Eve 6 and Santa Fe

I went to the Eve 6 Concert last Friday at Santa Fe with people on on my floor. I really enjoyed it alot. I didn't think it was going to be that good becuase I always considered them a burnout 90's one hit wonder band. (I might have been a little harsh). It was the first concert I've been to since Virgin Fest, which was amazing, and I was pleasantly suprised how good it was. 

The opening band which I think is called Clayton Senne or somthing like that, was very good. I really liked the singers voice, his name was Clayton, was and the style of music they played. 

Eve 6 has aged alot over the 10 years. Which is understandable considering their 10 years older. But they sounded very good, almost exactly like the album, I had alot of fun and we were right at the front. I would definatly go again if I had the chance.

Mario Kart

Just thought I'd let all of you in on a very strange part of life here on the 8th Floor of Elkton. I have some friends down the hall who have Mario Kart down the hall. At first the game was exactly as it is, a game. The same people would always play and win, and people only showed up to have a quick "Kart Sesh." Slowly, the "Kart Sesh" has evolved into an extremely competitive league. Yeah, it may sound hilarious, but once you get blue-shelled right at the finish line, when you were in 1st place but now have dropped to 8th, only inches away from victory. Once you get hit with a red shell, get shrunk twice and then hit by bullet bill. You'll realize how addicting this game is. It is not uncommon to hear at the early hours of the morning, Rami or Peter screaming "FUCK, FUCK, FUUUUUUUUCK." You may think they're crazy, but when you start playing you understand their frustration. 

Recently, we put a ranking system up on the door just to make everything more chaotic. There are several tiers you can be placed in. Each tier has 3 people in it and there are around 5 tiers. This has only made the races even more competitive because there are long term effects to every race you participate in. Right now I'm in tier 2 but on any day I could move up or down depending on how I raced. I gotta go, got somekart to play.

The Fountain

The other night I saw a movie on a movie channel. The Fountain is a very different kind of movie. It was officially classified as a sci-fi movie but I considered it more of a drama. When I was looking up reviews of this movie after I saw it I got very mixed reviews. In fact almost exactly 1/2 the people who saw The Fountain hated it and the other 1/2 loved it. At first, I didn't understand the movie and didn't consider it a good movie. But, over and over I kept watching it whenever it was on TV. 

Visually The Fountain is a very beautiful movie. Every scene is intriguing to just watch and this is most likely what kept drawing me to the movie over and over. The plot involves the Hero (Hugh Jackmon) in 3 different time periods. It becomes more clear over the movie that the journey of these men are all identical. All 3 want to achieve immortality.

The difference between The Fountain and most other movies is in the plot development and the questions it creates. Most movies are meant for entertainment puposes and if they are meant to make you think, your thoughts are pushed towards a way of thinking through some direct way. However, The Fountain's plot development is more like a classic novel. Everything is very obscure and there is no obvious "eureka" moment at the end by the main character, which is evident to everyone viewing. This movie really forces you to interpret the meaning of the movie itself, and then raises some very interesting issues about life and death. 

Overall, The Fountain has grown on me. At first I thought it was a second rate movie that didn't achieve what it meant to. However, I have grown to love this movie and I enjoy watching a great amount. Allthough I can be certain I won't get any work done after watching it. 

Blogging Anxiety

Sometimes when I write my blog I feel the substantial pressure to please my potential viewers and my followers, all two of them. How will they respond to my questioning of controversial issues? Will they understand my jokes and my sarcasm? If I were to randomly find this blog stumbling through websites, would I be compelled to stay, or would I keep clicking until I found something with a "catchier" title?

But then I remember...I'm awesome.

Indiana Jones and the Sellout

The other day on iTunes I saw "The Best of 2008." It's a set of albums, movies, TV Shows, etc. That they put out at the end of every year. I was browsing through what they had and looked through the best Movies. I was shocked to see the listing. Most of the movies I couldn't argue with, after all it's a matter of opinion, I saw a good mix of new releases and classics. But then I saw listed under the best movies of 2008, Indian Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. 

I didn't really see any basis for this being included in the "best of" any category other than the best way to end a great series in a horrible murderous way. I consider myself an Indian Jones fanatic and I was looking forward to the release of this movie for years. I own the DVD set of the original trilogy and went to the midnight opening of The Crystal Skull on a school night. If this movie was average I would probably have gone and seen it twice. Just to take it all in. But, from my point of view, the movie I saw that night wasn't even an Indiana Jones movie. As a stand-alone movie it was average at best. But when compared to the original movies, the true horror of how bad the movie is comes out. The special effects were a tragedy and were obviously computer generated. In the original series nearly all the stunts were live-action. The movie was so full of computer generation it almost qualifies as an Animated Movie. Maybe Pixar should have produced the movie. 

