According to Solomon, the presence of punctuation marks in every sentence is very important and critical. The reason for that is since punctuation lets the readers know where the stopping point of the sentence and be able to differentiate features between sentences, is one sentence still strongly related to the first one? (ig. using semicolon, etc). Besides that, Solomon also thinks that those punctuation marks can emphasize the readiness or preparedness of a sentence (What it's for, why is it there in relation to other sentences, etc). create special meanings (ig. question marks make the readers wonder & think, enchance the loudness of sentence by putting exclamation mark at the end of it), manipulate the speed of how to read the sentences (ig. coma slows the readers down, period totally stops the sentence, etc). (VR 282)
If we regard capital letters are letter being punctuated too, then we are assured by the fact that 'Capital' has a special purpose. The purpose would be to identify which words are important, and acquiring respect since they are highly regarded by people. The example for that would be nicknames (Mr. or Mrs.), titles of movies or novels (Lady In The Water), organization names (AT&T), position in working environment (CEO), and so forth. It also can be used to emphasize one or two words (or even the whole sentence), so that readers can pick those up and take those seriously (for instance. 'Eventually, the final decision is not up to you, but up to ACADEMIC AUTHORITIES!' In my opinion, the most interesting new punctuation that should be established and publicized due to its necessity to exist would be 'j/k', in which it means 'It's just a joke or humor'. J stands for Just, while K is Kidding. By having this everyone can tell more easily which one is a joke, and should not be taken seriously or linked strongly to the context of a piece.
Solomon, Martin. "The Power of Punctuation." Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: pg. 282-289
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Goffman argues that, for the most part of advertising, is usually depicted in a way that men are higher than women in matters of status. This has been proven through couple of convincing facts or pictures that show the status distinction by portraying men often times taller than the women (in many different types of positions). For some occasional cases, men can be equally tall or shorter than the women if the men have subordinate relations with the women (for instance. the man is a driver, and the lady is the princess). It is apparent that visual images in advertisements have dramatically changed over years. Nowadays, society have proliferated their acceptance, opened their minds on the social level of gender. Social gender have become more and more equally distinguished, meaning that men and women are equal at any level. The real issue that appears would be, do this equal measurement between men and women apply to the public media, especially in advertisements? If so, all the pictures on the media should represent equal respect and treatment among men and women, .
I disagree with Goffman's opinion since he believes that the world of advertising would be dominated with men positioned higher than the women. Evidently, a lot of recent advertisements (the modern, millenium era) have portrayed even appreciation towards both men and women, and their body posture and positions on the media or advertisements don't affect much the thoughts on the viewers. Another strong point that I could use as a feedback for my argument is that Hillary Clinton had the opportunity to sign up for presidential position, and she is in fact, a female. This indicates the empowerment of women have widely accepted, in which it means in all media, women and men no matter in what kind of situations they are, no matter who's taller than the other, are equal in social rank. It might be true that in older years, people have been accustomed to the living where women become the followers and home , while the men are always the breadwinners and the ones who have the authorities to run the family completely. However, era has changed, and social status has shifted to a whole another level.
Goffman, Erving. "GENDER ADVERTISEMENTS": pg. 28-80
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Blog #3 -- Blair's Argument
Blair's main point would be if visual argument is considerably and possibly to exist or present, and if so, it means that it can be an argument and not distinct from the ones created through verbal forms, but how?. He believes that it is true to regard a single image as a possibly powerful and influential tool to convey a message or strong point, in which the image itself can induce an argument to argue about. But is it always stronger than the verbal cues or description using words? Blair explains the possibility for visual argument to present in the various kinds of visual forms that are commonly known and understood by society. They are: Dramatic Painting & Sculpture, Magazine & other Static Visual Ads, Television Commercials, Political Cartoons, Non Propositional Argument, etc. (VR 349, 352, 356-357) Another point that he attempts to point out is, a visual can be in fact, a really strong, controversial issue or argument, yet it is still possible that is would be very weak and won't be considered as argument as it lacks features of images or verbal forms such as little descriptions; same thing applies to verbal (sometimes just using words, it is real hard for us to draw a point of view or understanding, in which it would be better if a nice, related picture is provided)
I absolutely agree with his perspective on this issue 'Whether or not Visual Arguments can exist?' However, in my own points of view and understanding, the best form to provide an argument is a nice combination of visual and verbal contents. For example: A person is smoking happily but right underneath the person, there is a picture of his lungs that have black gas with a skull and cross-bones image in it (It's poisonous); plus there's a short, little line at the very bottom of the image saying, 'Still wanna smoke more?'. It is apparent that there have been quite a number of visual forms (already mentioned above) that create an argument for most people, and the argument is simple and understood one-way for the most part.
