As many of you probably already know, the internet has greatly changed the way we communicate. Do you remember when we actually had to call our friends instead of talking to them on MSN Messenger? Do you remember when we actually had to go to our friends' houses to look at their photos in photo albums? But do you also remember when we had to spend long, extensive hours at the library when we had research papers due in high school? With online library databases, all we have to do is type in keywords we're looking for any many books, newspapers, journals, etc. show up on the list. The internet has changed the way information is shared too. Did you know lots of modern hoaxes begin on the internet. Often times, if I hear or read a hoax in more than one spot or from more than one person, I tend to believe it. What is even harder to figure out, though, is whether the hoax is in fact a hoax. Finding credible internet sources has become even harder with blogs, social networking sites, and personal homepages.
One myth I've heard frequently that maybe some of you have too is that Nostradamus predicted the 9/11 terrorist attacks among many other historical events like the fall of the Roman Empire. According to urbanlegends.about.com, this is what Nostradamus actually wrote in his prophecy book The Centuries:
"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb", The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"
and this is an internet hoax that people created using small references to his prophecies in his book along with certain words and phrases to make it sound far more accurate:
"Two steel birds will fall from the sky on the Metropolis. The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude. Fire approaches the great new city."
When I first heard of this hoax, I heard the latter of the two examples. New York sits at around 45 degrees latitude. Two steel birds obviously refers to airplanes? New city refers to New York City? All I can say is that the second one was a lot more freaky than the first one. Well, turns out this second one is a hoax. How is one supposed to know that, though, because there are plenty of websites that claim that prophecy was in fact made by him. I guess the only answer is to go out and buy the book, read the prophecies, and then decide how you want to interpret them.
Anyway, this blog is not to tell you about Nostradamus or which prophecies are correct. It is to tell you how influential internet hoaxes can be. Sometimes people rely so much on the internet that they forget how to find out credible information. I'll admit, I'm guilty of that sometimes. Snopes.com is a great site dedicated to finding the answer to urban legends and internet hoaxes. Popular TV show, Mythbusters, also has some episodes dedicated to solving internet myths, which is how I thought of this blog topic today. So the next time you hear something crazy, try logging on to Snopes.com. I find that site far more credible than a lot of other ones.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Blog 15 (A Blog About, Well, Blogs)
The internet is a medium with many other media within. The internet has advanced immensly since I remember using it. The funny thing about the internet is that I get so frustrated when my page doesn't load right away. I guess I have no patience. Now, I think back to the days of dialup, the internet was way slower than it is now. I have high speed internet right now. Even then, I remember still having little patience with it, though. One thing I like about the internet nowadays is something that is referred to as Web 2.0 or social media. If you're not familiar with the term, I know you're familiar with the concept. In fact, we're using it right now. I remember talking about this in class a few weeks back, and I have decided to look into a certain type of social media: blogging (note the irony).
A blog is a contraction of the word weblog. Depending upon the type of blog, it my just have a specific name. There are also vlogs (video blogs) phlogs (photo blogs) and microblogs (think Twitter). The content of blogs can vary. Most blogs are known as talking about the news and current events, but some use them as online diaries, sometimes referred to as personal blogs. Honestly, when we were first assigned to blog, that's the only type of blog I was familiar with. I used to have one that I updated constantly about random things that really had no point but to share stories with friends. My blogging skills have since improved and I have began to hyperlink a lot more during my blogs.
Blogs can be a great means of communication but they can also take place of the accurate and unbiased news. Blogs are available for reporters to put their opinions in their news stories. Since reporters are taught to leave their opinion out of their writing, I'll bet reporters really appreciate the opportunity to blog. As for the readers of these blogs, I think that people take these blogs for granted and actually think of them as the actual news, especially when they don't know they're actually reading a blog.
With all these blogging sites, I sometimes get confused. There's Blogger, the one we're using now, and there's Blogspot. They're both owned by Google, so what is the point of having two sites? Plus, many other sites have blogs available for its members to use. Facebook has notes, which I think are no different than blogs. So, as you can see blogs are all over the internet world and it doesn't look like we're getting rid of them anytime soon.
