Tea by H.H. Munro and Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen by O. Henry

https://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/two-thanksgiving-day-gentlemen

https://americanliterature.com/author/hh-munro-saki/short-story/tea

After reading through these two dramatic short stories the formal/functional elements of a short stories are these: characters, setting,  plot, conflict, and theme. Each of of these stories contains characters, that take part in the action of the short story. Sometimes the stories have a main character that the story is based around.

The setting of those stories are times and places in which the story happens. Both of these authors use descriptions of landscape, scenery, buildings, seasons or weather to provide a strong sense of setting. Giving the reader an image of the short, allowing them to transport them selves into the eyes of the author.

The plot of the short stories is also prominent: it is a series of events and character actions that relate to the central conflict of the story. Moving on to my next point the conflict, which one of the most vital parts of the short story. The conflict is a struggle between two people or things in a short story and the main character is usually on one side of the central conflict. While on the other side, the main character may struggle against another important character, against the forces of nature, against society, or even against something inside himself or herself whether it be their feelings, emotions, and even illness.

Lastly is the theme is the belief  and or the central idea of a short story. Even though the short story needs to have each one of these elements, the order of them per story varies. The theme can be introduced in the beginning and you can learn about the character later in the story. The setting can be introduced in the middle of the story following the conflict and the plot of the story.

O. Henry short story was filled with twists and surprises. The twisty endings shows us that good intentions may have bad consequences. Indeed the ending seems to support the view of the narrator`s ironic and mocking tone expose the foolishness of gentlemanly generosity. Even with H.H Munro the romantic suddenness of the affair in some measure compensated James’s women- folk for the ruthless negation of all their patient effort and skilled diplomacy. Creating  a sudden twist at the end of the story with the complicated romance of the main character. 

According to Dictionary.com, the official definition of a blog is as follows:

blog [blawg, blog]; n. a website containing a writer’s or group of writers’ own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having images and links to other websites.

The term “blog” was first coined somewhere between 1995-2000 as a shortened version for the original word weblog. As with many other platforms involving the mysterious and robust interweb, blogs have become integrated into our social-media driven modern-day culture. They serve as a platform for a person, or group of people, to discuss topics in a less formal setting [versus formal academic papers]. The writer of a blog post usually uses the first person in order to tell stories or share experiences of their own. This helps the reader understand the writer’s relationship to the text, and also give some personality to the voice behind the blog. Thus, bloggers tend to be willing to share personal information about themselves with their audience and tend to have some level of expertise in their topic of focus. Another fundamental component of blogs is the ability for readers to comment and respond to the text, and in some cases, start a conversation.

Blogs can cover pretty much any and every topic (but actually, I can’t think of one topic that couldn’t technically be covered in a blog post). In my experience with blogs, the topics include food, recipes, restaurants, travel, clothes, and/or beauty. So, when posed with the question so what, who cares? Well, the answer to that question is the people who have access to computers and who have an interest in the blog topic. For me, I frequent blogs that cover those topics because I want to learn more from someone who knows what they’re talking about.

To determine the type of blog post I want to do myself, I explored the links posted on the Saveur 2016 Awards page. Although I do love a good recipe, I want to write a blog post that contains more than that. I’ve just returned from a trip to Morocco and Portugal, and am currently developing a fixation with foods from other cultures and countries. This brought me to the section on the Saveur page titled “Food & Culture Essay Award”. The following bloggers not only won recognition for their work, but they also discuss important topics in regards to culture and food.

• Afroculinaria – Michael W. Twitty
  • https://afroculinaria.com/2016/03/23/dear-sean-we-need-to-talk/
• Lottie + Doof – Tim Mazurek
  • http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2015/03/youre-boring/

I’m also considering some blogs that feature food photography:

• Hortus Cuisine
  • http://hortuscuisine.com/
• Up Close & Tasty
  • http://upcloseandtasty.com/
• Hello My Dumpling
  • http://www.hellomydumpling.com/

Would food photography make for a good blog post? Thoughts are welcome!

I will be examining the genre conventions of GIF/Video recipes made popular by sources like Tasty. These pieces of media are usually less than three minutes and showcase at least one way to cook a dish, including visuals and text in the recipe. For me, The first necessary component is that the content is made up of at least some GIF or video content; it cannot exist as solely text, although text is an essential part of the genre. As it’s a recipe, the video or GIF must list all of the ingredients necessary for the dish, and the video or GIF should also include the proper proportions or measurements of those ingredients. It must show a clip, or at least a picture, of each step of the cooking process and generally show the dish coming together. For nearly all videos in this genre, most shots of the cooking process will come from the top down. Finally, the video or GIF will almost always show the dish in its completed form.

