Entry 8: Facebook Satire

After reading through a passage on The Onion's in class, I went up and search about any satires on Facebook, one of the most famous websites that people go to. One of the news article I saw was the Onion's reporting Mark Zuckerberg as a CIA agent. It was really hilarious and unrealistic when I first saw it, but then I stopped laughing and thought about it. What if I didn't know that this article was from the Onion's? I would've probably believed in this if I were to not know which company published the article. Then I took a look at the video clip beneath the article and it sounded so genuine that I think most people would fall for it. In the video, there were pictures of codes written on Facebook online and have people who named "Agent XXX". They even named Mark Zuckerberg as "The Overload". The Onion's even related Facebook's Farmville as a symbol for the Al-Qaeda's message and attack. Everything just sounded really ridiculous. I believe the satire was to make fun of Facebook and its user. Its purpose seems to be merely to entertain, although there may be other causes for writing this article.

Entry 7: Guideline for "An Inconvenient Truth"

Thesis: Through his credibility and personal anecdotes, Al Gore drew attention and put emphasis on the significance of global warming and the impact it's bringing to our society.

I. He showed pictures of him participating in politics and global warming studies to bring ethos of his great leadership and success in the past.

II. He talked about going to Antartica and some other places to study global warming. It builds his credibility by showing the amount of effort he has put in this field.

III. He also used Roger Revelle, his professor, as an example for studying global warming. It helped Al Gore built his trust of his data and his knowledge on the subject.

IV. During the presentation, there were graphs and statistics such as the graph that showed the correlation between rise and fall of CO2 and temperature, which helped support his position.

V. Pathos were also used through presentations of the effects of global warming and natural disasters showing how harmful global warming can be.

VI. He used audio tracks of icebergs falling and melting down to demonstrate a great impact of increase in temperature due to Green House Effect.

VII. There was an emotional personal anecdote of his son hit by a car for saving a person, which made him realize that we should all pay more attention and care to things that are precious to us. It draws an analogy between his son to him and the effect of global warming on Earth to the people.

Conclusion: Al Gore uses ethos, logos, and pathos to persuade the audience to take actions for decreasing the harmful effects global warming have been bringing us.

Entry 6: A Random Act of Kindness

In Taiwan, because traffic is really crowded almost everywhere, I see a lot of accidents occur on the streets. I also see a lot of fighting, arguments, but I don't see a lot of people passing by willing to help the people who were injured. One day as I was on my way to school, I saw a motorcycle crashing crashing into another car. Inside my mind, I was thinking: "this is just another accident." Since we were waiting for the traffic light to turn green, I looked out from the window and saw a nice person who came off his scooter and helped the injured women got up. I was kind of surprised because I barely see that happening. Taiwanese people usually just walk by or pretend they didn't see the accidents. The man was so kind that he left his scooter on the side pushed away the injured woman's scooter so her legs could get up. I was admired by his heroic actions. This probably happens numerous times in the United States because American people tend to help out when they see others are struggling, even if they might not know them at all. I always wanted to help out when I see people are having trouble, but I never really have times because most of the time I'm either on my dad's car planning to go somewhere or I felt that it would be really embarrassing. I'm pretty sure that the person who was helping out with the woman's accident was not ashamed to drop his stuffs and help a stranger. I think he probably felt even better than after trying to save a person's life. It may be a random act of kindness for him, but for people like us, it's something different.

Entry 5: Haven't I Seen You Before?

Think of a popular movie, TV characters or singer.  Then without naming that person that you’re describing, write a paragraph or two of about 250 words in your Writing Blog, detailing their personality and their physical appearance.  Once you are done, get at least three people in the class who aren’t that familiar with your musical or viewing habits to try to guess who that person is that you’re describing.  Have them write their guess in the comments page.

