Author Archives: Pedro Balbuena

Class Notes by Pedro B.

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Hello Guys, if you are reading these notes and have something I missed please comment on the post so we can all have complete notes. THANK YOU!

HW: Review Course Materials: 1)  Syllabus; 2) Course Outline (English Department) — at bottom of Syllabus page; 3) Blogging Grading Rubric / Expectations & Guidelines; 4) Assignments: Formatting, Guidelines, and Submission “The Elements of Story or Fiction” and post an introductory post introducing yourself. This is all posted under schedule.

Today August 28th, We discussed our Expectations and Preconceptions of Scienfiction.

Here are some phrases and or words we associated Sci-fi  with:

  • Nerdy
  • Aliens
  • Futuristic
  • Twilight
  • Technology
  • Space/Vastness/Galaxies/Planets
  • Science Theory
  • Supernatural
  • Blue color scheme
  • Unexplainable becoming reality
  • Unrealistic

We also introduced each other in groups of two which were selected randomly. Those partners are someone to rely on during the semester. We discussed about our favorite and memorable pieces of Science fiction. Like ‘The Hunger Games,’ ‘The Giver,’ ‘Brave New World,’ ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four,’ ‘Divergent,’ and ‘Black Mirror.” just some of the discussed works.

We watched the first few minutes of the pilot of Futurama to get a sense of what the future and alternative worlds seem to be.

Vocabulary brought up today during discussions relating to Sci-fi

Vocabulary:

  • Utopia
  • Dystopia
  • Topography  Topos– a place
  • Eulogy
  • Euphamism
  • Euthanasia
  • Paradox
  • Trope
  • U- ou
  • Eu– Good

Important people/ fun fact:

  • Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, Renaissance humanist, and author. He coined the word Utopia.
  • Marleen S. Barr is a literary critic but is also teaches communication and media studies at Fordham University. She has won a pilgrim award for her contributions to the Science fiction studies.

Explore our class page and all the links to familiarize yourself with open lab and also the material we will go over in the course.

We briefly went over some genres of literature, Sci-fi being one of them. And how Sci-fi as well may have a few genres of its own.

Again guys if you have anything I might have missed or something I may have written incorrectly please comment your answers or corrections. Thank You.

Thomas More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More

Marleen S. Barr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marleen_S._Barr

These are the links where I got some basic information on these important figures.