This Blog Post is Super Hot - I Call it Instant Steaming

Macduff's Son (The Egg Boy):

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): Much like the Black Knight, this boy has much to say even after being stabbed — just a flesh wound. Furthermore, the wit and logic that he clearly exhibits would suit well for British humor.

• John Q (2002): The boy in this film sees's his father's attempt at saving him, not as a crime like most of the people in the film, but as a noble act. Similarly, the Egg Boy would not have his mother refer to her husband as a traitor, as he left not for treasonous reasons, but for noble ones.

• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2002-2006): This television show is about a young man with acceptional brian power and thinking ability. In the scene that the Egg Boy is in, he uses extreme intellect to out wit his deceitful mother. Plus, this is a children's show and the Egg Boy was a child before he was a corpse.

• Game of Thrones (2011- ): The Egg Boy is very similar too Bran once Eddard leaves for King's Landing - he has no father, someone tries to kill him, and he wants to fly like a bird (or crow in the case of Bran). Plus, the fight for the throne of the Seven Kingdoms will remind the Egg Boy of what is occurring in his own homeland. Even more of a plus, boobies.

Witch-slapped

Man, I Feel Like a Woman

What is the archetypal male? Has it changed since Macbeth? Why is Mulan such a good movie?

Arnold. No. This song.

Manhood is big, often exaggerated, and exists only to sow its seed. By "manhood," I mean the essence of man. Manhood is the stuff that makes you stick out your chest and say, "Hey, I'm bigger than you and I'll fight you if you challenge me." A man's manhood is as important to him as his lifted truck and his daunting array of fireable weapons, and this has been true since the beginning of time.

In the times of Macbeth, three witches present Macbeth a fortune that ensures that he will gain absolute power. The promise of power pulls at Macbeth's manhood and drives him to make rash decisions, such as kill the King Duncan. Another person that is always stimulating Macbeth's manhood is his wife, the Lady of Macbeth. At one point in the play, as she is trying to persuade him to man up and kill Duncan, she tells him, "Art thou afeard/To be the same in thine own act and valor/As thou art in desire?" In this quote, the Lady of Macbeth is questioning Macbeth's ability to kill and make the sexy time. This pulls at the main qualities of manhood and manliness, toughness and virility. 

In today's culture, not many things have changed. As the song from Mulan suggests (If you haven't watched it, do so now), it is important to be "... as swift as the coursing river. With all of the force of a great typhoon. With all of the force of a raging fire." Furthermore, the increased popularity of comparing a male that does not exhibit strength, virility, or manliness to a female reproductive organ stresses the importance of one's manhood in today's society. In the sense that men must be strong, the values of manhood have not explicitly changed from the times of Macbeth. For instance, once Macbeth starts to breakdown when he "sees" the ghost of Jacob Marley Banqou, his wife once again challenges the extent of his manhood. "Are you a man?" the Lady questions a hysterical Macbeth, as if it were womanly to not have the ability to control one's emotions. 

One might argue that Lady Macbeth and Mulan could be considered men. Both women exhibit as much or more strength than their male counterparts at certain times. Lady Macbeth is the one that plans the murder of Duncan and is so engorged by the thought of gaining power, she wishes that she could be a man in order to do the deed herself. Mulan, on the other hand, transforms into a man in order to fight for her family. However, both females do not succeed at being a man; the Lady of Macbeth cannot control her emotion/gets murdered and Mulan starts making out with other dudes.

The values of manhood will never change. It is the strongest that survive, which means strength and survival will always be cool. In Macbeth, this is represented by the Lady of Macbeth challenging Macbeth's strength and desire for power. In modern times, this is represented by how tight your tank top is or what your bench is, bro. As Reese Bobby once said, "It's the fastest who gets paid, and it's the fastest who gets laid," and there ain't nothing sweeter in life than that.

#IBmakinart

Pee-yew, I Think I Arted

As I walked through the CAM, I saw many things that interested me. There was an incredulously lengthy video of a man painting. There was a similar video of a woman washing paint away. There was a blurry black and white photograph of a city taken from above. There was a collection of photographs that contained presumed maids in the background. But, the piece of art that resonated with me the most was some bells hung from a ceiling.

Name: Temple of One Thousand Bells

Artist: Laura Belém

Date: 2010

Medium: Hand-blown glass bells and audio accompaniment

Size: About a normal room size

Context: This piece was originally exhibited in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, England for the 10th Liverpool Biennial, an art festival in the U.K. It has been hung in many places since.

Subject: Many things are represented with this piece of art. One thing is that the bells are glass and have no clapper. In the auditory piece, a story is told of bells that have been swallowed by the sea, however some continue to hear the bells. This coincides with the actual bells, as they can no longer make noise, and yet the viewer continues to hear the clinking of bells due to the auditory piece. The bells represent the fragility of an object or an idea. Once that object is taken away — once the clapper is removed, once the dream is deferred — it should cease to resonate. However, to some, even a lost bell continues to ring, either solemnly or inspirationally.

Style: The fragility of the glass bells, the lack of the clappers, and the accompaniment of the auditory piece form a cohesive story that represents the art affectively to the viewer. Without the auditory accompaniment, it would be a message of fragility, uselessness, and transparency. However, the clinking of bells and accompanying story transform the piece into one of resonation. Suspending glass bells just out of the reach of the viewer and then making them come to life with the recorded sounds of bells truely gave the piece a submersion quality to the viewer.

Purpose: I found this piece to be as relaxing as it was refreshing. I prefer an art piece that makes statements about one's self rather than Geopolitical Relations. Telling a visual, auditory, and mental story to the viewer and allowing them to use it to reflect on their own life — the fragility, the purpose,  the transparency, loss — provides a personal aspect to the art which I enjoy.

