Supersize Me Review

Supersize Me is a Morgan Spurlock film about how fast food chains such as McDonalds are greatly contributing to the increasing population of obese Americans. In this interactive documentary, Spurlock takes on the “McDiet” in which he must only eat McDonalds for an entire month. There are many other aspects to this diet. For example, he must purchase everything on the menu at least twice and order a “supersize” when offered, hence the name. He also cuts down his workouts to remain constant with the average American’s 5000 steps per day. Before he starts his new diet, he has a weigh-in and overall physical fitness test. Spurlock is above average in his body-fat/muscle ratio and seems to be in excellent general health. He consults with many different doctors as well as a nutritionalist and a personal trainer and asks how much this diet will affect his current health. Most of the doctors say that unhealthy habits will have minor side effects, but nothing particularly harmful. By the end of the first week, Spurlock has already gained a significant amount of weight and he is experiencing symptoms such as depression and lethargy. On the 21st day, Spurlock has heart palpitations after gaining even more weight. When he made it to the 30th day of the challenge, all of the doctors were surprised by the dramatic changes to his body shape and some predicted that his previous heart troubles could have irreversible effects. His girlfriend, Alexandra Jamieson, a vegan chef, helped Spurlock create a special de-tox diet. It took him 14 months to lose all of the weight and regain his health. This film was eye-opening. Since I am a kinesthetic learner, I thought the demonstration of how fast food really affects the body and mind really resonated with my learning style. The facts really stuck with me as I was able to see the changes in Spurlock’s drastically deteriorating health. This film is intercut with many interviews and images that help illustrate Spurlock’s research about obesity. This helps the viewer digest the sometimes incomprehensible statistics. Statistics about obesity and perception of fast food were motifs that helped give the audience a break from Spurlock’s gross objective. The film a little grainy and the filmmaker used mainly natural lighting. I think this made the film seem more personal and homemade, especially the parts in which the camera was wobbly. In some cases, Spurlock was filming himself in his car or outside the restaurant. I felt almost as if I was at the restaurant with him every day, and every day he seemed more and more out of it. I would definitely recommend this film for anyone that doesn’t have a weak stomach (It can get a little gross at times). It definitely gave me a different perspective of the fast food industry and really made me question some of my diet choices. You can watch the entire video on Hulu for free:

Fashion Trends that Irritate Me- Uggs

Uggs- I apologize in advanced to those of you who own a pair (or pairs) of Uggs. And for those of you that have been living under a rock since the 90’s, Uggs are a “unisex style of sheepskin boot made of twin-faced sheepskin with fleece on the inside and with a tanned outer surface, often with a synthetic sole”. Yes, I just quoted Wikipedia. Not in an attempt to plagiarize from The Worst Website Ever (preached by every teacher since third grade), but to give an objective definition. I can barely type the word Ugg without shuddering in my boots (Steve Madden combat boots to be exact). Wikipedia later states that this type of shoe originated as a “utilitarian boot” purely for “warmth and comfort”. I wish it stayed that way. Anyways, ever since the 90’s these boots have been everywhere. And I mean everywhere. During the dreary winter months, I see so many girls in the hallways at Blair wearing the typical shapeless sweatshirts, yoga pants, and of course, the infamous grungy camel clubfooted clompers known as Uggs. And boy they are UGGly (that was not trying to be original; I realize that so many people beat me to that joke). They make every girl look like they have thick calves and duck feet. The cliché chestnut color and cheapie suede do not flatter any outfit. I realize that many girls wear Uggs because they are easy and comfortable, but I would really rather see everyone show up in their fluffy duck slippers. At least it would be more interesting. It’s like looking at clones as they file down the hallways, the parade of plain t-shirts, Uggs, and leggings. I mean there have to be some other options for comfortable boots. And some girls are CRAZY about their Uggs. Anyone in their right mind would be after spending TWO-HUNDRED DOLLARS on cheap looking shoes, but they take so much work to maintain. One small drop of water could make a giant stain and then they’re ruined. I saw a local dry cleaning business that advertised “Ugg Cleaning”. This means that people are paying even more than $200 if they are going to get them cleaned on a regular business. I’ve seen dirty Ugg boots and they are even less attractive, though I never thought that would be possible.

