STAC

The Prisoner- Early on this week we reflected on the last Prisoner episode we watched about A, B and C. We learned about log lines and synopsis. The log line summarizes the entire episode into one sentence and the synopsis summarizes it into a paragraph. We first tried to do this on our own to the recent episode we watched. What makes this difficult is being able to put in just the right amount of detail. A big note is no back story from previous episodes and plots. Then we separated into groups and wrote our own log lines and synopsises on original Prisoner episode ideas based on the title given, "Father Knows Best." This was a bit easier because we did not know as much detail from the plot to put in, but then it was difficult to not get caught up in each scene making the synopsis too long. Also it had to be clear with enough detail. Overall, it takes effort, but it was fun to think of ideas for a new episode. Our group decided to have #6's father come to the Village. Since everyone would think this is a plot of #2's to get information out of #6, we turned the tables at the end and made the father totally innocent. In the end, we made sure to follow the recurring theme of the prisoner ending up in circle leaving him and ourselves with just as many questions and confusions as it was in the beginning of the episode.


Busby Berkley- During stac art this week we began a unit on Busby Berkly from the 1930s. I was pretty impressed at the elaborate dance numbers he was able to create and found it interesting to want to see what he would do next. Also I was astonished as to the fact that there were so many women in each dance and that they seemed to really pull it off to more or less look symmetrical even though every person looks slightly different. What was also impressing was the extensive set designs with revolving stages and waterfalls. He seemed to not only be ahead of his time in wanting to use different camera angles and making things more complex but he was very creative with his unique style or geometric figures.


Improv- On Wednesday STAC took a walk to the community center to work on our improv on the stage. Helping us to prepare for the school play audition, which is to act as different characters, this also was our first introduction for the newbies into improvisational acting. Because I took Luke's theatre class in freshman year I was not totally clueless as to what was going on, yet it still isn't completely comfortable with me yet. I did get some good characters, voices and generally body positions, but a lot of the time I found myself in an awkward state where I wasn't totally letting myself go. Perhaps it was just because I was a bit tired or nervous even. I know that sometimes when I'm  just having fun with friends and I talk in a weird way I can create a character that may even go out of hand and taken to far that stuns other people or even brings other people into this game. I'll admit that at home I could spend hours just looking at myself and making weird faces and voices, so then it is totally natural. Maybe I am not really seeing myself when I make a strange body position or do something with my face, therefore making it more difficult to realize what kind of character I can attribute with the look and feel. All in all, I probably should work on more or less feeling the character rather than thinking about what he or she may look like.

Limited Space

     Like most people, I too had difficultly understanding and discovering what exactly psychogeography of limited space truly meant. Psychogeography is a difficult concept to grasp; it is more so is adding the ideas of limited space. At first I focused on the more obvious meaning that I had figured from what I pieced together from the information I was already given. I took a picture of a hole in a red fence ooutside my house and meant it to focus on the fact that this was a small space. Then later on looking through the pictures, I noticed that it actually had more meaning to it becuase I had focused on what was in this space between the hole and the fact that the trees that could be seen through the hole and stood as a barrier between red fence and red fence. Also looking even closer, it can be seen that there is a limited space between the trees. It reminds me of a mirror reflecting on mirror which in turn relfects on that same mirror creating a chain that is never ending. There is this limited space all around us that goes unnoticed.
     Another different and still ultimalty same example was of a yellow street light. When I was walking home, waiting for the light to change, I considered the concept of yellow lights. They are literaly in between red and green, which both have very distinct meanings: stop and go. On the other hand, yellow has an uncertain meaning. It can me go but quickly, stop but slowly. To careful drivers it means stop and to more daring drivers it means go. Because I just took my permit test earlier in the summer it reminded me of the word yield. I could never truly find a firm and certain definition of what it mean to yield. Yes, one can say it means to be alert and watchful but the confusion comes on how to do this. Every driver should be alert and watchful but yield is so vague. It is not clear like a stop sign which therefore means one doesn't neccesarily have to stop. Yes, you should let others go first when at a yield sign but shouldn't you always be aware of others around you. I found this to be the area inbetween, the gray area, which I thought completly applied to psychogeography of limited space inbetween things. It's that space of knowlegde that can never be fully explained or understood much like the word psychogeography itself.
     Throughout the process taking pictures, it is evident that I discovered more about this conecpt, however, I can definitly not say that I fully understand it and even less explain it to someone else. I can say that I know more than before and have a firm idea or start of what it means.
     The rule of thirds helped me to not only practice photography and not simple snapshots, but it also helped me to stay focused. It allowed my brain to think about each picture for a longer period of time. It also made me see what I really wanted to take. At one point I just looked at a room for a while and finally decided nothing looked the way I really wanted it to feel. I had to get that feeling of satisfaction and comprehension of how the picture related to limited space during the time I was looking through the lens and after I took the picture.
    

