Job?

Let's start at this past summer:

Last spring, I started applying for jobs in late April/early May, before I got out of school. I honestly lost track of how many places I applied for, but I know I broke my record of applying for 13 places before I got a job at the airport. The reason why I couldn't get back in was from complications of re-applying, getting an appointment to get fingerprinted, and then waiting for the FBI to clear my identity, validating parking. . . it was just too complicated and my boss and I missed each other too many times.

I almost got a job at St. Anne's school for girls in Albany as a TA- I was hired on the spot and given a tour, the rules, the hours, the pay, and so on. I was told I'd get a call to come in for a second interview when I was assigned to the department I'd be working for (science or math or something). I waited a week then called *them* back, and it was pretty much just a "lol sorry we got no open positions I was just about to send you a letter." I got a letter a few days later with someone else's name on it and a response to a different application for another position.

So I applied to Best Buy, and they actually called me back. They told me to try to get a job up in Plattsburgh since it's where I would be most of the year, then the transferrance of jobs would be easier. I was told to apply for the "seasonal" job which is from thanksgiving through Christmas, instead of summer. Well I applied up here in Plattsburgh, and after many calls and even meeting them in person they never made an effort to get back to me. Meanwhile, my mom tipped me off that Crossgates was hiring when she was getting a new laptop, and I applied again immediately. They called me back last weekend. We played phone tag for a bit before I finally spoke to the manager yesterday. Since I can't work from Thanksgiving through January, since I kinda have, y'know, school, I couldn't get the job. Being able to work from Nov. to Dec. is pretty much the "make it or break it" point for the Best Buy at Crossgates. They told me to re-apply for the summer, which is ironic, since they told me they only accept seasonal people at this time of year when I applied *last* summer. . .

I feel like I don't even have a job right now, even though I've technically only been a tutor for a week. I've told the instructor(s) that I'm available, and I know for a fact that some people need extra help in this class. Its pretty frustrating since my pay depends on other people who are actually motivated to do well in school. I've even thought about applying for being a bagger or something at Price Chopper and I could do the employee transfer from there, but then I remembered that the Price Chopper back home hired too many people, and they honestly can't accept anymore people. I'm going to try St. Anne's again this summer and hope it turns out ok

but in the mean time. . . can I borrow $20?

So uh. . .

I have to do "blog participation" for my online library course. Not on here, of course pffft that would be HELL. But every week I have to put two comments on that week's "post" about whatever subject we happen to be talking about. So I feel like I'm already blogging when I do that, hence my lack of updates. I also kinda sorta forgot my list of "things to do" on here, and I'm kinda too lazy to look through the archives to find it. . .

Mise-en-scène

"Mise-en-scène is a French term and originates in the theater. It means, literally, "put in the scene." For film, it has a broader meaning, and refers to almost everything that goes into the composition of the shot, including the composition itself: framing, movement of the camera and characters, lighting, set design and general visual environment, even sound as it helps elaborate the composition."

We've been studying this in my Film and Literature class, focusing on how the story is told through visuals. As I was browsing YouTube, I came across a video about the making of Silent Hill 3- unlike Silent Hill 2 and some instances from the first game, they focus more on physical fear compared to psychological horror.

To the left are some set designs to put the player on edge: the walls and floors will bleed, "burn," and swarm with dark stains, sometimes making it harder to see where you're going. This creates anxiety, fear, uneasiness and confusion among the player. Not only that, but the only light you have is a flashlight. There is rarely, if ever, another light source. Yet there's a catch: the more light you use, the more likely you'll attract danger. But you know you need it to survive.

Creepy/scary/serious games/movies are just more fun to analyze: They focus more on camera angles and lighting, and are meant to stir up the emotions of the audience. They just have more to offer in my opinion. Go watch the Silent Hill Movie then go see High School Musical. Which movie was more appealing? (base this on visuals, not the obvious plot failures).

If you watch that video on YouTube, the creators of the game put an enormous amount of thought into everything in the game- they didn't have another reference so they had to do everything from scratch, making this game even more original. Even the characters were carefully chosen.

