Week 15

Books that I would like to read in the near future...
(in no particular order)

1.  Art and Fear by David Bayles
2. Art Inc. by Lisa Congdon
3. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien (I've been meaning to read this one for years)
4. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
5.  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
6. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
8. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
10. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yup, still haven't read it.)

Week 14

When I do go on Facebook, I am able to scroll through the News Feed timeline, and see what others have posted about the latest trends and current event. I’ll scroll until something catches my eye, then I’ll click the link to read more about it. I usually ignore most of the posts if it’s something I have no interest in hearing about. That’s the problem. How easy it is to ignore important current events, and to watch a cute cat video instead. That’s part of the reason why Facebook can be so addicting. We are able to see what we want to see, and ignore the rest.

Week 13

http://i.giphy.com/xTk9ZMvytLICEWw9bi.gif

During the school semester, I am rarely on social media. When I do go on, let’s say Facebook, I usually ignore most of the posts. I scroll for a bit then go back to whatever I was doing. I usually ignore most of the posts about Trump. It’s usually a video of him protesting/yelling obnoxiously. I was aware who Trump was way before people started making funny memes of him. I have lived all my life 15 minutes outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Since I am a resident of the area, I have heard a lot of crap about Trump and his casino.

Although I usually ignore Facebook posts about Trump, I still hear some about the latest unbelievable thing he has done. This past week, Trump mocked a reporter with a disability. Trump made fun of the reporter’s condition by jerking his arms in front of his body. This 3 second action was turned into a meme/gif. Now, it is not a meme in a traditional sense, but it is still an edited photo/video making fun of Trump. People have called his actions “low” and “despicable.” I believe the meme I have chosen has correctly shown the way some people feel about Trump, with his recent action.  

The meme is in the link below.

http://i.giphy.com/xTk9ZMvytLICEWw9bi.gif

Week 12, In-Class

My Voice

           For as long as I can remember, my voice as an artist has been cartoony. I've been drawing cartoon characters since I first started drawing at the age of three. My sketchbook from my childhood contains many drawings of animated characters. The sketchbook begins at age 6, with a drawings of characters from the Dreamworks animated film, Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron. From there, there are numerous other drawings of horses and other animated characters like Snoopy, Angelina the Ballerina, Donkey from Shrek, Mickey Mouse, and many others. And I guess you could say that still applies to me this day, as I study computer animation. I have always loved lively characters, and the stories of the characters. I love fairy tales, and dreamy/cheesy romantic love stories, or stories with strong leading female characters or anything really girly and pink. I believe that my overall voice is "happy." What can I say, I'm a sucker for a happy ending.

Week 12

This week I’ve chosen French director, Jacques Tati. I began watching Trafic (1971) and Playtime (1967), by the director. Though Tati only directed six films in his career as a director, his films are famous for being comedic and for Tati to be in his own film. In many of his films, including Trafic and Playtime, Tati plays the lead character, Monsieur Hulot, a socially inept man with a raincoat, umbrella and pipe.

The character M. Hulot brings a similar voice to each of his films. Since Tati has created a character that people can see in his multiple films, he has created an archetype from this character. The character is an new archetype of its own. He is a man who struggles and makes impractical decisions, but it is funny to the viewers.  
His films, Playtime and Trafic, both share the common element of automobiles. It is a theme in his movies, of technology, society, and materialism. Playtime contains the same beloved character of M.Hulot, but the film’s appearance is more cold. The film takes place in a “futuristic and modern” (for its time, 1967) suburb of Paris. I feel as though Playtime, is a bit different from his usual films, but that he tried something different.

Trafic is Tati’s last film with his character, M.Hulot. In this film, Hulot is a bumbling automobile inventor who is trying to get to Amsterdam in a vehicle that has a few issues along the way. The film gets its title because there is a lot of traffic on the road. The voice of the film is quiet and subtle. All of the gags in the film are visual gags of people acting silly. One of my favorite scenes of the traffic is this one minute sequence of the people in traffic subtly picking their nose. Each shot is a different French person sitting in their car, and their finger slowly goes up to their nose, and they look around to make sure no one is watching. Trafic is full of this very subtle, old-fashioned French humor, which leads me to believe that Tati's voice in many of his films are subtly humorous.

In-Class Writing Assessment

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story? What are they, and how are they used?

