Passion Project Updates

So far our Disney passion project has made a good amount of progress. We made a list of all Disney Channel shows and the time frame they were on air. We have a list of 51 shows, but I think there are more. Also, we made a list of Disney movies. The list consists of 310 movies so far, but we have to add the newer movies to the list. In addition, we found a few things on Mickey Mouse, showing the older designs of Mickey. I think Vaishu and I did okay so far and made pretty good progress. Over the next passion projects days we hope to gather more information. We want to learn why the Disney characters changed so much. There are a lot of little things that we can and wish to research and get information. Disney is a large topic, so an obstacle we might run into is trying to cover all the main things. 

Outlier: Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres is one of the many famous outliers. She has almost a dozen daytime Emmy Awards and many People Choice Awards. Even though she is very successful now she wasn't always, and had troubles getting to where she is now. To begin with, at age 13 her parents divorced leaving her mother broken. Ellen however used her comedy skills to help her mother recover, and discovered the power of humor. Before she even thought about working in the comedy world, she wanted to be a veterinarian. But Ellen dropped the idea because she wasn't "book smart". Instead she waited tables, sold vacuum cleaners, painted houses and worked as a legal secretary. It's a good thing she didn't become a veterinarian, but gained lots of experience in different categories. It allowed her to be able to connect to many through personal experiences in comedic way. If she became a vet, she wouldn't be able to bring laughter to her millions of viewers. Not have "book smarts" was a good thing for Ellen DeGeneres.

Because Ellen had a brother, it gave her a great advantage. She used her sibling rivalry to get motivated to become famous. Her brother, Vance, was getting all the attention from being actor/comedian, which made her jealous. Vance was also known as the humorous member of the DeGeneres family, but that was about to change. Ellen dropped out of college and turned to comedy. She discovered she was good at it when she had to give a public speech. She was terrified of the crowd, but used humor to get through it. The crowd loved her and she received offers to do stand-up comedy. She started performing to help support her mother and went up from there. Jay Leno actually came to one of her performances, which helped her get into the higher status. Now she hosts the hit talk-show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and is the voice of Dori from Finding Nemo. From her parents divorce to sibling rivalry to performing for the famous, Ellen DeGeneres had many hidden advantages to make her the great outlier she is now. 

Joyas Voladores

The essay, Joydas Voladoras, confused me the first few times I read it. After I read it several times, the piece of writing gained some meaning to me. The meaning I took was that no matter what size the heart is it will one day be broken. I think the essay is discouraging, because it basically says that everyone and everything is alone. It makes me think of times the heart is greatly affected in a positive or negative way. My favorite line was the last sentence because it shows that all the work someone can put in to protecting the heart can come crumbling down at the most powerful and simple touches of love. "You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman's second glance, a child's apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words I have something to tell you, a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother's papery ancient hand in a thicket of your hair, the memory of your father's voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children."

What's Worth Knowing?

People have their own opinions on what is worth knowing. In my opinion, a lot of the knowledge that is worthy is not taught in school. The core classes, like math and English teach you to succeed in career. However, they don't teach you how to make it through the everyday life. To some people the important things to know are the things that are useful in difficult times in life. Like said in the poem, knowing what to say to a person dying isn't taught in school. This is a time that almost everyone has to face at least once in their life. The response to dying person would be very useful and worth knowing. Knowing how to cook is knowledge worth learning. If you go to college and dorm, you will save a lot of money by cooking instead of eating out everyday. Survival skills are also another thing worth knowing. For example, knowing that when you are in a blackout if you have a gas stove or fireplace they can still work. To light the flame on the stove you turn the gas on, take a lighter and light it. I think survival skills are one of the most important things to know. Most people don't know what's worth knowing until you need the information.

Waste Land Documentry Response

The Waste Land movie was a really good movie. The most memorable part of the movie for me was when they went to the art gallery to see the paintings they made. This part made me realize how much something so meaningless to others is to the people who were a part of it. I know when I go to an art museum I am not that excited to look at the art work, unlike the garbage pickers. They were full of excitement and were overcome with emotions, when the average person can walk by the same painting with no emotion. I learned that you don't need much to live a happy life. The catadores from the movie all have very little, some will live their life in sadness, but instead they make happiness from what they have. I will take away to be grateful for what you have, because many people in the world have little of we have like shown in the movie.

I think the people filmed feel overwhelmed from their lives being blown-up and shown to the world. I think they are happy to be able to show others what they have and what they do daily because they can hope better will come from the acknowledgement of their struggles. I think they fell grateful for being given the opportunity to have better. Because of the movie, the people got money they probably never imagined from garbage artwork. They visited a museum hanging their faces of trash. Having their everyday lives be blown brought a wave of emotions to everyone.

If I was given the option to be the subject in the film I would be a bit hesitant to agree to it. I would think twice about sharing my life to everyone. Today I try to limit the amount of information I put the web about myself, because some people who have access to the web may be able to copy my identity. I wouldn't feel safe having so many people know my life. There isn't much in my life that I would think could create such a grand masterpiece like in the movie. However, I bake a lot of desserts, mostly cupcakes, which could probably be made into some sort of artwork if attempted. I don't encounter the struggles that the catadores in the movie did, making my life less of a surprise to people.

Delicate

A snowglobe requires delicate care so it doesn't break.

Outside

This is a picture of the school flag and berries on a tree.

The Sky

The Skyline

This is a picture of the Los Angeles skyline on January 26, 2013 with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. I chose this picture because the mountains looking like it's floating on top caught my attention. The small peek and the lower part of the mountain might be missed at a first glance. This picture tells the story of how the landscape changes within a small area. In the bottom of the picture is the more natural area with trees, in the middle is the city life with many building and at the top has the least amount of people in the high mountains. This picture reminds me of the time my family and I went to Hawaii. We were driving towards a mountain and it looked like the mountain and the sky were connected. This picture brought me back to the memories I had in Hawaii. My question inspired from the picture is: can the people on the mountain reach out and touch the cloud?

Looking In

This is a picture of a flower, in which people look in to.

Colors

This is a box full of colorful markers.

Texture

There are lots of textures in a cupcake, from the frosting to the cake.

Underneath

Underneath my laundry counter is a box full of pictures that hold memories throughout them.


Box of pictures

What My Family Eats

My family spends about $300 per week. We almost always have chicken or beef in the freezer. My favorite foods are homemade macaroni and cheese, and homemade mashed potatoes.  
                    

My Pantry

My Dinner

My Dinner

20% Project

Taylor and I plan on doing our 20% project together. We plan on researching the history of the cupcake, and how it came to be. At the end of the project when we present, we plan on bring in homemade cupcakes.  We chose this topic because we both have a passion for cupcakes. We will need a computer that has internet access, and power point. We anticipate some trouble finding lots of information on a cupcake, so if this happens we will go on to research how some cupcake flavors are created. We can consult my mom because she has made many homemade cupcakes before. Also, maybe, we can consult a baker through e-mail or something. Our 20% project is all about cupcakes.

Reflections

Last year I learned many things about myself. I learned that I am stronger than I thought I was. I learned that if you really want to get somewhere you can if you try really hard. When I had surgery I tried really hard to recover as quickly as possible because I hated not being able to do anything. I learned that I could survive a week in a hospital, when before I hated even being in one. 2012 taught me a lot.

This year I made some resolutions. One resolution I made was to create more cupcake flavors. Also I want to fix my frosting to make them better. I resolve not to eat all of the cupcakes I make. Hopefully I can accomplish these resolutions.