The Billionaires' Tea Party

This documentary attempted to argue that the so called "grass-roots" tea party movement was actually funded by corporate and billionaire interests.   The story followed the narrators attempts to learn more about the Tea Party movement. It also centered around the rich Koch brothers, who Taki (the filmmaker) believes helped to incite the movement.
It begins with what I believe was Obama's 2008 acceptance speech then begins to show footage of a Tea Party rally (which is conveniently called a tea party). He interviewed tea partiers, an expert on propaganda and went undercover to a rally to show how the Tea Party was trying to influence public opinion.
The mood of this film was relatively personal, because it was from the filmmakers perspective.  He was the narrator and also the main character.  It gave the sense that he was going on a journey,  and that the viewer was just along for the ride.  This theme was also symbolized though the repeated road imagery.
The sound track was very good in this film, he used a lot of sound clips from Fox news and there was no ambient sound during the interviews that would have been distracting. It would have been better if he had included some music throughout, but I do not believe that was overall necessary.
I enjoyed how he personally went undercover and acted like a tea party supporter.  It was interesting to see how he handled the situation and not reveal himself.
I am not sure whether or not I would recommend this documentary to others.  It would most certainly insult conservatives, but I am not sure if even my liberal friends would enjoy the confusing message of the documentary.  It was rather disjointed and confusing at times.   It had random shots of the filmmaker driving, which perhaps was meant to serve as a transition between parts, but it seemed random and distracted from the main idea. 
My main problem with this documentary is that it tries to argue its point, but it never fully provides evidence or explains it.  It also completely glosses over the fact that people do choose to be tea partiers.  If the filmmaker had instead focused on incidences where the tea party's billionaires had hired people to feign support, then the documentary would be more powerful. Short answer: I would not recommend it.
In the film he used this overly complicated chart to explain how all the super pacs and Tea Partiers are connected. It left more questions than answers, to be honest.


The Billionaires' Tea Party 54 min. 1/5 stars

How Our Moon Came to Be

^ And who says science isn't cool ^

When our lovely solar system was just beginning to form, the Sun was sorrounded by a bunch of asteroids, dust, and protoplanets.  Protoplanets are baby planets, who develop some sort of core after creation and usually collide with eachother to form the wonderful planets we know today.  Unless its a gas giant which is just a whole bunch of weird that I am not going to get into today.
So when our Earth was young, but was just about fully formed after swallowing a healthy diet of protoplanets, a new protoplanet about the size of Mars named Theia essentially barreled into it.  Theia, like Earth, had a molten iron core. When they collided, most of the planets became molten, and Theia's core became part of Earth's core.  A large chuck of Earth and Theia's mantles were ejected out into space, where they eventually formed an orbit of debris around the Earth. These chunks of debris eventually collided together to form the lovely Moon we know today.

Now of course the moon did not just hit earth head on, because well, when a planet the size of Mars hits a planet of a simular size, neither survive after the explosion of molten chaos.   The moon hit the Earth at an angle around 45°, not too much so that Earth was destroyed, but just enough so that we do not have a lopsided planet named Theia orbiting around the sun still.

The one problem with this theory is that a collison of this magnitude would have to have caused Earth to essentially liquify, meaning that the entire crust was a post apocalypitic sea of magma.   However, scientists have yet to find evidence of a sea of magma like this existing. 

Fun Fact: Theia is named after a Greek Titan who gave birth to the Moon goddess, Selene.  Which is awesome because the protoplanet did become the Moon.  lol astronomers, you so clever.

Here's the Moon, looking all smug. It knows it could have destroyed Earth...I don't trust it. -.-

 

Enjoy this excellent NASA video on the evolution of the moon's surface

 

I WON NANOWRIMO!

Huzzah! I did it!!! I won NaNoWriMo! I wrote 50k!  Its not a complete novel, not in the least.  There are parts I am definitely going to cut out, parts I am going add, I have a whole storyline to streamline. But editing is fun right?

It was hard.  There were days when I simply did not want to write, times when I did not have time to write, and time when homework got in the way. (evil homework) But I still did it, and managed to write more words on the last day than I had ever written.   I am surprised that I still like my story at the end of this.  I want to edit it because I want to make it a good story.    So for now, I am going to bask in my victory. 

So next year, I hope to do it again.  If I can find an idea I am really excited about, I am going to try to win NaNo again. And maybe, just maybe, I'll even finish it early.

