Free Write

So there I was sitting on the futon in my room watching Bri play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with Sega Controller in hand. Her goal--to save the world...by beating the infamous Dr. Robotnic, of course. She has been playing this game for two and a half solid weeks just about everyday. It's like as if she addicted or something. It all started one day with a phone call.

I was exactly where she was, only not quite so addicted, but really into the game. I was simply having some fun breakin' out the original Sega Genesis, "ya know." She asked me what I was doing and I said, "Why playin' my brand new Sega, or course!" Her reply I believe was along the lines of "OMG, your playin' Sega and by the sounds of it Sonic and you didn't invite me?!" I quickly replied with "I'm inviting you now, NOW AREN'T I!?" Before I knew it Bri was in my room for what seemed to be 24/7 trying so desperately to beat that game.

The first week her eyes were glued to the TV and her hands to that third party controller. At the time it was intense! The second week was even more so. She decided that instead of playing to get all the chaos gems, she would play just to beat the game. That was her one and only goal. Only when it it came to beating the two end bosses, she would go through 20 some lives and 2-4 continues. Finally we youtube'd a video of how to beat the end boss but still she tried and tried and died and died. Finally when she was down to only one life left she got the hang of it. Yeah, she spun Sonic so fast, it sent Dr. Robotnic to the next game.

End video of Sonic 2

I'll See You in About- Twenty Years!

Sleek and elegant, sharp and attractive-this is a car one sees and only dreams of having. What kind of power is hiding under the hood? What would people think if they saw me in a car like this? There it stands in the spotlight in a warehouse made just for it; no other car would serve as an equal substitute. It's waiting in all its purity just for that one ambitious person who will say, "I'm going to drive you someday!" But then one must wonder, how to get his hands on it, how can I make it mine. The following commercial is about a young boy who catches a glimpse of his dream car and takes the first steps to make it real; it establishes the character and quality of Porsche through the use rhetorical situations, ethos, and pathos.

The ethos of Porsche is illustrated throughout the narration of this commercial in a variety of ways. For Porsche, a car represents who you are or who you will be someday; therefore, they manufacture their vehicles in such a way as to best represent their customers. Young William happens to be distracted in class one day and is looking out the classroom window when this dream car slowly passes by like a glimpse of heaven. He goes through all the trouble of searching in the library for the make of the car, bicycling all the way to the Porsche dealership to check the car out, and in the end tells the dealer that he’ll be back in 20 years to buy his dream car. William is a intelligent and ambitious kid; he intends to reach his goals in life, and one of those dreams is to own a 911 Carera. From this, the ethos of the boy has been established. He has chosen to represent part of himself through this car and company. Therefore, he must be trusting Porsche when it comes to this representation. Porsche’s ethos is described and defined through the dealer. He has good posture, a clean presses suit, straight tie, and a encouraging attitude. Today’s connotation of a dealer is heavy set, pushy, selfish, and hard to work with. Porsche is trying to show through the dealer that they are the opposite of this and wish to best represent themselves and their customers. The second way Porsche defines itself is through the 911 Carera in the statement "and now again it is poised to redefine what is possible... it is quite simply the purest expression of who we are.” The car itself has become a recognizable logo for Porsche and any connotation of Porsche is in this car. This, however, is only a few of the ways Porsche has demonstrated its ethos in the commercial.


