My 2001 Space Odyssey reflection

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey is an artistic and beautiful commentary, on technology, and what it means to be human. Inspired by a book and produced in 1968, with only 40 minutes of dialogue, this movie relies on powerful imagery and a timeless musical score to tell three separate yet intertwined stories. The first part takes us back to primitive times, where a group of apes discover the tools. The second part follows Dr. Heywood R. Floyd and his crew as they make a trip to a moon space station to discus an alien artifact discovered under the surface. The third and arguable most famous part follows astronauts Dr. David (Dave) Bowman, Dr. Francis (Frank) Poole and Hal, a super computer that not only runs the ship but also has human intelligence and possibly human emotions, as they travel to Jupiter. I toughly enjoyed this movie for two main reasons: first, the use of silence and imagery, second, the advanced ideas of humanity and technology.
The first aspect of this movie that really caught my attention was how Kubrick played with the visual and auditory senses of the audience. Most of this film lacks dialogue, but a great position of the movie contains a riveting score. Although not everyone has seen this movie, many recognize the score; it is jut that powerful, and when it plays against the images Kubrick gives us it makes for an outstanding experience. Another portion of the movie does not have dialogue or music; instead it is the sounds of the crew working and the ship beeping. In one particular scene, where Hal is shutting down the hibernating crew, there’s only the sound of the beeping life support machine, and the panics ringing as a display announces “Computer Error”. Although that scene is mostly silent, it is both suspenseful and meaningful, because the computer is never suppose to error and because we as the audience know it is not an error, Hal is doing it on purpose.
The second aspect of the movie that I found intriguing was the sociological and technological commentary. It’s socially relevant now more so than back in the 1960’s. The theme of technology taking control has been used and reused a lot in books, T.V. and movies, but Kubrick was one of the first to do it well. Hal controls the entire spaceship and when he malfunctions he murders most of the crew, humans relied so much on technology that they gave it all the power, it is only through his own resourcefulness that Dave stops Hal. It also shows arrogance on the part of man, believing that we can create foolproof machines, and than control them. I couldn’t help thinking, when they constantly said, “No Hal 9000 has ever malfunctioned” and that it’s ‘impossible’ for it to make an error, that they also described the Titanic as ‘unsinkable’. The social commentary was also interesting, what does make us human? Hal was given human intelligence and thought processes, he could make his own decisions and possessed the power to worry, a BBC reporter even wonders if he can feel emotion. If Hal can feel emotion, and think, and make connections with people, how far from being human is he really? Is it flesh and bone, and DNA that make us human, or is it something else? The scene where Dave is disconnecting Hal, he tells Dave he “is afraid”. It really makes you wonder, if we give a computer all the mental and emotional elements of a person is it really still just a computer? And if not, what should we do when it malfunctions? Blame the programmers, or the computer itself?
Stanley Kubrick’s film; 2001 Space Odyssey, is a beautiful cinematic feat, that can inspire, perplex, and captivate people over 40 years after its release. The way Kubrick uses music, and silence, as well as color and light is mesmerizing, while simultaneously reflecting on technology and the future of mankind, should be studied and praised even now. Although we as a society have lost mass interest for this type of quiet, artistic film, it still has much to teach us. Although it may not be as fast paced as a superhero movie, or as heart stopping as a horror flick, or even as easy to watch as a comedy, this film has the power to make a person stop and think about the world around them; and that is timeless.

putting all the pieces together

This last chapter i am going to be discussing is Compiling your Portfolio. I've written a lot of different things over the past view years, it would be really nice to have all those pieces in one place. It's hard for me to get organized but once i do i really appropriate the structure. A portfolio is also good becuase if you are writing something and think you have a previous paper that can help you out it will be easy to find.

I also thought the section on how to make a an online portfolio was very interesting. So much is done online that putting your portfolio online is really sensible. Also if you are a potential writter you could just send prospective employers to your website and they could see everything you have written.

Webcams

So my group and i are doing a project, we are creating a website about webcams. We choose this because webcams have gotten a lot of bad press but they can be sued for good. Our website has tabs for parents and kids and teens to show them the positives of webcams and how to use them efficiently and safely. I think this is a good idea because webcams are everywhere and if you're stupid about them it can lead to disaster. But if used correctly it can help you to stay connected with people who are far away and make your life easier.

New Ways

For my latest blog entry i read chapters 47-49 in my previously mentioned book. I love working with and reading about all different forms of media. Spoken word is for sure my favorite. I'm on the Forensics team, have been since i was 11, that's 8 years of speech competition. Lets put it this way; i'm not shy in presentations. This group project we are doing has us setting up a website. Ours is about webcams, and although i am in charge of designing it and are very good with computers and stuff like that i'm more excited for the presentation.
Honestly though, i love all different medias. The computer helps you to find all of them, you can see people in video talking, or making how to movies, or writing blogs. I love computers, that's why i'm taking a computer course, they are the present, but also the future. That is what is so amazing about them. This project is really exciting for me because we are planning to mix a lot of them. We will have writing on the website and little videos, which will all help tell our story.

Alls well that ends well

Hello cyber world, today i'm writing about chapters 28 and 29 in my English book The Norton Field Guide to writing. Chapter 28 is all about how important the beginning and endings of your papers are and i couldn't agree more. I do forensics speaking and when i'm doing something like a prose i know how important it is to begin strong and catch the audiences attention but also end strong so they are left on a high note emotionally.

Chapter 29 was all about how to guride your reader and that too is very important, when you give a speech you want to give a road map to the reader and the same goes for a paper. You can sue your title or thesis to show the reader where you are headed and it is always better to know where you're going. I also belive you have to make transitions strong because they are like little bridges between ideas.

Compare contrast repeat

Although i had already learned about the subject of tonight's reading they were very important. Being able to compare and contrast as well as dividing and classifying are very important in reading and writing. Cause and effect is also very important, you can than determine if someone is making a bad judgment call or too much of a stretch. Also writing about somethings cause or it;'s effect can really help the reader. I think when you are writing these are all things you have to keep in mind so that your writing is focused and easy to follow for the reader. Which is very important because if the reader can't follow what your saying you message does not get across. And of course you must always keep your purpose in focus because it will help you to sue all these devices.

Reading Extreme

From the chapter reading it seems like reading at the college level is practically an Olympic sport. You have to stretch by previewing and reading is the actually activity where as your cool down is when you go back and annotate. I understand that it is important but who has the time? I usually do these things quickly or subconsciously. I flip through originally to see what i'm getting myself into, than read, and than i think about it a bit or i have a reaction. When ever i read a bout reading it always makes it sound like it is some big process, like i consciously have to sit down and go "alright and now i shell reflect". It makes it sound a bit silly, but i do like annotating to a certain extent. I like it when it's on my own terms, when teachers make you turn in an annotated paper i think it goes to far, because i might not need to annotate as much as someone else to be able to remember anything important. I hate things like that, where it's one size fits all, i'm a good reader and i need notes less. But it is important to have reading skills.