TOW#7 "Has Paul McCartney Been Holding Back" By Michael Roffman

On October 15, 2013 Paul McCartney released his 16^th studio album and 24^th album since the Beatles “New”. This article analyzes and looks into the deeper meaning of the songs in Paul McCartney’s latest album. Written by Michael Hoffman, the author of man of Time Magazines movie and music column compares the songs on the album to what was going on in McCartney’s life at the time. The author wrote this piece in order to get the word out to as many people as possible that Paul McCartney had came out with a new album and it sounds great. He wanted to reach out to as many people as possible because the author seems as thought they enjoy Paul McCartney’s work. Hoffman seems to have enjoyed listening to the new album and wanted other people, young or old, to enjoy with him. The article is inside of a magazine so it has to be able to appeal to a wide variety of people. The author makes a reference to Stephen Colbert in the article in order to make a comparison of the two. The author wanted to make seem as though the two were alike, two people that were very important, and in both the new and old generations minds. The author also references the struggles that Paul McCartney has faced during in his life. Hoffman talks about McCartney’s divorce and the re-marriage; he uses these events to relate them to the songs on the new album. The album name song “New” has a very lighthearted feel and is explaining the happiness and joy Paul McCartney felt when he re married. The song “Save Us” explains McCartney’s feelings when he was dating Nancy Shevell. The author also goes into depth on how well the songs are written and how well they sound. The author exclaims saying that the songs are fresh and modern, even though Paul McCartney is 71. I believe that the author did a wonderful job writing and describing the wonderful new Paul McCartney album “NEW”

TOW #6 Political cartoon Save the Twinkie Nick Anderson

This political cartoon, drawn by the Houston Chronicle’s editorial cartoonist Nick Anderson, is making fun of the fight to bring back Twinkies. The issue that the cartoon has brought up is how there are a lot of people rallying for the Twinkie to make a come back, and not enough people fighting to save Earth.  The article shows the mass of people marching around with their “Save The Twinkies” sign and has two other people off to the side holding a “Save The Earth” and one of them saying “We’re doomed.” The intended audience for this piece is the general public. Since it is in a newspaper it has to appeal to all types of people. The cartoon also has to depict something that is both funny and important for the reader to look at. The artist wanted to send a message to the readers saying the we need to not focus on trivial things like the Twinkie and focus on more important things like saving the Earth. A tool that the artist used when creating their political cartoon was the juxtaposition of the two groups. The artist paints the Twinkie group as mad individuals rushing and screaming for the Twinkie to come back. He depicts them as a large group of different individuals wide eyed and screaming. Then on the left hand side he depicts the Earth side. He displays this group as two people who are merely standing there as onlookers to the chaos of the Twinkie group. I believe that the artist was able to show their point of view for the issue successfully. The author clearly and comically displayed the outrageous behavior of those who wanted to have Twinkies, a mild inconvenience, and those who are fighting to protect the Earth, a more real threat if not attended to.   

TOW #5 "Blink" Malcolm Gladwell

In the second part of the book Blink, written by Malcolm Gladwell the author explains the setbacks of quickly judging people as well as how one can use their ear to judge a piece of music. In the second half of the book Malcolm Gladwell explains to his audience that even with the ability to look at a person and almost nearly correctly judge them there are set backs. He uses the example an event that happened in the Bronx, New York. A man named Diallo was walking home from a friend’s house in a bad neighborhood in the Bronx. He had just come to visit, and was now leaving to go home. An undercover police group sees Diallo standing in the street alone near a door. The three officers, Boss, Carroll and McMellon, see the man and jump out of their car. At midnight Diallo sees three large white men walk up to him with firearms holstered in a bad neighborhood, while the officers see a shady looking man in a bad neighborhood seeming to go into the house and rob the place. Diallo begins to run away from the men, the officers chase after him, Diallo reaches for his wallet hoping to stop the people from chasing him, but the officers sees Diallo reach for a black object from his pocket and open fire killing an innocent man. The author is trying to reach to a large group of people in his book and he uses examples that people would see in the news and analyzes them to fit the author’s argument. The purpose for writing this book would be to educate the masses about a contrasting viewpoint that Malcolm Gladwell set up in the beginning of the book. Mr. Gladwell wants to be seen as an objective author who is merely presenting facts and analyzing events that pertained to his main idea. I believe that Malcolm Gladwell is able to effectively establish the idea of how it can be a good thing to quickly judge a person, and how it is a bad thing to judge a person. Through the use of everyday examples and careful analyzation Malcolm Gladwell establish his point on “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking”.

TOW #4 "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Blink, a book written by the renowned psychologist Malcolm Gladwell, is about “The power of Thinking without Thinking.”  The book goes into how when we look at a person for the first time we unconsciously judge the person. Mr. Gladwell has written many New York Times bestseller books and is renowned for brining the unknown into the public’s eyes. He writes this book for a large audience. Malcolm Gladwell wanted this book for the masses to read in order for them to be educated. His purpose for writing this book would be to inform the reader about how people unconsciously judge one another. He is not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing, Malcolm Gladwell is merely explaining the concept in the book so far. He has used many sources and credible data supporting the fact that people judge one another. There is one test that Malcolm Gladwell uses to demonstrate how we associate certain things with different types of people. It is called the Implicit Association Test (IAT), or a test where the reader has to look at one column and put what they believe in 20 seconds goes in that column. The IAT quizzes you on good white people and bad black people. In 20 seconds your subconscious comes out and it can be surprising thing to find out what your subconscious really thinks. Malcolm Gladwell also references the Korus fiasco. This was a time when the Getty Museum bought a fake sixth century Korus piece believed to be real at the time. Many people who examined the piece thought that it was the “real deal”. However, there were some skeptics that looked at the piece, and in a blink, knew that it was a fake. After having bought the piece the museum later found out that the piece was indeed a fake. I believe that Malcolm Glad well did a great job so far in achieving his purpose. He has provided tests and stories of how we judge others with out us knowing.