Class Participation By The Numbers

Okay, so the way I look at it:

We started class the first week of January. 3 weeks of Jan x 3 blogs a week = 9 blogs. 4 weeks of Feb x 3 blogs a week, 12 blogs. March included Spring Break and no one should have to do homework on Spring Break, right? so 3 weeks of March x 3 blogs a week = 9 blogs. April is the same as Feb, 12 blogs, and class is over two weeks into May, so only 2 blogs that week.

Now for the grand total. 9 January blogs + 12 February blogs + 9 March blogs + 12 April blogs + 6 May blogs = 48 blogs. Counting this blog, I have 25 blogs so that means to get an A I only need... 23 more blogs. Almost double what I've done.

And right now I'm really really really wishing I hadn't just spelled this all out for you, Jenny...

How To Measure Grief

7:23am

The time that morning that your brother walked into your room because your alarm wouldn’t stop going off, and he was going to yell at you because it was Saturday, but when you didn’t answer and he walked over to hit snooze, your eyes were open but you weren’t awake and he thought and told me later, who kills themselves on a Friday night?

19 days

What day after your death that you mother forced herself out of bed and stood at the bathroom mirror with her toothbrush in hand and realized that it was never going to get easier, that it was going to feel like this forever, and that it was only a matter of time until the day she wouldn’t get out of bed just like you hadn’t.

5min

Exactly how far into Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah that he sings the words, “Well maybe there’s a god above/ but all I’ve ever learn from love/ was how to shoot somebody outdrew you.”

30B.C.

The year Cleopatra committed suicide by asp bite, preferring this solution to the humiliation of allowing the Romans to triumph.

10in.

How many inches you cut off of your hair the day after the big fight when you wouldn’t call me for three days, but instead drove all the way downtown to that salon you read about in the paper and sat in the black vinyl chair and waited until the stylist pressed the pedal with her foot and rose you up to say to her, “Please get rid of it all.”

200mg

16 times the recommended dose of Zolpidem that the coroner found in your bloodstream on a beautiful spring Saturday afternoon when he would rather have been at his son’s Little League game and your parents would have rather been able to pretend that it was all just one big accident.

3C

Your locker number, that became my locker number, that was our locker number, until you asked me to move my books out of it and I did, but because you never changed the combination on the lock, occasionally I would leave something there for you to find, a crumpled piece of paper maybe, but never with anything written on it.

4EVR

What you carved in to the bench outside of the ice skating rink the first time I kissed you, on the cold ice under the flashing disco ball during couple’s skate, even though later you would swear that it didn’t count, and that we didn’t really love each other back then because it was only eighth grade and you only skated with me that night because you didn’t want to be the girl waiting alone in line at the concession stand for a hot pretzel.

32A

The numbers printed on the tag of your bra that would tickle my thumb as I slid my hand up and along the pale smooth skin of your back as the vertebrae of your spine gently whispered me along.

I saw Adam Zagajewski! Live!

Adam Zagajewski is the first European I've ever met who liked the US. He worked in Houston for awhile too. Then again, he's also from Poland. If you could find a person from Florence who preferred Houston, I'd give you $5. I loved his accent though. It made everything he said sound kind of brilliant and kind of creepy. It was melodic after awhile.

Considering that Adam writes poetry only in Polish and has it translated (doesn't even do it himself!) I was pretty impressed that his peoms were so lovely in English. I must not have been the only one, there were many questions during the question and answer session about his translator... more than about the poems themselves! What is truly incredible about the translation factor is that here is poet who completely gave up control of his craft! Show me the painter that left another artist add the finishing touches to his masterpiece! I'll give you another $5!

My husband and I are on the same level in every way... except the creative arts. He is not a writer, not a reader, and it doesn't occur to him to appreciate the beauty of the written word the way that I do. He owed me a favor, though, so I dragged him to the reading (key word being "dragged") and much to my amazement, while he didn't care much for the poetry, even he loved Adam. Certain things Adam said, phrases he used, "We are not loyal to our youth" and "I so often violate the chronological order" struck Mike, and he mused over them aloud all week. It was a pretty neat thing to observe, and allowed me to see a side of this man I know better than anyone that I had never seen before.

