Assignment #8

This video displayed many qualities that people look for in literature. The setting seems to be in a city somewhere in Asia. Possibly Tokyo or something. It ranges from the city streets to a school to a concert hall.

The main girl is young with long dark hair and she is deaf. She grows in the course of the video from giving up on music to becoming a great violinist. External conflict occurs between the girl(protaganist) and another girl at her school(antagonist). I believe that the girl who makes fun of the main character represents society’s attitude toward people different than they are. Internal conflict occurs within the main character. She wants to give up on music but eventually decides to pursue her dreams and compete in the classical music competition.

The video is ironic in that a deaf girl can play the violin so well and most likely win the competition. The climax occurs when a group of mean people hit the deaf girl and her older friend and break her violin.

The theme of the video is that you can overcome anything no matter what obstacles you may have.

Assignment 7

I think this bird is the probably the coolest animal ever. It can imitate practically anything! It would be neat to teach it a whole song. And after reading that it can hold two tunes at once, it could do vocals and guitar or something like that.

However, the video and the passage on the bird has made me aware that we are having an affect on these animals. They are very rare and the ones we do find in the wild make chainsaw noices and man-made sounds similar to it. Humans are slowly taking over the remaining natural habitats of this world and it wont be long until there arent any lyre birds left in the wild.

Word Part Project: Assignment 6

Media and Self-Image

     The media portrays ideal women as slender and healthy. They portray ideal men as muscular and fit. The public is shown numerous times throughout their day that these are the ideal humans. Using celebrities who fit these ideals in movies, television, and related media, the general public has slowly begun to believe that these ideals are true. These ideals apply to all aspects of life. According to the media, spouses should fit into this stereotype. Also, jobs should be glamorous and well liked. Homes large and extravagent. Our entire lives are modeled around the media’s portrayal of self-image.

     There are not many good aspects of the media’s portrayal of self-image. It causes much higher rates of anorexia and bulimia and very low self-esteem. I suppose it could lead people to lead healthier lives in an attempt to become like the stereotype but at the cost of stress and worry over self-image, which is not what people should be focusing on. Everyone is made the way they are supposed to be.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m6836/is_2_48/ai_n25092549/

Pencil Face

The mood of this video is set by many things. The fact that there is no dialogue adds a creepier air to the events in the video. The pencil’s creepy, smiling face makes every shot of him that much weirder. The music was the most important thing the maker’s used to create the mood they wanted. Without that music the video could have been taken any number of ways, but with the music the correct mood was set.

I suppose a theme could be taken from this video. Maybe along the lines of not messing with things you know nothing about(The girl using the strange pencil). Or not being greedy(The girl kept using the pencil even after she got a few things, she kept it to herself). Any number of interpretations could  be acceptable. The moral and lesson of the story goes right along with the theme. Dont fiddle with things you dont know anything about, dont be greedy, etc.

If I had a pencil like that and I knew it wouldnt try to kill me, there are of course endless possibilities. The pencil can’t draw everything though. It can only draw material things. So knowledge or immortality or something awesome like that I still couldnt obtain. I would probably just draw money and any material possessions that I wanted. Maybe a mansion, if I was talented enough to draw it.

Assignment #3:

I got nine answers correct. I thought that I would get more correct answers than I did because it seemed so simple on the surface. In reality, however, I judged every one of those people based on outside appearances. The assignment felt very easy but once I got my results I realized it was harder and deeper than I thought. For the most part, I used skin color and facial features to determine what category I placed these people in. It shows me that even though I am not racist, I resorted to using stereotypes to complete the assignment. This shows me that judging people based on skin and race is still a part of everyone’s thinking, even if we don’t consciously realize it.

A Farewell To Arms

I finished A Farewell To Arms on Friday. It was pretty good compared to some summer reading books. I got seriously tired of the “your so sweet”, “your a darling”, and “arent I a great wife”. Those three phrases and ones similar to it were so common in the book and reused very often on the same page or two. It was infuriatingly 4th grade style writing. Anyway though, it was a good book. The ending was especially shocking. I liked it as a whole, the ending made it really good and thoughtprovoking.

Assignment #2

I think I will start with A Farewell To Arms. I have no real reason for picking this particular book. My grandma happens to be reading it now so maybe that put it foremost in my mind and I just happened to think of that one first a few seconds ago, so I’ll go with it. I have absolutly no schedule for getting the work done and I do it whenever I feel that I may be getting close to not finishing in time. Me and schedules have never worked well together. However, to those people that can make good schedules, they can be useful….I guess. The only place I really like to read in is my room. There is no other place in the house I can read in. When I’m not home I can read anywhere, anytime, but at home just my room is comfortable enough to read in. I don’t read at any particular time, just when I want to.

Using a blog

I think this is an interesting and new way to do school stuff. I’ve never done this sort of thing in any sort of school involved work. I think we will be given boring questions to answer with such topics as how we feel about a book or something. Still, I look forward to it a little just because its new to me and could offer a change of pace. I’ll try to remain optimistic about it.