Assignment #4: Passions

What I am most passionate about is music. But what about music? When it comes to music, I enjoy discovering new things that I like that I would incorporate into my own music/ performance habits.

One thing I look for when listening to music are licks.

Yeah, you heard it right. I look for licks in music. The reason I look for these most of all is because by knowing certain licks over certain common chord progressions, you make the art of improvising over those chord progressions a lot easier, and it makes you have to think less about what you’re doing.

In the Jazz space of music, there is a famous lick that is said to be so commonly used, it was named “The Lick.” There is a whole video that just shows examples of the Lick being played in so many songs. It even managed to infiltrate Halo.

So, What Got Me Into This Passion?

I recently got into this passion during the summer of 2023, around August. I didn’t have a piano around since I went on vacation to Barbados. I asked my piano mentor what I should do during that long break since it would be impossible for me to practice, and what he told me was eye opening. He said I should listen to as much music as possible.

While it may seem obvious to most that one should listen to music to get better at music, at the time, I thought that the best thing I could do was practice my instrument. However, after applying this advice during my trip, it become a passion/ hobby that I do often.

During my trip, I listened to a lot of Oscar Peterson, which blew my socks off. He sounded incredible, and, what I liked most of all, his style of performance seemed like something I could try to replicate. His performance was both flashy and simple. The more I listened to him, the more I wanted to practice, but I couldn’t.

Here are some of my favorite performances by Oscar Peterson:

This is my favorite performance by him. Although this performance does not sound like the original song, I feel as if this is how the song was meant to be, and should have been, played when it was first released.

This performance is my second favorite. It shows some of the flashiness of Oscar Peterson’s playing, but also shows how simple, and how often he repeats ideas.

As my family and I were making our way through the airport in order to come back from Barbados, I was shocked to see a public piano waiting to be used. There weren’t many people there too, so I was more inclined to use it, and use it I did. With all the music I listened to on the trip, I was ready to try and replicate at least one thing I heard. Unfortunately for me at the time, I was not able to replicate what I was hearing and sounded horrible trying.

While I did not sound how I thought I would sound after listening to all that music, I was deeply inspired, which fired me up to practice my instrument more. Now, I can replicate what I heard during that summer, and I am eager to continuously look for new things to admire and replicate.

Are Memes art?

Based on the Harvard Crimson, memes can be considered art. It is not simply a message that is put on top of a picture, but a combination of image and text that conveys emotion. The ability to know how to properly combine the two so that the meme is effective, and gets the message across, is art.

In The Rise of Memes as an Art Form, it is stated that Puerto Rican artist Jesús “Bubu” Negrón compares the process of memes entering the art world to a video going viral on YouTube. The same comparison could be made with memes becoming popular in the first place, and how effective a person can make a meme.

As said in the Harvard Crimson, memes die as fast as they are created. A good meme will be effective at conveying its message, it will be able to be replicated, or re-interpreted, and will be able to come back after it dies.

Are Memes Good or Bad for Art?

Memes could only be good for art. Memes gives artist content to use instead of having to create ideas from nothing. Artist can take popular memes and reinvent it, whether by hand drawings, or through graphic design. Either way, by using memes, artist can broaden their skills. In addition, using memes in art will attract more of an audience to the artist because people will recognize what is being drawn, and may like the way the artist reinvented the meme.

Are Memes Good for Communication?

Memes are a form of communication, there is no way it could harm communication. If anything, memes enhance communication by making it more entertaining to do. Instead of just talking, or sending text, people now go and send memes that convey the emotion they are feeling, or that represents the response they want to give to the other person. As a result, this meme makes the recipient more engaged in the communication and maybe laugh at the response.

Are Memes Simply Just Forms of Self-Expression?

In no way are memes just forms of self-expression. Memes meant for self-expression usually involves pictures, or short clips, to help express the emotion trying to being communicated. However, as stated in the Harvard Crimson, a meme could involve a simple screenshot of a funny text message. At that point, the meme would not be for self-expression, but to show a funny moment that happened, which may be reposted because someone else found it funny.

