Target- Vocabulary of the medium

Today we begin to build our available vocabulary for your future review.  It is important that you select the medium for your review (music, film, television, food, video games, books, etc.) so we can begin the process of drafting.  The preliminary step is to build our vocabulary that is specific to the target of our review.  So we need to read several reviews and prune the language specific to this medium.

A) Select your target.  (Film,Album,Show,Restaurant,Tech, Video Game, Books, etc)
B) Peruse critics from established professional publications. Select one critic that you enjoy and pick a range of their reviews from positive, negative, to "meh".
C) Create a Google doc (do not need to share with me) and copy and paste no less than 4 lengthy reviews reflecting a range of ratings.
D) Now begin to read reviews and copy the vocabulary unique to the  target (cacophony, wide angle, etc) into the Review Vocabulary notes in Classroom.  Tuck away words that will help you show fluency in the medium.  Remember how we highlighted red for ethos?  Orange for tilted language?  Pull out these words and your future self will be most thankful when you are drafting your review.  (Here is a big pile of music vocab note tilting for positive or negative)
E) Of course, observe the structure of the review.  Think about how the writer opened the review.  How were the areas of critique organized?  What were the comparisons?

I have linked for you several quality professional reviewers below.  So what is your medium of choice for a review?  music, film, television, food, video games, books, theater, etc.

Here are some of my favorite reviewers of Film/TV
A.O. Scott       Manohla Dargis       Peter Travers  (Rolling Stone)

Roger Ebert- Suntimes          AV Club                   Salon.com             
TV-Andy Greenwald ( Grantland)

 Music- Rolling Stone (Brief)               Paste               Pitchfork             AV Club                              Steven Hyden (Grantland)

Technology- Recode   Wired

AV Club has sharp reviews as well...Movies, Music, TV, Books,
Grantland

Crack the code on humor

How about this zinger from A.O. Scott's recent review of The Walk...

Mr. Petit, an elfin Frenchman with a terrible haircut (appositive), is played by the manic-pixie song-and-dance man Joseph Gordon-Levitt as an irrepressible imp, greeting the audience in accented English from a perch on the Statue of Liberty’s torch(participial). The Manhattan skyline — digitally rendered to include the towers and to omit more recent construction(participial set off by dash) — stretches out in the background, and the lady in the harbor stoically tolerates the presence of her voluble compatriot.

You might have a harder time. Let me see if I can put the matter in scientific terms. Philippe, in addition to being an aspiring wire walker, is a juggler, a mime and a unicyclist.(parallel structure) He is, as I’ve mentioned, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. This makes him, objectively speaking(participial qualifier), the most annoying person on earth. And “The Walk,” before ascending into the New York sky, tries to seduce you with forced amazement and sleeve-tugging (noun + participle modifier) displays of whimsy. Instead of wowing you, the movie gets in your face and yells, “Wow!” It’s not quite the same feeling. 

from A.O Scott's review of The Hobbit

In “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s first Middle-earth fantasy novel, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) sets out with the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and a posse of dwarfs to battle a fearsome dragon. [Spoiler alert] they do not kill the dragon, although [spoiler alert] they eventually will, within the next 18 months or so, because [spoiler alert] this “Hobbit,” which is [migraine alert] 170 minutes, is the first installment in [film critic suicide-watch alert] a trilogy.

I love clever reviews of disappointing albums.  Here is a excerpt of John Caramanica's ...review of Lil Wayne most recent album. 

He’s a punch-line rapper who rarely thinks about his lines beyond the rhyming couplet. Coherent verses are a rarity, coherent songs even more so. And his choice of words often feels arbitrary; he’s not obsessed with picking the right ones or the most important ones or the most revealing ones... 

In recent years, but especially on this album, he’s become the least quotable great rapper, with lines that land harder more because of his voice than because of his wit, which was once prodigious. Because Lil Wayne has been so sharp, so dexterous in the past, it’s tempting (and ultimately necessary) to overanalyze him. But even on this album’s weak tracks, and there are several, he remains a commanding presence, deploying just enough of his insistent croak to tether the song together. He doesn’t bother appearing on two of the best tracks on the album, “Interlude” and “Outro,” which are instead full of eager guests.

