Is it Plagerism

After reading the article i was surprised for one because i didn't know that copyright issues existed so long ago and in so many different works of art. I knew of course the issue with the work of music, however i thought that the farthest it went with literature or art was maybe students citing where they got there information from or a business reprinting someone's product. I didn't know that actual writers were using others work to such a great extent.
My opinion on different copyright rules is kind of all over the place. When it comes to music i think that the idea of downloading music and DVD's illegally is wrong because it is the way that the artist among many others make their money. So for a individual to steal the work of art that they would normally pay for is wrong because its taking away from the welfare of the artist and many others. Now as far as a artist sampling a old song, which is done all the time, is a little different. Usually by the time a song is sampled the monetary aspects of the song and/or beats is pretty much over.
Now as far as television shows and ideas being used in that area, i think is a complete necessity. For example, without artist being able to do this there would be no shows such as Mad TV, The Chapelle Show, or Family Guy. In television i think the borrowing of ideas is important. I really don't think there should be a fee or consequence to things like this. Now to completely steal someones trademark is a different story.
As far a literature goes one shouldn't be able to completely steal ideas from other authors but a lot of times stories need to be updated and made modern. Of course there should be some type of recognition to the original author.
Finally, i was so surprised to see at the end of the article that the author confessed to stealing pretty much everything he said. This is because usually when material is stolen i can tell by the flow of the passage that it was cut and paste, just some put together material. However this author did a very good job at putting information together. By the way it was a greating ending to the story.....

Response to Grammar Article

First i was really surprised to see a article wriiten about the use of grammar in today's society. This article is very accurate, because it seems as if the topic is becoming less important in the classrooms and on the kids television shows. I went to a college preparatory high school and we learned grammar my freshman year, and after that it was never really mentioned in great depths again. I figured that since i went to a college prep h.s. i was being taught everything that was important and would prepare me for my collegiate career. However, my freshman year in college i had to take a RHT 150 course that focus somewhat on grammar and/or writing. I realize that i was not prepared at all in these subjects. I felt sorry for other students all well as myself because i was on the schools newspaper in high school, so i had a little taste of the importance of grammar and writing. I also experienced the difficulty with grammar when i took ALS here at the university. This course also had to do with the history of the language and the basics of it. What we think of has common knowledge in the English language can be harmful when someone is trying to teach you the basics from the beginning. Now i agree that grammar is something that can become overwhelming for the teacher as well as the student, but i think it is a very important aspect of everyday life that needs to be explored from the beginning.

Response to Write Till You Drop

When reading Write Till You Drop i was confused many times throughout the passage. Because there were so many references to authors and/or stories that i had no clue about, at some points i felt as if i was outside the "readers circle." Some of the vocabular was also very extreme inside this long story. Many of the sentences and words i had to go back and read a couple of times before i was just a little clear on the purpose of them. It also seems like the passage could have been shorter as if there were to many examples or to much "wordyness" that could have been narrowed down. However, i did get the just of what the writer was trying to communicate. I have had the feeling of this artist. For the most part once i have a topic and sort of an idea what i want to talk about the process isnt that hard, just time consuming. The feeling that the writer was trying to express is the feeling a writer gets when they come to sort of a writers block. When so much information is running through your head but you really dont know what to do with it, or if you should do something with it. Then finally it (idea) comes to you, its like a light shining down on you. This is when you are ready to start writing, you know for the most part what direction you want to take your writing project. I have had this feelingss more than a few times.