FINAL CT101 BLOG POST

Looking back at this semester, if I had to guess where I’m going in the near & far future, it’s going to be wherever my skills will propel me. This class has shown me that I’m not as crazy as I thought I was for awhile and all I ever needed was the knowledge and tools combined with the right outlets. Harnessing the skills I’ve learned here in CT101 and marrying them with my other classes, I can say I have a clearer picture of my future now than I did at any other point in my life.

 

Going back to my introduction post which to me could not be more dry, I say to you, “hey we all gotta start somewhere”. If I had to sum up this semester from both an academic and personal hurdle stand point. I’d say I’m somewhere between…

And…

 

At the time of this writing I don’t know my final grade. But if I had to guess, I would refer you back to my Mid semester assessment post where I outline what I feel I’ve earned and why.

What did you enjoy about our class and how you will apply your new skills into the world?

My greatest joy from the class came from making memes and gifs that fit my narratives and/or perspective. The right meme/gif is like that perfect pair of shoes to a suit, or better yet, the punchline to a perfectly setup joke. I tried to tap into that with my first gif post. Click on the one below to see what I mean.

 

Will you maintain and keep up your new website? If so, how? If not, Why not?

I definitely plan on keeping & maintaining  my website. Over the summer, not only will I take it upon myself to continue to tinker with the customizing of it. I look forward to the moment when being the administrator of my website makes me feel like…

 

But I’m also changing my minor to journalism to give myself the perfect outlet to do one of the things I’ve always wanted to. I made a video for another class stating that.

I really want to expand on this video lol. But I also really look forward to reading my new book over the summer.

 

Confronting, attacking, dissecting, and maybe even presenting solutions to all the issues plaguing American culture and humanity is something I look forward to attempting.  From my perspective…A Strange Perspective.

COPYRIGHT LAWS W/ LARRY LESSIG

After watching the video on copyright laws with Larry Lessig, my biggest takeaway was the highlighting of common sense, and how it does not allow for true free creation. Mr. Lessig is right in pointing out that when you factor in the dawn of man from the time we were closer to apes than anything else, there is no true original content at this point. Everything at this point is essentially a “copy” of a copy.

How much should users of the web think about copyright as you and others share, re-share, and remix content on the web?

Users of the web is a broad blanket statement. Casual users of the web don’t need to worry about copyright issues. Creators on/of the web however, unfortunately have to be very mindful of taking this into account. I recently had an experience with that very law when I made a short video of 39th Birthday using an excerpt from the LInkin Park song Little things give you away. Good thing the video was cheesy and/or amateurish and I was only using it to build my video editing skills.

What is fair use?

As long as you/one are not trying to overtly monetize off of the work/content someone else made, you/we should all be able to harness the power of technology to repurpose pieces of all art and culture to tell our story, our perspective.

Larry Lessig said, “It is now anybody with access to a $1500 computer who can take sounds and images from the culture around us and use it to say things differently. These tools of creativity have become tools of speech.  It is a literacy for this generation.

This resonates with me for one reason, and one reason alone. Stand-up comedy. The one art form that breaks all the boundaries and pushes the limit of human potential anytime someone has the presence of mind and/or balls to do so. Stand-up comedians are the unofficial frontline defenders of all things free speech and true creative expression. Don’t believe me. Take a listen to this bit by the great George Carlin and tell me he wouldn’t be bombarded by todays’ cancel culture.

CROSS SOCIAL FEED

During my 39th Birthday weekend. I got to spend some much needed time with family. This is where I would normally drop a few photos to share the experience with you guys but I’m still working on getting the aesthetics, functionality, and interface of my website to my liking. I can see/feel this will be my summer project. But I made a quick video of me shooting my cousins bow & arrow which my sister got a huge kick out of. And I’m working on sharing some photos from the event in the near future.

DOMAIN NAME AQUIRED

Confession. I didn’t set up my domain Thursday after class like I thought but I did do it Saturday at 2am like the true Nuyorican hipster that I am. The process was simple and Professor Seslow could not have done a better job with making the class recording be a live tutorial. This is for you Professor…

 

 

Looking back to when I was thinking of my Domain name. I was surprised to see no iteration of Anj_Da_StranJ was available but for some straaaaaange reason my name was. And just like that. I went with it. Especially since when you google Angel DeJesus all you get is a host of Americas finest Hispanic convicts. As soon as I hit that confirm button, took a deep breath and realized the magnitude of what I just did. I felt…

 

 

 

It was so empowering. At this point in my life knowing everything I want to do and will ever want to do and/or create can ALL be under my complete control.

