The Final Countdown

Well, the end of the semester is finally here and it's been fun. Having the opportunity to take COMM 203 was truly a privilege and a great learning experience. During the semester I got the chance to learn about media in our society and it's technological integrations, 5 rules to assist in the comprehension of media and the techniques it employs, graphic novels and narrative, and also film editing.
As this class comes to a close, my blog will remain active, and I will continue to blog about more interesting communication related material. This coming fall, I will be taking five COMM classes so I should have plenty to write about than. If anything happens during the summer thats worth writing about I will be sure to let everyone know. I look forward to sharing my future thoughts with you! I hope your summer will be as great as mine, but while you wait, check out my other blogs and i'll see you soon!

VALS and me.

Most people who have taken a college level psychology or sociology  course have heard about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (See Below)

This shows the list of "needs" that an individual needs in order to function, starting from the bottom up. The basics here would be things like food, water, and shelter. From there, it starts to be emotional and social needs, and eventually, you become the master of your life. You know who you are and what your purpose is and things of that nature. The VALS system has a similar chart, but it's use is more for  commercial and motivational  purposes than Maslow's.

In this model, everyday consumers, you and I, are placed into the different categories that appear on this chart. Just like the hierarchy of needs, this chart places us where we fit in the business world; Starting from the bottom, branching of into one of three groups, and ending with the top. To see where I belong on this chart, I took the VALS test and got placed into the strivers and the experiencers spots.

Based on my personality and mindset, I think the system did a great job at accurately placing me. Since I dont make to much money and am in the age group of young adults, thats what earned my the strivers spot. I'm not poor or homeless, but I still have a ways to go before I reach the achievers category. My secondary spot was the experiencers category. Since I am young and prone to try new things, I tend to lean more towards expression and experience. I wan't to learn new things and have fun, and at the same time work hard to achieve my goals. Overall, this has been a great way to see where I stand in terms of what my motivators are.        

The Internet at 20.

I find the Internet to be one of the greatest inventions of all time and I have the great privilege of being the same age as it. Reading Tim Berners-Lee's article on the Internet turning 20 was both informative and eye opening.
The thing I found most interesting was his section on the issues of Internet ownership, censoring, and possible lack of online freedoms. The Internet and the World Wide Web was, and still is, designed to have no owner and to enable everyone to get access to information. Now, there are some things that have to be taken into consideration, such as certain explicit material, the selling of body parts, and other things that share an illegal status. Regardless, I have seen many people and governments try to limit what can and cannot be expressed through the web. Egypt is a great example of government opression towards the freedom that the Internet offers, and thankfully, our country has not tried to do anything that extreme, yet. I completly agree that the Internet was made by citizens for their bennifit in all areas of life such as business, information, networking, expression, and entertainment. Mr. Lee has inspired me to have a grearter appreciation for the great network that we, the citizens, have created. When our Internet and free speech rights as citizens are trampled on and are supressed by an overcontrolling government, we need to protect our freedoms the same way we protect the laws our country was founded on. Thanks Tim for the great article!

The Maxx

After watching part of the show "The Maxx" and then reading a lengthy thesis on it, I must say I am impressed with the effort that went into turning a graphic novel into a TV series that stays true to it's origins. Personally, the series doesn't appeal to me, but thats a different subject. The way the novel was translated onto the screen is what was amazing, and you could definitely tell that it came from a graphic novel. Everything from to the color to the exact word for word dialogue was present. This way, the creators could appeal to their fan base and also reach out to those who have never read the original series. I really love it when any movie stays true to the original and I hate it when they don't. Sure they might have to make some minor changes due to certain issues, thats a given, but when you go messing with the storyline or the characters, then you have a problem. So, kudos to The Maxx and it's creators. Way to keep it original! I do have to say though that The Maxx is the coolest looking homeless person I have ever seen!  

To 3D, or not to 3D. That is the question.

I would consider myself a movie lover like most other Americans. I love going to theaters to see a movie and I love it when the movie is awesome. For me, the strides that Cinema has made over it's existence is amazing and movies look better and better every year, at least in terms of visual effects. We went from soundless, colorless black and white movies to super surround sound audio, vivid color, special effects and CGI movies. While these elements do not replace a good storyline or acting, they certainly enhance or revolutionize the way we watch. Does that include 3D though? Has it brought enough to the table to be considered a new tier for the way we watch movies, television, or even video games?   

After reading the article "The Myth of 3D-Immersion" by Alva Noe, I had to agree with him on the matter of three dimensional mediums not being considered revolutionary and more of a novelty or even a gimmick. We already see the world in 3D, for example the cat above has three dimensions, and the same goes for movies. If we we saw in 2D for example, our world would look a lot like this:

Every movie I have watched in 3D so far has been a letdown and a waste of five extra dollars. Yeah it's a fun concept, but that's pretty much it. Now, I did see that new DS hologram that Nintendo invented and I think that is totally awesome! Maybe the world of holographic is just about here! I wonder how cinema would adopt it though... Well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it but in the mean time, this video is a great example of what mario sees when he's rocking world 1, stage 1!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBb9wFP7uZM

Favorite Thing About Comm 203.

It's been a great semester so far in Comm 203. Over the last few weeks, I have observed and examined the world of communication and how it interacts with our society today, which allows me to understand the basics of how it influences us as consumers. I have enjoyed the atmosphere of the class, the people, and of course Dr. William's teaching style. So far my favorite part of this semester is our Graphic Novel project. I love the creativity I get to employ when telling a story. The Comic Life software has made creative expression simple and effective. I've liked this so much that I'm going to try to continue my comic making. It's also a plus that the material for my comics is found in a video game! 