     This is probably one of the funniest person I have seen on television. He makes me laugh, even when I'm in a bad mood. He makes funny and sometimes even sick jokes in a comedy show. Although I heard that he's gay in real life, he doesn't look or act differently from people who are not and we can't really tell that he is one. I was really shocked when I first heard it because he just looks like someone who would be flirting with girls, at least in the show. One of the very special physical features is that he wears a suit almost every single time he appeared. I remember he wore t-shirt a very few times, and it just looks really awkward on him. The person also has a favorite tie: the duck tie!!! One time I remembered he lost some kind of bet and he was obligated to wear that duck tie for a year along with his suit. I loved him wearing that tie!!! I even tried finding a duck tie in Taiwan, but then I couldn't find it.

     There are also some famous pickup lines that he have in the show, such as "have you met ___". Another famous line that he has is "legend...wait for it...dary....legendary!!!" Even when he's in a bad mood or just broke up with his girlfriend, he could easily laugh at his own jokes and be funny again. I've always enjoyed his shows mainly because of how silly he acts in shows because he just attracts a full lot of attention due to his humor and actions. He's the kind of person that I would like to be friends with because he's not only funny, but he can also be nice and gentle to his close friends sometimes.

Entry 4: Sentences with condescend

1. It's really important for a teacher not to condescend his students.
2. Ben spoke to Howard in a condescending tone.
3. He looked as if he condescended to meet me
4. He laughed in a condescending manner.
5. Apparently, Pamela condescended to meet the junior class, giving stares at them while she was talking.
6. Ann speaks to people in a condescending manner, treating people as inferiors.
7. Unfortunately, the principal felt insulted when James condescend to his crucial remark.
8. Her condescending speech angered the audience, which later caused a fight a outside of the auditorium.
9. It's not moral to treat people in condescending attitudes; instead, we should treat people equally.
10. It's really rude to condescend to one's teacher because it would be really disrespectful.

Entry 3: Something That Had an Impact on You

        When I was a child, my parents took me to Bali and it was one of the most memorable experience I ever had. I always tell this story to my teachers and classmates in class when we have to bring up a memorable experience. When we first went arrived at the hotel, I was jumping up and down on the bed because I was really excited to live in a foreign country. Because my parents were busy settling down our bags, they didn't really have time to take care of me, so I decided to "take care" of myself. I saw my mom put our jackets inside the closet and for some reason, I was enthralled by the design of the closet door. My mom left after she put our jackets in and I started playing with the closet door all by myself. Suddenly, I accidentally cut my right hand pinky with the door and blood started to come out. I started crying calling for my parents. My parents were so worried when they saw my right hand full of blood. They were so worried that none of us knew what to do. My dad finally calmed down and quickly called an ambulance. I remembered it was the first time and my only time riding on an ambulance. I went to the hospital and got some stitches. I remembered the next day, I have white tapes all raped around my right hand and when I went swimming, I have to keep my right hand up all the time. It was like raising my right hand in class except I was in a swimming pool. My mom took a picture of me while I was swimming and I still have that picture in my album. I probably would never forget this experience and I probably never will. I still have that stitch on my right hand pinky, and that's probably another reason why I still remember the accident. Although the scar has become less obvious, I could still see it and I hope the scar would be on me forever for the rest of my life, just to remind me of this incident.

Entry 2: Chinglish

I can't believe I got point off on mine homework!!!! It was like why the world do this huh?! First I'm sooo ashamed with the way my mom force me dress chinese-like and now I failed my xiao kao?! I can see that all of my other classmates are still having fun while I just felt gloomy and finding ways to boost up my score! How am I going to face my baba and mama with that homework grade...I felt like I'm the only person who has to bear both pressure from parents and friends. My classmates don't seem to be willing to hang out with me with my stupid Chinese accent. I have to keep telling them "I know English good!" Whenever test scores come out, my 'friends' would stay away from me because they wouldn't understand why I was feeling sad. Urg....I never really know their scores, but I guess they may get some score higher than me (100% I think since I always get something around 98%-99%). I felt like I'm one of the victims who has to stand pressure from both parents and friends. Parents have so many and much expectations for me, and so friends too ah... When I'm stuck within the 'American pressure' and the 'Chinese pressure', nobody seems to get how I feel, not even my parents. I felt there's a mixture of the two cultures inside my mind. The main problem with this mixture is I don't feel close to any side. I wanted to have the Chinese sole inside my mind with the American outfit, but it seems to be really so hard oh....