Genre

Genre is described by webster’s dictionary as “a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content,”. When it comes to art there are several basic genres such as illustrations, fine art, graphic design, computer animation, etc and there are also many sub genres as well. Art is literature when it comes to its various subtypes. Each one is based on more of a style aspect than anything else. Some art subtypes can be classified as pointillism, art deco, rococo, etc. My own art work would fall into the realms of illustration, though it’s hard to classify the subtype. I have not yet found my niche, but recently its been somewhat painterly and shape oriented. It’s graphic and more stylistic than representational. I am working on incorporating a little more realism into my pieces so that I can get a better handle on more stylized approaches, because like in writing and public speaking, one most know the truth and deceive in degrees so to speak.

For my pulp novel, I took a look at Agatha Christie’s ‘Evil Under the Sun’. It’s set at a sea side hotel and focuses on the murder of actress by the name of Arlena. Hercule Poirot is the man on the case and takes us on an adventure all around the hotel to find the rather obnoxiously flirtatious woman’s killer. Hercule stumbles upon the case and the novel is most definitely a whodunit that keeps you guessing all the way through. I’ve not read many of Christie’s other books, but this one moves at a sort of slower pace. It was intriguing and as in other detective novels included interrogations and several twists and turns. I was certain that it was Linda, Arlena’s step daughter, that offed Arlena, but I was proven wrong in the end. Like most detective novels there are several red herrings and Hercule proves to be extremely clever when he points out Christine’s lack of vertigo. My experience with detective novels has been few, though I love the genre whether it deals with movies, television or novel. I get a rush trying to figure out the culprit before the end and though I tend to make a lot of wrong turns, I love the ending all the same. Mindless books and movies are fun sometimes, but I’d take one that makes me think over one of those any day and that’s what Evil Under the Sun did for me.

Favorite Film Situation

Like many people that go to Ringling, I consider myself a bit of a film buff. I don’t know everything there is to know about films, but I have seen quite a few and it’s hard for me to pick a favorite. After sorting through a large list, I decided to pick Nightmare on Elm Street as one of my all time top picks. Nightmare on Elm Street was released in 1984 and was directed and written by Wes Craven. It falls under the horror genre and more specifically the slasher genre. The movie is about several high school students who are haunted in their dreams by a villain by the name of Fred Krueger. If they fall asleep, Krueger will kill them in their sleep, which causes their deaths in the real world. In the original version, the villain was a child molester though due to a lot of big cases involving molestation in California during the time of its release. It had a budget of 1.8 million dollars but easily earned it all back within the first week. One of the main reasons I love this movie, other than it being a really creepy slasher, is that it has so many different inspirations. Newspaper articles from the 1970s that documented refugees that escaped Vietnam inspired Craven. The refugees were reported to having reoccurring and disturbing night terrors and refused to sleep after them. Some of them died ended up dying in their sleep soon after. The song Dream Weaver by Gary Wright and childhood experiences also inspired Craven. He even named the main villain after a bully from his childhood. The special effects in the movie were creative for the era and the themes in it were majorly about the loss of innocence. Around that time American families were migrating to the suburbs and the movie is said to be a reaction to said move. When people think of the American suburbs, especially around that time, it was associated with innocence and safety. The movie exhibited the adults of the fictional town as protectors as they tried to rid the town of Freddy, who was a child murderer, and hid the deed from their children to ‘keep them safe’. The film does an amazing job blurring the lines between the imaginary and real realms, not to mention it keeps you on your toes.

Modern Day Fairytale

Once upon a time there was a boy by the name of Soren. He was rather small though he had a large personality. He was known all around town for his mischievous nature and devious pranks. Every night he’d fall asleep thinking of his next plot and every morning he’d wake up with a new way to reek havoc on the towns folk. Now Soren’s pranks were never harmful, at least not to him. What was the harm in gluing coins to the sidewalks or rearranging Mr. Allen’s general store shelves? To him, it was all in good fun when he would tie people’s shoe strings together or when he would saran wrap door ways. The towns folk, however, thought differently. As innocent as Soren’s pranks were meant to be, they were a big inconvenience to them. The people of the town were generally serious in nature. They were hard workers and barely had time for shenanigans, unlike Soren. Something had to be done about he’s carefree attitude. He needed to work just as hard as everyone else in the town. So, a town meeting was called on Soren’s behalf. Something needed to be done. That evening the town was deserted and it left the young boy confused. He looks high and low for someone to prank but found no one. Sighing softly, he drug his feet along the dirt roads. He trudged along with dust flying up behind him, until heard a cough. Brushing a few curly brown locks from his face, he peeked into the dark alley where he’d heard the noise. There in the alley was an old man leaned up against the wall.

