Wow. I really do feel that my writing has been affected by this class. I feel that I've kind of learned to think outside the box. When I say that I mean it literally. I feel like I've learned more than just five paragraph format, the general-to-specific specific-to-general type of thing. I feel like now, after seeing that that is not the only type of writing out there, that I can have more creativity show through in my writing. I actually really appreciate it because it seems like before, all of my papers were so bland and all the same. Now, I feel like I can spice them up with the techniques we learned.
Another thing that I learned and liked was he fact that your thesis doesn't have to be your last sentence. I know how stupid that sounds, but honestly, I never knew that. It kind of gives your paper a new spin. Honestly.
Yet another technique I will not forget is the MLA documentation. I know I still have a problem with it sometimes, but honestly, I've never felt more comfortable with it than I do now. I'm also really happy that we can't sell the SFWriter back because I totally would, and we can't so I know I'm gonna have it for a long time lol. All in all though, I think this class, with the topics we wrote about, helped me to become a more comfortable writer. After all, it's college now and it's intimidating and I think that going into further English classes down the line, that I will FINALLY feel comfortable in putting my own twist on things.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Blog # 9 Responding to McGowan
Reading the sentence given on our syyllabus doesn't do the actual sentence from the book's excerpt justice. I 100% agree with McGowan. Since the invention of the printing press, news getting to the masses has played an ever so important part in politics. I definitely agree with his claim that it has become a "propaganda organ of the state." I think if you look at that statement, it answers all of your questions. It truely is an organ. I think personally what McGowan meant by this was that to be an organ of something means to be a necessity. How could something function without its organ? I think that is why he chose that language because he's making a very important point; a dig if you will. He's saying that the state (the government) now (more than ever) needs the media. It is fueled by the media. However crooked and biased it may be. As I matter of fact, I think that the more crooked and biased it becomes, the happier the politicians. I think that if 100% neutralized news came out, (which I think would be impossible), people would be shocked by its contents. There are so many important, life threatening things out there that we don't know about, but it doesn't matter because if we at least know that 400 pound Bill Spencer is on "our side" at the end of the day. I mean look at my reaction the other day, everyone, including myself, were all laughing about my reaction to hearing all of this stuff. But it was genuine. I mean I think this could be the big one. I think that this is the one that could do us in. It's this type of dishonesty and corruption that is the silent killer. Why? Because people don't know about it. People know that our troops need to get out of Iraq; that's a widely known view. But, people don't know that every night, the television they sit in front of to gather the world's events isn't giving them the whole picture. Not saying everyone doesn't know, because I'm sure, some more well informed people do, however, I think that if that many people knew, they would be abandoning their viewing seats and heading to the streets right about now.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Blog # ? Where do we get our news?
Well, in a perfect world, I totally would have time to sit down and watch the 5 or 6 o'clock news. But, unfortuantely, I don't. However, when we (Matt and I) go over to for example, our friend Paul's house, it's so funny because we'll all sit around and watch the news and discuss the world's events. One news show I do always make sure to catch is either The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report, with Stephen Colbert. Now, to be perfectly honest when I first watched these shows, I didn't like them because sarcasm is my biggest pet peeve, but then I listened to the message, as opposed to the message that comes from say FOX 2 *cough*republican*cough*. It's very amusing to me that two comedians have gotten to the bottom of more (ie-although this is just one example, all of the U.S. Prosecutors that were fired being like 75% democrat), than any of the other newscasters. Honestly, I truly enjoy these kind of shows now, they get what's in there, out there. And that's the biggest step. My grandparents are HARDCORE REPUBLICAN, therefore, they adore the FOX new station (they live down in Flordia so I don't know if it's channel 2). I can honestly tell you that they firmly believe, and will fight you on it, that we found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. That's because 4 years ago, when "the search" was going on, it was the darling Republicans of FOX news that claimed that they had found weapons of mass destruction in multiple trailers. This was all an unbelievably well used scare tactic. I have told them personally that I would send them the actual video footage of Bush and Cheney saying that it was a "mix-up" and that they never did really find anything, and they STILL don't believe me. I know what I'm watching, and I know it's kind of hypocritical and all, to talk about a Republican biased news station while I watch a Democrat biased news station, but what to do when you've found that the leader of your nation has lied to us all.
Another news station I like that I think is pretty fair, now mind you, I haven't gotten in depth depth with it, is MSNBC, it just kind of seems like it gets it all out on the table. I also really like a show they have on there quite often call LOCKED UP, and they do it on a different prison every time.
