Mashup of "It Don't Mean a Thing" and "Roxie's Suite"
Mashup | |
File Size: | 1488 kb |
File Type: | mp3 |
In Duke Ellington’s song, “It Don’t Mean a Thing,” he tells us that music is worthless without the “swing,” or the soul of the song. When he sings, "It don't mean a thing, all you have to do is sing," he means the way to make the music full of heart and soul is to simply sing from that place. In the third line of his song, when he says, "It makes no difference if it's sweet or hot," he means the kind of song you’re singing (happy, sad, fun, etc.) doesn’t matter. It’s about the “swing” or soul behind it. He invites listeners to just enjoy the tune. The music style itself does not matter, you just have to “give that rhythm everything you got.” The speaker begs the question of what makes music worth listening to. During the Harlem Renaissance, many artists wanted to express their authentic selves, and Ellington’s song is an example of this reminder.
Danny Elfman composed the upbeat, jazzy tune, “Roxie’s Suite,” in the musical Chicago in order to contrast the feeling of being in a jail. The music is played in the point of the story when the main character first goes to jail. Roxie is an inmate at the Cook County Jail who is addicted to the Limelight. The choice to use happy music in a jail scene highlights how the story is meant to give a twist on the prison experience.
Danny Elfman composed the upbeat, jazzy tune, “Roxie’s Suite,” in the musical Chicago in order to contrast the feeling of being in a jail. The music is played in the point of the story when the main character first goes to jail. Roxie is an inmate at the Cook County Jail who is addicted to the Limelight. The choice to use happy music in a jail scene highlights how the story is meant to give a twist on the prison experience.
Book ladder
Books I read in order of easiest to hardest:
Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, 278 pages
Kingdom Keepers, by Ridley Pearson, 336 pages
Night, Elie Wiesel, 115 pages
It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini, 440 pages
The Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire, 121 pages
The Stranger, Albert Camus, 123 pages
(I read parts of other books, including materials for the 2016 election, but these are the books I finished.)
Why this Order?
Wintergirls is my favorite book, so it was really easy. I’ve read it about 6 times, and I still love it. It has a lot of good imagery, and it’s relatable. Kingdom Keepers was the second easiest. It was made for middle schoolers, so it’s easy to understand. It’s also set in Disney World, and who doesn’t love Disney? Night is easy to read, but the sadness sometimes makes it hard to read. Still, it's really interesting. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is an easy read, but it starts out really boring. It takes about half the book before it get interesting. The Rabbit Hole is a script for a play, so that was hard to get used to. Now...
Do you want to die of boredom? Do you want to have strong urges to scoop your eyeballs out with an ice cream spoon, and put them in a blender set to high? Do you want to have a fear of books? Do you enjoy being deceived? Have you ever thought, “Golly, I wish I had some misery in my life.” Then The Stranger is the book for you. This book is full of false hope of an easy read because it’s only a little over a hundred pages. This book also seems as if it was written by a psychopathic fifth grader. If you’re into the whole passive aggressive method of destruction, give this book to someone you really hate.
Reading Stats
Total pages read during Semester 1: 1413/14= 235.5 pages per week
My reading speed isn’t very impressive. I often get distracted and have to go back and reread whole pages, but if I don’t care about the book, I can get through it really fast, unless I actually have to know the information being read. I haven’t really been challenging myself for college. I figure that I’ll have to read a lot in college, so I should avoid reading now, as to save my energy. I know that my logic is flawed, but I prefer living in denial. If reading, or lack thereof, didn’t impact my semester grade, I wouldn’t have read any books this semester. I look forward to going back to a life without reading.
Goals
I will read 10 books before summer.
I will read a nonfiction book.
I will read a series that has at least three books in it.
I will read a book that has been pooped out of a narwhal.
(I don’t believe in “setting goals,” but I think I have to set some to pass this assignment.)
Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, 278 pages
Kingdom Keepers, by Ridley Pearson, 336 pages
Night, Elie Wiesel, 115 pages
It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini, 440 pages
The Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire, 121 pages
The Stranger, Albert Camus, 123 pages
(I read parts of other books, including materials for the 2016 election, but these are the books I finished.)
Why this Order?
