Warm Up 1-21-14

If I were to write an autobiography, the first paragraph would be...
 
  I love summer. When I was young, I grew up outside in the summer. My hair was bleached from the sun and my skin looked as if it were kissed by the sun. I was an explorer outside. I dug in the yard, looking for any insect I could examine. I was a business woman. Making earth perfumes from dirt and leaves, finding pretty leaves, and making lemonade were all some of the products I would sell in the summer. I would earn $10 if I was lucky enough. In the summer, I was everything.
   

Warm Up 1-15-14

        The collective destiny of humanity is to live life to the fullest. We humans as a group want to all thrive and feel good about ourselves, our surroundings, and our futures. No one knows how our lives will turn out, but there are general things that we can do to make our lives a little easier and happier. Our goal is to live.

Warm up 1-14-14

Five questions I hate being asked...

1. What are you going to do after high school?
2. What are you thinking about for a major?
3. What's your favorite T.V Show?
4. What's your favorite class in school?
5. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Modern Day Shakespeare

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/18/movies/all-world-s-stage-ruled-guess-who-why-shakespeare-resonates-with-modern-age.html?smid=pl-share


        Shakespeare's Hamlet is still being taught today. If it weren't, I wouldn't be writing this blog. Michiko Kakutani, the author of "All the World's a Stage, Ruled by Guess Who; Why Shakespeare Resonates With the Modern Age," wrote about why Shakespeare's writings are still relevant today. Some reasons why Kakutani believes that Shakespeare's work is still relevant today are the help of "filmmakers [that] are depicting him as the poet of youth and youthful confusion." By writing this, Kakutani believes that Shakespeare connects to teenagers in the sense that his books are filled with confused youth and confusing lives/situations. This is a main connection to teenagers. "An age marked by a taste for violent entertainment and anxiety about the accelerating pace of social and cultural change. In short, an age oddly in sync with our own." I strongly agree that these controversial topics are very in sync with our own current culure.      
           Even if you don't believe that Shakespeare connects to teenagers, some other examples of why he's around are " the richness of his language, the range and depth of his characterizations, the fecundity of his imagination." Also, "the game-playing of Shakespeare's characters, their gender confusion, their romantic and familial disputes, their efforts to grapple with the contingency of reason and love, all seem peculiarly modern." Even though Shakespeare's language and vocabulary is difficult to understand, he is still relevant. I agree with Kakautani because yes, the books aren't easy to understand, once you do, you can connect yourself very easily to the text because of the current topics in it.

Hamlet Film Trailer

                     

             There are many aspects to Hamlet. There are many things that happen in the book, and to sum it up in about two minutes is a hard thing to do. In the beginning of the trailer, we are introduced to many famous actors. The first few clips are showing strong emotions. Death, revelation, ambition, passion, suspicion, honor, and revenge. These are all themes stated to be in the movie "Hamlet." These themes are all very strong and interesting on their own, but to be put together in one movie sounds very interesting to the viewer. The narration of this clip is the typical deeper male voice that words things in a way as to intrigue the viewer.
            In the clip above, there are few moments of text. The beginning shows the production company, then the final text is at the end where it reads simply "Hamlet." The visuals of this clip are very strong. We see that it was filmed as if it were in the actual time of Hamlet (clothing, decor, buildings, etc.) Some examples of the images shown are kissing, fighting, possible beheading. The point is to show many dramatic issues that happen in Hamlet and make it as intriguing as possible. The music of the clip is at first a light melody from an orchestra. When the narration gets more intense as he talks about the more dramatic issues, the music gets more intense as well.
           Each track adds to the message that viewers receive. The viewers overall response to this trailer is that Hamlet is a dramatic love/hate filled movie with many twists and turns. The text track is the most absent in this sense, but the main point of a trailer is clips rather than text. The visual track as well as the soundtrack were the most important. The visual track showed faces, buildings, and clothing, which helped viewers get a sense of what era the movie would take place in. Finally, the soundtrack added a sense of added drama that if you hadn't already gotten enough drama from the clips, you would sure get your fix from the music. The intended audience of this clip is older aged people. I wouldn't see this being directed towards teenagers, just because there aren't any teenagers in the film and this era doesn't really scream something that many teenagers would be interested in. All in all, this clip looked intriguing and was filled to the brim with drama.

