Free Write: Divorce

These days divorce is more common then peoples' parents actually being together. When is the last time that you met someone and their parents are still together? If they are still married how well do they get along? It seems these days that people are in such a hurry to get married and they don't even truly know who their significant other is. In fact, the divorce rate has been on the rise over the last ten years and forcing more children to grow up in split households. I believe divorce and the way children act are strongly correlated. It seems that most people go into a marriage knowing that if it doesn't work out that divorce is always an option. Instead people should spend more time evaluating if marriage is the right path for their relationship, rather than opting for a divorce later on. I don't really understand how people can take wedding vows and promise to be together with some one until death do them part and for richer or poorer when they have only know the other person for several months. My parents got divorced when I was in forth grade. For me this was one of the most tragic and horrific moments in my life. I remember that I found out that my parents weren't getting along when I found my dad sleeping on the floor in the living room. When I asked him why he told me that he couldn't sleep so he moved to the floor so he wouldn't disrupt my mom. The problems continued to worsen when my mom would not come home for a week at a time and when she was at home she was just getting clothes or doing laundry. When I finally found out that my parents were getting a divorce my dad took me to a Denver Nuggets game and told me there. I will never forget that day. My parents have now been remarried and my mother divorced again. If and when I get married I will definitely think twice so that I don't one day put my children through the same thing my parents put my sister and I through. To this day my parents can't really have a civilized phone conversation let alone be in the same room together. To me this is very ironic. I still don't understand how two people could have come together in holy matrimony and love each other so much and have nothing but hate for each other now!

Free Write: Study Abroad

I think that studying abroad is a great opportunity. It gives you the opportunity to travel to a different country and enjoy the richness of the cultures meanwhile getting an education. I have always wanted to travel to different countries just to get a different experience. I was born and have lived in Colorado my entire life. I have done some travel within the United States but it has not been extensive by any means. I am considering a degree in Spanish so studying abroad would be a great opportunity for me. It would give me a chance to develop and perfect my Spanish and learn
different dialects at the same time. I believe the only way to become proficient in a language is to speak it with native speakers. Speaking in class only gives you so much. For example, I took four years of Spanish in high school and I did really well. When I began speaking with native speakers I realized just how much school did not teach me. The grammar and vocabulary are just a fraction of what it takes to hold a conversation. I have a friend that studied abroad and she told me nothing but great things about her experience. She has now graduated and took an eight month trip to Europe alone. I really think that if she had not tested the waters by studying abroad she may not be on this trip right now.
Finally, I would like to study abroad in either Spain or Costa Rica. I have not decided which or when I will be doing this but I hope that it is soon!

Extra Credit

I went to see David Lynch's film Inland Empire at the Myan Theatre. I had never been to Myan before and I must admit the idea of having a bar and a movie theater together is quite genius. Needless to say the bar would have come in very handy for seeing this movie if I were not driving. While I was in line, a couple in front of me was asking the clerk how the new David Lynch movie was, and he kind of tilted his head and said it was ok and that everyone that came out of the movie seemed to be quite confused. Hearing this comment made me a little nervous because I knew I had to write a paper on the movie after I saw it. Once I got into the theater and found my seat I realized that it was quite uncomfortable and I was going to have to sit through a three hour movie in these circumstances. My knees were crushed into the seat in front of me because there was not leg room. Good thing the theater was only about half full and no one was sitting in front of me or I would have been in trouble. When the previews started I realized the movies were from directors, actors, and producers that I had never heard of before. Now for the movie. The movie began and it looked as if it were filmed a while ago and perhaps with some one's own camcorder. It was not what I was accustomed to seeing in the theatres. The movie started with a scene in French and I was worried. I thought I was going to have to read subtitles for three hours with the idea that I wasn't going to understand the movie anyway. The beginning started with a prostitute scene and a girl crying. The movie seemed rather uneventful until the old lady came and introduced herself as the younger lady's new neighbor. They were talking and the butler went and fetched them some tea. They then began talking about the role that the younger lady was going to be playing in the play. It then appeared as if she had a weird deja vu and from that point on in the movie I was totally lost. Then next day, the lady went to play rehearsal and her and the other actor were reciting their lines to each other and they heard a noise and the man actor went looking through the set to see if he could figure out what the noise was. After that I had a really hard time distinguishing between the scenes when they were acting and when they weren't. Then it seemed that the scenes were switching between the lady having time with her husband and having time with the other actor. I was trying to focus and figure things out but by this time I think that all hope was lost. Then it got even more weird. When the main actress was in the new house a bunch of prostitute girls started singing and dancing and acting very strangely. I am not sure what this was all about. Then the main actress was talking to a therapist type person and the scenes kept changing and going back to the crying girl in the beginning. By this time half of the people in the theater had left and as I looked around I realized that another four or five people were sleeping. I feel that I misunderstood a major part in the movie and that is why I didn't have any idea what was going on. I think that part of the reason that I didn't understand this movie is because I have never been exposed to this style of film before and I have no background information on David Lynch's past works. Next time if I have to see a movie like this I will definitely do a bit of research before I go and see the movie.

