This is where we post our projects, experiences, thoughts, and discoveries. The lab community is a great place to learn about the topics and techniques covered in the Creative Media Lab. Feel free to leave a comment!

I don’t see the Assignment #2 anywhere. Can someone inform me about it? Or can Trevor or Simon post it up and/or reply to this post ASAP?

Please &Thank you.

These images are all things that relate to me. Starting from the top, the McDonald’s picture is there because McDonald’s is the only fast food restaurant that I prefer; the stethoscope is there because I have hopes of becoming a doctor when I grow up; the map of Vietnam is one of my origins; the books were put on there because I enjoy reading; the pencil is there because I like to express myself by writing things down; the OMI patch is there because that is the school I go to (AGE QUOD AGIS is latin for “do well whatever you do”); the Oakland A’s are my favorite baseball team; and I put the symbol of pi on there because I love math. Overall, the background is the “City of Oakland” sign and I put it there because I live in Oakland and it is my community.

To me, community is not just people who happen to live near one another, it is a family. In my community, I like to converse with everyone and eventually we will become close enough to become a family. Being a community is contributing and not being selfish. When things are done, they are done for the community and seldom for selfish reasons.

Take this blog for example; this is a community. We all know each other and have all talked to each other before. We are already a community because we are in the SMASH family.

Today in Tech I had my first taste of Photoshop. First after a few technical difficulties I was able to experiment with some features of Photoshop. First the class was taken through the basic components of Photoshop and then we were allowed to experiment with the software. I took two of my pictures and experimented with different filters such as liquify, artistic and distort. With the pictures below I used charcoal and glowing edges to experiment . I really enjoy working with Photoshop and I look forward to learning even more about it and advancing in the Tech class.

This picture in the background is a map of the Bay Area. I am from ,East Palo Alto which is on this map is right under the IKEA sign. I also choose to use a map of the Bay Area because I want too represent not only East Palo Alto but also the whole bay.

The Bay Area has lot of beautiful places and landmarks. For example, in the middle of this page there is a picture of a landmark that is famous all over the US and most of the world, the Golden Gate Bridge. This picture means a lot to me and whenever, I feel it brings me back home. It reminds me of all the people that lives there and reminds me of my mixed community. I used two pictures on the bottom left and top left corner of the, Fore Seasons Holt, which is in East Palo Alto. This building draws people is attention and makes people want to visit the swimming pool which is a luxury item and part of the restaurant. These two pictures remind me of my first time staying a night at the Holt. The picture on the bottom right is a sign this from IKEA. I choose picture because it bring back all the good times I had.

To me community is a place where people live and support one another. A community tries to keep each other’s safe and build strong communication lines with each other. Our class blog is a community because we are sharing our interest together on one page. We can communicate about our interest with each other and just be there to support each other.

This is how you can embed YouTube videos in to your blog posts:

Just use the [video] tags around your YouTube video URL

Read more about how to use this plugin here

Every item in my montage reminds me somewhat of San Jose. The welcome to San Jose sign reminds me of everything about my home. The EVHS Winter Percussion shows my school pride as we took #1 throughout the whole season. The airport reminds me of the hustle and bustle of the city and travel in general. The Tech Museum of Innovation represents the accumulation of Science in the Silicon Valley. I have had many fun times there. The last picture is the new stadium being built for the 49ers. This represents team pride for me as I really like the 49ers. Comment on needed improvements needed.

This is what I did in tech today. Using photoshop was pretty fun because it gave me so much freedom to express myself. Most of the time one picture is not enough to express oneself so being able to manipulate that picture or blend others in makes expressing myself easier. This montage is very simple because it was my first day but I still had a chance to express myself. Most of the images on here are things that I use to relieve stress, yet have fun with at the same time. My favorite stress reliever is riding my bike, that’s why it’s on top. Then I like to play music with my friends, which is why I put the picture of the James Logan Marching Band and Color Guard. I also like to play soccer and watch things like Transformers. Lastly, I put the picture of a city on the background, because my favorite place to be is in my hometown with friends and family, where I feel the most comfortable.

The Dodge Charger is one of my favorite muscle cars. The 2007 Dodge Charger might be new and all occupied with new things but the 1969 is my favorite Dodge Charger because its model looks original and its motor is powerful. Even though the 1969 Dodge Charger is 38 years old I think it looks better than 2007 Dodge Charger. If you ask me I think the Dodge Charger is one of the best muscle cars out there in the world.

Why did I pick these pictures, well they’re what came to mind, they just popped in like pop-ups. Really. The background was my first picture, representing soccer, a sport I play, even though I don’t play very well. Next, I thought, well I have a field, but no ball, so the picture I got for it looks like a ball, but it really isn’t, it’s actually a rim that looks like a soccer ball. Then, since I play the violin, I added the doodle playing the violin. Then I thought, my school is a big part of my community so i added the Capuchino mustang. I also added the panther to include animals in general because they are a big part in general of my community along with the panthers being the Parkside Intermediate mascot. The books are on there for the library and the new IB program at my high school. Starbucks, although I have only been there about 5 times in my whole life, is a big part of my community because I see people with their products almost everyday, but that’s ok.

All the things that I put in my montage mean community to me. Community is when many people that live in around the same area come together because of their interests or what they do, and they work together to build up.

Our class blog is like a community because we all know each other and we are coming together to do something that we like and we are helping each other build up to what we want to be and then go even farther.

For the weekend homework, you will proof read and polish your Assignment #1 and follow up on your recent work in Photoshop.

For the Photoshop Community montage, you’ll Upload your image to the blog and answer the following three questions in your post:

1. Why did you pick these images?
2. What does “community” mean to you?
3. How is our class blog a form of community?

If you were not able to do the Community montage, keep playing with Photoshop, post your work to the blog (whether completed or in progress), and write about what you learned and the techniques you used to create your image(s).

For your Assignment #2 What’s In a Name? montage, you should just start collecting some images that represent you, your family, your background, and your interests.