Osher Lifelong Learning Course with Professor Michael Pfister- Day 1

The New Century and the Digital Age:  How New Media, Social Networking, and Digital Innovation are Changing Global Culture  Instructor:  ASU Professor, Michael Pfister

Course Description:  The 21st century has seen an explosion on new technologies that are rapidly altering the way we communicate, compose, and perceive the world around us.  Social media is a global platform for personal and professional expression.  How then have these new forms changed how we think about communication, socio-cultural experience, and creation?  This exciting class will examine how these changing technologies are shaping the culture around us both good and bad.

Today was my first class with Osher Lifelong Learning and I picked the above course to start off with.   Not only did the topic interest me, but I liked in the course description the statement, "shaping the culture around us both good and bad."  I am all for technological advancements to make our lives easier, but there is a point when these new technologies can change our culture in a bad way.

In today's class we discussed privacy issues in the new digital age. Professor Pfister told us the generation he teaches at ASU is not the least bit concerned about their privacy. The younger generation has no problem putting it all out there for the world to see.  Even what some older generations would think of as a private moment, like a wedding proposal, are now put out on YouTube for the world to see.  He showed us one of the more famous Flash Mob Wedding Proposals on YouTube.  I do feel this puts a lot of pressure on the younger generation today...like you better propose in the most spectacular way if you love me, and want me to marry you.

Well flash mob proposals put on the internet for all to see can be harmless if the relationship works out, something to show the grandkids someday.  But what if a relationship you are in doesn't work out, and it's put out there on the internet for the entire world to know.  I was thinking in class today of one of my favorite Two and a Half Men episodes where Jake Googles his Uncle Charlie and finds a website called Charlie Harper Sucks.  This website was created where all the women he has dated can tell their horror stories of dating Charlie.  Classic!  This is where the new digital age can not only hurt you, but destroy you and your reputation easily and quickly.

I really enjoyed the class with Professor Pfister.  Plus the people in the class were very talkative which always makes the class more lively.

ON A SIDE NOTE:  If Professor Michael Pfister has a Google Alert set-up for his name, then he will be notified of my blog post.  It would be interesting to see if a professor who teaches about the new digital age has signed up for Google alerts on himself.  I know if I was a teacher, I would most definitely be searching my name to see what the students could be saying about me.  lol   Professor Pfister if you find this post, or someone else alerts you to it,  please let me know when you see me in class next week. I am the woman whose only use for her cell phone is to order pizzas from the road.

Cloud Atlas

When I saw the tagline, "Everything is Connected" for the film Cloud Atlas that was enough to peak my interest in this film.  Then when I read it deals with reincarnation...I was hooked...I knew I had to see this movie when it comes out. 

Reincarnation has always been a topic of huge interest for me.  So much so that several years ago I participated here in Scottsdale in a weekend workshop with Dr. Brian Weiss, the leading past-life regression expert in the US.  My two favorite books of his that I have always recommended to people are Many Lives, Many Masters, and Same Soul, Many Bodies.  

I could start a whole other blog about this topic of reincarnation and how it has affected me and the people in my life.  One long story short...my husband and I knew we were going to marry each other immediately...but the thing was...we had not met yet.  We just saw each other's name on a piece of paper. I was 17 years old and still in high school.  He was 20 and in his third year of college.  He picked up one of many pieces of paper off his college professor's desk, and the one he picked had my name on it.  He was assigned to take me with him to his college classes the following week as part of my freshman orientation.  He was at the time in a relationship with a beautiful, smart, funny and very nice girl.  But he told his mother the night before meeting me, that he was already planning on breaking up with her so he could start dating me.  When I saw the name of the guy who was to escort me around the university, I was already planning on marrying him by just looking at his name. Pretty presumptuous on both our parts.  I actually became very good friends with the girl he dumped for me when I got into college, and the two of us even went on a Caribbean cruise together.  She found the perfect guy for her too, so all was well.   But honestly, I would not have dumped her for me...she was so great.  So there had to be more of a connection between us, more than we were aware...maybe a past life connection.  Well, 33 years later, we are still together, no kids, no pets, just the two of us, and very happy. 

Anyway, we saw Cloud Atlas on Saturday afternoon and liked it very much.  Hubby even liked it more than Inception.  This is a film you really need to see a few times to really catch everything.  I had read just about everything I could on it beforehand, so I knew the six different story lines from each of the timelines that span over 500 years. Plus I knew all the characters who the actors, and actresses played, even when covered in layers of make-up. So I believe knowing as much as I did before seeing the film helped me appreciate it better and not come out confused in anyway.  I will definitely see it again, but I will wait until it comes out on DVD so I can see it again with subtitles.  There was a lot of dialogue I missed, some due to my poor hearing, but also because of the music being played over the dialogue, and the last timeline, which I knew going in, has a language that is very hard to understand. 

I don't see many movies in a theater anymore, but it's films like Cloud Atlas that actually get me into a theater to see a movie...and I'm glad I did.

