dr horrible's sing-a-long blog

Kevin Quan

Tim Posada

Freshman Writing

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Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along-blog

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along-blog is a short internet series that features an unsuccessful evil doctor trying to win the heart of a girl, Penny, he sees regularly at the Laundromat. However his attempts to flatter Penny are often thwarted by a hero named Captain Hammer, who also has feelings for her. Dr. Horrible narrates this blog and we see the series from his perspective. There are certain instances in this series when Penny was showing legitimate interest in Dr. Horrible and reached out to him. Oddly enough, at those instances Dr. Horrible is always in the middle of working on his gadget to gain Penny’s attention when she was a bit interested in him all along.  What he does not realize is that Penny has already been flocking over to him but he never gave her a chance. He was so caught up in being the most evil villain in the world to impress Penny that he was blind to her interest in him. At the end of the series, Captain Hammer starts to boast about this relationship with Penny and she, embarrassed, begins to quietly leave. However, before she leaves, Dr Horrible appears with a Death Ray and shoots at Captain Hammer. The Death Ray misfires and injures him slightly but stabs Penny in the stomach, killing her. This is interesting because think of what might have happened if Dr. Horrible hadn’t tried to invent the Death Ray. If he had let his angry feelings subside, he would not have made the evil invention and barged in, stalling Penny’s exit. It boils down to Dr. Horrible’s reaction to certain things. Even with the heroic and handsome Captain Hammer wedging himself between him and Penny, eventually she would leave him. Because of the arrogance he demonstrated towards the end of the series. If Dr. Horrible had not let vengeance control his life, he would have developed self control as well as avoiding the loss of Penny and developing a close relationship with her.

Music is an important factor in this blog series. Every time during or after an important scene, one of the characters would begin singing a catchy song that emphasizes what’s going on in the scene. For example, Dr. Horrible sings “My Freeze Ray” when he’s in the Laundromat and becomes nervous because he is next to Penny. He then begins to sing how his freeze ray would improve his status with Penny; it can stop time and find the words to tell her how he feels. Not only is the tune of this song catchy, but it also has meaning behind it. That meaning is his earnest desire to impress the girl of his dreams, even by ridiculous means such as stopping time. The use of songs is very supportive and helps drive home the key idea in the story.

It’s no secret that this Internet blog series was on a low budget to work with. Captain Hammer’s dull grey shirt with a plain hammer is a dead give away that the producers were being frugal with the money. Also the scenes are in pretty simple places such as a Laundromat, an banquet room, and some random streets, all of this points back to a low budget. However this certainly did not hinder the series from success. In fact, it was a big hit and gained critical acclaim. Time Magazine named it #15 in top 50 Inventions of 2008 and it also won the People’s Choice Awards. In total it won 7 awards and 1 nomination, which is very impressive, considering the directors were shooting for a simple yet There’s also a sequel in the works which may come out in 2011 and I’m curious to see what Dr. Horrible will do after he has become a member of the evil villain league.

I thought this series as a whole was excellent because it was clever, funny and was not too complicated. The show was split into 3 episodes totaling into 42 minutes which is not long at all compared to weekly shows that total in the same time. The show has a lot of themes that can be discussed and I really appreciate that. At first I thought it was purely entertainment and did not think much about it. However in freshman writing class, we, as a class, had to dig deeper into the underlying message to see what the show was trying to explain. By doing this, it had turned something I viewed as entertaining into something with a much bigger and deeper meaning: vengeance does not solve anything. I truly hope the sequel to Dr. Horrible will have just as captivating songs, themes, and laughs as did the first Dr. Horrible.

week 11 blog

The Dark Knight is a 2008 film that raises questions about exception. The exception that I found most intriguing is the heights Batman will go in order to stop evil. This is interesting because most other superheroes tend to abide by the law. In the film, Batman creates a device that taps into every cellphone in the city in order to create a sonar. This is an invasion of privacy and it shows how much Batman is pushed to the limit in order to stop evil. Even his assistant, Lucius Fox, doesn't find his methods, ethical which shows that Batman has crossed the line. However, it is understandable to see how Batman could go to such heights, considering how chaos has already occurred. The Joker has been killing people everyday that Batman does not reveal his true identity and also has been targeting banks, hospitals, judges, and the police force. This can be linked to why Batman must do something so unethical in order to stop the villain. Also another thing that Batman does to add to the exception is the way he unleashes his anger against the Joker when he asks Batman "does Harvey know about you and his little girlfriend?" The Batman let his emotions get the best of him and lashed out against the Joker in a fury of punches and throws, which wasted a lot of interrogation time. This is significant because if Batman had not beat him, he would have had more time to find out the location of Harvey and Rachel and could have possibly saved both of them.