 

Here is a lovely excerpt from my novel.  Remember it is a rough draft, so some sentences might be badly written.   Or if you don't want to read it, scroll to the bottom of this post for a song.

 

Jeza is the main character, Captain Murasa is the captain of a pirate ship, the Prince Regent is a jerk (but you might soon gather that)

 

The ship pulled into port.  Jeza scanned the dock.  The buildings were strung with bright red and purple streamers. The dock was very crowded, with rich and poor workers milling around dressed in loose but brightly colored clothes.  Men and women alike wore loose cotton pants, paired with a bright colored sash or long tunic.  Duhai was very different than the towns of Alemeir.  It was far warmer, and the houses were built out of yellow gray clay.  Jeza looked at all the different people when she stopped.  Down below, sticking out in the brightly dressed crowd, stood the Prince Regent, surrounded by courtiers and guards.  They were all dressed in the tight gray and gold uniform, looking rather uncomfortable in the hot sun.  She turned to Captain Murasa.  
“Look” She murmured.  She started to back towards Captain Murasa’s quarters, hoping they would not see her, but she had already been spotted.  The Prince and the courtiers began to push through the crowd towards the dock. Captain Murasa began to shout orders to try to turn the ship around, but they became cornered by two Alemeir royal ships. 
“There’s not much we can do,” He said, “We are surrounded. What do you want to do?”
“They are going to arrest me then? I can fight them off,” Jeza said, putting a hand on her sword. 
“You can’t fight them all alone, and neither can the rest of the crew,” he said sternly.  She seemed to still be considering it.  He grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eye. “You can’t fight them Jeza, do you understand?”  Jeza nodded finally.
“Okay, take my swords.  I worked too hard to get them,” She said, handing them to him.  He handed her a small dagger, which she hid in her boot.
“Give me your gold; they can't arrest me on anything.”  Perhaps before she wouldn't have before but she knew Captain Murasa was a man of his word.  She slipped the small purse into his hand.  They pulled slowly into the port and the sailors began to unload the ship.  Jeza was the last off, Captain Murasa right behind her. 
“When you get down there, run.  Try to slip into the crowd, lose them,” He murmured.  The Prince tried to meet them on the ramp a glare on his face.  Clearly he did not want to be there.  Jeza cursed under her breath and began to back up slightly.  He made a quick step towards her but she slipped out of his reach, leaped over the ramp and dove into the water. It tasted foul but she began to swim as fast as she could towards another wooden dock farther down the harbor. 
Meanwhile, the Prince and his courtiers shoved through the crowd, but the majority of the crowd was going the other way.  They wanted to greet the new ship and trade.  Already some men were picking up bundles of cloth and crates.   Another group carried a type of bluish bamboo on their backs.  The Prince, frustrated, shoved one trader into the water.  Shouts of indignation rose around him as he continued to push forward.  The man clung to the floating bamboo bundle and shouted what was probably a very nasty word at the Prince. 
Jeza pulled herself up onto the wooden dock, soaking wet.  There was a very bad taste in her mouth.  At least she had lost the Prince.
“Hello Jezro,” the Prince said.  Jeza glanced up at him, from where she clung to the dock, half her body still in the foul water.  He was smiling wickedly, “I believe you have something that belongs to me.”

 





What did I win you ask? Bragging rights.  Pride.  Yeah they should really give out actual prizes.  $50,000 dollars would be good, delivered within the next 30 days.  Please enjoy this song of my victory. Also check out Emily's blog! She won too!

NaNoWriting: Start to Finish or ADHD Madness?

Ok, so there are probably a million ways to write a novel.   I am going to focus on two.
Way One: Write that novel from start to finish, from beginning to end, getting that whole plot arc there on the page in the correct order.  (this probably is what some 'planners' do for nanowrimo).  The problem with this is that you could have writers block and be stuck unable to move forward.  If you have it planned out though, this might be a whole lot easier.

Way Two: My way.  Throw every single idea onto the page whenever it suits you.  Write that scene from the middle first? Sure.  I pretty much end up writing a few main scenes here and there when the idea strikes me, then just fill in the blanks later. (pantsing ftw) I am terrified of having to edit it and go in and write the boring parts in between the interesting bits.  The problem with this is that you end up with these chunks that just have endless space in between them.  (it is like actual space! chunks of matter with huge gaps of emptiness in between)

I suppose it really does not matter how you write the novel, but that you write it at all.  Right now I am avoiding writing, so I am procrastinating on my nano by blogging about my nano.  Now that I think about it, that probably is not the best idea.

