It was exciting to hear, on the first day we were going to be constructing our own website! (yikes). Every Tuesday morning was highly anticipated for me because I really looked forward to all the details behind making my very own website. Now, this doesn’t go to say that I was not interested in making a web later on, based on my progress throughout the semester but I have a confession to make.

Despite all that has happened in my life during the course of the semester, I have made a bad habit of procrastinating. As much as I know how capable I am of passing this class with flying colors, I had a hard time outside of the classroom with life getting in the way and time management. In the end, those things didn’t stop me from finishing off the semester strong. I have all of my mandatory blogs completed and my web is still in the works with the intent to be a true car enthusiast safe haven.

This class was all about creativity on a deeper level. I honestly can’t even believe that meme’s were as significant as they were from the dancing baby. And to think that blogging makes the world go round. There are blogs for everything… no exaggeration. It was truly a pleasure learning about different types of art, meme’s, and digital storytelling. The history behind blogging; everything categorized separately but they all come together to make one piece.

Considering how fascinated I am with WordPress, I can definitely see myself continuing on with my blog website. Since the semester is over, I have a lot more time to focus on my website. There are still a few features I am navigating through. If someone were to ask me what my news years resolution is for 2024… it’d be to finish my website before my birthday (in February).

My published blogs.

Assignment #10

Assignment #9

Assignment #7 – Mid-Semester Reflection & Domain Name Post

MMMhmm…

Mash Em’ Up

More than a passion… call it obsession.

Memes on Memes.

gIF ONLY I USED GIFS!

BMW Car Meet!!

Domain

edepas.com

My website is clear-cut. There is nothing fancy about it. My intention is to grab the attention of car lovers and car enthusiast-opinion-seekers. My website will be used as a place to express feelings based on the obsession with cars. My goal is to keep my blog site as broad and wide-ranged as possible to give car enthusiasts of other make and models to speak on behalf of the love of their life. The website will include sectors for mechanics (where I will include my experiences of getting my hands dirty), my dreams cars (where I will share the photos of the cars I want to own in my lifetime), the best interior and exterior color combination (where I will share a short descriptive list of my favorite vehicle color combos) AND my first-time experience driving a manual transmission vehicle (because a stick-shift is better than auto-shift).

Building a website is far from easy. It gets very frustrating when you don’t know what most symbols represent when editing. LOL. But the beauty of it is finding out how to navigate. I know I sound like a broken record (one last example) but I’m the person that likes to open up a box of furniture and throw the instruction manual out immediately.

So, being a perfectionist doesn’t make projects easy. Not in the slightest way possible. If I plan on adding a text box, it has to be aligned in the center. Sometimes a center alignment can throw off the whole sequence of a page when scrolling. This is where things get a little out of hand because I am now, sitting in front of my laptop playing with the alignment of different aspects of my web. It’s easy to be distracted by something so small when working on something much bigger (pau…).

Out with the nonsense, in with the details.

I actually really enjoy using wordpress. Although, I don’t find it to be as user friendly as I’d like it to be BUT… I am someone who likes to navigate to find my way around despite being given instruction on how to navigate. From everything I’ve done so far, I feel like a semi-professional with all the resources and tools and advance settings that are accessible to me.

This is what i’m thinking for my site.

Cars this, cars that. The design of my page will represent simplicity in a meaningful way. I feel like I have a few messages to get off my chest through blogging about the highlights of being a car enthusiast. I’m sure somewhere along the way, I’ll think of different topics to blog about. As far as the images and designs aspects of my site, I am still thinking about how I will go about it while maintaining simplicity. Only one thing left to do…

My, my, my… how good it felt to make a domain of my own.

The whole process wasn’t as extensive as I thought it would be. It was pretty breezy.

Now, for the challenging parts of every blog post for this class that I’ve completed… the ideas and the creativity. Thinking of something to blog about; the images to use and elaborate on to appeal to viewer/readers. In the process of setting up my web hosting account, I kept thinking about what peaks my interests on the internet. It’s nothing other than the videos and articles about my hobbies and interests that I usually get stuck scrolling through all-day long.

As many of you may already know my interests in cars will always be at the forefront of my brain when it comes to being creative.

With that being said, here is what I started out with. (As I started typing, I didn’t realize it was about cars until I took this screenshot. LOL)

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/mmmhmm/

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/mash-em-up/

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/more-than-a-pass…all-it-obsession/

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/memes-on-memes/

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/gif-only-i-used-gifs/

https://ct101.commons.gc.cuny.edu/bmw-car-meet/

How am I doing in CT101?

• Honestly, I fell off in CT101. Despite enjoying working on the assignments that I have completed, life has caught up to me to where I am stuck in a bottleneck with school.

What have I learned and retained the most?

• Creativity has been a very big part of CT101, in my opinion. I feel like I was able to open up different portals of creativity in my brain to deliver the best work possible.

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

• I feel like have been able to read ART so much better than before. Before taking CT101, I would have viewed some of my classmates’ art work with a negative outlook. This is so easy to do without the proper understanding of what is being presented and why it’s being presented the way it is.

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

• There are so many different software’s and programs that I have never heard of. Using these different platforms like Photopea was very interesting and simple.

What grade do I believe I am maintaining and why do I deserve that grade? 

• Considering I fell behind with the completion of my assignments, it is hard to say what grade I would have in this class but I look to get back on track to get the grade I desire.

Do I see my weekly blogging work expanding creatively? If so, please explain why –  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, honestly. It has become easier for me to follow all the directions of the assignments as the semester goes on without feeling overwhelmed that there is so much to do.

Are there any assignments that you are missing? If so, list them.

• I believe I am missing assignments five assignments. I have a lot of catching up to do. Assignments five, six, seven, eight and nine.

Are you commenting regularly on your classmates posts? Are you responding back to comments given to you by the professor & your classmates?

• I haven’t been consistent commenting on my classmates’ posts but I will be sure to do so.

Are you participating during the class time? If not, explain why.

• I am attentive during class, I have participated but not as much as Professor Ryan would like, I’m sure. The reason being is because I am having a hard to expressing my creativity out loud since it was something that I have always kept to myself.

This is the time to be accountable. How will you make needed improvements?

• Focusing is a big part in making improvements in CT101. The moment you look away from the lesson/instructions being explained about an assignment, can set you back from being on track.

DOMAIN NAME

So, I actually have a domain name already. I was hoping to be able to use that name but because the domain is still active with Google, it doesn’t look too good. I would like to transfer it to wordpress and actually construct a website using the domain name. “BMTHUSED”. This name was something I thought of years ago since I became a BMW car enthusiast. It took me some time to get creative with this name but as you can see, I kind of just mashed it up to make it sound like a phrase in one word.

I’m not sure if this is what I’ll go with because it is taking too long to figure out how to transfer the domain. Also, I’m not sure if it’s free…

Here we have it. A blog of creativity that highlights where I get my ideas from. When I work on my blogs for CT101, I’m required to think.

It is extremely crucial to be surrounded by inspiration when thinking of ideal ways to be creative. For me, I’ve concluded that movies are the best way to get “in my bag“. I’m able to piece people, objects and certain gifs or images pertaining to scenes and characters in movies or shows. It also allows me to tap into different ways of being creative.

Working with mmm.page was such a joy. It was pretty simple using the resources on the site and not having to incorporate gifs or images from other platforms. The best part of any platform I enjoy using is the simplicity. Any platform that steers clear of complexity will always get my vote!

Ice Cube has done some awesome work with the movies that he has not only played in but also wrote and produced. Most of the popular films he’s played in really highlight the Black culture and raw comedy of comedians. My website design is constructed of a small portion of characters, titles and lines said in different movies that Ice Cube has played in.

Check out my mmm.page!!

https://edepas.mmm.page/thebarbershop

A world of mashed up art and music at it’s finest.

“Mashup photos from your favorite movie with the sheet music from it’s best song in the movie. Using Adobe Photoshop or comporable, play with overlays, Image effects, Opacity, and Masks to create one cohesive piece.”

https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/music-and-imagery/

I came across a project that really challenged me. The description of the project itself sounds very simple until you try to get creative in a way that has meaning. Fortunately, an idea came to mind when I heard the song “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth. I thought… this song became so popular as part of a tribute to Paul Walker. Although I had this idea in mind, I wasn’t sure of what to do for the project itself. I started searching cars that he drove in the movies to incorporate in this project but then I realized, I wouldn’t be honoring one of the best actors that ever lived unless it included pictures of him.

TRY NOT TO CRY!

This next project was something that I’ve had previous experience in. I’ve even added a little of bit of my own sound from years ago when I use to Dj.