For example: look at this picture. This is the first character concept of Heather, the main character of the game. If you were to describe her with simple adjectives, what would you say about this girl?

Sweet?

Innocent?

Young?

Feminine?

Now does she really look like a character that you would find as the heroine of a survival horror game? . . . Not really. The female co-designers insisted that she be a little more sexy with her clothing style (not in jeans like the original designer pictured her) and with shorter hair, yet they made it slightly curly, to still give it that innocent look.

How would you describe the final version of Heather?


Here's Heather's actress, doing some moves that will later be recorded via movement senors






Here's Claudia's concept: the main "villain" of the game. Note the impressive amount of detail put into her appearance. The designers also had the idea to make her bald with her body completely covered in tattoos, yet it would make her too "obvious." You can already kinda tell how much of a religious zealot she is just from these concepts.



Here's the final version of Claudia. They purposefully gave her no eyebrows to make her more mysterious in what she was thinking/feeling. Not only were they successful in that, but they still managed to make her look really creepy looking.

Vincent is (spoiler alert) a hypocritical character- he uses you for his own purposes and basically only looks out for himself. He likes to tease you along the way- he and Heather argue over who's "side" he's really on.

Here's another mise-en-scene thing: Sometimes, the camera angle will be from first person, with Vincent addressing the "camera." Since you play as Heather, I guess you can assume that we see what Heather sees. However, if you look really closely, when Vincent speaks to you, he doesn't look you in the eye. He seems to be looking over your shoulder at something else. . .

Here's what Mr. Hitchcock had to say:
Hitchcock is the creator of the "Hitchcockian blot:" this is where we 1) identify the viewing subject, someone who is looking in a particular direction. Then, we 2) see the viewing object; we have switched to the viewing subjects point of view and can see what they're looking at. 3) the gaze is returned as a reaction to the viewing subject.

Take this scene from Hitchcock's rendition of Rear Window from 1954:
(click to enlarge)

. . . sweeeeet.

You aren't an official blogger if you don't complain about something in your life.

For me its housework. (you can just skip down to the stars if you want to.)

Now as you guys know, I wasn't able to get a job this summer. Except for babysitting every other weekend which pretty much takes up all of Saturday and Sunday, along with my class at St. Rose, I'm pretty much always home. I try to hang out with friends and go to the gym to get out of the house, but its hard when your parents always require 1 car in the driveway, just in case something comes up.

Since I'm home, I might as well be doing something while I'm doing nothing. This means housework. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem doing laundry and dishes everyday and keeping things clean. Although I feel like its kinda come to the point where the house is my responsibility.

Greg works mon-fri from 1-9, or at least is supposed to, and when he's not working he's out with friends, usually sleeping over at their house. Dad works all day every day but has started to take it easy on the weekends, and god forbid he has to lift a finger or else all hell breaks loose. Mom's physically disabled, which makes it extra difficult to do normal chores. So that leaves me.

Every morning (I'll admit not that recently) my mom gets on me to do the laundry, or else we "get behind." Throughout the day I monitor the laundry and do the dishes. I clean the toilets and dust all the rooms. I scrubbed the shower doors for hours and they still aren't perfect. I dusted every room since mom's allergic. I feed the animals and clean up their puke (a lot). I vaccum the whole house and people's bedrooms. Last week mom and I- hold on, the washer just finished.

. . .


Ok, so last week mom and I cleaned the entire basement, reorganized my dad's office, and rearranged furniture, despite both of our chronic muscle pain. I vaccumed and dusted the stais on my hands and knees. I dusted/mopped/vaccumed the linoleum floors. I clean the litter box. I think its safe to say that I do my fair share around here.

***But the problem I have is why I can't ask for help. "Well, Greg works." . . . So? When I had a job last summer I still helped out. How come that excuse didn't work for me? If I ask him to help he just says "I don't really want to" or "Well, how come you can't do it?" Once in a blue moon he'll do something big, like mow the lawn one day, and vaccum the car the next. This makes him exempt for a good few days. "Well, he did [insert here]." Nothing I do can measure up to mowing the lawn.

