DOC

Spaces & exchanges

The first document is a cartoon which shows three countries or territories : Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Switzerland. There is a chest full of money on the bitch side of the island, with the name "Romney" written on it. Romney is an American political business man. He is digging a hole to bury his money right next to the chest. There is also a yacht called "believin' in America" with Romney's son and grand daughter sitting on it. 

The three territories that are represented are three tax havens. Romney is talking about outsourcing jobs and offshoring to be able to make as much money as possible without having to pay taxes. The next generation sees it as a good example to follow given that the little girl exclaims "You should be president". This document criticizes the fact that some politicians give a good image of themselves but only think of making profit behind the population's back.

The second one represents two men talking to each other. It is a satirical cartoon as they both are caricatured.
There are mentionning that they gave "thousands of jobs" to a country, but criticize the fact that now the people who took the jobs want to get paid.
The document is basically telling us that the capitalist system offshores its production where there are minimum wages to make the maximum profit.
This shows us that in some parts of the world a certain type of colonisation or slavery is seing the light of day.

These two documents deal with the notion of spaces and exchanges because they tackle the issue of relocation and offshoring, which creates problems in the countries that are concerned, because on one hand it reduces the number of jobs and on another hand it makes people work in horrible conditions. That is an aspect of the flaws of globalization.

• Biography (contactmusic.com)

R.E.M. (formed 1980) is an alternative American rock band. The lineup of the band consists of Michael Stipe on lead vocals, Peter Buck on guitar, Mike Mills on bass guitar and Bill Berry on drums and percussion. R.E.M. gained early attention because of Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's unclear vocals.

Michael Stipe met Peter Buck in 1980 whilst Buck was working in a record store in Athens, Georgia. They shared a love of bands like Television, Patti Smith and The Velvet Underground. The pair of them soon met Bill Berry and Mike Mills, who were students at the University of Georgia. Their debut gig as a band was at a friend's birthday party in April 1980. 

In 1990, following a 12-month break, R.E.M. reconvened and recorded Out of Time, using the mandolin, organ and acoustic guitar to break away from the expected sound of alterative guitar bands. The lead single, 'Losing My Religion', became a massive worldwide hit, as was its follow-up, 'Shiny Happy People', featuring Kate Pierson of the B-52s.

In March 1995, Bill Berry suffered a brain aneurysm and collapsed onstage in Switzerland. Although he recovered within a month, the band was plagued with other health issues, as Mills required abdominal surgery and Stipe also required emergency surgery to repair a hernia. The following year, however, they still managed to release an album, Adventures in Hi-Fi, having re-signed with Warner Bros for a staggering $80 million contract.

In April 1997, Bill Berry left the band. The remaining three members decided to carry on as a three-piece.

R.E.M.'s music has inspired a number of bands, most notably Nirvana. Lead singer Kurt Cobain was vocal in his praise of the band and he and his wife, Courtney Love, of Hole, became good friends with Michael Stipe.

• Review (musicradar.com)

Another classic-in-waiting, the (on initial exposure) simplistic slow tempo melody pushing the same emotional buttons as Everybody Hurts, while sharing that song’s lyrical message of hope, strength and support: “I cannot tell a lie/It’s not all cherry pie/But it’s all there waiting for you...”.

Buck’s unfussy picked guitar line is doubled by Mills on what sounds like a glockenspiel, giving the track the feel of a reassuring lullaby. The repeated “Hey, yeah!” of the chorus cries out to be sang lustily by audiences, although early indications are that the band won’t be playing live to promote the album.

• Personal review

To my mind Everyday is yours to win could be a kind of spiritual message disguised as a song. In fact this song contains a lot of ideas and suggests a new view of things, even if it isn't clearly expressed. It's like if this song was reasuring and giving a kind of protection. First it deals with common places, things that everybody have heard about and that are aware of. It confers a kind of credibility to the song, in a way to identify ourselves with. The singer uses expressions such as "I know", and talks about everyday life ideas, for instance the "talk" and the "walk", or the "tick tock clock". Secondly, he tries to comforting us through advices like "it's all there waiting for you" or the sentence of the tittle. It's a very optimistic way of thinking, that could reduce people's worries,  sadness and loneliness.

• Video interpretation

I envoy this video, we see a lot of people, in various moments of their everyday lives. It gives a large panorama of our main occupations, passions, emotions, etc... Moreover there is not only one type of person that has been represented : There are black people, chinese people, children, magicians... The main purpose of this video to my mind could be that, that's simply "how heroes are made", and that everybody can be a heroe in their life.