A New Life In London

COMP150 10-1050 MWF

[jwrightscsu]

For my last blog post for comp this semester, I want to talk about on of my favorite shows ever. Everyone probably knows the story of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, but, in case you dont, I will give you a rundown. Some describe Sherlock as a physcophath. He loves it when someone is murdered because he gets to solve the case. Sherlock can easily tell you everything about yourself just by looking at you. He really is brilliant. John is his trusy sidekick who always seems to be trying to get Sherlock out of trouble. Each episode from BBC is an hour and a half long so there is only three episodes in each season.

Sherlock is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and John Martin Freeman. There are three seasons so far and the first one aired in 2010. The show has quickly become the UKs most popular TV drama. Now while I have never actually read the books of Sherlock, i have been told the series and the books are extremely similar.

There are many, many reasons why I love this show. It could be the excellent acting. I can never ever see Benedict as anyone else by my Sherlock. Even when he was in 12 Years a Slave, he was still Sherlock to me. It could be the mysterious, why I love this show. Every time I watch a new episode, I am always trying to see if I can figure out who did it faster than Sherlock. (This has yet to happen). But the reason this show is so awesome to me, is how connected Sherlock and John are. I love their friendship. These two, I swear, would go to the end of the world for each other. *SPOILER* In the last episode of Season two, Sherlock dies and John goes back to his therapy sessions and you can tell Martin is actually crying for the death of Sherlock, morning John's best friends death. Later on, I had read that Martin was so upset with the death of Sherlock that after they had finished filming the scene, Benedict hugged him until he calmed down. I love how their friendship isnt just in the characters but in them as well and that is why the make such perfect fictional BFF's.

[jwrightscsu]

For my picture about my project 3, I drew a graduating student who is going to college. It is set in a time where all colleges and universities are accepting and the student is excited to meet new people. He is not afraid of being bullied anymore either.

[theexbiochemist]

Out is the fantasy romance, in is the post-apocalypse romance.

We saw the trend of fantasy romance within the young adult genre really pick up pace with the popularity of Twilight. When that became a best seller, you couldn’t go to the YA section of the library or book store without seeing things...

[jwrightscsu]

It is quite disgusting though isnt it? Someone has a best seller and everyone latches onto it to make their own share of the profits. At this point I dont feel like we are getting original novels anymore! It is kind of like music, every song has the same beat because that is what people like but every now and then I want to change the radio station and get something new. Fads come and go too fast and we need to learn about about originality!

[jwrightscsu]

"Do you know the horrors that happened where you’re standing?

Life goes on, strange isn’t it?" Tumbler Users

I am not really going for just a London post this week. Although the pictures above appear to have been taken in Europe so that counts, right?

I found these pictures on my personal Tumblr dashboard and they instantly moved me. We see pictures of people living their everyday lives but over lay them are the pictures of what happened at that location. I feel like these pictures really do speak the truth of life will go on no matter what happens. But, we must never forget what happened in our past, no matter where we come from.

Last summer, I visited Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. They still had the fences up, the main check in building and one of the bunk houses. I was aware of what happened there and i could feel the horrors to my bones. I am a history nut and I know this will sound crazy, but as I walked through the gravel yard of the camp I knew I could feel the spirits of those who died there so tragically. The weirdest part of the whole thing though, the spirits didnt seem angry. It just felt like those people had come at ease and acceptance with what had happened.

However, that didnt make me feel at one moment at ease. I didnt feel safe there. I knew nothing was going to happen to me, but I felt scared just to be there. I was a feeling I just dont know how to describe any better. But knowing this now, I wonder if we knew what happened at every part of the streets we walked if we'd all feel that way. If we knew a battle was fought where Moby Arena is, would we still go there and enjoy the games as we do now? Or would there be a part of us always thinking of that battle? Maybe I'm the only one who would, but it is just something to think about.

[jwrightscsu]

Project three...10 pages long. Not something I was looking forward to, that is for sure! But hey, it is good for us to work our brain. That is college, right? Well one of the things we did in class that best helped me decide what to write about (because lets face it, you have to be pretty darn passionate about your subject to write eight to ten pages about it) is the day we sat down and wrote as many things down that interest us in five minutes. That was really helpful because I feel like if we were given a week to pinpoint one particular thing to write about, I would have chose something I am not passionate about, just something I thought would look really good on paper. I think the idea of choosing a topic from a list made in five minutes is the best because odds are those things you wrote down in those five minutes are those things you are super passionate about. Another thing I particularly enjoyed was the mind maps we drew. That was a really good way for me to really start thinking about how I was going to tie everything together or figure out how one article will end up connecting to the other so I am not just using a lot of articles for one soul purpose, I can use one article through out the entire paper. I also like how we got together into groups with people who are writing about similar things as us and talked about our papers. It is always good to have different view points on a topic and it gave me new ideas to put into my argument. It also gave me counter arguments to put in my paper that I would have probably never thought of.wes

