http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2e3MPI/www.ted.com/talks/rick_smolan_tells_the_story_of_a_girl.html/
Summary: This presentation was about a girl named Natasha, who was born in Korea and lived with her grandmother. A photographer named Rick Smolan met the wester-looking girl and her grandmother and began taking picture of them until the grandmother informed Smolan that she was going to die, and needed to find a family for the girl. Smolan then tells of his journey to find her an adoptive family and move her to the United States. Natasha grew up to be extremely successful in the U.S, and was given opportunities that she never would have received in her rural town of Korea.
Author/Source: Rick Smolan is a famous photographer who has taken pictures world-wide for TIME, LIFE, and National Geographic magazine. He is now CEO of Against All Odds Productions. Smolan told this story in December of 2007 in Los Angeles, which was recorded and is now on the TED website. TED conferences give people the chance to present their ideas, hence their slogan: "ideas worth spreading". Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, and Al Gore are just some of the names of people who have presented on TED.
Context/Exigence: The context of this presentation is the young girl, Natasha, who was born in Korea with limited opportunities but given a new life in the United States. The exigence is how interesting her story is, and how far she has come since she was taken out of Korea in the 70's. People are fascinated with her progress, which is the reason why Smolan told her her story.
Purpose: The purpose of this presentation was to tell the story of an amazing girl who's life was transformed. The story was mostly for entertainment, but also to inspire people to give every child a chance at life, because they have the potential to be very successful. Smolan accomplishes this purpose.
Rhetorical Devices: This story is very emotional, in order for Smolan to make an influence on his audience and to get their attention. However he also structures his speech so that the audience does not know what happened to the girl, and have a vague view of where she is currently for most of the presentation. This makes the story somewhat suspenseful, and attracts the attention of the audience. At the end, he finally ends the suspense and introduces Natasha to the audience. He also includes images, not just because he is a photographer, but so that the audience can imagine the girl and picture the story in their minds, also appealing to the audience's interest.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
AOW #15: Painting
http://johnbriner.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/starry-night.jpg
Summary: The Starry Night was painted in 1888 buy Dutch impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. The painting uses impressionism, painting strokes to capture the mood instead of an accurate depiction. Since its creation in 1941, The Starry Night has become one of the most famous paintings in the world and is held in the Museum of Modern Arts in New York City.
Source: This painting was by Vincent van Gogh, one of the most popular artists in the world today. His work is priceless, as all of his paintings are beautiful. Any museum would love to have just one of his pictures. Even though he died in the early 1800's, his work has become infinitely famous.
Context: Van Gogh created this picture by looking outside his sanitarium room at night. The exigence is the beauty and mood of the night that few artists were able to capture until van Gogh.
Purpose: The painter's purpose was to not simply paint what the night looked like, but to give the painting a mood or feeling that any viewer could easily identify. I think he accomplished this purpose extremely well.
Rhetorical Devices: Van Gogh was an impressionist, so clearly The Starry Night was an example of impressionism. The brush stokes do not look clear when looking at the image close, however when you back away and see the entire image a mood or feeling is created. This was van Gogh's purpose. He also portrayed mood using color. He juxtaposes light and dark figures, when night is usually thought of as entirely dark.
Summary: The Starry Night was painted in 1888 buy Dutch impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh. The painting uses impressionism, painting strokes to capture the mood instead of an accurate depiction. Since its creation in 1941, The Starry Night has become one of the most famous paintings in the world and is held in the Museum of Modern Arts in New York City.
Source: This painting was by Vincent van Gogh, one of the most popular artists in the world today. His work is priceless, as all of his paintings are beautiful. Any museum would love to have just one of his pictures. Even though he died in the early 1800's, his work has become infinitely famous.
Context: Van Gogh created this picture by looking outside his sanitarium room at night. The exigence is the beauty and mood of the night that few artists were able to capture until van Gogh.
Purpose: The painter's purpose was to not simply paint what the night looked like, but to give the painting a mood or feeling that any viewer could easily identify. I think he accomplished this purpose extremely well.
Rhetorical Devices: Van Gogh was an impressionist, so clearly The Starry Night was an example of impressionism. The brush stokes do not look clear when looking at the image close, however when you back away and see the entire image a mood or feeling is created. This was van Gogh's purpose. He also portrayed mood using color. He juxtaposes light and dark figures, when night is usually thought of as entirely dark.
