My American Dream: 10 AWESOME GOALS IN MY LIFE

After I graduate: 

1. Get into an awesome college and an awesome university.

2. Grow taller (170 cm+++) and have an awesome body shape, and by body shape, I mean an awesome six pack.

3. Keep my records clean  (from weed, drugs, cigarettes, etc. etc.). 

4. Try to earn some [$$$CASH$$$] for my family.

5. Have lots of fun in sports, games, socializing and all that sort of jazz.  

Lifelong goals:

6. Live an awesome and long healthy life while loving the awesome people around me, including my family members, friends, and you too, Mr. Marrinson.

7. Travel around the world or as much as possible -To go destinations include, Paris, the city of Love, meeting the Montagues/Capulets at Verona, the city of Perth in Australia, go diving at Maldives and so so so so many more.

8. Be fun, be wild, be free before my marriage ends it all. Most importantly -be rich.

9. Find the love of my life, my soul mate, my wife, my soul maid, blah blah blah.

10. Enjoy the little things.

Pink Floyd's Learning to Fly

*We originally shared this to you on google drive, but I guess you didn't see it. Sorry about that! 

TPCASTT:  Poem Analysis Method:  title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited and theme	Learning to Fly
Title initial thoughts on the meaning / purpose.	Learning to Fly: Learning to fly literally, or becoming free from something or gaining freedom. Learn to fly could also possibly mean learning something new.
Paraphrase “big picture” ideas and images	The tension that is going through someone who is trying to “fly.”
Connotation of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values	“a ribbon of black stretched to the point of no turning back” Possibly means a long runway. “fatal attraction” The word “fatal” in this poem is used as a complement to “attraction”, although fatal is usually used as a description of something harsh  or deadly.
Attitude What is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself?	Trying something new. Possibly smoking weed according to the descriptive feelings mentioned . The description he uses is similar to feeling high.
Shift Movement in attitude, meaning, or intention:  identify the shifts and explain them.	Change from a tensed or a scared emotion to a blissful and joyous one. At the beginning, the words that are used suggest that the speaker is somehow afraid and lost, but towards the end he seems free and careless.
Title revisited Any new insights on meaning or significance of title?	The title is literal and refers directly to the lyrics.
Theme What was the author’s purpose in writing the poem?	To express his feelings of before and after accomplishing something that he is scared of (flying for the first time).

1. Audience / purpose - Everyone in general. The people who are listening to the music. The purpose is to deliver a meaningful lyric by using a song that could become catchy to listeners.
2. Content / theme - The content is that the speaker in the text is afraid of trying to 'fly' but after he has done so, his feelings shift from being afraid to having the feeling of freedom. 
3. Tone / mood - The tone in the beginning is filled with fear, creating a somber mood, but later towards the end, the tone becomes happier with the feeling of having freedom and being free.  
4. Stylistic devices - The author uses a lot of descriptive language and symbolism. Alliteration such as "tongue-tied and twisted" were also used. "How can I escape this irresistible grasp?" is a rhetorical question used to create confusion and fear. Repetition and rhyming of words were use to create a feel and a good vibe to the text. 
5. Structure - Instead of writing formally, the text is not written in sentences, but more like small phrases connected together. The text is in the four of a song lyric with rhyming ends. The lyric is divided into 6-2-6-2-6-2-2. With the twos being "Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies. Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I," which is like the chorus of the song and the 6 acting like a beginning, a climax, and an ending to the song. The event in the lyrics is written chronologically and the tone of the speaker in the lyric changes according to what he is feeling as the song advances.
   
   

"Learning To Fly"

Into the distance, a ribbon of black

Stretched to the point of no turning back

A flight of fancy on a windswept field

Standing alone my senses reeled

A fatal attraction is holding me fast,

How can I escape this irresistible grasp?

Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit, I

Ice is forming on the tips of my wings

Unheeded warnings, I thought, I thought of everything

No navigator to find my way home

Unladened, empty and turned to stone

A soul in tension -- that's learning to fly

Condition grounded but determined to try

Can't keep my eyes from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

Above the planet on a wing and a prayer,

My grubby halo, a vapour trail in the empty air,

Across the clouds I see my shadow fly

Out of the corner of my watering eye

A dream unthreatened by the morning light

Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night

There's no sensation to compare with this

Suspended animation, a state of bliss

Can't keep my mind from the circling skies

Tongue-tied and twisted just an earth-bound misfit, I

Fight Club Script: Structuralism Analysis

                             TYLER
                 One minute.
                       (looking out window)
                 This is the beginning.  We're at
                 ground zero.  Maybe you should say a
                 few words, to mark the occasion.

