hoban.21: October 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Quote from Paper

This is a section from the beginning of my paper in which I use quotes from an episode to help explain what is going on in the episodes.

"Topher has figured out a way to program different characteristics into each “active.” He inserts attributes into them before they go out on their task. In “Instinct”, episode two of the second season, Topher and Ballard are talking about how programming occurs. Topher says, “One could program the brain to fight cancer, or be telekinetic, or not to have that gag reflex when you eat sea urchin, or whatever. The possibilities are pretty much endless.” In order to receive these characteristics, the “active” sits in this special chair and, after Topher enters some special formulas, has the ability to do whatever is asked of him or her.
Paul Ballard responds to Topher’s comment by saying, “So you can do all that to me by me sitting in this chair?”
Topher replies, “Well not to you, to an active. I can’t fiddle with the mind until it’s wiped clean.”
Erasing the mind to the point where it is “wiped clean” cannot be rationalized. Nobody should have their identity taken from them because that defines a person. The “actives” are treated like they are robots who can be configured in many different ways. "

I used the last paragraph to try and explain why I used this quote.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Paper Problems

In my paper, I am having difficulty describing my focus. I know I want to portray the message that torture occurs in Dollhouse and that it constantly happening in the real world as well. However, the quotes I use and the other points I make don't clearly get my message across. I think that this is due to a lack of a thesis. The one I wrote down yesterday was: "Torture occurs not only in Dollhouse, but in every day life as well. Acknowledging the fact that torture happens everywhere is the first step in stopping its occurence. People overlook torture because they--people young and old--don't understand what torture is. The people who work in the Dollhouse disregard the fact that by creating "actives," they are disrespecting and torturing the humans who were transformed. In the real world, torture does not have to be just physically hurting someone, it can be as simple as just verbally putting someone down. In Joss Whedon's Science Fiction television show, Dollhouse, he brings to light that torture is happening all around us and just because it is not called "torture" does not mean it is not." I know that the common reader isn't going to understand what I am saying when I talk about the "actives" and how they are transformed, but I don't know how to incorporate that without making the paragraph not flow as well as becoming boring and tedious. Any ideas?

Sunday, October 25, 2009

WB 3: Playoffs in College Football

I decided to look up an article that supports playoffs in college football and then an article that does not support playoffs. The two writers were very similar in the way they wrote. In the argument supporting the playoffs, the writer utillized a specific example that most college football fan would remember. It was a very specific and useful example and was very effective. The argument against college playoffs was not very effective. Although the writer brought up a really good point, I found myself getting overwhelmed with all the different people he quoted. I started getting bored with everybody else's thoughts and wanted to know his. When he referred to NCAA Basketball, he supported it quickly, which was good. At times he took too long to get his point across. When I compared both articles together, I noticed that there was one thing that stood out to me. Both articles were presented very similarly with a white background and the usual Times New Roman font. They were both about the same length; however, the arguement for college playoffs was broken up into two pages. Not all of his article was on the page, I had to click "next page" to get to it. I found that I really liked this because I dont like looking at a page and seeing a ton of writing. By breaking it up, I found myself being able to read the article better.

Citation:

Article for College Playoffs:
Stroman , J. P. . "Fredericksburg.com". 25 October 2009 .

Article Against College Playoffs:
Tamny, John. "Playoffs and College Football, Imperfect Together". 25 October 2009 .

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Follow Me: Uncle Kracker

I chose this song because I used to love it. It was the first song I knew every word to and I thought Uncle Kracker was the man. As I got a little older, I always would tell people my favorite song was Follow Me by Uncle Kracker. Whoever I would tell would always smirk and tell me how much that song sucks. The past few years if there is an ipod playing at a party I go and choose the next song to be Follow Me because I love seeing the reaction it gets. In regards to the lyrics, I had no idea what the lyrics meant until a few years ago because I never paid attention to what the song meant, I just had it memorized. It has a pretty awful message about hooking up with a woman who is married. A stanza goes: "And I worry 'bout the ring you wear Cause as long as no one knows That nobody can care Your fellin guilty And I'm well aware But you don't look ashamed And baby I'm not scared." Although the lyrics aren't the best, it has a catchy beat which is why I have always liked this song. Uncle Kracker was at Osu last week or the week before, but I cannot say I paid to go watch him.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Fear: The Princess Screamed Once

