Halo (not the Beyonce song)

So I was talking to my ARHD, Kyle, about gaming and how we have been talking about it in Multi-Modal. Kyle was very gracious and let me attempt to play Halo with him (**the key word in that sentence is attempt). So I played Halo for the first time this weekend. Let me just say, I did not like it. I kept getting killed and I couldn't aim. I like to take my time when I shoot and apparently for Halo you just shoot and run. I think I would have liked the game much more if I actually knew what I was doing and had practiced. Oh well.

I have to say that I feel I will never be able to relate to my future students who game. I don't like playing shooting games because I don't like getting killed. I don't like playing those story type games because again, I'm afraid I might do sometihng wrong. I just feel that gaming and I won't get along in life. Heck, I'm the girl that would scream and cry out of fear while playing a harmless Nancy Drew computer game.

I really want to play more video games, besides Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, and DDR, but I feel like I am going to have to put a lot of effort into it because it is something I don't get.

Graphic Novels

It was a great experience reading the two graphic novels American Born Chinese and Naruto: The Tests of the Ninja. Even though both these books were similar because they were graphic novels, these novels also had some differeneces. When it came to text and dialouge both novels were pretty similar, they were easy to read and easy to understand who was saying what. They also had a pretty similar way of using rhetorical techniques because it was very obvious using differen angles and frames how they portrayed the different characters and action.

American Born Chinese has colorful and extremely easy to follow when it came to visual features and the general layout and design. I could easily tell who was what character and what was going on. Naruto, however, was extremely difficult for me to understand. I did not like the reading backwards becaues I kept getting messed up and confused, so the general layout and design did not help me while I was reading. Naruto also was difficult to see because of all the drawing in each of the frames. There was so much drawing that I had difficulty identifying who was what character and where they were.

Overall, I really did enjoy reading the two books. American Born Chinese was a really cute story. I liked the way the author had 3 stories going on and then they all ended into one story. Naruto was difficult to understand at first, but when I finally figured it out it was pretty cool. I almost wanted to get the second book to see what happened next. Who knows maybe I will check it out once I go home for summer.

Ch 7 of Classics in the Classroom

"In order for students to meet such a benchmark by the end of twelfth grade, they need to practice with literary analysis throughout middle and high school" (Jago 150). This was my favorite quote in Ch 7 of Carol Jago's Classics in the Classroom. I liked how she mades the point that every single year of middle and high school you are building up towards something. Students are taking the necessary steps to understanding and working towards a goal.

I really did not learn too much from this Chapter. However, I did really like all the Julius Caesar examples in the chapter. I never really thought about comparing the two speeches. I also really liked how Jago tied the two characters of Antony, Brutus, Caesar, and Cassius into mondern day by asking students who they would want out of those 4 to be President. It really gets the students thinking about the characters.

Gaming.... wait we forgot one

I agree that gaming is a huge part of today's society, whether it be racing games, games like Guitar Hero, and shooter games. Our guest speaker in Prof. Kist's class, Evan Schwaab, was great. He enlightened me on all the different genres and games out there, but he failed to mention the best selling PC game series of all time... the Sims.

I was a little taken aback that Mr. Schwaab did not mention the Sims because the Sims, like I said above, is the number one selling PC game. It also is not just a PC game, it is also avaliable for Playstation, Xbox, and Wii. According to Eurogamer.net, "the original Sims sold over fifty million copies during its lifespan. You can slap at least another twenty million on that figure once you throw in the expansion packs. The Sims 2 and its add-ons sailed over the hundred million sales threshold in three years." That article was written before the release of the ever popular Sims 3.


I am an avid Sims player and I like to consider myself a gamer just as much as the next guy. Just because I don't like shooter games, doesn't mean I'm not a gamer. Sims 3 is a different type of game. You can build, design, and furnish houses. After building a house, you can either create a happy life for your sim or create choas for them. The game is just as addictive as any other game (ask my boyfriend, I'm addicted.)

I just wanted to make this blog to say that we missed a cruicial game when talking about gaming the other day in Prof. Kist's class. Check out the Sims 3 website link I have listed above. You might just discover it is a pretty cool game and there is a strong, thriving Sims online community.

Ch 5 of Jago - How Poems Work

Like many of my INLA friends I, too, am not the biggest poetry fan. When I was in high school, we rushed through the poetry section in all my grades. I never really understood what was going on because by the time I started to wrap my head around it, we moved on to something else.

Even thought I do dislike poetry, I do agree with Jago that "students need poetry" (75). There are so many literary devices that student need to learn and understand that are found withing poetry such as rhyme, metaphor, simile etc. Jago really beat it into my head that is is very important for students to think and come up with their own conclusions about the poem, rather than me, the teacher, just tell them what the poem means.

I found Jago's break down on how to do difficult poems extremely helpful. I like her example for "Meeting at Night" by Robert Browning. I like how she used figure 5.1 to help break down the poem. She had the students identify the imagery in the poem, then collectively point out the imagery together. She allowed them to break down the poem using a literary device.

I am hoping that even though I am inexperienced with poetry, I hope to be an effective teacher when it comes to poetry.

Paper Man - A Contemporary Film Review

Richard, the lead protaganist of the film Paper Man, is an author suffering from writer's block and just wanting to feel a part of something much bigger than himself. Paper Man starts off with Richard (Jeff Daniels) and his wife (Lisa Kudrow) driving to a house for Richard to stay at while he works on writing his book. While Richards struggles to stay on task, he gets distracted by the first sentence of his book, the furniture in the living room, and a troubled teen. Richard tries to befriend the troubled Abby (Emma Stone), which Richard is advised against by his imaginary friend Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds).

The plot of Paper Man is original because it is not a typical happy-ending film. The plot was interesting because it drew the audience in. The audience kept wanting to know more about Richard and his story. The main theme of Paper Man is finding a purpose in life. For Richard, he just wanted to to do something with his hands.

Paper Man is a member of the dark comedy genre. To get a film for the type of comedy that is found in the film, watch these two clips from the film: clip #1 and clip #2 and clip #3 . I believe that dark comedy's are popular today because it allows a more intellectual comedy rather than just slap stick. Dark comedy's make people think about the content/material, rather than going for cheap laughs.

The introduction of the film needed some help in the technical department. The camera shots were shaky and it made audiences dizzy watching the camera jiggle about. The credits at the beginning were also displayed in a very cheesy cartoonish manner. I felt it could have done a little bit better.

The acting in by Jeff Daniels (Richard) was outstanding. He really made the audience fall in love with the failing author that Daniels portrayed. Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow also did a good job as well. It was nice to see both of these actresses step out into more serious roles. I felt, however, that Ryan Reynolds' acting was not the best in the film. Reynolds was compelling, but compared to his co-star Daniels, Reynolds' performance seemed flat. But I will give Reynolds credit on how amazing he looked in the skin-tight superhero costume her wore.