English Comp. 1102, BOOYAH

Any Subject or Response 4

2005-06-24T22:53:00.000-07:00

This time around the subject to be discussed is anything and everything about music. For those who have noticed during class, you'll usually see me listening to some songs on my nifty little IPOD. The IPOD, for those of you who don't know, is just an MP3 player except is has the storage to hold HUNDREDS of songs, maybe thousands, I forget. Anyway, with all this space I can download and put in any kind of music I can possibly want. This being the case, my IPOD has no real order to it what so ever. I have songs ranging from Rock to Rap and from R&B to Techno. I just like anything that has something I can tap my feet to. Lately I have been listening to mostly Alternative rock, like John Mayher, and some classic rock songs as well. I have been listening to stuff that mostly has acoustic guitar. Why? you might ask. Well it's simple. Since I'm trying to learn acoustic guitar, I listen to a lot of songs so that i can learn to hear strumming patterns and finger picking styles, the latter of which is what I seem to favor. Music is something that I've have always enjoyed throughout my life, and luckily I have a father who got me into a lot of classic stuff as well, so that i can enjoy all kinds of music, as see how it has developed over the years.

Any Subject or Response 3

2005-06-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

This time around im going to talk about something I like to do when I have absolutely nothing else to do. What that thing is, is mindless entertainment. Or in other words, VIDEO GAMES. Yeah, I am a gamer. Most people who know me already know this. Others who don't figure it out farely quickly. I like my video games. Some might say that they are pointless, but i disagree. There are plenty times when playing video games came in handy. I mean, if you are dying of complete boredom. Pick up a game and enjoy some mayhem. Games can differ on a huge range of genres. You got your Platformers, RPG's, Action, Adventure, Puzzle, and FPS games. RPG stands for Role Playing Games and FPS stands for First Person Shooter. I am a gamer who enjoys every kind of game. All of the different Genres, and mixes of them as well. Most recently the game I have been trying to beat is Resident Evil 4, which is a Survival/Action/Horror game. The picture shown is just one of the many HUGE bosses you fight during the course of the game. For those of you out there who game, you know what im talking about when I say they are just plain fun. For those of you who aren't gamers, just give some of these different kinds a try, before you judge. You never know, you just might pick up something you like.

Any Subject or Response 2

2005-06-24T22:30:00.000-07:00

This time I'm going to talk about another thing that i am recently trying to learn. That is the instrument called the Guitar. I chose to learn Acoustic instead of electric just because i like the sound of it better. Don't get me wrong I still like the sound of the electric though. The kind of Guitar i got is Yamaha which can be seen by clicking on the word YAMAHA. Yup thats my guitar. My father also has one, but his is a Fender. Mines better, HAHA! I shouldn't say much, he bought it for me. Anyways yeah learning the guitar is kinda hard at first because your fingers arent used to the strings, and they will HURT. That is until you develope hard fingers. Then it gets easier. UNTILL you gotta learn bar chords. Let me tell you, those things can hurt. Im still pretty much a beginner and can play a few songs, sort of. But little by little im getting better.

Any Subject or Response

2005-06-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Well the Subject I chose to talk about for this post would be something that i am currently starting to learn. It is called Flash. With this Flash program you can design very professional looking websites, or create what is called flash animations. I chose to learn it so I could make different animations. Many people use the animations for artistic and symbolic work to express themselves such as in this cartoon. Others might use it for cute and comedic purposes such as this great flash. Whatever the purpose is, if you have a vision, you can create it in flash. You don't even have to be a great artist to make flash animations that people will like. Don't get me wrong you have to know a little bit a drawing, but nothing to fancy. The flash program has many things that can help you animate whatever you want, as long as you learn all of the tools and how to use them. Unfortunately i can't put something I made using flash since i have not finished any, and have not submitted them to a site.

Exorcism in Romania ends in death

2005-06-24T22:07:00.000-07:00

Already you can tell this is kind of weird. TANACU, Romania - The whispers started in April in the mind of the 23-year-old nun. In the heart of an Orthodox convent in Romania’s impoverished northeast, doctors say, Maricica Irina Cornici believed she heard the devil talking to her, telling her she was sinful. She was treated for schizophrenia, but when she relapsed, a monk and four nuns tried a different method: exorcism. Last week, Cornici was bound to a cross, gagged with a towel and left in a dank room at the convent for three days without food — where she died of suffocation and dehydration. The case has stunned this impoverished nation where rural youths, many raised in orphanages like Cornici, have flocked to Orthodox monasteries and convents for spiritual help or food and shelter. Polls show the Orthodox Church to be the nation’s most trusted institution. In April, Cornici was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in the northeast city of Vaslui. “She thought the devil was talking to her and told her that she was a sinful person,” said Dr. Gheorghe Silvestrovici, a psychiatrist who treated her. “It’s a symptom of schizophrenia, and she was probably having her first episode.” The nun was given medication and released on April 20 to the care of the Holy Trinity convent in the nearby village of Tanacu, an isolated community of about 1,000 people in a hilly area cultivated with vineyards and corn. She was supposed to return in 10 days. Corogeanu and the four nuns were charged with aggravated murder on Wednesday in Cornici’s death after testifying for 11 hours to prosecutors. If found guilty, they could face up to 25 years in prison. Here is some crazy news that, I’m sure if you’re even religious, no one can understand. I mean this person was obviously crazy, and being institutionalized didn’t seem to help. So she should have been kept there. Though the church, being so trusted, was to take care of her after being released from the institution. I’m sure after this incident that the people in the church are no longer trusted. They should definitely be punished for what they have done.

