Diction

I think I am definitely guilty of using phrases without fully thinking about their meanings. Although I don't tend towards being terribly long winded in my writing, I definitely utilize phrases without examining other possible ways to convey my point. I like his advice to choose words carefully and think hard about what you're actually putting down on paper. I almost never consciously acknowledge my use of active-versus-passive voice, and I think that my writing would benefit if I did so more often. It's interesting to think that active voice is such an important vehicle in moving a text forward.

Prezi

I thought Prezi was a better alternative to Power Point since it is more engaging, although it was a bit more difficult because I'd never used it before. The Prezi was supposed to be a summary of chapter 5 of Trimble's Writing With Style. While we were making our Prezi, I found that it did help enhance my understanding of Trimble's meaning.

Ikea

This Ikea commercial suggests that Ikea's prices are so low it seems like it was accidental. After she pays and looks at her receipt, the woman in the commercial begins to behave suspiciously (shifty eyes, running to her car) and it's clear to the viewer that she thinks she's getting away with something.

Ikea wants to lure customers in with their "criminally" low prices.The viewer sees that the subject of the commercial paid a price so low that she can't believe it. This leads them to believe that they can have those prices, too.

Funny Ikea Commercial

Watch it here.

AT&T

What would be scarier to a parent than sending off young children into the big city by themselves? AT&T's commercial plays off the fears of parents to sell their phones. "Hansel" and "Gretel" are the picture of rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed, childlike innocence. They're holding hands and skipping through the big city, leaving a trail of bread crumbs in their wake. However, the bread crumbs don't turn out to be such a foolproof plan, and the children are lost when the sun finally sets. Luckily, AT&T swoops in to save the day with the GPS feature on Gretel's cell phone.

The maternal or paternal instincts of the commercial's audience makes them want to protect the children. In the viewers' eyes, the children in the commercial could easy by substituted for any child  in his or her life. Although the commercial is cute and lighthearted, there is the dark undercurrent that leaves the viewer wondering, "what if this happened to someone I love?" This pitches the cell phone, not as a luxury for games and frivolous phone calls, but a necessity for an emergency situation.

Heineken

This Heineken commerical uses gender stereotypes and the idea of wish fulfillment to sell beer. It begins by showing a group of well dressed women beside themselves with joy over a walk-in closet filled to the brim with clothing, shoes, and jewelry. After all, what else would a woman do if she came upon a large amount of money?  This is an easy and memorable association for most commercial viewers: clothing makes women happy. This suggests, of course, that a closet like that would be any woman's dream come true.

The behavior of the men in the commercial is directly paralleled with that of the women: they are screaming and jumping in delight over a walk-in fridge full of beer. By association, this leads the viewer to believe that this is a man's dream come true. Just in the way that women would nearly pass out in ecstasy over clothing, men would behave identically over Heineken.

Pantene

In the commercial we viewed, Pantene attempts to sell its product through a typical triumph-over-adversity story. Presented more like a short film than an advertisement, Pantene pulls a "bait and switch" on its audience. This serves to draw the viewer in, get them emotionally involved, and then hit them with the product pitch at the story's climax; rendering it extremely memorable.

This commercial shows a young deaf girl being bullied by her peers. It seems that in her daily life, she experiences a lot of pain. However, despite being deaf, the girl begins to learn to play the violin. She imagines herself in a wheat field while she practices,  giving the impression that music is a release for her, allowing her to feel happy and free. The audience, of course, is rooting for her; we want her to defy the odds and overcome her obstacles and not let her bully bring her down. We are touched by her success: just as she enters a playing competition and stuns the audience (her bully included), Pantene throws their slogan up on the screen: "You  can shine." All the feelings of happiness and pride we have on her behalf are immediately associated with Pantene and having beautiful, shiny hair.

Focused Free Write

John Trimble makes the case that all writers are like warriors, defending claims and fortifying arguments. How do you respond to this trope, this figurative turn?

Generally, I agree with Trimble's assertion. I believe that all writing should have a point to it and that writers should try diligently to ensure that they are writing effectively to support their claims. I would also agree that in certain types of writing (for instance, in the composition of an essay) it is imperative to make strong, clearly stated arguments as evidence to support one's thesis. However, I find Trimble's metaphor of writers as warriors slightly troubling. It has a very bold, if not confrontational, connotation. Trimble seems to suggest that all writing should be approached the way one might approach an essay: with a strong argument and rigidly outlined supporting details. I think it would be a mistake for a writer to approach every project this way. A poem or a novel, for instance, should both have a point, but the writing would suffer tremendously if the writer abandoned all delicacy and subtlety in their efforts.

12 Minute Free Write

So here I am at Hofstra and I am blogging.  Writing online makes me feel weird. Well, it's not so much the writing online part that worries me- I'm actually really not looking forward to not being able to edit myself. I edit everything- well, pretty much everything I write, even if it's going on Facebook or somewhere equally inconsequential. I don't think I'm going to be able to stick to a a consistent train of thought without reading over what I'm writing, but I guess that's not really the point of this assignment. I'm actually not yet sure what the point of this assignment is and I can't remember if I'm supposed to know or not. My guess is it's some exercise in editing? Or that it will be eventually, anyway. I really do like the idea of using a blog and Twitter for a class. I've taken writing classes before and never felt like I gained much from them, but this course seems like it's really going to be different and I'm actually looking forward to it. It's fascinating to be starting out with such inconventional (I meant unconventional but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to backspace for typos) mediums. Not sure if that's the word I wanted to use, but so be it. I'm really unenthusiastic about being unable to edit myself, I don't mind saying that again. I may have to cheat a teeny tiny bit on that part. I'll try not to.

I'm wondering how much the other students will write in 12 minutes. I guess those of us who type quickly and have a lot to say will end up with much more here than others. I'm actually in the library right now because I broke my laptop. I'm pretty bummed about having no laptop to use but I came here with a friend to do some work and it's kindof fun. Perhaps this is a silver lining? I guess it's pretty embarrassing that I'm excited about doing homework in the library, but I already knew that I'm a nerd so I'm just going to have to accept it. Oh man, I really don't want my fellow classmates reading this. I hate that I can't delete/edit! BOO. I hope that the papers we write don't make me want to pull my hair out. I still have a good 5 minutes left of this and I am thoroughly running out of things to say. This is the longest blog post I have ever made.

I like the twitter thing we're doing and I'm really interested to see where that goes and what kind of paper we have to write. I just made my new twitter account but I couldn't remember what the hashtag was so I'm waiting to make my first tweet until Kat texts me back with that information. I'm going to tweet about my friend's "Justice League" shirt.

Hofstra has been good so far. I already have a job and I like it... It doesn't seem like it will be too overwhelming and I'll be able to work on homework while I'm there which is really nice. It is already a huge improvement from the other job I had for the last 2 years that I don't want to discuss. .. That makes it sound like it was something illegal but it wasn't at all. It was just a stupid job for a stupid corporation that I hate and may have given me PTSD (but not really). Welp. I'm almost down now. I backspaced a little and my friend who is here at the library totally called me out on it but I DON'T CARE I CAN'T STOP. I make too many typos! I don't even know if that counts or not. Ummmm so this has been an interesting experience. I thought it would be kindof fun and I guess it was but also somewhat torturous. And now I'm running out of time. Okay then. Can't wait to rip this apart. BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE OH man I want to delete that.