My Manifesto

Alright so now as my final blog entry I am going to try to come up with my own manifesto on how to live and live creatively. This is really just the start of my personal manifesto, and I'm sure it will change and grow considerably as time ticks by.

 I will creatively title this:

Emily Manifesto:
1. Life will always be a mess. There is always something. Some dilemma, some stress, some obstacle, some variable, something out of your control. If you always plan on starting to do something after the "something" is eliminated, you will always be waiting. If you let the mess be there and stop feeling as though you have to always sort it all out, the chaos starts to seem less overwhelming.

2. Nothing ever happens the way it should. You can plan a pretty picnic but you can't predict the weather. If you stop seeing this as a bad thing, it relieves a lot of stress. It's okay that your extensive plans get shot to hell sometimes, it's better to just say "well alright!" and go with it.

3. Listen to music. All the time. It makes everything better. Especially when it's really loud.

4. Really listen to people. Don't just wait for a pause so that you can fit your story in. Unless you have a really really good story to tell. People know a lot of things that you don't. And don't just listen to the words they say. People tell you things actively (vocab word!) all the time. The way people say things, and what they choose to tell you can tell you a lot. People are really fascinating.

5. Sing loudly in the shower and car. When no one is home, I belt so loudly. It is the best release.

6. Keep journals. All the time. Buy one that you like to look at, and have it with you all the time. My 4th grade journal is like a time machine, reading it is the most bizarre and wonderful experience. Really vivid memories fade really fast, and sometimes they are worth recording if you want to keep them around for later. Don't feel like you have to make extensive entries, or even like you have to make sense. A few words can be just as important as pages and pages.

7. Stop beating yourself up. You made a mistake and really F'ed things up, and now you feel like shit. So did every single other person at one point or another, and likely more than just at one point. Stop pounding your head against the wall and let yourself off the hook. We all suck sometimes.

8. Don't take yourself/anything too seriously. Laugh at yourself all the time. Laugh at situations all the time. It is amazing therapy.

9. Don't hold grudges. They are just dead weight. Soul-heaviers. Let um go. 

10. Look at the moon. It helps to keep things in perspective. When I look at the moon, it gives me this strange feeling and reminds me that we are on a planet; a tiny rock in a very large universe. It makes little frustrations seem a lot smaller and less significant. It helps me look at the big picture, and clear my head.

11. Don't be afraid to care. If we all stopped having so many walls up, things would happen a lot more quickly. Don't play games. Don't pretend to care less than you do.

12. Don't get embarrassed. No one really cares as much as you think they do. And if they do, they are lame anyway.

13. You don't always have to explain yourself. Only you really know how your mind works, and why you do some of the things you do. It's ok if other people don't always get it.

14. Make pictures in your head. Play out good situations in your mind. Make your dreams come true in your imagination over and over again. I have found that this has some magical quality, and helps subconsciously guide you towards making good things happen.

I know that's 14 things and not 10, but I couldn't pick any to eliminate! Well that is the conclusion of my Media 203 blog. I might eventually transform this into a real life blog, but it is going to rest here for a little while. Thanks for reading!

Blog 10B

For this blog, we were asked to read a portion of Karim Rashid's manifesto, and look at some of his work. Out of the ten points listed, the one that says "Never say: "I could have done that" because you didn't" speaks to me the most. I think that this is a really really important piece of advice, and one that I have rolled around in my head for awhile. 

So many tiny things happen in life. And all of these tiny little things are constantly creating infinitely long chains of events. There was a time when I decided to leave a little early to get somewhere. In doing this, I met someone who happened to be on that street at the same time. Because of meeting him, I ended up meeting someone else who ended up having a huge impact on me. If I had not left a little early, none of this would have happened. And things like this happen every single day, all the time. 

These things always make me chew it over in my head. Does everything happen for a reason? Or do things just simply happen? I'd like to believe the former. In fact, I absolutely do believe the former. Not only about the big things. I think every minuscule movement, every step, every cough and squirm and mistake happens for a reason. I have absolutely no idea what those reasons may be. But I believe it nonetheless, because life is way to hard to not. I would spend so much time ruminating in my mistakes and pitying myself for my hardships if I did not believe that they are all nudging me in some direction. What direction? I have no idea, but I think that life is too extraordinarily complicated and mysterious for me not to believe that our time spent here on this floating mass is part of some greater plan. It helps me to believe this, because it gives me the freedom to look at a mistake or an event and believe that it had to happen that way. That there was no other option. That it was always going to happen that way. This makes me feel like I have the freedom, or as if I have permission to move on, and to not beat myself up. This is why I like Karim Rashid's bit of advice, "Never say: "I could have done that" because you didn't." I have nearly drown myself in "what ifs" and "why didn't Is" and especially "could haves" and "should haves." It's an easy thought path to get lost in, but it is detrimental. It can weigh you down. So for me, I like to tell myself that that was the way something was supposed to unfold, and try my best to float on from it. 

