Debate reflection

Posted on by under Fear factor

A definite first for me, this debate was difficult and certainly a mind twister. What the entire PLP 11 group did for the exhibition at the end of the year was have a debate battle between groups made by the teachers. Prior to doing this debate, we had a lot of practice debating on topics like, do leaders with power become corrupt? To the reflection!

 

On the night of the debate, I did not worry much because I thought my group was very prepared to win or at least not get wiped out in first bracket. This was very on the contrary as my group was absolutely destroyed in the topics we debated in. Our groups points seemed strong but we could never get the audience’s support. The groups that were expected to be strong were very strong. It was to say that we got swept off the floor because we lost every single debate we did. The night went very well for the rest of the teams. One of the highlights was when I was referenced directly by Alanah which destroyed me but I must admit was an excellent idea.

In the end, our failures probably came from not being able to think in the spot and effectively convey our message in the short time that we had. Our points were rebutted and sometimes, we could not counter it effectively and launch attacks. I admit I was not the most helpful in the group but I am willing to strive and correct the lack of skill in this area.

Some things that I would want changed if we do this debate again is to have less of the audience be the decision makers. I felt that if we appease the audience with what they want like one liners that have no correlation to the subject, the results would be very skewed. Not to mention that the audience sometimes does not know what we have been studying to make connections to a deep thought that the students put out. Also, the class expressed their concern on how the audience could have let their own beliefs and emotions bias their judging of the debate which would have decided who won even before the debate began.

Overall, I would like to do is again if we get to do a more formal style of debate which is full of structure and the changes are made in regards to who has power in the vote.

The Concept on Civilization and Savagery

Posted on by under Fear factor

In the spirit of exploring more concepts in depth, we have been assigned to write about a concept that deeply explores the human condition and how society behaves. When this first began, I had my usual moment of despair for having to explore something with such ambiguity. But further along the road of this exploration, I have found that society is actually a very intricate web of ideas that connect together. We began the process by writing 3 paragraphs choosing from this list:

Power and Authority

Humanity and Inhumanity

Violence and Destruction

Human nature

Civilization and Savagery

Innocence and Evil

Individualism and Community

 

An impressive list no doubt, I had many moments where I pulled blanks trying to think of something to write about these topics. One of these paragraphs is to become expanded.

For my first paragraph, I wrote about how the idea of civilization and savagery are interchangeable. Using the example of how we perceive the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and how they perceive us, I showed how the western world can be named savage and civil. In my second paragraph, I wrote about how with out violence and destruction, there would be no advancement in technology. I used the example of how the invention of penicillin in World War II may not have happened because there would have not been a need of it if not for the war. Another example I used was the Cold War where if we had not made missiles capable of delivering heavy atomic bombs to far distances, we may have not had the technology to reach space and beyond. This was because most of the launch vehicles prior to purpose built ones were repurposed intercontinental ballistic missiles used in the prevention or dealing of death and destruction from the Russians as and also the Americans. The final paragraph is how civilization is just a mask of savagery. If we look at the civilization today, the age old savagery of our most ancient days still exists as the backbone of our society. I took a look on how the world is under the model of whoever is the strongest will lead and dominate. An example of this is the USA and how they lead in everything because they have always been strong in many fields. This is the topic I will expand upon. There are also some previous works on concepts that have written into blogposts. One is on self sacrifice and another is on fear.

The Expansion of the Topic

Civilization has always been the evolution of savagery to many people in the world. It is the way out of the ancient model of ruling through sheer intelligence, physique, and wealth. Through this civilized way of living, we have deviated from a world of sheer realism to a world where idealism thrives. But it does not seem so when the entire societal structure is analyzed. Civilization is something humanity created not to replace the savagery in place before, but mask it with formality in order to save all the bloodshed that happens were it not for this mask.

