Project 2 Essay

Tom Myers                                    

What is happening to writing?

Writing is always evolving. From cave drawings to cuneiform, and scrolls to codices, writing is an animal that we will never truly harness due to its constant evolution. Writing is constantly changing, in a way eating the technology before it in order to evolve into a species with aspects from the previous technology and new improvements. The evolution from written text to digital text is out of control.

We are in the era of change. Bolter calls this the “late age of print”(1) However; considering Writing Space is ten years old we are more into the early age of digital. Print text has many rivals in the battle for human attention, “including film, radio, television, and now digital media” (3). Now when print text is faced against all these opponents at once it is easily cut down before it can launch its first attack. Bolter declares, “The idea of the book is changing” (3) He couldn’t be more wrong. As a culture, we have been very careful to keep print and digital separate. A book is still a book. When you go to the library and ask for a book the librarians do not sit you in front of a computer. They still give you a location on a bookshelf where to find a specific physical book with a cover and pages. Now if you have a book on a digital device such as a nook or Ipad it is called an e-book or electronic book. The book with a cover and pages is obviously a very different animal than the e-book which is just data. Bolter does make a logical statement for once, “The computer may make writing more flexible, but it also threatens the definitions of good and careful reading that have developed in association with the technique of printing.”(4) I could not agree with this more. When reading a text initially written on a screen the writing is very straightforward and to the point. However, when it comes to writing initially made for printed books, it is flowery and metaphorical. On a screen we know the text is not meant to be enjoyed but processed as opposed to the page where text can be enjoyed. Bolter hits the money spot when he writes, “In the late age of print, however, we seem more impressed by the impertinence and changeability of text”(4) As a society that is now hypermedic we want all the text we can possibly have as fast as we possibly can. Impatience and the constant stream of Wi-Fi are a deadly combination in digital texts role of ousting print as the popular medium. Bolter questions, “Will digital media replace print?” (6) The answer to that is very simple, however it requires me to tell a story.

This past weekend my friends and I needed to go to stop and shop for foodstuffs and the like. There happens to be a Barnes and Noble right next to Stop and Shop and we figured we might as well stop in to see if they have any good deals on movies. (notice how we are going to a book store to buy movies) Well when I opened the door the answer to Bolters question was right there staring me in the face. The first floor consisted of the following sections; Magazines, Starbucks, CD’s, DVD’s and a gigantic display of Nooks and IPads along with their infinite number of accessories. Now, the Barnes and Noble marketing department figures to put the popular stuff on the first floor near where you pay for all products. So on the first floor where the hot items are sold, there are no books. None at all. They are all on the second story behind the children’s section. So you even the children’s books are more popular than classic print novels. From this example it can be concluded that one is not replacing the printed word with a digital one but simply gearing the market towards what’s popular.

 In Terminator II Judgment Day, Sarah Connor sums up the coming of machines controlling us in a simple phrase, “The unknown future rolls towards us” Now I’m not suggesting that we’re in imminent danger from our smart tablets but it’s something to think about. As a society we are obsessed with how the newest technology in order to submerge us deeper into a state of complete hypermediacy. Now a new IPhone was due out a week or two ago but was postponed due to Steve Jobs death. Now many people are looking forward to this new IPhone since the last supposedly “new” IPhone was just a previous model with more storage. Well I recently heard a fellow student in the hall exclaim, “Alright, (Steve) Jobs is dead, give me my new freakin phone!” As a culture what has happened to us? We put our own thirst for technology over respect for someone who died after battling liver cancer for years. That seems base. If we are so caught up in this technology craze there is no limit to where it could eventually take us.

Carryovers and little trails that reveal that digital text did come from print are rampant. First of all, we still refer to pages on the Internet as we do with books. In the smart tablets you even turn digital pages when reading. Titles still remain prevalent and pages are still numbered. There are many similarities it’s just the tool that is changed. In this never ending cycle digital text has grown beyond our control.

Bolter, David. Writing Space. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. New York, NY 2001

Project 3 essay

Tom Myers                                                                                               November 27^th, 2011

Project 3

Cape Cod is not like a pristine beach. Our beaches when left untended are populated by blunt guts, needles and the occasional homeless man. It isn’t uncommon to find a dead fish or seal washed up on shore and even a human body isn’t that big a surprise. Tourists leave and filth starts accumulating again left by your corrupt businessman, his nose powdered, when stopping with his mistress to take another hit or your homeboy wannabe in his blacked out suburban peddling pot to kids in middle school. I have spent many a late night here in these illicit lots, but for none of the base reasons listed above. I’d drive by cars keeping a respectful distance from each other, about six empty parking slots and eventually I would park with my current girlfriend on the way home from dinner and a movie or rehearsal. Although I was always more occupied with how to take off her jeans in the cramped confines of my vehicle than the other cars around me it always lingered in the back of my mind what was going on under the safety blanket of darkness that enveloped each set of taillights as the motors were cut and the crashing of the waves returns to its dominant reign over background noise. Often a police car parked in the far corner; always lurking like a crocodile with just it’s bright eyes watching for any prey stupid enough to make a run for it. The other drivers only run if they are guilty.

