Ez swoosh’s Weblog

Robert F. Kennedy took on a great responsibility of informing the people of Indianapolis, Indiana that probably the world’s greatest icon of peace and love, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed. On the night of April 4^th, 1968 Kennedy was scheduled to deliver a speech to a mostly African American crowd, trying to win votes on the Democratic Party nomination for president of the US. However, upon arrival he learned the news of King’s assassination and wrote an impromptu eulogy. This was a very important speech because Kennedy urged the crowd to follow Dr. Kings lead and respond to this with understanding and comprehension. He mentions the need to avoid division hatred and violence amongst blacks and whites and calls for love, compassion and wisdom. He also sympathizes with the crowd with an emotional reference to his brother’s death. Robert F. Kennedy was able to give this inspirational message with much constraint from agitated people who were ready to riot because to them their only vision of light was now diminished.

Robert F. Kennedy begins his speech by telling the crowd of King’s assassination and then he immediately starts talking about Dr. King’s life. He opens up with “Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings.” He was trying to send a message to ease the crowd’s anger and remind them that all is not lost, we must love one another the way Martin Luther King wanted it to be. Then he incorporates a poem into the speech to try and convince the crowd that there is a way to live in peace amongst one another and to remind them of another one of Dr. King’s virtues. Kennedy speaks that through all of our pain and despair there will come wisdom that will lead us in the right path through the one thing that unites most people, which is the belief in God. Throughout the speech, Kennedy talks about compassion, love and justice because that was what Martin Luther King’s message was about and it was what everyone could relate to. There is a larger issue that Robert Kennedy is trying to address, it is not only to inform people of King’s assassination but to remind them that life goes on and we must make an effort to live with each other in peace through love and compassion for one another.

There Will Be Blood was a great movie that had a lot of emotion and great directing. However, the ending was the only part of the movie that left me with a confused feeling because I am not accustomed to movies ending in tat manner. The ending seemed to me very effortless by the directors with a very silly violent scene with Eli and Daniel. It seemed as if they became lazy in the end and didn’t spend enough time to think of a perfect ending for it.

Christopher Orr’s review of the ending, however, shed some light on what the directors intended to do with that ending. I didn’t understand it at first but then Orr made it clear that the scene between Daniel and Eli was intended to show the idea that capitalism will eventually destroy religion. By showing Daniel bashing Eli’s skull with a bowling pin the director was making a strong statement of this idea. Even though Orr’s review made the ending of the movie a little clearer I still don’t think it was sufficient enough to end the great movie that was There Will Be Blood.

France is a country whose city territory is located in Western Europe which often includes various overseas islands and territories located in other continents. France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, also from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to France as The “Hexagon” because of the shape of the country.

The national flag of France features three colors. Blue (left side), white (middle), red (right side). At first, the three stripes of the flag were not equally wide( 30 blue, 33 white, and 37 red) The theory behind this was that if they were equal then the white stripe, being brighter, would appear strangely wider to the human eye. The proportions were changed to make the stripes width equal, but by a rule dated 17 May 1853, the navy went back to using the 30:33:37 proportions, which it continues to use. The Blue of the flag represents the great power or influence France has over other countries, the white, for purity and peace and the red for the bloodshed that must be lost in honor of their own country.

French is the official language in France. Most individuals in business speak English. The main foreign languages include English, Spanish, and German. The main regional languages include Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Maghreb Arabic. If you do not speak French, it is very important that you apologize for your lack of knowledge in France.

One of the most unique characteristics of many French buildings is the tall second story windows, often arched at the top, that break through the cornice and rise above the attic. This unusual window design is especially visible on America’s French provincial homes. Modeled after country manors in the French provinces, these brick homes are very formal. They have steep roofs and a square equal shape with windows balanced on each side of the entrance. The tall second story windows add to the height.

France is a republican type of government. The national government of France is divided into an executive, a legislative and a judicial branch. The President has a degree of direct decision-making power. The cabinet globally, including the Prime Minister, can be changed by the National Assembly.