Overall, as a standalone movie I considered it subpar at best. But when compared to the Original Trilogy it's pretty much the worst movie ever made. iTunes what were you thinking. 

Centsports

Well sports fans, I've got something you're gonna love. Some people on my floor told me about centsports.com, a betting website. Advertisers are not only paying for their ad-space but their paying so that you can get a whopping 10 cents to bet on any sporting event. So little money has never had so much meaning. You can eventually cash out whatever money you win. I haven't gotten a chance to do that yet since I'm still under a dollar. Mostly because every week I put a majority of my money on the Packers and then they lose. The best part about the website is when you do lose all your money, you can just click for more, courtesy of advertisers. And you can even get a percentage bonus on top of your winnings courtesy of those same advertisers if you click on an ad or to. 

I told my parents all this and they smelled scam, I don't really blame them, but so far I haven't actually even looked at any advertisements and the spam I get to my e-mail address is still exactly the same as it was before, zero. Overall, I'd say its a good deal, one of my friends from my floor got to $10 before he lost it all. "Now I have to start all over," he said. At least he can take comfort in knowing that it wasn't actually his money anyway. 

Quantum of Solace

A few weekends ago I went and saw Quantum of Solace on opening night. Overall, the movie has received not so grand reviews. Rolling stone only gave it 2.5 stars and Roger Ebert only gave it 2 stars. But you know what I think, what do they know? 

I will say this...say goodbye to your old fashion bond movie full of fancy gadgets and throw away girls. The first 20 something Bond movies had no link at all, each was an independent movie with James Bond and a Martini "shaken not stirred" the only commonality. Quantum of Solace is basically the sequel to Casino Royale. You need to see it before you watch the newest installment or you will be lost through most of the plot. 

A change I found rather welcoming in Casino Royale, is the realization of the Director that James Bond is supposed to be a human, not a superhero. In previous movies Bond would dominate all fights and would come away as clean as he entered the fight. Daniel Craig's Bond actually bleeds, gets bruises and even has some emotional scares still given from the last movie. Overall, the movie is an extension of Casino Royale with more action. This is a welcome addition for those of you who are not poker fans. (You need to see the first movie to get that one). 

We've been introduced to a new James Bond, one who takes his occasional beatings and actually has emotions. And I have to say, I'm glad to meet the new James Bond, it's a pleasure. 

Gears of War 2

The other day I decided to spend that last of my money on buying the video game Gears of War 2 for my Xbox360. It was $60 dollars since it just came out earlier this week. This game is 100% worth the money. The plot is amazing and the combat system is just as good as the first one with many improvements made. Now you can have chainsaw duels....yes its as amazing as it sounds. Additionally, you get to hijack cretures from the other side and pretty much dominate everybody. As my roommate said it was almost too badass. My roommate and I did the campaign together and it took us about 11 hours to finish it on hardcore.  We stayed up together into the wee hours of the night, trying to get as far as we could. 

My only criticism is that the ending spent more time setting up a sequel than finalizing any points of the story line. Overall I see being able to save me money on the long term since I'll be playing the game instead of spending money on things like food and friends. Gears of War 2 is my heroin. 

UNIV

I think the University should seriously consider changing the name of UNIV100 to BS100. Almost nothing productive comes out of that class yet, I still get an unnecessary amount of work for it. Officially I am an undecided engineer, so I was required to take UNIV100 within the School of Engineering. The one productive aspect of UNIV100 is that our teacher arranges representatives from all the different departments to come in and speak with our class. In a sense, they are recruiting us, trying to convince us to come into their field. 

Besides the presentations by the departments which takes only 3 classes for all the departments to present. Nothing has come out of that class for me except for one to many zero's. I have never been a proponent of busy work and if I don't see the point behind the work I'm doing, I can't stay motivated to actually do it. Call me lazy, (I am) but I think 90% of the work done in that class is there just to have some kinds of scores in the grade book. 

Then I found out that I got a zero for something I had done. The teacher lost a homework assignment where we had to write down comments about each department and questions to ask there representative. This was actually something that made sense so I did it. And then I didn't even get credit for it. All this proves is that the teacher doesn't even care about the class. I currently have a C in that class, and it will likely stay that way. Not that I really care that much.

Metro Whoa's

I had an interesting experience with the mass transit system last sunday. I was home on sunday becuause I had to drive a friend back home since she didn't know where she was going and I only live a few miles from her house. Coming back to school wasn't a problem because there is a bus which runs from BWI Airport, which is a 15 minute drive from my house, to Greenbelt Metro Station. From there I can take the Metro rail to the College Park station, get on another bus which takes me right to stamp. The trip is not as complicated as it sounds and usually flows almost perfectly. I usually don't have to wait in one spot for anymore than 5 minutes. 

