FINAL PORTFOLIO!

Here is the link to my website- my final portfolio:

http://samanthasportfolio.weebly.com/

ENJOY!

He's Just Not That Into You: Gigi and Alex Ending Scene Review

One of the concluding love stories in the roamantic comedy, "He's Just Not That Into You", staring the main charcters Gigi, a desperate lover whose goal in the movie is finding her soul mate, played by Ginnifer Goodwin, and Alex, a non-believer in true love who gives Gigi expert advice into a guys mind, played by Justin Long. In this scene, we see the pair finally get together, and Gigi achieving her fairytale ending.

The scene is beautifully done, and is one of the few movies that brings the reprise of an earlier scene in the moive: the pen scene. Alex holds up the pen that Gigi had previously held up to him in the beginning of the movie, beginning their friendship when Alex sees that Gigi needs some advice on how guys operate.

When the slow music plays in the background, leading up to a crecendo at the moment the two kiss, the viewer instantly knew something was going to happen. Music gives a pre-warning to events like that, and we wish music could play in real life to let us know if we would have a happy or sad ending- to give us some sort of heads up. It also sets the mood for the viewer, playing with their emotions as it all leads up to the kiss and the viewer's heart finally takes flight.

Gigi and Alex are the "exception" to the rule of realtionships. With the music playing in the background, the almost rejection to Alex, the kiss that interrupts Gigi's speech, and how it all works out in the end as Alex tells Gigi, "You're my exception," we can all see why the director has it happen this way. It is the cliche moment that every girl wants. However, this scene also shows the idea of how every girl should be when a guy comes crawling back to their door. Gigi, is a role model in this scene, questioning if she should accept Alex, who rejected her before, or stay with the nice, safe, guy she just went out with. Alex then of course does his speech that is every girl's dream to hear from a guy, another cliche in a romance movie, about how he cannot eat, sleep, or just function in general without her, and is actually turning into her. But, Gigi, showing character development, actually thinks about her options for once, instead of jumping straight into it. She is straight up with Alex as she begins to reject him, using all the advice, events, and words he had told her against him. She sees through his speech, thinking these are just false words being said so he can win her, a twist of events for a romance movie- usually the girl falls for these speeches. As she thinks aloud about her options, continuing her refusal, a rarity of a woman's actions these days, he kisses her. Then, just like that, Alex wins, which is another cliche. Although it is a hollywood ending, there is still a statement being said, teaching girls to not just take any guy who comes knocking, but rather, to stand up and use some brain power thinking about what is best for them. Though, it also teaches them to accept any guy who kisses you in the middle of your sentence...rude much? But, if you like cliche romantic endings, you'll like this moive.

While I wanted to gag at this overly done, cheesy scene, most girls, after hearing Alex tell Gigi she is his exception, would say something along the lines of "AWWW! That's a good line. That's a loving, caring, boyfriend, girlfriend, I-Wanna-Be-Serious, line." However, secretly, I enjoyed the scene, feeling my heart flutter and wishing guys in real life would go after a girl, more specifically, me- that guys could actually be that romantic in real life. I don't know how exactly I fell to like the scene. Maybe it was the soft music, the kiss that they whole movie led up to that Alex did in the middle of Gigi's sentence, the speech, or perhaps, the fact that I am a girl and it is just in my nature to like romantic movies, such as this one, that keeps hope alive that there are still some really nice guys out there, and all I have to do is just wait for them to come to me. This moive speaks the truth about how men act, and women respond. I think we could all learn a little something from this moive, open our eyes so that there are less heartbreaks in this world.

And with all this being said, I must admit that all of us women, to some degree, are all Gigis, and that is why we like this movie so much.


Here is the clip I am talking about (I would have posted the video here, but the embeding was diabled, so I could not get the embed code...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm-lPMZJM1I&feature=related

Here are two other super short clips from the movie that I just really like. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22oWiplTIs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWX95Pmipow&feature=related

Evaluations

Evaluations can be criticism, such as with a movie or new album release. It is giving your opinion about the movie or album, for example, evaluating it and determining if you think it is worth seeing or listening to. An evaluation, is your judgement on something.

From  How to Write Anything, pages 102-118, part of the latest reading in class, I have learned that the easiest way to judge something is to create and define a criteria, which "are standards by which objects are measured: A good furnace should heat a home quickly and efficently" (104). With this cirteria, you can either defend your dissions or explain and discuss them in more detail, depending on the reader's reaction to your criteria. So, now using your criteria, you write your opinion on say, the movie or album, using facts, examples, statistics, testimony and just good reasoing as evidence and support for what you are saying. Also, advice is helpful to include for the reader, because sometimes, people are reading your review because they cannot decide for themself between two options, or just want to hear someone's opinion, and so, help them out with their choice. Tell the reader what you think, what you would do, any regrets afterward, and just weigh the positives and negatives for them. However, something important I learned while reading about this is that you should always stand by your values and write on something you know well, you do not want to confuse your reader and give them mixed signals. Also, be sure to keep an open mind, because this is your opinion, doesn't make it the right one. People are entitled to their own opinion, and if they want to disagree with you, they can, but don't get upset over it, because that is just their opinion, and it happens to be different than yours. So what? Maybe, with different opinions and views on something, together, a deeper understanding od say, the movie or album, could develope. I mean, two heads are better than one. Just don't expect everyone to instantly agree with your opinion on something. Plus, follow the criteria, and be fair. Don't put a personal view on something that goes away from the criteria you had already set out.

