Chels ariel’s Weblog

May 09  college graduation!!!!! Thank you God. On to new bigger and better things.  Although the economy and job scene isn’t popping, my drive is in full gear. Grind hard and find a job in the media for now while studying for the lsats. Law school starting fall 2010. I’m so ready for this world…

I feel free.
Most of all ‘cuz I got life.
I feel freeeeeeee.
-Ricky Blaze

One of my favorites movies is Men in Black. I watch this time and time again, and I think all would agree that it wouldn’t be as great without the special effects. Peter M. Chesney was the mastermind behind the creation of this. He has done special effects for so many classics such as Honey I shrunk the Kids. Chesney made aliens that seemed very real. In the beginning the main alien pulled a farmer’s body off and wear’s it for himself. They incorporated many special types of equipments like the flying ball with no gravity. The alien’s knew how to function computers. They also had out of this world weapons. The memory eraser was also called. When you looked into it, it was able to take your memory to a specific date and time. The car that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones drove, was able to travel at warp speed. An alien was also living in a human beings head. These are just some that I can come up with off of the top of my head. As you can see the film had many effects that made the movie action packed and amazing to watch. I think it was very creative. It made the production very valuable. A lot of hard work and brainstorming was obviously put into it.

Here is a  list of company’s that provided the effects for Men in Black, gathered from imdb.com.

Special Effects

Autumn Light Entertainment (digital effects)

Banned from the Ranch Entertainment (BFTRE) (alien languages)

Cinovation Studios (alien make-up effects)

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) (special visual effects and animation)

K.N.B. Effects Group (additional alien make-up effects)

Les Productions Pascal Blais (additional alien make-up effects)

ME FX (additional alien makeup effects)

Mo 42 Special Effects (main titles sequence)

Mo42 Special Effects (main titles sequence)

Open Films (main title sequence)

Question Mark FX (additional digital effects)

Steve Johnson’s XFX Inc. (additional alien makeup effects)

Storyboard Inc. (additional alien make-up effects)

VisionArt

Visual Concept Engineering (VCE) (additional visual effects)

In comparison to other movies with special effects I think Men in Black was really good. However there are more recent movies such as Lord of The Rings that use more advance effects due to the growth of technology.

Three facts I learned:

1.             Blue screen is a technique allows actors and scale models to find themselves in totally imaginary situations — in space ships, dangling from rope bridges over gorges, flying through the air (a la Superman) — and have it look completely real in the theater.

2.             Fizt is an animation program that can speed up the production of special effects — in some cases by a factor of more than 150 to 1 — and can also make the effects appear more life-like than has been possible with less sophisticated programs.

3.             RenderMan Interface Bytestream (RIB), very simply, is the file format used to pass scene information (model data, lights, camera, shaders, attributes, and options) to a RenderMan renderer to control image that it will render.

 What is an urban legend?

An urban legend is basically a made up story or event. They sound so believable yet they’re untrue. Sometimes they may have been based off of something true, but then they are exaggerated.

After reading through the links from the URL above, talk about three urban legends you’ve never heard of that you believe some people could fall for and explain why you think they might believe them?

1.       Drinking bleach can help a drug user beat drug testing.

People may believe that because bleach is known to be something that completely cleanses or disinfects. Therefore people may think hey, it must be able to filter drugs our the body too. Also, drug addicts who are getting tested, maybe so apprehensive of the results that they are up to try anything, so I think they would believe it.

2.       The Bachelor’s Aaron Buerge got three contestants from the show pregnant.

This is a rumor made about the famous TV show. Let’s face it, people like to hear dirt. We are always hearing new scandals about celebrities, that we tend to believe. I think a lot of people would hear this and start passing it on to all their friends.

3.       Chihuahuas are actually a type of rodent bred to resemble dogs.

I think this is believable because so many people make fun of these dogs to begin with. I personally don’t find them cute. I’ve heard many people say they look like big rats etc. Therefore, saying that they really are from rodents’ sounds possible.

After your researching, were there any urban legends mentioned that you had heard of? – did you believe or disbelieve them from the onset?

Yes, as I researched I did come across urban legends that I had heard of. I did believe some of them that I later found out were false. However there are some, I have heard of but didn’t believe because they sound way too absurd.

Why is the Web so prone to these types of “stories?”

The web is a breeding ground for the creation and publishing of these “stories” because any and everything is put on the web. It is so easy to publish any tupe of ludicrous information an individual may choose. People know that putting these “stories” on the web can solicit many views. Sometimes people just surf the web out of boredom and may begin reading through these urban legends.

