An interesting way to put it.

As I was stumbling around the internet, I came across a story written in a very peculiar way. I thought it was interesting so I've decided to post it here. I do not claim authorship of this story. It's what the author describes as a "Self-Referential Story" which I think is a great concept to those who like a more robust way of writing. You get no information to what the story holds at all in the first paragraph, but if I were to grade this creative arc, I'd give it an A for sheer originality. Self-Referential Story

Peer Review

I read "Due Tomorrow, Do tomorrow"
I liked the way the essay was easily relate-able. The author used  examples from his/her experiences as a student to back up his points and used his sources well.

What he/she could have done better was to better explain two of the kinds of procrastinators. The "Mind Game" and "Undefined Worker" could have been explained better. The difference between the two is not explained very well.

There are many sentences in the paper that make no sense how they are written.

There are a few paragraphs that should be moved around, or removed all together, as they are completely irrelevant.

It would be a good idea to state why you are quoting someone. What are their qualifications?

Over all, I thought the paper was decent at best. B-

Paper Intro Paragraph

Proper comma use is very important in your work. If you think about it, a comma can save your life. It means the difference between “Let’s eat Marc” and “Let’s eat, Marc”. One of the statements would end in an enjoyable night out with a friend, and the other with cannibalism. Commas not only help keep from getting caught in an awkward situation, but they also help break up otherwise long sentences. Could you imagine a world like this that had no commas periods or parenthesis? All of the sentences would look like the previous one and be very confusing to read. There are some times though in my writing where I am not fully sure of myself if I need a comma or not. Sometimes you see it before the word “but” because you are writing an extension of the statement, but other times you wouldn’t use it, like in front of “and” in most cases.

Ben Yagoda, from the NY Times, had much to say on the subject. He clarifies a certain situation in which the comma is mistakenly used. “If I’ve seen it once, I’ve seen it a thousand times. I’m referring to a student’s writing a sentence like: I went to see the movie, “Midnight in Paris” with my friend, Jessie. There is a comma after “movie,” after “friend” and, sometimes, comma after “Paris” as well. None are correct — unless “Midnight in Paris” is the only movie in the world and Jessie is the writer’s only friend. Otherwise, the punctuation should be: I went to see the movie “Midnight in Paris” with my friend Jessie.”

Jane Straus, author of The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, makes some of the less debatable uses for the comma easier to understand. In one instance in her website, she points out a common spot for comma splices where a semi-colon would be better suited for use. “A comma splice is an error caused by joining two strong clauses with only a comma instead of separating the clauses with a conjunction, a semicolon, or a period. A run-on sentence, which is incorrect, is created by joining two strong clauses without any punctuation.”

There is much debate if when and where a comma is appropriate for use, but everyone agrees that it is important to use one.

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/the-most-comma-mistakes/

Bernhardt

Question 4:

                I’ve never really thought about it. Why do we have to write essays that follow specific formats? Does it make it easier for teachers to skim through or to actually read in a less tedious manner? I don’t really know what the answer is, but I would guess it has something to do with keeping writings in a more uniform manner that is more easily graded. This is really the first time I thought about this question and now I am thinking up different ways to write essays, but then maybe it helps students keep up with word count or page count without getting points docked for making letters too big or having too much space in-between everything.

AEI1:

                Actually, senior year in High School, I had one English “multigenre” project in which I had to make three separate pieces of media to write about a certain topic. I actually played “Judge Turpin” in Sweeney Todd that year for my school, so I chose that show as my topic. I chose to re-edit an animation to show facts about the show’s origin as it played as one of the forms of media, I also was able to use the poster for the actual show (because I was the one who designed it) as my second form. And my third was a fake newspaper article I wrote up from the perspective of the police that show up at the end of the show. It was very different and, since I had control over literally everything, fun too!

Copyright note: The only thing here that I do not own, is the song in the video. Everything else is my own original work. The song rights belong to Steven Sondheim and the company responsible for this particular recording.

Porter

In his article, James Porter talks about intertextuality. He basically argues that almost nothing is original and that writers always take something else from someone else to, hopefully, enhance their work. He says this mainly because he’s right. Jefferson borrowed a lot of phrases and ideas for the Declaration of Independence from British works. This goes along with the hunter/gatherer theory as “gathering” information to enhance your text.

