Blog-7 Project Explanation

Our group's project topic is 'A Classic story with a twist'. We decided to re-tell the story of X-men by setting the X-men in a University setting. The movie title is called 'X-men in Campus'.

We have four main characters, each of which will be played out by our group members. The four featured X-men are: Magneto, Quicksilver, Jean and Xavier. As an actor, I will be playing Xavier, a powerful telepath who has the ability to read minds and control people. I am also in charge of writing the script, based on the plot that was decided as a group. The basic story is that Jean is the love interest of Magneto, Quicksilver and Xavier. The story will follow how the three X-men fight over each other using their powers to win Jean's love.

To recap the other character's powers: Magneto can move metal with his mind, Quicksilver can move at the speed of sound and Jean can move objects with her mind.

Below are videos of each of the character's powers:

Video Editing Practice: Hooked on a Feeling

Blog 6 - Campus Images

Hello everyone! I tried to make the video as interesting as possible by including pictures around campus that were personally meaningful. I also included a donut picture because I thought it captured a special moment in my University life that gave me warm emotions.

In the second picture, "It was sweet of my colleague to give me a donut" because she placed it in my locker (along with every other member's lockers in my group from MT) early in the morning as a surprise present. I would like to add that the donut itself also tasted very sweet. It was sweet of her to take the effort to place the donut and the donut was very sweet.

In the last three pictures, I tried to capture places I felt were aesthetically beautiful.

I added a distortion guitar in the last picture because I saved the best for last. It also feels more cathartic this way.

Midterm Evaluation - Should Background Check Gun Controls be Implemented in the United States?

One of the pros of gun control is it could reduce the high number of gun related deaths in the U.S. Every year the number of gun related deaths reach approximately 32,000. According to the chart below, the Central of Disease Control (CDC) receives millions of dollars budget to research deaths by brain trauma, falls by the elderly, Polio, Lyme disease and even mining. However when we compare the individual causes of death (except for brain trauma), we find that the death toll falls short of the 31,000 gun related death toll in 2010. It would seem rational to put some measures to reduce this death toll.

 
(Poster from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/no-funds-studies-gun-violence-article-1.1809263)

Stricter background checks means felons and people with mental disorders will find it more difficult to obtain guns and will prevent a specific type of gun violence pattern: gun massacre followed suicide. The culprits behind the terrible cases of school shootings such as the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings both had mental disorders. Both gunmen committed suicide after their massacres. Without background checks, these mentally disturbed people were free to go into a gun store and buy guns and ammunition without restriction. An article by the New York Times suggests:

“Swanson has found, [mental disorder] increases the risk of gun violence when that violence takes the form of suicide. According to the C.D.C., between twenty-one and forty-four per cent of those who commit suicide had previously exhibited mental health problem – as indicated by a combination of family interviews and evidence of mental health treatment found at the scene… between sixteen and thirty-three per cent had a history of psychiatric treatment” - New York Times

(Article from November 19, 2014 Link: http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/almost-link-mental-health-gun-violence)

In other word, although not all gun violence is related to mental disorders (and some mental disorders go undiagnosed) some of the worst gun massacres in U.S. history (Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech) have been caused in the ‘murder-suicide’ pattern by people with mental disorders. These acts of meaningless violence could be prevented in the future if proper gun control laws were in place

Thirdly, other countries with tighter gun control laws have less gun related murders. This means that gun control laws are effective at stopping gun related violence, at least in other countries. The figures for the United States as can be seen from the graph are at least three times that of other OECD countries. Placing background check laws could be the first step to reducing this high figure. In countries like Norway or Germany where gun ownership saturation is much less
than the United States, tighter gun controls prevent gun related deaths.
 

One of the main cons of implementing background check laws is the violation of the Constitutional Right of the people – Second Amendment. The Second Amendment reads “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. This is why unlike other countries, the United States can never truly be gun-free for its citizens. A United States citizen has a right to bear arms. Although the background check does not prohibit every ordinary citizen from bearing arms and therefore can be interpreted as in accordance with the Second Amendment, United States ranks number one in the world in gun ownership rate. Around 89 out of every 100 people own a gun. Any regulation related to guns are likely to be unpopular.

Without guns, individual households will have less security against crime. People feel safer when they have guns. 74% of criminals avoid breaking and entering houses while their owners are home because so many households have guns (http://www.safewise.com/resources/guns-at-home).

If big muscular thugs try to mug a lady in the street, they may think twice if the lady has a gun. Guns are effective at protecting oneself because of the sheer power it possesses. When the L.A. Riots broke out in 1992, protestors and looters moved to Koreatown to target Korean-American owned stores. To defend their stores, some of the Korean Americans armed themselves with guns and rifles to protect their merchandise and themselves. They positioned themselves on the roof as their stronghold against the mobs. Here is a photo and a video of the situation at that time:

(skip video to 1:28)

Gun Control laws will cost taxpayers more. This is why one state senator, Camera Bartolotta, is attempting to pass a bill that will eliminate the Pennsylvania Instant Check System (PICS) and National Instant Check System (NICS) background checks in place in Pennsylvania.

