Blog 10

When I write my essays I tend to procastinate a lot, and I hold things off to last minute. And I think thta's the case for most writers who really don't like thier topic or are just simply to lazy to write. In my case the reason I procastinate is because I don't really plan anything out, I have no structure and usually have no idea of how or what I'm going to write. I think if I planned everything out and knew the steps I would take and make to time isn't a factor I would probablyhave better reports. This year I have worked hard to keep myself on pace, I planned everything i was going to write, I wasn't going to let myself wait till last minute. I've taken not that if I do wait, then my work sufers and I don't give the best of my ability due to the fact that I had to rush. Also I think most reearch writers deal with the fact of really trying to be careful of not plagerizing and using information and qoutes the right way. I know I tend to stress over what information I should or should not use, I stress over the fact if I have to much information and not enough opinion. I get worried of plagereism all the time and try to parahprase as much as I can. But this years I feel I've sdone better on my esays than before, I've really worked hard to make sure I can write the paper at the best of my ability.

My november 12 blog is on my other blog. I forgot to mention it.

Blog 9

I've decided to make a documentary. More like a mock "doc", I have been noticing a trend latley in movies, books and television. Vampires. It is on the rage right now, everywhere I turn I see a vampire now. It's like we're in the vampire era. I have nothing against them, I'm actually very fond of them and I've always enjoyed thier genre. So in honor of vampires and vampire fanatics across the world I have decided to make a documentary, about the life and day of an average vampire. Of course I will try to stay true to some vampire myths and tales but for the most part I will make a mockery of the vampire nation. This is all out pure fun of course, I respect vampire's and thier fanatics but I feel this mock "doc" will be very fun and funny. I will also try to make it as scary as possible, for the fanatics of course.

At first I was thinking about making a short movie but i don't think I would of done a very good job, and frankly it would of been a little cliche. I thought to myself what would be more interesting than the life of an "actual" vampire? What could be funnier? I feel that I can combine both fear and humor well, I've seen a lot of movies and know how things work. I've done film before in highschool, I know the differnt angles I could use, I know cinematic elemants.

The documentary itself will be for Louis of course, and the blog I will be working on will be for Dr. Smith. I'll keep track of everything i do, and all the research I do for my project. First I'll reaseach any myths about vampires, all possible tales about them. Then I'll watch a couple vamp. movies. I'll try to get as much research and details about them as possible. I'll try and convince my audinece that what they are watching are actual vampires, but also I'll have a hint of humor to my video.

This week I'll mostly be working on my outline and script. Who's going to star in my mock "doc" and what materials I'll be needing. I'll aslo start up my blog page and begin writing a couple entries. Also I'll begin my research so that I can strat my documentary as soon as possible.

Essay 2

I feel that there is no such thing as fate, there isn't somebody out there who has planned out my life. For what ever reason I'm here today in this class is because of my own doing, my choice. I made myself what I am now, not fate. We all make decisions, and based on these decisions we live out our lives. I refuse to believe that there is nothing I can do to change it. I will use examples from the Matrix film related to the decisions Neo had to make in the movie. I will also use examples from Theodore Schick Jr's essay to help support my statement.

Neo in the movie said, "Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life," in response to one of Morpheus's question. I agree with his answer because I too don't like the idea that I am doomed to live out a life that is already planned out for me. I'd feel so enslaved, almost like I have no choice. If I had no choice then what happened to my freedom? There would be none. Why bother with trying to live life if I have no choice or power over it, its just going to play out the way its supposed to be. I don't believe in fate or determinism, I can't. If I did then all my attempts to change my life would be meaningless, a wasted effort. Schick writes, "In a completely deterministic world, no one should be held responsible for their actions because nothing they do is up to them," page 96. This is a good example of stating no one will ever do what it is they want because they were supposed to do it anyways. The freedom of choice builds persona, characteristics. It lets others judge on my actions, whether or not I'm a good person or bad; trustworthy or nor; mean or nice. But if we had no choice in out actions, what character do we have? None. People will just say that I'm doing exactly what I was born to do, I can't help it. B.F. Skinner claims, :that we should give up the notion humans have free will and with it the notion that they should be praised or blamed for what they do." (96). I believe that we should be praised or blamed, we make the choices. That's the beauty of being human, the ability to make rational decisions.

