on Hello hello, my name is Andrew. I’m not sure if you’ve read my About Me section or if I even set it up properly, but on there is all the information about me that you need to know.
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So, for the first assignment, we needed to do the following:
I felt like I needed to list those out because why not okay stop judging me
on YouTube Clip:
yes the thumbnail is kinda creepy but don’t judge a book by its cover you meanie
This is the video I chose. It’s the official music video for the song Alligator Sky, by Owl City and Shawn Chrystopher. I picked this video for a multitude of reasons:
One, the song is absolute fire. It’s incredible. Most underrated song of the century. I don’t want to listen to your ’70s boomer music, I want to listen to this.
Two, the music video(I feel) is an analogy for climate change. It depicts a barren, abandoned Earth covered in litter and newspaper articles that hint at humanity departing Earth for some other planet. It’s hauntingly beautiful and it blends in perfectly with the music. The two singers are in astronaut suits, probably because the air on Earth has gotten so polluted, it’s unsafe for humans to breathe in. At the end, they lift off in a rocket and leave Earth behind, which is also mentioned in the song’s chorus (Where was I, when the rockets came to life/ And carried you away). This is particularly relevant in today’s world, as our Earth reaches a breaking point. If we continue our destructive cycle, we’re going to end up with the world depicted in the Alligator Sky- a barren, abandoned world, as all the humans have already left to find life elsewhere. Hopefully, that future never becomes reality.
I’d also like to think this song symbolizes a kind of breaking up and letting go. The singer is asking, “where was I when you disappeared?”. “Alligator sky” is also a unique kind of wordplay; I assume “alligator sky” means “the sky ate you up”, the way an alligator would eat prey. However, the song also talks about motivation(Even though I’ll never know what’s up ahead/ I’m never letting go/ I’m never letting go) and not giving up. I think this part of the song is referring to never letting go of life, and to keep moving on. The rap part of this song also talks about not giving up, too. For example, this passage:
“Uh uh, that’s not a plane, that’s me/ I’m sittin’ where I’m supposed to/ Floating on a cloud can’t nobody come close to”
It seems to be talking about heartbreak, healing, and getting stronger, and I adore it. It’s a beautiful, motivational song with tons of hidden messages and little Easter eggs for you to find. Please listen to it. You won’t regret it.
Three, Owl City. Best musician the world has ever seen. His songs sound like they were lifted straight from dreams. The beauty of Owl City songs is otherworldly. Not only is this an artist I love, it is also one of my favourite songs.
on An Image with “Impact”:
Behold.
This masterful piece of art is also my avatar. I feel like this picture describes me in so many ways.
First, this picture has an air of awkwardness. The hat drooping over the dragon’s head and the too-small wand all give off a feel of not fitting in properly. That’s me. I don’t fit in. Everyone that has met me will probably describe me as unique if they don’t know me well, and weird if they do know me well. Furthermore, I love dragons and draconic things(I don’t know what you’d call them). They fascinate me and I find it especially interesting how dragons of different cultures have evolved. Even dragons of the same culture have different variants. The Western dragon, although portrayed mostly as evil and greedy(mostly thanks to the famous story St. George and the Dragon, which is the first ever story about knight-saves-princess-slays-dragon, a common story trope I absolutely despise), also has stories about it that revolve around a dragon being the “good guy”, such as the Welsh story Lludd and Llefelys. Then, you have the Eastern variant- the long, snakelike deities that are said to be harbingers of fortune and wealth. It’s crazy how one animal that may or may not exist(you never know) has spawned so many legends. It’s fascinating. I have always been captivated by dragons and I especially loved this depiction of them in this picture. Lastly, how could you not love this picture. It’s great. I love the dragon’s expression- like he’s posing for a photo that he doesn’t really want to be in(hence the awkwardness) but still enjoying it nonetheless.
Now, if I were a philosophical kind of person, I’d talk to you more about dragons or whatever and the deep meaning behind it all. But, I’m not a philosophical person. And, right now, it’s 10:53 PM. I want to sleep. And, I’m stressing out about Science because our group is kinda behind and we haven’t brought in all our materials and I’m worried I’m gonna get a bad mark and fail Science aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
So, let’s leave it at that.
How has this picture impacted me? Well, this picture has impacted me because I felt like I could relate to a piece of art, which is pretty uncommon for me. I feel like if my life were to be summarized in a photo, it would be a burning pile of garbage but since that’s not very pleasant, this is what my life as a photo would be. It’s not exactly symbolic and there are no really deep meanings as to why I relate to this, but I felt like this picture was important enough to share with you. It has character, magic, and it gives off an air of awkward/funny that I feel describes me perfectly. If he had been holding a book or something, it would have been perfect(since I love reading), but this is good enough. I wish I chose something more inspiring, like what the other kids likely chose, but I really don’t have any pictures like that, so this is what I’m settling with.
on Quote:
I actually have two quotes, but they’re part of the same conversation. They don’t make sense without each other.
That’s impossible! The Americans only know how to make razor blades.
-Hermann Göring
We could do with some of those razor blades, Herr Reichsmarshall.
-Erwin Rommel
This quote was (allegedly) made during the Second World War, after German general Erwin Rommel briefed Hitler on why his attack at Alam el Halfa failed. Rommel stressed the superiority of the Royal Air Force as the reason why the German forces were repelled here, and that prompted Göring to bring up the question.
I love Rommel’s subtly sarcastic attitude towards Göring. We’ve all had those days when something goes wrong, such as when you lose a strategic battle to the British and your plans for domination in North Africa are ruined. I’ve had those days, too. Sometimes, you just need to let out the negativity by projecting it onto someone else, preferably someone you dislike. Although he was a WW1 air ace, Göring had been promoted to commander-in-chief of the German Luftwaffe mainly due to his close connections with Hitler, and therefore never really earned the respect of the generals he commanded. In this quote, it seems like Rommel is trying to find a reason for his defeat at Alam el Halfa so he doesn’t land in hot water which, to be fair, isn’t unreasonable. If you were a military commander in Nazi Germany and you just lost a strategic battle, you wouldn’t want to be blamed for the failure.
I feel like I can really relate to Rommel in this context. Some days you just don’t want to be tested, and when someone does try to test you you need to show them not to mess. Since Göring was Rommel’s superior, obviously Rommel couldn’t’ve said anything particularly horrible to him. This reminds me of some days, when I’m in a particularly foul mood, when some teachers(mainly in middle school) feel like they need to give me some more negativity by landing me in trouble for ridiculously small things. I once got in trouble because the teacher had asked a question I didn’t know the answer to even though I didn’t raise my hand. She got mad at me for not responding quickly enough, and for talking slowly to her(she thought I was patronizing her). I talked slowly because I didn’t want to get anything wrong, hello? It’s on days like this that you really need to let out some negative energy, possibly through overt sarcasm.
I also picked this quote because it’s pretty funny in a weird way. I really can’t describe why I find it funny. It just is. Maybe it’s because of the sass that went into this phrase. I still love it.