brandon Miller Blog 15 Reflection.

Brandon Miller(s)
ENG103
Blog 15 Reflection.
If I were to see myself from a few months ago I would see pretty much the same thing but just a few changes. I that I am a little bit more mature than I once was those months ago. I have become a stronger student in terms of getting things done. I have done a lot to get rid of my laziness and procrastination, even if just a little. I have finished almost all of my assignments were as before there were a few of them I would miss, forget, or just did not do at all. Before I was skeletal and worried I would fail as soon as I stepped through those doors but now I stand a little taller and have a bit more confident in myself. I have a better understanding of what is required of me to succeed. I also now know how hard a writing course can be, and I fell a bit more prepared with what is to come to me in the coming years. I now Know I need to practice typing more often and that I really should give myself a little more credit than I do.
Before I was really prepared to meet new people and be myself, and now I am glad I did both of those things. I have had helpful teachers and advisers and met other people outside of the school who want to help me. I have also met many great peers how I am glad to call my friends. People Like Steven, Gio, Yumi, Juan, Hannah, Anji, Jeffery, Martain, Jazz, Sal, Hiro, Michele, Kevin, Teddy, Terrence, Yang, Nick, Garrick, Jose and Terrence. These guys helped me make it through the semester easily and I had a lot of fun talking to joking with them all.
And of course, I could not have made it without the guidance of my teachers, they helped me to understand the writing process, what was going on in the media and how it effects us, film techniques and the history of film. I learned a lot from these classes and I really like my teachers. I am able to look at my past self and say HA I have a laptop and you don’t ha, you want it? Well to bad you have to wait a few more weeks ha. I also can say I my parents where right and that College is not a big deal and there is nothing to be afraid of. And if I can do it, so can I.

Brandon Miller Major Research Paper.

Brandon Miller
11/16/10
Dr.Vasileiou
ENG103
Major Research Paper


New York city. To some, it is a smelly, filthy, rude, and crazy place. But to most of us who live here, only some of that is true. We also see so much more to it. Throughout history, many have either come up with what they think New York is like, but for the people who actually live in New York we know the truth. Such is true in films and other such mediums. They either go with what the truth of the New York is, or create their own version. In the case of the movie The Producers, the directors of the film try to keep it about their film and nothing else. They have a few things right about the times but for the most part it is almost as if the director went out of his way to make it not have anything to do with New York or even the world for that matter.
The Producers follows two men by the names of Max Bialstock and Leo Bloom. Max was once a great Broadway play producer, who has now fell on hard times with some of his more recent plays being flops. He is a bit of a con man, being that he tricks several old ladies into giving him money for his next big play, due to him not having any. He is constantly trying to convince others and himself of his great play writing powers. He is a bit of a brown noser and will convince others to do his biding. Leo Bloom, is tax accountant that is a bit strange. He gets very hyperactive over simple situations and carries a blue blanket he had since a child he uses to calm himself down. He is kind hearted and generally wants to do the right thing. When the duo first meet, Leo goes over Max's finance books and finds that there is $2,000 missing from his last play to which Max says he spent it on himself because the play was a flop anyway. Leo says this is fraud and he could go to jail, but Max is able to sweet talk Leo into making up the $2,000 from somewhere else. As he does this, he realizes that a producer can make more money from a flop than a hit. Hearing this of course, Max immediately plans to make a flop to make a lot of money. After treating Leo like a child to convince him to join him. (Literally, he takes him to the park to get a hotdog and go boat riding.) The two set at to make a surefire flop and run with the money.
They go through dozens and dozens of plays to find one that will fail, when they stumble across one entitled “Spring time for Hitler” A play about World War II and Hitler, that treats them as heroes. With it, they are sure to fail. They go about finding the writer Frank Liebkind, an actual German soldier now living in an apartment watching over a flock of pigeons on his roof. With his permission the three team up to make the play, with Frank unaware of Leo and Max's plot. Next, they set about gaining the money with Max once again coning old woman to giving him the money, which eventually turns out to be over 600% of what they needed for the play. Lastly they go to see a 'colorful' pair of men Roger De Bris and Carmen Ghia get actors for their production for the play. Roger is a transvestite who is trying to win a contest for wearing female clothing. He is strait forward, but has a bit of a short temper. Leo and Max try to convince him to help them find their Hitler for the film. They set up auditions and go through an entire day and lots of Hitler’s but in the end come up short. That is, until, a hippie named Lerenzo St. DuBois, also known as L.S.D. He has one ear ring on his right ear, thigh high boots, flowers, and a can of Campbell soup as a necklace around his neck. He says 'baby in a lot of his sentences and even sings a song about his flowers and peace. The group instantly hires him on to play Hitler. As the play is being prepared Max takes the time to celebrate his definite successes as he starts buying a fancy new suit and a female Polish assistant. Leo warns him not to spend too much money, just in case the play turns out to be a hit, but Max won't hear any of it and continues to smoke his expensive cigar. Finally, the play is ready for opening night and if all goes well, it will close half way through. Max bribes one of the reviewers who wont accept it to finish the deal. The curtain rises and the play starts with a song about Germany coming to power with such great lines like “Look out, here comes the master race.” and “Spring time for Hitler and Germany. Winter for Poland and France.” and “Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party.” Rather understandably, people start to leave and grow upset with such an offensive play. No one cheers when it is over. It looks like smooth sailing for Leo and Max.

Until.

