In Class #12

In the four videos, they really went into detail how "original" is not always original. Older movies resemble older movies than that, and same with the technology. It amazed me that even in music, people copy other peoples work. Even the 2 second clip someone created a long time ago was put into a different song and someone got mad and sued them for using it, like you cant hardly hear it at all. People must have to dissect other songs to make sure that others are not copying them.
I would have never guessed that Star Wars resembled older movies than that, I thought that any other movies made before those were all black and white and boring. Even if I had watched those older movies and Star Wars, I would have never put two and two together that they are alike in any way. Like the scenes of someone getting their arm cut off in an old western and someone getting their arm cut off in Star Wars, I just thought that could be in any movie.
Even subconsciously people copy, not even meaning to. I guess you really have to be careful of what you write. Just when someone thinks that they have a really good original idea that no on has ever thought of, BOOM someone has already though of it.

In Class #11

The witch broke into the museum first, then Santa Claus went in to go get her so she didnt cause any trouble. The two didnt come out so the Easter Bunny went in to go see what the problem was. When he walked in, he seen the witch flying around on her broom stick while Santa was chasing her with one of his reindeer. The Easter Bunny just stared in shock. Santa's reindeer got tired and stopped, and the witch go tired of her hair smacking her face while she was flying.
They all started to walk around making up stories about the cavemen and all of the dinosaurs. They knew they had to be gone by midnight, so they kept an eye on the clock. It was about 10:30 or so and they had all went their seperate ways. The witch went to the dinosaurs, casting spells on them so they could walk, and talk. Santa Claus was talking to the little caveman children and the Easter Bunny was hiding the vases under stuff, like he does for Easter egg hunts.
With priceless hidden vaces scattered throughout the museum, talking cavemen, and dinosaurs roaming around the museum, it was a little crazy. 11:30 came around, Santa was starting to panic. He had to get all of the museum back to the way it was when they got there. He looked for all of the cavemen to put them back to where they were, he had to find the witch to tell her to stop bringing things to life, and to tell the Easter Bunny that it isnt Easter! He found the Easter Bunny and got the cavemen back to their "cave". But they were both searching for the witch. Finally they found her just as she was getting ready to bring the mummies to life. Good thing she didnt because there was a curse right beside it saying if it comes to life, bad luck would be coming there way.

Readers Response #6

This article talks about how advertisements in magazines makes women feel like they have to buy certain products to make women "get the guy". Lantry first talks about soap. Yes soap, Resinol soap. When I first looked at the ad, I would have never guessed that the picture on the top is a lady imagining she's getting married. Nope, I didn't see that. I thought she was at a wedding or something. The picture below that, I thought she was just doing dishes or laundry or something. Lantry clearly explains that advertisers use visuals to catch peoples attention.
Lantry later talks about another kind of soap. Lux soap. I knew what the pictures are in this ad. I just really didn't see the symbolism of the heart until later. The heart symbolizes love, and that she'll find love if she uses this soap, and she'll find a man. Here, Lux uses visuals here too to say "Hey, you should buy this! Your skin will look like hers, AND you'll fall in love!"
The last advertisement Lantry talks about is the Listerine mouthwash one. He talks about how Listerine uses "statistics" for people to buy it. The ad is a teenage girl smiling big and saying "If you want the boys.. Stay sweet as you are!" Lantry really goes into detail, and he dissects each ad, breaks them down to where he can fully understand what the ad is trying to do.

In Class #9

I was shopping in Toys "R" Us for some toys for my cousins babyshower. As I was looking at the little bathtub toys, I wasnt paying attention to where I was going, and I backed into a man and his pregnant wife. I turned around to say sorry, and sure enough it was my ex-boyfriend. I was in complete shock.
I remember the day when he told me that he would never get married and that he said: "I'm not the marrying kind." I was so surprised, I stuttered the word: "Oh, hey. I'm sorry." As I walked away he yelled my name and told his wife that he'd meet back up with her by the babycribs. I stopped and waited for him to catch up with me. He was talking about how he really missed me blah blah blah. He said his mom met his now wife at work, and how she knew that they would make a perfect pair. So one day, I guess she came over to his house for dinner and I guess they clicked.
I'm happy for him, I really am. I just never pictured him to actually be married to someone with a baby on the way. I congradulated him, and told him I wish we could stay in touch. But in my head I was thinking: "Not really, I dont want to see you again." I gave his wife a hug and wished her good luck and that it was nice meeting her. It was really awkward because I think she knew that me and her husband dated a couple years ago so she just kind of looked at me like I was some criminal or something.

