Response to "Dark Days" Documentary

The first thing that jumped out to me from this documentary, was how it was shot in all black and white. It adds this effect to where you can't look through the lines. It almost seems as if they want to throw these homeless people, where they live, and how they live, right at the viewer.

The characters and people that were in this documentary were very diverse in the sense of homelessness. A few of them had direct problems with Cocaine and other hard drugs. One of the characters in the video said that almost 80% of the people down there are addicted to cocaine and other hard drugs, and maybe even more!

It wasn't that the different people were idiots, some of them could actually talk, be literate, and be able to form sentences without going on and on. One of the people (You could easily tell by how much he cooked) loved to cook. He was always looking for food, for ways of seasoning, and using tricks he had learned.

The director had shot a lot of footage of a train going by really fast and loudly, as well as a lot of video of rats and mice running across the ground. I feel like the train was to signify that they were extremely close to civilization, and people. Almost as if they were slowly becoming closer and closer to regular (home-owning) people. The rats made the place seem even more dirty and grungier. It made it seem as if there was grime, and food everywhere; that it was completely unsanitary and no one should live there.

WRD Video

Response To Video Game Article

Wow! That article was incredible, playing with all of the mind-tricks, and showing how sounds, noises, and music can tell stories, without having to have any dialogs, or main stories that articulated by plain text. I completely agree that video games can tell stories. They can tell stories simply by having the character run through the level with different types of dialog and text, to sounds and songs. I believe video games can tell a story about the same as any other form of literature, but the fact that you are immersed in it, by interacting with the people, the story, and all of the outside objects, impacts on the human mind harder. I feel like it buries down into your mind, and you can recall it. People can recall actors, and movies, and plot-lines, most of the time. People will always be able to put stories together if they are a part of it, it's like they are living through the history and story themselves. Books and literary devices like oral histories are different because you may be able to read the text, and hear it, but it might not feel the same. Being fully immersed in the video game, learning and comprehending whats happening, without having to try and piece together things from the book, from cover to cover, it's a lot more cohesive when you look at a video game. Granted, you can be immersed in a book, and you can use imagery and context clues to "Paint a Picture" in your head, but what if you cant imagine a scene? A senario? Could it be so incredibly absurd that you can't picture it? What if someone had it already depicted? and you could interact with it and become a part of the history? I think that video games can not only accurately depict a story, but can also fully bring you into it, and have you experience it first hand. It can really get you to think, both critically and analytically, without it all being given to you from a reader's voice, to text that explains the problems later in the book. I think video games definitely can tell both a story and fully engage you in the events in that story.

Outline/Story Board of This I Believe Speech

This is in significance to talking about the "Home" phone, and being a part of a family without having a cell phone.

Telling about how getting a hold of people is easy, with the use of a phone.

Showing a groups tab that I had created.

The log in screen, sort of a blank background to go on with the use of Facebook during the Egypt Government being overthrown

A "Group"

Jordan being a "Little girl" who is tormented and crying, because of drama on Facebook

Facebook and other Social Networking Sites that "Tear" down individuals.

Good things that can be used for and achieved with, using facebook (Notice how in the video that the thumbs down is longer).

A Thumbs down, signifying both the stress caused by facebook and drama, and the disadvantages of Facebook.

A side-by-side comparison of the Facebook and Twitter Logo's

Songs to Use for Speech

Rob Thomas- "Mockingbird".........The reason I chose this song as one of the background tracks, is because it starts out a little slow, and soft, building into a slightly faster tempo, while maintaining it's softness. It has the melody and softness that starts with the beginning of my Speech.

I Hate Kate- "I'm in Love With a Sociopath"......... The reason I chose this song was because it tells of a not very healthy relationship, but still full of love. It shows the happiness with the wrongness and dislike between the words, a lot like the speech I wrote about Facebook.

Analyzation of Screen Captures

Two guys who were talking are being taken away as still frames, showing that people aren't stationary, and our views and opinions change

This picture shows his picture being taken, which he soon starts to move and walk around, which makes it seem that he's different, and is able to change how he looks at the world.

The camera guy, who seems to be taking everyone's pictures. This shows that he gets to determine who is doing what, when, and how fixed and un-real they seem to be portrayed.

As you read in the background, the large "Hollywood" Sign has been replaced with "Hollowood", perhaps signifying the emptiness of everyone and everything portrayed? (It took me watching the video 4 times, to catch this.)

Shown as an imperfection in the glass, like a bubble or scratch. Something that goes against the grain and and makes you see what the world could be like, in the eyes of another person.

Hot girl looks at the main guy, signifying desire and want, but also hinting that it might be "too perfect".

Sad person, she seems to be looking down and away, maybe she is reflecting on her past? Maybe she sees something that reminds her of a bad memory.

This girl looks like she would be someone famous, she seems to be pretty, respected, and has confidence. Later it shows her being taken away as a still-frame. This probably means that she is looked differently, in many people's eyes, and is portrayed differently here.

Woman is carrying a dish with a lobster on it, as she walks by, you can see the lobster as being a still-frame and prop, could this signify that even a perfectly presented dish, is still just a different view from a different perspective?

