HMMMMMM?

        Video game violence, it’s hard sometimes to pick a side and to stick with it. If someone would ask me if video games with violence should be banned, I would ask them what age group they would like to look at.  To me, the age of the player matters the most because if it was a grown men or women then no it should not be banned. If it was a young child playing, then we should look at the parents, why would this be any different than allow your child to watch a dirty adult show. It’s the parent’s job to censor the things their child’s play or watch. And let’s think about it, “People kill People,” don’t blame it on the games.

Blogging?

                     Blogging was not something I would say was fun, or something I would like to do after this class.  At first I thought it would be something fun and a way to put my opinion out in the world.  When others talked about their blogs, they explained the feelings has being free. While I was doing the blog post for this class, the feeling of being free never popped up. With the due dates and repeated conversations in class and blog, it just felt useless. The two assignments that I could say I enjoyed doing, were the movie review and the multimedia post. They were enjoyable because I could pick anything and write about it. Maybe later in the future I’ll try to pick up this blogging thing again.  When I’m not so busy with all the homework I have in my other classes, and worrying if I forgot about a blogging post.  As of now I’ll just stick with Facebook, small and simple.

Multimedia : I Can Live Without. Maybe.

                  It’s not a surprise to all how involve technology is in our lives.  In a normal day I could be looking at a bright screen of a cell phone, iPod, laptop or even a TV for a total of six hours. All these devises could be the cause of my poor eyesight, facing all the bright lights for too long could really damage my eyes.  With the help from this class, I have seen how much technology over runs my life. It wasn’t until this class, when I really stepped back and looked at my life. In the past few weeks, I have found myself studying nonstop for the four classes I’m taking this semester. While I’m studying for these tests, I find myself in front of my TV, watching more then look through my notes.  I find myself watching the channel E, which has all the new gossip about the celebrities.  Then I was finding I was not studying enough, and I was distracted by the news.  To find a way to better my study skills, I turned off my TV and walked around my house. That’s when I came up with the idea to bring my books outside and study in the fresh air without all the distractions.  So far it seems to work, scored a ninety-eight on my American Sign Language test.  The next five photos are the environments I chose to study in.

This is the view I have outside my front window next to the front door, something that should be enjoyed.

This is the view of my backyard, again why should I stay inside?  TV is not beautiful like this.

This is father down the yard, a perfect place to sit and study. Where I find myself when the weather permits it.

This is the drive way leading up to my house. It's shocking how beautiful

it is, because i don't think I've ever really stopped and just looked. I feel very privileged that I am able to say this is my house, knowing others might not even have a yard. Times like this shows, how technology took control of my life and blinded me of the things around me.

This is the park down the street from my Aunt's house called Place to Play. When we have to study for an ASL 2 test, my classmates and I come here.

Movie Review

         

                                                            Lion King 2: Simba's Pride

              A couple of days ago, I had to watch my nephews for my stepsister, and while I was there the movie “Lion King 2: Simba's Pride,” was on.  After watching one of my favorite childhood movies again, I decided to do my blog on the Lion King 2.  The directors of this wonderful movie are Darrell Rooney and Rob LaDuca and the two top writers out of the thirteen were Flip Kobler and Cindy Marcus.  The stars of this movie were Matthew Broderick that played Simba, Neve Campbell who played Kiara and Jason Marsden who played Kovu.  For the people that might not know the last two characters, Kiara is Simba’s daughter that wants to be independent and Kovu is Scars younger son who is brainwashed to take down Simba. The genre of this movie would obviously be fiction and I would also like to list it under romance and comedy.  Romance is the big point of this movie, the love of two that brings two tribes back together, and the comedy is used to keep the young children entertained. The message that I learned from this movie, was to not judge a book by its cover, or the author that wrote it. Kovu (Scars son) grow up in a world of hate, and no matter how hard he fought, he could not prove to others that he was not mad of evil like his father was. The other tribal members looked down at him because of who his father was, and this almost caused the demises of Simba’s pack. This message is important, because we all need to understand that everyone deserves a second chance and the type of environment they grow up in does not shape who they are, it’s the treatment they receive after.

