Give Me Love -Ed Sheeran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjdXSrtUxA




The longest shot in this music video is the opening scene and it's 8 seconds long.

Homework for 10-14

In relation to the presentations, I was more drawn to No Seconds. I like that what one presentation did not have though, the other did. For example, No Seconds showed the age of the criminal and what they did to have the death penalty placed upon them while The Last Meal Project did not. On the other hand, The Last Meal Project has photos of those given the death penalty as well as when they were executed while No Seconds did not. I think that if the two presentations were combined it would make a more chilling presentation than the two already are by themselves.

I loved the artistic aspect of No Seconds. As a photography nut, I enjoyed how extravagant or empty the plates looked. You almost get a sense of the person just by how Hargreaves sets up the food, silverware and table settings. Hargreaves wants the audience to see the food and relate it to the criminal and what they stood for, how they thought of themselves and how they were in general. They are all very distinctive to the individual and when you put the photographs together with the age and reason they were given the death penalty, it all draws a bigger image for the audience.

As for The Last Meals project, I liked the aspect of the mug shot of the criminal and the time that they were executed. You can see that they’re just people. Plain and simple. They’re people just like you’d see anywhere. The time shows us a more likeliness aspect (I think that’s what I’m trying to say anyways) if this were to happen. For instance more recent times, it’s not as prominent as it was in the past. Another technique that was brought into The Last Meals Project was that of outside information. It tells the audience what the Lethal Injections consist of, how the executioner’s position is, the normal meals of inmates on death row, facts about the death penalty, the race of homicide victims that resulted in a death sentence, countries ranks with executions, and how much is spent on the death penalty each year. That, to me, adds another more educational aspect to the presentation. 

Speech reflection

On my presentation I was extremely nervous. I practiced it so much that I think it made me even more nervous that I would forget what I wanted to bring up. I have horrible stage fright and it's something I really need to get over. I think I did a pretty good job with movement and not staying in one place. I think I made eye contact fairly well and better than I expected that I would (I thought I would probably stare at the walls most of the time to be honest). I watched the video and honestly I'm not sure if what I was doing with my hands could be considered fidgeting. It could go either way and I need to work on that some as well. You told me I need to work on my volume and my rushed speech. I now realize that the more I just want to get public speaking over with and done as quickly as possible, the faster I speak. I need to learn to breathe more once I actually get in front of people and I need to project to the back of the room. What I really should work on that I feel would make public speaking easier in situations like this is the confidence I have going in. While watching the video of myself I could feel the anxieties all over again so I'm sure that everyone else in the room could too, which is NOT good. I will try my hardest to get better at public speaking and work on what I need to to improve.

The Rise of the NBA Nerd

Honestly, I'm not much for the NBA or rap music so I couldn't really catch on or relate to what the article was talking about. The author talked about the shift in black culture and what celebrities can and can't wear acceptably anymore. It talked about the complete 180 with the way a style has been portrayed. The nerd and sophisticated look has been changed to be acceptable in black culture whereas in the 90's and early 2000's, it was looked at as looking to get bullied. These are the looks similar to Carlton Banks and (somewhat) Steve Urkel. They used to be synonymous with being a nerd, gay, white and just were not acceptable when those characters were around. I honestly hadn't looked very deeply at why celebrities had begun to dress this way and the fact that it didn't use to be okay not too terribly long ago. I never saw it as proving a point or trying to get a voice out to say it's okay. I know that I'd heard people talking about it being a sell-out move by celebrities and that they were no longer proud of the heritage and culture that they'd grown up around. Maybe they do actually just enjoy the new style coming out. Maybe they're being made to wear the more sophisticated and "white" clothes by publicists and coaches. I'll definitely have to pay closer attention to what's going on around me in that aspect from now on.

Ted Talks homework

http://www.ted.com/talks/zak_ebrahim_i_am_the_son_of_a_terrorist_here_s_how_i_chose_peace

Zak Ebrahim does a great job with the way he speaks. I think he spoke clearly, he projected, he didn’t fidget, and he made eye contact properly. The only part about his speech that was a little off for me was how he just stood in one spot the entire time. Was he engaging? Yes. But honestly, I feel like if I were in that crowd, I would have had a hard time keeping alert. The topic was very interesting and he made great points but the fact that the level of his voice didn’t change and he stayed in one spot may have lost me a little. He didn't use visual aides. I can maybe see why his volume didn't change at all though; he stayed on a serious subject and didn't give an option to change the way he addressed his audience. I think that part of what made the speech okay to watch and engaging was the camera angles and how they moved around.

http://www.ted.com/talks/isabelle_allende_how_to_live_passionately_no_matter_your_age#t-302985

Isabel Allende makes an all around great speech. She projects and speaks with a purpose. Isabelle connects with her audience on a personal level and uses a topic that is relatable with everyone: aging. She uses serious points and uses humor to get her point across. Visual aids and photos are utilized to better put her point across. Her eye contact is effective and she locks onto individuals in the audience and interacts with everyone to some extent. She uses a friendly and almost conversational tone while changing her volume levels and using appropriate transitions between ideas. She just did a great job overall with her presentation style.

In the article, "Jennifer Lawrence Nude Photo Leak Isn't A 'Scandal.' It's A Sex Crime" The author speaks of an issue bigger than just the nude photos of celebrities being leaked. He sort of goes on to talk about the ongoing problem paralleling this one. How this wasn't a choice on their part but a crime against them. Your phone should be a private place and a person shouldn't have to worry about someone hacking into their personal things and sending out information for their own personal gain. The author brings up the same situation in which Vanessa Anne Hudgens was caught in a few years ago. They treated her terribly and made the victim of this crime into the one who should feel guilty about it to begin with. She made a public apology for something that she was not to blame for. That shouldn't have been the case because she had nothing to apologize for. Those images were meant for private purposes, not to be paraded around the internet because some jerk doesn't care about what happens to others. I also liked the point that was made in the third paragraph where he says, "It is not on the (usually, but not always, female) victim to take “enough” measures to protect herself but rather on the (usually, but not always, male) victimizer to choose not to commit said crime." Sex crime is a growing problem regardless of what type. I mean, as college students we were made to take an online course before coming here about violence prevention and sexual assault. I agree one hundred percent with the author that these women who had their privacy broken into and publicized for the world to see are victims. They shouldn't apologize for anything because they did nothing wrong, they were wronged by hackers who hurt others for their own gain (whatever that may be).

Hello! I'm Alyssa Hiser. I'm from Louisville, Kentucky just around an hour and a half north of Lexington. I'm at UK because UL just wasn't going to cut it for me; UK is just better all around! I'm here for a Political Science degree to continue on track through Law school. The song that would describe my 2014 is "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. This is because with ending senior year and moving away from home and all I'm familiar with, 2014 was a major reflective year and you really do miss the simple things and being a kid. We're growing up and honestly, I do want that back. I'm looking forward to getting started with my college education and starting a new chapter here at UK.