Youngsters and Geezers

“Wow, this reading is boring as hell!” is one phrase you may hear floating around a college campus. This phrase is one that you may not be able to blame the reader for. Hell yeah, some reading are boring, and this may be just because the reader is not a particular audience. Do you ever read something and think “My grandpa would really dig this!” or other phrases like that? This is probably because the material you are reading was aimed towards an older audience. Many writings are geared towards a neutral age group, not only the elderly, even if the writing is very “lame” or “boring”. I will take one of these neutral pieces entitled Joan Littlewood and the De-Mystification of Acting by Roger Grainger and explain how I can adapt it to make it appeal better to a younger audience and then to an older audience.

            First, I think a good way to appeal to many youngsters would be to turn the Grainger article into a rap song. Not only would the article be extremely shortened and simplified but it would also be catchy. This rap song wouldn’t have to include the classic curse words or other foul imageries of many rap songs, but would just summarize the main ideas of the article in a rhyming form. This would be a very easy way for a younger audience to absorb the information of the article. They could download the song, put it on their iPod, and listen to it while on the go. If the song was catchy also, then they would very easily learn some more information on theatre and method acting. People could be walking around rhyming the lyrics and humming the tune of Roger Grainger’s article. It could be floating all around social media and be considered the hot new “fire” in the rap game. In all seriousness though, a simple rhyme scheme and summarization of the themes in the article would very much appeal to a younger audience. A quick and fast learning method like a song very much appeals to the busy lives of a younger audience.

            When I picture an average morning for my grandparents, I always visualize them sipping a cup of coffee, lounging around and reading the newspaper, at 6 a.m. My point is, newspapers appeal greatly to an older audience. It is something they grew up with and are used to. Younger people feel that this old “reading” thing takes way too much time and prefer quick ways to learn. If the Grainger article were to be converted into a newspaper article it would be bold and brief. Most newspaper articles are not very long and usually have a title that reels the audience in. a few pictures could also make the reading experience a bit better, because who doesn’t love a good visual? The article would be very factual with some minor opinions scattered throughout. An interview between the author Roger Grainger and his subject Joan Littlewood would also spice up the article. An older audience would love to sit down with this newspaper article on their Sunday morning and learn some more about Grainger and his training. The newspaper article genre would be a great way to appeal to an older audience.

            The bottom line is that most people like getting to the facts and simplifying things. A younger audience would better identify with a catchy rap song that rings in their ears, while an older audience would enjoy a factual newspaper article. The ease of picking up the newspaper on the front porch or downloading the song online greatly appeals to both audiences. Most people of an older audience do not want to fiddle around on the computer, just the same as a younger audience doesn’t want to sit and read a newspaper. Converting the scholarly Joan Littlewood and the De-Mystification of Acting by Roger Grainger into the two genres of a rap song and a newspaper article would greatly spread out the piece’s audience. Many more people would be willing to learn about this topic if it were simply presented to them in a genre they enjoy.

Dirk Vs. Elbow

            Moves are pretty awesome. Until the concept was presented to me, I never really knew what to call all of the things writers do to get to their goals. Now I know to call these actions, moves. There are millions of moves that writers can execute in their writings. Two of the articles that we read at the beginning of this quarter both struck me as very unique and full of moves, and being that we had to read them both together, I really got to see the similarities and differences between the works. The first article is “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk, and the second is “Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing” by Peter Elbow. Both of these works really caught my attention, but in very different ways.

            Both Dirk and Elbow have very particular moves that they use to reach their goals in their articles. Dirk is aiming to teach about differences in genres and what different genres look like, while Elbow is targeting in on his concept about two different kinds of thinking. Both writers start out their articles in pretty similar and fun ways. Dirk starts her paper off with a fun joke to get the ball rolling. This is a great move to get the reader involved and ready to continue reading. Most college kids don’t want to read, but when they sit down and read the goofy joke, they may read a little more. Elbow has a similar intention and uses a similar move. He uses some quotes to start the article off about certain people’s opinions on thinking. This connects to the reader just like Dirk’s joke. Both the quotes and the jokes are moves aimed at connecting and engaging the reader to the article. No matter how boring an article is, if it has a good introduction that makes you laugh, ponder, or maybe even cry, chances are you will read through most of that article.

            Neither of the articles are completely academic in the sense that they are aimed at pompous scholarly nuts who only enjoy words like “platitudinous” in their daily vocabulary. Elbow’s article is a bit more formal and he draws less anecdotes than Dirk does, but I would not consider his article that of a text book. This lack of formality is a strong move on both of the writer’s parts. Instead of being pompous writers, which I am sure both could easily accomplish, they chose to take a simpler, more casual approach. This move acts in a similar fashion as the introductions do. It connects easily with the reader, especially a younger audience. Most college students don’t enjoy reading, but when they come across articles like these, it is hard to resist. They are not completely boring, and the casual move makes it fun to read both Dirk and Elbow’s articles.

