Alan's 100W class

Personal Obituaries

2008-05-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

Alan Potter Dies at 23

Always full of life, with an adventurous spirit, Alan Potter faced and early death tragically, while climbing a palm tree, he was hit in the head with a coconut and fell to the ground. It was reported that Alan’s last words were “Hey, check this out!” It will be the last time any person watches anything Alan does. Alan lived his life the fullest. He was always looking for something new to try. He loved this earth and all the things within it; from the ocean to the mountains. Alan’s love of animals brought him home at the end of the day, and his love of life encouraged his thirst for traveling. He surely will be missed. January 28th 1985- May 21, 2008.

Coffee Shop Observations

2008-05-21T07:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back our class was given the assignment to head to a coffee shop and pay attention. I went with a couple classmates to the 4th Street Coffee shop because it is attached to the MLK library. Once in the coffee shop I notices a few things right off the back: people on laptops, people chatting, people talking/texting on cell phones, and a line of people waiting to order a drink or food item. Once we sat down at one of the small round tables I noticed how sunny the place was. The about three quarters of the walls were made of glass, and since it is on the corner of the building, you have a pretty nice view of the street. After sitting for a little while, I noticed that something was happening in the street. There was a long pack of people on bicycles taking up the lanes of San Fernando street. I was not sure the occasion but since my friends and I do a similar thing every month, I took a video. I was looking around at the counter, listening to the grinding and hissing sounds, smelling the aroma of coffee and steamed milk. I started to get hungry. The line of the Coffee shop, I noticed, would go from long to short. The line was at about a mid-range so I got up to wait in the line. As I was getting up to head to the line a group of students went strait to the back of the line, making it a long line again. I sat back down. I waited for the line to die down again, and once it did, I got a croissant. It was interesting to observe the coffee shop and the small patterns within it. I could like to do it again some time.

video test

2008-05-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

Individual Blog Post #3

2008-04-30T23:50:00.000-07:00

On April 1st, a new YouTube video came out. It was the legend of Zelda movie trailer, and it looked like it was going to be an awesome movie. I am a big movie buff and so I was excited to see the movie. I would assume that, since I am not a huge video game person and I was still excited about it, that a person that was into video games would be doubly excited. A few days later I was talking to my friend Aaron about the trailer and he let me know that it was just an April fools joke. He understandably was bummed since he is the biggest Zelda fan I have ever met. I was bummed as I said because I like movies. I understand that the people responsible for making the trailer just wanted to mess with people, but I think that is the wrong way of doing it. Aaron said "this would be the greatest movie of all time..." maybe the joke will be on the people who made the trailer, when they realise how much money they could have made on the movie. Perhaps, since it was such a big hit the trailer will become a real movie. Until them we can only hope.

Individual Blog Post #2

2008-04-30T23:49:00.000-07:00

Talk about a temper. In Allentown Pa. a man was charged with pushing a friend down a 500 foot coal mine! That is not the type of friend that I want to have. The kicker about it was the friend that got pushed, survived the fall! Richard D. George was the pusher and the friend that got pushed was Nathan Bowman. The two 23 year olds had gotten into an argument and then that’s when the push accrued. George called 911 after pushing his friend. Later while questioned told a story that made little sense and then finally admitted to the crime. George was charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and other offenses. Bowman, the friend that got pushed came out with a broken collarbone, broken tailbone, and suffered injuries to his ankle and writs. Talk about getting off easy. I mean out of context those injuries would be a total bummer but after a 500 foot fall, I would be very happy to be alive.

Enterprise Article

2008-04-30T23:41:00.001-07:00

Today I will be writing from the perspective of a struggling college student. I am not struggling to pay for the school, or necessarily with the work, though working close to full time at the beginning of the semester did bring me behind in my school work. I am struggling with, what many other student are struggling with. I am struggling to find what I want to do for the rest of my life.
What I am talking about more specifically is I have been struggling with the idea, if the major that I chose is the one for me. I am currently an advertising student. I chose that major because I wanted to do something relating to making commercials. Before deciding to going into advertising, I wanted to go into film.
The problem with going into film was, I have friends that got their film degree and they don’t use it for what they had intended. I did not want to go down that same path, I wanted to use my major. There is always need of advertising so I thought I would give it a shot. Now that I am an advertising student I am not taking the types of classes that I thought I would be taking.
Most of the classes I am taking are mass communication, mostly in the field of journalism. I have no interest in journalism. I don’t see myself writing for the news, or becoming part of broadcasting. I got into advertising because I expected the classes to be more hands on, more projects making short films, and storyboards. I enjoy my MCom 63 class because most of the work that we do, is hands on. In that class we get the opportunity to use programs like Photoshop, InDesign, and Imovie to created/edit videos and pictures.
For the most part I enjoy most of my classes, but some of the work I don’t feel motivated to do because I don’t see the relevance to what I want to do for a living. I have discussed this with many of my fellow advertising students and they agree with me. They also feel that it is not what they had in mind, they don’t want to go into journalism either and so they feel burnt out with much of the work. This is why I want to propose an Idea, combine the film and advertising into one major.
I feel if a program is restructured to set up the major then students will enjoy what they put into the time spent on school work and feel more motivated to complete it. Perhaps a new advertising program, not with the emphasis on journalism but instead on film and commercials. That is a major I would enjoy majoring in.