“For this assignment, you’re going to take the instrumental of a song and mash it up with the VOCALS of another song! Here’s the main challenge with this; both songs have to have similar beats per minute (bpm) to work properly together. You can find songs with just instrumentals or just vocals on Youtube, then use Audacity or Garageband to match up the tracks. (Hint, if the bpm is a little bit off, you can always delete portions of the vocals and move them closer or farther from each other to keep things on beat.)”

https://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/vocal-instrumental-mashup/

As a Dj, I tried so many different techniques to either blend or mashup music. It was my pride and joy before my obsession with cars but that’s a story for another day.  I had to learn the Serato Itch djing software in order to master the art of a disc jockey. Listen to this song and see how I was able to choose two songs with the same beats per minute, extract the audio from one song and the instrumental from another song and put them together on beat.

I LOVE cars with a passion. I actually didn’t even know I was as passionate about cars until I decided to buy my first BMW. An automatic, base model  BMW 525xi.

Before that I use to impress my mother with naming any and every car that I would see on the road when I was young. For some reason, cars always enticed me. I loved admiring the designs, the sounds, and different things people did to make the car look more appealing to them. After my second BMW, I had to get another one. I was HOOKED!

So I sold that BMW above and planned to get something a lot newer… that required me to save as much money as possible to get ahead of paying for a car note. I went 10 months without a car just to do so. I car pulled with friends and family and also took public transportation to and from work just for my dream to come true. The day came and I couldn’t believe it; I owned the car that I dreamt of owning for months.

A BMW 340i with a 6 liter engine pushing over 300 horsepower and torque, equipped with a MANUAL transmission.

The reason MANUAL is capitalized is because it’s the number one reason I bought the car. I had little to no experience of working on cars but at the time I got this car, the internet was flooded with tutorials on how to “do it yourself”. In the car enthusiast world, there’s something people like to refer to as “the bug”. People who first start modifying their cars don’t stop and I experienced this first hand. I changed many, many parts on my bimmer. So much that I considered enrolling into school to become an Automotive Mechanic (not kidding).

                       

                                       

“Art is constantly evolving, but if the purpose of art is to express a human truth, the Internet meme fits the bill.” I have to give it up for Jeannine Gliddon Owens; this was well said. I side with her opinions on the topic of Memes being equal to Art; you may find some valid points that you hadn’t thought of yourself on Meme as Art.

I believe Memes are good for Art. It can be considered a category of its own like painting and graphite drawings. When it comes to communication, I feel like the horizon has been broadened. How so? When you think of Memes, I’m sure it’s not the same way you’d think of The Mona Lisa. Therefore, the thoughts in your mind are different from what they would have  been had you looked at an original painting of an image compared to a Meme. This is how the communication changes, and this is why I think it’s good. It’s the same topic, art, but in a different light.

Memes can be used for any and everything. I’ve seen them used for self-expressions but it doesn’t mean that they haven’t been used for more than just that. It’s just what I have paid attention to, what I’ve used Memes for and the purpose they serve in my world. Memes tell stories; they may not be the lengthiest of stories but they deliver the message and can be very addictive to read, share and constantly reference in jokes.

There’s no way I can start this blog without acknowledging how dope our professor is with a standing ovation. The creativity that is encouraged, the detail-oriented explanations of each of our assignments brings tears to my eyes.

It really excites me to know how many things we’ll be doing in CT 101 that I will really enjoy learning to do… starting with this blog post.

I don’t anticipate any dull moments nor do I dread Tuesday mornings. I do anticipate the stroll to the classroom, though because it’s CT 101 Day!

I feel like all my other classes are very serious, which isn’t a bad thing. There just isn’t much room for creativity in those other classes.

There’s no limit to how creative we can be with Digital Storytelling… as long as it’s taught by the best professor teaching it.

Don’t mind if I let you guys in on something I binge watch on youtube very often. The first Sunday of this month was an annual car event welcoming all BMW’s ever made—Bimmer Invasion!

This event is what many enthusiasts prepare for all year long all over the country, whether it’s to show up and spectate or attend with intentions on winning an award in many different categories.

Also, for those of you that choose to watch the video and wonder why you see a two-door Toyota at a BMW car meet… it’s because the newer Toyota Supra’s were produced with the heart of a BMW engine! ↓↓↓