Video Games!

Although I may not want to admit it, video games had a large impact on my childhood. Growing up, my brother, who is two years older than me, was absolutely obsessed in video games. Therefore, my family has had various different types of video game systems throughout my life. When I was younger, we had both the Nintendo and the Genesis in our basement. My favorite game to play on the Nintendo was Super Mario Brothers. On the Genesis, we had this fun fighting game to play, although I do not remember what is was called. In our living room, we also had the Nintendo 64. My favorite game to play on this was Mario Kart. My least favorite game to play was Super Smash Bros because I would always lose, which would frustrate me. For many years we had these three video game systems to choose from. The quality of the Nintendo 64 was much better than either the Nintendo or the Genesis, although sometimes it was still fun to play on these systems too. In addition, we had the Gameboy Color and later the Game Boy Advance. Then, in 2001, my brother bought the GameCube. The quality of the GameCube was even better than the Nintendo 64, so we started playing on that instead. I would always play the game Super Mario Sunshine on the GameCube. After the GameCube, my brother moved on to buying the Xbox, and then later the Xbox 360. This was the time period when I for the most part stopped playing video games. Before, I would always just play my brother's games. However, when my brother started playing the Xbox, he also started only playing gun shooting games, which I had little interest in. I was more interested at this time in computer games, for I was absolutely obsessed in The Sims 2. Although, I did enjoy Xbox games such as Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band. My family also bought a Wii, which I really enjoyed. We would only have fitness games on it though, for my parents wanted us to exercise while playing on it. The last video game system that my family has gotten is the Playstation Kinect. This I enjoyed because I could play dancing games without holding any form of controller. As of right now, I believe that my family only has the Xbox 360 hooked up. When I return home I use it, but only in order to use Netflix.

My Flip Book!

Although creating this flip book was a challenging experience, I found it very rewarding. I am very happy with my finished project. Before starting this project, I was very nervous because I did not know what I would draw for 200 pages. Nevertheless, I soon realized that as soon as I came up with one idea, it would lead to me coming up with another idea, and then another idea. My flip book is made up of various ideas that are completely unrelated; however, I think it is because of this fact that my flip book is interesting. Overall, I had a fun time with this project, and I was happy for the excuse to draw!

Pandora

One feature of the Internet that I especially love is Pandora. I love how I can type in a song or an artist and it will automatically create a station based off of that. I think Pandora is a great way to discover new songs because a song might play that I've never heard before, yet it will be similar to other songs that I like. Therefore, I will instantly fall in love with the new song! In addition, I like Pandora because it allows me to create as many stations as I would like. The type of music I listen to is always completely dependent on what I am doing. For example, if I am doing homework I will want to listen to classical music because words distract me. If I am alone I will most likely listen to alternative rock. Whereas if I'm with my friends, I'll probably listen to pop. I enjoy Pandora more than the music from my iTunes because it is always changing; I never know exactly what to expect. In comparison, I will love the music from my iTunes at first, yet will quickly grow sick of the songs. There are two downfalls to Pandora. One is the commercials, although at least they are not as long as the commercials on the radio. The second downfall is how I can only skip so many songs before it won't let me skip anymore songs. The positive aspects of Pandora, however, definitely outweigh those few negative aspects.

I Love Lucy

I decided to watch the first episode of I Love Lucy, and I thought it was absolutely hilarious! At first I did not think I would like it because I usually don't like older movies as much as newer movies. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised. This humor in this show is the exact kind of humor that I find hysterical! In this episode Lucy and Ethel act especially nice to their husbands because they want to go to the nightclub. Ricky and Fred act especially nice to their wives because they want to go to a fight. It is hilarious watching each person be overly nice to the other person. Once the couples find out what each is up to, they both decide to find their own dates for the club. However, Lucy and Ethel end up dressing up as creepy women to be their dates, which was very amusing to watch. I think my favorite line in this episode was when Lucy said, "Ever since we said I do there are so many things that we don't." I'm not sure why I found this line so funny but it definitely had me laughing out loud! After watching this episode, I would be interested in watching more of this series.

Buck Rogers in the Twenty-fifth Century

The episode from the radio that I decided to listen to was Buck Rogers in the Twenty-fifth Century. This was one of the first science fiction radio series and took place in the early 1930s. I thought that the episode I watched was very entertaining! It was about Dr. Huer, who is a famous, well established scientist and his experiment with the electro-hypno-mental-a-phone. In the episode, he is visited by his friend Wilma who is curious on what Dr. Huer is doing. Due to the special phone he has created, electronic impulses go through the brain to his patient so that the words are registered directly on the patient's brain. Therefore, the patient is able to subconsciously respond without even opening his mouth! The patient is Buck Rogers who is from 1919. He says how he was in an abandoned mine that collapsed on him and the gas that was released put him to sleep for 500 years. This is a very interesting storyline which I feel would make for a good movie! I thought it was humorous how Dr. Huer was such a fantastic scientist that he had created rockets that could go to the moon, since this was before rockets had actually gone to the moon. In addition, I thought the advertisements were cool. It was almost as if the episode was incorporated into Popsicle Pete's commercial because Pete talked before and afterwards on how the listeners should all go buy popsicles. Overall, I thought it was fun being able to imagine the scenes in my head instead of visually seeing them.

The Great Train Robbery

I found The Great Train Robbery to be very interesting. It was a silent film made in 1903 by Edwin Porter about men robbing train stations. I thought it was engaging to see all the gestures and movements that the actors made. Because there was no audio to the movie, the actors had to make up for it through exaggerated gestures. If the movies today had as intense gestures as back then, then I feel like the movies today would be much more comical. In addition, I found it interesting how the screen play had a couple things that were in color: fire and a woman's dress. I wonder why it was decided to make the fire and dress in color when everything else was in black and white? I think it is interesting how this screenplay is essentially about violence. I am curious to know why violence is so common in movies, both today as well as back then. Why are people so interested to watch people shoot others? Overall, it was fascinating to see how much movies have changed from the early 1900s to now.

Angel de Quinta's Blog

After looking at Angel de Quinta's blog, I now want to go watch a Broadway play! Many of the clips I watched on his blog look interesting. For example, I especially want to see the musical Scottsboro Boys, for the trailer looks like the musical is inspiring. Miss Saigon also looks like it would be a fascinating musical to watch. I've never seen a Broadway musical, so I would especially enjoy the experience! I wish I could understand spanish so I could see what Angel de Quinta has actually written on his blog.