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CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE Mash-up

This project was terrible, I found it extremely difficult to work with Audacity and to make something that followed the criteria and didn't make my ears want to fall off. I was unsuccessful with that, this sounds absolutely terrible, which has helped me appreciate what mash-up artists do much more now, when people say "Oh, anybody can just cut up some songs and put them together, there's no talent involved in that" they are very wrong, clearly after hearing my mash-up people might also be convinced that making a mash-up does take work, skill and talent. I can't upload the song on here, but it's in my file Mr. Catalano!

1. Name and artist of songs used in the collage

Kids- MGMT

ABC- Jackson 5

I Want Candy- Aaron Carter

2. Label sound clips by track number – track 1 is the sound file stacked on the top of the audacity screen track 2 underneath etc......

1- MGMT beat

2- ABC

3- ABC123

4- 123

5- School Bell

6- Teacher voice Charlie Brown

7- Teacher voice baritone

8- Kids laughing

9- Giggle

10- Whining

11- “mommy”

12- “goodnight”

13- Children are the best hope for the future quote

14- Seven million wonders quote

15- I Want Candy

3. What sound effects were used

Blue above

4. Source of any sound bites (ie. Dialogue from movie -what movie?)

N/A

5. Explain how you manipulated the sounds (ie sampled drum beat, put reverb on clip etc..)

MGMT beat is played backwards and wahwah-ed

6. Explain the theme, mood or idea you were trying to achieve.

The theme was young children (in Kindergarten or Daycare)

7. How did you achieve this? (ie used the sound effect of shattered glass to represent a broken relationship)

Used sound effects you would hear around young children, songs used also represented children. Quotes were about children. The beat from Kids.

8. Reflection: were you successful? Most effective element, least effective element

Very unsuccessful, it sounds terrible, it was incredibly hard. Most effective element was the “I Want Candy” part, or the actual idea/ theme. The least effective element was the low quality of sound effects and not being able to put things together.

Super Mash Bros

In class we recently learned about sampling, and watched a documentary about a band called Girl Talk. Coincidentally, I was on Facebook tonight and I saw one of my friends had become a fan of something called Super Mash Bros, I curiously clicked the link to learn that Super Mash Bros are a band that make mash ups and are self-described as “Girl Talk’s hot cousin”. I was curious once again to hear one of their mash ups, I proceeded to search them on Youtube and within the first few seconds of their song I F***ing Bleed Purple and Yellow, I was impressed. I’m usually not a fan of mash ups and rap music, which is frequently used in their songs, I LOVED their songs. When combining Jay-Z’s ‘99 Problems’ over Vanessa Carlton’s ‘A Thousand Miles’ or Eminem over MGMT and even Spice Girls with ‘Lean Like a Cholo’, I was blown away. I then went over to their website http://lazerwolf.com/fbgu.html where i downloaded the album for free, and have been listening to it all night. There are rarely more than three samples playing on top of one another, and most of the time, all they do is layer an acapella version of one song onto an instrumental version of another. Sorry about the inappropriate language. :)

Downloading Media

According to the 2007 Digital Media Research, illegal music downloads have reached an all time high. People that argue that downloading is illegal say musicians aren't getting any profit while people that believe music should be free say musicians make proceeds through concerts and merchandising sales. Downloading music for free should be illegal because the musicians, writers and all people involved in the making of the song or album are not getting the profit they deserve. Though sites like Limewire are legal, downloading copyrighted music, videos or programs without the permission of the author is illegal. This is called "copy right infringement" or "piracy", downloading an illegal file you are guilty of an illegal act and can be liable for prosecution. CD costs are reasonably high, but millions of people taking the cheap way out cause’s musicians and the people behind the media are losing their rightful funds. Its not only the musicians that make profits, they may already be filthy rich, but the people behind the scenes may not be and downloading media illegally is robbing them of their money. Though downloading music and other media online fore free is much more convenient, it is still considered stealing from the makers of the media.