Name: Temple of Eighteen Bells

Artist: Cole Buckalew

Date: 2014

Medium: Mechanical pencil and computer paper

Size: 11"x8.5"

And the greatest of these is love... I mean pride...

Sinful Persuasion

     Advertisements are sinful smut. Save for Christianmingle.com they all violate The Lord and His Word. An advertisement that exemplifies this heathenism is this advertisement for the Memphis BBQ Burger from Hardee's and Carl's Jr. This is a television commercial from 2012 created by the Los Angeles/Amsterdam based advertisement company 72andSunny. The advertisement is for a burger that the fast food chain was releasing. This burger featured Memphis-style pulled pork BBQ on top of a charbroiled patty. 

     To advertise this, the company had two young women compete at a BBQ cook. The scantily clad women are at first opposed to one another, even jostling each other around a little bit. Eventually, the cat fight leads to a mixing of meats, and some pulled pork lands on a burger. The two woman immediately go from fighting to feeding, as they both consume burgers larger than their heads, but not their bosoms. 

     This lustful filth uses lust to sell the burger. The company might as well be selling these young ladies bodies, as they put them on display like a dress in a window. The only difference is that these woman are not dressed, but wearing bikinis and jean shorts that hardly cover their ample, taut bottoms. This advertisement uses the women as condiments for the burgers — making the viewer crave the females as much as, if not more than, the burger. After the girls mix meats, the ad gets very sexual, which makes the viewer want to mix meats with the girls (wink wink). In fact, the tag line, "BBQ's Best Pair," refers as much to the meat as is does to the women and their exquisite breasts. 

     This advertisement is for anyone who loves two kinds of meat on one bun. It is also for people who love ladies and watching at them almost kiss about three times. This advertisement is for all economic classes. Although the fast food chain is not an upscale food place, the sight of two ladies almost fighting and then almost doin' it can make any tax bracket want to put some meat in their mouth. The people that are intended to watch this ad are not offended by bicurious bar-b-quers, otherwise know as bar-bi-queers. This people are aware of how arousing it is to watch ladies get it on. If one was not aware that it is pleasurable to view woman fool around, one would be confused on the purpose of the advertisement, and also why the chefs had on such little clothing. The author uses many innuendos, be them visual or verbal. The sexual overtones mask the fact that, in ernest, the Memphis BBQ Burger is a disgusting piece of crap that will quickly kill you. Furthermore, since this ad is so strongly geared toward a particular group of people, males age 8-108, one can assume that Hardee's and Carl's Jr. do not attract a strong female audience, which makes their advertisements disregard them totally. This advertisement manipulates the audience, as the sexy scenes encourage pork-pulling and create the assumption that, if the consumer buys the burger, he will share a sensual moment with Miss Sara Jean Underwood and/or Miss Emily Ratajkowski (Quick Fact: I didn't have to Google their names). This commercial is only effective at forcing me to remain seated for a few moments after it goes off screen.

Freebie: a haiku 

You are kidding, right?
Reading many paragraphs,
I'm going to sleep.

What's in a name?

Buckalew: Unique or Secretly Cool?

My last name is the name of a royal family now forgotten. My last name, much like the forgotten family, is pointless and not discussed, save for people who recently visited Scotland or ancestry.com. My last name is unique here, in Raleigh, North Carolina, however I would be in good graces if I visited the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, the home of Buckalew Elementary (Go Bears!). I would also not stand out in Middlesex County, New Jersey, home of not one, but two mansions previously owned by my ansectors, the Scotts of Beccleuch, Scotland. I enjoy the history behind my last name, as it is quite a story, but I do not enjoy it when people spell my las name Buckaloo or Buckaleu. I mean, those don't even make sense! Buckaloo sounds like what Australians call male deer. I think my last name enthusiastically speaks of my character. As Buckalew secretly hides the fact that I am related to the family that holds 240,000 acres of land in Britain, including five masive estates, so does my simple demeanor hide the fact that I am a suave, genius, extraordinaire. The unfamiliarityof my name helps to not define me — unlike Kennedy, Obama, or Hitler - while the pedigree of Buckalew helps explain the immense feats that I perform.

I have never been faced with the dilemma  of having two faces. I am 100% real 100% of the time. This has caused many problems in my life, as I do not adapt my atitude for any situation, but I was taught to always "keep it real". Being a single identity has its advantages. For instance, I am never caught in a situation where I am pretending to be something I am not, which is looked down apon in modern times. However, keeping it real does go wrong. In fact, keeping it real  goes wrong a lot. Like, a lot. However, I find that keeping it real does have its advantages. By not catering my life to other's views, I am able to walk my own path without fear of judgement. Furthermore, I have no remorse, because every decision is one that I want to make, not an influenced or preasured one. 

Atta girl, Atwood Response

   
     The picture is David and Lou, taken by Wing Young Huie in South Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2012. It features two men who appear vastly different on the outside. But, opon disection, one might be able to conclude that these men are very similar, and that the simple fact of them being racially different is what makes them different in the viewer's mind.

     Margaret Atwood also creates differences in her story, The Handmaid's Tale. In the story, men are explicitly different from women in terms of what they are alowed to do and how they are utilized in society. Men have more power and are the leaders and protectors, while women are the birthers. mothers, and cooks. Atwood also creates differences between women. Women like Aunts and Wives of Commanders have more freedom than Handmaids and Marthas.

     Wing creates differences by using the viewer's assumptions and judgements of race. Margaret Atwood creates differences by explicitly stating them in her story. Both are effective at othering and otherization.

David and Lou