beetlebum

2009-02-02T11:14:00.001-08:00

Group: 4
Evaluate this film: The pros and cons. Is the message relevant for us, too? Explain!

Black Policeman:
Racist against black people.
Scene:
1. A burglar gets into the house of Tre and there the policeman said: to bad that you don’t get him.
2. Tre and Riccy drive home from the party. Suddenly the police stop them and one of the policeman hold a gun at Tre’s face.
Today: That’s also like the situation here. ….?
Mother:
Mother is different, because she earns more money. She lives different and she also doesn’t want to use slang. She wants to be integrated and be like white people. (The way she lives and the restaurant she chooses.)
Today: A white woman from the middle class who wants to belong to the rich people.
Education:
It’s not usually that a black person gets a good job and a good education.
The education is biased for white people not for black ones. For example: Riccy’s wife. Riccy is dead and so she has nothing now.
It is very important to get people educated otherwise it could be that they have nothing.Today: Turkish people in Austria aren’t as good educated as Austrians.
Drugs, alcohol, guns came from white people. It’s them making profits.
Black people are interested in keeping their family together. Family, friendship, community --> Brotherhood.
A real man is not someone who kills and gets women pregnant.
Today: We don’t have a gun problem but the drugs and alcohol come from rich white people and are consumed by poor Austrians or Immigrants.
Today: Turkish people are interested in keeping their family. They don’t talk with white people, they don’t have a white community and they count themselves out.

Application

2009-01-31T15:30:00.000-08:00

Jack White
Abbey road 1
7896 Röthis
Austria

Mr. Jack Black
blab Company
101 Manchester Road
Somerset, KY 78458

January 31st, 2008

Dear Mr. Black,

Application for the dentist assistant job

I am writing to apply for the dentist assistant job, which you advertised in the New York Times. Although I haven’t very much experience in this job, I am technically very talented and I am able to handle stress very well. The list below shows you my education, strengths and my talents:

o I have successfully completed the dentist apprenticeship in Austria
o I have worked in a hospital as a assistant for two years
o I have the Cambridge certificate in English
o I am very patient
o I can handle stress

If you have questions or requests, you can reach my anytime by cell phone, 256 002 562.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hear from you.

Sincerely
George Martin

letter of complaint

2008-12-05T15:30:00.000-08:00

Ronald McDonald
Kutzen 3
6842 Koblach

December 5^th,2008

BBC Complaints
PO Box 1922
Glasgow
G2 3WT

Dear BBC-Team!

Letter of complaint

I’m writing you, because I’m really horrified about some advertisements on your television channel. Yesterday I saw one of those women deprecatingly advertisements, and I want to complain about that, because I think it’s really discriminating for women.

Yesterday, it was about 7 o’clock in the evening, I watched BBC and I saw an advertisement, which shocked me. It was about a detergent, named “Clean“. There was a woman, who stood in the bathroom while her husband and her two children came home from work and school.
Their clothes were full of stains and the woman began to rub the clothes, trying to clean them.
Then she said: “cleaning clothes is such a hard think to do”, her husband came in and threw some other dirty clothes in front of her. At the end of the advertisement a scripture appeared: “with this detergent, housework is like holidays - Clean”.
It really shocked me to see this advertisement. The woman is presented as her husband’s slave. Do you know how many people watch BBC and how many people are easy to convince? Women shouldn’t get repressed by their husbands, but it’s exactly what this advertisement is doing. In TV we should show the people how we can change this conservative lifestyle. Nowadays women also go to work and there are also men who do the household. You should consider that in your advertisements.

What I have to say is that you should not support discriminative advertisements in any way. If you want things to change, than you have to change your advertisements.

yours sincerely,
Ronald MCDonald

Social pressure and beauty for teens

2008-12-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Pro:

Fashion labels concerns get rich (good for business)
Everybody is looking for themselves (hygiene, fashion…)
Boots self- confidence
Beauty is success in our society, so why shouldn’t people make them beauty?
Because of the high demand, there is more work for people
We live in a free country, so everyone should be allowed to do with his/her body whatever he/she likes

Con:

Social pressure because it’s not their own wish
It’s a big risk to undergo surgery
Addiction
Teens haven’t finish their growth, so their body still changes
You don’t get addicted, if you don’t look good
A lot of teens buy more clothes than they have money
Maybe they change their opinion, when they’re older, so it’s not good to change your body in this age
Teenagers get influenced by advertisements

Additional thoughts:

Personality is changing
Will there always be the same beauty ideal?
Will the surgery age go down?
Will beauty be the most important thing in life?
Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?
If you want to do that you do it, no matter if your mother also had a plastic surgery or not.
Teenagers exaggerate with the beauty ideals

youth group

2008-10-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

I do not really have a special style and I do not belong to any youth group. I’m just the way I am. I love listening to music, it’s one of the most important things in live to me. I love going to different concerts but I don’t have a specific music type. I listen to hardcore and deathcore, indie, electronic, hip hop, Balkan music and a lot of other music styles. I almost like every type of music. I the last few years I got influenced on music a lot. The most influence I get is by my friends and by going out. I’m very happy about that because I discovered some new music styles.

