Final entry - THE END

Age: 20
Sex: male
Studying: Philosophy and sociology

Does this module fit in with other subjects?
Yes I think it fitted in very well with my other philosophy work and also I got a lot of ideas for sociology such as research ideas etc

Appropriate level of work?
Yes, an essay and a short story was fine and the blog was a good idea

List of topics good/bad?
I think the topics were good although there are many more things that are viewed as bad in the world other than the topics discussed but the time frame is too small to fit them all in

Module leaders good?
Yes I think on the most part the lectures were interesting and the lecturers seemed to get it right

Classes working well?
Yes again, there was lots of information and lecturers got it across well, I think I personally may have benefitted from smaller groups discussion although I think it's dfficult to do that without having seminars

Interdisciplinary approach
Worked well, there was a lot of work on all the topics from books films and other places also I liked doing an assignment that wasnt an essay

More modules covering subject matter?
Yes

Taking the follow up in 2nd year?
Yes, probably

Recommend?
Yes

Weblogs a good idea?
Yes I think they were although you do need to be quite organised to keep one going and it is often quite hard to come up with loads of good ideas, also trying to comment on others blogs is quite difficult when you may not have strong opinions

One or two assessments?
Two short assessments was a good idea like I said doing a creative peice instead of an essay was good for me although would have liked a bigger word count for short story

What have you learned?
Im generally quite open minded however I feel like I know more about peoples opinions from reading blogs and have thought more about my own opinions

Most useful and a waste of time?
I liked the different assignments and most of the subject matter was interesting, I think a lecture on smoking isnt very necessary because we all know the dangers and it seems we all have a general idea of why it's not always seen as good

The End

bad art?

In the very early days, art was about representation, showing what was there, and what really happened. If someone was shown to have an arm bending the wrong way it was considered ‘bad’ art. Art movements such as Expressionism have changed people’s views on art, now it can be used in many ways; to show feelings, thoughts, emotions and even political views. Arms and legs can come from all directions, and good and bad is now decided by the viewer due to their like or dislike.Recently, modern art has taken a new, more visually shocking turn. Artists such as the Chapman brothers, Tracey Emin and Damien Hurst have shocked a large proportion of the public into deeming certain art as ‘bad’ once again, and in ‘poor taste.’Tracey Emin’s ‘My Bed’ was shown in the Tate Gallery for a short period of time and created a huge media frenzy. The bed itself was covered in rubbish, dirty sheets and clothes, used condoms and bodily fluids. Emin had stayed in it herself for several days and not left it, due to suicidal depression due to relationship difficulties. By showing her bed as art, Emin was revealing that she was insecure and imperfect, and by doing this, she was pointing out to the public that they too, were like her. Many people who saw the art saw something they could relate to.Damien Hurt also caused controversy with his series of dead animals preserved behind glass, often cut in half, exposing their insides, and his art instillation ‘two fucking, two watching’, which was basically a rotting cow and bull, was banned. Hurst’s work being banned has only strengthened his point; that people are afraid and disgusted by reality. The Chapman brothers have created mannequins of children fused together grotesquely, with genitalia for facial features, referring to Freudian views of displaced sexual desire and they bring up themes such as genetic manipulation and cloning, as well as the perceived innocence of children. The work itself is visually shocking, but to those who can look past that is full of themes and meanings. In conclusion, good or bad art is up to the viewer, and whether the artist has actually put thought into the work, as art is not art without a meaning or purpose.

comment on tattoos...

Im gona say with this post that 1 in 4 people having tattoos seems to be about right i guess but i think the number will grow, this is not because people are 'unhappy' with their skin i feel tattoos are more a way of expressing yourself and further more it's art! the reason so many people say "i'd get one where i culd hide it" probly because they know some people will think it's not desirable, for example in the work place. I feel this view should change as tattoos as an art or expression should be appreciated and not looked down upon.

May, 7th 2008 - tattoos
http://lynsey-being-bad.blogspot.com/

Comment on cannabis issues..

I don't know how much you agree with frank that cannabis should never be legalized but I feel that most of the things they have put forward in their argument seem to be the affects of smoking cigarettes and although you might think perhaps that should be banned as well there could be a lot of advantages in legalizing drugs such as cannabis.

For example the underworld of drugs would become far less dangerous and certain drugs wouldn't be cut with strange things which is often what makes them so dangerous. For me situation in Holland is a good example to follow, bearing in mind cannabis is not legal in any country in the world, the Dutch simply tolerate the drug and allow it to be sold in small private businesses in a safe environment off the street where most of the problem lies.