The part of this article by Rhonda Wilcox that jumped out at me was when she was talking about the communication or should I say the lack of communication that went on in the episode. Buffy and Riley had a miscommunication about which box Riley should hit in order for everybody to regain their voices. It seems understandable to have a hard time conversing when you do not have a voice, but Wilcox makes a good point: "The Gentlemen seem to understand each other very well." In Willow's group meeting, she was put down by the head of the group. Although WIllow could have had a good idea, the leader degraded her before even digesting what she said. To me, that is a sign of a bad leader. Somebody that doesn't listen to everybody's opinion has no right to be leading a group. Wilcox makes a good point when she says, "Neither the Wiccans nor the Gentlemen communicate with those of a different perspective. " While "The Gentlemen" didn't communicate with others because they were freaks and wanted to kill people. the Wiccans were just self-interested jerks who thought that they were way better than everyone else.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Moeller - Is it Art

The author, Gary Moeller, definately watched this episode of Buffy many times. I definately did not see the statue of St. Francis and notice the little girl talking at the end of the hallway. The author definately watched and rewatched this episode many times to find all of these minute details. I liked how the author was able to relate so many of the characters and plots to pieces of the past. When I saw the hunched over people, I thought that they were really weird and creepy, but I never compared them to the monkey's in The Wizard of Oz. Moeller says, "Those monkeys were so inredibly creepy; some aspects of the creepiness relate directly to the Gentemen's minions." After Moeller points this observation out, I see the coorelation between the Gentlesmen's minions and the monkey's from Wizard of Oz.

Bridges - Grimm Realities

The author makes a good point in regards to Buffy's vulnerability. Everybody is vulnerable at some point, even a vampire. We see that Buffy, who is only seventeen years old, acts old, but she knows that she is still just a teenager. She tells a boy in the hospital, "I'm not that grown up." She connects with a little boy which would have not have been possible if she did not accept the true Buffy. Also, I would never have thought about linking the "Hush" episode to a bunch of fairy tales. I know that it was hinted at in the episode, but the level of detail the author, Elizabeth Bridges, went into was intense. Joss Whedon, as the author implicityly found, loves coorelating his episodes in Buffy to fairy tales. I enjoyed reading the thought process of the writer through this article

Buffy the Vampire: "Hush"

While watching this episode, I couldn't help but find myself not being able to talk. My throats been sore lately and I just found myself thinking that I couldn't speak. Also, the music that was played during the time nobody was speaking was quite effective. There was suspenseful music when there needed to be and there was a little more laid back music for the few not so suspenseful scenes. I also made a similarity between Dollhouse and Buffy because there was a slight hint towards torture. Joss Whedon is the producer of both shows and I have a feeling that he implicity likes getting his audience to think about torture. The Gentlemen used knifes to cut the hearts out, which is a way of torturing someone. This was an intense episode and it was pretty good.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Free Writing 2

After somebody has been tortured, they never get back into living their normal lifestyle. As Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture say, "Psychological symtoms of torture frequently include anxiety, depression, irrirability, paranoia, guilt, suspiciousness, sexual dysfunction, loss of concentration, confusion, insomnia, nightmares, impaired memory, and memory loss." Always watching your back and thinking somebody is out there to get you is something nobody should have to worry about. However, people who have been tortured have these thoughts running through their heads all of the time. After somebody is tortured, most go see a healthcare professional. "Treatment for both physical and psychological after-effects requires a great deal of sensitivity on the part of the professional dealing with the patient," Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture say.

http://www.ccvt.org/effects_torture.html

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Free Writing 1

Torture is portrayed is Dollhouse throughout all of the episodes I have watched. Dollhouse exemplifies mental, emotional, and physical torture. The man who hires the people of the dollhouse to set him up with an "active" that'll cure his fantasy, quickly regrets his decision. By getting tied to a chair and tortued, the man realized he made a mistake. This man who was getting tortued got a taste of his own medicine, just in a physical way instead of mental and emotional. No matter what type of torture it is, any non-terrorist person does not deserve it.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Anything Blog: My Sister

My relationship with my sister has been quite the roller coaster ride over the years. In grade school, my sister and I never got along. We would argue and compete with each other in everything we did. Let me add that my sister is only a year younger than me. When high school hit, we still argued and got mad at each other but our relationship got better. By my Senior year, something clicked between us and we realized how lucky we were to have each other. For me, she has some awesome girl friends that I can hang with and vice versa. As it turns out, she is dating one of my good friends from high school. I have to take credit for introducing them because I did. She hung out with me almost every weekend Senior year and it was so cool. Our friendship grew tremendouslty. People would ask me if I ever got mad about her coming with me to parties and what not, but I always said, "no, I love it!" On occasion, she would drive me in her car so I didnt waste the gas. When it came time for me to leave for college, it was a very strange goodbye. We recalled back in grade school when she said I cant wait for you to leave for college, but when the time actually came, neither one of us wanted me to leave. I still talk to her all the time and I cannot wait to see her this upcoming weekend

