This was not as easy a project as I thought it would. It took a lot of thought and a lot of creativity. I did it, though. I picked the topic for this project because when I first received the prompt, this topic immediately popped in my head and I knew I could work with this. Usually, I like to stick with my first idea. This topic worked because everyone is dealing with school and most deal with twitter, so there was plenty of people to ask and make a valid argument. I immediately thought of shot ideas after I had my topic and I tried to stick with these original shots. My original idea was to make it look like "60 minutes."
If I had another month, I would have spent more time looking for a video editing software because this would have helped a lot. I wish I could have had some software to edit video clips because I wanted to fix the video with Devon to make the black bars disappear and fix the shot of him smoking a cigarette that was so shaky. I also would have made some shots brighter, like David's interview, and I would have improved the fade in effect of the speech after narration. I also would have tried to ask even more people. That way I could make even a stronger claim. I was kind of nervous it was too one sided, but this was the general idea of everyone I interviewed so with more people talking, the less one-sided it sounds. Otherwise, I liked what I did in the time given. I think it was of plenty of time.
I was really happy that a lot of effects that I wanted in the video worked. My favorite was the ability for me to narrate over someone talking in an interview and then fade them in. It felt like a real interview that I see on TV. I think it worked well with what I did have. Another big problem for me was the audio. Some narrations, no matter how many times I recorded it, sounded the way it did. I could not fix the voice sound, but the music helped even it out. I think the music also helped because it helped with the mood of the video. It could make you sad, happy, rejoiced and even disappointed by listening to watching the documentary and hearing the music.
I liked this project. I underestimated the work it would take to complete, but it was refreshing work from the studying I had been doing the week before. I think it came out well and I hope you think so, too. Here's my best.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Shooting Schedule/ Script
I'm doing my documentary over how Social Networking effects UK Freshmen success at school. I will interview a diverse group of people, but only show the ones in detail on the actual video for any extreme cases. This would consist of people who use it a lot and have really bad grades, people who don't use it much and have good grades and vise verso for both. Questions I will as them will consist of, but is not limited to:
-How often do you use social Networking?
-What Site do you use?
-Why do you use it?
-How does it affect you emotionally, physically or mentally?
-Does it distract you?
-Does it benefit you? How?
-What do you feel it does for you success in school?
-How do you work the two together?
-How are your grades?
I have a few people I already know I will interview:
Tuesday- Steph (TWitter user)
Tuesday- David Myer (None social networking user)
Tuesday- Emily Carpenter (Twitter user)
Wednesday- Timmy Ford (Limited Facebook user)
plus more....
I plan on interviewing people who dropped out already, but that will not be able to until thanksgiving break.
I also will get shots of these people either doing homework, chilling on campus, using their social networking site, or living their life today.
I plan on starting it with a short compliation of person after person looking at the camera and say either their number of tweets or amount of Facebook friends if they use that more. If they do not use it, I will have them say 0 tweets. Then, from there I will start the documentary. I plan on adding statistics and bio between interviews as well.
-How often do you use social Networking?
-What Site do you use?
-Why do you use it?
-How does it affect you emotionally, physically or mentally?
-Does it distract you?
-Does it benefit you? How?
-What do you feel it does for you success in school?
-How do you work the two together?
-How are your grades?
I have a few people I already know I will interview:
Tuesday- Steph (TWitter user)
Tuesday- David Myer (None social networking user)
Tuesday- Emily Carpenter (Twitter user)
Wednesday- Timmy Ford (Limited Facebook user)
plus more....
I plan on interviewing people who dropped out already, but that will not be able to until thanksgiving break.
I also will get shots of these people either doing homework, chilling on campus, using their social networking site, or living their life today.
I plan on starting it with a short compliation of person after person looking at the camera and say either their number of tweets or amount of Facebook friends if they use that more. If they do not use it, I will have them say 0 tweets. Then, from there I will start the documentary. I plan on adding statistics and bio between interviews as well.
Friday, November 2, 2012
proposal
I will be looking into how social networking is linked to a Freshman UK college student's, because most have a social networking site, success in school. This is something very important because freshman year is how most people set the bar for their entire college career so this important to see what the effects are. This will take me through fields like partying, drama and distracting. I will see if it is negative or positive on a student's success at the university.
I will analyze both facebook and twitter and may go back to myspace for some information about how people were effected in the beginning. The people I will talk to will be some frequent users of social networking sites, some occasional users, and people who do not have an account on a social networking website at all. I will ask what they feel about the topic and see what their grades look like linked to their social networking use. I will also see what their use of the sites is and what it can commonly result in. Then, I will compare these to people who do not use them at all. I would like to ask someone to go from frequent use of social networking to try not to and see what changes in their productivity. I hope to see that if they are not on these sites, they do not get distracted or tempted to go out. I also want to see people's reasons on why some people do not have these sites and if it linked to any issues that people on these sites are having.
Most of the recording will be one on one interviews, but I would like to get some shots of the people I am interviewing in their everyday life. All of the interviewers are college students so it will just be them around campus or in their dorm rooms doing work. I was putting into consideration recording those who have had negative effects on a gloomy day and those with positive effects on a sunny day. I hope to have all the recording done in a week because I will be done with class early everyday. I will put it in the order of asking everyone vague questions and then as the video progresses, the people interviewed will dig deeper in the topic and make their own conclusions about the topic. I want to end with me talking about the topic and having final thought coming from the people interviewed.
I think it will result in discovering that constant use of these sites causes stress and other problems along with distractions and temptations that lead to the sufferance of your grades. I hope my audience will take this documentary as an outside view of the world of social networking and use it to consider how to use their own social networking pages to benefit themselves the most. I will make sure to let the range of use by the interviewers to be diverse enough to let any freshman connect to it.
