Final Anthology Project (Introduction, link to five revised blog post, and conclusion)

Final Anthology

            Throughout the semester, we explored many topics including learning an “arsenal of key terms”, writing and revising habits, and different genre of writing. We wrote many different types of blog posts such as writing a review, a film analysis, and a cooking show script. These blog posts we made fitted into the overall theme of food, feelings, and film because we incorporated one of the three aspects in our writing, if not more at times.  Writing some of these blog post, especially smaller ones, helped me develop my unique writing style and worked on some of my recurring problems. Getting feedbacks on my earlier, less intense blog posts about things I can work allowed me to pay closer attention to similar problems whenever I am writing longer essays. As part of my reflection, I chose five blog posts that summed up my time during my time in English class: “How Pizza Changed My Life Forever, Buzzfeed Reaction”, “How to improve my Food Blog Proposal”, “How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman”, and “The Lover’s Pie”. I placed these blog posts in that particular order because it is in chronological order when we wrote them for class. I chose to order them in chronological order because I can show my progress and the different paths we took throughout the course. Each post is a different genre of writing that we explored throughout this semester, allowing me to improve on all genre of writing. Each blog post I revised has a link back to the original document.

http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-pizza-changed-my-life-forever.html

http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/12/buzzfeed-reactions-revised.html

http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-to-improve-my-food-blog-proposal.html

http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-morgan-freeman-would-narrate.html

http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-lovers-pie-revised.html

The five blog posts I chose highlight the semester of topics that we learned in class. In my first blog post “How Pizza Changed My Life Forever”, I reflected on how one particular food influenced me. The essay also helped me focus on how to make my paper very descriptive such as “juicy pizza filled with melted cheese and crunchy pepperoni” as an example. The next blog post “Buzzfeed Reactions” focused on the analysis of a video, specifically two videos for my particular blog post. For example, I noted on the participants age range, which were between “young teenagers to the elderlies”, and recorded their reactions as shown in the video. “How to improve my Food Blog Proposal” blog post helped me improve my main food blog post proposal by offering different insight into the proposal. One suggestion was to “avoid excessively using phrases such as “I want” and “I plan” throughout the proposal”, which I took the suggestion and did change in my food blog proposal. One of my favorite blog assignment was the “How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman.” The assignment was to create a voice over an opening scene to the movie so I decided to make it humorous. One example I wrote in the voiceover was when I commented “An arsenal of knives. Anger issues. Real play-doh” during the scene when the scene cuts from a wide shot of the kitchen full of knives to the main character pounding dough. I took a legitimate, non-humorous scene and commented with wild speculation and wrong information to create the feeling that the narrator does not know anything.  Finally, my blog post “The Lover’s Pie” helped me focuse on the audience to whom I am writing for. I introduced my blog post saying, “The pie we are making today is called The Lover’s Pie. My pie will consist of chocolate, eggs, salt, milk, honey, and chili pepper”; I wrote the sentence in the style where I am talking to the reader instead of being third person narration. All of these blog posts taught me different skills, but each blog post carved a path for me to discuss about food, feelings, and film throughout the semester. 

The Lover’s Pie (revised)

The Lover’s Pie

The pie we are making today is called The Lover’s Pie. My pie will consist of chocolate, eggs, salt, milk, honey, and chili pepper. The dark chocolate must be added first to create the spark when you take the first bite, similarly to the flutter in stomach when someone meets an attractive person. Make sure the dark chocolate is crushed so the chocolate will be evenly distributed. Since we want to enjoy chocolate throughout whole pie, it is essential to make sure all of the chocolate is not in one place. Once the chocolate is added and spread across the whole pie, add a dose of honey and other sweets to the pie. Make sure the dose is enough to make it feel natural but not too much where it becomes overwhelming and feels forced. A little bit of salt is good for the pie too since salt is a natural ingredient to any perfect balance relationship of flavors. Again, do not add too much salt or the pie will be ruined and no one will want it again. Sometimes I like to add a little spice in my pie, so I add a small bit of chili pepper. Chili pepper is optional since there are many other spices that will work as well, if you like experimenting with new flavors. The eggs and milk are the essential to make any pie work but it is ok to add them later in process of pie making if you want to. Make sure to save extra eggs and milk to make more pies later. You do not want it to be one time deal unless you do not like the pie. Once the ingredients are mixed together, make sure to bake the pie until ready; you will know this when the pie is giving off signs that it is ready to be eaten. Eating it too early will lead to being sick and in the hospital but eating it too late will be eating the remnants of what could have been an awesome pie. One of the most satisfying parts of making this pie is the hand on experience that you will never forget especially if it is your first pie. Once people smell the seducing scent of a freshly baked pie, everyone will want it so be careful about others stealing your pie. After all, just like your significant other, you would not want anyone to steal your beautiful, amazing pie.