If you're gona get cannabis banned you might as well take out the even more dangerous drugs such as alcohol and tabacco.

entry title: "frank says..."
http://beingbadph1000.blogspot.com/

Infidelity

In my experience this sucks! being cheated on was not nice and who'd expect it to be? It seems that often infidelity is completely avoidable, for example if your not happy in your relationship then you should be honest and just leave the person your with before you make a bigger mess. That I guess is all well and good if your not tied down with kids or a financial situations which make things a lot more difficult in leaving someone but I think really cheating is still avoidable although with problems like that it becomes much more difficult to be honest. The fact is that with infidelity someone is always going to get hurt! whether it be both or just one or a whole family is another story but to me betrayal like this is not good.

If I'm completely honest when asking myself would I ever cheat? I think I would and everyone else would have to agree in some situation somewhere everyone is capable, I'm not saying I'm immune from the act but my experience has told me that for me I would try and sort the problem out before it got out of hand no matter how painful it would be. I guess for some people it is doing something thats bad that makes it all the more appealing but I think there is always going to be two sides and I feel it is going to come crashing down somewhere along the line.

One thing I noticed while reading a few peoples blogs on this subject I feel that many people are very much saying that men are way more likely to do it seems to be men who suck, however again I tend to disagree, at the end of the day whatever the statistics may show I think just about as many women as men do this in one way or another! men suck and women suck just as much! good times!

Tattoos

Dismissed as unecessary scars by some and celebrated by others the debate of tattoos goes on. So wy are they seen as bad? Well for a start a lot of religions do not accept tattoos such as in christianity it is often seen as bad however not all christian followers believe that and infact it has been a part of some christian followers to get tattoos to show their faith. Tattoos have been used widely through history and date back many thousands of years and I think it is important to learn the history of tattoos before judging them.

My personal view is that tattoos are not bad (thats my tattoo in the pic ^_^) but I do feel that we should realise there is meaning behind tattoos that stems from history so before getting one it would be good for people to research what they are putting on their skin.

I also realise that sometimes tattoos have been used as markings for control like the nazi's tattooing the jews partly for control and partly because in their religion it is a huge sin to get one. This obviously should never be used. Tattoos are down to the individual and have certain meanings for that person, I think you could grow out of tattoos being used as a fashion statement so make sure you know what you're getting. Tattoos can be very beautiful and I think they should be more widely accepted but also learning about them should be more widely done aswell.

The veil...oppressive or not?

Wearing the veil seems to be growing into a hot topic in the media for a few reasons, partly because some muslim women have been asked to not wear the veil while working and in France we see the government attempting to put a ban on veils in schools. So what is the problem with the veil and why in the western world are they seen as bad?

Well a lot I guess many would say is that due to current world events to do with terrorism and growing fundamentalism in the Islamic world there is more hostility but as we all know this type of fundamentalism is a very small proportion of the faith which most muslims living in England would say is completely against their beliefs. In a recent lecture on the subject we discussed some of the issues on the subject which lead to arguments about it being oppressive to women such as husbands forcing their wives to wear one and although I believe this does occasionally happen and I think someone shouldn't be forced to it seems the case that more often the wives will wear the veil out of respect for their husbands and it is their choice.

One of my other thoughts was that why do men not wear a veil? why is it always the women who have to wear the veil whether it is their choice or not? This is still a concern for me however I think there would probably be answer I would recieve that explains but in lots of ways I still somewhat feel that the origins and its use today is to separate people which I think in some contexts is a bad thing.

In the lecture I had on the subject I found one thing very interesting and that was that the lecturerer made a comparison between the western and eastern culture. In the western culture we think that women wearing black clothes in the desert seems shocking however it is what they are expected to do but also it seems shocking to people from the eastern world that people in Britain and other western societies would expect women to wear very little clothes in the cold of winter because it is the expected dress.

I think the veil is not bad in general, if someone wants to wear it and they have independent reasons then thats fine. I think there needs to be more education on the subject so people can learn from each others cultures and that works both ways.

Masturbation

One of the hot topics on this module...masturbation. Although jokingly before the session began many people were surprised we were doing the subject because of course masturbation feels good so why not? But why is it then that we cannot seem to talk about it because it's some kinda of horrible thing.


One peice of text we read for the session was 'Portnoy's complaint' by Philip Roth. This was quite an honest and detailed account of one teenager dealing with the impulses of puberty and although quite an amusing read the realism of it makes us realise that masturbation is a very strange natural impulse. I don't know about using the liver in the fridge is such a good idea but it raises the issue discussed in class, why is it such a private thing so much that we would do anything to hide it but also do anything to do it?


