A musical post!

For this blog, I'll be addressing the five questions in promt D (again).


1. The Cure. If you don't know who they are, I'll enlighten you. They're a band which was started in the 70's. Hooray. If you actually feel the need to know everything about them, check out their site (thecure.com) or Wiki them.

2. The title is a creative technique, I suppose. Other than that, the fact that it's music and The Cure is a big name band. Plus, it was their first single.

3. Alright, here's where it get juicy: The lyrics are often misunderstood to mean something racist or supportive of violence. They aren't. In fact, they're based off a book called The Stranger, by Albert Camus. This is what Wikipedia has to say, via plot summary:

At the start of the novel, Meursault attends his mother's funeral, where he does not express any usual emotions that the event often induces. The novel goes on to document the next few days of his life, through the first person point-of-view. In these days, he befriends one of his neighbors, Raymond Sintès. Meursault aids Raymond in dismissing his Arab girlfriend whom Raymond had suspected of infidelity. Later, the two are encountered by the woman's brothers on a beach and Raymond gets cut in the resulting knife fight. Meursault afterwards goes back to the beach and shoots one of them, in response to the glare of the sun. Consequently, "The Arab" is killed. Meursault then fires four more times at the dead body.

At the trial, those prosecuting seem more interested on the inability or unwillingness of Meursault to cry at his mother's funeral. The killing of the Arab apparently is less important than whether Meursault is capable of remorse. The argument follows that if Meursault is incapable of remorse, he should be considered a dangerous misanthrope and subsequently executed to prevent him from doing it again, and making him an example to those considering murder."

So, as you can see, the song is NOT about killing people (per se).

4. The Arab's point of view isn't there (poor Arab).

5. From what I can tell, the reason that this message would be sent, is because Robert Smith (The Cure's lead singer/songwriter) was going through a time, in his life, when he felt no remorse, over something horrible.

Ciao.

Don't Steal OJ's stuff. Or else.

So, for my first Journal I've decided to hit up CNN and take a look at the (current) OJ Simpson case. Hooray. I'll be taking a crack at the seemingly popular prompt D, today, as well. The loving just never seems to end, does it?

Moving along:

Who created this message (this is part 1 of the prompt, by the way)? Well, that'd be good old CNN. That's right. The news giant, it appears, no longer needs individual journalists, but would rather asexually produce their articles. Either that or there's some sort of glitch, on their site, hiding the author's name from the viewers. Isn't that neat?

What creative techniques were used to attract my attention? None whatsoever. Unless you count OJ, being in a courtroom again, as creative. Though, I suppose you could count the famousness of OJ coupled with the fact that CNN is internationally renowned. With a reputation like that, why would they need a "pull"?

How might people understand this message differently than me? Well... I suppose if you're an anarchist, you'd believe OJ, rather than the police footage. Therefore, you might see this article as something that makes you more angry at the state, rather than something to giggle over.

What values, lifestyles and points of view are being represented, or omitted from, this message? Lifestyles? OJ, a former football star, goes nuts when he finds out personal memorabilia are being sold to a private buyer. Why? The reader is never told why. This bothers me. Both sides should be represented. Though, OJ could be refusing comment.

Why is this message being sent? Because people like to read about washed-up football stars busting into a hotel room, in Vagas, guns blazing. Plus, with all the former controversy surrounding OJ, I'm sure people would want to know about stuff like this.


Word.