On Justin Bieber's single "Boyfriend"

So I'm going to start out by saying that since I've come to college I've been a bit slow on listening to recently released music. I saw that he had a clip of it on Ellen and decided to give it a listen.

I'm not going vilify him here so if that's what you're looking for, I'm sorry. I think that in the past couple years, Justin Bieber has been more famous for the fact that he has a famous girlfriend and for the fact that a lot of people hate him. Neither of which says anything about his abilities as an artist.

So let the formal analysis begin.

The song begins with a rather annoying siren sound while he raps in a weird rhythm. I thought that he was going to go with a syncopated rhythm...but then he didn't. So that was a bit of a surprise and kind of cool, I guess. There is literally no hint of tonality in the first verse whatsoever, just the siren and rapping. So far nothing particularly catchy but I guess I have to listen to the entire thing. I will admit the repetition of "swag" is mildly irritating. Then comes the guitar/vocals section, which has an R&B kind of feel which is not ground breaking but not unpleasant. He seems to be doing the most singing here; as far as being a vocalist, he's fairly mediocre and the sound is breathy which I'm guessing is supposed to make all the girls out there love him.

The chorus is somewhat forgettable, I had to play it a few times to even try to remember it; mainly just moving stepwise. Not particularly catchy. The siren thing is starting to get on my nerves though.

So the rest of the song alternates between the chorus and him rapping about how awesome he could be if the anonymous girl he's singing to would only go out with him. It's supposed to be a song of seduction which has it's roots in the bard songs of the Medieval European courts. So...again. Nothing ground breaking.

It seems glaringly obvious that this song was contrived by songwriters to help perpetuate his image created by his publicists: a charming, "gentleman" with "cash to burn". Essentially, he's supposed to be the guy that young girls will fall in love with...and then use their money to buy his songs and make everyone who works with him really really rich.

Now, I know art is created for a variety of reasons, one of which is to sell money. But for me, the purest form of music expresses something about the artists' thoughts and feelings. All I can tell about Justin Bieber is that he wants to please everyone, namely his fans so that they will continue to support him financially. Other than that, we have no idea who he really is or what he thinks or feels. I almost wish he wrote a song about Selena and how happy she makes him or something like that to preserve some of his integrity. I guess I also feel a bit of pity that he has to keep up this image to continue supporting himself...and then I remember that the money he brings in from this one song is enough to put me through four years of Wellesley. And then I don't feel as bad for him.

So all in all, this is a very mediocre song from a mediocre artist. I don't think this qualifies him for the hero worship given to him by girls ages 11-16 or so, or to be torn down by everyone else. I don't find it particularly entertaining or catchy, which is what I think most people expect from pop music. So I'm going to give it a C. Kind of just meh.

Hunger Games review

So this is going to have to be short since I need to pack and stuff to go back to school but I literally just got back from the theater and I felt like I needed to write something. Again, these are my personal opinions and if you don't like them...well, I'll leave it up to your imagination just what exactly you can do with them. I'm going to try really hard not to give away spoilers but if I do, I'm sorry.

So generally when I watch movies that are based off of books I usually feel really disappointed because they leave things out and the books have become way too important for me to judge the a movie as a piece of storytelling. Usually it just seems like a pale imitation of what I pictured the books to be like, and in extreme cases, completely and totally off from what I expected.

The Hunger Games did leave out a few details that I thought would have made it really chilling(i.e. the individualized wolves). Also, things felt incredibly rushed despite the fact that the film was two and a half hours long. So in that sense, yes the book was better. One other point worth making is that some details that they decided to keep(tesserae/how the names can be put in more than once, the fact that the medicine was expensive and paid for by the sponsors) were set up rather poorly. I only really realized this because I was watching the movie with someone who had never read the books. But once we realize that those shortcomings are a result of the medium and the makers, I think despite all of that it was a very good film.

