Blog 11

Extra Credit: Museum of the Moving Image (25 points possible, not guaranteed)
Consider the trip to the Museum of the Moving Image. For future class trips what would make the visit more useful for this cluster. When, do you think, in the semester would be the best time to go to the Museum? What exhibits or activities make the most sense for students to spend time on?

After the class goes on the trip, they should take an extra test on the information they learned that day or they can write about it on their blog. A good time to go to the Museum of the Moving Images is around the same time we went there. After we seen all of the movies in the class. Since we watched the Matrix, Sleep Dealers, and The Truman Show, we should focus on activities like the green screen, blue screen and special effects in movies. We can even focus on film in general. We can focus on exhibits that has to do with Science Fiction. We can also focus on which film camera they use for which shot.

Essay 6.1

Lakia Lewis 12/3/09
Eng 101 Dr. Smith

3. Penis Envy
Many people would like to know if Hollywood portrays women as suffering from “penis envy”. There are many opinions from people who say that they do portray women as suffering from “penis envy” and other may say they don’t. I believe that Hollywood do not portray women as a suffering from “penis envy.” By seeing The Matrix (1999) and The Truman Show (1998), they show that their female characters do not suffer from “penis envy.” They actually have their own power. In The Matrix, they portrayed Carrie-Anne Moss’ character, Trinity as a power who can hold up her own. In the beginning of the movie she is able to defend herself the agents without any male assistant. In The Truman Show, Natascha McElhone’s characters, Laruen/Sylvia, held her own when she decides to tell Truman, that he’s in a television show, and she knew by telling him that she would get throw out of the show. Also in some other movies, Hollywood does not portray women as suffering from “penis envy.” Some of them are actually have more authority than their counterpart. In the next several paragraphs I will further explain why Hollywood doesn’t portray women as suffering from “penis envy”.

What I was saying before, in The Matrix, they portrayed Carrie-Anne Moss’ character, Trinity as a power who can hold up her own. Freeland argues, “With his delicate eyelids, Keanu/Neo looks as a “pretty” as a girl when we first see him sleeping. He has very fair skin (another character in the film even comments on his whiteness), with no body hair. He moves gracefully, like a dancer. Jude/Ted has sculpted cheekbones and enviable eyelashes; his Cupid’s-bow lips make him seem pouty. Each hero is paired with a strong woman (or what seems like a strong woman) who occasionally takes the lead in directing his movements” (207). This quote from The Matrix and Philosophy proves that Hollywood do not portray women as suffering from “penis envy”. They portray them as strong women, who can defend themselves and their counterpart. Freeland also argues, “Later, before the heroine, Trinity, and the others in the radical resisting the Matrix take Neo to meet their leader Morpheus, they remove the bug, in another scene of violent penetration. They apply a gun-like “scope” to Neo’s navel to suck out the bug. He screams as they extract it” (207). This quote also proves that the male characters are actually lower than the female characters.

In The Truman Show, you see McElhone’s characters do not suffer from “penis envy”. They have power but not like the power Trinity had in The Matrix. Lauren/Sylvia knew that Truman’s life was nothing but a show and she tries to tell him this, her “father” casted her as crazy and she was thrown off the show. Later we find her at home on the Truman Hotline, talking to the director of Truman’s life. In her apartment you see posters of Truman, saying it not right to make Truman’s life into a television show. McElhone’s characters were the only ones who really try to help free himself from his illusion. This shows that McElhone’s character is not suffering from “penis envy.” She had more balls than any of the men and women in the movie.

There are two other movies where the female characters do not suffer from “penis envy”. Those movies are Wanted (2008) and G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra (2009). In Wanted, Angelina Jolie‘s character, Fox, is a strong woman, who in the movie rescues Wesley from being kill. They also show her as a woman who knows how to handle a gun. Also in the movie Jolie’s character beats up Wesley and asks what he’s doing here. Even in that scene, they show that Jolie’s character has more power than some of those male characters. In G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra, Sienna Miller’s character Ana/Baroness was not suffering from “penis envy” She was actually a strong woman, who killed and kicked some of the male characters behinds. She was able to defend herself, even if what caused her to be fearless as actually so type of virus. The same with Rachel Nichols’ character, Scarlett, she was good with guns and bow and arrow. She also good at defending herself and others.

