Stereo Gum

When you visit this page the first thing that comes to your attention is the horrible clash of the orange-ish showing an eye wearing brown background with the sky blue foreground. Across the top, a moving add banner a crown set in the center of the six members of a band known as The Cat Empire. As soon as the eye blinks the banner switches to the info for The Cat Empire. This info includes the band's myspace address, their web url, and the release date for their new CD.

Underneath this banner on the left is the low quality logo for the page, two tone, no effects, no filters, no layers, no nothing. The logo is also placed awkwardly within the space given. Amateur artist, at the most. They should visit this tutorial.

To the right of this terrible logo is the Gum Buzz Index. This index consists of various TV shows, music artists, and Famous people written in various colors and in various font sizes. The smallest words are virtually impossible to read, not only are they about a font size 8, they are also an untypical font, a script font that is hard to read in general.

To the left of the Gum Buzz index is a list of the Bloggers for the site, Scott Capative and Armit Singh. Below that, a Contact Us heading, with a link to tips at stereogum.com, the page your already on that, does not work. Under that, Information for ad rates and press. Next Syndication, stereogum RSS, and finally Our Theme Song, by Roger O’ Donnell… don’t click that link, trust me, worst song I’ve ever heard.

Under this menu is a Google search bar that you can use to search ‘Gum or Google, finally something I would actually consider putting in my blog. This is by far the best part of this page because it has the capability to take you away from it.

The rest of the listed items are pretty much self explanatory, Categories, Under Review, Download MP3’s, Latest Comments.

Then there are the links for the Myspace site and YouTube site for Stereogum.

Following this, the Recent Posts, and The Cool Kids.

The main content of this page consists of an array of pictures, television clips, videos, music, and music video’s. The posts are not really related other than the fact that they all have to do with entertainment. There is no true organization to the posting order, or at least none that I can see. I believe that the posting order might be going by current events, but I’m not positive.

Last but not least, the credits for the hosting, designing, logo maker, and moveable type.

In this site I found nothing other than the Google search bar, that I would want to put in my site, with only one semester of high school web design under my belt I’m a better web page designer than the creators of stereogum.com. Although they may have more info on their site, their organization and eye for graphic design is terrible.

What does this image represent? Many things can be said about this image, it represents the most basic elements of brutal human nature, yet at the same time it shows an immense amount of frailty coming from the individual with a gun at the side of his head. We must ask ourselves who these men are and how have they come to this point. In what appears to be a good sized city, one man holds the life of another in his hand while others rabble about attending to whatever task they may be involved in. One mans life, the culmination of everything he has ever accomplished and done, is about to end. What has this man done to deserve such a fate? What can this man possibly be thinking, knowing that his entire life will climax at this very point, where a seemingly remorseless man with a revolver will execute him point-blank in the middle of a most likely war-torn city?
When contemplating the powerless man on the right, the mind begins to wander towards the man with the gun. The eye follows the shining barrel down the frail arm of the man and onto his camouflaged jacket and finally up to his blank expression and balding head. You might also wonder who this man is and what he has done to be where he is at this very moment, executing a clearly suffering and powerless individual. Is this something some are destined to become? Can we become the executioner or the condemned?

Engl1020: Observational Essay

Market Street Station looms at the edge of Sixteenth Street with its triangular architecture and cold rusted steel composure. Stamped out of the metal are windows, the shine of the glass hidden with the dirt and grime of the structures existence. At the mouth of the building some commuters hustle into the building, as others emerge glancing up and down Sixteenth while deciding which direction they want to travel. Those entering the doors are met with the descent, a twenty-step escalator heading away from the light of day into the underground darkness.



Lit by only a few dim lights strewn about the rafters and the handful of lights lining the terminals, it takes ones eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness. When the adjustment occurs a trivial concession stand comes into view, the products displayed in an un-orderly fashion, differentiated from one another by nothing other than the occasional empty shelf. Various pastries and baked goods toward the front, hanging bags of chips wrapping around the sides, and refidgerator cases hidden in the back filled with energy drinks, juices, sodas, and cold, clear water. At the wake of the stand is a display of approximately fifty various tissue paper like pamphlets topped with bus route numbers. The final kiosk in the station, far greater in size than the preceding structures, is an off-white building covered in sparsely applied plaster, with black glossy script reading Information/Sales. The face of the Information building has two bulletproof windows containing speaker boxes. Behind the glass an information/sales associate sits awaiting customers, that rarely come. These three insignificant structures are all that fill the center of the large room, the true importance of the station lines the walls.

Grave glass doors trimmed with black metal frames stand at the entrance to each terminal, which lead away from the station like veins leaving the heart. These doors, along with dividers of small rippled glass squares, like those of the North Classroom Building at UCDHSC compose the “walls” of Market Street Station. Above each terminal entrance a lofty black board with red lighted writing, which lists the departure times for the bus of the given terminal. The commuters waiting for their busses continuously look up at these listings every few minutes, all the while knowing that the information will never change.

