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THE FUTURE FINAL ASSIGNMENT!

Everyone has their own opinions on what they think the future will be like, but no one actually knows. All we can do is just predict.  Everyone has this question, “What the future will be like?”. This question worries people. The thing is that, we know almost everything about the past. The past has been written in History books that we can read. Future does not program, we cannot possibly know what it will be like. All we can do is use out imagination. We can only conjecture what the future will be like. Now, we live in the world of technology. Every day new technology appears, ranging from mini-CD's that contain entire encyclopedias to giant space telescopes that can send photographs of distant stars back to Earth. Technology has the greatest influence on the daily lives of average people. By this time, we can work and take care of personal business without leaving the house, people can meet the love of their life’s online on dating websites, etc. For the last hundred years the biggest spurt of scientific and technological revolution has been done. And what differences will be in technology in next hundred years? Here are a few predictions from some people of what they believe the future will be like;

1.    We will all be wired to computers to make our brains work faster

2.    There will be museums for almost every aspect of nature, as so much of the world's natural habitat will have been destroyed

3.    Software will predict traffic jams before they occur.

4.    Climate-controlled jackets will protect soldiers from extreme heat and cold.

5.    Electric cars will roam (some) highways.

6.    Athletes will employ robotic trainers

 There are so many different predictions, but we can never be certain that any of this will actually happen, but who knows. Maybe one day. However, a lot of people’s predictions were mostly technology based. As I was walking to class today, everyone around me was on their phone or holding their phone in their hand, including me. Nowadays, people are becoming too reliant on their phones and other technology that they don’t realize what they are missing. We in a beautiful world because walking outside you are surrounded by a beautiful scenery. Birds, trees, people, nature, etc. However, everyone is too busy to notice all of this because they are too absorbed on their phones. Even this fact will just get worse and worse as time goes on. In the future, technology will completely take over our lives. More than what it is even doing today. There will be new inventions and new cool advanced technology. Although it may be cool and interesting, I don’t like the fact that technology will most likely take over us. People are too addicted to technology today, and this will just get even more increased. On another note, People are especially worrying about robots as well.  By this time in the future, a lot of difficult tasks are said to “most likely” be done by robots. In the future robots will replace a lot of professions. Housekeepers, baby-sitters, sick-nurses, hospital nurses, secretaries, waitresses, sellers, street-cleaners, taxi drivers will be replaced by robots. As distinct from sick-nurses and hospital nurses, robots will spend all time with patients. Robots will help patient to move, it will watch closely after state of health and transmit data to the doctor and most of the surgical operations will be carried by robots. Robots will be everywhere, and I’m not talking about grey, mechanical looking ones. I’m talking about actual real-life looking ones. (Basically like the replica of Ash in the episode “Be Right Back” of black mirror. Robots are predicted to be everywhere and replace humans. Our minds are said to be controlled by computers and everything will be “technology-based”.

In my eyes, the future will be exciting. However, it will be just as exciting as it will be frightening. Although the future can only be predicted, I know that so many things will change. We will just have to see…

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MINI-REVIEW #3 (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Near the end of the semester we watched one of Mr. Edwards favourite movies, “2001: A Space Odyssey”. 2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science-fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. Clarke concurrently wrote the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey, published soon after the film was released. The film follows a voyage to Jupiter with the sentient computer Hal after the discovery of a mysterious black monolith affecting human evolution. It deals with the themes of existentialism, human evolution, technology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial life. It is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. It is also very uniquely made and uses sound and minimal dialogue in place of traditional narrative techniques. The genius part is not in how much Stanley Kubrick does in "2001: A Space Odyssey," but in how little. This is the work of an artist so sublimely confident that he doesn't include one singular shot simply to keep our attention. He reduces each scene to its essence, and leaves it on screen long enough for us to contemplate it, to inhabit it in our imaginations. Alone among science-fiction movies. This movie is not concerned with thrilling us, but with inspiring our minds. This movie in some people’s opinion was very slow and boring. So boring that they felt like they were falling asleep. However personally, I think the work of this movie was absolutely incredible. Although I will agree, some scenes did drag on and take forever to get to the point, but I think that’s what makes it feel so realistic. In real life, scenarios don’t usually “get to the point” right away. In real life, we wait for our answers and life drags on sometimes. That’s what makes it feel so real. This movie was very creatively done and it had all of my attention, all the time. Everything done in this movie was a masterpiece, a classic. I think it’s pretty cool how in 1968, this is how they pictured the future to be. I can’t judge, we all have our predictions of what life will be like.

In conclusion, this movie was an incredible movie and I would definitely recommend it to people. Good choice Mr. Edwards!