I will analyze both facebook and twitter and may go back to myspace for some information about how people were effected in the beginning. The people I will talk to will be some frequent users of social networking sites, some occasional users, and people who do not have an account on a social networking website at all. I will ask what they feel about the topic and see what their grades look like linked to their social networking use. I will also see what their use of the sites is and what it can commonly result in. Then, I will compare these to people who do not use them at all. I would like to ask someone to go from frequent use of social networking to try not to and see what changes in their productivity. I hope to see that if they are not on these sites, they do not get distracted or tempted to go out. I also want to see people's reasons on why some people do not have these sites and if it linked to any issues that people on these sites are having.
Most of the recording will be one on one interviews, but I would like to get some shots of the people I am interviewing in their everyday life. All of the interviewers are college students so it will just be them around campus or in their dorm rooms doing work. I was putting into consideration recording those who have had negative effects on a gloomy day and those with positive effects on a sunny day. I hope to have all the recording done in a week because I will be done with class early everyday. I will put it in the order of asking everyone vague questions and then as the video progresses, the people interviewed will dig deeper in the topic and make their own conclusions about the topic. I want to end with me talking about the topic and having final thought coming from the people interviewed.
I think it will result in discovering that constant use of these sites causes stress and other problems along with distractions and temptations that lead to the sufferance of your grades. I hope my audience will take this documentary as an outside view of the world of social networking and use it to consider how to use their own social networking pages to benefit themselves the most. I will make sure to let the range of use by the interviewers to be diverse enough to let any freshman connect to it.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Dark Days response
This documentary was very good. It had an edgy feel to it and brought me into a world I had no idea about. Everything the director did from shot choices, color, audio and plot were very well thought out and super effective in bringing so many emotions from the audience and making the audience think about their own lives in perspective. This documentary showed us the life of homeless people in New York, but the director chose to speak of a certain group in an old tunnel. It helped the audience build a relationship with these people by only focusing on these few people, which helps play on the people's emotions.
First thing that caught my eye was the choice to make the entire film in black and white with poor quality.When I checked the date, it was 2000 so I figured the director chose this on purpose to make it feel a bit darker and sadder of a film. It also goes with the theme of poor people, having a bad quality of video. Even if it was hard to see in the darker scenes, it turned out well.
The director also chose specific scenes throughout that were very important to his meaning. The most memorable for me was the two men digging through the garbage and finding food to eat. They were literally eating it right out of the bags. It then immediately shoots over to two rats finding food in a discarded bottle and eating it. It was showing how low their quality of life was. Another scene that was powerful was when the woman cried over her children dying, but then went straight to smoking crack a numerous amount of times. It's just powerful things to see like that.
The scene orders overall was also very well done. He made a story line out of it. It helps play on the audiences emotions to see these people go on a full journey and not just see them go through a bad time. It starts with them introduced. Then, it is no way happy, but a bit more upbeat feeling when you see how they are managing to survive, like the one man making $70 on a weekend, and when you see they can eat and have homes. While still less than our standards, they still seem proud of making it by. Then tragedy strikes them and makes it seem depressing, first with the fire, then their own personal stories of jail and their families and finally their eviction. But at the end the director brings us straight up by showing them with apartments, food and excitement for what the future holds. The director's emotional journey really makes the documentary.
A few things I have taken away from this that I will try to use will be the use of different emotions, a story line, and frequent examples, like all the people he used with all their own personal touch to the topic. This will go along with how important sound, specific scenes power, and effects like fading out and having someone talk off screen. It was a good example to learn from.
First thing that caught my eye was the choice to make the entire film in black and white with poor quality.When I checked the date, it was 2000 so I figured the director chose this on purpose to make it feel a bit darker and sadder of a film. It also goes with the theme of poor people, having a bad quality of video. Even if it was hard to see in the darker scenes, it turned out well.
The director also chose specific scenes throughout that were very important to his meaning. The most memorable for me was the two men digging through the garbage and finding food to eat. They were literally eating it right out of the bags. It then immediately shoots over to two rats finding food in a discarded bottle and eating it. It was showing how low their quality of life was. Another scene that was powerful was when the woman cried over her children dying, but then went straight to smoking crack a numerous amount of times. It's just powerful things to see like that.
The scene orders overall was also very well done. He made a story line out of it. It helps play on the audiences emotions to see these people go on a full journey and not just see them go through a bad time. It starts with them introduced. Then, it is no way happy, but a bit more upbeat feeling when you see how they are managing to survive, like the one man making $70 on a weekend, and when you see they can eat and have homes. While still less than our standards, they still seem proud of making it by. Then tragedy strikes them and makes it seem depressing, first with the fire, then their own personal stories of jail and their families and finally their eviction. But at the end the director brings us straight up by showing them with apartments, food and excitement for what the future holds. The director's emotional journey really makes the documentary.
A few things I have taken away from this that I will try to use will be the use of different emotions, a story line, and frequent examples, like all the people he used with all their own personal touch to the topic. This will go along with how important sound, specific scenes power, and effects like fading out and having someone talk off screen. It was a good example to learn from.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
3 ideas
1. How big is social networking in your life?
2. Why do people use twitter?
3. What makes up people's social identity?
2. Why do people use twitter?
3. What makes up people's social identity?
Friday, October 26, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Video games article response
Within this article, the author speaks highly of the art of video games. He speaks of the world of sounds in video games, like the original games incorporating appropriate sounds for certain objects. He also talks about how this use of audio has grown over the years and how he hates it. He dislikes how video game editors use audio for commentary in games to script the storyboard around. The author seems to like this free world that you can control idea behind video games better than a puzzle with key concepts you have to look out for and listen for, telling you how to play. These ideas summed up the author view as stop thinking, and start rocking.