Three facts I learned about IANA were;

1)    IANA is one of the Internet’s oldest institutions,

2)    IANA is responsible for global coordination the Internet Protocol addressing systems, as well as the Autonomous System Numbers used for routing Internet traffic.

3)    IANA is responsible for maintaining many of the codes and numbers contained in a variety of Internet protocols

I had never heard of IANA before. I never actually took time to consider the fact that there had to be some organization out there, that kept the internet somewhat uniformed, or systematic. It makes a lot of sense. It’s just that with the million of websites out there, one wouldn’t really imagine that there is a way too make sure it all runs smoothly.

The only reason I knew that there were so many top-level domains is because of being in the introduction to mass communications class. We had visited a site that showed all of the TLDs, however I’m still surprised at the amount.  Here are five TLDs that I had no idea existed;

1)    .CAT

2)    .COOP

3)    .INT

4)    .PRO

5)    .TEL

I used godaddy.com to see if my name was available. Surprisingly chelseajohnson.com is. I was surprised because I thought my name was pretty common.

A business that I dream of owning one day with my mother, is a self-esteem, self-worth and positive health habit making, institution for primarily girls ages 12 to 21. I believe these are area of importance to a person’s soul, and sometimes circumstance or lack of various necessities prevent many women from being strong in these areas. I wanted my website to be; IMWORTHIT.COM, but it is already taken. It was however available using the BIZ, WS, NAME, and US domains. The one I settled for, was IMWORTHTHAT.COM. It still works for the theme of what my business would be about. That was actually the first alternative URL the domain suggested. Therefore, it wasn’t that hard for me to find one that would work.

Topic Description: 

My topic was Photoshop text effects. This is basically, learning how to do cool things to your text. This includes making your text glow, look like it’s on fire, look like cheese, etc. There are so many other options…. This interested me since I took media aesthetics. This is something I’m not very sharp in at all! After learning Photoshop I became eager to really become proficient and learn how to use it for all it can do. I’ve learned with Photoshop you can do a whole lot, to make documents and pictures look fabulous. It takes a lot of practice and patience! 

Available Tutorials:

 When I googled this topic for tutorials I literally found an uncountable amount. So I’m not sure of the exact number of returns but I’m guessing there were thousands. I was surprised at how many tutorials there actually are. That goes to show how popular the software is. The three URL’s that appealed to me most were; 

 http://www.photoshopstar.com/offsite/popular-photoshop-tutorials-this-week/ 

This site captured my attention because the first two examples just looked so cool and beautiful to me. I wanted to try and perform the steps right away and see if I could actually create texts just like it. They were called slow shutter text effect and advanced glow effects. Take a look if you get a chance. I had no clue that Photoshop was this advanced.  

http://www.capitaltutorials.com/viewcat.php?id=2

What I loved about this site was how every font had a small icon to the left that showed you what the text looked like, and it listed many different texts. I was able to just scroll down and choose what texts I wanted to try out. It had over 30 pages of different texts. 

http://www.tutorialwiz.com/

This site didn’t just focus on texts which is something I liked. It provided what I searched for which was the text effects, however it also listed the top 5 Photoshop tutorials on their site. I thought it was a very easy source to discovering other creative tasks that I may want to learn.  

Evaluation 

I used the tutorial  from the first URL listed above. The site was very clean and easy to navigate. The tutorial was very easy to follow. I loved that it had the actual dialog boxes from Photoshop on the tutorial because; I knew exactly where to go when it came to trying this out for myself. The person who wrote the directions was very talented in that they wrote it. I felt as if we were actually having a one on one conversation. That made it that much more realistic and easy to comprehend.  The tutorial was very helpful. I actually began trying the slow shutter text effect on Photoshop and it does take time and patience, but I’m getting the hang of it. I am learning so many new ways to warp texts and make everything look cool. It’s very fun, maybe when I perfect something, I will upload it on SCRIBD for all to see J

I am not a big user of online tutorials, but I have used them a couple of times. When I took media aesthetics I used them to help me figure out simple tasks on Photoshop, like make a background a certain color or texture. I also have used tutorials when I was having a problem with my iPOD. I find these tutorials to be a great help. You can find literally anything you need help on, and most of the tutorials are presented in laymen terms.

Fresh idea! I wish I could think of something so simple, yet so useful! This is yet another great addition to easy access on the web. Sometimes it is a hassle for me to get information out, but with this it’s 123 and your done. I almost want to say this is better than e-mail, when it comes to pictures. If this gets popular enough, you can rely on this to share various photos, projects etc., with anyone. I was thinking that if SCRIBD gains enough exposure, that this would be a good way for writers, photojournalists and other to be discovered. This gives these people another venue to exhibit their work.