Blog # 2

             In late August of 2012 I got my nose pierced. My mom and I had a deal where if I got on the A honor roll all year last year, I could get the piercing. My mom is very anti-piercing/tattoo of any sort, so her allowing me to get this piercing was huge.
            My older Sister, Emily has several piercing, so I suppose that was one major influence. When I was in 9th grade, I begged my mom to let me get a piercing for my 14th birthday, but she just refused and refused. I was really upset and confused because when my Sister was my age she was piercing her own ears, and even once, my Brother's ears. I guess my Mom didn't really consent to any of those actions, but she wasn't furious about it either.  
            Half way through 10th grade with straight A's. I would bring up my grades to my Mom each opportunity I could and whenever I did, our conversations would include sarcasm, grunting, and laughter. "Hey Mom, guess what!" "What?" "I just checked the Schools A honor roll and my name was on there. Hahahaha." "Mhmmmm, I still don't want you piercing your nose. I just don't see the appeal in it." "Well good thing It's me who's getting the piercing, not you, right?" We are a very sarcastic family, so even though it might sound like we're being bitter, we all have the best intentions.
            Last day of 10th grade with straight A's. So many things are rushing through my head; Summer, friends, job, but mainly nose piercing! When I got home from my last day of School, I asked my Mom if we could get my piercing done that day, since I had been true to my end of the deal, she said "No, not today, maybe later this week." This was a bad sign. I know my Mom is a huge procrastinator, but this was telling me that I might not ever get it.
            Finally the day was here. I asked my Mom if we could get my nose pierced, and she said yes! We went down to Leviticus, which was several blocks from my house. We got into the store, my heart was pounding out of my chest. I tell the woman working the counter that I wanted to get my nose pierced and she asked me for my student I.D….and a birth certificate. I forgot to bring a birth certificate. How could I forget that?! My heart was crushed, because I was sure that my mom didn’t want to drive all the way back to our house to get a little birth certificate, but she did! I drove home, grabbed the certificate, went back to Leviticus, and got my nose pierced. The piercing took 5 minutes, and the pain was very tolerable.
            Looking back now, in this whole experience, I’ve learned that even though some things in life can seem very discouraging, that still isn’t a reason to quit. If you want something, you have to work for it. I am very happy with my piercing now, and am soon hoping to go jewelry shopping to bling out my nose! In this whole experience, there were so many things that could have gone wrong, but that wasn’t enough to stop me.
           

Blog #1: Analyzing Media Coverage of Hurricane Katrina

Wednesday, August 31st, 2005.

The Anniston Star

              In this article we read information about the City of New Orleans in havoc. The citizens who were unable to escape the event are now being called refugees, but more so, looters. The survivors are depicted as bad people for getting supplies for themselves. The article described dozens of looters ransacking stores for supplies. 

             "City under siege. Looting, desperation spread in New Orleans". This headline depicts survivors suddenly lowering their standards of living and sinking down to stealing. This shows them being weak, and defenseless, as well as the same time showing that they've become animal like, mad, if you will. I don't feel like this headline is biased. I also don't feel like race is a factor in the language used. The article describes looters rummaging through flooded stores and that only. 

             The main article and the articles around are focused on suffering. The main article has a police officer that states "We're so screwed", the article left of it is about Katrina's death toll rising up, and the article beneath is about high gas prices. Each article's purpose is to show how people today are suffering physically, mentally, and economically. The intended audience of each article is for general audience. The articles were written to show how people in the U.S are facing hardships.

            The headlines may impact readers viewpoints by showing outsiders are after the city, not the people who are actually suffering. This may make people feel disgusted with people who take advantage of situations for personal benefit. These stories are important because they are very literal. They tell you straight what's going on in New Orleans. They aren't trying to sugar coat the fact that New Orleans is destroyed and people are suffering from it. The authors want to share these news stories to people so they can be informed.

           I believe there is a relationship between race and media coverage of Hurricane Katrina. In this article, it isn't very visible, but there are tons of other articles that do have that relationship. I wish there wasn't that problem of having one connect to the other, because the color of your skin shouldn't decide what news gets reported. People only want to hear interesting stories, and a topic that is considered "interesting" has to do with stereotypes based on race. This type of media coverage isn't right because it's biased and unfair. We shouldn't be shining light to solely negativity of certain races, but positivity as well.