PLATOON

The film Platoon that was watched on Tuesday was an interesting film about the war in Vietnam through the eyes of Oliver Stone. Stone gives a negative image about the war in Vietnam. He shows scenes of soldiers acting immoral by wanting to rape a small girl. Also the captain did not know what he was suppose to do and even how to lead the soldiers. The captain ends up killing one of his partners beacuse of the lack in support and guidance for one another. The soldiers all cared about the survival for themselves, they did not much care for the survival of their friends and peers. The Vice president of La Guardia, Peter Katopes who also is Vietnam veteran says that Oliver Stone was a snub and that this is really not the way he saw when he was solider. Katopes says that he has never seen one solider killing another or wanting to rape a girl, instead he says everyone helped one another for the need to survive. We feel that since Stone was a Vietnam Veteran this is how the war in Vietnam was, but Katopes says that it was not this way at all. Hamburger Hill which is also a film on the war in Vietnam gives a better description of what really went on in Vietnam says Katopes. Katopes feels that later generations and his own grandchildren may not know the truth about Vietnam and all they might see was Platoon and think to themselves our grandfather was really an immoral person and he may have killed his friends, says Katopes so therefore it's important to pass the information to our children by giving then facts that we know base on legitimate research. Katopes says that the government tells us know that " We are at War" Katopes says the people who are really in the Iraq war are the ones who have families fighting in the war, however the rest of the nation is not actively involved in the war, and Katopes says this is the governments fault for not making us got involve on the war in Iraq. The media depiction about the war in Iraq is that we don't get all the facts and the death toll numbers on the soldiers. In the beginning of the war we use to watch the war live and see what is happening, now the media does not show the war. Also we use to watch the soldiers who died brought back in caskets now we don't see it anymore they only bring it out by night so the people don't see it says Prof: Louis Lucca, a faculty at La Guardia college. The media lies to us and the government is not telling us all the details. The only thing we hear being repeated over and over again is President Bush saying " Weapons of Mass Destruction." The reason they repeated is for us to come to believe it says Lucca. This is what the media is doing right now to us. We must be alert and always question and find the truth. Do not believe what the media is telling us, and most of all do not trust the government.

Made In N.Y.

The career fair was in BMCC on Friday, May 9, 2008 , it served a purpose for those who wanted to join the field in film, TV, theater, and the new media. It was such a hard day for me because it was raining and I had stuff to carry with me since i was going away to my parents for the weekend. We had to dress appropriate for the occasion. Lunch was served> and the event was quite nice. you can see the flyer which i posted on the right.

The New York Public Library

For the Performing Arts.

I had a really nice time. Ana, Brandon, and I started our tour of the library on the first floor. The first floor had all types of films and DVDs. The types of films that I would like to see are: Legally Blond 2, since I saw the first one, Meet the Fockers, Maid in Manhattan, starting Jennifer Lopez. The film that I already saw was Double Indemnity at my American film class given by Prof Rheuban, and I also happen to see it right here at the library, though I already knew that they have copies of all the movies. I guess I like the sappy, romantic, comedy films that are just for the sake of entertainment not for an educational purpose. On the second floor they had different types of books. The books that I would like to read are: The Power of the Actor by, Ivana Chubbuck. Producing for Hollywood by, Mason Gold, Cinema Stylists by, john Belton, An American Daughter by, Wendy Wasserstein, The Leading Man of MGM by Jane Ellen Wayne, and the last one is The Greatest Jewish Movies by, Kathryn Bernheimer. The last stop was on the third floor which was the Music Division, and it had Archives of recorded sound. Brandon and I picked up some pamphlets on the way coming to the museum and leaving the third floor. I will scan some of them on my blog so you will understand what I am talking about it. The third floor was no interest for me because I don’t have an interest for sounds. The pamphlets that I picked up are: Directory & floor plan, Lincoln center calendar of events for May 2008, The New York public library for the Performing Arts which discuss what each floor is, and the kind of services they offer. I also received pamphlets on recorded sound and music division which is on the third floor. The Lincoln center has more than 350,000 books, records, DVDs, videotapes, etc. which are all available for loan with an NYPL card. They also have more than nine million items relating to dance, music, theatre, and recorded sound for serious researchers and scholars. They also have more than 120 lab tops connected to the world wide web , 163 computers for public use, 203 seat in the auditorium, 450 public seats, 37,000 square feet facility, they also have an access to electronic database, full text electronic journals, and online services. I got all these facts on the pamphlet about Lincoln Center and what each floor is. To know more about the library hit the website on http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/lpa.html. This will give you information on how to get there, calendar, schedule, services, internet resources, collections, and many more. I also sat down on the second floor and looked at a book that was about Marilyn Monroe, it had tons of pictures of her and her life, and this book was dedicated to her. The Lincoln Center was a nice experience to witness.