Capture the Fall

Polyvore: My New Obsession

I found my new favorite website! This does not bode well for homework procrastination problem, but I'm still really excited. It's called (drum-roll please)....POLYVORE! I guess I'm late to hop on the bandwagon, but I'm so glad I found this site. Polyvore allows users to pin images of clothing and fashion to create collages called "sets". The site can also be helpful for shopping since users can search through thousands of products and find new websites. Of course, my sets represent my fantasy fashion. I would never pay even half the cost of most of the items I save. Why buy a $2000 blazer when that money could feed a four person family for almost 19 weeks? That doesn't mean I can't still obsess over these clothes...

Here's an example of a set I made:

A Night on The Town by byanonymous featuring black ankle booties

Alexander McQueen embellished top
$3,175 - harveynichols.com

6MM CUP LOOSE SEQUINS
mjtrim.com

Helmut Lang printed pants
$400 - glassworks-studios.com

Valentino black ankle booties
forwardforward.com

3 1 Phillip Lim mini bag
forwardforward.com

Anndra Neen choker necklace
tenover6.com



Of course, the cheapest item used in this set is the set of sequins that cost $3.98, and that was just for inspiration. The Alexander McQueen top costs a whopping $3175. Not $31.75, not even $317.50. $3175 for a shirt. A cheaper version is sold here for $96.75, comparatively inexpensive, but seemingly overpriced in my opinion. The $400 leggings seem relatively cheap paired with the McQueen couture. The Studded Valentino Boots rang in at $1495. I understand the pricing on the high quality black leather, but the studding looks like something I could recreate at home.

There are lots of expensive clothes in the world, so what? I guess the point is that people can use this website to create a wardrobe with clothes they can't normally afford. Who doesn't like to play virtual dress-up every so often?

~~Anyway, that's it for today! As I continue to familiarize myself with this website, I'll try to find creative ways to use it in my blog. Bye for now!

Fashion and Economic Trends Analysis

    With the economy in a state of recovery and unemployment rates decreasing, the Fall/Winter 2012 runways have produced trends that may represent an improving market.

(From left: Mara Hoffman, Rag & Bone, Michael Kors, Dries Van Noten)

The "comfort" trend consists of thick cashmeres, blanket coats, and flannels to convey a sense of ease as the economy gradually restores and stabilizes. This cozy garb will make everything seem more calm and relaxed.

(From Left: Lacoste, Balenciaga, Céline, Prada)

The "luxe" trend describes the use of expensive and lavish textiles. Tweed garments and structured suits are heavily featured on this season's runways. Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel revolutionized the tweed suit in the 1920s, a time of economic prosperity. With a growing interest in vegetarianism, leather and equally expensive faux leather share the spotlight in many fall collection. There are also many garments that were hand-beaded or encrusted with jewels.

(From Left: Prabal Gurung, Givenchy, Salvatore Ferragamo, Herve Leger)

The metallic trend represents the rise in industry and technological development. This unconventional fabric is used to construct many innovative pieces such as the ones displayed above.

(From Left: Derek Lam, Doo.ri, Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang)

Winter wardrobes traditionally consist of blacks or muted colors, but this season, designers commit a fashion faux-pas. Wearing white after labor day is now popular and encouraged. White is the color of purity and innocence. White clothes represent youth and hope. Hope that will perhaps be translated into the health of the economy.

~~These predictions are not set in stone, only branded into fabric. Though some fashion trends follow the status of the economy, I wouldn't look to clothes as the solution to our nation's problems. Fashion is simply here for people like me who can't understand the economy through other terms.

New Blog Format

Now that we're allowed to write our blogs about anything, I have decided to start a style blog. Since I can already sense some eye-rolling, I am going to try to present my posts in a different way. I was thinking of maybe interpreting current events and political trends through fashion and photographs. Since this week is the first week, this post is mostly going to be introductory. I get so many questions in the hallway about my clothes and my style and I'm taking this opportunity to explain this to everyone.

Here are some frequently asked questions:

Where do you buy your clothes?
There's no one place that I always go to shop. I like to keep expanding my horizons and going to new stores. I like to shop when I'm on trips because clothing is the one functional souvenir. Yes, I do shop vintage and I do shop at thrift stores. Now before labeling me as a hipster, there are some things I want to address. I think that hipster is actually an insulting term. Rather than connoting "cool" or "interesting", I think that people use the word "hipster" mostly to describe people that are arrogant about their clothes or music. There are many valid reasons to shop at thrift stores, including cost, and uniqueness, and I think that a reasonable portion of my wardrobe comes from consignment stores and thrift stores. On occasion, I will go to a high end store or a department store to buy pieces that are classic and that I can wear for a long time.