France is a big vacation spot for tourists. There are about 20,000 hotels, inns, and motels in France, government-rated according to five comfort levels by stars that range from one (budget) to five (deluxe). France has 3,900 museums, 1,500 chateaux open to the public and 39,000 historic monuments. French cuisine is a style of cooking from the nation of France. It changed from centuries of social and political change. The middle Ages brought a lot of banquets to the upper class. Heavily seasoned food prepared by chefs such as Guillaume Tirel. The era of the French Revolution then saw a move toward fewer spices and more use of herbs and experienced techniques. Ingredients and dishes vary by region. There are many important traditional dishes that have become both national and regional. Cheese and wine are also a major part of the cuisine.

I thought that Christopher Orr’s review of There Will Be Blood was magnificent. He starts out by introducing the beginning of the movie and through it I was able to better understand when I watched it because it wasn’t as explicit in the movie. It was a unique shot in which there was no dialogue involved, and it went to the point where it frustrated you as a viewer because you wanted to know what the characters were doing and why you were there. However, you had to find that out on your own because there was no dialogue. I would say this was a great tool to build suspense and draw attention.

Then Christopher Orr goes on to explain the main plot of the story which was right on point without revealing any of the parts of the movie. His description of the character of Daniel Plainview is beautifully written for readers to understand who the story is about and how it came to be this way. Then Orr goes on to describe in more detail the title of the film. Blood is linked with every part of the movie. “Blood in its many forms: blood that is spilled, blood that anoints, blood that binds.” This sentence describes the various ways blood was symbolized in the film. The film was a master piece and Orr’s review was on point.

Word Count

• Ocean’s Eleven – 240 words
• Foods of different Cultures – 695 words
• Good Night, and Good Luck Review – 385 words
• Promoting Your Blog – 335 words

Total – 1655 words

There are many ways that someone could promote their blog so that there is more traffic going to their blog pages. One of technical thing that is a good way to promote your blog is to activate one of the settings that cause your blog to send pings. By sending these pings your blog will be included in many “recently updated” lists all over the web and it would be much easier for people to notice you because a link to your page would be distributed in many sites. However, if you do not write frequently your blog will obviously not appear in these web sites because it has not been “recently updated.” Writing frequently will do nothing for you if you do not write any interesting content. If you don’t know what you want to write about just spend a little time in thinking what you are passionate about and what would be fun for you to write about and then post it and see how many people share your views.

Another technicality that would be easy to do would be to install an “Email This Post” on your page. This is a link that allows people to easily share your post with their friends. This will allow other people to publicize your blog for you. Another idea you can use is to keep your posts short. This would be a good idea when first starting out. If you can write short and write well people will notice and come back to your page for more. That is when you can start writing more than before because you have already caught some people’s attention and now you need to keep it. Lastly, you need to be active in commenting on other people’s blogs. If your comments are good and well thought out, people will notice you and would want to visit your page to see more of your writing. Commenting is very important because often people will just read the comments before reading the content.

At first, when reading the review of “Good Night, and Good Luck” written by A.O. Scott, I was a little confused and didn’t really know what to expect from watching the movie. He describes it very well but I had not yet seen a movie that was directed in the style that this movie was so it was somewhat hard for me to follow along with only the review. However after watching the movie I now understand what Scott was trying to describe. I also realized that Scott basically covered every part that was included in the movie and gave enough background information to cover everything one needs to know to follow along with the film.

When I was watching the film there were some aspects of it that were unclear to me. The most obvious was why it was being shown in black-and-white. Also, why everyone was wearing the same dull clothes all the time with the same style of slick hair in each scene. What was most strange about the movie was that everyone in it was a smoker. There was not one scene in which someone was not holding a cigarette, even the newscasters smoked while they reported the news. George Clooney as a director made sure that the cigarette was very noticeable and this was unclear to me until I thought about what A.O. Scott had written in his review.

“SHOT in a black-and-white palette of cigarette smoke, hair tonic, dark suits and pale button-down shirts, “Good Night, and Good Luck” plunges into a half-forgotten world in which television was new, the cold war was at its peak, and the Surgeon General’s report on the dangers of tobacco was still a decade in the future.”

This was his opening paragraph and it basically describes every detail that a person might question in the movie. The movie itself was very hard to follow because it wasn’t what I was used to. Scott’s description of a “cinéma-vérité style” was the perfect way of describing how this movie was filmed. It had that documentary feel to it but it wasn’t. Scott also does a very good job introducing us to the characters prior to the movie so when we were watching it, it wasn’t hard to quickly match Scott’s descriptions with the actors.