There are prominent symbols in the story, Professor Incognito Apologizes, but they are not as obvious. I would say that Doctor Kagen is the most prominent symbol, because he is their couples therapist. He is mentioned many times because the main character’s relationship troubles he speaks of in the writing. Also, good and evil are symbols. In the world in which they exist in, the main character speaks of his evil side which he has kept hidden from her, as well as the heros who have been after him. In their world, good and evil are prominent and existing. He actually sees himself as evil.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with with you were able to connect.

I was able to connect with the story from the relationship aspect. In the short story, the character discusses how some people have multiple sides to them, and how they don’t show their other side, that they hide it from others. Three years ago I was in a relationship with a comic book artist. His father worked for DC comics, so much of his life was about comics. Comics tend to have the common theme of “good vs. evil.” The short story almost feels like it has a comic book narrative- a woman is actually dating a villain. Similar to Spiderman and Mary Jane/Gwen. Another aspect I connected to while reading this story was that the artist who I dated didn’t show me that “other side” of him. He never told me anything personal, every conversation was full of jokes and meaningless banter. Maybe he was secretly a villain? I’m kidding of course...

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into another medium? What medium would you use, what changes would you make.

This story would make a great graphic novel. The story is almost a “villain speech,” the speech villains make before they carry out their evil plan. But this story is also an apology, and it’s very visual. In a graphic novel version of this story I would cut between Suzanne in the lab listening to his apology speech, and the moments he is apologizing for, such as, dinner with the parents, and other moments of his relationship with Suzanne. It would be interesting to visually see the moments he is referring to, especially ones like how he left her hints so that she would discover his secret lab. I could enjoy seeing him and Suzanne happy, because it’s his better, soft side. I think this would translate into a graphic novel well. 
  

Week 11

With it being the middle of the semester, I’m exhausted and I really needed to read something light-hearted and fun. I finished my reading that I started in class of the comic, Bone, Out from Boneville, by Jeff Smith. Surprisingly enough, though my elementary school had a Scholastic book fair every year, I never read one of these comics! Though, I have a very faint memory of seeing this character way back then.

The voice- or personality of an author is shown through their work. Bone is very cartoony and fun. It makes sense that Bone is the way it is because in the “about the author” paragraph in the end of this book, it says that Smith’s major influences were comics, comic books, and animated cartoons. I would describe the voice of the author to be very bouncy, and fit for cartoons. Especially in the beginning, it has many exclamation marks and words written in all capitals because of words being exclaimed loudly or with great enthusiasm. I feel as though cartoons tend to have that ‘silly’ humor where everything said is really dramatised. Also, the writing is very wordy because there is a lot of dialogue. This is also what makes it feel cartoony. In cartoons, especially in this comic, the dialogue is very literal. Examples of this are, “Hey look! I have a dollar!” or, “Say, there’s the map!” The dialogue isn’t realistic at all. It’s very simple and clear, much like the voice of a classic cartoon. 
I enjoyed reading Bone, and I like the author's voice. Bone is a fun story!

Week 10

In Karen Russell’s Sleep Donation, citizens all across America are suffering from an insomnia crisis. Many of these terminal cases of extreme insomnia have resulted with death. But a donation agency called Slumber Corps has found a cure, a treatment where people can donate their sleep.

The voice of this piece comes from the perspective of the main character, Trish Edgewater. Trish is pretty clear as a character, but in terms of “voice,” I found that some parts were confusing in terms of who was talking, specifically in the beginning office scene. But in this case it didn’t really matter who was talking, we knew it was people in the office who were all having a conversation. Overall, I really like the way the story is told, and the voice of the piece. I also really enjoyed Karen Russell’s Vampires in a Lemon Grove, which we read in class. Though these were both by Russell, the voices of the pieces are different from each other. Russell is a talented writer, whose work I will keep an eye out for in the future.

The genre of Sleep Donation is definitely fiction. But to narrow it down can be difficult. It could be almost fantasy, because of it’s imaginative new disease. But it is definitely a dystopian novel. The story takes place in near-future America and the whole country has been affected by the insomnia “disease,” leaving society and its government suffering. Sleep Donation fits the definition of the dystopian genre- a society that has been negatively impacted in some way, shape, or form by a bigger force. Other books that I have read in the dystopian genre are The Giver, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmade’s Tale, and The Hunger Games. Like Sleep Donation, they all take a problem in our society and write about our future society suffering from that problem. It serves as almost a warning. Russell’s novella is very creative. Insomnia is a problem for some people in our society, but here in the story, most of society is suffering- and dying from it. The world that she created is so compelling it draws you in to read more about our society and this new “disease.” It’s creative because of the society she has created and how society is dealing with it- with sleep donation drives. The idea of a sleep disease is both mind boggling and concerning.   

