Blog 8: Pulp Fiction

            I chose to watch the movie Pulp Fiction because it was the easiest to find. The movie opens to two people sitting in a booth at a restaurant. They begin to talk about how they should rob the restaurant because liquor stores are overdone and no one robs restaurants. So they decide to rob the restaurant, and it cuts off to Vincent (John Travolta) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) driving in a car talking about how different the world is compared to America, more specifically Amsterdam and France. Jules also brings up Marsellus’s overreaction to Antoine over his wife and he warns Vincent to be careful when he takes her out. They go to this apartment of Marcellus business associates who have been with-holding money. He starts off threatening them over their hamburger breakfast to shooting them. The movie titles this next section as Vincent Vega and Marcellus’s Wife. It flashes over to the bar where Butch and Marsellus are making a deal for Butch to throw the fight in the 5^th. It then flashes from Vincent meeting Marsellus to Vincent getting drugs from Lance. There is a montage of him shooting up and driving to meet Mia for dinner. When he gets there she is watching him through cameras, talking to him through the intercom, and snorting drugs before they go to dinner. They go to dinner at Jack Rabbit Slims, a 50s themed restaurant, and she makes him enter a twist contest because she wants the trophy. They go back to her home and while he is in the bathroom she finds his heroin and snorts it. She OD’s making him lose his mind and he takes her to Lance’s where they shoot her with Adrenaline and she is fine. They agree to keep this incident between them.

            The movie then flashes to a memory of Butch’s where he gets his father’s watch from a fellow POW, who was trapped with his father. He wakes from his memory and goes to fight. The section then changes to The Gold Watch. He is escaping from the window after winning the fight. He learns in the Taxi that he killed the man, so he makes his way to a hidden place to see his girlfriend and make an escape plan. Eventually he finds out that she forgot his watch and he decides to go back for it. He gets his watch back but Marsellus has found him. Butch is running while Marcellus is shooting at him, and Butch goes to hide in a pawn shop. He decides to beat up Marcellus and they are both captured by the owner. Who then proceeds to invite his friend to come over and the friend rapes Marsellus. Butch escapes but decides to come back for Marsellus. He kills the one and Marsellus the other, and in the end Marcellus tells him to leave and never come back.

            The next part is titled the Bonnie situation, they go back to Brett and take his friend Marvin back with them. Vincent accidentally kills Marvin and they go to Jules’s friend Jimmy’s home. They call Marsellus for help and he sends Mr. Wolf to help them take care of the situation before Jimmy’s wife Bonnie comes back from work. They get rid of the car at Monster Joe’s and decide to go to breakfast. They go to breakfast at the same place as the couple who decided to rob the restaurant. It turns out it is the same and they eventually try to get the money from Jules and he turns it back on them. He gives them money and everyone leaves.

            I think this movie gave a completely different texture and tone. It is because of the way they tell the story out of order. I think it fits with the content of the movie perfectly though. It gives the movie a serious comical tone if that makes any sense. If the move were more traditional it would be laid out completely differently. It would begin with Vincent and Jules going to the apartment and the scene would continue until they take Marvin. It would take them to accidentally killing Marvin, to Jimmy’s house to Mr. Wolf helping them. Then the original beginning would happen, cut off before the man calls the waiter garcon, and continue on until everyone leaves. It would go to the bar with Vincent and continue on normally, but Butch’s story would be the very ending of the movie. I am not sure if this would be better because this movie is odd.

            I would give this movie a B because despite the disjointed flow of the movie it did hold my interest. I think the movie would be more conjoined if it followed a different format. The movie felt like someone telling the story in a haze. They would continue telling their story and then go back because they missed a detail.

Dusty the Klepto Cat

The odd Wikipedia article I ended up settling on is Dusty the Klepto Kitty. Dusty is a 9 year old Snowshoe cat. He was born on March 20, 2006, and adopted from the Peninsula Humane Society by Jean Chu and Jim Coleman. Dusty and his owners now live in San Mateo, California. He was life seemed normal until 2008 when his parents noticed unusual items around the house. There were objects in weird places, and they were unsure that they owned them. Wikipedia actually lists his occupation as a cat burglar.

            His thievery did not become well known until he appeared on the Animal Planet show Must Love Cats in February 2011. The crew set up motion sensor cameras and caught Dusty bringing his stolen goods home. This led to his story being covered on KGO-TV of San Francisco and a David Letterman appearance in February of 2011. He has become a national and international celebrity from these videos. Also, he was chosen as the Grand Marshall of Redwood City in May 2011, and a celebrity guest at the Peninsula Humane Society adopt-a-thon. His kitty-cam footage from the Animal Planet documentary inspired others. Dusty’s behavior ended up being a three minute short on the Puss in Boots DVD entitled “Klepto Kitty.” His owners also maintain a Facebook page to keep his fans up to date with his finds.