Hard-liner wins Iran presidency

2005-06-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

TEHRAN, Iran - Hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad steamrolled over one of Iran's best-known statesmen to win the presidency Saturday in a landslide election victory that cements conservative control over nation's political leadership.
The outcome capped a stunning upset by the Tehran mayor, who many reformers fear will take Iran back to the restrictions imposed after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The Interior Ministry gave Ahmadinejad 61.8 percent of the vote over his moderate rival, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had 35.7 percent. The ministry posted a notice declaring Ahmadinejad the winner. The victory gives conservatives control of Iran's two highest elected offices — the presidency and parliament — and gives a freer hand to the non-elected theocracy, which holds the final word on all important policies. I think that it is great that Iran has gone through with these elections. Freedom is starting to show itself little by little. Now Iran can start to deal with some problems that it might have such as what Ali Pourassad had said. He said “The real nuclear bomb that Iran has is its unemployed young people," after casting his vote for Ahmadinejad at a polling station set up in the courtyard of a mosque in the middle-class south of Tehran. "If nothing is done to create jobs for our young people, we will have an explosion on the streets." Ahmadinejad had not been expected even to make the runoff. But he squeaked ahead of his rivals into the No. 2 spot in last week's first-round vote. There were accusations that Republican Guards and vigilantes intimidated voters to sway the vote in his favor.
There seems to already be some controversy developing about the elections, but hopefully theses are all false and Ahmadinejad won these elections fairy.

2nd Case of Mad Cow Disease in U.S.

2005-06-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

I don’t know about you, but I’m am going to stay away from burgers and steaks for awhile. WASHINGTON - Tests have confirmed mad cow disease in what appears to be the first case in a U.S. born animal, the Agriculture Department said Friday. Officials would not specify where the case turned up, but Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said there is no evidence the cow was imported. An internationally recognized laboratory in Weybridge, England, confirmed the case after U.S. tests produced conflicting results, Johanns said. The animal had been tested last year and cleared of having the brain-wasting illness. New tests were ordered two weeks ago. Those results came back positive, leading officials to seek confirmation from the Weybridge lab. The department also performed more tests at its lab in Ames, Iowa. The first case of mad cow disease in the United States was confirmed in December 2003. It turned up in Washington state in a dairy cow imported from Canada. Like the first case, the new case was in an animal at least 8 years old, meaning it was born before the United States banned cattle parts in cattle feed, which is how the disease is believed to spread. Human health is not at risk in the new case, Johanns said. The animal was a “downer,” meaning it was unable to walk. Such animals are banned from the food supply. I don’t know about you, but if a animal had mad cow disease and wasn’t a downer, does that put us at risk? Like I said, I’m staying away from burgers and steaks. It seems that these labs need to do some more testing in order to figure out exactly how the disease is spread, and also to help not put us at risk

Bodies of missing N.J. boys found

2005-06-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

Well for my first topic I chose to write about something that has happened around the area I used to live in before I moved here to Florida. It is about three boys who have been missing since Wednesday. The bodies were found on Friday by the father of one of the boys. The bodies were found in the trunk of a car parked in a driveway next to the yard where they were last seen. Police activity had frenzied in the area around Bergen avenue since around 6:30 PM according to what WCAU TV reported. An aid to the mayor had confirmed that the bodies had been found, and that she had no immediate idea of how the boys had died. No one knows for certain if the car had been searched, and how the boys got in the car into the first place. A witness who saw the father open trunk saw him fall down to his knees screaming as soon as he did. The father, David Agosto, overcome with grief , was taken away by the EMTs and police rushed to the scene, and quickly quarantined the area with yellow police tape, and put white sheets over the car so no one could look in. One can only imagine what sort of horror these kids parents must have gone though. I mean the who thing about them missing must have been terrifying for them already, by finding them in a trunk of a car dead must be the worse possible thing for a parent to experience. Seeing this only makes me appreciate all the times my parent had told me to be careful, no matter where I was going. I always thought that these warnings were just parents being annoying, but in reality, could be fatal decisions.

Plagiarism

2005-06-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well since we are talking about Plagiarism, let's first define it. Plagiarism, outside of the academic world would be considered breach of copyright, and is addressed in the court system. Within the academic community, plagiarism, is one of the most serious offenses one can ever do, short of running around campus without any clothes off. Normally plagiarism warrants some sort of punishment ranging from an F on the assignment, to an F for the entire course, to even a suspension or expulsion from an institution. Plagiarism normally falls into to different categories. The first category being that the student deliberately misrepresents the work as their own when in fact the work is, totally or in part, the copyrighted work of someone else. These individuals are rightly termed as plagiarists. The second category is when a student fails to handle copyrighted material properly within their written assignments. These situations or dealt with usually by showing the student what they had done wrong, and making sure that they understand how they had plagiarized in the first place. Plagiarism is avoided by giving the appropriate credit to whoever one cites information from. You do this by using certain formats and guidelines when you write your paper. There are many different kinds of formats, such as APA and MLA but one most commonly used would be MLA format, which stands for Modern Language Association. As long as information used in ones paper, including information from online sources, one can avoid having plagiarism in his paper.