week 10 blog

Buffy makes power a feminine issue because she changes the way power is viewed. Usually male superheroes are the ones portrayed as the hero in movies, books, and TV shows. However in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy is the heroine and she is good at what she does. She dominates with her powers and the way she fights is much different than than the traditional male superheroes. First, her attacks are personal and physically intimate. Her attacks are mostly against demons and villains she knows by names, not the anonymous attacks that occur in most other superhero stories. This is one thing that is different with a feminist power; they tend to be less reckless. Also one unique thing about feminist power is that in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Buffy wants to work together. Male superheroes tend to want to work alone: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern. This changes because often Buffy refuses to take on the role of the Slayer and instead works together with her friends. This says a lot about feminist power because it says that it wants to stay together and values community and friendship.

week 9 blog

The Incredibles is a fantastic film that incorporates family with superheroes. The Incredibles are not the perfect family; the parents and kids fight, the daughter struggles to fit in, the son wants to do well in sports, the dad is fed up with his nine to five office job and the mom stays at home to take care of the kids. The film does a great job of relating the Incredibles family to most families in America, mine included. Even though the Incredibles had super powers, they still struggled with the uses of it and still set rules on the super powers. Just like any thing with great power in every day life whether it be money, cars, or in this case super powers, there has to be rules. For example, the son is not allowed to use his super speed in sports at his middle school, and the son and daughter are not allowed to use powers carelessly. Even though the Incredibles may not seem like the average family they do struggle with some of the same issues as my family.  Also the Incredibles share happiness like a regular family, when they open up and start to trust each other and work together and succeed, they grow closer as a family. And this happens with any family, mine included.

week 8 post

The film Hero emphasizes the power of words. Even before digging deeper into the meaning of the words I can tell by the characters names that the director had some meaning behind the names of the character. Nameless, Broken Sword, Flying Snow, and Long Sky are some of the unique names given to the characters in this film. Also there is a part in this film where the main character, Nameless, goes to a temple to have the word "sword" be written in Chinese. This takes a while because there are about 80 ways to write this certain expression. This shows the importance of not only of a word, but also about the way it is written. This film has a big emphasis on words and it is proven in a scene where a grand army marches towards the temple where the calligraphy is taking place. The people in the temple are painting characters and the army shoots hundreds of thousands of arrows at the temple hoping to kill everyone inside and thus preventing them from writing characters. Nameless fights alongside Flying Snow to fend off the arrows so that the word "sword" could be properly written. From this scene, I can tell that the film has a big focus on words.

week 7 blog

China's All-Seeing Eye was written to emphasize on the amount of control and surveillance China has on its country. It relates to the movie V for Vendetta very well because just like the amount of surveillance China is implementing so too is this country in this film. There are very strict rules on how much freedom a person is given and the government in this film is run very much like a dictatorship. China's All Seeing Eye takes a look at how some of these total control issues in literature, movies, and history are starting to become a reality in some countries, namely China. The article shows that 20,000 mini cameras are installed in this small city in China called Shenzhen and all of the surveillance will be linked to one grand network. I feel this is an invasion of privacy because people should be allowed some privacy and alone time and if there are mini cameras everywhere, it would make for a very bad place to live, I think. If this happened at Azusa Pacific University, I would probably transfer because I am not happy with security cameras monitoring me 24/7. It's not right and the line has to be drawn somewhere and I feel Shenzhen has crossed that line.

AD: COCA COLA

Coke Commercial
This coke commercial aired as a super bowl commercial and presents the soft drink as something that can bond two opposites into something great. It begins in a televised debate with a republican and a democrat arguing and amidst their debate they both say the same word. The republican jinxes the democrat so they go out and buy a coke at a nearby stand. Slowly, the mood of the commercial changes. The two rivals are beginning to relax and do enjoyable things together such as riding a bus touring Washington D.C. , discussing the meaning of a painting which catches the eye of a security guard, getting their faces drawn in a caricature, appearing on a jumbotron at a basketball game, riding a segway through out the streets and finally sitting down on the steps of the lincoln monument and enjoying life together while sipping on a bottle of coke. Now, the commercial isn't implying that if you drink a coke, all of these amazing things will happen, but it does suggest that when you're having a good time with the gang, coke is the best way to relax. If you drink coke, it will make those fun times that much better and at the end of the day our thirst and you will walk away feeling content.

Double Consciousness

Double consciousness plays a big role in superhero studies because when it comes down to it, double consciousness has a strong connection with a secret identity. Take Superman, for example, in his public life he works for a newspaper and is easily intimidated. However when he dons the suit of Superman he becomes a courageous hero. Double consciousness is crucial in this case because it convinces people that Clark Kent cannot possibly be the Man of Steel. Because he plays the role of a dweeb so well he can save the world without the fear of someone discovering his secret identity. As seen in the life of Superman, double consciousness is necessary to hide a secret identity. Double consciousness also plays a big role in superhero studies because many superheroes have roots in their public life and double life. Superheroes are linked to their secret identity and to their public identity. They have to be true and genuine in both of their identities for both of the identities to work. If a superhero was not being true or genuine in his or her public image it could lead to suspicion that he or she could lead a double life.

