Saturday, June 4, 2011

Imagination and Our Lives. . .



     Imagination, that is the ability to mentally visualize images and create things that are
unique and have value in society, underlies our concept of reality.  It is illustrated
through  the dreams of individuals.  our imagination is the basis of learning everything about our reality
Only through the development of our imagination, which is accessible in childhood, can we
teach and learn to visualize a better future for our troubled world.  By imagining the reality
of others, and learning respect for the cultures and the natural world, can a child
reach his or her true potential and work together with others to improve our world.  Another way we
 can look at how the imagination and stories are out together is in the short story “handsomest drowned

man” in this story the women potray the young man as a god. And he has washed on the shore of there

small island.  When everyone first layed eyes on him they thought that one of theres nhad died but no

one was as tall as he was and no one was as beautiful as this young man was. All the women in the

neigborhood cleaned him up and made sure to lavish him in all of the little trinkets and good luck charms

so if he ever came back he would always be welcomed with open arms.  Now if that wouldve have

happened today no one would have cleaned him up they would have just pushed him back in the water.

This has lead to certain meanings in our lives by giving us a different scenario that we have already scene

acknowledged it wouldn't be a challenge for us knowing that we already made it through.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The Matrix

This is the CLIP when  Neo "The Chosen One' is awakened for the first time.

If your really not sure what Gnostic Christianity is here is a link for more information:






Paula Williams                                                                                                                                                                                           The Matrix and Gnostic Christianity                                                                                                                                                 Prof McCormick

                                                                    The Matrix is The Bible

                Christian themes have been used in plenty of movies and storylines. The Matrix is very closely related to Gnostic Christianity. The story line of The Matrix is that Neo is “the one”, he is the only human that can save mankind. The New Testament is the accounts of Christ’s birth, death and resurrection and his revelation. I think the movie The Matrix is based on Gnostic Christianity and its beliefs. The importance of this is that The Matrix refers to Old and New Testament facts and events to drive their story of Neo being the ‘savior’, correlating him to Jesus. Some characters in this particular movie can be compared to a person in the Christian bible.                  
                The Gnostic style believes that seeking God is more important than finding God by certain belief. A Gnostic person believes that salvation is gained through the acquisition of divine knowledge. Gnostic Christians believe that the knowledge necessary for salvation has been revealed through Jesus Christ. Christianity asserts that there is one source of Truth and that is the Bible, the inspired, Word of the living God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice “(Timothy 3:15-17)”. The Christian Bible is God’s written revelation to mankind and is never superseded by man’s thoughts and ideas. The Gnostics, on the other hand, use a variety of early heretical writings known as the Gnostic gospels, a collection of forged documents claiming to be “Lost Books of the Bible”.
“Neo The One” after he experienced death and then resurrection he them has abilities to do unthinkable things such as stop bullets in midair as the son of man.(48.07 Mins, The Matrix )” In the final scenes of the movie when Trinity wakes Neo up and tells him that she believes in him and that he is the one, he opens his eyes and runs for the phone that is ringing. Neo’s real name is Thomas Anderson. Anderson also means “son of man”. Christ is and was referred to as the son of man. Neo means “new”, so Neo Anderson actually stands for “the new son of man”. Another analogy between Christ and Neo is Christ has disciples as well as neo has his crew. His crew is excited about Neo’s presence. Neo has the ability to see trinity’s fate in his dreams but he cannot see the outcome. The reason maybe because he cannot see whether or not trinity dies is because he doesn’t understand why he chose to save her. Neo is considered to be the hero who can defy anyone and anything. He is the person that will save the world from the machines that are dominating the world.

                Trinity is the super-woman in the movie. She is a skilled shooter and a master of fighting. Trinity maybe is connected to the connotations of Christianity. She is known as the Holy Spirit. Apparently in Christian beliefs you can obtain eternal life through the trinity. God is the only savior that can offer us salvation, while he offers it through Jesus Christ. Which we can only come to know, through the Holy Spirit. Trinity is the person that gives us access to Neo. There is a relationship apparent towards the ending of the movie when she resurrects neo. But with Trinity being the prominent female figure, I think there is a correlation to these two; Trinity was the one who was the first to see Neo come back to life, and Mary Magdalene was the first to see Jesus when He rose from the dead.            
                Morpheus is a leader in the real world, he is the one that finds Neo and takes him from his reality (The Matrix). In the film Morpheus, whose name is taken from the Greek god of sleep and dreams, reveals to Neo that the Matrix is "a computer generated dream world." When Neo is unplugged and awakes for the first time on the Nebuchadnezzar in the brightly lit space, his eyes began to hurt then Morpheus explains to him the reason why they hurt because he has never used them. Everything Neo has "seen" up to that point was seen with the mind's eye, as if he was in a dream, created through software. Like an ancient Gnostic, Morpheus explains that the blows he deals Neo in the martial arts training program have nothing to do with his body or speed or strength, which are fanciful. Rather, they depend only on his mind, which is real.  He wants to make Neo realize that he is the one. Morpheus is a reflection of his beliefs one of them is that Neo is the one and he is absolutely certain of that. Morpheus’ crew adheres to the rule of being the wisdom behind the matrix. Even Morpheus’ name has a unique background to it; it means the Greek God of dreams which also extends to be meaning he who forms. Morpheus has an incredible power; he can wake you up while you are still in the matrix. Morpheus wakes Neo up to see the harsh reality of what seems to be The Matrix.

