Curation Progress Report Week 3

     This week was super busy for me, but I still managed to get some things accomplished. I found music, more outfits, some hipster sayings, activities that people in this movement partake in and other miscellaneous anti-mainstream things.
     The most interesting piece that I curated this week would definitely have to be the music I found, because not a lot of people have heard these songs or like heard of these bands; and that's what makes them anti-mainstream because like no one knows about them..yet.
     There actually weren't any obstacles I had to overcome this week that was entirely about the curation itself. It was more of other things going on, like homework and projects for other classes and prom weekend was coming up, so I just had to manage my time and actually find time to search for good things to use and evaluate everything I found to make sure it was good enough to post.
     The next three steps are: organizing everything that I've found onto their respective boards, find some more things that not a lot of people know about, and finally put the finishing touches to the Pinterest I made for this curation project.
      I hope to finish this project off with a bang.

Curation Progress Report Week 2

       A week has now passed and it was a week filled with accomplishments. I actually decided to change my place of curation; so instead of a Tumblr blog, I am now curating on Pinterest. I felt it would be easier to use the different boards to organize the different items that I have curated. I designed a Pinterest page called HipstrPrspectiv (because it can only be 15 characters long) that currently has fourteen items pinned onto different boards, according to what category they fall into. I have made boards for: quotes, outfits, music, and accessories, beauty, photographs and miscellaneous items.
       The most interesting piece of information I found this week on my search for the epitome of hipster/anti-mainstream, has got to be the fact that people who are part of this movement know about things before everyone else does. Like they are able to find things in their lives, around the world, or on the internet before anyone else can, and when that song finally plays on the radio or the rest of the world finds out about that website or teenagers catch up to that fashion trend, they have already known about it for a while. They know about things before they're "cool."
       Right now, the biggest obstacle I have to overcome is finding music that hasn't been played on the radio yet. Music that hasn't really been heard of. And evaluate each song to make sure it doesn't beautify drugs and alcohol. This will be hard for me because I only listen to mainstream music so this should be a challenge.
       The next three steps are going to be: finding music that narrates this anti-mainstream movement, finding more written information, adding on to the categories I already have.
       I'm doing pretty well on finding photos and I hope it continues to be that way.

Curation Progress Report Week 1

       This week, I accomplished a couple of things. First, I got my topic approved: the story of the anti-mainstream movement of the generation, also known as "hipsters," and how to become one. Then, I picked where I was going to build this curation: designing a blog on Tumblr called The Hipster Perspective. Next, I searched for pictures, quotes, information and anything else that had even the smallest thing to do with my topic. I collected some photos that I acquired from the internet that I may or may not post on my blog. I have to Evaluate these photos before I post, them to make sure they are worth posting. These photos include: outfits, music, activities and sayings.
       The most interesting piece of information I found this week were the different opinions and definitions of what people think anti-mainstream means or how they perceive and consider something hipster. Looking at other people's blogs on Tumblr and the things that pop up on Google searches, have been really interesting and there are so many definitions from so many different people out there about how and what they categorize as anti-mainstream/hipster.
       Like I said above, there are already so many perspectives of the anti-mainstream movement of the generation out there, so the biggest obstacle I need to overcome is to pick and choose the photos, outfits, music, activities and sayings that epitomize my view of the anti-mainstream movement. What I think exemplifies what it means to be a hipster and how to be one. My curation will be entirely about what a 17 year old girl, living in the north shore, thinks is hipster. And even though there are so many hipster things all over the interent, I haven't really seen something that teaches someone how to become a hipster. It will be challenging to put together enough information for someone who has no idea what this movement is and to narrate to them everything that comes with and how to live this kind of lifestyle; and to do it in an organized and easy manner.
       The next steps from here are: finding more music that I consider anti-mainstream, acquiring more written information about what this movement is about and not just posting pictures about it, and lastly, putting some sort of step-by-step way of how to become a hipster.
       Currently, the project has been going well, but I need to organize the items that I have started curating into a meaningful way.

Best of Week: 6 Sense Technology TED Talk

       This week we continued the TED talk presentations, but the one that stood out the most to me was Taso's about the new technological beak-through that his TED presenter came up with.
       The innovation is called 6 sense technology, I think, and it makes technology more human by integrating the computer with our lives. Now that may sound bad, but it's actually a pretty cool thing. The way that this technology works is that you have sensors on your fingers, a computer and a projector on a necklace you wear and maybe a small computer in your back pocket. You are able to use virtually any surface as a screen and are able to transfer documents and other such things from the 6 sense device to anywhere else you want it and everything is done all with your hands; and that's how easy it is and that is how he made technology more human.
       This technological innovation has got me thinking about how far the human race has come; and in all honesty, I'm pretty surprised we've come this far. I mean we don't have flying cars yet, but hey, I can work with this new cellphone/computer. It also makes me think about how much this will change the technology we use and how we create things in the future. If this technology was developed three years ago, think about how incredible it'll be ten years from now; I'd like to see Apple beat that one.
       If someone told me about this innovation, I probably would not have believed them until I saw it for myself. When Taso played the TED video of his presenter demonstrating how to use the 6 sense technology, I literally was staring at the screen in awe. I would have never thought that someone out there actually developed something like this; it was just too unreal, like something out of a movie. I now have so much faith in the human race, because if we could develop something as awesome as this, we could hopefully develop some pretty radical things in the coming future.
       What's really exciting about being part of this generation is that that are so many new things and innovations that people are coming up with right now and we're like the first people who can actually obtain these things and use them. It'll definitely be interesting and fun to see what people come up with in the next couple of decades. I'm just really excited that I get to be a part of all of this.