[jwrightscsu]

Is he not the cutest baby boy ever? Just look how happy he looks all cuddled up to his momma and with every new picture I see of him, he looks more and more like his daddy. But is being a prince only just about looking adorable? If being a little tiny prince is anything like being his grandma, probably not. Well, little prince George is the third in line to the thrown after his father and training starts young! At just eight months old, he went on his first ever royal engagement on a three week tour of New Zealand. He was greeted by the prime minister on day one.  But then, of course how could anyone forget about his christening, a royal family tradition? When he was three months old and at Chapel Royal Prince George became the godson to seven people.

However, even though he is just eight months old and just a baby, he is probably the most exciting thing to the people living in London. When it was announced Kate had finally gone into labour people stood outside the palace for miles and for hours excitedly awaiting the news of the royal family's newest little member. It is true that Prince George will probably never know how big of a deal he really is either. After his arrival, his father, the duke of Cambridge, took a full two week maternity leave from his job to interact and bond with his son.

He was granted the name His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge and the name was released, as well as the first pictures of the little bundle two days later. As Kate left the hospital she was greeted by the city so excited to just get a glimpse of the little guy. Now, while prince George may just think he is a baby, when he grows up I am sure he will appreciate just all the attention he received in the first year of his life.

[jwrightscsu]

I am sure everyone by now has seen Frozen...or at least have had heard about it, am I right? So, not a post just about England this week but, all the different languages in this video I feel fit into my "not America" theme, if you will. This song, Let It Go, is my all time favorite Disney song and I will not be afraid to admit that I rock out to it probably more than any 7 year old girl on the planet. Frozen is so different than any other Disney princess movie and is has taken the world by surprise.

It quickly has become the best animated movie ever and probably is the most popular movie of our decade. It has made over billions in box offices and it is safe to say that Disney is doing something right with this film!

But back to the language thing here. It is very interesting how just our language can set us apart from the rest. Sure I know all the words to this song, but when I listen to this video with the 25 different languages singing it, it is really like I am listening to a whole new song. Our culture teaches us our language and it is unique to our personality. You often do not see many people with southern American accents who enjoy the hustle and bustle of city life. Or a New Yorker typically does not enjoy the back country woods, at least that's what stereo types tell us. So maybe I am going on a useless rampage on how our language makes us unique or maybe you agree with me. But one thing is for sure, this video is pretty awesome!

[jwrightscsu]

I want to be the Queen, that's all I'm saying. I want to wake up in my huge palace where my maids bring me tea and breakfast in bed while one curls my hair. I'd great my people on the streets in my beautiful dress. Maybe for lunch I'll visit my grandson, The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William and my beautiful granddaughter in law Princess Kate and their bouncing baby boy, Prince George. I would always be so extremely grateful of my palace help and they would be like family to me and at the end of the day we would all put on our most gorgeous gowns dance the night away. When I went to bed I'd finish the day with a wood burning fire across my bed, a book on my lap, and a mug of tea warming my hands.

That would be nice wouldn't it? I bet the Queen herself wants this life but I bet she does a lot more in her day than we think she does. So what exactly does Queen Elizabeth II do? Well instead of tea and breakfast in bed in the morning, she goes to her office where she has a stack of 200- 300 letters from the public waiting for her. She reads over a select amount and checks out all the papers. After she sets out for meetings with English Bishops and Judges.

After lunch she goes out to the public eye for public engagements. She'll go out to schools, hospitals, factories, military units, art galleries, sheltered accommodation for elderly people, hostels for the homeless, local community schemes in inner city areas to brighten their day and make sure everything is going well within the country. Usually these only take place in London but if she has an easy few days ahead of her she'll head out around different places through England.

After dinner she speaks with the Prime Minister once a week and often watches her race horses. She really gets involved with her own community and makes a presence with them. According to royalgov.co.uk the last lights to go off in the palace come from the Queens office. She does truly work a lot harder than probably any of us actually imagined. So I guess maybe the Queen life isnt exactly what I want after all. It's not all just tea parties and pretty dresses!

royal.gov.uk

[jwrightscsu]

Spring Break 2014 in London? If only. This past summer (2013) I actually had the opportunity to go to London for three days. I was a member of the Wyoming State Ambassadors Orchestra that traveled across Europe for two weeks. We went to eight different countries starting with England, France (Paris), Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Italy (Venice) and finally back home. Still to this day I believe I could have stayed in London the entire two weeks and would have had just as much fun.

