“American Beauties” Deichtorhallen Sunday, Feb 17 2008

This exhibition “American Beauties” fits in our theme because it shows the american lifestyle and New York at different times and out of different views. It shows as well the good as the bad sides of New York and America.

I think the pictures by Larry Clark. I find it interesting and frightening to see the behaviour of a clique that consumes drugs. The pictures show the ups and downs of this people. They are describing the circumstances in the USA very well because a lot of people were very despaired and so they tried to abate their pain and disappointment with drugs. They felt maybe like that because their dreams did not come true.

I think this picture shows clearly the bad side of New York. Drugs and problems are mentioned.

3 Responses »

 

Is Effing a monster or a good man? Friday, Jan 25 2008

I think Thomas Effing cannot either be called a monster nor a good man because he is an old man(86 years), who experienced a lot. So it is very natural to get a bit confused and I would not say that he is a monster only because he has another attitude to life and another behaviour than other people. He is no monster because of showing feelings like commiseration for example when Marco talks about the death of his mother. Furthermore I think that monster is a too starkly term to describe an old man like Effing. But I cannot say he is a good man because he has moods and he often speaks in a sarcastic way to his fellow men. Also he has a disgusting way to eat and he provokes his environment with sudden experiments.

In my opinion is Effing an old man who got through a lot of bad expierences and so he became a bit strange and special. When I have to decide I would say he is rather a good man than a monster because sarcasm and bad behaviour are not reason enough to call a person a monster. Effing has a nice sight and I think this is the most important fact.

Leave a Response »

 

Paul Auster’s “Moon Palace” Thursday, Jan 24 2008

The novel “Moon Palace” by Paul Auster is about Marco Stanley Fogg and his quest for his identity. The protagonist Marco grews up at his uncle after his mother died. He goes studying at Columbia High and after his uncle dies he gets financial problems and becomes homeless. He does not work and so he lives for a while in the Central Park. There he gets really ill and before he dies his friend Zimmer and a girl named Kitty Wu rescue him. When he feels better he starts to meet with Kitty Wu and finds a job. An old man called Thomas Effing engages him. Because of the meeting and conversations with Effing Marco gets to know more and more about him. After Effings death Marco continues searching for his own identity. This is the main theme of the novel. Marco´s quest for his own identity and furthermore his long and painful search for a father.

Marco Fogg is a man who searches all through his life for his identity and his origins. He never is sure whether he behaved like Marco Fogg should do. He was always very insecure but also an outsider who stood by this fact. Marco wanted to discover himself. He liked to be different than other people. Marco was a very good and interested student. He knows a lot about history and literature.

The story is told by an first person narrator: Marco Stanley Fogg. He presents us his thoughts and feelings but he also describes the action and the behaviour of the other characters. Paul Auster wrote the story very detailed and told a lot information around the main story. In the novel are many crises mentioned. Marco had to go through a lot of bad experiences. Paul Auster alluded many characters but he did not work them out vey well. The most figures are only flat characters.

I think the novel “Moon Palace” is often too longbreathed. The story is very complex and Auster describes much things and so I thought many times that this information was needless. But I think the idea to narrate such a life-story is very interesting and I can recommend this book to everyone who likes stories with suprising changes but also family stories of a person. People who like to follow a development of a man and his quest for his origin are also right with this book. All in all a nice book.

Leave a Response »

 

How to relate Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” to the keywords of the AD Friday, Oct 5 2007

Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” can be connected to the AD because she lists up the negative parts of the unrealised AD.

She criticizes that the try to bring more freedom, democrazy and peace to the whole world fails and that it brings instead more war, destruction and pain to the world.        

Also Pink sings about that there is no help for poor people and other social problems. So it is not that easy to get rich in a short time as the AD says and the minimum of state control cannot in every direction be that well it seems like.

She mentiones that the president is against homosexuality and this contradicts with the AD because the dream says everyone is equal and free to do what he wants.

One Response »

 

Pink- Dear Mr. President Wednesday, Sep 26 2007

Anna, Rena, Anke B., Janine

We are working on this song:

“Dear Mr. President” by Pink

Na na na na na na na na

Dear Mr. President,
come take a walk with me.
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and
you’re not better than me.
I’d like to ask you some questions if
we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

Chorus:
How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?
And tell me why?

Na na na na na na na na

Dear Mr. President,
were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say: “No child is left behind.”?
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind.
They’re all sitting in your cells
while you pay the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say.
You’ve come a long way
from whiskey and cocaine.

Chorus
Let me tell you about hard work!
Minimum wage with a baby on the way.
Let me tell you about hard work!
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away.
Let me tell you about hard work!
Building a bed out of a cardboard box.
Let me tell you about hard work!
Hard work!
Hard work!
You don’t know nothing about hard work!
Hard work!
Hard work!

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?

Dear Mr. President,
you’d never take a walk with me.

Mhhh, would you?

Leave a Response »