#12- Revised #5 blog

I personally believe that this new Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, does a great job of falling in line with the rest of the Disney movies that came before it. I can see parts of it relating to the Aristocrats, the Lion King, and Aladdin. The villain in Aladdin and the Lion King reminds me of the villain in the princess and the frog. The fact that it reminds me of my opinion of a Disney movie means that it definitely takes on its role of becoming a great Disney movie. This is because I grew up in the time of the original Disney movies. My generation has the best understanding of what a Disney Movie is because we were the first children that watched those movies. When comparing old Disney Channel Movies to the new ones, such as Princess and the frog, the only people that really can compare it are the viewers of the original Disney Movies, and if I was doing a real evaluation on this topic, I would be a reliable source.

Comparing the scene we viewed in class to the one in the little mermaid (an original Disney movie), they are very alike. There is a villain who tries to change the protagonist for their own agenda. The protagonist eventually has to find out that they were better how they were before but sometimes it takes them a while to figure that out. Disney movies, just like the little mermaid and the princess and the frog, all contain a princess who is in distress. The princess and the frog, as said right in the title, does this in a way that it follows all of the other Disney movie outlines. I love this new Disney movie because of that reason. I don’t like when good old movie theme’s change and I think I would watch this movie now because it doesn’t change much from the Disney movies I know and love.

The Princess and the Frog contains the traditional Disney animation and reminds me of my childhood, but it also shows characteristics that are better. It’s better because it has the experience of time to change things and technological improvements. For example, the colors are more vibrant than the 90’s Disney movies. Also, the Princess and The Frog has effects that were not possible in the old Disney Movies. It also can have new audio effects that interest the viewer as well.

One may argue that because of the technology change it may be a little too detailed and may scare viewers off. I do not agree. Children now will watch this movie and take away from it the basic theme’s of old Disney movies while gaining some aspects of the new Disney movie’s that my generation was not lucky enough to know during our childhood. I believe that there was a great balance between keeping the old Disney Movie features but also improving them for the new generation of children. When movie companies or any television programs try to improve this sometimes doesn’t happen, and this balance is very beneficial to the new viewers. All in all, the directors of this movie did a great job of making a new Disney feature film that is as entertaining and creative as its predecessors, but also kept old Disney features that my generation once knew and loved.

(563 words) 

#11- My research so far

I have decided to investigate and critically review the effect of the media on teenagers. I want to focus mainly on the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area because that is where I am from. My audience will be the parents of teens in Pennsylvania but could be on a larger scale to the entire United States.

Focusing more on my research so far I began with searching in google scholar the effects of tabloids on teens. I found this article: http://ridge.schoolwires.com/1584201127144644770/lib/1584201127144644770/2010_senior_papers/StephensonBrandy-paper.pdf.

 After reading over it I realized that it may not be the most reliable source but it does have an abundance of reliable sources cited in it that may be helpful in my research.

            Next, I found, from those sources, an article about how celebrities influence the population. (http://www.aug.edu/~mduignan/Magazine/Influence_Of_Celebrities.htm). I think that this will be helpful because it talks about celebrities which have a major affect on teens in American because of their popularity and how much they are admired by the general public.

            Another source that I found in the initial article was an article about eating disorders in men. I think that is important to bring up and has a lot to do with my topic of teens. After all, teens are more than half male and they are equally affected by the media and our culture. (http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/eatingdisorders.html).

            As I searched the sources in the initial article I was sure to find sites that were .org or .gov because they are more reliable and I wanted to begin my research with the most reliable sources before looking at any opinion pieces.

            I then went back to Google scholar and tried searching the same topic of media effects on teenagers for another article. This time I found a book. The book is called Tabloid Culture. It talks about how tabloid came to affect the United State since pre-Reagan. I thought it was interesting to use some history to see how media is affecting teenagers and when it started (http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hsJsUZshs3cC&oi=fnd&pg=PP11&dq=teen+effects+of+tabloids&ots=wb3NPdycTR&sig=lHc1PWZ5GmVKg4SUSdztPa-ODl8#v=onepage&q&f=false).

            Another article that I found on Google scholar was an article about how the media influences sexuality. I think that this should be another important part of my argument because teen sex is a major concern in society in recent years and this topic will probably interest a lot of their parents (http://www.jstor.org/stable/3813422?seq=1).

            I think that so far what I read gave me a pretty strong opinion that United State media and tabloids are affecting children/teenagers in the wrong way. I want to find more sources that back up why media should be encouraging kids to be healthy and fit not skinny and tan. I have decided to write my article on the negative affects of Media in the United States today.

