Tempest and Video

This year's art show went great. I think that Tempest was one of the best out of the three art shows that I've seen so far, but next year will most certainly be the very best. The short films were awesome this year, and very interesting, the streeters videos were funny, and the mockumentaries were HILARIOUS.

TEMPEST, the theme of this year's art show.

I had doubts about getting my streeters shown during the art show because honestly, I thought it was the worst out of them all, but when I was in the audience when my streeters screened, the audience actually enjoyed it (sort of, haha) and then I thought, eh, it's not as bad as I thought. One thing's for sure though, I'm gonna make something way better than that out my next year in film!

Short films this year were the greatest! I particularly liked 'Plug In Baby' and 'A Strange Arrangement', because they used unique film techniques to make a spectacular sequence of events. For example, the way the camera suddenly tilted up from the side to the right side up when Alyssa got up from the couch in 'Plug In Baby' was a very interesting play on the camera angle, or when Darryl and Chesca were walking down the path in 'A Strange Arrangement',Chesca just disappears when they walk past a tree, and I thought that was cool. The story of the films were also interesting, especially the surprise at the end of 'Plug In Baby'. Maybe next year, I'll make an epic film that can stand with these two films.

Movies and CG Imaging

Many of the movies we are seeing on the big screens are using computer generated images and 3D visual effects to produce an exciting and sensual movie experience. Computer generated imaging has advanced to the point where it allows us to create spectacular movie sequences, and can also emulate human like movements with computer generated human images.

The process involved in emulating these human like movements for use in a unique species is immensely time consuming and complex. There are human performers who are wearing special equipment that track their actions and record it on specialized computers, and they act out their actions and script in a large, white room. The computers record the movement and action of the performers. After doing so, computer specialists integrate these movements to computer generated models. Basically, they are giving life to computer models by giving them human like movements and actions.

Never seen it, but it looks cool.

This is actually a very positive contribution to the cinema, because a majority of the people watch movies for their special effects. Of course, there are always films that do not use that many special effects at all and are still successful, but the stories that the other movies tell are greatly enhanced by the use of special effects, especially CGI effects. Basically, the more computer generated effects and special effects are in a movie, the more popular it is, with Avatar being a prime example.

'09 Video Mashup

2009 produced a lot of big screen hits, most of which were a box office hit while some others were forgotten the next day they came out. Some of the highest grossing films include Avatar, the second Transformers movie, 2012, Up, and Twilight, as well as several others. I didn't really watch many movies in theatres during 2009, or 2010. Actually, I saw Zombieland in 2009 with my friends, but that was it. There were some movies that caught my attention and I watched over the Internet.

Rule Number Twenty Nine: The Buddy System

The films that I recognized from the Video Mashup were: Terminator Salvation, Watchmen, Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, 2012, New Moon, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, The Dark Knight, Public Enemies, 500 Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, G.I. Joe, The Taking of Pelham 123, Avatar, Zombieland, Law Abiding Citizen, X Men Origins, Armored, The Informant, and Invictus. Many of these films I haven't seen yet (all nighter's watching some of 'em just for the blog!), but I recognized them because of the actors who play them (like Matt Damon from 'The Informant', or Morgan Freeman from 'Invictus'), the action scenes that I see in the trailers or snips of the film (like the battle scenes from 'Transformers: RotF', or the explosion in 'The Hurt Locker'), and even some of the memorable or the funniest scenes that stick out in my head from the movies that I have watched (like when a main character shoots a zombie charging out of a store in 'Zombieland', or when Dr. Manhattan transforms in 'Watchmen').

How I loved this movie (Y)

A movie that I particularly liked from 2009 was '500 Days of Summer', because it was a movie that explored the concept of love in today's society, and it also explored what happens in a relationship, and then what happens after it. It showed one man and one woman's point of view about love, and how the two main characters ended up influencing each other's view about love and relationships as a result of their own romance. It was a movie that actually got me thinking about things like girls, love, relationships, and stuff like that, something that not many movies can do to their viewers.

Eccentrick Art Show 2009

Eccentrick yo!

The Eccentrick Art Show was an interesting art show, being the second one I saw here at Mary Ward. I spent a lot of time there, too much time and that was bad for my units, but so worth it. I spent most of my time in the room where the videos we made were being "aired". It was where everyone would go and it would get really hot and awkward in there. I would see my friends, grade nines and even seniors in there looking at our work. I didn't go there to get any hours because I already had quest units, I went because this year's art show was awesome. Next year, I'm taking Video, so expect a whole lot of videos in next year's art show by me and my friends!

Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

We got an iMac. We got this far. Why are we still complaining?

