Thursday, February 21, 2008

Rhetorical Analysis

This portion of the class is unique because it forces us to write about something we will likely never use... Or does it?

I my estimation, it is important to be able to effectively analyze any important argument we are faced with. At many time in our lives we will be making major decisions based on some argument. It would be nice to be able to tell if there are holes in a seemingly sound topic. For example, when electing a president (of any kind) it becomes pertinent to know and understand some techniques that may be used to fool you.

Other cases many not be so serious, but still offer advantages to the well prepared audience. Just recently, my wife and I attended a sales meeting; allured by a nice "free gift." The salesman was smooth and brought up many good points as to why we ought to buy his product. I could not argue with much of his logic accept one piece. He asserted over and over that if I did not act now, the opportunity would NEVER come my way again. Well, I have done sales myself and recognize the tactic and know that this man would rather have a future sale with us than no sale at all. The point is even basest understanding of rhetoric can elevate us from the bond of ignorance to evaluative genious.

Monday, February 18, 2008

This Class

The biggest problem with our educational situation is that poor classroom. There are never enough tabletops for the students. This discourages proper amounts of note-taking due to awkwardly positioned notebooks on our knees. Aside from the cramped room, the elevators often make tardy people out of normally on-time students because of the wait to ascend/decend. This makes a strain to be ontime for not only one, but two classes. The computer lab does work well for our group as an alternative.
As for the teaching, I see no major issues. I wish Mr. Keeley wouldn't apologize so much. And for some reason I struggle to remember to post my blog on time. Everything else is gravy though. I feel that class is well paced for the novice to moderate writer.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

RA My Talking Stain

So, this year the SuperBowl did not yield very many creative or engaging commercials (which was a large disappointment to me, since that's why I watch). However, between a talking vomiting baby and dancing thriller lizards, Tide came up with a clever ad to promote their "Tide To Go" stain erasing pen that debuted last Sunday. This ad lovingly referred to as the "My Talking Stain" ad by YouTubers can be found @ http://youtube.com/watch?v=vgtfC5LBAW4 .

The premise of the ad is pretty simple. There is a young man in a job interview who is interrupted by his loud talking stain as he attempts to promote himself. Because of the distraction of the stain, the interviewer hears nothing the young man says.

The writer or person sending the message could be a few people. Tide would be the primary presenter of this ad. There are likely however, a large dynamic clave of seasoned interviewers who raise to their feet and clap their hands to see this oft made mistake brought to the forefront of ignorance.

This ad is meant to appeal to all kinds of people. Anyone who wears clothes would be affected by this ad. Also people who care a lot about the appearance of cleanliness and intelligence would be an audience. Businessmen who hang out near the coffee maker often would feel the urgency to go pick up a Tide To Go stain pen.

There are several messages that Tide is portraying here. The message is largely that stains make you look ignorant. Another is that stains are inconvenient and distracting. Another could be that no matter how smart you are, your appearance will speak much louder than you. Also as soon as this young man would notice his stain, he will be embarrassed. One thing right at the end, if you look carefully, is that the ad states that it is a coffee stain that is depicted; likely a common culprit of stained shirts of businessmen everywhere.

The finale of the ad invites us to "Get Famous at MYTALKINGSTAIN.COM." Surely this last little shove gives the viewer curiosity as to how they might "get famous."

All around this is an effective commercial. It reminds us of the importance (and awkwardness) of stainalities. Some might conjure up in their minds memories of similar debasing experiences and rush to the store to avoid any future occurrence.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Awesome and Neato x 2

First off, I really enjoyed Deigo's introduction. I must sau that my attention was captured by the speeding driver scenario. This is good because it totally applies and we've all seen it. It just put me in the story.
Brad had a great way of defining his enemies, "...now a new, cruel digital TA is
working for the teacher that never sleeps and is constantly bossing students around." That is very entertaining. Also this works effectively to turn us against online quizzes and the like by personifying them as all we imagine in horrible TA's.