In Class #8

Detective: Arriving at the scene, it was pretty upsetting. It was in the back of Walmart by all of the hunting equipment. On the left of the counter, was a little girl laying on her stomach. Beside her was her two sobbing parents. Then back away's was an employee who was shaking.
As I approached the Walmart employee, I asked what had happened. He told me that he was showing the father how to load a gun because the dad wanted to try and hunt this Fall. As the employee was demonstrating how to put the bullets in, someone ran into him and bumped the gun out of his hands. The gun hit the floor and fired and it got this innocent little girl. "She was only 12!", cried the mother.

Coroner: The body had just arrived five minutes ago. It appears that when the gun hit the floor, the bullet shot straight up into her jaw/neck area. This is a hard case for me. I mean, she was only 12 years old! When I was examining the entry wound, I had to cover up her face. It was just too much for me to handle.

Attorney: Walking into the courtroom and seeing the parents crying and photos of the crime scene on boards was difficult. I explained that it was and accident. This whole incident was a cause and effect. When I was interviewing the family, the father blamed himself.

In Class #7

It was a fall day in Georgia before a high school football game. Little Red had never been to a game before. She knew it would be chilly outside, so she went to the store to buy a new jacket. She looked all around the store. There were many clothes and shoes. She wondered around, finally after finding the perfect jacket, she purchased it. She rushed home to show her brothers and sisters. When she got home there was a bowl of cold soup on the counter with a note that said: "Red, went out. Be home before the game to come pick you up." So she ate her dinner and waited anxiously for them to come home. When they got home, Red wasnt there.
It was after 7 by then, and Red left a note on the mirror: "Went to the game, be home later." Her brother and sister went to the game and sure enough, there was Red cheering in the stands. They all sat together cheering for their winning team. After the game, they all went out to their favorite Italian restaurant to get some spaghetti.

Readers Response #5 Seelye's Article

Katharine Q. Seelye used to be a reporter for the New York Times. This article was about how magazines use numbers on the front covers to draw peoples attention. This article gave examples, and she goes into details why the numbers grab peoples attention. The service publications uses the numbers on covers as selling points. When women see someone really pretty on the cover, and beside it in big bold print "10 ways to look like [insert celebrity name] !"
She mentions how odd numbers are more believable than even numbers, that the number 7 works, but the number 13 doesnt work. She references some editors of various magazines. They all agree that using numbers on covers do sell better.

In Class #6

With all of the talk about politics here lately, I'm getting annoyed by it. Like, I cannot even get on Facebook or Twitter without seeing it.
I try to stay away from all of the debates/drama that comes with it. I know that its that time of year, but it is really getting pretty crazy. Last night for instance, my parents were watching the debate, I watched it for a few minutes but I got bored. So for my excitement, I went and did my homework! (sarcasm). Every now and then I would check Twitter, and people were posting some pretty nasty things about both candidates  I thought to myself: "People need to sensor what they put on here because they could get some serious trouble." Now, it is okay to have your own opinion and everything, but some people were going just too far and I don't want to be a part of that.
Yes, I'm voting this year and yes I have an opinion, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go posting it on every social network just to get attention. I think some parents never taught there kids the old rule "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all."

In Class Writing Prompt #5 Paragraph 2

Theatrical, tense, stressful. All words to describe the dialogue in the series "Smash". When the lighting would change, the dialogue would change. If the lights got dark or dimmed, the characters' tones were either angry or worried. An example is when Karen (Katharine McPhee) first finds out her fiance, Dev (Raza Jaffrey) has cheated on her with Ivy (Megan Hilty). At first, Karen is very skeptical and concerned, she did not believe it was true when Ivy told her. But when Dev told her, she believed him and her dialogue towards him changed from in love, to worried, and to angry. Another example is when Lyle (Nick Jonas) was talking to Ileen (Anjelica Huston). The way Lyle talked to Ileen was like he was in a broadway musical, he was very formal. When watching this show, it is important to pay attention because the dialogue may be hard for some people to understand.

