Friday, December 11, 2009

Day 5

I met with jeff again, at my house and we started by creating some background pictures, original and unique pictures, it is our style!, i have two computeres in my house a Desktop and a laptop and each of use grabbed one and worked on it for like about 10 hours, researching and making every power point perfec, at the end, which its now 5 pm we are done already, we have tried our presentation and it looks very good and attractive, we combined my slide shows with jeff's slides and we are all set to present, the next and almost final step will be to review and make a demo presentation and we'll be ready.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

paper 6 (2- Sleep Dealer)

Humans have developed different ways to interact with the physical world, they have created machines, which allow us to make our lifestyles easier with the possibility of making or being more successful in certain fields that required the absolute concentration and the unavoidable imagination that guide us to the creation of software, computers and all related networks in which we can connect the physical terrain with the virtual world, an example of this introduction can be seen in the movie Sleep Dealer by Alex Rivera, which interprets some of the actual social and political aspects of some Latin American countries, more concrete, Mexico, which shows the differences between urban and rural life and explains in a futuristic way how they are connected by different elements such as computers, the virtual world and militarized gates that keeps society in rural life away from totally freedom.

Sleep Dealer is obviously influenced by The Matrix and other films, cinematic aspects such as plot development, a love encounter between the protagonist and a girl he meets, who plays an important role, which is the responsible for the implants or “nodes” in Memo (The Protagonist) allowing him to interact with the virtual world, something that is very similar to The Matrix in which “Neo” also the protagonist is asked to help to fight “the agents” whose purpose is to shut down all the humans in the virtual world, also with the very common love story that connects both movies.
Silent racial issues can be identify as some factors that makes us think that color, race or background ethnicity preferences represents an important role in each film, because no matter how many people sees these films, they are designed to give a certain cultural message to interpret an actual problem or situation for which people are experiencing.

In addition to the similarities that connects the two film productions mentioned before, racial issues are present, sleep Dealer represents a crude reality in which Americans have the power to control the urban and even the rural life, with an ironic use of the technology by using militarized robotic and intelligent gates to control an essential mineral needed for the daily use of Santa Ana’s people, also by deeply analyzing the social activity we can realize that no other ethnic group of people were shown, it was only Mexican people around, from farmers to even the US pilot who flew the plane that killed Memo’s father and bombed the dam.
In comparison to Sleep Dealer, The Matrix whose racial issues were a little bit more complex and almost the opposite in a different way, the dominant race was white, we cannot tell if they were Europeans or Americans but the point here is emphasize that no other ethnic group was shown, meaning Hispanic/Latino characters, also with the very low percent of dark color people, in which in other words they were no more than four characters.

In Conclusion Sleep Dealer illustrates in a futuristic style the present reality that Mexico and even some third world countries such as Latin American nations are experiencing, militarized world marked by closed borders, poverty and the very common social class hierarchy in which the rich and powerful controls, uses and takes advantage of the poor, not educated and hard working people with needs. In a comparison with The Matrix, Racial Issues can be identify throughout the film in which ethnic elements such as color of the skin, scenario or even the Language, also plays an important role in identifying aspects that may also contribute to the racial ethnicity, meaning as I mentioned before, it is designed only for a certain group of people.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Blog >12<

The movie Sleep Dealer by its director Alex Rivera is an excellent cinematic example of a particularly “Latino” film in which we can identify the different aspects that contributes to the regular way of living of the “Latino”, especially Mexican society.
This movie, which I defined as a great film due to its special effects during explosions and its originally background setting such as the terrain at Santa Ana or the luxurious views of different US cities such as California and New York.

This great film illustrates in a futuristic style the present reality that Mexico and even some third world countries such as Latin American nations are experiencing, militarized world marked by closed borders, poverty and the very common social class hierarchy in which the rich and powerful controls, uses and takes advantage of the poor, not educated and hard working people with needs, that will do anything to help their families emphasizing in a more financially manner.
To support this, lets review the scene in which Memo and his father goes to the dam to look for water and are welcome by a militarized robotic gate in which they have to insert money in order to get a essential element for living such as water, and according to what his father says to him, the dim wasn’t there years ago, so this is a great example of how Sleep Dealer reflects a reality in a futuristic way.