Metacognition: The Mashup Process

       Creating a mashup was a very different experience for me. At first, I thought that I was doing it wrong, but I figured that a mashup is supposed to feel wrong, right? I mean, I was putting quotes from here and there, pictures that had something to do with my two topics, I was using sources in the Humanities curriculum, and sources outside of the curriculum, and everything just felt wrong; but in the end, everything felt right, everything blended together and formed one meaningful mashup.
       My thinking while doing this mashup was at times all over the place and very random, but I would like to say that it was intellectual most of the time. I found quotes about solitude and writing from different parts of the book; I must admit that I stumbled upon the quotes, but they ended up being meaningful quotes that I actually really liked and that's how they ended up in my mashup. The pictures I found on Tumblr, were sprinkled all over the place and I just happened to find them which was really interesting and thought it was a hint from the universe that I should put them in my mashup. The sources that I found outside of humanities, were quotes and pictures from things that played a huge role in my life; Taylor Swift is my idol and I wanted to incorporate her in my mashup because when I feel alone (or solitary) her and her music always seems to be there for me. John Green is my new favorite author and I've only read two of his novels, but they were so incredibly written then I could just sit here and read them again and again and I can't wait to read his other work.
       I think the way that I found the parts of my mashup was very natural, and they sort of just came to me in a way, I didn't go looking for them. When we got the assignment, I also kind of knew then what i wanted to put in my mashup which made things easier; for example, the three quotes that I used for the parts from the Humanities curriculum came from three works that we studied that I really enjoyed.
       If I was asked what I wanted to change anything about my mashup, I wouldn't change a thing. I'm proud of what I did and I believe I thought of some pretty creative things to mash together.
       Because this was such a new assignment to me, I was really surprised that I was able to get myself to focus. A mashup has a very random nature to it and it was surprisingly easy to keep my mind on track and not veer off into tangents while creating a mashup about writing and solitude. I was also kind of surprised at how creative I got while creating this, because being a fourth quarter senior, my mind is totally out of school mode right now.
       I really liked how my mind just kept giving me ideas while I was working on this project. It surprises me that I have so much stored in the back of my mind that I don't use and they all just come springing forward when the time comes. I honestly would have never thought about half of the stuff I put in my mashup if it wasn't for my creative thinking. So, I was really surprised that I got through it and came up with some pretty great things to loop together.
       Overall, creating a mashup for Letter to a Young Poet was a fun new experience and it showed me that my mind isn't tuned out all the way yet.

iMedia: Frank Gehry's Architecture

      Frank Gehry and his architecture has taken the "norm" out of the word normal. As one can see, the building to the left and to the bottom are not normal looking buildings. The one to the left looks as if it will collapse at any moment because of the weird bend, but it's called art. The building at the bottom looks like it's from the future. Even though we are not used to seeing buildings like this, Gehry's architecture has changed the way buildings can be built, and his creativity has changed the way we think. If you Google "Frank Gehry Buildings" you will find some of his best works and some of the most interesting buildings you have ever

seen. By watching a documentary about him, we were able to see how his creative process works. He basically takes random pieces of paper and puts them on a model in weird and awkward angles and wa-la, we've got ourselves a fantastic new building.
     What I'm getting to is that by seeing Gehry's work and being able to see how he creates it, gives students like us hope. Hope that maybe one day, things that we create- whether it be "normal" or not-will change someone's view. Gehry's work was unlike anything before, it's very modern and sometimes it's hard to understand, but his awkwardly shaped and futuristic looking buildings has made him a sufficient load of money. Architecture was something his old teacher told him wasn't for him, but now he's made well-known and well-liked buildings, and he's doing something he absolutely loves and he gets paid for it, so what's better than that?
     Gehry has also paved a way for others to create whatever goes on in their mind, to make something of themselves and maybe one day, their art can be appreciated as well.

Blogging Around

Justine: Connecting the movie Once to other Hollywood movies. Deliberating on similarities and differences.

I agree with you, that the movie Once was so different from some of the movies that I usually want to see or watch. It was kind of a nice change from the typical love story from those Hollywood movies because most movies have gotten very predictable and they're not that fun to watch anymore. What happened in this movie was definitely unexpected because I was totally predicting that the two main characters were going to end up together. Like you said, the way he showed her that he cared about her was something new, but still cute at the same time. I also agree with your point about Once and other Hollywood movies; Hollywood movies are now being filmed in a way for the audience to feel like they're watching a home video and for the audience to feel that the story is real. It was something far-fetched from the movies I am used to watching, but it was nice. Great job on your blog!

Rachel: Talks about the inconvenient truth about technology, how it evolved and how it may be hurting us more now than helping us.

Everything you said about technology was so true. I do believe that technology has become a total obsession than a helper. I could never, never, never get rid of my iPhone because it's like a part of me. I just couldn't imagine life without it and I keep wondering how I lived without it before; that makes me sound like a totally iPhone obsessed person, but I bet half the teenage population would agree with me. I almost never just use my phone for texting now, it's always for social media apps and games. It is definitely a need now. I think we should take a break away from technology as well and get back to going outside and hanging out with friends in one place instead of talking to each other and staring at a computer screen all day.