miércoles, 30 de marzo de 2011

Escalation to World War II

During the period known as the interwar period, which took place between the First and Second World War (1919-1939) many countries suffered a period of serious shift in their orders. The changes that happened led to the Second World War and ignited the rivalry between two participants of the war, US and USSR. First, there was the period of great success for the American side, as they had not lost that much money their economy was booming in a period of time known as the "roaring twenties". Other countries that participated did not have a very nice recovery from the war, as their countries had been devastated from the war, to name two main victims, France and Germany. These two countries, which were next to each other, were sharing the misery that their people felt, although the situation in Germany was by far the worst. Germany was in a tunnel that did not seem to have an exit; the situation was horrible and only one miracle could save them, this miracle was Adolf Hitler. This ruthless fascist politician and war veteran had emerged from the political obscurity to attain power in a period less than 20 years. His ideal of nationalism and knowledge of media tools, the use of propaganda helped him gain the hearts of the German people, creating the Nazi Germany, the igniter of WWII.

Other country that had used fascism to rise from its crisis was Italy, even before than Germany. The Italian people had found in Benito Mussolini the perfect leader, a ruthless dictator, which apart from his secret police and mass purges lowered unemployment. He was a brilliant man, who was a great strategist and used his knowledge to get powerful allies such as the Catholic Church with the Lateran Treaty and Germany, led by his admirer and Fascist leader Adolf Hitler.

Surprisingly enough, every totalitarian ruler got their power from scratch; for instance, Mussolini and his Blackshirts seized power with his several marches. These countries had risen from the economic chaos, mainly Germany that rose from being the greatly affected country, which was in a huge debt to being one of the most powerful world powers in a short period. There were other countries, which had put under a totalitarian government and their respective dictators, the Soviet Union, Spain and China. The latter country began its totalitarian government after the interwar period, where Mao Zedong had seized power.

Francisco Franco, a general who had first sought the liberation of his people at the nationalist side. Franco had to use a totalitarian government, having a keen eye for the media, controlling it fully. He also did many purges just as Hitler and Stalin against the men who decided to have elections or disobeyed his curfews. However, Franco was intelligent and knew how to act to survive, making alliances first with US, then Hitler, and then US again.

Every ruler was very intelligent in a specific thing; Stalin was intelligent at remaining in power and raising his country’s economy by quite a lot. Stalin had also had his share in the military, he was a participant with the Bolsheviks, and he then got the power after the death of Lenin and the "mysterious disappearance" of fellow Bolshevik Leon Trotsky. Furthermore, Stalin, purges and crimes apart was a smart man, with his five-year plans he had achieved a great economic boost in economy. At the end, all these countries and their rulers were similar in the sense that they had a great plan; they just took it too far and their power slowly consumed them.

With this said, the tactics implied by the several leaders could be applied to another countries, since they were in similar conditions. For example, Hitler’s Nazi strategy could have perfectly worked in the United States. There were many sympathizers for the Nazi cause in the US, some examples are Gerald Ford and William Randolph Hurst.

Actually, the Nazi strategy would have worked even better at US, where there was no crisis, Hitler could have boosted the country’s nationalism, used propaganda, establish his youth programs, it could have all worked. These strategies were actually used by the American government itself during WWII, not the youth programs, but they indeed had the most popular place to be or dedicate yourself to-the army. It was all in a similar condition and therefore Hitler’s strategy would have easily worked on America, and who knows, even the fate of the war may have changed. Further, there was quite the scientific movement in Germany; it was a progressing country, just like the US, where it was constantly trying to improve them. In my opinion, this scenario could work out just fine, the two countries were similar and one specific thing they had in similar was the Aryan way of life. Germany under Hitler’s Nazi strategy had openly declared itself as following the greatness of the Aryan empire; US had not done that, but believed in that in some way. America has always searched for the supremacy of the American continent, always the nationalism through the roof and a sense of greater calling in life; some examples of this are the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny. The switch would have worked indeed, in two countries that had been born again and looked for progress; Germany and United States, Hitler and FDR; it would have worked.

martes, 29 de marzo de 2011

France during the Interwar period

martes, 15 de marzo de 2011

Prezi Reflection

Last week the class had as an assignment to try out a Powerpoint hybrid thing called Prezi. Basically, Prezi is a giant canvas version of Powerpoint, quite innovative and new for a lifelong Powerpoint user. Mr. Mark classified this project as being a "Sandbox experience", just like some videogames in which the main thing you do is experiment. Prezi came along as being quite a good program, newer than Powerpoint and more free or easy to use. One thing I liked over Powerpoint was the fact that you could actually work everywhere, no need to change slides. Also, the preset animation was pretty well done and easy to work with. However, I must say that I would prefer Powerpoint a thousand times over Prezi. Prezi had one specific issue which I disliked a lot, you really can't present without adding the animation, and that reduces your work style to a slow-pacing one, not good. Personally, I like Powerpoint because I am so used to it, and its black and white inspiration, not as interesting as Prezi, but far better in the utility sense.

So, the big discussion is why should I prefer Powerpoint over Prezi, the answer is easy, I am used to it, I like it better. On a further note, I like the style of a Powerpoint presentation, simple, industrial, and straightforward. I personally find that Prezi is a little less formal, trying to hard to impress the users. My opinion on a sideshow presentation is that it should be easy to follow, but not as slow pacing as Prezi. I like that Prezi tries to give an alternative for the preset option Powerpoint, different is always good. I really liked Prezi, however I would never PERSONALLY choose to use it for school work, at least not with presentations, I like my presentations to be informative, not that boring and fast. I have used the whole Microsoft Office package ever since I have memory, I am used to, like and simply love complicating my life, making slides, manually add convex yet lame animations, I like that. It just might be nostalgia but I prefer Powerpoint. In conclusion, I prefer Powerpoint over Prezi, I would use Powerpoint for presentations, but still experiment sometime with Prezi, it is always good to try something new...that doesn't actually harm you.

