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Identity is something very sacred to mankind as a whole. It's a way for us to separate each other and stand out proud and loud. It’s a way to make it that when we die that we did exist! we did live! we lived through pain, through sadness, through hardship, and when we die, remember the best and worst of our lives. But, the idea of identity in death would soon fade. You see, death was something that got overlooked a lot before technology came around. Newspaper and other sources would talk about it but it would just feel like a everyday thing with no true meaning. As time went on death had started to fade in thoughts through entertainment or just the busy bodies of the world and work place. But, with the rise of social media and online networks like facebook, twitter, snapchat and instagram as quoted from the New York times article ‘’Ghosts in the machine’’ by Jenna Wortham ‘’The near pervasiveness of social technology has delivered death back into our daily interactions.’’. Thanks to the these social media sites you are always reminded of death. It could come from anywhere a friend, family, love one or even a actor/actress you like.   

While others would not want it that way and would do anything to not be themselves. Some People sooner forget who they used to be and wear the mask of someone else or even live a persona they made up. No one really knows why some people want to do this or even what can cause this want, on the surface that is. If we were to dive deeper into someone’s psyche we would find that it could be due to some form of self hate, abuse or even pride. With pride it’s because of making up the idea of a greater person. Let’s use ‘’The Great Gatsby’’ as an example of using a made up person to get farther away from oneself. Using the main man of the story himself, Gatsby. Gatsby was a very smart, rich, cunning and outrageous character with many things making him the most memorable out of all the characters in the book. But, this was nothing more than a fake mask he wore to empress the woman he loved so much that his very mansion was right across the waters from where she lived. He made up this character so well and so mysterious that everyone just ended up making stories up about him like how one of his maids says this ‘’Somebody told me he killed a man once.’’ and for it to be followed up by another woman saying ‘’Oh no,’’ said the first girl, ‘’it couldn’t be that, because he was in the American army during the war.’’.

All the stories told were lies and over ex duration. He was nothing more than a poor man who built himself up rich and due to his building of the character people had never really got a description of what he looked like, only what he acted like. All they ever did was come to his house for his open parties and when he died not a single person from those parties came to his funeral.

Death in Identity is being completely forgotten from the face of the Earth. Something we all want to avoid at all times. Life is hard as it is and no one wants to die and just get forgotten like some lost toy. That's we try so hard to live our lives to the fullest and do the craziest things so were remembered for the outlandish things we did. That is the importance of understanding Death in Identity.  

MACBETH the Documentary Feature

For this project, I worked with my good pal Aracely

One of the greatest questions of Macbeth was, what was the real truth behind it? Before we get to that let me introduce you to Macbeth, by William Shakespeare. In a nutshell, it is about a Lord turned King who made some wrong choices on his way to the top. It is a tragedy, thriller and sometimes a comedy, you egghead! Keeping that in mind and that burning question we asked in the beginning, we decided to do a documentary, a Macbethamentary!

The purpose of the Macbethamentary was so we could answer, what was the real truth behind Macbeth. We also decided that to add a twist of comedy to it, so it could not all be just grey, like most of the settings in the book. What was the end product was a film that embodied both the main characters in the book and the actual life of the people.

We achieved this by interviewing the characters and the real life version of the characters, for example we interviewed Macbeth, the main character of the book and Mac Bethad mac Findlaích, the real King of Scotland that actually lived. To add that twist of comedy we reenacted some scenes that we thought were important and most importantly, funny.

Together, we had all types of ups and downs in our decision making, with decisions that stuck and some the crumbled. Some of the decision we kept that stuck like a leech were the interviews. Which we added to answer the main question and let the audience know what the real and fake version of the character thought about the book and aspects of it. As a team we added the comedic and important scenes so we could lighten the mood. Also, while reading the book we saw comic relief in a serious book, which reminded us about a certain show, the Office! That is why we added both the interviews and the scenes, which made a dynamic duo in our film.

When you watch the film, keep the question in mind and when you finish it, try to answer it based on what was shown. Try to think about how the real characters felt about being portrayed a certain way. Do not though try to be serious throughout the film, because the other main goal was to add a comedic twist you egghead!

Blog post by Aracely

Video editing by Jane

For our creative project Jingyu and I made a poster and playbill acting like Macbeth was being played at a theater. We made it as if William Shakespeare was still performing Macbeth and included the actual location where one of them took place. Our playbill includes a plot summary, actors, and key scenes of the play. Our main inspiration for the poster was Macbeths soliloquy “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”. We felt that this pretty much summarizes the whole play which is that everything that Macbeth did ended with him being left with nothing. In the poster is displayed different recurring motifs and major themes of the play going through an hourglass representing loss.

