TOW #13- ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Shatters Box Office Records by BROOKS BARNES

         

            Everyone was anticipating the new Star Wars movie this weekend and it seems as though people were  really really really anticipating it. As Brooke Barnes, a journalist for the New York Times who writes about Hollywood news, puts it, the movie took the people by storm and broke some records along the way. After Disney’s opening weekend for “Star Wars; The Force Awakens,” there was a rough estimate of $517 million in ticket sales worldwide. Its first three days earned $238 million in sales which, in respect to how much the movie “Avatar,” the highest grossing movie of all time, made in the first couple days ($85 million), this seems like a gigantic figure. Star Wars fans have been anticipating this film for a while and that truly showed this weekend.

            Besides talking about the movie this weekend, Barnes had another purpose of showing his audience the direction that he believes most movies are going it. Barnes believes that the real money in movies is coming from restarting or continuing franchises. This weekend was the example of the continuation of Star Wars, but later there will be more of the Avengers, Indiana Jones, and X-Men.

            One of the greatest components of this article that made it great was the wit and informality that can be seen. When describing the role movies are moving to, Barnes writes, “plan to battle back: Death Star-size movies that can capture the public’s imagination in ways reminiscent of the earliest years of blockbusterdom, before the hyperfragmentation of pop culture” (Barnes 1). This quote exemplifies his wit and humor, along with his informal jargon. These characteristics make the article seem more like a conversation making it all the more enjoyable to read. So when the audience, who is suppose to be the general public, reads this, it will appeal to all of them.

Tow #12- IRB post: A Deadly Wandering by Matt Richtel

           I am now about half way into this book A Deadly Wandering and I am really enjoying the read. I don’t normally like books that my mom recommends to me but this one happens to be different.  So this book is basically about texting and driving. It follows the case of this boy named Reggie who lives in Utah. He was the first ever case of texting and driving where the awareness for such an act was started. On his way to work he happened to be texting and driving, slid into the other lane, and then hit a car killing two scientists that were inside. Originally it was considered hydroplaning, but the cop thought it sounded to suspicious. So he pursues a deeper investigation, which presents the reader with a lot of facts and statistics about distractions behind the wheel. The goal of the text, which is why my mom wanted me to read this book, is to teach young drivers about the horrors of distractions while driving and how they are a serious matter.

            Matt Richtel achieves this purpose well throughout the text by the organization he uses. For the most part the book is laid out by a narrative style story and then statistics and facts. It switches between the two of these to make a logical story that presents facts along the way. For example in one part of the book Richtel would write, “The family drove to Bunderson’s office. It was located in a single story building near the county courthouse. It was unassuming to the point of being ugly, with a pink, unkempt exterior and a mass-manufactured mailbox with an eagle on top” (pg 69) and then later would say something like, “Reinforcing that finding is research by Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California at Irvine, who found through survey studies that people are happier at work when they use Facebook more” (170). This constant switch back and forth makes the read a lot easier on the reader who is likely a teenager.

            I recommend this book to any young drivers.

TOW #11- “95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, From Donald Trump’s Tongue” by PATRICK HEALY and MAGGIE HABERMAN

            Patrick Healy is a senior writer for the New York Times who usually writes on political topics. This week he has recently written an article discussing one of the most controversial politicians, Donald Trump. Throughout the week, he and other staff members have collected many speeches, rallies, and massages from the politician. This article is the analysis of these 95,000 words in order to help portray his attitudes towards many topics. I believe Healy expresses this purpose well in the article. Throughout, there was a lot of talk of Trumps diction. He often uses negative diction to describe immigrants, terrorists, and even his opponents. One of my favorite quotes from the article was when Healy says, “In another pattern, Mr. Trump tends to attack a person rather than an idea or a situation, like calling political opponents “stupid” (at least 30 times), “horrible” (14 times), “weak” (13 times) and other names, and criticizing foreign leaders, journalists and so-called anchor babies” (Healy 1). Besides the diction, Healy goes into many other rhetorical devices that Trump uses such as first person point of view, a casual tone, and fear in order to persuade the voters. Over all, the article pins him as a “demagogues” which by definition is a political leader that appeals to popular desires and prejudices rather than using rational argument.

