TOW #11 "Mockingjay- Part 1" (article)

                In this BuzzFeed article, Adam B. Vary talks about how low the debut of the newest Hunger Games movie, Mockingjay: Part 1 is in relation to the other two movies. Outlining the claim with facts such as the 22% drop in the price of Mockingjay from Catching Fire. So far Mockingjay has made a total of about $123 million, while Catching Fire had made $158.1 million by this time last year. It is still the highest debut of 2014, but is a great deal less than the others. This grabs people’s attention because so far the debut values have been rising for the series, then they suddenly dropped. That is something unexpected. Most would expect the prices to keep on rising like usual, but instead they plummeted. Though, it is still quite impressive that it has only been a few days and Mockingjay: Part 1 has already made $123 million dollars in American box offices. More numbers are then added to sugar coat the slight disappointment. On the international stage, Mockingjay is doing much better. In international box offices, the movie has made a total of about $152 million this past weekend. So, that’s good news, right? Maybe if it was not still lower than the others. Still below the first film’s $283.2 million and the second’s $440.2 million, the oddity still prevails. All of these facts make a fan wonder why this newest movie is not selling as well, or at least as quickly, as the rest. We’ll just have to see if this downward trend will continue with the final movie, Mockingjay: Part 2 that comes out in theaters November 20, 2015. Let’s hope we get some answers to our question of why.

TOW #10 "No coins, it's change I need" (visual)

                This image shows two people protesting about global warming, and how it is affecting polar bears. One of them is dressed as a homeless polar bear and holding a sign that says “No coins, it’s change I need.” The play on words is a great way of getting peoples’ attention because at first glance, one might think he is contradicting himself, but in actuality, he is asking for change and not in the way of ‘change’ being another word for currency. He wants the people and the government to realize that the climate changing issue is a huge problem. He is dressed homeless because the ice caps are melting causing many polar bears and other wildlife to lose their homes. It would have a great impact on the environment and society if this was allowed to continue and worsen. The woman next to the man dressed as the bear, holds a sign that states “I’m with the bear” and this shows that people are interested in changing what is causing global warming and want to save the polar bears. It also can show that it does not just affect the bears and life that relies on the cold weather and ice, but it also affects people everywhere. People love polar bears. The thought of them losing their homes makes people want to take action. Alongside that, anyone who may not jump at the change to help the bears, would more than likely then take action when they realize it affects them directly too.

TOW #9 "I Hear America Singing" (poem)

                I interpreted the meaning of this poem to be something along the lines of: doing what you love makes you strong, and it is something worth singing about. It is called I Hear America Singing because it is not just specific people, it is the nation altogether. Each person has a different job i.e. mechanics, carpenters, masons, boatmen, deckhands, shoemakers, hatters, woodcutters, ploughboys, mothers, or girls, and Walt Whitman is hearing them all singing. Since he includes a broad spectrum of professions, he really is trying to include just about everyone in America. When saying what each worker is doing while singing, it makes sense that they would do so, therefore appealing to logos. Pathos is key, mainly in the last few lines of the poem where he makes it clear that these songs are not sad or negative, but that they are strong, melodious and proud songs being sung. The title is obviously patriotic in the sense that he does not talk about the world singing either, he talks about hearing the working people all over America singing. The country is one unified nation with a unified voice that, at the same time, is broken into individual voices singing equally strong and proud. This brought a sense of power to the working class citizens who might have read this. It is important for the people holding this nation together to be proud of what they do, and continue making America as strong and proud as it can and will be.

TOW #8 "Love is a Mix Tape" (IRB- 2nd half)

                The more I read of Love is a Mix Tape, the more I realized it was less about Rob Sheffield’s time with his currently deceased wife, Renée, and more about the music in his life in general. He tells stories that helped shape who he is now. The music he had access to played a huge part, and he is kind enough to tell us exactly what that music was. He uses his ethos as a Rolling Stone editor and lover of all things music to keep us readers interested in what song he will mention next, and what it means to him. Sheffield definitely uses his own advice from previous chapters about when and how to use a song at the right time. There are few things more unsettling than a misused tune. He has, in his own way, created a soundtrack to his own life. The amount of dedication he has to his love of music is great itself and the book was a great reflection of that. The addition of adding the list of songs at the beginning of each chapter, arranged in a way that it looks as if they were taken directly from the back of his mix tapes, added to the experience of learning about Sheffield’s life and the music in it.