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March, 2015

  1. Stand-Up Comedy

    March 26, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    Welcome to the world of “Weird Stand-Up Comedy Hannah Likes”. It’s a magical place to be. These technically aren’t TV shows, but they are “What I’m Watching” and it’s my blog, so it’s probably okay, right? (Please don’t yell at me.)

    First up, we have New in Town, a stand up comedy special by John Mulaney. This is a great hour, every single story is absolutely hilarious. I always forget that the funny story I’m thinking of is also from New in Town, it just keeps going and keeps being hilarious. The way Mulaney tells the stories draws you in, and his inflection and phrasing are absolutely perfect. When I read quotes from New in Town I hear Mulaney’s voice in my head, and the very distinct way in which he delivers all the jokes. His humor is self-deprecating, which I love, and all the stories are somewhat believable. I hate when comedians tell stories so outrageous that even my advanced suspension of disbelief can’t take it. Mulaney’s stories about his life, growing up and today, are great and hilarious to listen to. His stories are not too vulgar either, which means I have made every member of my family watch this. Even the little brother I was technically not supposed to show it to (sorry Dad!). The stories are funny and realistic without being gross.

    John Mulaney has been a writer for multiple TV shows, however I think he is best known for writing for Saturday Night Live. Mulaney is the mind behind “Stefon”, a “Weekend Update” character he developed with Bill Hader. At the last minute, Mulaney would change the jokes on the cue cards and tell Hader just before he went on stage, leading to Stefon’s signature move to hide his laugh. Mulaney also has his own show on FOX right now called Mulaney. I love John Mulaney, and I love his humor, but this show is straight awful. If any of you like this show please enlighten me because I want to like it so bad and I just can’t.

    what. by Bo Burnham is another of my favorite stand up comedies. what. is admittedly super weird and I honestly wouldn’t recommend it to those unfamiliar with Bo Burnham. Burnham’s earlier stand up hour, Words, Words, Words is also really funny, and I think a more approachable and easy introduction to his humor.  In the past, both have been on Netflix, so I would force my unsuspecting friends to sit through one after the other. Sadly, now only what. is on Netflix, and I feel kind of bad just throwing people into that. The humor in what. is much darker and self-deprecating than in Words, Words, Words, and is a lot less traditional. what. is honestly really, really weird, and kind of hard to understand without knowing about Burnham before hand.

    Bo Burnham’s humor is mostly song-based, meaning he sits at a piano and sings funny songs. My favorites include “My Whole Family Thinks I’m Gay” and “Sad”. I really enjoy that after watching something by Bo Burnham, I walk around with a song stuck in my head all day, usually “Love Is”. Just a warning, these including cursing and some very dark humor. Burnham makes fun of himself, life, and things that many people think should not be joked about. There is a lot of cursing and jokes about religion, abortion, and God in both Words, Words, Words and what. Burnham is not for kids; please don’t show this any children, you will scare them. Burnham also often sings about how he doesn’t deserve to be famous and he may have wasted his life doing comedy, such as in the song “Art is Dead”. Just really uplifting stuff. More of this dark humor is present in what. than in Words, Words, Words. “Left Brain, Right Brain”, a bit in what., is a more artistic song about people in Burnham’s life and how they treat him because of his fame. Burnham became famous very young, at 16, when his videos went viral on Youtube.  He has been doing stand-up comedy ever since; he put off college to tour, and discusses that decision often in his humor.

    I highly recommend you watch New in Town on Netflix, I personally cannot stop watching it. I’m like someone with a problem, like when somebody eats too much chocolate cake. Ice-T gets it. If you have seen Words, Words, Words but not what. then you really should watch it. It is weird at times, but also very funny, and still very representative of Bo Burnham’s humor. Burnham also has a poetry book called Egghead that I hear is very good. He reads some of his poems in his standup and I have enjoyed those that I have heard. Do you have a favorite stand up comedy or comic? Have you seen Mulaney or Burnham’s comedy before? Does this count as “What I’m Watching”?

     

     

    Category What I'm Watching | Tags: ,,,,, | 2 Comments

  2. Issue Brief Proposal

    March 22, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    1.  What is the issue you want to write about? (This is the exigence … the urgent imperfection that you’d like to address.) It’s best if you can provide kairos, too … why now?

    I would like to write about the minimum wage, more specifically about raising the minimum wage. Many workers do not make enough money to support themselves and their families while working minimum wage jobs. In his 2014 State of the Union Address, President Obama recommended raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10. He also signed an executive order raising the minimum wage to $10.10 for workers on new federal service contracts. This is an issue affecting many Americans right now and one is that on people’s minds following the President’s statements and actions. Also, many prominent retailers, including Target and TJ Maxx recently raised their wages to above the federal minimum. As these well known businesses become involved in the issue of minimum wage, it is brought to the attention of many people.

