Monologue Analysis

I chose a monologue from the film "500 days of Summer" which is about a guy who falls for a girl who does not believe love exists. They have a roller-coaster of a relationship until Summer decides for them to just be friends and Tom falls into a state of depression. When he tries once more to make it work he fails miserably. 
In this scene Tom is at a meeting to talk present ideas on what to messages to put on greeting cards and after one of his colleagues presented he had this to say...

"These are lies. We're liars....think about it. Why do people buy these cards? It's not because they wanna say how they feel. People buy these cards because they can't say how they feel or they are afraid to. We provide the service that lets them off the hook. And you know what? I say the hell with it. I say let's level with America. At least let them speak with themselves. I mean, look at this. What does it say? Congratulations on the new baby. How about congratulations for your new baby, guess that's it for hanging out. Nice knowing ya buddy. Wait, what's this? Ooh... fancy!
Look at this one with all the hearts. Let's open it up. "Happy Valentine's Day, Sweetheart. I love you." Oh that's nice. This is exactly what I'm talking about? What does it even mean? Love. Do you know? Do you? Anybody? If somebody gave me this card, Mr Vance, I would eat it. It's the cards and the movies and the pop songs. They are to blame for all the lies and the heartache. We are responsible. I am responsible. I think we do a bad thing here. I mean, people should be able to say how they feel, how they really feel, not some words that some stranger puts in their mouth. Maybe it's not love at all. Maybe there's no such thing as love. Maybe it's... "galoogoo." Yeah I made it up, so what?!."

From the context of this scene, the language used should be of formal register as it is meant to be a company meeting to present ideas to your employer and other employees. However, due to Tom's outburst, the monologues is in an informal register because he uses words like "wanna" because it is a personal message that he feels like everyone should contemplate. Tom changes the connotations from being positive and thoughtful gestures that we use all the time to confusion and empty gestures that actually does not mean anything. Tom also uses the word "galoogoo" to replace love because he does not believe that it really exists. This in itself is interesting in terms of language because we get the connotations from "love" which are generic for all of us and the he uses this new, made up word. It makes us contemplate what other associated meanings there are to that one word and makes us question why it does make sense to use it to help our understanding with such a complex term, despite it being used all the time that it can lose all meaning. 


In Tom's monologue, he uses many pauses along with many rhetorical questions for the same effect such as "We're liars... think about it" and "What does it mean? Love". He uses them to get his colleagues to understand what he thinks which is that love really doesn't exist and it is people like them who created this idea of "love" for money and business. He is also quite passionate about this with his use of exclamation marks but more importantly what he is saying especially when he comes up with a new idea for what to write in a new baby card in a sarcastic way, he says "Congratulations for your new baby, guess that's it for hanging out. Nice knowing ya buddy." which is not what you would say in card but it could be a lingering thought that crosses your mind when writing one of these cards. 

Blog Analysis

Here is the link to the chosen blog I have decided to analyse. http://www.sprinklebakes.com/

Here is my chosen extract for analysis.

"Sometimes the gravity of how fast time passes hits me all at once. It knocks me flat. I find myself lying on the floor eye-to-eye with Churro-the-pug. "Did you have a good summer?" I ask. "Did you stop to smell the roses?" He probably did (he spends a good deal of time outside sniffing things), but I fell a little short of the task. Now summer is almost over and I'm not quite ready for it to end. That's why we're packing our things (pups included) and heading to the ocean tomorrow. We're grabbing on to the very last bit of summer with both hands!

Although I'm itching to get started on fall baking, I've decided to hold off until my return home. For now, I'm sticking to what feels right, and that's champagne cake layers filled with tangy raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream. I found some gorgeous raspberry colored roses at the market and that sealed the deal. This cake was meant to be, I tell ya!

Since this cake is celebratory in flavor, I decided to go ahead and use the Victorian cake pulls I've been saving for a bridal-themed post. Have you heard of cake pulls? They're little sterling silver charms attached to lengths of ribbon. The charms are placed under the cake (by the baker) with only the ribbon visible, then the cake is frosted and decorated. Party guests (usually a group of bridesmaids) each choose a ribbon to pull before the cake is cut. The assorted charms have different meanings, so that brings a bit of fortune telling-novelty to the party."

I like the fact that this isn't a typical baking blog filled with just recipes but it contains real life experiences and a high level of detail to keep her audience interested. This is evident when she starts the post with, "Sometimes the gravity of how time passes hits me all at once." She is talking about how summer is almost over and how she needs to squeeze in some more good recipes before she takes a break and go on holiday. She makes it personal by talking about her dog, "Churro- the-pug." She uses some rhetorical questions when discussing her recipes to make her audience think about whether or not they have the supplies and skill to complete this ambitious recipe. She also uses some informal language to keep a friendly tone and not just recipes and descriptive writing, she does this by saying, "I tell ya!". Near the end of this post she also slips in some knowledge about the reasons behind the ideas she incorporates into her recipes which is another way she makes her baking blog different to the rest. 

