Blog Entry 7

    I find this class challenging and definitely more difficult than then the previous class ESL 099. In the beginning of the semester I was a bit scared when I saw that everything is computerized and plus the professor speaking so fast regarding the homework and the work in class that has to be done. It was hard for me to understand the assignments and do everything on the computer because I have never done so before. But now i find it interesting, I realized that it makes me be more organized with my homework’s. Because if I have started in class an assignment or I have some ideas about other homework’s that have to be done I can always type them on the computer put them as drafts and anytime I want to complete them I can always go back and do that. 

    I think the issue’s that I have in English is writing an argument essay because I can always start with a good introduction but when I get to write the body and come up with arguments I block out and don’t know what to write especially if I am unfamiliar with the theme or I don’t really understand it.  Also I have troubles with commas, I can’t really make the difference when there’s a new sentence and when the sentence continues.

   The CAT-W essay was okay for me, I should have been more considerate about the 90 min in which we had to write the essay. I spent a lot of time getting my ideas together and write a good introduction and that left me with writing a not so good body and conclusion. I also have to practice in writing an essay in a short period of time. Because all the time I come from work directly to school and when there’s an essay to be done in class I can never do it, I can’t get my ideas together and then I just take my time and finish the assignment on a day off, at home. These are the issues that I have to improve, and I believe I will be better by practicing and completing the required assignments on time.

Blog Entry 6

    “The Allegory of the cave”  written by a Greek philosopher Plato is a fictional dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his professor Socrates. In this dialogue Socrates describes some prisoners who have been living in an underground cave chained up all their live. They couldn’t talk neither see each other faces.  All they could see was the wall in front of them on which appeared enormous shadows which they thought were real. They didn’t know that behind them was a fire and between the fire and the prisoners was a walkway through where people carried things and animals that were projected on their wall. After some time one of the prisoners is freed. He goes out and experiences the new world. Then he decides to go back to the cave and share his excitement with his fellow prisoners, but unfortunately for them he is just another enormous shadow and echo reflected on the wall.

In my opinion, if a person stays chained up and doesn't realize  at the right moment when it is time to release from those chains, that will keep him away  from experiencing the reality of what is happening around him. Plus, when going out there and seeing the world in a different way than he imagined, it would scare him away and make him go back from where he belonged.

 A human being lives just one time on earth, that's why we don't have to be afraid of challenging ourselves when facing new experiences, meeting new people, making new friends and taking taught, but right choices at the time. An example would be the people living in my country, Moldova. As it is a small country with not so many opportunities, a lot of people who live there are very close minded and think that whatever they have there it is the best and there's nowhere better living than in Moldova. But I don't agree with them because there are a lot of young talented people like singers, dancers, painters etc..whose work is recognized just in Moldova, sometimes not even there because of the corruption and those who wish a better life have to face the reality and  make some changes without being afraid of doing so. I think people need to make an effort and go around the world to learn new things, explore the living of a new country and get to know who they really are and what they are capable of.

When i was a child i used to believe that there are people living on the certain stars from the skies. All that believe came from my grandma, where I was spending my three months summer break every year, besides other holidays and anniversaries. After the horrible day when my beloved grandfather passed away, followed by one of my grandma's brother, my grandmother started inventing stories  where people who don't live on earth anymore have a beautiful and peaceful life on the stars. She was always showing me the stars that formed together the shape of a bear that was their new house. Whenever I missed my grandfather, even if I wasn't at my grandmothers place, I would always look up at the sky and feel relieved. Later on, I found out that my grandma's stories were not real and i felt disappointed. It wasn't easy to get myself over that everything she told me was unreal.

Life is interesting and fun and we have to explore the best we can. If we'll stay just in one place and do just one thing all our life we will never find who we really are and what's the purpose of living on the earth. We'll be living in a dream that will never become real.

Blog Entry 5

“The Allegory of the cave”  written by a Greek philosopher Plato is a fictional dialogue between Plato’s brother Glaucon and his professor Socrates. In this dialogue Socrates describes some prisoners who have been living in an underground cave chained up all their live. They couldn’t talk neither see each other faces.  All they could see was the wall in front of them on which appeared enormous shadows which they thought were real. They didn’t know that behind them was a fire and between the fire and the prisoners was a walkway through where people carried things and animals that were projected on their wall.

After some time one of the prisoners is freed. He goes out and experiences the new world. Then he decides to go back to the cave and share his excitement with his fellow prisoners, but unfortunately for them he is just another enormous shadow and echo reflected on the wall.

