MISC. CLASS ACTIVITY

During every class period, an assigned group brought in a meal that pertained to the course of study. I don't know if any of the meals were particularly involving, but it was a nice break from discussion.

One day, we went to Barton Springs. I was particularly excited, because I had to pay $2.50 to get into class, so I figured it was defiantly something special. We were given a list of activities to do, but no one did much of them. After a while, we all decided to leave, and get a bite to eat at some restaurant. Though I wouldn't say I learned anything that day, it was a fun experience of getting to know my instructor and classmates.

Of each of the class meetings, I can say for sure that two were my favorite, and didn't actually make me regret registering for the class. The first was the life drawing. I think this experience was appealing because we were doing something active, and creating during the class time, and there should definitely be more of these kinds of activities. To see some of the life drawings I created, click here.

The second worthwhile experience was the next-to-last class day, Monday, July 09, 2001. This was such a nice experience because we had a real discussion, with about the entire class contributing. The discussion involved the probability of Artificial Intelligence replacing real people (stemming from a comment of replacing human actors with digital ones). For the record, I think it will very much plausible, but not probable. People enjoy knowing that human beings had done something. They will not relate easily to a digital representation of a human being. The star system operates on the actors' having lives outside of their roles. Celebrity interview programs, on which discussion centers on daily life demonstrate this. Also, the fact that the stunts in the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" were done without digital effects, added a lot of pleasure for some people in viewing the film. Read reviews of it, and this is evident.

Well, now the class is finished. Everyone has presented their final projects, and it was a pretty nice class period. Maybe it was just the ending with Maida giving out presents to Christmas music. I thought that was interested, and profitable for myself, so I liked it. I think the best part of it was the personal notes we were given. It was the first time someone had given to me an opinion they had formulated really out of nowhere (but in the context of this project). It was interesting, because she commented on my quietness, and how that made her wonder if I was just shy or observing everything. I remember a few semesters ago, someone had taken my silence as my being "stuck-up" and a jerk. It's funny, and I have to say that I prefer Maida's interpretation.