The Last Blog

It's been fun guys, but now it's time for me to go.
Image

Here we are...the last blog. I've had a few blogs over the years, each never lasting too long. I'm just not a blogger. But it's been fun. This is a great class, Steph is an awesome teacher. I've had fun.

Let's talk about internet genres

The internet is a living thing. It breathes and grows just like any other living thing. As it grows, things emerge that are entirely new, but can completely shape the way our lives work in a short amount of time. The two "genres" that have developed that I want to discuss both touch on social media- something that has become so prevalent in our online lives that there is almost no way to escape it.

"See? It says right there: if we don't send this to at least 10 people
by tomorrow, something terrible will happen."
http://anakam.equifax.com/

Way back when in the stone ages of the internet, when you found something you liked and you wanted to show it to people, you emailed them.

What an awful system. Luckily, we've made several leaps and bounds from that time. The biggest one being the advent of social networking sites. Now, when you wanted to share something with your friends, you could just post it in one spot, and everyone would be able to see it! But the story doesn't stop there. Facebook developed the "share" button, a simple gadget that would allow you to instantly post things to your wall without having to copy and paste the url address. As Facebook became more integrated with various websites, the button migrated outward across the web. This is not only an easier way to share things you find, but also things other people have found as well. It promotes the viral nature of the web. After the share button, pictures began cropping up all over newsfeeds, typically poignant images with some sort of under-covered news story attached. These images got shared by the tens of thousands, spreading instantly across hundreds of miles to different people all over the United States and the world.

http://owni.eu/

This is significant. This has changed how we do things. But this is not the true legacy of Facebook. The thing that Facebook has done that will persevere long after Facebook itself has faded is the "like" button. This little feature revolutionized the way we interact online. It has gone so far as to even affect what we associate the very word with. The "like" of 2010 is a different thing entirely than the "like" of 1990. As with the share button, this has also spread it's roots across the web, spawning an entire mindset around the rating of ideas and comments. You'd be hardpressed in this day and age to find a major website that does not feature some sort of rating system (made now even more prevalent with Google's +1).

Who knows what the future holds?

Just some stuff

Guys. Firefly is on sale on Amazon right now for 70% off.

I'm really tempted to buy it.

It's also got me thinking about how technology is changing the way we do stuff. Mainly, I'm thinking about Black Friday. More and more, the idea of standing outside a store in the cold for 5-8 hours seems less and less appealing. For awhile now, online BF deals have been happening, some even before BF itself. Some of those deals aren't half bad. These last few years I haven't really gone out BF shopping because nothing in the ads really appeals to me anymore. Maybe one day we'll move on to a point where it's all online.

It's 8 in the morning and I'm not really sure why I'm up right now, much less blogging. Sorry if this was a little less than coherent. Here's a picture of Nathan Fillion in a bonnet.

Let's talk about Intertwingability

Mooreville talks about a lot of things in the future, some of which hit true. While smartphones certainly existed in 2005, they did not hit the widespread explosion of usership that occurred with the release of the iPhone. We see our smartphones becoming increasingly more powerful, integrating many of the things Mooreville predicted they would (such as GPS).

Speaking of the iPhone, Mooreville was concerned with how we would deal with the keyboard in mobile computing- we need something that we can type on, but we need it to be small. How? We can't make our fingers any skinnier, and our pockets aren't getting bigger. The solution came with the iPhone. Touchscreen. Which, also ironically, is pioneering it's way into speech-to-text with Siri, something Mooreville dismisses as never happening.

He mentions how smartphones will allow us to become more organized during protests. This is certainly true, twitter has allowed multiple revolutions to occur in the Middle East as well as here in the States, with Occupy Wallstreet. We also have flashmobs, a more playful evolution of this mass interconnectivity.

There's a list of things he gives that people are and will use technology for:

• Student use of wireless laptops during classroom lectures for real-time reference (e.g., to fact check the professor's claims) and backchannel communications with fellow students (i.e., the digital equivalent of passing notes).
  
• Calling your spouse from the video store to gauge interest in a specific movie or from the grocery store to ask where to find the hot chocolate.
  
• Googling a new acquaintance while waiting for him to arrive at a restaurant (he just called from the road to let you know he'd be five minutes late).
  
• Using a smartphone to check Amazon customer reviews (and prices) of books found while browsing inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore.

• Distributed, collaborative shopping by teenage girls using picture phones. How do you like this dress? Does this color look good on me? Should I buy one for you?

All of these (well, we facebook people, we don't google them) are now commonplace in our lives.

Online Privacy

http://dilbert.com/

Although humorous, today's Dilbert strip brings up some interesting points. Before, when applying for a job, the company knew only what you told them. You could tailor your professional appearance to suit your needs. But in today's society, suddenly it becomes increasingly difficult to separate your different "identities" from one another. They leak into each other. What happened to having a private life?

On a related note, here is a fantastic movie that also deals with emerging media and how it affects our lives and privacy. Highly informative, I recommend it to everyone.

Lets talk about Typography

There was a point in my life where I toyed with the idea of becoming a graphic designer, so this stuff is pretty important.

In Lupton's book, Thinking With Type, she talks about...well, type. I'm not going to lie, the history of type is an incredibly dull subject. The actual science behind how each font works is much more interesting, but the history...blech.

One page that stood out to me, however, was page 25, because there was a direct connection to the kinds of things we have talked about previously in this class. Here, Lupton talks about increasingly experimental forms of font, and the backlash against it, calling it "gross and immoral," and claiming it was "tied to a destructive inhumane industrial system."

