Evaluating Places Project 2

View Project 2 Map in a larger map

Project 2 

          Arizona State University provides a diverse cultural setting for the students attending. The live guitar music in ASU is a good place to interact with people. Good criteria to grade whether it is a good group of people to converse is if there is relaxing music being played. Usually there is someone with a guitar playing music with a circle of people talking with each other and listening to the music. The second criterion would be to notice if the audience is jamming out to the music or if they are actually talking to each other. The third aspect would be where the music is being played. 

        The first part of the criteria is important because people can not speak to each other if there is hard techno blasting from the speakers of a stage. The quiet music from an acoustic guitar soothes people around them. The acoustic guitar music compared to an electric guitar has people relax to the sound rather than rocking out to it. There are times when an acoustic guitar can excite a crowd, but the criteria is focused on calming guitar music. The guitar is a very important part of the criteria because it is the only instrument that people use regularly to group people together to listen to music. A piano would be a great instrument to listen, but its a gigantic instrument to have. It is not as portable as a guitar. Even the electric guitar is hard to carry around because it needs electricity for the amplifier to make the noise. An acoustic guitar is universal to people around the world. Many people know about how an acoustic guitar is used for musicians on the road. It only requires one person to play the guitar. The one person can have an immense impact by bringing different people just by playing the guitar (One Person, One Music). There have been many instances where one person starts playing music for a group of friends. Later on in the day, tons more people come to listen to the music. It shows how people are attracted to groups. Once the group starts to increase in size, more people interact with each other. The interaction will definitely create a better community for Arizona State University. Different cultures listen to the music, and it brings them together to listen to the music.

         Noticing if the audience is talking with each other is extremely important, because many people sit there to just listen to the music. The criteria is to see if the people are discussing with each other about different topics and it does not have to be only about the music. The discussion between the audience makes people talk about a general topic. Discussing about something that they can all relate to, has the audience talk to people from different cultures. People connect with each other when they are talking about a similar subject. There is a book used here that is generally known to different colleges other than Arizona State University (Journal of Historical Research in Music Education). It was written by a professor in Ithaca, New York and if it reached ASU then it must be a well known book to college students (Journal of Historical). This indicates that many musical college students, no matter where they are from, have probably read this book and can talk to each other about the historical side of music (Journal of Historical). This similarity has them talk about a topic and effects the community because more people meet different types of people from around the world. 

         The last aspect of the criteria is where the music is being played. Many places would be perfect but they are not made for an audience to listen to music. If the area is bigger it does not mean more interaction will happen within the group. Smaller groups might be better if the people are talking to each other. The area is not a big factor in the criteria because anyone can play a guitar or sing anywhere they want. 

     Concerts definitely bring people together, they bring the community together with relaxing music playing in the background. Music is evolving as well, and even though it is turning into rave concerts. It still brings them together to be able to talk about the music. It’s just harder to converse during the concert compared to an acoustic guitar. The acoustic guitar is not noisy compared to another concert, but music is evolving (Classical Music Aims to Evolve, Build Audiences Without Alienating Old Guard). Acoustic guitar music could be something entirely different as more years pass. The lyrics in songs nowadays are mostly about clubs, compared to the lyrics 30 years ago where it was not all about clubbing.  No matter what the lyrics are, people in groups interact with each other. 

Research Sources: Music Around ASU

My proposed topic for the second project in English 101 is the music around the Arizona State University campus. The music around the campus brings the community together to be able to converse about music, relax, and listen to the different artists on campus here. This topic interested me because I am into a variety genres of music, especially live music, it appeals to me for the atmosphere that is created when a group of people listen to an artist playing their music live for them. Music coming from speakers is another form of live music even though the artist is not playing for the crowd. The music coming from the speakers, do turn the crowd into a whole dancing and singing to the tune. The way I can evaluate this my topic for how music brings the community together to discuss with each other is by whether or not the music is soothing, if the audience is discussing with each other, and the setting where the artists performing. I am going to use sources for Project 2 and my first source will be a book called Journal of Historical Research in Music Education written by Mark Fonder, the source deals with the historical side of the music education that is taught in Arizona State University. The ideas the book has are how music has evolved and needs to be changed every year in order to be taught, they have a new edition come out every year since 1999. The source interests me how music is changing so much and even though what I consider soothing music could be something completely different a couple years from now. Thats exactly what i learned from it, how music is changing every year and the professors who teach have the choice to change the book because the publishers have a different version for every year. Another source I will be using is called One Person, One Music this source containing 345 pages written by Aaron Ziegel shows how one person when playing or making music gets so involved with the music it transforms people. This source could help me out by proving the point of becoming a different person when you are involved with the music and how other people could be captivated by it. The third source I am going to use is Classical Music Aims To Evolve, Build Audiences Without Alienating Old Guard written by Lucas Kavner containing 15 paragraphs, this article deals with how classical music is too proper and no one comes anymore because of the rules to be part of a concert. They want organizations to change it up so it is more friendly towards normal people, it shows how music is evolving for everyone around the world even if the genre is old. 

