Me and the Media

I’ve been living in Japan for eight months now and I’ve never experienced anything this scary. Fortunately I was not living close to where the earthquake had struck (I live in Yokohama, which is further south). I was at school when it occurred. I was sitting in French class reviewing for my test, just sitting there like it was a normal day. I had never expected anything like this to happen. At the time, my biggest concern was passing my test, but it really made me realize that anything can happen in the blink of an eye. One second I was reviewing reflexive verbs, and the next I was under the table hoping and praying that everything will be okay.

There are many earthquakes in Japan, but most of them are unnoticeable. At first I thought the shaking was just construction (since the building was next to a construction site). One of my classmates went under the table, then I realized it could be worse. Since the shaking didn’t stop, our teacher told us to get under the tables. The shaking lasted for two minutes and the whole time my friends and I were holding onto each other. The TV in the classroom would have probably fell and hurt someone if my teacher hadn’t been holding onto it.  I was so worried that something horrible could happen, like the ceiling collapsing on us, but luckily the only damage was that many things had fell to the ground. We stayed under the tables for a long time because there were countless aftershocks. By the time the second earthquake occurred, we were all wearing our helmets (my school provides helmets for the students in every classroom). We sat under the tables for a long time as we waiting for the swaying of the building to stop. When the aftershocks seemed to be over, my classmates and I joined the Spanish classroom and watched the news. The stories of the tsunami, and people dead and missing were really worrying me. The school wouldn’t dismiss anyone unless their parent was at the school to pick them up. Some of my friends had to sleep overnight at school because they had no way of getting back home. I called my mom about ten times, but the phone lines were down.

Finally, around 5 pm I got a hold of her and I asked her if she could come to the school. She had no transportation to get to the school since all the public transportation was shut down. Even the taxis weren’t operating. Luckily our neighbor (whom we had never met before) had seen my mother standing outside looking stressed, and had been extremely nice to offer her a ride. She then was able to come to the school and pick up my brother and I, as well my brother’s friend who lives in Tokyo and was unable to go home. Later, when my dad came back from work, he stopped at my school to pick up ten of my and my brother’s friends. My parents’ friend also stayed with us because he could not get back to his home in Tokyo. Including my family, there were a total of fifteen people that slept at my house last night.

There were aftershocks throughout the night, but I didn’t really notice them when I was sleeping. The news about the nuclear crisis was extremely scary for me. I am worried that the radiation will reach the area that I live in. We are not drinking tap water and are trying to stay indoors just to be cautious. Many of my friends are evacuating, which makes me even more worried. All we can do now is pray and hope for the best. My thoughts are with the people in Japan living close to the chaos. I hope the worst is over.

At first, this seemed like just another usual earthquake in Japan. No one had expected it to become such a huge issue. It just goes to show how life has countless unexpected twists and turns. Even on a beautiful, sunny Friday afternoon, something as drastic as this could happen to anyone.

Have you heard Kid Cudi’s new album? Unfortunately some of his songs sound a bit depressing. He used to be different, but now some of his songs seem sad and depressing. I still really like them, but I miss the old songs. I remember my best friends and I would always listen to him and we loved him. Now some of his songs kind of..scare me. For example, the song “The Mood” and the end of the song “Wild’n Cuz I’m Young” are a bit chilling. I wouldn’t want to listen to them while walking home late at night. Actually, I wouldn’t even want to walk home at night by myself. Last time, I saw a black cat appear out of nowhere. It startled me and I even jumped a little. Also, a group of guys tried to talk to my friend and I once. Yeah..the path to my house is pretty freaky at night.

Anyways, back to Kid Cudi’s new album. I actually really like it. The song “Erase Me” was my favorite song for a while. However I wouldn’t be able to listen to this album all the time. They’re the type of songs you would listen to when you’re in a certain mood. I look forward to see what Scott Mescudi creates next.

