Don't get me wrong, I spent countless hours trying to unlock all there is to unlock in an Assassin's Creed game, countless hours times two in some instances. Assassin's Creed brings an interesting plot to the table with paralleling points in time being portrayed, our protagonist who has involved himself within a conspiracy ages in the making and an ancestor of our protagonist in the past, The Assassin, who helps unravel the mystery of what the antagonists of the plot are after. With so much history and technology at our fingertips, we'd think a franchise would be perfect for such a game. Not necessarily.
Before I delve into the disappointments of the franchise, I want to praise the games promising plot. I have played a couple of the Assassin's Creed games: Assassin's Creed I, II, III, Brotherhood, Unity, and Black Flag. I have only mustered the interest to finish one all the way though. Assassin's Creed II follows the history of our protagonist's, Miles, ancestor, Ezio in Renaissance Italy. Maybe I have a bias since I love the Renaissance era, but this game so far has appeared the most well- rounded and entertaining out of the collection. Ezio has the power to travel throughout most of the famous towns of Italy and maneuver you through the sites of the impressive cathedrals, buildings, and statues spread about such as Brunelleschi's Dome.
I think the main way the franchise has failed to capture the same acclaim and enthusiasm is from the lack of diversification from game to game. Of course it's important for us to keep certain traits true to the Assassin but eventually the games get old pretty quickly.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Animeeee
Although anime is not exactly the most traditional or impressive style of art by most people's standards, I think it still has some merit in exposing and teaching young artists drawing skills and cultural aspects. The simplicity of the art form makes it a good style to learn as an amateur artist, at least as far as the people go due to the simplistic and formulaic traits utilized. I personally got started in art from copying my brother and learning to draw anime.
The art may at times leave much to be desired to be honest, but I think one of the most important things that artists- any type of artist- can learn from this genre is storytelling. This japanese art form has been utilized to tell a plethora of stories ranging from the weird and raunchy to deep and psychological. I think Anime actually provides a great range of storytelling and can teach all of us how to push the boundaries with how we tell our stories.
The art may at times leave much to be desired to be honest, but I think one of the most important things that artists- any type of artist- can learn from this genre is storytelling. This japanese art form has been utilized to tell a plethora of stories ranging from the weird and raunchy to deep and psychological. I think Anime actually provides a great range of storytelling and can teach all of us how to push the boundaries with how we tell our stories.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Youtube: Video with a message
Youtube holds a vast array of content- cartoons, skits, music videos, vlogs, and much more. Vlogs have gained much more popularity within the past couple of years with select vloggers gaining mass followers. Vloggers vlog about a lot of things on Youtube, there's probably a vlogger for every subject like makeup, cars, or politics. When I was younger, I watched Youtube for more of the entertaining skits from people like Smosh but now I find myself watching the vloggers more often. Within Youtube, a group of people utilize their fan base and charisma to deliver messages to educate young people on the problems that exist today. I think it's more than just people complaining on the internet, they aim to actually educate others in a simple and convenient ways on issues that are being ignored just like the vlog Feminist Frequency.
Here are a couple of popular vlogs that educate millennials:
Here are a couple of popular vlogs that educate millennials:
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Orphan Black Fan Club For Life
Write a blog post and discuss a fan community that you belong to. Describe this fan community, it preoccupations and interests, its obsessions. What are the values and narratives shared by this community? What are the central cultural works that serve as binders and reference points for this community?
I haven't been too active within a fan community as of late, my participation within fan communities has always been on the lower end of the spectrum though- it usually only entailed sharing articles and art, and occasionally purchasing merchandise. One thing that I have come to love and religiously watch is Orphan Black.
The main values behind this community is an acceptance and celebration of well rounded female characters that encompass more than the average tropes that we encounter in most media today. The show centers around a group of clones that couldn't be more different. Although they appear to be stereotypical- the nerd, the housewife, and the punk- each character reflects varying ranges of emotions and thoughts as they face not only the major threats to their very existence but their own day-to-day lives. They offer a different and refreshing look at strong female characters behind There's also a bond of sisterhood promoted by how connected some the fans seem to be through communication even though they can be on different continents.
I think the most interesting part of this fandom is the creative work, including graphic design, illustrations, and writing. I admire how they also all accurately portray the values of the show through the work.
