Mabel McCullough has seen a lot in her life, but I doubt she would have ever expected 24 firefighter to show up at her door, and on her 95th birthday no less.
Mabel McCullough was celebrating the 27th of September, her birthday, with friends, family, and carrot cake with enough candles on it to set off her fire alarm and send a whole squad of firemen rushing to her door. I don’t believe either party expected to see what they did when those firemen entered the house.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
"Test Yourself" exercise 1
a) Police shot and killed a man downtown earlier this evening. Police say the man was armed and refused to lower his weapon.
b) Police have issued an arrested warrant for Rocky Beach, a man wanted for the attempted murder of his wife, who is currently recovering from the attack at Providence Hospital.
c)Ever wonder how to get rid of foot odor? Because scientist a the Cooper State University Food Sciences Laboratory recently discovered that eating more beets can reduce foot odor by 50 percent.
b) Police have issued an arrested warrant for Rocky Beach, a man wanted for the attempted murder of his wife, who is currently recovering from the attack at Providence Hospital.
c)Ever wonder how to get rid of foot odor? Because scientist a the Cooper State University Food Sciences Laboratory recently discovered that eating more beets can reduce foot odor by 50 percent.
Topical Blog Post 2
There is a point in everyone’s academic career when you have to look at the current state of line of business that you are trying to get into. Business majors have to look at the amount of small companies that succeed and fail, science majors have to look at the all of the most current advances in their field. I am a journalism major, specifically one that aspires to be a film critic, so naturally, I must keep in touch with all of the most current films in the world. This is a far more painful task than one might think.
I am not one of those people who believe that there was a “golden age” of film. It is a fact of life that whenever something is considered a masterpiece of its given media that there must be others that are inferior, but Hollywood has strayed a long way from the days of Gone With the Wind and Citizen Kane. So far, in fact, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to pick out the good films from the constant flow of mind numbing commercialism that passes off as a feature film. In summary, the problem with Hollywood is not that they are making so many bad films, but that they are not making enough good ones, and this changes what the world idea of a “good film” is.
The event that sparked this notion in me was when James Cameron’s Avatar was nominated for several academy awards. This is a film that, by all means, should be considered mediocre by the standards of the academy. It had a recycled plot and average acting that was only backed up by the sheer amounts of money Cameron threw into the special effects portion of his “masterpiece”. If I wanted to watch this movie again I would rent Dances With Wolves, a far superior film made for less than 1/15th of Avatar’s budget.
Films are an art form, and one that should be respected. A film is not made great by the names that appear in the credits or the amount of money that is thrown into it. Films are made great when someone puts their emotions and thought and ideas onto film. I sincerely hope that Hollywood realizes this by the time I graduate.
I am not one of those people who believe that there was a “golden age” of film. It is a fact of life that whenever something is considered a masterpiece of its given media that there must be others that are inferior, but Hollywood has strayed a long way from the days of Gone With the Wind and Citizen Kane. So far, in fact, that it is becoming increasingly difficult to pick out the good films from the constant flow of mind numbing commercialism that passes off as a feature film. In summary, the problem with Hollywood is not that they are making so many bad films, but that they are not making enough good ones, and this changes what the world idea of a “good film” is.
The event that sparked this notion in me was when James Cameron’s Avatar was nominated for several academy awards. This is a film that, by all means, should be considered mediocre by the standards of the academy. It had a recycled plot and average acting that was only backed up by the sheer amounts of money Cameron threw into the special effects portion of his “masterpiece”. If I wanted to watch this movie again I would rent Dances With Wolves, a far superior film made for less than 1/15th of Avatar’s budget.
Films are an art form, and one that should be respected. A film is not made great by the names that appear in the credits or the amount of money that is thrown into it. Films are made great when someone puts their emotions and thought and ideas onto film. I sincerely hope that Hollywood realizes this by the time I graduate.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
lead identification
"It’s been a busy week for the SEC. On Wednesday, the regulatory agency took a small, but important first step toward shining light on the very dark, very unregulated world of high frequency trading." (Goldman Sachs: Has The SEC Finally Grown a Pair Under Mary Schapiro? - Mathew Phillips, Newsweek)
This is a descriptive/scene-setter lead.
CANDACE FLEMING’S résumé boasts a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford, an M.B.A. from Harvard, a management position at Hewlett-Packard and experience as president of a small software company.
But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon, a start-up company she co-founded in 2007, she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t have business cards, because all they would say was “Mom.” (
Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley - Clair Cain Miller, New York Times)
this is a contrast lead.
This is a descriptive/scene-setter lead.
