The movie that I am watching is called Trading Places. It stars Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd. The basic plot is two rich aristocrats make a bet over a dollar to see if a con-artist (Eddie Murphy) can run a company just like a snotty Investor (Dan Akroyd). The two test subjects had clearly no idea. Through several antics, and arguments, fights and nights in jail, The two eventually work together to bring down the bet makers.
The main setting throughout most of the movie is the eccentric Wall Street. There are a lot of things mentioned about the Stock Market as well. A person could learn a thing or two about it from this movie. The movie also shows the slums of New York during the 1980’s (Manhattan and Brooklyn). There are several scenes of the movie where characters are Incarcerated in jail. In the movie, the current season is Winter. It is in the month of December to be exact. The movie shows the cold and how undesirable it is. Also the hardships that people have to deal with. Christmas time was terrible for some. The movie also shows the kinds of people that live in this urban setting. There aren’t many citizens that were wealthy in New York City. They make the movie a lot more realistic this way. The movie also switches back between what the rich life looks like as well as the not so wealthy.
The viewer can see vast differences between the two. This movie also could work as a metaphor to break the boundaries of social class. It also seems as though the director wants the spectator to see how different everything is, and also probably have undertones or clues showing that people should be more generous or just not snobby. There are big happenings going on in the country and not just the city of New York. There were several lessons learned and was a very entertaining movie. It had its fair share of comedy as well as drama. This is a very great representation of New York City in the 1980s.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Blog 15: Minority Report Response
In the movie Minority Report, privacy really does not exist. The heightened security and the whole theory of Pre-Crime were made intentionally to help people and police to stop criminals before they would commit serious felonies. However, it leads to the invasion of privacy. In one scene from the movie, the police released spiders, which went into each and every single home in the apartment building. This is obviously a great invasion of privacy, to think that someone could be doing day to day activities where they would like to be private, such as taking a shower or sleeping they could even be doing personal business. Then here comes a robot spider going into my house via under my door and scanning my eyeball in an attempt to find a criminal on the loose. There's no privacy in that, if anything it seems pretty painful. Another example is the fact that damn near every facility that exists there are retinal scanners. There are a lot for just simple things such as advertisements, which personally state your name. But also it is a way for tracking people the police are looking for. On a simple train ride there are scanners for every single person that is on the train. The only sure fire way for someone to potentially get away with a serious crime is to get their eyeballs replaced and they would have to be out of public eye for the rest of their life. If someone has to go to the extremes of replacing their eyeballs with someone else's in order for them to be free from the scans and tracking then I think there is no such thing as safety anymore. There is two sides to every argument, therefore, I know some people would state it could easily catch a criminal that has done wrong. I would reply and say "To what extent" there seems to be no such thing as search warrants anymore. It also seems that the legendary bill of rights doesn’t exist at all anymore. Security and society really should not be this extreme. I would just rather see society and national security change very little. I would never want it to be the way minority report ends up as. I sincerely hope it does not turn out like this. If it does, then one can expect disorder and unhappy citizens. People would revolt eventually and not even the most high tech inventions can stop human will.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Special Activity: MOMI
Things i remember:
-The sound booth
-The multiple camera shots of the baseball game
-The sound editing discussion (titanic)
-The arcade
-All the props on the wall.
In the sound booth, the tour guide explained how voice overs worked. There was a computer attached to a microphone and we had to select certain scenes from the movies. Samantha, Victor and I had to recite lines from the movie Babe. It was a pretty simple process and it was a lot of fun.
The baseball game was very interesting. It showed the several cameras that that film the game. It seems as though everything is recorded. On the main screen, which shows whats being shown to the public, the camera angles are all shown. It seemed like a very complicated process.
The arcade seemed probably the most interesting part. There wasn't much explanation about it because we were pressed for time. However, there were a lot of vidoegame consoles there. They were all old, there were also arcade machines which had all the old games, next time i go, this would probably be the best spot for me.
-The sound booth
-The multiple camera shots of the baseball game
-The sound editing discussion (titanic)
-The arcade
-All the props on the wall.
In the sound booth, the tour guide explained how voice overs worked. There was a computer attached to a microphone and we had to select certain scenes from the movies. Samantha, Victor and I had to recite lines from the movie Babe. It was a pretty simple process and it was a lot of fun.
The baseball game was very interesting. It showed the several cameras that that film the game. It seems as though everything is recorded. On the main screen, which shows whats being shown to the public, the camera angles are all shown. It seemed like a very complicated process.
