10A

FREAK FACTOR

            David Rendall’s FREAK FACTOR basically talks about what makes the everyday person a normal human. It does not come out and say that but that is the interpretation I gained from it. His primary point he tries to get across in the manifesto is, there is nothing wrong with you. Weaknesses are important clues to your strengths. You find success when you find the right fit. You need to match your unique characteristics to situations that reward those qualities. Your weaknesses make you different. They make you a freak and it’s good to be a freak. I really agree with this manifesto and find it empowering. I am tired of everyone trying to fit in and be what they think they should be and be afraid of being weird or different. If the world did not have any weird or different people the world would be so immensely boring it is unbelievable. If enjoying himself or herself makes someone out to be “weird” or a “freak” just because someone does not understand or appreciate the activity this certain ‘weird’ person is doing makes the rest of the people a disgrace. People feel the need to title and demean and belittle people because they do not understand them and do not agree with the things they do. They do not try and understand their activities or ways of life or even appreciate them they just decide to label them freaks.

            His first topic I am going to discuss is flawless: there’s nothing wrong with you. He starts off by saying “there is nothing wrong with you. each of us has unique characteristics. these characteristics have both positive and negative features. these features, which we usually refer to as strengths and weaknesses, cannot be separated. they come in pairs. the positive and negative elements are inextricably linked.” This makes so much sense to me and I wish the entire American culture would see the world like this. If they did I feel that life would be so much more interesting and exciting. Also there would be less people taking needless drugs like aderall or zaynex to fix their ‘problems’. This drugs are prescribed to people who think they need them because doctors have told them they do. There is no way to prove someone has these specific mental problems to ensure they need the drugs but I feel many people are just convinced they need them when they really do not. Not to say everyone does not need them because many people do have diseases that require them but I feel not as many people need them.

            The next point that I found interesting was Foundation: build on your strengths. The first three points he mentions are…

1. It feels good. It is enjoyable and energizing to work on your strengths.

2. You have the greatest potential in your areas of strength. these are your natural gifts and provide you with your best chances for success.

3. Your strengths make up for your weaknesses. Well-developed strengths often make your weaknesses irrelevant.

I liked this part because it is a very motivational and self-motivating. It shows that even your weakness can be strengths and that everything can be made benefitial.

         The last point I enjoyed was freak: the power of uniqueness. I like this because it made being unique an empowering quality not a negative one.

             The last thing I will discuss is my own top strength and own top weakness. My top strength I believe is my versatility. I believe if I am in any situation in any circumstance I would be able to handle myself. I also feel like I could accomplish any task if I put my mind to it enough no matter what the task was.  My greatest weakness must have to be my overconfidence. I always am pushing my limits and expecting I can do more and more. Sometimes this is good but others it can end up with hollow promises or hurting myself.

            Overall I believe this was a very good passage and really made me think and appreciate the ‘freak’ within everyone.

9B

Here is a link to Collapsus
And here is the link to my audio critique of Collapsus.

9A

          What I believe was our weakness in our presentation was conveying our mechanics to our audience. I believe our game concept was really cool and interesting but I do not believe our audience understood the mechanics of the game or how it was played. If we could have better explained the game play and how it worked and what it was like I believe our presentation would have been extremely better. I also believe our rules were unclear. Our rules seemed to be more of guidelines not rules so if we re-made this presentation in the future to make it better I think we could make some clear cut easy to follow rules. This would be instead of the softer more debatable guidelines/rules we originally had.
           The concept I feel that we made very clear and presented well was our games goals. It was very obvious that we have been shrunken and the main goal is to un-shrink yourself. Also another clear goal is too not get squished. I feel as it is pretty obvious if you are a tiny charter and and angry cat is coming after you, you would not want to be squished, and I feel that our audience understood that.
         The concept I feel like that is the easiest to discuss with other is the objectives. I think this because objectives are so clear but and to the point. Our objective was plain out get back to being full size and do not die. I mean there are more aspects but in a nut shell that is the gamers objective. I feel that they are the easiest to discuss because you can usually some up objectives in one or maybe two clear concise easy to understand sentences. 

