Poetry reflective

  Poetry is often around us everywhere, yet sometimes we don't see it. An example of this that pops out to me is advertisements. In the world of advertising the creators of these advertisements have only a few seconds to get their point across and sell their product to the viewer. This is often the case in poetry because in many poems the writers often have a short amount of time and in some cases a limited amount of lines to express how they feel and get their point across. Advertisements are often short and sweet and very to the point, writers and artists often try to advertise their product in the least amount of words they can because they realize that people don't have time to sit down and read a paragraph about their product, therefore they need to minimize the amount that they write. A good advertisement that sticks in a persons head is usually very creative and is expressed through the use of words and a visual.

  In the visual above, we see a an advertisement that is not trying to sell a product but rather to sell the idea of sustainability. It tells us to save water and we can possibly save a life, this is illustrated by the fish in the tank losing more water each time the tap is turned on. This image is very expressive of what is on the artists/authors mind, this is very similar to poetry except it is expressed through a visual accompanied by text rather than just words.

 
The advertisement above shows the most famous sports company in the world advertising their product.      When they use the phrase "Light like air. Stronger than steel."it catches the readers attention right away and it uses a simile to compare shoes to air. A good advertisement can often use various poetic forms in it and advertisements are around us all the time but we never associate them with poetry. This goes to show that there are many things in the world around us that can also be considered poetry even though it isn't expressed in a stanza.

Movie Review

  The Movie I chose to review today is a favourite of mine since i was a kid. Remember the titans is a movie that combines an amazing sports story of a football team overcoming all odds and winning the state championships. However, what makes this story amazing isn't the fact that a group of young boys came together to win a championship, its that they did this despite being separated by race. This movie produced by the infamous Jerry Bruckheimer shows the struggles of black people to fit into regular everyday life in the 1960s and 1970s. These boys were at the front and centre of a racial war between African American an caucasian people, yet through the course of this movie they create a bond that goes beyond skin colour, and perhaps the most significant bond in this movie is between team captain Gary Bertier and star African American player Julius Campbell. This movie is based on a true story and is a big part of our history. The main character in this movie is Denzel Washington, who stars as the head coach of the Titans and guides them through adversity. A major part of the movie is the fact that coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) is African American himself, and the city of Alexandria, Virginia has trouble accepting him as a head coach given the fact that he is of a different race. Throughout the movie coach Boone guides these boys to a championship and along the way he lays the stepping stones for these boys to create bonds with each other despite the racial difference. At first the young men are very reluctant to socialize with each other, but coach Boone uses his tactics to get them talking and from there everything else is history. To me this movie symbolizes all the great things about humanity and kindness. An instant classic, I would recommend this movie to anyone and I can honestly say that there is nothing about this movie that I disliked, an amazing movie to say the least.

Image Expressive

        This photo is pretty self explanatory, it shows a bald eagle soaring high in the sky. The bald eagle is one of the most majestic animals on the planet, and they are my favourite by far. This image in particular can connect with a lot of college/university students. We're embarking on a significant journey in our lives and we all need to put our best effort forward and then maybe we can soar like an eagle. The eagle symbolizes perfection, because of how smooth and effortless it flies through the sky, and then swoops down to capture its prey. Many people strive for perfection and try so hard day after day, and the eagle does this with little effort, pretty amazing if you ask me.

   The picture above shows the largest mountain on our earth. Mount Everest stands at a whopping 8848 metres above sea level. This mountain is located in the Himalayas and is one of the most amazing aspects of nature. Something that I find even more amazing is that people can actually climb and conquer this behemoth of a mountain. This shows that with hard work and dedication to doing something, you can pretty much achieve anything you want too. The oxygen level at the top of this mountain is next to nothing so its very hard for people to breath as they scale the mountain, this makes the task of climbing this mountain seem next to impossible, yet over 3100 people have climbed this mountain including a 76 year old man, a 13 year old boy, and a blind man. If this doesn't motivate someone to chase their dreams nothing will. 

Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing
And there's no way we ever could

Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it

So we keep waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door

And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information
Oh, they can bend it all they want

That's why we're waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

It's not that we don't care
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

And we're still waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change

No, we keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
(Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change
Waiting on the world to change

Read more: John Mayer - Waiting On The World To Change Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

  The song I have chosen to talk about is "Waiting On The World To Change" by John Mayer. This song is a favourite of mine because John Mayer sings about people in our world today and how we don't take a stand for what we believe in, and how we all simply expect things to change without putting any real effort to change our own lives. In the song, the stanzas are arranged in a more open form of poetry, which uses lines of varying length and avoids prescribed patterns of rhyme. A refrain used in the poem is the repetitiveness of the line "we keep on waiting,waiting,waiting on the world to change". This helps convey the message of the song by telling listeners that nothing will happen on its own, in order for change to occur we need to make changes in our lifestyle. 

   The speaker in this song is John Mayer, and he is addressing his fans and listeners, he's telling the "average joes" that if they don't take a stand, and make a difference the world won't change for the better, if even one person changes the way they act towards another person, or tries to make a difference in another person's life, then it can create a domino effect and spread the happy mood, or good deed onto others. The tone or "voice" of the author has a kind of sad aspect to it, as well as a sense of optimism in my opinion. John Mayer reaches out to people to change the world one step at a time and he shows optimism for the human race as a whole. An example of personification is used in lines 21-22 when Mayer says "when you trust your television what you get is what you got". In this example he gives human characteristics to a non human thing because a person cannot actually "trust" a television, he's referring to the tabloids and the ideas of the powerful people in our society. 

   This song is one of the best ever produced by John Mayer in my opinion. When I hear this song it tells me to take a stand in my own life and don't wait around for others to do things for me, if I want something, or if I want to make change in this world I simply have to go out there and do it myself. When I hear this song it's obvious to me that it has social and political implications. In line 5-6 it says "Now we see everything that's going wrong with the world and those who lead it". This line is referring to some of the corrupt minds of the leaders of our countries around the world, especially some 3rd world countries who have leaders who spend a large percentage of their countries GDP on guns, military forces, and other weapons when they should in-fact be investing it in things that are more important to these countries such as agriculture, and medical needs. There is also a social implication as well, in lines 18-20 it says "To bring our neighbours home from war, they would have never missed a christmas, no more ribbons on their door". This is something that most people in our society can relate to, losing a loved one through war because of meaningless fighting in other countries. As far as I know there are  no other covers of this song by other artists, and I think that's a good thing because John Mayer does a hell of a job with this song and I think it's a great hit. I hope you enjoyed this song and my reflection on it, and after reading my reflection I hope you choose to go out with your best foot forward and make a change in the world as well. 

My Life Be Like

My name is Nick, and I'm a seventeen year old science student here at MUN. I grew up in a small town called Port Blandford, Newfoundland. I'm a big sports fanatic and my main sport is hockey, the Ottawa Senators are my favourite team, and any maple leafs fan is no friend of mine(just kidding). Family and friends are a huge part of my life, and I believe that I have the best family and friends a person can have, I also have a younger sister named Jillian whom I think the world over. Some of my other interests include fishing, snowmobiling, and weightlifting. Coming to MUN represents a significant life change for me and I'm very eager to show the world what I'm made of, as well as meet lots of new people along the way. I'm a very outgoing and easy to talk to kind of guy, and I'm looking forward to a great semester in English 1080! Thanks for your time everybody.