Manifesto

Karim Rashid is quite a talented designer and he has an enticing manifesto that reflects the work he does. His manifesto is composed of 10 (public) different short rules to live by.

The one segment that stood out to me, and that I would actually like to put into my own manifesto, is this:

-Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is. Space and objects can encourage increased experiences or distract from our experiences.


I don't think I could have explained the concept of 'experience' any better myself. I cherish the experience of anything in life; I see them as opportunities to realize the potential of life. Most of my friends wouldn't participate in a conversation about controversial or provocative topics with people they don't know, and I'm not saying that they or you should, but... know that there is a valuable experience that comes from any discussion and exchange of ideas. Even an argument makes the place a smarter world.

I can't really see this specific rule being applied in his work, I think it's more of a lifestyle thing for Karim Rashid. I do see a correlation between his work and a some other of his manifesto rules, such as Normal is not good and Consume experiences, not things. These ideas, I believe, really drive his creativity in designing new products or packaging. He tries to create a new experience out of the same old routines and consumer products.

I don't know if right here, right now, at Alden Library, I'm suited to write out my own manifesto. I know I will, I absolutely want to, but I can't right now. I will contemplate what really needs to be in my manifesto, and write it out on a warm sunny day while sitting in the grass under a tree.

Cuz then you know it's legit.

Respone to FREAK FACTOR - changethis.com

David Rendall's "FREAK FACTOR: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness"

I just read the article linked above, "FREAK FACTOR", on changethis.com (such an excellent website) written by David Rendall, a speaker, author, consultant, and entrepreneur. Reading the excerpt about his life and his bio found on his web page, I learned that he is a true "freak", in that he grew up knowing he wasn't average or normal in many different aspects. He is dyslexic and hyperactive, and as child he was told it was a disadvantage and needed to be cured or worked on. He turned that boat right around and created quite a life for himself focusing on helping others redefine what weaknesses and strengths really are.

Here are three excerpts of advice that I really felt for:

2. What's My Problem?

What's My Problem takes all the labels of weaknesses that has been pinned on him by his teachers, parents, managers, friends, and wife, and then he does something that I should have thought about a long, long time ago. David Rendall took these labels of weakness and say them as clues to his inherent and natural strengths. Now his "hyperactivity" is a highly appreciated and employed attribute in his job where he gets to stand up and talk. It's not necessarily a flaw as a whole, you see, it has a place somewhere in some form.

This makes me wanna compile a list of my weaknesses and see what strengths they link to. Then I can stop being so frustrated at the thought of these inherent inabilities and see where they become an inherent ability. Maybe even a super ability if I happen to have a huge weakness. It's all about seeing the other side, and changing your perspective about yourself. Ya dig?

3. Flawless: There is Nothing Wrong with You

This is the next step in the process that I've created for myself after reading Rendall's article. In Flawless, David states that every characteristic, strength or weakness, acts as a double-edge sword. What he means is that any strength can also be a weakness in a sense, and vice versa. He says that "unfortunately, instead of seeing a weakness as natural and unavoidable consequence of its corre- sponding strength, we see weakness as a problem to be eliminated." Strengths are weaknesses, weaknesses are strengths, the two are inseparable. If I'm a very flexible person (not like physically flexible, I can barely touch my toes) it also means that I'm inconsistent. I can't have a flexible schedule and also be consistent with my schedule. Or at least not completely one or the other. You can find a balance.

This is where I take a look at my weaknesses, and even my strengths, and see what advantages and disadvantages each characteristic truly holds. And you know what, after that I am going to re-label my weak characteristics as a positive ones and then perform the next and final step. 

5. Foundation: Build on Strengths 


This section is the final step in the my personal process. I have to apply all my strengths (and new strengths) in areas where they satisfy and the ball starts rolling from there. David says that "your strengths are patterns of passion and proficiency. They are what you love to do. They are what you do well." I don't see why I should waste much of my time trying to "correct" my "weaknesses" when I know that I have strengths that not everyone else has, some strengths being exceptional, and they can be put into practice NOW!

Don't sit around and sob about the lack of some of your abilities, and don't try to work on those that you know are inherent and are too difficult to change, like dyslexia or hyperactivity. Most importantly, don't try to change qualities that provide a great strength that can be applied (referring to #3). 


Rinse, repeat as necessary.

Video Game Presentations

We gave our video game presentation last Friday during lab, and I think it went very well. Though our project is a simple concept of a internet game, it has a lot of different components that make it fun to play and inviting to investors. We tried our hardest to give an example of every situation which would show the audience all the different aspects of the game. Of course, our presentation could not be perfect and we forgot to mention a few things, or some ideas were simply not received by the audience.