Friday, December 9, 2011
AOW #14: IRB
Decoded
By Jay-Z
Author: Jay-Z is an American rapper, producer, and entrepreneur. He is considered a revolutionary in black and rap history, becoming a millionaire with his extremely successful albums. Jay-Z is not only extrmemly successful, but has become a very popular public figure, dating Beyonce and owning the New York Mets while continueing to produce chart-topping hits.
Summary: In this first section I read, Jay-Z gives an insight to his childhood and how he got involved in rapping. Going up in the projects in New York, Jay-Z had experiences most children would not have, which modivated him to tell his story in rymes. This section goes on to Jay-Z's start in the rap business, and his increased popularity in his younger years. The book also goes into some of his early raps, and breaks each song down to explain his verses.
Context: The context is Jay-Z and his music. While he goes off about other rapper's music, it connects to his own becuase it is where he drew inspiration. The exigence for this book was Jay-Z's popularity, music, and people's curiosity aurrounding it. This led Jay-Z to write a book about his life and where his lyrics came from, hense the name Decoded.
Purpose: The purpose of this section was to give an idea of where he was from and to inform the reader of how he got this start. Readers can see some of his stories and veiws in his lyrics, which allows the reader to connect the music with Jay's acutal life. He accomplishes this purpose.
Audience: Readers who enjoy rap music or Jay-Z.
Rhetorical Elements: Jay-Z begins his story very biographical, descibing the story of his life. In a way he uses many allusions and metaphores in his writing and songs to portray his personal experiences. While this section is very logical, it also gets very emotional, as Jay descibes his own personal struggle and then explains how everyone has a struggle, not just those who are poor or living in the conditions that he did. This appeals to a readers memory and gives one a better understand of how he feels and what his music is about.
By Jay-Z
Author: Jay-Z is an American rapper, producer, and entrepreneur. He is considered a revolutionary in black and rap history, becoming a millionaire with his extremely successful albums. Jay-Z is not only extrmemly successful, but has become a very popular public figure, dating Beyonce and owning the New York Mets while continueing to produce chart-topping hits.
Summary: In this first section I read, Jay-Z gives an insight to his childhood and how he got involved in rapping. Going up in the projects in New York, Jay-Z had experiences most children would not have, which modivated him to tell his story in rymes. This section goes on to Jay-Z's start in the rap business, and his increased popularity in his younger years. The book also goes into some of his early raps, and breaks each song down to explain his verses.
Context: The context is Jay-Z and his music. While he goes off about other rapper's music, it connects to his own becuase it is where he drew inspiration. The exigence for this book was Jay-Z's popularity, music, and people's curiosity aurrounding it. This led Jay-Z to write a book about his life and where his lyrics came from, hense the name Decoded.
Purpose: The purpose of this section was to give an idea of where he was from and to inform the reader of how he got this start. Readers can see some of his stories and veiws in his lyrics, which allows the reader to connect the music with Jay's acutal life. He accomplishes this purpose.
Audience: Readers who enjoy rap music or Jay-Z.
Rhetorical Elements: Jay-Z begins his story very biographical, descibing the story of his life. In a way he uses many allusions and metaphores in his writing and songs to portray his personal experiences. While this section is very logical, it also gets very emotional, as Jay descibes his own personal struggle and then explains how everyone has a struggle, not just those who are poor or living in the conditions that he did. This appeals to a readers memory and gives one a better understand of how he feels and what his music is about.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
AOW #13: Article
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1EhJvk/www.economist.com/node/21541015
Summary: This article is about how a nation with a poor reputation, Africa, is finally making a comeback. The article goes into specifics and statistics as to what progress is being made. It describes new improvements and gives hope that Africa's success will continue, overcoming being a struggling continent with many dispositions such as poverty, lack of resources, and disease.
Source/Author: This article does not include a name of the author. However, it came from The Economist, a popular and creditable magazine published globally. Because the author cites many sources to support his argument I would consider him fairly credible.
Context: The context of the article is obviously Africa, which has been known to be a recessive continent for many years now. The exigence is the fact that Africa now seems to be going in a new, positive, direction, meaning change for an entire nation and it's people. This change is important to educate others on.