                             JACK
                 ... i... ann....iinn.. ff....nnyin...

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 With a gun barrel between your teeth,
                 you only speak in vowels.

     Jack tongues the barrel to the side of his mouth.

                             JACK
                       (still distorted)
                 I can't think of anything.

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 With my tongue, I can feel the
                 rifling in the barrel.  For a second,
                 I totally forgot about Tyler's whole
                 controlled demolition thing and I
                 wondered how clean this gun is.

     Tyler checks his watch.

                             TYLER
                 It's getting exciting now.

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 That old saying, how you always hurt
                 the one you love, well, it works both
                 way.

     Jack turns so that he can see down -- 31 STORIES.

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 We have front row seats for this
                 Theater of Mass Destruction.  The
                 Demolitions Committee of Project
                 Mayhem wrapped the foundation columns
                 of ten buildings with blasting
                 gelatin.  In two minutes, primary
                 charges will blow base charges, and
                 those buildings will be reduced to
                 smoldering rubble.  I know this
                 because Tyler knows this.

                             TYLER
                 Look what we've accomplised.
                       (checks watch)
                 Thirty seconds.

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 Somehow, I realize all of this -- the
                 gun, the bombs, the revolution -- is
                 really about Marla Singer.

PULL BACK from Jack's face.  It's pressed against TWO LARGE
     BREASTS that belong to...BOB, 45, a moose of a man.  Jack is
     engulfed by Bob in an intense embrace.  Bob weeps openly.

                             JACK (V.O.)
                 Bob had bitch tits.

Above is the script from one of my favorite movies, Fight Club. Having seen this movie, I pretty much know the whole story, and therefore I will analyze this in a structuralism view. The structure of the script of this movie is somewhat odd. It is the type of movie where you get totally lost in the beginning,but as you keep on watching, things start to clear out and makes sense. The structure of this movie is not like the typical movie we see everyday. With this movie having a twisted ending, the movie starts with the ending, then it cuts to the beginning and proceeds to rising action, climax and back to the solution again. This makes the audience totally lost in the beginning, but as they follow the story line from the beginning to where the story currently is, then the audience will slowly be able to grasp whats going on and unravel the confusion of the film. This is one of the aspects that make this such a great film. A sophisticated structure.

Above is the script of the very beginning of the film. In the very beginning, it is ironic that the narrator says " This is the beginning.  We're at ground zero." because it is actually the same scene as the end. This is also used to create confusion and instantly gains the audience's attention because right at the beginning, there is a gun pointed towards the main character's face, making us know that he did something really wrong before and makes us want to know what put him into this horrible condition/situation.

As the scene goes on, the two main characters Tyler and Jack talking to each other. This would also mislead the audience into thinking that they are two different individuals and it would keep the audience thinking this way throughout the story until the end where the mystery is solved and we know that Tyler and Jack is actually the same person, just that Jack is the dark and chaotic side of Tyler. This would bring a shock to ALL the audience, having thought that they were two different people and that they have misinterpreted the whole movie. 

As the talk goes on, explosions and destruction was mentioned showing that something bad was going to happen really soon. Words such as demolition, mass destruction, blasting, blow, smoldering rubble, are used to describe and emphasize the explosion; and with Jack checking on his watch, we know that it was happening soon.

As the conversation goes by, "Somehow, I realize all of this -- the gun, the bombs, the revolution -- is really about Marla Singer." This phrase shows up and strikes the audience in the face, making them wonder: "who in the hell is Marla Singer and what the heck does she have to do with all this?" This is also a good way to introduce a important character that has not appeared in the movie and is a good way to keep the audience confused as they wonder and try to understand the film. 

Lastly, in the end of the scene is a cliff hanger. After Marla is mentioned, the whole scene disappears into a odd scene where everything is so peaceful with nothing much going on. This would leave the audience wondering what the beginning scene was and makes it possible to start telling the story of how Tyler got there.

GREAT MOVIE I RECOMMEND YOU WATCH IT.

PS. Brad Pitt was still handsome. 

