Compared with other people who lost their lives or their homes, I cannot say that I was the victim of Hurricane Sandy.
Bayside,Queens,where I live wasn’t bad compared with many other areas but did not have power or Internet access for a for few days. We had so many candles that we prepared for the hurricane,and we could light the house –but it was difficult to read a book or do many things. After Sandy hit us, I was totally isolated from news coverage,and the media. and I was unable to proceed with school, work, and appointments, as planned. I found that I liked the concept of life without Internet and technologies, until Wednesday morning when I started to anxious and afraid because I felt I was losing touch with reality and the world outside seemed so apocalyptic. I also realized how much our lives are engaged with technology and that made me think of something Albert Einstein said:
“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will be full of idiots.”
Five of us have grown up as individual writers. We also gathered together to talk about things like film, food, music and journeys.
It was a great experience taking this JRN3450.
Alec Yin – I know now how to take that first step to getting my views out there, and I can’t wait to get started. Hopefully this will only be beginning.
Rumi – I am super excited to launch my blog. To me this is a great achievement not only because of creating a new blog, but also learning how to manage it. Also, throughout the semester I had amazing time with this Journalistic Blogging class. I will miss the class. Satbyul Eunice Hwang – I seriously learned so many things from this blogging class. I felt excited by writing about food, film and Sandy coverage.
Emily Bufferd – I now have a blog that reads in my voice… hopefully people will read it. This class helped me hone in on my voice.
Kayonne Johnson– I’ve learned that I do have my own distinct voice, even though it is still in the process of development. I am learning to hone my craft and have the chutzpah to demand more from myself.
Chote Nawab is an Indian Restaurant which is located at the corner of 28th and Lexington Street. I and my friends were so excited to try Indian food at the cozy, pretty restaurant. Natural wood furnishings and fresh coral and blue dish decorating relaxes me to sit and take my time to chose a menu which made me feel like having brunch on Sunday with my friends.
My classmates and I were waiting for our food. It is always great and comfortable to visit the restaurant with a person who has knowledge or background of the restaurant. My classmate, Rumi was the one who could explain the food to us, and the restaurant owner came to us to say hello.
Chote Nawab offers food that highlights both the northern and southern regions of India. I would say that it is Americanized. Compared to other Indian restaurants near Chote Nawab, Chote Nawab does not use many Indian traditional spices so beginners to Indian food will not feel intimidated. Their dishes amazed my taste buds without having trouble with spice.
Since I suffered a duodenal ulcer for a long time, I am particular about food because I have limited food that I can have. I am allergic to dairy, peanuts, and oat meals. Moreover, I am not a big fan of spicy or salty foods because it causes my stomach discomforts But, I would love to try new things; of course food cannot be the exception.
Chote Nawab has lunch specials every day (11:30AM to 3PM). Chote Nawab offers a number of different chicken, seafood, lamb, and vegetable dishes. I wanted to eat Shrimp curry ($9 for lunch special, $17 for regular price). It comes with dal, bread and rice- naked shrimp cooked with onion, garlic, and mild curry.
Minced onion and garlic blends to the curry soup with shrimp and well smeared into the shrimp and the makes soup sweet with seafood flavors.
It was the best shrimp curry that I have had so far. When I had one bite of bread and curry, my excitement at this food went crazy and I could not stop say “delicious.”
I did not anticipate that Chote Nawab is an Indian restaurant their look because the interior and exterior of the restaurant looks like a restaurant that sells pastas and spaghettis. Compared to other Indian restaurants near Chote Nawab, Chote Nawab has modern natural wood furnishings and vivid decors. Vivid yellow, orange, and bluecolors pop out from the wood furnishings and made interiors unique. This place is a great place to start your Indian food explore!
I decided to drink the Naked juice for my breakfast. I chose the blue machine. NAKED, boosted 100 % juice smoothie wakes me from deep sleep. Rich flavors of blueberries, blackberries, apples, and banana blended tightly and hold the juicy tastes in just one bottle. The fruits were naked and hugging each other with their own flavors. I felt healthier than having Tropicana juice or Snapple because valuable fibers are still in it. So, my stomach does not hurt by having citrus fruit.
Bubble tea? When I first heard of bubble tea, I thought the name was describing some kind of tastes, for example bubble gum flavored tea. I had no idea what was in store. I was surprised by its looks because it wasn’t what I expected, it didn’t look cute or refreshing. I was afraid to try the bubble (tapioca) because I didn’t know how I would react to it. Tapioca pearl has round shape that looks and tastes like pudding. This ball shape tapioca comes in various sizes and colors which actually made very intriguing. After trying it, I can never forget black milk bubble tea; all the flavors blended with tapioca pearl were delicious.