A blog is a contraction of the word weblog. Depending upon the type of blog, it my just have a specific name. There are also vlogs (video blogs) phlogs (photo blogs) and microblogs (think Twitter). The content of blogs can vary. Most blogs are known as talking about the news and current events, but some use them as online diaries, sometimes referred to as personal blogs. Honestly, when we were first assigned to blog, that's the only type of blog I was familiar with. I used to have one that I updated constantly about random things that really had no point but to share stories with friends. My blogging skills have since improved and I have began to hyperlink a lot more during my blogs.
Blogs can be a great means of communication but they can also take place of the accurate and unbiased news. Blogs are available for reporters to put their opinions in their news stories. Since reporters are taught to leave their opinion out of their writing, I'll bet reporters really appreciate the opportunity to blog. As for the readers of these blogs, I think that people take these blogs for granted and actually think of them as the actual news, especially when they don't know they're actually reading a blog.
With all these blogging sites, I sometimes get confused. There's Blogger, the one we're using now, and there's Blogspot. They're both owned by Google, so what is the point of having two sites? Plus, many other sites have blogs available for its members to use. Facebook has notes, which I think are no different than blogs. So, as you can see blogs are all over the internet world and it doesn't look like we're getting rid of them anytime soon.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Blog 14 (Toy Story)
I recently watched a movie I used to love that I haven't seen in a long time: Toy Story! I got the urge to watch it because while we were on our week break from classes, I started playing video games. My collection of PlayStation video games was quite dated (as was the system itself) so I played a Toy Story game. After seeing all the familiar characters like Slinky, Mr. Potatohead, Rex, and Hamm, I kinda wanted to see the movie. While digging through all my old movies, I found another one that I wanted to watch: Jumanji. Watching these two older movies made me want to write a blog about them.
Toy Story's producers at Disney teamed up with Pixar and revolutionized animated films, pioneering the way for movies like A Bug's Life, Antz, and of course the sequel to Toy Story. It was the first animated film made entirely on a computer and made to look three-dimensional. The only hand drawings were for the storyboard. It said that at the end of the film. To see a list of all movies made this way, click on this link; you'll see some familiar ones. Just think, all those great movies, like Finding Nemo, were because of the revolutionary work of the producers of Toy Story.
For all you Toy Story fans, I have great news. Toy Story 3 is expected to be released in June 2010. I'm pretty excited for it myself. This film will be about all the toys being at a day-care center after Andy goes off to college. Remember Andy? He's in college already! :)
Watching older movies is sometimes fun. It's also kind of weird to go back and see how much of the movie you can remember. What are some of your favorite movies from the past? Do you still watch them today?
Toy Story's producers at Disney teamed up with Pixar and revolutionized animated films, pioneering the way for movies like A Bug's Life, Antz, and of course the sequel to Toy Story. It was the first animated film made entirely on a computer and made to look three-dimensional. The only hand drawings were for the storyboard. It said that at the end of the film. To see a list of all movies made this way, click on this link; you'll see some familiar ones. Just think, all those great movies, like Finding Nemo, were because of the revolutionary work of the producers of Toy Story.
For all you Toy Story fans, I have great news. Toy Story 3 is expected to be released in June 2010. I'm pretty excited for it myself. This film will be about all the toys being at a day-care center after Andy goes off to college. Remember Andy? He's in college already! :)
Watching older movies is sometimes fun. It's also kind of weird to go back and see how much of the movie you can remember. What are some of your favorite movies from the past? Do you still watch them today?
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Blog 13 (Nonlinear Plots)
Since we're allowed to write about any kind of medium now, I've decided to make one last movie blog. Just the other day I watched a movie called 21 Grams, which was a movie that interweaves several different plots in a nonlinear arrangement. There are plenty of movies I've seen that interweave different plots, but never have I seen one jump from the present to the future to the past several times within each plot in no particular order. It was confusing!! In the end, after I figured everything out, I ended up understanding it, though. It was a good movie, but also very sad in some points.
