Johnnie's Diner

          With the distinct smell of roasted coffee and light cigarettes in the air, Willis constantly taps his finger on the wooden table next to his now-empty plate. The classic “Running Scared” by Roy Orbison is playing and yet only few people can be found in Johnnie’s Diner on a Tuesday morning. The clock strikes 11:15 as Willis looks out the window to his right. The light of the sun reflects off the windows of a sky scrapper and bounce directly onto the smooth flow of traffic. Nothing but blue takes up all of the sky with not a single trace of white. Even the insanely nervous Willis admits it’s a beautiful day by definition. And of course, his foot starts to counter the movement of his finger without his direct notice. It’s been an hour of him looking out the window, the front door, the man in the Hawaiian shirt located in the back, and the window as a repeat. Occasionally he glances at Sara, the waitress who’s as equally as nervous.

            Finally, after two over easy eggs, hash brown, and bacon, he walks in. Willis is almost certain it’s him. The man wearing a dark gray jacket with khaki pants and a silver watch on his wrist matching his aviators, who happens to be alone, makes it almost too obvious to be identified. Even though Willis has never seen this man before, they have been destined to meet since they were born. They weren’t simply two ships passing by. The man walks up to the hostess to ask for a menu and reveals his limp. Willis now has a purpose to his life.

            Slowly, Willis looks at Sara and signals out the hooded man. She nods in response. But when Willis looks back at the man, he finds a pair of sunglasses staring right back at him. The seconds that pass before them feel like a lifetime, specifically both of theirs as they pass right before their eyes. Sara notices the tension between the two of them and her heart drops all at once. The pair of sunglasses then slowly walks to Willis, who has now pulled out his glock nine from his pants and holds it underneath the table, and tells him to relax using his hands. The man takes a seat right in front of Willis.

            “I have a gun, too. But I won’t take it out. At least not yet,” The man finally says.

            “There are two cops sitting behind me. How about we keep your gun where it is?” Willis said.

            The man looks at the pair of blue uniforms drinking coffee. “It won’t matter in a bit. None of us are walking out of here alive,” he sighs, “I tend to always finish my personal matters. That’s one thing my abusive brother always taught me. In fact, I was just thinking that you remind me of him. All these weeks of us online chatting, threatening each other in this twisted game, I’d never thought about you having the same face my brother had.”

            “Don’t try to open up to me. You’ve been nothing but hell for my life.”

            “Oh, don’t blame what happened to your mother on me. You put us in this situation.” the man scratches his head, “We’re similar. The first kill is always an accident. The second is much easier because you have a reason to do it.”

            “Yours is pleasure. Mine is justice, punishment,” Willis calls for a waitress.

            “Killing is still killing. The news headline of this will sound like a joke. A serial killer and a vigilante engage in a shootout within a diner.” The man looks at Sara come and poor coffee into Willis’s cup. The smoke trail leads to Sara’s eyes that glare back at him. She leaves. “I’m still kind of surprised she managed to get that shot on me,” he pats his leg, “I guess it was luck.”

            “Trust me,” Willis closes in on him, “it wasn’t.”

            “I guess not. After all, I haven’t slept for the pass few days,” the man sips Willis’s coffee, “I need rest.

            Willis smiles, “You shouldn’t have told me that…”

            “What?”

            The next moments happen all too fast. Willis punches both the coffee and the aviators from the man’s face and pulls out the gun. Both men struggle in the fight for the weapon as it’s found in their hands. Pulling and grunting, the gun ends up pointing to Willis’s face and the man is about to pull the trigger when Sara shoots him in the neck. The cops rush towards the three from their corner table. The man now has the gun and shoots several times near Willis’s head but misses. Instead the bullets travel to the police officer in the middle of calling for dispatch. Willis hits the floor and starts to crawl away from his booth. Sara continues to shoot but never lands a hit. The man then clips her arm, and she ducks for cover behind the counter in pain.