Blog >11<

The Museum of Moving Image is an ideal destination for students, regular people from all places, and specially for those who wants to get to know more about the history of film, the interaction with the past and present of cinematographic elements, reflects a truly motivated reality that teaches the art or techniques of movie photography, including both the shooting and development of the film.
It was a great idea to visit this museum, I personally hadn’t get the chance to step inside and pay a detail attention to different levels that we went through, from the first “Nickelodeon” machine followed by the actual sound animations and music that composes a scene, which gives the perfect emotion and sensations to the review of some of the most common visual special effects, which uses a green screen to create a desire background to give realism , authenticity and its original look that will be seen in a theater or even every TV at home which its going to raise the popularity rating of a movie, film or animation.
I think the tour experienced on November 25th was a perfect gateway to free our minds form the monotonous daily school routine, I am not meaning that I was tired of doing the same things at college, but in some way it helped me, and I think it also helped others, as I mentioned before, to escape for a day from the stressful daily routine and get the chance to learn form the past, present and to make us think and also realize that the future it’s going to be a really interesting place with the cinematic advance or progress of the film industry, in which I think in some how that in few years from now we will experience the movies in a more physical way rather than sitting down and only watch an animation, to support futuristic personal image, I am going to remind you’ll folks the artifact that we saw at the beginning of our tour to the museum, which in a simple concrete description it was a cone shaped pine made out of different objects hold in a specific distance which spun around in a synchronized way that when a flashing with light was turned on it created the illusion that the objects were falling down, I think and I have to admit that it made a great impression in myself, it was so cool for my eyes to experience that, I know it was just an illusion but my brain got it in some other way and I liked a lot, so, that’s why I say that according to the past illusion effects the future it’s going to be full of surprises for our senses.
In conclusion the Museun of moving image emblematize the different processes involved in producing, marketing, and exhibiting the moving image, with more than a thousand film and television artifacts, computer based interactive experiences, audio-visual materials, and demonstrations of professional equipment and techniques.

Thanks Dr. Jayson Smith for such enlightened tour that magnified my vision to the cinematographic industry of Film.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Blog >10<

Alright folks!! research papers sounds very easy, well, at least it is easy to find information, what it is not so easy, is to come up with your own personal words without doing plagiarism or accidental plagiarism.
According to my final project, which is a short film or a Documentary about Aviation Industry, in which i am going to explain ina short way how this industry works, operate, and contribute to the expansion of the mass communication, what i am experiencing right now, is the issue that it seems to be very easy to record with a video camera, and also take pictures of Aviation related "Objects", what is not easy for me, is to edit the video, because i dont usually do this very often, but the solution for this problem, is to find a person or student who is taking film production, and ask him or her to give me a hand in order to learn how to edit videos in the right way, i am talking about, tittle, music, effects..
so this is a good idea about how to make a really nice project in which i think we ( Jeff and I) ( Greetings) are going to have a lot of fun and it's going to come up really nice.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

BloG >9<

For my research project and the Media final, i am going to create a video/ documentary about the Aviation Industry, emphasizing on the differents kinds of networks connected to the industry, starting with a simple definition of "Aircraft" and reviewing about the past of Aviation, i will discuss how everything is connected, from the mechanics, to the pilots, having in mind that many gates have to be open in order to specify the role of Aviation Industry, like Air traffic controllers, airports and
According to these ideas, my video/Documentary its going to be about 6 to 9 minutes, and it is going to cover differents scenarios in which i will show how Aviation Industry works and how it develop to satisfy the passenger and population needs.
Different people will be interviewed, students, Aviation Teachers from different subjects, mechanics, and we also will be discussing regular civilians opinions about aircraft services.
After the Video/ Documentary, i will create a web page, with all the information related to my project, in this case, Aviation Industry, i will be showing pictures of actual airplanes, from the most recent one to the most popular planes used many years ago, i will be discussing about how they operate and contribute to the growth of a more organize and technological world.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

