Recommended For You; Weird Sisters


1. Teen Wolf

        This drama/thriller series encircles around the phenomenon of werewolves and what it is like to embrace your darker side.  It tells the story about best friends Scott and Stiles when Scott becomes a werewolf and has to face off against other werewolves.  The series starts with werewolves but begins to include other supernatural creates and by the end of the recent season you practically need a cheat sheet.  It is recommended because it tangles with the idea of fate versus destiny as Scott battles powerful creates that seem impossible to beat but yet still comes out the good guy.  You do however see Scott become darker as the seasons go on and the choices he has to make become harder and delve into more grey areas of right and wrong.  It is recommended because of your appreciation for the supernatural and for a character's descent into the point of no return where they must continue to make the wrong choices.

2. Vampire Diaries

       This series is about two vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon, who meet a high school girl, Elena, and fall in love with her.  Stefan fits into the hero stereotype as the vampire who doesn't feed on people, but does have the occasional binge, while Damon is the quintessential bad-boy that only looks out for himself.  Elena becomes torn between the two being drawn to both the perfect relationship with Stefan and the twisted love story with Damon while each tries to manly outdo the other.  As other more power vampires show up in town, along with quite a few witches and chanting, the series becomes more about protecting Elena and each other.  This show is recommended because of the abundant amount of supernatural activity with the prophecies to go along with it.  The use of blood as both a sustenance and a thing of power is brilliant and the mask worn by Stefan about blood is intriguing.  Stefan wears the mask of being a good guy that only feeds on animals to clear his conscious but underneath hides his craving to go on a binge spree and kill hundreds of people.  You will enjoy the prophecies in the show about the characters and how they evolve into becoming true unpredictable ways.

3. The Originals

         This spin-off series of Vampire Diaries is a much darker outlook into the vampire and witch-world set in New Orleans.  It is about four Siblings: Klaus, Elijah, Rebecca, and Kol, who are the first vampires created, the originals, and are thousands of years old. These siblings have the promise of "always and forever" looking out for each other but frequently delve from that promise.  Klaus is the nearly psychotic killer who always knows the end game and plans for everything to work out his way while sometimes sacrificing others.  These vampires have made thousands of years of enemies that come looking to kill the siblings, but end up getting beaten by Klaus's plans, which are five steps ahead.

This show is soooo good because of the family dynamic that goes on and the fact that you root for Klaus even though he is evil.  Although the originals are nearly impossible to kill, the siblings frequently try to take down each other by stabbing them and locking them in coffins for hundreds of years.  The father of the siblings is their greatest enemy as he thinks they are abominations and has hunted them down since the day they became vampires while their mother is the extremely powerful witch who made them vampires and has her own motivations.  The aunt could quite possibly be the most evil however because of what she does in order to gain more power.

This show isn't just gore and psychotic killers though as the originals, especially Klaus, have a level of sophistication that only thousands of years and living lavishly can create.  They have a speech pattern consistent with older centuries that is nearly poetic and frequently throw grande balls but still sacrifice and kill at the end of the day.  This is recommended for you because of the prophecies that go on and how the siblings outwit them into coming true, the twisted version of family that the originals have, and the ingenuous way that Klaus's plans are revealed and fall into place.  

4. The 100

        This semi-futuristic series is about how 100 child prisoners go back to earth after being in a space station for 100 years after a nuclear apocalypse.  The 100 teenagers make it to the ground only to discover that they are not alone and end up starting a war with the "grounders."  Clarke, Finn, and Bellamy are the main characters in the show as Clarke and Bellamy are the leaders of the 100.  The kids encounter the grounders and soon find themselves committing more and more violent acts in order to stay alive and go down darker paths.  There is also the struggle of who will be the leader of the group and what kind of rules will be implemented since they are all criminals.  The 100 are not the only ones with a problem in the show as the people still living in the space station are quickly running out of oxygen and are struggling to find a way to Earth.

This show is interesting because of the development the characters go through and the choices they make that lead them down either a better or darker path.  The two primary examples being Finn and Bellamy as Finn starts the show as the guy who always knows the right thing to do with the morals about what is right and wrong but makes bad choices and becomes the thing he had hated.  Bellamy is the opposite in that he begins as the criminal who went to the ground with the presumption that he would be able to do "whatever the hell he wanted" but ends up becoming the strong leader who guides the 100 and looks after everyone. This show is recommended because of the idea of whether the characters actions are controlled by fate or choice and how each character makes decisions based on their opinion about destiny.