LSD comes on stage and starts acting like a 'Hippie Hitler' the crowed loves it and decided to stay with it. Leo and Max come to the office to find many positive reviews and congratulations. With the successes of the film, Leo and Max get desperate and decide to blow up the theater. But things go wrong and they end up getting caught and thrown in jail. Now in prison, they still decide to stay together and try to make a new play.
The movie show cased New York and America in generally calm and happy time. The real 1968 however, was nothing like this for there were assassination, riots, protests, and war. None of these aspects are disused let alone mentioned. In the movie, the city is very clean and the people, while some are quite the character, are for the most part going about their day as if nothing is going on at all out of the ordinary. When in reality New York has its hands full with the amount of chaos going on.
For one thing. America was in the middle of a war in Vietnam. A war in which many citizens protested about, saying we had no business being there to begin with. Many started to riot in the streets. Many people, mainly Hippies, tried to convince those for the war to 'Give peace a chance'. That the world was to violent as is. But unfortunately, due in part to that many hippies where doing on illicit substances or another, many choose to ignore them or say they were just freeloaders. With war reaching its mid way point of the war and has taken many lives, the people were becoming more angry and wanted it to end soon.
Another thing was the assassination of both Martian Luther King Jr, and Robert F. Kennedy. MLK was the leader of the civil rights movements for African Americans. There were many African Americans trying to gain equal rights and were struggling to get respect. There were speeches, marches, violence and police brutality and just general chaos. When MLK was assassinated, this caused an uproar, not only in New York but all over America. Crime increased in New York as there were more break ins and vandalism. There was a large cry for justice felt all throughout the nation.
The other major assassination of the year was Robert F Kennedy, who was shot after winning the primary for becoming the next presidential candidate for the democrats. His body was laid in New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral for people to mourn until it was later buried. It was because of his death that they created the secret service.
The movie however does not cover any of these topics. It stays focused on the plot and nothing else. But it probably was because they wanted it that way. With the time period the film takes place in, being in the middle of the war with Vietnam, they could have very easily done the same topic of the play but have it focused on that war, rather than the second world war. The play would have been easier for the audience of both the play and the movie to connect to. But they most likely decided to avoid any touchy subjects, and with World War II over for twenty years, it would have been easier and less risky.
But the film does do a good job of showing a realistic view of how much money people had during that time. The average home costs about $26,000 with the average salary being around the $7,743. However it is different with a play producer because it comes down to how much money they need for the play and how long the play runs for. Ironically, only about 10% of plays and musical on Broadway make any money so it was really interesting that they decided to make a flop anyway. But even so their movie ended up being one of the lucky successes, unfortunately for them. ( http://www.1960sflashback.com/1968/economy.asp )
According to ( http://www.1960sflashback.com/1968/economy.asp ) the average cost of living was still pretty cheap. A full gallon of milk cost $1.07 and a gallon of regular gas cost $0.34. When combined with the fact that the average cost of living was around $7,743, it is possible to consider the fact that living in terms of income was due able.
Another change was at the end. When Frank finds out what a mockery Max has made of his beloved Fuhrer, he goes on a rampage and tries’ to shoot down Leo and Max in their office. After he calms down a bit, the three of them set out to blow up the theater to prevent the show from continuing, with failed results. However, if this were to actually happen, it would have not have come that far. After Martian Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy's assassinations, the governments called for stricter gun control laws, and set up ways prevent just anyone from getting a fire arm. It would have been much harder for him to have that gun to begin with. Not only that, but it would have been impossible for him to get any kind of dynamite.
Another huge event that happened in New York was the huge spike in crime in New York in 1968. According to ( http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/nycrime.htm ) there was a huge increase in crimes from 1967 to 1968. In 1967 the numbers of deaths was around 996 and with the last two years bring around 880, the jump was not that significant. But in 1968 the murder rate was 1,185 a 200 person increase from 1967. But murder was not the only jump; there was also an increase in lots of other crimes. Robbery went up from 40,202 in 1967 to a huge 59,857 and assault rose from 31,261 to 34,946. But probably the biggest jump was in burglary. In 1967 the number of burglarizes was around 219,157 but in 1968 that number skyrocketed to 250,918. The reason for these large spikes in crimes is over the death of Martin Luther King Jr. Many people were outraged and many acts of violence such as the riots in Washington D.C., Louisiana and Chicago had a big impact on the rest of America including New York. ( http://brainz.org/riots/ )
Also many people took the news differently and acted upon those almost as if to fit in. White children and adults were hoping he really was dead once they first heard the news. While African Americans tended to hit any white men/women who said anything wrong about his death. There was mixed emotions during one of the speeches given after his death as well. (http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/what_it_was_lik.php ) As well with the fact that .
But the movie does not talk about any of these things what so ever. There is no hint of turmoil or social distress anywhere in the movie in terms of society. There is no talk of the war or politics or poor living conditions or even racism. In fact there are no African Americans in the film at all not even on the side. The movie stays focused on the Leo and Max as they try to get this scam to work. It is an escapes film for the sole purpose of teaching the world to laugh again. With all of the violence death and hate going on around the world and America it was nice to have a film that takes away their worry if only for a few hours.
However the movie does acutely portray one of its traits accurately with New York. According to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:hippie&sa=X&ei=RKzyTMPFJcP98Aavu7inDA&ved=0CBcQkAE ) A hippie is “ someone who rejects the established culture; advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle.” Hippie's had a philosophy of spreading peace and love and so where against the Vietnam War and believed strongly in peace and love and would carry flowers as a sing of peace. In 1968 the theme of the hippie moved down to the youth of America decided to join in on the craze and dress and act like hippies to the point where it was now mainstream. These young hippies or “Yippies” went down to Grand Central Station. 3,000 of them went down to get more attention from the media, and to show the world they were serious about their believes. About 61 of them were arrested. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie#Revolution_.281967.E2.80.931970.29 ) a lot of hippies were found of using drugs such as Marijuana and LSD. It said they took these drugs in order to calm themselves and to see the big picture of the universe and bring about a sense of unity and connection to others ( http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_hippies_do_drugs ) ( http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_drug_did_hippies_do )
The movie does a great job of showcasing the hippie and their believes. In the movie L.S.D is first seen singing about peace and how the government destroyed his peace and his flower. His friends called him his name is Lorenzo St. Dubois, but is called LSD, a common used drug used among Hippies. He has long hair which was a long boots which were common styles for hippies to future remove themselves from the establishment. Hippies were becoming a bigger and bigger trend and many people not only in New York but around the world as well. He uses hippie slang in the play such as “You're putting me on.” was slang for your lying to me. He has a laid back and calm approach to life. The movie shows all of the aspects of the hippie during that time with how they lived and behaved towards other and them self's.
The Producers is clearly an escapist movie. With the rise in death's and assassinations, inflation and war, civil rights or lack thereof, riots and rise in crime, drugs being everywhere, and hippies on the rise, living in the city were hard on everyone. They needed a movie that could put their minds at ease and have them forget what was going on outside in New York. It was created to make people laugh and smile and that's all it does. It focuses solely on its plot, story, and characters with only a few real world references. It is a very good film that does its job very well.



Sources
(http://www.1960sflashback.com/1968/economy.asp )
(http://www.answers.com/topic/gun-control-act-of-1968 )
(http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/nycrime.htm )
( http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_did_hippies_do_drugs ) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_drug_did_hippies_do )
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie#Revolution_.281967.E2.80.931970.29 )
( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&defl=en&q=define:hippie&sa=X&ei=RKzyTMPFJcP98Aavu7inDA&ved=0CBcQkAE )
( http://brainz.org/riots/ )
( http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2010/04/what_it_was_lik.php )

Blog 14: Draft of ENG 103 Research Paper

Brandon Miller
11/16/10
Dr.
ENG103
Major Research Paper


New York, to some, it is a smelly, filthy, rude, and crazy place. But to most of us only some of that is true, but we also see so much more to it. Through out history, many have either come up with what they think New york is like, but for the people who actually live in New York know what the truth of New york living is really like. Such is true in films and other such mediums. They either go with what is the truth of the New york or create their own version. In the case of the movie The Producers, the director decided to keep it authentic for the most part, with only a few exasperation of some aspects of New York live. The Film does a good job of showing the social aspect but leaves some things out.
The Producers follows two men by the names of Max Bialstock and Leo Bloom. Max was once a great Broadway play producer, who as now fell on hard times with some of his more recent films being flops. He is a bit of a con man, being that he tricks several old ladies into giving him money for his next big play, due to him not having any. He is constantly trying to convince others and himself of his great play writing powers. He is a bit of a brown noser and will convince others to do his biding. Leo Bloom, is tax accountant that is a bit strange. He gets very hyper over simple situations and carries a blue blanket he had since a child he uses to calm himself down. He is kind hearted and generally wants to do the right thing. When the duo first meet, Leo goes over Max's finance books and find that there is $200 missing from his last play to which Max says he spent it on himself because the play was a flop anyway. Leo says this is fraud and he could go to jail, but Max is able to sweet talk Leo into making up the $200 from some where else As he does this he relises that a producer can make more money from a flop than a hit. Hearing this of course Max immediately plans to make a flop to make a lot of money. And after treating Leo like a child to convince him to join him. (Literally, he takes him to the park to get a hotdog and go boat riding.) The two set at to make a surefire flop and run with the money. They go through dozens and dozens of plays to find one that will fail, when they stumble across one entitled “Spring time for Hitler” A movie about World War II and Hitler, they are sure to fail. They go about finding the writer Frank Liebkind, an actual German soldier now living in an apartment watching over a flock of pigeons on his roof. With his permission the three team up to make the movie, with Frank unaware of Leo and Max's plot. Next, they set about gaining the money with Max once again coning old woman to giving him the money, which eventually turns out to be over 600% of what they needed for the play. Lastly they go to see a 'colorful' pair of men Roger De Bris and Carmen Ghia get actors for their production for the play. Roger is a transvestite who is trying to win a contest for wearing female clothing. He is strait forward, but has a bit of a short temper. Leo and Max talk convince him to help them find their Hitler for the film. They set up auditions and go through an entire day and lots of Hitlers but in the end come up short. That is, until, a hippie named Lerenzo St. DuBois, also known as L.S.D. He has one ear ring on his right ear, tghie high boots, flowers, and a can of Campbell soup as a necklace around his neck. He says 'baby in a lot of his sentences and even sings a song about his flowers and peace. The group instantly hire him on to play Hitler. As the play is being prepared Max takes the time to celebrate his definitely successes as he starts buying a fancy new and a female Polish assistant. Leo warns him not to spend too much money, just in case the play turns out to be a hit, but Max won't hear any of it and continues to smoke his exspensive cigar. Finally, the play is ready for opening night and if all goes well, it will close half way through. Max bribes one of the reviewers who want accept it to finish the deal. The curtain rises and the play starts with a song about Germany coming to power with such great lines like “Look out, here comes the master race.” and “Spring time for Hitler and Germany. Winter for Poland and France.” and “Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Nazi party.” Rather understandably, people start to leave and grow upset with such an offensive play. No one cheers when it is over. It looks like smooth sailing for Leo and Max.

