Alright, so all this year we have had this blogging project running. The purpose of it was to rejuvenate our interest in the literary arts by opening another canal for our creative juices to flow through. Integration of Facebook and Twitter within the blogging assignments have allowed us to spread our new way of learning to the world. Using social networking sites and blogs as learning tools has not necessarily changed our perspective of the text, moreso that it has made us learn on a more casual level. For me personally when i blog i have almost a totally different voice to my writing, compared to a regular 'ol research essay. It's much more like talking to a group of my peers opposed to a strict adult whose primary goals are to find something, anything, that i could have done wrong.
The approach I took to reading the novel i selected this quarter would be much different than the method we would use reading it aloud in class. I created a new routine, specifically for this novel. I would get up, and go to school each day. I would only read the novel on tuesdays during our specific SSR (Silent Sustained Reading) time. However, every day, including tuesday, upon my return to my humble abode i would reside myself on top of my porcelain throne. From my perch above the world i would purge all that is vile from my body, all to the calm and wise words of Langston Hughes. Reading on the john is a really calming experience. I see now why elder citizens in cartoons do it all the time, now.
The main thing that i have taken out of blogging thus far though, is that english can be fun. Like other things though, you have to make the effort to make it enjoyable. I can attribute this philosophy to my Physical Education Class as well. Having P.E. so early in the day is awful, mostly because the class is filled with quite overweight people who have no desire to even attempt to enjoy themselves. I use this to the advantage of my self esteem, because there is nothing more satisfying than being the best badminton player in the class.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
ANIMOTO FOR THE AGES
http://animoto.com/play/S4uZZQBnqzIP0JINB6acwg
Well, here's another awesome animoto, this one's all about langston hughes and the dream catcher. CHECK IT OUT!
(Sorry for not directly putting the video into the post, i got lazy)
Well, here's another awesome animoto, this one's all about langston hughes and the dream catcher. CHECK IT OUT!
(Sorry for not directly putting the video into the post, i got lazy)
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Second Quarter Qomments
Comment to Richard Ketter:
So Richard, it is terribly convenient that we are reading the same book once again this quarter, Langston Hughes is a pretty nifty guy, he writes poems that put smiles on my face. Most of them at least, cause i haven't read any sad ones quite yet. As far as the presentation of your blog, I believe that you should change your current background to keep up with the new and exciting trends of the second quarter, the woodchuck is out, the prairie dog is in! So I'd gather a nifty picture of your liking of a fashionable prairie dog if you want to draw in all of the chillun's this quarter.
So Richard, it is terribly convenient that we are reading the same book once again this quarter, Langston Hughes is a pretty nifty guy, he writes poems that put smiles on my face. Most of them at least, cause i haven't read any sad ones quite yet. As far as the presentation of your blog, I believe that you should change your current background to keep up with the new and exciting trends of the second quarter, the woodchuck is out, the prairie dog is in! So I'd gather a nifty picture of your liking of a fashionable prairie dog if you want to draw in all of the chillun's this quarter.
Comment to Cody Zamora:
Alright Cody, so i dun did see that ship breaker business, it reminded me a lot of my favorite movie of all time, Waterworld, starring the illustrious Kevin Costner as the mariner. The book sounds kinda interesting, only for that. Other than that, i suppose the presentation of your blog is rather satisfactory you have a nice background here that is particularly reminiscent of the matrix, not only is the matrix also a good movie, but i am currently studying matrices in math class. Now the real question for you, now, as a blogger, is: what would have happened if Neo would have taken BOTH pills? Keep that in mind as you read your book, it'll make it ten times more exciting and interesting.
Comment to Jack Bryant:
Hey Jack, It's Michael. I decided to come on over to your blog, and post a comment. I looked back over what you did last quarter, and i kinda enjoyed it. Around the world in 80 days in on my list for next quarter. And with your insight, I think it will be a most enojoyable read. Onto this quarter, I definitely agree with you stand on the argument of shorthand typing on the blogosphere, I think we should for sure stick to keeping the blogs both conversational and enjoyable, but also at the same time businesslike and professional. The surprise element of blogging is really here this quarter, that I can agree on. I will tell you to for sure ask your teacher about a unique creative blog assignment you can do aside from all of the ones that are considered the norm, so to speak. Doing a creative and more unique assignment could really help add more to the whole blogging experience and make it more enjoyable overall. Try not to fall behind this quarter either, blogging keeps us on our toes, and being on your toes sharpens your talons, cause we all wanna be eagles man. Enjoy your new book!