The global situation of power is a perfect example of this concept in play. The United States of America have always been at the forefront of advancement in all fields. A power so influential, they control the global economy and also are the dominant military power on earth. If we relate this to the style of ruling of the ancient times, there are many similarities. Where there is a strong man with the mental, physical, and wealth to dominate others to lead is the United States. Where the man intimidates with an act of violence, there is the United States sending its troops to foreign lands to intimidate and control. The knowledge that the strong man shows is shown by the advancement of military technology that the US military utilizes and how NASA is one of the most dominant space agencies on the planet. There is no doubt that America, even if its population does not know, rules with a system reminiscent to the realism of the ancient. This all goes to show that the civilization that we see around us is really a mask to the roots which represents savagery.

In the play Macbeth and the book Lord of the Flies, both show an example of this concept. In Macbeth, Macbeth did not bother to talk and negotiate his ascension to the throne but forced his way up to it through killing and manipulating his way to the top. While there is a clear chance of negotiation and agreement which idealism and civilization dictates, excessive force is used which is reminiscent of what realism stands for. In Lord of the Flies, The group of boys change from using a relatively idealistic system to complete realism. Idealism is used to mask the realism that was coming when the group grew bored and desperate. This all goes to show that civilization is just a mask of the savagery that continually exists.

While idealism or civilization is the ideal way of continuing and evolving this societal system, it it’s still flawed by the people who do not believe in it. The United Nations is a perfect example of this as because they are how an ideal world government should look like. A leadership model that is based and relies on consensus, voluntary agreement, and rational being. All of these are the fundamental values and idealism represent. The flaw in this system reveals itself when a different power resists this system. The UN also has military force of made up of soldiers from all around the world. With the existence of such a military in idealism is to immediately break the perfect model of civilization. When another country has internal conflict or has become uncooperative to the rest of the world, the UN sometimes sends it’s military to keep the peace. But by keeping the peace, they also the strength of the countries the troops of this army come from which all goes to show that all these countries control and lead the country to which they deploy to. All of this goes to show that even a system meant to embrace idealism and civilization is in need of realism and savagery to keep itself together.

In a modern society, an example of civilization is embraced and adopted across the world. However, no one can ever make or call a society completely devoid of realism because the idea of complete idealism will crack at the seams when anyone merely says no to its fundamental principles.

That was a an enjoyable write if I must be honest, another idea sprang up while writing it but I feel good about this paragraph. Doing this assignment has been quite a ride through the human condition as we did write a lot of ideas on the different topics. We also debated on all these subjects as well but that is a post for another day. This really gave me the opportunity and the realization to express this from some dark corner in my brain. Thanks for reading!

 

TPoL, more like SLC in disguise

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TPoL, whether a euphemism for an SLC or not, seems to be just the same as an SLC but for all the work in the last term of school. I am to present some assignments of mine which can show revision, teamwork, repsonsiblilty, and production of high quality work. I am also to reflect on my work ethic and how I have grown throughout the year. The question that encompasses all of this is how ready do I feel for my grade 12 year.

 

The assignment where I did the most of my learning would probably be the inquiry question on fear assignment. My question was how the fear of nuclear weapons can affect current events.  I believe I said this in the last SLC but I feel that the learning really came from the content that I learned during my research into the question and also getting a feel on how the public reacts to nuclear technology. I feel that without this assignment, I would have never looked into this issue and achieved a different understanding of the public perception. This also gave me a gauge in how people would judge dangerous technology similar to nuclear tech because they would probably react the same way. This is the highest quality of my work because I feel that I got to a deep interpretation of how fear can cause so many things to happen.

How Does Fear Affect Public Perception to Nuclear Technology

A demonstration on where I need to improve and growth mindset can be found in the My Canada assignment and the South West Video.  In the My Canada assignment, the class had to make a video that shows what they think represents Canada the most. I thought it was the diverse industry that Canada has so I made a video on that. The video was most likely the worst thing the teachers have ever seen made for this but it let me touch on many different tools and programs that could help me in the future produce work now that I have learned them. The same can be said for the Southwest video as I tried out a program new to me and  I have only gotten to the barebones of the program which made the video bland. Basically I am trying to say that I need to familiarize myself with the programs I do my work with in order to improve the quality of them.

