Thursday, January 31, 2008

chinatown

so tuesday night we watched Chinatown for my literature and film class and I decided to pay more attention to the action of the actors to see how authentic and believable they were. I was able to notice the little motions that Jack Nicholson did to make his character more believable. I even thought the lesser known actors did great jobs with their characters. Now if I can only be able to act in class that would be great!! See ya guys in a little bit

LOST in the Sauce

I purposely held off on posting until today because this is the day that i have been waiting for for awhile now drum role please..........LOST returns tonight and I and super stoked about it like borderline "this guy is a crazy dork" excited about this show. it's a two hour premiere and it is gonna be awesome. I like LOST because of the weird and eerie storyline however its the characters and the island itself that really make the show what it is. I can be hard to make a show work with so many lead characters but the structure of each weeks episode is a true testament to writers. This show exemplifies why we need to end the WGA strike writers are important to us their words allow us to escape it may only be for an hour but that hour you get to be somewhere else for awhile and we can all benefit from that

LOST: Season Premiere ABC 8/7 cntrl thurs JAN 31

Tuesday Feet

So it was a lot harder than I had imagined to think of something to do with my feet. I guess I take for granted how much I actually use my hands. The only thing I could think of was a soccer ball haha. Well still lovin' the beginning exercise, reminds me of scatting. well hope we do it again tomorrow...

Goofiness 101

I've pretty much decided that this is the perfect class for bringing the crazy goofy person out of all of us. I really feel that this class gives us the opprotunity to throw out all insecurities and really just enjoy throwing ourselves into new characters. This class is so much more fun if you are willing to just throw all your insecurities out the door and just get into the moment.
So who cares is you look completely ridiculous, enjoy it, because where else can you feel free enough to do this!?!?!?!?

Tuesdays class

I just have to say that i love that opening exercise we've been doing where we stomp our feet and then he talks in giberish and we repeat! I just love it! haha but class tuesday was fun "moving an object" without actually moving it is alot harder than it seems...or do i make it out harder than it really is? lol who knows! Especially when we're working in groups because all basically have to be in sync and on the same page! But im still having fun and learning more about focus and concentration with acting! See ya tomorrow!

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Acting Class Object Movement

During the last acting class there were several important things I learned. The first major thing I discovered was that it is extremely difficult to move an object unless you are really able to "see" it. Although it might seem easy to move an invisible box for example there was an extreme amount of difficulty in this task since I was unable to picture the box completely. Specifics such as figuring out what was in the box, what color was the box, what kind of movements the box would make to adjust to holding it. All of these details I will have to be more conscious of in the future.

In conclusion I feel that there is a great amount of concentration that must go into acting in a way that is not only important to the audience viewing the performance but in effect also believable in your own mind. I think that these two main concepts will help me to better experience the process of acting in the future.

applebees

Working at applebees sucks!!!! This fits in well with this class because I have to act all the time. I am not allowed to be a jerk to customers when they are jerks to me. I cant cuss, I cant yell. I have to keep this happy face the whole time just to I can earn money. I really just want to vent. I hate work and today was my first day back and I never want to again. I work wed thurs and fri so if anyone wants to be my friend come in and sit in my section.

no title cause I can't think of one

Ok this is just a thought I had while I'm sitting here late at night with a bowl of corn chex (yummy stuff). Have you guys ever met someone and realized that they are just trying to hard to be accepted and not just being themselves. Well I tried to think of that in terms of class and realized that sometimes I may try and be better than what I actually am. Perhaps we all would be better suited to just be more of ourselves and let whatever happen happen instead of trying so hard to do something that we think will be interesting. And while I understand that part of acting is trying to make someone believe you are someone or something you can always tell when people are trying to hard. Just think of the last movie you watched, was anyone trying to hard to be the character or was it easy for them. I think alot is to be learned from just being yourself and adding your own personal flare to whatever you are doing.

bball

I had basketball games tonight in the rec center and alot of people do some acting to try and get a foul called and most of it is bad acting. we won one and lost one of our games!

Hi there

So dinner tonight was entertaining. I've always thought college was just as if not more clickish than high school. I know a lot of you if not everyone has seen the movie Mean Girls. In it they label where everyone sits in the cafeteria. Well tonight at dinner I sat with a few baseball players. No one had said anything for a bit and randomly someone just asked, "What the heck is going on here? Why are all the normal people sitting on this side? No one did that last year." They then proceeded to explain where each of the different sports teams sit around the cafeteria (football and baseball on the thin side of the salad bar, basketball by the tray spinny thing, cross country in the back, and so on). They also labeled a few other groups like frats and theatre kids. They made it rather humorous so I laughed, but even some of the most ridiculous things you see in movies really can be true (except for absolutely ridiculous things like this lizard-like thing I'm currently watching on the SciFi channel, he just flew across the sky and ate someone's face, I'd like to see that really happen so they could get a better idea of how to show it in a movie).

Concentration

I was just thinking how focused one has to be in order to be able to act on stage. For me simply "seeing" or "hearing" something requires a lot of concentration and I am actually thankful that the class is in the morning because otherwise I don't know whether I would be able to be that attentive to everything. It's easy taking acting as a class when one can actually pick the time that best suits him/her but I wonder what happens when that one has to actually go on stage and it is not the best time of the day for him or her. A lot of jobs become a habit. Doing the same thing over and over again does not really require any specific effort or concentration after a certain period of time. Acting seems to be different every single time. I wonder whether one can actually get used to acting...
Someone who wrote a blog right before mine made a very astute comment. You cannot act as though the wind is blowing. This makes me think as to what someone can actually ACT as. So many of us try to come off a certain way to certain people. Others usually see right through the facade, and in class we always talk about how we have to see, or listen, or whatever it is, we must actually live what we are doing. So is the only way by which someone can act differently than they truly are to be through tricking the mind into actually believing something is true?