Another appeal used in the commercial is that of pathos. The above Porsche commercial explicitly states the false need observed in the first commercial. “It’s the car you own before you ever really been inside one. The car you feel before you ever even driven one.” Then it goes on to say how it is irresistible to avoid this youthful desire to drive a Porsche. William shows this false need after seeing the car drive by and has this overwhelming emotion to find the car himself. Then the commercial states “We’ll be expecting your call.“ This is exactly what happens to William. After class, he is found studying in the library but it isn’t his homework he‘s studying. Rather the sight of the car earlier has drove his emotions to where he has found in magazines which car he saw for sure and proceeds to draw it in his notebook. Soon the bell rings. He runs down the hall and outside, hops on his bicycle and rides to the dealership with great urgency and speed. This false need for the car has been instilled in the boys mind that he will own the car someday. The car was so magnificent and glorious that he had to find it for himself. Towards the end of the first commercial William goes on to confidently say “I’ll see you in about twenty years.” One can only surmise that he seriously intends to come back someday and buy that car. The commercial continues with this voice over saying “There’s the moment you know you want one, there’s moment you first own one, and for the truly afflicted there’s the decade or two that passes in between.” If a false need such as this can be that powerful it must be for a reason. The following commercial helps to illustrate just why this false need is created through ethos.

Porsche for forty years and even before then has been working to make the best of the best of cars so their consumers are defined in this way. “We believed any car that merely got you from here to there just didn’t go far enough. That belief, a little imagination, and a lot of hard work led us to build cars that set new speed records, set new design standard, set new expectations of what a car ought to be.” In the first commercial, the specifics of the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S are defined with examples like how much horsepower it has, top track speed, and acceleration rate. This shows that they are still following these ideals and are still making the best of the best of cars today even further establishing ethos. “From its first days on the road forty year ago, the 911 eleven has ignited the kind of passion in drivers that only a Porsche can.” Porsche first must define its character before this passion can come about, and the company has rightly done so even now with the 911 Carera and 911 Carera S. This passion is what leads to the false need of wanting to own a Porsche!

All of the commercials end with the logo of Porsche. This creates an analogy between a symbol and the connotation of the symbol. All the ethos of Porsche is to be represented by this badge with a horse in the middle and the company name lining the top. The fact that humans remember what they saw last the best, it is easy for them to relate all of the ethos of Porsche to this symbol. In the first commercial the male voice says “Porsche, there is no substitute,” while the logo comes up. In this case, the commercial is trying to provide the desired connotation of the symbol. That is, if you want to best represent yourself with a car, the only one that does so the best is Porsche. Based on the fact that Porsche has properly established its ethos, this is a logical argument in that sense. However, who is to say that a Chevy Nova won’t represent the person better, even though, in Spanish “No va” mean no go. It is a misuse of ethos by authority over evidence. Porsche has tried very hard to establish its ethos but by doing so, they have overemphasized the authority of their ethos rather than focusing on the small evidence provided by the commercial. In the end though, who is to say that from this I now don’t dream to own a Porsche.

Hillary Clinton: New Energy, New Jobs

"Hillary has a bold and comprehensive plan to address America's energy and environmental challenges that will establish a green, efficient economy and create as many as five million new jobs." A bold and firm stance for the ever so popular Hillary Clinton for the 2008 presidential election. Just how does she propose to accomplish all this and how is she suading those who vote to support her argument? At first glance many people do not read into what is said in the article and how she goes about it. This article on New Energy and New Jobs uses certain rhetorical stategies including the appeals of logos and pathos to support her thesis and stance on the issues of energy and new jobs by the dilivery and arranement of the material.

The first words written here are here thesis, "Hillary has a bold and comprehensive plan to address America's energy and environmental challenges that will establish a green, efficient economy and create as many as five million new jobs." It is a very strong thesis, boldly stated and clearly defined. She wants to create new and more evironmentally friendly energy and new jobs, a proper and fitting description of her stance on the issue. She plans to implement these effects by reducing greenhouse gas emissions by eighty percent by 2050 and by cutting foreign oil imports to a third of what it is now by 2030. It is an effective scare tactic, "Hillary's plan will reduce America's reliance on foreign oil and address the looming climate crisis." This appeals to logos because a voter has been address about this crisis and therefore logically they will want to take action and in this case the answer is by voting Hillary into office. However, before one decides to vote for Hillary, one must know the steps she wishes to take to acheive this goal.