             The only part that I disliked in the movie was how much love ones have to suffer to be together.   One quote that stands out to mean and follow along with my review was “I have left the outsiders. I'm a rogue; judge me now, for who I am. Or am I to be blamed for a crime I didn't commit (Kovu). “I would recommend others to watch this movie and the other Lion King Videos. They are one of the top movies Disney has made, and if you have kids they would love it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120131

cartoon

         I picked this picture beacuse this is what I am going through now. Its not only me, but others are having a hard time finding the point to life. The first time i saw this picture, was on a friends Facebook page, and it pooped ouy at me. As of right now, the only thong i know to life is working, its a twenty-four seven job. After thinking about it, im looking towards findinga hobby that makes me happy.

book Review

                                            The book that I picked for my independent reading was “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” by Carrie Ryan, which was published in 2009 by Delacorte Press.  In her novel “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” Carrie Ryan paints a picture of where young adults have to make important decisions to survive world full of evil. From the time the child reaches the age to understand, they have to be ready to run from the “Return” that wonder around outside their safety fence and the rules that the Sisterhood made.  The “Return” is the dead, which for some unknown reason have come back craving the bloody flesh of the living and will not stop until they get it.  They throw themselves against the safety fences, clawing and breaking their body parts without feeling the pain.  The “Sisterhood” is a group of women that live for God and protecting the village from the undead that walk bound the fence in the forest.  The Sisterhood looks for order, questions and fighting their rules could cause the distraction of the village, which means the children are raised to never question their life or the Sisterhood.  But one girl named Mary, sees passed the fence and know there’s something else out there and the Sisterhood had lied to the villagers.  With these thoughts it leads her to sneak around looking for answers and hidden clues that would prove her theory that life does exist outside the Village.  This causes the Sisterhood to watch over and make sure Mary understands that the loss of one life could save many more.  Soon the Village was destroyed by the entry of the “Return” which was caused by the Sisterhoods disposal of the people that could destroy their way of life. Now Mary and her friends have to look for any sign of life to survive, into a forest full of the dead unaware if there are other breathing humans in the world.  Through their journey to find life, she finds love but the Return takes away her family and friends. Finally she finds another living being but at the cost of her love ones.

                                            This novel showed how people with fear could easily allow themselves to give up their meaning of life and loss their dreams.  After looking through the book, I read examples of people living a one track mind, live, marry and have children to better their village.  If they to rebel or ask too many questions the Sisterhood is quick to remind them of the monsters outside of the fence.  When Mary decided that this life was not enough for her she stared asking question, wanting to find the ocean that her mother showed her pictures of many time.  But the head of the Sisterhood, Tabitha saw how lost Mary was “You must find your place here... Give yourself to God and stop looking for something else….. You think you want answers for your questions but you do not (65),” This shows how manipulation is used to keep people’s dreams down, but fear is also included, showed in this quote, “We have to continue to survive. And I will allow nothing jeopardize this (64).” I feel that Ryan was trying to show a world different from all the other zombie movies that are centered on the dead. In “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” image of children becoming adults in a matter of minutes and finding the truth in the cloud of lies becomes important. Unlike other novels, there is not a happy ending just a knowledge that the main character Mary was able to live for another day.

                                         The book “The Forest of Hands and Teeth,” was a wonderful read and would recommend others to read. It’s a horror book, but with the dramas of a young teens life.

Cute and Fluffy

                                    My dream job has always been anything that works with animals, exotic is my type.  It’s impossible to remember a time where I wanted to do something different, something had nothing to do with cute furry animals. The two things I would like to do in the animal category is either a zoo vet or zoologist. Those areas in the animal, allows me to work with exotic animals that people don’t see every day, special. And if I can make some big bucks, that’s just bonus. My fall back dream job, just in case, is to become a marine biologist and travel the world.

PBS Culture Shock

                             When I look at a video game and see the many demission and technique they use, obviously I’ll look at it like art.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I took an art class that taught me that my pieces should reflect me and who I was. The ambition that I had for a certain piece, lead that art to come out on top. When a video programmer is making a game, they are putting their all into it. To me when they put their all in and the game represents who they are, then yes it is art.  One question that we had to answer, was if we felt the image was offensive and the answer is no. It’s hard to find a game offensive unless they have some racial meaning. If there’s a lot of violence an amount that I cannot handle, I turn it off. Easy and simple.  It wasn’t so hard to just say no, because I truly believe that the image has no place on a PBS homepage.  I’m not one to watch PBS a lot, but I do believe it’s a channel you turn to when you want your kids to watch an educational program. That means violence showed not be the first thing they see.   