My Canada

My work ethics and habits have room for improvement but I consider them to be ok. Over 50 percent of my assignments are in time and of high quality as I believe I put my best effort into each interpretation or answer I make. One thing that really needs improvement is my confidence and public speaking. I often can’t get my ideas across well to others and did really bad trying to come up with something to speak during debate night.

 

In the end, I must answer how prepared I feel for grade 12. I think that I will make it because I have grasped how the class works now and how to utilize the technology that this class is all about in order to turn in good work. I think with my most recent paragraphs I have shown how I am ok with the writing part of PLP now but in that aspect I will continue improving.

 

I hope to see more group projects soon

 

 

How Does Fear Affect Public Perception to Nuclear Technology

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Nuclear technology has been in constant consideration from its inception. Perspectives have changed dramatically since the 1900s to now from a really positive outlook to a downright suspicious glare at any nuclear reactor. These days, the fear of these reactors having a major accident and melting down is at a all time high which creates enormous friction between the corporations who own these reactors and general public who are concerned about it. I seek to answer the question of how fear of a nuclear radiation is used today to change current events. I will use the movie “China Syndrome“, the documentary “Nuclear Nightmares”,  and a recent current to support my answer.

The movie “China Syndrome” in my eyes was to open up the issue of the dangers of nuclear power to the public in a way that will shock them into realization. This movie is about a potential meltdown situation at a nuclear power plant because of corporate mismanagement. In the movie, a nuclear scientist analyzes footage of a recent nuclear reactor mishap. He says “I may be wrong, but I’d say you’re lucky to be alive. For that matter, I think we might say the same for the rest of Southern California.” (China Syndrome). This quote shows how the the potential failure of the plant could have killed everyone in Southern California or even more. The fear of radiation killing people affects the preliminary report from this scientist to show how it could have killed many. This can also be connected to the 1986 Chernobyl incident. After the nuclear reactor 4 exploded causing big amounts of radiation spread around the area, the people of the nearby town Pripyat was evacuated following the fear of the people being exposed to this amount of radiation. Both the movie and the disaster show the same fear of radiation killing or severely damaging people in the area of effect. While one is speculation and one was reality, the premise is the same. Fear has affect both decisions because if there was no fear of radiation killing people, people would not have been evacuated and the scientist would not have made such a claim.

Workers who worked to seal off the open reactor core of Chernobyl. The amount of protection gear is a testament to the dangers of radiation. Most of these workers died because even this was inadequate.

The documentary “Nuclear Nightmares” shows that expert’s knowledge of radiation may have to be reappraised after several studies of the area surrounding Chernobyl and other scientist’s research show how radiation is not a heavy hitter in cancer deaths. The documentary goes in length to show how the official chart for gauging radioactive cancer risk Linear no-threshold Model (LNT) may be flawed. The model does not show any data for radiation under 100 microsieverts (mSv). Scientists argue that the radiation under 100 mSv may have a beneficial affect to all lifeforms in fighting against cancer as the low dose of radiation exercises the genes that help people fight against radiation. A quote from the documentary says, “Its a classic example of what some scientist call radio phobia” (Nuclear Nightmares). This means that while radiation is still dangerous, people have a wrong perception of it as a whole. Many people fear radiation because they think it is bad in whichever way but in certain doses, it can actually become beneficial. The Fukushima Da-Itchi incident in 2011 shows how people fears of nuclear radiation affect their judgement on the nuclear reactors. After the meltdown of the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, the government proceeded to shutdown all the nuclear power plants in the country so they can go through a detailed review. The people’s support for nuclear power also plummets to 80% anti nuclear power because of this incident. The people want to keep these reactors shutdown because of fear of another radiation leak which is also how fear is influencing the Japanese people. While it may be ethical to move away from nuclear power, Japan’s nuclear power supports 25% of the nations power consumption and was set to raise up to 50%. With growing fear of nuclear power affecting peoples decisions and resulting in pushing away nuclear power, Japan may resort to burning fossil fuels to create power which does not provide radiation but does produce green house gasses. This fear can be found all over the world and this results to a very biased opinion from a lot of people hating on nuclear power.

The original Chernobyl sarcophagus which prevents any more radiation from going into the atmosphere is close to its failing point. A replacement dome is now in place to stop a new potential radiation leak.

