Manifestos

What is a Manifesto? According to Dictionary.com a manifesto is a public declaration of intentions, opinions, objectives, or motives as one issued by a government, sovereign, or organization. It comes from the Italian word manifestare, which means to manifest.

In the Futurist Manifesto we can clearly see that there is a manifestation of ideas, of a new way of thinking. The manifesto describes a transformation in the way of thinking, which involves the leaving behind of mythology and other "absurd" ideas. This transition also involves the leaving behind of the mathematical point of view of the world. The Futurist Manifesto, to me, is all about either adapting to these new ideas or getting screwed by them. A world of science and technology is going to take place and innovation is unpreventable.

Reality Hunger is much more literal than the Futurist Manifesto. David Shields states directly that what he will refer to an Art Revolution in his book. In this Manifesto, Shields will explain how each artist demonstrates what he/she depicts of reality in each of his/her pieces. Artists are realists.

After reading both pieces I realized that a Manifesto doesn't necessarily have to be famous or known amongst many people. A Manifesto could be a simple statements that implies a change in the way of thinking or perspective over a subject. Over anything.

Traditions

"Edward Armstrong. The Story of English Episode 5. YouTube.com. 27 Aug. 2009.

"White American language and culture owe much to the blacks." This starting phrase of Episode 5 reminded me of a musical I once went to in Alaska called Hairspray. When I was younger Hairspray was my favourite movie just because people would sing and dance, but I never truly understood the  importance of it. Not only is seeing John Travolta dressed up as a lady hilarious, but Hairspray is also a clear example of how Blacks have influenced the White American culture.

Hairspray is a movie about this popular television show, which is known as being the typical white people show. There is one exception. On Wednesdays this show has something called Negro Days in which only African Americans participate. After several weeks of trying to unite these two cultures the main character accomplishes it. Due to blacks inferiority at the time we would have thought that these Blacks had to adapt to the White American culture and way of singing, but on the contrary. The majority of the show ended up representing African American culture.

So how has African American culture influenced us? There is one simple example that we see everywhere: Jazz. This style of music actually originated in the South where most African Americans were and is now a huge part of American popular music. We hear it everywhere.

As the video says, there are also many words that have been incorporated into White American language that have come from African American culture. I did some further research on this out of curiosity to see what words we use today that have come from this culture. Unfortunately I found absolutely nothing useful. The only "Black" words that I found after my research were: gansta, bling, grills, hang, hood, benjamins, threads, aight, holla. crib, playa, and straight. How pathetic.

Sure, I found it funny at first, but then I realized how actually disrespectful this is. Black culture has become something that today is represented by people such as Lil Wayne or rappers similar to him, but we don't realize that this culture actually has a history and a history that has affected our white culture significantly.

Mixed Up Languages

"Edward Armstrong. The Story of English Episode 2. YouTube.com. 27 Aug. 2009."

 Throughout the years people have unquestionably been moving around the world. This explains exactly why English is such a common language. Yet again, it is strange for someone to hear English as a pure language for it is no longer this. People have adapted English to their cultures and have mixed it with their own language creating a new accent or in some cases a mixture of both their native language and english as can be seen with the Welsh. "The characteristics of the English spoken by the Welsh are the rolled r, the clear vowels, the hesitant consonants and the lilting inflections." 

"Only 20% of the population now claim Welsh as a first language." Once a language has been adapted to a culture the native language is sometimes forgotten. This reminds me of how many natives isolate themselves from civilization because they want to keep their language and their traditions. After all, language is a huge part of culture and losing it is like losing a huge chunk of who you are and what your ancestors stood for. The best solution is to not isolate yourself from society, but rather keep your traditions while you still introduce new ones, but then again, is this even possible? 

"Every single word you hear is descendent from Old English." This explains exactly why there are so many languages that have similar words. Most of them derive from latin and adapt Old English. The languages don't have identical words, but some of these sound so much alike that we can tell what their meaning is. 

Something that we sometimes can't help but notice is how many people do not understand word order or grammer and therefore say something that they actually don't mean. Many joke about this and find it  hilarious how a person can actually say something offensive or completely blunt by doing this, but they don't realize how far these errors can get to actually ruining opportunities for those who make them. For example, grammer errors in a week report for your boss can actually make your work completely useless and foul for your position. 

Most of us don't understand the importance of language and it's history, but mastering it can actually be life changing and also allows us to comprehend the history of many cultures. 

The Universality of English

"Edward Armstrong. The Story of English Episode 1." YouTube.com. 27 Aug. 2009."  

English is all around the world. That is unquestionable. When we buy a new object that requires instructions we will almost always find instructions in English. Why is this? It has become a universal language. It's just everywhere. A huge cause for this is colonialism. For example, in The Story of English Episode 1 we learn that in India knowing English is basically a necessity. Men desire women that know English and people each day are becoming more and more dependent on the language. India was a British colony and the presence of them definitely had an impact when it came to shaping the country. If the British would've never settled in India would the language still be the main one spoken? It could be, but colonialism unquestionably impacted India. 