Answer to section 1, part of Alexie Presentation

4. At his new school, Reardan, Arnold gets to know a book-lover named Gordy, who says that “life is a constant struggle between being an individual and being a member of the community.” How does this idea relate to Arnold’s life? (132)

                   The quote that comes from Gordy, explains what is happening to Arnold through the end of the book. When Arnold talks to his old teacher Mr. P, he learns that there is hope, you just have to make it yourself. With the knowledge that staying at the school in Wellpinit will lead to an alcoholism life, he decides that leaving and interring a new school would be better for him.  The decision was not meant to insult the people leaving on the reservation with him, but it did anyways because he was leaving his “family” behind. Even though the people bullied him, and made him feel unwelcomed, Arnold was in the wrong for leaving.  Quite crazy that Arnold trying to better himself, is in turn insulting them for even thinking about having a better life than what they had to give. That’s what Arnold had to deal with, the anger of his fellow tribal members for trying to find himself. To live in his community, he had to be like them, alcoholic, depresses and hopeless.

Cartoon Analysis. Pg 36

                          The carton that I picked from Sherman Alexie’s novel “The Absolutely Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” is on page thirty-six. The cartoon is located in the part of the story where Junior is talking to Mr. P about throwing the text book at his face.  Mr. P is explaining how he felt guilty about how he treated the Native Americans and how he was taught “to kill the Indian to save the child,” (35) making Junior feel like a Priest.  The cartoon caught my attention, because it touches on racism, and how young children were taught at a young age, proved by the quote “It all started when I learned to walk.”  Guess the purpose of the cartoon, is to explain the racism of that time. Shows that at a young age the children were to look down at minorities and think changing them was for the better, without explaining it in depth.  (page 36)

My six word Memoir

                                       “If I can show my Feelings "

 

                 It’s hard for me to show others how I feel, and the person on the top of that list is my crush.  It’s never a between, its either I’m happy to see you or I’m not in the mood to care. Deep inside, I’m glowing from talking to you, just wish I could show it.

Analysis of two Ads

                     

                I picked the Dolce & Gabbana ad, because its selling clothes and I love clothes. In this add, I believe the target audience are middle age women, who have a family that they need to take care off, but would like to look good doing it. Also, I picked the Visa ad, because the other three need to interest me or caught my attention.  In this Visa ad, they try to pull in young adults with an image of a girl’s stomach with a tattoo.

http://twenty2.onsugar.com/ad

onna-Dolce-Gabbana-SpringSummer-2010-Ad-Campaign-6924052

                            In the ad, Madonna Is a designer name dress while washing the dishes, which is showing people that Dolce & Gabbana, can be an everyday wear.  If the companies name was not included in the ad, it would be hard to pick out what they are trying to sell, because the clothing does not seem to be the center of attention, like Madonna. .  The product does not seem to fit in with the background, a little too fancy for washing dishes. If I say this ad, I’ll probably skip past; it seems to bland, nothing that pulls me in. I guess this ad could promote “Woman as Second Class” with the fact that a dressed up women stuck in the kitchen cleaning.

                     http://www.advertolog.com/visa/print-outdoor/go-13011055/

                       Without the name and product I guess I would know what was being sold, I could be promoting the life a young teen could have if they were feeling a little down.  With the image they are using, I feel they are targeting a younger audience, to show young adults its okay to have a credit card. The Visa ad would be featured in People, which is read by the younger or more social in touch people. If the tattoo was located on a different body part, I believe the ad would still be effective; we don’t need to show private parts to sell things.

Dunbar's number (150)

                               In Robin Dunbar’s essay “You Gotta Have (150) Friends,” he explains how the number 105 is the perfect amount of friends that you can have and can keep up with.  Also how social networking sites like Facebook, keeps you in touch with friends and others that you might of not met with out.  Dunbar also wrote in his essay that in the real world we spend the majority of our time with five close friends. That’s one of the many things I agree with, because I have five friends that I spend the majority of my week with; my very close friends Megan, Stephanie, Dennis and my Aunty Dette.  To me, it doesn’t really matter how many friends I have, a hundred and seventy-one or fifty, as long as I have friends that I can call “Friends”.  Robin Dunbar’s essay has some truth to it, but I hope he’s not promoting the need for popularity.

Will not flip a switch

My name is Melissa, and this is my first blog ever.  To make this blog, I had a will hard time, or I could be over dramatic. But i was real close to sending the blogging company a mean letter, but i'm ok now




        ~The ad that I brought to class today, was selling a beauty product that removes our from our legs. The product is called Nair. This advertisement is also selling a image of a free pretty girl, that their product could help you to stay pretty.  A phrase that was used take capture the girls attention was
                            " I am
                               I Am Pretty
                               I am a citizen of the world
                               I am a dreamer
                               I am Fresh
                               I am not going to have stubs sticking out of my legs
                               I am who i am
                               I am Happy, I am Pretty. "
         Gives the young girl a powerful image to buy.