The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color

By now I have already finished around 20 MOOCs, and people around me sometimes ask me how it is possible. Easy! It's because of courses like "The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color " which are very entertaining without really asking much effort from you. No obligatory quizzes, no writing assignments - just a multiple question exam at the very end. If you watch the videos at twice the speed as I usually do, then a course like this takes around 1-2 hours per week which is a time you would have otherwise spent on TV series or JUST doing dishes, JUST cooking, JUST commuting to work etc.

Despite there not being too many incentives to pay close attention to what is being taught in the lectures, this course allowed me to gain appreciation for some films of the Hollywood mostly made prior to 1950. My greatest discovery: the Marx Brothers! Yes, I had somehow managed to live several decades on this earth without once seeing a film by Marx brother - now I cannot believe it either ... The course asked us to see just Monkey Business - but I was so impressed that I watched two additional ones. 

OK, back to serious stuff! What I'm taking with me from this course: 1) the appreciation for the silent films - their emotional intensity and "feel it first" motive ; 2) I now know what a classic Borzage shot is (ok, kiddin' , but still...); 3) the concept of using color temperatures in film: had no idea previously; 4) what happens when new technologies disrupt the status quo (I'm even taking a whole Coursera class on this subject - if I finish it, you'll get the review); 5) related to that - novelty,  then normalization, then re-awakened potential of the new technologies.  

In all, I would probably have preferred some stricter structure and a bit more discipline (I require a test or assignment otherwise my memory just doesn't retain that much), but content-wise the course was good!

7/10

P.S. Ah yes, it is written 95% on my statement of accomplishment - that feels a bit undeserved, my first final exam quiz was just 50%, and then I got it to 95% by the second attempt  ... :)

Coursera class: Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

I've just earned a statement of accomplishment in on of those massive MOOC classes hosted by Coursera - Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life.

Don't believe me? Here is a proof of that! :)

As you can see it was organized by the University of Edinburgh (oh, the fantastic city - I still have too many wonderful memories about this place!), and the instructor was the wonderful Charles Cockell.

The lectures were fantastic! Even though I joined the course being well prepared - I'm a regular reader of Scientific American, I read popular science blogs, try to watch documentaries and TV series on the subject - but still I learned a lot.  Not just in terms of totally new knowledge (although that too!), but also in terms of someone organizing and structuring some of the latent knowledge I had  in my brain, having acquired it at various times here and there and not knowing which comes from "real" science and which - from science fiction. And  it is always nice to refresh some things you already new via high school biology classes on cell structures, functions and some basic chemistry, also some history...

Some of the most interesting things I learned during this course (most of them are quiz questions):
1) building blocks of life and whether they can be produced in simulated ancient atmospheres;
2) the planets in Solar system that have evidence of  complex organic chemistry;
3) characteristics of life - how do we even define what is alive and what is not? Ability to evolve, ability to grow; ability to reproduce - now I'll remember! :)
4)  which elements are considered essential for any life and which ingredients are thought to be necessary as a plausible location for the origin of life;
5) which features of carbon make it one of the best elements for assembling life? What are alternatives to carbon?
6) what percentage of Earth's history is not preserved in the rocks? What is the oldest fossil evidence we have for life on Earth?

7) how many big mass extinction events have been found in the fossil record?
8) what percentage of the present level of oxygen was in the atmosphere 3 billion years ago? The right answer: just less than 0.1% - so you probably wouldn't want to time-travel that far to the past!
9) what proportion of known planetary systems is thought to have rocky planets within the habitable zone ? (it's 33!) How do we define a habitable zone?
10) various attempts to solve the communication problems with extraterrestrial intelligence (how will we be understood by someone unlike ourselves?)


The five week course took approximately 2 hours per week (I always used the option to speed up the video at least 1.5 times!) There were 2-3 multiple answer quizzes per week that sometimes were quite challenging, but then you could have two more attempts to score additional points. In all I got 95.4% which even earned me a distinction! :)

So in all an interesting, dynamic course. Compared to other MOOC's I would rate it 8/10. If you are interested in learning about all those things, try to catch the course when it is offered again.