The actually Orphan Black media pages are very encouraging of their fans and constantly write back to them and display their artwork, harvesting a positive atmosphere for all amongst the fandom.
I haven't been too active within a fan community as of late, my participation within fan communities has always been on the lower end of the spectrum though- it usually only entailed sharing articles and art, and occasionally purchasing merchandise. One thing that I have come to love and religiously watch is Orphan Black.
The main values behind this community is an acceptance and celebration of well rounded female characters that encompass more than the average tropes that we encounter in most media today. The show centers around a group of clones that couldn't be more different. Although they appear to be stereotypical- the nerd, the housewife, and the punk- each character reflects varying ranges of emotions and thoughts as they face not only the major threats to their very existence but their own day-to-day lives. They offer a different and refreshing look at strong female characters behind There's also a bond of sisterhood promoted by how connected some the fans seem to be through communication even though they can be on different continents.
I think the most interesting part of this fandom is the creative work, including graphic design, illustrations, and writing. I admire how they also all accurately portray the values of the show through the work.
The actually Orphan Black media pages are very encouraging of their fans and constantly write back to them and display their artwork, harvesting a positive atmosphere for all amongst the fandom.
Professor Incognito Response
1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story? What are they and how are they used?
From what I could decipher, I feel as if the key to his room or secret laboratory is symbolic of his own self. The fact that he then discusses having to kill his fiance for intruding on his sacred ground could be speaking to his fear of intimacy and deep connection with another individual- basically he is scared of sharing himself fully with anyone as he later states by saying that he is scared that all of him will not be welcomed, especially the negative sides that he bears.
2. What connection did you make to the story? Discuss elements you chose to connect with.
Although this story is pretty ludicrous, I can feel a connection towards the character's reluctance and fear towards sharing every part of himself with another person. This is something that most humans fear although we long to form connections with others, a part of us lives in fear that our true selves will be rejected or judged. Just as the narrator, it can feel like someone is breaking into our secret evil laboratories as they try to discover our intimate details. I think we all fear that once our weaknesses, faults, and disappointments come to light that we will no longer be accepted. We all live in a constant struggle to maintain the facade of what we want the world to see and often cannot come to terms with our own negative aspects so it makes it that much harder to allow someone else to view.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you choose?
I think that I would choose to adapt this story to a cartoon. It's whimsical nature would produce creative and vibrant images to go along to further help reflect the author's intention of including a strange setting and character to portray a common but sensitive issue of human nature and reluctance towards sharing themselves. It is a common theme that has been portrayed across various mediums already such as music, literature, and film but the quirky way in which it is reflected in this short story would well suit a colorful animated world. As far as changes, I would probably make sure that the message is more understandable, not in a blunt in-your-face here's the answer type of way, but just not in the same roundabout way the author chose to do since it got a little confusing in portions due to run on sentences and interjections that ruined the fluidity of the message. For me at least.
From what I could decipher, I feel as if the key to his room or secret laboratory is symbolic of his own self. The fact that he then discusses having to kill his fiance for intruding on his sacred ground could be speaking to his fear of intimacy and deep connection with another individual- basically he is scared of sharing himself fully with anyone as he later states by saying that he is scared that all of him will not be welcomed, especially the negative sides that he bears.
2. What connection did you make to the story? Discuss elements you chose to connect with.
Although this story is pretty ludicrous, I can feel a connection towards the character's reluctance and fear towards sharing every part of himself with another person. This is something that most humans fear although we long to form connections with others, a part of us lives in fear that our true selves will be rejected or judged. Just as the narrator, it can feel like someone is breaking into our secret evil laboratories as they try to discover our intimate details. I think we all fear that once our weaknesses, faults, and disappointments come to light that we will no longer be accepted. We all live in a constant struggle to maintain the facade of what we want the world to see and often cannot come to terms with our own negative aspects so it makes it that much harder to allow someone else to view.