Happy Thanksgiving/ Black Friday!

One more thing:
I did it! I am over halfway to 50k! 25,000+ words! Whoohooo!  (Yep, I have about 7 days left.  Yeah, I am around 11k words behind.  But that is unimportant!)

NaNoWriMo

 

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, occurs during the month of November.  Essentially, a bunch of insane people, who like to call themselves writers (yes, I am one of the insane) decide each November that it would be a good idea to write 50,000 words in 30 days.  A novel written in a month.  Did I mention it is insane?

 

Synopsis of my novel (which doesn't really describe it because my plot is only half done, so this is just a taste):

My novel is about this girl who finds a door in a tree, opens it, and finds herself in another world, which is kind of medieval, with lots of magic.  And first she's convinced she's gone insane, but eventually she just goes with it.  She becomes a gryphon rider, fights pirates and befriends a boy named Niccolo, all while trying to thwart (thwart, great word) the plans of the ambitious Prince Regent, who wants Jeza's gryphon as his own. 

 

This is my second NaNoWriMo.  Last year I was recruited by Natalie and Emily, with whom I then recruited Maddie.   My novel last year did not go very well.  I wrote 10,205 words.  But then again, it was a success. I had never written that much before.  I tested the NaNo waters and got a feel for it.  (I suppose doing NaNoWriMo makes you want to put 'NaNo' in front of anything NaNoWriMo related.  This is a NaNo Post, and this is a NaNo side bar.  Or is it a NaNo NaNo side bar? NaNo-ception. Like I said, insanity)  This year I am keeping pretty close to the writing par of 1,667 words per day. Well sort of.   I am writing a consistant amount each day, more or less. 

 

I, unlike Emily, am a partial pantser.  For this novel, I already had 6k words written (not counting them in my official wordcount though).  The story was in my head.  But I don't plan out each chapter, or character.  Thats what I like about not planning it all.  It gives your characters room to grow and become individuals.  It allows their role in the story to completely change.  Last year, one of my background characters suddenly became this manipulating mastermind. (ok that seems random, but pretty much she drives several of the characters insane and kills two of them, which is only revealed later in the book)  I did not plan that, but somehow it worked. This year, I have this character who was only meant to be in one part of the book, but sometimes it made sense for him to just pop up, and now he is essentially the main supporting character.  Pantsing is fun, because one idea leads to another and another and then all of a sudden you have a story.  Pantsing is also stressful, because you suddenly feel like you have no more good ideas. 

 

And yes, NaNoWriMo is insanely hard.  But this year, I have the feeling that I really can do this.  I'll have a day where I write next to nothing, and then magically the next day I write 2,500 words.  I've written more words in the last 19 days than I have in the whole 30 days of last years NaNo.  The best part is, it doesn't matter if it is good writing, not now.  For this novel, I kind of get what people say when its just the story being told through them.  Of course I am thinking it all up, but then when I am writing suddenly it becomes just like telling a story, not trying to make the words beautiful, just solely getting the story across.  Thats kind of the point of NaNo. Forcing you to write until you get into a flow and then it becomes (sorta) easy.

 

And yes, there are those moments when I feel like giving up.  I am kind of going through one right now, thanks to a lovely thing called writers block.  But then I look at it, and realize I've written 60+ pages of writing (which believe me just blows my mind), and I realize I just can't give up.  I've made it too far.  

Keep an eye on the Word Count Widget over there to watch my word count steadyily increase-->

P.S. I might post another blog post next week NaNoWriMo related.

Capturing Fall (It is very elusive and evades capture at all costs)

 

So for our next video challenge, we had to make a video "capturing what fall means to you."  This was great, fall is my favorite season.  So I made this video, capturing the trees and flowers in my mom's garden and on this wonderful trail by my house.  I used my mothers DSLR camera.  In my first watercolor video, I used my sister's macro lens, but this time I used my mother's zoom lens.(mainly because my sister refused to let me borrow her lens) You get simular results with a zoom lens, but the camera is much more sensitive to any sort of movement.   And if there is something in the way, it sort of blurs out so you still see your main focus, with an interesting blurry effect that I liked for some shots.   I love using DSLRs for video, because it gets great HD footage and is conciderably cheaper than a really nice video camera.  I am not sure how good the audio is, mainly because I haven't needed it yet.