The first thing that we had trouble getting across to the audience is the concept of health in OU Adventure. At first we tried to come up with a way to incorporate food into the video game, because the 'drunk food' scene on many campuses, especially ours, is a large part of a bar-goer's night. We decided first that Beer in the game would be the player's health, and when he lost health in fights he would drink more beer to regain life. But then we decided that it was kind of a dumb concept, and then we put grub into the game for the health aspect, changing the beer items in the game so that they instead fuel your 'mana', or in this case, beer muscles.

Another factor of the game that was difficult to get across was the different course of gameplay. At first, when first conceiving the idea for the game, we thought that the game should be linear in playability, like many level/mission based side-scrollers. We figured it would make the most sense if it played out like a normal night for a fratstar, starting at a house party, then accidentally finding himself in a townie bar, then ending up at The Crystal for last call (boosting hi-score), then finally battling the notorious elements of Court Street past 2 in the morning, trying to get home safe and sound (and without a broken phone or missing credit card). But then we played with the idea of making the level selection up to the players. We wanted more freedom in the game, so that players got a sense of control and possibly more enjoyment because of that.

The easiest element to explain to the audience would have to be the mechanics. Our controls are so simple, you can do it with one hand on the keyboard. Of course, you can always purchase our frat-tastic usb controller. For the most part, the controls include the movement feature, a jump button, an action button, and a punch (attack) button. These concepts were the easiest to explain to the class, and set the tone for clear understanding throughout the presentation.

We were very enthusiastic about this game design, it was more than a class assignment to us.

Reflection of My Classmates Heroes and Villains

Unfortunately, the only classmate whose Hero and Villain I could review is Arielle Busch and her partner's.

Red Bullet and Stevie are a funny duo, Red Bullet being the oversized, jacked up, high school jock, and Stevie being the nerdy student who is always picked on... just a classic conflict in every high school across the world.

Let's take a look at what separates these  two characters into their different genres by their appearance. The lighting between the two drawings is most significant to their motivation and their evil or good perception by the audience...

Stevie is bright colors, which is a symbolism of purity and innocence. They drew a ceiling florescent light directly above Stevie to shine down on him and reveal his complete characteristics.

Red Bullet takes up a large amount of space, and we know this not only because of the background setting but the shadow that he casts. The shadows, which aren't present in Stevie's portrait, denote a bully appearance immediately. Also, the dark hue of red in his jersey and the eyeblack strips under his eyes set a darker mood, revealing less of his actual personality and more of his intentions.

 Stevie has a lack of color, he is almost completely white. We know that if anything, Stevie can be close to harmless, and possibly very intelligent. The colors and shape formed for Red Bullet can tell us that he is potentially very harmful and probably uses his body more than his mind.

This American Life Audio Response

Here is a link to the Superpowers podcast, the 178th episode of This American Life from WBEZ. I listened to this radio snippet to get an idea of the realm of super powers, a large creative entity. This podcast puts the decision of your superpower into a conflicted perspective, seriously take a listen to at least the first act (first 20 minutes or so) in which John Hodgman conducts an informal survey on an age old supernatural ability decision.

Here's an mp3 of my thoughts on Flight vs. Invisibility, in it I also talk about my current favorite hero, Adrian Veidt from The Watchmen.

Adrian Veidt in the recent Watchmen feature film and in the comic series.

With a name like Adrian you can't go wrong, come on.

Hero vs Villain Animation

Here are the images of me and my partner's drawings and our animations for the Hero and Villain class assignment.

 

 And here is my animation below:

Here is James Watson's

"Tea Time Out" vs. "Trouble in the Kitchen"

This is a comparative reflection of two short videos I helped create, "Tea Time Out" and "Trouble in the Kitchen". If you haven't seen either of these videos, you should check them out in my previous blog post. Also, here are the links for Tea Time Out and Trouble in the Kitchen on Youtube.

 When we wrote up the scripts for the two videos, we had to abide by one guideline: they both had to be based from the same joke. So we had to decide on two different genres/approaches for our joke. What we came up with is two coming of age stories, one being set in the late 40's and one being modern day. We also used contrasting cinematography for each video to create a subtext for the approaches to this same joke.

