Word Count Vs. Page Count

Finishing up my term, I have had to write several final papers and projects of course. For as long as I can remember, when I was assigned a paper it is usually accompanied with a good old page count. "Write me 4 pages!" "Write me 5 pages!" "Write me 8 pages on this subject!" But every once in a blue moon, a teacher gives an assignment and says something that always takes me off guard at first. "Write me 800 words." My reaction is usually unsure. Since it is so rare to be asked to do something by word count I do not have a very firm grasp on exactly how long that is or really how much effort I need to put into it. But I have recently realized that I far prefer to be asked to meet a word count than a page count.
When I am usually assigned these assignments it is often about something I am not very enthusiastic about. Being a graphic design major means I am not all that interested in writing about most academic things, but to each his own. But I have found that when I am writing about things that i do not care much about and am just trying to finish the assignment and my end goal is to fill the space on my screen with text then the way that I am thinking about the assignment is "I will be down if I just say a lot of things whether they are important or not".  But when I approach an assignment where my end goal is reach a certain amount of words then i had noticed the way  thought about the assignment was different.  Instead of trying to fill all this space with just stuff and whatever it was that came to mind, I was actually breaking down my ideas.  By doing this, when I am assigned a 1,200 word essay instead of thinking "I need to come up with 4 pages of content" I think "Ok, If I can come up with maybe 6 topics to touch on then I only need to talk about each one for about 200 words give or take". And 200 words is child's play! I often myself exceeding my personal limit.
I also noticed when I started approaching my assignments this way, I found that the pages numbers came flooding in. Before I knew it I had written 5 pages easy. So now that I am a little acclimated to how long word counts are, when assigned a page count I convert it to a word count and commit myself to that number and just write away.

Broadchurch Remake

Earlier this year, a show came out called "Broadchurch" on the BBC.  It was a British miniseries about a small town (called Broadchurch) where nothing really ever happens until one day a young boy is found dead on the beach and the following investigation rocks the foundation of the community.  The story and the characters are so rich and full of twists and turns.  The writing of this show carries so much emotional impact that I often cannot think too much about it without having emotional relapse.  Everything that happens is meaningful and the whole story ultimately comes full circle.  Plus the cinematography is so good each shot looks like a well crafted photography, the muse-en-scene of which only adds to the story making for even more engrossing viewing and emotional impact.  The mystery is very suspenseful and satisfying that it leaves you guessing right up until the reveal of which is nearly impossible to see coming.  Needless to say, this eight episode long mini-series is one of my favorite shows and I hold it in very high regard as one of the best storytelling's I have ever seen.

The show did so well actually that what was supposed to be a stand alone story was green-lite for a second season.  My excitement for this news lead me to do a little research and I found that the second season is still begin written and kept under heavy wraps.  However my research also lead me to find some more news about the show...It was receiving an American remake.  My initial thoughts were skeptical; I wondered why something so perfect needed to be remade.  Why not just air it more accessibly in The States and get more hype for the coming second season?

A few months later a trailer was finally released for this American remake of Broadchurch, now called "Gracepointe" (My first qualm).  I was open and watched the trailer and found all the story elements I recognized there, the parent looking for her child, the dedicated cop vowing to solve the case, the new reporters doing anything for the story, and all the emotions came flooding back.  But something was strange.  These emotions were not excitement to see the show, no.  What I was feeling was nostalgia.  I got a quick look back into all the story elements I loved, it was the exact same story and I already knew how it would happen.  In fact, the trailer did such a good job of reminding me of the original that this started to look more like a shot for shot remake.  It even featured one of the same actors reprising his role with an American accent.  The original writer even said that he was very heavy handed in the production of his masterpieces American counter part because the project has meant to much to him.  

And this i sphere my problem with remakes comes in.  This rehashing of the story adds nothing new, it's just going to be the exact same thing.  And when you make a lifeless carbon copy like that it means you are not capturing what made it great in the first place, you are just copying what someone else did and not adding anything to it.  The office is a great example of how to do remakes.  It is based off a British series but the American version took elements of it and characters then took their own spin on it.  As opposed to the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Pyscho which was panned as a shot for shot rehash.  This Gracepointe show is join to take all the plot points of its original substance but going to lack its powerful emotional impact and that is just a shame.  I want people to get to know Broadchurch and its citizens and get to know their struggles and enjoy the show but this second rate remake will take the originals place in the eyes of most American viewers.

Solutions to Cyber Bullying?