However, on Sunday night this flow was greatly interrupted at the beginning. My dad drove me to the stop for bus B30, which runs from BWI to Greenbelt. It was somewhat late at night when I was boarding the bus, approximately 10:30 at night. However, there were about 3 more buses that were scheduled to come by that night. We got the to station about 5 minutes early and  I waited in the car with my dad. I told him he could just drop me off since the bus would be here shortly, but he said he didn't mind waiting. So we waited......and waited.....and waited. It was 20 minutes past the schedule time and no bus had even passed us. I then called the phone number posted at each metro stop, to find out if another bus was coming. But customer services was closed. This is was really made me angry about the whole situation. Customer services closes before the buses stop running. What if my dad simply dropped me off and left. My phone's battery was very low and there was no payphone in the area. The station is close by car ride but walking I might as well be stranded in another state. If I didn't have parents that cared about me I would have been stuck at that station all night. So just a warning for all of my fellow travelers. 

DON'T TRUST THE METRO!!!!

Sleep

My lack of sleep has slowly begun to impact my schoolwork. We are barely into the second month of school and my sleep debt is already beginning to pile up and I'm missing classes. My first class is at 10 o'clock everyday; English on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; and Math Discussion on Tuesday and Thursday. For the first few weeks of school I had no trouble waking up early, showering, and going to breakfast at the diner. I rode my bike to class and made it to my classes with time to spare. However, after several longs nights of putting off my homework and not finishing until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, I began to choose sleep over breakfast. Then I began to chose sleep over being able to take my time in my room. Then I began to chose sleep over....class. 

So far I have missed 2 English classes and 2 Math Discussion Classes. Also, I've missed 3 Chemistry classes and a Chemistry Discussion, choosing to go back to my dorm and take a nap. However, I often look for excuses not to go to Chemistry as do about 100 other people in that class. 

With the exception of Chemistry, I actually want to go to these classes. When I wake up at 10:30 or 11 o'clock, I'm extremely frustrated with myself. "Damnit! I did it again." I've slept completely through my alarm twice, forgot to set it twice, and just knocked it over and not bothered to get up and get it once. It's possible I'm just not a morning person to extreme proportions, but if I go to sleep earlier my problem will most likely be solved. 

Geico

The Geico commercial with Peter Frampton displays an obvious and logic driven argument that their Car Insurance is better, while using humor and a different take on ethos to make the message more effective. 

The commercial features Kari Rigg, labeled a "real person," and Peter Frampton, labeled a celebrity. Peter Frampton gained fame from his solo musical endeavors. The commercial states that Peter Frampton was hired to "help tell her story." Kari proceeds to tell the viewing audience her story about her car accident and how Geico swooped in and saved her. The target audience of this advertisement is any car owner who currently do not have Geico Car Insurance. 

The author is obviously biased because Geico only has profits in mind. However, this doesn't mean that their claims are false and they seem to encourage further investigation by the consumer by posting their website at then end of the commercial. The Advertisement emphasizes the ease and quality of the car insurance. The commercial starts and ends with humor while placing the information in the middle where the audience is waiting for more. The Ad takes place in the women's home in order to allow the audience to better relate. 

As I was taking note I immediately noticed the humorous aspect of the commercial. I also noted the simple logos used in the Ad. However the aspect of Rhetoric that made this commercial notable and memorable was the strange use of ethos. Celebrities are often used in advertisements to add a familiar face and credibility to the product being sold. However, in the Geico commercial they use a Celebrity in an ironic way by making it obvious they hired a celebrity to make their product more appealing. This adds a humorous element to the advertisement which makes the commercial more effective and memorable. Additionally, the use of the "common person" makes the car insurance seem more personal and adds another dimension so the ethos of the advertisement. 

In class writing.

This is the one problem I had with choosing my topic. I could probably write a novel on my topic, "Why Conservatives are no Longer Conservative," but I don't have much personal experience. Since this is a political issue more than a personal one its difficult for me to include a "story" in my paper. I can't think of anything to write at this moment so I'll make up a story. This story I make up as I go will most likely do with the government interfering where they shouldn't and people getting hurt as a result. Also, since it is made up it will most likely by outrageous and unbelievable, most likely because it won't be true at all.

Since I wrote that first paragraph I came up with a story that was actually true. My friend Evan and I got into an argument one day and I tried to explain my point of view to him and he preferred to not acknowledge my point of view. He pretty much proved my point for me. Pretty boring but somewhat effective I think.

Brett Favre

They're has been a lot of discussion lately as to where Brett Favre falls onto the list of greatest QB's of all time. This discussion started when he "retired" and still continues despite him coming out of retirement and playing for the Jets. I have been a Green Bay Packers fan for my entire life, so my view my be slightly biased. However, this doesn't mean that I'm wrong about my view. When I started thinking about where Favre would fall onto this list I started at a rather modest 5 with Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, and John Elway leading the pack, in no particular order. 

