In the beginning of the year, media communications was my least favorite class. The horribly short blog post I did are evidence of this. I didn’t feel like we where learning anything important. While the short films we watched where interesting and filming our own movie was fun, that’s not what I expected to do in this class; I took digital media to learn about filming and editing movies. Once we started studding the actual culture of various types of media I felt like the information I was receiving was more valuable. Watching Michael Wesch’s speech about the anthropology of Youtube was definitely the most interesting part of the year. I thought the part of the vide where one of Michael’s students used a mirror to show she was talking to a camera was very insightful, but overall the entire video gave a great deal of interesting information, especial to someone interested in sociology such as myself. When he talked about first blogs and showed those of himself and his students it gave me more confidence when making my own blogs.

When doing the Digitally Nation unit we received a lot of useful information on how the media and technology has change the world, and we got the opportunity to debate whether we thought these changes where good or bad. I noticed that most of the tabs on the Digital Nation site had something about video games. I really liked what the Gee guy said about how video games help us learn not only about the world but ourselves.

I think I would have enjoyed the advertisement unit more in we didn’t focus on the food industry. This is a technology-orientated class so I think it would have been cool if we studied computer ads or maybe even ads you see in web page margins. I didn’t like watching Food inc. because most of their information was biased.

Overall this class was enjoyable, especially once we got to second quarter.

Food Inc.

The goal of this video was to make the food industry look as bad as possible, so I think it was a little biased. They filmed farms with the harshest conditions, rather then showing us how the average one ran.

The major reason animals grown for food have such poor living conditions is not because the companies only care about money and power, but we, the consumer, demand food cheaply and quickly. There are also laws in place that make it so places food is grown and processed must maintain a certain level of cleanliness or risk being shut down. As for the way the workers a treated, I think they are just as much at fault. Most workers with poor conditions are illegal immigrants and if they only receive harsh treatment because they can’t complain without risk deportation. Apparently the immigrants think this treatment is better they the working to become a legal citizen.

As for the vast amount of corn grown in the U.S, every region has a prominent crop ours is corn. One of videos points is that feeding a cow grass can kill 805 of the E. coli in the cows system; however, what the video fails to tell us it that not all E. coli are bad. In fact one of the only strains that is harmful to humans is O157:H7, the strain that causes food poisoning. Other strains found in almost all mammals produce vitamin K2, which prevents osteoporosis and coronary heart disease, and prevents pathogenic bacteria from inhabiting the intestince.

The chapter about seed irked me more then the others mostly because it was true. Monsanto can get away with owning the right to seeds not only because they have more money and power, but because so many people of govermental possistions also work for Monsanto. What irritates me the most is that they are all elected official, meaning they where put in office by the American people and most of them continue to be re-elected despite the obvious harm they are causing.

Digital Nation

The past week we have been watching our peers present their tabs from Digital Nation. Everyone had great information to share, and it was very interesting. 



First, I will discuss Living Faster, Brant and Keith's tab. The facts they presented about how technology is affecting our bodies where very interesting. For example, one hour of playing a high paced action game can increase visual perception. They also mentioned that as we reach adult hood 60% of the brain prunes off, and the sections of the brain that decay depends on how we live and technology directs this. We also discussed the topic of multitasking. Some said people switch from one activity to the next with such haste because they lack focus. I think that doing multiple activities simultaneously could actually require more focus then devoting your attention to a single activity if you want to focus on them all at once and not get anything mixed up.

When Justine presented her information about what stood out to me the most was the censorship discussion. Justine showed us a video about a girl with anorexia and how she went to websites that glorified anorexia. They even turned the disorder into a goddess called Ana. There are harmful website, but no one owns the internet so it can’t be censored as a whole.

In the Virtual Worlds tab, presented by Willie, Cody, and Kinsey, I found the part where scientes where putting people in a virtual setting and making them think it was real. Someone said this was like dreaming, but our dreams are not controled by someone else so I would clasify it more as brainwashing. Kinsey mentened Second Life to show how virtual worlds affect us. In Second Life people can trade and earn real money. They can get jobs and form relationships. Some virtural sites try to make them more real then reality, which is scary.

Vlog 5

Vlog 4

Epic

Our epic unit is coming to a close and it has reminded me why I enjoy epics so much. We have viewed the Lord of the Rings trilogy and PowerPoint presentations paralleling other epics. All of the PowerPoints where arranges and presented nicely; however, my favorites where Justine’s Harry Potter parallel, Reece’s Iron Man parallel, and Chris’s Avatar parallel.

Harry Potter vs. Lord of the Rings

I’ll start with Harry Potter. The hero of the series, Harry Potter himself, closely relates to Frodo, hero of Lord of the Rings Justine points out that in both movies the heroes where the only possibilities for the quest they must complete, destroy Voldemort and the ring respectively. The heroes of these two films are both very selfless. They put themselves in danger to protect another on more then one occasion. I like the way Justine paralleled guides from the two movies. Gandolf and Dumbledore are both old and powerful wizards and guide the hero with their great wisdom. I think putting a picture of a mermaid and ent as the background of her supernatural forces slides was an excellent idea and really added to the presentation. I like how she paralleled the Order of the Phoenix with the Fellowship of the Ring. Both organizations where created with the purpose of eradicating evil from their respective worlds. Justine was also one of the few who has a language parallelism. She showed us Harry Potter’s parseltongue, language of the snakes, as well as magical terms and the elves’ and dwarves’ language from Lord of the Rings.