So here's what I really liked about the film: the cinematography was kind of choppy whenever you were really supposed to be inside Katniss' mind which was a little bit headache inducing but a very important artistic choice, and I ultimately approve of it. Also, I liked how the background story(like with President Snow and Seneca, and Haymitch shmoozing) was shown rather than told up front, like it is in the book. It gives the viewer more of a sense of the characters' humanity which is interesting for me, but not Katniss' focus since she's trying to fight for survival. I would also like to commend Effie Trinket's performance ("But I don't think they can have dessert, and YOU can!"). Brill. Final note, the Career alliance seemed very playful when hunting people down which was horrific but also a good choice; I think it just enhanced the savagery of the Games and culminated with Cato's speech/realization(sorry to be vague, but trying not to spoil things).

Overall, I really liked what they did with the film. They filled out parts that I hadn't thought too much about and the things that I did were pretty much spot on. If they weren't, I think that they make perfect logical sense within the context of the film. If you haven't seen it, I would suggest that you go whenever possible. The odds will be ever in your favor.

The Art of Attraction: What women(and maybe men) really want

Warning: What you are about to read are my personal thoughts-they are not affiliated with the Wellesley College administration in any way. I just set up my blog on this account because I'm too lazy to keep switching gmail accounts. Also, I am of course up for polite discussion, but I will not squabble with you if you do not agree with my views.

I will put another disclaimer here that human relationships are incredibly complex and that this should definitely not be taken as a guide for the success of all relationships ever. These are just some observations that I have compiled from watching people I care about over the years.

So a few weekends ago, I ordered Dominos pizza online with D. On the website there were pizza tracker's by theme, one of which was a parody of romance fictions where a deep and oh so sexy man's voice said things like "Your pizza is being a prepared in the ovens that burn with the fires of my passion for you." in some indistinguishable European accent.

Hey, Girl...

We had a few giggles about that and then promptly enjoyed our meal. But then I realized that even though Dominos was using a parody, there is actually very serious market for romance novels and Cosmo magazines showing hot guys much as there is a market for Esquire and Playboy magazines for men. So naturally, I tried to think about why that is and then about why you should care(because I care a lot about you thinking deeply about things, anonymous reader).

Almost everyone I know, regardless of age, gender or sexual orientation, cares a lot about the success(or lack thereof) their romantic relationships. Everyone has been attracted to someone in their lifetime and from a biological standpoint, that makes total sense. Being sexually attracted to someone guarantees the reproductive success of our species. That is, if you have a baby with said attractive person, they are likely to survive for some reason.

And when we didn't think too much about anything deeper than that, things were pretty sweet. However, over the centuries, people have developed a slight obsession with the concept of Love, thus rendering sexual attraction(solely) as superficial. In our modern era, Love also means living your life out with someone, possibly with children.

That begs the question: what makes two people compatible for a long term relationship? The ideal that everyone strives for(the living together with children part) makes this incredibly complicated because there are a lot of factors to consider. I'm going to try and break it down as generally as possible though.

The most important distinction between Lust and "Love" is that when people are in Lust for someone they are attracted to the ideal that person implies, whereas when you love someone it has more to do with personality. For example(for you Wellesley ladies out there), if you meet a hot hot Harvard guy at a finals club you may find him attractive because he has the possibility of being rich, well-liked, belonging to something elite, what have you. Being in lust leaves room for people to cast the attractive person into whatever role they want. Essentially, you can still pretend said attractive person is your dream come true and gloss over some of the finer details. When you love a person, there is respect/appreciation for aspects of their personality: their intelligence, their wit, their compassion. These are things that you're not really thinking about when you're casting that person as Prince/Princess Charming. I'll use the example of my friends in general, because I do love them. I would not describe any of them as hot supermodels but everyone brings something unique to the table that I appreciate like humor, spontaneity, solidarity. Being in love means getting to really know a person.