In my genre analysis, I will be writing about Tasty’s one minute long “Easy Butter Chicken” recipe, their most viewed recipe on YouTube, and Tastemade’s 35 second long video, “The Slacker Shake – a.k.a Best Milkshake Recipe EVER.” It is the most viewed video on Tastemade’s YouTube page.

Without getting too specific as to limit creativity and diversity within the genre, I think these conventions are what makes up a GIF/Video recipe (or a Tasty video, as it’s come to be known at this point). I know nearly everyone reading this has watched a video or GIF recipe before—what do you think defines the genre?

Since my last blog post, I have thought more about what I wanted my genre to be. I originally was thinking that I wanted to create a blog and do a blog post, however I did some research and came across the idea of doing a “best of”  list. I’m sure most all of you have seen lists that are comprised of the best restaurants in a certain geographical location or the best bars or drinks. I haven’t exactly decided what my list will include, but one idea I had was creating a list of the best food trucks in Austin. Food trucks are where (in my opinion) some of the best food can be found. Not to mention, they attain a ton of Austin culture.

After researching and finding countless “best of” lists on the Internet, I started to gather information about the elements and purpose of this genre. I concluded that all of these types of lists always incorporate pictures. For example, after each item listed, the author would include a picture of whatever the topic was: restaurants, food, drinks, etc. This is an important element that provides the reader with a visual and idea of what the author is talking about. Another aspect that always occurs in this genre is a description of each item that they list. I found that these descriptions can either be brief or lengthy, depending on how much detail the author wishes to go into. Sometimes, like one of the sources I have listed below, a heat map is utilized in order to provide the address of geographic location of the destination. Another feature that is sometimes shown in this genre is a specific item on the menu that the author believes is the best. If I were to choose the topic of best food trucks in Austin, I think that this would be a very useful tool to include.

The purpose of this genre is not only to highlight the best of the best, but also to urge the reader to try these items or restaurants by providing helpful information. In a sense, it is almost like a list of brief reviews. What would you guys be interested in reading? I’ve had the idea of food trucks, but also was thinking some type of drink would be fun to make a “best of” list for. Also, do you think each item listed should include a brief description or should it be more lengthy with several tips and aspects?

Sources:

20 Excellent Margaritas in Austin

10 Food Trucks You Need To Visit in Austin, TX

22 of My Favorite Healthy Restaurants in Austin

Introduction

The genre that I am studying is a newly popular genre that can be aptly described as “listicles.” These are articles that present information to the reader in a list format – whether or it be a “best of” list, geographically-focused list, cuisine-specific list, etc. Unlike traditional articles, listicles are short and to-the-point because the goal is often virality and shareability. In today’s modern world, readers often do not have the motivation or time to read wordy articles. Thus, listicles rely more on pictures than words; listicles can be read pretty quickly and easily, and so they can act as a quick, recreational read between more demanding tasks.

After doing thorough research and personal exposure to listicles, I have developed a list of formal elements and fuctional purposes of listicles. To further explain listicles in detail below, I will also classify each element or purpose as “always” or “sometimes” appearing.

Formal elements

• Have a title (always)
• Are written in a list format (always)
• Are listed numerically (always)
• Are listed in random order (sometimes)
• Includes items that are focused around a certain subject, region, event, etc. (always)
• Include pictures for each listed item (always)
• Includes a short paragraph (or even just one sentence) description for each listed item (always)
• Include hyperlinks for each item, whether it be to a restaurant website, recipe, etc. (sometimes, but very often)
• Is linked to social media (sometimes)
• Include photography credits underneath each picture (sometimes)
• Are prefaced with a brief introduction (sometimes)
• Rates a restaurant, menu item, recipe, etc. (sometimes)
• Includes a price range (sometimes)
• Includes address and contact info of restaurant (sometimes)

Functional purposes

• Present information to the reader in a concise, short format (always)
• Give the reader a list of recipes or restaurants to try (sometimes)
• Help advertise a food media site or certain restaurants (sometimes)
• Have a social purpose – shareability amongst friends (sometimes)
• Gather likes or views and build traffic (sometimes, but often)
  • Also, gain virality (sometimes, but often)
• Serves as a distraction/recreational read (often)

Text examples

To study and analyze this genre, I have chosen four listicles . I have carefully created this list to ensure that it had diverse authorial viewpoints by using “listicles” from differing websites. For example, while most Spoon University listicles are written by a student-writer, a lot (but not all) of Buzzfeed listicles are written by paid professionals. Also, while some of the authors intended to write a list of restaurants, others talked about recipes, etc.