In my own opinion, I think that the fear of nuclear power is irrational and needs to be thought through a bit more by people who severely oppose nuclear power. While there are accidents and the occasional leak of radiation, there have been only 3 major accidents in the entire history of nuclear power. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar power are good alternatives but they will never give a consistent source of power and a lot of windmills and solar panels are needed in order to produce enough power to match a nuclear reactor. And a solar panels and windmills are not completely environmentally clean either. The use of metals and materials such as nickel to produce the electronic components and mining the metals are also very damaging to the environment. My point in a nutshell is that the fear of nuclear power is really unfounded and irrational when compared to the current alternatives to power production. This also shows how fear controls and influences peoples decisions on such matters.

Elephants Foot, named after its wrinkled appearance and resemblance to an elephants foot is probably the most dangerous object in the world when first created. Found in the basement of reactor 4 at Chernobyl after the core melted. It is made of a mix of melted sand, graphite, and nuclear fuel. Within the first few years of its creation, anyone who looked at it will definitely die because of its high radiation.

Writing this blog post was a a real eye opener for me in terms of radiation. What really got to me was the study of radioactivity in the documentary and how it actually is not a heavy hitter when under 100 mSv in the cause of cancer. It also brought out from within me a point I wanted to make with others but never knew how to express, this point is how people fear nuclear power but when compared to our current energy alternatives, it really is not something to fear because these other sources produce a slower by still deadly outcome in the end.

The spread of radiation from the Fukushima Dai-Itchi nuclear power plant. The scale of its spread is shocking as particles that have absorbed radiation can be picked up by the wind.

 

 

 

 

My Canada

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Time to share why I feel Canada is special. Yay. Over the spring break, the teachers found a great way to torture us through it by assigning a video for the My Canada contest. The contest wants us to make a video that would have us reflect upon something about Canada. It had to be no more than 30 seconds and must be all original work. With nothing in mind, I enjoyed my break instead.

After I got back from spring break, I came up with an idea that I felt really suited me. Something with very little time of my face, has to be about technology, and make use of the apps on my iPad as promised in my SLC blogpost. My reflection topic is how Canada builds machines for sea, land, air, and space. I avoided brand names so I would not feel like a sellout in the video. My plan in the beginning was to use photos of the actual machines but the images had to be my work. So I just decided to draw them all out using Paper 53. Once I drew up my sad looking pictures, I attached them to backgrounds made by Explain Everything. I decided not to draw them in Explain Everything because I felt that Paper 53 has better drawing tools. I then put all the slides together into iMovie to string the slides together and recorded my voice over the slide show. I then realized that I needed to put some music in as well as a small bumper at the end of the video for the contest. I decided to put the video I made into the app My Canada provided because they automatically put the bumper at the end of the video. The app also let me choose music to play over my video which was nice but when I was all done, the app would not export the video the My Canada. Time to transfer the project over to my laptop (Ahem Mr Hughes what do you have against Dell). I found a program online for video editing installed it. I had to take a bit of time to learn the system but I got it done and attached the bumper. I had a huge problem with copyright free music and choosing a track to fit my video. I found one I liked after almost an hour. I adjusted the volume of the track an fumbled around near the end of the video to get the music to fade out. It did not really work but it did not ruin the video. I went their website and then submitted the video which worked unlike their app.

This project was a real exercise in problem solving and my drawing skills. The drawing was tough as I am not a good artist but I think the pictures get the point across. Figuring out what to do after the My Canada app did not work also poised a challenge as many programs out on the web are expensive or an absolute scam as they get me to pay at the very end of the editing process. Luckily I found this program but it was very complex. I had to spend some time to get this done. Overall, this project touched upon a subject that I did not really think of before, what do I appreciate about Canada? It was also a lot of problem solving on the fly but I think the video turned out great.

 

Here is the video, please take time to give a vote for me on the My Canada website if you want to so I can a prize if my video gets voted the most!

