Bohemian Rhapsody is personally one of my all time favorite songs. It is musically enchanting and after closely analyzing the lyrics i found it so much deeper that i originally did. it is a very intense song and i always thought it had some deeper meaning but now i just think that Queen was unbelievably gifted when it came to creating a song that told such an amazing story. That's the magic about this song, not only do they tell a story with their lyrics, but the music plays an (if not the most) important role in narrating this tale. The themes of this song are what many could call "taboo," it is about suicide, murder, religion, existentialism, and self pity. I love that song can be so strong and that it could make the listener feel uncomfortable but at the same time entertain. The song ends with a little sense of mystery, you wonder if the character dies or not. If this song was once considered ONE of my favorite it is now my favorite.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me
To me

This seems as if the boy is confused, kind of in shock. H e is willing to go "anywhere the wind blows" which indicates that he is very easy going even existentialist for he touches upon the fact that there is no escaping reality.The reader knows that he did something but doesnt know what.

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
As if nothing really matters

The boy just a killed a man, and he feels horrible about it, he dramatically tells his mom to carry on with her life. In my opinion this could be a soldier that is at war and has killed his first person and couldn't handle the guilt. The author is building up his sorrow but we still don't know what is next action might be.

Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody
I've got to go
Got to leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama
I don't want to die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

The climax has build up even more, for now we find out that the boy is committing suicide. He feels like he has to but he doesn't want to do it, for her tells his mother that he "doesn't want to die."I think that what might continue is an explanation as to why he committed suicide. The music goes from soft to a little upbeat which indicates that there will be a shift of ideas.

I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche
Will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning
Very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo
(Galileo) Galileo
Galileo, figaro
Magnifico
I'm just a poor boy and nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
Bismillah!
No, we will not let you go
(Let him go!)
Bismillah!
We will not let you go
(Let hime go!)
Bismillah!
We will not let you go
(Let me go!)
Will not let you go
(Let me go!)
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh, mama mia, mama mia
Mama mia let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
For me
For me

This is the most intense part of the song, in my opinion this is where his soul goes to the purgatory and the demons and saints are fighting for his freedom. Since suicide is considered a deadly sin, the demons do not want to let him go in peace. The music is very opera-esque, and it gives it a more playful tone even though what they are debating is very serious. The reader is left wondering what they decided, i think that they will not let him go.

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby
Can't do this to me, baby
Just got to get out
Just got to get right out of here

The music changes completely, this is more rock hardcore which in my opinion indicates that he broke free from the jury trial and that is why his confidence shifts from being "just a poor boy" into a more determined boy that is willing to break free.

Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows

This ties up the whole song because they see that he doest care about anything because he is about to die (i think that when he shot himself he didn't die and that is why the demons and saints where debating whether he should live or just die and go to hell), whether he lives or not is indifferent to him.

5

I loved the exercise that we did in class. I thought it was a great idea to see what our classmates thought on our thesis statement. It is very helpful to get their ideas to be focused on your essay so you can make it better. I changed my entire thesis from my original paper, and the ideas that they gave me complemented this new thesis. It will be a complete different essay from the first draft. What will stay the same will be the points I will use to prove my thesis. I will still use the same rhetorical devices but I will simply come to a different conclusion. Although my new thesis is much more difficult to prove, I feel that it exemplifies my ideals and thoughts on the interview as opposed to a thesis which I found easy to write (as was my first draft). Originally I had said that Klosterman did this interview to prove that she was not self aware, which I completely agree. However; I am now saying that she is not only self aware, but that Klosterman wanted to prove how society is obsessed with pop culture(including himself) and how artists use that to their advantage whether its by creating a scandal or just denying the truth. I will still use many of the arguments that I put on my original essay but I will modify them into this new point of view.

