chapter 5 ex 1

There are three good examples of Julie Charlip distinguishing her views from others. After the quote in the first sentence she disagrees with the quote, saying the class system is a lot more complicated today. She then talks to a sociologist professor. Charlip lets the audience know when the sociologist professor is talking by either using “he said,” or “His…” in the sentence. The when she is talking about the average American, she uses, “the average American will tell you…” obviously referring to their option, not her point of view.

4.1 they say i say

What Jean Anyon does in this paragraph is she acknowledges other theories that experts in the field have said. They believe social class effects what a student learns. Jean uses the "okay, but" method and says no one has tried to investigate these ideas in schools. She follows this by her main argument that she will look at the "difference in work in classrooms in contrasting to social-class communities." She looks at both sides of the issues this way and basically says, "Ok, this is what the experts say which is fine, but they have not looked for actual proof." This method draws the audience to side with her point on the subject, and be more interested in the essay.

Exercise 7.j

This essay is a reflection on Generation X, and the culture they created. The layout of the pictures seem to be there to spark the readers interest while he or she is reading the essay. They also provide some examples to this counter culture. The author succeeds at using the layout and design to her advantage in her reflection. The images add a visual element to the paper that would be lost without the images. If they were to be taken out of the essay, the writer would have a very hard time explaining the look and feel of Generation X, because the same description does not apply to everyone. So by giving the audience a few examples from the culture, she lets us visualize the culture as we read along.

Persepolis review

Hope it is not too long...

Persepolis is a movie based on the life of an Iranian woman, tracing her life as a little girl to a woman. The story also includes some of the history of her country. Tracing regime changes, the suppression by religious extremist, and her shocking life on the streets, this movie gives the audience a perception of Iranians that often goes overlooked. This movie is based on a graphic novel with the same title. For the most part, the movie follows the story that is based off of, but still has some differences that are fairly obvious.
When we first start watching Persepolis, there is one thing I notice immediately. While the graphic novel seems like it flows together into one smooth story, the movie does the opposite. The movie feels like it starts and stop, over and over. For a minute we are seeing one event that happens to Marji, and then skip to another part of her life, though it was not as bad later in the movie. However, looking back at the graphic novel, I realized it does the same thing, talking about one event, then moving to the next. Looking at the McCloud reading, I see why this happens. Since McCloud is a graphic novel, it’s a little hard to quote, but to paraphrase little; a basic difference between comics and movies is time. Comics are a juxtaposed art form, meaning you have to look at the words, the picture and then move to the next section, and repeat. The reason this flows in the graphic novel and not in the movie is because reading takes longer than watching it. In a movie, you are told the scene, there is nothing to imagine or read, and the scenes of Persepolis seem to fly by. The pro of being true to the graphic novel is the story does not stray from the underlying purpose. The con is the movie feels choppy because the way the chapters are set up in Persepolis there is a lot of time that passes between chapters.
Even though the movie follows the graphic novel fairly closely, I was disappointed that they had to cut one scene that I feel was very important for the story. This is the scene where the Iranian police locked the doors of the burning movie theater. The pictures alone of the people dying, burning and running in the fire where enough to disturbed me how bad life was under the Shah. Besides for this small discrepancy, the movie definitely follows the source it was based off of better then a lot of other movies that are out.
I feel like the movie was portrayed in a fashion that is appropriate for the graphic novel. The drawings in the graphic novel are extremely simple. I f the movie had used real people; it would not be as good. Even if they used a more detailed cartoon, they still would not be able to pull it off. When you first think about this, it does not make any sense. Why can some graphic novels, like Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Spiderman and Batman use actors to play the roles of the characters, but Persepolis cannot? The reason comes from McCloud once again. To paraphrase, the more cartoony the picture, the more we picture ourselves in that role, which is what Majane wants us to do in the graphic novel and the movie. It is putting the audience in this situation that we can connect to Marjane and her story. Put it this way, if Angelina Jolie played Marjane, would you be able to relate to the story as well? She wants us to be there with her, feel what she feels, and get something out of the story.
I feel the comedic value of the graphic novel is not lost in the transfer to the big screen. As the story covers some dark parts of Majane’s life, a little comedy is needed to make sure the reader does not get totally depressed. In the graphic novel, the pictures are often funny depiction of what she is doing at the time. However, during a serious part, the drawings are just as serious. The same hold true in the movie. Funny scenes like Majane pretending to be a ninja are very funny, and actually embrace and use the animation as an advantage for the story. During serious parts it is all business, and again uses the animations to further illustrate a point. The story is using a different medium, so as a result, it must embrace the passage of time, which a comic lacks.
This movie is a great depiction of its source. Persepolis, the movie does not lose much, if any, value in the transfer between mediums, and as a result is a great movie. Sure there are some differences, but this is bound to happen, and most of the changes complement the story. Persepolis is a great movie and graphic novel that both a causal and passionate watcher/readers alike.

