ENG 001: Language and Writing

Songs of My Life

2008-05-05T02:59:00.024-05:00

The girl just sits there and occupies herself as the guy stares into blank space towards the television. He looks as if he is thinking very deeply about something and doesn't even recognize that she is there as she occupies herself pondering what he is thinking. This reminds me of sitting with my best friend. There was several times when she would be off in her own world doing her own thing not recognizing I was there. I would occupy myself knowing that she was thinking hard about something and if needed she would talk about it out loud. I used to sit and wish she was there with me mentally, in the same world. Some things she did when she secluded her mind were painting, drawing, writing poetry, or creating short tunes on her acoustic guitar. She's a very artistic person in many ways and does her best when she's deep in thought, concentrated, and comfortable. It was on and off as to how much she secluded herself from others. Sometimes it seemed as if she didn't come out of her world for days. She always thought we were different in the ways we thought and in our personalities. This affected me a lot as a child and young teenager. It was part of what created my personality today and made me a better listener and more patient. I thought her personality was rare and the way she thought was different than most but like my own. Now I see that maybe Roger Waters thought the same way.

Nelly-Batter Up

They jump out of the huddle around the pitcher's mound to begin the inning. An action most young boys and girls have done. As the pitcher winds up to throw the first pitch of the inning the fielders in the backround get in their down and ready position. As the second batter comes to the plate he gets in an extremely lazy bunt position and pops the ball up which is exactly what is not wanted. Much of my childhood and teenage years were spent playing softball around the United States. I was on a traveling team for OSA (Omaha Softball Association). OSA is the Omaha Association but the national associations are ASA (Amateur Softball Association), AFA (American Fastpitch Association, and USSSA (United States Slo-Pitch Softball Association)which is not only for slow pitch anymore but many sports. I have played in all of these associations and gone to nationals in each also. These associations have many different age groups. The age ranges start at 10 & under, then goes every 2 years to 12 & under, 14 & under, 16 & under, 18 & under, and 21 & under. Most teams for league games play an age group up to play harder teams so they do better during tournaments. It seems as Nelly knows small details about baseball that he wouldn't know unless he had played before. This is especially shown in his lyrics, "I'm stealing second and third, going home, getting greedy now". One would have to play baseball or softball to know that home runs usually come from being greedy.

Sum 41-Fat Lip

The young boy covered in pads is skateboarding on a half pipe. It's a very common set up but not very easy to do. It's surprising such a young kid can ride it flawlessly. Much of my 8th and 9th grade years were spent hanging out at the skatepark. It was newly built and always filled with tons of people. Even if it was cold outside. It did not consist of a half pipe but contained a large bowl, a small bowl, a quarter pipe, short and long rails, different sized boxes, and wavy hills all over. Graffiti covered several of the walls and some of the ground. There were some stands, such that a baseball field would have, for the parents and friends to sit and relax on. Also for the skaters to put their gallons of water on. All my friends skateboarded. I started to but didn't follow through with it. They all had regular stance, but one of them could ride goofy stance also. They did ollies and kickflips all the time. They could do 360 flips, and both frontside and backside 180's. One of them could do a boardslide for quite a while but the others couldn't hold it for very long. Before winter covered the park with snow they were practicing their hardflips and heelflips. I was never good enough to do most of these but the ollie and ride over hills. Stereotypically, most skateboarders are rebels and careless. The members of Sum 41 express the same attitude in saying, "Don't tell us to behave. I'm sick of always hearing act your age." These lyrics match the typical skateboarders attitude.

Linkin Park-Papercut

The face that comes out of the picture is just like my mother's unicorn painting that has hung on the living room wall my whole life. It's a large circular canvas with mostly whites and blues. It shows unicorns around a stream in a forest. The texture of it is slightly rigid for looks and depth. My friend had just taken her medication and walked into the living room. She freaked out because she said the unicorns were coming out of the picture. She is a little crazy, but doesn't hallucinate. Nor should her medication have made her but it must have had a serious side effect. She became very paranoid of everything, just as the song mentions. This was the worst side effect she ever had. I had to take her to the bedroom and sit there with her while she fell asleep. Things like this help to teach someone patience and how to be a good friend. Maybe Chester or Mike had the same experience of my friend or me.

Tool-Sober

The creature walks around the creepy house-like place just like in a dream. Nothing seems to make sense as he slowly snoops into each room; wondering what might jump out in front of him or what lies ahead. I have had a reoccuring dream such as this throughout my whole life. I'm walking around with friends snooping through a house we are stuck in and that is haunted. Each room contains something from crazy and unexpected to nothing but blankness. Then in one room are dead people and we stay out of that room because that is the haunted room where the spirits come from. I've always had extremely crazy and unique dreams. I usually remember my dreams in fairly good detail. Normally if someone is having a dream and they wake up from it they want to go back to it or "start it over" unless it is a nightmare. Dreams are usually very interesting and have many definitions as to why people dream what they do. One definition is what people dream is their inner desire. Another definition is what they are worrying about. A third definition which is applied to most dreams is just a random thought or set of thoughts put together. Most of my dreams have always been the third definition of random thoughts or ideas that usually don't make any sense. From this video, it seems as though Tool might have crazy dreams too that they remember in detail.