Until.

LSD comes on stage and starts acting like a 'Hippie Hitler' The crowed loves it and decided to stay with it. Leo and Max come to the office to find many positive reviews and congratulations. With the successes of the film, Leo and Max get desperate and decide to blow up the theater. But things go wrong and they end up getting caught and thrown in jail. Now in prison, they still decide to stay together and try to make a new play.
The movie show cased New york, and America in generally calm and happy time. The real 1968 however, was nothing like this for every. Assassination, riots, protests, war. None of these aspects are disused let alone mentioned. In the movie, The city is very clean and the people, while some are quite the character, are for the most part going about their day as if nothing is going on at all out of the ordinary. When in reality New York is dealing with inflation, assassination, riots and war.
For one thing. America was in the middle of a war in Vietnam. A war in which many citizens protested about, saying we had no business being there to begin with. Many started to riot in the streets. Many people, mainly Hippies, tried to convince those for the war to 'Give peace a chance'. That the world was to violent as is. But unfortunately, due in part to that many hippies where doing on illicit substances or another, many choose to ignore them or say they were just freeloaders. With war reaching it's mid way point of the war and has taken many lives, the people were becoming more angry and wanted it to end soon.
Another thing was the assassination of both Martian Luther King Jr, and Robert F. Kennedy. MLK was the leader of the civil rights movements for African Americans. There were many African Americans trying to gain equal rights and were struggling to get respect. There were speeches, marches, violence and police brutality and just general chaos. When MLK was assassinated, this caused an uproar, not only in New York but all over America. Crime increased in New york as there were more break ins and and vandalism. There was a large cry for justice felt all through out the nation.
The other major assassination of the year was Robert F Kennedy, who was shoot after winning the primary for becoming the next presidential candidate for the democrats. His body was laid in New York at St. Patrick's Cathedral for people to mourn until it was later buried. It was because of his death that they created the secret service.
With the trials African American's had to go through to get their equal rights, many woman decide to strike while the iron and tried to gain rights for themselves. Mainly in trying to gain the right to vote. Many woman died during this time in order to help liberate woman from the shackles of oppression.
The movie however does not cover any of these topics. It stays focused on the plot and nothing else. But it probably was because they wanted it that way. With the time period the film, being in the middle of the Vietnam, they could have very easily done the same topic of the play but have it focused on that war, rather than the second world war. The play would have been easier for the audience of both the play and the movie to connect to. But they most likely decided to avoid any touchy subjects, and with world war II over for twenty years, it would have been easier and less risky.
But the film does do a good job of showing a realistic view of how much money people had during that time. The average home costs about $26,000 with the average salary being around the $7,743. How ever it is different with a play producer because it comes down to how much money they need for the play and how long the play runs for. Ironically, only about 10% of plays and musical on Broadway make any money so it was really interesting that they decided to make a flop anyway. But even so their movie ended up being on of the lucky successes, unfortunately for them.
Another change was at the end. When Frank finds out what a mockery Max has made of his beloved Fuhrer, he goes on a rampage and try's to to shoot down Leo and Max in their office. After he calms down a bit, the three of them set out to blow up the theater to prevent the show from continuing , with failed results. However, if this were to actually happen, it would have not have come that far. After Martian Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy's assassinations, the government called for stricter gun control laws, and set up ways prevent just anyone from getting a fire arm. It would have been much harder for him to have that gun to begin with. Not only that, but it would have been impossible for him to get any kind of dynamite.

Blog 13 Minorty Report Response

Brandon Miller
11/13/10
ENG 101
Blog #13 Minority Report response.



Those who would trade freedom for their protection deserve neither. This quote by Benjamin Franklin speaks volumes. Unfortunately, that volume is not loud enough for the people of the movie Minority Report. For the citizens and the movie have found it completely acceptable to have the government and even business to know where you are, what you are doing, and even have teenagers peer into the future and know what you will do before you yourself know. Granted they have been successful in eliminating all murder in Washington DC for over the last six years but the thought of privacy, and even freewill have now become a myth rather then standered. It may have thought it sounded like a good idea, but as they say, the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
Due to an alarming rise in homicides, and other such crimes, the government has been forced to step in to remedy the situation. With the creation of pre-crime, they have been able to stop the act of a murder before it can be committed. While this sounds like a full prove plan with being able to see in to future and intervene there are problems. One such problem is, what if the the future is wrong, and the killer ended up not killing anyone at all. The government would have arrested someone who was innocent. Another problem would be the people who are allowed to see these futures. Granted they do it to prevent a maraud but what right do they have in doing so? What if the person that was about to be killed was a cereal rapist, or even a mob boss. Granted they are still killing someone but it could have been for the grater good, even if the chances of that are slim. Another problem is that they have no right going in to our business to know these things. When I was a child my sister brought up a good point that I still stick with to this day. One of the worst most offensive super power a person can have is to look into a persons mind and see and look at what they are thinking. The mind and imagination is the last and only real free realm of man left. Even if you live for example in a country where they limit the freedom of speech, and the press can't write what they want, no one can stop you from thinking it and expressing it in their thoughts. You might not be able to kill your boss but you can hit him/her over the head repeatedly with a rusty pipe in your mind. That said, how dare you try to look in to MY future and make the destination on what I will do next. It is MY life and I will do with it as I please. It is different when someone try's to calm some one down when they are angry while it is happening and then they change their mind, that's fine. But when you have the preset knowledge of exactly what I will do and then you take the decision completely out of my hands, that is a serious violation. If anyone should have the knowledge of what is going to happen in the future it should be the people involved and then they should make the decision not pre-crime.
Another such violation is is the constant scanning of a persons eyes. This is to know who goes where, which was probably a first attempt to stop the crime. Instead of having cameras everywhere where you might not see the person who committed the crime, you scan the eyes and know who and where everyone is. To be honest, I don't know which is worse, the fact that the government thought of this and out is in to effect, or the fact that the people have just accepted this and let it be. The government can now have complete accesses to anyone's where at just about any given time. They know when you go the supermarket, to mall, they even know when you go to McDonald to go stuff your face. There are two major problems with this. The first being that the government has absolutely no right to do invade someones privacy like this. Some may argue that with the share amount of people residing in the United States, the government and security agents are probably only focusing on on about sixty percent of Americans. So as long as you are not doing something to noticeable it is fine, right? Wrong. For starts who is in charge of checking this information, it can just go to anyone, it might fall in the wrong hands. Do not be fooled, just because someone is given a title a human is still a human and all the faults that come with it. They can still make mistakes, they can still misuse their power. That being said, can you imagination what someone could do with ALL the information on any given person, passports, social security, birthday and birth place, and now they know where they like to go. Depending on that they can do some serious damage do a person. The other major problem is that if government is willing to do this, and the people just accept it, when does it stop. Will we just accept any thing the government does, Maybe in the future, the government will create a device that even knows when you go to the bathroom and even can tell what how did and measure your...leavings. Or they will install a device that knows what your are thinking, saying, and doing at all times of the day.
Actually,come to think of it, this future is not to far off from what America is like today, In fact it is very, very similar to how we live now. With the creation of the credit/debit and the internet, and anything else electronic, It is so easy to track and find out who you are and what you are doing. When you buy something with a credit/debit card, that information is stored on the website, and is logged down and saved. You can check what you brought at anytime you had it. The government can find out had a whooper jr and large fries at burger King on August forth, 2002, even if you don't remember. And lets not forget the internet, any information you put on it can be found out by the government. Heck the government can check what I posted here on this site, granted I am giving away this info on a free site and anyone can see it. What about Google maps and Google earth You can figure out about where a person lives and what it is like around that area. It is like a Stalkers wet dream come true.
Have we become so lazy as citizens that we just accept anything the government says is 'for our benefit' and not only challenge it, but not even question it? How long are we going to use the excuse that 'They are the government and we can not do any thing about. They should not forget, we appointed them to power meaning we think they can do a good job. We gave them that power and we can take it away if they don't do a good job. Just like our teachers they work for us to get a pay check so we should get everything we ask for in an education, if we need help or need something to change we should confront them on it.

