Final Project

E-mail to Family: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OoSQ_0hUNSGnSetoKBi5dz18phR-RZFyTcibGRSv05w/edit?pli=1#


Family Echo Family Tree:                                                                                 http://www.familyecho.com/?p=START&c=13xg3294wbn&f=827385994565873496

Edited Photos

On all these pictures, I increased the saturation and the exposure. I increased the sharpness on the ones that needed it, and used soft focus to make each picture look more gentle.

5-frame storyboard

 

Hate Crime Prezi

Tuesday, December 2nd

What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Do you have any traditions? Go in to detail about your plans for the 5 day weekend.

For thanksgiving, went to Hays, Kansas, out west. We have no traditions besides the ones that everyone shares, such as eating turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. This year we didn't have cranberry sauce or anything like that. Its a four hour drive from Overland park to Hays, and the entire time I was either sleeping, or listening to music. Once my mom, my sister and me got there, we met with our step- dad's family including his parents, and his sister and her husband. The seven of us spent two and a half days there, eating dinner and watching K-state games.

Monday, November 17th

Tell me about your weekend.

My weekend was uneventful once again. Except for two things. I went out to IHop with my friends and ordered a bunch of coffee. We were so hyper that we started to annoy the other people, until two guys even more annoying than us came along, at which point we decided to leave. I also went to go see Fury with my dad. Fury is a war movie about a tank crew in WWII. Needless to say, at the end, everyone except the main character dies. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in war movies. Lone survivor is also an example, and Saving Private Ryan if you switch Tom hanks with Matt Damon. Everyone around him dies, including the people hes met. Its sad, but i guess its a part of the movie's realism. 

Friday, November 14th

Tell me about your experience with taking your stop-motion photos. What problems did you run in to? What did you find difficult about the process? What would you go back and change about HOW you took the photos? Explain yourself.

I had no experience with stop motion photos before this project. I was familiar with time-lapse, however, which is basically stop-motion photos, except over a long period of time. One of the problems i ran into while making my stop-motion video was the lack of M&M's that I had. I needed to go out and buy more if I wanted to complete the video. One of the things I would go back and change is the stillness of the camera that I used because i felt like it kept moving as i was taking pictures.

Monday, November 10th

What is stop motion animation? If you don't know, look it up! Explain.

Stop motion animation is when you move an inanimate object by small increments, taking a picture for every increment. This gives the viewer the impression of the object moving on its own. I always thought it was cool to look at, but realized how much time it would take to make a movie like Wallace and Gromit, and how much time you would need to have the movie be two hours. I remember how hilarious Wallace and Gromit, Curse of The Were-rabbit or something like that, was, but I couldn't imagine making something like that where you have to remake the character's face, and then take a single camera picture for a full 2 hour movie.

Hate Crimes Infographic

November 5th

Tell me about your idea for your 5 frame story board. What is the plot? How do you plan to make the story creative? Who's the main character? What is the beginning, middle and end? Tell me about your plan of attack.

The plot is about a student at Blue Valley that battles an intruder at the school. The story is creative because the intruder is a fire breathing tiger, and the story takes place in a parallel world where monsters such as that live. The Main Character is Stephen Laidacker, and he is here to save us all with his magical red book of spells named, "Simplex". Stephen was just sitting minding his own business, when all of a sudden, a giant fire-breathing tiger comes and starts attacking the students. Stephen whips out his book, and fights the monstrosity. Tired, he goes and drinks up at the fountain before confronting the beast again. Stephen strikes the final blow and kills the beast, laughing at the end.

Image from: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyfo9idJlb1qgfyua.jpg

Monday, November 3rd

Tell me about your weekend - details please!

I was planning to take part in "Senior skip day" on Friday, but my parents didn't want to call me in sick. Although this normally wouldn't faze me, Iv'e already had some detentions because of the school I missed, and an ISS was probably next. Come Friday, I decided that I would skip anyways, and the whole day off I played video games.  On Sunday, I went to see John Wick with my dad. We both thought the movie was fantastic. The sound and size of the I-max was great and worked so well with the loud and deep engine of his car. The bullets and bullet wounds were so realistic they almost reminded me of Lone Survivor, although the casting of Lone survivor made the movie just good overall.