            Making his way toward the last cop, Willis feels two sharp injuries on his right leg. He’s been shot. The cop tells Willis to stop, but Willis continues to crawl. People around are ducking for cover, screaming. The man switches to his gun. The police officer spots Sara is about to shoot the man when the cop engages and strikes her head. Her body falls causing her last shot to hit the Hawaiian shirt man’s head, who seemingly happens to be pulling out a gun. Willis grabs the gun of the fallen police officer and kills the remaining one in anger.

            Willis goes out the side exit and heads across the street with a limp. The man has other plans for him. He shoots Willis in the back and he falls in the middle of the road. The man, holding his neck to stop excessive bleeding, walks to the now dead Willis lying underneath sunlight. As a smile appears on the man’s face, a car hits him directly, on accident, killing him instantly. The driver steps out and looks at the two dead bodies on the street. She starts to tap her foot.

1500 Words (EPT Sherry Turkle Virtual Self)

EPT Sherry Turkle Virtual Self

            The Internet has been a huge advance in society since the day it appeared in the 90s. One can see the large amount of difference between now and 20-30 years ago. There was a time when people wanted to be sociable and interact with others in person. Now people care for their pleasure coming from the net. The Internet has granted people a second life, often referred to as “virtual life.” Video games and movies have served the same purpose that the Internet does, to allow people to forget about the suffering and struggle they endure, from time to time. Sherry Turkle makes an argument about people turning to technology to be alone, but at the same time, to not feel alone. And she is completely right. People prefer to be by themselves in front of their computer rather than go out with friends. But why, someone may ask. In order to understand the positive and negative points to virtual selves, one must analyze the purpose of the Internet, notice the effects on society, and list the dangers/safety of people’s health over the Internet.

            When films came out in theatres, they offered an escape from people’s lives with a lengthy hour to two-hour feature that would tell a story to entertain them. Games, at first, offered entertainment to multiple people, but over time they evolved into pleasuring one person at a time only. And now the Internet is the mother base of all entertainment, providing people with new content each day, or even each second. But the purpose of the Internet is complex, since there can be multiple branches of it, the largest one being, of course, amusement. Another being education or learning since the web also provides a division of facts. And one more would be communication, even though it’s a bit tied to entertainment, here people interact with one another online. People are choosing to stay home rather than to go outside and be physically active. This is what keeps dragging in people back to the Internet daily, for their own pleasure.

            As a result of the Internet, people are becoming more like living ghosts, ignoring others with their virtual selves. People are learning to be alone together. They have stopped interacting with others in person. They’re forgetting how to have real conversations. They are loosing their true self. In most cases, people rather text than have face-to-face chats because they are better with the device. Even worse, people rather text than take the time to dial and speak on the phone. Sadly,  “they’re doing this because they want to feel connected, but not intimate;” Sherry Turkle states. The web is obviously affecting society as a whole.

It’s a little mind boggling that individuals care so much about “online fame,” and worry about satisfying “fans” with constant social media updates. In the world today, it is becoming relatively easier to become “Instagram famous” and get paid, than finish college and get a decent job. For instance, in a city like Silicon Valley or San Francisco, young men and women that are self-taught in the field of computer programming, are making advancements in the tech world and are getting paid really well, without having a college degree. This is all possible because the demand for new apps and games are at an all time high.

            Health and safety are a major issue when it comes to the Internet. Imagine a world in which the government spies constantly on their people. Where cameras and tele-screens monitor everyone’s movement. This can be paralleled to the famous world that George Orwell created in his dystopian novel 1984. Of course, the book is merely an exaggeration, but comparisons can be drawn from the book and modern life. The government is spying on its people and recording all of their information. Janet Kornblum’s “What You Say Online Can Haunt You,” is a perfect example of anecdotes in which people are arrested for what they’ve confessed on the Internet.  Also, there are millions of people that spend their days on the computer and neglect their body’s need for exercise, proper nutrition, and even vitamin D. Many people that devote their time to online web surfing, or online gaming, develop heart conditions, and blood clots, because they don’t allow their bodies to move around for hours at a time. These health issues are also becoming a big problem in the areas of cancer, and healthy eyesight.

