Final Blog.

Throughout this quarter I think the one thing I improved most on was my ability to write papers. I didn't really pay to much attention to the MLA format in my high school writing career but after taking this class I feel like I know how to properly set up a paper. I feel as though my ability as a writer has definitely increased to a greater potential. I think that the book Do Androids Dream? was a different book that I wouldn't usually pick up and read on my own. I think that's good though because it made me read something challenging. The Apocalyptic theme was defintely new to me and it was a good thing for me to look into because it broadened my outlook on different themes. I thought Bladerunner was a pretty good movie and the concept of where we analyzed both the film and book was a good idea for a paper and was my favorite paper to write. I thought the idea of blogging was really cool, it's a great way for us to read everyone's outlook on certain ideas. Overall I think that this class really did help me in increasing my writing and reading ability.

Thir13en Ghosts and Apocalyptic discussion.

Over this weekend I watched Thirteen Ghosts which is basically about a family that inherits a house after the father's uncle dies. The family drives out to the house and find it to me a very interesting house with glass as the walls. They meet the lawyer and another man who says he was taking care of the houses plumbing. Once they get into the house the plumber ventures downstairs and sees all of the ghosts that are hidden inside the basement. He starts panicking and explains to the family and the lawyer that everyone must leave because the house is filled with ghosts. Instead of listening the lawyer and family end up staying. The lawyer goes downstairs into the basement to take a suitcase filled with money and plans on leaving. In reality the suitcase is the one thing that was holding the ghosts in the basement. So once the briefcase was taken off the ghosts were released. After battling through many ghosts their comes a woman who explains to the family that she is there to help and that the only way to release the ghosts is if the father sacrifices himself. So in the end the ghosts all come together in this one room but in the end the father doesn't need to sacrifice himself but the dead Uncle is being attacked by the ghosts for keeping them locked in the basement. In the end the house is destroyed by some mechanical problem in the house so all the ghosts are finally released. The movie overall was pretty good. I don't really do well with scary movies but this one seemed to be something that I could handle. It had good effects and the plot line flowed together very well. I would definitely recommend it to others to watch.

In the future if I was to live my life in an apocalypse I could see the world being deserted and really nothing left but sand and broken down buildings. I see it as where people roam the streets just to find a little to eat. It seems to me that this apocalyptic world would be a scary place to live in because there would be no structure or rules. So basically people can do whatever they please and it seems that people would steal, kill and do whatever they need to do to survive. There would definitely be a lot of people wandering around with nothing left. The buildings would be rotting and cars wouldn't be able to work. There wouldn't be jobs or any type of way to get money rather than people stealing from each other.  I feel as though some parts of the world would be less affected than others. I feel as if people could take this apocalyptic turn any way whether it be good or bad. Some people could take it as an opportunity to start over and work toward rebuilding while others could take it badly.

Comparing my apocalyptic world with Philip K. Dick's is that his world has a lot of technology involved while mine seems to have none at all. Dick has a comparison with me that it seems to be deserted, but overall we seem to have different views. My world does not have any robots or robot animals. Nor do I have machines, etc. Plus people in Dick's book seem to be sticking to the rules of the government. They still have a police force, etc. It seems to me that his world has some structure while mine seems to have none at all. 

After watching the scene where Rachael and Deckard first meet I could see that the lighting affected a lot. The lighting was very dark and had hints of light coming in every now and then. It gave off a mysterious vibe to it. The dialogue wasn't very casual and didn't seem like first conversation you would have with someone. For example they talked a lot about deep things such as whether or not Deckard killed a human by mistake. The costuming was very professional. Rachael was seen in a long pencil skirt and suit coat. Deckard was in his uniform of a long tan trench coat. Overall the scene brought a mysterious but interesting look into Rachael and Deckard's relationship. This seems to relate to the rest of the movie because the whole movie seemed to always have a dark setting to it. It was never really daytime in any of the scenes just nighttime. 

The lighting was very dark until the end where there is a hint of light when the dove reaches the sky. It gave off a somber feeling in the beginning but when you saw the light it sort of brought a feeling of hope. The dialogue was strictly Roy talking the whole time. He used a strong, but soft voice that made him have a very big affect on how the mood was. The background music was a little weird but I think it went alright with the scene. It was pretty subtle and didn't overtake Roy when he was speaking but it still was a little odd. I think the audience's reaction was supposed to have everyone feel for Roy and give a somber ending to his life. I think that I could see a tear roll down Deckard's cheek but I have no clue due to the scene having rain pouring down throughout it. Overall it gave off a strong intense emotion and gave us a good view into the sensitive side of the movie. 

I think that the future for Rick Deckard would be him running off with Rachael and them moving into an apartment far away from Los Angeles. i picture them in Chicago in some kind of apartment finding a way to keep themselves hidden from being caught and Rachael being killed. I feel as if they would pick up new identities and live their lives as completely normal people with new jobs. I see Rachael being a secretary while Deckard seems like he would become a lawyer. They would go on to live their life and they wouldn't end up getting caught. They would live together until Rachael dies and then Deckard will move from place to place around the world to enjoy the rest of his life. 