When the tourists come, the Cape becomes a place of sun lotion and beach balls. Colorful kites populate every beach’s sky along with seagulls. The occasional biplane will soar by with a banner advertising the newest iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts or the newest of Captain Morgan’s Rum. The normal Cape vacationer drinks coffee to keep them up, and booze to keep em down. The sun will shine and shine but the breeze keeps the temperature bearable. The ocean skyline always has boats. Whether they are wianno seniors on a Sunday race or a power yacht lazily churning up the surf, boats can always be seen. The Wianno Senior’s captains are all drinking buddies at the end of the day but during a racing series they are more alike to pirates than comrades. The old sea dogs know the area well and use their decades of tricks to constantly baffle the younger sailors home from college. It is all in good fun, the cursing, the beer guzzling and the taunting as the boats round the marks. It is hard to imagine the stressed shouts these sailors have over a few silver bowls on pedestals when you stand on the beach. You hear the ring of the ice cream trucks and the calls of the gulls much alike to those of mother herding their small clan of eight year olds to wash off their feet to get in the car. The crash of the surf is always in the background, like a constant reminder of a presence that is hard to explain. The sea is a powerful entity, one to be feared and respected. Rip Currents can easily pull even a strong swimmer out farther than intended. On the Cape, you can always drive far enough and run into the ocean. Despite this there are still those who live on the Cape who don’t know how to swim.

Cape Cod is essentially one giant sandbar. Its edges are constantly changing due to hurricane tides and the will of the moon. Thus the beaches change from year to year, which is a good thing since it keeps the tourists coming back year after year. That is the bread and butter of the Cape, tourism. Many adolescents become lifeguards or Ice cream truck drivers. Many shops advertise your average boogie board or inflatable whale. These tourist traps snag even the resident occasionally. Down by the wharf of Hyannis, it is just as easy to book a pirate cruise on a mock ship around the harbor, as it is to take a ferry to Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket. Walk up Ocean Street far enough and you come to the Kennedy Memorial. The Cape uses these tributes of royalty to attract your average sightseer. You can take tours of Hyannisport, hoping to glimpse a Kennedy or go to the Kennedy Museum. It’s ironic some peoples fascination with this somewhat ambiguous presence. Many natives wouldn’t know a Kennedy if they bumped into them on the street.

            Towering over all Hyannis is the new addition to the hospital. It’s 8 stories, which is a big deal on the cape where zoning laws can prevent you from planning an extra petunia plant in your garden. You can see this structure from the bay and the High school. When they did safety checks they pulled highschoolers to splash some blood on their faces and pretend to be patients, firefighters carried them all the way down the stairs strapped to beds with neck braces banning all opportunity to actually see what was going on. The School itself is interesting. Remodeled in the late 90’s it still contains traces of my father’s time when he sat imprisoned in the same walls that hold students today. Other things are much newer. The 1400 seat auditorium with a lowering orchestra pit is constantly fought over by the Cape Cod Symphony orchestra and the school. When the orchestra has a show an ambulance comes because the average age of audience members is at least 80. The drama club has won awards and puts on aesthetically beautiful shows that draw big kid-friendly crowds such as Beauty and the Beast and the Wizard of Oz. A recent addition to the school is a new track despite its recent disfigurement. Last years powder-puff football game turned into a brawl suspending students and teachers as well as sending students to the hospital. The football coach refereed and some girls upset with the calls decided to mar the new track by running with cleats on a couple of laps. Then the coach was fired for swearing at the football team. Sports in Barnstable have a hard time keeping coaches. The girls hockey coach left a after death threats were sent to her on facebook and the sports director didn’t back her up by removing the threatening students from the team. He sided with the bully parents. In the Barnstable school department if you raise a big enough stink you’ll get what you want.

To find out the real stench of the High School your nose could follow the cigarette smoke to the bathroom. The bathrooms are like an ancient library with each stall wall a stone tablet recording ancient myths. Many of these were “I’m a foot long when hard” or “Johanna likes it in the butt”. One person decided to write “Big Dogs Rule” on every stall door in the school. I always wondered why there was so much graffittti in such a private place. Above the urinals some hobby-less individual had even scrawled into mortar between the tiles, “Santa isn’t real” If you have the compulsiveness to scrawl that into an area so thin and unnoticeable as your way to exhume your rage against the machine than you seriously need to see a doctor. These grimy cubicles were often the location of bomb threats and cigarette smoke. Many deals went down there as well, for drugs or the answers to a test.

