Week 8 Typography

Hey everyone!

As threatened/promised, I am back to post my flyer for this week's Typography assignment. This is part of my final project and is supposed to go with the business card and letterhead I made and posted last week. Personally, I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. But, I am a bit biased after all. ;)



My fictional company is a feminist film studio that focuses on independent filmmaking and does outreach programs for young female filmmakers. Obviously, this flyer is an invite to come and see the first films created by the first class from the outreach program. Let me know what you think. Cheers!

Summer Schedule Is Out!

Hey all!

Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend and thanked a vet! :)

Classes this week are pretty quiet. I guess the instructors decided to give themselves a quieter week with the holiday, so assignments are pretty light. Success Strategies had a dorky quiz and discussion. Intro to Computer Graphics is all about color this week and making up color palettes. Nothing worth posting. For English Composition this week, we have to go online and find two reviews for the same movie and evaluate them. Again, not really worth posting. Typography this week is the flyer that goes along with our Final Project. I will be completing that today or tomorrow and posting it. :) So....pretty quiet week school-wise.

New schedules for Summer Quarter came out today. I've already confirmed mine and new classes start July 6th. We have about three weeks off between quarters. That will give me time to play with these Adobe programs some more, and also to play around on a bunch of different design and tutorial sites that I've found through Twitter. There are some awesome design peeps on Twitter posting some great info!

So....my schedule for Summer Quarter includes my first campus classes. I decided not to take an extra class, but to stick with the standard full-time four-class schedule to evaluate how I do with it before adding anymore. Success Strategies wasn't really much of a class this quarter so....I want to make sure I can handle the real, full course load before adding anything to the mix. That said, my four classes for Summer are:

Drawing Design and Art Theory (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Tuesdays)
E-Commerce (online class)
Introduction to 3D Arts and Animation (campus class - 6:00 p.m. on Fridays)
Introduction to Business (online class)

I think the Intro to Business class will be a bit of a snoozer, as may E-Commerce. I do hope to get some extra ideas from both for help with my Etsy and Artfire businesses though. Drawing Design and Art Theory should be very challenging for me. I'm not a good freehand drawer so....we'll see how that one goes. :) Intro to 3D Arts and Animation is an integral course for my major so I'm very, very excited about that class!

So....Summer Quarter schedule looks good to me. I should be receiving my books for those classes shortly and will be spending my time between quarters studying them, working on learning my software better, and browsing all those good design sites.

I feel I made the right choice in choosing Digital Design and Animation for my major. It's interesting, challenging, and keeps me on my toes. I certainly haven't lost interest in my classes or become bored (Success Strategies notwithstanding). I have been frustrated and challenged, yes - but this is a good thing. School has always been easy for me, so having challenge involved has been excellent. I'm looking forward to moving on with my studies!

That's the latest from here. Back later to post my Typography Flyer. Cheers!

The End of Week 7

Hi all!

So....Week 7 is done! I just finished sending off my last two assignments. It took me forever to get them done, and I reworked each about five times, but I'm happy with the final results. Will my instructors be happy? Who knows?!! But I am.

Before I share my new stuff, let me drop this on you - I received my official mid-term grades and they are all A's. SWEET! :) Still have not received my quiz grade in English yet, but I received my other two grades in Computer Graphics and they are both A's. Week 7 was pretty good to me, let's hope the trend continues.

On that note, my assignment in Intro to Computer Graphics was to redesign a movie poster. This was hard for me, as I do not feel confident enough in my amateur abilities to be critiquing any professional's work. But, the assignment called for what the assignment called for, so in the end I went with Resident Evil. Check out moviegoods.com to see the range of posters for the movie that are professional. This is my redesign:



I was pretty impressed with myself there. :) Course, it doesn't take much, right? ;)

For my Typography class, this week's assignments were to create our business card and letterhead to go with our final project. Again, I impressed myself here and I really like how these came out. YMMV. :)

Business card:



Letterhead:



So....that's it for Week 7. Whew! :) I have not actually looked at Week 8 yet because I have been determined to finish Week 7 first. As I've been wrestling with these last two assignments, I didn't get much good sleep last night, so I will probably crash early tonight and start Week 8 tomorrow.