 

 

 

I look forward to the next few weeks and beyond as it looks like I’ll have something to keep me busy this summer with no classes going on for me. Given my experience with political correctness and “cancellation”. One of if not the biggest thing I eventually want to do is speak on the (cultural) issues and challenge the online punks of cancel culture.

 

Mid-Semester Assessment

How am I doing in CT101? What grade do I believe I am maintaining? 

I have enough self confidence in what I’ve done so far to know I’m definitely not failing. This may sound weird but I like to shoot for A- since it let’s me know I’m a couple steps shy of “perfection” and the A in my first name is technically supposed to have an accent. I’d like to think I’m close to my goal so I’d say I’m…

What have I learned the most? What is my greatest learned asset in this class so far?

My greatest learned assets so far are the trifecta of making gifs/memes, embedding video, and applying them to my narratives.

What skills have I developed , cultivated and displayed regularly in my posts?

GIF/MEME making for sure and simply applying visuals. Judging from my first post, up until my last, I’d say I’ve come a little way from knowing close to nothing about what CT101 has exposed me to.

How do I assess my performance through self-reflection in this class?

I assess my performance by looking at what I’ve done, thinking about what I’d like to do, and looking at what others have done and/or are doing. Taking all those things and knowing this class will set me up with my first domain where I can start working on ideas that I’ve been thinking about for years is the best way I can assess myself through self-reflection.

What do I know now that I did not know before taking this class?

How to take what already makes me happy, turn it into a gif, a comprehensive blog post, and more.

Do I see my weekly blogging work expanding creatively? If so, please explain –  or am I stuck in a loop where my posts seem to look the same most of the time, how will I change that?

I do see myself expanding creatively because that’s exactly what I want to do. I’m low key hoping, waiting for the right opening between life, my other class assignments, and this one to tackle another DS106 assignment to help me with that expansion. I say that because as much as I enjoy creating the perfect gif/meme. I don’t want to become monotonous creatively and I think tackling a couple different type of assignments will help with that. But who knows maybe between now and the end of the semester I’ll get caught up with anything else Prof. Ryan Seslow has in store for the class.

INTERNETS OWN BOY

After watching the documentary over the weekend I thought about when I saw it the first time because it felt like I’d seen it before. And I believe it was 2019 at an ENT100 class during my brief time at…

 

In 2013, when all this was happening, to be honest, I was too busy focusing on digging myself out of a hole I put myself in during my 20’s and make something of myself as a bus driver.

  Obligatory bus driver selfie

 

But anyway. This is not about me. It’s about Aaron Schartz. The NYC street spic in me just has to get this out of the way…

 

And the @$$hole in me that can’t help but find the humor in any situation can’t help but ask really Aaron!?..

 

Guys like Aaron are far few between. He didn’t go about his activism the way most did, and still do. I remember him and Edward Snowden being scapegoats for the Governments excuse to have complete control over all data and its distribution. By the end of this complete viewing I can say with a clear head that a portion of Aaron Schwartz blood is on Barack Obamas hands. And until his dying day, as we glorify him for all the obvious woke reasons. It has to be someone’s job to every now and then remind him of this egregious fuck up. Watching the documentary gave me goosebumps and made me want to tackle the topic myself, my way, on a possible future episode of  A_StranJ_Perspective. Because if there’s anything this man, his movement, many and I have in common. It’s the fact we share the same sentiment of…

 

MY DOMAIN NAME

Before the semester began I was thinking of the type of content I’d like to create since being a game designer didn’t work out.

 

And like game design. It really has no limits. I just want to “artistically” be able to do whatever I want and be a one man wrecking machine.

 

Having a domain that can be the original home of all things me & my content is something I  don’t want to take lightly. I’m old-school minded. Just because our name carries our image and “reputations” with it, doesn’t mean we have to share our entire self with the world. I am my mother’s son. Angel DeJesus. There are too many working parts to me, my family, and my story to just casually put myself out there. Or am I paranoid?

Angel_DeJesus.com?

