2001: A Space Odyssey -What did I think?

We all have our reserves about the future; whether it be the world will end in 2012 or cars will one day fly. These reserves have always been there, even in the 1960’s. After watching 2001: A Space Odyssey, many of their reserves became apparent; however, overall the movie was ineffective to me.

When the movie started, it was easy to tell that the special effects weren’t as advanced as they are now. The monkeys looked like humans and seemed to act as humans more than primates. I understand that effects weren’t as developed as they are now, but in my opinion better effects were achievable by standards of other movies such as the Wizard of Oz. Even thought the primates were not convincing, I like how they added the discovery of the first “tool.” The way it was portrayed however, made the “tool” seem more like a weapon. I came across this opinion by analyzing the aggressiveness of the primate when he first discovers the “tool” and when the group of primates decides to beat the other primate.

One part that I did not understand, which could be caused because I would often zone out, was that of the black column just showing up and then primates beating it up and the sound coming from it when the explorers visit the column.

The transitions throughout the movie seemed very abrupt and didn’t seem to enhance the movie; in fact it seemed to hurt it. The transitions were not the only aspect that seemed to hurt the movie; the sound would be really loud and then just shut off. It turned me off and led me to think the movie did not flow well causing me to zone out. Also, I did not understand why they would put a black screen up that said “Intermission” in the middle of the movie. This is not a play or a musical; it is a movie and should have been treated like one. The intermission led to making the movie a little difficult to understand. In order to clear up some of the confusion of the movie would have been to add subtitles saying what year it was. More often than not, I found myself wondering what stuff was happening in what year and how big of a time difference there was between certain things.

Throughout the movie I found it quite humorous as to how they depicted the year of 2001. The first thing that really made me laugh was they made it seem that by this time in the future we would be able to live not only on Earth but in space also. Airplanes had already been invented by the 1960’s but the first spaceship had yet to be launched. Their idea of a spaceship is greatly different of that of which we actually have. The inside looked more like a plane than a spaceship, complete with stewardesses.

They did have one thing right, there are to be video chats. I was actually shocked when I saw the scene of him talking to his daughter via a video. I don’t believe video chat was a very prominent form of communication in 2001 (not as prominent as it is now), but it did exist. I am an everyday user of Skype and that scene greatly reflected it. To the writers of A Space Odyssey video chatting was probably one of the far-fetched ideas that were put into this movie, and it is a reality now along with that of voice identification. Voice identification is not at its peak yet, but it used. This leads to something that the writers did not put in the movie that is a big part of our society now: cell phones. This shows that the concept of cell phones hadn’t crossed anyone’s mind at this time.

A big part of the movie was that of the expedition of Jupiter. So far in real life we have only been able to land a few spacecrafts on Jupiter, but no living creatures. This is one thing we have yet to complete that was in the movie. The talking computer is much a reality; I own a MAC and there is an application on it that allows the computer to read what you have typed out loud. However, we have not yet had to compete against computers for control of anything besides our papers and Internet connection, nothing too serious. There are many people that are still afraid of computers taking over the world; it is still in our future.

Through the special effects and acting I was not impressed with this movie one bit; through the accuracy of some of the facts, I was very impressed. With that said, 2001: A Space Odyssey is not a movie I would directly recommend to anyone I know.

Stress..

Hello all,

Well on Tuesday my group and I met with our teacher and it didn't go too well. She pulled us apart. I guess we aren't that organized? Well, in spite of what she said, we are ready to film. So my word of advice, don't stress. Your teachers and you may be on different pages, but stick with your idea, they might not see the full concept. I am a visual person, nothing has showed me that more than this project. I have a vision in my head and it is very hard for me to put it down on paper.. I did put it down on paper by writing out a script and it was very hard for me. I guess I have to realize that in order to be successful in English 103, I have to write down a plan.

I am not going to lie, I know the project will turn out, but there is always part of me that is stressing wondering if we will finish it. WE WILL FINISH! There is no need to stress.

For now,

A Girl in English 103

I wanna make a movie

Hello, 

It's been awhile... I've been very busy!

