Chris' English 112 Weblog

Extra Credit Documentary

defrancr — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 02:50:37 +0000

So last week I watched a documentary for what I thought would be interesting fun. This wasn’t on the list but March of the Penguins was and it was made by the same people, so I figured I would give it a shot and write about it to see if it would be worth any extra credit. I watched Arctic Tale, which is a documentary that intertwines a story about a Polar Bear and a Seal. Both are babies when the documentary first starts off, and the story follows them through their life as they grow up to continue the circle of life. The documentary caught my eye because it was Starbuck’s featured Dvd at one point so I decided to check it out. Also, it is narrated by Queen Latifah which I think is just to get more publicity and appeal to more people by having it narrated by a celebrity.

The first thing that I noticed about the story within the documentary was that they did not name the brother of the main polar bear Nanu. They just kept saying “and Nanu’s brother”. At this point I knew he was not going to make it to the end of the movie. I think because this movie is geared more towards families, it was kind of a smart move so that children don’t build an attachment to the cub that in the end wasn’t going to make it. Also, the fact that the movie included some deaths and really focused on the fact that these animals’ environment was changing really had a big impact on me. The story wasn’t as much about these animals being cute for the cameras, but more about how because of how we have been living our lives, animals have to change their way of living to adapt to the world around them that is melting away.

The story did a nice job of not being too preachy on the whole environmental issue, but made sure that it was an important issue in the story. Instead of showing the polar bears struggle to get food, they showed how they had to change their way of hunting because of the melting ice. The story of the sea lion and the polar bear crossed paths towards the end, but it was more back and forth. The issues stayed the same though with both groups of animals. The seals were struggling to survive because they had no ice to rest on during their long journeys, and the polar bears’ struggles were shown also. Queen Latifah’s narration had a way of making sure that the audience knew that this was because of our changing environment and because of what we were doing. At the same time though, the environmental message wasn’t direct and up front as say the ending of Happy Feet which I am still really bitter about for being too preachy. They were able to incorporate an important message into a interesting and fun documentary that families can enjoy, and at the same time talk about how they can help and possibly make a difference.

Weekly Blog Post

defrancr — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:09:23 +0000

So I haven’t done a post in a while, and I’m not doing much today so I figured I would do it now. It’s soo nice out, and im going to lay out in a little bit, but other than that nothing else is going on. I’m going to a “white trash bash” themed party tonight for my friend’s birthday so that should be fun.

As part of this weekly blog I figured I would post a video too. I’m newly obsessed with this song. It’s so good, and like Kylie doesn’t get much attention in the states anymore so I figured I would share it with everyone!

Weekly Blog Post

defrancr — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:41:35 +0000

So it’s like 1:37 and for some reason I’m not tired at all. I just watched the season finale of Rock of Love, my favorite show, and I was soooo happy with who Bret picked. I know like those reality dating shows are trashy and all the girls are whores, but for some reason I still watch them every week. Surprisingly though, the girl he picked was probably the most down to earth one, and the one I really wanted to win because I felt like she was really genuine. Haha this is so dumb that I’m writing about this, but it’s just how I spent an hour and half of my night so I felt the need to share. Also, I went to the Bodies exhibit today, and it was sooo interesting. Some of it was a little bit gross and hard to look at (like the babies part), but it was really worth going, and really fascinating.

Audio Documentaries

defrancr — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:32:03 +0000

So I didn’t listen to all of the documentaries all the way through, but I did enough to get the basic gist of them. I’m not really a huge sports fan so I wasn’t completely paying attention to the Miami Hockey one, but for people who like sports or are really into school spirit it was definitely something that would be great to listen to, and also probably very interesting. The tough room documentary just wasn’t my thing. I think it was about politics, but I dont really like or understand politics so it did nothing for me. I think the audiences for these documentaries were geared towards people who have specific interests about these topics. If you just like documentaries, I dont think you will get much out of these because it’s all audio so theres not much there besides just the facts.

Intro to Documentary

defrancr — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 12:35:54 +0000

Documentary is usually a word that I associate with television or movies. I think of a moving camera, a story narrated by either a british person or someone famous like Morgan Freeman or Queen Latifa (from the docs that I’ve seen), capturing something that is going on in our world today. It can either be a nature documentary, one about war, politics, the environment, the possibilities are endless. Whatever it is though, in my opinion it has to be delving deeper into something that we usually would not get to see or know upon first glance. Documentary’s are also made about famous people or tragic events. I think documentary’s are kind of like literature in a way, that they are giving very detailed accounts about something and telling a story.

Truth

defrancr — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:33:56 +0000

The truth that I think is most important, is probably life truth. It is the one that has to do with everyone in all types of writing. Historical fact is important for credibility, but life truth is necessary for any kind of writing that is nonfiction. You have to establish yourself to your readers, and if people aren’t sure what’s true and what’s not, then the reading is not going to have the desired effect that the author is intending. I think consistency coherence is probably the least important of the metaphorical truths, but at the same time that doesn’t mean it isn’t important at all. In writing you need consistency to make sure that everything makes sense and is not all jumbled, otherwise your other truth’s don’t matter.

Weekly Blog Post

defrancr — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:21:45 +0000

So for this weeks blog post I decided to try to add an image to my blog see how that worked and how everything looked. I picked an image from Saturday night, because me and my friends went to an 80s themed party and it was so much fun. It’s just a fun picture with a look at the crazy outfits that we wore.

My Toon for Killing Yourself to Live

defrancr — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:14:56 +0000

For my toon I wanted to kind of summarize Chuck’s journey. I had a few problems with the website, so my toon isnt very good. Also, I couldn’t remember the name of the place that Chuck visits where the bar burned down, but thats what my second slide is about.

Sequence III – Part 2 Possibilities

defrancr — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:15:55 +0000

For the second part of our Sequence III project, I think I want to do something more along the creative lines rather than another 4 pages of writing like part 1. I think maybe I might do the journey of Chuck Klosterman, followed by writing a short chapter that occurs after this book is written. I would do these two together, because I think alot of people kind of forget all the places he goes in this book and what happens because so much does. Also, I feel like the story didn’t have very much closure, so that’s why after showing his journey I would want to add the extra chapter just to maybe add a little closure to his journey and bring it full circle.

The End of Killing Yourself To Live

defrancr — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:09:01 +0000

I think Killing Yourself to Live will end with some kind of closure of Klosterman’s journey. Whether it be him completing his story for spin and then traveling back home, or having some kind of closure with one of the girls or himself during his journey. The book doesn’t really have a specific story right now holding it together except for the journey, so it could end in so many different ways, but I definitely think that it will bring about at least some closure, for Chuck more than us. He is the one who is remembering all this stuff for a reason on his journey, so I think the randomness of it all will have something to do with the ending.