X-Files Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' Paper

The show begins, intense sci-fi music plays as the ‘space ship’ come onto the screen, as the camera pans up to the man fixing the telephone poles. Even the beginning scene of the X-Files season 3, episode 20, Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space’, is full of perception creating reality. As we see the ‘space ship’ enter the scene we already assume its a spaceship because perception tells us so. After watching the whole episode, although every character was very interesting, the Pilot,  Lieutenant Jack Schaefer caught my attention. He’s interconnected with every ones stories, and he had me most convinced throughout the episode. It brought me to think Mulder wanted to believe the pilot could explain what happened so he perceived his story to be real to give himself some sense of reality.

The first time we see the pilot, although we don’t know its him yet, is through the boy, Harold’s point of view. Harold is telling Mulder and Skully about what happened the night of the abduction. He’s the grey alien smoking on the ship, which later makes you think the boys story is correct for seeing the pilot smoking. The boy says the gray alien “was just talking...in English, he just kept saying the same thing over and over again ‘this is not happening, this is not happening’”. By seeing him from the boys perspective we get an idea that he was real, that he actually was abducted along with the two kids. Later on the man, Roky Crikenson gives Mulder and Skully his script form story of the events that night. He says he saw the two grey aliens and one third alien. One of the gray aliens was obviously the pilot, thus planting the pilot, or one of the aliens, at the scene in which Mulder had read, putting the pilot there in his mind. Finally Skully is dissecting the dead alien body they had found. Upon the autopsy, she notices a zipper and they then realize the gray aliens were men in suits, Military men. Its then that Mulder finds out that the dead man was in the Air Force, planting the idea that its the government in his head. He tricks the Military into giving him the name of the other grey alien, and finds out Lieutenant Jack Schaefer is the other gray alien.

Now we are hearing Mulder’s story from Skully’s point of view. She says ‘his account of things get a little odd’, so we aren’t sure if any of the following actually happened, it’s just what Mulder said happened. While he’s driving he runs into the Jack Schaefer walking naked down a dark road. He’s scratched up and looks dazed. Mulder calls his name and he grabs him repeating “this is not happening”. We hear him say this again, once on the ship as the gray alien and again now. In Mulder’s mind it’s what Schaefer would say, but we can’t be sure he was even there. The scene goes onto Mulder talking to Schaefer in a dinner. Jack Schaefer lights up a cigarette and tells Mulder many things, he tells him he’s the pilot of a flying saucer. The government abducts people, they take them “back to their base, let the doctors work on them nothing physical they just mess with their minds”, Mulder replies “hypnosis”. From this scene we know Mulder already knows the girl may have been hypnotized and so thinks that's what the government would do try experiments on. Everything in this scene is evidence Mulder is just making the pilot up. He says things that have already been said, solidifies facts that Mulder wasn’t sure was true, but wanted to believe. The pilot goes on to say he’s “sure that him his co pilot and those two kids were abducted”, but then says he can’t be sure of anything, “I'm not sure were even having this conversation, i don’t know if these mash potatoes are here...”. It seems like answers and the whole scenario straight from Mulder’s mind. As the government storms in to abduct Lieutenant Jack Schaefer. We then find out that the cook who works at the dinner says that Mulder was there alone, asking him questions and ordering pie with every question he asked. This seems more like Mulder than when he was talking to the pilot. One more piece of evidence to tell us Mulder thought the conversation with Jack Schaefer was in his head, making all the loose ends he couldn’t figure out make sense to him by the pilot telling him what he wanted to hear.

Throughout the episode the stories we hear about and the people Mulder and Skully talk to all combine into the conversation with Milder and Lieutenant Jack Schaefer. We get a sense of closure with this conversation. We get the idea that Lord Kimboo is real, that the boy and girls stories match up, that the government is behind all the abductions and that there are really aliens out there. All of Mulder’s questions are answered too. Every piece of pie Mulder ate was the reality, and the beat up pilot was only the perception Mulder made for himself.

Ad Critique

Among a variety of vintage cigarette adds, found on Well Medicated, a post 40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements, one particular add stood out to me. Most of them had pretty people smoking, couples smoking, Santa, doctors and even an old women. But the one I found most interesting was the Eve cigarette add.

