Alfie W's English Journal

People often ask me why I listen to older music, or why I don’t listen to mainstream modern music. The answer to this question is very simple; I don’t like it, its terrible. Pretty much the entirety of modern “musicians” can be segregated into the several archetypes, which itself shows a lack of originality, that I will be discussing bellow.

First of all we have the One Direction, Justin Beiber style “musicians” the main demographic of which seems to be 9 year-old girls. I could end the paragraph here, but I’ll explain further why I have a problem with these “artists”. Firstly, Who produces the instrumentals? Not them. In fact the majority of the work on songs by “artists” like this is not done by the “artist”. Some have even gone so far as to have others write their (somewhat mediocre) lyrics for them. It’s not even them who presses the auto tune button in the studio. The people in bands like these are really just a facade used to market, in an alarmingly sexual manner, someone else’s music to young girls. I think it is moraly wrong that the vast majority of credit and monetary gain goes to the very people who put the least work into producing the end product.

The next type of music I will be investigating is the modern electronic genre; namely dubstep. My problem is not with the electronic genre as a whole, but rather with what it has become; a seemingly futile competition to see who can put the most random noises and lowest/loudest bass/synth “drop”over a drum machine loop. Dubstep lacks the subtlety’s and meaningfulness that, for example, classical music harnesses so well. Dubstep lacks the feeling that makes it seem as though every note was put there for a reason. It really is sad to see the electronic medium be used to create something so mindless.

Next, another sub-genre that has expanded massively in recent years is a relatively new breed of rap, which many of my peers seem to enjoy so much. South London rap. The deeper meaning of which doesn’t seem to go beyond selling cannabis, and seriously injuring one another with kitchen utensils. I have to admit rap requires skill and can be quite clever, witty, and in some cases funny. The problem I have with rap, especially south London rap, is that I struggle to consider it music at all. To me any south London rap would have the same value if the lyrics alone were written on paper. After all, the main focus of all rap is the lyrics. This leads me to consider south London rap as poetry rather than music.

Now for one of my most hated modern artist archetypes, the faces I mentioned earlier which serve no other purpose than to sell repetitive rubbish with sex. Artists such as Beyonce, Miley Cyrus and Niki Minaj, to name a few. Firstly I would like to point out that the vast majority, if not all, are solely singers. The reason for this is simple: anyone can say words. This makes it remarkably easy for the producers to find someone who is sexually appealing to the masses, and use them to sell simple-minded, meaningless music.

In conclusion, I think music has been killed. For the most part, by the egocentric greed and therefore lack of passion and originality of the artists. The industry has become more about marketing and profit than the music itself. This has lead to the huge influx of emotionless, simple, uninteresting arrangements of sound, accompanied by sexual marketing schemes which are referred to as “artists”. Music really has gone downhill from the 70’s/80’s and onwards. Whether you attribute this to the reduction in use of substances that perturb brain chemistry amongst musicians or the increase in technological advances, and the use of technological equipment in music, or to the idea that the good ideas are simply running out. To me, one thing is clear, mainstream modern music is terrible.

In the article “we deserve more from our democratic system”, Russell Brand discusses some interesting and controversial views on our current political system. Russell Brand has never voted and claims “the impact of voting is negligible”. He believes wealth-inequality and the destruction of the earth are some of the biggest problems caused by our democratic system, and a revolution, or complete reform of our political system is necessary. For the most part, I agree.

One of Brand’s first, and most important, points is that “democracy is irrelevant”. After stating this he goes on to say “as long as the priorities of those in government remain the interest of big business, rather than the people they were elected to serve, the impact of voting is negligible”. Although Brand is very blunt with his point and doesn’t explain what has led him to believe this, I completely agree with him. Most people will argue that although no major changes occur from voting, a small change for the better is better than no change at all. This argument, although not fundamentally flawed, misses the point. I agree that voting can make a small difference. Currently, a small difference is not what we need. By voting you’re simply supporting the political system which has failed those who need the support of government the most whilst keeping the corrupt and rich in power. Voting, in the current system, is simply the tool used to keep up the mass delusion of choice. Voting is supposed to make a difference and currently it does not.

When discussing how Clegg, once in power, reneged his promise to remove tuition fees, Russell Brand claimed  “When students, perhaps students who had voted for him, rioted they were condemned”. Although this may be an exaggeration, the very fact that a politician can receive votes because of a promise he made, revoke that promise, and stay in power, is wrong. When there is a riot, it is not something that should be ignored. Riots are a sign that people feel let down and ignored  by the democratic system and want change. The whole idea of completely ignoring a massive amount of public will to change is the complete opposite of what the democratic system claims to be. Riots are almost always a sign that the democratic system has failed to represent the people, or as Brand puts it “People riot when dialogue fails, when they feel unrepresented and bored by the illusion, bilious with the piped in toxic belch wafted into their homes by the media”.