I actually prefer to watch these kind of movies. One of the reasons I like them so much is because it makes me think and pay attention more. I never get bored or feel like dozing off becaues they require constant attention to really be able to understand the plots.
A couple other great movies that interweaves plots are: Vantage Point, 11:14, Pulp Fiction, and Crash.
I really enjoyed all of those movies, but my two ultimate favorites were Vantage Point and 11:14. Vantage Point actually shows the same story six different times, each from a different viewpoint of a different character. It was very well-written. 11:14 also shows several interconnected stories that all converge at 11:14. Each story directly affects the other stories; this was also very well-written. I would highly recommend them both.
Movies written to follow multiple storylines and characters are called Hyperlink Cinema. Flashbacks and flashfowards along with plot twists are all common characteristics of hyperlink cinema. Janet Grischy explains hyperlink cinema like this: "The idea is to reproduce on film the mess, confusion, and richness of modern life. The overriding theme of hyperlink cinema is connection." I think of it like this: My blogs are full of hyperlinks. You can read my blog and click on my hyperlinks, plus check your email and Facebook page all at the same time. Hyperlink cinema offeres the ability to follow many different storylines all at the same time.
What are your thoughts on hyperlink cinema? Do you enjoy them or not so much?
I actually prefer to watch these kind of movies. One of the reasons I like them so much is because it makes me think and pay attention more. I never get bored or feel like dozing off becaues they require constant attention to really be able to understand the plots.
A couple other great movies that interweaves plots are: Vantage Point, 11:14, Pulp Fiction, and Crash.
I really enjoyed all of those movies, but my two ultimate favorites were Vantage Point and 11:14. Vantage Point actually shows the same story six different times, each from a different viewpoint of a different character. It was very well-written. 11:14 also shows several interconnected stories that all converge at 11:14. Each story directly affects the other stories; this was also very well-written. I would highly recommend them both.
Movies written to follow multiple storylines and characters are called Hyperlink Cinema. Flashbacks and flashfowards along with plot twists are all common characteristics of hyperlink cinema. Janet Grischy explains hyperlink cinema like this: "The idea is to reproduce on film the mess, confusion, and richness of modern life. The overriding theme of hyperlink cinema is connection." I think of it like this: My blogs are full of hyperlinks. You can read my blog and click on my hyperlinks, plus check your email and Facebook page all at the same time. Hyperlink cinema offeres the ability to follow many different storylines all at the same time.
What are your thoughts on hyperlink cinema? Do you enjoy them or not so much?
Monday, April 6, 2009
Blog 12 (Learning More About Movies)
Do you ever want to read about a movie before seeing it? Do you care to know the ratings of the movie? If so, you should check out Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten Tomatoes isn't as gross as it may sound. It's actually a movie review website. It has what's called a Tomatometer, which measures the percentage of positive reviews. The movie I was curious to see the ratings from was The Haunting in Connecticut. Apparently, it wasn't that good--it was a rotten tomato. If you click on the link, Rotten Tomatoes tells you why. This movie review site isn't going to stop me from seeing it, though, because I thought it looked really good.
I actually never read movie reviews. The only reason I did now was because I was trying to think of an interesting blog topic and I thought of this. I know some people who base their wanting to see a movie or not solely on movie reviews. I've actually heard a lot of bad things said about some of the best movies I've seen. I don't think I'm too critical to movies, though. I like to see them all at least once.
While looking through this list, I found several movies I've never even heard of before that sounded interesting to watch. In fact, I might just have to add some of them to my Netflix queue, even if they were rotten tomatoes. I tried not to look at the reviews until after I view the movie, so the review doesn't affect my opinion of the film.
