back to NYC

So i just got off the bus from DC to NYC and it feels great to finally be home. Since i got absolutely no sleep last night, i passed out the second i got on the bus, even though the seats were ridiculously unconfortable, ad the AC was blasting to the point where i absolutely was sick once i woke up. But it doesn’t really matter now. I have about a week and a half of summer left and i plan to enjoy it to the fullest. Tonight i plan on seeing all of my friends who are home, and then at about 1 or 2 am, another friend and I are driving up to spend the weekend at the hamptons, which promises to be a lot of fun. This summer has gone by ridiculously quickly but it has probably been one of the more fun summers i have ever had. My friends from college and my friends from high school have all kind of merged at this point, which is just awesome. So we all go out every night and enjoy oursevles to the fullest. and that’s what summer is all about.

DONE!

so i JUST now finished writing the last sentence of my paper. It is about five in the morning and i have been writing all night i an attempt to finish so that i can hand in my paper today instead of friday and get on a bus home at two oclock. Now all i have to work on is my bibliography, which i am not at all worried about because i have all the sources i need already picked out, and all i need to do from there is just go to easybib.com and plug in the info. It’s great that someone thought of a website to make bibliographies for people. I never actually learned how to format an annotated bibliography. This writing course includes so many things that i have never done in terms of writing, this blog included. I have never had to number my pages before or worry about centering my titles on the page. Id say for sure that i have come out of this class a better writer. On of my favorite aspects of this class was the peer editing. Looking at someone else’s work with a critical eye helped me turn on my own work with a critical eye. And getting the comments from everyone else in the class was incredibly helpful. All in all this has been a very solid class.

Two days left

There are only two days left!!! i can’t believe how quickly this entire summer has gone by. I think this class made the summer go by even faster than it normally would have. Just because we had so much crammed into a shorter period of time. I am finally back on track with paper after my weekend of lazyness. It’s so weird how we had only one week to turn a first draft into a final draft. Normally you’ll have like 2 or 3 weeks, which is enough time to get in some serious rewrites. With this, it’s kind like everything has to be done in one shot, which is interesting, because it forces me to be a lot more organiized than i normally would be.

Freedom

My friends have finally gone back to new york. We had such an amazing time while they were down here but i have to say i am happy that they are gone because i need to seriously get down to finishing this paper. At this point i am just re watching the two movies and picking them apart. I don’t even enjoy watching them anymore. Once you start really analyzing a film i feel like it kind of ruins it for you forever. Or if it doesn’t ruin it, it certainly changes how you feel about it. Normally when i watch a movie, i am watching it for the story. The most technical aspect that i am looking at usually is the acting job, or maybe some obviously on the surface symbolism. But now these two fantastic movies have sort of become dead to me. If i ever watch one of them again ill just go straight into hardcore analysis mode and i won’t be able to just sit back and enjoy the interesting story. It’s kind of sad.

distractions galore

So this is the fourth day that all of my friends have been here, and i have realized that i have seriously been neglecting working on my paper while they have been here. So i just took two hours and locked myself i my room, leaving them in the living room,  and i worked on my draft. I found this exellent website that has pictures from films, and the pictures they have posted up there are perfect for some of the points that i am making in my paper. This is pretty much a win win because with my pictures, not only will it go further to prove what i am saying, but they will allow  me to go much more in depth with my analysis and actually show through whats depicted in the scene what i am trying to say. I definitely need to make sure that i set aside time every day for the remainder of time that they are here to work on my research.