I also watch The Soup :) with Joel McHale, but I guess that's not news News
Another news station I like that I think is pretty fair, now mind you, I haven't gotten in depth depth with it, is MSNBC, it just kind of seems like it gets it all out on the table. I also really like a show they have on there quite often call LOCKED UP, and they do it on a different prison every time.
I also watch The Soup :) with Joel McHale, but I guess that's not news News
Friday, March 23, 2007
Blog #7 Presentation Analysis
Well, well, well. It was nice to get to hear everyone in class talk you know. I really enjoyed it. It was really interesting to me because I had never seen some of those movies and it really gave me insight into them. I definitely enjoyed the one done by Dottiana on Belly because I happen to enjoy that movie a lot and I also realized that there were all types of stereotypes that I not necessarily never noticed, but, I never really thought about. Also, I thought it showed what a stnad up guy Herman was to do his presentation on Rush Hour a day early and STILL it was so well spoken and put together!!! Another presentation I really admired was Ali's which was about Thr Pursuit of Happyness. I really appreciated how he gave his own life experiences as an example. It was really big of him and I think it got the point across really well. Another one I really enjoyed was Rudy's. If you looked at his slides, his background totally correlated with what he was talking about, for example when it talks about the guy becoming a cop, it had a Massachusetts Police Academy seal on the background. Jillian is just as cute as she can be and really illustrated Shopgirl to everyone. She really looked past the simple dialogue of the movie and looked into the color tones and wardrobe of the cast which shows she really payed attention. The other presentation that made me want to see the movie is Bend it Like Beckham because it seemed like it would be funny from his presentation. I saved my favorite for last. Everyone did a great job, but I think that the award goes to Chris S. He rocked the house down. Star Wars has never been something I was into, but he made it interesting and it was nice to see someone do a movie that really affected them. You could tell when he spoke he knew what he was talking about and he's a true fan. Dude you did great!!! I loved it, because a couple weeks ago, me and Matt's friend Stevie watched them all and I caught the end of that movie when the guys legs burn off and you DEFINITELY made me want to watch them. Good Job Everyone!
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Analysis 6 Analyze Comic Book Movies
Comic Book Movies
What to say, what to say? Well, to be honest, I am actually not that big of a fan, but my boyfirend TORTURES me with them. X-Men, Batman, Superman, I've had to see 'em all.
However, I will say there are a few good ones. I just saw GhostRider that is out at the show, and that is a remake of an old comic book.
But, back to analyzing. So, in my opinion, comic book movies are exactly like what we talked about in class. They SCREAM a certain theme. For instance take Ghostrider (which probably was the coolest comic book movie I've seen), the "ghostrider" is the rider who was sent to collect a list of 1,000 souls and bring it to the Devil. Well, the original ghostrider was on a horse and he ran away with the list. So, the new Ghostrider, Nicholas Cage, becomes the new fiery skeletal motorcycle rider, who in obvious glance is bad because he works for the devill, but becomes good because he stops the takeover of the world.....WOW...
But this relates to the screaming theme part because it is. It is the classic battle of good vs evil, and just as it looks like evil will prevail, good's got it.
That is classic comic book movie stuff right there. That's how they run it. Or take X-Men, at the end (of all of 'em), it looks like the bad guy is about to take over the world, but at the last second, the good guys have it.
I think that that is why comic books/movies are so appealing. It takes you on a sort of journey, but in the end, you know the good guy, the guy that everyone idolizes, is gonna take it all.
What to say, what to say? Well, to be honest, I am actually not that big of a fan, but my boyfirend TORTURES me with them. X-Men, Batman, Superman, I've had to see 'em all.
However, I will say there are a few good ones. I just saw GhostRider that is out at the show, and that is a remake of an old comic book.
But, back to analyzing. So, in my opinion, comic book movies are exactly like what we talked about in class. They SCREAM a certain theme. For instance take Ghostrider (which probably was the coolest comic book movie I've seen), the "ghostrider" is the rider who was sent to collect a list of 1,000 souls and bring it to the Devil. Well, the original ghostrider was on a horse and he ran away with the list. So, the new Ghostrider, Nicholas Cage, becomes the new fiery skeletal motorcycle rider, who in obvious glance is bad because he works for the devill, but becomes good because he stops the takeover of the world.....WOW...
But this relates to the screaming theme part because it is. It is the classic battle of good vs evil, and just as it looks like evil will prevail, good's got it.
That is classic comic book movie stuff right there. That's how they run it. Or take X-Men, at the end (of all of 'em), it looks like the bad guy is about to take over the world, but at the last second, the good guys have it.
