Week Four Entries

Many blogs are digests of material found elsewhere on the web, including links to that material. For this week's entry, do a little informal research on the work or thought of an important existentialist, give a summary in approximately 250 words, and provide the link to the source you are summarizing. Please be sure to pick a source that a classmate has not yet selected (that means only one person may link to the Wikipedia, for instance, on a given existentialist). Obviously, the earlier you publish your post, the more options for links you will have, and the more research that will be available to all before the essay.

Your commentaries (due Tuesday as usual) should give an evaluation of the linked source (e.g., helpful or not, sufficiently detailed or not, readable or not, credible or not), with an evaluative claim and at least one stated reason.

Potential thinkers to research include: Jean-Paul Sartre, Søren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, José Ortega y Gasset. There may be others you stumble across whose work is relevant to ours.

i think i would have to say that the worst movie I saw last year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Before I saw this movie, I was a huge fan of Johnny Depp. He had not made a movie that I didn't love, and two of my favorite movies of all time are with him: Pirates of the Caribbean (the first one of course) and Edward Scissorhands. but unfortunately, things change. I hated this movie. sadly, another one of my favorite movies is the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the remake did not even come close to doing justice to the first one. The first one was amazing, the singing and dancing parts were incredible, and the movie had a sort of eerie feel to it that made it that much more intriguing to watch. plus, no one could ever play the part of Willy Wonka like Gene Wilder did. i think the makers of the new one wanted to show that they were being different by showing why willy wonka is the way he is, and show him as a child, but they did not realize that by remaking the original willy wonka, they were remaking a great musical, because the songs in the new one are absolutely terrible. it makes me sick. who gave them the rights to this movie anyway?

Rule #1- never leave a Crasher behind, Crashers take care of their own. My favorite genre of movies is comedy, although there are a lot of shoot-em up movies that I fancy as well. I like all of the classic stupid party movies like American Pie, Old School, Out Cold, Super Troopers, and the list goes on and on. They are filled with hilarious situations and countless one-liners that encapsulate what it means to have a good time. I'm at a time in my life where partying and countless one-liners are a key part of what I do. Wedding Crashers is a fairly new movie that came out last year and I think it's one of the best movies I have ever seen. If you've never seen it, its about a couple of guys named John (Owen Wilson) and Jeremy (Vince Vaughn), who are great actors by the way, that are committed womanizers that go to weddings uninvited to take advantage of the romantic feelings those of the opposite sex have. I'm not saying the taking advantage of women aspect is what I admire about the movie but it's attitude of the two guys that I like about it. They don't care about what other's think and live life to fullest, having fun at whatever they do with a good balance between work and play. Which goes to show that there's a time to be serious and a certain time to enjoy yourself and have fun. They're charasmatic and charming and always have clever replies to the inquisitive guests at all of the weddings that make them the hit of the party. I like to have fun, who doesn't, and this is what this movie is all about. Life's a party, crash it.

Week 3 Blog Entries

Tell us about the best (or worst) movie you have seen within the last year, and what made it the best (or worst).

This is matt, I know I am a little a late, but I had an awesome experience in sound this weekend. Apart from the wind blowing, birds chirping, and the bells chiming during school, I enjoy listening to music. I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the Kings of Leon concert last friday night at Emo's near 6th street. I didn't know what I was getting myself into but in the end it was an experience I will never forget. The band to play before the Kings of Leon was The Stills, and they began playing on stage, I was immediately in a trance of mind blowing high decibal music at it's clearest point. There was nothing else to hear, there was nothing else I wanted to hear. The coolest thing about The Stills was that they had a piano, and listening to a rock band with a piano's touch was pretty cool. The singer had like a raspy voice that was appealing to listen to as well. Then after about 40 minutes of the stills, the rodie team came out and we left the room to get some drinks. The sounds filling my ears now were of a crowded area of people talking. My ears were starting to ring a little from the previous band but if The Kings of Leon were to be anything like The Stills I wasn't worried. After about a thirty minute break, we went back to the stage to get a good spot. It was very crowded and loud. The anticipation grew and grew and then they came out on stage.........They got into their positions and the trance started all over again, and this time the music filling my ears seemed to connect to me and control my feelings of awe and amazement. It was so loud but as it kept playing more and more I wanted it to be louder and louder, maybe that was because I was going deaf I don't know. But it was a cool experience with what we call sound and I hope to attend another one soon.

