I just wanted to post a link to my final project which is up.
http://mason.gmu.edu/~wscullio/VPTGHFrontPage
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Group Project Critique
I chose to critique the interactive fiction story by George, Kate and Jonathan. First off, I really enjoyed reading this story, it has everything. It's a zombie, werewolf and pirate story starring Steven Segal, Michael J Fox and Chuck Mangione, what more could any reader ask for. Each branch of the story was highly entertaining in a completely insane way.
I had no problems with the story itself but I thought the manner of storytelling could have been expanded upon. The black block of text on a white background with several links underneath just seemed a little too basic. Things like putting the navigation in the text or embedding a youtube video showing someone die a horrible death upon clicking one of the final links could have worked to elevate this story to another level.
All that said, there is nothing wrong with the story. It is funny and entertaining and can only really work in an online format (I know there are books like this but I've never thought those worked particularly well). Overall, I really liked this story.
I had no problems with the story itself but I thought the manner of storytelling could have been expanded upon. The black block of text on a white background with several links underneath just seemed a little too basic. Things like putting the navigation in the text or embedding a youtube video showing someone die a horrible death upon clicking one of the final links could have worked to elevate this story to another level.
All that said, there is nothing wrong with the story. It is funny and entertaining and can only really work in an online format (I know there are books like this but I've never thought those worked particularly well). Overall, I really liked this story.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Critique of the SNReview
The SNReview is an online literary journal that was founded in 1999. It specializes in prose, poetry and essays. The journal can be found in a print edition as well as the online edition. The website for the journal is fairly straightforward and the articles can be read in either html format or pdf format.
What I like about this site is the simplicity of it. There is a menu on both sides of the screen. One side has issue information and the other has other information about the journal. You simply click on an issue and then click on the article you want to read and then choose whether to read it as an html file or as a pdf.
The only problem I have with the site is that it does not expand it's content for the online medium. What you can get online is identical to what you can get in print. There is very little interactivity for the online audience, which I believe is a must when using this medium. That said, the site is as good as it can be considering what it is trying to be. The design is simple and it is easy to read the articles and for that alone I would gladly submit my stuff to this journal.
What I like about this site is the simplicity of it. There is a menu on both sides of the screen. One side has issue information and the other has other information about the journal. You simply click on an issue and then click on the article you want to read and then choose whether to read it as an html file or as a pdf.
The only problem I have with the site is that it does not expand it's content for the online medium. What you can get online is identical to what you can get in print. There is very little interactivity for the online audience, which I believe is a must when using this medium. That said, the site is as good as it can be considering what it is trying to be. The design is simple and it is easy to read the articles and for that alone I would gladly submit my stuff to this journal.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
"Prufrock Remixed" Critique
I chose to critique "Prufrock Remixed" by Justin Higgins. I'll just start off by saying that overall I really liked this project. I think it is very creative way of storytelling. The idea of taking something like a short story or a poem and stretching out over a variety of different sites and using a variety of different media to convey said poem is quite ingenious.
The obvious criticism here is that this method of storytelling does nothing but complicate the original poem but that is the whole point of this remix. The idea is to use an original method of storytelling regardless of how complicated it may be. Personally, my feeling is that it could be more complicated. I think it would be more fun for the reader to have to figure out where to go next as opposed to simply being told. That said, I understand that an insane amount of work has already gone into making this and no more is really necessary. That said, while I'm suggesting other possibilities, the author could also give the readers a choice of places to go and different stories could be linked together in order to change the meaning.
The suggestions above are just that, suggestions. It is a very original way to tell a story without really making anything too complicated. I would interested to see someone do this with an original story so they could do more to play with the content of the story as well as the way it is read. It is the potential of what can be done with this form of storytelling that makes this such an interesting remix.
The obvious criticism here is that this method of storytelling does nothing but complicate the original poem but that is the whole point of this remix. The idea is to use an original method of storytelling regardless of how complicated it may be. Personally, my feeling is that it could be more complicated. I think it would be more fun for the reader to have to figure out where to go next as opposed to simply being told. That said, I understand that an insane amount of work has already gone into making this and no more is really necessary. That said, while I'm suggesting other possibilities, the author could also give the readers a choice of places to go and different stories could be linked together in order to change the meaning.
The suggestions above are just that, suggestions. It is a very original way to tell a story without really making anything too complicated. I would interested to see someone do this with an original story so they could do more to play with the content of the story as well as the way it is read. It is the potential of what can be done with this form of storytelling that makes this such an interesting remix.
