Summary-response

Sunny Kim

645 R&W

Amy Lee

05/31/13

Summary-response

Leonard Pittis Jr., in “Beauty Is Not Just Smaller Than Life,” describes the tendency to be enthusiastic towards the more slender body shape. The perception of the beauty has changed. The womanly curves became a bad thing and women prefer to be thinner. That’s because of the influence of the mass media. Mass media shows the models that look nice and achievable, so women are getting more dissatisfied with their appearance. Unlike the feminists who insist that the solution is for men to stop objectifying women, the author argues that the gate-keepers of media should become more conscientious about describing the beauty of women in all its dimensions.  We also have to try to influence the girls closest to us to be satisfied with themselves.

          According to the author, pop culture makes women frustrated with their appearance and gives them the desire to be thinner like models in magazine. I agree with the author. I learned this content when I took the class, the ethics of communication, in my home university. Mass Media always gives the ideal model of women, and this model type seems to be achievable. Models appear to commonly exist in the real world. That concept makes women get some pressure that they have to get the appearance that the social media gives them. However, as many people already know, to be similar with the model of mass media is really difficult, even though the model that media shows exists in real. Persistence to get ideal appearance seems to be abnormal in modern society. How about we think about what is more important, appearance or mind.

Summary-response

Valuable Things in Our Lives

If you get a chance to choose only one of 5 gifts, love, fame, riches, pleasure, or death, then what would you chose? Mark Twain’s short story, “The five boons of Life,” focuses on what is valuable in the life. The story describes the man who gets this choice. Twain conveys the idea that what we may think is most valuable is not actually so.

“The five boons of Life” begins with a fairy telling a man to choose carefully from the five things. So, the man chooses pleasure. He lives a life of pleasure but after short time he finds it is vain and wasted. The fairy comes to him again he can chooses again. There are 4 things without pleasure, and he chooses love. Many years later, his love has ended and he feels grief. He fails to choose the most valuable thing twice even though he chooses values that many people think are most valuable.

The fairy comes again, and he chooses fame. He notices that hate and pity result fromfame. As he sits solitarily the fairy comes again and the man chooses wealth. Three years later, he is wearing rags. He regrets and realizes the most valuable thing is death. The fairy comes to him, but there is no death, but only the wanton insult of old Age. The author tells us that there is irony in the qualities that we believe to be valuable.

The man says,“Pleasure, love, fame, riches: they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities- pain, grief, shame, poverty.” In the end, he draws the conclusion that the things he chose aren’t always good.

There are many values in life. Many people try to follow these and try to get them. This short story gives us some questions. Are the values that we think that are best really that good? Can we live a valuable life if we choose the values that everyone thinks are valuable? I can’t say that death is best value and valuable. But we can learn from this story what we think that is most valuable can be wrong. What about you? What values do you think are really valuable?

 

Book report> “The Notebook,” by Nicholas Sparks

“The Notebook,” by Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks, in “The notebook” describes the unchangeable passion and love of a couple even though they have separated for 14 years. There is a man whose name is Noah and there is a woman whose name is Allie. Noah and Allie have been missing each other though they broke up 14 years ago because of her parents’ refusal. Allie who engaged with another man decide to go to see Noah before she get married with her fiancé. So, they meet each other again and they feel passion and love to each other. After 2 days later Allie’s mother comes and Allie decide to go to see her fiancé, but she come back to Noah right away and they get married. About 50 years later, Allie get Alzheimer unfortunately, but Noah always visits her and reads their love story to her.

           This story is a real love story. I think this story line is a little bit expectable but I wasn't been bored when I read the book. I like this book and I was impressed by this book. First, I have always thought that there aren’t any eternal things in the world, including love. While reading this book, I was been impressed by their sincere love. How can they love each other despite separating 14 years? While I read this story, I could feel how much they loved each other and their passion to each other. I also learned that there can be some unchangeable things like Noah’s love. Second, I like the description of the author. He describes the characters' feelings so minutely. Therefore, I can catch the thought progression of the characters. He also describes nature well and I can feel the nature and the circumstances  matching. Last, I learned the importance to follow one's own heart. Allie who is engaged with another man can’t decide who the right person is for her and is confused. The impressing scene is when her mother, who had refused Noah, tells Allie that the most important thing is her feeling and she would always love her daughter whatever she does. Allie is torn between love and status. Finally, she chooses Noah and she thinks that is the right decision for her. She follows her heart, which made it the right decision. I think that following the heart is difficult sometimes but that it is the right decision. If I follow my mind, then there isn’t any regret at least. I realize that I also should hear my mind and try to follow my heart. I would recommend this book to others for that reasons.

"Five Things to Love about Psy's 'Gentleman' Video" by Gerrick D. Kennedy

 

Gerrick D. Kennedy, in “Five things to love about Psy’s ‘Gentleman’ video,” describes the reason that we can love about Psy’s “Gentleman” video. The article mentions that Korean pop star,Psy, comes back with his follow-up music video for his latest single “Gentleman.” The author said that “…here’s five things we loves about the video.”First, we can learn a new dance more swaggerly than“Gangnam style”. There are also pranks and comedy, easily understood by an international. Third, we can see Psy’s couture fashion in his music video. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics, you can enjoy the video.

In sum, the author explains what’s to love about Psy’s“Gentleman” video. I already saw this video before reading this article, and I love the video. As the author mentions, there are pranks in the video, and the music video is really funny. There are many humorous scenes including Psy interruptinga man who really wants to go to restroom. I think most people can understand the humor in the music video even if they have different nationalities and cultural backgrounds. The rest of the reasons are also reasonable. But the author fails to mention the prospects of the music video. Despite this, I appreciated the author’s detailed explanation of five things we can love about the video. I could know the things that make the video attractive. I would recommend this story to others for that reason.

 

*You can enjoy Psy's "Gentleman" music video. Go to this Link. 

->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ

 

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