"To Be Or Not To Be..."

In Mel Gibson's Version of Hamlet's "To Be Or Not To Be..." speech, Hamlet is in what appears to be a basement. It is dark and creepy down there. The viewer can now realize that Hamlet's speech is no joyous affair. As viewers, we can relate to this setting because everyone has that dark and scary basement that they don't want to go down to unless it's completely necessary. Hamlet's speech is dark and scary, just like his basement. We see bones and skulls of dead bodies in the basement.

Hamlet is also talking to a statue that is laying down appearing to be dead. These props allow the viewer to realize that Hamlet is battling the decision to live or not to live. His internal battle is demonstrated through his living self talking to a dead statue which Hamlet would be if he were to in fact kill himself. Hamlet's internal battle  is also demonstrated in Kenneth Branaugh's version of Hamlets "To Be Or Not To Be.." speech when Branaugh is looking into the mirror. This demonstrates his battle in a different way than Mel Gibson's Version because Branaugh is directly speaking to himself while Mel Gibson is speaking to dead bodies and a tomb. In Branaugh's version of the speech, Hamlet is in looking into the mirror in a big, empty, bright, colored room.

When I watched it, I didn't think Hamlet's speech was scary and dark as it was supposed to be. And the small knife that Branaugh pulled out of his coat, looked like a letter opener and not something he could kill himself with. I thought this version seemed really pathetic and almost comical because it wasn't scary like death at all. In Lawrence Olivier's version of Hamlet's speech, Olivier is sitting on a cliff high above the ocean. There is no straight forward representation of Hamlet's internal battle. I wouldn't say "To jump or not to jump.." really reminds me of Hamlet. You must look into this version in order to find that Hamlet being on a ledge that he could possibly jump off of is the representation of  life vs. death. In Olivier's version of Hamlet's speech, he has a small knife that reminded me of a kitchen steak knife. Again, not something i think he could kill himself with. Even if he could kill himself with it, as a viewer, I didn't think suicide while watching it.

Mel Gibson's version of Hamlet's speech gave the best representation of death out of all three video's. You can reallly sense death in the scary dark basement with dead bodies and bones laying around.

American Sign Language

American Sign Language (ASL) is the first language of many deaf Americans. Sight is the most important device to use to communicate. Sign Language is a complex language that makes use of signs made using hand shape, position, movement, body movements, gestures, and facial expressions as a means of communication for the deaf. The National Institute on Deafness and other communication disorders states that “The American Sign Language is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.”

The origin of ASL is unknown. Many believe that ASL formed from the French Sign Language (FSL). Others believe that ASL was in America even before FSL. FSL was introduced to the United States in 1817 when a French teacher, Laurent Clerc, came to the United States and founded the first school for the deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. Many of his students were already fluent in their own form of sign language that they had developed through local culture. He began teaching his students FSL. It is said that today’s ASL most likely contains elements from early FSL.

American Sign Language is very different from the English Language. ASL contains its own fundamentals for grammar, sentence order, and punctuation. Every language spoken around the world has its own unique aspects. ASL is no different. For example, ASL users may raise an eyebrow or widen their eyes to ask a question. In the English language we use a certain tone of voice for asking a question. Unlike spoken languages where there is just one serial stream of phonemes, sign languages can have multiple things going on at the same time. This multiple segmentation makes it an exciting language for linguists to study and a frustrating language for Deaf-impaired (aka, hearing) people to learn. A person’s age, ethnicity, or gender may affect their ASL usage. Just as English words are said differently in different regions of the country, ASL has its slight differences throughout the country. ASL is not a universal language. It varies from place to place.

In order for a person to become fully fluent in any language, acknowledgement must be made at a young age. This is the same principle for ASL users. The earlier you are exposed to a language the better your communication skills will be come. This even applies to ASL. Researchers suggest that babies should be screened for deafness within the first month of life. If a child is diagnosed deaf within the first month of life, this gives the parents a head start on opening the window of communication for their baby. The earlier they start the learning process, the more their child will be able to communicate.

