Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals

“Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals” is a sketch from the television show Saturday Night Live. Saturday Night Live is a sketch comedy and variety show that airs, live, every Saturday night at 11:30 pm ET. It is currently in its thirty-sixth season and has consistently been shown on NBC. SNL parodies political and popular culture themes and is extremely hilarious. It has won 21 Primetime Emmy Awards, inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, and listed as one of Time magazine’s “100 Best TV Shows of All-Time.”

Andy Samberg is the actor that portrays Mark Wahlberg in this sketch. Samberg has been performing on Saturday Night Live since 2005. He is a part of the comedy troupe The Lonely Island, along with Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone, which created and starred in the popular SNL Digital Shorts “I’m on a Boat” (featuring rapper T. Pain) and “Lazy Sunday.”

One of my most favorite parodies is “Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals.” In this sketch, Andy Samberg impersonates the famous actor Mark Wahlberg. “Mark” goes around to different animals, including a dog, donkey, chicken, and a goat, and talks to them. He asks them questions or comments on things like, [to the dog] “So you’re a dog, right? What’s that all about?” [To the donkey] “You’re a donkey, I like that. You eat apples, I produce Entourage.” [To the chicken] “Hey chicken, how’s it hangin’? A lot of people want to eat you, but I just want to talk to you, okay?!” [To the goat] “I like your beard. I had a beard like that in The Perfect Storm, did you see that movie?” Samberg satirizes Wahlberg’s Boston accent in this sketch as well, and always tells the animals to “say hi to your mother for me, alright.”

The writers’ of SNL chose to have Samberg’s character, Mark Wahlberg, talk to animals in this manner to create a parody of Wahlberg’s movie The Happening. In that movie, Wahlberg’s character starts talking to a plastic plant because the plants in were giving off toxins that were killing people. He was telling it that he and his friends were just going to use the bathroom and leave, but then he realizes that he’s talking to a plastic plant. The parody works out very well because it’s incorporating Wahlberg’s traits with funny lines and animals.

I think that this sketch is fantastic. It has my favorite Saturday Night Live actor, Andy Samberg, parodying one of my favorite actors, Mark Wahlberg, with his full Boston accent, and it even has animals. This scene is one of the best SNL sketches that I have seen. It’s funny even if you haven’t seen The Happening. I love quoting it too. If you haven’t seen it, you should look it up on youtube or hulu because it is hilarious. Actually, here's a link if you have some time to watch http://www.hulu.com/watch/37753/saturday-night-live-mark-wahlberg-talks-to-animals

Monroe's Life and Warhol's Prints

            The works of Andy Warhol and Marilyn Monroe are known widely throughout the country. Andy Warhol began his artistic career after he attended Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied commercial art. He moved to New York, drawing shoe advertisements and album covers. Warhol became a leading member of the pop art movement during the 1960’s. His one man art exhibition in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles marked the debut of pop art on the west coast. He produced a wide range of art that included paintings, photographs, films, and prints. Warhol founded “The Factory,” a studio where he gathered a variety of artists, ranging from writers and musicians, to work and hang out. Some of his work was completed there but it also was home to underground parties. Valerie Solanas, a feminist and a part of “The Factory” group, attempted to murder Warhol on June 3, 1968. Warhol barely survived but lived on to February 22, 1987 when he died in his sleep of a cardiac arrhythmia.  

            Marilyn Monroe was America’s leading lady in films during the 1950’s. Appearing, and starring for the most part, in around thirty films, Monroe became famous and a public sex symbol. Some of her most notable roles are Lorelei Lee in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” Rose Loomis in “Niagara,” Sugar Kane Kowalczyk in “Some Like it Hot” and Pola Debevoise in How to Marry a Millionaire.” Monroe’s personal life has been plastered throughout the media ever since she made it big. Her marriages to police officer James Dougherty, baseball player Joe DiMaggio, and author Arthur Miller were scrutinized, along with her reported affairs with President John F. Kennedy and his brother Senator Robert Kennedy. Although she was known for her dumb blonde personality, Monroe had a deeper side. She wrote personal notes and poems that showed her intense emotions. One specific poem called “Life” portrays the side of Monroe that was hidden from the public.

            One of Warhol’s most popular techniques of creating prints was silk screening, where he could easily mass-produce his art and make variations of the same print with different colors. The silk screen print of Marilyn Monroe is one of Warhol’s most memorable prints, along with Campbell’s soup can, Elvis, and Coca Cola bottle. There are many variations of the Marilyn Monroe screen print located at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; the most popular one is a set of nine different versions in a three by three box. It’s the same picture of Monroe, from a publicity shoot for the film “Niagara,” but with different color adjustments, for example, one has her hair yellow and her lips black and red, while the one next to it has her hair white and her lips blue and yellow. The colors of the backgrounds change with the colors of Monroe as well. Warhol chose to do a screen print of Monroe because she intrigued him. He had the ability to depict her as incredibly beautiful in some of the prints or show her darker and more mysterious side.

