All posts filed under: Life

Some Short Films

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I love short films. If it’s well done, you can get the same satisfaction (if not more) as a full-length film in a fraction of the time. One of my favorite short films is The Eagleman Stag. This one, I love for way too many reasons. First, it’s stop motion in styrofoam. How someone has the time to do that and successfully pull it off astounds me. Two, the animation in general is stellar. The lighting and textures work really well and creates a beautiful design aesthetic. Third, the subject matter is something most of us freak out about constantly: time. The beginning of the video explains relativity by animating the narrator at different ages. The part where he creates a graph in the water to try and explain relativity is one of my favorites. Finally, it was a student project that won a BAFTA. Goodbye. I love weird, crazy artists, especially those who can successfully craft a short film. Eino Ruutsalo is a relatively obscure director who uses animated painted effects to his work. Personally, …

Cooking with Keara | An Audio Slideshow

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This is a short little audio slideshow I created for a production class last semester. It is the story of my friend Keara as she bakes a cake that holds deep personal value to her. I conducted an interview with her before baking the cake to learn the story behind it and figure out potential ways I could frame the video. However, in the middle of shooting her cooking, the cake unexpectedly broke, causing the narrative to change entirely. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any audio equipment with me or time to check out new equipment for another interview, so I had to use my phone in the moment. Obviously this is a flaw that I wish I could change, but sometimes the story is so important that it forces one to make choices like this. I can also happily say that I am a much better photographer now.

Bob Dylan was Right

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If you’ve spent any amount of time in public, whether at a coffee shop or on public transportation, you’ll probably have seen the technological generation divide. Someone will be reading a book while someone else is swiping pages on a kindle. While someone (most likely over 25, if not older) is reading a newspaper, someone else is skimming a virtual newsfeed that compiles their favorite media sources. It’s a competing landscape of old media and new media, and new media is winning. As Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changin’.” The new generation of consumers isn’t satisfied by old media and often, the older generation despises new media for its complicated nature. My parents barely know how to use a tv remote, so the digital world is an absolute mystery to them. They complain that there are too many unnecessary options and that people no longer talk to each other. It’s not that there is less interaction, but the way we interact and engage with each other has changed. It’s a difficult landscape to adjust …

The Digital Dating Phenomenon

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People are connected. It’s a fact of the Digital Age. It has allowed us to engage with people we may never have otherwise interacted with. In the dating world, this presents a unique opportunity. Before technology, we were limited to people within our social circles, which realistically didn’t add up to very many people. How likely are you to meet your ‘soulmate’ in such a small pool of people? The Internet turns that pool into an ocean. Suddenly, people are meeting and falling in love online. There’s hundreds of dating websites to help direct single individuals to each other. Some of them are specifically tailored to the individual like Farmers Only and Single with Food Allergies. Out of the 7 billion people in the world, there’s a much higher chance you’ll find the one for you. Sometimes an individual might click a few hyperlinks to find someone’s blog, discover their mutual interests, and reach out from there. The dating landscape has changed drastically.

Introversion versus Extroversion

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The world is full of social butterflies and wallflowers. No matter how much someone might want to change this personality style, it is nearly impossible to do because it is so ingrained within us. Knowing whether you are an extrovert or an introvert is important because how we interact with others is an essential aspect to our daily life. When you better understand how you do so, you can optimize a lot of relationships and feel happier and less drained overall. If you’re curious, take this quick quiz to find out which you are. Remember to answer the questions as honestly as possible, without trying to get a specific result. Take the Quiz Introvert You are a thinker. You are deliberate and are good at concentrating. Socially, you devote your energy to close friends. You are a great listener, but when it comes to communicating you think before you speak. You express yourself better in writing or thinking alone. Most introverts despise small talk, but this doesn’t mean that they hate social interaction. Social introverts …

52 of the World’s Most Common Misconceptions Debunked

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The Internet has a tendency to perpetuate a lot of misinformation. Similar to how gossip functions, someone will hear an interesting fact and pass it on to the next person and so forth. The problem is that these ‘facts’ may not be true, and people might not have a reason to question their veracity. Some of these myths are so prominent that the majority of people believe at least one or two of them. London-based author, data-journalist, and information designer David McCandless attempts to combat this through infographics. In his book Knowledge is Beautiful, McCandless presents information in a fun, yet educational manner. His goal is to get society to better relate to the information we are constantly bombarded with. In the book, he includes an infographic of 52 ‘MythConceptions’ that most people believe. Did you know that Napoleon wasn’t short, that it’s okay to wake up sleepwalkers, or that adding a little bit of salt doesn’t actually help water boil faster? McCandless’s infographic sorts these myths into sections by color and indicates the the …

Qualities of the Intelligent

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What makes someone smart? Much of society believes receiving high test scores, attending an Ivy League, or obtaining a masters degree is the mark of the intelligent. However, others believe intelligence means being wise in the ways of the world. Is someone who studied mathematics at university necessarily smarter than a world traveler who reads a lot? In the pursuit of figuring this out, many studies have been conducted on the qualities that intelligent people possess; however, these studies have a major flaw. Intelligence is highly subjective. It means something different to different people and may vary from culture to culture. Because of this, it is impossible to measure intelligence accurately. Yes, there are indicators like IQ or brain size, but even these do not give an accurate representation of intelligence. Your IQ level does not (as commonly believed) measure intelligence, but rather how quickly you can absorb information. Someone with a high IQ may be able to understand material quicker than classmates, but if they don’t pursue knowledge, they may not be any more …