In my opinion, the purpose of this blogging activity is to improve our writing skills and add voice to our writing. Since everyone chose a topic that they could relate to, it was much easier to incorporate voice into it. If I were asked to write a book review for example, I wouldn’t be enthusiastic about doing it. My end product wouldn’t have voice in it. It would show that I don’t normally like reading books. Since I am writing about the media, which I love, it is much easier to show my personality through my work. It will have much more enthusiasm and it would be more interesting since I was eager to write it. Another reason why we did blogging was to learn more about technology. During blogging, I have learned how to embed media to make my blog more appealing. This will help me in the future if I come across similar technology. Also, Ms. Rumford wanted us to learn about what freedom of speech really means. While blogging, I had learned that you are free to say your opinion as long as it doest threaten, or harass someone, or violate that person’s privacy. Ms. Rumford wanted us to practice being global citizens and learn the important lesson of expressing our opinions publicly without being spiteful. If we had done traditional writing this year, we wouldn’t have learned any of these lessons.

One of the main things that I have accomplished during my writing is being able to say my opinion without offending others. For example, in my American Idol blog post, I explained how I didn’t really like a singer called Tim Urban without being hurtful. Before I had started blogging, I wasn’t very sure how to express a negative opinion without being hurtful. Sometimes I would say insensitive comments, and I wasn’t very aware how to control my remarks. Now, I have learned that I am able to express my opinion, but still do it in a way that doesn’t offend anyone. This is a very valuable lesson, because I need to know this as a global citizen when posting things online. Now, I truly understand the freedom of speech and will keep it in mind the next time I post anything publicly.

One key concept I have learned while writing is that research makes a blog ten times more interesting. During the first couple of blogs, I didn’t do much research. I relied more on previous knowledge. As the number of words increased per blogs, I learned that it is difficult to write a 500 word blog based on previous knowledge. After a while, I would run out of ideas, and I was forced to do some research. I now know that I always need to do research to make my blogs as interesting as possible. For example, in my blog about Lack of Sleep, I had done a lot of research and it was worth it. At the end of the day, my blog was more interesting, and I had learned more from it. I will continue to do research for any upcoming writing assignments.

The weekly requirements have helped me tremendously in becoming a better writer. For example, word choice was something I continuously struggled with. Since I was forced to find words that were outside my everyday vocabulary, it expanded my ability to write more appealing posts. While doing that, I have learned new words that I had never known before. A couple of days ago, I heard the word unequivocally on the television, which was one of the words I had linked on my Avatar blog post. I was amazed that I still knew what it meant (it means clearly or obviously), and I knew that all my hard work to enhance my word choice had paid off. It made me feel good about myself once I knew that my hard work was very beneficial for me. Also, being able to identify simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences has helped me become a better writer. I now know how to add complexity to my sentences instead of just having simple sentences.  Before blogging, I didn’t know how to identify these four types of sentences. I would just write sentences without knowing which one I was writing. Now I know how to add a variety if sentences in my writing. Also, since I learned more about commas, it decreased the errors I made in my writing. I learned the comma rules, and I keep them in mind when I am writing. Now I am more conscious of the mistakes I’m making and am able to correct them. By learning to do all of this, I have polished and improved my writing.

The beneficial skills that I have learned will help me in the future inside and outside of school. For example, the new technology that I have been taught will help me when I am discovering new computer programs. As a matter of fact, the technology I have been taught has already helped me in my Computer Explorations class. In that class, I had to embed a picture of myself onto my website, so I used the skills I learned from blogging to do so. Surprisingly embedding media on my website in Computer Explorations was the exact same way I learned to embed it on my blog. Another valuable skill I have learned is how to express my opinions without being hurtful. I learned how to control my words before I wrote them down. By using this skill, I will be able to form better relationships between my friends and family. I will think of what I’m saying before I just blurt it out. I will learn to look at something from a different perspective and be respectful to others’ opinions. I am glad we started blogging, and I will use the new information that I have learned from it and apply it to my life. I used to think that blogging was a homework assignment, but now I am excited to be able to voice my opinions publicly.