Here's my argument. One, it's so beautiful there! Not that it's not beautiful everywhere else, because trust me it really was. But there was a different kind of beauty here that I didn't find anywhere else. Looking back into American history, England is where most of us came from. The experience of steeping on the same cobble stone streets as out ancestors long ago did, is just something words can't explain. While I can hear some of you shouting at me, "We all didn't descend from England!" Take a breath, I know. However, I popped my last name into Google and it came back saying 'Wright' is and English last name, so maybe I have some ancestors from England. If only that beautiful accent carried down to me. :) 

When I was in London, it is safe to say I didn't get to see even a fraction of the things I wanted to. So what would I do if I was back in the wonderful city again for seven days? Well first, contrary to my fear of heights, I think I would have to take a trip on the iconic London Eye. Opened in March 2000, The London Eye is one of England's most popular attractions. People from five different countries actually helped build it and now the magnificent ride holds 32 carts that each hold 10 tons! Each ride is about a half an hour long and you can see  up to 40 kilometers in each direction. Pretty impressive, I think!

Something else  I would have to see is The Tower of London...again! When I was there, I only got about two hours to explore everything. Known also as Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, covers about 12 acres and the tower itself, 6. The White Tower, the first built, appeared in England in 1078 and ever sense then it expanded and was rebuilt into what we see today.  Ever wonder where the phrase "Sent to the Tower" comes from? Well it's actually from The Tower of London. Before Queen Elizabeth I was queen, had fallen to disgrace (like many) in the 16th century and was sent for captivation in the tower. The Tower holds the Crown Jewels (which are absolutely breath taking) and have been rumored to be housed there sense Henry III. Now lets get to the fun stuff! It may just be because I am a supernatural addict or I just love Ghost Hunters, but how fun would it be to spend a night in the Tower!? There have been many reported sightings of ghosts from the night crew at the tower. One is of Queen Anne Boeyln who was the second wife of Henry VIII. She was executed for charges of adultery at the tower and supposedly walks through the white Tower, holding her own head in her arms.

But, sadly I wont be returning to London during spring break, I can only dream of Junior year when Study Abroad takes me there!

[jwrightscsu]

Above is pictured a world famous double Decker bus in London, England after Queen Elizabeth II signed the bill for same sex marriages to take effect in 2014. I generally do a bit of research on the blogs I write, but this week, allow me a moment just to be fully opinionated?

I think America can learn a lot from England's newest bill. While of course, the Church of England fought the bill from passing, who cares what your sexuality is? While I am straight and Lutheran, I just don't understand why this topic is so heatedly debated. In my mind, shutting someone out just because they are gay, bisexual, or transgender is just the same as racism (which if I remember correctly has been illegal in America sense late 1800s.)

Something that really really upsets me is the way LGBT's are treated. I remember in high school, I was really close with a gay guy and he was the sweetest thing ever. Another boy that was on the basketball team had pushed him down the stairs simply because he was gay. Can someone just answer me this: if you had a child who was gay, would you not love him or her just the same?

But the fact the poor guy was pushed down the stairs isn't even the worst part. I know your thinking "Jamie, what could possibly be worse?" Well, how about the fact the basketball player did not get punished purely because of the fact he would miss that weekends game. Someone please, please explain to me why this is right.

Something else to consider: people run away to to Vegas and get married only after knowing each other for a couple days can get married or how about someone who has been married and divorced four times and can get married again with no consequences. But lets look at the two guys who have been in a committed relationship for over 20 years cant share those same rights as a married couple should. I have a friend who believes LGBT marriages should not be called a marriage, but, a union. I picked her brain about this a little bit. She thinks that a union between two men or two women should have the same rights as a married couple, she just doesn't like the term "marriage" for them.

But I also don't understand this. Why not? Love is love in my mind and honestly I don't care if your black, white, purple, polka dotted, gay or straight, if I love you, then I love you. It's just that simple.

[jwrightscsu]

Above is pictured Prince William, Princess Kate, and their adorable son Prince George. During the summer of 2013, it is very safe to say this little boy was the most talked about celebrity...well anything for that matter, from the moment Kate announced her and her husband were expecting. When I was in London this summer, everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone was talking about the little Prince's arrival.

