Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
My Interviewee
We both sat down across opposite ends of the table, getting ready to work on our LEGO robot project. Miguel removed the grey hood from over his head, revealing his short buzzed hair that barely covered his head. He removed his hoodie since it was pretty warm indoors as compared to the outdoors where it snowed constantly. I was surprised his sleeves were managing to hold in his massive arms. I was almost afraid he would accidentally break the little fragile pieces. He took out his large black-rimmed spectacles and placed him over his penetrating eyes.
"Alright, pull up the instructions menu, bro." he said with a slight Mexican accent. "Let's get it over with."
"Yup.' I replied.
I pulled my laptop out of my bag and pulled up the instructions manual after powering it up.
Miguel pulled himself from the sofa to the floor to get more comfortable. He picked up a few pieces of the LEGO set and began inspecting them, resembling a detective looking for answers.
Finally, he smiled, revealing his upper set of teeth.
"Bro," he said with a confident tone. "We can finish this in less than an hour. This is baby stuff."
"Let's finish this up quick then!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Then we can finally eat!"
"Fo' sho'!" he said, for like the millionth time that day.
And finally, we began working on the project. Miguel constantly moved his massive arms around, working at the pieces while I read out the instructions while at the same time, putting the pieces of together.
"Alright, pull up the instructions menu, bro." he said with a slight Mexican accent. "Let's get it over with."
"Yup.' I replied.
I pulled my laptop out of my bag and pulled up the instructions manual after powering it up.
Miguel pulled himself from the sofa to the floor to get more comfortable. He picked up a few pieces of the LEGO set and began inspecting them, resembling a detective looking for answers.
Finally, he smiled, revealing his upper set of teeth.
"Bro," he said with a confident tone. "We can finish this in less than an hour. This is baby stuff."
"Let's finish this up quick then!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Then we can finally eat!"
"Fo' sho'!" he said, for like the millionth time that day.
And finally, we began working on the project. Miguel constantly moved his massive arms around, working at the pieces while I read out the instructions while at the same time, putting the pieces of together.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Feb-26
The sun is out, the snow is melting, I have a smile on my face and put my light clothes on and as I walk out the front door expecting a touch of warmth on my face, a strong blast of icy cold wind hits me in the face. What a perfect way to start the day.
By the time I get to my first class, my ear are numb.
After 50 minutes of warmth, I walk to my second class across campus in ten minutes, freezing my mouth in the process.
After another 50 minutes of warmth (and a quiz), I walk to my third and last class of the day which was an hr and forty-five minutes which meant an hour and forty-five minutes of warm air. I walk in class and find out it was cancelled....so I walk back to my dorm, freezing my hands in the process which was unusual since my hands were in my pockets. So now here I am in my room, feeling warm and writing this down.
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Oscar Pistorius
I didn't feel much in my legs as I stood ready at the mark, waiting for the umpire to fire his blank gun that would get us running. I felt nothing in my legs because I didn't have any real legs but prosthetics. The sun was glaring down on all of us as if telling us that it's going to bring hell on us. I was afraid it might be right. I took a glance at my opponents besides me, knowing that that they felt my inclusion into this race was unfair because of my 'advanced legs'. But if the committed allowed it, then, I don't care what the hell these guys think, I'm gonna race and I'm gonna win!
Ten seconds later, I heard the blank gunshot and all of a sudden, I felt every energy in my body unite to give me deciding strength. And as quick as that happen, I started running. And as I started running, I felt perspiration running down my face. Why am I sweating so quickly? Have I been standing at the mark too long?
Stop worrying about it! Just finish the damn race and get that trophy! The crowd became a blur as I raced past them, passing a few of the runners, feeling their angry glare stabbing on my back. I couldn't see the crowd very well but I knew they were staring at me, probably wondering if I was even supposed to be in the race? Well, it's their problem if they think that way. It's not my fault I have no legs!
