Final Paper

Emily Trudeau

Hour: 2

Catfish Final Paper

            A young man named Nev had gotten many paintings from a young girl named Abby. Abby’s mom, Angela had found Nev’s photography on facebook and Angela claims that Abby had been painting these pictures. Nev got into a relationship with Megan who was supposedly supposed to be Angela’s daughter. They had been talking for eight months and started to fall in love. Many weird things were happening. The tracks that Megan sent Nev were just copies of real songs. Pieces were not connecting and Nev decided to go meet the family. He was told to go to a barn where Megan was supposed to birth a horse. Nev had finally gotten to the barn and it was deserted and no one was there. Was the family even real?

            Catfish is a movie about a young man named Nev. He receives paintings from the photos he took that were on facebook and meets this family. He gets into a serious relationship where he hasn’t even met the girl. It takes place mostly in New York and Michigan and was made as a documentary in 2007. Nev travels with Ariel which is his brother, Henry and meets Angela, Abby, and gets to know more about Megan, the girl that he “fell in love” with.

            Nev is a photographer who is put on camera by his brother Ariel. Ariel wants to follow Nev’s life when they travel. Abby is a little girl who is painting Nev’s photos that her mother got off of facebook. Angela is the mother of Abby that found Nev’s pictures and claims that Abby is this amazing painter who paints them. Megan is the girl that Nev has been talking to for about eight months and wants to get to know her and actually meet her for the first time. Many things weren’t matching up and that made Nev want to meet her even more.

            I really liked the special effects and the soundtrack. The soundtrack made the movie seem more suspenseful and it got me more into the moment. I also just liked the story and plot in general. I think it was interesting especially because this was a true story. Nev really intrigued me. He just reminded me of a normal 24 year old guy who was traveling around and took pictures. I also think it was interesting the things that Megan did to impress Nev and he wasn’t quite sure about any of it.

            I would recommend this movie to an adult. I think that a younger kid wouldn’t enjoy it as much as an adult because it’s a documentary rather than a movie a child would like. I liked it because it was a true story, a documentary and the plot was really interesting. I also liked how things would come up that you didn’t expect at all. I don’t like movies that you know for sure what is going to happen. You also definitely would not think the ending ended as it did. I also like the reason of why it was called “Catfish.” There were fish that were shipped over here and by the time they were here, they were mushy. They had the idea to put catfish in to nip at the fish and keep them circulating. That is just like our life, we need those people who keep the world going and “circulating.”In other words, keep us on our toes.

Catfish Day 1

I like the movie a lot so far. I'm not quite sure if I would like to have a movie be made about me. I think the movie is really interesting, it's different and I like how they are recording it themselves. I think that Nev should of have had more information about Megan and maybe even Skype so you could see them personally. I'm confused as to why the movie is called Catfish. They are going to see the family because Nev is having many questions as to if this family is real or who is real. I'm really excited to find out what is going to happen and who is really real and maybe if everyone is real. I think it's also weird how the mom won't really let him talk to the eight year old. I think I would get more into too if the songs he recieved from Megan are just the same recording she got off the internet.