Wednesday, October 29

What do you know about photography and/or photo editing? Do you take photos? How do you take photos? Do you edit photos before posting them on social media? How do you edit them? Explain any background or knowledge you have about photography and photo editing. Do you like it? Do you have any interest?

I know nothing about photography or photo editing. The only experience I have is with photo shop and i only used that once outside of school. I don't have any background knowledge about photography except for the fact that you press a button to take the photo. I don't necessarily dislike it, but i have no interest in it either. I thought about taking a photography class with Mr. Mosier after I finished pre-drafting, but I ended up not doing it

Image From :http://cdn.marketplaceimages.windowsphone.com/v8/images/5a8bea70-da88-412b-b587-90ad0b7dd74d?imageType=ws_icon_large

Monday, October 20th

Tell me about your weekend. Share pics!

My weekend was extremely uneventful again. Spent 90% of my free time playing video games including sleep and homework. For most people looking at my weekend activities, it might seem boring and a dull weekend, but for me, having a weekend where I do nothing but play video games is perfect. My dream weekend would be me sitting down with my laptop or 48 hours straight being brought food on a silver platter. So, it was an amazing weekend. 

Tuesday, October 14th

I think her article about the strict clothing rules was kind of short-sighted. I honestly don't know why they don't just wear different clothes, and Iv'e never understood it. Surely you can find SOME clothes that are "cute" but meet the school's regulations. As far as I see it, its much easier than fighting a battle against the school. I get the adults making comments and I have seen it happen in the hallway. The girl got pulled off to the side by a teacher, the teacher then asked her if she had anything longer to put on.

Monday, October 13th

The perfect curriculum would be teaching the students something that is actually relevant to our lives. In my opinion, this quote can't be further from the truth. I want to meet the person that said this so I can make sure he's an idiot. We learn for college, which is school. If we learn for our lives, how come there aren't any classes that are about religion or morals? The two most important things in our lives are completely absent from our curriculum.  Not even a driving class, something we'll be doing the rest of our lives and is extremely important. Class time in a school that prepared you for life would be having you separate into different religions, and finding what is most important to you, and what will guide you later on in life.

Tuesday, October 7th

The following article was in the September issue of The Tiger Print. Read the article (even if you already have) and respond to it below. What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Consider all perspectives of the article while you respond.

Well, I am a guy and I don't have trouble concentrating because of what the girls wear in class. If we want to concentrate on the lesson, we will. When we want to look at a girl we like, we will. It doesn't have anything to do with what their wearing, and I've seen the staff talk to a female student about what they were wearing, and it was embarrassing for them. This article is obviously written from an angry and frustrated point of view. Some of the anger seems to be directed as us guys, or maybe she sees the thumb rule as part of our causing. I can't speak for all guys, but most of us don't see this as a distraction at all. 

Monday, October 6th

Tell me about your weekend! If you don't have anything fun to share, tell me about the city you live in. What do you love about Kansas City? Do you have a favorite place in the city? Favorite team? :) Favorite event? Explain.

This weekend I hung out with three of my friends as we went around town finding places to eat or deciding what to do with our time. Then, on Saturday, my dad and i re-landscaped the mulch that was previously around our plants, and replaced it with rock. My dad bought 7 tons of small pond rocks to spread around the area. 14,000 pounds of rock took all day and we still didn't get done. Besides that, it was a very boring weekend. I don't like anything in particular about Kansas City. The teams, or the places to go. A lot of over people that visited here that iv'e met have said Oklahoma Joe's was their favorite spot, though.






Image from: http://ginaruggeri.com/spacer.gif

Tuesday, September 30

What is an infographic? If you don't know, go look it up. Read about it and then in your own words tell me what an infographic is. What do infographics do? How do they work? What makes a really good infographic?

An infographic is a picture meant to represent data or statistics. In my own words, its an image or some kind of graph that helps the viewer comprehend the information, or put it into perspective. To make an infographic, you gather data, and pile it up and compare it to the other data you have found on the same subject, then a graph can be made to compare it all. A very good infographic would be labeled, easy to read and understand, while still containing a bunch of information. It would have different colors to separate the different statistics, and have an overall proffesional look to it, while having some creativity.