Original Post: http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-lovers-pie.html

How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman (revised)

How Morgan Freeman would narrate the opening scene of Eat Drink Man Woman

            Once upon a time, there was a man who loved cooking. He loved eating fish. So the man decides to scale the fish and gut the fish. Oh, that’s nasty. I mean the man is literally ripping the intestine out of this poor fish. Now the man is cutting the fish, battering the fish, and frying the fish just like the way my momma used to cook catfish back at Mississippi. Now the man is cutting something white and exotic looking. I have no idea what this could possibly be. Maybe some kind of seafood? I dunno. Now the man is cutting something else. Man I wish I had stayed in school to learn what the hell he is making. Oooh pepper. I love some pepper. Especially orange pepper. Oooh… tasty meat. Now watch this master as he cuts this white potato thingy into small strips of pure awesomeness. Now this next thing he does is just confusing to me. He puts this meat into the fryer and, after washing the vegetables, he takes it out and puts it in a bowl of ice water. Like why man? Now he is cutting this meat and putting a bowl of stuff on top of this steaming wood thing. Doesn’t he have like a microwave or something? Ah finally a break from this cooking montage. Well this is nice. I mean he was literally cooking for about a minute and a half. Wait man what are you doing? Oh no… Please spare the chicken dear sir. And why do you have frogs on your table? I see our bowl of stuff is ready from the improvised microwave. I see you man, pouring out the sauce. Wait hold on. The guy just pours out the juice from the bowl, cooks with it, and now pours it back on top of the food he just made? That’s strange. Well the chicken did not escape to candy land. So now the guy is pouring something into the cooking pot and doing stuff. Five-seconds screensaver. Poor chicken. He was so innocent, young, and full of life.  So so sad. Is that gumbo I see? I love me some gumbo. See kids? You can horseplay in the kitchen with knives if you are an adult. An arsenal of knives. Anger issues. Real play-doh. You need to make sure you press down on the play-doh firmly in order to seal in the flavor. Yummy. Wait you have a phone?

Original post: http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/10/how-morgan-freeman-would-narrate.html

How to improve my Food Blog Proposal (revised)

How to improve my Food Blog Proposal

            After the peer review on Monday, I had several comments made by my classmate in English class suggesting ways to improve my food blog proposal. My classmate suggested that I should avoid excessively using phrases such as “I want” and “I plan” throughout the proposal. I will incorporate that suggestion since the proposal is already understood to be my plans and goals for my food blog. To repeat “I want” and “I plan” throughout the food blog proposal will just create unnecessary repetition of an already known fact. My partner also commented on how I did not name my food blog in my proposal. A name is vital to the paper because it is usually the hook to draw people into reading the paper with interest. I will add a title to my food blog proposal, which will be “Beer, Wine, and the Cultural Significance.” Another comment my partner made was to provide a clearer understanding in one of my closing statements. Since I wrote “we can progress further” with no context, I will revise the sentence to make it more understandable, clearing any confusion as to I am trying to say. Finally, he wrote that my food blog idea was interesting and loved the direction I am going. With that compliment, I will continue to strive forward to learn more about my topic and present it with passion in the future.

Original post: http://jonathanlung.blogspot.com/2016/10/how-to-improve-my-food-blog-proposal.html