Category Archives: RCL

Maicon Santos 4/7/2013

More MLS news… Two weeks ago the Chicago Fire played the New York Red Bulls at home. The end of the game was nearing, and the score was 1-1. The Fire coach decided to make a late substitution and put in Maicon Santos up top. This proved to be a very good decision, when Santos put two balls away into the back of the net in the last seven minutes of the game.

Very rarely does a sub come in and score two late goals. Jeff Crandall runs a blog for the Chicago Fire and he took some time to review the club’s history in terms of late substitution performance. Only on four prior occasions did such notable performances take place: 2011, 2006, 2004, and 2001.

Welcome to the club Santos. Let’s see what you can make out of the rest of this season.

Article link:

http://www.chicago-fire.com/blog/post/2013/04/11/fire-history-second-half-braces

North Korea’s Recent Threats

So what’s going on with North Korea recently? Latest news from Fox News is that North Korea is now threatening Japan that it would target Tokyo before anywhere else.

The majority of news reportings that I am reading seem to just shake off any idea that North Korea has the capability of accurately firing any sort of ballistic missile. John Kerry, current Secretary of State, has even commented to the likes of this, while also maintaining that we would “defend ourselves.”  What exactly are we to believe? Is North Korea just trying to stir things up for some reason unbeknownst to the rest of the world, or do they have serious plans of firing a nuclear warhead no matter how accurate it will be?

This process is beginning to get a little old, according to Kerry. No one wants to deal with Kim Jong Un’s attempt to stay relevant in the world. According to experts, North Korea does not really have any capability to responsibly fire a missile on the magnitude with which they continue to threaten different countries, including the US. Kerry has also said that any negotiation with North Korea will involve a total denuclearization. Is that going too far? Are we trying to dictate the way other countries want to run themselves? These are questions that will never have one solid answer.

Fox News Article Link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/12/north-korea-reportedly-warns-japan-to-be-first-target-over-order-to-destroy/

 

Herculez Gomez

herculez gomez

 

Image provided via:
www.mlssoccer.com/news

Last night I read a really interesting article about Herculez Gomez, a current Mexican club player whose roots are American club soccer. However, his talent and potential was never fully realized in the MLS or in American soccer. He was told at certain points to consider ending his career. But he did not let any of this negativity or criticism discourage him. Instead, he used it to fuel himself and reach a point in his career where he finally feels accomplished and appreciated. He has now played for several  different Mexican clubs where he has displayed a certain potency in the striker position. His Mexican club career boasts something on the order 50 goals in about three years, around 10 of those goals being scored against MLS teams. So as this article I read asks, what else does Herculez Gomez have to prove to us? He has led an immensely successful career now. He climbed up from the underdog label and made a respectable name for himself. He doesn’t care whether or not the MLS wants him back, because he’s garnered success and respect somewhere else. Why should he come back to the league that didn’t see his potential or want to help develop him?

Link to article:
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/04/04/throw-whats-left-herculez-gomez-prove-return-mls?module=from_footer

Letter from OS Editor to John Ziegler

On March 27th of this year, a letter to John Ziegler was written by an Onward State editor and posted online. John Ziegler is a man who has been working on uncovering some further truth on the entire Sandusky-Paterno story. He is trying to prove Paterno’s innocence, and show that certain assumptions that had been arrived at, may not be completely true. He feels that he is fighting an honorable fight. He intends for his project to end up as a documentary movie, and his website is www.framingpaterno.com.

The letter from the Onward State editor, by Ryan Beckler, calls out Ziegler on a very recent critical error he made in his efforts to defend the Paterno legacy. Ziegler tried to blackmail one of the child sex abuse victims into speaking to him. And eventually, Ziegler turned to Twitter and revealed the name of the victim, who has been until now, referred to as Victim #2. Ziegler then took down the posts and tried to cover up his mistake and make excuses. This whole series of actions taken by Ziegler has by far outstepped his professional bounds, and has made an even worse name for himself. Beckler ends the letter by basically telling Ziegler to give up and take a hike.

Texas Shooter Related to Two Other Colorado Deaths?

I have recently read about the shootout that occurred in Texas.  A man known as Evan Ebel took cops on a high speed pursuit when he was eventually hit by an 18 wheeler. He then is said to have emerged from the vehicle to continue his assault on the police at the scene. The police were able to take him down. It is heart-wrenching to keep hearing stories like this in the news. It is disturbing to know that incidents like this are going to keep happening, and brave innocent people lose their lives like this. Evan Ebel is now the suspect of the death of a Colorado prison chief and a pizza delivery man.  He is also noted to have been a member of a white supremacist gang. In the past few months, even the last year, the media has been shedding light on all the gun violence that has been taking place. It is hard to tell if the numbers of incidents have actually gone up, or if the media is just paying more attention to them.

In either case, the media, based on whatever motive, wants us to be aware of the issue of gun violence. The light that is being shed on all these cases does help to surface a trend in these kinds of people, however. There always seems to be indications of some disturbance or aggression earlier in the life of these criminals, but the right action is never taken. This is a problem, and shows that more attention may need to be paid to mental health and mental condition inside of schools. Unfortunately, many people turn their cheek and don’t address problems early on. Violence on a large scale is then a potential future consequence.

