#grade booster

[mynameis-drake]

So,

This is my mother, Tracy Williams. A wonderful woman who owns a PR firm in Los Angeles. She does a lot of interviews as she has won a couple of awards for her work with homeless women in Los Angeles, and owning a company with primarily female employees.

She recently got a small feature in a magazine LA Business Journal. I personally loved it because she is my mother, but the more that I think about it the more that I wish they could have talked more about her brilliance in business, NOT her accessories. 

Yes she's a beautiful woman, but why is this the most reportable thing?

Why do they break down her wardrobe? (for clarification my mother is not the type to spend such lavish amounts of money on garments, the magazine chose those prices)

[aishadoo]

life's no fun without a good scare

So.

Halloween.

To say that I friggin' love Halloween would be the biggest understatement.

But since I was very young, I've noticed how messed up girls' costumes are. All short skirts and cleavage. 

Boys' costumes actually reflect the subject… but girls just have to deal with being overly sexualized… It sucks.

Now, I'm not going to pretend that I've never bought one of these costumes. I have. Three times, at least. And I think they're awesome.

There's just a disparity between the costumes available to the different genders.

Anyway, since I was at the C4C most of the night, I noticed that most of the costumes aligned with the above ideas.

I saw some men dressed either as women or as something typically "girly" like My Little Pony, but I didn't see any women looking scary… or particularly warm. Poor things.

My costume was limited this year due to work, so I mostly stuck with face paint.

Here's my Joker.

Besides the stylized eye makeup, I think it's pretty gender rebel. 

I'd also like to point out (mainly because I just thought of it) that I've yet to cosplay a character that doesn't have gender rebel qualities.

Look:

Jack from Mass Effect 3, psychotic badass.

Little Sister from Bioshock 2, girly and childish but violent and unsympathetic.

I guess costumes are more interesting when they don't line up with your expectations.

Oh well, time for Christmas and fat Santa + sexy elves.

(All images from Hallow Vision Cosplay)

[mynameis-drake]

The Great Irrelevant Princess Debate

This year, my 4 ½ year old daughter Zoe wanted to be a princess for Halloween. Nothing wrong with that... or is there?...

Everybody-dom. 

Why is it called a kingdom, when it includes everyone. 

I thought this article was cute. I wouldn't say it's all about halloween but I thought this mother had a pretty interesting learning moment with her daughter.

[genderclash-blog]

Grade Booster Option: Give a Riff, Change a Tone

Making up creepy stories is way too addictive so I decided to try to integrate Tool 17: Riff on the creative language of others, into another super short horror story I wrote. This is the result.

OLDIE

I was happy when John told me he wanted to come for dinner. I haven't had anything good to eat in a couple weeks. John arrived and, thankfully, he didn't suspect that his food would be drugged. Soon he was passed out and I was able to decent on the body, spices in hand. 

REVISION

I was happy when John told me he wanted to come for dinner. Too bad John doesn't know what I eat. Oh well, John sure is finger lickin' good!  

As you can see this story changed from something that could be terrifying to something more comical as the speaker is making fun of KFC's slogan while presumably eating John, possibly one of his fingers. I like my revision because it's funny but at the same time kind of creepy and I love horror comedy/dark humor. I was also not trying to be so creepy with this mini-story. I also like how short it is, saying so much in so little words is hard but also pretty fun to try to do it (especially with horror stories). 

[pripri-blogs-blog]

This CDS story was really captivating from the beginning. I think the images and videos really helped get me into the story; the only thing I would have changed is using all personal images for the whole thing rather than generic ones. Overall, it wasn't exactly how you would hear it from a friend but it still was full of emotion and descriptive.

[sociologyboom]

SCLY1 Families and Households - Grade Booster

Students often ask me "Sir, will you join my family for tea this evening" and I reply "NO!" but more of that another time, students often ask me what do I write for the second 24 mark essay?  I can't figure out what the question wants me to put in my essay answer.  So often this is because the more difficult questions give you more scope in what to choose to put into your "ASSESS" style response (this is a good thing you have more choice on what to include and exclude).  Moreover (Killa Konnectiv), these students have not seen the scandalously blatant connection between "ITEM 2B" and the structure their essay response to question (e) should take.  They always outline the two sides of the area for discussion, debate or ASSESSment in "ITEM 2B".  "Wow" you cry, I never noticed, well it has been true so far.  Check out the AQA link for examples of this.  Or come along and see me for a run through of how this works.  Also, if you are struggling, read the examiners report on the essays of past candidates - gives you more insight into what is contained in high quality responses.   Mr. Keifer

http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/humanities/sociology_materials.php?id=10&prev=