The arcade seemed probably the most interesting part. There wasn't much explanation about it because we were pressed for time. However, there were a lot of vidoegame consoles there. They were all old, there were also arcade machines which had all the old games, next time i go, this would probably be the best spot for me.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Blog 12
In class we have read the essay “The Man on the Moon” by George J. Annas. We also have watched the film Gattaca. The two works of media have both their similarities as well as their differences. The topic in comparison is genetic engineering and the view of “the other”.
A quote from the essay states: “The new ideal human, the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’ If history is a guide, either the normal humans will view the ‘better’ humans as the other and seek to control or destroy them, or vice versa” (236). In response to this hypothesis, I believe that it is true.
In the movie Gattaca, all of the people that were alive at the time were actually genetically engineered. Anyone who was not engineered would never actually be considered human. Therefore, those particular people who were not engineered were basically considered “the other”. They were to never be accepted in the current society.
In response to the quote; however, today’s society seems to have various values on what is considered “the other”. I agree that if there were a genetically engineered “superior” human, people would try to find a way to harness that power. Perhaps even control it.
In various other movies, I can’t really pinpoint which ones. (Primarily Science Fiction.) there were people who would try to harness and control the power of certain animals or certain people. The experiments ended in failure and people were killed in the process.
There is honestly no way that a person, or any other animal for the matter can be fully genetically engineered with out any long-term problems. The problems could be very little or extremely apparent. The human society that we have will result in trying to destroy them. There is no sense of equality, when everyone tries to make something “superior”.
A quote from the essay states: “The new ideal human, the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’ If history is a guide, either the normal humans will view the ‘better’ humans as the other and seek to control or destroy them, or vice versa” (236). In response to this hypothesis, I believe that it is true.
In the movie Gattaca, all of the people that were alive at the time were actually genetically engineered. Anyone who was not engineered would never actually be considered human. Therefore, those particular people who were not engineered were basically considered “the other”. They were to never be accepted in the current society.
In response to the quote; however, today’s society seems to have various values on what is considered “the other”. I agree that if there were a genetically engineered “superior” human, people would try to find a way to harness that power. Perhaps even control it.
In various other movies, I can’t really pinpoint which ones. (Primarily Science Fiction.) there were people who would try to harness and control the power of certain animals or certain people. The experiments ended in failure and people were killed in the process.
There is honestly no way that a person, or any other animal for the matter can be fully genetically engineered with out any long-term problems. The problems could be very little or extremely apparent. The human society that we have will result in trying to destroy them. There is no sense of equality, when everyone tries to make something “superior”.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Blog 11, The Other
There are several opinions in which people have of “The Other”. While there are some circumstances in which some people see things normal. There are particular instances in which someone would see another person as “the other”. There are various things in which I see certain people as “The other”. However, the one the one group I cannot have common ground with no mater what, are religious groups that try to force their religion onto you. It’s pretty common on the train, or in the middle of the city. I remember there was one guy on wall street that preached about it. The way of religion. It’s also not just any religion, but Christianity. There are so many people preaching about god and the like. They wouldn’t accept any other religion at all, only theirs. They really start to aggravate me. Especially on the train. On the J train to be exact, there is a woman who pretty much screams damn near the top of her lungs about the word of Jesus. Telling people to repent and everything like that. I cannot stand those people. I have no religion, myself (I was born a catholic because of my parents. I personally do not care for religion. I just stopped believing). But when someone tries to force it on you it just makes me hate it even more. I hate those kinds of people. I feel so much opposition towards it because I feel that it really wouldn’t be beneficial. It is one thing to have a religion, I have no problem with you but if you try to force it on me, you are only making me resent you and the religion in general. Before I say something that could offend a person who is reading this. I personally just don’t feel anything towards religion. The people that try to preach about a particular religion in public it shouldn’t. The world isn’t just one religion. Therefore, it is my honest opinion that these people are “the other” to me, I feel strongly about it, and that’s the way it is.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Blog 10
1.)There were a lot of things that had taken time to get used to in this course. First of all this is the first time I really used blogs (I typically can’t stand them). However, the way that the professor made this class turned out to be somewhat helpful. I do enjoy the concept of using sci-fi movies to get this point across. The matrix screening was pretty fun. On the other hand writing about it proved to be more difficult than I thought because I had to elaborate more on it. I would like to have known more about the concept of knowledge. I think that the term of ignorance is bliss is about too played out. We’ve done it too much already. I don’t think there’s much more to do anymore. Illusion and reality is pretty interesting as well. I find it amazing how many people cannot decide between the two.