Favorite Memes

Some Memes I Created

we can go on and on for days about what makes me happy in the media from movies to sitcoms to comedy shows .Tik Tok  has been my number one for this week , I been watching a lot of Nara smith cooking stuff from scratch for her kids and husbands like cereal from scratch and marshmallows ,I want to try making cereal and marshmallows from scratch but it would be a epic fail in my opinion but hey you can’t not it till you try it for yourself , another thing is kai caneat streams I don’t miss one stream theres always something new and interesting he puts me on to a lot of other streamers food and cultures .

A topic I am passionate about is Tokusatsu. I absolutely love Mecha, Kaiju, and Transforming heroes, both American and Japanese.

My first foray into the world of Tokusatsu was when I was a kid watching shows like Power Rangers and old Godzilla movies.

I have fond memories of watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers on TV when I came back home from school.

I remember when I was a kid my dad bought me a VHS tape of 1998 Godzilla.

While this version of Godzilla wasn’t the traditional version, It was the version that introduced me to Godzilla, from there I watched Godzilla vs The Astro Monster.

As grew up I slowly weaned off my liking for tokusatsu but now I’m trying to get back into it which comes to my favorite series.

Kamen Rider is a decades-old media series that started in the sixties by manga artist and TV director/writer Shotaro Ishinomori.

Following the titular character, Kamen Rider, a cybernetic warrior based on a grasshopper who was given his suit and modifications by SHOCKER, an evil Nazi Organization that wishes to revive the Third Reich, Takeshi Hongo gets kidnapped by SHOCKER and they try to brainwash him after being turned into Kamen Rider, however breaking free of SHOCKER’s grasp Takeshi Hongo decides to dedicate his life and newfound power to destroying SHOCKER, transforming into Kamen Rider through his Rider Belt and riding his motorcycle into battle.

This show was what started four important themes that resonate throughout the series still now.

1. The idea of fighting for Justice and Good.

2. The idea of using the Power Of Evil for Good.

3. Transforming with a Belt.

4. Having some sort of vehicle to ride, usually a motorcycle.

The reason why I love Kamen Rider is because of how unapologetically tropey it is.

Unlike most American superhero movies which try to appeal to adults by being more “serious” and less goofy, for example, Zack Synder’s DCEU.

Kamen Rider allows itself to be goofy and funny, from its comedy to its suits, but it also is capable of being serious at the same time.

To note again, Kamen Rider’s suits look very cool.

Unlike recent American media which tries to make suits look realistic and less goofy, Kamen Rider suits are unabashedly colorful while looking goofy and badass at the same time.

Like I said before, Kamen Rider also is capable of handling serious topics despite being a show for teenagers.

Kamen Rider Gaim, who is the orange rider above, for example, is a show where the main character Kouta Kazuraba turns into an Orange-themed Samurai-based Kamen Rider. His rival is Kaito Kumon who becomes Kamen Rider Baron, a Knight-based rider whose main form is armor shaped like a banana.

And other riders and armors are just as goofy.

The show also deals with the ideas of strength, of what one must sacrifice to achieve strength, and how both strength and a lack of strength can cause a loss of morality.

Kamen Rider Build, which is considered one of the best shows in the Heisei era, deals with themes of war and conflict between nations, and how science and technological advancement can both harm and help people.

Despite the goofy exterior, the show can get dark, and gorey, as older Showa shows had monsters exploding into pieces! While that can’t slide on television anymore, there are V-Cinema, reboots, and specials where since there is a lack of restrictions on violence, the Riders can get as gory as they want.

Kamen Rider’s success to this day shows that to appeal to kids, teens, and adults, you don’t need to be serious, with a grimy atmosphere, but you can be lighthearted, goofy, and serious, dark at the same time.

To be honest, I am not sure what I am passionate about. I can see my potential passions being such as dance and drawing or painting, but since I have not taken them seriously over the past years, I would not classify them as being passions for me. If dance were to be serious (as in me going to dance classes or being on an official dance team), then I could see dance being a passion. I am open to learning different genres.

The types I like as of right now are Hip-hop and Afro-beats. The same thing applies to art. I stopped drawing a few years ago, so if I were to be consistent, it is possible that drawing could also be a passion. I have been dancing and drawing since I was younger (since elementary). I do not remember when I started dancing, but I would be a part of shows from my afterschool to perform at different places. Other than hip-hop and Afro beats, I have learned a little from different genres such as ballet, modern dance, tap dancing, and more.