Brandon Miller Special Project. MOMI Activity

Brandon Miller
11/09/10
Special Project. MOMI Activity


During our trip to the museum of the moving image, we saw the evolution and progression of movies, film, and the human eye. We started out on the third floor with the start of the production to see a picture move. We saw a wheel with multiple pictures next to a mirror, when it spun we were able to see all the pictures quickly to give it a n appearance that it was moving. We saw the same thing with the spinning hand clay thing and when the light kept blinking we saw it move. As we delved deeper in to the heart of the movie we say early penny arcades and then we saw the slow progression of the first video camera. What was funny about that is that I actually took a video using my camera of all the old cameras. It interesting because almost all the cameras were bigger, heaver and in most cases could not record in color. Meanwhile, my camera fit in my pocket, could take hours of footage and pics, and took only a hours minutes to charge. We then moved deeper to see some of the first editing devices and how they where used, we didn't see to many of these so we moved to the next thing. The next thing we saw were the first early T.V.'s the first view were huge and bulky and black and white, but they came up with smaller more clever cabinets to not only store the t.v but other devices such as radios and such. On the other side of the T.V displays were the the early projection devices to take the movie on the go. As we progressed down to the lower level, we saw how the actors played a bigger part in the latter years and were even given toys and other merchandise based off of them and even given magazine articles. So the reason of the museum for the layout was to show the way that the moving image slowly advanced over the years, from multiple pictures spinning, to HD 3D mega blockbusters that last 3 hours the museum did a great job of showing it evolve and grow.

Blog # 12 Major Research Paper Outline

Brandon Miller
10/8/10
ENG101
Blog # 12 Major Research Paper Outline

My film is The Producers. It is a film about a Broadway play that is supposed to be bad. The film was created in 1968 and gives no indication on being set in a different time period so I will assume it takes place in 1968. My main topic will probably be on the Broadway aspect off the film and how the movie portrayed it in terms of production quality sets and costumes based on the time period. Also the style of clothing choices, car's, cleanliness of the city (the movie showed as being very clean.) and also how certain personality were shown, (The “hippie and homosexual.) I will close off with showing if a movie of that caliber could have been created based on subject matter and if it could have been financed, and money in general.

Blog # 11 Media Mid-term.

