Exploration 5 by Hunter Hires

The review that I really liked was the review done by Roger Ebert on the movie "A Christmas Story" because it was the only review that I could relate too as I don't know a whole lot about Nickleback or the GTA video game franchise. Roger Ebert really dives into this movie and talks about some themes that I didn't even consider about the movie. I knew the movie was about Christmas and family but Ebert talks about how this movie is also about childhood and how this type of childhood might never be seen again. On page 165, paragraph 12, Ebert quotes "In a poignant way "A Christmas Story" records a world that no longer quite exists in America" (Ballenger 165).  Ebert later goes onto say that a lot of things that make A Christmas Story a good movie is that even though the movie is set in the 40's, the movie reflects what modern life looks like. Ebert studies the scene where Ralphie’s mom puts soap in his mouth and then after his punishment is over, she puts the soap in her own mouth to see what it tastes like, something we ourselves might’ve done. The second thing I noticed was Ebert talks about how simple scenes of the movie went onto be classics like the scene where the dad gets a leg lamp. What I sort of wonder is if these scenes are classics because of how random they are or how relatable they are. We can all imagine a time when we have triple dog dared someone to do something and it ends up backfiring.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi rotten tomatoes score and audience score

The reviews that I use the most in my life are movie reviews. Normally I look at the reviews after a movie comes out and decide if it would be worth it to go watch the movie (as I very rarely watch movies on opening day). Back in December of last year, I was getting pumped for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and I just so happened to have looked at the movie review for it, because even though I had tickets for opening night the review from the world premiere was out. The review said that the movie was as good as “The Empire Strikes Back” which is known as the best of the Star Wars series, so I was pretty dang excited for this movie. I went to see it with some friends and I was just so... let down. I didn’t hate the movie when I was watching it but when the credits were rolling I just sort of felt empty. These types of reviews really change my attitude on a movie. Like, if a movie got a really bad rotten tomatoes score and I watch it, my expectations are super low and it doesn’t seem that bad. This works both ways with good movies and bad movies. From then on, I started trusting my own opinion because most of the times, critics are only looking for artistic qualities of a movie which is in contrast with the average movie goer who watches movies just for fun.

Exploration 5- Evan Burkart

I hardly use reviews for things in life, but one time that I did use one was when I was going to get my first car. My parents and I sat down and looked at cars that had good reviews and were a safe option for a new driver. We looked at a lot of cars that would be a reasonable price and was still a nice first car. A car that I liked was a Toyota Corolla. When we went to different dealerships there were a lot of corolla's and I ended up getting one for my first car. This was a time that reviews helped me because my car has had very little problems and still drives just fine.

An observation I made while reading the passage about Grand Theft Auto is the last sentence where he says he will enjoy the game, even when the real New York City is right outside. This is something video games are very good at. They make reality less exciting for people which makes them rather play video games. Video games take away the real world for people because they are so obsessed with playing a game rather than experiencing real life. A question I have is why do video game designers try to make most games they create so life like or as close to reality as they can get? Does this attract more people to play this game? I would suggest everyone to read this article because of how the video game designers try to get the game as close to real life as they can. In my opinion it is a good review on this game because it provides people a second life they can live which interests people as an escape from reality.

This is the car that I reviewed and purchased.

Exploration 5 Sierra Shamhart

One observation I made by reading these reviews was that someone writing a review needs to be transparent or open about the topic. For example if I know that I already hate the movie A Christmas Story because it was overplayed last year than I shouldn’t write a review based off of that reason because it wouldn’t be accurate. There would be no good evaluation. On page 156 of the Curious Writer the author states the 4 steps to evaluation. They are judgement, reason, criteria, evidence. If I wrote a review saying A Christmas Story was terrible, my evidence and reason would not be good because I have no good reasons that it was a terrible movie other than it was overplayed. In the review about Nickleback’s Here and Now I noticed that the writer is female and one of her reasons for disliking it was that is objectifies women and compares them to cars and then flips the script and writes about love. It just made me think she was a little bias because she is a women. Which made me think of the question should she have strayed away from mentioning that reason? Would she seem more credible if she left that out?

I use reviews in my daily life almost every time I buy something that I haven't bought before. One of my favorite hobbies is makeup, specifically eye shadow palette . The average cost for a palette is around 45 dollars. I have quite a few palettes but before I buy any palette I watch videos on you tube that are reviews of the makeup I want to buy. I watch certain people that I know will give me a good review based on my past purchases that they have recommended. Recently I watched James Charles’s review of the thirsty palette by Jeffree Star and he gave a good review so I decided to purchase it. I was very happy with my purchase and I will go back to his videos the next time I want to see if a makeup item is good.