Brand goes on to address how he is “beginning to think they just don’t want inequality on the agenda because its a real problem that needs to be addressed”. I agree on the basis that the Government tends to be completely ignorant of real, big issues. I think this is because they require big solutions, and simply put, most politicians are either too lazy or too scared to actually change anything. I agree with Brand in the sense that I believe that most politicians have the mindset of trying to maintain the current system, pretending everything is going perfectly well (which may be true for them), rather than moving forward and addressing real problems.

In general I agree with Brand’s article and what he stands for. I believe that the current democratic system serves the rich and powerful, rather than those who actually need its help. I believe that most politicians, once in power, change their mind to the easy option and completely ignore the real issues. I definitely believe that we deserve more from our democratic system.

In this essay I will be discussing how Shakespeare presents flaws in characters in his play, Othello and I will compare this to the way which Robert browning presents character flaws in his Porphyria’s lover and child Rolland to the dark tower came. I will show how Othello’s pride leads to his down fall and how figurative language is often used to describe downfalls as well as flaws. I will discuss the underlying theme of mental instability as a fundamental flaw in Robert browning’s poems and I will compare how this mental instability is presented. Finally I will compare how Shakespeare and Robert Browning present flaws and argue that Robert browning’s characters usually have more extreme unrealistic flaws and/or downfalls.

Iago is often overlooked when studying flaws in Othello due to the fact that Othello is considered the victim of the tragedy. Despite this Iago’s jealousy of Cassio is the original cause of his plan which leads to the final down fall of the protagonist. Shakespeare often uses metaphorical language to present and describe flaws for example when Iago says “beware jealousy, it is the green eyed monster that doth mock the meat it feeds on” in this quote Shakespeare personifies jealousy and compares it to the evil animalistic behavior of toying with or mocking the powerless prey before killing and feeding on it, this implies that Iago has recognized his flaw and that it is causing a slow torturous downfall. I believe that Iago is comparing jealousy to something other than himself to convince himself that jealousy is not part of himself and therefore negate some of responsibility for his actions.

In Othello, Iago is able to manipulate Othello very well because he his gullible and cannot see through Iago’s lies, this is prevalent when Iago merely suggests that Casio “is not honest” Othello responds with anger, “think, my lord! By heaven, he echoes me, as if there were some monster in his thought to hideous to be shown. Thou dost mean something.” At this point Iago has already suggested in a discrete way the idea that Cassio is hiding something, and Othello starts to let his imagination, and negative thoughts run wild and almost makeup reasons why this may be true. He also states “thou dost mean something.” Rather than asking a question, this suggests that he is a very confident and proud individual who is certain that Iago knows something he does not, I think this is due to his status as general.

In Robert browning’s poetry character flaws are often presented in more unrealistic, abstract ways. In Porphyria’s lover the speaker’s flaw is his will not to lust, I think this due to the fact that when given a temptation he goes to extreme lengths to prevent lust “I found a thing to do, and all he hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her” I believe he did this to preserve her innocence and prevent lust although by avoiding one sin he committed a sin which is considered more severe by most, this leads me to believe that he is mentally unstable in some way which seems to be the fundamental flaw in many of browning’s characters.

Another example of mental instability and a strange, unrealistic flaw is found in Child Roland to the dark tower came. Child Roland seems to have an extreme paranoia which is shown when he says, in response to a man giving him directions, “my first thought was, he lied in every word” he has no reason to disbelieve this man which leads me to believe that he has been deceived many times in his past and has almost given up believing people. He then goes on to describe the man as a “hoary cripple, with malicious eye” it seems as though in his head everyone is out to get him. Child Rolland no longer trusts anyone or anything this is the flaw of extreme paranoia which may have its roots in a mental instability. Alternatively the mental instability could have been caused by his life of being deceived.

In conclusion, Iago’s flaw of jealousy is the original, and therefore most important flaw in Othello in regards to the tragic downfall, Othello’s anger and  lack of judgment being the second most important. I also explored how the flaws in Browning’s poems tend to be more surreal, examples of this include Child Roland’s extreme paranoia, and Porphyria lovers overreaction to the natural emotion of lust. This more unrealistic and extreme behavior makes the browning poems, in my opinion, more interesting compared to the more realistic (although still far from reality) flaws of Othello.

In what bright realm, what sphere of radiant thought A
Did Nature find the model whence she drew B
That delicate dazzling image where we view B
Here on this earth what she in heaven wrought? A
What fountain-haunting nymph, what dryad, sought A
In groves, such golden tresses ever threw B
Upon the gust? What heart such virtues knew?— B
Though her chief virtue with my death is frought. A
[TURN/VOLTA]
He looks in vain for heavenly beauty, he C
Who never looked upon her perfect eyes, D
The vivid blue orbs turning brilliantly – C
He does not know how Love yields and denies; D
He only knows, who knows how sweetly she C
Can talk and laugh, the sweetness of her sighs. D

1) yes, there are a few, for example “in groves, such as golden tresses ever threw”.
2) its a love poem.
4)you are beuatifull
I love you for what you are
Noone is perfect

1. Why do you think I used personification?
2. Explain the concept of the poem before the Volta?
3. Explain the concept of the Volta? D you agree with the Volta?