2.)I am having a bit of a problem as a writer with these blogs. I would rather do more written work than blogs because I still need to get the idea of MLA format completely. I find it a bit discouraging. I think it’s just me needing some constructive criticism on my writing. Therefore, if I had more assistance with that maybe I could do better. I can pretty much do a thesis and a topic sentence quite well. I do have some problems annotating, I still need to learn more about that. It’s not too easy. And the biggest problem I am bound to have is this LaGuardia archives project. I am still very unsure about it. I don’t think I have a clue exactly what to do for this assignment. I’m going to try the best I can to succeed in this. However, I fear I might have some errors because I need more direction with my writing. Hopefully by the end of this semester I can be able to write a lot better than I was in the beginning.
2.)I am having a bit of a problem as a writer with these blogs. I would rather do more written work than blogs because I still need to get the idea of MLA format completely. I find it a bit discouraging. I think it’s just me needing some constructive criticism on my writing. Therefore, if I had more assistance with that maybe I could do better. I can pretty much do a thesis and a topic sentence quite well. I do have some problems annotating, I still need to learn more about that. It’s not too easy. And the biggest problem I am bound to have is this LaGuardia archives project. I am still very unsure about it. I don’t think I have a clue exactly what to do for this assignment. I’m going to try the best I can to succeed in this. However, I fear I might have some errors because I need more direction with my writing. Hopefully by the end of this semester I can be able to write a lot better than I was in the beginning.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Blog 8
The tale of Oedipus has several similarities to The Matrix. The concepts are: ignorance is bliss, and knowledge. Oedipus had been under the impression that he was happy with his wife Jacosta. However, he had no idea that Jacosta was actually his own mother. This shown that his ignorance made it completely acceptable. However, once he found out, life became a train wreck for him. He resulted in gouging out his own eyes so he can not see his children that he had conceived with Jacosta.
In The Matrix, the concept of ignorance is bliss comes from the fact that the characters in the matrix already know that everything is fake. However, they make it feel like its real so there are certain things that they feel are real even though they are not.
Another concept in relation between the two pieces of media is Knowledge. Both had made it seem like knowledge is power. In Oedipus, being unenlightened had been a great disadvantage. There were many things that he did not know. For example, the fact that he had no clue who his real parents were. And he unknowingly filled the prophecy in which he kills his father and weds his mother.
In The Matrix, the oracle had given Neo the knowledge that he was not the one. However, she also mentioned he could be, perhaps in a better life. The knowledge of that had been unexpected at first. However, it turned out that Neo became the one after he returned from the dead.
These examples are two of many more comparisons between The Matrix and the tale of Oedipus. Ignorance is bliss, and Knowledge is power.
In The Matrix, the concept of ignorance is bliss comes from the fact that the characters in the matrix already know that everything is fake. However, they make it feel like its real so there are certain things that they feel are real even though they are not.
Another concept in relation between the two pieces of media is Knowledge. Both had made it seem like knowledge is power. In Oedipus, being unenlightened had been a great disadvantage. There were many things that he did not know. For example, the fact that he had no clue who his real parents were. And he unknowingly filled the prophecy in which he kills his father and weds his mother.
In The Matrix, the oracle had given Neo the knowledge that he was not the one. However, she also mentioned he could be, perhaps in a better life. The knowledge of that had been unexpected at first. However, it turned out that Neo became the one after he returned from the dead.
These examples are two of many more comparisons between The Matrix and the tale of Oedipus. Ignorance is bliss, and Knowledge is power.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Blog #5
In this excerpt from The Republic, Socrates is explaining a scenario in which people are unenlightened. In the story there are humans, possibly prisoners, chained to walls in an underground cave with little light protruding out of a hole. It is figured that these men, living in darkness the majority of their life; have not seen the true light of the sun. Granted if they have, they would face severe pain because the brightness that they could not see. When one man finally sees the light and tries to explain what he had seen, nobody believes him. The single individual represents En
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Blog numberr 3
I used to think Santa Claus was real
I used to believe in the tooth fairy
I used to want to be older because I thought it would be awesome.
As I child, I believed in far too many things that have proven to be untrue. The young mind can be easily manipulated with little to no effort. I believe it is the perceptions that we gain through media and the like.
When I was a child, I actually believed in Santa Claus. I believed he existed and it stayed like that till I was probably about 9 or 10 (late I know). I just thought about logic I guess. I figured it out all on my own. I just question why was the idea made up anyway. It didn’t really bother me much. Except for the fact that I can ruin other children’s childhoods by stating Santa isn’t real. I find it funny.
The tooth fairy probably was one of the things that I believed was real for quite some time. I enjoyed getting a dollar for every tooth that fell out. I caught my mother in the act though because I woke up in the middle of the night. Therefore I stopped believing. I also just simply figured out the fact that a dollar really isn’t worth much anymore.