Lastly, you see the guy who carries all of the props take apart the main scene, during the music video. Is this much of the music video just different views of perspectives and beauty that is taken out of context, and people can see what the world really is?

Music Video Analyzation

This Music Video Analysis was on the song "Through Glass", by the Artist Stone Sour. The song's words tell of how a world that we live in, looking through glass, meaning that we all view the world not only differently, but everything is warped, and twisted even in the smallest of ways. The imagery used in the background shows how everything is not as it seems, and as you walk through life, seeing things "through glass", no one looks at the world as It actually is. How different everyone is, and how people who are popular, famous, beautiful, and sexy, really aren't and are just projected that way "Through Glass". The people start to turn into still shots and props, and are taken off the screen, to signify how they can just as easily be taken away, as they had appeared. To also show how they are just images of how people think, and how people act, especially how we view the perfectness, and sweetness of famous and beautiful to be. How we all view people differently, and how no one can stop looking "Through Glass".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIzDsGyxsQM

The Good, the Bad, and the Facebook

The Good, the Bad, and the Facebook

               As a child, I remember having to call my friends on my house phone to their house phone, ask to talk to them if their parents answered, and then I was able to talk to them! They might have not even been home and I would have wasted all that time just to be told they weren't there.

               In this day and age, kids have the best resources possible for attaining information on where their friends are, who they are with, and what they are doing, all the time! With leading social media sites, Facebook and Twitter, It's easier for the average person and child to get the whereabouts and happenings of everyone, but is this slowly becoming a trend that will be too much for us to handle? With the world and people inside of it progressing more and more quickly and efficiently, is this soon  becoming a race where we can't win? Will it progress too fast and too overwhelming that we won't be able to control it?

               The more and more things that happen in this world, like Egypt protesting and eventually overthrowing the government, to a girl in school getting tormented by the popular girls, both happen by Facebook. Groups can be created to help benefit, or tear down an individual. I remember making groups on Facebook, I made one to create a local Capture the Flag team in my hometown, I also made a few to bump up my online gaming community, and outreach events for my church. Those would be examples of good uses of this technology.

               In the past, I've been a part of some Facebook groups, and started one that I am not really proud of. One was called "Mr. Anderson, the man, the myth, the legend". It was funny, and people would recollect on what Mr. Anderson (Our Civics teacher in High-School who's been teaching for 60 years) taught them, and the life lessons he has instructed on everyone. I've also created a group that called out one of my friends for pretty much being a guy who sits around all day, eats hot pockets, and plays video games. The only reason I did this was because he was my best friend, but he also was the guy my girlfriend cheated on me with. I was incredibly upset with him and her, so I decided to make it a big public thing, to sort of "Get back" at them with.

               Is all of this, a technology that will soon consume us and take us over? Will this eventually become too advanced for us, and cause more problems than benefits? It seems like everyone and their grandparents have Facebook's, is this safe for everyone anymore?

TIB Response to Second Essay

               I listened to an essay called, "Becoming a Parent is Gift". This essay told about how a man and a woman couldn't conceive a child. The neighbors brought over their kids, and they would hang up their coats and jackets, and both the man and wife would be saddened, knowing that they wouldn't be able to know what it feels like. They stopped going to the park, the movies, and anywhere where they might see children and happy pregnant people and couples. Soon they decided to adopt a child. In China, a little girl would be born and she wouldn't be wanted, or couldn't be kept, and then the husband and wife would fly to China, meet the girl, and bring her back with them.

               This essay was written very well, all of the points and sub points were easily distinguished and kept in very good chronological order. The speaker was entertaining, didn't speak in a monotone voice, and was very easy to understand and comprehend. The story tells of how some things are taken for granted, how a lot of people can have kids, and how people have kids on accident. For this man and wife however, it wasn't going to happen biologically for them because the wife was barren. They needed to have a child, it was all they wanted and dreamed of having. The little girl in the end didn't just join their family, she made them a family.

Blog Response to (TIB)

I watched the "This I Believe" speech called, "Speak Now, or Forever Hold Your Peace". This essay told about how a young girl's father died in a motorcycle accident. He was hit by a woman driver. She then resorted to cutting herself, and was diagnosed with manic depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. This story was very emotional to me, even though I haven't experienced a death in my immediate family. It made me think about what I would do, how I would think, and how I would act, if someone close to me passed away and I couldn't say goodbye. As she was telling the story, it was very hard for me to believe she wasn't crying. It was a really moving story, and very sad. Personally, I have a very bad relationship with my dad, from years and years of neglect and non-compassionate fathering. Hearing this story put an image in my head of someday having my dad die, and not ever being able to apologize for how I acted, to hear him apologize for all those years. It reminded that even though I may hate how he acts, every second of every day, he's still my father and I wish he would have acted more of one, because as it stands I wouldn't mind if he was gone. I notice this sounds bad, but with my own experiences with him it's really not very hard to believe. If I were to lose my mom however, I would never be able to recuperate! My mom is the coolest mom ever and she has always helped me through everything I've ever needed help with, or even with things I didn't know I needed help with.

               Hearing this story made me incorporate it into my own life, and made it a part of me. Not many things instantly trigger my past, and my life that I used to live, that's why I chose to do a reflection on this individual essay.