For drawing, I do not know when I drew for myself but I was decent at it since I would have assignments and projects for school. Also, when I drew for myself, I would draw from what I saw on the internet and draw as precisely from what I saw. I did not draw realistically as in drawing people (unless they were cartoons or anime characters) or drawing at the moment what I saw in real life.

After reading What is a Passion? it confirmed that art and dance are not passions for me as of right now. I say this because passion “refers to a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement either from something or about doing something”. With the 10 steps of how to find your passion, I am open to looking into it to help me.

What I liked about the reading was that not only does it give tips for finding your passion and what to do after you find your passion, but it also differentiates the difference between passions and hobbies. People tend to associate their hobbies with their passions (there is nothing wrong with that) but not realizing that your hobbies do not have to be your passion. Overall, this reading can help me dig deeper into exploring other passions and/or taking my potential passions seriously.

Two projects?? Hmm…well I’m in luck to pick out two projects give me one second!

Here it is!

(Hyper-link is on the image)

1. This project I would want to do because as you can see I always react and give context gifs when it comes to my blogs (plus Quby and I love to keep you guys entertained!), posting a reaction of what I’m doing during the day or what I remember before while posting reaction gifs about my topic and what details I give. Like Quby giving you medicine 😀

Here’s the second link to what I want to do!

(Hyper-link is on the image)

Although I’m good at writing/typing but it depends on a certain topic because I would have to think a lot harder to know what to say for this specific topic especially when it comes to this topic which is self wellness check because everyone has different ways to do a self-care routine but sometimes it’s hard to explain for others which I fall into that category sometimes.

These links I provided within the image I chose these because what I need to learn to complete them is using PhotoPea for the Self Wellness Check assignment and as for Reaction Gifs I would use https://tenor.com and use my good ol’ pal Quby to help out with that. Any projects I have to do I will always try my best with the new tools I will be using and learned from but I’m hoping it’s not a lot because I have a life outside of school as well as not wanting to feel overwhelmed and having a mental breakdown.

These skills are important if you’re really into it especially when it comes to technology nowadays advancing every day, month, year, and/or decade. There are people that are interested in technology specifically web design or computer science, tv stuff, game design, etc and I say that because I want to be a web designer in my future so I’m glad that I’ll be learning a lot of programs and/or skills to use for technology specifically web design.

As always keep it real, let me know what I’m missing here and don’t be afraid to comment and talk to me 🙂

Bye Bye! 😀

Passions are whatever brings you joy, sparks interest within you, something you can spend countless amount of time on and without a doubt you wouldn’t be bored. My passion is superhero movies and shows.

Superhero content has been a favorite of mines since I was a child. It’s like the only form of movies and shows. I could never get tired of seeing them and occasionally rewatch most of them. Even some of the most hated superhero movies I honestly really enjoy and still standby them of being decent watches, for example one of my favorite movies is Daredevil(2003). Well more specifically the director’s cut of the film.

Another while being a long watch I still found interesting was one of the hated hero movies that still gets talked about in the fanbase, Batman vs Superman: Ultimate editon. These films are considered terrible to most hero fans, but honestly I can still watch them and feel entertained.

Next I was always such a big fan of the action present in these shows and movies. With the countless powers at their disposal or skilled fighers. They can take any creative step they can with the fight scenes.

These are some of the best hand to hand combat scenes in a few hero shows and movies for me personally.

An interesting fact about this fight scene is that it’s a one take, well all the hallway fights are in the Daredevil show. Meaning there was no cuts between the part it was completed at once. The only cut was when he’s holding the kid after the fight.

Throughout the years we have had alot of live action batmans, but many would still agree that this is one of the best fights crafted for Batman.

Then the fight scenes that are more on the power aspect.

This fight was a creative choice, considering with all the abilites this hero is capable of, it was a creative choice to make it like a music battle, against his own counterpart as well.

