The documentary, Servant or Slave, is directed by Steven McGregor as it discusses the unacknowledged past of Aboriginal people in Australia. When the Australian Constitution came into effect on January 1, 1901, the original people of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, were excluded from the protection the Constitution provided and were discriminated against. In this movie the heartbreaking experiences of the Wenberg sisters- Adelaide, Valerie (Linow) and Rita, as well as Rita Wright and Violet West, are portrayed as they celebrate their pursue for justice for the crimes that were committed against them during their childhoods. This film looks at the past issues of indentured servitude that was prevalent in Australia from the late 1800s to the mid 1970s. Taken from their families as young children thousands of Indigenous girls were forced into slavery to become domesticized by the Australian government, and then soon employed as servants but denied proper wages. The picture below depicts two girls playing in a field with a car driving towards them. Little did they know that these men in this car would take them away from their families forever. It is hard to imagine that taking children away from their families was so casual to the Australian government. This documentary is a cry for justice from these Indigenous women as they hope the abusive actions against their Stolen Generation will be heard so people will never repeat the awful crimes again. (more…)
13 Assassins was a movie about a group of samurai in feudal Japan that are hired to assassinate the shogunate’s brother. This was ordered by the senior adviser to the Shogun after the Shogun’s brother Naritsugu raped his son’s wife and committed multiple murders while as a guest in a Lord’s home. Furthermore, there is a lot of evidence for his cruel and power hungry motives. The senior adviser see that and hires Shinzaemon a very skilled Samurai, to track down and assassinate Naritsugu. With the help of a friend and his nephew Shinzaemon is able to gather 12 men for this mission. This gets complicated when a nearby rich and powerful clan the Ashika get involved and provide at first 70 but ultimately become 200 soldiers for the protection of Naritsugu. The commander of the Ashika, Hanbei and Shinzaemon are former rivals and throughout the middle of the movie try to out think the other in strategy. Even though they are severely outnumbered the 13 Samurai travel through the forest as to not get spotted by the Ashika and then convert a small town Ochiai into a deathtrap ready for the Ashika Army. As the Ashika army passes through Hanbei realizes something is wrong and attempts to flee just to get cut off by explosives and traps at every road. The fight starts off well for the Samurai but the numbers prove to be too great and one by one the are cut down while inflicting major losses in the Ashika army. Towards the end of the battle Shinzamon and Hanbei cross paths at the edge of the town and the battle comes down to a one on one which Shinzaemon wins. Shinzaemon turns his attention to Naritsugu and they have a conversation about ruling and where power truly comes from. Naritsugu is stabbed and shows how scared he is of dying and acts a karmic retribution for all the cruel things he did to innocent people. Shinzaemon finished the job by cutting off his head and dies following the battle wounds he suffered. His final words are a plea to his nephew (the only surviving samurai) to not follow in his footsteps and to do whatever he wants in his life because a Samurais life is a great burden. At the end of the film we see him holding a sword but symbolically putting it down and smiling. (more…)
Being from New York, this film immediately caught my attention. The award winning filmmaker Ken Burns produced this movie in order to share stories from various black and Latino teenagers from Harlem who had been wrongly convicted. These teens allegedly raped white woman in central park at the same time drugs and gangs grew to be the norm in New York City. This film takes place in New York City in the late 1980’s, the City was described to have a social mote that divided the danger from the safety, however crime was spreading at this time which was all throughout the city. The crack wars begun which meant teenagers were carrying guns which lead to the rise of crime rates.
Research says “The most endangered species in the late 1980’s was the young black male.” Real men who had been wrongly convicted share their teenage stories from this time. The police were after these black and Latino teenagers that had been minding their own business the night of April 19th 1989 in Central Park. “The only crime I committed that night was jumping over the Subway gate.” A false convict explained. A Latino male gets emotional while sharing his story from that night, after being chased by the police they called him an animal and beat him. Once he had been handcuffed and taken to prison the guards asked him what was on his face – he had explained a police officer had hit him and the fellow employees asked to point them out as if he was lying. (more…)
This genre of music has taken over the world. The genre is originally from South Korea. It’s called K-pop also known as Korean popular music. It took years for Kpop to become as huge as it is today. With the help of the internet, Kpop and Kpop fans are able to share this specific genre of music. It all started with the one and only, Psy. His song “Gangman Style” blew up worldwide. K-pop has helped South Korea showcase their culture to the world. K-pop is not only a genre of music but a lifestyle. It comes with skincare, make-up, clothing, and more. When people see Kpop music videos, they notice all of the points I pointed out.