Dad goes grocery shopping, will piss and moan as he put something in the dryer now and then, and sometimes beats me to the garbage. How come its ok for him to lie around and sleep all weekend, and when we try to do the same, he gets upset? Oh yea. . . he has a job.

I told my mom I feel like some of my work goes unnoticed, and for the reasons above, I feel somewhat unappreciated. Her response was that she used to do all the work, and no one thanked her. Now that I'm an adult, I shouldn't expect someone to thank me for helping out, since Dad expects us to always thank him and it annoys her. I understand where she was coming from but it still kinda hurt my feelings. She just said this morning she'll be lonely when I go back to school. I couldn't help but think about the house going to shit after I'm gone, and all the work she'll have to do without me. I do worry about her, and I'm afraid I'm turning into her.

[/rant]

Another teacher-esque look at literature

So I've been spending some time in Barnes & Noble at Colonie Center, browsing through a bunch of books that I could buy and never read, when I came across the display tables of required summer reading. I saw some old goodies, some old baddies, and some that I've never seen before. But I came across some books that I was surprised to find in a section specifically for required school texts, and I do not think it belongs there. Before I show you, please read this defenition of "literature:"

Literature, belles-lettres, letters refer to artistic writings worthy of being remembered. In the broadest sense, literature includes any type of writings on any subject: the literature of medicine; usually, however, it means the body of artistic writings of a country or period that are characterized by beauty of expression and form and by universality of intellectual and emotional appeal: English literature of the 16th century. Belles-lettres is a more specific term for writings of a light, elegant, or excessively refined character: His talent is not for scholarship but for belles-lettres. Letters (rare today outside of certain fixed phrases) refers to literature as a domain of study or creation: a man of letters. (dictionary.com)

Now that you've read the above, please tell me if you think these books qualify:







These books are written entirely in AIM format. Each page looks like a chatbox, complete with usernames and emoticons that substitute complete sentences. Its as bad as you think it is; instead of "you" she writes "u," the only dialouge is what is written after someone's username and any actions are typed out by the person with asterics at the end. *she shows then an example.*

All three books have made the list of censored books, yet the issue in question is the actual content, not the way it was written, but "because the book includes "curse words, crude references to the male and female anatomy, sex acts and adult situations like drinking alcohol and flirtation with a teacher that almost goes too far" (http://www.marshall.edu/LIBRARY/bannedbooks/books/ttyl.asp).

I myself am a fan of banned books. I think they have the best morals to learn from, and they're the ones that really leave an impact on you after you read them. Yet this one I have to make an exception. I know graphic novels in the classroom is pushing it, but text talk? Teachers all over are trying to keep their students from writing this way, and this book says its ok. Sure, I guess it can be seen as cultural with our high-tech generation, but the fact that these were on the REQUIREMENT LIST FOR SUMMER AND SCHOOL YEAR READING IS RIDICULOUS.

Homade sushi photo diaries

Ingredients! avacado, rice vinegar w/ sugar & salt, lemon juice, crab sticks, seaweed wrap, cucumbers and special sushi rice :3


Rice soaking in the pan, mom making the vinegar mixture


mom stirring the rice- "We forgot to use Pam!"


bad avacado :c


we managed to salvage half the avacado and cut it up into yummy pieces, with strips of cucumber and crab sticks <3


rice fluffing! :D time to get "rolling" ololol.


our hands were too sticky to take pictures of the rice and ingredients before we rolled them. (mom was really messy xD)


SO STICKY- we just couldn't get the rice off our fingers- i even found some between my toes :/


mine came out nice and neat in the center <3


. . . mom's didn't xD


and then we decorate with sesame seeds and dip in soy sauce mixed with our special wasabi and ginger dressing.


<3

I'm A Cheater, Guys

Thanks, SparkNotes

Vampires are so pase

I don't know how to make accent marks on my text.

