Oh the Frivolity

"So, Morgan, how'd you spend the last six days of absolute vacation" you ask?

Oh, let me weave a tale! I spent my Thanksgiving cleaning and washing and having dinner at midnight. BUT that's how we do holidays in my house ^^ Doing what needs done. I spent a whole day helping a friend move, and doing a lot of heavy lifting. And the rest of the time I was visiting my high school.

Speaking of which, if you want an evening of laughs and a bit of a mind boggle, I would recommend visiting Boonsboro High School's auditorium on December 1, 2, and 3 at 7:30 pm for a showing of "Break a Leg"

Back to the point, "What did you miss in all that fun, Morgan?" Oh well I'm so glad you asked... You see, last night at one in the morning I had a revelation while at my friend's fireside birthday party. The Compare and Contrast paper is due Monday! DRAT! So I rushed on home and forced myself to sit down and focus.. poorly.

And now, the obligatory review:

I do not like Compare and Contrast papers. Yes, if you pick something you know in and out and enjoy, it's easy. HOWEVER, the task of making it interesting is what killed me inside. Compare and Contrast papers have this easy of feeling "This is my point about subject A. It is different from subject B because the themes were different. The themes were different because A did this but B did this". And I that is just boring to me and sounds like you don't care about writing or your paper, so I struggled to make it sound less A and B and more like I truly knew and loved my topics. Which I DO. There are many differences that are slight and inferred, and I love stopping to analyze and pick them to shreds.

All in all, it was fun to look at my subjects, but painful to create the paper itself.

Third Media Review

Unthinkable

For my third media review I chose the movie Unthinkable. It was released in 2010, however was never shown in US theaters for its controversial themes on government interrogation/torture.

I LOVED this movie. It creates quite the emotional roller coaster between Samuel Jackson and Carrie Moss, pulling the audience between what's morally and constitutionally right and wrong for one man versus hundred of thousands. There's also the controversy of "what the government doesn't want you to know about". Obviously, these appeals affect different audiences differently.

 A coworker of mine (a veteran) stated that the government has all rights in what they do, even when it affects the constitution. "We do what we have to to protect our nation"

Another coworker talked about how inhumane it was to chop off his fingers, and how can the government torture a man like this? Even if they did revoke his US citizenship

They were countered by a statement of "What's that one man's over the life of your daughter? If she was caught in that bomb blast?"

It divulged into quite the arguement.

Essentially, we all agreed that the movie was created for the purpose of spurring conversations like that one. To get the public to think, and ensure we don't become too complacent with what the government is pulling in the shadows, what's off the record, the people who never existed.
It's a movie to help us remember, and be aware...

Second Media Review

Heh, oops, been missing for awhile again... I got busy I guess. Anyway, it's due today, so here's the magazina article I chose:

Cosmopolitan Worst-Dressed List

(Warning, you'll see one exposed chest for those conservative viewers)

I'm sure people in my class are sick of hearing about Cosmo after my presentation, but what can I say? It's an easy target! This article was written by Cosmo about the worst-dressed celebrities of the week, and I must say I actually think the first one is really cool T-T.

Take my words with a grain of salt, and beat me down if you want, but I see this as a way for people to get that superiority complex. "Oh, look at that dress, she looks terrible! HOW much did she spend on that thing?" I mean people gain security in themselves by beating others down (not everyone, but I just graduated from high school and I saw it a lot). And it's a pretty common Californian mindset from what I've had explained to me.

I would say this is aimed at fashion-concious women in their teens onward. And they make it simple and straight forward with a flash scrolling interface and just quick blurbs. They make their remarks not about "How it doesn't work for them" but rather in snide comments. "Drapes don't make a good dress", "You look like a pinata", "We have to look at you wear that? Eww"

When you look at show like TLC's What Not to Wear (Which I'll admit to watching a late-night marathon with a friend for giggles), they talk about how it's a bad outfit because it doesn't work for your body, or talk about how it's so vibrant it's silly. Cosmo... goes on the attack.

Just to touch on how others would view it differently... Men seem to see the female obsession with lady-magazines and fashion awareness a tad overboard and... well.. annoying.