            He has earned the nickname Klepto Kitty because he has brought home over 600 stolen items. He has stolen all of these prowling the garden, and his record is 11 items in one night. He has been caught on camera carrying home a bra. He has stolen a total of 16 car wash mitts, 7 sponges, 213 dish towels, 7 wash cloths, 5 towels, 18 shoes, 73 socks, 100 gloves, 1 pair of mittens, 3 aprons, 40 balls, 4 pairs of underwear, 1 dog collar, 6 rubber toys, 1 blanket, 3 leg warmers, 2 Frisbees, 1 golf club head cover, 1 safety mask, 2 mesh bags, 1 bag of water balloons, 1 pair of pajama pants, 8 bathing suits, and 8 miscellaneous objects.

            I have never heard of anything like this before and it was interesting to find this on Wikipedia. This seems like something that would be covered online or on television as a one-off. The information is not useful unless it was a cat where I lived stealing things. Dusty is on a completely different coast then I am. Though it is interesting to see this develop in a cat, and not an animal that usually exhibits this quality or a human. This article was just something weird that had caught my eye and I narrowed it down to write about this particular subject. A cat that is an actual cat burglar is not something you hear every day.

There is a whole section of unusual articles that can be found on Wikipedia after all. I believe it was Dusty’s celebrity power that ‘earned’ him a Wiki page. Not only was this cat on Animal Planet, but he made it on Letterman. This is a pretty significant for an unusual cat. This promoted him into being a celebrity on a national and international level. People around the world know about this cat and his occupation. His owners also operate a social media presence that updates you on him and his treasures. In 2011 this was pretty significant.

            A Wiki page is a great spot for this article, but I think that it could have been shared elsewhere as well. We get a background of where Dusty is from, what he did, and what it has allowed him to become just from this one page. There were a few things that could have helped with a few pictures or a different approach to the story. I did not know what a Snowshoe cat is and it is not made clear anywhere on the page. I had to look it up and a Snowshoe is a crossbreed of a Siamese, bi-color American Short-hair cats, and other breeds. It might have been easier to include the information or have a different source take on Dusty’s story.

For the full Wikipedia page, you can go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_the_Klepto_Kitty

Blog 2

The assignment was to read an article that is not on the front page. The article I found in the Keystone can be found on page 12 in the Arts & Entertainment section of the paper. The article is titled "KU illustration professor publishes children's comic book and was written by Viviana Vidal. I chose this article because as a writer, the word book appealed to me. Every section in a newspaper has something to draw a reader in, whether it be a word or an image.

In this article, you can tell the pride the author holds in that the author is a professor here at Kutztown. Professor Kevin McCloskey is a professor of communication design and illustration. He named the book, "We Dig Worms." The book itself is too teach children about earthworms. The article also features a picture of McCloskey holding the book with a smile on his face. You can tell his pride in his work not only from the image, but in the entire article.

Throughout this article it is reiterated that this illustrated book is to draw and enthuse kids about reading. To those who are reluctant to read, through vibrant images he hopes to bring those readers into the story. He also states that it unites all kinds of children because no matter the background they have seen a worm before.

Through this article, it is easy to see that McCloskey loves nature and the environment around him. Even his book is printed from recycled paper bags in support for his conservation efforts. You learn how seriously he takes those efforts not only from the way the book was printed, but in the subject matter. The earthworm is part of nature.

As consumer's, the article also tells you where you can purchase the book. Vidal gives four different locations where you can buy it. I see this as, if the article interested you enough to want to buy the book, well then here is where you can get it. The last paragraph tells us to look out for his next book release in April of 2016 and that it will be about pigeons. So we know the subject matter of the book and around the exact date that it will be released. Well go out and pre-order it now is what is being said.

Introduction and Reflection

Hello,

So there are a few things you need to know about me. First, my name is Shannon and I created this blog as part of my Mass Communications Class. As a Professional Writing major, my hobbies include reading and writing. My overall goal for myself at the moment is to publish a book within the next two years.

Reflecting on my professor's post, I would have to put myself in the middle. Neither agreeing to it nor disagreeing. The virtual world and its media can be daunting. How much should you share about yourself to your audience? You do not want to share too much or too little. Create a balance on what you are comfortable with sharing. This will be your presence and no one else's on the internet. Your words, thoughts, and ideas being shared throughout the world. The media and trends are ever changing, and that is something that will not stop. You could follow them or you can take your own path. Make of it what you will.

In the virtual world, it can be hard to look beyond the words on the page. Whether those words are harmful or encouraging. One will make you feel better about yourself and the other can bring you down. In the end, they are just words and words can be forgotten. As I have mentioned before that the media and the trends are ever changing. Online, what was popular last week might not be popular in the present. Each of us have a different experience, new ideas on what is important, and what will fade away. What do you choose to look deeper at? How do you consume and examine media?  This is all up to you.