Another popular novel, that has recently been released, would be Ernest Cline’s bestseller Ready Player One. In Ready Player One, people use a device that allows the person to simulate a virtual reality of different worlds and galaxies. The device serves all kinds of purposes, resembling the modern day Internet. But, as much as it sounds amusing, the extreme use of the device causes people to stop caring about the real worlds problems. Users use avatars that they customize in order to hide their identity. There’s a saying in the book that “almost no one’s avatar looks like his or her user.” This is the virtual self of the people. The avatar serves as a new identity, or new life. This can be seen as both a positive outcome and a negative outcome. People are definitely entertained by this role-play, but at the same time they continue to harm themselves by loosing their true and real life. A similar comparison can be drawn from Ketzel Levine “Alter Egos in a Virtual World.” The article focuses on the use of avatars and how people can loose sight of their true identity by playing as someone else. The device is so addicting that people stop taking care of themselves as they spent most of their lines on the online world. Even the main character describes himself as overweight and unhealthy. The main theme of the novel is that reality is what people should be worried about. Of course at the same time, a home does not have to be a house or an apartment, it’s where ever someone feels comfortable. As the main character drifts more and more into the simulation, he quickly stops to loose sight of the real world and its problems. However, by the end of the story, it is hinted that the protagonist finally feels as if he doesn’t want to return to the device because of a real world relationship. The book’s purpose is of course to entertain the reader, but at the same time it serves as a view on current Internet obsessions since the mythology of the story is what people are heading towards today.

            The cult comedy hit “The Cable Guy”, directed by Ben Stiller, and has a similar theme about the entertainment industry. Jim Carey plays a cable company workman who is obsessed with television. There is an important monologue within the film about the future of the Internet and how the world is constantly advancing. “The future is now! Soon every American home will integrate their television, phone and computer. You'll be able to visit the Louvre on one channel, or watch female wrestling on another. You can do your shopping at home, or play Mortal Kombat with a friend from Vietnam. There's no end to the possibilities!” A similar ending to Ernest Cline’s story, “The Cable Guy” finishes with Jim Carrey’s character realizing that his entire life has been built on by entertainment and has caused him to become unsociable. Even the Academy Award Nominated film “Inception,” directed by Christopher Nolan, has similar themes dealing with dreams and realities. In this film, the main characters face obstacles in achieving heists that take place within dreams, similar to the device from Ready Player One. Sharing the main message of loosing sight of what is real and what isn’t, the movie plays out with intense dialogue about the true identities of people and what it means to achieve happiness.

            Even award winning shows like “Futurama” from the FOX channel play a run on joke about the Internet being a dirty place for people. There are many types of websites within the Internet that carry information that can come too strong on people. An example of this can be pornography. It is illegal for people underage to access some of these websites, but this does not stop one from coming across it. Another problem that arises from the web can be plagiarizing. There are some students that use their computers for research and homework, but at the same time there are others who copy work from others online, both stealing ideas and at the same time stopping education from preceding.

            Aside from someone causing harm to him or herself, the Internet also opens a gateway for people to cause harm to others. Cyber bullying is now arising as people start to make fun of others from what is posted on social media websites. As well as stalkers and problematic persons can run into personal information of some one causing them to cause danger towards the person.

The concept of identity has always been complicated. True, but you're also how other people view you. People can put their best foot forward, or let their more nefarious side show. Normal people can be warriors and wizards, and out-of-shape nerds like Wade Watts can be superheroes. Perhaps it's not all just playing pretend. These people have these traits inside them somewhere. Popeye always said, "I yam what I yam and tha's all what I am."

