Lady Macbeth totally watched eleventh century television....

The first show I would recommend is Dirty Jobs. Yep, that's right boys. I like to get down and dirty. I love this show because it explores the most gruesome and dangerous jobs on the planet, and I'm all about getting gruesome and dangerous, especially when my husband can't. One thing that I don't like is how women hardly ever do any of these jobs. If I was on that show I would show those sissy boys how to get the job done.

The next show I would recommend is Desperate Housewives. These girls know how to get sassy and keep it classy at the same time (#keepmurderclassy). They get into all sorts of sticky situations full of drama and secrets so in a sense they are a lot like me and my hubby, Macbeth. However, sometimes they have psycho lady fits, and I am all about staying poised in all situations.

My next recommendation would have to be Transparent. This is a show about a 70-year-old father of three who decides he is a woman named Maura. Now he's got some balls (or lack thereof, I suppose). I love watching the struggles he faces, and I say more power to him! I must admit when you feel like you can do something better than the opposite sex but societal conventions hold you back I too have desired to be un-sexed. I think in a few years gender roles will subside, and by the twelfth century women and men alike will be able to act however they please without having to worry about societal norms.

My last recommendation is Nashville. This is about a fading country star, Rayna Jaymes, who comes into conflict with Juliette Barnes, an up-and-coming young country star whose record sales have been very high. I. LOVE. Juliette. Barnes. She is just full of the desire for power and fame (I hear you girlfriend!) and although she is young and unestablished, she's willing to do whatever it takes to become successful. She is feisty and does not apologize for her actions, using a vindictive attitude just like mine to make sure she stays on top of the country scene. Just look at how she handles business without even dropping a tear (it's even got subtitles for all you foreigners out there): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Op7hxnvwsc

Happy watching! From yours truly - Lady Macbeth

What's coming to you? - The world, chico, and everything in it.

2. "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton
To what extent would Shakespeare agree with this statement? Use the play and your own experience as your support.

I think that Big Willy would have thought that Lord Acton was spot on with this quote. For the most part, Acts 1 and 2 of Macbeth have completely revolved around the idea of power being a corrupting force. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth alike lose touch with their super-ego when the desire for power manifests itself in their minds. 

Macbeth goes from being a fairly moral person. He even claimed to be good friends with Duncan, for crying out loud! When the opportunity to gain power by killing Duncan presented itself, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth were completely corrupted. There were several instances when Macbeth second-guessed his decision, but at the end of the day the idea of absolute power drove him to kill his friend, and Lady Macbeth was there trying to convince him to do it the entire time. Once Macbeth had obtained this power, the corruptness wasn't over. He then felt the need to maintain this power in any way possible, which led him to kill even more people, including several guards. Shakespeare's main character went from being a good guy to a power-hungry murderer, which is why I believe that Shakespeare would agree with the quote.

 Many would say that to be powerful in today's society one would have to have two things:  money and respect. 

Once the money and respect is obtained, power comes naturally. The more the more power one can obtain, the more corrupt they become. I have seen this happen in many instances in real life. Perhaps one of the most common examples is when big businesses use malpractice in the corporate world to become rich. A prime example of a huge power-corrupted company that has fallen is Enron. Enron was a huge company that was based off of immoral and illegal practices. It was totally corrupt, and the people in charge of the company knew this, but they kept at it anyway. It just goes to show that people will become corrupt for power. In this case, like many others, the power they were after was money (and, arguably, respect).

People have been corrupted by power since the first humans walked this earth. It happened over 400 years ago (as seen in Macbeth) and it still happens now (as seen in Enron). I think that many people would agree with this quote, but Shakespeare in particular would side with Lord Acton on this one. As a matter of fact, this quote could be used to describe the central message behind Macbeth - a story of a good man gone completely astray from his morals in order to obtain power by becoming the king of Scotland.

#IBmakingart

Actually, #IBusingafreebie #too #much #work #iloveenglishandartbutineedtousemyfreebietoday

Super Sexy Advertisement

This commercial was released by Hardee's on August 23, 2012 on national television. The two deadly sins this advertisement demonstrates are Lust and Gluttony.

When first viewing this advertisement I see two scantily clad women, sexy poses, and lesbian fantasies, which seem to have nothing to do with the food being advertised. The attractive women immediately grab my attention and I don't seem to care too much about anything else.

When looking deeper into the advertisement, I realize that whenever I think of Hardee's I think of grossly unhealthy food and all of the health risks that go along with eating it. This commercial uses image to veer the audience away from the stereotype that Hardee's makes people fat and unhealthy. This is because there are two beautiful women making and eating the food, which leads the audience to believe that beautiful people in good shape can still eat this food without consequences.

The audience is intended to be males, particularly living in the southern or southwestern United States. The audience is probably middle-lower class because the product being advertised is fast food, which is more commonly purchased by middle-lower class citizens. The layout sets the scene in a place that seems like Memphis, Tennessee, geared towards patriotic Americans. The author uses the colors red, white, and blue throughout the advertisement to convey this patriotic message on the American flags in the background, the banners hanging, and the clothes of the females in the advertisement. The author also uses a grill as a platform, which gears the audience's attention towards the midsections of the females, almost hypnotizing them with their attractive bodies. The language used is the voice of a seemingly masculine and stereotypical American male, with a lackadaisical tone. The language and image both convey the message that eating this barbecue is the not only the masculine thing to do, but it is also the American thing to do.

Jane Eyre and Canterbury Tales

2. How would you best describe the central idea of this chapter? Which phrase from the chapter best helps develop the central idea? 

