I've come to the realization that I have not mentioned a lot concerning my Gifted and Talented class - which, I have a bit of an idea of why seeing that I have it only once a week. Obviously, the one obstacle I’ve had a difficult time managing of is the lack of class time. It's rather challenging to find the time to work on my projects when GAT is on a Monday - the day that school likes to take off every other week. Other than that, I do feel I've made the best of the time was I given. Since I’ve been working on things that I enjoy doing, it does’t feel like an “assignment” when I willingly want to work on it during my own free time. This quarter, I have worked on a couple of different things concerning video editing. First, I compiled a Disney Fantasia animation to line up with a song the high school Band performed. It showcased at our concert a couple of weeks ago, and I received many compliments about it thereafter. My current project right now initially wasn’t that much of a concept at first, but I’ve surprisingly gotten some good progress on it.
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Okay, I know what you're thinking - why is Sarah writing about a KPop group of all things? Well, first of all, I didn't really have a choice to not write this post since my Asian pop-obsessed best friend has been begging me to do so all week. Yet, I will say that the recent headlines surrounding this music group very well deserve my attention. You see, I am not too acquainted with Korean and Japanese pop groups, but I do know that they all seem to have this methodic approach of maintaining a specific image with their chosen members. The KPop group RaNia, however, has defied against this formula in the most revolutionary manner possible by welcoming African-American singer Alexandra - who, by the way, has no Asian roots whatsoever (She can't even speak Korean either). I found this fact especially interesting, as this is the first huge step Korean Pop has taken towards attracting the attention of Western audiences; and if I am to be honest, I'm actually very excited to see how this will encourage all sorts of international collaborations in the future. Language may be a barrier, but music itself is universal. ♡
I'm not exactly sure what the overall purpose of this post is, rather than to explain what I've often wondered about concerning choreographed movie sequences. Out of this curiosity, I've compiled some theories and what not regarding how songs sound ever so slightly sped up in comparison to their original versions. I think this has something to do with sound waves and the methods in which filmmakers conduct dance scenes. I know for a fact that they play the song on loud speakers while dancing with the assigned choreography (at least, that’s how Bollywood does it) and when post production comes along, they then silence the recording from the speakers and overlay the clear, original audio of the song to maximize song quality. Now, this brings about a bit of debate, if you ask me. The argument would be that the further away a sound is, the faster it sounds. Editors must increase the speed of the audio ever so slightly in order to compensate for the disparity of sound waves heard while dancing. Both the speed and pitch of an audio track are intertwined; one changes, and so does the other. I think that is the reasoning for why a song may be altered in pitch and speed by such a slim degree - so it lines up with the choreography in the best manner possible.
| m u s i c t a g - a song that reminds you of your childhood Hmm . . . ideas to write about are even more rare than they've ever been in the recent weeks, so I've actually been suggested by my friends to do a couple of music tags to find at least some writing topic worthwhile. For this post in particular, I've decided upon writing about one of the most memorable songs of my childhood - The Little Bear Theme. Now, just listening to this calming, nostalgic melody is making me tear up. That animated series and its wonderful characters are so close to my heart. Even though I haven't watched it since my elementary years, the characters' personalities are still fresh in my memory -they are just too enduringly compelling for me to forget.
First things first, I apologize for my recent posts being quite the lack lusters; I just really don't have any new or interesting stories to share about this past week, nor is there one interest or topic in particular that I truly feel like discussing intellectually. In fact, I'd have to say this whole week has felt the very same each day, from the schedule of course, but even the conversations. The first half of the second semester ends today, and I can only say that my scattered mind is on many other things at the moment - combined chapter tests and projects especially. I don't even know anymore. I'm sure a good night's rest will ease my writing block sooner or later. Now, I can only hope I did well enough on that government test . . . In your opinion, what is one of the most irritating, frustrating, and annoying things? "That’s definitely due tomorrow." [insert sarcasm here] - Honestly, one of the most infuriatingly frustrating things you can possibly do to me is stretch the deadline of an assignment without telling me beforehand. Don’t get me wrong - I’m all for teachers giving students the opportunity to finish working on things and to ask any questions in the process. But I’ve also too often experienced the occasions when I had to stay up late to finish a new, massive assignment only to come back to school the next day in which the teacher pulls the whole, “Oh, not a lot of students got this done…it’ll be due for tomorrow then.” While I was grateful in a sense that I had already got it finished and out of the way, I still would’ve appreciated the time to actually make sure I did it correctly.
