Documentar Part 2

Essential Questions

How have modes of communication been a reflection of history and society?

In the case of this documentary, the film is used as a celebration and recognition of a world that is often forgotton. It reflects on how the world of the puppetters had an influence on one generation and how that generation now lives to inspire a new one. This form of communication passess love and laughter to children. When the documentary shows them working on the film, th labrynth, many of us might scoff at the poor graphics that would be produced by the film. What is so easily missed is how much fun  everyone seems to have working with these creatioms, and how much passion and attention is poured into every detail.

This shows how our modes of communication may have evolved, but our values  also seem to have changed as well. Yet it is not totally lost, people still cling to these characters from their childhood, and pass them on to their children. Such as the cookie monster, and ms. piggy. Even with the evolution of our communications, we still have a respect for and cling to the communications of our past. Puppets will never simply be done away with.

How have modern modes of communication been perceived and recieved by the global community?

As illustrated by the major tickle me elmo franchise, puppets are still widely appreciated around the world. Characters such as Elmo, create a sense of nastalgia in the global community. The thing about puppets is that they mimick human emotions, and speech, making them more alive and closer to humans than a text or phone could ever be. With that, puppets are able to better communicate emotions such as love than can a computer because it has the ability to proved a hug or a kiss.

Documentary Part 1

Being Elmo: A Puppetters Journey

Bibliography: Being Elmo: A Puppetters Journey. Dir. Constance Marks. Perf. Kevin Clash. Sesame Workshop, 2011. Netflix.

Summary: This film follows the life story of the puppetteer of one of the most recognized and loved puppet in the world, Elmo. It takes a look behind the camera and shows where the magic comes from, in this case its Kevin Clash. Its a heartwarming tale that celebrates the world of puppets and the effect it has had on children, the laughter and happieness that people like Kevin Clash were able to capture in something as insignifigant as a sock with a pair of eyes attached to it. The film touches on various points in Kevin Clash's life that brought him to Elmo. Everything from the love and support provided by his parents, to the ambition and strong will he had to pursue his dream is used in this film to provide inspiration for any. It draws on how puppetering changed Clash's perspective towards human behavior. They constantly go back to the point that a puppeteers goal is to create life within their puppet. In Elmo, Clash managed to embody both a living soul, and all the love and innocence that every child embraces.

Rhetorical Devices:
Pathos/Ethos: Much of this story draws on emotion. The beginning starts off with Clash describing how he had wanted to go to disney world as a child but couldnt because his family couldnt afford it. This gains the audiences sympathy as its established that he had to work for everything he gained in his life. The entire film is based on emotion, hope, and celebration. When Jim Hendricks dies, they show a clip of all of his puppeteer friends singing a song in his honor, He wanted his funeral to be a happy occasion.
Juxtaposition: Even though his family was of poor roots, he showed ambition and potential. It was even mentioned in the documentary how in his school year book he was voted most likely to be a millionare.
Suspense: In the film its described how Clash was offered an opportunity to join Jim Hendricks (his hero) in working on the film Dark Crystal. The audience becomes engrossed in this story, and excited for the new opportunity. The suspense thats created makes the signifigance of the loss he felt when he had to say no all the more evident.
"Parallelism": They come back to various points earlier mentioned in the film. Such as when he finally gets to go to Disney World. The moment is made all the more sentimental when its described how he was becoming friends with his life long hero, Jim Hendricks, and they took a photo together. It makes the impact all the greater when Jim Hendricks dies.

AOW 29

Das Rheingold

Over spring break I had the opportunity to attend the production of Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera. It is the prelude to Wagners Ring Cycle. Besides the no less than perfect portrayal of their characters by the singers and the mastery of the orchestra, I found the set to be stunning. Das Rheingold takes its audience through a series of fantastical settings. They were able to do so with a fluid balance with technology and video. The set consisted of a single floor that was suspended between the stage and ceiling. The floor was designed to be able to rise and lower,and bend and roll as was needed. The opera has no intermission which kept alive the fluid changes between scenes. The first scene begins with the floor rising and bending like waves, giving the audience a sensation of being immersed in water. The next scene brings the audience into the clouds with the gods. The way the stage moved made it seem like you were watching a film that was doing a pan view upward. The most remarkable scene was when the floor turned into a staircase to bring the gods down from the heavens. The catch was that part of the stairs were vertical so that the audience felt as if they were looking down onto the characters. It was almost like looking into an escher painting. The fluid use of technology allowed the producers to make the audience feel more involved or immersed into the production.