Ohio Weather

I love how last night I walked back to my room from working out in the rec center with a tank top on and I was comfortable. Then I wake up this morning to, I swear, sub-zero temperatures and one hundred mile per hour wind. Cool. So I was thinking about it and I realized it seems like you can't really act like it's windy. I mean, you can wear makeup to make you look freezing, and you can shiver and wrap your arms around your body, etc... but you can't fake your hair and clothes blowing and, unless you're an amazing actor, your eyes watering etc... I guess in movie sets they actually have to simulate the wind, while the temperature remains normal?

Critics and the Business World

Being a business major I am going to have to make decisions out in the workplace that I am going to have to stand by that are going to be popular to some and hated by others. This is similar to a movie and critics: even if you think that you have made the perfect movie, there are critics that are going to think it was a great movie and others that will think it stunk. But thats how life is, and you know that the minute that the decision you made satisfies everyone, you know you've made the wrong one

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Critics

Awards for acting

I have seen a lot of the movies up for awards this season more than I have seen in previous years. I am Definitely a movie buff so I have taken pride in that fact. however the movies being recognized are not that great. Juno was witty and humorous but it didn't wow Atonement was an overdone emotional rollercoaster to say the least, and although shot really well There Will Be Blood didn't really do it for me. what really stands out is the acting. We got some wonderful performances in movies last year including Cate Blanchett for playing Bob Dylan, and Amy Ryan Playing a drug addicted mom missing her little girl. watching these actor delve into the role that they are playing is remarkable and the difficulty might not be apparent but the excercises presented in class are hard imagine morphing that into a real performance.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Class

I really enjoyed the exercise that we did at the begining of class last week. I thought it was fun and pretty interesting too. It is funny to see how much people lighten up and relax after being around each other more often. Everyone in class seems to be getting used to looking goofy in front of others and becomeing more and more ok with it. I watched a movie this weekend with some really bad acting and it made me think of some of the things that we were told about. It seemed like the actors were trying to show us what they were supposed to be doing instead of actually doing it. So thanks to this class, I am turning into a film critic.

Mirror Exercises

Thursdays class was an interesting one. To start with the warm up type exercise with the tikis and dahs and all the following was fun, I think we should start every class like that! The mirror exercises seemed like they would be easy but then we were supposed to look at each others eyes and move slowly. I think this made it really hard because so much of me wanted to looked at their hands instead of the eyes or face. Then just moving slowly seems so unnatural to me. Then the tug'o war exercise was harder than it looked as well. Plus, going first it was hard for us to do, we had so much minor details that we forgot, like picking up the rope, or not leaning back to pull at the same time. It was interesting to see everyone else try as the exercise went on, the groups got progressively better as examples were put in front of them.

Actors and Actresses with no training, but who deserve oscars

So I was talking to some of my friend about the weekend and one of my friends started talking about an email that she got. She is a transfer from a different school and came to ashland for the track program. Well this weekend she saw her old team, but unfortunately did not preform well. The next day she recieved an email saying "New team, same results." Believe me if you knew the whole story you would know this was a big insult, but unfortunately I don't have time to tell it all. Any way we were trying to figure out who wrote it and many options came up but the first one that popped into our head was her old coach. The twist on this was that her ex-coach just talked to our coach and had talked about how much better this girl was doing. Knowing this head coach she has always been a back stabber and really good at lying to people and making it extremely believable.
I guess my point is that many people are expert actors, but have never stood on stage or in front of a camera. Just something to think about.

Talking in Public

I have always thought that standing in front of people is not that hard as long as I am not talking. I have been on stage for seven years, dancing Bulgarian Folk Dances. It was always exciting for me to go out under all the different-colored lights and enjoy the audiences attention. When I took the speech class last year I realized that talking in public was not actually as hard as I thought it would have been. I liked the attention I was paid by all the students who were actually required to listen to me talking. That is why I didn't have any doubts taking an acting class. I knew it would be interesting.

thoughts

So after the discussion in class about making things seem believeable, I felt like I needed to watch a few of my favorite movies and kind of see what about the performance makes me believe what is happening is really happening. So I chose a few classics. My all time favorite movie ever is Breakfast At Tiffany's staring none other than Audrey Hepburn. I don't really know what it is about that movie but it draws me in and makes me want to be her, I believe she really is Holly Golightly. For anyone who hasn't seen the movie I would highly recommend you take time to sit down and watch this. This whole discussion about making things believable as well as caused me to realize that being believable is relative. I might think it was amazing however, the person next to me might not buy into it at all. Okay so enough said just go watch Breakfast at Tiffany's.
I find it really interesting how hard it is to imagine a physical object in front of you. I find it much easier to see or listen, but the physical touching of an object I have discovered is much more complex than I ever thought. Our exercises in class have lead me to understand this. I am sure that I have a whole lot more to learn, but I think I am beginning to see the very, very tip of the iceberg as to how difficult it is to be a successful actor.

entertainment

So today I was playing my guitar and one of my friends walked into my room and sat down. It was interesting because he has never really been in my room. I think its cool how people seek out entertainment and honestly enjoy a proformance. Not that I was putting on a proformance for him but it was fun to play for someone instead of just for myself.

an insanely annoying breakfast

So, this morning I went to breakfast in convo. I sat by myself at a table beside a table with a guy and a girl. Originally their conversation was quiet and the little bit that I heard involved the discussion of school or something like that. Then, another guy came over and sat with them. I have no idea how they this topic got brought up, but rather quickly they started discussing Victoria's Secret and the models. The guys were insanely loud and the girl was just laughing along with whatever they said. After they said something about someone being hot, the girl would say something like "oh, she is really pretty" or "she's gorgeous." The original guy then proceeded to tell a story of how he went in to a store and tried to buy one of the cardboard cutouts. The other guy thought it was awesome for a split second and proceeded to move on with the conversation. They talked about this crap for 7 minutes (you all know when something is that annoying you know exactly how long you sat there, but it seems longer). The reason I brought this up was because I thought it all sounded really fake. The girl was trying to be the awesome girl who understands and the guys were trying to tell the better story (although to outsiders such as myself they sounded creepy and perverted). They were trying to ACT better than the other and it ended up being obnoxious. I was annoyed. That's all.

