Class Reflection

What i learned in English 114b  was how to analyze different types of situations such as space in a video game and also an analysis of themes in books.  This class was really fun and i really liked to come everyday even though i didn't  but other than that i had a fun experience because not all professors teach about video games and bring an Xbox to class to teach us how space can be used in the game as out of the game.

Project Space (second Draft)

Gustavo Santana

Sean Pessin

English 114A

15, April 2011

            Space is a continuous are or expanse that is free. Space can be made to make room or taken away to organize. Space is very malleable someone can simply put an object to move one object from one space into another. In a board game there is always a free space where no costs have to be paid. Space in nature is free once an object tampers with space it makes other object move around the other to a different empty space to avoid contacts unless wanting to make contact. Adding space into virtual intelligence was a step mankind took in order to reach higher boundaries of controlling space. This is specially shown in video games. In a video game the intensity of the use of space is magnified by creating scenarios that aren’t able to happen in real life. An example of a video game that shows such is Naruto: Rise of the Ninja.

            In Naruto: Rise of the Ninja, new levels of spaces are reached such as jumping twice once from the ground and again in mid air to reach a new space such as the roof of a building. In this game space any space is easy to reach as long as you’re inside the boundaries of the game itself. The makers of the game set boundaries as to stop you from going where they stopped programming. In real life when you walk into a place there are always restricted places where you can go in. In video games it’s the same some of the building that you try to get in are impossible to breach. The main character of this game, Naruto, is cursed by a demon named the 9 tailed fox. The people around the village where he lives hate him and try to avoid him. Naruto’s body serves as a prison for the demon in order to keep the village safe. The only person in the whole village that doesn’t know he has the demon is himself. When people stare at him he gets angry because he doesn’t know why people hate him. The hate he gets from the people is the motive for him to become the top ninja in his village. In the game the characters have different powers some make them move fast and other make them move the elements around; this is a new level of the usage in space. In real life we cannot move large patches of dirt with our bare hands we need to contact other object in order to help us with this action. In the game the number of things you can do in space can only be limited by boundaries. Naruto being the main character has special abilities such as walking on walls, double jumping, and cloning himself. We as humans cannot walk on walls in order to reach a new space we have to climb them and even then our height in climbing is limited by our stamina. Naruto uses double jump to increase his height in distance from the floor to the sky so he can jump onto buildings. Humans can only jump once and when we jump we get limited by gravity and weight. Naruto uses cloning in order to make combat into his advantage. Humans cannot instant clone what so ever. The point im getting at is that there are more boundaries with the usage of space in real life than in a virtual world. We are constantly being limited.

The virtual world was invented in order to reach the impossible easier such as humans flying without another object to help them. In video games there will always be rules and regulations some that cannot be broken and some that cant in a videogame the one with those decisions are the programmers. They are the controllers and the ones that set boundaries. Boundaries are what the character is limited to do and what he cannot do. The environment itself throws obstacles; a sort of boundary, for you to overcome and proceed with the story. Another type of boundary that limits space is missions, these missions keep stopping you from beating the game to quickly in order to maintain the game experience some of these missions are challenging some that make you go against computer enemies in order to get a reward usually or to get ahead into the story. Some of these missions contain sub stories misleading you from the main story. This boundary is controlled by the game programmer. Space in the game is limited by what is around you such as the village itself it takes space in order to make a virtual world. The world inside a game is similar to the real world the only difference is, is that in a video game the character can reach new levels of space with such ease. As the story moves along Naruto has to learn new abilities to reach new heights. Naruto can climb trees and travel through the trees simply by jumping from tree to tree. This was added by the programmer to avoid walking long trips to new places in the video game world. The village space was just a small place in the story the world expands more and more as the game unfolds. Throughout the story the game tells you what spaces you can reach how to obtain the power in order to reach that space. Even when you travel from village to village you cannot go through any other path only through the path designated that you are meant to go.