Chap 6, Using Evidence Effectively

2005-06-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Chapter six discusses mostly how one can use evidence, facts, and observations effectively in an argument. The chapter begins by explaining some general principles for the persuasive use of evidence. The chapter tells us to apply what is called the STAR criteria to data. Star stands for Sufficiency (if there is enough evidence), Typicality (if the chosen data is representative and typical), Accuracy (if the data is accurate and up to date), and finally Relevance (if the date is relevant to the claim). The chapter then discusses how you can further enhance the persuasiveness of your evidence. To further enhance it, the writer must choose data, whenever possible, form sources that the writer thinks the readers will trust. Because questions of fact are often at issue in arguments, readers may be skeptical of certain sources. For example citing a peer-reviewed scholarly journal is often more persuasive than citing an advocacy website. Another example would be citing a conservative magazine such as National Review may be unpersuasive to a liberal audience, and citing a Sierra Club publication may be unpersuasive to conservative audiences. The chapter continues with examples of kinds of evidence and what its strengths and weaknesses are. One may use data from personal experiences such as ones own personal experience and knowledge, and personal observation or field research. One may use data from interviews, questionnaires, or surveys. One may use data from reading and research, such as using examples, findings from experiments, and testimonies. One may use statistical data, hypothetical examples, and finally reasoned sequence of ideas. Another method to enhance evidence, would be the usage of framing evidence. This means just emphasizing on some particular part of data, and not focusing so much on another part of data, just as a picture frame shows a part of the actual picture, but not the whole thing.

Lesson 6

2005-06-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

This isn’t exactly a chapter but a lesson in our style books, the only lesson we ever looked at I believe. This lesson emphasizes on emphasis. That was on purpose. Anyway the lesson starts off by discussing about clarity in emphasis. If one were to consistently write sentences with short SUBJECT/TOPICS that name a few central characters and then join them to strong verbs, you’ll likely get the rest of the sentence right, and in the process create a passage that seems both cohesive and coherent. The chapter discusses that if the first few words of a sentence are important, so are the last few, because how you end a sentence determines how readers judge its clarity and strength. The lesson gives some examples of how one can manage some endings for emphasis. The three types of tactical revisions are trimming the end of a sentence, shifting peripheral ideas to the left, and shifting new information to the right. The lesson also discusses the function of the stress of certain sentences performs. One that is important in helping people sense the coherence of a whole passage. By revising sentences and stressing words that express the particular concepts the rest of the paragraph would develop. The lesson pretty much just discusses where to use the stress position of a sentences, and words. Use the stress position of a sentence to introduce long, complex, or otherwise difficult-to-process material, particularly unfamiliar terms and new information. Use the stress position for words that you want your readers to hear emphasized in their mind’s ear. Use the stress of a sentence that introduces a passage to announce the key concepts that the rest of the passage will develop.

Chap. 7

2005-06-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7 in the text book was about how to use Ethos and Pathos in order to make your argument better. Ethos deals with the perspective of the writer, and Pathos is the emotional bond that the writer makes with the audience. The chapter goes on to explain that Ethos is used to gain the trust of an audience. Ethos does this by giving the writer the ability to gain credibility. In order to incorporate Ethos one must be knowledgeable about the subject of which one is speaking. One must also fair about the subject of which one is speaking. The chapter then discusses the importance of relating to the audience. The best way to relate to the audience would be through using Pathos. What Pathos does is make an emotional connection between the writer and the audience that is being written to. Pathos is most effective when used with concrete language, specific examples, and narratives. The concrete language makes the argument sound more solid. Specific examples give more support to the writer. The chapter shows that using illustrations can be a very effective method for Pathos. Images can cause different reactions and can capture an audience emotionally. After seeing an image, the audience my feel interested about the subject and then want to read up on it. Using narratives enhances writing because it makes a connection between the audience and the writer by bringing some personal feel to the writing. This chapter just pretty much discusses how Ethos and Pathos can be used and gives all the examples that can be used with each method.

Plan For Revision

2005-04-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Well my revision for this paper shouldnt be much of a hard one. I obviously need to get some more sources put into the paper since i didnt really have any besides IMDB.com. The way i introduced the paper needs some adjustment since i have to make it seem im writing it for my target publication. I also need to think of a good title which luckily I have been given a good idea for one. I can also do some outside research on my arguement of the drug subculture in my paper. Last i should pretty much shorten up my review of the film at the end of my paper and create my works cited page. I think this paper should turn out just fine after i make these adjustments.

Open Post

2005-04-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

Todays open post surprise surprise is about the LORD OF THE RINGS. Except this time is about the games. As some of you know im a gamer, and I like me some good games. All types of games pretty much can be enjoyed be me, and some fun ones to play would be the Lord of the Rings series. Again the games all follow the story of the movies, with some slight differences, but for anyone who likes video games i recommend them to anyone. The ones that i enjoyed the most are The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers for the PS2, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the Gamecube, they have em for more then one system, i just happened to play them on those.

