This week we discussed artist and dreams. Learning about dreams was the most memorable part for me this week. According to the studies of Sigmund Freud dreams can not be easily interpreted and is essentially the Id trying to express itself in a conceptual form through sleep. I love learning about psychology, so reading about other peoples thoughts and philosophies on certain events is interesting to me. I always thought dreams- especially my dreams- were completely useless but now i will start to think of my dreams differently.
One important Renaissance figure we discussed in humanities was a man named Machiavelli. Machiavelli was an interesting figure in the Renaissance who's view on leadership was both controversial and blunt. He believed that any actions that will make some one become successful and gain power was necessary, even if it was harmful to another person. His ideology is interesting to me, even though I don't agree with some of his statements. The belief that fear is a more effective form of leadership than love can be heavily debated and that is what draws me to this topic. One can't help but to appreciate his honesty about getting ahead in society. For him he was just making a book over his observation of strong figures of his time, which made people feel that his book was immoral and harsh. I feel that his observation is correct. Many public figures and others use a fear based method to rise above in society. This week in humanities we had to memorize at least ten Shakespearean lines of our choice. First we learned of some techniques that can be used to help your memory. One of the ways to help memorize something is say it over and over again to yourself. If that doesn't work then you could write it or act it out. Writing it was the more successful option for me. I chose to memorize ten lines from Hamlet. We are reading it in my English class so I felt that it would be the best option for me. I picked those lines because it is one of the best responses I have heard any character in a story say to someone. There are many good lines to choose from in Hamlet, but that was my favorite by far. He is basically saying that he knows what Guildenstern is up to and he cannot be played like an instrument. Pico Della Mirandola's the oration on the dignity of man was his philosophy of the placement of man and dignifying humans full potential. Pico. Ranks humans above beast and angels because of are ability to learn and grow as species. Pico feels that humans should rise up and try to ascend to be next to God. Meaning we as people should strive for greatest, which according to Pico is plausible. I feel Pico Della Mirandola's theology is correct and I could understand his reasoning on this subject. The environment that is associated with classical music amplifies the effect it has on its audience. Classical music has an essence of opulence and intelligence that is normally relatable to its audience. The social setting classical music was produced in helped with the significance of the music There are some major inaccuracies in Kingdom of Heaven's, but overall I am actually surprised by how much of the characters and events that took place in the movie that are true to history. When making a big budget Hollywood movie with stars like Liam Neeson and Orlando Bloom historical accuracy is not in the forefront of moviegoers minds'. So to judge harshly on the film is pointless to me. Events that are depicted nicely are the battle scenes and the communications with Muslims, Christians, and Jews. The article by Richard Warren Field states, "Lord Balian’s subjects at Ibelin as being Jews and Muslims is also well- supported by history". The inaccuracies are jarring -such as love triangles, unknown characters, and battle scenes that never happened- but it is entertaining none the less and after watching you will now something about the crusades that you didn't know before. One question we were asked in our journal was how long would it take to write a one hundred page book. I wrote that it would take me a year, taking my normal working pace into consideration. I know that I could finish it in half the time, but I have other things to do and would go little by little. It would also depend on the subject matter. If the book was over something I liked then it would be easier to write. If I had to write something about post-colonialism in the 1800's it would take awhile. I guess it depends on the content. We started off the week by observing an old tapestry that depicted people standing around a fountain in a lush garden with wild animals surrounding them. It turns out it was a pleasure garden in the dark ages. Pleasure gardens were used in the medieval era for entertainment purposes. There were many gardens the people of the dark ages used and different uses for them, such as a kitchen garden used only for personal consumption and a cloister garden used for praying and meditation in a monastery. Another garden produced was a medicinal garden that grew plants to help specific ailments such as the foxglove plant, poppy seed, and licorice plant. Today in humanities we watched a video about the every day life of a Roman woman/girl. Some of the information I learned in the film was new to me, such as naming their daughters all the same names. I also didn't know that the wealthy Romans owned so many slaves. | AuthorArchivesCategories |
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