Archive for September, 2007

The Posh Life of a Mansion Park Resident

{ September 30, 2007 @ 11:41 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Greetings readers.  Seeing how its Sunday night and I want to have my nightly cup of tea and burrow into a role playing game book, I figured I’d give you something light to digest this evening.  I am a resident of Mansion Park Apartments this year.  This quaint complex is nestled on the western end of the campus, far away from the .  I enjoy its quiet, lack of authority figures, and excess of storage space in the form of multiple closets (each apartment has 5) .  Unlike my time in Evergreen Hall, I don’t have to sign friends in or get approval from roommates to have them over.  Despite the relaxed lifestyle, I have couple of qualms with these apartments.

First off, the walls are coated in lead paint.  Mind you, its not dangerous unless I decide to have paint chips for dinner, but its still unsettling to know that potential blindness and death are six inches from where I sleep.  Couldn’t Rowan University at least try to make me feel safe in my own apartment, what with the muggings and the rape trail.  I think for $20,000 a year, I should be entitled to a lead free environment.  On the upside, my housing fee does garner me the same luxurious carpet as most other residence halls on campus. 

Second, for the third time this semester, the hot water within the apartment is out.  It started off in such a state, and maintenance has  “fixed it” twice.  Both times, the hot water has retreated like the French Army in the face of a German offensive.  My roommate intends to go to the Maintenance and speak to them face to face to inform them of the situation.  Hopefully, they do a little more than fiddle with the heater for all of two minutes.  But if it does break down again this time, I’m gonna call a spade a spade and blame it on gremlins.  Otherwise, we just have an underwhelming hot water heater.  I mean, with the fall approaching, the prospect of a cold shower does little to excite me. 

Well that’s enough ranting for tonight.  I’ll leave you with these amusing facts on a caffeine:

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/09/24/caffeine-facts/

quick rant

{ September 28, 2007 @ 6:32 pm } · { Ryan's posts }
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Today my readership of millions gets a quick, requirement-fulfilling post filled with quick talking points of whatever is assaulting my mind at the moment before I have to entertain friends.

Right now I’m listening to a real BA band called The Devil Wears Prada. The chaotic way they form their songs is extremely refreshing, since all the brutal stuff I usually listen to is incredibly repetitive. I don’t mean to say that no other band has ever mashed soaring melody and growling electronic breakdowns before, but I think this band takes it to the next level. You probably won’t like it, but that’s what I’m digging right this very moment.

I think global warming just threw in the towel for the year this evening, as the stagnant oven that was Glassboro became a breezy dreamland. Now some people are a little worried about global warming, but we might as well make the most of it. We can cut travel costs by cutting through the Arctic Ocean now, and that frees up more time for us to take advantage of all these warm days at the shore. The billions of people living on the coasts will have not been made miserable (or dead) in vain if my future self has more opportunities to get skin cancer on Hammonton’s new beachfront property.

Hey, what the hell. Let’s go Yanks.

See ya tomorrow,

Ryan

Lonelygirl

{ September 28, 2007 @ 8:01 am } · { Uncategorized }
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I’ve seen people talk about Lonelygirl on t.v. a few times, and I think it is pretty smart that she was acting in these YouTube videos. She is so funny and unusual in these videos, and people did not realize that she was just acting when they first came out, and for a while. This girl obviously had a lot of time on her hands to make this series, but it is interesting to see that so many people watched her videos everyday. I have to give her credit because it is very creative to think of something that will give you a lot of publicity.
Not to change the subject, but my dad works with these two women in New York that had an idea for a t.v. show and they put it on the internet to try to get publicity. It is actually on YouTube, and they do get viewers for it. Personally, I do not see why people are attracted to it because I think they could have done a better job, but I’m very happy that it has so far been successful. The show is called Beautiful Stranger, and during it, they interview all sorts of different people from around the city and ask them their favorite stores, clothes, books, etc. Then, they put the website for each of the places that the person talks about on the screen so that people can go to it if they like the look of the person being interviewed. It was a very creative idea and my dad thought that it might be successful so he is doing the graphics for the women that thought of it. This is the main website for the show that they produced, .and this is the website for one of the YouTube videos of it . Maybe someone in this class would like it, and make my dad happy…

