10. Freak Factor

In David Rendall’s, “FREAK FACTOR: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness,” he claims that our weaknesses correspond to and can help reveal our strengths; that our strengths and weaknesses are not really separate entities, but two halves of one characteristic.  Weakness, Rendall says, is not something that can be eliminated.  Each of our traits has advantages and disadvantages, and it is up to us to use our traits in the most beneficial way possible. While sometimes it seems like Rendall is just trying to justify his own flaws, he does bring up some good points.

3. Flawless: There’s Nothing Wrong with You

I found this suggestion, particularly the part about dyslexia, to be very interesting.  It makes a lot of sense that someone who has to fight harder than everyone else to do simple tasks would continue to do so in other aspects of life.  Someone who had a rough childhood will be used to working hard to get what they want, as opposed to someone who had everything handed to them on a platter.  There are a lot of people out there who have a false sense of entitlement as to what they deserve from the world.  But unless you are an heiress or were genetically gifted with incredibly good looks, waiting for life to hand things to you isn’t going to get you a million dollars.  Most people have to work for that, and those who are the most motivated and able to focus on their strengths (the freaks) are the ones who will find success.  I also liked his ideas about channeling an addictive or obsessive personality into something positive.  The parallel he draws between athletes and drug addicts is fascinating.   This especially is something I can relate to, because I tend to channel my creativity and time into useless things, rather than more productive and positive pursuits.

5. Foundation: Build on Your Strengths

I think that this is an effective suggestion.  While it may seem obvious to build on one’s strengths, a surprising number of people ignore what they are actually good at in order to strive for what they think they should be good at.  Building your strengths will not feel like work, it will be an enjoyable process.  Because they are what you are best at, it will be more fun than attempting to force yourself to be something you aren’t.  The potential for success lies within our strengths, especially if we develop them.   If your strength is writing, but ignore it because you think your best chance of making money is in business, you are denying yourself the opportunity for real success.  Sure you might be moderately successful in business, but it will certainly not be as enjoyable as time spent writing.  And you would probably have been a better writer than a businessperson anyway.  This also goes into his point about finding the right fit for you.  Trying to force yourself to be something else will not lead to success.

8. Freak: The Power of Uniqueness

In this section, Rendall opens with a description of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  He notes that, while it was initially viewed as a failure, the thousands of tourists who come to see it every year would not be there if it wasn’t leaning.  In fact, without the iconic inclination, no one would visit the tower at all.  It would be an ordinary building.  The supposed “flaw” is what makes it so unique and well known.  Even though fixing the tilt of the tower would have destroyed it’s main attraction, it didn’t stop Mousellini from trying in 1934.  Instead of straightening it, however, his efforts simply increased the slant.  What Rendall takes away from the Leaning Tower is that, while some people will try to fix your flaws, they are what set you apart and make each person unique.  Most people strive for normal, but exceptional is even better.

http://changethis.com/manifesto/45.02.FreakFactor/pdf/45.02.FreakFactor.pdf

9B: Collapsus

My response to Collapsus

http://www.collapsus.com/

9A: Reflections on the Video Game

I think that one weakness to our presentation was that we focused too much on the objectives and rules of each individual sport, and less on the game as a whole.  We could have expanded more on goals for the entire game, not just in each level, which would have seemed less scattered. Each explanation was good in and of itself, but we probably could have spent more time explaining how they fit together as a whole.  For example, instead of simply having a goal to beat other players in one level, a longer term objective could have been to try to win as many of the games as possible or to amass the greatest amount of points.  While we touched on this, we could have explored it in more depth in order to make the game seem more cohesive. However, we did a very good job explaining each level individually, particularly the mechanics.  The Wii requires a lot of motion to play, and I think we did a good job of explaining how each sport would translate into using the Wii controller and nun chuck.  We also did a good job in providing visuals to make the presentation more interesting and to help the audience’s understanding of some of the more obscure sports, and how zombies would fit into them.

Super Powers

This American Life

Link to my response

Hero/Villain

My Hero

My Partner's Villain

7: Written Reflection on the Video Joke

               I compared my group’s video to Andrew Sewell’s video.  Both begin with an establishing shot of the building in which they take place.  There is an affinity between the two videos, in that both cut to someone sitting at a table or desk.  In my video, a little boy plays with a train on the coffee table in his living room.  In Andrew’s video, there is a man going through papers at his desk.  However, there is a contrast between the emotions of the characters.  The kid seems quite relaxed and content to focus on his toy train, while the man is clearly stressed out by the large amount of work surrounding him and being shoved into his face by his coworkers.  In both videos, depth cues provide a sense of space.  The shot of the wife in the kitchen and the husband sitting at the dining table, as well as the over the shoulder shot of the mother watching the kid in our video, provide visuals to let the audience know where characters are in relation to each other.

              While the characters for the most part remain stationary in the videos, the movement of the camera is used both to emphasize dialogue and to tell the story.   When the little kid yells that any upset passengers should talk to “the bitch in the kitchen,” the camera cuts to a close up of him pointing.  The camera also cuts to a close up of the mother’s feet as she taps them, waiting for her child to get in the car.  This helps to reveal how she is feeling and emphasizes her impatience.  In Andrew’s video, the camera’s placement hides the fact that his coworkers have been listening to him rant about how awful they all are, until the husband takes off the blindfold and sees them himself. 

            This also creates tension, as the audience begins to suspect that there might be something the husband is missing.  The tension is released when the camera turns to reveal his coworkers.  In my video, tension is created when the kid starts playing with the train after coming downstairs.  The audience wonders whether he will start swearing again.  At first it seems that he might have learned his lesson, however, his dialogue at the end shows that he quite clearly has not.

Joke Video

My video for joke #9 can be seen here.