The commuters waiting sit on round concrete slabs; cold, hard, and glossy, placed in an orderly fashion on top of a floor lined with 4 in. tiles of various colors. None of these people notice the janitor mopping around the slabs, using muddy water, and making the grimy situation of the floor worse, rather than improving it. She drags the mud across the tiles sloppily and in an unsystematic pattern adding a layer of dirt on top of the hundreds of layers previously set.

Nearby a man with a mass of keys on a large brass ring walks across the station to a brown change machine with bold white lettering, and an orange ‘out of change’ light gleaming; followed closely by a rather husky security guard. The man bends down slowly to fill the change as the security guard stands, chest puffed, nodding at passers by. Making friendly comments such as "hello", "good day sir", and "hi there madam"; to assert his presence. Change refilled the man closes up the machine and the orange light goes dark; he and the officer walk away smiling and chuckling.

Whilst the men disappear, they pass a group of people, all in their early- twenties, exchanging packages. Couriers, they have come to assemble, a purpose of Market Street Station that many do not think of. As they uphold their meeting, they share food from a nearby restaurant, Noodles & Company, with the traditional green cups and triangular rice crispy treats. A woman looks up at the standing couriers from her seat on the stone slab and smiles, probably directed more at the food then at the couriers themselves, and then turns back to her reading. The lady is one of those readers who move their lips to form the words they are scanning the pages in their book, as if to sound them out.



Suddenly, the rumbling of a bus is heard, the lady, the couriers, the janitor, and the commuters all look up at the terminal simultaneously as the bus passes, as soon as it fades in the distance they continue with their activities. At least most turn away, one young boy stands nose pressed against the glass of the doors creating a tiny ring of fog that ungulates simultaneously with his breath.

Ten minutes until the bus arrives at terminal eight, people begin lining up at the doors, the line always starting at right and going to left. Strange, considering it is opposite the direction that American’s read. Shortly the RTD bus begins rumbling down the terminal, comes to a slow stop at the entrance, and releases the air pressure in the doors to open them. Commuters begin boarding the bus, some flash bus passes and student ID’s, while others drop change into a funnel. The seats are set up in sets of two, with an aisle straight down the center, like you would expect in an airplane.

Oddly, the passengers sit one person per every pair of two seats before any two people will sit next to each other, as if to leave a “buffer zone”. A few passengers go so far as to sit on the outside seat so no one can sit next to them. One young man parks himself on the outside seat and immediately pretends to be asleep, so no one will try to disturb him.

As everyone finds their seats for the trip, the bus shuts its doors and begins rolling forward, traveling down the terminal. Leaving Market Street Station the bus ascends from underground up a ramp, and bright light fills the bus, the passengers squint. It’s as if the few moments they have spent underground have made them forget how the light from the real world looked. Everyone looks forward towards the next destination, never glancing back to notice the triangular peaks of Market Street Station dissipating in the background.

Engl1020: Post 5

Randomly Selected Words: Alchemy, Brontosaurus, Cantankerous, Dodo, Extrapolate, Frigate, Gypsy, Hypnotic, Ibex, Jigger, Kaleidoscope, Lemur, Mobster, Necrophiliac, Opaque, Penguin, Quetzal, Roulette, Sansevieria, Toxin, Ungulate, Vulgar, Walrus, Xanthic, Yokefellow, Zealous.

Over 90 megabytes online of information on alchemy in all its facets.

The dinosaur genus originally known as Brontosaurus is now officially designated Apatosaurus. Please see that article for more information.

Ill-tempered and quarrelsome; disagreeable: disliked her cantankerous landlord.

The Mauritius Dodo (Raphus cucullatus), more commonly just dodo, was a metre-high (three-foot) flightless bird related to the pigeons that lived on the islands of Mauritius.

For the journal of speculative fiction, see Extrapolation (journal). For the John McLaughlin album, see Extrapolation (album).

Frigate is a term which has been used for several distinct types of warships at different times: the term has referred to a variety of ship roles and sizes.

Gypsy (also gipsey, gypsey, gypsie) is a sometimes derogatory term for the following ethnic groups:

Hypnotic drugs are a class of drugs that induce sleep (which differentiates them from the sedative category), used in the treatment of severe insomnia and in surgical anesthesia.

Maybe tonight is the night I die.

A jigger is an indispensable tool for the budding bartender.

Kaleidoscope is the ultimate in user interface customization for the Macintosh, letting you switch between completely different interface designs provided by plug-in modules called "Schemes".

Lemurs are members of a class of primates known as prosimians and make up the infraorder Lemuriformes.

"Mobster" is a slang term for a person who participates in organized crime, which is known as belonging to "the Mob".

Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia and necrolagnia, is a paraphilia characterized by a sexual attraction to corpses.

Opacity (optics), describes opaque material, impenetrable to visible light.

Presenting the Graphic Classics—timeless works of literature featuring amazing one-of-a-kind cover illustrations from some of today's best graphic artists.

Quetzals are beautifully colored birds of the trogon family (Trogonidae) found in tropical regions of the Americas.

Roulette is a casino and gambling game named after the French word meaning "small wheel".

Sansevierias is a group of about 60 Agave related species from India, Indonesis and tropical Africa. A couple of species are common as house plants.