Themed Post - Films

2005-04-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

For this themed post I’ve decided to do yet again another trilogy of films. This time of the well known Lord of the Rings Films. The whole trilogy consists of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. As most of you know the Lord of the Rings trilogy is based on the Novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first movie starts with our main character Frodo, played by Elijah Wood. Frodo is living his life normally in the shire with his good friend Bilbo Baggins. Unfortunately Bilbo must leave the shire, and entrusts his ring to Frodo. This ring is a ring of power made by an evil lord who goes by the name of Sauron. Rings of power were given to the Dwarves, the Elves, and the Humans. What they didn’t know was that this one ring was meant to rule over them all. The ring itself is evil and brings out the evil in anyone who holds it. Frodo is strangely very resistant to the rings malice, and his wizard friend Gandalf, played by Ian Mckellen, sends him on a quest to an Elven castle. Frodo and his other Hobbit friends Sam, Pippen, and Merry, all travel together and are chased by malevolent creatures known as wraiths. When the hobbits reach the castle they form a fellowship to go on a quest to destroy the ring in the only place they can. The first film ends when Frodo leaves the fellowship because he endangers them but his friend Sam comes along with him. The second film starts with The hobbits Frodo and Sam on a separate journey towards the same goal, to destroy the ring. The second film focuses on two major towers that must be taken down if they are to win this war against Sauron. While Frodo and Sam get closer and closer to their goal, the rest of the fellowship form alliances with other kingdoms and fight wars to protect themselves. The last film focuses a bit more on the side of Frodo and Sam, while they travel towards their goal with the help of Gollum, played by Andy Serkis, who was once the owner of the ring and was corrupted by it. The fellowship help them by providing a distraction, and Frodo and Sam are able to get to their goal and are able to destroy the ring. The is a great film and can be enjoyed by many people. I recommend it to any one who enjoyed to novel, and even those who never heard of it.

Summary, Director, Cast Info.

2005-04-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

The Director of the film Equilibrium is Kurt Wimmer who has done films search as Ultraviolet, The Recruit, The Thomas Crown Affair, Sphere, and several others. So it seems with this list of films that Kurt likes to do films with action. He also obviously has some experience with Sci-Fi films being that he had done Sphere before Equilibrium. His fan base increased a bit after Equilibrium had been filmed in 2002. The cast consists of many actors only five of which I actually recognize. These being the star of the film, Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Sean Bean, William Fichtner, and Sean Pertwee. All of these actors play out their individual roles well but I thought Christian Bale did well for his part. As seen before he is usually in serious roles such as those in American Psycho, which I first heard of him, Shaft, and even Empire of the sun, when he was just a boy. Now on with the plot summary. The film starts with John Preston (Christian Bale) a Tetragramaton Cleric, already killing a bunch of Sense offenders. We then learn that his partner played by Sean Bean, is hiding the fact that he feels. John learns this and then has to kill his partner. One day John accidentally knocks over his drug that keeps people from feeling. Thinking he can handle one miss dosage he continues one with his days work. Soon he begins to feel, and realizes all of the things he has done. Secretly feeling, and being the number one cleric he tries to help people but realizes that he can’t. He is then found by the leader of the underground rebellion (William Fichtner) and tries to help him by offering to kill Father (Sean Pertwee), the head of the Tetragramaton. John’s new partner (Taye Diggs) learns this and tries to stop him. By the end of the movie, we learn about Father and John takes down the system of the Tetragramaton.

Target Publication

2005-04-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

Well lets begin by saying that this film is rated R basically for the violence it contains. So being that this film is meant for older viewers the target audience for this review should be for the same type of audience so therefore it will be an older audience. The readers of this review will definitely have to be an older audience such as teenagers to adults. I can’t see younger children reading this type of review on a movie they can’t even see. The film deals a lot with the aspects that we discussed in class. It touches on the subjects of a drug subculture, war, organization vs. neighborhood, and a type of segregation. It is obvious that this type of film, that touches all of these types of subjects, is going to appeal more to our young adult and adult audience therefore they are the ideal audience for this film’s review. I would also have to add that this film is probably one that would appeal more to males than to females. Not to say females wouldn’t appreciate the film, just more often than not, a guy is going to enjoy a Sci-Fi/Action genre film more than a girl would. Now the reason that this film is for young adults and up is because of the violence it contains. There are many scenes of martial oriented battled and scenes of huge gun fights between rebels and the Tetragramaton. Also the fact that this film has a Fascist feel to it because of the uniformity shown by the characters in the film adds to the adult theme.

Film Review Project

2005-04-05T18:56:00.000-07:00

The Film that I decided to do my review on is called Equilibrium. Now most of you are probably wondering what I am talking about because this film is not a very well known one. It is what we call a B movie. It falls within the genres of Sci-Fi and action. The film stars Christian Bale as John Preston, A cleric in a futuristic world with no emotion. The reason why I chose this film is because it deals with several of the topics we are supposed to discuss, and also since it isn’t a well known movie, I can bring some attention to it. The topics that this film touches on are a type of racism, Corporation vs. the neighborhood, war, and somewhat of a drug subculture. The racism comes into play in a different way then you would think. It isn’t actually Racism but feelism. I know it’s a made up word but stay with me. The only type of people that reside within the city, are these people that have no feelings what so ever. The people outside of the city, in the “Nether” all choose to live a life of feelings. In choosing to do so, they are continually hunted down, and “Processed”. Corporation vs. the neighborhood comes into play, because there is organization called the Tetragramaton which is the Religious like organization that hunts down these “sense offenders” and gets them “processed”. The war comes into play with the fight against the Tetragramaton fought by a few Rebels. The drug subculture comes into play with the drug Prozium, which is the drug used to stabilize people, so that they are at a natural equilibrium and have no real feelings. I find this film compelling because it’s a little different than your Hollywood films, and I’ve always been into Sci-Fi and action genre films.