Descriptive

My Winter “Break”

            Mr. Thompson just looked at me from a distance across the room. Right as he entered, I made my back straight, took a deep breath, and flexed my muscles. I wanted to look impressive. I wanted to stand out from all the other shmucks he meets. Not that I’m not one, I just wanted to cast an allusion that would allow him to forget what I resembled, even for just the slightest moment. He finally walked next to me and pointed to his map hung on a nearby wall. “What’s in the lower left hand corner?” he asked me. I tried not to my jumping nerves as best as I could, but I can still feel my foot tapping up and down with me having no control over it. Once I looked at the map, I had immediately recognized the figure. I tried to think of the right way to say it without making myself look like a fool. “Dry land?” I answered. I almost heard my voice crack. He sighed, “What continent?” Of course, I had been so stupid. “Africa,” I finally answered. I could never really speak with adults clearly. They always intimidated me. He then gave me an hour lecture.

            Towards the end of the meeting, when I had got out from my seat and was about to leave, I looked back at him and geeked-out for a moment. This really was my only chance. I told him how much I admired his work and how it would live on for years. I didn’t know whether he was truly listening to me, he could have been blocking it all out since so many say the same. But he finally replied, “Thank you. That means a lot. I just wished all of what I do could be better.” I left the room pondering of what he just told me. I realized that the message was clear as day. Someone can always improve from the person they are, even a perfectionist. So in the winter of 2014, I set out to become a better person.

            Was it really a vacation? No, I thought of it as three short weeks from school. It felt like 21 days off. But even at that the winter homework gloomed all over me, killing every happy mood I felt. Most of the days I spent in my room on my laptop or in front of my TV. I had bought a book the first week. It was the bestselling novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The book was amazing. It is highly possible that a movie is in the work currently. The best way to describe it would be somewhere in the lines of: Willy Wonka meeting The Matrix. I also started and finished some TV series on Netflix. But aside from all the amusing activities (sarcasm), the most exciting thing that happened to me was on a 13-mile marathon run.

            Going back to the intro, I wanted to become a better person. I did my best to workout for my own health and study more for classes in school. I even tried to be nicer to everyone I met. But no matter how many sit-ups I had done, I was definitely not prepared for the marathon day. To be honest, I had become extremely nervous on the morning I woke up. I made my way to school after picking up my friend and running mate. When we got to Irvine where all the other running students from SRLA where, a group of my friends and I made our way to the bathrooms. On our way to the starting line, I had stopped to tie my shoe that was when I found it. A penny had been lying on the ground, heads up. Now, I am a very superstitious person so I picked it up and set it in my pocket. However, something told me I wasn’t going to receive the powers of Hermes.

So it started I ran as best as I could. It was about 5 miles in when I had spotted this really attractive young girl in front of me. I admired for a bit but then past her. About a mile later, I really wanted to use the restroom so I stopped at the next set of urinals. When I had walked out, I saw her again. What are the odds? They were 50-50, resulting in a heads up penny. I took as a sign and made my way towards her. I thought about what Mr. Thompson had said in being a better person, well I was paraphrasing. I needed to build up my confidence but I didn’t know what to say and my heart continued to pound. But then it came to me. “What time is it?” was the smoothest thing I could come up with. She looked at her phone, “10:30,” she answered. She asked me if it was my first time in SRLA. We began chatting it up and soon enough she told me to start running with her again. At that moment I knew she was interested.

            I had never done something like that; talk to a complete stranger. I got to know more about her and by the end of the day I had her number. To this day I wondered how I had pulled it off. Maybe it was the penny, or maybe it was the lecture that Mr. Thomson had given. Either way, I was grateful since we continued to text and stay communicated. This had happened the day before I started second semester. It was a nice way to start off the next year.

Question 3 Celebrity Testimony Ads

            The world of the media is a very cutthroat-shady business. Many things go on that are kept secret and hidden away from the general public. Advertisement is a large branch of the media, and the most important part of it as well since it is responsible for making the companies money. People in this line of work are very competitive and slick; usually “weasels” that tend to get away with certain things. As a result, there are many types of ads that can or cannot work. One of these happens to be testimony of celebrities for a product. Sue Jozui makes a very valid point about these types of ads on how they are the worst type and are insulting to the audience since no one is expected to like something because someone else likes it too. But there is a line to be drawn to separate the good and the bad aspects of these ads. And Sue is somewhat wrong. In order to tell whether these ads should be band or not, one must put themselves in the world of advertisement to see from their point of view. One should also analyze the purpose of this ad, and one should take notice of the effect.