As far as the sun goes, it kept it's promise. As I ran through the track, I felt the heat running me down slowly.The sweat running down my face was tantamount to a small water fountain running down a wall. I didn't even bother looking back to see how far my opponents were because I had a feeling it just might cost me the race.
Run! I shouted in my head. You have no legs and you made it this far! What's a little sun gonna do to you? Just run!
With that in mind, I ran like no human ran before. Past my glaring opponents, past the cheering crowd and straight under the burning, merciless sun.
Ten seconds later, I heard the blank gunshot and all of a sudden, I felt every energy in my body unite to give me deciding strength. And as quick as that happen, I started running. And as I started running, I felt perspiration running down my face. Why am I sweating so quickly? Have I been standing at the mark too long?
Stop worrying about it! Just finish the damn race and get that trophy! The crowd became a blur as I raced past them, passing a few of the runners, feeling their angry glare stabbing on my back. I couldn't see the crowd very well but I knew they were staring at me, probably wondering if I was even supposed to be in the race? Well, it's their problem if they think that way. It's not my fault I have no legs!
As far as the sun goes, it kept it's promise. As I ran through the track, I felt the heat running me down slowly.The sweat running down my face was tantamount to a small water fountain running down a wall. I didn't even bother looking back to see how far my opponents were because I had a feeling it just might cost me the race.
Run! I shouted in my head. You have no legs and you made it this far! What's a little sun gonna do to you? Just run!
With that in mind, I ran like no human ran before. Past my glaring opponents, past the cheering crowd and straight under the burning, merciless sun.
Commercial (men)
The commercial I had just viewed seems to form a bond between a man and his truck. It seems to shadow a man's fantasy on two points: the human male driving a truck through the open road, making stops to eat etc. while chatting up women and bull who is dropped by the man in front of a horde of female cows. There was a physiological link between the man and the bull.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Interview H.W.
Planned Interview Questions:
1-What city were you born in?
2-How would you describe your childhood?
3-What is your favorite past time?
4-Did you ever feel like the happiest person on Earth?
5-What was your reaction when you started your first day in your university?
6-How would you describe your college life?
7-Did something ever happen to you during college that you felt could have ruined your entire goal?
8-How does it feel to have a sense of independence in your life?
9-Do you miss your family back home?
10-How would you describe yourself in four words?
Good interviewing techniques:
I searched up some good interviewing techniques on the Web and what I read was that to conduct a good interview, you need to push forward on the questions you begin with rather than simply receiving an answer and moving to a different question. For example, if asking about an event that changed your interviewee's life, don't just ask him what it was. Also ask him when did it happen and how it changed his life or also if he felt he could have done without the event. Also, if there are any tough questions you'd want to ask your interviewee, then ask that question in the beginning rather than the end so the interviewee can relax as the questions he is later asked can easily be answered as compared to the ones he was asked in the beginning.
I chose to interview my friend Miguel because like many friends here in my University, he's is from a different background and he is one of the few people I know most well enough personally but enough to make a story out of him so he was my choice.
1-What city were you born in?
2-How would you describe your childhood?
3-What is your favorite past time?
4-Did you ever feel like the happiest person on Earth?
5-What was your reaction when you started your first day in your university?
6-How would you describe your college life?
7-Did something ever happen to you during college that you felt could have ruined your entire goal?
8-How does it feel to have a sense of independence in your life?
9-Do you miss your family back home?
10-How would you describe yourself in four words?
Good interviewing techniques:
I searched up some good interviewing techniques on the Web and what I read was that to conduct a good interview, you need to push forward on the questions you begin with rather than simply receiving an answer and moving to a different question. For example, if asking about an event that changed your interviewee's life, don't just ask him what it was. Also ask him when did it happen and how it changed his life or also if he felt he could have done without the event. Also, if there are any tough questions you'd want to ask your interviewee, then ask that question in the beginning rather than the end so the interviewee can relax as the questions he is later asked can easily be answered as compared to the ones he was asked in the beginning.
