Learnin' From Immersion

During my internship immersion, I learned how to edit a complete documentary without going entirely out of my mind. I literally did about 80 hours of work, over the course of these two weeks. The way I was able to pull this off was by sitting myself down in an empty room, with nothing but the editing equipment in front of me, and starting to work. Every day, I set goals for myself, based off of what I knew my capabilities and disabilities were. I started off thinking I could get 8 minutes of video done per day, then I realized that was too much, so I adapted. I made my goal to get 6 minutes of video done per day. Two before lunch, 2 after lunch, and 2 when I got home. This, as well as other small methods I picked up reduced stress and increased productivity. What I can try to do is take these tactics, and apply them to the work I do in school. Then, I can be less stressed out throughout the school day, and increase the quality of my work.

Honors Blog: 3/1/09

Nick Carraway
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 5'10", weighs approximately 160 lbs, is relatively skinny, mildly athletic, and likes to stand in a figleaf position, and often looks modest.
Visual Details:
-He has dirty blond hair, blue eyes, a modest, simple face, slightly crooked teeth, no tattoos, and one scar from when he fell off his bicycle when he was 4 years old.
Wearing:
-He is wearing a long sleeve collared shirt and slacks (don't mind the picture). He has relatively nice black shoes.
Behavior:
-He is very quiet and polite, he is always reserved, and although not quite shy, relatively modest. He is quick to respond to situations and has the uncanny ability to analyze a situation and think of a solution, or, if in conversation, to think of advice. He enjoys chicken pot pie.
Societal Role:
-He is in the bond business. He enjoys meeting people, and taking walks around the neighborhood. He also strikes up the occasional romance with a new neighbor.
Religion:
-He is Agnostic. He is very innocent, and virtually un-corruptable. He tries not to associate with people who he deems are lacking in morals, although he makes exceptions. He accepts all others, and tries to reserve judgement. This creates great problems when he moves to a place where people are relatively corrupt and do bad things, and yet they are intriguing and interesting to him.
Other's Opinions:
-Other characters in the book think Nick is very nice, and sociable. They enjoy talking to him, and people seem to trust him for some reason.
World Connections:
-Although he is in the East, he and the other major characters come from the West. This sets a sort of contrast to the book, since the West has an environment and mindset that goes along with it, and the East has a totally different one - one which Nick ended up not being fond of.
Name:
-Nick Carraway probably is symbolistic because of the last name. Carraway could be an abbreviation of "carried away", possibly implying that he is always being carried away from one place and situation to another.
Development:
This character develops in the way that he discovers he likes the West better, and he learns more about the main characters, and what their true colors are.

Jay Gatsby
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 6 feet tall, weighs approximately 187 lbs, is relatively athletic, muscular, and usually remains leaning against the wall, mysterious, shaded, and enigmatic.
Visual Details:
-He has dark brown hair, blue eyes, a chiseled face with a strong chin, straight teeth, no tattoos, and one scar from where the bullet hit him and killed him.
Wearing:
-He is wearing a tuxedo and bow tie, along with shiny black shoes and some hair gel.
Behavior:
-He is very enigmatic at first. Once he gets to know someone, he opens up to them. He has dreams and aspirations, and bases every action he takes and every thought he has off of those. This conflicts with the story because he builds his whole life around winning Daisy's heart, so in the event that he would fail, he would have nothing left to live for.
Societal Role:
-He trades illegally, among other things. He enjoys throwing parties, swimming in the pool, and obsessing over Daisy Buchanan.
Religion:
-He is atheistic. He is willing to do immoral things. He is not a "bad person" per se, he is still willing to do things for others. However, he is partly selfish, but for the most part, it's in a way that doesn't hurt anybody (but himself).
Other's Opinions:
-Other character's opinions of Gatsby greatly differ. Some see him as a great man, some know nothing about him, some are willing to kill him, and most just don't know anything about him, and spread rumors which aren't true (although sometimes that have some truth to them). He may be popular, but he is not well loved.
World Connections:
-He comes from the West, and has been to many different places and met many different people. He first met Daisy before he would be shipped off to the service. He also worked for a drunk on a yaht, and he was a janitor in Yale.
Name:
-The case Jay Gatsby's name is very unique in this story, because he is the only person who doesn't use his real name. His original name was James Gatz. The changing of this name is deeply symbolic of how he as a person changed when his life changed course, and he then based his entire reason for being off of two things: the pursuit of wealth and winning Daisy's heart.
Development:
-This character doesn't do much developing, although you discover as a reader that he is not quite as enigmatic as he appears. The fact that he doesn't develop, and persists in pursuing Daisy, and taking the blame for her hit-and-run, is what leads to his demise.

