reflection...

This is the last entry of this blog…it seems the semester is nearly over and it went on so fast. This blogging thing has been my second experience since the last time I did it for the study of drama course. And it is still interesting as the first time I did it…however this time it seems quite tricky for me to manage up to 16 posts. Thank god Dr Edwin was lenient enough in asking us to post around 15-20 posts.
To me, the tricky part for this semester’s blogging is because I don’t have many ideas on what to write about. If compared to the drama blog, we were assigned topic to post in our blogs. This time we were asked to write about anything and it became hard, ironic right? Maybe personally, I preferred being given orders than to think on my own. So, when Dr Edwin asked us to reflect just about anything in the class, I became clueless. Even worst I kept mixing up the topics I’ve learned in EDU 3067 with this subject, EDU3234. So, that explains some of my posts are reflections of poems I did during EDU3067.
Overall, this course had thought me a lot in preparing myself when I’ll continue doing my masters later. It thought me on how to write proper academic papers which needs a lot of time looking through it. Besides that, I was introduce to several types of text which I think can be applied doing my teaching later. Instead of just reading novels and short stories, probably I can introduce diaries or letters as a part of my teaching aid. I really enjoyed this course as a whole and definitely after this I will still continue blogging but for non academic purposes though hehe..

freedom writers....losing and gaining

at last i got the chance to watch it....i was waiting since last year when i first saw its trailer in the cinema....but it seems it was never aired in Malaysia and i wander why???hmm....anyway i only have one word for it...superb!!!!i don't know, i always love watching true story-movies...at least i know i for real and nothing in it is fiction. fiction always lies...full of lies.
Ms Gruwell was a great teacher..she had a bumpy start at first but she manage to tackle her students well and to me its impressive. she didn't start with pouring in everything out of the syllabus to the students and to me that was a good move. maybe to the other teachers she was doing nothing but actually, she had done a lot. it needs a lot of effort for a teacher to gain respect from students especially the 'special' ones like hers. to me, the students are special because they never wanted to have the life they lead, they were forced to and that results in their bad behaviors....
however, it come to me that do we have to let something go in order to gain something else???look at Gruwell herself. she lost her husband when she was trying to gain her students' attention. she never did got both...does it mean if we want to have both, we can't be so dedicated in either one???because if we are dedicated in one thing, we might just loose the another area in life and thats not fair...maybe humans are greedy..we always wanted more than we can have...but is it greed in wanting to be a great teacher and at the same time,at home, being a good spouse or mother?i don't thinks so...i want to be greedy...i want to be good in both areas of life - career and personal life.

the golden compass

When doing Mandela’s autobiography, it made me reflect the behaviour and self ego of the whites have over the other species in the world. (I’m not being judgemental here but it is a fact). They are careless (care less) in acknowledging other and seeing only themselves as the superior. That is why they are not ashamed of overruling other countries. The best part? They always have something to rationalize their actions.

This “rationalizing each action they take” behaviour was also found in the movie The Golden Compass that I watched not very long ago. It’s a beauty that the Americans can be very open about their thought even though they might be condemning their own government. (I do feel this writer is condemning his government.) In this movie, this ignorant force takes name of The Majestarian. They control the world at that point and pointing fingers to certain groups of beings as these creatures (to them) will bring harm. They ruled that world with iron fist and making sure everyone listens to them. They take all the children that belong to the servants’ level and separate them from their dæmons (an animal figure that will accompany them through life) which according to the story makes the person weak and lifeless. They are then brain washed. Similar to reality, some people were driven back from their rights to live like Mandela when he got shorts instead of long pants. And if he did get those pants, he is in a way brain washed to accept the whites’ propaganda and needs. We all know that nothing comes for free in this world.

The Majestarian too rationalized their actions of kidnapping all the children as it is for safety purposes. They never see their actions wrong. They feel that everything they do was for the benefits of all which I feel its just completely a lie. It’s not for everyone but for the benefits of themselves, to make sure they are in safety. Just like the leaders nowadays, some countries objects the making of atomic weaponry in Pakistan saying that it’s a harm to the world but at the same time, they themselves are creating even massive machinery that cause the earths ruin even double. Where is the rationale in that?

