Los arboles mueren de pie

"The trees die standing up"

This is a book written by Alejandro Casona. He is a Spanish author. The book is adapted to a theater production and it is very popular in LatinAmerica.
The story is divided in three acts. The synopsis is that Dr. Ariel  is the owner and founder of an institution that want to help desperate people who lack of luck and faith. One day a couple of grandparents come looking for his grandson who is dead but the grandmother still gets emails from him.

I don't want to give any spoilers on this book. And I think it is worth reading. I don't usually read theater, I rather go to see it but the way this is written down is brilliant!! as a reader you get into the plot that you forget it is a play.

Newsworld Assignment

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story that you read? if so what are they and how are they used?

Personally I feel that there is an abstraction of the symbol of fear. We see that the attack of the airplanes just happened in NYC. and that this group of teenagers are trying to understand what is happening and that they are trying to be brave and go out and explore the theme park but that in the bottom of their hearts they are feeling confused and they don't know how to process all the information that is going on in the world.
Another symbol is the candle that Mason, a religious boy removed from his jacket pocket. This symbolizes faith and hope in a hard place.

2. What connections do you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you you were able to connect. 

I feel I am connected to the story in the fact that I didn't know what to do with the information of the airplanes hitting the towers that day. The news travel all the way to my country and I remember being in school and the teachers commenting about it but since it wasn't our country we didn't know exactly what to do with the information. At the end of course there was sadness because many life were lost in the event and it is always sad when there is a terrorist attack like this one.

3. What changes would you make to adapt this story into other medium? What medium would you use and what changes would you make? 

I think this piece of narrative can be adapted into a movie or a short film. If it is a movie, then there has to be more story into it. We need to have a backstory of the narrator, who is the main character and also we need to see more of a struggle inside the park and what happens after the guards find them. Right now, the piece feels incomplete lie if it is part of a book and we only have some of the pages, at the end I was asking myself now what? what happens to them? It would be interesting to see what happens, if the law is stronger after the attack or if the law is more concentrated in the terrorist attack that they are not paying attention to a group of teenagers who are being risky and not following rules.

ASTERIOS POLYP

What is multimodal? multimodal is characterized by several different modes of activity or currency.

ASTERIOS POLYP

Many of us who enjoy reading and comics and movies find in graphic novel a fun way to entertain ourselves and read stories,

This particular one tells a story of an ordinary man but that has many talents. We see he is architect, teacher, womanizer, architect. All of this help him to live a life in NYC, the city that never sleeps. But what happens when all of this life gets taken away from him? thats where the real struggle begins. Its a little bit tricky the way this novel is written because it goes back and forth between the past and present, this might be because the author wants to represent what the main character is feeling. He is living in the present but he likes his past life and how the imagination plays a big role in his life.

What really caught my opinion of this, is not the story but the artwork. its very stylized and the colors they used its magenta and cyan. Its brilliant the way they play around with the colors and how they use the human figure.
I feel that for a graphic novel is very important to have a specific artwork and this definitely has its own style.

Exercise in class

This picture describes Donald Trump's personality very well and it makes you question about his ability to be a good leader.
He is constantly talking to insult people and to scream without thinking what he is talking about.
I think that physiologically this image causes to the people a negative image about this candidate because who wants to have a crazy angry person as his president?
I don't vote in America but I if I could I would expect to vote for someone who control his emotion and what he says in public and is open to bring everyone together and try to have peace in the country.

Additional Chapter

RE:  THE MOMENT YOU RAN AWAY.

I will be honest, I didn't think you had it in you to ignore me and ran away, breaking everything in my house. I told you don't break anything remember? specially all the picture frames I had on the white table. Don't you like our pictures? I thought we did hired a good photographer for the one in the red picture frame....
Anyways, by running away you complicated things a little bit. Specially because I have to delay my plan on conquer the Earth, since I don't have you in my team anymore....
Its funny how you found me a few days ago.... and now is my time to find you. For your own good I hope you are good hiding your tracks; because if not, then Ill see you real soon.

Observation Example

Outside the Academic Center, there are many tables and chairs. Each chair is same style and color. They are arranged in different positions and each one has its own rhythm.
The cool thing about this is that each chair and table has a meaning and a purpose....
They are each for someone to sit down.

A past dream to make it a Film

The main character is standing in a big plaza looking for someone specific: a friend.
In the same plaza but at another time of the day there is that second friend buying a bracelet.
After buying the bracelet this second friend starts walking towards a garden.

Meanwhile we go back to the first person she is still standing in the plaza waiting for her friend.She starts walking and passes the bracelets stand and keeps walking towards the garden.