Alright Cody, so i dun did see that ship breaker business, it reminded me a lot of my favorite movie of all time, Waterworld, starring the illustrious Kevin Costner as the mariner. The book sounds kinda interesting, only for that. Other than that, i suppose the presentation of your blog is rather satisfactory you have a nice background here that is particularly reminiscent of the matrix, not only is the matrix also a good movie, but i am currently studying matrices in math class. Now the real question for you, now, as a blogger, is: what would have happened if Neo would have taken BOTH pills? Keep that in mind as you read your book, it'll make it ten times more exciting and interesting.
Comment to Jack Bryant:
Hey Jack, It's Michael. I decided to come on over to your blog, and post a comment. I looked back over what you did last quarter, and i kinda enjoyed it. Around the world in 80 days in on my list for next quarter. And with your insight, I think it will be a most enojoyable read. Onto this quarter, I definitely agree with you stand on the argument of shorthand typing on the blogosphere, I think we should for sure stick to keeping the blogs both conversational and enjoyable, but also at the same time businesslike and professional. The surprise element of blogging is really here this quarter, that I can agree on. I will tell you to for sure ask your teacher about a unique creative blog assignment you can do aside from all of the ones that are considered the norm, so to speak. Doing a creative and more unique assignment could really help add more to the whole blogging experience and make it more enjoyable overall. Try not to fall behind this quarter either, blogging keeps us on our toes, and being on your toes sharpens your talons, cause we all wanna be eagles man. Enjoy your new book!
Thursday, October 20, 2011
GUESS WHO'S BACK, BACK AGAIN, GUESS WHO'S BACK, TELL SOME FRIENDS. (No Seriously, tell your friends, blogging round 2 could use some more followers.)
Ok, so last quarter's blog was officially wrapped up last week, and this is the first entry for a brand new quarter! Hooray! Our fancy prompt here says that we are to reflect on our blog of quarter's past. Well, last quarter's blog for me was alright. I attempted to keep everything interesting to the outside readers, but the real glory of my blog was that almost every single joke in there would only be understood by me, or someone who knows me rather well. Hopefully a good majority of that business can be avoided with this new series of blogging, and the average reader will be able to slap his/her knees once in a while whilst reading this nice blog. Last quarter i had some problems, just with keeping up with the assignments. There would be one blog assignment that would just completely rid me of the blogging spirit so t speak, and hopefully there are none of those this quarter. Cause me gusta blogging.
Paragraph two is designated via prompt to contain information on my attitude, changing and whatnot, towards blogging. I can comfortably say that I need blogging like a fish needs to be hooked in the gills and ripped out of the water, then cut up and eaten by a bunch of fish-craving rednecks.Which needless to say, is not at all. But that doesn't mean that it is something that i don't enjoy! Simply by hearing about the alternate assignment has created a fiery love for blogging within my soul. I would much rather just write some nice conversational text on a 76% anonymous blog than have to write a whole bunch of mini-formal analysis papers. So yeah, blogging is cool, writing masses of text is not. Which makes me glad that i never lived back in the time of 'ol Jesus, cause i could not stand having to write everything out. Jesus was the original blogger. And i respect that.
Now, back down to business, for the second quarter i have chosen Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes, for various reasons.One reason was the fact that this book is really really short, which would allow me to finish all of the material, and focus all of my time on converting all of my thoughts onto the book into blog form. Which could greatly increase the quality of my blog. And just like my mom used to say, "Michael, do your damn blog, you are not getting another B in english!' Taking the words of my dear mother to heart, i intend to bring poetry to the masses through blogging round 2.
Paragraph two is designated via prompt to contain information on my attitude, changing and whatnot, towards blogging. I can comfortably say that I need blogging like a fish needs to be hooked in the gills and ripped out of the water, then cut up and eaten by a bunch of fish-craving rednecks.Which needless to say, is not at all. But that doesn't mean that it is something that i don't enjoy! Simply by hearing about the alternate assignment has created a fiery love for blogging within my soul. I would much rather just write some nice conversational text on a 76% anonymous blog than have to write a whole bunch of mini-formal analysis papers. So yeah, blogging is cool, writing masses of text is not. Which makes me glad that i never lived back in the time of 'ol Jesus, cause i could not stand having to write everything out. Jesus was the original blogger. And i respect that.
Now, back down to business, for the second quarter i have chosen Dream Keeper by Langston Hughes, for various reasons.One reason was the fact that this book is really really short, which would allow me to finish all of the material, and focus all of my time on converting all of my thoughts onto the book into blog form. Which could greatly increase the quality of my blog. And just like my mom used to say, "Michael, do your damn blog, you are not getting another B in english!' Taking the words of my dear mother to heart, i intend to bring poetry to the masses through blogging round 2.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Animoto, more like Animo-..... Nevermind. Watch it!