My clothing style isn’t very special, I wear what I like and brands aren’t important for me at all. I like clothes which are comfortable and simple. I’d never wear high heels, because they hurt and I don’t want to wear things just because they look good but hurt.

I think there’s nothing bad about youth groups, but if you aren’t accepted in a group the way you are and if you change your lifestyle because of some people, I think it’s really not good. The problem about youth groups is that people who don’t have friends think they get some if they adapt and do what the others do. I think that’s very sad. the individual gets lost and if everybody looks and behaves the same the world would be very boring. Everybody should be able to be an individual and nobody should adapt. There is just one youth group I don’t agree with: the skinheads. In my opinion they even aren’t a youth group, they are criminals. If somebody has the opinion to kick people out of our country and if somebody hangs nationalistic posters onto the wall, I think they should go to jail and get to a psychiatrist. I don’t have a problem with left orientated youth groups, because they normally do not harm anybody and there ideology is much better. That sound like I am intolerant, I’m not, but I think there really shouldn’t be tolerance for skinheads.

All in all I think It’s very important to have good friends. But for me good friends don’t have to be the same like you. Isn’t it much funnier to have different meanings in some points so that you can discuss a little bit?

403 words

Conflict Map

2008-05-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

What conflicts do you notice?

Charlie/Sister:

His sister got beaten up by her boyfriend and Charlie had to keep the secret.

The sister’s pregnancy:

She got pregnant and told it Charlie. She didn’t want Charlie to tell anybody.

Brad/Patrick:

Brad called Patrick a faggot. It ended up in a fight.

How do the characters try to solve the conflict?

Charlie/sister:

The sister didn’t do anything about it, she just avoid it. Charlie told it Bill and he told it his parents. His sister was very mad because of that.

The sister’s pregnancy:

The sister aborted the child. Charlie kept the secret and helped her to get to the hospital.

Brad/Patrick:

They started to fight. Charlie helped Patrick.

Solutions:

Charlie/Sister:

It was good what Charlie did, but I think he should have talked to his sister about it first.

The sister’s pregnancy:

I think the sister should have thought about the abortion better, but it’s ok what she did, I would have done the same probably. That Charlie kept the secret was also ok. He isn’t responsible for her sister and it’s ok when she doesn’t want anybody to know.

Brad/Patrick:

I think they shouldn’t have fight. Brad isn’t worth fighting. But I think it’s good that Charlie helped Patrick winning the fight.

Character map - Charlie

2008-05-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

What does he look like?

It’s not mentioned what Charlie looks like in the whole book. Probably he looks like a typical teenager, because he’s not a individual. He does what other do and never does anything on his own, e.g. the drugs

How does he act?

He cries a lot:

o about the sister, when she got hit of her boyfriend and he told it Bill and his parents

o because of his dead aunt Helen

o after the conflict with Mary Elizabeth, Sam and the others

o when Bill said goodbye

o after the fight with the bully

He has low self-confidence and he does what other people want him to do:

o drugs, he never thinks about the consequences

o he said nothing when Mary Elizabeth wanted to fuck him

o he showed no reaction when Patrick kissed him

o Sam told him how to behave in front of Mary Elizabeth

o he never told Mary Elizabeth to stop talking that much

How do other people react to him?

Sister:

o At first, their relationship isn’t good. They don’t talk about private and personal things. When she got pregnant, Charlie was the only one, except her boyfriend, she told. Since then their relationship got better.

Parents:

o Their relationship to Charlie is ok, but not really intensive. They often watch TV together and they like each other a lot, but Charlie would never talk about his teenager problems with them.

Sam and Patrick:

o Sam likes Charlie very much. She gives him more self-confidence. Patrick cheers him up and they like each other a lot. In the hospital Patrick is always there for Charlie.

Charlie

2008-05-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Charlie is very sensitive, soft and naive. He always wants to make everything right for everybody and he would never hurt somebody. What he really likes are books and music. He reads a lot and makes mix tapes for him or his friends.

