Sunday, October 28, 2012
Audio Story Proposal
For our audio story, I will be working with Brittany. Due to our subject matter, we will be interviewing each other as we both have similar experiences related to our topic. Our audio story will focus on our personal interactions with cancer. Each of us have a family member who is currently or has had to battle with some type of cancer. Therefore, we will interview each other not only about their stories, but also our reactions to it and how it has affected our lives. Although there are two different types of cancer being represented in our story, they both deal with a person vs. nature conflict. Even though this may cause a lot of inner conflict with the victim, it also works its way into society through organizations searching for a cure. However, at the root of it all, it is a natural, uncontrollable medical issue that causes conflict in someone's life. As for recording this story, we plan to interview in the privacy of our room, due to the fact that this can be a very personal topic. Other sounds may include music of our choice as well as the stereotypical sounds of a hospital that we plan to recreate on campus. For example, we plan to recreate the beeping of a heart monitor with the beep of our passports unlocking a door.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
StoryCorps Podcast
I listened to StoryCorps: 290 Homeless, Not Hopeless. This podcast consisted of the brief story of Tierra Jackson discussing her prior struggles in high school. She is telling her story at age 23 to her prior high school principal John Horan. As she discusses the strife of her daily life in high school her principal comments on how frustrating her tardiness and lack of success in school was to him as it was clear she was a bright student. She finally explains and reveals the fact that her struggles stemmed from problems at home. The absence of her mother forced an unnecessary amount of responsibility on Tierra at a very young age which resulted in her struggles with school. She discusses how her run in with poverty and economic issues greatly effected her ability to focus on her own education. She was constantly worrying about taking care of her brother and her mother at home so the last thing she wanted as pity from her teachers or peers. Eventually she realized that she was not receiving pity but support from these people. This acceptance of help allowed her to move onto college and begin to blaze a positive path for herself and her family despite the long hours she still puts in studying.
The conflict present in Tierras story both past and present was a person vs. society conflict. She was not able to balance the hardships of poverty in an economically unstable society with her personal life. Also the overwhelming response she tended to receive from the people in her community was initially overbearing which created a wall between her and others. While her struggles were mainly based in society they could also be categorized by person vs. person as well as person vs. herself. She felt her mothers absence became her biggest hurdle which created a conflict between her and her mother. Her mothers mistakes seemed to cause issue in her own life which is the exact opposite of what a mother should do. But more indirectly this story focuses on Tierra story on overcoming her own self and gaining self worth. Her overly independent attitude was becoming her own worst enemy and once she was finally able to allow herself to receive help and use others as support for her own well being she was able to succeed.
Vox Pop Question
My question I plan on asking for this project is "If you were Nido Qubein for a day, what would you do?"
I want to ask this because not only is it relevant to my audience but it is humorous and could evoke unique answers. Because I am asking my question to a group of High Point University students who are familiar with this iconic person I believe they will be able come up with an answer that is applicable, candid and sincere. This question is open ended and hopefully will force people to think of a creative response or scenario. The answers will not only reveal a bit of humor within the student body but an indirect, truthful opinion of a very influential authority figure in our university.
I want to ask this because not only is it relevant to my audience but it is humorous and could evoke unique answers. Because I am asking my question to a group of High Point University students who are familiar with this iconic person I believe they will be able come up with an answer that is applicable, candid and sincere. This question is open ended and hopefully will force people to think of a creative response or scenario. The answers will not only reveal a bit of humor within the student body but an indirect, truthful opinion of a very influential authority figure in our university.
Monday, October 22, 2012
This American Life Review
The episode I chose to listen to for this assignment was episode 340: The Devil In Me, originally aired September 7, 2007. The main topic of this discussion is best stated in the title. The discussion is made up of three acts each revolving around different people and different scenarios but all with some type of inner conscience or being inside them. The contents of the show consists of these different individual sharing not only their experiences with such an inner demon but their stories of trying to exorcize such a thing from themselves. The unsettling idea that an unwanted inner demon is looming inside these individuals makes for an intriguing and very controversial episode.