Homework Analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZpOY-bymZA

I decided to use this clip because it is one of my favourite episodes of FRIENDS as well as it does have some good language features to analyse.

At the beginning of the clip the comedy comes from Ross trying to give a serious lecture in a very obviously fake British accent. As well as the accent, Ross starts out using a formal register to talk to the students by saying "image his consternation" but when he realizes his friends are there he changes the register by saying, "Oh, bloody hell." Once the lecture has finished one of the professors is there and Ross continues his fake accent allowing the others to join in. The different accents they use from across the world allows for stereotypical phrases to be uttered allowing for more comedy. Monica says "Top of the morning to you laddies." and Rachel says "Yes, yes, Bombay is very, very nice this time of year." The comedy also derives from the fact that Ross and Monica are related and yet have different accents and Rachel talks in an accent which makes it unlikely to believe she is from there or been there long enough to pick up a strong accent.

The connotations you would expect from this clip would be education, paleontology, serious, possible boring. However, by playing with the accents the connotations change to being more stereotypical of different accents, funny, taking the serious nature out of being a professor at a university which seems to be an ongoing thing throughout the show when Ross becomes a professor.

When Rachel prank calls Ross saying "Hi, Ross, this is Dr. McKneely from the fake accent university, we would like you to come on board with us full time." It particularly plays with the language because no university professor would greet someone about to take the position with "Hi" as the greeting as it is very informal as well as calling them by their first name.

At the end of the clip we see Ross phasing out his accidental British accent. He does this by saying certain words or part of words in a different accent rather than changing the words and phrases he would say to reflect which dialect he was speaking in. The register changes when he is caught out by his students for speaking in a fake accent, he changes from formal register to informal and he does this throughout the clip. At the very end of the clip we see Ross put the accent back on even though his students know it's fake because Rachel comes in yelling at him for not getting the divorce, making Ross' image more tainted than ever.

An Analysis of a YouTube Clip

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt--2ASTg7k

The Armstrong and Miller Clip does use a regional accent which is different from the dialect which is expected from the set and the context of the clip. This is where the comedy comes from, which is taking what we expect the topic of the conversation to and change along with the accent and the dialect.

In terms of lexis, there are many connotations that derive from the original context of the clip and the change of topic from Armstrong and Miller. There are connotations of war, death and fighting because it is supposed to be a scene from D-Day however the connotations from the main conversation is meant to be funny and happy as they see it as a holiday to the sea side rather than part of the war.

The grammar used is non-standard because along with the words used, the syntax is not typical to the period of time which the sketch is set. The register which is what the audience expects it to be said in is formal whereas Armstrong and Miller talk informally and in a colloquial register. The language used can relate to a number of audiences because the context relates to those who know about the war and the D-Day bombings however the change in language used in the speech can relate to those who understand the dialect and even the sociolect as it is informal language which is used by teenagers.

Changing Register

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: 
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Informal Register

Can I compare ya to a Summers day?

You're pretty great, I guess, and well wicked,

Them strong winds really affect them flowers,

And summer really ain't long enough though,

And the sun is so hot like them ovens,

But it does go away at other times,

Everything becomes so gross and ugly,

Whether at birth, or you get some bad luck,

But you wont sag or wrinkle like me Nan,

Or become ugly like them blob fish is,

Or get caught by the guy that collects souls,

Because you'll still live on through poetry.

As long as humans don't become extinct...

This poem will live on with you in it.

Me, Myself and I

September 9, 2013

Dear Diary, 

I'm furious. I'm outraged. I'm so annoyed that I don't even know where to begin! 

Well, it started in the morning. I got into college and found my friends: Steph, Amy and Tom, focusing intently on the computer screen. I asked them what was up and they shushed me. That's never a good idea. As I started to read along with them, they just scrolled up right to the beginning so I could get the full story. It was a post from one of their subject tutors on a blog and it read...

"Good Morning Super Wonderfuls. Today, you will create your own tandem story. It's simple really, each of you has been placed in pair courtesy of me. For tomorrow, the two of you will pick which of your blogs to do this project in which you can post the assignment. The task is to have that person who's blog you are using to write the first paragraph of a short story. They will then post it on your blog for your partner and myself to read. The partner will then read this paragraph and write the next one and then post it in the comment section. This will continue until both of you agree that a conclusion has been reached and the story has finished. Remember to re-read what has already been written as to keep the story coherent. There will be no talking outside this one post on this one blog and if there is anything you wish to say it must be written in the comments of this one post. Blissful Blogging!" 

I then quickly realized that Amy and Tom got paired together and although they got along well, whenever any of us get paired up to do something important it never works... there always seems to be a problem. Anyway, they opened up Amy's blog and showed me their work which caused them problems. (I wrote Amy's paragraphs in pink and Tom's paragraph's in blue, just to remind myself when I read back on this.)