Obviously this is not the case, but doesn't it sound familiar? Like the old hype about the dangers of the internet to our society? Or the cries of doom when Gutenberg's printing press came out?

umad, art world?
Source

The page goes on to discuss what many graphic designers already know- type is an art. In fact, it's always been an art, long before even the printing press. Look at medieval script. It is painstakingly and lovingly crafted in an artful fashion. In China, the highest form of art is still considered the calligraphy of Chinese characters. Lupton goes on to mention two very well known art groups- the De Stilj and the Bauhaus- that also played with typography as an artform. I'd like to add one more to the list, the Dada's, which remain among one of my favorite art movements, mostly because Duchamp was such a troll.



I think page 53 is pretty interesting as well, if only because it highlights something we don't often think critically about- logos. Logos represent companies and brands, so it is critical that they be instantly recognizable. For example, let's look at Blizzard Entertainment's three wildly successful games: Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo.

http://www.skuggen.com
http://starcraft.wikia.com
http://www.giantbomb.com

As you can see, each is distinct from the other, not just in color scheme, but in font. Just by looking at the fonts chosen, you can gain some inkling of what the game is about.

A parting thought- what we value in fonts is always changing- even today. Think back to when you were younger. When you opened up a MS Word document, what was the default font? Times New Roman, a serif font. Now what is it? Calimbri, a sans serif.

And with that, I'll sign off. But before I go, do you think you have what it takes to be a graphic designer?

Let's talk about proofreading etiquette

Mainly, that it is YOUR job as the writer to go through and PROOFREAD IT YOURSELF FIRST before submitting it for a peer review. I CANNOT stress this enough.

I'm currently in a fiction writing class and we are in the midst of workshopping stories. Apparently, it is just TOO MUCH WORK to even run a fucking SPELLCHECK before submitting work. This is rude, and it is goddamn awful to read.

This, but for 20 pages.
http://rodaberget.wordpress.com/

You might remember me ranting about the writing compentancy exams earlier this year (which I passed, by the way). I now retract all my statements. The story I'm reading currently is done by (according to my facebook creeping skills) a creative writing major. It. Is. Awful. I thought getting to college meant one could write, but I'm obviously wrong.

Reading this trash feels like I'm punching myself in the eyes. Over and over and over again.







Now for something that actually relates to this class.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=694325026

This photo recently popped up on my newsfeed. It claims that an officer in DC tossed a dog down a flight of stairs and then shot it several times during and Occupy gathering. This, however, is only partially true. This event did happen, but it happened in September of last year. What I find interesting though, is this: this photo (uploaded yesterday) now has roughly 2500 shares. That is the kind of society we live in today, where an event like this, which in earlier times, probably would have never made it out of a local news circuit, can go national, even global, in a matter of days. Not only this, but when people abuse their power like this, they are now suddenly held responsible for their actions. Someone managed to get a shot of this guy's face, and I guarantee that there are people out there right now collaborating to find his name, badge number, and a slew of other personal things about him. We no long live in the age of the Coverup.

This would be much more interesting if someone weren't using this to garner sympathy for OWS (and if it weren't a year old), but still. Food for thought.

Moar Changes

I think it's a little difficult to use examples of blogs such as the ones we saw in class to format our own. The most common addition that those sites have that ours do not, are things like cross promotional outlets (ie, linking to their twitter, their facebook page, etc). I don't really use twitter outside of class, and I don't have a facebook page (page, not profile) to link to this site. I don't have some sort of product I need to cross-promote. It doesn't help that the horror that was websites in the early 00's were so scarring that I have become very minimalist when it comes to web design (current background the only exception because I love it so much).

My site is easy to navigate, easy to read. I don't really think I need, or want, anything else.

What I did do is add the share options to the end of each of my posts, as well as change my banner (something I had been meaning to get around to anyway).

In the spirit of one-ups-manship...

I will now post a creepy pasta that is even creepier and filled with even more pasta.


Let the pasta arms race begin!

I'm going to Chicago for the weekend

Even though I have to read and critique two 20-page stories for Fiction writing, finish an 8 page screenplay for Screenwriting, and study for a midterm for Poetry. Oh well, at least I won't have to blog.

Magic Beans and Bear Attacks

Everyone knows that the only way to save yourself from bear attacks is with magic beans.

There are many different kinds of magic beans you can use.

Green Magic Beans	Red Magic Beans
Yellow Magic Beans	Blue Magic Beans

But really, the best protection against bear attacks is simply to not be attacked by bears.

Let's talk about Kindles

With the release of the Kindle Fire (and the consequential lowering of the regular Kindle price to $79), ereaders are more affordable than ever.

I'm sure some of you have noticed, but I am a Kindle owner. It was a recent switch, a few weeks before school started. Now before I had tried this out, I had much of the same knee-jerk reaction against them as I'm sure many of you do.

It doesn't feel like a book.
It's just not the same.
Books just have that certain feel.
Ew.

Meet my friends, Pro and Con.
NY Daily News

But let's break this down and get some sweet sweet pros and cons action going on here.

The Pros

I'm going to be honest, ereaders are pretty freaking sweet. Let's look...for example, the Kindle can hold 1,400 books. 1400. That's a lot of freaking books to be lugging around....in a thing that weighs less than a pound. The pearl ink base they use for the letters is amazing, and will read essentially like paper (ie, no eye strain from backlighting, very little to no glare). You can adjust the size of the font if you feel the letters are too small. Did I mention that it holds 1400 books? I still can't get over that.

It has a wireless feature (or 3G, if you buy that model) that can allow you to email books to your Kindle. As far as battery life, as long as you keep the wi-fi off, it will last for around 2 months (no exaggeration there. I literally have to charge this once every 2-3 months).