Why do you dress up everyday?
Out of all the questions people ask me, this is probably the most common. Some people express themselves through art. Others take up a musical instrument. I don't see how my clothes can't speak for me in the same way. I dress up because I can. I like to look nice everyday. I like to put in a bigger effort. People might not always like my style, but that doesn't mean that I can't.

Who/What is your inspiration?
My style is greatly influenced by music. I would describe my style as polished with an element of rock-n-roll. I like structured blazers and dresses, but I have a soft spot for leather and studs. I take note of interesting outfits I see on the street as well as at concerts and even in scenes from movies. I do follow the various fashion weeks, but I would rather follow my own style than what everyone else is wearing.


That's all for now. After this post, I will launch my new format. Until next time!

Update-Dystopian Trailer

Currently, our group is in the script-writing process for our trailer. We have scripted about 30-45 seconds of our film. Our dystopia is meant to criticize how society puts pressure on youth to be the best. The shots in the trailer are split apart with narrations and text. The opening shot is a rack focus, showing a student writing down notes and shifting to a view of a quasi-robotic teacher reciting the textbook. Our figurehead is Julia, the "smartest" girl in school. We show our main character, Matt and his girlfriend, Jessica having a conversation about her and there is a poster of the background of Julia with her GPA on a card. We show establishing shots of the setting at the school. The hallways are dark and silent and there is tickertape around the school that displays the highest and lowest GPAs of the students. We also include a shot that pans across the students in the classroom as they yawn and show signs of exhaustion to enhance the nightmarish state. Students are kept at school all day and all night. We view a phone conversation with Matt explaining to his parents that he has to stay at school at night to study. The climax of our hypothetical movie occurs when Matt overhears the principal giving answers to Julia. We see Matt telling this to Jessica and Jessica is shell-shocked. That is all we have written so far in our script. Eventually, our catalyst will be Jessica's suicide. We will see Matt undergo a change in attitude after this occurrence. Hopefully we will finish our script soon so we can start to work on the logistics of filming this trailer. We asked two teachers as well as the principal to participate in this trailer and hopefully we will be able to make do with limited resources.

5x5

First video project!

Clip 1: Writing
Clip 2: Erasing
Clip 3: Brushing away eraser particles
Clip 4: Crumpling up the paper
Clip 5: Drawing on my nails

Overall I really enjoyed this project. I'm not sure how it ended up at 22 seconds long instead of 25. In WeVideo all the clips were the correct length. Anyways, I used my phone camera to record the footage, which worked surprisingly well. As mentioned before, I used WeVideo which is an online cloud editing program that allows people to access their work from anywhere. The website was very easy to follow and I could export the footage straight to YouTube. I was pleased with the final result although I could have had better lighting in my film. I liked being able to work on my own and choose my own topic. I could work on my own time and did not have to share a crowded editing suite. I think we should do more projects like this outside of school; for example, we could make more films similar to the 20-second scenes. I was interested in making short scenes (not as short as the latter) in which we could write a simple script and work with one or two other people. This can be filmed around the school as well as on our own time. There could be requirements for using certain film techniques such as rack focus so that we would have some sort of structure to be graded. Also, I was interested in doing news-related films or investigative pieces. We could interview people around the school to digitalize the work we do in Ms. Cullen's class. If these films end up being relevant to current school or community events. they could even be aired on Infoflow. I think this was a very successful first project and I'm excited to start shooting more videos.

Minority Report- Dystopia Trailers

Minority Report. Stephen Speilberg. PG-13. 2002.

In the year 2054 while a specialized police department called the "PreCrime" arrests criminals before they commit murder in the future, an officer that works for this organization is predicted to commit murder.