Barbies

When I was little, I was the baby girl of my huge family of mostly boys. So whenever my birthday or holidays came around, I would get a Barbie from everybody. I absolutely loved them, whenever my mom would want me to try harder when I was learning how to swim, she would bribe me with Barbie dolls. I would sit in the car ride home and open up the box, and sit with the doll (and bite her hands off, I don’t know why...) I vaguely even remember one day my mother and I decided to count all the Barbies I had, I was probably seven and I had over 100 Barbie dolls. Of course I ended up giving most of my dolls to my younger cousins later, and now my six year old sister plays with my old doll house and Barbies. Sometimes my mom will tell me to help my sister clean up and whenever I clean the Barbies, I secretly sometimes change their clothes to make them look nice. I can’t imagine my childhood without Barbies, I loved them so much and so does my sister.

People always seem to wonder about Barbie and the ethics/ morals behind her existence, but I really don’t see any harm in her. In fact I think that over the years Barbie has evolved over the years just like women have. Barbie doesn’t only come in a housewife form. When I was little had had a Doctor Barbie, a Ballerina Barbie, an Army Barbie and Dentist Barbie, Barbie was anything you wanted her to be, nobody said all girls had to play with her, and nobody said that she had to wear the fanciest clothes, I remember taking Kleenexes to make Barbie look like she’s been stranded on a desert island.

Barbie has also expanded over the years, my sister owns every Barbie movie on DVD, and I’ve watched them all with her, honestly, thought they’re quite cheesy and they all involve annoying singing the moral of each story is very sweet and has a good lesson, they’re also pretty funny. There is also Barbie clothing and accessories and much more.

I truthfully do not see any harm in Barbies, I think that they are one of the most memorable and favourite part of a lot of girls’ childhood. Barbies help girls develop their imagination and just simply have fun.

First Impressions/ Judgement

During March break I decided I would do a little experiment, I wanted to understand how the media influences people’s thoughts. The first thing I thought of was that from Monday the 15^th to Friday the 19^th I would wear clothes that would fit a different stereotypical persona, and see what people would say or how they would react. Usually I don’t dress in any real catergory of style, it’s usually just a pair or jeans and t-shirt.

Monday

On Monday I wore ripped acid washed jeans, leather jacket and a lot of black eye shadow. When I first stepped out of my room, my mom almost spilt orange juice all over my sister while pouring it in her glass, while my dad proceeded to ask me if I’m having “one of those mid-teen crises” I asked them what was wrong with what I was wearing and my mother told me I looked like her boyfriend from when she first came to Canada in the 80’s. My six year old sister refused to talk to me because I “looked scary”. I told my friend I would meet him at the mall at two, so at quarter to I went to the bus stop, it wasn’t too eventful, until I got on the bus and sat near a woman and her daughter who was probably four or five. After I sat down the woman put her arm around her child and brought her closer to her, and further from me. When I met my friend at the mall he was really confused and asked me what was going on, when I told him I had no idea what he was talking about he started acting really awkward and kept asking me if everything was okay. While we were at the mall people were looking at me differently than usually.

Tuesday

On Tuesday I wore a big band t-shirt, sweat pants and wore my hair in a pony tail, no make-up and wore sneakers. My parents saw me and assumed I wasn’t leaving the house, so they left to work without asking me if I had plans or if I was staying home and was able to watch my sister. A friend of mine wanted to go out, but I told her to come over instead. When she came over she had a surprised look on her face and asked me if everything was okay. We hung out for a while but then she wanted to go out for food, so I called the sushi restaurant nearby and told them I would be there in fifteen minutes to pick up the order. On my walk over with my little sister and friend, I got very little attention from the people in my neighbourhood, but once I walked into the restaurant, again people were looking at me differently. I asked my friend what she thought the strangers thought about me when the saw me, she said that I looked like a teenage mother that has let herself go and decided to take her pretty friend and daughter for sushi. When I got home my mom asked me if I had been crying and had boy trouble, how is this associated with sweatpants?

