Category Archives: Week 2

Man On Wire

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For some odd reason, I feel as if the beginning of any documentary is bound to bore me, however, as this particular film went on, past a certain point I could not peel my eyes off that screen. I was so intrigued by the process Phillipe and his crew had to go through in order for him just to walk that tightrope between the Twin Towers. So to me, the feat that amazed me and demanded my attention the most was not necessarily the actual walk across the wire itself (although it was extremely out of this world), but rather the successful act of breaking into both Twin Towers and stringing the wire between each tower before daylight without getting caught or seen.

I’m pretty into video games that involve stealth and not getting caught, so I guess that explains why I was so drawn to the whole process of breaking into the Twin Towers and setting up their equipment in the middle of the night.

~Pun

Keep Spinning, World- Reactions to LTGWS

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It’s kind of intriguing to see how the World Trade Center has such an effect on people in the last half of the century. From the time construction started in 1968, to its opening in 1973, to its tragic incident in 2001, and even extending to now in 2014, and to the future, World Trade Center is and will always be a symbolic representation of New York. This thought really hit me while I was on the E train today, one that was bound for none other than World Trade Center.

My Japanese class made 1000 cranes and attached it to one of the trees in the 9/11 Memorial. The 1000 cranes symbolizes hope. (March 8th, 2014)

Upon finishing Let The Great World Spin, I’m really disappointed- disappointed at the fact that it had to end. I started off with an indifferent attitude to it, since it just felt like a lost piece of novel. I didn’t understand what anybody had to do with each other. It was like a puzzle, with pieces fitting in as the novel progresses, jumping between different people’s viewpoint. It really shows what a small world we live in. I guess the whole “Six Degrees of Separation” thing is true!

In the story, World Trade Center acted as a reference point for everything. So does our lives today as New Yorkers. It symbolizes that even though we were attacked in 2001, we didn’t give up. We get up, rebuild, and are stronger than before. I guess the “world” can mean the World Trade Center in Let the Great World Spin (play on words, doesn’t mean that of course).

~Christopher Chong

The D(ance) Train

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On the way back from what was an unfortunate failed trip to Smorgasburg at Central Park, (we arrived, but police wouldn’t let us in due to “too many people” at the event) me and several friends took the D train back to the towers at around 9:30 pm or so and I witnessed something out of the ordinary to me for the first time on the subway.

Between the long 59th Street/Columbus Circle and the 125th street station stop, a group of 8 or so guys provided entertainment during the ride that otherwise would have been a normal NYC train ride. In the middle of the train car, they blasted music and one by one, each of them break danced with their own particular style as well as humor. They cheered one another on and brought the train car to life, eliciting quite an applause and earning what seemed to be a decent amount of money.

I was extremely impressed and they for sure earned my respect as well as a couple dollars for their performance. As a group they had such energy and synergy together and I admired their talent and courage to perform publicly without fear of failure or being judged especially on a moving train car. I’m glad I was able to see this group do what they were passionate about, and I hope and look forward to seeing more things like this and what else this city has to offer.

~Pun

Man on the Wire: My Reaction

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When I watched this movie, my initial reaction was “what..is happening?” They were talking about something that I had no idea what it was, talking about how they are going to die and how this is the end. And I was just really relaxed on my chair thinking…”another exaggeration in a typical documentary film.” However, I realized that as the film went on, I felt like I was actually there myself. It was the first movie in which my back has never touched the chair. I was so tense, so nervous, and so nerve-wracking the whole time, after the film, my neck started to hurt because I was so static the entire time. The fact that I did not know what the movie was about played a big part in my impression.

The most memorable part of the movie was at the end when Philippe was talking about why he did it. Throughout the entire movie, I was asking “why is he doing this? He must be crazy.” However, according to Philippe, there was no why. That was the whole point. To Philippe, it wasn’t because he wanted to do it, he just had to do it. He felt the need to so called “conquer” the top of the world because that is what he does for a living. I can say for sure that, this movie will definitely leave some kind of mark in my mind.

Reactions to Man on Wire

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Damn. If I had the talent to walk on wire/cable at even 10 floors above ground level, I wouldn’t be here composing this post right now.

Philippe Petit is probably one of those guys where you just don’t have the correct adjective to describe him. Crazy? Brave? Idiotic? Heroic? To perfectly plot this whole event, and not get caught is definitely an incredible feat. I mean, he wasn’t at the 10th floor, the 20th floor, but the 110th floor. What could’ve possibly been going through his mind?

