TOW #19 Fanboys by Lessley Anderson

On the Verge, Lessley Anderson describes her experiences and interviews professionals in order to understand the fanboy mentality. Specifically towards smartphones. Anderson uses many testimonial evidences to try and clarify where fanboys come from. What makes them so extreme? Etc, etc. She uses many internet hosted pros such as Michael Fischer and Aaron Baker, very prolific and very popular geeks in the smartphone space. Anderson also uses many rhetorical questions as transitions in order to improve the flow of her writing. Questions like, "But smartphones?" and "So why do it?" allows Anderson to lead the reader into directions that aren't necessarily related to what she was just talking about, but still important to the overall article. She uses these questions as a way to control the pace and the flow. Anderson has complete control over her writing and it allows her to explain what she wants when she wants, whether for dramatic effect or humor. She also makes use of anonymous Twitter tweets in order to strengthen her position. By using random, unprofessional quotes as evidence of her point, it makes the overall read much lighter feeling and nuanced, as opposed to something dry and overly official sounding you would find in filibustered  politics.

Lessley is very clear, very controlling and at the same time, very unsure. She lacks a solid viewpoint on the topic, which for an informational piece is fine, but by the end the "so what?" does not really get to me. I'm only left with the opinion that fanboys are bad, but sometimes can't help being bad. There is a lack of self-reflection I get to achieve on my own.

But again, as an informational piece, not a persuasive or argumentative one, the lack of necessity makes it a minor flaw in an overall great essay.

TOW #20 Image

This image attempts to advertise Nictotinell by showing a very old, tar-covered woman. She looks like she should be 80, but the birthday cake says otherwise, being almost half that age. By using this form of analogy, the photo appeals to pathos by scaring the smokers that see the image. It's meant to act as a wake-up call to people who smoke tobacco and is meant to have them then buy Nicotinell to try and fix their problem. The image also makes use of showing how ridiculous and stupid it looks to be a smoker. In the photo, when the woman should be trying to blow out the melting candles (as per birthday cake tradition) but instead she is attempting to light a cigarette on the flame from the candles. This is a metaphor for how smoking is so difficult to stop, again advising people they need Nicotinell.  It shows that the woman in the photo has such an addiction, she is using her cake instead of eating her cake. A normally happy tradition is now being manipulated to fuel someones dopamine tank in their brain. This woman does not look happy, nor does her body look healthy. This woman is addicted and you can visually see what it has done to her body. Tuberculosis, Lung Cancer, Heart attack, Stroke, and countless other diseases all have the risk factor increased by simply smoking tobacco products. Nicotinell is trying to help those people as well as make money. Whether or not the audience will listen to this one photo, will depend on the individual, but those that are far too addicted already will at least have the idea in their heads.

TOW #21 IRB

Malcom Gladwell's Outliers uses many statistics, allowing for a very convincing argument in that Success is reached through opportunity. He constantly utilizes charts and clearly explains the significance of them throughout his book. Whether he is showing the correlation of Hockey Players' birthdays or why Asian countries are good at math, Gladwell never fails to back up his statements. He uses many cases of anecdotal evidence in order to prove real life applications of his research as well. He backs up his claims through not only theory and cold numbers, but he also shows how this data can be used; what does it actually entail for people, rather than statisticians. Gladwell also uses the repetition of ideas and concepts very often. Malcom's argument is cumulative. It lacks the ability to have its points stand individually for his purpose. The fact Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were born in the same year means very little to overall idea of success that Gladwell is attempting to paint. However, the ethnic theory of plane crashes, combined with KIPP schools and the story of Christopher Langan all build onto each other. A seemingly helter-skeltered mess of somewhat impressive results would analytically mean nothing. But with each idea, Gladwell constantly connects new ideas with the old, slowly narrowing the idea he wishes his reader to achieve. Gladwell is blunt in his explanation and subtle in his message, making his conclusion all the more convincing. He makes sure every individual example is explained as clearly as possible so the reader can come to their own conclusion. Gladwell's Show-Don't-Tell approach to writing has the reader led to his message, rather than spoon-fed an answer to a question. Just as the story of Renee in Gladwell's book shows the importance of coming to your own conclusions, Gladwell does nothing but water that idea into tree. A tree titled, Outliers: The Story of Success.