This made me think and I do believe video games are art. They are inspirations of creativity that is unique to one person's mind. This creativity and this ability to dictate every part about a video game does make video games a better story teller than an oral presentation, literature, or film. The reason being an unlimited realm of ideas. The designer can make the game however he wants and he can grant the player as much control of the story he wants to be in as the designer wants. If the designer wishes to be more like a film with a strict story line you must follow, he can. More importantly, if the designer wants to make the player in control of the story he sees, he can do that, too. That was one of the points the author made: video game with little dictation make for better stories. I know from my experiences, playing a game with multiple endings is a lot more fun than one with a strict scenario.
Another great thing, that other forms of story telling can't do, is the fact that your graphic designer is the limit of what your image will look like on the screen. You have free range of making whatever you please as long as your software can make it. You do not have to worry about how real it looks, like in films. Just bring your image to the screen and let the story continue with your idea. It is amazing to see what they come up with. I know I enjoy seeing what the designer thought of for things like landscapes, characters and plot twists.
I think the most effective part of this form of story telling is the fact that the player is able to experience the story in a way. By playing the game, you are living the story with all the sights and feelings as the character would have (except for something like pain or extreme emotions). You are in control of the game and so you are the one experiencing the story. In other forms of story telling, you hear about other people's experiences. In a game, you complete these experiences. It's your life in a nerdy kind of way.
It is weird thinking about this idea. While I wrote this whole essay, I though about what it was that I liked playing video games. I just kept thinking about my experience playing mortal kombat.
This made me think and I do believe video games are art. They are inspirations of creativity that is unique to one person's mind. This creativity and this ability to dictate every part about a video game does make video games a better story teller than an oral presentation, literature, or film. The reason being an unlimited realm of ideas. The designer can make the game however he wants and he can grant the player as much control of the story he wants to be in as the designer wants. If the designer wishes to be more like a film with a strict story line you must follow, he can. More importantly, if the designer wants to make the player in control of the story he sees, he can do that, too. That was one of the points the author made: video game with little dictation make for better stories. I know from my experiences, playing a game with multiple endings is a lot more fun than one with a strict scenario.
Another great thing, that other forms of story telling can't do, is the fact that your graphic designer is the limit of what your image will look like on the screen. You have free range of making whatever you please as long as your software can make it. You do not have to worry about how real it looks, like in films. Just bring your image to the screen and let the story continue with your idea. It is amazing to see what they come up with. I know I enjoy seeing what the designer thought of for things like landscapes, characters and plot twists.
I think the most effective part of this form of story telling is the fact that the player is able to experience the story in a way. By playing the game, you are living the story with all the sights and feelings as the character would have (except for something like pain or extreme emotions). You are in control of the game and so you are the one experiencing the story. In other forms of story telling, you hear about other people's experiences. In a game, you complete these experiences. It's your life in a nerdy kind of way.
It is weird thinking about this idea. While I wrote this whole essay, I though about what it was that I liked playing video games. I just kept thinking about my experience playing mortal kombat.
Sunday, October 21, 2012
storyboard
This will be my first picture of me on one of my first Christmases in New Jersey. It shows how young I was there and shows how at home and how long I was in New Jersey.
I use this because it will come on when I say I got the news about moving. It is a lonely box and shows where I am at.
This was me during my first couple days at schools. I was just on my own listening to my mp3 player. Staying in my own zone. This shows my loner status.
How I felt when I was on my own. I would be alone after school and this is sad and lonely.
This is the universal picture for Facebook. I am using this for the picture for when I discover the solution of Facebook. It is good because it had the word connect right on there.
This was one of my first friends when I moved here. I talked to her a lot through Facebook and eventually became very close with her. It shows me when I was younger starting to branch out.
This is one of my closest friends from New Jersey. We met up again a year ago. We kept in touch from Facebook and it helped us plan out meeting up when I went back.
This shows me and all my new friends here. It is important because I am smiling in the picture. It shows my happiness here
This one is of me at a huge party set up through Facebook. I am smiling and it shows me involved with all my friends, doing what they are doing, and also looking like them.
This last one is of my girlfriend and I happily together. It is the most important relationship I made here.
My song will be 21 guns by green day. It is the instrumental and will play until the part where I start making friends from Facebook. The next song is Clocks by Coldplay. It is a bit more upbeat and exciting because it is an exciting part for me.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
song choices
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nnN9RbDfAbA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I chose this because of the guitar and the pace. It is not to exciting but it is nice and steady. Then, it gets a little bit louder with more instruments which is good for the turning point in my speech.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dz7n4jLsFNs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This second one is good for the ending because it gives it a summed up feeling and is up beat. It all works well with the guitar from the first part.
I chose this because of the guitar and the pace. It is not to exciting but it is nice and steady. Then, it gets a little bit louder with more instruments which is good for the turning point in my speech.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Dz7n4jLsFNs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
This second one is good for the ending because it gives it a summed up feeling and is up beat. It all works well with the guitar from the first part.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
My video I choose to analyze was Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. Like I said in my last blog post, this song was about his want to escape the stresses of his life and go to a place where he could be at peace, but the rockstar life keeps pulling him back in.
This first image, he is completely out of his mind due to excessive use of drugs. His manager barges in with a medical crew trying to get him conscious again so he can perform right now. This scene is dark and hectic with the visual of the people not wanting him to be "happy" in his world, but back in reality. The room is also trashed in the background making it seem just overall gloomy.
Now, in his reality world, the sun is out, he is free in an empty field and he is an innocent young boy again. This world gives off the feeling of peace and bliss. With the sunset in the background, it gives it a warming feeling to. It has exact opposites to the dark and gloomy room from the world he is trying to escape.
He now finds a rat in this scene. The rat is the directors way of representing what the state of the two worlds truly is from his paradise. Here, he takes the rat home and cares for it. He looks concerned and has the true innocence and ignorance of a child. He does not realize what diseases he can get from handling a stray and sick rat.