            Some moves the writers chose were very different. Although both writers did not usually extremely academic writing styles, Elbow’s article was still more formal. In my opinion, this was not a very strong move. I enjoyed how relatable Dirk’s article was. She drew from pop culture with references to The Onion and its wacky article titles. A lot of the writing in Dirk’s article was funny too and had a conversational tone. This move was extremely effective on her part. I did not enjoy Elbow’s somewhat casual yet didactic tone. The only way I could really describe it compared to Dirk’s move of super casual, flip flops and tank top style, would be a semi-formal, awkward button-up style. Reading Dirk’s article was a lot more fun. Elbow’s move may work better with an older reader, but I dig the super casual Dirk move.

            Dirk also made a nice move with the set-up of her article. It had nice quotes and bullet points, an occasional heading. The overall appearance was great. I felt more engaged and ready to read the paper. It didn’t look like a bunch of blocky words or page long paragraphs. Elbow chose a different move. He went for the simple plain old text style. This can definitely work, and is probably the oldest move in the book, but compared to Dirk, it was boring. I really enjoyed Dirk’s article layout. When I saw a different heading or a quote coming up, I had something to look forward to. With Elbow’s paper, the layout got boring and repetitive towards the end. Dirk’s unique layout was a very effective move, while Elbow’s layout can be effective, but in retrospect to Dirk’s it was cake with no icing (Sure, I’ll eat it, but where is the fun icing?).

            Overall, these articles has some similar moves, yet other big different moves which really shaped the articles. Kerry Dirk’s “Navigating Genres” gave a fun insight to the world of genres, while Peter Elbow taught us about different types thinking in “Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing”. Both of these articles, although very different experiences, were both good reads.

The Same, but NOT the Same

            Unlike myself, and what most people would imagine, all scholarly works and genres are exactly the same. After reading them for hours it may feel as though they are the exact same, acting as a written NyQuil, however not all scholarly and academic texts are exactly alike. The rhetorical features and some conventions in academic texts differ, like those in the article entitled Developing Multicast Applications and Access Points off of the SCIgen genre generator compared with the features of the article Theater and Therapy: How Improvisation Informs the Analytic Hour.

            First, let’s look at the article from SCIgen, a computer science research paper generator. Before anything else is said, it should be said that all the articles generated on the site are pointless and make no sense. The papers that are generated are complete gibberish, but aim to illustrate the rhetorical features and conventions of a research paper. The visual layout and structure of each generated paper was extremely similar. From a surface level view, they look exactly the same. The text font and sizes all matched up, the headings, the different layers, the main difference was the content. Each article displayed a boldfaced heading along with multiple bold sub headings. Every paper contained a table of contents, an intro, related works, references, and an abstract section to begin the article. The abstract gave a brief preview of what the rest of the article was going to be about. The papers all contained a heavy amount of academic vocabulary and didactic phrasing. Although the writing was heavily academic, it was just a scholarly form of gibberish. It is as though a bunch of different paragraphs were pasted together that don’t entirely talk about the same subjects. The aim of the SCIgen site is “amusement, rather than coherence”. It is just a fun way to view different scientific articles. Another convention seen throughout the papers are a series of many different figures. The figures can either be graphs, tables, or regular drawings. They also do not seem completely coherent to the whole work of the paper. Basically, the articles on the SCIgen website are a good way to look at the conventions and some of the rhetorical features of a highly academic research paper, as long as you disregard the lack of coherence in the article’s text.

            Next is yet another scholarly article written by obviously two fine scholars, Rosalind Chaplin Kindler, M.F.A. and Arthur A. Gray, Ph.D. It is apparent by their names just how damn smart these people are. The article talks about the connection between improvisation and acting with the brain and how the two affect each other. This article contained words and phrases that seemed like gibberish like in the SCIgen articles, but they were actual words and phrases. This article is filled with enough didactic and inflated language for the whole entire family! The text is broken up into short and sweet paragraphs. The writers also draw upon their own experiences and memories at times which can be very interesting. In terms of conventions, there are a few different headings, each of the same font and size. The article also contains a brief summary in the very beginning, explaining a bit about the article. There also footnotes present on each page, giving some more explanation to the text. Also, embedded in the text are quotes from people taken from interviews that were conducted. And finally, like most scholarly texts, there is a works cited or reference page at the very end. This article contains all the rhetorical features and conventions to make it a scholarly article, but it rings much differently than the SCIgen article.

