Revolutionary Computers

When I look at all the different types of computers, and all technology for that matter, over the years I always think of how the people who invented those things would react if they were able to see what we had today. If you were able to walk up to the inventors of ENIAC or Steve Jobs in the 80's and hand them a fully functioning IPad what would they do? I honestly don't think they would believe it. The technologies we are now used to in everyday life are so over the top but were so accustomed to it we don't even realize. The fact that we have gone from million dollar computers that take up entire buildings to something the size of a notebook that is a million times faster and of higher quality is amazing.

Flip Book

After completing a flip book for the first time I know have so many ideas and things I would have done differently. Although extremely tedious, I really like the project and now wish I could do so much more with it. I found the books that told stories, as opposed to just having random things float in and out (like mine), were so much more interesting to me. The three pages I chose from my own book consist of a flower gradually losing its petals. This was definitely my favorite part, when flipping through the book I think that this is the most beautiful part. I do wish I would have kept the color in the flower because it does make such a huge difference but I still feel that this sequence was my favorite.

Skeleblogging

Until the presentation of the Experimental Skeleblog I was almost completely oblivious to the underground art culture that is present in Tampa. I was happy to make this discovery because it is so easy to overlook the fact that there is depth to this extremely shallow city. The dreammachine concept is fantastic, I loved that it is something you can sense instead of seeing (because you're supposed to close your eyes). I also thought it was so awesome how the group uses run down and unused spaces around the city to create something beautiful out of, what would otherwise be, junk. I think thats honestly what I appreciated most about this group; they find a way to make use of things and present them in a new light and the fact that they are so passionate about other artists works and strive to honor those and keep them alive through re-creation. I thought the sand project was awesome, it was pretty much a scale model but to be able to walk around and observe something of that magnitude as if you were a giant is so great. I would really love to visit this groups next exhibit so I can really get a grasp on what they're all about.

http://www.experimentalskeleton.com/

Old TIme Radio

The entertainment brought to the listeners of radio was something that people at that time had never experienced before. Not only was it something new but it was something that everyone could afford, no longer was entertainment just for the wealthy. Radio personalities were able to ignite the imagination and minds of their listeners by the power of story telling, acting and sound effects. I find the idea of radio fascinating, unlike television the audience is able to create the details of the story in their mind as opposed to being presented the entire story including what the characters and settings look like as in television. I feel that radios power to spark imagination is such a great thing. The modern day addiction to television has literally turned people into mindless zombies who are constantly taking in information without having to use any brain power or imagination to process it.

Watson

It's incredible to think how far techonolgy has come over the past few decades. I dont necessarily believe that these advancements will ever come to the extent that they do in sci-fi movies but I do find it scary how increasily dependant we are on technology.The article mentions the fact that they are in the process of developing a machine based on the success of "Watson" that will act as a physicians assistant. Not only does that take more jobs away from people, it will effect what is taught in different curriculums. While machines may make things more efficient for humans, what would happen if they were to fail. People no longer teach their children how to read maps because we all have GPS. Are we no longer going to teach PA's how to do their job nut instead teach them how to work a computer to do it for them? While technology never cease's to amaze me and I think it can be very beneficial to our society, at the same time it concerns me that humans will no longer be self sufficient without technology (if it hasn't happened already) and this is just a step in the direction of worsening the problem.

The Original War of the Worlds

The original broadcast of "The War of the Worlds", or "Invasion from Mars" as it was originally called, was broadcast by radio the night before Halloween in 1938. However, there was an quite an odd reaction to this radio show; it sounds like a real news broadcast. People listening to the program thought that everything was real. They introduced the title of the show at the beginning but that was it. The program begins with a classical music band playing then all of the sudden a voice interrupts and gives a "special announcement" saying that scientists have recently seen strange explosions on mars, then the broadcast goes back to the music. The voice interrupts again saying there has been a strange object that has landed on a farm, the announcer sounds concerned and then his report turns into a full blown panic. The broadcasters announce that it is the duty of radio to inform the people of what is going on in the world. The broadcast is then handed over to the "military" or something along those lines who escalate the situation by announcing a full blown battle between the aliens and the military and that millions of people have been evacuating. People went in to a full blown panic over this story, and I can see why. The announcers sounded extremely convincing along with the special effects. If you hadn't listened to the beginning of the broadcast you would have had no idea that it was fiction and in my opinion even if you did here the beginning of the story it would still have been easily believable. Not until the end of the broadcast does Orson Wells announce that he was in character and that the entire story was fake and in honor of Halloween.