Here is some clever writing from a review for Project X

A grimly depressing, glumly unfunny teensploitation comedy about an epic all-night party that devolves into anarchy, Project X also is an intriguing blank slate, a sort of crude art object upon which viewers can project whatever feelings they have about the degenerative high jinks on display, since the film itself offers none. In that sense, this strange teaming of producers Todd Phillips and Joel Silver provides a curious cultural, generational and even political touchstone, one that will enthrall a portion of the high school/college age demographic it depicts, just as it alternately outrages, confounds and disgusts other, presumably older audiences.

our editor recommends

The first question posed by this action painting of resolute irresponsibility is: Have teenagers always been this idiotic, or does Project X move the goalposts? The second might be: Did earlier generations approach having a good time with such surly determination? And the third is, definitely: Does this film set the standard for the nausea-inducing use of the unsteady cam?

Micro-review breakdowns

Intro Metaphor from NYT Lede

After circling each other for the past year, President Obama and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia squared off on Monday at theUnited Nations in dueling speeches that presented starkly different views on the Syrian crisis and how to bring stability to the Middle East.

  For Wednesday-

• Micro-review #3 (230 Word Count)- Add your 3rd review in the same doc that kept review #1 & #2.  
• A) New stolen sentence B) (allusion + esque/ian/-like) C) noun + participle modifier

Reviews- The Bad, The Badder, The Ugly

                          Warriors-esque
Great way to add description where the right word is not available to capture it.  Take an allusion from pop culture/literature/ history (don't be too obscure for your audience) + ian or esque or -like. Adds flavor but as always use in moderation.Punch up your adjectives when no word current exists that can capture the essence...

• Flintstonian(adj) beef ribs(noun)
• Jordanesque (adj) fadeaway (noun)
• Matrix-like (adj) evasion (noun)

 What a food review from Pete Wells once again

Chase the scent of great barbecue in New York City, and you are rooting for a team that will, sooner or later, let you down. You are a Red Sox fan in any season from 1919 to 2003. There will be enough victories to keep the dream flickering, and there will be nights when you watch the ball hop between the first baseman’s legs.
But every loss feeds a new hope in your heart. This winter, hope came in threes. Barbecue hounds ran to Gowanus to get burnt ends and char siu pork steak at Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue, and to Williamsburg to find out whether BrisketTown deserved to be crowned the Brisket King of New York in a recent cook-off. They descended on the East Village to take apart Flintstonian beef ribs at Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque and watch men in heavy black gloves grab pork shoulder by the fistful and shake it into dripping hunks — yes, real pulled pork on Second Avenue.
All three places slow-cook their barbecue with hardwood only, no gas allowed. All three places serve meat that is largely raised on pastures or outdoors, including pork from old breeds with flavorful rosy flesh and a thick girdle of white fat that bastes the meat as it melts. 

For Tuesday:

• Finish the Allusion slide
• Write your 2nd micro review underneath Friday's review-this time negative (230 WC)- 1) Steal a sentence 2) allusion modifier (esque, -ian, -like) 

Allusions

For Tuesday-
Allusions- Sign up 
Content requirements

1. Brief history of the expression.  
2. Explain the context and connotation of how/ when it is most effective to use
3. Find two professional examples.

5/6   and 10

Reviews Day 1! Steal this sentence

For Friday:

• Via Classroom- Write a 230+ word review of (movie/album-song/restaurant/tv episode/etc) Can be +/-.
•  I want you to steal a sentence from one of the AV Club reviews and make it yours with your word choice. Highlight it.
• Continue layer examples of participial/appositive/prepositional/adjective/adverbial as the opportunity arises in your critique.  

Round 3- We're All Water...

James Franco Grammie Round 2 Winners-

Winner 5/6

Able to unmask the reality of his hopeless destiny with a true love and too apprehensive to utter even a word to another human being, he finds the only person able to ever fulfill his infatuations is his own self. Hypnotized by his appearance, his longing for seduction grows with every stare at himself. He tries to amuse himself on a conversation of passion with the mirrored image but finds his only satisfaction can be  Kirsten!

Winner 10-

Tremors rippled through his core, failing to breach the surface of his countenance. Once more, he gazes into the glass only to find cold isolation: he is utterly alone. The corners of his mouth suddenly reach upward, shattering any reluctance. As he attempts to quiet anxiety he reaches in for the first kiss, a gentle caress. Closing his eyes, he imagines meeting soft, warm, kind flesh but instead is greeted by glass-- Jenna!

