Final in-class writing assignment: TODAY

I could post the topic right here!  Then you could "walk around" all morning thinking about it - as an artist does about the art that is germinating in the soul.  You can respond by replying to the email you all have in your in box or by commenting on this post.  As soon as I get four, I post or send to you all the "prompt" for the topic about which you will write this afternoon.

An Amazing and Inspiring video !!!

"Your ONLY as Healthy as you FEEL"-Taxi Driver...
CHECK COMMENTS for "premises" talk.

Remaining 3 weeks

Nov 23:  Premise assignment due.  Giving thanks for  our current life premise.

• Annie Hall
• The Beguiled
• Chinatown
• The Great Debaters
• High Planes Drifter
• Hustle and Flow
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Ordinary People
• Shine
• The Social Network
• Unforgiven
• V for Vendetta
• Wall Street (orig)

Nov 30:  In class exercise (grammar:  little "stuff")
Dec 04:  Final in class exercise (content and structure:  "big stuff")

November 9: TODAY

1. Bring your Morning Pages
2. Bring fresh print out of elevator speech - having "accepted" (or rejected) my "track changes" edits
3. You were to email me your "Track Changes" of the film review - and bring a print out
4. You will hand in hard copy of your mini-Research paper with two citations from one book (the exercise where you actually pick out a BOOK in the library upstairs, cite it in two ways (comment here if you need more on this).  This is ONE PAGE with a "Works Cited" page as page 2.
5. We have 2 or 3 new presentations today:  email me your Power Point before Noon today.
6. NEXT WEEK WILL BE A "PREMISE" ASSIGNMENT - TO BE DUE THE FOLLOWING WEEK - SEE the post below.  Preparation for Premise assignment:  Natural Laws (use Roger Rabbit)

Pick a film for assignment due Nov 17

• Annie Hall
• The Beguiled
• Chinatown
• The Great Debaters
• High Planes Drifter
• Hustle and Flow
• Kramer vs. Kramer
• Ordinary People
• Shine
• The Social Network
• Unforgiven
• V for Vendetta
• Wall Street (orig)

Here's a movie plot for you

Oh my goodness - watch this!

"Leave Behinds"

Last line on your little hand out from yesterday.  Remember how I left you that little "hand out?"
What little hand out do YOU want to "leave behind" after YOUR presentation next week?
a book or movie recommendation?  A YouTube?  A website?  Just a business card?
YOU ARE GIVING THE AUDIENCE A PRESENTATION to MOVE them - to get them to DO something.
So figure out what "leave behind" you want to bring `10 of next week. 
Business card?  Hand out with information, a "saying?"  - at least a piece of chocolate!!

today's agenda

2-2:35  PPt:  quick n simple power point.  5-10 min
2:45 EOS - last chance
3:00 - 3:15 BREAK
3:15 - 3:20   ASSIGN "statement of self" (an intro to you) 
return at 4:00 with typed, printed statement of self
4:00 Pick 3 movies 
4:10 - 4:20 pick a review to re-write 
return at 5:30 PM with typed, printed superb re-written review
Title, BME, rule 17 - ALL THE RULES

I feel like this class is going quite swell. The research paper is coming along great...

RESEARCH PAPER FAIL

My topic is hard! Why did I do this to myself? Im not going to drive myself crazy over it, I'll hand in whatever I have tomorrow. Spare me Tabor- Spare me. Eghh.

making things easier on Wednesday

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2011/10/the-atomic-powerpoint-method-of-creating-a-presentation.html  Seth Goudin on Power Point



We are also going to learn story boarding with another free program

This week

Your research papers are due on Wednesday - right?
And your "team" Elements of Style - right?
We are not using this blog much to help us.  Try it.

fascinating news

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44999572/ns/world_news/#.TqRRarL6Mw9   We as a species are getting less violent (no matter how near violence may seem).  And YOU as a generation are getting smarter!

Found a gram error on MSN - can you see it?

Research paper

• Your paper will be 3 pages long ... 3 and a half maximum!
• You will have at least three references on a Reference Page - find the 3 references this week
• You will have a title page
• You will learn how to format and cite your references according to MLA style – next week

NEXT WEEK HAND IN ONE PAGE:
• introductory paragraph draft and
• just an outline – list – of what the paragraphs in the middle might turn out to be
• concluding paragraph draft and
• jot down the three references

I will write to each one of you individually about your particular project – tonight!