Cigarette adds try to appeal everyone. Whether its to look cool, to relax, to attract women or men, or that its good for you, each add is trying to get you to buy their brand. Usually with attractive, famous or smart people, like doctors or scientists in the adds. Telling you why you should buy their brands and not another one. This particular add is unique because its appealing to women, where as most of them are for men. The name 'Eve' stuck out to me the most, with a woman in the garden of flowers on the box of the cigarettes, representing femininity and sexuality. They make smoking look beautiful with their pretty and flowery cigarettes. This particular cigarette add is different from other adds because there aren't any people in it. It has a soft background of flowers with a beautiful women's hand, with her fingernails carefully painted a dainty pink color. It's a lot more girly, very appealing to women who love flowers and girly things to make them look beautiful. The word pretty is used a lot in the add also, saying its 'the newest way to express your love of pretty things'.

All advertisements make you want to buy their products. Cigarette advertisements are no exception. With all the different brands and types, cigarette adds appeal to a variety of people. Eve appeals to the women, striving to be beautiful, even when smoking. And by the looks of this add they obviously get their point across. A beautiful add for beautiful cigarettes. So say "Farewell to the ugly cigarettes. Smoke pretty. eve."

Observation Notes

Question: Is it better for people and the environment to buy locally made and grown food?
Location: Liberty Heights Fresh

Hear: I hear cars driving passed. The crisp crunch of my apple. The cashier talking and helping customers. Two guys talking outside the store. A small child asking to his father to push the small car. The bass of a car stopped at the light.

Smell: my pink lady apple. Loads of fresh fruits. Smokey smell of car exhaust. Smell of the Parmesan cheese at the cheese bar. The smell of the fresh wood of the shelving.

Taste: The sweet and tart juice from my apple. My organic peach black tea.

Touch: The smooth peel, and sticky juices running down onto my hand from my bitten apple. The dirty orange table outside, covered with wood chips. The slight softness of the fresh avocado.

See: Large variety of fruits, vegetable, meats, cheeses, fish, juices, teas, olive oil, spices, jams, merchandise (shirts, bags, gift cards with the store logo), yogurt, milk. Two large garage doors, one gray, one red with windows painted yellow, purple & pink. (looks reused, maybe an old garage shop). Produce scales. Dried peppers hanging outside. Crates, baskets and barrels of food on display.

7:00-8:00 pm
I browse inside the shop, checking out the array of food carefully set up in the small shop. I pick out a fresh apple, and buying a ice tea drink. I go outside to sit on the rusty orange table to eat my food and observe.

-A guy is sitting on the other orange table, listening to his ipod. Another buy guy comes out of the shop, recognized the one sitting at the table. They begin talking about the first guys bike. He says he bought it from an army guy off of craigslist, who took the bike all over Europe. The second guy says that he just got back from traveling from Vancouver, British Columbia to San Fransisco, California and that he took a lot of pictures. Both said they needed to come ‘here’ (Liberty Heights Fresh, grocery store), more often. One walks off, leaving the other to finish listening to his ipod, who eventually rides away on his Europe trotting bike.
-Woman with dog jogs by.
-Two employees (male) carefully but efficiantly move a large quantity of boxed sodas from outside into the back stock room. They worked together and still did their job. They greeted and helped the customers who were still at the small grocery store.
-Man with a golden retreiver buys some flowers.
-Woman comes in with her bike and backpack on. She picks out two zuchinni, a bag of peaches and weighs them. Shes wearing gray converse shoes, white basketball shorts and white v-neck t-shirt. Kindly pays for her food and rides off with her groceries in her reusable bag.

As I sit, watching them close up the shop, I notice some of the things surrounding me a bit more. The Sanpellegrino canned juice, the bright green and orange flavored Selzter drinks. The different advertisement signs: “Organically grown sustainably farmed food”, No Smoking in accordance with Utah indoor clean air act, inside or within 25 feet”, “Local eggs-laid fresh by happy hens”, and add sign made from one of their paper bags. I see the bright red tomatoes, peaches, large melons all outside on sale, all organic. They begin to close shop and I carefully throw away my apple core, recycle my glass bottle and leave them to finish their work.