Blog Entry 4

    In the passage ''Hype'' the author Kalle Lasn is describing how advertisement had increased steadily in the past years that people’s eyes and brains can’t get rest from those posters that follow them everywhere they go.
    Nowadays there are an estimated of a new 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and 200,000 TV commercials that are being posted every day in North America. Because of the amount of the new ads that are created every day, they can’t be posted in the places where they are supposed to be like buses, billboards, stadiums, in that case people get to see ads anywhere their eyes are rolling. Apparently there are ads that are shown on the screens that are attached to supermarket carts, at the gas pumps, in a washroom stall, advertising is impossible to avoid. I agree with the author that anywhere we turn we are always surrounded by the advertisements, and undoubtedly, nowadays everything is possible even screens attached to the supermarket carts.
    Since the moment I wake up early in the morning and turn on the TV to see the news or the weather for the day, I realize that I’m captured by the TV commercials and other advertisements.  First pictures that appear on the TV screen are the advertisements that are shown for about 5 to10 min.  That gives me the impression that I ‘would never get to see this weather news. Then, while preparing breakfast unconsciously I start reading promotions of a different product that are drawn or written on food and drinks that I’m having in the morning. I strongly believe that I’m not the only one that is struggling with that problem, that there are other fellows that would like to watch their morning news without being distracted by the annoying commercials.
    On the way to the subway station there would be millions of other advertisements that I cants pass by not looking or listening to them. For example, there are cars from witch somebody is promoting an event while driving through the city, they are colored and designed in a way to attract people’s attention, plus the loud radio that comes on top of it. In addition to this, while riding the train continuously I see shop posters, restaurants name, different promotions or discounted stores. They are posted on the streets and up on the buildings at the same level with the train rails in order for the people to see them. I think it’s too much information for us especially when starting a new day.  That’s why I agree with the author when she states that commercial pollution floods our brain at the rate of about three thousand messages per day.
   One of the author passages states that kids watch Pepsi and Sinkers ads in the classroom and I do believe that but I would also add that  all these advertisements have a bad affect on them, especially the TV commercials. It influences the children that are not under the parents supervise. Sometimes parents are not taking this problem in serious and let their kids watch advertisement that shows toys that are moving, or fast foods, soda’s and candy's. At an early age children can’t make the difference of what’s real and what’s not, obviously after watching those advertisements they think that toys can move for real and junk food is the best tasteful food for them. As a result obesity becomes a problem among young kids.
   As long as the human being sees the successful result on its publicity, he will never stop and look back at the bad influence that has on kids and in general on population. The advertisement will go on and on and it will become even more developed than is nowadays.

Blog Entry 3

   As stated in the passage “Hype” by Kale Lasn nowadays the population is surrounded by advertisements since the moment we wake up in the morning to late night hours.
   Advertisements floods our brain at the rate of about three thousand messages per day . Eventually, people haven’t realized yet that because of the amount and the speed, they are being posted and shown at the most uncommon places. An example would be, the supermarkets carts that have installed interactive screens in order to entertain the customer while shopping.
  Sadly, there’s no solution from stopping the increase of the advertisements and as the author Lasn states “There’s nowhere to run”.

Blog Entry 2

• What did you get from thinking about annotations with the class?

I think that everyone should use annotation when reading because it helps understand better the passage, get the main idea and also in case when you have to go back to the passage and look for some more information annotation will help you find it faster and easier.

• What did you get from writing annotations for "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" with your partner?

Annotating the passage with my partner we got the main idea in the sentence    ’’ The greater our concentration, the better our thoughts’’  also we found important examples witch prove that Google is making us scatterbrained and shallow and doesn’t let us think deeper.

• What did you learn about the reading by annotating it?

 I learned new words that I didn’t know until reading and annotating that passage also I got the main idea and examples that justify it.

• How may annotating make you a better writer ?

Annotation will help us become better writers by organizing our ideas, so when we write something we can create a structure and have a focus on what we write about.

Blog Entry 1

    In the passage ''Hype'' the author Kalle Lasn is describing how advertisement had increased steadily in the past years that people’s eyes and brains can’t get rest from those posters that follow them everywhere they go.

     Nowadays there are an estimated of a new 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials, and 200,000 TV commercials that are being posted every day in North America. Because of the amount of the new ads that are created every day,  they can’t be posted in the places where they are supposed to be like buses, billboards, stadiums, in that case people get to see ads anywhere their eyes are rolling. Apparently there are ads that are shown on the screens that are attached to supermarket carts, at the gas pumps, in a washroom stall, advertising is impossible to avoid.

    Since the moment I wake up early in the morning and turn on the TV to see the news or the weather for the day, I realize that I’m captured by the TV commercials and other advertisements.  First pictures that appear on the TV screen are the advertisements that are shown for about 5 to10 min.  That gives me the impression that I ‘would never get to see this weather news. Then, while preparing breakfast unconsciously I start reading promotions of a different product that are drawn or written on food and drinks that I’m having in the morning.

    On the way to the subway station there would be millions of other advertisements that I cants pass by not looking or listening to them. For example, there are cars from witch somebody is promoting an event while driving through the city, they are colored and designed in a way to attract people’s attention, plus the loud radio that comes on top of it. In addition to this, while riding the train continuously I see shop posters, restaurants name, different promotions or discounted stores. They are posted on the streets and up on the buildings at the same level with the train rails in order for the people to see them. I think it’s too much information for us especially when starting a new day.  That’s why I agree with the author when she states that commercial pollution floods our brain at the rate of about three thousand messages per day.

    Also advertisements have a bad affect on kids, especially the TV commercials. It influences the children that  are not under the parents supervise. Sometimes parents are not taking this problem in serious and let their kids watch advertisement that shows toys that are moving, or fast foods, soda’s and candy's. At an early age children can’t make the difference of what’s real and what’s not, obviously after watching those advertisements they think that toys can move for real and junk food is the best tasteful food for them. As a result obesity becomes a problem among young kids.

    As long as the human being sees the successful result on its publicity, he will never stop and look back at the bad influence that has on kids and in general on population. The advertisement will go on and on and it will become even more developed than is nowadays.