Psycho - A +1 Movie Review

The second Action Project for the Ollywood class is a video recorded movie critique. We were assigned to watch a movie and review it with out partner (my partner was MI, whose blog is http://migcelabschool.blogspot.com/). This unit revolved around the production, focusing on certain movie elements, things such as lighting, framing, character performance, and stage/costume design. My partner and I chose "Psycho" (1960), a horror drama film which we reviewed in +1 Movie Reviews, a fictional review show we created for the purpose of this Action Project. Something that was challenging in this project was editing the video, which my partner did a majority of (be sure to check his blogger page out). The processing just took too long. In the end, I was proud of the final video review. It turned out better than I thought. Down below, you can see the actual review, I hope you enjoy.

FARE, the Eatalian class

As my morning class this term, I partake in the class known as FARE, a mixed language and cooking class. Going over multiple phrases, introductions, and basic necessities of Italian. This assignment specifically, however, had us doing serveral things, including recording ourselves as we introduce ourselves, a classmate, how we feel, what we can cook, and name that dish (or generalize it). I personally had a hard time getting the right take, I messed up mulltiple times, plus I had many techinical issues on saving the video (therefore, I had to use another computer). All in all, the following video has me saying [transcipt]:

"Hello, my name is Vítor.
I'm feeling good today and this is Mateo" (he is not actually present within video)
"We are both from Chicago, and we cook" (shrugs)
"pasta."

Well this was in content, a short assignment, so this is a short post, either way, I hope you enjoyed.

The Review-Father, a movie review

The Godfather

A mafia movie

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The Godfather, a movie revolving around Don Corleone, the boss of the main mafia family. Yet the Vito Corleone isn’t actually the one and only protagonist.

Summer, 1945, a wedding of the boss’s daughter is taking place, but he is a very busy man. The family business isn’t an easy one to maintain, especially when you’re a wanted man. It’s not quite the cops that want him out, but the other organizations. You see, as a crime lord, he needs power: politics, judicial, law enforcement, you name it. This very power is also what the other 5 families desire. If you want to know a brief explanation of the boss, take this quote from when he’s trying to help Johnny Fontane -a member explaining their position of a previous job-, “What's the matter with you? Is this what you've become, a Hollywood finocchio who cries like a woman? "Oh, what do I do? What do I do?" What is that nonsense? Ridiculous!”

Now, when I said summer 1945, that would be the intended setting of the film, but as I was watching, right away, my first guess was somewhere around the 1940s, and while the entire movie (which is 2 hours & 55 minutes) goes through the decade of 1945-1955. The location choice, while I’m not so sure it’s very New York-y was spot on era mid 1900s. Speaking of atmosphere, the costume design really brought out how old timey this was supposed to be, while fine clothing and suits aren’t as imaginative as Hobbit clothes, these tuxedos got the message through. Amplifying the strengthened image of the mafia, making them having a respectable appearance, it really sets the mood for dark and noir drama action. You really wouldn’t suspect any leads or signs of modern technology, everything fits in perfectly, like the prop cars that completely blend the look. This is a movie I really got immersed into. The costumes are believable, I felt like they had a time machine for the exterior shots of buildings, and each of the props were thought up of with care.

So in the movie, specifically returning to Johnny Fontane’s problem, the mafia tries to negotiate some more, but Jack Woltz still refuses to give the part to Johnny, so a little present was left for him in his bed the next morning. This was my favorite scene because of how it demonstrates just how deep you go when you dive into the Corleones’ naughty list. As Woltz wakes up, he feels something moist. Now concerned, he throws up his covers to reveal the wonderfully decapitated head of his prized, $600,000 betting horse, and if it was $600,000 dollars back then, it would probably be (a still decapitated) $9 million horse. As the camera shows his nice mansion and backyard pool, the only thing you hear are his horrified screams.

You’ve got a good idea of the Corleone mafia family right? Well remember that I said there’s another protagonist? That’s where Michael “Mikey” Corleone, the youngest son of the Don boss himself. A veteran of WWII, Mikey never had an interest in the family business.

Now while the movie has incredibly slow pacing, when Don Corleone gets shot several times by opposing families, that truly lights the fire in Mikeys kettle.

Does the Don survive?

How will Michael exact his revenge?

Will the Corleones prevail in the great gang war?

These are the questions you’ll be asking yourself halfway through the movie, and that’s why I give it a ⅘ rating.