Week 9

EXT. THE STACKS EASTERN PERIMETER -DAY

In the early hours of the morning, WADE makes his way through the dark maze of junk at the bottom of the Stacks. The Stacks are trailers stacked on top of each other like high-rise buildings. The trailers are connected with rickety metal scaffoldings. WADE quietly makes his descent down the stacks and to the GROUND.

EXT. GROUND

Below the stacks, a half a mile away is a giant mound of old cars and trucks. The vehicles here were either abandoned by their owners or compacted and dumped there. The mound of cars has stood there for decades. Some stacks of vehicles are piled as high as the Stacks themselves. In the pile of vehicles, there is enough of a gap to squeeze through. To get through the gap you must climb your way through the scraps of twisted and sharp metal. Beyond the gap lies a small open space with a buried cargo van. The weight of the piled cars was supported on the other cars surrounding the van, so the van has not been crushed. The rear of the car is visible, and from the rear right door, the door can be opened. This is WADE’s secret hiding place.

INT. BURIED CARGO VAN

Once inside the van with the door shut, the compartment is completely dark. A power strip is duck taped to the ceiling. When flipped on, it powers a small desk lamp that lights up the tiny cave. The van interior has been stripped of its seats. The interior is empty, except for a single lawn chair and a corner with boxes of spare computer parts. Next to the corner of computer parts is a rack of old car batteries and a modified exercise bike. The contraption is a recharger. It also provides electricity for a small electric heater. It is the only method of staying warm and alive within the secluded, dark interior of the van. The interior is an estimated 9x4x4ft. Along the walls and ceiling are old white styrofoam egg cartons. The floor is lined with variously colored scraps of carpet. A rat proof metal box contains a minimum supply of food. This is where WADE eats his breakfast- a bowl of Fruit Rocks cereal mixed with water and powdered milk. The fortress also contains one of WADE’s most prized possessions. Inside an weathered plastic Star Trek lunch box are his school issued OASIS console, haptic gloves, and visor. Inside the visor display, the words flashed, READY PLAYER ONE.

Week 8

For this week’s assignment, from Dewbreaker, I read The Book of the Dead, and Seven. These short stories convey the world and lives of fictitious Haitian-American characters.  

In The Book of the Dead, we read and discussed it in class, but I will briefly go over it here. In the story, a female sculptor and her father are traveling from New York City to Florida. The father, and the sculptor’s mother, both came from Haiti before moving to the States. Already here we have three very different “worlds.” The sculptor is American, but by blood she is full Haitian. We see her struggle with this in the story. We see this when the police office asks where she and her father are from. She answers, “Haiti,” though she was born and raised in Brooklyn and has never been to Haiti. It is easier for her to tell the officer this, and but she confesses to herself that it is something she has longed to have in common with her parents. She isn’t apart of the “Haitian world” so much because her parents have let go of their past to “start over” in the States. She knows very little about Haiti and the culture her parents had once belonged to. The father takes great interest in Ancient Egyptian culture and beliefs, and adopts many of those beliefs. We see this a lot in the end, when the sculptor and her father are discussing her name, Ka. Her name is from Egyptian mythology, and is an example of how he has abandoned his past beliefs and adopted new ones. A theme that is conveyed in this story is very much about fitting into a culture.

In addition to The Book of the Dead, I also read Seven. Seven is a charming tale of two lovers who have waited seven years to be together again. The man in the story moved from Port-Au-Prince to New York City, got a green card that took six years and eleven months to get, then sent for his wife to move to the big city. Similar to the Book of the Dead, the characters in this story left Haiti to start a new life in the States. In both, the characters moved to New York City.