In conclusion, Hollywood does not portray women as suffering from “penis envy”. They actually gave them more power. They have these female characters independent of the opposite sex. That says something about movies today. Women are coming up in Hollywood.

Blog 10

Doing a research paper to begin with it tough. When doing a research paper you have to get all of your sources together and make sure they are believable sources. The research part is tough alone because you have to look up everything about your topic. Sometimes the topic that you chose can be broad and you have to slim it down to a sub-topic. For me, I had Elvis Presley, so I asked myself, how did Elvis impact the media? I found out that Elvis did a lot for Rock n Roll music. So I just focus on Elvis and his music. I research music before, during, and after Elvis. Doing the draft to me is kind of easy because with the draft you can make mistakes and you can go over it to make sure I'm not plagiarizing. Afterwards doing the final draft can be difficult or easy depends if you did your draft and research right. When typing your final draft you have to double check to make sure you didn't plagiarize. When you write a quote make sure you add the source from where you got the quote. The major issue I believe researchers have is plagiarism. Some researchers tend to do it by accident while others do it on purpose. Because of this some researchers are getting blamed for plagiarizing someone else work. The can resolve this issues I guess by looking double or triple over their work to make sure they're not plagiarizing. It's hard to spot them but when you do make sure you have the source for each one.

Blog 9

For my research project I plan on doing a book about graffiti. Get people opinions for this kind of art. There are some people who thinks that graffiti is art, others thinks its vandalism and a few think its both. Also I know how and where I can make my book at. Its a website called blurb.com. The tittle of the book is called Graffiti-NY. I also found a place where I can rent out a camera so I can take pictures of the graffiti. So far the best know spots where graffiti is located such as 5pointz which is in Long Island City, Graffiti Mural which is Grand Concourse in the Bronx and Canal St and Harlem. Basically I covered three boroughs. Hopefully around Thanksgiving I plan on having some of those pictures upload in my computer. I want to take up all the time I have to make this project look good and professional.

Anyone who is reading this blog please give me your opinion about graffiti.

Graffiti-Art, Vandalism, or Both? Why? You can give me your answer at my research blog which is nygraffiti.blogspot.com

Workshop 11/12/09

You need to look at my research blog to check on my updates on my project.

nygraffiti.blogspot.com

Essay 3.2

"Source" and "ontological status," what do these two terms mean when refering to The Matrix? Why does Gracia and Sanford use them? During this essay I can give you the meanings to these two terms, quotes and reasons why they used these two terms to claim that the world in the Matrix is "unreal" and the world outside of the Matrix (outside of the program) is the "real world".

What they mean by the term "source" is that , they're talking about where did everything come from. Everything must have come from somewwhere, someone, or something. Things and people don't appear out of nowhere. On page 61, from The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real, Gracia and Sanford states, "We know that machines and electrical signals are produced by humans and by artificially intelligent machines. We know that human beings born in the city of Zion come from their parents. but we don't know the ultimate source for these things. That is, we are not told from where that matter comes from, which machines are made and humans are reproduced" Basically the term "source" has something to do with who made everything that the people see. There has to be a higher power that none of the machines and the people know about. This higher power is the "source" and he, she, or it is above all. Since the higher power is the "source," the "source" fuses into the term "ontological status".

What Gracia and Sanford mean by the term "ontological status, they're talking about the existence: one without the other. For example, in the movie The Matrix, Morpheus and Neo are talking about The Matrix, "Neo: I thought it wasn't real. Morpheus: Your mind makes it real. Neo: If you're killed in the matrix, you die here? Morpheus: The body cannot live without the mind." This is a good ontological status example, basically Morpheus is saying that your body depends on your mind whenever your in the matrix. If you die in the matrix your mind is gone then your body will not have its "source"(which is the mind) to live. An other example of ontological status is with The Matrix itself and the world outside of The Matrix. Sanford and Gracia states, from The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real, on pages 61-62, "The "real world" in The Matrix, as far as we can tell, does not depend on something else for its existence, it stands by itself..." The Matrix would not survive without the "real world". If the "real world" dies, The Matrix dies along with it. The Matrix depends on the 'real world" for it's survival. But the "real world doesn't depend on the Matrix for they're survival. They can live without the Matrix, so if the Matrix dies, the "real world" is safe.

