MAGD 150- Horror Movie Poster

North Korean Uprising

Stupid North Korean dictator... the man who has made it impossible for me to start my TEFL teaching in South Korea this year....I'll probably hold a grudge forever seeing as how his son is just as bad and ready to take up the "throne", and by that I mean seat of tyranny,  the moment his father is 6 ft. under.
I'll just have to take my English to Japan I suppose.
But, all personal grudges aside, I'm not the only one who bears a gruding eye towards the leadership of North Korea. I was looking on Kotaku today and saw a first person shooter in the works that directly deals with Kim Jung-un rising to power after his dad's death.
It's not pretty...Modern Warfare 2 but much worse. I couldn't embed the video unfortunately but I will post the link for you:

Homefront Video Game

This video below is just a video of their ceremonial war marches...scary.

Best of YouTube 2010

Ah, YouTube...I spend more time with you than my boyfriend. Maybe it's that internet addiction that everyone is rumbling about nowadays.
Well, what's better than watching YouTube? Re-Watching YouTube! Haha...YouTube voters compiled a list of the best (or most viewed) videos of 2010.
I'm sad to says that Justin Beiber and Twilight made the list. But to redeem it, Auto-Tune the News and Okay Go made the list as well! I guess not everyone have Beiber-fever, Team Jacob fever. *phew*
If you want the full list of popular videos look below! :)

Top 10
#1: Bed Intruder Song - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW...
#2: Tik Tok Kesha Parody - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7n8Gq...
#3: Greyson Chance 'Paparazzi' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxDlC7...
#4: Annoying Orange Wazzup - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL_qGM...
#5: The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (Old Spice)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykV...
#6: Giant Double Rainbow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk...
#7: This Too Shall Pass OK Go - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFn...
#8: The Twilight Saga Eclipse Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2HIda...
#9: Jimmy Surprises Bieber Fan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKEQwv...
#10: Gymkhana Three, Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TshFW...

The Building Blocks

I was looking on Wired today and I ran across a pretty neat video of what Disney is doing for today's blooming animators.  They are starting them at the beginning...the very beginning. Through classes at the disney museum people (kids-adults) can take classes on animation design. First they show you the way animation was done at the start of disney. Pencil, pen and paper plotted on a cork-board storyboard. They make you utilize the step-by-step method. I think that's wonderful! So Amazing! I feel like today younger people are too used to technology that they don't even want or care to know how we got to this point. Im sure some people can use Illustator or Photoshop, but ask them to plot a story using pen, pencil, and charcoal and they would be at a loss. The nuisances of using the real thing is much different than using a tablet and having a program animate for you.
It makes me so happy that Disney is getting right. Teach the absolute foundation and go up from there. Sometimes it not about the technology, it's about your creative thinking with limited tools.
It's hard for me sometimes...they gap of paper artist and computer artist. I started as a Drawing major here at Whitewater but switched over to Game Design. In the classes they expect you to just know the basics. Well I don't and I wish there was a program that started everyone out at the same level- help you make the transition from paper to technology.
Guess I'll have to move to San Francisco for that....

MAGD 150- Website User Test Homework

Results from website user test:

I asked my boyfriend to do the usability test on Apple
He's never used the site and is a Microsoft fan boy...so I thought it would be pretty interesting:

1) Does the site load quickly from a Chrome or Firefox browers? A-
2) Can you find the sections for computers, ipods, and accessories easily? A+
3) Is there a search bar easily available and is it easy to find? A+
4) Is the University Store easy to find? D (store gives you lower prices)
5) Is customer support information easy to find? B
6) Is the information about the products laid out in an easy fashion? A
7) Can you tell what the newest products are? A+
8) Is there a comments section? NA or F
9) Is the layout pleasing? A
10) Does it make you want to buy an Apple if you like Windows? lol, his words, not a chance

So from his perspective it's an easy site to navigate with only a couple flaws. For me I'm on the site all the time so I get around easily.
Way to go Apple!

