Friday, October 31, 2003
American Memory Project by Library of Congress
It is long time since I posted a blog. Last Monday, 10/27/03, in our English 1101 class we watched some short movies. They were in digital prints. These digital prints are possible as a result of the American Memory Project undertaken by Library of Congress. Under this project not just motion pictures but also ads, photographs, sound recordings, manuscripts, maps, prints, and texts are converted into digital prints for preservation. The aim of this project is to serve as "a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States".
From the movies that we watched in the class, I observed that the old movies were very short of about 5-10 minutes. Despite the length very less, the movies were pretty good in conveying the message. Even though many old movies are preserved, the quality is diminished. Also, these old movies lack outdoor shootings except on few occasions. The project has collected a variety of documents with focus ranging from Hitler to Gandhi to Washington. Such a huge collection of not just articles but also pictures and photographs American Memory Project is a resource for not just American history but also whole world's history.
It is long time since I posted a blog. Last Monday, 10/27/03, in our English 1101 class we watched some short movies. They were in digital prints. These digital prints are possible as a result of the American Memory Project undertaken by Library of Congress. Under this project not just motion pictures but also ads, photographs, sound recordings, manuscripts, maps, prints, and texts are converted into digital prints for preservation. The aim of this project is to serve as "a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States".
From the movies that we watched in the class, I observed that the old movies were very short of about 5-10 minutes. Despite the length very less, the movies were pretty good in conveying the message. Even though many old movies are preserved, the quality is diminished. Also, these old movies lack outdoor shootings except on few occasions. The project has collected a variety of documents with focus ranging from Hitler to Gandhi to Washington. Such a huge collection of not just articles but also pictures and photographs American Memory Project is a resource for not just American history but also whole world's history.
Sunday, October 19, 2003
OOPS!!! I thought that the update blog on paper dues on monday.
Anyway, i have changed my mind on the paper topic. Wait!! It is still on a hindi movies. It is just that I changed the movie from "LAGAAN- once upon a time" to "SARFAROSH- a reason to live".
This movie is about ACP Ajay Singh Rathod working for Mumbai Crime Branch solving the case on the terrorist activity killing bus travelers in the state.
Through this plot the debutant director John Matthew Matthan has successfully explored the terrorism against India by pakistan sponsered secrect agency ISI.
Even though the movie has fictional character its claim about Pakistan's involvement is not fictional.
Like rest of the hindi movies, this movie also has the songs. there are 6 songs and each of them are of different genre ranging from ghazal to qawwali to folk to cabre to romantic to comedy.. Also each of these songs are well placed in the movie.
With the original plot, this action movie has some eye caressing scenery ranging from greenery of southern forest to dry arid desert of west.
The excellent acting from the star Aamir Khan with great acting from other cast makes this film a great one!
For more details hold on for my paper.
Anyway, i have changed my mind on the paper topic. Wait!! It is still on a hindi movies. It is just that I changed the movie from "LAGAAN- once upon a time" to "SARFAROSH- a reason to live".
This movie is about ACP Ajay Singh Rathod working for Mumbai Crime Branch solving the case on the terrorist activity killing bus travelers in the state.
Through this plot the debutant director John Matthew Matthan has successfully explored the terrorism against India by pakistan sponsered secrect agency ISI.
Even though the movie has fictional character its claim about Pakistan's involvement is not fictional.
Like rest of the hindi movies, this movie also has the songs. there are 6 songs and each of them are of different genre ranging from ghazal to qawwali to folk to cabre to romantic to comedy.. Also each of these songs are well placed in the movie.
With the original plot, this action movie has some eye caressing scenery ranging from greenery of southern forest to dry arid desert of west.
The excellent acting from the star Aamir Khan with great acting from other cast makes this film a great one!
For more details hold on for my paper.
Today I visited local Science Museum SciTrek. It seemed to be kids’ museum. I spent there about an hour self-guided and alone. As I entered the exhibition center, to my right it started with the display of the experiment representing the magnetic properties. The first one was ‘Pole, Push, and Pull’ presenting the attraction and repulsion properties of the magnetic poles followed by ‘Magnetic attraction’. ‘Magnemaze’, and ‘Natural Magnets’ displaying the various ‘cool’ properties of magnets. The next few presentations were regarding how the electricity is generated using magnetic properties. The next section began with the exhibition explained through the use of the magnet how the television set works. It was a smooth transition and also it seemed to be part of the earlier section. The electron beaming in television sets was further explored in the ‘Plasma Walk’ display. After the section on visual effects came the section presenting the properties of light through ‘Colored Shadows’, ‘Frozen figure’ and many others displays. In the other sections, the concept of force and lever were explored.
After that I did not continue with the museum because it was not that cool as I imagined. But as far as I explored the museum the arrangement was in circle with the smooth transitions between the sections such that it is tough to single out the sections. These sections are not visible until the museum is explored for long time.
After that I did not continue with the museum because it was not that cool as I imagined. But as far as I explored the museum the arrangement was in circle with the smooth transitions between the sections such that it is tough to single out the sections. These sections are not visible until the museum is explored for long time.
Thursday, October 09, 2003
"LAGAAN-once upon a time in India", the Hindi movie released in 2001 and nominated for the Best Foreign Language film at Oscar, forms my visual text. Why a Hindi movie?
Well moved from India just couple of years ago, I have watched more Hindi movies than English movies. So, I know more about Hindi movies and the trend in Hindi movies. Hence, I can better evaluate them. And why that particular Hindi movie?
Well it is one of my favorite movies and also it is really a good movie proved by its being an Oscar nomination.