Readers Response #4- Scott's Essay

 A film critic, A. O. Scott works on the New York Times. He wrote a movie review on a James Bond movie. Scott does not seem like a supporter of the opening song. He claims that the song, sung by Alicia Keys and Jack White are "an intriguing duo on paper if nowhere else."
Scott mentions in the forth paragraph that the first chases is "speedy and thrilling" and that it left off from the previous movie.
This review in my opinion is very biased. He mentions his opinions on everything. But then again, he it is his job, he is a critic. He clearly states the things he does and doesn't like in the film. This essay is put together very well.

In Class Writing #4

The hall was quiet until she heard a loud crash. She sprinted down the hallway, while she was running she heard laughter getting louder and louder. She realized that it obviously wasn't an emergency because of the giggles she heard echoing through the halls. When she finally turned the corner, she could see two people on the ground laughing and a cart rolling down the hallway past her. She asked: "What in the world happened?!" The boy replied: "Oh its nothing, we're just messing around until its our turn to be on stage."
The young girl was confused, but then she remembered that she was at the school play. She later on asked the kids if she could join them, but they told her no and that she had to be the look out in case an adult would show up and ruin their fun. So there she stood watching the two kids slide down the ramp and through the long stretch of a hallway. As they would roll through the hall, the posters hanging on the walls would move because of how much speed they were picking up.
Then out of no where the young girl yelled "run!" because the director was looking for the two kids because it was their turn to be on stage. The two of them managed to get on stage before the director found them. Now, whenever there is a play or a musical held at the school, the three of them all go and take turns rolling down that ramp.

Readers Response #3 - "Juno"

I really liked this evaluation of the movie Juno. It clearly talks about the positives and the negatives of this movie. The most realistic negative of the movie is that its "cool" to be a pregnant teenager. A positive that this evaluation mentions is that it shows how mature someone can become after a short nine months. 

Juno is a movie about a sixteen year old girl who gets pregnant, and decides to give the baby up for adoption. Instead of taking the easy way out and aborting the baby, she chooses to go through with it and give her baby to a "perfect" married couple. 

There is quite a lot of unrealistic dialogue, but the plot and the characters are perfect. This movie really shows the struggles of a pregnant teen. A downfall is that the movie doesn't really show all of the mood swings that a pregnant woman would indeed have. I do like how the movie isn't too serious, or too funny. It's really just a happy medium. It's not all emotional or depressing, it has a lot of comedy. Something that the character, Juno portrays well. 

This evaluation is good, it just give a little too much detail, after reading this I'm sure that people who haven't seen this particular movie wont go see it. Only because it tells you everything that happened in a nut shell, and how the movie ends. I mean, if I wouldn't have already seen it, I don't see why I would have to go see it. I know whats going to happen. 

In Class Writing

This episode of How I Met Your Mother showed the different expectations everyone had in the future. When the episode first started out , the two guys were in the dorm imagining that they would be rich with fancy mustaches, and they would both have lady friends. But as they got older, the expectations started to change.
Barny's future plans were all the same until when he figured out that he really loved his girlfriend. He knew he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life.
The other two guys kept imagining themselves  being single and alone. But in the last prediction, the two were living together but the one guy was married and had a baby.
In every prediction, they were always doing the same thing: watching Star Wars. I really liked when Barny finally realized that he didnt want to be with a different girl every night. He wanted to be with only one. His character finally grew up and realized what is important. This episode really showed the growth in the characters.

Readers Response #2 Bechdal

The comic was sort of all over the place, in my opinion. I had to re-read it at least 3 times. I could really tell that it was only a part of a comic. I didn't like how it started off, jumping back to the past. By looking at the pictures, you can tell that the family wasn't happy. All of the pictures, minus one, the people had sad expressions on their faces. I didn't really understand this purpose. To show that  a lot of people live in the same house and eat together but never really talk? I did like how it was in a comic. Something different.