Purpose: The author wrote this with a purpose to give Africa a new, more hopeful light in contrast to how it is usual portrayed, as helpless and suffering in many areas. It was written to educate people of this change using statistics to prove the author's point. The author accomplished their purpose as they proved a valid argument.
Audience: Readers of the Economist.
Rhetorical Elements: The author's writing is obviously very logical, as they have to try to prove a point and establish credibility. His tone and style are also very positive, as this article is very happy and hopeful because the topic is cheerful. Had the author been writing about content like the fall of a country instead of the success, the tone may be much more pessimistic.
Summary: This article is about how a nation with a poor reputation, Africa, is finally making a comeback. The article goes into specifics and statistics as to what progress is being made. It describes new improvements and gives hope that Africa's success will continue, overcoming being a struggling continent with many dispositions such as poverty, lack of resources, and disease.
Source/Author: This article does not include a name of the author. However, it came from The Economist, a popular and creditable magazine published globally. Because the author cites many sources to support his argument I would consider him fairly credible.
Context: The context of the article is obviously Africa, which has been known to be a recessive continent for many years now. The exigence is the fact that Africa now seems to be going in a new, positive, direction, meaning change for an entire nation and it's people. This change is important to educate others on.
Purpose: The author wrote this with a purpose to give Africa a new, more hopeful light in contrast to how it is usual portrayed, as helpless and suffering in many areas. It was written to educate people of this change using statistics to prove the author's point. The author accomplished their purpose as they proved a valid argument.
Audience: Readers of the Economist.
Rhetorical Elements: The author's writing is obviously very logical, as they have to try to prove a point and establish credibility. His tone and style are also very positive, as this article is very happy and hopeful because the topic is cheerful. Had the author been writing about content like the fall of a country instead of the success, the tone may be much more pessimistic.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Unit 2 Reflection
Governing of society does not come with an instruction manual. If it did, dispute over how to run its people would not exist. However, Niccolo Machiavelli comes closer than other philosophers to describe the procedure of controlling society. While Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau had valid theories, Machiavelli's work, The Prince, includes suggestions most valid to our society.
Machiavelli gave clear instructions to leaders of men, which not only apply to those of his time but also in our society. One of his suggestions was for a "prince" to say what was needed in order to get support of his people, but to betray his word if necessary. Our American politicians today are perfect examples of Machiavelli's idea. Even President Barack Obama has claimed to perform actions which he never pursued further. Machiavelli also argues that a government cannot be too generous nor stingy, which also proves true in American society. Taxes placed on citizens are constantly debated to be too high or low. Without these taxes, however, there would be no way to protect or maintain our country, such as funding the Iraq war and bailing out our economy. If these taxes were to get too high, American citizens would rebel as they have prior to the American Revolution. Therefore, the government has to maintain a balance between their being generous with lower taxation or stingy with higher taxes.
Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau had theories which I do not believe hold true in society today. Hobbes believed in an absolute monarchy government, which does not exist in our country because our democracy has proven more popular than a tyranny. American citizens have come to treasure rights such as voting for leaders and having checks and balances in the government so that no person or group has too much power. Locke believed in a very liberal society where there was no aristocracy. While this seems ideal, it will never be the case in our society as there are different economic classes and jobs. Rousseau also theorized that all men are equal, which is unrealistic in America. Without a need to advance in society, our country would not be as progressive as it currently is.
While Rousseau, Hobbs, and Locke all had valid theories about mankind and society, their ideas do not hold true today. Because Machiavelli's ideas are so prevalent in American government today, his opinion is much more justifiable than the other philosophers.
Machiavelli gave clear instructions to leaders of men, which not only apply to those of his time but also in our society. One of his suggestions was for a "prince" to say what was needed in order to get support of his people, but to betray his word if necessary. Our American politicians today are perfect examples of Machiavelli's idea. Even President Barack Obama has claimed to perform actions which he never pursued further. Machiavelli also argues that a government cannot be too generous nor stingy, which also proves true in American society. Taxes placed on citizens are constantly debated to be too high or low. Without these taxes, however, there would be no way to protect or maintain our country, such as funding the Iraq war and bailing out our economy. If these taxes were to get too high, American citizens would rebel as they have prior to the American Revolution. Therefore, the government has to maintain a balance between their being generous with lower taxation or stingy with higher taxes.
Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau had theories which I do not believe hold true in society today. Hobbes believed in an absolute monarchy government, which does not exist in our country because our democracy has proven more popular than a tyranny. American citizens have come to treasure rights such as voting for leaders and having checks and balances in the government so that no person or group has too much power. Locke believed in a very liberal society where there was no aristocracy. While this seems ideal, it will never be the case in our society as there are different economic classes and jobs. Rousseau also theorized that all men are equal, which is unrealistic in America. Without a need to advance in society, our country would not be as progressive as it currently is.
While Rousseau, Hobbs, and Locke all had valid theories about mankind and society, their ideas do not hold true today. Because Machiavelli's ideas are so prevalent in American government today, his opinion is much more justifiable than the other philosophers.
AOW #12: Advertisement
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBQQ8rYFcu4
This advertisement was for Kay Jewelers and features a woman who is both a mother and wife kissing her children and showing love for them. There is a narration in the background explaining how much mothers do and how they care for their families. The narrator attempts to convince the audience to show that they care for their mother by buying her diamonds from Kay Jewelers.
This advertisement was obviously made by Kay Jewelers in order to appeal to audiences who watched TV and were children or husbands. The context of this advertisement was mothers and showing all of the wonderful things they do in order to appeal emotionally to viewers with memory of their own mothers and their love. The exigence for this commercial was that it was around the time of Mother's Day, therefor families would need to get presents for their mothers.
The purpose of this advertisement was to convince families to buy Kay Jewelry for their mothers and wives for Mother's Day. As stated above, the commercial clearly appeals to viewers emotion and memory of mothers. It also seems logical because the majority of women in America love diamonds, therefore a mother should love diamonds and a viewer should then buy their mother diamonds (syllogism). Kay Jewelers achieved their purpose to attempt to get viewers to buy their products, because they reached out to a wide variety of people watching television whom would have then went to Kay Jewelers.
This advertisement was for Kay Jewelers and features a woman who is both a mother and wife kissing her children and showing love for them. There is a narration in the background explaining how much mothers do and how they care for their families. The narrator attempts to convince the audience to show that they care for their mother by buying her diamonds from Kay Jewelers.
This advertisement was obviously made by Kay Jewelers in order to appeal to audiences who watched TV and were children or husbands. The context of this advertisement was mothers and showing all of the wonderful things they do in order to appeal emotionally to viewers with memory of their own mothers and their love. The exigence for this commercial was that it was around the time of Mother's Day, therefor families would need to get presents for their mothers.
The purpose of this advertisement was to convince families to buy Kay Jewelry for their mothers and wives for Mother's Day. As stated above, the commercial clearly appeals to viewers emotion and memory of mothers. It also seems logical because the majority of women in America love diamonds, therefore a mother should love diamonds and a viewer should then buy their mother diamonds (syllogism). Kay Jewelers achieved their purpose to attempt to get viewers to buy their products, because they reached out to a wide variety of people watching television whom would have then went to Kay Jewelers.
Monday, November 21, 2011
AOW #11: Political Cartoon
Context: This cartoon portrays how widespread technology such as ipads and iphones have become, and also how social sites such as Twitter and Facebook are so popular. This cartoon is making fun of how dependent people have become on technology today and how literally everyone does it, using a baby to show how young use of technology and the internet starts.
Source/Author: Drawn by Mick Stevens, this cartoon is from The New Yorker. Stevens has appeared in many publications, such as The Harvard Business Review, Barons', The National Law Journal, and USA Weekend. He has also published a few books filled with his cartoons.
Purpose: Stevens's purpose was to exaggerate Americans' use of technology and social networking. By using a baby as a Apple user, Stevens sends a message that even babies are participating in the trend. I believe he accomplishes this purpose.
Audience: Readers of The New Yorker magazine.
Rhetorical Elements: This image is very ironic, considering that babies cannot speak let alone update a status on the internet. In order to understand this comic an audience also has to have previous knowledge about the situation like current computers and phones, knowing what an infirmary for babies would look like, and knowing that OMG is a term often used on the internet for statuses. Stevens is clearly using readers' memory as a rhetorical device.
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