    1. Who is the audience? (The audience is the people that can do something about the problem.)

    The audience is federal and state lawmakers. These are the people with the power to change the laws in individual states and at the national level.

    1. What do you want your audience to do about it? (i.e. policy or program recommendations)

    I would like my audience to consider facts about the negative repercussions of the existing minimum wage and reconsider the existing rate. Ultimately, I would like the lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $10.10, as recommended by President Obama.

    1. Provide two pieces of evidence demonstrating the exigence (also provide your sources in MLA or APA format).
    1. “In the 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, and soon after signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for the individuals working on new federal service contracts.” (“Raise the Wage.” The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.)
    2. “Target Corp. plans to boost pay of all its workers to at least $9 an hour starting next month, following similar moves by rivals Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and TJX Cos. as competition for lower wage workers heats up.” (Ziobro, Paul. “Target to Increase Wages to At Least $9/Hour for All Workers in April.” The Wall Street Journal. N.p., 19 Mar. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.)

     

    1. Provide two pieces of evidence that would demonstrate the benefits of your recommendations (provide your sources in MLA or APA format)
    1. “Raising the minimum wage 10 percent (say from $7.25 to near $8) would reduce the number of people living in poverty 2.4 percent…Using this as an estimate, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, as many Democrats are proposing in 2014, would reduce the number of people living in poverty by 4.6 million. (Konczal, Mike. “Economists Agree: Raising the Minimum Wage Reduces Poverty.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 4 Jan. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.)
    2. “ Our results imply that the effects of the Harkin-Miller proposal on wage increases [to $10.10 per hour] would reduce SNAP enrollments by between 7.5 percent and 8.7 percent (3.1 million to 3.6 million persons). The total anticipated annual decrease in program expenditures is nearly $4.6 billion, or about 6 percent of current SNAP program expenditures.” (West, Rachel, and Michael Reich. “The Effects of Minimum Wages on SNAP Enrollments and Expenditures.” Center for American Progress. N.p., 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 22 Mar. 2015.)

     

    1. Two alternatives to my topic
    1. The need for harsher DUI penalties.
    2. The need to increase the focus on mental health in schools and increase support for those who need it.

    Category RCL II | Tags: | 1 Comment

  3. Community

    March 19, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    Hello Human Beings! Welcome to a blog about a show I think is streets ahead, Community. Community is a comedy which follows the adventures of a study group at Greendale Community College. The show revolves around seven main characters, who are members of a Spanish study group. The study group, Jeff, Britta, Abed, Troy, Pierce, Shirley, and Annie, all become friends over the course of the show as they deal with the issues presented by Greendale and their relationships with each other.

    Jeff, the “leader” of the group, is a former lawyer who was kicked out of his firm once it was revealed he did have a real college degree. Britta is an activist who has come to Greendale to finally earn a degree. Britta can has been described as “the worst”, “the AT&T of people” and “the opposite of Batman”. Abed is obsessed with TV shows and pop culture; he is constantly referencing pop culture and discussing the things the study group does as if they were on a TV show. Troy is Abed’s best friend and a former high school football star. He injured himself doing a “keg flip” and is now at Greendale having adventures and doing ridiculous things with Abed. Pierce is an aging millionaire who hangs around Greendale taking various classes and saying politically incorrect things. Shirley is a Christian mother of two and wants to earn a degree to open her own sandwich shop. Annie, the final member of the study group, is a hardworking young woman who has high hopes and does not react well to things not going her way. Despite all of their differences in age and personality, the study group are all great friends and stand by each other through fights and other hard times. The Dean of Greendale, Craig Pelton, also makes appearances, along with the eccentric former teacher Ben Chang.

    Community has received positive reviews and praise from critics throughout it’s time on air. The show has never had very wide viewership, however, leading to the near cancellation of the show several times. The first real threat of cancellation happened during season three, when Community was suddenly taken off the NBC schedule and fans were given no set date of when it would return. The fans reacted strongly to this, taking to the internet to express their displeasure using hashtags, and in real life by protesting outside NBC. NBC responded to the fan’s distress, saying the show would air eventually, just not at the intended time. The season did air, just much later than had been anticipated, leading to things like a Halloween episode airing in the spring.