            One of the hardest things for me to decipher throughout the article was the tone that Healy was using. I didn’t know if Healy was using a positive tone, negative tone, serious tone, or a joking one. For instance he would say, “he forgoes the usual campaign trappings — policy, endorsements, commercials, donations — and instead relies on potent language to connect with, and often stoke, the fears and grievances of Americans” which sounds like he doesn’t approve of Trump, but later he would say, “’Such statements and accusations make him seem like a guy who can and will cut through all the b.s. and do what in your heart you know is right — and necessary,’ said Michael Kazin, a historian at Georgetown University” which is a quote that seems to praise him.

            Perhaps that is the message of the Trump Campaign, you either hate him or you don’t. Because this article was written for voters, it will certainly help them understand that’s going on with Donald Trump.

TOW #10- Acura Safety Commercial

“When you don’t think of them as dummies, something amazing happens”. This was the quote from one of the best commercials I’ve seen in a while. This week I chose an Acura commercial as my TOW. I saw this commercial on TV and although most commercials usually annoy me, I thought this commercial was very powerful. The author, who is obviously Acura, is a big name car company. In the commercial they are expressing the idea that their cars are very safe and that safety features are important to the making of the car. To do this the commercial take place in a car safety center where they crash cars in order to see how safe they are. A man walks into the scene and turn on the lights. Dramatically he starts loading safety dummies into a car that they will crash. Only thing is that these dummies are human people who just don’t move. After loading them in he gives them a serious look and then launches the car. Then it goes to a black screen saying the quote I used earlier.

            The thing that makes this commercial so effective is the juxtaposition between the dummies and the humans. Because Acura swaps them it send a message to the audience. It reminds them that Acura doesn’t just make a car without considering the safety of the people, the audience. The use of humans instead of dummies makes the commercial a lot more personal and makes you appreciate Acura for caring about us.

            On top of that, another tool widely used throughout the commercial is dramatic music. People often don’t think about the music that goes into TV and movies but if it wasn’t there, things would be completely different.  Acura is obviously talking about the safety of drivers so they needed music to exemplify their tone, seriousness. The music makes it a little sad but shows that safety isn’t a joking matter to them. This helps express their idea that safely matters most.

            I thought the commercial was very powerful and very good. You can watch it with this link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfvpF4RRGAE

TOW #9- Borrowing From Solar and Chip Tech to Make Diamonds Faster and Cheaper By JOHN MARKOFF

     

(A picture from the original article. Depicts the atomic structure and look of the synthetic diamonds)

    It can create smiles and it can create wars. Diamonds are one of the most sought after substances in the world. Until recently diamonds have been mined in unethical and environmentally unfriendly ways but as outlined in the article “Borrowing From Solar and Chip Tech to Make Diamonds Faster and Cheaper” by John Markoff, scientists have created a new technique to synthesize these diamonds in a lab. Although synthetic diamond aren’t a new technology, John Markoff, a senior writer for the New York Times, explains how technology from a solar power company has help develop a new way to make them which costs just as much as the ones that are mined. By layering these diamonds one atomic layer at a time, these new diamonds can be made in a lab using plasma. Written for a general audience, the author uses well-chosen facts in order to exemplify how revolutionary this technology can be.

            Throughout this article, the author uses these facts to show how similar the diamonds are to natural ones. In the article Markoff writes, “According to Mr. Roscheisen, the new process will make it possible to manufacture large quantities of Type IIa diamond, a pure white material that represents 1 to 2 percent of all natural diamonds” (Markoff para 11) . This quote utilizes two different devices. It quotes a reliable source and then gives a statistic. The combination of these two allow for the audience to better believe the statistic given. The audience can better understand how closely related these diamonds are to the ones that come from the earth. Then when Markoff goes into talking about how this could stop the unethical extraction of natural diamonds from the earth, this quote helps show why it would stop the mining of diamonds.

            I believe that Markoff achieved his purpose well and made the article very hopeful for a future without blood diamonds. 

Link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/science/borrowing-from-solar-and-chip-tech-to-make-diamonds-faster-and-cheaper.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0