Now the director flashes back to the real world where he is desperately being worked on. Everyone has their hands on him and are slapping him awake. They put a air machine on him to get him oxygen and this is the beginning of the doctors waking him up and bringing him back.
As the doctors save his life in the real world, his paradise begins to fall apart. His childhood persona gets sick and is scared. He is forced to lay in bed. The doctor is yelling at his mom. Most dramatically, the room is dark, instead of bright and feeling happy. His paradise is catching up to his reality as he is awakening.
Once he is conscious, Everyone leaves in a dusty fog, like a war fighting ground. There, he sees his dad, who is dead and he is caring the rat. The rat is dead here, showing his paradise is over with the rats life. Everyone begins to file out and wave good bye, giving it a sad and longing feeling. You wish he stays there, but it's leaving him.
Now in the real world, he is awake. He is thrown around and people are cleaning him up and dressing him. He is treated like a doll here, looking dead and lifeless, but forced to do what they want. That's what he wanted to escape, but you can see he is forced right back in by the people "in charge of him." It shows why he wanted to leave.
This scene, he is out of his room and is dragged down the hall. The hall is very foggy and eerie looking with the dim lights and rotating camera angle. It is dizzying and sickening. It makes you feel like he does.
At the same time as you see the hallway, constant flashes to the picture of maggots keep occurring. This quick flash just leaves your stomach turning. It reemphasizes the degree of his sickness. Its gross, but effective to make you feel uneasy about his state at the moment.
It ends with this very disturbing scene of him melting, being drug to his limo. He is a monster at this point in a dark hallway with very creepy noises ans creams going on. It feels like he is gone and dead, which is his point. It comes with a strong feeling of just death and fear. You have to imagine he dies very painfully after this. The drugs just completely took him over and destroyed him.
These many creepy scenes contrasting with his paradise make an effective view of his original point. He goes through a rollercoaster of life before his horrific death.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Comfortably numb
I chose to analyze the video "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. It was the symbolic videos I have ever seen, just like any of their other videos. They usually have a lot of weird art and odd scenes in them. This video comes from the Wall album and movie. It is a great song about the lead singer's, Pink, emotional journey through his life as he is in a drug related malaise from his addiction to heroine and many other drugs. It is full of dual meaning and symbolism.
The video starts off with him in a very disoriented drug- related state in his hotel room before a concert. His manager busts in and forces the doctors to try to get him ready to perform for a concert that he was suppose to put on right now. This starts showing his struggle, and his main meaning of this video. He wants to escape this world he was thrown into and go back to his inner paradise. The only problem is the rockstar life keeps pulling him back in until it causes him to go over the edge. So, as the pandemonium is occurring around him in his room as they try to bring him back to consciousness, he visualizes his childhood memory of him rescuing a rat. This feeling of bliss and comfortableness comes from his memories of a simpler and a much more innocent time. It is much brighter of a scene than his dark room. This is also where the music begins to lighten up.
The video then shows him developing an illness as a young kid and switches back to him as an adult. As a kid he is forced to stay in bed and rest. As an adult he is slapped awake and injected with a syringe of a drug counter-active. The doctor warns him he will feel sick and immediately you see an image of maggots. It is shocking and gross to convey the sickness. This is followed by him screaming from the sickness. It's very important that you see him as a kid getting sick and him being forced awake. Its dark in both worlds now and his paradise of innocence is beginning to crumble as he is forced back to reality. The rat he rescued dies and he is seen scared as the doctor comes. The visuals begin to makes the viewer feel uneasy and show his displeasure as he returns.
Once the crew have Pink conscious, they begin forcing his clothes on him and cleaning up. At this point he leaves his paradise and the people of his past walk away to give you the feeling of a sad good bye. You see his dead dad, his evil teacher and his doctor just leaving and walking by. Now, he is stuck in the real world and is being drug down the hall. The camera angle is turning and twisting and Pink begins to have his skin melt. This is scary because it is moving very wildly, has constant flashes to maggots and he looks creepy in a dark hall way. This expresses his end because he is far from his paradise and feels like a dark place to be in. This was his death and him losing his comfortable numbing.
The video starts off with him in a very disoriented drug- related state in his hotel room before a concert. His manager busts in and forces the doctors to try to get him ready to perform for a concert that he was suppose to put on right now. This starts showing his struggle, and his main meaning of this video. He wants to escape this world he was thrown into and go back to his inner paradise. The only problem is the rockstar life keeps pulling him back in until it causes him to go over the edge. So, as the pandemonium is occurring around him in his room as they try to bring him back to consciousness, he visualizes his childhood memory of him rescuing a rat. This feeling of bliss and comfortableness comes from his memories of a simpler and a much more innocent time. It is much brighter of a scene than his dark room. This is also where the music begins to lighten up.
The video then shows him developing an illness as a young kid and switches back to him as an adult. As a kid he is forced to stay in bed and rest. As an adult he is slapped awake and injected with a syringe of a drug counter-active. The doctor warns him he will feel sick and immediately you see an image of maggots. It is shocking and gross to convey the sickness. This is followed by him screaming from the sickness. It's very important that you see him as a kid getting sick and him being forced awake. Its dark in both worlds now and his paradise of innocence is beginning to crumble as he is forced back to reality. The rat he rescued dies and he is seen scared as the doctor comes. The visuals begin to makes the viewer feel uneasy and show his displeasure as he returns.
