Home Comparison

My home is vastly different than the community described in this story. The author talks about a thriving community with homes constantly being built in an upper middle class to rich society. My town is a small quiet community that is growing a lot, but it has a long way to go to catch up with this town. The phrase that caught my eye is that of people enjuying their 3 cheese omelets and strawberry waffles overlooking the fairway. In my hometown the nicest you get is Waffle House or IHOP, which is nowhere near a golf course. This suburbia is a very corporate driven community with homes and buildings aceraging in the 200,000 thousand dollar range. My home has its share of wealthy folks, but the majority is a much more middle class average town. We don't have any lavish buildings unless you count the mall. We have a YMCA, but it is nothing in comparison to the state of the art work out center the author describes from his home town. Hardly anyone is seen with a Porsche or BMW, and as the author states, "walls are everywhere". There is virtually no place that is off limits in my home town, except for the occasional small neighborhood of wealthy people. My home town has much more in common with the neighboring town Henderson that is described in the story. It is a blue collar community where everyone is involved with one another.

Feelings About Home

memories/feelings
playing guitar or video games
lounging and watching tv
looking out the window at the birds a lot
overall feeling of relaxation and comfort in that room
particular memory of getting friends over for poker and taking their money

I chose to draw a sketch of the bonus room in my house. I spend 90% of my free time at home there. It is always a place of familiarity, relaxation, and comfort. Most of my memories are just laying around on the couch watching tv or playing games, but there were also a few exciting times.
One of my fondest memories comes from that room. I invited several friends over after soccer practice on Friday because we were to broke to go do anything else. We played some games and a few other things til my friend Griffin saw my poker set. We set it up because we all thought we could take each others money and make a few quick bucks. I won all 3 games, and I remember the look on my friends faces and their pleading for money back more than anything else about that game. It makes me smile to this day, and that's why that room is home to me. It is where some of the most fun events happened with my friends, and it is where I always go to just relax. When I went home for fall break, it was the first room I went to.

SNL Context

To understand this skit you need to be aware of current events. Clinton and Palin are the first women who have a real shot at being in the white house, and the skit plays on their credentials for it and their wanting to be there. The funny parts play on Palin's lack of experience and inteligence, and Tina Fey does a good job of making her ditzy. And Poehler's imitation of the desperately power hungry and bitter Clinton works as well. No one will understand these jokes, though, if they don't know about Palin being inexperienced and not even knowing what the Bush doctrine is, and Clinton losing after fighting such a desperate battle.

If I Were a Girl.....

The first thing I would do if I were a girl for a day is to get myself all pretty. There is such a big deal about looking perfect to women, and I want to see what the experience is like with the hair and makeup and everything else. I would then of course go in a women's bathroom just because I can, and because they are usually nicer than the guy's. Other than that, I wouldn't try to do much else differently. I would try to be with friends, watch tv, etc. I wouldn't let the gender stereotypes get to me too much.

Observations and Inferences of Campus Ad

OBSERVATIONS

black and red colors

male audience with manly things (football, athlete, truck)

positive tone with aspect of winning tailgate prize

the point is to buy Coke Zero and win stuff

INFERENCES

the black and red colors along with the sports stuff appeal to a primarily male audience

the aspect of winning appeals to peoples logic

and it shines Coke Zero in a positive light

SUMMARY

This ad is intended to sell Coke Zero to a primarily male audience. It is littered with dark, serious colors and athletic wares. It has a positive tone by providing the chance to win a prize, which appeals to peoples' logos, and it has good ethos by making the character of Coke Zero seem masculine and relatable to other guys. There's not much of an emotional appeal here, but I think it is still effective for essentially making Diet Coke, a mostly feminine beverage, appeal to men.

Brain on Drugs Inferrences

First Video

very short and to the point

serious tone

contextually you don't need to know much, just that eggs fry in a pan. you can however see it as an homage to the other add if you've seen it, but it isn't necessary for the message

the purpose is to provide an analogy for how dangerous drugs are

i would say it is not very effective because of its brevity

Second Video

this one is a good deal longer 

serious tone

although not necessary for the message, it adds a lot that it is a teen idol giving the message to the intended teen audience

the purpose is to show how dangerous drugs are not only to you but to others

i think this one is much more effective, as it is more emotionally charged and it elaborates on the danger of drugs more than the other

The two videos try to persuade people against drugs, but they employ different strategies. The first video is a very short to the point commercial that shows an egg frying in a pan. This appeals to peoples logical sense in that drugs are bad. We get it. The problem is that it makes no effort to appeal to any other sense. There is no emotional plea, and no credibility is established other than the organization logo at the end. This video is not as effective as the other one. The second video conveys the same serious tone and establishes the same logical appeal as the other, and then it goes further. The celebrity helps at to the ethos because teens are going to trust her, and her outlandish behavior pulls a few emotional strings as well. This video is much more effective because it hits on all three points.

Olympic Inferrences

I will write about the picture shown in class of the Chinese official standing before the Bird's Nest.

OBSERVATIONS

the official is wearing emotionless face despite the jubilant atmosphere

it is set during night-time with an impressive display of fireworks

there are vibrant colors all over the place except for the stoic guard wearing very drab attire

INFERRENCES

You can infer from the guards very official stance and clothes that he is representing a country that wants to take itself seriously.The fireworks can be perceived as multiple things. They can be viewed as a celebration of china's growth or they can be shown as a contrast, where china is remaining calm and formal during "funtime". As if they're saying "we're adults and we are not going to be cought up in some trivial game, we are a super power that takes itself seriously".

This same contrast is shown with the bright colored festivities and the guard's drab uniform. I think the whole point that China is making is that they are the world's most prominent force. Everything they do is grand and powerful, and no other nation can match their might.