 

AOW 28

True Stories Told in one Sentence

see link here

This week is a little different, rather than talking about an article I decided to talk about an entire website. This website is a collection of hundrends of true stories told in a single sentence. The experience of going through these stories is challenging to convey; it is like going for a walk, and every step contains the depth, the worries, the humor, or the sorrows of someone elses life. I don't know about the credibility of every story, some of them may be made up, for anyone can post their one sentence stories, but even those that are made up give you insight into the personality and the life of a stranger. It is interesting to me how for some the sentence they might choose to right might be the most signifigant point in their life, whereas others will have a sentence describing a highly insignifigant routine or day to day activity. The possibilities for what people might right are endless. I just clicked on a random category, in this case the topic was childhood, and the sentence that stood out to me was "While the other kids made a snowman and the adults conversed indoors, I slipped off the dock into the snowy lake and had to be my own hero at age 7." So much can be inferred and the emotion that can be conveyed is surprising. Its hard to comprehend how in so few words you can say so much. It is something that I need to learn to use in my own writing; stop with the rambling and say what really matters. The impact they can have don't only have to be sad or concerned, another under the same category was "I was excited to climb out and meet her, but the window glass wasn't." What I enjoyed about this sentence was that the writer didnt have to say straight up that they crashed into their window glass, it was something that you could infer. It further goes to emphasize how you can say alot with very little.



AOW 24

Jack Horner: Shape-shifting dinosaurs

See Video Here

This video is circled around the theme that the reason people like dinosaurs is because they are BIG, DIFFERENT, and gone. Paleontologist Jack Horner describes in a humorous tone and using understandable and conversational diction how because of scientists ego, we have been wrong in many areas about dinosaurs. When museaums joined into the dinosaur rush everyone wanted a bigger and better dinosaur. Jack Horner questions where are all the little dinosaurs? Most of us have always assumed that baby dinosaurs are just mini versions of the big ones, but where are they? Back to the ego thing, scientists like to name things, and if a dinosaur is different it gets a new name. Jack horner found that these various dinosaurs that have different names may actually be the same dinosaur just in different stages of growth. The baby dinosaurs arent mini replicas of their adult versions. This video blew my mind, I always expecting to believe what scientists to say to be true, and yet here is jack horner who just categorized all of these different dinosaurs as the same one. Unlike some other Ted videos I enjoyed this video because it was very natural. Some other speakers were the sorts who had note cards with them and had an entire narrative planned out. They had good things to say but it was unnatural to listen to. After this video I was pretty convinced that Jack Horners theory was right or at least on the right track, it was very convincing and easy to understand. It made sense. He also make a lot of humorous appeals by calling to mind how dinosaurs are usually a topic that we learn as children and forget about later on, ect. At the end of the video I was still laughing and I had learned a few things about dinosaurs, so all in all its a worth while video.