Another great site to check out if you want to know more about the movies you'll see/have seen is the Internet Movie Database. This site gives information about the cast, director, producer, writers, release date, and even a plot summary. It even shows photographs from the movie. Although I never use Rotten Tomatoes, I think it may become useful to me if I am ever skeptical to see a certain movie. And the Internet Movie Database has definitely been useful to me in the past and will continue to be in the future.
Do movie reviews affect your opinion on the movie? Do you still see movies even if they got bad reviews?
I actually never read movie reviews. The only reason I did now was because I was trying to think of an interesting blog topic and I thought of this. I know some people who base their wanting to see a movie or not solely on movie reviews. I've actually heard a lot of bad things said about some of the best movies I've seen. I don't think I'm too critical to movies, though. I like to see them all at least once.
While looking through this list, I found several movies I've never even heard of before that sounded interesting to watch. In fact, I might just have to add some of them to my Netflix queue, even if they were rotten tomatoes. I tried not to look at the reviews until after I view the movie, so the review doesn't affect my opinion of the film.
Another great site to check out if you want to know more about the movies you'll see/have seen is the Internet Movie Database. This site gives information about the cast, director, producer, writers, release date, and even a plot summary. It even shows photographs from the movie. Although I never use Rotten Tomatoes, I think it may become useful to me if I am ever skeptical to see a certain movie. And the Internet Movie Database has definitely been useful to me in the past and will continue to be in the future.
Do movie reviews affect your opinion on the movie? Do you still see movies even if they got bad reviews?
Monday, March 30, 2009
Blog 11 (Cinéma Vérité)
What do the movies Cloverfield, Quarantine, and The Blair Witch Project all have in common? They were all shot cinéma vérité (true cinema) style. This was acutally a French film movement that made the film feel more natural and realistic. Rather than following the usual technique of shooting sound and pictures together, the film maker first tapes actual conversations, interviews, and opinions. After selecting the best material, he films the visual material to fit the sound, often using a hand-held camera. The film is then put together in the cutting room. Cinéma vérité is used to approximate truth moreso than other films. I think cinéma vérité is effective in doing just that. I loved The Blair Witch Project partially because it seemed so real to me because of the way it was shot and the fact that it was filmed as a documentary (though was actually fictional). I also really liked the other two movies I mentioned.
Quarantine actually showed a news team, following firefighters around as a feature story, with their camera in hand. It was a very good movie and very realistic. Cloverfield could've been a little better. The beginning was too long and therefore became irreleveant to the film's plot, I think. These aren't the only three movies that are filmed via cinéma vérité; these are just the ones I have seen.
So what makes cinemal verite so appealing to filmmakers and viewers? Realism is the artistic attempt to recreate life as it is in the context of an artistic medium. The artist’s function is to report and describe what he sees as accurately and honestly as possible. Particularily appealing to filmmakers, cinema verite doesn't require expensive equipment and special effects. The camera is usually small and lightweight so it's able to fit into people vehicles and other small spaces, creating an even more realistic feel to the movie.
All three of the cinema verite movies I saw were horror or suspensful movies. I think these are the best types of movies to be filmed cinema verite style. I say this because those are the types of movies that literally make you (well me, at least) feel like part of the film. And with cinema verite, this happens to an even greater extent.
That's all for now. I'd appreciate your opinions on cinema verite, if you've seen it!
Quarantine actually showed a news team, following firefighters around as a feature story, with their camera in hand. It was a very good movie and very realistic. Cloverfield could've been a little better. The beginning was too long and therefore became irreleveant to the film's plot, I think. These aren't the only three movies that are filmed via cinéma vérité; these are just the ones I have seen.
So what makes cinemal verite so appealing to filmmakers and viewers? Realism is the artistic attempt to recreate life as it is in the context of an artistic medium. The artist’s function is to report and describe what he sees as accurately and honestly as possible. Particularily appealing to filmmakers, cinema verite doesn't require expensive equipment and special effects. The camera is usually small and lightweight so it's able to fit into people vehicles and other small spaces, creating an even more realistic feel to the movie.