    The fourth season also brought drama for Community, as showrunner and creator Dan Harmon was removed from the show. The fans responded negatively to this move as well, as Harmon’s vision always guided the show. I thought the fourth season was not as good as the others with Harmon, and lacked the same spirit the others did. Harmon returned for the fifth season however, and the fourth season is now referred to as the “gas leak season” after the show’s characters mentioned a gas leak leading to weird events the year before.

    Community was sadly cancelled after the fifth season, once again leading to anger among fans. In a somewhat miraculous turn of events, Yahoo! Screen picked up Community and announced the show would now air on their platform. Community came back for a sixth season, which premiered on Tuesday, fulfilling half of the dream of “six seasons and a movie”. It was ridiculously exciting to hear that one of my favorite shows would not be cancelled and watching the episode on Tuesday made me incredibly happy. It will be interesting to see how the show develops on Yahoo!, however if the two episodes released this week are any indication, it will be very good, as the episodes managed to capture the spirit of the show I love so much.

    There has also been a few problems regarding the cast of Community. The sixth season now only has four of the original seven cast members. Chevy Chase, who played Pierce, left the show after a mutual agreement between himself and showrunners decided his departure would be for the best. There are rumors he was not the most pleasant to work with. Donald Glover, who played Troy, left the show due to personal problems and other obligations. Glover also performs as the rapper Childish Gambino when he is not acting on Community, however he has said he left due to personal issues, not to pursue rapping full time. Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley, also sadly left the show to care for her ill father. Despite the losses from the cast, the show continues to be very good and has not lost it’s core dynamic, plus the new additions to the cast seem promising. As you can see, Community has had it’s fair share of drama, but the fans are always fighting for the show and supporting it in any way they can.

    The fans support for the show throughout its many ups and downs stems from, I think, the uniqueness of Community. The show really cares for the fans, often thanking them on social media such as Twitter and Reddit. The actors are involved with the fans on Twitter, as Dan Harmon and other writers are. Community feels like a world you could be a part of, and the fans want to be a part of it. The show incites passion because there really is nothing else like it. The show itself is great, the jokes are always funny and the plotlines entertaining. However, Community is also unique and engaging, and in touch with the fans. The show’s writers know their audience and give them what they want. There is a Dungeons and Dragons episode, an episode about a Doctor Who-like show (“Inspector Spacetime”) and an episode about “MeowMeowBeenz” (I give it 5 MeowMeowBeenz). The plotlines can be ridiculous and unbelievable, but they are always authentically Community.

    I absolutely love Community and I highly recommend that everyone watch this amazing show. It is unique in it’s meta, self-aware humor and referential jokes that refer to not only other shows and but also previous events from Community. For example, the third time Beetlejuice was referred to on the show, Beetlejuice himself can be seen walking through the background. The attention to detail and commitment to making Greendale seem real is part of what makes Community so great.  It is also highly character driven, by characters that are all unique and ridiculous and awesome. The show is highly quotable and could be watched over and over again and never get boring (not that I know from personal experience or anything). It’s ability to come back from the edge of cancellation is borderline miraculous, and is a testament to the dedication people have to the show.

    My favorite episodes include “Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design” and “Remedial Chaos Theory”. “Remedial Chaos Theory” is admittedly a little weird, but it’s the first episode of Community I ever saw, so it holds a special place in my heart. However, you also can never go wrong with watching the paintball episodes. The new episodes are available on Yahoo! Screen and the previous seasons are available for rent and on Netflix Canada. Go forth and watch, for Jesus wept when he saw how good Community is.

     

     

    Category What I'm Watching | Tags: ,,,,,, | 3 Comments

  4. Funding the Department of Homeland Security

    March 18, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    On Tuesday, March 3rd, Congress voted to continuing funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This funding was a long time coming; the agency needed funds and almost shut down before the Democrats and Republicans came to an agreement to pass the bill. This was not a simple disagreement over how much funding the Department of Homeland Security should have though, the debate over the bill was wrapped up in partisan ideals and opinions about how the country should be run.

    Republicans do not like the way Obama has handled the issue of immigration reform in the United States. The President has utilized executive actions to put his policies into place. Through an executive action, Obama has provided legal protection for as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants (NY Times). Republicans claim this is an abuse of power; they say Obama is “lawless” and his actions are unconstitutional. In an attempt to overturn Obama’s executive actions on immigration, Republicans tried to tie them to funding for the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is responsible for carrying out a majority of this executive action, making the funding of the department a viable way to influence the fate of the executive action. However, Democrats tend to support the executive action by the President, dividing support for the bill on partisan lines. Partisan disagreement and inability to come to an outside resolution almost led to a lapse in funding for the department.

