blog 16

Today we went to the computer lab and checked out pandora and last fm. I knew about pandora for a long time since it first came out so it was nothing new. Last fm i didn't know existed. So we went on pandora and I had my stations already and I was listening to them and stuff already. I like pandora so I was justall up on it when we started. Later the teacher told us to go to last fm. I get to the website and it's way different. I type in an artist I want to listen to and I the page comes up. The thing about this website is that it only plays individual songs. I put on a song from the cool kids and it plays each song individually. I don't like that really. I like pandora's player better. What I like about pandora is that it plays the artist you wanna listen to and other artist that sound similar. It kind of shuffles the music which I like. I don't just like listening to the same artist I like when they mix it up throwing other bands and newer and older songs for the artist you want to listen and other bands as well. I like last fm only because you get to pick the songs individually that you want to listen to. That I think is the coolest thing about the site. Sometimes I wish I could listen to a specific song on pandora but is shuffles and sometimes it plays the song. Last fm is really only good when you want to listen to single songs and watch videos from the artist. If you want more of a variety then pandora is the best choice. Alot of people I know have heard of pandora and like it alot. It also has a free application for phones so you can use it anywhere. Pandora radio is growing everyday and reaching a bigger audience. It's pretty much a fan favorite. Last fm I barely heard of the other day and I don't know how well they will do but all they can do is try. They won't be better thatn pandora because it's big and getting better.

blog 15

Well for starters I haven't gone to the writing center. I haven't really got any feedback from anybody. I mostly asked questions about my paper and that's the only feedback I got. The writing center thing I just don't have time for and that's a problem I have. I can do the paper and complete it but when it comes down to having to go to the writing center I just fail at that. I don't really have time for it and would rather just turn it in instead of going through a whole process. The things I wish would go different are the writing center situation. I have a job and can't always make time for the writing center. If that's going to be an issue then I guess I will just have to get zero's on those assignment's. I wish it was a bit easier but I it's not and i'm trying to work around that but it's just not going my way. I guess the best thing for me is to just keep trying and hoping by a miracle I can pass even though it's hard for me to work around this class. I do get feedback on my papers from like my friends or my family members. My friends understand more and in a way kind of help me out a little. They know my situation is tough and that I might barely be sliding by. But yes I do wish the writing center process was a little easier because I wouldn't be in the situation i'm in. My eassy was coming along just great but then I forgot about the whole writing center thing and I kind of just gave up a little becasue I knew I wasn't going to turn it in on time and it's kind of my fault but then again it's not because the teacher expects us to be able to make it there everytime and sometimes we can't because we have life outside of college. I guess to end it all im just going to say if your not going to change somethings for people who do the work but can't meet certain things because there life bthen don't expect to much from them if your putting the extra pressure on them or myself.

blog 14

Well today in class we had an assignment about commenting on people's blog's. When i first came across it I was like what ok this might be interesting. So the teacher said go and find somebody's vlogs from the class and comment on two people. So I went through and commented on two of my classmates. I think it felt wierd because if they read them they might look at me like that's what he had to say. When it came down to someone commenting on mine I was cool about it and I didn't really care. It was a fun little activity that we had to do. Although I was a airhead about it at the begining, but then I figured it out. I read there easiest blog's to comment on so it would be to hard to do. It was an easy day for me and I would imagine an easy day for everybody else in the class who had to do it. I hope we can do something as easy as that again because that was an easy assignment and today's blog was shorter and easier. This blog we kind of got a little break on and I was glad.

blog 13

Today in class with a member of our team we had to create a timeline for our blog. I don't kno why we did this because it didn't help me at all. The partner I had my teamate steven it was more of me helping him though. He hadn't watched a video yet so I told him to watch a couple then pick one he liked. It got down to the timeline and his video was perfect for the timeline. The timeline thing was confusing. I looked at mine a couple of time to see how it would help start my essay. It was more of order of sequence to me. My video was really short so didn't have to much to work with. As I started my paper though I kind of just went from what the name of the blog was to what he first started saying. Alot that could have helped me more was having an example of an descriptive essay to look at and kind of see how I could start and how I could end it. The little experience in class today was not to much help. Yes I did ask the teacher like from what to what on the timeline. What can I start with and other things. She told me to start with the name maybe and some things he might talk about. But I asked what if my video is short and he repeats alot of things. She said to make it longer just describe the background behind the person. Describe the mood the tension and also what you think and feel about it. Also they said to describe the person who is in the video. That I though added a litttle bit more to my paper. Yes my vlog was a short video and I had a hard time thinking of how to do it. But I came through with some of the paper not all. I had a hard time tryin to get six paragraphs. Also the length of the paragraphs were hurting me too. But my paper is coming along and hope it gets finished soon so I canmaybe turn it in.