The primary features of his world, spatially, is his apartment building. Most of the story takes place in his apartment, and we see that from the perspective of the narrator following the man first. Then we see the apartment from the narrator’s view of the woman, as she spends her days there while he is at work. She fell into a routine of waking up each morning, listened to the Haitian radio stations, cooked, and wrote letters to her friends and family back home. She is in a new world and is still holding on to her culture and her life back home. In the world of the apartment, one day when he gets home from work she had cooked dinner for him and his two other male roommates. The apartment then felt like a family,with this sense of unity, as they all spoke and ate together.

Besides from when she first gets off the plane and leaves the JFK airport, the only time when she experiences the new world is on the weekends when he doesn’t have work. He is afraid that she shouldn’t leave the apartment and wander, for the fear of her getting lost, and struggling with her lack of English. So he takes her out that weekend and she catches a glimpse of the new world she is in. They take the bus and go to the park. At the end of the day on the way home, they are both thinking about Carnival, and how they dressed as a bride and groom and wandered the streets looking for someone to marry them. This belief of the Haitians is a tradition to the carnival celebration. The story ends with her thinking about what if they were to do that in this new world.

To describe and convey the world to us, the creator doesn’t just tell us about the world, but describes it through actions. In the beginning, the man asked his landlord if his wife could stay. The landlord, being a wealthier caucasian woman, said yes, but “I just hope she’s clean.” I realized the landlord said this because the wife is coming from a foreign country. This scene shows the culture and beliefs of the time that characterize the world.

Week 7: Building Worlds of Your Own

Our zip code is 08205, but many New Jerseyans refer to our location by the Parkway’s exit number or area code. Our is exit 41, off the Garden State Parkway, and the area code (609). These numbers are just numbers to most people, but for us it means home.

We use this way to talk to other New Jerseyans once we find out they’re from our county. But if we are talking to another New Jerseyan and they’re not from our county we’ll leave it at that. But, the most important thing you ask someone from NJ is this: are you from North or South?

Yes, New Jersey is one state, but we’re also the most densely populated state. There’s a lot of people who live in NJ, and the state is tall and thin, which makes the people in the North very different than the people from the south. We’re like peanut butter and jelly. We get along (for the most part) and compliment each other, but we are literally as different as can be.

South Jersey, or, “SoJo,” is where I am from. And I can say, though I admit I’m pretty biased, that SoJo is way better than NoJo. South Jersey is beautiful. Most of our part of the state is made up of farms, suburbs and shopping plazas. But mainly suburbs, which is where I live. If you refer to the map, we are the yellow part labeled “ghetto in the woods,” which isn’t true but still funny. We are really the suburbs in the woods. The streets are quiet, your yard is filled with trees, and there’s actually space in between the houses. Most of Galloway is divided up into avenues with even numbers two through ten. When you’re in public school and you tell your friend you live off of 8th, they say they live off of 2nd or 4th. The schools here are great too. They’re very diverse and there’s a low crime and bullying rate. SoJos are very chill people who tend to have long friendships. I am still friends with my best friend Katie from the first grade. I’ve also been friends with a group of people since the 8th grade. Most people who live in Galloway tend to stay in Galloway, or at least never leave New Jersey.  I don’t blame them, I love Sojo, but when I had the opportunity to go to college out of state, I took it. Now I’m here in Florida and the rest is history.

Speaking of history, we have two local legends. The Jersey Devil and Wawa.

Wawa didn’t start in Sojo, but it’s very popular here. We spend our summers at the Shore, eating Wawa hoagies1, having day trips to Philly2 and having bonfires.

The Jersey Devil is an herban legend that has gone on since 1735, which is supposedly when the creature was born. It’s well-known enough to have a wikipedia article about it. It roams the Pine Barrens3 of Sojo.

Okay, I could go on and on about Sojo, but it would be unfair if I didn’t discuss North Jersey. North Jersey is pretty cool. If you ever meet someone from our state, you’ll most likely meet a NoJo. The north is VERY densely populated and it’s disgusting. It’s basically the suburb of New York City, which can be cool at times, but New York traffic gets old for a chill South Jerseyan.

During my college years I’ve gotten to know the North better. During my second year of college in Florida I met and started dating someone who is from the North! He lives just a train ride from the big city. I started visiting him up in NoJo during summer and winter breaks. It’s….quaint in many parts. But it could do without all the traffic. He lives in a town just above Paterson, NJ.

