In all honesty, I really enjoyed this class. This has definitely been one of my top favorite English classes. I think what I liked about this class the most was that I had so much freedom in what I could write about. I remember being in english classes during High School and Middle School and we were forced to write about topics that I didn't care about. In College I could pick the topic that I wanted to write about. This helped so much during the writing process because in every essay that I wrote I was writing about things that I cared about. I think this is one of the main reasons why I did so well in the essays because I'm very passionate about the three main subjects that I wrote on. 

Also I really liked how we would analyze so many different real world subjects from commercials to movie trailers and anything else that's going on in the world. I remember in some of my High School English classes we would have to analyze the most boring subjects of life and I would just completely space out since it was so boring. But, in this class I actually enjoyed the analysis we made in class because it would cause me to think differently on subjects. Also I gained the ability to see things at a different angle and I learned more from viewing it from a different perspective, and this wouldn't have had been possible without this class. 

I think that one of things that was improved the most in my writing is being more concise. I used to write really long sentences but then I realized that I could say the same thing in just one concise sentence. Whereas it used to take me close to three sentences to say what I wanted to say. I know I still have a while to go but I'm really starting to gear down on working on eliminating passive voice. I'm starting to notice it when I edit my essays but it's still a work in progress. Finally, I got better at noticing comma placements. I used to be terrible, but now when I go through my essays I'm starting to notice where the commas should be. 

Overall, this class was really wonderful and I'm kind of sad that it already ended. This class also had so many great people and I was able to make some friends from this class because every now and then in the workshops I would run into someone who also really liked the subject I was writing about, whether it was video games or movies that I love. I had a wonderful time, and I don't really have complaints. Also I had an awesome teacher that helped make the transition from High School English to College English an easy transition. I couldn't be more happier. 

                For my final project I decided to choose paper 1. That was by far my most favorite paper and I love sharing with people why I love movies so much. I decided that the best medium for me to use would be a prezi. I’ve never used a prezi before and I was a little nervous in the beginning but having the class on Thursday really did help me and give me confidence that I would be able to present with prezi. I’m excited to see what other things prezi has to offer and I’m trying hard to learn prezi as fast as I can so that I can utilize everything that is has to offer in my presentation.

                I know that Prezi will work very well with my presentation because I’m doing the “Journey” theme. The Journey theme basically shows a path and you move along the path. This is a great way to transform my essay because my first essay was me expressing my journey throughout life.  So what I’m planning to do is show the different points in my life that have had a huge impact on my life. I will talk about these and how they changed me. I haven’t decided yet the different types of media that I will use for my prezi, but I will definitely use pictures. I may decide to use small clips or trailers from the movies that I will use in my prezi, but I’m scared that it will take away too much time away from my presentation. One thing that I’m very excited is that for my essay I wasn’t able to use pictures to convey what I was showing. Instead I had to explain the visuals, which worked very well, but now I have the opportunity to show pictures in my presentation. The main point that I want people to take away from this presentation is how movies changed my life and made me the person that I am today. 

This was the first time that I was a little uncertain on what I was going to write about. I really wanted to write about Assassins Creed III in the beginning but then the more that I thought about, I realized that it was going to be really hard to write it. I then thought about writing about a TV Commercial on the brand name running shoes called Asics, but I couldn’t figure out one TV commercial that I really liked that I would be able to use in my paper. Finally I just decided to go with Assassins Creed and I began writing.

After much consideration I made the gutsy move of changing what I was writing completely. This was very hard because I already finished half of my paper, but I felt that in order to make a paper I would need to change. I will now be writing about Call of Duty and the ad campaign of “There’s a Soldier in all of us”. This ad campaign is basically saying that anyone no matter who they are will be able to play Call of Duty. There are some games that are only for experienced players, and noobs (people who are new to the game, and tend to not be so good) will have a lot of trouble. Not everyone will be great at a game when they first get it but there are some games that are heavily geared towards experienced players.

For my anti-ad campaign I want to do a Meme that has Black Ops 2 with the expression “Where the Real Players Play” and from there I will go in depth on that. It’s frustrating two days before the paper is due I’m going to have to restart but I think that it’s the right move because if I don’t the paper will just not be well made and it will have a lot of filler points and overall it just won’t be a good essay. 

Tori

Basically the premise of this paper is talking about how effective the GI Joe Movie Trailer is. The writer does a very good job by describing the trailer and although I’ve seen the trailer before I mentally came into it with a blank slate and I was able to picture the trailer in my head through the description in the essay which made it very clear for me to understand the argument that was being made. Additionally, the author supports the argument by describing what makes an action trailer good. One thing that I could maybe add would be what separates the GI Joe trailer from standard action movie trailers. The anti-ad is very good also and is very interesting because I could never picture GI Joe being a romantic movie and it adds a sense of comedic value to the essay. The writer is heading in a very good direction.