blog 12

Today I saw a vlog video from youtube. The title was my first vlog with a smiley face at the end. The guy never mentions his name but his screen name was acidmetal1. This guy says he is orginally from el paso and lives in austin. He said this is his first vlog unexpected. The music he mentions he listens to is rap, metal, black metal and others. He says he's into all types of music. He said he had done this vlog because he had been watching other videos from a guy who's screen name was DC. Acidmetal1 goes on with his talking and just say's that he's been working and singing. He said he recorded a song and posted it up but it sucked because he did it in one take. Another thing he mentions is yes again he's from austin and wants to go to houston so he can record some quality work. During some other he goes on just repeating the same stuff say he has to go to work and hes gunna be there for like an hour and twenty minutes. He says he had just got out of the shower and will probably head out soon after the vlog. Also to mention in the background it looks like he had the lights off but you can see the white walls to the room he is in. It's kind of a dark background. He also has some rap music playing in the background but I don't know who it is but it souunds cool. His hair looks wet like he got out of the shower and he's wearing a new era hat to the side along with his long hair down along his face and neck. So later he just said he's been rapping and listening to old stuff and just getting inspired by it and recording stuff. He also says when he thinks of stuff he writes it down and even at work he does. Then when he gets home he writes it down and turns it into a song. He also say's he wants to join someone like partners or like also with someone on youtube because he said he see's alot of good MC's on youtube.

blog 11

After watching the video I was just in a little daze. This guy Micheal Wesch was just going off straight from the begining. Saying how alots changed from 1948 till now. Back then watching tv was less and he compared watching tv in 1948 to watching youtube videos and stating that youtube beat a record in one day. He talked about how one video that was on youtube led to another thing ad another. Youtube made some people cyber stars. Micheal himself was recgonzied as a cyber star just for making a video about digital text call web 2.0. He was also showing how other people watch videos and remake there own versions of them and upload them for others to watch. Soulja Boy a teenage music artist got his fame from youtube. He made a song and video and it got around youtube and multiple other sites. There were many remakes of it but he eventually got signed and made a real video for it and made it big. He also talks about people using there webcams then post videos about maybe talking about something or reflecting on something. That is pretty much a video blog that they do there. Also adding to the video blogs Micheal said comments others leave behind kind of push people to make another vlog to talk about those comments and how they impact the person doing the video blog. He also show that some people fing that video blogging is more free and comfortable than actual interacting and you still see the human in front of you just not as you would in person. Also in the video he says theres some cultural tenison with video blogs. As you watch some of the vlogs you see that some people are very emotional and are talking about there day. Other users of youtube also make vlogs in respond back to those people. Personally in my opinion alot of people make things a big deal. Micheal made a great point about youtube and the internet in general. Alot from this video was very new to me and informative. But as a youtube viewer I knew most of the things he was talking about and why we comment the way we do and why we wonder people put dumb videos on there.

Reflecting on essays

The things than come in my head about this email essay and my third blog really just hit me. The email essay we have been working on is really a big step up from alot of papers i have done in my life. This email essay and blog number three are the same topic just written differently. The third blog was jus straight up write to a friend about a bad grade you got. There was no format or a certain way to write. All you had to do was jump into it. The email essay basicly came with a page of instructions on how the paper should be written and what should not be in there. When I got that page of instructions I knew I was heading for big problems. The rough draft I had showed up with at class was a total buzz kill paper. I saw some of my teammates papers and I was like I don't even know what I was doing. When it came time for me to read my paper they said it was a good paper but that it needed alot of work. I know it needed alot of work when I stepped in that door. Mostly the whole paper was just messing with my head and it had me all lose in the head. I went to the writing center and that set my head for sure. I wish this paper was as easy as blog number three but teachers just like to make things hard for us. But both blog number three and the email essay are the same but also completley different. All in all I learned something from both blog number three and also the email essay that will stick with me because it will only get worse for me in english.