Atlanta Graffiti

In class, many of our groups had talked about how graffiti can actually make a community closer if everyone accepts it. In the video ATL Graffiti, a girl goes traveling around Atlanta taking pictures and looking at all of the different graffiti. This video shows the interest of not only the people within the neighborhood, but people outside as well. It could even be said that graffiti in a neighborhood, if elaborate enough, can actually attract tourism and people from out of town.

This video does a good job of being consistant and keeping the audience's attention. The music and the cinematographic techniques it uses, such as having the girl walk by the wall several times, grab the attention and keep the interesting flow of the video going. The video focuses on using emotional and visual appeals to persuade the audience that Atlanta is filled with unique and interesting neighborhoods. The artistic perspective it give by the black and white up until the graffiti is seen is an emotional appeal, making the neighborhoods have hip or trendy vibes. The graffiti art itself is the visual appeal. Both of these aspects blend together to maintain its purpose, which is to show the Atlanta community in a unique and trendy light.

Suburban Sprawl - Sprawling From Grace; Driven To Madness Review

Video Link
This video was a trailer for a movie, so the goal of it was to advertise, and to portray the movie in an intersting way for the audience. Tone. The tone of the music is ther first thing that catches the audience's attention. The sound throughout the whole clip is a very fast paced violin with a repetitive beat. This creates an intense and interesting feeling for the audience, which is the goal of the video. Another thing that is intended to keep the audience's attention is the imagery. All of the 5 second clips of images show pollution, clutter, and spread out interstates and houses to create a serious setting. The combination of voice overs and fast paced music in the background, and the images of pollution and crowding provide a powerful message that is both interesting and showing the point of the film itself.

As far as the content within the video, there are a lot of good points. The voice overs describe and layout some of the general problems with sprawl. They also stress repetitiveness of sprawl, and how we keep making the same mistakes over and over. Another point made is that we are hurting both humanity and the world we live in by constantly increasing sprawl. This is appealing to our attachment to the people around us and the world we live in. A very good point is made that "the human being has to be the essential planning component and the scale around which everything is measured, not the automobile." This point is a logos appeal, because it is saying logically the scale that we build everything should be based on what it is being built for, humans. The fact that this is a trailer for a legitimate movie actually shows credibility to the audience. In end of the video, an Einstein quote is used to emphasize their message of repetitiveness, which could be both a logical appeal and an emotional appeal. This allows the video to end on a powerful sure fire message to send out to the audience.

By: Stephen Sealy

Trash & Sprawl: An Artistic Twist

By: Lauren Young

There are several ways in which humans are effecting the environment in a bad way. Two of these seven themes fit in with my main two focuses of my blog posts this semester: Sprawl and Trash. First, watch this video about a man who expresses his opinions through 3D art.

His artwork is created based off seven themes: urban Sprawl, energy, trash, soil depletion, deforestation, plastics, finally red fluid for death and destruction. Each of these themes gets a layer in the original box that is displayed. He then rips off seven strips, layer by layer, and each layers creates trash or debris that goes crashing to the floor. When he's done, there is just a tone of trash on the group, and behind where the strips were in a destructed American flag.

This artwork is amazing because it finds a way to read very clearly to the audience. The audience can tell that all the trash and waste is bad for the environment not only because it is trash, but because he presents it in a negative way just letting it all fall to the ground. As he peels off each strip, it is like he is starting to reveal more and more truths. Lasly, the image of the bent and beat up American flag at the end is so symbolic of the corruption that America is leaving on this earth. I was so happy to discover this video because it shows a very strong piece of artwork that ties into the themes I'm focusing on this year.

No Impact Man

By: Lauren Young

I came across the trailer for the movie No Impact Man (Trailer) while I was researching information for my COA1060 class. So what is No Impact man? How is this relevant to suburbia?

Well, suburban nation mainly just discusses sprawl and why its bad, however, it neglects certain problems sprawl causes, such as extreme amounts of trash. The book does not even go into depth about how much trash Americans produce and how cities are running out of room for trash. This interesting documentary was conducted by a man who decided to become "No Impact Man." He agreed that for one year he would not produce any trash. He would not use any energy (no subway, taxi, electricity, etc.). Also, he got rid of cosmetics, anything disposable, and made many other sacrifices. I thought the concept of this is really interesting because it would be so hard to give all that up for a year. Also, I had never thought about the impact that each person makes on the environment. For example, each person creates around 1600 lbs of trash per year.

Trash is a serious part of Americans lives. Americans produce way more than any other country and we also recycle less than many other countries. We need to start developing solutions to these problems. It is predicted that by 2050 all our landfills will reach full capacity and new ones will have to be opened. This class I'm taking now focuses on trash and it has really opened my eyes to how much waste I produce. The trailer was very well done though and I felt that it was a neat video to share.

Obama Nobel Peace Prize? by Steven Waugh

Last Friday, President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. Obama received this prestigious award for his works in international diplomacy and peace talks. I myself cannot argue the fact that Obama has put much effort into his peace talks. The question is did he actually deserve the award? Many are skeptic that Obama has not done enough to deserve the award, and some believe that he hasn't done anything at all. Yes, he has worked hard especially for nuclear non-proliferation, but has the steps he made towards it actually deserve the award. Deserving or not, Obama should use the Nobel Peace Prize to his advantage. The award will help Obama's political standing with Republicans and Democrats as well. Hopefully Obama will use this award to build support for health care reform. On the other hand, the prize could end up hurting Obama in a negative way. I would not like to see Obama get a "big head." The last thing the United States need is a president with a super ego who thinks he can pass any bill presented to Congress. I would like to see Obama use this award to his advantage and break up the bipartisanship that has hindered Congress for the past few months.

