February 3, 2013

So I didn't meet with my mentor this day, but he told me that for future projects, I should familiarize myself with adobe lightroom. So i downloaded the program, and spent a few hours learning the interface.  I'm not a very organized person with my photographs, so I pretty much have folders of pictures all over the place.  And from what i've found, lightroom requires you to be fairly organized.  I thought there would be an easy way to just kinda drag and drop photos to edit, but from what i found over my time using the program, you have to assign folders to import from specific locations, and you also have to create output folders (in an organized way).  So after a few hours of organizing, i was ready to start editing.  Thankfully, the actual adjustment settings were very similar to adobe photoshop, so i didnt have to learn a whole lot of how things worked (adjustment-wise).  So overall, things went well and this new program is really teaching me to organize myself digitally with my photography.

January 29th, 2013

The first meeting with my mentor went a little better than expected.  I met him at his house when he got back from shooting a project, and we basically just went over the guidelines of my senior project.  We talked about what i could possibly do for my physical presentation, and what i wanted to get out of this whole project.  When I first got there, i didn't really expect the meeting to be as productive as it was.  We went through different ideas of what i could do, and what would be the most suitable for a final presentation.  And towards the end, we even got to show off both of our previous works, and what we're proud of.  I even got to share my technique for different things he wasn't sure of how i shot.  So overall, i think the first meeting went a lot better than expected.  What i thought would be about 15 minutes turned out to be about an hour and a half of just throwing around ideas and different shots.

Searching for a Portfolio Website

So obviously with one of my main goals from this project being the creation of a portfolio, I have to find a suitable website that's affordable and fits all my needs. I spent a total of about three and a half hours going through different websites.  To get a feel for all the options, i created TONS of sample websites/free accounts.  After all the pros and cons, i finally settled on a website called Folio HD.  once i made my payment, i finally got to put the finishing touches on everything! Im really pleased with the way things turned out, and cant wait to start posting more randomness on it. My website can be found here.

1984 Chp. 1-3

Through the first few reading chapters, Winston Smith's greatest conflict is trying to hold back his feeling of rebellion for Oceania. Oceania is a highly monitored state filled with big brother propaganda and telescreens.  These telescreens not only televise propaganda, news, and hatred for enemies, but it also contains a camera that watches civilians every move.  Winston shows his disgust for this totalitarian society by writing "DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER" repeatedly in his secret journal.  Winston's hatred for the government is also shown during the two minute hate when he seems anger not at the enemy, "but, on the contrary, against Big Brother, the Party, and the Thought Police.."  Winston's feelings for Oceania are also expressed through his repetition of describing the ways Big Brother is watching.  He later goes on to claim that "nothing was your own except the few cubic centimeters inside your head."  This goes to show that he feels extremely violated and has put up with this watch for long enough.

Stranger Than Fiction

The Author of a story is the person who physically records a story by writing it, while a narrator is a person that the author chooses to almost sort of voice the story.  The narrator is the all-knowing teller of the story, who is actually in the story.  So basically an author writes, while a narrator speaks to the targeted audience.  In the film, the author was the actual person who wrote the film, but the narrator was Karen Eiffel.

In my capstone paper, i tried my best to provide a fact-based work of writing with as little bias as possible.  Although i feel strongly on some topics, that was a bit of a challenge.  I think that in this way though, the readers will most likely agree with what i wrote and hopefully feel more passionate about scientific research.

In regards to the Personality Disorder Test you've taken

Dear Ms. Macbeth,

It is to my misfortune to inform you that the results from the personality disorder test you took last week in my office have now arrived, with some startling results.  While there are minor disorders, one of the major disorders the test shows you suffer from is paranoia. Major symptoms shown include: Unwillingness to forgive perceived insults, Excessive sensitivity to setbacks, Distrustfulness and excessive self-reliance, Projection of blame onto others, Consumption by anticipation of betrayal, Combative and tenacious adherence to personal rights, and finally, Relentless suspicion.  Unfortunately for you, this will likely not be easily treatable, as you will most likely not believe what I'm telling you.  So as of now, I won't reach out to you to give treatment.  It's up to you if you would like treatment.  If you agree to come in for treatment, please don't hesitate to contact me.  I'm sorry for the unfortunate news.

~Dr. Celli

Fiscal Cliff

US Republicans are advising a federal tax revenue by cutting deductions, instead of raising rates to avoid the fiscal cliff.  they also said they could raise taxes by 800 billion by simply ending loopholes for the wealthy as an alternative for raising the income tax on them.  On the other hand, Democrats are advising a raise in income tax for the wealthier citizens in order to avoid the fiscal cliff.

I found that this was quite a difficult topic to find narrowed search results with comparisons of the two ideas on a single website, but I was able to find the two different viewpoints from different website by specifically searching for each individual party's ideas. This helped me learn to be extra specific in searching for key points I need information on.