TODAY: Teams for conferences

...David and Stephen R (2 Lions) - absent
3:00 – 3:30  Ben and Janine (Tiger and Bear)

3:30 – 3:50  Anthony and Douglas (Tiger and Puppy)
3:50 – 4:20  Edwidge and Steven H (Bear and Puppy)

4:30  – all return w 5- 12 sentence proposal for research paper w yr email on top . . . you MAY even have EOS done, but EOS is due next week.  Also due next week:  response to my email response to your proposal.

 

James also Puppy 

October is Anti-Bullying Month

Little music video that some students from cch and myself were a part of making to promote awareness on bullying & violence in schools. Help spread the word by sharing with friends.

Class Discussion

I think the class discussions we have are quite interesting. For the first week, I enjoyed getting to know my classmates and getting to more about the people I've had in other classes. I have just received the "Elements of Style" book, but sadly, I had yet to read through it. I will though when the situation demands for it. Which should be this Wednesday.

How bad do you want it?

Had to share...

...this video of a 29-year old woman, born deaf, after receiving a hearing implant, reacts to being able to hear her voice for the first time.

Overall

Throughout the first hour of class i thought it was helpful getting feedback on how people seen the movie. I now see the main points to look after when the movie turns another direction. I feel as if now when I see a movie I will pay much more attention to it and the characters them selves.

Refection

In the pass hour of class my refection On structure writing has been on how can I improve in structure in writing, because I just don't want be average writer.
I never knew green meant love, I was thought red because the celeberate Valentine Day as red boy how society lie to our young youth, and they wonder why.

Really I cant think of a closing sentence cause break is over

NEWBEE

I have not seen any of the movies on the list, after listening what you guys had to say I would like to see American Beauty and Million Dollar Baby. It's cool to me how EVERYTHING in a movie has a purpose and is there for a reason. From the choice of lighting to the color of someones clothing, it's all symbolic.

Class Discussion

Today's conversation was great. I always thought of how i wanted to make a future, so that my kid's kid's could have something great to fall back on. Everything start's with me. They told us when we were kid's that we are the future. It makes me sad to know that all of my pier's don't feel the same way about that as i do.

treatment pointers

• a treatment just tells the story - and/or the angle on the story.
• it does not "assess" or "judge" - so no need to say things like "this is a great film" or "such and such actor did a great job."  those are assessements, judgments.  You just synopsize the film: the plot or the angle/style/idea.
• You also don't have to say "directed by so and so" or "released in 2010" - just identify the film.
• Remember:  snappy opening sentence and powerful closing sentence AND GOOD TITLE

Use comment field below to comment or ask questions.

on the moment of creativity - the power within

http://www.eckharttolletv.com/free/default.aspx?f=1#/14/The-Source-of-all-Creative-Power

2 films that deal with sociological issues

Just watched "The Adjustment Bureau" and "Clash of the Titans" and found that both films were interesting in that they both connect in religion, power/struggle, entrapment, love, and testing fate/faith/chance by making your own destiny regardless of higher powers that be. Free-will.

Who is connected to Whom

I mentioned this but could not remember the site name.
It is www.muckety.comGo there and look Upper R.H. corner for search bar.  Put in a name of any well-known figure.  You will see a graph of all their connections - then you can click on any one of those connected to center on their connections.

nice soc experiment

the links that didn't link today

1. how many of the last 10 Academy Award Winning movies were about women:  2
2. what recent winner had a quad-word in its title & was about new ways we relate to each other:  Social Network
3. a person in the "control-informal" quad might lack:  follow-through, fulfillment, consistency, being clear

It was fun; everyone was a good sport.  Hope you learned something.

The Fun Theory

I stumbled upon this clip and thought it was interesting---



---I know I would use the stairs more. But will it really change us in the long run?