My research question is What can we do to develop Biofeedback more thoroughly? My research seems to be starting off slowly because my topic seems to be a bit more difficult but overall I think everything will turn out okay. I haven't really found any solutions to my problem yet, but I feel as if Biofeedback needs to be looked at more thoroughly.

Technologies.

The different technologies or changing ideas that pop up in my mind would be the everyday items I use. For example the main items I use daily are my laptop computer, cellphone and ipod. Also other things that I used back when I was home was my car. I think that it was the item I used mainly and I was thinking that my car would be the main item I would focus on changing. For example my vehicle releases so many gases that harm the enviroment I feel as if we should focus on making the car have a more efficient way of working without harming the enviroment.

Farenheit 451.

For the movie choice I chose to watch Farenheit 451. It was movie about a man named Montague who worked as a fireman. It is not the kind of fireman that we are usually familiar with seeing because instead of them putting out fires they were the ones making them. It dealt with a kind of apocalyptic theme because everyone in the society was not allowed to read books. If anyone was found reading their books would be burned and they would be taken in as criminals. The main character Montague starts off as a faithful fireman and is even expecting a promotion from his boss. But one day a lady named Clarisse approaches him on the train questioning him on whether he ever read the books that he was burning. He one day picks up a book and starts reading and his whole outlook on everything seems to change. His wife notices that he is acting different and one day catches him reading books at the kitchen table late at night. She doesn't understand and soon turns him in. After Montague realizes he doesn't want to be a fireman anymore he goes to his boss to reveal the news and his boss says "Come with us one last time and you can do whatever as you please." So Montague goes with his crew for one last bust but they end up in front of his house. They remove all the books from his house and egg Montague on to burn them all. In the process of Montague burning the books he ends up killing his boss also. Earlier in the movie Clarisse had fled because she was turned in also and before she left she had told Montague to come to the end of the river and there would be other people like them that loved reading books. So after Montague had killed his boss he was on the run from everyone in his town. So he took a boat down the river and ends up in the forest where he finds a group of people. He learns that his town had "caught" him but it was just a T.V. stunt so that the people wouldn't get bored. Now that noone will be looking for him he learns that these group of people read books and memorize them. After memorizing them they destroy the books so noone can trace them. Montague had finally found his place.

I actually thought this movie was very well done. The effects and everything were not up to date but of course seeing as it was a 1960's flm it was very well done. I thought the overall story was very interesting and very well put together. I am not usually into old movies and I was skeptical at first but once the movie started picking up a bit with its storyline I definitely recognized what was going on. I also thought the title was neat, because they said that Farenheit 451 is the level of temperature that books burn. I came in thinking that this movie was going to be about a deserted land that was destroyed by a natural disaster but it turned out to be something totally different which is good! I thought it was good that I watched something that didn't seem to be in the "norm" of post apocalyptic movies.

Objectified.

After finishing the documentary I found a lot of things interesting and that seemed to stand out to me. For instance when they showed the first prototype of the laptop I was surprised how they put so much detail into the physical aspect such as if a pen got stuck in the crack what would they do? So it was interesting to see that even though it was the first laptop the makers were still thinking of different ideas to put into the laptop to make it more sufficient for its users. 
Another interesting thing I saw was how much time and effort the designers go through to look over a product and examine everything about the current product they are trying to "upgrade". For example in one of the scenes it showed all the different types of toothbrushes sitting on the table. 
Last thing I saw that intrigued me was how simple things like a vacuum are being made so that they are capable of being on display because of how good they look. It's interesting to see the advancement from just a regular vacuum to being able to have it sit on  your counter like it's there on display.  
Overall I thought the documentary was very interesting and I loved how they showed all the different aspects from different people around the world. 

Explaining a scene in Blade Runner.

The scene that I found most interesting to me was the scene of where Roy Baty is fighting Deckard. As soon as Roy was about to die he saved Deckard from falling to his death. After he had saved him he goes on to explain as an android he has seen so much in his short life. He then releases a dove into the air and Deckard sees the bright blue sky before him and then Roy dies in front of him. It definitely shows that their is some sort of connection between Deckard and Roy due to the fact that he did indeed save him from his death. This maybe suggests that Deckard is also an android but does not technically prove it. Overall I thought it was a good, thought provoking scene that added a good dramatization in with the dove. Represented something which made you sit and ponder more about this movie. 

Climax of Do the Androids Dream?

The climax definitely startled me, when Isidore had the epiphany of the earth becoming more barren and desolate. I felt that the Humans would be able to put earth back together in some way, but just the thought of animals killing each other and the emptiness of how the world would be was very unexpected. "Don't, he said aloud, but the crow, rapidly, picked out the donkey's eyes"(Dick,211). I feel as though now that Isidore has seen this vision it is becoming more apparent of how the book will end. And during the climax Rick ends up killing off all the androids. It kind of went to me assuming that everyone would die but after reaching through the whole climax it was still a bit surprising but not as much.