Have you been watching American Idol lately? I have, and I am extremely disappointed. A couple nights ago, my favorite singer, Michael Lynche got voted off. I was really angry, because he had an amazing personality and a great voice. In my opinion, he shouldn’t have gotten voted off because he has extraordinary talent. It was so funny to watch him lift Ryan Seacrest up in the air, but now he is gone and all of a sudden, the show seems so boring.

Don’t you just hate it when your favorite gets voted off? So far, this has happened to me twice this season. The first time my favorite was Alex Lambert, and he got voted off on March 11^th. I loved Alex’s voice it was so unique and different from everybody else. He stood out from the crowd and definitely deserved to stay. When he got voted off, many people were angry and a woman named Jessica started a petition to get him back on the show. Obviously it didn’t work, but it got a lot of publicity and people started to pay attention more. She heard that there was a new show called If I Can Dream, and it is a reality show, created by Simon Fuller (the creator of American Idol), about five people pursuing their dreams in life. She asked if they could add Alex to the show to be the sixth person. They agreed, and now Alex Lambert is on that show. If you are interested in watching the show, you can either go to their website http://ificandream.com/#/house, or watch full length episodes on http://www.hulu.com/if-i-can-dream.

Since I live overseas, I cannot vote for my favorites on American Idol. Instead, I just have to watch and hope for the best, but sometimes it bothers me when I see people get voted off that deserve to stay. It gets me thinking and I start to question myself if it is a beauty competition or a singing competition. Tim Urban, who didn’t have good talent only stayed as long as he did because of his looks. I bet many girls in America thought he had nice hair and a cute smile, but is that really what this competition is about? Do most people vote for someone because they like their looks, or because they like their talent? If I were living in the U.S, I would definitely vote for a person based on their talent. I wouldn’t even consider their appearance. If the girls in America thought that Tim Urban was ugly, he would have been voted off on the first week. Alex Lambert probably got voted off because people didn’t like his mullet. As much as I love American Idol, I think that the concept of people voting for their favorite is ruining the show. Instead of people voting based on talent, they are voting based on looks, and that isn’t fair. If the judges would choose, the show would actually be fair and in the end the person with the best talent would win, not the person with the best looks.

Resources:

http://www.poptower.com/alex-lambert-american-idol.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O7Qz01OBA0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=505AMRH4T4c&feature=related

A couple of days ago, as I was walking into my bedroom, I noticed an article taped on my door. Just by reading the title, I knew who had put it there, my mom.  The article was called, “Lack of sleep linked to early death: study.” I knew it was her, because she is always telling me to sleep early and how bad it is for my health that I sleep late. I’ve always known that it was bad for me, but I never thought that it could lead to an early death. The article shocked me and made me realize that I am putting my health at risk. Sleeping late can have many negative effects on our health that I didn’t even know about. The article was mainly talking about a man named Francesco Cappuccio and his beliefs. I was curious and concerned for my own health and decided to do more research. In case you are curious too, I will tell you about the risks and what I had found out.

On Wednesday, May 5, 2010 researchers said that people who sleep less than six hours per night have a higher chance of dying earlier than expected. Not enough sleep can cause people to experience diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and high cholesterol (said Francesco Cappuccio). The short-term effects are fatigue, irritability, careless mistakes, difficulty concentrating, slower reaction, increased stress, anxiety, and depression. If this continues over the course of a few days, it can cause memory loss, metabolism problems, and poor athletic performance.  Scientists in Australia say that the effects of lack of sleep can be similar or even worse that drinking alcohol. They say that staying awake for 18 hours is equivalent to drinking to the legal limit. It is shocking that even though we know that lack of sleep is horrible for us, around 20 percent of the U.S. population receive less than five hours of sleep. In fact, two out of every three accidents that occur in the U.S. are caused by sleep deprivation. More than 100,000 car accidents are caused by fatigue and drowsiness. Sleep deprivation for teens can even play a part in their mental and emotional health. If teenagers don’t get enough sleep that is needed for them, they could start feeling depressed. Have any of you felt tired, made silly mistakes, or had slow reactions because you didn’t get enough sleep the night before? I know I definitely have. Researchers say that sleep deprivation is one of the causes for children and teens getting bad grades in school. Sometimes, when I stay up late doing homework and have a test the next day, I make extremely silly mistakes. I always get mad at myself because I know I could have done much better. Even though I know that the reason I make these careless mistakes is because I don’t get enough sleep, I still somehow continue to sleep late. Now that I know the risks and horrible effects of sleep deprivation I will definitely try to get enough sleep. If we know that sleep deprivation is used as a form of torture, why do we torture ourselves?

