I signed my graduate school letter of intent for Florida State last week. Yesterday I received my new FSU student ID information as well as my new FSU email. My new school email address is rle09@fsu.edu.
It has just hit me that I am done with my undergraduate degree and I am well on my way to beginning my Master’s program. I am pleased that my undergraduate degree is complete. I finished my Sex, Lies, and Simulacra CIT senior capstone project. The presentation has been given and the paper written and turned in. What a feeling of accomplishment and relief!
Also, I find it exciting and interesting that just a few short days after I sent my letter of intent to FSU, I received my first issue of FSU magazine that includes a cover story on the merging of the College of Communication and the College of Information at FSU. The merging of these two colleges reinforces the trend of combining communication and information programs in the twenty-first century. This excites me.
I am receiving my degree in CIT (Communications and Information Technology) at Macon State. The CIT program is innovative in the way it combines communications and new media theory with information technology practices. It just makes sense to me to go onto a graduate program that embraces the combining of communications and information programs. New media studies is the way for me to go!
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It’s Friday night and I am camped out in room 402 of the Medical Center with my Mom. Ms Betty had extensive back surgery yesterday (6.5 hours in surgery) and is requiring a lot family care right now. So, tonight is my turn to stay in the hospital with her. (My amazing sister-in-law, Amy, drove down from Atlanta yesterday and stayed with her last night.)
I’ve got my laptop and my iPod, so I am passing the time by getting some work done while Ms Betty is in and out of consciousness. Who would have thought that one could get so much work done in the hospital? Ms Betty just wished me luck “working on the interwebs” and fell back asleep. Her orthopedic surgeon has ordered another CT scan to investigate the numbness in her legs. So, looks like she’s going down to get that done in a few minutes.
I am working on my website and trying to get caught up on some school work – one last edit of my CIT paper and an analysis of my website.
Also, the nurses on the 4th floor neurological wing are awesome!
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Last night I got to hang out with Nick and some family and friends in Haddock and celebrate the completion of my senior project presentation. Over burgers, beers and a yummy lemon cheesecake that Mrs. Linda had made, I got a chance to relax and recover from a year of working on my project.
I gave my CIT senior project presentation, Sex, Lies, and Simulacra around 11:00 Friday morning. (I will be posting my presentation slides and the video breakdown I did for some of the scenes in Soderbergh’s Solaris shortly). After almost a year of working with my advisor, Dr. Gerald Lucas, researching, writing and rehearsing for the presentation, it felt good to finally be able to share it with an audience.
Of course, Friday morning I felt a bit nervous and had the pre-presentation jitters. (I probably should not have had those three cups of coffee before presenting either!) But overall, I have to say it was an amazing experience. I have never had stage fright or been nervous speaking in front of crowds of people, but I did have a slight moment of hesitation while standing at the podium. I just took a couple of deep breaths, hoped I would not have a raging asthma attack or completely stumble and forget what I was talking about. I think it went well.
The entire process of working on a senior capstone project has definitely made me a better student. I realize now why I waited almost 16 years to return to college and finish my degree. Back when I was in my early twenties, I never had the self-discipline or curiosity or patience to actually take on a task as daunting as a senior capstone project or finishing my degree. The process of studying Lem’s novel Solaris and the Tarkovsky and Soderbergh films and Baudrillard’s theory of hyperrealism has lead me to a passion for a subject that I am thinking about continuing to study in graduate school.
I was fortunate to receive acceptance letters from all the graduate programs I applied to. I have chosen to go to FSU and pursue a Master’s Degree in Media and Communications Studies with a concentration and graduate certificate in Digital Video Production. The program incorporates intense new media and communication theory and research methods with production.
I will forever be grateful for my successful career in the world of film and TV production, but I really feel I am on a new path now that I am about to finish my degree in communications. I thank all my wonderful teachers, my advisor and all of my fellow CIT classmates who have helped make the last two years of my college career such a blast.
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After about 100 cups of coffee in the last 24 hours, I am finally entering the last phase of editing my technology project . I have been glued to the iMac most of the morning and afternoon editing together clips from the two versions of Solaris in Final Cut.
It is interesting how I have watched my project evolve from what I thought it was going to be to what it actually is. I guess this is part of the creative process of writing a thesis paper and creating a technology project that ties in with the paper. I originally had visions of working with numerous films from Steven Soderbegh. Through my research and readings, I compiled enough information for a 50 page paper. I have had to re-evaluate and narrow my thesis.
Now I’ve narrowed the scope of my paper to concentrate on Baudrillard’s theory of hyperrealism and the Solaris films of Tarkovsky and Soderbergh. Interesting how I find the actual project emerges as I sit and view clip after clip of the films and then analyze them.
Time for another coffee.
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I am currently working on the technology project for my senior presentation. I started out working with a few films by Steven Soderbergh: sex, lies and videotape, Full Frontal, and Solaris. After watching hours and hours of his films and taking notes, I have come back to concentrating on his version of Solaris.
Why am I drawn to his interpretation and version of Lem’s science fiction novel? I guess I am relating to the themes in the film – isolation, disconnection, the search for what is real. As I finish this project and prepare to move onto another phase in my career and academic studies I am searching for what is real.
I am immersed in a world of Solaris films. Each day I watch and re-watch portions of Soderbergh’s film. I am trying to edit together the perfect clips in order to enhance my presentation. I am spending lots of my time comparing Soderbergh’s Solaris to Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.
Perhaps it is just because it has rained so much in the last week or so and I have not left the house. Both films feature the earthly element of rain in them . So, I am in front of the iMac viewing movies, choosing clips, editing them together in Final Cut as it pours rains outside. I hope to have a rough cut by this weekend. I’m sure I will if it keeps on raining.
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