At the beginning of the book he has just one friend, he committed suicide and that was a real shock for Charlie. This changes very quickly when Charlie meets Sam and Patrick. They really like Charlie because he is a good listener and a good secret keeper. They get very good friends and do a lot of things together like going on parties. At first Charlie didn't like going on parties, alcohol and all that stuff, but since he met Sam and Patrick, he began to like it. Charlie really loves his family. They often watch TV together, but rarely talk about Charlie’s problems. A special person for him is his sister. They help each other and talk about personal things and Charlie can talk about his problems with her.

Charlie has a week personality and low self-confidence. Sometimes he feels lonely and he tries to fill that loneliness with alcohol and drugs. There’s nothing Charlie hates more than being lonely, he always wants to be loved and be in a group.

Charlie can also be a real dummy. He just doesn’t think of the consequences of his actions. He always wants to be honest and sometimes that hurts other people. But all in all he is a very friendly and nice guy and I’d love to meet him someday=)

Review - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

2008-05-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is written by Stephen Chbosky. He is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director, born in 1970. The book is one of the best coming-of-age novels.

The book tells the story about Charlie, who is a 15-year old high-school student. He is a very sentimental, trustworthy and honest guy, but he has a lot of problems about his friends, love, alcohol and drugs. The book consists of letters which Charlie wrote to an unknown person. In those letters he writes about his life. This gives the reader a good close-up look into Charlie’s life, his problems, his achievements and his up’s and down’s. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a typical teenager-book, but what makes it special is that the whole book consists of letters.

I really liked the book, because it feels so real when Charlie writes about his problems. His naivety makes the book very funny. The reader goes with Charlie threw all his good and bad times. Sometimes the book is very humorous and other times it’s very sad.

I think Stephen Chbosky described Charlie, his friends and all the other characters very well. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a very felicitous book. When I heard it’s about a teenager, I was very sceptic, but this book is very special and not comparable with any other teeny-book.

Essay about violence

2008-02-21T04:35:00.000-08:00

Everywhere you go, you see violence, especially in films. There’s a big discussion about banning violent films or not.

Some people try to ban violent films. They think that people who watch such films get violent too. The main argument to ban those films is to save people. They think some watchers want to imitate the violence scenes and there would be less violent in our world if those films wouldn’t exist. Non-violent films ate also very successful, so why do they produce violent films which aren’t good for the people, especially the youth?

The opponents for not banning violence in films say that we don’t turn into a violent society just because we watch violent films. Almost everybody has watched at least one violent film and there are only few which got violent. And they didn’t get violent because of violence in a film, that’s nearly clear. They would have got violent even if they wouldn’t have watched violent films.

Anyway, most of the films are very unrealistic and nobody would copy such unrealistic stuff. It even isn’t possible. On the news or in the internet are often more violent and realistic scenes than in films.

In my opinion violence in films should not be forbidden, because I don’t think that normal people imitate such films. Violence is everywhere, not just in films. If you ban violent films, you have to ban many other things too.

Snow Falling On Cedars

2007-12-12T10:49:00.001-08:00

Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American, is on trial for the murder of Carl Heine who is, like Kabuo, a fisherman from San Piedro Island.

Carl’s boat has been found in daylight, on the water with its lights on. His body is discovered in his own fishing net. There is long quarrel between Kabuo’s and Carl’s family over the ownership of a piece of land. When it becomes clear that Kabuo’s boat was in the area at the time of the incident, he is suspected of the murder.

The chance for Kabuo not to get in prison is very low. On San Piedro Island Japanese aren’t welcome, because of the war and especially because of Pearl Harbor.

One big point in the trial against Kabuo is the batteries, which were on Carl’s boat, but didn’t fit into his battery holder. In Kabuo’s they do fit. Another point against Kabuo is the wound on Carl’s head. The doctor says that it is caused by kendo, a stick fighting, which Japanese are trained in it from when they’re kids. An important aspect for Kabuo’s innocence is that some blood was in Carl’s lunge when he was found. That’s evidence that Carl drowned before he died.

After the process, Hatsue, Kabuo’s girlfriend, asks Ishmael to write an article about the process and about the unfairness during the trail. He’s a journalist and even though he could get in troubles by writing that article, and even though he still loves Hatsue, he writes it. At the next day on the process, Kabuo gets accused for not saying the truth. After Kabuo’s lawyer gives evidence and after Ishmael’s article in the newspaper about the unfairness in the process, it comes clear that Carl died because of an accident.