The Concept of Self Sacrifice

Posted on by under World War II

People in the world are bound by very strong ties to others that are important to them. Whether or not this be family related or friendship, these ties are very strong and very often, commitment goes both ways. The world wars definitely put many of these relationships to the test as it strained them to their furthest extent. Some give up these ties and abandon the other while some strive on to carry out the commitment which the wars put upon them. I intend to show this through a recent interview with the charming Helmut Lemke, a German World War II veteran that served on the eastern front in the later stages of the war. His experiences after the war really shows the concept of self sacrifice.

Helmut Lemke, a German World War II veteran, has  his share of achievements and Rambo moments. In the later stages of World War II he was called away from his family to join the fight at around 17 years of age. His first deployment would be his last. He destroys tanks with Panzerfausts (German anti tank weapon) and scares a Russian tank crew to abandon their T34 tank after he threatens them with a Panzerfaust. He is then wounded and sent back to Germany to recover. The war ends and he is taken is a prisoner of war in his hospital bed in Germany. After he is released he has a choice to start a new life elsewhere, or fulfill his commitment to his mother who he believes to be still at their family home. He says that a nagging feeling in the back of his head forced him to go and find his mother. He journeys across Germany back to his home on the most eastern tip of Germany prior to the war. Along the way, he is met with many near death situations as he is hitchhiking his way by train with no proper travel documents. Many encounters with Russians at gunpoint and situations led him to have to dig deep in this craftiness and he got out of these messes every time with the friend he was travelling with. Some examples include pretending that he was a cripple (he was only injured) to escape being shipped off to Siberia after he was discovered on a train by Russians. Another example is when he was stealing potatoes from the Russians to eat (they had no money) and a Russian discovers them and holds them at gunpoint. He pretends he is French and a nearby group of Frenchmen save him and his friend. He makes it to his mother who was stricken with typhus in their home. He says if he had not gone back to her mother. She would not have been alive any longer.

Helmut Lemke in a German army uniform in WWII 1944.

 

What I took away from this interview was how much Mr. Lemke was willing to sacrifice all for the sake of his mother and for duty to his country.  While defending a defensive position in the Eastern front of World War II, he performed his duty without question and stayed to fight the enemy even when his comrades fled or retreated in the face of superior enemy numbers. His willingness to follows his orders let him have a couple of close brushes to death but that is what the concept of self sacrifice is about. Being willing to be killed in order to impede the enemy and going out to do it again and again shows his patriotism and most importantly, his willingness to sacrifice himself for others.

He crossed Germany has a man who was basically a criminal because he had no money, and by luck, got to her mother before she would be killed by typhus. He could have left his past behind him and continued down a more safe path to the future but he decided not to for sake of a relationship that is deeply rooted into his DNA, something that he has a commitment to and it must be completed. Even after he gets to mother healthy again, his commitment to keep his family safe from the Russians leads him to move the entire family to West Germany. Him going by himself would have been so much easier but he takes the entire family because is such a selfless man.

Helmut Lemke today in Vancouver, BC and was a school teacher for a long time.

The concept of self sacrifice is seen everywhere everyday. People still do it in the military simple acts such as a doing a favor or simply helping others shows people how this concept is an important and fundamental piece in society and human nature. This is because of no one helped each other only did things for gain. The human race would be a bleak and miserable people.

 

Below is a podcast that I did with my other PLP friends Luciano and Spencer. This was our first blog post so things were quite awkward while working out how to record it. I thought I was going to be good at it because I can talk a lot about these things but I figuratively choked throughout the whole podcast. Definitely not one of my best works but the others did great. Title card and editing by Stanfield.

 

SLC Blog Post

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The dreaded SLC has arrived, apparently a roast fest of gigantic proportions that is designed to make people cry. At least that’s what I heard from the other people who have been through it. Below will be a showcase of what I have done over the time I have been in PLP. The 3 blog posts that I show will answer the questions,

1. What was an assignment that you were proud of.

2. What was an assignment that showed your learning.

3. What was an assignment that showed an example of your growth mindset.

A reflection of my most enjoyable time in this course, the visit to a real nuclear reactor at Reeds University.

The assignment that I was most proud of was definitely the PLP exhibition somewhere around the beginning of this year. The project is about the major events that Canada went through in World War I. The whole class was split into many different  groups which all researched a topic regarding an event. My team chose to cover the events before Canada went to war.