How have your music tastes changed over the years? Now that I reflect back on my past interests and passions, music has played a very pivotal role in establishing my own unique sense of personality. As many would agree, music's diverse landscape helps to define the identity of an individual. As of today, I would say that my song preferences have become rather diverse, as I really try to acquaint myself with new forms of music that I wouldn't initially consider otherwise. I grew up in a household very much reminiscent to this same concept; I was exposed to many different movies, boardgames, toys, art supplies, and perhaps most prominently, music. I've evolved from obsessing over the first few animated Barbie movie soundtracks as a young girl - to the pre-teen oriented Disney Channel Selena Gomez albums, all-out epic orchestral motion picture scores, 1920s big band Electroswing, humorously addictive early 2000s British rap, alternative synthpop bands such as IAMX - and now to exotic, vivacious Hindi romance film soundtracks. Quite an evolution, eh? I'm not even going to attempt to predict what genre will come my way next.
At first glance, the witty British comedy series that is The Inbetweeners seems to conform to any other show of its genre - consistently overlooked and, at times, under appreciated. To the viewer’s eye, it can easily be judged as one of those seemingly ordinary comedies; and yes, I will admit that I am guilty of overlooking such television programs. Dry and obnoxious humour is something I’m not attracted to in a television series, or in the comedy genre in general, for that matter. However, it was about a year ago this month that I had discovered this simple treasure while scrolling through my Netflix queue - an item which was added months prior out of a slight interest. In fact, I had forgot I had even added the item until months later. One uneventful afternoon, I sat down and turned on the first episode out of pure curiosity. Needless to say, what played on my once humble and innocent television screen was something rather unexpected, yet joyfully intriguing as well. I was entranced, and at the time, I hadn’t the faintest idea as to why. You see, I would not define myself as the stereotypical teenager who misinterprets every little remark as inappropriate in subtext on a daily basis. Honestly, the dialogue alone isn't what I’d normally find hilarious, but something about this show’s delivery style really opened my eyes (and not only due to the crude language which consistently drained from my television speakers). If anything, this was the first mini comedy series that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Time flew by as I grew a fondness for the humor that spawned from the immature brains of Will, Simon, Neil, and Jay - a group of incompetent teenage schoolboys who maneuver themselves through impossible situations - those of which they bring upon themselves. Four charming English lads, you say? No. They are anything but. I myself can confirm through past experience that the male species is an incomprehensible one, so the stereotype that teenage boys from Britain are any different is completely false. The Inbetweeners does a fantastic job of clarifying this.
Okay, yes - I realize that the title of this post may appear to be a bit contradictory to what has been occurring in the weather these recent weeks, but what I'm actually referring to is that of the increasing anticipation for the sixth season of HBO's television epic, Game of Thrones. The official trailer was released only hours ago and I'm still studying and dissecting it frame by frame at a time. I have so many overwhelming questions and theories that I just need to compile together, and what better way to do so than to clutter up more of this blog?
| So, is Jon Snow really dead? Are we ever going to discover his true parentage? Was Ned Stark truly his biological father? Could it be Robert Baratheon and Lyanna Stark, just as fans have theorized for years? Is the Hound going to come back, by chance? What comes next for the incestuous twins Cersei and Jaime? Arya is blind now? Bran still exists? His plot line was completely disregarded last season. And why is he standing up in the trailer? His legs are paralyzed, remember?Game of Thrones is a rather detailed spectacle, and its visually realistic (and at times, gruesomely detailed) content leaves nothing to the imagination - so why were the camera angles so hesitant to specifically showcase how Brienne put an end to the heartless Stannis Baratheon? So many questions, and surprisingly, so little time. April can't come soon enough. |
— Initially, this page was where I documented my daily prompts for a writing class in high school, but I'll continue to post my thoughts here every once in a while. I might also post some dissertations / research I've done here in college. categories:archives:
April 2018
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