A Report & A Debate

The final Action Project for the class Population, which is a STEAM class, relating to science, math, art, is something that may russle your jimmies. As a debate-styled project, we are to discuss the matter of population growth, after doing some research to back it up of course. A site that was ruled out to be a lone source itself was  Wikipedia, since the collection of info was actually from other sites, which are indeed cited below, a useful tool to find research. Something rather troublesome for me was finding the right viewpoint I needed, which will be shown below. As something I'm rather proud of, part of the criteria is to make a script as if you were directing an animated short, and I really did enjoy mine. So with this being said, I grant you a report of population growth and my opinions on it.

Overpopulation, Should We Be Concerned?

There have been calculations of the world population, specifically using the method of exponential growth, the geometric version.

Over 10,000,000,000 people on Earth by 2050 is the prediction of our population, it’s a geometric increase because it’s a specific increase based on total population, like a percentage increase, affecting it like a factor.

Calculations of population, VG, 2014

In regards to estimations of population increase, so far, it’s been every 8 years of which there’s an increase of one billion (2006-2014), but the geometric increase is also to be considered, as well as:

resources, technology,
disease, technical assistance,
economy, early pregnancies,
financial development, being an already large population,
natural disasters, bioengineering, and
“space”-such as living quaters- (It’s possible, just not plausible)

These are all factors to consider when determining population growth, especially in a debate.

3. What is an issue that is related to population growth that you would like to research?

Lack of resources:

-Depletion of natural resources, especially fossil fuels

_________________________________________________________________________________

There are 2 viewpoints revolving around population growth:

1. Resources- not enough

                          &

2. Technology- always supporting
   
   

The first viewpoint (negative towards overpopulation):

-We are quickly running out of fuel that our society is depending on more, that’s why gas prices went up, because it was becoming rarer (but I remember reading about a fuel reserve of some sort, online, I just don’t remember the site).

-We have been using up other resources and polluting our natural environment too much.

The second viewpoint (positive towards population growth):

-technology is advancing and we’re beginning to create our own resources

-science is so advanced, we’re being able to counter against all other natural epidemics

Though the one that features a lot of evidence is the one concerning about overpopulation, I will be supporting the viewpoint saying technology can aid us, for it acknowledges both points of population growth & uses evidence of the past to predict the future.

Humanity and technology in a mutual benefit, as technology assists us Earthicans, we also create more advanced technology, thus supporting it.

_________________________________________________________________________________
The Script:

[Mark, Jean (John), and Eren, three friends, are sitting in a pub. While Jean and Eren discuss a matter of overpopulation, Mark takes their information to true consideration, seeing as how he never even realized it was a matter to discuss in the first place.]

*J=Jean E=Eren M=Mark*

[As it starts, Mark stays silent throughout the entire conversation,]

J: Hey, have you ever wondered how much the Earth can support us?

E: What, you mean like it’s carrying capacity? Psh, we’ve got plenty of space.

J: You sure? I mean, if that’s so, then why are there so many people in undeveloped countries starving?

E: Well that’s just it, those are undeveloped countries. America wasn’t always hashtags and “can’t evens”, you know. There were times in history where the New World was in poverty.

J: Yeah, but still, it’s because they don’t have any resources; that’s why they can’t develop. (1)

[Eren sighs and starts again,]

E: No, it’s because they’re still going through changes, think about it, the Alpha build of a game won’t have everything it’s going to have later, sure that stuff isn’t even there, but the goal is to implement it into the final product.

J: Life is no game, humans are using or even destroying our one and only resources too quickly.
E: Well, yes, that’s true, but that phase is over, notice the awareness we took after noticing these things? We now make sure products don’t pollute, we recycle or reuse, and sometimes, reduce what we are using so it’s not to go to waste.

J: Well, what about space then? There are--

E: I’m going to stop you right there, trust me, the entire 7 billion people on this planet could all live in Texas, and no, not just crammed into that space, but live in a standard house size. Sure all the houses would need to be similar, but similar doesn’t mean exact, that would be something like congruent.

J: Whoa, wait, hold on, when did Math come into play here??

[Mark attempts to interrupt but is cut off]

M: Uh, guys, how did we get into talking about this in the fir--[Mark’s speech fades off: (--st place…)]

E: Trust me, math takes a bigger role in this than you think. It’s actually because of math that we have this information.

J: Well you know what, our usage means still need to change.

