Reenactment Scene-Kishara, Niya, Ben

For our creative project we decided to reenact the prefuneral scene, from the novel The Fault in our stars. The actors in this scene are: Kishara Erwin , Niya Petty, and Benjamin Rivera. We decided to reenact this scene because it was our part while reading the book. Lastly, we made a slight change to our scene because we did not want our scene to be just like the book. Overall we had fun recording our scene and reading the novel. 

Cleanse

 

The XX Times read: “There was a massive eruption of high-energy radiation from the sun’s surface that caused an electromagnetic disturbance on the earth. This catastrophe has wiped out almost all of civilization. The extreme sun rays have burned skin off of bodies, and burned through eyes into brains killing everyone but 6% of the population. Only the healthiest that could sustain such injuries survived.” The 6% of the population still alive do not look like the common human because they do not have flesh. Their skin is of charcoal color with a flaky texture. Their eyes, because of being exposed to high-levels of radiation, have turned into black, sleek pits. These people were alive, yet completely blind. Since these people were not blind prior to this occurrence they needed to rely on their other senses which, after some time, have become stronger because of their vision being gone. All of their senses have bettered, and gotten stronger. They have grown to have a keen sense of hearing specifically. This sense became so strong that they could hear sound 3 miles out from their current location. Having this attribute in particular, has helped the people survive easier when looking for different.  

Most of the people that remained,lived on one hemisphere of the world. For the past few months they came together to work on surviving. It became extremely hard to grow crops with the harsh situation the earth found itself in because of its arid, cracked nature. The weather was now erratic and the survivors had to endure sand storms that would nearly blow their homes away on a weekly basis . Breathing had become harder and each day more and more died because of the sand in their lungs. The doctors that were still available were trying to come up with a breathing device that will help the survivors. In the meantime rags covered their nose and mouths. Water around the world became scarce. The oceans had all but dried up and the water that was available had to go through a process in order to become drinkable. Deep wells had to be dug in order to have some drinkable water, and distributed amongst the people. Water became the number one priority of the gatherers, it has become so scarce that the survival of the inhabitants of this earth is a huge concern.

About a week ago the gatherers found an area of the earth that had drinkable water 3.1 miles out from their homes but the section of the ruins is plagued with storms such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and monsoons. A few of the gatherers got too close and were sucked in never to be seen again. Because of this, the gatherers are afraid to risk their lives to go back but they realize something has to be done. A group of four gatherers have gotten together to create a plan of how they should go about getting water from the dangerous source. They were aware now that they could not walk too close to the collection of disasters so they had to find a way to access the water from a distance.

“So what do you guys think we can use to collect this water?” Gatherer #1 said.

“Hm..well it needs to be something we can use from a distance..uh how about-” Gatherer #2 said.

“How about a vacuum!! Like a big one!” Gatherer #3 said.

“I was thinking more of a tube that goes underground that connects to the bottom of the disaster area, that way we can directly collect water. And lots of it.” Gatherer #2 said.

“I kinda like the vacuum idea more, sounds a bit less dangerous.” Gatherer #4 said.

“Are you kidding me? Mine is so much bett-” Gatherer #2 said.

“Nothing gets done when we fight. Think about the big picture here guys. Look, #3 and #4, you guys work on building a vacuum. And have it done by tomorrow morning!” Gatherer #1 said.

“I will help you think out a plan for this tube idea.” Gatherer #1 said to Gatherer #2.

Gatherer #2 smiles in reply.

The four gatherers go about creating their plans to getting this water for the people. Everything is completed by morning and so the four set off to the calamity site.

“The trip should only take about 40 minutes if we keep a constant speed.” Gatherer #1 said.

Gatherers #2, 3, and 4 *groan collectively* in response.

The road to the calamity site was not easy, there were many obstacles along the way, cars that were abandoned, debri from burned homes that no one was able to rescue people from. Their senses were very keen to the smells of rotten animals that never made it through the initial catastrophe and others who died afterward from their injuries or starvation. Everything was so dry. The journey seemed longer than 40 minutes but, after a hot trek, they finally got to the site. Upon arriving, the vacuum that was created was set up by all four gatherers. They attached the vacuum contraption to a massive tank to be filled with water that they brought on wheels along with them on their journey. In order for this to work they have to get dangerously close and slowly push the long nozzle towards the storm. They discovered that if the nozzle was pulled up high the four of them could hold it tight enough for it not to fly away so that is what they did. For the first 5 minutes it was working. The gatherers were so excited that they hugged each other. But then the storm became stronger. They held on with all their might and even used a rope to tie around a tree to help them. The tree was no use. The storm pulled the vacuum from their grasps, uprooted the tree and pulled it into the storm.

“Gatherer #4 watch out!!!” Gatherer #1 said.

Gatherer #4 turns to look behind him after hearing what Gatherer #1 had said.

Gatherer #1 gasps.

One of the gatherers was in the tree’s path and before he knew it, the tree knocked him in the head and dragged his body into the storm. The others ran for cover away from the storm site. This death was so disheartening to the group. Not many people are left, and to lose another person was devastating.

“Hey watch out with that hole!” Gatherer #2 said.