Cape Cod “spirit remains a mixture of pride and provincialism”(Lopate) due to its history of pilgrims. These same pilgrims are often thought to be the ghosts that haunt the north side of the Cape. Cape Cod might be like a civilization. Social hierarchy is rampant. The politicians, inheriting money from ancestors of crime and fame from assassination, the retired who drive slow just like they’re ways and the minorities, who the town tries to hide in affordable housing. That leaves your middle class, taxed enough to never be able to move up but making too much to ever move down. The children of these groups follow in the footsteps of those before them, Politicians daughters marry movie stars, The retiree’s children have kids of their own and the minorities’ kids grow up in a never ending cycle where they will never get anywhere due to their own chains of addiction and abuse. The children of the middle class run off Cape unless they to have fallen prey to the vices of self-indulgence. 

Blog 10 of 12

Rodney Jones is arguing that Language is better than images because with images you convey other senses besides sight. These include sound "A shout from the beach" and smell "coconut milk and 150-proof rum

and dumped it white into the waves" You can show a picture of coconut milk, 150 proof rum and waves but no picture can describe the sense of all three of those smells smashing into you. There's another! touch. The last stanza about trying to replicate the sensation described above of his hand reaching down to scoop the liquids back yet it is impossible the moment has gone.

Blog 11 of 12

These four letter word projects are not writing. They do not constitute of alphabetical symbols in specific groupings to form words, sentences, paragraphs but are just plain symbols. Lacking the alphabetical qualities proves that these 4 letter word projects are not writing but something else. They are however compositions since they are composed of a something. In this case, composed of pictures and in some projects sound as well.

Blog 9 of 12

When I put on text I don't recognize it I just am wearing clothes to be warm. If I'm wearing an interesting shirt I do get comments. My audience when I tweet is anyone who happens across my tweets randomly while wasting time on twitter.

Blog 8 of 12

I do think the flexibility of voice can lead to flexibility in ALL things. I believe the manipulation of voice can lead to expressing ones self in different forms. I find it hard to say that it will change all things because people have a set persona. Although this is can shield people. the voice is a powerful tool that can be conformed to everyday interaction.

(written in purple crayon, portrait, printer paper)

Blog 7 of 12

My writer is not influenced by her writing implement. Her argument is clear concise and to the point as opposed to the scrunched up lettering a crayon user normally finds themselves reverting to. The writer is neither more nor less expressive. It is in the middle, very average writing. This writing is very good because it is essentially a well crafted thesis with supportive characteristics.

Blog 6 of 12

When ever I tweet/blog I really don't fell like there is an audience. I fell like those mediums are just kind of a folder that is open but no one cares about it or even knows it exists. I legitimately feel like there is absolutely no one out there reading my tweets or blogs. Even my video on youtube has 2 views. once when I showed it in class and once when I showed my parents. So there is the proof that there really is no one out there

Blog 5 of 12

The rhetoric of a poem and a president are completely different. A poet is there to create emotion in the reader where as a president is there to create emotion in the reader about himself. The goals of each are completely different. The poet is making art and an object that is to be marveled at. The president needs followers and in order to do that he needs to create an argument where he has to be the leader.

Blog 4 of 12

"adding a new kind of knowledge to a different kind I already had" 179 What type of knowledge is Zadie talking about? is memory knowledge like the locations of places in the town or is it knowledge of history of the town?

"In Dream city everything is doubled, everything is various" 184 If everything is doubled then why do "you have no choice but to cross borders and speak in tongues"(184) ? If everything is doubled why do you need to cross tongues in order to speak to someone if there's already two of you?

"To a certain kind of mind, it must have looked like the mask had slipped for a moment" (185)What is this certain kind of mind? is she referring to those who don't agree with Obama because then isn't she contradicting herself?

"Those qualities that we cherish as artists condemn politicians" (189) What qualities are these? And the only thing condemning politicians are there own mess ups with mistresses and illegitimate children so are those the qualities of artists?

"Is it not, for example, experientially true that one can both believe and not believe in god?" (190) How is that possible?

"Before long, the only voice you recognize, the only life you emphasize with, is your own" 194 Is this the same thing as saying that when it comes down to it the only one that matters is yourself? and that you should always ut yourself first for after all, you are you.

Blog 12 of 12 Do you have any advice for those of us just starting out?

