Response to TED Talks: Ryan Holladay: To hear this music you have to be there. Literally

http://www.ted.com/talks/ryan_holladay_to_hear_this_music_you_have_to_be_there_literally.html

The TED Talks speech that I chose to watch and analyze was “Ryan Holladay: To hear this music you have to be there. Literally”. The reason that I chose this particular speech is because I am a huge fan on music and I am always so interested in hearing things about the music industry and new ideas that people have.  I think overall Ryan Holladay did a wonderful job delivering his speech to his audience. I could tell that he was very well educated on his topic and did his research. On top of that one could also sense the passion that he had for art and music which made the speech even more interesting to watch. I think the visuals that he used in his speech were perfect in supporting what he was talking about and helped me envision the ideas that he had much better. While he delivered the speech well and had good projection, his tone was a tad dull which could lead some people to lose interest in what he is talking about. Ryan seemed to be very comfortable on stage but he used his hands a lot when he spoke which was distracting at certain points of the speech. Ryan’s pace was perfect, not too rushed and easy to follow. This helped with understanding exactly what was going on and being able to understand everything he said so that I was left with fewer questions than if I wasn’t able to focus on what he was saying. After watching the speech I felt that I had a better idea of how to effectively deliver a speech but I also took some of the ineffective things that Ryan did to make a note for myself to try and avoid as much as possible. 

Response to "Detroit vs. Everybody"

When I first began reading the article, I was completely convinced that Detroit was just a rundown city in Michigan that really had nothing special about it. I have never been to Detroit and to be honest I would consider myself pretty uneducated about the city. This probably factored into why when I was reading about what was actually a movie set, I took in everything as if it was the reality of Detroit. That being said, Detroit may actually be a tad rundown due to its problems with the economy, but that does not have to define the city or what it has to offer. One of the most startling things that I read was when the desk women at the hotel that the author was staying at, smiled at him and mentioned that he might hear explosions. Since I was reading this, unaware that it was the area of a movie set, I found it so strange that she was smiling when she said that and it disturbed me.

Now looking back and knowing that it was a movie set, it changes my perspective. Perspective is really what is key when looking at the city of Detroit. When viewing Detroit from the outside looking in, many misconceptions and assumptions are made. Some of these assumptions can be refuted by the author’s pictures and explanations of places like Lafayette Greens and Belle Isle Park. I think these particular places are places that are probably overlooked not only by visitors but also the residents of Detroit. I think if more people visited these places and embraced what they had to offer, a new perspective of Detroit would be formed from a lot of people. Along with that the Heidelberg Project is an artistic approach at protesting, and in my opinion a beautiful way of going about something that is usually seen as violent. I love art and think it is one of the most important ways in which someone can express themselves. It made me so sad to see that someone took the liberty of burning down one of the houses in the project.

I believe that if the city of Detroit utilized the spaces that seem to be abounded these days, that this city has much more potential than its letting on. While the abandoned structure in Hart Plaza was disheartening, I think it someone took the liberty of cleaning it up and making good use of the space, simple changes like that could bring so many new opportunities for the city.

Response to "My Bodies of the Year: Kim Kardashian's Instagram Moment and 12 Unsexy Months"

While reading the article “My Bodies of the Year: Kim Kardashian’s Instagram Moment and 12 Unsexy Months” by Wesley Morris, I found myself not only intrigued but also somewhat surprised by what I was reading. While I am aware of the idea of body image and how it is perceived and how it is prominent in the media and pop culture today, I think because of how casual society has become with things like being naked and sex, people tend to look past just how common it is to see these things. Why should it matter if someone’s body looks perfect all of the time? That seems to be one of the main concerns on society this day in time. I do believe that bodies matter much more now in 2014 than they did ten years ago. Not to say that bodies did not matter ten years ago, but this obsession with looking perfect and in a sense “selling your body” to the media because you are a celebrity seems much more prominent. 

An example that I feel would complement this article is a picture of Justin Bieber that I came across a while ago that popped into my mind while reading the article. The reason I chose to include this image is because I think many times people look past of even young celebrity boys are portrayed in a sexual manner to sell things like magazines. The photo that I am going to include is of Justin Bieber on the cover of Vanity Fair with kiss marks all over his neck and shirt, as well as a women’s hand pulling his tie from the side. While it may seem innocent to some, I feel that for someone his age, this type of photo is unnecessary in promoting him on the cover of a magazine.  The media feels the need to always take something that would sell well anyway and either perfect and edit what was already okay or sexualize it so that it might sell better.

I think that the article did a wonderful job of talking about just how much the media feels the need to include sexuality in magazine covers or photo shoots of stars, and also why having the perfect body makes you more confident and likeable than if you are just an average person.