I also received word that new schedules will be posted on Monday or Tuesday for summer quarter, so I will know shortly what new classes/tortures we all have to look forward to. :)

Enjoy the Memorial Day weekend y'all! As always, comments and feedback are welcome. Constructive, please. Cheers!

Off-Topic: Halloween PIF

Howdy all!

The lovely Carapace, whom I adore as a person and worship as an artist, posted on her blog about a Halloween PIF. Check it out here: http://caramakes.blogspot.com/2009/05/just-for-fun-to-pay-it-forward.html

I'm happy to participate so.....I'm offering handmade Halloween cards to three of my readers who decide to participate. A little early Halloween fun for everyone!

So here's the deal: You be one of the first three to comment on this post, you get a handmade Halloween card from me. Please also include your e-mail address in your post so I may contact you for mailing information.

Then, you must pay it forward by offering a similar small bit of early Halloween to three readers on your blog! And linking back to me.

Leave your comment with e-mail address and share your own Halloween spirit. Fun, right? ;)

Cheers!

SHAZAM!!!!!

I'm just....wow....jaw on the floor here. I received my grade back in Typography on my proposal from last week and....I got 100%! 100%! On the discussion and my proposal both! My overall percentage in that class is now over 93%! I'm just....wow. Didn't see that coming! I'm excited! Elated! And also - a little weirded out - but that's okay. :)

For my English Comp paper from last week? - 100%! He basically said it was awesome (which it was) so...yay me! 100% on the discussion in that class too. No grade back yet on the quiz.

Success Strategies for last week - 100% on my written assignment, no grade back for the discussion yet.

Intro to Comp Graphics turned up 100% for discussion so far, still waiting for grades on my application assignment and my final project assignment.

So....awesome grades for last week! Yay me! :)

This week, for English Comp we had to write a persuasive letter to a city council lobbying either for or against a book ban. Well, I'm totally against banning books so.....here's my letter:



Dear Council Members:

The American politician and writer Clare Boothe Luce once said, “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but unlike charity, it should end there.” Truer words were never spoken.

Certain amongst our city’s citizens have voiced concern that their children should not be exposed to the content of certain books in our city’s public library. As parents, I agree that they are single-handedly responsible for raising their children to their own ethical and moral standards, and I applaud their determination. However, not everyone holds the same beliefs in our society, and America’s foundation as a nation is one of freedom of thought, expression, and word.

Though I admire the zeal of the parents supporting the book ban, I cannot agree with them or endorse their request. I am a regular patron and supporter of our public library, and am also a fan of the books on this proposed ban list. I am not a child that needs policing, and I take offense to anyone trying to determine what a person in our free society thinks, reads, or learns.

The concerns of these parents can be handled in a very simple way, one that does not require a vote on curtailing the rights of others. If they do not wish their children to be exposed to these books, then they need to establish that regulation at home, not try to force it on the rest of this city’s citizens.

As an educated individual with a passionate love for our country and the freedoms for which it stands, I cannot fathom how anyone could vote to turn back time and deny freedom to others in this society. Censorship at its most basic level is as un-American an action as it is possible to take. We are not in some third-world, clerically patrolled nation that needs some parental authority to tell us what to think, where to go, or what to do. We are free, intelligent Americans who can determine best for ourselves and our families as individuals what is best for us. We do not need a collective to determine what is fit for us to learn and read and what is not.

I sincerely hope that you vote not to ban access to great literature that educates, informs and entertains on the basis of archaic concerns from a radical few looking to curtail the freedoms our forefathers fought for us to enjoy. I hope you choose the right path and vote to keep our public library free and accessible to all who wish to learn and absorb knowledge in all its varied and wonderful forms.

Thank you and have a nice day.