BloG >8<

The soft white brownish color of my skin covers every section of my body, my slightly brownish eyes reflects the purity of my soul, I can feel the energy working through every muscle around my body, the boundaries which defines my life can be divided in many sections like, since the time I was born, then all the things I have made in life and in the last place, what I have become.
Every morning when I get up in the morning, I try to take some time for my self, to sit and relax for a few minutes, this makes me start a good day, after I get a cold shower, I definitely have to dress right away, because I don’t like to be cold, so after that I check the weather channel for information about the climate, it can be something that will have an affect later on the day, because according to what the weather channel says I may have to wear jacket, umbrella or even boots.
After I get dressed, I prepare my self a unique breakfast, this is something that I have been doing for like about all my life, if I don’t get breakfast at home I feel weird, and I have to eat good, meaning a good portion, this way I start a happy day in a happy mood.
Now that I am almost done with what I do every day when I get up, it comes to the part where I take only five minutes, brushing my teeth and applying some gel to my hair to make it look nice and fresh, this few steps, makes me feel like a person, ready for every day challenges. This is a good example of how some boundaries that defines me as a person have some connections in my life, networks that are always attached to time, in which my life runs on a daily basis.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

BloG >7<

well, when i decided i wanted to do a research about the impact of facebook on society, i first started to look for the MLA specifications at Laguardia library center, once i printed the handbook, i gathered information from the library, looking at articles and books related to the topic i chose, then i divided my research in many sections, something that is going to make the reader understand better what i am trying to explain, i started with the simple definition of communications, then jumped to the definition of SNS (Social Networking Sites) and wrote about who does it work, operate and the different sites, after this step, i got in to the main idea which was Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg it's creator, i wrote about who it started, and the steps it went before becoming the most popular networking site during present times, and at the very end of my research paper, i came out with the conclusion, something that explained everything i researched, a brief summary of the begining of facebook and its impact on society.
If i would rate my work from 1 - 10 i would choose a 8 because i could done it better, i just didn't have enough time to work on it due to my job schedule.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

BloG >5<

Do you think your life is determined by a special, individual fate, or are you free to choose as you wish?

fate is determined to be the will or principle, or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do, my prsonal opinion to believe in something, is the begining of our personal fate, no matter what we hear, see and understand about life, freedom is followed by fate which is followed by foreknowledge that makes things como true. according to Theodore Shick, jr "part of what it takes to be free is to not be coerced or constrained by anyone" which means that is someone is forcing you to do something against your will or preventing you from doing something you want to do, you are not free. an example can be seen in The Matrix ( Movie) when by plugging into thematrix, cypher will be free from Morpheus, in my personal opinion i would say "NO", because he wont have the power to do anything, as Philosopher Immanuel Kant says " It is possible to conceive anything at all in the world, and even out of it, which can be taken to be good without qualification except a good will" in conclusion our daily lives experince three factors that give us answers and coherent meaning to understand the world and events that happen around us, Fate,Freedom and foreknowledge, in my personal opinion, i follow "foreknowledge" because it states that the future is open because it can unfold in more than one way.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

>BloG 4<

"Source" & "Ontological status"

- The online dictionary by Farlex defines "Source" as the point of a system where energy or mass is added to the system, in my own words i can define it as "the Point of origin", according to the Matrix and Philosophy, page 61 (pp2) can support my explanation as it argues " the ultimate causes are for the things which we can categorize under " Real", they do not have to do with the causes responsible for creating the unreal world of the Matrix".
According to physics, "Ontological status" is defined as the argument of the existence of God holding that the existence of the concept of God entails the existance of God, in my own words interpret it as the essence and nature of being, to support this information, we can read on page 61 (pp4) " One way of determinig ontological status is in terms of dependence" as it argues that The real world in the Matrix, does not depend on something else for its existence, it stands by itself, as it were.
In conclusion, according to Gracia and Sanford "source" and "ontological status" are terms used to distinguising between the real and unreal worlds, as they argue on page 62 (pp2) the source for each and their ontological status clarify the distinction between the two fundamental categories of the Matrix.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

bLoG 3<

Is Life an illusion or is it an unconsius reality?

