This is for Media 160...the only class to use this blog unfortunately.
Anyway here's the blog for the first assignment earlier, sorry for the lateness. Forgot the password....
------------
I'm not much on the media I see and somtimes use today. I see everyone at least carrying a iPod, iTouch(this sounds wrong to me the first time I heard it), Blackberry, Nintendo DS, PSP, and other electronic devices. To be honest, I just think that people buy it just because its cool and even though I admit its cool too, I just don't have any use for it. I mean do people really need such things to show off to other people when in fact they really don't give a damn. Its not just electronic devices but other things people "think" its all the rage such as Twitter, iTouch Apps, and the most annoying habit in existense: texting. The only thing I use now and forever is my cell phone. That's it.
Sorry about the rant but that's the way I see the way the media being used today. Although its not all that bad except for the constant rules I hate like copyright. Anyway, there are some places I actually like to browse to amuse myself.
YouTube - Pretty much the number one place where everyone can watch videos about anything. And I mean anything. I just like this site because its a great way to kill time and also a place to take your mind off of things to enjoy yourself. Also a great place to spam/comment with others about really funny or really bad videos.
One Manga, Fanfiction.net, and MangaFox - These places can be really great when you want to read something that may interest you on a rainy day or a relaxing day.
Random Forums - These places are great to have a debate against anybody about any subject to talk about. I sometimes go to these places to explode my rage on a bad day.
So these are the places I go to interact and discuss stuff.
Stay tuned for Blog 2 later.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
In The End Of The Semester...
The final blog post. *sigh*
Before coming to this class, I didn't know what to expect. At first I thought I was going to get the usual glossary terms but instead I get a more in depth look at what real thoughts about images, appearances, and other things are. It was a real eye opener yet sometimes I too feel the same about the compare and contrast between images and reality. Overall it was a excellent class with an exceptional professor who knows it best. You also did your part as well Prof. Souzis, thanks.
- Vanessa R.
Ads, Opinions and Bernays
Well I read the final four readings of the semester, sorry about the lateness of the post.
In "Engineering Of Consent" by Edward Bernays, he mainly talks about how to communicate with the public with the major issues we have today and how can a public relations person can do to make people aware of what that issue may be to them. Bernays describes a method to create campaigns to make people listen.
In another reading by Bernays "Promoting Lucky Strike Cigarettes to Women in the 1920's", he talks about his time with promoting Lucky Strike cigarettes to women since at that time it was considered a bad idea to women to smoke. The reason for that is because a woman's image would be a bad idea for her since it would look like she's a hussy. Together with Hill, both campaigned for women's rights to smoke in public and their "torches of freedom". In the end it was successful but then the question of the branding was not in sync with fashion. Bernays suggested the color green and then it became a sensation with now every women wearing green as a fashion.
In "Public Opinion and The Phantom Public" by Walter Lippmann, he talks about what people are thinking when looking at any advertisements and what goes through the public opinion. He also describes what the public does as one when in anger or any other feeling when talking about whatever campaign affects them.
Finally in the last reading we see what Prof. Ewen's visit to Bernays was like in "Visiting Edward Bernays" by Stuart Ewen. Ewen talk about his visit to Bernays' house and learns that public relations was about fashioning and projecting credible renditions of reality itself. He visited his house and was amazed at all the books that Bernays wrote over the years and became fascinated. They had a really long interview and it was full of surprises and both had a nice time. After the interview, he felt satisfied and strange happenings happen months after his interview. In the end, Bernays was sad about today's public relations and said that it lost its way.
The most interesting reading was the last reading with Ewen's meeting with Bernays. Who wouldn't want to meet a legend of any kind especially at 99 years old. The whole thing with images and reality to me I find true as well.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Outcome of Desire...
Really sorry for the late blogs.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the chapters of 8, 9, 10, and the conclusion.
"Form Follows Value", "Form Follows Power", "Form Follows Waste" and "The Political Elements Of Style" by Stuart Ewen, talks about how advertising and people work together to create an image. Mainly it starts with a certain fashion when it then spreads to an idea of what life is supposed to be. Some feel like that the things they desire are the best to see and have. Things like skyscrapers are built because its modern and a better place to live. In the early 1900's, everyone wants what everyone else wants and then people faced the ultimate consequence when they feel that they lost all their money and faced depression. In the end, everything that was desired lay to waste and people have forgotten what was really important.
These chapters pretty much describes what people have gone through in the Great Depression and even now when all that matters now is being with the people you should be with the most. Everything else doesn't matter no matter what people think about materials because its simply a waste.
Anyway, here's a brief summary of the chapters of 8, 9, 10, and the conclusion.
"Form Follows Value", "Form Follows Power", "Form Follows Waste" and "The Political Elements Of Style" by Stuart Ewen, talks about how advertising and people work together to create an image. Mainly it starts with a certain fashion when it then spreads to an idea of what life is supposed to be. Some feel like that the things they desire are the best to see and have. Things like skyscrapers are built because its modern and a better place to live. In the early 1900's, everyone wants what everyone else wants and then people faced the ultimate consequence when they feel that they lost all their money and faced depression. In the end, everything that was desired lay to waste and people have forgotten what was really important.
These chapters pretty much describes what people have gone through in the Great Depression and even now when all that matters now is being with the people you should be with the most. Everything else doesn't matter no matter what people think about materials because its simply a waste.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
What I Hear...
Sorry for the lateness, I couldn't go to the last class because of a family emergency. Anyway here's my final blog post for Media 150.
"What I Hear..."
As I was walking from home to school, I could hear the usual sounds that make commuting common. The sounds I usually hear are cars horns from near and far. Some louder than others especially during morning traffic and evening traffic. The sounds of different types of engines from all types of cars. Most of the time I hear the sound of the wind blowing in my ear roughly along with the sound of the leaves coming from the tall trees. A very soothing sound to relax one's self to. Sometimes I hear small idle chitchat from people near and far talking about their own stories through the day or any other time. By the end of the day, all I hear is complete silence except for the sound of the wind and leaves.
- Vanessa R.
"What I Hear..."
As I was walking from home to school, I could hear the usual sounds that make commuting common. The sounds I usually hear are cars horns from near and far. Some louder than others especially during morning traffic and evening traffic. The sounds of different types of engines from all types of cars. Most of the time I hear the sound of the wind blowing in my ear roughly along with the sound of the leaves coming from the tall trees. A very soothing sound to relax one's self to. Sometimes I hear small idle chitchat from people near and far talking about their own stories through the day or any other time. By the end of the day, all I hear is complete silence except for the sound of the wind and leaves.
- Vanessa R.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Five Stories About Movies and the Internet...
Its Spring Break and I thought I was free but I still have work to do. I never seem to get a break...
Anyway there are five readings this time rather than the usual one or two. The first is called "Immigrant Women and the Rise of the Movies" by the Ewens. The first reading was about immigrants coming to America for a better life. The only thing that they carried with them to America was their values, traditions, and other important things but as Ewen explained, there can be cultural differences between the Old World and the New World. One examplel is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. A mother relies on her daughter for help around the house and for money but as for the daughter, she knows more about street smarts and tends to enjoy her independence. This can make the mother feel insecure about her daughter but the one thing that keeps families together is by going to the movies. The moves that were shown at that time were mainly drama based and they talk about the hardships of American life as well as the lives of different ethnic groups like the Italians and Jews. Movies also talk about the social status and classes of people in America as well as the difference between men and women. Immigrant women were memerized by the visual life of what a real American woman should be like and this leads to conflicts with mothers and daughters alike. In the end, woman today watch movies as an escape from their hard lives and it can also provide a visual universe of magic and illusion.