About six years ago, bubble tea became extremely popular and began to expand quickly. These days, you can find this beverage everywhere, near at mall, bookstore, fast food restaurant, or even your house.
My favorite place to go for bubble tea is near main street flushing. Near Macy’s they have a lot of bubble tea store, which are very affordable because of the competition nearby.
Most of the stores offers buy one get one free or discounted price for a student which makes me to want to buy more bubble teas.
Not only the price is affordable, but the quality of the bubble is good. Bubble makers are experts at making the tapioca. They understand or know how to make it at the right consistency.
I haven’t been thinking that this fantasy drama could carry the story out. This film was not really about a “Beast.” This independent film depicts Hushpuppy and her daddy’s life in isolated communities and their bestialities in the southern wild. But, the Director, Benh Zeitlin draws the picture of their lives as if they were from children’s book; Hushpuppy’s narrative and unique photographic techniques really shine in this movie. Hushpuppy’s fearless voice leads the story of the Beasts of the southern wild. Hushpuppy’s voice does not cause confusion to the audience, but rather gives them the idea that she wants to survive within the isolated island.
I see that I am a little piece of a big, big universe, and that makes it right.In a million years, when kids go to school, they gonna know: Once there was a Hushpuppy, and she lived with her daddy in The Bathtub.
Hush puppy is a little girl who already learned how to accommodate the harsh sides of the life. But, she would not give up the chance to live her life as strong as she can hold.
Beasts of the southern wild as a fantasy drama film bring the audience into the hushpuppy’s imaginary fantasies very often with her voice over.However, Hushpuppy’s daddy was trying to give Hushpuppy lessons so as to ensure that Hushpuppy could live without his protection, for he cannot able take care of her within short moments. Hushpuppy sensed her daddy’s heart is weak. “Strong animals know when your hearts are weak.” She loves to hear living thing’s heartbeats and concern about relationship with nature and people.
Unexpected storm and erosion occurred in the area of Hushpuppy’s living boundaries; water level rose up and covered the hushpuppy’s and her neighborhood’s houses.When the government worker was trying to help the residents of Bathtub, they refused to get help from the government. Not only did they refuse and try to run away from the refugee, but they also called the refuge as a “Prison.”
Calling a “Prison” for the refuge and hospital was shocking but made sense me in reconsidering the meaning of happiness and value of life that we are having. Are we really having and living in the world that makes us happy? Why were they eagerly trying to run away from the normal society? These questions arose while I was watching this film.
Hushpuppy finally followed the shining light off in the distance across the sea, in which Hushpuppy believes her mother exists. After this moment, this film touched me emotionally by showing father and daughter relationship and her daddy’s illness. She decided to bring her mommy’s dish (the movie did not tell that she was her mother, but I could tell by film’s plot) then shared it with her daddy to give him memorable last moments.
Beasts of the southern wild reminded me of a movie of Director Gabriele Muccino’s the pursuit of Happiness (2006). The point of view and many techniques were different, but contents were very similar in that they lived in same world, but the characters were struggling to live their lives.
Brink? A concise title with romantic picture of the film attracted me to watch this film. Shawn Christensen directed the Winner of Tribeca short films, Brink; is science-fiction about love in live-action. This short 9-minute film impresses audiences with its narrative and unique photographic techniques.
Jeremy’s voiceover of his written letter leads the viewers into the film, and this impact lasts until the end of the film. Furthermore, the slow motions of the characters and objects’ floating in the air are almost dreamy and reminded me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Shawn’s Brink had more hidden messages that audiences need to figure out themselves.
Therefore, I stared at the closing credits when I watched Brink for the first time because I totally felt at awe and did not understand what was going on. Moreover, Jeremy’s narration made me to feel like I was daydreaming. It was short but had a strong, lasting effect on me. But I gradually understood and immersed into his narration after watching many times of this film.
“Jeremy has been in love with his best friend, Evelyn, since before he can remember. He decides to profess his love for her through a simple, thoughtful letter… but there’s a strong chance they will never see each other again.”(Short of the week)
His confusion about the progression of losing gravity and uncertainty of the future with Evelyn is very well reflected in this film. Also, the indescribable emotion amplified by the psychedelic background music and his voice
A Genre of movies that evokes serious passion or hatred: Science fiction drama of Cinema.
Science fiction is a genre of fiction, which contains description of possible and imaginary futures or worlds; mostly it evolves around future settings. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Truman Show are my love songs and I probably watched them more than 30 times.
