Week 8 Blog Project

For our blog project, we ask that you watch this short youtube video to test your awareness. It was used as a commercial for raising awareness for motorcyclists. We ask that you pay very close attention to the video the first time, because it really is amazing how many people are so unaware of something so obvious. So go ahead, take the Awareness Test.


***Please watch the video before reading the rest of this blog post!***

So what did you think!? Was it what you expected? Majority of the people that watch this are completely oblivious to what is really going on. How does this relate to class you ask? We simply want to raise your awareness. To look beyond the obvious, and focus on subtle details that you might not see the first time around. You can apply this towards your papers, or life in general. So, we have to ask, did you fall for it? Do you think the ad does a good job at making you realize you need to be more aware? Or does the advertisement actually have nothing to do with being aware? Do you think there are any other ways you could apply this to your papers or class in general? What did you think the video was trying to point out? Do you think the audience got the message?

Week Five Blog Project (fixed and updated)

Hi, Everyone,

This week my group will be showing a video called Black Hole? It’s a great film.

What are the messages you get from this film? Do you think the man got what he deserved? Did that help him? What would you have felt about the commercial if the man had gotten away7 with his crime? What do you think the black hole mean? What would you do with a black hole? When given great power how do you think most people will respond?  Try to answer these questions and tell us your thoughts about the film.

Fourth Week Blog Project

Hello everyone!

This week, our group is going to present a short film named Partly Cloudy to the class. The video is 5:02 minutes long, and was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2009.

You may get puzzeled the first time you watch it, try to watch it again, and think about the underlying meaning of the story.

I would not say anymore before you watched in order not to affect your judgement. Different people may see from different standpoints, and there is no only correct answer.

Third Week Blog Project

Hey guys! Lately I've seen this picture appear on several different websites. Our group thinks it's really interesting and we thought it would make a great topic for our blog.

It's a picture of the Line Between Wealth and Poverty in the favelas of Brazil. It made us wonder, how could a wealthy person be so callous to the scene of the favelas from their hotel? Also, how do the people living in the favela feel about looking up to see wealth and excess in one of its most extreme forms? Then we thought of people in America and our perceptions of how the rich treat the poor. The following picture relates class division in America to the physical division of class in Brazil.

Think about this political cartoon.

How does the illustrator feel about the rich?

What emotions does the illustrator want to portray through the picture and the caption?

Could this apply to more than one group of people?

What does the illustrator assume about the nature of people?

Do you agree?

Second Week Blog Project

Hey guys, our group chose an article this week regarding the takedown of Megaupload titled "Anonymous Responds To Megaupload Takedown; Claims Credit For DOJ, RIAA, MPAA, Universal Music Outages".

Considering everything that has been happening lately, we agreed that this article was very timely and relevant to us college students.

This article shows that SOPA or similar legislations are unnecessary in taking down websites. The group Anonymous is making a very clear statement to not only the government but also everyday internet users like all of us.

After reading the article, do you think the Anonymous website attacks were a good message, or were they too aggressive? Will the efforts of the group eventually backfire?

In your mind, who is the real "criminal"? The government, attempting to take away all file sharing, or Anonymous, encouraging file sharing, which includes illegal music and movie downloads?

Are there any comments at the bottom of the article posted by others that you strongly agree/disagree with?

Any additional comments on the article are welcome! Just click here to read the article!

First Week Blog Project

Memories in the ''block house''

Hello everyone!

Our group has chosen a short piece of animated film as this week's discussion object.

The name of the film is called "Memories in the Block House"

It lasts for 12:06 minutes, and is the winner of 2009 best short animated film.

You can click the link at the very beginning to watch this film.

After watching it, what do you think makes this film the winner of academy award? Why?

And if you think it is not so good, then what makes you feel disappointed? Why?

Welcome to the Blog Project!

Hello Class!

This is our version of the English 110 Blog where, as stated in the purpose, you can apply your newly acquired analytic skills to the more informal realm of public writing as we progress through the course. Every week, different students will post interesting primary sources and lead discussion of them on the blog and for about 15 minutes each Wednesday at the beginning of class. This is a project that you guys are in control of. You guys post what you find interesting, talk about what you want to talk about, take the discussion in the directions that you want to go. More detailed instructions are on Carmen, and we will also be going over it in class. Don't forget your analytic moves, and have fun!

Here are the groups for the different weeks:

Week 3: Haimeng Wu, Zhen Zhang, Joe Wilson, Nikki Whitman
Week 4: Wenqi Xue, Michael Eaken, Alexandra Fox, David Ross
Week 5: Ayesha Hamza, Claudia Lim, Chunan Shi, Jeff Johnson
Week 6: Yiyi Wang, Tiffany Li, Bryan Stobehn, Aaron Konkle
Week 7: Hongye Tao, Da Huang, Craig Davis, Matthew Sanda
Week 8: Michelle King, Luay Mourad, David Ogan, Whitney Paxton

Each group will work together to figure out what primary source will be posted and what will be discussed during class. Blogs are due posted by each group Wednesday before class of the week each group is responsible for; blogs are due posted by the class for that week by Wednesday before class for the next week.