Saturday, January 25, 2020

The Internet Movie Database :: The Internet Movie Database

â€Å"The Internet is a communications tool used the world over where people can come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another† (Smith, Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back). Society uses the Internet as a way to shout out their opinions about any particular issue. The entertainment industry is commonly scrutinized by these online vocalists; thankfully for their sake, although sometimes it doesn’t seem like it, the Internet audience does provide positive feedback as well. Movies are commonly dissected online; viewers like to explain every little thing that they liked about a particular movie as well as tear a movie limb from limb. The Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com) is one of the most popular sites for such movie critiquing. The site has many features that satisfy the needs of most movie buffs, and because of this site, people can come together and share their opinions of movies as if they were Roger Ebert themselves. It is the complet e experience that one can have on the Internet Movie Database such as the involvement and the amount of information that can be explored (not just read) that make the Internet such a major part of many people’s lives. The Internet Movie Database is a website that allows the user to find a seemingly infinite amount of information. You can type in the name of your favorite actor or actress and find out everything that they have ever done in the movie industry, whether it be acting, producing, writing, special effects, or anything else that you can think of. The site also provides any information available for future projects. Beyond the world of movies, you even get information of the television shows that they may have been a part of and even what video games they may have provided a voice for. Many of the actors and actresses also have a small section that provides trivial information about their lives. These are all some pretty cool features; however, the best parts of this website are the movie rating system and the message boards. The rating system is based on a 1 – 10 scale, and it uses a weighted average. The ratings section also provides charts of ratings for different age groups, sex, and the combination thereof, along with US and non-US citizens, Top 1000 voters, and the staff of imdb.com. The message boards provide lots of commentary about any particular movie, the stars of the film, or any social issue that may be represented in it.

Friday, January 17, 2020

Lamb to the Slaughter Essay

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl uses the literary devices of dramatic irony, foreshadowing, and imagery to depict a dark comedy by grasping the idea of a tragedy becoming humorous. There are multiple uses and examples of irony throughout this short story that relate to the idea of a dark comedy. One key quote of dramatic irony comes from the end of the book stating, Personally, I think its right here on the premises.? Probably right under our very noses. What do you think, Jack This quote here shows us as that the detectives have no idea that they are actually eating the evidence of the murder right then and there. We, as the audience, obviously know what is going on and by Mary Maloney chuckling at that statement shows us that Dahl turned something as horrible as murder into something that she laughs at in the end referring to the idea of dark comedy. Verbal irony is also represented in this piece of literature. When she goes to the market, she talks to the grocer and states, ? No, Ive got meat, thanks. I got a nice leg of lam, from the freezer.? (pg. 20) This is verbal irony because it shows that what she is saying is basically telling the grocer what she used for the murder of her husband. The irony here is amusing, knowing the fact that killed the supposed love of her life and can so easily lie about it. So again, the verbal irony really catches the tone of the dark comedy that Dahl is trying to capture here. Both dramatic and verbal irony relate to eac h other in the sense that the audience feels the ideas of a tragedy as something funny therefore, relating back to the overall picture of the piece of literate as a dark comedy in the short story

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Teaching The Bible Interview / Book Reflections

James Donley Teaching the Bible Interview/Book Reflections After speaking with Tarah, a Director of Children’s Ministry, I was able to glean a number of insightful critiques of today’s children’s ministry. Between the reading from class and our conversation three topics stood out; the watered down children’s gospel, the tendency to always tell children the story without letting them experience it, and the overall structure of children’s lessons and children’s Bibles. Gretchen Wolff Pritchard wrote, â€Å"We must not give them a God who turns out to be just another grown-up— who says â€Å"There, there† without really listening to their fears of the monsters under the bed, who cares only about whether or not they are being â€Å"good.† We must not keep†¦show more content†¦Too often we want to teach the kids by telling them the story and the application without giving them a chance to experience it for themselves. She said that too often does she find herself going thro ugh lesson plans of solid text that is to be recited to the children telling them how they should think, feel, then act. â€Å"This limits the lesson, and takes away the opportunity for the children to invest themselves.† Pritchard agrees and states, â€Å"The Sunday school, on the other hand, has felt compelled to explain everything and thus to rob children of the opportunity to work out the meaning of the stories for themselves.† This ends with children who may know the story but not actually understand it. The last topic dealt with the overall structure of children’s lessons and children’s Bibles. Both Pritchard and Tarah were let down by how Children’s Bibles were structured. They seemed to favor certain stories over others and in many cases skip over sections of scripture. Pritchard notes that â€Å"The great hymns of Philippians and Colossians, the glory of the cross, the images of baptism, adoption, the Body of Christ, the great High Priest , the communion of saints, are utterly absent.† Tarah also notes that many of Paul’s letters, aside from Romans, tend to be down played. While this may be trying to take into account what a child is capable of understanding or retaining, it also, once again, limits the child and gives them an incomplete biblical understanding. I was