I chose to interview my friend Miguel because like many friends here in my University, he's is from a different background and he is one of the few people I know most well enough personally but enough to make a story out of him so he was my choice.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Stripping with the Stars
I had no idea what to think as Robin Thicke, T.I. and Pharrell rubbed against me and two other girls while we lay almost completely naked next to them. Were we excited? Horny? Seductive? Uneasy? I don't know about the other two girls but I was all of those!
"Alright! Time to strip!" shouted Pharell with a little too much passion as he shuffled his way over to us, pencil in one of his taut hands. I looked up in bewilderment as I heard those words. I looked at the other two girls and they both had looks of surprise on their normally-calm faces. "Well, we knew this was going to happen." one of the girls, Elle Evans said, adjusting her white bra over her breasts and running both her hands through her blonde hair. "Let's go for it!" All three of us looked almost identical when it came to posture. All of us had slim flexible bodies and were almost the same height though the third girl, Jesse M'Bengue had her black hair tied in a long curving ponytail which made her tallest.
I nodded, half in confidence and half as an involuntary reflex action. Maybe I should say some--
No! I scolded myself. Don't back out now and ruin everything! Just do it! Not every girl gets to be naked in front of three Hollywood artists!
We were carrying out our final rehearsal and me and Elle were allowed to strip down to nothing but our panties while Jesse got to keep her shorts and bra on. Lucky little devil, I thought with slight envy. Though I wondered if she felt lucky herself. Elle and I went over to the dressing room to take off our bras.
"Why do we need to undress here?" I asked with bewilderment. "It's not like we're actually hiding anything anymore."
"I was wondering the same thing!" she replied back, her eyes opened wide so much I was afraid her makeup might crack. I was just hoping my makeup didn't 'melt' or anything like that because I could literally feel it's weight pressing down on my face!
The room was pretty small and deserted except for the two of us. I honestly felt like I was becoming a prostitute, partly because I was portraying a prostitute. Both Jasmine and I were secretly revealed that we had to cover our breasts during our nude scenes in the music video even though we both knew we had to.
"I am really going to be sick of the color white!" Elle joked, laughing while she did.
"I know, right!" I agreed, chuckling. "At least they're making me wear sunglasses in the video."
I knew she was referring to the white background throughout the entire music video. It wasn't pure white but it was white enough! And couple that with the white clothing and all of a sudden, we're at risk of becoming blind. Although when I actually see who we're actually dancing for, I don't give a damn about the wittiness!
I thought of all the past rehearsals we had done over the past weeks. Not to brag or anything but I actually considered myself the luckiest girl out of the three. Why? I'll be frank.
I was naked in bed with Robin Thicke! And that was the opening shot of the video! Robin Thicke was fully clothed and had his trademark shades on with his hair all gelled up. That deodorant he had on when he was on top of me was absolutely to die for. I just wanted to cling to him forever! And those frisk hands rubbed against my body slowly, his fingers gently probing my skin, it just turned me on completely.
Unfortunately, I had to follow a script so I couldn't jump on Thicke and lick his face. At least not yet, I thought with a smile.
"I hope you have medical insurance!" Thicke joked during our first rehearsal, grinning as he came close to me. "I've had complaints that I actually crush my girls every time I'm told to lie on top of them!"
"Oh don't worry!" I laughed. "You won't even notice me under you." I winked.
And now it's happening. As far as the music video goes, I was sleeping with Robin Thicke!
I was secretly hoping Elle and Jesse were envying me thinking that Thicke considers me a favorite!
Because every time I saw Thicke cozy up to them, I felt a small sense of jealousy.
Generally speaking, it took a lot of work to make this music video despite it being for about four minutes.
I practically had to shake every part of my body, half of the time while covering my bare breasts, which that alone was pretty challenging. I remember Pharrell constantly telling Elle and I stuff like, 'Alright! Move your arms a little higher! Move your left elbow to the right a bit! No wait, I can see your nipple! Move it a little to the left!' etc and we were moving our arms around our breasts we if we were doing the robot. Though neither of us were strangers to this kind of act since both of us were official models and have made poses like this hundreds of times. I came from England but in terms of modelling, it was no different than that in America.