So, uh, ever since Twilight became popular everyone is freaking out over vampires. I guess they've always been pretty popular but now its kind of ridiculous. Bram Stoker and Anne Rice are famous authors of vampire novels, Nosferatu has been done, Van Helsing, and Hellsing the Japanese manga. . . I could probably go on.

Boy, Nosferatu sure is quite the looker, isn't he?

Stefanie Meyer confessed that she had done no research on vampires before writing Twilight, hence the reason why she made them sparkle in the sunlight and the complete absence of holy water, crucifixes and stakes. That, and most of the vampires in Twilight are extremely good looking and have a special gift/super power, as if surviving on human blood isn't enough. They're also snake-like creatures, because in order to create another vampire they need to inject some sort of venom which takes 3 days to kill the person and "transform," if you will. They also never sleep.

But now others are just making up their own kinds of vampires, like in the HBO series of "True Blood." Its named after like some V8 juice for vampires; so instead of killing people they can just drink artificially made blood in different flavors like A- and O+ (by the way, I don't even know my own blood type :/). They live out in the open in human society and even have a political spokesperson xD. Their fangs are different teeth, too. They do burn up in the sun but crucifixes don't effect them, they can enter a church, garlic doesn't effect them, and they can't enter a person's home without being invited. Apparently people can be addicted to vampire blood, and there's a huge drug trafficking problem. Its almost considered a fad to have sex with a vampire and have them bite you, and you earn the name "fang banger" (lol). And in order for them to create a new vampire, first they drink all of their blood and them bury them in the graveyard where they undergo some chemical reaction with the soil or something, then claw their way back up to the surface. There's also the show "Moonlight" on the Scifi channel. I don't know much about this one, I just saw my mom watching it one day.

I'm just gonna restate the original myth so you guys can see how much its been exaggerated. You could find some sort of vampire myth in almost any culture, but its most popular in European countries, Romania being the most popular. Vlad the Impaler, known as Dracula, was just really freaking violent and was feared for his freaking craziness. It was rumored he was a vampire/son of the devil for this reason, and the claim that he dipped his bread once in human blood and ate it. As for living a ridiculously long time, there could have been an error in translating the dates.

. . . More like "Vlad the asshole," m i rite?

Peter Plogojowitz was popular too, apparently he rose from the dead a few times and was seen by his wife and some neighbors. Apparently he wanted his shoes back :/ They dug up his grave, and I guess what scared people the most and led to claims of vampires was the decomposition process. Nails tend to "grow" after death because the skin recedes, making nails (and hair) look longer. I guess they just expected people to turn to skeletons immediately. They just used vampires as an excuse for things that they couldn't explain at the time. Apparently when they staked Peter's body, he let out a shriek. Here's how: a dead body accumulates gas in the chest cavity. When shoving a stake into him, the gases where thrust into his throat, imitating a shriek-like noise. Needless to say, massive hysteria. http://tinyurl.com/mh56qa

"Oh shit guys wtf was that"

I could go on with the Chinese myth of vampires, but I don't really feel like it. :/ if you want me to I could do an update.

So here were the basic rules:
Vampires weaknesses included: garlic, silver, sunlight, wooden stakes, being burned, being cremated, being decapitated, holy water and holy grounds,the and inability to enter a home on their own free will. They were pretty sneaky I guess, because they slept in their coffins during the day and wandered about at night, killing those who they were close to during their existence. Maybe if they were out in the street or something at 2 am, considering they couldn't go in their houses. :/

If you want to kill even more time, here's the wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire

Graphic Novels in the classroom

I've already talked about this in some of my classes: using graphic novels in the classroom.