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Blog 2

I went to Fresh Express at North Commons because I tend to always eat there. The locatino makes it about a 30 second walk from my dorm so it is incredibly convenient. I love the fact that I can get so much food for just a single swipe. I have to make sure that I get some healthy sides and entrees because I do not want that Freshmen 15. So the eating area of Fresh is set up like this: tables scattered all around the room. Most tables seat four people and then people combine the tables for a bigger group. There are a few circular tables, but not many. There is an area in the corner where there are a few couches and a television. This morning SportsCenter was on and a few guys were sitting around watching it. Although I go to Fresh a lot, I do not go for breakfast. Today, I was feeling a bit rebellious and passed on my nap between classes to go and get breakfast. The environment was quite different at 10:00 compared to when I normally go for lunch and dinner. The basement, which is where you eat, was very quiet. The lights were dimmed and Taylor Swift's "Teardrops on My Guitar" was playing overhead. As I looked around the room, I noticed a lot of people listening to their ipods and studying or sitting with a friend talking very quietly. For the first time, I also noticed advertisements that are on almost all of the tables. I guess I am not very observant because I had not noticed these before today. Sadly, I do not have a camera so I went to Fresh Express's website and tried to find a picture. Since that failed, I just copied there menu for the day. If you haven't tried Fresh because you live on south or for any other reason, I HIGHLY recommend walking or catching a bus and trying it. You won't be disappointed!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Primary Source 2

I just watched episode 12 of season 1 of Dollhouse. It was a little weird because I have already watched 2 episodes from season 2 so I backtracked. I was confused during parts of the episode, but for the most part, I got the basic gist. There was a legit torture scene in which they used pain to get information. I know there are tons of different ways to torture people so I was thinking I can find out how torture effects people later in life if they are fortunate enough to survive. Also, there was a scene when a doctor told a patient that he was ugly and disgusting. She told him that he already passed his prime. The only reason she said this is because he got cuts on his face and to her that meant he was worthless. People should not be judged based on their appearance. You would have to be a very shallow person to think that. I've learned never judge a person by their appearance, I guess this doctor paid missed that.

Primary Source 1

I just watched the second episode of season two for Dollhouse. I found there to be a few different topics that popped out to me for what I can write about. First, Topher, who is this genius, talks about how he can program brain's to do anything. He goes as far as to say that he can program someone's brain to fight cancer. This got be thinking about how technology is quickly upgrading and got me questioning if something that sounds so insane now, will end up being created in the future. Also, "actives", or people who have had there brain "messed with", are put through immense pain and agony during situations. Topher justifies it by saying that afterwards he makes it so that the person doesn't remember or feel anything. To me, that is still not right. Echo was put into a situation where she was the mother of a child. She believed with her entire heart that she was the mother. When people came to get the baby from her, she did what any mother would do and freaked out. Although afterwards she will forget everything, the torture she went through is not worth it. I could talk about how other countries torture people and all the ways they try to justify it. I have a lot to think about and any imput would be helpful

Friday, October 2, 2009

Firefly 2

The plot in Firefly has many different twists and turns. The biggest shocker for me was when Saffron took control of the ship and hurt Mal and Wash. She had me fooled. By asking questions and crying, I found myself empathizing with her. It just goes to show how powerful girls can be. Early on in the episode, Wash's wife says she doesnt like Saffron, but Wash did not seem to listen to her. Honestly, I didnt listen to her either. It shows that Saffron can be deceiptful towards guys, but girls aren't as easily fooled. Inara realized she was full of it and so did Wash's wife.

But She Was Naked

Inara and Saffron's confrontation was well directed. I didnt catch the pun when Inara said, "I guess we have lied enough." After realizing that is what she said, I liked the scene even more. Saffron is not just a companion, she is one of the best companions. Being able to make every guy she deals with feel special is a quality that not many people, let alone companions have. Women are so powerful when it comes to dealing with men. When girls make the guys feel like they are in control, girls can get whatever they want. There are many ways that women can gain control and Saffron exemplified two ways with Mal and Wash. By simply asking questions and saying subtle comments, she won over both men very quickly.

hoban.21