During the music video, I was dancing frantically like hell, even more than Elle and Jesse (they were more into seductive poses and slow seductive movements) as if I had absolutely no worry in the world.
The hectic part was constantly changing my shoes throughout the music video. I went from platform laced-shoes to super-high wedge shoes, both of which were, yes you guessed it, white!
I remember Pharrell coming over to me asking me, "What's your shoe size?"
I immediately excitedly replied, "Ten."
So when one of the stage crew brought not one but two different pairs of white platforms, I was a little surprised.
"Two pairs of shoes?" I asked, laughing. "One pair for backup in case I wear out the other pair?"
"You're gonna find out soon, Emily." Pharrell chuckled, winking at me, something he really seemed to enjoy.
Now here I am, doing some really ridiculous yet very invigorating moves which involved grinding my body against the three hotties and making some very seductive poses like meowing at the camera and and moving my shoulders from left to right. During the entire music video, I honestly felt like some toy the guys were playing with. The whole music video seemed a little sexist as if they were promoting the dominance of men over women. Their expressions throughout the entire video was so full of pride and pompousness that for a moment, I actually felt a little disgusted, up to the point that I wanted to wipe their grins off their faces. But then I remembered, it's Robin Thicke! He can do whatever the hell he wants with me!
"This is so much better than the gym!" I shouted happily during one of the breaks, getting some laughs from everyone. As Thicke puts it, "You just gotta SHAKE IT!" Of course, I didn't think he meant it literally.
So here were Elle and I, topless, our bodies covered by nothing but very small panties, ready to kick start our career in Hollywood. We both walked towards the rest of the group, the cold ramming against our breasts, our heads held high as we got cheers and hoots from the crew.
And I thought to myself:
This song will really hit it off at the upcoming VMAs!
"I am really going to be sick of the color white!" Elle joked, laughing while she did.
"I know, right!" I agreed, chuckling. "At least they're making me wear sunglasses in the video."
I knew she was referring to the white background throughout the entire music video. It wasn't pure white but it was white enough! And couple that with the white clothing and all of a sudden, we're at risk of becoming blind. Although when I actually see who we're actually dancing for, I don't give a damn about the wittiness!
I thought of all the past rehearsals we had done over the past weeks. Not to brag or anything but I actually considered myself the luckiest girl out of the three. Why? I'll be frank.
I was naked in bed with Robin Thicke! And that was the opening shot of the video! Robin Thicke was fully clothed and had his trademark shades on with his hair all gelled up. That deodorant he had on when he was on top of me was absolutely to die for. I just wanted to cling to him forever! And those frisk hands rubbed against my body slowly, his fingers gently probing my skin, it just turned me on completely.
Unfortunately, I had to follow a script so I couldn't jump on Thicke and lick his face. At least not yet, I thought with a smile.
"I hope you have medical insurance!" Thicke joked during our first rehearsal, grinning as he came close to me. "I've had complaints that I actually crush my girls every time I'm told to lie on top of them!"
"Oh don't worry!" I laughed. "You won't even notice me under you." I winked.
And now it's happening. As far as the music video goes, I was sleeping with Robin Thicke!
I was secretly hoping Elle and Jesse were envying me thinking that Thicke considers me a favorite!
Because every time I saw Thicke cozy up to them, I felt a small sense of jealousy.
Generally speaking, it took a lot of work to make this music video despite it being for about four minutes.
I practically had to shake every part of my body, half of the time while covering my bare breasts, which that alone was pretty challenging. I remember Pharrell constantly telling Elle and I stuff like, 'Alright! Move your arms a little higher! Move your left elbow to the right a bit! No wait, I can see your nipple! Move it a little to the left!' etc and we were moving our arms around our breasts we if we were doing the robot. Though neither of us were strangers to this kind of act since both of us were official models and have made poses like this hundreds of times. I came from England but in terms of modelling, it was no different than that in America.