8B

Essay Number One Nathan's Hero/Villain 

          For Nathan's hero he chose to use a worm. And what I have chosen to talk about for his worm superhero is the color. The worm was drawn in a warm bright pink color which obviously shows he is very friendly. I mean who could be an evil villain and be a bright pink color? Secondly he was drawn with a bright hue which also led to his sensitivity and his conveyance of being a good guy. Lastly the characters saturation was extremely low because the colors used for the character were very bright and warm colors. Due to the colors used it is very obvious the worm is a hero and also his smile helps too.
          For Nathan's villain he conveyed the image of a crow. First of all crows are always used for negative connotations so that was the first hint he was the evil villain. Then the color covered the rest. The crow was drawn in a very dark black with no brightness at all. Because the color was black this means it had a very high saturation which conveys the negativeness of the crow and how it is evil. Also to show how it is evil the character is drawn with a very dull hue which makes him look dark and mean.

Essay Number Two Scott's Hero/Villain
          For Scotts hero he chose dolphin man and his villain hammerhead. Within the color between the two they use the concept of contrast and affinity very well. They contrast the two by having dolphin man in a very bright color with a strong bright hue which makes him appear very friendly. Then in contrast Hammerhead is drawn in a very dark color with a high saturation and low huge which makes him a dark evil mean character. Also they use affinity well by making them both part creatures from the sea. The color of dolphin man is also very bright with a high hue and low saturation. This shows that he is a friendly superhero and not a mean super villain. This is in contrast to the color used on Hammerhead. To show that hammerhead is a mean villain he is drawn very dark with an extremely low hue and high saturation. 

Essay Number Three Ian's Hero/Villain
          Ian's hero and villains appear unnamed on his site so I will refer to the villain as black(because he is drawn in black) and the hero as yellow (because he is drawn in yellow). Yellow is obviously a super hero because he is drawn in a very light, bright color with a high hue and low saturation. This is in contrast two his nemesis black who is drawn in a very dark black color with an extremely high saturation and a low hue In their movie with these two characters they really used the concept mood and tone well. They made black kill people and fight off what appear to be innocent people not doing anything wrong. This sets a very unsettling mood and give a very negative tone toward black. In contrast the mood toward yellow is much happier because he doesn't kill he protects. He is also drawn in much lighter tones which shows he is a superhero not villain which also helps add to the more friendly mood.

8A

Here is a link to This American Life 

Here is the link to my reasoning for choosing magnito

 

7

          Our joke the S.H.I.T joke was taken in two very similar ways but the way it was produced was extremely different. In our first video the rhythm and movement were very slow subtle and calm like a normal elevator occurrence between two people on an average day would be. In contrast in our second video it had a very upbeat rhythm and sharp hast movements to give it the genre of the old school silent films. That is also another huge contrast that our two videos had. Our first video had dialogue and conversation and was shot in normal common day color. In contrast our second video had a instrumental played over the whole movie and had no actual dialogue. There was text to be read on the screen but there was no actual speaking within the movie. Also the second movie had the old fashion black and white scratchy film effect added to it.

          The two movies also contrasted in line and shape. The lines in the first movie were very scare but all pointed directly at the main two characters to show the audience exactly where to watch. Also the shape in the first movie was much more simple squares and rectangles the whole time which I feel made that movie less interesting. The second movie had lines everywhere going all directions, which made it harder for the audience to know exactly what to focus on. As well as the extreme diverse amounts of shapes used due to the art in the background of the second movie gave it less of a focal point. 

       Lastly the last contrasting aspect of the two movies was the space. The space in the first was limited and one-dimensional majority of the time. The second movie had deep space, which added a bigger feel to the movie and more lines and shape.