“The 8 Best Places to Eat Dessert in Austin for Your Birthday” (Spoon University) – both geographically-focused (Austin) and subject-focused (birthdays and desserts)

“6 Restaurants in Austin Devoted to Sustainability” (Spoon University) – geographically focused (Austin) and advocates for change (sustainability)

“28 Delicious Things to Cook in February” (Buzzfeed) – seasonality-focused

“The Best Cakes, In Order” (The Huffington Post) – subject-focused and also differs because here, the ordering/arrangement of the list matters

Questions

• What are some topics that you would want to read in a listicle?
• How short/lengthy would you like the descriptions to be?

The goals of BuzzFeed quizzes depend on which of the four categories the specific quiz falls into. According to the BuzzFeed Article, Everything You Need to Know About Creating a BuzzFeed Quiz, there are only four types of quiz. The quiz that I wrote about in my other blog post, fell under the category “Poll”. The other three types of quiz’s found on BuzzFeed are Trivia, Personality, and Checklists.

Formal elements of Polls include the following: only picking one answer choice, your choice immediately being recorded (unlike other quizzes where you can change answer choices until you submit it all at the end), pictures with each answer choice (incase someone doesn’t know what something is), showing the % of everyone who has taken it, and a specific theme throughout the poll itself.

Trivia quizes have only one correct answer, because it is asking about specific facts or events. An example of this quiz would be the BuzzFeed Quiz, “The Hardest Food Quiz You’ll Ever Take”.

In personality quizzes, the most popular types of quizzes found on BuzzFeed, people choose answers and are assigned the “personality” at the end of the quiz that fell under the category they chose the most choices in. An example of this relating to rhetoric of food would be the quiz, “Your Food Preferences Can Tell us Exactly Which Decade You Belong In”. In personality quizzes, the audience can retake this quiz as many times as they want to get different answers.

In Checklist Quizzes, the audience is asked to check off how many of these things they have eaten (in food related quizzes). Other common examples would be how many of these TV shows they have seen, How many songs they know, etc. At the end, the quiz tells you how much % you have eaten or whatever it is they are asking and often gives a witty comment afterwards. An example of this quiz, is “How Many Kinds of French Fries Have You Actually Eaten?”

In my final paper, I plan to go more into detail on the sub-genre of Poll Quizzes, and also expand on the elements that make up the quiz categories of Trivia Quizzes, Personality Quizzes, and Checklist Quizzes.

The Texts that I will be using in my paper are the following:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/buzzfeed-quiz-guide?utm_term=.ud6lPEny0#.mwrRYPp8j

Trivia: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexfinnis/what-is-your-food-iq?utm_term=.qqnBm4156#.vdqlXB8xQ

Personality: https://www.buzzfeed.com/javieraceves/we-can-guess-what-decade-you-really-belong-to-with?utm_term=.du41adxP4#.ukvDRaBv3

Poll: https://www.buzzfeed.com/hattiesoykan/which-potato-must-go?utm_term=.hu33gYzoR#.fr093RE8G

Checklist: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jeanlucbouchard/how-much-do-you-love-french-fries?utm_term=.llKbPMGkl#.vq2np2eoY

 

Do you think that for my final project, I should create a quiz in each of the four categories? I originally was just going to create a poll but I think that it would be more beneficial to create each of the different types of quizzes.

Poetry is a very broad genre. There are many different styles of poetry from short, non-rhyming poems such as haiku, to long, in-depth poems that contain an explicit rhyme scheme. Despite all the differences between poems, they all serve the purpose to express an idea using a more creative approach than to simply write about it. Poetry is used to express an idea while also being constrained to a specific type of format where the lines are usually shorter and the words are read more fluidly. I usually think of poetry as a more fluid and smooth way to write, but that may be since I usually think of poetry as rhyming. How do others perceive poetry? (In terms of fluidity of reading;  is it choppier than paragraphs, or does it flow more smoothly?)

Although there are very few things that would be considered an “always” characteristic for poetry, in this case, there will always be at least one stanza, and the subject will always be relating to food. Sometimes poems will rhyme, however in the case of my texts, there is only 1 poem that explicitly rhymes consistently, and only 1-2 more that even contain some sort of rhymes.

My sources provide examples from all ends of the poetry genre, from a haiku to a rap song, I have tried to encompass the entire genre of poetry through my examples. Is it too broad to have such a difference in all my sources, from a poem about chocolate milk, to a translated poem about tomatoes from a Nobel Prize winner? I believe that I can tie together these examples into a cohesive essay discussing the entire poetry genre and its similarities while noticing the differences. For example, while at first glance two poems may look very different, the purpose of intent of two poems, whose structures are completely different, may turn out to be very similar. That is what I am planning to do with these examples:

Coolness Of The Melons – Matsuo Basho

Express – Lupe Fiasco

Ode To Tomatoes – Pablo Neruda

Arabic Coffee – Naomi Shihab Nye

Chocolate Milk – Ron Padgett

The genre I’ve decided to further analyze is Eater’s ‘Heat Maps.” Eater is a website that offers food news and dining suggestions and guides from across the country through videos, reviews, articles from a variety of writers, etc. Among multiple features of their website, Eater offers a particularly interesting dining guide called ‘Heat Maps’. These maps are used to offer a list of new and popular restaurants, best of’s in a food category (i.e. burger, Thai food, etc.), and top ranked restaurants all in one particular city among other things. The unique aspect of this particular genre, however, rests in the visual aspect. Eater uses a digital map to help the reader visualize where the restaurant’s location is in the city.