Tom Petty-Into The Great Wide Open

Eddie and his girlfriend are sitting together as his girlfriend teaches him to play guitar. He begins by learning chords. The easiest way to create a song is by putting different chords together. Most songs only have a couple different chords that are played over and over in different orders or the same order. I used to spend my nights sitting in my room on my amp practicing guitar. I did not like chords as much as I liked solos and the main rhythm. Many bands will have two guitarists; one for the background rhythm and one for the main rhythm. Solos are not necessarily easier to play over chords because they are usually the hardest guitar part of the song but one who plays chords has to keep most their fingers down altogether and move them altogether. Also when playing by yourself it sounds more like the song you are playing when the main guitar part is played over the rhythm guitar being playing because it is just a background beat. I would teach myself to play the main guitar from tabs and my friend would teach herself to play rhythm guitar from tabs. Both of us used picks because it made it easier to not pluck more than the strings needed. Then both of us would try to show the other one how to play what we had learned. Just like in the song, "She had a guitar and she taught him some chords." My friend would teach me chords and I would teach her solos. Tom Petty might have been taught by his friend to play guitar when he was younger because every guitarist has to begin somewhere.

Eve 6-Here's To The Night

Toasting at parties or gatherings is a common action. Especially with the blue or red plastic Solo cups that are very common. Almost everyone has encountered this event for some reason or another. I have encountered it myself several times; the most recent being the Good Bye Dinner for the foreign exchange students whom I've become such good friends with. It was held at Old Chicago and a friends house. It was mainly held for Sof, Bea, Mat, and Paula, but all the exchange students were included. There were students from Austria, Ireland, Mexico, England, Azerbaijan, Estonia, and several other countries around the world. Gabbi then "made a toast to all of us who hear her all too well." Nobody wants them to go back home, not even themselves. "Here's to the night's we felt alive, here's to the tears you knew you'd cry, here's to goodbye tomorrow's gonna come too soon," was the motto of the night. A very sad night indeed. This event has happened to me several times in my life when saying goodbye to some of the best friends I've ever had. They are always very affectionate times and are never forgotten. Eve 6 knows this feeling very well as if he has gone through the same hardships.

Deadsy-Mansion World

Everybody wants a mansion when they grow up. Some with pools, or art galleries, statues, 10 foot tall metal gates around the house, chandeliers, splitting staircases, etc. They are spread throughout the world. I've always dreamt of having a mansion and someday in the future I hope to own one with my family. They show the Overholser Mansion, the Carson Mansion, the Hearst Mansion, and Gable Mansion to name a few. As the lyrics say, "In a mansion world, I might like to know you," because when you live in a mansion you are usually secluded from most of society and are categorized into upper class. Friends should be made on personality instead of class category. If I lived in a mansion I would hope to have the same friends I would have if I lived in a middle class house. Normally people who live in mansions are very caught up in their lives such as families and jobs. In order to live in a mansion one would have to make a lot of money, and most likely be very dedicated to their job. Then all their extra time is probably spent with their family. Most times those who live in a mansion and are not famous people are older and are high up in their job. I hope to not have to wait until I'm above 50 years old to live in a mansion. Deadsy must have the same thoughts as to wanting the same friends if they end up in mansions.

Bad Music Video

2008-04-27T22:25:00.002-05:00

I'm assuming it's Gummo-Norma Jean

Wow. This video is horrible. It's just a bunch of random people doing stupid things. You can't understand what the person screaming the song is saying. This video doesn't seem to have any correlation to anything. I don't know if the people in this video did these things just for the video or actually did them and they just happened to be recorded. From the video I get that these people are really poor and don't have good lives, family lives, or friends. They really seem mentally unstable from their actions. Maybe even like they are or were abused. Who would make a video like this in the first place? The kid in the blue shirt in the rain really seems like he's contemplating his horrible life and questioning it. The lady in the blue tank and pink shorts attempting to be a cheerleader is just rediculous. I don't understand the point of all these people trying to beat the shit out of everything. Is it to go along with the screaming of the song because the whole scene is angry? What's the point of the "SLAYER" carved into the kids arm? It doesn't seem to mean anything. The bald kids fighting and punching each other for fun remind me of neo nazi's. Punching each other is not something you do for fun. And what the hell is up with the kids hitting a dead cat strung from a tree with sticks? Too bad whoever made this video can't get charged with animal abuse or something because that is disgusting and cruel. That ruins kids minds and teaches them to be harmful and mean to others and animals which causes murderers.

Good Music Video

2008-04-24T02:18:00.002-05:00

Okgo-Here It Goes Again

Okgo is a great band. I've listened to them for a long time and just recently this treadmill video has become very popular which I bet is helping them gain fans because everyone thinks this video is cool. It's neat that they can keep a viewer's attention for 3 minutes by just doing different things on treadmills. I have to admit it was a clever idea. I don't think I would have ever thought of something like this for a music video. The song doesn't really have anything to do with it either.