Once the crew have Pink conscious, they begin forcing his clothes on him and cleaning up. At this point he leaves his paradise and the people of his past walk away to give you the feeling of a sad good bye. You see his dead dad, his evil teacher and his doctor just leaving and walking by. Now, he is stuck in the real world and is being drug down the hall. The camera angle is turning and twisting and Pink begins to have his skin melt. This is scary because it is moving very wildly, has constant flashes to maggots and he looks creepy in a dark hall way. This expresses his end because he is far from his paradise and feels like a dark place to be in. This was his death and him losing his comfortable numbing.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Bringing us together
When I was 3 years old, the military moved my family to Camden, New Jersey. I live there for a majority of my life. It was where I grew up and for a while, all that I knew of. My friends were all people I had attended school with since elementary school. We grew up together. All of my childhood memories were with them and I thought these were going to be the people I would be close with my whole life. So, when my 7th grade year came around, I was devastated when I heard I was moving across the planet to Kentucky. It was a shock for me. All I knew about Kentucky was the stereotypes that come from cartoons. I was not prepared to change my life in such a drastic way and lose all my friends. I did not know how I was going to do it.
I moved here during the middle of my 7th grade year, which meant I had to go to school fairly close to when I moved in. This was one of the hardest things for me to do. I felt like I was being thrown to the lions. But, when I arrived at school it was the exact opposite. Everyone just either ignored me or forced very awkward small talk. That didn't make me feel any better, though. I was still without all my friends from New Jersey. I still felt very alone. I just wanted to hear from them, even if I was making friends here.
By my 8th grade year, my solution changed from trying to get myself kicked out of the house by running up the phone bill to creating a Facebook account. It began like a small tree and as my friends list grew, so did the trees branches. I could branch out to people in the area that I kind of knew and get to know them better. The part I loved was the fact that it allowed me to keep my roots planted firmly in New Jersey. My roots stayed strong in New Jersey by being able to hear all their news, staying in contact with them and using it to plan trips back. But as the years came, I gained more friends here, or longer branches and more relationships. My tree had strong roots and was full of strong branches. Through these connections, I was no longer sad and alone. I felt strong, again.
I believe through interactions I became a happier person. I no longer felt alone in this world. Making friends and keeping friends kept me from falling into a dark place. I still keep in touch with my friends from New Jersey, but I find us all drifting apart, like any other relationships. The upside to this is I have made strong relationships that I could not of imagined when I first moved here. I believe it's these bonds that brought me happiness. Knowing that there were people close by interested in what I was doing made me feel appreciated and happy. I think branching out and making these relationships while still holding onto my roots was the smartest thing I could ever do for myself and I encourage others to do it too. Let your tree grow. There are too many people on this planet not to.
I moved here during the middle of my 7th grade year, which meant I had to go to school fairly close to when I moved in. This was one of the hardest things for me to do. I felt like I was being thrown to the lions. But, when I arrived at school it was the exact opposite. Everyone just either ignored me or forced very awkward small talk. That didn't make me feel any better, though. I was still without all my friends from New Jersey. I still felt very alone. I just wanted to hear from them, even if I was making friends here.
By my 8th grade year, my solution changed from trying to get myself kicked out of the house by running up the phone bill to creating a Facebook account. It began like a small tree and as my friends list grew, so did the trees branches. I could branch out to people in the area that I kind of knew and get to know them better. The part I loved was the fact that it allowed me to keep my roots planted firmly in New Jersey. My roots stayed strong in New Jersey by being able to hear all their news, staying in contact with them and using it to plan trips back. But as the years came, I gained more friends here, or longer branches and more relationships. My tree had strong roots and was full of strong branches. Through these connections, I was no longer sad and alone. I felt strong, again.
I believe through interactions I became a happier person. I no longer felt alone in this world. Making friends and keeping friends kept me from falling into a dark place. I still keep in touch with my friends from New Jersey, but I find us all drifting apart, like any other relationships. The upside to this is I have made strong relationships that I could not of imagined when I first moved here. I believe it's these bonds that brought me happiness. Knowing that there were people close by interested in what I was doing made me feel appreciated and happy. I think branching out and making these relationships while still holding onto my roots was the smartest thing I could ever do for myself and I encourage others to do it too. Let your tree grow. There are too many people on this planet not to.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
This I believe Part 2
It took me a few tries, but I found a "this I believe" speech that I could not connect to. I listened to the "God is in her hands" essay by a preacher in St. Louis. I stereotype preachers as great speakers so I had high hopes for it. I was sadly disappointed. He was not a bad talker, his pronunciation and rhetoric was very good and had a soothing tone. His message was not that great though. It has nothing to do with my religious views. I just thought his word choice was to repetitive and his message had little support. He kept talking about a class he taught where he said prove to me that your hands are real. This where he said he saw god. Then, he made an uncomfortable amount of references to his wife and his hands. It was a bit awkward sounding. He also continues to repeat his hands and how that's how he knew god was here. I had trouble picking up the connection between the two. I also was lacking a story to really prove why he believed this. It was mostly him repeating what he could do with his hands to see god. This is a good way of driving a point when you are preaching, but did not work well for me here. I just could not get on board.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
This I believe "The Presumption of Decency"
I connected to this essay, but I feel he is a little to harsh on people for unnecessary actions. I agree with his claim. He says we all become infuriated at random people for little things and assume they are the worst people ever when we do not give them a chance. He gives the example of the cab driver going to slow. He gets back at him by giving him a less than intended tip. Then, he continues his day by ill talking the driver and everything about anything relating to him. All for taking his time, or maybe for a reason he does not even know. It is similar for maybe a waitress who makes us a bit irritated. His claim is that we need to make a point of remembering most people are decent. People are not always like that. I agree. I think people hate complete strangers for unimportant reasons. Maybe like, causing a slight inconvience or just slowing down our day more than expecting or even just doing something that annoys us, but they don't know that. I have become aware of this. I do not let people make me mad for things when I don't even know their lives. It's just common human courtesy to think past ourselves. There are worse people to get mad at. On the other hand, I do not agree with his claim that people naturally hate for everything. I can see him saying that people naturally become very angry over minuscule things that do not really matter, but not hate. I have a different definition of hate then him, and this may be why he wrote this. I believe hate is reserved for those who have done things to us that we could not see doing to others. We can hate someone like Hitler or the Joker, but, I believe, we can't just through hate upon any person for doing something to inconvience us who we will never see again and will very likely never be seen by us again. Hate is too strong of an emotion for every day use. But, for the most part, I agree with him.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Ignite speech outline
Title: A key part to my life
Intro:
I. Attention Catcher-
Keys have been making life accessible for everyone since they were invented.
