For my song choices, I think I'm going to use "Heartbreaker" and "Broken Dreams Club," which are both by a band named Girls. I chose songs from the same artist because I feel as though it adds some unity. When I was kinda bummed in class, I was worried about picking two different songs making my essay sound messy. Instead hopefully it will be cohesive. I chose "Heartbreaker" because its relatively upbeat, like the first part of my essay, and "Broken Dreams Club" is much slower and somber compared to the first song. I also think that these songs won't be extremely distracting from my voice. These choices are subject to change...

Here are some links to listen, if you'd like.

Heartbreaker

and

Broken Dreams Club

As you can see, I've compiled 10 images for Lana Dey Rey's video called "Ride." These images are supposed to represent her video and tell a story. They arent in order… Sorry. Also, the way I had to position them sucked. Anyway, I chose these images because they tell a story about the men shes been with in the video. I think I can count four. However, I also chose pictures of her by herself out in the open desert on a tire swing, and also in an urban landscape, alone in both settings. In the video, it seems like shes quite lonely and has some sort of emptiness inside. She is then shown seemingly engaging in sexual relationships with various men. From my understanding and speculation, it seems like she is filling that emptiness and loneliness with the company of these men. I chose these images because it shows a contrast of what Lana's character is like when she's alone (in the desert and urban landscapes) and what she is like when she is with the various men. For example, in the desert and the urban landscapes, it looks kind of as if nobody is around, and she looks lonely, and a bit like a wandering soul. When she's with the various men, she seems a bit more content. Adding to that, when she is on the man's bike, she looks like she's freed in some way; she holds her arms out and has a smile, unlike all of the other photos. On another note, some of the lyrics from the song are:

"Don't leave me now 

Don't say good bye 

Don't turn around 

Leave me high and dry "

I think that these lyrics add to the story of her affairs with various men. She longs for company, and is unhappy and lost without it. Another lyric goes:

"Been trying hard not to get in trouble, but I 

I've got a war in my mind 

I just ride"

These lyrics suggest that she gets her mind off of her life and her conflicts within it to feel happiness. The photos of her on the back of the bike supports her statement there, because she looks blissful and free on the back of the bike.

All of the screenshots are from Lana Del Rey's video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_-3di1yx0

Ride

For my music video that I will be analyzing, I chose Lana Dey Rey's new video from her song "Ride." On the surface, it is a video about what the character she is portraying believes what freedom is. Lana's character believes "in what America used to be." I chose this video, because for one, I enjoy listening to her voice. Second, didn't think that anyone else would choose this video. Thirdly, I thought that there are a few points of slight controversy that could be discussed in it. Also, some parts of the video reminded me of a This I Believe speech, only a bit more sensual…

The video starts out with her character speaking a monologe about her life, and a few of the struggles within it. Throughout the video she is portrayed to be promiscuous, and takes some sort of happiness from it. She says that the men she meets give her some summer in a life of winter. This video may seem like one about sexual freedom on the top of it, but in my opinion, it's definitely not. It embodies some ugliness that isn't spoken of enough. The sexuality that Lana's character portrays is about how she has a deep emptiness inside, and somehow, the men she meets and her experiences with them seem to fill her in some way. It's not really meant to be an empowering song.

One reason I liked this video, as well as this song, is because in the video, it shows so much of what we've been trying to learn is important in art. That would be vulnerability and this video shows so much vulnerability. However, although I love her vulnerability, there are parts that I don't particularly enjoy about this video. The lyrics, and the video itself describe a freedom in which is delivered by the company of various men. It's quite sexist as well. The whole song is about riding, and she is portrayed riding on the back of mens motorcycles and atop them throughout the video. She is also hyper-sexualized throughout the entire video. The men in the video could be described as the opposite. They appear to be quite disgusting, at least from my point of view, while Lana's character is gorgeous and again, overly sexualized. I feel as though the video glamorizes promiscuity and evokes a feeling of freedom through that promiscuity, which I do not support. I will admit that she isn't trying to be a role model in anyway, which is ok and fine with me, but I did have a moment where I actually did want to be her character in the video, as yucky as that sounds. She is amazingly beautiful, and like I said, she definitely glamorizes promiscuity and sexual vulnerability in which I felt compelled to want to be kinda like her. Realizing that kind of scared me a bit.

Overall, I do like this video for enjoyment, since Lana is gorgeous and her voice is like silk, but there are a few underlying things that just grind my gears like her promiscuity and the glamorization of her characters lifestyle.

            There was a time when it was hard to show the world a little bit of who you are, and what you have to share. A time, in which, images were harder to obtain. Places to go, and things to observe, were in far off places that you could only imagine. You only knew of things that were in your environment, and the only way that you learned of these far off things would have been through stories and travelers. Then came along photographs. An incredible invention that allows things in real life to become recreated into a paper form to be shared with people who may not be able to see things in the photograph unless they were there. Then, pictures went digital, and the Internet was created. All of these inventions have helped people connect with each other.

