Decision

So after little deliberation and glorious news that I can use non academic experts as a valid source, I have decided to make the subject of my semester long paper...Batman! Oh oh how fun that shall be! I must admit I am slightly disappointed I didn't have to make a case to demonstrate how I could make Batman sound academic. I had the perfect line ready to go too.
"Well I plan to examine the psychological and philosophical aspects of the characters themselves and the sociological aspect of why these characters have been so interesting to us over the last seventy one years." I got to say something like this but the delivery was all wrong...so sad. I think that I will try and narrow down the characters I plan to investigate...Bruce Wayne is obviously one...I think I'll add Dick Grayson and Alfred too... that group would make the "good" point of my paper. Then perhaps Jason Todd and Selina Kyle to serve as a second point of characters who are on the line between good and evil. And then Harvey Dent, Victor Fries and "The Joker" as the evil point of it all. Offering a brief psychological profile for each character and then an in-depth look at each of their personal philosophies. I could also make some interesting and inverse connections between the characters on both fronts. I think I will look at the sociological aspects of why people are so interested in something their parents saw when they were kids...Honestly I'll need a little more on the sociology but I'm not sure exactly what to look at just yet...Should be fun

Video

So I have to respond to this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o
about the problems and situations students face today. I have decided to list any solutions and or thoughts I can think of to the problems that are given by the students.
My average class size is 115
If that's a problem then why not go to a smaller school? I know that things like average class size, or teacher to student ratio tends to be listed on a school's website...seems like her own fault if it's a problem...
18% of my teachers know my name
Ok, wear a shirt with your name on it...or be more interesting so that your name is remembered...
I complete 49% of the readings assigned to me. Only 26% are relevant to my life.
Ok...I am almost certain that's been the issue for schools forever. Like even before the current system was in place. I can't think of any solution to this other than that it's just something to get over.
I buy hundred dollar textbooks I never open
If comic books can be scanned why not textbooks? Seems like it would help a lot...but since colleges get upset about torrents as it is I guess that is to much to hope for...
My neighbor paid for class but never comes
I'm not sure why this is her problem, but if it concerns her so why doesn't she do something about it. Like take notes for them, or encourage them to come more?
I will read 8 books this year, 2300 web pages, and 1281 face book profiles
I really don't get this one...stop going to facebook?
I will write 42 pages for class this semester. And over 500 pages of email
Considering that this is collective I don't think that this is a problem.
I get 7 hours of sleep each night
That sucks...go to bed earlier?
I watch 1 1/2 hours of TV each night
Ok...that really isn't that much...
I spend 3 1/2 hours a day online.
Drop the forum and social network sites? Actually associate with real people?
I listen to music 2.5 hours a day
I'm assuming that he's doing something else while listening to music. Driving, playing on the computer, talking on the phone, doing home work. Very few people just listen to music anymore...
I spend 2 hours on my cell phone
Well...get the FU*K off of it and do something for christs sake! Call someone, talk about what you need to then get off the phone!
Spend 3 hours in class
That's not to bad...
2 hours emailing
This is hard to believe...I mean who spends more than 15 emailing...unless your looking at those stupid forwards, in which case DON'T!
I work 2 hours every day
Why is he complaining about that? That's nothing!
3 hours studying
That is actually a really good amount, she could probably get away fine for much less...
That's a total of 26.5 hours per day
So many of those overlap and have to take place at the same time that this has to be an exaggeration. That and I don't think many people time how long they listen to music or answer emails or any of that. Most of these are at best guesses to me, if not just made up or taken from statistical studies that of course do not apply to each individual...
I'm a multitasker. (I have to be)
Everyone multitasks. If someone is only listening to music for two and a half hours every day, and they're only answering emails for three hours everyday then they're procrastinating constantly and an idiot if they complain about not having enough time in a day.
I will be 20,000 in debt after graduation
Ok...I have to comment on how this is written...she seems happy about it. Look at the bubble letters. Get a better job? Get another job? Apply for more scholarships?
I'm one of the lucky ones.
Why is that?
Over 1 billion people make less than $1 a day
Don't feel bad for the Chinese wage slaves, pretty soon China will own the entire country and we'll all make less than a dollar a day!
This laptop costs more than some people make in a year.
Sell it, move to some poor country and live like a king?
When I graduate I will probably have a job that doesn't exist today
Dead zombie body disposer? Or did I miss the point here? Does this mean jobs are being created? Well why is that a problem?
*holds up a scantron sheet with a lot of writing and red ink on it* Filling this out won't help me get there.
Sure it will. If the only way to get the nonexistent job is to have a college degree and the only way to get a college degree is to pass tests and the only way to pass tests is to fill out a scantron sheet then filling it out does help you get a nonexistent job.
Or deal with *arrows pointing to signs that have real problems written on them like war and poverty*
Oh so the problems in school aren't the problems in the real world? I get it! Oh wait, I've been saying that since 6th grade! Why is this news?
I did not create the problems. But they are my problems
It's only your problem if you decide to make it your problem. There is always a choice, and ignoring these problems is one. Only problem with that is you can't complain about them later. So choose.
Some have suggested that technology alone can save us...
Who? Just saying "some" is pretty vague...
I face book through most of my classes
And I hope you fail them. Idiot
I bring my laptop to class but I'm not working on class stuff
This seems pretty redundant considering the last statement...my response remains the same.