Terrible Sleep Schedule

It's Monday afternoon and I just woke up from a two hour nap. I never napped at all in high school, yet I came to college and swear I probably wouldn't be able to get by without them. I guess it could have something to do with my staying up till 3 or 4 in the morning on the weekends and then sleeping in till noon. It's like I have terrible jet lag when I have to wake up for my 10 o'clock class on Monday morning. Then I sometimes take a nap after classes, so I stay up later that night and the cycle continues. I find it harder to focus and am much less animated and bubbly than I am typically. But I guess that's how it'll be until I learn to change my schedule... but the weekends are so fun...

Random

So I was watching the movie "Bring It On" the other night (dont ask why) but I notice some things in the movie that stuck out to me. I noticed that cheerleading competitions are alot like theatrical performances, as both have to memorize a routine and need to pay attention to small details like body movements and facial expressions.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Bad Acting

So this weekend I rented "El Cantante" a biography of a Spanish singer that past in the 80's. The two main actors were Mark Anthony, and Jennifer Lopez, and I thought it was really bad acting. Professor Polanco stresses to us that it has to be a believable performance and I'm sorry but that wasn't believable in the least. I was disappointed:(

Mirror

I thought the mirror exercise was fun and challenging. It was a lot harder than it looked. Trying to do exaclty what another person is doing at the same time is nearly impossible. The tug-o-war was probably the hardest thing to do. Everyone wants to succeed so how do you let someone win? Challenging! but the class is fun and i enjoy coming to it

Saturday, January 26, 2008

acting, not as easy at is looks

Before this semester, I never realized exactly how hard acting was. After all, its just memorizing some lines right? Wrong. I've put on all kinds of skits before for either school or church and never realized till now how bad I probably was. The tug of war exercise in class thursday seemed like it would be a piece of cake, but there were so many details that I neglected to pay attention to. I didn't do a very good job of adjusting to what my partner was doing it that exercise. I guess my competitive nature just got the better of me, and I acted solely based on my strengths. I neglected to pay attention to the actions of my partner. I hope to improve on this aspect and look forward to learning more on this class on tuesday. This class is exciting! I was happy to hear Fabio say that our class is always willing to participate more than the other class. Let's keep it that way guys!!!

Experiences in acting class

Although lately there have been many challenging exercises in class, I believe there is a lot that can be learned from them. One major thing I have learned in the last few acting classes is that there are many different ways to express ideas without ever having to say a word. One major example of this was when the class was asked to preform the "mirror exercise." Although it was very difficult in my opinion, it forced me to consider what the other person was doing instead of concentrating on anything but the "moment." While miring the other person I was, in large, able to look at their eyes, which was an uncomfortable feeling at first. After a while it gradually became easier to concentrate on the exercise without feeling a lot of social tension. Another class exercise that I have yet to master is the "tug of war" since it was very difficult in my opinion. Although it paralleled the mirror exercise in some ways for example by forcing you to react to the other persons movements, I believe it was a much more challenging exercise since I was unable to completely "give in."

In conclusion although there were several in class exercises that allowed me to concentrate on some of the basic elements of acting and to focus on being "in the moment" and surrounding myself with limited thoughts able the past or present, I feel that the mirror exercise was easier than the "tug of war." In the future I hope to develop a better sense of reaction to exercises.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Class Today

I really enjoyed class today. One of the main reasons is that i think we are all starting to become comfortable with eachother which makes activities like we do in class a lot easier to get through. I thought the mirroring activity with our partners was really cool, it was a hard at times to keep a straight face, but i had alot of fun with it. And obviously the tug-of-war act that we did seemed so cool from my seat and not to hard, but clearly with me that wasn't the case! lol oops! But i still had a lot of fun, and am really happy that we participate and are anxious especially during the activity we had to do when one person started the scene or whatever and everyone else just jumped in that was a lot of fun! Well have a good weekend, and i will see everybody in class on tuesday!

eating

Okay I'm going to go back to my Pizza Hut example because I don't eat at convo so it would be hard to do that exercise. Okay here is my assumption, people eat far too much, far too quickly, and with less than desirable manners. Yesterday at work it was buffet night and people acted like if they didn't fill their plate with every kind of pizza on the buffet there would be none left. So not only are they eating obscenely too much food they also manage to chew with their mouths open and make messes on the tables and floors with no thought to the work it will take others to clean up their mess when they leave. Not only that but everyone has their elbows on the table and do not even get me started on how people eat spaghetti. I just want to ask the people if they have ever heard of a spoon. Really we don't need a 6 foot long train on spaghetti going towards your mouth. But here is the real kicker. These people come to the buffet, eat practically everything, make a huge mess, act totally rude, and then have the nerve to complain about the price or the selection of pizza on the buffet.

