Petition to remove hate speech

Yesterday, Society of Professional Journalists WWU chapter stood in Red Square and petioned to remove hate speech from our country. In order to remove hate speech, we told the the people who signed our petition that the First Amendment would have to be removed. We collected over 180 signatures.




This is where we got the idea to do this project. We were trying to raise awareness of 1st Amendment Rights.

Yet Another Day where I talk about a Movie.

I, ROBOT  Erin and Sammy came over to hang out with Matthew and I last night. We decided that a film would be the logically thing to watch on the television screen.

I have owned this movie since high school and have yet to watch it.

I thought that Will Smith did a particularly excellent job in this film. He played the character Will Smith plays best. You know, the one where he prefers solitude over interaction or he has a vendetta to accomplish all while falling in love with the person he shouldn't be.

But, that is the Will Smith that we know and that I love to watch on screen.

Alternative Universe for Basketball

On Sunday I worked all day and began to think of weird things that I could do. The one I came up with was to create an alternative universe in which NBA teams knew the amount of potential each player had before drafting them. An example of this is during the 2000 draft, Michael Redd was drafted 43rd overall. In retrospect he should have been a top five pick. I decided I would create an alternative universe where I called the shots on who teams drafted and traded since the 1999-2000 season. I will also weigh how each team looks on paper and use that as a basis for their record. I will also factor in injuries and such that can occur. But this being an alternative universe the injuries that may have occurred in real life may not happen in this one. I will use a random number generator and other such devices to create alternatives injuries and statistics to a certain degree. A lot of this will also be my opinion on how I think players would perform amongst other players.

This is life without facebook, haha, I feel very creative...

The Hangover

Yesterday, I worked all day. After work I decided that I was too tired to do anything other than sit on the couch. So, I asked my father if he wanted to watch the Hangover with me. He said he had heard that it was very funny and thought that he ought to see it. He loved the character Alan potrayed by Zach Galifianakis. I think Alan is what makes that movie hilarious. I mean, all the other actors are great but Alan puts this movie over the top.

The 6th Man and QFC

Today I woke up at 8:00 am so that I could get to QFC by 9 am to do some more training. Turns out I could not do it because I worked a full 8-hour shift later that day, so I had to go home... Darn. But I started work at 11:30 am.... It went very well, I believe, it will just take some getting used to that is all...

Well, when I went home the first time I watched a video that I hadn't seen in years. I purchased it at Hollywood Video...The 6th Man...It is one of the Wayans brothers films about two basketball brothers. Very funny yet saddening film.

The Downfall of Hollywood (Video)

Poor Hollywood Video.

I went into the one in Canyon Park on my way back to my house...The atmosphere was just sad...On the door a sign said "Six days." Six days until jobs are lost. "Everything must go." Poor employees.

I purchased a couple of movies for dirt cheap. Everything was $2.98 or less.

SPJ WWU

Yesterday, I joined the Society of Professional Journalists club at WWU. I am rather excited about some of the things we are going to do to advocate our rights as journalists.


I found this video on youtube about our journalism department and I thought that it might be interesting for people to see.




I am actually in on of the shots sitting there in a chair next to Colin. 

I will be signing up for classes on Friday, so we will see which ones I get for FALL QUARTER.

Funny Signs in Linguistics

In my linguistics class yesterday we looked at a bunch of odd street and city signs from around the globe. We discussed how often times signs can just be translated wrong into English. As we struggle to make English the first language of the world these types of things are going to be more and more common. Other times when a sign makes perfect sense to the local groups, it will make absolutely no sense to a visitor.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/11/travel/funny-signs.html

This was the slide show we viewed in class.

Presentation on Broadcast Journalism

Yesterday, another student and I gave a presentation on the ethical dilemmas behind broadcast journalism. We focused on violence portrayed in broadcasts, what is newsworthy, and how broadcast journalism differs from other forms on journalism.

The following video contains profanity, I wish it didn't, but it does. Viewers have now been warned.


The great thing about this video is it shows the basic structure of how a lot of our broadcast news takes. Though it comes from The Onion, which is a parody news organization, I believe it still holds value.

Grape Gatorade = Delciousness

Grape Gatorade, 1997
Originally uploaded by Roadsidepictures

Well, this is something I have been wanting to say, so I am going to come right out and say it. I love Grape Gatorade. Especially the new G series one, Fierce Grape. I cannot understand why I would even purchase anything other than Fierce Grape Gatorade, if it was available that is. My lovely girlfriend purchased two of these for me today, and that is the relevance of my Grape loving blog.