The second reading is what we were talking about for some time already. "The True Story About A Bogus Blog". The story is about own school of Hunter College and its first ever controversy surrounding a bogus blog. The story is simple, a girl named Heidi Cee was upset that her bag was stolen and it happens to be a Coach bag that her ex-boyfriend gave her. She was really distressed over her bag until she decided to spread the word out about her bag and posted her urgency on Facebook and MySpace. In the end, her bag was returned to her by a girl named Melanie and Heidi gave her the reward of $500 as promised by the wanted posters. Later she realized that her bag was a counterfeit and began to make a protest about knowing the awareness of counterfeits. The real problem was that everyone was deceived by everything about Heidi Cee. Everyone found out that she and her problem was all fake. This incident lead to question about the PR's way of campaigning, corporate satisfaction, and using a school to experiment their methods. Some were upset like my professor, Stephen Ewen and some find it interesting and effective like some PR representatives.
The third reading is "Identity In The Virtual World", a article posted on CNN.com. The article talks about the differences between your alter-ego and the real you. When it comes to the internet, you can create your alter-ego on any online games and be whoever you want to be. In the real world, you can only be yourself but sometimes you can act as your alter-ego as it seems like who you really are on the internet. If you're on online games, you can easily be who you are or if you don't like it, you can just change it to any other identity you prefer like gender, location, birthdate, etc. In other words, it is so much more fun to be anyone on the internet and it can become so boring in the real world.
The fourth reading is "Coming Apart At The Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body" by Shannon McRae. This reading is about nothing but sex and even more sex. *turns red* Mainly the reading talks about average people having sex over the internet rather than having it in real life. People use text mostly to express their sexuality and discover more about themselves. One thing that no one knows when having "netsex" is that they don't know who exactly they're doing it with. To some people, they pretend to be female and finding it very satisfying while some women pretend that they're men with equal feeling. Sometimes netsex can be done with either lesbians or gays when in reality they are just straight men and women. In the end though, nexsex is considered fun but to some they may be personal if they're looking for a real life partner.
The final reading is "Robot Telerobotics" by Judith S. Donath. The reading is about using technology to talk to other people as if they are talking to another human being. When the program to communicate was created in the beginning of the 1950's some researching were amazed at how much potential this program might have and yet there were some that didn't like the idea. The reason why some researchers didn't like it is because talking to the program cannot feel the same as talking to a real human being. Yet as time goes by this program will always be the question of whether or not its a good idea or not.
In conclusion, all these stories are based on the idea of fantasy of what we imagined ourselves doing and who we wish to become. Although we imagine ourselves to be like this its never the same as talking to another human or working hard for what you want to do or having a relationship with someone or being the same as someone else. I believe that the more you see the bigger picture looking at society from whatever medium you see, you can become more aware of yourself but in truth you can become more isolated. The more knowledge you know the more of yourself becomes detacted from others like your friends and family. More like your independence from a harsh reality. We strive to become someone else we wish to be but we also know that in the end if we can't go any further we can become miserable.
Anyway there are five readings this time rather than the usual one or two. The first is called "Immigrant Women and the Rise of the Movies" by the Ewens. The first reading was about immigrants coming to America for a better life. The only thing that they carried with them to America was their values, traditions, and other important things but as Ewen explained, there can be cultural differences between the Old World and the New World. One examplel is the relationship between a mother and her daughter. A mother relies on her daughter for help around the house and for money but as for the daughter, she knows more about street smarts and tends to enjoy her independence. This can make the mother feel insecure about her daughter but the one thing that keeps families together is by going to the movies. The moves that were shown at that time were mainly drama based and they talk about the hardships of American life as well as the lives of different ethnic groups like the Italians and Jews. Movies also talk about the social status and classes of people in America as well as the difference between men and women. Immigrant women were memerized by the visual life of what a real American woman should be like and this leads to conflicts with mothers and daughters alike. In the end, woman today watch movies as an escape from their hard lives and it can also provide a visual universe of magic and illusion.
The second reading is what we were talking about for some time already. "The True Story About A Bogus Blog". The story is about own school of Hunter College and its first ever controversy surrounding a bogus blog. The story is simple, a girl named Heidi Cee was upset that her bag was stolen and it happens to be a Coach bag that her ex-boyfriend gave her. She was really distressed over her bag until she decided to spread the word out about her bag and posted her urgency on Facebook and MySpace. In the end, her bag was returned to her by a girl named Melanie and Heidi gave her the reward of $500 as promised by the wanted posters. Later she realized that her bag was a counterfeit and began to make a protest about knowing the awareness of counterfeits. The real problem was that everyone was deceived by everything about Heidi Cee. Everyone found out that she and her problem was all fake. This incident lead to question about the PR's way of campaigning, corporate satisfaction, and using a school to experiment their methods. Some were upset like my professor, Stephen Ewen and some find it interesting and effective like some PR representatives.
The third reading is "Identity In The Virtual World", a article posted on CNN.com. The article talks about the differences between your alter-ego and the real you. When it comes to the internet, you can create your alter-ego on any online games and be whoever you want to be. In the real world, you can only be yourself but sometimes you can act as your alter-ego as it seems like who you really are on the internet. If you're on online games, you can easily be who you are or if you don't like it, you can just change it to any other identity you prefer like gender, location, birthdate, etc. In other words, it is so much more fun to be anyone on the internet and it can become so boring in the real world.
The fourth reading is "Coming Apart At The Seams: Sex, Text, and the Virtual Body" by Shannon McRae. This reading is about nothing but sex and even more sex. *turns red* Mainly the reading talks about average people having sex over the internet rather than having it in real life. People use text mostly to express their sexuality and discover more about themselves. One thing that no one knows when having "netsex" is that they don't know who exactly they're doing it with. To some people, they pretend to be female and finding it very satisfying while some women pretend that they're men with equal feeling. Sometimes netsex can be done with either lesbians or gays when in reality they are just straight men and women. In the end though, nexsex is considered fun but to some they may be personal if they're looking for a real life partner.
The final reading is "Robot Telerobotics" by Judith S. Donath. The reading is about using technology to talk to other people as if they are talking to another human being. When the program to communicate was created in the beginning of the 1950's some researching were amazed at how much potential this program might have and yet there were some that didn't like the idea. The reason why some researchers didn't like it is because talking to the program cannot feel the same as talking to a real human being. Yet as time goes by this program will always be the question of whether or not its a good idea or not.
In conclusion, all these stories are based on the idea of fantasy of what we imagined ourselves doing and who we wish to become. Although we imagine ourselves to be like this its never the same as talking to another human or working hard for what you want to do or having a relationship with someone or being the same as someone else. I believe that the more you see the bigger picture looking at society from whatever medium you see, you can become more aware of yourself but in truth you can become more isolated. The more knowledge you know the more of yourself becomes detacted from others like your friends and family. More like your independence from a harsh reality. We strive to become someone else we wish to be but we also know that in the end if we can't go any further we can become miserable.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Video Editing...
I just wanted to tell you about what I know from my editing experience and other stuff.
I started learning on my own with video editing since 2000. I made a couple of videos in the beginning with several favorite series coming from the world of Japanese animation. Unfortunately, they did not turn out the way I thought they would but it was a good first try if I do say so myself. Later on for a few years, I watched countless anime music videos or as we call it 'AMV's' and they were all really professional and stunning. I was always looking for new ways to improve my videos. I even began to understand the programs people used most of the time and apply their imagination to their video. Most music videos are mainly narrative based on the series they select. I made a mental note for editing programs that can be helpful going up the ladder.
Beginners Programs
Windows Movie Maker - This program comes along with Windows and happens to be the first video editing programs I had fun making movies with. Nowadays, for people who like making much better videos, this happens to be the most hated programs because it freezes a lot and lacks editing tools but great for starters.
iMovie - This program comes along with the Mac and it also happens to be another beginners editing programs as well. I only tried this once when I was at City College for a semester and I think I found a even more hated program other than Maker. I couldn't move the clips easily and it was annoying working with the audio. Never again will I work with this program again.