However, no one, well except for the royal family (probably) was aware that England would be blessed with a tiny new prince. That is when the British government released a new statement and something I thought to be really awesome. It did not matter if the brand new little royal family member was a boy or a girl to get the throne. Meaning, if little prince George came out baby princess Georgia, she would have gotten the throne. Well, this is not exactly ground breaking news consider the current head of the British Government is Queen Elizabeth. So what makes this new rule so special? It is awesome because lets thing hypothetically for a moment. Prince George was born Princess Georgia and lets say four years down the road Prince William and Princess Kate have another little bundle of joy and he comes out a boy. Little Princess Georgia can not be skipped in the royal line to the throne. That is something that has never been an option before in England. Pretty cool I think! But of course we are all happy with that adorable, smiling Prince George up there!

[theexbiochemist]

While some fanfiction and webcomics fall into the trap called “being terrible”, some of this work is able to transcend this pit of despair to become masterful works of literary art. You can ask any fandom what fanfiction are famous in their own walls and they will most likely spit out a list of...

[jwrightscsu]

Okay, so I really just love your blogs! I totally think Fanfics count as literature. Sure, anyone can publish absolutely anything they want but does that matter? Authors (like myself) like people to read their stories and get involved with the characters and the plot. I do not understand how people can say we are stealing someones story, when we are clearly not. Sure we may use their characters but it is our plot, our story line and our relationships, not the original authors.

[jwrightscsu]

I am so excited that we get to write relatively about anything now! So, for my sample post I chose a flat tour in London! I am thinking (since my  current obsession is London) my blog will be about all things London! Well, practical things of course. This first one will be about how much it will actually cost me to live in London.

So, first up, how much will an apartment (or flat, better get into London language!) cost? Well, after doing some research, I found an adorable little studio flat for about 700 pounds a month, translating to about 1100 American dollars a month and we all know we can not just get an apartment, we need utilities. So I am just going to estimate another 200 dollars there. Getting our new total to 1300 a month...Not cheap, but London is not either.

Also, I will have to eat right? So an estimate on food (things to cook or going out every now and then), clothing, personal hygiene (shampoo, laundry soap...ect.) I am going to estimate about $800 dollars a month.

If I was going to move to London right out of college, I would not get a car. So how will I get to work? Ah, the tube (or the subway to us Americans). That costs about 830 (1,400 American dollars) pounds per year for anytime I need to use it but it is only for one or two zones. So lets hope my job is within the zone of my flat!! What is our total so far? About 2300 per month. 

While that is not too terribly bad, it is not cheap. I better hope that three figure dream job of mine is really a reality!

[theexbiochemist]

Why can they not correctly transfer books to movies??

So we all know that the Harry Potter series was able to be successful as both a book and movie franchise, but they are a rarity in the industry. From Eragon to Percy Jackson our viewing experience has been marred by bad adaptations of some of…

[coffeeandconstantcomp]

I think that the Harry Potter books were shaky at best… Honestly. I felt like they were good companions to the book, but I don’t understand how anyone who hadn’t read the books got anything out of the movies.

One book to movie series that I think is amazing is Hunger Games. Rather than trying to be the book in visual form, they changed the way they told the story to fit expectations of a movie. A lot of times movies based on books that are written in first person narrative attempt to have that inner dialogue running through the whole movie and it just doesn’t work (for example, Twilight. I just want to scream “Shut up, Kristen Stewart” whenever I watch those movies), so Hunger Games avoids that kind of narration. Anyway, hands down best adaptation ever. 

[jwrightscsu]

And as both a book lover and a movie watcher, I find it best just to treat the book and the movie as two totally different things. I can not speak for Harry Potter because I have neither read or watched the films. But yeah, I agree, movies should just be companions to the texts.

[theexbiochemist]

Why can they not correctly transfer books to movies??

So we all know that the Harry Potter series was able to be successful as both a book and movie franchise, but they are a rarity in the industry. From Eragon to Percy Jackson our viewing experience has been marred by bad adaptations of some of...

[jwrightscsu]

Thank you! Someone who understands me!!! Okay, so I totally agree with everything you addressed here! I wish producers would just give the cast a copy of the book they are making into a film and call it "Script" because seriously, if the book is popular enough to make into a film, why change it? In the ninth grade I had the opportunity to speak to an author who decided to not make his novel into a movie simply because he knew they would ruin it. He said when you sign the contract for them to go ahead with it, producers have full creative control over it. They only have to keep the title the same. I do not understand this madness!! I'll be the first to admit, as a Twilight fan, that the twilight movies were horrible...until Breaking Dawn part two. This film is the one where the author (Stephanie Meyer) got to produce it which is why, for the most part, the novel and the film was pretty similar. But anyway, good post. I liked it! :) 

[jwrightscsu]

CSU is my school. I have RAM PRIDE to my eyeballs. I can not express the love I have for this university. I cried when I was accepted. CSU is what I like to call my "practical dream school". That is why you will notice the picture above is not of Colorado State University here in the wonderful "Fort". This is Oxford University and it is absolutely breathtaking, is it not?