 

The reason I was very proud of this project was because of how the entire class pulled together in time for the exhibition. To be honest, my group really did not have an idea of how things would look and we did not have time for a dry run of what we were going to present as the audience moved through the exhibition. At the last minute, Tom suffered a head injury which led to me taking his place as Robert Borden who had a major talking role. My entire group acted and delivered a spectacular performance considering the circumstances. It was extremely cold because a side door was open exposing us to the frigid night of January. My group stayed on task with little complaint and went through the night without a single hitch. The rest of the entire exhibition was excellent to as I heard the enthusiasm that went into every performance by every group. This was definitely an example of snatching victory for (not that far away) from the jaws of defeat.

PLP Exhibition At Seycove

This next assignment really showed my learning. This topic of this assignment was to ask a question about Canada’s situation along the beginning to the end of World War I. Me, being the history nut of the 2 world wars really wanted to know how Germany fared after being oppressed by the allied forces of World War I. This was of course not about Canada but I had already written more than half the post by the time I contacted Ms. Willemse to ask for permission to stray from Canada so she gave me permission.

The Effects of the Roaring 20’s and The Great Depression on Germany

To be fair, I knew some of the facts about the question that I asked myself but I wanted to delve deeper and learn more of the smaller details and other bits of history to how Germany was hit by the after effects of World War II. The major thing I took away from this project was to learn about the smaller bits of detail before and after the event being researched. It’s an excellent way of improving the understanding of the topic in all aspects and also gives the edge when other history nuts challenge me to a duel of who knows more!

The final assignment will answer the question of what my growth mindset is. The assignment I have picked for this is the recent movie we are trying to produce. This movie is based on the Shakespearean act of “Macbeth”. Since we were studying World War II at the time, we decided to give the movie a World War II spin to it. The project was not a great success but I took away from it a very important lesson that will display how I want to grow my skill in the future.

The Macbeth Movie World War II Style

The growth mindset that I have constructed was influenced by when the failure of this project became apparent. It was the need to improve on my leadership skills. I would like to state that the failure of this project in the end fell down to me as I was in charge of seeing it to completion and that is why I am working to improve my leadership to make sure this never happens again. As I worked through this project, I realized that while people listened to me respectfully and seemed to follow direction, it seemed that the directions were not executed well or not at all. I believe it to be them not having enough respect for me and that I did not have enough of an air of command which motivated people to do things not for the sake of just doing it, but for the assignment and for all of the class. I will encourage growth in this area through taken the lead on more group work that does not require that many members and be very diligent on how I carry myself around them.

Goals

I have already set a goal in my growth of mindset part but there are 2 others. One is to become more proficient in all the small programs and tools that this course provides to make learning and organizing so much easier. I became aware of this from the movie project. I was using a very inefficient method of marking down the availability of the crew. When Maria stepped in and provided a new solution to the delays in filming, she also came with a google form that was easy to fill in and everyone did it in no time. I see some challenge seeing all the settings and using the programs to their full ability. I plan to achieve this by looking through all of the google tools and asking other PLP students on what they use. My final goal is to see if I can work up a reputation in like Marley has but not in the way that she over achieves in all her assignments, but by showing how I leadership and problem solve much better than what I can do now. I plan to achieve this through taking the lead in other projects and preparing for the problems that come.

This SLC definitely took a bit of time to write but luckily everything was in my learning portfolio so I simply needed to connect all the dots for this to work. I hope this shows how I have grown in this course how I will continue to grow as I move further into the year.

 

 

 

The Macbeth Movie World War II Style

Posted on by under World War II

This must be the biggest project that I have ever undertaken in my life. After our studies on the Shakespearean play “Macbeth”, the teachers assigned the entire class to make a movie based on “Macbeth” that would be set in World War II. Full of doubts and pessimism, we began our production. To this day, the movie is still being produced and filmed.

Scene with a main actor and his supporting actor on a great day.