People that are inherently "good" often take the step towards something evil.  Often times these people know what they are doing is wrong but continue to do it anyways.  Good people often times have certain ideals that they value and would never cross the boundary into what they determine wrong.  In my opinion, good people take the steps towards becoming evil slowly by crossing into grey areas.  Why they choose to take the first step towards evil depends on the situation.

There are many different things involved in somebody choosing an evil route.  Outside influence is the main cause of the initial step toward evil and other people usually play a large part in this influence.  Lady Macbeth has a negative effect on Macbeth by insulting his manhood and pressuring him to make the steps towards darkness.  Lady Macbeth eggs Macbeth on by saying, "Wouldst thou have that / Which thou esteem'st the ornament of life, / And live a coward in thine own esteem, / Letting "I dare not" wait upon "I would," / Like the poor cat i' th' adage?" (Macbeth 1.7).  Macbeth allows himself to be persuaded into doing something bad but knows that he is heading down a bad path.  Good people often choose to make a poor decision because they consider it a one time deal that will not change their character.  They believe that one bad action will not do any harm and that it was necessary for the greater good.  Often times this first evil action won't have serious consequences and the person thinks that they can get away with more and more.  Eventually, the person will have a lot of grey areas in their life where right and wrong blend together and their choices will become harder to determine between the two.  The initially good person will become darker until all of their choices are bad and they don't recognize themselves.

Making evil decisions has an impact on somebody both externally and internally.  I think that internally has a larger effect on the person because it impacts their way of thinking and what they value.  A person's values make up who they are and when they change towards a darker side, the person changes.  Macbeth makes this change into a darker personality throughout the play when he commits darker and darker acts that increase his guilt.  One example of his conscious realizing how he has changed is when he imagines a dagger after he kills King Duncan.  Macbeth says, "Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?" (Macbeth 2.1) describing his guilt being manifested as a hallucination of a dagger.  The dagger shows that Macbeth has grown a guilt for killing Duncan and he is aware that what he has done is wrong but has no idea how to stop his downfall.  Externally however the person's life will become drastically different with a lot more darker situations to deal with.      

11/8
I'm using my freebie!!!

10/11/2015


 From:   http://wordlesstech.com/anti-smoking-advertisements/  
Administered by the County of Orange Health Care Agency
Published 2015 by wordlesstech.com

Advertisements face us everywhere we go and are always trying to get people to buy or do something.  There has been recently a huge increase in  the amount of tobacco-free advertisements, including this one.  This advertisement encourages people to stop smoking because it will make them prettier.  Saying that quitting smoking is a "cheaper" way to get more beautiful feeds off of the consumers need to get everything as cheap as possible and quickly.  The woman in the advertisement has a portion of her face wrinkled and an ash color with yellow teeth holding a cigarette to show what smoking will make you look like.  The rest of her face is what American society would consider beautiful to show the difference between the two sides.  The advertisers purposely put the phone number to call in a bright color so that it draws the readers attention and has the tag-line at the top so that the consumer reads it.

This advertisement plays off of America's importance of beauty to put down smoking cigarettes.  This relates to the deadly sin of pride in our appearance, especially the line of "looking smoking hot."  Smoking is known to cause the problems depicted in this advertisement such as wrinkles and yellowing teeth but the advertisement exaggerates these features in order to scare smokers into following their advice and quitting smoking.  This advertisement does not however mention the health risks of smoking but focuses on purely the external affects on people's looks, which hints to people's aesthetic focus.  Pride in appearance is the deadly sin used in this advertisement because of the phrase "looking smoking hot,"  which is a common phrase used to describe a vain perspective.  Although this advertisements purpose is a purpose that will benefit people by quitting smoking it goes about it the wrong way by promoting aesthetic improvement instead of the health benefits.

The intended audience of this advertisement is current smokers who have not currently tried to quit or are struggling to quit.  Most of these people will be people around the age of forty because this generation statistically smoked the most because since then the health risks of smoking has caused a decline in smoking.  The target audience is people who haven't already quit smoking and may be struggling which is persuaded by the prospect of gaining beauty.  This people have the cultural knowledge that smoking is bad for your health but smoking is still considered as something that "cool" people do.  This advertisement appeals to these people because of the beauty of the woman and the sharp contrast with the wrinkles and yellow teeth of the cigarette part.

