Post 17- Freewrite #3!

I spent my day horse shopping, which I know does not sound that exciting to most people, and sometimes it does not even sound exciting to me. Horse shopping is kind of like buying a new car- you go into with an idea of what you want; the size, color, price, brand, etc. and you almost never go with the first car you drive until you have gone and driven other cars to make sure that it is the best car you can get for your money. Well, horse shopping is exactly like that. You go into with how much money you are willing to spend, how much training you want the horse to have, how big you want the horse to be, what color the horse is, what breed it is, etc, etc.

Today was the beginning of a LONG process for me, but the first horse I rode, Blue, is the one I like the most so far, but so far I have only tried out two horses. I get to spend my week riding as many other horses as possible, then I get to go back and see if this horse still stands out to me. I went into this process with a very specific mold in my mind of what I want in my new horse and Blue had every quality but one… He is a grey which means more maintenance because he is a lighter color. But, in all honesty, just like car shopping, color should be the least of your worries if it performs exactly how you want it to.

I guess I will see what this week brings with other horses and hope that I find one that I fall in love with so I can get ready for the show season and go out and show.

Post 16- Freewrite #2!

I am hoping to transfer to the University of Denver next year and am currently waiting to find out whether or not I have been accepted. I was supposed to find out by Friday, April 20th, but apparently not. According to the registrar at the University of Denver, my transcripts from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center for my fall 2006 grades were never sent. Delightful, is it not? I am not going to lie, I am more than just a little irritated that I get to wait even longer to find out whether or not I have been accepted. It has already been a month, which according to the transfer coordinator at the University of Denver, is almost twice what the normal decision making period is… So, with that logic, I should have found out already.

The reason I want to go to the University of Denver is because I am a Political Science major, focusing on the pre-law aspects of it. I want to continue on to law school after all of my undergraduate work is complete, and the University of Denver has my top pick as far as law schools are concerned in my mind. However, that is not the only thing that attracts me to the University of Denver for my undergraduate work. The University of Denver is located in one of my favorite parts of Denver- you are close enough to downtown that it only takes five to ten minutes to get there, yet far enough away that all of the hustle and bustle of being in the city is gone. The campus is amazing, it is absolutely gorgeous and perfectly situated within the neighborhoods of the area.

So, I guess I will keep my fingers crossed and hope that I find out whether or not I have been accepted quickly so I can plan for next year.

Post 15- Freewrite!

Recently I was informed that due to the injury my horse Luna suffered in February, 2004 that she will not be able to be used in the manor in which I intended at the time of her purchase… So, now I get to do the whole horse shopping thing all over again, only this time I get to go all out! For those of you who did not already know this about me, I horseback ride VERY competitively. I show in the jumper division through the Colorado Hunter Jumper Association that holds shows almost every weekend throughout the summer.

My goal for this show season is to compete through level 4/5 jumpers which is 3’9”-4’ fences, so to do this, I need to buy a well trained horse. The show season begins in May, so at this point in time I have all of two weeks to find a new horse and start showing, which is not an easy task. My horse Luna that I have right now is a nice imported German Warmblood that was bred to jump, so I am looking for something of the same caliber, only a little bit bigger and a lot more experienced. However, the only drawback is that Colorado is not the best state to buy a horse of this nature. So, for the first two weeks of my summer I am going to be traveling to California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Wyoming to look for horses, sounds crazy, I know.

I am hoping that by the middle of May I will have a horse that I can show at the level I want and do well with because it has been awhile since I have actually shown.

Post 14

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Post 13

This advertisement, which is meant to be a spoof of a Calvin Klein underwear advertisement with a nice, buff guy with a perfect body, is the reality of life, as the advertisement says. In turn, this advertisement utilizes a few rhetorical strategies. Across the chest of the not so appealing man, the advertisement says “REALITY for men” utilizing narration, analogy, comparison and contrast, and classification. The narration aspect is the words “REALITY for men” across the mans chest because it, instead of selling the product, tells a story of what most men look like in real life. The analogy is the “selling point” that not all men look like they do in all of the Calvin Klein advertisements. There is a comparison between this advertisement, with the not so attractive man who is overweight with a hairy chest, to the usual Calvin Klein models who are attractive- or at least their bodies are and they are in good shape with no hair on their chest, this is also the element of contrasting the two. Additionally, the classification used in this advertisement is the fact that it places men in what is a more normal category for them than the usual Calvin Klein advertisement that does nothing of that sort, it instead holds men to a much higher standard of appearance which just is not the case.
Additionally, this advertisement appeals to emotions, ethos, in the sense that it is comical more than anything. How often do you see a male who is not in tip top shape in an underwear advertisement, whether it is serious or not? However, as I have previously mentioned, it does a good job of placing less emphasis on the fact that most male models are fairly attractive. So, in that sense, this advertisement is a good thing because it brings people back to reality and the fact that not everyone has the perfect body.