E: I agree, but shouldn’t you acknowledge technology? Think about it, sooner or later, we might even become cyborgs, humans with robotic augmentations and such. But going back to math, it’s estimated that by 2050, there will be 10 billion people on this Earth, but because--

M: That much? Jeez, great, say hello to higher gas prices, am I right? Aheheh…

E: ...Anyway, if we were truly concerned about this, we would be taking extreme precautions.

J: Well, if overpopulation is of no concern, then why does China limit the amount of children you can have?

E: Because that’s overpopulation in a concentrated area.

J: So now you’re hypocritical?

E: Well, it’s more like cities are too populous, rather than the entire Earth being in danger.

J: Then what about gas being much more expensive?

E: Corporations want money, there was a recent discovery of many fossil fuels--

J: Oh, let me guess, you read that on the Internet? Do you even remember the site?

E: Alright, fine, let’s just assume that there wasn’t a discovery, but relating to gas, why do you think we have electric, fuel efficient cars now? Gas, regardless of the price, makes pollution, so technology is advancing with the times, sooner or later, we won’t need the many fossil fuels we strive for.

J: I still think that in a few hundred years, we’ll be gone.

M: I’d say that we’d still be kicking a thousand years later, with drunk robots and cool cyclopes, right?

E: I agree, just not to that degree… in the scenario that we run out of natural resources, which in the case of our efficient technology that’ll take forever, we’d probably have enough scientific advance to reach out past the stars, especially since space travel is already possible. Think about it, us humans are true creatures of genius, we adapt and evolve without taking thousands of years. We are even synthesizing our own food now, but it’s frowned upon because it’s new and different. Can you really say that with our technology we’d simply run out of all resources and slowly die off? The famed future of the next millennium predicted in the 90s is already here, we can soar past all expectations and I feel like by the next century, humanity will still have Earth, it’s just not the only option.

J: It just seems like the population is growing too quickly.

E: Yeah, that’s right, but electronics are growing even faster, we can render better than life visuals now, and even make them interactable. And that’s just on the entertainment side of science and tech.

M: You guys wanna know what I say? I say that whether or not I knew about this issue, it really wouldn’t matter, Eren here did bring up a lot more points than you did, Jean.

J: But nothing he said has happened yet, he’s pretty much saying that Mars is our failsafe planet, how can you believe in that?

M: Simple, I a bit buzzed right now, so my judgement is a tad bit off…

E: Ok, Jean, think of this; we have robots that can do work for us, remember how much this was fantasized just a mere decade ago? The idea was that it would take us more than a thousand years to make human like AI, but guess what, you can talk to some right now on the Internet.

[Jean looks at his smartphone briefly and looks back up at Eren]

J: ... Okay, maybe we’ve got more than a hundred years...

_________________________________________________________________________

My sources (cited)-

(1) Overpopulation Is Not the Problem, Erle C. Ellis, The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/opinion/overpopulation-is-not-the-problem.html?_r=0

(2) Energy, NA, World Resources Institute

http://www.wri.org/our-work/topics/energy

(3) Overpopulation: Environmental and Social Problems, NA, how many(?).org

http://howmany.org/environmental_and_social_ills.php

A Hero's Journey, You've Had One

Name: VG Date: 10/22/14

Journey of a Hero, It’s Happened to You

The final Action Project for this term is ready for submission, and here’s what it’s about. In the literature class “Stories”, we have the final Action Project which relates to a hero’s journey, a specific series of events. There were many difficult parts such as attempting to find a real hero/idol of mine to interview, but I am proud of my choices for both the fictional hero and the real hero. 

The hero’s journey, according to Joseph Campbell, usually starts with the call to adventure, including a mentor, guide, or ally, that has unfamiliar territory, challenges and trials, an ordeal, a road back (or rebirth at times), atonement of what has been lost, and the return to a normal life. Those are the 8 most basic stages of a hero's journey, but they don’t only happen in stories. This order of events happens in common life too, such as joining a sports team, in which the call is our interest; joining the team, the challenge and unknown would be being nervous, and any ordeal may be not joining the team, or failing the trials (tryouts).

The Heroes

The Fictional Hero:

For my fictional hero, I chose the famed Batman, but which one? Batman has had many adventures, incarnations, and retellings; it would be impossible to cover them all. That’s why I chose the specific journey our hero has in Batman: Arkham City, which is the 2011 video game, sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. In Batman’s journey, he experiences all of these stages, and all witin the first half of the main focus of Arkham City, too.

