Tag Archive for: course-nocourse

Hello, I don’t know how many of you will be reading this post but I just wanted to share some of the 3d models that I have been working on in Cinema 4D. I’m a beginner and have been working alone on just one model. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Heres the engine block that I’ve been working on, I started with a pyramid primitive and added two squares to create the block. Then I arranged the cylinders within the block followed by the Boole green object.

The intake surface was created by using the Boole object to subtract slots from the pyramid primitive.

If anyone reads this or is interested in what I’m doing, feel free to contact me and let me know how I’m doing.

Steinheimer talks about children and their influence on consumption with brand names. She goes on to talk about who this could be detrimental and the quote that really caught my eye was, “Could the temptations of an ever-increasing number of gadgets, like smartphones, iPads, and designer brands, be luring young people away from things that really matter and destroying the environment” ( 248)? The answer is yes, children and sometimes as adults are more worried about what else they can consume. They are not worried about the world they live in because they are oblivious to negative thoughts. Children do not want to watch the documentary “BlackFish” they want to go on their computers and play sims. The more distractions we create for man-kind the more we can slide the horrific under the table.

Blaming the advertisers: They definitely influence children to think more about products. I often wonder if a child drove past a McDonalds, had never heard of it or seen any type of advertising, he or she probably would have no desire to go there. The parents would decide when to take their child there and then he or she would be hooked, advertisement played no role here. On the other hand, it is the constant reminder on television that McDonalds is down the street that makes their product have more consumers.

It is crazy how spoiling your child can negatively effect them later in life. Sternheimer also talks about the right of passage that consuming gives to a child, “being a consumer in American society is a step toward maturity” (253). I never thought of it that way, but it is true. People are constantly competing for who has the bigger, better product. After doing the advertising analysis, the original way, as it says on the syllabus, I have realized how bad commercials really are. This goes back to how the chapter talks about children influencing what their parents buy, I see it all the time.

The last chapter starts off with the topic of poverty and how our consumption of materials and media has taken us away from things that matter. Sternheimer also talks about the problem of inequality not being faced because of all the distractions (277). The chapter really just emphasizes how we fill up our day with meaningless tasks and we do not spend enough time doing things that matter. I was talking about this with someone last week. Generations before us were in survival mode. They had to get jobs that paid well, not what they wanted to do.Every task they did during the day was for survival, whether that be cooking or sewing. These days we get to do whatever we want with our free time, and most of the time, it is time wasted.

It boils down to the basics of humans trying to outdo one another. Consumers need to have the best of the best, to show they are living life correctly. How many times in movies have we seen a couples’ success be shown through how big their house is and how nice their cars are?

Chapter 10 and 11 from this week’s readings was quite interesting. Right off the bat in chapter 10 my attention was caught when Sternheimer mentioned “Would you become a living advertisement for the right price?” (Sternheimer, 2013). This automatically directed me to the previous conversations we had in class about individuals being walking advertisements. For example, the individual who had a branding of a company’s brand behind her legs was walking around being a mobile advertisement for that brand. Additionally, this might be due the array of advertisements that are played over and over throughout television that may offer an incentive such as cash, in which young individuals are being subliminally sucked in without even knowing. In addition, “according to a 2006 poll, 92 percent of parents agreed that there is too much advertising to children” (Sterheimer, 2013), which may lead to consumer desires.

Moreover, i though it was interesting when Sternheimer mentioned that there are “plenty of examples of media representations that portray less than ideal behaviors” (Sternheimer, 2013). Furthermore, there was a section in chapter 11 where Sternheimer caught my attention. She stated “Pop culture matters; media analysis is a great tool for exposing the complexities of issues like violence, gender, sexuality, racism, and homophobia” (Sternheimer, 2013). I totally agree with Sternheimer. Additionally, exposing the complexities of the issues that are intergraded within is a great tool for young individuals to open their mind and possibly trigger rhetorical thinking. Additionally, they may explore deeper and possibly have a better understanding in what they’re currently experiencing with their media mediums and pop culture.

Lastly, the story of stuff explains where stuff comes from and how it’s a system. Additionally, i found it interesting that we go into third world countries and take over their land and destroy it for US production. In addition, i was blown away when they kept reiterating how chemicals are intergraded in everyday stuff. Moreover, the story of solutions pointed out interesting points. For example, when she mentioned how we’re focusing on the wrong solutions such as phones and how individuals are trying to figure out how to make it faster, cheaper, newer, instead of finding solutions that concern our own planet such as being safer, healthier and fairer.

References

Sternheimer, K. (2013). Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture 2nd edition. Boulder, CO.  

In “Process Writing and the Secondary School Reality” by Barbara Carney, she explains she effectively made students participate in the writing process through a series of events that were creative, yet also followed the formal English curriculum of composition. She felt this was achieved through student ownership of their writing. This created a relaxed atmosphere because students can pick their own topic and have peer groups to discuss their papers. Multiple drafts were a key element in the writing process. According to Carney, writing is a hierarchy process with High Order Concerns and Low Order Concerns. The HOCs are the focus, organization, tone, and development of the paper. The LOCs are sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. She felt LOCs were more effective if saved for the last draft.

How can we fit the writing process approach into our large and regimented classrooms?

Carney’s writing process involves prewriting, three drafts, editing, and a final draft. Prewriting involved giving a couple of general prompts for the students where they can choose the topic they want to write. This creates ownership because they can choose what they want to focus on. Students have to turn in a formal thesis which gets feedback, but will not be graded until the final draft. Then, once their thesis is returned, they begin the first draft. It is important to give credit for drafts as well as the final product to place value on the assignment. The second draft always involved peer groups. Once the second draft is done, students get together in conferences to share their writings. If a student is unmotivated and does not have a paper, they will be asked to write quietly while conferences are going on. The third draft must be turned in to the teacher for feedback not corrections. If there are errors, it is best to circle or underline them so the teacher is not just viewed as an error-corrector. There is the editing draft which is different form the final draft to focus on the LOC’s at the end. This is most helpful if read out loud with peer group conferences. The final draft will be the reflection of all these stages. Students feel pride they achieved their goal and be proud of their works.