Image from: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/08/infographic-of-the-day-who-came-to-the-us-in-2008.html

Monday, September 9th

Tell me about your Homecoming weekend! If you didn't participate in the Homecoming festivities, what did you do? Share pics!


I didn't go to homecoming this year, or any year before because I have always thought of it as a waste of time to be completely honest. This weekend I helped my dad work on painting the house. I got up at around 9:00 a.m., and worked until 5:00 pm. It sucked. Although he was paying me for my time, I would have rather played video games - which is what I did for the rest of the weekend. Peaceful time to myself playing video games is my favorite thing to do.

Image From: http://www.mrhappyhouse.com/house-painting-contractor.html

Wednesday, September 24

Imagine Mr. Bacon has asked you to suggest one way of improving Blue Valley High School to make it a better place for students. Think about the changes that are needed at your school. Pick one change you feel would really make a difference and explain what it is and why you'd make the change.

If I could change one thing about the school to make it a better place for students, I'd change the parking lot. The narrow parking spaces and streets that you have to drive down are crazy. The parking lot is tiny, but that's not that big of a problem. The biggest problem is the fact that all of the drivers there are inexperienced and young. Add that on top of the tiny parking spaces, and you have some danger there.

Image from: http://image12.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/compositions/110898607/views/1,width=235,height=235,appearanceId=2/Black-OBAMA--CHANGE-HAS-COME-TO-AMERICA-T-Shirts.jpg

Tuesday, September 23rd

What are your favorite apps on your phone or tablet? Why?

By far my favorite app on my iPhone is the YouTube app. The YouTube app isn't my favorite because it's just a very quality version of YouTube, in fact, I would rather go into safari, then on YouTube. The reason this app is so fantastic is because it gets around the school wifi somehow. No longer am i held back by the walls upon walls of blocked sites. No longer will I sit and wait for the bell to ring. Entertainment has not yet been exterminated by Satan's grasp on Blue Valley's internet. The only thing I do when I finish an assignment or test in calls is go on YouTube. That's why I love the app so much.

Image From: http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/crowded-apps.jpg?w=400

Monday, September 22

What is email? When do you use email in your own personal life? List reasons and ways that people use email. What do you know about "email etiquette"?

I'm pretty sure e-mail means electronic mail, but i never use it in my own personal life. I can't even remember the last time i used any of my emails personally, besides signing up for websites. Many reason could be mentioned for using e-mail. Any professional message to a person in particular should be used in a e-mail rather than over the phone or text. This is because the next time they are on their computer, they will read it instead of their phone immediately ringing inconveniently. I dont know much about e-mail etiquette. I just assume it should be the same as writing a letter sent through the mail.

Image from: http://siliconangle.com/files/2013/05/email-logo.jpg

Friday, September 19

Now that you've been in Emerging Technology for several weeks... what do you think? Do you think the web tools (Drive, Evernote, Bubbl, etc.) are helpful to you? Do you think they will be helpful throughout high school or even college? Explain.

I like Emerging Tech. There a bunch of Freshman in the class, so our pace is really slow. Each day I don't have to get much done.The web tools are all very helpful, Drive especially. Google Drive is a must for group projects, and since I started using it last year, it has been very helpful. I can see myself using this all throughout college and maybe even later on. Bubbl is also very helpful, it lets me organize my outlines for papers very well, and its extremely user-friendly. I will probably use this program in college as well. Evernote, although isn't as helpful, is useful in its own way. I don't have to keep track of the pages I've visited, and I can see all of the information I've gathered in one place, all organized perfectly. I can see myself using this in college, but not as much as the other two.

Image from: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402397,00.asp

Wednesday, September 17

Do you enjoy writing? When do you enjoy it? What kind of writing do you enjoy? Why do you think the ability to write is so important no matter what kind of writing it is? Give an example that you enjoyed writing or hated writing. Why?

I do not enjoy writing on paper, I never have, and I know for a fact that I never will. I don't mind writing a paper electronically, as long as the topic is something interesting. The only time I've actually like writing was typing an essay in middle school over what video games I played and why, because that's the only time Iv'e written about something I like. The ability to write is so important for your education and even later on. It applies when you apply for a job, essays you have to write in college and high school, and if you don't have the skill to write a decent paper, it will affect all previous mentions.

