Blog 14: Reflecting Back this Semester

Hi everyone hope everyone reading this post is still alive and not too stressed out from Finals.
Honestly I can't say college is my favorite place at the moment, but It is definitely something great to experience, especially this semester. I have learned many new things this semester as a multimedia major and I feel I have matured as well. Then again, pretty sure many will say I didn't mature at all this semester.

First I have learned how to use Adobe After Effects this year, very fun program to use, however, very irritating and frustrating at the same time. However all that frustrating work is actually worth it now. I have learned how to make a simple footage into something more meaningful and fun. I have learned not to eat Doritos anymore and how to deal with raising my self confidence. If it is possible which is the main reason. Overall, great experience for me and I am perfectly sure, all the stuff taught in the after effects class will all come in handy in the near future.

Secondly is the Cinematography Workshop class I took this year. I have learned more in depth the science of lighting and balance for filming. By having different lighting options and methods, it is possible to create a different mood and a different atmosphere for a single clip. Another is the importance of filming at different locations. This project has given me a lesson of using the worst places anyone can think of into a positive project which ends up being a success. We have worked in the basement of HPU's downtown basement. I have to say, it is one of the worst places I have been in for a while. The air is bad inside, the smell is terrible, and worst part is the terrible lighting the basement has. But thanks to the content we have covered in class it all ended up well with great teamwork and a good atmosphere to make things positive.

Lastly is the Writing for the New Media class, which is the class I am currently writing this Blog post for. This class has taught me how the media itself works today and the importance of sharing experiences a person has experienced. This Blog project and the Twitter project is a great example. By having to post blogs and tweet tweets, people are able to share what they have viewed and want others to see. For example some people may have posts and tweets about scoring events and how amazing it was. I have done the same it is cool to see what other people viewed as awesome and what kind sporting events or just events they are into. I have posted about the recent soccer games, one is to support my country Japan, and the epic world cup qualification match between Portugal and Sweden. Also this class has given us the opportunity to go out and explore Hawaii and see what is around our campus, Hawaii Pacific University. Then it comes the video magazine project where groups have different topics to cover regarding a topic here on Hawaii. I worked with the group focusing on events and Hawaii and the art in Hawaii. Both of them was a good experience. This project is definitely a project that gets us students ready for the real world. Since the amount of group work involved. Challenges for this project was working with audio, getting everyone's group times and definitely working on and off camera.

Overall this semester was filled with information that I will be using after my college days here. I will be done Spring 2015 and will head out to society afterwards. The classes this semester has definitely gave me an idea on what I need to expect after my years of college.

Blog 13: South Park Black Friday Episode

Hello, so I went Black Friday shopping this year once again, and also saw the Black Friday episodes of South Park so thought I will blog about this. Well anyway the comical animated series of South Park is now on their 17th season. I am quite surprised the series has been airing for such a long time. For those that have never seen the series, South Park takes place in small mountain by the name of South Park in Colorado. Also it is always winter time in South Park, which is the reason why the kids are always in their winter clothes.

Well anyway, the Black Friday Episode of South Park is a three part series, and the two out of the three are already aired, with the final part about to air on Wednesday of this week. Summarizing the last two episodes, the boys are planning on using Black Friday as an advantage in order to buy the new gaming console, Xbox One or the Playstation 4. The boys are also playing Game of Thrones while planning out this strategy to buy the console. The reason why it is called the Black Friday episode is because the first 20 customers of South Park Mall will receive 80% off of any item within the mall so the boys try to take advantage of the sale. However, the boys split due to the half wanting to buy Xbox Ones and the other half wanting Playstation 4s. So Cartman and Kyle join forces (ironic) for the Xbox Ones, and Stan and Kenny unites with all the other Playstation 4 buyers. Who will prevail in this epic battle?

On the other hand, Stan's father, Randy Marsh gets a job at the South Park mall as mall security, to take advantage of his position and to be one of the first 20 customers. Another is the president of Sony and the President of Microsoft, Bill Gates is also involved in this series. As for the writer of the Game Of Thrones, George R. R. Martin. The episodes also cover the new console war between the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 which is why the two presidents of the big company are involved in. It is fairly entertaining to see these two in the series. Another is a parody of Elmo, Elmo dolls are one of the toys that is considered as a best seller in the United States for children so South Park has done a brilliant job of including Elmo part of the Black Friday event.

Now where I want to get to is how South Park is able to have 17 Seasons? I personally think is due to to the real life events getting made fun of in the series. This Black Friday episodes have done a great job regarding relating to most viewers. For example, Game of Thrones is a hit tv series with having a rating of 9.4 on IMDB, the console war is also taking place at the moment with new generation gaming consoles available everywhere now. Another is Black Friday in general, it is one of the best events in the year so people can purchase items for such a cheap price. I thinks South Park will continue to be successful since trends and hits change each year and you can always make fun of something if you have the mindset to do so, which South Park has.