English is spoken differently in almost every country you visit. When I was younger, I lived in London and basically grew up speaking and hearing British English. In fact, it became my first language as I forgot how to speak Spanish and would pretty much ignore anyone who asked me to practice my spanish. I remember that in school, the teachers would criticize anyone who would come speaking English in a different accent because there are marked differences between each accent. Many use these differences as a tool for discrimination, but in my opinion aren't these what make every culture unique? 

In fact, English is not just spoken differently in each country, but there are different accents within countries, especially in the United States. A clear example of this is the difference between a Texan accent and a Jersey one. 

English is also used as a tool for distinguishing class. As I watched the documentary I realized how Clueless, a movie by Amy Heckerling, portrays a scene of how English is spoken amongst different social classes. In the documentary, a Hindu girl begins to speak about how English represented education and class, which relates to what Alicia Silverstone represents in the movie. "English represents class whether it really is class or no." 


Another topic covered in this episode of the documentary is the importance of English for a child's future. All around the world, parents are striving to provide the opportunity so that their child may learn a second language. Being bilingual nowadays is a huge advantage and especially if one of those languages spoken is one of the main ones as is English. Think about it, if you are hiring someone you will probably want to hire someone who speaks more than one language and properly for higher positions.  

Unpredictable War of Limitations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3FpT1s59Os&feature=youtu.be

Don Juan

Having an older brother for me means that everytime I go to the super market I see him pick out these magazines that would only be for players such as Soho and Don Juan. However, I never knew that Don Juan was usually a play, as ignorant as it may sound.

Don Juan is a play about this man who has serious commitment issue and apparently when it comes to love he can't fall right, left, or to the centre. He's a man of many women and who has married more than any other man at that time. Isn't this what any young man's dream is? To have many women and not get in trouble for it whatsoever, not having to marry one particular woman and stick to her for his whole life? Well, this is all part of the rhetoric of Don Juan. 

Don Juans whole life is an appeal to pathos because it's creating empathy between men who watch or read about this play and the main character. They want to be Don Juan. 

Now we could also analyze the rhetoric that is in just the title of this play: Don Juan. Don is someone who is somehow superior and respected in Colombia and what would Don Juan ever be respected for? Well, his many women. Juan alone also allows whoever's watching this play to feel a closer relationship to this character, it's all part of register and rhetoric.

This play algo emphasized the powers of temptation and beauty. Don Juan was never able to resist the temptation of having many beautiful women and this is exactly what in a way was both his recognition and damnation. Apparently fidelity was only for idiots. 

This is a view that is common in our society. Marriage is not as respected nowadays as it was in past generations. Nowadays people can get married and within a few days or even hours file for a divorce was as the case of our beloved Kim Kardashian. Has marriage lost it's meaning with time? If so, what do we stand for now? Is fidelity still common? Is it still out there? 

Descriptions Aren't Just Descriptions

Many times we read a book and honestly fall asleep if the sentences are too long and the descriptions go on forever. However, have we ever wondered what the reason behind these descriptions is? For one thing, descriptions (if you don't doze off on them) are used so that the reader can actually imagine the scenario that's present in the book. Isn't this obvious? Scenarios aren't that important in certain books but "In Cold Blood" sure has an accurate description over everything and everyone.

This could be due to the fact that the first chapter is actually describing the last moments in which these six murder victims were seen. You see, it's all kind of like playing Cluedo, you get so many descriptions it feels as if you're playing a never ending puzzle. It feels as if we're actually a part of the famous series CSI Miami.


There are many types of descriptions. but I especially remember sensory description, which in my opinion, is mainly used in "In Cold Blood." Truman Capote activates many of our senses through his descriptions, especially the sight sense. With this, his goal is to pull the reader into the story and get inside the characters minds. "It was from her that he had inherited his coloring-the iodine skin, the dark moist eyes, the black hair, which he kept brilliantined and was plentiful enough to provide him with sideburns and a slippery spray of bangs." (Pg. 16)

These descriptions are necessary in the way that they allow the reader to familiarize with the book's setting, but at the same time add a slow pace to the reading, which could be used to create suspense. Here we can see how the how can once again affect the what. Once again we are back to rhetoric.

The descriptions aren't the only things that characterize "In Cold Blood." As we begin making our way through the book we realize the many long sentences that are used. Sure, these could be used just because the Truman needs to fit these descriptions in these sentences, but there could also be another meaning behind them. Action is slowed down with these long sentences that include many run-ons and pace at this point, as was stated previously, plays a key role. I wonder if short sentences will be used as the murders are further described to add action and suspense to the novel?