• playlist

No change since mid-term, very pleased with it now

I've changed this a little bit from when i first posted it, i've drawn more connections from the lyrics and deleted a song to add a new one. I feel like now the songs have more of a connection together, as well as with Dean and his life. I took out "Sexi Plexi" by Jack Johnson and put in "Halfway Home" by Jason Mraz. I realized "Sexi Plexi" didn't exactly have the message i was going for, and "Halfway Home" did.

• Voicemail

PORTFOLIO
Dan - I’m not sure if I submitted this correctly, but I revised each project individually rather than revising my midterm portfolio. I hope that works! I tried to distinguish between my revisions and my originals in the best way possible! Thanks!

DAY 1~ I came into this class clueless on editing photos, sharing files on a website, making movies, composing sound files, and all of the other things that we have accomplished throughout the semester.
As Dan began to give a brief overview of programs we would be using and projects we would be exploring over the next few months I immediately felt overwhelmed.

This is my final portfolio, including my playlist, voicemail, podcast, picture collages, mashup, video collage, blog postings, and reflections on the portfolio and class.

I. Playlist: "The Tale of Sir Diluculo"
This was the first assignment for this course, so I was very excited about it as I haven't had a course/project like this before. I first spent a couple of days trying to decide what to write about. I was going to do one about relationships (especially since I'd just been through one, start to finish), but I proposed this to my friend, and he said that that was too cliche. So, I tried to think of something quite original, and I believe I did. This playlist documents the life of a medieval English knight, named Diluculo, and it tells his tale from his birth to training to the battle of his life.

Gender Relations Video Collage: I thought it was very interesting that we got to use a course of study on campus for a topic. I think all disciplines are somewhat interelated, but I think this project helped me realize that even move.

gender relations

Thriller Mashup: I really enjoyed this project because it let me use my video editing skills and love of humor as well as music.

Thriller Mashup

Playlist Collage: I liked this assignment because it represents who I am as well as my direction in life. It says everything about me without saying a word.

The Portfolio

Playlist

I discovered the playlist to be quite the interesting project since I found that I had two options of how to start. I could either try to create this playlist by thinking of a story first and fitting songs around that story or work in the opposite manner and think of songs that I enjoy more and fit a story to those. I decided to go with the latter and choose a number of songs that I felt would be fun to work with, consquently the hardest part was finding a good enough story that fit the songs. However, once that feat was accomplished things went pretty easy from there. I did not like how the itunes links worked so I decided to host most of the songs on a server for a website I already owned, then create a little windows media player GUI for each link. Problems arose however during the revision. My primary goal was to go back and add to the text of the playlist and give more description to back up each song. However I noticed that the windows media player GUI was not working properly, which forced me to reduce the songs using the GUI to just normal links. Overall though the process was good and different.

MY PORTFOLIO
To be honest, I love the work I do for this class. I love the unique assignments that I get a chance to do. I love the incorporation of technology to complete assignments, and I feel like it helps my work even more to be able to use the computer since I’m not exactly artistic. I’m proud of myself for really putting my thoughts and feelings out there whether it be through blog postings or through assignments like the playlist and collages. One of the assignments I had to do my first few classes of English this year was to write my “writing
anxieties” and post them on the discussion board. I wrote that I didn’t feel like I could put “me” into my writing and work. I felt like my writing had to be dry, boring, and sophisticated to be acceptable. This class lets me branch out from the stereotypical assignments and writing style associated with English. I feel like I can appreciate myself and my style more when it is acceptable in the assignment.

Playlist: The Downward Slide
As with many of the assignments for this class, I spent a long time agonizing over which direction I wanted to go in with my playlist. The options and possibilities were infinite obviously and I just felt overwhelmed by the amount of music and the amount of stories in the world. How could I possibly settle for just one idea when there were so many? It didn’t help that I didn’t have any music downloaded on my computer at that point, so I resorted to flipping through my CD cases to try to figure out which music I would use. I ended up sitting down at my friend’s computer, looking at his Most Played Songs list, and compiling an original story out of that.

1. Voicemail

As the first assignment we had that involved using an actual computer program, I was pretty hesitant to start it. Mary and I got together as partners, even though we are both terrible with computers and editing. I would say that this was my least favorite assignment just because I felt pretty overwhelmed. Before this class, I barely knew how to personalize my MySpace page, let alone add all the extra decorations onto it. Getting the correct songs on my Ipod was a challenge. So, doing an assignment that incorporated computer programs and required computer literacy was a little bit over my head. However, Mary and I still went into the project with complete optimism. At one point, we were really close to finishing the project until my computer froze and we lost about 90% of our project. Needless to say, we were extremely frustrated. Then, the microphone wouldn't connect to Audacity and everything just seemed a huge mess. We ended up just throwing something together and hoped for better luck on the next project. So, even though this project was my least favorite, I learned a lot of things. I realized that these projects are going to take awhile for me to get used to, and I need to ask for help more instead of trying to figure out everything by myself. Also, I now save all my projects/documents every chance I get!

Playlist:
hey

Making up the Breakup
-paragraph reflecting on its composition

My playlist tells the story of a couple and their thoughts and feelings as they progress through the stages of a relationship and a breakup. To me there are certain transitions and phases we go through as a relationship comes to an end. I tried to represent these stages in chronological order beginning with the relationship. The first few songs on the playlist have an upbeat tone and an exciting rhythm. They demonstrate the fresh, exciting parts of dating and your other half. As time passes the progression moves on to the comfortable stage. Here is where we find girls feel free to let their hair down and show some habits they had been hiding. The relationship tends to get monotonous and become boring. These songs are slower and have sour moods. As one partner decides its time for a change, they enter the paradoxical stage. Where they couldn’t be happier with their decision but then again they are miserable without him/her. This is the time of friends and growing. You realize there is life after a breakup and you begin to move on but not with a drawback. This drawback tends to come after the misery and joy. You think you want them back but when you realize they are missing you just as much as you miss them you know that this not what you need. From here on out it is a learning experience and you look back on the situation as a life lesson and a growing period. At first, my playlist was meant to just describe the technicalities of a breakup. But when you introduced the idea of complication, I went back and revised a few things. In every description of my songs I tried to show the complexity of the feelings. It is not just as easy as one feeling or another. During the entire time of the relationship and even after you are constantly torn between one thought and another. Hopefully you can see the juxtaposition of these contrasting feelings and it helps you better understand why breakups teach us so much about ourselves. This leads me to what I learned.

I. Playlist
Across the Room Playlist

I really enjoyed the playlist assignment. I finally had the ability to put my favorite songs together and relate them through a story. My first posting of the playlist had a story line and the songs in the correct order, but it lacked depth. The story seemed superficial and almost summarized. When I revised my playlist, I added dialog and imagery so that readers can better understand the situation. The story consists of a boy and a girl who continually want to find each other. It is a basic romantic