Blog 12: GoPro Hero 3+

Hello, so this time I will blog about the popular GoPro Hero Cameras. I recently purchased the GoPro Hero 3+ and I am very satisfied with my purchase. I have always heard about GoPro cameras but never had one or used it before so this purchase was definitely a good one. I am just astonished on how such small camera can take really great HD videos.

As of right now I have only taken simple footage, such as walking around school, Waikiki, filming my apartment, and just filming random things that mostly others would not care about. What I have realized is though, having a camera like the GoPro is very helpful for the filming process of projects. Sure the whole fisheye thing kind of annoying for some people, but with the GoPro Studio program removing fisheye is possible and it looks pretty nice.

If there is one flaw about the camera is definitely the mounts and the accessories, I believe there is way too much and it is really over priced for some. Like one is a long plastic stick and its about $50. My first comment was like really? So I went to Amazon.com to buy all of my mounts and accessories and it was definitely cheaper than the original price and it works perfectly fine.

Anyway, I think GoPros are definitely a great purchase for everyone, since you can share your memories and experiences through a palm sized video camera, while other cameras have higher quality visual but can be a pain to carry around every where. Also I see the GoPro as an entry towards new camera technology that may be appearing in the near future.

Here is a video comparing the last model of the GoPros, GoPro Hero 3 and the new GoPro Hero 3+ for those that are planning on upgrading.

Blog 11: Honolulu Marathon

Hello and here is another blog from me, on December 8, 2013. I will be running the annual Honolulu Marathon. Yes I know, all of you that are reading this will probably think, "Why in the world would you do that to yourself?" Well honestly I don't even know why I signed up for this but I am quite excited to run this now that the marathon is next week. The course is well starts from Ala Moana, towards downtown, and back to Waikiki, and then onto Hawaii Kai, and then back to the finish which is the Kapiolani Park.

Honestly I am pretty nervous about this marathon, this is the first time for me to ever run or attempt to run a full marathon. I do run on a good amount of times during the week to get fit for tennis. However, when I was doing research for the marathon training, it is completely different from tennis so it was quite tough. I had to lose some weight and I lost about 5kg to get ready for it, would love to drop another 3kg but too late now. Healthy diet was really tough for me so kind of broke down after Halloween. But I am really excited at the same time. If I complete this marathon it will definitely be one of my biggest achievements in my 20 years of living.

My Herbalife Shakes

In order to get ready for the marathon, I did start some healthy eating habits and started to take new protein that my friend takes which has helped me out. The protein I have started to take is called Herbalife. People have both positive and negative inputs regarding this company but I give it a positive one, helped me lose weight, and also gain some good (muscle) weight.

Taking these shakes was definitely one of my training process, another is running more than a 10km or at least 6miles each of my running session now. The hard part of the training was probably find the pace I can be most comfortable with. The reason is if I get too impatient and run too fast, I will die in the marathon for sure. If I go to slow I would never finish so it was tough finding the pace, but I found the pace I like to run in. Also finding the right shoe to put on was a challenge for me, But I think I will go with the Adidas shoes I received for tennis. Very comfortable and I am very confident to be able to run in those.

Well my marathon number is 15882 if anyone has time please come out and support me I could use all the support I can get to finish this marathon proudly.

42KM or 26Miles of Hell

Blog 10: Google+ is Too Complicated

Good evening everyone, well this time I want to write about the invention by Google, Google+. The reason is, well it is pretty simple, I really don't like it or cannot really work it. Since I am using Blogger and I'm getting these +1s on my post I thought it would be cool to try and figure out how to use the Google+ since I have an account. Well biggest mistake of my life. I am so lost on how to use the Google+ maybe it is a cool feature to use if you know how to use it. But for me I find this really stupid at the moment since the layout is too complicated, and there is too much organization involved.

I have complained about Facebook becoming too complicated and fancy lately but Google+ is a whole new different story. For example when I finish my blog post, a few min or hours later I see that someone has gave me a plus, or meaning they "Liked" my blog post in a Google term. I kind of wish I am able to see who was viewing my blog and liking. It feels strange not being able to see who likes my stuff or not.

Another is my home screen for Google+ I have no idea exactly what is happening on there everything is just so fancy.. and too hard to work through. Well not really fancy, more like a if Facebook and Twitter hooked up and one of them cheated on the other with Instagram that is what would make Google+ happen. Seems like everything is just mixed in and makes it too confusing too operate.