            In combat mode vs another player or a computer, the use of space intensifies. The boundaries intensify, the use of speed of the abilites intensify. When fighting either a computer or a player you are told where to fight and when the fight is over. The fighting is sort of like boxing you are placed in a ring that is made of nothing but environment. The movements of your character are sped up whether your punching or running the use of space is rapidly changing trying to fight for survival. In this battle mode you either beat the other player by defeating his character or simply the one with most health by the time, the time runs out is the winner. The space used in these fights varies because some of the characters special abilities take you to new environment only for that moment until the move is finished. You are forced to fight you cannot run from battle. The moves the character knows are the only moves you get so pretty much you have to use space to your advantage in order to win. When you get punched you can dodge by using the substitution technique so you can get the upper hand on your opponent. The substation technique is where the character replaces himself with an inanimate object in a blink of an eye in order to avoid contact from the other player and save health. This use of space is really useful because it can get you to new heights against your opponent

       In combat mode there are also boundaries that tell you when you can use your abilities and when you’re going to lose. The life and energy gauges, The life gauge keep track of your life, while the energy gauge keeps track of the energy being spent in order to keep using your abilities. When you finish the life gauge that means you have lost. When you finish the energy gauge it means you cannot do a special ability until the energy gauge is completely full. In order to fill it you’re supposed to keep hitting your opponent.

The console I used to play naruto was an xbox 360. This console has a bit better graphics than the ps2 and other older consoles. This is especially helpful because u can see clearly what the main character is doing to move in, out or around space. The controls are very important because it helps you execute the powers that the main character can do. One of the moves that really focuses on space is the substitution jutsu it reaches a new level of space. This special move makes you replace yourself with a lifeless object in order to dodge enemy attacks. The space this uses is the one on the game that u can see and the one you can’t sort of like a different dimension. This is a new level of space because apart from the space we can see there is space we can’t see. The console also has the ability to be able to play the game online. This is chosen by the player to play with other players around the world vs mode. Vs mode is a mode where u can fight with any character in the game same as your opponent, they can choose any character and with the controller they control the characters to fight and who ever defeats the others life gauge first wins. The console also comes with a score and achievement tracker it keeps track of every game you played and every achievement you’ve won. The space in the game is altered and when altered in a way you can earn an achievement. One example is when you learn double jump; you earn an achievement for reaching a new level of space in the game. When a space in the game is reached in a certain way you unlock achievements.

            Space has many rules and regulations to it, some which can be broken and some which cannot. In real life there is more intensity on the number of boundaries stopping use to reach new heights of space. In video games the intensity is less, which makes video games a place where the impossible can become the possible very quickly. Space can be taken and given.   

Second Draft Project Text

Gustavo Santana

March 7, 2012

English 114B

Sean, Pessin

Battle for Control

            Battle for control has been fought for and died for generations upon generations. Control differs depending on the situation. In the books ender’s game and speaker for the dead by Orson ScottCard, Ender a young boy was controlled all his life till he grows up and shows the world that he is their controller. Ender is a tactical genius his abilities progress as he ages. The people around him begin to lose his grasp on Ender as he ages and his words start to mean something. When people are young they are ignored and closed off from having an opinion. When age kicks in people starts to listen because once voice rises. The power to speak is one of the many contributors to maintain power. Ender went from being controlled to being in control all due to his abilities to think critically observe and solve different situations.        

            When a human is young his authority is taken for granted and there for is forced to follow the rules of “higher” authority. In Ender’s Game; Ender, was being controlled and watched over since he was born. Proving the point that even when your born the authority comes from the older people. By putting a monitor on Ender the government is saying that Ender is their property. Being the “government’s property” Ender is forced to face life’s situations by himself while being monitored by Colonel Graff. As Enders life progresses in the book he is thrown into more and more situations that he has to deal with by himself. On the way to Battle School Ender meets knew people; Colonel Graff makes Ender an enemy by arguing that he is the smartest one of the bunch. Even after Ender is trying not to put himself in a critical position to be hated by his school mates, Graff wants to make him solitary and that makes Ender sort of dangerous. Enders childhood was taken away when he entered battle school by force and is being controlled by the older authority all because Colonel Graff thinks he will be the one to end the bugger wars.