AOW #22

IRB Entry:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Very early on in the story a recurring theme becomes present. Alice has just gone through a series of upsetting changes from a drink that made her shrink, and a cake that made her grow. She couldn’t seem to be the right size though to reach the garden that lay beyond a small door. She starts to question herself "Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is "Who in the world am I?" Ah, that's the great puzzle!" This tie’s well to puberty, the confusing changes and what they must feel like that children go through when they are around Alice’s age. The story does not only relate physically to the change to womanhood, it also follows Alice’s intellectual and emotional changes. The choice of setting is important in expressing the foreign and strange experience. It is an ever changing world that you would likely find in a child’s imagination, but it is so illogical that it challenges all that Alice has ever believed. Although I have not yet reached the point where Alice goes through a change, I predict that she will be a dynamic character, for she will have to eventually come to terms with this new world, and decide for herself "Who in the world am I?". However, I do find her at the moment to be a somewhat flat character. She is the most logical person in this world, and so her actions and choices often reflect in her rationality. She also maintains that somewhat innocent/ignorant child role of one who has been raised in a somewhat wealthy household and sticks to that mannerism. By writing the story from Alice's point of view, readers are able to better understand and relate to Alice's logic. For without that point of view, readers would not be able to connect to that aspect of how a child would think and react in a situation where an adult might react otherwise. Anyway, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, places readers into the shoes of a child and expresses to them the strange way a child’s mind works and grows. Without a child, the story would hold no purpose, it would have no underlying statement about the change every child goes through, it would just be a nightmarish trip through an insane and illogical world.  

IRB: Marking Period 3

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Lewis Carroll

Sections:

1: 1-100

2: 100-200

3: 200-308

Why?

This story is a classic, it’s something every child should read, yet I never did. So here I am in a very serious predicament, I have never read Alice in Wonderland. Obviously the solution to this problem is to take advantage of the opportunity I have to read a fictional story for this marking period by choosing Alice in Wonderland.

Article of the Week 20

The Lottery,

by Shirley Jackson

See Here

The story begins with the setting being described as a pleasant summer day. Making what is to come all the more shocking and out of place, unnatural. You become aware that something is off, when it mentions how the men’s jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laugh. The box I suppose has some sort of symbol in itself. The fact that nobody wishes to make a new one, they still cling to tradition, yet that box is rotting away. Then, I wonder why Jackson spends so much time describing how they changed from wood chips to paper for the names, and why it matters where the box has been stored. I suppose that is a device he uses to stretch out the anticipation, for we still don't know what the lottery is at this point. As was mentioned in the beginning, the "ceremony" only takes 2 hours, so he takes his time describing those 2 hours in detail. He describes how so many aspects of the ritual have been forgotten; even the purpose seems to have been forgotten. As the story continues, Mrs. Hutchinson arrives, and in very good humor. Everyone is very cheerful, which makes you think that the occasion will in fact be perfectly normal. It makes you all the more surprised in the end. It’s interesting how they emphasize the role of men. Perhaps it’s supposed to further lone itself to tradition? This thing about tradition comes up again when they mention another village considering giving up the lottery. Then the scene suddenly changes from good humor to “It isn’t fair” when Mrs. Hutchinson is the one chosen to be the victim. All I can understand from the story is how people cling to tradition. No matter how ridiculous it seems, they blindly follow it for the sacred reason that its tradition. It is what has always been done. They have always continued in this stubborn fashion without questioning.

Article of the Week 19

Theo Jansen creates new creatures

see link here

In this video Theo Jansen shows off his crazy sculptures constructed of plastic tubes and lemonade bottles. They are "creatures" that are designed to move...and even to survive on their own. His awkwardness and the strangeness of his creation give the video a humorous tone. This draws in his audiences' interest, although that wouldn't take much effort given the topic. He also uses some demonstrative videos that include a narrator that describes the creatures like they would a new species that’s been discovered on the discovery channel. This adds to the humor, and further draws in the audience. To make his creatures move he uses various systems that are designed to run on wind, to be able to tell when to turn back from water (these things are designed to survive on a beach), and to even drive a pike into the ground when storms are coming. I would like to remind you, these things are solely constructed of plastic tubes and lemonade bottles! I would think that the purpose of the video is just to demonstrate something that is mind blowing. He doesn't go very in-depth into how it works, and what he does explain he seems to put into language that the average person would understand, such as when he describes the leg mechanisms. He compares them to bike wheels, which have difficulty going through sand, whereas the design he came up with can maneuver easily across the difficult terrain. Even after he explained the "brain" and the "nose" of his design, I still don't fully understand how it is possible without wires and microchips. What he designed is practically a robot without using any sort of computer. For me that is mind blowing, so I think that Jansen fulfilled his purpose, which was to amaze his audience, or at least give them something to think about.

