Sky Blue Sky

The album “sky blue sky” by Wilco is not my favorite album. As Mr. Hughes played it to us I got so bored that I could not pay attention to the lyrics. The way the lyrics were set up with no spaces and no breaks between songs. This way of organizing the songs is confusing and is not easy to follow along with. I would not suggest that a “stream of consciousness” type of lyrics should be used again. Because it is not my favorite style of music to begin with and on top of that it is very hard to follow along with.

I do not agree with Mr. Hughes’ idea that to be a good song it has to have good lyrics. Mr. Hughes says that to like the song you have to know the lyrics. I don’t agree. There are usually about four lines of music, the vocals, which Mr. Hughes only pays attention to, the drums, the bass, and the guitar. According to Mr. Hughes the good songs have vocals, but what about a song that is all instrumental? My. Dad loves classical music, but according to my. Hughes he can’t like this because he hasn't learned all the words. The only problem with this is there are no words. In some songs I choose to learn the guitar lines instead of learning the lyrics. This just proves to Mr. Hughes that the lyrics aren’t the most important thing. Although the lyrics are poetry and are a good start to focus on for our poetry unit, they are what make the song a great song.

As far as the album went it seamed to be pretty much about the average man. It was hard to follow along and the lyrics don't quite make sense. So I did not enjoy the album and I did not feel as though it was a great assignment.

Dead Poets Society

Dead Poets Society is a film which explores the effects of poetry on well off youth. In giving it a rating from 1 to 10 I would have to break that task into two separate categories. The film as an entertainment device, so its plot, use of lighting and staging, and the film as a whole. And How well the film introduces the topic of poetry as a study unit in class. On the first topic I would give this film an 8. This is because if had an interesting plot with twists and turns with all its intricacies, and the film has a good director with actors who play a convincing role. On the second topic I would have to rate the film on I would give it a 3. I did not believe that I understand how to analyze poetry or even have a better grasp on the topic after seeing this film. I would suggest to show this film to future AP classes not to introduce the topic but to spend a few days relaxing from the hard work.