I'd also like to say if you're a disreputable sort, the kind that likes to sail the salty seas and eat a lot of citrus to avoid scurvy, there are a lot of really easy ways to get free ebooks. Not that you should. But I'm just saying. It's pretty sweet. This includes several textbooks. Or so I hear.

The Cons

As silly as it sounds, there is a different feel when reading a nice new thick book. I get that. You could say that there's a different feel of owning a vinyl or a CD versus a digital mp3 album. I also miss being able to simply flip pages idly, or jump back several chapters to check up on an event that is mentioned later. You can do that kind of thing with the Kindle, but it take longer than I feel is worth it. A digital reproduction of the cover isn't the same as getting the real book cover either, with its shiny embossed lettering.

Final Thoughts

Saying books are superior to the Kindle is a lot like saying CD/players are better than mp3/iPods. Except for some odd nostalgia, it isn't really. I really see books going the way of the CD, still available and bought by people who appreciate them, but the mass majority of the population switching to digitized books. We're not quite there yet (part of the problem is a LOT of backlash from the publishing industry....not unlike what we felt when mp3s were first introduced).

My advice? Keep an open mind. Try one out. Let's be honest, $79 is a ridiculously good price (and I expect it will drop for Christmas). It's only a little bit more expensive than a brand new Xbox game. If piracy leaves a sour taste in your mouth, there ARE a lot of free ebook downloads available via Amazon (although don't expect to find your favorite bestsellers on the list).

TUSFLOJ, otherwise known as the HTML part of my midterm

As I predicted, I ended up on-and-off working on the midterm until about 3:30 in the morning. This lovely portion I got to at about 2 am. Once more, I shouldn't be allowed to code when I'm tired. Weird stuff happens.

The Ultra Super Friends League of Justice

Much like how sports teams have their second-string players, super hero leagues also have their second-string players. And much like how sports leagues have minor leagues, super hero leagues also have minor leagues. And much like how sports teams have fat kids who immitate them in their backyard, .....well, anyway, The Ultra Super Friends League of Justice!

The Team

• Johnny Nightvision
• The Chef
• Madame Cougar
• Wiz Kid
• Captain Sarcasm
• Hind Sight
• 2 ¢

Name and Alias		Super Power	Weakness	Origin	Catchphrase
John Ambersam	Johnny Nightvision	The ability to see clearly at night	The loss of his night-vision goggles	John Ambersam was just a normal 43 year old jobless man living with his mother. One fateful day, however, as he was eating his Sugar-Explodey-O's, he saw an advertisement for Sargent Armyman's Bonafide Night Vision Goggles (tm), for the low, low, low price of 6 payments of $36.44. He immediately began siphoning away his mother's medications to sell to middle schoolers to raise the money. With the night vision goggles in hand, he became Johnny Nightvision the intrepid warrior of the night!	"The night is my might!"
Miguel Rodrigez	The Chef	Cooking microwave dinners extremely well.	Not having a microwave or a frozen dinner handy	Miguel Rodrigez was born with a gift. A gift to make the best damn microwave-ready meals the world had ever known. He knew, however, that with great power comes great responsibility, and he vowed to use his powers to make the world a safer place to live.	"Five minutes on "high" should do for you!"
Beth McGowan	Madame Cougar	The ability to seduce men at least 20 years younger than herself.	Women and men over the age of 25	Beth McGowan was a happily married woman, until a tragic cougar ravaged her family, killing her husband and her 3 young children. She too, was terribly savaged by the beast, but with highly experimental medical technology her husband had been developing, as well as a healthy does of Celtic magic, remade her as Madame Cougar, the sexy mistress of justice!	"I have so much to teach you!"
Matthew Bernicky	Wiz Kid	Hacker	Being grounded, doing homework, or being at school. Also, shellfish, peanutbutter, girls, and direct confrontation.	Matthew "Wiz Kid" Bernicky is only 13, but he is a high class hacker, slicing through the most complex store-bought anti-virus programs with only mild difficulty, over the span of several days. He is the USFLOJ's "behind the scenes" guy, providing them intelligence and his hacking abilities, when he is not in school or doing his homework, or after 9, because that's his bedtime.	"5 more minutes mom!"
Joney Millcifent	Captain Sarcasm	Really hurtful comments	Self-confidence and physical force	If words could cut like swords, Joney would be a swordmaster. Dark and brooding, he is an impeccable example of teen angst personified in scathing sarcasm. He is 2 ¢'s older brother, and his mom insists that he "play hero" with her.	"Whatever."
Rames Down	Hind Sight	Knowing exactly what the team should have done in any given situation.	Things that haven't happened yet, or are happening currently	Rames Down is possibly Jonesy's only friend. Early on in life, he discovered he had a knack for knowing what he and Jonesy should have done to avoid trouble after they had already gotten caught. In hindsight, this superhero league is probably a terrible idea.	"My hindsight is 20/20!"
Kylee Millcifent	2 ¢	The ability to chime in cutely on any conversation	Being a 5 year old girl	Kylee is 5. She likes pink. She's adorable. She also has to give her opinion on everything, even if she has no idea what the topic is. She thought being a superhero would be a lot of fun. Plus it pissed off her brother.	"Well I think that-!"

Click here to learn about the USFLOJ's arch-nemisis.

Let's talk about awesome short films

The internet is a strange and wonderful place. Just thought I'd share some of the good stuff that's out there (that isn't about adorable kittens).

Our Time is Up

A short film about a successful therapist who goes through some unexpected life changes.

Thought of You

Hands down, one of my absolute favorite videos on youtube. It really makes you appreciate the human figure in motion.

Crater Face

Keep an eye on the name Skylar Page. He's going to be big someday. An absolutely precious short about an astronaut who is also a total bro.

The Backwater Gospel

A dark film about fear.