While they say that opposites attract, if you want to travel the world and your significant other wants to stay in the suburbs and have a house with a white picket fence, there is going to be some conflict. Not saying that it won't necessarily work out, but it's definitely an obstacle. As far as personalities, I don't think anyone wants to date themselves but there has to be enough cross-over so that the S.O. can be empathetic to your situation but also bring something new to the table. Most importantly though, it has something to do with realizing that you are with a person, not a photoshopped model or athlete. A person with feelings and thoughts and imperfections, much like yourself and vice versa. For everyone, that is a frightening prospect.

There are a lot of reasons that long term relationship do not work for people. For some people, it is frightening enough that they do not want to open themselves up for longer relationships. Or maybe they're so superficially attractive that they've been approached by people who have no intention of finding out what an awesome personality they have. And of course, there are those individuals stuck in the friendzone who have fantastic personalities but for some reason they do not "click" with the object of their desires.

I think that essentially people want their significant other to be their best friend: someone they can laugh with, and cry with and get through awkward situations with. Usually though, it takes a lot of effort to notice such a person.

So with that, I will give you one piece of advice that will hopefully increase your chances at finding this concept of "Love" with someone: Don't show them the person you could be or want to be; show them the person that you are.

Places I hope to go to someday

If you have been in my dorm room, you'll know that I want to go travel all the beautiful places in my posters one day. If you know me, you know I have never been off North America(except to the Bahamas but I don't really count that). If you didn't know any of that...well now you do. My list keeps changing based off of what I learn in classes and the growing realization that if I'm going to travel, it's going to be with my money. But at the moment, here's my list of places I want to see.

1. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Even though Amsterdam had been fairly low on my radar before senior year of high school, it catapulted to number 1 for a couple reasons. 1) I really love northern Rennaissance/Baroque painters from the Netherlands like Jan Van Eyck and Vermeer. 2) It was part of the setting of John Green's novel, The Fault in Our Stars, which I wrote a review for in the Wellesley News and you can also read it here.

2. Taipei, Taiwan

Because my mom's from Taiwan, I am a little bit curious about, you know, where I come from. I can kind of say the same about Hong Kong but I feel like I would get overwhelmed there really quickly. Taiwan has a lot of awesome food that my mom makes for me but also has a lantern festival to celebrate the Lunar New Year that's famous world-wide.

3. Kyoto, Japan

Of course I'm game for going to anywhere in Japan but I learned about Kyoto from ARTH100 last semester because of the Byodo-in Temple or Phoenix Hall. I'll spare you the formal analysis of the architecture but there are a lot of amazing temples in Kyoto that I think would be really interesting to see.

4. Venice, Italy

Another place where I'd jump at the opportunity to go to the country but I think Venice itself is an intriguing place. Like Amsterdam, it's a city built on canals and people use awesome boats to get anywhere. Nuff said.

5. Paris, France

Another history rich city: I literally cannot see how you could ever get bored in Paris. There are 230493284038 cathedrals that I would want to hit first but then after that there are a bunch of other landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre...and then you get into the list of Cafes? Seriously, I wouldn't leave for like...a month. I would probably go everywhere Madeline told me to when I was little.

6. Anywhere in England that has castles

Because who doesn't love castles. 

Nostalgia for Middle School?

Still remember when this happened

A few weeks ago, I was converting old files into my iTunes and I started listening to all the songs that I downloaded during middle school. Don't get me wrong, Middle school sucked big time. Everyone was awkward, and everyone thought they were hot which was just blatantly untrue. As far as music goes, everyone pretty much had the same things that they heard on Kiss108. So there were very few songs that I'd probably listen to on a regular basis today.

Looking through all the music made me feel old, a sentiment I have been feeling more and more. It doesn't seem like six whole years since High School Musical came out(which you either thought was the coolest thing every or hated it with a burning passion). It doesn't seem like six years since, in my opinion, the best seasons of So You Think You Can Dance and American Idol aired. It was a much simpler time even though I do remember desperately wanting to get out of Hopkinton(sorry, Hopkinton).

