13. V FOR VENDETTA

http://orgone5.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/v-for-vendetta-logo-wallpaper.jpg
V for Vendetta is our presentation film which is due on 5'th of January. I haven't watched that film before (when I say that to anyone, they all get shocked and say "Oh come on! How come you don't watch it, I've watched that for 3-4 times". It also happens when I say I haven't watched Titanic either.) I have to admit that I am influenced by the film and really liked it. We will talk about it in our presentation, but briefly I want to mention about some parts of the film that really affects me. One of them is the scene that Evey is being tortured in a cell and finds a note which belongs to a lesbian called Valeria and tells the story of her life. That was really emotional and it is quite surprising that she is imprisoned by V in order to make her not to fear by government. Furthermore, at the end, hundreds of thousands of people walk through the streets with their mask on their head and among these people, the dead people's faces are seen and that scene was also impressive. There are so many points in the film that is worth to talk. I will be examining the film both in my presentation and the interesting points in my blog.

12. PROCESS ESSAY-REALITY TV

(I know, I'm a bit late to enter this post about process essay.) When I had the comments from Sonja about my first draft, I was a bit shocked. While I was handing that in, I was thinking that it it was a nice essay that I wouldn't spend much time and retouch it after I'll have Sonja's advice. It was a real disappointment for me. Because, she mostly told me that my statements were subjective and I had no sufficent proofs or examples for most of them. Also, I somehow forgot to put a quote from Peter's article. When I read my essay with that suggestion and by a "teacher's"perspective, I noticed that she was right and I thanked God, that I had a chance to re-write it. I think it's better now, with more examples,quotations and references to the text that we read. Now it's Sonja's turn!

11.ÇARŞI IS AGAINST SULEYMAN HURMA!!!

Çarşı is against everything, especially against Suleyman Hurma on Tuesday in pub-quiz. (By the way it was a "fake" pub-quiz, that I was a bit disappointed). Although we lost it, we also deserved to win. We were ahead against the other group for 2 rounds, but in the third round everything changed. We made some spelling mistakes and we didn't remember some key points. Anyway, there is no loser or winner, the good thing was to compete(as all losing party say).

10. CRITICISM OF OUR PRESENTATION

We presented “A Woman on a Roof” on Thursday in our class. The day didn't start well for us. We wanted to edit something in one of our powerpoint slides just before the lesson and we needed internet. However, I-somehow- turned off the wireless button in my laptop, so we couldn't connect to internet and we had to go to library. Computers in library, have a program that I have never seen in my life and it was hard to work. We really might have lost what we have done during editing. I noticed that my laptop's wireless button turned off while entering the class when Hasan Can said to me. Because I needed my laptop during the presentation, we thought that we could show the slides from the computer inside the class, however later on we learned that there was no internet connection ( We were going to open our presentation from my mail). Hopefully, Beri had his laptop with him and the problem was solved. I think, generally it was a nice presentation, however we should have analyzed the connection between this text and “Marked Woman” without being asked by Sonja. Also, we should have put every important point on slides rather than just saying. When it is not on the slide, people might miss what we say. On the other hand, I was a bit get stressed when Sonja told us that she had many questions for us. I thought that we haven't covered many points and it was not sufficient. Since it was our first presentation, we expect from Sonja to be more tolerant towards us!

9.QUICK ANALYSIS OF" A WOMAN ON A ROOF"

"A Woman on a roof" was one of the texts that we were supposed to read. By the way, it was our presentation. When I read the story, the first question that came to my mind was, what will happen if that event occurs in Turkey? I really even do not want to think its consequences. On the other hand, basically this story highlights two different points. One is the perspective of men through that woman as a sexual object and the other one is the inequalities between social classes. While reading the text, we mustn't forget that Lessing is both a feminist and socialist woman.(she was the member of British communist party) In my opinion, one of the aim's of this text is to show the power of women, which we see in the text that she uses her beauty against men and shows her power by rejecting them, not even dare to talk. The other aim is to show the different social classes. Woman is most probably from the upper-middle class and workers are the labourers. Woman doesn't need to work and can feel the enjoy of sun, however men have to work under that burning sun.

8. TOUGH GUISE

Tough guise was really an interesting film that really made me to think on this issue. Undoubtedly, media was one of the major factors which created the “cool pose” or “tough guy pose”. For many years, it was imposed by the media that men should be strong, physically tough and aggressive. But it is not just media’s fault. It is the nature and image of men that come from million years ago. It is said that men must be strong because they should protect their family, which claims that there is also a social pressure on men. There were some statistics in film, for instance men perpetrate 90% of the violence in society. It should not be forgotten that this “tough guy pose”, which is created, is one of the major reasons of this rate. This pressure on men gives them a huge power, so that it results very badly. On the other hand, in today’s world, when it is said someone is “brave”, it is understood that he is a good fighter; strong, aggressive and fearless. However, in film, Katz gave some names in history; like Mandela, Gandhi and Martin Luther King. I think they really deserved to be called as “brave” than a muscular image that beats everyone.