These two terms depends on one another, they go together. Without one you can't have the other. The "source" is apart of "ontological status," the "source" or higher power doesn't need to depend on someone or something for its existence. But the people and things that the "source" created have to depend on him, her, or it for its existence. I agree with Gracia and Sanford's assessment, without the "real world" the Matrix wouldn't exist. Since I'm Catholic, I believe that God created us in his image. so without God creating us, I believe we or anything else wouldn't exist. We depend on God for our life. Its the same when we are born. Without our parents giving bight to us, we wouldn't be here. So God is our main "source" and our "sub-source" is our parents.

Blog 7

For this blog entry, I would like you to reflect on the research and writing process and narrate (tell the story of) how you got the Essay 4: Media Mid-term paper and PowerPoint completed. What was the process? If you had a “do-over” what would you do the same? What would you do differently? Finally, on a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your effort? On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate the final product?

My midterm project is about "How Elvis Presley Impact the Media." Doing the research paper was kind of tough. I have done a research paper before but the ones I have done they weren't seven or six pages long. My topic was tough to begin with, Elvis Presley did a number of things during his lifetime such as movies, charities, his music, and more. So I decided to focus on one thing about Elvis, which was about his music and how he effect the change of it. So I started my research about the man himself before I started on his music. When I found information about Elvis the Man, I moved on to find information about Elvis the Singer. Next I moved on to the type of music he sung. After that I focus on Rock n Roll, before, during and after Elvis. I search about Rock n Roll roots, such as whom or what started who were the pioneers, and who gave Rock n Roll its name. Then I search about Rock n Roll during Elvis, how he broke the color line so black artist can perform for whites and whites can perform for black. How he was both a Rock n Roll star and a Rockabilly star. Many other artists follow after him such as the Everly Brothers, Jerry Lee Lewis and Buddy Holley. Last I search about Music after Elvis, how after his death Elvis still influence about of music artist and people. How some artists say without Elvis they wouldn't have been who they are.

The PowerPoint was much easier. I know almost everything about using PowerPoint. I used PowerPoint all during high school. I used about six slides(Slide Titles: Slide 1:How Elvis Impact the Media Slide 2: Summary of Elvis, Slide 3: Music before Elvis, Slide 4: Music During Elvis, Slide 5: Music After Elvis, and Slide 6: Conclusion) and instead of using the backgrounds that PowerPoint provided I used pictures from Google as my background. I added "Jailhouse Rock" and "Hound Dog" on to two of my slides. Then I added two videos from YouTube onto my slides as while. (With the help of YouTube and Dr. Smith.) Then I put simply brief facts on each slide.

If I had a chance to do it over I would have picked a different topic. I would have picked "Radio," "DVDs, Blu-ray, and VHS," or "Stereos" as my topic. So basically I would have done something different. The number of slides would probably stay the same, the only differences with the PowerPoint would have been the titles, the sound and the videos. On the scale of 1-10 I would rate my efforts a 5. I believe I could have done a little bit more with the paper part of the project. On the scale of 1-10 I would rate my final product a 5. Like I said I believe I could have done a little bit more with the paper part of the project.

Blog 6

7. Consider yourself in Truman’s position. If presented with the choice to remain in Seahaven, a place where you have been promised that “you have nothing to fear”, or to enter into another world that you know little or nothing about, which would you choose?

I would choose to enter into another world. Why did I make this decision? I made this decision because entering into another world that I have little knowledge of would give me the chance to start on a new leaf. Gives me the chance to explore, to find people who are real and not fake ones who gets paid to be a friend, neighbor or family member. Maybe I would feel a little lost in this new world but that would be only because I live in a non reality world. A world with nothing to fear sounds like a good world but it wouldn't feel real. I'm not saying that I want to be scared of anything, I probably would be scared that Seahaven has nothing for me to fear.

