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Dexter Le Public Feed

Dexter Le Capstone

Posted by Dexter Le in Senior Capstone · Rosen-Long · ILP/TFI/CAP on Sunday, May 19, 2019 at 3:55 pm

For our capstone project, we have decided to create a video game that would help other people understand the process of creating ones themselves. Prior to the Capstone group, we had always been fascinated with games because of the fact that we played them growing up. While growing up, we got to see the advancements in video games as the newer games looked visually better. This drove us ambition towards creating our own games because we wanted to understand how the process worked. While creating this game, I have realized that teamwork is extremely important, and it is very hard to create a game individually. There are many reasons why creating a game individually is tough, and the first problem is the lack of feedback/criticism. Obviously, you could just get a friend or a mentor to help you while getting feedback from the game, however, having a teammate to offer feedback means just a little bit more. You see, when you have someone else contributing to the project, this creates a sense of unity in the whole group. When everyone agrees on a similar concept, work gets done so much faster. The “click” feeling is extremely important, and it is rarely something you will ever receive while creating your own game by yourself. However, that is enough of talking about my own personal experiences from creating a game in a group, let’s transition this towards our process for creating our game.


We had many tools that could be used in order to create our game, and our first step was thinking about what our game should be. We thought of a Tactical Role Playing Game, then we transitioned onto platformers. Platformers were extremely easy to create, however, perfecting the visuals would be challenging. One of the tools we thought of using originally was C++. If you are familiar with coding languages, you will know the true terror of C++. Regardless of it being in many applications today, C++ is a pain to use because of its complexity. If you wrote a singular wrong code, you can instantly crash your compiler or even your computer (This happened to me so many times). This portion of our research was just me and Anthony W. Coding in C++ gave us exposure to the coding world, and we have made some pretty cool things such as Text-based RPG, Scientific Calculators, and Data Storage. Although two of these are not related to our game, we were so intrigued with C++ that we wanted to see more of it in action. However, we decided that C++ was not the correct tool because of the fact that it was only me and him that was able to use it. Our other members in the group could not program in C++ so we’ve switched to better alternatives. We thought about using Python, Javascript, and even RPG Maker. This would take too much time in order to utilize completely (we only had a month left at this point) so we needed another solution. RPG maker costs money and it usually does not end out visually appealing. We decided to program our game in Construct 3D. This tool is extremely powerful and beginner-friendly. All of us can work on Construct 3D, and that was the selling point for our team. Not everything turned into sunshine and rainbows after that point, because we finally got a dose of what it was like to work in a team. We had disagreements in the group, we were off-task for our meets, and most of the time, only a few of us would work. In other words, we were starting to become lazy and we only had a few weeks left before this project would be due. Thankfully, our capstone mentor, Mr. Schaar, offered some pieces of advice to our group in order to stay on top of the project and actually be able to graduate. One of the most important advice Mr. Schaar gave us was to create something that “works”. It did not have to be a finished prototype, it could just be a demo. I’m still not sure how we managed to pull off our capstone, however, I guess it could be because Mr. Schaar gave us critical feedback for our team and something we could agree on: the game needed to be finished.


Construct 3D had many features and one of the most important ones is that there are no collaborative instances on one document. Only one person could work on the game, and the rest of us could not do anything. This plays back towards how our team was “lazy” at the beginning stages of the game. However, I have realized that there need to be more important things done: such as visuals (sprites), and audio components. We got Eric to do the sprites and some of the visuals for the game. Me and Lamier consistently worked on the level design of the game, however, I was more of a mixture of everything. I worked on most of the audio design along with the media lab SAT, Samuel, towards some of the programming and level design of the game. This helped me understand what needed to be done for the game because I had an equal footing on the concept. Honestly, I am not sure if I can imagine myself making the audio of the game had I not sat down and read over the concept materials along with making levels of the game. All of these characteristics that make up a game need to be linked back together. Should the visuals be depressing, and monotoned? Should the music also be sad and depressing? These are many of the questions that always surrounded my mind while I was creating this game because I had to understand the premise to it. However, for the most part, Anthony created most of the programming for the game, and it was done splendidly. Eric was able to create all of the sprites in the game that had themes similar to the concept of the game. While I and Lamier did a mixture of everything. Our finished game is embedded below, I suggest you give it a try! Although there are some noticeable bugs and inconsistencies, I am proud knowing that our game was created on time and actually runs. Beat that C++ invalid null pointer error.



