NYPAL

The NYPAL is a great source of information, but only if you are looking in the categories of performing arts, theatre, dance, and things of that nature. I personally was looking for information on sports and when I ask a staff member where I would find anything on sports he said there are no reference books or books to use. So with that being said the library was not much help for me, but I did find interesting material that had nothing to do with my topic at the time. On the second floor of the library there is a section on homosexuality, modern and medieval entertainment, and many other books that I could have used as a new topic being there were a lot of sources for these topics. Overall the library was small, but it did have many computers to choose from and there were also sections on the first and second floor where you can either view or borrow movies and the selection of movies to choose from was in my opinion pretty big. The library to me is well organized and it is not that hard to find material for what it is you are looking if they in fact have it. As far as it being nice and quiet though there was a man screaming for what reason I don't think anybody knows, but I think security should have escorted him out or at least give him a warning for being distruptive. . . Other than that the NYPAL is a decent library and very resourceful.

A vision of students today

In the short film "A vision of students today" there were many good points in the beginning that some of the students bought up that I would agree with such as the size of some classes, the percentage of teachers who do not know my name, and the fact that most students buy books that they rather never read and sometimes do not need. I can relate to things such as that but then there were some ideas that I just not understand why they felt it was important to mention. Some one mentioned how his laptop cost more than what some people make in a year, and another mentioned the time thy spend eating. Even if you could change that what good would it do?

SimOne

To me one major message being conveyed in Simone was that nowadays virtual reality at anytime can give a better performance than any one person can being you are in total control of every aspect of the film. The events of this film occured in hollywood where most illusions I mean films are made, lol. That goes to show you that if that were to happen in reality we to would be unaware of a false reality being fed to us. It also goes to show that if people have to go virtual reality to make a great film then actors and actresses have really lost it over the years. Since "VR" is not real it played a good part in deceiving it's audience like a real actor should therefore making it a suitable substitution for an actor/actress. In the film Simone had no flaws when it came to the big screen and she always performed with attributes of the best actresses and gave the audience exactly what they wanted to hear and see although they never seen her in person. It is comparable to the Matrix because in both films people are being given something they want to see and hear, being fully unaware of what the truth is behind it. In the case of Simone, the fantasy part of the movie was more possitive than that of the matrix.

Research project

One idea I had to research was how the media depicts professioal athletes who in one part of their lives did something considered wrong rather it being a sex scandal or they have used steriods or any other physical enhancing substance. Yes it is true athletes are idols and role models that people should look up to with pride and respect and should not use anything to boost their talents, but with knowledge of this why would the media do everything in their power to bring that person down. I also notice the more famous the athlete, the more blame it comes with being they let down so many fans. I will talk about athletes from baseball, basketball, and football since the major stories seem to revolve around these three sports. Most likely my presentation will be in the form of power point.

Some examples in mind I consider including are; The Michael Vick case, O.J. Simpson trial, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Manny Ramirez, etc.
I see these people as major icons and I believe most of them have the right to do what rather makes them feel comfortable or calms them down. Not all athletes who have been accused are innocent so I will include how most of them deserved the treatment they received.

Open your eyes

After viewing the film "Open your eyes" which by the way was a very interesting movie I began to make connections between that and "Allegory of the cave". In "Allegory of the cave" there are people chained up facing a blank wall and had supposedly lived like that all their lives. When an object passes by the entrance of the cave it projects an image on the wall and these images are the closest those people get to seeing reality. Socrates then mentions what would happen if one of those people gets up and realizes that those images were not part reality and would they come to accept this true about reality or would they go back to the wall and back to what they believed was real. This was in a way perceived in "Open your eyes" because the main character Cesar at one point of of life was living according to false memorys projected before him to satify his needs but then it began to become a nightmarish reality. He then begins to realize that he was not living in a reality that makes sense and chooses to open his eyes literally and live in a true reality rather than images projected to satisy his wants.

