News Article

The article that I am summarizing is titled "Manhattan welcomes ladybug" and is found in the Iowa State Daily on October 22, 2007. In New York there are 720.000 ladybugs. They said that this sounds like a bad horror movie. These bugs have been released on an 80 acres in one of the biggest apartment complex. The ladybugs arrived in boxes that were shipped by a natural gardening company. They were shipped in from Montana. The groundskeepers scattered them in 72000 ladybugs per box. The lady bugs quickly flew into the sky and are supposed to crawl into the plants and eat the bad bugs that are harming the plants. The owner of this complex is trying to solve his bug problem without using pesticides. He says that he doesn't want to kill the good bugs along with the bad bugs. You can get 2,000 ladybugs for $16.50. These ladybugs converge in the wilderness where they are harvested. They are kept in large refrigerators where the ladybugs are dormant at this temperature and they use up their fat reserves and they can stay alive for five months. They got to the complex and were ready to fly around.

Film

The film that I will be talking about is "Labyrinth". At the beginning of the movie Sarah is told that she has to stay home and watch her brother named Toby. He was being loud and crying and she said that she wished that the goblins would take him away. The goblin king came and took her brother away, and the only way that she could get him back was to make it his castle in 13 hours. She is taken to a labyrinth were she meets Hoggle. He lets her into the labyrinth and she is walking and it looks like there is no turns to the labyrinth. She talks to a worm and it tells her that things are not what they seem and that she needs to look harder. She makes it to a place that has two doors. She is forced to choose one and she chooses one and ends up being taken down into the underground tunnels. She meets back up with Hoggle and convinces him to help her get out and she will give him a jewel, since he has a fondness for them. He leads her back up to the labyrinth where she saves Ludo from some goblins that were tormenting him. Ludo joins there group and they end up in the stinky swamp and they meet Didymus where he is guarding the bridge out. After he tries to fight Ludo and they reach a stalemate he decides to join there group. Jareth, the goblin king, gets angry and sends his army into the town that is in front of his castle, a fight breaks out and Sarah and her group end up making it to castle where Sarah goes to confront the Jareth and get here bother back. She ends up finding him and she quotes the line from her book about the goblin king and she is able to bring her brother back before her parents return home. Her friends come to her room and tell her if she ever needs them just call, and she says that she needs them. Sarah was able to overcome all the obstacles and was able to save her brother even though she was offered anything she wanted, by Jareth, if she forgot about the boy.

News Article

The article that I will be summarizing is titled "Gardens plant future seeds" that is found in the Iowa State Daily on October 22, 2007. This article is about the Reiman Gardens. The administration and staff face a major problem in a budget cut. They met to discus their strategies for the facility and how they will deal with the financing cuts. The assistant director says that they have changed their focus to concentrate more on educating people on good stewardship in the environment. Their goal is to incorporate themes into the garden that will show how everyone can live a sustainable life. The themes that the Gardens chooses each year are there basis for their decoration. This year in is how literature and nature are intertwined. They are going to incorporate many styles of literature. They will have a "Moby Dick" sculpture along with many other literary themes. The displays that the Reiman Gardens put up are examples for other gardens around the world. The garden have won many prizes and people that work are asked to speak to other people on what they are doing at the Gardens. Though the gardens are changing their theme, they have a severe restriction on their marketing budget so most people don't know about the theme change. They have overcome this obstacle by asking for volunteers and making their own flyer's. Though they face many financial difficulties they are optimistic about the future.

News Article

The news article that I am summarizing is titled "Survey, Wallace Hall helpful in student caucus recruiting" from the Iowa State Daily on November 30, 2007. This article is focused on the caucus that is coming up on Jan. 3. The early caucus time is a problem because some students who want to caucus in Ames don't have anywhere to stay since some residence house contracts don't allow students to stay in their dorms over Christmas break. This problem was solved when Wallace hall decided to open up the tenth floor. They would only have to pay $19.50 per night. This will allow the students to stay somewhere cheap so that they can join in on the caucus. There was also a survey sent to all students that asked who planned to caucus. Of the 8% of students who answered the survey, 58% said that they planned on participating in the caucus. The survey did not ask where they would participate at. The article also has quotes from different people who say that they are excited about the caucus and that they hope other people will get out and participate. They talk to other students who say that they will caucus here and some that say they will caucus at there hometown. The survey also asked who they would vote for, for democrats 57% said that they would vote for Barrack Obama followed by Hilary Clinton with 14%. Of republicans, 27% would vote for Ron Paul followed by Mitt Romney with 24%. Stephanie Lichter said that it isn't surprising that Ron Paul is so popular since there has been a big push for him by college students and people just out of college.