The process Hillary has devised to correct our energy and climate process is illustrated and classified in the fourth and fifth paragraph of the article. For example "Hillary would transform our economy from carbon-based to clean and energy efficient, jumpstarting research and development through a $50 billion Strategic Energy Fund and doubling investment in basic energy research." People are able to see how this fits into a larger scheme when she goes on to say "She would also spur the green building industry by funding the retrofitting and modernization of 20 million low-income homes," an appeal to pathos for those lucky 20 million low-income home owners for a home makeover would improve the quality of life of those lucky many. So far her argument is a strong one and very firm relying on evidence and kairos, adressing the present concerns of out time like those of global warming, the use of energy, and the stability of our economy. In the sixth paragraph her rhetorical approach changes drastically.

"To take the steps necessary to transition to a clean and renewable energy future, Hillary will urge all of the nation's stakeholders to contribute to the effort." Wow, that is a bold and drastic leap in order to get the whole nation from homeowner to business involved across the nation. Just how does she plan on doing this? "Automakers will be asked to make more efficient vehicles; oil and energy companies to invest in cleaner, renewable technologies; utilities to ramp up use of renewables and modernize the grid; coal companies to implement clean coal technology . . ." Note in both of these quotes the use of verbs. She uses "urge" and "ask" both of which may not produce any effect. For all we know stakeholders and large companies may say no. However, the way the material is delivered and aranged puts emphasis on the action by setting up a series without repeating the verb. This creates a logos appeal called post hoc fallacy. When reading the material we overlook the verb and take the actions as concrete, like they will happen, when actually none of them may happen. Therefore the cause and the effect can esilly confused or misinterpreted leading to a hasty generalization of the effect.

To support this hasty generalization the evidence is stacked with examples. "A new cap-and-trade program that auctions 100 percent of permits alongside investments to move us on the path towards energy independence; An aggressive comprehensive energy efficiency agenda to reduce electricity consumption 20 percent from projected levels by 2020 by changing the way utilities do business, catalyzing a green building industry, enacting strict appliance efficiency standards, and phasing out incandescent light bulbs; . . ." The other hasty generalization is that new jobs will be created. It is stated in the thesis of the first sentence but no where is it substatially supported creating the logical fallacy called red herring.

The effect logos and pathos along with all the other rhetorical appeals create a strong argument that seems to be very effective when supporting a thesis in elections such as this. Overall there is yet one more strategy this article uses, the advertisers stance. It is a strategy that will effectively bring in voters for Hillary Clinton by avoiding the ethos of the candidate and the quality of the text. It is like buying a product oblivious to the character of the product; that is exactly what this article wants-to win votes by ignoring certain details and appealing to what seems important to the reader!

Budweiser, we got canned! (observation)

"Green buddies, I got some bad news. Uh, WE GOT CANNED" Two frogs and one lizard each on their own rock are making a commercial in a commercial to advertise-BEER. Specifically, Budweiser. BUD frog has a deep resonating voice while ERR has the voice of someone mocking somebody acting stupid. The lizard never seems to shut up. Here they are in the middle of the swamp and more importantly in the middle of a scene for a commercial and the lizard can not stick to the script which leads to this dramatically hysterical conversation where one frog is up set, the other confused, while the lizard if freaking out because the frogs can actually talk! After the lizard announces the news, BUD's eye immediately opens wide because the lizard actually got his attention with something. Before, the frogs were just ignoring the lizard and sticking to the script for the commercial. ERR is so confused and shocked by the news he comically says he's going to get sick and starts hyperventilating. The lizard replies with put your head between your legs...honestly like that is really going to work. BUD is frustrated with it all but still considers ERR and asks for someone to get him a bucket for ERR. The selling point of the whole commercial is when the other lizard watching from a distance says with his own deep authoritive voice, "Now how is that supposed to sell beer?" and at that moment the Budweiser logo pops up in the bottom right corner. Of course its going to sell beer because the commercial is absolutely hilarious. After people see it and go to the store to buy beer, what would be a greater influence than that funny commercial that BUDWEISER had on TV the other day?!