Image from: http://wp.lps.org/kmorrow2/files/2012/06/writing.jpg

Tuesday, September 16

Reflect on this quote. Give an example of a time in your life that this might have been the case.

In other words, this quote is saying without preparation or practice, it will be much harder to be successful at whatever you didn't prepare for. In my life, This quote is a perfect example of all the tests I've ever taken in my life. If you don't study for the test, you are basically making yourself get a lower grade on it. This quote is very well thought-out and makes me think.

Friday, September 12th

What is the importance of research? Why do you need to know how to research? What have you learned in high school about researching topics and finding quality resources? Have you had a helpful teacher that has taught you to research? Explain.

Research is important because the skill to research is crucial when it comes to having a professional career or before you go into college. If someone doesn't know how to research, they can't be truly informed on a topic. In high school, we have learned how to cite sources, which sites/sources are reliable, and where to start our search on a broad topic. In college, the research process will be very important to getting a good grade in the class.All of my helpful teachers have all said the same thing: Wikipedia is unreliable. I know the truth, however. They want us to search harder to find the information because otherwise, we wouldn't have learned anything. Its all a giant conspiracy.

Image From: http://www.digitalsherpa.com/blog/how-to-use-social-media-to-conduct-market-research/

Global Issue Selection

Image From: http://www.thesleuthjournal.com/self-inflicted-hate-crimes-videos/

For my Global Issue in Emerging Technology I have chosen Hate Crimes. I have begun researching the issue and you can find my research questions here.

Wednesday, September 10th

Kids these day are so loud and obnoxious. Always on their phones, and they never respect their elders. Parents need to control them as well. They give them too much, and always give in when they complain and want something, then wonder why their kid turned out to be a brat. Why do they need to drag their kids with them everywhere, anyways? I'm trying to eat my dinner, i don't need a kid screaming over my shoulder, and the parent doing nothing to silence them. Its like the parents are turning them into brats, and throwing them on the rest of us. Raise your kid. Back in the day, we would beat kids who talked back to us.

Tuesday, September 9th

Tell me about the global issue you selected. What do you already know about the issue? What are you looking forward to learning about it? Explain.



The global issue I selected was hate crimes. The name is pretty self-explanatory, and i know what that the majority of the targets of hate crimes are African Americans and the Homosexual community. I also know that hate crimes are dealt with less mercy to those who commit them. The punishments are greater and it's considered much worse than a regular crime. I want to know about how widespread hate crimes are, and in which countries it's the worst in. Antisemitism acts have influenced all our lives with Reat's tragic death.






Image from: http://www.campuspride.net/wp-content/uploads/STOP_THE_HATE_logo.gif

Monday, September 8th

What did you do this weekend? Share pictures if you have them!

 

This weekend I played video games the entire day. My friend introduced me to a game called League of Legends. Although its little bit childish for my taste, and the ample number of 14 year old's on the game suck at it, losing us the game 50% of the time. My favorite character in the game is a person called Yasuo. The only other thing i did was go out and get McDonald's, and watch some south park with my best friend, Tommy Payne. I wish I could say that I did something else, but that's it. Video games took up all of my weekend

Image From: http://www.riotgames.com/

Who am I?

Friday, September 5th

Playing Video Games: A
Finding Out Ways to Waste Time: A
Procrastination: A
Effort: D
Being an Athlete: B+
Having Good Grades in School: C
Getting a Good Night's Sleep: F
Eating Properly: F

Wednesday, September 3rd

Yesterday I asked your to "think differently" and push yourself to be uncommon with your PSA project using Google Slides. Why do you think I asked you to do that? What is the point? Why not just use bullets and headers? Explain.



A PSA that catches the eye and stands out will be remembered. The objective of a PSA is for people to see it, and try to change the way they live for the better. One that stands out and remembered is an effective PSA. I think you also asked us to be different is because you want to see our limits with testing Google slides. If our PSA's were boring with just bullets and headers, then we wouldn't really be using Google slides. It would be just another name for a boring power point presentation. Headers and bullets might get the information across, but will be forgotten and that PSA would have changed nothing.

Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1-IaG3YK1P3gBMX6oFluSjGUs4Gjh0jQEosJY1zLhNVOsOrM-iVrlI7DUXugdWGoxmofuqmvClgHowhHDUZeoBbJF9AhWPch7DLh7R1s2TY-ST-SLYp_SS0rBsQhg-a8YOzNohWN7IAyP/s1600/2014-08-28%25252006.52.54.png

Texting and Driving PSA

Tuesday, September 9th

Tell me all about your Labor Day weekend. What did you do? Include photos!

Over my Labor Day Weekend, I mostly played video games with my friends online. On Sunday, I invited two of my friends to drive around going to restaurants and random people's houses. On labor day, i went over to my moms house to watch a movie, but decided not to, and i would come over later for dinner. I visited K-state to see my sister. Although this sounds very fun, almost the entire time i was miserable. 90 degree weather and you have to walk around everywhere? I wonder if I even want to go to college anymore.... While there, we went to a local sub shop, which had average food. I saw my sister's dorm, and i saw where all the college courses are located. Driving around with my friends was so fun. We love to turn the music up in the car and annoy other drivers (All while remaining safe, of course). Overall, my weekend was the kind where you say, "nothin" when asked what you did.





Image from: http://www.tynanmurphy.com/about-ty-murphy/resume/

Friday, August 29th

Read this small newspaper clipping and then write a blog post about it. What are your thoughts? How does it make you feel? Do you agree? Disagree? Explain yourself.

My first thought after i read it was disappointment and responsibility. This principle gives me the impression that he has dealt with kids his entire life, and frankly, hes just getting sick of them. He has seen teenagers complain about how their life is hard too much, he has seen teenagers throw away the opportunities in the trash. He has seen too much of us focusing on them as well. This is all speculation, but it feels like this is where the speech is coming from. He wants the next generation to do better than the last, as does every person. He believes that Progression in mankind starts with the responsibility of teenagers and kids alike. I think this principle is very smart and understands responsibility and teenagers more than anyone else. He is saying to not be scared to go out in the real world and get a job or go to college. Overall it made me feel like there was more weight on my shoulders than usual, probably what he wanted to accomplish when people like me read it.

Tuesday, August 26

What is a Public Service Announcement? If you don't know what it is, Google it. In your own words, now tell me what it is? What are they used for? Can you recall an example of a PSA you've seen before?

A public service announcement is a widespread share of new information, or reminding people of past information. They are used for warning a large population all at once. They try to inspire people to not do something bad or stupid like teen drinking or texting while driving, and also are used for convincing people to do the right thing, like changing your diet or being considerate of others. An example of a PSA I've seen is one over wearing your seat belt. A group of guys were all driving in the car, and only one had his seat belt on. The car crashed, and all the ghosts of the passengers went up from the car, except the one with his seat belt on. The ghost was trapped by the seat belt, coming back into him.

image from: http://emergencyeyes.blogspot.com/2007/10/seat-belts.html

Monday, August 25

After watching the short clip of Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech what did you take away from his advice? What does this quote mean to you -"Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you, and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use."

I think that his speech was thoughtful and he looked like he cared about what he was saying. The first point, about opportunity was very true. My dad always talks about how it was stepping stones of jobs to get to where he is today. His second point, unfortunately, was like every other speech that has to do with "what matters in a personality." How, "being smart is the most important," and how "you shouldn't listen to what other people tell you because it will influence how you think for the worse." Kinda disappointing and slightly boring when i heard what he had to say on that subject. His third point, however, was surprising. The message was the same as all the other "your your own person," and, "you do what you want with your life" kind of speeches. Kutcher took a different way of explaining it that i haven't heard yet. He put feeling into his words but at the same time maintaining some creativity. Overall, his speech was a bit generic, but picked up at the end, leaving an impression.

Image via: http://www.comicvine.com/articles/ben-affleck-is-batman/1100-147065/?comment_page=2

Friday, January 10th

What do you want to learn in the class the semester? What information do you want to walk away with that you didn't know before? Elaborate!


I want to know more tools for surfing the internet and different things you can do to improve your computer experience. I have a love-hate relationship with technology, and i would like to know how to take the "hate" part out of that. I feel technology can be extremely frustrating at times, and i want to keep myself from punching a hole in the computer. I would like to walk away with information that could help me have an easier time with computers, and what to do when one doesn't want to cooperate.