Game continued...

My group and I have finally just finished our game! It is such a relief to have it done and over with. While I had a good time doing it, it was pretty hard to do and very frustrating. While I'm happy to have created the game and be done with it, I wish I had more knowledge, or time, or something because there were some things that we could not figure out. No matter what we did. So, all in all the game will be ready to play soon, with a few glitches :( 

Wear a Condom

My group and I are finally done with our game, kind of. We have been creating the game on the game-maker Scratch, which I'm pretty sure is more for kids than adults, but it seemed user-friendly so it looked like a good choice. This seemed like a good idea, and ultimately it was, but we are continuing to have minor problems that will not seem to go away. We have our game created, and it is working semi-properly, but the game creator is so frustrating! Things seem to change on their own, or we will put in code and it doesn't do anything remotely close to what we wanted, and blah, blah, blah.. 

I just had to get that out...

It's been a while...

Classes are back in session and break is over :( It defintely wasn't long enough if you ask me, but what can you do? I was fortunate enough to have the chance to leave the little town of Durango for a while and make a trip up to Denver to see my sister. I think that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of the delicious not-so-good for you food, the large amounts of it, and all of the acceptable turkey naps.

While going to Denver was nice, coming back was not so fun. Staying as long as I could, I decided to make the trip home on Sunday; bad idea. Because of the snow not only did people freak out, but they decided to drive about 15 mph all the way from Denver to Colorado Springs. It was not too fun and I'm happy that it's over with.

 

Thanksgiving Break!

Thanksgiving Break is here!! I must say that it has been a long semester so far and I think that a lot of us have been ready for this for a while. Not only is it nice to have a small break, but there is going to be lots of good food also! I hope that everyone has a good Thanksgiving and a well-deserved break :)

Respones to Rox's post

I know what you mean :( Less than one week!
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2078511163580062901&postID=7998714614142020539&page=1

STD game

My group and I just finished creating our characters for our game "Wear a Condom," and I am really excited in how they turned out. It was a pain in the ass to get them done with them being deleted, followed by having the wrong format for Scratch etc, etc, etc... Bottom line, they are finished and I am super happy :)  Now I definitely don't have any photoshop skills but I did the best I could and I would have to describe the STD's as....cute, I guess? That sounds strange, but it's true. We uploaded the characters onto the game and now we are proceeding to just kind of experiment and see what kinds of things we can do them. Hopefully it all turns out well.

Stick it to the Man

My labor history class is holding a movie festival this week with a theme of "Stick it to the Man." We will be showing two more movies; one tonight and one tomorrow both from 6pm - 9pm in Noble Hall 115. Tonight the movie "A Day without a Mexican" will be showing and there will be a worker's rights workshop before the showing of the film. "One day California wakes up and not a single Latino is left in the state. They have all inexplicably dissappeared, chaos, tragedy, and comedy quickly ensue" (imbd.com). This film takes a look at the relations the US has with Mexico and Mexicans. It should be an entertaining yet funny movie that informs us of the situation between borders. 

The other film that we will be showing, tomorrow night at 6pm, is "The Take." This is a documentary about Argentinian workers who take back their work place. It is an uplifting movie that brings a happier ending and hope to workers all over. "In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - the take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale. With The Take, director Avi Lewis, one of Canada's most outspoken journalists, and writer Naomi Klein, author of the international bestseller No Logo, champion a radical economic manifesto for the 21st century" (imbd.com).

                                                                   

We have a President elect...finally

So it is done, finally and we have a new President-elect: Obama! Bring on the change

Some of the things he is planning on doing are on this website:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/

VOTE!!!!

Today is election day and it is time to get your asses out there and vote!! Do it, be done with it and watch Obama win...ha just kidding....not really.

Serious Gaming

For my final project I am thinking about making a social impact game in regards to safe sexual health. I am really excited to get started because I have always been a pretty big fan of gaming, and now I have the oppurtunity to make one. I have spent a lot of time on http://scratch.mit.edu/, which is a very simple and easy-to-use game creator, and I highly suggest checking it out. The games are very simplistic and fun to play when you are trying to pass the time by. I would suggest downloading the Scratch game maker because it is probably one of the most user friendly game makers that I have yet to find in doing my research.

More on social impact games....there are a lot of games out there that have a useful and hopeful concept to them (ie end world hunger etc.). In doing some research I was able to find this game called Virtual Village: Nepal and it involves helping the people of the village make a sustainable living in thier village. You have to download Adobe Shockwave if you don't already have it, and it is worth it. You should check it out: 

http://forgefx.com/casestudies/heifer/serious-game-for-change.htm

Voting day is tomorrow!!