And the Winner is Powerpoint!!! I have to admit it was a pretty one-sided decision...

miércoles, 9 de marzo de 2011

Prezi Experiment thing...

miércoles, 2 de marzo de 2011

Finished PSA

Just yesterday I have finished with the help of my partner, Taku, our PSA. I would have to say that this activity was quite fun, at some parts. I wasn't really happy with the finished product because the quality was quite affected upon putting it into a windows movie project. Also, we couldn't put any transitions into the video, or credits, making the video quite bland for my taste. I am happy with the message of it, I think that a final serious tone was achieved. The message about marijuana being an addictive and therefore dangerous drug was achieved, I felt that this really was clear. Furthermore, the videos of my classmates were quite good actually. The work progress was quite reduced, shooting was separated into three different days. Also, these last two weeks were filled with pressure since we have had lots of work and exams. Finally, I would hope for a second chance to do this activity.

With this said, I would like to make some corrections to my work, as it was far from perfect. First of all, the video quality was horrible, I would like to change that. The resolution was horrible changed upon the format change from .mov to .avi, and so I hope for some more time to fix that issue. Actually, I could consider reshooting the whole thing, with some more time and on another occasion of course. Second, I would love to put in some more transitions as well as some credits, even subtitles. The trouble with the lack there off the last things was that windows movie maker didn't allow us to actually put in those details. I would have loved to put in those details as it would boost our video to a whole new level, from bad to good. Third, I would like to include some sort of more scientific approach to the addictive drug. This last change actually would take some time to actually put together, actually I am not really sure about it. Having a more scientific approach to a drug might actually loose the attention of the audience, bore them. In the end, I was generally happy with the video, and I would make this activity again, in another time that is.

I have watched all the other videos from the class, and my favorite, the best of the best was the Internet Safety PSA. I felt that this PSA was really complete, great quality, awesome acting, attractive and informative. What I liked about this PSA is that it was funny and yet it was informative. I loved the fact that it is so true, stuff like the internet scams depicted in the video do happen. Sometimes approaching such a serious subject in a humorous manner does not work, but in this case it worked perfectly. I would like to make a PSA like that, cool, funny and yet interesting. In the end, I would like to send congrats to the makers, Eduardo, Sebastian and Rodrigo, which made the best video of the class.

martes, 15 de febrero de 2011

Public Service Announcements (PSA)

Today, we have renewed the subject of making commercials, this time we are doing something really similar, PSA'S or Public Service Announcement. It comes to my understanding that a PSA is a longer version of a commercial but with a subject directed at an audience not to promote a product but to teach or show. In this case, you don't actually promote a product, organization or anything, you are simply stating like a problem(drinking, smoking, obesity). It is similar to a commercial in the sense that it is usually broadcast or transmitted between a show or program and it is short. A PSA is usually longer, and it usually consists of making the people aware of a very serious problem or issue, and with it the goal is to make people conscious about an issue not buy something. I expect this activity to be a very fun activity to do and I hope I can actually make the people more aware of something bad and not just joke around.

Since this activity has to be done in groups I have seriously considered with who I should work with. First of all, I would like to work with Taku, because I think working with him should be very interesting. I also think that Taku can have some very interesting ideas of how to execute the PSA as well as making it appealing towards the audience. Basically, Taku will make the PSA an interesting and appealing project that has a chance of teaching the people a lesson. Second, the next candidate is Raul. I think that Raul can be the star in the PSA, since I lack of any acting skill whatsoever. Also, Raul lives very near to my house and so we can have more time to input more quality and hopefully make the PSA better. So, Raul would be a great partner because he can work for a prolonged amount of time and he can make the PSA quite good. Finally, my final candidate is Sebastian. I know Sebastian can work great in a PSA if he knows that his grade is dependent upon it, and so he really would need to work. Also, the main thing is that Sebastian is really funny and can make a funny PSA, perhaps I would interfere in his funniness, so that it actually teaches something.

Potential PSA'S:
1. Obesity.
2. Drinking.
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol.
4. Addiction to drugs.
5. Compulsive Eating
6. Smoking.
7. Bullying.

Basically, the most appealing PSA's are Obesity, Drinking and Bullying. First of all, Obesity is a serious issue in Mexico, we are one of the fattest countries in the world. I think that Obesity specifically should be dealt with a serious approach, because Obesity is so serious that making a funny PSA will probably hurt someone's feelings. I think that we should use facts of Obesity, concrete information and some predictions like for the year 2015 Mexico's population is expected to be this obese and so...Second, Drinking is a serious issue better tackled with a very funny approach. I personally think that if drinking ads don't work if serious, perhaps a funny drinking commercial should work just fine. My idea is to put a car with a drunk driver and drunk passengers as well, only for luck they don't get hurt and we can say... this is just fiction, but in real life most car crashes end with a tragedy, last year itself more than.....amount of people died. Finally, I would make the Bullying commercial a very serious one. It would be about a tall boy hitting a small one and the small one going to his house and crying. The add will then have a segment in which the public speaker tells the facts about bullying in Mexico and so...