Trimbur's Chapter Eleven

2005-04-05T17:55:00.000-07:00

Trimbur’s Chapter Eleven is all about Reviews, which is just evaluating works and performances. The chapter begins by discussing the fact that Reviews are a genre of writing. It is something people turn to when they are called on to make evaluations. Reviews are things that take place informally all the time in everyday life and can be about anything from CD’s, employee performances, or government programs. Reviews are even part of daily conversations. A lot of times informal judgments can start extended debates. The chapter gives us the example of sports fans, and how they can argue endlessly about everything from who was the best quarterback of the 1990s to which team is going to win the game on Saturday. The most familiar written reviews are newspaper and magazine reviews of the arts; reviews of books, music, films, art, architecture, television, and dance. The newspapers and magazines also review other things such as products that might appeal to their particular customers. It goes on to say that importance of book reviews in school, is not to show the teacher that you read the book, but instead to help the student understand how important the role that reviewing plays in academic work. The way readers respond to a review and whether they find its evaluation persuasive will depend to a large extent on whether they believe the criteria used are justifiable. The chapter gives an example of how some reviewers perceive things differently. The example it uses is the show Jerry Springer. Some see it as offering little more than sensationalism while others think it raises important issues and gives ordinary people the chance to be heard in a medium dominated by celebrities and experts. The chapter then continues on with reviews of other people, and gives you some common types of reviews done.

Gen Ed Assignment

2005-03-31T19:30:00.000-08:00

Audience: Students interested in enrolling at USF.
Word Count: 830
Going to college is a good thing to do, but it isn’t for everyone, but it’s the image of going to college that’s important as well. I personally wasn’t too sure about going to college, and the truth is I only came because it seemed to be the logical thing to do, since my parents, and my sisters wanted me to go to college. I came upon my choice of USF, mainly because of the location. My father had moved down here to Florida, and I figured after high school, I can live with him and go to college down here. Before I came down he looked at some colleges for me, and is one he liked, also the location is great as well. It is because of this that I wonder if my dad has ever “wished for anything better” in life. I know he has always wanted for me to go to college, so here I am.

There are five basic goals that the University of South Florida wants to reach for there students. "USF wants to produce students who will understand symbolic, expressive, and interpretive communication systems in all of their complexities, confront with an inquiring mind the natural, social, technical, and human world, and their interrelationships, understand theories and methodologies for producing knowledge and evaluating information, interpret and understand human diversity in a global context, and discover and pursue a meaningful life, as well as being a responsible steward of the human and physical environment."

The USF quality enhancement plan discusses a lot about UFS’s mission, goals, values, and vision. The mission here at USF is teaching and lifelong learning in a student-centered environment, research to advance knowledge and promote social, cultural, economic, educational, health, and technological development, service based on academic excellence and the ethic of community responsibility, and community engagement to build university-community partnerships and collaborations. The goals of USF are strengthened research, creative, and scholarly endeavors, improved undergraduate and graduate academic programs that promote intellectual development and student success through a diverse, student-centered environment, engaged service that strengthens cultural and community life, and promotes lifelong learning and economic opportunity, and increased fiscal self-sufficiency and appropriate state support. The values of USF are Teaching, research and service based on the highest standards of discovery, creativity, and intellectual attainment, development of the personal and professional potential of students, faculty, and staff, and enriching the quality of campus life, an ethic of collegiality based on integrity, civility, academic freedom, professional responsibility, and collaboration among disciplines and units, access to an excellent education, university/community engagement that increases the understanding of urban issues and advances community development, and cultural and ethnic diversity and global understanding. Finally the Visions of USF are excellent undergraduate and graduate instruction in a student-centered environment, creative, innovative, engaged scholarly endeavors, and the furthering of advanced knowledge, education that promotes freedom, unity, democracy, and understanding in the presence of our Nation’s historical diversity, generation and dissemination of knowledge to strengthen our society and the environment, and greater fiscal self-reliance. There is a lot more to the quality enhancement plan but all of these goals, are achievable here at USF, and should be taken advantage of.

The Song I have chose for this assignment is “No Such Thing” by John Mayer. Some of you might know him, some of you might not. He is a fairly new artist. This is a song I like not just because I like acoustic guitar, but also the message in it, and that it relates to me in some ways. Anyone who wants to check out the video can see it here if you have realplayer or mediaplayer.