Iron Man vs. Lord of the Rings

Reece’s presentation of Iron Man grabbed my attention right away with the picture of Tony Stark’s face next to the Iron Man face. I liked Reece’s parallels between Stane and Gollum. Both characters betrayed the hero of the film they where in; for example, Stane had Stark kidnapped, and Gollum tried to steal the ring from Frodo. Both also died horribly in the film; an arc reactor explosion and plummeting into the depths of a volcano. This shows how a characters in a science fiction film can be similar to those in high fantasy film. Although Iron Man didn’t have any true supernatural forces, Reece used the Iron Man suit. It enhances the abilities of Tony Stark, the hero of the film, by alowing him to fly and fire a pulse cannon. Reece also talked about Jarvis, Stark's sarcastic computer AI.

Avatar vs. Lord of the Rings

Finally, Chris’s Avatar presentation had amazing pictures to help focus our attention on the parallelism. He did a great parallel of Jake Sully and Frodo Baggins, the heroes of the two films. Chris focused on the bravery and compassion of the two characters. I like how he did a comparison of creatures and races found in each world like the Na’vi and elves. It's amazing how two difrend races from two very difrent worlds can be so simmilar. This can also be aplied to life to show that although people have difrences, we are also very simmiler. Like Justine, Chris did a parallelism of language in his PowerPoint using the Na’vi and elves’ language.

Princess Bride

Princess Bride

View more presentations from apocalyptickitten.

I really hate blogs

I hate blogs

Lord of the Rings Commentary

Watching the commentary of Lord of the Rings has its advantages and disadvantages. We learn a lot about the making of the film such as special effects and camera angle tricks; however, we don’t actually get to experience the full effect of the film. One effect I enjoys was the way the directors produced the small image of the hobbits to normal people. They mostly filmed two background images together, making the hobbits look smaller than normal, and the normal people looking larger than they actually are. Another thing I found particularly interesting was the fact that they didn’t want to put in an introduction, but it was a requirement so they made an introduction that told about the ring’s origin.

Epic Final

A vast landscape full of rolling hills, soaring peaks, and enchanted forest. Hero’s pure of heart and full of valor questing to put and end to a great evil. An unknown force granting divine inspiration of a great power just when the characters need it most. These are some of the qualities of an epic, the greatest stories ever written. I will be discussing the above elements in relation to The Lord of the Rings, the trilogy directed by Peter Jackson and based on the novels written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

I think one of the most important aspects of an epic is the vast world it takes place in. The Lord of the Rings begins in a small peaceful hobbit village called the Shire and we are taken to many exotic locations within the realm of Middle Earth, such as Rivendell, Helm’s Deep, and Isengard. Many establishing shots are used to show landscape. This is a visually appealing way to show just how

vast this landscape is and emphasize the length of the characters journey.

Without a hero and his quest, there is no story, which is why I have chosen to make that my next point. Heroes are a perfect model of the society they come from. They represent all that is good and just. In the beginning of the “Fellowship of the Ring” Bilbo tells Frodo he is the only Baggins that showed true spirit. Frodo also has a purity that no one else has which makes it so that he is the only one who can carry the ring. All others who touch the ring become corrupted by the power it possesses. In Rivendell Frodo says,” I will take the ring, though I do not know the way,” showing his courage and will to do what is right The struggle to maintain his identity represents the struggle of all mankind to hold on to the good in a world full of evil temptations and corruption.

Another important element in an epic is the supernatural. This takes many forms in Lord of the Rings. Of particular interest are the wizards, Gandalf and Sarumon. In the first movie they have a battle using only their magic. This battle also shows that the evil forces are stronger at this point in the film because of Gandalf’s loss; however, in the second film when Gandalf rides over the hill during the battle of Helm’s Deep we see that the forces of good have dramatically increased. A high angle of Gandalf is given to show he is powerful and in control of the battle. The elves are also a strong supernatural figure. They are immortal and most have superhuman grace or agility. In the second movie, The Two Towers, we are introduced to the ents, which are living trees possessing a vast knowledge of the worlds and incredible strength.

The story of Lord of the Rings was intended as a sequel the J.R.R. Tolkiens less complex children’s boo The Hobbit; however, the story developed into much more. Lord of the Rings was written over a twelve year period, and initially intended to be one volume pared with The Silmarillion, but the publisher decided to omit the second volume and publish Lord of the Rings as thee. The writing of such a great story can be and epic quest it’s self.

Rocky Paper & Scissors

Rocky, Paper, and Scissors, made by Weston Allen and Tony Thompson of Lawrence High School, was a fairly amusing video parody of Rocky. The freeze-frame introductions at the beginning of the film was a great way to show the characters. It was unclear weather the coach coming around the corner was an editing error or put in for comedy. Music was placed at appropriate intervals in the film, and the music choice in the ending scene made it seem more dramatic. The camera was a little shaky during the tracking shots of the protagonist, but it was a fairly good high school film.

Carnival of Souls

Carnival of Souls was written around the setting in 1962. The scrips was written in three weeks and, the movie was filmed on a $17,000 budget and a five man crew. It had little dialog because the director wanted to make a psychological thriller. The movie turned out surprisingly well, although it didn't gain popularity until 30 years later. And even then it was more popular among young and older adults.

Catalyst

Insanity

f

Unexpected tragedy

On August 14, 2009 in Helmand, a southern province of Afghanistan, Lance Corporal Joshua M. Bernard was fatally wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade. While laying on the ground injured, an AP Photographer, Julie Jacobson, captured the images of Bernard lying below two soldiers helping him. Jacobson later decided to publish the photo, deeming it portrayed the 'grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it. This is a valid reason for posting the photo, but Jacobson also ignored the wishes of the family, who didn’t want her the publish the photo. This goes against the NPPA Code of Ethics.  

Photo Manipulation

Although the editing on this photo is minor, the two pyramids where moved closer together, many would still consider it unethical. Moving pyramids together so the image will fit on a magazine cover may seem insignificant, but it is a misrepresentation of the truth.  It may start as fitting an image on a page, but it doesn't end there.