I am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only child that thought being older was going to be awesome. Well I’m 18 now, and I finally realized that it is terrible, difficult, and not fun at all. But hey it isn’t all-bad. I am okay right now but not awesome.
There are several other things that many people believe in but are proven to be untrue. However, that would be for another debate.
I used to believe in the tooth fairy
I used to want to be older because I thought it would be awesome.
As I child, I believed in far too many things that have proven to be untrue. The young mind can be easily manipulated with little to no effort. I believe it is the perceptions that we gain through media and the like.
When I was a child, I actually believed in Santa Claus. I believed he existed and it stayed like that till I was probably about 9 or 10 (late I know). I just thought about logic I guess. I figured it out all on my own. I just question why was the idea made up anyway. It didn’t really bother me much. Except for the fact that I can ruin other children’s childhoods by stating Santa isn’t real. I find it funny.
The tooth fairy probably was one of the things that I believed was real for quite some time. I enjoyed getting a dollar for every tooth that fell out. I caught my mother in the act though because I woke up in the middle of the night. Therefore I stopped believing. I also just simply figured out the fact that a dollar really isn’t worth much anymore.
I am pretty sure that I wasn’t the only child that thought being older was going to be awesome. Well I’m 18 now, and I finally realized that it is terrible, difficult, and not fun at all. But hey it isn’t all-bad. I am okay right now but not awesome.
There are several other things that many people believe in but are proven to be untrue. However, that would be for another debate.
Blog 2 :D
Allegory of the Cave
In this excerpt, Socrates explains his logic in an example of a cave full of a number of slaves chained to the walls. One of the individuals are lucky enough to be able to see a light through a hole in the wall. He sees this and tries to tell the others about his great discovery. The other prisoners deny him and call him mad.
I think this represents the enlightened and the unenlightened like it was explained before. That one lucky prisoner to see the light. He was the one that was enlightened and the others were left in the dark. The dark cave represents the world, where as the prisoners represent every day people. And the majority of those prisoners/people are unenlightened. This shows that people need to be enlightened. If not, they will be left in the dark for the rest of their life. Not knowing what real life is.
In this excerpt, Socrates explains his logic in an example of a cave full of a number of slaves chained to the walls. One of the individuals are lucky enough to be able to see a light through a hole in the wall. He sees this and tries to tell the others about his great discovery. The other prisoners deny him and call him mad.
I think this represents the enlightened and the unenlightened like it was explained before. That one lucky prisoner to see the light. He was the one that was enlightened and the others were left in the dark. The dark cave represents the world, where as the prisoners represent every day people. And the majority of those prisoners/people are unenlightened. This shows that people need to be enlightened. If not, they will be left in the dark for the rest of their life. Not knowing what real life is.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Blog 1
My two selves
The public and private self: two sides that differ from each other on so many levels. They complement each other but also have too many ways to determine who I am. It can be difficult to distinguish what is my private self as opposed to what my public self is. To me I believe it really just depends on my comfort zone. I can act one way in one place and I can act a different way somewhere else.
One quality of my public self is me being quiet when I'm not in my comfort zone. I try to be as respectful as I can and not pass any boundaries that would be unacceptable. I act like my quiet self when I am in class or in the workplace. However, in contrast to my quiet trait, I am a very loud person when I am my private self. I show my private self in a number of places. It varies from being at parks, or in school hallways but it is always when I'm with my friends. I am very social and talkative person when I am my private self.
Another public self-quality is that I find myself boring and socially awkward. I try my best to make a conversation when I am uncomfortable but it usually falls flat. I don’t see this quality of myself to be an enjoyable person. In contrast, I love making jokes when I am my private self. I can do several voice impressions and I love making people laugh. It seems to be one of my finer qualities of my private self. I don’t see how this would be a bad thing in any way.
My final example of difference between my public and my private self is the way that I am quite lazy and sluggish when I'm my public self. I am not sure what the reason for that is. It could be the possible fact that I don’t have a desire to do much. Especially since I am alone. Therefore, my private self is the absolute opposite. I love to be active with my friends. I play sports (even though I am terrible at them) and I just have fun. I am more motivated as well ass enthusiastic about many things. I feel that is my best private self-quality.
I feel that in the matter of me being my public and private self, it all depends on my comfort zone. I need to be as comfortable as I can be in order to have me being my private self. I let several people see my private self because it is the way I am. I believe that it isn’t that bad of a problem. And I feel that I can go far expressing myself the way that I have been for so long.
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