In project one, a question I asked my friends was "Hypothetically, college tuition prices are the same everywhere. Would you go back and change universities?" Both said no. I agree wholeheartedly. But if there was just a chance, a little glimmer of a chance of getting into Oxford, I would probably do it.

Unfortunately, tuition prices are not the same everywhere. So, I just want to know how much it would cost me to go to Oxford, saying I had the rocket scientist- brain surgeon brain to get me in. Europe does things a little different than we do here in the U.S. Here we have the option to go to community colleges, state colleges, or universities right out of high school. Then if we want to we can go to grad school, law school, med school, what have you. In the U.K. it works a bit differently. There you got to high school then college then your university. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-ZsHLqB6V4&list=PLb4RpxdASJ81iF7sVHlVp4kHhzpcrmfGw&feature=share&index=14 ) So before I would even get to start thinking about attending Oxford, I would have to make sure that the classes I have taken here in the States will fulfill the first part of their education requirements to get into the University.

Getting in is not even the hardest part. The financial part is probably the scariest and most difficult part in getting into any brand name college. What makes Oxford different though is that it is out of the country and a nine hour plane ride from DIA. Every major looks a little different when it comes to University fees through Oxford. The average seems to be about 15K British Pounds, that translates to 25K American dollars. That sounds really ideal considering I am paying $40K American dollars to attend CSU, out of state of course. However, Oxford does a different way of computing the cost of college so that 25K is only the beginning. The next fee they have is a college fee. That price is about 7K British Pounds. That translates to about 12K. So so far our total is 37K. Then of course we have the all mighty living costs. Hey, we all have them. Oxford has a table that breaks down living costs for one month, nine months, and twelve months. Within these time frames the break it down into low range and high range. I picked the high range for myself because of that plane ticket to and from England twice a school year. That total is 12K British pounds translating to 20K American dollars, pushing our new grand total to 49K American dollars. That's as much as it is for an out of state to go to CU. 

The nice thing about Oxford though is they will work with your families income and lower tuition for you. (http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate_courses/student_funding/2014_funding.html)  While I can see how that can be unfair to someones family who makes three figures a year, it is nice for those who do not come from that background and hey the university has to make money too right? This kind of relates to our discussion in class on Monday on the ways to change paying of tuition. I kind of like the idea of everyone pays what they can for the greater good. Any other opinions out there?

[jwrightscsu]

When you saw this image on your dash, you probably stopped, read it and thought one of two things. One being "I am having a bad day, thank you for reminding me you need the bad days to have good" and it brought a smile to your face. The other was probably "Okay, that make sense. But whats your point?" Well, the point of the poster is not important. You read the poster and think what you want about it. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it. But like I said, that does not matter.

The poster serves a purpose, for you to look at it and think about it and if you did that the poster did its intended duty. The person behind the image may very well be a graphic designer who wants to prove a point using text and images.

This post will be a continuation of last weeks post about our majors. My second major will be Art with a concentration in Graphic Design. While my dream is to still move to London even with this career, I will defiantly need to make some dough not only for that but to also pay off my hefty out of state student loan.

So how much do graphic designers make anyway? According to The Under Cover Recruiter ( http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/infographic-how-much-do-graphic-designers-make/ ) graphic designers for commercial or industrial use (which I would use my degree for) can make up to $95K a year here in the U.S. That's not to shabby, eh? But, what is my likelihood of actually getting a job? An estimated total of graphic designers working in the U.S. for 2018 is at about 330,000 people. When you think about it, with the millions of people currently living in America, I should have a pretty good chance of getting a job right?

Now that I know how much I'll be making, where will I live? The best place for graphic designers to live (meaning the place your more likely to get the best paying job) is in California for general graphic designers and Michigan for the industrial/ commercial graphic designer.

But, the dream of living in the U.K. is still in the back of my head. So how much do the designers in London make? prospects.ac.uk ( http://www.prospects.ac.uk/graphic_designer_salary.htm ) says starting pay is around 25K U.K. pounds. That translates to about 41K American dollars. That's actually not too bad for a starting salary. But let's say I stay in the job for a good five- ten years. Whats my expectation then? They say about 65K U.K. pounds. Ready for the translation? About 107K American Dollars! Again....I think I'll head off to London!