My roommate showed me this remarkable video on YouTube that Dove created. It starts off with a model, without any make up on or her hair done, and she looks like an average person. Then, after the make up is added, and her hair is done, her pictures are then almost distorted on a computer progam, and she looks like a completely different person. The point of the video is show us that we have such a warped view of beauty because of all the "beautiful" models we see everyday on billboards and in magazines, when in reality, they aren't even "real."
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
My Blog
My blog, as of right now, is not very interesting, mostly because I had to switch sites and I now have to learn HTML. However, I do plan on adding pictures, movies, and some more interesting items. I also want to switch around the fonts and background colors - which I will obviously do for Friday! Give me your ideas as to how I can change this arond, or HTML codes or websites that you found helpful!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Webby Awards
I have not heard of the Webby Awards before this class, but they are really interesting! As I was looking through the different categories that interest me, I found a few fun websites and a couple of interesting ones. My top favorites are: Razorfish is a company that creates interesting and creative brands for other companies. Their website in itself is a fun site to browse through. This site also follows Steve Krug's instructions for a good website because there is not too much background noise, the fonts in each section are organized, and it is not difficult to find the information you are looking for. This particular website is about women's fashion, and for every woman interested in fashion I highly recommend viewing this site! It is a fun site to go on, because there are no arrows to view the next outfit, you have to literally draw an arrow with your mouse and it goes to the next picture! Also, if you want to zoom on a particular part of an outfit, you draw a circle around the shirt or the belt, and it brings zooms right in! The clothes are awesome as well. This website is like a "hear about it first" kind of site. It introduces you to new things before the media blows it up. It is really cool to hear new music, or learn about up and coming books. I love art; anything having to do with art interests me. From pictures to paintings to sculptures to my five year old cousin's finger paintings - I can not get enough. This art museum is located in New York, Venice, Bilbao, Berlin and Abu Dhabi, and is one of the most interesting looking buidings (fun fact: it is one of the 20th century's most important architectural landmarks) and houses some of the most beautiful art pieces. However, the fun part is, is that there are not any historic paintings - each piece of art is from the 20th century and beyond!
Mini Movies
The first speach, "School Kills Creativity" was one of the best speaches I have heard in a while. Sir Ken makes many valid and interesting points pertaining to creativity being "killed" in school systems. Schools have definitely started to break down creativity, as I have witnessed, especially the first few times a child hears, "No, your point is wrong" in an English class, or when they are in Art class in second grade and the teacher is telling them they are not drawing correctly. This, obviously, affects them, and they start to form a mindset that Sir Ken mentioned as being scared to take chances or to be wrong - as if making a mistake in school is one of the worst things to happen. Then, as we get older, we need to use our creativity for school projects, and then at work, but we are terrified of being "wrong"; we hold ourselves back from our creative potential. I know that I have written and re-written multiple essays, where the teacher wanted the class to write our opinions about a book. Instead, I noticed I was writing what I thought she wanted me to write about, not what I truly thought. Another great point he made during his speach was when he talked about the girl in the 1930's who could not sit still in class, and if I remember correctly he said, "Now-a-days doctors would say she has ADHD, but that disease was not available at that time. Now, kids are being put on medication and told to calm down." The fact that he said the disease was not available back then is a bit risky to say, but he makes a great point. If that had happened now, she would have been put on medication and not working to her full potential to become a great dancer. I also loved when he said literacy in schools should coincide with creativity. I think that could greatly change people's outlooks on education, for the better.
Last year I was a business major, and this year I recently changed to English. I started with Business because, as Elizabeth Gilbert said, "ceative careers makes people nervous, but 'normal' jobs are understandable." I also noticed a difference in the way people reacted when I tell them I am an English major, as opposed to when I was Business. Last year, especially at family events, I would say that I go to Saint Joseph's University and I am currently a Business major. I would receive a proud look and then get "advice" on what I can do with a great Business major. Now, when I tell the same people that I changed my major to English, I was expecting the same look, but with a question as to why I changed. Instead, 99% of the time, people will say, "English? What can you do with that? Become a writer? Can you write interesting stories?" I understand where people are coming from, and with my English degree I want to become a lawyer, but just the fact that the major is a form of art, people are more skeptical to believe great things can come out of it.
Other Blogs
I have never actually blogged before, and I do not regularly follow blogs, but in my quest to find something that interests me I remembered my favorite HBO show - True Blood, and found a pretty interesting website that discusses the show. If you're as much of a fan as me, the blog URL is: http://thetruebloodblog.com/tag/2009-true-blood/
What I found interesting from this site are the spoilers for the episodes. Usually people want to watch the show and be surprised when things happen, but for me, I can not wait a week to see what happens! I have to know what happens right away! So in reality, I should probably wait for the seasons to come out on DVD so I can sit in awe for a few hours a day, but that also consists of time and waiting, so this site works perfectly.
After thinking about my interest in True Blood, I thought about other things that interest me. At the end of this year, I am planning on buying a motorcycle, preferably the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 
and I found a pretty interesting motorcycle blog as well: http://www.helmethairblog.com/
I did not realize that basically whatever anyone is interested in, they can easily talk about with others who are interested in the same things. To refer back to the movies in the case where everyone's interests are known and therefore ads or other websites following their interests pop-up, is a bit questionable, but possibly through blogs that is how these creators will follow you - through what you write about and show you are interested in. Blogging could possibly grow within the next few years, just as myspace and facebook grew and are still growing.
Technology
It is crazy how technology has expanded within the last few decades. It is also a bit terrifying how quickly it is growing, and nevermind the fact that it is also practically free! The internet, to a certain extent, is all free. It is easy to access the news for free because people no longer need to pay to have it delivered to their house, as well as producing pictures, watching tv shows and movies... and they are all available at anyone's fingertips. A consumer can purchase anything on the internet and they do not have to leave the comfort of their homes - and that is where the probem stems from. Having the choice to either go outside, out of your way, to buy that new t-shirt, or stay at home and go to the store's website and order it there. It is definitely an advantage, because shopping and other tasks that could take up time can now be done within minutes! However, as the movies suggest, what happens when that is all that people will do - stay at home in front of a screen, having the choice to either experience life, or experience life via the internet. A decision I would hope I do not have to make any time soon.
The internet is a wonderful tool, however, do people realize how it impacts their lives, and how intensely it can influence their lives within a matter of years? For example, the favored website facebook. It is a great site to get in touch with people, talk to people, find the old high school friend, however, all of your information is out there for anyone to see. Pretty soon privacy will not be an issue, because finding out people's moods or locations, is just a button away. Therefore, is the internet actually helping us, or slowly but surely bringing us down? Are we going to end up like the characters in Wall-E - not knowing reality, but instead too into their computer screen? Either way, the subject of technology should not be a scary subject, it should be an interesting one, yet it is terrifying to think about how in depth we could get with this new found knowledge for futuristic items.
This is my first blog... ever, and I can not decide what to write about. So I'll start off with something easy - myself. My name is Kimberly Starr, and I live in Connecticut, and my favorite season, Fall, is right around the corner, and in my opinion there is no place like Connecticut in the Fall! The air smells like a pumpkin candle, and every family's lawn is covered in multiple leaf piles - it's a beautiful scenery.After I graduate Saint Joes, I would love to travel to Thailand and teach children how to speak English for a few years. After I have completed that mission in life, I am planning on becoming a lawyer.
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