We thought is was best to use and hourglass for this poster because people can easily associate it with loss of time or just loss in general, which is what we want people to see. In the little bubbles are displayed the motifs and themes. The eye goes back to Macbeths quote “Stars, hide your fires; Let not light see my black and deep desires”. The heart represents a tainted heart and how he is no longer noble or kind. The z’s show Macbeths lack of sleep. The other three are self explanatory showing witches, Dunsinane hill, and being king. The biggest part is where it shows a hand getting stabbed with a dagger. The dagger is supposed to be the one that killed the king. This shows how Macbeth has “stabbed” or hurt himself by killing King Duncan. The background with the splattered blood just builds off of this and show how things for Macbeth got really messy. Overall we just really wanted to show that what Macbeth had done and sacrificed was not worth it in the end through art. By looking at this a whole and not in individual pieces Macbeths losses can be seen on a bigger scale.

Alonso and I created Macbeth themed tarot cards for our Macbeth creative project. We did this through studying the practice and concepts behind tarot, applying the meanings associated with the cards to motifs, significant ideas, plot, and characters from Macbeth. This can be seen in the original illustrations on all 78 cards, each of which show a character, scene, significant plot point, and more.

We decided to create tarot cards for a myriad of reasons. We initially thought of how tarot cards, and the idea that they can inform about a person’s future connected with Macbeth, and the themes of fate. We also found that the suits fit well with motifs in Macbeth, demonstrating core conconcepts of the book. Through reading about the meanings behind cards, we also found that many of them related to characters, relationships, and events in Macbeth. This includes a change in fortune, internal battles, ambition, intense relationships, and more. We also use the cards to expand upon our thoughts and connections to the book, such as illustrating a character’s role and beliefs through the images on the cards. We created all 78 tarot cards, with a full list of instructions that you can find here. Now, you can use these cards and ask questions so that you can be lead to your fate, just as Macbeth was! (We’re not responsible for poor decisions made due to tarot readings)

• “But there's nothing to be done about it. All I can do is put in time waiting for the inevitable, observing as the ghosts of my past rattle around my vacuous present. They crash and bang and make themselves at home, mostly because there's no competition. I've stopped fighting them.” (Chapter 1)

• "She reached for something. A giraffe passed between us – Its long neck bobbing gracefully even in panic – and when it was gone I saw that she'd picked up an iron stake. She held it loosely, resting its end on the hard dirt. She looked at me again, bemused. Then her gaze shifted to the back of his bare head" (Prologue)
  

• “"Look here," he says, blowing smoke. "I was hoping we could let bygones be bygones. So what do you say, my boy – friends again?" He extends his hand.” (Chapter 20)

• “This is home” (Chapter 25)

Children of the Night Episode 3

Amado, Ethan, Aden, and Shilo

Infectious Dracula

In this episode we discuss the reason why Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. What he intended Dracula to represent to how people preserved it and how it was later interpreted in modern day society. We discuss how diseases were common during the era of Dracula and how vampire culture came to be. Along with the whole monster genre in general.

Pg. 40

Pg. 41

https://youtu.be/FmTSA0_r5Kk

One main choice we decided on was to have the doctor and gentlewoman looking at Lady Macbeth from a desk in qan official way. We decided to do this because we thought that in reality shows people often talk behind people’s backs to observe them and so that Lady Macbeth could have a space to herself. It looks like a professional consultation with the doctor and gentlewoman looking at Lady Macbeth from the side. Lady Macbeth is constantly moving around the room and she is even on the ground at this point. This happens to dramatize her movements since reality shows are often dramaticized to be more interesting to the audience. Lastly, we added a "recording" filter over the video to enhance the reality show theme.

On this week’s podcast, we unfortunately come to a close on our reading of the Cat’s Cradle. We attempt to discuss the ending without spoilers, and not surprisingly, fail. The theme of this episode is Author’s intent, and come to a conclusion that Cat’s Cradle was a critique mainly on the conversation of science vs religion and the development of nuclear weapons during the Cold War. Lastly, we discuss the winners and losers of the book and our major takeaways.

Some evidence we used

• “I bought myself a job, just the way you bought yourself a tomcat husband, just the way Newt bought himself a week on Cape Cod with a Russian midget” (243)

• “When there are such men as Felix Hoenikker to give such playthings as ice-nine to such short-sighted children as almost all men and women are” (245)

• “The mountebank told them that God was surely trying to kill them, possibly because He was through with them, and that they should have the good manners to die.” (273)

• “He always said he would never take his own advice, because he knew it was worthless.” (273)

• “and I would make a statue of myself, lying on my back, grinning horribly, and thumbing my nose at You Know Who” (287)