DIY PART 4/GIVEBACK

I cannot believe that the last weekend for this project is already here...and gone since I am done with my instructables project for good :) For my giveback I decided to make a christmas sign. Now it doesn't seem like much but I was really in the spirit of christmas, and I love arts and crafts. I have made a few before, but never christmas themed, so here are the steps in making a DIY Christmas Sign. The amount of time it look me to do this was over the course of 3 days, and a total of 5 hours.

1.) Google sayings for the sign/examples
2.) Write down all the supplies you will need so you don't have to go to the store more than once
3.) Budget yourself. You never want to spend too much money on a DIY project
4.) Go to the store and get supplies. Supplies for this project are, square piece of wood, sponge brushes, regular paint brushes/paint pens, paint, snowflake stickers, paper towels, cup of water, and newspaper.
5.) Start by painting the piece of wood your base color. Mine in this case is red.
6.) Do a double coat so there are no streaks, or blank spaces.
7.) Paint the borders of the piece of wood. In this case my border color is gold.
8.) Let it dry for 20-30 mins
9.) Write with a pencil over the paint what you chose your saying to be
10.) Take your paint brush/paint pens and paint over the letters. (TAKE YOUR TIME)
11.) Let the paint dry again (same amount of time)
12.) Place stickers and YOU'RE DONE!

This Pinterest/Instructables project was quite challenging, yet very enjoyable. My first three projects consisted of baking with two of the same ingredients, but different recipes. I thought this turned out way better than I thought because I am not a very patient person, and to bake it takes patience. I managed to pull it off, and the recipes all tasted very good, according to my boyfriend and his friends who ate them all every week. (Reason why I didn't have anything to bring to class, sorry guys). I learned that having all the right ingredients, and timing is everything in baking. When you miss an ingredient the texture, taste, or volume of the recipe could be off, and if you over bake or under bake, that's never good either. I feel as if I achieved a lot with this project. One thing being that I completed all the hours needed for this project, and another being that I know how to bake. I've always liked to bake things, but I feel as if I got a lot better at it over the past few weekends. My baking products were normally given to my boyfriend and his friends for a sunday night football dessert.

For my christmas sign give back, I am planning on hanging that in my apartment for a holiday decoration, and from that project I learned to also have patience, and be very steady when painting. I am not the best artist, so this did come out a little messier than I thought it would, but I'm still proud of my artwork and might make another one. I think I will do more creative projects that I find on the internet because they're fun, and always include the steps for success. I feel as if the internet has some of the most amazing recipes, and DIY projects. I'm glad we did this project because for one I love Pinterest, and two it was a great learning experience.
Here are pictures of my christmas sign!

Anonymous. Expect Us.

Okay I just have to start off by saying that that video was the most intimidating thing I've ever seen, and I am happy that they uploaded that for the world to see. ISIS needs to be exposed for the terrorists that they are such as any other group including the KKK and Al Queda. These attacks were just so unnecessary, and I hope ISIS gets what's coming to them. Anonymous is no joke when it comes to exposing people, as we all know from the government hacks. My response to this video is simply to find these people and do onto them as they do onto others, which is nothing but terror. I believe these people need to be punished for their actions, and I hope Anonymous wins the battle. I think they are doing the right thing by "hunting them down like they did to those who carried out the attacks on Charlie Hebdo." I feel as if ISIS thinks they are invincible and can never be stopped, however I think by Anonymous exposing them, they will crumble little by little until they are nothing but a terroristic group of the past.

Paris Attacks

The Paris Attacks are nothing short of devastating. This is the second time Paris has been attacked in a year, and I mourn for them. After reading these articles, I understand point view points. I think in the first one it is more of what happened while the attacks were going on, and to show the rest of the world what had been going on. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing because the rest of the world should know when another country is being attacked, especially by a terrorist group like ISIS who has harmed and put out several threats towards America and other countries. I also think without social media it would be harder to get the story, and having live footage can help identify the people who did this, and how dangerous they really are. On the other hand, social media does do the unnecessary, such as the french flag Facebook filter. I think it had the right intentions, however it isn't helping them in the least bit. These people of Paris are in mourning, and suffering. We shouldn't disturb that by trying to over step our boundaries with hashtags and Facebook posts. I do agree there is some self-centerdness within people's posts/tweets. I feel as if when something happens in another country America is the first to try to give their blessings, but are we really doing it for the mourning country, or are we posting just to post about it? I don't ever know because someone could have a direct relation to the attacks, and others not so much. It's hard to say whether I disagree or agree if this is slacktivism, however I do think social media can be overwhelming with unnecessary hashtags/posts when it comes to tragedies such as this one.