“Oh shi- thanks!” Damn…*sigh* Gatherer #1 said.

Gatherer #1 was in love with another gatherer whose mind was striking. She was so intelligent and beautifully determined no matter what. She always fought to get her way, and never backed down from a challenge. She was optimistic. She was sly when it came to him. Carefully choosing her words, so that what she said pulled him in. All qualities that Gatherer #1 adored. He saw some of these same qualities in himself. He was one to think highly of himself and so he naturally wanted the same qualities to be thriving in the person he chose to call his own.

But one day, she  asked something of him that he feared she would ask of him someday. A child. He kept telling himself that she would not and could not be that stupid. But she was to him. He thought Why would someone ever think it is a good idea to bring a child into this awful world? Because of the state we are in, we have to fight for our lives! And he told her this, but she did not care. She wanted what she wanted and that was that. But he did not care either. He cared about what he thought was best. He tried to talk this through with her but nothing seemed to change her mind. They bickered for weeks on end. She threw things at him, and even said “I’d kill you!” on multiple occasions. This hurt Gatherer #1 a lot. So much that he actually considered going against his previous decision upon seeing how hurt the love of his life was. But after deep consideration, he remained in the same mental state, and continued to refuse her request. After some time she began to get quiet. She kept to herself mostly due to her sorrow. This made Gatherer #1 weary, but he did not change the situation, and he felt it was the worst mistake he could have ever made in his entire life. She walked right out of his life forever. Three days after she left, he found her dead in a hole.

“We can not let Gatherer #4’s death get to us too much because we can not give up. If we give up, that means death for everyone and we can not have that. We need to reconvene and come up with another idea fast. This is a risky job, and we need to prepare ourselves for these types of situations. We need to be strong. And move on quickly.” Gatherer #1 says to the group. But is it truly that easy?

The remaining gatherers get back to their homes safely. They collect the encampment people and announce the new death. Everyone is numb upon hearing the news and do not react much. They are used to death. Everyone except one. A new comer, that the gatherers found one day while making their way on their journey to discovering a water source. She was young and beautiful, and Gatherer #4 and her had taken a liking to each other. They quickly became fond of each other and created a big family without thought. Gatherer #4 had 5 children with her, and she is devastated. Gatherer #1 saw this. He watched her for some time sob uncontrollably and felt completely indifferent. He understood that losing someone you love is painful, but he felt that she was dumb because of the mistakes she has made in bringing children into this world. One of her children ran up to him.

“Why is my papa not here sir?” the child asked.

“He is dead.” said Gatherer #1.

The gatherers take a moment to themselves to collect their thoughts and then they regroup to talk about the next plan. They decide to add more people to their crew because they all can agree that it is important to be stronger this time around. They believe that having more people, more minds, will help them be able to be efficient with planning and getting the job done as fast as possible.

“So what’s the plan guys? Does anyone have any ideas?” Gatherer #1 said.

“How about we try my previous idea regarding the tube?” Gatherer #2 said.

“But how are we going to make a tube stable enough?” Gatherer #3 said.

“Gatherer #2 and I thought about having the tube go underground and arch towards the disaster source. This way the tube will be able to access the water from underneath.” Gatherer #1 said.

“Also, this way no one will get hurt because we will not have to be anywhere near the area where we can get harmed.” Gatherer #2 said as he motioned towards the group.

“Yeah I think that is a good idea, but what if the tube lifts up? We need to have something to hold it down.” Gatherer #5 said.

“Yeah!” Gatherer #1 & 2 said in unison.

“How about metal pegs? We can drill them in and push them into the ground through the entirety of the tube.” Gatherer #3 said.

“That’s a great idea!” Gatherer #2 said.

“Alright, let’s get to work.” Gatherer #1 said.

The gatherers collectively build the massive tube that is to go into the ground at the site. They add 180 metal pegs to the bottom portion of the tube; needing one of the gatherer’s to crawl through it placing the pegs down while another goes behind him to drill them in. Another gatherer follows suitly checking to make sure all the metal pegs are drilled securely. Gatherer #1 monitors this whole process, making sure everything is done properly. The gatherers collectively lift the large tube and insert it into the gargantuan tank on wheels where the water will be held. They stand back and applaud at their creation. They then gather the necessary digging materials and the little bit of water they do have for this next trip. They cover their faces with thicker masks and head out to the disaster site one last time. The weather is surprisingly calm this evening for the majority of their trip, with slight amounts of grains of sand filling the atmosphere. A slight wind builds up the closer the group of gatherers get to the hazardous site. Small drops of water collect on each of the gatherers mask as they move forward. Each of the gatherers are holding the tube over their heads with their arms extended at full length. They are walking one by one, behind one another between where the pegs are placed. A gatherer is placed at the back pushing the tank on the wheels that is holding the base of the tube slowly, keeping in consideration the pace of the other gatherers in front of him. Gatherer #1 walks in front of all the gatherers bringing the load, holding the digging materials in a huge sack on his back. He is left with his thoughts. His mind keeps wandering to his the woman he loved unwillingly. He thought of the way his heart skipped beats when he had sight of her. He always immediately grew happy seeing her smile. Her eyes radiated with warmth that melt his heart each and every time he was in her presence. He craved to feel her in his arms again. He loved her with all his heart. His morals simply got in the way of their relationship because they both felt differently about certain things. But he wishes that he would have just put them aside for the sake of her feelings and desires. He wishes he could have just given her exactly what she wanted, exactly when she wanted it. He wishes he could have just gifted her the damn child. He would have just had to work a little harder to be able to provide for him and that is all. So why couldn’t he see this before when it mattered most to the both of them? He grew angry with himself every time he thought about how selfish he was towards her. Every bit of him ached just to have her be on this earth again. A tear stained his cheek.