The first big difference between the two videos cinematography-wise is the depth, or space, of the scenes. In "Tea Time Out", all of the shots done by Yuxi were intended to be up close and personal with Megan as the girl character to give an enclosed feel to the audience. It is supposed to make you feel like you are in this other world which Megan's mind is in when she has pretend tea parties. Also, all of the points of interest are within the boundaries of her "world" so that the audience doesn't realize they are in such a small box.

The next big difference between the videos is the element of movement. Although we were allowed no camera movements, even zoom, we were able to create dynamic movement between the two videos within the frames and sequences through object movement and point of interest. In "Trouble in the Kitchen", we even started the video with alternating points of interest in the establishing shot. The shot is divided up into four parts by the window frame, from which you focus on using the rule of thirds. Throughout the scenes, you can see how much more complex the movements are within the frames compared to "Tea Time Out". This are just two of the different focuses we had when producing these short films.

My Media 203 Video Joke Projects

I worked in a small group to complete two short videos based upon the same joke.

Tea Time Out

Trouble in the Kitchen

bon appetit!

Creative Design - Dead Space

This is my interpretation of the creative design that went into Dead Space the video game by EA games. I focus mostly on the lighting effects and the mood it sets.

Inglourious Basterds - Bar Scene

This is my interpretation of the cinematography in one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite movies, Inglourious Basterds

Reimagining Visual Framing - Salvador Dali

You know, right before school started, during the summer of 09, someone had bought my mom a coffee table book as a gift. I can't remember the title or even what the cover looked like, but it was a large picture book containing the works of Salvador Dali. I would always flip through it when I was really bored, usually eating cereal, and thinking "What was this man smoking? How do you even start to imagine the concept of some of these paintings?" No, I didn't fall into an exploration of his paintings or even give it a second thought, but it's funny how right now, for homework, I get to spend some quality time with the main man Dali and dive, at least a smidgen, into his creative thought.

So check this out; we were given a few images from different artists as a starter log for our creative projects in my Media 203 class, and of course I've been really focusing on Dali's. I took this image from the group in particular...

What. The. Hell.

... because it's the most badass thing I've ever seen on canvas, and decided to crop out, or "Reframe" it into one particular section, (which could be a painting on its own, in my opinion) and ended up with this...

Again... wtf

... I used to think Salvador Dali was crazy, but looking at this 'reframe' we can clearly see the man's nuts. Okay but seriously, it's only a tiny portion of the insane world originally created, but it still holds some creative truths I'd like to explore.

First off, let's look at how Salvador makes use of depth cues in order to create this larger than life surreality in his paintings. From the original, we have a man in our most foreground, so we can imagine the size of the things going on around the portrait because we know how large a man should be, so we have a taste of distance judgment. We can't use the horse or elephants as reference points though, because even though we know the size of a normal horse and elephant, these aren't your average animals.

This is where Dali expresses his surreality best. If you take a close look, we can see other people deeper into the landscape. Two, maybe three other dudes freakin out waving more religious symbols. From that reference point, these elephants are just gigantic (and so awesome) and gives such a large power element to his work.

 This shot type is an extreme wide shot. He uses this wide scenario perspective to show the scale of the action and build intensity through the pure largeness of the animals.

Take another look at the rhythm of the painting, how you feel as you look from the left to the ride side of the canvas. You start small and weak, with a naked and malnourished man. Look at his arm, it's raised up at an angle towards the horse, but it's so significant his arm is raised on the right hand side, instead of mirrored, because as we read the picture from left to right, our vision steadily climbs upwards to the enormous surreal animals. A lot of power sits in the middle of the painting, where the animals touch the top of the canvas, and then slowly dies downwards towards the right side of the canvas. Wow.

Salvador Dali is not to be taken lightly, folks. Take another glance at his works and see what you can find out about this crazy man's creativity.

Audio Reflections for my classmates' Song/Music projects

These are reflections of my classmates' Song/Music projects:

Joe Battaglia's Blog http://jbfilm.blogspot.com/
My reflection of Joe's Song

Jordan Bond's Blog http://jbond00777.blogspot.com/
 My reflection of Jordan's Song

Cameron Brown's Blog http://cameronbrown9080.blogspot.com/
Unfortunately Cameron hasn't posted his song yet, but once he does come back here for my reflection!

Brainwashed!

Here's the link to the Bainwashed article by Seth Godin

The way of the lizard is within all of us! Well, at least the "lizard brain" is within all of us. The lizard brain? Well that's the small inner part of our brains that worries solely about the safety of our social being.

Sometimes you run across someone who just really doesn't care about what people think, and maybe there's a few times when you just can't be around them because they are so damn embarrassing! Well, those people are weird, yes, but they have learned to ignore the 'resistance' of the lizard brain.