1. What do you see?
2. What do you hear?
3. How do you describe the events of this performance from start to finish?
4. What extended metaphor might capture the feel of this performance?

Yoko Ono - We're All Water Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

There may not be much difference
Between Chairman Mao and Richard Nixon
If we strip them naked
There may not be much difference
Between Marilyn Monroe and Lenny Bruce
If we check their coffins

There may not be much difference
Between White House and Hall of People
If we count their windows
There may not be much difference
Between Raquel Welsh and Jerry Rubin
If we hear their heartbeat

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

There may not be much difference
Between Eldridge Cleaver and Queen of England
If we bottle their tears
There may not be much difference
Between Manson and the Pope
If we press their smile

There may not be much difference
Between Rockefeller and you
If we hear you sing
There may not be much difference
Between you and me
If we show our dreams

We're all water from different rivers
That's why it's so easy to meet
We're all water in this vast, vast ocean
Someday we'll evaporate together

What's the difference?
What's the difference?

There's no difference
There's no difference
What's the difference?

What's the difference?


For this memorable performance by Yoko Ono-
Let's attempt to capture 2 parts:
A) Extend a metaphor of comparison
B) Use participial, appositive, prepositional, adjective, and adverbial clauses (See Sentence Spice)

What is an antithesis?

Monday! Time to draft the essay

For Tuesday:

• Today in class you will select the prompt for your essay.  You may use the prompt worthy quote you posted on Tricider but I would like you to take time to see what your classmates posted in both periods 5/6 and 10.
• After you finalized your decision, the essay doc is posted via Classroom.  Follow my sample here but we are modeling how to write a successful Q3, only this time you have 2 full days to outline and draft it.  This means initially you will make an outline composed of recently covered texts as well as other forms of varied support.  
• What you will need to demonstrate in this essay is a deliberate introduction that features sentence variety and successful handling of prompt.  Your support will be be patiently developed, varied, and also pay attention to syntax when opportunity exists.

#wegoreads @ItsCaptOz pic.twitter.com/lOVaVEhaKh

— Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) July 16, 2015

From yesterday's opinion section in Trib (use of anaphora)

I, like Martin Luther King Jr., still have the audacity to believe that, "peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land. "And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid." I still believe that "We shall overcome!"

I believe, as the Tribune series proclaimed in its closing paragraph, that every person deserves the "chance to be productive citizens participating in the American dream."

Or from conservative Opinion writer Ross Douthat (use of parallel structure with rhetorical question)

The fed-up columnists have reasonable questions for Trump-supporting Republicans. How can fiscal conservatives support a single-payer-praising crony capitalist? How can social conservatives support a thrice-married sybarite? How can anyone who mocked the celebrity element in Obama’s 2008 campaign embrace the host of Celebrity Apprentice?

or from liberal Opinion writer Gail Collins (effective use of : and periodic finish.)

If an elected official wants to try to drive Planned Parenthood out of business, there are two honest options: Announce that first you’re going to invest a ton of new taxpayer money in creating real substitutes, or shrug your shoulders and tell the world that you’re fine with cutting off health services to some of your neediest constituents.

Prompt Spotting...

For Monday-

1. Create the Snagit screen capture video of your ITW passages.  Remember this is a casual conversation of you linking the patterns of your evidence.  This should not take longer than 15 minutes.  Post Snagit link(s) to Classroom question-only I can see it.
2. Post the most prompt-worthy quote or passage from any of our readings.  This may be the prompt you choose to defend/challenge/ or qualify for the essay on Wednesday.  Post this... 5/6 and 10
3. If you choose to start collecting ideas/evidence...use the ITW Notes posted via Classroom.  

Listen to this fascinating story from Radiolab as a connection to Harris essay.

These opening paragraphs to the LA Times feature on refugees...

The gray rubber dinghy that carries Huda Malak, pregnant with her first child, sags to sea level as it approaches Lesbos. The overloaded raft has been taking on water since it launched from a crag off the Turkish shore, about six miles away.

The 18 Syrians on board desperately try to bail water from the sinking craft. Weight, they need to shed weight. They start jettisoning backpacks that hold most everything they still own. A trip that should have taken 45 minutes has lasted double that, and they are still a mile from the Greek island.

Suddenly, Malak’s husband, Tarek Sheikh, stands up.