#10- My Writing Style

Style is a big part of my writing, and I think that it influences my grades on papers in this class very much. My writing style is very formal. I have always been good at getting my point across to my elders and people that are higher ranked than me. For example, I always did well in getting into clubs or getting jobs because I could communicate formally what I wanted to say and make it look appealing to my superiors. When we were asked in class to write a letter to our state representative, I felt relieved and even excited to write it because it was a formal letter. Another example of my formal style is not a writing one. I was asked to speak at my graduation last year. I did well at this because my formal style helps me to get my point across and be understood by my fellow students, teachers, advisers, and our parents. My voice is very clear. I am not a creative writer and so letters or any formal kind of communication is best for me. I get to the point and express what I want in a clear and concise manor. On the other hand, as I previously mentioned, I am not very strong in my creative writing style. It makes me feel uncomfortable to have to use creativity to interest an audience on a topic or to tell stories to get my point across. For the previous three papers I have written, I thought long and hard about writing letters. After all, a letter would be the best way to use my style to do well on the assignment. I decided against that because I didn’t believe a letter would be appropriate for my topics. It was hard for me at the beginning to write creatively and not be as formal as I usually am, but my grades have been improving. Finally, when we began our lectures about Proposal papers, I knew that I would be able to use my style well and write a letter. I believe that my style of writing will be glorified in this Proposal paper that is due on Monday. I think this assignment will show my confidence in the formal style and therefore help me to write a better paper.

#9- Proposal topic and sources

I have chosen to write my proposal about the economic downturn of the city of Reading, Pennsylvania. Many cities in our country have been become economically unstable in the recent years but Reading is closest to my heart because I grew up there.  I think that the economy has become the way it has in Reading for two reasons. The first is that the city no longer is appealing to visitors. The second is because there are so many poor and unemployed people in the city. I am going to propose a plan that takes a few steps and a few years to fulfill but will hopefully be a way of helping the economy in Reading.

What do you See in Reading’s Future?

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=295251

            This article interviewed many people that reside around or in the city of Reading. They were asked to state how they see Reading in the future. Most people said things that go right along with my topic. Malcia Cruz believes that the future of Reading depends on the finances and that until that is back in check Reading has no future. A Reading student stated that, "I think everyone's going to flee Reading. Everyone's gonna leave it because there is a lot of violence and they're charging mad money to live here and a lot of people are losing their jobs." All in all, this article does a great job of showing how the public views the city and is great for me to use for quotes in my proposal.

 Reading Will Be a Ghost Town

http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=261214&obref=obinsite

           

            This article was writing by one of the editors of the Reading Eagle. He mentions that people believe that if something isn’t turned around in Reading soon that everyone will leave. He notes how turn around initiatives were announced, but no one ever went through with anything more than an idea to clean up the city. He says clearly that Reading is a city of dreams and it is just producing nightmares. I think this article is a great source for my paper as well because it takes into account my idea that businesses are failing and therefore, people do not want to come to the city at all.

State of the City Report

http://www.readingpa.gov/mayor_socr.asp

            Finally, this article is written/spoken by the Mayor of Reading himself. It is his State of the city Report where he addresses issues and what is going on to fix them. He makes note of the financial stresses that have been burdening Reading for the past 10 plus years. He also tells about what is going on to help the financial situation. I can use this article because it is directly from my audience’s mouth. I will not use it to place blame but I can use his own ideas to support my own.

America at the Crossroads

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/ns/nightly_news/#41878196

I also found this video. The video discusses everything from the run down of Reading, to the financial problems because of crashing businesses. This video is a perfect match to my topic. Although it is not an article it will be helpful in my paper because NBC covers exactly what they think has gone wrong in reading. I can use this video from a reliable television source to support my problem and what I think should be done to fix it.

#8- Proposal to Representative

Hello Mr. Gerlach:

           

My name is Rachel Angstadt. I am a freshman at Pennsylvania State University, but I mainly reside in Shillington, PA. I am contacting you because of the recent Penn State budget cuts, which I am sure you are already well aware of.

As I student, I know that in the future these cuts could be very destructive in my education. Since the announcement of this cut I have heard nothing but an ongoing discussion by my peers about this damaging situation. My English teacher who is a grad student has already had her program cut. I want to make it known to you how scared the students really are. We want something to be done to fix this but we can only do so much. My English class decided to address our local representatives with a few ideas so that you can help us to do more.

To begin, I believe that some Penn State campuses should be made smaller or completely cut. If Penn State is losing its funding it should not just directly affect main campus because this deals with the university at a whole. Our University is huge and expands through many parts of Pennsylvania. Getting rid of one or two of the branch campuses would definitely help with the budget cut and also would do little harm because we have so many other options. For example, there are 11 branch campuses on the east side of Main Campus. Penn State berks, Lehigh Valley, and Skukyill are extremely close to one another. Cutting even one of these could help with our budget issue but also still give students in that area a chance to go to a branch campus first.

Another big way to help with this budget crisis would be to simply lower unnecessary spending. Now, this is a very broad and large topic to cover because Penn State spends far too much money on far too many unnecessary things.

We could start with athletics. Although we are both aware that most of the athletics programs are paid for by alumni donations, it would be in the college’s best interests to stop making it obvious that athletics take priority over everything else. If this means not building the new baseball stadium that someone donated money for, I think it needs to be done. This may not really save money but it will instill more security in the students if they do not see work constantly being done on their football stadium while their major gets cut at the same time. I believe it’s a matter of priorities, and right now Penn State needs to begin changing its priorities for the benefit of its students.