Gift of Ages

A short flash animation by one of my favorite contemporary artists, John Su about the origins of Santa Claus.

All About My Dog Marimo

This video will make you cry. I don't even particularly like dogs and this is amazing.

Niggers Niggas Niggaz

This isn't technically a film, it's a spoken poem. But I think it's powerful, and it brings up some interesting thoughts, especially in light of the "re-propositioning" of the word "slut", which is part of the campaign of Slutwalk.

Eagles are Turning People into Horses

Britanic is a comedic genius and you should watch all of their videos, starting with this one.

The Cat Piano

Part poetry. Part movie. All art.

Table 7

A couple is having a conversation, but their every word is being recorded. Everything is not as it seems.

Out of Sight

A beautifully animated Chinese short.


And there you have it, a short(?) list of some very excellent videos. Like what you see? Know some great videos that weren't listed? Share them in a comment below!

Let's talk about Steve Jobs

In this article posted by Mashable, they featured a small cartoon claiming to be paying respects to the recently passed Steve Jobs.

This is terribly offensive for a variety of reasons. The first being that it depicts angels/heavenly beings as consumerist beings that all own Apple-wear. I know this is hardly the first example of religious iconography meshed with pop-culture, but for some reason, this particular example grates heavily on me. Perhaps it is because this was presented, not in a comedic or satirical context, but of one paying homage to a man. Perhaps it's simply because the joke implied here is so fucking lame. Seriously, was that the best punchline you could come up with?

But I digress. That's not really the important issue here. The important issue here is that Steve Jobs wasn't a Christian. The man was a Buddhist. I went and confirmed that after literally 2 seconds on google. How can you claim to be honoring a man when you couldn't even take the time to learn what faith he belonged to? Honestly, it's this kind of ego-centric assumption that gives America such a reputation of arrogance and narcissism. Love the man, hate the man, say whatever you want about him, this is America, you have that right. But don't sit there and try to pretend like you're paying him an honor when you couldn't even give him the respect of learning what faith he prescribed to.


*Also, Steph, my last post is actually in a table, just in case you missed that.

A Dark Night

Let's talk about Privacy

Anyone else remember these PSAs? I used to scoff at them when I was young. OBVIOUSLY don't post things online that you don't want other people to see, it seemed so clear to me that I laughed at people who didn't get it. Well, the PSA is still stupid, mostly because it focuses on pictures. But let's expand the horizon a bit. We no longer live in an impermanent age. You know the old saying "you can't take back what you say"? Even more relevant. This is no longer about just images that can be saved off the screen and then reposted, text now applies as well. For example, Dilbert creator Scott Adams posted on his blog an entry that was fairly anti-feminist and offended a lot of people. Within hours of realizing this was probably an awful idea, he had deleted it, but it was too late: dozens, if not hundreds of sites had already grabbed the post and reposted it, and even more took it from those sites and reposted it in a chain reaction that was unstoppable. This all happened some time last year, but I can still do a quick google search and find his exact words.

That's....that's pretty scary. Another example, some of you may or may not know, but every twitter post is archived by the Library of Congress. That's right. That tweet you just sent out? Going to be saved for all time. I actually understand why they're doing it, it's going to be a treasure trove of sociological information on our generation and the trends we followed for future generations to analyze, but it's still creepy and unsettling to think about. I even remember someone from our reader writing a quick article about Google+ automatically sharing all of his Picasa photos, some of which he most certainly did not want shared.

Privacy? You're so cute, Facebook user.
-The Facebook Staff

And let's not forget the most important offender of this ongoing trend: Facebook. Because, honestly, Facebook doesn't give a flying fuck about your privacy. Oh, where do I start? Well, one day, my girlfriend showed me the wonderful thing known as A Very Potter Musical (and the subsequent A Very Potter Sequel). Being the creepy bastard that I am, I then proceeded to look up Joe Walker, the actor for Voldemort, on Facebook. I found him too, and sent him a friend request, mostly just for shits and giggles. He never did add me, sad day :(

But I still got to read his status updates. Because on Facebook, if you just ignore a friend request, that person can still see your stuff. I guess that means I better just outright decline then, right? Next time you get a friend request, look at the button next to "accept". It doesn't say "decline", it says "ignore". Hitting this button doesn't get rid of the request, it merely hides it from you, allowing that person you didn't want to be friends with to creep all over your statuses.

Facebook is uncomfortably open when you first create an account (the new Timeline profiles are not going to make it any less so). You can go in and change your privacy settings, but, not to be rude, there are a lot of really dumb people out there who can't figure this stuff out. And even if you do, from what I hear, companies and schools can override your privacy settings and get at your profile anyway.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we're all doomed and nothing will ever be private again. The government will soon start monitoring our thoughts and things are going to get 1984 on us.

No I'm not. That's not the point at all. I'm not sure what my point is, other than the concepts of privacy are changing in our digital world, and we need to learn to adapt and figure out how to keep the things that we don't want others to know, to ourselves.

Let's talk about the X-men

Or, as you guys might recognize, Listing 6.1 8-something from our html book. EDIT: Figured it out guys. I've been using the 7th edition of the book instead of the 8th. Got the 8th now and everything is sorted out. This is what happens when I code things while sleep deprive. Just thought I'd share.

X-men are some badass motherfuckers.

Let's face it, the X-men are some tough motherfuckers. They shoot lazors and doesn't afraid of anything. But what if you need to look up the X-men in all their badassery individually and alphabetically?

What are you, some kind of girly-man? You should be able to do that by memory! But because girly-man is a very real and serious disease, I suppose I'll help you out just this once.