The Cave

I believe it is better to be inside the cave because the prisoners are inside the cave and they see shadows, which are projections of the shape and the fire is projecting shadows. The prisoners are later unchained and wander outside the cave and see the sun for the first time; they realize the sun is something so much bigger and better than the fire inside the cave. The prisoners have experienced a sort of epiphany and return into the cave to tell the other prisoners; they spread the light. I think it's better to be inside the cave because I can discover the true meaning of life by experiencing the sun. After viewing the sun I can return back to my peers and tell them what I have learned. The saying "a fish doesn't know what water is until it is out of it" which goes to illustrate that the prisoner experiences what light actually is by venturing outside of the cave and seeing the sun. It is better to be in the dark and than experience something so amazing that it changes everything and all I want to do is to share my new found knowledge with the world. It is a lot better than being outside of the cave because the sun is an everyday normal thing in life and there is no gratitude or excitement expressed towards the power of light.

Paraphrasing

One concept that Niall Richardson brings up in “The Gospel According to Spiderman” is the idea that if Spiderman uses his powers for himself, nothing good can come out of it, but if he uses it for the greater good, many lives can be changed. He learn this the hard way when his innocent little crush on Mary Jane combined with his reckless actions eventually leads to the death of his Uncle Ben. 

Mary Jane had been adored by Peter Parker since they were children.  She becomes someone of intense desire and Peter does everything in his power to win her heart. Before Parker is bitten by the radioactive spider, he is a nerd with no chance whatsoever to be with Mary Jane. However, after his is endowed with superpowers, he realizes he can use his new found powers to his advantage. He devotes a large amount of time to think up ways he can get Mary Jane’s attention and possibly woo her. For instance, he participates in a wrestling match so that he can win 3000 dollars as well as bragging rights and than use the money to purchase a sports car. He believes a sports car will surely lead the way to her heart. However things do not turn out the way he wants. He does win the match, however the owner of the wrestling challenge does not pay Parker the full amount. Parker, filled with anger, silently leaves the office; moments later the owner is robbed by a thief and Parker passes on the chance to stop him. Later that night, Uncle Ben is murdered and the very same robber is guilty. It seems that whenever Peter uses his talents for his own purpose and goals, bad things happen. He won the wrestling match but did not receive 3000 dollars, he refuses to use his powers to stop a robbery which later causes his uncle’s death. Spiderman realizes that he was given these powers not to be used for his own glory, but to help the world around him. He was given these powers for a reason and needs to use them wisely, like his Uncle Ben says and through the lives that he changes, Spiderman receives the ultimate satisfaction that he made the world a better place.

Privilege

The most common example of a privilege is driving. The DMV constantly stresses how driving is a privilege and a right. Not everyone is entitled to the right to drive, it must be earned. Through long hours of watching driver's ed videos and behind the wheel training, I finally got my permit. 6 months after that, I received my driver's license. Driving is definitely a privilege because every time I drive onto that pavement, I am at risk and I am potentially putting others at risk. Driving is something that I must be trained for and be very cautious with. I must be aware at all times when I am driving because if I start to be lazy and not pay attention while I am driving, it could cost someone else's life. It should not be abused because it can lead to something tragic. Hotshot teens who think they are the best drivers in the world and believe driving fast makes them a better driver apparently do not understand the privilege of driving. All in all, driving can be very useful, but it is a privilege, given to those who have the responsibility to use it wisely.

Hello my name is Kevin Quan and I am a freshman at APU. I am from Santa Ana which is a city in Orange County, CA. I am currently undeclared and hope I can have an idea of what I want to do by the end of this school year. I enjoy working and talking with people and may be interested in sports medicine or teaching. I enjoy doing physical activities such as volleyball, football, biking and running. I especially love biking because not only is it healthy but it allows me to see the world in a much more pleasant way, unlike the limited view from inside a car. If I were to choose a car, it would be a convertible or a jeep because of how much I can see the sky, clouds, birds, and nature in general. One thing I am terrible at is time management. In school I do poorly because of my lack of time management. I am all about having fun and spending time with friends and when it comes time to work I always put it off to the last second.  One of favorite things to do is watch movies, when I am feeling bored and just want to relax, I pop a movie in and sit back on the couch and relax. When I read the expectations sheet about this English class I got very excited because it consists of watching movies, and using that to uncover the issues about society. This sounds like a very fun and effective way to learn for me.