There is a montage of both persons walking but none of them are walking together yet. The montage keeps speeding up and at a point both persons are walking holding hands one next to the other.

The second friend gives the bracelet as a present to the first one. The first person smiles and puts it on but it is now back in the plaza by herself.

She smiles and keeps the bracelet on, remembering the day that she and her friend had a nice walk in the garden, laughing and enjoying the beautiful nature and landscape that God created.

Gore Verbinski's Tone of Voice

 

The director I chose is: Gore Verbinski. He is the director of many movies including Pirates of the Caribbean I, II, III and the Lone Ranger. 

I chose this director because he has done many movies not only live action, but also animation and a combination on both. The way he approaches the cinematography and story is very successful and I think he is able to put his own style to each movie even if it is not the same writer or genre.

Pirates of the Caribbean I and II has the same cast, characters and the plot extends through all the movies. Lone Ranger is a complete different story and different cast. 

In Pirates of the Caribbean the voice of the director is comical, fast passed and has a lot of pirate tone voice in it. 

While watching the Pirates of the Caribbean you feel you are in that world, the way the characters speak, move and interact they make you feel you are in their era. Personally I feel that the way this movie is portrayed, its brilliant because you don't feel the Pirate's voice  is forced into you but it flows and it is believable. Since it is a movie for teenagers and Kids, the director also adds a funny voice to it. Jack Sparrow is the main character of the movie and he is able to communicate the story in both of the movies, with the funny/mysterious pirate tone. 

This two movies are very successful.

The Long Ranger is an interesting movie to analyze, since it is the same director and same main actor. Looking at this pieces, we assume it will be as successful as the two previous movies I talked about: Pirates of the Caribbean I and II; but in my opinion it was not successful. 

What I feel it happened is that the director tried to approach this story in the same comical way than he did in the Pirates movie but it wasn't quite good. I think the reason is that the main character in this one was an indian it wasn't a pirate. The indian has another voice than the Pirate. 

The Long Ranger's voice is all over the place it tries to be funny but I think it should have more cowboys + Indian voice and bring out that rivalry like the old west movies. 

Star Wars Screen Play: Han's Perspective

The script I read was Star Wars Screen Play. The way I want to address this post is to analyze how an actor would adapt their characters in the film based on what they read from the screenplay.

I think that Han Solo is very well represented with actor, Harrison Ford. I think as an actor you have to fully understand the character and take his background and life and try to feel like if you are that person. You need to believe what you are acting, that way the audience will believe it too.

In this particular scene, Han's character has different personalities depending to whom he is talking to. It says in #10, "Into the radio, big brother style" "Now wait a min, Luke" We see that with this Han has to act like an older brother would do. He cares about Luke but he also wants to make sure, Luke understands who is in charge in the relationship wether Luke will obey or not.

Then Han Solo, talks to Leia. By his expression we can see that he is now in the opposite side of the card. He is now more submissive to what Leia has to say. When he was going to meet her, his attitude was "I am the best", and we see it as it is described: "She walks quickly to Han, whose mouth is open on an angry retort. He shuts it as she smiles at him."

As an actor Harrison Ford he needs to understand that his character is a man of mystery and he will act different depending to whom he is talking to. He is a man of honor and he is brave and he will do anything he can for the ones he love, even though he sometimes tries to hide it. I think Han character is very well written and there is nothing I would do to alter his characteristics, except the fact that at the end he could maybe learn some Jedi techniques and fight and save Luke with a lightsaber.

Virtual Reality

What is real and what is not real?

Virtual reality is a term that has been hoping out in Hollywood, films and entertainment. It is a computer-generated simulation of a three dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with a seemingly real or physical way by a person using special equipment: such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.

It is an interesting concept,  trying to bring the humans to a three the world. I think it gives a new experience to gamers and movie audiences. The cool thing about this experience is that it takes the audience into a complete new world. 

I tried it one time when Bio Lucid came to the school with some glasses so we can see inside a cell. It was amazing because once we had the gloves on, if we walked and turned our head, then we could see a 360 degree view of the human cell. It was a little bit confusing, because our world does not look like a computer generated one and it can make us dizzy.

Like any other thing, virtual reality is something that we need to be careful. Virtual Reality is something to play with, or to see but it is important to always live in the real world and to be thankful with the world we live in and have. 

Opinion on Hamlet

It was super cool! 

I thought it was very interesting the cinematography and the approach they did to recreate Hamlet.
I was a little worried that it was going to be too over exaggerated, since the play is written in a old-classic language. But in the videos, they are doing it just fine, they talk with passion but it is not over sell.

