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Recently Peta called out the late Steve Irwin, stating that he was abusive towards animals and that he was harassing the sting ray that killed him. There has been a ton of backlash from the internet towards PETA. What do you think?

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Who’s in, who’s out and who’s still thinking.

This popped up while I was scrolling through Twitter earlier and it caught me off guard because of how disintersted I feel I am in politics at the moment. When it comes to elections, I am one to carefully study who my options are and what they bring to the table, but when politics become a constant cycle of negativity, which I am unable to focus on. It seems interesting, yet hopefully that this many individuals have the desire to hold such an office, but it is sad to see how quickly this list may diminsh in the very near future.

What do you all think about this list? What drives potential candidates to drop out, besides low levels of supports or money?

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Delta Zeta at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis did something a few days ago that came up on my Facebook feed. It is powerful. It is real. It is raw. This is something that as a member of a sorority I have to deal with on a constant basis. Being a member of a sorority doesn't change how hardworking I am in terms of my education and ability to provide for myself. It's frustrating to be label with sterotypes based off of one decision you choose to make, which I think is something that happens quite often in society. This is a powerful example of how sorority women are just as intelligent, hardworking, and driven as another other women in their college career.

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

During our discussion on Wednesday the 27th, someone mentioned that some subjects are impossible to properly joke about - but I don't know if I agree with that. I would say that some subjects are more difficult to laugh about than others. For example, I find this death scene to be hilarious; how often is a murderer able to succeed without touching their victim?

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I wanted to share this video of one of the schools I went to in England. It's really interesting to see how this video is just a few years old and it surprises me how this school has changed. The King's school is one of the oldest schools in England, even older than the US itself. This school was founded in 597 AD and still operating, but it has change its ways. The new headmaster has implemented better and more fun activities, nicer teaching practices, and new programs. It's obvious that they would change and improve in order to adapt to this new generation. Compare to my school generation, it looks like the school doesn't have the million rules we used to have. We used to have classes that I doubt they would have now, like etiquette and how to behave as if you were to be the next queen/king of England. As one of my friends said, "kids now a days will never know the horror of not having your homework". I don't think the old way will come back, at least not the way I knew them. I'm not sure if education was better before than now, but I know for a fact that it was coming from older and traditional views. 

  -niza 

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I recently read an article (https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/50_comedies_that_make_millienn.html) about the 50 comedy movies that made/make millennials laugh. Some of the movies on this list were Can't Hardly Wait, Bring It On, Dude Where's My Car, Little Miss Sunshine, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Pineapple Express, Step Brothers, and 21 Jump Street. I can attest to laughing at many of the 50 movies. I wonder if the movies on this list were created for a new generation of movie goers or were they just going with the times, because each one is a different type of comedy from slapstick to Judd Apatow type. It is interesting to track the change in comedy over the years, especially from growing up until now. 

#ENGL 115

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Since the class is reading a book about comedy, I thought I would post a sketch or two from some well known comedians.

This one is "The Dentist" featuring Tim Conway and Harvey Korman from The Carol Brunett show. Tim Conway was known for trying to make the other actors break character, as he did with Korman in this piece.This comedy sketch focused on the slapstick humor and bumbling nature of Conway's character.

Honestly, the best part of this piece for me is watching Korman break and listening to the audience dying from laughter.

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

This is Abbott and Costello's well-known "Who's on First" sketch. While there is some slapstick humor, the basis of the bit is fast paced verbal miscommunication.

It is one of my favorite bits by them - I'm a sucker for clever wordplay.

I think it is interesting to look back at how comedy has changed over the years. I also think it is interesting that old comedy sketches are still funny years (and sometimes decades) later.

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Sorry to make a slightly political post here, but I think this is really important. It's difficult to watch civil discourse dying in American politics, and this attack at UC Berkeley is an especially ugly example of what happens when we can't learn to look for common ground and hold a civil discussion with those who hold opposing beliefs. 

Obviously, this isn't a one-sided issue and no political wing is more to blame than another. The man arrested for assaulting a conservative on the the Berkeley campus certainly doesn't represent the majority of the political left, and I'm glad he was caught and is being held accountable for his actions. But I'm also very disturbed seeing people resort to physical violence against people who have different opinions. I think people need to learn how to hate ideas without hating the people who hold them. 