The biggest piece of advice I have to offer is to keep an open mind.
In WSC 1 especially, it is important to be able to roll with the punches.
If at first it feels uncomfortable to be blogging and commenting, the more you do it the more you will be comfortable with doing it, it just takes getting used to.
Also don't be afraid to open up.
Thats where your inspiration will come from, yourself.
Don't be afraid of how you will be judged or graded, if you stay honest with yourself and your audience you will do fine.
Participate; doing is learning.
And when you get back a first draft that looks more like a victim and you're lost on an assignment
STOP


"Then start again"(22)

Blog 3 of 12

What I really think about the writing space that twitter affords is that it's an excuse to get attention. People tweet all sorts of really really really stupid things. "Brushing teeth, now flossing" "I'm at work" "What is life?" Twitter is just an excuse to say things you don't feel comfortable saying out loud to your self. Normally these things should be left unsaid. Very very very unsaid. Yes some use it for comedy and others for charity but when you boil it down it is just one giant mess of the "look at me factor" Many pro athletes and celebrities are told by there agents to comment on current events in order to get there name out in the press.

Blog 2 of 12

I'm not sure why so many people wear texts on their clothing and on their skin. Perhaps they feel that such portable writing serves to make them more individual and unique. If everyone wears text it could be said no one is individual but its not so much the act of wearing it but what it says. If two people see each other wearing the same shirt on the same day they give each other a polite nod but deep down they're saying, "He's wearing MY shirt!" It's almost alike to when two girls where identical prom dresses to the same prom. That is a pressure cooking ego situation waiting to explode. The more varied and different the text, the more individual the wearer becomes. Wearing text can be used to stand out but also to fit in, when you go to a a major sports game everyone is in team paraphernalia and if you aren't you frankly don't belong.

Problem With Describing Trees

What is going on in this poem?

What's going on is Hass offers forth beautiful descriptions of trees yet decides at the end of the poem that words are not sufficient in describing trees. "There are limits to saying, In language, what the trees did" He uses many different words that personify the trees, dance, threw, capitalized. His line "It is good for poetry to sometimes disenchant us" which is an interesting statement considering poetry is there to enchant and entertain. When reading poetry, especially that of trees it is all about creating the image in your mind which is beyond words when your mind runs rampant, your mind can create a tree that is far more beautiful than any can exist in reality. In this case, words are just a launching point for images that cannot be described. There is no single word for "capitalizing" and "dancing" but every image of a tree shows it capitalizing and dancing.

The Dance with me, dancer. Oh, I will line is a conversation between the poet and the tree that the reader is privy to. Giving the tree a personality creates another layer in the characterization of the Aspen. This quote is a conversation but it is up to the reader to decide who speaks which part. If the Aspen is the one asking to dance then it becomes more of a teacher. But if the author is the one asking to dance than it is as if he is cutting in and the stress is on the dance with me.

First Draft of 4 letter word project

First Draft!
http://youtu.be/8OGsdv53VZg

Girl and Boy Words

Girl: Lass, Mam, Lady, Woman, Doll, Dame, Wench, Broad

Boy: Lad, Bro, Dude, Sir, Man, Guys

Do visuals speak more than words?

The answer is yep. If you pick one picture and one word, the picture is more complex hence will bring more emotion from the observer. In order to process and describe the image words must come to the mind, the pure amount of the words regardless of their power trumps that of a single word.

Readbility

Basically the major comparison is that readers are all competing against each other, like the two dance gangs, and that they sometimes use each other's weaknesses or moves to evoke a positive response (such as cheering) from the public audience. This hurts the writer who's "signature move" was stolen.

(take note that I do not endorse gangs)
(take note that I do not endorse dance battles)

First Thoughts about project 3 Revisions

I keep thinking about my project 3, and I'm pretty sure my next rhetorical move will be to clarify the transitions between topics and eliminate sentimentality. I'll also need to add in evidence from the texts we've been studying. This should help me slow down the cyclone of descriptive metaphors that I use in my project 3.

First Thoughts, a colleague's draft

I am peer reviewing and my first reaction is that the idea of Manhatan is captured perfectly by what she mentions, broadway and food carts. I think that this essay is already headed in the right direction it just needs a different structure than questions. This is easy to do and will benefit the tone and voice of the essay in a major way.

First thoughts about my own draft

First of all it needs al to of trimming. I'm not sure how I am going to link it all together transition wise and that worries me. It definitely became contemplative and a string of stories. I also think I need to figure out if i'm going to write about barnstable or just cape cod in general

Baby Ipad

Wow. that spoke volumes. However I do not think the baby was conscious of the info she was processing. It was more of just a stimulation of sight when the iPad changed screens and flashed colors. I do not think the baby was actually using the iPad or the magazine for a task that it had in mind. It was just another toy. The fact that the baby has become coordinated enough at such a small age to have the fine motor function was astounding. It had an easier time using the iPad than it did turning the pages of a magazine.

