Reflective Letter #2

Odai Aalloh

April 29, 2014

English 101

Reflective Letter #2

            English 101 is one of the classes that I was worried to take in the beginning of the semester. Because I’m not good at writing research papers and essays. But after several weeks my opinion totally changed about the class especially after I met Dr. Usree Bhattacharya. Dr. Bhattacharya made the class more understandable and easier for me. This class is a very interesting class and it definitely helped me develop my writing and reading skills.    

          In the beginning of the semester I was worried that I could not survive this class due to my writing style. My writing style is more as casual (not formal). I had troubles writing in formal ways or choose the academic words in writing my paper. But, this class helped me write more in a formal way and reading helped me know more academic words. I think I did well in the first essay because the topic was easy for me (literacy autobiography). In the research paper Dr. Usree helped me pick an interesting topic for me (Hollywood and Globalization) that I can write about.

             Dr. Usree Bhattacharya is the best teacher I had so far in IUP. Her teaching style is very nice and humble. She helps all the students if they need any help. She give her best to make everything so clear and understandable for us. I want to thank her for being an awesome teacher for me for recommending me to start writing a diary. I hope I can take another class with her.

           

Also the materials that Dr. Bhattacharya used in class were very helpful. The book that we used in class was my guide all the way in writing my research paper. It helped me know how to write in APA style and cite all my sources in a perfect way. Citation was my biggest problem but, the book really helped me many times when I needed help in writing the citation for all the quotations that I used.

            Another thing I also liked was working with my classmates in class. I liked when me and my classmates worked together and give peer review for each other’s papers. That was helpful for me to see some parts of my paper that I need to develop. Also learn how my classmates from other cultures write differently than I do in my culture. I’m thankful for Dr. Usree and Mariah who was willing to help anyone in the class, and thanks to all my classmates for being nice to me and helped me learn in this class.       

            The writing center is a helpful way to develop and check my paper. It helped me a lot to correct and check my misspelling and grammar mistakes. The tutors in the writing center were nice and helpful. They helped me do my citation in a correct way and checked my paper for writing an APA style. They also do workshops for teaching APA and MLA styles in writing and how to do a correct citation for each style.

            They are also available in good times that all the students could have a chance and go there to check their papers. They also help checking the student’s paper online. And they have night times for the students who work at night. I always go to their main building in the Eicher building to check my paper. I usually have problems in grammar and misspelling words or my paper is not in order. But mostly my problem is writing a conclusion. My conclusion is always like the dinosaur’s tale. I try to write anything at the end of my paper, that is why I go to the writing center to check my conclusion.

One thing that I didn’t like was waiting for the tutor to come and check my paper. I was waiting for almost an hour for a tutor to come and help me. The problem is that the writing center was not crowded and there were many tutors sitting and chatting with each other. And I went more than three times to write my name and they deleted it. I hope they pay more attention to the students who are sitting in the writing center waiting for their help. 

Blog #8

Hollywood and Globalization                                                 2

Hollywood is the most famous spot for film making and movies in the United States and the whole world. It is also notable for being the home of entertainment and historic studios. When I was a little kid, I saw a documentary movie about Hollywood that talks about how they make movies, how many studios they have, and how to addition there. I was amazed by that movie and always wanted to go there. Obviously, globalization helped me and the world to know all about Hollywood. There are many impacts of globalization on Hollywood. This research will focus on what are the effects of globalization on Hollywood through the last decades. Also technology played a big role in making Hollywood so famous. It is the biggest impact of globalization.                   

 There are many effects of globalization on Hollywood that changed the distribution patterns. For example, technology is one of the biggest impacts of globalization that made changes in how Hollywood became more famous. My argument is, if globalization helped Hollywood and movies to become famous. Why globalization did not help in other movies from other cultures to be famous, or why they are not as famous as Hollywood. Is it because most of the world speaks English? I want to argue about that because it is actually how I learned English (from Movies). For example, since there are not as many Arabic movies as the American movies, if Middle-East movies were famous as American movies, people would learn Arabic language more.     

  Hollywood and Globalization                                                                         3 

For instance, this research talks about the recent success of Bollywood’s influence on the Western movie industry, particularly Hollywood – culminating with the eight-Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire in 2008.

“In fact, Indian cinema is the world’s largest film industry (in terms of the number of films produced and people employed, though not of its finances) and the home of Bollywood, with an estimated 3.6 billion tickets sold globally in 2001 (compared to Hollywood’s 2.6 billion), is arguably one of the world’s most prolific cultural clusters. Many Bollywood films make full, explicit use of song and dance to describe the actual journey into Diasporic space; the space of imagination is thus amplified across national borders” (International Communication Association, 2011, p. 2). This research shows how popular Bollywood became from 2001 to nowadays. My concern is, what if Middle East movie industry were as popular as Bollywood or Hollywood. People from all around the world would know so much about the culture and the language. Here is another example, the Korean movie industry as they call it the Korean Wave (hallyu).