Daisy Buchanan
Physical Presence:
-The character is about 5'7", weighs approximately 130 lbs, is quite skinny and shapely, and usually composes herself in a very innocent way, one which draws attention from sophisticated people such as Gatsby.
Visual Details:
-She has black hair, brown eyes, a simple, pretty face, and nice teeth.
Wearing:
-She wears a blouse, a turtleneck, a skirt, gloves, high heels, a nice necklace, well done hair, nice earings, and a hat worn at a slant.
Behavior:
-Se is very quiet and polite, she is always reserved, and shy and modest (this is how she acts, not how she is). She usually causes more trouble than she fixes, half the time not even being aware of it. She doesn't really have regard for the consequences her actions have lead to.
Societal Role:
-She mooches off of others.
Religion:
-She is athiestic. She has no morals or values. She breaks promises. She runs people over with her car and lets others take the blame. She may not intend to be evil, but she is. She is quite selfish.
Other's Opinions:
-Everyone seems to love her for some reason. By the end of the book however, I am sure that Nick hated her, her hisband was dissatisfied with her, and had Gatsby been alive, he would have probably had a bone to pick with her.
World Connections:
-She knows and takes advantage of people wherever she goes. She probably has the whole East and West coast under her thumb.
Name:
-The significance of Daisy Buchanan's name probably lies in her first name. She appears harmless. Like a daisy. This could not be any further from the truth. This is only in regards to her outward appearance.
Development:
-Like Gatsby, she does not develop her character. Since Gatsby had at least some morals, and he did not change, he died. Since she is evil, nothing happened to her. This parallels America today in many many ways. She represents all that is evil, and all the justice that won't be had upon these evil evil people.


For Nick, I notice he is more quiet and reserved. I notice that the way he acts, and handles situations fits in with this nicely. I can come to the conclusion that he is a very decent person, and there is nothing hypocrytical or amoral about him. For Gatsby, I notice that he has virtually 2 different identities, in many different ways. He has 2 different names and he has 2 different personas. There is no labeling Gatsby. He is neither good nor bad. He is invested in his own interests, and virtually nothing else. However, his own interests connect him to and affect many other people. For Daisy, I notice that she is evil, and everything she does corresponds to that. That is the pattern. That is who she is. Evil.

Internship Immersion!

For my immersion experience, I am most excited about actually getting time in to full on edit the documentary I am working on. I am also excited because I have been working really hard to get everything scripted, planned, filmed, captured, and sorted, organized on the timeline, and now that everything is finally in place, I can start my official work. I feel this way because I have been waiting a long time to actually be able to get to the stage I am at now, and I was worried that I wouldn't get here. The fact that immersion is right at this point in time works out perfectly, because now I can do what I need to do.

I am most concerned about finishing. Last night, I actually managed to sit down and finish 2 minutes of the documentary, over the course of 2 hours. So the fact that I have 70 hours of immersion and 58 more minutes to edit together takes away a lot of the stress, but there is still the worry that something could go wrong. I still have 5 tapes to capture, and 2 interviews to tape. That takes about 7 more hours. Plus, I need to organize a soundtrack. That could easily be another 5 hours. That leaves me with about 58 hours to edit 58 minutes. So, I should be able to pull it off, but I'll need to move swiftly and be at the top of my game.

Pictures:
http://www.variety.com/rbidata/photogallery/variety/6341.jpg
http://www.lorenzopisoni.com/images/Gatsby-Tux.jpg
http://www.tampatheatre.org/MediaPage/My%20Fair%20Lady%20Color%20Audrey.jpg

Outstanding Blogz with a Z because they are OUTSTANDING.