“We are here guys! Gear up!” Gatherer #1 said.

The gatherers collectively dig a wide hole in the ground deep down. The gatherers tie bungee cords to themselves and to the leveled ground. They drop into the ground to dig more so that the passageway is able to reach the bottom of the calamity site. They dig furiously, desperate to get to their desired goal. But they still move carefully enough so that they do not drink their full supply of water before they are completed with the job. As they approach the water source from underneath, the soil gets a lot softer and easier to penetrate through. The gatherers that are below the surface ask the gatherers at ground level to pass the tube down to them. As the tube is being slowly pushed down the hole the gatherers dig the remaining distance to get to the water. The tube began to brush the back of their feet just as they punctured a hole through the soil in front of them where water began to trickle out. They shouted with joy at the site of water as they started punching the soil desperate for it. It drove them mad having access to so much water they danced around grabbing each other with wonderful success in their eyes. Too much water began to come at once and swept them off of their feet and into the air. They gasped with fear not realizing what was going on until it was too late. The tried with all their force to get their feet on the ground so they could run up to surface. They flutter about the water crazily nearly drowning. Some of the gatherers grabbed onto the metal pegs to brace themselves against the ferocity of the water. That was a big mistake. They were electrocuted viciously and when the water hit them, it made it all so much worse for them. Each of their bodies convulsed too and fro unable to let go of the metal peg. They died. The gatherers running shrieked for help but no one above could hear them over the sound of the water and the convulsing storms beyond them. They waited patiently for a sense of assurance from the gatherers that were down below. After some time, Gatherer #1 heard the screams.

“Holy sh- do you guys hear that?” Gatherer #1 said.

“Hear what?” Gatherer #7 said.

Gatherers from below scream.

“Damn it.” Gatherer #1 said.

Gatherer #1 looks down the hole. In the first moments he does not see anything. He lays along the ground and grips onto the rim of the hole that was dug by the gatherers. He waits and waits. He begins to hear the screams louder but they are still inaudible. He cranes his neck downwards into the hole to try to get a clearer listen to the cries down below. All the other gatherers around him do the same; stretched out along the rim. They grip and listen.

“Throw the rope down!” Gatherer from below said.

Gatherer #1 grips the edge of the circle until his knuckles turn white, craning his neck further into the hole.

“Did you hear what they said?” Gatherer #7 said.

“Uh..no” Gatherer #1 said.

“Throw the rope!!!” Gatherer from below said.

“Oh wait, I heard the word ‘throw’” Gatherer #1 said.

“Yeah me too. But throw what?” Gatherer #7 said.

“Hmm..” Gatherer #1 said.

The gatherer from below approaches the opening and is now audible to the gatherers up above.

“Throw the rope down to me now!” Gatherer from below said.

Gatherers collectively launch themselves towards the bungee that is attached to the ground. They fling it with all their might downwards into the hole through the opening in the pipe. They can hear the water coming hard and fast. They see the cord catching and tumbling about so they assume that the gatherer from below has the cord attached to him. Or maybe he does not.

“Gatherer #1, we need to connect the tube to the tank to fill.” Gatherer #7 said.

“Not yet.” Gatherer #1 said.

Gatherer #1 is calm and waiting with anticipation to see when is the right time to connect the tube to the tank. The water is rushing louder and louder yet they still do not see if any gatherers are going to make it to surface in time. They wait. The gatherers breathe heavily.

“Damn where the hell is he?” Gatherer #7 said.

The gatherers from above say nothing. It feels like centuries are going by while they wait.

“Yell if you can hear me!” Gatherer #7 said.

There is no response from the hole aside from the pounding of the water. Gatherer #7 moves to the end of the tube, grasps it, and moves towards the tank.

“I am going to plug it up. They are dead down there, and we need this water.” Gatherer #7 said.

Gatherer #1 is frozen in place. He does not want to lose another member and is holding on to the fact that they could still be down there. He sent down so many men to dig. He feels in his heart that it is his duty to have no casualties, but he knows in the back of his mind that Gatherer #7 is right. He sighs aloud frustrated because he can see the water now and not a body.

“Connect the tube.” Gatherer #1 said.

The gatherers returning with the full tank of water danced and praised the whole way home while Gatherer #1 lingered slowly at the back of the group in deep sadness. Yes they have water that they can survive with for months and months, but he kept thinking about all the people’s lives that were loss trying to get access to this source. He took it to heart; and felt it was entirely his fault.