Sincerely,



I think that's a pretty good submission for that assignment. :) For Success Strategies we are doing a stupid topic cubing thing that is annoying the hell out of me. For Intro to Computer Graphics, we have to redesign a movie poster using the 7 essential elements of design. Problem is, I'm having trouble finding a crappy poster to redesign. Seriously, they should be good and representative before anyone lets them be released as promos for their movie, right? So....that's still a work in progress. For Typography, my business card and letterhead for my final project are due this week.

So....that's what's on tap for this week and grades so far. Marvel with me at that Typography one, won't you? ;) Cheers and back later with new posts!

Second Expository Essay

Hi all.

Well, after a whopping three hours of sleep, I was back up and at it this morning. :) I'm a little loopy, but I'm getting things accomplished - yay me! :) I finally completed my second expository essay assignment for English Comp and submitted it. The problem I had with this assignment was that it was on the diversity subject we are using for our final project, except expository. All fact, no persuasion. The problem with that was that all of my research and thought processes on my topic were all from a feminist, persuasive point of view, so it was tough to tone the personal opinion out and focus on the facts. In the end, I'm happy with the result. Let me know what you think.



Hollywood Still Predominantly a Boy’s Town


Each year, Martha M. Lauzen, Ph.D., takes a statistical look at the film industry with regard to the status of women, or lack thereof, in its ranks. The focus of these studies is the “celluloid ceiling”, a variation on the typical “glass ceiling” most women find themselves coming up against in the workplace. Her research finds that while some women directors are starting to make names for themselves, Hollywood is still very much a “boy’s town”.

In 2007, women comprised only 15% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors working on the top 250 domestic grossing films (Lauzen, 2008). In an article in USA Today, director Jane Campion, who won an Oscar for her film The Piano in 1993, and is one of only three women to ever be nominated for an Academy Award, poses the following hypothesis on the lack of female peers in the industry: “I just think this is the way the world is, that men control the money, and they decide who they’re going to give it to” (AP, 2007).

In her report Women @ the Box Office, Lauzen finds what may be a link between her research and Campion’s thoughts on what might account for the lack of higher-ranking females in the industry. Lauzen found that when women and men filmmakers have similar budgets, the resulting box office grosses are also similar. In other words, the sex of filmmakers does not determine box office grosses, but film budget does (Lauzen, 2008).

Taking all of Lauzen’s research into consideration, one possible resolution to the problem of under-representation seems to be one that director Catherine Hardwicke chose when she went to make the film Thirteen. Co-written by herself and a young family friend, Hardwicke had trouble finding the financing and support to get the film made. As an alternative to the standard studio system approach, she went the route of self-financed independent film, refinanced her home, badgered financiers and recruited friends to work without pay to get the film made (UC Regents, 2009). As a result of all of her hard work, the film won the Director’s Award at the Sundance Film Festival and an Oscar nomination for supporting actress Holly Hunter. It also paved the way for Hardwicke to be given the helm to the film adaptation of the movie Twilight based on the popular young adult novel by Stephenie Meyer. That film went on to be the highest grossing film for a woman filmmaker to date.

In addition to going it on their own, women filmmakers also have an opening for assistance with getting their films made from the Women in Film Foundation. The foundation’s Film Finishing Fund supports films by, for and about women by providing cash grants and in-kind donations to independent moviemakers (Murphy, 2009).

As Lauzen’s research numbers indicate, the celluloid ceiling in the film industry continues to be a significant hurdle for women filmmakers trying to get their voices heard. While there are some avenues for female filmmakers to get their messages out in the form of grants and independent films and festivals, for the time being at least, the Hollywood studio system still appears to be a “boy’s town”.
 

