Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Final Blog :( End of Junior Year :)


From the beginning of the year we did a lot of reading and talking about different events that were happening outside of school and the things that we liked about our summer but I really did not start liking this class until the end of the year when we start the trilogies and began to learn about the different camera angles. I really liked when we did the Lord of The Rings trilogy, it was fun to learn about the different angles and talk about the meanings. We also watched the Matrix trilogy, which was my top favorite. I do wish we would have done more film comparisons and watched more movie trilogies because then it would have been a lot more interesting for me. Although next year will be interesting for the next class but yet it wont be as fun because they wont have Mrs. Collins to help them understand more and crack jokes with. I will miss Mrs. Collins very much and I am sad that I will not have her for my senior year.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Digital Nation Blog

We just finished our presentations on our Digital Nation topics. I chose to talk about virtual worlds mainly because it talks about the health and healing used for soldiers in Iraq and the addictions that people may have today with virtual worlds. The first tab that I had looked at talked about health and healing, which talks about a new method that doctors are using today to help the soldiers that have come home and are dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Virtual Reality: Through A Soldiers EyesVirtual Reality is a process in which soldiers with PTSD go through to relive their own experiences to help with the stress they have back home. It also allows the doctor or therapist to help the patient get their lives back to normal. Virtual Reality is like a gaming system but only used for therapy. The doctor can set the computer simulation to any type of scene for any type of situation that the patient may have encountered. The simulation can be set up by time of day, how many vehicles are on the road, how many people are in your vehicle or around you. Things can be blown up, you can be shot at and helicopters can be flying above. The patient may also remember a smell that triggered a memory and the doctor can provide that smell and once the patient reacts to the smell the doctor will know exactly which smell it was, like rubber or carbon from a carbon bomb. The patient will also experience vibrations from the chair they are sitting in that may help the experience of an IED that may have just gone off. A lot of patients say that this experience doesn't feel real, it feels more evocative, like a mood and memory aid than an emersive simulation. Virtual Reality balances a person to except and embrace those problems and let them go to get rid of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Another topic that I took notes on was Raquel's presentation over Relationships. Raquel talks about a lot of different situations about people that are creating fake relationships online because they don't have that in the real world. An identity was created to make the girl more beautiful online than in real life. Another girl that has an eating disorder searches online and finds unhealthy support online and it makes her condition a lot worse. My favorite tab that Raquel talked about was Bubbe, the 83 year old grandmother that becomes every ones grandmother online. Bubbe becomes the online cook and teaches online users about the food that she cooks and how to make it. The last tab that Raquel talked about was huge because it is about online bullying. A boy killed himself because he was on websites and kids were bullying him and lying about liking him. A girl that he knew from school thought it would be funny to flirt with the boy and act like she liked him when in the end she laughed at him not knowing how much it would hurt him. The boy looked up websites on how to kill himself. A website taught the boy how to tie a noose and what the best type of rope to use. Because of the bullying from other people online the boy hung himself at a very young age. Parents wish they could protect their kids from things like this but with the way things are today and what is online, it is very hard to protect anyone from online bullies and websites that could teach kids things that could be a danger to themselves and the people that are around them.

Friday, March 4, 2011

digital nation post

I just finished watching the Digital nation introduction and it tells a lot about the technology and how it is being used today. Parents are mad and don't like the internet and the cell phones cause there kids are learning more and more every day about the stuff online and how to search the web, because of this the kids are not as social with family and friends. They are constantly using text messages, email, and many other things to communicate with people. The only problem is that a lot of the text can be misunderstood and can cause problems. It is becoming awkward to talk in person and people are socializing a lot less.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

blog post of class presentations

After watching The Lord of The Rings our class did film comparisons to any epic film that we liked and then compared it to LOTR on a power point. Some of the movies that were chosen I had not seen so I was left confused when the power points were being presented.
    Raquel was the first to go and she did 300. It was a good thing that I had seen 300 before and knew what she was talking about when she was comparing the two movies. I liked how she compared Frodo and King Leonidas’s courage by showing that they both have to over come their fears. Frodo has to over come the fear of the rings power taking over him and King Leonidas gets over the fear of taking on 120,000 Persians against his 300 Spartans. This was a good comparison cause it shows what the two main characters have to go up against and how strong they need to be to over come the challenge.follow this video link
    Vincent went second and he chose to do Braveheart. I have not yet seen this movie so I was very much confused during the presentation. The movie sounded very interesting and intense and I liked the parallels of King Théoden rallying his troops to fight Sauron’s armies and William rallying his troops to fight against the English. This is a good parallel cause it shows both characters preparing for battle. Another good message from both movies is that they are both fighting for freedom and fighting for what you believe in.follow this link
    Reece came next and he chose the matrix, another movie that I have not seen. Reece did really good with his comparisons and he made it somewhat interesting to where I now want to watch the movie to understand it more and what really happens to Leo. Reece showed a lot of courage and valor between the characters. In the Matrix humans fight the machines, Trinity fights for Neo, and Neo goes to the machine world. In LOTR the humans fight the Orcs, the Fellowship protects Frodo, and Frodo travels to Mordor. These comparisons of courage and valor are very good because it shows you who the humans fight and who the main characters fight for and where they are traveling to in the end.follow this link
    Dalton was last and he chose Saving Private Ryan, which is an extremely great movie. This movie is a little foggy to me because it has been so long since I have seen it but yet I still remember most of it. It was kind of funny to compare the supernatural forces for LOTR and SPR mostly because in LOTR all the forces are magical and have some sort of power behind it like the ring, sword and Gandalf’s walking stick are all used when it is slipped on a finger or struck on the ground and in SPR they use man made forces like airplanes, tanks and guns that shoot and destruct with big explosions. This shows their strengths against the enemy and the upper strength that they may have towards them.follow this link