#Capstone #Rosen-Long #2019

https://xegaeon.github.io/TransientCorruption/index.html
Tags: Capstone, Rosen-Long, 2019
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Alcoholism and the effects on the Human body

Posted by Dexter Le in Biology of the Human Body · Aziz · C on Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 7:11 pm
In this video, we talked about the effects of alcoholism that we studied and condensed it down to 1 minute. In addition, we took two interview recordings from Mr. Hellinger from The Council of Southeast Pennsylvania, and our School Nurse, Mrs. Barmont. We asked many questions for each of the interviewees which are structured in a way that helps us identify and learn from the effects Alcoholism plays on others. A significant part in the video was when each of the interviewees mentioned that Alcoholism not only affects the individual, however, it affects the emotional and mental structures of other people around this person. I contributed to this project by scheduling down our process and getting connections on the internet. In other words, I was the general coordinator for the team as I have reached a couple of organizations, and managed team time. I believe that I should improve on this time management because there were points where we got lost in the outreach process. We struggled to find interviewees, many organizations did not reply back except for one. However, I do believe that I did well in improvising our schedule because time flew by so fast and it made it hard to record everything. I will admit that the most beneficial part of this project was outreaching to other organizations. Although this may seem insignificant to the topic at hand, having the ability to communicate professionally to others is such a strong skill. From these interviews, we have realized how much of a threat Alcoholism is to the public, and why it is such an important public health issue. We have also learned that there are many wealthy organizations which encourage alcoholism, and even leave a mark in advertisements. However, we have also learned that there are professionals out there who counter against this disorder, and others who spread awareness to others.
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Coma Benchmark

Posted by Dexter Le in Biology of the Human Body · Aziz · C on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 3:09 pm
In this project, I was able to learn more about the brain and how it is affected during a Coma. There were so many aspects to the problem of the brain suffering a coma. I've found this project to be highly similar to the previous project when I was working on the sports physiology which was overall interesting. The most common form or way a person can get injured to the point of going into a coma is a head on collision. This relates back to the American Football project because helmet collisions are also strongly correlated to traumatic brain injuries. One of the most important things that I have learned from researching the Coma is that the brain is not technically "dead" when suffering it. Instead, the brain is going through a phase of minimal activity, or minimal consciousness. This is when the brain slows down and uses this in order to rest from the injury. This results the coma, and in addition, the person suffering the coma would not be able to respond to any stimuli or pain. This is important because Coma patients would not be able to gather resources in order to survive and need help manually in order to live. Another interesting fact is that there is imbalanced hormonal control present when the patient is suffering a coma, and that there are specific medications which patients take in order to reduce swelling of the brain. Overall, I found this project to be extremely interesting, I was able to learn new terms of the brain and how medications are able to help it by reducing swelling. I also found it interesting how there are organizations that are dedicated to finding cures for the Coma. 
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Sports Physiology Mini-Project with Eric Porter and Lamier Howard

Posted by Dexter Le in Biology of the Human Body · Aziz · C on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at 6:28 pm
In this project, me, Eric, and Lamier have studied to see how Football can impact your own body. This is a project for Anatomy class, and the whole journey has been surprisingly interesting. We found out how our tissues in our body are affected negatively and positively as a result of playing Football. Throughout researching on many scholarly sources like ncbi, we learned that Football injuries sustained from playing can affect the nervous tissues, muscle tissues, and connective tissues. Scraps will be noticeable on the connective tissues because an important joint, the kneecaps, usually take the first blow when a person falls down from running. Nervous tissue damage can result from head first collisions, and in Football, this can be similarly to the effects of a car crash. Finally, the muscle tissues are affected from this because these tissues drastically affect a player's performance. A player would need to be muscular in the lower body and upper body in order to be protected from injuries and run fast.

We will be doing an Arm Wrestle activity in which this shows how the easy it is to damage your brain. More information will be given during the presentations in class.​

Sources:

Francis, P., Whatman, C., Sheerin, K., Hume, P., & Johnson, M. I. (2019, February 11). The Proportion of Lower Limb Running Injuries by Gender, Anatomical Location and Specific Pathology: A Systematic Review. Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://www.jssm.org/hf.php?id=jssm-18-21.xml#


Manke, K., Kuzminski, S., Clark, M., Fraser, M., Guskiewicz, K., Sundman, M., & Patrella, J. R. (2018, November 16). Playing high school football changes the teenage brain. Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://scienmag.com/playing-high-school-football-changes-the-teenage-brain/


Orozco, G. A. (2018, October 25). Scientists uncover why knee joint injury leads to osteoarthritis. Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://scienmag.com/scientists-uncover-why-knee-joint-injury-leads-to-osteoarthritis/


Alosco, M. L., Kasimis, A. B., Stamm, J. M., Chua, A. S., Baugh, C. M., Daneshvar, D. H., Robbins, C. A., Mariani, M., Hayden, J., Conneely, S., Au, R., Torres, A., McClean, M. D., McKee, A. C., Cantu, R. C., Mez, J., Nowinski, C. J., Martin, B. M., Chaisson, C. E., Tripodis, Y., … Stern, R. A. (2017). Age of first exposure to American football and long-term neuropsychiatric and cognitive outcomes. Translational psychiatry, 7(9), e1236. doi:10.1038/tp.2017.197


McCarthy, C. G., & Webb, R. C. (2015). The toll of the gridiron: damage-associated molecular patterns and hypertension in American football. FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 30(1), 34-40.


