Wurlitzer

For nineteen years, the Wurlitzer in my living room has been a constant source of musical companionship. It is a small, upright piano, but holds many musical secrets. Songs ranging from "Amazing Grace" to "Fur Elise" have been produced by the eighty-eight ebony and ivory keys that make up the keyboard. They are slick, slightly rounded, perfect for precision and ease of playing. Currently, the low C string is snapped, leaving only a dull plunking sound when this key is played. The A above middle C sticks slightly and some of the lower keys buzz, but they add to the character of this old instrument.

The dull medium colored wood has been polished, and gives off a deep sheen when the low light of the piano lamp dances off it. It sets the perfect mood for a few hours of music making. Along the lid are pictures of family portraits ranging from the early 1900's up till the present. The music stand, most likely not originally with the piano, has a golden eagle fused to it. It usually sits, heavily laden with books and sheets of music. The piano bench perfectly matches the piano itself with the glossy sheen on all surfaces. The bench, like the piano, has seen much wear. It is beginning to bottom out, so full of music the staples and nails can no longer bear the weight.

This piano is a source of delight for many users, but now that I'm at college it sits dormant for weeks at a time. Whenever I go home and walk into the living room I see it begging for someone to spend some time with it, to wipe off the dust that has begun to collect and produce melodies to fill the house. So I will oblige and spend three to four hours at a time with my Wurlitzer, my friend.

N64

The hot new craze--the Nintendo 64--was upon all gamers in early 1996. A small gray box holding hours and hours of gaming pleasure was now below the TV in many homes, including mine. Of course there was a struggle over which color of controller was best. They came in a variety of colors, all of which my console has seen. The generic gray seemed to work the best. The bright green, blue, yellow, and red buttons were clearly visible for optimum reaction speed when trying to destroy mushrooms in Super Mario 64. The three handled design played a versitile role for steering, depending on personal preference. Some other popular controllers are the solid red--fine if the user doesn't need to find the start button. The transparent green is also popular, but when trying to find the "B" button in Super Smash Brothers, the blending of the green colors slows down reaction time, making it ineffective when Pikachu needs to use "thunderbolt." All of these controllers were connected to the evenly spaced plug-ins located on the face of the game system. In the middle, there is an arch with the "N" logo strategically placed in its 3-D design. Behind this arch lies the game slot. Many games have seen time here. The 2.5 x 4 inch games used in the N64 system are archaic compared to the tiny CD's used in the new-fangled Wii's, but hold a sort of nostalgic place to many gamers. The curved, arching design replicates that of the game system itself, making a complete look when the game is inserted.

Diddy Kong Racing was a popular one for many first and second graders such as myself. Each character brought something different to the race--steering ability, speed, and agility being some of the more popular. It's always a competition to see who can select Turtle as their character first as soon as the character selection screen appears. The other three players' performance is undoubtedly affected by this important selection. From this point a variety of courses are offered, one is selected, and the games begin!

Rhetorical Response

This clip uses pathos to draw the viewer in and actually feel what the song means. This is accomplished by drawing from the ethos of the movie it incorporates within it. Twilight has been established as a huge best-selling book and now a box office hit. The use of Twilight clips within Paramore's music video helps give credibility to the relationship that is being described by the lyrics of the song. It helps the viewer or listener actually picture what they are singing about because the Twilight story gives background information to understanding the lyrics that the lyrics themselves cannot say. This use of ethos will also help Paramore to sell more records with "Decode" on it because Twilight fans will associate it with the movie.

Pathos probably is the strongest rhetorical appeal to the music video. It uses a lot of artistic camera angles and effects. This all plays together to set a particular mood to the video. It is trying to invoke feelings of mystery mixed with confusion about a relationship. The lyrics are hidden with feelings of pain about the relationship not working out, and the way this is portrayed on the band member's faces is very evident. Likewise, Twilight is a very emotional book. This emotional connection of the two main characters' relationship will echo the feelings being given off by the lyrics, adding to the effect it will have on the audience. The feelings of mystery are shown by the way the band members try and recreate the images of the bad vampires in the way they walk, move, and hunt. This combination of emotions all build on each other, making the emotional feeling a viewer would get from the video very strong.