Alphabetical Index

(click on a letter you girly-man)

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q RS T U V W X Y Z

---

A is for Arch Angel

Up there! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's motherfucking Arch Angel, that's who. Yeah, look at him soar around on those big fucking wings being a sexy boss. He was pretty shitty but then his wings turned metal and started shooting shrapnel or some shit, and that's pretty cool.
Still a girly-man?

---

B is for Beast

Beast is a fucking beast. Look at him, being all blue and shit. He'll fuck your shit up and then say something pithy about it, because he's really fucking smart. What a swell guy.
Still a girly-man?

---

C is for Cyclops

Scott Summers is a giant tool.

-Logan
Still a girly-man?

---

D is for Deadpool

The coolest kid on the block, he's crazy and doesn't afraid of anything. He also breaks the fourth wall like a cheap Vietnamese whore. And he breaks cheap Vietnamese whores like cheap German whores. Because he's fucking Deadpool.
Still a girly-man?

---

E is for Professor X

Because fuck you, he's Professor X. He can fucking control your brain with his brain. That would be like if a large muscular Russian man named Boris killed you, skinned you, and then wore your skin on top of his skin and pretended to be you and everyone was cool with it. That's how fucking scary Professor X is, so if he wants to show up before P and/or X, he's going to goddamn do it. The man can make you shit your pants with his mind. I cannot emphasis that last point enough.
Still a girly-man?

---

F is for Forge

This guy built some nifty shit. He's like the mutant form of Steve Jobs or something.
Still a girly-man?

---

G is for Gambit

Pretty much the coolest motherfucker alive. Look at him tossing those cards. That's fucking badass. Wait, what's go- HOLY SHIT DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT CARD JUST FUCKING EXPLODED. That's not even his mutant power. That's just him being so goddamn awesome that the card couldn't contain it and exploded. Gambit gets all the chicks.
Still a girly-man?

---

H is for Havok

I don't remember what this guy does, I think he was Cyclops' brother or some shit, but with a name like Havok, he's probably uber badass. If you were told you had to fight to the death either a guy named Norman or a guy named Havok, which would you choose? That's what I thought.
Still a girly-man?

---

I is for Iceman

What a cool dude.
Still a girly-man?

---

J is for Juggernaut

Silly bitch, your weapons cannot harm me. I'm the Juggernaut.
Still a girly-man?

---

K is for Shao Kahn

He's probably a mutant.
Still a girly-man?

---

L is for Lasers

Because human or mutant, we can all agree that lasers are fucking awesome and that everyone needs more of them.
Still a girly-man?

---

M is for Magneto

Yeah, he's not an X-man, but he also kicks a lot of ass. Plus Ian McGreggor is a total boss.
Still a girly-man?

---

N is for Nightcrawler

He's a fuzzy blue bastard who looks cool as hell. I hear he used to use swords too, which is so much cooler than just looking cool.
Still a girly-man?

---

O is for Optimus Prime

He died for your sins.
Still a girly-man?

---

P is for Phoenix

HOLY FUCKING SHIT RUN RUN RUN RUN IT'S PHOENIX OH GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE
Still a girly-man?

---

Q is for Phoenix still

BECAUSE PHOENIX IS SO BIG AND SCARY SHE TAKES TWO LETTERS TO COVER OH GOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE. I CANNOT STRESS THAT ENOUGH
Still a girly-man?

---

R is for Rogue

Probably the saddest person on earth, and for good reason. But just you wait. When her powers evolve and she learns to control them, shit is going down.
Still a girly-man?

---

S is for Storm

Badass African wind goddess shooting fucking lightning and shit fuck that's cool.
Still a girly-man?

---

T is for Thunderbird

I think he was the token Native American mutant or something? He was also a pretty sweet car.
Still a girly-man?

---

U is for Uncle Touchy

Wait, what? Who let this guy in?
Still a girly-man?

---

V is for Venom

Close enough.
Still a girly-man?

---

W is for Wolverine

Fuck, look at those claws. Those are fucking sharp. This guy is going to fuck up your day. Why? Because he fucking can. Good luck killin the fucker too. He just keeps coming back like some sort of angry Canadian zombie ready to tear your shit up.
Still a girly-man?

---

X is for X-23

It's like if Wolverine were a hot chick with boobs and stuff instead of being hairy and Canadian. Also, toe claws. What's up with that?
Still a girly-man?

---

Y is for Yoko Ono

Only a mutant would have the power to destroy the Beatles. It all makes sense.
Still a girly-man?

---

Z is for Zombies

What's scarier than the X-men? Zombie X-men. You may proceed to shit your pants now.

-Prof. X
Still a girly-man?

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Let's talk about my new look

If you're a long time follower and fan of my blog, you might notice that things look a little....different today. Well that's because I read this article and then largely ignored what it had to say. I don't know where it gets off calling itself "design tips" when the only real design advice they give is "let a professional designer look it over".

Probably the number one priority of your blog should be readability. The author of the article mentions that briefly in "part 2" (which there is no way to navigate to from part 1....are we sure this person is qualified to be giving design advice?). That point should be NUMBER ONE for design. It doesn't matter how sleek or "cool" your blog looks if no one can read anything on it. My old design was white-on-black, which is a solid choice, and I prefer it to black-on-white, because staring at a white screen for extended periods of time can strain your eye. Currently I'm rocking out some light blue to combat the oncoming dreary winter. Sure, the big blocks of solid color somewhat obscure my totally rockin' background image, but readability is much more important than whatever background I choose.

Something that had been bugging me for awhile now, my default theme made my hyperlinks difficult to read. When I hyperlink something, I damn well want you to know about it. Red does that wonderfully, contrasting with my blue background just enough.

I've also added a navigation bar and some new pages to navigate to. That was way more difficult than it should have been.

