Blog # 16

Pandora and LastFM are two website services which allow people to hear music on them. They are both free and you can specifically type in any artist and it will play their music. Pandora is a nice program which allows you to create your own station. You can pick any type of music and put it on the station. If you do not like a song which pops out you can give it a thumbs down and you will never hear that song again. You can also choose from pre-existing radio stations on the website. You can also see music videos. LastFM allows you to hear music, see videos, and even lists upcoming concerts coming to your area. LastFM gives a biography about the artists, shows if they are currently touring, and where they are touring. I had never heard of these two websites before, but I sure am glad I heard of them now. They are both quite interesting for me as a music lover. I am definitely gonna be using these programs in the future. This is something that I will share with all my friends. The difference between the two is on Pandora it is easier for me navigate through, easier select songs that I like, and choose from bands I like, but you can only listen to so many songs within the hour so that is kind of a bummer. LastFM is very slow, had too many connection problems, and they did not even send me an email confirming that I signed up for it. They both work in similar ways by allowing you to choose who you like to hear. Have easy ways to search for the bands you like, show photos of the band, and if you enjoy the music they have links so that you can try to purchase the cd or song from a website. In general, these two websites are great websites which allow people to hear and explore different types of music. Today's exercise was a learning experiece as well as a fun lesson to learn. These two websites were great to explore and have fun with. Hopefully we have more lessons like this one.

Blog #15 Reflect on your WC experience.

I went to the writing center in school on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. I went to the writing center to receive feedback on my descriptive paper, which is about describing a video log.The person who tutored me was Vincent. During the tutoring session he gave me plenty of feedback for my paper. For one he helped me organize my paper, because as I was writing my paper my ideas were just flowing and each idea I had would form into a short paragaraph. My paper was just a mess and I had no idea how to combine my paragraphs. Another error he saw that I was creating was I did not have very good topic sentences to each of my paragraphs. I would jump into something without explaining what he was actually doing or where he was at for my paper. He also told me to add quotes and facial expressions to what the person was doing on the video blog. The thing that I liked about the tutoring sesstion was that he really helped me develope my ideas into an essay. His feedback was very informative. He was not afraid to tell me what was on his mind and did not hold back. In class with classmates when they try to give me feedback I could tell that some students were not paying attention to my essay or just did not care. So for him to be so blunt about my essay helped me a lot258. The thing that I wish would have been different would have been for my tutor to actually see the video log I chose. I mean I know I am writing a descritptive essay and it is supposed to explain what is happening in the video. If he would have seen the video maybe he could have helped me to add more or to notice little details that I had not noticed before. Also, he kept telling me that I did not have a thesis for my paper. As I read my paper my I believe that I did have a thesis. After all like my teacher said the thesis for this essay is easy because all you are doing is describing a video. Maybe I should have went into more details with him about the thesis. Next time I go to the writing center I should be blunt about my own paper. My overall experience this time was really great. Hopefully next time I go to the writing center my next tutor will help me out as much as Vincent did.

Blog #14: Reflecting on today's experience. 10-5-09

Today in class we went to the computer lab to read at least two previously written blog entries and leave written comments for the author(s).I thought this was a very weird experience.

Me personally, I do not like to leave comments to other students blogs. I think the other person could be careless and not care what you think, or What if you say something wrong, but did not mean it in that way? Will the person take it personally? Probably not but these are these were thoughts that ran through my head as I was reading and commenting on the blogs. As for students looking at my blogs, I could careless about what the students says. Thus defending my statement above. I mean I will read what they have to say and if they have some constructive criticsm going on I am all for it, but if they something dumb and ignorant to say I will not even take a second look.

It gave me a different perspective when I read another student's blog though. When I was reading the person's blog I thought about what she had typed, and now I have a new a whole new understanding on how blogs should be written. You should really focus on your audience and make clear everything you have to say. This in general gave me a whole new understanding. Now I will be sure to read other students blogs before I start my own.