Post 12

What is the product, sex or underwear? In this day and age sex sells and Calvin Klein is notorious for using sex appeal to sell their products and this advertisement is no exception to that fact. The image used in this particular advertisement is that of an attractive woman who is slim and in good shape laying on a couch wearing only a bra, panties, and a pair of jeans that she is in the process of taking off. Who is this advertisement going to appeal to, men or women? Men. This is a result of the sex appeal being utilized by Calvin Klein in their advertisement. Had the advertisement not said “underwear” underneath Calvin Klein, it would have been challenging to determine what the product was. In retrospect, Calvin Klein also has advertisements of attractive men in their underwear or a pair of jeans without a shirt on. These advertisements are used to appeal to women instead.
Since one of the keys to successful advertising is to catch people’s “eyeballs.” Obviously an effective strategy to doing this is through provocative and suggestive imagery- specifically suggestive displays of scantily clad models. In fact Calvin Klein’s initial advertising campaigns utilizing scantily clad youth provoked allegations of child pornography. As a result, Calvin Klein was forced to reconsider their advertising strategies. This demonstrates that simply being risqué is not enough. Advertisers such as Calvin Klein, Victoria’s Secret, and Abercrombie and Fitch are no longer content with the implication of sexuality but are pushing the envelope in an effort to stand out and are creating more and more raw and explicit images. This trend has continued to evolve and given the fact that the models still have some of their clothes on allows advertising sex appeal to escalate to a new level.

Post 11

The woman in this photograph is placed exactly in the center of the photograph, with a darker background that does not have very good lighting, and all of the lighting focused on her. The contrast of the light against the dark makes the woman stand out more than she would have had the background been just as well lighted as she is. So, as a result, this brings the main focus of this particular photograph to the woman who looks most upset. The dish in which she attempted to bake whatever she was baking and her apron are the only two, well lighted items in this photograph which places a lot more emphasis on them than let’s say the background. Having the dish that the item was being baked it places more emphasis on the darker, burnt top of the baked item because of the drastic contrast in the colors. By doing this, it is conveyed that the dish that the woman was trying to bake obviously did not turn out as she had hoped it would, which in turn places more emphasis on the woman being upset as a result. The message is also that the woman who was trying to bake the item is upset because it did not turn out like she had hoped. The potholders and the woman’s shirt look as if they match, which is a little odd, but provides for more emphasis on the baked item. The fact that the woman and the background are in proportion makes the photograph more visually pleasing, at least to me, because nothing is awkwardly large or out of focus.

Post 10

The first thing that caught my eye when I looked at this photograph of a women holding something that she had tried to bake that had not turned out how she had hoped or expected, was the look of disappointment on the women’s face. She looks as though she is about to cry. This is not the normal reaction one would hope for after taking the time to bake something (note photograph inserted), but if you look at the baked good, it is obvious that something went wrong in the baking process. The top of the baked good looks as if it is almost black, but certainly burned. The expression on the women’s face is obviously in reaction to this mishap in the baking process. I know that I get upset when the items that I am trying to bake do not turn out as planned, but normally I do not look this upset unless I am baking for a specific reason. So, maybe she was trying to bake a romantic dinner for her and her significant boyfriend, maybe she was trying to prove that she could indeed bake, or maybe she was just baking to bake and it did not go as planned. Any of these are options. Also, the apron that she is wearing looks like one of the aprons that you would see in an older television show, maybe this is to make her look like more of a modern day homemaker or to make a statement about the baking and cooking abilities of some women.

Post 9

In this photograph taken by Caitlin Atkinson, there are many elements of it that stand out. For instance, the background- the stove, the counter, the utensils, the kitchen- are all blurry and the only things that are in focus in this photograph are the women and her outfit and the baked good that she is holding. By doing this, it places a much larger emphasis on the women, particularly her facial expression at least that is what I noticed the most. There are not too many bright colors in the kitchen, and the background of the photograph is darker than the women and her baked good. By doing this, even more emphasis is placed on the women. The potholders look as if they match the shirt that the women is wearing, whether this was intentional or not, or whether or not they do actually match I do not know. Maybe this is to place more emphasis on the women, as she is the main focal point of this particular photograph, so it would make sense. The look is her face is either one of shock, anger, or disappointment, but it is certainly not the face that is made when something turns out well. It is also unclear as to what she was trying to bake and for whom she was trying to bake. This element ads some uncertainty to the photograph that makes the viewer wonder more about the situation at hand in which this women tried to bake something.