So anyway, back to Karim. I definitely think that his spirituality informs his art. I think that ones personal manifesto, whether written out of just a collection of beliefs, cannot help but drive the work that they do. I think that people create art from some place of inspiration within themselves, this place being a collection of all that they have experienced and learned.

Blog 10A

For this blog assignment, we read David Rendall's "Freak Factor" on http://changethis.com/.

I really really really liked this article a lot, for a lot of different reasons. The article describes the ways in which we have been taught to look at strengths and weaknesses. He examines the common idea that we should all build on our strengths, and attempt to eliminate our weaknesses. But instead of giving us ways to implement this concept, he turns it upside-down. He agrees that we should build on our strengths, but rather than trying to eliminate our weaknesses, we should embrace them.

3. "Flawless: There's Nothing Wrong With You."

Strength --->Weakness
Creative ---> Unorganized
Organized ---> Inflexible
Dedicated ---> Stubborn
Flexible ---> Inconsistent
Enthusiastic ---> Obnoxious
Calm ---> Emotionless
Reflective ---> Shy
Adventurous ---> Irresponsible
Responsible ---> Boring
Positive ---> Unrealistic
Realistic ---> Negative
Assertive ---> Intimidating
Humble ---> Weak
Self-Confident ---> Arrogant
Patient ---> Indecisive
Passionate ---> Impatient

He gives this chart^ as an example to illustrate that every strength has a corresponding weakness, and therefore every weakness has a corresponding strength. I had never really looked at it this way, but this chart lays it out perfectly. For every single weakness you think you have, there is a positive attribute that is always going to be tied to it. In this light, every weakness becomes something that doesn't necessarily need to be fixed, but understood and explored. If we were to fix our weaknesses, we would diminish our strengths. I love this, because allows us to finally take a deep breath and realize that we are not all fatally flawed and doomed for a life of misery until we can change the core of our being. If we stop thinking of weaknesses as things that need to be altered, we can stop feeling so bad about ourselves and start to concentrate on the other side of the chart. I am going to implement this idea in my creative life by changing the way I view myself. Instead of feeling scatterbrained, I am going to start feeling stimulated. Instead of feeling emotional, I am going to start feeling compassionate. Instead of feeling obsessive, I am going to start feeling passionate. It's all about what names we give to our personality traits.

7. Fit: Find the Right Spot
In this suggestion, Rendall talks about the importance of finding the right situation for you. I think that this is really important. By doing this, our strengths can flourish and our weaknesses can become strengths. I really like the idea that our weaknesses are simply "strengths in disguise." I have always been a very messy person. I always have been made to feel like this is a bad thing, and have always tried to fight myself on it. It always feels like a struggle to get organized. I can clean my entire room, and no matter how many times I tell myself to keep it that way, it has always and will always end up a mess again. That's just the way I am. Same goes for my car. I have more fast food wrappers, cigarette butts, random articles of clothing, etc. in my car at any given time than anyone could begin to count. But the reason I am so messy is because I feel so free and relaxed. I would never trade in my ability to carelessly toss shirt on the floor without a second thought for inability to. I would hate to feel as though I had to clean up the second I made a mess. I would never get any real thinking done, and I would never make anything. So basically, I fully agree with this suggestion because I really do think that it is important to put yourself in the right situation. I am glad that I am in a creative major, so that I have the freedom to metaphorically throw my things all over the floor. If you put yourself in a situation that doesn't denounce you for your flaws, you can stop thinking of them as bad things. It's like trying to fit a round peg in a square hole, or whatever that saying is. Don't try to do that, just go find a round hole.