Intermediate Programs
Adobe Premiere(any version) - A program I'm working with right now and I'm pretty great at it. Not to mention a whole lot better to manage certain tools and clips and really great at organization. I made a majority of my fanmade videos using this program after I had my internship at BMCC. I even made a video that I submitted to anime conventions last year and won a total of five awards, four for best drama category and one best in show. Here's my video that someone recorded at a anime convention called "Anime Boston" held in Boston. It won for Best Drama and from what I heard a close winner for best in show. When I first uploaded this video I had up to close to 20,000 views a lot of comments.
Title of the Video: Escaping But Not Far
Anime Series: Death Note
Song: "Bird and the Worm"
Artist: The Used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKdUFY2gK0
Sony Vegas Pro - A program that I heard a majority of editors use but they swear to and that it creates videos on a whole new level. Its a program I'm currently testing and I really like how it turns out in small clips I exported. The best part of Vegas is that I can FINALLY upload a high quality videos up on YouTube or even better...HD!! As for an example of a video made from this program here's one from a studio named A2000A and the editor is Koopiskation. I hope someday that I can make a video like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujU9q3Equ60
Advanced Programs
Avid Express Pro/Mojo - A program I used on my last year in BMCC. Its also the program I edited a majority of my documentaries on as well. When I first looked at it, I couldn't believe all the many options you can pick from but I know that I really need only a few to complete my videos. My favorite effects I really love to use while editing certain videos were pan and scan and using masks of any size. Along with the program, the keyboard had the same tools as what you can see on the program. The only thing that I find kind of annoying is the constant firewiring and use of the video deck. It gets worse at the end of the semester when the entire video lab is crowded and have every station occupied, but that's how it is anyway.
Final Cut Pro - Just as Sony Vegas, a majority of editors also swear by it. I only saw a glimpse of it just last semester and I was surprised that it looked almost exactly like Avid. So now that I've seen it, I would know how to edit videos using the tools I've worked with before.
----------------
I know this random post is long but I wanted to say it anyway and to also have a connection with what you wanted to see a video of my editing. One more thing, I couldn't find my film reel with my work but I was extremely lucky to find the montage video I was talking about.
EDIT: I almost forgot to tell you about that website I was talking about before. Its a website that I use sometimes when I feel like downloading something from a streaming site that doesn't give any option for downloading the video. Here it is...
http://www.mediaconverter.org/
The instructions are self-explaintory and it can apply to any streaming site you go to.
I started learning on my own with video editing since 2000. I made a couple of videos in the beginning with several favorite series coming from the world of Japanese animation. Unfortunately, they did not turn out the way I thought they would but it was a good first try if I do say so myself. Later on for a few years, I watched countless anime music videos or as we call it 'AMV's' and they were all really professional and stunning. I was always looking for new ways to improve my videos. I even began to understand the programs people used most of the time and apply their imagination to their video. Most music videos are mainly narrative based on the series they select. I made a mental note for editing programs that can be helpful going up the ladder.
Beginners Programs
Windows Movie Maker - This program comes along with Windows and happens to be the first video editing programs I had fun making movies with. Nowadays, for people who like making much better videos, this happens to be the most hated programs because it freezes a lot and lacks editing tools but great for starters.
iMovie - This program comes along with the Mac and it also happens to be another beginners editing programs as well. I only tried this once when I was at City College for a semester and I think I found a even more hated program other than Maker. I couldn't move the clips easily and it was annoying working with the audio. Never again will I work with this program again.
Intermediate Programs
Adobe Premiere(any version) - A program I'm working with right now and I'm pretty great at it. Not to mention a whole lot better to manage certain tools and clips and really great at organization. I made a majority of my fanmade videos using this program after I had my internship at BMCC. I even made a video that I submitted to anime conventions last year and won a total of five awards, four for best drama category and one best in show. Here's my video that someone recorded at a anime convention called "Anime Boston" held in Boston. It won for Best Drama and from what I heard a close winner for best in show. When I first uploaded this video I had up to close to 20,000 views a lot of comments.
Title of the Video: Escaping But Not Far
Anime Series: Death Note
Song: "Bird and the Worm"
Artist: The Used
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cKdUFY2gK0
Sony Vegas Pro - A program that I heard a majority of editors use but they swear to and that it creates videos on a whole new level. Its a program I'm currently testing and I really like how it turns out in small clips I exported. The best part of Vegas is that I can FINALLY upload a high quality videos up on YouTube or even better...HD!! As for an example of a video made from this program here's one from a studio named A2000A and the editor is Koopiskation. I hope someday that I can make a video like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujU9q3Equ60
Advanced Programs
Avid Express Pro/Mojo - A program I used on my last year in BMCC. Its also the program I edited a majority of my documentaries on as well. When I first looked at it, I couldn't believe all the many options you can pick from but I know that I really need only a few to complete my videos. My favorite effects I really love to use while editing certain videos were pan and scan and using masks of any size. Along with the program, the keyboard had the same tools as what you can see on the program. The only thing that I find kind of annoying is the constant firewiring and use of the video deck. It gets worse at the end of the semester when the entire video lab is crowded and have every station occupied, but that's how it is anyway.
Final Cut Pro - Just as Sony Vegas, a majority of editors also swear by it. I only saw a glimpse of it just last semester and I was surprised that it looked almost exactly like Avid. So now that I've seen it, I would know how to edit videos using the tools I've worked with before.
----------------
I know this random post is long but I wanted to say it anyway and to also have a connection with what you wanted to see a video of my editing. One more thing, I couldn't find my film reel with my work but I was extremely lucky to find the montage video I was talking about.
EDIT: I almost forgot to tell you about that website I was talking about before. Its a website that I use sometimes when I feel like downloading something from a streaming site that doesn't give any option for downloading the video. Here it is...
http://www.mediaconverter.org/
The instructions are self-explaintory and it can apply to any streaming site you go to.
Sherlock and the Psychology Behind It...
Yay for me going easy this week!
Last week we watched a movie called "Sherlock Jr." by Buster Keaton and it lasted for only one hour. The movie is about a guy who's trying to impress a girl to go out with him but then someone else tries to take the girl for himself.
In the beginning, we see the guy working at a cinema and he was hoping for some cash to buy some chocolates for the girl of his dreams. After some missed opportunities in getting cash, he had no choice but to get the less expensive box of candy. Later he went to the girl's house but then another guy dressed in a suit was also interested in the girl. While inside the house, something occurs as the man in the suit took a pocket watch and pawn it for cash. He took the cash and bought the most expense box of chocolates. When he got back to the house, he took the receipt and placed it in the other guy's pocket. Soon a man came claiming to have his watch sold and it was then that "Sherlock" decided to question the people in the house. The man in the suit said to check the guy's pocket and then he was discovered to be the thief. The girl's father(I think he is.) kicks him out and to never come back again. Sad and confused, 'Sherlock' knew something wasn't right and decided to follow the other man but failed. In the end, after a long 'Ha, I solved the case!', imagination while sleeping in the projection room in the movie theater, the girl came by to see him. It was during his sleep that she discovered who the true culprit was by going to the pawn shop and asking the shopkeeper. She apologized to him and he was happy again until he did the same things from watching the movie until he didn't know what to say about a future family.
I thought the movie was really good and kind of clever from certain parts like escaping the house through the window while at the same time dressed in a dress to disguised as a old woman. The only part I thought was a bit off was the random scenes in the movie within the movie. I thought that it wasn't necessary and it didn't make sense.
We also had to read something that relates to making movies and about how our vision see it. The reading was "The Psychology of the Photoplay" by Hugo Musterberg and he talks about the way we see movies from our own eyes. He discusses through depth and movement, attention, memory and imagination, and emotions. When we watch movies, we see what our eyes can see like a trick with the movie within a movie. An example from Keaton's movie was the dream sequence.