Some might have had an occasion to think to himself or herself—“my life could be managed by someone else”. The Truman Show is a satirical comedy drama film directed by Peter Weir and written by Andrew Niccol. This film was originally drafted in the tone of a Science Fiction thriller. However, Jim Carrey’s acting added comical sources on the film; personally, he expressed emotional aspects of Truman Burbank well. So, I did not feel much confused or frustrated from grasping the setting. Truman Burbannk lived his entire life, failing to recognize that his whole life had been managed by one mastermind—Producer Christof. The producer put Truman Burbank on a small world, in which he could control Truman’s life, and also film his life through cameras, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Therefore, Truman’s real emotion or reaction through the certain situation captured and this was the gist of story that the Truman Show delivers to the audience.
Eternal Shine of the Spotless Mind is also a Science-fiction film, about a couple that tries to erase their memories of each other. Many couples tend to feel painful after their relationship changed from passion into bitterness. Clementine erases Joel from her memory; then Joel tries to erase her also, but his ego finds out that he does not want to erase memories of Clementine.
I have recommended those two Science fiction films when my friends asked me for a suggestion. Some of them really liked, while others hated watching them, perhaps because of complex and far-from-real plots of the stories. Perhaps, these complexities that require understanding, led to confusion to my friends who are used to conventional movie settings and story lines.
I would definitely say that Science fiction films are my love songs; because they force the audience to become more aware of the possibilities of not so straightforward, visual reality. At the same time, they urge people to be self-aware, about their true identities and even about philosophical question of the purpose of our existence.
It seems the election’s heat spilled onto the realm of social media–especially evidently observed in twitter.
I was awed by the technology at first, about the way New York Times organized the multimedia and social media, everything blending well with one another. As soon as you click the button of -The Time’s Political Unit on Social Media, upper right hand corner from the politics section on its site, you will see the opinions of journalists about the currently ongoing election.
Twitter has been amazing in that it allows people to casually bring out and express their opinions on the election and the candidates. The social media has broken down the barrier between election issues and young people, because it is easy to “follow” the election phases, which can make the convention more engaging. I, myself, am honestly not familiar with the social media system. Also, I do not see me as a person who would follow the news on the election. But, mainly due to the convenience and the accessibility, I began to read and follow the comments made by the journalists–all thanks to the social media.
The New York Times reporters were so active posting about Democratic National Convention. From September 4th through September 6th, many NY Times reporters seem busy writing posts about democratic candidate’s activities. Due to styles of Twitter, the reporters tend to write short catchy sentences to grab reader’s attention.
Especially, Jodikantor’s writing style caught my eyes. Her writing style demolished the young people’s prejudice of election.
Many young people tend to avoid the election issue but her twitter really entertains the young people within just one sentence. She did not fully explained about the activities but we could just get ideas that she was trying to tell us. It was short but has everything that we needed to know.
The reporters seem to know what they are writing about and the comments are well-written with humor and it has touched me to have more interests in the issues. These reporters would influence reader because we can anticipate that the reporters have more information than we do, and because their comments could influence our thoughts and behaviors. Each one of follower is a voter and we could follow who you want to choose.
A group of 5 semi-irreverent writers gathered together to talk about things they like; and maybe don’t.
Alec Yin is a Brooklyn born, Chinese American who loves to read, and go to the theater has a major interest in Journalism. He wants to learn how to best use new technology to reach a greater number of people in order to offer as much information as possible for people to have options and knowledge so that they can form their own opinions.
Rumi is a proud and independent Bengali girl. She is eagerly waiting to explore herself in the Journalism field and is highly interested in broadcast journalism. Throughout this blog, she wants to share her opinion and view on the real world. She is interested in music, film and art.
Satbyul Hwang aka Eunice, is a Baysider, originally from South Korea. She is majoring in Corporate Communications. She changed her major twice and finally decided what she wants to do for the rest of her life. She loves Journalism and wants to learn more about how to write reviews of music, food, and art.
Emily Bufferd, originally from South Florida, currently resides on the UWS of Manhattan. She is a choreographer/producer/dancer, with an itch to write dance reviews for the NY Times someday. She loves reading about gluten free everything and is eager to get out into the real world of Journalism in the arts.
Kayonne Johnson is a native New Yorker majoring in Journalism with a Sociology minor (she’s the extrovert among us). She wants to have a column in a magazine where the concentration is fashion sociology. She currently works in SoHo and loves the energy of the neighborhood.
Photo by Dachan Chris Hwang