9. Freak Factory: Putting Your Quirks to Work
This suggestion has several parts, but I am only going to focus on one of them, "Engage in permanent procrastination. Instead of procrastinating activities that you don’t like, just stop doing them altogether." I love this suggestion, because I think it is really relevant to me. Procrastination is another of my "flaws" that I have always struggled with. Always putting things off until the last minute. And while it is not always realistic to simply stop doing activities that you don't like, I think that there is some validity to this. I have so many friends in majors that they don't seem to like. I see them painstakingly complete absurdly long assignments, memorizing fact after fact, formula after formula. And I have to wonder why they are putting themselves through all this misery. Sometimes it is necessary, yes. But I recently had a good friend tell me she was going to switch her major to biology. I asked her what she was going to do with that. She said, "probably become a pharmacist or something. I mean I guess I'd do that, I'd make a lot of money." This response shocked me. She's only 18 years old, and she has committed the rest of her life to something "she guesses she would do." And maybe she was just being nonchalant about it and has more passion for pharmacy than she was showing. But I think that life is way, way, way to short and uncertain to do something, something as big as your future career, just because you feel like you should. I think that it is important to do things because something inside you needs you to do them.


So what have I found my strengths and weaknesses to be as far as the creative process is concerned?

Weaknesses:
-Disorganization/Procrastination. This isn't always a problem, but sometimes it is. I get behind on assignments and it starts to stress me out. I have the ability to push things into this "I'll do it later" box in my brain and then it comes time to open it and I feel as though I have just been shot, because it is so full and overwhelming
-Second-guessing. I have a very irritating habit of second-guessing myself all the time. Although the article says there is some corresponding strength to this, but I just think of it as a tick stuck to my side that I'd like to tweeze off.

Strengths:
-Seeing things from a unique perspective. I think the way I see things is sometimes very strange, but I like this about myself. I find humor and beauty in a lot of things.
-I like mostly everybody. This is something else I have always liked about myself. It's really hard to make me mad, and even harder to make me stay mad. I really like people, because everyone is so different. I like people's flaws and quirks and habits. I feel like this openness has allowed me to draw inspiration from those around me.

Blog 9B

Collapsus. More to come.

Blog 9A

Video game Presentation!

So for our group's gaming presentation, we chose to design a game called High Life, in which a poor drug dealer tries to make his way from rags to riches through selling drugs.  We tried to keep our game as simple as possible, but found that with all the different aspects that go into creating a game, it is hard to keep it that simple.

I think that one of the areas that we struggled to convey to the audience was what the actual game play is like. I think that we didn't really go into enough detail about how the game is played, and how the gamer actually knows how to get from one point in the game to the next. We described how the player is suppose to make money by making drug deals while avoiding the police, but we didn't actually describe how the player does this. We were a little unclear as to what type of guided perception would be used in the game. We probably should have gone into more specific detail about how the player is guided from one level to the next by text boxes that pop up. If we had included more slides about this, then I think the whole concept of the game would have made a lot more sense. We also should have included slides that showed the audience what the game will actually look like when played, because we were kind of vague in this department. We told the audience that game play is similar to that of The Sims, but if a member of the audience was unfamiliar with this game, then they would be totally lost. I think that it would have been helpful to create a screen shot, so that they could gain a better sense of how the game is played.

Another area that we could have improved on is being more specific with the goals.. We told the audience about the different levels, and how you move up from selling one type of drug to another, but we failed to explain specifically how the player is to do that. In other words, we explained the objectives but left out the actual goals. I think it would have been helpful to have a more specific and more complete list of goals so that the audience could understand exactly what needs to be done to achieve each objective, and eventually win the game.

I think that goals and objectives are the most difficult to explain and discuss. My group had a hard time differentiating between the two, and I think that a lot of people feel the same way. In everyday vocabulary goals and objectives are the same thing, so when they were presented as two different concepts, it became sort of confusing. It helps me to understand the difference between goals and objectives when I think of an objective as a big achievement, and goals as the steps you take to get to that big achievement. Like if you think of it in terms of weight loss. The objective could be to lose 50 pounds. The goals could be to go the gym more, eat less, etc. In those terms, it makes more sense that goals would be more optional, whereas an objective is not. You have the option to skip a day at the gym and still potentially reach your objective.

I found rules and mechanisms to be much easier to discuss. Rules are very black and white, and less conceptual, and therefore it is fairly simple to express them. The same goes for mechanisms. 

Blog 8B

SUPERHEROES!

I will post my superhero/villain thing here shortly.

Critiques!