Eating Exercise

I did my eating exercise yesterday in the eagles nest. And i surprised myself at exactly how fast I eat. I always think that i need to hurry because i have class in an hour, but it only took me 15 minutes to eat my chicken tenders. However, the other day when we acted out the restaurant scene, my actions weren't believable at all. In the scene in class, I would be constantly eating non stop and would barely open up my mouth to fully taste or savor the food. I also probably would have spilled my drink on my lap because of the rapid motion that I picked it up. Its amazing how many of these simple details we forget about when we're trying to act out an scene. I always feel like I need to show the audience the action I'm doing. I realize this doesn't make the action authentic and it becomes forced.

So fast....

everything we have become accostumed to we don't pay attention to so when i was considering the act of eating i really had to slow down my movements and really focus on what i was doing. It was actually interesting to consider the the things you do in everyday live in a frame by frame scenario.
side note.... i have never really been into blogging, and lets face it we kinda have no choice, but i have never been asked the question "have you posted" it kinda shows the way we rely on technology nowadays

Eating

Ok, so for the eating activity I really just had to pay attention to what I eat. It's hard watching someone else eat if you're not around someone else eating. But what I found is that I too don't really pay attention to what I'm eating. It's a shoveling motion into my mouth and being more focused on what I'm going to do afterwards. It's good but bad at the same time, I can go out and buy the cheap things at the grocery store, that may taste terrible, but hey! it fills me up. But those cheap things probably aren't the best for my body. I might try and pay more attention now to how I eat, even slowing down in real life can help a lot, not just with acting.

The Wonderful World of Eating

While in convo the other day I decided to do my observation and check out what was going on around me and what others were doing. First off I eat lunch with my teammates, who are pretty much all guys. So you can imagine kind of what I went through. These are bigger guys so when they go to eat lunch they have what most people eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one sitting. Also they do not eat food but inhale food and chewing most definitely does not occur. To every one of your 5 bites, that equals one of theirs. I know what your thinking and yes I put myself through this three times a day voluntarily. And it all comes down to this, eating with them is like eating with a big Italian family that hasn't seen each other in months. We laugh and tell stories and generally just enjoy ourselves. So pretty much meals for me aren't for just refueling the body, they are a time for catching up, laughing, and having a great time with some pretty ridiculous people.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Eating Exercise for Acting

While I was in convo today I noticed that there were many things that I was unable to see at first glance while eating. The first thing I noticed was that there are many steps involved in the eating process. First you must decide what you are going to eat. Next you must arrange it on your plate accordingly. After these steps I noticed that I take quite a while to cut up all the different items and in between I am guilty of using quite a few napkins. I also have a sort of regular timing when dealing with drinking anything and it seems to go in an alternating pattern between different portions and drinking. Another action I noticed was that many of the people at my table were involved in the stereotypical American notion of eating their food without really tasting it. I found a few people were not only eating, but reading at the same time or talking on the phone. The list goes on and on, but in short there was very little "eating" in the European sense going on. I tried to observe myself as well as the people around me while they were eating. I found several things that were very different from the exercise I did in class. One major difference was the time involved. It took me around forty-five minutes to eat dinner, which is much longer than in class. Although I know that to some extent the class exercises must be limited in the sense of time, in the future I will try to become more time conscious.

Eating

This eating exercise was a fun one to go out and do. I payed attention to the way that i ate my dinner and started to notice things that i had completely ignored when i was in class. I pay alot more attention to my food and reality then when i was pretending. I am also guilty of shoveling food into my mouth and not really tasting it. It really is a shame becuase i love food!

Consumption

I have never noticed how little I pay attention to my eating. Not just the little things like using a napkin or how I hold my fork. I noticed I hardly even pay attention to the food I taste. I realized that I certainly am the person who just shovels down food. Out of the three blogs I have done, I think this is the sense that I certainly use the least. I would imagine that most others do the same.
I found this weeks assignment pretty interesting. It was funny to see how absent manners can be when your eating with people your comfortable with. I can't tell you how many people I saw with full mouths talking, and laughing with their friends in convo. It made food seem like it came second to the conversation going on. I didn't think that was that bad until I went to dinner tonight in upper convo and saw how people were eating then. Because the table seating was so big, bigger than the usual tables in convo, people were forced to sit with one another whether they were friends or not. Because of that, people were eating with such good manners (including me:) It was just funny to see the eating styles change from comfortable, to complete discomfort.

Eating in Convo

While I was eating in convo I tried to pay close attention to the way I am eating, and I noticed that I eat pretty fast and I use a lot of napkins. I also always lean forward even though I may not be eating cereal or soup. I guess I am just afraid of having food stains on my clothes.
The eating exercise we had in class was not really easy firstly because it was somewhat hard for me to actually "see" the nachos I was supposed to be eating. I believe I unconsciously kept moving my nachos and dip from one place to another. The pillow was a little easier object for me to imagine because I have played a lot with airplane pillows and I do know how the texture feels, how big they are, and how uncomfortable at times they could be.

Taste

I'm sure all of you went to or at least knew of the Fiesta food thing today. Well, I figured I could compare eating a normal meal and taste-testing new food. When I eat, I eat decent sized bites, but I chew quick; a few bites and it's down. But, when I eat I savor every bite. I really like to recognize each taste of each bite. I wanted to sit back and relax, but because I was eating salad I couldn't. I thought the lettuce and other crap I had put on it was going to fall all over me. When I was at the Fiesta thing I noticed I was paying a lot of attention to that too. I really wanted to actually try the food and see what I liked. Plus, eating all of these new foods made me have to adjust my way of eating. I basically learned that new foods require more attention and different techniques.

Eating

I enjoyed the eating exercises we did in the last class. They were very humbling. Eating is one thing that we do every day, and yet when asked to act as if we were eating certain foods, we were often hardly mediocre. I found myself forgetting obvious details which would have made my "performance" much more realistic. In convo, I tried to pay attention to the details of eating, such as how far there plates are from them, how they scrape food off of their plate or bowl, how they hold untensils, etc... Hopefully I will be more tuned to such details for the next class!