The Naked Emperor

The article, "The Naked Emperor," is an article about how Chinese leaders use propaganda in the cyber world to steer online conversations. The Communist party used the cyber world as a tool because in the present,  more than a 100 million people in China uses the internet, so they took this opportunity to "fool around." The first thing they attempted was to "mess around" by posting a message on Sina Weibo, China'
s twitter. Their goal was to spread propaganda through the cyber world in order to achieve support from their people. The message posted on Sina Weibo was about how one of the leaders of the party wept five times during the president's opening speech. The party thought that by posting messages like this, people would feel proud and give support to the party, but the results were the opposite of what they had expected. The people of China saw this as a joke and created a ridiculously funny version of it, for example she wept five times because of eating spicy noodle. This shows that manipulation and propaganda do not work and the people are not conceived from what the government are trying to do.

Mr. Zhu wrote in this article that: "Ordinary people like us all know the emperor is not wearing any clothes. The emperor himself knows that he is naked. he also knows that we know. And yet he stilled walked out like this." This means that the people of China knows that the Chinese government is trying to depict and portray themselves as great heroes to the people of China through the usage of manipulation, even though everybody knows that they are faking it.

This is similar to Orwell's 1984 because in the novel, the Party try to manipulate and brainwash the people of Oceania through means of media and propaganda. It is a very similar situation because in both cases, there are people who the government fail to manipulate and have a thought of their own, like Winston and the people of China. In my opinion, I think that this is a great article because it expresses the thought of a Chinese who knows that the government is trying to manipulate their people and dares to speak out to the world about the failure of the government and to humiliate them in a way.

1984 Chapter 6 & 7 Analysis

Feminist view

 

Chapter 6 (Perth) A feminist would view chapter 6 of 1984 negatively because in this chapter, Winston describes the experience he had with a prostitute three years ago. The female prostitute is one of the few female characters that appear since the beginning of the novel and the portrayal of women being prostitutes seem nasty and disgusting. We could also tell that this book was written long ago before the 21st century, because during the 21st century, women have more equality and rights than they did before. By comparing men as ‘masculine’ or as the people working and comparing women as a ‘prostitute’ clearly shows that men had an advantage and were more superior than women at that time. But as we all know, these ideas and concepts are just thoughts that are constructed by culture. In conclusion, throughout the chapter, women are shown as weak, powerless people who are under the control of men and their purpose is to follow given orders and to pleasure men. This can be seen from the role of Katherine, Winston’s wife, and the prostitute Winston met a while ago.

Chapter 7 (Little V) - upload soon

Psychoanalytic view

Chapter 6 (Little V) 
In a psychoanalytic view, the main goal would be to investigate the cognitive processes that are being presented such as memory or behavior. Winston’s prediction that the Party only viewed sex as a process in producing new Party members can be viewed as a psychological stereotype or a situational factor of behavior. Winston’s depression and suppressed feeling towards females because how the Party thinks females are an excess duty and how they are merely tools of reproduction can be caused by either not knowingly agreeing to the common belief of the Party that pleasures should not be made from sexual acts or that he believes he should follow a certain belief simply because everybody else is. The most likely case of Winston’s feeling is a situational factor case, where he, individually, would not hate women in his own perspective or according to personality, but instead, it is more likely that surroundings and encountered context have made him believe differently. Another important factor is fright. Since the Party has negative views towards females, Winston feels that having sex without any other purpose than pleasure is rebellious and would possibly anger the Party. He has no hatred for sex but when he and his wife Katherine separated, he became desperate for a sexual affair, mentioning in his diary that even the prostitute that was old and ugly, he continued along with the sex nonetheless.

Chapter 7 (Perth)  
This chapter narrates about how the Party manipulates the people by feeding them false information. The Party is brainwashing the people to believe in what they want them to. By doing so, the Party is able to control the people the way they want. In this chapter, the Party provides the people with false information to deceive them from reality. In my opinion, I feel that this chapter is a portrayal of a communist society or a dictatorship, where the ruler controls the information people have and twist information to suit the purpose of the ruler. It is a horrible concept to provide people with false knowledge because it would come to a shock when the people know the truth, but on the other hand, this is a very complicated and intriguing concept to think about.

Questions

1) Why did you initially choose the theory you did to break down your chapter(s)?

I chose to analyse Chapter 6 of 1984 in a feminist perspective because chapter 6 is one of the few chapters in this novel that has the appearance of a female, so I decided that it would be a good opportunity to analyze this is a female's point of view. Another reason was because I have tried analyzing text in different views and would like to try see things in another perspective. I, myself, is a male and would like to discover how a female would handle and see situations differently than men. This was why I chose to analyze in this view. For chapter 7, I analyzed it in a psychoanalytic perspective because my partner chose it for chapter 6.

2) How did viewing the chapter(s) through this scope (and the scope of your partner) change your interpretation of your reading?