Examples Of Great Blogs:

-Economic advice to Barack Obama - Jacob Harris
This blog was outstanding because it provided a detailed list of ideas for making this country a better place. All the ideas were based on supporting evidence or logic, and weren't just ideas that have been hashed out and used again and again, but new, inventive ideas, such as this one. "Socialize the medical system slowly but surely, so the citizens of America don't feel as pressured into not going to the Hospital for a bad flu." This is why I felt this advice to Barack Obama was well done.

-Literary Analysis - Sydney Lampe
For an honors blog, this person wrote about the book she read - The Great Gatsby. This tells the theme and all the different primary literary elements of the book, and brings them all together and shows the connections. This can be seen right from the thesis, where she states: The Great Gatsby is a novel that addresses many issues. Scott Fitzgerald develops the theme using literacy devices such as symbolism, character description and historical evidence through the book." This gave me knowledge of a book which I knew nothing about other than the title.

-Historical Writing - Ariannah Hood
This was an honors history blog, and it told the story of populism, and the elections in 1893 and 1993. One part of the blog says: Populism, is fighting for the middle class/ working person. Building up to this election populism was very active. All the industrial workers getting right and starting a National Labor Union, having better education for immigrants and women were gaining more rights." This was a well written blog, which informed me a subject I had never known about before this. It was also obviously backed by much research and background knowledge.

-Another Thing That Makes Blogs Great - Jessica Matthews
Something else that makes blogs great is self reflection. It's something seen relatively rarely, so when it does come along, it helps the reader to get a better idea of the person who is writing and article, and what their opinions and beliefs are. An example of this can be seen here: "My junior year humanities class has helped me so much in my own understanding of our country. I feel that my own opinions are not based so much on what other people think, but what I feel is right or wrong. I have been learned how to form my own opinions and biases and how to dig deeper than just the mainstream media and find out the real facts. I really like the discussions that we as a class have because I like learning from not only teachers but my own peers."

Go Darwin! It's Your Birthday!

As humanities students, and as humans, we have the responsibility to understand not only the workings of science, but how and why. This is because we need to constantly question what we know, the same as Darwin did. This is the only way we can prove ideas to be right, disprove ideas that are wrong, and discover new ideas. We need to question why, because that could lead us to our next, perhaps totally different discovery. The same way Columbus simply stumbled upon America in search of another country, we too have potential to stumble upon a miraculous discovery, just by questioning why and how things work the way they do in science.

Scientific inquiry and knowledge should play a very large part in our society. It should be rooted in everything we do. The way our medical care operates, the way our scientists discover new things (whether it be animal science or cancer research) and the way our government operates. This is because when science is tested to a certain degree, it can be proven to be factual, and when this happens, we can use those facts to our advantage,

As stated before, science should be completely rooted in the way our society works. Science can influence our decisions by helping us to understand ourselves better, and maybe help us to use rational thought, instead of myth and theory, like how the world used to operate 2 centuries ago. It can influence our laws by showing medical and evolutionary facts, which would allow us to develop better health care systems, as well as any other aspect of our lives and world that are affected by science. And, it can influence our culture by allowing us to be more educated and less ignorant to the world around us. When we have a greater understanding about how the world, our species, and we ourselves work, we become better for it.

Happy birthday Charles Darwin.

Honors BLog 2/10/09

Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin develop the theme of large obstacles becoming very little in the name of a greater cause, through Setting, Narrative, and Persona.

For many points in the book, Mortenson and Relin are describing their location, in order to help the reader gain a sense of the setting, and what it was like to look at things through their eyes. This isn't so much describing any formulatic part of their surroundings, but rather, the parts that they noticed, that were specifically important to them. One of many examples of this is on page 194, when he says "The school was buffed to perfection. Dozens of new wooden desks sat in each classroom, on carpets thick enough to sheild studens' feet from the cold. Colorful world maps and portraits of Pakistan's leaders decorated the walls." This helps the theme by giving the reader a sense of what the main characters were experiencing, and from there, they could proceed to understand the mindset of not caring too much about any scary situation they may have been in.