The world is getting unfair but we can’t do anything…just watch and learn and criticize…

Factory Girl – the life of Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick

I’ve read his diary and I’ve watched a movie about him and yes, Andy Warhol is a weird guy. But he is a nice guy too…I think.

After that day we studied Warhol’s diary, a friend of mine got hold of a movie called “Factory Girl” which basically is about Edie Sedgwick who is closely related to Andy Warhol. They were attached but not clearly…only an unspoken bond..I never thought Warhol ever like a women before as Dr Edwin told us he was gay. So it seems he wasn’t gay before the death of Edie in 1971 I assume. But he is still weird though.

I like the movie very much. The movie staring Sienna Miller as Edie and Guy Pearce as Andy Warhol tells about the typical scene of the high life of superstars then and even applicable nowadays too! Edie was born rich and she basically never knew what planning money was. She was an artist but troubed..a symbol of tragic women before her time…she died in 1971.Being a son of a coal miner, probably that is why Andy knows his way in life. He was generous that he let his staffs of the ‘factory’ stayed there for free and that was when the conflict of the movie occurred. The mean folk singer (I really hate that character) criticize his generosity and artist who never much cared of being famous, Andy never expected payment for his work and as for the mean singer, he was expecting high payment for everything he does.

There were scenes in the movie when it shows the different lifestyle of Edie and Andy. She would go to a restaurant and order salmon and other expensive stuff on the menu but Andy only ordered a peanut butter sandwich…The life of Edie and Andy were very different but they manage to be together for a long time, Edie herself admit that Andy was her first love and Andy too mention that Edie was a special figure in his life.

Really, by the end of the movie, I learned that money can really ruin us. Having lots of money basically made Edie took life for granted. She never did appreciate it as much as others. And when she loses it, her life became miserable. Money can really rule us, it really can…like the lines from the poem “Heir Conditioning”, money is your new God.

bride price...

Similar to the poem “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams, this poem by Mabel Segun too uses symbolism in achieving a certain effect.

In this poem, a business transaction was the tone which also symbolises the arrangement between a guy with his prospective in-laws. The poem is very interesting for the way its tone and use of words in it. it is normal nowadays that some parents tend to sell their daughters in order to lessen their own burden. By marrying their daughter’s off, they can gain the benefits of dowry and they also don’t have to worry about feeding another mouth.

However, this situation is not fair. Just like the poem itself, the bride doesn’t have a voice. They are just like objects to be auction and both the poet parents never ask the bride whether she wanted to get married to the man.

I like to relate this poem with Charlene Rajendran’s “A Question of Rights” which I did with Encik Abu Bakar. However, this particular poem did allow the bride to-be a voice in giving opinion. And so think this poem speaks freely of a woman and in which I definitely agree.

The issue of women’s right has never stop since my grandmother’s time. Why do also been surpressed by men? Yes, in religion itself has been said that men plays a higher role in life but it doesn’t mean women have to be the ‘silent’ one in all issue. We are humans as well.

van gogh

This is one of Van Gogh's greatest paintings, The Starry Night which personally I do think it's great. even though I can't see in detail the brush strokes still, the work is beautiful...however, I kept wondering to myself the fact that most artistes whether they write, paint or sing, most of them are mentally retarded in a way. Van Gogh himself was a loner and not forgetting he did became psycho in the end. Maybe their minds are a total contrast with us, that's why they can see things different from us. They understand the word abstract more than other humans in the world. These weirdoes might be rejected from the 'normal' society however; it is them that see the world wider than any of us. They are critics but silently; through their writings and paintings. I once saw a painting that is touching to me. It just a simple abstract drawing but the focus of the painting was an eye with tears and this is what touched me...emotionally. The haywire strokes behind the eye shows the painters’ haywire mind and the tears show her sadness due to the haywire situation. But that was me...art is subjective. That is why I wonder how Van Gogh is so famous but there is only one painting which I feel good. Others are just merely painting of fruits and vegetables (even I can do such thing!!)Hehe...so, how can we grade a painter to be good or not? Famous or common? Expensive or worthless? Do we need 'connections' with the right people to hook us up to the industry???If so, it is unfair but this is the world though. Money can buy titles. This is sad as they might be good artist out there but they don’t have sufficient funds to help them rise...To me, art is not to be sold or bargain just because the artist is famous but to be valued for its message.