Lesson Learned

In class this week, the topic I found most interesting in our lesson is the selling of the body on EBAY. Ebay is a site on the internet that you can sell things on, buy things, bid on things, etc. See how I'm stating "things" as what you can buy, however I guess it's a thing to sell your body/sex as well. Now I personally think this is horrific and disgusting, however I guess someone didn't when they paid 780,000 dollars for a girl's virginity. I mean really are you that desperate that your paying that amount of money to have sex?? Anyways, this auction of "selling virgins" was created in Australia. The girl's name that being auctioned off was Catarina Migliorini, 20 years of age. That is literally my age so that's just disturbing. The winner was a japanese male, named Natsu, who's age goes unknown. Although Catarina was going to give a portion of her funds to the poor of her city, the question still remained as to what this girl was thinking by doing this. The way this happened was she was to board a plane with her buyer between Australia and the U.S. so it was legal, and she claimed "if you only do it once in your life than you are not a prostitute, just like if you take one amazing photograph it does not automatically make you a photographer"...whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. According to the huffingtonpost website, it said the deal was never complete, but she did try to auction off her virginity a second time. She did it through her own website and stated "well after being featured by so many media outlets in so many countries, I decided to actually auction off my virginity." This was back in 2013, but she told one brazilian website that she was hoping to raise 1.5 million. This story is just absolutely nuts to me and I just don't understand it.

DIY WEEKEND PART 3

WOW this project has been so time consuming, yet so fun. I truly have a passion for baking and cooking, and this project gave me all the more reason to try some new recipes out utilizing my favorite ingredients, chocolate and peanut butter. This week's recipe I decided to do chocolate fudge brownies with layers of peanut butter semi-sweet chips. Making brownies seems easy, however if you put more oil or water than your supposed to, it turns out awful. That didn't happen to me though, THANK GOD. Anyways my ingredients this week included, chocolate fudge brownie mix, vegetable oil, water, 1 egg, peanut butter chips, and chocolate fudge frosting. The steps for this recipe were to mix the brownie mix, add the fudge packet, put half the mix in a baking pan, add a layer of peanut butter chips, add the other half on mix on top and then put another layer of the chips on top of that. Next was preheating the oven, and baking them for about 28-30 minutes. I always do 28 minutes because I like them to be moist and not over baked. Next was taking them out of the oven and letting them cool down till they were ready to be frosted. The cool down took about 15-20 minutes. I applied the frosting, and then added another layer of peanut butter chips because why not. Overall with going to get the ingredients to making the brownies, it was just over 2 hours. I've completed my 6 hours and  I couldn't be more happy!! Can't wait for next weekend to show everyone my give back project, but here are some pictures of my chocolate fudge brownies with peanut butter chips :) sorry again that they were eaten within 20 minutes and I couldn't bring any into class...

GPS Artist

Stephen's GPS art is actually amazing. He is so skilled in what he does, and I believe it takes true talent to create art just using a GPS. Stephen has created works for miles, and it's so shocking to me how they can come out the way they do. I really enjoyed the one that was a tribute to the soldiers and service members whom have risked their lives everyday. I also really liked the birthday ones. I thought they were very creative and GPSed perfectly (if that's even a term). I think this relates to the Data Visualization lesson we learned in class because he is using a simple application for something to big and creative. He utilizes all the application's features and turns it into these art pieces that are just astounding. To me, the digital world is taking over in a huge way, and GPS art is just one piece of the puzzle in creating a whole new world for Data Visualization.

Vine by Daniella, Jessica, and Yayvenia

For our vine, we decided to do something that relates to real life which is, forgetting a backpack with homework inside. This is a common thing for college students to forget things such as homework, bags, student ids, etc. We also tried to make the vine somewhat humorous when looking around for the backpack. We tried to use animation at first, however that didn't go as smoothly as we thought, therefore we decided to act it out. It starts out as a girl walking to her class, and sitting down in the classroom. She then realizes that she forgot her backpack, and starts to frantically look for it inside the classroom, and bathroom stall. After that clip, she decides to call her friend and asks her to bring her backpack to the classroom. When the friend arrives, she is very thankful and proceeds to break out into her happy dance. It was fun making this vine because using stop motion made the video feel and look like a real narrative. Also this video didn't take as long as predicted (took 15 minutes). Vine is a really fun app to use when trying to create these type of projects, so overall the time spent making the video was enjoyable.

