Blog 3

The bus rides to the cross country meets are full of half-asleep teenagers attached to their iPods and blankets or pillows. The best is when you get a stuffed animal from your secret buddy. Before every meet your secret buddy may not get you a special present of fuzzy, colorful socks, or Gatorade, but when you walk onto the bus and find a soft stuffed animal teddy bear sitting in the front seat with your name on it, you cherish your new mascot. The meets may be far away or closer than you expect, but you’re still full of anxious energy. You put a smile on your face and pretend to be ready, when you may even doubt yourself the littlest bit. Some courses you run better than others, but this time you’re determined to break your 5k time. That same steep hill waits for you at the two-mile mark and you picture it in your head as you greet the parents at the team tent and head to the course for the warm up. You look around as the other runners begin their ritual of stretches and listening to music that gets them pumped up. ‘Shoulders down and loose,’ you think, ‘Widen your stride, just like in practice’. Once you reach the one mile mark the group forms a circle and begins stretching. Other runners pass to get a look at the course, newcomers not expecting the one thing that gets to you; the gravel hill that stretches up and around a curve at a steep incline. After you finish stretching you return to the team tent and as you take off the warm-ups you feel a cold breeze that sends shivers up your spine. You put on your spikes and need help from a friend pin your number on as to not poke yourself in the stomach. It’s time. You reunite with the other runners at the spray-painted white starting line and take in a deep breath and close your eyes. As you lunge back ever so slightly on your right leg, a drop of rain falls on your cheek. You open your eyes and see the crowd of parents surrounding the border of the course. The gun goes off and suddenly everything disappears and it’s only you. Nothing can stop you but yourself…

It is clear that in this paragraph I have used sensory details as my strongest writing techniques. I tried to use ‘you’ as to put the reader in my place. I tried to use visuals as to have the reader see through my eyes and get a real sense of being at the meet. I believe that my most used sensory detail was touch. I talked about the soft teddy bear and feeling a cold breeze and that drop of rain that fell on my cheek. My audience would be those who are more familiar with running and cross country because this is only a small paragraph that I am assuming they know what spikes are and how the meets are held. I think that because I tried so hard to put the reader in my place, people who have not experienced running a cross country race will be able to get a feel for what it feels like and what it means to reach a goal and realizing that the only person holding you back from reaching your goals is yourself.

Blog 2: Outcome 1

36 Hours in Valencia, Spain is a review from The New York Times about none other than Valencia, Spain. It gives a good idea of what the day of a native looks like in the third largest city in Spain. It is helpful as it shares locations of restaurants and attractions that are a must see for a tourist visiting Spain.

Read the article at:   http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/travel/23hours-valencia.html?scp=1&sq=valencia%20spain&st=cse 

This review entails every detail one needs to know in order to navigate their way through “Valencia’s Moorish-accented neighborhoods.” The structure of the article is new user friendly for those who have yet to travel to Valencia. It targets an audience who may be going or may want to go to see this incredible city in Spain. The structure follows the audience as it is set up in a unique fashion. Written in a schedule form, it gives the time of day and details on where to go and for those who already booked a trip; it gives the addresses, phone numbers, or links to further search the suggested sights. For those who are still searching for more information about the city, the article starts out with an overview of the city and gives specific examples on why this city is on the radar for savvy travelers. It says, “Since 2005 — when work was completed on Santiago Calatrava’s futuristic museum complex, the City of Arts and Sciences — and 2007, when Spain’s third-largest city played host to the America’s Cup, Valencia’s Moorish-accented neighborhoods have been filling up with boutiques, restaurants and night spots.” The article continues to gain more excitement and appeal from the reader by appealing the wants and needs of all travelers. The writer gives places of where to go to shop, drink Horchata, eat at tapas bars, and visit the City of Arts and Sciences as well as the many plazas that make up the city center. For those looking for a good destination, this article is the one to read. For those who are looking for more places to go while visiting Valencia, they can be sure to not run out of things to do in this city.  

Blog 1: Learning Outcome 1

Bridesmaids Review: Deflating That big, Puffy White Gown

            The movie Bridesmaids is “an unexpectedly funny new comedy about women in love, if not of the Sapphic variety, goes where no typical chick flick does: the gutter,” according to The New York Times movie review written by Manohla Dargis. The review depicts the movie as starting out as any other chick flick would; a woman is getting married and chooses her best friend as her maid of honor in the glorious journey of planning the perfect wedding. This review shows women in the movie in another light and that women, like men, can have just as much fun while planning a wedding; it does a great job of capturing the women’s “route to a hangover of their own.” It’s clear this review captures an audience of women looking to watch something they can relate to and laugh with as it pushes the boundaries of what women are normally portrayed as. Normally men are viewed as holding the throne for funny movies, and this review makes sure that people know women can be funny too. The review incorporates a great scene of the movie such as when the bride finds herself in the middle of a busy road in a Vera Wang dress fighting disgusting affects of food poisoning; a scene that would not be seen in classic chick flicks such as The Notebook or My Best Friend’s Wedding.  The structure of this review is intricate with a continuous theme of a wedding that is not so traditional. The writer adds a metaphor about how the bride “flees like a runaway bride”, although she is really running for a bathroom on account of food poisoning. The writer also says, “for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till misunderstanding, jealousy, other people or just life do us part,” in order to capture the theme that this movie is not so traditional as it highlights the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to brides and their bridesmaids.

Album Review: Beirut’s The Flying Club Cup

            Beirut concerts are sold out in Washington, DC flying all the way to Sydney, Australia’s Sydney Opera House. This worldwide traveler brings in fans from all different parts of the world who speak all types of languages. It’s no surprise that Beirut’s leader, Zach Condon, is currently flying around the world in support of his latest addition to success, his album The Rip Tide.

            What is now a successful band started out in a typical teenager’s bedroom in New Mexico. After quitting college, Condon came up with Gulag Orkestar with other local artists. The album was drawing attention immediately. Beirut was flying into success and recording many more albums, songs and EPs such as Lon Gisland EP, March of the Zapotec/Holland EP, and the famous album The Flying Club Cup. It’s clear that the band, made up of accordions, drums, pianos, trombones, trumpets, tubas, ukuleles, etc, orchestrates music that is not so ordinary. The addition of these many instruments creates a unique sound that can only be described as folk to French chansons with some Hispanic sounds mixed in.

            The Flying Club Cup captivates the notes and sounds of something familiar, but different. It is the type of enchanting music that dances in your ear and takes you back to a simpler time. That was exactly the inspiration for this incredible invention he called The Flying Club Cup. He came up with the title after discovering a photo from 1910 that shows hot air balloons taking flight just a few steps from the Eiffel Tower.  The French feel reminds one of young love and adventure and resonates the effervescent feeling to being young and free to fly away to another distant land.

            The success of this dreamlike album can be attributed to the ever popular “take away shows” on YouTube. Other bands that have such shows are Bon Iver, Andrew Bird, and Local Natives. Like the other artists, Beirut creates a live video in the streets of Europe such as “Nantes” in Oberkamf, Paris, France. Other videos like the one for “St Apollonia” feature what looks like the various members playing together overlooking the nighttime scenery of a city covered in lights. These take away shows cast an artistic appeal like no other and truly take an audience to another place and time.

The artistic attributes that Condon holds is infinite. This young artist is only beginning to make a big impact on the world of music and it is this band that keeps fans all over waiting for him to fly to where they live and to experience what it’s like to be at a live concert. Fans can be sure to expect excellence from Condon in upcoming album and song debuts.