Japanese Internment Memorial

2008-04-29T00:42:00.000-07:00

The other day our class took a field trip to the Japanese Internment memorial. Though I had passed it by quite often I had never taken the time to inspect the memorial before that day. We were told to choose a piece of the memorial that stood out to us and write about it. For me the thing that stood out the most was what seemed to the most out of place. I noticed on the south side of the wall to the top right of the guard tower was a paper airplane.
The entier memorial was quite intense. There were famlies being seperated, people placed on trains, and packed onto buses. Everything seemed so serious, so naturaly a paper plane caught my eye. I was not sure what it symbolises though a number of reasons popped into my head. Perhaps the guard was board and made it and then set it to the air, maybe it was a note being sent over the walls by one of the prisoners, maybe the aritist had a soft spot of paper airplanes. I wanted to know more soI went on the internet to inspect about the paper airplane. According to the web site, the paper airplane was symbolic of only thing free enough to leave the camps.
I am glad I had the chance to check out the memorial. Had I not known about it, I may have just passed it by again with out my knowing.

Fish Out of Water

2008-04-28T18:12:00.001-07:00

When I was in high school I was in a youth group with my local church. We would on occasions go to various locations to help others. On one of these occasions our group went to Belize Central America to help a convalescents home put up a fence. The convalescents home was having trouble with people stealing their chickens. Their hope was if the fence was put up then the problem would be eliminated.
Life was defiantly different in Belize. Our group was camping out on the front lawn of the place we were helping. We were sleeping in tents, but before we put the tents up, we had to make sure that ground was safe. All across the lawn were small holes with a bit of web in them. We had to grab a bucket of water, fill the hole with it, then wait for a taranchula the size of your hand to pop out. Once the taranchula was out of the ground we would scoop then up with a jar and move then to another area.
While I was there I also had to opportunity to interact with some of the locals. Once day I was at the work site and one of the old men from the home came and tried to speak with me. I didn’t understand what he was saying but, by his hand signals I could gather that he wanted me to follow him. He took me to a garden, and started showing me what was in it. I didn’t speak much Spanish and he didn’t speak any English so all of the interactions between the two of us were by body language. I realized that the garden he was showing me was his and that he took pride in what he has grown. He showed me stalk and told me you could make soup out of it.
It was defiantly a once in a life time experience for me. I will always remember the time that I spent working for the convalescents home in Belize.

Individual blog #1

2008-04-10T09:06:00.000-07:00

The world is hungry. Lately there has been a real problem with food shortages throughout the world. Some of the contributing factors are, drought, the continuing rise in the cost of gas, and methods for alternative fuels. As for the drought, that is an issue all its own, I am here to talk about the gas. The cost of gas has always been an issue with consumers, yet instead of people doing anything about it, most times they just deal with it and pay up. Currently in America uses gas for most our transportation vehicles, from boats to cars to airplanes. America uses large ships to import various goods throughout the world. The large ships use large amounts of gas, not to mention the possibility of springing a leak and not only, waiting even more gas, but also doing serious damage to the ecosystem. The cost of shipping from one country to the next has helped to contribute to the rise in the cost in gas, and with it, the rise in the cost of food. So, people say “well, gas is getting expensive what can we do?” they think about it. “Hey I have a great idea, we can start to convert to an alternative fuel we will use ethanol!” “What!? Are you nuts? We have a monopoly on gasoline not ethanol, anyone can make ethanol.” “We will make a specific type, and we will use corn, we have so much of it already and we will keep our monopoly on the fuel industry, why not?” “Hey that’s swell!” Well, we did have plenty of corn, for people to eat. Once we started making fuel out of it, it stopped being so cheap. These factors combined together make one big problem for the world. If people were less concerned with money and more concerned with the rest of the world, maybe we could make a real solution.

