Well this is it. My last entry to spatial narratology. I have never blogged prior to this class so this was a new experience for me. I do enhoy this, though. It is nice to put down what you're thinking and having some people (or nobody) read it. I'm definitely going to continue to blog in the future.
As for this class, THR 104, I had a blast. It was a nice break from the typical college class. Professor Baldwin did a good job connecting these plays to modern day life and technology. The whole thing with the "future of the audience" was very interesting. I never really thought about the state of the audience before, but now hopefully we started a new trend in theater with our final. Anyway, I'm outta here. Have a good break everybody and I'm sure I'll see you around campus.
Showing posts with label Chris Plante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Plante. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Kinect Potential
Xbox's new hardware, the Kinect, is something fascinating to me. I'm sure all of you know by now that it tracks all of your movements and relates that into the game. Since it is early in thr product's life, no spectacilar games are out with it. Once they refine the hardware to further expand its potential, it will be an amazing thing. Hackers are already modifying it to do incredible things, so it has the power to be great.
No Fear Shakespeare
Now that I am out of high school, I have a confession to make. If it wasn't for the "No Fear Shakespeare" section of Sparknotes, I would have never made it through any of his plays. Honestly, I can not understand a damn word Shakespeare says. Sparknotes does a great job of translating it. I would read this first then read Shakespeare's version. With a knowledge of what was happening before reading the original text, I was able to decipher what the characters were saying. I then realized that most of what Shakespeares says is all flowery descriptions (unimportant crap) so that made me feel a little better
FaceTime
Facetime! The word echos throughout the halls of the Staller Center. One walking through the building may hear this strange word and think to themselves, "what can this possibly mean?" Well, honestly, this person must be pretty dumb because it is pretty self explanatory, but you get what I mean. Maybe they're confused because they never heard it before? Whatever...moving on. Althought Professor Baldwin doesn't strictly enforce you looking up at him, or this "facetime" concept, he will call you out on it. If the humanoids in his class are busy texting their life away or perusing facebook to see what there "friends" are eating for dinner tonight, he will yell "facetime." At that point I quickly put away whatever I was doing, because lets face it, I do not want to be labeled as a humanoid.
As technology becomes a bigger part of society, I fear that there will be no more facetime. Pretty soon we won't have to go to class; there will be lectures sent to everyones iphone or droid or ipad. Technically, you are looking at the professor, but it is not the same as in person. Facetime is important for everyone. Without facetime, there will be nothing but humanoids who never leave their rooms.
As technology becomes a bigger part of society, I fear that there will be no more facetime. Pretty soon we won't have to go to class; there will be lectures sent to everyones iphone or droid or ipad. Technically, you are looking at the professor, but it is not the same as in person. Facetime is important for everyone. Without facetime, there will be nothing but humanoids who never leave their rooms.
Tank
The Tank was a very cool little theater. It was perfect for our set up and proved to be a nice venue. Prior to this event, I have never heard of The Tank, but now I would like to go back there to see some small-scale performances. Maybe the next time I am in the city I'll check it out and see whats going on.
Rant about my Professor
This rant is dedicated to my Chemistry Professor who I mentioned in my previous post. I'll refrain from using his name just to be "polite." This guy is the worst professor I have ever had in my life. Sure, he understands what he is talking about, but he is paid to know these things. He is also paid to pass on his knowledge to the students; something he fails miserably at. I learned more in my high school chem class than I did in this course. When he tries explaining a concept, he over-complicates everything to the point of mass confusion throughout the lecture hall. Sometimes he will get confused over what he's saying, but instead of stopping and regrouping, he continues on like nothing ever happened and skips the topic. One time someone asked a question the day before a midterm. The kid said, "I have two questions..." and proceeded to ask his first question. After a half-assed answer from the professor, the student begins to ask his second question. Before he can get to the fourth word, the professor barks, "no no you had enough!" The room of 335 students were shocked. That is not how a professor should act.
One down, Two to go
Well I just got out of my first final exam and its time to knock out a few more blogs because theyre due today. My final exam tonight was for Chemistry. I used to enjoy chem before this year, but the professor I had ruined it for me. It turns out I have the same professor next semester. It should be loads of fun spending a full year with he who shall not be named! My next two finals are on Monday, December 20. That gives me a day or two of breathing room...they shouldn't be that difficult. I plan on getting a good two days of down time, then back to the grind on Saturday
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
House of Games
I have never heard of this movie before this class, but I am glad we got to watch it. I watched it again recently in its entirety and I really enjoyed it. I like how emotionless the main character Margaret was. She was like a robot until she met Mike in the House of Games. He really changed her as a character...then she kills him in the end which I thought was very interesting. The con men were showed a certain confidence in their scams and they were really smooth about it. They knew just what to say and exactly what to do and that is pretty impressive. Not that I am endorsing con artists...