According to "The Matrix and Philosophy" by William Irwin, people are "slaves of their own minds" this means that humans, after the creation of the Matrix, they have never seen the real light or experienced real sensations, this can be too extreme to be taken seriously, like at the begining, Neo had trouble assimilating the truth from Morpheus words, " the truth of the matter, is that they spend their whole lives confined into small containers that collect and distribute their bio-electrical energy to computerized slave-masters."
A good interpretation about if we are actually living in a real world or if we are slaves of some kind of superior power, can be found reading "A Tale of Two Caves" with a very credible conclusion that, the only thing worse than a prision for your mind would be a prision for your mind you didn't know you were in. I use this interpretation as en example of how people view the world, some people have and one and only one view of the world, an example can be illustrated as a person who only thinks that by going to college and becoming a professional, is the only way to happiness, and some other people think and believes that, by reaching a maximum level of spiritual knowledge will lead them to the perfection of the soul and reach happiness, in conclusion, every human has to believe something, if not, they will become crazy trying to understand the mysteries of the "Real World" we all live in.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Blog 2

I guess i only have few big concern about The Matrix. i understand that the Matrix can be defined as , let's name it a " Software" or " Dream" that keeps humans away from the real world, in order for machines to use our energy to survive, i have the knowledge that the human body maintains a basic minimum rate of heat production at about 250 Btu/hr during sleep, the heat equivalent of about 75 watts, and about 500 Btu/hr (120 watts), so, this is why in the real world humans are induced in a dream state towards a fantasy land or The Matrix, BUT, they can still experience feelings specially Physical emotions or reactions according to what takes place during their time in The Matrix, a good example to support my opinion can be demnostrated when this guy named "Mouse",who is an expert computer programmer who assists in the construction of several training programs for new operatives who are placed in the Construct (Loading Program), is violently riddle with bullets, and as this event takes place during his time in The Matrix, his Real Physical body in the real world suffers the same consequences and dies, another example can be when Neo and Morpheus are holding an interesting physical fight in The Matrix, Neo gets punched and kicked by his opponent Morpheus, and in the real world, Neo's mouth start to bleed, well, are physical sensations experienced during The Matrix going to affect our bodies according to their damage level?, lets say, if, a woman is giving birth, what is going to happen to her body? and in other more interesting topics, what if i am holding a sexual relations in The Matrix?, and my other big question that i would definetely ask Morpheus is this one " If Humans created machines, that later on conquered the world and took over humans and induced them to The Matrix, so, who created the Real World?

i hope u guys like my "concerns" about this great movie, and before i leave i want to write a belief i always have in my mind , but i never had the chance to publish it:
" Induced dream states, contains more information about reality than the conscius weaking states" <<<< TOTALLY TRUE<<<<<

Maybe we are living in a dream......Don't you think?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Blog 1

i am immobile since childhood, i can only move my eyes un and down, and i see nothing else but a wall, where i see figures of different kinds, right to left, where i see my chained companions immobile as i am now, and i can see more figures that i intrepet as real illusions, because i have seen nothing else in my entire life but figures dancing on the wall.
As i walk out of the cave i get confused because i see figures, similar to those shown in the cave, but with color and even volume and everyone of them has a unique expression that gets sealed deep into my mind, but i feel like those volume shaped figures are not real, but as i keep walking further away from the cave that hidded the true away from my chained soul, i could see a figure that followed every movement i did, something that made me wake up from that fake reality, something that made me realize that i was in a place where only black figures where shown because i could not see anywhere else, making myself ask one, and only one question, is it me, or is it shadows dancing on the wall?.

About Me

My name is Mateo Alzate, i was born in Colombia, i like going to clubs but it is not my hobby, i feel good spending time with the people around me, and also going to weird and exotic places, i always want to get to know more and more about things and persons that gets my attention, relaxing, laughing, walking and even talking about the future things that will happen in this world makes me have a nice time.
i really like music a lot, and i find every sound interesting, and i try to enjoy the best of it, but the rythms that magnetizes the good energy and my happines is Underground Easy Listening Minimalistic House Sounds, but wait!..i also enjoy salsa, and i really enjoy Reggae and Rock music has always been around my life.

Attratcted to aircrafts, the law of attraction takes place in my life, i started High School in Aviation High school, where i learned all about airplanes, from the outside to the inside, something that gave me some headaches due to the need of learning a mechanical aviation vocabulary, after all, i graduated from there, i was 18 years old and i just relaxed for a few years, taking time to get to know the world around me and meet new people, and at the same time, thinking about what i wanted for my future.
My plan was to start college before i turned 21 years old, and that was it, i am turning 21 on December 21st and i already started taking calsses at Laguardia Community college,a great college that i really like a lot, enrolled as a full time student and planning to become an Architect, but having in mind that i have to get my Associate first from Laguardia, then move on to city College, where i will be in a few months from now.