New Six Word

              I plan on winning this time.

Tone:
1) Ebullient
2) Confident
3) Ecstatic

Mood:
1) Exhilarated
2) Jubilant
3) Excited

Subject:
Satisfied

Theme:
 Wins and losses are part of life but the determination to win brings joy.

Bucket List

By Kevin Pham

1)  Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson

            During a certain point in my lifetime, I was obsessed with "NCIS".  A television serie about murderous crimes and what not.  From reading the back of this novel, I know that this is what it's about.  The novel is also an award-winning #1 best seller!

2)  The life of Pi by Yann Martel

            I enjoyed the book hatchet very much when I was young and it was a book about survival and what not.  In the novel "The life of Pi" its about a boy named Pi stranded in the ocean with a tiger for days.  The novel itself is also a best-seller in multiple cities, that alone already convinced me that this would be a book worth my time.

3)  Going After Cacciato by Tim O'brien

            My whole childhood growing up, I was always interested in history and war. I'm a big fan of the game series "Call of Duty". War has always sparked an interest for me, therefore I'm sure this novel will be well worth it.  If I recall, I'm pretty sure this was recommended by you to somebody else,(I over heard you) therefore this must be a good book!

4)  Going Bovine by Libba Bray

            I'm a sucker for the fictional books!  I've practically  read only fictional books my whole life.  The cover of the book was quite strange but once I read the back I was already looking foward to getting my hands on this novel. I also saw it listed on Bobby's bucket list, so of course anything Bobby reads, I read.

5) Water for Elephant by Sara Gruen

            This is a book that has been on my list of books to read since last year.  Mrs. Harmon spoke about the book and read a few pages of the novel and it interested me.  It's about the life of Jacob Janlowski in circus.  I'm not personally interested in the circus itself but it seemed like a must read novel because not only all of that but everybody seemed to wanted to read this!

6) No Easy Day by Mark Owen and Kevin Maurer

              As I said earlier, I am always interested in history and war.  This novel is actually written by one of the men set to assissante Osama Bin Laden.  I just found out about this book not to long ago and am eager to read this.  To be able to know exactly what happened that day, detailed to everything from the start of the trip to the end is surely what everybody is wanting to know.

7)  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

               This is actually the first afghanistan novel written in english.  The novel is a tale about an afghanistan boy and his father.  I'm always interested and curious about other culture in the world, therefore this book would be an excellent novel for me to read. This book is most likely going to make history as well, being the first afghanistan novel written in english.

8)  My sisters Keeper by Jodi Picoult

              I actually watched the movie of this novel.  It was really good, a little creepy though.  We all know though that the novel of the movie is much better than the movie itself.  The movie was really good, therefore this book has to great.  This novel would most likely be heart-breaking for me.
9)  The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
              I have read the previous novel, "I am number four" and have watched the movie to it.  I was very pleased with the movie and enjoyed the first novel that came out.  The book is about basically other life forms that are trying to survive on earth and prevent them self from being killed.  One important thing that I have not mentioned about myself is that I am always eager to learn more about the universe.  Even though this novel is nothing about that, it's about another life form out there more intelligent than us.  I want to read this because it is the sequel to the first novel which I enjoyed.
10)  Micro by Micheal Crichton
               Even though it is number ten on my bucket list, this is my number one book that I want to read.  There's not much to say about myself to explain why I want to read this so badly but that I'm very fascinated by what I've heard about it.  Students turned into micro size trying to survive nature.  This novel was actually recommended by my boss and he gave me a brief explanation of the novel.  Since he was the one to explain it, I ended up wanting to read it so badly because my boss is so charismatic when he speaks.



Rebel Without a Cause Critic

In 1955, the opening of “Rebel Without a Cause” was made to exemplify a tragedy that is most likely not to happen but could possibly happen with teenagers at that time period.  With the screenwriters Irving Shulman, Stewart Stern, and Nicholas Ray as also the director.  Each main character was crafted to where they had an issue with their father, such as not having a good father.

This film begins with the main character, Jim Stark (James Dean). James Dean actually died recently after the film was created in a car accident.  This caused the film to be more famous than what it could’ve possibly been if James Dean were not to die recently after the creation of the movie.  Back to subject now, the movie starts off with Jim lying on the street drunk and depressed of not having a father that acts like how a man should.  He then gets picked up by police officers and sent to a juvenile office to where he then vents off to the police about his problem with how his mother is in control.  This explained how Jim always stirred up trouble everywhere he was, to fix his problem with his family.  Because of his trouble making in every town, his mother forces their family to move to a new town and start fresh after ever bad incident.

In this new town that Jim now lives in, he meets the girl next door, Judy (Natalie Wood).  During their encounter Judy seemed to show interest in the new kid, Jim.  Although Judy knows her position in high school and knows that starting something with Jim would ruin her reputation. Her reputation of course is being popular, fitting in with the “cool-crew”, she is dating the most popular jock, Buzz (Corey Allen).  Just like any character though in this film, she also has a problem with her father.  In the film, Judy gives her father a kiss on the cheek and her father reacts badly towards it warning Judy that a girl her age shouldn’t be doing that.  Judy being upset goes for another kiss on the cheek and her father gives her face a good slap.