Adam also dedicated Kendra's favorite poem to her during the reading which I thought was really sweet. :)

Blue Veins and Lingerie

Lingerie. There was a young girl, who, because she didn’t yet understand what sexy was and maybe never would, decided to make her boyfriend a pin-up calendar featuring herself in all different kinds of sexy lingerie. This was when Kinko’s first started doing the calendars from pictures, and even though it’s become the least creative of things Kinko’s can do with a photo, at the time it was quite novel, and I imagine many other girls had exactly the same idea. This particular young girl couldn’t quite afford to buy 12 different types of lingerie, being that she was rather young and coming from a rough childhood (her mother was an overweight alcoholic). She wouldn’t have had much chance to wear it again if she did have the money, making twelve sets of lingerie a rather frivolous purchase anyway, but the young girl, not being particularly bright, didn’t even consider this. While not being particular bright, her rough childhood had taught her a thing or two about cheating the system, so what she did was go to an expensive lingerie boutique with another young girlfriend and a camera. This was the kind of boutique that let you try on the lingerie in their rooms made to look posh and sophisticated, and because they weren’t exactly accustomed to a clientele that was unsanitary, or that would try it on without buying it, no salesperson followed you in or hovered outside. The young girl tried on all twelve pieces of their best lingerie and struck what her young self thought to be sexy poses, although in reality, they were really only sexy to those young enough to not quite understand sexy which in a way made them sad poses. She then went and had the pictures developed, (this being before the days of digital cameras) and took the pack of pictures to Kinko’s and handed them over to a perfect stranger so that he could use these images to create a calendar for her boyfriend. This girl, not being particularly bright, did not worry for a moment that the stranger might keep a copy of her photos, and use them whenever he was feeling particularly bored or lonely. In two days, the young girl returned to pick up her calendar, and I imagine feeling quite pleased with her craftiness at only paying $15.99 for such a wonderful gift, took it home, wrapped it, and gave it to her boyfriend. I also imagine this young girl, not being particularly bright, thought she looked quite good in the photos, quite tantalizing, although if you look closely in most of them, you can see the tags still on the lingerie and the bluish veins of her legs through her pale skin.

Dog Turd with Buttercream Icing

So it was over 80 degrees for the first time in forever today and I suddenly remembered why summer isn't always what you remember it being in the dead of winter. I cannot stand being STICKY. And with the humidity, that's exactly how I felt all day. In fact, halfway through the day when I had already snapped at my husband seven times, two of which resulted in good sized arguments, he suddenly remembered and looked at me in panic, "Oh my god. You're mean when it's hot! I almost forgot!"

We got our dog Harper, in late January, so this is the first time she's experienced the heat and I have to say, I do somewhat enjoy the effect on her. She was lethargic to the point of almost pitiful, and it was nice change from the unruly spoiled brat we've raised her to be. We didn't have the air on today, and in an act of poor judgment early this morning, I let Harper drink the little bit of milk left over from my Coco Krispies. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not sure if chocolate WILL kill a dog, but I can now say from experience that it will give them gas so constant and god-awful you'll wish you were dead. So all day today, our home smelled and felt like a huge dog turd cake baking in the oven. It literally made me sick.

I just considered trying to end this all light and funny and bring it all together with a lesson, but I'm hot and sticky and the air here smells like shit and frankly, I just don't feel like it.

The end.

This blog's gone apey...

So every once in awhile, you hear a certain random line in a movie or tv show and it's under the radar but strikes you as hilarious, and you think, I'm going to use that from now on. I am. I will be single-handedly responsible for making that phrase the new "You go girl!" Or at least that's what me and my friend Meredith used to do.

