Afghanistan Blog Assignment

Keenan Coffey
Afghanistan

1) The top eight agricultural products natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, chromite, talc, barites, and sulfur.
2)  The life expectancy is; male: 49.17 years, female:
51.88 years. The infant mortality rate is; male: 124.89 deaths/1,000 live births, female: 109.18 deaths/1,000 live births. This happens because of the lack of healthcare, and when babies are born they are not normally born in hospitals, but in the hands of uneducated people.

 

3) It possess 0 km of coastline and has direct correlation to the countries history. Its lack of a coastline takes away from trading prosperity, and contact with other nations.
4) The main transnational issues with Afghanistan are illicit drugs, and boundary disputes with Pakistan.
5) Afghanistan possesses transnational, behavioral, and governmental issues that ravage the economy and will continue to be evident unless drastic changes are made.

Part B: (Picture 1)
A young boy notices that a man that looks like his father is dressed in army clothing, and looks like he's ready to fight. It reminds the boy of his father that left him when he was the age of 3. He points a toy gun at his head, and begins to fake shoot. This makes his friends break out into laughter, and the soldier begins to get angry. He murmurs something in Pashto, and the boy runs away in freight. The speech translated to something like; "I'll kill you and murder your family."

Part C:

Keenan Coffey

1/16/15

Drama A

Hairspray Performance Critique

Mrs. Rockne

Hairspray

 

                The performance of Hairspray was definitely a very interesting one. There were many reputable actors and actresses including Zac Efron, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Michelle Pfeiffer, Brittany Snow, Elijah Kelley, and Allison Tannery. The movie takes place in Baltimore, Maryland. The time period of the musical starts in 1962. Hairspray is a well- known musical based in a time period when racial issues were present, and morals and values differed greatly.

                The overall story was structured well throughout the movie. The exposition starts with the Corny Collins Show and Tracy’s involvement with it. The rising action begins with Tracy ultimately auditioning for the show, and meeting the African American dancers on the show. The climax includes her admission into the show, and the backlash that came with it. Her size brought a lot of turmoil to the cast of the show, and also her protesting was the end of the climax. The falling action is Tracy’s sneaky actions to get onto the Corny Collin’s beauty pageant, and the first black winner of the pageant. The resolution is when the show gets integrated with the African Americans that participated in Negro Day.

                The performers did a fantastic job of portraying the values and expressions of people in this time period. John Travolta was Tracy’s mother, and showed how a typical mother in this time period was. He also gave a sense of humor to the movie because of a man playing a woman. Also, Zac Efron portrayed a typical teenager in this time period well. He was pro-integration, along with Nikki Blonsky performing as Tracy. Their characters were believable, along with the rest of the cast. Their volume and articulation was stellar because of the musical aspect to it, and the songs and characters did a good job with this. One takeaway would be how modern the songs sounded, and some of the modern body movements throughout the musical.

                The set established a mood of sympathy for the black teenagers and people, along with an optimistic one as it went on. The lights conveyed emphasis on the characters, and the Corny Collins show. Throughout the film it continuously brightened the characters shown. The costumes and makeup were very old fashioned, like the skirts and dresses especially. The floral designs and length showed this. The sound and music was emphatic and loud most of the time which was great because it was obviously a musical.

                The audience was attentive throughout the duration of the play. The entire class had their eyes glued to the screen for the most part. The musical was very interesting because of both the plot and the structure of the movie. The show as a whole was appealing to me. The characters were performed well by a great cast, and it worked to portray the virtues of the 1960’s. Overall, I liked the musical a lot and

enviornment

C. Many biotic and abiotic factors can influence the Tropical Rainforest being both harmful and beneficial. Differing factors change the biome in different ways. Average precipitation is a gigantic factor in a tropical rainforest. The average rainfall is normally around 100 inches per year. A large increase or decrease in rain would cause the biome to struggle. The average temperature is normally around 68-95 degrees fahrenheit. A change in average temperature would drastically deteriorate the biome. A rainforest does not recieve a lot of wind throughout the course of a year. The soil composition dates back hundreds of years, and conatin all terrestrial life. The damp soil is the basis for all life in this particular biome. The geographic features that dominate are specifically trees because of their abundance. The solar radiation is strong considering the high temperatures a tropical rainforest possesses. These factors directly affect the biome.

Each of these factors affect adaptations of plants and animals because change in them would create problems for the advancement of species. Evolution would decrease if this biome changed drastically. The most influential factor is precipitation because rainfall is a necessity in a tropical rainforest. The whole biome operates with the right amount of rain each year.

ENglish Blog assignment 1984

Part A – The world in Dubai, and the happiest place on Earth (Denmark) contain utopian dynamics that set up a perfect world for their inhabitants. The world in Dubai contains a chain of islands branching to make the silhouette of the world. Inland Dubai is only 5-10 minutes from each island, so good and materials can be accessed that aren’t available on the islands. The expected crime rate will be very low, and the people living there will feel happy with their isolation from everyone. The happiest place on Earth is in Denmark based on surveys and information from every nation. The utopian dynamic in Denmark directly correlates to their idea of taxes. People in Denmark pay 50-70% of their entire income. Everyone in the nation feels as if the government has their back, and they have a great relationship. There are no real dystopian values with these two places, and they are ultimately the closest to a utopia as it gets.

Part B - Connecting the science fiction values of the thought police in George Orwell's 1984 to actual thought scanning technology like that of an fMRI portray the reality of advancing technology reading the minds of their patrons.