I honestly read through half the reading and I got lost. When we had the discussion about the reading I understood it better but it wouldn't hurt to ask it in more detail. I kind of forgot some points.
Last week we watched a movie called "Sherlock Jr." by Buster Keaton and it lasted for only one hour. The movie is about a guy who's trying to impress a girl to go out with him but then someone else tries to take the girl for himself.
In the beginning, we see the guy working at a cinema and he was hoping for some cash to buy some chocolates for the girl of his dreams. After some missed opportunities in getting cash, he had no choice but to get the less expensive box of candy. Later he went to the girl's house but then another guy dressed in a suit was also interested in the girl. While inside the house, something occurs as the man in the suit took a pocket watch and pawn it for cash. He took the cash and bought the most expense box of chocolates. When he got back to the house, he took the receipt and placed it in the other guy's pocket. Soon a man came claiming to have his watch sold and it was then that "Sherlock" decided to question the people in the house. The man in the suit said to check the guy's pocket and then he was discovered to be the thief. The girl's father(I think he is.) kicks him out and to never come back again. Sad and confused, 'Sherlock' knew something wasn't right and decided to follow the other man but failed. In the end, after a long 'Ha, I solved the case!', imagination while sleeping in the projection room in the movie theater, the girl came by to see him. It was during his sleep that she discovered who the true culprit was by going to the pawn shop and asking the shopkeeper. She apologized to him and he was happy again until he did the same things from watching the movie until he didn't know what to say about a future family.
I thought the movie was really good and kind of clever from certain parts like escaping the house through the window while at the same time dressed in a dress to disguised as a old woman. The only part I thought was a bit off was the random scenes in the movie within the movie. I thought that it wasn't necessary and it didn't make sense.
We also had to read something that relates to making movies and about how our vision see it. The reading was "The Psychology of the Photoplay" by Hugo Musterberg and he talks about the way we see movies from our own eyes. He discusses through depth and movement, attention, memory and imagination, and emotions. When we watch movies, we see what our eyes can see like a trick with the movie within a movie. An example from Keaton's movie was the dream sequence.
I honestly read through half the reading and I got lost. When we had the discussion about the reading I understood it better but it wouldn't hurt to ask it in more detail. I kind of forgot some points.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Malcolm X, Franklin, and Ragged Dick...
Sorry for this post being late. I have no excuse...
Anyway, I finally read "Saved" by Malcolm X and Alex Haley and its mainly about human rights activist, Malcolm X learning a lot more about the world through books and religion while he was in prison.
When he was in prison, he learned to read and write by looking at several books and he would get every chance he gets to read as much as he can. An example was when he would continue to read through the night holding a flashlight while looking out for prison guards. While he's in prison, he began to see the doing's of the white man throughout history against the black's. He also began to understand more about the religion of Islam and his more interconnection with the black race. In the end, he decided to speak up for his people on the wrongful ways of what the white man as a last message from Elijah Mohammed.
I thought it was something like that as I was reading it so if I misunderstood just tell me. As for how Malcolm X compares to Franklin, he knows all about the black race and what they been through so he, like Franklin, decided to change his ideal about his race in becoming better and stand on par with the opposite race in gaining knowledge and intelligence or something like that. The same can be said with Dick as well as he struggles to be more than just a boot-black and become successful. Although all three think the same, they all follow different paths in their lives.
Anyway, I finally read "Saved" by Malcolm X and Alex Haley and its mainly about human rights activist, Malcolm X learning a lot more about the world through books and religion while he was in prison.
When he was in prison, he learned to read and write by looking at several books and he would get every chance he gets to read as much as he can. An example was when he would continue to read through the night holding a flashlight while looking out for prison guards. While he's in prison, he began to see the doing's of the white man throughout history against the black's. He also began to understand more about the religion of Islam and his more interconnection with the black race. In the end, he decided to speak up for his people on the wrongful ways of what the white man as a last message from Elijah Mohammed.
I thought it was something like that as I was reading it so if I misunderstood just tell me. As for how Malcolm X compares to Franklin, he knows all about the black race and what they been through so he, like Franklin, decided to change his ideal about his race in becoming better and stand on par with the opposite race in gaining knowledge and intelligence or something like that. The same can be said with Dick as well as he struggles to be more than just a boot-black and become successful. Although all three think the same, they all follow different paths in their lives.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Incident at Loch Ness...
This blog is for Media 150 and its blog entry #2.
"What I See"
A documentary film I saw not too long ago was called "Incident At Loch Ness". It's about a producer(Zak Penn)who wants to find out more about the mystery of Loch Ness and has asked a well-known documentary film director Werner Herzog to make the film about the creature. The group of people consisting of sound crew, director, producer, and others set out to Scotland of search of the Loch Ness monster. Along the journey, arguments began to erupt about the film's purpose and how its a waste of time between the director(Werner) and the producer(Zak Penn - he started the idea of Loch Ness).
A lot of things happen in the climax of the movie when the crew started to see the back of Loch Ness from one side of the boat to the other. After looking at it the boat started to shake and one of the crew members fell in the water and was never seen again. Later on, the crew lost all contact for a whole day and if things could not get any worse something else happened. The Loch Ness monster started hitting the boat as hard as it can and then the boat started to sink. One of the crew members started shooting at the monster but to no avail, instead he was dragged into the water and drowned. Werner tried to revive him but it was too late as the remainder of the ship sank, but somehow Zak suvived.
The next day a couple of locals were out having fun until he found a body floating in the water along with a water proof case with a camera inside of it. When someone behind one of the locals told him to give him the camera it was none other than Zak himself. The group went in search of the remaining survivors of his crew and luckily found most of them alive but all of them are really upset about Zak leaving them behind. In the end, instead of the director being credited for his movie it was the producer who was being credited for it instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg-PcFphecU
Above is an example of the camera work being done in the movie. From looking at it, the camera was handheld and it always shakes. It sometimes moves around when it has to when something as big as the Loch Ness monster comes along. There was a lot of serious parts that felt real mainly on the crew and a lot less on the background. Throughout the whole movie, it was always dark and gloomy but in the end it was sunny. The shots of everyone through their adventure was always consistent and it was meant to be that way. That kind of feel in the movie felt scary and there was a sense of nervousness due to the situation they were in. There was a part where the camera was dropped into the water and it had shown the monster swimming in the dark murky depths of the water. I thought that was pretty interesting.
"What I See"
A documentary film I saw not too long ago was called "Incident At Loch Ness". It's about a producer(Zak Penn)who wants to find out more about the mystery of Loch Ness and has asked a well-known documentary film director Werner Herzog to make the film about the creature. The group of people consisting of sound crew, director, producer, and others set out to Scotland of search of the Loch Ness monster. Along the journey, arguments began to erupt about the film's purpose and how its a waste of time between the director(Werner) and the producer(Zak Penn - he started the idea of Loch Ness).
A lot of things happen in the climax of the movie when the crew started to see the back of Loch Ness from one side of the boat to the other. After looking at it the boat started to shake and one of the crew members fell in the water and was never seen again. Later on, the crew lost all contact for a whole day and if things could not get any worse something else happened. The Loch Ness monster started hitting the boat as hard as it can and then the boat started to sink. One of the crew members started shooting at the monster but to no avail, instead he was dragged into the water and drowned. Werner tried to revive him but it was too late as the remainder of the ship sank, but somehow Zak suvived.