"Welcome to the real world, she said to me Condescendingly Take a seat Take your life Plot it out in black and white Well I never lived the dreams of the prom kings And the drama queens I'd like to think the best of me Is still hidingUp my sleeve"
"They love to tell you Stay inside the lines But something's better On the other side I wanna run through the halls of my high school I wanna scream at theTop of my lungs I just found out there's no such thing as the real world Just a lie you've got to rise above"
"I wanna run through the halls of my high schoolI wanna scream at theTop of my lungsI just found out there's no such thing as the real worldJust a lie you've got to rise above."
"So the good boys and girls take the so called right track Faded white hats Grabbing credits Maybe transfers They read all the books but they can't find the answers And all of our parents They're getting older I wonder if they've wished for anything better While in their memories Tiny tragedies"
"They love to tell you Stay inside the lines But something's better On the other side I wanna run through the halls of my high school I wanna scream at theTop of my lungs I just found out there's no such thing as the real world Just a lie you've got to rise above"
"I wanna run through the halls of my high schoolI wanna scream at theTop of my lungsI just found out there's no such thing as the real worldJust a lie you've got to rise above."
"I am invincible(3x) As long as I'm alive"
"I wanna run through the halls of my high school I wanna scream at theTop of my lungs I just found out there's no such thing as the real world Just a lie you've got to rise above"
"I just can't wait for my 10 year reunion I'm gonna bust down the double doors And when I stand on these tables before you You will know what all this time was for."

It seems that USF’s goals are all your basic make it in life goals. To make someone capable to make it in the real world. The plot it out in black and white line, is pretty much what USF has done here with all of these goals. Everything is planned out already. The part where he never lived the dreams of the prom kings relates to me because it is true to my character. In high school I was never really the stereotypical “popular kid”. I had plenty of friends, all in different clichés. I never was interested in gaining popularity, and anyone who sought just that in life, to me seemed immature. I did what I had to do because it was required of me, not because I wanted to.

The chorus of the song begins with they love to tell you to stay behind the lines and ends with just a lie you've got to rise above. Here again is an example of staying within the lines, or following the goals intended for you, to play it safe, but you should instead do what you think is right, and do whatever it is you want to do in life. I’ve never been to sure of what I wanted to be in the future. This song helps me keep my mind open to new experiences and new ideas. The lines “I just found out there‘s no such thing…” describes how the image of the real world is really a lie. The real world is whatever you make it.

Open Post

2005-03-31T14:27:00.000-08:00

Hey Its all about the Matrix today, I might as well stick to it since i did my film review about it. Recently I got the PC game, The Matrix Online, which continues the story where the 3rd film leaves off. If anyone is interested in reading up on it, heres the link.

Themed Post - Films

2005-03-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

Todays film review is gonna be about the Matrix Trilogy.

The Matrix films all cover the genres of Sci-fi, thriller, and action. The films star Keanu Reeves as Neo, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity , and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith. The whole series pretty much revolves around one idea, that the world as you know it, is all a lie. Everything and everyone around you, is unaware of it. You might have had a feeling your whole life as if nothing mattered. Nothing really affected you, because you felt as though you were going to wake up. This is not far from the truth. This is where the first film pretty much starts off. The film starts while following the life of Tomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves), who lives two separate lives. One of these lives he lives as a normal man working for a computer company, and another as an ace computer hacker who goes by the alias, Neo. He is led to a man named Morpheus, by Trinity. Morpheus offers Neo a choice, to know the truth, or believe whatever you want to believe. Neo chooses to know the truth and that’s where everything gets a little crazy. Neo learns that the year isn’t what he thought it was, in fact its several centuries later, although the exact year isn’t certain. The world has been taken over by a race of machines spawned from a single AI (artificial intelligence). The Matrix is a system of control. It is a fake world, where people live their lives normally. Those who are awakened from the system, can bend the rules of it, and even break some, just like a computer program. You are stronger and faster than you ever thought possible. Later Neo finds out that he is supposed to be the savior if the human race. He is the “One” someone who can alter the matrix as he sees fit. By the end of the first film he discovers his gift, and destroys the antagonist of the film, Agent Smith, a machine program. The second film we find that Agent smith is not destroyed, but reborn supposedly free from the system. Being free he can copy himself over any one in the matrix. This basic story continues onto the third film, where at the end Neo makes a truce, if he destroys Agent Smith for the machines, the humans are to live. These films are definitely something anyone should look into if they like martial arts, and cool gunplay.

Plans for Revision 2

2005-03-22T08:32:00.000-08:00

Well based on the reviews i have recieved I have a little work to do on this analysis. It seems I do just fine when describing the basic layout of the website, but i just need to do further analysis of some parts. My closing is also a little weak so i need to strengthen it. I also need to make my point clearer in the paper. Besides those few details the paper should be coming along just fine, and after I make a few changes the paper should be better.

Abstract

2005-03-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

The site I chose to do this thing on is called, Liberal Blogs. The target audience of this site, is obviously a liberal audience. The site caught my eye, because of the easy to read highlighted and bolded links. The site gives pages and pages of different links to blogs all dealing with different liberal views. The blogs all have different posts giving information or opinions on liberal points. In my paper I will go on to describe the different links displayed on this site. I also talk about the layout of the site. I will also talk about the comments left on the different blog posts. I chose this site mostly cause it is easy to follow, and you have no problem finding the blog you are looking for. I’ve always been interested in other peoples points of view, I myself am more of a democrat, but I have always been pretty open minded.

Themed Post - Films

2005-03-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

Next up for my weekly review of films, is the movie Gladiator.