References

AP. (2007, May 20). Jane Campion Laments Lack of Female Directors. USA Today. Retrieved May 6, 2009, from http://www/usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2007-05-20-jane-campion_N.htm

Lauzen, M. (2009). The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 250 Films of 2008. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from San Diego State University Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film web site: http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2008_celluloid_ceiling.pdf

Lauzen, M. (2008). Women @ the Box Office: A Study of the Top 100 Worldwide Grossing Films. Retrieved April 29, 2009 from San Diego State University Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film web site: http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/Women%20@%20Box%20Office.pdf

Murphy, N. (2009). Women in Film Foundation Empowers Female Moviemakers. MovieMaker Magazine. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.moviemaker.com/producing/article/women_in_film_foundation_finishing_fund_20090323/

UC Regents. (2009). Women Filmmakers Break Down Barriers. UCLA Today. Retrieved April 29, 2009, from http://www.today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/040224closeup_women.aspx



I managed to keep the assignment to the required two page limit this time. We were supposed to use three sources, I used five. Not too over the top. :) Plenty of in-text citations. I think I did okay. We shall see.

So....stayed up all night and did my in-class note taking and lectures and what-not and got my assignments for this coming week. Stupid Success Strategies is actually going to have us do a project as well (dammit!) so I'm going to actually have to do some real work in that stupid class. Shit. Ah well. Lots going on in all of my classes so there will be plenty of new fun to post later. Have great weekends everyone and as always, your thoughts and constructive criticism are welcome. Cheers!

End of Week 6 and Mid-Term

Hi all.

Sorry I'm a bit late in getting on here and updating. Things have been kind of crazy and my brain has not been cooperating with me on functioning and deadlines and that sort of thing. Mother's Day weekend kinda threw off my study mojo too. But I do have lots to report.

So this was the end of Week 6 of classes. Week 6 was Mid-Term. I didn't have any mid-term tests or anything, just a quiz in English Comp. It's also, I think, a good time to take a look at where my grades stand and give a little review of what I think of my classes so far. So....without further ado:

Success Strategies
Overall grade so far: 115%
Week 5 discussion grade: 120%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 100%

The reason my percentages are so high is because you get extra points if you have everything turned in by Friday. Since this is my "bird" course, I tend to do all of that work first, and then I just have my follow-up posting which I do off and on throughout the week. Kinda dull. The course is boring and kind of a waste of money in my opinion. But I can see how it might help people coming to college with no higher educational background. That said, the instructor is okay, but he auto-replies to all posts with the same reply and that is kind of obviously phoning it in. That kind of stuff kinda bugs me, but - whatever. At least it's one class that I can do on autopilot this quarter.

English Composition
Overall grade so far: 98.53%
Week 5 discussion grade: not in yet!!!
Week 5 outline grade: 100%

I am enjoying this class. I love to write and I find that it is recharging my creative writing battery. Some of the assignments feel kind of lame, but they are still good for getting the creative juices flowing. The instructor doesn't engage much, but he puts up great notes every week and gives good feedback. Most of my elective options are writing classes and I hope to have him as an instructor again.

Intro to Computer Graphics
Overall grade so far: 100%
Week 5 application assignment grade: 100%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 revitalization project grade: 100%

This class has been on one hand good and on the other endlessly annoying. The good: I like my instructor very much. She engages with the class, gives really great feedback, posts awesome lecture notes and you can tell she really likes teaching and wants to help us the most she can. The bad: I wish they had not changed this course and removed the software tutorials and tutorial books from the class. Most everyone is coming into these classes with no training in this software and it's been really hard to get the hang of things. But, overall, I'm enjoying the class and this is another instructor I would love to have further classes with.

Typography
Overall grade so far: 92%
Week 5 discussion grade: 100%
Week 5 written assignment grade: 90%

Typography - yeah. I think y'all are pretty clear on how I feel about this class. I am about five seconds away from having a serious discussion with the Academic Dean about this instructor. His attitude is extremely unprofessional, he pimps himself all the time, he has a really bad ego and I am not paying $430 a credit hour to kiss this guy's ass. Yes, in the work world you have to deal with douchebags. If I'm paying for a class, however, I expect my instructor to teach well, to actually do more than just decide whether or not he likes something and grade on that scale and not the lessons completed, and I expect more instruction and less egotistical asshattery. If I find myself having to deal with this instructor again EVER, I am going to have to have a serious talk with the school. Having worked in higher education and supported part-time and adjunct instructors, I know this guy's type. Most of them get fired for pulling the kind of crap he's pulling. Someone needs to be censured is all I'm saying. And also, he needs to stop posting and pimping his pedestrian naked woman art work that he thinks is so cutting edge and fly. Dude - that's the same shit everyone else is posting - you are not unique. Sorry. Ass.