Brandon Millers
ENG 101
10/31/10
Blog # 11
mid term

To call the Halo franchise a game is doing it a grave injustice. It is not just a game, it is a phenomena. One that has reached out to every corner of the world. Even if you hate the game, there is just no denying the fact it has had a huge impact on games, the gaming industry, and gamers all over the world. It has spawned six games, an anime series, several books, live action commercials, machinama, comics and graphic novels, tournaments, and a number of other merchandise. It has clearly evolved above the title of a game.
Bungie game studios started out with one guy making games in his basement in collage. That guy___ started out by creating games for the MAC. His first game was a Pong clone he called Gnop. (Pong spelled backwards.) Soon other students heard and played his game and wanted to join in, and with that Bungie slowly picked up steam. As time went on, the team picked up more members and got started on their next project. Pathways, a game also for the MAC, was also a first person shooter/RPG (Role playing game.) It was the first serious title the team worked on and the first time doing a first person shooter. The game was meet with great reviews and was a hit. It received a few awards such as MAC world game of the year. People loved it for the game play and plot. With the money earned from the game, the team was finally able to get out of the basement and into buying their first real office for business.
Not letting the money, success, or fame get to their heads the team got started on their next big projects, and probably the biggest step foreword to making Halo. The next game they created, was also for the MAC. The game was a massive hit getting many awards and lots of money. It still has a large fan base even to this day. The game was a hit for its graphics and game play, but what really made it huge was two major factors.
One was that it a a very good plot and story. Unlike many first person shooters that came before it, Marathon didn't just feature some random nobody the player had no attachment to, nor did it just give a gun and a wave and tell you “Have fun killing these guys for whatever reason.” Marathon had a nice plot and story with some interesting twists. It showed that games could be more than just mindless fun, or have violence for violence's sake. It really draw the player in. And even though some argue that the plot may not be the best, it did lay the foundation for other games soon to come such as Half-Life, and Dues Ex, two other wildly popular first person shooter titles that are will known for their plot and game play.
The other major turning point was the games online play, or network play. Online play is basically just like the internet. Instead of having to be right next two your friend in order to play with them, you connected with them by opening a 'room' and having them join you and play form across the street, the state or the country. While Marathon was not the first game to feature online play to the people, it was one of the first, FPS (First person shooter) to do so. But it was not famous for being the first, it was famous for being really fun and addictive. It was a very fun and easy game to pick up and play, and with the ability to play with any one in the country, ( World wide play had not yet been introduced.) It guaranteed that some one some where would be playing, even in the wee hours of the morning.
Finally in 2001, Bungie released their master piece to the world. Halo combat evolved was released for the original Xbox to a crowed of eager fans. With so much hype built up on it everyone was wondering if it would deliver. It did. The game had it all, vehicles cool weapons, aliens, both fully functional indoor and outdoor combat, stunning graphics, great characters and voice overs, and a huge and compelling, griping story that continues to this day. Fans and critics ate it up and Halo soon received many awards including the game of the year award from the official Xbox magazine. It got to the point where people where buying an Xbox, just so they could get and play Halo. One common thing to do was that people would pack up their Xboxs drive down to their friends houses and and play there with up to 16 other people.
The game helped to change gears in the gaming world. For a long time, computer games where looked to as being the dominant gaming device. Many did not believe that a counsel game could ever preform on the same level of the PC or Mac, especially when it came to first person shooters. . But when Halo came out it really changed peoples opinions. It preformed great with very few load times between game play which some games on the computer could not boast. It also inspired games that came after it, to have many different types of both land and air.
But these changes were not the only things that helped change the video game market. Halo changed a lot for the games not only first person shooters but really all games. For example, before Halo, first person shooters would allow the player to carry all the weapons of the game all at the same time. Halo limited the amount to any two weapons, by doing this, it increased difficulty and forced the player to come up with new strategies and ways to defeat the enemy. Many games started to do this such as Resistance 2, the Call of duty series, The Gears of War series and many others. One very famous thing they changed was the addition of regenerating shields. When the character took to much damage before, they would have to find a health pack to stay in the game. What Halo did to change this now when the player took to much damage they could seek cover away from the enemy and then their shields would charge on their own. Many, many games have since followed this example in not only first person shooters but other ganeras as well. Such examples included all the games previously mentioned as well games like Mirror's edge, Just Cause, Infamous, Uncharted, and a whole slew of over games. Halo helped change a lot in the gaming community.
But it did not stop there. With the rise of its popularity, many people would become so good that they started barging about it. Rather than let this go unchallenged, a man named Sundance DiGovanni decided to take it to the next level. He created MLG or Major League Gaming. It was to be a tournament for people around the country and even the world to show the world they could walk the walk and talk the talk. There had been a few gaming tournaments in the past but they were only for PC and MAC gaming, MLG was the first gaming tournament for the console and only console games. At first the only game for awhile was Halo but as the tournament grew so did the number of games, but even after eight years since its creation, Halo still remains to be the main game of choice and a good thing to. At first when the tournament was looked at then and many thought it was a joke, some thought it would only last one tournament. But as they kept going and using Halo as their main game, it grew in size and followers. Soon they where given sponsors and able to give out prizes such as up two $250,000 in cold hard cash. (And here you taught that gaming would get you nowhere in life.)
But probably one of Halos greatest achievements, was one that the creators never planed for or had any thing to do with. Halo created machinama. Machinama is a compound word of machine and cinema. That is to say a movie or film that is created inside of a video game. It is done by using special capture cards in a computer that hook up to a video game console (assuming it has output capability's.) Then taking a cord and plugging it up to the T.V. By doing this, you are able to record what is being done on the T.V. And then put it on your computer. Then, using various software on the computer, you can edit it to your liking, add music and sound. Write your own story's and characters, or change something in the original game, and then upload it to the internet for all to see.
The first machinama was created using Halo. It's called Red vs Blue the blood Gulch Chronicles and was created by Rooster teeth. The team again started out with two guys in a small room with an idea. What would video games be like if you played them... while drunk! It was, of course, a strange idea, but one that led on to something bigger. The site surprisingly was a bigger hit then they thought. It featured comical videos of guys playing games while drunk laughing and having a good time. But eventually the site came under fire with lawsuits and was eventually shutdown. Then a representative from Computer Gaming World, came up to the team and asked them if they could use one of the their videos for a demo CD showcasing some of their games. The rooster teeth team agreed to this, but decided instead of showing them one of their old videos they would come up with something new while using Halo. They rolled a couple of ideas around in their heads, first coming up with a cop based theam but decided against it. Then they came up with a hunting show and soup opera but those two where scraped. Finally after much thought, they decided on a war based comedy.
And thus Red VS. Blue was born. The team at first thought it would not catch on but it did. Red vs. Blue is one the longest running and well known machinama. Spawning over nine seasons and continues on to this day after seven years and over nine seasons. It is also one of the only other machinama that was given permission from the owners of the game to make and sale DVD's, T-shirts, comics and other merchandise, So far there is no other machinama series that is allowed to do this due to licensing issues.
Although it was the first, Red vs. Blue was not the last machinama series. Many more inspiring art and film directors wanting to get a start turned to making machinama. Because it was easy and cheap to do, many people started to turn to it to show others their talent. It soon grew to a point to were a web site was soon created, simply known as Machinama.com. There, just about anyone could upload their videos and clips of any kind of machinama from any game for all to see all under one roof.
With the creation of Youtube.com, it was a no brainier for the the website to move into a new more popular home. It proved to be a very smart decision as the machinama youtube page turned in to a massive hit. It is the third most popular channel on youtube with over, 61,000,000 channel views, 1.400,000 subscribers, 11,800 videos, and over 1,500,000,000 video views. Yes that is over one billion views billion with a B.
With its incredible successes they decided to make a few spin off channels on youtube including machinama re-spawn an area where anyone can upload their game play moves and strategy, and also machinama realm, machinama trailer vault, and machinama sports. It was clear that machinama was growing in popularity and showed no real signs of slowing down. So much so that Gamestop, the largest game selling company in America, stared using it to promote games they were selling and special deals. It just keeps growing.
Bungie saw what was happening the machinama scene and noticed an interesting trend, most of the time a machinama was made, it was ether using Halo one or Halo two, They figured that this was because it was easy do due this with and the fact that since you never saw the character it was easy to pretend it was someone else. So for the next game they did something that would change both the video game world and machinama world all in one go. For Halo three, decided to do two things never fully realized in a console game, but would continue to be done even to this day. The first was a theater mode. It was a chance view and save a game a player did and watch it again when ever they felt like it. The player could also make small clips of a certain part of the game, take a picture of a epic moment, see what others were doing in the game, and even upload it for other people in the game. While this was essentially nothing new for the computer gamer, it was huge and never before done on a weaker console game. But not only was it on a console it did it even better than most computer games. The seconded big thing they did was introduce forge. A mode where a player could change rearrange and edit an already existing map and level on te game to his or her liking. Againe this was nothing new to the computer gamers but it was something huge for the console because no one thought it could be done.
Soon many games started to add these features to their games. Game such as Street fighter four allowed a player to safe a fight they had only and upload it. Little big Planet's whole game revolved around giving the player the complete control and freedom to create any kind of level they wanted and share them with any one.
Another change was the huge was that not only did they make games but all sorts of other mediums. They created nine books a small comic collection and graphic novel and even had a short anime movie. While Halo was certainly not the first to do this, for awhile, many games had stop doing this. For there had been a few others to do this, for awhile it stopped and when a game did make it to other medias, it was usually in a movie such as Tomb Raider. When Halo picked up this trait again it went all out, with now a few games doing this such as Dead Space having a comic and mini movie, Gears of War, having several comics and a short novel.
To deny Halo of it's fame is wrong, it has evolved into a major media and cultural event. It is hard to go up to a person or gamer ask them if they have heard of Halo, and have the answer be no. With what it has done to the gaming industry and with the creation of machinama, it has been a great influence to the media and the industry. Even to this day Halo continues to inspire and create new things for the industry. Truly it is the most influential game of all time.





http://www.bungie.net/

Machinima web http://www.youtube.com/user/machinima

“Red vs Blue” web http://roosterteeth.com/home.php

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

"Reach (Halo Rap Video)." http://www.youtube.com. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

“Halo's reach.” Official Xbox Magazine. Fall 2010: ½. Print

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/default.htm

"Halo Ep. 1: All Your History S1E1 (Game Development History) ." Youtube.com. Web. 17 Oct 2010.

blog # 9 Eassy # 2 revise.

Brandon Miller
10/26/10
Blog # 9 Essay # 2 Revise


The definition of an American hero is someone who is strong, brave, honest,and is willing to help anyone for the greater good. They put their lives on the line to help a person only because they want to help. They do not do this for a reward but to help the lives of every American. That is what it means to be an 'All American hero'. The definition of an actual hero is completely different. One that the movie Hero points out very well.
The movie takes the focus of Bernie Laplant. He is a local lowlife who before we even hear him talk, we see him in court on trial and stealing money from his own lawyer. He is divorced , forgets his sons name and age, and when he finally does see him he teach him to steal and tells him to only look out for himself. He lies a lot and gets fired from his job because he comes in late to many times and comes up with excuses all the time. Even when a plane crashes in front of him he is still reluctant to do anything to help. He worries about his shows getting messed up in the water and puts them away for safe keeping. He slowy goes through the water until he gets to the jammed door. Even then he struggles, telling the passengers they need to push harder. To top it all of, he, a perfectly fine uninjured man, almost refuse to help save the rest of the people inside until a boy asks him to safe his father.
But even for all of his faults, does this make him any less of a hero? He is not seen as what an all American Hero is seen to be. He is far from honest and cares little for anyone outside of himself. But regardless, for whatever the motive may be he still pulled those people out and saved 54 lives. No matter how selfish the reason may be.
It is because of this that we as Americans need to expand our definition of a hero. A hero is not born, nor can he really be made. A hero in essences is really a person who was at the right place at the right time and had the courage and knowledge to know what to do and actually do it. There is no heroic gene in your DNA and it does not course through your veins. The closets you can come to training to be a hero is in the army or police force. But even then training to do something and actually doing it are two different things. You might lock up or get scared when faced with the actual thing. That could costs someones life and maybe even your own.
A hero does not even have to be someone who is strong ether. About a year ago, a man saw a suspicious van parked outside, he called the cops and they were able to find out there was a bomb in the car and they where able to defuse it. How much upper body strength do you need to pick up a phone and dial nine one one? That disproves the fact that a hero needs to be strong. It also shows you do not need to be to intelligent either. Another example is the time a child pulled another kid out of the water and gave him CPR, which he learned to do after watching an episode of SpongeBob Squarepants. The kid was no older than seven and yet he was able to save another from drowning. There is no age requirement to being a hero either. Not falling under the stereotype that an adult is the only one who can preform a heroic act.
A hero is a person who see's a situation and decides to help. There is no right or wrong hero. It is not gender, age, or race specific. Any one person is capable of doing any a great thing. All we have do to is have the courage to do so.

blog # 10 gattaca response

Brandon Miller
10/21/10
Blog # 10 Gattgaaca response


Old school or new school? Modern or contemporary? Old fashioned or new wave?


