches gave him. He feels that nothing natural nor supernatural can stop him and is willing to face all that come in his way. This reveals that Macbeth had become overconfident and cocky. He believed that he could do anything that he wanted and that it would not catch up with him.

2.The Sixth Sense

This movie is about a boy who has the gift of seeing ghosts of those who have unresolved problems, but he is too afraid to tell anyone except his psychologist. Macbeth recommends this because he recalls the dinner party where he was visited by the ghost of Banquo. He knew he was the only one who could see him. Macbeth hoped to have someone like the psychologist in the movie that he could share what he was seeing, but he did not have this luxury. He felt alone as the boy did until he was introduced to his psychologist. Macbeth did not want to seem crazy to all of the people at the party so he kept his visions to himself. Macbeth sees a lot of his old self in the innocence of the boy. This reveals that Macbeth feels guilty about all the things that he has done. He desires to go back to the innocence that he once had and the guilt is eating him up on the inside. He regrets doing what he has done over the course of the play and it is affecting his conscious and sub-conscious.

3. Empire

Empire is about a wealthy family of musicians who own their own music label. The three sons are willing to do whatever it takes in order to take their father's place as the head of the empire. This show is recommended by Macbeth because of the determination of the three sons. They were willing to do whatever they needed to do in order to gain their father's place as the head of the Empire even if that meant killing. Macbeth was motivated by this show to kill the guards of Duncan to keep witnesses from expressing the truth just as Lucious Lyon killed Bunkie. He was also motivated to take out Banquo by the sons' search for their father's favor. This shows that Macbeth, like the sons of Empire, was determined to gain as much power as possible. He wanted to take Duncan place and once he began his corruption the corruption continued. This shows that Macbeth is easily manipulated by his desire for power.

4. How To Get Away With Murder

This show is about a law professor and defense attorney, Annalise Keating. She takes a group of students under her wing and as the students help her work on her cases, mysteries arise and the true nature of the group is revealed. Recommended by Macbeth, specifically for the character Wes. Macbeth says, "I can relate to Wes so well. He was viewed as the innocent one and seeing him commit murder gave me the strength to take care of Duncan. I feel the same guilt now that he was faced with." Macbeth says he feels manipulated by Lady Macbeth in the same way that Wes was manipulated by Annalise. "The way that Wes found the strength to take matters into his own hands when he had done what he had to do was what gave me the strength to keep going." This reveals how Macbeth changed over the course of the play. He was originally innocent but as the events of the play occurred he had to do what he had to do to  keep going. This also shows that Macbeth is easily susceptible to suggestion.

Witch-slapped: Macbeth's fall from grace

1. Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking that first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.

People who are not evil take the first steps toward evil because they have are influenced by others or they have a desire for power. These conditions can be seen by examining Macbeth and his thoughts and actions.


The first steps toward evil for Macbeth for example came after he heard the prophecy of the witches. After hearing them say "All hail, Macbeth, thou salt be king hereafter!" Macbeth realized his potential. He realized that he had the qualities of a leader and that he could obtain more power and influence in society than he had before. He never had considered the idea of being a king before this point and the influence of the witches led him to become obsessed with seeking power. Macbeth was not only influenced by his wife. Lady Macbeth had a large impact on Macbeth's decisions. After thinking about the letter that Macbeth sends to her she says to him "Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower, But be the serpent under't." She says that Macbeth appears to be innocent since he has just eliminate a traitor of King Duncan. She encourages him to act as a serpent or a snake and kill Duncan instead so that Macbeth could take his place as king. She also reassures him and tells him they can't fail, influencing him in his decision - "But screw your courage to the sticking-place, and we'll not fail." 


Lady Macbeth's constant influence on her husband as well as Macbeth's new desire for power after meeting the three witches is what is involved in him taking the first step. He tells himself that "If ill, why hath it given me earnest of success, commencing in a truth?" Once he believes that what he is doing is for the best and being influenced by the witches' prophecy, he is willing to take the first step in evil. Macbeth himself recognizes his new ambition when he says "I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent but only vaulting ambition." The floating dagger also influences him as he believes in the power of the supernatural and interprets the dagger as a sign to kill the King. When Macbeth says that the dagger is leading him to the place he was going to, he is even more determined and therefore influenced towards evil. 

The consequences of choosing evil are the guilt that comes with doing evil actions, shown when Macbeth kills Duncan and says "I'm afraid even to think about what I've done. I can't stand to look at it again." Macbeth doesn't want to go back and look at the murder because he knows he did evil and feels guilty for murdering his King to who he owed his loyalty. When choosing evil Macbeth also questions his actions and even goes as far as to say "Had I died but an hour before this chance, I had lived a blessed time, for from this instant There's nothing serious in mortality." He feels so guilty and resentful of his own actions that he says there is nothing worth living for anymore. This creates an internal struggle as he has achieved his desire for power but feels guilty and wishes he had not done it. 

#IBmakingart

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/63.12

The Cloisters Cross, 12th century
English
Walrus ivory; 22 5/8 x 14 1/4 in. (57.5 x 36.2 cm)
The Cloisters Collection, 1963 (63.12)

The cross is a direct display of the importance of Christianity during this time period. The Cloister Cross has different depictions on each side which have different meanings.