Batman's call to adventure happens when Bruce Wayne is abducted and kept in the major penitentiary project known as Arkham City. Professor Hugo Strange is the director of Arkham City and he was the one to order the TYGER guards to take in Bruce Wayne. After obnoxious rambling and going on about Protocol 10 making him a hero, Strange reveals that he knows Mr. Wayne is the Batman. Obsessed with becoming a hero like the Dark Knight, Strange releases Wayne into Arkham City to determine if his plans will succeed. Wayne then climbs the Ace Chemicals building to reach his about-to-be-delivered Batsuit. Batman's allies as of that moment included Alfred, his butler, and Catwoman, who decided that the idea of Arkham was indeed, quite crazy (especially if it interferes with collecting her valuables). Soon after, Barbara Gordon, daughter of police commissioner Gordon, (codename Oracle) has joined the intercom channel with Alfred, assisting Batman in analysis while Alfred takes care of remote deliveries and general advice.

He faced many trials along this extentsive and confusing path. Gang wars for claim of territory between Two-Face, Penguin, and Joker, each one with a grudge against the Night himself. His greatest ordeal was having the Joker's now poisonous blood in him. Joker's blood got infected from the unstable formula for "TITAN" -a chemical that enhanced venom, which is the super steroid Bane uses, TITAN was featured in the predecessor game, Arkham Asylum- which ultimately failed back on Arkham Island when Joker attempted to take it over.




Now, with a great disease, and 9 hours left until Protocol 10, Batman must track down Mr. Freeze so he can synthesize a cure. Unfortunately, the Penguin captured him so his live Iceberg Lounge gallery in the museum is one more exhibit closer to completion. "Penguin" Cobblepot aims to add Batman to his collection, but it's obvious that won't happen.

Of course Batman does what he does and frees Fries (Dr. Victor Fries {fre•ease} aka Mr. Freeze}. Yet another trial awaits him...
The new mission? Batman must retrieve a DNA sample featuring a certain enzyme that only Ras Al Ghul's body contains. To infiltrate the League of Assassins HQ and then get close enough to take a blood sample from the leader himself? Such a smooth evening it's going to be...

Batman's challenges are ever growing, and on a time limit, he needs to stop Protocol 10, find a cure, and shut down Arkham City, all in one night. It will truly be a Dark Knight for the world's greatest detective. And if that's not hard enough, there's a multitude of crimes, murders, assassinations, kidnappings, and hostage taking in Arkham City. If Batman can't do it, who will?

The Real Hero:

Now for my real hero, I chose my father seeing as how I’ve always looked up to him. He believes that assisting others is simply natural; he always knows how to react to things, and he is indeed a hero in my eyes. The following recording tells of when he had a journey of his own, starting when he was washing a car in Brazil when he was just a teenager. ––To air dry the car and make the job go faster, my father drove around the block, but then he saw someone he recognized. His neighbor was on the sidewalk, head down, lying on the ground. His first thought was that the man was drunk, but knowing his neighbor, he dismissed that thought and instinctually went to see what happened. The man's wife and daughter were rushing towards him, telling my father that he was actually sick and is in need of medical attention immediately. My father used common sense and rushed into the car, despite not having a license yet, and transported the man and his family to the hospital. Unfortunately, the closest one that he traveled to was closed, no service was there, and the next one was a mile and a half away. This only drove my father to act even more quickly. Once the man was there, he was treated, or at least, the doctors tried to assist him. The man unfortunately passed away, since nothing close to the idea of our modern technology was available at the time. While in the long run, it didn't affect my father's life too much, he definitely won't forget what happened on that day.––

Explanation Transcript:

VG: "Hello and welcome, today we have a recording which falls along the lines of a hero's journey. Now, you may be thinking a hero's journey is pretty simple; some princess gets captured, and then they go out to save them, but a hero isn't always the same thing. At times a hero can be you yourself. The hero's journey falls along these simple steps; There's always a call, something that inititates the missin or the challenge, something that starts everything. Then there's the mentor, the ally, the guide, someone who helps along the way of the initial quest. As the third step, [or stage], we have the unknown, [sometimes called] crossing the threshhold, this is when we travel through unfamiliar environments or try something new. The 4th stage of the hero's journey [is] the trials and tests, there can be as many trials and tests as possible, but it's essentially the challenges we go through during the journey.