Jussim, M. (2018, August 31). How 15 NFL Players Train and Get Shredded for the Football Season. Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://www.mensjournal.com/sports/how-15-nfl-players-trained-and-got-shredded-2017-season/5-rob-gronkowski/


McGinity, M. J., Grandhi, R., Michalek, J. E., Rodriguez, J. S., Trevino, A. M., McGinity, A. C., & Seifi, A. (2018). The impact of tackle football injuries on the American healthcare system with a neurological focus. PloS one, 13(5), e0195827. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0195827


Olympic. (2017, February 05). Retrieved February 9, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBomDnyuXMw&t=0s&list=PL-292yfpAFGZYGk_5NE5Dtg1w4e2AQ8eN&index=12

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IMG_2259
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Sports Physiology Mini-Project with Eric Porter and Lamier Howard

Posted by Dexter Le on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at 8:34 am
In this project, me, Eric, and Lamier have studied to see how Football can impact your own body. This is a project for Anatomy class, and the whole journey has been surprisingly interesting. We found out how our tissues in our body are affected negatively and positively as a result of playing Football. Throughout researching on many scholarly sources like ncbi, we learned that Football injuries sustained from playing can affect the nervous tissues, muscle tissues, and connective tissues. Scraps will be noticeable on the connective tissues because an important joint, the kneecaps, usually take the first blow when a person falls down from running. Nervous tissue damage can result from head first collisions, and in Football, this can be similarly to the effects of a car crash. Finally, the muscle tissues are affected from this because these tissues drastically affect a player's performance. A player would need to be muscular in the lower body and upper body in order to be protected from injuries and run fast.

We will be doing an Arm Wrestle activity in which this shows how the easy it is to damage your brain. More information will be given during the presentations in class.
IMG_2259 (1)
IMG_2259 (1)
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Fast Plants

Posted by Dexter Le in Biochemistry 2 Honors on Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 7:16 pm

Dexter Le

6/1/18

Biochemistry 2


Fast Plants Final Reflection


Throughout this semester, I have been observing the plants that our group planted in order to test Mendel’s theory of genetics and inheritance. We had observed two generations of plants, the F1 generation and the F2 generation. For our F1 generation, we had selected the seeds with the “Non-Purple Stem” and “Standard Purple Stem Hairy” traits. These plants would cross-pollinate and create seed pods which would serve as the primary seeds for the F2 generation.


There are also many variables that can play into the effect of each generation’s development such as the nursery and water. The growth of the plant can be severely affected by the environment. According to the United Kingdom Cannabis Social Clubs, the author states, “For plants to photosynthesis and grow they need constant air exchange to refresh the CO2 content of the surrounding air during both day and night periods”. In addition, water is a vital component to plants. Without water, the plants would not be able perform photosynthesis. These challenges affect the plant’s possible phenotypes. When I started analyzing the plant pictures, I have noticed that the development of the F2 generation was very similar to the F1 generation. A similarity was the the developing leaves of the F2 generation. Although the F2 generation did not have as many leaves in comparison to the F1 generation, the first weeks were very similar to the past generation. The parent generation grew faster whereas the F2 generation took some time in order to fully develop. I believe that the slow development of the F2 generation could possibly be the environment changes taking place outside. During the development of the parent generation, we were still going through Winter. Whereas, the F2 generation started development in late Winter and throughout Spring. In addition, the F2 generation was in development through an abnormally cold Spring which I believe could have played an effect on the growth of the generation.


Although in appearance, it seems as if some of the leaves in the F2 generation have different colors and patterns in comparison to the parent generation. We predicted that the F2 generation would have minor differences in comparison to the parent generation. Our prediction was correct because we have noticed colors that have been mixed with the F2 plants from the parent generation. The shape of the plants in the F2 generation resemble the parent generation almost exactly. After observing the pictures over and over, I have realized that the greatest indicator that determines the future of the plant’s appearance would have to be through development. In the F1 generation, you can see mini leaves growing during development. However, at maturity, the plant has retained the same color. This same indicator has also occurred on the F2 generation. At development, it is easy to determine the appearance of the plant as the leaves would grow and retain the color.