I found this awesome bluegrass song (fall/winter put me in the mood to listen to country/bluegrass. Don't hate) and I somehow managed to edit it all together with the sad program that is Windows Movie Maker.  I mean, it's alright, but it doesn't do much more besides giving you a few transitions and average effects. 

Once I had edited it, I uploaded it to youtube, and color corrected it to make it a bit warmer in hue (though I fear I might have made it a bit too warm).  I also stabilized it, because I had a few shakey shots. 
The only thing I didn't like about this challenge is that I wasn't able to capture everything I love about fall.  Leaves are only half of it.  I love wearing warm sweaters and drinking apple cider, but a shot of a sweater I'll admit is not very interesting.  Hopefully soon I'll make a video that actually is a type of story, not just a collection of clips arranged into a slideshow.  I can't wait for the next challenge.

If Romney Was President

One of Mr. Romney's main talking points is his business experience.   Let's talk about how his business experience would help, if the government was run like business. 

As the new CEO of America Incorporated, Romney would first have to deal with the 50 daughter companies (or "states" as they are referred to) that are on the verge of bankruptcy.   A few who are just beyond saving would probably have to be cut loose.   Millions of people in California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois would be given the pink slip explaining that they were no longer US citizens.  Of course they would be given serious consideration if they re-apply for citizenship, but only once there is an opening, which probably won't be until the economy gets better.
Some other states would have to be seriously fixed,  with completely new management, probably some more lay-offs, as the states try to follow the example of the healthier, less indebted states.
One of America Inc's main problems is marketing it's product.  Under Romney, America Inc would begin to sell a line of energy drinks, such as Ameri-juice, Public Education Jolt, Infrastructure Blast, and Defence Explosion.   Every citizen would be required by law to purchase and ingest these beverages.
Romney would of course give away free drinks to America Inc's investors, the top 1% of citizens. 
When it comes to foreign policy, it is unclear whether America Inc. will favor vertical or horizontal consolidation. Probably horizontal consolidation, because it is what America Inc has favored in the past. America Inc would probably start with Canada Corp, then move towards a merger with the UK Group (and the rest of it's commonwealths, such as Australia), and then consolidate with the rest of the Americas.  The new company would be now called America-Oceania Inc (1984 references ftw!)
Now that AO Inc has finally become a successful business, the CEO would need to focus on marketing. A new logo-flag perhaps?  The flag would now be in the shape of a circle, with added vector shininess, with brighter reds and blues, because rectangle logos did not test well with the focus groups.
AO Inc needs a spokesperson, the smiling face of the company.  The bald eagle perhaps?  Though it would have to be animated and probably given an accent like the Geico gecko. 
With Romney's leadership, AO Inc might become more successful than Exxon Mobil (the worlds largest company)!
Make sure to vote tomorrow for Obama, but if you are voting for Romney, skip the lines and vote Wednesday.

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(Of course this is completely hypothetical and meant as a joke, this won't happen. probably)

The Mirror in the Third Bedroom: Part Four

I watched as my feet carried me upstairs.   My hand reached out as I turned the door knob.  We were in the third bedroom. 
The ghost slowly lifted my head and forced me to look into the mirror.

My face frightened me.  My sunken eyes were rimed with dark circles, and I looked no more like a  youthful teenager, but someone 50 years older.  My skin had turn a shade greyer, and my cheekbones stuck out a sharp angles.  My eyes, my eyes! They protruded out almost from my gaunt face, wide eyed and staring, the same piercing grey which had once caused me much vanity, now frightened me. They were bright with the horror I was feeling.  
At the same moment,  I began to fill a bit warmer.  The numbing cold that had consumed me for the last week suddenly began to subside.  I began to see light colored smoke rise up out of me.  No, it was not smoke, it was too solid, yet somehow as transparent as air.  As the ghost left my body, I felt my body warm, and life return to my limbs, my mind regained its previous keenness.  The ghost was leaving, I was sure of it now.  It seemed to be escaping from any part of me it could, my back, my knees, my finger tips.  It flowed out of me like wisps of smoke before it solidified, no not solidified, before it accumulated just behind me.  I finally had a chance to look at it's face.  It indeed had a face.  The rest of its body was constantly shifting, as if it were a struggle to try to make itself into a coherent form.  But the face was clear. I could hear myself screaming.  Now I realized why that face I had caught a glimpse of was so familiar.   The aged gaunt face, the dark circles, the eyes.  The unblinking grey staring eyes.  My eyes.  Perhaps I had not realized it before, when my face was filled with youth and my mind could think of lighter things, but now, as I stood staring at the mirror in the third bedroom, I knew.  As I stared into the face of the ghost, I stared into my own face.  Suddenly the murmuring sound grew clear and became one booming voice that rattled the house. 
"I am Rebecca Jones" the voice said behind me.  My voice.
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The Mirror in the Third Bedroom: Part Three

