Decoded By Jay-Z

When Dr. Harkey told us that we were going to read a book by Jay-Z called Decoded, I was really surprised because I did not think that reading this book would help us learn more about the theme of the class of "realness". This book is a unique autobiography and memoir of the life of Jay-Z; this book contains lyrics, anecdotes, and reflections that display the real aspect of rap and Jay-Z's life. After reading the book, I began to understand a little more about Jay-Z's idea on rap and how it was very similar to poetry, but poetry of the modern world.

Illusions or Reality?

The illusion above shows multiple lines that seem to be crooked, but in fact they are completely parallel with each other. What do you think? Is the claim that the lines are parallel real enough for you?

The image above displays what seems to be the inside of house that turns into a wall and then turns into a roof at the top of the image. The way the artist captures this illusion really caught my attention because it's hard to fathom how this illusion works. I think this artwork really depicts and emphasizes the question: Is this an illusion or a reality? It makes you think which part of the painting is real.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is just a famous quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson that speaks to me because the deep meaning is so relevant to the past, the present, and the future. The quote refers to the importance of the present and/or to the importance of our inner identity. I think that Ralph Waldo Emerson is trying to say that we sometimes think to much about the past and the future, but don't take enough time to look within our daily lives and what happens in it.

Real Talk Notes/Instructions

Today's lesson was about the Real Talk video assignment; Dr. Harkey wrote the directions and the requirements of our Real Talk video assignment. Although the words written on the white board look very brief and abbreviated, the rhetoric of the underlining, circles, and asterisks convey and emphasize exactly what Dr. Harkey wanted to explain to us about the purpose and objective of the assignment.

Shields Connection With Charles Guignon

Here I just took a picture after class as an example of electronic notes. Dr. Harkey wrote down these side notes down on the white board to tell us what Shields is taking about on certain pages of the book. The pages on artificial and authenticity have a connection with Charles Guignon and his book, On Being Authentic.

Realness Prezi Draft Drawing

An image of our first draft of our Prezi project on "Realness and Perception". It just shows the beginning works of what our final project turned out to be.

Merry Christmas!

Banksy Mischief Project (Ho Ho Ho)

I included this link to our Banksy Mischief Project website, which displays our street artwork and even more images of the process and final outcome with even a few people's reactions. We included a video that emphasizes the money leading up to the present boxes. Check it out! Who knows, maybe another mischievous project will appear on your campus...

Empty Those Wallets!

Here are pictures and images of the inspirations that we put into our Banksy Mischief Project website. I chose these pictures because it just shows all the many objects that Christmas is now associated with in this modern world. It shows that money is a huge factor in this winter holiday season. Has your idea of Christmas been changed by the public and society's influence?

Street Art: Real Art? Or not?

This telephone booth that is bent with an ax in it is considered an original Banksy artwork. All Banksy did was use a telephone booth and changed it slightly. Does this make it art or not?

This is another Banksy artwork where all Banksy did was just put blocks in front of a famous statue face to give it a blurry effect from far away. He used the famous statue, but does this become considered as his artwork?

Here are just two more artworks of Banksy that show Banksy's twist on other people's artwork and makes it his own in the streets of cities. People begin to recognize who Banksy is as a street artist and start seeing his mischief pop up all around the world. What will he do next?

Side Note: Sidewalk Art

These are just are few images that I found on Google for my Prezi about "Realness and Perception". I chose these pictures of hand drawn sidewalk art that seem so realistic from the angle that the picture was taken. If the picture was taken at a different angle, then the whole artwork would not look realistic and the viewer's perception would be different. These sidewalk arts are literally "street" art drawn on the streets all across the world.

The Real Life of Henrietta Lacks

Rebecca Skloot's Website of Henrietta Lacks

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One of the very first assignments that I had to do for my English 1101 class with Dr. Harkey. We had to discuss the differences between the website and the actual book of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

 I think that the website gives a completely different impact than the book because the website includes the multimodal aspects of images, videos, and other links. The website gives insight and greater background information into the creation of the book and the more history behind Henrietta Lacks and her family.

The book, however, gives Henrietta Lacks' life in a story form. The words in the book give the reader a sense of pathos as they learn more about Henrietta Lacks and her life. The book also contains multimodal aspects because in the middle of the book there are pictures and images of Henrietta Lacks and her family.

Prezi Examples on Realness

Realness

Reality

Artificial?

Here are just a few links that lead to great Prezi examples that helped our group create our Prezi on "Realness and Perception". I decided to change the name of the link to make it into a form of a rhetorical question. What do "realness", "reality", and "artificial" mean to you?