David Oliver Relin is the narrator of the whole story, and it is all told from his point of view. His goal in his writing is to cover the actions and words of Greg Mortenson through his journey, but it's all a secondhand account of these events. As an example of this, I could take any sentence from any page of the book, because the entire book is from Relin's perspective. As an example; "It was 2:00 A.M. Mortenson had only slept for two hours, and as he struggled to understand what was happening to him, being deprived of the sleep he so badly needed bothered him more than the eight unfamiliar men pointing weapons at him and pulling him up by the arms." This develops the theme by (as an addition to setting) giving a specific point of view from which to look at the events that unfolded. The story itself, which is told through the narrative, is the focal point of the theme, and is really what portrays the idea of overcoming large obstacles.

Another literary element used is persona. As an addition to narrative, which is who tells the story, persona mainly entails the writing attributes of the person telling the story. This is perhaps the most important literary element, because while the events themselves help to portray the theme, the mundane way in which many major events (such as the previous example) are written is what really enforces this idea that not only are large obstacles to be overcome in the name of a greater cause, but they are to be overcome in a really lackadaisical sort of way. Throughout the entire book, there is an account of all the events, no matter how important or unimportant, all told in a really abrupt, dry, and blase way. This means that there isn't an abundance of detail, which makes it easier to read, and it also adds a level of humor to the book, on top of really portraying that these events aren't meant to have a big deal made out of them (even if they are a big deal). This is shown right from the beginning of the book, when, on page 2, Relin writes: "The red light that had worried me before began to flash faster. The bobbing needle on the gauge showed that we had less than one hundred liters of fuel... Just as the needle hit E and the red warning light began to beep, Bhangoo settled the skids at the center of large H..."

Oblagma: Revised

President Obama, I am here to talk to you about the current economic issues which we are facing. I would like to start off by telling you about the great depression. The great depression was a time in America in the 1930's, in which many people lost their homes and jobs - so much so that the unemployment rate actually reached 25%. This is very similar to the recession we face today, because although it is not quite on as massive a scale, we are still facing the exact same issues, and the numbers are increasing by the day. Our unemployment rate is at 7.6% as of February, thus putting millions more Americans out of their jobs. The home foreclosure rate in California, which holds 12% of America's population, is at 1.82%. Another leading cause of the Great Depression was the fact that we had just come out of a war, which put great stress on our economy. This can easily be related to the war in Iraq, which half of our taxpayer dollars are going toward funding.

To deal with the unemployment issue, Franklin Delanore Roosevelt passed the New Deal (among a series of other acts), which allowed Americans to come together and do the jobs that needed to be done in order to help fix America's economy, as well as creating more jobs and getting necessary things built. He administered the National Recovery Administration, which allowed businessmen and workers to abide by certain rules, and in exchange, got many benefits (such as a higher minimum wage, child labor laws, and trade unions). About 23 million people were part of this movement.

I understand, Mr. President, that you have plans to do something very similar to this. It is called Organizing for America, and it's purpose is to get Americans involved in rebuilding our economy, among other things. It is a website which will set up different activities all over the U.S., and will allow for people to see how they can volunteer in their community. What I would suggest is not only making an online video (which you have done), but addressing the nation on live television, and making sure that they know that this exists, and getting them excited about this and willing to help. Tell them exactly what this will accomplish, and how many people would be needed to volunteer for these goals to be met. Make sure that as much of America is as cooperative as you need them to be, so that you can pull us out of this recession, before our economy sinks even lower, and turns into a full blown depression.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Barack Obama.

About The Great Depression, Modern American Poetry, http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/about.htm
Employment Situation Summary, United States Department of Labor, http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
E. Scott Reckard, U.S. Home Forclosures to Hit Record Level Due in Part to California Woes, Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/06/business/fi-mortgage6
Great Depression in the United States, MSN Encarta, http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761584403/great_depression_in_the_united_states.html
Cost of War, National Priorities Project, http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
David Dinkins, FDR And The New Deal, eSSORTMENT, http://www.essortment.com/all/fdrnewdealfra_rgst.htm
Nartional Recovery Administration, Spartacus Educational, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USARnra.htm
Chris Cillizza, Obama Announces "Organizing For America", The Washington Post, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2009/01/obama_announces_organizing_for.html

If I Was President Obama's Economic Advisor...

