Reflective Statement

A couple of weeks ago we had to present our further oral, a project we had worked on for weeks. I think we did okay, not very good but also not very bad. Our presentation was too short obviously which we regret because we really thought we had enough text and presenting time. I think we actually did have enough text to make the presentation really long but because everyone was so nervous we all forget half of what we had to say, but that's just a point of improvement for next time. The contents of our presentation was pretty good, I think we made it clear what the differences were between quality, mass and mid-market newspapers. I'm not very comfortable yet speaking english in front of a bunch of people and I also relied on the sheet in my hand a lot so I can work on that a bit.

Another thing I noticed was that me and my group were a little insecure because we said 'uhh' all the time. This is rather annoying when you have listen to it so we could have probably improved this by practicing our presentation more. We kind of did everything last minute and that was seen in the presentation.

I am very bad at working together in a group, I always want to do everything myself. Like seriously everything, making the presentation, writing the text etc. In this assignment I was forced to delegate a lot and that was pretty difficult. Eventually it did work out and everyone worked hard on the project, I've learned that it's sometimes nice to do a little less and let others do some work as well.

Metaphors

Metaphors are for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish, a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. A metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, more words than action. Most people get along pretty well without metaphors.

Respone on poster Manson/King

The poster kind of wants to stop discrimination by presenting Martin Luther King and Charles Manson. Manson was a person with a criminal mind, not everyone knows him. Martin Luther King however is very famous and a good and kind man.  The fact that Martin Luther King is 75 times more likely to be stopped by the police is shocking. It's kind of upsetting this poster because it's horrible that the police won't stop this bad white guy but they will go after the kind man who hasn't done anything wrong. The ad might be a bit dramatized but still they want you to feel angry about it I think. The big photo's attract people so people come up and read the poster, the poster looks kinda like a wanted poster, I don't know if that's positive or negative. 

English Speech

I think McDonalds should have a delivery service. Many people like a Big Mac, cheeseburger or chicken nuggets. It's a shame that McDonalds doesn't have a delivery service yet. When you don't feel like cooking at home and you want something very fast you just call McDonalds and they come to your house.

Response on This Place That Place

This Place That Place is a painting by Kiran Chandra, she was born in India. When you find out about this the painting is already much more interesting than it looked like at first sight. The right side of the painting is probably Kolkata, a place in India. The image is very dark en shows us the contrast between a poor city and a richer society. The use of language is very funny, she actually only uses two words: 'this' and 'place' and she painted these two words in a couple of different ways. She probably ment to show that India is a very poor place to live, there's not enough food, not enough space and it's just not healthy.

Application letter 2

Dear ms. Nieuwdorp,

Besides the application I sent for music director and choreographer I would also like to be a character on stage. There are a couple of characters that I find really interesting. For example Lady Capulet, Lady Montague and Prince(ss) Verona. If you need anyone for one of those roles I would really love to do that!

I've had acting lessons when I was 10 years old and I really liked them, after two years I stopped because I started dancing more. I would really like it to be a character on stage and someone behind the scenes.

Yours faithfully,

Laura Smit

Application letter 1

aura Smit

Parallelweg 11

3849 MJ

Hierden

Dear Ms. Nieuwdorp,

I am Laura Smit, 15 years old and I hereby apply for the job of music director in the Romeo & Juliet play. I have a big passion for music and dancing and would love to choose (background)music for the play and create and perform choreographies if there is any interest in dancing from the rest of the group. I have lessons in Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Hip hop and I train 4/5 hours in a week. I think music is very important in shows, movies and musicals/plays. It can create different emotions easily and a scene can be made very funny, sad or happy with a song on the background. 

In some scenes there will probably be some figurants (for example the ball scene in Act 1) and if you need people for that I would love to do that or another small role as well besides being music director. I have performed on stage a couple of times doing a play or a choreography and I really liked that. I would like to share the tasks of the music director with Mariëlle Hoogland. We have some great ideas and work well as a team.

Hope to hear from you soon about the job.