After thinking about this for a while I realized that all Dan Marino had were his statistics because he never won a Super Bowl. And after Brett broke them he should be bumped up a spot. So after this I started thinking about the others. Brett Favre has the record for every passing category (yes even interceptions) as well as being the most winning QB with 160 wins. There's also the fact that he hasn't missed a start since 1992, the number of consecutive starts is around 275 with the playoffs included (16 years!!!!!!). Additionally, he has achieved all this success without any other superstar players around him. Unless you're a Packers fan, its difficult to name someone who played for them before 2003. Montana had Jerry Rice and Elway had Terrel Davis. I would name someone Unitas played with but Im not that old. 

This along with being the only player with 3 MVP awards pretty much make Brett Favre the greatest QB ever. You know its true. 

I'm so POOOOOR

As of yesterday after I withdrew 20 dollars from my checking account, I realized how incredibly poor I am. I have $22.60 in my checking account available to withdraw. Over the Summer I was too lazy to get a job and I spent all my graduation money on random stuff over the summer. So right now as 11:23 a.m. on September 10th, 2008 I have the money in my checking account, the minimum 10 dollars in my savings account, and about 12 dollars in my wallet. So I have a question to ask everyone. What should I spend the money I have left on????

Food is already taken care of because I have the meal plan but frankly, I'm not the type to save money, so I decided I want to spend, literally, every last cent I have. The economy only functions properly if we are spending the money we have so I'm gonna take one for the team here and go totally broke. I have an on campus job so it won't be long until I have a little relief. (I think my paycheck is coming next friday). Considering I only make $6.50 an hour (minimum wage) it won't be long until I'm in this situation again. So if anybody has any crazy ideas how I can squeeze the most out of my remaining $32 I welcome them. Just respond to this post or email me at christ.laxfrk4@gmail.com. Thanks and hurry before I spend it all. 

Survey

1) My name is Chris Tenneson, I attended Chesapeake High School in Pasadena, MD, located in Anne Arundel County. I came to UMD to study engineering, I have almost always wanted to come to UMD since I have been a fan of their athletics. I have not yet decided what type of engineering I want to specialize in but I'm sure it will be either Mechanical or Aerospace Engineering. 

2)  I have never been the type of person to engage in any writing outside of the classroom. I have always been more interested in learning about science and history than any language. I recognize the importance of languages and having strong communication skills, however it has never been something I find fascinating. The only writing I do is usually academically required, in High School I mostly took Honors and AP English classes. 

3) When writing a paper I usually like to have a general idea of what I am going to write about. However, some of my best writing has been done last minute or all at one time. Since, I usually write on a given topic, assigned by the instructor, I outline my ideas and the rough draft on paper. It feels more natural when I'm writing on paper rather than typing. After completing my rough draft I then type it into the computer and look for any errors using spell check and by proof-reading it myself. 

4) Writing does not usually give me much satisfaction, more frustration than anything. However, the best piece of writing I believe I have ever done was a scholarship wrting about my love of Lacrosse. I wrote this entire essay in 1/2 an hour. I didn't even think about what I was writing, I just wrote. The words came out of my pen onto the paper like water flowing down a river, it just all came naturally. Unfortunately, this is the only experience I can recall where I was able to write in such a satisfactory and complete way, keeping one idea throughout the paper. This has lead to me only writing when i have to, usually suffering through it. 

5) The most challenging paper I have ever written was my first research paper in my freshman year of high school. Before that point, I have never had to write more than a page at a time, and this assignment had to be approximately 5 pages long. I learned a great deal about planning from this trial-by-fire experience.

6) Without a doubt, the class most beneficial to my writing was my AP European History class in my spophomore year of High School. I had an AWESOME teacher and I learned better ways to include facts and arguments together. I finally broke from the mold of a sub-par writer to a decent one....

7) Its hard for me to judge what my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer, I've never had very good feedback from my english teachers as to how I could improve my overall writing. I've been told that my sentences can have the same structure and I should try to use more variety in the structure of my papers. A strength for me would be that I incorporate quotes very well but I can often rely on them too much. 

8) I need the most support with varying my sentences and extending my vocabulary. I often use the same words over and over, and I sometimes repeat what I'm saying in different ways. I also need lots of help with forming a strong opening paragraph. I find the first sentence of any paper I write to be the hardest one. 

9) The easiest topics for me to write about are the ones that you can find lots of information about them easily. Science or History based subjects which I have lots of knowledge of are very easy to write about. Also, I find it easier if I have a clear stance on the issue I'm writing about, if I'm skeptical easier way I find that I want to support both sides equally and my writing often suffers as a result. 

10) A course that focuses on argumentation will be very beneficial to me because I want to improve that aspect of my writing. I want to be able to stay on topic and find the facts that will convince someone of my point of view.