Viva la Resistance?

You might abide by this resistance in most situations, but when we want to be creative, all of the sudden the common 'resistance' creates this barrier that we really really wanna get past. We know we are capable of creating beautiful and thought provoking things, it just takes some balls.

The best artists jump off cliffs on a regular basis. Not literally, but they take the risk that they will be laughed at, or even ostracized in some cultures. But as Seth Godin puts it, it's taking these risks that leads us to get rewarded.

If this all hasn't hit home yet, take with you the quote that will stay with me for a while. Seth Godin states "that the act of genius required to produce something original and important is crippled by the resistance, and ignoring the voice of skepticism is critical in doing the work."

Don't feel like you are creating for others, or the general population or culture as a whole. Create for yourself, you know deep down you can make rad stuff.

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From the same article, I decided to take a look at the "Ship" excerpt. Basically from the same scheme as the lizard brain, "Ship" says that ignoring the gecko is just not enough, kid. You need to DELIVER. And then after that.... YOU NEED TO DELIVER AGAIN. Timely, accordingly, efficiently. Many people and companies are easily capable to take risks in creating product, and they might be damn good, but do they really close the sale and make a difference? Do they become an indispensable contact?

In "Ship", Seth Godin says that shipping is affected by the lizard brain as well. Even after you jump off the cliff with your new masterpiece, will you ship it? Are you still afraid you might fail miserably if people experience it? It's scary; you're held accountable for the decisions made, what if things go wrong?

Seth Godin: Don't give a flying rats butt! You are there to deliver. You are there because you are the linchpin, the ones we can't live without. You and your organization are the ones that can get things done and close the sale, ship the product and make the difference.

So first we have "The Lizard Brain", the element that has kept me from creating things for years. And now we have "Ship"!!! Combined, this has given me so much more comfort about my creativity blog. Now, I can create how I want to create, what I vision. And then after that, I post it here, for the world to see. My parents, my teacher, my friends, my colleagues, people that hardly know me and people that will never know me.... I think I'm a new man.

Reflections of my classmates Soundscapes projects

Here are a few of my classmates' Soundscape projects and my reflections of them:

Andrew Widlicka's blog http://awid7.blogspot.com/
My reflection of Andrew Widlicka's project

Alex Welsh's blog http://alexscreativityblog.blogspot.com/
My reflection of Alex Welsh's project

James Watson's blog http://jameswatson14.blogspot.com/
My reflection of James Watson's project

They are bomb!

La Roux vs. Skream - In for the Kill

This couldn't be a more perfect time for a blog post about song covers. If you take a look at music today, especially from the music blog scene, you will find hundreds of 'singles' posted every week for free download of essentially a cover of a song but in a different genre and style completely. I'm so so so addicted to finding these 'singles' everyday and usually fall in love with a new song every day. With the help of music blog sites like Consequence of Sound and Dirty Mexican Lemonade (more of a college frat music scene) I discover these new songs daily. (Recently I started visiting Hype Machine which aggregates all music blogs by the songs they contain and the internet popularity.)

Anywho, I decided to take a look at both La Roux and Skream's versions of "In for the Kill", originally composed by La Roux. I found this on the internets a while back but it still kills me every time.

So here's La Roux and their new music video (they rule)

And here's Skream (they rule more... maybe)

Seriously, these are two different but incredibly awesome approaches to "In for the Kill". Notice the lyrics, or should I say the acapella track, stayed the same but the instrumentals had a drastic difference.

Let's talk speed. Being a droopy dubstep song, the speed is very slow in Skream's version compared to the original's. La Roux is a very upbeat electropop/synthpop duo and their music works like a pulley on your body in a discotheque trance. Skream is known to scramble brains with their magical, magical bass drops. Using only a Drum & Bass kit and high pads (pads being the same melody from the original), they have a smaller arrangement of instrumentation as well.

I'm pretty sure Skream's version is more intense because of the massive bass, high notes, increased volume in vocals, and not to mention the huge D&B drop towards the end....

The timbre of Skream's version is far different because of the added echo in the vocals, giving a lingering effect of Eleanor Jackson's voice (love it, need it).


Well you can probably tell which song I'm leaning towards here, but in case you didn't know..

Skream's version just melts me. I usually enjoy a healthy serving of electropop, especially La Roux, but Skream hit the nail on the head in between dubstep and ... I don't even know, like some kind of empty void with you and the vocals. Ya feel me?

