Blog #16

Being a design major, my main influences for what I do come from the art world but also the music industry. This year, an amazing music video came out that combines both music and art. "Her Morning Elegance", by Oren Lavie, was created using a still frame method. Basically, it's the combination of thousands of still photos sliced together to make it appear as if the people and objects in the video are moving in real time. 

I found the process of Oren's life, as he moved from country to country, to work on his music, very geography based!

According to the ever so "trustworthy" Wikipedia:

Oren Lavie spent his youth in Israel.^[2] In 1997 his play Sticks and Wheels and his production of it were awarded the main prizes at the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre. The production played in Tel Aviv during 1998.^[3] In that year he went to London to study theatre directing at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).^[4] After his graduation two of his plays were produced in various London theatres. They already contained several songs written and composed by him.

In 2001 Oren Lavie moved to New York where he tried to make a living by means of various jobs and where he focused on writing songs. When they had piled up he went to Berlin (2003) and started to do recordings, working as his own producer. His first album, The Opposite Side of the Sea, was completed in 2006; it was released in Europe in January and February 2007. In 2009, his stop motion style music video, "Her Morning Elegance," achieved significant popularity on YouTube,^[5] receiving over 5 million hits.

Just go to youtube, type "Her Morning Elegance" and it's the first hit! Enjoy!

Blog #15

To begin, I would like to say that this website is sweet! It's a lot of fun to type in names and see where they appear around the world. 

I started by typing my last name into the search and it turns out Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom have the highest percentage of Birts. I wasn't surprised too much by the discovery since the three of these are all largely Caucasian societies. However, I did find it strange that New Zealand has more Birts than the United States. 

Next, I typed in King, my mom's maiden name. The most hits for King appeared in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. All of this information not only makes me wonder about my own family's history, but also the origin of names and the history involved with names. 

Lastly, I typed in my roommate's last name: Gross. Germany dwarfed Switzerland and Austria for the most "Gross". This discovery makes me laugh though; my roommate's full name is Russel Frederick Gross the fourth and I always joke with him saying it sounds as if he owns Sweden. Well, it turns out he could own Germany or Switzerland, ha! 

Blog #14

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOSO_WEuYUU  (If this doesn't work just type in Military Training: Soldiers from North Korea.)

This video clip is entirely dedicated to North Korea and their "Super Warriors". It's definitely a propaganda piece that tries to make North Korea out to be a tough, strong, and domineering country. This clip is exactly how communist countries work; they brain wash their citizens to believe that they are superior to the rest of the world. After a few generations, you get an army of true believers in the communist cause! 

More disturbing than the video are the posts under it that support North Korea and the communist actions that they take part in. 

Bigbutcowman wrote: 

Our communist brothers are strong! 

A North Korean woman could destroy an American Marine in hand to hand fighting.

Blog #13

Sponge Bread
Frog Legs


     Since the time I can remember my father has been an exploratory eater. My three siblings and I have grown up with him always pushing us to try new foods. There have been many occasions where we have gone out for a family dinner to "try something new." 

     Many times this "try something new" theory has worked out pretty well. From alligator to frog legs, various sea creatures, and other assorted creepy-crawlies there have been some pretty delicious tastes. Both the alligator and frog legs taste like chicken; as much as the "tastes like chicken" theme gets used, in these two cases it was true! I have had Thai, Japanese, real Chinese (not the American version), Italian, European, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and other food from various other origins. On the other hand, I will never forget the one time the "try something new" theory failed miserably. 

     I remember my father telling my mother not to make anything for dinner–we were going out that night. At the appropriate time we all piled into the car and made our way down into the rundown portion of Denver. After a good hour in the car we finally arrived at our destination: an Ethiopian restaurant. All of us, including my sweet mother, were all up for another exciting experience and climbed out of the van. A brisk walk across the old pavement of the parking lot and we were in the front door of the establishment. We stepped in, and were the only customers in the entire place, (this was probably a sign from God warning us). 

    I know we ordered lamb but I can't recall the other sides. In Ethiopia, part of every meal is the Demera bread, also know as, "sponge bread". It literally has the texture of a sponge and tastes far worse than a sponge! I can still remember how awful it was. No utensils are used in Ethiopia and so my family was stuck with our hands to eat the lamb and sponge bread. 

     As a collective agreement, my family and I decided to call it quits and went to The Black Eyed Pea! I am very grateful for being raised in a way to not be afraid of trying new things, but I will never eat sponge bread again!

     

Blog #12

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1) A protester throws a computer terminal at a branch of RBS.

2) Protests get violent near the Bank of England.

G20 membership includes the following countries/union:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the European Union

Blog #11

I flipped the world around into various positions, peered at the screen, and then quickly twist the sphere again. Luckily, google earth doesn't given one the permission to play God when using their software– everyone would've just experienced severe trimmers and now massive headaches, ha! 

Eventually, out of mere chance, I came to this image. Amazing, isn't it! The glory of the Pacific Ocean. The western edges of Latin and South America can be seen at the upper, right hand side of the picture, and nothing else but water is visible. That's one whole side of the world, and it's completely water! Honestly, no wonder dolphins always seem so happy– they practically have half of it to swim in. 

According to several sources, the Pacific Ocean is the world's largest and google earth presents that very well. It is 60 million square miles– larger than the total land area of the world and 15 times the size of the United States. It was given its name by Ferdinand Magellan and its average depth is three miles, (2.8 but I don't care for decimal points). 

Truly, there is only one thing to be said: God is amazing!

Blog #10

I had been able to see Slumdog Millionaire over spring break and thought it was incredible. The entire concept of the story concerning "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and how it follows Jamal's life is one of the most creative movies I have seen a good while. 

The movie portrayed India as a very, very poor nation with the exception of a few extremely rich individuals. Slumdog Millionaire shows the rich of society being very cruel and going out of their way to keep the poor "bound", in a manner of speaking, to the lowest rung of society and life. Furthermore, the government does whatever it pleases even if their actions are illegal. The film very well portrays how LDCs work; those who are rich or in government positions get all the money and the rest of society has to fend for themselves. 

Slumdog Millionaire had me pondering many subjects by the time the film was over. First, I am very blessed to live where I do in the United States. To have equal opportunities and be able to go to school, get a degree, and make a living. Jamal was 18 and had no hope until it came to his final answer which won him the million dollars. Second, ways of going about business are not the same in LDCs as they are in MDCs. The cops beat Jamal until he told them how he knew all of the answers to the questions on the game show. Beating suspects isn't how MDCs work; everyone is granted a fair trial; as I already stated, governments have all the power in LDCs and are able to beat innocent people. 

I really do think that this film portrayed India in the actual manner it is. Why would people over in India be so mad at the movie if it didn't hold some truth! Another sore of the world has been made known to the rest of the world. This film not only proved to be a great source for entertainment but also a great source of provoking thoughts.