Free Write

Will and Grace is one one of my favorite TV programs. I originally started watching Will and Grace with my family when I was in high school. We would always make nachos and watch TV as a family on Thursday nights and Will and Grace was one of the programs that we really liked. It is really funny and it seems to be a little more real life than some of the other programs. More than anything the one factor that brought my attention to this program is it's comedic value. You can almost count on laughing every time that you watch it. When watching a TV program or movie you always see the actors at their best. This particular clip is bloopers of Will and Grace and they are really funny. Since you only see the actors and actresses at their best it is fun to see them make mistakes and to see they are real people and not acting machines. I once saw an interview with the cast of Will and Grace and the actors are completly different in real life than they are on the show. Their roles are played so well on the show that it is hard to believe that they are any different in real life. Jack and Karen are my favorite characters. The two of them together make a classic pair. The bantering and mockery are priceless and always leave me in stiches. If you haven't seen this program I would highly recommend it. It is quite unfortunate that this program does not air on NBC any more but the reruns are still available for yor viewing pleasure. It seems to me that all of the old school stuff is the best and the newer artists or TV programs are claimed to be better be critics but I still enjoy the old school music over the new artists today. The same can hold true for TV programs. Will and Grace and Friends are to two programs that I was most fond of. Now the only way that I can enjoy these programs are through repeats. Don't get me wrong the repeats are still enjoyable but the suspense from week to week to find out what was going to happen between the charcters is much missed.

You Tube

">

Adbusters

Joe Camel is known world wide and has always been associated with Camel cigarettes. He has always been know to be cool and his coolness is always in conjunction with a cigarette. Perfect pair right, coolness, sex appeal and cigarettes? Apparently not! This ad shows Joe and his comrades checked in for chemotherapy due to the cancer they got from the cigarettes that they advertised for so many years. This ad contains the same old Joe but he doesn't look so great. He has dark circles around his eyes, he is hooked up to an IV and the familiar lettering used to spell out Joe Camel now spells out Joe Chemo. The ever so appealing popular status is now being demonstrated in this ad as a habit that is not so appealing. This ad is affective because now that the indestructable image of Joe Camel and been reduced to a cancer suffering patient perhaps more people will pay attention. The surgeon general's warning that is printed on the side of each pack is not visual proof that something serious could and probably will happen. Now that people have been subjected to the mascot of the cigarette brand having health problems, maybe people will stop and think before they light up their next cigarette!

Unofficial Calvin Klein Ad

This is supposed to be an advertisement of jeans. However, her undergarment is more attention grabbing and you can barely see the jeans that are supposed to be advertised. About the only thing that this ad is advertising is sex appeal. Apparently if you buy and wear these jeans they must be worn unbuttoned and only with a bra to be sexy. I suppose that this ad is effective at grabbing peoples' attention and getting them to think if they wear these jeans they will be sexy like this young lady. However, I think that the attention grabbing tactics used in this ad are more geared towards men. Seeing this ad and being a women does not make me want to buy these jeans. In fact it makes me want to turn the page. I think that this ad is inappropriate because once again you can' even see the item that is being advertised and is the unbuttoning of the pants and the absent shirt necessary. You would think that if Calvin Klein was trying to sell jeans he would try and put a little more focus on the actual jeans! I believe that he was using a pathos effect in this ad. He made people think a certain way about people who wear these jeans, therefore, the jeans themselves were not a necessity.

Elements Of The Photograph

There were several different elements that my photograph included. The picture was black and white and the subjects in the photo seemed to be of an organized fashion. The children were all aligned in a row and the picture was probably taken from the teachers perspective, seeing that the photographer was directly in front of the class. In addition all of the children seemed to be girls. All of the elements combined gives this photograph meaning. I believe this photograph to describe the social classes and the expectations of genders. These messages are conveyed because the girls and boys are seperated in school. Because of the seperation different expectations are carried out. I highly doubt that the boys in the all boys school are getting the same exposure and being taught the same things. Since the boys and girls and taught different things they are obviously going to live different lives.

Kids These Days

Without reading the caption that went with the photo my description was pretty accurate. The children were attending a choir class and they happen to be in England.
I chose this particular photo because it reminded me a lot of my youger years. I have quite vivid recollections of my elementary music class. It was a time the children were permitted to make "noise". When I was little I had several toys that made noise but my parents were bothered by them and I was only allowed to play with these toys at certain times or outside. The second reason that I chose this photograph had to do with the little girl in the middle of the picture. She caught my attention because she reminded me of how we see most kids these days, trying to get attention by being obnoxious. Parents seem to be so busy these days that kids get away with almost anything. I know that when I was a child my parents spent the vast majority of their teaching time showing us that attention getting behaviors were not permitted and thay we must always mind our manners and be respectful. It seems that these values have gone by the way side and parents don't teach their children the same values that I was taught as a child. Finally, I chose this picture because it shows you the simple times and the innocence of your younger years. Sometimes I wish that life was as simple as sitting in music class with my undergarments exposed and not caring about a thing and just waiting for my day to end so that I could go home and have milk and cookies and play with my friends!