Sporting hobbies that require guns could be more difficult if stringent background check laws were to expand into further gun policies. Some people see gun shooting as part of their identity and it is not uncommon for kids to start shooting at a young age in states where there are woods nearby. The following is a video of a young girl showing expert marksman skills with the handgun. She enters various gun shooting competitions as a recreational activity.

Overall, I believe that if America wants to reduce the high number of gun related deaths, they need a strong basic gun control background check regulation that will be properly enforced. The high number of deaths by gun violence (32,000), strong correlation between mental disorder and the atrocious ‘murder-suicide’ gun violence cases (Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech) that broke the nation’s hearts and the fact that countries with gun control have less gun violence than the United States warrants a solution to prevent gun violence. Although the argument “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” is used by people supporting deregulation of gun control, one can’t ignore the sheer power it possesses as well as the danger of an individual taking massive lives, including children. In wake of the Sandy Hook crisis in which innocent children’s lives were taken without warning, there needs to be some basic measures that aim to reduce the high number of gun violence deaths.

 

 

Bonus Material: The following video shows the indirect costs of gun violence that could justify the tax dollars spent on gun control laws:

 

 

 

Other Related Links:
http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/gun-control-pros-and-cons/2014/09/28/id/597212/

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/no-funds-studies-gun-violence-article-1.1809263

http://abc27.com/2015/04/14/bill-would-eliminate-pa-gun-background-checks/

http://www.oregonlive.com/mapes/index.ssf/2015/04/gun_background_check_bill_pass.html

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/04/10/democrat-strategist-to-obama-drop-gun-control-already/

http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/almost-link-mental-health-gun-violence

Blog 5B - Shakira World Cup Music Video Comparison (Evaluative Purpose)

Shakira's World Cup Song Comparison: :This Time For Africa (Waka Wakavs Dare (La La La) | Create infographics

Blog 5A - Shakira Music Video Exploration (Expressive Purpose)

Introducing one of my favourite artists, the Colombian singer/model, the one and only dancing diva from Latin America it's... Shakira!!!

Here are just there of her many music videos I'll be writing personal comments, what I liked about the video and my favourite part of the lyric:
1. Can't Remember To Forget You
2. Hips Don't Lie
3. Empire

Let's explore each one!
1. Can't Remember To Forget You
(508,306,430 Youtube views as of 15/14/08)
'Can't Remember To Forget You' is a collaboration match made in heaven. Rihanna and Shakira both have charismatic voices. I really like the guitar intro. When you hear lyrics like "I keep forgetting I should let you go" and "I'd go back again", "Repeat yesterday's mistakes" you can really feel the longing emotion behind the words.

2. Hips Don't Lie
(228,823,008 Youtube views as of 15/14/08)
'Hips Don't Lie' is a classic. The music video was runner-up for the VH1's top music videos of 2006. I think it's one of her more sexier videos. The colour palette of red, yellow, green on her outfit later changes to a more moderate white during the bridge section. My favourite part of the lyric is "Don't you see baby this is perfection".

3. Empire

    (80,667,177 Youtube views as of 15/14/08)

One of her uncharacteristically less revealing music videos, which in my opinion makes it all the better! It "compensates" for less skin with more visual spectacles. When it comes to the chorus section "Whoo-" the wedding dress she's wearing is set digitally on fire. My favourite part of the lyric is the addictive hook, "Whoo-" There is something exhilarating about listening to Shakira's music.

That's it! Please let me know what you think down below. Thank you :)

Blog 4 - Websites with Different Purposes

Hello everyone, here are the five sites I would like to introduce to you today!

1) Entertaining Site
www.9gag.com
9gag is a famous site founded in 2008 by a student from the University of Hong Kong, Chris Chan. It's a site where users share funny photos/gifs/memes. The company is currently based in Mountain View, California. It has gained 20 million facebook likes and 3million twitter followers.
Anyone can visit the page and scroll down through funny photos posted by users. The information is not very useful and serves to make young people laugh. Users can press vote if they liked the photo. The larger the number of points (vote), it means more people liked the humour content.

However, the jokes are not very mature and not very informative or intelligent. Personally I don't visit the site anymore, because it is distracting, too childish, some of the humour is dark, vulgar and I feel like I am slowly becoming an idiot.



2) Informative Purpose
www.daum.net
Daum is a search engine with news content. On the mainpage, there is a search bar on the very top and news headlines on the bottom. On the right is a real-time ranked issues/keywords that are trending. If you follow the news link, you can choose different categories from the Society page to Sports.

It is very similar to Naver but with different skin and slightly different articles.