So...that's the latest from there. Assignments this week were kind of standard. Standard stupid written assignment in Success Strategies. English Comp is our second expository essay that I have drafted, but need to go over again and polish up - I'll post it later. Computer Graphics was all about fonts this week and typography (irony!). Nothing really worth posting, just playing with fonts and then typing up a report on how we plan to redesign our final project annual report. Typography was doing a formal proposal for our final project. I decided to do what I want to do and what will be fun for me, and also play with an idea for a company I hope to have some day so - - I chose my fictional company to be a feminist film studio. Asshat instructor should love that. :) I made up a little letterhead and wrote a business letter proposal. I'd post it but it has personal info on it so....no. :) Love ya Internets, but not that much.

So....that's the latest for this week. New assignments should post here in about 15 minutes and I may just stay up and start classes tonight as I'm wide awake. We shall see. I may post this, take my shower, and feel like passing out. :) Like I said, once I have my essay fully polished, I'll post it here, which should be some time tomorrow. Hope y'all are having good weeks. Take care and be back later! Cheers!

Final Week 4 Results

Hello again all!

My final grade for Week 4 just came in from my Intro to Computer Graphics class. And - it's 100%! Woot! You know, the more I participate in these classes, the more I can see that there really do need to be more women actively involved in the design fields. I am totally and completely on the same wavelength with my Intro to Computer Graphics instructor, a woman. I am on completely opposite wavelength with my Typography instructor, a man. This has all really opened my eyes up to the facts of how differently women and men see things and how it really is imperative for there to be more women in the industry creating content that specifically speaks to women. That's my goal anyway. :)

So....our assignments for Intro to Computer Graphics this week were a discussion, which is done, and choosing the inner pages of our annual report that we are revising. I chose the CEO pages and some pages of data that I want to redesign into graphs - I love doing graphs. :)

Our last assignment for this week had to do with using grids in design. Personally, this was completely new and interesting to me. I got/had to learn a new program for these assignments - InDesign - and I kind of enjoyed it. It was a little bit frustrating, but the practical applications are numerous for publishing. Very cool. (See how quickly once I get the jist of things something I loathe can become something I love?) :)

Anyhoo....our assignment was to do two different grid layouts using text of our choice and sparkling it up with graphics if we wanted. I used my expository essay on how Hawaii became a state for my text and picked up some graphics on Photobucket for the pictures. The first layout I did was graphical and kind of looks like something you'd see as a feature in a magazine. I did it in two-column style and it's one-and-a-half pages. The second layout I did was not graphical and is just your standard magazine article "filler"-type piece. I did it as a three-column piece with no graphical elements. So....without further ado - here they are! (I think they came out kinda cool.). :)











So, there ends Week 4's grades and Week 5's assignments. I have already moved on to Week 6's reading and we are getting our projects for Typography introduced when new lessons post tomorrow - that should be fun (not). Also - our first drafts of our final paper for English are due in two weeks so I'm getting ahead on my reading to get prepared to write that. We are also going to have another expository essay to write this week. No required reading for Success Strategies, just dorky stuff on academic honesty. We're actually studying a typography lesson in Intro to Computer Graphics this week and working on choosing the typefaces we're going to use for our redesign final projects.

That's the latest. Hope you're enjoying the fun along with me. It will be interesting to see how the grades shake out for this week's assignments, especially Typography. :) Thoughts? Leave 'em!

Why Typography Is Killing Me

Typography. Yeah. Seriously hate this fucking class. Seriously. Seriously.