Red Velvet, Big Bang, Twice are great examples. Red Velvet style is more bold, eye-catching chic. Big Bang has a classic bad boy style. Twice has a bubbly, cute, bright concept. With different styles comes along with different type of music.
Red Velvet
Big Bang
Twice
Dean is a great example of American pop influencing Kpop. His music sounds like it was produced in the United States. If you can listen to his song “Sorry not Sorry,” you can hear the influences. A classic example and also the default example that people have about Kpop will be Girls’ Generation, specifically their mega-hit “Gee.” This is the foundation of Kpop. Most female trainees (people who train to become Kpop idols) learn Girls’ Generation and wish to become as big and successful as them. Super Junior and Big Bang are the equivalents for male trainees. (more…)
The majority of the Muslim world lives in Southeast Asia so a lot of the music has a lot of Muslim influence. But new bands have taken a more Americanized approach to the music scene, like purgatory. Purgatory is a type of Slipknot esque band based in Indonesia and their known as the godfather of the death metal scene in Southeast Asia. They have been around for the last 20 years with their base of operation in Jakarta here they have released a total of 9 studio albums with their best album being M.O.G.S.A.W. (Messenger of God Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam referring to Muhammad) this song puts a new twist to the stagnate Muslim style music witch has allowed them to pave there own path in the music industry. Although they have been around the longest they don’t see a end in site they like to change there style every now and again by bring a DJ in to the line up to mix the death metal with Electro music.
The founders of this metal group where Hendrie on the bass and vocals, Lutfie on the guitar, Al on the drums and Arief also on the Guitar. There is no date of formation for the band they were just doing it as a passion between there friend group but we do known it was formed around 1991. We also now where the name comes from, it was inspired by the Horror movie A nightmare on Elm Street in the movie there was an arrow that had the word Purgatory written on it and that’s what inspired Lutfie and his little brother Al to make it their bands name. They underwent several legal battles from other bands with the same name, the courts final decision was that it was unclear who had the name first and allowed both to keep the name. (more…)
The documentary Vietnam Symphony is about the Hanoi Conservatory of Music (now called the Vietnam National Academy of Music) during the Vietnam War. When the first bombing raid by the US occurred, the Vietnamese Government moved all of the schools in the country from the cities to the countryside where they were less susceptible to bombings. The conservatory was relocated to a small village called Xung Phu where students and teachers had to leave their family and friends for the duration of the war. They brought their own instruments, bringing larger instruments like pianos via trucks and trains, the teachers and students of the conservatory had to do all the moving. Along with this, they dug an underground campus with pathways between classrooms so they could stay underground at all times away from possible bombings. These efforts show how dedicated they were to continue to teach and learn music despite the war. The group lessons were taught in the underground classrooms but individual lessons were often taught above ground in villager’s houses because there was enough space to do so. The conservatory only had one piano for all of its students so it was used 24 hours per day every day and students would take shifts practicing. The generation of Vietnamese musicians that came from this era of the school is known for having extreme passion in their singing and musical play due to having to be relocated and fearing for their lives during the war. (more…)
Every year 40,000 villagers migrate to the desert after the yearly monsoon hits to begin mining salt for the next eight months. My Name Is Salt, is a documentary that was filmed in 2014 to give outsiders a glimpse into the hard realities of salt mining. The film has minimal talking and lots of silence other than the sounds of the pumps, mud being moved, and nails being hammered into machinery. Farida Pacha, who is the producer, said that the most important sound in the film was, “the pump, which is like a heartbeat through the film.” The documentary follows a man named Sanabhai, who is a perfectionist, and his family while they are living in the desert from September until April trying to harvest the most pure white salt. He lives in the desert with his wife, two children and some other relatives in a tent. Each member of the family takes on a role in the salt harvesting and even the children work in the mornings until they attend school during the day. In order to harvest the salt Sanabhai had to take out a loan from a salt merchant before he began his mining season in the desert, in order to afford all the equipment. By the time April arrives the salt merchant he says that Sanabhai’s crystals are not white enough and are too small in size. Because of this Sanabhai will not make as much money as he had anticipated for the season. After the season comes to a close, the families will move back to their homes before the anual monsoon washes away all their seasons work.
