Week+III

Felini’s Roma is more like a documentary running in and out of two eras clashing the old with the new. Studying abroad in Roma for five months made this film more appealing to me because I was one who sat on the steps of the fountain in Piazza Santa Maria just as the hippies did mingling and playing there music. Fellini fell in love with Roma for a reason and made a film about his own life’s journeys and the recent history of the city. Roma had a powerful influence on Fellini and it seems as though he wanted to express the value that this remarkable metropolis has in his heart. It is obvious that the young man in the film is portraying Fellini during the stages of his arrival in Roma. He comes in contact with a crowded and noisy family who give him a sense of the “True Romans”. From then on he goes through many experiences and the film travels through time to the 1960’s. Fellini directed and dictated this film in an exciting fashion. It was clever to see different time periods and the reaction of the Romans. I was fond of the fast pace and tempo of this film I think it is refreshing to see a documentary so different from any regular travel video.
 * Week 3**
 * Films:**
 * //Roma//, Fellini**

This is a tale of business markets collaborating with the people working “inside” the companies. The main character goes out of her way to drug the head woman for an animated adult company in order to complete a task which was given to her by another large corporation trying to take over their industry. I like how this film was directed; it is very unpredictable which always excites me. Assayas is portraying how the business world functions in society. He shows the viewer how events take place by illustrating all the cause and effects of each character’s move. However he has a great way of twisting love into the core of this minimalist modern tale of corruption and deceit. All the scenes are genuine and authentic, not knowing how these businesses work I can get an idea how devious they truly are. I was keen on the value he put into all the detail throughout the film. Every scene was very thought out and made it clear for the viewer to relate as if they were actually the ones being responsible for either Diane’s or Chloe Sevigny’s jobs.
 * //Demonlover//, Assayas**

I feel as though I benefited from the cinematic views of this film. Dziga Vertov has a very out of the ordinary way of shooting scenes with the method and technique he has. Having a photographer shooting another photographer shooting a different view was inspirational. Dziga is very original when it comes to the outlook of his work. The film exposes the lives of urban Russian life, how people work and live just in order to keep the ball rolling. The saying “the city never sleeps” is correct when it comes down to it all, without people a metropolis would not be able to function. I thought it might be a little hard to have the whole film shot with no plot, narrative or even characters, nevertheless Dziga seems to pull it off by just having a man walking and filming what he sees.
 * //Man with Movie Camera//, Vertov**

When I think of the word “Hacker” automatically I refer to computer hackers, the ones who steal programs and log onto any software on any computer. Eric Raymond, a hacker defender, points out that hackers are not only associated with computers but with music and electronics. The “Hacker Work Ethic” is when a person is determined and cares about their interests. The way Pekka Himanen writes about hackers passions is very similar to architects passions. I, myself, get exhilarated when I’m working on a project and once I start I can go on for days just to see an extraordinary end result. Now I realize that hackers are not just acne faced teenagers, but are extremely talented artists who have a huge love of their craft. The other half of the reading describes the development of the Protestant Ethic. If one works long enough and hard enough during their lives, the Protestant Ethic suggests that they will finally earn relaxation time in heaven.
 * Text:**
 * Pekka Himanen, "Tha Hacker Worth Ethic" and "The Academy and the Monastery"**

This eye opening reading helped me understand the limelight beyond the world’s largest corporate software system. The creator (a.k.a. leader) of this network is a supernatural guy who’s work is compared with the formations of Microsoft. To be honest he seems to be a truly down to earth kind of guy with a mysterious and mastermind side which explains why more than 18 million people use his operating system. To some he is like a God who rules the computer programming world but literally he helps people help each other. His tactics are ingenious, the way he posted his operating system on the World Wide Web and allowed others to review and improve it was a perfect example why it became so successful and the largest project in the world. Now living in a Mac Mansion with his lovely wife and working from his home office seems like a piece of cake.
 * Gary Rivlin, “Leader of the Free World: How Linus Torvalds Became Benevolent Dictator of Planet Linux, the Biggest Collaboration Project in History”**

Being unaware the power that is consisted in an Xbox or Sony Playstation, I was shocked what some hackers are able to do with a gaming system. Now I understand why these machines are sold out most of the time before the even hit the stores. I always wondered why so many children wanted these items that there was a black market for them, but now it is clear that most of the consumers are not children is middle school. I feel like this hacker issue might be getting out of hand, yesterday it was stealing music (Napster), today it is the Xbox, what will be next? It is hard to tell what direction the software system is going these days because it is developing so quickly. However, the computer is not the only thing that is increasing, the knowledge of the people who come across these programs is also growing. Bill Gates is a view of the past compared to the amount of brilliant new born hackers that are blossoming today. Hacking into an Xbox and using it as a PC would have been my last guess. Legally is it not allowed, but a hacker is always a hacker even when they hack into consumer reports and create their own ways to hack into any system.
 * Seth Schiesel, “Some Xbox Enthusiasts Microsoft Didn’t Aim for”**

“Learning by doing” is the motto for the new generation of children. It is commonly used to refer to several different aspects of knowledge. I am a firm believer in hands on learning because one will never forget what they accomplish first hand. This reading explores how new technologies can help people learn new things in new ways, with special emphasis on how ideas about self and identity can influence the design of new learning technologies. The MIT Media Lab discusses and develops a set of principles to guide the design of new tools and environments for learning which is helpful for children and adults. Developing relationships is the key factor I in the learning process. Personal and epistemological connections are two types of building strategies. In order to keep a child interested they have to be able to connect their passions with experiences and information. The Programmable Brick is a superb idea and design technique for anyone to use and observe. Just the idea of being able to program whatever you might want to be done into a brick is incredible. The design activities that are available due to the creation of these bricks are uncountable.
 * Mitchell Resnick, “Pianos Not Stereos: Creating Computational Construction Kits"**