Eating in convo

Today I was paying strict attention to my food and my surroundings while I was in convo. The first thing I noticed right away is milk sticking to my mustache everytime I took a drink. I wiped my face often because of this. I was eating soup and a sandwich which made me lean over my plate because of drips and crumbs. I really paid attention to the flavor of my sandwich. Ham a turkey really is a wonderful combination with chips and a pickle. I eat very fast and was so hungry I was not really able or willing to slow down. It is absolutly correct that americans just shovel food into their system without really getting the full flavor of the food.

Eating

When I in Convo today I remembered the note that was made about how people lean in when they are eating a soup or cerial or other liquid. I noticed that this was also true with chicken wings, as when people would eat them they aould lean over their plate as not to have wing sauce drip onto their pants or shirts.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Eating

Today while i was eating dinner at work i realized all the different things you do while eating....in public you try to be as clean as possible so you eat really slow and make sure you dont drop anything. In between every few bites i took a sip of water. I watched tv while i ate, you can actually daze off and forget that you are even eating. So there are tons of things to do while eating and those are just a few.

Eating/Tasting Observation

So, today i observed quite a bit while watching my friend eat as well as other people. I told my friend i would be watching her eat so it was kinda weird at first, but when i started looking around more at other people it became easier to focus. I noticed that especially when trying something new people pick at the food, touch their tongue to the food, smell it, and then eat it. I noticed this about myself as well, i smell almost everything before i put it in my mouth, whether or not i have had something before, and when i am done, i still pick at the food or tend to play with it. If they do not like something they make funny faces which is quite amusing. My friend i was watching did a lot of moving of food around on her plate. She was also eating chicken and shes apparently very picky about chicken and so she would cut up a piece of chicken, look at it, spread it apart, look at it again, then eat a baby bite size of that regular size cut piece of chicken. While closely observing other around me, i noticed that alot of people are always picking at their food or moving it around their plate, for what reason, this i do not know! However, for the most part, what i observed most people were engaged in coversation which slowed down their eating. This was interesting, i always feel bad staring at people lol oh well!

Listening

I decided that for my listening activity I would just take a moment out from work to listen. So just for a reference point for all you I have worked as a server at Pizza Hut for 3.5 years so one day when I was rolling silverware I just stayed quiet and listened. I was really amazed at all the sounds that I have failed to notice in my long time working there. I could hear the clanking of the silverware that I was rolling, the sounds of cash registers opening and closing, the telephone ringing, ect. Most of that stuff was normal things that I have to notice. However a few things did happen that probably happen everytime I work but I never notice. I never really noticed how much some parents discipline there child. They tried to do it in a hushed voice as to not draw attention to themselves but that ends up making the child scream and the adult get louder and louder. I also noticed how for some tables in the dining room it was almost like a contest to see how loud you can be. As one person laughs loud another person counters and laughs louder. I started listening to the tone of voice from my fellow employees while they talked to customers in person or on the telephone and noticed how some of them seemed annoyed at the prospect of talking to a person. They took the order, said a hasty hello, and quickly retreated to whatever they were doing. For me this was a real eye opening experience. I have worked there for so long but failed to really be in tune to my surroundings. I think I will try and listen more now.

Listening

Though I walk to and from campus every day, today while strolling along I didn't plug in my ear buds and decided to listen to any and everything I could on the way to campus. At first I really didn't notice any particular sounds. I started to panic and think that the one thing I set out to listen to would be a complete failure. Nevertheless, as I continued listening I was amazed at how many sound really just get filtered out. In fact its truly interesting the things you notice when you take the time to listen. The first sound I noticed was the crunch of snow beneath my feet. I hadn't noticed it earlier because of its continuous and rhythmic nature. Immediately following this discovery I heard a car pass by. The sound of the air passing by created a swooshing sound. Turning onto a busier street more vehicles became noticeable. The heavy sound of a diesel engine brought a school bus shuffling by. I heard someone scrapping snow and ice off their car, and I though they were probably getting ready for work. The school was in sight and I could now hear the sound of the Rec Centers ventilation system blowing in the distance. Someone was parking their car and the soft rumble of their car died, they got out and their door made a slamming sound as they closed it. Their keys jingled as they stuffed it into a purse or bag, and just about that time I reach campus.

Listening

I loved the listening activity we were supposed to do for the next class. I sat in convo and just kind of listened to what was going on around me. The first thing I heard was the conversation happening at the table next to me, which was quite comical... I felt like quite the creepy eavesdropper. So then I realized that there were many other noises going on around me, but that it is difficult to hear them as individual sounds and not just as a whole. For example, I had to focus on tuning out the conversation I was listening to in order to really hear the other noises: the fan that was blowing above the grill corner or the clanging of metal pans as they were changed at the bar, for example. So when you listen, it seems like you have to change your focus kind of like you do when you see, or you can try to focus on nothing and let it all blur together.

Monday, January 21, 2008

People Say Crazy S**t

When youre listening to other people and they don't know youre listening they say some crazy s**t and it only makes sense right? they only think the person they are talking to is listening and the funny thing is that person probably isn'y listening at all peopel have a problem with listening but i digress i listened to the bar and as the night progressed conversations and noises started to get more and more obscure. after awhile sounds started to just converge into one mass of audio activity it was kinda interesting. but like i said this experiment forced me to here some pretty weird things coming out of people who were fairly intoxicated beyond drunken banter it was interesting how much more you are aware of your surroundings.