Moreover,  keep the audience in mind. Who are you writing this evalution for? If it is for a general auidence, you have to explain more, defining key terms, than if it was an expert on the subject because they are considered knowledgeable readers.

Lastly, pay attention to developing materials (the criteria), and then creating the structure, such as "a basic review might announce a subject and make a claim, list critera of evlauation, present evidence to show whether the subject meets those standards, and draw conclusions" (113). It may also be helpful for the structure to have a focal point, or to do a compare and contrast to show strengths and weaknesses.

The final touch to this whole review, and final step, is to choose a style and design, including visuals that will enhance and show what the review is about.

Hopefully this helps, if anyone out there wants to write a review on something.

Parts of an Essay

Alright, so for my classmates today, I plan to keep this short and sweet. I know you look at what I write and such, but don't repsond because it's so long. I agree with you. I wouldn't even read my own work. So, today, I'm going to try to not write a lot...

One of the readings for class, that we even talked about, was about parts of an essay. These parts include the title, thesis, intro, transitions, and the conclusion. From these readings, I learned that the title should help the writer stay on topic, be related to the topic the writer is writing about, tell the reader something the paper is going to be about, grab attention of a possible reader, be specific, and be aware of tone, audience, and style. P ersonally, I have the most trouble being creative for a title that will grab someone's attention and also tell what the paper will be on. For me, you can't have it both ways...

Next up is the most difficult part of the essay, and most important. It is the thesis. The thesis is the main argument that is often in the introduction, but does not have to be. It can be in the second paragraph, or even the last one. It must be a complete, detailed and specific sentence that is an opinion, something arguable and debateable, not a fact.

The first paragraph is called the introduction. This serves to formally introduce the argument, usually containing the thesis. This paragraph sets tone for rest of paper, and provides background information. Some possible ways to start this paragraph is with an anecdote, quote, data, or a question. It is important that it grabs the reader's attention, because the reader can choose to stop reading at any point. It can be multiple paragraphs long. To be honest, I have the most trouble starting the intro and incorporating my thesis in it. I usually go with a quote.

Next up are transitions. These make the writing flow smoothly, and are kept clear and concise. They guide the readers and connect words or phrases in a sentence. A few of my favorite transition are: Moreover, furthermore, nevertheless, on the contrary....Actually, I just love them all. I know, I'm weird for saying that, but transitions are probably the most fun things to use in the essay and write. Plus, they make you sound like an expert, and smarter than you are. I like sounding scholarly.

Lastly, there is the conclusion. This paragraph is the final one. It serves to wrap up the essay, but not in a way that it repeats the introduction. It acts as a summary, and influences the reader in some way, making an impression on them to act on an issue or change their thoughts or writing style, for example.  My old English teacher told me once, that the final sentence of your essay, needs to be a call to action, something short and sweet (unlike how this blog has become).

Well, that's what I've learned this week, and hopefully you did too. Guess I didn't stay true to my word on keeping it short. Sorry guys! But hey, it was informative.

Check out somet of these links for my help and info on writing an essay:

http://www.testden.com/toefl/writing-tutorial/parts-of-an-essay.htm

http://www2.actden.com/writ_Den/tips/essay/index.htm

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/transitions.html

http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm

http://larae.net/write/transition.html

There are so many sites out there for your help!

How To Write Anything: Rhetorical Analysis

So, today I am doing some reading on Rhetorical Analysis. It was a lot of reading, and it made a lot more sense than my AP English teacher had Junior year. She never gave a straight up answer about what rhetoric is, and how to use it. She was very confusing, and my papers suffered because of it. She kept saying how broad it was and that there is no real definition, if that is so, then why were my paperes not as good? Anyway, so as I am reading, it all started to make sense, and I seriously thought/considered to copy these pages of the book and give them to that teacher I had, or at least to her class...But, as I was saying before, it was a lot of reading, so I am only going to tell you about one section of it: Finding and Developing Materials.

So, now that we know what we want to write about, we have to actually develope the idea and make it useable- that is where this section comes in handy. This section talks about considering the subject matter (does the piece make a point? Is it a novel?), the audience (Is it for a professor? A child?), its author, language, occation, context, and use of rhetorical appeals. Considering these is very important because they all corespond to each other. To make a piece effective to say, your professor,  about saving the rainforest, you don't want to write it using childish language, with slang, in a poster format, and neglect to mentions the benfits if we do, and organizations that help protect it. But, most importantly, the main thing about rhetorical analysis is its appeals. This is the part my teacher never really explained to us, and tried to have us figure it out on our own (which failed miserably).