Readers Response #1 Nemats Blog Post

 The author used a lot of detail in her narrative. It really kept my attention. I thought the bookstore owner was very nice. I could imagine what the bookstore looked like, and how the owner looked. There was a lot of dialogue. I can really tell she loved to read. She mentioned reading every book in the library three times! She really must have enjoyed reading. I understood when the mother did not have enough money to go out and buy her all of these books. Coming from a family who is struggling, I know what its like to not get the newest thing, or name brand clothes. But, at least the mother could buy her a book every month, which I thought that was really special. But over all, I really liked this narrative. It was very descriptive, and it kept my full attention.

In Class Writing #2. Photograph

 This is a picture of me and my bestfriend, Ty. That day, was one of the best days of my high school life, we stayed after school to finish up my Global Issues project. That day I was feeling very nervous. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough time to finish my project, it was due at 4pm, and by this time, it was already 3:30. The room had pictures of the teachers daughter with Autism all around. The cupboards are blue, the walls are painted with blue and white paint. While I was typing my ending of my project, I could taste my peppermint gum that I have had since the end of 6th period. So there was just a light flavor of mint. All I could hear is the pitter patter of the keys as I rushed to finish my homework. In the background, I could also hear cheerleading practice that was held in the Commons Area just down the hallway. With the school only being 5 years old, you could still smell the new paint, and the "new car smell". 

 Me and him were trying to spend as much time together because at the time, he only had a few more months until he left for boot camp. We always took pictures like this. He is my big brother. This day was just like any other day at school. Rushing to do my homework, ready for my 4pm nap, and listening to music. 

 It was a Friday. Fridays we always had pizza for lunch. It wasn't all that good of pizza. You can tell it was frozen. Sometimes, our school lunches were still frozen in the middle. The days they would serve us these hot pocket burrito things that were just horrible. They were supposed to be ham and cheese, it looked like yellow play dooh with hot sauce mixed in. For $2 you get a little thing of milk, different colored green beans or whatever veggie they had, slimy fruit and usually something still half frozen. 

 We had many memories sitting around that lunch table everyday. Ty and me would have these laughing "fits" where we would laugh so loud, and everyone in the cafeteria would just stare at us and start laughing. Our lunch table had 7 people sitting around it, so it was a good thing we are all friends because we were all so close together. We shared secrets, jokes, and the occasional chemistry homework.

 That day was like any other Friday. Went to periods 1-7. But 8th period is where it was at. On Fridays, there was Pep-Band. We were all in band, just not Pep-Band, so the band director told us as long as we get a pass we could "skip" band. We never ever got a pass. The same 7 people that sat around the lunch table all went in this real small conference room. This room had white walls, white floors, one rectangle table in the middle of the room that was surrounded by chairs. In the corner, there was a little desk that had a phone on it. One would sit on that desk, and the rest of us would sit around the table. We would all pull out our cell phones and share the newest gossip or who had the most "likes" on Facebook. 

 Ty inspires me to write because he is off in basic training busting his butt. He still made time every night to write me letters. When I told him how nervous I was about starting college, he told me that I can do it. I remembered that hes off in another state waking up at 4am, and my earliest class is at 12:30pm. I'm so lucky to have him in my life, he reminds me who I am, and where I stand. 

College Life.

 Just graduating from high school, and going into college is quite the change. I'm only taking two classes this semester. I'm not quite sure what my major is going to be yet so I'm just taking my generals. I'm in pre-algebra and English. Pre-algebra isn't too bad. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be.
 College is a lot different from high school. I wasn't sure what to expect. There was so much drama, and cliques in high school. On my first day of college, I was scared of what people were going to think of me. I was worried that people would be in their little groups, and I would just be there by myself. But instead, as I walked into my first class, everyone sat their awkwardly like I did. Nobody talked, it was just silence.
 I was so used to going in to school, and sitting for eight hours straight. Now, going into my classes for about an hour and a half a day, its not so bad. I really do like college a lot more than high school. The only bad part is that I still don't know hardly anybody yet. As the weeks go by, I'm starting to get the hang of this whole college thing.