Feed Your Brain:Social Media

Feed Your Brain at FSU

Monday April 15^th I had the privilege of hearing wise words from Stephen Kubiak of Visit Florida and FSU’s Matt Roush. They both spoke of their Social Media strategies as well as giving us some helpful tips on how to be more effective on social media platforms.

Stephen Kubiak is the sole person that runs all of Visit Florida’s social media platforms. He spoke about how he uses hootsuite to track different hashtags that he wants to follow. He said that he follows the #Florida which to me is hilarious. Following Florida can be exciting because you honestly never know what you are going to get with it. Mr. Kubiak spoke about how is job is ongoing throughout the day. Once he gets home the work does not end for him. He still has to be constantly monitoring Facebook and Twitter. One point that I really took away from him is how he measures success. He defined success in social media by how many people he gets to engage on his page. (Not by likes) He used the example that he posted a picture about a restaurant in one of Florida’s national parks. After he posted this picture, people commented on the picture saying that they were going to have to go check out that restaurant because it was so interesting. He defines his success by getting people to learn new things and want to try them out. He is trying to get his users involved in different ways than just posting beach pictures all day.

Matt Roush from FSU gave us the do’s and don’ts of social media. He talked about how we have to be a leader as someone who runs social media. That means that when people are commenting negatively on your site you aren’t acting like a child and responding immaturely back to them. He also emphasized how important it was to not sound like a robot when you are posting. People want to know that a real person is tweeting all this. No one wants to read posts from a robot. The major point that I took away from him was that “social media is a tool not a strategy.” He says this that we are using social media to inform and engage.

I thoroughly enjoyed the speeches by both gentlemen. They were very informative and helpful. I feel important now that I know who runs the social media for FSU and for Visit Florida!

-Kelsy

“Memento” by Derrick

img src: http://media.salon.com/2001/06/everything_you_wanted_to_know_about_memento.jpg

This week is our final blog post. Allison chose the movie for this week to be Memento directed by Christopher Nolan. I had never heard of this movie before today, just like the movie Shawshank Redemption last week.  So I went in with an open mind, but by the end, it was clear how I felt about it. Or unclear depending on the way you look at it.

The movie starts off very weird, almost like it begins with the end. The main character in the movie, Leonard (Guy Pearce) has a condition of short-term memory loss which prohibits him from making present day physical memories.  In order for him to remember what he does or what happens that moment, he takes photographs and writes information on them. He even tattoos himself all over his body with ink from pens so that he will remember them later on.  The whole movie is about Leonard searching for his wife’s killer and he finds people along the way that try to help him. One lady that he encounters is Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss), whom he meets with to find out about this John G. guy. He then also meets with “Teddy” (Joe Pantoliano) who gives him advice on certain things throughout the movie.

The way the movie is laid out is very confusing. Each major scene starts with the end result, and then there is a flashback in black white. The next scene then starts with the cause and goes through on how the end result happened. By the end of the movie, I was left just as confused as when it began. I don’t really know how it was up for so many awards because it has to be one of the worst movies I have ever seen. It kind of reminded me of the movie “The Good Shepherd,” with  Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Robert De Niro.  This movie also had me confused at the end, asking myself, “what on Earth just happened?!” My overall ranking of Memento will have to be a 2/10. I would not recommend it to anyone, unless you like these sorts of dark, slow movies that don’t really have any meaning.

-Derrick                                                                    

Where I love to be in the summer!

                                                                      

Sitting in my hunting stand enjoying nature.

Memory of my Tia Angie

“Memento” by Kelsy

This week we chose a Christopher Nolan movie. I love him because of his spectacular job that he did with the newest Batman series. That is probably my favorite trilogy of movies.  So I expected nothing less than extraordinary when we chose the movie Memento.