Another way the Penn State has been spending money that does not need to be spent is renovations all over campus. I hope you can agree with me that Penn State University Park is a beautiful campus. It is really not necessary to repave all of the streets and sidewalks, build some building on the lawn out front of the Union Building, and constantly have construction trucks doing who knows what in the middle of the streets. This use of money is directly affecting the Penn State students and I believe it needs to be stopped. If this seemingly minor situation was brought to an end, the budget situation would definitely improve and students’ educations would be less effected.

Although these are just a few small ideas to help this crisis that is affecting all of Pennsylvania, I hope that you can use them to help us. I respect you for all of the work and time you are putting into this situation, and I trust you will not ignore the voice of your constituents, especially the students of Penn State University.  Thank you very much for you time.

Sincerely,

Rachel Angstadt

Freshman, Penn State

#7- Evaluate State Patty's Day

State Patty’s day is a make believe Penn State holiday. It is just another excuse for allowing all Penn State students and actually all Pennsylvania college students to drink and party no matter what their age is.  The one benefit to this excuse is that students actually can party more on this weekend. Whoever invented the term “State Patty’s Day” should feel very proud. An excuse for drinking and acting crazy has reached its height with the make believe holiday State Patty’s Day.

State Patty’s day also has become a great way for businesses all around the town to make a gigantic amount of money. The downtown stores began selling large amounts of green gear about a month in advance. The green shirts that can be seen during this weekend are in such large amounts that one could argue we now live in Ireland. They probably make more before this weekend than they do before a lot of football game weekends. The parking decks are probably rolling in money at the end of this weekend. They now have an excuse to get 15 dollars per car just for the huge amounts of college students that pile into state college during State Patty’s weekend. Finally, the bars that actually stay open have to make more money than normal weekends just because of the mass amount of outsiders that come into state college.

            State college also has a ton of arrests and hospitalizations. My RA sent us an email with the heading “Don’t be another State Patty’s Day Statistic.” It stated that last year 157 arrests were made and 24 people were reported to have overdosed at the hospital the next day. Overdosed on what is a question to all of us. In this aspect, whether it is Penn State or outside students, the partying is taken too far. While State Patty’s day does bring a great name with lots of fun and profits to State college, it also has these pathetic statistics. If only we could balance and find a way to have fun without going too far during this memorable “Holiday.”

#6- Evaluation of YouTube video

The video I chose to evaluate was the music video The Creep feat. Nikki Minaj. I would categorize it as a spoof on rap music. The criteria for evaluating this music video would be usefulness of style, ability to draw viewer’s attention, and comedy appeal.

            The Creep, a music video featuring Nicki Minaj, created a perfect YouTube clip for viewers. At times when one is watching youtube clips that are supposed to be funny or entertaining the video takes things too far or does not even come across as funny. This video did not do that and was one of the best for many reasons. It had a good style, was great at drawing the viewer’s attention, and was, of course, comical. While this is all a matter of opinion and some may not believe that creepin’ or comedy music videos are funny, I believe that this video does a lot for even those who do not think it is funny.

First, the use of music video as a theme was perfect. It was the ideal style for this type of comedy. It seemed to take part from I’m on a boat and even some Lil Wayne songs and created a comedy music video. Using a music video was the best choice because there are many videos out there about creepers and people creepin’. Taking that to the next level and making a music video all about creepers both showed creativity and used a fresh way to make an old thing such as creepin’ funny. Going along with the idea that a music video was effective, I did not think the video called Hamlet was as effective. I did laugh at it, but I think that the way it was presented was not the way it should have been. So I personally did not get the full effect of its comedy. All in all, in my opinion, it is important to pick the correct style and The Creep did, while Hamlet did not.

This music video drew my attention for a couple of reasons. Mainly, I like Nicki Minaj. I was drawn to this video because it brought an actual rapper into it. When I noticed that it said featuring Nicki Minaj, I immediately thought that this would be something I would like. I think this is true for many people my age. We think things are funny if someone we know or “trust”            as a good entertainer is presented. Another reason why “the Creep” will draw a viewer’s attention is because it is set up like music videos one has seen before. It looks legitimate and therefore draws the viewer’s attention. I, for example, thought about I’m on a Boat when I first saw the video.  I wanted to watch it because it reminded me of that, and I thought it would be entertaining like I knew I’m on a Boat was.

The Creep also was very effective comedy. It was meant to be a comedy so it is important that it follows that role. The words and the video entertain the audience with laughs. It tells funny stories as it goes along and that also creates good comedy. For those who do not believe it was hysterical, I can completely understand you’re view. Comedy is different for all people. Although this may not make others laugh as it makes me laugh, I think we can all agree that it has the ability to entertain, even if it doesn’t make you “roll on the floor laughing.”

The creep music video presents a perfect combination of comedy, effectiveness, and style. It was well made and the viewer can tell that it wasn’t just another comedy that a child posts on YouTube. Thought went into this sketch and I believe that because of that it was very entertaining.