Resources:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100505/hl_afp/healthsciencesleepbritainitaly/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/930615.stm

http://www.wellsphere.com/vitamins-supplements-article/5-health-risks-from-lack-of-sleep/439965

http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct01/sleepteen.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSxyT1JOJ8&feature=related

Volcanoes.
sleeping,
deadly,
beasts
raging with anger that piles up
until one day
BOOM
it explodes

Chaos.
trouble and worry
that fills people’s minds and souls
When will this nightmare go away?
Will we ever wake up from this horrible dream?

Traveling.
traveling to or out of Europe is like swimming with piranhas
very risky
and frustrating
most planes are cancelled
and you are stuck,
you are trapped in an infinitesimal box
and can’t get out

Why does Mother Nature make us go through this?
Why do we have to suffer?
I wish I could just close my eyes and rewind the whole thing
the volcano would swallow up the ash
and  go back to sleep
undisturbed like a feather blowing in the wind
calm
and quiet
Good night.

Sources used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwWtUpx2MwE&feature=related

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air was released on September 10, 1990, and it is by far one of my favorite television shows. Its genre is comedy.  It has won 13 awards, was nominated for two golden globes, and was nominated for 21 other awards. I own all six seasons, and I have watched all of them at least once. They are completely hilarious, and it is impossible not to laugh at the jokes. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air gave Will Smith his starting point. It showed everyone that he is a gifted actor. Will Smith plays a teenage boy who is sent off to live with his rich aunt, Vivian Banks, and his cousins (Hilary, Carlton, and Ashley) in Bel Air. His mother was worried about him staying in Philadelphia.  She wanted him to learn some values instead of his street smarts, and stay out of trouble in his neighborhood.  Will Smith plays himself (Will Smith), his short and nerdy cousin Carlton is played by Alfonso Ribeiro, his young and sweet cousin Ashley is played by Tatyana Ali, and his cousin who is spoiled, not very intelligent, and a compulsive shopper is Hilary, who is played by Karyn Parsons. His aunt, Vivian Banks is played by Janet Hubert for the first three seasons, and by Daphne Reid for the last three seasons. Will’s chubby uncle, Philip Banks is played by James Avery, and their butler Geoffrey is played by Joseph Marcell. I remember watching it on television when I was in fifth grade. I didn’t like it as much, because I couldn’t really relate to it, but the more I watched it, the more I realized how unbelievably funny it was. Since Will Smith plays a young character, I could relate to him more. The topics they talked about were relevant to my life. For example, they talked about school, family, and friends, and trying to fit in when you are new to a place. Last summer (2009), my cousin and I viewed at least three episodes every day, and eventually finished watching them all.  I remember trying not to watch so much, because I wanted to save them and not finish them so quickly. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air is my favorite television show, and I wish they were still making new episodes.