                Memento is about a man named Leonard (Guy Pearce) who has a short term memory loss because of an accident. He is unable to recall what learns after his accident. He uses pictures (mementos) to remind him of who his friends are, where lives, etc. The story unfolds as he seeks revenge for the murder and rape of his wife.

I personally was confused during the entire movie. It is narrated in some parts and there were flashbacks, as well as it is going in reverse. I myself am a simple minded being so it rocked my little world. I think the movie itself was well done on the production side. Towards the end of the movie things became clearer for me. I think Christopher Nolan did a good job with it but it is not his best nor one of my favorites. I do think that I may need to watch it more than once to understand it completely. I give this movie a 5. I think that if you are a thinker and love to figure the storyline out in movies this movie is for you. Or if you enjoy kind of the bizarre and unordinary this would also be for you.

Thinking about how he had to leave himself mementos, I thought I would pretend to have short-term memory loss. Here are some pictures of what I think I would need to know.

-K

Where I’m from

Where I live

Where I go to school

“Memento” by Allison

img src: http://www.gabrielglewis.com/?p=1342

Christopher Nolan has always been one for mind benders, so when I saw this movie on his IMDb profile, I was already interested.

The story was nothing new: Leonard (played by Guy Pearce who is now in everything), gets dealt a bad hand.  What really differentiates this movie from others is how the story is portrayed.  You have two plot lines competing for your attention and to make it even more interesting, both of them move in reverse.  WHAT.  I was so confused when I started watching because I didn’t understand where these characters were coming from or why they mattered because nothing was explained.  Give it a chance and “Memento” explains itself loud and clear.

There is minimal dialogue as well as soundtrack.  A lot of the talking is internal narration of the main character Leonard as you watch him piece things together (backwards though…so I guess deconstructing things).  This does make the movie drag on a bit and you do need to pay attention the whole time, but that’s probably the only thing I find wrong with this movie.

Overall, I give it a 9 out of 10.  It was such an interesting take on a plot line that could have turned out very boring.  It’s obviously low-budget, but it’s still so well done!  A great mind bender and the next time I watch it I guarantee that I will take away something else.

Leonard is lost.  He leaves himself notes, pictures, and tattoos to remember.  While this condition is not real, this is how people behave when they want to preserve memories.  We keep objects, photos, and mementos that remind us of moments of the past.  I decided to include some photos of items that hold very specific memories for me, just like Leonard.

Some things are basic reminders…

 

 

 

 

 

Every time Girl Scout cookie season rolls around, I remember the countless hours spent going door to door and the tables outside the grocery store and the silly jingles my troop would come up with to get people to buy cookies from us.  All of that, from a box of cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

Some memories are more tangible than others.  The memories I have had in these shirts (and the countless other band shirts that flood my drawers) come back to me every time I wear them.  They are memories of friends, growth, awesome trips, and stories that really do start with, “this one time at band camp…”

 

 

This is my favorite memory.  I can remember as a kid when I thought my life was a fairytale.  Everyone seemed happy and whenever I watch a Disney movie or read from my Brother’s Grimm collection, I’m reminded that my life still is a fairytale (minus the whole fairy godmother thing which would actually be awesome)

 

 

 

So to me, we are all like Leonard, he just struggles to remember the little things that we take for granted.  “Memento” conveys a much bigger message than my one post can touch on.

– A

 

 

 

“Shawshank Redemption” by Derrick

img src:
http://audiorushes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/The-Shawshank-Redemption-featured-image.jpg

Shawshank Redemption was nominated for this weeks’ movie and man, was it a great one! I really enjoyed this 1994 classic starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.  Anything with Morgan Freeman in it just sets up for a great movie.  There isn’t one movie I can recall that I did not enjoy of his.

The story takes place in the mid-1940s in a town in Ohio.  Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a successful banker, is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. Despite his maintained innocence he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences based on circumstantial evidence.  When Andy gets into the prison, he immediately becomes friends with the “man who gets things” Ellis “Red” Redding (Morgan Freeman).  At first not everyone likes him, but he quickly becomes known as the “educated man” that everyone confides in.  During one of the offsite work details, he overhears Captain Hadley (Clancy Brown) have many issues so Andy persuades him to be his lawyer.  He eventually ends up doing the staff’s taxes as well as the Warden Norton’s (Bob Gunton) and also becomes basically the accountant for the prison.  When a young guy comes into the prison Andy also teaches him how to read helping him pass with a C + average from the Board of Education’s exam.  During a roll call, Norton discovers Andy missing from his cell and finds a tunnel where he escaped. Once Red receives his parole he once again reunites with Andy in Zihuatanejo, Mexico.

I had never heard of this movie before this weekend. I know it is shocking but true. Each actor portrayed their character really well.  Surprisingly enough, this movie did not when any Oscars but they were up for a few awards including Best Actor.  Morgan Freeman was also the narrator for the movie.  I give this movie a rating of 10/10! It was a fantastic movie that I would recommend to anyone.  The length of the movie is longer than average but definitely worth it.

-Derrick

“Shawshank Redemption” by Kelsy

Two words: SHAWHANK REDMEPTION! 

Where do I start with this movie, well I love it! I would say this classic from 1994 is crowd pleaser. The cast was amazing and they portrayed their characters so well. Shawshank Redemption is about an innocent man who gets sent to jail (Shawshank) for the murder of his wife and her lover.

The story takes place in Shawshank and you meet some of the other inmates as they journey along in their life in prison. This movie is about hope and friendship to me. I believe that you can watch this movie and have a couple laughs with some of the one liners and it can also be a tear jerker. Andy (Tim Robbins) is the main character and he makes the best of his time there at Shawshank. Whether he is in the infirmary or doing taxes he is using his time wisely. He makes friends with Red (Morgan Freeman) and they build a bond that will last a lifetime.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&docid=JAEJ-yL9BicIIM&tbnid=v2wn31wsKWXs-M:&ved=0CAQQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmovieretrospect.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F04%2Fshawshank-redemption-synonym-to-hope.html&ei=K-lNUeevCM6J2AWDwIE4&bvm=bv.44158598,d.aWc&psig=AFQjCNHtDUzgPM22f-VFzbPsaNkszJxVNA&ust=1364146607254432

I would recommend this movie to everyone. I think it makes you appreciate life and everything that comes along with it. I also love a story that gives me hope! I give this classic 9 out of 10. So if you are looking for a great flick to watch check Shawshank Redemption out.

-K

“The Shawshank Redemption” by Allison

Normally I would give a post about my thoughts on the movie “The Shawshank Redemption” but first I present you with gifs of my reactions as the movie progressed:

Gifs courtesy of reddit r/gifs

I think these pretty much sum up how this movie moved my emotions from one end of the spectrum to the other.  This movie really tugged at the tear ducts and had you rooting for the good guy.

img src: http://www.impawards.com/1994/shawshank_redemption_ver2.html

The cast was outstanding and I think they did a great job giving each character their own role.  I am personally a fan of giving even the smallest character a great background story. I know the movie “The Green Mile” does this as well.  Tim Robbins is the main character, Andy, and although it’s a rather dry role, Robbins does fairly well with it.  Morgan Freeman obviously steals the show and that’s no surprise.  To see some gifs of Freeman, look here.

I love a good crime movie.  This one focused a lot more on the justice aspect which was kind of a new take at the time.  There were moments where all you wanted was for Andy to be happy and then it just gets ripped away over and over.

The ending was perfect and I really enjoyed it (see my last gif).  Let’s just say, justice was served.

– A

Kelsy’s Playlist!

I also have a YouTube playlist! Check it out HERE! -Kelsy

Allison’s Playlist

Allison’s Playlist

Check out some of my recent favorites on YouTube! -A

Derrick’s Youtube playlist

Please checkout my video’s playlist!