Thoughts:
-I noticed people who came into the shop or stopped by, all seemed to know each other. It seems like a small community, everyone is friends, and friendly to others. Probably get a lot of ‘regulars’ coming in.
-How long have the local people been going to the Liberty Height Fresh?
-It seemed like there was a variety of people. Including families, single people and younger and older people too.
-I saw a father and a small boy together and I wonder if they are teaching their kids about organic food.
-Is it really helping local farmers?
-I noticed a lot of people smiled and asked how if i needed any help, much kinder than regular chain grocery stores.
-All of the food seemed so much fresher, more colorful and a higher quality than some of the grocery stores.
-Its nice to see little shops like these getting a lot of business, its bringing people fresh foods, organic foods, its an enjoyable place to shop, quaint and less people.

Observation Paper

Buying Locally

Murray Farmers Market
The farmers market in Murray isn’t as big as the one in Pioneer Park. Its quaint, less people, but still has a great selection of local goods. There are many fruit, veggie, bread and even cheese booths to choose from. Everyone is chatting in the slightly chilly morning air, all excited to be at the farmers market. They’re carrying their reusable bags to bear the abundance of produce they will buy. The first table I see is covered with boxes of ripe orange nectarines, juicy raspberries, and mounds of blackberries.The man selling his locally grown fruit smiles at the lady handing him $3 for a large bag of nectarines. I continue walking on, browsing the next larger exhibit of vegetable. Every box and crate is filled to the top with colorful squashes, zucchinis, potatoes, cucumbers, and onions, a delicious variety. Its busy with everyone picking out their perfect vegetable, making sure their ripe and firm. Another table is selling large bushels of raspberries. My mouth waters at the luscious red raspberries. To my delight they are handing out samples. I ask if they use any pesticides on their raspberries, because its harmful to produce. The man kindly answers no and assures me its all organic. I smile as I pop in the raspberry. My watering mouth sucks in the juices of the tart yet sweet raspberry oozing in my mouth. I thank the man and buy a small bunch, because they were too delicious to pass up. The next booth I pass buy is selling local honey. The tiny bears containing the honey smile up at me as I smell the sweet nectar of the quality honey. I move on to a cheese booth. Also with samples of goat cheese spreads. The lady whose selling the cheese tells me all the goats are well taken care of, grass fed, free to roam, generally happy goats. You can tell by the taste of the yummy cheese spreads they are happy. I give in and buy some mozzarella cheese. Next I check out the bread booth, another busy booth. The smell of fresh baked bread hits my nose, I en-hale, enjoying the warm smell. I gaze at the wonderful selection. Asiago, rolls, loafs of every kind, baguettes, french bread, bread for soups, jalapeno bread, tomato loafs, and pastries galore. I buy a strawberry danish while I look around at the different loafs and watch the three busy people who brought the bread help customers, running back and forth between people, bagging bread as quickly as possible. This was definitely one of the busiest booths. There were many more booths. Some selling peppers and salsa, some selling the same zucchini, cucumbers and other veggies. At every booth I passed all the fruits and vegetables looked well grown. Each person selling their produce worked hard to grow and maintain their crops. You could tell they loved what they did, and it didn’t cost them as much to ship the produce out, they could sell it only a couple miles away to the local people who get to enjoy their hard work. I left happy knowing my grocery bag was full and I had helped contribute to locally grown and sold items.


(Everything seemed a lot more colorful and people were nicer because their were selling their food, instead of just an employee at a chain grocery store)
(Most of the food is cheaper than that at grocery stores)
(A lot of the food seems to be fresher and taste better because it hasn't been shipped over seas or across the country to people, it was all grown right here in Utah)
(Everyone who was shopping seems a lot more happy and excited about grocery shopping, instead of some people feel like its a burden sometimes)
(The people who were selling their products really seemed to enjoy what they did and excited to share it with their customers)

Monster in a Ryokan essay questions

1. Its frames the essay by saying shes connected to a monster, its as if she is the Godzilla in Tokyo, because shes so foreign or monster to the country, its not like her own home where everything is made the way she knows it.

2. I believe they are appropriate. I think she does this to really get you to see the comparison between the two cultures and how unaccustomed she was to the Japanese who did everything almost opposite of Americans.

3. She's seems like a normal traveler, unsure of exactly how to do things in a different culture. She really engages you by the way she describes things and how she brings you into the story as if you were there with her.

4. They are always unique and your learning new things with the traveler as you hear the story. Every story is different.