“I’m doing this to save you, our child, and everyone on board,” Sheikh tells her.

Then he jumps overboard.

His weight makes the difference, and the raft chugs toward land as Malak looks back to where her husband disappeared into the Aegean.

Should we optimize our design?

For Friday:

• Read/annotate Sam Harris Edge Response Optimizing our Design (Posted via Classroom)
• Insert 4 comments observing persuasion/effect Harris makes to move reader closer to his thesis
• Insert 3 comments of personal reaction (agree/disagree/maybe) and briefly explain why...
• Defend, Challenge, or Qualify Harris claim of the need to "optimize our design." (1 paragraph minimum- complete on Harris doc & turn in)

        1) Adverbial conjunction 
        2) Evidence (in absence of available logos), use pathos 
        3)Two forms of sentence variety(See sentence spice)



Scariest Movie of the year?

Enjoy the Silence

You will be busy today:

• Briefly share your connections from your Style/ Characterization/ Theme within your groups.
• Now using your Snagit screencapture, I want you to thread the connections so I can hear how you recognize the patterns of your choices.  Hopefully you did not sling whatever first caught your eye and you indeed cultivated appropriate evidence that reveals patterns.  This will be obvious in your verbal defense in the screen capture discussion.  This is a casual discussion of your observations.  I am the only person who will hear it and if you want to post three separate videos instead of ones longer one, no worries.  What I want to hear is solid connection among the passages.  Finish by SUNDAY by posting the link(s) to question on Classroom.  
• Annotate the Emerson excerpt from Self Reliance (via Classroom)

Happy People/ Back Channel Day 2

Happy People dance to Hideaway (Why not?)

Let's try this one for a back channel today.

For Thursday:

• Plan ahead- Read the excerpts from Self Reliance posted on Classroom.  Follow the directions for annotation guidelines.  

Behold something so meta I can't crawl out from under it...a Trumpbow...Click with caution...

Thank you...Vania

Franco Votes and Snagit Prep

 James Franco vote for 5/6    10th

For Monday:

• Add Snagit
• Use this link of solid visual leads...pick a photo/map/political cartoon/Star Wars Meme or data set and explain it via the Snagit screen capture.  This is just an experiment so do not take more than a minute in your interpretation of the visual.  Post the link to the video in comment (no one will listen to yours).
• Via shared Slide with you...

 Type or attach three passages from each Style-what appears to be a pattern unique to Krakauer's style as a writer?-(3)/Theme(3)-Which theme jumped out at you and how did Krakaeur express it throughout the book? (3) /Characterization-What are the most distinguished passages that reveal Chris's persona?(3). The selection of your evidence must not be random as the collection should reveal trends that will evoke commentary. Don't forget why you selected these passages in the first place. Include page number and use passages from throughout the book. You do not need to jam all three passages on a single slide. You can erase the passage I included in the sample. No commentary needed at this point.


The power of illusion with word choice...Artisan...

Why not?  Artisinal $190 rock anyone?

Round 2-Participial +Appositve

Period 5/6-

Gradual and heavy, it approached. The concept of death disturbingly danced around her mind for the first time. Hesitantly she retreated, desperately grasping on to her last seconds of humanity. It had found the girl. She saw it for the first time, death was so close she could taste it. It tasted bitter, yet strangely sweet. She refused it at first, but accepted the resting tone. As she fell to the accepting warmth of the ground, her misguided hope reached for a shred of light. But she was already consumed, held tight in the grasping veil of darkness. Maximus

T-Bizz Award

Pierced with fright and the sharp, cutting nails of her kidnapper, the woman shrieked once more for help. Her tears uniting with the blood on her torn lips, she heard her scream simply echo into the darkness--no one was here but herself and the nightmare she used to admire. She sank to the floor as slow as he pronounced the word "b****", and let her nails scrape the cold wall, the only thing keeping her stable. She was solely shaking now, questioning how her brother could ever break her like this. Vania (you're killing me)

Period 10 Winners (Look at 5/6...Just saying...)

Shrieking in fear for her life, she fell slowly into an unholy abyss. P Dubs

Desperately reaching her hand out, pleading for someone to help, she slowly gave up and was drawn into the darkness. R Bears

Round 2- James Franco (Participial + Appositive)
For today's round I want you to describe this scene but use the both the participial and appositive. 2-4 sentences will be sufficient. Remember you are describing the character, not James Franco, the actor.