Just maybe some person will stumble across this blog post I wrote, and either see the movie Cloud Atlas, or get one of the books from Dr. Brian Weiss, or attend one of his workshops, and their life will change in a good way.  And maybe, just maybe, we might have known each other in another lifetime where they helped me change my life in a good way. We are all connected.

Your Guide to Characters and Connections of Cloud Atlas

Welcome to Cloud Atlas Wiki

My Favorite Review of Cloud Atlas

Into the Woods @ Desert Stages Theatre

On Friday night I saw the extraordinary Into the Woods at Desert Stages Theatre.  I had never seen this musical before in person, but obtained a DVD from the library of the original 1987 Broadway production starring Bernadette Peters as the Witch, and Joanna Gleason as the Baker's Wife.  Since I had already seen the Broadway production just a few weeks ago, I knew I was really going to like seeing it at Desert Stages Theatre, but I did not know just how much I was going to LOVE it.  Desert Stages really out did themselves with this one.  Their production really even outshined the Broadway production, and that is saying a lot. They pulled off well little things like the talking Giant, and Little Red Riding Hood getting eaten by the wolf...and all very comically too.

Into the Woods has a fun and entertaining storyline, but the music is what makes this so special.  All the songs are very memorable, but the two stand-out ones are "Children Will Listen," and "No One is Alone."  The whole cast had incredible singing voices and gave me goose bumps when singing these beautiful songs. I'm getting goose bumps right now just writing about it...they were that sensational.

Scorpius Dance Theatre - A Vampire Tale

Last night I saw the 'Nutcracker' of Halloween, Lisa Starry's A Vampire Tale. I have seen this dance company perform four times this past year, but this was the first time I saw this special Halloween show which is held at the Little Phoenix Theatre.   All the perfomances I have seen are fantastic, and this one was the best of them all.  Their dances are just not beautiful to watch, they are extremely entertaining.  They have been invited to return to England to perform A Vampire Tale at the 2012 Bram Stoker Film Festival.  Very Cool!

 

Ashes to Ashes @ Fountain Hills Theater

Over the weekend I went to see the play Ashes to Ashes which was written by Peter J. Hill, the Managing/Artistic Director at Fountain Hills Theater.  This comedy is about a Broadway director who goes on a three-day weekend bender, and finds himself on Monday morning engaged to three women who think he is peace activist, a Russian spy and a Mafia hit man.  Add in an angry soon-to-be-ex-wife, and one wild and crazy neighbor for an evening of great big belly laughs.

The play had already been performed there back in 1996, so I'm happy they brought this comedy back again.  The whole cast was excellent, extremely funny, and exuded a lot of physical comedy too. Actress, Jenna Spets should receive some award just for being folded up in a sofa bed so many times. LOL Too Funny!

Herberger Festival of the Arts

I attended the Herberger Festival of the Arts on Saturday which runs from noon to 5:00. There are four stages of entertainment...featuring dance, music, singing, theatre, film, plus other forms of entertainment.  They also have an art gallery, children's activity area, wine tasting and pet adoption.  Now if five hours of packed entertainment wasn't enough for you, they also had at 5:30 a free special performance from iTheatre Collaborative of Underneath the Lintel.

There were over 25 live performances over the course of the afternoon, so it's impossible to see everything, but I saw and enjoyed the works of Ethington Dance Ensemble, AZDance Group, Ballet Folklorico Quetzalli, Center Dance Ensemble, The Opal Collective, Anaya Tribe, Arizona Broadway Theatre, Scottsdale Musical Theatre Company, and Arizona Opera.  But my favorite performance of the afternoon came from Scorpius Dance Theatre which had a nice write-up just today in the Arts and Entertainment section of the Arizona Republic.  I already purchased my tickets to A Vampire Tale back in August...I will blog about it later this month after seeing this cult classic 'Nutcracker' of Halloween show. 

To say the least it was an afternoon packed full of entertainment, and they only charge five dollars for admission.  That's a buck an hour...it's really the BEST deal in town.

Finished off the weekend on Sunday by spending a glorious day outside at the el Pedregal listening to the band Affinity play.  I LOVE living here!

Barefoot in the Park @ Don Bluth's Front Row Theatre

Fun weekend...spent Friday at Fountain Hills Oktoberfest, and then on Saturday saw Barefoot in the Park at Don Bluth's Front Row Theatre.  I love live theatre...especially when it's so up close and personal. You don't feel like an audience member when watching a play in Don Bluth's family room...you feel like you are part of the play and a guest sitting in the 5-flight walk-up New York apartment of Cori and Paul.

I never have seen this play before, and once again got a copy of the movie from the library.  This Neil Simon play was turned into a movie in 1967 starring Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.  The five actors in the play were all outstanding, and extremely comical.  I loved the play over the movie...much more in fact, and it's due to all the great actors. 

So another entertaining weekend of intimate live theatre.  It doesn't get much better.



Don Bluth in his family room at
Front Row Theatre