Spiderman movie review, review

These two reviews show a different picture of the same movie. I think the reason they are so different, is that they had different impressions going into the theater. The first review by Todd Gilchrist seemed like he liked Spiderman better then Spiderman 2. So, when the director made changes in the sequel, these were aspects Todd felt limited the movie, and didn’t compare to the original. Robert Ebert, on the other hand, felt that the first movie had not been what he had suspected. So when Spiderman 2 came out, it lived up to what he had suspected. Another difference is Todd Gilchrist seems to like to stay on the negative with his reviews. In the caption before his review it said, “Though the Rotten Tomatoes approval rating…is hovering around 95%, critic Todd Gilchrist feels compelled to take a slightly contrarian view.” He views the glass as half empty and therefore wrote a more critical view then Robert Ebert.

Persepolis!

So we’re watching the movie version of this grahic novel and there is one thing I noticed immediately. While the graphic novel seemed like it flowed together into one smooth story, the movie does the opposite. The movie seems more like it starts and stop, over and over. For a minute we are seeing one event that happens to Marji, and then skip to another part of her life. However, after looking back at the book, I realized it did the same thing, talking about one event, then moving to the next. The reason this flows in the graphic novel and not in the movie is because reading takes longer than watching it. What I mean is if you are reading a chapter, you have to read what the characters are saying, look at the illustration, picture the scene and figure out what is going out. In a movie, you are told the scene, there is nothing to imagine, and the scenes of Persepolis seem to fly by.

They say, I say!!!!!!! Chapter 1 ex 1

1.a Many people assume that the tap water is safe to drink, but our experiment suggest that there are dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio groundwater.

1.b It is often said that The Scarlet Letter is a good novel. My own view is that this novel has certain flaws.

1.c Americans today love football. However, I’ve always believed football is boring.

1.d Though gender would not seem like an issue, male students often dominate class discussions.

1.e We watched an action movie in class. In my view the film is really about the problems of romantic relationships.

1.f People like using templates as guidelines. I’m afraid that templates like the ones in this book will stifle my creativity.

COMICS COMICS COMICS!

I am probably one of the few people that has actually read comics in the last four years. This type of writing has always been associated with being something in the Sunday paper or for little kids. However, never thought I would be reading comics and graphic novels in a college English class. Comics don’t always have to be superheroes and punch lines. As McCloud had a hard time defining, comics are a juztaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence. This can mean a lot of things. For instance, I really love Marvel’s Civil War series. Ok, so though it does have every marvel superhero fighting against each other over a superhero registration act (which is completely amazing!), but is also a political allegory to 9/11 and the Patriot Act. Graphic novels and comics can go a lot deeper than just words and pictures. After reading this article and comic, I am excited to further dissect and learn what else this medium has to offer.