In conclusion, the observation of these plants have been fascinating. What stood out from this experiment the most was how Mendel’s Genetic Inheritance theory could visually be seen throughout the experiment. After doing research, I found an article that stated, “ A closer look into the inside of the [plant] cell, however, will show you that the way that genes and chromosomes work is extremely similar in all living things”. This experiment made me realize how similar we are to plants. Offsprings are able to inherit genotypes from their parents which makes them unique. After observing the plants throughout this semester, it was very enlightening seeing the similar characteristics.​

Sources:
"Indoor Gardening: How Important Is Airflow And Exchange?." UKCSC. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 June 2018.
"Mendel's Plants | Ask A Biologist." Askabiologist.asu.edu. N.p., 2018. Web. 3 June 2018.
Parent Generation Development
Parent Generation Development
Parent Generation Maturity
Parent Generation Maturity
F2 Generation Development
F2 Generation Development
F2 Generation Growth
F2 Generation Growth
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Q4 Artist Statement

Posted by Dexter Le in Art 1 · Hertz · d1 on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 at 5:07 pm

While I was studying Claude Monet, I hypothesized how I would be able to put his imagery and his perspective on his life and implement it into my own project. From the different time periods, it was incredibly difficult to understand his perspective in painting. However, I found a painting from Claude Monet that resembled a dock and a flag in the background.  I decided to use the same scenery and implement it into my own project. I took note of Claude Monet’s method of painting the sky. I found the sky to be very interesting because it was incredibly bright and lush in colors. I also noticed that Claude Monet liked to use high contrasts when painting in order to make objects stand out even more in the painting. After learning all of these core concepts that Claude Monet used in his paintings, I understood that he was focusing more on smaller details which eventually added up to the bigger image, the painting.


During this project, I used an assortment of colors. However, I tended to use an ultramarine blue-like color. I continued to use the technique of providing “x” strokes on the canvas for the sky, however, made the “x” strokes stretch to provide more depth in the sky and ocean. Originally, I wanted to make the painting somewhat a night scenery but found it difficult to implement as the contrast would be virtually nonexistent and ruin the objects in the painting. I improvised the sky and ocean by mixing green, blue, and red, consistently. I can not remember the colors because I had used a wide variety in order to accomplish the lush sky and ocean. Overall, I found the sky and ocean to be the most enjoyable experience when producing the painting. I was able to implement some of Claude Monet’s concept and theory in painting which made the painting a lot different in comparison to other painting projects.


In the painting, there is a flag, umbrella, boardwalk, ocean, and sky. I made the flag stand out from the sky and the ocean which gave the painting contrast in general. I made the flagpole black with some white marks to provide the reflection off of the sun. Along with this, I made the physical flag green to contrast from the blue ocean and sky. The boardwalk was coated with umber paint and I eventually mixed the umber brown with white in order to provide a creamy peanut-like color which symbolizes the reflection off of the sun. I used the same concept on the fences on the boardwalk, however, I feel as if I used too much of the white color. I also did not paint the umbrella properly because I had a hard time implementing the reflection off of it. Instead, I tried using an ample of colors in order to make the umbrella look lush in colors. This turned out fairly moderate to my expectations. I intended to make the umbrella a red-pink color in order to contrast itself from the brown boardwalk and blue sky and ocean.


Overall I found the project to be very enjoyable. I was able to mimic Claude Monet’s concepts of painting which I believe, gave me a stronger understanding of shadows and lighting. I found the concepts to be very educational and I motivating even after if objects or key features in the painting do not go correctly in the right way. At first, I was having a hard time trying to implement the ocean and sky without making it too dark (which happened) and I was able to fix the issue by providing brighter and vibrant colors in the mix which overall fixed the problem. Using acrylic paint made me understand the concepts of lighting and contrast, which overall, made me feel as if I improved as an artist.

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Monet, Claude. The Boardwalk On The Beach At Trouville. Trouville: N.p., 1870. Print.
Monet, Claude. The Boardwalk On The Beach At Trouville. Trouville: N.p., 1870. Print.
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Ecology Benchmark Tioga: Ecosystems and Biomes

Posted by Dexter Le in Biochemistry 2 Honors on Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 8:18 pm
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After finishing this benchmark, I understand how ecosystems can be affected by single populations and how it could potentially change the biome as a whole. For example, I found out that certain pests could infest the trees in the Taiga biome and completely destroy the current ecosystems. In addition, I have also learned that humans use the Taiga biome as a main source of lumbering, mining, and even industrial work. These factors harm the ecosystems in the Taiga biome. As the temperature raises up over time, species are being forced to move elsewhere as they are not suited for the current climate. Newer species take their places and this overall harms the ecosystems of the Taiga biome.
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Comparative Anatomy in Evolution

Posted by Dexter Le in Biochemistry 2 Honors on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 10:21 pm
https://comparativeanatomyevolution.weebly.com/

This project has given me an insight about evolution and how we are distantly related to other species even if they do not exactly resemble us. After researching the skeletal system from other species, I had noticed that there were common structures and similar functions. This led me to wonder what our common ancestor could have looked like. The project also informed me on the complexity of evolution and how even simple mutations could bring advantages in the species' survivability in the environment. Evolution continues to be an interesting topic because it gives ideas how species evolve into a new species and adapt to the environment in comparison to the previous species.