            Besides the obvious fact that the SCIgen article is gibberish and the theater article is not, the two works are very different, yet very similar and of the same genre. Unlike the SCIgen article, the theater article contains small anecdotes from the authors. This makes for a more interesting read. The SCIgen articles also do not contain footnotes like the theater article. Both articles are broken up into small paragraphs and contain multiple headings and sections. The theater article is more fluid, with less breaks in the text, yet no figures. Both contain summaries before the article begins, or what could be called abstracts. The overall writing in both texts is very inflated and academic. The words used at times are incredibly hard to understand, I’m not sure Google would even know the definitions. The papers differ on many levels. Both are academic and aimed to teach, but the theater article becomes more personal at times. Some similarities between the texts exist, yet many differences are also present, but overall the articles are of the same genre because they both possess the perfect amount of rhetorical devices and conventions to make them scholarly articles.

Link to SCIgen article:  http://scigen.csail.mit.edu/scicache/154/scimakelatex.11892.Tyler+Reinhold.html

Link to Theater article: http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=948a1edf-05fe-44b7-b4d3-ab744f3d6388%40sessionmgr4002&vid=9&hid=4212

Genre Generators PB1B

            At first, I had no idea what this whole “genre-generator” thing was. I thought each site would create different genres within themselves, but with further experimentation I soon realized that each site created its own specific genres. Each genre that was created in the sites had very specific conventions. Each convention allowed the viewer to fully assess the type of genre being displayed in front of them.

            The first genre generator was SCIgen, a computer science research paper generator. As soon as a paper was generated it was apparent that this was some type of formal academic text. This site in my opinion was full of conventions. The visual layout and structure of each generated paper was extremely similar. The text font and sizes all matched up, the headings, the different layers, the main difference was the content. Each article displayed a boldfaced heading along with multiple bold sub headings. Every paper contained a table of contents, an intro, related works, references, and a section called “abstract” to start it out. The papers all contained a heavy amount of academic vocabulary and didactic phrasing. Honestly, a lot of the writing in the papers hardly make any sense. It is as though a bunch of different paragraphs were pasted together that don’t entirely talk about the same subjects. At the front of the website however, there is a bit of a disclaimer that states that the papers are more for “amusement, rather than coherence”. Another convention seen throughout the papers are a series of many different figures. The figures can either be graphs, tables, or regular drawings. They also do not seem completely coherent to the whole work of the paper. Overall, one of the key conventions for the SCIgen computer science paper generator is the random incoherent pasting together of scientific knowledge.

            The Pandyland comic generator was a total blast to experiment with. Again, I noticed the total random nature of the comics. Some pictures placed together made sense and worked perfectly well together, while others made absolutely no sense together. The comic strips had me laughing literally out loud at a few moments. Some of the main conventions I noticed which really made the comic strips, well comic strips, were the drawings, the text, and the humor. Of course the comic, like most, was a series of three drawings and contained a very minimal amount of actual text. The drawing and the words complemented themselves very well however. The drawing served as a visual representation of the words. Conventionally, the comic was humorous with traditional poop jokes, penis jokes, harsh language, and moments where the reader would simply ask “what the fuck was that?”  The comics were very fun to read and experiment with. The conventions present allowed me to realize that the comics were comics, no matter how strange or disturbing the images became.

            Lastly was the fun and pretty hip meme generator. I am a big fan of memes, so I was excited to see what this site had in store. I had a lot of fun experimenting with this site and most likely explored it the most out of the three. Memes have pretty basic conventions. They are based mainly on a picture and a few words. Out of the past two genres I would say the meme is the easiest to create. All one needs is a picture and a clever set of words to go with it. Normally half the words are written on the top part of the picture and the other half on the bottom. The fonts and sizes of the words on the top and bottom of the picture are also usually different. Another convention is that the words are based off of the picture. The picture is used to show a visual for the particular emotion or situation presented in the text. They can be read either text first, then see the picture, or picture then text. Memes are a very unique art. I did more exploring and found another meme generating site entitled: https://imgflip.com/i/1841a  The memes on this site also contained all the conventions of the memes on the first meme generating site. Nowadays one can keep calm and find memes everywhere.

            What is happening in these websites can help someone better understand genre by displaying the main differences of each genre through their very different conventions. The websites give a visual of different genre types and make it very clear to the viewer how different each genre actually is. By picking up on the conventions of each genre the viewer can see what makes one genre what it is, while something else is a completely different genre. The way each genre is presented on each site makes it very easy for the viewer to identify the key conventions which make each genre, that genre. 

Link to other meme site: https://imgflip.com/i/1841a

PB1A "Apparently"

Rap music is one of my favorite genres. Textually speaking, the lyrics of the rap songs contain many rhetorical features and conventions. Behind many of the catchy beats and hooks there lies real meaning and heart to the lyrics of a rap song. Now this does not include the modern day “pop rap” or “club rap” that is essentially one layered. The rap I am writing about includes artists like Kendrick Lamar, Tupac, Logic, Notorious B.I.G., G-Eazy, and J. Cole. I will be using lyrics from J. Cole’s song “Apparently” to describe the different rhetorical features and conventions of a rap song.