            Everyday, I see images that inspire me. And everyday, I try to spread some of these images. Every afternoon, after class, I go back to my dorm room on the 18th floor, and I open up my laptop. I usually check my email, and then I log into Pinterest. Pinterest has evolved into my creative inspirational hub. I use Pinterest to gather my personal thoughts in the form of images. I also use Pinterest to be inspired and share my inspiration with my followers, and their followers as well. I share the inspirational images that I find through pinning. Pinning is something that is kind of personal to me. I don't just pin everything I see. I pin things that have personal meaning to me, or inspire me to become a better version of myself and improve my life. Although I love to pin now, it wasn't always that way. 

            When I first made my Pinterest account, I was intimidated by pinning. Like I said, you are sharing a part of yourself with your followers. I've never really been too great with expressing my feelings, and sharing my personal thoughts and likings intimidated me. Pinning is exactly what I thought I was never good at, which is sharing myself to others. Pinning would mean that I would have to break out of my inner shell. One day, I realized that these amazing images I found around the Internet should be shared with everyone. I realized that I needed to come out of my shell and express myself. I realized that a great way to share inspiration with others was through Pinterest. I believe in spreading inspiration. When you inspire someone, they may just break out of their shell, they may learn something new about themselves, and they may go on to inspire other people in their own way. What on Earth would the world be without inspired and inspiring people?

We Are All Stardust. Today, I read an article about a woman, Kimberly Woodbury, who believed that we are all stardust. Her speech is extremely spiritual, and maybe that's one reason why this particular speech doesn't speak to me. I expected the article to lean on the more scientific side than the spiritual side. In Woodbury's speech, she says, "I believe that I will, during my lifetime, inhale seven of the very same molecules of air that were exhaled by the incarnate Christ. I believe this because I did the math. I really did." This particular quote spoke to me in a negative way. I thought it was very strange. I wonder how she came to do the math of how she was going to breath in seven molecules of Christ's breath. I, myself, absolutely cannot relate to this at all. Like, honestly.. What the fuck. Do you really want to breathe in Christ's exhaled molecules? I don't really want to think about inhaling anyone's molecules. Maybe this essay simply didn't speak to me because I'm an atheist but… There are still some Christian stories that I can relate to, specifically ones about good and evil, and happiness. I have trouble relating to this because she referred to her God as a photon… All I could think was "Uhhh… Wut?" In her article, she mixes her religion and chemistry together, which are two things that kind of throw me off when put together. Religion and science for me, are two things that I don't like to put together. In my opinion, there isn't very much science to religion, and there's absolutely no religion to science. I believe that there is no science involved with the spiritual things that happen in religious happenings. From what I've learned throughout my life about Christianity, there is nothing scientific to the religion. Then again, her religion isn't really Christianity, but that was the most relatable religion I could think of. Anyway.. She also refers to the beginning of the universe to God's great cataclysm, which is different from what I believe, which is the big bang theory. I guess I just have a hard time relating to people who's beliefs are shaped in such a concrete way, where there is no margin for swaying their opinion, but I guess that's what religion is about. Anyway, I guess I was babbling this whole time, but I found it kind of difficult to find an article that I really didn't care for. I think this one did the job though, even though I bashed her the whole time in a way.

A Drive to Achieve the Extraordinary. This is the "This I Believe" essay that I read today. I say read because I couldn't listen for some weird reason. Anyway. The essay was written by Juliet Frerking, and in her essay, she starts out with talking about her fascination with the Guinness World Records book. She was inspired as a young child to achieve greater things in life, to go above and beyond even if your friends or family heckle you for trying. This essay especially inspired me because I feel as though almost everyone, especially on UK campus, conforms extremely easily. I feel like many people are always doing the same things. Juliet's essay reminded myself that it is admirable to be different, and to go above and beyond the normal. In Juliet's essay, she said "Reassured by Mrs. Balanoff, our third grade teacher, that we could be anything when we grew up." This is always a belief that I've held close to my heart, and have always thought back upon it when I was feeling that I had to be something that I'm not. Many people do things that they have absolutely no interest in, just so they can impress their friends or family. I like to do things because they interest me, and because I'll gain happiness from my actions and efforts. For example, my studies. I am studying Marketing and French because I want to go into fashion marketing, and I love the language of French. Instead of going pre-med or any other major that doesn't interest me at all, I'm ignoring my families urges for me to go onto something that will guarantee me a job, and doing what I want and love to do. I could really relate to Juliet's essay for many reasons. Some being: her early inspiration to follow her dreams, her perseverance through criticism, and her determination to become something greater than she would have imagined.