I don't really agree with the need for a "top posts" gadget, not with the level of traffic I get, but it's cute and it entertains me, so I'll keep it.

More to come soon.

-Mightybearshark

Let's talk about Anonymous

Recently, I came across a video on youtube from Fox News:

As you can see, and I was shocked to learn, there is a hidden internet gang of hackers known as "Anonymous" terrorizing us today. This "internet hate machine", as Fox News caster Paul Fetch fitting calls them, gather on a secret website veiled in mystery. Here they plan "raids" against innocent people on the internet, claiming to do it for the "lulz".

I am appalled that such a thing has developed in this day and age. I've heard the term "anonymous" tossed around occasionally in news reports, but this is the first time I've ever really looked into it. It's disgusting. How can people act like this?

Some things Anonymous does, according to Fox News:

• Hack random myspace accounts
• Plan domestic terrorist acts (like blowing up a football stadium)
• Ruining the end to popular books like Harry Potter
• Harassing children's sites like Habbo Hotel
• Being anti-semetic and racist

This is the real threat to America. The liberal agenda tries to confuse you with false issues like Global Warming, but it's Communists like these guys (just look at their terminology- "collective". If this group were any more red, a bull would charge them). God Bless America. God Bless.

Let's talk about the problem with Polemic

So I'm sitting there, reading about what it means to be technologically literate, when these two brothers, Polem and Mick come up behind me.

With one on each side, onion and garlic breath battling for dominance, they ask me what I'm reading.

"Oh nothing," I reply, "just some stuff about technology."

"Tech-NOL-ogy?" Polem exclaimed, sounding out the word with a look of disgust, "Oh I know all about tech-NOL-ogy."

He spits on the ground just left of my foot. It's a faint greenish color.

"THAT'S what I think of tech-NOL-ogy." he said snorting.

"Shut up buttface!" Mick punched him in the arm.

"You're so dumb! Technology is the best! It helps EVERYBODY!"

I sit there and sigh as the two brats break down into a squabble. Eventually, as it always does, they both turn to me and ask me.

"What do YOU think Daniel?" Mick asks eagerly, "Isn't technology the greatest?"

"No WAY! You agree with me, right buddy?" Polem enthused, "That stuff is EVIL, right??"

"Look, guys," I say, standing up, "Technology isn't good OR evil. You can't just look at everything in black and white. Polemic arguments just don't work here."


It's just not that simple

In Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century, Selfe discusses two opposing points: technology is a boon, or it is a bane. The problem with this view is an issue of polemics. Polemics is essentially the concept that there are two absolutes, and one has to be right. An example is the aforementioned concept that technology is either inherently good or bad for society. Another example I want to discuss is religion.

Not so long ago, someone on facebook linked me to this completely awesome music video from the band Rise Against, discussing bullying against homosexual students within schools. When I watched it, the most upvoted comment was from a person whom I will paraphrase, because he had awful spelling and grammar:

"This is why I hate religions, all they do is cause hate and violence and war. This just shows that religion is truly an evil tool."

Above: EVIL. PURE EVIL.

 There are so many things in this statement that make me angry. First, the video doesn't have anything to do with religion. None of the people in the video, the bullies or the bullied, are portrayed as Christian or any other faith. It really irks me when people take things tenuously related to things they dislike and use it as a soapbox to spread their (usually idiotic) opinions to others. Second, if you actually believe wars are instigated and fought over religion, you're a dumbass. Simple fact of life.

But the part I really want to focus on, the part that ties back into polemic arguments, is the phrase evil tool. How can a tool be evil? A tool can be used for evil means, absolutely, but can the tool itself be evil? No. Religion is no more evil than a wrench is. This is a perfect parallel to the argument for or against technology. Technology is also a tool. It is not inherently detrimental, nor is it inherently beneficial. It can be used both in powerfully good ways to advance society, or it can be used to hurt others or damage oneself.

Let's talk about Hollywood

Not this guy's fault for once

Pop quiz: What's the largest racist, sexist, and just generally slimy organization in America?

If you guessed the KKK, YOU'RE WRONG!

That's right, it's Hollywood.

Hollywood is a giant stagnant cesspool stuck in old conventions in a rapidly changing modern today, and they don't look like they're going to be embracing the future anytime soon.

How Hollywood hates women

Pictured: important to the plot.

This shouldn't be a hard one to figure out. Let's play a little game first, though. I want you to think of, say, your top 10 favorite movies. You got them in your head? Ok, now tell me how many of them involve two female characters that have a conversation that does not involve a man. How many of your favorite movies passed the Bechdel test, a simple test to see if a movie is feminist friendly or not? Well that's not fair, some of you might argue, the main character is male, of course the conversation is going to revolve around him, because the plot revolves around him. Well then, I guess the question becomes, why are there so many movies with male leads? Even movies with female leads can fail this test (the first two movies starring female leads that comes to my mind are Underworld and Tomb Raider (so sue me, I'm a guy), both of which I actually think only HAD one female in them). This is of course, without addressing the rampart hyper-sexualization of women in movies, or the damsel in distress archetypes that even purported "strong" female characters seem to fall into. Take Disney's recent Princess and the Frog, for example. Tiana is touted as an allegory for the modern day women, she is supposed to be independent, intelligent, and a role model for girls everywhere. What's the problem here? Right off her need to work hard to get what she wants is portrayed in a negative light, with her blowing off friends. She then progresses throughout the movie to end up grabbing a prince, who shows her how to appreciate the little things in life, and also gets that restaurant that she was unable to get by herself. So what happened at the end? A man stepped in and made everything in her life better. THAT'S the supposed role model for young girls of today?

How Hollywood hates minorities

But wait! You're saying. Hollywood can't be racist! Look at all the prolific African-American actors there are! Well, yes and no. More on that later. First I'd like to direct your attention to the fact that there are more minorities in American than simply black people.