4.m Writing Process

There is nothing like writing an essay, a paper or even a blog for English class. They always follow the same basic writing process for me, a lot of procrastination, and a little writing. This probably has a lot to do with the environment that I am writing in. Right now, for instance, I am at the desk in my dorm, with the door open to hear everything that’s happening down the hall. In a minute, my roommate will probably turn on Sportscenter, adding to the numerous distractions. And then of course, I am writing on my computer, which connects me to the time drainer we know as Facebook. Sure, I could probably find a nice, quiet study lounge and write my various papers and essays with no distractions, but then all my paper would be is me droning on and on about who knows what.
One of my strategies for writing is by getting ideas from these distractions. I guess I just need constant breaks to think about what I am writing. The ideas that I do come up with I write down on a piece of paper. I would not consider this to be an outline though. An outline implies order, which is the opposite of this jumble of ideas. For my draft, I try and write down these ideas in an order that makes sense and fits the purpose of the paper. Then there is the sometimes lengthy process of revision. I revise differently for long and short papers. For something like this blog, I will just read it over two or three times. Usually all the points are in the right place and I am just looking for typos, grammar and spelling mistakes. I am horrible when it comes to making and correcting these mistakes, so this part of writing can get annoying. For long papers, I read them over a bunch of times, same thing as small papers, looking closer at the main points this time. I then try to make one or two of my friends read it over. All my friends actually know how to spell and use grammar well, so this is a big plus. I have no problems with my writing circumstances, so the way I write now is ideal. As for workshopping, usually the people that look over my draft are pretty good. People usually realize that the more critical they are of your paper, the more it is going to benefit me, just as my corrections will benefit them.

Workshopping and my feedback on "Essay R"

Workshopping allows you to correct a paper within a group. As a genre, workshopping lets multiple people give you varied feedback on your work, and will probably lead to a better paper. A workshop draft will often look and sound very different from the final paper. A workshop draft is what a paper looks like after writing it for the first time looking over it a few times. The draft is basically just all your thoughts on paper, and in a fairly organized fashion. Its purpose is for whomever is reading it to give feedback to make these thoughts not only become more organized, but also make sure that it is logical, and fits the purpose of the paper. This makes the audience not whoever the final paper is suppose to be for, but the people in your workshop that will read the draft.

If “Essay R” was a workshop draft, the grade I would have given it in my last post would not be so harsh. However, I do have a lot of problems with the paper. As I said before, there were many grammatical and punctuation problems. The style needed to be more formal, and another source is needed to at least have sources to compare to each other. Another thing I would add is to make sure that the paper stays on topic. The writer didn’t really compare the 80s wrestling to present day. With these changes and a few more revisions, I feel this essay would improve greatly.

Grading of "Essay R"

“Essay R” is about how professional wrestling has changed over the years. However, this essay is also full of grammatical and punctuation errors. Usually I am pretty bad when it comes to these types of errors, but “Essay R” was unacceptable. I give it a C-. The punctuation errors start in the first two sentences, where the sentences should have question marks. Then in various parts of the paper there are grammatical errors, such as using “had,” instead of “has.” Some parts of the paper seem a little to informal, and conversational then actual essay writing. The content seemed alright, it would have been better to use two sources to compare with each other, but one source was good for such a short paper. All in all, this paper could have greatly improved if the writer had spent more time proofreading his or her work.

C@VT exercise 2.h

I hope I'm putting this in the right spot...

1. The analysis written by Bryan West is in response to a political article written it the Collegiate Times. This article concerned the 2008 election, and how Hilary Clinton would not be a good choice for president. The analysis served to give a commentary about the contents of this news article as well as examine the author's use of different writing devices. The audience of this article is the undecided voters of the upcoming election, most likely college students. I know this because this essay is in a college textbook. On a more serious note, in West's introduction he mentions that in the upcoming election, many undecided voters will be swayed by articles, debates and many other factors. This essay is one of those devices.

2. The genre of this analysis is a commentary of the news article. I cannot say if i have ever written a commentary on something, but I would use it to talk about an event, or specific subject. I have read commentaries of books and events that happened in the news.

3. The author could have used a persuasive essay to get his point across that the news article is ineffective at persuading Clinton supporters. The advantage of this genre is he can build a better argument against the article. The disadvantage is that West cannot explain the writing devices the article uses as well in a persuasive essay as he can in an analysis.

4. Another genre he could have used is an editorial. This would make his analysis a response to the article instead of an commentary of the article. This would then make his audience be a larger audience of everyone that reads the newspaper. The persuasive appeals of the analysis would be altered. The analysis would no longer be its own essay, but be seen as a counterpoint, or in addition to the news article. He would need to shorten the article and stick to a few main points.

5. In the teaching profession, this style would be used to comment on a student's essay or project. A social worker uses this to argue about a person's ability to take care of his or her child. A scientist would use it to argue against a particular solution to a problem because it would fail.