Listening activity

For my post I sat in the rec center. I sat infront of the television screens and just took everything in around me. There was so much going on at one time that I would never really notice if I wasnt paying attention. I heard the sound of golf balls being hit from the golf simulator. I heard the crash of pool balls, and the sound of ping-pong. There were also the sounds of the weight room. Some of these were the sound of weights dropping, feet pounding a tredmill, clanging machines. On top of these sounds there was also lots of talking. Many different conversations were taking place and it was hard to hear the details of any of them. There were also televisions and music. It was interesting to me to realize just how much noise there is when a person stops to listen to it. We live in our own worlds most of the time and are not really concerned with the actions taking place around us.

Listening

So for my listening "homework" I chose to listen to things at the Detroit Auto Show today. It was interesting listening to the amount of things going on all at once. The North American International Auto Show contains an assortment of cars from Ferrari's to Chevy's. Going by each manufacturer's displays, many different types of music were playing, like the American made cars (Ford, Chevy, GMC) had pop style music and the "DUB" sections, dedicated to more stylish custom cars had a hip-hop feel to it. The Ferrari's and Mercedes Benz displays had no loud music, but focused more on the cars. And the BMW, Volkswagen, Mini displays had a more Euro/Techno feel to the music.
Along with the music I also heard a variety of accents, and languages, being an "international" show I really expected to see and hear all these different cultures and languages. Standing by the Exotic cars (Ferrari and Bentley) I heard all the different accents including Asian, Latino, European, Canadian, and the American styles. It was interesting to hear the same reactions from all the different languages, and even the barriers don't change the reaction to seeing a $400,000 Car, like gasps and awes.
With the music and languages, I also heard the random horns and doors closing. It got really annoying actually after awhile, because when I got to taking a picture, I usually ended up by another car. So when a little kid hit the horn, I was usually the first to notice being right beside it... Yeah not fun.
But overall, I loved going to the show and seeing and hear all these sights and sounds.

Listening

I think the walking exercise we did in class was pretty sweet. It was kind of like scattered and organized if that makes any sense at all. It does in my head so i am ok with that :). So today i went to the international Car show with some friends in Detroit and that is where i did my listening exercise. I sat around the Mazda displays where there were a few dream like concept cars. I just listened to the different people's reactions when they would see the cars for the first time. It was funny to hear the simularities between boys reactions and grown mens reactions. I could almost hear their mouths hanging open and the drool hitting the floor. After that initial gasp of disbelief, they all said the same thing: "Whoa look at that!" It was funny to hear how grown men sounded just like the children consumed with shock and awe.

Taking Time to Hear

For my listening observation I chose to sit in the kitchen/ laundry room/ sitting room on our floor in the dorm. While sitting there at first I only heard the sounds of the washers and dryers, but then as I focused more on just listening and heard a lot more. I could hear music coming from different rooms. I could hear people talking, but I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying unless the were walking by or in and out of the room. Also i could hear people's foot steps from the floor above, and doors opening and closing. Finally I could hear the wind howling by the windows and the sounds of cars driving in and out of the parking lot. It was really cool to just sit and listen to what was going on around me, it really reminds you that even though you may feel like you're alone, most of the time you definitely are not.

To Truly Listen

Listening is the topic of my second post. For this I decided to go to the Patterson Lab. There I listened to people either conversing or trying desperately to complete some homework assignment. It was different from the seeing exercise because the individuals did not realize that I was listening to their every move. Every rustle of paper, every click of the keyboard, I heard it all. It was easy to flow from one conversation to the next because there were pockets of two or three individuals who would be conversing. When there were no people to listen to there was certainly the steady rhythm of the air vent that was situated directly above me.

Listening...

The listening exercise we did in class was not as hard as the seeing one most probably because the members of my group agreed on the quite familiar for me sound of the ocean. I always go home (Bulgaria) over the summer and I usually try to go to the seaside (The Black Sea) for at least a week. I truly enjoy just lying on the beach and doing nothing but listening to the waves. When we sat on the chairs in class trying to "hear" the sound of the ocean, that was easy for me. I even enjoyed it because it made me think about the warm weather, vacation, and relaxation. I believe that it could be relatively easy for one to interpret something on stage if he/she is well acquainted with it.

Listening Activity

For my listening activity, i decided to just lay around in my dorm room. I started out trying to focus on just listening in convo, but that did not work to well for me because i am so used to talking and such so i couldnt settle down enough to just listen. While laying in my dorm room i could hear so much. First is the tv in the other room where my roommate was watching tv. Then i heard people talking outside as they were walking to or from class, i heard my suitemate in the other room typing away on her computer, i heard a plane fly by, cars passing, and choral. Choral is our ghost that haunts us. With choral i heard tapping on our middle room door. (Kinda weird, but it makes us feel better if we name the mysterious noises!) I could hear doors slamming from floors above and below me. I of course through all of this thought about myself breathing and focused a little bit on what my breathing sounded like! It was cool how all of this could happen at once and most of the time go unnoticed! See you guys!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Listening Activity

Yesterday afternoon i laid on my futon and just listened to everything that was going on. First, i couldn't hear anything except myself breathing and the furnace blowing. Then i heard footsteps. Cupboards opening as they squeaked and then the clinging of glass banging together. I also heard the sound of paper being crinkled up. i heard what i thought sounded like a top to a jar being unscrewed but then i kept hearing the sound for about 45 seconds, so i figured it must have been something else, maybe food being scraped out of the bottom of a dish. Then i heard the furnace turnoff and i could hear a clock ticking and i heard a car pass by the house. As i moved on the futon to readjust my positioning, i could also hear that movement. It was amazing that i could hear so many different sounds in just that short of a time frame. Hope everybody has a great weekend! See ya guys tuesday.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Listening Activity

For my listening activity I layed in my bed last night around 12 pm and just listened to my surrounding...I heard the sounds of passing cars and students coming home from a fun night out, letting the whole campus know of their existance by yelling. Also I heard the sound of music coming out of a car with a heavy bass. Inside the room I heard our heater going and the sounds of doors opening and closing from others down the hall going to and from the bathroom. From that and our class listening activity I have realized that their our so many faint sounds that I dont normally hear without paying close attention in silence.

