All you need to know about Flickr!

Flickr proves to be very successful in utilizing the sites objects to bring people together. People have connected through photos for many years, starting with the photo album. It is only normal to move the "paper" of photo albums onto the web. Flickr does a wonderful job of making it accessible to anyone and everyone who has 1 photo or over 100 photos. It is also great to have people comment on the photos, so the artist can see people's opinions of their photo-art, or what their friends thought of their weekend. I also enjoyed putting pictures of my dogs and paintings up - it made a personal connection with me as well. Well done, Flicker!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5L7IlUK7xw

Social Objects

Social objects bring people together, and Social media helps people unite with their similar interests. It is interesting to be able to go online and either blog or comment on something interests you, or something that you feel very passionate about.

For example, in Engeström's blog, his social object was the controversial Motrin Ad. I watched the ad on YouTube, and personally did not find anything too harsh or personal in it. I viewed it as a way to try to relate their product with mothers and their babies. You can then see an upset mother's YouTube response to the ad, and more people who put up a video of how they feel about the ad. It is very interesting to be able to see everyone's opinions for one 30 second commercial. Before YouTube and other social media outlets, a social object would not be able to be discussed as quickly and as publicly.

Phillies win game 1!

The best play, I think, out of the many that the Phillies had tonight, had to have been Cliff Lee's nonchalant catch! Great job tonight, Phillies!

Social Media

Social Media, as explained in Blossom, is becoming increasingly popular. Anyone, now, can either become instantly famous via youtube, or feel free to post their ideas on their personal blog. Social Media, especially personal blogs like these, are in sense a creative outlet for many people. It gives them time to get away from everyday normal life to let their personal creativity shine. For example, I remember in high school going on myspace and spending time creating a background for my page, as well as choosing different font sizes, colors, posting new pictures and making my page personal to my current interests. it was a great way to release my creative energy, as well as connect with my friends and have them view my page.

The Social Media outlets I use now, as compared to when I was in high school, has decreased, mostly because I do not have as much time to browse and become interested in the same things as I did before, however it is still a big part of everyday life. The most popular Social Media outlets I use are:

Facebook

YouTube

fmylife

textsfromlastnight

pandora

stumbleupon

My personal favorite, especially during the summer, was www.stumbleupon.com because I would visit it during work and it made the hours fly by. It is a website that brings you to many different interesting websites. I highly suggest trying it out, it is a lot of fun!

Interviews!

"What did/do you want to be when you grow up?"

For our audio story project, my group and I have decided to ask the dramatic question of "What do you want to be when you grow up?" for ages 5 to about middle-aged, and then ask people of older ages, "What did you want to be when you were younger? What are you now? How did you come to the certain career you chose?" We thought this would be very interesting to ask, especially to see the differences in answers from little children, to students, to middle-aged men and women and finally to elderly people.

The most interesting answers I think will be the ones from the young children and the elderly men and women, because little kids just want to do what makes them happy, but as they grow up, minds and priorities seem to change, and people tend to do what will make them the most money.

So far I have come up with who to ask over the weekend, and then on Monday I am going to Gompers to ask the little kids what they want to be. And then throughout the week my group and I are going to work with each of our interviews and set up the 5 minute featured film!

The Conversations

The book The Conversations is a very interesting one so far. I really enjoy in the first chapter the conversation between Ondaatje and Murch discussing how Murch went from films to sound, and then goes on to talk about his history in learning about film still and goes on to talk about his influences still in the interview format. The interview makes the first chapter feel more personable to the reader. I also thought that it was interesting how he does not watch other movies when he is in the editing or creative process of films. For me personally, I would want to get ideas from other revered editors and put my own spin on it.

I really liked in Chapter 2 how Murch thought of "blinking" as a visible sign of a period or comma. As an English Major, these are obviously vital in writing, and to have a sense of it in a movie was very interesting to think about.

In chapter 3 I really liked how he re-mastered his movie "The Conversations" to DVD, but did not change anything. I always worry that when a priceless movie from decades ago is being touched up that the plot or something else in the movie will change. All he did was improve the sound and made it look more contemporary.


I really enjoyed the first three chapters, especially since they felt more personal with the interviews, and for the plain fact that they are interesting! It is not like reading The Odyssey or any other book for another class. It actually makes you think about something modern and something that is a big part of life (entertainment). I never really thought of the editors or the people who control the music for each scene or how different ideas for movies arose. It