But, hey- we are having fun here in English 103 now! We are making a how-to movie! How many of you out there have had problems with those stupid printers at the library?! I know I have! I'd like to think of myself as a knowledgeable and advanced freshman, but those printers take me back to high school level! The first time I used the printer there, I stood at the wrong printer for like five minutes waiting for my paper that of course never came out. Well have no fear- my group is here! [= Seeing as we all have had problems with them, we are going to be making a how to movie!!! Look for it on facebook &YouTube. We are going to try and add some humor too it. 

We are in the writing process right now. Tuesday is the day we write the script, so it should be fun. 

And hey- the sun is out! &the Patriots are winning! I guess today is a good day.

Hope you all are healthy &avoiding the piggy flu! 

Till next time

A Girl in English 103

Be Careful!

Chapter 7- Analyzing a Text. I didn't believe this would be a fun reading. I quickly came to a different conclusion. As of right now, I am a Advertising major; naturally this chapter appealed to me. It really struck me when the writer decided to relate how we all interpret messages differently. "All toothpaste ads claim to make teeth "the whitest.""  Analyzing a text may be referring to either a newspaper, or a book, or an essay- different forms of writing, but it also pertains to ads. 

Most advertising is niche advertising. This is directly related to how people analyze things! Companies focus on niche advertising because it is the most affective. It allows a company to see more success in one advertisement focusing on a certain group of people than an advertisement focusing on pleasing everyone. This would be because the people in that niche have the same psychographics (the way people think or act), so they tend to analyze things the same way and take the same impression from something. 

Not only did I learn a lot about how to analyze readings, I learned how to relate this to my career and make it interesting and relevant to me.

That's all for now,

A Girl in English 103

Proofread People Proofread!

Well Hello Again,

I am here today to inform you on proofreading and how it really can affect your writing and grades. Chapter 26 was alllll about editing and proofreading. I found it interesting and all that came to mind was a paper that I wrote in high school.

It was the first semester of my senior year &I was taking "Advanced Composition"! WOOPII! I was excited, for I had loved to write. Well, the first assignment came; it was a diary of someone during a big event in history. I WAS EXCITED! I knew exactly what I was going to do: THE TITANIC! However, my story was better. I was going to tell it from a child's point of view! 

It was the day before and I actually forgot to write it. I was so excited &I forgot... So I was rushing to finish it. After a long night of writing and thinking, I finished it. I was so proud of my paper. I was convinced it was "the perfect paper." The next day came and I turned it in to my teacher with a big smile on my face. Excited to get it back. 

The day came that we were getting it back! I was extatic. SO excited! :) However, she handed it back and I had only recieved a 85%. WHAT THE?! HOW?! I was so confused... As I read through it I realized I had not proofread or edited my paper.. I had A LOT of mistakes.. 

So there, there's my lesson for the day! PROOFREAD PEOPLE PROOFREAD!

Until Next Time,

Amanda

Refreshment anyone?

Well hello, after a break last week I need a refresher. Also, while I am writing my first actual English paper I realized that I need a refresher. Our teacher assigned us a paper that has to deal with how technology has affected our lives. Something in the past that has "left a hand print on my heart." I decided to write about my mom &Skype, how it is allowing us to live 7 hours apart &stay in touch. Anyways, back to the refresher part. After reading our assignment I realized that even my twelve years of learning how to write and edit papers isn't enough. I have already learned the majority of the things I read, but I had forgotten many of them. I was previously confident in my writing and editing knowledge, but I have come to realize that a brush up is always good. I may not exactly use these methods, but I now know what to look for. 

Read closley! 

Till Next time, 

A girl in english 103

Flow.

Hello everyone.

I'm here today to talk about flow. Do you have it or do you struggle with it? As I sit here in my room, there is no doubt that I am trying to figure out how to fulfill my requirements from English, keep this entertaining and convince my teacher that I read the homework. Flow is not something that comes easy to all of us, especially me. I tend to go off in random directions &then at the end of my writing I say something completely different than what I originally wanted to say. 

It is important to sit down and brainstorm first; make a list of what you want to say and how you want to link everything together. This was a trick that my high school english teacher taught me, believe it or not- it really helps. You need to go into your writing with a plan. That is the most important key to creating a flow. 

Well now that I have shared how I keep my writing on track, it is time to spread it to the rest of my homework. 

Till next time,

A Girl in English 103