What I probably most liked about the documentary was the fact that it seemed to made me feel like I was in the moment, especially when they were describing how they almost got caught and stuff. If Petit’s timing was not correct, August 7th, 1974 might’ve just been another ordinary day for all of us, and the prisons might just have an extra guy in there.

However, in exchange for his fame and glory, Petit lost his friends, lost the love of his life, lost everything he had had before August 7th, all because of the 45 mins on the top of the World Trade Center towers. I mean, I don’t know if that’s worth it.

~Christopher Chong

Man on Wire Reaction

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While reading Let the Great World Spin, I didn’t know that the story of the man walking between the Twin Towers was true, nor did I find it easy to believe once I was told that it was. I’m sure that this is an understandable reaction, as Philippe Petit’s feat was seemingly impossible, even to himself at times. I really admire the determination that Petit had, as if there was nothing in the world that could have stood between him and his dream. Honestly, I believe that if everyone lived like that, the world would be a much better place. I like what Sharouk said, that Petit really lived. He didn’t just go through the motions of daily life, he truly took every day as a dare to accomplish whatever it is that he wants.

However, as Sharouk and Chloe both mentioned, there was great sacrifice that had to be made in order for this dream to be realized. Yes, he did lose many relationships with other people that he supposedly cared about, but I think that the real sacrifice that he made was much more deep-seated. Petit was so absorbed in his art, that it didn’t seem as if he truly cared at all about any of the people around him were hurt by his actions. It was unfortunate that he lost many of these relationships, but it was even more unfortunate to me that the viewers likely care more about the end of these relationships than he did.

This complete self-indulgence and complete focus that defined Petit’s work makes me question if that’s where “true” art comes from. Do professional artists, the ones that truly earn fame for their work, all have this common theme of seclusion from actual, real-life, healthy relationships with other people? If yes, this is the biggest sacrifice that artists have to make for their work to be realized, and it’s a price that I don’t think I would ever be able to pay.

On Man on a Wire

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 Man on a Wire was a incredible documentary! In fact, at some points in the movie, I totally forgot that I was a watching a documentary. Some scenes were so intense, engaging, and emotional, that it might as well have been a drama. The documentary gave us a deep look into the walker, Philippe Petit. Through the interviews, and through various home-videos, we were able to realize the type of person he is. He is a dreamer, a man who is incredibly passionate about his hopes and goals. I believe that is one lesson that one should take away from watching this documentary. While I would not advise going about and breaking the law, I believe each and every one of us should have a goal or passion in life.

I truly admired the cinematography of the documentary. The mixture of black and white footage with colored footage was visually engaging and pleasing. Old footage from France and New York, provided me with a sense of what the world was like in the late 70s. Seeing footage of Petit, from his early days of tightrope walking through his grand display at the Twin Towers, caused me to feel as if i knew him his entire life. I felt as if  I grew along side him. The various interviews with all those involved with the Twin Towers project were able to provide me with multiple point of views, while still maintaining the theme that it may take a team in order to achieve one person’s dream.

One part of the movie that stood out to me was the end. I could not help but find disgust with Petit, as he allowed short lived fame to interfere with those who supported him along the way, with his friends. I felt sympathy for the one man (John I cannot remember his last name), who cried during the interview. We discussed that he cried twice for possibly two distinct reasons. The first may have been for the sheer beauty of Petit’s act, and the second may have been for losing Petit as a dear friend.

 

My experience at the Macaulay Workshop

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I have been at the Macaulay Rembrant workshop at Macaulay central yesterday.

I worked together with students that I met at the Brooklyn Museum on Sept. 3. We had made recordings on that day about pieces of art we liked in the museum. During the workshop, we worked with one of these recordings to make a video. We were provided instructions on how to make these videos. Someone in my group worked on editing the recording, while another person worked on gathering the right photographs for the video. I was just motivating my peers to get the job done well, and trying to get familiar with the software we were supposed to use to make the video.

In the end, my group and I were happy that we completed the video.

Just watched Man On Wire….

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..and all I have to say is: Wow. Just wow. That movie was absolutely brilliant. From beginning to end, “Man On Wire” held my attention. I was absolutely smitten with Petit’s rebellious view of his high-wire walk and the notion of “illegal but not inherently wicked or harmful.” As I said in my previous post about Let the Great World Spin, the walker, who is Phillipe Petit, truly lived. He was not bound by the laws imposed on him by society; rather, he lived his life as he saw fit and was a source of immense inspiration to those who witnessed his feat. The sense of inspiration I got from this movie was absolutely incredible.