Yours faithfully,

Laura Smit

Evaluation of the project

Romeo & Juliet was a project that I really enjoyed doing this year, it was so much fun rehearsing and perform it together on the 8th of June. The fact that I got to do two things was really great. First of all I got to do the music and sound effects and that was so much fun and second I was a priest with only three lines. It would have been more awesome if I had gotten a role with some more lines but I'm not complaining because I had a great time! The last dress rehearsal took a very long time for everyone to finish and I was really afraid after that we would really fail because it didn't went so well, but the play actually went very well in the evening. That really surprised me. Even though Romy fell behind the curtains and a lot of people forgot their lines I think most people in the audience liked it.

Comment on translating Act 1 Scene 1

Marielle and me both translated Act 1 scene 1. It seemed a lot of fun to us if we would create some sort of gangster version from the ghetto. Because we didn't understand every sentence of this part we used NoFearShakespeare to take a look at the modern version, we didn't copy it directly.

During the cancelled periods Marielle and I worked a lot on this translation. I brought my laptop so we could work on it.

We kept the ‘naked weapon’ joke because it was a pervy joke and an important quote. Boys are often more sexually in making remarks, and Sampson made this remark. The “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” we changed into “Do you give us the finger?”. Many people do not know about biting the thumb as an insult to another person, this is why we changed it to giving the finger.

To use ‘modern’ insulting words, the play became more from nowadays.
The fragment of Romeo and Benvolio is a pretty important one, Romeo tells about his love for Rosaline. This is one of the most important events in the beginning, it comes back later during the play. To keep this part clear and everyone is able to understand it, we did not use too much ghetto words. The point Romeo tries to make is very clear.

Because of the fact that our play did not have many different events, it is not really interesting to get into every detail. The scene is pretty important because basically it's the first scene of the entire play, this scene needs to set everything and make sure everyone understands the problem in the beginning with the two households.

40-line analysis of Romeo & Juliet

Act 2 Scene 2 - pg. 10 to 53

I chose to analyse a part of the balcony scene because it’s so romantic and full of metaphors and other stylistic devices. The fragment starts with juliet talking to herself and romeo is listening but she doesn’t know that. Romeo is speaking about his love for Juliet, he says: 

‘It is my lady, O it is my love. O that she knew she were! She speaks, yet she says nothing; what of that? Her eye discourses, I will answer it. I am too bold, ‘tis not to me she speaks.’

Romeo sees Juliet appear on the balcony and he’s saying that he wished she knew how much he loved her and her eyes are so pretty and then he continues with the following: 

‘Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes. To twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,’

‘As daylight doth a lamp. Her eye in heaven. Would through the airy region stream so bright. That birds would sing and think it were not night. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand. Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand. That I might touch that cheek!’ 

If Juliet’s eyes were in the sky at night they would shine so bright that birds would start singing. Romeo’s expressing his love by saying her eyes are so pretty and bright. He’s also saying he wished that he was the glove around Juliet’s hand so he could touch her. There’s also rhyme in these lines, bright and night.

‘O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art. As glorious to this night, being o’er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven. Unto the white, upturned, wondering eyes. Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him. When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds. And sails upon the bosom of the air.’

Romeo continues speaking to himself about how Juliet is as bright as an angel and how she shines.

‘O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Of, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love. And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.’

Juliet still doesn’t know Romeo hears her and she’s saying and asking herself why Romeo has to be Romeo. She wishes he forgets about his family and his name and change his name or else she will stop being a Capulet so he doesn’t change his name. Romeo starts talking again:

‘Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this.’

He’s wondering if he should start saying something to Juliet or just keep his mouth shut. Then Juliet starts saying:

‘This but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes. Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, and for that name, which is no part of thee. Take all myself.’

Juliet keeps talking about how she wishes Romeo had a different family because only his name was her enemy. A Montague is not a foot, arm or face anyway, just a name. She’s saying: Romeo trade in your name and take all of me in exchange! There’s just a little rhyme in these sentences, rose and owes rhymes a little and there’s also some alliteration here: That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet.

