We went to the computer room and started accounts on two web sites. One web site was called Pandora and the other was LastFM. Both sites helped you create your own radio station that will play music you have requested. When you type in a band or genre, the site automatically gives suggestions of other bands that fall under the same category. I really like these sites because I love to listen to music all the time. I also like to find other bands to add to my list of music. I never liked to listen to the radio because they always play the same mainstream medeocre crap over and over again. It is hard to find a radio station that plays the music I like becuase a lot of it has an aquired taste. I have never heard of either of the sites but now that I have I will be on them every chance I get. I like the fact that they gave you the lyrics becuase some of the bands I listen to have very powerful growling vocals and alot of distorted sounds making it a little hard to understand what they are saying. This also helps to understand the band a little more and to get an idea about what they stand for. Im very picky when it comes to the music I listen to . Another thing I like about the sites is that it tells you if the band is touring or not. I like to go to concerts every chance I get and most of the bands I like hardly play in San Antonio so tour information is very helpful. The best thing about these sites is the fact that there are very few interuptions. That is one thing I hate the most about the radio, all the talking. The sites are pretty much the same in comparison, but I like Pandora a lot more because of the fact that it seems to be easier to set up and use. I am actually listening to music on Pandora.com as I am writing this blog. The name of my station is "Agianst the Majority" and it has a lot of industrial so far, I need to do a lot more searches.

Comments on blogs

In class we had to comment on another students blog. I had one student comment on one of mine. It was a blog I had written about a bad grade scenario. The fact that other students were going to read my blogs did not bother me. It's not as if they were going to read a page from my journal, if I had one that is. I did not mind someone commenting on my blogs either. It would help me know that what I wrote made some kind of sense and that others felt the same way. It's one thing for a professor to read your blogs but for another student to read it is less pressure because they are in the same boat. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to writing a blog. It's only the matter of reaching the minimal word count and making sure to address the topic at hand. Even though we all had the same topics to write about, we all have different answers or ways in which we express them. It is really interesting to see how other students went about completing the assignments and what their views are. From this we can either gain something that was missed or change our views on the topics completely.

Reflection on timeline

In class today we had to get in our groups and make a timeline about the vlog I chose for my descriptive essay. We started off with three main points in the timeline. The points are the beginning, the middle, and the end. The starting point of the timeline is supposed to represent the beginning of the vlog. The middle point is the minute that lies in the middle of the vlog and the ending point is the last minute of the vlog. We had to write a single description of the vlog at each one these points. Then we added points between each of the first three along with a single description. This activity was to help us develop the main points we would then turn into our paragraphs by elaborating on each point. This timeline helped a lot to better organize my essay and to come up with topic sentences easier. It also helped to give my essay a better flow with what was actually going on in the vlog. I often have trouble trying to start off an essay, even a paragraph for that matter. This activity helped to put my main topics in a more simplistic yet very organized format. Once I had the main topics, all I had to do is just elaborate on each topic by adding more details and descriptions of each of them. This would have been more difficult if I had just went right into writing the essay with out any basis on what I was doing. Another thing that would have helped with me writing this essay is to see an example of a complete descriptive essay. I find that when it comes to writing it is easier to see examples of what is expected in the essay. With any other topic it would not have mattered but I have always had a hard time writing. Not really in coming up with ideas , but in organizing them so that they flow together. Once I can get beyond that barrier writing would be a lot easier for me and I wouldn't procrastinate when it came down to it.

Vlog description

I chose a vlog titled "My First Vlog+Most Embarrassing Moment" to write my descriptive essay . It's by a guy named Steven from Canada and is quite the character. I chose this vlog because out of the thirty vlogs I watched, this one was the most active and entertaining. The whole video takes place in his room. He pops up from the bottom of the screen and introduces himself to the world. Then he talks about how he found out about vlogging. He does this by adding a few articles of clothing and saying what his friend told him about vlogging in a snobby British accent. He then goes on to talk about the things he likes starting with his favorite movies. A names a few movies but hides behind the last one as if though he's embarrased to have it in his collection. He then states that his favorite animal is a bear while holding a picture of a bear. Then he does a quick cut to a scene of him posing as a bear as a sample of a bear growling is heard in the background. After that he talks about how he has always wanted to play the accordian. Then it cuts to a scene of him playing the accordian but not doing a very good job and he just gives up. He says, "Maybe another day" and goes into another topic. The next thing he talks about is his plants. He gives the names of his plants, which are Phil and Lil. Then you can hear the theme song from The Rugrats as he sways his head back and fourth. After he talks about the things he likes, he mentions that he has always wanted to do a backflip. Then the camers cuts to his attempted backflip and quickly cuts back to him with a dissapointed face. The next topic is about his most embarrassing moment and he tells everyone to keep this to themselves, as if trying to be funny. He talks about a chior recital that takes place when he was twelve. The day of the show the lead got sick and Steven was asked to replace him. What his teacher didn't know was that he started puberty the day before, so when he went on stage to sing he sounded like a teradacktyl. He then says that he hopes everyone that views his vlog will injoy it and he promises to keep up the entertainment.