            Monroe’s poem “Life” is relatively unknown to the public, along with all her poetry. Life, included in the recently published book of Monroe’s work “Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters,” describes Monroe’s feeling about how there are different directions in life, up and down. She says “Life, I am of both your directions,” meaning she has had her ups and downs, but this poem specifically talks about the downs. The repetition of the line “hanging downward the most” suggests that Monroe has had rough times in her life. Monroe exudes a somber tone through “Life.” The metaphor “strong as a cobweb in the wind” demonstrates weakness and loss of hope. “Life” shows a strikingly deep side of Marilyn Monroe.

            Andy Warhol decided to do screen prints for a certain purpose. Warhol chose to do a screen print, as opposed to any other kind of art technique, of Marilyn Monroe because he gained the ability to mass-produce images and became emotionally detached from his artwork. “The silk screen technique was ideally suited to Warhol, for the repeated image was reduced to an insipid and dehumanized cultural icon that reflected both the supposed emptiness of American material culture and the artist’s emotional noninvolvement with the practice of his art.“ Repeating the image of Monroe created a cultural icon that portrayed America’s material focus in society while he didn’t have to put much effort into the pieces. His noninvolvement with this artwork allowed him to focus his talents on other artistic ventures and bring himself to fame.

            Marilyn Monroe chose to write a poem for a specific reason as well. She didn’t have any other outlets to explain her deeper feelings. Constricted to being seen as dumb, her poem “Life” shows that she has a brain and can use it for more ways than just memorizing lines. Unlike Warhol, Monroe used her poetry to become more emotionally involved and become more comfortable with art, she had serious stage fright. Her poetry also portrays a different side of Monroe unseen by her film audiences, which is like how Warhol is able to show different tones and emotions by using different colors and shades on Monroe’s print. Monroe was able to describe her emotions through a different outlet other than acting, where she was only able to become emotional through different characters lives instead of her own. Her personality that was rarely seen is portrayed through this poem, like how Warhol’s true feelings toward cultural icons is shown through his screen prints.

            The screen print of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol and the poem “Life” by Marilyn Monroe properly show that people may seem deep when they are shallow and the opposite seem shallow when they are deep. Monroe explains her feelings towards her life and life itself thoughtfully while Warhol mass-produces an image of an American sex symbol with ease and emotional detachment. Both artists succeeded in their fields and are recognized for their many different talents. Although being different Warhol and Monroe have similar qualities and their art complement each other.

Annotated Bibliography

“Andy Warhol.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 05 Nov. 2010. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/635864/Andy-Warhol I found this source from the library database. It gives most of the background information I found on Andy Warhol. Where he was born, brought up, attended college, lived and worked is in this article. This article tells a lot about the pop art movement.

“Marilyn Monroe.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 04 Nov 2010. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/390235/Marilyn-Monroe I also found this article from the library database. This gives background information for Marilyn Monroe. There is tons of information about her films but nothing about her poetry or deeper side so I had to look elsewhere for that.

McQuade, Donald, and McQuade, Christine. Seeing & Writing 4. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. Print. Seeing and Writing 4 is the text book required for my English class. It told me what to compare and contrast for these two works of work.

Monroe, Marilyn. Life. Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters. MacMillan, 2010. I found this website by doing a basic search on Google. It’s an article about a newly published book of Monroe’s poems, notes, and letters that haven’t been published before. It shows her deeper, intellectual side.

Warhol, Andy. Marilyn Monroe. 1967. Screen Print. Andy Warhol Museum. I found this website by doing a basic search on Google, too. It’s about Warhol’s screen prints and why he likes to do them, the emotional detachment aspect. It also told of the museum dedicated to him and other works that he has done.

The Bagel by David Ignatow

            David Ignatow is a poet from the New York City area. He started his professional life as a businessman but then switched to poetry. Ignatow taught at numerous colleges and universities including New York University and Columbia University. Throughout his career he received many honors for his writing, within these include a National Institute of Arts and Letters award, Shelley Memorial Award, and two Guggenheim fellowships. Ignatow lived to the ripe, old age of eighty-three when he passed away in 1997.

            The poem The Bagel is written in the first person. It describes a scene of a man stopping to retrieve a bagel from the ground. The bagel subsequently starts rolling away from the man in the wind and down the road. The man becomes incredibly frustrated that he cannot attain this bagel and unfortunately starts rolling down the street as well. This similar rolling of the man and the bagel flips the man’s mood completely and he cheers up.

            The Bagel is not only about a man and bagel rolling down the street together but it has an underlying meaning of conformity. The man is annoyed that the bagel is rolling away from him but once he starts rolling like the bagel he becomes happy. The bagel is analogous to society and the man starts out different than the whole. His mood drastically increases when he is the same as the group, the bagel, and it’s because he finally fits in. Ignatow reassures his readers that it is ok to do what everyone else is doing as long as it makes you happy, so if a bagel is rolling down the street and you start rolling too; it’s ok if it makes you happy. Whatever floats your boat, bagel man.