One of the best parts about superhero media is how it can be a mix of carefree experiences while can also show the darkside of things. They aren’t afraid to express dark themes and can be very impactful. There are even moements that gets me hype or just leave you shocked on how well they look and the choice of soundtracks or the visuals itself.

The shows already are one of the best parts of being a hero fan, there’s always the fan favorites 90s era of animated shows like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man animated series. Which mostly started many kids viewpoints of these heroes. Even have the joy of having crossovers with other characters within their universe.

My personal favorites would be Spectacular Spider-Man, The Boys(do be advised lots of mature warnings) and with one of the best hero teams like the Justice League. Even if these aren’t your style there are still tons of shows to choose from with more in the making. I can’t wait for DareDevil Born Again to come out, It looks promising.

Overall all these always have a space in my mind as it’s filled with such interesting characters with a wide variety, some of them may even be more  relatable to you then you think. They can set examples and even give people something to strive towards an ideal, well you know besides all the powers unless metahumans are hiding among us after all.

Honestly I would recommend for others to attempt to give some of them a watch, doesn’t matter if it ends up not being your style. They can be enjoyed by any age groups and you can actually see some actors at their best performances and some high tier cinematography or even laugh at some of the questionable cgi.

If you ever watched some superhero movies or shows, share which were your favorites if you want in the comments.

And remember

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.

Digital Storytelling Project Flexibility

There is A LOT of CT101 Digital Storytelling Project Flexibility..

Professor Michael Smith introduced me to the DS106 Assignment Repository many many years ago..

I am glad that he did! 

Now that we are getting comfortable with publishing blog posts to our class website, embedding media like images, GIFS, memes, videos and hyperlinks, it’s time to push things further with content creation and deciding on how you will go about it.

Prof. Smith wrote the following in a blog post from a previous semester;

“In CT-101 you will have the opportunity to create many, many different pieces of media throughout the semester. Inspiration for these projects can come from a number of places. Two great websites that inspired this class and are hosted by a digital storytelling class at the University of Mary Washington.

One, is their ds106 assignment repository which has project prompts that are categorized by a variety of media types (visual, design, audio, video, mashup, writing, fanfic, and animated gifs). Visitors can browse through and sort by most examples completed, most viewed, newest, and more.. 

The second, is also a site known as the daily create which gives a daily project prompt to “make something” using various types of media.

Finally, you, yourself can also find a particular website that has a media piece and/or project type of interest to you – Tumblr and/or Reddit can be fun for this – Photoshop Battles is a favorite of mine.

Do you know of one? If so, share that link here!

*The ASSIGNMENT – (assignment #5)

In a New Blog Post this Week – Let us address and execute the following:

Browse through the mentioned websites above (ds106 & daily create) and find two projects that you think you would like to do.

1.One that you believe you already have the skills to do – or you believe you could figure out on your own.

2. And another (hopefully of a different media type) you don’t know how to do yet and would like to learn.

Working from the DS106 site, the Daily Create site or otherness – select, describe and hyperlink to two assignments/project ideas and tell us why you’ve chosen them. What do you think you’d need learn to complete them? How many of these kinds of projects do you think you should be doing in this semester so that you might learn and build both emergent storytelling skills and use new tools to create them? Why do you think these skills are or are not important?

Be sure to narrate your steps and support your descriptions with screen shots of the process. Be sure to actually complete one of the assignments and add it into your blog post.

***Please pay attention to proper blogging formatting – this post is an example of the necessary amount of embedded media types and written text to support the process.

***Also, be sure to leave a comment or two on one or more of your classmate’s blog posts! 

Below – Photopea.com is a great web browser based image editing and manipulation tool – much like a watered down version of photoshop but it has great immediate creative power – we will discuss and share some ways that photopea can come in handy for this assignment

Here is a great video tutorial for HOW to use and work with photopea – its easy and super fun to work along side of, Im excited to see what you will do!

Have fun and reach out of you need help or have questions, you add your questions to the comments section below!

The History of Digital Storytelling ੈ✩‧₊˚

The first world internet celebrity Mahir Çağrı in 2009. Established as the first person to achieve celebrity status solo through the internet. In modern society we now have so many internet celebrities from different platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat they are called social media influncers or internet celebrities.