Internet Plagiarism

{ September 28, 2007 @ 7:46 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Each year in school, for as long as I can remember, we were always told not to plagiarize. We know that is not right to copy exactly what someone else wrote for our own benefit, but many people do it anyway. When I was in high school people would be caught plagiarizing all of the time and wound up getting a zero for the assignment. In college, it a much more serious issue, so most students know that they should not do it. In Rebecca Howard’s article, “Understanding Internet Plagiarism,” she discusses how more people are plagiarizing from the internet, and there is software that can be used to find out the source of where the person got the information from. “In today’s revolution, the Internet is described as the cause of a perceived increase in plagiarism, and plagiarism-detecting services are described as the best solution” (Rebecca Howard). I do agree with Howard when she says that these services are the best solution, but I do not think it’s necessary for every professor to check for plagiarism after every assigment. If grammar or vocabulary looks suspicious in a student’s assignment, then it’s understandable that they teacher should check.
One of my teachers in high school would use this service, and every single thing we wrote, no matter what it was, he would check to see if we were plagiarizing. Even if it was just an in class assignment where no sources were even possible to use. We just thought it was funny but pretty rediculous.
Howard also talks about internet sites where you can pay to have an essay written for you. These websites are so stupid because you do not know where they are getting their information from. Odds are, they are getting it from somwhere and could be plagiarizing. Students need to be able to write a paper and create their own ideas and arguments. The internet has not helped with plagiarism, and I can definitely agree with that. It is nice, however, to have a source right in front of us that has all the information we could ever need about any one topic. Just don’t copy it!

Your Shit’s Weak Son!

{ September 28, 2007 @ 2:55 am } · { Uncategorized }
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For those of you who live under a rock, Nick Swardson graced our presense here at Rowan University last night.  Tickets were sold out and all the seats were filled.  Though that might sound redundant, sometimes people buy tickets to events and don’t show up.  There might have been one or two people who missed it and I’m sure their friends are going to make them feel like such jerks for not going.  I mean, this guy is hillarious.

First off, I didn’t really know anything about Nick Swardson except for seeing him in Grandma’s Boy and Blades of Glory.  Apparently, he plays a gay prostitute on Reno 911 named Terry.  Personally, Reno 911 is too weird for me.  I don’t really like most of the humor and I think it’s just an embarrassing display of media in the US.  Anyway, I thought Nick Swardson was funny in the two movies I’ve seen him in.  He seems like such a goofy guy that I think one would be hardpressed to find someone that didn’t think he was at least a little funny.  So, based on my little knowledge of him, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go see him perform stand-up.  Mind you, all his characters were basically supporting parts.  He is the comic relief in the comidies, if that makes sense.

It wasn’t until my boyfriend basically told me that he’d kill me if I didn’t go that I decided to give this guy a shot.  All I can say is that I’m so glad my boyfriend knew what he was talking about and if I missed it, it would have been one of the biggest mistakes of my college career.  He touched on some very touchy subjects but we always came out laughing no matter how bad the joke got.  He’s not a very vulgar comedian, though.  Yes, he curses a lot but think about who he is.  Nick Swardson is an alcoholic, ex-pot head, grown man who never went to college and decided to make a living by making a fool out of himself in front of a lot of people.  I mean that in the sweetest of ways.

The one thing I really didn’t like about his performance was he had to keep looking at a piece of paper just to remember what jokes he was going to say.  I don’t know, maybe he has a really terrible memory.  Maybe he smoked it all away.  I just think it is better when the jokes just kind of flow because the comedian knows exactly what messages and jokes he wants to get across.  Just like in writing, in speaking, transitions are important.  It’s very easy to lose an audience if you don’t keep the flow going.  That’s just my opinion though.  Some people might think it’s cute that he can’t rememeber his jokes.  It might be part of his act or persona.  Overall though, i feel sorry for all the people that didn’t go.  My advice to all you unfortunates out there…go check out some of his stand up.  I’m not sure if any of it is on YouTube but that would be a good place to start.

 Oh and by the way, for all of you that WERE there, how ANNOYING was that girl who wouldn’t shut up?!  I think he played it off well.  I mean, “Take of your pants”??  Personally, I think it is rude to interupt somebody in the middle of basically a funny speech.

Plagiarism

{ September 27, 2007 @ 4:53 pm } · { Ryan's posts }
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Plagiarism has always been an obvious no-no in my life. Perhaps teachers correctly socialized me to consider it the greatest intellectual offense one can commit, or perhaps I recognized at an early age that copying off of someone else’s work is completely subpar to actually doing the work myself. Maybe it’s both.