The relationship between the two characters in this fragment is very obvious, they really love each other but it’s just impossible. In this scene both of them find out about the other how much they love each other which before they didn’t know for sure. They sure kissed but they didn’t realise the other one was so intensely in love. The tone is also very romantic of course, people imagine them in a garden with beautiful background music and romance. Shakespeare creates this tone with desperate sentences, for example when Juliet keeps saying why Romeo has to be a Montague and Shakespeare also lets Romeo say things like: she’s so bright as an angel and she’s so lovely and her eyes are pretty and that he wishes to touch her. 

Advertising Checklist

Audience: Teenagers
Topic: Cellphones
Theme: Music
Informative.

Propaganda techniques: A slogan is used in this ad (Express your musical side) and the logo of Samsung is used in the right corner.

Language use: There's no text besides the slogan.

Graphics: The graphics are really cool, all those cellphones on top of each other, I like it :). The blue colour is pretty cool because the colour  behind the cellphones is lightened up so it stands out a lot.

Also the cellphones have different colour like green, purple red which is really colourful.

Analysis of Toyota advertisement

This is an ad published by Toyota. There are bright colours used in this ad and the child is laying in a pink plant in a fetal position. This is probably done to describe that the child is feeling very safe. The text zero emissions immediately stands out because the colour is white and the background kind of pink and blue. 'Aim' is coloured red so that doesn't stand out much.

Analysis of the poem "Dulce et Decorum est"

"Dulce et Decorum est" is a poem writtern by Wilfred Owen in the first World War.

"Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, 

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares(2) we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest(3) began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots(4) 
Of tired, outstripped(5) Five-Nines(6) that dropped behind.
Gas!(7) Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets(8) just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime(9) . . .
Dim, through the misty panes(10) and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering,(11) choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud(12) 
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest(13) 
To children ardent(14) for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori.(15)"

The poem is a description of a battle in the war, it's sad and very inspiring because it's written in a way you really experience everything. The writer talks about froth-corrupted lungs and a man who is choking an drowning because of a gas explosion. Rhyme is a stylistic device used in this poem, the rhyme scheme is abab and this doesn't change. I couldn't find a really good alliteration sentence in this poem, however a sentence like 'his hanging face' can be alliteration. The writer does use a lot of similes. 'Obscene as cancer', 'bitter as the cud', 'like a devil's sick of sin', and these are only a few examples. I think he uses these to exaggerate a little.


I think the poem is very inspiring. It's sad and when you read it it feels like you experience it yourself. I find it hard to analyse the poem because to me it's just a description of a battle, but I found some similes and a rhyme scheme so that's good I guess.

Advertisements: target audience?

 




































Heineken commercials are obviously targeted to men (age 16 - 70). Although I don't agree because beer is not a drink only men drink.

McDonalds advertisements are targeted to children but also for grown-ups who like fastfood I think. I also think this ad is a little more targeted to grown up people and teenagers than little kids. There's nothing in the ad little kids would like except the colours and the big M.

I really like this ad personally. It's very obvious what it's about: a very sharp knife. Probably targeted to housewives/men and people who cook.

This advertisement is about snickers, a type of candy. There's 50 % more in a snicker bar now. Target audience: teenagers, grown-ups. There's a young guy with a really funny head and he's very happy with the 50% extra.

This guy has been trying to fix a rubix cube for a very long time now. The ad is very funny. For all sorts of people except very small kids because they won't understand it but everyone knows a rubix cube so they'll find it funny.

Source: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/70-creative-advertisements-that-makes-you-look-twice/2/

Is the role of socal media overestimated?