A quote written by Rosamond Richardson, an English cookery author states ,”Food…can look beautiful, taste exquisite, smell wonderful, make people feel good, bring them together, inspire romantic feelings….At its most basic, it is fuel for a hungry machine;….”. Her perspective on food is very simialar to the views of both Beth Azar and Diane Ackerman. In “What predicts the foods we eat” an essay, written by Beth Azar proves that food is used only for tasting and the reasona person has their taste buds is because of genetics.Her scientific facts show that people can be seperated into different groups. ” The Social Sence” an essay written by Diane Ackerman, relates to the different aspects of food and how it impacts every day life in a culutral perspective. Although,Azar uses scintific research to support her argument, Ackerman provides a more informed perspective on what factors determine what we eat.
Diane Ackerman’s cultural view on food is a social sence. To determine what foods a person eats,asking about their culure can say a lot about a persons preferance on food likings.Culture has a big impact on food because it seperates differnt cultures from each other. As Ackerman stated on her essay ” asians can have puppy for lunch compared to french who eat garlic -soaked snails”. A person born in a certain country will experiance and taste the foods that their parents and ancestors have experianced living in that cerain region. As she separates food into different catagories ,she also has facts that back up her perspective.Ackerman compares food with sex, to ones physical features and decriptions that vary with different events and cultures. Beth Azars view on food is presented in a scintific manner, stating that we are exposed to food throughout our mothers breast milk. Azars facts state that studies conducted by scintist’s, have broken people into three different catagoreis, tasters non-tasters or supertaster. Super-taster would repot a lower preferance for sweet and fats than tasters and nontasters. Although both essays prove what factors influce what people eat ,Ackerman supports her view of food in a cultural prespective.
Food and its culture have impacted me in a way that it has changed the way i see other cultures. Being born in another country I was only costumed to the food that was given to me and nothing more. I had tasted only a smal fraction of the herbs and spices that i recieved from my culture. When i moved to the US, i started to experiance new cusines that were being offered to me.When i first had my slice of pizza i was 10 years old, when i took a bite of that pizza my taste buds exploded with flavor.The combination of the sauce, cheese and meat was incredible.Changing from one culutre that consited only one cusine to a culture that was a melting pot of the worlds cusines, has a large impact in your life.As differnt cultures were being introduced to me food was one of the best things i liked about that certain culture. I can state that i have more that ONE culture because i don’t have Albanian food everyday.Trying different foods from chinese to italian, showed me that culture can seperate an individual to determine what foods they eat just because of what they are and where they reside.
Diane Ackerman and Beth Azar certainly have different perspectives on food. Diane Ackerman comes to prove that it is ones culture that shows what a persons interest in food would be. As well, her cultural view on food proves what a person likes to eat and how their culture is the reason for their liking of that certain food.Beth Azar analyses food in a scintific view, stating that culture is not the main topic in food. Also proving that the reason we like the foods that we eat are because of genetics. I agree with Ackermans view on food because i believe that culture plays a very important role in determing what foods we eat. Culture has had a large impact in my life and i belive that it will continue to have that affect on me and people throughout the world.

There are many types of different genres for movies. One type that many people are fond of is heist movies. They like to see how everything is planned and there is great suspense in the unfolding of this type of movie. A particular heist movie that was a joy to watch was “Ocean’s Eleven.” This picture had everything that a heist movie should consist of. There was a great plot, outstanding acting, a valuable target and an unceasing suspense. These are all qualities that people look for when watching a movie.

The movie was also very humorous in a serious way. Meaning that the actors were being serious when talking to each other but it was very humorous to the audience. It was done in a unique way which only strengthened its quality. Especially the characters of George Clooney and Brad Pitt, which were played beautifully. These movies are very hard to perform because it has to be done in such a way so that the robbers become the protagonists. This is not the case in real life because no one wants the thieves to succeed. However, in these types of movies there has to be a reason why the audience is looking for the thieves to escape with what they were after. “Ocean’s Eleven” does a great job in creating this situation and throughout the movie the audience is caught in the hope that they will succeed.

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