3) Persuasive Purpose
SPCA site (for HK region http://www.spca.org.hk/en/)
SPCA stands for Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It is a non-profit organization founded in England. However the companies operating under SPCA are independent from each other despite operating globally in many countries such as Hong Kong, US, Africa. However, they all have similar goals of preventing animal euthanasia, animal abuse and promoting adoption of abandoned pets. Their site can be classified as persuasive because they show vivid pictures of animals that were mistreated and try to promote the cause of protecting innocent animals.

4) Evaluative Purpose
Rotten Tomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com)
Rotten Tomatoes is a film review site that evaluates movies. A movie is considered 'fresh' if it receives high ratings. A movie is considered 'rotten' if it receives low ratings. The ratings are based on top and average movie critics and have a high standard. The critic team leaves a critic consensus, a one-line review description of the movie. For example, the movie 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day' received 92% and received the following Critics Consensus, "T2 features thrilling action sequences and eye-popping visual effects, but what takes this sci-fi/action landmark to the next level is the depth of the human (and cyborg) characters." There is also an audience score column based on user ratings.



5) Expressive Purpose
www.deviantart.com
Deviantart.com allows digital artists of all levels to appreciate one another's works without constraint. Artwork/photos can be based on TV series, anime, catoons, movies or based on their own life or be original (a lot are based on cartoons). Artists can express their art created digitally and post it on deviant art, if many people leave comments, it can trend into the 'What' Hot' trending feed on the main page for higher exposure.

My favourite user is (username) 'ktshy' which if you click her 'galleries' page, she has some very funny comics based on the Harry Potter franchise called 'simply potterific' and also another comic based on her life called 'shrub monkeys'. I will leave an additional funny comic by ktshy which I found hilarious during my highschool years as an example. There are some interesting and beautiful art work/comics as there are many users who have been trained professionally in the field.

These are the five sites I found. I hope you enjoyed them!

Ronaldo Vs Messi, Who is Better? | Create infographics

Video Analysis (video from 2011) | Create infographics

*TYPO: Ronaldo is two years older than Messi not younger
Description:The colors chosen for the infograph (donut chart) showing the number of goals scored by each player in 2014 were Red, Blue, Yellow & White. They are the team mascot colours for Real Madrid (white & yellow, Cristiano Ronaldo's team) & Barcelona (Red & Blue, Lionel Messi's team). 
There is an interactive feature in the inforgraph. You can switch between '2014 goals information' for each player by clicking on Ronaldo or Messi.
The photo shows Ronaldo & Messi fighting for the ball in a game. This highlights the rivalry between the two players. 
Age information was included because Messi being younger than Ronaldo will have more years left in his football career to break more records. 
Information regarding FIFA Ballon d'Or (highest individual award for football player) shows that Messi is only one award ahead of Ronaldo, while Ronaldo has won the award in the recent past two years. This means Ronaldo could tie with Messi if he wins the award again this year.
For more information please visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/cristiano-ronaldo/11338211/Ballon-dOr-How-Cristiano-Ronaldo-and-Lionel-Messis-records-compared-in-2014.html

Blog 2 homework

1) Canvas is a new tool I’ve never heard of before. It’s a very clear and straight forward tool for teachers and students to hand in & grade assignments. It’s very user-friendly and easy to get into.

Twitter on the other hand is a total nightmare. Since there is a word limit to your ‘tweets’ and it’s confusing whether something is public or private. I’ve read cases of famous celebrities or politicians leaving embarrassing tweets thinking the message was private. But I can see the appeal for celebrities because the popular they are the more followers they have. For the average user, rather than using it to connect with friends. I feel it’s more for keeping track with celebrities. I wish it was more user-friendly. 

Pinterest was user friendly, but I didn’t know the concept of boards and pinning something until this class. For a newcomer, it might be easier to get into if you have someone to teach you. It’s a very convenient media storing platform Blogger was new for me, but because I already have a gmail acount, I think it would take courage to start blogging on your passions and interest in public. I say this because apparently my sister saw my blog because she got an update email, even though I didn't send her anything! 

2) I sometimes see 'tumblr' on the internet but I don't know what it is. At first I thought it was the Starbucks tumbler or had something to do with something tumbling. If there are any other popular tools I would like to find out more!.

Self-Introduction

My name is Eric. I am 25 years old. I am Korean, but I lived in Hong Kong most of my life. I used to be an Accounting & Finance Major, but I switched to English Literature major. As a person who lived in Hong Kong for the majority of his life, starting University life in Korea is a new experience for me. Unlike other freshman, I already finished mandatory military service of 21 months in the army. Now I am ready to embark on this fresh chapter in my life!

All Korean people love football (soccer). Although the competition in our national league is not as heated as those in Latin America, individuals like Son Heung-Min have made it to the big stage in Europe. As a football fan, I am proud that our country has such talented players.

Drumming is a skill I want to learn. Right now I can play the electric guitar, but after seeing one of my friends post a video of himself playing drums on facebook (drum cover of the soundtrack 桜花之恋塚) and watching the movie "Whiplash", drumming seems like a lot of fun. Below is a 9-minute video of Bruno Mars rocking the Superbowl during the halftime show.

Enjoy!