I awoke to that same cold feeling.  I felt myself walking around the house.  The ghost must have repossessed me while I slept.  As my mind awoke, I tried to figure out what the ghost was having me do.  It seemed I was just wandering aimlessly.  After about an hour of this, I began to grow frustrated.  I had to break free.  It seemed the longer I was possessed the less will I had to fight back.  I struggled to move one of my fingers, trying harder even though I could feel the ghost growing angry.  I heard a loud cracking sound and everything went dark.
When I finally awoke, I was still standing.  I could feel an intense sore ache in my legs, as thought I had been standing for hours.  I wanted to cry out, but of course I couldn't.  The ghost was furious, and my head ached with its rage. I knew this time I would not be allowed to leave.
I was possessed for what felt like days.  I spent the time being forced to do pointless tasks like walking up and down the stairs.  Sometimes the ghost would make me walk over to the door and try the door knob, as though further proving that I was trapped, mocking me.  I tired to gage how long I had been there, in that wretched house.  But there was no difference between days.  The house was dark all the time. Cold all the time.
I felt no hunger, even sleep seemed needless.  My mind began to dull as time wore on, it seemed that the ghost had control of that two.  But still two nagging questions remained:  Who was the ghost?  and why had they decided to haunt me like this?  It could have just let me leave that morning. But it didn't. I kept pondering those questions until I finally asked the ghost. I thought clearly, trying to address the ghost, if it is possible to address something inside your own head, what it wanted to do with me.  I could feel it heard me.  I slowly began to turn towards the stairs.

(The final installment of The Mirror in the Third Bedroom will be posted on Halloween night)

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The Mirror in the Third Bedroom: Part Two

I woke the next morning with the sensation of falling.  I had slept through strange dreams.  I sat up abruptly, realizing where I was.  Even in the daytime, the house was dark.  The windows were boarded up from the inside, allowing only small beams of light to shine through.  The house seemed incredibly creepy in the daytime. I stood up and made my way quickly though the house to the front door.  The door was locked.  I shook the knob, rammed against the door and did whatever I could to open it, but the door would not budge.  I tried to ignore the growing pit of anxiety in my stomach. Don't worry, it's just an old door. There's probably another door somewhere. I told myself.  I looked throughout the house, but there were strangely no other leading out side.  Desperately, I tried to pry the boards loose from some of the windows, but those were nailed in strong.  My heart began to beat fast as I realized I was trapped.  I pulled out my cell phone, but it was dead.   I turned it over, and glanced at the familiar inscription.
This phone belongs to
Rebecca Jones
Somehow that reassured me, but not much.  I walked back to the front door.  My hand hovered for a moment, praying it would be unlocked, before I tried the knob again.  Still locked.  Now I was really worried. I had been gone all night, and even if I did make it out of this house, I would still be lost in the middle of this forest.  My parents must be worried sick.  I bit my lip thinking of them. The last time I had seen them, I yelled at them because they wouldn't let me go to Jeremy's party.  Now I might never see them again.  I shook my head, forcing myself not to think like that.  I was going to get out of here.  I looked into one of the mirrors and forced myself to calm down. I smiled a bit, which made me feel better.
Suddenly, I had the strange feeling that I wasn't alone. I glanced back up at the mirror.  In the upper right hand corner of the frame, I could see the faintest outline of a person standing behind me.  I spun around, but no one was there.  I turned back to the mirror and there was the person again, even closer this time.   I wanted to scream, but my voice was silent.  The face was old and wrinkled, with wide, horrifying, staring eyes.  It was oddly familiar.  The thing, perhaps it was a ghost, dove into my right shoulder.  The strangest feeling came over me.  This cold aching numbness spread throughout my body, starting at my shoulder.  Suddenly, I had no control of my right arm, and then my left, and then even my legs would not obey me.  I tried to fight it, tried to manage even a twitch that was under my control.  But as I did so, I could feel the ghost fighting back even harder.  It was angry.  I could sense it. It was like a distant anger in the back of my mind.  It was angry I was fighting back, it was angry I was here, it was angry I had seen it in the mirror. 
As soon as I realized this  my hand began to reach out towards the mirror.   My movements were slow, and stiff, either from me fighting back or from the ghost not being used to having a real body to control.  My hands gripped the sides of the frame and tore it from the wall.  They threw it onto the floor, shattering it.  My body walked throughout the house, in a tortuously slow and circuitous manner, shattering every mirror in sight.  It's impossible to describe what it is like to be unable to control your own limbs.  I felt like I was trapped inside my own body, with someone else pulling the strings.  I was trapped inside, looking out.  We, my body, me and the ghost that is, drifted up the stairs, and broke the mirrors in all the bedrooms, and along the walls on the upper floor.  But we avoided the third bedroom.  Time and time again, my body passed it, but never opened its door.  I do not remember how much time passed.
Finally, after all the mirrors were broken, the ghost left my body.  I crumpled to the floor, exhausted.  I shivered even though I wasn't cold.  I must have fallen asleep at some point, but I knew my troubles were far from over.