This side of the cross reads "the earth trembles, death defeated groans with the buried one rising./ life has been called, synagogue  has collapsed with great foolish effort." and "Cham laughs when he sees the naked private parts of his parent/ the Jews laughed at the pain of God dying." From this it is clear that the artist was clearly a Christian. Based on the words inscribed into the piece it seems that Jews were looked down upon. Based on this time period negative views of Jews by Christians was not uncommon especially in England where the cross draws its origins from.

In the picture of this side the top appears to resemble the hilt of a sword with the long extending bottom being a blade. This appears to be in reference to all of the wars and fighting that has been going on during this period. 

Each of the three outer most points has groups of people gathered together. It is as though these people are looking up toward the sky or perhaps toward heaven. This appears to be representative of God as the Father. This portion of the Holy Trinity being the one that resides in heaven watching down on Earth as is seen frequently throughout the Christian faith. At the right there is a man with his arms stretched out as though he is on a cross surrounded by many other people. This portion of the cross depicts the death of Jesus on the cross. The left portion of the cross difficult to see from this picture, but it seems that the three outer portions are intended to represent the Holy Trinity.

At the bottom of the cross are a man and a woman that are holding on to what I interpreted at the swords blade earlier. This could be another reference to the Bible and the man and women could be Adam and Eve. The blade of the sword is the tree of life from which they took fruit when they were told not to by God. The very tree which they held on to ended up causing them pain just as a sword is the creation of humans but has only caused pain to other humans.

On this side of the cross the larger images are more animalistic. Based the book The Cloisters Cross: Its Art and Meaning By Elizabeth C. Parker, Charles T. Little the animals are (to the right) the ox of Saint Luke, (to the left) the Lion of Saint Mark and (at the top) the Eagle of Saint John. They are perhaps displayed because they are the ones that Christians looked up to. There is a missing section at the bottom which may have been reserved for Matthew. The shaft of the cross holds other people who must have been prophets or disciples as well. In the center of the cross there is a carving of a lamb. This represents the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is Jesus and because of this majority of the figures on this side of the cross are looking toward the center. The portion of the cross running between the Lion and the Ox appear to hold even more people looking toward the center of the cross. They are looking toward Jesus even though he is being slain in they will continue to keep their eyes on him and follow him. The few figures that do look away must represent those who betrayed Jesus or will not follow the path that he set for them.

Blog post 10/11

Freebe

What's in a name?

My first name came from my sister, Breanna. She is nine years older than me. My sister asked my parents to let her pick my name and they decided that she could do it. She ended up deciding that I should be named Brandon and I got my dad's last name, Freeman. I don't think that my name has ever brought me privilege. I think that my name is just find the way it is I like it and I wouldn't change it if I had the chance to. I have many nick names. My sister and her friends call me Tookie this came from what I thought the words to a song were. My eldest brother calls me Brando this came from trying to type my name in a video game we were playing and the last "n" didn't fit in the box. The nickname I am called most often is B-Free. This one came from taking the first of my first name and the first four letters of my last name. I think that looking at my last name shows what my family that came before me has been through, but other than that I don't think my name or any of my nicknames define me.

When I am playing basketball with a team or preforming a taekwondo demonstration I experience the feeling of being "two". When playing basketball when I play good not only does it make me look better at basketball, but it also makes my team appear better as a whole. This goes both ways though. If I make a mistake not only will people think that I am bad at basketball, but the team as well. When one person plays bad it also affects the way the whole game can go and the way the team plays together. Sometimes a team can still win when one person is playing bad, but it is a lot more difficult and when a team is playing bad this can lead to conflict in the team. It is almost the same during taekwondo performances. If one person messes up it can throw off the rhythm of the performance and cause everyone else to preform worse. I feel like this is escalated when I am doing these shows. Since I am an assistant instructor the students on the demonstration team look up to me. Due to the fact that I am the one that is frequently teaching them I believe that when I make a mistake it has a greater impact on the way that the rest of the show will go.

Author: Wing Young Huie

Photo taken: 2012-2013

Place of publication: http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p709406511/e717fb180

When first looking at the picture I see people in a high school setting. Who I believe to be the teacher is standing in the background. The students are participating in some activity. Since the photo is black and white my eyes were first drawn to the people in the photo since I was unable to tell what their skin looked like. Still in a black and white photo thought I was able to come up with a prediction of what I would expect the true color of their skin to appear as. When looking at the boy on the right with the sign he appears to be sad, upset, or frustrated about something.

When looking deeper into the picture I first interpreted what the signs that the students are holding says and what it can tell me about them. The girl's sign that says "I'm not black, I'm African-American". This leads me to believe that she is proud of her heritage and doesn't want to be immediately judged by the color of her skin and grouped together with all people with the same color skin. The boy in the photo holds a sign that says, "I have depression I'm no sad". He is saying that people often mistake his depression for him being sad about something all the time. The photographer is trying to get across the point that you can't judge people just by looking at them. You have to get to know someone before you can determine a true representation of a person. The photographer is also trying to show that grouping people by the way they look and making assumptions about people can truly upset them even though we may not realize it.

Othering is used by Atwood on the Handmaids similarly to the way that the photographer is using othering on the African-American girl and the boy who has depression. Atwood makes wearing red a visible sign of being Handmaid and makes it something that the Handmaids are unable to escape like the girl in the photo. The actions that are expected of Handmaids can be compared to someone who is depressed. In depression the brain is affected causing people to feel the way they do and Atwood shows that the brains of Handmaids were conditioned to act the way that they do.