I think that that is why comic books/movies are so appealing. It takes you on a sort of journey, but in the end, you know the good guy, the guy that everyone idolizes, is gonna take it all.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Analysis Blog 3: Currently Airing T.V. Show
Grey's Anatomy: aired on February 15th (part 1 of the 3 big ones)
Grey's Anatomy in an amazing show that is almost like an E.R. type show. It is on on Thursday nights at 9:00 and conveniently is replayed on Friday nights at 8:00 on channel 7/ABC. Grey's (slang for Grey's Anatomy to the true fans) is a show that takes place in Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle Washington. The main characters of the show are either interns, or already doctors, but they can all work on people. The namesake of the show Grey's is in reference to the main character who herself happens to be an intern whose name is Meredith Grey.
In this particular episode that aired on February 15th, it was the first part of a 3 week drama. This all began with the crash of a ferry at a pier in Seattle. Many people were thrown into the water and buried under the wreckage. One can assess the temperature outside as being cold because everyone is wearing flannel coats and the doctors and people on site of the crash all have jackets on. The ferry is still in the water and you see mass chaos all around. Without getting into each character to deeply (which it is almost neccessary to do because there is so many reasons why everything pans out the way it does), the main character Meredith is frantically running around trying to help as many people as she can when she finds a young girl who appears to be in a type of shock; she won't speak when spoken to and it is apparent that she is lost from someone. This is very important because it is comparative to the main character; when she was younger and would be scared, she would not speak. This is a representation of Meredith's fear.
One of the other main character's named Izzie, is in charge of trying to save a man who is pinned in between two cars. This represents a great challenge for Izzie as well because she has recently lost a fiance through her own neglectful and selfish reasons (she tried to perform surgery on him and he ending up dying in the end of season 2). So, this is a great challenge for her both physically and emotionally.
McDreamy, the very good-looking main character that has had an ongoing affair with Meredith ignores her pleas for help, and Meredith ends up being pushed into the water by a man she is trying to rescue when he cannot take the pain anymore.
This definitely sounds like a very dramatic, soap-opera like show but it is amazing. This episode ended with Meredith falling in the water and the little girl just looking on.
It was pretty intense and I FOR SURE recommend it to anyone. Another thing that is really good about the show, like I stated before in my blog about The Sopranos was/is that you can start watching it in whatever season you pick, and you can still understand what's going on. IT's never like you missed too much, or it's too late to start watching it because I started watching it in the middle to end of the second season, and now it's in the third season and I know everything there is to know.
Just another note, these three episodes were aired all in a row, and were all continuances of each other. They did this because for three weeks literally Meredith was either drowning or dying on the table, but I'm happy to tell you she pulled through after 3 weeks and an out of body experience ;)
Grey's Anatomy in an amazing show that is almost like an E.R. type show. It is on on Thursday nights at 9:00 and conveniently is replayed on Friday nights at 8:00 on channel 7/ABC. Grey's (slang for Grey's Anatomy to the true fans) is a show that takes place in Seattle Grace Hospital in Seattle Washington. The main characters of the show are either interns, or already doctors, but they can all work on people. The namesake of the show Grey's is in reference to the main character who herself happens to be an intern whose name is Meredith Grey.
In this particular episode that aired on February 15th, it was the first part of a 3 week drama. This all began with the crash of a ferry at a pier in Seattle. Many people were thrown into the water and buried under the wreckage. One can assess the temperature outside as being cold because everyone is wearing flannel coats and the doctors and people on site of the crash all have jackets on. The ferry is still in the water and you see mass chaos all around. Without getting into each character to deeply (which it is almost neccessary to do because there is so many reasons why everything pans out the way it does), the main character Meredith is frantically running around trying to help as many people as she can when she finds a young girl who appears to be in a type of shock; she won't speak when spoken to and it is apparent that she is lost from someone. This is very important because it is comparative to the main character; when she was younger and would be scared, she would not speak. This is a representation of Meredith's fear.
One of the other main character's named Izzie, is in charge of trying to save a man who is pinned in between two cars. This represents a great challenge for Izzie as well because she has recently lost a fiance through her own neglectful and selfish reasons (she tried to perform surgery on him and he ending up dying in the end of season 2). So, this is a great challenge for her both physically and emotionally.
McDreamy, the very good-looking main character that has had an ongoing affair with Meredith ignores her pleas for help, and Meredith ends up being pushed into the water by a man she is trying to rescue when he cannot take the pain anymore.