Advertisement

The advertisement that I chose is how to buy a trip to disneyland. The ad has a picture of a castle that is in disneyland in the background. They have what looks to be a family of a dad, mom, and a daughter. They are all smiling and look like they are having a good time. The text on the picture part of the ad says Disneyland in elegant font. The text on the other half of the ad talks about how you can get early admission to Disneyland Resort. Then the two companies that sponsored the ad are written on the bottom.
The audience for this ad can be anyone, but it is more focused towards younger children and families with younger children. The purpose of this ad is to get people to get a package to go to disneyland. The reason that these people are in the picture is to persuade people that if you go to disneyland you will have a good time. They also are hugging and this says that if you go to disneyland you will be closer to your family and they will love you. The writing on the right side is trying to get you excited about going to disneyland. One of the companies that is sponsering this ad is called FunSun which makes you think of having fun on a vacation. The other companies slogan "We Know Travel Best" tries to convince you that this company is the best and that you should travel with them. The overall theme is that if you go on this trip you will have a good time and that you will grow closer to your family.

Commentary about a Song

I will be writing my commentary on the song "Rock Show" by blink 182. This song is about how a guy met a girl at a club and that he fell instantly in love with her. He talks about how they would get drunk and go to a club over the summer and weekends. He talks about the first time that he saw her at the club. She was getting kicked out of college but that she is always there for him. He then says that everything is better when she is around. Then in the next verse he talks about the problem that they had with their parents. They were going to move to Las Vegas but her mom said that they were young and didn't have any direction. The next verse tells about how he had pictures of her and that he always waited for her to call him. Then it says that she kept him waiting, and that is why he still thinks about her and that he would dance with her again if she gave him the chance. The song is fast paced and upbeat, which works well with the fact that this "love" they had didn't seem to last to long but while it was happening things were going on at a fast paced, like when they wanted to move to Las Vegas. The upbeat part is that he still likes her because she always kept him waiting and that she was in control of the relationship but after they broke up he would always remember the good times that they had together.

Corporate Blog of GM

I am analyzing the Corporate blog that is published by GM. This is a public blog that anyone can read. While this blog is geared more towards people that have an interest in cars, their are also environmental issues that are talked about. This blog is also contains quite a few blogs about the engineering that goes into vehicles so it would also interest the people that want to know what innovations are being put into the new cars. There are many different people that are able to post on the blog. Their are a blogs posted by a blog editor. Their are also quite a few blogs posted by high ranked people within the corporation. The manager of the social media connections has posted on the blog. Also the general managers for different sections of GM have posted things on this blog. This blog touches on the innovations that are happening in the automotive world. They also talk about the constant need to continue to improve fuel efficiency and hybrids. This is a very large topic in today's world and most companies are going towards the more efficient car. The overall design of the blog has a light green background which is associated with fuel economy and saving the environment. Also they have many videos of the new technology that has been implemented into the design of cars. This is to help us see what they are talking about, since not everyone knows what they mean when they read the blog, since most people are visual learners.
The difference in the corporate blog compared to a personal blog is very noticeable. The corporate blogs put a team together and the entire site looks professional. The writings don't contain grammar mistakes and seem more professional than a personal blog. This blog seems to focus on people that know a little bit about car. This might dissuade people from looking at this blog, while a personal blog is easier to understand because the language that someone uses in their personal blog is well understood by most people. This blog is very fact oriented since it is about GM they give out things that are being done and that have been done. The personal blog isn't always fact, most things that are put on blogs are opinions of what that person thinks.

Rhetorical analysis "In the Jungle"

In this selection “In the Jungle” by Annie Dillard, was written about her time in the Ecuadorian jungle. She starts out with talking about how this is an out of the way place. She continues on to describe how the wildlife is abundant. She also describes how the natives of this jungle still live the same way they did hundreds of years ago. The natives children were fascinated with her hair because they were not used to foreign woman. The image of the tall trees and the birds still singing songs and how this is sweet air to her because it has been untouched by civilization.

She starts with and emotional appeal to the reader. The phrase “out of the way” is questioned, by her, because what is it out of the way of? She uses a description of all the wildlife and its interaction with the environment to try and get us to see that this is how she pictures nature. The majority of her appeals to the reader are based on what she thinks is what true nature should be. She paints a picture of a place that has been untouched by outside forces. Her use of descriptive words is meant to help the reader picture this place. When we are able to picture this place it is meant to make us think about how beautiful nature is and that we should leave nature alone and not interfere with it. She makes an argument at the end that this place was not out of the way but that this was a center of life and peace. The description she gives of the birds songs and how all the wildlife and people are able to live together. She is making the argument that we should be able to live with nature without corrupting it and that nature is not ours to ruin but that what we do affects all of nature.

The organization that she uses leads us to form conclusions for ourselves. The way she starts by asking a question introduces us to the purpose of the essay. It is also meant to make us think of what is “Out of the Way” really means. This leads us to think on about what she says about how the people and nature interact. She then leaves us with the phrase of the jungle not being out of the way but that it is a central place for peace, the peace between people and nature.