Names carry a lot of meaning and weight in our society and can change throughout our lives as we too change.  The name Kristen, that's me, carries meaning in our society and to me.  The name Kristen in Christianity means "follower of Christ" and has English and Irish origins.  When my mother was choosing my name, she purposefully chose a name with a Christian meaning and a name that was primarily English.  My name has influenced me in how I have identified myself as someone of English descent and categorizes me as an American.  The name is Kristen has set me apart in that the spelling of Kristen is most commonly Kristin or even Christine, which do not have the Christian meanings attached.  The spelling of my name is important because it carries meaning in my religion and is unique from the more common spelling.

Anna Quindlen's "Life in the 30's" discusses how women not changing their name when they get married has an impact on their standing as part of the family.  I think that everyone has moments where they identify themselves differently than the opinions of a large group because everyone has different experiences that change their perspectives.  For me, being a part of a volunteer group at my youth group was a unique experience that challenged my beliefs.  From a popular vote, the group decided that we would volunteer at Habitat for Humanity instead of the Ronald McDonald house like I wanted.  In my opinion helping children, especially sick children and their families, is the most rewarding and valuable volunteering that you can do.  Habitat for Humanity is an excellent program for helping the economically disadvantaged but my passion is with children.  My opinion differed from that of most of the group and brought up the question of whether or not I should continue volunteering for the group or should volunteer by myself.

I will admit that I felt incredibly guilty for considering quitting a volunteer group because of the type of volunteer work that we would do.  However, my selfish tendencies to do what I wanted to do were present because I wasn't terribly interested in Habitat for Humanity, I am not good at building or working with power-tools.  This feeling made me stick out in the group because everyone else was thrilled for that volunteer work.  Even though I wasn't excited about building houses, I still wanted to feel as part of the group as every person wants to belong and tried to become passionate about the volunteering.  This need to fit into a group was so strong that I stayed in the volunteer group and volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House later.  What we believe can sometimes be different than what a group holds as a passion and we have to choose whether we will stick with our passions or change according to groups.    

Photo

Wing Young Huie, We are the Other, 2012-2013

This picture shows a man of Asian descent holding a sign saying "When I come to the US, I don't have nothing. With my bare hands and hard work I now own two barber shops."  The man is standing in a barber shop with an employee to his left and a group of customers behind him.  The barber shop is well kept and appears to have a lot of business from the group of people at the front.

The statement on the sign is important because it demonstrates the immigrant's low English quality.  The man makes several grammatical mistakes and spelling errors, which would suggest that English is not his first language, or he slept through English class.  By looking closer, you can see that the Asian owner is the only Asian in the room and is wearing a uniform typically associated with a dentist or barber.  This can be representative of the minority of immigrants and the disproportion of immigrants as business owners.  This man is representative of the immigrant population as he discusses his past of being in poverty and working toward his goals.  This man is arguing that he overcame his disadvantage when arriving to America by working hard and persevering.

Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood present the concept of "othering" through writing techniques.  Language is used to separate people into groups by these authors through their descriptions of these people.  In the photograph by Huie, the writing on the chalkboard uses language to portray the Chinese immigrant as a non-American and serves to single him out against the American customers and employee. In the novel, The Handmaid's Tale,  Atwood singles out several groups of people such as the Handmaid's and the Unwomen.  Language singles out these groups describing the Unwomen as "lower-class" and "near-death."  When Atwood mentions the Unwomen, the language surronding it has a somber, gloomy, and hopeless tone to highlight the disadvantage of these people.  Color is something that is used by Margaret Atwood to classify people into groups like the Handmaid's and the Unwomen.  The Handmaid's are associated with the color red in this novel to represent fertility and to make them stand out against the other people.  The Unwomen are represented with color because they are the only people not wearing a uniform and therefore wear many different colors.  The different colors represents the wide range of people that are Unwomen and their unabiliity to conform to a societal class.  Color is also used in the photograph by Huie as the photo is in black and white and there is no color.  The absence of color shows how the immigrant man has overcome his past poverty and has become part of the social class of small business owners.  The effect of using language and color to single out people is that social groups become more rigid as the people who don't fit into these descriptions cannot be in that social group.  These social groups are also hard to change as the immigrant man shows that he was only able to escape the group of poverty was to work hard.  Social groups and the concept of "othering" people are important in these works because they shows how people are categorized and placed into groups based on their situation.