Batman and Robin

This week the reading was on homosexuality in the Batman films. I think that the author read too much into the films. Although there are some scenes that may come off as a little bit homosexual, I don’t feel that it is the case. The author discusses how batman and robin could be considered homosexual because robin sits on the bed while batman is sick. This is ridiculous; he is just a friend of his and wants him to feel better.
The author also makes mention of the statue that is in front of Wayne Towers. It is a man holding up a globe. I feel that this symbolizes that Wayne Towers is basically Gotham’s main enterprise and supports the whole cities economy. This would be holding the world upon your shoulders.

World's Deadliest Catch

Dirty Jobs is in between seasons so I will be writing about The World’s Deadliest Catch. This is a reality show on the dangers of crab fishing. This week there was some trouble one of the boats. There was a very large storm and one of the boats capsized. This left 4 crew members in the water and only one survived this horrible ordeal. This shows just how much people are willing to risk in order to make a large amount of money in a very short time. The crab boats take off from a port in Alaska and fish near the Bearing Straight. They use large metal traps to catch the crab in order to fill the year’s quota. There is a lot of risk involved for these crew members, the seas are very unpredictable during the crab season and profits are never guaranteed. The crews are putting multi- million dollar boats as well as their lives on the line in hopes of a large payday.

Arguementative Essay

This essay was very difficult for me to write, I do not watch very much reality television so I did not have an easy time coming up with material. The two shows I used were Friends, which I used to watch often, and CSI Miami, I have only seen about six episodes. After my peer conference I found I had made a few mistakes concerning CSI Miami but I was able to fix them and I think I did alright on the essay. Professor Donaghy was very helpful with the mistakes in my essay and I was able to find the CSI Miami website and fix the mistakes I made.

Dirty Jobs

This week on Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe was a cement truck cleaner and a geoduck farmer. As a cement truck cleaner Mike had to crawl into the back of a cement truck and clean out the cement. He was given a small air chisel and began to chip away all of the dried cement. This is a very important job because there are many different types of cement and they can not be mixed together. This also stops dried chunks of cement from falling into any wet cement which could cause imperfections. The company Mike is working for works at night so that the trucks can be cleaned out and ready for the morning. This saves companies a lot of money because their cement trucks are never out of commission during the day.
Mike was also a geoduck farmer on this week’s episode. Geoducks are a funny looking sea snail that is harvested on ocean shores. They are planted in the ocean beach and allowed to grow for about four years before they are harvested. They are a type of seafood that is very popular in the southern states. To harvest a geoduck, you take a hose and stick in into the sand and blast water into the hole. When all the sand is loose you stick your hand down the hole and pull out the geoduck. When they are first planted they are placed about 6 inches below the surface. During the 4 year period, the goeducks burrow to about a foot and a half below the beach surface.

Essay #2

I had my individual conference today with Professor Donaghy and I feel it went pretty well. I had a few mistakes in the characters that act in the drama CSI Miami but I have worked out the kinks and feel I should do well on the paper. This was a tough assignment for me because I do not watch very much reality television. The two shows I chose were CSI Miami and Friends. I have probably only watched 5 or 6 episodes of CSI Miami but I have seen almost all of the Friends episodes. In this paper I argue that reality television is not realistic and is used strictly as a source of entertainment. This is however what I feel the viewer is looking for, a short escape from their everyday lives to a world of humor or drama.
It is very difficult to write about a topic that you don’t know much about but I feel I was able to put together a decent paper and will hopefully do well. As I said before I have not seen many episodes of CSI Miami but it is the second most reality television program that I watch. I find the show interesting and I enjoy watching the characters solving complex murder cases. I also feel that the show is a bit excessive and very unrealistic.

Dirty Jobs

This week on Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe explored the world of wine making. He began his day in the vineyard picking the grapes to make the wine. Despite all of the technology we possess, wine grapes are still picked by hand. There are many workers in the vineyard and they are paid based on how many tons of grapes they are able to pick in one day. This is a very obscure job because it is still done the same way it was many years ago. The grapes then undergo a squashing process in a very large and dangerous looking machine. The skins from the grapes are then used as fertilizer for all of the grape trees in the vineyard. The grape juice is put into 50 gallon wooden barrels and placed in a cellar to ferment. There is actually a lot of work in making a bottle of wine and it takes a very long time for the fermentation process to complete. After the wine is aged, samples are taken from each barrel and are tested for acidity and quality. After the wine is given a seal of approval from the chemists, it is bottled and sold. Most people do not realize the amount of work put into the making of a single bottle of wine.
Mike also explored the world of cattle ranching. He went to a farm in Kansas and was shown the ropes of raising cattle. Before he was able to feed the cattle, he first had to help clean out the grain and corn silos, which was very messy. After cleaning out all of the leftover corn in the silo, he had to crawl in a pit underneath the silo and clean out the corn and grain that had fallen through the floor. This was done by removing the bottom tray of a very large excavating machine and scooping all of the corn out through a small hole. He then had to drive a large truck full of a mixture of corn, grain, alfalfa grass, and some special ingredients, to the cow troughs. Each cow on the ranch eats roughly 30 pounds of feed a day and there were about 200 cows on the ranch. After feeding the cows he had to round them up using a cattle prod and separate the males and females. There is a lot of work involved in raising live stock that will eventually be turned into hamburger for human consumption.

Society's Need For a Queer Solution

In this essay the author discusses the distinction made by television and society of the homosexual and heterosexual community. He begins by telling a story of his friend telling him that he is a homosexual. He then begins to tell the reader how he had never really thought about homosexuality and didn’t know how to respond to his friend. He then begins to discuss how queerness is represented in shows such as Will and Grace and Friends. He states that all references made to queerness in these shows is made in a comedic sense. He also states that the Ellen show is the only show that truly represented homosexuality in a real sense. He stated that the ratings for her show plummeted shortly after she announced her homosexuality. I feel this is because viewers watch television for the comedic and entertainment factors. I don’t think it would make a difference if it was a heterosexual couple the ratings would still plummet. Watching people go through a normal day without many events that are out of the ordinary would make for a boring sitcom.
The author also states that people in society are homophobes if they are not comfortable watching people of the same sex kiss. I feel it is because it is not something that you see everyday. Just because someone is not comfortable watching same sex relations does not make them a homophobe. Rachel Kranz defines homophobia as “the irrational fear of homosexuals and … the hatred for gay men … and the view that they are somehow inferior to heterosexuals” (Kranz 155). The author uses this term many times throughout his essay which, I feel, implies that any person not comfortable with same sex relations exudes a hatred for gay men. This I don’t feel is true. I do feel that people are not comfortable with something that is not considered “normal”; this however, does not make them a homophobe. I have gay friends and I am still uncomfortable when I witness same sex relations, does that make me a homophobe?
The author also talks about how gay bars are another example of homophobia. This is a way for homosexuals to socialize and be comfortable. There is no law that states a homosexual can not enter any bar or club and have a good time. These bars were created for comfort. It is a place where most people in attendance are gay or understanding and supportive of homosexuality. If I were shopping for auto parts I would not go to Kroger because I know they will not carry auto parts. I feel the same is true for homosexuals because they know they are in a place with other homosexuals. Even though homosexuality is more accepted now, it is still not very common. It is also not always clear of a person’s sexuality.