A sentence starts out like . . .

A sentence starts out like a tadpole. It can grow through editing into a bullfrog. Then it is to be dressed by the writer. This is where the voice and tone are the accessories to your frog. Will your frog be dressed to impress? Suit tails and spats? Or is your frog in his night robe, smoking a pipe and contemplating the deep meaning of what it means to truly be a frog. Others frogs may intimidate yours, they could be armed, cutlass and pistol in hand, ready to duke it out with any other sentences. However; it is important to dress your frog appropriately, you wouldn't want him to croak.

Mike and Catherine's Blogs

Michael’s Blog

            Sweet. Couldn’t agree more. Has a great relaxed tone with an aggressive undertone that gives the “I don’t care what you think” look. The flow and transitions match perfectly with his personal reflection. He also (unintentionally) rips the points in Catherine’s Blog to shreds. He discusses fear as amotivator which is one of the primary building blocks of human nature

Catherine’s Blog

            I’m not sure that finding yourself through fear is the best idea. However it can be helpful to release emotions this way and this can calm those who lose sleep at night when their thoughts run never-ending circles around the inside of their skulls. This sample was obviously written by someone who has conflicting views to those around her and feels she might be judged due to her uncomfortableness in the essay. If you’re afraid to express yourself amongst friends maybe its time to find some new ones. 

Rediscovering Central Asia

All I could think the entire time I read was "Who cares?" Starr's writing was purely a flowery informative droll. Not only should he pride himself on his monotony but also in his ability to reach the same exact point  despite asking different questions. The whole essay was repetitive and didn't have any examples or exciting places to hold the readers attention. It was an essay that left the reader saying "oh. that's nice."

Home might be like . . .

Cape Cod might be like a civilization. Social hierarchy is rampant. The politicians, inheriting money from ancestors of crime and fame from assassination, the retired who drive slow just like they’re ways and the minorities, who the town tries to hide in affordable housing. That leaves your middle class, taxed enough to never be able to move up but making too much to ever move down. The children of these groups follow in the footsteps of those before them, Politicians daughters marry movie stars, The retiree’s children have kids of their own and the minorities’ kids grow up in a never ending cycle where they will never get anywhere due to their own chains of addiction and abuse. The children of the middle class run off Cape unless they to have fallen prey to the vices of self-indulgence.

Home is not like . . .

Cape Cod is not like a pristine beach. Our beaches when left untended are populated by blunt guts, needles and the occasional homeless man. It isn’t uncommon to find a dead fish or seal washed up on shore and even a human body isn’t that big a surprise. The tourists leave and the filth starts accumulating again left by your corrupt businessman, his nose powdered, when stopping with his mistress to take another hit or your homeboy wannabe in his blacked out suburban peddling pot to kids in middle school.

First thoughts (60 seconds)

Home is like the small pond that you'll always be the biggest fish in
Home is like the inside of an egg
Home is like a nest that will always have a meal despite some squawking
Home is like Home

Ink Shedding

In our current day and age we are connected in major way. Computers are now open to the internet and it's many different ways to share media. Facebook, Skype, and Twitter allow us to share media live and digitally. Although the sharer knows how he intended to use the media, the reader does not. The reader must decipher how the media aids in the sharers attempt to deliver his ideas. Sometimes ideas are more powerful when their writing space is known. Because technology is a part of us, many do not realize how it has effected our writing and shaped our ideas because they do not note that the writer has used technology as a part of their work for a reason and as a part of maybe even proving their point.

Chapter 3 Arguments

-Hypertext links info making digital text more versatile that print.
-Digital text has endless possibilities where as print can only go as far as the page
-Those that grow up texting and tweeting lack grammar and complete words when it comes to writing

Taylor Mali

performance and writing space can completely change the meaning of a text. For example, the sign "keep out" on a grouchy old neighbors pristine lawn just means he'll be pissed if you walk on his lawn. However that same sign "keep out" posted on a derelict fence outside a creepy abandoned farmhouse assumed to be haunted means if you go on that property you'll most likely be living a horror movie for the next 6 hours. The poem differs in its two recensions because on one hand this is a rant but it can also be performed for laughs. Spoken word can completely change the meaning of a text. For me, being an actor I can completely change tones on a certain line and change my character from a honest, sincere individual to a sarcastic jerk.

Group 1 Prezi

CLICK HERE FOR THE GROUP 1 PREZI!

