TedTalk -- Jason Porter

While watching this Ted Talk, there was one thing that caught me off guard right from the start. Amanda Palmer’s eyebrows were really bothering me. I hate to bring it up, but when she walked out on stage, I had no clue what I was about to hear or what to think of her opinion. I think that I kind of judged her before she even opened her mouth, which was, to say the least, not a very nice thing to do. As the video progressed, I really did not know where she was headed with her speech, much less what it was about. But then, out of no where, it all clicked. I think that I realized what the Ted Talk was about was when she started talking about how one of the band members did not like asking for “help” but that the rest of the band did not mind. I really liked her outlook on how fans will “give” to people that they idolize like Amanda, but might hesitate to pay a sticker price and might download it illegally just because they can. When Amanda Palmer dropped her label and no longer made people pay to listen to her music, she gained an incredible insight. She found that if she simply asked for help from her fans, that they would donate an overwhelming amount of money, just to support her. When the fans were not being told that they had to pay a certain amount, many of them gave money anyways just to help Amanda out so that she could get by and live off of music and continue producing the music that her fans have come to know and love. At the end of this Ted Talk, the whole message was clear and  evident, don’t be afraid to ask when you need help and have trust in others, because most of the time, people will surprise you.

AMANDA PALMER - Erika Funke

Surprisingly, I actually enjoyed this TED talk. Amanda Palmer was trying to convey that people should not pay for music but the choice of donating to pay the artist should be allowed. I most definitely agree that people should not pay for music, but I do not agree that people should “ask without shame”. That part just seemed strange to me.

            This ted talk reminded me of a  “Pretty Lights”. Pretty Lights has amazing music and does not sell their music, but allows the option to donate. They don’t believe that someone should be selling their art for the profit of money. They just want to express it for free. I personally think this is how music should be. It makes me respect the artists so much more.

            Her opening about being the statue was rather surprising and I guess pretty inspirational. I’ve never personally met a street performer, but in an episode of Workaholics they follow a coworker and find out he’s a street performer and have mad respect for him after that. I would say I felt the exact same way. The fact that she can go from being a struggling street performer connecting with people via flowers to a successful artist connecting with people through her music was a very good comparison.

            I honestly hope that her message becomes the future of music. Music is a passion and a type of expression. The art of music should not be sold to a label, it should not cost the fans money, and it should be free. I don’t usually like most TED talks, but this was a fairly inspirational one. I did Google pictures of her after they showed that picture of her and found out she has long armpit hair… not going to lie that was pretty repulsing. But then I Googled her music and it was all right. 

Ted talk- Christine LaBarbera

I was really intrigued by this Ted talk. I think what Amanda Palmer is doing is such a cool and insightful thing. At the beginning I was confused as to how she was going to connect her job as a statue to the “art of asking” but the talk as a whole was neat how she ended up connecting all the parts of her life with music and with people. She used terms to describe her life that just made me want to be her. My favorite concepts that she described were “couch surfing” and “random closeness”. Its like I have always felt the things she was talking about but never really put them in words. I have had many experiences of random closeness and the fact that she is making a career out of hers makes me really happy. She whole heartedly trusts the world enough to openly put herself out there. She relates her life to crowed surfing in a really powerful metaphor. She is connecting with complete strangers in a way resulting in being able to ask for anything without a fear or shame. What she is doing is giving her music to the public in exchange for trust. I completely respect what she is doing and I wish there were more people like her in our world because if so everyone would be trusted and be trusting and the world would be a better place. She is conveying that if we LET the people do what they want in exchange for what they see fitting more people are apt to be happy with the music they want. I envy her life and feel like she is an open book, she knows who she is and isn’t afraid to trust her fans without risk. It’s cool to see how her past “job” has made her this way. The asking hat reminded me of a few months ago on the streets of New Orleans there was a band and a singer performing and my boyfriend asked me if I wanted to dance. Right there on the street we danced along to the music for like 20 minutes and it was so much fun and so public but we didn’t care because we knew the band appreciated it. I will never forget that moment and when we walked on our way we dropped twenty dollars in their hat and thanked them much like Amanda Palmer did with the flower and the eye contact. We gave the money because we were happy that they were out there inspiring us to dance and connect with them. This is one of the random closeness experiences I have had and I couldn’t agree more with what Amanda is doing with her life.

Trust the world - Laura Wewers

           Usually when one hears a Ted talk, it is from a person of high education with a lot of experience in his field that he gives a talk on.  But for Amanda Palmer, she is giving a talk on her life and how even though we believe that the world can no longer be trusted, she has found the loop hole that proves that if you just ask, the world is there to catch you when you fall if only you let them.

            This Ted Talk was very mind opening.   It my opinion it takes massive skill to ask for help.  And Amanda Palmer has perfected that art.  But it makes me wonder if all the help and attention and genuine trust could come to anyone or if there is something special about Ms. Palmer that draws others to her.  This video makes me want to listen to her music to see how she is affecting all of those 25,000 people enough to contribute to her great success via trust and donations. 