TEDTalks Class Discussion

Today, I had to present and lead my class in discussion on the topic of TEDTalks. I explained Jane McGonigal's dreams and goals of creating games that could change the world and make it a better place. I was pretty nervous having to speak in front of my class for the first time. However, I really enjoyed the topic that I signed up for and I actually agree with Jane McGonigal and her goal because I believe that the games she has in mind of using to catch people's attentions can really improve the world and its condition.

My Maggie Jackson Discussion Questions

In this new world of a technologically dependent generation, kids have become suited for the lightning-paced and multitasking society. The article states that "we are nurturing a culture of social diffusion, intellectual fragmentation, and sensory detachment." We lack attention, but are there any positive effects on kids?

According to the article, the fluctuating "tonic" alertness is rooted in the brain's right hemisphere and the "phasic" alertness, which is triggered by a teacher's bark or a starting gun, is rooted in the brain's left hemisphere. Why are the two types of alertness rooted in different sides of the brain? Does one side of the brain have a stronger power of attention than the other side?

Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality Screen Shot

After having to read Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality, I decided to take a screen shot of the first page of the section we were suppose to read. Also, we were assigned to choose a paragraph that we thought had strong significance and strong rhetoric. However, I did not choose this first paragraph, but I think that this paragraph was the most memorable because it portrayed Greene's unique and intriguing thought and ideas on reality with the example of a mirror facing a mirror and the infinite views of mirror upon mirror. This paragraph really caught my attention when I started to read and it also made me think about the concept of reality.

Ex: Things Amazing (now) Vs. (then)

 

Here are a few of today's notes that Dr. Harkey took on the whiteboard. The chaos and complexity of the visual representation of the topic of realness intrigues me. The notes today were relating to the idea that even with all the benefits and luxuries that we have in this modern world such as the technologies and tools that help us live comfortably in every possible situation, we complain and are still not happy or complacent enough with our lives. In a sense, I strongly believe this because with every year, a new product or trending product comes out and the majority of people complain when they do not have those things

My Discussion Questions On Brian Greene's The Hidden Reality

Brian Greene's idea on parallel universes with copies of us as alternate versions presents a strange dilemma. What would happen if we met our copies of a different parallel universe? Would it affect our own universe and our sense of reality?

Scientists continue to attempt to prove that multiple universes exist. Greene suggests that "if space extends infitely far then there must be realms out there." Would it be beneficial or detrimental to uor reality to discover these other realms?

Welcome to Reality

Will I be welcomed or will I struggle to overcome what issues the reality brings?

On Being Authentic

On Being Authentic by Charles Guignon is a book that explains and portrays Charles Guignon's viewpoint on his philosophy of "personal authenticity"; Guignon believed that people did not begin with a personal identity, but later had to gain their own identity, which he called "authenticity".

True Definition

Haha...I feel like this is so true at Georgia Tech. These last few weeks from Hell week to the end of Finals week make this definition so true.

Welcome to Reality

Living a fairly sheltered life, I feel like after graduating from Georgia Tech, I will be exposed to so many different views of the world and of our society. 

Reality or Illusion?

The Ames Room: this video shows a man shrinking and growing. Is this real? Just a perception?

Reality Check

The symbol of the sign displaying "reality check ahead" could be a warning of the truth and realness that we learn and realize as we grow older of the world, of ourselves, or of others. Being a student here at Georgia Tech, I do not really know if I have truly experienced the real world outside of school.

Has the "reality check" hit you?

Life of David Shields

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Shields

A link that depicts David Shield and his life.

A few of his works in chronological order:

• How Literature Saved My Life, Knopf, 2013
• Jeff, One Lonely Guy, co-author with Jeff Ragsdale and Michael Logan, Amazon Publishing, March 2012
• The Inevitable: Contemporary Writers Confront Death, Co-Editor with Bradford Morrow, W.W. Norton, 2011
• Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, Knopf, 2010
• The Thing About Life Is That One Day You'll Be Dead, Knopf, 2008
• Body Politic: The Great American Sports Machine, Simon & Schuster, 2004
• Enough About You: Adventures in Autobiography, Simon & Schuster, 2002
• "Baseball Is Just Baseball": The Understated Ichiro, TNI Books, 2001
• Black Planet: Facing Race during an NBA Season, Crown, 1999
• Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity, Knopf, 1996
• Handbook for Drowning: A Novel in Stories, Knopf 1992
• Dead Languages: A Novel, Knopf 1989
• Heroes: A Novel, Simon & Schuster, 1984

David Shields Reality Hunger

Reality Hunger by David Shields is a book collage of multiple different works compiled to give different views on the term "realness". Using many different forms of literature, Shields creates a novel with a unique genre that baffles and confuses many readers into trying to figure out his "real" intention and purpose. He reiterates so many of his ideas using other people's works that he gives the readers a repeating theme of "realness" and what it means.