After spending quite a bit of time on YouTube, I have come to a sad conclusion: most dystopia trailers are cheesy and boring. They all use the same structure: a deep-voiced narration inter-cut with headache-inducing action shots and short snipits of clichéd dialogue. We've seen it all before. So what? Well I was finally able to find a trailer that didn't damage my eyesight. The trailer for "Minority Report" (2002) was one of my favorite movie trailers because it was simple and intriguing. Usually, creators of movie trailers try to hodgepodge clips from every scene in the movie over some dramatic orchestral underscoring. Instead of confusing the viewer and spoiling the predictable outcome, the makers of the trailer for "Minority Report" were able to clearly convey the concept of their film using images and quotes that were interesting and meaningful. The film is based in the year 2054. There is a new police department called "PreCrime" that arrests criminals for crimes they have not yet committed. In the beginning of the trailer, several staccato establishing shots flash by to give the viewer an idea of how this grim future would look. Many of the clips are shot in high-contrast to create shadows and gloom. The viewer is then intoduced to the PreCrime officers as they take on an arrest of a man that is supposedly going to murder his wife later that evening. We then see short segments from a scene with Cheif John Anderson (Tom Cruise) and the head of the "PreCrime" squad after Anderson is predicted to be the next target. We see Anderson's transformation as he starts to see that this perfect system is fundementally flawed. This trailer gives the viewer a good idea  of what the film is about without over or under-informing. Hopefully I'll get a chance to actually watch this movie and see how the trailer lives up to the real film. I want to use some of the interesting editing effects in my dystopia trailer to make the setting more realistic. Even if the props are not perfectly-made, simple editing techniques evenly sprinked over the film will give it an authentic look.

Self-Directed Learning

I've always been jealous of people who can teach themselves something, be it a foreign language, an instrument, or a unique skill. I am intrigued by jugglers and street performers who claim to be "self-taught". In the realm of academia, the internet has made it so that knowlegde is just a click away. It is not as difficult to self-instruct when we are presented with so many more resources. I recently read an article about self-directed learning as a teaching tool. In this article, a parent ponders how his son could learn about math through his passion of basketball. He writes:

"What I wonder is whether his classrooms and teachers can help him become a passionate, patient, connected learner who is empowered to truly learn whatever and whenever he needs to."

 He lists and describes many academic programs that help students learn about school-related topics through the interests of the students. Some schools let students have more freedom in learning style. Kids are allowed to use certain resources to teach themselves and personally make the most of their lessons.

I think this is a good strategy to use in moderation. If students are given too much freedom, they will potentially go off-task. I think there needs to be some sort of rubric or loose structure so that the students can have a mutual understanding while having the freedom to go at their own pace.

Here is the link to the annotated article:
http://diigo.com/0syj0

Film Reviews

A review of a film review? Film-review-ception much?Anyways, I read a Silver Chips (yay!) review of "The Expendables 2" (2012). This reviewer did not like the film but was able to review it in a humorous and lighthearted way. The author briefly summarized some important elements of the plot and went on to elaborate on their specific opinion when it came to certain points in the movie. Though the piece included all of the necessary parts of a good film review, it did not follow a cookie-cutter structure. That is not to say that the author was disorganized in their writing style. The ideas were adequately grouped and flowed nicely.

I think we should have the freedom to write our movie reviews in a way that works for the specific film we watch. The author of this review was able to put forth they're ideas on this film while writing in a format that worked for him/her. We should have a list of elements we must include in our movie review, but having a fully developed structure is not going to work for every film.

Even though its not the morning right now, I have to quote one of my favorite movies to close out this blog post:

"Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!" - The Truman Show 

Hello World

If you didn't notice, there's a pile of newspapers at the top of this blog. I could explain in the "CAP way" that the juxtaposition of the light and dark shapes in someway represents my path in life, but instead I'll just say that I am interested in news and media.

My name is Natalie and this is my second week of being in CAP 10. I'm not sure I'm used to being a sophomore (I still get lost sometimes) but I'm excited to start blogging this year. My favorite part of filmmaking is being in front of the camera. Editing isn't my cup of tea, mainly because I'm not very good at it. My only experience with media is the CAP required Photo/Video class freshman year. I was able to master the basics about filmmaking as well as put together a few small projects. The project I most enjoyed working on was the Infoflow Show Open. At the beginning of every Infoflow Show, the BNC students aired a student produced introduction sequence that was about 15-30 seconds in length. Our class had the opportunity to create show opens that would later be aired on Infoflow if they met all the requirements. Although there were many criteria, this project allowed the most creativity in the set up. My group's show open was very successful and it was used on Infoflow twice.

As much as I'd like to prattle on about my social life, which by the way is very interesting, this blog will be used for academic purposes. These CAP blogs could be used to reflect on our work in other classes such as essays and activities. We could also use our blogs to update the status of our change projects and write about the steps we are currently working on.

I guess that's all I have to say for now. Until next time...whenever that is.