Over the past forth months I have been apart of a wonderful cluster that left me wanting more out of college. Graduating high school I heard so many things about college and older friends of mine told me about their experiences and how they’ve taken great classes as well as bad ones. Coming in as a freshman last year I expected more out of my classes. I felt that the material was bland and that maybe these teachers were bored of us or what they were teaching. I had the luck of meeting three great professors who loved what they were doing and really opened my eyes to a brand new world that has been starring me dead in the face. I have always been a very active and outspoken person who likes to question and investigate and I was looking for something more and Dr. Lucca & Dr. Smith did just that. Both professors were very passionate about their love for The Matrix and being the computer geeks they were, they got me hooked. I soon began to start blogging in class ( something I’ve never done before). I was becoming more social because of class. I wanted to do everything. I began looking up other websites similar to the ones we used in class. I loved our assignments and having some days off to sign in at home and write essays.
All of the films seen in Dr. Smiths class were amazing and they all related to each other and I began to wonder as the writers wondered in each film whether we are truly living in a “matrix’ or in a fantasy life controlled by technological and robotic devices. The films seen and information obtained in the mass media class blew me away. After watching the film about the NCAA and the how it works, the process made me sick. It’s true on how we believe everything they show us on TV or in our newspapers. I can no longer watch TV the same way. I seem to doubt everything and I begin to research and look up articles about everything. These classes have made me stronger and smarter in every sense. I want to be well rounded and know about current events and I’ve become more in touch with the world by doing as told from class to read articles and newspapers and to get out there. The texts in class were also informative giving another person perspective about the issues and view on the matrix and etc. I will continue to praise these films because they were all the first time I’ve seen them and I have gotten a taste of reality and my search continues to finding out more and more about how we work in the US and how media controls everything and how we may be already living in the matrix. I definitely enjoyed all of the internet searching and blogging and especially when we had to sign in to The Ning and chat and I had the chance to create a blog and we all wrote and responded to each others messages. These were very good classes and I’ve learned a lot.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Blog 24: Sleep Dealer and the Coppertop Life Final Essay
Fernando Torres
Dr. Smith
English 101
Final
The Matrix and Sleep Dealer were both outstanding films that I saw for the first time in each class so it was definitely a fresh, mind blowing experience. Both films push the concept of “what if’ and in a way prepares ourselves for the near future in technology which has had the dominate influence in our nation and nations around the world. These films demonstrate how easily controlled and restricted some of us may be.
The director of Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera, was inspired from The Matrix and used aspects from the films such as the setting is in the near future, the computer programming and controlling of the mind by plugging yourself in, also they carried a story line that involved love. There were three characters that were brought together and risked their lives in order to challenge and break down the barriers of technology. Rivera did add his touch making the setting between Mexico and The United States. He also added present political issues and portrayed them through the film as a militarized world defined by closed borders and virtual labor where they world twelve hour shifts and a global digital network that joined him and his family together also other landscapes and different experiences. The issue today is that so many undocumented people are working off the books and are getting paid the horrible salaries and are working from dawn to dusk. There was a part of the film Sleep Dealer where an employee at Rudy’s job said “This is what America meant as the American dream”. There are so many poor and starving people who are eager to work for anything and go to any level of hours to support themselves and their families and by having the virtual labor, American factories and jobs can abuse and take advantage of the workers because they can’t physically see them and can’t physically touch them or see them. At one point Rudy had fallen asleep and in his dream felt like he had fallen off from overworking double shifts and the computers took off from his salary. These issues exist today as well, minus the technological influence, but many of the issues and workers who are being affected by this are coming from Mexico. Also border crossing and sneaking into the country had been a great issue in the US for years.
The second character was the girl he had met and began to fall in love with, Luz. She would plug herself in to her computer and thought that his stories were sad and that she needed to share them with the world and speak for him. She would sell her memories and she became known online. The stories lead up to meeting the third character Memo, who was a pilot in the military and had killed Rudy’s father due to a militant order. Memo was a fan and figured out that he had killed Rudys father. There was a struggle between him and his loved ones and his father’s death. He wanted to limit the distance and fulfill his father’s wish. Through this all, the man who had killed his father through a military order offered a service that could not be possible without the computer system. He plugged himself in and shot a dam and released water in order to help feed and aid his family and country. The military man was unable to go home after that and nether could the boy. In The Matrix, the red and blue pills each have a different road. The road to the truth which is The Matrix and the other is the fake world. In sleep dealer the computerized world helped him but in the end he chose to stay in the real world where he’d learn to live a normal life.