Evaluation: Shooter

Bob Lee Swagger played by Mark Wahlberg is a retired sniper from the US military, is told that an assassination on the US president might happen and this turns out to be a setup, where the rest of the movie is about Swagger trying to figure out why he was setup and who did this to him. The movie is an incredible thriller with the usual explosions and car chases. The one thing I really appreciated in the movie was the plot was not normal with a happy ending. Even though some parts of the movie were predictable the overall plot was not predictable at all and the ending will surprise some of the viewers. That is what I enjoy in a movie, the plot has to be surprising to the viewers because if we can guess the ending then what’s the point of watching the movie. The plot in this movie was spectacular and I throughly enjoyed it. The acting is another part to evaluate when watching a movie, Mark Wahlberg did an impressive job portraying an ex-military soldier being chased, he was a perfect match to play Bob Lee Swagger in this movie. The other actors that had notable roles in this movie were Michael Peña, and Danny Glover. Michael Peña did an extraordinary job with his role playing as Nick Memphis. I easily could tell he put work into this role just like he had with the movie Crash where he did a splendid job acting. In Shooter, Michael Peña played an FBI agent who has the drive to find out why Bob Lee Swagger told him “I didn’t shoot the president.” This sparks him to go on several adventures with Swagger adding more action to the movie. Danny Glover’s acting was excellent as well, he played a great bad guy in this movie, his character develops throughout the whole movie and from the first scene to the last scene you can tell how he became a different person. The plot of the movie shows the audience how he is not what we thought of him and his character becomes a totally different person. The directing done in this film was very well done, it was not anything mind blowing, but the scenery and effects were great. The action scenes were spectacular because of the explosions and the way Mark Wahlberg acted throughout the action scenes. Overall, the movie Shooter was done well, and I was surprised at how good the movie was with plot and the acting. I was expecting a movie with a normal ending, mediocre acting, and a million explosions. The movie surpassed my expectations and it was a movie that I would definitely watch again.

Project 1 Reflection

Project 1 Reflection: Project 1 was based off the Hayden Library Entrance, and some of the challenges writing this paper was having to observe every little detail and find a way to write about it. Having to immerse yourself in the detail and write paragraphs I found it to be quite tough because I haven’t written an essay in quite a while. Adapting an authors style was  difficult because I had to analyze how the author wrote in order to try to be like him when he’s writing. The strengths I had when writing this essay was being able to flow from one idea to another. I felt like it was easy to go from one part of the Hayden Library entrance to another because they were all connected to each other. Analyzing the places was another easy part for me because I enjoy looking for the deeper meaning. Having to find out what more there is than rather looking at the surface was enjoyable and meaningful for me. There were plenty of opportunities to analyze something in the area I was sitting at, the people next to me, and the area surrounding me had a ton of information for me to analyze. I learned that I need to know more vocabulary words to show my description of the area and the extra vocabulary could help me when I am trying to explain my viewpoint in an essay. I did not get to the depth of analysis that I wanted to, I found myself to be blocked because I couldn’t find the perfect words to describe what I was trying to explain. I want to improve my sentence structure for my next essays. The sentence structure helps a lot with the flow of the paper, and having a paper that is easy to read will definitely help with the grade. When people have abrupt endings or ideas that pop up out of nowhere in an essay are very hard to follow along. When someone knows how to explain their viewpoint in an essay without having any sudden changes will definitely get a better grade. This assignment taught me to analyze things around you more and learn to not look at the surface of people or your surroundings because you will definitely miss something. The use of adapting an authors style is going to help me in more writing assignments because I can learn to see how they write and add it to my paper so I can write clearer and better for the next essays that I have to write.

Notes on Project 1

Karl Ulbrich

September 16, 2012

At the Underground Entrance of Hayden Library

Smells:

• Cigarette smoke from the surrounding people
• Baked food from the nearby Cafe 

Sound:

• Shoe steps from the main stairs descending to the library
• Music from the Cafe making it a relaxing environment outside to study
• Doors constantly opening/closing
• People constantly chattering about everything loudly on the phone
• Faint music sound from people’s headphones 
• Different languages being spoken around
• the church bell ringing
• noise of longboards or skateboards riding up to the staircase then flipping them up to carry them into the library
• distant sound of people yelling above 
• chairs moving
• opening bags of chips or snacks
• munching on food

Visual:

• People sitting and smoking cigarettes
• Traffic of people entering and leaving the library
• Employees at the library hauling in books
• Feel smaller because you’re below the ground level and people are looking down at you
• Once finished smoking they enter the library
• People in rush to leave the library as if they are happy to finally finish their studying
• Satisfied look after leaving the library
• The giant structure above me that is on ground level revealing where the other part of Hayden Library is.
• Different kinds of people entering the library, business men attire, casual clothing, sorority girls,
• Numerous cafe chairs outside that numerous people sit on to smoke a cigarette or listen to music while they’re outside
• Umbrellas to cover the sun and help people stay cool while they are outside relaxing
• To the right, a giant room for studying, some people are chattering while others are concentrated in a book or writing equations on the whiteboard provided for them
• To the left, mirrored windows that send a mysterious vibe not knowing what is beyond them
• Architecture of the outside entrance of the library make you feel like you’re in a studious environment solely for your studies
• the smaller pillars that make up the fence on the outside
• the giant illuminated staircase descending to the library 
• the lights on the edge lighting up the entrance
• the ash filled trays
• cigarette stubs all over the floor of the cafe outside
• calm environment but it is used just for smoking 
• The palm trees above us
• study groups walking in and meeting outside before entering the library
• the trees in the underground entrance don’t look as healthy as the trees above
• people tripping up the staircase
• skyping outside then entering the library
• constant flow of people walking in and out of the library
• people eating snacks outside
• bringing in food to study

An Analysis of Rolling Stone Cover

Rolling Stone has always been a major magazine for music, they have been reviewing, and interviewing music artists since 1967. The September issue of 2007 shows rapper 50 Cent and Kanye West staring at each other as if they are about to battle. The title on the bottom says “SHOWDOWN! 50 CENT VS KANYE WEST WHO WILL BE THE KING OF HIP HOP?” The bottom title tells the readers that the rappers are in an ongoing feud between the better songs in the music industry during that time. The magazine cover shows Kanye West and 50 Cent hating each other, but through the picture you can’t tell the truth because this could just be an act for the media. The Rolling Stone has to make a dramatic cover to make a profit, the picture showing 50 Cent and Kanye West staring at each other will make audience want to open the magazine and find the article hoping it would explain more about the rivalry between these two rap celebrities. They are both known for being hot-heads so this rivalry is perfect for the media to blow up and cover while this fight is going on. On top of the page of the magazine cover they show a fall album preview for Springsteen, Kid Rock, Foo Fighters, Alicia Keys, Neil Young, and Lil Wayne. That top section adds more detail to the music magazine, and exhibits to the readers about album previews covering a lot of genres so it appeals to different music taste. The Rolling Stone magazine seems to appeal to everyone even if they have a unique taste in music. Another part of the Rolling Stone cover I noticed was the box over the main title, it’s an article about the presidential campaign in 2008. The Rolling Stone magazine is definitely appealing to all audiences even people who don’t listen to music could read the magazine for the political section. The magazine is ambitious to gain more readers and it shows through the articles that they write. On the cover page, the wide variety of articles are for selling purposes. 

Analysis of a Writing Situation

The article I chose to analyze is an NPR article called "How 'Government' Became A Dirty Word" the subject of the article is about how Republicans altered the word 'Government' into a hated word by the citizens of the United States. The author seems to be leaning toward the Democratic side, there is a lot of evidence against the Republicans in the news article, for example, the last section has Daniel McCarthy addressing the problems with the Republican's logic. The writer's purpose seemed to show how the Republican's were wrong in their views about the government, the purpose from the writer definitely changed the article's content. Even though the Republicans are against government, they are making a form of government between themselves. The writer of the article shows it in the last section from a quote said by Daniel McCarthy. ""I think there's a bit of disconnect where the Republican Party is able to cash in on the fears that Americans have about big government, even though the Republican Party actually is practicing a form of big government itself," he says."" The quote from the article summarizes how the writer is against the Republican views throughout the article. The author might have hoped to give insight on the argument against the Republicans to make someone support the Democrats during election. The authors views did change the article, which was overall criticizing the Republicans so a lot of the information about the Republicans was negative while reading it. The intended readers were everyone, because the author was trying to change people to support the Democrats. The readers would have thought about the Republican's viewpoints because this article makes it sound like their views make no sense. The author gives many examples opposed to the Republican's view and depending on the reader it will make them consider their view on politics. The sources used in the document were Zelizer who spoke to the author saying, "They had New York Republicans, they had a lot of Midwestern progressives, who still said government is good for a lot of things." The quote was in the first section of the paragraph stating how Republican's views have always been against the government, but there are views supporting the government as well. The second piece of evidence in the second section is about Zelizer showing the readers that hostile views toward the government have always existed. "...President Ronald Reagan said "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem."" The context is perfect for this article considering the election that is coming up, the article will definitely shape the reader's viewpoints if they actually reflect on the article's contents provided by the author.