Idiocracy

just saw it.  good luck relating it to the rule of law ... and influence :)
Pondering it more this morning, I think the thing is:  humans like symbols.  To be human IS to be a symbol-maker and symbol-relater.  A leader IS a symbol.  Groups appear always to have a leader - or the group disbands.  Ever been around a friend and neither one of you knows what to do?  No decisions?  The friendship dissolves.  So since groups have leaders (or they dissolve) one question is:  will the leader act according to his own will/emotions/decisions - or by a set of standards.  What did we see in "Idiocracy?"  
What a COSTCO that was!

Meetups

meetup.com can be nice:  here are some meetup groups for filmmakers   The main one on that link is a producers group - but see down the left side some other meetup groups.

Me and I

Just saw Devil Wears Pravda.  Question:  Does Ann Hathaway have the most eyeball space per face surface on the planet?  Anyway, when she entered the job she was a "me" - the kind Miranda delineated, thinking she was a rebel and untouched by fashion.  Then fate had her become a fashion "me" under the Miranda tutalage.  Finally she became an "I", very nicely supported by her Northwestern and her Runway me performances - "me" enough to be her own "I".  Make sense?  Which thinker spoke of "me" and "I"?  It was George Herbert Mead.  Remember the "Me" and the "I" are always both at play, with one in the lead.  The "Self" is a process of me-I-me-I-me, etc.

Using the blog!

Hey everyone. I've been on vacation since the 16th, and wanted to check in. It's been difficult getting to a computer w/internet, but at last, I've found one!

There are lots of different people here, and it's quite odd going from such a huge city to a small little mountain town. I've had lots of fun observing the differences in lifestyle and just the little things that are done differently. I've also had a lot of fun getting back into the 'small town' living. It's so interesting how used to LA I've become in the few years I've lived there.

Hope class went well last week!  I'm quite surprised no one has been using this. I thought for sure the on-blog assignment would make people use it more often. I know I'm going to try to use the blog. I think it's a very different approach to class design, but it makes things interesting.

See you all Thursday!
(MT: Is there anything else I should know beside what is on the blog to bring to class next week? And should I bring my paper on free will from last week? Or email it to you? Thanks!)

on creativity - just as we were talking

From the author of Eat Pray Love

Clash of the Titans

Part I of 3 - on the last 125 years of physics
3 hours to sink your teeth into

beautiful Buddhist site

http://www.buddhaweb.org/

For week 4

Movie:  Ten Things I Hate About YOu and
"Situation and Structure" and
Chapter 6 of book "Influence"
1 double spaced page due from each of you.

How could anyone take the time to DO this?

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Chap 1 and "Saved!"

You will learn one concept in Chapter 1.   Apply it to the movie "Saved!"
Each of you will comment here with 2paragraphs - 2 instances of how you see that concept at work in "Saved!".  If you are first, you might "capture" it well and some of the subsequent posters will probably have to imitate you.  Question is:  where do we get our beliefs?

Tell a Story - Here is my story

I created a blog for the class.  One person participated in it right away, and I happily replied - and then nothing:  day after day, nothing. There was no participation.  Are students in class just because they think they must be in class?  Do they want nothing from it but the fulfillment of a requirement?  Is learning a bore?  I thought of Otto Rank:  should I destroy the blog, run and hide from the blog or re-create the blog?   I picked re-create:  I decided to put an assignment here every week.  This week, your assignment is to tell a story.  See you at 2pm.

vote on film after "Saved!"

ok - we watched a contemporary film.  How about a classic - 1below? or U pick.  Comment/vote here

• The Americanization of Emily
• Dodsworth
• One From the Heart
• The Palm Beach Story
• On The Waterfront
• The Searchers

Two Links for Day One

Rifkin  and Children See, Chilren Do

SAVED! TRAILER!!!