Real Talk Transcript/Video

Leo Son, Michael Son

Dr.Harkey

English 1101 P2

8 October 2012

Revised Verbatim Transcript

Leo: Hey, how are you doing?

Michael: Hey Good, what about you? 

Leo: Good, I am doing this English assignment, and I don’t know what the hell is going on.

Michael: Dude, I took that class last semester. I can help. What’s the topic?

Leo: Alright, so the topic that we have is: In Jackson's article it says, "we are adapting to a new world, but in doing so, are we redefining 'smart' to mostly mean twitch speed, multitasking, and bullet points?" Jackson brings up an interesting point that as the Earth is changing so is our view of what we believe is going to be successful and what will survive in the constantly changing world. Is the standards and definition of being successful and smart changing as the world is changing? Are the standards being raised or are they being changed completely?…And so you can start off with technology and media.

Michael: Yeah

Leo: and how it is just really changing and just how the new generation is doing things.

Michael: Right. Such as, you know, Google instant search, which people basically can search any information they want instantly. 

Leo: Yeah.

Michael: and Youtube videos. Both of them are very instant and people can attain information very fast. According to a few websites, statistics show that there are over 66% of adults online in America who are connected to media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and many more.

Leo: Yea I agree. There are always people constantly updating information on the internet about the society, personal issues, politics, sport, etc.

Michael: Also Facebook has 845 million active users, which portrays our society’s social dependency. There’s also Twitter that has 127 million active users. Basically, there’s just so many different social media platforms that redefines what is smart and the way we achieve information.

Leo: In order to keep up with the social trend, you have to join the bandwagon. For example, if you don’t have Facebook, you’re out of the loop and may have less social awareness.

Michael: However, there are also many negative aspects of the online media platforms, because the range of knowledge retained from the social media is very limited. And I feel like people have lost the desire to know and seek more deeply into the issues that society faces in this modern world compared to how people have obtained information in the past.

Leo: [nods head] Also, TV brings in advertisement. On average, advertisement lasts for about thirty seconds. In order to persuade and attract the consumer, advertisements briefly portray their product and/or purpose through the conventions of ethos, logos, and pathos; the marketing world knows exactly how to appeal to the consumers to catch their attention in an instant.

Michael: Yeah,  It’s quick and efficient. The marketing and advertising world has definitely grown in this generation. Do you think that these advertisements prove that this modern world portrays a new definition of success?

Leo: Yes, I think it really proves that people have to be brief and explain things to the point in order to gain success and to survive in this world. Moreover, gaining information at twitch speed and multitasking have become vital skills in our lives; I believe that the standards in this modern world are not only being raised, but also changing to fit into the modern world.

Michael: This modern world is really all about technology. It is constantly changing and redefining what is smart, what is successful, and what is necessary.

Together: What do you think?

Just a visual form of the transcript that we created for our Real Talk Video Discussion. Seeing the transcript and hearing it from the video provide different impacts to the aspect of the discussion. The transcript seems very formal and organized, but the when hearing it in the video, the viewer might realize that the discussion is in the form of a daily conversation.

The Rhetoric of Video Games

Animal Crossing: A Role-Playing Game where you are an animal that meets multiple other animal characters in a town and can do various activities.

The rhetorical devices used in Animal Crossing are the found within the dialogue and animations of the animal characters; the dialogue and animations are pathos because they make the gamer experience the joys and fun of living with a bunch of friends and interacting with them by playing mini games and other various activities.

Grand Theft Auto IV: An open world action-adventure game where you have the ability to complete missions. You have the choice of being the good or the bad guy.

The violent scenes of drug busts, car races, and gang fights display the rhetoric that this game brings by giving the gamer a emotional sense of the intense rush of action.

Bully: A role-playing game where you are a teenage student at a private institute that rebels against the rules that the school has installed.

The rush of adrenaline that comes with playing this game when avoiding getting caught for truancy and vandalism and all the other mischievous things that can be done give the gamer emotional appeal.

McDonald's VideoGame: A game where you can explore and discover many things about McDonald that most consumers don't know about the entire process and structure of the company.

In this game, the logos and ethos are very obviously displayed through all the transactions and decisions that need to be made with money and products. And the company that created the game have credentials that allow the gamer to believe that what they are playing is for the most part the truth about McDonald.

On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt

Today in class, we explained and discussed Harry G. Frankfurt's book, On Bullshit. Frankfurt talks about a different kind of "bullshit" that is not associated with the slang definition of unfair, but instead the "bullshit" that Frankfurt mentions in his book is information or something presented that is given with no effort and made up, but not necessarily a lie or fake. The reason why Frankfurt describes this concept is because some people misinterpret the idea of "bullshit". When people are giving "bullshit", they are for the most part saying something that has no proof or credential of being true, but the things that people say as "bullshit" could still possibly be true.

For example, if an essay is due in about an hour and that person has not even started on it, then the person writing the essay will most likely "bullshit" their essay. In doing so, he will be writing things that first come into his mind and try to make the essay sound true and intellectual based on his own prior knowledge of the topic; his lack of time causes him to have to give his poorest effort and time into the essay, but based on his prior knowledge of the topic, he could possibly be saying and explaining certain ideas that actually are logical and true.

Real Talk

"In Jackson's article it says, "we are adapting to a new world, but in doing so, are we redefining 'smart' to mostly mean twitch speed, multitasking, and bullet points?" Jackson brings up an interesting point that as the Earth is changing so is our view of what we believe is going to be successful and what will survive in the constantly changing world. Is the standards and definition of being successful and smart changing as the world is changing? Are the standards being raised or are they being changed completely?"


This is the topic that Leo and I discussed and did our Real Talk Video Assignment. We both, for the most part, agreed that in this new modern world we are redefining 'smart' to mostly mean twitch speed, multitasking, and bullet points. We also believe that in order to be successful and to survive in most of the jobs in this world, people have to adapt to the constantly changing world and must complete certain tasks and errands quickly and efficiently to keep up with the competition and definition of a successful worker; the definition is changing as the world and its technology improves and raises the standards of how fast and efficiently work can be accomplished.

We talked about the speedy aspect of advertisements, cellphones, and the world wide web. The approximately thirty second advertisements of commercials quickly explain the product and its purpose in a way that catches the viewer's attention and persuades them into buying certain products. The quick aspect of it allows the people in this world to keep their attention, yet efficiently accomplishes the company's goal to sell their products.

Cellphones have completely changed how this modern world operates because the quick and instant communication that it provides allows information to travel, which speeds up production and efficiency within companies and any other organizations around the world. Also, the cellphone allows for different communities and countries to interact at an instant.

The Internet has been one of the most world changing creations that has also completely changed how the whole world functions. Similarly to the cellphone, the Internet has many instant search engines and social media sites allow communication and information to be spread in an instant all around the world.

TEDTalk: Reality is Broken

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The TEDTalk Video versus the Reality is Broken book contains many different rhetoric devices/aspects that inform and persuade the audience/reader of Jane McGonigal's idea of using games to make the world a better place. The idea sounds farfetched now, but Jane McGonigal explains that games could be made to focus on the problems in our world and to virtually fix and solve those problems with many creative and innovative thinkers/gamers.

The TEDTalk Video allows the audience and viewers to immediately see Jane McGonigal's passion for her plan to solve the problems around our world. The audience can see the multimodal examples that she prepares for each of her sessions. For example, she includes videos, images, and rhetorical questions that intrigues the curiosity of the audience and persuades them to believe that games can make a huge impact on the world and its problems.

The Reality is Broken book on the other hand gives a different impact and impression on the readers than the people that see Jane McGonigal speak about her idea. The book contains all of McGonigal's organized thoughts and ideas that allow the reader to absorb and learn about each game and their goals in full detail. The book only contains written text and possibly a few images that does not give various multimodal examples.

Prezi: Realness and Perception

Group Echo's Prezi Project "Realness and Perception"

As Group Echo, we created a Prezi presentation called Realness and Perception. We talked about the realness and perception of our nature, society, and media. The way people view our world can be completely different than other people's view of the world due to different perceptions and point of views. What looks like a untouched natural park, may actually have hidden and subtle man-made additions so that the park is safer and more convenient. Also, an illusion or some sidewalk art can be perceived differently depending on the person and their point of view. We decided to focus on realness and perception because both of them are interrelated with another; my realness can easily differ from someone else's realness because of the way we perceive things.