Remix Explained
As I have stated before in this blog, I am a journalism student. I have been trained to write in the most simple way possible. So my goal with this project was to take the least simplistic writing I could think of, Shakespeare, and adapt the flowery language into something that is a little more in keeping with what I normally write.
The way I accomplished this was to take four excerpts from Shakespeare's Hamlet and put them on a flowery background (get it, to represent the flowery language). Then I used the rollover image function in dreamweaver (anyone who has seen my homepage knows that this is my FAVORITE tool) so that when you mouse over the excerpts they rollover and reveal my simplified translations on a plain white background.
The point of my project, beyond the obvious simplification, was to display the aesthetic value of white space which is something that many of my journalism professors have preached. I tried to have fun with the way i arranged the words without really doing anything special to the meaning. Overall, I am satisfied with the way the core of the project turned out. I'm not thrilled with the title or the sub-heading above the excerpts. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to them because honestly, I think what I have up there right now is pretty lame. If you haven't seen the project yet then you can look at it here.
The way I accomplished this was to take four excerpts from Shakespeare's Hamlet and put them on a flowery background (get it, to represent the flowery language). Then I used the rollover image function in dreamweaver (anyone who has seen my homepage knows that this is my FAVORITE tool) so that when you mouse over the excerpts they rollover and reveal my simplified translations on a plain white background.
The point of my project, beyond the obvious simplification, was to display the aesthetic value of white space which is something that many of my journalism professors have preached. I tried to have fun with the way i arranged the words without really doing anything special to the meaning. Overall, I am satisfied with the way the core of the project turned out. I'm not thrilled with the title or the sub-heading above the excerpts. If anyone has any suggestions I am open to them because honestly, I think what I have up there right now is pretty lame. If you haven't seen the project yet then you can look at it here.
Monday, February 9, 2009
"Stud Poetry" Critique
On the surface, Stud Poetry by Marko Niemi is a fun and interesting of presenting literature in the electronic medium. The idea of competing in a word based poker game against some of the world's most famous poets seems like a compelling challenge but ultimately the game makes little use of the words used but rather simply substitutes them for the numbers in the deck.
The way the game is played is simple. There are five players each of whom is initially dealt two cards. The players then bet or raise until each player has five cards, also, the players may fold at any point. Each of the cards has a word on it, as well as a suit of some kind. The goal is to have more matching words than the other players and then you win their money. I would also assume that it is possible to have a flush though it is not stated anywhere and it never happened in the multiple hand which I played. As far as I could tell there is no way that you could have a straight in this game.
As I have previously stated, the idea of this game is much more intriguing than the execution. One of the biggest problems I found was the lack of words. In total, there were eight words that I counted in the five hands I played. For a work that claims to be all about the power of words it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of variety, granted not every piece of work needs a great number of words but it seems to make the game feel repetitive. Even if there were 14 words to represent the 14 numbers/face cards in an actual deck it still would not seem enough.
Another gripe I had was with the ultimate goal of the game. The best hands you can get are hands comprised of the same word multiple times. While repeating the same word over and over again can be poetry it just felt like there should have been a different way to garner points that would be more in the spirit of the game. For example, maybe the goal would be to match types of words such as nouns, verbs or propositions and the rarity of said words could make it worth more in the deck. You could even have it so that the ultimate goal would be for the line to form a coherent thought, but that is just a suggestion.
Overeall, I really did like the idea of this particular piece of work and the introduction by the author really got me interested in playing around with it. I think it was that initial interest that caused me to be so dissapointed when I actually played.
The way the game is played is simple. There are five players each of whom is initially dealt two cards. The players then bet or raise until each player has five cards, also, the players may fold at any point. Each of the cards has a word on it, as well as a suit of some kind. The goal is to have more matching words than the other players and then you win their money. I would also assume that it is possible to have a flush though it is not stated anywhere and it never happened in the multiple hand which I played. As far as I could tell there is no way that you could have a straight in this game.
As I have previously stated, the idea of this game is much more intriguing than the execution. One of the biggest problems I found was the lack of words. In total, there were eight words that I counted in the five hands I played. For a work that claims to be all about the power of words it doesn't seem to have a whole lot of variety, granted not every piece of work needs a great number of words but it seems to make the game feel repetitive. Even if there were 14 words to represent the 14 numbers/face cards in an actual deck it still would not seem enough.