Prior to Act One the host prompts us with a little antidotal tale of troubles between him and his wife. He discusses his uncontrollable urge to cover up any mistake he makes with a lie no matter how big or small. He discusses that part of getting older is learning about this you do unknowingly that you're not necessarily proud of. Fighting little devils inside of us. This smoothly transitions us into the story of Iraqi War Veteran Sam Slaven. Sam is self admittedly hatefully racist toward all islamic people due to his experiences in the war. He talks about how his hate for Muslim people has gotten to an extent where even he feels its out of control, to a point where he can't control his intense emotions any longer. When he says hateful he really means it too, not just silly war jokes with his comrades but feelings of tension and anxiety that arise at the mere sight of a mosque or a turban. Feelings that become so overwhelming he begins to feel unwanted malicious emotions toward islamic people he comes across no matter what his run in with them may be. The remainder of the story discusses his meeting a young Iraqi man named Yusef and his road to healing these hateful feelings. He goes as far as to join a Muslim Students Association club, which while extremely uncomfortable for him ended up in an outcome of him being able to somewhat overcome his inner racist demon, he learned to enjoy Yusef's company and actually reach out to others in order to dispel muslim misconceptions, a massive transformation for Sam.
Act two was very brief and consisted of audio clips of different individuals explaining what their inner demons where that hassle them on a daily basis. This touches on the idea that sometimes your inner voice that is telling you to do the wrong thing actually sounds like a voice, a real entity that you must obey. This mainly talks to people about how these voices lead this people to go astray more often than not and how it seems impossible to defy them. The voices direct them to do anything and everything, from smoking, binging, purging, and popping acne to tardiness and even financial mistakes. The different individuals go as far as to describe the voice as "charming" and state that even when one tries to overcome it or counter it in anyway it always seems to win.
Act three was a short and more vivid recollection of a man run in with a potential demon in a college classroom. He discusses how the news of this medium being a guest in the classroom ahead of time made him so nervous he began a type of religious boot camp just to prepare for it. Come to find out that all his imaging of a battle with the devil, a demon like face off, it basically appeared to be a joke. He outwitted the so called "medium" with a scholarly question that truthfully only the demon could answer. In some terms he left the class room still felling like he had won, but in other terms he felt a sense of disbelief and foolery. This second guessing of the validity of such demons made him begin to question not only if demons were real, but then what about angels, and the Virgin birth. Such a religiously spoken man became worried and somewhat conflicted by his phony run in with the devil.
Although the second act was very brief, actually the shortest segment of the three I found it interestingly compelling. Out of the three this story seemed to me the most raw, dynamic and believable due to the approach taken to document these peoples stories. The central conflict was directly dealing with the idea of an inner demon controlling you. This is a very vivid and real concept to talk about so the reality of it made it that much more intriguing and effective. The characters were interesting because they were very well spoken yet very candid. The back to back to back accounts of their different experiences made for a collage type of feeling when piecing the story together. They were all very different demons but seemed to intertwine because they were all facing the same issue. The contrasting tonality in each of their voices made them engaging and interesting to listen to. Also the contrast of the audio quality added to the dynamism of the piece. The phone call like sound quality placed next to the crisp voice of the host made it seem like you were witnessing an interview or a live phone call of some type which gave it validity and ethos. I feel this act was the most engaging because it was fast paced, easy to relate to and had many different levels to it that acted to create a larger picture. Overall I found this entire episode of This American Life to be unique, not what I expected and very well executed.
Prior to Act One the host prompts us with a little antidotal tale of troubles between him and his wife. He discusses his uncontrollable urge to cover up any mistake he makes with a lie no matter how big or small. He discusses that part of getting older is learning about this you do unknowingly that you're not necessarily proud of. Fighting little devils inside of us. This smoothly transitions us into the story of Iraqi War Veteran Sam Slaven. Sam is self admittedly hatefully racist toward all islamic people due to his experiences in the war. He talks about how his hate for Muslim people has gotten to an extent where even he feels its out of control, to a point where he can't control his intense emotions any longer. When he says hateful he really means it too, not just silly war jokes with his comrades but feelings of tension and anxiety that arise at the mere sight of a mosque or a turban. Feelings that become so overwhelming he begins to feel unwanted malicious emotions toward islamic people he comes across no matter what his run in with them may be. The remainder of the story discusses his meeting a young Iraqi man named Yusef and his road to healing these hateful feelings. He goes as far as to join a Muslim Students Association club, which while extremely uncomfortable for him ended up in an outcome of him being able to somewhat overcome his inner racist demon, he learned to enjoy Yusef's company and actually reach out to others in order to dispel muslim misconceptions, a massive transformation for Sam.