President Obama, I am here to talk to you about the current economic issues which we are facing. I would like to start off by telling you about the great depression. The great depression was a time in America in the 1930's, in which many people lost their homes and jobs - so much so that the unemplyment rate actually reached 25%. This is very similar to the recession we face today, because although it is not quite on as massive a scale, we are still facing the exact same issues, and the numbers are increasing by the day. Our unemployment rate is at 7.6% as of February, thus putting millions more Americans out of their jobs.

To deal with this issue, Franklin Delanore Roosevelt passed the New Deal (among a series of other acts), which allowed Americans to come together and do the jobs that needed to be done in order to help fix America's economy, as well as creating more jobs and getting necessary things built. He administered the National Recovery Administration, which allowed businessmen and workers to abide by certain rules, and in exchange, got many benefits (such as a higher minimum wage, child labor laws, and trade unions). About 23 million people were part of this movement.

I understand, Mr. President, that you have plans to do something very similar to this. It is called Organizing for America, and it's purpose is to get Americans involved in rebuilding our economy, among other things. It is a website which will set up different activities all over the U.S., and will allow for people to see how they can volunteer in their community. What I would suggest is not only making an online video (which you have done), but addressing the nation on live television, and making sure that they know that this exists, and getting them excited about this and willing to help. Tell them exactly what this will accomplish, and how many people would be needed to volunteer for these goals to be met. Make sure that as much of America is as cooperative as you need them to be, so that you can pull us out of this recession, before our economy sinks even lower, and turns into a full blown depression.

Thank you for your time, Mr. Barack Obama.

Part 2:
My mentor interview took place on Thursday, February 5th, in the conference room at High Tech High Media Arts, and was recorded with the video function in Photo Booth.

Honors Blog Outline 2/6/09

Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin develop the theme of large obstacles becoming very little in the name of a greater cause, through Setting, Narrative, and Persona.

-Setting (pg. 194)
Recounted the events from their point of view

-Narrative (THE WHOLE BOOK)
Specific to his point of view

-Persona (pg. 2, 163)
Specific to how he handles his point of view (lackadaisical, blase, dry, abrupt, etc.)

Design Principles

Building off of Ideas: This design principle involves taking something the interviewee has said, and instead of asking a fixed question, asking them a question based off of what they just said. This allows for a more conversational and relaxed tone, and has potential to take the interview to new and interesting places.

Nixon’s Views on Presidential Power:
Excerpts from an Interview with David Frost

NIXON: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal.
FROST: By definition.
NIXON: Exactly. Exactly. If the president, for example, approves something because of the national security, or in this case because of a threat to internal peace and order of significant magnitude, then the president's decision in that instance is one that enables those who carry it out, to carry it out without violating a law. Otherwise they're in an impossible position.
FROST: So, that in other words, really you were saying in that answer, really, between the burglary and murder, again, there's no subtle way to say that there was murder of a dissenter in this country because I don't know any evidence to that effect at all. But, the point is: just the dividing line, is that in fact, the dividing line is the president's judgment?

Use of Evidence: This design principle uses specific evidence. This could be a quote, or a reference to any specific person or event. This helps to establish that the question has validity, and it gets a more direct answer from the interviewee.

Transcript: Obama Talks About Transition to Washington

Excerpts from an Interview with George Stephanopoulos

STEPHANOPOULOS: The most popular question on your own website is related to this. On change.gov it comes from Bob Fertik of New York City and he asks, "Will you appoint a special prosecutor ideally Patrick Fitzgerald to independently investigate the greatest crimes of the Bush administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping."

OBAMA: We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that for example at the CIA, you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe. I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering (ph).

Humor: This design principle uses comedy in order to make the interviewee, as well as the interviewer more relaxed. This gets the person being interviewed to open up more, and it also makes the video much more enjoyable to watch, and easier to remember.

CNN Larry King Live

Excerpts From an Interview With Jon Stewart

KING: Speaking of that you're newest baby is Maggie Rose (ph), right?
STEWART: Newest baby, you make it sound like a line of clothing.
KING: We have -- we have a Republican and a Democrat.
STEWART: Ah, that is the sweetest.
KING: What better gift for Jon Stewart?
STEWART: You know what, there's nothing that a 3-week-old appreciates more than an ironic gesture.
KING: And it's cuddly.