CLUELESS????

Talk about anything is the blog for workshop that is great!! And yet I have nothing to talk about. What should I talk about? I have no clue. Maybe the weather, coming school presentations, life in general, though I have a lot to say about that, friends in college, going to blockbuster in search of a movie for film class, finding information on women in advertising that is my topic for the presentations, the list is endless. When a topic is given to you to talk or write about you have plenty or maybe not, but an open discussion in writing I have no clue what to write about it. Well to start with the weather, the weekend was not so great because it was cold and raining. In the morning on Sunday I thought it will rain, but in the afternoon it was a gorgeous weather it was pretty and I went out to take a walk around the block from sitting a whole day and doing my homework. Monday in the morning was a little chilly, but got so much hotter in the afternoon. I am little worried about the coming presentations, but I feel that if I do all the necessary requirements I should be fine. This was my first semester here in LaGuardia I really liked it because I learned so much and accomplished a lot of writing and research. I meet pretty cool people who helped me with any problems and concerns. I like all my professors from my classes. I met a lot of other students outside my class and realized we had very similar customs, traditions, and culture. Going Green has made me see the importance about making the world a cleaner and better place to live. And for that reason I have started different ways I can be eco-friendly- for further details you can check my blog on going green, and continuing to go green. At first I thought to blog was a waste of time but I came to realize that it is pretty cool and a simple method of expressing yourself and what you believe about certain subject matters. I like this homework assignment in that we can talk about anything. I thought this would never come, and here it is, and look at me I am talking about things that are so BORING. I just hope I don’t put Dr. Smith to sleep. I am sure he won’t. My goodness I have wrote so much already and still have not found what to talk about. Dr. Smith will really not like this, and Zina you are really asking for a bad grade, you are not following instructions you need to talk about something specific not just anything. I feel it coming this does not look good, and Dr. Smith does not look happy. Wow Zina you really screwed up this time. Oh well who cares I guess I’ll do better next time, that is If I do better next time, hey who knows? Only the below passing grade that you get is one who knows. Well I hope you learn your lesson, to do better next time and stay focus or else--- I should not say it or I may be condemned to a life of misery and unhappiness.

Still Going Green….

I recently started “Going Green’’ I took upon myself many little things like1) instead of using napkins to wipe my hands I use towels. I have started doing that and I feel a lot better. 2) I am still looking for a glass bottle to fill up water, maybe Dr. Smith can tell me where to buy a glass bottle like the one he has.3) I try not to throw out paper unless I can make some use of it at first, and then only when I am done then I throw it out. 4) I use to leave lights on all the time now I go around the house to shut off any lights that are not in use. 5) I will take a lot of time but I slowly started using less meat when I cook for dinner not because I want to be a vegetarian, but when I read a statistic on treehugger.com it said that you save a lot of water from not eating a pound of meat per day than to not shower a whole year, and then it said that people who eat meat use up 4,000 gallons of water per day unlike a vegetarian who only uses 300 gallon of water per day. This statistic was pretty scary so I decided to loosen up on the meat not off course completely but to start a little bit so I can save my planet. I have a question I hope Dr. Smith can answer it or anyone in the class. So like I said I took upon myself to not waste paper so what happens when I am at the train station and the workers give out a Metro does that consider wasting paper because in the end it will end up in the trash weather I read it or not. I take the paper from them in order to be nice. I feel that anyways all the left over paper will go to the trash and I don’t always have the time to catch the news online, so am I contributing to the paper waste????? SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER. 6) I also make sure not to allow the water to run for no reason so if I am brushing my teeth I will turn the faucet off when not in use or even in my kitchen when I am cooking, and I feel I may need the water but not right this second I will turn it off (even thought it takes a little effort to turn it back on.) what I use to do was when I use to cook is to occasionally leave the water on so when I need to rinse vegetables for cooking or to make a salad I automatically had the water on so I rinse…..boom in the pot or on the plate. Well apparently that was not helping to save the planet instead killing it, so it’s great that I made the switch because a little bit goes a long way.