The next day a couple of locals were out having fun until he found a body floating in the water along with a water proof case with a camera inside of it. When someone behind one of the locals told him to give him the camera it was none other than Zak himself. The group went in search of the remaining survivors of his crew and luckily found most of them alive but all of them are really upset about Zak leaving them behind. In the end, instead of the director being credited for his movie it was the producer who was being credited for it instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg-PcFphecU
Above is an example of the camera work being done in the movie. From looking at it, the camera was handheld and it always shakes. It sometimes moves around when it has to when something as big as the Loch Ness monster comes along. There was a lot of serious parts that felt real mainly on the crew and a lot less on the background. Throughout the whole movie, it was always dark and gloomy but in the end it was sunny. The shots of everyone through their adventure was always consistent and it was meant to be that way. That kind of feel in the movie felt scary and there was a sense of nervousness due to the situation they were in. There was a part where the camera was dropped into the water and it had shown the monster swimming in the dark murky depths of the water. I thought that was pretty interesting.
Ragged Dick...
I know that this seem be a bit late but I was having a bit of a problem with logging in my account for the past few days. Anyway, problem fixed and now for the next couple of posts that I really have to do...
Well this time around its another book we're reading called "Ragged Dick" by Horatio Alger Jr., a story about a young 14 year old boy named Dick living in old New York in the late 1800's or so it feels like it. Before I actually began reading the story, there were notes about the author and I was surprised that he was an accused pedophile as a priest no less! Times certainly has...NOT changed one bit. Then again all the more eagar to see how this guy can write a story.
In the beginning, Dick was a honest person who works hard as a boot-blacker. He had a hard life in the dark streets of downtown New York City especially in Five Points which is the most dangerous place that includes robbery, murder, prostitution, and other bad things that can happen to anyone. His friends called him "Ragged Dick" because of the way his clothes and his overall appearance looks. He was anything but a normal kid, he had street smarts, wise about telling how people are around him, and an he was like a saint in helping others. But other times he likes to drink, gamble, and watch plays which is why he can't really gain that much money not to mention ever really thinking about the importance of his future. That is until he met a young boy named Frank Whitney and his uncle.
Frank and his uncle were visting the city because Frank's uncle was there for some business, but unfortunately Frank was going to be all by himself until Dick overheard them and decided that he wants to learn more about the other boy's world. From then on, Frank and Dick traveled all around the city checking out the sights but not before Frank changed his ragged looks into a very handsome gentleman. It was the first stop to being what Dick calls "bein 'spectable". While traveling the city they talked about each other's past and what they are currently doing. In the end though it was time to say goodbye and Dick was told to keep the suit. Afterwards, Dick was really thinking about moving on with his life after talking with Frank especially about actually getting a job and having a place of his own.
In his first step to becoming respectable he started to find a room to live in and decided to live in a small building on Mott Street. A lot of things began to change for Dick from here on out. Along with finding a new place, he also decided to help his friend Fosdick who was in the same situation as him. From then on they both lived together and as for Dick another part of being respectable was to have knowledge such as reading and writing. Fosdick knew how to read and write from his father and now he's tutoring Dick on how to do both. Along the way, Dick also started his own bank account to start earning money for whatever the reason it may be in the future.
In the end, "Ragged Dick" became Richard Hunter and his friend Fosdick finally got a job other than being a boot-black. Richard finally got a job he would never expect coming after saving a young boy for a father who works in a print shop in the city. Later onwards with both Dick and Fosdick being successful they both decided to move out from Mott Street to a better place.
In conclusion, I thought the whole story was really cute and touching. Dick did so many things to help his friends and himself. There were times when he thought about other people like his friend Johnny Nolan who has no ambition, Mickey Macguire who beated Dick just because he's a fancy gentleman, or his other friend Tom Wilkins who was about to be evicted along with his family. The person who was more surprising was Dick himself when he strugged from being ignorant to being a lot more wiser about the world. Overall the story of self-improvement was really engaging and funny at times.
Well this time around its another book we're reading called "Ragged Dick" by Horatio Alger Jr., a story about a young 14 year old boy named Dick living in old New York in the late 1800's or so it feels like it. Before I actually began reading the story, there were notes about the author and I was surprised that he was an accused pedophile as a priest no less! Times certainly has...NOT changed one bit. Then again all the more eagar to see how this guy can write a story.
In the beginning, Dick was a honest person who works hard as a boot-blacker. He had a hard life in the dark streets of downtown New York City especially in Five Points which is the most dangerous place that includes robbery, murder, prostitution, and other bad things that can happen to anyone. His friends called him "Ragged Dick" because of the way his clothes and his overall appearance looks. He was anything but a normal kid, he had street smarts, wise about telling how people are around him, and an he was like a saint in helping others. But other times he likes to drink, gamble, and watch plays which is why he can't really gain that much money not to mention ever really thinking about the importance of his future. That is until he met a young boy named Frank Whitney and his uncle.
Frank and his uncle were visting the city because Frank's uncle was there for some business, but unfortunately Frank was going to be all by himself until Dick overheard them and decided that he wants to learn more about the other boy's world. From then on, Frank and Dick traveled all around the city checking out the sights but not before Frank changed his ragged looks into a very handsome gentleman. It was the first stop to being what Dick calls "bein 'spectable". While traveling the city they talked about each other's past and what they are currently doing. In the end though it was time to say goodbye and Dick was told to keep the suit. Afterwards, Dick was really thinking about moving on with his life after talking with Frank especially about actually getting a job and having a place of his own.
In his first step to becoming respectable he started to find a room to live in and decided to live in a small building on Mott Street. A lot of things began to change for Dick from here on out. Along with finding a new place, he also decided to help his friend Fosdick who was in the same situation as him. From then on they both lived together and as for Dick another part of being respectable was to have knowledge such as reading and writing. Fosdick knew how to read and write from his father and now he's tutoring Dick on how to do both. Along the way, Dick also started his own bank account to start earning money for whatever the reason it may be in the future.
In the end, "Ragged Dick" became Richard Hunter and his friend Fosdick finally got a job other than being a boot-black. Richard finally got a job he would never expect coming after saving a young boy for a father who works in a print shop in the city. Later onwards with both Dick and Fosdick being successful they both decided to move out from Mott Street to a better place.
In conclusion, I thought the whole story was really cute and touching. Dick did so many things to help his friends and himself. There were times when he thought about other people like his friend Johnny Nolan who has no ambition, Mickey Macguire who beated Dick just because he's a fancy gentleman, or his other friend Tom Wilkins who was about to be evicted along with his family. The person who was more surprising was Dick himself when he strugged from being ignorant to being a lot more wiser about the world. Overall the story of self-improvement was really engaging and funny at times.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Assignment #2 - Proposal
Well I've been thinking a lot for what I should be doing for this assignment and it's starting to become a challenge. I know one thing for sure, I need to write the story first before I could think of the images to show. For the first part, it's gonna be a serious thing from what I read so I might need some help on what story it should be.
As for the second part, I have an idea on what I might do and it will be sort of funny. The story will be about what to do when you have too much time to kill and what to do about it. As for images, I was thinking about putting it in a sort of motivational poster like this...
As for the second part, I have an idea on what I might do and it will be sort of funny. The story will be about what to do when you have too much time to kill and what to do about it. As for images, I was thinking about putting it in a sort of motivational poster like this...
Ben Franklin's Self-Image...
First off, sorry for posting this late because I was studying for my midterm for another class which is Media 150.
Well I read the Autobiography "Continuation of the Account of My Life" by Benjamin Franklin. I'll just say this, it was quite boring and a bit too long . So this post will be quite short because I really don't know how to explain it very well.
I got lost a few times while reading this research but after listening to Ewen's lecture, I kind of understood it a little. In essence, Ben tries to be different from other people by putting in a set of rules. These rules were called the 13 Virtues and they were:
1) Temperance
2) Silence
3) Order
4) Resolution
5) Frugality
6) Industry
7) Sincerity
8) Justice
9) Moderation
10) Cleanliness
11) Tranquility
12) Chastity
13) and...Humility
Franklin created a chart to keep his accounts of his day related to his 13 virtues. In conclusion, this reading proved that anyone can change themselves and be different than anyone else or as Prof. Ewen said a way to self-improve yourself.