 

The cinematography and the way they did the sets was a success too. They had a very dark-desaturated set in most of the scenes, trying to portray mystery/elegance and drama. One of my favorite scenes was this one, where you could see the character, thanks to a blue-spotlight and the fog that was light blue/white. It gave a very mysterious feel and by using the lighting the way they did it, they made the textures of the armature pop out, which makes it very beautiful.   

The acting was very well deliver, I thought it was very interesting to see in some scenes they broke the fourth wall and they made the characters face the audience and deliver the lines like if they were having a conversation with them. All the actors were very into their characters and that made it believable for the audience. The choice of outfits was very interesting too because they didn't stick with one era's outfit but they explored and pushed it a little bit. 

Questions in Class

A Good Man is Hard to Findby Flannery O'Conno

What features of the story I read?

They are in a car, on they way to Florida. The spacial features of this story is the road they are driving through and how they are stopping in different towns to rest or eat.

What is the world Ethos?

Well they care about themselves they do not care about other people. They are usually annoyed by the grandmother and they take risks. It feels pretty empty and cruel to me. 

Strategies to convey the story to the reader.
He tries to be descriptive in the situation and how the characters interact with each other. He uses a place that exists like Florida and he makes fun of the fact that there are weird and funny news titles in the different cities in Florida. 

How the characters are connected in the story?
They are all family members. 
Except the murderer who is from Florida. 

Opinion, Critics, Points of Views = Respect?

Everyone has their own point of views depending on the way we were raised and the culture we lived in; and in a society that has been impacted by social media it is hard not to find an opinion.

We find many books, novels and newspaper columns where writers and people express what they think about a certain event or topic, and that is great! everyone is entitle to an opinion. The problem is when the opinion and the points of view of a person is not respected.
And this is a very sensitive topic, because I have read many post in Facebook or News about wishing to get freedom of points of view and opinions while attacking the oposite view.

We are all living in the same world and in order to live with each other without that many problems like we have right now, I think it is important that everyone respect other's opinions and points of views without attacking them. There is a way to dialogue and compare and contrast the different points of views, which means that the two parties should be willing to talk but also listen to the other person without interrupting them or trying to force their point of views.

We can't force someone to think the way we do, and we can force someone to change their opinion.... But there are ways to dialogue and learn from one an other.

Literary Influences

We talked today about influences and how we are what we read. We also had a discussion about  who influences in the media. 

One thing that I have been thinking about is that literary influences, are very noticeable world wide, but that they can change from country to country or language. In Latin America, schools makes us read novels from Spanish writers. Ive had some conversations with some American friends about books that we read when we were in High School, and some titles match but others are different.

This is understandable, because of the different culture and language. It is interesting to see that some classics like Pride and Prejudice can be found in both cultures but maybe some titles like "Los Arboles mueren de pie" from Alejandro Casona is usually found in Latin American schools. 

It is interesting to see that there are some books that are know internationally but others vary from country to country.  Media allows writers to distribute their work in many languages and countries. This is amazing because now it is very easy to find a writer or a book on the internet and download the content to read it. Media and Internet is allowing people to grow on knowledge and it is giving the opportunity to learn about other countries and cultures and views. 

It is also important to remember that no one can force someone to grasp a view or a point. Ive seen many people trying to force someone to read a certain book or to accept certain philosophy and they are not successful. We can recommend books by talking about the reviews and our personal opinion. But its up to the other person to decide whether they want to read it and accept it or not. Its also very common that you read a book and never finish it because you don't accept the content or the author's point. and it is okay. We need to remember we can't force someone into reading, we can invite them to discover the wonderful mysteries and joy that reading a GOOD book brings. 

True Grit and Western Novels

Last week we read Pride and prejudice, a love story and this week it is a completely different topic!! True Grit is a very good story, that touches very deep and serious topics such as honor, determination, revenge and strength.

Another main difference is the way the story is narrated, in this novel Mattie Ross is the one narrating what is happening, it feels very personal in the story because  she narrates what happened to her when she was 14 years old. We see since the beginning that her character is very independent and strong minded. she has a mission and it is not a delicate one....her mission is to avenge her father's death. Since this we see that she had to grow up really fast and didn't have a very sweet and happy childhood.


Last week we read Pride and prejudice, a love story and this week it is a completely different topic!! True Grit is a very good story, that touches very deep and serious topics such as honor, determination, revenge and strength.

Another main difference is the way the story is narrated, in this novel Mattie Ross is the one narrating what is happening, it feels very personal in the story because  she narrates what happened to her when she was 14 years old. We see since the beginning that her character is very independent and strong minded. she has a mission and it is not a delicate one....her mission is to avenge her father's death. Since this we see that she had to grow up really fast and didn't have a very sweet and happy childhood.