The movie is based in 1893 India, when it was under the British rule. The movie has the game of cricket as its climax. There would be hardly any Indian who is not passionate about this British game. And another passion of a hardcore Indian can be demonstrated by the fact that Indian film industry even surpasses its Hollywood counterpart in number of movies release every year.
With so many movies on screen and many more songs out, the competition is very high. But very few films succeed in creating movie where the songs coordinate with the movie and also that they do not disturb the flow of the story in the movie. The songs of this movie pace up the movie instead of just holding up the movie. Each of them have definite role in the movie without which the movie is not complete.
Of course there have been several good Hindi movies, which succeed in putting the songs in right place and right amount, but what makes this particular movie take a lead? Besides the use of songs, the use of three languages in the dialogues adds the sense of antiquity to the movie and thereby, it succeed in taking the audience back to that era. What else? Well, the settings! The direction!! And lot of other features!!!!
For all that hold on still my paper is ready, but I am right now worried how I will express all what I have in my mind and how I will corporate all the factors so that the focus match with that of the assignment.
Well moved from India just couple of years ago, I have watched more Hindi movies than English movies. So, I know more about Hindi movies and the trend in Hindi movies. Hence, I can better evaluate them. And why that particular Hindi movie?
Well it is one of my favorite movies and also it is really a good movie proved by its being an Oscar nomination.
The movie is based in 1893 India, when it was under the British rule. The movie has the game of cricket as its climax. There would be hardly any Indian who is not passionate about this British game. And another passion of a hardcore Indian can be demonstrated by the fact that Indian film industry even surpasses its Hollywood counterpart in number of movies release every year.
With so many movies on screen and many more songs out, the competition is very high. But very few films succeed in creating movie where the songs coordinate with the movie and also that they do not disturb the flow of the story in the movie. The songs of this movie pace up the movie instead of just holding up the movie. Each of them have definite role in the movie without which the movie is not complete.
Of course there have been several good Hindi movies, which succeed in putting the songs in right place and right amount, but what makes this particular movie take a lead? Besides the use of songs, the use of three languages in the dialogues adds the sense of antiquity to the movie and thereby, it succeed in taking the audience back to that era. What else? Well, the settings! The direction!! And lot of other features!!!!
For all that hold on still my paper is ready, but I am right now worried how I will express all what I have in my mind and how I will corporate all the factors so that the focus match with that of the assignment.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
It always have been human passion to keep a record of the things and this passion is the reason why we are at this stage today, it is the reason alphabets came into existence, languages are formed, literature is written, stories are told, songs are written, and I am taking this class!!! This passion corresponds to the passion of learning and knowing the history. Among the various developments in the technologies for record keeping, the most influential is the invention of camera and, hence, the art of still photography.
This art of photography helps record something live like unfortunately 9/11. Besides that the photography depicts a lot. The best example of the use of photography for the documentation of ones life is by Miles Hochstein who has a photograph for each year he lived. Even though it does not sound interesting for a forty year old guy, but his web picture gallery is an excellent example of how the technology can be used to preserve the memories. These photos very well represent the changes in the life of Hochstein. Also instead of interpretation by someone this picture gallery let one interpret himself or herself. Also, the number of pictures and the images they depict creates a boundary, but this boundary can be removed if the picture gallery includes more pictures to reduce the frequency to atleast four months instead of a year. Also, including pictures other than head and shoulder pictures will convey a lot more.
Another example for the usage of photography discussed in the class during the week was regarding the living orbituary set up for Milon Buneta by one of his friends. In this case the picture plays a role something like that of the diagrams in the physical sciences. They complement the description presented. Once again these pictures and descriptions are brought to us by the blogs.
These two very different examples covers the most aspects of the technologies' role in the preservation of the memories. The technology for the purpose is not just limited to the camera but goes to include from website to documentary movie to even blogging. AND many times even the combinations of two or more technologies like in the examples discussed.
Such technologies are having the increasing importance because of their not just wide range ( and wide reach) of audience but also the wide range of writers. These technologies allows even the worst to the most immature person an opportunity to present their views or themselves or someone else. These privileges help the preservation of more views, of more ideas, of more memories, and unfortunately the more hatred!
This art of photography helps record something live like unfortunately 9/11. Besides that the photography depicts a lot. The best example of the use of photography for the documentation of ones life is by Miles Hochstein who has a photograph for each year he lived. Even though it does not sound interesting for a forty year old guy, but his web picture gallery is an excellent example of how the technology can be used to preserve the memories. These photos very well represent the changes in the life of Hochstein. Also instead of interpretation by someone this picture gallery let one interpret himself or herself. Also, the number of pictures and the images they depict creates a boundary, but this boundary can be removed if the picture gallery includes more pictures to reduce the frequency to atleast four months instead of a year. Also, including pictures other than head and shoulder pictures will convey a lot more.
Another example for the usage of photography discussed in the class during the week was regarding the living orbituary set up for Milon Buneta by one of his friends. In this case the picture plays a role something like that of the diagrams in the physical sciences. They complement the description presented. Once again these pictures and descriptions are brought to us by the blogs.
These two very different examples covers the most aspects of the technologies' role in the preservation of the memories. The technology for the purpose is not just limited to the camera but goes to include from website to documentary movie to even blogging. AND many times even the combinations of two or more technologies like in the examples discussed.
Such technologies are having the increasing importance because of their not just wide range ( and wide reach) of audience but also the wide range of writers. These technologies allows even the worst to the most immature person an opportunity to present their views or themselves or someone else. These privileges help the preservation of more views, of more ideas, of more memories, and unfortunately the more hatred!