    

Psycho Chairs

Orchestra 9th period after STAC 9/17

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Sitting Onstage



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Sitting On A Table In The Cafeteria Afterschool



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Oustide the Front of the School

 

Sitting on Bleachers

 

 

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Desk Chair



TV Couch

Car ride to SAT Class

SAT Room #1

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SAT Room #2



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On the Computer Writing this Blog Entry





Where I ate Dinner- Chair most to the right



Throughout this psychogeorgraphy process I found myself thinking what am I ever going to discover about myself through pictures of chairs? At one point I began to frantically pass through the pictures to see if anything looked significant, however I did not find anything. Then I just thought about the pictures themselves and tried to remember what the chairs looked like. I realized that in most of the pictures I had placed myself in the right of the room or area. At first I kind of disregarded this detail but when I realized perhaps this was all I really had, it came to me that this was incredibly significant. To my gratitude, I frequently found that for most of my pictures I could repeatedly make this "right side" connection. In the auditorium directly after STAC something drew me to sitting in a chair towards the right of the middle section as seen in a diagram I produced. Directly following, the place I was assigned to sit in was a chair seated toward the right of the stage arrangement. Seemingly too coincidental to be ignored. Then when I sufficiently considered it my placement in the cafeteria was on the right side. The next seat was on the right side of the ledge in front of the school. Then on my desk chair which is conveniently placed on the right side of the room. Later I watched a movie and sat on the right side of the couch. It is beginning to seem a bit freaky.  I chose to sit on the right side of the car on the ride to my SAT class on Sunday. Then at the first class I told my teacher about my STAC project to explain why I was taking a picture of a chair. I proceeded to tell her my findings about the right side and she asked if I was right handed. Making this connection I started wondering if this would contribute to something because I am right handed. All in all I found that when I walk into the room and sit down, a significant amount of the time I will move towards the right of the room.



Spy-tastic!

On Monday September 13, STAC watched the second episode in The Prisoner series. All I have to say is wow. At first I was liking this show but it was definitely not completely convinced. Now watching this second episode I am extremely excited to watch more! Honestly, what really got me was that it was a complete cycle of events where Patrick MaGoohan's character number 6 is totally fooled and tricked into this guile yet well thought out plan. Luke today said the British were very tricky with sneaking so it reminded me of this show because of what the British government would have gone through to get this information. I was always suspicious of the escape because it seemed to be going so well so at the moment when number 6 noticed the watch malfunction I knew it wasn't going to end well. Also that bubble is really starting to get on my nerves. It is indestructible and seems to always pop out when nothing else can stop them. I really liked Leo McKern as the character of number 2 because he brought a different aspect and was generally more interesting to watch.