Hollywood has a looooooooong history of discrimination, but the one that really broke it open for me was The Last Airbender, a 2010 film directed by Shamalyan, adapted from the Nickelodeon television show (Avatar, the Last Airbender). Here's a quick video to get you caught up:

A show that the creators took painstaking care to make authentically Asian (to the point of hiring a calligrapher to make sure the Chinese writing was accurate- which was detailed to the point that the style would vary depending on theoretically who wrote it, ie high born, low born, in a rush, etc). All of this was ELIMINATED in the movie, because, face it, audiences just can't "connect" to people who aren't white.

If anyone wants to defend this monstrosity of a film, feel free to comment below. I'd be more than happy to show you why you're wrong :)

"I...uh...I don't read so good"

You might have noticed in that video that the movie 21 was shown briefly. You might be wondering why. Well, as it turns out, that movie "based on a true story" was based on a true story...about a team of most Asian-American MIT students counting cards. That's like if the movie The Blindside had cast Dwayne Johnson to play Micheal Oher.

I'll admit, being Asian, this probably gets me angrier than if it had been about another race. But don't worry, while Hollywood may be done blackfacing, they're still running strong on racial stereotypes to make their audiences laugh.

Remember how I said I would get back to those prolific black actors?

But wait! You're saying. Hollywood can't be racist! Look at all the prolific African-American actors there are! Well, yes and no. More on that later.

See? I told you I said that. </crappyAustinPowersjoke>
Well, it's true that there are a lot of very famous, very good black actors. But this article brings forth some disturbing questions on Hollywood's- and society's- preferences.

Hollywood is full of scumbags

Ok, this blog post has gotten a lot longer than I had anticipated, so I'll make this brief. This article details 6 veeeeeeery unsavory things Hollywood does to earn a buck. I'll sum it up for you because I've already asked you to read a lot (but if you're interested in this kind of thing, I really recommend it).

Essentially:
1. Hollywood manipulates the numbers in their books to avoid paying people.
2. Hollywood gives grossly unfair deals with theaters, taking most of the earnings for themselves (this is the reason you pay $6 for popcorn).
3. Hollywood manipulates (when they aren't just outright making up) reviews to make their bad movies look good.
4. Hollywood smothers new material by lobbying for longer copyrights (remember McLuhan?).
5. Hollywood tries it's damndest to resist new technology (Netflix, Hulu), thus hurting the consumer to further their own profit.
6. Stealing scripts to avoid having to pay the writer.

What are your thoughts?

What do you guys think of this? I want to know! Am I being crazy and over-analytical and just a general douchebag, or is Hollywood pure evil? Is it a mix? Is it neither? Leave your comments below!

Let's talk about e-sports

Imagine:

Welcome to the wonderful world of E-sports

You're in a crowded auditorium. People are chatting excitedly and music blares from speakers. Many are holding signs and the atmosphere is festive. The music cuts and the lights dim, an announcer comes out and says a name. The cheers begin. You turn to the big monitors on either side of the stage and see....video games?


You, my friend, were at an e-sport tournament. E-sports are, essentially, a collection of video games played at a professional level. This has been around for ages and ages, most notably it has been a huge success in South Korea with the release of Blizzard's Starcraft and expansion Starcraft: Broodwar in 1998. There are at least two television stations that are dedicated to broadcasting games, and the players there are treated like sports stars here. Cash prizes for tournaments can be upwards of $100,000. These guys are literal professionals that plug in 10-hour days of training to be as good as they are.

A Starcraft finals match in Korea looks like this.

Overseas, e-sports has had it's ups and downs, and is currently experiencing a rather large boom with the release of Blizzard's long awaited sequel to Starcraft, Starcraft II. There are a lot of competitive games out there, from first person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty to fighting games like Street Fighter. Of course the real time strategy king Starcraft cannot be forgotten, and there has been a growing interest in the MOBA genre, with the successful League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth. The picture above was from Anaheim, California, part of MLG's pro circuit. Huge crowds were in attendance to watch their favorite players from Call of Duty: Black Ops, Halo: Reach, and Starcraft II battle it out for cash  prizes.

But it's much older than that.

I recently came across this article about the legendary Nintendo gold cartridge. I had heard about this thing in passing, and I knew it was one of the most coveted game for collectors in existence (there were only 26 ever made). What I didn't know was the history behind this game.

You see, e-sports isn't something that just cropped up recently. These cartridges were prizes related to Nintendo's 1990 World Championship (with a prize of $10,000 and a new car). That means e-sports has been around for at least 20 years. The article details the quest of certain individuals in obtaining these rare games, as well as the stories of some of the kids who had participated in it. I honestly had no idea that e-sports had gone so far back. I think it is interesting to see that those who participated in Nintendo's event 20 years ago were all children. There has definitely been a paradigm shift (to borrow from Emig, whom we discussed in class) in how we view video games. The winner of the Starcraft portion of Anaheim was Korean veteran IMMVP, who is 21. In fact, the average gamer is around 37.

E-sports has definitely gone through some major changes through it's life. Here's a video from the 1990 Nintendo World Championship and one from the MLG Anaheim tournament earlier this year.

Let's talk about rhetoric

No, no, Aristotle.

Just what IS rhetoric? Aristotle calls it "the art of finding [seeing] the available means of persuasion." Merriam-Webster says it's "the art of speaking or writing effectively."

I personally would have defined it as being able to speak eloquently and persuasively. In Digital Literacies, we have settled on the definition of "situated strategic discourse."

Now what does that mean? Well it means more or less what Aristotle said. A strategic use of language to prove your point. Alright, you might be thinking, that's neat, but what's that got to do with me?