CWU

This weekend was really spectacular, especially Saturday. Saturday morning started out like every single other, with the opening of my shut eyes. Kelsey and I decided that we wanted to hang out with Tommy and Savannah, so we met up with them for lunch. Savannah and Tommy invited us to go along with them to Yakima for Savannah's brother's soccer tournament. We accepted the invitation and were on our way to the said location. We ran into Tony the Tiger at the event as well as watched Savannah's little brothers run around and be rambunctious. We decided that when we got back to CWU that we were going to have a movie marathon or something similar to that. We watched Madagascar 2 and Anchorman. Some closing thoughts that were somewhat interesting to me on this day were the importance of film in our culture. Movies have an interesting way of connecting with an audience for two hours and then abandoning them. I wonder if watching movies has an any correlation with abandonment of friends or family. We are so used to the constant flow of entertainment it almost seems like when that doesn't translate with friends and family we are more often than not going to spend less time with that person. Why do we love or lust for entertainment?

Finding Work and XXX

QFC
Originally uploaded by Bob B. Brown

Yesterday I got hired back by Quality Food Centers. I will be working in the bakery again, which is very exciting for me because I love the Bakery ladies. I am very excited to get back into the swing of things and look forward to working there this summer. I will begin this next weekend with 24 hours of work, (Fri, Sat, Sun,) and I will probably continue that weekend trend up until summer begins.

The family and I also journeyed to the east side of Washington on Friday. The parents and sisters were going to a wedding and I asked to be dropped off in Ellensburg to hang out with my lovely, Kelsey. So they agreed to do such a marvelous act. We stopped at XXX root beer and burgers in Issaquah. Such delicious root beer has never been tasted by these taste buds before.

Riding le bus

Duh Duh Duh
another one rides the bus...

Well, I rode the bus for three hours last night. From Bellingham to Bothell.
I went through four counties...Whatcom, Skagit, Snohomish and King.

It only cost be $3.50!!!

Basketball Jones

Played some basketball with the boys yesterday. We are trying to play a lot more, trying to get back into shape...

Linguistics Mid-term

Instead of doing my homework right now, I have decided to spill about my day, yesterday. Well, first and foremost I had a Linguistics Midterm which was just so thrilling. It isn't a simple linguistics class either...it is a 300-level English class that introduces too many ideas and expects us to recall everything. Frustration runs through my veins as a clench my teeth as scribble this entry. I am just upset with the facet of knowledge that I could not find during the test...Overall, I feel like it went alright...But, time will tell...

For the multimedia purposes of yesterday, I am going to put a clip up of Noam Chomsky. A very interesting linguist.



It is just funny seeing Ali G interviewing such a high intellect. This is satire by the way...

Ghosts of my dreams...

First off, let me say that I really do not like scary movies. Last night Erin and Sammy brought over Paranormal Activity. I had to study so I missed the first part of the movie, but that was alright, I saw the end and that was enough to put ghosts in my dreams.



I didn't have any trouble falling asleep, but that did not stop the ideas of ghosts from entering my dream. I just remember that I really wished I had the Ghostbusters number...

This was pretty much the best part of my day...Watching a truly scary film...

Mother's Day

Well, yesterday was a real blast. It was mother's day, hints the title, so my sisters and my father made breakfast for my mother...they let me sleep...which I did not complain about. Then we went to church which was another fabulous Sermon from our interim pastor. For her day, my mother wanted us to work in the yard, so we did just that. I cut down too many blackberry bushes, while the sisters did some weeding. Sapi began to limp on her paw yesterday. The poor girl was not herself at all yesterday...She moped around, and eventually quit walking on the paw all together...

Anyway, Sapi slept on the lawn while we worked in the yard. Then the whole family began playing tether-ball together. It was a lot of fun though some cheat...maybe I am just a sore loser. Watching mom and dad play was pretty fun too. We went to Five Guys for burgers and fries in Marysville on our way up to Bellingham. Overall, I really enjoyed my Mother's Day with the family.

Ironman II

In the wee hours of Saturday, I saw Ironman 2. I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was much better than the first one because the plot was a lot easier to follow. I really liked the development of characters in this film in both Don Cheadle and Mickey Rourke characters.



It is completely nerdy of me, but I really like comic books turned movies. I personally think War Machine is much more of an awesome superhero than Ironman...but that is partly due to the way that Stark is portrayed in the films...

Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park

On May 7th, I went to Farrel-McWhirter Farm Park with Carl and Bob. Carl had been there previously, but Bob and I had not. It was really neat to see a beautiful park with a plentiful area to run around and play as well as see a small farm area with animals.

The goats would get the grass right out of your hands. That was pretty neat.






More park info:


There was a random cat that was running around. Carl managed to pick up the feline.

First Entry: Dinner last night

Last night I took my lovely out for a fancy romantic dinner because I wanted to celebrate being together. I took her to Il Bistro in Seattle.




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It was so fabulous. I have never been in such a romantic setting with such great and enthusiastic service before. It was delicious food, and large portioned as well. Overall, I was extremely pleased with the restaurant.

More info