My Favorite Art

2008-04-07T14:08:00.000-07:00

After the library assignment, we were supposed to pick one piece of art from the library that we chose as our favorite. I found a lot of art that I found to be interesting, the bike table, the owl in the wall, the butterflies in the hall way, but I could only choose one as my favorite. For my favorite art I chose the cave-like sinks in the restrooms. The sinks start smaller and they get larger as they go down a floor, just as if they were in a cave. I thought it was creative and it makes washing your hands kind of fun.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

2008-04-01T01:50:00.000-07:00

It is unclear to me what we are supposed to write about the book, maybe because I missed class, but I'll write something about it anyway. She is an interesting writer, I haven't finished the entire book yet but from what I have read, I like it. She has a way of leaving things up to the reader to decide. It is a good book as an example of how to become a better writer for that reason. She writes of many real life situations in which many people can perhaps relate to but at the same time it lets you into a person's life you would other wise know nothing about.

Word of the Week

2008-03-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

Word: Oeuvre

Source: New York Times

How it was used: " As an admirer, mostly, of Mr. Apatow's Oeuvre, I was inclined to believe that 'Drillbit Taylor' was a cheap knockoff, that producer credit Mr. Apatow Receives at the beginning was akin to Rolex insignia on the watch I bought for $20 on Canal Street a while back."

Dictionary Definition:the works of a writer, painter, or the like, taken as a whole.2.any one of the works of a writer, painter, or the like.

My sentence: the oeuvre of the artist Dali is a bit strange and completely amazing.

NPR Radio interview analysis

2008-03-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

From listening to the NPR show Fresh Air and the interview with Scott Spencer I learned a lot about interviewing. First off just from listening to the interview, I now want to read his book Willing. The interviewer had obviously read the book and therefore she was able to ask Spencer many questions related to the book. She would ask him questions about what the character was feeling at the moment in the story, or why he decided to add certain parts into the story. Having read the book it make it possible for her to more easily transition into questions. She would also ask Spencer questions around his topic, for example from the interview I found out that much of his story was based on the war that is happening in Iraq.
The style of talking was more like a conversation between friends. The interviewer has obviously researched Spencer and so when she talked to him she was able to ask about things happening in his life with out seeming to pry. Many times she would site parts of the book or have him read excerpts from his book and then ask a question about the story. I was also surprised to see the number of personal questions she asked, like if the novel related to his life, or the loss of his father. She seemed to be very relaxed and the interview was much more like a conversation than anything really. She would read things from his book that made her laugh and she would joke with Spencer. Over all I found the interview very interesting and I look forward to reading his book.

Query Letter for Final Feature

2008-03-19T12:19:00.000-07:00

There are few activities in the world that allow a person to work and be one with the elements, earth, wind, fire, or water. With the sport of surfing three of the four elements are essential to the surfer’s success. I would like to write a research paper on the fundamentals of the sport of surfing. I will go into what creates waves, the elements, and how they work together to form waves that a human can ride. I will talk about the location of popular surf spots and incorporate the first topic. I will go into the history of the sport from it’s start in the Hawaiian Islands, how it came to America and how it has changed over the many years of the sports history.
I would like to write about surfing because the sport has been part of my family for generations and I would like to pass on the gift that surfing can bring into people’s lives.

Word of the Week

2008-03-13T00:57:00.000-07:00

Word: Impasse

Source: New York Times

How it was used: "After a week of shadowboxing, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama on Wednesday issued their clearest statements yet on the impasse over the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries."

Dictionary Definition:

a position or situation from which there is no escape; deadlock.

2.
a road or way that has no outlet; cul-de-sac.

My sentence: After hours of telling elaborate lies he found himself at an impasse and decided it was better just to tell the truth.

Mystery Character

2008-03-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

His outrageous antics along with his wide range of wild facial expressions have made you laugh throughout his comedies. He surprised audiences with his ability to act in his more dramatic roles, achieving two Golden Globes. He has played a number of roles; from a detective to a Dr. Suisse character, he has had his life watched and had his memories erased.
Want to know who it is?

Word of the week.

2008-03-06T07:22:00.000-08:00

Word: Ingress

Source: Los Angeles Times

How it was used: Infinite Ingress

Dictionary Definition: –noun
1.
the act of going in or entering.
2.
the right to enter.
3.
a means or place of entering; entryway.

