Toby Keith, “should’ve been a cowboy”: This video cuts from Toby singing to an old style western movie. The entire video is shot in cepia style coloring. the style gives the video a true feeling of the west. The video gives a romanticized picture of the west that I have always dreamed of. The silhouette at the end of the video with the cowboy on horseback is mesmerizing. It gives a very stereotypical look to the cowboy image. I think Toby and I share the same dreams of the open range, a time of freedom. This video reminds me of old westerns I use to watch with my grandpa. Toby mentions Gene and Roy referring to Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, two famous cowboys. To many people, these names may mean nothing, but to grandpa and me these names are gods. Watching Roy Rogers sitting around the campfire and playing his guitar was one of the coolest things to me when I was young. Then there was Gene Autry flying in on his horseback doing tricks. Westerns are about chivalry and pride. In the video Toby is in a showdown with another man. His pride will not let him back down from this challenge. In the end of the video he also saves the girl from the outlaws. Who would not really want to be a cowboy on the open range? This is something my grandfather and I both share and I hope to keep it with me my entire life.

Disturbed, “Land of confusion”: This music video has an old cartoon style like Johnny Quest. The video cuts from a military force, to rioting people with a masked leader, to a group of politicians. This is like the famous G.I. Joes. They always have a new problem or a new force to recon with. For me, waking up early on Saturday morning to watch the new episode of G.I. Joe was a big deal. It is not just any cartoon. It is a grenade throwing, rifle shooting, action packed cartoon. This is an all around boys’ show. I was always changing the channel so my mom would not see the guns on the television, because that would give the wrong message to young boys. As children we did not care what we watched. Today’s cartoons are filled with realistic high-resolution graphics and a lot of smoke and mirrors. They are not like the old cartons the actually had a cartoon felling to them. We no longer have the Wonder Twins and Justice League. Now the cartoons actually move their mouths and you can read their lips. In the old days you were lucky if they even moved their mouth. To me cartoons are no longer cartons. They are moving away form the traditional styles I am used to. I want those Saturday mornings with my brother, sitting on the couch sharing mom’s comforter, eating our captain crunch. It is not about the new or old style of cartoons. It is about the memories you can create from them. It is about two brothers connecting because of a poorly drawn solider.

Hellogoodbye, “Here (In Your Arms)”: Most everyone can relate to going to summer camp. The video starts out with Camp Holadios. Then the video focuses on all the aspects of camp life. This is not what caught my attention. The scene that really stood out to me was a short one where there is a boy selling pogs. You may say what the heck are pogs, but they are probably the greatest invention in the world. They are little round cardboard discs. You stack them in a pile and then you hit them with a slammer. The slammers were round but usually metal or hard plastic. In the video there is a scene where one of the counselors slams the pogs and they go everywhere. This is a game that became very popular when I was a younger. The coolest thing about the pogs was the slammer. There were many types of slammers. There was the all-metal ones with etching in them. There were the plastic ones with cool pictures on them. There was also the ultimate one that looked like a cookie. This one was so great because you could stick it in milk and it would not get ruined. This may sound weird but that’s what the guy said who tried to sell it to me. Pogs were a cool fad that died out quickly. It was not about the crappy little disc, it was about being young and caught up in the latest fad. I miss the good old days of bad fads.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers, “Californication”: This video starts off with a loading screen. The rest is shot like a Nintendo sixty-four game. The video cuts back and fourth from the band playing to the video game. This brings me back to the fourth grade when everyday after school I would play my friends on N64. The games were like the video. We had a snow boarding video game called 1080. We would play it for hours. The music video has a lot of different references to old games, like the water scene where he is swimming under water. This made me think of Zelda. The scene where he is running through the woods reminds me of James Bond 007. These games are not the most technologically advanced games in the world, but they were revolutionary for their time. Before this there were really no three-dimensional gaming systems on the market. At the time all the depth of the games mesmerized my friend and me. Looking back on it now and seeing all of the advancements in gamming today it is hard to see why we were so amazed. It is never about how great the games were. It was about having fun with your friends. In the video the band is going through different levels of the game and experiencing things that might not happen in real life but could. For example when a band member is attacked by a bear. This could happen, but probably wont. Video games are an extension of ourselves and it was a place for me and my friends to be someone else.