At first, Angelica couldn't decide which book she wanted to read. Jane Eyre, which used to be her favourite for lazy evenings at home, reminded her too much of Stephanie, who once said, in happier times, that she liked the feminist novel. But she felt now, at all costs, keep her mind off of her best friend. The loneliness that came with remembering their long lasting friendship, before they left secondary school and transitioned into college life, made her asthma act up. So Jane Eyre was out of the question.

Meanwhile, Stephanie Redhall, an evolutionary biologist in charge of a ground breaking experiment to discover the evolution of our species, had more important things to think about than the memories of an air-headed bimbo named Angelica with who she spent five useless years with. "Dr. Redhall, have you any findings?" "No breakthroughs so far..." but before she could finish her sentence a particle beam from the Physics lab next door blasted a hole through her lab. The jolt sent her flying across the room. 

She bumped her head and died almost immediately, but not before she felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one friend laughed at all her jokes. Soon afterwards, the search for the last piece of our evolutionary past was stopped as it was considered pointless to spend copious amounts of money on pointless research. "Government Passes Law Permanently Abolishing The Work Of Evolutionary Biologists" Angelica read on an online news article the next morning. The news simultaneously excited and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed with no hurry but carefree nature, with no news to read online, no television to distract her from the sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. "Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" She pondered wistfully.

Little did she know that she had 10 seconds to live. Just outside her house were thousands of Evolutionary Biologists gathered to seek revenge on the dimwitted wimpy bimbo who pushed the agreement to stop these people's careers dead in their tracks. Soon enough they broke into her house and she met her brutal end at the hands of once pacifist nerds. 

This is ridiculous. I refuse to continue with this absurd story line. My writing partner is a science fiction nerd and a semi-literate adolescent.

Yeah? Well, my writing partner is a self-centered looney tune whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent to my sleeping medication. "Oh shall I read Jane Eyre again? Or shall I read some other failed excuse for literature. Oh no, what am I to do? I'm such an air headed bimbo. I guess I've read to many Carol Anne Duffy poems." 

Idiot!

Feminist!

You're a Neanderthal.

In your dreams. Go read some decent literature.

The last comment was written by their subject tutor reading as follows, "This piece didn't quite seem to flow properly and the story line was unnecessarily confusing, however I find your communication at the end of the piece amusing, C." 

After finished reading I honestly didn't know how to respond considering I hadn't even finished comprehending the idea that my friends used me in an assignment to get a grade... AND to portray me as a bimbo... AND then kill me off. I couldn't help but laugh at the petty argument at the end of post and at the fact that out of all of our friends they picked me and Steph to write about. 

Oh well, I'll forgive them this time but it's far from over. 

Until the next interesting event which I just have to write about, and with my friends, will no doubt be tomorrow.

See ya soon,

Angelica 

Mrs Darwin

Here's one of many Carol Ann Duffy Poems that I liked simple because it is ingenious how she wrote it and the ideas behind it.

Differences In Animal Diaries

I chose this picture because, on the surface, it's a funny piece of text showing what these domestic animals would be thinking or what they would write if they had a diary. However, beneath the simple, funny exterior is the idea that dogs are a man's best friend and a great companion, whereas a cat can be seen as being more intelligent and sometimes know for hating its domestic life. The language used in each diary entry shows this as the dog's language is simple but the cat's language is sophisticated and the text is written in detailed paragraphs. I found this interesting because of the way language is used to show the contrast between these two popular pets. It's also interesting because the writer is showing what they think is inside the heads of these two different species. I liked the idea that the dog's diary had a schedule rather than it's feeling and emotions although they said everything they did was their favourite, it can show that the dog isn't as intelligent or aware than the cat. The cat's diary had no schedule but started with the day in which he was writing, "Day 963 of my captivity" which allows the reader to immidetly realize that the cat feels like a prisoner. I like the way the writer takes normal activites owners do with their cats and turn it into something that is mean to the pet. The contrasts are taken further with the style of the writing as the dog's diary is written in cursive whereas the cat's diary is written in a simple, serious font.

 

Michael McIntyre Quotes

One of my favourite comedians of all time is Michael McIntyre and here are some of his favourite quotes.

http://funnycomedianquotes.com/funny-michael-mcintyre-jokes-and-quotes.html?p=1

http://funnycomedianquotes.com/funny-michael-mcintyre-jokes-and-quotes.html?p=2

An Extract from Peter Kay's Autobiography

I find celebrity autobiographies interesting to read because it's a new perspective from what people already know about you whether true or false, so here's one I've found.

http://booksblog.tesco.com/2011/09/weve-got-an-extract-from-peter-kays-new-book/

10 Amusing Twitter Biographies

With technology becoming a bigger part in everybody's lives it's no surprise that there are now mini bio's you can have on these new social networking sites. Here's a few funny twitter biographies I have found on this link.

http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/10_amusing_Twitter_bios_to_inspire_you_44990.aspx