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MINI-REVIEW #2 (Jaws)

I’ll be completely honest, I get scared super easy, super quick. Before this semester, I have never watched the movie Jaws. Simply because I’m absolutely TERRIFIED of sharks! For years I refused to watch this movie because I heard that it was one of the scariest movies and that if you’re afraid of oceans and deep water, you shouldn’t watch it. Or at least, that’s what I was told by numerous people. To be completely honest, this movie actually is not so bad. Of course, there are a few jump scares (which in the class I was the only scardy-cat to actually yelp and jump from it), but over-all it was not as scary as I thought it was going to be. The reason why I was so scared to watch this movie at first is not only because I’m just terrified of sharks, but basically just water in general. I’m scared of oceans and going into water where you cannot see the bottom. However, even though I’m scared, I still go into the water because I love swimming! I just think it’s the fact that there are so many different creatures under water that frightens me, ESPECIALLY SHARKS!

Although even though I am scared of sharks and this movie didn’t exactly help my fear, It was a very good movie. The actors were great and the mechanical shark was awesome! I think that the shark they built for this movie was absolutely incredible. This movie was made in 1975, so the fact that they could make something that realistic back then is impressing. If they were to build a mechanical shark today, it would look even more impressing with today’s advance on technology.

In conclusion, Over-all this was a pretty great movie. The acting, shots used, angles used, the shark, the story, it was all very creative which is why this movie is considered to be a “Classic Horror” movie. I am very happy that I stepped up to my fears and finally watched the movie. So thanks Mr. Edwards for choosing to include this as a part of this semester!

Below is one of the scariest scenes I had to watch....  

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MINI-REVIEW #1 (Be right back)

At the start of this semester, we watched a few episodes of the Netflix series “Black Mirror”. Black Mirror is a British science fiction television anthology series created by Charlie Brooker and centered around dark and satirical themes that examine modern society, particularly with regard to the unanticipated consequences of new technologies. The episode that stood out to me and really caught my attention was the episode “Be Right Back”. “Be Right Back” is actually the beginning of Black Mirror’s second season. This episode is such a spare, haunting piece of work. Focusing on one woman’s grief in the face of the sudden loss of her significant other, and the “careful what you wish for” clone she buys to replace him, initially filling the gap in her life but quickly proving deficient in so many ways. Martha moves into a remote country home with her boyfriend Ash who spends a little too much time on various forms of social media, and as he’s returning their rental van, he’s killed. This accident was not clear of how this happened, but his constant checking of his cellphone may have played a role.

Martha is left alone in the middle of nowhere, with some sort of an artistic job that doesn’t really need to include leaving the house. She quickly then realizes she’s pregnant with her dead boyfriend’s baby. In this episode, we can understand the misery of Martha’s situation, and instead get a sense of the incredible boredom and monotony that can come with being depressed. The replica that was created of Ash for Martha fascinated me.

This started first on the phone, and then in the synthetic flesh, created out of his social media output. His emails, Facebook statuses and everything he ever tweeted or tumbled or filmed himself doing on the Internet. The replica who talks to Martha on the phone, is self-aware. It knows it cannot replace Ash fully, and it knows its parameters as a computer program. But at the same time, it exists to fill that emotional void, to serve as a soundboard to an increasingly lonely Martha.

There’s an impressive creepiness to the fact that Ash and Martha are both in on the deception, yet as time goes on, choose to ignore it, or at least accept it as another fact of life. Of course, there were things in this episode that Ash could not do. Things that would set Martha off and make her remember that this robot isn’t actually her real boyfriend. For one singular example, when she asks him to leave the bedroom, he does right away. She got angry at this because he didn’t argue back, he just did what she asks him to. Whereas the real Ash would argue and likely say “no”.

Something about this episode really fascinates me and I could talk about it forever. (Hence why a lot of my reviews are on this episode). There is something about robots and the technology behind it that I find so cool. I personally think that’s It’s amazing how a technology based thing, can produce feelings and look so real on the outside with the synthetic flesh. I find it very interesting.

In conclusion, everything about this episode I love. The acting, the story, everything. This episode made me realize how important spending time with your loved ones are and how much technology can get in the way of that. We don’t realize how quickly life goes by before our very eyes. We should make the best of it and tell our loved ones we love them, spend time with them and appreciate them. Because accidents do happen, it will be that one time they don’t come through the door at night or passes on without you through the night. Anything can happen, that’s why it’s important to value your time. Whether there was a robot invention for our loved ones in real life like this episode, no one can replace that person, even if it is a “duplicate”. That duplicate is still not that person.

Over all, This episode really caught my attention and I absolutely loved it. I’m very happy that we watched this episode of the series this semester.

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NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

Is Night Of The Living Dead a good horror movie? 

In my opinion, yes. Night of the living dead is a good horror movie. This movie is a 1968 American independent horror film. Speaking since it was from 1968, I was very impressed with the way it was done. The acting, script was very original, creative and well done. Although some of the parts in this movie had some “cringey” scenes, these effects do cancel that out. The movie is claustrophobic and intense, with one of the most famously pessimistic endings in movie history. Everyone is different, however for myself, I get very scared very easily. Even in this class when we were watching non-scary videos, I would still jump at loud noises and pop ups. So to me, this movie was scary. I would definitely say that this movie is a classic horror movie. However, to compare this horror movie from the 1960′s to ones that are made today is very unfair. Today, technology has become so much more advanced than is was back then. So, compared to movies back then, this movie is definitely a very good horror movie and was really well done. 

What is the appeal of “Cult Classics”?

The application of the term "cult" tells you a lot about understanding how a film really qualifies for cult classic status. It's not just that a film is unpopular at first but later finds a devoted audience. Since there are lots of films that “underperform” or are unpopular in theaters, yet find fans in home entertainment. To really be a cult film, it's necessary for a movie to really develop a particularly loyal and enthusiastic fanbase who some outsiders might consider a bit obsessive or over-enthusiastic about the film, and the fandom remains dedicated for a long time, and new fans are added to the fanbase. But for a film to go from being a cult film to being a "cult classic" requires more than just development of the "cult" following. The classic cult movies are those that gain cult followings and slowly over time come to be recognized as in fact either really good, underappreciated films, or gain such a wide cult following that they spill into the mainstream and achieve cultural referential status that makes them famous as representative of the status of cult films. Cult Classis films have a  very special appeal. Cult films are usually strange, quirky, offbeat, or surreal, with outrageous, weird, unique and cartoony characters or plots, and garish sets. They are often considered controversial because they step outside standard narrative and technical conventions. They can be very stylized, and they are often flawed or unusual in some striking way. Most cult films cut across many film genres (science fiction, horror, melodrama, etc.), although some film genres are also more prone to being cultish, such as the horror or sci-fi genres.

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Ex Machina

To be honest, my overall thought of the movie Ex Machina are pretty good. I know that many people really do not like the movie. However, I do. Although there are a few things I was NOT happy with (which I will get into in a moment), it was still pretty good. This movie was like no other. For some reason, I’ve always found “futuristic” movies intriguing. Especially with robots, I find them fascinating about them to be honest. I think it’s very interesting how they are made and how their appearance can be very realistic to an actual real life human.

 This movie in particular had a very interesting story and it was very entertaining to watch. You never really knew what was going to happen, it always kept you guessing in my opinion. This movie was very creative and I enjoyed it a lot. However, I will now get into a few things that I did not like about this movie. For starters, THE ENDING!

 Throughout the movie, you can see Ava and caleb’s connection grow stronger. You could see that they were both on one team where as Nathan was on another team. This movie makes you think they were going to be together in the end, BUT NOPE! Personally when Nathan told Caleb that she was pretending to fall for him and do all of these things, I didn’t believe him. In the end after Caleb dies, I thought that Ava was going back for Caleb after she applies skin to her body. I thought that she was going to leave with him, and they were going to be together. The fact that she just left with him trapped in there without even caring, after thinking she had feelings for him throughout the movie made me very angry.

 I am personally a really big “romance” movie person, so when there are not happy endings with the couples in the films it makes me sad, so I felt very bad for Caleb.

 The ending was basically the only part of the movie I didn’t like, the rest of the movie however was very creative and had a great story. The acting was good, the characters, the story, the theme and the future the film presented.

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Batman Summative

Today I decided to choose the option to make an advertisement for this project. I decided to come up with a “Bat-Female-Villain-Repellent spray to help defeat all those pesky female villains!

DESCRIPTION INFO

This spray is to help the male defeat the female. Use this spray in a battle to help you win! Carry it on you 24/7 because you never know when an evil female villain will come after you! We are slowly making one for men too. Unfortunately, it is still in the Bat-Factory. The spray cap can be applied to your own super suit, skin or other surfaces to keep the female villains away. You can also spray it directly on the villains. The spray is a mix made to shrink your villains for 48 hours, just enough time to pick them up, and get them locked up into jail! That way when they grow back to normal size, prison will be their new home!

GOOD LUCK FELLAS!

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Black Mirror

This semester we watched a few episodes of the show “Black Mirror”. Black Mirror is a British science fiction television anthology series created by Charlie Brooker and centered around dark and satirical themes that examine modern society but particularly with regard to unanticipated consequences of new technologies.

In my opinion, this show is a “dark” way to show us how much technology takes over our lives, but it’s very true. We can’t go anywhere without technology stuck to our bags or hands, especially with teenagers. It’s very rare to know a teenager without a cell phone. It’s odd to see anyone without some kind of technology on them actually. We are all consumed by it, whether we admit it or not. Technology was made so it could serve us and make our lives easier. A main reason is so that we could be in “control”. We should not serve technology and allow our gadgets to control our lives, social skills or decisions.

This show may put things in an “over-exaggeration” form, but personally I think it shows what we are actually like and what our future will most likely look like. We don’t see that this is how we are, because we don’t look up and take a pause from our devises to look around and notice it. It honestly does reflect our society.

 Technology is what we rely on for everything, especially communication. However, it’s taking away from most of our human interactions and day to day life. Before we know it, years will pass without us even realizing how much we have missed out on because our noses are so stuck into our devices that we are missing out on life.

 The show very much criticizes our obsession with technology in both the episodes “Be Right Back” and “15 million merits”. For example, in the episode “Be Right Back”, before ash passes away from an accident (which was likely from a car crash due to texting in my opinion), he is constantly easily distracted by his phone. He is completely consumed by it and seems to be all he cares about. He’s too busy updating his online profile or looking at social media to pay attention to his wife. He is not aware of his surroundings because he’s too busy with his phone. We may not realize it, but to other people who are around us this is what we seem like to them.

 In the episode “15 Million Merits”, the technology used is absolutely ridiculous in my opinion. I would never want to live in a world like that, nothing would feel real. The technology used takes a major effect on all human relationships, they rely on their devices for literally everything. It takes away face to face human interactions so much that when they do talk in person, it’s weird, not natural and uncomfortable. For example, When Bing firsts talks to Abi. It was very awkward because they are not used to it, which is NOT how it is supposed to be.

 In conclusion, I completely agree with this criticism of our own culture. Of course the media showed in this show is over exaggerated, but it has a good message to it all. Modern media and the use of technology will just get more intense year by year in my opinion. Kids will grow up with technology everywhere, and instead of going outside to play, they will stay at home with their eyes connected to their tablets, and video games. Without technology in the world, it would feel so empty. However, with it, it takes away so much from actual “living” and we don’t even realize it, until one day we are old a realize how much time we wasted not actually living.

 -         Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any actual clips from the episodes of the parts I was hoping to include. But hopefully you remember which parts I was talking about.

-         BE RIGHT BACK= Ash when he is sitting on couch and his wife is trying to talk to him and he is not aware of his surroundings, just ignores her because he is so focused on what he is doing on his phone. So much that it consumed him.

-         15 MILLION MERITS= When Bing and Ali first meet, it’s awkward because they are not use to face to face human interactions. It didn’t feel “normal” to them.