Kim Hogarth (2013) noted that the economy of south Korea grown much faster because of the Korean TV dramas “The Korean Wave has had a significant impact on the Korean national economy through exports of its products and increased tourism, between 2003 and 2004, the number of tourists to Korea increased from 2.8 million to 3.7 million, following the successful airing of the TV drama Winter Sonata” (p.136). The two examples that I mentioned above shows that not only Hollywood is becoming famous, but also other cultures from other countries are becoming famous like Bollywood and the Korean movie industry. Many movie industries from other cultures are considering Hollywood as utopia in film making and the movie industry itself. Therefore, they are being influenced by Hollywood in making films like Bollywood or Korea.     

Blog #7 With introduction

Odai Aalloh

Introduction

Globalization and Hollywood

          Hollywood is the most famous spot for film making and movies in the United States and the whole world. It is also notable for being the home of entertainment and historic studios. When I was a little kid, I saw a documentary movie about Hollywood that talks about how they make movies, how many studios they have, and how to addition there. I was amazed by that movie and always wanted to go there. Obviously, globalization helped me and the world to know all about Hollywood. There are many impacts of globalization on Hollywood. This research will focus on what are the effects of globalization on Hollywood. Also technology played a big role in making Hollywood so famous. It is the biggest impact of globalization.                   

 *******

My topic is Globalization and Hollywood. Since I’m interested in Hollywood and movies, I want to know more about the impacts of globalization on Hollywood through the last decades. There are many effects of globalization on Hollywood that changed the distribution patterns. For example, technology is one of the biggest impacts of globalization that made changes in how Hollywood became more famous. My argument is, if globalization helped Hollywood and movies to become famous. Why globalization did not help in other movies from other cultures to be famous, or why they are not as famous as Hollywood. Is it because most of the world speaks English? I want to argue about that because it is actually how I learned English (from Movies). For example, since there are not as many Arabic movies as the American movies, if Middle-East movies were famous as American movies, people would learn Arabic language more.           

Blog #6

Odai Aalloh         

Annotated bibliography

My topic is Globalization in Hollywood. My topic will be about the effects of globalization on Hollywood and how it affects it. I am interested in this topic because, Hollywood and movies is something that I want to work with in the future. I want to know more about the impacts of globalization on Hollywood through the last decades. Also how technology helped in globalization.   

•  De, Z., Richard, N., & Otto. (2002). Globalization, soft power and the challenge of Hollywood. Contemporary Politics, 8, 185-202. doi:10.1080/1356977022000025678.

This article will help me know the impact of the soft elements of globalization on Hollywood. Also it shows the historical perspective of Hollywood development.   

• Wang, S. (2003). Recontextualizing Copyright: Piracy, Hollywood, the State, and Globalization. Cinema Journal, 43, 25-43.

This article examines issues of transnational copyright governance. Also under examination are the role of the state in its relations with transnational trade and legal regimes, Hollywood's struggle in fighting piracy, and the impact of digital technology on the market.

•  John, M. (2011). Teaching Institutional Analysis to Fourth-Year Cinema and Media Studies Majors. Cinema Journal, 50, 89-91.

This article examines the motion picture industry from the point of view of small market companies in Canada and their relationship with the global media industry of Hollywood in Los Angeles, California.

• Inarritu, A. G. (2007). Hollywood Must Portray Point of View of Others. NPQ: New Perspectives Quarterly, 24, 6-9. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5842.2007.00873.

In this article one of Hollywood's top producers, Mike Medavoy, and the Oscar-nominated director of Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu share their thoughts about Hollywood and globalization.

• Olson, S. R. (2000). The Globalization of Hollywood. International Journal on World Peace, 17, 3-17.

This article shows that Brazil, Hong Kong, and other centers of international television and film production have joined with the United States in forming a global Hollywood media aesthetic in the scramble for audiences. It says also that those countries particularly successful in exporting film and television are microcosms of international audience taste and I think that will help.

• Hyun-key, K. (2013). The Korean Wave: An Asian Reaction to Western-Dominated Globalization. Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 12, 135-151. doi:10.1163/15691497-12341247.

This article will help me know what Asian countries (Korea) think about Hollywood. It also compares Hollywood with the Korean Cinema in terms of globalization.

• Philippa, G. (2012). The Asian Renovation of Biracial Buddy Action: Negotiating Globalization in the Millennial Hollywood Cop Action Film. Journal of Popular Film & Television, 40, 83-93. doi:10.1080/01956051.2011.636394.

This article shows how Hollywood's adoption of Hong Kong action stars and action cinema conventions has renovated the American genre of the cop action film for the new millennium with myths of transnational cooperation.

• Elena, O. (2012). Images of Love and Money in Hollywood Cinema: Changing Patterns in the Last Decades. International Journal of the Image, 2, 113-125.

I think this article will help know the changes in Hollywood Cinema in the last decades. The article also describes how it changed from the past to now.

Blog #5

Odai Aalloh

Hollywood and Globalization

How the globalization affects Hollywood to become one of the most popular cities in producing movies?