The movie Gladiator covers the genres of Drama and action. The main character Maximus, is played by Russell Crowe. The film opens up with a huge battle about to start. We then learn that our hero of the film, Maximus, is the general of the Roman Army, and this will be his last battle after years of fighting. The battle ensues and seems realistic since literally hundreds of people were used in the shot. The drama begins with Maximus, after years of battle, is finally able to go home to his wife and child, but before he is let go, the Emperor (Richard Harris), who sees Maximus as a son, asks of him the great honor of receiving his power of emperor, only to give it to the senate. The emperor’s real son (Joaquin Phoenix) is obviously not happen with this decision, and kills his own father, so that he can rule. He then sends Maximus to be killed as well. Maximus escapes and only returns to find his wife and son murdered. This is where the film really picks up, because afterwards he is found by a slave owner (Oliver Reed), who uses slaves to fight in deadly gladiator games. At first it is just small time stuff, but soon it goes to Rome, to the Coliseum, where the murderer of his family is. Long thought to be dead, Maximus returns as a Gladiator in the games, and as such can wield a power greater than that of the emperor’s, and with that power, take his revenge, and give Rome back to the people, as it was intended.

Open Post

2005-03-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

Like my last open post, heres another site that has flash animation, go into the flash portal, thats where most if it is, Newgrounds.com

Into The Blogosphere

2005-02-28T20:33:00.000-08:00

Introduction: Weblogs, Rhetoric, Community, and Culture
The site starts off talking about the introduction of many new digital spaces for writing communicating, we have witnessed during the last two decades. Ranging from hypertext, to chat rooms, to newsgroups, to discussion boards, to MOOS and MUDs, to wikis, and to peer-to-peer file sharing networks. More recently though there has been a new object for study of great rhetorical impact. This object is know as the web log, or blog of short. Scholars have began to realize that the blog is more than just a tool for communication over the web, but also can be used for rhetorical writing spaces. It has been argued that blogs have revolutionized the way we receive information and connect with each other in online environments. The site continues on to define what blogs are, which at this point can be best described as websites that are updated frequently, most often with links to other sites and commentary on the other sites’ content. Blogs can center around one particular topic, or be about anything that the author is interested in, at the time. The site then talks about other articles dealing with bloging.

Word Works: Learning through writing

2005-02-28T19:48:00.000-08:00

The site opens up with some thoughts on thinking rhetorically. It begins by describing rhetoric in a negative way. If you have to “cut through the rhetoric” to get to the substance of an issue, then the substance is not in the rhetoric. It describes rhetoric as a kind of smoke screen or a trick with mirrors. It goes on to deal with the history of rhetoric and says that rhetoric is a tool that can serve either good or evil, as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle knew. It continues with the statement that rhetoric is only used by certain groups of people, such as politicians and orators, but in fact rhetoric is used by everyone. It even goes on to say that in the academic community, faculty and students, would do well to consider ourselves rhetors, even as rhetoricians, students of rhetoric. The site next describes how rhetoric was used in the past. Mostly we think of rhetoric as a means of persuasion, but in the past it was used differently. For example it the middle ages it was concerned with sermons and letter writing, and in the Renaissance it mostly dealt with poetry and creative writing.

Summary of Chapter 2

2005-02-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

This chapter looks at different ways of reading and gives advice on how to deal with each. What it does is give you strategies for dealing with close reading, which gives you a way to understand what a text means and how a writer presents ideas and conveys meanings. It also gives the strategies for dealing with analyzing the rhetorical situation, which gives you ways to understand the larger context of issues and how a writer identifies and responds to the call to write. The first step toward knowing what reading strategies to use would be to preview a piece of writing. You should read the title, headings, and the first sentences of each paragraph. Then answer certain questions the purpose of reading, the writers purpose, the intended audience, and so on. The chapter also gives plenty of tips on reading and understanding websites. For instance it tells you where the information of the author, the internet provider, and last time the site was updated, is usually located.

Plans For Revision

2005-02-21T16:42:00.000-08:00

The reviews I had received were actually pretty helpful. The gave me some feedback on how I can improve on my paper, and what parts were enjoyed by the reader. I definitely have to start working on fixing my paper. It seems I went into the facts a little too much. I need to make sure that the facts I give tie into my memories and experiences better. I also need to improve on my quotes, I did not really set them up correctly, and some of them could have been integrated better than I had done. I also need to elaborate a little more on my memory of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. The way I explained it lets the reader down since I go into it a lot. Besides that bit of editing, I have to add in some other things, such as a works cited page, my annotated bibliography, and start printing out the sites I used for information. With all that done my paper should turn out pretty good.

Themed Entry - Films

2005-02-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

Well continuing on with my theme of Films, the next one up for review can be, ummm, The Big Hit.

The Big Hit covers the Genres of Comedy, Action, and a Thriller. This film stars Mark Wahlberg as Melvin Smiley, a good hearted hit man. Quite a mixture, but that’s where the comedy comes into play. Melvin has some issues, his problem is that he can not stand for anyone, absolutely anyone, not to like him. Now Melvin is a part of a crew of hitmen, Cisco (Lou Diamond Philips), Crunch (Bokeem Woodbine), and Vince (Antonio Sabato Jr.). The craziness starts when Cisco has a plan for some extra cash, it involves a kidnapping, but the soon to be kidnapped girl, is the god daughter of the man that they work for. Everything goes bad when Cisco is to head the search for these kidnappers, and he sets up everyone else. Besides trying to be killed, Melvin other problem lies with his Fiancé Pam (Christina Applegate), and his girlfriend on the side (Lela Rochon). Between pleasing his Fiancés parents, and getting the money to pay for his girlfriends bills, Melvin is having a really bad day. On top of people trying to kill him, his Fiancés parents, and his girlfriend trying to get money out of him, he has to watch out for the girl that they kidnapped (China Chow), whom who starts to fall in love with. From the Hit in the beginning of the movie, to the fight with his old buddy, the action in this movie is pretty good. The comedy is great from beginning to end, due to the situations Melvin is put through. This is a movie I would suggest to anyone, and is something you should take a look at.