On Jim’s first day of school he encounters a strange boy, Sal Mineo (John “Plato” Crawford), typically known as Plato in the film.  Also like the other characters he himself has another father issue, his father abandons him and he now has issues of wanting a fatherly figure.  He is currently living with and being token care by a black housekeeping maid.

Later in the film tension rises with Jim and Buzz, stereotypical for the new kid to be picked on by the popular jock.  Buzz slashes Jim’s car tires and asks Jim to play a game of chicken one night.  Chicken is a game to where you drive cars (that were stolen) off a cliff and the first one to bail out is considered the “chicken”.  From this dangerous game they played, Buzz gets caught on something preventing him from opening his door to bail out, he drives off the cliff and dies.  Strangely enough nobody seemed to care or worry for Buzz but was worried about getting ratted out or in trouble by the police.  Of course having Buzz gone, Judy goes running to Jim in a heartbeat and they’ve fallen in love. 

Jim tries to talk to his father about this but his father shows no support so Jim tries to go to the police for help,  but he encounters Buzz’s gang and they chase him down to prevent him from telling the police.  Plato and Judy fearing for him, they run to an abandon mansion, where they feel safe and they start to have a little fun, acting out with Plato being a real estate and Jim and Judy being a lovely couple.  Buzz’s gang eventually find their hideout and tries to get them, during this process, Plato is frighten and is crazy at the time and kills a member of the gang.  Plato then runs off to hide from the police, Jim and Judy tries to soothe him and stop him so the police can help, but Plato panics when the police shine a light on him and they then shoot him to death.

Although this would be unbelievable and unrealistic at our time period right now, this movie was very influential at that time period for a lot of people.  Such as kids who were going through the same pain as the characters in the film and also the parents.  It was a lesson to everybody to learn how to do what they should.  I don’t know if this movie was influential for kids that that time to rebel though, but most likely that was what happens, because at that time era, kids were doing many rebellious things. 

I Am an Op-Ed Coulumnist by Stephen Colbert (style Analyst)

In Stephen Colbert's column, he uses examples with his current life events to explain his point that he is just like any other person. Portraying a humorous and opinionative tone throughout the passage to explain his reasoning.

Throughout the whole passage, he uses humor to explicate that he is not more special than others. He writes that "the Nobel Prize does not automatically qualify you to be commander in chief". Making it humorous and exaggerating by saying "commander in chief". He could've just said something such as far superior. He also uses personification and humor together when he writes "why the Manhattan D.A. had an accent like an Appulachian catfish wrestler". Reasoning that its influence is as useless as a Appulachian catfish wrestler. A prime example that even though the Manhattan D.A. is supposably important, it's not.

Stephen uses a couple of examples using ethos to help prove his opinion that he is just like any other person. At the beginning of his column he writes that he "thanks Maureen Dowd for permitting/begging [him] to write her column". Using that as an example that people believe that he is something important. He also makes it humorous by adding the "begging". Another example would be when he writes "others point to my new bestseller". A major example to prove that most people would assume he is important or special. Trying to reason that even though he has a bestseller book written, he is still just like any other man.

Towards the end of the column, Stephen then uses diction to present his opinions. He writes that "[he] shares Americas' nostalgia for an era". Utilizing "nostalgia" to show that he also would like to go back to the past where a man was not judge by his job or career. By writing that he tries to back up his opinion that he himself is just like any other man. He than writes that "[he] [is] not the Anointed". He tries to prove to people that there is nothing special with him, by writing "Anointed". Utilizing "Anointed" to state that he is not the chosen one or anything else that makes him better than anybody.

Overall Stephen Colbert uses these any many more rhetorical devices to reason with the readers that he is nothing more than a regular man. Also by using a humorous tone to entertain the readers, he attempts to prove to the readers that "[he] [is] just an Average Joe like you".

Kill 'Em! Crush 'Em! Eat 'Em All!

Question 2)Compare and contrast football and war. Is this comparison convincing? How does the comparison appeal to logos?
 Of coures both are trained although I would say military training is much more intense. There are a few thing that football players and military men are trained that are similar, such as being obidient but I would say no to this question.
Question 6) Consider the language of football, especially the words shared by the military. What sports other than football have a militaristic side?
Paintball would be, you can learn strategic plays from playing paintball although it probably wouldn't have as much training as football.  Also it's an experience that is more war like than football.
Question 7) Who is McMurtry's audience?  Is it necessary for the reader to understand or care about football in order to understand what McMurty is saying about society?
 I would say the audience is out there for the players family members that love them. So that the family members won't worry as much for their family members.
Question 5) McMurtry also addresses the argument that games such as football allow us to discharge out "original-sin urge into less harmful channels than, say, war" (para. 15). Cite passages where McMurtry counters this argument. Do you agree with him? Why or why not?
Well I would say that is true because it relieves the stress or anger build up inside of that person. Although he argues that "without real blood (or not much), it releases players and audience from unhealthy feelings stored up inside them".