I feel that analyzing the chapters 6 and 7 in different views give me a different perspective and a wider insight on the chapter. I understood the chapter with more depth and also in a different side. This helps develop my analyzing skills and gave me a need experience in interpretation of text and made me understand the text in different ways. Rather than just reading it normally, I also had to think more than I usually do.

Late October Cartoon Analysis

This is a political cartoon written around two years ago during the election at the US. From this cartoon we can see that it is in the perspective of the author is either a Democrat or possibly neutral because it portrays the Republicans in a negative way. First of all, we know that this cartoon is against the Republicans because of the elephant, which is their symbol. The elephant is portrayed as a fat man wearing a suit and the suit represents wealth and greed just like a typical businessman or politician. The message the cartoon is trying to send is that the Republican party platform for the coming election is made up of anger, accusations of Barack Obama being a socialist and hatred against Muslim. This can be seen from the facing cards (ANGER, JOKER, and QURAN). We could see that it is not a very strong, but rather a weak and robust platform from many aspects in the cartoon. This is seen by the platform the elephant standing on made of small pieces of wooden planks and connect by masking tape. The base of the platform is made up of cards which are know to fall apart when just in contact with little wind. We could also see this by the elephant shaking showing that it is unstable and he is balancing himself to prevent himself from falling. Lastly, the "tea" sign at the back of the card is a reference to the Boston Tea party which indicates that they are instigating most of it.

I chose this cartoon because after being confused and skimming through all the cartoons without understanding any of them; this one came out appealing and understandable, which is why I decided to analyze this one. I analyzed the cartoon based on my understanding and the news I watch on American politics in the past and my general knowledge about the elections and the competing parties in the US. My analysis was mainly based on how I saw and interpret the message of the cartoonist with the assistance of a little bit of research for more background information on the parties.

In my opinion, I loved this cartoon because it is filled with humor and symbolism, which portrays the Republican at an angle, at the point of view of the cartoonist. I think his cartoon have illustrated his points and is clear to the audience. For instance I could understand that the JOKER represents Obama and him being socialist by look at the picture and the text on his collar. I could also recognize QURAN as hatred against Muslims because the Quran is a Muslim term and the image of the Muslim in the card look evil. However, the snake I do not know what it means and how it represents ANGER. After a long tedious research I gave up, but my connotation of the snake is being dangerous and poisonous. The Republican party is clearly portrayed as the fat, dull, elephant and their stability is clearly shown by the structure of the platform the elephant is standing on. I think that the author has done an awesome job to send his message to the audience and this was one of the political cartoons that I strangely understood by nature (not being American).

Columbus Day

As a child, I've heard stories about Columbus and his famous conquest to India. He is known for discovering the new land, America and was respected among young children. Children were proud of his great discovery and worshiped him as the founder of America, but little did we know the truth of Columbus.
After reading the first chapter, "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress" of Howard Zinn's book, "A People's History of the United States," my views on Columbus completely shifted to another direction. A new one. All my respects for Christopher Columbus completely fades away and I unveil the truth of Columbus. The story told to children and the reality of Columbus described by Zinn are two very different stories. It seems like the story told to children was just a deception to hide the violence that happened and see Columbus as just the founder of America. This was the mask worn by Columbus to be seen as a hero of America, but behind the mask of hero lies a true monster than is not less cruel than Hitler. The true identity of this hero lies a villain. This is just like the Joker being Batman after all. After reading this chapter i was very surprised of what i heard about Columbus as a child and what I found out from reading the chapter. Columbus thought like a dictator. He was racist and hated on the Jews and the moors and saw the Indians as an opportunity for slavery. These evil thoughts came out from the hero of the children. He wiped out islands just for his own people and used the fact that the Indians were less civilized to take advantage over them and kill them all for their land and resources. This is a very inhumane and disgusting act. In my opinion, I believe that the children of America and the world should have the rights to know who Christopher Columbus is. Celebrating Columbus day is just as horrible as celebrating Hitler for gassing all the Jews or like the Japanese thanking the Americans for bombing Hiroshima and creating a better Japan. You wouldn't want your children worshiping Satan, and Christopher Columbus day is just as evil as the devil and does not deserve to be looked up upon. In fact, Columbus day shouldn't even exist anymore. That sailing the blue sea to find a better world crap is no longer legit after discovering the inconvenient truth. From now on, Christopher Columbus will be known as the one who bought death to America or the one who stole America. After all, discovering America was kind of an accident. They misunderstood America to be India after and only went there for the gold. Columbus, you lucky qfuhasdkfjhuwf.