In the Matrix film Neo had to make a number of different choices through out the entire film. One of his first more important decisions was choosing between blue pill or red pill. Neo chooses the red pill only because he wanted to, also he already had some knowledge of the Matrix. Knowledge plays a big part ion free will, the more you know the more choices you have. Lets just say if Neo had no idea of what the matrix was, or had no idea that it even existed, he would have no reason to pick the red pill. If that were the case and he still picked the red pill then maybe there was fate (or complete coincidence). But because he knew he chose the red pill, driven by his curiosity and one question. What is the matrix? Another example would be be when Neo decides to go back into the Matrix to go save Morpheus. After having spoken with the oracle, he was told that he would have to make a decision to either save Morpheus or not. Of course, if Neo was never told maybe he wouldn't have cared as much that Morpheus was going to die. But because he knew that he had a choice to save him, decided to go in and save Morpheus. The oracle didn't tell Neo that he was going to save Morpheus, just that there was going to be a moment when he had to chose. IN the essay there is a statement, "Caplace's demon - or any oracle for that matter- can be trusted to make accurate predictions about people's behavior only as long as the person involved are not aware of the prediction."(97). This is another example of knowledge, maybe if someone were to make a prediction that I was going to sleep at 8 and I didn't know that they made that prediction I might sleep at 8. If I knew they predicted something, I might me inclined to stay up longer to make their claim false. If someone were told a prediction of their life, the still have the ability to change it. Just because they were told it was going to happen, doesn't mean it has to.

I don't believe in fate or determinism. I don't believe that I have no control of my life, I run my life the way I want to. I have my choices and these choices shape the way my life is planned out. The more knowledge I posses, the more choices I have. The ability to chose also gives us characteristics, that people judge us on, its who we are. Without them we are just entity's living out our scripted lives. We'd be machines that are performing the actions that were assigned to us. I am in control of my life, no one else (or thing) is.

Mid-Term Reflection

To be completly and perfectly honest before I started my midterm project I had no idea as to who I would do it on. I didn't want to choose someone who's been done a million time already, I wanted someone who really impacted the world but isn't that well known today (by minors atleast). I wanted someone who really revolutionized the country, someone who impacted the country in a way that no one else can.
I first got my idea during american film class, where we watched a mvie about a man. This man was Walter Winchell, and of course I I had no clue as to who he was, like evryone else in the class. And frankly I didn't care who this man was, why does he even derseve a movie? But then as the movie went on I learned that we worked for the newspaper and changed journalism for ever. Then I new what my topic would be, Walter Winchell. Becuase I knew little about the man, I had little interest in him, I just wanted to do my report and get it done with. I was sure I would get some credit for choosing someone who was much less iconic (right now) then other topics chosen.
So I hit the books (more like internet). I was preparing my self for a moth of complete boredom, working on a paper, with a topic I didn't care for. To my surprise I found my self more and more interested about the man who invented the gossip coulumn. A man that was loved my many and hated ny just as many. A man (journalist only) who could makle or break careers, a man who people were scared of. A man who for about 4 decades was the biggest thing in the country. As I went on learning about his life and impact, I wanted to find out more. I was his movie completly this time (we only saw alittle in film class).
I began writing my essay with ease now, not feeliong the anxiety of having to write an essay I didn't want to. Winchell inpacted the nation so diversly it was very easy to write a 7 page essay on him. I was feeling pretty confident in myself because I know enjoyed my topic now. The deadline was comeing soon and I had taken off some time off the mid-term essay to do the American-film essay. I hadn't finished it yet, so I had to think qiuck.
I think I was doing everything fine so I woundnt know what I'd do the same , everything I guess. The only thing I would work on would be to time everything better, so that I don't overlap and still have time to right a well though out paper. For the most part I would rate my effort an 8, might have been more if I didn't run out of time and didn't have to rush, but even in the short amount of time I still did my best. I would rate my paper a 7.5, I definetly feel I could have done way better, but then again that is always the case. The way I had to hurry up in the end kinda disapointd me, I'm sure my next one will be good.