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The Mirror in the Third Bedroom: Part One

 

It was the middle of autumn in that dull period when the trees are only half changed.  I walked home from school as fast as I could. Dark clouds had been gathering all day and now they had become a very worrying greenish-purple color.  Soon the wind picked up, causing the trees to sway slightly.  It wasn't long before it developed into a strong squall, the wind ripping even the green leaves from the trees.  Rain pelted my face as I ran towards the trees for shelter from the stinging rain that bludgeoned me from all directions.  My eyes were closed and I ran against the wind, trying hard not to trip.  I couldn't tell how far I had run, until I finally opened my eyes.  The wind had calmed somewhat, though it was incredibly dark.   It was no longer raining, but it was possible that the tree cover protected me from it.  I stood for a moment, waiting for the storm to end as I caught my breath.  Just as quickly as it had started, the sky began to grow brighter.  I was not on the edge of the forest like I had assumed, I was deep into it, and hopelessly lost.  The trees grew sinister and every shadow seemed to be moving with some unknown terror.  I forced myself to calm down.  It was impossible for me to have gone very far, seeing as I hadn't tripped or run into any trees.  It was mathematically improbable that I would have randomly chosen a path with no trees in the way.  
I set out the way I thought I had come.  I wandered for about an hour, shivering and drenched to the bone.  Finally I saw a bit of clearing up ahead.   I rushed towards it, hoping that I had finally come to the edge of the forest.  But I hadn't.  It appeared that I had only gone deeper, and the edge of the forest was actually a place where the trees had thinned out.  I came to the edge of it, prepared to turn around when I saw a large house in the center of the clearing.  It seemed pretty well taken care of from the outside, and it wasn't decrepit or anything, so surely there was someone who lived there that could at least point me in the right direction. 
I rang the doorbell.   It was one of the old ones, with a loud organ somewhere deep in the house that gave a 4 note ring.  It echoed throughout the house, causing it to shake slightly.  The house gave off a worrying creak, but that was no matter, anyone in the house would have heard the bell.  I stood there fidgeting for about 10 minutes before I knocked loudly on the door.  It had begun to rain again, negating any drying my clothes had done. When still no one came, and tried the door knob.  The door swung open and I took a hesitant step inside. 
"Hello?" I called out.  No reply, "Is anyone here?" 
The house seemed considerable larger from the inside.  A grand marble staircase winded up to the second floor at the end of the foyer.  But the house was deserted.  Sheets hung over the pictures on the wall, and a vase of dead flowers sat on a sheet covered table near the corner.  I peaked under one picture frame, but it was actually a mirror.  I walked all through the house, calling to see if anyone was home.  I looked into each room counting as I went.  In the second closet, there was an antique lamp, and in the third bedroom a large mirror that nearly covered the entire wall, and was strangely enough uncovered.  I returned down stairs.  The house was empty and it was getting dark.  I could at least try to get a bit of sleep before I tried to get home in the morning.  I lied down on the cleanest couch I could find, trying to get warm and ignore my soaked clothes and hungry stomach.  It took me ages to fall asleep.   I finally drifted off into a very dark dream, but not before I thought I heard the faintest click, like the sound of a door being locked.