    Originally, the Senate passed a bill funding the department, but the House wanted to attempt to reconcile it with an earlier bill they had passed that also worked against the legal protection given to undocumented immigrants under Obama’s executive actions. At the last minute, Speaker Boehner of the House gave up on trying to pass the bill containing language taking down Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Instead, Boehner worked to pass a bill only funding the department, with no other conditions attached, a “clean” funding bill. Some Republicans did not like this move, as they had hoped to take a stand against Obama with this bill. Other Republicans argued they needed to pass a funding bill now and attack the executive actions on immigration with a separate bill. Boehner ultimately had to rely on Democrats to pass the bill, with only 75 Republican House members voting for it.

    Boehner had to weigh his options, he could either continue trying to pass the bill with the language gutting Obama’s immigration actions or try to pass a bill only dealing with funding the Department of Homeland Security. Boehner was most likely not going to be able to pass a bill with the immigration language, as Senate Democrats were working to block the bill in their chamber, and it was not going to make it to the President any time soon. Furthermore, the DHS was on the verge of shutdown, it was not going to be able to carry on much longer without funding. The Department of Homeland Security provides a vital defense service to the country, and if the agency shut down and led to Americans being in danger, Boehner would be in some hot water, politically.

    Earlier in the week, on the previous Friday, Boehner and the Republican leadership had introduced a measure that would fund the Department for 3 weeks. The hope was that this measure would give the Republicans time to gather support in the Senate for their bill that funded the agency, but also overturned Obama’s executive actions. However, the more conservative factions of the Republican party did not support his measure, and it failed to pass. The more conservative Republicans expressed a willingness to allow the DHS to shut down in order to show the President and the American people their distaste for the President’s executive actions on immigration. A measure to fund the Department of Homeland Security for one week ultimately passed late Friday night with the help of House Democrats, which Obama signed hours before the agency would be forced to shut down. A helpful graphic explaining the timeline of early events can be found here.

    Boehner presented further options to his party on Tuesday. He told the House Republicans they could: allow the department to partially shutdown, attempt to pass another short-term funding measure, or pass a clean funding bill (NY Times). The Republicans agreed to the full funding bill and it passed that day.

    Another wrinkle in this story involves the day on which this bill was passed. If you are an avid reader of my Civic Issues blog (as I’m sure you all are), you will remember there was some drama a few weeks ago about an invitation John Boehner extended to the leader of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. There was partisan disagreement about whether this move was acceptable and everyone was all up in arms over it for about two days. Well, the day finally came and Netanyahu spoke to Congress. When was that you may ask? It was Tuesday, the day Boehner passed a bill that was relatively unpopular with Republicans. It could be argued that he was using the speaking of Netanyahu, which was very popular with Republicans, to soften the blow of the passage of the clean Department of Homeland Security funding bill.

    Overall, partisan disagreement about President Obama’s executive action on immigration almost led to the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. I find it ridiculous that the House Republicans waited until the last minute to introduce and pass a clean funding bill, as I think if they fight the executive actions they should do so with a separate bill. Do you think the Republicans should have stuck to their guns and tried to pass the bill gutting the executive action? Was it irresponsible to wait as long as they did to pass a clean bill? Should they have let the department shut down to prove their point? Any other thoughts?

     

    Category Civic Issues | Tags: ,,,,,, | 5 Comments

  5. Budget Brief

    March 17, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    What’s the exigence that the writers are responding to?

    The writers are responding to the introduction of a budget resolution by Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee. The writers believe this budget is bad for the American economy, and want to circulate information about it as quickly as possible.

    Who is the audience for this?

    The audience for this brief is Americans, and more specifically, Americans with some knowledge about economics. The writes do avoid using jargon too often, and explain the more complicated terms when they do, but a background knowledge of American economics is required to understand what the authors are discussing. Personally, my limited knowledge was of economics and the associated terminology was enough to get through the brief, I still felt lost at times.

    What do the writers want to happen?

    The writers want the readers to realize the harm Ryan’s budget will do to the American economy. They want Americans to see they have “important choices to makes about which path to choose for our economic future”, and Ryan’s path is the wrong one.

    What’s the strongest piece of evidence? Weakest?

    The strongest piece of evidence is the figure provided from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stating the Ryan budget would shrink the economy in the upcoming three years. The CBO is a reputable, nonpartisan source which analyzes budgets, making evidence which comes from the CBO trustworthy and strong. The weakest piece of evidence was the study done by Piketty and Saez. The findings of the study supported the argument made in the brief, but the credentials and qualifications of the two researchers were not discussed. The possible bias of the study was also not mentioned, making the findings somewhat suspect in my eyes.

