Blog Assignment

Over Thanksgiving break, my family watched several movies, one of which was The Godfather. I'm not a huge fan of watching movies because my family always seems to be able to ruin it for me. For instance, while watching Seven Pounds, my mom was talking all the way through one of the last most emotional scenes by asking random questions like how that could work and stuff like that (if you've seen Seven Pounds you know which scene I'm talking about). Well during my sister asked if the character on screen was about to die and my dad, who had seen the movie before, said "ya, he dies here." I was pretty ticked. I stopped the movie and explained how they had been ruining movies for me for a while now and I wish they would stop. My mom responded that she just wanted to know what was going on sometimes. I told her that if she payed attention to the movie she would know and wouldn't have to ask. I guess I was trying to approach the situation logically and hope that they would understand that all I want to do is enjoy a movie without spoilers being shouted out in the middle of them.

A Clockwork Orange

I just watched A Clockwork Orange the other day and man... I'm not sure what to say. I felt pretty desensitized to the violence as we all see so much every day in this modern era, but all the nudity still struck me. And that's what I hear most of the complaints about, the violence and the nudity. I think that people who watch this film and can only complain about those things are looking into the film with a rather shallow approach. If you focus more on the idea this film is getting across, it becomes a brilliant film. So what do we do with hardened criminals? Do we punish them, try to cure them, or just kill them off to get rid of them? Can a sociopath ever be cured or is he bound to be that way forever? Overall, I really enjoyed this film. Well, maybe enjoyed isn't the right term, but it got me thinking. I've already seen 2001: A Space Odyssey, and I think I'll watch many more of Stanley Kubrick's films.

Fruesday

So, I don't have a problem with the entire concept of Fruesday, but it seems that one of my professors does. I'm taking Astro 121 which is a night class that usually occurs on Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:20. According to my professor, Fruesday doesn't apply to that class, which means I'm stuck here until then. This will definitely be the last time I take a night class.

Changing Opinions

After going over the subject matter of my public writing essay again, I decided that my opinion had changed from what I originally wrote. This would be about the third time I've changed my viewpoint. I don't know if its me or the whole messed up topic I chose, but I can't seem to think of any good way to solve the problem. Yucca Mountain is a pretty controversial subject and I can't seem to decide on which side to agree with. I don't know. Its all just a big mess.
If you want to know what I'm talking about, just take a quick glance at the wikipedia page. It sums it up pretty well.

Counter-argument

The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository is an essential part of our nation's nuclear energy system. This storage facility is currently the best option for nuclear waste storage and must remain open. The Obama administration has declared that the project is to be shut down. This leaves Nuclear energy plants all around the nation with more waste to store in their already limited storage facilities.
With no other alternative, closing Yucca Mountain is the worst decision to make at this moment. If there were another alternative currently available, then this would be a great idea. However, until a new site is found, this is not what we should be doing to our nuclear energy system. Besides, energy companies have already paid billions of dollars to build Yucca mountain. With all this money already invested into the project, shutting it down will result in a major loss.

Goals

English 103 Course Goals:
English 103 introduces students to the fundamentals of rhetoric; to the elements, strategies, and conventions common to persuasion; to the use of those elements, strategies, and conventions in the construction of their own persuasive visual and verbal texts. Upon completion of English 103 students will:

1. Persuasion has been implemented into both the multimodal and public writing assignments in
that we try to convince others of the correctness of our ideas. In the case of the multimodal
assignment we did that using visuals and audio as well as text.
2. Various discussions in class have covered that we are writing for an audience we select.
3. Peer reviews and intensive reviews have opened us up to new writing styles and methods.
4. An idea must be backed up with evidence, like in our public writing assignment.
5. Research is an essential part of forming an argument, especially in the public writing assignment.
6. Once again, peer reviewing has taught us how to give constructive criticism to others' works.
7. We have written for different implied audiences on all of our assignments. Looking closely, one
can notice a slight change in style from assignment to assignment.
8. Reviewing one's own paper and making corrections is essential in this class. We haven't
always relied on our peers to make fixes for us.
9. Peer reviews help us work together to create a better essay.

Course Content & Format
The content and format of English 103 are designed to enable students to achieve the course goals; specifically, students in English 103 will:
1. We have seen several different examples that hold rhetorical elements such as the video of sand painting and the Orbitz commercial.
2. The video of a previous student's multimodal assignment showed us how to achieve a good
use of persuasive logic.
3. Peer reviews once again has honed this skill.
4. Multiple drafts are required for each assignment which are all reviewed.
5. Various instances of this objective have come up during intensive reviews where we look at
how certain things in an essay may affect an audience.
6. The rhetorical analysis assignment did a good job of making us figure out what the author was
trying to say and exactly how they achieved it.
7. There has been quite a variety in the subjects we have been assigned and well as a variety in
the intended audiences.

University Core Curriculum Goals
The central purpose of University Core Curriculum is to enable men and women to live rich and satisfying lives and to undertake the broad responsibilities of citizenship in a free society. Although the University Core Curriculum seeks to discover and nurture individual talents, its primary emphasis is preparation for roles people share as human beings and as members of family and community groups. Thus, students will be able to:
1. Skills of rhetorical analysis that we learn in this class will stay with us for the rest of our lives
and are applicable in almost every occupation.
2. Well, being college students, I would hope we would all be able to communicate intelligently,
but this class will help those realize the implications of their own words and how they affect
others.
3. The public writing assignment forced us to look at both sides of an issue and understand their
stances.
4. This isn't a cultural history class. This class is made for us to learn to communicate effectively.
This goal really shouldn't apply to an English class.
5. This class helps teach us constructive criticism and effectively getting our ideas across, but not
much else concerning "life's common problems."
6. The freedom to choose our subjects for assignments makes the class feel less restrained and
focus on our own interests.

A Long Day

So I'm trying to fix my roommate's old Xbox 360 which has gotten the much dreaded "red ring of death." After looking up various ways of fixing the Xbox, I decided to go get the tools I need to make the repair. Unfortunately, I don't own a car, so I walked to the Radio Shack on Tillotson, only to find they didn't have all the parts I needed. They were missing rubber washers. After that I caught a bus to Wal-Mart to get to Lowe's only to find they had the right rubber washers but not enough of them in stock. I picked up some of the most similar sized washers hoping that they'll work. I get back to my dorm around 5 o'clock and start taking apart the Xbox only to find I don't have the right sized screw driver. I give up (at least for today).