My Music/Song Project

This is my song that I composed for the Song/Music assignment, Lab #2. It's supposed to be a Latin, upbeat feel. It was created using Garageband.

Soundscape Project

This is me and my partner Jordan Bond's Soundscape presentation. The emotion we were going for was "feeling when seeing the sun rise for the first time."

Finding My "Howl"

Jonathon Flaum wrote an interesting short story in his excerpt, "Finding Your Howl", which can be found on this website. (Search for "Howl" if it doesn't already direct you.)

Flaum's first segment tells an interesting and metaphysical story about a pack of wolves released back into the wild after being born and raised in the comfy confines of captivity. Turns out many of the wolves didn't like the change of environment, except for one wolf.

Mumon is the lone wolf that would rather relearn to hunt and live like his ancestors instead of the humiliating place where he was spoon-fed his meals. The transition is tough because of one important missing element: they had lost their ability to howl. He ends up finding his ability to howl after essentially "dying" or passing through another phase as some would say in a spiritual tenor.


This story reaches to everyone in a different way. I think what Flaum is trying to jab at is our inner passion. He says that we all, by nature, have instincts to lead, create, and make differences. Our minds are raised in captivity from birth. People tell us what to do and how to think. It's difficult for us to transition ourselves back into the wild where we rely on our instincts because we have forgotten how to howl.

Here is a short audio clip of myself discussing one of my favorite quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”

"who am i?"

Mitch Ditkoff's 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas

After reading Mitch Ditkoff's 14 Ways to Get Breakthrough Ideas, much of the frustration that comes during my creative process finally has a few remedies to take note of. This article provided 14 different notions that innovators should consider when coming across the difficult stages of idea birthing and brainstorming.

The man, the myth, the homework assignment.

One thing that immediately caught my attention was the contrast of the 2 “schools of thought” or philosophies about idea creation or reception. I think Ditkoff wants to begin this excerpt with a sense of open-mindedness, which in fact becomes the basis for many of his different thinking tips.

Ditkofff also annotates towards the end of his prelude that we are all capable of conjuring brilliant ideas, it might just seem more difficult given our mood, circumstances, and conditioning.

Let's take a look at 3 tips that hit home for me...

#2 Immersion

I couldn't explain with all the blogspace in the world the agonizing pain that frustration brings when trying to conceive a new or innovative idea. Mostly because I'm already so caught up in many other different things in my life that I couldn't fully concentrate in the first place. Well, that is what Mitch Ditkoff is yelling at me about in his second proposition to idea-birthing: “Immersion”

He says that ideas are flowing in and out of us all the time, it's the capacity at which you can receive and foster a breakthrough idea. When I thought about this, it hit me that I always experience minor epiphanies daily but I'm too busy to give it thought and attention. And then, when I finally sit down to come up with something creative I am unable to and it frustrates me, and so does the laundry, and my phone going off, and my unsorted emails, blah blah etc.

 New Concept: Thinking cap that sorts your Gmail and underwear for you.

The point is, we are the only animal that attempts to multi-task all of our duties at one time, and it's an overhaul on the mind. True creativity stems from dedicated time to creativity.

#3 Tolerate Ambiguity

So now that I've learned how to deal with outside distractions when in my thinking chair, what about all the distractions and hurdles that lie within the creative process itself? Sure, you've sat down with no other commitments to divide your attention upon, and you've come up with a general notion for something innovative, but there's still so far to go.

Ditkoff explains that ideas don't commonly fall out of the sky and hit us all at once. In fact, he says new ideas come from constant practice, trial and error, and series of approximations. There is a “grey zone” that separates our initial notions from fully developed ideas or innovations. He uses Thomas Edison as a prime example with the 800+ trials he went through to finalize the lightbulb. But Mr. Edison held an attribute throughout his process that helped him endure the constant “failures”, and it was that he didn't see his failed attempts as a negativity, he saw them as “ways to not create a lightbulb”. We are all destined to fail at least once, but it's how many times you can endure that feeling of failure before you give up.

Thomas Edison did eventually give up on minesweeper.

#4 Make New Connections

Sometimes it's difficult to think of an innovative new concept because you are trying to create the most insanely fresh and untouched idea possible. Many new concepts derive solely from two or more existing ideas combined in some way. Ditkoff says “Rollerblades? It's just ice skating and roller skating combined.” 

 Taking it a step further.

If I could do one thing, it would be to create the newest, freshest concept known to us today. But let's get real, it takes less effort to construct and idea using two or more existing elements and creating a connection for them.

