Jillian_new and improved



 

8 January: Stage One

 

Who Are You...Who am I?

 

On July 25th I will have been living in Florida for five years. I was born and raised in the great state of New York, my hometown, the Bronx. I moved here after graduating from high school, with no real reasons for doing so. My entire family, save my grandmother, with whom I live, still reside in the Hudson Valley (<- about an hour and a half north of Manhattan). That family includes momma, daddy, my soon-to-be 13 year old brother, my 27 year old brother, my sister-in-law, her daughter (my niece-in-law), my baby nephew, and my other grandmother. Actually it doesn't really include them, rather, it is them. I have a small family, but like the cliche says, "size doesn't matter," because they are the most important people in my life. My mother, especially, is my hero and best friend. We have a unique relationship I cherish more than anything. My dad is by far the most dedicated father ever. And my brothers, though sometimes overtly annoying, will be my protectors for life. One of the most spectacular members of my little family is my grandmother, Gigi. Turning 75 next month, she is one in a million. How many grandmothers do you know choose, in their retirement, to take in their teenage grandchild? She did, and my gratitude is endless. Though she drives me crazy quite often and vice versa, it hands down beats the alternative struggling to live on my own.

 

I graduated with my A.A. from SPC in 2006, less than 2yrs after graduating from high school. It would be two years until I went to school again, and while I don't regret that decision (it doesn't pay for me to regret), I'm certainly not happy with it. I took a couple of pre-req's last semester at SPC, but this is my first semester at a university, and more importantly, the first semester full of core major courses! At the moment I am an english major with a concentration in professional and technical writing, ergo, I'm taking this class. Education is extremely important to me. I leave being in school with others who feel the same.

 

Besides taking three classes at USF-SP this semester I work two jobs, one full time and one part time. During the school week, from 7:45-4:00, I am an assistant teacher in a pre-k class at Bardmoor Elementary school. On the weekends, usually Friday nights, I'm a server at the Olive Garden (the one in Pinellas Park). In between all of that I manage to run at least 30 minutes a day, watch my TV shows online, and hang out with my boyfriend. My most favorite time of the week is the weekend (of course). I spend the whole time at my boyfriend, Travis' house. He has the most amazing friends (Stephen Fleeman may sound familiar lol) and we have the greatest times just hanging out, playing games, and eating Thai (omg!).

 

Since our class's theme is game culture I should devote some of my autobiography to gaming, and the like. Growing up my brother was always playing video games, like atari and nintendo. I, as a child, loved Super Mario Brothers. The theme song still makes me giggle and smile. Duck hunt was always fun, too. We eventually moved on to Sega and I thouroughly enjoyed playing Sonic and Mortal Kombat. I even remember the special code you'd have to put in so that the characters would actually bleed. HaHa. For a while I didn't really pay to much attention to video games, though occasionally I'd spend a few minutes with the Playstaion. However, things changed when I met my ex-boyfriend. He and his friends had an unhealthy obsession with World of Warcraft. Oh yes, sadly I was helplessy sucked into WoW. I played for about a year and a half, until I found the strength to quit. Unfortuantely, I made a casualty out of my little brother, who still plays endlessly. Presently, I find myself in love with Gears of War/2, the WiiFit, and my most beloved RockBand/2. Though I never had enough money to buy my own systems, I play the games whenever I find myself in the presence of an available 360.

 

I read, alot. I'm reading even more now, with 2 lit courses this semester. Despite most people's opinions on it, I love the TV. Lacking a lot of free time, I watch my shows through streaming videos. Fancast is the coolest site because it has a lot of archived shows. I'd torrent more but I'm not smart enough for that. I love all things Disney and so does my family. We have some great times at D.World. I own a BlackBerry, joining the BB club of my boyfriend and co. My cat, Oliver, is the most gorgeous feline, but can be a supreme jerk. I grew up on rock music and still love it. I was one of those girls who had 'Nsync and Hanson posters on her wall. I love watching movies to wind down and relax. The Outsiders was my favorite booking growing up and Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay is my favorite poem. I love meat but I became a vegetarian on my first day of class at USF last week. I was raised catholic and made my communion and confirmation, but I don't go to church, anymore. I believe in some higher power and that things happen for a reason, whatever the reason may be. I'm not convinced that there is an afterlife but I'm not afraid to die. I want to get married in a white dress. I want to have kids, someday. One day I want to find myself with enough money to be comfortable and maybe help someone else be comfortable, as well. My smile is often infectious, it's my secret weapon while serving, along with my NY attitude. I wear my heart on my sleeve. Seeing people hurt and upset kills me and I try to make people happy if I can. My family is my life; my friends are my world. And I'm looking forward to the future! <3Jillian