After humanity had overcame the first bugger war due to their past commander Mazer Rackham. All duty falls to Ender and therefore takes his childhood by force. Ender lives the life of a kid soldier not that of a normal child. When all duty falls to Ender this makes his life controlled by those who want to mend what is to become of him. Ender is a tactical genius which causes more pressure on him because he is constantly being reminded that he needs no help to solve his own problems. In one of the many events in the book Ender is being bullied by Bernard, whose arm he broke in the shuttle, Ender intelligently and tactically defeats him by hacking Bernard’s desk and mocking him with messages. Once Bernard’s pride and power was broken the rest of his launch mates see and recognize Ender’s power. This point made reestablishes the thesis by mentioning that the one who has the power has the authority over others. Even though Ender is controlled by the higher authorities he still has and fights for his authority against people his age. With Respect comes power which is authority once that respect is shattered the authority is gone. While Ender rest for his matches he goes into a virtual video game world that also pressures him by throwing random thing his way the computer also has a sort of control of him until he stops playing; that being said as he progresses through the videogame world and beats it, it becomes significant. It says that he is no longer going to be controlled, that he is escaping the grasp that power has over him by other and using it for his own motives. Moved to a new platoon after defeating a simulation video game, Ender gains experience which also gives him authority because being moved to a new army at such a young age gives him power. When he reaches his army he is bullied by the captain. Bonzo; the captain of salamander army, being older commands and bullies Ender because he was mad that he traded off a good platoon captain in exchange for Ender. Viewing this Bonzo has power over Ender such as the government over Ender because he is older and holds a position of power. Being a luanchy (trainee) he practices to learn how to move around in null gravity and his way of thinking gives him power over everyone else his way of thought is abstract while others think in one way. Taking the upper hand by taking everything he learns and using it for his own way and movements gives him power and authority because he prevails at everything he does.

Moving up ranks and keeping the leader board makes Bonzo angry with Ender and plans to murder him. At this point Ender is already in Rat Army because he was traded off their he meets Dink Meeker which teaches him more about the game battles. Enders power increases as his experience and tactic skills increase along the line he is also making an impact as the best player in the whole battle school. Colonel Graff finally decides that Ender is now ready to have his own army by giving him the army that has been abolished after having the reputation of having a losing streak. Changing the losing streak into a winning streak, Colonel Graff starts to lose his power over Ender because Ender is getting older and is defeating the game. By Ender defeating every challenge thrown at him, Colonel Graff changes the game around in order to try to beat Ender but is aware that if Ender beats the game he is the one to save humanity. Dragon Army consists of nothing but launchies given to Ender from Graff as a sort of challenge to train them and beat the game. By being given launchies and an army it’s a way of Graff shifting some of the power over to Ender, Graff views that he is almost ready for command school. Pressured from all the battle Ender is over worked by Graff because he is now throwing more battles at him constantly each day, the number increased from one to two games a day. This still says that Graff is in control and will keep being in control because Ender has not yet earned the right to the full power. Approaching command school Ender has stepped into a newer level of experience and solitude. Moving into a new environment can be related to when he first stepped into battle school not knowing anyone and it deprives him of his power. Once again life throws at him situation to which cannot escape from. Training from Mazer Rackham intensifies the pressure to the point where all he can think and dream is about battle. Ender is exposed to a new kind of authority which haunts him a takes him away from his old self. This kind of pressure and at this point in his life takes him away from his childhood and deeper and deeper into maturity. Once with power in his grasp once again, Ender is trusted by the people he’s met and trained with so far, his friends.

Being in command school for a while he is given an opportunity to work with his friends from battle school which he thought have been left behind. Reuniting with his friends and being able to work with them in rigorous training. His friends no longer respect Ender as his friend they respect him as a higher level of authority between themselves as a team he is now their commander. His friends let him know that he has power and him being commander they follow everything he says. Having trained for months Enders squad is ready for their final test or as Ender knows it by simulation. Mazer makes his power silent all in a goal to make Ender the higher authority over the Buggers. Ender grasping his power kills the buggers without knowing by blowing up their home planet in one shot along with his squad. After being revealed that he has killed the Buggers he is blown away by the fact that he also killed Bonzo and Stilson. That all along Ender had reversed the power against him to his aggressors and defeated them permanently. Ender throughout the book has killed numerous times without him knowing and has thought himself as different from his brother Peter; thus being said Ender has never been like Peter, He was always himself and had always had authority over others due to his intelligence. The Battle school itself has power over everyone including Ender because being trapped in space with no communication with the outside world it makes people crazy, And the student in battle school are forced to be placed in armies and segregate each other by being put in different groups. There is a hierarchy placed in the school by the reputation each army has by winning battles against each other. The battle school itself is a main milestone to Enders rise in power willingly. Ender chose to be powerful but unwillingly claimed some of the power by defeating his enemies permanently. Defeating the bugger’s transitions into place that he knows has more authority over himself than anyone else. Throughout the book he is given chances to take back what is his but refuses and continues to the path of defeating life’s challenges.