Or copy and paste this to your browser

http://prezi.com/j_hpf4l6hn2m/bolter-chapter-1-introduction-writing-in-the-late-age-of-print/

Jaques Derrida

I am definitely afraid to write. Not like how Derrida has flashes when he is half in and out of sleep of wether it is appropriate to criticize a certain idea or topic. My fear comes of wether I am answering the prompt correctly. If I write long enough without checking back to make sure I am answering the question correctly, my writing just goes off topic in a major way. However this is predictable because Derrida is a professional writers who has to keep a base of people in order to read his work unlike I who has to write to a prompt for class. The main difference is he can write about whatever he wants where I am stuck writing specifically to a certain topic.

Groups 2&3 Main Arguments

Group 2
-Technology still contains heart and soul from earlier writing
-Writing technology always evolves but keeps some of the previous parts(I'm still a little confused by this)
-The Apple 1984 commercial was awesome and summed up what the mac has done perfectly, a great connection

Group 3
-Computers have infinite possibilities in editing
-Computers are flexible and interactive
-Still have physical interactions with computer
-Writing technology is an agent of change, each new technology creates competition

John Edgar Wideman

Well what he read was very powerful and I could only marvel at his structure of writing. The dated events that alternated between the two different viewpoints of white and black was like watching a Quentin Tarantino film where the vents are all jumbled. It didn't help that his voice was a la Morgan Freeman. Having said this I just came off a whole year of white vs. black racist literature so I am racismed out. His tie into the modern situation of the black father defending his son was a great connection to today and a reminder that racism is still a major issue.

Commercial rewrites and Dead Book and Divorce

AT&T Commercial

Hansel and Gretel are in the city which is necessary to the understanding of this commercial. They do not look like they belong. Lederhosen in the city? That’s not feasible. A cop would stop them since the way they are dressed and being unsupervised if this was reality. After Gretel drops the bread, it is instantly devoured by the environment. The pigeons daintily eat the bread, which would not happen if Hansel and Gretel were in the forest where they belong with birds that would scoff up any errant morsel. There are no sewer grates for the bread to be lost down in the forest either.

 The fairy tale has been totally removed from context by at&t to prove a point. In the original fairy tale the bread is lost and they arrive at the gingerbread house with the witch who plans on eating Hansel. The AT&T cell phone saves the duo from this doom in the commercial hence changing the entire fairy tale. AT&T shows through this commercial that it can help avoid a cell phone user becoming lost most of all, but also the ability to steer them clear of potential danger. This commercial is about selling a new network by playing on the defenselessness of children.

Pantene Observation

The most striking observation of this commercial is the repaired violin.  In reality a broken violin would hardly make any noise when played. However in this commercial, the viewers are led to believe that it creates the sound of a whole orchestra when played. The deaf girl repairing the violin in order to carry out her desire to play is a scene that shows her dedication. The violin symbolizes the beauty of perseverance.

The deaf girl plays a beautiful piece on an instrument that has been reduced to scrap wood and packing tape.  Although it is up to the beholder whether there is actually music or not, the reaction of the crowd suggests there is. Why would they clap for a deaf girl who plays a piece on an instrument that makes no noise? The broken violin influences the commercial by showing that the impossible can be reality. A deaf girl receiving a standing ovation for playing on a reincarnated instrument is an improbable situation. The deaf girl winning a huge musical competition with a salvaged violin is a fairy tale story that would not hold the same impression if the broken violin was absent. Pantene tries to make this impression in order to sell their hair product.

Heineken Observation

One of the central observations that can be made of this commercial is the difference in views of men vs. women. This commercial is geared towards men in a major way. Not only was this commercial shown mostly on sports networks but the frames of the men screaming are the punch line. The shots of them screaming in enjoyment at having the walk-in closet converted into a walk in Heineken refrigerator creates the part of the commercial that grabs the attention of the audience.

A common dream among men is endless alcohol. Previous to the climax, the shot of the women screaming over the shoes and clothes is a biased view of how women react in your average department store. The commercial makes the connection between women screaming and men screaming by comparing clothes and Heineken. This commercial biases and skips the population of men who obsess over clothes and women who worship booze. This commercial is designed to sell Heineken to a certain audience by comparing men to women. Do women appreciate such a commercial?

Kia Analysis

This whole commercial is about connecting with a certain audience. That audience is definitely the 18 to 26 year old college student. Many current fads are being addressed in this commercial. The first is the whole space age/ videogame war genre. The commercial opens up with a war torn crater, filled with battling robots underneath their ships circling above. Many contemporary movies and games are filled with violence and fiction. The second connection with the college audience is the music. This is a current popular party song and is reinforced by the hamsters’ outfits. However, Kia does not stop there, another element had to be added in order to carry this commercial into an eye-snatching ad.