Her personal best? From Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, my friend Meredith loved the random line, "This whole town's gone apey." (as in monkey-business crazy). My old favorite was from a SNL skit staring Ray Ramano as a sports announcer, and it was "Sweet sassy molassey!" said like one would say "Boo-yah!" (I'm also a fan of "Yatzee!" said in the same way, from an early episode of Punk'd.) However, after seeing the movie I Love You, Man last weekend, I have to tell you that the phrase I will put on the edge of everyone's is "Totes magotes". As in totally. For agreement. In example: Question: Are you going to be at the free money giveaway this weekend? Answer: Totes magotes I am!

I rest my case.

Hello pretty lady!

There is a boy on American Idol this season who sings like a woman. If my eyes were closed when he sang, I would be certain that this boy is a woman. What I wonder is, if the judges are constantly accusing contestants of not being "themselves" in the competition, why do they continue to praise this man who makes himself sound like a woman? Frankly, the whole thing makes me more uncomfortable than he must feel in those layers of foundation and eyeliner.

I am not against a man acting, dressing, or singing like a woman if that's what he enjoys, but until the judges can celebrate a country singer on Motown night, I will not support this man-woman contestant.

I'm sure in some circles, this post would be considered "not politically correct" but the people in those circles aren't really the people that vote for American Idol. Let's hear it for middle America.

That's bull...

This is a breed of dog called a bull mastiff. It is huge. We live in a condominium. Many of the people living in our condominium building own dogs. Some stupid people living in our building own a bull mastiff. I've heard that bull mastiffs, while huge, have a very low energy level. That would make sense. The people that own the bull mastiff appear to have low energy levels. In fact, I rarely see them walking the bull mastiff as much as standing with the bull mastiff. In their defense, it does not appear that the bull mastiff very much enjoys walking either. The people that own the bull mastiff are miserable. I know this because they confronted us about not picking up our puppy's poop. Who has time for that when they are happy? Also, they complained to a board member that we were not picking up our puppy's poop after they confronted us and we started picking up the poop. Now when I see them out standing with the bull mastiff, I stare at them. I am hoping that someday I will catch them not picking up the bull mastiff's poop. That day will be better than Christmas.

A busy week indeed....

so here we go:

1.The number one piece of advice given by therapists to adult children of those with Borderline Personality Disorder is END THE RELATIONSHIP.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: Sadly, there is nothing fun about this.

Oh whatever. I don’t even feel like coming up with things right now. I’m so tired. Pretty sure this new job in marketing is going to kill me. (Well at least training for it while I work my other job while still trying to impress with the new one will.)

Please excuse this short and sorry excuse for an entry but I think I have enough on my plate.

And what did you learn this week?

Let's see... I gave this one some thought today, but couldn't think of anything really... okay, here's one-

1. George Adamsen of Born Free fame (also author of his autobiography My Pride and Joy) was killed by an African poacher in 1989. George specialized in adapting lions that had been raised in civilization back into the wild.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: The most well-known lion adapted into George's tribe was Christian the Lion of YouTube fame. Christian was purchased and raised for the first year of his life by two Australians living in London in the 1970's. Check out the famous YouTube video of Christian greeting the men who purchased and raised him after one year in the wild with George. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNTdWbVBgc

2. The drug Zolpidem (which goes by the popular name brand Ambien) is commonly used in 10mg amounts per pill.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: I don't take this drug, but for one of my other classes, I'm writing a short piece on a girl who overdoses on it. Obviously, I had to know how much is usually prescribed per pill so I could say how much the coroner found in her bloodstream. (FYI- 200mgs)

3. Naples, Italy is renowned for having the best pizza in Italy, which of course has the best pizza in the world.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: While I had read this in the best-selling novel Eat, Pray, Love, I recently had the opportunity to confirm it with Italian customers Giovanni Mambia and Enrico Prosperi who visited our office from Florence. I'm going there later this month and I'm very excited to try it.

Funny and informative....