But for the most part, I disagree with his opinion that there are a lot of controversial or argumentative visual forms. I am quite sure that a regular person who never tries to delve into the world of argumentative images, would not be able to accumulate and create a collection of controversial or argumentative visual forms. Yes he can but it won't be many. I think verbal forms have more potential to be argumentative than visual since verbal is incredibly huge, I mean it is a wide range of understanding which can be entirely covered with words.
Most of the time, just with words, readers would get the point of the issue or solution, and they would be the same inclusively. However, just through an image, people will have big chances to interpret it differently since image provided itself can make people appeal to different thoughts which differ based on their routes of thinking, their experience, etc. So, most likely the visual forms can misguide, therefore sometimes people don't really get the point, then they don't think that visual form is containing argument, even others might think so.
Blair, Anthony J. "The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments." Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: pg. 344-362
I absolutely agree with his perspective on this issue 'Whether or not Visual Arguments can exist?' However, in my own points of view and understanding, the best form to provide an argument is a nice combination of visual and verbal contents. For example: A person is smoking happily but right underneath the person, there is a picture of his lungs that have black gas with a skull and cross-bones image in it (It's poisonous); plus there's a short, little line at the very bottom of the image saying, 'Still wanna smoke more?'. It is apparent that there have been quite a number of visual forms (already mentioned above) that create an argument for most people, and the argument is simple and understood one-way for the most part.
But for the most part, I disagree with his opinion that there are a lot of controversial or argumentative visual forms. I am quite sure that a regular person who never tries to delve into the world of argumentative images, would not be able to accumulate and create a collection of controversial or argumentative visual forms. Yes he can but it won't be many. I think verbal forms have more potential to be argumentative than visual since verbal is incredibly huge, I mean it is a wide range of understanding which can be entirely covered with words.
Most of the time, just with words, readers would get the point of the issue or solution, and they would be the same inclusively. However, just through an image, people will have big chances to interpret it differently since image provided itself can make people appeal to different thoughts which differ based on their routes of thinking, their experience, etc. So, most likely the visual forms can misguide, therefore sometimes people don't really get the point, then they don't think that visual form is containing argument, even others might think so.
Blair, Anthony J. "The Possibility and Actuality of Visual Arguments." Visual Rhetoric in a Digital World: pg. 344-362
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Embarassing Story
It was about couple years ago when I was still in the first year of middle school, back in my home country, Indonesia. Here's just a nostalgia of one embarassing yet beautiful moments in my childhood that I will never forget. I still remember that I used to be an 'obligated' pianist, sort of. It was in December, and in order to celebrate Christmas, it is a tradition in my home country for most 'rich' society to have an extravagant party at a luxurious place with expensive cost. Frankly, I was a member of music organization that is very popular and influential in my home country, and has spread its popularity to Europe, attracting European musicians to come visit Indonesia just to observe and appreciate how young musicians in my home country could compete against others, specifically European artists. Quite frankly, I was not really into playing piano. Then, there was rumor about a concert that would be exhibited in a famous Westin-hotel ballroom, and all current well-known musicians would be there, including the ones from Europe. I was one of the few people who were honored to represent pieces by well-known ancient Europian pianists like Chopin, Beethoven, etc during that concert. I know that a lot of people would be happy to have that kind of opportunity due to its 'big' sound, but it didn't excite me at all since I have stage-fear (up until now), especially if I am forced to stand alone and perform. A week before the big concert, I have been notified that it would be very crowded, compact with audience who are mostly wealthy parents with a children at least. Also the number was predicted to be about hundreds, since the location was so it was possible to gather so many people across the city in there. Hearing that from another source made me nervous and scared to hell since it is the fact that it would be the first time for me to perform live on-stage in front of people, or may I say, 'rich' people with high expectations.