    Comment on the design of the document, including the infographics. What in the design makes this reader friendly?

    The design is clear and easy to follow. The headings aid the reader in understanding the topic and main ideas of each section. The infographics were also clear and easy to understand. They did not have too much information cluttering them and had clear labels explaining each aspect, without being too technical or wordy. The infographics also helped the reader better understand some of the points being presented, such as the point about Ryan’s nondefense discretionary spending levels being lower than those during the sequester. They also helped highlight key points and draw attention to main ideas. The headings help guide the reader and introduce ideas in a reader-friendly manner. The infographics are also reader friendly as they aided in highlighting main ideas and further explaining the main points.

     

    Category RCL II | Tags: | No Comments

  6. Psych

    March 5, 2015 by Hannah Conroy

    Psych is a show about a psychic detective, Shawn Spencer, and his best friend, Burton “Gus” Guster. They help the Santa Barbara Police Department solve crimes, usually murders, as consultants. Detectives Carlton Lassiter and Juliet O’Hara primarily work with Shawn and Gus on cases they have trouble solving. Shawn claims his psychic powers help him solve the crimes, as he receives psychic visions of suspects and clues. But, surprise, Shawn is not actually psychic. He is simply incredibly observational. He was trained to have an eye for details from a very young age by his father, a police detective who hoped his son would one day join him in the profession. As you can imagine, Shawn goes to great lengths to keep up his ruse of being a psychic, leading to some crazy situations, such as Shawn pretending to be an astronomy expert at a museum.

    Psych is primarily a comedy, but the mystery storylines are good within their own right, as is the drama created by the crimes and Shawn’s lies. Shawn and Gus are best friends on the show, played by James Roday (Shawn) and Dulè Hill (Gus). Their friendship is a great part of the show, their interactions are comedic and they often do not see eye to eye, but they are great friends. Gus acts as the rational mind and “straight man” to Shawn’s expansive imagination and borderline immaturity. Gus often tries to talk Shawn out of his somewhat convoluted schemes and lies about being psychic, but almost always fails. Shawn always introduces Gus to people they meet as someone with a ridiculous name. The highlights include: Gus T.T. Showbiz (the extra T is for extra talent), Ghee Buttersnaps AKA the Heater, Jonathan Jacob “Jingly” Schmidt, MC Clap Yo Hands, Imhotep or He Cometh in Peace, Blue Ivy Carter, and Bill Ofrights. Shawn also has a tendency to tell Gus to “not be” incredibly specific things, which never fail to be hilarious.

    I really like Psych  because it combines a murder mystery with comedy very well. You get to watch detectives solve the interesting, and sometimes over-the-top, murders we all love from crime shows, while Shawn and Gus go about it in their own way, providing great laughs. I also like Psych because it is a more family-friendly comedy. As you may have noticed, I like to watch comedies, and I like to talk about them and show them to people. To my despair though, I’m not allowed to show my little brother 90% of what I watch. Apparently It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is “inappropriate” and “vulgar” and “he’s 13, Hannah”. I am allowed to show him Psych, though, and it’s great to have a show everyone can enjoy together; it’s funny no matter what age you are. Despite being aimed at an older demographic, it’s a show everyone can enjoy. The show is also incredibly quotable, if you ever hear a conversation between my sister and I, it will most likely be 99% television quotes, with half of those coming from Psych.

    Psych is no longer on the air, it came to end last year after eight seasons. It did not win many awards during its airing, and definitely no major ones, but it was always reviewed well. The chemistry between the cast is often cited as a reason for the show’s success, and something I would definitely have to agree with. Shawn and Gus are a great friendship, one that is realistic while at the same time being absolutely ridiculous. They both put up with a lot, maybe Gus more so than Shawn, but they are always by each others side. The actor who plays Shawn is the longtime boyfriend of another actress on the show, Maggie Lawson, who plays Detective Juliet O’Hara, which surely added to the chemistry on set.

    I really like Psych, it’s just enjoyable to watch and has all the elements of a great show. It has a cast that works well together, smart writing, great crime storylines, and really funny jokes. Psych also does not take itself too seriously, for example, there is a pineapple hidden in every episode of the show, see if you can spot them. All of the episodes are on Netflix; if you are looking for something to binge watch over break I highly recommend it. I personally love the Yin Yang episodes and an episode from the first season called “The Spellingg Bee”.

     

     

    Category What I'm Watching | Tags: ,,,,,, | 4 Comments

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