Tow #22 Image

This image is meant to stop driving with your phone on. Though many would blame the drivers, this ad blames those who talk to the drivers despite their endangering of the drivers' lives. By having the blood splurge out of the phone's speaker, the reader is allowed to understand what has happened. The driver on the other side of the phone call has undergone an accident. In red underneath the tide of blood is a message, "Don't talk while he drives." This message is pivotal to the image because it clarifies completely what the image is meant to provoke and addresses its audience directly. The use of color is also important here. The image is predominantly gray scale, with the use of white being very prevalent. This allows for better contrast of the foreground and the background, putting the focus on the most powerful part of the image, the blood. Another way the image manages to emphasize the foreground is in the use of camera focus. The background is significantly blurrier than the foreground, again, trying to avert the audience's attention to the woman and the blood. The fact that the person is a woman is also important to the appeal to pathos. By placing the woman in a kitchen setting, she is automatically assumed to have a family, supposedly a husband and most likely children as well. This is provoking to the idea that calling someone who is currently driving is detrimental not only to the driver's physical health, and the caller's emotional well being, but the situation will also affect anyone with a relationship with the driver in question. This is a powerful image overall that encapsulates the dangers of and the responsibility of driving while talking on a cellphone.

Tow #23 Malcom Gladwell's The Art of Failure

This article in The New Yorker describes the importance of what it exactly means to "choke." Gladwell describes what happens when you choke, as well as distinguish it from panicking. Through his use of allusion, specifically in sports, Gladwell is able to relate the idea of choking with near perfect scenarios. The rookie Jana Novotna about to utterly dominate her match against the longstanding veteran, Steffi Graf, loses 5 sets in a row, being one away from victory. He also uses the example of Greg Norman and Nick Faldo. Norman ahead several strokes by hole 9, is down 4 by hole 18. Gladwell also utilizes a well varied sentence structure. This allows him to add more impact to his writing. Statements like, "The two men began to cry" and "Graff gave her two kisses" are extremely short phrases surrounded by tension built, wordy exposition, thus by comparison, making these dramatic and climactic conclusions to his allusions all the more powerful. Gladwell overall does an excellent job at making his writing exciting as well as meaningful.

However, there is one part that requires addressing as to what may have been improved in this essay. Gladwell does not have the most optimal way of  organizing his essay. He goes from an example of choking, to an example of panic, to the implications of panic, to the implications of choking, to a more granular form of choking, to his conclusion. Though the flow on paper may not sound too atrocious, when actually reading it had made it difficult to understand exactly what the essay was about. I felt like I was being led in circles rather than be led to some climax or "So what?" I had assumed the paper was meant to distinguish between choking and panic, but in reality, the whole thing was about choking.

Overall, Gladwell does well writing his paper's details, always conscious of sentence structure and detail, but on the whole, he fails to flow things properly to convey his message consistently throughout.

IRB #3 Outliers by Malcom Gladwell

My IRB for the third marking period will be Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. I actually have not much idea about what this book is about other than it defines and attempts to dissect the definition of success. The main reason that I selected this book was not out of self interest. I got it for Christmas. My sister got it for me and she said I would like it.

TOW #10 Image Psycho-Pass Episode 11

Though this isn't so much a standalone picture, I deemed this specific screenshot of the animated sci-fi dystopian series Psycho-Pass to hold enough symbolic value and depth to be analyzed in this week's TOW. In this picture, the gun in the woman's left hand has the ability to measure the likelihood of a person committing a crime, in her right hand is a standard rifle. This scene symbolizes the capacity of human morality and judgement vs the defined social ethics defined by society. The gun in this police officer's left hand is symbolic of the judgement of society. In this show's scene, a terrorist/kidnapper/murderer, has been incorrectly deemed to not be a latent criminal and as such the trigger has automatically locked itself. However, the officer, who has seen this man commit his crimes, is now confused. The police force has not used their own individual discretion to judge a person's capacity for commiting a crime in what is assumed to be several generations. The woman must do her job and subdue the criminal, and tries to use her own judgment, as symbolized by the manual, more archaic rifle. However, she is clearly holding the rifle (a two handed weapon) with a single hand, while her other is preoccupied with the other currently locked and useless gun, representing her uncomfort and outright refusal to abandon the judgment of society she has relied on for so long. As a result, she misses her shot with the rifle entirely and fails to capture the villain right in front of her. By using the two guns, this scene acts as a commentary on people's morality and their expression of judgement, saying that our decision making and ideas of morality are shaped by our society around us and as a result, a clear injustice or wrongdoing  may be in front of us may never be put to justice because people are too preoccupied with their society's view on something rather than one's personal discretion.