Tow #14 - Visual Text, Anti-Social Media

As social media blossomed with the advancement of technology, the anti-social media population kept pace trying to at least slow its ever growing popularity. This group of intense protestors includes Pawel Kuczynski, an artist who often creates works of art that challenge issues in American culture. In this piece, Kuczynski speaks to social media lovers and utilizes familiarity as well as coloring and juxtaposition in order to emphasize the reality of what social media really does to a person's life: it can inhibit a person from truly experiencing all life has to offer. A man is portrayed looking through a viewfinder shaped like an "f", which the audience quickly recognizes as the Facebook logo. The audience can also connect the room the man is standing in is similar to that of a jail cell, with its metal bar windows and steel walls. The artist deliberately has the wall open from the cell, so it is clear that the man is so absorbed in the social media and seeing the world through its lens that he does not take advantage in the fact that he can go out and experience it for himself. The monochromatic coloring of the jail cell in contrast to the bright and welcoming colors of the outside environment have the audience thinking, "he is really missing out on that beautiful world outside social media." By placing these two different environments in juxtaposition, it emphasizes the stupidity and ignorance of the social media user because simply a few steps away outside his cell is a completely different and frankly better world. Pawel Kuczynski expertly exposes the dangers of social media in that it can truly hold a user back from living life to the fullest through familiarity, contrasting colors, and juxtaposition.

Tow #13 - Pitchfork Review of "Chumped" by Teenage Retirement by Devon Maloney (Written text)

Pitchfork is notorious for their blatantly truthful album reviews, and reviewer Devon Maloney does not disappoint with his review of "Chumped" by Teenage Retirement. A few days before its release, Maloney reviewed the album and gave it 7.3 out of 10 points, letting fans know this is not an album they want to miss. Foremost, the jargon he uses especially connects with readers. Most interestingly, he gives a title to a feeling we all know to be true, "umami: that moment in a song when your feelings explode, whether you want them to or not" (1). No matter what genre the reader is a fan of, they can instantly relate and can infer that "Chumped" will give them this feeling of euphoria as well. He also references different bands and albums similar to "Chumped". The album parallels other artists in the way that "there are times when their licks was Weezereque [...] and in several instances ("Long Division") they channel Aye Nako's confessional" (1). By relating it to other artists, the fans of those bands instantly think, "if they're similar to my favorite band, why wouldn't I enjoy their album?" In this way, he effectively convinces his readers that "Chumped" is an album worth listening to. Another act of brilliance not only by Devon Maloney but all Pitchfork staff members is that when reviewing an album, they include a small snippet of whatever album they are reviewing. In this case, they include about 30 seconds of "Novella Ella Ella Eh" and "Hot 97 Summer Jam", both of which he reviews specifically in the review. This method tells the reader, "here, listen, and see that I know what I am talking about." The reader can hear that they like the album for themselves, and then read that the author likes it as well, so it ultimately credits the author for his opinion on the rest of the album. Through detailed jargon, references, and sampling, Devon Maloney upholds Pitchfork's reputation as a brilliant review website in his review of "Chumped" by Teenage Retirement.

Tow #12 - IRB #1 "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

 "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote is the story of the Clutter family's murder and the search for the killer. It takes place in 1959's Holcomb, Kansas; a normally quiet town. When an author is retelling a story, the most import aspect of the retelling in the way the author tells it, specifically through figurative language so the reader is able to completely visually the event as it happened. Truman Capote does an incredible job of incorporating rhetorical devices into the first half of "In Cold Blood" in order to provide the reader with a vivid scene. For example, Capote employs anaphora to set the scene of Holcomb, Kansas. He describes the town "Like the water of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama, in the shape for exceptional happenings, had never stopped there" (5). The repetition in the sentence allows for the reader to connect the similarities between the water, the motorists, and the yellow trains; they are all things that do not stop when they are in motion. The reader then visualizes that the "exceptional happenings" or anything out of the norm does not stop in this quiet town, which draws a striking contrast to the odd murders that occurred here: the focus of his story. Later, he uses a simile to give us a better understanding of the Clutter family's life, more specifically Mrs. Clutter. She suffered from postnatal depression, and that "the mood of misery never altogether lifted; it lingered like a cloud that might rain or might not" (27). This raises questions to the reader: Why would Capote mention this if it was inconsequential? Did her depression correspond to the murders? The comparison between her depression and the rain cloud keeps the audience on their toes and engaged, which helps Capote relay the story. Truman Capote is a professional story teller through his use of rhetorical devices when retelling the story of the Clutter family murders in "In Cold Blood".