It would have me question the people in my neighborhood. Like "Why is my next door neighbor so happy even when something sad happens?" Or why does the something happen every single day like my life is on a loop. So by starting a new leaf in the other world would be good. I can make real friends instead of having people being paid to act as my friends and likewise for my family. I quess it has alot to do with free will. I have a choice to make either stay in Seahaven or enter the unknown world. No one would know what decision I will make, so it's not fate. It's free will.

Blog 5

In "Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge", Schick explores the possibility of the existence of freewill both inside the Matrix program and, more broadly in Neo's life. Do you think your life is determined by a special, individual fate, or are you free to choose as you wish? Use your own life as the basis and compare to both the Matrix film and at least one of the philosophical positions Schick explores.



I think my life is determined by freewill. I believe this because I choose whether or not to do something. I know what's right or wrong. We all are in control of our lives. Sometimes we may lose control of our lives to fate once in a while but we still have control of our lives. But sometimes I think our lives can also be determined by fate. I guess it can be both fate and freewill that determines our lives.


In the Matrix Neo tells Morpheus that he doesn't believe in fate. He doesn't like the fact that he's not in control of his life. Both the Matrix the movie and Philosopher Richard Taylor believe that fate exists. Nothing happens by choice, it happens because it was meant to happen. Christians say that God is the almighty, the all knowing, and the all good. Christians believe that we have freewill. But the book is says that if God knows what we will do before we do it then it’s not freewill at all its fate. I guess really that we have both fate and freewill, we have the right to do anything we want but with God knowing what we doing its fate.

Blog 4

The Metaphysics of the Matrix" (55-65)--"Metaphysics" is the study of what is real and what is knowable; the term "Meta" meaning "overarching" or "all inclusive" and "physics" meaning "the study of reality". At the very simplest, then, metaphisicists try to come up with a system (a metaphysics) that explains the world that we live in and how we experience that world--how we know what is "real" from what is "imaginary". On pages 61 and 62, Gracia and Sanford us the terms "source" and "ontological status" to make distinctions that allow them to claim that the world in the Matrix is "unreal" and the world outside of the Matrix (outside of the program) is the "real world". What they heck do they mean by "source" and "ontological status"? Using whatever sources you see fit (though tell us where you looked!) come to an understanding as to what these terms mean, define these terms in your own words, and then tell us whether or not you agree with Gracia and Sanford's assessment.





What they mean by "source", they're talking about how everything started, where did all begin? On page 61 Gracia and Sanford says, "We know that machines and electrical signals are produced by humans and artificially intelligent machines. We know that human beings born in the city of Zion come from their parents. But we don't know the ultimate source of these things." Basically they are saying that where did these humans and A.I. machines come from. Who build these machines, who birth the first child? No one knows this information at all. What they mean by "ontological status", they're talking "plainly as the way things exist" (page 61 last paragraph). They base this on the dependence of each world. Gracia and Sanford says “The real world in The Matrix, as we can tell, does not depend on something else for its existence; it stands by itself. But even if there were that is even if the existence of the things in the real world were dependent on such a genie, the ontological status of the unreal world can be seen to be much weaker, much less independent than that of the real world." Basically from this quote it saying that the real world is independent, they depend on no other existence but theirselves. While the unreal world is not independent at all, they depend on another existence, which tends to be the real world. The A.I. machines live in the real world and the humans they made live in the unreal world, so the humans in the unreal world depend on the A.I. machines to give them experience in what to do. The machines tell them how to run their lives, what to eat, sleep and live. Without the A.I. machines running the unreal world, they humans in the unreal would not exist.


To me "source" means, where from. Say if information on something and your teacher asks you "What are your sources?" She's asking you where did you get your information from. It couldn't just fall from the sky and into your lap. For ontological I didn't really know the meaning of this word until I reread that section and looked it up on dictionary.com and both says it means "Of or relating to essence or the nature of being, or the nature of existence or being as such." With agreeing or disagreeing with Gracia and Sanford, I'll have to say that I disagree with what they are saying. If it wasn't for God no living creature would exist. Yet, he doesn't send electrical signals to our minds telling us what our jobs are going to be or how to live our lives. We're independent yet we are dependent. We're both we can't be either or, it’s the way the world works.