My mom is a type of person who loves to brag about anything she owns, especially when it comes to me and my siblings. If any new guests are having the chance to come over our house, my mom would not let go the opportunity of showing off. I have counted how many times she mentioned and explained every trophy that my siblings & I have collected throughout our lives, it was like myriad. Honestly, It pretty much embarrassed me every time that happened. However, I love the fact that my mom always wants to take the best out of me, my brother, and my sister. For instance, among the three children, I am the best who could master piano well and fast; therefore I am the only one who should keep on bettering off myself at playing piano by taking constant piano lessons and hard exams every year. It is true that I often played Piano in the livingroom when no one was around, except my mom. It was just for fun, to calm my mind by listening to beautiful, classic song by wonderful European pianists in ancient time. Nevertheless, it did not mean I wanted to continue on pursuing piano lesson because obviously, I did not want to be a pianist, nor any other musicians occupations. But the real issue was, my mom did not notice that. Plus I got peer-pressure from my sister and brother that playing piano is worthless, and can make you weak at every aspect of life. I was still very young, so everything my family said I would take that into consideration deeply, regard those as true, stupid me.
The concert was about to be held in about a week. It's about time. Once, I was thinking , but there's no turning back since my mom and the piano organization said it was too late, there's no way for them to replace me with someone else because the song that I was about to play took weeks to master. I was very shocked and terrified, it was totally nerve-breaking to me. Knowing that, I forced myself to keep practicing, smoothening the play so that it looked professional and did not sound messy or pausy. But the big matter was the time left, and I haven't mastered the skill of playing the piece well. Surprisingly, a miracle happened. All of sudden, a day before the concert, I could play the piece fluently with lots of confidence. Maybe because the pressure was so hard on me, made me able to master it in no time. I am still pretty astonished by that, actually. Finally, that day has come and all audience (around 500 people) started having seats. Most of the males were wearing formals and tuxedos, whereas the females were wearing beautiful, expensive gowns with lots of accessories. Overall, the situation would make you bad if you embarass yourself since the professionalism in dress-up and attitudes require all people there to look professional and educated, too. The location, dinner tables' setting, light-setting, etc were very elegant. Then, after 10-minutes of preface and 20 minutes to have an interesting opening show, the piano part began. All the pianists were in line behind the stage, where the performers presented their pieces in turn, one by one. I was among them. It was finally my turn to show up on the stage. First, what I heard was a long, continuous clap from the audience that clamorring all over the sides of the ballroom. I could even see their smiley face and their eyes were on me. These gestures made me more and more nervous. I took a bow, and it was very quick since I wanted to get it over quickly, too. Then, I grabbed the chair and adjusted it so I could play the piano comfortably. I was so nervous until I forgot to wipe the piano woods so that the oil from previous player's fingers could be rid of. Hence, I subconsciously played with a very fast pace because the blocks of woods were very slippery. At first, I played really well and smooth. However, my nervousness did not stop invade my body and mind. Unfortunately, right in the middle part of the piece, I slipped my fingers off the piano blocks due to its slipperiness, cutting out the piece completely. I was very very scared, and did not know what to do. I tried to continue, but I forgot which part did I left off. So, visceral response of me came out. I looked over at the audience, and started giggling like an idiot, and then stopped. A minute after that, I started the piece all over again, from the beginning. Luckily, this time it was fluent, not too fast, and much better than the first one. Shockingly, no one laughed at that time, and everyone seemed to be very happy and satisfied with my performance. They gave me louder applause after I finished playing my piece. I was already extremely embarassed so I did not take a second bow to the audience, instead I rushed backstage as fast as I could. Nonetheless, I could not take away the shame that I committed, and up until now, I can't forget this embarassing precious memory. But, the truth of matter is, I was very proud of myself too since considering me as a young pianist who could play such difficult, intricate classic piece, since usually the ones who can play that piece are those who have at least mastered 8th level of piano lesson, while I was still in the 5th level.
My mom is a type of person who loves to brag about anything she owns, especially when it comes to me and my siblings. If any new guests are having the chance to come over our house, my mom would not let go the opportunity of showing off. I have counted how many times she mentioned and explained every trophy that my siblings & I have collected throughout our lives, it was like myriad. Honestly, It pretty much embarrassed me every time that happened. However, I love the fact that my mom always wants to take the best out of me, my brother, and my sister. For instance, among the three children, I am the best who could master piano well and fast; therefore I am the only one who should keep on bettering off myself at playing piano by taking constant piano lessons and hard exams every year. It is true that I often played Piano in the livingroom when no one was around, except my mom. It was just for fun, to calm my mind by listening to beautiful, classic song by wonderful European pianists in ancient time. Nevertheless, it did not mean I wanted to continue on pursuing piano lesson because obviously, I did not want to be a pianist, nor any other musicians occupations. But the real issue was, my mom did not notice that. Plus I got peer-pressure from my sister and brother that playing piano is worthless, and can make you weak at every aspect of life. I was still very young, so everything my family said I would take that into consideration deeply, regard those as true, stupid me.