Rise Against, “Give it all”: The video starts out with this group of people suiting up in all black to go out and vandalize. The video cuts back in forth between the band playing in a subway car, to the people vandalizing. This brings me back to the times when I was in high school and the guys and I would drive around and do stupid things. In the video they climb up a billboard and spray paint on it. There is also a scene where they marker on a random ad on the street. These are all random things that my friends and I would do. Through the entire video they are running from place to place like they are in a panic to be caught. There is always that thrill factor. You are always worried about being caught. That is what makes it so exciting. The thrill that if you got caught you could get into big trouble. Like in the video, we never did get caught, but there was always that potential. I think the subway scene shows how exciting and chaotic it can get. You can really feel the adrenalin pumping. In the end of the video all the people that were wearing black put on suits. They go back to their regular boring jobs and life goes on. The thrill they experienced goes away. For my friends and me we never talked about it outside of the night. It was always understood to be quiet. The thrill may go away, but the memory remains forever.

Eve 6, “Here’s to the Night”: The video starts out with some friends watching a video they recorded of a party. The video cuts back and fourth between the party and people watching the video. I can remember a lot of good times with my high school friends just hanging out sitting around the house laughing for no real reason. In the video there is always someone filming everything going on, that one guy who will always catch you on camera when you are doing something stupid. The best one is of a girl drawing on a guy who has passed out. You always have the great memories that you can recall at the sight of an old friend. For instance the bigger guy in the video that is dancing and pulling off his shirt. This is a memorable time one that will stick with anyone who was at the party. I can recall many of my friends doing stupid things at parties like jumping into pools or off balconies. It is not about the stupid things you do. It is about “the night we felt alive.” It is about having those memories with your friends and being able to share them with one another. Even though we all move on, friends will always have those memories to look back on and remember the times when there were no real worries. It was a time when we were carefree and could just have a good time with a group of friends.

Linkin Park, “Numb”: In everyone’s life there comes a time when you’re a told to conform to the norm. Whether it is your parents, school officials, or employers, everyone at one time or another has been told how to act or dress. The video cuts from the band to a confused girl who sees the world in slow motion. The lyrics coincide with what the girl is thinking and feeling. She feels like she is not her own person. In today’s world there is a lot of pressure from parents and authority figures to follow their example and do what they do. Everyone wants to be his or her own person. They “want to be more like me and less like you.” This is a quote from the song which means I want to have my own expression and be like myself, not like what other people want. The trick is to listen to what people are saying and use only what can apply to your life. You need to be your own individual. I can remember my mom always pushing me to do great in school. I wasn’t the strait A student she wanted, but I worked hard and did the best I could. The thing was that I was satisfied with what I had accomplished and that makes me my own person. The girl in the video found herself through her painting in the end. I found myself through hard work and not grades like my mother wanted.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Snow”: This video is filled with relationships. It is about the friends you meet and rely on. One line says, “When I sit alone come get a little known, But I need more than myself this time.” This means that he realized that he needs other people in his life. He cannot find who he really is by himself. People need to create friendships and know they can rely on them. Sometimes it takes that experience with others to realize your true self. Everyone needs to have someone in his or her life to have fun with, or someone that they can talk with. This is something that I have done since my time here at Wesleyan. I have created those friendships. I think people can hide behind things and not let themselves be open to help. They put up a front of having this perfect picture like “snow”. The line where they say, “Running through the field where all my tracks will be concealed and there's nowhere to go”. This line explains it perfectly. People use this perfect image to hide who they really are. People do not feel like they can be themselves. They feel like the need to up this “perfect wonder”. My time at college has made me learn that I do not need that perfect front and I can be the real person I am. I no longer need “snow”. I can accept myself and who I am through my trusting friendships.