singing in the rain

I’m sure this is a lot easier for the people who actually did get to go to ACL this weekend. I really wish I could have gone, but unfortunately, I had no money. but hey, there’s always next year, right? and I'm not a bitter person. there are lots of sounds I could talk about. for example, I could talk about the bouncing of tennis balls, since we did have an intrasquad tournament this weekend. but that’s kind of boring. and so, I will talk about the sound of rain. I think that's creative. so ok, yesterday I opened my window to air out my room, and forgot to close it when I went to sleep. so when I woke up this morning around noon, I woke up to the rain pounding down on the window sill right behind my head. luckily, there is an overhang, so i didn’t get wet. but waking up to the sound of pouring rain was very pleasant. I really love the rain. I don’t know why, because I know rain is supposed to be depressing and put people in a bad mood, I guess because they think they can’t go outside. but I love it. I love the sound of the rain. it’s soothing, and it makes you reflect on things in a way you normally wouldn’t. I can see how it could make a person depressed in that sense, but in my opinion, it’s a very good thing to reflect. a lot of the time, people move so fast that there is no time for them to stop and think about where they’re going and why they’re doing what they’re doing. for me, I definitely need that kind of time. sometimes i can feel myself getting kind of lost and distracted, and what I really need to do is just slow down and stop doing things that are affecting me in a bad way. but a lot of the time, it’s hard to do that on your own. and that is why I like the rain. it makes you realize things like that. it makes you slow down.

and wow, I think I might have gone a little too far with the raindrops idea. but i think i should add that singing in the rain is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Week Two Blogging

In honor of the Austin City Limits music festival this weekend, this week's blog entry should focus on some exerience you have had of sound. It can be music, live or recorded; it can be speech; it could even be mundane sounds such as birdsong or traffic or the thwacking of volleyballs. Whatever the sound, your blog (since it is, after all, a web log of experiences you are sharing with us) should convey your experience in terms that we will understand. I trust you will already have ideas about how you will make us interested in your experience... Ideally it will be an experience of sound you have this weekend, so it will be fresh in mind and relevant to your life today.

As usual, posts are due by 5:00p Monday (18 Sep), and two comments by 5:00p the next day.

Gigi's first BLOG

let’s see, my name is Gigi. my real name, although many people sadly do not know this, is Giselle. You may ask, why wouldn’t you go by such a beautiful name? I wish I could tell you. I have yet to understand why my parents decided to start calling me Gigi. But its so hard to switch names when youve gone by one name your whole life. actually I’ve never tried, but I would assume. so anyways, call me what you want.

hmm, well I am technically from Austin, but I've only lived here since December. Before that, we lived in The Woodlands, which is about 45 minuted north of Houston. I liked high school a lot, but to be quite honest, i hated the Woodlands itself. by my junior year I was ready to get out. although its a nice city to look at, the Woodlands is very much a bubble. It is also very conservative, which was no good for me or my family. we had looked around for a place to move to for months, and when we came to Austin, we decided this would be a great place to live. at least, a lot better than the Woodlands. And so, I graduated early and moved to Austin in December with my parents. I decided to come to St. Edward's when I got tennis and academic scholarship money. I also decided to come here because if I didnt, I would have to live with my parents another semester, and honestly, who in their right mind would want that?

about me personally, I think I would say i'm a pretty cool person. i love meeting interesting people and having good conversations. i really miss the beaches in California. I love good music. i really want to learn how to play the guitar. I also want to go skydiving, hopefully for my next birthday. I have two older sisters who go to TCU, and a brother who lives in California. i have no idea what I want to do with my life, but I'm considering a major in international business with a minor in Spanish. I figure that will get me places. I guess that's me in a nutshell. thank you for reading!

autobiography of matt

Hello everybody, my name is matt. I'm from Waco, Tx, you know the place where Dr. Pepper was invented. Actually it's not that cool, Baylor is probably the coolest thing it has for young kids like us. I'm in the process of adjusting to the big city life of Austin and meeting new people, and so far it's been pretty easy. Everybody around here is cool to talk to and I'm finding out there's quite a variety of things to do. I've been to the downtown scene and toured the famous 6th street. I want to go to check out a club, see some live music, and go to the river and lake. Back at home, I spent a lot of time going to the lake fishing and wakeboarding. I like to play soccer also, I tried out for the soccer team last monday, but unfortuantly for them, it was a no go. I actually think that nobody who tried out made it. Until next year. More about myself, I'm a just an innocent guy trying to make it in a hard world. Just kiddin, I like hangin out and chillaxin, kickin back, chillen and grillen, and playin all kinds of sports. And thats a little insight in the wonderful world of me. "May your life be like toilet paper... Long and useful."

The first entry

Howdy! For your first entry (due by 5:00p Monday, 11 Sep), please introduce yourself to the rest of us with whatever information you think is salient and appropriate. Your post should be at least 200 words long (which isn't all that much, really), and needs to take into consideration your audience's concerns. Since you should be hoping to stimulate responses (and since you will be responding to other posts as well), you should endeavor to make your entry engaging while implicitly inviting response. Think of it as an exercise in taking the initiative in fostering a community of fellow-learners. And be sure to set your screen name to your first name and last initial, so that we can make sure you get credit for completiting the assignment.

Then by 5:00p Tuesday, 12 Sep, post responses ("comments," in Blogger lingo) of at least 100 words to two different entries for the week. We'll look at samples of these pieces of writing on occasion on Wednesdays in class, so be aware of your audience--it's not just the author of the original entry, since someone may come along and comment on your comment.

(It should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway, that you are welcome to comment on more than two posts if you are so moved. And since you now have a Blogger account, you are able to set up your own personal blog, if you wish, so you may publish as many and as varied things as you like.)