Critique #1:

http://cinemareel.blogspot.com/2011/02/super-things.html

Alright, so we have Icarus and Shadow Puppet. I really like this hero/villain combination. I like that you can immediately decipher between the hero and the villain upon first glance at this duo. This has a lot to do with the lighting of the hero and the villain. The drawing of Icarus, the hero, has no shadows at all. This helps paint the picture that he is trustworthy, and "not shady." There is nothing left to the imagination; it is all laid out on the table, giving us a sense of safety and comfort as we look at him. The yellow of Icarus creates a happy mood. His superpowers involve emitting light, which could be symbolism. He is "shedding light" on the world. Lightness is often representative of ease and joy.

Then we have Shadow puppet. Shadow puppet's entire being is a contrast to Icarus. The lighting of the drawing of Shadow Puppet is entirely different. Where Icarus was completely lit and had no shadows, Shadow Puppet is entirely formed from shadows. The entire drawing is dark and dreary, and the villain's form  is ambiguous. This creates a feeling of tension, because we aren't sure exactly what he is, and therefore aren't sure exactly what he is capable of. The night scene may be symbolic of fear and discomfort, as well as the use of the colors dark purple and black. I liked that the two drawings were done in opposite colors, purple and yellow. This may be symbolic of the fact that they stand on "opposite sides" of justice, or something like that.

Critique #2:
http://mdiaessentialsstudentpov.blogspot.com/2011/02/characters.html

There we have Spark and Hotspot. The main difference between these 2 characters is their coloring. First we have Spark, who was drawn entirely of hues of black white and gray. There is very little brightness; the brightest parts of the drawing coming from the lights in the windows of the building behind him, the lightning coming from the sky, and the cloud and lightning on the chest of his super-suit. He is in a very intimidating position with his hand in the air. This is didactically telling us that he is dangerous, and that we should be afraid.

Hotspot is very different from Spark. He is very brightly colored in highly saturated warm hues of red yellow and orange. The brightness of his costume contrasts against the gray background, as well as against the costume of his rival Spark. I really like the coloring and shading used to create Hotspot. I love the combination of red, orange, and yellow, and think that it aids in making him look powerful. Then again it is hard to not look powerful with fireballs sparking out of your hands. I like that the characters are so different from one another, and yet there is an affinity within their superpowers. Both the hero and the villain have powers that have to do with light. One uses lightning, and the other uses fire. Since their powers are so similar, it makes it make sense that they would be rivals. They appear to be equally powerful, but in different ways. This makes me believe that they are pretty equally matched, and wonder who would win in a fight. This makes it more interesting for the viewer, because it creates a sense of uneasiness.

Critique #3:
http://miss-es-place.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-8b-herovillain-animations.html

So my last critique is on the hero/villain combo of Brandi il Mondo and Hipster Man. I really like both of these characters a lot. Both of them have a very specific style that makes them very different from one another.

The animation of Brandi il Mondo is amazing. First of all, I love the music used in the background. I think that it is perfect, because it is sort of acrobat-like music (if that is even a category of music?) but it also has this undertone of mischief, helping build up the idea that she is the villain. I think the animation wonderfully demonstrates the way in which she might interact with the real world if she had the ability to do so. The idea of weight is played with a lot, especially at the very start of the video. The villain swings around a pole, and you get the sense of her weight by the use of momentum, in that it takes her a few wind-ups to finally get around. Parallel movements between the character and the camera help create a very exciting vibe as the camera zooms in right as she starts to flip. The use of overlapping movements helps make her seem more real, as her arms and legs move at the same time. Again the idea of weight is played with as she flips, because you can tell that she is light and acrobatic, but is not weightless as she lands. I love how all of Brandi's movements are exaggerated, to make her seem like a superhero, and not just an absurdly strong woman.

Then we have the animation of Hipster Man, which I also absolutely love. I think that it is very funny and relevant. I again like the music used in the background. It is very clever in setting the perfect scene for Hipster Man, because it is clearly something that he would listen to. Hipster Man's movements are perfectly suited for his character, as they are very slow and effortless. Hipster Man is a complete contrast to Brandi in many ways, but particularly in the way he moves. Brandi moves like she is on speed, always flipping around and acrobatting (not a word) her way through the world. Hipster Man, however, moves in very small increments at a time. He just sort of bops along, waiting for something to happen, and pondering. When Hipster Man walks, there are parallel movements between his arms and his legs, making it realistic. Hipster Man appears to be a lot heavier than Brandi, possibly symbolic of the fact that he is "deeper" and is metaphorically "carrying more weight" as he is suppose to be these pseudo-intellectual. Upon looking at Hipster Man's green outfit, and relaxed gate, the viewer subconsciously feels relaxed, where as the viewer may feel a lot more stressed out upon looking at Brandi, again reinforcing their particular roles of hero and villain.