I think I will spend my winter break trying to figure out how to work this Google+ it might come in handy if I master the usage of it. Well hope you guys enjoyed reading this rant and feel the same way that I do about Google+ or if anyone knows how to use it please let me know and help me out. I would really love to figure out.

Blog 9: Japan vs Belgium- International Friendly (Soccer)

Kevin Mirallas of Belgium

On November 19, 2013 in Brussel, Belgium, the host Belgium and Japan played each other in an international friendly match. At this point Belgium is ranked 5 in the FIFA rankings and Japan is ranked 44. The world expected Belgium to have an easy game on this day, but the game was completely different from the expectations. Belgium has already played one game before this one, they have played Columbia but lost 0-2. On the other hand, Japan has played the Netherlands and tied 2-2. So Japan has entered the game with much more confidence. Japan is lead by the Italian, Alberto Zaccheroni, who is known as Japan's best coach in history at the moment.

The first goal of the game happened fairly early, on the 15' Kevin Mirallas of Belgium and player of the English Premier League club, Everton has scored due to an error from the Japanese goal goal keeper, Eiji Kawashima.
Japan has allowed Belgium to lead, however on the 37' Japan makes their move, the Japanese striker, Yoichiro Kakitani scores with a header, which ties the game to 1-1 before halftime.

Keisuke Honda celebrates his goal

Second half of the game starts, game is tied 1-1. Japan makes 2 crucial substitutions which has changed the flow of the game. Japan takes out Hiroshi Kiyotake, and Hotaru Yamaguchi and puts in Shinji Okazaki and Yasuhito Endo. On the 53' Yasuhito Endo has passed the ball to Japan's star player Keisuke Honda, and Honda scores with his right foot giving Japan the lead 2-1. The Japanese raid does not end here, 10 minutes later, on the 63' Japan scores again, and this time from Shinji Okazaki with an assist from Yoichiro Kakitani. The game is far from over though, Belgium strikes back on the 79' using their height as an advantage, Belgian defender, Toby Alderweireld scores with a header from a corner assisted by Kevin De Bruyne, the game is now 3-2 Japan. 

The referee blows the whistle and the game is now over,  44 ranked Japan winning 3-2 over #5 ranked Belgium. Which is definitely one of the biggest upsets of the year and a big accomplishment for Japan. The Japanese team is considered to be the Dark Horse for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil. With star players such as Shinji Kagawa who plays for Manchester United, Yuto Nagatomo of Inter Milan, and Keisuke Honda transferring to the Italian club AC Milan. With 6 more months left until the world cup it is exciting to see the Blue Samurai prepare for the biggest sporting event in the world. 

Blog 8: Cristiano Ronaldo Vs. Zlatan Ibrahimovic/ Portugal vs. Sweden (Soccer)

On November 15, 2013 there were many soccer games happening across the world. The game that had most of the world's eye was the battle between Portugal and Sweden. When they played in the first leg of the two games in Portugal, the Portuguese team triumphed 1-0. Can they keep the lead alive? The two teams battle it out for a spot on the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. In this match both teams had their ace players, for Portugal, Cristiano Ronaldo and for Sweden, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Cristiano Ronaldo after his goal. 

Cristiano Ronaldo is currently in the famous Spanish Club, Real Madrid, while Ibrahimovic is playing for PSG in France. The two players are definitely considered as a Soccer Legend
today. This game was considered to be the match to see due to the two players, we all want to see the super star in the World Cup. However, also known as a brutal game because we all want to see the two stars but only one of them can make it into the finals.

Ibrahimovic motivating his team

The first half of the game was a game of defense, both teams stopping each other from scoring. All the scoring and action occurred in the second half of the game. On the 50min of the game, Ronaldo is the one that broke the game of defense, scores with the assist from his fellow teammate, João Moutinho with a beautiful through pass. The crowd goes wild for the first goal of the game. 18 minutes later, Sweden strikes back with Ibrahimovic scoring with a header from a cross by Kim Källström. The Swedish team is now back on track, the game is far from over. 4 minutes later, the Swedish star scores again, on the 72' he scores with a devastating free kick with his right leg, Sweden is ahead of Portugal 2-1. However, the Swedish lead ends here. 5min after the free kick, the Portuguese super star makes back to back goals. The second goal starts off with Hugo Almeida's brilliant pass to Ronaldo and he scores with his left foot on the 77'. 2min later Ronaldo does it again with an assist from João Moutinho, dodging the Swedish keeper, Ronaldo releases the ball with his right foot achieving a hat trick and ending the Swedish dream. 

The game finishes 3-2 with a total of 4-2 combining with the first game. Portugal has earned the spot for the World Cup. Below is the highlight of the game, please take a look.