They Call Me Ryan

[lil-hinman-blog]

I believe that cake decorating should be high art. Yolanda Gampp, the women that made the cake, makes cakes in all sorts of different shapes. She can make cakes that look like brains (as seen above), pumpkins, pancakes, hats, and much more. I think this is high art because very people can do what she does. When people see these cakes many people wouldn’t even realize it is a cake and once they find out then most are very impressed. It is a hard skill to accomplish and look very cool when done. I feel that the difficulty of this task and the visual pleasure these cakes give make her cakes high art.

[ryanrocca1]

I disagree. Cooking is simply a task that needs to be done for survival. Art is something that provides enjoyment or entertainment to the audience. Cooking simply does not meet the criteria. If somebody was juggling the cake it would be a different story. Juggling is the only true form of high art

[adam-good2000-blog]

Optical illusions should get more attention for being art because of how they are able to change the way that people see the world around them.  A lot of things that people think of as art such as painting or sculpting may amuse people for a short time, but an optical illusion is able to to permanently change the way that people perceive the world around them.  By having the ability to have lasting effects on the audience, optical illusions should be considered high art.  

[ryanrocca1]

I disagree. Optical illusions can be made by 1st graders by simply following directions and shading something a certain way or bending a piece of paper a certain way. Real high art takes years of mastery. Ballet dancers spend hours every day for years practicing. The Mona Lisa took multiple years to paint, and many other forms of high art take a great deal of time. Optical illusions are not entertaining. Obviously the only real form of high art is juggling.

[ryangrosz]

I believe that shoes are a form of art. Nowadays everyone looks at shoes as an art, something that looks good or more importantly expresses who the person is rather than just being convenient to wear. Here’s an example that may express the person, as these are a pair of Yeezys by Adidas which is a signature shoe by Kanye West. More likely than not, if someone has these shoes they most likely listen to hip pop considering the fact that Kanye is a hip pop artist. Also the person wants to have cool looking shoes as these shoes are about $200 when you can buy others for like $50.

[ryanrocca1]

I disagree completely. What criteria do shoes have that other forms of high art have? I see no connections between shoes and something like the Mona Lisa. Art is a form of entertainment, while shoes simply serve a purpose of protecting feet while doing tasks such as running. Other forms of high art, such as juggling or ballet actually serve a purpose of entertaining an audience, while shoes do not. Juggling is obviously the highest form of art there is

[sophia-acuna]

NANS 2016 parade of champions day two

[lil-hinman-blog]

I believe that Irish Dance is a form of high art. Irish dance is high art because few people are able to do it well. It is not a very popular form of dance especially in our area. I feel the fact that it is more rare makes it more of a high art. It is hard to accomplish, the girls that get to worlds or Oireachtas practice year round and have been dancing since they were very young. Also, people will pay to see people Irish dance. There are two main Irish dance companies that travel world wide to perform shows, Lord of the Dance and Riverdance. This is similar to the set up of like a ballet which people consider to be high art. In Irish dance, like ballet, the dancers have fancy costumes for performances and dance on a stage. For these reasons, I believe that Irish dance is a high art.

[ryanrocca1]

I disagree completely. Just because few people can do it doesn't mean it's high art? Is licking your elbow high art? Is standing on your head high art? And then you mention being rare is high art. Does that mean rare Pokemon are high art too? The only form of high art worth considering is juggling.

[cgwilt11-blog]

I'm Graduating

I want to thank my sister for waiting for me to print out my edited project in the early mornings, sometimes making us late for school. I want to thank my dad for leaving me alone and not stressing me out while I was working on the project. I want to thank my mom cause she is awesome. I want to thank my brother for pulling all nighters with me when I had a lot of things to change. I want to thank Kreinbring for reading through my project and giving me check marks to increase my self esteem. Lastly, I want to thank myself for not leaving everything to the last minute and avoiding a panic attack. I am officially graduating in 22 minutes and I couldn’t be happier. The suffering is over, it’s time to have fun!

[ryanrocca1]

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

After watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off and talking to my parents about it, we once again concluded that teen rebellion comes from parents spoiling their kids. The reason Ferris thinks he can do whatever he wants is because he is treated too well and he felt like the king of the world since he was a child. There is never a good reason to rebel, other than the fact that he feels like he can.

[ryanrocca1]

Yes I know, the girl to guy ratio is 9 to 2, but what else can you expect from Danny Vincent and myself? Anyway, the movie wasn't too great, but it wasn't too hard to understand the meaning behind it. After discussing it with my parents, we concluded the reason for teen rebellion is parents spoiling them and giving them what they want. Moving every time Jim got in trouble is a perfect example of his parents treating him too well. This makes him lose respect for them and he feels like he has the power to do whatever he wants and he makes irrational decisions like knife fights and chicke races. So the main topic is that parents try to treat their children like royalty and it backfires in their faces... Then they yelled at me and made me clean my room and threatened me if I didn't.

[ryanrocca1]

Aerosmith released the song Dream On in 1973, and in 2002, Eminem released the song Sing for them Moment, which included the exact same beat, and even the same chorus with the same lyrics. It's an obvious remix. Eminem attempts to rap with the chorus, but it doesn't exactly work out. He's trying to appeal to older audience with the chorus and beat, but older audience reject it for his style, and fans of his style reject it because he uses the Aerosmith song. It's a lose lose situation for Eminem, and Steven Tyler pulls it off better. Because of this, the original song Dream On, is much better than the remix, and catchier as well.