One issue raised in class was that we can for some reason talk endlessly about sex but when it comes to sex with just yourself it's so much worse. The answer we mainly discussed was buried in history and for some reason it was always seen a bad thing for example the era of industrial revolution saw it as pointless because it was a waste of sperm and energy to have sex to have children which had a its purpose.


I think really masturbation is not a bad thing but I think there's something private about it that makes us weary of it and makes it different from sex. I feel really that is somewhat due to the history of it but also a general sense of privacy but we all know that people aren't going to stop doing it and I don't think they should because it's not bad just natural...but don't go blind!

So bad cinema was the topic for one week on this module and it raised some issues when watching the film kids. This film directed by Larry Clark and released in 1995 was extremely shocking cinema to some and many people wanted it banned but ofcourse this film managed to slip through the ropes and it was eventually allowed to be shown. however what seemed shocking to those who wanted it banned in 1995 did not seem so shocking now as after viewing the film in class the general consensus was that the film wasnt realy 'that' shocking. In someways this may be becuase cineama has moved on nowadays and it seems to get a film released as an 18 there needs to be a certain amount of shock value in it.

My personal view on the film was that yes for cinema it was quit shocking, I mean a film with a rape scene in it isnt exactly one id put on my favourites however although it was hard to watch I think most people realise that this happens quite often, not just the rape but teenagers doing drugs and drinking a lot and generally terrorising people and not giving a crap about anyone. So in that way it wasnt shocking, but this module is about being 'bad' and I think most of us would agree this film is not bad infact it was eventually acclaimed by critics and recieved awards.

This film for many can be seen as a wake up call for people who are in the mind that this stuff only happens in films and obviously this is a film but because of its documentary style and brutal honesty it seems real and I think we can all safely say that we know these things happen. A wake up call for parents is another comment on this film and in someways I agree but obcourse we cannnot lock up our children to this sort of behaviour but we can educate them about what can happen with drugs and sex and I think that is where some of the problem lies when it comes to parents.

So this film shows bad things but the film I think is important as it shows how easy it is for kids to become involved with these bad things so this film is not bad cinema.

Charity

From being at school and now uni I have always been subject to lots of charity events however it has often occured to me that people often have many different reasons for participating in events primarily to raise money for charity. An example of my own would be having a non-school uniform day but quite often I think many people do not care much about the charity the money is going towards and simply are doing it for their own benefit so is this actually being charitable? and why don't we just give me a pound to charity for no reasons at all. It seems we live in a society where we simply do not give something for nothing.

Another example that I feel is quite bad is that people often go to events for charity with a dress up theme and it makes me laugh when I see quite a large amount of people who have quite obviously spent far more on their costume than money they have actually given to charity. This 'charity' we see often extends far beyond a simple pound for non-uniform though and huge events such as red nose day and make poverty history events I feel are quite often filled with celebrities who do not care too much about making awareness but more about getting more publicity. I realise this is a slightly controversial thing to bring up but it seems to me that celebrities who could quite happily give large sums of money to charity and get no media coverage for doing so seem to be lacking and indeed not just celebrities but almost all of us doing so called charitable things with underlying reasons.

Smoking!

Today I am tlaking about smoking which is an important issue I think in the society we live in. as we all know there are many reasons we shouldnt smoke but for some reason we carry on anyway. The problem I guess starts early on and then you can't quit! So realy we need to make sure people don't start in the first place and this is what I think is the 'bad' issue here. I think films do often make sexual reference to smoking and it always has been the cool thing to be seen doing. This needs to stop as it's just getting a new generation interested and it's all starting over again and we need to learn from our mistakes.

I think we should have free choice on the subject however, although they can be harmful you can still enjoy a cigarette and if we just put a ban on them then it may get some people more interested. I feel we need to keep it legal to tackle the problem and this could be said of many other drugs such as cannabis and this business of making it class B I feel would make more problems rather than solving them but people need to take notice of the damaging effects of cigarettes

so heres another stop smoking video for you ^_^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jjZ0sJkitI

enjoy!

Ideas for field trip

I read through some other peoples ideas and stuff like going to bars and stuff would be quite cool becuase its always shown in a "bad" light in the media etc even though many many people binge drink or whatever. someone wrote about a tattoo parlour which would be awesome although I don't know how we'd all fit in a small place like spikes!

I though perhaps a homeless shelter would be kinda cool because many people have a low opinion of people living on the streets because of its ties with drugs and begging but there are many different reasons for why these people are there and they all have stories of hardship so I think it would be quite interesting to go find out and talk to some of the people supposedly at the "bottom" of society.

Front door 2-3, Bell Street Wolverhampton WV1 3PR - a possible homeless advice centre