Writing Project

Chuck Klosterman writes about an interview that he had with Britney Spears in which he blatently mocks her ideals by using sarcasm, humor, irony and crude diction. When the author was asked to describe how Britney really is like, he simply answered “I don’t know. And I don’t think she does either,” his whole interview is based around that sole point and he tries to decipher the reason as to why she is so oblivious. Britney makes an analogy to the television show Friends; she argues that you’re drawn into the characters just as she thinks that her public is drawn to her. It is hard to believe that Britney’s fans admire her for her musical genius; it is quite obvious that her image and her teeny bopper songs is what creates this great celebrity. It is “hard to overestimate her significance,” pop culture has taken over the media and therefore probably every single person that has access to a television, radio or newspaper knows who Britney Spears is and loves to hear about her success and even more about her failures. When she is questioned on why she dresses the way she does, she answers that in her opinion there is nothing provocative, “men don’t like that” all she wants to do is inspire the “next generations” with her music. Throughout the interview he uses allusions to other pop icons to compare Britney’s behavior; he says that she denies everything just like Bill Clinton did. As opposed to many other celebrities who might also be infested with gossip, Britney denies all accusations and refuses to “deconstruct herself” she doesn’t “think about things like that” [ men fantasize about her] she’s “not worried about some guy who’s a perv and wants to meet a freaking virgin.”

Britney Spears

Southern-fried Sex Kitten, Bending Spoons with Britney Spears is a very witty interview which can appeal to the majority of society. Pop culture has taken over the media and therefore probably every single person that has access t o a television, radio or newspaper knows who Britney Spears is and loves to hear about her success and even more about her failures. The simple fact that the essay is based on her makes it an excellent attention grabber; the author is very harsh in the way he talks to her and the idea that he is blatantly making fun of her and her ideals makes its even more taboo. He criticizes her lack of recognition of sexual image portrayed to her public; he uses repetition throughout the whole essay to emphasize his argument. He also uses sarcasm to give it a satiric twist making many of his sentences have a double meaning. His ironic humor makes his allusions to pop culture even more effective; he does not need to provide any background information because he has the advantage that his subject overly known. He doesn’t provide an actual explanation as to why Britney behaves the way she does, he simply states that she is a confused celebrity that drives herself to believe that what she does is not controversial at all. His writing is very casual and conversation-like making the essay much more relaxed than any other formal piece of writing.

Newspaper Article

I read an article on the Miami Herald called “A sparkling Skull, Shrouded in Mystery”, it is an art piece on the scandalous sell of a diamond skull. The article is fairly easy in comparison to any other political article; what I mean is that there was not that many words that I didn’t understand that I could have looked for in a dictionary. However; there were many names of important entrepreneurs and artists that I could have had information on only by using the internet for they are not mentioned in any encyclopedia or dictionary. What this tells me is that even though you apply the same concepts in reading a textbook, newspaper article or creating a wiki, the wiki simply makes the task a lot easier and faster. Close reading is a form of better understanding the texts that does not have to be only applied into the wiki, it can be used in absolutely any reading that you may do. When doing the active reading directly on the paper it also can become much messier and unorganized than the wiki. What is important on both the internet and the actual text is to not only concentrate on words or places we might not know, but in phrases and people that we think play an important role in the flow of the passage.

Active Reading

At a first glance the wiki may seem a little overwhelming, in my experience I had never had to depend so much on technology to do my homework. It is just a matter of getting comfortable with the webpage and all the gadgets you can incorporate into your reading. Being so involved with every aspect of the passage is certainly a good thing, it leaves no doubt about anything that if you might have been reading on a textbook you would have overlooked as being insignificant; with the wiki there are no insignificant doubts because it is very easy to put a link on that quote or word that could have made the passage more understandable if there was some background on it.
My English teacher in my sophomore year of high school introduced us to active reading. We had to color code “I Have a Dream” using all the rhetorical devices that we knew; she also encouraged us to put footnotes on the words that we had difficulty with, it wasn’t until my junior year that I found myself color coding absolutely every book and A.P passages that I read. I find that the more involved you are with the passage, whether it is making personal notes on the margins, or highlighting certain phrases or what we have been introduced to in this class has a better impact on your learning and understanding of the reading.
Even though many people have complained about the wiki being too confusing or a hassle, it is definately much more efficient, not to mention time saving. The internet has globally been praised as being the number one source of research and containing a vast variety of sources so it is having a huge advantage of the resources that we could use into having a better understanding of the readings. This liberty of choice can also challenge our perception of what a reliable source is and what is not; for the same reasons that the internet is so big anyone can create a webpage posting information on anything they like whether they are professionally adequate or not. It is our responsibility into what information we choose to use as a reliable resource.
Instead of linking a word or phrase into another websites the easiest way to apply the concepts learned by using the wiki into a textbook reading is simply to put footnotes and circle any word that we might not understand and put a synonym on the margin.