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Auteur Assignment

 Dallas Michael John Albert Green was born on September 29, 1980 in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. Dallas has previously stated that he had gone without a name at first; his mother was considering naming him Graham-Todd Green, but his father had bet on the Phillies during the 1980 World Series that October and after the team won, his parents decided on the name Dallas after the Phillies' manager. Green started playing piano at the age of 8 and writing music since he was around the age of 14. He has been in the music industry ever since 2001- present. He is a Canadian singer-songwriter for the band City and Colour, but also known for his contributions as the vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter for the “post-hardcore” band AlexIsOnFire and the acoustic duo You+Me.  In this blog I will be showing 3 different bodies of work that Dallas Green has done from 2001 – now. Analyzing and comparing his 3 different bands to show many different work styles and how much talent Dallas has. I think it’s very interesting when a musician doesn’t do just one piece of work, or just one genre. It’s very important and very interesting to listen and look at all the different things they can do, and how they can show their work in different ways. ALEXISONFIRE Alexisonfire (which is usually pronounced "Alexis on fire") is a five-piece Canadian post-hardcore band that formed in St. Catharines, Ontario in 2001. The band consists of George Pettit (unclean vocals), Dallas Green (clean vocals, guitar, piano), Wade MacNeil (guitar, backing vocals), Chris Steele (bass guitar), and Jordan Hastings (drums, percussion). They usually describe their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls in mid-knife-fight". It’s actually a fact that hardcore punk may be the musical genre that is least likely to lead to commercial success. An aggressive, abrasive, and speedy take on the sound of bands (such as the Sex Pistols and Black Flag). It’s a staple of the underground circuit--and has always seemed destined to remain just that. That's why the success of Alexisonfire is so unusual. The Canadian band from St. Catharines, Ontario, has defied the odds and, over the course of two albums, begun to make inroads into the commercial world with a sound that is clearly rooted in hardcore. What makes the band stand out is its sense of adventure, which pulses through its music and has led to critical acclaim, airplay on Canadian music video channel MuchMusic, and a 2005 Juno Award for New Group of the Year. The band's second album went gold in Canada, and Alexisonfire attracts so many fans to shows that some industry observers have begun to wonder whether the group can still be called hardcore. MTV.com wrote; “screaming and pleading, ugly and beautiful, poetic and obscene, obvious and sublime. Their songs scream of intellectual fury basted with ladleful’s of vocal pop melody; it's a bipolar magnet, and if you stop and listen or see a live show, it'll all oddly start to make sense”. Alexisonfire's music has been called "scream core" and "screamo”. Dallas began playing with Alexisonfire in late 2001. They released four albums (Alexisonfire, Watch Out!, Crisis, and Old Crows / Young Cardinals) and several EPs before separating in 2011 due to Dallas' decision to focus on his work in City and Colour full-time. CITY AND COLOUR  After leaving AlixIsOnFire, Dallas worked full-time with City and Colour. He has been a part of this band ever since 2005. City and Colour has a very melodic acoustic/folk music type of sound. Most of their songs are very “peaceful” to listen to as I like to say. Very good “background” music to put on. Meaning that the vocals are usually sang softly and the acoustic is a nice “fingerpick” gentle, calming kind of sound. On the other hand, they are a folk band, so some of their songs are upbeat and have a great acoustic strum and fun beat. Most of their lyrics and songs are towards love and passion. Which is something that I love. When I’m listening to their music, I feel that I can really connect with the lyrics, and that’s a very important thing being a songwriter. People often say, “you can almost picture the stage lights spiral across a crowded auditorium; it moves with a life outside just the studio walls. Rare does a record strike a perfect balance between the live sound and studio magic; but this is one of them, that captures the synchronicity of Green and the band at its best both at the controls and on stage”. The sound of City and colour is also known to be “dynamically gentle and vulnerable".  Dallas actually came up with the name “City and Colour” because of his own name. Dallas - The place. Green – The colour. Therefore, CITY AND COLOUR! YOU+ME   The recent duo You+Me started on September 8th, 2014. This is a Canadian-American folk music duo, as Dallas announced this collaboration was with Pink. Pink (Alecia Beth Moore) and Dallas met through mutual friends several years prior to their collaboration in 2014. The first time they sang together Dallas had asked Alecia to sing with him at one of his shows. Ever since then, they remained friends and Dallas opened several shows for Alecia in the U.K. Alecia had apparently considered singing acoustic ballads, and as friends the two had considered collaborating for several years. Finally, In March 2014, their schedules allowed them to get together and compose original songs. They had written musical little stuff in advance, and their debut album Rose Ave took shape within a week. The artists attributed their quick progress to the freedom from usual production pressures and the joy of making music together. The name of the duo (You+Me) is based on the two friends wanting to sing together.  The duo, released the album Rose Ave on October 14th and the album debuted at number one on the Canadian Albums Chart and at number four on the Billboard 200. COMPARISONS  The three different pieces of work that Dallas has been a part of are all very different in their own ways. ALEXISONFIRE is very different to city and colour and You+Me. ALEXISONFIRE is a “post-hardcore” band. With very loud music and usually has some screamo and a very edgy vibe from it. ALEXISONFIRE has a very aggressive sound and is a hardcore band. Whereas CITY AND COLOUR is very different to AlexIsOnfire and You+Me. CITY AND COLOUR is a much softer, acoustic, folk band. Not loud or “hard-core” what so ever. And does not duet and have any female vocalists like his work with You+Me. YOU+ME is the most different from city and colour and AlexIsOnFire. Firstly, this is a duo. AlexIsOnFire has multiple people in their hard- core band, and city and colour has about 5 “indie” type men working with him too. This duo typically writes music about love and romance, whereas AlexIsOnFire writes about “less touchy” subjects and city and colour writes about life and love as well, but not as much as You+Me. The whole girl plus boy aspect is one of the best parts of this duo. Its original and when they play their songs, it sounds like a story going back and forth from both sides. In conclusion, these 3 different pieces of work that Dallas was involved in are all very different from one another. They all show different sides of Dallas and show all different genres and talent that he is capable of doing. Dallas green has been one of my favorite artists for years, and will remain one of my favorites, always.

Down below are 1 song from each of these Bands. Enjoy!