Passion Project Semester 2 Update

 If I were to grade the progress so far that Surya and I have made in this project, I would give it a solid B+.  We have spent very long amounts of time trying to grasp the concept of how to make short movie.  What  better way to do this then watch short movies.  So, we have been watching movies and I have been taking some notes on the way its done.  However, we haven't made much project on script, but we have identified our actors, and character personalities.  Some obstacles that we face are having possible writer's block, and filming the movie outside of school.  This is going to take some coordination between Surya and I and our actors.  We also have to pick some of our remaining actors.  What we plan to do is meet with all of our actors after school and give them a basic timeline of what needs to be done and when it has to be done so there is no confusion.  The position we are in though does not worry me, as I believe we are going to create a well made movie.

Passion Project Reflection

        At the beginning of the Passion Project I struggled to get a lot of footage because I was a playing during the season and was not able to record much.  However, as the season progressed my friends were able to help and I was able to record some game footage.  However, as I progressed in this project I decided to change the project to My Soccer Experience so that I can get more footage.  As a result, I can record much of what I am doing outside of school as well to get more footage.   So, my progress has been I have got about 15 min. of footage and need another 5-10 min.  The only obstacles I see ahead are video editing but that will probably not be that difficult because I have worked with this software before.

Lionel Messi A True Outlier

       

Outlier:  A person or thing situated or detached from the main body or system.  The entire body of soccer players can be considered a main body or system.  Every system has their outliers; soccer's main outlier is Lionel Messi.  He is an exceptional player in the world of soccer, and is regarded as the best soccer player in the world.  However, Messi has a very unique background which is why he has become the best soccer player. Messi started as a kid on the streets and and arose to become the prominent figure he is                                                                                         today.

        Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina and from the start he displayed a liking and aptitude for soccer.  He played for a club called Grandoli, which was coached by his father.  He was a very good soccer player at his age showing great promise.  Unfortunately, at age 11, he was diagnosed a growth deficiency.  Many soccer clubs, such as River Plate knew he had exceptional talent and wanted to sign him.  However, these clubs did not want to play for his medical treatment.  Then, Barcelona gave Messi a trial to play for them.  The coaches were very impressed and were willing to pay for his treatment.  Messi was blessed with the opportunity to train with one of the best clubs in the world and receive treatment free of cost.  So for 8 years, Messi received training from the top youth academy training for 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

        Messi eventually received his big break at age 17 breaking into the first team.  At this point, he had had about 16,640 hours of soccer practice.  According to Malcolm Gladwell, 10,000 was a very important number because if you hit 10,000 hours in whatever you were doing you would have achieved a very high level of skill in that activity.  Messi almost doubled that and he was only 17.  That was his second stepping stone to success.  It began with him being given the opportunity to train with Barcelona and receiving a contract.  When it seemed like no club would take him because of his medical illness Barcelona comes in and gives him his one opportunity and seized it.  Then, he got pulled to the first team and after that the sky was the limit.  He played scored goals and won championships with his club.  He then got pulled up to the international team and has found great success there as well as setting records both club and internationally. One of his most prominent records was breaking the record of most goals scored in one calender year in all competitions.  He broke the record by scoring 91 goals breaking the previous record of 85 goals set by German Gerd Muller.

       The main reason I see him as an outlier is his work ethic and his intelligence.  His work ethic was very easily depicted when he stated,

             "I made a lot of sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. But               everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream. That's why I didn't go out                           partying, or do a lot of other things."

        Also, people do not realize that Messi is a very intelligent soccer player.  Using the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence it is evident Messi has a high intelligence in all 3 groups which are practical, analytical, and creative.  Soccer is game of geometry with angles everywhere. Messi is regarded the best player in the world because he knows these angles very well.  This makes his analytical intelligence very high.  Creative wise, whenever Messi gets the ball defenders shiver, he has attained such a mastery with a ball that he is so creative and can manipulate it in so many ways making it impossible for the defenders to tell what he is doing. Finally, Messi's practical intelligence is very high.  Whenever in public he knows exactly what to say so people will love him.  He is a very humble person, and that is why people adore him both as a player and a person, he knows what to say at the right time to achieve that affection. Overall, Messi is regarded an outlier due to his work ethic, and intelligence.  Lionel Messi has a story that unlike many others is a true success story.  He had one moment and did not let it slip away.

       


http://www.biographyonline.net/sport/football/lionel-messi.htmlhttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/237096-the-lionel-messi-story-how-did-he-get-to-the-top-of-the-world

LAST BLOG OF THE YEAR

The favorite part of ROGATE class this year was Google 20%.  My favorite unit in ROGATE was Google 20% because it really got me out of my comfort zone.  It helped me learned new ideas that I have never heard of before.  Also, not only was it fun to do Google 20%, it was fun to watch the other presentations because there was such a variety.  I think blogs can be used more effectively if we just blog every week about what were doing.  Then, at the end of the year we can create a summary for the whole year for a grade to see what we learned through the year.  Unfortunately, I will not be taking Gifted & Talented Seminar I.   What I will miss most about middle school is all my new friends and I hope that I will have the same people in my classes next year.  Some questions I have about high school are:  Is there actually bullying?  Also, are the teachers nice there?  My plans for the summer are to play soccer, watch soccer, and have fun.

Kickstarter

Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a form of crowdsourcing.  Kickstarter is where if people want to start an idea, but they need money.  They can borrow money from other people who will fund his/her project.  In return, depending on how much the person funded his idea the person will get a reward in return.

Romo: The Smartphone Robot
Pledge $192.  Reward: One limited edition Romo smartphone robot-- lasered engraved, numbered from 001-100 and will arrive in time for Christmas! Included in the package is our “I heart Robots” t-shirt and a thank you letter signed by the makers, Peter and Phu.  This is a robot which can be controlled with a smart phone for many regular day needs.  For exmaple, you can use it to get yourself a soda by controlling it with your ipod, or smartphone.

Laser AppTag:
Pledge $120. Reward:

Office Commando! There's 4 of you and it's time for a 4 player frag fest in the office or back yard. You get 4 AppTag LaserBlasters for a great price of $30 each. Outside of USA add $20
This is a laser gun which uses ur ipod, or iphone to use the gun.  The ipod or iphone is docked on the gun and you get the app and play using the ipod to shoot people for fun.

Zombie Playgroud:
Pledge: $200 Reward:

Get early access to the ZPG closed ALPHA! PLUS, your team will never lose track of you in the dark with your nifty in-game glow in the dark "Kickstarter" T-shirt! You will also get all of the previous rewards.
Zombie Playbround is a video game which is 3rd person video game that where school children kill zombies.  It is mainly for entertaiment for children.

An example of crowdsourcing is Pinterest.  Pinterest is a pin-board in which people can put theme-based pictures, logos, and other pictures about hobbies, interests, events, and more.  Then, people can take pictures from other peoples' boards and create their own pin-board to share their board.  Also, if people think they can add to someones pin-board they can if it fits and makes sense depending on the ideas,hobbies, and interests on the person's pin-board.  Therefore people can get new ideas, recipes for food, and create new inventions from the ideas you get. This is a good example of crowdsourcing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest
http://thedailydigi.com/pinterest-101-a-tutorial

20% Project

      My project is about the brain and mental illnesses that occur in the brain.  So far in the project we have found out about 5 major mental illnesses that effect the brain and we done research on them.  Now we have to discover how the regular brain works and compare them to the other mental illnesses.  So far so good.