Politics and Politricks

By: Phillip Miller

The blog The Buzzman Calls Me Out is a political blog, where the writer goes on about both the left and right wing. This heavily relies on the assumption that the reader is well educated in politics. There is a large amount of referrals to left wing and right wing, which to the uneducated in US government wouldn't follow too well. The author also makes many references to historical data and recent events in the world of politics. Not being learned in this world names such as Malkin, Limbaugh, Hannity and Levin were all unfamiliar to me and I was unable to follow points and make connections. The author uses terms like 'loons' and '”race pimp'” to draw in our attention and make plays on our emotions.

The wrier of this blog also collects a large amount of respect as a learned individual as it clearly appears that he has read many articles and amassed a large amount of data.

One problem with this blog though is that the author speculates about many people's opinions. He also uses many of his which may take away from the logical appeal. More facts and hard evidence such as statistics and quotes would have gone a long way for him.

Overall the articles in Drifting Through the Grift were all of political relevance. They all touched on either side, republicans and democrats. This may be a controversial blog but it will also be a stimulating one, especially in a world such as today. We have a black president and every bills and law and referendum is being scrutinized with a fine tooth comb.

Terminal Station Blog Productive?

Lauren talks about 3 different articles that are in the Terminal Station Blog. These three article talk about crime in Atlanta, a football hall of fame that is being installed, and an article on how Atlantic Station needs a more family oriented neighborhood.
My take on this blog is that it is completely anti-productive. When a person is researching a place to live, one thing they might do is look at some local blogs. That way they get the opinions of the people within the neighborhood so they better understand what the neighborhood will be like from a first person perspective. The Terminal Station Blog is pretty much burning or coming down on the neighborhood that it is representing. If when people are researching Atlantic Station, and they see these post on all of these problems within it, is that going to convince them to move in to help create a better community? Probably not. If the people who post on the blog want families and people concerned about the community moving in rather than having it as bad as they think, then they shouldn't try and convince the crowd of people they desire to move in not to come.

By: Stephen Sealy

Terminal Station

By: Lauren Young

I read some current articles posted in the Terminal Station Blog. The main tone within the article is a negative opinion about Atlanta. The first posts talks about Atlanta crime compared to crime in Boston and other big cities. It questions how affective the APD is, and shares the opinion that Atlanta is not a good place since the police service is not as effective as other places. The second post focuses on moving the Football Hall of Fame museum being moved to Atlanta. This is just another tourist sight being packed into Atlanta. It is also taking up some of the space that is supposed to belong to the Olympic Park. It is supposed to bring in residency, but instead it is just an attraction. This writer feels that Atlanta needs a more neighborhood like feel with permanent residents rather than just being a place of attractions. Lastly, the third post on the front page covered an opinion how Atlantic Station needs more families in the area. The writer feels that it is a nice area, but it needs a more multifamily feel. Overall, the tone describes how Atlanta is a place lacking in sense of community and neighborhoods. The content is all good enough to make it interesting, however the social environment and crime are not impressive.

This blog is mainly written as nonfactual opinions. The author says things such as "that is just an idea of mine, though, with no proof" and " I assume, and hope, that they use the data for more than a web page display and public information." Addressing the audience using these phrases does not make the author very credible in my opinion. Throughout the entire thing, it is just opinion after opinion, a little bit of data, and no support. I feel like if I really wanted to understand any of the topics, I would have to look it up myself. There was not really any fallacies that I could pick out from the blog since it was written in a more conversational tone.

Cluster bleep Nation by Steven Waugh

Clusterfuck Nation strays from the "formalities" of writing. Restraint is no factor for James Kunstler as he frequently cusses in his arguments on sprawl. Clusterfuck Nation offers a different perspective on sprawl. The mere audacity of Kunstler is amazing. Appealing to the emotions of his readers, Kunstler allows one to fully understand his point of views through his fire-like entries.

Similar to many other blogs, Kunstler's main point of interest is sprawl and its effects. Clearly against sprawl, Kunstler provides very appealing arguments battling the small town killer. The main fallacy of Kunstler lies in his ability to use powerful emotional appeals. appeals to the average joe who is sick of driving long hours to work, and tired of coming home to his large sub division of similar houses. At the same time, Kunstler also insults the average man who jumps on the "bandwagon." He insults the american people by saying that they are too easily convinced, and that is why they are unable to battle sprawl effectively. For e Kunstler xample, Kunstler says that the American people were too easily excited when President Obama declared that the recession was over. The main reason behind this is to stamp out the ignorance of the American People. I feel as though Kunstler only wishes us to open our minds. Kunstler uses his blog to provide evidence and support for his opinions. He provides links and descriptions for each of his books so that people can read more into his opinions and standings on sprawl.

Kunstler provides a way of describing sprawl unlike any other blogger. Kunstler's unique style of writing allows him to portray his view of sprawl in a unique and unrestricted manner. People unsure about his positions on certain topics can go read his books to see a more in depth description of his positions. Overall, Kunstler appeals to the inquisitive and naive sides of people.

Little Five Points Exploration

Little Five points was an interesting place to visit. This neighborhood is definatly one of the most culturally unique neighborhoods in Atlanta. From the graffitied unique looking restaurants to the unusual and uncommon things that you can buy in the shops there, Little Five Points pushes the limit to how different it can be from the rest of society.

The downside to such a rare place is the security. I personally visited this place by myself, which ended up being a frightening experience. I was confronted by several homeless people, and I have never seen a police officer go through the neighborhood. And when I visited, it was only the afternoon, whereas if it had been at night, I probably would have been in a lot more danger.

A visit to Little Five Points can be safe and fun though. Just be careful to go with a group of friends, and try not to wait too late to go and visit.

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