So....got my grade back from my previous assignment (posted below), which I thought turned out kinda cool. Here's what my instructor thought:


Well Amy I'm liking it but I'm not sure it communicates well to your intended audience (college students) The colors are pretty and the text pretty fancy - yeah this looks more like a birthday party invite than a flyer talking about perfect attendance. Also when you're using stock photography try to find a better way to place that. Those little square boxes just don't do it. I appeciate your creativity here - you just need to think things through a bit more: the color, fonts and stock images. Please check out the work I posted on deviant from this week's project: ~T


Ummmm....yeah....I DO check out and download the examples every week! Ugh!!!! Grrrrrr!!!! So....yeah. I hate this class. What's crazy is, he's not grading us on the actual contents of the lessons, he's grading us on whether or not he likes our designs. Um - hello?! This is not a design class, it's Typography! And, again, I don't like his style and he apparently doesn't like mine. In the discussion for this week, he actually seemed to intentionally choose to post a contradictory statement to my post. Am I paranoid? I dunno, but I don't think so.

So....my grade was 25/30, which with my 100% for discussion last week took my overall percentage to 87.5%. That SUCKS!! My overall percentage in that class now is 91.87% NOT GOOD! Almost out of A contention! I'm telling y'all - he's going to fuck up my GPA and we're going to have a problem!! :(

Anyway....so....this week's flyer redesign is a flyer for senior citizens to learn about the computer. Oh! Hey! Guess what??!! I live with two senior citizens! Ho! So guess who I asked obnoxiously about feedback on the five different designs I did for this? You got it! They did give me great feedback so....that helped. Anyway, here's my submission for this week:





I contend that in the hands of someone not quite so much of an asshat, this class might actually be interesting. As it is, I shall simply endeavor to survive with an A hopefully. We shall see. I would love any feedback y'all want to provide.

Last class - - Intro to Computer Graphics - - lots going on there this week, and I don't have my grade back yet so - - watch this space! More to come! Laters!

All the Latest News

How-dee all!!!! :)

Okay....lots to share here.

So, to recap a bit - I have completed all of my Success Strategies work for this week, and received a 100% on last week's work - AWESOME! Like I told y'all before, this is kind of a "bird" course, if you will. It's a dumb little requirement course that you can do on extreme auto-pilot. However, this week's discussion is proving very interesting. The scenario we are working from is dealing with an irate customer who calls up, is verbally abusive toward you, then hangs up before you get a word in edgewise - what do you do? It's all under the context of business communication and specifically e-mail communication. What's surprising is that so many people are either a) totally in victim mentality and saying this hypothetical customer is right to call and go apeshit over an 'h' in the wrong place in his name in the second paragraph of a document, or b) falling all over themselves to suck up to this asshat not to lose his business. Seriously people? Seriously? He's okay to call you names on the phone and hang up on you? You're going to crawl on your lips through busted glass just to pucker up and kiss his ass so as not to lose his business? Seriously? Wow! The Day Self-Respect Died! I've lived to see it!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for preserving the financial income, but I'm not about to sell my soul for the almighty dollar. Sorry, ain't gonna happen. And I'm certainly not going to crawl around sucking up to someone who acts like a petulant two-year-old because someone put an 'h' in his name in the second paragraph of a document that didn't go out to anyone but him for review. But I am shocked at how many other people will just fall all over themselves to reinforce this hypothetical customer's inappropriate behavior. Don't people realize that how you deal with this kind of situation sets the tone for your entire business relationship with them? If he's this much crazy before you get his account, imagine how much crazier actually working with him every day would be - worth it? I don't think so. Not unless he removed his head from his ass and did a little apologizing of his own. But that's just me. I'm all for great customer service and "kill 'em with kindness", but I'm not going to go flagellate myself just to make this jerk feel like a king. Weird how many folks can't wait to though. *shivers* Scary.