II. LRL-
I have yet to meet a person who does not have at least one key.
III. Speaker Credibility-
I have had to use keys since I was in grade school and I've been dependent on them ever since.
IV. Thesis-
Keys have helped make my life much easier. I couldn't imagine my life without them.
V. Preview-
There are so many things I need my keys for.
Transition- Most of the time that I need them is to get into my dorm or my house
First Main Point:
LRL: When most people start off getting their own set of keys, they start off with their home key
A. It gives me free access to come and go when I please
-Don't have to depend on others to get in.
- Make my own hours of when I want to go out or come in
B. Keeps my stuff safe and locked away
-No one can get in when I'm gone without my key
- peace of mind knowing it's secure
C. Gives me access to my dorm
- Bed to sleep in
- place to get work done
Transition: If I'm not needing to stay in my dorm, my keys let me take my car wherever.
Second Main Point:
LRL: We all like having the freedom to go where ever when we want.
A. I can go wherever as long as I have my car keys
- Not depending on others for rides
- Place to sleep if need be
- Lets me cure any type cravings
B. Lets me go build memories
- As long as I have my car keys, anything can happen
- Make great stories from going places
C. Keys my stuff safe inside
- If it's locked, it makes it a lot harder to get in
Transition: My keys offer me other rewards, too
Third main Point:
LRL: Watching movies and stopping at gas stations are two things everyone can say they have done before
A. My blockbuster reward card on my keys lets me rent movies
- For a slow night of staying in
- fun times renting movies
B. Speedway rewards cards on my keys saves me money when ever I go
- Gas
- snacks/ drinks
- anything in there
Conclusion:
Restate Thesis: My keys have helped me so much. I couldn't imagine not having any.
Summary of main points: My keys can give me a place to sleep, a car to drive and even a movie to watch with some snacks. Everything else is connected to what my keys already give me access to.
Clincher: In all, my keys have helped me numerous times and continue to help me live my life.
Intro:
I. Attention Catcher-
Keys have been making life accessible for everyone since they were invented.
II. LRL-
I have yet to meet a person who does not have at least one key.
III. Speaker Credibility-
I have had to use keys since I was in grade school and I've been dependent on them ever since.
IV. Thesis-
Keys have helped make my life much easier. I couldn't imagine my life without them.
V. Preview-
There are so many things I need my keys for.
Transition- Most of the time that I need them is to get into my dorm or my house
First Main Point:
LRL: When most people start off getting their own set of keys, they start off with their home key
A. It gives me free access to come and go when I please
-Don't have to depend on others to get in.
- Make my own hours of when I want to go out or come in
B. Keeps my stuff safe and locked away
-No one can get in when I'm gone without my key
- peace of mind knowing it's secure
C. Gives me access to my dorm
- Bed to sleep in
- place to get work done
Transition: If I'm not needing to stay in my dorm, my keys let me take my car wherever.
Second Main Point:
LRL: We all like having the freedom to go where ever when we want.
A. I can go wherever as long as I have my car keys
- Not depending on others for rides
- Place to sleep if need be
- Lets me cure any type cravings
B. Lets me go build memories
- As long as I have my car keys, anything can happen
- Make great stories from going places
C. Keys my stuff safe inside
- If it's locked, it makes it a lot harder to get in
Transition: My keys offer me other rewards, too
Third main Point:
LRL: Watching movies and stopping at gas stations are two things everyone can say they have done before
A. My blockbuster reward card on my keys lets me rent movies
- For a slow night of staying in
- fun times renting movies
B. Speedway rewards cards on my keys saves me money when ever I go
- Gas
- snacks/ drinks
- anything in there
Conclusion:
Restate Thesis: My keys have helped me so much. I couldn't imagine not having any.
Summary of main points: My keys can give me a place to sleep, a car to drive and even a movie to watch with some snacks. Everything else is connected to what my keys already give me access to.
Clincher: In all, my keys have helped me numerous times and continue to help me live my life.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Ignite speech overview
I couldn't imagine my life without my Keys.
I. History
a. first keys
b. change over time
c. Change in society's amount and need of keys
d. Future
II. House Key/ Dorm key
a. access whenever I so please
b. Safe place
c. get to my bed
III.Car key
a. look over time/ my keys appearance
b. access to freedom of going wherever
c. Making memories with my car
IV. Blockbuster/ Speedway reward cards
a. Rent movies
b. savings from speedway
I. History
a. first keys
b. change over time
c. Change in society's amount and need of keys
d. Future
II. House Key/ Dorm key
a. access whenever I so please
b. Safe place
c. get to my bed
III.Car key
a. look over time/ my keys appearance
b. access to freedom of going wherever
c. Making memories with my car
IV. Blockbuster/ Speedway reward cards
a. Rent movies
b. savings from speedway
Sunday, September 9, 2012
My Social Identity
I moved to Kentucky from New Jersey during my 7th grade year. upon me moving here, my dad decided to buy a new computer. Prior to that year, we never had a computer in the house. My dad always had a government laptop for working at home and anything that needed a computer, but I could never use it. So, in 7th grade, being the new kid with no friends and feeling very depressed, I discovered the wonders of the internet outside of the stuff they taught me in library class in school. I was amazed, but I remember all the kids at my school being interested in one thing on the internet: Myspace. This was my introduction to the world of social networking. This was also my ticket to understanding what people were talking about and making friends. If I met someone, even for a few minutes of small talk, I would get a friend request that next day. Soon, I wasn't that lonely anymore. I branched out to a few people, and through networking , I knew a lot more. This is the reason why Goodhealth.com said in an article that social networking has been linked to decrease in shyness or loneliness, strengthens your connections with friends and overall increase in self-esteem. I was living proof of this.