A New Journey

Today my friends and I walked from 20th and F street all the way up to T street and Connecticut avenue to the courtyard mariott hotel to visit another one of our friends. The walk took me in a direction of DC that i’ve never been before, which was pretty awesome. We walked to 19th street and then just started up in the direction of T street. we walked through dupont circle, which i’ve probably heard mentiond over a hundred time before but have never been to myself. Just being in a place that i’ve heard so many times was pretty cool,plus it was nice to be in a place that isn’t foggy bottom for once. The hotel there is pretty sweet. Te room that our friend was staying in was nicely sized and had a good view. We all decided to go to the pool out there which was really nice. The temperature was perfect and it was really quiet, until about 10 or 15 middle schoolers all ran up at the same time and jumped in, soaking all of our closed which were on the side of the pool. At that point it seemed pretty absurd for us to stay in the pool because we could barely move and it was way too loud to talk to each other. So we decided to walk back and go bar b q at my fraternity house. We went to trader joe’s on 25th and L street, another grocery store that i’ve never been to before. I love that i am finally getting out and seeing other sides of DC now that my friends are here.

New yorker bonds

So today a bunch of my friends all came down to DC. Upon arriving they all stormed into my apartment and threw their bags down like the animals that they are. They then proceeded to rip all the pillows off of my couches and chairs and throw them on the ground to set up makeshift beds for themselves, which is funny because i’m sure two or three of them will wind up just passing out in my bed regardless. The relationship i have with my friends from new york is very interesting. It’s like a game; How obnoxious and rude can you be to one another while still loving each other like siblings? This mentality usually leads to some pretty awful pranks being pulled on one another, and horribly embarrassing one another as often as possible. I remember coming home one night at three in the morning to find three of my friends, who i didnt even let into my house passed out in my bed, couch, and air mattress, leaving me to sleep on the floor. I have no idea how they got in. But i absolutely returned the favor as soon as i could after that.

Visitors

So my birthday is coming up and i plan on having 6 or 7 friends to come down and stay with me for the weekend. They are all looking forward to having some vacation time in DC, because none of them have ever been there before. I’m having a difficult time trying to figure out where in DC i should take them to show them a good time. I figure we should definitely go see the white house and the washington monuments. And maybe check out a few of the museums. It’s and interesting plight. How do you play host in a place where you don’t feel completely at home? Another friend of mine is coming down, but he is staying at the courtyard Marriott up on T street and Connecticut ave. Maybe we will all go over there and hang by the hotel pool. Hopefully they wont travel all the way down here to sit and do nothing like they d when they are at home

Abstract On Nation and Body Building

In this piece, the author uses the structure of Washington D.C., it’s monuments, and it’s alleyways to convey that as generations progress, or as newer perspectives are offered, when viewing these spaces the viewer can illicit an emotion entirely different then the one the space was designed to provoke. He provides evidence of the original structural designs for the city, and articulates the influences of these designs, which makes the intentions of those who built it quite transparent. Yet, as generations have progressed towards our current time, the meanings of these spaces to those around them have differed on a large scale due to unforeseen changes in our society. As such, the original meaning of these spaces has become lost in translation. One would think that this defeats the purpose of designing space with intention in the first place, but the author concedes that this newfound perspective should be embraced, as it promotes the as yet unforeseen perspective of the present mingled with the past. 

The Day The Earth Stood Still

By far the best part of this class so far has been watching all of these great older movies that i never would have seen. Recently i watched The Day the Earth Stood still which is a fantastic old school sci-fi film which deals with an alien landing on earth to warn of an impending doom if the earth does not end its violent ways. This film fits nicely into the topic of my paper as it shows the absolute stupidity of, not just the american government, but all world leaders. An event such as the one portrayed in this film is one that supersedes any earthly squabble, and requires the human race to stand united as a whole to move past whatever threat faces it. Instead non of the world leaders will agree on any one spot to meet at and the alien is forced to find other means of delivering his message. The earth’s leaders are made out to be so childish and ignorant, that this film must be a commentary on how silly all these trifles between nations really are or were. There is one specific scene where the alien and the little boy are visiting the alien’s spaceship and they get interviewed about how they feel about the recent events. The alien questions how horrible the responses of people have been, and the reporter immediately moves on to another person, acting almost like he is brainwashed. That right there is quite a statement as well. It’s nice to know that back in the day movies could still be jam packed with messages. I feel like the younger generation takes older films for granted and doesnt see them as anything with any value. It’s a shame really. Its nice to know there are still so many great films out there that i have yet to see