Today's You Tube Video

In class we watched a video titled " An Anthropological Introduction to You Tube" by Mike Wesch. It explained how You Tube was formed and how it grew so rapidly. I often log onto You Tube to watch movies or listen to music, but I never really thought about how it was constructed. It's amazing to find out how the web page was made. It is a real good example of how fast information can travel over the Internet. Another thing is that people can relate to each other through these videos. Not only can I look up movies or music videos, I can also look videos that are very informative or D.I.Y based. It was interesting to see that videos done right out of your home that cost nothing can overcome the mainstream mediocre videos that cost thousands to make. Wesch talks about how his video that cost nothing made it to the top ten videos viewed in almost a week and how it won over the Super Bowl commercials. Then he talks about how a boy created his own song and video of him dancing to this song and how it spreads over the world in just days. He becomes famous and actually makes an official video that explains how it was spread through mass media. I sometimes get nervous talking in front of crowds of people I don't even know. You Tube gives people in the same situation a chance to express themselves in their most comfortable state . Other people can watch your videos and react to them in their most comfortable state making it very intimate without the awkward silence and embarrassing moments. Some people can argue with your points and views and others can agree with them without caring what other people think. It is just cycles of information going on and on and passing on to other cycles. Wesch also talks about how people start to create other personas and how others got upset by this. I don't see why people should get angry about this. Getting infront of a camera can often drive a person to act out in ways they usually don't in person, especially in the comfort of their own room.

Reflecting on Blog 3's email and the etiquette essay

When we started doing the blogs, I had no idea what to write. In blog #3 we had to write to a friend about a bad grade that was given to us. I didn't have to indent my paragraphs or come up with a thesis statement. It was very easy to complain to friend about the grade. There was no outline or rough draft and we didn't have go to the writing center to have it proof read. At that point I thought this class was going to be easy. Then the blogs started to get more specific and the minimum word count was getting larger. I see now that they were short just to help us build up to where we are now. When we had to the email etiquette essay, we had to pretend to write to a professor about a grade we thought was wrong and had to convince the professor to reconsider it. This was something I have never done so it really was a challenge for me. We had an outline to follow and we had to come up with a thesis statement. I had to actualy think about what was being said in this email. We also had to make very specific and logical points in order to get the professor to change his or her mind about the grade. Another thing that was new in this essay was how we had to thank the professor for taking the time to read the email and sign type our name twice (one in fancy font and the other in a regular font). This excersise helped me learn more about how to write a paper to get my point across and it should prove useful in the future, if needed.

Workshop experience

In class we had to get in our groups and read our papers to each other. We then had to help each other with our mistakes. At first I was a little nervous to read my paper but after the first person in my group went I realized that others were in the same boat. Most of them only wrote a paragraph when it was supposed to be three or more, so we each had to help each other to expand and seperate our ideas. This would help us to create more detailed paragraphs. During the workshop we all came to realize that we were having the same problems in developing our essays. The thesis statement was the first one we helped eachother on. Then there was the issue of when to put a comma before but, because, and so. "I think" and "I believe" were also a common mistake in our papers. The whole process with students helping students was, for me, a great experience for the fact that we are all on the same level of understanding. We were each able to understand better this way because we knew how to explain it in a way we would understand. To me it's a lot easier for a person to point out the mistake of others than their own and in this way we were able to help correct eachothers mistakes. The hardest part of the essay for many of us was the fact that we had to create this whole scenario and come up with fake facts. I figured it would be easy being that I did this all the time when I was a kid to keep from getting in trouble with my parents. I should be a pro at this.