 

Pre Planning

One of our teachers Mr. Hughes laid out a production structure that was similar to a real movie production crew. There would be a producer, director, their assistants, and all the other departments needed for a movie. Roles were assigned and I got the producer role. I had to lay out the general direction of where the movie was going to go and cast roles. The script writers promptly got to work and wrote. Props and costumes were given a rough idea of what ideas were needed so they could be prepared to make them. My director (Marley Harman) cast the actors. This process went on for several days which had deadly consequences for the production of the movie. The process did not go over well with the director as respect dropped off when her suggestions were sometimes not taken into account.

Filming.

Production

After at least 2 weeks of planning while the script writers wrote the script, a production schedule was written up by Marley and I. Production started with many glitches which included figuring out camera angles, plot holes in script, unconventional language in the dialogue of the script, and respect for leadership during the filming process dropped off. Numerous scheduling conflicts with the actors and crew made filming impossible during some days. Around an act was filmed on the first day of filming but the production rate dropped hard on the next filming day. It was a severely under crewed production day nothing got done in which I was not present for. Eager to find what the problem was excluding the reason of being under crewed, I went on the next day of filming when I was available. Production went very roughly but achieved a many scenes were filmed. After that, there was one more productive day where I went to which was a good day. Soon, we fell behind too much for the movie to be completed on time so the teachers stepped see if we wanted to scrap the project. The group decided to persevere with the movie so we cut down on details and are now trying to film all the main ideas to piece the movie together.

Scene captured using multiple camera angles of an actor inside of a tent.

My Opinion

The Bad (The Venting)

Never before have I experienced such a dismal performance by all the people in any project (including me). There were many contributing factors to this that I want to say in order for people to learn from in the future. As a producer, I had a lot of the deciding authority but found that authority meant really nothing as I had not earned the respect from many of the existing PLP students. Requests and orders were issued and followed tentatively at best. Some of these decisions may have not been the best for the group in which I was to blame but things like simple plot adjustments and equipment acquisition were not carried out. Many of the special equipment that Marley brought in did not make an appearance in the filming process. Another major key point that I found that is key to success of a production is authority. At many points of shooting where I was present, most of the crew and cast simply stood talked while others did most of the labor. Even when a scene was being filmed, they were still loud. Between scenes, there seemed to be a great rest break for everyone as it takes nearly an hour to get the next scene set p when it could have been much quicker if everyone concentrated on what they were doing. Repeated direction from Marley and I were ignored most of the time and filming took place a very slow pace which destroyed the production schedule. At some points, I tried to arrange a quick film shoot that involved an actual pub which Spencer had acquired some time from so that we could film. In the end what really sank our precarious boat that is our movie was the endless scheduling conflicts between actors and scenes. It was extremely difficult to schedule some scenes where maybe we had only one day to shoot and some were impossible to shoot which required me to recast the a character so that the movie can move on.

The director and associates look on as the props department set up ever present tent.

The Good

I have to say, the acting of all PLP students in the production was excellent and beyond my expectations. The crew drew from their experience some excellent filming ideas and camera angle ideas as well. If not for them, the film would look very boring with many static shots. Some of the crew were willing  to work on the project and accept direction without hesitation albeit with lack of effort.

The End Result

The movie is still being filmed but it has become a much more streamlined process thanks to Maria. In reflection to this project, I should have enforced and updated a production schedule much more. I felt that some of the the crews enthusiasm showed before filming but it disappeared as they waited for a scene to be set up for filming. If this project were to be assigned again, the class would probably give up immediately. This was a great learning experience for coordination and leadership. It really gave me an insight on how things work in a big team and I would hope to do this again with big changes made.

 

I still think Ms. Willemse should savage and roast whoever was not there for the first BBQing of the unlucky few who didn’t take the math contest.

The Mostly Canadian Offensive into the Rhine

Posted on by under World War II

      The time has come to close off the studying of Canada’s involvement during World War 2. The teachers have given each of us an assignment. The options were to write a blog post on one of three points that Canadians helped in bringing the Nazi regime of Germany to a close. I decided to do The Rhineland Campaign, a large Allied effort to break break the Siegfried line and capturing the Rhine.

Overall plan of the Allied assault.