“Come here, lad,” he called. Soren was hesitant, but inched closer nonetheless. “Are you looking for the townsfolk?” The young boy nodded and inched forward into the alley more. He could see a dusty blanket was laid out in front of the older man. There was a round object that glimmered in the light sitting on top of it that intrigued Soren. The old man noticed Soren’s gaze and motioned him closer. “Come boy…let me show you where they are…”

Nervously Soren walked into the alley and sat down in front of the old man. The sphere shown with light and a fog like substance swirled inside of it. The boy’s eyes grew wide as the old man waved his hands around it. The fog turned into the shapes of people in a large crowded hall and voices began to flow from it. Soren was shocked to see that the figures were that of the townsfolk. They were having a meeting…a meeting about him. For hours, each person stood and told their Soren stories. Person after person angrily told the group about how the boy had wronged them and tears began to form in Soren’s eyes. He never meant to be hurtful. All he had wanted to do was share his fun with others. He didn’t understand how his pranks could cause so much pain. The old man placed a hand on his shoulder as the youngster began to sob. His wrinkled fingers pointed to the globe as a girl about Soren’s age clamored up to the podium. She stood up straight and looked all the townfolk in the eyes as she told how Soren had switched the heads on her dolls and how upset she’d been. She had cried right there in front of him, but instead of laughing he’d picked up his own action figures and switched their heads too. He acted out a play with her dolls and his to make her laugh and to cheer her up.

Once she finished the townsfolk began to think. The next man that stood up talked about how Soren had done graffiti one the side of his shop and how the goofy pictures brought more customers into his shop. Soon, everyone was talking about how the young boy’s pranks were positive in some way. Rather than being angry and serious, a lot of the folk were smiling and laughing about it all. Soren sat watching the ball in confusion. This was what he wanted, but he still felt bad for all that he had done. He looked over to the old man, who smiled at him gently. “Your heart was in the right place, but now that you have seen and heard all of this, you must make a decision,” Soren looked on in confusion. “Do you continue with your old ways, knowing they both hurt and help? Or will you figure out a new way to help others share in your laughter?” Before Soren could answer, the old man vanished, leaving him alone in the alley. Stunned the boy wandered out as the people began to leave then town hall. No one spoke to Soren about the meeting, though he began to change. He went to bed at night thinking of what the old man had said and the next morning, he began to find different ways to make the townsfolk smile. As the days passed the town grew to appreciate Soren and he began to appreciate them.

Media Dialog

Hopefully i’m doing this right. My dialog is about how people are so quick to take the stereotypes and themes television and other media present as mostly fact rather than fiction.

Persons:

rp-fan08

ff-fanatic

SCENE: online chatroom

ff-fanatic: i have such a love hate relationship with chat rooms

rp-fan08: tell me about it. most of them are like watching train wrecks. it’s terrible, but you can’t help but watch

ff-fanatic: i know what you mean. i think my biggest tick is when people blatantly misspell everything

rp-fan08: haha, most definitely. I mean, i’m no spelling bee champ, but come on

ff-fanatic: yeh, i no waht u b sayin, dawg. dat shit be ridiculoz

rp-fan08: haha, you’ve got issues

ff-fanatic: word son. it hurt me just ta type that. I feel like i got in touch with my black roots though

rp-fan08: black roots? how does typing like that get in touch with your roots?

ff-fanatic: haha, you know what i mean.

rp-fan08: I guess, still talking like that doesn’t make you ‘black’ or anything

ff-fanatic: You gotta admit, a lot of black people talk like that

rp-fan08: rappers and tv stereotypes? maybe, but you don’t have to talk like that to be black.

ff-fanatic: don’t get all bent outta shape…i didn’t mean anything by it. i was just jokin.

rp-fan08: I know. I don’t have much room to talk, considering I joke about that stuff too. I guess it’s an inner conflict of mine. Either way, those ‘ghetto’ stereotypes annoy me. stereotypes in general are pretty annoying in general especially since they’re plastered all over the media. sure, they can be funny, but only when they’re taken at face value and not seriously.

ff-fanatic: well yeah…but it’s hard not to believe it when there are plenty of people that walk around with their pants sagging and what not. I can never understand what some of the guys that ride my bus say. sure the media may exaggerate it…but they’re just making fun of things that they actually do. and not all of it is exaggerated either. I’ve watched plenty of b.e.t. and other black tv shows. a lot of them act accordingly.

rp-fan08: sure, some may set an example for the stereotype, i’m not saying they just pull it out of their asses. but what you’re saying is like implying that all Germans are Nazis or all whites eat mayo and suck at dancing

ff-fanatic: Why do you even care?

rp-fan08: …cause I’m black?

ff-fanatic: Really??

rp-fan08: Uh…yeah

ff-fanatic: …you don’t talk like you’re black

Phaedrus

Beginning:

· the non–lover should be accepted rather than the lover.

· there are two principles in a man, rational and irrational desire

· irrational desire powers love

· lovers look for loves inferior to themselves

· ‘As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.’

The Non-Lover:

· doesn’t quarrel with relatives

· doesn’t neglect themselves

· is less fickle

· is less jealous

· has fewer regrets

· a better friend

· is their own master

The Lover:

· ignores their own concerns for their beloved

· repents the kindness shown when passion ceases

· will do man wrong for their beloved

· is more likely to hurt a present love for a future one

· is small in number

· spoils rather than nurtures

Second:

· Love is a divine madness

· Inspired madness is noble

· There are four kinds of madness; prophecy, inspiration, poetry, and love

· the soul is immortal and can move anothers and be moved by others

Rhetoric

· Is more effective when the speaker is passionate

· speakers can often be biased by their own passions

· to create a good speech, the speaker must know their subject

· there must be some truth in deception

· “The mere knowledge of the truth not enough to give the art of persuasion. But neither is the art of persuasion separable from the truth,”