 The hamsters dance. Actually they dance pretty well. This ridiculous combination is laugh out loud funny. The current web generation loves to laugh. The videos with the most hits on YouTube often tend to be the funniest; in fact there is a whole category devoted to funny videos. Not only is this commercial funny but also it has a happy ending. The hamsters bringing peace across the galaxy reminds the viewer of our troops coming home from over seas. This commercial is catered in every way to the college audience by playing on current topics in order to sell a car.

In the “Dead Book”, Jane Churchon’s detached and distant voice lends remoteness to the essay. Although many parts seem particularly heartless there is one that trumps them all. When the doctors lift the bodies from one shelf to another “it is like seeing a white plastic bag perform ballet” (Churchon, 30) This reference occurs about two thirds of the way through the essay at the end of a paragraph. This is a phrase that initially makes the reader smile at the comparison but subsequently has to rush to the bathroom to hurl. The upset body is suspended in the air by straps and metal hooks, parts of the body “sag in the white bag” (30) What a nightmarish experience to be privy to.

            Do you remember what’s in that white bag? Can you see it in your minds eye, “dancing” it’s way through the air, up to it’s new drawer, where many have resided after making the same dance? What happens to the bodies too big and flabby to raise, those who don’t fit in the straps? Are they more graceful in death? What about those who slip out of the rings and have to be lowered down to be readjusted? Would you ever want that job? Do you want to be the lift operator? How would you sleep at night after being privy to such a ballet? How would you run from that memory? Would you purge it? Think of daffodils and butterflies instead of the cold steel, cold bag, cold drawer and cold body? How could you deal with that visual memory every time you shut your eyes?

Brian Doyle’s “Irreconciliable Dissonance” is peppered by metaphors such as “you wonder what the iceberg was under that surface you know?” (Doyle 34) It is quite effective in its own right. Doyle also references a woman divorces her husband after he makes a joke about peeing on fire hydrants, which seems a little extreme.

            Obviously this act was the last straw, leaving the reader to wonder what truly was the iceberg under the surface. This metaphor is also strategically placed at the end of a paragraph. It is the summit of many bizarre divorce stories  and it almost makes you laugh because of the tongue in cheek tone that has been slowly emerging up to this point, this metaphor is used completely to lighten the mood before the essay becomes serious and damaging. 

Is the machine using us?

Although Michael Wesch's video made it seem as though "the machine" is an ambivalent being that is somehow connected to us the machine is not using us. We may be using each other, through data exchange on the internet but there is no machine. For there to be a machine using us it would need to be self aware and able to make decisions to manipulate us. We are not in some pre apocalyptic situation before the machines arise and terminators walk the earth destroying everything.

True Confessions

        For me the most familiar and useful advice is the same thing. Conciseness. I tend to elaborate in my writing creating a fantastical account of something that could have easily been said in three words. I tend to just vomit my thoughts to the paper without stopping and then return a few hours later to decipher the mess. Although editing this way becomes tedious and sometimes confusing my writing normally turns out ok. I have certain phrases I just can’t kill so they stay despite being unnecessarily elaborate. I have gotten the note to trim fat literally since my first writing assignment in elementary school. Each English teacher every year has said, “this is good but this entire chunk is unnecessary despite it being beautiful language so yada yada yada” When assigned more creative assignments I take it as a signal to just let the adjective horses run free. I flip to full throttle and just describe to my hearts content. I am a very visual learner so when I can read exactly how certain events are to be imagined I am in my element. I plan to work on this in my writing but am afraid it will eleminate some of the tone and voice that carries through. I tend to write the way I talk which is very expressive and I feel it necessary to pen it all down on paper despite my constant reminders to be concise.

Kia Hamster Commercial

This whole commercial is about connecting with a certain audience. That audience is definitely the 18 to 26 year old college student. Many current fads are being addressed in this commercial. The first is the whole space age/ videogame war genre. The commercial opens up with a war torn crater, filled with battling robots underneath their ships circling above. Many movies and games are filled with violence and fiction these days. The second connection with the college audience is the music. This is a current popular party song and is reinforced by the hamsters’ outfits. This brings me to a whole new topic.

 The hamsters dance. Actually they dance pretty well. This ridiculous combination is laugh out loud funny. The current web generation loves to laugh. The videos with the most hits on YouTube often tend to be the funniest; in fact there is a whole category devoted to funny videos. Not only is this commercial funny but also it has a happy ending. The hamsters bringing piece across the galaxy reminds the viewer of our troops coming home from over seas. All in all this commercial is catered in every way to the college audience.