If you haven't already, everyone NEEDS to vote tomorrow. There are a few places that people registered in Durango, Colorado can go to vote. Here is a link that tells you what you need to know...

http://www.elections.colorado.gov/DDefault.aspx?tid=547

Sarah Palin...for real

At least she has a sense of humor...

Chaos in Durango

I was able to at least check out all of the chaos that went on last night when McCain arrived here. I must say that it was nice to see how involved everyone, young and old, is during this election, voicing their opinions and beliefs; afterall that's what being "an American" is all about, isn't it? ha While I cannot wait untill all of this is over and done with, I am glad that supporters of both sides (ahem...go Obama!) are holding a strong fight untill the end. My fellow Durangoans did a great job of welcoming McCain to, what one website referred to as, Democratic Country or Obama Country!

There are some pictures posted on The Herald's website:

http://www.durangoherald.com/sections/News/2008/10/25/McCain_visits_Durango/

Response to Tonantizin's post

It really bums me out that something like that took place up at the Fort. I guess I am naive, or have more faith in our generation/population, but jees, what year is this? 1965? I don't think so. Everyone deserves to be respected and treated like anyone else would want to be treated. I hope that those effers get caught PERIOD!

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=2757015331104861125&postID=928825536134497929&page=1

McCain is comig to town

As you all have heard, Senator John McCain is coming to Durango tomorrow to help lead us to the "Road to Victory" lol. I am sure that tomorrow will be full of mayhem, but I'm also sure that it would be very interesting to attend. While I am going to try my hardest to at least check everything out, unfortunately I have to work, but if anyone goes please let me know how everything went! More info at:

http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Calendar/Detail.aspx?guid=a1b49d6b-4259-4458-b5e0-2d89e3c98642

GObama!!!

More of the mind

I was watching Oprah the other day and she had Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor on her show to share her story with everyone, and it reminded me of what I read in A Whole New Mind. She is a neuroanatomist who specializes in how the brain works and she ended up having a stroke. This caused the entire left side of her brain to "shut down," if you will. When she was explaining how she interpreted different situations and what not, it matched up with what Daniel Pink said in his book. She remained conscious the entire time (it took eight years to recover) and she lost all memory of names, phone numbers, people's relationships to her and a lot of other important factors of a person's life. She said that she didn't understand the little details of most situations, but she could see the larger picture, the whole context. 

I just thought that this was so interesting because she was able to recover and figure her way out of things based solely on using her right hemisphere. 

You should check it out and read more about her story, it is fascinating...

http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080904_tows_stroke/1

A Whole New Mind

Daniel H. Pink's book, A Whole New Mind, was very interesting and intriguing but definitly left me with mixed feelings about his overall theory of left brain thinking vs. right brain thinking. I mentioned this in class yesterday, and I still feel the same way in that he set up the book very well and did a great job of getting people (ie me) excited about what was going to fill the rest of the pages. I was amuzed by his logic and theory and I wanted to know more about it, but when I finished the book I kind of felt jipped in a small way. 

To support his thoery in the first half of the book, and in the rest too I guess, he used great examples and real-life situations that one could step back and see the design, empathy, plyafulness or whatever in it. When I got through the last chapter, I could not help but immediatley be reminded of The Secret. They did the exact same thing, but with different logic and thinking, in presenting their theory as some ground-breaking magic that is going to change the world and everyone's lives forever! But....no. I feel like with both The Secret and A Whole New Mind, facts were presented, and yes, they were very intriguing, but this is all stuff that most logical people already know! A good balance in one's life between a variety of facets is of course going to make a well rounded, "both-brain thinker." 

However, I will applaud Pink in his use of good examples, situations, groups of people, and grabbing the readers attention to begin with. He definitly made his point through the use of these, and I think that he deserves credit for that. I also appreciate his ability to bring these topics to the forefront of things as a way to remind readers (and hopefully much of the world) that there is a shift in thinking, and that all of the "six senses" are things that we as busy-hurry-up-and-get-with-it Americans need to stop, breathe, and think about them and apply them to our lives. We don't give certain aspects of our lives enough credit and we tend to pay attention to little details and small insignificant things rather than looking at the whole picture (left vs. right brain thinking right at your hands!). 

In the beginning of the book I got the impression that Pink is somewhat ignorant just to try and make his point (ie Abundance, Asia, and Automation). Some of the wording that he used was slightly insignificant and almost over-exaggerated, but once I got towards the end I was able to better appreciate his ideas and theory because of his well-thought research and application. 