My favorite parts of the video would have to be these...when they step from one treadmill to the next and make it look like they are skating which is at about 40 seconds and when they spin on two different treadmills to make it look like they are spinning in a circle on a surface that is moving in circles which is at about 2:21 seconds.

I wonder if they had to film this whole video in one shot with no break or corrections. It seems as if that's what they had to do which would take a lot of practice and work to go that whole time without making a single noticable mistake. I wonder how many injuries they received when attempting to figure out what movements to include or even during practicing it.

Freewrite on Video

2008-04-20T23:10:00.004-05:00

Cake-Love You Madly

(Since someone decided to disable this video on youtube.com the day after I put it on here, I'm giving you the link instead. Sorry for the inconvenience.)

So this music video is pretty interesting. It has absolutely nothing to do with the song I'm almost positive. They copied Iron Chef of America with the trumpeter and the drummer from Cake. Then to make it even more funny they had Rick James a musician, Phyllis Diller a comedian, and Jeff Smith from the Frugal Gourmet as the judges. I thought it was interesting what ingredients they picked to create a dish with; pumpkin and salmon? I don't know but watching the video made me hungry for some awesome food and I bet the food they cooked was awesome. Too bad I can't have any of it. Salmon is my favorite food ever.

I think it's neat how it's a very laid back video. The camera will go up close on what one of the chef's is doing then the far back camera will come onto the screen showing the up close camera man. From watching this video you can tell it was all good fun and they just wanted to make a completely random video. I really like the band Cake. I don't think of them that often but they are very good. To also make the video laid back they had each judge come into the room through a curtain by themselves struttin their stuff to show a little character.

Rhetorical Analysis #2: Mercedes-Benz Commerical

2008-04-07T11:45:00.007-05:00

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz, one of those high class desirable car brands that everybody wants is a Diamler company and was founded in 1965. Its first headquarters were in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Currently its headquarters is in Montvale, New Jersey where it relocated to in 1972. Even though Mercedes-Benz was founded in 1965 under Diamler the cars were sold in American from 1957-1964 under Mercedes-Benz Sales Inc. which was a subsidiary of Studebaker-Packard Corporation. Max Hoffman was the first man to import and retail Mercedes-Benz cars in America from 1952-1957. Automobile sales are a common action today because everyone has at least one car in most situations. All auto companies try to out-compete their opponents by having the nicest looking, most comfortable feeling, gas efficient automobiles with the newest technology.

This ad is trying to sell the Mercedes-Benz E-Klasse. It is also trying to sell the idea that the car looks beautiful but is an efficient and intelligent car with new technology, characteristics everyone wants in a car such as a hands free communication system and chrome door handles. Also it tries to sell the idea that the makers of this car care deeply about their product. This is their persuasive message also; that their car is better than other cars and more modern and intelligent. It tries to persuade and tell the viewer that they desire one of these wonderful automobiles.

The strategies of argumentation used in this commercial are definition and analogy. They use definition by showing the blonde woman asking for a burger meal from a library. Then after being told she’s in a library she asks for the same thing but in a whisper. She’s a good-looking woman but obviously not very intelligent. They use this scene as their character and setting to get a physical theme across to the viewers so they have something visual to remember. They make it memorable by using pathos and making it funny so the viewers laugh. Definition is reinforced by the statement “Beauty is nothing without brains”. They use a blank white screen and large, bold, black letters as the design to show an ethos appeal. Ethos is shown because this screen makes the viewer think the company’s personality is serious about their product. Also they didn’t use a period even though this phrase is a complete sentence. By not using a period it seems as if the words are straight to the point and it will seem as if the phrase is shorter and takes less time to read and understand. The layout they chose was to center the phrase because it visually looks better and makes people more interested in reading it.

Analogy is used by having the blonde represent all the other automobile companies. The analogy is that other automobile companies make nice looking cars but they don’t have the features and efficiency that Mercedes-Benz cars do. Therefore Mercedes-Benz cars look beautiful and are efficient cars with all the new technology. They used a middle aged, somewhat wealthy looking pretty blonde female wearing noticeable makeup as the character because that is the common look for today’s stereotypical dumb blonde. The imagery used for this analogy has the camera back far enough from each person that the viewer can see the shelves of books and the other customers sitting and reading or studying so that it’s obvious it’s not a fast food business. For the librarian character they used someone that is completely opposite in looks as to a stereotypical dumb blonde. She is slightly bigger with boring clothes, her glasses with a strap are hanging down, dark curly hair that doesn’t look like she took very long to do it, and no makeup.