The genre of this novel is Western. A genre is "a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style or subject matter".
Some of the characteristics that the western novels are:

• The villains are usually the indians. 
• There is usually a scene with a shooting involve, between "cowboys" and :indians" or other cowboys.
• It takes place in a Western location, such as a ranches or old towns.
• The cowboys hat are an iconic part of the main character. 
• The characters usually have guns as weapons. 
• The western movies romanticize the ideas of loyalty and virtue. 

Personally, I don't really see too much Western movies or read them. The closes experience I have with this genre is Little House on the Prairie, and the Zorro.  

Movies: Bride and Prejudice/Pride and Prejudice

                                   

I want to recommend these two movies! I have watch both of them and even though they have the same story, they are completely different because one takes place in India and the other one in Europe.
The first one I saw was Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley  and it was a very romantic movie, but it has a slow pase in some shots. Everything is classic and it is more about the cinematography and the story is more true to the book.

Bride and Prejudice, has the same story, but it is in India! and it is a musical. It is a more cheerful story, it is fast paced and it is more colorful than pride and prejudice.
I think it is very interesting to watch both movies because even though they are based on the same book, each one has its own point of view and they each are original!

I recommend both of the movies I am sure you will love them both :)

-Ximena.

Women in the Book: Pride and Prejudice

There is a clear difference between how women behave in the present day with the way the women are portrayed in the book: Pride and Prejudice.

Now women are allowed to work, and think and own their own business and choose who they want to marry or not. Back in the day, that was a dream for a woman, they were supposed to learn one artistic skill and they were seen lower than the men.

Jane Austin shows us a family that lived that way, but one of the daughters, Elizabeth is different than the rest because she is willing to fight for what she believes in and she doesn’t want to have her future planned out for her. Elizabeth learns from her dad, she is outspoken like he is and she is the complete opposite from her mother. Through the book, the author leads me to really like Elizabeth’s character and personally annoyed me with the sisters and mother’s one.

Why? Because they were only thinking about looking good for a man and that if they don’t marry they will die.

I think the mentality of the Mom and the sisters is just flat, because they are not trying to be the best version of themselves by learning or making their own decisions and letting someone to love them because of who they are and not because of the money. 

Elizabeth is different, she makes mistakes and recognize it, it takes for her a while to admit it but at the end she does, and she allowed herself to grow and to choose what she wanted in life.

Because it is a classic book it is hard to understand the words and you have to be paying good attention to the reading, because how they talked back then is not how we talk now.

So a good advice would be to have a dictionary next to you in order to look for a word that you don't know what it means. I thought that it was hard for me because English is not my first language so I tried it in Spanish, but it was the same thing. There were words that I had never heard before or that they are not used in literature that often any more.

Anyway Pride and Prejudice is a good book that tells us a different love story and that everyone that reads it probably would end up cheering for Elizabeth and in love with Mr. Darcy. 

-Ximena

In Class Assignment.

MY ORIGINS. -

I am a Guatemalan girl, that came to the States to pursued my dream of learning animation and visual development. It wasn't an easy decision but there is no Computer Animation in Guatemala and I wanted to learn from the best.

I lived in Guatemala my whole life. Guatemalan culture is a very hard working one, and families are very close together. Mine as well, I grew up with my brother and cousins and with the example of my grandparents and parents I learned their faith and values, and now I can say that I shared them and I am proud of them.

Since we are very close it was hard to leave my country and come to a new one where there is different culture views. But it is easy with technology to keep in touch with everyone back home. It is interesting to get to know the American Culture and to learn from my teachers about animation and illustration.
Even though in Guatemala we speak Spanish, in school we had an American teacher who taught us English, and this was very helpful for me because when I arrived to College, I was able to understand and communicate with everyone here.

I might be away from home, but I have a lot of good memories there, and I am blessed to have many friends who I get to see during the breaks.


-Ximena.

WHO ARE MY INFLUENCES?

Well first of all my parents and grandparents.
I look up to them, because they have been living very virtues and good lives. They are humble and they give good advice when I asked for them. I don't only follow them only because they are my parents and thats it, but because I do see them living a good life and I want that for my futures. I see them also working hard on their jobs and that makes me work hard in my school work and personal work.

I have other influences for example, some my CA teachers have had a certain influence in my work, by the critiques Ive had that have helped me improve in my art and work.

WHAT IS YOUR IDEOLOGY?

I was born and raised Catholic, so my basic assumptions are based on their teachings, I try to live as best as I can, trying to be good, and helping others.
I do believe there is right and wrong, so if something is not good for me, I will just not do it and viceversa.
I guess it is respect others in your work and your artwork, love them and be happy.