Listening

I sat in convo at lunch today and listened to everyone around where I was sitting. I eat at noon so there are a ton of people and a lot of what I heard was jumbled noise. Occasionally I would hear a pitch change or a random scream, but most of it was a lot of words mixed together not making any sense. However, I did hear one conversation that was rather loud. They were a couple of tables over from me and it was between four girls and one guy. Two other guys came up and that was when the conversation got loud. One of the guys was introducing the other to everyone at the table. Rather than just saying their names he introduced one of them as "the nice one" and another one as "the meanest person you'll ever meet" and so on. I thought it was funny because I notcied the change in everyone's voices. Their voices were more high pitched and they joked around a little more. The new person seemed to be a little overwhelmed and nervous because everyone was sooo outgoing.
I guess the point of this was just to say that I never really noticed how people change with new introductions. Voices tell a lot about a person's personality. People always try to read everyone's appearance or second guess what's being said by the combo of the voice and the facial expression. Just listening explains a lot more.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Hearing exercise for acting

For the hearing exercise today I decided to go to the student center and listen to the surrounding sounds. I was located in the fireplace lounge and I was able to hear the wind rustle outside the windows at times when there was little other noise around. I also found that the air ducts at times where quite loud in contrast to the quite back round when there was no one around. Occasionally there were a group of people or a individual that would walk by and I could hear their shoes squeak. Another thing that I noticed was that there was never really any true silence and in fact there was always something around that would replace the previous sound. Along with the group of people or the individual people that walked by I also noticed a piano playing in the back round at times, which was surely coming form the piano lounge.
In conclusion I feel that there were many things that I was able to hear during this listening activity that will hopefully improve my acting abilities in the future. Trying to hear some of the more subtle back round sounds, I believe, will become of greater value to me, through future acting activities in class.

Acting is not easy

I honestly did not realize how difficult it could be to ACT! it is much more than a change of clothes and voice, but rather a brief change in your own lifestyle to incorporate that of the character your portraying. I realized that today in class i was actually nervous about stepping out of my comfort zone and opening up to the true mood of the class. I did however enjoy the free for all feeling i got when first walking into the class I think it's going to be one class that I enjoy a great deal!

People Watching

People watching in convo is actually somewhat of a hobby of my friends and I- it is interesting to observe how people behave, their moods, each individual's uniqueness. Yesterday I made it a point to sit back and really watch the people as they stood in line and went about getting their food. I noticed how animated many people are, and how greatly expressions can vary. It was quite easy to tell the moods of different people, and how they interacted with those around them. I could see the difference in personal space between groups of friends and groups of strangers. I'll probably keep doing this exercise just for fun!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

First Day

I think this class is going to be a nice change from the every day routine that my other classes have fallen into. I am looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and trying something new. Over all I think this semester will be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to what's ahead.

As for the observation that we had to do, I found it very interesting and kinda eye opening. I took a little time before practice to just sit in the field house and "people watch." It seemed like everyone was in a hurry to get somewhere or get something done. One thing that I noticed, but didn't expect is how much you can understand a conversation even though you can't hear the words. It is amazing how much we use body language to convey our points to others.

First blog for acting

Today I tried again to "picture" the football game as I had during class. I was able to get a little better and in some ways I think that I showed a little improvement. One major changed I noticed was that the timing of watching the game became a little bit more realistic as I tried to really "see" it instead of just trying to show other people what I was watching. Another thing that I showed some improvement in was in letting go of some of the social tendencies that get in the way of acting such as nerves that in the begging and still today prevent the realistic feeling of acting from taking place and instead create a sort of "haze" that makes it difficult to experience the simplicity of life. I really think this class will have some valuable things to offer even to a political science major. Although I was unable to completely perfect the new style of "seeing" in the future I hope to become better through practice.

Observation and First Day

How we all doing? So as far as the first class goes, it really seems like an interesting class. I wasn't expecting a whole lot coming into it, seeing as how I haven't really acted at all, but this looks like something I could have fun doing in school. It will be a nice way to end my senior year here, and escaping from the everyday life of us "boring" accountants.
As for my observations I went to the rec center and sat around for awhile before we hit the weights, haha. But anyways, I noticed that there were a lot of people in there. Now this is probably because its the beginning of the semester, and everyone is trying to catch back up on their routines, or trying a new resolution for the year. I think it's a little of both in my case. But what I noticed from sitting and watching people is that most of them were there with a friend or someone to workout with. Even the people on the track stuck in a group of two or three. I think its just more comfortable for people to be around others that they know, or its the extra push that a friend might give you when you're running or lifting.
See everyone tomorrow...