My guidelines for using a social networking website was set by my parents at first. My dad checked it a lot to see if I was using it to talk crap about people or using it for any other dangerous actions. I knew he was checking it because any time I posted anything he didn't like hearing me say, I would hear about it from him. He knew that social identity was just as important as your identity in person. I couldn't just post anything I wanted to look tough, I had to censor myself as if adults were always watching. This was a characteristic I carried with me to maturation to Facebook, where I was at the age that my parents didn't care what I did on there anymore (as long as I wasn't going to jail).
Facebook became very popular my freshman year. That's when I deleted my Myspace and moved to Facebook. But as soon as I started over with this new social network, I remember thinking " wow this is so dumb" when it was complete. It was the same concept as Myspace that made me stop wanting to check it as often: people saying things I was not interested in and trying so hard to get their number of "friends" as high as possible. I hated, and still do, seeing all my friends makes idiots of themselves doing stuff they wouldn't dare do in real life. It seemed as if no one had any self respect for their social identity on their web pages. This is when I started looking at my own social identity and start taking my parents rules as advice.
When I first started, I never posted anything on Facebook. I did not want to look as dumb as my friends did posting about wanting to fight someone, doing drugs, and other stuff like that. I kept that stuff to myself. I did not feel this need to show it off, but for other people, this was their social identity. People used Facebook fights and pictures of them drunk or high to show off how cool they were. For me, I found it brave. The Huffington post posted an article on their website talking about police departments use of socail netowrks. They said "One company, SAS Institute Inc. of North Carolina, teaches police that they can scrape and analyze massive volumes of data from the backsides of Facebook and Twitter – something not everyone even knows is possible." This means at any time you can be watched by whoever, even the police. If I'm engaged in illegal activites, I would want the least amount of people to know as possible. But, then I did something really dumb.
I eventually started using the site a lot more. I had fun with it. It kept me in contact with everyone all the time. I can talk about fun times and enjoy the memories with others who experienced them on there. I didn't care who saw. I started using the site so much, that it wasn't changing me, but it was becoming part of my life. Then, I posted this picture as my profile picture:
I then decided it did not seem necessary anymore to make my internet persona reveal me by posting statuses and pictures about my personal life to show people I'm cool and going out. That's why I decided to take it all down and not focus on my social identity as being cool, but being aware of the power of it. My parents were right when they spoke of the importance of keeping a clean social identity. It's open to the whole world. Anyone, and apparently anywhere, can see it. According to socialbakers.com, a website for making social netwoking sites, There are over 175 million people on Facebook. That's a lot of people.
It's also one of the few things most Americans have in common and its a part of millions everyday lives. And growing with over 145,000 people joining since last week in America alone. But why is it so popular? Because it is so addictive for so many reasons. A study from techaddiction.com gave me 20 reason including mood booster, informative and keeping in contact with family. These are all very accurate reasons and everyone has their reason. I found it addictive for me because if I needed plans for the night, they were there and if I missed out, I could catch up quick. Everyone would put up pictures of a party I missed and I could hear from them what happened right on Facebook. These were also very fun and easily accessible memories to come upon. That's all it was good for for me though.
As time went by, I found it a lot easier to use a telephone to stay in the loop. It was also a lot safer for my image and no worries about starting conflict by talking to the wrong people. My social identity became less and less active. Now, my social networking activity is back to was when I first started. I am aware of who is watching and who is on my Facebook, like family and coworkers. Keep my activity at a minimum because I never feel I have anything to say people have to hear. And if I need to contact people I give them a text. I am out of the hype of social media. I have no posts and can't remember the last time I received a notification. I end by showing you the change in my social identity, or my lack of. I took this picture at my senior prom. This has been my profile picture for 5 months now and I doubt it will change any time soon.
Is Google making us stupid?
I just want to stay I feel like he is contradicting his argument by asking us to read this long article, but says Google and the internet has made it hard to read a long article. Anyways, I agree with his ideas about the effect of Google and the internet has on our minds. It was almost scary how accurate he was with some of his claims. As I started reading it, I stopped and checked the scores of the games, and when I came back he was telling about how difficult it is today to stay focused on reading something. It is true because even once on an article and reading it, there are so many flashy things going on around it, like advertisements, links and maybe even videos. I feel like the internet has, also, taken away some of my attention span because of the accessibly to more interesting things on the internet. The only time I can stay truly focused on something is if I am pushing a deadline or if it is easier to read than text documents. It was like the comic we read compared to the article on "rhetorical situation." I think the author hit it right on the head when he compared it to clocks and which we prefer looking at. I rap up this post by saying I share his fear of artificial intelligence and question its need. Knowledge is best left open to the world and given to those who wish to seek it. It is something that is earned.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Lloyd F. Bitzer
This essay was fairly to grasp on the first glance at it. I had to google a lot of the terms to get an idea of what he meant by them. Once I understood it, though, it clicked to me. Rhetoric is using the English language to strength a point the writer is trying to make using specific word choice. It is almost an art of it's own now and if used effectively, can do a lot for the audience reading it.
The author of this paper states that rhetoric is based upon situation. A rhetorical essay is then used to bring attention to something. He used an example in the essay to explain this to me. When he speaks of the man who commits injurious actions, he says the man's actions are rhetorical. The exigence is what he says is used to bring attention to the man's actions. This makes for a rhetorical essay.
