Persuasive Analysis #3 - Juno movie review

http://newsblaze.com/story/20080405203411tsop.nb/newsblaze/REVIEWS1/Movie-Reviews.html <---link to article.

This is a review that was written about the movie Juno by Prairie Miller. She starts off by talking about the movie itself, oulining the plot and summarizing the movie. Juno is about a young teenage girl who ends up getting pregnant. At first she freaks out and contemplates abortion, but flakes when she tries to sit and fill out the required paperwork. She then decides to have the baby, and give it up for adoption to a couple named Mark and Vanessa Loring. The movie shows her struggle through the pregnancy and dealing with issues that are always a part of growing up.

This was a good review. She did a good job outlining the movie and detailing the important parts. Like any good review, she outlines what she really liked about the movie, and what she thought needed work. "There are a bunch of glaring narrative rough spots though, that could have used some ironing out." I was glad to see that the entire review wasn't completely positive. I completely agree with what she pointed out that needed some work. For example, she explains that it doesn't make sense that Juno's parents never offered to raise or adopt the child themselves. One one hand it makes sense, with a 16 year old daughter, adopting her child would be kind of wierd. Not only would they be sisters, but mother and daughter. On the other hand they raised Juno and her younger sister Liberty Bell, why couldn't they raise another? She also points out that it was strange that she never wanted to see the baby, while she runs into Vanessa at the mall. So either she was afraid of getting attached (it is her own child!) or she just always thought of the baby as Vanessa's. This review would be good for someone who hasn't seen the movie to read. It really explains everything well.

Persuasive Analysis #2 - Old Cigarette Ad

This ad is particularly funny to me. What you can't see in the fine print is that this cigarette company states the "health benefits" from smoking cigarettes. This ad shows a man looking thin and fit, and the slogan tells you to have a cigarette between meals as opposed to eating, then you'll stay fit, because like it says "It's better to be fit than fat." They could have advertisements like this because back then, no one knew the health risks, they just saw what they thought were benefits.

Persuasive Analysis #1- Michelob Ultra

This ad shows a young, fit, attractive man doing crunches. It implies that you could look like that if you drink their beer. The slogan says, "Lose the carbs. Not the taste." So it suggests that it is in fact delicious, and low on carbs, so you could too look like the gentleman in this ad. What you might not be able to see is that in the lower corner near the beer bottle it says, "With fewer carbs, fewer calories, and the same great Michelob taste, Michelob ULTRA is the ultimate reward for an active lifestyle." That statement alone is hilarious to me. Ever heard the term beer belly? It didn't come around because beer with fewer carbs and calories is better for you. Even if you lead an active lifestyle, beer isn't something you should drink. It dehydrates you, gets you fat, and not to mention gets you drunk! Beer ads are always hilarious to me.

Song Analysis #4 - Recovery by Our Last Night

Your shadows are back from the dead
Creeping over the hills
And making their name
They leave you lifeless
Don’t let them make your choices
Take control and ignore their every word
Your skin is tougher than your bones
Recovery, she always means well
Recovery, uncover this for me
I can see it in her eyes reaching out for a helping hand
Take my hand and take my word
Help is on its way, just breath slowly
Trust the medic because he has everything you’ll need
This can’t be right, the signs point east but we’re going west
As long as you’re not heading the way you came
Please let this be the turning point
When the past gets left behind
Send a signal to the ones you love
Because help is on its way
And your shadows are back from the dead
Why can’t we get this right?
Send a signal