Observations

For my 10 minute preparation of this first blog I decided to go to the Student Center to gather my observations. My first observation was that it was indeed quiet. I was on the second floor by the doors that lead to Amstutz, however, I did not anticipate it to be as quiet as it was. Three individuals walked by. Two women and a male. All three appeared to be in a hurry. The first seemed like she was going to do homework, the second was coming from the rec center, and the third appeared to have just finished some homework. I gathered this from the third individual from the fact that he was clutching the piece of paper that was in his hands. It may only be the third day of class, but I understand where he was coming from. The interesting thing about all three was they all seemed to notice me, but it was very guarded. My final observation was one of the pictures on those walls. So many of us walk through the Student Center without ever paying attention to the pictures. The one I focused on was a 1910 photograph of The Annotators. The Annotators apparently was a club centered around world affairs. I find it interesting to look into the eyes of those college students and wonder what they could have possibly been thinking at that time? I can be fairly certain it was not that their generation and their children's generation would be involved in world wars. They probably were thinking of homework that needed to be done or that the picture was taking too long and they needed to eat dinner. Whatever it is, it makes me think about the meaningless things I focus on throughout the day, and how there is so much I do not know.

First Class

The first day in class was interesting because it was different. In most classes we just sit and listen to the professor going over the syllabus but in this class we actually got to talk about ourselves too. I was somewhat relieved to hear that we will not be really acting on stage because I have never really done that and being on stage trying to recite memorized phrases scares me to some extent.
The "seeing" exercise was a little difficult for me because I do not really watch football games and that was the sport that my group members picked. When I was sitting on the chair trying to actually "see" the game, I simply saw little details like the huge uniforms, the colors, the football in the hands of the players, and the numbers on their backs and fronts. I did not see any action though; I just saw random details.

First Day

Hey, how's it going everyone? Yeah, so the first day was very interesting and unique from most of the classes i have taken. Usually the professor just reads the syllabus and dismisses us or has a short spiel about the class. But we actually got involved in the class from day one - that's pretty sweet. Like I stated in class, i've never been in a play before or even seen a play before, which is one of the reasons i signed up for the class. I thought it would be something different and unique and i've heard good things from my roomate. The class exercise we did really showed me how awkward we all act without a purpose involved. I think one of you commented on how, they saw somebody in Convo sitting by themselves and they looked out of place until their friend showed up. This was pretty interesting to me and something i never paid that much attention to. I had some time to kill between classes today, so i thought i'd just observe people coming in and out of the student center. If they saw someone they knew, they would say hi and move on unless they weren't in a hurry; in which case they stopped to talk. However, the majority of people acted quite strange. Usually looking down or to the side, trying to avoid contact with anybody. Almost saying to themselves that they were in a hurry and couldn't communicate with anybody no matter what. One older lady walked in by the mailroom and looked to her left and right and then left again before heading into the eagles nest. This was all things that i've noticed but never paid attention to the frequency they occur.

Good Times

from the posts that have already been written it seems like everyone is pumped about this class and thats really sweet because i feel the same. it feels good to have a class without desks and an overhead. Also the class can be benificial in many ways, I mean at some point in the future we are all gonna have to do something in front of people so i think the class can help some people feel more confident in that area. I tried just watching people and got caught staring a couple of times, i mostly noticed body language and how people used them to convey what they were saying or what their body language suggested about the if they weren't speaking.

First Post

Hi everyone, this is Amanda B (since there are two of us). I don't know about the rest of you but I feel like we will all be experiencing something very unique together this semester. At this stage I feel a little apprehension on my part because I do not know any of you and I come into this whole experience not really all that confident about anything involving any sort of acting or acting exercises. However in reading the other two posts so far I feel at bit more at ease that some of you feel the same way I do.

Okay so that is enough about. As for the seeing exercise. I think I still need practice with the whole visualizing something going on that is not. I tried again to "see" the football game that my group had tried to see in class and I failed. I think most of it happened because I don't know much about football. It's hard to see it if I don't really know enough about it. So I tried to see something I knew about. So I visualized a person shopping. Amazingly enough I was able to see that. So now I don't feel like a complete failure.

Okay so I have to go to work now so I'll end it here. I'm really looking forward to getting know all of you. I'll see you all tomorrow.
Hey there! I think this class is going to be pretty sweet and bring a lot of people out of their boxes. I really liked what Polanco said about making us notice the little things. I think that is going to really affect everyone in our daily lives. As for the people watching we were told to do, I watched people in convo. I noticed how a lot of people stand with their arms folded and peek out of the corners of their eyes to see what others are doing and if they're being looked at. When they were ordering their food their arms would drop and they would lean a little more and act more comfortable. Oh and my favorite part of the day was when people would try to walk around with their trays all cute or cool or whatever. There is no way anyone is going to look cool with that horrible tray of food. I don't know if that really applies to anything we talked about but I felt the need to get that little annoyance of mine out there. Have a good day and see you guys tomorrow!

First Day

Whats up guys, my name is Keith Bryant. It thought the first day was pretty interesting. It was funny to see peoples face's when they had no idea what to do. The acting will be fun and plus I am always looking for an excuse to act crazy. I spent some time in the Eagles Nest and watched people for a little while. I remember watching a guy sitting by himself and looking around awkwardly for a while. When a girl arrived that he had been waiting for, he immediatly seemed alot more comfortable in his surroundings. I thought this was interesting.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

My first class and "seeing" exercise

Hi everyone!

Today's first class was very interesting! I was alittle nervous coming in because i did not know anyone, but i feel like its going to be a great semester w/ everybody! As for the "seeing" exercise we did, it seemed quite simple at first, but the discussion following all of our exercises or game we watched helped explain alot. I even went back and told my friends about it and how i learned something! It was funny how we were asked to just picture watching a game, yet when we did so, we were going through all of the possible motions while watching this game too fast, and not how it actually would be if we were watching in my case golf. Now that i think of it, i really dont watch golf, but if i have it on, i is to put me to sleep! So i guess now i think i should have just made it look like i was sleeping! (no offense to any golfers!)

Well i look forward to the rest of the semester as i hope do all of you! Good luck in the rest f your classes!

Welcome to our blog

Please begin writing about your experience in class and your "seeing" assignment.