            Another thing I love is that you can find other documents that are related to yours. This means if you upload things on a certain topic that interests you, you can find others and become more educated, learning things you may not have known. While doing the assignment I found myself clicking around to different pages, and looking at random documents. Very cool I uploaded a photo at Disney world, and my mid-term paper.

 http://www.scribd.com/doc/2235254/HPIM0369 
  http://www.scribd.com/doc/2235259/Nearly-a-quarter-of-Americans3

       The web has been an incredibly major addition to the world of mass communication. There is virtually nothing one cannot research or accomplish using the Internet.  People use the resources of the web for various reasons; candidates in the 2008 election have definitely taken a bite of this and jumped on the bandwagon of the World Wide Web. “Nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) say they regularly learn something about the campaign from the Internet, almost double the percentage from a comparable point in the 2004 campaign (13%).” (The pew research center) That quote is the basis for the study of how the Internet has impacted the 2008 Presidential election.  Podcasts, Youtube videos, and Myspace accounts just to name a few, are developed by the minute. With the phenomenon of the information availability through the Internet, young adults are becoming more educated on important issues in society. Due to this newly found vibrancy for the Internet, candidates in the Race to White House 2008, are using this to their advantage.

      The use of the Internet and the election is primarily targeted at young adults ages 18-24.  In today ‘s society many old media are slowly diminishing in use. Young adults especially, now turn to the Internet for virtually all information they wish to gather. Candidates and their public relations team have taken this into great consideration and therefore have used this to gain more votes.

      Currently the candidates have turned to every popular social network. Facebook is one, which started as a social network for college students exclusively, but is now open to everyone. It still mainly attracts young adults. For the election, facebook made an application that is solely devoted to it. Users can endorse a candidate to show their viewpoints. The site also provides discussion boards where opinions are voiced, and issues can be argued. Individuals may also participate in electoral surveys.  One great aspect of the application is that it also has links of other sites where more information may be sought.

       Myspace is another social website that has over 100 million accounts. According to comscore.com; “the most significant shift has occurred among teens 12-17, who accounted for 24.7 percent of the MySpace audience in August 2005, but today represent a much lower 11.9 percent of the site’s total audience.  Conversely, Internet users between the ages of 35-54 now account for 40.6 percent of the MySpace visitor base, an 8.2 percentage point increase during the past year”.

      From that fact, one can see that although myspace initially catered towards the younger population, over the past couple of years older adults are actually accounting for more use of the site. This statistic is definitely a plus for candidates. Not only are they targeting young adults to snare their votes, but they are still at the same time reaching the older crowd as well.

        Modern technological developments of the web, has allowed those who cannot be home to watch the debates live on television to catch them later, watch as they are on the go, and or even listen to as they travel. With the new surge of podcasts, and youtube videos, individuals may download radio programs, and televisions shows, that feature electoral debates, and upload them to most mp3 players.       

           All of the candidates have had their own websites, where people can discover their candidates’ history, views on issues, donation opportunities, and much more. At this point, with many candidates withdrawn from the race, some websites have been deleted.Starting off with the Democratic Party, Barack Obama by far has had the best website. It is clean and clear. It has a warm and inviting homepage featuring a picture of him and his family that consists of his wife and two daughters. The image makes one feel a sense of honesty, peace and love. Once you enter, it is easy to navigate. I was able to find what I was looking for with no problem. The links and total setup of the page is very organized and easy on the eyes. The context was very informative, and also written in a way that is comprehensible for the average person.

        Hillary Clinton had an average site. It wasn’t too hard to navigate but I didn’t find her site to be as inviting or warm. It is full of text and there isn’t even a picture of her on the homepage. At a quick glance one may not even realize what the site was about. Aside from that, it still gets the job done, of providing information that is pretty accessible.

        Mike Gravel definitely did not have the best Webmaster to design his page. When I first went to it, my initial reaction was to just “ex” it out. However, I lingered. In my opinion his site was poorly set up. Random paragraphs were scattered about. If I wasn’t doing research, I doubt I would ever bother trying to navigate his unappealing website. I don’t think his website was of much use for him.    

       As for the rest of the democratic candidates, some of who are not running anymore such as Tom Vilsack, John Edwards, and Christopher Dodd just to name a few all basically had the same site layouts. Nothing made them stand out.

            Republicans websites were equally as dull as most democrats. Once again no one had anything too different. The republicans all made sure that the “donation” links were very vivid. You can’t miss it! All in all most of the candidate’s did have a section devoted to social networks that most people are already apart of, therefore they could easily find the candidates on those sites.

              Blogging is becoming a new form of journalism. With new blogs developed everyday, people can voice their opinions by writing their feelings about any issue. Of course with the election going on, there are a plethora of blogs devoted to it. All of the candidates have their own blogs as well, that can be found on their websites’.