 

Persuasive Games...Chapter 1

 

I just received my book yesterday so I'm not finished reading the entire chapter. However, I did make a point of skimming through it. I will agree, Bogost's writing is a bit over the top, but I really the enjoyed the pretentious-ness, if you will, of it. I've played games, in one form or another, all of my life and I like this analysis side of the subject. Though at times I found myself with glazed eyes, I found the subject to be mostly interesting. Bogost does a good job at providing the reader with background information on what he's talking about (definitions, examples) so when he really gets rolling one at least knows the general idea on which he is elaborating on. He broke down (I mean really broke down) the definitons and examples of procedure and rhetoric and proceeded to put them together, explaining how it applies to games. Bogost's way of writing leaves little to the imagination on his subject because such a wonderful job of covering every inch. His discussion on 'serious games' in comparison to persuasive games was pretty interesting. As was his very in-depth and amusing discussion on the different connotations of the word 'serious'.

 

Until I fully read through the chapter I will say that I think I'm going to enjoy Bogost's book. Unfortunately, I think I may need to buy another bottle of tylenol in order to do so. And perhaps a thesaurus. --> Parlance... really? Who actually says that?

 

*Time to get back to work. Nap time is over and the kiddies are stirring.

 

Creative Commons

 

20 January: Inauguration Day! (Yes, I'm excited. Please don't judge)

 

I wanted to put in the license I chose but I'm having technical difficulties at the moment. Instead I'll discuss which one I chose and insert the code later. (21 Jan.- update: Yay, I figured it out <-meaning my bf did it)

 

After reading about the importance of licensing and the different kinds to choose from I chose the Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives license. While I feel it is important for my work, whatever form it may be in, to be shared and discovered by others, I also feel it is necessary to protect it from those who may see it exploited. What I write or share may not be important or evoke the same reaction to others as it does to me, but I am the one who wrote and it is important enough to me. I want to make sure that my work will always remain the same, in its original glory if, if you will. I choose not to let my work be changed because once it is the meaning is altered and lost, no longer belonging to me. I would love nothing more than for the world to see, hear, and feel my thoughts and my words. It is for that reason I chose this liscence. So when, or if, the world discovers my work, it is exactly how it was meant to be. Even 20 years from now, my words will still be the same. I can't imagine wanting more than that.

 

Pile of Links

 

Jillian's LinkPile

 

15 January: Stage Two

 

McDonald's: The Game

 

So, I finally got around to playing the McDonald’s game. My first attempt, however, was definitely less than stellar. After about 15 minutes of pasteurizing, sowing, feeding, slaughtering, hiring, selling, and corrupting, I successfully managed to bankrupt the company.

 

My first thought on this game was, “Jeez, how funny is this?!” After a minute or two I really wasn’t enjoying it anymore. First off, I couldn’t freaking keep up. Every time I went to the board room to get nagged on by my VP I’d go back to the slaughterhouse and find I’d lost like 3 cows. So, then I’d go and pasteurize more soy for them and head back to the store and discover my line cook sucks and there’s no customers. On top of all that I had to kill a cow because I fed it bad food. I felt horrible. At one point I probably should’ve taken out that town and used the land for pastures and such. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.

 

The concept of this game and all of its facets is ingenious. The insinuations as to how to run the business is not great. I mean, c’mon, there were like 5 different corruption options. Really?! WTF! It offers some disconcerting insight into how big companies might operate. Now, that’s not to say that the big companies, McDonald’s in this case, run exactly how they’re portrayed in this game. I’m sure, though, that they do engage in similar tactics at one point or another. I think I’m going to give the game another try, though. I’ll just have to get into a heartless, no holds barred state of mind before I start.