As we have talked in class about what cyber bullying is and how it affect today's teens, I have begun to wonder what could even be done about it.  But as I pondered, I began to question if cyber bulling was really as pervasive and prolific an issue as people had made it seem.  New stories on the subject often just talk about how so many teens now a days are prone to it and how common it is.  It makes absolute sense for adults to be concerned about the possibility of cyber bullying though.  Stories like Amanda Todd's exist and are very tragic.
However as I watched Amanda Todd's video, I had a few ideas.  Yes, what happened to her was sad, but perhaps the way it was handled was part of the problem.  After the first incident, she was taken out of school, this makes sense and she admits that it worked for a while.  But after this "guy" had found her again he made a fake profile in the clear attempt to harass and humiliate her.  Could she not tell an authority about this?  She was clearly being harassed and this kid had clear malicious intent.  She got her parents to move her to a different school again so she must have talked to them about it.  Even when she went to another school, this harassment continued.  She felt alone and upset and did not know how to cope with it.  It should be on the record that since this kid clearly had no intention of letting up, he had to be stopped and she had very justifiable grounds to make a case and get him in a lot of trouble with someone.  
But even if this is what she had done, this still would not have fixed her social situations.  That is why I argue that what needed to be down here is that she needed be helped find a way to move on and put her life back together.  Amanda claims that felt powerless and alone and she clearly did not know how to deal with it.  She needed some kind of counseling to help her deal with what had happened to her.  This would have hopefully helped her in one of the crucial ways that she needed, it would have empowered her to take back control of her life instead of continuing to run away from the issue.  Then she could have resolved it.  As she tried to just move on with her life, she didn't know how and just kept making bad decisions. 
Just like regular bullying, cyber bullying needs to be felt with but just expelling the kid does not help.  If someone feels the need to act out so aggressively toward another, then there are probably some deeper issues going on at work.  Also, I think this idea of helping the victim cope is lacking in real word bullying.  
Also, kids in middle school really need to be better educated on the dangers of the internet.  Although 7th graders may lack a whole lot of foresight like consequences for their actions, they need to understand that the internet is written in ink and does not go away.    

http://vimeo.com/70534716

This is a video questioning if social media sites really are making us more connected or if they are actually isolating us in our own world of individuality.  If the latter is true, then as we say in class, then we are putting on a performance  but we are our only audience and reflecting our own loneliness back to ourselves.  I thought it was very thought provoking

Google's Cultural Phenomenon

Over the years, Google has become an increasingly prevalent entity in our lives and even permitted culture.  I use it almost daily for a search engine, I have a Gmail account, I spend hours on Youtube, and I have even used it as a translator on occasion in language classes. Because of its prevalence, I had a bit of a hard time even pinning down how often I use google or its other applications, and I know that I am only one in a million of its frequent users.  This considered, what kind of a hold does Google have on the Internet and on our society?  

To answer this, lets just look at the use of the word "Google".  You never hear someone say "Let me yahoo that for you" or "Let me bing that for you".  You would get many weird looks if you did.  It is an effortlessly common phrase that you "google something".  When grammatically, it should be, "let me look that up on Google.  Google has jumped in meaning of this sentence.  Instead of referring to itself as the noun that it is, Google has become a common verb and no one will be questioned for doing so.

Further more, Google is not only the most used search engine on the Internet, it is expected to be the most used search engine on the Internet.  I said earlier that you may get strange reaction to using other search engines.  I can think of one example where another engine was used, and it did have a funny reaction with people.  In The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, there are a few scenes where the main character, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), is seen using Bing.  I remember taking quick notice of that when I saw the movie and thinking it was weird.  A quick search (on Google) and you will find I was not the only one.  Looking up "spiderman uses bing" yielded many results of people not only thinking that using Bing was weird, but that it was down right unbelievable!

This proves that people are not only willing but only allowing Google to have this kind of prevalence and the thing is that it is expected of Google to do so.  And anyone be damned if they go elsewhere.  

Blog Prompt 1

For our first blog post, I looked at an interview with a blogger named Fred First.  When asked what was appealing about having his own blog he said that he "saw potential in the medium".  He really liked that he could write about something that he cared about and express his feelings and opinions then make it public and known to all the internet for anyone's interest.  I thought to myself, ultimately what Fred First wants is to be heard.  When it comes to a person's passion, people want to be expressive and also pure in sharing them.  For him, having a blog provides a space to do just that and share with others who may feel the same.

This is of course understandable.  I have an uncommon passion for typography; it is very rare to run into people who share my interest and dedication.  So when I do, that connection is very exciting!  The same can go for any other passion, food, movies, pop culture.  Being able to have a voice and be heard is an important thing and the internet in this day and age has been able to give a voice to individuals in the sea of people.  By this there is all kinds of possibilities for connections, introducing other to new interests, or introducing others to new views and ways of thinking.  Fred gets to share his perspective on a subject and those reading get a new point of view from what they may have previously had.  

The other theme here is being able to express yourself as you are.  When blogging, no filter is really necessary.  Fred says that he does his best to remain neutral on some things but that is a perimeter he has chosen to put on himself which is half the beauty of a blog.  The blogger is allowed to be as open as they choose.  But unshackled, blogging allows the blogger to be heard in their own voice and not be stifled in their expression.  Their blog will take them exactly as they are.     

My First Post

My first post on my new blog