                         The Oracle is known as the co-creator of the matrix. Her intent is to assist people in the purposes in their lives, mostly the one. She is the last hope for Morpheus who wants guidance from her. She told Morpheus that he would find the one eventually. Based on the faith of his beliefs, he eventually found Neo. The main purpose of the Oracle is that she definitely knows what is going to happen before it actually does. Neo tries to outsmart her when she tries to offer him candy, then he says what’s the point in asking me if you know whether or not I will take it or not. She then explains that neo that isn’t her place to tell what will happen. No one can predict why a person does something or the way they do it. This can relate to the New Testament in Luke “that thou mightiest know they certainly of those things”, (Luke 1:2) wherein thou has been instructed. Similar to the oracle she is the only one who can foretell the future. Even though they do not understand why you did what you did. This can be seen biblically in the prophets of the Old Testament and their prognostication of Christ’s coming.

               







Citied Works:
             The Matrix Film Wachowski, Larry; Wachowski, Andy        
                             DVD Warner Bros. Pictures 1999

                Milford, Mike “Neo-Christ: Jesus, The Matrix and Secondary Allegory a Rhetorical Form”
                             Southern Communication Journal 75.1 (2010),17-34

                Van Biema, David, Maggie Sieger and Chris Taylor. “The Lost Gospels. “ (Cover Story)
                             Times 162.25 (2003): 54-61

                New Testament
                             Luke 1:2

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

What I Have Learned

One of the most valuable things I learned in ENG 103 is that when you are giving an assignment you should start right away on it instead of waiting just in case in class you have to touch up your paper instead of writing the paper all over again a lot of things I learned from my professor is that when you try and use quotes it would help if you find information for to prove your quote and to use the sandwich theory. Which is find a statement that relates to your quote and then find information that can prove the quote to make your quote more flexible. Another way I learned how to write papers is to gather all your information and just write them down when your thinking about it because guaranteed your going to forget what you were going to say. One more thing I learned is that when you are reading a book that you have to write about later you should use was highlighter to give you quotes for the paper your going to write. Another thing you could do to find information to help you write your paper and that is very useful is to go to the library and learn to use your school libraries academically its all types of scholarly articles that help you find useful information and even quotes that can help you when you need to it the most

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

"The Tough Chick" By: Geller


After reading "Queering Hollywood's Tough Chick" by Geller, I realized that in most movies where there is a girl similar to trinity. She is often assumed to be a lesbian by the audience. Even though through out the article Geller acknowledges how well of a job they did playing these so called bad chicks that are basically heartless. I never thought of trinity to be interested in the same sex when towards the end of the movie she starts to fall in love with Neo.
            There is one fact that in certain movies the "tough chick" turns out to be a lesbian but isn't always the case. Geller also speaks about women needing to play roles according to their gender. Which always shouldn't be the case, woman have a voice too. We reserve the right to play roles out of our gender, simply because we have just as much agility as the men. Women can play any role that is pleasing to them and we probably play it better then a men would any day.
            There are series of movies that Angelina Jolie plays in and she isn't the lady you think she is. She has a smart mouth and she is quick to draw her gun to gun someone down she isn't afraid of what people may think. Most movies Jolie plays a "tough chick". She isn't afraid to do anything or say anything. She is a strong women who knows how to play in a gun fight.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Gnostic Christianity . . .