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Unwarranted Captain Marvel Hate Leads to RT Change

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/movies/captain-marvel-was-attacked-online-trolls-rotten-tomatoes-took-action-n976201

This last week, the highly anticipated Captain Marvel was bombarded by an unusually high amount of negative ratings on RT's "Want to See" meter.  Through reading some of the comments left on the page, a pattern of misogyny was noted.  In response, RT did away with the system altogether, not to give the trolls any power over potentially unaware visitors to the site.  It's truly sad to see this kind of reaction to a female super hero movie.  Situations such as these really highlight the progress still to be made in society, when even the littlest things bring out the worst in people.  

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Since we've been discussing music so much this semester, this seemed appropriate to share. The song "Shallow" from A Star is Born recently won the Oscar for best original song. Though I haven't seen the film itself, I've listened to the song a few times and am wondering what the rest of you think of it. In some ways, I find myself being surprised by how simply it is structured musically. On the other hand, the lyrics convey a very moving and provocative message, which makes me wonder what exactly the Academy's standard is for what constitutes a "good" song. Seems to me a film organization may not be the highest authority on what makes good music.

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

Saucamole. Avocado Toast Shoes. What started off as a healthy breakfast idea blew up into a pop culture sensation. Celebrities, Fitness Buffs, and laymen alike posted perfectly poised pictures of this fruit smeared toast all across Instagram. 

While it seems the initial wave of obsession has past, the avocado toast trend has left its impression. Found on menus, charged at an exorbitant rate, and now available in footwear by the name of Saucamole, I begin to wonder...have we gone too far?

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I mentioned the Armenian film director Sergei Parajanov in my class journal, but I want to make another connection with John Storey's cultural theories. 

Initially, he was content to obey the Soviet's hegemonic film industry that only approved of the social realist genre. But after viewing Ivan's Childhood (1962), whose Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky would become his dearest friend, Parajanov decided to make movies that were important to him. And even though his first genuine project Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) was a hit, he nonetheless became a target. This led to much of his later work being either censored or shelved, until he was finally arrested in 1973 (more likely framed) and sentenced to prison labor in Siberia.

Although many prominent figures in the european film industry objected, Parajanov would only be released by Leonid Brezhnev at the request of his buddy Louis Aragon. Both Parajanov's release and the softening of Soviet policy allowed him to make two new films until his death in 1990. These events also represent how a hegemonic culture can breakdown: An influence outside of the norm (Louis Aragon), and the decay of the hegemony itself (USSR).

The following video is a clip from his most renowned film, which by based on the life of the Armenian poet Sayat Nova. And you can probably see why a hegemonic culture would reject Parajanov's style.

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

This clip from the 1992 movie 'Wayne's World' is a great example of a comedy movie poking fun at an even more in-depth subject, such as sponsorship. Everything is about sponsorship nowadays, so to see it so prominent and fun in this movie is why we are able to laugh at the modern world. 

#ENGL 115

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What do you guys think of this Jussie Smollett situation? The Chicago police chief is very angry and has concluded he faked his own attack. Yet, Smollett continues to deny any allegations. 

What is going on? 

#ENGL 115

[englishprofnaylor-blog]

On February 14th, 1990, the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space, Voyager 1, took a photo of Planet Earth approximately 4 billion miles away, appearing as a tiny dot of light. Carl Sagan, one of the most publicized scientist at the forefront of science and pop culture fusion with his show Cosmos, was member of the imaging team for Voyager. Sagan later coined the infamous nickname for Planet Earth in reference to this photo taken by Voyager 1 of Planet Earth as, “The Pale Blue Dot.” He wrote, “look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”

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I thought it was interesting that this article pointed out how a lot of popular television shows today present an alternate historical interpretation of well-known past events or time periods. As it references in the article, this just might be a result of the increasing availability and ease of streaming services today and how those services are aiming to keep viewers interested.

The fact that the most popular services today are choosing to create shows and films dedicated to this genre, is an indication that it's a reflection of what resonates with what the public wants to see. But, I also think the second point made in the article--that reimagining history in popular films and shows hints that the public is seeking an escape from the current time that they're living in.

I think this makes sense, when you consider that in previous decades when society faced difficulty as a nation, it was a welcome distraction to withdraw from the present troubles and temporarily entertain a fictional idea.