The answer is EVERYTHING!!!

I may like Goku more, but I will fight
 you on how much Superman would kick his ass.

Rhetoric plays a HUGE part in our lives. In fact, right now, right this second, you are reading my rhetoric about why rhetoric is important! Have you ever gotten into a fight with a friend over something? Whether it's that Superman would totally thrash Goku in a fight, or maybe that the Colts are much better than the Patriots, or anything else...you need good rhetoric to win the day.

What did our Founding Fathers do before they fought a war? They used rhetoric to try to reason with the king. They used rhetoric to inspire their country to fight. The most powerful men in the world are the ones who can speak well. Those are the ones who will inspire the masses to follow their causes. Hitler, for example, was a phenomenal speaker. Former President George W. Bush, however, was not. He was unpopular for a lot of different reasons, but his weak rhetoric did not help him at all (and it is probably one of the most memorable traits of his presidency- the media loved to mock him for it). In total contrast, our current president is an amazing speaker.

Rhetoric is a tool. A powerful tool, but one that can be used for both good and evil (as cheesy as that sounds). We recently had to read a (tedious) article on "epistemic" rhetoric, and there was a lot of talk of "finding truth" through the use of rhetoric. I don't know much about that, but I think it is important to recognize when rhetoric is being used effectively, and then be able to listen to the message beneath the rhetoric. It's great that Jonny or Sally Speaker got you all riled up for action, but what action are they asking you to take?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to end up
working for this guy.

Let's talk about writing competancy

Here at our lovely Ball State, we have this real neat thing that all students have to take. It's called the writing competency exam. As one might expect from the title, it is an exam to test how competent one is at writing.


THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE

I cannot emphasis enough how angry this thing makes me. Let's look at the official description given by the Ball State website:

Click for enlarged view

Let me just reiterate what that says. You have to pass both ENG 103 and ENG 104 in order to be eligible for this exam. You must pass this exam to graduate.

Am I the only one who sees an issue with this? Both ENG 103 and ENG 104 are English classes specifically designed to teach you how to write well in an academic fashion. So you have to pass these two classes that essentially say "Hey! This person knows how to write!" in order to take an exam to prove you know how to write? That would be like me having to take a driving exam in order to take a driving exam. It's idiocy.




That's ASSUMING you somehow managed to make it to college without the ability to write a decent paper. Are Ball State's standards for their potential students really so low that they need to retest their ability to write?

It gets worse.

There is no spellcheck available during the exam. Exactly what possible reason is there for this? Do you remember back in math class, when you got to algebra, and they let you use calculators during the tests? Do you want to know why? Because you've proven you can do arithmetic by getting to an algebra class. That's not the point of the class. The point is for you to learn algebraic formulas and how to apply them to problems. Calculators are merely tools to help you do this quicker and more accurately.

That is exactly what spellcheck is to writing. By GETTING TO COLLEGE, there is the implication that I know how to spell fairly well. Spellcheck makes sure I don't make stupid mistakes while typing quickly. Let's look at it another way: in what POSSIBLE scenario will I be writing something important where I WILL NOT have some form of spellcheck available to me? In "real life" no one is going to stop me. Unless the point of this exam is to test my spelling (which I am told it is not), then I do not see the need to remove spellcheck, other than to piss me off.

Wound, meet salt.

If this wasn't aggravating enough, I only need to look at the title of my major to set myself off in another apoplexy. I'm a creative writing major. A creative writing major. I'm in a major about writing, but Ball State somehow still feels the need to force me to take some foolish exam to prove I can write.

Wait, there's more.

Now there is no solid proof of this, only second hand stories, the whispers of friends-of-friends, but word on the street is that you can fail by writing too well. That's right. 4.0 students are failing this exam. Why? Because the graders belief these intelligent young men and women somehow found the prompt before hand and managed to prepare an essay ahead of time. So you have to know how to write, but you can't know too much about writing, or you'll fail. This is just so messed up.

I quit.

Let's talk about McLuhan

It's just as trippy as it looks.

Back in the 60's Marshall McLuhan wrote a book called The Medium is the Massage, about evolving technology and how it would affect society.

McLuhan talks about a lot of different things concerning technology within his book, some of it eerily accurate to today's society, some of it way off base. I want to talk about a page in particular that has not yet proven to be true, but is fast on track to being the future.

"The older, traditional ideas of private, isolated thoughts and actions- the patterns of mechanistic technologies- are very seriously threatened by new methods of instantaneous electric information retrieval, by the electrically computerized dossier bank- that one big gossip column that is unforgiving, unforgettable and from which there is no redemption, no erasure of early "mistakes."" -McLuhan

Also, we had kickin' fashion sense.

 Essentially, what McLuhan is talking about, is the death of anonymity. Chances are, you grew up in the 90's or early 2000's. Do you remember getting on the internet back then? What was it like? Small websites abounded and no one asked you to sign in before you comment. You picked a nickname on the spot and you were good to go!

Today's internet has gone under tremendous change. The internet has undergone a "Walmart effect". That is, the small personally run websites are disappearing, being replaced by huge conglomerates that all network back into one another.

Not even email is safe anymore.

Go on CNN's website, or Time's. If you want to post a comment, what do you have to do? You have to sign in. If you think registering a profile with that site just to make one measly comment is too much work (as I often think it is), they have an easier option. You can sign in with your facebook account.

Try to log onto youtube. You don't have a screen name log in anymore, it has to be through your email. More and more our ability to be anonymous online is disappearing.



I'll leave you with this video of Christopher "Moot" Poole, founder of the imageboard 4chan, discussing his website and the rapidly disappearing anonymity of the internet.