Middle school was a time of awkwardness but the fact that I feel so far removed from it now makes me a little bit sad. Partly because now I have to go about the business of being an adult and doing things like actually trying to do well in school. Mostly because I feel like I really haven't done much with myself in the last six years.

Hopefully that changes in the next six years to come.

College life thus far...

Unfortunately, college will most likely not be this cool

Another beautiful day here at our lovely campus, and a reminder of Spring...and Spring Break. So, naturally I'm procrastinating again.

It's weird to think that this time last year I was checking my mailbox compulsively for those big envelopes. It's even weirder to think about all the awesome things that have happened in the last year like prom and graduation. The weirdest and most wonderful things though are the things that happened since my parents dropped me off at school in August. There are a lot of things that have happened that I totally did not anticipate, such as:

1) I ran across the MIT campus in the pouring rain
2) I watched Phineas and Ferb while having cheesecake and tea with upperclasswomen(on a weeknight!)
3) I got a 56 on my final, which counted for a significant portion of my grade.
4) I went to Mexico and did NOT get food poisoning.

Now I will put the disclaimer here: I realize that I go to a highly unusual college and will thus have a highly unusual experience. Also, my college experience is not supposed to be representative about what to the college experiences' of my peers. However, I do think that I can speak with some perspective about the college experience so far even though it really hasn't been too long.

To my knowledge, this does not happen to MIT students

I, like many of my peers, had certain expectations of what college would be like. I expected that exciting intellectual conversations would be around every corner, there would be activities galore to participate in, and intelligent and somewhat off-putting people would be everywhere I looked.

And this only happens once in a lifetime

In some ways, I guess that's kind of true-those things do happen on campus. But there are a ton of other things that happen here too, be it productions with titles like "The Vagina Dialogues" to interesting music as seen here. People fan-girl over Glee and funnily enough we do actually see guys here(!!!!). None of this stops them from being among the most brilliant people that I know...it just happens to put things in perspective. In short, it feels like I belong here a little bit more than I first thought I did.

Also, I feel like it's easier to fall into a niche in high school and fall into a routine. It was easy to do certain sports, or drama or clubs just because it's something that you've always been doing and you have continued to do because it will help you get into college. It's kind of like a crutch, something you will always have to fall back on. But what is invigorating(and terrifying) about college is that that does not have to be the case. I will tell you right now that I'm not doing a single activity that I pursued with vigor in highschool. And the world does not seem to be caving in because of it (I know, it seems IMPOSSIBRU!!!).

What most people don't talk about when you see them at Thanksgiving, or over Wintersession is that it's not always awesome and exciting. One look at WellesleyFML will tell you that people feel lonely and out of place a lot of times. So much so that yes, I have heard a LOT of people, not just here but everywhere, saying that they want to transfer schools for one reason or another. Even though I absolutely love our fair college, I felt homesick a lot more than I anticipated in the first semester and definitely felt like I was not doing as well in the classroom as I should.  Wellesley will kick your butt and make you feel like you are simply not good enough. A lot of people tell me that's just adjusting to college and I hope that's true.

The way I see it, college is not really about learning in the classroom because people can do that at any age, in any place. It's more a study of how to be an adult. It teaches you how to take care of yourself without your parents directly behind your shoulder. It teaches you how to deal with balancing academics(which is a stand-in for a future job) and your private life. Above all, it teaches you that the bonds you form with the people around you are also important because whether you like it or not, you will need to know how to diplomatically communicate with people and this little microcosm is prepping us for the larger picture that encompasses our country, as well as the global community.

I hope that we all prove worthy of rising to the occasion. 

How will YOU make a difference?

So it's another Sunday night...so obviously I'm just sitting and doing what I do best-rambling on the internet.

Now that midterms are over I finally am getting the chance to talk about something that has been floating around in my head for at least the last week.