The first YouTube video was by Jawed at the San Diego Zoo. His video would now be considered a vlog. YouTube has come a long way since then, even though many people now are saying there isn’t any fun content on YouTube anymore as people chase the algorithm. But I like my YouTube timeline it keeps me motivated and inspired when I watch a day in my life, morning routines, and hair care routines. When im in the mood to watch gaming content it’s avaible anytime in the search engine. 

˚ ༘♡ ·˚꒰MY LIST OF PASSIONS ꒱ ₊˚ˑ༄

1. RELATIONSHIPS ✩

Being passionate about relationships can illustrate your desire to maintain closeness with your loved ones and build stronger, more meaningful bonds with new people who enter your life.

I love spending quality time with my parents whether that be talking to them about my day, watching movies, or going out to eat together. I also enjoy spending time with my little sister, having a sister is one of the sweetest things in the world I love her so much. Family is important to me. 

2. RELAXATION ✩

Prioritizing relaxation in your professional and personal life can be beneficial.

I practice self-care in many ways for my mental health and to reward myself.  I practice stretching and listen to calming and positive music while I clean or do my homework. I try to keep up with face masks and hair masks because they make me feel better and look better. I am also looking into meditative techniques like breathing exercises.

3. PERSONAL GROWTH ✩

To be passionate about personal growth means to desire to make positive changes in your lifestyle. This passion focuses on you as a person, whether in your approach to your personal life or the workplace

I identify long-term and short-term goals I have for myself. Long-term would be a condo apartment, car, pets-2 bunnies, kids- 2-3, husband, journalist. short term would be getting approved for the internship, reading more, improving my sleep schedule, getting to school earlier, etc. Having a positive mindset, reading, repeating, and writing down positive affirmations. I practice forgiveness of self and others. I celebrate my progress and accomplishments by buying myself a cake or something on my wishlist.

4. CREATION – CREATIVE EXPRESSION ✩

A passion for creating new things is common among artistic individuals and employees. You might enjoy brainstorming ideas for a new piece and undergoing the development process to bring your ideas to fruition.  

I enjoy writing short stories,  publishing my opinions in these blog posts, and capturing images of the environment, food, and just things I find pretty. I like thinking and planning out my outfits the process of picking hairstyles and accessories is so fun for me. I think my interest in fashion came from my childhood BRATZ, Monster High, Ever After High, and of course, BARBIE  these shows were huge fashion inspo for me because they taught me how to dress and that being unique was okay. Personality comes out through your clothes and I have built a wardrobe wear I'm comfortable in and feel most confident in.

5. LESIURE- FREE TIME ✩

To do something with leisure means to practice an activity in your free time and at your own pace. Leisure activities can help you relax, and you might discover new passions while doing the things you love. 

On the same thing as self-care, it's important to not occupy your mind with just school and work. I enjoy my free time by watching my favorite movie The Great Showman or rewatching any comfortable childhood cartoon movie like Big Hero 6 or Finding Dory.  My favorite animated show has to be  Bob's Burgers or SpongeBob Squarepants. I love superheroes and villains because my parents do and they have passed it on to me. Reading romance books or Sci-Fi books, my love for science fiction came from my childhood again reading Hunger Games, Percy Jackson, and Warrior Cats.  I also try to explore something new like a new coffee flavor, or a new boba tea flavor, I like finding out things I like. 

Passion is everywhere you just have to go out and find it. Some might describe as your true north  is where your values, beliefs, and sense of purpose meet. I agree with this statement because once you find what you’re passion about you’ll get a real feel of who you are as a person.

Although I am passionate about many things, one of the top on my list would have to be fashion specifically styling different pieces together. Fashion styling

For those who don’t know basically is styling your clothes by choosing the accessories and clothing to fit the overall kind of aesthetic you are looking for.

This is an example of how I styled a friend of mine who makes music for a performance she was attending. Depending on the occasion, the outfits vary from different textures, prints, and colors. To make it easier I already know her shoe and clothing size. So when finding pieces online or in the store it   saves time.