On a side note, Tuesday I was absent because I wasn't feeling well and I wanted to make sure I was well enough for later on in the afternoon. It was the first day of a program I am doing in the city for an organization called the All- Stars Project. Here they organize many events that go on through all 5 Burroughs. Their main purpose started back in the 80s where they wanted to help keep kids out of trouble and started a talent show to keep them busy and entertained. However the program began with political progressors in the 60s, and throughout the communist era I might add, where these political "radicals" wanted to basically "change the world" in not having racism and cruelty, treating others as inferior.. etc. Beginning with Jews like Dr. Dan Friedman and Dr. Fred Newman who had family histories of being racially discriminated as Jews in Europe and later on to the black community with Dr. Lenora Fulani who actually was the first African American Woman on the ballot in every 50 states to run for president in 1988 under the New Alliance Party. These political progressors although creators of the All-Stars Project, do not want the political independent views to be combined with these programs because it pretty much gives the image that they are trying to brainwash these kids into becoming independents however, it is actually a difficult subject to ignore. On Tuesday we had a guest speak Dan Friedman come in and speak about the All-Stars Project and all of this information was exposed. It was great to be exposed and got a taste of this often avoided subject on Long Island  of being Independent. I still need to hear more and truly understand what it means to be democratic or republican to even think about affiliating myself to one of these parties...

    Anyways, this program I am specifically involved in is called the Development School For Youth or the Leadership Program. Being that this program began with actors (Dr. Dan Friedman talked about his youth performing political plays on the streets of Brooklyn at the age of 19 and Dr. Fred Newman has written numerous plays) much of the earlier programs of the All-Stars project are based on acting- Youth Onstage! for example where kids perform a number of plays throughout the season, and this Leadership Program too has roots with acting. It is meant to teach us how to act and be professional. The professional world is a stage in which our characters must act differently than perhaps our normal selves. We all wear professional attire to the meetings which are once a week and learn to ask intellectual and curious questions and so much more which I have not discovered yet.. it was only the first day.. Generally it went really well and seemed really cool to meet new people and experience this professional aspect. I'm excited for next week!

Today Thursday, we played a pretty awesome spy game, although it was very long it got interesting when I became an agent. It was so crazy how we all just agree on someone to kill off it kind of reminded me of Salem Witch Trials or something where one just made accusations just so no one would think it was them. There were 2 tactics when being an agent to save your ass either talk a lot or don't talk at all. I do wish I could have observed everyone else as a dead person but overall being in the game and alive was much more exhilarating.

STAC for me is going incredibly well and I'm really excited for the rest of the year! I'm so glad I Finally joined.

First Week (couple of days) of STAC

   I found this theme of spys and secret agents throughout the week quite entertaining. Watching the Prisoner I really loved the idea of The Village where everything seems so normal to the people there but in reality creates this bizarre and creepy feeling on Patrick McGoohan and everyone watching the show.
     Later on in the day after school I ended up wanting to watch a film and when choosing what to watch I think my mind subconsciously choose an Austin Powers movie perhaps because this theme is really sticking with me and my decisions. Anyway, beginning with it's own catchy theme song I noted the similarities throughout the movie. In this way I watched it in a way I never truly had before. I read that Mike Myer's who plays Austin Powers and producers/ wrote the movies is Canadian with parents from Liverpool, England. This is probably why he was able to play this character so well, because he had a significant connection. Because the movie was meant to be a parody of James Bond and other 1960s inspired spy series I won't go into each specific detail about the similarities however there were two things I noticed that actually connect with The Prisoner series we watched in STAC that weren't apparent to me previously.
     Austin Powers has an inclination to use the word danger and being referred to with danger. Looking at some research on the Prisoner, I found that Patrick McGoohan's Secret Agent Man series was actually originally called Danger Man in Britain.
     Number Two in both Austin Powers and The Prisoner is an important character however plays different roles. Perhaps it is just a coincidence yet I found the connection to be quite intriguing. Number Two in The Prisoner is this cryptic character which in giving more information to the plot, makes one even more urging for information. With this Number Two leading the operation to find more about Patrick McGoohan's character, also unnamed (only by a number: six), many questions come to mind: Why are there no names? Why did "number six" resign? Why does everyone else go along with this "prison" and where they in the same situation as him? And finally where is number one? I really was confused yet interested in the show more when number two was replaced.
    
     With this show I almost don't know what to expect exemplified by things like the random white blob thing and the interesting people he meets in the Village, but I am anxious to see how it will all pan out.