The Streak
Brett Favre's streak is over. The man started 297 straight games. 297 games in one of the most physically demanding sports and a sport that only includes 16 games in a season(not including playoffs.) This streak lasted 18 years; I am only 18 years old. This just blows my mind that a man, in an injury plagued sport, can start every week for this long. This guy is a real iron man.
Stony Brook at Night
Being a commuter, I am rarely on campus at late at night (or early morning, whatever you want to call it.) But now that I have a girlfriend who lives on campus, I have been spending more time here. Sometimes when I leave at around 2:00 AM, I am blown away by the amount of people still walking around campus. Around my house, there is not a soul walking the streets at that hour. And it's not even like on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night I am talking about. There were a lot of people walking around on a Tuesday...whats so special about a Tuesday?! Well I guess that's just something about campus life that is different than regular life
The other THR 104
A good friend of mine is in the other THR 104 class with, well to be honest I'm not really sure of the professor's name. He says that the class is very difficult and extremely boring. They read plays, write essays, has mass amounts of homework, and have boring discussions about the plays in class; the boring monotony that Professor Baldwin likes to avoid.
I am very glad that I picked Professor Baldwin. Not just because of the fact that we get less work, but because I agree with our professor's teaching style. The whole "read, discuss, paper, rinse and repeat" process that most classes are doing is getting old. This class was a nice break from the other classes that I am used to taking
I am very glad that I picked Professor Baldwin. Not just because of the fact that we get less work, but because I agree with our professor's teaching style. The whole "read, discuss, paper, rinse and repeat" process that most classes are doing is getting old. This class was a nice break from the other classes that I am used to taking
Traveling to The Tank
As I got on the train heading to Penn Stations from Ronkonkoma Station, I was a little nervous to be honest. Partly because I don't go to the city that often and I wasn't really sure where I was going and partly because I did not know what to expect when I got to the Tank. But, after remembering that I have a smartphone now, I looked up how to get there and I felt a little better. After a train ride that lasted about an hour and 20 minutes, I arrived at Penn Station. Looking for the signs for the exit to 8th Avenue, I just so happened to find Alex and Harrison from class. It turns out they were on the same train as I was. I never would've thought that I would meet up with one of the 30 people in my class in Manhattan. So as a group we walked up 8th Avenue...stopping in a store so Alex can get something for his girlfriend. The walk was about 20 minutes and filled with some interesting sights. You really do see something new every time you go to the city
The Future of the Audience
Saturday might have been the start of something special. Hopefully that the idea that the audience controls the play catches on because it was brilliant. Since this was an experiment and we didn't have much time to think of possible ideas, there will most likely be more ways of getting the audience involved in the future if this idea actually does catch on. For example, what if a member of the audience can control the background music? One member gets to pick the music for a scene, then the next scene the power is given to a random audience member. I don't know, that was just an idea that i came up with in 20 seconds of thought. I'm sure some brilliant minds can come up with better ways to get the audience involved
Hamlet Performance at The Tank
Overall, I thought the performance was great! The actors did a great job. Chris did a great job with the soliloquy. He really portrayed Hamlet's fragile mental state. The whole play was very entertaining.
The reading of RUR was interesting. The actors did a great job, don't get me wrong, but it was just boring to me. No disrespect to anyone involved, it's just that listening to a story is not the same as seeing it being acted out. Sure acting out all of the scenes that they did would have been a tall order, but maybe if they condensed it and acted it out it would have been more interesting to me.
The reading of RUR was interesting. The actors did a great job, don't get me wrong, but it was just boring to me. No disrespect to anyone involved, it's just that listening to a story is not the same as seeing it being acted out. Sure acting out all of the scenes that they did would have been a tall order, but maybe if they condensed it and acted it out it would have been more interesting to me.
Pictures part 1
The next few blogs will show some of my pictures I took using my phone at The Tank. Sorry for the poor quality...its a new phone and I did not know how the picture quality was...obviously its not too good
If only the education system was like this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18fUdx-_ixQ&feature=pyv&ad=6986912997&kw=funny
This is a joke, of course. I don't want everybody out there that I'm some perv, but what guy out there wouldn't want this to happen in their class? Especially teen age boys in high school. They would love for this to happen. This would either increase grades because not a lot of the guys would ever cut a class like this, or decrease grades because not a lot of the guys would be listening to the readings
This is a joke, of course. I don't want everybody out there that I'm some perv, but what guy out there wouldn't want this to happen in their class? Especially teen age boys in high school. They would love for this to happen. This would either increase grades because not a lot of the guys would ever cut a class like this, or decrease grades because not a lot of the guys would be listening to the readings
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