My writing process

     When I write, I really don't care what is going on around me, or what I'm wearing (to an extent).  I like to be at my home computer, but I can write elsewhere.  Nothing really matters in my writing process except noise.  I can't stand people talking while I try and write.  It distracts me more than anything else.  So when I write, my family is exiled to upstairs.
    It makes me feel a little mean that I make them do this, but luckily they understand.  I've tried listening to music, but it distracts me even if it's an instrumental.  I've tried putting my earbuds in without music but that's even worse.  It works for while, but then the cord starts to rub against the computer cabinet and make a really annoying sound.
     I have no idea why sound is so much more distracting to me than anything else.  If it's quiet, I can write comfortably.  If it isn't, I can barely get a sentence down without looking around and getting distracted.  Noting besides sound really matters in my writing process.

2 Million Minutes

     Normally I try to come up with a unique viewpoint to discuss in my blog posts.  Today, I'm just too upset about the film 2 Million Minutes.  Right now I would much rather rant than think.  Sadly, I'm not a very good ranter so I guess I'll have to include some thoughts in this post anyways.  I can still, however, guarantee that none of my thoughts on 2 Million Minutes will praise the film.
      After reading Freakonomics, I feel like I understand how to gather good data.  The director of 2 Million Minutes probably never read Freakonomics or any other book that involved any speech about surveys and sample sizes.  Did he seriously think that two kids from each of India, China, and the USA could come close to representing the masses?  Of course he didn't, but he probably realized that the smaller number of examples he gave the easier it would be for him to fit these samples into the stereotypes he was trying to display.  The director abused his power and presented a slanted viewpoint of all three countries pictured.
      Now, I haven't spent any time in India and China so I really can't challenge what the director presented about those countries, but I've spent over 8.5 million minutes in the US.  I've spent a lot of that time doing homework.  It has been very hard.  When some guy made a movie about the fact that it isn't hard, I got upset.  I got upset because he is wrong.  I see kids in school working hard all the time.  Even kids that everyone judges to be lazy and worthless often realize they still have to dedicate time to school.  While it may be easy to depict America as a lazy, defunct society, that is not what America is.  There is still hard work being done.

The Internet is a Strange Place

     I was busy trying to find out what to write about for this annoying open topic blog post when I got bored.  I clicked up on the little plus sign above the address bar and went of to find something to look at while procrastinating.  Now, I'm pretty familiar with the Internet.  I probably spend way too much time on it.  Still, I pride myself on knowing a bit more about the Internet then the Average Joe.  So, while I was surfing today, I discovered what I wanted to write about.  The Internet is probably the strangest place on Earth.  An example: when I googled "cool pictures," this is one of the pictures that came up.

When I first saw this, I was actually really creeped out. It just looked too much like severed feet.

     There was also a picture of a penguin drinking Coke on a beach, an ad for some random Playstation game from 2000, the cover of a sixties comic book that's being rebooted, and a cartoon that explained exactly how much of your boxers to show if you wanted to be cool.  Oh, and two pictures of the rapper LL Cool J, who apparently only shows enough of his boxers to be considered "kinda cool."

Funnily enough, the person who posted this got their account suspended.

And what is the point of that obnoxious belt buckle?

 

    All of those pictures were on the first page of results.  I think that page is decently close to representing a microcosm of Internet culture.  That's because the Internet has evolved from being a simple research tool.  It's become the home of some sort of complex secret society that formed when someone took all the cultures of the world and threw them in a giant blender.  It's become the most bizarre place that has ever existed.

Obama's Speech

     Obama spends most of the introduction of his speech building ethos.  He obviously has ethos as the President, but that isn't the type of ethos he is trying to project in this speech.  He says, "I don't want to be just another adult who stands up and lectures you like you're just kids."  His goal is to help the students relate to him and trust him.  Obama succeeds in this matter by speaking about his early school years and extracurricular activities.  He also uses a lot of pathos when he uses humor to build support and talks about how students have to make sacrifices in the current economy.
     He then begins to argue about how students should use school as a tool to help them achieve success later in life  One part of this is that students should always attempt to do their best.  A strategy that he uses to help his message reach a lot of kids is to make sure he doesn't define being a good student as getting good grades.  He appeals to basic qualities, such as determination, that everyone can improve regardless of their academic abilities.
     Another part of his argument about making school worthwhile is to use it as a sort of testing grounds for what you may like.  He brings up examples of classes that may inspire certain occupations.  This point is a great example of how he keeps the feel of his speech very positive.  He doesn't say, "This class will inspire you to be a minimum wage factory worker" and he doesn't mention jobs that may be controversial because his goal is to inspire students.
     Most of his speech is a call to action for students across the country.  Because of this, he strongly appeals to emotions of determination and pride.   He speaks very often about responsibility and tries to make students feel important.  While the skeleton of his argument is a pretty basic logical pathway, he focuses a lot more on pathos than logos.  He brings up student examples, but they aren't mainly used to logically convince students to be like the examples.  He can't possibly make that connection, the examples are extreme outliers.  However, he can instill determination, and even a sense of competitiveness by using the examples.
     Throughout the speech, Obama's tone stays very calm.  He does slightly raise his voice when he gets to an important point, but not anywhere near the extent to which MLK does.  His movements are also very calm and basic because he wants the students to focus on what he is saying instead of what he is doing.  His speech seems to flow together between his main points.  There were signposts when he changed topics, but they weren't very obvious at all.  I believe he was trying to replicate having a normal conversation with the students instead of making it clear that he was giving a huge, important speech.