Rhetorical situations have three constituents: exigence, audience and constraints. Exigence is defined as any "imperfection marked by urgency." In a rhetorical exigence, something is brought to attention for a positive outcome. I liked to think of the debate on smoking in this situation and how it is a rhetorical exigence because it brings attention to a deadly substance and calls for positive attention to it. The second and most important part, to me, is the audience. A rhetorical situation is nothing without a target audience to influence. The paper is written in attempt to cause change in the situation so without the audience, the writer can do nothing with his words. The last is constraints which are the objects and events you use to build and strengthen your point. Many times it can be examples or your own beliefs.
He then later begins to discuss more important points of rhetorical situations like having a fitting audience and asking for the write audience. Without this, there will be no desired outcome. The importance of organization of the writing can also effect the outcome. He raps up by saying rhetoric exigences will always be here, will always be important to talk about and will always need persuasion out of. This is why rhetoric has to be important to us.
The author of this paper states that rhetoric is based upon situation. A rhetorical essay is then used to bring attention to something. He used an example in the essay to explain this to me. When he speaks of the man who commits injurious actions, he says the man's actions are rhetorical. The exigence is what he says is used to bring attention to the man's actions. This makes for a rhetorical essay.
Rhetorical situations have three constituents: exigence, audience and constraints. Exigence is defined as any "imperfection marked by urgency." In a rhetorical exigence, something is brought to attention for a positive outcome. I liked to think of the debate on smoking in this situation and how it is a rhetorical exigence because it brings attention to a deadly substance and calls for positive attention to it. The second and most important part, to me, is the audience. A rhetorical situation is nothing without a target audience to influence. The paper is written in attempt to cause change in the situation so without the audience, the writer can do nothing with his words. The last is constraints which are the objects and events you use to build and strengthen your point. Many times it can be examples or your own beliefs.
He then later begins to discuss more important points of rhetorical situations like having a fitting audience and asking for the write audience. Without this, there will be no desired outcome. The importance of organization of the writing can also effect the outcome. He raps up by saying rhetoric exigences will always be here, will always be important to talk about and will always need persuasion out of. This is why rhetoric has to be important to us.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
5 sources for social identity project
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/
http://www.everydayhealth.com/healthy-living/0406/the-facebook-effect-good-or-bad-for-your-health.aspx
http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/?interval=last-week#chart-intervals
http://www.webpronews.com/how-lawyers-use-twitter-facebook-in-court-cases-2012-04
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/web-surveillance-social-media_n_1854750.html
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Huxley vs. Orwell
I think this was a very clever comic and it brought up a very good point that is kind of ironic. I say this because it is not our dangers that are killing us, like Orwell said, but it is our pleasures that are killing us. And, like we learned in class when discussing apathy and other ill effects of the pleasure our society finds in things, it is killing us. I like his choice in presenting it in a web comic. That was the only way people would have read it and find it interesting to read today on the internet. It had illustrations to go along with it making it funny and visually pleasing and also a bit more pleasing to read. I know I would be more likely to skip over an article if it was in paragraph form rather than a comic strip. This proves what the author meant by Huxley knew our real threat. Orwell was afraid we would not be allowed to gain the information, but that's not how it turned out. Huxley was correct in that we will have the information, but will want our addictions and worldly pleasures over seeking to gain information. We can read a book or article and learn, but would rather read a comic or something funny on the internet. I thought was very clever. If it was presented any other way, I would not have understood what the author meant as well. They were right for choosing a comic. I enjoyed it.
Monday, August 27, 2012
Response to Honey Boo Boo Child
I feel like he is linking these two events because they both deal with society's need to be entertained to the point where they do not see the real problems going on. The suicide is apparent of this because no one tried to talk him off, but this young girl has a big problem with how she is morally being raised, her future and even her health by drinking that juice. The author of the article is angry and disgusted with both of those videos. I, personally, am as well. I think it was inhumane to sit there and watch a man violently kill himself. Not to compare the two as equally bad, but even watching this little girls life being ruined was hard to watch, too. The only opposing view I have with the author is that he seems to hate the girl, where I merely blame her parents. But, this is why many Americans are drawn to it. The outlandish behavior that push the lines of humanity and show us their lack of dignity. It is behavior we find shocking because of how extreme it is. It is amazing for us to witness such unnatural events. I think it is also making us apathetic in the sense that we would rather be entertained than save a human's life. But, at the same time, there are videos and shows out there that make us want to make a positive difference in the world. It is a motivation thing. What do we want more: Entertainment or Praise?
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Reality TV
Reality TV has always been something that I could not get into. I have tried before because everyone else would always talk about how entertaining it was to watch, like Jersey Shore or those dating shows on VH1. For me, it was just boring. I hate seeing people be mean or act dumb in public, so why would I want to watch it for fun. I could never let myself become consumed in all of that. That's why reality TV has had little impact on my life. I do not let the decisions they make on those shows effect how I dress, act or live. Mostly because they are not the type of people I want to be compared to. I also have never been much for gossip and back stabbing, like survivor. The people on these shows act like high school kids with their fights and problems and then continue to say I hate drama. That's why the only thing reality TV has done for my life is make me more conscious of my own actions so I don't make myself look bad. It's like these people are completely oblivious of how they look on national television. I think this what makes me dislike reality TV the most. These stars act with a lack of respect for their own image and this makes society want to act eh same. Then, when other nations see us, this is what they have in store. We are a country that worships rude and stupid celebrities. And our society will continue to make them more rich and famous as long as they all continue to follow these peoples' every move. Our society keeps up with their every move, acts like them and, in some cases, will look like them. Like the Bad Girls Club, where all they do is fight and yell at each other. It reflects on our society to the point that girls want to be considered bad and tough like them. I find it sad that our society would rather be cool and dumb then be an enjoyable person who is actually intelligent. Our society needs to look for role models in people who mean something, not the idiots we see on reality TV.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)