To be honest, the only reason I even registered for this class was because it took care of some requirements that I needed, but as time progresses in this class, the more I enjoy my time spent in this class. Upon entering this class, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew that we would be dealing with computers and English, which are two of my weakest subjects. I feel that by incorporating English with computers that I will both progress as an English student as well as become better with computers, skills that I need. Professor Anderson was always very helpful if any of his students needed it, and for that I am very appreciative. Everytime that I was having trouble doing anything with my projects, he was able to explain it very well which would enable me to fix my mistakes in the projects.

This class has made literature more fun by relating it to things I am interested in like music and movies. I absolutely hated character analysis when I was in high school because it was more or less a chore, but in this class it has been somewhat entertaining because I can relate them to song. There was not really anything that I just did not want to do during the class. The way we were doing assignments was so intriguing that it was actually fun and somewhat challenging. It was challenging in a sense that I was forced to have a broader mind and be more creative. Usually doing an analysis it’s just the same thing over and over again, but we analyzed something four different ways and each was a challenge. I do not believe that I have ever enjoyed an English class like I have in this one.

I have made great strides in how I interpret literature, songs, and movies this semester as a result of this class. While I am listening to songs, I find myself wondering what the song is really about. I often find myself looking up the lyrics to each of the songs so I can better understand what is going on in the song, as well as trying to figure out where the songwriter is coming from. When I used to watch movies, I never noticed small things like subtle music to signify moods in films. Obviously, I notice music like in Jaws where the the music signifys the shark coming to attack, but I would have never noticed that there was no music in No Country For Old Men. Now, I try to pay more attention to subtle things like that to better understand movies.

This type of behavior I think can help me in the next four years. I really enjoy what we have done in the class. We have done a playlist, 2 podcasts (one live and one recorded), 2 collages, and a video. These are four totally different ways to accomplish the same goal, which is to further understand literature, music, and movies. I think that I have done pretty well with my limited knowledge of operating computers and I hope that my revisions exemplified my growth as a student in this class. With each revision, I got much more comfortable with each of the programs we used. Also, I felt like I dove deeper into each topic. I hope that as my college career progresses, I only get better with my literature and computer skills as well as enjoying each more.

First Playlist: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/48
I really enjoyed this assignment because it wasn't just a character analysis to me, it was an enjoyable assignment. Throughout my school career, English has been my least favorite subject but assignments similar to this can make my English experience much more enjoyable. I also feel that I learned a lot more from doing the analysis this way because the assignment appealed to one of my favorite things, music.

When doing the playlist, I ran into a little trouble with the layout of the page but I plan to fix that with my revision and possibly take out one song and replace it with another.

Second Playlist: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/169
In my second version of my playlist, I replaced the James Taylor song about love with another up tempo, angry with the government song called "Bulls on Parade". I mainly chose this song because the whole song is a metaphor for the bands dissatisfaction with the government. I saw this as a perfect fit for the playlist. I had considered this song to be in my first version of the playlist but decided against it because of the foul language at the outset, but I feel now that it is such a perfect fit that it must go in. I didn't have any other changes to my playlist. I feel as though it is somewhat complete. I'm really happy with the way things turned out with the playlist.

Final Playlist: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/305
To finalize my playlist, I really just went a little bit deeper into each of the songs. I felt like I needed just a little bit more explanation of the songs and how they can be connected to the character of Jason Bourne. I really couldn't think of any other songs that I could put into the playlist. It seemed like I was just doing the same song over and over again so I decided that I should just go with what I had.

The whole making of the playlist experience was definitely tough for me. I am not good with computers at all and this was the first time I have been exposed to HTML and creating links and things of that sort. This I think is something that I definitely improved on as I progressed through the playlist and I think it went very well throughout my revisions, even though I didn't change the format. I felt that Mr. Anderson's comments were very helpful and he pinpointed what needed to be revised.

First Podcast: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/104
I did my podcast on Tom Petty and his band, The Heartbreakers. I chose them because they are definitely one of my all time favorite groups. All of their songs are different and they have such a great flow about them that it makes the songs great. The songs are so simple if you listen to them from a musicians standpoint. In none of the songs does he have a great guitar solo or heart pounding bass line, but he just uses great rhythm for his songs to be great, and that’s what I love about his music. Personally, I am a huge fan of the songs with great guitar solos and things like that, but there is just something about his music that makes it great and I can't stop listening to it.