The documentary, Among the Believers, provides an in depth and exclusive view of Abdul Aziz and his work to impose sharia law throughout Pakistan. The film follows Abdul Aziz on his path to promote extreme Islam views, as well as two children who have experienced the Red Mosque first hand. The Red Mosque is a school for students in which Islam extremists require their students to memorize the quran and fight for their extreme views in exchange for free housing, meals, and their “access into heaven.” Here, students spend the entirety of their days memorizing the verses of the quran, although they are not taught the actual meaning behind the words.
The first Red Mosque was built in 1965 and ran by Maulana Abdullah until his assassination in 1998. Soon thereafter, his son, Abdul Aziz, was left in charge of the mosque, turning it into a place of open opposition to the government and extreme islamic teachings. Although many people of the mosque claim it to be peaceful, Abdul Aziz and his followers are heavily tied to ISIS and the Taliban in Pakistan. The current state of Pakistan is filled with political unrest and civil war, due to islamic extremist such as Abdul Aziz and his followers, fighting for sharia law to be implemented as law throughout the country. In response, the Pakistani government retaliated by killing many relatives of Abdul and invading mosque’s that were built around the country for his teachings. However, as Aziz’s power began to decline, his followers and the student’s of the mosques began to retaliate and fight against the government’s attempts to shut down their schools. As consequence, ties between his students and other radical groups such as ISIS and the Taliban were strengthened. (more…)
Michael Owuo Jr. is a British rap artist that goes by the stage name Stormzy. He was born in London, England in 1993. I started listening to his music about a month ago. I usually listen to an odd combo of various rap music and Broadway musicals. I decided that I wanted to try something new, so I started listening to Stormzy. I am very into the English culture because of my passion for The English Premier League. Soccer and music are closely tied in England, and that’s where I found Stormzy. He is featured in a song by Jorja Smith called Let Me Down, and that is the first one I fell in love with. After that, I fell for 100 Bags, Cigarettes & Cush, Blinded by Your Grace Pt. 1 as well as the acoustic and non-acoustic versions of Blinded by Your Grace Pt. 2.
Stormzy’s music has American and British elements to it which he attributes to the inspiration he found in American artists such as Kanye West, Jay-Z, and Lauryn Hill. Most of the rap in England is very different from the rap music that we listen to in the states. In the USA, many rappers will intersperse a lot of singing into the rap songs. That is something that rarely happens with British rappers. I’ve also found that the cadence and the rhythm vary drastically in England. That is something that threw me off when I first started listening to it. Stormzy, on the other hand, has a rapping style very similar to Drake and Childish Gambino here in the US. His style, while dynamic, still has a distinct flavor that would group him with American musicians more. He will sing and rap in his songs for a combo that is rare in England. (more…)
Gagarin: First in Space, directed by Pavel Parkhomenko, follows the story of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin (acted by Yaroslav Zhalnin). The film is set in the 1950’s-60’s in Russia — the era of the Soviet Union’s rule in much of Northern and Central Eurasia. This movie is unique in the sense that it displays dramatic scenes of Gagarin’s life through reflections while he is on his newest excursion.
Who Is Gagarin?
In school I had always heard the famous history about the Space Race between Russia and the United States. I knew that the United States had suffered a major loss when Russia became the first country to send a man into space; however, I never really knew who that man was. Who was the person inside the Russian spacecraft Vostok 1, and what led him to that point?
“Yuri Gagarin”
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin, the son of a carpenter, was born in Klushino in Smolensk, Russia in 1934. He had early beginnings in metal works, and later went on to technical school, where he joined a flying club. His interest in flying led him to attend the Soviet Air Force cadet school, where he would later become a fighter pilot in 1957.