Austin

This essay talks about the very effective commercial that was aired during the 2011 Superbowl. The commercial consists of a small child dressed up in a Darth Vader outfit. The argument illustrates why this commercial was effective and highlights the comedic value found in the commercial. The author supports this by also adding some of the awards that this commercial received and the positive critical claim garnered from various sources listed in the essay. I really liked reading this essay because it did a very well job by analyzing the commercial, but my favorite part was how at the end it talked how the commercial fell flat on the details of the car. It was a very funny commercial, but from viewing the commercial the audience barely receives any information on the details of the car which is very important when someone is looking into buying a new car. This is something that I didn’t think of after I watched the commercial.

Carson

This essay’s argument challenged how the advertisement campaign that the NFL is promoting “Safety” is false. This essay really surprised me and I was very intrigued as I kept reading it because it talks about the complete lies that the NFL is feeding to the audience. The ads that they are promoting are misleading and not true. The author does a fantastic job by backing up his arguments through facts and several examples to show how the NFL is actually lying to the people and the schemes that the NFL had to go through in order to keep football alive. I also really liked how it talked about some of the history regarding the recent lockout. I didn’t know much about the lockout but this essay highlighted one of the main reasons why the lockout occurred. Another part of this essay that I really liked was that unfortunately sometimes we can’t believe everything we see because sometimes the media and TV feed us lies. This is ad is a perfect example that we can’t always believe 100% what we see on TV. Reading this essay made me think differently about the NFL. This is a very good essay that talks negatively about an ad. 

After I saw the recut trailers in class I was really excited to see more of them because in my opinion they are so incredibly funny. I just think its crazy funny how you can change a horror film and turn into a romance trailer. I mean think of how many people would be tricked if if movie studios did this (they do it to a small extent to attract a wide audience, but it's not nearly as close to what these recut trailers do). When I heard that The Ring made you think that it was a romance movie I knew that I had to watch it.

Whoever made this is really smart because if I didn't know what the movie was about I would instantly believe that this is a romance movie. The creator makes you believe this through the music that he uses and the scenes that are shown throughout the movie are either happy or struggling which is basically what most romance movies are. However, the creator did not even include one scary moment throughout the entire trailer. This leads you to believe that it is not in fact a horror film.

Although I've never seen the movie I kind of know what it is about. From what I've heard I think the way the movie goes is that if you watch a video you will die in seven days. The main character in the recut trailer says "My son watched the tape" to a man of her age, making you believe that the son saw a scandalous tape that they made together. This is not true because the tape is in fact about a girl who tries to kill people.

One of the visual elements that is included is rain, and rain is almost always used during romance movies. Basically anything that is found in romance movies can be found in the trailer, they're just used out of a different context. When the main character is crying, you think she is crying because of the difficulties out of a relationship. This is wrong because she is most likely crying out of fear of dying.

Overall whoever created this trailer is very skilled at misleading people because I couldn't believe that a horror film like The Ring could be mislead people to think that it is a romance movie.

I run because I love to run. I run because when I run I can escape into a different world. I run because I like to set my mind free from all of my problems. I run because I like to keep my body physically engaged. I run because sometimes I feel that I'm a completely different person when I do. I run because I want to challenge myself. I run because I set new heights for myself and through running I've discovered that I can achieve anything, I just need to work at it. 

Since this trailer was released back in June I have watched it continuously. Assassins Creed is a video game series that is extremely popular and it’s one of my most beloved franchises. I love it so much that I almost wrote my second paper about the famous fictional assassin “Ezio Auditore de Firenze”. In the new video game, Assassins Creed III, that comes out very shortly we play as a new assassin and it’s expected to be one of the biggest games this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game winds the Video Game of the Year award.

                Before every game comes out Assassins Creed releases a CG trailer to amp up the anticipation. These trailers are so well made that it was in fact the trailer for Assassins Creed Revelations is what drew me into the franchise. Usually, the previews for this game feature the exciting thrill of intense battle and the subtle tension of stealthy assassinations. The first game came out back in 2007. The popularity of the first edition lead to three sequels with more on the horizon.  

                Over the years, gamers everywhere have grown connected to the series and its many protagonists. The image of the protagonist in his white cloak has become an icon in the gaming industry. This has been a result of brilliant marketing on the part of Ubisoft, the game’s developer. They have taken every opportunity to put images of the protagonist in a battle scenario in magazines or websites that they know fans use or traffic frequently. Ubisoft further takes advantage of pathos by playing into the patriotic feelings many Americans share. The protagonist fights on the side of the colonies in the revolutionary war. This stirs images of pro America themes that will be sure to boost sales in the States. 

This paper has evolved to become a more specific. Something that I've noticed in anytime that I write, is that I'm pretty general when I first right. After I write more and more I become more specific by putting in examples and becoming less general. I've fixed some punctuation here and there but the content of my paper has been most of the same. I haven't had to make any drastic changes so far. I sort of knew the direction that I was going to go when I first began writing this paper. 

Ever since I was a little kid I would always look up at the sky and dream of flying. I would see the airplanes zipping through the clouds and all I could think of is how great it would be to fly a plane. Later as I grew older I soon started to realize that this would be a lot harder than I expected. Anything pertaining to the sky has always interested me. I would see people skydiving in movies and in video games and all I could think of is one day being able to skydive. I just couldn't imagine what the feeling of free falling could feel like, and after 18 long years I finally experienced it for the first time. 