Overall, the project has shown me in depth the purpose of evolution. After comparing the skeletal system, it is easy to say that we were related to the animals that we researched because all of the animals resembled a specific feature in the skeletal system that resembled us. I found the analysis of the bone structure to be interesting because One animal seemed to resemble another animal, however, had a specific feature that we have that the other animal does not have. I found this interesting because it reminded me about the transitional animals during the films.
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Green Hills

Posted by Dexter Le in Art 1 · Hertz · d1 on Monday, January 22, 2018 at 2:00 pm
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When I first began this project, what came to my mind was, “How was I going to express my message to the viewer, the audience?” It took me a couple days before beginning it in order to realize what I truly wanted to say in the form of strokes. I finally was able to map out what I wanted my message to be and finally, it came out to be, “Messages can take the form of colors.” This statement was able to guide me through the whole project as it allowed me to only purpose my message. The colors were there to convey it and have the ability to communicate the message to the viewer. Before coming to this high school, I was able to conduct a deeper analysis of the arts and literature. During that time, I tried to find the meaning of the art besides just dismissing it with, “oh that looks nice.” There is more to the piece than what we make it be. During this project, I was able to analyze an artist who I am really fond of and produced my own style in the process. For this project, I decided to do Limited Palette. Limited Palette allows the artist to only use 5 colors. I decided to use watercolor paint rather than acrylic paint.


A technique that I had to develop was trying to “stitch” using the paint brush. I am uncertain as to what the technique is called, however, it played huge contribution to my work. The technique allowed me to display the leaves of the trees and make value into the piece. The technique is essentially using simple “x” strokes across the canvas. However, you want to make sure you have a small brush if you decide to make the image further away. This is a mimic from one of Bob Ross’s own technique I saw on his tv show. As such, his art has inspired me to do something similar, creating the beauty of nature using just 5 colors. Techniques are very important to the work and especially the artist. The artist needs to develop a technique in order to make the work consistent. A consistent story can tell a story whereas a dictionary cannot.


Present in my work, there are trees scrambled all over the place. However, there is one tree that seems to be close to the viewer, located on the right. Finally, there are mountains in the background, coated with a lot of colors. For the project, I decided to use Permanent Light Green, Phthalo Blue, Burnt Umber, Brilliant Red, and Chinese White. The Light Green was used primarily on the leaves, and I knew I could make the paint more transparent due to the fact that this is water coloring. Phthalo Blue was used more on the sky and the mountains, with some on the ground. Burnt Umber was used mainly for the trees and giving texture to the wood. Brilliant Red was also used for the mountains. Finally, Chinese White being used mainly for giving definition. I mixed the colors Brilliant Red and Phthalo Blue to get a similar purple color. Personally, the color looks like the many visible colors in the galaxy. Thus, I decided to use it on the mountains because it felt “distant” enough. At first, I watered it down to get the concept of what I pictured the base to be. Then Mrs. Hertz instructed me to use less water to get more of the colors into the piece. For the trees, I used a mixture of Burnt Umber and Permanent Light Green. Mixing the colors gives a very light brown and it was very good to give the contrasts of the trees. The stitching technique was very useful for the trees as well. I was able to stitch leaves into the canvas using the technique. I even combined Phthalo Blue and Permanent Light Green together in order to paint in the ground, the hill. This work is very similar to my previous work. It had trees and hills, however, lacked the mountains in the background.


In conclusion, I have learned a lot through the process of this project. This project allowed me to explore the many colors and possible combinations to get a different result. The Limited Palette was very challenging, but it makes the artist improvise when producing his/her artwork. Throughout the challenges I had to face, I could say that I am very proud that I was able to use colors to make other colors stand out. However, with many warm accomplishments, I also wish I had done things differently. I wish that I could have made the grass more visible rather than being transparent. The difficult of water coloring makes it very challenging to make things stand out since the water only makes the colors more transparent. I also wished I had not used such a big brush as it started to ruin up my canvas by giving it visible “cracks”. Overall, I am very proud of my work and the project was very challenging but fun.