Off We Go.... New York Public Library.

On April 9, 2008 the whole class went to the New York public library. Here is the website http://www.nypl.org . You can find all the information that you are looking for, like a particular book or research that you may have to do for a school paper. It was kind of interesting to see many different kinds of books in anything and any subject in all kinds of different fields. I saw a book that was called “The Fine Art of Sex” and as you can use your logic you know exactly what the book is. Well I decided to flip through the page and I saw all kinds of sex pictures of different people having sex. I was pretty much laughing and I even showed to Ana my partner, and then we also had Sandy who wanted to look at it and I said, “No.” I did not like the book at all and I do not think such a book should even be in the library because young teens and children can get a hold of this book and take it out and seriously damage their minds. There is a time and place for everything even for the young teens and the children. Why should they bother themselves with this kind of nonsense? A smart parent will make sure their kid does not get a hold of such a book. I think most people will pick out a book like this to see what is in store not for the simple interest of research and study. For such a purpose the library staff should have it by them and if an adult needs then fine, but a young teen should not have it unless a parents suggest it. That is simply my opinion. Most people will defer but this is how I feel on the subject matter. Afterwards we went to the other library I don’t know the name, but it’s the one with the lions where we took the group picture (maybe it’s the same name.) There I learned that they only have one book and you can only look at it there and you cannot take it home. They even have some books that are thousands of years old and some have sheep skin on it. It’s true what Dr. Smith is saying that if you act interested then you will become interested. I usually find libraries extremely boring. It’s totally true I guess if I learn to love the library and act interested than i guess i will be interested. WE also had a tour guide who showed us around the big beautiful library and told us that some reading rooms have light coming from the outside in other words it is natural night it does not need the help of an external light. I saw all kinds of people, some are probably tourists others are researching their work.

GO GREEN!!!!

I have never really thought about going “green” this idea of trying to save the planet seemed very awkward. I even remember after reading Dr. Smith’s blog that stated, “It’s not easy being Green” I asked him what does this statement mean, and he looked at me quite strange saying you don’t know what being green means? And to get even funnier I asked him who is Kermit the frog? though the picture looked cute as you have a frog sitting on a tree playing the instrument-(I don’t know what), and then Dr. smith tells me you don’t know who Kermit is and I say the usual “NO”, and he says it’s Kermit from Sesame Street and I laughed since I felt this may have been the cause for banishing the television. Well a little joke there! I think I had enough so I will begin my paper. http://treehugger.com is a website that you can use to go green in so many different ways like how to green your furniture, sex life, water, electricity, wardrobe and many more. Well to begin greening your sex life it says that you should shower together so to save water, instead of using light you can use candles, and instead of using plastic sex toy use a metal one( I don’t know that’s what they are saying.)To Green your water you can use tap water than bottle water because studies have shown that it is a lot healthier since government regulates it unlike bottle water that is a scam in first world countries and it is not even pure. I love drinking bottle water instead of tap. I think tap water is pretty disgusting, but who knows maybe this is something I can take upon myself. Do not flush drugs inside your toilet or pour chemicals down your drain because it might come back to you in diluted water. Ease up on the meat says the website you use up 4,000 gallons of water per day unlike a vegetarian who only uses 300 gallon per day. You save a lot of water by not eating a pound of beef than not showering a whole year. Four million children less than five die each year due to water- born diseases. Many of these children do not have cleaned water near their homes and they share, bath, and drink their water with their live stock. United church of Canada started a campaign to control the spread of bottle water. Matt Damon who is an actor set up H2OAfrica after he saw that Africa’s water crises at its worst. We should also consider were we live and having the land to support us without any artificial means like in Arizona people cannot live their without an air conditioner and that is wasting the energy of this earth. What I can take to take upon myself to become a better GREENER is to not waste paper and if I don’t need it I will find use for it instead of dumping in the trash, and will try to use the computer to do my writing. I will try to use a towel so I don’t have to use napkins. I will pay my bills electronically so as not to waste paper. I will buy a filter for my water at home so I can use tap water instead of these bottle waters. I also will shot of any lights in the room that no one is using at the moment. In my home I have artificial plants instead of the real ones in the pots because this way I save a lot of water and plus my homes looks a lot nicer in artificial than the real plants. I will also buy a glass bottle to fill up water instead of using plastic.