Wednesday

Wednesday was really nice out, so I wore a nice pair of jeans and a tanktop, I curled my hair and put on some high heels, and went out to meet my friend from Monday for ice cream. When I was leaving my mother asked me if everything was better with my boy troubles now, and at the bus stop I received several honks from the truckers passing by. One older man on a bicycle (who was missing a tooth) rode up to me, stopped and said “hello gorgeous” he proceeded to attempt conversation and when I ignored him he repeatedly said wow, he eventually and thankfully left me alone. When I got on the bus the driver smiled, as did most of the people on the bus. When I arrived at the ice cream store my friend gave me a big tight hug and asked me if I changed my hair and he payed for my ice cream. When I ordered my ice cream, the boy working there asked me if I wanted sprinkles on my ice cream he said “they’re on the house”. When I got home that night, my sister told me I looked pretty like a girl on TV and my father told me to never dress like that again.

Thursday

On Thursday I wore a blouse my grandmother sent me a few years ago and tucked it into my jeans, I also didn’t bother to put in my contacts and put a braid in my hair. My dad was very pleased with this look, he told me that I looked very intelligent with my glasses and that my shirt was lovely. My mother realized that something was up, she asked me why I’ve been changing my style every day, I simply ignored her, when my sister saw me she laughed and told me that I wasn’t pretty today, but I was yesterday. I went to go see a movie with my cousin, at the movies people were not nearly as kind as they were the previous day, they simply saw straight past me. My cousin thought it was hilarious and asked me if I would tutor him in math.

Friday

On Friday I returned to my simple jeans and t-shirt. My mother said she was glad to have me back, while my father and sister were completely oblivious and confused. When I met up with friends that day they weren’t asking if I was alright, if they could buy me ice cream, if I could tutor them or if I was having boy troubles. Everything was back to normal.

But why did everybody’s behaviour change around me because of how I dressed? I didn’t change my personality or habits in any way, but the people around me did. Clearly the media has influenced humans and their way of thinking because they associated certain traits to personality types. The media defined the curls and heels sexy, the sweats to “letting go”, the glasses as a nerd, and the leather jacket as a rebel. People judge based on the first impressions of what they see.

Interview on First TV Experience

I interviewed my father who was born and raised in India about his first television experience and he seemed to have a lot of fun remembering way back when he first watched "that shitty box".

Q: Do you remember your first TV experience?

A: Yes, I remember it quite vividly.

Q: What did you watch?

A: I wish I could tell you the name of it, but I watched an old black and white Bollywood movie.

Q: What was your opinion?

A: I was very confused, it was probably '76 (laughing). I thought it was brilliant however now looking back it was hilarious.

Q: Where you hooked?

A: I bet you're expecting I say yes, because it was a great invention and changed life as we knew it, but I honestly wasn't. I was very young then and the TV only played some movies and nothing really that interested me, I thought it was much more fun to go outside and play with my friends.

Q: What did the TV look like?

A: There was a huge antenna on the roof, and from the roof came a big wire that came thought the ceiling into the TV. The TV itself was huge, the screen pretty small. The TV was like a piece of furniture, it had four legs and just sat there in the room. ( Smiling) The picture was fuzzy and black and white, we often had my dad go out and try to move the antenna around to try to fix the picture.

Q: Where were you when you watched it for the first time?

A: It was in the village ( My dad actually said that and I started laughing and the told him I needed more than that)I was at the neighbour's, our family didn't really like them, but we went over to watch TV anyways, even when they weren't home.

Q: Compare your first experience to today's.

A: Today, I would say I'm hooked, TV is where I access most of my information, gain entertainment, and even bond with you sometimes. It has really revolutionized the life of humans, and there are hundreds of channels for thousands of shows, some shows that you wouldn't even imagine why they make, I watched a show about Pest Control and watched them kill rats and bugs, why? I don't know why. But at first TV was that shitty box, at least back at home it was.