Wintergirls is my favorite book, so it was really easy. I’ve read it about 6 times, and I still love it. It has a lot of good imagery, and it’s relatable. Kingdom Keepers was the second easiest. It was made for middle schoolers, so it’s easy to understand. It’s also set in Disney World, and who doesn’t love Disney? Night is easy to read, but the sadness sometimes makes it hard to read. Still, it's really interesting. It’s Kind of a Funny Story is an easy read, but it starts out really boring. It takes about half the book before it get interesting. The Rabbit Hole is a script for a play, so that was hard to get used to. Now...
Do you want to die of boredom? Do you want to have strong urges to scoop your eyeballs out with an ice cream spoon, and put them in a blender set to high? Do you want to have a fear of books? Do you enjoy being deceived? Have you ever thought, “Golly, I wish I had some misery in my life.” Then The Stranger is the book for you. This book is full of false hope of an easy read because it’s only a little over a hundred pages. This book also seems as if it was written by a psychopathic fifth grader. If you’re into the whole passive aggressive method of destruction, give this book to someone you really hate.
Reading Stats
Total pages read during Semester 1: 1413/14= 235.5 pages per week
My reading speed isn’t very impressive. I often get distracted and have to go back and reread whole pages, but if I don’t care about the book, I can get through it really fast, unless I actually have to know the information being read. I haven’t really been challenging myself for college. I figure that I’ll have to read a lot in college, so I should avoid reading now, as to save my energy. I know that my logic is flawed, but I prefer living in denial. If reading, or lack thereof, didn’t impact my semester grade, I wouldn’t have read any books this semester. I look forward to going back to a life without reading.
Goals
I will read 10 books before summer.
I will read a nonfiction book.
I will read a series that has at least three books in it.
I will read a book that has been pooped out of a narwhal.
(I don’t believe in “setting goals,” but I think I have to set some to pass this assignment.)
Renaissance Book
The picture to the right is my favorite mural from Chicano Park. The flag has three faces because a lot of people from the Chicano Park area identify as both American and Mexican but are not seen as the mixture they are. In Mexico, they are too American, and in America, they are too Mexican. The nature behind the painting makes me think of the yin and yang.
What is the purpose of art?
What is the purpose of art? Well, what is art? The first definition on dictionary.com says that art is “the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.” I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting all of those big words. For me, art is a product of people expressing themselves. In art class, art came in the form of tangible objects. I’m leaving the semester with a new shelf to pile my junk on, books that can collect dust, and paintings that I will probably pass off as holiday gifts. However, in English class, art was found through writings. Every morning, we read and talk about a poem or spoken word. The word choice of a poem can supposedly reveal just as much about the artist as the lines in a painting. One poem we read, “I Was Raised By,” used imagery to paint the picture of her past.
The weird thing about art is that it means whatever one wants it to, within reason. For example, the first few weeks in art class, Jeremy would start the period by pulling up a picture and telling us to write about what we noticed and thought. I really hated this, and I’m really glad he gave up on it eventually. I remember the first picture very clearly. It was a series of fat, pastel lines. Jeremy called on some people to interpret the art. The answers sounded ridiculous to me. People were finding deep meanings and experiences that the painting was a metaphor for. My favorite was, “It looks like a bowl of happiness.” You can’t make that stuff up. Even Jeremy said that he didn’t think that was what the artist intended. I wrote down, “I see colorful lines.” I’ve been dragged to museums before, and if some of what I saw is considered art, then I should be rich and famous right now.
Now to go back to the question, “what is the purpose of art?” I think it’s a way for people to express and communicate feelings and experiences. People feel intellectually challenged when they are asked to analyze pieces of art. People interpret art differently, but in the end, it’s just a great pastime.
The weird thing about art is that it means whatever one wants it to, within reason. For example, the first few weeks in art class, Jeremy would start the period by pulling up a picture and telling us to write about what we noticed and thought. I really hated this, and I’m really glad he gave up on it eventually. I remember the first picture very clearly. It was a series of fat, pastel lines. Jeremy called on some people to interpret the art. The answers sounded ridiculous to me. People were finding deep meanings and experiences that the painting was a metaphor for. My favorite was, “It looks like a bowl of happiness.” You can’t make that stuff up. Even Jeremy said that he didn’t think that was what the artist intended. I wrote down, “I see colorful lines.” I’ve been dragged to museums before, and if some of what I saw is considered art, then I should be rich and famous right now.
Now to go back to the question, “what is the purpose of art?” I think it’s a way for people to express and communicate feelings and experiences. People feel intellectually challenged when they are asked to analyze pieces of art. People interpret art differently, but in the end, it’s just a great pastime.