               Although there are many positive aspects to this freedom of speech, there is still a not so bright side. For one people are speaking from their own hearts. Therefore a lot of what is written may not be based on actual fact. People, who don’t wish to really educate themselves on the issue, may read blogs and just believe everything that is said. The top used news sites such as msnbc, cnn, and NY Times all have blogs that are devoted to all of the new issues that may pop up concerning the candidates. Twitter is also a new and fast growing new media. It is a technology where you can instantly send instant messages to keep friends and family updated at all time s. There is a twitter devoted to the election and users upload recent activity going on with the election, so that everyone can stay as up to date as possible.          

         Although there are many positive aspects to the use of the web, such as gaining the younger crowds attention toward the election, we can’t forget to acknowledge the downfall of all this. For one, we always have to be on the look out for bogus sources. It is the web and everyone with a computer and Internet connection has the means to post information. With that said, there are people who will just read one or two things and form opinions, never knowing sources reliability. Another issues is that negative pictures and quotes; can be circulated extremely fast on the web. Young adults are also good at digging up dirt. This can obviously be detrimental to candidates because many things maybe exposed, that they would have rather kept private. Phishing can be another threat to the election. Symantec Security has looked into this and has come up with potential risks. Candidates have really turned to the Internet to gain donations, and with phishing, monies can easily be sent to the wrong candidate and donors may never know. Hackers can figure out passwords and personal information and threaten individuals into changing their vote. Smart-phone spyware also make candidates susceptible to having their cell phones tapped into, therefore all private conversation can potentially be publicized.With all the information given in this essay that really only skims the surface of how much the web has impacted the election, one may realize how this technology has gained new supporters, and developed new ways of conveying messages. Candidates have been able to gain more support from the young adult. Using social networks has exposed them to millions of people who use myspace, facebook, friendster and the many others. Podcasts has enabled us to see footage that was on television or radio, to be downloaded, and then shareable. Internet users can converse, about issues and become educated while participating with blogs and discussion boards. The election has become more popular and easy to follow with the massive help of the Internet, and I can only imagine how many more advancements, will be made by election 2012!

Bibliography

Bibliography 

1. Voter video network

election08.policlicks.com

2. Yahoo election portal

links.sfgate.com/ZFP

3.  MySpace impact page

impact.myspace.com

4. Pew Research Center

http://pewresearch.org/topics/election’08/

5. The Internet’s Effect on 2008 Presidential Campaigns

http://www.technologyevangelist.com/2007/01/the_internets_effect.html

6. The Web 2.0 Election: Does the Internet Matter in Election Politics?http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/web_20_election.php

7. Cybercriminals Could Steal Election

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202401113

8. Vote 2008

http://twitter.com/vote2008

9. Facebook and the Election

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=2360172394

10. Election Center 2008                                                            

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/

What I have learned thus far in the new media class has been so worthwhile and interesting. I am constantly learning new things about computers, the Internet, our environment and technology etc. It is amazing. With that said, I am now somewhat educated on the different types and aspects of software. I honestly knew nothing about this. What a shame. However, I now understand the differences between commercial, demo ware, shareware, freeware, and open source software. When I think back on different things I have downloaded in the past, it all makes sense now.

            As for the websites, I visited all three. MacOSZone didn’t interest me much. The site was “blah” in my opinion so after scrolling down once I left. Tucow, and dowload.com caught my interest. They were both considerably bright, and had a lot going on but were still organized. They also had a lot of software to choose from. As a whole, I was impressed with all of the sites, just because of the fact that they were pretty easy to navigate and offered such great resources. I will continue to surf these sites on my spare time.

I ended up downloading virtual dj from download.com. I chose it because I am a music head. I love it. I rather listen to music all day then even glance at the television. I couldn’t live without my iPOD. You get the point J So basically I am able to choose songs that I have on my computer and transfer them onto the software. From there I can do certain things that djs do. That includes speeding up or slowing down songs, mixing songs with one another. Removing lyrics and leaving the beat etc. I absolutely love it! I definitely want to keep this; I’m going to be addicted. It’s great!

All in all I enjoyed learning about the software, and I wasn’t aware of these sites, but I’m glad I know now. There are some useful things I can tryout and see if I want for my computer. It’s awesome….

System Properties

-Hewlett-Packard Pavilion (desktop)

-Intel (R), Pentium (R)

My computer runs on 2.53 billion cylces per seconds and 4GB of RAM. It’s definitely not that fastests,but for the amount of people in my home who use it,I guess it is sufficient. When a lot of applications are open it obviosuly gets slower.