Report Card.

This post is from Friday, 5/13/11.

Today, I received my report card. My grades, but my WISE grade was not satisfactory. I received a 70. I'd say this is an unfair assessment, of my WISE work. I've done more blogging then most people. As a matter of fact, I know someone who hasn't blogged in about a month, which means they haven't shown and progression of work for over a month, aka, this marking period, and managed to get a 65. Just 5 points below mine, and having about 20 blog posts beneath me. It's just a little frustrating to see all this stress and work has just earned me a 70, making my parents believe I've done no work.

The Very First Joke.

This post was intended for Thursday, 5/12/11

In pursuit to do some research about the origins of Comedy, I ran across this article. I don't know how much truth is holds, but It's still an interesting concept to think about.

The History of Comedy (Notes):

-First signs of "biological" comedy started about 1.8 Million years ago, from our ancestors, Homo erectus. They were animals to walk up right, and began to develop social skills among each other, and forming packs.

-"You need an audience to react to your behaviors and they need you to challenge their personal comfort zones."

-Farts, aka, the release of methane were the first seeds of comedy.

- "Our prehistoric friends had a diet rich in protein and raw vegetation or in other words: fart food. "

-We each have different pitch/types of farts. When communities of homo erectus were put together, they saw the variety of farts, causing laughter due to oddness of the foreign farts.

-The use and development of tools helped morph comedy, including styles like satire.

Reaction:

This article was very interesting to me. The idea that comedy is as old as 3 million years old, and was passed from species to species of the apes is just stunning. It would make sense to why we think obnoxious farts are hilarious. A very detailed and eye opening article.

Source:

"The History of Comedy." Welcome to the Home of Faribault's Own Jeffrey Sears™. Web. 15 May 2011. .

Interviews.

This post was intended to be posted on Wednesday, 5/11/11.

Today, I heard back from two Community contacts. The first one was Beth Milles, a good friend of Ms. Gergely and an associate professor of Theatre, Dance and Film at Cornell University. This is good news, because I am in need of community contacts for my WISE project. Here is what she said:

"Hi Alexi

I would be happy to speak with you further.

Your project sounds very interesting. Let me know what would be helpful, we can speak on the phone tomorrow afternoon or early next week.

My office no. Is 607 254 2752.

Best,

Beth"

I plan to call early next week, Seeing how I am swamped in other school work right now.

The second community contact is members from the Developing Pictures, a film group whose works include progressive and humanitarian documentaries. They've agreed to sit down an interview as well. So this is two research pieces essentially, which is useful.

How much time have you spent on your project?

Thus far in this week, I have spent about 4 hours on my project. I've been fairly busy with studying and preparation of my last AP, and taking one of my last tests in Zoology. Essentially keep my head above water in other classes, while maintaining consistency in WISE class. I should easily have 8 hours by Sunday though.

What did you do for Hands on?

For hands on, I worked with Ian Dezelan and planned for the skit we are shooting this weekend. We're finalizing a script, getting people committed, and will have filmed the skit by sunday.

What did you do for Research?

I have been setting up an interview with director Beth Milles, and members of the activist-local film group, Developing Pictures. Aside from this, I am reading the Learning Ladies play, and citing my bilbiography for research components.

Were you in class this week?

Yes, I was present monday, and I plan to attend my red flag meeting tomorrow.

Did you meet with your mentor? What did you talk about?

Yes, I met with her on Monday morning before WISE class. We talked about consistancy in research and blog posts, as well as my future plans for the next week, and how she is less worried about my progress.

What do you think your fulfillment of WISE requirements was?

I have done a moderate job this week, essentially just keeping my head above water for this week, as it is a very hard academic week. But I will have 7 blogposts done, as a skit done by Sunday if all goes well, so I would say I will have done a fair job this week by then.

What are your plans for next week?

My plans for next week are the usual. Blog post every single day, start a new skit, and I really want to be exited from red flag. I don't feel like should still be in here.

Today/Mentor Meeting.

I started if off today like any other Monday, meeting with my WISE mentor, Ms. Perl. We composed of a "to do" list for this week.

-She insists I should blog every single day, two of them being research posts, if I am to hit my 50 post mark by around next week

-We decided that I should read the Learned Ladies, and make a research post about it.

-Film on Sunday and finish the second skit.

After my meeting, WISE class commenced. We established dates for WISE presentations, and I got one of the last ones, which is good, so I can have as much time as possible to finish my WISE project. My date is June 17th, at 9 AM, Ms. Gergely's Room. We also were handed a WISE creative work assignment, which is due next Monday.

May Deadlines.

Ms. Gergely told me to make a check list of deadlines that I should do so I can get my project done as efficently as possible. So here it is. (The goals will be updated as my priorities change to fit the needs of my project.)

By May 8th:

Email Beth Milles for an interview (X)

Email Developing Pictures of an Interview (X)

By May 15th:

Have about 50+ Blogposts ( )

Be fully finished with the second skit ( )

By May 22nd:

Be fully finished with the 3rd skit ( )

(Maybe even start on the 4th because these last two skits we had planned are easier and more convienant to film due to AP's being over)

By May 29th

Be finished with a 4th skit, maybe do a 5th to be closer with my initial goal. ( )

Have 65+ Blogposts ( )

Not have the concern of failing English lingering over my head ( )

Risk.

Today, I filmed a skit with my friend Ian Dezelan, Marcel Gremaud, Luke Millar and Tae Yang You. We were filming a mockumentary about the ridiculously intense game (it really shouldn't be intense), Risk. Here's a picture of incase you don't know what it is:

The skit it's self was only okay. It looked really good on paper, but when we did it, it just didn't fit to my vision. It just felt, stupid. There's no other word to put it. There were good parts to it, undoubtfully. But I didn't think this was a good representative of my quality of work. But luckily, we sat down, and changed a lot of things. We made it easier to film, and the majority of it will be filmed in school. It's also not awkward. When filming, I felt forced to be funny, but the way we changed it, makes it more natural and humerous. So It's good to see that I can sit down, and change a skit easily, but it's also concerning because my time running out before my presentation day.