Defining an obscure or debatable concept: obscenity

When I first read the prompt for the third essay I was a bit confused as to what I should do as a topic, there were many ideas I had, but few that could be debatable. Then, I saw the prompt obscenity. I really liked this idea as a debatable concept because ever since I was young I thought obscene words and gestures were just that, words and gestures. Swearing in school is something I have always had a problem with, and argued heavily for the use of. To me, as long as there was no hatred behind the definition of the word, swearing was fine, and I had a very hard time understanding what the big deal was. In my everyday life I would say I would probably use one of those words in every other sentence. As for gestures, the one that I can think of as having the most ludicrous meaning would be "the finger". To me, it was your middle finger. That's it. Nothing to worry about, how could people get so hung up about it.

Lately there has been an issue over the word "retard". I use this word quite often, and when I use it, I don't generally think of someone who is mentally retarded when I use the word. The same could go for the word gay. Nearly everyone uses this word to describe things that are not homosexual whatsoever.

What I plan on doing is researching the origins of the words themselves and finding how they became known as "curse" words, and the impact they have had over the years. I also will be researching on how the FCC labels certain words more offensive than others.

I could also branch out even further and research obscene gestures besides the ones mentioned above, on people's conduct and what is considered obscene in the sense of the law.

Rhetorical Analysis and Evaluation

The topic that I would like to do my rhetorical analysis and evaluation on is the treatment of animals, as well as the topic of vegetarianism. This topic is very important to me, because I believe that if more people knew where their food was coming from they would either stop eating it, or at least make an effort to buy free range meat and poultry. The two sources I will be using for analysis will be a song by the band The Smiths, Meat Is Murder. A song that is obviously about the opinion that eating meat constitutes murder. The other source I plan on using will be a video, created by PETA and narrated by Alec Baldwin, the title of which is called Meet your Meat. I plan on comparing the two mediums, The Smiths song in how is employs the listener to be compassionate, where as the PETA video simply throws the brutal images into the viewers face. Overall I would say that the video is more effective because of the imagery it actually shows, while the song is more appealing because it does not have all of the gore, and because the song is actually quite good.
You can find the song by The Smiths, Meat Is Murder here.
And, you can find the video by PETA, Meet Your Meat here.

(The PETA video is very graphic)

Angel Witch: Angel Witch

Pure and simple, this album is essential. Some of the best NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) this power trio of Kevin Heybourne on vocals and guitar, Kevin Riddles on bass, and Dave Hogg easily outplay any of the big five piece metal bands that came out of England in 1980 (except maybe Iron Maiden and Judas Pries). From start to finnish this album is flawless, kicking off with the title track of the album Angel Witch, from the album Angel Witch, by the band Angel Witch, that happens to be about...an Angel Witch. The intro opens with very flashy guitar playing, that eventually dissolves into a melodic opening solo, then flows into a crushing riff, and introduces not only Kevin Heybourne's phenomenal guitar playing but also his great soprano voice. Heavy metal is often criticized as being juvenile, with lyrics about fantasy, satan, and an over the top masculinity. Angel Witch include all three in their lyrics, but are far from childish, and use the aforementioned topics as metaphors for personal connection. After the title track comes my second favorite song off of the album; Atlantis. While the first song showcased the guitar playing, and vocals (Atlantis does this as well), Atlantis puts more aggression into it. Faster, heavier, and intricate bass lines Atlantis still manages to keep a great chorus to fall back on, while the verses are sung with a considerable passion.

The next song, White Witch is the third song on the album and keeps the trend of fantastic songwriting, flashy solos, and catchy choruses, but adds for the first time on the album a slow paced, distortion free, somewhat psychedelic influenced section. This song is actually a fairly sad song, about, well, a white witch, and you can listen here.

As you can see a pattern is starting to form. This album has no filler, and every song has its own unique feel and sound. The albums second to last track, Angel of Death is my personal favorite from the album. This is way before Slayer came in and ruined the term for Angel of Death for everyone (just kidding, Angel of Death by Slayer is amazing in it's own way). This song has my personal favorite riffs on the album, the one at the introduction, and the chorus. Overall, this album is absolutely stupendous. If you don't have a copy I highly recommend finding one as soon as possible, preferably on vinyl.

Full Track Listing:

1. Angel Witch

2. Atlantis

3. White Witch

4. Confused

5. Sorcerers

6.Gorgon

7. Sweet Danger

8. Free Man

9. Angel of Death

10. Devils Tower

Pros:

-The guitar

-The bass

-The songwriting

-The vocals

Cons:

-If you were growing up in and heard this in 1980, you would have to wait for five years before they released something else.

Try these songs out before you buy:

Angel Witch

Atlantis

Angel of Death (turn it up to 11 for this)

Rhetorical Essay to Analyze

The essay that I have selected to analyze for my essay is My Suspicious Last Name by Diana Abu-Jaber, on pg. 1079. The reason that I have selected this essay to analyze is because I am very concerned with the issue of people judging one another since 9/11, and what I consider to be the new wave of racism and bigotry in the United States.