During the music video, I was dancing frantically like hell, even more than Elle and Jesse (they were more into seductive poses and slow seductive movements) as if I had absolutely no worry in the world.
The hectic part was constantly changing my shoes throughout the music video. I went from platform laced-shoes to super-high wedge shoes, both of which were, yes you guessed it, white!
I remember Pharrell coming over to me asking me, "What's your shoe size?"
I immediately excitedly replied, "Ten."
So when one of the stage crew brought not one but two different pairs of white platforms, I was a little surprised.
"Two pairs of shoes?" I asked, laughing. "One pair for backup in case I wear out the other pair?"
"You're gonna find out soon, Emily." Pharrell chuckled, winking at me, something he really seemed to enjoy.
Now here I am, doing some really ridiculous yet very invigorating moves which involved grinding my body against the three hotties and making some very seductive poses like meowing at the camera and and moving my shoulders from left to right. During the entire music video, I honestly felt like some toy the guys were playing with. The whole music video seemed a little sexist as if they were promoting the dominance of men over women. Their expressions throughout the entire video was so full of pride and pompousness that for a moment, I actually felt a little disgusted, up to the point that I wanted to wipe their grins off their faces. But then I remembered, it's Robin Thicke! He can do whatever the hell he wants with me!
"This is so much better than the gym!" I shouted happily during one of the breaks, getting some laughs from everyone. As Thicke puts it, "You just gotta SHAKE IT!" Of course, I didn't think he meant it literally.
So here were Elle and I, topless, our bodies covered by nothing but very small panties, ready to kick start our career in Hollywood. We both walked towards the rest of the group, the cold ramming against our breasts, our heads held high as we got cheers and hoots from the crew.
And I thought to myself:
This song will really hit it off at the upcoming VMAs!
Reflection (Tim Van Gelder's article report)
When I found out about our homework assignment that was writing about Tim Van Gelder's article both objectively and subjectively, I wasn't unnerved in anyway. I grew up reading articles and books that many people wouldn't care to read because it was too complicated. And another reason I didn't worry about the article (which were full of words and hardly [if none] any pictures) was that I usually distribute my work among different days. In other words, I would write one paragraph one day and another paragraph another day and in 2-3 days, I'd be done!
Analyzing the article wasn't hard at all. Even though it was very long, the vocabulary used was fairly simple and I had no trouble understanding the article at all. So it was very easy for me write down the objective portion of the paper which were just a few paragraphs. However, writing the subjective portion was tougher than I thought and I found myself reading the article five to six times because even though the words were simple, the entire layout of the article was very disturbing, especially since it was in black and white. So, I began reading different sections of the article hoping to find any kind of flaw or anything really that was 'surprising' or 'confusing' etc. After about three days (I procrastinate), I found a couple things and expanded that into my post. I finished my article on the day it was originally due and was ready to send it at 11:58pm, literally a minute before it was due. However, the due date was changed to four days later so I felt relaxed and after turning some words around and making sure everything was good, I submitted it in.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Super Bowl Commercial (Jealous Girlfriend)
The old SuperBowl commercial about the jealous 'girlfriend' was heavily stereotypical in away because it employed the use of babies to take the place of teens or adults in an attempt to make the advertisement humorous since it is pretty hard to hate a baby.
Their voices were dubbed in by typical adult voices although care was taken into changing some of the words to fit in with the whole baby-theme such as 'Milk-aholic' from 'Alcoholic'.
Their voices were dubbed in by typical adult voices although care was taken into changing some of the words to fit in with the whole baby-theme such as 'Milk-aholic' from 'Alcoholic'.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Reading Between the Music Video
I recently heard two songs, Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood and Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus and both songs had some message they wanted to convey.
-Carrie appears to be criticizing her boyfriend INDIRECTLY (possible her former boyfriend now) on cheating on her behind her back but if one reads the lyrics of the song, one may notice that Carrie is actually insulting her boyfriend's lover by calling her 'tramp' and insulting her personality by saying that 'she can't shoot whiskey'.