This definitely sounds like a very dramatic, soap-opera like show but it is amazing. This episode ended with Meredith falling in the water and the little girl just looking on.
It was pretty intense and I FOR SURE recommend it to anyone. Another thing that is really good about the show, like I stated before in my blog about The Sopranos was/is that you can start watching it in whatever season you pick, and you can still understand what's going on. IT's never like you missed too much, or it's too late to start watching it because I started watching it in the middle to end of the second season, and now it's in the third season and I know everything there is to know.
Just another note, these three episodes were aired all in a row, and were all continuances of each other. They did this because for three weeks literally Meredith was either drowning or dying on the table, but I'm happy to tell you she pulled through after 3 weeks and an out of body experience ;)
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Blog 5 My Favorite T.V. Show
Oh My Goodness, I am so excited that I get to talk about The Sopranos for class. That is my favorite show of all time for many reasons. I became utterly addicted to this show when I learned that it was coming on A&E because I do not have HBO. So I counted down the day until it came and and the night before I watched my friends DVD of the first episode.
I preceded to rent the seasons with my boyfriend and it's like a drug addiction.
O.K., now for the reason for this obsession. The show in itself. As we talked about in class, like in that show "Sledge Hammer!" the characters have no longevity. That is probably my favorite part of the whole show. Throughout the seasons, the character's personality develops more and more and goes deeper and deeper. For those not familiar with the Soprano family, the show stars Tony Soprano, a leader of the New Jersey mob. The tagline for the show is "If one family doesn't kill him; the other one will." This could not cover the show anymore. In the beginning episodes, like any other show, it establishes characters and basically tells you why things are the way they are. Back to the continuity of the character though. For example, the show starts with Tony having a panic attack and ending up in a "shrink's office." This is showed in the first episode, but like I said earlier, the plot gets deeper and deeper and really goes back to why he is the way he is and nothing is left out. That is why I think I love it the most. It is a look at a person's life entirely and you are not left wanting at all; you are given reasons for everything that happens.
Another reason why I think I love this so much is the actual characters themselves. It is a relatable family. Obviously, my family is not the mafia, nor Italian, but we are loud, colorful, and Lebanese. Anyone who comes from an ethnically raised background can relate to them.
All in all I would defnitely recommend this show. It is very entertaining and I guarantee it will have you on the edge of your seat. Another awesome point about this show that is not true for every T.V. program is that you can start in the middle of the 4th season and still get completely into and understand what is going on. That is the reason why I don't watch too many T.V. shows because they've all been on for at least a couple seasons and you just figure "Ah, I missed too many episodes and there'd be no point to start watching it now because I won't know what's going on." I think many people share this feeling with me. But, like I said, whether you're an avid fan or have just watched a few sporatic episodes, or even none at all, I defnitely guarantee this show...you'll LOVE Love love it!!!!
I preceded to rent the seasons with my boyfriend and it's like a drug addiction.
O.K., now for the reason for this obsession. The show in itself. As we talked about in class, like in that show "Sledge Hammer!" the characters have no longevity. That is probably my favorite part of the whole show. Throughout the seasons, the character's personality develops more and more and goes deeper and deeper. For those not familiar with the Soprano family, the show stars Tony Soprano, a leader of the New Jersey mob. The tagline for the show is "If one family doesn't kill him; the other one will." This could not cover the show anymore. In the beginning episodes, like any other show, it establishes characters and basically tells you why things are the way they are. Back to the continuity of the character though. For example, the show starts with Tony having a panic attack and ending up in a "shrink's office." This is showed in the first episode, but like I said earlier, the plot gets deeper and deeper and really goes back to why he is the way he is and nothing is left out. That is why I think I love it the most. It is a look at a person's life entirely and you are not left wanting at all; you are given reasons for everything that happens.
Another reason why I think I love this so much is the actual characters themselves. It is a relatable family. Obviously, my family is not the mafia, nor Italian, but we are loud, colorful, and Lebanese. Anyone who comes from an ethnically raised background can relate to them.
All in all I would defnitely recommend this show. It is very entertaining and I guarantee it will have you on the edge of your seat. Another awesome point about this show that is not true for every T.V. program is that you can start in the middle of the 4th season and still get completely into and understand what is going on. That is the reason why I don't watch too many T.V. shows because they've all been on for at least a couple seasons and you just figure "Ah, I missed too many episodes and there'd be no point to start watching it now because I won't know what's going on." I think many people share this feeling with me. But, like I said, whether you're an avid fan or have just watched a few sporatic episodes, or even none at all, I defnitely guarantee this show...you'll LOVE Love love it!!!!
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