This shows pathos because viewers will find it humorous. It is humorous based on kairos and cause and effect. It would not be humorous if the blonde asked for a burger meal from a fast food because that is the true cause and effect; the customer asks for a meal from a fast food business and they get a meal. But instead she was in the wrong place asking for the wrong thing. Then there are two big ideas: asking for a burger meal in a library and being quiet in a library. After asking for a burger meal the librarian tells the blonde that she’s in a library, addressing the bigger idea, referring to her being the more intelligent person. Then as a result of this statement the blonde addresses the smaller idea, in whispering her order, referring to her as being the more unintelligent person.

After having the statement about their product fade off the screen it shows their symbol that represents the company fading onto the screen. By using the fading imagery it seems like the phrase turns into the symbol because they represent the same meaning. Just like the phrase it’s a white screen with a bold, black and large symbol. It has the same effects to ethos as the phrase but also keeps the ad symmetrical and balanced. If every screen turned a different color the ad would lose its seriousness and would create the view that Mercedes are not high class.

As the blonde woman walks into the library to order her voice is serious and authoritative. She talks with a slight raise as a customer normally would at a walk in fast food restaurant because of the noise from others customers and the associates. The background is completely silent and her voice slightly echoes to show that it’s a library. The librarian realizing it’s a library uses the tone of voice that she’s talking with someone who’s not very intelligent as if the blonde lady should realize this common information. As the blonde woman orders again in a whisper it creates the pathos appeal that this scene is humorous so the viewers might remember it easier. The ad uses classic piano ballroom music. The sound is simple and laid back as to appeal to adults since their audience is adults. Ballroom music is commonly thought of as high class music because normally ballrooms that play this type of music are in high class places or the music is played at balls or such, or at stage theatres for high class plays or musical shows where most the crowd is wealthy. The music correlates that Mercedes are high class vehicles.

The ad shows logos by having the phrase “Beauty is nothing without brains” then showing the E-Klasse. It makes the realized statement that the logical thing to do is buy this product because it’s not only beautiful but has the characteristics that anyone would want their vehicle to have.

This ad gets its point across and sells itself to the audience. Its message is very clear; Mercedes-Benz automobiles are not only nice looking cars but are efficient and with the highest of standards. It uses all three of the rhetorical appeals pathos, logos, and ethos but keeps to mainly using pathos. The commercial is simple and to the point which is easier for the viewers to remember later on because they don’t have extra jargon from the commercial filling their heads. The use of definition and analogy together does well at explaining the details of the product being advertised but putting it in a more common scene for the viewer to remember.

WORKS CITED
http://www.mbusa.com/index.do

Presidential Stances-Whoo

2008-03-30T22:54:00.004-05:00

Click here and watch "Environment" video clip before reading. Strictly pay attention to the quote not the video.

To begin with, McCain uses pathos quite a bit. His word choice is very academic in a sense that it is apropriate to the topic, the audience, and the occasion but it is also very colloquial language in the sense that he uses words that are easy to understand and that get his point across. His statements sound as if he is a common human being wanting these choices to be followed through with. It seems as though he really cares which is what he wants the reader to think and what he wants his supporters to think. He wants to touch the reader somehow emotionally so they will want to support him.

He refers back to presidents who had made a big impact on the environment which could be related to three different strategies of persuasion: example, classification, or definition. It could be considered example because he's stating that Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan were examples of environmentalists. This would cause the reader to think back to the actions those presidents took for the environmental situations and get an idea of what McCain might intend to do, want to do, or what he believes is right in doing. With these same effects it could be considered classification because McCain is classifying them as environmentalists. By saying that "somehow we have lost our way on the environment" seems as if he thought what those two did for the environment was needed and a good idea and that we need to keep caring for the environment and doing something about it. By stating those two it could be definition as in the definition of an environmentalist to McCain is someone like Theodore Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan and the actions they took upon the same issues that McCain would have to deal with as the president.

The whole quote really shows ethos too. By using the "I believe" and "I think" or "I feel" comments shows his character. It gives his stances on different environmental issues which can help the reader get an idea of what McCain is like so they can decide on if he would be the best president or not.

Commercial

2008-03-12T23:54:00.002-05:00

Two guys are sitting at a bar laughing. The bartender opens a Bud Light bottle with a bottle opener screwed to the bar and sets them down in front of the guys. As he does it you hear that refreshing sounds of something cold and delightful just being opened. In the background is a fast beat, fun, party-like sounding tune. They are the only two guys in the bar except the bartender who is male also. A delivery guy comes in the back door and says with a loud voice, "delivery". The bartender glances and says, "give me a shout if anybody comes in" in a trusting, easy-going, yet questioning tone like he could be expecting them to do something stupid. Almost instantly one of the guys leans back and says, "you got it!"

The bartender starts to walk to the back of the bar as one of the guys starts nodding his head up and down with a huge grin and the other has a look of worry and the look of when you don't want someone to do something and softly repeats "no, no, no" almost completely under his breath. The fun party music is still in the background keeping the attention because it's catchy. The one guy slides over the bar and stands in front of the case of refridgerated Bud Light that shines brighter than the rest of the bar. As he slides over he brings out his deep, lucious voice and states, "Bud Light...the mother load" as he barely touches his hands to the refridgerator.

