| Submitted by rodalex on Monday, May 1, 2006 - 14:24 |
Playlist
This was an excellent opportunity to see how musical themes tell stories. Details of my particular theme of money are explained in the above link.
Podcast: Dead Poet's Society
This was a great assignment because prior to it, I had no knowledge of podcasts. I did not even know that podcasts were internet radio broadcasts. This particular podcast discussed the life of Edgar Allen Poe. I am pleased with the information we were able to relay about Poe. The music aided in portraying his gloomy life. I would have enjoyed doing a remake to fix our technical errors such as voice decibel level, but schedule conflicts prevented the group from getting together. Overall, I am appreciative of my new comprehension of podcasts.
Final Collage
1st Collage
Repetition Collage
The purpose of my collages was to show that I have given my life to Jesus Christ. I avoided putting any pictures of myself because I want to represent my life purpose. As a Christian, I have a purpose and desire that people will see God and God alone when they look at my life and my accomplishments.
Photoessay
The photoessay talks about the use of steroids and the different reasons why people chose to take this drug. This photoessay analyzes that steroids are usually associated with athletes, but today more males are obsessed with their body image and will use steroids to gain better looks. I conclude the photoessay by offering a healthier solution to gaining a better physique.
April 4th Assignment
I used the April 4th assignment to begin brainstorming possible topics for my Hitchcock paper. Looking back, I think it is somewhat humorous that I did not use the topic I discussed in this assignment for my paper. I feel that in writing your thoughts change constantly as you figure out what exactly you want to put in your paper. You cannot simply write about the first thing that comes to mind. Instead, you must go through extensive brainstorming and planning to ensure that your paper will talk about ideas that you feel most confident writing about.
April 6th Video 1
April 6th Video 2
YouTube is a consumer media company founded in February 2005 for people to watch and share videos worldwide through the Internet. Anyone who is a member of the website can post and share videos. The website is uncensored so there are many amateur videos that are morally ridiculous. The choice of video literature that people tend to share online reveals the dumbing-down of American culture.
I decided to examine two videos depicting physical altercations. Many people, including myself at one time, are guilty of watching fight videos. Sadly, these videos are viewed as humorous. But what is so humorous of watching someone suffering a physical beating? My main problem is that people find it okay to film fights. The individual who films a fight must think that it would be a good idea to film and share it with his/her friends and the world. This is extremely evident in the second clip where the guy is asking everyone to stand clear of the camera. Notice how in both clips no one is trying to stop the fight. Instead, there are people cheering and screaming in reaction to the fight. They only intervene after someone has fallen on the ground defeated. In summary, there is an audience of people who are only concerned with seeing a fight. However, no one seems concerned with trying to prevent the fight from occurring. This is the culture that we live in; a society on the decline.
Blog
Here is my blog. My participation in class discussion can also be seen by viewing the comments I made outside of my blog. For example, I was the one that sparked an interesting discussion on rap music and its influence to society in the beginning of the semester.
Hitchcock Paper
I enjoyed watching and analyzing North by Northwest and Psycho, two of Alfred Hitchcock’s films. The paper serves to support that Hitchcock used similar themes in all of his works. I plan on picking up psychology as a second major so I was elated in the opportunity to discuss the psychological term “oedipal effect” in my paper. My examination of the music used in the film forced me to think of music found in all movies. I thought it would be good to talk about this in my paper because music is very vital in building plots and themes. This assignment will have future implications in increasing my skills in film analysis.
Final Reflections
The purpose of Computer and English Studies is to show the growing importance of technology in literature. I feel that my views on writing have seen a positive change this semester. I no longer think of writing as simply composing five page papers on seemingly meaningless topics. I now know that writing entails all forms of nonverbal communication. In this world of decreased communication, it is important to appreciate all forms of writing. We live in a technological country, so it is great that I can combine technology with written communication. Computer and English Studies would have been a useless class fifteen years ago. However, today’s culture needs classes like this one to show that writing is still a vital skill to have.
I enjoy taking classes where I can learn skills that can be used after I complete the course. Among other things, I can now make web pages. I am a leader of an organization at the University of North Carolina. We currently do not a club website but I have every intention to create a website this summer that members can start viewing in August. I am glad that I took this course, I have learned skills that will last a lifetime (or at least until technology gets so advanced that I will need to take another course!)
rodalex's blog | login to post comments