Blue = Simple Sentences

Green = Compound Sentences

Purple = Complex Sentences

Red = Compound-Complex

Resources used:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098800/fullcredits#cast

http://www.starpulse.com/Television/Fresh_Prince_of_Bel_Air/Summary/

http://www.timvp.com/freshprincedvd0.jpg

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Fresh-Prince-Bel-Air-w06.jpg

http://images.starpulse.com/Photos/Previews/Fresh-Prince-Bel-Air-w04.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ86HVfafqA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6WXR_ZzxPQ&feature=related

Have any of you heard about KiD CuDi? He is a singer, rapper, songwriter, and actor, and his real name is Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi. He was born on January 30, 1984 in Cleveland Ohio, and I like him very much. I enjoy his album Man on the Moon. Every song makes me want to listen to it over and over again. His songs are addicting; you can’t just listen to them once. The good beat and rhythm make you feel happy. My friends and I first started listening to his songs thinking that they were good, but as we listened to him more and more, we liked him better. I love almost all of his songs, but some of my favorites are, Up, Up, & Away, Soundtrack 2 My Life, Heart of a Lion, My World, Enter Galactic, CuDi Zone, Pursuit of Happiness, The Prayer, and Embrace the Martian. The main thing that I love about KiD CuDi is that he sings about his life. While he sings, he teaches people about himself. He isn’t like most artists these days, who babble on about nothing in their songs, there is actually real meaning behind his lyrics. For example, in the song Soundtrack 2 My Life, he is telling his life story. Some things that we learn about him are that his father died when he was young, he has two older brothers, one sister, and his family wasn’t very wealthy. Even with the lack of money, his mother managed to take care of him, and buy him the presents he wanted for Christmas. Another song which explains about his life is My World. He talks about how he wasn’t very popular when he was younger, and that he didn’t have many friends. He talked about how no one really knew who he was, nor cared about him, but all of that has changed. When he sings “This will be my world (I told you so)”, he is showing all the people who made fun of him that he got the good life that he deserved. It makes it enjoyable to listen to him when you know that he is singing from his heart. If you haven’t heard his songs yet, I suggest that you should.

Blue = Simple Sentence

Green = Compound Sentence

Purple = Complex Sentence

Red = Compound-Complex

Resources:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wcfqxzu5ldte~T1

http://www.cleveland.com/music/index.ssf/2009/06/before_he_became_the_most_buzz.html

http://www.kidcudi.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/picture-2.png?preview=1&template=default&stylesheet=default

http://www.kidcudi.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/picture-7.png?preview=1&template=default&stylesheet=default

     I can’t recall how many times I have seen the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding. The times are too numerous to count, yet every time I watch it again, it never seems to get old, and I never get tired of it. It’s such a hilarious movie that you can’t help laughing. One of the main reasons why I like this movie so much is because I can relate to it.
     My Big Fat Greek Wedding was released on August 2, 2002, and the director is Joel Zwick. The writer is Nia Vardalos who is also the main character in the film. It is a romantic comedy about Toula Portokalos, a single 30 year old Greek woman who works at her family’s restaurant, Dancing Zorba’s, and lives with her parents. The only thing her father Gus wants from her is to get married to a nice Greek boy before she is too old. On the other hand, Toula isn’t thinking about finding a relationship, but instead she is interested in taking computer classes in college, and eventually she takes over her aunt Voula’s travel agency. While at work one day, she meets Ian Miller, a high school teacher. They date secretly for a while until her family finds out. No one in Toula’s huge, loud family had ever dated a non-Greek before, and her father is heartbroken when he finds out. Ian proposes to Toula and they try to do the best they can to make their relationship work despite the disappointment of Toula’s family. Her father Gus struggles to accept Ian; Ian struggles to accept Toula’s enormous family, and Toula struggles to accept herself.
     The film consists of a wonderful cast. The actress who plays Toula Portokalos in this hilarious romantic comedy is Nia Vardalos. She was born on September 24, 1962 in Canada. The actor who plays Gus Portokalos, Toula’s father (one of my favorite characters in the film) is Michael Constantine. Lainie Kazan plays the mother, Maria Portokalos. Bess Meisler plays the crazy grandmother yiayia (another one of my favorite characters) who still believes that the war between Turkey and Greece is still occurring. Andrea Martin plays the strange aunt Voula (a hilarious character), and Ian Miller, Toula’s love interest, is played by John Corbett.
     The main reason why I love this movie is because Toula’s Greek family reminds me so much of my Middle-Eastern one. Some people aren’t close to their relatives, and when they are on vacation they would rather have a relaxing summer on the beach than spend time with their family. I would rather spend a whole summer surrounded by my loving relatives than be all alone tanning at the beach. They are so funny and loud and I never get bored when I’m with them. Every outing seems like a family reunion. For example, just going to the movies requires us to take three cars and fill up 14 seats at the movie theaters. Going out to dinner is the same thing, but while we are quiet at the movie theaters, we aren’t as quiet at restaurants. When we visit Lebanon, my family (my mother, father, brother, and I) stay at my grandparents’ small apartment along with my aunt, uncle, and two cousins. Since we visit at the same time, and don’t have houses of our own in Lebanon, we all stay at my grandparents’ apartment. Just like Toula’s family, our lives seem to revolve around food. My grandma, who lives in Lebanon, like most of my family, can’t spend a day without cooking. It’s impossible for her. You would think that a grandmother would rather spend her day sleeping, and would be too tired to cook, but not mine. She spends hours cooking for us, and even when we have plenty of leftovers, it is impossible to tell her to stop cooking. When we tell her to just make a small meal, she makes a feast.
     Although it is completely crowded and hectic at family gatherings just like with Toula’s relatives, it seems cozy and it feels like home. In the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Toula realizes how much she loves her family even though they are loud and different. I too, love my family for their differences, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Resources used:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/fullcredits#cast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mS4VPs5OCI