My Open Post about things and stuff....

2005-02-21T16:06:00.000-08:00

hmm what can I talk about... I know I'll say that ive been interested in this thing called flash animation lately, I'm just a beginner so I need alot of practice with it. If you are wondering what flash animation is, just visit this site.

Themed Entry - Films

2005-02-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

As you can see with the title, I've chosen to go with the theme of films, and for my first i shall review errr ummm. Well lets see I guess I could talk about the movie that's playing right now. so here it goes

The Golden Child
This is a fairly old film actually coming out on the year that I was born, 1986. This film happens to fall under the Genres of Action, Adventure, Comedy, and Mystery. It covers a lot in that aspect. You have most likely either seen or heard of this film since it is a classic, and of course because it stars a very talented actor who goes by the name Eddie Murphy. Eddie Murphy, who I believe is a comic genius, others may disagree but that’s ok since you’re entitled to your own opinion, has been in many films and most of them obviously remain in the genre of comedy. In this particular film he is a detective who deals with finding missing children. His character is Chandler Jarrell, who is a guy who seems to take nothing seriously except for his job. It is this duty to his job that makes him good at what he does. Therefore he is recruited by a group of people to find a missing child with mystical powers. This child is the golden child and malevolent forces are trying to eliminate him. It is Chandler's job to find the golden child and save mankind, this is because he is the “Chosen One”. Yes it sounds corny but stay with me here. He is the only one who can save the child so he is sent on an adventure that leads him from his home town to Tibet, in a quest to find a sacred dagger that can save the child. That’s the basic idea of the film, its pretty funny, the action isn’t too bad, and the special effects, although by today’s standards suck, for the time are pretty good, so I’d recommend it to anyone, unless you have no sense of humor, in which case, you are missing out.

Blogging.... Stuff

2005-02-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

The world of blogging is completely new to me. Honestly all that stuff on the page was already there… Ok fine I know a little about blogging obviously. Can’t blame me for trying, but lets get to the point. Blogging is pretty much writing down your ideas and/or feelings and posting them onto a personalized site. It’s kind of like a journal, except you don’t have to keep it private. You have that option, but if u wish you can allow other people, total strangers and friends alike, view your entries. These people then have the choice to leave a comment, or be totally rude and leave without saying a word. The cause of this little commenting option is the thing we call an online community. People commenting others on their thoughts and ideas, and in turn being commented on theirs. The cycle goes on and on thus creating a online community of writers. Now what could u put into your blog you might ask? Well pretty much anything. Try to avoid anything with explicit material, that goes without saying. Anyway, you could put anything on your blog, the events of that day, and ideas u might have, any feelings you might want to express, lists of things you like to eat, ANYTHING. That last one was kind of random. Besides just plain words you can insert pictures into your posts making the site a little more personalized. You could also put in links to other sites u might want other people to visit. There’s plenty you could do with a blog. In our case, we are using it for class, and we can comment on each others errr stuff. You can even personalize your blog with codes to make it look a certain way or have a certain feel, as u can see I’ve already gone ahead and done a little bit of personalization myself, most of which is on the bottom of this page. Anyways yeah that’s pretty much what u could do with a blog and what I have learned about blogging. So to recap you can do pretty much anything, ideas, feelings, pictures, stuff, just blog it.

Throwing Snowballs

2005-02-07T17:55:00.000-08:00

1.) Dilard talking about playing football and baseball revealed that she wasn't your everyday seven yeay old girl. She seemed to be more of a tomboy. This information prepares us by letting us know she is athletic.
2.) What made Dilard so happy was just the fact of being a kid and having fun. Also she was happy because of the man who seem to be just like her when it came to doing something. They both didnt do it half heartedly. "But how could the glory last forever?" Here we can see how she admired her chaser because of his unwillingness to give up.
3.) The adjective Skinny is important because it's fairly obvious that a skinny man would not be fit enough to chase athletic children as much as he did. Furious and redheaded go together because fury or rage is usually associated with the color red. Dillard uses the word sainted because the man's unwillingness to give up his chase is recognized by her.
4.) Dillard assumes that when the man catches the children, the readers will assume he will give them some sort of talk about the dangers of throwing snowballs at cars, but instead all he says is "You stupid kids,". This brings the readers attention back to the discovery she made during this chase, that this man did not give up his chase, all just to say "You stupid kids,".

Atheist Childhood
This is something i could definently relate to. At a younger age, yeah I did attend Masses, and went to church, but as i grew older I grew out of the habit. Honestly religion never played an important role in my life, not to say I'm an atheist, let's just say I have my own ideas. Getting back to the point though, I could imagine the whole idea of being forced to practice a religion, when i myself dont believe in it, being a very annoying and pointless experience.