I remember one day being bored, trying to think of a new concept for a useful website. It was difficult to get started because I was confined to thinking about the non-existent, “the frontier”. Well, I wasn't getting anywhere, until I realized “Holy spit, Adrian there has to be a website for almost every concept I'm thinking of, but there is a high probability there isn't a website that creates a useful connection of preexisting innovations.” So then I began thinking in a different spectrum, like using different Lego pieces to build something big, instead of trying to create the new Lego piece.

Well anyways, I then came up with a video/audio/text chat site that combines shared e-textbooks for college students to collaboratively study online.

Yahyahyah it's kinda lame but you get the point right?

Activity #4:

Nouns

-computer

-car

-hat

-fan

-table

-drink

-chair

-window

-power

-wheel

Verbs

-organize

-communicate

-prioritize

-concentrate

-read

-relax

-save

-hear

-draw

-sing

Adjectives
-loud
-tall
-short
-small
-sharp
-dark
-colorful
 -black
-rich
-attractive
Intriguing connections:
Computer table, Fan with different color blades, Recliner chair with speakers built in. To-Do list on a Window pane?...

Inspiration Ignites Creation

One of the few things that I will eternally cherish is the feeling of inspiration and connection that comes from different forms of media. I see my self as a creative person, but I recently noticed through my media courses how heavily I depend on inspiration to begin constructing an idea.

My first source of inspiration comes from the movies I watch. Nothing stirs my mind like 2 hours of good cinema. One of my favorite movies of all time is Quentin Tarantino's most recent film, Inglorious Basterds. This historical fictional movie begins with my favorite scene of all time, where Nazi Colonel Hans Landa arrives at a dairy farm in France to interrogate the local farmer about rumors of his hiding of a Jewish family. This is the finest portrayal of tension and release that I've seen from a movie in a long time. Hans Landa sits with the farmer in his own kitchen, making himself quite at home, and barrages the man with calm questions as to whether or not he is actually hiding a family.

As tension builds, the simple French farmer begins to slowly break into the truth, which Colonel Landa extracted so intricately, about the Jewish family hiding in the floorboards just beneath the Colonel. The tension first releases when the Colonel orders his men to open fire onto the family below, killing all but one young woman. At this point, tension sets in once more as we watch her make a fumbling escape. The Nazi Colonel spots her running not too far off in the distance, draws his Luger pistol from the holster, and raises it to focus his aim on the girl, and after a second, tension releases for the last time in the scene when he decides to hold his fire and let her escape.

Dinner with Hans Landa is awkward to say the least

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My newly favorited animated film Wall-E also has an enticing and emotional introduction. In the opening scene, we pan through outer space to find our planet Earth as a future wasteland of trash and dirt. We are led to presume that the human race have abandoned Earth for some reason because there isn't a single sign of life. This is the first time I really noticed how active one's mind is while experiencing this scene. No information pertaining to the disappearance of man or the environmental catastrophe is spoon fed in a didactic manner.

Now this is only a small portion of the opening scene, but the same patterns follow with unexplained shots of the now-destroyed appearance and functionality of our planet.

 

Honestly, "Put on your Sunday Clothes" makes the entire movie.

And you know what, it blows my mind even further that as an animated film geared towards children, Pixar asked for a lot of engagement through it's active scenes.

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Family Guy is one of the only animated series that I truly appreciate. Seth MacFarlane, creator and main voice actor, is my hero for his no-fear expressionism through Family Guy. He has a loud liberal voice throughout the show, but it usually provides corrections to common misunderstandings about contemporary issues.

For instance, here is a typical dialogue between the ever-naive Peter Griffin and his political-literate dog, Brian. (Brian is Seth MacFarlane's main vehicle of social and political expression.) This scene involves the issue of the attacks on September 11th. Peter represents a misunderstanding American while Brian corrects him with proper knowledge on the subject.

Albeit Peter's first line about AIDS is a bit ridiculous, but then he asks about the many different ideas that many American's confuse as the truth about the terrorist attack until Brian explains to Peter in a paraphrased truth. Peter is a caricature of the uninformed and irrational American, and this is an example of subtext.

Modern day Plato and Aristotle

 

 

Why Media Studies, Adrian?

Currently I'm a Media Studies major within the School of Media Arts & Studies. I chose this major because I am still unsure of a specific career but I know that it HAS to be media. From my understanding, this major will get my feet wet in many different areas of media as a whole, and from there I can (hopefully) find a groove to fit in.