            It was awe-inspiring how she was able to morph her street statue work into her full out career and genuinely trust her fans to let them help her in her journey in all sorts of ways.  I believe that it is her outlook on life, seeing trust not risk, which gives her the courage to trust the world.  But the way that I and many others have grown up, we no longer trust the world but keep everyone at a distance until we can learn more about them to build trust, instead of just freely giving that trust to anyone and everyone.

            It would be very interesting to repeat her experience to see if it was her personality and music that brought all those people together or whether society as a whole can be trusted to help others when they are asked. 

The Street Stops Here

“The Street Stops Here” is a documentary based on the small Catholic High School a mist the worst neighborhoods of New Jersey.  The documentary is about the basketball team at the school with a tough-loving coach who has turned the lives of hundreds of kids from crime and poverty.  Bob Hurley has been the coach of the team for 37 years transforming boys off the streets in to college bound men.  Only two players throughout his tenure failed to reach college.  The main argument of the film is taking the kids coming from difficult backgrounds and helping them to find themselves on the basketball court.  The film shows all aspects of the players and coaches lives from practices to games even their homes.  Also, Hurley’s coaching style grasps the attention of the viewer with his demanding tactics to make his players the best.  He believes he is the most demanding person every single player has come across and that’s why he has the success he does.  During the documentary Saint Anthony’s has many financial struggles compounded by the Wall Street collapse and through thick and thin Hurley is there to keep things in line the best he can with the basketball program being the main fundraising vehicle for the entire school.  Burno in the film is a young man who grew up in disaster he essentially raised himself because his mother died when he was 7 and he never has met his father.  He says that one man changed that and Hurley is the mentor with great passion and leadership. His coaching style is intense and full of swears and tirades which he believes are psychological tactics employed to keep his players grounded and to demonstrate that, in basketball and in life, every action has consequences. The story is truly remarkable, one man who has taken hundreds of adolescents off the streets brought them to Saint Anthony’s and with his demanding demeanor he has got the message across to all of his players that if they buy into his system, no matter how hard it may, be there is no limit on how far they can go.  The documentary was filmed in 2007-8 and I am familiar with the players from his program doing unbelievable things in college basketball as well as going forward. 

Catfish- Andrew Anderson

This weekend when I was thinking about what documentary to watch, I thought about all of the boring History channel shows, excluding Ancient Aliens of course, the different ones on National Geographic, and the two hour long documentaries of Biography TV and I began to really dread this blog.  Then I thought of the new MTV show Catfish.  It is a documentary style TV show that helps unite people that met over the internet.  In the episode I decided to watch, the host Nev helped a girl meet a guy she met on facebook.  At the beginning of the show, they go to the person and interview them about their feelings, about their relationship with the other person, and what they know about the other person.  In the next part they do a lot of research on the other person to see if they really are the person they claim to be.  From there they contact the person to see if they can meet up.  The rest of the show is about them meeting and their reactions.  In the particular episode I saw, the girl thought she was talking to this guy for over a year and that they had made an emotional connection.  As Nev did his research, he began to find a lot of flaws in the “guys” facebook page.  Despite this, they still set up a meeting.  When she was waiting to see the guy, a girl walked out and said that she was the “guy” and that she was doing it just to be mean to the girl.  In the end, the girl had major relationship issues now and the other girl continues to use the “guys” facebook page to mess with people.   This was probably the best possible documentary to watch.  It was about something that was very interesting and they did it in a way that held my attention.

Erika Funke- Bo Jackson documentary

            The documentary I recently viewed was titled, “You Don’t Know Bo”. This documentary follows the life of Bo Jackson. Bo Jackson has been dubbed throughout history as one of the greatest players to play both professional baseball and football in the same year. This documentary follows Bo’s journey from high school football/baseball to the professionals. This film arguably states that Bo Jackson was the greatest athlete of all time, but not recognized for his achievements (he was not in the hall of fame for either sport). The documentary used visuals and interviews to enhance the impact of the legend of Bo Jackson through out his years as well as the famous campaign slogans present during his career.

            The film covered not only the life of Bo Jackson, but also the lives of the people impacted by his story. A variety of interviews ranging from his high school coach to his professional opponents were present. The documentary used a variety of rhetorical appeals to convince the audience of the argument. The documentary cited a multitude of quotes and statistics as well (enhancing the impact of the argument). The NIKE ads and footage present during Bo’s time gave the audience a vast understanding of who Bo Jackson was to the public during late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

            Personally, I was convinced concerning the argument of the film. I was truly not aware of how athletic and legendary Bo Jackson was and still is today. But I disagree on the way the film portrayed Bo Jackson. I believe that Bo Jackson was supposed to be presented to the audience as being a humble athlete; instead it portrayed him as a prideful man who knew what he was doing. I feel as if the editors could have portrayed him as a more humble person by not including his commentary as often. Overall, this film was convincing and informative.