The guy sitting in a quick and quiet voice goes "Hey! Here he comes! Hide!" The guy by the beer gets an extremely worried look on his face and turns around frantically and crawls under the bar. The bartender walks back in and grabs another Bud Light and goes to open it with the bottle opener bolted to the back of the bar but instead sticks it in the guys rear end. The guy lets a "ugh agh" out and the bartender says "did you hear something?" as he sets the bottle down. His friend says no and leans back as a group of people who have just won a trophe for something come in and say they want 20 Bud Lights. The narrator voice comes on telling about Bud Light and it's refreshing taste as the camera shows the eye of the guy who's under the bar getting larger. The commercial ends with Bud Light's slogan, "Make it a Bud Light".

Zaireeka Reflection

2008-03-10T01:09:00.002-05:00

The floor was not comfortable. The sounds that were played from the four different ghetto blasters were awkward sounds to be called music but music is a wide variety of sound. It reminded me of many different things. I wonder who the first person was to think of creating an album using 4 different CD's. I bet they were on drugs and wanted sounjd coming from every direction to create music in their head. That or they're just very creative and interesting people. I think there are only a few people who are in the same position as when they started. Everybody has a look of boredom and tiredness on their faces and how they are holding themselves.

Overall I thought this exercise was pretty cool. Very weird but cool. Just not for so long. When I heard the high pitch dog whistle sound I thought for a second my ears might just be going crazy but when someone else said something about it I knew everyone could hear it. The sound that reminded me of the massive flocks of locusts reminded me of the 7 plagues.

Zaireeka

2008-03-06T00:10:00.003-06:00

The Flaming Lips

Zaireeka

Everybody said “Whoa” when the CD players said, “Track 1, player 1, player 2, player 3, player 4.” A basic beat started from player 1. Player 4 played the background chorus and some weird coil noise. Player 2 had the singing. After the CD players went “track 1, 2, 3, 4” again some girl said, “That’s crazy” and chuckled. The beginning of the second track reminded me of a Pink Floyd song but I couldn’t remember it off the top of my head. This song had several people singing together instead of one person singing in a high pitch voice like the first song had. One of the players is releasing a yelling sound that reminds me of a dying sqwaking bird. Everybody’s focused on writing. Some people are laying on their stomachs. It sounds like a fairy is playing some magical flute as the music dies down for song number 3. As number 3 started it seemed as if a rocket had just launched. One player made some strange effect noises as player one gave a pounding piano beat. Player 2 sounds like the fire is still bursting out of the shuttle as they rise into the air. The ending of song 3 had suction sounds. For track 4 acoustic guitar started playing from player 1 with some singing. Number 3 once again had the crazy sound effects. Josh made a comment about how the farther along the songs get the more out of sync they get and he thinks it’s kind of cool. The next song is very instrumental and talks about going to India. The sounds make no sense, just a bunch of rucus and gets very loud. I could tell people were starting to get bored with it because their faces became dull and their eyes began drooping. They started to write less. At track 5 player 4 was way ahead of the others. Gary stated, “it was winning the race.” I thought Matt had fallen asleep because his head was down on his notebook. At the beginning of track 6 the music and singing was coming from player 1. One of the players was releasing a constant high pitch sound like a dog whistle. A girl in the class commented that, “it was annoying and going to give her a headache.” More and more people started falling to the floor. Josh was going around the room to different spots near each of the boomboxes. Track 7 had a drum solo from player 2 with a massive flock of locusts sounding from the others. Josh announced, “this is the last one.” Player 1 sounded like a bass drum from a marching band making the background beat. Number 2 had talking about their dogs chew toys and how they didn’t chew up a plastic insect one day so the people decided that the dogs were more sentimental as they grew up. Then they started singing all together to make a chorus sound. To end the album a bunch of rucus from all 4 players got really loud and sounded like the EVP’s from the movie White Noise.

Observations at Perkins

2008-03-02T23:32:00.007-06:00

Perkins is a casual sit-down restaurant with locations across the United States. They sell breakfast food 24 hours a day but also have a lunch and dinner menu with salads, sandwiches, soups, etc. A lot of times people will just go there for dessert because of their wide variety of pies, cookies and muffins. They have wireless internet for the customers so it can be a study area with a snack and free refills of water or a soda. They create an atmosphere that is very comforting.

I sat with Holly and Amy in a booth. Our booth was a red one that had a gold swirl design on the back with a pure red cushy seat. The other type of booth was a dark green seat and the same color green back except instead of a gold swirl it had vertical stripes in the middle of the back rest of golds and reds. It was not very busy at the time we were there which was about 10pm to 11pm. All the groups of customers were scattered throughout the dining area all in booths. Not a single table was being used. The tables were all made of wood, but the seats to all the separate tables were also either red or green. Almost everybody there was reading the screen of their laptop, reading a book or having some highly intelligent and opinionated conversation over religion, past events, or how the day went. It seemed that only one table of a male and female were actually there to just eat some dinner and leave. They happened to be the people that sat in the booth behind me. They sat down, ordered their food, discussed their days, ate, got up and left.