Looking at the many events throughout battle school starting with his first encounter with the simulation, are key subject to the point of how he tries to escape what his holding him back from his full potential. Moving along those lines as he continues to defeat the obstacles the feeling that he is earning his freedom back gets stronger all the way till he defeats his final challenge. After being trained to defeat the buggers he then travels to the distant planet that the buggers have lived in and there he finds an egg of the hive queen. This opens up to the next book Speaker for the Dead and also traces back to his first encounter with the video game realm that the computer generates for him at random. This creates some sort of web to Enders next phase in life. Ultimately the true ruler and most powerful authority is the universe itself and how it changes Enders life as if it was destiny. Ender being able to mend life to suit his way manages to balance the power of the universe inside Ender’s Game to almost the same height. Above all what let to Enders rise in authority was because throughout his life’s events he was being helped to gain what he know has. Every character played a vital role in his dominance over the other subjects making him the main character. In Ender’s eyes he wasn’t and didn’t want power he was just fighting for survival to every obstacle. Ender treated life as a game and what any other character would do with a game, beat it.

In comparison to Speaker for the Dead, Ender’s Game is overall about Ender shaping his life to be in control of the people around him. His way of speaking and thinking suppresses others without them knowing it. He reads people like things to be conquered. After the Bugger wars Ender writes a book called The Hive Queen and the Hegemon, in this book he opens people’s eyes on how to think not only for themselves. An example was when the buggers were killing the humans the humans saw it as a treat and sought revenge. On the bugger side they did not know that they were killing they simply thought they were protecting themselves. As time goes, Ender travels to space to another world the world were the buggers used to live. When he travels and travels he doesn’t age as much as he would of stayed in one place because he is traveling at the speed of light. This is a perfect example that he is now in control even of his age. The significance that in the novel Ender can control his own age by traveling at the speed of light says that he has power over others because he doesn’t age as fast as a person living in a planet. After many years people forget of Ender and as times goes by Ender becomes the Speaker for the Dead a sort of priest. Based on the book Hive Queen and the Hegemon, Ender has made a new religion that focuses on telling the true story of the dead. Using His unique abilities Ender is able to guess what the person was like before they died and speaks for them as they were and not lie that they were just good people. He gathers information by mending the people around him by making friends with them and ends up using their information for the speaking of the deceased. There is one scene in the book where Ender says rhetorically that he is in control and will maintain in control. The son of the person he was to speak for was following in the footsteps of his father. The son is about 6 yrs old and tries to stab Ender not knowing what would happen. The kid’s father was aggressive and hit his family mostly his wife Novinha. Ender grabs the child and maintains him in his lap detaining him so he can stop hurting Ender. As the child throws tantrums and hit Ender in the shins with his feet he is trying to get away. Ender knowing that letting the kid go will cause the child to win and continue being disrespectful to him, he doesn’t let go. As the child becomes exhausted knowing that Ender won’t give up the child pees on Ender’s lap as a last result to get away. Ender maintains the child in his lap, the child becomes broken and bursts into tears and hugs Ender. Analyzing the child’s behavior Ender came to the conclusion that he was the only one that was hurt the most and looked up to his father. This is an example of how Ender gets his information for the speaking ceremony and also says that he is the one in control and will keep in control due to his way of thinking. In the story many people that live in Lusitania called for a speaker for a number of deaths that have occurred due to a new species of aliens. Enders real mission in Lusitania is speaking for the new species of aliens. He is trying to figure out if they are ramen or varelse or Djur. Ramen being strangers from another species. Varelse being strangers from another species who aren’t able to communicate with Homo sapiens. Djur, being monsters with no soul and no intelligent motive. The reason why Ender is speaking for this new species is because he has a primary mission apart from the second one. He is put in charge of taking care of resurrecting the species of buggers. He has the power over this resurrection because at any given time he can choose not to resurrect them and end them permanently. On the other hand he sees this as the only way of forgiveness for killing off the buggers and his guilt is overpowering him. He wants to figure out if this new species is killing humans because they are forced to or is it part of their culture to do it and mean not to do it in violence but as a blessing. Enders power is once more challenged and due to the fact that he is battling an unknown enemy and has to guess what their motives are. When Ender first stepped onto Lusitania, that was the first battle that challenged his power because he is now in a planet, were catholic religion rules and looks down upon the speaker for the dead. In Lusitania no one trusts him so he has to figure out a way for the people to learn to trust him. Throughout the book ender is constantly challenged as if life is trying to defeat him. Analyzing the book correctly Ender is never really in power over life just over most of the people due to his genius and experience and age. As he travels he lives longer than most people managing to stay at a young age. As he travels he is gaining experiences and becomes more powerful. He has an advantage over other people because he is constantly viewing the universe differently and his experience boosts him above and beyond all others. One thing that Ender loses because of his quest to resurrect the hive queen is he lost his sister valentine. Valentine, left in another planet will age when Ender travels at the speed of light and she will have aged and have her kids. This is significant because this is where his power over people is questioned its whether u make the sacrifice and lose your sister to resurrect the Hive Queen or stay with your sister. This sacrifice makes the point that Ender doesn’t have control over everything and that he is human and loses once in a while. Throughout the two books the balance of power switches over from person to person but the one it really reflects on is Ender.                 

Power differs between people the stronger one maintains his power the more voice he has over people. Experience plays a part when power comes in to the scene. All throughout a life time people are constantly fighting for that dominance over others making people competitive and dangerous. Ender’s life is a perfect example of how his life was shaped by the adults when he was young to actually shaping his own life when situations were thrown at him. Ender manages to be in control using the power to his advantage in order to get the answers he needs to win at the game of life. There are many aspects of power, whether experience, age or simply authority one thing is is certain in order to have power you must be able to execute it perfectly.                      

Project Space

Gustavo Santana

Sean Pessin

English 114A

15, April 2011

            Space is a continuous are or expanse that is free. Space can be made to make room or taken away to organize. Space is very malleable someone can simply put an object to move one object from one space into another. In a board game there is always a free space where no costs have to be paid. Space in nature is free once an object tampers with space it makes other object move around the other to a different empty space to avoid contacts unless wanting to make contact. Adding space into virtual intelligence was a step mankind took in order to reach higher boundaries of controlling space. This is specially shown in video games. In a video game the intensity of the use of space is magnified by creating scenarios that aren’t able to happen in real life. An example of a video game that shows such is Naruto: Rise of the Ninja.

           In Naruto: Rise of the Ninja, new levels of spaces are reached such as jumping twice once from the ground and again in mid air to reach a new space such as the roof of a building. In this game space any space is easy to reach as long as you’re inside the boundaries of the game itself. The makers of the game set boundaries as to stop you from going where they stopped programming. In real life when you walk into a place there are always restricted places where you can go in. In video games it’s the same some of the building that you try to get in are impossible to breach. The main character of this game, Naruto, is cursed by a demon named the 9 tailed fox. The people around the village where he lives hate him and try to avoid him. Naruto’s body serves as a prison for the demon in order to keep the village safe. The only person in the whole village that doesn’t know he has the demon is himself. When people stare at him he gets angry because he doesn’t know why people hate him. The hate he gets from the people is the motive for him to become the top ninja in his village. In the game the characters have different powers some make them move fast and other make them move the elements around; this is a new level of the usage in space. In real life we cannot move large patches of dirt with our bare hands we need to contact other object in order to help us with this action. In the game the number of things you can do in space can only be limited by boundaries. Naruto being the main character has special abilities such as walking on walls, double jumping, and cloning himself. We as humans cannot walk on walls in order to reach a new space we have to climb them and even then our height in climbing is limited by our stamina. Naruto uses double jump to increase his height in distance from the floor to the sky so he can jump onto buildings. Humans can only jump once and when we jump we get limited by gravity and weight. Naruto uses cloning in order to make combat into his advantage. Humans cannot instant clone what so ever. The point im getting at is that there are more boundaries with the usage of space in real life than in a virtual world. We are constantly being limited.

The virtual world was invented in order to reach the impossible easier such as humans flying without another object to help them. In video games there will always be rules and regulations some that cannot be broken and some that cant in a videogame the one with those decisions are the programmers. They are the controllers and the ones that set boundaries. Boundaries are what the character is limited to do and what he cannot do.

            The environment itself throws obstacles; a sort of boundary, for you to overcome and proceed with the story. Another type of boundary that limits space is missions, these missions keep stopping you from beating the game to quickly in order to maintain the game experience some of these missions are challenging some that make you go against computer enemys in order to get a reward usually or to get ahead into the story. Some of these missions contain sub stories misleading you from the main story. This boundary is controlled by the game programmer. Space in the game is limited by what is around you such as the village itself it takes space in order to make a virtual world. The world inside a game is similar to the real world the only difference is, is that in a video game the character can reach new levels of space with such ease. As the story moves along Naruto has to learn new abilities to reach new heights. Naruto can climb trees and travel through the trees simply by jumping from tree to tree. This was added by the programmer to avoid walking long trips to new places in the video game world. The village space was just a small place in the story the world expands more and more as the game unfolds. Throughout the story the game tells you what spaces you can reach how to obtain the power in order to reach that space. Even when you travel from village to village you cannot go through any other path only through the path designated that you are meant to go.

In combat mode vs another player or a computer, the use of space intensifies. The boundaries intensify, the use of speed of the abilites intensify. When fighting either a computer or a player you are told where to fight and when the fight is over. The fighting is sort of like boxing you are placed in a ring that is made of nothing but environment. The movements of your character are sped up whether your punching or running the use of space is rapidly changing trying to fight for survival. In this battle mode you either beat the other player by defeating his character or simply the one with most health by the time, the time runs out is the winner. The space used in these fights varies because some of the characters special abilities take you to new environment only for that moment until the move is finished. You are forced to fight you cannot run from battle. The moves the character knows are the only moves you get so pretty much you have to use space to your advantage in order to win. When you get punched you can dodge by using the substitution technique so you can get the upper hand on your opponent. The substation technique is where the character replaces himself with an inanimate object in a blink of an eye in order to avoid contact from the other player and save health. This use of space is really useful because it can get you to new heights against your opponent.

       In combat mode there are also boundaries that tell you when you can use your abilities and when you’re going to lose. The life and energy gauges, The life gauge keep track of your life, while the energy gauge keeps track of the energy being spent in order to keep using your abilities. When you finish the life gauge that means you have lost. When you finish the energy gauge it means you cannot do a special ability until the energy gauge is completely full. In order to fill it you’re supposed to keep hitting your opponent.

            Space has many rules and regulations to it, some which can be broken and some which cannot. In real life there is more intensity on the number of boundaries stopping use to reach new heights of space. In video games the intensity is less, which makes video games a place where the impossible can become the possible very quickly. Space can be taken and given.   

downtown L.A.

i was walking around downtown and found this little dog park. All i saw was dogs running around and people with bags in there hands picking up things form the ground. Ive seen parks around downtown but this one interested me because i found it was only for dogs and well their owners. majority of the dogs were well trained and off their leash.

my neighborhood #2

around my neighborhood i found these weird trees  about 3 feet high and i felt like a giant (despite my height) i took the camera to the ground a took a photo now the trees look like normal trees (sort of) but i liked this shot because its a very weird point of view.

my neighborhood

 

one of my favorite places to take pictures is around my neighborhood because it has many types of trees and also it has many types of plants. this picture was taking mid day i just looked up and saw how the sun hit the tree and i loved it so i captured it.