3. What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you choose?
I think that I would choose to adapt this story to a cartoon. It's whimsical nature would produce creative and vibrant images to go along to further help reflect the author's intention of including a strange setting and character to portray a common but sensitive issue of human nature and reluctance towards sharing themselves. It is a common theme that has been portrayed across various mediums already such as music, literature, and film but the quirky way in which it is reflected in this short story would well suit a colorful animated world. As far as changes, I would probably make sure that the message is more understandable, not in a blunt in-your-face here's the answer type of way, but just not in the same roundabout way the author chose to do since it got a little confusing in portions due to run on sentences and interjections that ruined the fluidity of the message. For me at least.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
The Modern Hipster
Hipster: noun
1. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. - The Hipster Handbook
2. The term "hipster" is cross-applied from the 1930s Beatniks. The modern hipster is a composite of individuals with a certain bohemian life situation and lifestyle. He or she rejects "mainstream" culture and embraces and contributes to independent culture, and prides him/herself on this.- Urban Dictionary
There are many opinions over the modern millennial hipster. While a wide variety of hipsters exist with varying morals, attitudes, and ideals, most of American opinion deems Hipster as a negative connotation to bear. Hipster has come to be known as a fruitless fad full of people following unwritten rules in fashion, music, and "quirky" lifestyles to fit into a stereotype. It has been taken so far as to invoke countless parodies in the forms of books, blogs, websites, tv shows, and even video games that mock the modern millennial hipster.
The show Portlandia features various skits exploring the lifestyles of the different subcultures that can be found in Portland Oregon. The plethora of hipsters are portrayed by the two main leads in a comedic form exaggerating each stereotype: such as the straw feminists that run The Feminist Bookstore: Candace and Toni. The owners of the bookstore only stock obscure novels by women, drink weird tea, and rage (which Candace does emotionally) about their injustices and daily persecutions, and about male privilege.
Another character, Spike, represents the punk rock lifestyle. He is highly opinionated as he rides around town rampaging over what is "over." Two characters even go on a journey to a commune to find out how organic their chicken being served to them at the restaurant is.
The Hipster Handbook satirizes the hipster lifestyle as well. They provide a glossary to help better understand the exclusive words deemed cool (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck." -Hipster Handbook), explain the hipster work ethic, and clues for discovering wether or not you are a hipster such as whether or not "You frequently use the term "post-modern" (or its commonly used variation "PoMo") as an adjective, noun, and verb."
1. One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. - The Hipster Handbook
2. The term "hipster" is cross-applied from the 1930s Beatniks. The modern hipster is a composite of individuals with a certain bohemian life situation and lifestyle. He or she rejects "mainstream" culture and embraces and contributes to independent culture, and prides him/herself on this.- Urban Dictionary
There are many opinions over the modern millennial hipster. While a wide variety of hipsters exist with varying morals, attitudes, and ideals, most of American opinion deems Hipster as a negative connotation to bear. Hipster has come to be known as a fruitless fad full of people following unwritten rules in fashion, music, and "quirky" lifestyles to fit into a stereotype. It has been taken so far as to invoke countless parodies in the forms of books, blogs, websites, tv shows, and even video games that mock the modern millennial hipster.
The show Portlandia features various skits exploring the lifestyles of the different subcultures that can be found in Portland Oregon. The plethora of hipsters are portrayed by the two main leads in a comedic form exaggerating each stereotype: such as the straw feminists that run The Feminist Bookstore: Candace and Toni. The owners of the bookstore only stock obscure novels by women, drink weird tea, and rage (which Candace does emotionally) about their injustices and daily persecutions, and about male privilege.
Another character, Spike, represents the punk rock lifestyle. He is highly opinionated as he rides around town rampaging over what is "over." Two characters even go on a journey to a commune to find out how organic their chicken being served to them at the restaurant is.
The Hipster Handbook satirizes the hipster lifestyle as well. They provide a glossary to help better understand the exclusive words deemed cool (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck." -Hipster Handbook), explain the hipster work ethic, and clues for discovering wether or not you are a hipster such as whether or not "You frequently use the term "post-modern" (or its commonly used variation "PoMo") as an adjective, noun, and verb."
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Palo Alto Assignment
Within Palo Alto by James Franco, a town is established focusing on the teenage inhabitants and experiences. Most stories delve into a darker side of teen habit's filled with drinking, drugs, and violent acts all actions set in motion by their struggles with themselves, relationships, and extreme emotional states.
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