Mumford and Sons Call out Copy Cats

I’m writing this blog post in response to an article I read on a music journalism site recently, entitled “Mumford & Sons Call Out Copycats: Acoustic Rock is Not ‘a Formula to Go and Sell Records.’” I am so glad to finally read a professional publication expressing the exact views that I have on some of the moves that have been occurring in the music industry lately. One thing that I love is a band that sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before. But with the way the industry works today, the multitude of entrepreneurs in the music making “business,” it is that much harder to avoid copy cats and to find a truly unique sound. When the band Mumford and Sons arrived on the scene, I think they were a perfect example of what it means to bring something new and fresh to the table.

The one thing I hate the most in music is the lack of identity that a lot of new bands start out with or eventually take on. This happens because once they become more mainstream, they have to fit a certain mold. They lose the part of them that makes them who they really are. They’re no longer able to create one of a kind art. Instead, they end up getting stuck using some overrated pop music formula to become commercially successful. In my opinion, this is what happened to musicians/bands like the Lumineers, Of Monsters and Men, Phillip Phillips, etc. They all possess talent, but in my opinion they are gaining their success on the sound that Mumford and Sons recently broke out on, and for that reason I don’t have much respect or desire to listen to them. I already have my real Mumford and Sons, why do I need faux? This article makes this point very well. I encourage you all to check it out. Give credit where credit is due.

MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail

This week the rhetoric in civic life which I feel compelled to discuss is MLK’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. I experienced it for the first time, reading it for this class the other night. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words did more than just defended his views and his position. They gave a strong feeling to the message. This unique piece of literature struck me very sharply. There are so many elements to this letter that only put me in further disbelief that this was written while sitting in a jail.

King’s use of language is superbly masterful. Each thought is strung together by the perfect arrangement and combination of the exact right words. His writing reaches its peaks in emotion and then drops back down, at all the right moments. It is just a piece of writing that cannot help being admired.

One of the most strongly written paragraphs is the twelfth, where he goes in depth about the piercing and sometimes disabling pain that it takes to be Negro and to be told to “Wait.” It is written with an evident emphasis on the appeal to emotion. Maybe I am most responsive to pathos and that is why I felt this to be one of the most effective paragraphs. But throughout the entire letter, there is use of all three classic appeals, and that is part of what gives this letter its strength.

This letter represents the true art of rhetoric. It doesn’t avoid any truths. The message is all about the truth. And it is brought forth in an extremely effective use of the language.

“Glorified G” by Pearl Jam

With all the debate over gun control lately, I thought I would share this lyric video of the song “Glorified G” by Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is clearly a band of advocates for gun control policy. This song was released on the album Vs. in 1993. The lyrics are pretty straight forward. Through them, you can see that the lyricist believes that guns are commonly just a feeble attempt to compensate for any other inadequacies the owner might possess. The simple and catchy melody probably purposely contrasts the serious message of the song. That’s because many gun carriers don’t acknowledge the gravity of ownership of a weapon. The song lyrics were based on irony and written very sarcastically. It’s a really interesting song, and deserves a listen.

Best Superbowl 2013 Commercial!

Super Bowl XLVII

Best Commercial?

The best Superbowl commercial to air this year, without a doubt: Volkswagen Get Happy. I first started seeing this commercial as advertisements on YouTube videos. As of recent, I find myself actually sitting through the ads you find at the beginning of online videos. I think advertisers are beginning to master the art. Maybe they are beginning to see what it takes to capture the focus and interest of their audience. Or maybe I’m just becoming more patient. The 2013 Volkswagen Superbowl commercial follows a regular adult white male throughout his work day. What separates him from his colleagues is his cheery mood and bright presence. That along with his out of place Jamaican accent and island slang. It’s impossible not to find enjoyment out of this commercial, I watch it every time. Easily my favorite Superbowl ad this year!

Reeespecttt boss mon!!

Visual Image for Rhetorical Analysis

emptying fish bowl

Save water. Save Life. The text placed besides the fish bowl in this image makes a very distinct claim. It says that water is a vital resource. The civilized and developed world in which we are fortunate to live in is not one that is common across the entire globe. We take water for granted and treat it as an unlimited resource. While it can be argued that water truly is an unlimited resource, it cannot be denied that certain areas of the world struggle to tap into clean and abundant sources of it. The fish above represents the societies on this planet that so intimately depend on water and whose relationship with the resource is so fragile. The faucet located outside of the bowl makes a statement that societies which face this issue are, in all actuality, dealing with a problem that is beyond their control. However, control of the problem and a solution does lie within the realms of more fortunate groups of people, those who exist outside of this symbolic fish bowl.

While this image does not fully explain how one person saving water can affect the supply of water half way across the world, it does express a sense of urgency and the need for an improvement in standard of living somewhere else, in another person’s life.