5th stage is the ordeal, essentially what you may have lost [along the way]. [Next] we have the reward and the road back, sometimes known as rebirth. When the hero of the story [completes his objective or gets revived] somehow. The 7th stage, atonement, [--] is when the hero learns to accept what he's lost, and more importantly, how he [overcomes] (goes through about) losing it. Then we have the return, the final stage, [and it's] when the hero -well- returns, when the hero goes back to [their] original life, even if it is a little bit different."

Conclusion/Summarization:

You see, both my father and Batman have common relations, such as both having a call to help (an)other(s) in need. Both also had to get through certain challenges to save the one(s) they know. Another incident they share is the loss of the one(s) they knew and tried to protect, as well as dealing with these losses. You don’t need to be a hero to have a hero’s journey, it’s a part of everyday life sometimes, whether it’s us, or the protagonist in a story.

Thank you for reading, and remember that right now, you could be having a hero's journey.


**Information citations
Batman: Arkham City, Rocksteady, DC comics and Warner Bros., Unreal-Technology, Oct. 2011

The Mars Animal Division entry; Alaskan Husky

The second Action Project for my math & science class, "Population", and this one revolves around Mars. The assignment was to choose a common pet, but a specific breed, and tell why we believe it could survive on Mars (granted basic food & shelter is provided). Naturally, I chose the Alaskan Husky for quite a few reasons; one- it was the semi-unique choice, even when every one else did indeed chose a type of dog, two- Mars is incredibly cold, seeing as how it is more than 54.6 million miles away from Earth, meaning 54.6 million more miles away from the Sun. Some challenges I ran into include collecting data, it was tough to find a unit that could be measured well by at least 11 other breeds/animals, and then applying it into the standard deviation was also long process... a long process which had lost itself, so unfortunately I couldn't include a picture for those calculations. Despite those slight troubles, I'd say I'm proud of the area of Mars I chose, cold, but warm enough to survive, which is explained further in depth below, hope you enjoy.

Unit 2: Action Project

POP

Mars One: Animal Division

"Water ice clouds hanging above Tharsis PIA02653

black background" by NASA/JPL/MSSS

1. After watching the video on Mars’ climate, where do you think the colony will settle?

Somewhere in the warmer regions like mid Mars since it’s a frozen desert, cold sand, but also near the ice caps.

2. What climate features are the most important to address in that area?

The ones that include water, such as icy temperatures that have frozen water.

3. What traits would be best suited to this kind of environment?

Blubber, fat, lots of fur, and so on.

4. What traits would be worst suited to this kind of environment?

Carnivorous teeth, not exactly any life on Mars to consume.

5. Of the animals you observed, which breed of animal would have the best chance for survival in the new environment? Give several reasons why.

Alaskan Husky, their fur coat is thick and warm.

6. Insert a photograph of the breed you chose.

7.Insert a transcript of the 60 second proposal and include supporting evidence.

To the Mars animal division: The Alaskan Husky is a winter dog, so of course it would be more suitable to survive on Mars than an animal that may require a lot of heat, like a lizard. The great husky may not have the best claws or teeth for this environment, but a thick coat is really what helps it survive, even if there’s not any meat on Mars to consume, or snow for those claws. If we’re listing the less useful traits, then those long legs aren’t the best to keep the warm blood to the core. But if there is food provided, then an alaskan husky can easily survive in the equator region of Mars, where the temperature is around -20°F, a temperature that’s feasible on Earth. Assuming there is ice, the dog can use it as a water source for drinking. It has great tracking skills, so getting lost won’t happen to this pooch.  That is why I believe the mighty winter dog know as the Alaskan Husky is a prime candidate for the Mars animal division.

8. Which trait did you choose to analyze on your FE?

Age by months

9. Copy your data here:

(displayed in numerical order and rounded to nearest half of month)

0.5 (1/2 month), 0.5, 2, 2, 2.5, 3.5, 4, 4, 12.5, 14.5, 16, 17, 21.5, 33, 48.5, 60, 60, 60

10. Insert a box-and-whisker plot showing your data here:

11. Fill in the following central tendencies for your data:

Mean:20 (rounded to nearest whole)

Median:13.5

Mode:60

Maximum:60

Minimum:0.5

Range:59.5

12. What is the standard deviation from your data, and how is it significant in relation to the data?

Sample standard deviation is 21.6 (rounded to nearest tenth)

 *this is where I would have included another picture of calculation if I still had it.

And so, this concludes the report, do you think the evidence is feasable? What kind of animals do you think could survive on Mars? I wish to see you again in the next Action Project.

Thank you for reading through!