final blog

I really impressed about the reading that we did. Different language is really can show different things in different ways. I was watching Dragon Balls for last month to find all my memories back, and I just realized the Dragon Balls is so famous in U.S, because even my roommate was watching it when he was a kid. However, I found that for Japanese and Chinese, we have some similar parts, but not English. Like Gokou’s first son, Gohan, kids all know his name, but they don’t know why his father gives his name for fun, because in this case, they have language problem for translation. When Gokou gives his son a name, his son just cries all the time because he doesn’t like the name that people give him. However, we Gokou said the word “lunch”, his son laughs. In Chinese and Japanese, the word “lunch” pronounces like “Gohan”, so when Gokou said “lunch”, his son like it, because there is no kid who doesn’t like to eat the lunch. Because of that, Gokou name his son “Gohan”, but it has no relationship between “Gohan” and “lunch” in English, so for kids in U.S, they might not be able to understand is funny part.

Also, different language might make some misunderstanding. When people talk in Chinese, we pronounce “nihao” for saying “hello”. I noticed that every time I say “hello” in Chinese, some black will look at me very strange. After I ask some my black friends, I find that pronunciation is close to the world “nigger”, which is a not good world for blacks. Even though I still think the blacks are so funny about get angry in this case, but this let me think a lot on the misunderstandings for different languages.

Literacy and Technology

I believe literacy and technology effect each, though sometimes technology is a kind of literacy and literacy is a kind of technology. Computer, a good example to show what I mean. People use computer to calculate hard math problem at first, fellow the time people notice that computer can do a lot of things than doing some math. At this point, technology affects the literacy. When people make the internet, more and more people like to put their stuffs on the internet. That pushes the literacy change, and that is why we have blog and the facebook.

Hardly to say that which is changed more by another one. They are make each other better, like the book say, the only thing changed is people themselves.

As an auidence

We can get a lot of information by being an audience. We can get information by different ways, like TV; video; even the class. This project is to let us make a short video to show other classmates an even that you went through. It sounds easy, but actually, it is hard. As a video maker, like all other film makers or directors, we need to know what you audiences really want. Because you are not only making a video for yourself, you make a video for all the class.

From all other advertising, we can see one common thing – the goods that the company wants to sell are all around us. That means, no matter what video you want to make, you need to make your audiences focus on your video. I still have no good idea about how to do that, but I will try to make something to catch the focus of all the audience.

Film Literacy

As one of my favorite movie, I learn a lot from the movie “National Treasure”. The story centers on Benjamin Franklin Gates, an amateur cryptologist with a mechanical engineering degree from MIT and an American history degree from Georgetown who comes from a long line of treasure hunters that believe in the legend of a fantastic treasure trove of artifacts and gold, hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and forgotten to all but a few. The first clue was given to Ben's great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Gates by Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, saying simply, "The secret lies with Charlotte". Using sophisticated computer arctic weather models, Ben, with his friend Riley Poole and financier Ian Howe, finds the wreckage of a Colonial ship, the Charlotte, containing a meerschaum pipe engraved with a riddle. After examining the riddle, Ben deduces that the next clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. While Ben sees gaining access to such a highly guarded artifact as an obstacle, Ian finds no problem in stealing it. In the standoff, Ian escapes and the Charlotte explodes with Ben and Riley inside, nearly killing them. With all the clues, they finally find the treasure, and all the bad guys were caught by the FBI. In the movie, I learn a lot of things. The most important thing is --- no matter how bad the situation is, never up. I think that can go through my whole life to make sure I will never give up all the time.

Arts Literacy

During the spring break, I went to New York with my friends. Of course, we wouldn’t miss the MET. MET is one of the largest art museums in the world, it shows arts from all over the world. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, often referred to simply as "the Met," is one of the world's largest art galleries, and has a much smaller second location in Upper Manhattan, at "The Cloisters," which features medieval art. Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine and Islamic art. In the museum, we can even see the arts drawn by Picasso. This tour makes back to my high school life, when I was still learning about arts. I learned art more than two years. From all the arts by famous artist, we can see the magic of arts. At first, it was hardly to understand what the arts represent, or what the artists want to tell us. Like the paint “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso. Hardly we can understand what the painting what to tell us if we don’t know the history. Learning arts is learning history too. Since the history is all in the arts. I used to like make some copies of some famous painting. I believe that can makes to know the feeling of the artist, and I did got a lot of feelings, and also a lot of fun.

By the way, here is one of my painting. Check it out.

Imitating Literacy

Besides learning second language and music, I also like to imitate other’s songs, actions, or even words. I do this just for fun, and it always make people laugh. The singer I imitate the most is Jay Chou, he is one of my favorite. He is not so famous in United States, but in Asia, he is the super star. I like to imitate him because he has a special way to speak. He likes to talk unclear, that makes no body can understand what he says. Though it is a bad characteristic, it is easy to imitate, since it is very special and specific way to speak. Because he is so well-known, every time I imitate his style for speaking, people will know what I am doing, that feels great. However, imitating others is just a fun game for me, to make all my friends happy, and it makes my life better also. How life would be if your friends and you are happy everyday!

Music Literacy

I like music, and I am crazy about NU Metal. Linkin Park is one of my favorites, but actually, at first I just cannot totally understand their songs, because it is not my first language. People might say that there is no boundary for music, but that is not true. Like the song “crowing” by Linkin Park, if someone cannot understand the lyrics, they may think it is just a normal song. However, when you understand the lyric, you might find that this song is for world peace. That can explain well the reason they sing this song. Sometimes, you cannot understand the song even you understand all the lyrics. That is an opposite side to what I said at the first, this happens not so often. The reason for you cannot understand the music is because the song is like an art. You need to listen it deeply with heart. Like the song “tears in heaven”, we both know that it is a sad song. However, one day I missed my passed grandfather, I open my iTunes, and started listen this song. I finally found how sad this song is. I even cried for my grandfather for few minutes which I never did because I am such a strong person, and I never cry. The song touches the deeply things in my mind, and that is the magic of the music.