7.“GOOGLE AND YAHOO- COPYRIGHT THIEVES”

While I was doing research about copyright issue in the net, I incidentally saw a title called”Murdoch Calls Google and Yahoo Copyright Thieves”. As you know Murdoch is the owner of the News Corp and one of the richest men in the world. He claims that Google and Yahoo are stealing their copyrights and help people to read news on the web for free. He thinks that’s got to change. Also he says that the News Corps properties would eventually be thrown up behind a pay wall, and Google would be blocked from searching them. And later on Google replies him that “Publishers put their content on the web because they want it to be found, so very few choose not to include their material in Google News and web search. But if they tell us not to include it, we don’t.” Google is the most known search engine in the net and I think it is one of the most important places that you can advertise your brand. I don’t know why he sees them as thefts. It gives the official site of the newspaper and it directly links to people to that site. He is furious about it, because he thinks that people prefers to read on net rather to buy it. But, he has rights to declare Google to stop giving places to his publications.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/04/murdoch-says-go/

6. COPYRIGHT- IS IT LOGICAL?

Last week, the “copyright issue” was discussed in our class. We have learned that if there is a copyright image in a text or any piece, you should get permission from the owner if you want to use it. I think it is really nonsense. In my opinion, if you cite the source and tell the owner’s name, there should be no problem. It is really a hard process for anyone to reach to the owner and ask permission for using maybe a one image to be used. I don’t know if anybody wants to struggle with this process. Also, one of our classmates asked Sonja, what happens if the owner is dead. I think this question shows the absence of sense of this “copyright issue”. I admit that if someone takes other’s work or idea, he/she has to say where he/she gets it and I think it is enough for that

5. ENGLISH CLASS SO FAR

Our Eng 101 class is similar to our english lessons that we have done in high school. So it is not hard for me to adapt to the lessons. The concept "media and gender" was interesting and we have discussed the theme in many ways, by blogging, photojournalism and reality tv. It is better to look at a concept in different ways, which help us to understand better and make us to have different ideas while we are writing our process essays. I have to admit that I haven't get used to blogging yet. But, I am really trying.

4.PHOTOJOURNALISTS

Photojournalists aim to give the emotion of that part of the scene that they take to people who look at it. They work under hard conditions and especially the war photographers risk their lives just in order to reflect that scene as real as possible. It is really an important job, however it is discussed whether it is ethical or not to take a picture of someone who is dying. In my opinion, there must be someone to show that scene to us, and maybe it doesn’t seem so humanly, but the photographers must do their jobs. Photojournalists have emotions; however they have to hide it while doing what they are supposed to do. Photojournalists mustn’t be the part of that scene, it shouldn’t be forgotten that their job is just to reflect what they see. (By the way, I don't know anyone used that photo in their blog, but this photo was taken in Vietnam war)
http://www.bjp-online.com/img/show.html?img=304098

3. FIRST WAR PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CRIMEAN WAR

It is known that first war photograph was taken in Mexican-American war in 1847 by an anonymous American. The first known war photographer was called Carol Popp de Szathmari who took the photos of Crimean War. However the most famous one was Roger Fenton, also worked in Crimean war. Photos shown were taken by Roger Fenton in Crimean war, which was between Russia and British Empire, France, Ottoman Empire.

(photos can be found in www.old-picture.com/roger-fenton-crimean-war-index-001.htm )

2. REALITY TV-U.K. AND U.S.A

While doing my process essay, I searched some statistics about reality TV and its ratings especially in most developed countries. “Reality TV in the UK by stating that in 2000, 70% of the population (4 - 65+) has gone on record in having watched reality television occasionally or on a regular basis. The United States has similar reality TV statistics. One report indicates that for girls ages 12 - 17 years old, 3 out of 4 of their favorite television shows were reality TV shows”( http://www.jobmonkey.com/realitytv/reality-tv-statistics.html) It is said in some television critics that reality TV is popular because it is watched especially in non-developed countries, since there are more un-educated people. However, it is not true. Reality TV is not popular just in non-developed countries, but all around the world. Besides, the idea of reality shows comes from U.S.A and I think the statistics in U.K. tells everything.

1. "REAL"ity SHOWS

In today’s world, unfortunately money is the “key” of everything. I think it helps us to see how a person can lower himself/herself until which point. Also, it helps most of the people to put off his mask and show everyone his/her real characteristic. During the second week of English class, we had been discussing about this “reality TV and shows” issue. It is a really current issue especially in Turkey now. Due to “globalization”, of course Turkish TV sector are totally affected by U.S.A and their program formats and unfortunately reality shows are now in the centre of our daily lives. TV administrators do not care whether it is educated or beneficial for people who watch it or not. They just care about its ratings (which means getting more ads). For instance, there is one program in FOX TV called “Su Gibi”. (I think most of you don’t know and haven’t watched it.) In the first weeks that this program started, the aim of the program was to help poor people and provided money for them. People could donate money for them by calling the program or sending messages. But then, the format of the program was changed into a marriage program (because they weren’t happy about the ratings). And now it is one of the most popular programs. This shows that, “money” is the “key” word that is used in TV sector. We should look at “reality TV” issue with this perspective.