Here are a few texts that I found to use as sources:

• The 38 Essential Austin Restaurants: Winter 2017

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-austin-restaurants-38

•  The Hottest Restaurants in Austin Right Now: March 2017

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-austin-restaurants-heatmap

•  17 Burgers to Eat Right Now in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-burgers-austin-heatmap

•  10 Hot New Pizzerias to Try in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-new-pizza-austin-restaurants

• Where to Find Fully Satisfying Cheap Burgers in Austin

http://austin.eater.com/maps/best-cheap-burgers-austin

Although these texts offer a variety of different material and content, there are a number of aspects from each source listed that share formal elements and functional purposes.

What should it contain to be considered a ‘Heat Map’?

ALWAYS:

• An entire map background with a left side column (left side: the list of curated restaurants)
• The placement of the restaurant on the left should correlate with the number labeled on the map (clear markers)
• An introduction before the list is presented
• A note stating that the list of restaurants is not ranked in terms of best to worst; it is dependent on what the map is representing
• Includes the address of the listed restaurants
• Ability to scroll the left side (list of restaurants) up and down
• Ability to move around the map visual
• Images of food from each listed restaurant

SOMETIMES:

• Offering suggestions of what to order
• A direct link to the restaurant’s official website
• The official phone number to the restaurant
• A list of “what’s popular”
• A list of “go-to’s” in a particular food category

 Functional Purposes:

The Heat Maps provided by Eater serve a number of functional purposes. They allow readers to select a particular category of restaurants choices, so they aren’t forced to be overwhelmed with the number of restaurants in Austin—they can select the map that shows the best burgers, pizzas, etc. in Austin, so they won’t have to sift through food they’re not interested in eating.

The maps also make the decision of where to eat easier as they show distance and commutes for readers. By providing the visual of the map and the exact location of the restaurant, readers are able to decide before even leaving their homes if the desired restaurants are within their commuting desires.

I am doing a restaurant review, writing about my experience in certain restaurants and give readers brief ideas ahead of their visit so they can be prepared how the restaurant is going to be. I found many different types of restaurant reviews and I found this guy named Pete Wells, he is a professional restaurant review critic who works for the New York times. I thought I liked blog type reviews but his reviews looked professional and trustworthy. While other reviews focused on introducing good things about restaurants, his reviews looked neutral and trustworthy. I chose his reviews that I found interesting for my texts.

–Top New York Restaurants of 2016

–The Art of Flavor at Flora Bar in the Met Breuer

I categorised some objects Wells’ reviews cover, which are the mood, price range, sanitation, kitchen crew, menu, and some dishes to suggest. Reviews can have diverse styles such as listing few brief explanations for many restaurants or choosing one and listing all the details. Each will have its own advantages. Reviews should also think about the readers, and which readers it wants. Most of the readers who read reviews will be there at the moment for the first time, or planning to be there soon for the first time. The point is that they have not been there. The purpose of restaurant reviews are to walk through each step as if the readers were there and give backgrounds so they will not be frustrated or have difficulty in choosing their dishes. In Pete Wells’ reviews for an example, he always includes the pictures or short videos of the outlook and inside of the restaurant, some dishes he suggests, the mood, and kitchen crews. It’s better to see it once than hearing it a thousand times.

The genre I am going to study is restaurant reviews. In particular, I am going to look at different categories, such as top 10 BBQ restaurants in Austin. Some of the reviews I am going to look at are Fed Man Walking: The Austin BBQ Top 10 , Dallas’ Best for Cocktails, and Top New York Restaurants of 2016. All three of these reviews provide a list of top restaurants for their specific category. All of these reviews list restaurants in order from 1-10 with 1 being the best, rather than being listed in reverse order. Additionally, each source begins with an introduction as to why their reviews are important, followed by their list and a review of each restaurant on the list.

The reviews I am looking at are all posted online and serve the purpose of helping readers choose restaurants to eat at. Online reviews provide easy access as someone can Google search a restaurant they may be thinking about eating at and recieve immediate feedback. One of the questions I have for my peers is what category would be interesting for people to read about? I know I want to do a top 5-10 list but am not sure exactly what category I want to focus on yet. I also want to know if people think it would be better to focus on a general type of food (ex: best Tex-Mex restaurants) or a specific dish (best fajitas).