The booth in front of me had two guys most likely in their 20’s who had to have been done eating for a while because their plates were cleaned, but they were having some extremely interesting conversations about God and their opinions on the bible and how they interpret it or what they believe and don’t believe. Also on books they’ve read and their high school careers and what coaches thought or told them to do and what happened in college. It was pretty much only one of the guys talking about his life for the hour they were sitting next to us. There was a couple sitting across the room from us. It looked like they were attempting to do homework but only talking and laughing occasionally. Then closer to us was a middle aged, bald guy wearing earphones and working on his laptop. There was practically no discussion between Holly, Amy or I except for what we were going to order and when we ordered our waters. Holly was reading about Galileo, and Amy was reading “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit.” We only saw our waitress when she brought us our food and said, “Here you guys go.” We never saw her after that, not even to refill our drinks. After Holly started reading about Galileo, she stated that, “I just can’t read this anymore. I don’t understand any of it. It’s just all going over my head.” Amy and I chuckled and went back to doing our homework.

The room was filled with warming, contemporary golds and browns to create a cozy atmosphere. Some walls were one whole color of a gold or brown, and some walls were striped. There were several pictures on each wall of flowers in cups and vases or different kinds of foods such as fruit or cake. There were about six dark, forest green fans that were either coming very slowly to a complete stop or were already stopped. I did notice throughout the hour we were there that occasionally one that was already stopped would start slightly spinning a little. I just assumed a gust of wind had blown through it. With the fans halted the smell of the meals dispersed slowly and rose to the ceiling.

Since the guys in front of me had already eaten their food, the aroma of it did not drift over to us, and everybody else was far enough away that it didn’t matter if they had food, except for the table behind me. They ordered an omelet and a chocolate sundae. Since our food was gone already, I could smell the omelet slightly, and it smelled delicious but not appetizing because I was already full. Holly, Amy, and I just wanted a snack. We went there to do homework and had already eaten dinner. A little earlier we had ordered an appetizer platter with waters. The aromas from all the different appetizers we had mixed and smelled like hot, just cooked food and tasted really good. There were chicken tenders fried to perfection, mozzarella sticks with the cheese still soft but not dripping out after one bite, big onion rings, and mini chimi's, also known as chimichangas. There were honey mustard, ranch, and salsa in small cups on the side for dipping sauces. We mainly dipped the chicken in the honey mustard which made it taste like heaven; they were some of the best chicken tenders I’ve had in a long time with some exceptionally good honey mustard. The mozzarella sticks with ranch just melted in your mouth but at the same time were not too hot to eat. The onion rings were nothing special. We dipped them in ranch, and it gave your mouth that lightly fried food aftertaste with a hint of ranch, but they were still good. The mini chimi’s have an interesting taste but still pretty good. After eating one, my mouth tasted like black beans, spinach, cheese, and a fried flaky crust.

Along with the golds and browns on the wall, the far wall in front of me was unique. Instead it had red and green designed stripes. There were three different sections to the square dining area. In each section there was a different wallpaper border along the ceiling. Each row of windows along each side of the dining area had a different style curtain. Between the far two sections there were several windows for partitions. Between the middle section and the one we were in there was a black metal partition bent into curls and a wavy design. Across the room to my right the lights burst off some shiny red Valentines decorations that had still not been taken down from the register booth. Behind the register booth there was an interesting, long, bright, white hall that grabbed your eyes and made you want to stare down it and see what was at the other end. Right at the beginning of it though were two white reversible swinging doors that resembled older day saloon doors except these ones did not have the ridges in them.

I could feel a slightly gentle touch of cold air on my left side from the window. It wasn’t enough to be a breeze that was coming through the window but just a gentle touch of colder air floating around the sill. All the blinds in the dining area were part way up but had barely any light coming in from them because of how late it was, and the lighting in Perkins was somewhat dim. You would think it would have been brighter because that is the time people go in there to relax, eat a meal and study. There were also several different types of lights separated by the sections just like the walls, the wallpaper borders and the types of booths. There were common off-white fanned lamps hanging from chains over one area. Then there were white and black lamps hanging from chains also that resembled the Chinese hats. The top tip that was connected to the black chain was black, the middle was white, and the rim along the bottom was black. Awkward enough they had this same style lamp hanging in another section but upside down. Instead of the top tip being connected to the black chain the chain split in two and held a side of the circular bottom while the point hung down. I thought it strange that for variety they just flip the lights upside down.

What amazed me the most is how different the borders are, the walls are, the lights are, the tables and booths are and how reds, greens, golds, and browns all go together to form this comfortable and cozy little dining place. It almost seems as nothing in Perkins is coordinated other than by color scheme. All the variety of these things makes a nice arrangement for dining, studying, or just chatting with some friends.