Unit 3-Reflection

What is the individual’s duty to his government? What is the government’s duty to the individual? In an essay that synthesizes and uses for support at least THREE of the readings from this unit, discuss the obligations of individuals within a society. Remember to attribute both direct and indirect citations. Refer to the sources by authors’ last names or by titles. Avoid mere paraphrase or summary.

Man’s rights were not determined by the hand of god, they were determined by man. It is man’s obligation to society to maintain those rights. It is man’s obligation to their government to remind society of those rights. Just as it is the governments duty to provide those rights that were previously determined by society. In his address, John F. Kennedy concludes with “here on earth God’s work must truly be our own” That sums up both the individuals and the governments obligations to society. It is up to both to provide their freedoms. All of our readings from unit 3 reflected on how freedom is not handed to us on a silver plate. It is our duty to fuel freedom; it is our duty to make it happen. It will not happen on its own.

            “Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country and of an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.” (Patrick Henry) Henry described how it was an act of treason simply for him to stay silent. Remaining silent is parallel to taking no action, letting what will, happen. It is as if you are under the impression that god will take care of everything. As JFK established earlier, it is the people on earth, not god, who make a difference. All of the speeches were calls for action. They were wake up calls to society. It is the individual’s duty to adhere to these wakeup calls. For without involvement of the people, what will become of the government?

Abraham Lincoln describes how he intends to create “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” What is a government but a collection of individuals who have been given the job to listen to the needs of the people and to protect those needs? In Americas case that need was freedom. A government will not try to provide those needs, such as freedoms, if the people do not make them aware of those needs. A government that is for the people requires the people to be for the government. It is a bargain of sorts. The people will give the government what it needs and the government will provide the people with what they need. The individual needs to provide a voice, they need to be involved. It’s up to the government to hear that voice. It doesn’t work if there is no voice to hear for, or if there is no ear to listen with.

JFK says to his fellow Americans “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” It is the individual’s duty to give back to their country, not only take. For by only taking, there will soon be nothing left. The speeches in Unit 3 were all brought on by some sort of controversy or need that had arisen. With that need, they called upon the individuals. It is the Individuals duty to provide the fuel for their government. The government is not the driver; it’s just the means of transportation. The people are the engine, the thing that feeds the government. Without either, they won’t get anywhere. When they fulfill each other’s obligations though, all sorts of new paths open up

Article of the Week 16

Independent Reading Entry One

An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace 

By: Tamar Adler

Tamar Adler has worked with various magazines, such as editing for Harpers Magazine. On and off she has worked in several restaurants, as a personal chef, and even helped open Farm 255, where she worked as head chef until moving to California. In 2009 she left the cooking business to write the Everlasting Meal, now she is a cooking teacher at the Edible Schoolyard NYC. The Everlasting Meal is intended to express how delicious meals can be found from simple origins. To begin, she goes over How to Boil Water. This process does not end at pouring water in a pot and placing it on a stove. The numbers of choices to be made are endless: adding oil or salt, using hot water or cold to begin, placing ingredients in before it boils or after. None of these choices are right or wrong; it just goes to show the millions of possibilities that lie in a simple pot of boiling water. The Audience Tamar directs this novel towards is the common person, and showing them how they are capable of easily having an affordable and delicious meal. The way Tamar approached writing this book was a narrative rather than listing ingredients. Her method is delivering and inspiring a way of thinking about how to approach cooking, rather than teaching how to cook a specific meal. She makes various appeals to common sense, and humor to gain the audience’s trust. Her diction is simply beautiful; she turns boiling water into poetry. The tone she creates flows in such a way that it seems like “thinking out loud” as Jack Hitt from the New York Times puts it. She weaves together topics in a way that makes it seem endless. There doesn’t seem to be pause to her thoughts. With her beautiful writing she entices readers to hear her voice. With that in mind, she was highly successful in twisting together what would have otherwise been a very dull instructional book into an inspirational epic about “the joy of cooking”.