Whatup bloggers. Just made a nifty animoto here about The Great Gatsby. It's not a straightforward look at the book necessarily but i attempted to add some flair and abstractedness with the picture and text combos. Hopefully you all have as much fun watching it as i had making it!
Check out animoto.com sometime for some sweet videos!
Thursday, September 29, 2011
THESE BE SOME GOOD LINKS, AND I AIN'T EVEN TALKIN' BOUT SAUSAGES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Twenties
This link right here will take you folks to the glorious wikipedia page of the 1920s. Which just so happens to be the era of time that the Great Gatsby takes place. Good stuff, eh?
http://www.hatagories.com/derbyhats.aspx?gclid=CLjJrsWYw6sCFU0EQAodmx5DvA
This link is a link to a site that contains various styles of derby hats, which can b imagined were worn during the period of time that the book takes place. Everyone loved them horse races.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky
Whiskey is consumed throughout the Great Gatsby, for somewhat of a minor plot point early on. So good 'ol JD has some impact on this fine tale of love and loss.
http://greatgatsbygame.com/
THIS LINK IS THE MAN. THE CAT'S PAJAMAS, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE LEARNING FUN, CLICK ON THIS LINK. IT'S A GAME. BUT A GAME ABOUT THE GREAT GATSBY. CHECK IT OUT. REALLY. IF YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THIS BLOG POST AT ALL.
http://www.oldfords.org/
In the novel Nick Carraway drives about in an old Ford. This site has a lotta old fords... hence the name.
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/?front_door=true
This leads to the New York City website. Perhaps learning a tad about the city that takes place in the near vicinity of Fitzgerald's warped geographics will help some of you.
http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/
The fashion style in the book reminds me personally of the attire one would wear to a good horse race. So, if you like horse racing check this link out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
In the novel the characters of both Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway were to have participated in the first world war. Get some info on the war up ther.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_%28finance%29
Nick Carraway returns from the war to be a Bondsman. Learn something about finance here, and perhaps not have to worry about sleeping on your grandmother's couch eating ramen noodles for every meal like myself.
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/
Here's another one for you. It's just another link to something related to horse racing. You can't even fathom the vibe of the influence of horse racing upon this novel that i feel exists. Even if it isn't real. But this is the last horse link i swear.
http://www.butlerforyou.com/
Do you ever get that feeling that you really want to feel rich and famous and have a butler of your own? well luckily this blog post is for you. Check it out and you can have an esteemed international butler come into your home and make you all big and lazy, Just like Jay Gatsby.
http://www.naturesfinestseed.com/Grass-Seeds
In the book, Gatsby Likes to keep his lawn nice and beautiful. He even encourages that his neighbors do the same. Here you can get some quality grass seed and have your yard looking mighty jazzy in no time. (Except for the time it takes for grass to grow)
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/divmguns.htm
In the war, Gatsby says that he led a detachment of machine gunners. This site has various information on WWI as well as some nice information on machine gun battalions.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/
Mr. Gatsby is consistently referring to himself as "an oxford man". This is the oxford he speaks of. Large and elaborate, and british. ASPIRE FOLKS, ASPIRE TO BE LIKE THE GREAT GATS.
http://threecookie.glogster.com/Gatsbys-Car/
Here's a nice link to another blog. A blog within a blog, Blogception some may say. But this link has a nice picture of gatsby's prestigious vehicle. The murder machine that it is.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1f1srj/www.cinemablend.com/new/Warner-Bros-Will-Probably-Make-Baz-Luhrmann-s-Great-Gatsby-A-Reality-23089.html
Oh Hey guys, did you realise that there is a Great Gatsby Movie in the works? Warner brothers studio is supposedly taking over the production. Should be a winner!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2SNAsv/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby_%25281926_film%2529
This is a link to the older version of the movie, which was made in 1926, the new one should be much more appealing, So check it out.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7ktlOj/www.huffenglish.com/gatsby/gatsbyhunt.html
This is almost a useful tool for anyone using the Great Gatsby as a historical reference, though it is not historically accurate at all. Treasure hunts are pretty cool, especially on the internets.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/99T1nE/www.infibeam.com/Books/great-gatsby-f-scott-fitzgerald/9780812415773.html
The first step about learning about a book is to actually buy a copy of the book, this one is real fancy though, straight from Japan. Buy one, thank you, come again.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3Csycl/www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/connotation-character-color-imagery-831.html
Within the book there is this shady system of color imagery that reveals deeper meanings behind everything, this post somewhat explains various colors and their meanings.