Perfect or normal?


In a world were you can have the perfect little girl, smart, charming, perfect manners, blond hair and blue eyed, an excellent cook and care giver, motherly, without any disease. Would you you do it? If you could have the perfect young man, wise and strong, a great atahlate, able to solve any problem, destroy any obstical, would you do it? If it meant having your child grown, and not conceived, have them be made in a lab and not in God's loving hands, would you do it? Is it better this way or the old way? For years man has turned it's back on God, turning to science instead. They choose to go with what can be explained and if it can't be proven, it is not true. Now man sets about trying to correct “God's mistakes.” make the perfect ideal human being. One with no flaws, no disease, no accidents. But at what cost, when do we say enough is enough, when are we no longer human?
That is what the movie Gattaca and the aritical Man on the Moon, try to explain. A world where we can grow a human to be perfect. But what happens to the other humans, the ones that are not created in such a way, the humans that are grown, the old fashioned way? Would they accept the new, perfect humans? Would the perfect humans accept the regular ones.
From the movie's stand point, a human who is grown is the ideal child. The ones who are born are looked down upon for their inferiority. The ones who are born will probably not get the same job or treatment as the ones who are grown. After all, why choose the normal one when you can choose the one who is incapable of making a mistake? I think if the movie were to continue, it would have gotten worse for the normal humans.
When the director died they sweeped the area for any possible genetic possibility for a suspect. As soon as they found someone who was not grown, he is considered an invalid, and is instantly considered to be the killer. Once they have that, they immediately start an investigation on this guy because he was born. They line up a bunch of them and if they try to run they grab him and trow him near his car. What if this behavior continued? What if the grown humans decided that the born humans inferiority was a threat that needed to be 'dealt with'
But the same can be said about the ones who are born. Look at X-men for example. The humans hated and feared the others to the point of calling them 'Mutants' They beat them, say they are a plage that needs to be cured, round them up and trow them in jail or worse, do theses horrible experiments on them. All because they were born differently.
That is another problem the movie pulls up. The people judge others because of how they were born. I think this is a horrible way to judge a person. They had no choice in how they were born, no say in it what so ever. It was completely up to the parents and there for them that should be judged. The only crime or wrong doing the child had in that case was being born. Judgment should be placed on a persons actions, ideals and character. Not on something that they had absolutely no control or say over.
Another point is the fact at how the government will treat this. When ever a government comes up with a new invention or idea the first thing, the very first thing they think about is how this can be used as a weapon. Can you even fathom how horrible a situation that will be if we ever found out how to grow a human? Imagine a soldire that we can grow to the peak of physical strength,who never gets tired, fights even when in great pain, faster, stronger, smarter, more obedient, always focused on the mission. A soldier that will fight at all costs. Growing canon fodder. The reason we as citizens have the right to bear arms is for the poupuse of if the government went out of control we could defend ourselves. How could we possibly defend against a limitless army far more powerful than a human ever could be. And what could we do if the country that can grow a human decided they where more powerful and decided to go on a conquest of world domination. It would end in either two ways, complete domination, or complete annihilation.
All in all this is a horibale idea with clearly more cons than pros. It will not end will for etier the borns or the growns. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's improved. Just because it's old doesn't mean it's classic.

Blog # 9 eassy # 2

Brandon Miller
10/20/10
Blog # 9



Defining a hero is hard. In American culture, we define a hero as someone who is hard working, honest, helpful, intellectual, dependable/reliable, and puts others life's above them self's because it is 'the right thing to do. But this is hardly the rule. Most of the time, a hero is really just someone who was at the right place at the right time and decided to help. That is exactly the case in the Movie Hero, where we ask, what is a hero and who can be one.


First off, anyone can be a 'hero'. It is not something you are born with, its not in your blood, and you cant train to be a hero. There is no test, or special right of passage. There is no wrong or right person to be a hero. Hero proves this by having Bernie Laplante a low life, con artiest, who clearly only looks out for himself. And yet he is the hero of the movie, who pulls 54 people out of a crashed burning plane. Given the description of a hero, you would NEVER expect this lieing, excuses making, thief to do anything heroic. And yet he does. Does his characteristics, make him any less of a hero? Even though he saved so many people, does his past actions make him any less of a hero?


Now, lets take another character, John Bubber. A Vietnam war veteran, who is now homeless and living in his car. He constantly thinks of others, he helps Bernie when he needs a ride and even decides to to give someone else a shoe when he could have used it. Would you ever expect him to claim HE was the one that pulled all those people out of the plane and take the Million dollar reword? The only person to try and stick their neck out for others, and has any quality's that would make for a hero, is the one that tells the lie in order to get the money. He puts up this whole charade and continues to lie about saving the people, mean while Bernie is serving time in jail and could really use the money.


Now, lets take a deeper look at this. John was wrong for doing what he did, But as they say there is a method to the madness. One thing that needs to be considered is that, John was homeless and kind hearted. He was not some corporate big shot, who already had a home and money. He could really use the million dollars, and he could have helped others with it. He still shouldn't have done it. Now with Bernie He also could have used the money and he earned it. And even with his crocked past, he still deserved it for helping them.


What is interesting about the movie to me is that the movie doesn't really chooses a side on which one is wrong and which is right. They try to show them both from a neutral stand point. With Bubber, they show how uncomfortable he is at what he is doing in that he was not expecting all the money and did not want to take advantage of the news reporter Gayle. Then again when he wanted to commit suicide and leave to note saying what he did wrong. But they also show he was the right man when he try's to convince the people to bring the poor blankets and also how when laplant talks to the bartender and asks him if he told him he did it would he believe him? I think the movie try to let us decide who is right and who is wrong by showing us the positives and negatives of both characters so it really comes done to us.



I think the bar scene poses a very important question for all of us and is the focal point of the movie. When Berrni asks the bartender, “If I said I was the one who pulled them out of the plane, would you believe me?” The bar tender looks at him and tells him no. That he and Bernie do not have that spirit that Bubber has. I think this is a critical point in the movie because it asks another important question. Not only who IS a hero but what do we in today's 'society who would be accepted as a hero. After the events of 9/11 and the Iraq war, if a person from Iraq or that area but has nothing to do with the war. If he save those people from the plane, would the people accepted that? Would the media even show him? Would they accept someone who was a criminal or a prostitute? It is not only did you do the act but are you presentable to the public.


Are you marketable?



So, what is a hero? Because Bernie certainly dose not fit the bill. But even so he still risked his life for the sake of others. Not to mention Bubber who had the makings of the hero still did something wrong but tried to make it right. Lets say it was Hitler who saved those people from the plane. Would he still be consider a hero despite everything else he has done? Yes, no, I don't know. After doing this assignment and thinking about it, I now have no idea what makes a hero.

Brandon Miller Follow up to blog #8

Brandon Miller
Follow up to blog #8

I am a fun loving happy go lucky kind of guy. I love to play around and crack a joke and just have fun, I love movies and gaming, and lot of comics and manga/Anime. I however get a lot of flak for this when I was in middle school and High school. I was teased unmercifully for this and unliked by a lot of people. People would make fun of me on an hourly biases and hit me, calling me a loser and a nerd. It kind of got a little better and worse in high school because I usually just tried to hang with everyone and just be funny. But because I went to an all boys school there were some pretty big egos and again being me started to suck. But I held on, not about to change who I am for anyone.