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Biology Keystone Study Guide

Posted by Dexter Le in Biochemistry 2 Honors on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 2:41 pm
https://biologykeystonestudy.weebly.com/
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pinterest board

Posted by Dexter Le in Seminar Junior · Rosen-Long · adv on Thursday, November 2, 2017 at 3:12 pm
https://www.pinterest.com/dexter0602/collage-visions/
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Over The Hills

Posted by Dexter Le in Art 1 · Hertz · d1 on Sunday, October 22, 2017 at 2:46 pm

Dexter Le

10/16/17

Art 1

Artist statement portrait


My picture is complicated because of the colors in the scenery and the grasses. The scenery is vibrant with many colors, using Crayola colored pencils. The grasses stand out with a usage of ebony Prismacolor pencils, contrasting the green hills. The dark tree is to the left of the canvas; almost black. The dark sun that seems to only be absorbing the energy at the top right. The house in the middle, colored brightly for the reader to visually understand the meaning of home.


During Hurricane Harvey, a similar experience took place when the harsh raining nearly made visibility in front of me, impossible. However, I was able to see the forming rivers on my street, filling up slowly as if it were growing; a monstrous but illustrious experience.The hills are colored green. They could be seen for miles as the green stands out. The skies are lightful and they seem to like it’s glowing. The viewer would instantly know that the hills are green, and the skies were blue. Yet in the back, rests humanoid figures. Standing on top of the hill, behind the colorful skies, a story begins to play. I’ve made this story through Crayola colored pencils, graphite pencils, ebony Prismacolor pencils, and an eraser. I trace the canvas precisely with my pencil, so the viewer would understand that every line I carved into the paper; have to mean. Colors had to mean in my portrait. The green is supposed to symbolize the life in the world, the dark grasses to symbolize the dark. I used this technique, of coloring in lightly then tampering it with darker colors so that the objects of the canvas stood out to the viewer.


After analyzing a lot of painters, I’ve found a way to make the artist’s message stand out more. This technique consisted of doing very light strokes and using heavy strokes every so often; this was not perfected. I’ve gradually learned through trial and error. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, such as directing the attention to the side with lighter colors or making the sky way too dark. I’ve gone through many improvisations along the way. I’ve decided to continue this drawing style, darkening the foreground and light backgrounds, because of my experiences that I’ve witnessed through Hurricane Harvey; fully dedicated to the event. I wasn’t able to see outside due to the heavy rain yet the flooded streets stood out entirely. Almost as if it were a flowing river. I’ve decided to maintain that drawing style because it gave me more freedom to manually express myself. The color changes in the portrait give it a special theme. It looks bright at first until you start staring even more. An almost eerie sensation reveals later on as you continue the stare. Many questions begin to form as you continue, however, this is one of the many benefits; I love the drawing technique that I created during the process of this portrait. It allowed me to precisely trace my lines on the canvas and ability to color in easily.



I started my portrait off with coloring the background and foreground lightly. After that, I used a slightly darker color to fill in the foreground. I proceeded with minor details using a dark pencil to make the grass, the flowers, and the tree stand out. It develops contrast when comparing it to the light backgrounds because the ebony Prismacolor pencils are extremely dark. Making the correct marks on the portrait, I begin merging the light colors with the dark. I did this by rubbing my fingers on the portrait, smudging the dark colors with the light colors. Finally, I went back into my portrait to highlight the background by using a yellow color pencil. The yellow colored pencil easily contrasted with the blue skies. The technique of an art piece is extremely crucial to the artist. It allows the observer, the viewer, to understand the artwork and interpret it in their own eyes. Their eyes will translate your picture, your message, into something that is understandable only to them. What inspired me to the paint this way was from Darko Tolapski’s painting, Forest by the Lake. I was browsing the internet during my time in Houston, Texas, and found a painting that stood out. It was a lake that seemed to be glowing in my eyes, the foreground was nearly nonexistent. I wanted to mimic that same experience in this portrait, completely voiding the foreground and background.


If I had one thing to change about this work, I would definitely include more usage of other materials. I was having thoughts and relapses of including charcoal to signify the darkness even more, however, I thought the ebony pencil was great enough. With the changes that I would’ve wanted, I was happy overall with this work. I was able to communicate my message and my experience through a major transition in my life. I want this artwork to communicate the struggles of life. Although there is an eerie feel to the portrait, I’ve had terrifying experiences recently. I wanted the white humanoid characters to feel “pure”. Although it may look eerie, white is the color of pureness. Throughout my time this year, I want to alleviate my mental illnesses and start to smile more. I personally believe it’s better to be happy than nothing and sad.


In conclusion, this work that I had produced over a couple weeks allowed me to critically reflect on my life and experiences. It allowed me to capture the recent horrors in my life and allowed me to set positive goals. Although the goals may not be accomplished in a while, noticing weaknesses is more important than noticing the strongest points.