Eventually won't people be used to it and stop using the stairs? Some "fun things" can become boring and have to be constantly reinvented. I feel like it's hard for us as a society to stay satisfied.

concepts (study guide for Wed)

power over vs. power to get things done
     power over 2 types:  coercion vs legitimate authority
deferred gratification vs. instant gratification
     the social class variation
socialization - that which comes fr "informal-go w the flow" quad:  learning and integrating everyone into it
3 types of parenting:  authoritarian, authoritative ... hmmm wht could the third one be?  (next week)
4 types 4 social actions
MARX (German)
dialectic
materialism
species being
stood Hegel on his head!
religion is the opiate of the ppl
alienation - exploitation - capital
petty bourgeois and lumpen proletariat 

DURKHEIM (French)
division of labor
regulation (top down) integration (bottom up)
mechanical and organic societies
repressive law and restitutive law (they "go with" mechanical and organic solidarity)
social facts
sacred and profane
God IS society 

WEBER (German)
3 ways we make decisions:  tradition, rationality, charisma (emotion-feeling)
Rationality - the Iron Rule of Bureaucracy - has taken over the Age of Enchantment
"Ideal types" - kind of like a measuring rod against which we measure instances of some form of social organization, e.g., bureaucracy.  You never expect to see an ideal type in existence - it is just the measure.
Verstehen - this is "feeling" the other person so that you can get the meaning of action, since action only means what it means due to the meaning it has for the actor (remember the person tripping on the mat at the swimming pool)
Ideas can change the world:  Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism - the Calvinist notion that there was an "elect" created a new form of economic behavior among Americans and Europeans, but especially Americans.

SIMMEL (French)
sociology isn't the study of some big type of society we are in
sociology is events that happen between people:  sociations <-- his word
there are FORMS of sociations:
size:  big change from two to three (alliances form); big change from country to metropolis (have to relate to people on the surface - money begins to "count")
conflict - conflict from the outside can actually bring people in a group closer
flirting - when you show just a little, but not all
exchange - when between two people, each one gets what he wants
the stranger:  <-- you know that one


Milgram Experiments
ascribed traits vs. achieved traits - and "Master Traits"
Fundamental Attribution Error
Socialization
Social Stratification Vs. Social Classes
The Looking Glass Self (Cooley)
Strong Networks and Weak Networks - and the Strength of Weak Networks

Erikson's stages
Mead's "Me" and "I"
The Looking Glass Self
3 types of parenting:  authoritarian, authoritative, permissive


I and We - individualism or "the pack"
Geese in V - aerodynamic, vision, elimination, and rotation of leadership 
MOVIE TERMS
premise:  allows suspention of disbelief - allows you to 'get into' the movie
given circumstances (GC): social facts that precede the movie events
atmosphere:  the more psychologial feeling at the outset of the movie - mental layer of GC
the whole movie + the main characters all have their own GCs
objective:  what the character wants - most impt to know abt the character - fr beginning to end of movie arc
spine:  what the character does - action - to get what she wants
PLOT POINT ONE - look for it about 30 min in
PLOT POINT TWO - look for it about 30 min before the end

Gender
Man and Woman are sex distinctions (natural); masculine and femine are gender differences (more cultural)
Deborah Tannen:  girls talk to find sameness; boys play to establish "place" in the hierarchy
Women talk in private more; men talk in public more
Women start way "outside" a decision to negotiate with feelings; men start with the answer they want
Because we are different, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" is not always the best rule between the sexes.
In business, women are not better negotiators
Rianne Eisler's "The Chalice and the Blade" comes up with a similar division:  "Linking" and "Domination"
baby boys like to look at mechanical mobiles; baby girls like to look at faces
parents looking at babies and their first interactons with Jack in the Boxes attribute anger to the boys and fear to the girls.
Women earn 76 cents to the dollar that men earn
Domination - Linking

WE DIDN'T COVER THESE:Inner Direction - Outer Direction
The Power Elite
Labelling
"Doing", e.g., "doing" gender(indoctrination)
Socialization
Anticipatory socialization
Modeling

what kind of suicide would this be?

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/08/16/2530951/long-unemployment-takes-a-mental.html
check your Durkheim notes

Is this the AMC theater?

lots of good choices http://www.laweekly.com/locations/amc-promenade-16-114796/

Redistribution of Grades

are you willing to share the good grades? <-- LINK

Project groups Alphas Thetas AND Omegas

ALPHAS.......................THETAS............................OMEGAS
Arjun ...........................   Aaron ............................... Chris
Lissa............................. Jonathan   .........................Marcus
Nima............................. Wade ................................ William
15-20 min
CONTENT:  illustrate a concept  (Link)  METHOD:  talk, discussion, power point, skit, video