Cultural Event #3 - Sky Eats Airplane and The Chariot Show

The bands that played at this show were Our Last Night, Lovehatehero, Sky Eats Airplane, The Chariot, and Alesana at the New Brookland Tavern in Columbia. These two pictures are of the lead singers from Sky Eats Airplane, Jerry (top picture), and from The Chariot, Josh (bottom picture). These guys were absolutely AMAZING. I love their music, so i knew right away it was going to be a great show, but I didn't anticipate it to be as amazing as it was. Being right in front of the stage allowed me to talk to the guys as they were setting up to play, and get so many amazing pictures. Sky Eats Airplane played third, so the crowd was already pumped up and ready to hear them play. The first two bands were good, but not as well known, so they did a good job to up the energy in the tavern. Sky Eats Airplane played a good mix of the songs off of their first cd and off of their new cd. All of them had so much energy on stage, they were all walking, slinging their instruments around, and jumping all over the place. They also interacted with the audience well by having them sing along, shout the lyrics into the microphones, and even did a good stage dive every now and then. I went to the show mainly to see The Chariot. They're one of my favorite bands, so I was amped and ready to see them. When they all came on stage Josh announced that all of them were sick, and you could hear it in his voice, but they continued to play like they intended. I had seen them once before last year at the Music Farm with Norma Jean, and I remember how crazy they were, and how much energy they had. Even though they were sick, they acted just as they had when I saw them a year prior to then. The bassist, Jon, was running around stage, slinging his bass around his back, jumping up and down, stage diving, and interacting with all the other band members. At one point during the show, the drummer, Jake, was feeling so bad, that he had the drummer from Our Last Night come and play for him. Josh announced this, and I could tell he was a bit nervous about it. He said that they had never practiced with him, and up until this tour, they didn't know each other. They played one song together, and if you hadn't known any better, you'd be able to swear that he was their usual drummer. He played just as well as Jake had. We didn't stay for Alesana because I didn't have too much interest, but when i left that show, I was so pumped up and so energetic that the last thing I wanted to do was drive home for an hour and a half confined in a car.

Literary Devices

1) "Words are bullets, and should be used sparingly, aimed toward a target."
-Dick Hallock
This sentence shows an example of a metaphor. It is a metaphor because it compares two different things, words and bullets, without using like or as stating how piercing words can be, just like bullets.

2) "I am the bread of life."
-Jesus
This sentence shows another example of a metaphor. Jesus says in this that he is the bread in life that feeds which isn't meant literally, so therefore it is a metaphor.

3) "All the world's a stage."
-Shakespeare
This is also a metaphor. Shakespeare meant that everyone performs in life, so its like everyone is on stage, but not literally.

4) "The only monster here is the gambling monster that has enslaved your mother! I call him Gamblor, and it's time to snatch your mother from his neon claws!"
-Homer Simpson in The Simpsons
This is an example of personification. It suggests that gambling is in fact alive that enslaves people because of how addicting it is. It gives it human-like abilities.

5) "Because I could not stop for Death--
He kindly stopped for me--
The Carriage held but just Ourselves--
And Immortality."
-Emily Dickinson, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death"
This brief poem shows an example of personification. It says that death stopped for her, giving an inanimate object human abilities.

6) "'Ah, William, we're weary of weather,'said the sunflowers, shining with dew."
-William Blake, Two Sunflowers Move In The Yellow Room
This line from the poem shows an example of personification. In this line, the sunflowers are talking, which they obviously cannot really do.

7) "Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep."
-Carl Sandburg
This quote includes an example of a simile. It is comparing life and an onion using the word "like."

8) "It's been a hard day's night, and I've been working like a dog"
-The Beatles
This quote is an example of a simile. It is comparing that he was working as hard as a dog using the word "like" to connect the two.

9) "Yellow butterflies flickered along the shade like flecks of sun"
-William Faulkner
This quote is an example of a simile. It compares the yellow butterflies to the yellow sun rays using the word "like" to compare the two.

10) “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz… Oh what a relief it is”
-Alka Seltzer's jingle
This quote is using an example of onomatopoeia. It uses the words "plop" and "fizz" to describe the sound the Alka Seltzer makes when it hits the water.

Song Analysis #3 - Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Seek Escape by Underoath

I heard a voice through the discord
Of a deluge of passerby.
I saw one gaze frozen in time
Watching me passing by.

I swear I'll know your face in the crowd,
And I'll hear your voice so loud
When you're whispering...

Hey unfaithful I will teach you
To be stronger, to be stronger.
Hey ungraceful I will teach you
To forgive one another.

Here's my kiss to betray
Desperate to brush the lips of grace.
Do you feel hollow when you think of how I've lied?

Oh sweet angel of mercy with your grace like the morning
Wrap your loving arms around me.
Oh sweet angel of mercy with your grace like the morning
Wrap your loving arms around me.

Hey unfaithful I will teach you
To be stronger, to be stronger.
Hey ungraceful I will teach you
To forgive one another.
Hey unfaithful I will teach you
To be stronger, to be stronger.
Hey unloving, I will love you,
I will love you, I will love you.

Hey unloving
I will love you.

Jesus I'm ready to come home.