MAGD 150- Website Link

My Website Link

Not Really A Blog...Just A Link To Awesome

Haha, I love parodies! Not kidding! Here's a parody of Auto-Tune the news done by the "Annoying Orange" from YouTube. Apparently "Annoying Orange" is doing a series of parodies based off of hit YouTube channels, here's the link explaining:
TubeFilter: Annoying Orange Parodies

I'm With Stupid

While rifling through Wired I found the most awesome web comic ever! It may be well known, I'm not sure since I just found it today. So forgive me if this is just old news. The web comic is called Alt Text 21 and seems to specialize in comics for...nerds. :) Yep, drew me right in.

This web comic centers on something I truly have a pet peeve with. People who thing other people should just agree with stupid things they believe. No this doesn't touch on political or religious topics. I'm talking everyday things like...Mac vs. PC, vegan vs. Meat-Eater, Ninjas vs. Pirates, etc. Sometimes the things are so bizarre you think were do these people come up with this stuff?! Confused?

Just watch this web comic and you will totally understand the things I'm plagued by every day...

Little Big Planet 2 Mania!

Little Big Planet: The game that made me realize that I wanted to be a game designer (well at least the concept artist) The very fact that the creators put in a platform for online players to make there own levels is UNBELIEVABLY cool. You can create anything! Or soooo I thought.
I was looking on Kotaku and saw a new video for Little Big Planet 2 called "The Controlinator". I flipped.
Basically the creators are taking the game design concept and taking it up a notch. You can actually create an object and then literally link the object to be controlled by the buttons on your controller. The possiblities are endless. People have the ability to supersede the actual designer's levels! Um, awesome!

I can't wait to sink my teeth (well, my thumbs) into this new level design program. Now if only you could design a level and then put it into your professional portfolio...but I think that would be cheating! :)

My First Youtube Experience

Okay, sooo way back in 2005 when me and the internet weren't really an item, I was sitting it study hall and a boy named David got everyone started watching "The Llama Song" This meme was literally THE FIRST experience I had with YouTube. I had never heard of the site or even dreamed of something like it. I watched the Llama song about 20 times that day. I thought it was hilarious. So that day in study hall was my first introduction to internet media outside of movie sights or school research. From there I know my second video was the Numa Numa Dance/Song. I wasn't aware of how big YouTube was going to be and I still regret not starting to Vlog or even make a YouTube account that year....

Sometimes I still feel a little left out of the loop from Freshman students I see that have had these things since Junior High! Haha...oh well, it's fun to remember when something comes into being. Even remembering how Facebook was "way back".

I love that YouTube is in existence. I've seen so many things I'd never even have dreamed of. I think of everyone in my subscription box and think...wow. Those people are awesome. And even though I spend alot of time looking at funny videos on YouTube, I have actually learned alot and meet very interesting International people!

So thanks, YouTube! And thanks Llama song for drawing me in!
Check out Know Your Meme's page on the Llama Song!

MAGD 150- Website Assignment: Page Layout/Color Palette

MAGD 150- Creepy Hotel Assignment

MAGD 150- LOLZ Cat Assignment

Craigslist TV. Second Season?

When scrolling through Tube Filter I saw Joshua Cohen's article entitled, "Craigslist TV' Debut Second Season on YouTube." First off, I was like, "Second season?! What the..?" Second, I wondered what the heck Craigslist was doing making shows?

It turns out the Brownstone Entertainment took a portion of the LA Craigslist and decided to make the posts into a documentary! I'm wondering if they can do a whole season on just the "Misconnections" section!

How did they make this happen? Well they opened the LA Craigslist to "opt-ins". Basically, after entering a post you had a small disclaimer stating that you may opt-in for a chance to be in the documentary. Brownstone reports in got about 1,000 opt-ins a day. Brownstone then scoured the opt-ins and choose 14 to make up this seasons "Craigslist TV"

It's the reality of all reality shows! It's actual real people doing very real unscripted things. The reason why it works is because as well all know the funniest things on Craiglist are largely unbelievable and hilarious. Craigslist aims to bring all of the stories to light and the public with the launch of its second season.