Commercial Sharing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zJWA3Vo6TU

Heineken Commercial

One of the central observations I have made of this commercial is the difference in views of men vs. women. This commercial is geared towards men in a major way. Not only was this commercial shown mostly on sports networks but the men are the punch line. The shots of them screaming in enjoyment at having the walk in closet converted into a walk in Heineken refrigerator creates the part of the commercial that grabs the attention of the audience.

A common dream among men is endless alcohol. Previous to the climax, the shot of the women screaming over the shoes and clothes is a biased view of how women react in your average department store. The commercial makes the connection between women screaming and men screaming by comparing clothes and Heineken. This commercial biases and skips the population of men who obsess over clothes and women who worship booze.

12 Q's about Heineken commercial

1. Why do they scream?
2. How old are they?
3. Who is this commercial geared to?
4. How wealthy are they?
5. Why are they speaking a different language?
6. How cold is the fridge?
7. Where are they?
8. Why are the men having the same reaction as the women?
9. Why are the closets filled with different objects?
10. why are only men in the fridge?
11. Why is there a party going on?
12. Is it a new house?

12 Q's about the AT&T Commercial

1. Why are they alone?
2. What type of bread?
3. Where are they from?
4. Extra set of clothes?
5. Why didn't they use the phone in the first place?
6. Why didn't they call a cab?
7. Why aren't they in school?
8. Change of light?
9. Why didn't they ask a cop?
10. Are they really brother and sister?
11. What city are they in?
12. What breed of pigeon?

10 things that baseball players do

1. Chew gum
2. Itch
3. Do an irish jig
4. Celebrate
5. Fight
6. Throw
7. Run
8. Slide
9. Steal
10. Curse

AT&T Commercial

The fact that Hansel and Gretel are in the city is an observation that is necessary to the understanding of this commercial. Right off the bat they do not look like they belong. Lederhosen in the city? Come on! That’s not feasible. A cop would stop them since the way they are dressed and being unsupervised if this was reality. When Gretel drops the bread it is instantly devoured by the environment. The pigeons eat the bread, which would not happen if Hansel and Gretel were in the forest where they belong. There are no sewer grates for the bread to be lost down in the forest either.

 The fairy tale has been totally removed from context by AT&T to prove a point. In the original fairy tale the bread is lost and they arrive at the gingerbread house with the witch who plans on eating Hansel. The AT&T cell phone saves the duo from this doom in the commercial hence changing the entire fairy tale. AT&T shows through this commercial that it can help avoid a cell phone user becoming lost most of all, but also the ability to steer them clear of potential danger.

Pantene Commercial

One of the most striking observations of this commercial is the repaired violin.  In reality a broken violin would hardly make any noise when played. However in this commercial, the viewers are led to believe that it creates the sound of a whole orchestra when played. The fact that the deaf girl repairs the violin in order to carry out her desire to play shows her dedication. The violin symbolizes the beauty of perseverance. 

The deaf girl plays a beautiful piece on an instrument that has been reduced to scrap wood and packing tape.  Although it is up to the beholder whether there is actually music or not, the reaction of the crowd suggests there is. Why would they clap for a deaf girl who plays a piece on an instrument that makes no noise? The broken violin influences the commercial since it shows that the impossible can be reality. A deaf girl receiving a standing ovation for playing on a reincarnated instrument is an improbable situation. Being deaf and winning a huge musical competition with a salvaged violin is a fairy tale story that would not hold the same impression if the broken violin was absent.

John Trimble: writers are like warriors FFW

I agree that writers are like warriors completely. Not only do writers have to defend their arguments but in order to do that it is necessary to break down the arguments of others. Although it is not a physical battle where swords clash or  missiles rip through the sky, it is a battle nonetheless. It is more civilized to write a counter letter to an argument than to have battle royal. More evidence that proves this when the argument is something as simple as Elmo or Barney, Jedi or Sith, and red vs. blue. These arguments are not something worth dying over but worth a rebuke letter.

1st post!

Here I am at Hofstra and I am blogging which was the last thing I thought I would be doing in writing class. writing online makes me feel a little nerdy but for me thats nothing new. In my subconscious I always feel nerdy maybe its that i remember a lot of visual things like what people where or the fact that i am really into movies. my secret addiction is corny action movies. I have lost hours of my life where I could be saving the world to watching hulking muscles and extreme explosions. Part of me laughs at all of this grandeur of destruction of person and property but at the same time I'm cheering in my seat when the bad guy is impaled, blown up, ripped apart, thrown off buildings, stabbed etc. etc. etc. There is something about the rush of making light of a topic that is dark that entertains and thrills. Although there will be no excessive action sequences or over the top blood baths this blog should be entertaining none the less. Maybe those will show up later, who knows!