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Its Like They Gave Us Freedom? Or something...

So we've been essentially told that our blogs our boring.  I'm not quite sure why the teachers are suprised, seeing how every blog post was just a school assignment that was posted on the internet.  School kinda squashes individuality and creativity like that sometimes (or most of the time). 
I don't really know what I am going to write about, because I don't really feel like writing about painting or soccer, and seeing how I don't do much else besides that and homework, this might be a bit difficult.  I mean really what do I write about?  Politics? I have opinions, but I really don't feel like writing about them.  Some TV show I like? eh...  Sports? I still haven't found a Barclays team I like yet.  (we now get fox soccer which shows Barclays Premeir League (soccer) like all the time)  Besides, I'll leave the sports opinions to Landon.  Music? no...I barely even listen to the radio...

I suppose I'll figure it out once I see what everyone else is writing about. (just you wait, my next post might actually be about one of these topics) Hope y'all enjoyed this mini-post.

RIOT

In a world...where the rich cant see the poor...and the poor cant see the rich...one man...will rise up... and end the blindness.  Perhaps one of the most difficult scenes for us to film will be of people rioting or of riot police. I looked on the internet archives to find shots of people rioting, and I must say, I was a bit disappointed.  I had expected to find a mix of well shot professional footage (from films, documentaries, news etc) and homemade videos or clips.  Unfortuately I only found a lot of grainy, shakey footage.  I did find this clip of riot police attacking protestors at the G20 summit.  If we do use it, we will use the part of the clip starting around 2:00.  That is when the riot police actually come.  It is possible that we could use the shakey, pixelated footage to our advantage, a series of shots like this can add to the general hysteria of a riot.  I have to admit, I am starting to get a bit excited for this project.  Filming will be fun, but editing it together and seeing the final project is what I am looking forward to the most.

Start at 2:00 enjoy.
 

May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

The Hunger Games. Gary Ross. PG-13. 2012


In the remains of North America, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) must compete in a fight with other teenagers to the death in a yearly competition known as the Hunger Games.

This trailer is exemplary because it conveys many aspects of the dystopia while creating suspense and curiosity.  The director establishes the premise of the movie by showing a scene of the reaping, intercut with scenes of Katniss consoling her sister, promising her that she won't be picked. When she is picked, the conflict is instantly created, and Katniss volunteers in her place.  The trailer focuses on the protagonist, not the society itself, but it is clear that the people of district twelve live in vastly different conditions then the people of the capital.  Cooler, greyer hues are used in the filming of the District Twelve scenes, to convey the poverty and unhappiness there, where as bright warm colors are used in the Capital. The music crescendos, becoming more and more intense towards the end, until it climaxes with a countdown.  There are also a lot of quick shots, giving the feeling of a fast pace.  This trailer is successful in establishing the premise of the Hunger Games, and what it is, mainly through the use of a voice over, but also creates intrigue about why they are happening.
I think we will use the same technique of focusing on the protagonist, in order to give the trailer a more emotional and personal undertone.  This trailer created tension, especially through the use of music.  We will try to replicate this by using music that best captures the spirit of our dystopia.

Making sure not to spill paint on the camera...

1. Tubes of watercolor paint
2. Panning shot of watercolor palette
3. Paint pigment diffusing in water dropplet
4. Drawing a tree
5. Painting red on wet paper

To create my 5x5 I used my sister's Nikon DSLR camera. It took great high-def video.  I was planning to edit it in the YouTube video editor, but it proved to be easier to just edit it in Windows Movie Maker and then upload it to YouTube.  Filming took longer than anticipated, mostly because it took awhile to set up shots.  I don't have my watercolors just lying about like that, so I spent awhile putting them into the right position.
I like the way my 5x5 turned out, although I kind of wish I could have added some music to the background.
Perhaps for our next independent video project, we should do some kind of short silent film.  When we did the 20second project, several groups (including my own) turned their films into silent films (mainly because of horrible audio).  It would be really cool to do black and white silent films. Maybe we could get into small groups spend some time filming in class or something and we could then all go and edit it ourselves.  We could make the story be however we wanted, and it would be a really cool way to see how different a story could be with the same footage but different editing.