Well I read the Autobiography "Continuation of the Account of My Life" by Benjamin Franklin. I'll just say this, it was quite boring and a bit too long . So this post will be quite short because I really don't know how to explain it very well.
I got lost a few times while reading this research but after listening to Ewen's lecture, I kind of understood it a little. In essence, Ben tries to be different from other people by putting in a set of rules. These rules were called the 13 Virtues and they were:
1) Temperance
2) Silence
3) Order
4) Resolution
5) Frugality
6) Industry
7) Sincerity
8) Justice
9) Moderation
10) Cleanliness
11) Tranquility
12) Chastity
13) and...Humility
Franklin created a chart to keep his accounts of his day related to his 13 virtues. In conclusion, this reading proved that anyone can change themselves and be different than anyone else or as Prof. Ewen said a way to self-improve yourself.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Social Photos, Stereographs, and Stereoscopes...
This week we have two readings from the OR and both are related to the power of images and how we see it.
In the first reading, "Social Photography" by Lewis W. Hine, he talks about what he sees through photographs and what kind of impact they have. An example he talks about is when he takes a pictures of children working in mills, factories, and other work environments and he interprets what that image could mean for other people. By just looking at the photo, you can feel sympathetic, sad, and at times angry because of the issue that's being shown as realistic as it can be. To Hine, who was the first person to who shaped a style for an engaged and sympathetic social documentary, he wanted to show everyone that looking at a picture can give you an look at the evidence, a social injustice, and also show what people have to endure in intolerable situations.
And in the second reading, "The Stereoscope and the Stereograph" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, it talks about the characteristics about the stereoscope and the stereograph and this applies to pictures and also leads to how a camera could work. He also explains how the way a picture can turn out differently using certain effects like negative, brightness, darkness, and sometimes make the picture solid. By changing the effects in the pictures, it can give off more feeling to person or everyone in the picture. Pretty much of lot philosophy as he continued as well as scientifically.
I find the shorter reading more understanding than the second one mainly because looking at photos can really make you get up and do something about the person or people in their situation just by looking at the photos. I've it seen it happen a couple of times and so did others like the attacks of September 11, Hurricane Katrina, Presidental Election, and other major events.
In the first reading, "Social Photography" by Lewis W. Hine, he talks about what he sees through photographs and what kind of impact they have. An example he talks about is when he takes a pictures of children working in mills, factories, and other work environments and he interprets what that image could mean for other people. By just looking at the photo, you can feel sympathetic, sad, and at times angry because of the issue that's being shown as realistic as it can be. To Hine, who was the first person to who shaped a style for an engaged and sympathetic social documentary, he wanted to show everyone that looking at a picture can give you an look at the evidence, a social injustice, and also show what people have to endure in intolerable situations.
And in the second reading, "The Stereoscope and the Stereograph" by Oliver Wendell Holmes, it talks about the characteristics about the stereoscope and the stereograph and this applies to pictures and also leads to how a camera could work. He also explains how the way a picture can turn out differently using certain effects like negative, brightness, darkness, and sometimes make the picture solid. By changing the effects in the pictures, it can give off more feeling to person or everyone in the picture. Pretty much of lot philosophy as he continued as well as scientifically.
I find the shorter reading more understanding than the second one mainly because looking at photos can really make you get up and do something about the person or people in their situation just by looking at the photos. I've it seen it happen a couple of times and so did others like the attacks of September 11, Hurricane Katrina, Presidental Election, and other major events.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
The Museum Of Moving Image...
This blog is for Media 150 but can be shared along with Media 180.
Last week was the first time I went to see the Museum Of Moving Image and it was located in Astoria, Queens. It didn't take long for me to get there at all since I live in Jamaica. Anyway, I saw my group as I got there waiting for the 12 noon tour on Friday and I was starting to get a bit anxious to get in and see what they have to show us.
It was time to go in and the woman who was presenting everything on the tour came and showed us around. We first started looking at a 5 second movie with a muscle man flexing himself. It was a wooden machine that acts as a small movie reel in the movie theater. I stood over the machine and saw the muscle man and we also looked inside the machine to see long strips of film moving on the inside. Afterwards, we saw the evolution of the radio and television. We saw from its early days when radio was the only entertainment there can be to the invention of T.V. and how it replaced radio as a new medium.
Most of the tour continued with the evolution of movies, starting with the examples that we saw in class like the Zoetroupe(?). What I mean is the bird and the cage when you flip the circle, the bird is in the cage. The other example is the one when you look at a five seconds movie by spinning the container and looking at the side to people a person jumping over another person. Along the way, we also talked about Muybridge and how he was the first person to created feature films. There were a lot of things we talked about like costumes, makeup, CGI, and merchandise.
There was one thing I didn't know about film and that was this big structure that had clay objects in the end of some metal wires. When you turn off the lights, it forms a very cool claymation from a water drop to a bomb, into a hand then melts into a paper plane and that paper plane crashes into a plate at the bottom. I did one of the demonstrations which was how stop motion was created using papers characters. When I was done, it turned out great but it took a long time to get it done.
That's my trip and I hope to be there again.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Perspective Jeans...
After reading "The Ends Justify The Jeans", it explains how the fashion statement of jeans can change society and to people to wear them. Originally, jeans were worn for those for work on hard labor but the material came from horse blankets. Back in the 1800s, the rich couldn't bear the sight and look of denim jeans that they themselves can't wear. Jeans back then were only for farmers or laborers and it was the law that they had to wear it. Later in the fifties, denim blue jeans were a sign of rebellion or turning your back against what society wants you to be. Not to mention an insult to the fashion world way of style. Its not just a look for jeans but what it can do to change the rules like protesting against the war and having a strong belief in what you like to do in your life whether you're a man or a woman. Women have always set the standard for fashion and style but not every woman dress alike, even sometimes break the rules on how women should be dressed like like in the feminist movement in which they wore blue jeans as a way to say they want to be liberated. These days jeans are everywhere and sometimes its considered rebellious due to the fact the people, young people mostly, don't like to dress casually because its uncomfortable and in other ways gives a sex appeal to look great.
Personally I don't wear jeans not because they don't look good on me but because it just doesn't fit my sense of style. I remember back when I was in highschool I used to wear jeans for a few months until I looked in the mirror and saw that I looked like a guy working at a steel mill for a whole day. I respect the look of jeans and their appeal but sometimes people think to hard on their meaning like this show I watched one time when two mothers were swapped between two familes. One mother came from a family who dresses freely as they like while the other mother dresses as the Bible says to do and so did her family. At one point, the free mother told the other mom's daughters to dress in jeans but the father forbid it saying that it was the devil's clothes and that the girls should only dress in dresses because the Bible says so. Now I'm a Christian too but when he said that, I thought that he was an idiot and completely overreacting to a pair of blue jeans not to mention sexist. What's funny is that their friends are Christian too but they are wearing jeans and they have no problem with that.
Personally I don't wear jeans not because they don't look good on me but because it just doesn't fit my sense of style. I remember back when I was in highschool I used to wear jeans for a few months until I looked in the mirror and saw that I looked like a guy working at a steel mill for a whole day. I respect the look of jeans and their appeal but sometimes people think to hard on their meaning like this show I watched one time when two mothers were swapped between two familes. One mother came from a family who dresses freely as they like while the other mother dresses as the Bible says to do and so did her family. At one point, the free mother told the other mom's daughters to dress in jeans but the father forbid it saying that it was the devil's clothes and that the girls should only dress in dresses because the Bible says so. Now I'm a Christian too but when he said that, I thought that he was an idiot and completely overreacting to a pair of blue jeans not to mention sexist. What's funny is that their friends are Christian too but they are wearing jeans and they have no problem with that.
