Creative Blog #5

As of 2011, my favorite rapper is without a doubt Mac Miller. This guy murders every beat he raps over and he sounds like he has been doing it for years, yet he is only 18… A couple days ago DJ premier tweeted about hanging out with Mac Miller and said that he liked him so much that he is going to work with him. Now for those of you who don't know, Dj Premier is one of the most influential hip-hop producers to ever live. Without him, hip-hop would not be what it is today and some of the greatest hip-hop albums ever made would not have existed. 

Creative Blog #4

Need Music?

Having trouble finding good music? Ever wonder where everyone downloads their music from? Most people i know, including myself, uses music blogs. There are hundreds of music blogs of all types.. But which one to choose? Im here to help.. 

There are many other blogs that are very popular and have a wide variety of music waiting to be discovered. But here are a few that not many know about.. 

http://www.vacayvitamins.com/

http://earmilk.com/

http://www.themusicninja.com/

http://thissongissick.com/

Another great blog to know: http://hypem.com/

This blog is slightly different than most.. so if you're in the mood to spend a lot of time finding great music, this is the blog to go to. Hypem will list songs/artists that are popular on multiple blogs (music of all types). If you click on the song, you will be directed to the blog it was posted on. This way you can find all kinds of music and discover new blogs at the same time. Usually when i use hypem, im directed to a blog to download a specific song and end up finding tons of other music posted as well. So with patience and perseverance you WILL find some great new music.. 

Have Fun (:

Creative blog #3

Awesome Milk Trick 

Bored? Cause i am… 

Go do something.

Cant think of anything? Im here to help…  Experiment with this:

Click Here

Your Welcome

Creative Blog #2

Fast5 Movie Review

*****

THE best Fast and Furious movie by far...
Going into the movie, all fans of the fast and furious movies already know that the acting will be shitty and the script will most likely suck. So what drives everyone to see it? The ACTION… you can always count on fast and furious to have some of the most explosive and wild action scenes. And surprisingly the storyline was 

Personally, the car racing scenes are epic and are 100% my favorite scenes in the movie. They never fail to deliver unbelievable racing scenes by making them more wild than you could have imagined...

If you love cars, racing, and/or action i highly recommend going to see this movie

Heres the trailer if you're interested: 

Click Here

Enjoy!

Creative Blog #1

White Girl Rapping "Look At Me Now" - Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes

i found this video on youtube and thought it necessary to blog about it. She may be white, but she definitely is no joke. She perfectly and clearly raps each verse (lil wayne and busta rhymes). She even has great flow. Her voice is different, but in my opinion she sounds great. And if anyone wants to hate on her, lets see you do any better… 

Check it out: 

Click Here

Creative Blog #1

Sh*t, its raining.... Need an umbrella??
Since we are currently experiencing a rain storm, I figured this blog to be appropriate..

Modern Day Umbrellas:
Top 20 Coolest Umbrellas


Some people like walking in the rain, but most people conform to using umbrellas so that their hair, clothing, and/or makeup stays intact. Walking on Ventura in pouring rain with no coat or umbrella appears to be strange to majority. But you can conform in style with the umbrellas featured in the link above. Enjoy! (:

In Class Discussion

In our class discussion everyone brought up many interesting topics within Metamorphosis. One that still puzzles me is the question of whether or not we, as humans, are naturally and morally good. or if we are taught to be this way. In my opinion we are naturally not good, as our natural instinct is to be selfish. What causes us not to put ourselves first is when its for a person you have grown to know and possibly love such as family or friends. But then i begin to even wonder what 'good' really is.

Another interesting topic is Gregor's mental habits. The fact that he continues with his habitual habits and thinking process even after realizing he's now a giant insect is strange to me. If that were me, i definitely would not be that calm or worried about how much i hate my job. Then again there is no way of knowing how one would react to a situation unless they experience it themselves. Gregor just seems to be in denial of his predicament

INTRO (1st draft)

In the heart of darkness, by Joseph Conrad, Marlow goes on a journey to Africa with the hopes of taming the wild society and their ways of life. However as he goes deeper and deeper into the jungle of Africa, his reality and his dreams become harder to differentiate. Marlow's mental state is shown through his choppy and scattered speech patterns which signify his confusion and nervousness. He has no idea what lies ahead in the "heart of darkness" and this uncertainty leads his mind to wonder into a dreamlike state. Though the jungle is effecting Marlow's subconscious negatively, he never lets this fearfulness stop him from surviving the journey.

Psychological Significance of Journey

As marrow continues on his his journey, his speech patterns become vital to understanding his unconscious. On the surface of the text, his physical journey is obvious but his psychological journey is what lies beneath. Marlow's choppy and elongated sentences reveal his uncertainty and fear of what he will encounter throughout his travels. He is in the middle of an unknown barbaric jungle and naturally it is effecting his emotions negatively. But despite Marlow's fear he continues his journey and has yet let his unconscious overcome his determination.

Page 430 #6

Marlow uses the painting of "a woman draped and blindfolded, carrying a lighted torch" to represent the journey that lies ahead. Ironically, the woman is holding a torch to guide her through the darkness while at the same time she is blindfolded. Thus representing mallows journey and how he is entering Darkness himself and heat lies ahead is unknown. The blindfold can also puritan to unknown effects that the europeans will have on Africa. Their intentions are obviously positive, however, they might be unaware of other possibilities such as harming the society. In addition, the flame could represent the injustice of what the Europeans are doing to the Africans. But the painting as a whole, most importantly in my opinion, reveals the darkness that lies ahead. They are entering a strange land with no idea of what the future holds for them.