 

Understanding Comics: Chapter One

 

First, let me start of by saying I love this book. The very concept of it - a comic book about comic books is ingenious and so effective. Over the years I have found many informative books that have been interesting and attention holding, but they don't hold a candle to this one. I'm only just into the book and I'm already enthralled by its creative storytelling technique and comical language. McCloud does such a wonderful job relating to his audience, whether they are comic junkies or first time readers. An in-between sort, I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter on the defining and evolution of the comic. A few things in particular stood out in my mind as I read chapter one. I loved the 'stand-up routine' McCloud used to explain how a working definition for comics was derived. He compares animation in film to comics saying, "space does for comics what time does for film!" The exclamation point at the end is great because that perspective was brilliant to me. He goes on with examples of very early forms of comics dating back thousands of years. While reading I wondered if some avid comic readers even knew how far back its history truly goes. Throughout the chapter McCloud's sense of humor is wonderfully evident. One panel stood out as quite hilarious. It referenced the previous panel's illustration of "The Tortures of Saint Erasmus." The illustration features a man being tortured in many different, quite awful ways, to which McCloud comments, "word has it this guy was a very popular character." For me the most poignant part of the chapter was on page 17. McCloud had been informing us of Rodolphe Topffer, who he calls the father of modern comics. McCloud explains that Topffer never fully grasped what he created and continues to offer that comics are, "a form which was at once both and neither art and writing. A language all its own." I cannot wait to make my way through the rest of the book. I have no doubt that McCloud will have my eyes glued until the very last panel.

 

22 January: Stage Three

 

Peer Wiki Reviews

 

So, here is what I have to say about our wiki universe....

 

29 January: Stage Four

 

Definitional Drafts and Peer Editing

 

First Draft

 

Here is the First Rough (really rough) Draft

 

Peer Draft Reviews

 

These are my peer reviews

 

5 February: Stage Five

 

Understanding Comics: Chapter Two

 

Once again I say – I really love this book. This chapter, though, was a bit more difficult to follow than the intro. (Really?! Lol) Chapter 2 was a really interesting but one thing in particular had me laughing out loud at how true it was. I loved McCloud for the point he made about humans being self-centered. He said, “We see ourselves in everything.” I never thought much on it but I do that all the time. After I read that line I literally exclaimed out loud “Oh my God, I actually do that!” I see faces in inanimate objects – cars, houses, etc. It’s amazing how I never realized the meaning behind it until reading this chapter. It makes sense.

 

McCloud’s discussion on how we see others and how we perceive ourselves was quite interesting, as well. Its funny how we can see the faces of other perfectly, feature for feature, but we only see ourselves as an arrangement of features. McCloud said in ourselves we have only, “A sense of general placement.”

 

The section on our extension into inanimate objects provided a really good perspective. I particularly like the example he provided with the car. I related to that one because I really love my car and I would consider someone hitting her (yes, her. Her name is Lola) as hitting me, too.

 

McCloud spoke for a while about the development of different designs in comics. That section was a bit dense, but still informational and enjoyable due to McCloud’s style. The example using with the sword helped make some sense for me. It also made me think. I do that a lot with this book. Things strike at me and I think, “Wow, I never thought about that before.” The sword thing – how it can go from being cartoony in one panel to close-up and detailed in another - was one of them.

 

Once McCloud began the abstraction explanation I had to try a lot harder to follow him. Though I understood it, it didn’t make as much sense at first. I had to read over it a few times before the concept sunk in. Funny that Dr. Conner stressed the similarity in McCloud’s use of the triangle to ours. While our focuses on the basis of writing, his was used on the basis of pictorial vocabulary regarding comics. The points on his triangle were labeled generally but then he breaks down several comics and comic authors/artists utilizing combinations of all 3 sides based on their styles. One of my favorite parts of the chapter was the double page spread featuring the large triangle and over one hundred comic characters redrawn by McCloud. Each character was place strategically in the triangle depending on its style. I spent quite a while looking over that part.

 

Though this chapter got a little deep at times, I nonetheless made it through, taking insight and knowledge with me. I’m sure that without McCloud’s style, language, and creativeness that wouldn’t have been possible. His contagious sense of humor which is awesome helps a bunch, too!

 

Definitional Draft Thesis

 

What it's all about!

 

Feedback on my Definitional Draft

 

This is what my peers had to say...

 

12 February: Stage Six

 

The Final Product

 

This one's for all the marbles...