As the townspeople collected around the water and chanted, he walked towards the deep hole where his lover was found. He sat on the rim and let his legs dangle inward. He sobbed uncontrollably and no one heard a sound. He called out for her, choking on his tears. He did not want to be this sad anymore. He wanted it to end.

Gatherer #1 jumped down the hole, and there were several snaps that the town never heard.

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1dwgnAfopTPNyd72mouHoQwU6QsEfoYM4-OXFRQOCHP4/edit?usp=sharing

Book Club Final Project

My group members Rahmir Powell, Kyle Thomas, and I decided to do music video for our Book Club Final Project. We went through a lot of changes throughout the process of doing this project. We started off with wanting to do the music video then we switched to a movie trailer but we returned to the music video. 
We wrote the song in about 2 or 3 days and we started recording the next day. We were going to implement the scenes that we rapped about but we realized that was going to be to difficult to do. So instead of implementing the scenes we decided to just have fun and rap the song in a video. This was a fun project to show off our creativity and love for the book "Black Boy."

Lyrics:


Kai Verse:::

Lil Richard he had a plan

Mama sick lived with his gram

When you think bout his life it’s like damn

You know you won’t see good things from this man

He was 6 and went into a bar

Old heads was drinking they peeped from a far

Lil Richard he sipped from the cup

This was the second time my man messed up

He went to the store and got jumped

Mama said no no don’t run bet not front

So Lil Richard went grabbed a stick

Told em don’t run up or he’s swinging it

Fast forward when Richard got older

Went to the church gave the kids the cold shoulder

Told Jesus he’ll be here no longer but Granny said if you do you’ll be a goner

So my man he went and got baptized cause you know that it’s harder for black lives on the South side when it’s crunch time

Especially when it was this time

Factory workers didn’t see this side

They was lucky cause he got a G side

Kicked him out so he gave em a peace sign gave em a peace sign

 

 

 Rahmir Verse:

Yeah Bruh I'm right up to bat
And ya know I speak dem facts
Richard don't know how to act
Speaking to whites like his skin wasn't black
I guess he just do what he want
He can't even live one house for a month
Always moving somewhere else
He hate making friends so he kept to his self
But I understand where he coming from
He was treated like he was nobody son
He was tired of the south so he said "I'm done"
Moved to Memphis and stacked up a hunnit ones
Yuh yuh a hunnit ones, in no time he done stacked up a hunnit ones
But I guess he like working he said it's fun
Working rapid fire like a hunnit guns
But wait let's get back to the story
When girls see him they get a lil horny
And Every girl he met they adore eem
But he not tryn he no father no Maury
Betty was clingy she corny
If she can't read than she corny
Shout out the both of my mans
Our book club the greatest this novel too easy for me

Movie trailer // Amira, Nasya, Abraham, Ivan

This is a movie trailer made by Amira Gouri, Nasya Ie, Abraham Gayer, and Ivan Lopez JR. For our video, we basically took most of the important parts of the book (the curious incident of the dog in the night-time) and acted it out. For example the scene where he runs away was a really important part of the story so we put that in our trailer. We hope you enjoy this video!

E1 U5 Poema de Rasa Watson

Rasa Watson

Soy una mestiza chica

Encrucijada

Mi familia es blanco y negro

Y yo soy una mezcla

 

Cada día veo gente diferente

Huelo incienso

Oigo música en el salón

Saboreo té

Tocó los suelos de mi casa

 

Bilo con descripciones

Hablo con mi diferencias

Bailo con las dos fronteras

Todo esto me hace a mi

 

 

Somos personas irregulares

Somos blanco

Somos negro

Pero yo soy…

Rasa Watson


Q4 Artists Statement

   The first piece that we did for Quarter 4 was Color Adv. Photo. This took 2 hours to do which means that it took 2 class periods. When doing this I played around with the different filters and contrasts to bring out certain aspects out in the photo that you couldn't original see before.   

    The second piece that we did for Quarter 4 was a figure drawing. For the figure drawing, we looked at different photos of men and women and then once we found one that was very interesting to us and that would turn out really awesome when we drew them then we could start on it. This took 4 hours which means that it took 4 classes.  When drawing this I learned a lot about the placement of the certain body parts and how to draw them correctly. 

   The third piece that we did for Quarter 4 was a line drawing. When doing this part I learned a lot on how just simple lines can be so much detail into your artwork. This took 2 class periods which means it took 2 hours.

   The fourth piece that we did for Quarter 4 was Digital Drawings. Doing this was extremely fun. We had to take a bunch of shapes and fill the space so that there was a shape covering every part of the picture. When doing this it kind of looks like the pictures I made were illusions. This took 2 class periods which means it took 2 hours.

   The fifth piece that we did for Quarter 4 was Space Illusion. When I was drawing the pictures it was a little hard because you have to make sure that everything is the right amount of space apart and that if you have any curves in your drawings that they are going in the right direction. This took 2 class periods which means that this took 2 hours to finish and complete.

    The last piece that we did for Quarter 4 was Elements Of Art. For this piece, we had to include color, texture, shapes, lines etc. We basically had to make a picture that incorporated all of the techniques into one single picture of our own. This took 2 class periods which means that it took 2 hours to finish and finalize. 