Brandon Miller Blog # 8 The concept of the other

Brandon Miller
Blog # 8 The concept of the other


Nobody is the same; we all have different types and styles. Things that I love will probably not be what you like. Different strokes for different folks, as it where. Although we have these differences and preferences’, there is nothing wrong with your choice (unless your choice is something illegal.) But while this is the case, we all have an ‘other’ a concept, person or thing that we just completely do not see eye to eye with. Form me, my other is jerks and/or people who are mean.
I always try to be a nice guy, getting along with everyone. I try to never judge someone based on their race or gender and always to be nice and courteous to those around me. But I can’t stand it when a person or person's will go out of their way to harm another in anyway. I just don’t see or understand how someone can get any joy out of it. And while some say they do this at an early age because of problems at home or issues with self confidence, I never understood how harming another would help.
Even at an older age when a person learns more on people, to continue in this way is just mean. And now that they are older they now know how to hurt someone more emotnally, such as playing with their heart in a relationship or stealing money from a person that trusts you. I see no real reason on purposely trying to harm another in such a way.
That is not to say we can never be friends. For instances I have made friends with a lot of “bullies” and people I had fights with in school. And I even became cool with the person who pointed a gun at me and tried to kill me, (What a crazy 16 birthday present that was.) I don’t get to attached to all of them but still it is good to try and at least get to know their full version. I may not like that they can be a jerk or mean but I at least try to be cool with them.At the very least they will not be a jerk to me and I might change them.
Basically what I am trying to say is, my favorite color is orange, for someone else its blue, (The opposite color on the color wheel.) Just because we are opposites, doesn’t mean we can never like each other and try to get along. I think if we all try hard enough, we can live better with each other than without. Accept the differences.

Blog #7 Outline and annotaded bibliography

Brandon Miller
Blog 7 Outline and Annotated Bibliography


Thesis for first few pages will be on the creation and history on Bungie and their games and how they laid the foundation for Halo and other games.
Next will be on the a very brief history on Halo itself and its six title library.After that is how Halo it self and how it had such huge impact on the gaming industry and gamers.The next few pages will be on what Machinama is and how Halo helped spar headed that .as well as Machinama today.I will also talk about The red vs Blue One of the most will know and popular machinama



http://www.bungie.net/

Machinima web http://www.youtube.com/user/machinima
“Red vs Blue” web http://roosterteeth.com/home.php

"Halo." Web. .

http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

"Reach (Halo Rap Video)." http://www.youtube.com. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/default.htm

"Halo Ep. 1: All Your History S1E1 (Game Development History) ." Youtube.com. Web. 17 Oct 2010. .

Blog 6: What is a Hero?

Brandon Miller
Blog 6 Hero?




Defining a hero is hard. In American culture, we define a hero as someone who is hard working, honest, helpful, intellectual, dependable/reliable, and puts others life's above them self's because it is 'the right thing to do'. But this is hardly the rule. Most of the time, a hero is really just someone who was at the right place at the right time and decided to help. That is exactly the case in the Movie Hero, where we ask, what is a hero and who can be one.


First off, anyone can be a 'hero'. It is not something you are born with, its not in your blood, and you cant train to be a hero. There is no test, or special right of passage. There is no wrong or right person to be a hero. Hero proves this by having Bernie Laplante a low life, con artiest, who clearly only looks out for himself. And yet he is the hero of the movie, who pulls 54 people out of a crashed burning plane. Given the description of a hero, you would NEVER expect this lieing, excuses making, thief to do anything heroic. And yet he does. Does his characteristics, make him any less of a hero? Even though he saved so many people, does his past actions make him any less of a hero?


Now, lets take another character, John Bubber. A Vietnam war veteran, who is now homeless and living in his car. He constantly thinks of others, he helps Bernie when he needs a ride and even decides to to give someone else a shoe when he could have used it. Would you ever expect him to claim HE was the one that pulled all those people out of the plane and take the Million dollar reword? The only person to try and stick their neck out for others, and has any quality's that would make for a hero, is the one that tells the lie in order to get the money. He puts up this whole charade and continues to lie about saving the people, mean while Bernie is serving time in jail and could really use the money.


Now, lets take a deeper look at this. John was wrong for doing what he did, But as they say there is a method to the madness. One thing that needs to be considered is that, John was homeless and kind hearted. He was not some corporate big shot, who already had a home and money. He could really use the million dollars, and he could have helped others with it. He still shouldn't have done it. Now with Bernie He also could have used the money and he earned it. And even with his crocked past, he still deserved it for helping them.


So, what is a hero? Because Bernie certainly dose not fit the bill. But even so he still risked his life for the sake of others. Not to mention Bubber who had the makings of the hero still did something wrong but tried to make it right. Lets say it was Hitler who saved those people from the plane. Would he still be consider a hero despite everything else he has done? Yes, no, I don't know. After doing this assignment and thinking about it, I now have no idea what makes a hero.

Blog 5: Plan for media paper.

Brandon Miller
10/05/10
Blog 5

My topic for the mass media midterm is on Halo; quite possibly the biggest and most important video game series ever. I chose Halo for a few reasons. One halo is a game very near and dear to my heart, I have every game in the series including the special editions for all of them. Two is because halo is not just a game, it is a worldwide phenomena. It has one of the largest cults following for a game ever. It is also not just a video game; it has comic book, live action commercials, books, a possible movie, tournaments, TV air time, hordes of websites, anime episodes, and internet shows. Legions of fans have given it great live and meaning. There are dozens of news articles magazines and interviews that involve halo and its following.

Blog 4: Reflection.

Brandon Miller
10/05/10
Blog 4: Reflections.

This class has been so far very enlighten. I have learned new techniques and am becoming a better writer. For example I have always heard about free writing and pre writhing before but it never really worked for me. I think that by having the first sentence given to me, it has really made me be abele to focus on what needed to be written. For me, the intro to any thing I write is the only real obstacle. But with having the first sentence I do not have to worry and get the creative juices flowing. I also like the idea of writing without stopping to a degree. I like it because when you are just writing in the moment, you focus more on the writing aspect and not the editing one. That way you can write more and hopefully, get more ideas has you write. But, I also have a problem with it. See I am just writing now as we speak and I am going to look up. There are seven miss spellings on this which is not to bad, but the problem is if I keep typing for too long, I totally forget what was supposed to be said due to the misspelling. It doesn’t happen often, but it is a real pain when it does. I really need to work on my spelling. I also really like the class we had on a thesis. I had done a lot on it in my high school, but it is nice to brush up on it and even go into a little bit more detail with it.

The way I see it, for me you won’t learn by yourself, not all the time. That is why I like working in groups. If I can have feedback from people in and out of my class critiquing my work, I learn better. That is why I think it was a good Idea to work with ENG99 class. I got to help out someone who probably works the same way. For how can you know if you need improvement if no one tells you? In the case of Keith in ENG99, he had a well written paragraph that only needed small tweaks to it. I’m glad I was able to give advice, and I hope I have another opportunity to do so in the future, as well as have someone do it for me as well. I also really like the idea of fellow class meats commenting on our blogs they make them fell more worthwhile and cool having someone we know giving us critical advice, and giving their own opinions on our work. It makes it fell that I actually wrote this for a reason, and not just something I hand in, is only read by the teacher and then forgotten forever in time. I fell more confidants in myself knowing that someone is giving me good reviews. And trust me, I do read the comments and love them, and need them.

Oh one more thing, Ever since the first day of school, when I mentioned that I play video games, a lot of you guys have taken that idea and ran with it. I just want to clarify. Just because I like video games does NOT mean that that is all I ever do. I am a smart fun loving guy who loves to read and write, I am very multilayered, I love to watch movies and hang out with my family and friends. I love dancing I Brandon dance (It is like break dancing only…. crazier.) I am not just some video game obsessed junky. Thank you, for listing and reading.

