Mario animation

Just a simple .gif animation I made from a Mario Sprite sheet found on Google.ca

The Terry Fox Run

Today, on September 25th, 2010 was our Terry Fox run.  We began by all huddling in to the gym to hear a speech from Mr Stewart, and Ms Sutton about Terry Fox and cancer research. 

Then we were all herded out the doors for the near ceremonial Terry Fox run.  Hundreds of students gathered on the track, ready to run for cancer.

It was a tough run, but we all were able to find the energy to push to the finish line.

I also caught up with a Teacher to discuss the meaning of the Terry Fox run.

Q1: Hi.  I am on an assignment for Digital Media, may I interview you about the Terry Fox run?

A: Yeah.

Q2: Okay, thanks.  What is your name, and are you running in the Terry Fox run this year?

A: Mike Cameron, and no, I will not be running because I forgot my shorts.

Q3: Do you know who Terry Fox and why we run for him?

A: Yes I do, he is an inspirational person who was raising money for cancer by running across the country.  We just carry on his tradition.

Q4: Do you happen to know what kind of cancer Terry Fox had?

A: No, I do not know

Q5: It was Osteosarcoma.  Why did Terry Fox run across Canada even though he is disabled?

A: To raise money for cancer research.

Q6: Do you have any idea how much money he raised on his original run? And in the years since?

A: No I don’t, they said it on the news not too long ago, a couple million, I can’t remember.

Q7: Do you know anyone who has been affected by Cancer?

A: Yeah, lots of people.  That’s why I donate for cancer research.

Q8: What meaning does the Terry Fox run have to you?

A: Hope.

Q9: Do you do anything to help people with Cancer?  Volunteering or donations?

A: Donations, and when family members are dying I help them out.

Thank you very much for your time and patience, that is all the time we have for our interview today.

Terry Fox; The Great Canadian Hero

Terry Fox is a Canadian hero.  Why? Lets start with his pre-cancer years.  Terry Fox was born on July 28^th, Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1958.  He played Soccer, Rugby, and Baseball as he grew up, but he loved to play basketball.  His P.E. teacher told him he should take up cross country running, and Terry didn’t want to.  But he respected his teacher very much, and so he decided to sign up.  He continued with cross country and with basketball, eventually winning the Athelete of the Year award at his high school, along with his best friend Doug Alward. 

His mother encouraged him to go to enroll in the Simon Fraser University, which Fox did, and he studied kinesiology to help him become a gym teacher.  On November 12, 1976, Terry crashed into the back of a pickup truck while heading home to Port Coquitlam.  He survived, with only a sore knee, and ignored it until the end of the basketball season.  In March of ’77, the pain had intensified, and so he went to the hospital.  There, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a cancer that usually starts in the knee.  He was informed he would have the leg amputated, and would have to go into chemotherapy.  He was also told he had a 50% chance of survival.  Two years earlier, that percentage would have been only 15%.  The advancement in medical technology amazed him. 

Three weeks after his amputation, he was once again walking, only this time with an artificial leg.  He began playing golf with his father soon after.  Doctors say Fox’s positive outlook while going through his 16 months of chemotherapy helped him immensily.  When he left the hospital, he had a new outlook on life, he owed his survival to advancements in cancer treatments,  and wanted to do something himself that would help other cancer victims. 

Summer 1977 Rick Hansen invited him to join his wheelchair basketball team.  Less then two months after his first practice, Fox joined the team, and won three national titles with the team, and named an all-star by the North American Wheelchair Basketball Association in 1980. 

The day before his cancer surgery Fox read an article about Dick Traum, the first amputee to complete the New York Marathon.  He was inspired, and he began a 14 month training program, telling family he wanted to complete a marathon too.  He secretly planned his now famous Marathon of hope, only telling Doug Alward. 

Fox sent a letter to the Canadian Cancer Society asking for funding for his run, and they reluctantly accepted.  His plan was to get a $1 donation from each of Canada’s 24 million residents.  Fox was endorsed by the Ford Motor Company with a camper van, Imperial Oil donated fuel, and Adidas contributed shoes.  Fox refused any companies that asked for him to endorse their products, he didn’t want anyone to profit from his run. 

The marathon began on April 12, 1980 when Fox dipped his leg in the Atlantic Ocean, and began his 8000 kilometer trek.  On September 1^st, 1980, outside of Thunder Bay Ontario, Fox had several coughing fits, and asked to be driven to the hospital.  Once there, he was diagnosed with lung Cancer.  He was forced to end his run after 143 days and 5373 kilometers.  By the following April, he had raised over 23 million dollars.  Fox died on June 19, 1981. 

Schools everywhere now have a Terry Fox run in September to honour Terry Fox and to raise money for Cancer research. 

Photoshopping 2

Today we were working in Photoshop with our own photographs, editing the photographs to bring them to a higher level of quality.

First is a picture of a teenage boy not looking at the camera.  I was

able to rotate the picture, and lighten the shadows to bring out some color.

Here is a picture of my dog.  By utilizing Photoshop, I was able to

virtually bathe my mangy dog, and clean up his white fur.

There wasnt too much that needed to be done to edit this piture of a 4x4 truck.  All I needed to do was reduce the glare on the windshield and hood, and light up the shadows underneath only slightly.

Sadness in nature.  A once healthy forest taken down for more housing development, and a bike track.  Yet, some grass clings onto its simple life, and I was able to simply highlight the emotion of this picture.

Some truely beautiful clouds were floating above Aldergrove, and by shifting the shadows slightly, it was possible to get a much better looking, sharper photograph.

Even amongst constant development, Aldergrove somehow stays beautifully green. 

I simply brightened the shadows, and darkened the clouds again.

A happy inanimate object comes to life if you see the basketball backboards as eyes, and

the soccer net as a big gooey grin.  All that was needed here was to remove some

slight shadows and crop the picture to an appropriate size.

By giving the shadows much more power, this tree appears to be almost a painting, or a sketch.

Photoshopping

From the way that people always talked about photoshopping, I had a general idea of what it was.  But todays lesson in Digital Media showed me what Photoshop really is.  It is an extremely simple tool used to edit photographs and make them much better.  Below are examples of photoshopping.

What Digital Media really is.

Digital Media is any form of electronic information distributed to the world. That would include almost anything done on a computer such as, art, pictures, videos, websites, music and games.  Although in my opinion, I would further define Digital Media as multimedia made on computers with no outside sources (Cameras), where any and all images are created with graphics programs on a computer.  And, of course, Video Games are the best Digital Media :)

Digital Photography- Any picture that has been taken with a Digital camera in Phone, Camera, Laptop, etc.

Computer Image Creation- Using a program to create pictures FROM the computer, forming images or ‘graphics’.

Interactive Multimedia- Examples are; The Internet, Websites, CD’s, and similar forms of media.

Digital Video and Film Production- The use of digital video cameras and computer editing software to produce videos/films for release on the internet, websites, or through CD rom.

Web Design- The skill of producing a web site to be posted on the Internet for the viewing and interaction of other Internet users.

Digital Animation- An extension of Computer Image Creation to produce actual Movies/Videos purely from Computer Created Images.

Digital Sound Technology- Digital Voice Recording or voice recognition systems such as ‘Dragon Speech’, a program that will recognize your speech, and type out what you say.

Cell Phones- Cordless Telephones that can enable users to talk to other people, send text messages to them, and browse the internet.

Social Networks- Websites that allow users to connect, and share their information with other people, in the form of pictures, videos, and stories.

Video Games- Using Digital Animation and programming skills to make a game that is highly interactive, and animated, for people to play.