In Art History, the basic formula for our class is that we look closely at works of art. We look at what we can infer about the artist, the people in the picture, and naturally the society in which they were created. When we (Wellesley students that is) walk around campus, we see banners everywhere saying that we are  the "Women Who Will". Everyone on campus has hoped that they will make a difference and change the world for better or die trying.

But we already have made a difference in the world. It's just that no one has talked about it yet.

Our legacy manifests itself in everything that we do, be it the clothes that we wear, music we listen to, books we read-basically anything and everything.

To quote from a movie about our fair college "What will future scholars see when they study us?"

It's a weird thing to think that one day Facebook might be used to study Anthropology; they will try to understand why it became so popular and attribute it to the something pretentious like "the allure of the shared experience". They will see pictures of Lady Gaga and think that perhaps she is the image of female empowerment for our decade(new wave of feminism: SCREW PANTS!!!). Memes will be deemed a significant art movement. Tweets, Youtube videos and blogs will be regarded with reverence that we reserve for precious historical documents. Hipsters will be the new hippies.

Future caption in textbooks: Example of an early 2000's Youth

Future caption: Group Portrait of 21st century musicians

Weird, right?

To be completely honest, I don't really have a driving point that I wanted to stress. The fact that our society as a whole is not erudite and selfless does not make it illegitimate as a cultural study. And it's not like there haven't been awesome things happening in our country; great works of art have been made even though there's a lot of trash out there. Times are changing which is exciting and frightening and mind-blowing compared to other decades. Future history books might write something like this about our time:

"An era that glorified promiscuity, self indulgence and robotic vocals in electronic music"

That is our legacy so far. But then again, history is still being written so we'll see what happens.

Almost there...

Another quick blog(this time I actually mean it).

The weather in Wellesley was bloody lovely today and I hope that it continues to stay that way!

I'm slowly but surely ticking things off the to do list and there's officially one week until break.

Counting down the days...

Knowledge is free #Kony2012?

Just trying out the new blog through the school account but just for the record: none of what I say here reflects the views of the Wellesley College Administration. Just me. Saying what I think at the moment.

Anyways, I can't really fall asleep right now and I don't feel like working so I decided to do a quick blog.

The movement of the moment right now is #Kony2012.

In a nutshell, an organization called the Invisible Children released a video on March 5 to raise awareness about Joseph Kony, a Ugandan political leader who is the head of the LRA which is basically a mercenary group that forces children to commit heinous acts of violence. It is a call to arms for the American public to cover all of our major cities with posters and stickers and raise awareness that this war criminal must be stopped.

The video is incredibly well done and persuasive and incites people to take out their wallets and help the cause. It's poignant and makes it seem that if the American people really set their mind to it, they could bring about change.

That, however, is a gross oversimplification in my opinion. I'm not going to pretend I've always known about Kony and the LRA because I honestly had never heard of them until last night, when I was procrastinating yet again. And yes, I will admit that I almost bought posters to plaster all over campus. But having thought about it some more, I have a few reservations about the entire thing.

I think that it is a wonderful thing that people now know about the issues across the ocean. It's sometimes hard to keep up with what's going on to other people when we have more easy access to stories about whether or not Snooki is pregnant. However, I have always thought that foreign affairs are an incredibly touchy subject and I think that in the past few years we've had to really re-evaluate whether or not we have the power to do all the wonderful things that we want to. We care about the LRA because we would not wish for our children to go through that. But that's the problem: it ISN'T our children and we have limitations because of that.

After reading a lot of other articles being written right now, I realized that
1) there are a lot of issues in the world that have not gotten as much attention. Knowledge is power and we should be more well rounded in what we read
2) This is a situation that has been in the making for decades and is only just coming to the publics' attention. While people would like to see immediate change, I don't think that any global conflicts is ever resolved within hours(remember Saddam Hussein?). So what happens after 4/20 when people forget about all of this?

Like I said, knowledge is power and the more we know, the better. I think that this entire affair should be taken with a grain of salt though because we may not have as an immediate an effect as we might think.