Artist Blog Qt 4

During this quarter I grew as a better artist. Given the experience with line and shape drawing, my art work became better and better. I also liked the experience of coloring on the computer. It is a really hard skill to retain but I like doing it. I also enjoyed the texture of art, because I am usually not good at texture. I believe that I did really well in this quarter. Each quarter showed my progression. I believe my artwork turns out really nice now. 

Aysha, Amelia, y Sharron (Updated Pataki)

Una vez, una mujer en la gente de la aldea de Yorobia, que se llamada Oshun. Ella dio luz a dos gemelos, el Ibeji. Todo el pueblo la miró como una bruja, porque solamente los animales tienen más de un niño. Temprano por  la mañana, Oshun llevó agua desde el estanque, cuando ella cayó al suelo. Los ancianos llegaron y la llevaron debajo de un árbol de cerezas. El único árbol que hay. Se utilizó una hoja de plátano para cubrirla. Uno de los ancianos estaban ayudando. Oshun estaba una viuda, no se sabía cómo murió su marido. Mucha de la gente del pueblo la miró como el diablo, quien lleva la vida de su marido. De repente un grito, los ancianos gritaban es un niño. "Allí hay otro", "Qué clase de brujería" "Es el diablo" " qué qué", eran los únicos que se oían de la gente alrededor. Salió el segundo bebé. Oshún puesto manteniendo a sus dos bebés, mientras la gente había rechazar, le tiró basura. Todo el pueblo miró a ella como una bruja, porque solamente los animales tienen más de un niño.

Debido a esto, Oshun dejó a los gemelos porque ella era una "mala persona". Oshun se quedó allí sin nada que comer pero la suciedad. Allí, nadie ella dejó a los bebés a morir con los animales. Entonces un día, Oyá la Orisha Guerrera vino en la cubierta como una persona común y desconocida. Oyá vio que Oshún tenía dónde ir aprovechó Oshún, la gente de la ciudad lanzó basura otra vez. Esto se convirtió en diario, Oyá vio pero no pudo hacer nada sino esperar a cambio. Un día pasó, y el ibeji casi fue golpeado en un accidente.

Oyá tuvo en y cambió sus ropas y les dio comida. Oya decidió tomar los Ibeji y criarlos como sus hijos. Oyá era alta y fuerte. Ella no tenía miedo de nada. Oyá tenía ojos azules brillantes, nadie le caería en amor. La mujer, también tenía el pelo largo oscuro que fluyó en el viento. Oyá era hermosa. Ella dio todo su tiempo a enseñar a sus hijos todos que sabía sobre la Santeria y los Orishas. Los ibeji se criaron a creer en los espíritus y dedicarles todo. Miraban la vida como algo hermosa, a pesar de lo que sucedió con su madre. Le perdonó demasiado. Aprendieron a amar a bailar y cantar a los espíritus. ¡Comen junto a los espíritus, demasiado! Oyá también enseñó a sus hijos a amar el color blanco porque representa la "pureza", es sagrado "Obatala" — los otro Orisha — a honrar y proteger, como un dios.

Slate Post #2


 

 

 

Nursing Home Abuse

 

 

 

 

In my first Blog Post, I talked about the subject of my project, and what the task I was suppose to complete. The main subject I talked about was Nursing home abuse. I discussed how often these events occurred and what types of abuse could take place. I gave an image of the graph that provided the percentages of the types of abuse that take place. In my further research, I wondered what the consequences of Abuse of the Elderly in a Nursing Home. So I found a company that makes the consequences. This company can be called when a situation is found or seen.

I recently made a survey for people to take. The purpose of this survey is to give people who have an elder in a nursing home a heads up for something that their elder could possibly be experiencing these things. It was also to raise awareness to people who don’t have any elders in a nursing home and spread the word. The survey received 41 responses and the results were great.   

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 Screenshot 2017-05-23 at 10.03.01 AM.png

 

 Screenshot 2017-05-23 at 10.03.01 AM.png

 

 

 

 

 

Screenshot 2017-05-23 at 10.03.08 AM.png

 

You can take this survey if you would like to. I would love to get your results. As you can see, the majority of the people taking this survey do not have a Elder in a Nursing home. Either way, my goal of spreading the word is being accomplished. The next question of, “Do you trust Nursing Homes as a caring place.” The majority of the results were, i’m not sure. This tells me that people are unaware of Nursing home abuse and need to be informed. So my goal is also being accomplished in this question. The third question was for people to share the types of abuse that they think goes on in nursing homes. I was surprised of how much people knew. Obviously people put poor hygiene as what they knew occurred. The last question was, “How do you know that someone in a nursing home is being treated with care?” The majority of the answers were that, I don't know anyone in a nursing home. So again, I am achieving my goal by spreading the word, and I am giving people who do have someone in a nursing home valuable information. In conclusion, I am glad with my responses and I am glad I got so spread the word. I hope that everyone that took this survey, left with valuable information. I hope it made them more cautious of their Elders care. If you would like to know where I got my information from. All of my sources are linked below in the annotated bibliography.

