Almost a month since I last posted. Not so hot.
It's not even like I was too busy either, but I guess I just haven't felt I wanted to put the time into making a post.
My last couple weeks have been similar to other Mount Allison students, writing final papers and wrapping up each course. The last two weeks of class are pretty hard for me because I get tired of going to class, and just want to skip them all and work on my papers etc. I chalk this up to the fact that I don't miss many classes throughout the semester?
So I wanted to write a bit of a recap on my semester by writing a detailed "review" of each class I took (of course I won't be able to talk about the exams as I haven't written any yet). So I talked briefly in my last post about how this semester has been my best and least stressful semester of my entire university career. It has a lot to do with the courses I took, but the best part is that the last paper I had to pass in was due on November 26th. Now you know why I'm a bad person for not posting a blog here. I've had nothing due... for OVER A WEEK. So you might be saying to yourself well he has to start studying for exams. Well, yeah... sorta except my first exam is on the 12th, then 17th then 18th. So not only do I only have 3 exams, but they aren't for a while.
So what am I spending my time on these days? Thanks for asking! I'm working on my final photo portfolio, where I have to have 12 prints passed in sometime around the 13th. So I'm working towards having that done this weekend, leaving me time to study for my exams! Sweet. This past weekend, due to the fact that I didn't really have anything specific to do, I went home, and white I was home I dropped off all the rolls of colour film I shot this semester to get developed at SuperStore (that's where I get my film processed) and because they have the machines in house I had them back before I came back to school on Monday morning. Of course this means I have new stuff to post here, and am certainly going to do so:
After looking at those pictures, you might want to see a short list that sums up my semester in academics:
• 8 Papers written
• 10688 words written for papers
• 20 slides passed in
• 7 prints passed in (so far, another 12 to pass in)
• 40 rolls of black and white shot
• 12 rolls of colour shot
• 2 rolls of slide film shot
• 5 pop quizzes written (read: failed)
• 2 mid term tests written
• 5 adventures to take photos
• Hours upon hours wasted not doing school work
Once the semester is done, I will be able to add:
• 3 exams written
• 12 prints passed in as a final portfolio for my photo class
My last two radio shows were fairly interesting, they both had "themes."
Two weeks ago, I really didn't feel like making a show, so I decided to go through all the playlists for my previous shows, and pick out the best Canadian songs and make a show of that, thus fulfilling the CRCT Canadian content requirement for my show. This past week we were asked by the station to emphasize femcon (female content) in honor of the Montreal Massacre so I decided to make a show entirely out of femcon. Now I was slightly lazy in making this show and didn't verify that each song I chose in fact qualified as femcon, but the idea was there, and the show certainly had a different feel.
So here are my last two shows:
and
So on to my detailed "review" of my classes:
History 1651: Native American Voices
Dr. Naylor
This class is a survey course that spans the history of pre contact Native Americans through to 60s and 70s reform period. The material was interesting and enabled me to possess a greater opinion of Native American history. The course is comprised of two papers, weekly discussion groups, and an exam, and lectures of course. Each paper was designed as an exercise in learned to read a journal article closely and the discussion groups had the purpose of getting the students comfortable with reading primary sources. This was an excellent course (although it could be viewed as challenging for a first year course).
Religion 1661: Religion and Popular Culture
Dr. Wilson
This class had the aim of analysing how Christianity and North American popular culture interplay. The entire course readings were provided online which means there was no expensive book (or coursepack in this case) and the readings were divided into subjects that each lecture (or serious of several lectures) would discuss. What I liked the most about this course was how clear the course outline was in relation to the topics. On the courses WebCT page each topic was listed (along with a nice picture) and within each section the appropriate readings or material were posted. The course had two papers, one short analysis paper, and one longer research based paper. I enjoyed writing these papers, especially the research paper, where the student is given the opportunity of finding an example of religion in a pop culture context, discussing it, and describing where this religious symbol fits into the religious context, as well as the contemporary society. Each lecture was supplemented with relevant media (videos, pictures, websites, songs), and made the long 1:30 Monday Wednesday lectures a little bit easier to sit through. The reason I say these classes were long has to do with how Mount Allison usually schedules classes; Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes are an hour long, and Tuesday, Thursday classes are an hour and a half long. For some reason (due to scheduling conflicts?) the university decided to add a 1:30 timeslot on Monday and Wednesday afternoons at 2:30. A class in this timeslot is really annoying for me because the time between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon is when I am least attentive, and crave sleep the most. Of course the nice thing about this time slot was that I got Friday afternoons off!
English 3621: Reading Films
Dr. Blagrave
This class and Photography share the spot of being my favourite classes of the semester. Due to my obvious (well I hope it's obvious after reading my blog) interest in video and film this class was quite fun to take. The course followed several topics; composition and cinematography, editing, sound, and more bookish subjects like: narrative, adaptation, cognitive film theory, semiotics and film, ideology and film, psychoanalytic theory, and feminist film. Every week on Tuesday afternoon the class met in the Wu Centre (one of Mount Allison's large auditoriums) and watched a film, each film was helpful as an example of the subject we were covering. Reading Films was one of my busier courses this semester, which 2 short papers, a mid term, a long paper and an exam. Even though I had to write more assignments, they were among the most enjoyable papers I've written since I came to school here. The two short papers were; a shot analysis, and an editing analysis of a scene. What was awesome is that we got to pick what film to use for each paper, and so generally people ended up picking a movie they liked a considerable amount.
Fine Arts 2501: Photography I
Thaddeus Holownia
Along with Reading Films my favourite class of the semester, and overall, I'd say this has been my favourite class I've taken in university. This course is the first photography class offered here and so the basics of operating a 35mm film camera, developing film (yup we do it ourselves), and making prints is covered. The first assignment is to shoot 2 rolls of slide film (36 exposures each) and present 20 of them in the first week of October. In case you don't know what slide film is, it's a positive film (colour in this instance) so instead of having a negative with all the colours inverted, your 35mm piece of emulsion is exactly like the picture you took. At the end of October, 6 black and white prints were due, and then the final portfolio is due on the 13th of December. The most exciting part of this course (other than of course having to take photos for a university course) was being surrounded by other people interested in the same creative subject as me. With video, and editing, there are so few people around me, that asking questions is generally out of the question, so I fumble around and learn mostly on my own through trial and error. With this photo class, if I had a question, I asked it, and Karen (the technician for the class), Thaddeus, or anyone who was around always answered the question. Not only did they answer questions, but the number of stupid questions I asked, that I could have figured out had I sat and thought about it for a few minutes and received kind and non condescending answers to was heartwarming. It's really amazing how nice everyone is in that environment.
I should be reviewing 5 classes, but one of them is a full year course, so I'll opt to review it at the end of the year.... IF I decide to do this again.
Due to the length of this blog, I think I will choose to end here, and post photo and video stuff as well as a bit more about current events in my life next week.
This video is absolutely hilarious, enjoy:
Thanks for reading,
As always, if you have any questions, email me at: jzstrsf@mta.ca
