TOW #12- Ferguson Decision Reaffirms Right Of Police To Use Deadly Force When They Feel Sufficiently Inclined by the Onion (Written)

Ferguson is one of the biggest throwdowns between the American people and the American government happening right now. Ferguson is on everyone's minds, and even topped the always fun Black Friday riots. Everyone has their opinions about Ferguson, unless they are small and childlike and cannot read. The Onion takes this big national problem, and the decision not to put Darren Wilson in jail, and brings the real truth out of it, using satire with humor and sarcasm. Though these riots are the biggest that have happened maybe in my lifetime, Darren Wilson still says that stepping down from his job was worse than shooting an unarmed kid. The riots I am speaking about swept the nation after the not guilty verdict, and have been going on in most populous cities. Even around the world, people are protesting. Even in football stadiums, the players are protesting, using the now famous “Hands up Don't Shoot” signal.

Besides hitting the clear racism involved in this whole event, The Onion hits how dumb the decision was, using fake statistics and even faker professional sources. They do this to mimic how the trial was put on too. They also do it to ridicule how horrible and racist of a person you have to people to shoot an unarmed man, who was running away. Social media is inflamed, and the Onion showcases that by pretending to be a legitimate news source, unlike CNN and Yahoo, which are taking down links associated with Ferguson. Bravo to the brave protestors, who have been getting tear gassed and beaten. Bravo to the protestors around the world, who stand by American citizens. Bravo to the CIA, who are looking into how the case was handled. And finally, bravo to the racists out there, who have proven loud and clear that racism is not dead in America. And yes, it still counts if you have that one token black friend. 

TOW #11 Bossypants by Tina Fey (IRB)

Bossypants by Tina Fey is Fey's comical retelling of her life. What strikes you first is the visual rhetoric right on the front cover. It is Tina Fey, with man hands. Literally, just man hands. Since I'm not that far into the book, I'm not really sure what it means, but it seems to have to do something with feminism. Maybe it is saying that she didn't need to be a man to succeed, or maybe it is just there to look funny. As most autobiographies do, this one starts at the beginning of Fey's life, when she is an awkward, gangly child. Most of her rhetorical devices revolve around humor, as she uses a wry tone to describe her life. Her look back includes lots of hyperbole, as she admits to using it a lot to make it seem like her life is more interesting, as she says. There is a lot of biting sarcasm in the book, like when she is retelling the 'incident' I won't say any spoilers, but the second hand embarrassment she feels when looking back at the incident is enough to enduce her tone to turn sharper, while still staying funny.
Fey is the funnyman, sorry, funnywoman of television. From SNL to 30 Rock, and a million movies in between, she has made thousands of people laugh. She downplays her famousness though, making it seem as though she is just a normal person, which I suppose, she is. Another stellar part of this book is that Fey knows she's namedropping, and she uses it well. There's the name dropping of producers and actors, but most importantly her partner in crime Amy Poelher. Again, in her super sarcastic tone, Fey calls herself out on the namedropping, increasing the love the audience feels for her, aka, pathos. Fey is at her best in this funny, groundbreakingly feminist book.

TOW #10- Hunger Games Movie Poster (Visual)

   The Hunger Games, a worldwide phenomenon of a book series has a four movie deal for three books. Written by Suzanne Collins and produced by Lionsgate, teens love these movies. The poster for the Hunger Games really evokes the dark, gruesome ideas of the movie. The whole thing is in dark shades, black, brown, and gray, while the focal point of the whole poster is the burning mockingjay pin in the center, blown up very large and a bright gold color. Katniss' back is turned from the audience as she looks at the pin too. The people from the Capitol, the audience for the gruesome games are seen on the side, also looking at the pin. I think the on fire pin is the whole center of this poster, because it represents the whole revolutionary theme of the story.
  This poster is trying to sell this movie, and the pin is the most exciting object of the poster. This makes people want to see the movie more, because fire means the movie is going to be exciting and possibly have explosions, which is always a box office booster (see all of the Transformer movies for reference). The audience also comes for the stars. Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most popular young actresses of the era, and fans of her will want to see this movie. The poster taps into this by having her front and center. Even though you cannot see her face, on the mini flags next to her, you can clearly see her face and Peeta's, or Josh Huterson's. Their star power is another thing that really draws crowds in. The final thing that dramatizes this poster is the slogan at the top that reads "the world will be watching". This is a statement that encompasses the movie and the plotline. It gives a sense of jumping on the bandwagon, that everyone is going to see this movie so you must too. As a whole, this poster is very highly produced in a way that attempts to persaude the onlooker to watch the movie.

IRB Intro Post #2- Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

I am going to be reading Bossy Pants by Tina Fey. I decided to read this book because I heard it was really good and funny. Also, I like Tina Fey. Hopefully it will live up to expectations.

TOW #9- 25 Years After Fall of Berlin Wall (Written)

     From the Daily Signal, a new website, comes an article called 25 Years After Fall of Berlin Wall, a pretty self explanatory title. What interested me in this article was twofold. First was the title itself. The Berlin Wall is something I have very, very little background knowledge of and I had been seeing it in pictures all of today, and I was curious. Also, it surprised me that only 25 years had passed since the fall of the wall, meaning that it fell in 1989, a pretty progressive time, but only a couple years before I was born. The second thing that interested me was that the article was written by Ted Cruz, a politician. I was curious to see if there was any political bias on the article, or if Cruz was genuinely writing a non-biased article.

    Cruz uses many literary devices, at the forefront, pathos. This pathos is very potent, because not only does it target people who were alive and probably saw this stuff in the newspapers in the morning, but also because it uses pictures to do so. And then the political bias starts to kick in, a bias that most American politicans and people hold today, the bias against communism. Cruz uses strong vocabulary to emphasize how horrible communism is, saying, "Untold numbers slaved away in work camps under horrific conditions." He then also uses very credible sources, citing a survivor of the Soviet gulag. All this culminates to the point where he is reveling in the American inherent goodness, citing America the beautiful. It was interesting to see how Cruz used rhetoric to shape the thoughts of readers, so hey, maybe he went through APELC too.

TOW #8- Covergirl Advertisement (Visual)

     Covergirl is a makeup brand that sells hundreds of products including mascara, eyeliner, and blush. Their whole marketing strategy is based around getting celebrities to endorse their products. Their ads have features people from Ellen Degeneres to Sophia Vergara. The ads are often very sleek and clean, making them look very sophisticated. The slogan of the whole ad campaign is easy, breezy, beautiful, which makes for a memorable slogan that many people in the world could recognize. The whole purpose of the advertisement is to get women to buy their makeup. By showing the sophisticated celebrities, the ad creates a sense of wanting to be as glamorous as those celebrities. The slogan gives it that memorable appeal, making sure that customers will remember the name. The author, or rather photographer and photoshoppers of these ads know their customer, and want to market it specifically to them. They do this by placing the ads in magazines where potential customers may be, like Vogue. They don't place the ads in magazines where potential customers wouldn't be, like Time.

     The advertisement that I have in front of me has Sophia Vergara as the main subject of the ad. At first glance, you wouldn't even think this ad was about anything but Vergara. She is the spotlight, and the eye catcher, the trick to make people look closer at the ad to read the text that says Covergirl. Her eyes mainly, are the focus of this piece, because they are selling mascara. She looks beautiful, so people seeing it would want to look beautiful like her, which is the reasoning of the advertisers. That is how they reel people in so that once they are interested in the ad, they can start to sell their actual product. This is how advertisement works, always trying to get inside the customer's head, and this Covergirl advertisement is an example of that.