Gender Moments this week

Chris Wallace interviewed Bachman. Now, I'm not a Bachman "supporter" but I thought it was interesting that he seemed to have gotten accustomed in the 4 years since he interviewed Hillary that he might be face to face with a woman in that position. Her answers were so quick, detailed (in their fashion) and unemotionally presented that he just had to move on. But then at the end he stopped and asked point blank: "Do you really think you can win?" She had a pretty much "Of course" type answer - so he asked again two more times. What did he mean? Because she was just a Congressman? Then say so. It seemed he meant because she is a pretty, 5'2" woman. Is that what he meant?  I guess he would have asked Cain or Paul that question, too, huh?  So it is incorrect to assume he asked it because she is a woman.  Put your gender moments here - or write them up and hand them in.

other contenders for final paper movie

"The Piano" - put your contenders in comments....or link to prior posts.

England is burning...

Quotes by prominent sociologist

Famous Quotes from Sociology

"Society is an insane asylum ran by the inmates." Erving Goffman

"The idea of "race" represents one of the most dangerous myths of our time." Ashley Montagu

"Society is the old man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz." Gloria Steinheim

"I try to be objective. I do not claim to be detached." C. Wright Mills

"Whatever sociology may be, it is the result of constantly asking the question, what is the meaning of this?" C. Wright Mills

"Invention is the mother of necessity." Thorstein Veblen

"The history of all hitherto existing societies is the history of class struggle." Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels

"Freedom is the opportunity for right development, for development in accordance with the progressive ideal of life that we have in conscience." Charles H. Cooley

"The very shaping of history now outpaces the ability of men to orient themselves in accordance with cherished values." C. Wright Mills.

"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness." Karl Marx

"Man is a moral being, only because he lives in society. Let all social life disappear and morality will disappear with it." Emile Durkheim

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opiate of the masses." Karl Marx

"No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body. No woman can call herself free until she can choose consciously whether she will or will not be a mother." Margaret Sanger

"My basic postulate is that no cultural forms survive unless they constitute responses which are adjustive or adaptive." Clyde Kluckholn

"Habit is the great flywheel of society." William James

"The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society." That is its task and its promise." C. Wright Mills.

The Annoying Devil

Shows a lot about human conduct...

Rioting - why?

Here is a pretty "far out there" guy's blog - I do not follow this blog, but a friend copy pasted it into an email and I read the whole thing.  Interested to hear your response on the "why" of the rioting:  both what he EXCLUDES as reasons and what he comes to as THE REASON. http://davidrothscum.blogspot.com/2011/08/london-is-your-future.html 

Did anyone hear about the recent Stock market crash? How will humans react to this?

An interesting documentary being made about social change in the universe

CCH's very own Cinematography teacher Stan Fisher is working on this great documentary that is both an optimistic eye opener and a breath of fresh air for changing our world's path beginning with each individual.

I want to know your reactions to this in regards to what you think it will be about, whether or not the trailer makes you want to see it, and what can be added or improved.

I personally admire their ambition to attempt something so universally involving, but with this attempt will come a lot more expectations from us, the audience. I've seen documentaries similar to this and I feel they all succeed in getting the word out and getting their point across that change begins with us. But, I often find myself half empty instead of half full because it sparks that motivation in us without providing us with the tangible resources and physical solutions to these problems...so they remain as these great ideas that appear so grand and overbearing that we lose that spark immediately and get brought back to our own personal realities, where the world is so big and the thought of reaching out and impacting it is an impossibility.

I want to repeat that I did admire the message in this film, and maybe my initial thought on its universal themes being too broad is just from my experience of being disappointed by prior films that tried to bring the idea full circle, but failed. I think as humans we all believe that the world will change and become better by itself, and we'll give our contributions but we can't invest all of our precious time in doing so... But I do have high hopes for this film, because it at least gets us to think positively and promotes the power each individual can really make.

I will end with my favorite quote from the trailer that sums up my beliefs and perspective on the world and its inhabitants.

"One day we'll wake up and discover we are family."

-Desmond Tutu

Your papers

How are your papers coming along?  Anyone need any help?

Water on Mars?

Water on Mars?!

Suppose we ever do find intelligent life on other planets. How do you think their Sociology might compare to ours? Do you think their societies will be more organic or manufactured, or something entirely beyond what we know?

Has anyone seen "Ikiru" (1952, Kurosawa)? It's about bureaucracy.