It’s amazing that fashion styling may be traced back to centuries. Rose Bertin styled Queen Marie Antoinette in 1772, which marks the beginning of fashion styling history. This is reaction I got after reading that article

Even as a small child, I have always chosen what I wanted to wear. I tried experimenting with different prints and styles since I was given that creative freedom. “I have a passion for fashion,” I suppose you could say. That line is taken from the Bratz theme song, which is also my source of inspiration.

Here’s the link for the Bratz’s theme song.

I defiantly stand by this saying “If you look good, you’ll feel good”. This is me whenever I buy an unnecessary amount of clothes only to throw it back in the closet barley wearing it.

Earrings are my go-to fashion item. I feel naked whenever I’m not wearing earrings.. A carefully selected pair of earrings may instantly elevate your look from a 7 to a 10. Oh, and I prefer hoops for earrings. I wore earrings as a child because my mother used to tell me that the bigger the hoop, the bigger the dream, which is why I adore them so much.

Everyone has their passion in life, whether it is from cooking, to gaming, to even bird watching. In my life I came to love skating. 

The skateboard was invented in the late 1940’s and later on became very popular.

These days people skateboard everywhere, to work, school and just to get from point A to point B. 

I first became interested in skateboarding when I saw my friend skateboarding in Prospect park and I asked him to teach me and when I got a hang of it, I went straight to the store and I bought my own skateboard

Me showing my friends my new trick

The feeling of going speed and the wind hitting you in your face when skating is so refreshing and freeing. It gives me a sense of calmness and peace that I’ve never felt before. When skating I’m not thinking of anything, I just have a free open mind. 

How I feel on my skateboard

In a column, on The Harvard Crimson“The Art of Memes ” the author makes a case for memes being a mode of artistic expression underscoring their cultural relevance and imaginative qualities as noted in The Crimson. Moreover Artspers blog delves into the integration of memes in the realm of art signaling an acknowledgment of memes as an expressive medium within the art community according to Artsper. Additionally an article featured on Art Zealous explores how memes have ascended as an art form highlighting their transformation, from internet humor to an valued artistic platform as mentioned in Art Zealous. In essence these sources collectively support the notion that memes are recognized as a form of art showcasing their impact and creative dimensions.

Here are some of my favorite memes

This is me before my early classes.

Representation of me because I have insomnia.

I found that memes are a kind of art form. As https://yodoozy.com/memes-are-a-form-of-art/ stated, the meaning of art varies for everyone. Art is how people communicate their concepts and feelings. Therefore, memes allow people to express themselves effectively. To support this, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Zyswk07vg, the narrator stated that art is people creating images and sharing them with strangers. The purpose of this creation is to communicate personal experiences. This is where memes follow that criteria.  On the other hand, https://spokenvision.com/can-memes-be-considered-art/ discusses why memes can be considered art and why they can not. Memes can be considered art because memes fall into the definition of art. The counter-argument is that memes have no artistic value. In addition, memes are silly because they are for “cheap laughs”.  

The meme above is referencing Vampire Diaries. A powerful vampire named Klaus liked to have everything his way. When his family members would not go along with his plan, he would kill them (temporarily). This meme could be considered as a cheap laugh but this meme has value to me because I understood the reference and it is funny.

Since memes are here to stay, this can be both good and bad for art. A pro of memes staying is that they can enhance what art is and add to it. More ideas and expressions can expand, develop, and inspire others. This pro is good for communication because everyone can add their input or share the input of others. The con of memes is that people can eventually be interested in only seeing memes and not other types of art because they are easy to access. Therefore, typical art could lose its value. Memes can be bad for communication because not everyone will understand or relate to what memes are saying. As a result, misinterpretations will rise. To me, not only are memes forms of self-expression but also great reaction responses, conversation starters, easing tension in conversations, and creating jokes and laughs. For example: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLdbbssh/ 

I do not see memes used as much for storytelling because they are for straightforward jokes but memes can be used for storytelling. They can be used for storytelling by summarizing the key points or plot in movies, books, and shows. They are used in my experience here on the Web through summarized phrases or in a sentence. Also, memes summarize the personalities of characters either through pictures or videos.

This meme is from One Piece and summarizes the captain (Luffy) because not only is he friendly, but he likes to befriend people that look like you should avoid.