Now, as a major in Writing Arts, plagiarism is simply unthinkable. Like a modern architect taking credit for the Parthenon, or a scientist claiming to have discovered gravity, a writer taking someone else’s composition and calling it his own makes no sense. If not because it is unethical, then because you lack a sense of purpose. A writer’s job is, quite simply, to write, and not to simply compile pieces of others’ writings like a computer. Whatever is written must be unique and off the top of the writer’s head, (prepare for self-gratification) much like I’m doing right now. Now, the composition can be grounded in existing work, and usually is. But for a writer to steal, blatantly or not, another’s work, he or she must be conning somebody, if only themselves.

Additionally, I found Rebecca Moore Howard’s secondhand revelation in “Understanding ‘Internet Plagiarism‘” about the way Tony Blair’s administration plagiarised (I gave it an “s” because this section of the post has to do with Britain – YaY bLoGs!) the intelligence dossier for the war in Iraq (11) extremely rich. Prime Minister Tony Blair is, of course, the British cohort of American President George W. Bush in the push for the controversial war. As this example of the “dodgy dossier,” as it is called, is mentioned in an article about students and plagiarism, it helps to paint the ongoing picture of Bush as nothing more than a schoolboy too stupid to earn high marks respectably. Truly, is there really doubt in anyone’s minds that this guy was (re)elected without any dirty hands?

Until later,

Ryan

Identity on the Internet

{ September 27, 2007 @ 4:35 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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With the rise of the Internet, the definition of identity is changing.  With modern technology and the level of connectivity one can achieve without leaving their home, people are developing separate identities in the online world.  Online communities offer a place for the socially awkward to thrive in social situations, without the pressure of face to face meeting.  Dibbell’s article “A Rape in Cyberspace” and Turkle’s article “Who Am We?” explore this issue of online identity, along with the emergence of completely online communities.  They both reflect on the positive and negative aspects of these online identities and communities. 

 ”A Rape in Cyberspace” deals with the response of an online community (specifically a MUD, a Multi User Dungeon, a sort of communal online house) to the repulsive acts of one of their own, one Mr Bungle.  A meeting is hosted by the community members in deivse a way to convince the moderators of the community to ban this user.  Eventually, one of the moderators acts on his own and bans the user.  This act in itself is a rash one, but it leads to a creation of ballods and petitions that can legislate such action at a further time.  Dibbell’s article shows that a group of people with a common interest online can form themselves into a community, given a large enough push.  Many people decry the death of the community in America, but the Internet is giving rise to them elsewhere.  People from all over the country, or the planet for that matter can exchange ideas or just socialize. 

Turkle’s article focuses on the effect MUDing has had on the lives of those who participate in it.  The tale of a young man called Stewart sticks out in my mind.    The young man is socially awkward, has health problems and is submerged deeply in the life of a physics graduate student.  MUDing allowed him to experience social interaction, discuss his feelings with others, and even woo a woman.  However, all these activities only served to depress Stewart.  He felt addicted to MUDing and felt like it would be the only place he could achieve.  It left him stuck in a limbo between his awkward self and his social MUD alter ego. 

 I can sympathize with Stewart because for a while, I frequented a MUD like chatroom.  It was mostly populated by awkward young anime and video game fans.  There, we would take on personas related to our favorite game or show, and proceed to socialize, mock fight, or even stage romances.  It was terribly fun, but slightly addictive as well.  I had a lively social life within the community, and several close friendships.  Something about it felt good, a sense of belonging I didn’t come to know in real life until my junior year of high school.  Unfortunately, the chatroom was shutdown for reasons unknown and I moved on with my life.  I was able to quickly adjust to a real world social life much better than Stewart.  Still, I can understand his despair over never being able to obtain that social status in real life.  Its a depressing thing, when you see so many people around you socializing and enjoying themselves, when the only thing keeping you from that happiness is yourself.

 That’s enough for now though kids, I have to get ready to head over to Wilson.  NICK SWARDSON TONIGHT, WOO!!

Links to the articles: 

 A Rape in Cyberspace:  http://wolff-tfw-fall07.pbwiki.com/f/dibbell-cyberspace-1993.pdf

 Who Am We?:  http://wolff-tfw-fall07.pbwiki.com/f/turkle-we-1995.pdf

 The Secret World of Lonely Girl:  http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.12/lonelygirl.html

Brave New Blog

{ September 26, 2007 @ 4:41 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Greetings, they call me Chris McMahon around these parts.   I’m a sophmore Writing Arts major here at Rowan.  I’m originally from Brooklyn, New York, but my family moved out to a small town in Central Jersey called Old Bridge in 1989.  We’ve been there ever since.  I enjoy reading, playing roleplaying games, late night diner runs, and wasting time on the Internet.  As with most of this generation, procrastination is my great curse.  However, my sophmore year will be the year I break its sway over me. 