103 research paper

What I am leaning toward in my research paper is how certain music has an influence on politics. I'm not to sure what music exactly but most likely it will be hip hop and pop. I believe that music artist are starting to see how important it is to get involved with politics especially after the 2008 election. We all look for hope and change but we tend to find it in various ways. To me music is one of the main ways because people see most music artist as major role models and icons and that if they tend to cooperate together more often they can persuade us the fans and listeners to follow their example. This idea is still in the process, it can change.

The Matrix, Farscape, and Star Trek...

While viewing The Matrix, Farscape, and Star Trek I came to a realization on what these three films have in common . . . the fact that they in some way explain how people are traveling to different dimensions and how they are stuck there for a brief time and if they do not find a way out they will continue to be shielded from the truth of reality. In the episode “Royale” of Star Trek the team finds an odd planet that shows some type faint sign of life form. When they go to explore this planet they encounter a pitch black field with nothing in sight but a greenish gas hovering above their heads and a revolving door. When they go beyond these revolving doors they step into a casino filled with people who seem to be enjoying themselves but when they try to go back past the revolving doors they seem to return to the casino and communications between them and the crew in space are lost. When the crew investigates the situation they came upon a novel which seems to narrate what was going on in the casino and that they had to play a part in the novel in order to get out. In the episode “A Human Reaction” of Farscape John Crichton the main character believes sees a worm hole and beyond this worm hole he sees his home planet Earth. He has to make a tough decision whether to stay with his crew and continue on there journey or go back home. He chooses to go home but when he arrives there instead of being greeted by his fellow human beings he is interrogated on what he knows outside of Earth and is being treated like a prisoner. His crew somehow is able to et through the worm hole as well but are captured as well and are held against there will. Throughout the episode John is troubled on why everything seems to be similar to when he left which had been a long time ago and starts to realize he is not on planet earth but a replica. In the Matrix as we all know Humans are being lead to believe that they live in a “normal” world when in reality they are being used as energy to support the machines that rebelled against them. It is only when rebels began to understand that this lifestyle was not suitable for them that they began to unleash the minds of people, who were stuck in that material world considered the Matrix. With that said these three films to me seem to convey the message that people can get stuck in a material world without knowing and the only way out is to look at the bigger picture and ask why? Like the media to our current lifestyles. The media in some way or another determine how we represent ourselves because they know that most fear not being what is considered normal or being with the “In crowd”.

The Matrix....

What the Matrix is truly about is how humans come to try and understand what in the world is real, how to define real and that they are living in an alternate world but are under the influence of something preventing them from seeing the truth which is they are run by machines in the future. I do not believe we can ever live in the matrix because we humans have control over the technology we create and can dispose of them when we want. I believe that the media is trying it's hardest to make it seem like we live in Socrates' cave being that they try to give us an understanding about what they show us and make it seem as if they are right even when lieing. The Matrix can be compared to our modern society because many people do not see or do not understand the control the government has over it's citizens and that they are hiding many truths and shielding us from what can possibly make us want to overthrow them like how the rebels wanted to overthrow the machines in the matrix. Also like within the matrix the machines needed humans to survive, just like the government needs it's peoples cooperation to continue on running civilized. There is more to the film the matrix than meets the eye. I believe they provided many subliminal messages or just gave the audience a reason to think about how they are living. Many different philosophers have made inferences and connections about the matrix that you can take into consideration such as the fact Neo, the main character can be compared to jesus christ and they have alibis such as when Neo is in a cross like shape before he sacrifises himself to save his people. Another is Alice in Wonderland how they made Alice follow a white rabbit, they made Neo follow a white rabbit. Even if we do not see it first The Matrix is movie based on ideas from historical contents just in a futuristic way... Well thats the way I see it.

My Future

I always dreamed of doing something worth becoming famous over, rather it be becoming a famous athlete, celebrity, or just becoming an actor. I soon began to look into the lives of the very people I want to become and came to a realization: Most of those people hate their lives!
I always thought they lived beautiful lives, which they do but they are forever harrassed by the media. This made me reconsider wanting to become famous because anybody can collect dirt on me and turn it against me and have everybody hate me. So I would just rather stay an average joe. Would you like your family to be constantly stalked and harrassed for the entertainment of the public?