The concert was about to be held in about a week. It's about time. Once, I was thinking , but there's no turning back since my mom and the piano organization said it was too late, there's no way for them to replace me with someone else because the song that I was about to play took weeks to master. I was very shocked and terrified, it was totally nerve-breaking to me. Knowing that, I forced myself to keep practicing, smoothening the play so that it looked professional and did not sound messy or pausy. But the big matter was the time left, and I haven't mastered the skill of playing the piece well. Surprisingly, a miracle happened. All of sudden, a day before the concert, I could play the piece fluently with lots of confidence. Maybe because the pressure was so hard on me, made me able to master it in no time. I am still pretty astonished by that, actually. Finally, that day has come and all audience (around 500 people) started having seats. Most of the males were wearing formals and tuxedos, whereas the females were wearing beautiful, expensive gowns with lots of accessories. Overall, the situation would make you bad if you embarass yourself since the professionalism in dress-up and attitudes require all people there to look professional and educated, too. The location, dinner tables' setting, light-setting, etc were very elegant. Then, after 10-minutes of preface and 20 minutes to have an interesting opening show, the piano part began. All the pianists were in line behind the stage, where the performers presented their pieces in turn, one by one. I was among them. It was finally my turn to show up on the stage. First, what I heard was a long, continuous clap from the audience that clamorring all over the sides of the ballroom. I could even see their smiley face and their eyes were on me. These gestures made me more and more nervous. I took a bow, and it was very quick since I wanted to get it over quickly, too. Then, I grabbed the chair and adjusted it so I could play the piano comfortably. I was so nervous until I forgot to wipe the piano woods so that the oil from previous player's fingers could be rid of. Hence, I subconsciously played with a very fast pace because the blocks of woods were very slippery. At first, I played really well and smooth. However, my nervousness did not stop invade my body and mind. Unfortunately, right in the middle part of the piece, I slipped my fingers off the piano blocks due to its slipperiness, cutting out the piece completely. I was very very scared, and did not know what to do. I tried to continue, but I forgot which part did I left off. So, visceral response of me came out. I looked over at the audience, and started giggling like an idiot, and then stopped. A minute after that, I started the piece all over again, from the beginning. Luckily, this time it was fluent, not too fast, and much better than the first one. Shockingly, no one laughed at that time, and everyone seemed to be very happy and satisfied with my performance. They gave me louder applause after I finished playing my piece. I was already extremely embarassed so I did not take a second bow to the audience, instead I rushed backstage as fast as I could. Nonetheless, I could not take away the shame that I committed, and up until now, I can't forget this embarassing precious memory. But, the truth of matter is, I was very proud of myself too since considering me as a young pianist who could play such difficult, intricate classic piece, since usually the ones who can play that piece are those who have at least mastered 8th level of piano lesson, while I was still in the 5th level.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
DTC 355's BLOG
Foss's definition of Rhetoric would be the use of symbols that are very important at conveying message or communicating. Symbols have been around since the era when living creatures were first born on earth. For example, Ancient Egyptians sculpted lots of majestic Pharaoh's statues. They did this to symbolize the majestic power of the Pharaoh, as their trusted king. Another example, would be how early humans could survive through just by using tools to hunt animals. And it is obvious that the tools for hunting animals developed and got more and more advanced over time, and this symbolizes that humans knowledge can grow, and enable them to advance and be prosperous using their brain and tools as the media. All the symbols just mentioned were critical interpretations of Foss's argument because besides those existing as symbols, they also represent other meanings, messages, or understandings behind them. In my opinion, Rhetoric is globally understood as a means of persuasion using language. This part is interesting because we all know that language is accumulation symbols that have been regarded as understandable by many people (or at least people who are speaking the same language, for instance English).
Basically, when someone is using rhetoric, he or she would attempt to persuade the audience using their flowery or straightforward approach by using symbols (i.e. language) in order for them to accept or get their ideas.
Google's Definition:
- The art or study of using language effectively and persuasively
"Rhetoric". Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/rhetoric
- Rhetoric may be defined as the faculty of observing in any given case the available means of persuasion
Aristotle's Rhetoric. American Rhetoric - Selected Moments. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/aristotleonrhetoric.htm
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