Also another thing,  not only has this blog been visited by Germany (3 times in fact...I wonder if it is the same person....) but also the Netherlands. Interesting, no?

People Learning to Personalize Learning So People Can Learn From Other People

This article focuses on creating an individualized approach to learning. It promotes a form of teaching where students essentially create their own projects and areas of study based on a general curriculum.  The article says that this style of learning has been discussed for many years, but has never been fully utilized because many teachers view new technology as "disruptive innovation."  The most important part to learning this way is to help guide students properly, while still allowing them to generally choose their own course.  This article also promotes the use of blogs, wikis and other Internet tools for learning.  This article does however make the distinction between true self directed learning and simple personalized learning.   Self directed learning is (according to the article) learning "which we do for ourselves, and personalized learning...is done for us"  Personalized learning simply alters the general curriculum to fit each student a little better. 

"We need to shift our thinking from a goal that focuses on the delivery of something—a primary education—to a goal that is about empowering our young people to leverage their innate and natural curiosity to learn whatever and whenever they need to. The goal is about eliminating obstacles to the exercise of this right—whether the obstacle is the structure and scheduling of the school day, the narrow divisions of subject, the arbitrary separation of learners by age, or others—rather than supplying or rearranging resources." 
I thought this was interesting because it discussed not just changing the way school is taught, but changing it to create an environment where students essentially teach themselves.  The "goal" is to make students want to learn.

I did, however, find it surprising how much this article supported individual learning.  I personally prefer learning where we have some choices (like how to approach a certain project) but not when we have to essentially choose our own topics to learn.  I am incredibly lazy, and I do not believe this would be the best way for me to learn. I've done projects before where the students have to teach themselves and then create a project from that, with the guidance of a teacher.  I felt like it was much harder to sift through all the information out there just to get to what was important.  I feel like students could get trapped in their own little niche of learning and be unable to expand into other realms of thought.  (For example, an art loving student might do something only related to art, a sports loving student might tie everything back into sports)  At some point, students just need to be told what to do.  I wish the article clarified what age this would work best at.  Elementary School? Middle school? High School?

I suppose for this class "connected learning" means that we are learning through individual research, then sharing the research on our blogs.  It is possible it could work, and it would definitely be a good way to share information with the entire class, but I am not convinced yet that we will learn any better by it.
I would like to learn more about scriptwriting, but mostly the visual and plot line elements.  I personally am a very visual person, so I also want to learn more about creating good shots.  There are a billion ways to shoot the same scene, but I know certain angles can completely change the mood. I just want to know what they are, and how to use them creatively to my advantage.

Diigo Article

Blog is a very strange word...So is Diigo

""The Expendables 2" is spent"
 By Emma Yeager
Silver Chips Online

The movie reveiw quickly sums up the writer's opinion of the movie in one quick sentance.  It then continues to describe the actors and general plot of the movie. They wrote with an overall critical tone.  They rated the movie 2.5/5.

I'm not quite sure how we should structure our movie reviews. We should definately have some sort of structure, requiring a general plot synopisis, and things like acting, cinematography and sound.  I feel like we should have some creative freedom, but it is a lot easier if there is a bulleted list of things we need to talk about.  Also, Leah had a great idea about being able to do something other than just a written movie review.  A trailer perhaps, either promoting or critizing the movie.  Or if we dont film one, we could just do it in a written script form of the trailer.  There definately needs to be some sort of fun or creative aspect to the project to make us all actually want to do it.

Guess what? Someone from Germany visited here. Hullo Germany!

Diigo Link

Hello! (A Totally Un-cliche Title)

My name is Katie.   I enjoy playing soccer and painting watercolors.   I'm on the JV soccer team this year and I might try out for the school play this year.  I feel like I've said those things a thousand times (all because of beginning of school "describe yourself" in every single class).  I really enjoy film making, especially the creative aspect.  I like writing the scripts, and the actual shooting.  I am pretty good at editing, but it just depends on the project how much I like it or not.  Last year, one of my favorite projects was the InfoFlow show opens.  We made one about students waiting for InfoFlow.  It was a lot of fun filming.   We both scripted, filmed, and edited it. 

• The blogs would be a great way to make announcements about projects
• Such as homework
• Change project updates
• Get to know your classmates better

Watercolor paints, I really do love to paint: Image Credit