My sentence: "Although a few minutes late, I was still granted ingress."

Word of the week

2008-02-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

Word: Fiscal

Source: onlinejournal.com- commentary

How it was used: Fiscal responsibility and conservatism may still be thought of as a traditional married couple in our nation, certainly in the nostalgic minds of some chronologically-challenged Republicans.

Dictionary Definition: fis·cal /ˈfɪs kəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fis-kuh l] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1.
of or pertaining to the public treasury or revenues: fiscal policies.

2.
of or pertaining to financial matters in general.
–noun
3.
(in some countries) a prosecuting attorney.

4.
Philately. a revenue stamp.

fis·cal (fĭs'kəl) Pronunciation Key adj.
Of or relating to government expenditures, revenues, and debt: a fiscal policy of incurring budget deficits to stimulate a weak economy.
Of or relating to finance or finances.
fiscal
1563, "pertaining to public revenue," from M.Fr. fiscal, from L.L. fiscalis "of or belonging to the state treasury," from L. fiscus "treasury," originally "purse, basket made of twigs (in which money was kept)," of unknown origin. The general sense of "financial" (1865, Amer.Eng.) was abstracted from phrases like fiscal calendar

My Sentence: We have these fiscal responsibilities to use our public’s tax dollars to better our community.

Crime just down the street

2008-02-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

I know that we are supposed to be writing about a national news event. I have decided to write about a local news story instead. The reason for this change is, the local news story took place just down the street from me.
Yesterday I was woken by a phone call. My friend Stephanie was calling to ask me if I knew why the park just down the street was taped off and surrounded by police. I had no clue. She told me that she was just down the street so we decided to go check it out. When we got to the sidewalk across from the park we could see caution tape, lots of police cars, detectives, and a tent in the middle of the park where I often play Frisbee with my friends. I wanted to know more but I figured that asking the police would do me no good so we walked over to a grouping of on lookers. I asked if they had any clue what had gone on. One of the men from the group told me that he had just spoken to a jogger who found a body in the park. Apparently the jogger found a dead man between the age of 16 and 25. The man’s eyes had been shot out.
We later learned from a police officer, the shooting was gang related. The man was not shot at the location but instead the body was dumped at the park as a symbol to the rival gang.
That night I watched the NBC11 news at 5 for more information on the story. The story from the park was the third local story listed. The story was shot from the park, but they spent the majority of the 2 minutes talking about a group called the guardian angels. I learned less from the news report than from the word of mouth earlier in the day.
Today I was hoping to find out more about the event from the mercury news paper but the only story about the body was a short 4 paragraphs on page 2B with no specific events.

Word of the Week

2008-02-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

Word: Stagflation

Source: New York Times

How it was used: Lately, many people are hearing an echo — faintly perhaps but distinctly audible — of the stagflation of the 1970s.

Dictionary Definition: 1) stag·fla·tion /stægˈfleɪ ʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[stag-fley-shuh n] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
an inflationary period accompanied by rising unemployment and lack of growth in consumer demand and business activity.
[Origin: 1965–70; b. stagnation and inflation ]
2) stag·fla·tion (stāg-flā'shən) Pronunciation Key n. Sluggish economic growth coupled with a high rate of inflation and unemployment. [stag(nation) + (in)flation.] stag·fla'tion·ar'y (-shə-něr'ē) adj.

My sentence: Years ago when we had found ourselves in stagflation our business was at an economic stand still and we had to down size many of our workers.

word of the week

2008-02-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

Word: eugenicist

Dictionary Definition: "selective breeding as proposed human improvement: the proposed improvement of the human species by encouraging or permitting reproduction of only those people with genetic characteristics judged desirable. It has been regarded with disfavor since the Nazi period."

How it was used: "In the late 1870s, scientist and eugenicist Sir Francis Galton developed an image of the prototypical "face of crime" by creating composite photos of men convicted of serious offenses."

My sentence: "Hey Bob, want to do some eugenicist today?" "No thanks, I'm cool."

The curious slumber

2008-02-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

She sleeps so peacefully, lying on my bed, her body covered with course honey brown hairs. As she lies there a quaint puddle of drool slides effortlessly onto my white wrinkled blanket. She twitches every now and then as her dreams of, one could only imagine, flow like a river threw her head. The sun shines through the window like a spear to a haystack, waking her from her slumber. She rises stretching her front legs sticking her tail in the air. Slowly walks over to me as I sit typing this very blog and lovingly licks my arm.