[ryanrocca1]

Language Used as Oppression

Whether we realize it or not, language can be downgrading and oppressive. When somebody says “That’s so gay” when they think something is stupid or ridiculous, it is oppressing gays and calling them stupid or ridiculous. When somebody says “That’s retarded,” once again it’s oppressive. It’s oppressive to handicapped people. These are common examples that are indirect, but direct oppression is common as well. When somebody writes a note to somebody calling them a derogatory term, they are oppressing that person.

[ryanrocca1]

Conquered by a quiz

I've always been somebody who goes through life with a positive attitude doesn't let anything bring me down. That was until my freshmen year. It was a quiz in honors history, and I thought it was going to be easy since I took good notes and studied. I couldn't have been more wrong. Apparently I studied the wrong material, and when the quiz was sitting in front of me, I completely blanked out. I failed it and it brought me down more than anything ever had. I ended up getting a four out of ten. I was in disbelief. I was wrecked emotionally, I couldn't think straight, and I didn't know what was going to happen. I thought about my future and figured my full-ride scholarship to U of M was flushed down the drain. I was conquered by the quiz. But then a few days later I told myself to get over it, and I did. I realized it was just one quiz so it didn't matter that much. I didn't care at all after about two days. Therefore, I overcame my conquering, and conquered that quiz.

[ryanrocca1]

I got a job working as a sign holder for Great Clips, and I thought it was going to be amazing. I thought it would be too good to be true. All I had to do was wear a costume, hold a sign, wave at people, listen to music, and bust a move every once in a while. After that, they paid me around 10 dollars an hour. Sounds like the perfect job right? Nowhere near right. First of all, the three hours I had to work almost every day felt like forever, and the heat in the costume on a warm summer’s day could be unbearable. I would dance for some cars that went by, and after I had sweet moves for the first group of cars, I knew it would be unfair if I didn’t dance for the others. So there I was dancing for three straight hours (even though it seemed like much longer) in the blistering heat, in a sweaty costume. The heat was getting to me, and so was the boredom, and so was my thirst, and my music was getting old. I did this many days during the summer, so my pain just kept going. One day I literally lost four pounds because it was so hot and I was dancing so much. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that the costume gave me a skin disease. I thought it would be fun (and it sort of was at first) but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

[ryanrocca1]

Epiphany

After I ran my first mile in middle school, I realized something that changed my life for the better. I found out not only that I was athletic beyond my knowledge, but also something else that was much more important. I found out that when I connected suffering to success, I become great. All my life, I was just trying to go with the flow, deciding when to try and when not to. Looking back, I noticed that the classes I worked hard in and suffered in were the classes that I found the most success in, and the ones that I was the most proud of. I then began to work hard with running. I suffered with it, but I found success. I then began applying this rule to other aspects of my life and I found greatness. I became successful with sports, academics, and personal hobbies like juggling. Nothing else contributed to my life as greatly, and I couldn't have been happier.

[ryanrocca1]

The Mask

When somebody puts on a mask, it allows them to hide their true identity and pretend to be somebody they aren't. Once they wear that mask long enough and pretend to be that way long enough, they start to grow into the mask and actually become who they are pretending to be.

[tonymulka]

In our class discussion, Nanny’s decision to marry off Janie was one of the primary focuses. Some seemed to think that in the heat of the moment, Nanny punished Janie by forcing her to marry Logan. I think that even though the writing makes it appear as though it is a punishment, it is obvious...

[ryanrocca1]

How would Nanny’s decision to force Janie to marry Logan cause Janie to struggle to truly love someone else? That would be a perfectly understandable claim if stays with Logan and is miserable for the rest of her life, but that’s not the case at all. Janie always had hope that she would find true love, and when the moment came, she immediately left Logan. Although none of her relationships make it, she does find happiness and never loses hope. Being forced to marry Logan had no impact on Janie’s innability to find a strong, lasting relationship.

[mackenzie-blomberg-blog]

I’m actually very intrigued at this point of Their Eyes Were Watching God. The most complex/interesting thing to me at this point are the relationships that Janie has shared with multiple men now. It seems like she is a very strong minded woman, but never seems to speak up or act out on what she...

[ryanrocca1]

I completely disagree. Janie is a character that definitely acts upon what she wants. If she was the type of person you described her to be (unable to make her own decisions and not willing to speak up), then she would've stayed with Logan all of her life. Compared to her grandmother who was a slave that was beaten and raped, she would've had a decent life. Instead, with the element of hopefulness guiding her, she was able to leave Logan in an attempt to find true happiness and love. I agree that Janie is strong-minded, but she is also strong enough to speak and act upon what she wants. Her multiple relationships and the journey she goes on proves this exactly.

[ryanrocca1]

Here are my two prototypes with feedback. Overall, I decided to make a storybook about hopefulness. My goal is to try to convince the readers of my claim that hopefulness is the best guide in life. Each page will have information from a different source. This should work out well, but if it doesn't, I could always make an interpretive dance for my back-up.

[ryanrocca1]

This was my ideology. Sorry that it's hard to read, but the obvious winner was an interactive story book about hope. If this doesn't work however, I can always do an interpretive dance.