 

Peer Grading

 

These are my attempts at wielding the digital red pen

 

19 February: Stage Seven

 

Peer Grades for my draft

 

What my fellow wiki-ers thought of it

 

Understanding Comics: Chapter 3

For a chapter that started out quite a bit deep it turned out to be very, very enlightening...for me, that is. What a great concept closure is in regards to comic. Well, in regards to a lot of things actually. I don't even think I notice most of the times that my mind actually commits to the concept of closure. It is an often involuntary action that, like McCloud says, 'in an incomplete world' we depend on 'for our very survival.' For comics we, the 'silent accomplice,' are integral to its purpose. McCloud gave an excellent elaboration on that by stressing how we the reader are essentially murderous cohorts. (in reference to the two panels. The first depicting an axe wielding man and potential victim, and the second containing only 'eeyaa!') From one panel to the other the murder doesn't truly happen, rather, we are responsible for envisioning the murder. Condemning the man to a thousand deaths, as he puts it. In class we've actually referenced the various types of transitions McCloud talks about in this chapter. I enjoyed his lengthy section on them. His examples really helped to understand them. I particularly loved McCloud's graphing, comparing, and contrasting of the transitions used by various comics in both Western cultures and Eastern cultures. Where Western comics focus on action to action mostly, Eastern (Japanese) comics utilize more of a broad range, aspect to aspect being very important. McCloud states that one of the biggest differences between them is what he calls the Japanese's 'tradition of cyclical and labyrinthine works of art.' They like to focus on being there rather than just getting there, as the book states. We like to get to the end result. The differences between the two cultures are quite interesting, demonstrating once again just how different the two cultures really are. I loved that connection. One of my favorite lines from this chapter comes in regard to using our senses with comics. McCloud says that between the panels, where closure comes into play, that our senses are not 'required at all. Which is why all of our senses are engaged!' That's so a Yogi Berra-esque phrase. It sounds completely ridiculous at first glance but makes complete sense once you think about. Those panels are pitch black and empty. If we're surrounded by an empty darkness we really don't need our senses for there is nothing there to sense. But that surely doesn't stop all of our senses from working anyway to figure it out nonetheless. Once again- how great are these connections?! I love it! McCloud has yet to provide even one panel I haven't enjoyed!

 

First Person

coming soon...

 

Persuasive Games: Chapter 2

 Though I consider myself quite an intelligent person, my brain and I still had a bit trouble while navigating our way through Bogost’s rather pretentious style of writing. While I don’t mean to say Bogost should have dumbed down his book to cater to the masses, using less ‘I need to look that up in the dictionary’ type words could have gotten his message across just as well. Despite all of that I did find this chapter interesting, albeit dry, at times. I appreciated how much background information he provides when talking about a certain subject (Katrina and Darfur, for example). I already knew about both but what Bogost provided gave me that much more information to work with. Without that, his references and points may not have made nearly as much sense to me. This chapter covered so many games all pertaining to different aspects of what Bogost calls the political process. To the naked eye the games like America's Army, Darfur is Dying, and White House Jousts are all politically biased games. After reading this chapter I now know that where one game, like America's Army, represent a political position, games like White House Jousts uses politics for commercial not political uses. Others still are trying to make a political statement, like that of Darfur is Dying. ...I have to go, nap time is over. Be back later. JL

 

26 February: Stage Eight

 

Audio Wiki'ing

I downloaded Audacity and tried putting it to use:

        My first attempt at audio blogging

        Oh, that silly WoW

 

Bookmarking

I have a delicious account now. Firefox makes it so easy to bookmark. It imported all of my old ones and making new ones is crazy simple. Check me out.  I'm not sure if you need to have an account to see it or not. I'm still getting familiar with it.

 

How cool is that ^? Those are my Delicious tags turned into a 'word cloud'.

5 March: Stage Nine

 

Causal Argument

This is what I've got so far.

My peer reviews

 

 

12 March: Stage 10

 

Reflections on ENC3310

 mine so far

...ahh, the bright light hurts. Sinus infections are not fun. )o:

 

19 March: Stage 11

Spring Break!

 

26 March: Stage 12

 

Final Causal Argument

Early version of proposal

 

2 April: Stage 13

 

9 April: Stage 14

Peer Grades- Causal

 

16 April: Stage 15

Freesound

The freesound session

The Final Project

Final Project

 

 

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License