The Rise of Superman
I found this chapter from Susan Faludi’s book. Heroism became a staple word in society after the attacks on 9/11. THe word was redefined from describing superman or other Marvel characters. Now, heroes were firefighters, policemen, paramedics, the passengers in the flights, armed forces, those in the government, and average people who came to help clean up the debree left from the attacks. George Bush and Rudy Guliani were some governmental officials who were called heroes. This first part of the chapter goes on to explain that someone needed to take charge after what had happened on September 11th, and George Bush needed to fill those shoes. It was publicized by the media, especially comic books. Faludi talks about flight 93 and how the passengers did everything possible to take the plane over from the hijackers. This makes them heroes. It was kind of hard to read and the end of the chapter was really interesting since we just watched Flight 93 and I learned so much about it.
9/11 Report and United 93
The 9/11 Comission Report is the official report of the events leading up to September 11th, 2001. United 93 is a film that chronicles the events that happened aboard United Airlines flight 93 on 9/11. This was the hijacked airplane that was forced to the ground by the passengers in a field in Pennsylvania. There is a lot of intertextuality between the film and the report. The first thing I noticed was in the film when the airtraffic control man recited “We have some planes…”. I remembered that this was the name of Chapter 1 in the 9/11 report. Knowing about the 9/11 report or 9/11 in general makes it easier to watch United 93. The 9/11 Report gives you the background information needed to understand the film. One of the chapters explains how Al-Qaeda and the magnitude of Osama Bin Laden (the perpetrators of the attacks) came into existence. It then gives the background stories into the lives of the hijackers and how they went about and conducted the attacks. The Report and the film can go hand in hand. I would recommend reading the Report before watching the movie. I did have challeges reading the text because I have never read a comic book from front to back. It was extra difficult for me to follow the dialouge because I did not know what order to go in and I was also distracted by the images. However, after completing the second reading, I have become more comfortable in reading and comprehending it. It helps that I do know a lot about the events of September 11th and that I lived in that time period. This knowledge helped me in not having any challenges in watching United 93.
9/11 Report initial thoughts
The graphic adaptation of the 9/11 Report was unlike anything I have ever read before. I have never read a comic book from cover to cover, so in that respect I was not sure how to follow the dialogue at first. It was hard for me to read because I had to change my mindset because it is a different literary medium and is not read like a traditional novel. However, after six or seven pages I got used to it. I am enjoying expiriencing different forms of novels especially this graphic one. I never though that a significant non-fiction governmental report could be transformed into a comic book form. I thought so far that it is perfectly written and gives all the facts necessary to explain the events. There is no dramatization or exaggeration. It is told how it happened. The illustrations were on key aswell. I found that the pictures of all the 9/11 hijackers to be a great addition to the report.
dialogue on facebook
There are all types of dialouge on facebook. While looking through my friends pages I see a variety of forms of writing. Some posts are one liners, others are long paragraphs. Most of the time it is an inside conversation between two friends that cannot be understood by an outsider reading it. This calls on the term of intertextuality. If you do not have background information on the subject matter, then it wont we understood. Facebook has wall-to-wall where you can see a continous conversation between two friends. There are inbox messages which is a private email feature of facebook. People can also video messages that can be left on their walls by others. This gives a more personal touch. People can comment on pictures and videos. You can see sometimes a continous conversation between all the people who commented on these. Now there is facebook chat where you can have a real time chat with your friends. Facebook is the easisest form of communication.
Narrative Assignment
Here’s the link to my narrative assignment. I did option 2 which required me to set up a new blog! http://oskarschell.wordpress.com/
Writing like Oskar
I read the first chapter of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close at the beginning of the semester. I got incredibly heavy boots when I read Oskar’s question “What if skyscrapers moved up and down rather than the elevator”. This refered to the “worst day ever”. It made me sad because I thought if that was invented than noone would have died that day because they would have been safe in the ground. This novel would have never been written. Oskar’s dad would have never died. Everyone would have been safe.
Rhetorical Analysis of Expedia.com
Expedia.com is one of the numerous travel websites like Travelocity, Hotwire, Priceline, Cheap Tickets and more. The message that it sends is that offers its customers cheaper rates and deals on vacation packages, airline tickets, hotels, and rental cars. It saves their customer more money than their counterparts. Since travel is not a necessity and people in the United States are watching their checkbooks, this website appeals to the average American who can maybe with the help of this website go on a vacation. Therefore, its audience is the average American citizen. The creator of this website is Expedia, Inc. The website persuades the general public to utilize them above all other travel websites and travel agencies because they give out the best rates. The design/ style of the website is eye-grabbing with its images of warm sunny beaches and luxurious hotel rooms. It appeals to the viewer’s senses and inclines them to book a trip because it seems worth it. The front page has last minute specials like “Las Vegas 2 nights + flight from $180″. This makes it seem like anyone can go on vacation with these deals. This lures in the customer. However, once one clicks on the rate, the customer has extreme restrictions like date, certain hotel, and etc. So this visual appeal grabs the attention of the customer. Also, on the first page Expedia claims and guarentees its customers “The BEST PRICE on every trip”, “$248 MILLION dollars in customer savings last year while booking flight and hotel”, “MORE HOTELS in more destinations”, and “FREE REWARDS program”. All Americans want to save money so this site uses rhetoric to persuade people to utilize them for their traveling needs.
Academic Writing
Academic writing has many aspects. The five aspects that I associate with it are introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, conclusion, and citations. All of these aspects are equally important and interdependant. Working together they make the piece of writing flow coherently. The introduction initiates the paper and gives the reader background information and context. Also, the introduction must be strong because it is the first thing the reader looks at and it must be an attention grabber. The thesis is the defining point of the paper because it is the roadmap tbat explains to the reader the structure and what the piece of writing will be about. The body paragraphs are the meat of the writing because that is where all the facts and explanations come into effect. My rough draft’s paragrahs are not as developed as I want ted them to be, so that is something I need to work on. The conclusion wraps up the paper and must restate the thesis statement in other words. It must not be identical to the introduction, but similar. This is where I have the most problems. I can never seem to write a well developed and strong conclusion paragraph that matches the rest of my well written paper. I need to work more on that in my current rough draft. Lastly, citations are key to an academic writing. It is important to cite where you received the information so that you will not be plagerizing.
Thinking Like Oskar
What if there was a car that ran on something that we have more than enough of and will never go out of existence? What if cars ran on air? With all the hype of going green and the oil prices, air-run cars seem like a godsend. If cars ran on air, then the pollutants will decrease, since cars are one of the biggest producers of pollution, it can be one step to a greener world. We would not have to depend our lives on the decisions of the princes in Middle East for our oil. Air is a renewable source. It would make everyone a little richer, because they do not have to spend atleast a fifty dollars per week filling up on gas. That would save the car owner atleast $200 per month. Atleast $2400 per year. This would be a good invention.