American Sign Language is a widely used form of communication for the deaf. Its different variations are used all throughout the country. The ASL is an important language that gets over looked by our culture. We don’t realize how many people in this world are deaf and how much effort it takes for them just to be able to communicate. ASL should be taken more seriously by our culture.

After doing a study on American Sign Language, I realized just how much of an impact it can have on people. Being able to sign will be beneficial to children when they begin school. They will already know punctuation and grammar without even realizing it. If a young child knows how to sign, they will be able to express themselves even before they can talk. Children that have a disability and can not communicate through words usually end up hurting themselves or others, ASL gives the child a way to communicate without having to hurt themselves.

Learning so much about ASL also made me realize how many people around the world are deaf. I can't imagine being a deaf parent and sitting at my child's baseball game and never hearing the crowds cheer when he hits a home run, or sitting at a piano concert and never hearing a note. These are the parents that will never hear their child's name be called at graduation.

In the video above, you can see that the ASL user sings the song in sign language. You can see that he uses various facial expressions to express the way he is meaning to say something. You can also see that the man not only uses sign lettering, but hand motions to represent a single word or phrase, a common characteristic of sign language users.

SOURCES:

http://learnlanguages.maxupdates.tv/how-to-learn-american-sign-language/
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/asl.html
http://www.deaflibrary.org/asl.html

Couldn't Care Less

Mr. Carty made a video about the grammatical error that most of us make when we say "could care less." The correct way to use this expression is "couldn't care less." The difference being that "could care less" means that you do care in some way or another and that you could care less about it. "Couldn't care less" says that you don't care about something at all and really couldn't care less about it because you don't care about it in the first place. I must say, I fall victim to those who say "could care less." I guess I am proving Nick Mamatas right when he calls me illiterate.

The Term Paper Artist (listening)

In an interview with Nick Mamatas, the Term Paper Artist, http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2008/11/28/segments/116673 , Nick Mamatas is being interviewed by Bob Garfield about his article "The Term Paper Artist". In his interview Nick talks to the interviewer about all of the major aspects of his article. He explains in detail the different types of clients he deals with and the different topics he must write about. Mamatas has a very cocky tone and chooses very persuasive words.
Hearing Mamatas's voice made me change my opinion about him. Mamatas sounds like an extreme know-it-all. His tone of voice makes him seen like he is full of himself.
The medium of this interview may have a different affect on the audience than an interview that would be read. Hearing Mamatas's voice may make the audience, like myself, feel that Mamatas is rude. The entire interview Mamatas mentions more than once that his clients are too dumb to do their assignment on their own. If I were going to buy one of Mamatas's term papers, I would reconsider my decision because i would want to write my own paper and prove him wrong.

The Term Paper Artist.

In Nick Mamatas's article, The Term Paper Writer, Nick explains in detail the fallout of higher education. Nick Mamatas makes his living working as a term paper writer. Nick explains that a term paper writer is a person who is paid to write term papers for a client. The term papers may be on any subject and Nick must complete the job by the given deadline.
Nick goes on to explain the clients he must deal with on a daily basis. The three types of clients are the: "DUMB CLIENT" who "just aren't very bright" and "meant to use simple english", the "one timer" who are "generally lost and really did simply need a decent summary of their class readings", and third, the "well educated professionals who simply lack Enlgish-language skills"
Nick then continues to describe the technique of writing term papers. "I'd just scan Google or databases like Questia.com for a few quotes from primary and secondary sources, create an argument based on whatever popped up from my search, write the introduction and underline the thesis statement, then fill in the empty spaces between quotes with whatever came to mind." Nick Mamatas explains the real reason why the term paper industry is so popular, "It's because students have never read term papers."
Nick Mamatas makes an excellent point at why the term paper industry is so popular. Students should be given multiple examples of a term paper before being given the assignment.