What I know about globalization is that the world is smaller by making domestic things worldwide. All I can think of when I see the word globalization are movies. Since I am interested in movies and theater, I will write about movies, how the movies are international or worldwide. Also I will write about the movies in my country Saudi Arabia. Since we have only one movie in Saudi Arabia, I think that doesn’t help in making the world know a lot about us as a religious Middle East county.

-          I want to know how Hollywood became so famous, and how the globalization helped to improve making good actors and actresses.

-          I found a PDF file from EPSCOHOST that could help me answer my research question.

-          I think by April 20 I will finish my research paper. I will try to manage writing my research paper in steps by going to the Writing Center.

I’m doing this research because I’m interested in Hollywood and acting. This research is important to me and I want to explore more in this field. My topic is important because it helps people from other countries to understand, learn, and entertain about cultures and movies.

Draft #2

My Literacy Journey  

            I was born and raised in Medina, Saudi Arabia. I grew up in a very educational family. Therefore, I had to go to school, and going to school was like torture to me, like any other kid. To contrast, in some ways I liked school so much because of my friends. Also some of my classes were interesting to me and I enjoyed every minute of them. One of the classes that I really liked was English. English is a very interesting language for me and I was very passionate about learning more. Learning a second language was a dream to me. Hearing all the American actors and actresses talking in English was like “what is that language?” I wanted to understand what they were saying. So I started to learn words in English.    

I started learning writing and reading when I was in the 6^th grade. I liked learning English so much when I was in elementary school. I practiced reading a lot by myself at home, so I do not have any problems with reading. Reading was enjoyable for me even if I did not understand the words. With writing, I had a big problem which was how to get ideas to write about. The only topic that we wrote about in school was a background about ourselves. It was too easy for me only because I memorized all the words that my sister wrote for me so I could pass the exam. My problem in writing was that I couldn’t come up with my own words. In addition, I did not have much vocabulary to help me write more.    

I took myself into another level when I went to middle school. I had more knowledge than when I was in elementary school. That made me wanted to explode in my class with all that knowledge that I had. By then, I was obsessed with learning English. Watching English movies was like a snack for me. One more thing was very helpful for me, talking with my best friend in English. My friend’s name is Abdul Majed, and he speaks English very fluently, so I was very happy to speak English with my best friend. We spoke almost every day in English.

When I went to high school, I was one of the best students in the English class. I had quite a good knowledge about English. English was one of my favorite classes of all time. My reading skill was in good shape at that time. I read my English text book more than once, because I enjoy reading a lot in Arabic and English. Speaking in English became one of my pleasures and enjoyable things in my life. Therefore, going to America and using my English to study there was like a dream to me.    

One other thing that attracted me to English is the English movies. I’m obsessed with English movies. Therefore, my biggest dream is to be a famous actor in Hollywood. I love acting horror and sad scenes. I started acting in Egypt for one year. I was obsessed to the point where I went to the mirror and practiced one of my favorite scenes from a movie that I like by myself. I even wrote a small horror script just for fun. Also I tried to write short stories that talk about me within the horror genre.

After I graduated from high school, I decided to go and finish my bachelor in the United States. My first visit to the United States was like a dream coming true. I was so excited, frustrated, happy, and sad at the same time. I had many questions about how my life was going to look in the United States. In order to get into college, I had to get a high score in TOFOL exam, and my score was not good enough to get me to the University. My writing skill was even poor, so my lowest score in TOFOL exam was in the writing. Therefore, I went to study at the American Language Institute first. When I came to United States, I realized that my knowledge about English is nothing compared to what I was used to in my country. It was difficult for me to catch up with Americans because they speak too fast and most of the words they are using are slangs. Also the vocabulary that I had was not enough to make me survive in college life. Therefore, I wanted to work hard on my English and develop myself more.   

American Language Institute was a very helpful step for me to put my feet on the road to University life. In American Language Institute, they gave me more confidence to talk in English and help me develop my writing, speaking, reading, and listening. I had great teachers and professors that taught me everything I need to survive in college.

In the American Language Institute, I had different classes every two days. Two of them were writing and reading. The writing class was very interesting to me. It was in the fall semester 2013 taught by Dr. Mariah Huston. In the class, we had to make a research paper and write a book. I did not know my capability in writing, and I always doubted myself when it came to writing in English, but after I took Dr. Huston’s class, she made it easier than it seems to be. She also gave me confidence to write in English and helped me a lot. Writing a book was one of my biggest achievements in the fall semester 2013. The book was inspired by my personal experience with demons. I was very happy and satisfied with what I did in that class. There were other classes in the American Language Institute that taught writing different kinds of essays. One of them was to write an essay after observing a movie, and the other class was to write a research paper based on your major.

Going throw my literacy autobiography made me think of where I started and where I am now. In the beginning of my journey with literacy, I was so passionate about learning English. English is something that I wanted to learn since I was a child. It even helped me to realize my dream which is to be an actor in Hollywood. It was difficult to write and read in another language. But, all I did as a child was to learn more about this language. Even now I am still learning English and I will keep on learning English, because there is no end in learning.      

   

 

Blog #4

http://www.classtools.net/FB/1166-YyvQF3