You've Gotta Wonder

To tell you the truth I rarely watch viral videos on YouTube.  A: because I don't like to watch others pain or embarrassment and B: because the videos usually aren't that funny to me. So with the latest assignment being Know Your Meme...I felt like a fish out of water. When I clicked on the homepage I realized that in the entire archives I might have only seen a handful of the videos! So I started searching thru the homepage until I found one that peaked my interest...
Interior Semiotics is the video I found. It's a viral video that hit YouTube as a Shock Avante-Garde Performance. It touched a cord with me because I HATE the hipster movement in art...I lived in Chicago for a year and went to 3 hipster performances. I honestly feel that these teenager and college students have no idea the actual history behind what makes their work possible or plausible. Rubbing yourself with old spaghetti o's while reciting badly written poems backwards and forwards doesn't symbolize adolescent freedom to me...it represents you have not enough to do in your own life.
Take a look at the video with care...it became viral because of the obscene nature of the story, reminscent of "Two Girls, One Cup", the girl wants to shock you- while not explaining the root of her story. For those non art majors who don't understand the origins of shock hipster...it's a viral best seller.

Re-Release of Ico & Shadow of the Colossus

I looked online at Kotaku today and I was met with the some superb news. The re-release of Ico & Shadow of The Colossus for PS3! There is nothing better than being able to view old classics remastered in HD. Again, it will be released in the original Japanese version as well as in English.

Knowing that there have been a slew of re-release promises for the PS3, I had actually already entertained the idea of Colossus coming out again. Even for PS2 graphics Colossus is a beautifully rendered game. I remember at that time thinking, "How can games get more beautiful than this?!" Colossus was also my first action/adventure/puzzle game I ever played so it has a special place in my heart.

I feel like the re-release of old PS2 games is a very smart idea for its creators. Gamers have nostalgia and  I feel would be very likely to pick up what was already a beautiful, well-engineered game and have a second go at it in HD on the PS3.

Bravo!

To see clips of Ico & Shadow of the Colossus in HD, click below:
Release of Ico & Shadow of the Colossus

Interview: No Mimes Media Welcomes You to the Wonderful Worlds of Transmedia

Whoa, check this out...these are new interactive ARG games that seem, well, really complicated and really cool all at the same time. I'm not sure why Cisco did this for it's employees but I think more companies (and even schools) should create these interactive games.


Make sure to watch the video.

Interview: No Mimes Media Welcomes You to the Wonderful Worlds of Transmedia

The Threshold: Case Study from No Mimes Media on Vimeo.

YouTube Fangirl

Thanks to my Media Arts and Game Design class at my university I have discovered an informative site called TubeFilter . This site basically archives all the newest goings on on the web and Youtube on its homepage. I was scanning the articles and found one that really grabbed my interest.

The article is called The Web Series Identity Crisis and it talks about using YouTube as a way of income and if that process is truly legit. I take the side of the writer, Marc Hustvedt, and say "Of course it's legit!" The people of Youtube are completely innovative. They took something so new at the time, put up their own little personal videos, pulled their viewers in, and made it their life. Anyone who says they suck, like the msn article "YouTube Stars Make Money- But Why?", has to just be jealous. Sure Fred is annoying and The Annoying Orange is even more annoying (and let's just say I wouldn't be caught dead watching them) But come on! These people turned on their camera for fun one day in 2006. FOR FUN. And then built their life around it by 2010! That's 4 years of hard work. I've been watching YouTube since 2005 and I still have yet to post a video...

I believe that these people are the foundations of interactive web media.  It doesn't have to be just the people who are partnered and making money...any one who has ever uploaded a video to YouTube is part of one of the biggest phenomenon of this decade. Who could have dreamed that viewing any person at any time in any place in the world would ever be available? That's what YouTube is- a community of millions of people watching other people's lives unfold. Some still do it for fun, some do it for laughs or advertising, and some do it now as their careers. It's a beautiful thing, made possible even by the very people who are now complaining about these "paid performers".

All I can say is YouTube is one of the best artistic outlets available and an artist needs to make money. :) So to all the musicians that were discovered, all the comedians that got names, and to the channels that got partnered...BRAVO!


My favorite money-making YouTube Star:

Community Channel : How can you resist watching, no matter how popular she has gotten!?
Neglected Keystrokes