All things with a beginning have an end
You can not escape your definite doom
You run from death because deaths not your friend
It’s such a short time from birth to the tomb

Throughout life you feel as if your deaths slave
Death is looming over you throughout life
You slowly journey from womb to the grave
Or life is taken quickly with a knife

Death is coming for you and everyone
Your pre decided fate can not be stopped
And when he comes for you your life is done
The value of your life can not be dropped

but i do not fear death and this is true
for without death life has no value

in the film hotel Rwanda, in the scene when Paul is driving along the river road the directer has created a lot of suspense through the use of different camera shots and effects.

one of the ways he did this is by allowing you only too know what Paul knows for example when there is a shot of the car you know the road is rough but you don’t know why, either does Paul (hence why he goes outside to check). another example is how you find out that it was dead body’s he was driving over at the same time he does, you find this out from the point of view shot from Paul’s perspective on the person killed with machete this shot is only on screen for a short time which just allows you to work out that it is a dead body and by that time the shot has changed and Paul has jumped away from the body. also during this shot there is the non digetic sound of a machete, this helps add suspense.

in the same scene there is a very unusual shot when Paul opens the door of the car then falls out of shot i think one of the reasons the director has done this is to make it look like he fell accidentally, another reason was to hide the dead body’s. another way he hid the dead body’s is from the use of fog, he may have also used fog for pathetic fallacy because fog is normally associated with fear and mystery which go well with the eary non digetic sound throughout the scene.

another good shot in this scene is the over shoulder shot of paul and hundreds of dead body’s

1
He woke up, ate some toast, washed, put his cloths on, He took them last of his medication, and went to school. the medication was a red, tasteless pill and he didn’t need a drink to take it he had been taking it for a long time, in fact he had been taking this medication as long as he could remember.
Later that day he had science they learnt about greenhouse gasses this interested him. Alfie was a good kid mostly, listened in class, got average grades after school he went to Dr Dave to get another tub of 100 pills Dave said your going to need to start taking 2 pills a day, unfortunately it’s speeding up Alfie asked what was speeding up Dave didn’t reply…
2
He woke up, ate some toast, washed, put his cloths on, took his medication he went said bye to his dad than remembered he needed to take another pill, and went to school. He had science again today they were still learning about global warming, Alfie asked “so we’re killing the planet everyone is ignoring it”, too which sir replied “i don’t know” Alfie would always ask questions he always wanted to know everything there’s one thing that no one would tell him not his mum or dad not Dr Dave and that was what the pills were for nobody at school took pills like his no one told him what they were for he only knew that Dr Dave made them himself and that he had to take 2 EVERY day…
3
it was a weekend so he woke up later then usual, then, ate some toast, washed, took his medication and started playing on his computer he got side tracked trying to find out what his pills were for he had looked on the internet before he had no luck, and once again he had no luck. couldn’t find anything about his medication his friend messaged him on Skype “wuu2”  he typed back “nothing, just a normal day” his friend then invited him over to his house he told his mum picked up medication for the next day and got on the bus to his house…4

Fate is used by Shakespeare throughout Romeo and Juliet it is used to give an idea of the end without revealing how it happens. In this essay i will analyse some examples of fate in Romeo and Juliet

A example of fate in Romeo and Juliet is how Romeo only met Juliet because the illiterate servant  asked him to read the party invitation list and Romeo saw Rosealine on the list so he decided to go to the party and met Juliet, this eventually led to his premature death.

Shakespeare liked the whole idea of people life’s being planed and how they couldn’t change them this is expressed in Romeo and Juliet through metaphors, for example when Romeo says “But he that hath the steerage of my course direct my sail!” By this he means only god can decide what happens to him and that he will just also long with it. Another metaphor that expresses the idea of fate Romeo and Juliet is when Romeo says “some consequence yet hanging in the stars” this shows that Shakespeare has given the characters in Romeo and Juliet a almost super natural ability to predict the future this helps give away the ending without revealing exactly how it happens.

Another example of fate in Romeo and Juliet (only in the film) is how the weather changes to stormy and lightning when mercutio is killed and Romeo is angry, this is called pathetic falicy I think the reason baz luhrmann did this is to help create a atmosphere in the film and help show the characters emotions.

Dramatic irony is when the audience know something the characters do not know. An example of dramatic irony is when Juliet is on the balcony taking to her self and Romeo is listening to what she is saying. This is dramatic irony because the audience know Romeo is there listening but Juliet does not. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to add realism too his plays. another big example of dramatic irony is when we know that Juliet isn’t actually dead but Romeo thinks she is so he kills himself this also relates to fate because if Juliet did not fake her death Romeo would not have died.

The film Romeo and Juliet by baz luhrmann the play is modernized this means he had to interpret things from romeo and Juliet into there modern counterparts for example swords are substituted for guns and the prince is substituted for the police officer.

In conclusion, Shakespeare used fate as a way to tell you what happens in the end without revealing how this made Romeo and Juliet a much more interesting and exiting play.