Class Drawings

2008-02-24T14:11:00.003-06:00

This is a drawing of a human face. It's fairly normal not very abstract. It has all the main parts a face should have. I don't exactly know what all the spots are on the face but I assume it is acne. A bad case indeed. I'm going to assume it is a male face because of the trash stash and the length of the messy hair. I noticed he has some pretty sweet earrings and I thought, "hmmm....I wonder where he got those earrings?" So I found this cool place on the web that has some neat earrings. With all the piercings in his head I imagine he has some body piercings too and that cool place also has body jewelry.

This is a fairly simple drawing. If it didn't have all the excess dots on his face it could probably be used for young kids to practice their learning of facial features. And also without all the piercings and maybe just regular earrings in the lobe of the ear. It looks to me as if this face is trying to grow a mustache but it isn't working very well cause he only has a couple hairs. The labels are very distinct more than I would expect but intelligent none-the-less. Instead of just "eye" or a brief label the inside of the eye is labeled "white part around pupil". Also "trash stash" instead of "mustache". Even the nose label explains in further detail that the whole object is a nose but the line is on one nostrel. Which is actually spelled nostril but the label gets the point across.

I must admit the face has a very small neck for how big his head is. I wonder if the artist was showing his cartoonist side and did that purposely to get across that this person the face represents is big headed. He somewhat looks a little angry because of the way his eyebrows are slanted down.

Stranded on a Deserted Island...

2008-02-20T16:56:00.004-06:00

If I were stranded on a deserted island the 5 cassette tapes I would choose to have would be:
Pink Floyd-The Wall
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-Greatest Hits
Queen-Greatest Hits
Bob Marley and the Wailers-Exodus
Black Sabbath-Paranoid.

If I were stranded on an island and could only have 5 albums I would pick these five for various different reasons. One is they are all some of my favorite bands that I can listen to forever and never get sick of. Also they all having meaning and put me in a good mood. I would choose Pink Floyd-The Wall because the song “Comfortably Numb” is on this album. Pink Floyd is my number one favorite band of all time and I could easily have picked 5 different albums just from them but I chose The Wall because of this song. I think this song fits the event and situation fairly well. I would hope I was comfortable on this island being able to relax and look up at the sky and over the distant ocean and hear the water rustling while I stick my feet in. At the same time my body and mind would be becoming numb from being away from society and getting accustomed to the atmosphere.

I would pick Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-Greatest Hits because this album always makes me feel happy. Also because it has the song “Into the Great Wide Open” and I would always being looking into a great, wide, open space no matter which way I looked most likely. I would pick Queen-Greatest Hits because Freddie Mercury is someone to be remembered and had amazing talent. “It’s a Kind of Magic” is one of the only songs that in the morning instantly wakes me up in a pleasant mood and I just sit there and listen to it and wonder how such a musically simple song can be so amazing. It would wake me up in the morning on that island and make me forget I was stranded by myself.

I would pick Bob Marley and the Wailers-Exodus because this has the song “Three Little Birds” which would keep me sane. It really gives someone on a deserted island the right mindset to have in that “Every little thing is gonna be alright.” Plus it’s very relaxing music to listen to in case I ever got angry at a fish or something that I couldn’t catch or the fact I was alone in the world. Finally I picked Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath-Paranoid because I like the music mainly. But it also has Iron Man on it and it would help keep my self esteem up so that I wouldn’t let the world get me down. You die faster that way.

Linkin Park

2008-02-17T23:40:00.003-06:00

Linkin Park-Bleed It Out

On February 12 I attended the Linkin Park and Coheed and Cambria concert in Omaha, Nebraska at the Quest Center. I had been waiting for this concert for several months and finally it was here. It was one of the best concerts I have ever seen. The last time Linkin Park was here was several years ago for Projekt Revolution which I also went to. The concert made me realize that they are one of my favorite bands. They played about an even number of songs from their first album Hybrid Theory and their latest album Minutes to Midnight.

To start off the show the drummer started playing as he arose from the floor. They played a lot of their songs and there was no intercession. At the original ending of the show they left the stage but of course the crowd cheered long enough and they came back for an encore. It seems rare anymore to not have an encore. I think bands and singers just add it into their show nowadays. They played another 2 or 3 songs for their encore then left the stage again but this crowd was not ready for the show to be over. We cheered and yelled and chanted for a long time and finally they came out again and played their song “Bleed It Out” which is a very popular one off their new album. I don’t know why they didn’t have this song on their playlist to begin with but the crowd was not leaving until it was played.

After that was played the band did their bows and thank you’s and the fans started to file out. My mind didn’t leave the concert for about 3 days afterwards. All I listened to was Linkin Park all day long. I don’t want to ever forget the details of that night.

Response to Last Semester

2008-02-14T23:10:00.002-06:00

On Regina O’Donnell’s post “Soundtrack of My Life” she has the music video for Nelly-Number One. She relates the song to her winning the state championship for soccer. I can easily relate to this but in softball. I’ve played many games and traveled everywhere for tournaments. I’ve been to about 6 National Tournaments. One year my team made about 25th out of about 116 teams. The year after that there was only about 96 teams total and we managed to get one spot closer in the 24th position. We never did win nationals but it was all a lot of fun. The last year I went to nationals with a team that I subbed for. We made 8th in the nation in Class B. I had never been to a Class B nationals before but it still felt great knowing we got 8th.