The point of this video is to say that the current system or method of teaching is out dated and doesn't work...I respond with a quote from Whitehead:
"In the schools of antiquity philosophers inspired to impart wisdom, in modern college our humbler aim is to teach subjects." Alfred North Whitehead 1923.

Pictures

Ok...so I took some pictures of a road. I don't really know why, I guess I always liked streets and chutes, avenues...highways especially. I spent a lot of my time growing up on roads and am always able to let my mind open up and just think when I see them. I often think that there is some kind of connection streets and roads have, kind of like the whole six degrees of separation thing. Anyway my "process" of taking these pictures was more or less random. I walked out of my house, around my neighborhood for fifteen minutes until I found a street i thought I could do something with. My first shot was taken from the bottom of a hill

This one was taken with my tripod extended to full height. I like the way I mess with the angle and it makes the slope of the hill almost invisible, at least until the very end. But even so one can't tell that it's a hill I'm shooting, the road does almost appear to curve instead.
From there I went to the top of the hill for this image:

This one was shot from a low angle to hide the hill yet again, though not as successfully. I do like the triangle the trees create just off center on this one.
I was preparing to get a shot of the hill from a high angle on the tripod to reveal just how steep it is but then a car came turning onto it. I figured it would be a good idea to listen to Ballenger and attempt to run with the unexpected. So I took several shots at different zooms trying to follow the car until it was out of sight. The following is an edited group of  all the pictures taken while it drove down the hill.

As you can see another car joined the first on its trip downhill. With the higher angle on the tripod you can see a much steeper hill than before. I also like how the angle of the shot makes just two trees appear to be a canopy all the way down the hill and rest of the road.
The next two images are taken from an angle off of the road and higher up from the addition sign. I was trying to catch another traveling car as it was right in the cross of two trees...I didn't quite get it right the first time and the second time didn't work out either...

 

So after that I felt I kind of ran out of ideas of what to shoot for this road...and tried a low angle of the street that bordered it.

 

I like this one because of how low it is and the constant painting and repainting of the yellow line in the center paired with the angle makes it look somewhat distorted. Looking at it now I feel like an animal that has just been blinded by the headlights and is trying to cross the road still.  

I also tried to get a picture of this road from the border of someone people's back yards...It doesn't work out to well though.

 

You can't see the road from such a low angle so this was a bad shot and seems unrelated. But I do like the way the ditch slowly takes form before your eyes.

As luck would have it as I decided to start down the hill back home or in search of another photo opportunity a friend (Matt) happened to drive by, see me and stop. I talked to him for a minute before he offered me a ride home. Rather than do that inspiration...or insanity (which is which?)  struck and I straddled the closed door/open window of his car and told Matt to drive down the hill! I took the last few images while hanging the majority of my body outside of Matt's car while we sped down hill.

 

 

 

 

I think what I learned form this assignment is forget having a plan, just do stuff and let how awesome and random my life is lead to hilarious events with epic results. Or something about the importance of improv...I like my way of putting it better though...