The gnostic style of faith is free and open; one does not have to be told how to act and particularly what to believe. You are allowed to use your brain and modern knowledge. You have the ability to think for yourself. The gnostic style believes that  seeking God is more important than finding God by a certain belief. The goal of Gnostic Christianity  is to raise consciousness by elevating the element of consciousness to the same level, meaning the logic or reasoning of God.
The goal is achieved when you understand the theory of human nature that Jesus revealed because that theory justifies nonjudgmental rules of logic that empower us.
  Gnostic Christianity is a Way of Life based on the original teachings of Jesus Christ. A gnostic person believes that salvation is gained through the acquisition of divine knowledge. Gnostic Christians believe that the knowledge necessary for salvation has been revealed through Jesus Christ.
    Most Gnostics practiced celibacy  on the grounds that the pleasures of the flesh were evil; a few however practiced libertinism, arguing that since the body was evil they should defile it. This led to further distrust, and was an accusation leveled against other groups who did not follow this practice.

Monday, April 25, 2011

A Beautiful Mind

While watching the movie A beautiful Mind. Mr.Nash  is a mathematician who is suffering from schizophrenia. But he finds it hard sometimes to concentrate on math when his schizophrenia is taking over his life completely he starts to see people and speak to them even though they are not really there. Its like he has million things goin on his head as he tries to break the game code. During the movie he meets a agent who tries mr.Nash to be in the CIA so he could break codes. Even though the agent isn't real Nash still speaks and talks to him. It seems that his reality is altered by the pills he is taking to control his schizophrenia. Eventually he starts to gain control of his life. Before he starts to have control he meets his wife which stays by his side during all of the trials and tribulations that he goes through while he tries to get better. There is also a bit of illusions going on. One of the scenes where he is giving his daughter a bath with the water running and then walks into the other room. When his wife finally realizes that he is still imagining all of these people. She rushes back upstairs to get the baby. He then tells her that katy is watching her. When she knows that no one is really there watching her its a illusion. While he struggles to figure out math problems he always ends up not getting the right answer because his mind takes him on a trip where he can't focus on one this at a time its so many things going on all at once he just loses focus and seconds guesses himself most of the time. In the end he partially regains control of his life with out the pills. Eventually winning the noble prize for finding the solution to "the game".

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Alice's Psychology-land . . .

So far Im leaning to writing about...
Alice is giving the illusion that she is in a different world in her dream, but i don't think she is dreaming because..when your sleep and then you start to dream your not able to see other people or speak to them, but i can hear them speak.
Another option is  Alice's perception is way off through out the whole book she says she started talking to a caterpillar that was sitting on top of a mushroom smoking hookah caterpillars don't talk and never will. that's impossible she is very delusion.
Or I could do Reaction formation is one of the defense mechanisms, as it entails behaving completely contrary to how one truly feels. Whenever Alice's gets in a little trouble she starts to contradict herself . because she cry's her eyes out then she tells herself don't cry but then continues to cry because she just yelled at herself ...



You Choose !!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

What Do I Think About Alice In Wonderland . . .

After reading the first few chapters, I think that Alice is in a dreaming state and everything that happens to her. She is basically imagining it happen. As she is imagining all of this while she is sleeping all of a sudden she falls into a big pile of leaves and twigs. that's when they story begins and she gets closer to going to wonderland she had to go through a series of stages before she got there though. She walks down a long hallway only to find the rabbit gone . Even though he was just in front of her. When she finds a door the size of a mouse hole and couldn't get it she begins to doubt what was going on before. She begins to question herself asking why is she living like the way she is.

Monday, March 14, 2011

All_About ME !!!!!

My name is Paula Williams. I am 21 years old. I am currently in my second year at LaGuardia Community College. My major is Liberal Arts Social Sciences and Humanities. I have a twin brother named Steve that also attends LaGuardia. My family is from Brooklyn, New York. I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens. I graduated from John Adams High School in Queens. I currently have a after school job at Lowe's in queens.

My neighborhood is very quiet not much goes on. There are a lot of older people that live on my block so my block stays quiet during the summer. I love my family they always support whatever I put my mind to. Mostly they are easy going people. They encouraged me to attend LaGuardia at first I wasn’t interested in college but my mom and aunt were pushing me so I decided to attend and I found out it wasn’t so bad as I thought it would be.

           My mom works for the government. Most of my family works for the city or the government and they encourage me to do so also. I intend to become a Supreme Court Justice by the age of 35. I was always told to never give up if I want something go get it because it’s not going to come to me. I tend to hang out with my family most of the time. Sometimes on the weekend if I don’t have to work my mom and I would drive to Maryland and surprise my aunt for the day. We try to go to Six Flags Great Adventure every year or at least to one water park. I feel as if my home life is very family oriented we usually have family day the last Saturday of every month.