For a list of biologically injurious substances, including toxins and other materials, as well as their effects, see poison.

Ungulates (meaning roughly "hoofed" or "hoofed animal") are several groups of mammals most of which use the tips of their toes, usually hoofed, to sustain their whole bodyweight whilst moving.

3 entries found for vulgar.

Money for crimes committed at residential schools may be forthcoming, but problems with the reserve system remain…[more].

a. yellow; yellowish. xanthochroid, n. & a. fair-haired and pale-skinned (person). xanthochroism, n. condition in which all skin pigments except yellow and orange disappear.

The purpose of YokeFellow is to further the cause of Christ through involvement in the Great Commission by using member's God-given gifts and talents.

One entry found for zealous.

car accident

Engl1020: Post 4

Originally I had intended to write this post about Buffalo Wild Wings Bar & Grill where I had planned to go to watch the Super Bowl with my boyfriend and some friends, however, on the way there from work something happened . . .

I was driving out from my work, going straight through an intersection when a car turning left, coming towards me nearly side-swiped me. I laid on my horn knowing I had the right-of-way, irritated I continued through the intersection, and then I woke up.

I thought it was morning and I had just come into consciousness, but I noticed that the familiar sound of my alarm clock was absent in the background. I opened up my eyes and noticed a silver Honda symbol. My throbbing head lifted and I saw that I had been resting my forehead on my steering wheel.

I looked up at a shattered windshield with a teal colored Geo Metro smashed onto the front drivers-side of my brand new car. Devastated, I closed my eyes.

I felt a falling feeling like when waking up from a nightmare, I opened my eyes to see my boyfriend, boss, some paramedics looking back down at me. I was already strapped to a cold yellow backboard with a head stabilizer and I was being lowered to the ground from a standing position. Explains the falling feeling . . .

I was lifted onto a rolling cart, I call it a cart for lack of the proper word (I’m still heavily drugged). In the ambulance the paramedics were asking me my basics, name, age, location, address, parent’s contact’s etcetera, most things I could remember, however, to my astonishment, some I could not.

When I arrived at the hospital I was told that I had called my boyfriend, and told him about the accident, and since he only lived a block away, he got there quickly. The other driver had called the paramedics, and my boss, who saw the accident from work called my parents. I didn’t even remember getting out of my car or calling my boyfried. If I was coherent I believe that I would have called my mom second, and 911 first, but I didn’t call either.

I also learned that the person at fault was 14, did not have a drivers licence, was not a legal resident of the United States, and had a stolen car, with expired tags.
My insurance would have to pay.

Thank god for full coverage.

Without it, I would have been done for.

My observational essay will contain my experience at Good Samaritan hospital for their link click here.

For the link to my insurance company and their policies click here.

For the link to my car including it’s safety features click here.

I apologize to anyone reading this post, I am ashamed of it to say the least I was rushed, and I am under the influence of heavy pain medications.

Kiwi!

Engl1020: Post 3

“Kiwi!”

One word, that is the entire intro one receives to the content of this clip. If you are anything like me your mind probably led you to think brown fuzzy fruit with a sweet/sour green center speckled with seeds. Well, you and I alike would be dead wrong. The music picks up gradually with a low pitch slow tempo melody, as we come to the opening scene. The clip begins with an extreme close up of brilliantly colored orange bird feet. This close of a shot instills a bit of confusion in the mind of the viewer as to who or what the character is. Then the frame pans out to a medium shot where the entire character is shown. “Ohhhh, it’s a kiwi bird.” Thus, meaning is added to the title.

However, the clip doesn’t terminate all curiosity of the viewer with the medium shot, by not utilizing an establishing shot to show what exactly the kiwi is pulling the viewer stays focused on the clip. The clip also uses a sufficient amount of anticipatory setups in order to establish a small amount of impatience and anxiety in the audience.

Although the director of the clip does not immediately show the viewer what is going to happen, he/she uses cutting to continuity so that the audience does not loose their attention span. For example, you do not have to watch the kiwi hammering every single nail, sliding all the way down the rope or climbing back up the rope again.

Finally, the creators of the video give you the insight as to what the kiwi was doing; nailing tree’s to the side of a cliff…

But why?

The music stops, embedding anxiety into the minds of the viewers, the “hold your breath” feeling is incorporated with this technique. The kiwi takes a plunge, we should be frightened, but a high-pitched, slow tempo music kicks in, making the viewer feel a fleck of comfort.

Answers flood the viewers minds soon enough. All that’s left to interpret is why the kiwi would die to feel like he was flying just that one time, and furthermore, did he actually die?

Why do the producers of the short animation clip not provide these answers?

Because this clip is meant to provoke thought, to stimulate a further look into the film and to encourage the viewer to seek the insight of friends and family, spreading the clip and increasing it’s popularity.

This clip has definitely gotten my attention and I have viewed it far more than once, therefore it appears that the creators of this clip have met their goals, to spread their animation experience, hard work, and dedication to a mass of the public.

Click the play button on the embedded video below to view “Kiwi!”


I realize that this video doesn't quite fit in my profile, if you would like to see it without the edge cut off, click here.