William Kentridge

William Kentridge is a South African artist who is known for his animated films. His work makes me feel sympathetic to the people he draws, since he usually deals with subjects such as, colonialism, AIDS, and apartheid. Besides that, he uses charcoal and it makes his drawings very sharp and intense. The way everything is drawn out and how they move together is just fascinating. If I were to explain his work to a blind-folded person I would start out by telling them what kind of subjects he works with, so they have an idea of how direct the drawings are. Then, I would explain how everything is in charcoal, no color. After, I would say that he is very realistic with people and that with objects he tends to fantasize sometimes. I would say that his art is a masterpiece and very interesting, due to the way he sort of explains a story.

There are probably many ways William Kentridge processes his work. I guess the first thing he does is he chooses a subject and creates a story about something in specific about it. Then, he creates a story board and when he is done he starts on his real drawings. After all his drawings are done and are connected in some way, he takes pictures of every single one. As the pictures come out, since they are connected, the whole story comes out as a movie. I believe this is what he would do before having such an incredible piece of work. This is one of the ways I think Kentridge processes his creative work.

Rain Forest Destruction

Rain forest destruction is one of the most serious environmental problem facing Earth today. As we know, humans are the cause of this disaster. In order to benefit our needs we cut down trees for things such as paper, we use it to fill a whole soccer field, we use the tree trunk's wood for furniture or for chimneys, and much more. Us humans, we tend to destroy things without knowing what effects it has on others, such as animals, and what the future consequences could be. We are losing Earth's biological treasures, in less than 40 years we could be left with absolutely no more rain forests. Scientists estimate that by 2020, 80 percent of it will be completely destroyed, that is why it is such a major problem today.

To be exact, one-half acres of rain forest's are lost every second. That is a huge problem because there is so much diversity. About half the world's species of plants, animals, microorganisms are found here. Each time we damage a rain forest we are destroying their habitat. When we destroy these species home we force them to find another shelter and to star all over; sometimes we might even kill them in the process. Scientists estimate that more than 137 species are lost every single day because of this. It is so amazingly diverse that maybe one percent of it has been studied by scientists. Every second we lose acres of rain forests, we are losing more than we can imagine.

As we know, rain forest's come in handy for various reasons. First of all, about one-fourth of today's medicines come from there. Scientists have discovered certain plants that have enabled people with cancer to be saved. If we continue to destroy, these rare plants would never be found and there wouldn't be a cure for forever lasting diseases. Besides that, it provides fuel wood, charcoal, and paper. If it weren't for these rain forests, we wouldn't have access to neither of these resources we use everyday. In addition, it gives us oxygen and purifies the atmosphere, as well as making man exist in this planet. Without this incredible forest we would have none of these things mentioned above.

There are many ways to slow down the rain forest destruction or better yet save it. At home, you can recycle everything you can, store food in re-usable containers, re-use plastic bottles and brown bags, only burn seasoned wood, don't leave water running unless you really have to, and much more. Individually, you could join a conservation organization, volunteer for conservation projects or give money to conservation projects, and remember to spread the word. While on vacation, make sure you don't litter, watch out for wildlife, don't pick up flowers or keep street animals as pets, and so on. In your car, carpool, recycle your engine oil, use public transport if you can, buy a more fuel efficient model, and much more. There are millions of ways to help rain forests, the only question is, do you actually care?

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

Rotoball Sketch

After watching the videos, I decided what I want to do in the Rotoball Project. First of all, I would bring in the ball through the left. To start with, the background would be plain, maybe just like a solid color. I would be in it walking and then I would feel like a ball in my back. I would turn around and grab the ball. After I turn the ball into a Disco Ball I'd throw it at the top. The background would turn into a disco, with flashy lights and a whole dance floor. I would start dancing and after a bit grab the ball back and start playing with it as if it were a beach ball. Then, I would turn into a bird and throw my ball to the right for the next person to use. This is my decision for the Rotoball Project.

Flash Animation

Typing Tracker

This chart is a good representation because it is easy to read. All you have to do is follow the bars and the dates to locate where you when up or down. Besides that, it indicates rapidly which was your highest score and the date.








This Accuracy chart is similar to the one above, the only difference is that the bars are horizontal and the dates are on the side. This is also an easy chart to read because it is very organized and it is very hard to miss which days you did well and which ones you did not.

This chart is one of the best because it has a shade of blue inside which gives it a little more color. Not only that but, the lines that curve are an indication of how well or how bad you did. It is similar to the others because it facilitates you to understand your scores.

Winterbreak 2010-2011

To start off the winterbreak, my parents and I went to Park City, Utah to skii for a week. We went up into the mountains called Deer Valley and that's where all of our skiing took place. We stayed in a hotel called Stein Erikson, and our lodge was very comfortable. Every morning, my dad and I would wake up around nine, have breakfast, and go skiing with an instructor that would take us to visit the whole mountain and take us to the best runs. After a few hours of skiing, we would meet up with my mom and my brother, they would go skii for a bit since they were both beginners and my dad and I would have a delicious hot chocolate. Then, we would skii some more, and when we were all tired we would go back to our lodge and have lunch. Late afternoon, we would always go to the outlets that were 20 minutes away and shop. Everything on sale had a disccount of some sort, nothing was too expensive, and it was just perfect. This was an amazing way to begin the winterbreak, especially in a wonderful place like Utah.

When we got back from Utah, I took some days off just to relax and clean up my closet since my clothes wouldn't fit anymore. I watched movies, I read, I would tan by my pool, and I went last minute Christmas shopping. For Christmas Eve, my parents made a big dinner at home and invited many close friends. At midnight, we all opened up presents and enjoyed eachother's company. The next day, my brother was so happy when he saw what Santa had given him and the whole family just stayed home reccuperating from the night before. After that, I saw all of my friends, we would go to the beach almost every single day. A friend came for vacations and lots of us went to Mita for the day to welcome him back home, it was fun. For New Years, I went to a dinner in Mita with my parents, just like last year, spent the countdown with them and went off to downtown, that was a great night. This years winterbreak was super fun, I wish we were still in vacations to keep on enjoying it.

Audacity Project 2

In class, we did a mash-up with different sounds that we found on the internet. The most challenging part fort me was to make the sounds blend it with each other. Finding different sounds that go together was also very hard, in audacity it was hard to make these beats sound good together, to make a rhythm. Besides that, I thought making it a minute long without repeating so much a bit hard. I ddin't think a minute was too long but in music many things can happen in a minute. If I could change something about my work I think it would be the beat. I didn't think my "song" had a rhythm to it, it was a little boring. Not only that but, I would make it repeat less and have more spaces so it doesn't sound too jammed up. After listening to the same thing it get's kind of annoying, especially if the sounds are all mixed up. I thought my work wasn't the best one I've done. It was the first time using audacity and I didn't really understand how it worked, plus, Ididn't take enough time blending the sounds together to make it sound the way I wanted. All in all, the different sounds worked their way to make a good mash-up.

After handing in our project, we listened to each other's mash-up. Most of them were on beat and had sort of a story behind them. Others, had different sounds that had no meaning at all but, sounded good with together. I thought the best one was Elena's, she had various beats and rhythms and none of them repeated, except the one sound that was in the background that made it excellent. She also had a lot of pauses which made it longer and let other sounds be heard, unlike mine that each sound came with another and everything was all mixed. In addition, I enjoyed Renata's. Her mash-up had a story behind it that made it even more interesting. She also used many sounds that sounded good with each other, it made her project sound complete. As you can see, all the mash-ups were really good, but only some of them stood out due to their originality.