      It was February 1945, the Allies mastermind a plan that will capture the Rhine. The plan was for British, Canadian, and American troops to attack in two formidable thrusts that would envelope the Rhine. The First Canadian army was ordered to spearhead one of these thrusts along with 3 other British divisions. The combined force was the biggest commanded by any officer of the Canadian Army. The Siegfried line stood in their way, the best defensive German defensive emplacements were deployed their. It represented a 4 month build up of troops, defensive structures, planning, and prewar preparations by the Germans on the line. Under the code name Veritable, this operation was intended to be a decisive blow to any more substantial defense that the Germans could muster on the western front.

A Canadian armored personnel carrier crosses a bridge during the operation.

     All the Allied forces began their attack on February 8th. Artillery barrages preceded the assault of troops. The Americans who were attacking as part of the second thrust were delayed by the weather which flooded places up to 3 feet deep (0.91 meters) which made the ground muddy and hard to walk on. Nonetheless, the Canadians and their British counterparts forced their way through the German defenses which caused the outer defenses of the Siegfried line to break. The British division’s attack slackened but the Canadian force took up the slack. The force continued to advance through the Siegfried line and finally managed to break it on March 10th. On that day, the Germans blew up some bridges to cover their retreat further back in the east bank of the Rhine.

The “Dragons Teeth” of the Siegfried line, these were mainly used to prevent Allied vehicles from moving across it.

      While the operation was a success, there were losses to the First Canadian Army. They took 15,634 out of which 5,304 were Canadian. While there were losses, this operation by mainly the Canadians forced the Germans out of their last major defensive line. German casualties numbered to 90,000 while dealing a total of 23,000 Allied casualties across all the Allied forces that participated in the battle.

Some examples of German defensive positions along the Siegfried line. Bunkers, anti tank guns, watch towers, trenches, and machine guns were just a few of what the Germans had in store for the allies. 

Below is a quote from General Eisenhower who justified the operation.

“In planning our forthcoming spring and summer offensives, I envisaged the operations which would lead to Germany’s collapse as falling into three phases: first, the destruction of the enemy forces west of the Rhine and closing to that river; second, the seizure of bridgeheads over the Rhine from which to develop operations into Germany; and third, the destruction of the remaining enemy east of the Rhine and the advance into the heart of the Reich. This was the same purpose that had guided all our actions since early 1944.” Eisenhower

World War II Soldier Blog Post

Posted on by under World War II

With the introduction of World War II in PLP comes another soldier blog post. This is all about learning what the mentality of the soldiers was like back then. It also gives us students some information regarding what the time was like and what people were doing before the war. This blog post will include a diary entry written by me emulating a soldier I researched.

The soldier I researched is called Carl Thomas Edward Lee. I found him through searching through the archives of Canadian dead. I searched with the surname Lee trying to see if I could get an Asian soldier to research but found. I tried other Asian last names to avail so I just stuck with a Caucasian Lee. In his profile, I found many documents of him applying for the Air Force, medical exams, as well many letters informing his parents that he had died in the war.

This soldier was born in February 18th, 1922. He led quite a normal life with no injuries of any kind throughout his life before the war. He went to The University Of Toronto to study radios and how they worked. He was in the middle of his studies when the war broke out. As Canada joined the war, he signed up as a ground crewman for the Air force. He had hoped to be a radio technician as part of the ground team but he was instead trained as a navigator. This meant that he was part of the air crew that flew the warplanes and he was in charge of navigating and also the radios. He came out of training was assigned to bombers. This was late in the war at around late 1943. On January 28th 1944, him and his crew flew a Halifax bomber on a mission to bomb Berlin with other planes. They were shot down over northern Europe and bailed out but was captured. After that, no other records exist that Lee and his crew made it out of the Prisoner of War camp that they would be inevitably sent to if they were not just shot dead after being captured. Many letters were sent to the parents regarding their son’s status which was missing in action. His personal effects were sent home and will enforced after the time of which he was missing for became too long for him to have survived without making contact with Canada.

Below are some diary entries I wrote to show some understanding in what a soldier went through in World War II.

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