Another gripe I had was with the ultimate goal of the game. The best hands you can get are hands comprised of the same word multiple times. While repeating the same word over and over again can be poetry it just felt like there should have been a different way to garner points that would be more in the spirit of the game. For example, maybe the goal would be to match types of words such as nouns, verbs or propositions and the rarity of said words could make it worth more in the deck. You could even have it so that the ultimate goal would be for the line to form a coherent thought, but that is just a suggestion.
Overeall, I really did like the idea of this particular piece of work and the introduction by the author really got me interested in playing around with it. I think it was that initial interest that caused me to be so dissapointed when I actually played.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Manifesto
I am a journalist. In my professional world I am barred from making claims that are outrageous or extravagant. Nothing in my world is elaborate or grandiose, things are only large or big. There must be no superfluous language, everything must be to the point and every word must be essential. Words cost money and in a dying field such as journalism there is no budget for verbosity. In my journalism classes I am told that at best I will get a job writing at a fifth grade level (The New York Times) and at worst writing at a pre-kindergarten level (Fox News). But it is for these reasons that I am here. In this class, at this time, I will throw off the bonds of journalistic oppression, I will use three and even four syllable words that will make my journalism professors weep and make Paris Hilton confused. I will do all of these things and it will be glorious.
I will only make demands of myself. It would be easy for me to fall back on the simplistic style which I have developed over the past several years, but there would be no point. I have taken every writing-centric Journalism class that Mason offers. I would learn nothing if I approached this class with the same style that I have used in previous classes. Not only will I strive to use more complex language but I will also bask in the first person. Words such as "I" and "me" which have not been a part of my academic vocabulary for years will be used to great excess and even to a point which is completely unnecessary. It is time for something new, a new beginning which most likely will come to an abrupt end at the twilight of this semester.
Redefining myself will not be easy. I will have to write and rewrite more than I ever have in the past and I will do so until I am satisfied. But my satisfaction alone will not be enough. I have always been very sure of myself as a writer but that is already changing. In order to be sure that my path is still true I must show the contents of this blog to Steve Klein and if he approves then I must pound the delete with great force and begin anew. If I have to obliterate entire entries so that my goals are reached then so be it.
I do not condemn my previous style or those who write in similar styles. It took enormous effort to learn to write in a way that was so simplistic and I have taken wonderful satisfaction in many of the accomplishments in the field and I will most likely revert back to my old ways, as a matter of fact I am certain I will. But not this semester and most assuredly not in this blog. That said, I do condemn those who would call themselves journalists but who would write in a style as I do now but my gripes toward these miscreants can be saved for their own special entry.
Anyone who is reading this manifesto should take it as a warning, because this is only the beginning. What I have written here acts as only a taste what is to come. As I continue I will become bolder and braver and this will lead to greater and greater feats as I move toward my artful mastery of the English language and the products of this mastery will be infinitely amazing.
I will only make demands of myself. It would be easy for me to fall back on the simplistic style which I have developed over the past several years, but there would be no point. I have taken every writing-centric Journalism class that Mason offers. I would learn nothing if I approached this class with the same style that I have used in previous classes. Not only will I strive to use more complex language but I will also bask in the first person. Words such as "I" and "me" which have not been a part of my academic vocabulary for years will be used to great excess and even to a point which is completely unnecessary. It is time for something new, a new beginning which most likely will come to an abrupt end at the twilight of this semester.
Redefining myself will not be easy. I will have to write and rewrite more than I ever have in the past and I will do so until I am satisfied. But my satisfaction alone will not be enough. I have always been very sure of myself as a writer but that is already changing. In order to be sure that my path is still true I must show the contents of this blog to Steve Klein and if he approves then I must pound the delete with great force and begin anew. If I have to obliterate entire entries so that my goals are reached then so be it.
I do not condemn my previous style or those who write in similar styles. It took enormous effort to learn to write in a way that was so simplistic and I have taken wonderful satisfaction in many of the accomplishments in the field and I will most likely revert back to my old ways, as a matter of fact I am certain I will. But not this semester and most assuredly not in this blog. That said, I do condemn those who would call themselves journalists but who would write in a style as I do now but my gripes toward these miscreants can be saved for their own special entry.
Anyone who is reading this manifesto should take it as a warning, because this is only the beginning. What I have written here acts as only a taste what is to come. As I continue I will become bolder and braver and this will lead to greater and greater feats as I move toward my artful mastery of the English language and the products of this mastery will be infinitely amazing.
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