I wasn't really sure what to do for this assignment and I got fixed on the idea of fire. I guess I am a little bit of a pyromaniac. I think that it is really cool just to sit and watch a fire. I tried to capture the mesmerizing effect of fire with the fire images and song and then counteract that my showing the destructive power of fire. The overall point of the video is that fire is something that is needed to live, but at the same time it can end life.

Fire

Just found this will at the CNN Money site. Looking at some of the prices makes me hurt. Some of these "toys" cost more than cars. While I can't stop thinking that the money spent to get these toys could be better spent, part of me wants to have some of them, like the pirate ship playhouse.

Toys?

In the beginning of the year we heard a lot about the ticket lottery system, but as the year has gone on talk has died down. Now that we are about to enter the heart of basketball season I am wondering what your opinions are. Have you guys gotten tickets or have you been rejected. I, personally am mad at the system. I have yet to get tickets to anything, which includes the two football games where there are 12,000 student tickets. I find this really annoying because firstly, it makes it hard to go to the football games and secondly, I would have waited in line for the tickets at the Dean Dome unlike some of the people who probably got tickets.

Mashup
My mashup is really ment to be funny but it also show the darker side of big time college sports. The voice in the video is Bobby Knight, a basketball coach at Texas Tech. We all like to think of college sports being fun but we also forget that for some its a job. And for some its a job where they will do anything to win like become a drill sergeant almost. Hope you like it.

After finishing a week with three major assignments due in three different classes, I am beginning to wonder about the spread of my assignments. With the exception of one class, all of my classes's midterms line up. While this is nice because I have a lot of time inbetween exams, I always find myself stress out the week of and before studying of the exams. I wonder if it would be better to have the exams spread out but with less down time. Anyone thing is one better than the other?

I am sorry for getting this in late. I was having technical difficulties. I apologize.

Revised Playlist
After reading Dan's comments I realized that he was right that there was a possible connection between the story and the idea of a relationship. In my revision I tried to connect the two ideas without coming out and saying it out loud. I found this to be kind of hard. I thought that most of my songs shows this dual story with the exception of the song "Dazed and Confused". After looking over my playlist I found that the song just didn't work with either of the stories. I just used it to fill a song spot and it sort of went along with the story. When I began to revise my playlist, I knew that this song had to go. I think that I replaced this song with a much better song. "I've Been Hurt" does not work as well with the written story, but it adds the underlying relationship story so that it becomes more obvious. With the addition of this song, I'm confident that people will be able to compare Jack quest with the idea of finding "love". The inability to sleep and pain represent the relationship that Jake is missing in his life and how his life is not complete with out it. The song "I'm Gonna Be" is Jake's awaking it his problem and "Eye of the Tiger" is him setting of to find that someone who fulfill his need for a relationship. Here is where the new song really helps show the background story. "I've Been Hurt" shows Jake being foiled in his attempt to find food or a relationship. In the song the guy wasn't paying attention and he was cheated on. In the story, Jake wasn't paying attention went some place where there was no food. In the figurative sence, Jake went looking for a relationship where there wasn't one. He got his hopes up and ended up hurt. At this point I switched the next two songs. After adding the new song I felt that the story would work better if the flipped the songs and edit the story some. I kept the same idea of Jake getting back up after getting hurt, but in the revision, the new song is about Jake getting hurt so it made much better sense to have this song and part of the story her, rather than creating another episode of the same thing. The last two songs kept the same meaning to the story. "The Distance" is not giving up and "Hallelujah Chorus" represents just how nice it feels to be satisfied, whether it be in a relationship or through food. When I was revising I tried to keep my explanations around the original playlist's length. I felt that this was a good length, allowing for explanation without taking away from the idea of the music telling the story.

This collage was supossed to be the visual representation of my playlist. The central silhouette represents Jack in search of food. This focus is down the lane which shows that he is seaching for nothing but food (Eye of the Tiger). The Mcdonalds sign is down the path which is the figures ultimate goal, but its hard to see because its so far away (The Distance). The sign seems to glow to show how reviered the goal is. The setting is in a dark forest path to show the late hour and the fog is suposed to confuse and show the uncertainty of the surroundings.

Sites
http://flickr.com/photos/69245471@N00/139358914/ - Dark Corridor

I did the song We are the Champions by Queen. With this collage I tried to show all the ideas that go along with winning or being the "champions." The podium is in the center with the winning being the only firm figure. Only the one on the podium can be seen. The race winner shows the joy and jubulation of victory. The other numbers and winners are faded into the background. The scoreboard shows the final score with everything else blured because all that matters is that the team won. The scoreboard is balanced on the other side by the faded picture of the team comming together. This picture shows the comradeship/friendship that the song relays. The background of the sunset relays that idea and feeling that people get when they win. The sun is centered above the champions head so show that divine feeling or status.

Since the month of October is among us, a lot of my friends have all been asking the same question: What should they be for Halloween? All of my friends and I want to something unique, funny and original, but each of those makes the problem harder. Are my friends and I just weird, or have you guys started thinking about costumes as well? Do you know what you are going to be or do you have a good idea?

This post brings up a topic that was discussed a while ago about listening to music or having background nosie while studying or reading. Some people wonder why people listen to music while studying but I have found that it helps keep me awake. I don't know about the rest of you but a lot of my classes assign reading and I always have a problem keeping up with it because I have a tendency to fall asleep while reading, cause lets face it a lot of times it's not the most interesting read. But today I have discovered that having low background music on while studying( like having the volume turned down and one earbud in) helps me keep awake and focused on the reading.