What I learned from Experimental Learning

 This group project we've been working on over the last month has taught me a lot of things. It showed me the importance of group work, and making sure everybody was on task and had a general idea of what was going on. Nolan and I were assigned to create a flyer for the non-profit organization that we chose, which was the Promise You Arthouse. This organization is nothing short of astonishing. The more research we did on them, the more I was invested with this organization. We got to learn a lot about how they function, their thoughts and values on local artists, and even some events that they run to spread awareness. 

Going back to the flyer that Nolan and I worked on, we as a group thought it would be a good idea to make on in order to spread some awareness around campus. We used a software program called Adobe Spark, which was an effective and incredibly easy way to make a flyer that stood out and got the point that we wanted to make across. I'll put a link to it if you'd like to take a look at it. 

https://anthonysblogawf.blogspot.com/2021/11/httpsspark.adobe.comspdesignposturnaaidscUS5837375a-0dd7-4cbe-bbe9-4d78e166caba.html

Local Non-Profit Organization Project

 Our group's project choice was a non-profit organization that forces on raising awareness for local artists. This was a great choice for our group because all of us feel that showing local artists how much we care for their art, and that we believe they deserve all the praise. Arvin, a member of our group, took a visit to the art house and gave us a slew of great pictures and videos regarding the art house. The art pieces that we saw blew my mind! The amount of effort and work that has been put into these pieces deserve so much more attention that it has right now. 

The Time I Paid $100.96 for Microsoft Word

 SO here's how the story starts. In order to access Microsoft Word on my computer at home, you need a Microsoft account and you ALSO need to pay like a monthly subscription for it. Which to be honest I feel like that's messed up. Before we never had to pay for it! Now it's like $9.99 a month. And for a year it's over $100. Here's what happened. I signed up for a free month, not reading in depth that it said once the month subscription ended I'd pay for the "Microsoft 365 Family plan", which offers you a year of Microsoft products like Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. And I just so happened to forget that I signed up for this thing, however, there was something in the back of my head that said "hey, check your bank account to see if you were charged for anything." So I do, and guess what? $106.96 was charged to my account by Microsoft, and of course it was the last day of the free subscription! So now I'm freaking out, and keep in mind this is at like 11 o'clock at night. So I had to wait an entire day in order to contact support while I was having a mild panic attack. But, at the end of the day, I got my refund. 

Squid Game

 In class today, we initially discussed some things that we thought were interesting during our weekend. And Squid Game was brought up. If you don't know what Squid Game is, it is a Netflix original show that has been trending over the last couple of weeks. It is actually the most popular show to ever air on Netflix! And I feel like it's justified. There has not been a show that was so enticing, bizarre, wild, and intriguing like this one. The only other show that I feel so highly about, and have so much praise for, was Breaking Bad. 

Anyways, back to Squid Game talk. People in class pitched in about two they felt about the show. Overall everybody else really enjoyed it. We talked about certain aspects of Squid Game that caught our eye, we also discussed some things that we thought were not too good about the show. For example, the show is quite gory. However, it is presented in such a playful and cheerful way that it's sometimes unsettling to watch. 

Moreover, the show in it of itself discusses socio and economic statuses, and how people who are more wealthy have it easier in the world compared to people who do not have money. 

The whole plot of the show is about people who are "chosen" to participate in the Squid Games, a series of children games where the contenders can make an enormous amount of money. And the thing is, all of these people participating are in such debt that this game can pay all of it off. The show to me is nearly a perfect way to film a engaging TV show, and I absolutely love it. 

Blog Post #6- Final Process for Documentary Project

 Last week we did the last of our preparations to turn in our Documentary Project. This included some in-class revision that I found really helpful. Getting another person's feedback, especially someone who is in the same boat as you, turned out to be better than I thought it would be. I was able to get a better understanding on certain aspects of my paper that needed more thought. Such as the pacing, and the whole fundamental idea that my paper was presenting. The chronological order that I discussed about could've been clearer. So after the revisions I went home, put some time and thought into it, and came out with a much better paper. 

The beginning process of this project was not the best for me. I was taking a slow pace regarding this paper. I didn't put as much time and effort into it from the get go as I should've. However, the in class discussions we had were also helpful. They gave me a better idea of how I could organize the paper in a effective way. Moreover, I got a better understanding of how to form a summary. Since all throughout my high school life, most of my papers were me including my own thoughts on what we were discussing. However, this time around was different. Just simply talking about the events of the movie was something I never really did. 

Nonetheless this paper was enjoyable to write. Picking our documentary to watch and talk about is an interesting way to write our first paper. And I am looking forward to see how the rest of our projects go!  

Blog Post #5

 Most recently my friends and I helped set up a concert for the band "Tesla", and I just wanted to talk about how that turned out... 

First off some backstory. My friend Robbie's step dad is a promoter for many different bands, and it just so happened that there was a concert he was promoting this weekend and me and a couple of other friends were free. Prior to this concert I went to one at the same venue about a month beforehand and it was such an amazing experience! It was actually my first time attending a concert in my life, so I'd say it is something I'm glad I attended. 

The main difference between the concert most recently and the first one that I did was the amount of people attending, this time around the venue was completely told out. With over 1000 people showing up to watch Tesla preform live. I was not aware of who Tesla was, and the type of music they created. However, looking into it from sources on the internet and such, I can see why so many people were so interested in seeing them play! The concert was simply ecstatic and full of energy. The lead singer has such emphatic vocals. That man would be Jeff Keith, who is sitting on the far left.

      Anyways the day was festive to say the least. It officially started Saturday morning at roughly 10 a.m., and we had to unload a truck full of stage gear and supplies. This task alone took over 3 hours to get organized and set on stage. At that point it was around 2 o'clock and we did not let people in until 4. So those few hours were spent just sitting down doing nothing. Then the show started where we sat backstage and watched all the bands play, and once they were all done preforming we were tasked to clear the stage. Which was undoubtedly easier than unloading everything.

So yeah that's how the majority of my weekend was spent, overall it was a great time.

Blog Post #4:

 This week I would like to talk about what I've learned this week during class, and the discussions we've had. There is a major project that is over a documentary we had to choose out of a selection of many. I personally chose "Chasing Coral".  This film seemed to be quite interesting, just off the topic is was over alone. I discussed more of my thoughts on the reflection questions I posted earlier, but to just give a brief summary on it, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I would recommend the film to anybody just by the visuals alone, they were absolutely stunning to see. Moreover, the actual substance that the film covered, which were the bleaching events that caused over half of the coral reefs to disappear was interesting to watch as well. 

Writing the summary and rhetorical analysis for this film has been nothing short of a slight struggle. I've never wrote a summary over a film, and I was not really interested in watching many documentaries before this point. However, even though it has been a struggle, it has been a joyful experience trying something new like this. While I have been working on this project I have learned many things regarding the writing style that it takes to write a summary. It's something I'm not used to, personally I'm used to writing my own input over the material. But now I just basically have to explain what happens, and then go on from there in chronological order and so on. Which is a change of pace for sure. 

In the end though, the experience overall has been one that I enjoyed. And I am excited to read my fellow classmates summary and rhetorical analysis over their films.