CANDACE FLEMING’S résumé boasts a double major in industrial engineering and English from Stanford, an M.B.A. from Harvard, a management position at Hewlett-Packard and experience as president of a small software company.
But when she was raising money for Crimson Hexagon, a start-up company she co-founded in 2007, she recalls one venture capitalist telling her that it didn’t matter that she didn’t have business cards, because all they would say was “Mom.” (
Out of the Loop in Silicon Valley - Clair Cain Miller, New York Times)
this is a contrast lead.
Focus Story Structure
Most people think of high school football as a traditional pastime that is fun both to play and to watch, but the sport is far more dangerous than one would expect. Pete Stenhoff, 16, leaned this lesson the hard way.
Stenhoff played for his high school football team until he cracked his vertebrae during one of his games. He ran head first into the chest of the ball carrier and cracked several vertebrae in his spine, causing paralysis and confining him to a wheelchair. The injury left him unable to graduate with his class, and he is now trying to graduate by taking correspondence classes.
Although this story is tragic, it is also far more common than most people would expect. There are roughly 20,000 football related injuries in high schools across the country each year. Thirty-five percent of those injuries are head and neck injuries, and twelve percent leave the players permanently disabled.
Stenhoff played for his high school football team until he cracked his vertebrae during one of his games. He ran head first into the chest of the ball carrier and cracked several vertebrae in his spine, causing paralysis and confining him to a wheelchair. The injury left him unable to graduate with his class, and he is now trying to graduate by taking correspondence classes.
Although this story is tragic, it is also far more common than most people would expect. There are roughly 20,000 football related injuries in high schools across the country each year. Thirty-five percent of those injuries are head and neck injuries, and twelve percent leave the players permanently disabled.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
magazine project memo
Date: April 10, 2010
To: Cynthia McCune
From: Nathaniel Morotti, Student
Re: Magazine Project
cc: file
As you know, the magazine article project will be due in a few short weeks, so I am writing to inform you that I will be doing an in-depth analysis and review of the film Shutter Island.
The reason I chose this topic to do my project on is because I wish to some day be a syndicated film critic. I believe that this project will give me the best practice for this type of writing.
I will talk about the various filming techniques and devices used in the film, then move on to the actual plot structure, and then finally give an opinion on the quality of the film.
I hope that this is an acceptable topic to write about. If it is not, please notify me.
To: Cynthia McCune
From: Nathaniel Morotti, Student
Re: Magazine Project
cc: file
As you know, the magazine article project will be due in a few short weeks, so I am writing to inform you that I will be doing an in-depth analysis and review of the film Shutter Island.
The reason I chose this topic to do my project on is because I wish to some day be a syndicated film critic. I believe that this project will give me the best practice for this type of writing.
I will talk about the various filming techniques and devices used in the film, then move on to the actual plot structure, and then finally give an opinion on the quality of the film.
I hope that this is an acceptable topic to write about. If it is not, please notify me.
Topical Blog Post
The media is once again in an uproar this week. Is it because of the war in the Middle-East? Is it because all of our nation’s money appears to be on fire? No. It is because Tiger Woods just played in his first tournament since news of his multiple affairs hit the national spotlight.
People who know me know that I complain about a lot of things, most of which are quite arbitrary, but I cannot stand to hear about the personal problems of a celebrity. When I listen to the news I want to learn something. I want to find out how the world is doing, not listen to a constant feed of gossip and babble. Ever since I decided to become a student of Journalism, I have been paying attention to the news with an intensity that I did not have in high school, and that intensity has made me realize just how pointless these celebrity news stories are, and it has made me very uncomfortable not only with the state of modern journalism, but also with the state of mind of the American people.
Americans need to realize that distracting themselves from the blatantly obvious problems of their country is not the proper way of to handle the situation. Unless we can learn to pay less attention to what color Lindsay Lohan dyed her hair and pay more attention to why CEO’s are getting million dollar raises, then we might not have a chance as a country or a culture.
People who know me know that I complain about a lot of things, most of which are quite arbitrary, but I cannot stand to hear about the personal problems of a celebrity. When I listen to the news I want to learn something. I want to find out how the world is doing, not listen to a constant feed of gossip and babble. Ever since I decided to become a student of Journalism, I have been paying attention to the news with an intensity that I did not have in high school, and that intensity has made me realize just how pointless these celebrity news stories are, and it has made me very uncomfortable not only with the state of modern journalism, but also with the state of mind of the American people.
Americans need to realize that distracting themselves from the blatantly obvious problems of their country is not the proper way of to handle the situation. Unless we can learn to pay less attention to what color Lindsay Lohan dyed her hair and pay more attention to why CEO’s are getting million dollar raises, then we might not have a chance as a country or a culture.
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