Spanish Project – Stepbrothers

The Giver and Brave New World

In Lois Lowry’s novel, “The Giver,” the story starts with a boy named Jonas who lives in a utopian society. In this society everyone is equal and the government has an ultimate power and determine jobs for everyone in the community. Jonas was picked for a job that has a great responsibility. “The Giver” is the only one who knows about the past (history) and the reality of society. Jonas gets an education from “The Giver,” a wise old man, so that Jonas can receive the knowledge that he has. In “Brave New World,” society is based on Caste System, and everything is Bernard Marx, the only character who doubts and questions about his society begins to realize that he is living in a synthetic society. By meeting John the savage, Bernard finds about the real society. The two authors show anti-utopian society by using sarcasm. Also, two novels share a theme of responsibility of individuals in society, governmental control, and the power of knowledge.

Awesome Ad!

Stabilo Boss Highlighters

Advertising Agency: Serviceplan, Germany
Creative Directors: Maik Kaehler, Christoph Nann, Alexander Schill
Art Directors: Maik Kähler, Roman Becker
Account Management: Laura Doetz, Julia Thoemen
Graphic Designs: Manuel Wolff, Bernd Kächler

I admire designers who make brilliant ads. They make advertisements that are simple but have strong slogans with creative designs. I just found this Stabilo’s Highlighter ad and I really like the colors that they used. Strong colors made the poster more vivid and well-expressed the product that they are advertising. They are advertising their highlighters by stressing one object that is “highlighted”. In poster advertising, I think it is really important to make an ad look simple and use strong computer images than drawings by hand.

I know

D’oh!

Whenever Homer is annoyed or stressed out, he goes “D’oh!”. Here are some facts about it!

“D’oh!” has been listed as #6 on Tv Land’s list of the 100 greatest television catchphrases

“D’oh!” became a sound trademark of 20th Contury Fox

Since 2001, the word is added in the Oxford English Dictionary Here’s the definition according to the dictionary: Expressing Frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also: implying that another person has said or done something foolish

The origins of “D’oh!” can be traced to Jim Finlayson, who played support in many Laurel and Hardy films. His trademark was to yell ” Doooooooohhhhh” whenever Laurel and Hardy would do something to agitate him

Random, but Shocking fact about Bart Simpsons:                                                                                                                                                           Bart is voiced by a woman!!

The Best Music Video Ever!

Ok Go – This Too Shall Pass

All of Ok Go’s music videos are awesome but this one really rocked it! The video is directed by OK Go and Synn Labs. The video was filmed in a two story warehouse in Los Angeles, CA. The “machine” was  designed and built by the band with members from Synn Labs for several months. The most thing that I like about this video are the little details of bits and pieces. They used stuff from flea markets or junks and color them. Ok Go posted behind the scene videos on Youtube and it shows the process of making this machine.

A World Without Books?

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

What if the world banned books? If you hate books, you will probably think your life will be much better. Fahrenheit 451 shows the possibilities when the society bans all the books from you and “Firefighters” are responsible to burn them. I was amazed by Ray Bradbury’s imagination about how people will react. The book has tons of quotes that I love and these will stuck in your head forever!

“It was a pleasure to burn.”

“Do you ever read any of the books you burn?”
He laughed. “That’s against the law!”
“Oh. Of course.”

“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war.”

watch for a man running … watch for the running man . . . watch for a man alone, on foot . . . watch…

“‘Stuff your eyes with wonder,’ he said, ‘live as if you’d drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It’s more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. Ask no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away. To hell with that,’ he said, ‘shake the tree and knock the great sloth down on his ass.'”

The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

We all make choices in our lives. Some people take the way that everyone take. Some people will take the other way and challenge themselves. This poem describes the tough choices that people make when they traveling the road of life.

Cue the sun!

The Truman Show (1998)

“Was anything real?”
“You were real. That’s what made you so good to watch…”

Did you ever have the feeling that the whole world is watching you 24/7 and you are living in a huge television studio? How are you going to react after you find out that everyone was keeping you from something?..I was totally blown away when I first watched this film and made me think that someday this can be turn into real show in tv. I also felt bad for Truman because after all, his life is just based on a tv show for others and if the show is boring, they will just looking for remote control to check out other channel like in the last scene of the film.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Stanley Kubrick: The Shining (1980) “The first epic horror film”

The Shining features a family in the isolated hotel and one of the family member is going through psychotic progression(Jack). Stanley Kubrick really pulled off psychological horror and built up the tension between Jack and his family members (wife and son). His signature techniques of cinematography brought up the real horror and penetrate our mind deeply.

In the film, Kubrick emphasized the decor of the Overlook Hotel repeated in carpet designs, Danny’s sweater, and the garden maze and these reflects Jack’s locked mind and his psychotic breakdown. The film has a number of long narrow camera angle to show the isolation in the vast open spaces of the Overlook Hotel.