You can get help with writing from multiple sources, be it books or people or even videos.

I thought the reading was interesting to see put in writing the fact that almost nothing is original anymore because, yea, it’s mostly been done before.

Question 4:

                I always thought writing was critiqued based on multiple factors, like style and voice. I’ve never considered “acceptability” in the equation, which makes sense now that I think about it. My writing is always evaluated on form, hardly ever content.

Question 5:

                Porter was defending his claim that you can’t escape others’ work in your own writing by using many quotes and ideas from other writers. You can get a good idea of this just with his citation list.

AEI 1:

I’ve already used the Brittany Spears Pepsi commercial as a reference, but I am going to use it again. They pretty much took the idea from the movie “Gladiator”, which took its ideas from history.

MM:

                I picture writers now as putting down their own ideas while using others’ to help sew it all together. This could be a good way to write research papers, if that’s not what we already do.

King

I thought Stephen King’s article was the best simply because I went in already knowing some of his works (Misery, Maximum Overdrive, and more). Familiarity with an author definitely holds some sway when it comes to opinions. I like how in the article he basically invited you into his own little world for what was happening at the time he was writing the article, which I really enjoyed.

Elbow

GRTR:

On Facebook, I tend to be more blunt on how I put my observations and I tend to be more mischievous online than in real life. From my profile, people are probably able to tell that I enjoy musicals, Photoshop, animation, and messing with friends. Which is actually pretty spot on, if I do say so myself (I do).

Q1:

                I define voice as how you read a paper, book, or article. It’s what is doing the actual reading in your head. It’s the sound you hear in your thoughts as you read. Elbow see’s it more as the author’s personal touches to their work and how they write. Others might say that voice is just the overall tone of the writing, be it dry or exciting.

Q2:

                The way I see it, if a paper seems voiceless, then all it does is lose the attention of the reader.

The more personality a paper shows, the more interesting the read will be. Elbow believes that you can’t accurately display information using voice. I have to disagree. Just look at McCloud’s article. It’s the only one I actually enjoyed reading, and I also understood it better than the other articles because of the voice and style he used to write it.

AEI1:

                Sincerity and resonance means really meaning and believing in what you are writing to the point where it leaves an impression on the reader. If you struggle with it, you might have chosen the wrong topic to write about if you don’t trust your own writings.

  

Connecting:

                I feel that voice is very useful in papers as it helps readers relate to what is being said in a paper and thus keeps things more interesting. I agree with Elbow on this one. It’s not some myth. It’s really and truly there.

Sarah Allen

In her article in Readings on Writings, Sarah Allen discusses the difference between professional work and student work and how she deals with less-than-enthusiastic writers in her class and her past experiences with other well known writers. It attempts to show writers in a new light as regular people, not as the person who “skips giddily to the computer”.

This article coincides with the article by Berkenkotter as she wrote about some difficulties some writers might have if circumstances are different from their normal atmospheres.  Sarah writes how one colleague of hers had a paper rejected for being “poorly written” just as Murray was unable to produce a good article for Jack and Jill Magazine.

I thought this article was interesting because I feel that everyone is guilty of assuming that all writers enjoy writing and it is clear to me that Sarah does not enjoy it. I liked her hint that having other people edit your paper can be considered plagiarism,  a fact previously unknown to me. I do agree with her how we shouldn’t just assume that a group of people likes something just because they are good at it.

Murray Berkenkotter

Question 1

Murray seems to have a decently standard process for writing. He has to sit in his spot next to the window or he can’t write as effectively as he wished to. He also carries a tape recorder with him to “think out loud”. I can relate to always sitting in the same spot while writing, as I do the same thing. I have to be at my desk to write effectively.

Question 3:

Berkenkotter discovered that even the most talented of writers, if pulled out of their comfort zone, will not be as effective as a writer due to being out of their norm. She also learned that it took a lot more time to write an article than she originally thought.

AEI:

       I consider myself a one draft kind of guy. I hate revising. Maybe it’s a bad habit that needs to be broken, but the fact remains that I would rather just revise as I go than revise after writing a paper. Most of my time goes into the writing of the paper and very little goes anywhere else. I might outline my points before I start, but that is the extent of that. The amount of editing I do is basically what I catch as I reread the paper for the final time before printing.