Forgetful student: Daniella
Friend of forgetful student: Yayvenia
Director and vine recorder: Jessica


https://vine.co/v/elXh1L2mK5t (rising action)

https://vine.co/v/elXMAEI71iB (rising action/climax)

https://vine.co/v/elXMlTXxYID (climax)

https://vine.co/v/elXOhF9LDK9 (falling action/resolution)

Internet Art Chapter 4

The first person that stuck out to me while reading this chapter was actually on the first page of this chapter. He goes by the name of Wolfgang Staehle. Wolfgang Staehle was born in Stuggart, Germany in 1950. In 1976 he moved to New York City to attend the school of Visual Arts where he studied closely with conceptual artists. He had a successful career in New York City, however he wound up in many European galleries until 1991, he created "The Thing." "The Thing, was an online innovative online forum for artists and cultural workers. The Thing began as a Bulletin Board System, a form of online community dialogue used before the advent World Wide Web" (lacan.com). In 1996, Staehle, began to produce an ongoing series of live online video streams. The first of the works was Empire 24/7, which was an online video stream of the Empire State Building in New York City. He then created ones that captured streams of Berlin's Fernsehturm, and the Comburg Monastery in Germany. In 2001, the cameras documented the terrorist attacks on Lower Manhattan, the installation suddenly became clear, if unintentional, articulation of the role mass media images could potentially take on. According to the book over, "an era in which surveillance, controlled media environments and individual freedoms became heightened topics for debate" (173). Here is his documentation of the event.

The next person that stuck out to me while reading is Michael Mandiberg. Michael Mandiberg is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and educator. His work traces the lines of political and social power online, working the internet in order to comment or intercede in the real and poetic flows of information. Interesting facts about him is that he "sold all of his possessions online on Shop Mandiberg, created Firefox plugins that highlight the real environmental costs of global economy and transformed all of Wikipedia into books for Print Wikipedia" (mandiberg.com). His works have been in the New York Times, ARTnews, and The Washington Post. He is currently an associate professor at the College of Staten Island and lives in Brooklyn. 

Below are pictures of Staehle's documentation of 9/11 and Mandiberg's works. 

DIY WEEKEND 2

For my DIY/Pinterest weekend 2 I decided to make another recipe using peanut butter and chocolate. My recipe this weekend was peanut butter truffles. Fancy name for, peanut butter balls rolled in melted chocolate. It was very fun to make, yet took longer than I thought. The steps I took in realizing the project's completion again is having the right ingredients, timing everything, and mixing everything well enough that it holds together. This recipe involved a lot of time for formation, and perfection. The way these were made is by the use of powdered sugar, melted butter, peanut butter, and semi sweet chocolate chips. The first step was to combine the peanut butter, and butter. Next the recipe called for stirring in the powdered sugar gradually until one big dough ball formed. Once the ball was formed I had to cover it and let it sit for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes was up I rolled the dough into 1 inch balls, then put them in the fridge for 20 minutes to form and harden. While they were in the fridge I melted the chocolate in a sauce pan, which took about 6 minutes. Once the 20 minutes was up I then began to dunk the peanut butter balls in the chocolate. Once that was completed I put the tray of truffles back into the fridge for about 20-30 minutes. The end result turned out great and they were delicious! The time it took to make these including the shopping for ingredients was about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I am pleased with how this project is going. Here are pictures of my process for this weekend!

Exposing the KKK

When reading this article, I was very curious as to what was going to be exposed. I remember learning about the KKK and always disagreeing with their behavior and group as a whole. The way they handle things is so unjust, and needs to be put to an end. I haven't heard much about the group in a very long time, I actually didn't know they still existed, which is very scary. I think the Anonymous group is doing right by exposing members because they can get what they deserve regarding punishments made by the police, and people of authority. However, I do think anonymous has a personal vendetta for these people since it states within the article, "you made a clear and ever present enemy of Anonymous when you threatened the lives of the protestors and the men and women representing Anonymous on the ground in Ferguson, Missouri, in November of 2014." This shows that they have it out for the KKK group, even though they are saying they are trying to expose them for the "dangerous terroristic cells" they really are. I believe they are trying to expose them for America's sake, and the sake of revenge. KKK is a hate group that has been around for 200+ years, and it would put America somewhat at peace if the people Anonymous is going to expose are behind bars. I'm unsure as to what will go on in America once these names are exposed, however I think a good outcome can come from this. Do I agree with Anonymous's ways of going about this? Absolutely not, however I know they would never work with the government or FBI in handling this situation, therefore this is the only way according to Anonymous on how to handle this. I wish they would hand over the list of names to people of authority, but that's a far stretch.