-This song has a taste of feminism since she appears to be 'saving other women' from her boyfriend predicting they might end up broken-hearted.
-Furthermore, she was constantly singing about banging up her boyfriend's car and slashing its tires, even seeing her do it at one point. (Cars are a massive source of pleasure of boys).
-In her 'Wrecking Ball' video, Miley Cyrus definitely crossed her limits by overly expressing her feelings for her lover (which may have been Liam Hemsworth considering he left her after her VMA performance). She was seen licking the hammer in a slutty way. Also, her red lips, short blonde hair and outfit made her look like a prostitute which is evident with the way she rides the wrecking ball.
Some may noticed that this music video is a dirty version of Miley's earlier music video 7 Things where she indirectly sings about her breakup with Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers.
I also saw a video of Richard Sherman's post-game interview where despite winning, he goes berserk during his interview where he rants on his opponent's WR, Eddie Crabtree about not messing with him (Sherman). The incident may have occurred because Sherman may have been in a bad mood. Also, looking at the attitude he presented in his interview, he may have felt a little too proud of his achievement and he felt that his opponents were just too weak.
-Carrie appears to be criticizing her boyfriend INDIRECTLY (possible her former boyfriend now) on cheating on her behind her back but if one reads the lyrics of the song, one may notice that Carrie is actually insulting her boyfriend's lover by calling her 'tramp' and insulting her personality by saying that 'she can't shoot whiskey'.
-This song has a taste of feminism since she appears to be 'saving other women' from her boyfriend predicting they might end up broken-hearted.
-Furthermore, she was constantly singing about banging up her boyfriend's car and slashing its tires, even seeing her do it at one point. (Cars are a massive source of pleasure of boys).
-In her 'Wrecking Ball' video, Miley Cyrus definitely crossed her limits by overly expressing her feelings for her lover (which may have been Liam Hemsworth considering he left her after her VMA performance). She was seen licking the hammer in a slutty way. Also, her red lips, short blonde hair and outfit made her look like a prostitute which is evident with the way she rides the wrecking ball.
Some may noticed that this music video is a dirty version of Miley's earlier music video 7 Things where she indirectly sings about her breakup with Nick Jonas from the Jonas Brothers.
I also saw a video of Richard Sherman's post-game interview where despite winning, he goes berserk during his interview where he rants on his opponent's WR, Eddie Crabtree about not messing with him (Sherman). The incident may have occurred because Sherman may have been in a bad mood. Also, looking at the attitude he presented in his interview, he may have felt a little too proud of his achievement and he felt that his opponents were just too weak.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
29th Jan 2014
Just came to class after running like a 10-min Olympic run from Faraday Hall to Dusable Hall which are on opposite sides of the large campus.
God speed!
God speed!
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Starting out in English
Tim Van Gelder's article on critical thinking
Click this link to enter the dictionary website.
Definition:
Objective:
1) Also called objective case. (in English and some other languages) a case specialized for the use of a form as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition.
2) Something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target
Click this link to enter the dictionary website.
Definition:
Objective:
1) Also called objective case. (in English and some other languages) a case specialized for the use of a form as the object of a transitive verb or of a preposition.
2) Something that one's efforts or actions are intended to attain or accomplish; purpose; goal; target
Subjective:
1) existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought (opposed to objective ).
2) pertaining to or characteristic of an individual; personal; individual
Here is a little picture of how I view the ways of English writing:
Talk about writer's block!
The way I see it, what makes a good narrative story (real or fiction) is if the reader is able to visualize the story or article being described, if the reader is able to feel what protagonist or antagonist is feeling on how they go about their story. As my cousin once said, the more you like the protagonist or hate the antagonist, the greater the narrative story would feel like because you can relate with him/her on a high level.
To accomplish this, one must describe all aspects when developing a character such as, his appearance, his personality, his likes and dislikes, his thoughts whenever he looks at something etc.
Most importantly, when writing a narrative story, you are not writing from your perspective, you are obviously going to write from your character's perspective.
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