Abel Gance was a self educated filmmaker from France born in 1889. His biggest accomplishment was a six-part depiction of Napoleon telling the story of the rise of Napoleon I of France. Unfortunately only the first part was completed however, the significance of this film lies within Gance's film technique which was way before its time.
"The film was full of experimental techniques, combining rapid cutting, hand-held cameras, superimposition of images, and, most famously, his wide-screen sequences achieved, with a system he called Polyvision, by using triple cameras (and projectors) to create a spectacular panoramic effect, including a finale in which the outer two film panels were tinted blue and red, creating a widescreen image of a French flag."


Gance pioneered the use of widescreen and brought popularity to the idea of experimenting with hand held cameras. The film was originally a six hour segment but was later cut down in length. The story of Napoleon itself received mixed reviews from audiences around the world but it is undeniable that Gance founded some of the greatest advances in the history of filmmaking. 

What happened between the 50's and the 70's??

Over the course of about 20 years the content shown in film changed completely. Movies from the 1950's consisted of singing, dancing and love stories, what you could call "wholesome" entertainment. The main characters were clean and respectable people. The issue of drugs or sex were almost unheard of. The dilemmas that faced the characters in these movies although entertaining were mostly unrelated to everyday life. It was more of an escape from reality as opposed to addressing the true issues of society.  Film still remained seemingly oblivious to the troubles of peoples lives.

The 1970's were an entirely different story. The dirty laundry of America was finally being aired for the world to see. Sex, drugs, transvestites, homosexuality... you name it, there was most likely a movie about it somewhere. Filmmakers were no longer being polite. Women were also portrayed in an entirely different manner. They were wearing provocative clothing, doing drugs, having sex and basically doing everything that men could do, which in was unheard of in the 1950's. Basically society between the 50's and 70's became a little more crude and honest and hollywood mirrored this trend.

I loved this video, I've seen a few things similar to this before but this is definitely my favorite... I know were supposed to be finding animated videos but I couldn't not put this up. The swimming and dancing is so well done, it looks amazing. I think the way they used the pillows and different things to make scenery was such a good way to enhance her movements throughout the video.

I thought this video was a good depiction of how you can incorporate different objects into the animation instead of having everything flat on paper, and I love the song:)

The Stock Market Crash of 1929 & 2008

The initial resemblance between the two instances is that they both occurred in October but a closer examination reveals that the two crashes differ greatly.

After WWI the US economy experienced a major expansion due to new technology and improved production processes. People were encouraged to invest in the stock market by investors who were telling people how much money could be made. The crash of 1929 happened over the course of five days beginning on October 24 (known as black thursday). At the time the systems for tracking the market prices were unable to keep up with the trading volume and is believed to have contributed to panic selling that day. The market decreased nearly 90% in one week. Studies later proved that there were no inflation in prices prior to or after the crash, panic selling was the the culprit and brought the market to the ground.

The Crash of 2008 began on October 1 and at the end of 8 trading days the market dropped 22.11%. On October 13 would rebound sharply only to immediately drop again days later. Leading up to the crash of 2008 the sub-prime mortgage industry thrived giving people with poor credit access to loans they weren't qualified for which eventually lead to the credit market collapse. Following this defaults on mortgages started to increase which lead to the failure of many investment banks. The government chose to intervene with several banks and organizations. The amount of forclosure's greatly increased in order for banks to try to increase value on their loans. Unemployment rates also rose drastically. The economy has still not recovered at the present time.

The History of Jazz

I found the website Jazzstandards.com the most interesting of all the links I came across. The site gave a very detailed description of the era in which jazz music came to life. The site has a separate link for each decade and also lists books and songs from the decade including their year and ranking. I felt like I was able to get a good idea of how things in the jazz world came to be and how the music has evolved over time based off of the samples available in each link. I also liked how artists and composers were recognized for their contributions to the genre in the history of the site.

http://www.jazzstandards.com/history/history-2.htm