My favorite part of the book was the "Play" section because I am a firm beleiver in laughter being the best medicine and I think that our country especially does not enjoy it enough. We take things too seriously and fail to laugh at little things, stupid things, and even ourselves. I think it is great that there are laughter groups all over the place that are taking an appreciation for what it's worth. I have never been to a laughing group, and honestly I think they sound very interesting and entertaining at the same time. I bet the people there seem kind of crazy, but they are enjoying one of the best things, in my opinion, that we can do for ourselves: laughing out loud. 

KDUR memebership drive

This week a fundraiser for KDUR is going on. Help out the college-based radio station by giving support through $$ and volunteering. KDUR is a non-commercial radio station that is both student and professionally run-so it sounds great! You can also listen online at KDUR.org for free.

Respnse to Sarah's Post

Wow! I heard about this particular incident, but actually seeing it makes me want to vomit. I completely agree with you and the fact that she doesn't even know the name of, oh I don't know... maybe HER TOWN newspaper is shocking. The idea that she could potentially be a future president (God forbid McCain and her win) is very, very scary.


https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=7977599764654882500&postID=5269591015075114215&page=1

Bitch

This is one of my favorite magazines at the moment (besides Elle, star, US and other gossip tabloids...). The essays and articles that contribute to the contents of the magazine include, what Bitch refers to as a "feminist response to pop culture". There are a lot of interesting points of view that do a good job of deconstructing many of the media's messages and biased ideals. 

If you are interested you can check it out at:

http://bitchmagazine.org/

Final Debates

This is the third and final Presidential debate, and this one was definitly interesting. If you haven't already, check it out...

Brain exercises

After looking at the list of 120 things that one can do to improve their brains I noticed how many of these things are done in a normal day, despite the intentions of doing so. For example, showering with your eyes closed. This is something that I do a lot, and I think that lot of people do anyways because a) it is relaxing and b) you don't want to get soap in your eyes! Other things such as mind mapping and being ambidextrious (spelling?) are both ways to improve your brain, and I think that both things are used frequently without even realizing it. I am definitly a list maker so the mind mapping is a given for people like me. And, when you are eating something that requires a fork and a knife people will often times put the fork in their opposite hand than they are used to with the knife in their dominant hand.
Out of all of the things that I could do to improve my brain, I decided to go after #1: puzzles and brainteasers. I really enjoy brainteasers so I thought that this would be perfect. I went down the list of exercises and preformed/played about six of them. Of the ones that I played I really liked the basketball passing one with the gorilla, and the memory one in which a chimpanzee challenged you.
On the first puzzle I counted 28 times that the balls were passed. I also noticed the gorilla and found it annoying and distracting because he/she kept getting in the way. I looked for the answer to the puzzle and could not find it. Did anyone else get a different one??
For the second game I was really challenged. That stupid chimp kept beating me, but the more I played it the closer I got to beating him. I started the game with an average score of 4 and progressively ended with a 7. What can you do? A chimp has better memory skills than me.
These exercises remind me of the "brain gym" exercises that I did in my class, Issues in Women's Health. We were taought similar things and often practiced cross-training to "spice" up the mind and stretching for the memory. Cross-training is very simple and invovles using both sides of your brain example: touching your right elbow with your left knee, touching your left hand with your right foot. Simple.
I find these different exercises and what not to be very interesting, especially since they all SEEM to be simple, when in reality they are real challenges for our brains. You should try the chimp one...
http://games.lumosity.com/chimp.html

Some more SNL...

I don't think I need to say too much...

Rodrigo y Gabriella

I really love this song and I think that they both are amazing musicians. Good music is good for everyone :)

Banksy

http://www.banksy.co.uk/

Response to Brian's Post

That's pretty interesting, especially considering the fact that it is an "expirmental" video. For some reason it kind of reminds me of a video version of something Banksy would do. I really liked your video for the interactive class too. It looks like the lack of sleep payed off :) .... Get some rest!!

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=6081420884143876713&postID=1220017997667469095&page=1

Mya's Adventures Home

I am finally finished with my video!! Woohoo! Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofzbikeR_mA

I am not a professional, but I think that the video turned out pretty good. This was all so new to me, I'm shocked that I survived. I got really stressed out during the proces, but now that it is done I am really proud of it. It's kind of corny, but whatever; I love animals. I have to give a thanks to my boyfriend Jon for making the movie sound really good. I hope you like it!!

Presidential Debates

The Presdidential Debates were on last night.  There are some clips from the debate and many polls, reviews, ratings and much more on this site.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/debates/gel/

*This election is really important and I want to stress to everyone to not rely on one source. Check them all out because it is likely that they will lean one way or the other. Get the facts and VOTE!!!

I found the entire debate on youtube...

Everybody needs to vote!!