Word of the Week!

2008-02-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

Word: Confluence

Source: The e-mail that was sent to class by Cynthia McCune is where I found my word.

Dictionary Definition: A gathering, flowing, or meeting together at one juncture or point.

How it is used: "It turns out that we have an interesting confluence of events occurring over the next few days, and I'd like you pick one of them and write a 200-word blog post about it."-Cynthia McCune

My Sentence: As I paddled down the river I then realized that the rapids would only grow as I approach the confluence of the joining streams.

My Favorite Writing

2008-02-05T00:54:00.000-08:00

I am not real sure what is wanted of us for this blog post so I am going to write about a book that I have read and enjoyed. The book the Alchemist written by Paulo Coelho was a very inspiring book for me. The story is about a Shepard whom meets a king who inspires that Shepard to find his life’s purpose and go for it. The author had a great way with words that really put you in the scene that he was describing." All you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sand, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation. Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there." (p134) The book was not long, it was only about 175 pages or so but the impression the book left on me has lasted me much longer that the number of pages.

late-breaking blog post

2008-02-05T00:41:00.000-08:00

Our class was given three options, write about the up coming election, write about a presentation or sorts, or write about the super bowl advertisements. My choice, of the three, I have come to is to write about the advertisements that ran during the super bowl.
I want to write about the commercials for a couple reasons. The first reason I wanted to write about the commercials is, I didn’t get the chance to watch them when the game was happening and I figured this would give me the opportunity to find them on the internet. The second reason goes along with my major. My major is advertising so I like to keep track to the advertisements on the television because I want to help make them one day.
It took me a little while to find a good site with all of the advertisements from the 2008 game. Many of the sites either had only one or two of the advertisements, were only a synopsis, or were from the wrong year. Once I found the right site I was blown away by the amount of commercials there were. The second quarter alone had 22 commercials.
There were a few advertisements that stuck out in my mind that most. The first was a “Tide To Go” advertisement with a talking stain that would talk gibberish over the man who was trying to present himself in a job interview. The second was a “Cars.com” with a man that had checked out a car on the internet to find the best price before going to the dealership. The third was a “CareerBuilder” advertisement with a woman that obviously hated her job but just didn’t know how to tell her boss. The woman was at her desk when her heart jumped out of her chest, walked up to her boss, and told him that she quite.
Overall I was quite entertained by this year’s super bowl advertisement lineup.

Who you calling a proselyte?

2008-01-31T06:12:00.000-08:00

Word: Proselytize
Source: "The Slow Life Picks Up Speed"- article from the new york times.
How it is used: "But it does have an increasing number of proselytizers, like John Brown, an architect in Calgary, Alberta, whose year-old Web site, theslowhome.com, urges consumers to say no to “fast-food architecture,” and Geir Berthelsen, a Norwegian motivational speaker whose Web site slowplanet.com, which is to go online in mid-March, has as its goal to be a hub for all things slow, from slow travel to slow shopping to slow design, he said. Ms. Chanin, meanwhile, has a book, “Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting, and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Design” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) due out in March."
Dictionary definition: pros·e·lyt·ize /ˈprɒsəlɪˌtaɪz/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[pros-uh-li-tahyz] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object), -ized, -iz·ing.
to convert or attempt to convert as a proselyte; recruit.
Also, especially British, pros·e·lyt·ise.
My sentence: My friend Chris is in a frat. he is always proselytizing trying to get me to join the frat. also. It gets old real quick.

You know it is funny, when I found my word of choice I also found a typo. The wrighter of the article uses the word "proselytizers" which is not a proper ending to the word proselytise.

"A bit you didn't know about me"

2008-01-29T11:02:00.001-08:00

Hello my name is Alan potter, I am curently an advertising studend at San Jose State. In my spair time I enjoy: surfing, frisbee, hiking, camping, watching movies, thrift store shopping, running, taking my dog for a walk/ letting my dog take me on a walk on my skateboard, skateboarding, goiung to the beach, skimboarding, snowboarding, sandboarding, playing chess, playing on the computer, swimming, hanging out with friends, cooking, building skateboards, the great outdoors, and anything new. This is my first blog for my 100 W class. I have already created a blog for another class but it is now time to start a new blog for a new class. So, here we are.

I would assume that I'll be writing quite a bit on here since by the end of the semester we are to have written 8,000 words. I am sure this won't be last time you hear from me.

-Alan Potter

my other blog