Photography, Style, and Money...
A whole lot of reading this week, starting with Part One - Chapters 2 and 3 in "All Comsuming Images". This will be quite short due to not having an understanding of the whole thing.
In chapter 2, "Goods and Surfaces", Ewen talks about how photography and how someone can interpret as something that can apply to your way of thinking and how you can look. For example, a portrait of a women in a gown. If someone looks at the portrait, that person will keep it burned in their memory because its the way we can see the world or how the man who invented photography Oliver Wendell Holmes would say. The idea of images in another era sparked a interest in style just by looking at fashion through portraits and started a market in
high quality goods towards nobles and anyone in the upper class and only rags for the peasants. It was a law, but after every century, images start to have an impact and what an individual should look like and hence the business grows to what people buy to improve their image. This led to the Industrial Revolution and slavery which increased productivity and also upgrade to better fashion designs and better architecture. In the end, the looks on the surface are all that matters rather than what's going on underneath.
In chapter three, "The Marriage Between Art and Commerce", Ewen continues what began as a simple look in fashion and design into a enterprise with high productivity and an increase in developing companys and corporations. Advertising was the main force between style and making money. Advertising agencies used the impact of images to attract comsumers to buy not only clothes but other items such as lamps, radios, television, and other goods. This was after all the American way of life. Earnest Elmo Calkins first created the idea about how the ad should be appealing as well as the products, get both right and the consumer will come in spending. With all the advertising attracting consumers with superficial items it can take a terrible turn as Holmes in the past predicted that "the ephemeral surface would soon overwhelm the objective world in the pages of the same magazine." This lead to extreme spending on luxury and having less money which resulted in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. In the end, style will always
change and always will be.
My thoughts after reading these chapters are somewhat the same as I felt about style in the "First Assignment". Except that you know the consequences about spending money on crap you really don't need and about the Crash, its already like that right now except its a bit different. These days the money is mainly spent on the war and bailing out company's but the real issue is on high prices for any products including high class merchandise like iPods and Blackberrys. In the end, the desire for the item you want is the cost you pay yourself.
In chapter 2, "Goods and Surfaces", Ewen talks about how photography and how someone can interpret as something that can apply to your way of thinking and how you can look. For example, a portrait of a women in a gown. If someone looks at the portrait, that person will keep it burned in their memory because its the way we can see the world or how the man who invented photography Oliver Wendell Holmes would say. The idea of images in another era sparked a interest in style just by looking at fashion through portraits and started a market in
high quality goods towards nobles and anyone in the upper class and only rags for the peasants. It was a law, but after every century, images start to have an impact and what an individual should look like and hence the business grows to what people buy to improve their image. This led to the Industrial Revolution and slavery which increased productivity and also upgrade to better fashion designs and better architecture. In the end, the looks on the surface are all that matters rather than what's going on underneath.
In chapter three, "The Marriage Between Art and Commerce", Ewen continues what began as a simple look in fashion and design into a enterprise with high productivity and an increase in developing companys and corporations. Advertising was the main force between style and making money. Advertising agencies used the impact of images to attract comsumers to buy not only clothes but other items such as lamps, radios, television, and other goods. This was after all the American way of life. Earnest Elmo Calkins first created the idea about how the ad should be appealing as well as the products, get both right and the consumer will come in spending. With all the advertising attracting consumers with superficial items it can take a terrible turn as Holmes in the past predicted that "the ephemeral surface would soon overwhelm the objective world in the pages of the same magazine." This lead to extreme spending on luxury and having less money which resulted in the Stock Market Crash of 1929. In the end, style will always
change and always will be.
My thoughts after reading these chapters are somewhat the same as I felt about style in the "First Assignment". Except that you know the consequences about spending money on crap you really don't need and about the Crash, its already like that right now except its a bit different. These days the money is mainly spent on the war and bailing out company's but the real issue is on high prices for any products including high class merchandise like iPods and Blackberrys. In the end, the desire for the item you want is the cost you pay yourself.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The Struggle of Literacy...
This week's readings were about people having a chance of learning to read to gain knowledge of the world and to themselves. The readings were "Learning to Read and Growing in Knowledge" by Frederick Douglass, "Exercises in the Restoration of History" by John Ross, and "Frankie Mae" by Jean Wheeler-Smith.
As I was reading these three stories, they all have something in common: The people who are not white don't have the right to have knowledge because of their race. Today anybody can read but all these stories were taken in the past. In the first reading by Frederick Douglass, he talks about himself as a young slave boy living in the plantation with his family. He then talks about the mistress he became friends with and discovered about learning to read to gain knowledge about the world. He learned to read by the mistress of the house by reading the Bible as his very first book but along the way he also learned how to write by his white friends surprisingly as well as they encouraged him that someday he will be free. One day as he was learning to read by the mistress, the husband came in and he was shocked to find Doug reading and then proceeded to warn his wife about the dangers of letting a black man read. A few years later, the mistress changed her kind ways and became a monster and it was a clear understanding for Doug about the rules of slavery making as he believes, "Nature made them friends, but slavery makes them enemies."
The second story was about some cigarworkers in Tampa, Florida. They really want to learn to read but they have no choice but to work all day with little pay. They also explained that they want to hear more stories from many famous authors from the readers' who were paid by the workers themselves to read all day long. Similar to the first story, they were forced to work but at the same time, their readers were never ever return to read to them again because the workers were not allowed to have knowledge because of their race.
The last story is a really sad story about the consequences of knowing knowledge. The story is about a family who were working in a plantation in Mississippi. A girl who was interested in learning more knowledge goes to school while her family works in the cotton fields. Her name was Frankie Mae and she was full of life and joy. She loved reading and writing as well as taking
responsibility in taking care of her family but all the love and joy ended when she faced the Mr. White. Throughout the year, Frankie kept a record about how much cotton they made and should be paid for but Mr. White didn't give them what they really should have. In response, her father apoligized and White cursed Frankie because of her being smarter and also because of her race. Since then, Frankie never really recovered from that and never been the same again which her father has witnessed it all. In the end, after the tragic end of Frankie, the workers decided to stand up for themselves and go on a workers strike.
Through all the three stories, I felt deep sadness for those who either had no chance or some chance at reading. Its not fair for what they did to them or treat them but that endless hope to escape the harsh reality by reading is what keep's them going. These readings also compare to the lecture about the church and the nobles vs. the peasants in the feudal era.
As I was reading these three stories, they all have something in common: The people who are not white don't have the right to have knowledge because of their race. Today anybody can read but all these stories were taken in the past. In the first reading by Frederick Douglass, he talks about himself as a young slave boy living in the plantation with his family. He then talks about the mistress he became friends with and discovered about learning to read to gain knowledge about the world. He learned to read by the mistress of the house by reading the Bible as his very first book but along the way he also learned how to write by his white friends surprisingly as well as they encouraged him that someday he will be free. One day as he was learning to read by the mistress, the husband came in and he was shocked to find Doug reading and then proceeded to warn his wife about the dangers of letting a black man read. A few years later, the mistress changed her kind ways and became a monster and it was a clear understanding for Doug about the rules of slavery making as he believes, "Nature made them friends, but slavery makes them enemies."
The second story was about some cigarworkers in Tampa, Florida. They really want to learn to read but they have no choice but to work all day with little pay. They also explained that they want to hear more stories from many famous authors from the readers' who were paid by the workers themselves to read all day long. Similar to the first story, they were forced to work but at the same time, their readers were never ever return to read to them again because the workers were not allowed to have knowledge because of their race.