MM: I learned from this article that a normal work space can help keep your mind regular and focused on the task at hand.

Eric Nylund

Eric Nylund is most famous for writing video game tie-in novels like the award winning Halo: Fall of Reach and Crimson Skies.

I actually went to his website and found a blog post that spells out exactly what he does to prepare a novel. He usually starts a new novel while waiting to hear back from publishers on nearly finished titles.

He starts with collecting notes from a plethora of sources to base his work on and when he feels he has a story worth telling, he fills in a simple version of the story arc and begins making note cards with chapter notes, which are then assembled in order to create the best possible flow. Once that is done, he starts his chapter outlines and claims the rest of the book will take care of itself.

Source

Berger

Before you read:

If I were to draw a picture of a woman, she would probably face forward as to get more details in. She probably would be the only object in the picture, as I am a lazy artist when it comes to pen and paper. I like digital art more.  I would consider her nude, I guess maybe? I don’t really draw much.

Question 2:

            You see women all the time in beer and pop commercials. Like the Brittany Spears Pepsi ad. Well, these items are meant to be used to sell products. What sell products better than anything? Sex. Now, I am by no means a feminist, because men are just as exploited as women, but we notice the women more for obvious reasons. As I was saying though, women are used more and more to persuade someone to do something or buy some product via ads. It’s pretty much been that way since the mid 70’s.   

Question 4:

            The audience is college students either taking an art class or English class as he delves into details of how nudes and naked paintings started and discusses the difference between the two.

Question 5:

            The “other” means a member of the opposite sex from the one depicted in a portrait. The presence of which is designed to flatter a man, which is what Berger essentially said in his writing.

AEI 1:

            I think automatically to the statue of David. I am sure there were a few generations between David (1501 AD) and a few paintings that Berger showcased. I do believe that the gap has some play in on it, though I can’t put into words what effect the gap actually would have on how each are viewed.

MM:

            I believe what the article was trying to accomplish was giving us an idea on perspective and how people will get different messages from writings as they do for artworks.          

McLoud

Marc Nie 9/10/12

Eng 1510

Before you read:

 My favorite character has always been Spider-Man. Maybe it’s the mask, maybe it’s the abstract powers, or maybe it’s just the idea that some kid with no extraordinary abilities prior can do something great with just a little boost that draws me towards him. The simple fact that he struggles daily with deciding who he actually wants to be is also another aspect about him that I really enjoy.

A scene of Spider-Man that I decided to animate myself

Question 2:

            I think McCloud chose very wisely when choosing the format. Not only was it more interesting to read, but since he was talking about imagery and how we see some more abstract images, it helps that he actually used images to describe the subject matter. Had he just used text, I would probably still be reading, or giving up on that, trying to find the answer in the reading without actually having done the reading.

Question 3:

            What McCloud was getting at was that if the narrator had more detail, we would be more interested in the design and details of his character rather than what the character was saying. I agree that characters are supposed to be filled in with you. You are supposed to see yourself as a character. I leave out the word cartoon because it also applies to live action. The reason I say this is because my friends and I always have the tendency to recast almost every show/movie we see with our group of friends based on personalities. After the casting is complete, we generally see ourselves as the characters we were assigned in the show/movie.

AEI 4:

            The concept of the mask is interesting. What he is implying is that we use our faces to show what we are feeling, which we do. Being able to show how you feel with just a quick glance is an amazing ability, but in some instances can be quite unwanted.  With this it can be hard to hide who you really are from others, or it can be quite easy depending on the circumstance. Without my mask, I would still be able to perceive others, but I don’t think they would be able to perceive me because I don’t have a face in this situation. It’s kind of hard to get over that little detail, I feel.

Summary:

            I really liked this “article”. I thought it was unique and interesting the way it was put together. McCloud used the comic book style to his advantage since he was writing on imagery and perception. He wrote about how humans see themselves in almost everything we create, and how we put ourselves into the shoes of some created characters base on how simple they may look. He proved his points by using pictures of objects that ended up looking like they had a face. He states that no matter how hard we try, we will always see two dots and a line as a standard face. I find this amazing.

            

Test Post

This is just a test. Nothing to see here, move along. Seriously. Move along. Just making sure everything works. Enjoy this picture of Deadpool: