Movie Making Activity

        

        Recently we made a movie in class, going through all the stages, like preparing the script, recording and then editing. It was a really cool experience, despite the fact that I got sick over the weekend and couldn't come to record the movie on Monday. Even though I couldn't come, my friends did a great job without me.
        Now, I'll answer some questions about the Movie Making Activity that we did in the English & Technology class.

How did you like the activity?

        

         As I couldn't come on Monday, I didn't go exactly through all the stages I was supposed to. But despite that, it was a really fun experience. 

How did you write your script?

         We first created a collaborative document on Google and started to type ideas, but then we realized that it would be difficult to see everyone's ideas doing that. So we decided to use only one computer, while the group was suggesting and giving ideas. I think it was the best way.

          First we elaborated the Act One, the foundation of the movie, where all the story would begin. Then, we created the characters, the scenario and the plot. After that, it was only about putting the ideas on the paper.

How did you film your movie?

          We used Mark's iPhone, recording it around SBCC, going from Kaplan to other places.

What was the most challenging part about making a movie?

           As it wasn't a big movie, it was not so difficult to make it. But I guess the biggest difficulty we had was to wait until the scenario was empty to record it, because all the time people walked near us, potentially making the recording worse.

On a scale of 1 - 10 (one being bad, 10 being good), how do you rate your movie?

           It was not the best movie in the world, of course. But we have to consider that we had a short time to prepare it, using a cellphone to record it,  and we had no professional actors. So, I would give it an 8.

On a scale of 1 - 10, how do you rate your teammates?

           I would rate them with a 10 because, despite some of us were shy, they still did it, edited and worked on it to make the best they could.

What would you do different next time?

           I would try not to get sick, so I'd be able to go to class and help my group during the recording.

TED Talks: Video

     After some minutes at the TED Website, I selected a TED Talk that I found really interesting. It was a talk from Terry Moore. There are some parts in which Moore uses humor to explain his main subject. It is very interesting how he develops his conversation from the Arabic Language to its meaning, and then to the Spanish languages, concluding, after all, his theses.

     

About the speaker:

     - Name: Terry Moore.

     - Age: His age wasn't specified.

     - Nationality: American.

     - Profession: Director of the Radius Foundation, a forum for exploring and gaining insight from different worldviews.

     - Life Experiences: Moore did a lot of researchers on many cultures, and knows a lot about them.

     

About the video: 

    - What's the theme? The main subject is to understand why the letter X is related to the " unknown".  In the video, he talks about the Arabic language, Algebra and the Spanish language. The way that he explains about the Arabic letter " ش " (pronounced with a sound similar as "sheen") and the Latin languages is really interesting.

    - How many views? The video has 2,174,316 total views. 

    - How old is the talk? The talk was filmed in February of 2012.

    - How did I get to know about it? I got to know about it by recommendation a friend of mine. 

  

Here it is:

Terry Moore - TED Talks - Why is 'x' the unknown?

 

 

My conclusion:

    This video was very interesting for me, for many reasons. The first reason is because I really love the Arabic language, and in the past couple of weeks here in the US, I've had the opportunity to learn more about it. 

    The second reason is because I like to hear speeches that are full of reflection and philosophy. In this video, as said before, Moore explain about his philosophy and thoughts about the origin of the relation between the letter X and the "unknown". In the video we get to know that his conclusion is that, as in ancient Spanish they didn't have a letter that sounded like "sh", they had to borrow a letter from the Greek language, that later became the X we know today. You can found more about it in the video.

    I didn't do enough researches to take a conclusion about the legitimacy of Moore's ideas, but for sure they're very interesting, and make a lot of sense.

 

Comparing: Meow and My Parents

First question: What are some things that you can do that your parents can't do? 
There are somethings I like to do that my parents can't, maybe because they never tried hard to do it, maybe because they can't. 

1. Playing guitar. My father was never good at playing musical instruments, and my mother tried to play a little bit a long time ago, but she stopped.

 

2. Playing video-games. My mother isn't able to play any kind of game, and my father is only able to play computer games, not consoles, like XBOX and PlayStation.

Second question: What are some things that your parents can do that you can not?
My parents are good at a lot of things, and here are some of them.

DAD:

 1. Being patient in any situation. My father is, by far, the most patient person I've ever met. This is extremely good, because this kind of ability, although some times being annoying, is very helpful. Because of this, he can take well all the decisions he needs to make and, as well, advise me and my family members of what to do in very specific and meticulous times.

  

2. Being good at sports. Despite he doesn't play a lot of sports anymore because of a knee injure, my father is said to have been an amazing sports player. He used to play Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball, Ping-Pong, Basketball. I really like to play sports, but I am not so good at most of them. 

MOM:

1. Painting. My mother is a professional painter so, of course, she paints really well. When I was younger I used to paint and draw, but now I am not so good at it anymore.

2. Being always honest with the ones you love. My mother is a really honest person, and although sometimes it seems bad, she doesn't spare me from the truth, and this is really helpful, because I can face it and fight the real problem. This is really good while she is giving my advice, or even when we are just talking.

Introducing Meow

Hello guys,
My name is Rodrigo, and I am from Brazil. I am here at Kaplan to study and improve my English.
I like to listen to music and play the guitar. I like many kinds of music, but my favorite one is Rock/Heavy Metal. Iron Maiden is my favorite band.
As most of the Brazilians, I love soccer, and my two favorite teams are Cruzeiro (Brazil) and Manchester United (England). I kinda like to play sports, but I am not good at them.

These are a lot of duck-sized horses and a horse-sized duck.

Question (In honor of Lukas): Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?