I am very much touched by Miss Abu-Jaber's essay. After reading her initial narrative portion of the essay in which she was detained and threatened for having the misfortune of a certain last name, my immediate response while reading is that she should just changer her name and avoid the hassle. However, after thinking of the idea, Miss Abu-Jaber immediately confronted the idea in her essay, stating that a name is a persons personal and professional identity. I also really enjoyed the way that she decided to end her essay, stating that real safety comes from learning how to live together not pushing one another out.

Ever since 9/11 I have noticed a resurgence in the defining of what a real American is. This American seems to some to be white, christian, middle class, who apparently is eager for war and is in no shape or form about to compromise or back down. And they hate the French, for no real reason, other than that they are complete and total wimps, based on what happened in World War II. This American is fighting for what America stands for, which sums up to their own personal ideals, and if you do not like these ideals then you can leave the country.

People seem to forget how they got to this country in the first place. It's possible that these same Americans were the ones having rocks hurled at them as they got off the boats at Ellis Island from Ireland, and told to go back home. Anyone living here who is not part Native American has no real claim to land. My father, grandmother and uncle all came here from Germany sometime in the 60's, which may be the reason my attachment to this country is not so concrete (We cheer for Germany in the Olympics and World Cup of Soccer).

Tolerance and diversity is what I base my image of America on. I consider it a melting pot, and we should be proud to have as many different cultures, religions, and outlooks as possible, which is why I decided to to select Miss Abu-Jaber's essay to analyze, which she provides evidence for by citing two different accounts of being racially profiled, despite her reputation as a professor and an author.

Witch Cross - Fit for Fight

My first review will be on a real gem, Witch Cross' first and last album, Fit for Fight. A true classic heavy metal album released in 1984 with NWOBHM (new wave of British Heavy Metal...but from Denmark) tendencies this album rocks all the way through. Starting with the opening track, "Night Flight To Tokyo"Alex "Savage" Nyborg Madsen's vocals come souring through. Madsen's vocals are operatic, yet far from cheesy, and indeed have an intense passion about them. His singing sounds like what all of the other heavy metal bands with high pitched singers were trying to sound like, but failed miserably. While "Night Flight To Tokyo" still retains some of the classic rock elements in the opening riffs, the next song, and my personal favorite, "Face of a Clown" completely leaves behind any sense of Rock and Roll, and dives straight into Heavy Metal territory. Opening with a synth/organ intro, that turns into a heavy chugging metal riffs of the song are able to capture the listener into pure head banging ecstasy.

The songwriting on this album is top notch. Great intro's, guitar hooks, and catchy riffs and choruses make this album superb. The overall production (sound quality) is nothing special however. It has a very raw feel to it, and besides the vocals, most of the rhythm section, bass and drums, are muddled together. The drums themselves are nothing too special. Very typical early metal drumming. The guitars however, make up for the bass and drums. The riffs are fantastic, the melodies are superb, and the song "Axe Dance" sounds like a duel between the two guitarists; Mike Kock and Cole Hamilton, and the fight ends in a drawl.

Pros:

-Great songwriting

-Epic Vocals

-Guitars

-Every song sounds unique and has great catchy choruses

Cons:

-If you are looking for clean, polished production, this is not it

check out the links below and give them a listen

Face of a Clown

Light of a Torch

English Review of Two Blogs

The two blogs that I choose for my English 201 class, every Tuesday and Thursday were Demockery, the blog of Jason Netherton, bassists of the band Misery Index. The second blog I chose was the blog HQ Metal, a metal album review site. Both of these blogs I generally check everyday, as I am a fairly big fan of the band Misery Index, and it is nice to keep up with what the band is doing, as well as the links Jason puts up that showed me some great underground bands and underground artists as well. The HQ Metal blog I enjoy reading, as we both generally have the same taste as far as music goes, and I trust the reviews that are posted, and I also enjoy listening to the new artists that I have never heard of.

The first blog, Demockery, seems mainly to argue two points, the first is to inform, and the second is to convince. The first argument, to inform, I think is fairly obvious. The posts on new artists, bands, and what his band is doing are pretty much summing up what he thinks is important for the reader to know, as well as what they might be interested in, on both politics and art that he believes is good. The second argument, to convince ties heavily in with the first argument. Jason is trying to convince the reader that this artists/band is good, or that what politicians are doing is wrong. As far as his blog goes, I think it is a very good blog. He posts lots of links, videos, and pictures to support his claims, as well as make his blog more accessible.

The second blog, HQ Metal, I think is arguing the same to points as the last blog. The writer is both trying to inform and convince the reader of new bands, and in their own opinion, the quality of that bands newest releases. As far as the structure of the arguments there is some to be desired. The language can sometimes be coarse, and vulgar, while the fairness of the argument is debatable, considering that art is subjective. The author does use plenty of pictures, but as for the bias of the author it is hard to determine. It's unclear as to what the author uses as a standard for a "good" album. The audience though is fairly clear cut, it is for mainly death metal fans.