Blog 8A

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers

^^^There's a link to an episode of This American life, regarding superheroes and the like.

So, in thinking about what superpower I'd most like to have, a few things come to mind. I really think it would be nice to have the power to be able to move objects with my mind like Matilda. She's not a typical superhero, but she was one of my childhood role models, so she's a superhero to me. She's so brave an tough. She's the coolest.

I think that it would be nice to have this superpower, because I would be able to eliminate the time I spend each day simply retrieving objects. There is nothing worse than tucking in on a winter's night after a long cold day, finally getting comfortable and warm, only to realize that the light is still on. If I were able to just use my powers to turn it off, I would be able to just peacefully drift back to sleep.

Day to day life can be hard enough. Having the power to move objects with my mind would help to take the edge off. I would be able to open windows, close doors, retrieve books, rearrange furniture; all with the slight nod of my head.

This superpower would help me become a better lifeguard as well. When someone needs an AED, they don't have time to wait for someone to run and get it. If I could retrieve objects with my mind, I could just float it right over to us in minimal time.

Blog 7!

Alright, so those are my groups 2 videos for the joke video assignment. I am torn between which one I like better.

There are several things I really like about the first one. Since this video was more directly related to the joke itself, the creative aspect of making this video was really more in the camera angles than the actual story line. We concentrated on the concept of line and framing. When our main character first walks into the diner, the lights on the ceiling are positioned horizontally, in the same direction that he walks, almost as though they are lighting his path or pointing him to go a certain way. This helps create an affinity of direction, which I think makes the shot flow well.

When our main character takes a seat, we tried to frame him in the white border of the window outside of the diner. From here we played with more camera angles. Since we were not supposed to pan or anything, we experimented a lot with over the shoulder camera angles. These shots were really funny to get, because I was completely scrunched up on the other side of the table in the booth, trying to get the camera to be far enough away so the shot wasn't alarmingly close up. We got a lot of smiles and smirks from fellow diner-goers, especially when they watched us pull out a can of pork and beans and open it with a can opener right there on the table.

I think that the use of the OTS shot at the start of the scene was good, because it allowed us to reverse it slightly later on. Instead of our main character being in the background, his fellow bean eater is in the background, in the same position that he had been in earlier. The part of the video when he makes the sort of growling sound at the fellow diner is my favorite part, it makes me laugh every time.

The idea of rhythm can be seen in the scene when our main beam-eater leaves the diner. He is obviously sick, almost drunk-looking, as he hobbles down the street. We got lucky that some speed-walking girl walked by right at that second, because her pace was so quick and intentional, that it helped to make bean-man look even more slow and disheveled.

I really liked the sound affects that were added, especially the squealing girl-voice sound that was dubbed over Alexa when she came in. That also makes me chuckle every time.
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Alright so video number 2. I love our opening shot. I think the framing is really nice in that creepy alley. There was the perfect place for him to squat down, with a dark background. His bright red sweatshirt really contrasted against against it, and helped him to stand out.

Again we have the walking into the diner scene, with the lights helping to create line and rhythm, with our main character walking in the same direction as them. I like that the red lights on the diner match the red of his sweatshirt. I also really like the warm light coming from inside the diner. It makes it look like a place you'd definitely want to go, as compared to the cold gray environment outside. 

As a side note, I did not want to be in the video at all. I was really grungy that day, and it sort of pains me to have to watch myself in it. But anyway.

When he goes back into the diner the second time, the light in the background flickers as he says, "my car breaks down." This was another lucky accident. It creates a sort of tension, and feeling of uneasiness. It almost works as foreshadowing, like something bad is about to happen. I feel like flickering lights in movies always mean that something bad is about to happen. 

I think my favorite shot of this video is at 1:53, where he looks over to see a man eating a Reuben sandwich in the seat where Katie was originally sitting. You expect to see his wife, and instead you see a a random man with his mouth full smirking at him. I let out the biggest laugh when we shot this.

I also really like the shot where we have the blindfold come down over the camera, to show that we are now viewing the world from our main characters eyes. The sound effects add a nice touch, again adding an aspect of tension and release. There is that scary "dun dun dunnnn" sort of sound when he is first unblindfolded, then it gets really quiet with only some chirping cricket sounds. It remains quiet as his wife sits down and is whispered to. Then after she learns what has just happened, her face changes and the music comes back it, serving as the release.