The ending, however, was also a tad depressing; Petit’s dream was not achieved without sacrifice and that sacrifice came in the form of his friendships and his relationship. Petit’s sole focus throughout this endeavor was to fulfill his dream; he didn’t show any regard for what his friends or even his girlfriend wanted to do with their lives. His friends lived his dream and did their utmost to help him. This is especially seen in Jean-Louis, who stayed by Petit’s side even when all hope seemed lost and when Albert had abandoned him. It was sad to find out that they fell apart after the event, especially after such a show of love and dedication. Petit’s disregard for his companions is also shown in his treatment of Annie; as soon as he is released from prison, Petit sees it fit to cheat on her, because of his celebrity. I felt that was rather cruel of him, especially since she had dedicated her life to him.

All in all,  a great movie about a truly legendary feat but with the moral that there is no achievement without sacrifice.

A Reflection On The Book

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During our discussion this past Monday, there was a general consensus around the table that “Let The Great World Spin” was a book very much concerned with death and how different people perceive death differently. While each of the main chapters (especially in the first book) deal with death (J.A Corrigan’s death, Jazzlyn’s death, Joshua being killed in ‘Nam, Tillie’s hinted-at suicide), the “walker sections” in between the books provide a stark contrast.

The walker’s dream of walking across the Twin Towers on a tightrope, and what some might perceive as his recklessness with his life, is not born of a desire to die, but of his desire to express the thrill of living.  The insane amount of effort the walker puts into the completion of his goal and his eventual accomplishment of it express the purest form of living there is. While he was practicing, and when he eventually performed the feat, the walker was free; free of all the shackles of an everyday life, free of all worries, and, perhaps most importantly, free of any fear of dying. In those 45 minutes on the wire, in the skies of New York City, he was truly alive.

It was this stark contrast of life/death that really fascinated me about the book and why the walker sections were particularly exciting for me to read. And with that, I leave you all with a quote that I feel applies to the walker.

Man on Wire- Reaction

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I knew about Philippe Petit walking between the Twin Towers from reading the children’s book, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein back in 3rd grade. But after reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, I was again immensely curious to see how this man accomplished his walk on a wire between the Twin Towers. I was specifically interested on how he managed to tie his cable between the towers. I don’t know why but I imagined that this was a one-man feat, which made it seem even more amazing to me. Contrary to my original thought, this was hardly a one-man feat. Philippe had all his friends on board to help him accomplish his dream, and at some point in the movie I really began to see why the feat had a deeper impact, more than the media had portrayed it to be.

The amount of time, money, and risk Philippe was taking with his relationships and physical body was crazy to think about. All of his friends were postponing their own lives and journey to join Philippe. They supported him and really cared about him, but I couldn’t see an inkling of concern Philippe had for his friends. To blatantly put it, he was quite selfish. When each of his friends were interviewed, his best friend Jean-Louis constantly spoke about Philippe’s safety and their relationship. But Philippe was so caught up describing how he accomplished sneaking past the guards, anchoring his cables and the excitement of it all. He was blind to see that it wasn’t just as simple as getting the job done, but there were major consequences bound to happen. What shocked me the most was when Philippe abandoned his friends after his walk and put them on hold when all this time they had put their lives on hold for his. It really was amazing to see the behind story and all the effort Philippe and his friends put into this once in a lifetime show, but heartbreaking to see what it was actually worth.

Photograph from September 11th-Wislawa Szymborska

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This poem is describing the infamous photo of an unidentified man who jumped from the Twin Towers before they collapsed. What hits a chord is the third stanza that says:

“Each is still complete

with a particular face

and blood well-hidden.”

I just can’t imagine what a body looks like after falling that many stories. Szymborska is describing the body that is falling using what it looks like after it has hit the ground. She uses the negative to create an image of both the before and after-math of the jump. The 4th stanza elongates the time frame of the jump and really puts into perspective how long it took for the man to fall,

“There’s enough time

for hair to come loose,

for keys and coins

to fall from pockets.”

I can’t imagine what the man is thinking to himself, his death was definitely not a swift one, there must have been so many thoughts racing through his mind. The poet also exudes hopeless and wishes she could have done more. Szymborska wants to leave the ending unsaid for these jumpers, she only wants to describe this flight. Szymborska wants to keep them in flight, to keep their memories alive. Flight is usually used to describe a plane ready for take-off, but not in this case. The jumpers are in flight, however, it is a descending flight to their deaths, and the use is not describing a plane but rather a person. The plane in this scenario has ended its flight but the person is just in the midst of theirs.