 

 

Annotated Bibliography  

Wes Anderson's The Avengers

I want think about your favorite movie, a piece of art you know and love. Now I want you to step outside of you imagination comfort zone and if you can, imagine that beautiful movie being filmed in a completely different style. Whether the genre has been replaced with another type of film that is completely different, or the director has been replaced by an auteur whose style is very unique and completely recognizable, and nothing like the original director, the original film you love has been drastically changed.

What if for example, Wes Anderson, the genius behind Moonrise Kingdom, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel among others directed Joss Whedon's the Avengers. Since these two directors both have their own very unique styles and because their styles vary drastically from one another, I thought it would be interesting to try and compare these two directors in a film featuring writing by Mr. Whedon, and Directing by Mr. Anderson, with some minor edits by myself and my partner Shane. We had already study a work by Anderson. We watched The Grand Budapest Hotel which is a great example of Anderson's style of directing and how the camera work, turns and moves through the scene. Each scene seems very choreographed which is what we tried to capture. The actors walking into the scene at around the same time and the camera does a few one hundred and eighty degree turns. The camera work in Anderson's films are very deliberate and we tried to mimic that in our film.

Another thing that is very prominent is Wes Anderson films is symmetry. He loves when shots are very symmetrical. For example to people walking to the same spot in a scene or objects behind the actors having symmetry. As something my partner and I recognized in his film, we tried to mimic that as well. There are some parts of my film the involve at least some symmetry, unfortunately because the world isn't quite symmetrical and we didn't have enough time to build our own set there isn't too obvious. Although if you look hard enough you will find some things symmetrical about the way we shot our scene.

The final aspect that we decided to capture, among the many aspects that make something a Wes Anderson film, or that are well known from him, is the close up. It was noticeable that Wes Anderson like to use close ups quite a bit so we decided to put a few in there

Some examples of camera work you will see in this film is one hundred and eighty degree turns of the camera similar to the very blocky way that Anderson likes to turn rotate or move his camera. You will also see a ninety degree turn of the camera in a similar block fashion. There are some deliberate moments with the camera moves forward toward a character while saying a line to create a close up shot. We tried to make it seem as if there was a choreographed feel to the camera angles and movements as well as the slight movement of each character. And Finally we also went for symmetry as there were railings on each side of us and symmetry when we both walk into the shot.

Unfortunately actors such as Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman could not be present for the making of this film but we made due with what we had.

Artist Statement Q4

My first art project involved using an online editing tool to alter images I had found on the internet. The second one involved trying to draw the figure of a man in a photograph using only lines and curves. Next, I used an online drawing tool to create some images of my own. Following that was a series of drawings that projected an illusion of space. I was supposed to create drawings that were designed to think there was more space in the backgrounds of the images.​ The penultimate drawing involved creating a copy of a still-life and adding texture to the drawing. Finally, I had to create a single drawing that incorporated all the elements of art that I knew of (i.e. color, texture, lines, dimensions).

Book Club Final Project (TeMiSaJoRu)

The following song is called I Want You. It was written and performed by Josiah Mast, Sarah Son, Micah Carrera, Ruby Ginsburg, and Teyonna Little. It is based on the book Looking For Alaska by John Green.

When writing this song, we thought of the relationship between the book's main character, Pudge, and a girl named Alaska. Throughout the story, Pudge talks about Alaska’s beauty and likeable personality. This inspired us to write a love song that--like the novel--is written from Pudge’s perspective. The song conveys Pudge’s strong love for Alaska, and how he hopes to someday marry her. Enjoy!


Katarina Backo Capstone

I always dreamed of becoming an architect. My Capstone process was supposed to reflect how an architect gets an idea and goes from the idea to the design of the building. First step is to find who needs the design and what needs to be designed. When the need is identified next steps involve choice of tools and personalization according to the clients’ needs. Finally, design choices should be made such that design looks pretty, but it is also functional, safe and realizable.

 

I thought that interning in architectural company would give me a better idea for all the steps in the project. In parallel with finding the internship I researched the designs, tools, and ideas for my project. I was surprised that neither internship nor research were the inspiration for my final idea, but rather a lunchtime conversation.  I learned that my friends wished for more quiet places at SLA. Therefore, I decided to make redesign of my school's building as my Capstone. Instead of an internship I read a lot of architectural books and websites. I decided to use Floorplanner software, did a lot of editing and redesigning things over and over again. I made a survey for students and teachers to understand what they all wanted in our school.  My Capstone taught me that I have to be open to different possibilities and not always take the path that everyone else follows. If I had the chance to do it again, I would enjoy the process more.


Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IK6z0cjX6TqARZIckIcS3g_NAwtkSyi2cv-VnYM88ko/edit#heading=h.7xo9c5vk8icl



First Floor
First Floor
Entrence
Entrence
Lobby
Lobby
Lobby
Lobby
Office
Office
Office
Office
Principal's  office
Principal's office
Kichen
Kichen
Cafeteria
Cafeteria
Lounge
Lounge
Second, Third, Forth, and Fifth Floor
Second, Third, Forth, and Fifth Floor
Hallway
Hallway
Classrooms
Classrooms
Classroom
Classroom
Classroom
Classroom
Staff Bathroom
Staff Bathroom
Bathroom
Bathroom
Bathrooms
Bathrooms
Sixth Floor
Sixth Floor
Nurse's Office
Nurse's Office
Game Room
Game Room
Game Room (Pool and Hokey)
Game Room (Pool and Hokey)
Game Room (Games and Chess)
Game Room (Games and Chess)
Game Room (Football Tables and TV Section)
Game Room (Football Tables and TV Section)
Library and Stage Room
Library and Stage Room
Library
Library
Drama Studio with Piano
Drama Studio with Piano
Seventh Floor
Seventh Floor
Gym
Gym
Gym
Gym
Locker Room
Locker Room
Showers and Bathroom
Showers and Bathroom
Pool and Changing Rooms
Pool and Changing Rooms
Pool
Pool
Pool
Pool

Grand Budapest Hotel//Tim Burton style

Group members: Me

Movie: Grand Budapest Hotel  


The Grand Budapest Hotel is a wes anderson film that hold both literary and cinematic merit. This movie is brilliantly colorful, symmetrical and accompanied with a soundtrack that ties everything together. All of these things of course styles and methods that Wes Anderson is known for, so why not turn everything on it's head by doing something that is the complete opposite. For example give the entire film a Tim Burton makeover.
Tim burton's auteur is the dark, gloomy and strange looking characters that everyone loves because of how gothic everything looks. To me it seemed to be the perfect contrast to all of the colors seen in the grand budapest hotel. It would be interesting to see what the movie would be like with a dark tone but the contrast alone is not why I chose to recreated a scene in Tim burton's art style. 
Many reviews of the movie state that this movie is a dark comedy. This basically means that it's a funny way to tell a rather tragic story in my opinion. I feel like there's no better way to convey than with Tim burton's style. All of his stories are about misunderstood characters and find ways to deliver tragic messages and storylines in a way that doesn't make them seem so bad. 
With all that being said I created a storyboard using the very first scene in the movie which is the young girl leading all the way up to the author introducing the main part of the movie. When you look at the storyboard I attempted to recreated Tim Burton's famous characters where everyone has sunken eyes and large head on rather tiny bodies but that didn't quite work to well. I have to be honest even though the style seems simple there are the little details that make it work and scream "Tim Burton" . 
I focused more on the people themselves rather than the background because to me the background would most likely be the same but instead the color would only range from whatever is on  he monochromatic scale. Other than the turning this live action movie into an animated one I changed nothing that has to do with the original screenplay. The one other thing I change may have been the music but that was because the music in the original movie doesn't fit with Tim Burton's auteur and I feel like eerie music is more of the route that should be taken with this one. Overall I think that if the Grand budapest hotel was redone this way then the only possible outcome would that the narrative of the story would be enriched. 

storyboard is down below.
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Aldo Caushaj Capstone

​My capstone was to teach a small law class to kids at my former middle school. I choose this for my capstone because during my junior year when I started doing my ILP I was given the opportunity to take an intro into law class. Everything that I received from this intro into law class was more than I had thought before, I went into this class thinking that it would be another lecture or presentation that I would have to attend and leave not receiving anything, but I would just end up watching somebody teach me from a script that they had created for a mass group, but not an individual. As soon as I started my first class though I quickly learned that everything that I had presumed about this group would be turned on its head and tossed out the window. We were given a blank slate and encouraged to take control of our learning our mentors encouraged us to ask questions and ask them what we wanted to learn about and what kind of laws that we wanted to discuss. I wanted to replicate the experiences I had in that group with the students at my middle school I taught two classes there one to students that were in 8th grade going to high school and the other to ESOL students they were mixed with 7th and 8th graders I wanted to have a Lesson with them because I used to be one myself and wanted to show them that even if you don't have the same advantages as the other students born here it just means that you need to work harder and you need to achieve more than those around you. In each class thought the one thing that I wanted to leave kids with was not that they needed to peruse an education in law I wanted to leave them with knowledge of knowing your rights and the core values that our school offers  Inquiry, Research, Collaboration, Presentation, and Reflection. 

Link to Presentation: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1b_Zr5M2YqcsPbt5l4Vr2vc9-fnI36rdL6ymwZTsLaoE/edit#slide=id.g1f532d24c2_0_0

Luke W-S and Lukas S-A Blade runner x Usual suspects


Lukas S-A and Luke Watson-Sharer
 
In our final English benchmark ever at SLA, Lukas and I wanted to do something entirely original and creative. We decided to mashup the movie the usual suspects and the blade runner. We saw the blade runner in the class, a sci-fi film about detectives with the responsibility of eliminating replicants from society. The usual suspects is an entirely different film. The movie is a suspense film with a crazy twist on a con man. The films due to their obvious contrast and differences made it an interesting concept to mix.
 
The main character of the blade runner was Rick Deckard, he’s a blade runner in LA in the year 2019. The man is responsible for deactivating replicants and is considered to be the best at it, It’s an interesting character that I played(as any blade runner) because I adopt the desire to separate the replicants but also try to maintain order. Lukas plays infamous character Keyser Soze. A demented and devilish character who plays the victim originally to the detective. We wanted Lukas to get more aggressive and devious as the scene went on. He lightly said “I’m a nobody” and then continued to get aggressive saying “I ain’t no rat”. With both characters who are very goal driven it made their differences outside of that something to shed light on.
 