This story was more “real’ in the sense that he had a reason for all of his moves and that he actually wanted to be better and he chose to live plunged in and work. The Matrix was also a choice but I feel like it was more out of curiosity. I defiantly enjoyed Sleep Dealer more and it had everything that made a great film.
Dr. Smith
English 101
Final
The Matrix and Sleep Dealer were both outstanding films that I saw for the first time in each class so it was definitely a fresh, mind blowing experience. Both films push the concept of “what if’ and in a way prepares ourselves for the near future in technology which has had the dominate influence in our nation and nations around the world. These films demonstrate how easily controlled and restricted some of us may be.
The director of Sleep Dealer, Alex Rivera, was inspired from The Matrix and used aspects from the films such as the setting is in the near future, the computer programming and controlling of the mind by plugging yourself in, also they carried a story line that involved love. There were three characters that were brought together and risked their lives in order to challenge and break down the barriers of technology. Rivera did add his touch making the setting between Mexico and The United States. He also added present political issues and portrayed them through the film as a militarized world defined by closed borders and virtual labor where they world twelve hour shifts and a global digital network that joined him and his family together also other landscapes and different experiences. The issue today is that so many undocumented people are working off the books and are getting paid the horrible salaries and are working from dawn to dusk. There was a part of the film Sleep Dealer where an employee at Rudy’s job said “This is what America meant as the American dream”. There are so many poor and starving people who are eager to work for anything and go to any level of hours to support themselves and their families and by having the virtual labor, American factories and jobs can abuse and take advantage of the workers because they can’t physically see them and can’t physically touch them or see them. At one point Rudy had fallen asleep and in his dream felt like he had fallen off from overworking double shifts and the computers took off from his salary. These issues exist today as well, minus the technological influence, but many of the issues and workers who are being affected by this are coming from Mexico. Also border crossing and sneaking into the country had been a great issue in the US for years.
The second character was the girl he had met and began to fall in love with, Luz. She would plug herself in to her computer and thought that his stories were sad and that she needed to share them with the world and speak for him. She would sell her memories and she became known online. The stories lead up to meeting the third character Memo, who was a pilot in the military and had killed Rudy’s father due to a militant order. Memo was a fan and figured out that he had killed Rudys father. There was a struggle between him and his loved ones and his father’s death. He wanted to limit the distance and fulfill his father’s wish. Through this all, the man who had killed his father through a military order offered a service that could not be possible without the computer system. He plugged himself in and shot a dam and released water in order to help feed and aid his family and country. The military man was unable to go home after that and nether could the boy. In The Matrix, the red and blue pills each have a different road. The road to the truth which is The Matrix and the other is the fake world. In sleep dealer the computerized world helped him but in the end he chose to stay in the real world where he’d learn to live a normal life.
This story was more “real’ in the sense that he had a reason for all of his moves and that he actually wanted to be better and he chose to live plunged in and work. The Matrix was also a choice but I feel like it was more out of curiosity. I defiantly enjoyed Sleep Dealer more and it had everything that made a great film.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Blog 23
The authors are in this chapter are relating both The Matrix and Marxist beliefs together. Karl Marx in Communist Manifesto and through Communism said how the “working man” or people in general do not realize the effort and sweat they put into and how they seem to be over working and are blinded by religion in the sense that the owners or Capitalists abuse religion to get them to work from dusk to dawn in order to earn their way to heaven. They do not have choices and are working because they have to. The “copper tops” in The Matrix relate to this Marxist belief because they cannot break free as well. They are also unaware of the sweat and work they are providing for the system.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Blog 21 Part 2
Today we:
- Discussed and understood our plan for tomorrow
- Exchanged materials and work
- Looked up helpful videos online that will help sculpt our final project
- Discussed and understood our plan for tomorrow
- Exchanged materials and work
- Looked up helpful videos online that will help sculpt our final project
Blog 21 Part 1
Goals for the day:
- Find videos of baby beauty queens
- Share magizines with other group members
- Organize thoughts for tomorrow
- Write down items needed to shoot tomorrow
- Find videos of baby beauty queens
- Share magizines with other group members
- Organize thoughts for tomorrow
- Write down items needed to shoot tomorrow
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Blog 20
The Matrix is definitely a typical “ Man film”. Throughout the film we see amazing martial arts and special effects as well as sexy costumes and good looking characters. Although The Matrix does concern with the “real” or “fake” world, the story line also concerns the love story of two. The film eXtistenZ was a bit more real in the sense that The Matrix went over the top with special effects and just adding too much. EXtistenZ was a bit complicated at times to understand but overall I felt it was the other side of what The Matrix could have been. Both were really interesting to watch and learn about and really leaves the reader/ watcher with something to think about.
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