We have all of this technology at our disposal: we have appliances that wash dishes for you, we have technology that allows us to digitalize our work and make it look cooler and neater, we have technology that allows us to talk to each other from far away! All of this technology and yet we still aren't happy! Come on! What more can you ask for?

Cell phones allow you to talk to other people miles away and they can do many things like tell us where we are, allow us to access the Internet on the go and even do some math for us. We still complain about our cell phones, because "we can't get a signal" or "the battery sucks".

We have computers that let us type our work out and also corrects our spelling and grammar errors, it allows us to go on the Internet and let us communicate and reach millions of other people around the world and the computer provides us with entertainment such as computer games and movies. We still complain about our computers because "its too slow" or "the graphics suck".

Okay, most of the technology we have, we always say that it's never good enough. This is the 21st century! We should be appreciating all of this technology we have! Think about how life would be if none of these things were invented: people would still be talking through tin cans instead of cell phones, people wouldn't be able to communicate with each other on a global scale. We should appreciate the technology because they make life easier and more convenient for us. We should take the time to stop complaining and actually thank ourselves for getting this far with technology.

Cell Phone Manners Matter

Ah the cell phone. You'll always see everyone carrying a cell phone, talking or text messaging their friends. It's become a part of life, using cell phones to know where the party is, to call a friend for help or to tell someone how to get to a friend's house. Cell phone ethics, however, don't seem to be in order with many of the people who use them.

" My battery died! What now?"

You will see people texting while they are walking, oblivious to their surroundings. That person could step in a load of bird goop and that person wouldn't really care; that person would bump into other people in his way and that person wouldn't really care; that person wouldn't care unless he finished texting. I have seen this a lot and it is really disrespectful. Pay attention to your surroundings!

People will talk EXCESSIVELY LOUD volumes on their cell phones most of the time.

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!"

I am sitting on the bus on my way to school and the seat across from me, a person is talking at a loud volume about "his crazy dope party" and how he "banged all those hos and got high on them drugs." Seriously, I really don't want to know what... or who... you did last night and I doubt that the people next to you would want to know either. Keep your voices down when on your cell phone, you're in a public place, nobody needs to hear what you did last night. Trust me, it will save you some humiliation.

Whenever people are in conversations, people still USE THEIR CELL PHONES, in the middle of a conversation! That's not cool, you should always give full attention to the person your talking to, otherwise you're disrespecting the person you're supposed to be talking to.

Using your cell phone and driving is a bad idea. Multi tasking while driving will get you end up in a hospital bed.

"Cell phone users beware"

You don't want to get into an embarrasing or serious accident because you were on your cell phone while driving. Pay attention to the road and you shouldn't have any nasty accidents.

Finally, when you're in a movie, don't use your cell phone. I was watching a movie with a friend and then she started a conversation on her cell phone. She was sitting in the corner seat at the back row so she snuggled into the seat and had a conversation for ONE WHOLE HOUR. Ridiculous. She complained to me about how she missed all the good parts. Her problem not mine O_O.

So, to sum things up, cell phone manners matter in public!

1. Pay attention to your surroundings when using your cell phone.
2. Keep cell phone conversations discreet and at a low volume.
3. Give full attention to the person you are having a conversation with, don't use your cell phone.
4. Don't use the cell and drive! It's just as bad as drinking and driving; the results are the same.
5. Don't use your cell phone in public! You paid to watch a movie. If you miss half of it, hey, its your money you wasted and thats your problem.

Colossal U Ad Campaign

My first impression of Colossal U - what the heck are these guys doing?

"... Seriously?"

The posters for Colossal U said that all students who attend will end up the same and that new ideas and new thinking is not accepted. I seriously doubted that there would be a school that would, let's say, pump out zombie like graduates, stuck to the old ways and the same just as everyone else.

I checked out the website for Colossal U and I was actually surprised at what I saw. The Colossal U website turned out to be a website for another university, Algoma U. I found it interesting the way they adverstised their university, using another fake university as bait for people to come into the website and see if what the posters say is really true. They'll be in for a surprise.

People have different ways of learning; some may like to learn while listening to music, or watching TV (hey, who says TV doesn't teach you anything?). People are different from each other; they are unique, they have unique ways of doing things and especially have a different way of approaching new things.

In Algoma U's campaign, it shows that the school will treat the students there not just as part of a whole but as an individual and the school will adapt to help him meet the needs of the individual while he settles in and learns in his own way. Algoma U is a good place to further develop a student's individuality and a good place to get an education.

I found their advertising campaign actually grabs a lot of attention because of Colossal U's ridiculous statements and I think that they will see a lot of enrollments in the coming year because of this unique campaign.