As Nelly’s song reminds me of all these amazing times it directly relates to the time we won the Ralston tournament. After cramming 1-4 games in a single day, leaving the ballpark at 1 AM and having to be back there at 7 AM, playing until we could barely play anymore we beat the 2nd best team. First place was ours. “We Are the Champions” from Queen started playing over the speakers as they announced the accomplishment to the whole park and announced our names as we ran to Home plate to accept our medals. Along with medals for each of us we got t-shirts and pictures taken for their wall of fame. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.

Video Post: Thriller

2008-02-10T23:37:00.000-06:00

This was one of my favorite songs when I was younger. I originally saw the music video for it on MTV back in the 90’s when the station was good and played music most the day instead of reality TV drama shows about who ends up liking who. I mean, it is called MUSIC TV. The choreography was interesting and Michael Jackson’s got the moves. I also enjoyed the video and the zombies, they are neat. What zombie’s can dance? They can. I like the song a lot too it has a catchy beat. I’m disappointed that I could not put the actual music video in this post and that I had to put a live concert version from 1987. The original video is not allowed to be embedded unfortunately but it is much better than a concert version because it has the graphics and scenery the song needs to really portray it. My favorite part of this video though is when the five guys are dancing in the dark and their jackets have flashing glowing lights. I never got to see Michael Jackson in concert but I would have loved to see this song performed live. This album had over 104 million sales and is the best-selling album of all time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, NARM, in 2007 ranked Thriller as number 3 on their “Definitive 200” albums list. This song is a classic. Almost everybody knows of it or has heard it at least once in their lifetime. It is such a memorable song that it is hard to forget the beat even if you haven’t heard it for a long time.

Video Test Post

2008-02-07T14:22:00.000-06:00

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Quote from Katelyn Delaney

2008-02-07T13:17:00.000-06:00

"I had always associated memorable writing with creative ideas and sensory details that caused the reader’s imagination to come alive." -Katelyn Delaney

As I said in my previous post this is exactly how I have always thought and how I still think. Essays should be fun and exciting even if they contain facts. They should use imagination and thought. There’s a difference between an essay and a scientific paper. Kids now days are brought up learning how to write scientific papers most the time but are supposed to use the traits of an essay to write it. It is extremely difficult to mix the two. Scientific papers I will say are sometimes memorable if the reader is interested in the topic. You learn from them but are not able to use imagination. The papers contain straight forward facts. Essays should be memorable which means they have to stand out and make a scene in the reader’s mind. They have to be exotic enough to be at the top of other papers. People read many essay’s in their lives and only remember very few. One of an essay’s main goals is to be remembered and be one of those essays with meaning to be remembered. Also a main goal is to have meaning that can be passed along to others from the first readers instead of everybody having to read it themselves to understand it. Descriptive writing brings out creativeness sometimes because it makes you think. When an author is descriptive it paints pictures for readers which makes them remember it better because it’s like it is actually happening in the reader’s mind. I know a good book when I remember it years later after not thinking about it and remember pictures in my mind of what happened. That shows that the author did a good job at getting his story across.

Quote from Atwan 02

2008-01-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

"...Sometimes it seems that they have a sameness of manner, a kind of earnest, handwriting solemnity. Is this necessary? I don't think so. Many of the essays that intrigued me this year were funny, or unusually structured, or tonally adventurous--in other words, not typical in sound or shape. What mattered was that they conveyed the writer's journey, and did it intelligently, gracefully, honestly, and with whatever voice or shape fit best." --Susan Orlean

This quote interested me because she states that a good and intriguing essay is not anything specific like a five paragraph standard paper with quotes in each body paragraph. I think a paper should show voice and show the writer's personality. As Orlean states the intriguing ones she found were not typical in sound or shape and they showed the author's journey. That is what an interesting paper is and I believe that people will write their best being able to show themselves in their paper instead of making it standard so that it sounds like everyone else's. Professors always want the student to use voice when they're writing a standard pattern essay but the student can only use so much voice because it's standard. A standard pattern essay is more like a scientific paper where it's straight forward information or events. I believe Orlean's quote describes more of an essay to where the writer can be imaginative, creative, honest, and personalize the essay to themselves. I believe that voice is one of the most important parts of an essay just like voice has a lot to do in books. Certain author’s have certain voice which either the reader’s enjoy and will read more of their books or won’t understand or like it and will most likely not read that author anymore. Some people like very detailed pieces of literature and some like it simple and straight to the point. Essays should be varied between these two also. I believe essays are better when the author has experienced or created the scenario. A research essay is difficult for most people to write because they are most likely not interested in the topic and don’t know the topic well in depth enough to show voice because they learn it and stick it on paper without caring.

Test Post

2008-01-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

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