Rowling Notes for the Order of the Phoenix

Film Friday!

From Manohla Dargis's review of Gone Girl

Unspooling is such an inapt word — can brains, after all, be unspooled? — that it immediately puts dread in check. No matter how brutal the images generated by these words, surely there’s more in store than blunt-force entertainment. Well, yes and no, which is sometimes the case with Mr. Fincher. One of those filmmakers whose technical prowess can make the mediocrity of his material seem irrelevant (almost), Mr. Fincher is always the star of his work. His art can overwhelm characters and their stories to the point that they fade away, leaving you with meticulous staging and framing, and edits as sharp as blades. It’s no accident that the first time you fully see Nick Dunne, the man who had been discoursing so vividly about his wife’s head, he’s alone...
Mr. Fincher’s compositions, camera work and cutting are, as always, superbly controlled. Working again with the cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth and the production designer Donald Graham Burt, he fashions an ever more haunted, haunting world that wavers so violently between ordinariness and aberration that, as in his other movies, the two soon blur.

Visual Literacy by V. Deane

For Tuesday:
1) Read Desperate Crossing
2) Using the screenshot feature (see image below) select two scenes from this visually immersive report.  Paste into your Slide presentation on Classroom.  You do not have to write about it yet but be prepared to explain how you believe the intersection of photo/video/ text maximized the pathos(emotional appeal) of this report.

3) Bring Into the Wild starting next week.    

Parent Open House!

Thanks for stopping by tonight.  Here is the link to the class syllabus.  Feel free to check out old posts from past AP classes.

#wegoreads @ItsCaptOz pic.twitter.com/lOVaVEhaKh

— Brian Turnbaugh (@wegotwits) July 16, 2015

De Musset revisited

Now that we have a better grip on the format and style choices of the Q3 essay, let's go back and rework the de Musset prompt from summer reading.

"How glorious it is, but how painful it is also, to be exceptional in this world!" (in La Merle Blanc, 1842)   -Alfred de Musset

In a well-written essay, develop your position on the meaning of de Musset thought on exceptionalism. Use appropriate evidence from your reading of Into the Wild, experience, or observations to support your argument.

For Thursday:

• Bring your reworked outline.  Remember you want to draw from and ultimately connect or contast your evidence against the prompt.  (sports/anecdotal/literature/history/current events/psychology/sciences/music/ etc) 

During in-class essay

• Attack this prompt as we have the past three (Horace/Phillips/ Sontag) Draft an introduction to address the prompt-Remember the expectation now is that your syntax/ diction are to be as carefully cultivated as your structure.  So once you commit to your stance (support,refute, or qualify), begin the process of the sentence level craft.  
• Consider: parallel structure, rhetorical question, sentence spice, adverbial conjunction, and qualifiers (more easily, not merely, and not, say,,if at all, apparently,)
• Take the full class period.  I will be grading your introduction (gasp), commenting on your best evidence (not graded-*what you feel is your best support paragraph), and giving you a AP score (not counting, don't freak if it is not above a 5 at this point)
• If you were gone yesterday, review the range of student responses from the Sontag prompt(link above).  Get your copy of the de Musset summer reading prompt and your Adam Phillips response.  Begin to outline the de Musset prompt as if you were preparing for the Q3 (the types of essays we have studied these past two weeks).  Have that ready for tomorrow.

Good news for tomorrow- The RETURN OF FILM FRIDAY!!! YES!

Q3- Intro Practice

Grammies- 5/6   10

Adverbial Conjunction  and some sentence spice!
Let's review this prompt from 2001(scroll to page 4).  These are hefty thoughts about the role of photography in our current cultural mix; however, the good news is that there is no shortage of evidence to discuss the prompt.
Student sample of q3

For Wednesday:

• Create an outline for the prompt
• Draft an introduction to address the prompt-Remember the expectation now is that your syntax/ diction are to be as carefully cultivated as your structure.  So once you commit to your stance (support,refute, or qualify), begin the process of the sentence level craft.  
• Consider: parallel structure, rhetorical question, sentence spice, adverbial conjunction, and qualifiers (more easily, not merely, and not, say,,if at all, apparently,)
• Look to the sentences from Long Form essays for ideas/inspiration.