Now, few of you readers from my class may recognize the name of that town from the novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I can relate to this single, trifling fact of the book because I have actually been to modern-day Paterson. Sure I didn’t fully experience all of Paterson that Oscar did in his youth, but for the short amount of time I was there, I knew it was not a very pleasant place. Even today, if you ask any Nojo who isn’t from Paterson about Paterson, their response will be: don’t go to Paterson.

I can see why Oscar had dreams of becoming the next Tolkien and his interest in nerdy things. It was his escape from Paterson. Video games and books were his escape from the real world. I find it admirable that Oscar had big dreams of becoming a writer. It is similar to the way I felt when I wanted to leave New Jersey and “escape” to Florida. I know that for me at least, I wanted out of my world for a while and into a new world. In my world after high school, many students went to Rutgers University, the same school Oscar went to. I have many friends who go there, including my closest and dearest best friend. Rutgers isn’t all that fun either. The campus has grown so much that on some days, there will be over 70 students waiting at the bus stop to catch a bus to class, to go to a different part of the campus. That world is so different from Ringling. Personally, I am fortunate to be a part of the “world” that Ringling is, and my other world will always be the place I call home, South Jersey.  

1. (AKA. subs/sandwiches)
2. (AKA. Philadelphia, PA.) While the South has Philly as the closest biggest city, the North has New York City.
3. (AKA. woods)

Week Five: Reading the Great American Novel

“They tell me you are a man with true grit.” – Mattie Ross

            True Grit is considered to be one of the “Greatest American Novels”, and I can see why- it is very American. The novel is made up of the values of America during that time. The storyline itself, and how it is told shows the culture and demonstrates American values.

            In the story, Mattie Ross is an old woman in 1928, and is describing her adventure she had at the age of fourteen. After her father is wrongfully killed, Mattie is determined to seek justice and goes after the killer. To do so, she needs the help of a man with “true grit.” The values that make up the definition of “true grit” capture the spirit of the American mid-west. Mattie is determined throughout the entire book. She does not take no for an answer, and she continues forth on the journey. She is after the man, Tom Chaney, and has help from two men, Rooster and LaBoeuf, to find him. Rooster is doing it for the money and LaBoeuf is doing it because he has been after Chaney for a few months for killing other people. Together, they join forces to go after Chaney. At first, the two men try to get Mattie to not follow them on their adventure. They say she is just a child, but it’s also because of gender discrimination, but Mattie deals with that throughout the book. An example of this is when a man said to her “I thought you were just a floating hat.” This is just a part of their culture during this time period. But in the end, Mattie and the two men succeed in getting Chaney. Mattie makes it out alive – stronger and tougher, but minus one arm. In one of the final “scenes,” Rooster saves Mattie after a snake bites her. Rooster and her ride on her horse until the horse literally dies.  They eventually find a doctor and she lives. The story ends with many years have passed. Mattie is going to visit Rooster. She hears that he is dead, and passed away recently so she gets his coffin relocated to her family grave plot. She sees him as an honorable man. He is the archetypal “western hero.” This story completely captures the American mythology, and the values of that time period. The story, to narrow it down, is an example of “good vs. evil.” Much like a true western.

            Because it is a period piece, I very much felt that old west language while reading. Part of the culture and identity of that part of America during that time was the way people spoke with their slang and abbreviations. The language of the novel makes it all the more pleasurable to read. Some of my favorite examples of this are the people’s names – “Rooster” Cogburn and “Moon,” the boy. And lastly, the best example, the word grit, meaning determination, toughness, and doing what is right. That is the primary example of the values in the story.

            True Grit is a true Western classic.

Values, in class assignment

5 of my most importance values

Honesty/truth

Trust

Kindness

Humility

Intelligence

            Being a computer animation major, I’m going to relate my values to two of my favorite animated films, Tangled and How to Train Your Dragon. Many animated films have characters that demonstrate values, but I feel that I connect with characters like Rapunzel and Hiccup.

            Rapunzel displays kindness to everyone she meets. She is humble, innocent, and though she was lied to her entire life, (though she doesn’t know until later) she greets everyday with a smile and a longing to explore and learn new things. She is a sweet and genuine character.

            Hiccup is the little and humble underdog of the story, who is different from most Vikings. He is inventive, very intelligent, and creates a contraption so Toothless the dragon can fly. Though he shot the dragon down, he earned the trust of the dragon and the two become a dynamic duo, and prove to the rest of the village that dragons can be trusted.