Blog 3

Pick any TWO of our readings this week and compare what they are saying about reality and The Matrix. You may choose to focus on a single issue that interests you (for example, could we be living in the Matrix?) or something you found particularly new or confusing (such as a philosophers use of particular words).


In the reading I found something that have strike my interest, "The Matrix Possiblity" Basically, are we living in the Matrix right this minute? This section is saying that if we lived in the Matrix, everything we believe that is real may not appear as they seem. In the section someone talks about if (Not in these exact words.)"he was in the Matrix right now the Honda Civic he has right now would not be a car at all. Actually we live in a pod of pink goo." From page 29. If we lived in the Matrix world we wouldn't be born the natural way. We wouldn't have any parents, siblings or any other kinds of relatives. We would be adults and the computers feeds us information on what we do as work wise, where we live, what we eat, what we like and so on. Basically we make no decisions of our own, the computers makes it for us. Its just weird, we maybe living in the Matrix and we don't even know.

What also striked my interest was the section about "Does Neo Knows that He Was In the Matrix?" I believe that Neo didn't know that he was in the Matrix until he started questioning and looking for an answer to his questioning. I think people will not know that they live in the Matrix until they found out for theirselves. Even Morpheus tells Neo, "No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." If I was shown the Matrix, I may find it hard to believe that this is really how the world looks like. I mean it would be hard to adjust to this actually place. I know it took Neo a while to believe everything he see about the Matrix. But if we actually lived in the Matrix I don't think anyone could handle the truth of it.

Blog 2

Write a response (250-500 word) to The Matrix. You may use any of the readings or anything else you know (other films and etc.) to frame your ideas. You may discuss one or two themes or ideas you saw or read about, ask questions that you would like to find the answers to, or anything else as long as you do not summarize the plot except to illustrate a point.

The Matrix is the kind of movie that makes you sit around and think. It makes you wonder if the world we're live in is the reality or is it just an illusion. Some people would never question the thought unless they watch movie. Other people may say that they have thought about before watching the movie. Most may say that heaven can be the reality and earth is the illusion. God can take us out of the illusion and bring us to the reality. I don't know if God has to pull a plug to end it but he can end it. Neo represents Jesus and Jesus rescuing for everyone sins. But with Neo, he rescuing everyone from the illusion that the computers set up. So I guess the main question that would be on everyone minds is "Are we living in the reality or the illusion?" Everyone has a different answer to this question but I think we will never know if which answer is right and which is wrong. The Matrix brings different thought from a lot people. I think this movie forces us to question life. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, "Are we prisoners in this illusion?" or "Are we really free in the reality?" Maybe some chose not to believe if there's a reality world or an illusion world. It’s hard to tell which is which but I guess one day we will find out where we really stand in this universe.

Blog 1

After you have completed the reading in Wikipedia as assigned ("The Allegory of the Cave") Imagine that you are in the Socrates' cave. At what stage are you? Still chained? Walking out into the light? How do you know where you are? What evidence in your life supports your claim that you are where you are?

The stage I think I would be in is walking out into the light. I would have been curious about the figures that made the shadows. We know that some shadows don't appear to be the actual figure,they tend to be something else. I would like to see if there's something more outside of the cave. If I was a prisoner in a cave for all my life,I would be tired of living in that cave. I would want to get out, see the world. To see if what's outside the cave is real or an illusion. I don't think I would know where I am. I mean is that I would know that I'm outside of the cave, but what exactly is outside of the cave. I guess there will be differences between the inside of the cave and outside of the cave. Everything would be light and bright outside, so light it would blind my eyes. The evidence in my life that supports my claim that where I am is by everything around me I guess. By seeing the people and not those stick figures, or the animals, trees, houses and other stuff. Basically the evidence would be all around me. Everything I see would give me enough evidence to believe that I am where I am. But if I didn't know where I was, it would be difficult to know what evidence supports my claim. I guess to sum it up you will not know what's reality or what's an illusion unless you find out for yourself.