Thoughts on Buy Nothing Day

After seeing the promotion for buy nothing day i thought to myself would people actually consider doing something like that? i know if ihad moneyfor the most recent black-friday, i wouldnt have followed on it. Knowing how americans are, especially New Yorkers, most of us will taakke advantaage of a good sale over a nice day out anyday. I tried to take a second and picture whatthe world would look like if absolutely everyone decided not to make one single purchase, and i couldnt do it. i didnt ake advantage of any sales this year, im sure if i had the money i would have, but when i heard abt the whole wal-mart incident after the day was done with, it seemed kind of typical and expecting. On thanksgiving day, just before, i was watching a countdown of 50 most outrageous shopping moments, and saw footage clips of many similar experiences as to what happend on this years black-friday. i jumped to the countdown kinda late but when i did catch it on, it was funny now that i think abt it, there were so many wal-marts in other states that had fights or wreckless endangerment due to those sales. Some that never even made it out the lobby. i thught that was funny seeing how someone can wait all these hours outside of a convenient store just to get into a physical fight just once u step foot into the lobby. there were also police present, right in the lobby but they just stood and watched, also have being caught on footage. There were a couple best-buy incidents here or there too.

response to the walmart incident

My thoughts to the walmart incident when having a first reaction made me review everything we've learned in this course. All this talk about how the american way of life is viewed just keeps becoming more familiar to me along time. Matierialism is something that we havent fully talked about so far, but is often brought up or is connected to what we discuss. but it played a huge role in what caused the whole thing. it showed what people will do to be one of the first to get a hand on the newest thing out there. To me i believe the worst effect of not being able to purchase a television, is that u would be forced to keep your original one. Those people ran around wrecklessly as if they were apart of something big and life-changing. Someone in my course mentioned something funny during class-discussion that i didnt even think about based on the incident. he said that something like this shows how desperate americans are to these bargains due to the fact that they were able to live with their being a part of a killing so that they can in the end win the reward of being able to purchase something. another person shared his question of, how can someone go home and watch the nightly news to see on it the face of the person u just helped to kill on the tv u got because of it. i think that the behavior shown at that sales event by those people fit the description or look that i would automatically expect from them based on relations to american movies and shows.

reactions to 08' election

My reaction to the election were calm and normal. I didnt really take as much interest into it as most others did. I mostly got my background info. on both candidates through my class lectures and tv summaries discussing the debates. I knew that Obama, being part black, was a huge issue for most americans, but i think that the difference in registerd african-american voters compared to the last election was just typical of them to do just because a black man would be running, probably not knowing much about him.

I think that the talk of Obama discussing plans to fix the economy is just a long stretch. Having reached a point of decline in our economy raises brows all over as to how he plans to do this. It seems almost impossible to get us back on our feet as fast as it did us to land off of them. Our economy at the moment might need support from countries all over, but i believe that Obama coming off as a nice guy, wouldnt get the support he deserves and not recieveing much respect represting the U.S. when meeting with other world leaders. I say this because i once saw a show on History channel discussing body-language spoken through world-leaders and their meetings with each other, where one tries to show there hidden domination over them with something as simple as a handshake. Getting only1/5 on our quiz the other day supports my saying i dont really have much to say about the presidential election. My interest hasnt been found yet in the whole discussion. but these are jot-downs of what i think is to come with Obama as our president.

assignment 4-i, pencil

"i, pencil" by Leonard E. Read, is a story about a manufactured pencil that explains its signifance and unrecognized genius through its own narration. Its bland comparisons to some of historys most practical inventions are simmered down by confident takedowns of what a simple pencil is really capable of. The pencil also goes through a moment where its self-centerness molds into dissapointment because of its unacknowledgement, feeling as though they recieved the short end of the stick when credit was being handed out for all of mankinds greatest accomplishments. the pencil tries to use its presence in history, such as signing the declaration of independance, as people needing pencils in life wayy more than realized. i thought it was a silly story with a lesson going nowhere. i didnt care much for it. kind of bored me more than entertained.

Assignment 5: The good, the bad, the capitalism

our latest lessons have been strictly based on Capitalism, and economics. Ive learned the factors that play into it, the good it brings and the greed that also comes out of it. Capitalism is made up of "3 separate ingrediants" them being Land, Labor, and Capital. I noticed after each lesson just how serious capitalism was. everything i owned or ever owned before played a role in jobs and labor and bringing wealth to capitalist. I saw it in later in three easy steps: wealth is turned into capital... capital becomes profit... and profit becomes increased wealth. What i learned to be the Crucial-point on Capitalism are competitive advantage, cost advantage, competition, price-fixing, commodity, non-price competition, and relentless pressure on costs.

The good to Capitalism is that one might purchase something at way less than what they were willing to spend. But Capitalism might also make me meet even with my demands or just get over on me, with a higher price than expected, depending on the amount of supplies.

Assignment 3:

I walked up to countless strangers asking them the same question, "what comes to your mind when you hear of the American Way of Life?" And each individual of different lives which all seemed to intertwine that one afternoon on 23rd st. had different answers to share. 

The white doorman from the business office answered saying "its declining due to poor market stability...before you can start a family you have to be successful." 

A spanish babysitter walking with two other minority woman, answered saying "Work, work, work. And to pay bills. Its very very hard. Have to work to make it in this country."

A late, middle-aged white woman  who seemed to dress very casual said " pursuing whatever you are passionate about. its not easy to achieve."

Next, a nice lovely old caucasian couple who seemed to be wealthy said "its raising kids. having the basic luxaries."... when asked if they live this lifestyle, or american way of life, they answered saying that they believe they live the basic life, and that it is more normal than others. 

A construction worker, white, and overweight, who when was off-duty and revealed that he lives in Long Island, answered saying "getting your own business. Having a house out of New York. Oh, and a truck. And a hobby...all of these things you can achieve as long as you are healthy."

Things included in my video are small clips of my family and my interactions with them on a daily basis. regular family life is what im trying to show and also have pictures of other family members except that those are shown through pictures instead. 

My Mother is a big part of my life. she has always been there for me and gets me whatever i need or at least puts effort into getting it for me when asked. she tries hard to make me and the others in my house happy, even if it means she wont be benefiting from . My newborn sister, my 1st real sister that i would be watching over, living with, is introduced in my video. she is shown several times with almost every family member and also her own video showing her free-spirited innocence. she is a huge part of my life and without her presence, would most definately re-arrange my AWOL. My brother and i have a small film strip together where i include a scene where we are just talking and bring up the camera's visibility, as if we had nothing else to talk about. i bring this up because i am  trying to show that my brother and i carry no more special bond, or a stronger friendship than most others would have. We are being seen as two ordinary brothers who get along at times, but still go against at times. we are seperable, independant, and not as close as should be, but still love each other and care for one another without those words even being spoken.

My AWOl is plain, and average to me. i show nothing special than a mediocre sized apartment with a medium sized family enjoying each others company. I especially love my introduction tho, showing my ride home to Roosevelt Island through the eyes of a passenger on the Tram. i didnt want to show a silly train ride home like most others would attempt. what was bad about it was the lack of sound in my home videos, but at least i had captions up giving the viewer a slight idea of whats being proposed there. I wouldve included my 2nd family, whos been in my life since i was about 6. that is my stepmother Milly, my stepbrother Miguel, and my stepsister Melony, my half-sister who lives with them and is sibling with is included in my video but only her because of low number of photo attempts due to the projects due-date. 

Chris Done Gon'AWOL

AWOL from Christopher Roldan on Vimeo.