American Museum of Natural History

The trip to the museum was both educational and rewarding. I took many pictures as you can see to your right. My group partners were Ana, Brandon, and myself. We started our journey to the African animals and finished off by the Gottesman hall of planet earth doing our research work. I saw the Asian mammals which included the Indian lion, black buck, axis deer, bird named Indian roller, etc. I also saw a Japanese home that was made up of paper, wood, and bamboo, and a Korean home that had a scholars studio and a women doing her bidding. I also saw the Ainu people that had women’s lips tabooed blue to protect them from bad spirits and to show they are of marriageable age to get married. Our last stop was to the Gottesman hall of planet earth where we answered our student field journal handout given by Dr. Smith. I learned what causes climate and climate change and some are, the green house gases which consist of four different gases: nitrogen and oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane. Water vapor it’s the most importuned one of the green house gases without it the earth’s temperature would be below freezing with it the planet is warm enough to support life. I took a picture of the diagram at the right that shows how green house gases help warm the atmosphere. I also saw read about the tree rings and the thick ring means that it shows rapid growth during warm wet years, thin ring shows slow growth indicating cold dry years, and the single tree records only local climate. I have a picture of the diagram on tree rings at the right. Since carbon dioxide is a green house gas it has been responsible for the warming, and I took a picture of the graph you can see it at the right and it shows that in the year 1850 industrial revolution started and that effected the temperature rise and by 1970 it’s already more than 350 parts per million atmospheric carbon dioxide. These are some of the information I picked up at the Gottesman hall. I have seen the film, An inconvenient truth by Al Gore and went to the museum and I find the museum to be more believable when it comes to Global warming because the film gave me a visual experience, however the museum gave me a hands on experience where I had to do some of the research on my own, and do a self analysis on the information that was provided to me at the museum. I was also able to see at the museum how nature can be transformed to media and that is when I saw the African and Asian mammals they were visual I was able to see them and we also saw a film on different tribes and what survival techniques they used that was media to me because it transformed their habitation and their way of life to visual film and audio and this is how their way of life was communicated to me. When i went to the Asian and African mammals I saw the way humans took what was once real and made it into a glass wall of different animals in their environment this is the way humans denaturalize nature ,but at the same time were capable of making the landscapes and the animal homes look very real , and even figures of the animals was portrayed very real to me and this is the way humans renaturalize nature.