Have any of you seen Avatar yet? If not, I indubitably believe you should. The director and writer is James Cameron, and its genre is an action/adventure/sci-fi movie that won 11 Oscars. James Cameron also created Terminator, and Titanic which were both high grossing films. The main actor, Jake Sully, otherwise known as Samuel Shane Worthington was born on August 2, 1976.  Avatar was released on December 18, 2009, and when I went to see it with my family, cousins, uncles, aunts, and grandparents this past winter, we all were ambivalent about watching Avatar, and were having mixed feelings about it. In the end I was exultant that we had gone. I wasn’t so elated about watching it, because I thought it was going to be another shooting, killing, and violent sci-fi movie. My father endeavored to explain the plot based on a movie review he’d read. As I was listening, I thought that it sounded like a horrible movie, but after we saw the film, I realized that my father had been describing it completely wrong, maybe he had gotten it mixed up with another movie.

The movie, Avatar is about an ex-Marine named Jake Sully, who takes his brother’s place, after he dies, to a mission on the planet Pandora. He, and many others working on the same mission, create Avatars that look like themselves, to disguise themselves to look more like the “Na’vi” who are almost like blue aliens. They do this, because the greedy corporate figurehead, Parker Selfridge wants to drive the Na’vi away so that they can mine for a precious material that is worth a copious amount of money. Jake set out on his mission, but soon after falls in love with a native called Neytiri (her real name is Zoe Saldana, and she was born on June 19, just like me). She takes him into her world, and Jake begins to feel enamored with the land and begins to adore the beauty of the nature. He learns to make the tough decision between doing what’s right, and doing what you are told.

The movie, Avatar exalted me, and I would unequivocally see it again. I saw it in 3d, and it really took me to Pandora. The characters came to life, and jumped off the screen. The colors and nature were sublime, and you, as a viewer have the chance to live the life of Jake Sully. You see what he is going through, and realize why he learns to love Pandora and the Na’vi natives so much. This movie does not stop at astonishing special effects, but also delivers important messages. It really makes you think about humans in a different way. It shows you how even though we might think that we are the smartest, we can be wrong. Humans can also be extremely cruel sometimes, and selfish. At first you hate the Na’vis, and think they are very strange, but later, you learn to love them, and take their side in the end.

The resources I used were:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avatar/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/

http://www.avatarmovie.com/index.html

http://dictionary.reference.com/