The last story is a really sad story about the consequences of knowing knowledge. The story is about a family who were working in a plantation in Mississippi. A girl who was interested in learning more knowledge goes to school while her family works in the cotton fields. Her name was Frankie Mae and she was full of life and joy. She loved reading and writing as well as taking
responsibility in taking care of her family but all the love and joy ended when she faced the Mr. White. Throughout the year, Frankie kept a record about how much cotton they made and should be paid for but Mr. White didn't give them what they really should have. In response, her father apoligized and White cursed Frankie because of her being smarter and also because of her race. Since then, Frankie never really recovered from that and never been the same again which her father has witnessed it all. In the end, after the tragic end of Frankie, the workers decided to stand up for themselves and go on a workers strike.
Through all the three stories, I felt deep sadness for those who either had no chance or some chance at reading. Its not fair for what they did to them or treat them but that endless hope to escape the harsh reality by reading is what keep's them going. These readings also compare to the lecture about the church and the nobles vs. the peasants in the feudal era.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
All Consuming Images...
I know that this blog is late but at least I get to post it anyway.
So I got around to reading Steven Ewen's(a.k.a. my professor himself) book All Consuming Images and he talks about the topic of "image". In the required reading that the class is required to do, we were suppose to read the first three sections of the book. It talks about the definition of style, how it forms, and what it means to several individuals in their own life experience.
There were a lot of point of views from Hunter College students that Ewen had class back in the late 1990s. When reading some of their explanations on style, I also had the same feelings too except for the ones who really care about appearance. Some of the readings I read about talk about if style is important for who you are or because everyone else is doing it. To me, style can come in any form as long as its you and not a copy of someone else. For example, there was a time a few years ago when the old style of bellbottoms came to life once again for a short time and my sister was addicted to it. I was simply looking at her new look with distaste and wonder why she must go to on to become a monkey, by monkey I mean "Monkey see, monkey do." It didn't look that great and of course I was right when I said to myself that it wouldn't last for so long which it did.
I can see how style can affect people's self esteem, some want to appear confident while others question what style is to them and others blend in with their surrounding environment. In the end, everyone, even me, are still finding out what our identity or what style were choosing.
So I got around to reading Steven Ewen's(a.k.a. my professor himself) book All Consuming Images and he talks about the topic of "image". In the required reading that the class is required to do, we were suppose to read the first three sections of the book. It talks about the definition of style, how it forms, and what it means to several individuals in their own life experience.
There were a lot of point of views from Hunter College students that Ewen had class back in the late 1990s. When reading some of their explanations on style, I also had the same feelings too except for the ones who really care about appearance. Some of the readings I read about talk about if style is important for who you are or because everyone else is doing it. To me, style can come in any form as long as its you and not a copy of someone else. For example, there was a time a few years ago when the old style of bellbottoms came to life once again for a short time and my sister was addicted to it. I was simply looking at her new look with distaste and wonder why she must go to on to become a monkey, by monkey I mean "Monkey see, monkey do." It didn't look that great and of course I was right when I said to myself that it wouldn't last for so long which it did.
I can see how style can affect people's self esteem, some want to appear confident while others question what style is to them and others blend in with their surrounding environment. In the end, everyone, even me, are still finding out what our identity or what style were choosing.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Fahrenheit 451...
Well I just finished reading Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" and it was pretty short. The story was about a fireman named Guy Montag who starts fires when it comes to burning books and he always enjoyed it for 10 years. He just loves burning books but never really knew why he loves it or even why he's doing it until he met Clarisse McClellan one fateful night. She was an odd girl who thinks and wonders about a lot of things especially when she talks about what kind of content are in those burning books. Its because of these two things that later Montag started to question the reason why people started burning books and why others try to hide them in a world that people fear them and prefer watching walls like his wife Mildred.
After reading the book, I feel as though its much like the world it is today. Not so many people read books unless its required or the option of recommendation. When Mildred was described as a woman who takes sleeping pills and watch the walls I thought of some people who are like that as well. My sister always watches TV and always laughing her ass off which leaves me to think that she's becoming dumber and dumber. She never really thinks or wonders about the why, what, when, who, and the how about what's around her. Although it seems at times that the subject spoken about can be depressing at times and we just move on to something else. When I read the part when Montag was sitting with the ladies and hearing them say all those cruel things about their kids, husbands, and wars it really pissed me off. I sort of felt the same when my mother talks about the things about me like how I should be, the way I look like, and how I should act. Everytime she mentions me it really just pisses me off but unfortunately I seem to be a coward in afraid of saying something back like the former English professor Faber.
When it story came to the climax, Montag already changed himself from burning books to reading and understanding them. He began to wonder about the world he's living in and how society was working without books. When Montag came back to the firehouse after being sick, he was cornered by Captain Beatty about him hiding and reading the forbidden books. It was then that it was time to leave his old job and home behind when the firefighters came to Montag's house and forced him to burn his home. When he did that, Montag turned on them and killed Beatty and ran as far away as he can possibly go. Afterwards, the constant jets that flew over the city throughout the books started a war and everything that he knew was no more. He traveled with a group of leftover intellects who also read books and decided to join them. When the war was over, all the cities were destroyed and the people who changed Montag were gone but not forgotten. In the end, Montag and his group moved on to build a new world to start over with knowledge from the books they read.
I believe that Bradbury thinks books can change someone's thoughts and step away from the harsh reality that is life. This can be true but not everyone can agree because sometimes even watching TV can take your mind off things if you know what you're watching. As for how it relates to the lectures, a while ago the class watched a film called "Style Wars", which talks about the graffiti bombers in NYC back in the 80's. Some bombers like Cap and Seen paint the trains to take their name and spread it around the city to see their name just to show off their art and for people to know their name. Like the bombers, the book people in Fahrenheit 451 try to spread their ideals from the countless books they read like the Bible, Dickens, Shakespeare, and other well-known writers even if its against the law.
Overall the story is pretty interesting.
After reading the book, I feel as though its much like the world it is today. Not so many people read books unless its required or the option of recommendation. When Mildred was described as a woman who takes sleeping pills and watch the walls I thought of some people who are like that as well. My sister always watches TV and always laughing her ass off which leaves me to think that she's becoming dumber and dumber. She never really thinks or wonders about the why, what, when, who, and the how about what's around her. Although it seems at times that the subject spoken about can be depressing at times and we just move on to something else. When I read the part when Montag was sitting with the ladies and hearing them say all those cruel things about their kids, husbands, and wars it really pissed me off. I sort of felt the same when my mother talks about the things about me like how I should be, the way I look like, and how I should act. Everytime she mentions me it really just pisses me off but unfortunately I seem to be a coward in afraid of saying something back like the former English professor Faber.
When it story came to the climax, Montag already changed himself from burning books to reading and understanding them. He began to wonder about the world he's living in and how society was working without books. When Montag came back to the firehouse after being sick, he was cornered by Captain Beatty about him hiding and reading the forbidden books. It was then that it was time to leave his old job and home behind when the firefighters came to Montag's house and forced him to burn his home. When he did that, Montag turned on them and killed Beatty and ran as far away as he can possibly go. Afterwards, the constant jets that flew over the city throughout the books started a war and everything that he knew was no more. He traveled with a group of leftover intellects who also read books and decided to join them. When the war was over, all the cities were destroyed and the people who changed Montag were gone but not forgotten. In the end, Montag and his group moved on to build a new world to start over with knowledge from the books they read.
I believe that Bradbury thinks books can change someone's thoughts and step away from the harsh reality that is life. This can be true but not everyone can agree because sometimes even watching TV can take your mind off things if you know what you're watching. As for how it relates to the lectures, a while ago the class watched a film called "Style Wars", which talks about the graffiti bombers in NYC back in the 80's. Some bombers like Cap and Seen paint the trains to take their name and spread it around the city to see their name just to show off their art and for people to know their name. Like the bombers, the book people in Fahrenheit 451 try to spread their ideals from the countless books they read like the Bible, Dickens, Shakespeare, and other well-known writers even if its against the law.
Overall the story is pretty interesting.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)