            The audience for most rap lyrics varies upon the artist. Most rap songs are directed to anyone who wants to listen. This is the case for J. Cole’s lyrics in the song “Apparently”. He wants people to listen, this doesn’t mean to just hear the lyrics, but to actually listen to them and pay attention. Cole talks about his struggles growing up and directs this to an audience who grew up with many misfortunes like himself. However, these lyrics are aimed at the more fortunate as well so they can gain an understanding of other people’s struggles. Cole’s purpose for this song is to supply entertainment, purge, and give listeners insight. He is attempting to place great meaning and purpose in his songs, while making them still enjoyable to hear. Throughout the song one gets a sense that Cole is purging and letting his emotions free, this is as much of a help to him as it is for the listener. By placing his thoughts and struggles out into the world in the form of rap lyrics, Cole is easing the mind of some listeners. They may be going through his same struggles, feel how he does, or gain insight and understanding into real struggles that they could never fathom which would also help them to establish their own identity.

            The context of the lyrics in “Apparently” is not completely important. The main context for the song is the album it is in. The song contains many ideas and thoughts that are synonymous with those in the album, but one can listen to the song separate from the album and still gain meaning from it. Additionally it may be helpful to have some of the context of J. Cole and his life to fully understand some of the references like “Forest Hills” that he uses in his song. The main context regarding Cole himself that one should know is that he did not grow up living an easy life and constantly had to work hard to succeed. Basically, the context for this song is the album it comes from and also J. Cole’s backstory. The style and tone that the lyrics are being delivered in is slow and harmonic. The lyrics contain a basic rhyme scheme, but are full of witty remarks, metaphors, and similes like “getting head like a coin toss”. Cole’s tone is also full of emotion which is captured by the quick line breaks. The flow of the lyrics really helps to capture the emotion behind the words.

            Although these lyrics are different than most rap lyrics, they contain many conventions that are what help to categorize them as rap lyrics. The first convention would have to be the rhyme and rhythm. In this song, like most rap songs, there is a basic rhyme scheme and fast rhythm. There are also plenty of curse words to help liven up the lyrics a bit, which is standard in most rap songs. The raw emotion behind the lyrics is also a good convention that many rap songs have. This song also contains a catchy hook, another convention, and is packed with metaphors, similes, and humorous remarks. Cole also places many of his struggles into the lyrics, an important convention to rap lyrics. These conventions are what help make this rap, a rap. Musically speaking, the beat will also help to categorize it, but simply speaking in terms of lyrics, all the conventions I mentioned will help narrow the lyrics down to a rap song. With a hot beat and some swagger added to the lyrics, another traditional rap convention, there would be no way that someone could not recognize this as a rap song. 

This is the link to the lyrics and their meaning to J. Cole's "Apparently"

http://genius.com/J-cole-apparently-lyrics/ 

The excellent music video: 

ME

My name is Tyler Reinhold. I come from Southern California, more specifically the city of Fontana. Most people do not know where that is, so I usually go with the broader San Bernardino or Inland Empire area. That usually keys people in on where I come from. If they still are unaware, I just live near L.A. I have one sibling, a 10 year old brother, who makes me feel as though I have 20 siblings. I am a first-year student at UCSB, and a theater major. I plan on auditioning at the end of this year to be in the B.F.A. program and have an emphasis in acting. Most of the time when I tell people I am a theater major, they react shockingly. Many people are intrigued, curious, or sometimes even concerned. They feel as though I have made a radical decision with my life that is reckless. Some people are genuinely curious and thoroughly respect my decision, while others think I’m just crazy. At first, it was difficult to tell people what my major was upon realizing the overbearing tide of biology, chemistry, engineering, and economics majors that are present on this campus. However, I soon realized, fuck it, this is my passion and what I love to do. Of course I am worried about the future and what will happen, but for now I am going with the flow. Some of my favorite things to do are outdoor activities, like playing basketball, skateboarding, surfing the web, and hanging out with my friends. Unfortunately, skateboarding caused me to be confined to my living room for a good portion of this past summer. I fell, and like any experienced professional would do, I stuck my arm out to brace my impact, and tragically broke my wrist. About a month later, I received surgery, and now have a small plate and a couple screws in my wrist. I had hoped that the surgery somehow would make my wrist stronger than ever, and I would become some type of million dollar man, but so far that has not been the case. My wrist is still in recovery mode, but one day it will possibly reach its peak performance. Currently I am dorming in the Santa Cruz residence hall and spend a good amount of my free time in the top bunk of my room, hence the name of my blog. All in all, I’m a simple guy who enjoys acting, sports, has a bionic wrist, and loves long walks on the beach into the sunset.