In my time at Rowan, I’ve notice a certain gentleman about campus.  He dresses well and can be seen carrying a briefcase with him at all times.  You may have encountered him,  bouncing past you on the way to class.  However, some of you have encountered him in your classrooms, an energetic and entertaining presence.  He refers to himself as “Meals on Wheels.”  His brief case is full of candies, chips, and fruit cocktails.  The man makes his pitch, rhyming his way through it.  He offers snacks, at low prices for any who are interested.  Few people take him up on this offer, but he comes back time after time, to make his pitch and try for sales.  I admire his commitment to whatever cause he is selling snacks for.  His charisma and energy are unmatched.  I wish him better luck in his future pitches.

Figured I’d start his blog off with something easy.  Talk to you soon folks    

Emily is here!

{ September 26, 2007 @ 1:46 am } · { Uncategorized }
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Being that this is my first blog on this website, I would just like to say that I have blogged before, or at least i thought i did.  I mean, I basically kept an online journal, accounting for each and every event in my life.  It was a lot of work but it was a good outlet.  I found out from about a solid year of “blogging” that I prefered to write my thoughts on paper with pen.  I think that this is a completely different experience.  Here, I promise, I will not post all about my day and all that.  I feel that this has more structure, even though no one is specifically telling us what to write about.  Let me know if I’m wrong but I don’t think anybody wants to sit here and read about someone’s everyday, boring existence.

Anyway, with that off my chest, there is something that has been bothering me for about a week.  It may seem trivial to some but this has really got me down.  I am a Cincinnati Bengals fan (that’s football).  They lost their last two games.  The first one was against the Browns, which they should have won.  It was just an unfortunate game.  I didn’t actually get to watch it becuase Cincinnati is just a bit too far out to be on local TV.  Honestly, I think the defense really needs to step it up.  I mean, they have an incredible offense: Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson, Rudi Johnson, etc.  Rudi can run like the wind and Chad is one of the best wide receivers.  Plus, Carson has great accuracy.  Honestly, if the defense was better, I think they would be unstoppable.  As a side note, I was very dissappointed with Chad’s first touchdown celebration of the year.  Did anyone see it??  Anyway, had the Bengals won that game, they would be 2-1 instead of 1-2.  It’s pretty frustrating.  I find it funny that a lot of people’s emotions hang on sports during certain season.  I think football season is the worst in terms of that phenomenon.  People get so hyped up, and I’m one of them, if their team wins, but walk around dejected for a week until the next game if they lose.  Boy, I do love football season, though.  Hopefully, next week the Bengals can pull it off against the Patriots!  Keep your fingers crossed!

-Emily Sofia

Renee’s First Post

{ September 25, 2007 @ 7:00 pm } · { Uncategorized }
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Hello. I am Renee, and this is my first blog ever. I’m from Manalapan, New Jersey, and I am currently waiting to get into the Elementary Education program here at Rowan with Writing Arts as my duel major. I am at work right now, in the Rowan President’s office. They let us do our homework, if there is nothing else to do. (Isn’t that nice of them?) All I have to do today is answer the phones, which is not very difficult. I’m so tired because I’ve been so busy lately. I don’t know what made me think I would be able to handle six classes this semester, while working. Oh well, at least I sleep very well every night from being so exhausted. I’ve never written ablog before, so I’m not sure what exactly to write about.

Something that really bothers me is the parking situation in Campus Crossings. I live in an apartment there with three of my friends, but we are only given two parking spots. I’m assuming every other apartment has this same problem, but it’s very frustrating if we all have to leave to go to different places all of the time. There are a certain amount of free spots, but it is very difficult to get them, most days. Another problem at the Crossings is when we have guests that are not from Rowan. They basically have nowhere to park, because they will be towed if they park in one of our spots with a visitor’s pass, and they will get a ticket if they park at the school because they do not have a commuter pass. So far, we’ve been okay with working out who gets what spot on what day, but it is just very annoying, as you all can see.

I’m hoping I have something more entertaining to talk about next time, but bye for now.

-Renee

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