Hacktivists

Well to start, I thought this film was terrifying...not in a scary way but an eye opening way. I believe our government being exposed for what is it is quite intriguing, however some things are better left unsaid. The government is what governs our country, and obviously has very high security standards at all time. I think Anonymous is very dangerous considering they hacked into private servers and exposed secrets to the American people. I do agree that our government is corrupt, however I don't think it's right to expose what is supposed to be confidential. I agreed with all their points about how they need to expose things, and how we all need to have the right to speak out what we believe in, but I think the way they handled the situation was unnecessary. There are so many different ways in which people can speak out in a non threatening and violent way. Peaceful protests is an example of one, blogs, videos, etc. By hacking into private servers, taking people's information, and exposing secrets is not a way to get what you want and won't accomplish anything. A part I thoroughly disagreed with is when they hacked into Sony, and exposed personal information about account holders. THIS IS NOT OKAY. I've actually experienced my information being taken from my debit/credit card and actually lost money that I had earned. It was a very scary experience because the credit card company couldn't find out how my account was hacked, and where it was coming from. This could happen to anyone, and the fact that it can happen to a huge company like Sony is very frightening. I just believe that hacking in general is wrong, because it is illegal in several ways, and if it effects innocent people, than the hackers deserved to be punished. Overall I didn't like this movie, I don't agree with the group, Anonymous, however it was very eye opening towards our government, and security.

DIY PART 1

For my DIY/Pinterest project I decided to choose different recipes to make with the ingredients of chocolate and peanut butter in each one. What I aim to accomplish in each one is to learn how to bake better and understand how different ingredients can be utilized in different recipes. The steps I realized towards the projects completion is going ingredient shopping (takes forever), making sure you have all the utensils needed to bake such as mixing bowl, whisks, measuring cups, etc, and then getting the temp and time just right. Here are some pictures from my first baking experience which is, no flour peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. This recipe included, peanut butter, granulated sugar, 2 eggs, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Some of the difficulties I ran into was finding the right ingredients, for a cheap price. Also mixing without flour and water is actually very straining because it doesn't come out as smooth so that requires more time mixing. Another issue I ran into is that the cookies came out flatter than I thought, however they were still so good! And for that I am proud of myself :) Total time spent on this: 2 hours and 7 minutes (I actually timed myself LOL).

Glitch vs Lindsay Lohan

For my glitch art I chose to glitch pictures of Lindsay Lohan. Lindsay Lohan had a positive affect on children once upon a time, and I used to look up to her. One of my favorite movies of all time is Parent Trap. Lindsay made me want to act, be successful at a young age, and follow my dreams. Lindsay Lohan captured America's hearts and had a very bright future, until she got into drugs, alcohol, and theft at her peak of success. I believe the fame and fortune at a young age made her go crazy, and because she was under the spotlight in everything she did. I think at one point she could have been positively embraced, however ever since she started doing drugs, becoming an alcoholic, and committing crimes she broke her positive streak and is now looked upon as a negative influence.

Lindsay Lohan can relate to glitch because she broke convention in a positive light, and negative light. She was once a child star, and now she's a washed up "where is she now?" I believe glitch represents this because a glitch is some type of error, or change in a picture/video. It distorts an image, just as Lindsay Lohan distorted her life. She is a scattered person nowadays, and glitch art represents that very clearly. People may have different opinions on her than I do, however I don't think of her as a totally negative person because she was once a positive influence. I tried to glitch these images to represent her downfall, so my three images are in order from least glitched, to most glitched. My reflections on this assignment is that it was quite hard to glitch images. I tried using the image glitch experiment, but I couldn't get them to look how I wanted so I downloaded the app for iPhone. I really enjoyed this app because I felt as if it knew how I wanted my images to look. I also think it was easier to use, and very convenient for a person like me who always has their phone, and not their laptop.

Here are my original images, and my glitched ones.

Free to Play

While watching this movie I kept an open mind about gaming. My true opinion on gaming is that I don't think it's healthy for someone to play everyday, however I understand that it's a hobby for some people. I didn't enjoy the movie because I believe playing a video game all day everyday for your occupation is quite absurd. I understand playing video games in your spare time is fine, however when you sit at a computer or television screen for the whole day without even getting up for meals, or sleep is a bit much. To me, the kids in the movie can be doing way better things in life than devoting all their time and energy into playing a video game to win money, that they might not end up winning in the end. It just seems like a waste of time to me, and not to mention unhealthy. If you take a look at the people in this film, they are all scrawny, have bad posture, and bad hygiene. That isn't attractive or appealing whatsoever, definitely makes me want to go outside and do activities so I don't ever look like that in my lifetime. I HOPE that gaming doesn't ever get bigger than televised sports because the people playing sports are a good inspiration for children to want to grow up and be like them. Sports players are active, fit, and have good hygiene, therefore it's a good example for children and teenagers to be watching televised sports, and also playing sports rather than video games. I would definitely see video games as a problematic direction for our future because it is an unhealthy lifestyle to be playing video games all the time. You are stationary when playing, it can be addictive, and very unhealthy for someone's well being. No matter what playing sports and being active is always the better choice than sitting on the couch or chair playing video games 24/7.