umwsum12 — Camp Magic MacGuffin

Archive for the ‘umwsum12’ Category

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

Watching one of the “Everything is a Remix” videos really got me to think on the level of ‘originality’ we really do have. His video to start with was set up as a typical video comparing things or kind of peeling things apart… not too original lol.

As he went through some of what are considered the most influential and groundbreaking movies of our time (Star Wars, Avatar, Kill Bill, etc). I agree with what he is saying, but I think that originality is relevant. So I don’t really think “everything is a remix.” We have cultural constants, that appeal to us and carry through generations with some variations. Hence when looking at ‘the big picture’ it seems as everything is just swagger-jacking or a modernized version of past stories/movies.

For example (yes I know what many of my blog readers are thinking by now… ) I will use the movie “The Lion King”. It is majorly based on the play ‘Hamlet’, so how original is it then? I say very original, the way the story was presented is original. Same thing with the current wave of superhero movies, they are being presented and expressed in a way much different (dare I say, more powerfully) than they ever were before on film, TV, or comics.

The implication that everything that we view as entertainment though is a remix of something of the past, does not disturb me. I think it merely shows a continuity in human themes. If we look at different cultures, generations, centuries, decades… we can see that the human priorities and worries are constant, they only are tweeked or ‘remixed’ through time and cultures. All societies have stories- with good, evil, finding oneself, coming of age, etc. The themes built upon for our entertainment such as a midlife crisis, relationships, reality shows, violence, magic are all derived from things that are important to all humans such as family, identity, cultural norms and deviances.

So … remix on!!!

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Pop Up Note Dispenser

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

Okay so I decided to do a Product Review, I got a little corny yes. But as I was looking through my desk trying to figure out what to do it on my eyes caught the post-it note dispenser. Call me nerdy… but it is honestly one of the most useful things I’ve come across. Better than notifications on your phone, or virtual post-its on your desktop. I use them all the time for homework, and at work as well. I have some coworkers laugh at me remarking “you know we are in the computer industry, you can type using a keyboard”.

… they just don’t get it is what I think. Nothing makes things stick or helps quite like a post-it note. The dispenser is awesome, always there and handy. Dispensing one at a time- always.

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Sunsets

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

I am the kind of person who chases the sun just to see it set (literally). My life’s goal is to watch the sunset in all seven continents. So far I chased sunsets in four different continents; North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. I decided to make a collage with all the sunset pictures I took from over the years. I used photovisi.com. I uploaded all the pictures and it did the work for me. Seriously, life is so beautiful (when it’s so easy).

Enjoy the sunset

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Introducing a Familiar Face

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

A few months back I had the idea to compose a documentary about a topic that has been lingering in my mind for years. The concept of modesty. Modesty comes in many different forms. Everyone has their own perception of modesty. I was particularly interested to view this concept with Islam and how outsiders (non-Muslims) view Muslims who cover their head or dress more conservative. I was inspired to ask everyone on campus about their views on Muslim women (and women in general) wearing the hijab (veil) or dressing more conservative. This video was intended to open people’s eyes to a new and well-informed perspective on this matter. Misconceptions about the veiled women, yet appreciated self-worth and hidden admiration was discovered when interviewing people on college campus. I used iMovies to edit this movie and with the share option I uploaded it directly to YouTube. It got creative with sound effects and added music toward the end of the video to make it a “legitimate” documentary that is worth sharing. After I completed this project I realized there were many editing mistakes I made that I will learn from next time around. Currently I am working on another documentary that should be done soon (stay toned).

Disclaimer: This video is not meant to offend anyone.

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Cup 1/2 Full… or 1/2 Empty??

Sunday, July 22nd, 2012

I decided on doing the Kuleshev Effect Assignment because I felt it could be very expressive. I wanted to relay a message or thought to the viewer of my video. Something that I try to live by in life is to always remain positive, even if you feel like things aren’t going your way… you have to sometimes tell yourself they are anyways.

The video was easy to make, I got my sound clip from freesound.org, and used a little bit of Windows Live Movie Maker magic to transition through scenes as if they were pages of a book.

So here is my short story, narrated using the Kuleshev Effect….

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Concept of Flight (Landing in Kenya)

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

During my travels this summer I have learned very important lessons:

You should always pack a snack, because most plane food sucks.
You should always buy an extra pair of headphones (incase your headphones break and you are suck sitting next to someone who won’t stop talking the whole 17 hours #truestory).
You should always have a camera (because life is full of beautiful moments to capture)

I took this video with my iphone camera, then with one click uploaded the video to my computer via bluetooth (ohh how sweet is life).

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A video of eating and otherwise

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

I am a geek of tremendous proportions! Also when I’m trying to go to sleep at night, I obsess over all the conversations I had throughout the day. I also like to take awkward videos of people and share them on youtube. The black and white effect enhances the intensity in a photo or a video and gives a moment so much more meaning (in my opinion). This video was initially 20 minutes long (a bunch of hoodlums, I know) but with the help of iMovies on my computer was very easy to edit and reduce the duration of the video. I’ve never used iMovies before, and I am glad that I am learning all the cool things it offers (gosh, I am so lame).

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Disappointment

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

I have always been taught to never begin anything with an apology. However lately I always feel the need to apologize. When I registered for this class I was excited beyond human capacity. I was really looking forward to learn and grow with the Daily assignments as well as explore all the unique projects we got to do. It’s disappointing that I wasn’t able to complete assignments on time, or even complete them with a pure conscious. I feel like I was always rushing to finish assignments. Which sucked the fun out of what was meant to be fun and enjoyable. But to be fair, I did enjoy all the assignments I got to do and learned a lot about digital storytelling. I have always been a very private person and very selective in terms of sharing my thoughts, beliefs, myself. I don’t like the feeling of being exposed. However, DS has helped me find a level of balance. It’s all about communication. we need to communicate to survive. communication is not a one way street. You do not always have to fully explain yourself to everyone but be aware that a dedication to never do so can be perceived as very arrogant and self-centered. If you are unwilling to communicate with others then you will see many friendships crumble. If you don’t feel like you need those friendships in your life that is fine, but just be aware of these consequences, because nobody likes to feel lonely. This post was not meant to be this long. I guess I just wanted to express myself, something I have never been so good at. I am a person who likes to give my heart and soul in everything that I do, and when I feel that I am not performing at my best, I beat myself over and over and over again.

Note to self:
it’s going to be okay.

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Letter Home; Week 9

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

Switched up my style a little. How ya, like it?

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Zombies, Zombies…Everywhere!

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

One of the requirements for ds106 was to create a new assignment for the DS106 Assignment Repository. I’ve been thinking about the possibilities for the past 9 weeks, keeping in mind that I don’t want to closely duplicate an already existing assignment AND I must be able to do it myself. That was the real challenge…my mind envisions things that my talents fall short on bringing to fruition.

This morning, inspiration struck! Zombie mania is spreading like crazy. With shows like The Walking Dead gaining popularity and news stories of people attacking others in a zombie-like fashion, I thought “what would I look like as a zombie?”

My Photoshop skills are greatly lacking so I started looking for other ways to alter an image of myself and zombify it. After some quick internet researching I found there were many online options available for FREE! Halleluiah! I played around with a few finding the Zombify Yourself online app on the Zombieland website is my favorite. Here’s one possibility of what I might look like as a zombie: