second life by Alina Asif

Virtual means almost. Objectivity of the real world. Avatar was a Hindu God Vishnu, the God of re-carnation. He believed in the movement from virtual to the real life. These days avatars are from real to virtual life.  MUVE (multi user virtual environment). Second life is a complex but an interactive online community if we look at the blogs or any other social networking sites. It is completely different and a new feeling. In second life you can re-create yourself, make friends blog, chat. It’s a new opportunity to be imaginative and meet different people around the world. An individual experiences a new and different life. You can travel from one place to another within sec, you can buy new housem cars, clothes, shoes whatever you want. Second life is attracting and addictive, but you lose touch with the real life and real friends.

I created a second life account but I kept my name Alina Asif and everything the same. I don’t want to be someone else. Im happy the way I am and who I am.

 Media and environment video was about green citizenship. The

Classical meaning of green citiznship was to minimum standard of living and have good communication system. He further talked about the Three Zone of citizenships. Which are:

Political: Right to vote, Right of freedom.

Economic: Right to work.The most powerful and increasing burden of environmental cost because of the growth in ethics. Due to more media, more outlets, more social networking, more entrepreneur, more public Media technology grows faster and faster.

Cultural: right to know and to speak.

All these above points Correspond to: Liberty, equality, solidarity (French).

He explained what Eco ethical orientationis. He said its the trashing media technology. We all need to reduce political, economical and cultural investments in media technology to have an efficient and effective media technology. We need to decide how much media technology we should use and where we should stop ourselves. 

by: Alina Asif. 

Second life- Khushboo Uttamchandani

 Link to -- Second life introduction


Second life is a more complex and interactive online community in comparison to regular blogs or other social networking sites. It is a different planet on its own. In second life you can make friends blog, chat, and more importantly make an avatar. It gives you the opportunity to get creative and meet people all around the world. It lets an individual have extra ordinary experiences; you can fly, be an animal, travel around the world. It’s a fun filled planet on its own. Even though second life may be fascinating it is addictive, the more one indulges with second life, it is likely for him/her to lose connections with his/her real life.

If I were to make an avatar I would be a dragon. For one they are mythical creatures and also have a cultural relevance to my birth place Korea. Secondly the can fly and breath fire It would be nice to have theses super natural powers. I have a fascination with dragons since my childhood  it would be nice to pretend to be one.

Suzanne Darkan - Class Recording

 

For better quality : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rvdhk8U_xY

Khalil Jerdak-With Friends Like These...

“With friends like these” by Tom Hodgkinson expresses the historical background of Facebook, additionally to the founders and the investors. Also he states some of its disadvantages and talks about the huge effects that it has on its users.

Hodgkinson believes in his article that Facebook is a way which any anyone can change his identity and be any person he wants. He also mentions that Facebook became a big part of our daily use where t affected our social activities, our communication with others and became a routine. Furthermore, he highlights on the idea of connection on which people became very disconnected rather than connected.

          According to our daily experience and the excessive use of Facebook we actually became disconnected from the real world. In other words, we hide behind our screens and create a second life that we want and the identity that we want also. 

In my own opinion I see that also we can consider that Facebook is a way of connecting people. For example, friends we never heard about them from a long time or friends that are apart in different countries, which Facebook made us, reconnect with them.

 

Citation

Hodgkinson, T. (2008, January 14). With friends like these [Article History].
Retrieved from The Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/
2008/jan/14/facebook 

Rawan Khatib - Second Life

Summary 

The article my "Virtual Life"speaks of the new trend in the social networking; a program called Second Life that allows it's users to create a replication of themselves as avatars on the game. Users can simply purchase the software and have it installed onto their personal PC's and with a simple click join the rest in creating their own visionary world. 

The creator Second Life is Linden Lab of San Francisco, their intention had been clear to follow the trend and create a game where users could simply re-create themselves in any shape or form that they choose. It had been modeled after similar games such as World of the Witchcraft where users venture on continuous quests to gain power and gold. However as according to the author Second Life has taken a majority of that and pushed it to the " extreme end of the playing field" for one important reason the players of Second Life are the ones who create their surrounding and their personalities unlike in other games where the basic set of tools and characters are pre-chosen. In Second Life characters are created from scratch dependent on the user's preference. Not only are the characters yours to create but as well the user controls the merchandise, and other items that they wish to purchase. An achievement for Second Life is that it has managed to gather more followers than a majority of other games and it has managed to establish its own currency which has now become equivalent to the US currency. 

Now as the author points out what is the reason behind such a creation and what would be the benefits of becoming involved in such a game. As Linden Lab states that many do not wish to sit and observe but they much rather become involved and have something to call their purely own and that is what Second Life offers consumers. 

Reflection  

Second Life is only one of the many virtual games that we as a virtual public have been introduced to however as the author says Second Life is nothing typical. It is a game where not only are users allowed to create their "avatars" from their own imagination but they also are allowed to re-create or create any environment that can be suited to they're liking. Another factor is that Second Life management allows it's users to own all their personal possessions online. 

I found that Second Life is stimulating and interesting but something that struck me was that it was similar to other games, such as Sims.  In Sims users can create versions that are any shape and color and they can dress them and get them jobs to participate in the game. The difference between the two games is that in Sims you can all control the characters in the household while in the Second Life you can only control your own avatar. A second difference is that in Second Life you are able to interact with others who are participating in the game while in Sims it is different and less easy. 

Khalil Jerdak- Jane Goodall

No other primatologist or ethnologist has made the cover of National Geographic more than her.  She’s called Jane Goodall.  Jane Goodall is more than just the "chimpanzee lady". Her work gives new insight to our own humanness.

Jane Goodall created the Roots & Shoots program. Today Jane’s work revolves around mobilizing action on behalf of chimpanzees, which are endangered, and all wildlife species. The Jane Goodall Institute works to protect the famous chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, but recognizes this can’t be accomplished without a holistic approach that addresses the real needs of local people.

Goodall, J. (1986). The chimpanzees of Gombe. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Publishing

http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/janegoodall.html

 

Ola El Barkouki- What a life would it be to become..

My dream is to become a professional soccer player in my second life. Not just a professional but the best footballer in the world. I would love to become very famous and be the first female footballer to become known worldwide. My main aim is to make my parents and my friends proud of me and let people remember me even after I die.

My avatar is Ola Rooney, a 15 year old girl who thinks soccer is her life. She lives in a castle which has a football pitch and she has each and every item related to football in a big room in the castle. The gate of the castle has the logo of her favorite club, Manchester United, and the whole castle is decorated by soccer decorations.

Her daily routine is getting trained  in Manchester United soccer school and then she goes back home to have lunch which is served by her home maids. She always has her friends invited to sleepover so they can spend the whole time playing soccer and having fun. She is very fit and healthy. Her photos and videos are everywhere over the internet as the best female footballer. Even though she is very famous and rich, she is always very humble and talks to everyone no matter what their age, color or religion is.

Second life is such an important topic to me as I really need to imagine myself and live in it. I tried a lot to achieve such things in real life but I never succeeded. I use to be a very good player and I always challenged and won my opponents. But as I grew up, I started getting less fit and less challenging. I started giving up on everything. This made people think that I am not a good player anymore. And now, being a professional footballer is my only dream that I cannot achieve in real life so I would love to imagine it in my second life.

Suzanne Darkan - Virtual Second Life

In second life, I learnt the importance of expanding my horizons. I created an account a few years ago on this virtual world called Habbo Hotel, I did so to experiment as I was curious and wanted to find out what the big deal was.

 In Habbo Hotel, every character made is a guest at the Hotel, the Hotel is run by Habbo Staff, who basically make sure that everybody is happy and follow the terms and rules they have agreed to once they have signed up for an account. They have full rights to do whatever they please to do with Habbo Hotel and their Hotel members.

The policemen of Habbo Hotel are called ‘Hobbas’ they do not have as much rights as Habbo Staff, they report anything that is out of proportion to the staff, and will ban any character with inappropriate behavior or who have attempted to hack into the program.

The money made is Habbo coins. There is furniture, rooms and food. Characters (Habbos) can meet in coffee shops, restaurants, dress elegantly, design their own rooms, make their money, get jobs, paint their walls, send each other gifts change their styles and live a life very similar to the real one.

Ofcourse being a member of Habbo, you have limits, you are not entirely free to do as you please, you cannot steal, you cannot swear or break any of the Habbo rules which is listed under ‘Habbo Law’.  An example of a situation you may be put in is being banned for swearing.  A swear word is always automatically turned into ‘BOBBA’ once type it.  So if a Hobba (Habbo police) noticed someone say : Bobba you! They would get you into a problem.

 Habbo Hotel is serious about respect.

I was engaged in the power of living a virtual life. It is an experience worth having,  I got to meet professional  people who live perfectly  normal lives and share interesting stories from all over the world. I learnt to negotiate, bargain and trade for profit.  It was all so time consuming, Virtual money, virtual gifts, virtual looking characters, virtual furniture. But the friends I made, were friends, they were not virtual friends. They were real people just like me and you, with their own special characteristics, who put in what they are good at and shared it online. Through second life, I made friends I have kept till today. I understood the importance of trying a bit of everything. It has not turned me into an awkward and anti-social person (at least I believe so).  I do know that too much of anything is bad. And that is why every individual should draw their own lines. I respect the opinion of every person who thinks that second life is pointless; however they should understand themselves that creating a character in a virtual life does not mean you lack all these things in reality. You would be surprised the people who engage in second lives. Singers have made accounts on Habbo Hotel and were asked to visit and spend a few hours chatting with other users from all over the world. Im sure many of them don’t lack communication in their lives, but have enjoyed the remarkable things that comes out of a second life.

 So did I.

Ashwaq Hasan- My Avatar (Pop Star)

My avatar is a young pop-star, a very famous pop star that has no personal life. It has many fans from all over the world and a busy schedule. Every day, there is drama or a movie to shoot, modeling for a photo shoot, and interviews.  It has a big fancy house where no one lives in. The media is all over it and stalker it wherever it goes. Moreover, it is a very decent talented star. It has an angle voice and look and very stylish. Anything it wears it becomes a trend. It is a role model for every talented person. It can play piano, guitar, violin, and drums. It also can draw beautifully.

Honestly, about my avatar I do sometimes imagine myself like that in real life when I watch my favorite stars. I know that this type of life is not acceptable to me as a real person with real goal for living because I believe that all these things are temporary and can be gone in one day. However, I still sometimes wonder about these people’s type of life and imagine myself in their places.  It is like a desire we have when we want to try everything that looks or appears attractive to us like celebrities’ lives.

 Besides, what makes this type of avatar interested to me in a way is simply because it is the opposite type of life of what I have in real world.  I’m a quite, conservative type of person and that’s why I find the idea of virtual world is interesting because we can create exactly what in our minds without any limitations or thinking. We can explore any idea that comes to our mind without any regression because everything will be unreal.  Therefore, I’m with the virtual world idea because it is like an option we can access to release our crazy ideas.  

Noura Al Zaben:Facebook and Twitter

The January 2010 "Security Threat Report: 2010" from SOHOS starts with a section on social networking sites; the summary includes the statements, "2009 saw Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites solidify their position at the heart of many users' daily Internet activities, and saw these websites become a primary target for hackers. Because of this, social networks have become one of the most significant vectors for data loss and identity theft." 

The section on social networking (page 2) reports, "Companies now commonly use blogs to disseminate and share information. Forums serve as a form of technical support where professionals can troubleshoot with peers and colleagues. Meanwhile, many companies embrace Facebook and MySpace because the sites present a great way to connect with customers and spread the latest company news or product offerings to the public."

Do you receive a steady stream of invitations to join Facebook, MySpace, and Friendster? I have been told repeatedly by friends and colleagues that I should post personal information on these sites, tweet on Twitter, and use some of the many other social-networking tools available. However, as a computer-security professional, I have purposely avoided joining Facebook and tweeting on Twitter.

It's against my sense of personal security to use Web sites asking for personal information unless I have a pretty good idea that they are secure. I like to use Netcraft's Web phishing toolbar to avoid connecting to dubious sites. Unfortunately, from what I have researched about Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, I do not feel that they warrant my trust.

Vast attack surface

Businesses have taken to using social-networking sites to promote their services and to connect with prospective clients. While the trend may be progressive, it is also progressively risky. Facebook was designed by Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 as a project to keep students connected. It appears that Mr. Zuckerberg was not familiar with techniques for developing secure Web-facing sites. The result was a non-secure application: a hacker's paradise, but an end-user's nightmare.

According to two Internet security researchers who presented at the Black Hat Briefings in 2008, sites like Facebook and MySpace are eminently hackable for several reasons. Shawn Moyer, founder of consultancy Agura Digital Security [and responsible for one of the funnier LinkedIn profiles that MK has ever seen], and Nathan Hamiel, founder of the Hexagon Security Group, presented evidence that social networks use "wide open" APIs; this means that the applications used to run sites like Facebook and Myspace allow unrestricted application data interchanges. The attack surface is vast. The programming flaws "permit attackers to tap into user applications and exploit site code that's wide open to cross-site scripting and other attacks." It seems tantamount to hanging out signs on Facebook and Myspace that say, "Hack Me."

Noura Al Zaben: second Life

Your Second Life Avatar May Impact How You Act In Real Life

from the you-mean-second-life-may-have-a-purpose? dept

Slashdot points us to a clip from NPR's All Things Considered discussing some research out of Stanford about how the appearance of your virtual avatar may impact your actions in real life. In the story, two examples are given. The first is showing a thinner version of you, and letting you see the avatar exercising and getting thinner. Apparently, being able to see that (very fast) "cause-and-effect" really does drive people to exercise more. The second is that if someone has a "more attractive" avatar within a virtual world, once they leave that virtual world, they're more likely to have higher self-esteem and believe that they're better looking in real life as well. In the study given, right after leaving the virtual world, the subjects are told to create online dating profiles and pick people that they thought were their equals. Those who had more attractive avatars picked more attractive real life people as "attainable." The researchers (of course) have their own website with more info. 

While this sounds like interesting research, it seems rather early to draw many conclusions from it. In fact, I'm a little surprised that the Slashdot post about it didn't mention the obvious parallels to questions about research on how people act after playing violent video games. That research has generally shown that it makes kids emotional, but just for a short period of time -- which would make me wonder how long-term the impacts of seeing these avatars is as well. However, if the goal is to just give you a little burst of motivation to get over some self-doubt or inertia (say, to exercise), then that might not be a bad thing. Either way, the research itself is interesting -- but it's still early. It'll be worth watching what comes out of the research down the road.

people pick their avatars based on what they wish their physical self was like. some portion of these people actually work on improving themselves, completely independent of the game, and as a result look more like their avatars.

Back when I played WoW, I played an undead. a FEMALE undead. I played female because the males looked like they poopie in their pants when they walked. Not ONCE in real life did I ever desire to summon a demon, cut off my knees, gouge out my eyes, grow a rack. Hell, I never even wanted to trance dance.

Why? because my avatar was NOT a representation of why I wanted myself to be. It was a representation fo the character I was playing in a game. No more. (ok, it was also nice eye candy... yes, even rotting festering corpses are made to look like hotties in WoW)

Talar Kazanji- Real, but not so Real

My avatar is a mermaid in Vintage clothing. Her name is Nayiri. Her tail is made of a bunch of pearls, and changes colors according to her mood. She has hair like Marilyn Monroe, but in red, wears black-framed glasses, has long eyelashes, rosy cheeks, and wears red lipstick. She has green eyes and wears a pearl headband. She is an Algebra, Biology, and Chemistry nerd. She only eats pasta and pizza and never gains weight. She lives in the Caspian Sea, in a beautiful underwater penthouse made of pearls. She specializes in fashion designing, kung fu, dancing, composing music, and presenting in Caspian’s number one underwater channel called, Casmania. She also has her own line of Vintage clothes, and face products. She plays the violin and drums. Her best friends are Snow white, Esmeralda, and Jasmine. Her means of transportation is a pig covered with pearls. She has two abilities. The first one is her ability to snap her fingers and change into any clothes she wants. The second ability is her power to change into a Galah parrot, a parrot with 3 colors, pink, grey, and white. This is how she gets to live in the sea, and the sky. She travels all around the world, and sits on the highest mountains in the world, watching people while eating cotton candy.

As good as my avatar sounds to me and as much as I would like to live this fantasy world, I can’t seem to find Second Life important to me as it is to everyone else. It is a good way of escaping the real world and getting engaged in an easier life for a couple of hours, but at the end of the day, it is all just an imagination, an illusion. Second Life is a world given to people to create their own life in a better way and maybe improving it somehow, but to me, it is just another virtual game, which is entertaining and fun. I can shape my life the way I want it to be, without the help of a game. I could have my red Monroe hair and learn how to play various instruments. In case of “never gaining weight” or “turning into a parrot”, these are nothing but imaginations that can never become true. I believe it is always better to start and improve your life in reality, and make true money in tangible life, than become a successful businessman in Second Life and earn money through that method. So, what is the point of believing in Second Life for such unrealistic things that many people want?

One of the videos we watched in class shows how interaction is in Second Life. It is very robotic and 100% computerized. Not only are we fake creatures in Second Life, but also have limited functions. In real life, we are absolutely free to do what so ever. Our body is functioned to do any movement or any facial expression. In Second Life, we are all somewhat the same, as if we are clones of some sort. It is limited, and it has boundaries. In reality, we are God’s creations and are given the best lifelike gifts, our 5 senses, and I don’t think Virtual life can compete with that at any point. 

Mohammed Dhaifallah-Second life

Second life is the place where people are free to do whatever they want without any fair. It is the place where the dreams become real. The person in his second life can create his/ her identities. It is the place where you are the God or the creator. The reasons that explain why people chose the second life is maybe that they are not satisfy in their real life. Some of them are not satisfying with his/her appearance so that he go and create his/her avatar based on what he/she wants to look like. Also, some people go to the second life to do activities that they cannot do it in the real life such as flying. In addition, the others use the second life to waste the time by chatting and plying games.  However, people can also create money in this world by having a job or doing their business in it.

The creator of the second life website or program  is earning money from the users. The users of second

life treat the avatar as they are treating themselves.  They provide and buy everything that makes the

avatar happy such as lands, islands, and clothes. This money goes to the people behind second life, which

means that it is a place of business not only entertainment.  Moreover, this site may draw the boundary of

imagining and dreaming in the real life. It makes them try whatever they want in the second life.

Additionally, we saw in the video how the people are doing unusual behaviors. I think this is because the

problem of using second life or the lack of the skills that in the users. Moreover,

we see how the people ram the wall in the video, and I think this because when

a person exists in the second life more than the real one, which will create

believe in them about second life. This believe about the second life is

provided in the movie "inception" Click her.



My avatar in the second life will be a hero of the world. He has the ability of flying and Supernatural

powers in the fighting. His wear a red and black dress. My house will be a whole island that has Secret

passages underground. Moreover, there is a place in this island which I can see what is going in the city

through cameras distributed in the world.  When I arrest criminals and the thieves, I put them in a prison

under the water so that they cannot escape. My job in this world is to maintain peace and security in the

world.

Maryam Abdallah - Second life: when the first one is not good enough.

Hof's article, My Virtual Life, looks at how Second life, offered some people, literally, a second life. If I sound crazy here, bear with me. What I mean by that is that, some people lost their jobs and they had no money to pay their bills and so they began creating little lives on Second life which helped them to generate some income to get them back on their feet. The article starts off by illustrating how Linden dollars, which are really, a figment of our imagination can be traded in for real bucks, which rings to about 300 Linden dollars for one real dollar. 'My Virtual Life' goes on to discuss the different activities that take place on Second life such as buying land and building your own home (with clicks and not bricks - ah what is this world coming to?), night life, education, and even corporate duties. 

So, did we conclude that a Second life is what we get when our first one is not good enough?

Mmm.. this looks like so much more fun than walking in a real park.

So, last week our class discussion kicked off with the weird videos of random people doing very random things that were anything BUT natural. The video really portrayed what life has become, weird!
Par example, the one that stood out for me was typing on air which I personally interpreted as 'pretending to do something that you're not really doing'. Basically, you may look like you're typing on a keyboard, but really, that is not the case. Similarly, on Second Life, you may look like you're flying around or snorkling under great oceans, but really, you're probably just sunken-eyed, brain-dead, staring at a screen, clicking the mouse uncontrollably, munching on a Snickers bar, packing up the pounds. Not very pretty.

My personal take on Second life is that it is an absolute waste of time and resources! I really don't like the idea of wasting hours, pretending to be something you're not and have things, you don't really have; it's kind of like.. lying to yourself? I'm all for experience. So if you want to discover the underwater world, book a diving trip. Chances are, the money you spend for to be underwater online, you could use less than that amount to get a real experience. However, if it is a confidence issue and you think sitting behind a screen singing online, not with your own voice is going to get you to audition on American Idol then I say hey, go for it, i'm all for positive progress.

Now, this may sound a tad silly but I won't lie to you, if I were to have a go at Second Life, I would like to be a princess. Why you may ask? Well two reasons really:

Reason 1:
When I was younger, I used to watch this show called Australian princess. It was basically about a few women who would come together to compete and learn the ways of a princess; i.e. the way a princess talks, eats, behaves in public, dances, dresses and all the rest of it. A princess gets to enjoy her day doing 'lady' things and dedicates much of her time to important social and cultural issues. Anyway, one night, after the finale, one of the ladies was crowned Australian princess and we got to see a peak into her life. Now I don't remember the details of the finale, but that night, when I went to sleep, I dreamt I was a princess and it was so much fun and it was such a good feeling to be one and I just loved it, ok? Don't judge me. -__-

Reason 2:
Let's be honest, after all our jabber about how Second life can give you the chance to practice what you want to be and give you confidence and all the rest of it.. ok, here is how it works for me: I wasn't born into royalty and that is a once in a life chance/kind of thing. I mean, if it didn't happen, it won't happen; just some basic biological determinism. So no, no matter how hard I practice being a princess on Second life, it's not going to happen! Unless, of course, I marry a prince, but the chances of that happening, I might as well say, I will someday fly!
So there it is, Princess Maryam, with a castle, a courtyard, lady in waiting, tea parties, socials, painting and piano lessons, dinner with the King and Queen... but right now, my little nest is what I love and I am happy with... so no, I am not keen on getting a Second life account.


"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen." - Michael Jordan

And I agree with Jordy, but I don't think he was talking about a second life!

What a Second life that is! Haifa Beseisso

In second life, I would be an ambassador of the UNICEF, ambassador of what exactly? I’ll tell you, I want to travel the Arab world and look for talents, I want to look for the amazingly skilled football players that are playing in between cars in their hood, look for the smart scientists and inventors in which only the walls of their room know about. I want to travel the world and influence a lot of people. This person is a very busy busy person and is constantly meeting different people from all over the globe, yet this person has a beautiful house in the village; it is modern and surrounded by horses and a farm. In this house is a big library and a gym, and is environmental friendly.

This person is a famous Abaya designer; she donates the Abayas that she makes to different girls all over the globe. Also, in this second life, I am an athlete, I constantly climb mountains, and go camping, I have a plane that takes me wherever I want to go.

Also, this person holds a party every Friday that brings together family members and friends, sometimes a barbecue party, another time it is a reading party, a sports party, movie party, and other times a party party.


When people talk about second life they often to associate it with negative terms and ideas, however I think that second life is not as bad as they think; look at us we all shared our dreams, got creative, and dug into our imagination when only asked to imagine the character that we would want to be in second life. Second life gives people the chance to visualize their dreams, and live them even if throughout a screen. Thinking about your dreams and seeing them helps you reach them in real life, so second life can be thought of as training center for real life.

I disagree with the video that we watched in class; the one in which people were so bound and could not do anything or move freely; this is the exact opposite of second life;, in second life you can fly if you want to, you can crawl or do whatever it is that you want to do. And a prove of how second life can be successful are the examples that were presented in the article; were it included a number of people that became rich and practiced what they are good at after engaging in second life.

Seera Akra - My Avatar!

My avatar is a smart princess that looks like those of the seventies. It wears a big dress and has a dark black hair that reaches to the ground, but it always raises it up on its head with a style of the seventies. Its eyes are bluish green with very long eyelashes. It only drinks milk and eats honey and dates. It also speaks all the languages of the world. She is very smart, attractive, and especially good at math. My avatar works as a karate teacher in a special security organization and has a flying horse with a carriage. It lives with her King father, the king of "Salam" kingdom, and queen mother in a huge castle. In the castle, the avatar has sixty seven servants, yet it can clean up her castle, cook food, and organize things by pronouncing orders through her special lip stick. It also has disposable dresses and shoes. The princess also has modern villa where her husband, the handsome president of the country of "Kharab", lives with their twenty children. The twenty children are all twins. Her two youngest baby boys oppose gravity and flow on air following her wherever she goes. However, the rest of her children form two basket ball teams and play internationally.


Second life is very interesting, but not to me. My life has many lives in itself that the avatar does not provide it with anything new. One day, I imagine myself to be a princess, another day I act like a child, and another day I dream of being a singer. My many lives are always running through my dreams and imaginations, and these have no limitations at all. Yet, I may still not be a good presenter of what goes on into my mind. I just tried.

Ashwaq Hasan- Facebook Exodus Summary

The article “Facebook Exodus” is concerned about the ex-users of Facebook. Different ex-users with their different reasons are discussing the negative side of being a Facebook user.


“Facebook is the devil”, “it is not your Facebook profile, it is Facebook’s profile about you”, “Facebook ownership of user’s contributions to the site”, and “the whole site is crawling with mercenaries trying to sell books and movies”, are what the ex-users said about Facebook. These individuals are complaining about how Facebook is controlling them and forcing them to do things. Facebook is becoming an expanding force on the web and the users are in no position to object or change. Unconsciously, these users are losing their real physical contact with their friends and families, and just be satisfied with a post on their walls. Also, they are losing the meaning and right of privacy and can’t control it or own it in Facebook. Thus, Facebook for them is something to Exodus. They need to leave Facebook to resume their original normal routine of their daily life.

Moreover, I’m a Facebook user and I do believe that I will reach the point where I will need to leave it as well. I see Facebook like any other social website but with more accessories and options that led its users to stay longer than any other social website. We the users get excited about any new thing at the beginning and spend a long time on it, but then we realize that we are basically wasting our time and nothing is interesting anymore. Thus, once we know Facebook 100% and there is nothing more to know about it, we will eventually leave it.


Heffernan, Virginia. “Facebook Exodus.” The New York Times. 30 Aug. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2010 < http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/magazine/30FOB-medium-t.html>

Haifa Beseisso. Movie Critique. Second critical essay.

Mike Newel is the director of some of the most popular and successful movies like Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2005), Love in Time of Cholera, Mona Lisa Smile, he also produced Pirates of the Caribean and many more...
Mike Newel won 11 awards and was nominated for 5. He won awards in prestigious film festivals like Cannes Film Festival, and Fantasy & Horror Films USA. Newel was born in England, UK, March 28 1942, and attended Cambridge University.

The reason why I chose this director is not because of his fancy record, instead it is because of the fancy work, love and profession that he puts while making his movies and this is what eventually gave him this golden record. By the way by fancy I’m not referring to "expensive and fancy devices and cameras" instead I'm referring to "flawless high standard work".

One of the most movies that I admire of his is "Prince of Persia".
Prince of Persia is a movie that collects a number of amazing well projected factors; the story is well said; the camera shots, the music, and the actors, every detail of it is well worked on and well chosen. Truly, love is in the Details! ;)

The story is about a courageous prince that goes in a journey in an attempt to find his father's murderer, prove his innocence, and protect the kingdom. In his journey joins him a princess that aims at protecting a sacred dagger that can go back in time and change the way things took place, and that in itself is powerful for the holder can control history thus the present. Adventurous and interesting events take place and that ends up in building a beautiful love and a leadership story.... so for anyone that is interested in leadership or simply entertainment this movie is for you. ;)

In this movie critique, I am going to focus on camera shots and camera movement, since I believe that it is one of the most important factors that determine whether a movie is a success or not, it is the eye of the viewer.

As the movie starts the camera movement follows the narration and the story line; what the narrator is saying is being showed to us, for example in the first scenes when the narrator refers to the kingdom a wide shot of the kingdom is shown, furthermore a lot of wide shots are taken to show action since there's lots of action and fighting taking place in the movie, when the rulers are talking a medium shot is taken of them. Zoom is taken when a character takes a weapon or an important object is to be stressed on. When something important is being discussed the camera slowly zooms in to the characters, to show that what they are saying is of importance for the movie.

So many shots are taken from over the shoulder of the characters to show the view they are looking at, because the view is both important for the story and is beautiful and enjoyable for the viewers. When the characters discuss a plan; camera shot are presented after eachtoher in a high beat sequence that shows the places that they are referring to, that in turn adds a thrilling touch.

The characters being shot are constantly being either out of focus or in focus depending on the text of the scene, what is meant to magnify will be in focus. The first time the princess was shot, the camera was taken from a low angle to resemble her highness, as if we are looking up at her. Slow motion is detected when a character is approaching to attack another, another form of adding a thriller spice to the movie. When the Dagger was detected for the first time, an important element in the movie, it was in focus and everything around it was out of focus and the camera slowly zoomed in to it, all those factors together show its significance.

Those camera shots and angels define how we percieve the characters and the events, for example when something (an object, or a person) is zoomed in, it will get it closer to the viewer's heart and mind. As well as other factors that were mentioned above.
Thank You.

Works Cited:

Nielson, Leslie. "Mike Newel." IMDb, The internet Movie Database. N.p., 2010. Web. 29 Nov 2010. .

Talar Kazanji- Facebook Exodus

Facebook has a major advantage of connecting different kinds of people from different locations, but is it always true that Facebook enhances communication? In some cases, as the article discusses, communication in real life is cut off. Many people communicate virtually through Facebook with one another, but face-to-face verbal communication is absent. Facebook creates some sort of gap between the person you act as on the internet and the person you are in reality. For instance, I know people who act as my good friend on Facebook, but in reality, they do not even greet as they pass by. 

Also, Facebook claims ownership over any user's profile information. The photos, videos, and personal information we post on our profiles give Facebook the right to own them and use them willingly. This sounds like a scary thought to me, because this just proves that no matter how private you go on Facebook, it is not enough. 

This contributes to the issue of privacy. You never know who is on your profile and what they might be doing with your personal belongings. Many people choose to go public, without any limitations to the profile; therefore, this gives you a sense of violation that you are being stalked. Facebook's privacy is not much of an effective form of keeping the information to yourself and to your friends, because in any other case, Facebook, itself, is given the right by you to keep track of your information and the things you choose to do in the community. 

Sarah Al Shaybani - With Friends Like These Summary.

Hodgkinson, T. (2008, January 14). With friends like these [Article History].
Retrieved from The Guardian website: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/

With friends like these criticizes Facebook by stating mostly the harm that it can cause our societies nowadays. If it is considered beneficial, then the reasons are possibly very trivial or minor. The author speaks of how we have become so attached to the virtual world, rather than being connected to our real world. For example, we wish people happy birthdays and merry Christmases online rather than to try and meet our loved ones for support when it comes to holidays and occasions as such. We are judged by our appearances through pictures and videos, and judged by our popularity if we do or do not have enough friends on Facebook. Moreover, we are somewhat disconnected from  what life can offer us because of our society's attachment to online communities such as Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr, and that leads us back to the point of quantity vs. quality. Societies have preferred the quantity of what online and virtual communities can offer over the quality of what our life can offer.

I have always agreed to how superficial and ridiculous the idea of putting Facebook (or anything that is related to the matter) as one of the priorities in life. It might not be the top of our priorities, and it might not be in our most-important-priorities kind of list. But our Facebook accounts are surely checked by us every day, most of us…if not all. And putting all the disadvantages or the negativity aside, most people, including me, know that the above criticism about Facebook is true and very disappointing, but we still own accounts and we still engage ourselves in whatever this generation is offering, and surely more will be offered from the next.