This election is extremely important, even more so than some previous ones, and it is extremely important that we all go to the polls (or mail in a balot) and vote!!


http://www.smartvoter.org/voter/links.html

This website has a lot of other websites that are full of info, check it out. 

"Sarah Palin"

This is an "interview" with Governer Sarah Palin and reporter Katie Couric. I love Tina Fey, she is great in this! VOTE!!!

Movie

I am almost done filming "Mya's Adventure" and I am releived that I have survived this far! Making a movie is much harder than I had anticipated and I am just hoping that I can at least make, or create, or whatever, something that is cohesive and somewhat interesting. I have about three hours of footage of dog wandering around in the woods and I am definitely looking forward to watching every minute of it! Yeah, right. Maybe with some sweet editing skills this movie would have the potential to be a success. ha

language of film

Since I have begun to film "Mya's Adventure Home" the reading on semiotics is coming into play more than I had anticipated. In doing my preproduction plan and writing out my scirpt and story board, I was not thinking of using the actual camera as a tool for comunicating a certain underlying message to the viewers. 

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I have started to follow Mya around in hopes of getting some good footage. Since I have started doing this, new and different ways to communicate a message without having a narrator say, for example, "When we see things from Mya's point of view..." but rather can use camera techniques to show that we (the audience) are looking out as if it was Mya's point of view. I plan on doing a few things to communicate that it is Mya's point of view we are seeing from: 1) get a close up on her eye 2) consistantly use the same music whenever we switch back to "Mya mode" and 3) have the camera at a downward angle, as if it were coming from a dog's point of view. Hopefully it works out....Any suggestions?

Filming and what not...

I began filming my project today and I must say, following around a dog for a while is boring and funny all at the same time. For my film I am trying to get a third "person" view and the dogs view and it is actually really difficult to film the surroundings at a lower angle, like a dog. It amazes me how interesting everything is to them, and how everything must either be checked out or at least sniffed for a little while.
This made me think about my previous blog and how we use different lenses to view the world around us. Well I had not thought about viewing the world from an animal's point of view, let alone a dog, but it makes sense that they see things WAY differently then we do.
I am looking forward to seeing my final project and I hope that I can capture the dog's point of view, especially in a language that is well interpreted.

Your Lense

In learning about the basics of using a video camera I cannot help but think about the different lenses that we can use to create, interpret or understand the world around us. I am not just talking about the lenses of a camera, but the lense that we as individuals use to view things. I think that different factors such as gender, race, age, and even geographical location have a huge impact on how we "see" things in the world... I don't know, what do you think?

School...

I'm already sick of it. 

Emergence and Memes

Memes. It is kind of a strange word and after reading about them a few nights ago I found out that they have a lot of meaning behind them. I have found myself having a difficult time grasping on to the whole idea but I think that I've got it: a meme is an idea or a fashion, song lyric, quote, behavior and so on... Imitation is what allows them to survive and succeed (or not).

Memes, memes, memes... Certain memes that I frequently see imitated or have a high survival rate in the fashion world include: scarves, boots, hoops, large bags, pointy heels etc. etc.

Song Lyrics get me ALL THE TIME! Any song that can be stuck in your head for a period of time is a meme (and can be one of the most annoying too), because it is an idea, or lyrics in this case, that is being passed on to others. A particular song/meme stuck in my head at the moment:

                           

It's a good one!

While memes are one thing, emergence is quite another. Creating organization out of disorganization. According to the radio show, this is how we have created cities and neighborhoods, just like how ants have created successful colonies. I had never thought about this particular topic in this way, but it makes perfect sense: I planned on going to work then home, but on my way back to my car I saw a new skin-care store that I wanted to see; taking me off "track" but finding and creating a new one. Hmm....Interesting. 

Interactive Media--what is it?

Interactive media. What is it? Where is it and how is something considered to be interactive? After much contemplation over the subject it hit me- DING- interactive media is almost everywhere and we are all contributors to the flow and continuation of it. While e-mail and most of the internet can be considered interactive, there is a whole different world that survives both inside and outside of the internet: gaming.

Gaming brings new possibilities for interacting with people around the world, whetehr it is with Wii or Xbox or interactive online chess. In the 20th century both of these games seem like they may have little to do with communication or global interactions, but thankfully the internet has pushed us into the 21st century. This has allowed us to play chess with someone in china, or play Mario Kart with somebody who is sitting in their home in France.

Because of the internet and the popularity of games such as chess and Mario Kart, people are able to not only interact with the medium that is displaying the game (computer or a television with an internet hook up), but with other people as well. It is a package of multiple forms of interaction with multiple entities. 

http://www.chess.com/livechess/index.html