I plan on being an English teacher for grades 7-12. Now that our society is becoming more technological, the newer generations are more visual. There's so much that kids can do these days with TV, video games and movies, and they're used to multitasking even when they are relaxing. In order to properly educate kids, we need to upgrade the curriculum to reach their level of interaction, while still maintaining ELA and NYS English teaching standards. I'm sure most of you have experience with things like the effects of media through journalism and propaganda, looking at posters, newspaper articles and some books (like Animal Farm by George Orwell) in you're English class. A current issue that is still trying to wriggle its way in the classroom is the use of graphic novels: books with pictures. They're even starting to come out with specific how-to books for teachers and using graphic novels in the classroom.

A common argument is that students are at a disadvantage with all the visuals because they're missing so much detail that could be in a book. A lot of people call them "comic books," but they're not called that for a reason. Comic books are for more entertainment and artistic value. Even the thickness is different- comic books are thin and made of cheap paper, where as graphic novels are manufactured like a paper back novel. What's more is that the biggest concern is teaching students how to become better writers. That's why using graphic novels could be helpful: you formulate a lesson plan to describe what they see in the picture. First start out with the obvious. Then make the sentences more compound, adding another verb. Do this five times in a row, and the students can see their writing skills evolve and improve their thinking process. And obviously, it helps visual learners. It not like you're only using graphic novels to teach, its ok to use them once in a while as long as you use "real" books. Here are some graphic novels that I know have been used in the classroom:


This was used in Nisky High school. Its a memoir about the struggles of a "man" during the second world war and the holocaust. I haven't read this yet, but it's pretty popular.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus


I'm actually reading this one right now, Greg had to read it for one of his classes in ACP. Its about a little girl who grew up in Iran during the revolution and the effects of Arabic invasion and Iraqi attacks. There are a few things that could be a little. . . mature for highschoolers, it can get pretty graphic describing prison tourture and showing a man peeing on another's back after a whipping, the use of the f-word in one case. I haven't finished it yet but schools are so strict on censorship that this may need the district's OK before it's allowed into the classroom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persepolis_(graphic_novel)


Ok, who doesn't know this one? . . . Well ok, I haven't read it but at least I've heard of it, and I know there's been a film adaption, like many other books/graphic novels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_vendetta


I'm guilty of not reading this one too, and I haven't seen the movie either. I prefer to read books first before I see the film adaption. This book is expensive, its like 40 bucks in Borders, so I haven't bought it yet. This might be a bit too mature for highschoolers to read. I know this has been used in the classroom, but only on the college level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmen

If you guys know of any others, let me know, I'll put them here :)

Funny look at the Odyssey/Trojan war

I hope I spelled the title correctly.

I stumbled upon this on a random website. I put some of my own commentary in there so you know who's who:

ODYSSEUS
or Homer's Iliad & Odyssey in 29 pictures 87 words

Now this guy had a vicious cootie infection ok it goes like this.

This guy (Odysseus) Leaves (His wife Penelope)

To help this guy (Menelaos) marry (Helen of Troy) .

But she meetsthis guy (Paris)

cooties happen!!!! (Not in the real version. This is Hollywood.)

(The Greeks) andfight (The Trojans)

until (The epic Trojan Horse helps the Greeks win the war)killing thousands.

This guy (Achilles) takes one for the crew (Shot in the tendon by Paris, killing him)

Greeks 1 Trojans 0

She gets stuck with
Meanwhile (I guess this means people back in Ithica are waiting for Odysseus' return)

On the way home
This guy runs into (Poseidon) And really pisses him off.
So. (The Hydra attacks them. Again, this is Hollywood, not the true version.)

and then, (Sirens tried to steer them to their deaths).

This guy (Polythemus) Gets a stick in his eye.
Meanwhile,

And then, (Circe the witch turns some of Odysseus' men into animals) ,

into (Oh ok, again, she turns them into pigs), almost a save.


But then, (. . . I'll remember this later)

And then this guy helps?

Only to find, (A bunch of suitors wanting Penelope)

Well, (Odysseus sneaks in incognito)

Then he kills em all. (Um, not really. . . not sure)
THOSE ARE MY COOTIES BEYOTCHES. (. . . Ok?)


THE END
did i get a 1000 words a picture?

. . . Posted for all you visual learners out there.