            Ignatow shows his reassurance by changing his tone throughout The Bagel. In the beginning the man is annoyed that he’s different. He shows this annoyance through the first two thirds of the poem. After he joins in with this glorious rolling, the man and the tone of the poem change to cheerful. Since he’s doing the same thing as the bagel and he doesn’t have to chase the fad anymore it makes the whole poem happier. This crazy bagel creates such problems but then it creates such joy.

            I liked this poem tremendously. It has great imagery and a great sense of humor. Imagine a bagel rolling down a street followed by a man doing the exact same thing! It would be hilarious. Every time I read this poem, I laugh because it is just so ridiculous. I also like the meaning behind it because I tend to follow the crowd and having The Bagel make that ok makes me feel good.

Graffiti in Maple Ridge’s Suite 125 Bathroom

            My friend Katie lives in Suite 125 in Maple Ridge. Since I frequently go there, I have used the bathroom whenever nature calls. Sometimes I even use it if I have to go extremely bad and I don’t think I can make it up the three flights of stairs to my suite’s bathroom; it makes for a nice pit stop. I have learned that the middle stall doesn’t lock and the last stall is too far of a walk so I usually choose to use the first stall. It’s darker than the other two since it’s in the corner and the light on the ceiling doesn’t shine bright enough to illuminate Stall #1.

One day while peeing in Stall #1, I noticed that there was something etched into the greyish blue paint on the door. The letters were jagged and thin so it was difficult to decipher in the absence of light. After further inspection I deduced that the graffiti spelled out “TOM WHAZZUP.” TOM was written above and slightly bigger than WHAZZUP. I always seem to forget that this is written in Stall #1 and it is a little surprise every time I see it.

Now, I have given this graffiti some thought. I’m always curious as to who wrote it and what it is supposed to mean. I figure that someone named Tom is the culprit in this vandalism but there is a sign on the bathroom door that says “Sorry Fellas, Ladies Only.” Why would this Tom character disobey the sign, use the girl’s bathroom, then scratch his name followed by a greeting into the stall door? It will forever be a mystery. In my head I read the WHAZZUP part like that Budweiser commercial, when everyone yells and drags out “What’s up” when they talk to people. If this is what Tom was going for, he did a good job. I think Tom just wanted to say hello to all the ladies using Stall #1. Maybe he’s a friendly guy or maybe he’s a being a creep, because who says hi to girls while they are going to the bathroom? Creeps.

In my opinion, I think Tom did a decent job carving his this graffiti into the stall door. All the letters are relatively the same size in each word and they are in a perfectly straight line, almost as if he used a ruler. The shape of the letters isn’t very good though, all the edges are rough but maybe Tom was going for a rock and roll or punk look to it, since he did rebel against the sign and he defaced the bathroom door. Tom also accomplished his possible goal of creeping out a girl using the bathroom, so that’s good for him. I wouldn’t necessarily say I like this piece of graffiti but it does alter the norm of bathrooms around campus and makes this interesting, and it’s fun to say WHAZZUP.

Grux by Dave Matthews Band

Dave Matthews Band is a popular rock band that was formed in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1990. The talented musicians who make up Dave Matthews Band, sometimes shortened as DMB, are Dave Matthews, on vocals and lead guitar, Stefan Lessard, on the bass, Boyd Tinsley, on the violin, Carter Beauford, on the drums and backup vocals, and Jeff Coffin, on the saxophone. All of these musicians have their roots in different genres of music, ranging from classical to bluegrass and hip-hop and jazz, the combination of these plus a unique electric sound makes DMB distinguishable, and in my opinion, better than most all other bands. Every year Dave Matthews Band holds a summer tour in the US and Europe, I saw them in 2010 and it was the most amazing experience.

The song I chose to blog about is Grux. It’s an instrumental song, lasting a little over one minute that consists of mostly saxophone and drums, with subtle hints of guitar and bass in the background. Grux starts out slow with low notes on the saxophone. It picks up with the sax and the drums towards the middle and ends with a high note that sounds like someone yelling. The guitar and bass are barely noticeable but they make this song unique. Grux, like all DMB songs, is incredible sounding. I don’t know too much about music to talk about melodies and harmonies but whatever is going on during this song works.

The saxophone and drums in Grux are the main components. The sax stands out and makes a statement while the drums do their job to keep the beat. It seems like the guitar, bass, and drums were written beforehand and the saxophone bit was off the cuff. The saxophone is soothing while the drums are powerful; the way the sax and the drums sound together are amazing.

The guitar and bass in background show more of an established flow of this song. It’s hard to hear them until the middle of the song but the combination of the bass and guitar with the saxophone and drums can send chills down your spine. I think the band chose to include these two instruments was to keep a flow going with the rest of their album and have their signature sound without having to sing.

This is the only DMB song that I’ve heard with no lyrics and it has got to be one of my favorites. The way it sounds is like eating a jelly donut, at first you don’t get any jelly but you know you’re going to and once you do, it’s awesome. I may be a little biased though because Dave Matthews Band is my all-time favorite band and I love all their songs, Grux in particular.