Social media is everywhere. Look around you and see it for yourself. Everybody is influenced by social media. All those ads on TV, in a newspaper and even posters about all sorts of things in school, it's not possible anymore to avoid social media. Nowadays parents talk to their children to twitter/facebook etc. It's easier to make friends with people because of these social networks. You can find people who have the same hobbies as you and talk to them. It's easier to stay in contact with your friends because if you haven't seen someone in a while you just post a message on their profile and there you are! It's possible to share pictures, videos or messages with each other so everyone knows what your up to. Besides exchanging things with friends the social media is also useful for other things. For example: some time ago there was an earthquake in China and the world knew this first because people tweeted it. China blocked twitter.com eventually but still people are very up-to-date nowadays because of these websites. Social media is global, cheap and  accesable for everyone.

What's more important: the past or the future?

I personally think that the past is more important because it influences your future. Without a past you can’t possibly have a future. You need to have something in life before you can build on that anyfurther. For example if you don’t have a job you can’t get promotion, and if   you don’t have a boyfriend you won’t get married. However, your future will also become the past later on so that’s important as well. You can’t change the past and you never know what will happen in the future. Some people might say it’s better to focus on the future and make the best out of it and try to achieve your goals but you can’t do that without a past. I think people should learn from good and bad things in the past. 

Why are we taught history in primary/high school? We need to know our past to maybe prevent or know what lies ahead of us. We are taught about world wars, monarchies, democracies and much more. If we wouldn’t know about this there might start another war soon because we haven’t learned from mistakes in the past, or we still wouldn’t have learned from different types of kingdoms. In one sentence: if we don’t learn about our past our future is doomed.

Response to Phileas Fogg

I really liked it, I had to play a soldier and I had to shoot people and it was really fun. I think I liked this one better than two years ago, but just because I liked my role better. In the second year the only thing I had to do was playing a wheel or something. The funniest part was in the end when we all had to lay dead and Ben was the last man standing. Everyone was laying on the ground and smoke was everywhere and he stood in the center with his gun and I had to laugh because it was so funny seeing him and the rest of the class laying dead. I also liked the part where I had to shoot Venny because the gun was kinda real, except for the bullet then, but there was a shooting sound. I learned a lot about World War one, it would be awesome If we get to see the people from Phileas Fogg again in 6th year or something.

Crucifixion in miguel street

PORT OF SPAIN - Yesterday morning many people were shocked by seeing a man crucifying himself. A guy by the name of ‘Man-man’ was carrying a cross on his back from ‘Miguel Street’ to ‘Blue Basin’, the waterfall in the mountains.  The authorities are not sure yet why he was doing this, rumors said he thought he was the new messiah.

It is said that the crucifixion was already announced by Man-man himself a couple of days earlier. Little hand-written notices had appeared in shops and cafés announcing his crucifixion.  Yesterday morning the police received an anonymous call from someone saying ‘a crucifixion was going to happen.’ 

Yesterday morning people who were having breakfast, who were watching tv or who were just about to wake up looked out of their window and saw this man walking naked with a cross on his back. Of course this drew a lot of attention and people started following him. When the Blue Basin was nearby a big crowd had already assembled behind Man-man. Lots of men were dressed in black and women in white and they were singing hymns. 

Also, about twenty policemen followed the whole crowd but they did not sing. When the guy arrived at Blue Basin some men put up the cross and tied him to it. It all started when he began to shout ‘Stone me, brethren.’ People started throwing pebbles and stones at him while the man continued to cry ‘Stone, stone me brethren! I forgive you.’ While people continued throwing things at him he biggest surprise came when the man suddenly shouted ‘what the hell are you think you are doing’. He screamed he wanted to get down from the cross and threatened the people who’d thrown stones at him. The police took him away to the police office and kept him there for good. 

When we spoke to people in Miguel Street (the street where he lived) it became clear this wasn’t the first crazy thing he had done. Most people called him mad or insane. A guy called ‘Hat’ told us he would do weird things like writing on the pavements for hours. For example he would ask you where you were going and if you answered you were going to school he would write scho- and continued writing o’s until you came back. Also he would do strange things like barking and growling at people in cafés like he was a dog.

Most people in Miguel Street were afraid of Man-man and were glad he would never come back to the street. ‘He was weird and scary’ thus the people from Miguel Street.