This link right here will take you folks to the glorious wikipedia page of the 1920s. Which just so happens to be the era of time that the Great Gatsby takes place. Good stuff, eh?
http://www.hatagories.com/derbyhats.aspx?gclid=CLjJrsWYw6sCFU0EQAodmx5DvA
This link is a link to a site that contains various styles of derby hats, which can b imagined were worn during the period of time that the book takes place. Everyone loved them horse races.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisky
Whiskey is consumed throughout the Great Gatsby, for somewhat of a minor plot point early on. So good 'ol JD has some impact on this fine tale of love and loss.
http://greatgatsbygame.com/
THIS LINK IS THE MAN. THE CAT'S PAJAMAS, IF YOU WANT TO MAKE LEARNING FUN, CLICK ON THIS LINK. IT'S A GAME. BUT A GAME ABOUT THE GREAT GATSBY. CHECK IT OUT. REALLY. IF YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THIS BLOG POST AT ALL.
http://www.oldfords.org/
In the novel Nick Carraway drives about in an old Ford. This site has a lotta old fords... hence the name.
http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/?front_door=true
This leads to the New York City website. Perhaps learning a tad about the city that takes place in the near vicinity of Fitzgerald's warped geographics will help some of you.
http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/
The fashion style in the book reminds me personally of the attire one would wear to a good horse race. So, if you like horse racing check this link out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I
In the novel the characters of both Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway were to have participated in the first world war. Get some info on the war up ther.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_%28finance%29
Nick Carraway returns from the war to be a Bondsman. Learn something about finance here, and perhaps not have to worry about sleeping on your grandmother's couch eating ramen noodles for every meal like myself.
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/horses/
Here's another one for you. It's just another link to something related to horse racing. You can't even fathom the vibe of the influence of horse racing upon this novel that i feel exists. Even if it isn't real. But this is the last horse link i swear.
http://www.butlerforyou.com/
Do you ever get that feeling that you really want to feel rich and famous and have a butler of your own? well luckily this blog post is for you. Check it out and you can have an esteemed international butler come into your home and make you all big and lazy, Just like Jay Gatsby.
http://www.naturesfinestseed.com/Grass-Seeds
In the book, Gatsby Likes to keep his lawn nice and beautiful. He even encourages that his neighbors do the same. Here you can get some quality grass seed and have your yard looking mighty jazzy in no time. (Except for the time it takes for grass to grow)
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/divmguns.htm
In the war, Gatsby says that he led a detachment of machine gunners. This site has various information on WWI as well as some nice information on machine gun battalions.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/
Mr. Gatsby is consistently referring to himself as "an oxford man". This is the oxford he speaks of. Large and elaborate, and british. ASPIRE FOLKS, ASPIRE TO BE LIKE THE GREAT GATS.
http://threecookie.glogster.com/Gatsbys-Car/
Here's a nice link to another blog. A blog within a blog, Blogception some may say. But this link has a nice picture of gatsby's prestigious vehicle. The murder machine that it is.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1f1srj/www.cinemablend.com/new/Warner-Bros-Will-Probably-Make-Baz-Luhrmann-s-Great-Gatsby-A-Reality-23089.html
Oh Hey guys, did you realise that there is a Great Gatsby Movie in the works? Warner brothers studio is supposedly taking over the production. Should be a winner!
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2SNAsv/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby_%25281926_film%2529
This is a link to the older version of the movie, which was made in 1926, the new one should be much more appealing, So check it out.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7ktlOj/www.huffenglish.com/gatsby/gatsbyhunt.html
This is almost a useful tool for anyone using the Great Gatsby as a historical reference, though it is not historically accurate at all. Treasure hunts are pretty cool, especially on the internets.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/99T1nE/www.infibeam.com/Books/great-gatsby-f-scott-fitzgerald/9780812415773.html
The first step about learning about a book is to actually buy a copy of the book, this one is real fancy though, straight from Japan. Buy one, thank you, come again.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/3Csycl/www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/connotation-character-color-imagery-831.html
Within the book there is this shady system of color imagery that reveals deeper meanings behind everything, this post somewhat explains various colors and their meanings.
One Take Wilkison, Vlogging it up.
Alright guys, yeah, it was done the night before it was due, yeah, there are stuttering and misspeakings about, but no worries. Back in Highschool i WAS One Take Wilkison. Don't expect Total perfection is all. And the vlog itself is sideways. But hey, everyone's neck muscles could use some exercise now and again, right?
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