Act two was very brief and consisted of audio clips of different individuals explaining what their inner demons where that hassle them on a daily basis. This touches on the idea that sometimes your inner voice that is telling you to do the wrong thing actually sounds like a voice, a real entity that you must obey. This mainly talks to people about how these voices lead this people to go astray more often than not and how it seems impossible to defy them. The voices direct them to do anything and everything, from smoking, binging, purging, and popping acne to tardiness and even financial mistakes. The different individuals go as far as to describe the voice as "charming" and state that even when one tries to overcome it or counter it in anyway it always seems to win.
Act three was a short and more vivid recollection of a man run in with a potential demon in a college classroom. He discusses how the news of this medium being a guest in the classroom ahead of time made him so nervous he began a type of religious boot camp just to prepare for it. Come to find out that all his imaging of a battle with the devil, a demon like face off, it basically appeared to be a joke. He outwitted the so called "medium" with a scholarly question that truthfully only the demon could answer. In some terms he left the class room still felling like he had won, but in other terms he felt a sense of disbelief and foolery. This second guessing of the validity of such demons made him begin to question not only if demons were real, but then what about angels, and the Virgin birth. Such a religiously spoken man became worried and somewhat conflicted by his phony run in with the devil.
Although the second act was very brief, actually the shortest segment of the three I found it interestingly compelling. Out of the three this story seemed to me the most raw, dynamic and believable due to the approach taken to document these peoples stories. The central conflict was directly dealing with the idea of an inner demon controlling you. This is a very vivid and real concept to talk about so the reality of it made it that much more intriguing and effective. The characters were interesting because they were very well spoken yet very candid. The back to back to back accounts of their different experiences made for a collage type of feeling when piecing the story together. They were all very different demons but seemed to intertwine because they were all facing the same issue. The contrasting tonality in each of their voices made them engaging and interesting to listen to. Also the contrast of the audio quality added to the dynamism of the piece. The phone call like sound quality placed next to the crisp voice of the host made it seem like you were witnessing an interview or a live phone call of some type which gave it validity and ethos. I feel this act was the most engaging because it was fast paced, easy to relate to and had many different levels to it that acted to create a larger picture. Overall I found this entire episode of This American Life to be unique, not what I expected and very well executed.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Podcast Review
For this assignment I chose to listen to Episode #192, "Chronicle/ In Brief: The Descendant, Tintin, The Artist" from a series entitled, "The Film Talk Movie Reviews". The Film Talk is hosted by interviewers Jett Loe and Garret Higgins but the Podcast itself is produced by Consolidated Operational Services LLC.
The Podcast mainly focused on reviewing the 2012 film Chronicle. The show consisted of the two men creating commentary on the film as well as relating it to other better known works. The banter between the two of them created a playful yet informative dynamic to the review. Host Jett Loe started off the show by commenting on the technical and conceptual success of the movie. He commented on the depth of the writing in the movie as well as its relevance to modern society. The rebuttal and complimentary conversation from his cohost only added to the positive conversation about the film. Toward the beginning of the podcast they shared a sound bite from the film as well to help acclimate the listeners to the style of the movie. Although they mainly focused on praising Chronicle they used the last 10 minutes of the 30 minute podcast to do a quick few rounds of commentary on the movies Tintin, The Artist and The Descendants. The quick buzzer like 1 minute descriptions of the other movies added a new rhythm and dynamic to the show,
This podcast was found under the TV & Film category of ITune's Podcast's and being that this series focuses on reviewing films I think it fits appropriately.The category could be more specifically defined as Film Review. Judging by the length of the other podcasts by them this one may have been a bit more brief and packed with more information than the others but it nevertheless appears typical of the channel. Overall the content of the podcast was intriguing and quirky and the quality was very good. The sound seemed about as clear as a good radio show which made it seem very professional. They seemed very practiced and smooth in their speech which also made it easy to listen to. The only down side was that with about 9 minutes left one of the speakers microphones decided to begin breaking up. The connection became very grainy and almost impossible to understand. While the other cohost managed to keep the show together and salvage what was left of the cast this technical difficulty was frustrating for me as a listener. I decided to stick it out and listen till the end and the strong beginning of the review seemed to outweigh the technical mistake but this mistake was undoubtedly distracting from the quality of the podcast as a whole.
Monday, October 1, 2012
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