Over The Hills
Over The Hills
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A casual day on the internet

Posted by Dexter Le in ART 9 - Hertz - a1 on Wednesday, June 8, 2016 at 11:12 am
Memoir: A casual day on the internet

I decided to write this memoir because it relates to my own experiences. I usually go on the internet almost every single day and it does not get tiring at all. Here in my picture, I have my desk and equipment I use daily. I have 2 drawing tablets one on the front and one on the side of the desk. I play an online game that has an optional use of the little tablet and I draw on the bigger tablet. I also have my keyboard laid out and I decided to draw this more detailed because it has to be one of my prized possessions out of my whole desk. Along with the desk, I have two monitors which are not the same brand at all. I can relate this to my memoir because this is the equipment I use to browse the internet daily. Another reason why I decided to use this memoir is because I earned all of this by myself. What makes this special is when you spend your own money on something you need and it's a fuzzy feeling of "This is mine". 
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20160608_111105
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Electric Benchmark Project

Posted by Dexter Le in PHYSICS 1 - Gray - B on Monday, June 6, 2016 at 10:25 am
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20160606_100413
Art is the head of creativity and can be expressed using anything. I decided to make this sculpture mainly because what I have seen in the past years. Along with this sculpture, it always sets my day mood because of how abstract the internet is. This is what I enjoy doing and will remain a hobby as I will never dis appreciate myself.
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Street Art

Posted by Dexter Le in ART 9 - Hertz - a1 on Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 5:40 pm
My street artwork is named "dungeon". I decided to make the artwork simple and representational of myself because it would be more easier to understand. My meaning of the artwork is about life and how I am keeping up with myself. The meaning of the artwork is for you to decide what I am going through.
Along with my artwork, the only inspiration was myself. The reason why I decided to inspire myself is because, I can speak the most for myself. I cannot talk the opinions of others but I can talk about mine. Other than my inspiration of myself, I was not inspired by anyone else.

I decided to choose this location because I wanted a place where it would be far away from other artwork. Most artwork featured "happiness" "love" "future" etc, I did not want to destroy their value with my dark art. I chose a spot where it is dimmed, not bright, but does provide an exceptional view.

Although this is my old thesis of art, I would say that it did not change at all. Art is like literature, with a deep back story, and also with an experience. However, I believe the way on how you make art matters just as much. Therefore, my perception of art has not changed at all.

Previously like I stated, my perception of art around the city has not changed. The key factor of my thesis is the way on how you reflect your art on the world. If you decide to make your art for sale then so be it, however, art does not have a price. If you decide it does then so be it but are you really an artist with money instead?

In conclusion, this project did make me express my mind and released some of the negative thoughts over these months. The artwork did help me think about my self more often and the value of the colors changed my viewpoint when shading my artwork. This was a fantastic learning experience however, deciding the location was difficult. 



20160502_080414
20160502_080414
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The internet and you

Posted by Dexter Le in TECH 1 - Hertz - a2 on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 9:23 am
Side 1: Another you, world, how the internet affects you personally.
Slide 2: Your other you, and how you contribute to society. How you affect the internet.
Slide 3: Mistakes, unintentional for viewers or users. 
Slide 4: How that other you, causes actions either it is positive or negative
Slide 5: Your final submission process, how you interact with the internet and society.
Slide 6: Your effects, and how it effects you permanently. 
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Survival guide for the internet.

Posted by Dexter Le in TECH 1 - Hertz - a2 on Wednesday, November 11, 2015 at 4:48 pm

Online, I can be seen as a cheater, hacker, gamer, forumer (previously) and even just a regular person browsing the internet. I am known to be these genres because of the deeds I have did for the past 6-8 years. I first started off on xbox, got myself a 360 and live for a year. Little did I know what would happen as there is so many people on the internet. Sure, xbox is not our so called, “internet” but it actually is an internet. In fact, it's even a social media app where people gather up and play games together. I’ve invested around 3 years on xbox while I completely left it for my Personal Computer I received at 10. Before that, during almost every game on my xbox, I would be accused of being a Hacker/Cheater because of the skill level I would be at compared to others. You might be wondering why i’m telling you my story but It can relate to all of the tips and helps you should be wary of before spamming on forums.

At this time, I was pretty new to the “actual” internet. It was a different world, new stuff to be explored but my age was a big major deal towards this as well. Kids will also want to explore, wonder, not pay any attention to rules. Not only do kids do this but, they are portrayed with disrespect with the equivalent of a rat. From my experience, I know this because I wasn’t taken serious of people far above my age. This can happen because of posting something that you are not taken serious of / show dedication towards.