            Advertisers are constantly trying to come up with new commercial techniques or themes. They’re doing this because the methods used before aren’t working so well now. But testimonies from celebrities are a type of ad that can never get old. Meaning it’s something that will always work. Many celebrities are idolized by a large group of people so the advertisers notice this and see the large impact one person can do. For example, Matthew Mcconaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club,” recently won an Academy Award for best Male Performance in a Leading Role. He’s currently blossoming with his career. Call it a comeback. People have seen this, and now he has appeared in a Lincoln Automobile’s commercial. The sales went up 20% as a result. To the media, starts and celebrities are seen as money, that’s why many companies fight over the contracts of these people. More celebrities will rise, and the commercials will never die out.

            Many if these ads are lazily made with the idol summarizing the product. But very few are well made and are successful that affect the audience the most. The purpose of these ads is to get the audience’s attention first, and to buy the certain product, but it differs from each commercial. For example, a product can be beneficial to people and a celebrity truly likes it so much that he/she wants to participate in the commercial. Some of these commercials raise awareness to a product as well as an organization or group of people.

            The effects of these commercial should be viewed on as well in order to determine whether they should be removed. The effects could be: people buy a certain product more, the star gets paid, people are happy with what they purchased, and the companies make more money. If all these examples are met, and at few times they are, then there is no need to band anything. But if the commercials do become offensive, then they should be removed. The chances of people listening to a celebrity are slim. So all one has to do is worry about themselves.

Question 2- Abigail Adams

Abigail Adams wrote a letter to her son, the second President of the United States John Quincy Adams, who is traveling with his father and a diplomat. John Adams seems ambitious from the letter and his mother seems a bit worried about him traveling overseas. The letter has, at first, a skeptical tone which later on turns to a more motherly mood. Abigail also uses blandishment to appeal to her son through emotions. Metaphors also play a role in the rhetorical devices Adam uses in her writing all in order to make sure that John returns home safe as she expects.

            The beginning portion of the letter shows the skeptical tone Abigail portrays in order for her son to realize she has a sense of remorse. For example, the sentence on line three, “If I had thought…” shows how she feels guilty by sending her son to the voyage. She then, obviously expresses her skepticism of him leaving to a different country in that same sentence. From then on, the tone changes a bit to her being gentle and giving compliments to her son, as a mother should. In lines 21 and 43, Adams uses the phrase “my son” to convey her motherly love and remind him that he is cared for and missed at home.

            The letter is sprinkled with flattery and compliments to appeal to John Quincy Adams. Abigail uses this for one major reason: to remind John that he carries advantages that will help him on the journey. On the second paragraph, Abigail states that John does have “knowledge of the language” allowing him to have a benefit toward the country he will be visiting. As well as in line 24 Abigail states what is expected of him on the voyage. This reassures him that he does carry around perks that will help him. The fourth paragraph compares him to Cicero. These examples show how Abigail cares for her son and now comforts him on his journey as well as supports it.

            Metaphors are found on many lines in order to give a philosophical appeal towards her son. These metaphors are generally used to convince John that he still has much to learn. The first example would be “the stream of river” mentioned in the third paragraph. The river represents a traveler, John, and as it flows it runs through rich veins of minerals to improve its qualities. The minerals represent the experience or ideas that John will have on his voyage which will later on enhance his mind and way of life. On line 35 “the fruit of experience” is mentioned to also show how Adams isn’t done absorbing knowledge at all. The following sentences quickly express how John has to face problems and experiences to become a better and matured person.

            Abigail Adam uses a motherly yet skeptical tone in her letter as well as flattery, and metaphors. These rhetorical devices are used to show Abigail’s worrisome, support, and proudness of her son all done expertly. In the end of the letter a small theme is hinted at, and that theme is hope.