When I first started reading this chapter, I immediately notice that the tone was depressing and dark.  I initially thought the phrase I would end up using to summarize/develop the central idea was "My first quarter at Lowood seemed an age; and not the golden age either; it comprised an irksome struggle with difficulties in habituating myself to new rules and unwonted tasks." (Eyre chapter 7).  The author starts out by doing nothing but describing very harsh and cold conditions that no one would want to bare.  I thought the central idea was that the girls had it very rough, and life in their situation was very conservative and hard.

After reading more of the chapter, I realized that this is a very one-dimensional way of thinking about the text.  Later on, the story flashes back to when the narrator first arrived at the institution.  The central idea seemed to be very different than what I had initially thought, and I managed to find a phrase that I believe helps develop this central idea:  "Such is the imperfect nature of man!" (Eyre chapter 7).  I feel that the central idea of this chapter is that nothing is perfect.  The harsh descriptions in the beginning signify that their environment is imperfect.  Their lack of food signifies imperfection.  The fact that a girl is at an extremely conservative Christian institution but still has extravagant orange curls in her hair shows that the institution is imperfect.  Perhaps one of the biggest contradictions of all that contributes to the central idea is the fact that Mr. Brocklehurst condemns the new girl upon her arrival to the institution.  He is so caught up in the nitty-gritty details and the literal meaning of the Bible that he neglects one of the basic principles of Christianity:  "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31).  I can't help but notice that this occurs a lot even in today's society.  People get so caught up in details that they forget the greater purpose of their actions.  This can render their efforts useless, and it often makes Christians seem like hypocrites as it does to Mr. Brocklehurst in the chapter.

My Name and the Struggle of Being Two People at Once

Honestly speaking, my first name doesn't mean much to me. I once watched a documentary that touched on whether or not first names can influence the outcome of peoples' lives, a part of which can be heard here:  http://freakonomics.com/2013/04/08/how-much-does-your-name-matter-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/. For me, my parents chose a generic name to meet the one concern that if my name was too unusual I would stick out and not be viewed in a good light. The name 'Kyle' doesn't have any symbolic meaning... It's just normal. My last name, however, means more to me. My family and I always seem to get compliments on it; "LaCivita, what a beautiful name! Where does it originate?" The answer to that question always stirs up some emotion inside of me. It is an Italian name that I take pride in owning. I think back to my grandparents and great-grandparents that immigrated to the United States years ago with the same name, and I admire how far we've come as a family.

In my personal experience there has always been a distinction between the way you act around your peers and the way you act around adults. I do not mean to arouse a 'bad' connotation, but this distinction seems to stir up the idea of leading a 'double-life.' For example, when I was a child I would always go over my friends' houses to hang out. When I was greeted by their parents, I would be polite and courteous, holding back the crazy and spontaneous child that I was, as I was always taught to do. The second we would go downstairs to hang out outside of their parents' watch, my friends and I would fart and giggle and usually say whatever came to mind. This is natural, but there is only one problem:  why can't we be ourselves around adults? Because of how we are taught to behave in certain situations, we hold back our feelings and emotions, which ultimately hinders our communication. If I felt comfortable saying whatever was on my mind to adults, I would have been more confident and I probably would have learned a lot more throughout my childhood. I wouldn't have refrained from asking questions in fear that they might be considered foolish or inappropriate. This could have lead to a better understanding of the world which would have given me more insight, and insight is something many children and teens seem to lack nowadays.

Wing Young Huie and The Handmaid's Tale

 

We are the Other (2012 - 2013)

photos.wingyounghuie.com

Wing Young Huie

 

<a href="http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p709406511/e79df8012"><img src="http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/img/s3/v43/p2044690450-2.jpg" width="400" height="264" alt="Wing Young Huie: We are the Other (2012 - 2013) &emdash; " /></a>

 

When first viewing this photograph I see two men working at an auto-repair shop standing in front of a old and destroyed car. They are both wearing black, and one is particularly large. The larger man is holding up a sign that reads: "Serving complexity + perfection is me." This seems as if it refers to his occupation of fixing cars.

 

After analyzing the photograph in-depth, I realize that the sign the large man is holding is a contradiction. "Serving complexity and perfection is me" represents beauty, good looks, and perfectness. However, he is clearly very overweight and doesn't fit the stereotype of a visually appealing, beautiful person. This shows that there is more to a person than what appears on the outside. The destroyed car may represent his inner feelings, or how the world perceives him from the outside. However, he fixes these cars and makes them beautiful again, signifying that anything can be beautiful if you look past the initial judgments and assumptions one may have.

 

Both Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood present the concept of "othering" through image and language by using the same style and register. Wing Young Huie presents a contradiction in his work: He portrays a very large man that fits the general stereotype of being overweight, ugly, and unhealthy, but his occupation contradicts that stereotype because it involves fixing broken things and making them beautiful again. Atwood also uses contradictions in her work. On the outside, all of the women in her work are categorized as the same, only valued for their reproductive potential. However throughout her work, she reveals the deep thoughts and aspirations that women have, and portrays many distinctive personalities that different women have, contradicting the initial idea that they are all the same.

Both of the uses of contradiction are based on the initial idea of stereotypes, Wing Young Huie's being the stereotype of being overweight and ugly, and Atwood's being the stereotype that all women are the same and only good for one thing. These stereotypes separate people as "others" in real life and in Atwood's work because people make assumptions based on the stereotype that they fit into. They use a very similar approach, but the general stereotypes are different. Atwood uses a particularly feminist viewpoint to convey her message. Wing Young Huie uses more of a humanitarian approach to convey his message. Both of them convey the message that stereotypes falsely represent people in a way that is discreet and non-explicit.