 

Let the Great World Spin Reflection

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In class we talked about how this novel relates to death and how different people can deal with it very differently. The chapter that I feel best demonstrates how differently people can react to death is “A Fear of Love”.

The two main characters, Lara and Blaine, react drastically differently from each other, despite being very similar individuals. Lara struggles to forget about the events that led to them killing two people. Whereas, Blaine quickly rationalizes his part in the accident by explaining that it was Corrigan’s fault because he did not know how to drive.

It is not surprising to see contrasting reactions to death; however, I find it interesting because both Lara and Blaine are so similar. They are both artists and enjoyed the party lifestyle with many drugs and few concerns. Yet, their reactions to death were complete opposites, which show how influential death can be and how difficult it is to come to terms with. At the end of the chapter we can even see that it is driving the couple apart, as each cannot understand the other’s response.

“The Worst Day of My Life is Now New York’s Hottest Tourist Attraction”

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If anybody is interested in checking it out, this is the article to which I was referring during our last class. The idea of public vs. private grieving and remembrance really stuck with me. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/stevekandell/the-worst-day-of-my-life-is-now-new-yorks-hottest-tourist-at#1o5futg

On Szymborska – sample post

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(Here is a short reflection I have to Szymborska’s very raw poem on 9/11. Please note my use of tags as thematic markers so that you can reuse what you need and add more if there is no tag suitable already. Also note how I’ve categorized it both as “poetry” and as “week 2”)

Photograph from September 11 – Wislawa Szymborska

This poem struck me in a way that is not always possible when reading something. I can’t say whether it’s because I remember so clearly because I was your age, 18 and a 1st year college student, when 9/11 destroyed what we thought we knew about being American, or because the words are just so raw.

I instantly understand what the poet is seeing, the images of desperate people flinging themselves from the towers that flashed on the news for months and months.

What strikes me most of all about this poem is the connection she draws between the power of this writing and the photographic image: suspension. The photo froze them all above the ground, not yet dead. This resonates for me with where she stops her remembering: 
I can only do two things for them–
describe this flight
and not add a last line.
Like the harrowing images from 9/11, Symborska has frozen the now-dead before death–holding on to them in a space where we we can see and remember.

 

Joshua Chu – Introduction

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Intro

Hey guys! I’m Joshua. My last name is Chu.

Shout out to Tony, who’s in our seminar and has the same last name! Many people have concluded that we are brothers. We are not. It’s funny.

Passions

I love food. And physics. And math. And programming. Why?

Physics and math… I think they are useful things to know about.

With programming, I can do just about anything, given I know the right language. I like that I am in control of what the computer does, that I can make it do what I want it to do, that I can make it do the mundane work.

The process of taking a bite of food, feeling the textures of pizza crust or toothsome pasta or pea, and recognizing the flavor that hits my tongue makes food a great experience. Just kidding. I don’t know why food is so good: I like a good pizza, pasta dish, goat cheese, and many more tasty edibles. Like good chocolate. Mmm.

image of good chocolate

Chocolate… mmm. Credits to eHow Contributor Ingrid Hansen (http://www.ehow.com/way_6169024_good-chocolate-put-favor-boxes.html)

 

Hobbies

I enjoy cycling. Since middle school, I would ride around my neighborhood, reveling in the ease of movement, the speed, and maybe a little bit of the scenery. Mostly the speed.

I play know how to play the trombone.

wycliffe gordon holding a trombone

Wycliffe Gordon holding a trombone!1! Credits to U Maryland Eastern Shore

I became interested in music in 5th grade–a sort of whimsical interest that kids have–and I could play! I picked up buzzing on the mouthpiece extremely quickly and the fingerings a little bit afterwards. This went on through middle school, where I learned to play the trombone. I didn’t practice though (lol) and I didn’t know that playing an instrument was a sport in its own right–embouchure toning and diaphragm exercises and finger weight training.
Now my trombone spends most of its time in the case.
I need to make some time for it. It’s lonely 🙁
Anyone else play an instrument here?

I like to look at things sometimes, and wonder how all the pieces attach together, how the whole is formed.

Quirks.

When I get very tired, a pseudo-Russian accent begins to slip into my speech. I watched a lot of FPSRussia in my high school years.

Goals

I hope to learn with you all about the culture in which I live–New York in all its glory.