My actual response to this scenario was this:


Firstly, I have to admit that people like Mr. Jonson in this scenario really get my back up. I've dealt with them throughout all of my working life and in my experiences, it's never a one-time thing, but the way they normally conduct business. It's an attitude I find completely unprofessional and exceptionally irritating to deal with.

That being said, the standard operating procedure I have always used (and that has always worked well for me) consists of the following:

Step 1: Immediately contact supervisor. Explain in verbatim detail the conversation and the customer's complaints. This allows my supervisor to 1) contact the customer directly to smooth things over, 2) have a detailed knowledge of the customer's complaint(s), and 3) have an idea of how the customer is handling their business relations with our company.

Step 2: Examine the proposal and rectify any issues that there are within it. Send an updated proposal to the customer ASAP with a sincere written apology attached.

Step 3: Follow up with supervisor in writing detailing that the corrections were made, an updated copy of the proposal sent, and also attach a copy of the apology sent with the proposal. This is standard C-Y-A procedure.

Excellent customer service is always the number one priority. Also, in settings where a lack of professionalism and courtesy is shown to you, the best response is to double-up on your courtesy and professionalism - the old "kill 'em with kindness" approach. It's always worked for me to diffuse situations like this.


So....now you have the jist of what's going on in that class. You're glad I haven't posted more about it now, aren't you? ;)

Next up, English Composition. Again, I received 100% for my project and discussion last week. This week's assignment was an outline for our research essay project. This was easier for me than I thought it would be. I'm not an outline writer - I sit down and let the words flow and that's how I work. However, I used the example he posted for us as a guide and I think it came out okay. Here's what I came up with:


Diversity in the Film Industry

Thesis Statement: A more diverse film industry that includes more women in higher level positions will help ensure that the portrayals of women and girls, and their life experiences, are more accurately depicted in films.

I. Introductory Paragraph
A. Current trends in filmmaking
B. Women and girls on film

II. Women in the Film Industry
A. Current statistics
B. Motion picture industry
C. Animation industry

III. Portrayals of Women and Girls
A. Current portrayals in motion pictures
B. Current portrayals in animation
C. Inconsistencies and distortions

IV. Benefits of Diversity
A. Women as peers
B. Accuracy of depictions in motion pictures
C. Accuracy of depictions in animated films

V. Future Trends
A. Women helping women
B. The Twilight effect
C. The next generation

I think this turned out pretty good myself. I may actually even be able to work off of it. :) We shall see.

I have more information to impart, but I will cut this entry here and post a bit more later.

Monday Again? Already??!

Happy Monday y'all!

So...hope everyone had good weekends and that your Mondays are going well. So far mine is pretty damn awesome! :) Got my results from Success Strategies and English Comp for last week - 100% on both - yay me! 100% on my discussion for Typography too. Dunno about my assignment yet. No word on anything for Intro to Computer Graphics. We shall see.

As is every woman's prerogative, I changed my mind and have decided not to post any Success Strategies stuff. It's an interesting discussion and everything this week (for once), but nothing any of y'all hanging around here would give a shit about so...just trust me - cool discussion, nothing major. MOVING ON! :)

So for English Comp this week, we have to submit an outline for our Research Essay Project. Our discussion is a peer review of our thesis statements. Considering the previous peer review adventure, this is going to suck like a Hoover. But, I posted mine anyway. My thesis statement is: 'A more diverse film industry that includes more women in higher level positions will help ensure that the portrayals of women and girls, and their life experiences, are more accurately depicted in films'. You know I'm right! ;)

The problem I am facing now is with the outline. See, I'm not one of those writers who can write from an outline, I just can't do it. So to get the damn outline, I'm going to have to write the whole freaking paper, then pull the outline from there. Ugh! Not to mention, I have three assignments this week in Intro to Computer Graphics, plus my normal torture session in Typography so....it's going to be an interesting week. :)

Anyhow....that's the latest from here. Still trying to keep up that GPA and all. I'll update with more info and assignments as I have 'em. Stay cool y'all! Thoughts? Post 'em! :)

Final Portions of Week 4

Hey there y'all!