Photoshop Assignment

Penzu Journal

          I have told the story over and over again. It's like a nightmare or a scary movie. My brother, Ryan, went through his nightmare for 3 months. The news got from bad to worse in a matter of days. I was trying to be that strong sister that I was known as, but it wasn't that easy at all. In fact, it wasn't easy at all, I broke down with tears at least everyday. Ryan was diagnosed with testicular cancer on September 3rd, 2010. I always feared of losing him but I was also going through my best friend who was my boyfriend leaving for college. Now it was my turn to share on what was going through my mind everyday. September, October, and November were months that  I would never even think of reliving.
         My whole perspective on life had changed for those few months. I wasn't sure if my thoughts about life were ever going to be the same. I always had positive thoughts about Ryans cancer and I never thought it was going to be as difficult as it ended up being. I always told myself to be strong and I would tell every that I would continue to Livestrong everyday. That statement wasn't always true and I'd continue to think about what was next everyday. Ryan and I would tell each other that it was always so hard to look at the positive in anything in life that we had to conquer over that period of time. The continuous bad news had not only affected us at the time but had affected both of us in the future.
         I wanted to treat Ryan the same as I had treated him everyday before cancer. He had always told me that it wasn't the same anymore and that everyone would treat him differently just because he had cancer. I always that it wasn't fair, and I wanted to make sure he knew that I saw him at the same person even though he was going through a long tough road. I also want to spend as much time with Ryan as possible. If he wanted me to tag along with him anywhere, I would do it. I always thought, what if I can't anymore? What if something happens to him or he eventually moves out with his fiancee? But I tried not to think of those what ifs and continued on with life as he would want.
       Right before Ryan had to go through the worst thearpy of all; chemotherapy; I had to let go of that one person that I had thought would always be there for me. Trust is something I took for granted, and I was positive that he would be there for me from day one, at least that's what he said... Obviously things change, you change, and you have to move on. I didn't understand why all this had to happen in such a short amount of time. Those first couple weeks were the worst, I would sit in my room almost everyday and ask why? So many people told me that you have to be strong, keep your head up and everything will start to look up again soon. I wanted to believe them but it was never easy.
         Through tough times, you start to really figure out your real friends and who really supports you. I feel as though that is apart of why all of this had happened. I found so many supportive people that I would had never guessed would of been there for me all along.

Texting and Driving

Emily Trudeau

Hour: 2

Texting and Driving

            Cell phones are becoming a part of our life more and more every day. It makes communication so much easier. Safety definitely comes first and it has become a hazard to text while driving. There has been a lot of conflict and many states have banned texting while driving. The accidents have increased so much to the point where it is called danger of texting while driving. While driving consists of full concentration, sending a text will compromise the driver’s concentration.

            The U.S is admitting that they do text while driving. 81 percent of the U.S population admits to texting while driving. According to the National Safety Council, 28 percent of traffic accidents occur when people talk on the phone, or text. 1.4 Million are cause by a cell phone conversation and 200,000 are text messaging.In2008, 6,000 people were killed related to a driver distraction. “It’s hard because everyone is addicted to their cell phones,” said Jennifer Smith, a Texan whose mother was killed in a car accident when a man had ran a red light while talking on his cell phone. Nineteen states have banned text messaging while driving and 28 states have banned no cell phone use at all.

            A 2009 experiment shows that texting while driving has a greater safety impact than driving while drunk. There has been proof that texting produces a much longer reaction time than driving drunk. An impaired driver took about .54 seconds to brake. Four feet were added to the breaking distance of a legally drunk driver, while 70 feet were added to the breaking distance of a texter.

            Teens argue that sending a quick text is no big deal, that they have full control of the road. Obviously we all know that is false. Taking your eyes off the road for even a few seconds can cause an accident or almost cause one. Teens also think texting and driving isn’t as bad as being intoxicated while driving. In a poll, 14-17 year olds were asked whether they thought they would die one day if they regularly text and drive. Only 35 percent of the teens strongly agreed with that statement.

            This topic is getting more controversial and teens still seem to not understand the concept and still continue to text and drive. They have friends or families that tell them they know someone who died while they were on their phone but they just continue to put their lives in jeopardy. States need to continue banning phones and texting while driving because receiving a ticket will make teens think twice.

Social Media

Social Media is taking over everthing. Most people have a facebook, twitter or youtube account. Thats what we spend most of our time on. If we are bored, we go onto facebook or look up videos on youtube. I think its really interesting that if facebook was a country, i'd be the 4th largest. Thats a huge deal because I wonder what that number would be in 5 years or 10 years. Everything that we do is on the computer. Jobs are found on linkedin and thats where you are judged. I wouldn't call social media a fad, its a revolution and it will increase in the years to come. I also think its interesting on how Ashton K and Ellen D have more views that a whole population. I think watching tv on the computer will be more of what people do in the coming years and people won't watch the tv much anymore. Many families have more computers than tv's in their homes.