What happened in the night of his death: Carl wanted to get his lantern from the top of the boat and he fell down. After hitting the boat with his head, he loosed consciousness, fell into the water and drowned.

2007-12-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

Task 2

I’m not quite sure about this picture. On the one hand I would say that it is art, because I think art is not always important how it looks, it’s much more than that. It’s the idea of creating something new. On the one hand I think a picture like this one is very simple to kmake. Almost everybody could photograph something a woman who is doing gardening.

Of course I prefer drawings, because there you see who can create art for real and who can’t. Almost everybody can take some photographs.

For me, this picture is nothing special. You look at it and in the same moment you look away again. It doesn’t express any emotions and it evokes absolutely nothing.

In my opinion you can’t consider this picture art, because even my little cousin could take a picture like that.

correction of the first test

2007-12-08T07:44:00.000-08:00

Task 1

Dear Toni,

Yesterday I bought a picture at an art exhibition, which I like a lot, because the artist Norman Rockwell can draw very well.

In the front there is an Afro-American girl, maybe seven years old, who is carrying some school stuff with her. And there are four white men (they actually don’t look very white and so I think they are from Cuba =)) who are Deputy US Marshalls. You can’t see their heads. In the background there is a dirty wall with a red stein on it. It looks like blood, but if you look on the ground, you see that the stain was caused by a tomato which had been thrown at the wall. It you look more closely, you see that in the background on the wall is written the word “NIGER”.

The picture evokes a sad feeling. It reminds me of the apartheid in the 50’s. I think the policemen are protecting the little girl. She looks scared and the policemen all walk in the same wax with the right hand in front.

If you want to see the picture, you have to visit me. I’d be glad to see you again.

Yours, Magdalena

letter to the editor

2007-09-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

Dear editor,

I read your article about Chris Ofili's Virgin Mary. I think it's a very amusing article, because it's so ridiculous of the mayor to react in such a silly way. It's a painting and there's no reason to be abset about. There are no rules in art and I think it's good like that. Everybody should be able to draw what he wants. In my opinion it's also ridiculous and childish to withhold money from the museum, just because there's a painting which is adorned with elephant dung. Rudolph Giuliani, the mayor shold't be so conservative. It has always been like that, that some people were upset about some paintings and a few years later nobody thought about beeing upset about that painting again. I think the same will happen with Chris Ofili's painting too.
So... No need to worry=)

Yours Magdalena

Interview

2007-03-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

+ Welcome to our show, Mr Township. Thanks a lot for being here.

- You’re welcome. Thanks for inviting me.

+ You are a historian and you said you know everything about Victorian times.Tell me something about it. When did it start and when did it end? What kind of changes took place?

- It started when Queen Victoria started to reign in 1837 and it ended about 1901. The Victorian Times are really important for the later history. It was a period of intensive industrialisation, urbanisation and social change. In religion, the Victorians were the first that called into question institutional Christianity. They created democracy, feminism, socialism, Marxism and much more.

+ I heard that, especially for kids, life was really hard, why?

- Because most of the kids were very poor and those who were poor often had to work to support their families. Children did various kinds of jobs, most of them were very dangerous. Most factory workers did not recognise that it was wrong to give children those dangerous jobs for such a little payment. 1841 Queen Victoria made a law that no child under the age of 10 was allowed to work underground. If the poor children didn’t have to work, they played a lot, but they didn’t have lot things to play with. They shared their toys with their friends and they also made up games to play like catch, they made footballs out of old rags and bats from pieces of wood. Victorian children were able to play out in the street because there was no danger. Cars had not been invited and so there was nothing to worry about. Rich people had an easier life. They lived in special rooms in their houses called nurseries. Many of the rich children had expensive toys like rocking horses, toy trains and dolls.

+ Oh that sounds very sad. Didn’t they go to school?

- Yes, few of them attended school. The problem was that many children had to work and so they had no time for school and no money of course. There were village schools in some places in the country run by the church or small “Dame” schools which usually run by one woman. In 1870 a new law was passed which said that there had to be a school in every town and village and every child had to attend school. Most of the time boys and girls were separated in the classroom or even had different lessons.

+ How were the women treated then?

- The ideal woman at this time was not the weak, passive creature. She was a busy, able and upright figure who drew strength from her moral superiority. That means that women played a central role in life. Women were also seen as moral and spiritual guardians.

+ Oh I like that! Thanks’ a lot for the interview. It was a pleasure to talk to you.

- You’re welcome. I’m looking forward to the next interview.

+ Oh yes, we’ll see us then. Bye.

- Bye.