Whew! So I just now finished and sent off my Typography assignment. I spent a very, very, very, very, very long time on this one. I redid it about five times. I played with different elements. I made one I thought was "safer" and then I said, "Fuck it! - I'm sending the one I like!" I did this entirely in the Adobe software programs - aren't you proud of me? I'm loving Deviant by the way, I'm finding some great fonts and brushes there. Anyway, this is my Week 4 assignment for Typography:





So....that's done. Whew! :)

As for my English Comp assignment - I sent it off last night. It was the annotated bibliography for my Research Essay Project (see a few entries below for the details on that). We were required to have five sources, three of which were "scholarly". Well....y'all gotta know me a little by now - I went all Hermione on it again. I have twelve sources and about half are "scholarly". The damn thing is eight pages long - hence why it's not being loaded here. Suffice it to say that it rocks and will completely and totally help me rock my essay project. Woot! :)

So....Week 4 is finally complete. Week 5 was posted yesterday so....time for me to get to it. I've only looked at Success Strategies so far, and I may actually go back on my word and post my assignments for this week's class after all - they look like they might turn out kinda cool. We shall see.

Anyway....look at the previous entries for the latest on grades and what-not. As always, more to come later kittens! Thanks for the feedback and love! Laters!

Stuff Like This Makes My Week!

So I finally got back my English Comp grade on my expository essay on Hawaii. I got 100% in the class last week for my discussion, my quiz AND my essay! Yay me! My instructor left me awesome feedback: "Actually, I found it so well written I turned a blind eye to the relatively minor transgressions. Great job!" Heeee! :) :) :) :) See? - told you I rocked that paper! :)

Stayed up all night last night working on my bibliography and that damn Typography assignment. Still working on both. Got to get them done and turned in soon. My body finally crapped out on me about 8:30 a.m. this morning and I slept until 1:00 this afternoon. I am up, fed, Dr. Peppered and ready to face those last two assignments and Week 5 (which looks hella, hella busy!). Cheers all! Stay tuned!

Well....Shit!

Hi again all.

Well, I got my Typography grade back finally. Suffice it to say, I do not think that class is going to be one of my better ones. Basically, the main problem (aside from software angst) is the fact that he has one style and I have another and neither of us cares for the others' style. So....where does that leave me? He thinks my flyer from last week was "stuffy" and boring. He doesn't like my boxes around my pictures and wants me to do something more interesting and "edgy". Well....for flyers like that I consider what I have done in my working life. I've done a ton of desktop publishing for jobs and never had complaints. Quite the contrary - I've been praised up the ass. So....WTF? I mean, seriously - WTH??? This dude had us all sign up for Deviant accounts where we could friend him and see examples there. He's posted some of his own and some other students have done. Only problem is - - again, I don't care for his style or style choices. So what do you do as an artist? Especially with this asshat who "is the voice of the design industry" and thinks he's God's gift to graphic design? Do I continue to do the work that I feel best represents the assignment and my tastes, or do I try to find out what he's looking for? Even more importantly, do I speak up when I submit my next project? Do I say that while I respect his opinions, they are his and mine differ? Normally, especially in a work situation, I would respectfully state something along those lines. I dunno what to do here. I'm up trying to work on this stupid next assignment, but I'm just coming up with blanks. I know how *I* would *want* to do it, but I am also trying to keep my GPA in mind. Ugh - round and round in circles I go! Geesh! What a pain in the ass! Oh - the grade was 27/30 points. With the 100% for my discussion, it's about 97%. Not too bad I guess, just sucks when I'm pulling down 100% everywhere else.

Speaking of everywhere else - - still waiting for the grade on my expository essay in English Comp. Got 100% on my discussion and 100% on a quiz we had. Just waiting to see how the essay comes out. Still finishing up my annotated bibliography for that class too. New assignments are up today and it's already looking like a hella busy week. Lots to do and lots to share. Stay tuned! Thoughts? Leave 'em! :)