 The media literacy project was also a highlight this semester. Learning how to translate the language of media communication was both helpful, practical, and fun.  It's so easy to be absent minded when watching TV or even looking at a magazine that sometimes we forget that people are trying to tell us or even sell us something. There are messages being conveyed in all mediums and they get either get consumed thoughtlessly or ignored altogether. Media literacy has given me the tools I need to absorb and someday, produce content at a professional level. Theses are just the first few steps in my journey though, and I can't wait to continue learning!     

They are not comic books. They're graphic novels!

I love the undead; I also love comics and good story telling. So, what better way to get the best of both worlds than to read the Hellsing manga! It's a story about a secret organization of vampire killers in London and they are in charge of keeping the world safe from demonic forces. Ironically, the organization, known as the Hellsing Organization, has more than just a highly trained group of military operatives, scientists, and intelligence agents. They are are in possession of of vampire unlike any other, and he is used as a secret weapon against his own kind. His name is Alucard, and he is more than happy to serve his human masters in the battle against what he refers to as "cowards" and "scum".

You have to read the rest for yourself though because believe me, you don't want me to ruin it for you. I would like to discuss 3 main models that apply to graphic novel communication.

• Words
• Pictures 
• Frames

The wording in this series is exciting but also a bit confusing for me personally. Dialogue between characters is great, but since this is a manga, the text bubbles are read from right to left. The sound effects are mostly written in japanese also with a few exceptions for some english and a few SFX subtitles.

Visually, this a great graphic novel/manga. The artwork is fantastic and the action is always explosive, dynamic, and gory. The pictures are what really sell this story. 

The framing is also well placed with the exception of the awkwardness of reading backwards, but thats more of a personal problem. At moments I got a little bit confused with where I was at in the story because of it, but I  figured it out based on the engrossing storyline.

All of these elements communicate simultaneously and effectively; they each play to each other's strengths. We can see the wording that the characters speak and we can see the sound effects and picture them in our minds, right along side the beautiful art that shows location, characters expressions, and the grittiness of the conflicts. Combine those with solid framework and timing and you have one great adventure right in the palm of your hands. Now if you will excuse me, I have more reading to do.   

What is text?

In the world of media, Text is any object that can be read and then interpreted by a person/people. If you think about it, that pretty much refers to anything you see. When you see something, your brain processes the image and then interprets it. You know know what that object is and you have given it a function or value. Intertextuality is the relationship between two or more texts. Most of the time, a text may be used to make a future text more relatable between the itself and the those reading it.

Why do we refer to objects as texts then instead of message? Thats because the term message is singular in its meaning. It follows the linear model of communication which has a sender, a message, and a receiver and thats a very concrete model. With text, you read the object through your television, computer, radio, ect. and you interpret it as if you were reading a book. Thats what makes text a better term to work with as opposed to a "message"; you can bring more of you to the table this way.  

The Recording Industry

Hey, everybody!  It's Vince here and today I'm going to blog about some things I learned this week concerning job hunting in the recording industry. I know last monday during my Comm 203 class Mr. Williams gave us some advice when it comes to finding a job in any media related field. It's a very competitive world and they best way to stay ahead of the game is having connections with people who have connections with people who have jobs in that field.

So to help me learn about where to look for possible careers in the recording, I turned to my Careers in Communications book and went to chapter 5, page 96, and got some helpful information on some websites that allow people to communicate with others who have the same interests. Some of those sites include: RIAA.com (The Recording Industry Association of America), SPARS.com (The Society of Professional Audio Recording Services), and AES.org (Audio Engineering Society). Some of these sites require a small fee for access to certain forums and information, but for someone who needs all the help he can get in this economy, is it can help get me a job, Then it would be well worth it.

My career aspirations

Hello, its Vince again, and I would like to take some time here to write about the purpose of my blog.
I hope to use this blog to showcase some of my skills in the near future in the art of music and maybe some art. I also hope that this site can help me find connections with people who share my interests in what i do and love, which is mostly music. I play the drums and have been playing them for about 6 years and am very passionate about it. I am currently learning a lot about music technology, mostly recording, and am looking into getting a new set of drums so I can record with better clarity. My dream someday is to have my own recording studio, but in the meantime I want to learn all I can about the industry, technology, and business of that field. Getting on the drum subject again, I really want to do covers of popular songs like this dude here,

When I saw this video i was astounded. I have seen lots of good drum covers, but this guy, Cobus Potgieter, was amazing to listen to and to watch. This was just one of his many videos, but the all contain the same amount of awesomeness and passion. Thats what I want to do!

Now about that drum set I want to get, I was thinking about going electronic on this one. I already have an acoustic set that I love dearly even though it's nothing special. My Sonar Force 1003 is the set I have been using for 6 years. Not being made of money, I have made very small attachment upgrades like a few Sabian cymbals and a double bass pedal, but thats about it. So I'm thinking that it is time for an upgrade.

   I still want to keep my old set but space is limited where I live so i might sell it after all. Well, thats all for this update! I will hopefully post more blog updates in the future so keep an eye out! Thanks for reading!                              

First Blog Ever!!!

In class right now. First blog post ever! It's going to be strange keeping a blog. Wish me luck!