These appeals are categorized into three types: pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos is where the writer "generates emotion in order to move the audiences." Ethos is where "a text may establish the character and credibility of its author." Lastly, logos is where the writers uses "evidence and logic to make its case."

For a persuasive argument, this is great to know. Everyone feeds off of emotions and are motive-drive beings, as my Sociology teacher says. Pathos, forming emotions in the reader, will make the reader more towards your side of the argument. They will feel for your side, root for the underdog, and feel compelled to act. For example, when writing about the need to help the poor, pathos would be telling a story of a weak, baby, who was brown with dirt and lost its baby pink glow, and its family troubles. Seeing how this family is, being poor, plays on our emotions. We want to help this family out. Ethos is good to use because its deals with credibility. The reader is going to believe and act more if the author seems credible- reliable, and with authoity, and clearly knows what they are talking about. As it says inthe reading, audiences are more swayed "by writers or speakers who present themselves as knowledgeable, honest, fair-minded, and even likeable." Moreover, with logos, using evidence only enforces the idea and persuades the reader that they are right and to side with them. If a claim is supported by facts, statistics, quotes, and such, it is mmore believeable and we instantly think that position is right. We are also all logic beings - thinking beings (Homo Sapiens). We find an argument valid, if its facts are true and there is eveidence, since nowadays, seeing is believing. If you can prove it, and show that what you saying is true, then who can disagree with you?

So, basically, that is the most important thing I learned from the reading, which was way more helpful than my high school English teacher. So thank you, reading...

Midterm Portfolio

Well, here is the site to my website for my mid-term portfolio. Enjoy!

http://samanthasportfolio.weebly.com/

Revision...A Thing I Often Fail At...

As I read pages 54-59 in Embracing Writing, specifically "Playing with Revision" by Michelle Cox and Katherine E. Tirabassi, I learned so much about revision that I did not before. When I write, my weakest spot is revising it all. I often write too much, getting yelled at for going over the page limits, and because of so many pages that I wrote, I just become lazy that I don't really want to read and revise it all. Moreover, I think that everything I write fits well in the essay, and if I were to delete a sentence or change a line, the essay would be incomplete. I find it easy to edit others' work, but impossible to edit my own, even when I KNOW it could be a lot better. I have a tendency to be repeteative, and overwrite...which I think I already said...See? Repetative! Anyway, I think I overwrite so often because my thesis is never narrowed down enough; I want to get ALL the points across instead of just elaborating on a few because I thought it almost impossible to elaborate so much on just one point. But, after reading these pages, I know now that there is so much one can talk about!

These pages about revising talk about writing multiple drafts, trying to find the meaning and lines that really stick out to you, as well as how to "Cut, Cut, Cut" (and, unfortunately, "Add, Add, Add"). Though, I do find the "Cut, cut, cut" section to be the most helpful in my case because it tells me to "Cut extra words that don't add meaning, such as 'really,'very,' 'basically,' 'thing,' 'it,' 'it was,' 'it is,' 'there were,' 'there is,' 'this is,' and 'that'" (56).  This section also talks about trying to cut at least 15 words per page. I think this is an excellent idea- to have a goal like this. If I have a goal to cut a certain number of words ot lines each page, then perhaps revising and cutting down on pages will be easier for me. I learned about style and using active verbs to add more voice to the paper, varying my sentence structure so that information can be better emphasized, and to focus more on pronouns so that my writing can be more specific. Something that I have noticed in my own writing is that I tend to use a  lot of general statements, and don't really have specific sentences. Next time, I will definitly "Comb through your draft and circle all instances of 'it' [because]...overuse waters down this emphasis...[or] make writing sound vague. 'There' at the beginning of the sentence can have the same effect...Now circle all uses of the words 'this' and 'these'...'he,' 'she,' 'you,' 'we,' 'they,' etc." (57).

Although the section about playing with time by using flashbacks, time stretches, and time summary is also important for me to know, I think the most interesting part of the whole reading were the last two pages, on the topic of details. I did not know that I could add details about so many things like people, places, objects, or memories. I didn't know or think to  unbury a story that could be mentioned in a line, which could totally add to my story, or just add the slightest details to the simplest things, such as instead of saying car, I could, or rather should, say the specific type or name of the car.

Overall, I truly believe this will help my writing and influence it in a positive way. If I follow these guidelines, I know that I can sound less repetative, less wordy, and definitly less vague and general, and more specific. As you can see, from what I have just written in this blog, revising is a MUST learn in my book...

Here are a few sites that talk about how to revise an essay:
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Revising.html (It's Harvard...It's gotta be a good resource)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ (this site I had been to in High School and let me tell you, it is like the Bible of English writing, I highly sugest visitng this site)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/677/1/ (writing)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/05/ (revising)