All three of the cinema verite movies I saw were horror or suspensful movies. I think these are the best types of movies to be filmed cinema verite style. I say this because those are the types of movies that literally make you (well me, at least) feel like part of the film. And with cinema verite, this happens to an even greater extent.
That's all for now. I'd appreciate your opinions on cinema verite, if you've seen it!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Blog 10 (A Scanner Darkly)
This blog will be mainly about a movie I just saw that I thought was unique enough to blog about. It's called A Scanner Darkly. In a nutshell, this movie was based "seven years from now" and was mainly about America's war on drugs as well as government spies. One of the most unique aspects of the movie, one I had never seen before, was something called rotoscoping. Digital cinematography was used to film the movie. This is the process of capturing motion pictures as digital images, rather than on film. And after being filmed, the movie was animated with Rotoshop.This is an animation technique invented by Max Fleischer in which live-action figures are cut out and re-drawn.
When I first started watching, I couldn't believe how close the animated characters looked to the actual actors. I figured the film was being drawn out, instead of actually filmed with real people acting. I since learned differently. Rotoscoping was kind of interesting to view at first, but it isn't how I'd want to watch all my movies. Apparently this technique was used in The Lord of the Rings in the '70s, but I've never seen that movie. Anyways, rotoscoping definitely makes the animations look more realistic, but not completely realistic. The square and triangle-shaped "shadows" on characters' faces proved that. At first glance, though, the animations are quite vivid and realistic. If you haven't ever seen a rotoscope animation film, I encourage you to do so, just to see what it is like.
In addition to this unique animation, the plot of the movie was quite interesting. It was a movie where not everything made total sense until the very end of the movie. A particular scene, where Arctor was talking to the medical experts, a nurse told him to get Donna blue flowers. I didn't see the connection until the end of the movie.
Here is a link to an article where the director, Richard Linklater, of A Scanner Darkly talks about his techniques used. "It’s just different. Philip K. Dick is always asking, ‘What is reality?’ and I think this technique puts your brain in the right place to take in this particular story," he said. Linklater also said that he didn't think that the movie could've been made as a live-action movie. They had a $6 million dollar budget.
If you've seen the movie or read the book, you might remember the "scramble suit." I think that even if the movie was filmed as a live-action movie, the scramble suit still would've been animated. Well, at least Linklater's interpretation of it.
If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to do so, but I will warn you that I had to really pay attention to keep up with what was going on. The person I watched this with had read the book, so he explained things to me.
That's all for now...
When I first started watching, I couldn't believe how close the animated characters looked to the actual actors. I figured the film was being drawn out, instead of actually filmed with real people acting. I since learned differently. Rotoscoping was kind of interesting to view at first, but it isn't how I'd want to watch all my movies. Apparently this technique was used in The Lord of the Rings in the '70s, but I've never seen that movie. Anyways, rotoscoping definitely makes the animations look more realistic, but not completely realistic. The square and triangle-shaped "shadows" on characters' faces proved that. At first glance, though, the animations are quite vivid and realistic. If you haven't ever seen a rotoscope animation film, I encourage you to do so, just to see what it is like.
In addition to this unique animation, the plot of the movie was quite interesting. It was a movie where not everything made total sense until the very end of the movie. A particular scene, where Arctor was talking to the medical experts, a nurse told him to get Donna blue flowers. I didn't see the connection until the end of the movie.
Here is a link to an article where the director, Richard Linklater, of A Scanner Darkly talks about his techniques used. "It’s just different. Philip K. Dick is always asking, ‘What is reality?’ and I think this technique puts your brain in the right place to take in this particular story," he said. Linklater also said that he didn't think that the movie could've been made as a live-action movie. They had a $6 million dollar budget.
If you've seen the movie or read the book, you might remember the "scramble suit." I think that even if the movie was filmed as a live-action movie, the scramble suit still would've been animated. Well, at least Linklater's interpretation of it.
If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to do so, but I will warn you that I had to really pay attention to keep up with what was going on. The person I watched this with had read the book, so he explained things to me.
That's all for now...
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