For example, go to youtube, go type in A vs B or (character) vs (character) look at the comments. You will always see one person that will post something that is completely abstract and not following the flow. There is a big difference between a conscious poster and troll poster. Every conscious poster should be wary and take notes from the other group of the situation. Examining is always the best option for you. Take a look at the other post that go against the situation. There will be posts that will eventually turn into a debate. Eventually, might even turn into a video. I’ve seen this happen to many times and too many people are getting death threats from this. I suggest everyone, consider the other group’s ideals. I'm not saying you should “accept” that this is better than that but actually make it into a more simpler, less demanding post. This will bring a peaceful mind to others and you won't receive death threats because of sharing your opinions or thoughts. I happen to do this most of the time and I can tell you this, this tactic almost works most of the time.

Every sharing website, for example, social media, is extremely risky and extremely providing at the same time. Social media is a good way to store data, your pictures, lifelong statements, you name it. The only disadvantages is that your identity would be leaked regardless of making yourself private. Your friends can broadcast/re post your picture and your done. The best way to remain the anonymity is never post anything and in fact, never make a social media account.

With the creation towards your social media account, there will be consequences if you fail to be able to control yourself / refrain from posting offensive material. Everyone, has and will, have a consequence because they simply could not control themselves. You may even grab a bad reputation from posting these offensive material which is why it's not recommended to do so.

Your social Media life can also affect your job selection process or some other process your employer does. Most employers that are in no need to rush for workers would sometimes search your name on to a search engine. For example, if I type my name up, you only see my Facebook account. If you type of my online username, you will find a different result. I do this to keep my information separate. However, this is not related towards the job selection. Your employer may find your social media account if you do use any, or any other content related to that search result. If they find material that is offensive or you simply like or follow an offensive page, you have just lost your spot to your job.

The most important situational event that happens everywhere is free of speech. You may see some debating on some videos on youtube. A small percentile of those comments may lead a threat to the original poster or another commenter. You may also see some threats that are made to representatives and the most funniest thing ever, they say that’s free of speech. Stated on the constitution, the first amendment, mainly freedom of speech, will not be protected from threats or acts of violence.

Another issue I will be explaining is our most favorite sadistic and funniest person on the internet, the troll. We are not talking about the real “trolls” but the internet “trolls”. Everyone has heard of them and they are true. Almost every single social media page or Youtube video, you will have that one person stating false/invalid information that is certainly entertaining but can be offensive. The best way to avoid the troll is to not even give the troll the reaction. Most of the time, you can just laugh at their post because it's just funny and it doesn't make any sense.

The internet is mainly revolved around one sole purpose, anonymity. Being anonymous sounds very nice, in fact, you are hidden in many pages. This can easily protect your identity from someone else and keeping you away from trouble. Sure it can keep you away from all of these things but, in the end, you’re just another page without a title. People will not know you at all, since you are posting anonymously and someone can easily just take your credit. Following with all of this, it’s nice remaining anonymous but,  being an empty page is not so entertaining.

Out of all of these years of me just browsing the internet for the first time, I can tell you this, I was lost. I had no idea where to go and it was just overwhelming. My first tip instantly is to make friends that use the internet frequently or simply make a friend online. However, be sure to get a trustworthy friend because almost everyone has a made up name. You don’t want to be like me and put my first name in my username, which is still there because I cannot change it now. Luckily, my friends were there to support me and help me change my name on other applications.

My next tip from my experience is avoid the illegal parts of the internet. I recently found this through researching but you need to stay away from dark spots in certain forum sites. As some of the material on those sites are extremely illegal according to the US Federal Laws. In fact, these sites are everywhere and you need to stay clear from them. It would be best if you had a filtering on your computer if you wish not to see such a thing. So just do yourself a favor, and don’t browse anything disgusting so you won’t get a knock at your door.

My very last final tip for people that don’t correspond to the other tips, do not make a social media account or never use the application. Never, you should never make a social media account for any reason if it’s related towards your lifestyle. Even if you did have it private, once that person sees your profile picture, he/she knows who you are. Whats even more disgusting is that pedophiles go to chatting boards to find children. I’m saying this because it’s all true. It’s been in the news and i’m pretty sure no one wants to be on the news because a man drove across the country to meet you. This can also occur not only just chatting boards but everything in general. It would be best to leave forum sites for good, social media for good, anything for good. Don’t be a part of anything if you wish to remain an empty page. However, if you accept all of this that it can happen, then you deserve to make an account or continue to use it.

Thanks everyone for reading, be sure to give me your thoughts by replying. Also, I do have a couple social media accounts open but I barely use it and it basically just sits there with the rest of the dead accounts. Luckily, I haven’t started anything with my official name but my username is surely getting some results.


Number of edits: 2


Notice: Server issues have been recently caught on the media section, therefore, I wont be able to post the picture, it is basically my desk and working space.


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