The Thirsty Palette By Jeffree Star

Exploration Five: Gage Fogle

Gage Fogle

Exploration Five

        

     In the review, "Nickelback's Here and Now", I noticed that it wasn't so much of a review of the song or an album, but rather a review of Nickelback's topics in songs, style, and tone.  The review points out that strippers, weed, alcohol, and women are frequent topics in their lyrics.  Their music also includes a two sided perspective on women.  In one song, women are seen as “cartoon playthings”(as written in the review), while another song may be a sad love song about a women.
     I wonder how Nickelback actually views women.  Are they seen as just objects of sex and fun, or are they respected and loved?  Nickelback may just write about a sexualized view of women in order to attract attention and cause controversy.  Many performers do this, as they value money more than how their true character is viewed by the public.
     I have used reviews about products many times in my life.  Reviews help me decide what is worth my money, time, and effort.  Before I buy or rent a movie that I have never seen, I read its reviews from multiple sources.  Before I spend money on a video game, I make sure that at least a couple people would recommend the game to me.  Recently I had to buy basketball shoes for a church league that I would participate in.  I read many reviews on which shoes were the lightest, most comfortable, and most durable.  I based my decision on what shoes to buy solely on the reviews written by others online.  I bought the Kyrie 4's.

Kyrie 4 Basketball Shoe

Exploration 5 Tiffany Rossetti

Tiffany Rossetti
English 1110.01 at 11, T-Th
10/10/18

Exploration 5  

     In "A Christmas Story" By Roger Ebert I noticed his writing was following the structure that Bruce Ballenger the author of "The Curious Writer" wrote about. The structure includes description, back story, judgement, reasons/evidence, criteria, and relevant comparisons. These are all key components in writing. I want to focus on relevant comparisons or connections. Roger Ebert wrote about his own personal connection with the BB Gun. He writes "I owned such a weapon. I recall everything about it at this moment with a tactile memory so vivid I could have just put it down to write these words" (Ebert 4). He continues on to share his childhood memories of playing with the BB gun including sensory details such as the sound of the BBs bullets. I personally think context and back story are important in any review. The readers want to know where this happened to visualize and possibly connect to it. Ebert writes "The movie is set in Indiana but was filmed mostly around Toronto with some downtown shots of Cleveland" (8). I believe that is just basic information that should be included in a review. 

     This last summer was so hot and all I wanted to do was go to a beach and be by the water. So I started researching places around Ohio that my boyfriend and I could visit for a mini vacation kind of thing. I found a lot of parks with waterfalls that were all about the same distance from us so I started asking people which one they preferred and read reviews online and decided on the Hayden Run Falls Park. Reading everyone's review and opinions is what persuaded me and helped me make a final decision.

Drew posing in front of the waterfall 

Exploration Five- Derrick Thompson

1.) One of the things I noticed in particular was about the last review on Grand Theft Auto IV. I realized that to those that haven't played the game, Grand Theft Auto appears to be this awful kind of game. Don't get me wrong, the concept of the game is terrible. You steal, speed, and kill your way through the game. However, whenever I've played the game the experience almost always feels like dark satire. This made me ask the question: what do outsiders that have never played a series or even a game at all feel about certain series like Grand Theft Auto or even games like Battlefield?

2.)  I use reviews to determine what games I purchase very frequently. I used to never do this and purchased games without second guessing myself. I had a complete change of heart when buying a game called Destiny 2. My friends had been getting me excited for the game and telling me that it was going to be one of the greatest games of the year. I decided I was going to purchase the $90 version of the game. After about a week, I realized that the game was not cut out to this epic game I thought it was going to be. After about two weeks, I had stopped playing altogether. To compare this with other games, even ones I know I won't play often, it takes me about a month to stop playing games that are $20 or less. I had been angry about this for some time and have decided to do much research on a game before making a purchase.

The game that made me have a change of heart on reviewing

Exploration 5 by Dylan Brown

    Something I found interesting in the review Nickelback’s Here and Now, by Melinda Newman, was how subjective her review sounded. While it is understandable that personal interests should be accounted for when reading a review, as a writer of review meant to be viewed by others, I feel you should try to keep subjectivity out. In the review she used her interpretation of their song to generalize the band and simply claim the band simply had no innovation and had no meaning in their songs, but in reality these views are entirely subjective and almost completely rids this author of their credibility on the review.
    Something else I enjoyed in the review Grand Theft Auto Takes on New York, by Seth Schiesel, was how formal he was in addressing the game. He focused more on the setting and how well it feels and related to where it is meant to be based in, rather than delve into opinionated or controversial topics in the game.
    In my personal life I used a review in the past year to decide if I should get the game No Man’s Sky for PlayStation 4. However, looking at the reviews people were certainly not happy at the content provided, and many demanded a refund for this full price, 60 dollar game. By reading these reviews I was able to save myself from a likely bad experience and keep the $60.

Cover for the game No Man’s Sky