Blog 3: The Matrix. Analysis

Brandon Miller
10/03/10
Blog 3:The Matrix. Analysis

“Why do my eyes hurt?” Neo asked “Because you never used them.” Was Morpheus reply. I love this quote because it is so relateable to modern society. So many time are we completely blind to what is going on around the world or even around the corner. The media keeps things from us, the government and even our family. And most of the time we have no clue that what they are telling us is a fabrication of the truth. In a way we are all living in a matrix of some kind.


I will give you an example, nine times out of ten, when you crack open a history text book, it is mainly going to be about U.S history. Even when they do mention another country, it is very brief and it still is related to the U.S in some way. We never really get the full story of what really happened in other parts of the world. It is almost as if the government wants to always show that America is the superior country. They try to always show the U.S. in a good light and make the other country's look wrong. They keep away the truth from us like the machines did in the movie, trying to keep us under control.


It is like the book Science Fiction and Philosophy said, our brain is a vat being told things about their surroundings that is completely different then the truth. The news is a great example, the major news network almost always talk only what is going on in America, unless something monumental happens. They lie to us and try to scare us in order to keep us buying things and prevent us from asking the bigger questions. For example, the swine flu or H1N1 was completely hipped. The news kept trying to scare us into buying things for our protection. Meanwhile, the swine flu only killed about 25174 (http://www.flucount.org/) while the regular flu as killed millions of people within the same year. It is all in order to control us and point us in the same direction. It is like the book Science Fiction and Philosophy said, our brain is a vat being told things about their surroundings that is completely different then the truth.


The allegory of the cave says that when one person learns the truth and tries to preach it to others, they will refuse to believe them. Or worse, they will turn their backs on them. I feel that is true in The Matrix and real life. Whenever some one writs a book on a particular political subject you have the people who instantly go with and the people who challenge it. It is human nature to agree with the first thing they hear, get used to it, but when being told they are wrong, they cant handle it. Like Neo did when he learned his whole life he was a battery.


I think the The Matrix did a very good job of challenging the question of what is reality and how we are forced to believe things that are not. America while a good country, consistently covers our faces with the veil of lies. We try to learn new things about the world and are shunned for it. But we can inprove if we all learn the truth, together.

Blog 1: The Cave and I revise

Brandon Miller
09/27/10





The cave and I
                In the story of the cave, Socrates brings up a very important fact of life and asks the question, Is it better to live in the cave and be sheltered from the lies or do you leave the cave, learn the truth and risk being shunned by it? To feel safe in your comfort zone and never to question it and be at peace, or to go out and find that there is more to life and deeper meanings in what you see? I believe there is no correct answer but in my opinion, I believe it is better to learn the truth about the situation whenever possible.
                It is in human nature to lie to one another. Someone lies about something at least once a day. The government lies to us constantly about everything, in order to “keep us safe”. Our family , friends and neighbors lie to us for many different reasons. We even lie to ourselves. We do this in order   to keep ourselves, safe, happy, and sheltered from pain. But in doing so we are actually doing the opposite.
                 Let’s take banks for example. Almost everyone knows that banks nickel and dime us at every opportunity they get. And yet the average American does nothing but except it, or worse they do not care. And I can prove it to, go up to anyone. Anyone you may, or may not know, and ask them if they know what the rule of 72 is. 99 times out of 100 they will not know what it is or what it does for banks.

The rule of 72 is a math problem used to determine how soon your money will double with interest. Lets say you have about $10,000 in a bank where you receive about 8% interest. What you do is take the the number 72 and divide it by your current interest which is 8. It would take 9 years for your $10,000 to become $20,000 if you don't add any additional money to the account. Now lets go to reality. There is no bank that gives out 8% interest most likely they give you, is less than 1% but let us say for now it is 1.0%. Now lets do it again. 72 divided by 1 is 72. With out adding any money it will take you 72 years to make that $10,000 into $20,000, 72 years!

Now here comes the real kicker, lets say you DO NOT invest your money in anything you just let it sit there in the bank. The bank is needs money for something or they need to give someone a loan. Guess where the bank goes for the money to give to others. YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Thats right the bank will take your money and give it to someone else to use. And the worst part, is that this is all completely legal. Now knowing this would you rather put your money in a bank where you will barely see any increase in money and have them take your money? Or would your rather invest your and control your money.

But by knowing what it is and understanding how banks work and how they are able to make money off of your money, you are able to plan ahead and make changes to your life and use your money better.

But as Plato said, there will be objectors. No-believers to your story. People who have gotten so used to the lie, they become comfortable with it, and that anything else is wrong. They believe their way is the right way simply because it is the only way they know.  They can’t believe that a bank would take their money and use it for themselves and have that be legal. They will challenge them and the best way to prove it is to show them. Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear, as the saying goes.
                But I believe that by Knowing the truth betters your live because you will be able to see and understand your life better and the way the world around you works. You can father improve you live and others. Think of it this way, Imagine there was a meteor coming to impact the Earth. The government says that the meteor will simply pass over the plant harmlessly, and they say that because they have no way of stopping the meteor themselves and that in pact with New York is definite.

                Would you rather
                A:) Stay with the lie the government   gave you and stay in New York and believe nothing is wrong.
                                                                                                    Or
B:) Find the truth that the meteor is going to hit, Take your family and leave on the first thing smoking.


If you said B You understand the power of truth. If you said A…well you are going to die.


One example of myself was when I was in M.S.181, the worst middle school ever. I was told so many times that I was on track in terms of reading and writing, which I believed because my parents made me read a lot. They told me I was doing good in class, but I found out from one of my teachers that all of the classes where watered down and that teachers where told to pass students because the school was so poor they had to force kids though. And the no child left behind helped back them . If it where not for my parents helping me I would not have got out of that school and then high school.


We need to be well informed of everything. With out the truth we miss out on an opportunity, get cheated out of life and are constantly held back form important things in life.

Blog 2: The allegory of the Cave

Brandon M
09/17/10
The Allegory of the Cave

All through out history, people have chosen to wear a vile of lies over their eyes. When we watch the news or even commercials, we almost immediately chose to accept these things as facts. But there are many times when the news or government tend to lie to us to cover something up or to protect the people. There are a few wroth mentioning that are closely tided together, The creation of the universe, and the evolution of man.
Scientists and those of religious faith have been butting heads over this for centuries. Scientist believe that an enormous explosion well know as the big bang, crated the universe and that Man evolved from apes who in turn evolved from a single celled organism. While those who believe in an religion say that their god created the earth and the rest of the universe and created man and animals as two sperate entities.
Many people believe the scientist is right. In this day and age the has never been any solid prove that there is such a higher power that would be able to create the earth and universe. People constantly need prove or an explanation as to why things are the way they are. So scientists come up with an idea or theory to explain the who, what, when, where, why and how. But those of religious faith, say they are wrong, for who can the creation of a universe, be caused by such a large coincidence.
Most religions believe that their god or gods created the earth and the universe and that humans where always humans. They say that the animals where created to serve us or that the god or gods are animals themselves. But the people of the scientific community say nay. For they have never seen or heard form a power greater then us and that if we have never interacted with it, how can it exist.
Because of these different views there have been many hated arguments, and even a few wars. During the crusades, thousands of Christians where killed because of their believes and even today in the middle east many people fight over their religion. There have been several Christians killed lately. But many people have been challenging scientists saying that evolution was improbable. The debate still rage on to this day with no end in sight.

Brandon M

Hello class, my name is Brandon Miller, I'm a student here at LGCC. I came to this school as a steeping stone to get me into a four year college once I grduate from here. I want to become a writer and write a novel, and write for a comic book some where down the line. I enjoy getting an education and I love learning new things. I usally come well prepaedred for school, so if you nedd a pen or paper ask me. It is very easy to make me happpy and I treat everyone with respect no matter what your sex is or where you are from. I'm nice to everyone I encounter.I hope we can all get along well and help each get a higher education and that we all may suceed and prosper together.