An Inconvenient Truth, by Al Gore

The atmosphere is thin making it the vulnerable part of the earth. When it's thin enough it's able to change the composition; however the thin layer is now being thickened by pollution and therefore heating it up causing an enormous amount of global warming. Glaciers everyday is being broken of. Al Gore says that forty percent of the people on earth will face a shortage of water, and even the ice has stories to tell us like the warming of two ice ages. This is how the temperature of the earth works, the more carbon dioxide the warmer the temperature will get and thus trapping more heat from the sun. Carbon dioxide is now way above the 300 parts per million, and in the next fifty years and even less carbon dioxide will continue to go up. Gore says, “It is deeply unethical'' if we allow this to continue. In the year of 2005 it was the hottest in temperature including the oceans, thus the oceans got warmer resulting in stronger storms. Hurricane Katrina went to the warmer waters- as the temperature in the water increases so too the wind velocity increases thus resulting in stronger hurricanes. Global warming also causes droughts not just floods, and when the temperature raises soil evaporation rises too. Arctic is experiencing faster impacts on global warming and in the next fifty to seventy years the frozen ice will be completely gone from the North Pole to Arctic Ocean we are getting a faster heat up. Since we are experiencing changes in patterns is therefore affecting our seasons and the ecological niches are being affected by global warming too. We have new diseases emerging since the last quarter century. Antarctica has the largest mass of ice if it breaks it is an alarm sign for global warming and now it has been broken little by little in the last 15-20 years. The ice shelves by January 31, 2002 scientist saw it completely disappear. Land based ice is starting to fall in water by melting. In Green land pools are being formed. Scientist thought if the ice sinks in the water it will make the water into ice, but they were wrong because it only went tunneling deep down. Humans have to respond to warnings that are being affected by global warming says Al Gore. Three factors that are causing the collision with the earth: 1) population is putting more pressure on earth. 2) New technologies with old habits have a big consequence on our environment. 3) People are capable of sitting and not responding until danger occurs and that is not good at all. If we use efficiency technology it will add up and we would be below. Al Gore's last remarks are that we have to act together to solve the problem. We did great things before like solved the hole in the ozone layer, put down the communist, and many others. Gore says this is a "Moral issue-rise again to secure our future." I enjoyed this film very much and i would recommend those who are unaware of global warming should watch this scientific film and let others do the same. Let us bring change to the world.

GNOSTICISM

The word Gnosticism comes from the Greek word meaning knowledge, and “Gnosis refers to knowledge of the second kind’’ (Wikipedia, 12). Which means it’s an experience that someone had with the divine and therefore was able to receive a certain amount of knowledge. “This knowledge, to those who were capable of it, was the means of redemption” (Wikipedia, 13). In the matrix Morpheus tells Neo if he takes the red pill he will have the knowledge to know everything that there is about the matrix. Manichaeism conceives darkness and light and they both have a conflict and the light is entrapped in the darkness and “at the end of which the kingdom of light will prevail over darkness’’ (Wikipedia, 4) this refers to the allegory of the cave in which the sun in the end will show the prisoners true reality and that they have been blinded by the darkness which are the shadows. The kingdom of light refers to Neo who will win over the evil matrix which refers here to darkness. “Ptahil, the god of darkness who had a hand in creating and henceforward rules the material realm” (page4). This refers to the agents who created the machines and were ruling over the humans this refers to the material realm. In the allegory of the cave the prisoners were chained in one place and could not move their limbs and all they can see where the shadows which is the darkness that made the entire cave dark ,and therefore they knew nothing of reality only to name the shadows of puppets which they saw, so too like it says that the material world is intoxicated by the powers of darkness “ to keep elements of the light trapped inside it, or literally to keep them in the dark , or ignorant; in a state of drunken distraction”(page4). The matrix were all about being hidden and not knowing the truth and the reality of the real world, therefore Neo since he is the one has the power to eliminate the matrix and bring back Zion which is a world where people know the truth like it says her that the Aeons “encounters the ignorance of the world of lack and interacts to rectify the error of ignorance in the world of materiality” (page 11). “Gnosticism holds that world is controlled by the evil archons” so too by the matrix the gate keepers were the matrix at first who were controlling the humanistic world, and by the allegory of the cave the puppets were controlling the cave, but to the eyes of the prisoners they were shadows in order to deprive them from the truth. This article was very interesting in the way that these sprits some are good and some are evil and all have different intentions for this world. At first I did not understand it but as I continued reading on it became clear to me what Gnosticism was all about and how it came to being and what it is now in our modern times.