Part C -
1) Isolating the nation of Oceania in George Orwell's 1984 is a lot similar to the virtues of North Korea in the new millennia, although the vanishing of many bridges in North Korea provide a more serious approach.
2) Evaluating the poor living conditions in George Orwell's 1984 is no where near the harsh conditions of North Korea, in regard to the photo of a poor man extracting water from the Yalu River.
3) Containing reasonably inadequate policing and fire systems in George Orwell's 1984 compares slightly to the severity of not having proper fire officials in North Korea in regard to a man extinguishing a house fire by his lonesome.

Part D -
1) Testify by Rage Against the Machine makes distinct allusions to George Orwell's novel 1984. More importantly, the tune makes allusions to the world we live in today. For example, Rage Against the Machine alludes to our dependence on foreign oil. They sang, " Oily silence mocks the legless boys". This pinpoints the middle eastern tragedies that are occurring in regard to the oil crisis. Boys are getting killed, along with innocent women and children, and this dynamic is a lot like 1984.

2) Big Brother by Stevie Wonder makes connections to the text of George Orwell's 1984. Certain lyrics of this song contain direct examples from the book. For example, "You say that you're watching me on the tele". The telescreen in 1984 was a reoccurring theme, and showed that the government was watching over their people. Stevie Wonder alludes to the similarity with our government today, and how it is in 1984. Also, there were modern allusions in the lyrics. An example of this includes; "I live in the ghetto, you just come to visit me 'round election time." This demonstrates how politicians speak to the poor class during election time.

3) 2+2=5 by Radiohead demonstrates the theme of a dystopian setting in both our world today, and in George Orwell's 1984. The song portrays the theme of a math equation "going wrong". This is directly related to how our government works today, and the corruption it beholds. The world in 1984 is similar because of the Ministry of Truth, and the changing of history. This connection to the text is related to this famous Radiohead song.

Part E-
A song that connects to the text of 1984 is spies by Coldplay. The theme of never being able to express yourself and that everyone is always watching is evident in both of these pieces. The argument displayed is that you are never truly alone.

Part F-
The correlation between linguistic nuances and newspeak and doublethink is very clear. We make distinct inferences when we speak, and interact with other people. Many different words have different meanings, and this is also clear in newspeak. This idea in 1984 is a lot like what we are doing to the English language. Pretty soon, we will be abbreviating words more than was ever though of. This is a large problem, and 1984 makes clear warnings of this.

drama performance critique

RealCyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand and directed by David Lereaux, is a play that incorporates elements of drama and comedy. Some main actors include; Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner, Daniel Sun, Max Baker, Jaloux, Stephen Balantzian, and Anthony Burges. The play was performed in Paris in 2009. The story includes a lonely warrior named Cyrano de Bergerac, on his siege for both valor and the lady of his dreams. Cyrano, Roxanne's suitor, was given the duty to help Baron Christian de Neuvillete woe Roxanne far better than Cyrano could have imagined. He assumes this position, and the story revolves around this dynamic.

The story starts in a theater in Paris in the 1640's. A play begins in the theater, and Cyrano introduces himself by stabbing a person in the play. He then alludes to Roxanne and her beauty, and vividly describes his love for his cousin. Christian comes into focus, and asks for Cyrano's help to acquire Roxanne's love. Cyrano's intelligence and Christian's good looks were their best bet to win her over. However, Christian ultimately found out that Cyrano loves her as well. Christian woe's her to be his lady until the siege occurs. He dies in battle, and Roxanne receives information about the whole plan the two men had. She finds out fifteen years later that she indeed loved the words of Cyrano, and felt an emotional connection towards him. Throughout all of this turmoil, Cyrano dies from getting hit in the head with wood, and neither of the men end up with Roxanne. The story worked well as a whole, and had constant funny and dramatic moments to it. The punchlines of jokes were performed well; especially with the character of Cyrano. The development of a well executed script was evident.  It was entertaining throughout the course of the play, and kept the audience attentive. 

The performers included a variety of people with many different roles. Kevin Kline for example played Cyrano de Bergerac was very believable and accurately depicted the character. Jennifer Garner also did this with the character of Roxanne. They both had a believable performance, and articulated well to the audience. The two were loud, and always faced the viewers. The characters body movements and style stayed true to both the characters of Cyrano and Roxanne. 

The play established a mood of humor, and anticipation. Throughout the whole performance it kept the audience on the edge of their seat. The set also created a mood of the time period in the 1600's. The lighting conveyed appropriate elements, and emphasized certain characters frequently when they spoke. Costumes and makeup were accurate in terms of the time period as well. The overall noise and sound effects contributed to the anticipation of the play. They always performed music, and if it was a musical I believe the orchestra played well. 

The play provided many effects for the audience. Throughout the whole performance the audience was interested in what was going on, and were attentive. I liked certain aspects of the show as a whole. I believed it would've been better without Roxanne having so much involvement with the plot. I also believe that the war scene should've been easier to see what was going on. Overall, the play kept me entertained and is recommendable.  

Preston Meyers

Keenan Coffey

10/5/14

Drama A

Character Analysis Can't Hardly Wait

Mrs. Rockne

Preston Meyers is one of the main characters in the film, Can't Hardly Wait. He is a great example of a typical high school student with both dreams of being what is considered "cool", and successful. Preston's character displayed the whole dynamic of how high school works, and the hardships that each and every student faces. He is unique in the sense that he was not like everyone else in his highschool, and he strongly conveyed this. Preston Meyers is hopelessly in love with a popular girl at his school, and had a goal to finally pour out his emotions to her before he left for college. He had many goals throughout the film, and showed the audience his bravery, courage, and determination.

Preston