My Second Podcast: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/265
Again, I had a tough time working with Audacity. I had to make myself just sit down and do it all in one sitting because it was so frustrating for me. Looking back at my final product, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I felt like my revision was so much better than my original. I was more focused in the revision. I also presented both sides of the point I was trying to make, which is essential.

There are definitely some flaws in my podcast. I had a terrible time with Audacity because I really don't know how to work it. At one point I just wanted to throw my laptop out of the window I was struggling so much. As I keep working on it it seemed to get somewhat easier but definitely not where I want my podcast to be. I think the revision went really well and I am pleased with the result that I got.

James Bond collage: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/134
Stairway to Heaven collage: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/172
For my character collage, I chose to do James Bond. GIMP was very difficult for me to use because I had always used Photoshop in the past and I did not have it on my laptop. I did have experience with cutting out images and placing them onto a canvas so that part was not too bad for me. I really wanted to show the characteristics of James Bond that are very well known. I think I had the right idea with the images I chose but the placement and the arrangement could have been better and I think when i revise the collage I will be able to take in everyone else's collage along with Mr. Anderson's comments to make it much stronger.

For my poetry collage, I chose the song "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. This song is very poetic in that it tells a story. I found an image of a stairway that reached to the heavens to use as my background, it fit perfectly for the song. I really like the way the collage turned out even though it’s not exactly what I want. When I make revisions on this, I want to add more to it and try to blend some of the images into the background, I think that would make things look a little bit better.

Second Versions of Collages
James Bond: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/245
Stairway to Heaven: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/246
In the Stairway to Heaven collage, I made things a lot more organized in my revision. In the original I really don't think I had much of a concept but with the revision I decided to go with the religious outlook of the song. For the James Bond collage, I totally changed it. I went with the gun barrel scene which is at the beginning of every Bond movie. With the gun barrel I tried to show the two sides of Bond, Bond the spy, and Bond the lover.

Final Versions of Collages
James Bond: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/257
Stairway to Heaven: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/258
For my final revision of the Stairway to Heaven collage, I added an evil/temptation aspect. I added the guardian which is a symbol for the song and Led Zeppelin. It really brings in a dark aspect. I used it to symbolize the woman conquering evil. In the Bond collage, I had an edge that I didn't realize that was there so I had to fix that with the layering. Then I decided to have the two versions of Bond contrasting to add more to the collage. All in all, I am really happy with how each of the collages turned out.

Video: http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/299
For my video, I analyzed whether or not Everett, from O Brother Where art Thou, was just your average criminal or if he was actually a good man. I really wanted to do voice analysis, but I couldn’t figure out how to balance the sound from the video and my voice. So, I decided just to use titles. They did a pretty good getting my point across but I feel like it could have been better with commentary.

Comments
Here’s a comment I made about Boyz to Men. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/22) This comment was an agreement that Boyz to Men is a very poetic band. I also added in that they could have added a music video which showed the passion of the group for their music.

Here’s a comment I made about the repetition in Cathedral.(http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/29). I commented that the repetition in the story was just merely as it seemed, to show the nervousness of the wife.

This is another comment I made about Cathedral. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/30). I liked this comment because I believe its not the first thing people think about when they read this story. Its usually just about the blind man.

Here I chose Led Zeppelin as the most poetic group ever. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/9). This comment could have shown my bias because of my love for the group but I think I made a good case for them.

Here is where I made a comment on the Third Eye Blind Podcast. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/102). I stated that the podcast had good flow and that I really liked how it turned out.

Here is where I commented on the The Clash podcast. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/118). Because everyone before me had commented on everything else, I just elaborated on the transitions that were in the podcast. They were very well done but could have a little work done to them.

Here’s what I said about the The Beatles podcast. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/112). I really liked this podcast but I felt that the music was often times too soft and the volume needed to be increased.

Here are my thoughts on the Ben Harper podcast. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/107). I had never heard of Ben Harper and this podcast was very informative and was very well done.

Here are my thoughts about the live podcast on political satire. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/162). Thinking back to the podcast, I still believe that the group was incredibly one sided in their remarks.

Here are my thoughts on the music in O Brother Where art Thou (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/239).

Here are my thoughts on the connection between O Brother and The Odyssey (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/224)

Here are my thoughts on No Country For Old Men (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/195)

Here is what i thought of the Braveheart/Anchorman Mashup (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/274)

Here are my thoughts on the Pirates of Agrabah mashup (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/273)

Here is what I thought about the collage of The Joker. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/298)

Here are my thoughts of the Red Dirt Road Collage. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/296)

Here is what I thought of the final Harry Potter Collage. (http://www.teachmix.com/litcast/node/290)