Eh. For that I should do…

Angel_Day_Hey_Zeus.com

Spinning the direct translation…

The_Angel_of_Jesus.com

I like that one as my runner-up. I’d rather people find out my name and develop a curiosity of who I am thru my work/content. I still believe in (some) privacy. I also thought of switching my gaming name to my domain.

Ange_De_Strange.com  or  AnJ_Da_StranJ.com

But I believe my best working domain name is…

A_Strange_Perspective.com

It’s the name I had originally thought of for a podcast of some sort. And since The Strange Perspective is taken, I believe I can at least start mine, then scale it with whatever else from my domain. The idea for that and more came from one of my favorite stand-up bits of George Carlin who famously said “…It’s a straaange culture…” Check it out down below.

Questions/Comments? Feel free to share

MY FAVORITE MUSICIAN

My favorite Musician is drummer Danny Carey

He became my favorite drummer after this guy…

Lars Ulrich. drummer for Metallica.

But anyway. Back to my guy. Danny Carey. Drummer for Tool. Rock band with a signature art style you might’ve seen. To be that good of a drummer I believe takes the same type of discipline that is required to master the art of digital storytelling. It’s always important to keep finding fresh new ways to tell your story. On that note.

Here are two of my favorite songs that highlight his drumming skills…

Allegedly the art style is inspired by a psychedelic herb called Ayahuasca. Also known as DMT.  Here’s Joe Rogan talking about it…

 

 

The Art of the Meme

ARE MEMES ART?

I don’t know if it’s an age and/or generational thing. I don’t care for it but I definitely appreciate it when it’s well done in my eyes. I equate it almost like a random (art) museum visit. Everyone’s going to have a different favorite exhibit, and some people might just feel indifferent or unimpressed. Memes are a great tool for digital communication but they are limited to just that. Humans can’t, haven’t, nor will master basic vocal interaction and here we go in a digital age making things more complicated. But anyway, that said…

But then…

Now. Since I don’t want to go and/or get lost down the meme making (Giphy.com)rabbit hole any more than I feel I have to for the day. I invite anyone reading this to my last 3 posts for the digital version of some of my  backstory.

  1. https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/introduction/,
  2. https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/internet-happiness-7/
  3. https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/my-first-gif/

And now…

 

MY FIRST GIF!

Hey everybody. I wanted to use my first GIF post to piggy back off of my internet happiness one. In it I embedded a set mix by the DJ group Tale of Us. What you didn’t know or should I say I didn’t include is that if it weren’t for the video game Grand Theft Auto 5 I wouldn’t even know about these guys. This is them at my in-game club Galaxy killing it…

And yes, I game during my leisure to maintain my sanity and happiness. Where else would I be able to put myself in a situation like…

AYYYY!!!

And deal with my trolling haters like…

No I do not condone violence nor I do I think/believe video games directly cause it. But on a more serious note. I’m glad I can officially say I know how to make a GIF. I’m a Taurus so I just couldn’t resist including a bull in something. I love the creative range Prof. Seslow allows on here. I unfortunately am taking JOUR282 at the same time as this class and it’s (writing) is much more restrictive. But I’d like to think I’m a smart rebel…

And hopefully by the end of the semester be more comfortable marrying all these skills, metamorphizing them into my own so I can be a better all around communicator and not feel like this all the time…

 

Internet Happiness

Hello everyone. Thankfully. Due to my relationship with the Internet, over the weekend I was able to watch two recent episodes of my favorite shows. Looking beyond those two, the internet contributes to my happiness almost all the time. I use it almost exclusively to stream some sort of media mainly in the form of music. I don’t do Instagram, Facebook, or Tik-ToK. And I actively repel all things related to the current state of rap, Hip-Hop. Too old for that $#!^. I’d like to say that I only utilize the internet for educational enlightenment purposes but I’m sure I slip up every now and then like most. But anyway, I digress. I thought I’d share my favorite content from over the weekend. I hope it brings you all as much joy as it does me.

 

Introduction

 

Hello everyone. My name’s Angel DeJesus and I’m clearly a week late to the blog party. I’m here at York majoring in Communications Technology with a minor in Music Production. My favorite ice cream flavor is

I’m a self-proclaimed movie whore, and my list of activities seems too long to list at the moment. However, at the moment, I am all in on the 2nd Impeachment Trial of Donald J Trump. If only to see/hear/feel its sad, depressing yet hilarious nuances, and wait for its result.