The 4 horsemen of the apocalyse

Thats some hot artwork

Musings, cont'd

...Because she'll go to bed soon, next to that long-distance boyfriend she came to visit, and I'll head out, with this man I met in a foreign country a year ago, my boots clicking down the stairs, with my heavy eyelids and my uncalled-for laughter...

My favorite poem

See it through; By Edgar Albert Guest When you're up against a trouble, Meet it squarely, face to face; Lift your chin and set your shoulders, Plant your feet and take a brace. When it's vain to try to dodge it, Do the best that you can do; You may fail, but you may conquer, See it through! Black may be the clouds about you And your future may seem grim, But don't let your nerve desert you; Keep yourself in fighting trim. If the worst is bound to happen, Spite of all that you can do, Running from it will not save you, See it through! Even hope may seem but futile, When with troubles you're beset, But remember you are facing Just what other men have met. You may fail, but fall still fighting; Don't give up, whate'er you do; Eyes front, head high to the finish. See it through!

Project Natal

Cool video on what can be done with the Kinect

Audience participation

As the year went on and we learned more things in Theater 103, I started to realize that some of the things that we learn about in class connect to what I need to be learning about regarding my major. I'm majoring in journalism and I hope to get a job as a reporter for some type of newspaper or magazine when I graduate. My professors are constantly telling us that we are in the middle of a digital revolution. The iPad is just one of the inventions that are going to drastically change my profession. The physical newspapers are beginning to die to make way for online newspapers. But since everything is going online, that calls for more audience participation. Which is where what we learn in Theater 103 comes in. At the Tank, the audience was able to participate in the performance by controlling the Sketch-up designs on the screen. That's kind of similar to the way the audience participates when they want to get their news. Yahoo News is one of the many companies that have taken advantage of this idea of audience participation. They are going to allow their audience to participate in the way they obtain their news in the future. When you view on article online, it lets you comment on it, doesn't it? That's one example of how the audience can participate in the news they get. Now with the Internet, you can blog about the different news stories you read. Once again, another example of audience participation. So basically, I just see that the world is breaking apart from the days when someone stopped at 7-11 to get a NewsDay in the morning. The people now want to go onto the Internet to actively participate in the news they are consuming.

Sister Carrie

This is the book which shows the women are able to succeed in what they set their heart on. The author illustrates the hardships the women have to face not only with finding jobs but also on how men treated them in the late nineteen century. He also creates an atmosphere of how people lived at that time. It deals with controversial subject matter, the immoral intimacy through characters. Even though the book was published long time ago, this book covers interesting story.

Retrospectives And Aspirations: Part 4

...And in other news, I should say something about the topics discussed in class. I didn't think they'd be worthwhile, seeing as it was a class based primarily on visuals, but I was actually legitimately impressed with the insight of the philosophies and concepts we absorbed during the semester. From Nietzsche to even some Locke, I've probably delved into these ideas further than I have in my philosophy classes. It even tied into the current projects nicely, which made it even more logical to me. Entranced in thought, I experienced some interesting viewpoints in this class altogether.

Kosher vs Not Kosher Taboo

Hillel is a very unique agent of socialization, because it specializes in Jewish life.
The Rabbi of Hillel introduced me to Birthright, an all expenses-paid trip to Israel for 10 days. Like Hillel, the trip is an agent of socialization in its own. The difference between the two is that Birthright is not very religious oriented. It is more focused on bringing Jews to the homeland to experience and appreciate its citizens, landscape and overall culture. It is very secular.
On the first day of the trip, the Birthright Rabbi held some ice breakers for us to get to know each other. We sat in a circle and the Rabbi would ask us our favorite movie, holiday, sports team and whatnot, then each person around the circle would introduce themselves, followed by their favorites from the categories mentioned. The first category was food. I was a bit hesitant because my favorite foods at the time were all non-kosher. So I thought to myself, should I say tell the truth by saying lobster, or should I instead say a kosher food, and not rock the boat? I waited to see if anyone before me would say a non-kosher food, but nobody before me did. When it was my turn, I said: Lobster with melted butter. I didn’t know what to expect from my answer. Would there be some sort of harsh sanction, like people sneering or giving me dirty looks? Apparently not; not only did the group laugh and appreciate that answer, almost everyone whose turn was after mine mentioned a non-kosher product as their favorite food.
While speaking of non-kosher foods was embraced on a not-so-religious trip, I experienced a completely different reaction at Hillel. The Hillel Rabbi hosted a similar ice breaker game in honor of Lag BaOmer, a Jewish holiday. When the category was food, again I waited to see if anyone would say a non-kosher food before me. Again, nobody did. When it was my turn I said my favorite food was lobster with melted butter, like I had done on my birthright trip. Everyone in the room seemed appalled, and the Rabbi immediately went on to the next person. I laughed inside, but felt mildly ashamed. I should have known that the Hillel takes such matters seriously. But I don’t understand how having a different food preference than others can be a form of deviance. After that, nobody talked to me the same way they used to. I had blatantly told everyone that I am not an observant Jew.