“The Allegory of the cave”

Plato writes in his article about prisoners in a dark cave who are chained and can not move their limbs. The only thing they see is shadows from the puppets of different various animals and plants. They view the shadows real than the puppets, and when one of the puppets speaks the prisoners believe that the words are coming from the shadows. The prisoners dislike those who can not name each shadow as quickly as they can. When the prisoner is released into the sunlight he will see the shapes passing by and he will see it less real than their shadows. He will see that the “sun is the cause of all the things that he has seen’’ (plato-wikipidea). The prisoners would not want to be freed because if to go back to the cave he would have to accustom his eyes to see the darkness. And he will not be able to name the shadows as quick as his other fellow members. The prisoners are the humans, the cave is the matrix, and the sunlight is Zion. The puppets are the agents who make the shadows to have the prisoners/humans lock in their positions so they don’t see the reality and the truth. The prisoners are chained in the cave and they can not move their limbs, so too the humans are in the cave of matrix that are like the slave that can not small or taste. The escape prisoner who sees the sun is like Neo who escapes the world of matrix to see the truth by taking the red pill. Neo sees the sun and his eyes start to hurt him, and that’s because he has never used them properly since he only saw a false reality which in his mind he thought was real. The prisoner never used his eyes to see the truth, and once he did his eyes started to hurt him and thus he wanted to go back, but Neo continues into the sunlight unlike the prisoner who wants to go back. The free man who decided to return to the cave was Cypher he wanted to return to the world of matrix, since he felt it was better to be living a life of slavery than to be a free man of decisions and choices. A slave can not think for himself a higher being has to think for him so too the agents/machines wanted to control the human race. In the world of the sun you see reality and thus you have a mass amount of knowledge and your mind starts to understand the truth. Some humans It’s hard to make the change you rather have what you were accustom to, so like the prisoner you go back to the cave. Neo also thought the cave was true reality however when he left the cave and saw the sunlight he understood that the cave was evil only to control your thinking and understanding.

please post all your comments about the matrix in here. thank you.

THE MATRIX.

Wow, what a movie! The Matrix was packed with lots of action and thrill. I loved every minute of it. The reason the movie was called The Matrix is because Morpheus defines the word matrix as a "World that blinds you from the truth, and it's like a slave that’s born into bondage that cannot small or taste." The movie Matrix is all about controlling the humans from the agents named Jones, Smith, and Brown. The agents are machines themselves and their one objective is to destroy Zion which is the last human city. Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One"; Neo is the man who will have limitless powers and will be able to have control over the Matrix. Neo goes by the name of Mr. Thomas Anderson who works in a big company as a computer programmer thus the agents capture him and ask him to join them or else face his death, however Neo turns down the offer and they instill in his body a poisonous creature. Neo is taken to see Morpheus by the other crew members of his, and Trinity takes the creature out of him with an electrical machine. Morpheus offers him the chance to learn the truth about Matrix. Neo accepts the offer by taking a red pill which will help him to know everything there is about the Matrix; however Neo does not know what he is getting himself into. Morpheus and his crew start the procedure by putting him in a liquid chamber connected with wires. This will allow him to have a socket connected to his skull in order to allow him to have access to the matrix world, and to also have other information stored in his mind, like certain fighting techniques in order to fight against the agents. “The human race is not free as long as the Matrix exits”, says Morpheus to Neo on their trip to training. They learned many skills like Kong- fu, having a faster speed against the agents, paying attention and not getting distracted- for example by the blonde woman in the red dress ,since getting distracted can lead you to danger like the computerized agent who was standing behind Neo with a gun when they were training. Morpheus takes Neo to the Oracle who says that perhaps he is waiting for something and that Morpheus believes that he is “the One” even to the point to sacrifice his own life. She also says that he will have to make a decision either to save his life or the life of Morpheus. While the crew are about to go to their ship they are ambushed by the SWAT and the three agents who capture Morpheus while the others escape. They later find out that they were betrayed by one of their crew members by the name of Cypher who felt it was better to be in the world of Matrix. This resulted in the death of some crew members and only Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, and Tank were left alive. Tank kills Cypher in the end. Neo and Trinity save Morpheus from the agents, but when Morpheus and Trinity exit the Matrix through the phone line the agent ambushes Neo before he can even leave. Both are fighting and Neo defeats him by having a train run over him, however he possesses another body and Neo escapes while he runs all over the city the agent shots him and he falls. Trinity believes that he is the one, since the Oracle told her she would fall in love with “the One’’ she kisses him and he comes to back to life and realizes that he is” the one” and kills the agent while the other two run away. Neo promises that he will save the people from the Matrix since anything can happen. I really enjoyed this movie a lot and I would most definitely recommend it to others.