Back-up iPhone 5: Here comes the HTC One

My first smartphone was an iPhone, they were the hottest things at the time back in 2008. I started with an iPhone 3G and eventually upgraded to an iPhone 4. However, I eventually switched to Android phones and I can say that I will never look back :) All you diehard Apple fans hate people like me but I love the versatility and customization that Android phones give you. I just got an HTC One X in November and now they are coming out with the HTC One (which unfortunately I can't get because I don't have another upgrade until next year) but you guys need to check this out! It has AMAZING photo capabilities built in, with many video and picture editing features that are easy and intuitive and AWESOME. Editing unwanted objects out of a photo, creating an action shot photo with fragmentation images combined into one, and so much more. I love that the competition of different companies like Samsung, HTC, and Apple result in the coolest technologies coming out. I can't wait for what the next five years hold in store!

Overall Thoughts on Stewart Text

Even though I procrastinated reading through Stewart's text, I really enjoyed it. I'm new to this whole art and design thing, so it definitely helped me grasp some of the basic concepts and terms. I know I sound like a little kid, but I especially liked all the pictures because it made it really easy to see a concept that was being described in the text. I have two more DTC classes coming up this next fall and I think I'm going to hold onto this book just in case I need to refer back to it later. What were everyone else's thoughts on it?

Narratives in Movies

Chapter 14 of Stewart's text focuses on narratives and non-narratives in art. The chapter looks at conceptual boundaries, developing a story line, and evoking emotion with narratives. It's funny to me that there is a chapter in this design book mostly relating to movies because many people would not consider movies as art. However, since there is so much thought and effort put into the entire script, screen play, and acting of a movie it would seem that is definitely worth noting. Of course, there will always be movies that don't really have any artistic appeal or back-thought (like Pineapple Express) but I enjoy looking for symbols in movies and in the future, I believe I will be more inclined to notice the way a scene was filmed to best portray the emotions needed for the storyline.

Tempo and Intensity

Normally, I would only consider tempo as something that relates to music but it makes sense that art can have its own tempo as well. Specifically when it comes to comic books, I guess I never realized that there was much significance to whether the panel was horizontal or vertical. Stewart describes the horizontal frames as slow tempo and the vertical frames as fast tempo just because when scanning from left to right, you go through the vertical panels more quickly. Now I feel like I need to go back and re-read all the comics I enjoyed as a kid (mostly Captain Underpants books). It might make the storyline more dramatic. Another thing that stood out to me, also, is that whether a shot is close-up or long distance increases the intensity of a picture. When you can see the close details and lines on a person's face, capturing their true emotion, it does make the image much more intense versus just looking at the outline of a character far away. Very interesting.