The only reason why I didn't skydive near my birthday was because my father also skydived when he was younger and I promised that I would wait for him. He's currently healing from surgery and the impact could damage the repairs he made. However, when I came here I was eager to join the Skydiving club and I really wanted to just get into the air and jump. I made my first tandem jump (a jump when you are tied in front of someone) almost a month ago and it was amazing. But, I wanted to go much farther. I want to learn how to skydive on my own. 

I'm currently working on getting my license to skydive. So far I've done two jumps with instructors, and in all honesty it was really scary. I wasn't tied with anyone and I jumped out of the airplane on my own and when I deployed my parachute it was just me and blue sky. It took a lot to make that first jump because of the uncertainty that would follow but I have to tell you, free falling is one of the best experiences that I've ever had in my entire life. On my third jump there were some clouds and I fell right in the circle of a cloud and it was just like a movie, with the white clouds and blue sky, it was just an amazing experience that I will never forget. However, this excitement quickly faded when I deployed my parachute at 4,000 feet, something went wrong. When the parachute deployed from the rig some of the wires got tangled up and it didn't fully deploy the right way. I will admit in my head I sort of freaked out but within a second I pulled myself back together and remembered my training. Luckily I was able to fix the issues within a couple of seconds but it's just a scary thing to experience on your second solo/training dive. 

Although I have yet to fly a plane, I still intend on getting my pilots license for a small plane to learn how to do tricks in the air and get another experience of flying. In addition, I want to learn how to wingsuit which is where you get into a suit that imitates the shape of a flying squirrel, you jump out and literally fly. With the suit you can actually fly and every time I watch videos of them I get extremely jealous. I just can't wait to get back in the air, jump and get better at what I love to do which is skydiving. There's always been something about the sky that has always attracted me and I have yet to discover what it is. 

Alyssa Marsellos

1.       In the essay the argument that is being made is that although people may not be a fan of Shakespeare, they cannot escape the fact that he is very present in our modern society. Alyssa support’s this argument by using a very effective quote that I’ve never seen before that instantly starts the essay with a bang and hooks the reader. The quote is used to describe all the modern day sayings that people say. The funny part is that many people don’t even know that they are saying quotes and sayings that came from Shakespeare in his plays. In addition, she describes the similarities between the beloved child favorite movie Lion King and the famous tragedy of Hamlet. This was a very effective point in the essay because it goes along with her overall point that even though you may have never picked up a book and read a play from Shakespeare does not mean that have never been exposed to his literature.

2.       I think the essay was very well written and I liked how the essay was geared towards you. It’s as if the writer was writing directly to you but it still had a general touch to it. I think that the writer should continue by using more modern day examples to show that even though Shakespeare is not physically present in our lives, he continues to live on through many different forms of literature. From reading the end of the essay I know that the next main point will be She’s  the Man which also comes from Shakespeare. Also maybe to include West Side Story would be a great way to tie in how prevalent Shakespeare is in modern day culture. His plays are still conducted worldwide and there is still a huge fan base that support and love Shakespeare.  Overall, very well done and the essay looks great! 

Tori Johnston

1.       In this essay Tori talks about the magazine, The Water Skier, which is a magazine that talks about the various types of skiing. It’s very clear from the essay that the magazine would not be as successful if it did not include visuals. Since this magazine highlights all of the forms of skiing there needs to be visuals to wow the reader. The argument that is being is that the magazine’s visuals help aid the reader making it more enjoyable because they are able to gain a lot of information on how to do certain tricks and body positions by just looking at the pictures.

2.        This essay is looking very good. The only thing that I would say to add is when it is talking about slalom skiing is to describe what it is. As a skier, I know what it is but to the general population I don’t think they do. Just a small short description would suffice. The author is going in a great direction by offering more examples and maybe including how these pictures provide safety in that they cause fewer accidents for people who want to try the tricks in the future. This essay is great, keep up the good work.

David Breeding

1.       The essay talks about how vital photography is for the sport of wakeboarding. The main argument in the essay states how important it is to get the right photo shot of people wakeboarding. The magazine is very successful because each issue must be aided by visuals of the sport to attract people’s interests. It is supported by the various examples throughout the essay explaining how important the visuals are to the magazine. Because the visuals are successful many people by the issue allowing the magazine to company to be very successful. For this reason the magazine company goes through great lengths by using expensive photo shots, such as helicopter shots, to get the best possible shot.

2.       This essay was very interesting because it talks about a sport that is filled with fun and adrenaline. Reading it only furthered my desire to one day wakeboard. I liked the essay a lot and you are going in a great direction. The only thing that I could maybe add is that towards the end the essay states how the sport is starting to become more international, maybe write some of that and include how Transworld Wakeboarding influenced international competitiveness. Maybe the magazine being sold in other countries gained the sport support? Keep it up, this essay is going to be great.