Heart of Darkness (pg.429 #2)

Marlow expands on Rome in "very old times" and how it used to be considered a poor and savage place. He mentions this because Rome in "very old times" is similar to the current conditions in Africa. From this comparison, as well as the title of his tale itself, demonstrates how he believes in the good within the bad - "heart of darkness." Marlow uses the similarities between the the Roman invasion and the English colonization of Africa to illustrate the potential Africa still has to become a beautiful and structured place just as Rome did.

TONE/MOOD

Tone allows the author to reflect different attitudes toward the subject of the work. And mood comes hand in hand with tone as it is the result of tone: the feeling the reader gets due to the tone of the environment. Without tone or mood authors would not be able to include emotion in their works nor would they be able to increase readers' attention by sounding relatable. Literary devices such as diction, figurative language, imagery, syntax, all contribute to the tone and mood of a poem. These devices are then used in the writers choice of style to portray specific emotions. The tone and mood of a text can be difficult to determine without hearing the speaker's tone of voice, however, if you look beneath the surface of the text and analyze the type of words the author is using, the style the author chooses to configure, and the meaning created by figures of speech, you can hopefully decipher the tone/mood the author is trying to portray.

DICTION

Authors utilize diction to portray different environments or meanings to their writing. One way of using diction is to use a word or words that have multiple meanings. That way when analyzing the text, the reader must consider all possible meanings OR how they relate to other aspects of the text. Diction can also effect the tone of a poem such as how Sylvia Plath does in her poem Daddy. She starts off the poem with a sad tone but the poem progresses, she beings to use diction with harsh sounds that portray a more angry tone. Words such as.. Ich, Auschwitz, Taroc, and swastika. Diction allows an author to portray a second meaning below the surface of what is written and to change the tone of the text without actually saying so.

POETIC SOUNDS

Sounds increase the understanding of a poem. Readers are able to catch the symbols or imagery bring expressed by sounds that accentuate the image. Different sounds can create different feelings or tones to a poem. There are sounds such as assonance. An example of this is in the poem Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold: "Where the moon meets the moon-blanched land." Arnold uses assonance here to slow down the line and reveal the overall tone of the poem - Sadness and tranquility.

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Using figurative language allows the author to further explain a concept by comparing it to something more relatable to the audience. Poems cannot use music or props to increase the reader's understanding of the scene. Therefor, authors use figurative language such as imagery for detailed description. Using personification, metaphors, irony, etc... allows an author to be descriptive and relatable. For example, irony, brings forth extreme contradiction that reveals an unexpected truth. Using this more creative way of revealing information further increases the readers interest in what is going on. An example of this figurative language is in To An Athlete Dying Young by Housman: "I am become a name/ and early though the laurel grows/if withers quicker than the rose." (21.11-12) This use of a metaphor is to descriptively explain the death of a young athlete which allows Housman to create an image in the readers mind, thus increasing the readers interest in the poem.

SYMBOL and THEME

Symbols as well as themes greatly impact the perception of a story's meaning or purpose. Using symbols and themes allow an author to accentuate the deeper meaning of the plot. For example, the theme of 'To An Athlete Dying Young is time. This theme reoccurs throughout the entire poem to reinforce the deeper meaning behind the story. The theme is extremely significant as it allows the author to connect with their readers or audience. Similarly, symbols can create meaning behind characters or scenes that are revealed in the introduction and fully explained by the end. These deeper meanings usually connect with the audience by pertaining to current events or popular aspects of life.

SETTING

Setting is very important when it comes to creating a believable atmosphere that a character is trying to portray through speech. It also allows the audience to further engage in whats happening and understand why its happening. Different kinds of settings can portray all kinds of environments depending on the mood of a scene. If a scene is meant to be depressing, the setting would include dim lighting, quiet surroundings, and possibly rain. The setting may just be the background however as many may not realize, it greatly effects how an audience perceives the focus of a scene. The setting not only portrays this atmosphere but it also reveals time and location without having to inform the audience with this background information.

CHARACTER

The character hamlet in hamlet and elizabeth in pride and prejudice are both protagonists - main characters. Hamlets conflict is that he is eying to seek revenge on claudious for killing his father and overcoming his fathers death itself. Elizabeth's conflict is that she can't decided whether or not she is in lover with Darcy. Character can change throughout the plot just as hamlet does when he goes from mourning his father and open about his real emotions to using madness as a mask while seeking revenge on claudious. Contrastingly, a character like ms. Bennet stays a gossiper throughout the entire book.

PLOT

Both hamlet and pride and prejudice have a play that consists of a rising action that leads to a climax which is followed by the falling action. However fiction and drama are very different when it comes to how the contents of a plot are put together. The plot is what happen on a narrative and authors must "arrange conflicts, complications, and resolutions to create logical cause-and-effect relationships." (59). The climax is the moment of recognition or complete recognition within the plot. In pride and prejudice the climax occurs in the middle of the plot when Ms. Bennet's daughters begins to act out. This is more of a traditional structure, where as in hamlet he climax doesn't occur till the end of the play. Which is usual for tragedies where the climax Is known to occur before or after death. Though a plot does not have to be realistic, the reader must understand what is happening and why its happening. This is why the plot is so significant for an author to put together correctly.

Essay Comments

My essay writing has improved since my last essay but i still have a few weaknesses I have to work on. I can make simple improvements such as proof reading more as well as printing the essay out and revising it on paper. But other errors I must work on is the way I structure my essay. I need to organize my ideas so that my essay is easier to understand. My ideas and analysis do not flow as smoothly as they should. But more importantly, I need to stick to the essay question! I guess it was a mis understanding of the question but regardless, writing off topic will obviously hurt my grade. From my essay comments I've learned that I am showing improvement but to fully succeed I have to become more aware of my weaknesses so that I can correct them when revising rather than the teacher catching them.