Question 1 Locavores

            Locavores is a trend or a hobby that has been sweeping the nation, if not the world. People are now eating food that is produced locally to have certain amounts of benefits, but there are a few more problems than there are benefits. There is more money spent and there is health at risk as a result.

Locavores believe that eating locally is better for the environment rather than purchasing groceries from a mega chain. That isn’t completely true. “ A 2006 academic study discovered that it made more environmental sense for a Londoner to buy lamb shipped from New Zealand than to buy lamb raised in the U.K.” (Source C McWilliams). Here it can be seen that some areas are more advanced in producing a sort of product than other areas. Each region has certain resources that make it better suited to growing and producing food in the most efficient way.

            There is no traditional description to what a locavore needs to eat. They might eat what is grown in their state or within a 50 mile boundary. “Some areas might find it fairly easy to eat locally, people in other parts of the country and world have to look farther afield.” (Source F Roberts) Additionally locavorism tries to balance out local farming and corporate farming. But that is not possible with a large population to support; food has to be mixed out as fast as possible. Thus the food in an environment can run out and people can become less healthy as a result.

            The connection of local farming to effectiveness and sustainability is doubtful. The locavore obsession with reducing food-miles has been deflated as a false economy that may actually worsen carbon productions. That’s because the high-volume, long haul food transportation perfected by industrial agriculture. At times, the environment can actually be at risk as a result of local farming.

Stream of Consciousness

            “They’re going to hate it! They’re going to hate it!” I kept telling myself as my short documentary started to play. As you can see, I’m a pretty confident person. I looked around my 10^th grade English class as they all stared up at the screen. I had worked up until 11 pm making this project (that was pretty late for me). The videos that had gone up before mine weren’t “A” worthy material, so I was somewhat confident. Still, I was shaky nervous hiding in my seat and I hear ”Baba O’Riley” start to play. A montage of news anchormen discusses the topic of the NSA leak. The next five minutes were terrifying. I had to hear my dumb voiceover talk about the issue of government surveillance. Once it had finished, almost everyone had clapped. Apparently it was one of the best videos yet. And at that moment, I knew I had potential. But that’s merely the middle of the story.

Yes, it was a Daniel-Day Lewis film that essentially changed my ever so boring life. It was in the year 2007, my father had rented a movie, as he usually did on the weekends, and started watching it around noon. I was around 11 years old, so I wasn’t paying much attention to the TV. However, my dad called me to watch a scene. I didn’t know who the main actor was; all I knew was that he had mastered his role. As you can guess, it was Mr. Lewis playing one of his best roles in one of the best films of the decade. I was watching Daniel Day Lewis playing oilman Daniel Plainview in a little movie titled “There Will Be Blood.” Mr. Plainview was arguing with his deaf son, whom was about to start his own oil company. I watched the film until the end, and of course it changed the way I saw movies.

            I used to think that films were just to entertain people, and I never thought of them as a form of art. But a few years later, I re-watched that film from start to finish and I loved it. I realize that the film, having an almost boring premise if one was to explain it to another, had mastered the art of filmmaking. The cinematography was fantastic, the acting and soundtrack were perfect, along with the directing. It was at that moment, right when I heard Johannes Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major that that made me realize: I want to create that. I wanted to make movies like the person who made this one did. So my thirst for critically acclaimed movies began, and I fell into the world of film.

            This brings us to our next topic: Directors. After I had watched marathons of movies after another, I became interested in the people making them. I learned about Steven Spielberg (although I had heard his name before), Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Andeson, Spike Jonze, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen Brothers, and much more. David Fincher had become my favorite. His most notable films would be “Fight Club”, “Seven”, and “The Social Network.” I noticed that all of his films have a dark tint in them and usually consist of plot twists. He had become very influential towards me. The more movies I watched, the more researching I did. And soon enough, another revelation came. After making two documentaries in a single year, I thought I had potential to become a filmmaker, and I hope to follow my dreams in becoming a film director.