Blog #13 Reflecting on today's experience. Describe what you did today. How did this help you plan your essay? What else did it help you do? What woul

Today, on Friday, October 2, 2009 we as a class learned how to create a descriptive essay time line. This time line helped us students create a guideline for our essay creating a beginning, middle, and ending. The teacher taught us how to use our senses for our paper such as touch, taste, hearing, smelling, and seeing. Well not really tasting and smelling because obviously you cannot taste or smell a video log. The paper is supposed to be 5-6 paragraphs, contain MLA format, and be flooded with details. In class we partnered up with the a teammate to create a time line for our paper. My partner was great and helped me set up the outline. I have the floor plan for my essay now I just need to add my supporting details to finish my rough draft. This helped me more than the first essay because on the first essay I did not know where to start because I did not have any help the first time. This time around I received feedback to how to start the essay and what I should put in the essay. I believe that if we as a class keep giving feedback to each other and continue to critique each others papers This would help us more in the long run than actually just going home and writing your paper. I believe the more feedback we receive will help us look at our paper from different point of views. The more point of views you have the better the paper will be written. I am glad we had to have had been critiqued by another student and hope that we continue to critique each others papers, but I think we should switch students up to allow other students to view. To conclude this blog I think we as a class should spend more time with the essay in class, because I believe we will get better feedback, more time on this essay, and it will help students who honestly need help with the writing assignment. Plus it would help me out a lot more if we had more time on this assignment.

Blog #12 Choose the vlog you will be using for your essay and write a brief description of it. Include the title, the author, and a link to the video.

The vlog I chose for my descriptive essay coming up is by a comedian named Jim Gaffigan. I first saw this vlog in school at the writing center on September 30, 2009. He looks like he is at his house. He is sitting on a chair (I am guessing) with his hair all messed up. In the background there is a huge painting behind his head hanging from a white wall. When he first start to speak he introduces his wife who does not appear at all in his vlog. In his first video log he explains that his hair is messed up from a night of clubbing as he runs his hands through his hair. He also states that he is not using his vlog to promote his comedy special which aired on comedy central on March 29, 2009 at nine p.m. central time. Although it is clear that he is actually promoting his comedy special. He also states that if the people watch his special he will shave a patch of hair located right underneath his right eye. He then says he will answer a few questions sent in by fans which is written on a paper plate, and only answer one question. Haha well it is funny to me. Jim asks fans to send in more questions to answer for his fans. He then ends the vlog with an I love you. Owww how sweet! Jim Gaffigan does a vlog a day leading up to the comedy special. I chose this vlog because first of all I think he is a great comedian and I am a big fan of his. Another reason I chose this vlog is because I thought that if I actually relate to the vlog I would have more to write about on the descriptive essay. Although it only last a minute and thirty two seconds, this vlog taught me how to start and actually create my own vlog, by introducing myself and just explain anything that is going on in my life that is happening at the moment. The link to this vlog is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbADuuzn1Z4. If you did not watch the special I recommend you watch it because this guy is hilarious and you will have some good laughs. Try to watch for my first vlog I will be hosting which should come out real soon. Till then keep it real homies till then I'm out peace.

Blog#11 Reflecting on today's You Tube video

On June 23, 2008 Mike Wesch gave a powerpoint presentation (An Anthropological introduction to You Tube) at the library of congress describing You Tube. Mike explains how people can upload their own personal videos and post them on the internet without having to go through a producer. On April 23, 2005 You Tube was launched and had its first video uploading. You tube creates a new type of platform. Until then it was difficult to upload to the web, and now suddenly anyone can join in any type of craze that goes on in the You Tube world. You Tube created a global cessation. One person from the United States who lives in California can see a video from someone in who lives in Tokyo, Japan. This is technology at its finest. This is one of the new ways that keeps people connected from so far away. We live in a huge media scape. Where You Tube is a part of it but to look at the whole picture many more websites are involved. Example, you publish a video on You Tube. Then you send an e-mail to somebody where it then goes to the blogsphere (Facebook, Myspace, Digg, and so on.) Where there is an integrated mediascape that we live in. In the middle of all this is us. The most commonly uploaded videos are home videos. Approximately fifteen percent of all videos on You Tube are remixes or remakes of other videos. Almost ten thousand videos are addressed to the You Tube "community" everyday. So Why? From corner stores to grocery store to huge department stores we are suddenly these massive communities of suburbia where we are connected only by road ways and Television, and the televisions themselves are isolating. Meanwhile new forms of communication are arriving such as cell phones. You Tube comes in the midst of all this. This is a great video which explains a lot about You Tube. The link to the page is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU. Take a look this video has many interesting facts. You Tube can keep you in touch with family, express yourself, music, and learn about many different cultures. You Tube is a great way to express yourself and show your individualism. You Tube is used for a political box, a comedians stage, a teachers podium but no matter what it is just a way to reach out.