I remember watching this in theaters (Spring 2007) - Perfect Stranger

Here's a movie we could talk about using the 4 scholars - The Invention of Lying (2009)

This could be another possible film choice for our Aug 31 (makeup) day - Horrible Bosses

30 Minutes Or Less

Falling Education Standards in The USA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swl8frWSNEQ

want some joy?

what does this teach us about human nature?

on writing

poorly

mid term selections - acquire now

either American Beauty or Million Dollar Baby
to write your paper on - due one week from Wednesday
you could watch them together in the DVD screening room

Movie to "save" for Aug 31

http://www.moviefone.com/august-movie-release-schedule 
comment here for which one to reserve for our make up session

Karl Marx Quotes

• "Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth - the soil and the labourer."

• "Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society."

• "Democracy is the road to socialism."

• "Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included."

• "Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."

Conformity

From Bad to Worse? US Face of Poverty

A revolution without a plan

Marx told them to have a plan but . . . ok so now you know a little more about Karl Marx & Emile Durkheim.  Look over to the right here & see the "poll" - vote for movie(s) you want selected for the mid-term paper which is due 2 weeks from today.  I'll report choice by Saturday morning, giving you 1.5 weeks to get the ONE movie you choose from the 2 highest vote getters.

Next week, four things:  1) chart on Raging Bull 2) everyone read "The Stranger" and write 1/2 to 1 page on it.  3) Group B people read Chapter 5 in the book "Knowing People" (on reserve in library).   4) comment on this post 
AND LOOK also to the Right:  I finally posted the link to the great 6 part, 5 hour series on Civilization from the Harvard Professor.  Just try Part 1 and see if you love it. 

This article shocked me... Could accused Norway killer land in luxurious prison?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/accused-norway-killer-may-land-luxurious-prison-173329040.html

Should the punished deserve luxury to better build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people? That's what the region's governor, Are Hoidal, said at the prison's opening ceremony last year.
He believes that prisons should focus on "human rights and respect." What do you think?

video showcasing a montage of how powerful symbols can be used for the better of good or bad

A high school group created this video to show the different cliques they found at their school

Did anyone hear about this one in the news (2 weeks ago)? This is sick... Florida Teen Allegedly Kills Parents, Hosts Party Afterward

Comment here (assigned for this week) GOOD KARMA - BAD KARMA

Do you believe in it? Does people's behavior come back to haunt them or help/serve them in the end?

Social Experiments

Hey everyone,  Very sorry for joining so late. I've been quite busy prepping and shooting my thesis project for CCH, but now I'm all ears and ready to be a part of the topics of convo.

I wanted to share a pretty interesting social experiment done by ABC, which shows a staged situation in which a black woman is being discriminated by store clerks, and the reactions of the customers.

It seems that so many people claim to not be racist but when they're put to the test in public scenarios in which others are being discriminated by the majority or authority, they become passive and would rather have nothing to do with it, or even side with the discriminators when under pressure.

Check it out and think about the next time you're faced with a situation like this and how you'd react, really..

Gang Mentality in Apes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1288367/Chimps-violent-killing-sprees-land-neighbours.html

Whenever I hear someone talking about gang life in a positive light, I always recall a lecture I heard about the similarities between Ape and Human Gangs. I found this article but it does not list the similarities, it just explains that chimps form gangs. What I was told, gangs are formed amongst weak apes in order to rape female apes. In human gangs, when a girl wants to join, she must have sex with everyone in the gang and likewise for the apes. In both species the weak less dominate males join gangs in order to become stronger and loose their virginities. What does that tell you?

~Dr. Doom out

OK let's hear it for Amy

Great films I saw over the weekend besides "Donnie Darko" that deal with sociological issues

1) Spartacus (1960, Kubrick) - power, dehumanization, hope/faith, enslavement-freedom
2) The Dilemma (2011) - choices, truth, fear, the testing of trust
3) Rain Man (1988) - discrimination, change-acceptance, war within ourselves
4) Atonement (2007) - secrets, powerful human emotions/hope (fear, love, jealousy, hate)
5) West Side Story (1961) - discrimination, social groups, forgiveness
6) Philadelphia (1993) - discrimination, justice, change-acceptance
7) Married Life (2007) - jealousy, betrayal, adultery, choices

True quote

"Great moments are born from great opportunity." -Vince Vaughn (The Dilemma)

Fight club Monologue

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJdfWdIBfE8&playnext=1&list=PLFCBF8F2E2837B311

Tyler Durden-Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who’ve ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.