Tag Archives: featured-image

They Are Among Us!

To be totally honest I have never made a gif before. I use them all the time in my txt and message groups, I just never took the time to make some myself. For my second assignment this week I decided to do Say It Like The Peanut Butter.

The goal of this assignment is to make an animated gif from your favorite/least favorite movie capturing the essence of a key scene. Make sure the movement is minimal but essential.

To stick with the theme of AI, I decided to rip from a week one example and do one of my top favorites, Alien. Originally, I went with The Thing, but it’s hard to have an AI connection to a mutating biomass changeling. So, in a stretch, I connected the AI theme and scene in Alien to a similar scene from The Thing, and that is having an unknown entity living among you.

In Alien, the scene I am referencing, is when Ripley discovers Weyland Corp has secretly ordered Ash to return with the alien and to consider the crew expendable. Outraged by this, she confronts Ash, who tries to choke her to death. Parker intervenes and clubs Ash, knocking his head loose and revealing him as anĀ android. With this movie being in the future, and the complex interactions the crew has with Ash, we can assume he has an advanced AI to function in this capacity. This was a complete unknown to the crew and the audience until this exact moment. It then got the crew and audience feeling like nobody could be trusted.

I relate this scene to our theme of AI not only to the literal android reveal, but to how new AI tools like chat GPT were suddenly introduced and the reaction it caused. By this I mean, when it was revealed that this was happening, it sent the whole school system into panic. It sent artists into panic when the art generators were becoming more prevalent. It made people start to distrust each other and technology. I think the flings this scene evoke are very similar to that.

Here is the quick reveal:

Now just because I want to relate this to The Thing, it reminds me of the blood test scene. Unlike in Alien, in The Thing, they already know there is a monster among them, they just don’t know who it is. The creature has become very adept at imitating people both visually and by actions. They develop a test that will identify the imposter. They will heat up a piece of wire and stick it into petri dishes of their blood. The creature’s blood will react because the blood is an extension of the organism. They test one by one until Kurt Russel puts it in a dish and the blood jumps out, revealing the monster. Again, I loosely, and I mean loosely, relate this to alien because they have imposters among them.

Here is the scene:

What do these scenes evoke? A sense of unknowing or lack of control in your environment. They make you feel like something is among you that doesn’t follow your rules or your morals and is drastically different than you, but also really similar. I think this is the same feeling people get when they talk about AI. They are afraid that they won’t know if an AI wrote a paper, or if an AI is speaking to them on the other end of the phone. The uncertainty of who or what among you is an AI or isn’t, is a scary thought. I think these scenes capture those same feelings perfectly.

This Almost Feels Like Rap

So, for my first assignment I chose Never Fear It’s Words of the Year.

Merriam-Webster keepsĀ a year-by-year listĀ of when words were first recorded, or first recorded as being used in a particular sense. Each year gives us a list of somewhat random but also fascinating words. The challenge: Take the list from some significant year, such as the year of your birth, and build a poem from the words on the list.

I decided to go with my birth year which is 1991 and I think I got pretty lucky. The 90’s were a time where technology was really ramping up its capabilities, so I feel I got off easy with words that could relate to cyber/AI technology. This is what I wrote, so I hope you enjoy my poem that kind of flows like rap in some parts.

Going through life like a laggy NPC.

I’m no OG, I just hang out with my bestie.

I’m not involved in any cyberspeak or cybercrime.

It seems like I’m working with an asymmetric digital subscriber line.

sometimes this life feels like a dream.

everywhere I look, oops another lock screen.

Too much nanotech running in my skin deep

work is such a time suck, too much mission creep.

It’s too much shit, making me want to force quit.

I’m beyond fed up with it.

Tim to grab my game pad and go bag and leave this place broken.

But no worries, I’m about to give my life a new cold open.

Well, I hope if you decide to do this assignment, the year you choose is as cool as mine.

Welpā€¦ I Havenā€™t Been Doing That

I was excited to start this week as I began adjusting to going back to school. The classic anxiety is back ā€œwill I manage to get all my work doneā€ ā€œwill I even have time for meā€ ā€œthere are not enough hours in the dayā€. But I think I was able to get everything done and some of it early which felt nice. Such a difference from 2009 when I first went to college right out of high school. Iā€™m coming back with real world experience and an enthusiasm that I didnā€™t have before.

Anyway, the first thing I reviewed this week was the ā€œHow to Write Up Assignments Like a Blogging Champā€ ā€¦ and yeahā€¦ I am no champ. First thing that was a slap in the face was ā€œmake a creative title, it shouldnā€™t be something like My visual assignmentā€ ā€¦ as I quickly glance over at ā€œiRobot Movie Reviewā€ā€¦ and bow my head in shame. Then I continue reading and see ā€œwhat you created aught to be embedded into the body of your postā€ and againā€¦ I have yet to embed anythingā€¦ SHAME. I know I am still learning how all this works, but I am extremely self-critical and seeing these examples and knowing that is exactly what I have been doing was embarrassing to say the least. 

The other part of this was seeing how I neglected to think about website accessibility. Granted, I havenā€™t even put in any videos or sounds, but being reminded that hearing impaired individuals would not be able to enjoy was again, embarrassing. Also not thinking about other possible accessibility issues such as colorblindness or visually impaired viewers really got the wheels churning on how I could update my site or how I could change my planned posts to include accessibility options. This will be an interesting challenge for me, and I will really have to dig into word press to figure it out. But Iā€™m ready to face it head on and learn all I can.

I will admit though, looking at the rest, I think I am ok. I tend to write how I speak which happens to be in a narrative format. If you ever speak to me in person, you will see I love to give lots of background and details and anecdotes and insights that donā€™t really help me get to the point faster, but they add nice context and flavor to what I am saying. Most people find this annoying I think, because it seems like Iā€™m mansplaining, but I just want to make sure every detail, no matter how small, is addressed. It helps me make informed decisions when I have all the details, so I guess I just feel others want the sameā€¦ wow sorry where was Iā€¦

Oh right! Again, I really enjoyed learning how to improve my posting. I know I am not really using anything extra I learned about in this post, but I guess trying to improve my narration of my experience on this one is something… I intend to use what I learned from the Blogging Champ Article and the accessibility article on my future projects to better relay my process for a wider audience.

Avengers! Updated review

When asking Dr. Oblivion for help with this review I received some good feedback especially compared to my piece on the technical manifesto. He pointed out what a super fan that I was which you could have probably already tell by my first review. I stand by my opinion and my first review. The first movie of the Avengers was a fantastic first movie of this franchise. It really tied all of the different characters with incredibly different backgrounds together to create this dynamic team with great on-screen chemistry and an excellency written story without trying to hard.

One of the great aspects of the Avengers is that it has elements that the whole family can enjoy. There’s action, comedy, romance, drama, rivalry, suspense, and so much more. There’s an element in this movie that I think truly everyone can enjoy.

Let’s talk about themes in the movie. Friendship, teamwork, believing in yourself, overcoming adversity. Are some of the main themes in the movie. The avengers didn’t start out as friends and some of them didn’t always agree with how to go about things. A good example of this dynamic would be Captain America and Iron Man. Captain America being the all-around guy who wants to serve his country with pride. Then you have Iron Man the highly intelligent and sarcastic rich guy that liked to do things differently. Yet they were able to put aside their differences and beliefs to fight for the greater good. People that started off as strangers became a solid group of friends and that was one of the enjoyable parts of the movie is watching the characters grow and evolve.

There are a few classic tropes in the movie being brother against brother. One being the popular one and the other one not so much. I enjoyed this dynamic because the villain was almost likable and there was one particular scene, he was in that had the whole audience laughing when I was able to view in the theater.

All and All the first Avengers movie was a great start to the entire franchise and its a movie that I think everyone can enjoy!

Vogue

This beach pic, is now an oil painting, by using the AI tools on BeFunky. First, on Instagram story, I added the header text, because the assignment instructions said to do that way. Then I saved the image with the text and uploaded it on BeFunky. They have a large tool bar, and I used the oil painting tool to create this look of texture.

Daily Create 1/24/24

Here is my Daily Create for today, a poem based on this camera

Is it smoke or is it mist?
that reaches up like a fist,
that rises from the grass to the sky,
covering the trees that stretch high
In the hills, is it raining heavy
or is it just the clouds that carry
the weight of the world around
silencing the earth to no sound?
Quiet.
Dreary.
Gray.

I don’t really have a lot to say about this one. I just thought it was really interesting how I wasn’t sure if it was mist or smoke, and what story that tells? Regardless, I thought the image looked sort of sad, so I wanted to depict that. All I know is that I am not a fan of writing poetry.

I need more than 1000 Words to Write 300 ā€“ Up-Goer Five Your Writing

I chose to do the Up-Goer Five Your Writing challenge, where you rewrite a piece of writing using only the 1000 most common words. The website I used can be found here. I decided to write a brief recap of the most recent episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race. It was very difficult and the result is borderline incomprehensible, but enjoy!

My original review of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16 Episode 3: Mother of All Balls

RuPaulā€™s Drag Race is three episodes in and it is absolutely back. As a quick recap, the first two episodes introduced us to two sets of seven queens. They had to perform a talent show, with the winner getting immunity that they can use at any time in the show, either for themself or others. No queens were eliminated. The intro episodes also brought the addition of something called Rate-A-Queen, where after the main challenge the girls rate each other. In the first episodes, this created the top two who lip-synched for the win.

Episode three started with the girls meeting. The next day, RuPaul announced that the main challenge for the week was a ball. For those who do not know, in a ā€œballā€ challenge the queens have to come up with three looks, one sewn from scratch that day, based on given themes. The overarching theme for this ball was mother, with the individual themes being Mother Goose, a look based on a childrenā€™s tale, Significant Mother, a look inspired by a famous mother, and Call Me Mother, a handmade feminine look using only secondhand menswear.

Then, the runway. With 14 queens each presenting three looks, the runway took forever. As to not waste time, I will not delve into my personal thoughts about each look. Long story short, Nymphia Wind won and Geneva sent Hershii home. Next week will be an acting challenge, which promises to be very fun and dramatic.

The Five Your Writing version:

The Drag Race show has started. During both of the last two weeks, seven girls joined. They did a fun show, with the best getting a present that can keep them safe at any later time. No girls went home. These weeks also added the girls deciding who is the best and worst, which has not been seen before. In the first weeks, the best two girls fought each other to be the best.

The third week began with the girls meeting. The next day, the head woman said that the new game was a “ball.” A “ball” is when the girls come up with three looks. One is made by them that day. The big idea was “mother.” The first look was made about a story for children. The second was about a known mother. The third was made by them and they had to use clothes made for men.

They then showed their looks. With 14 girls each having three looks, the show took a long time. To not spend too much time explaining, I will not share my own thoughts. Ms Wind was the best. Two other girls fought and one went home. Next week will be an acting situation, which promises to be very fun and exciting.

The techno Optimist manifesto

People are either happy about the world technology advancing or there not. There are always mixed reviews on how social media is affecting young people and how they communicate. Then there the reverse and how people love social media because it’s a different way to communicate with the world and it’s a way to reach people differently. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong way to look at this point. There’s a benefit to advancement especially when it comes to technology. I mean let’s be real for a moment, back then computers were practically the size of a large desk, TVs were literally boxes, and you couldn’t fit a phone in your pockets. Technology advancing is ultimately a good thing and it’s going to continue to evolve that’s the essential part of evolution. We’re going to continue to advance.

I watched the movie the Avengers, a movie about superhero’s saving the world from a villain that wants to destroy the world just because he can. I mean this movie was all about technology. Let me zoom in on Iron man. His character was incredibly rich and smart and owns his company. What does he do? Build a decked-out iron suit and helps stop the bad guys. He can only do this because of technology. In this superhero universe having this level of technological advancement is a good thing. Let’s not forget the other race from another planet with the ships, super strong hammer, and other overpowered fighting tools. Thats all technological advancement.

This movie may not touch on the sides of advanced technology in regard to if it good or bad, but it just highlights in the movie itself how far technology has come and if it’s used for good then it can save people. I think this is more than just technology it’s a rule of thumb in anything. If something is used for good, then its good. If not, then it’s the reverse. I think people need to remember that instead of being so pessimistic about where technology is going.

The manifesto really emphasis the points on people’s misconceptions on technology now a days. It points out the good and then goes over the bad, from the perceptions of people. The manifest essentially is about how important technology is and how it can pretty much solve anything, and people are growing more and more pessimistic about it all to sum it all up.

I already stated earlier that advancing is something that we as humans are going to do. If we look back at the passed 100 years we have come so far since then. Technology has literally saved lives and connected us in ways that I feel like are more beneficial than the ways of the past. I mean people used to communicate via carrier pigeons, now we have cell phones their essential minicomputers and cameras in the palm of our hands. I think people need to appreciate the advancement instead of looking at it with a pessimistic lends.

When I asked Dr. Oblivion for help well for one, he doesn’t mince words that for sure. His point was that I romanticized technology and when comparing the technology advancement with a superhero movie I should have touched on what could be any moral or ethical issues that comes with this kind of power. My response to him is well that’s the point sir. I wanted to Romanize is I don’t think that technology should be so heavily scrutinized I wanted to shape it in a more positive light because that’s what I think it deserves. In regard to the moral and ethical question that’s not original and always come ups within the superhero genre. I appreciated the level of feedback, but I stand on my opinions.

Until next time!

Week 1 Summary

My first week was a little rough. Mainly because I did a weeks worth of work in a couple of hours due to me joining the course late. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it, as it is a break from my normal CS assignments! What I enjoyed the most was the Superintelligence movie I watched. What drove me crazy was that I was trying to create a domain, when I had previously had one from another course…

Main thing I have learned so far is to make the best with what you have.