Once we figured out how we wanted to mash it with what movies we decided to throw it into the world that Rick Deckard lives in. In our film, Keyser Soze is a replicant who wishes to end humanity and bring a replicant revolution. It becomes the job of the unnamed new blade runners to end this. They have a few issues though. They don’t know what he looks like. Keyser Soze originally in the usual suspects is a no face criminal that sells dope and kills for fun. We adopted the stance that we don’t know what he looks like to add suspense. 
 
The unprecedented and nearly inevitable replicant revolution caused two blade runners(played by me and my friend Cullan(not an SLA student)) had the goal and the job of stopping Soze by any means necessary. Soze who had sat beneath their nose is shown doing the same thing nearly that happened at the end of the usual suspects.
 
Our trailer is a play on the ending of the usual suspects. We chose this since it'd be a crazy start to a potential film involving the best of both worlds. The ending was the best beginNing for our film. We decided to play with the conversation soze has as he left with our detective. We removed the coffee drop and the board with an escalation of intentions on both sides. Our conclusion was that Soze had escaped and cully and I would begin our hunt for him to end the revolution.
 
We originally didn't know that we didn't need to do a redo scene but after our Lifting session, we decided to do one from the beginning of the film. As they lined up they had the line “give me the keys you fucking cocksucker”. Extremely explicit we decided to say it in the way the film had where laughs were and the lines exactly. We played throughout the film The Godfather theme and eye of the tiger to help add a tone that escalated but also smooth. 
 
Overall I believe our mashup between both films could be very really interesting and that mixing two very different movies together is hard but with the usual suspects ending alteration being the beginning of the next film there are endless possibilities.

Benjamin Brandt's Miracle Cure-All

I couldn't find a way to embed the code for this video (sorry about that), so here are two links for it, which I shared with Ms. Giknis. The story I told is a collection of journal entries telling the tale of how a doctor uses genetic modification to create a miracle cure-all that essentially ends diseases worldwide.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5LIfR6xx4NZdURoazVhemd0Y00/view  
Link for part 2: chrome-extension://mmeijimgabbpbgpdklnllpncmdofkcpn/app.html#/files/3cbd4f39-f027-436d-y0a8-9a57460917b6

DC Presentation

Two recent projects. One from Pre-Calculus, modeling with transformation of trigonometric functions using two sets of data. And another one from English, showing the science fiction present in the book, War of the Worlds, and how it influences the theme.
Pre-Calculus Benchmark
War of the Worlds

How bad catcalling is

Catcalling is a form of street harassment that should not be tolerable, it is impolite and rude.

When women get catcalled they think that it’s vulgar and it is degrading. However some women like the attention. Unlike women, most men think that it is a compliment and when they don’t answer back there are a slut. When men do this they are looking for a women with low self esteem and problems so that they can get sex. My goal is to inform men what they doing to women and open there eyes to see how wrong it is.

An anti-harassment group took a survey about women and the age they were first catcalled. Sometimes they said over the age of 17, however most women said they were first catcalled between the ages 11 and 17. This is really foul not just because that it’s catcalling but that they are saying these things to teens. It scares them and makes them really nervous of what might happen. When a man catcalls it mainly means that they want something sexual from them. And when they do it to teens it makes it even more vile because they are saying they want something from the teens sexually.

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Catcalling has been around for centuries and dates back all the way to 200 B.C. However it wasn’t called catcalling but the wolf whistle. This term is carries a predatory connotation which acts as a symbol for wolves which is an example of male lust. The actual word catcaller started in the 1700s which was a way for people in the theater to express the disapproval for the acts on stage. They would sneer and whistle and the actors to show this. The way the catcalling is used in a sexual manner didn’t actually start until the 20th century.

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A reporter from Australia named Eleanor Gordon-Smith is interviewed by a woman named Ira. Smith talks about her experience with being catcalled and her stories when she confronted the men about it and got there thoughts. Her goal was to find out why these men did what they do. One of Smith’s story is about how she confronted her catcallers Mike and Zack  and how she tried to convince them to not catcall ever again. During their conversation Zack says that he does it because it makes women feel good while in reality it doesn’t. He also admitted to smacking a girls ass if they are in a group but only in a group, never alone. She keeps trying to convince him that women don’t actually like it and the only reason why the smile and act like they like it is because it is a defense mechanism. They do it to prevent it from doing anything physical to them such as rape. In the end she convinces them to no longer smack a woman's ass.

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Throughout the years catcalling has been happening everywhere and dates back to 200 B.C. However it has been used in different form, it was first used to show male lust, then it was used to show anger at the actors at a show, and finally it is used to call out at a girl to show interest in her. It is happening to people as young as 11 years old which is very vile. Men typically do this to complement a women and to say hello or it means that they want sex from them. They get the feeling that women like it because they smile but this reaction is only a defense mechanism to keep anything violent from happening.

 

 

 

 

Bibliography