Okay, so new blog idea that might make this a little easier. Unless we are given a topic, my entries from now on will list three things I’ve learned that day. While this exercise is pretty easy when you’re say… five years old, it’s a bit tougher at 26, when you mostly do/talk to/watch the same things every day. (Oh, and current events and things like “my brother has a headache” don’t count. They have to be things I’m just now learning while the info has always been available. For the sake of you, reader, I’ll try to make sure that they are also interesting, but it’s not a rule that they have to be.)

Since it is only 12:45pm right now, I’m going to list things I learned yesterday. I should at least get the benefit of having a full 24 hrs to learn three things, right?

1. While you can go to this site:
http://casesearch.courts.state.md.us/inquiry/inquiry-index.jsp
and search the first and last names of any resident in the state of Maryland for anything they’ve ever had to appear in court for, Maryland is the only state that provides this info in such a fun and easy format. PA does not. Boo.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: My mother is on this site multiple times under her numerous last names/combinations of both. (She pretty much marries, and divorces, someone new every few years, hence the multiple aliases.)

2. If your vehicle is registered in, say, your mother’s name, (or one of her multiple aliases), she must be present for you to renew your tags. On that same note, if your tags expired in December and it is now, say, March, you cannot renew online.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: It would pretty sad if I was 26, married, and still driving a car registered in my mother’s name. I learned this valuable lesson with the help of my 17 year old brother.

3. Recent studies have shown that there are over 320 genes linked to fertility or lack there of.
ADDITIONAL FUN FACT: I did not learn this because I am currently trying to get pregnant. Every morning at the gym, I do one hour on the elliptical. While I do this, I read one entire magazine. As my gym happens to be women-only, you can imagine that many of the magazines there contain this sort of information.

And I think....

that blogging would be a lot easier if I was writing to an audience that I didn't know. Because then its not as if people would be forced to know about it... In fact, I would prefer that the people who did real by blog, if it was indeed a blog-by-choice, would find it only by Google. If they Googled something I happened to blog about, and they liked it, so be it. I would than attract followers that weren't necessarily a hodge-podge of people with different interests that I happened to have class with, it would probably be people who actually had the same sense of humor as me (because I would like to think that my blog-by-choice would be funny.)

For instance, today someone asked me where I planned to put something very large. I said, "In my glasses case" because I have huge eyeballs. I think that this is funny. I also commonly say that my contacts are size extra large and cost extra because of this. I also think that this is funny. Lately, I have found making fun of myself really funny.

See how stupid this is? I suck at this... but I'm a good writer I swear! This format is like open mic night for writers!!!

A Story of Hands- As It Is Now

So what I've come up with to work on in class today is this idea- my narrative will be told through objects found hidden within a fist. The reader will choose which fist, and since the objects in the fist propel the story along, the reader will ultimately be in control of the path of the story.

I made a list of objects, typical things you might expect to find in someone's fist. A quarter, a book of matches, a piece of candy, two Advil. I decided that time would also propel the story along, but by months. Each time the reader choose a new fist, three months would pass. The story would start at the beginning of the relationship, and, giving the reader four opportunities to choose over the course of the narrative, end at one year. Would the couple still be together? Married? Breaking up?

Since the only available hand model I could find in such short notice was my husband, I decided to tell the story from the woman's perspective (I guess it also helps that I am one!) I got Mike to pose (fists look so funny with nothing else in the shot, like little gremlin hoofs, I told him) just one good shot of the fists that the reader can choose from over and over, and then shots of alternating hands open while the other remained in the fist, displaying the various objects. I've decided to write the story organically as I go, to capture just how organic the feeling of a relationship going right or going wrong over time can seem. Already I'm excited for this. The incorporation of hypertext is pushing me in a direction I never would have gone before and I love it. I hope that it also makes me write something I never would have written before...

A Story of Hands- It Continues

After more thought on what we talked about in class in regards to the current idea for my project, I decided to change things a little. There were a few reasons for the change, not having a clear way to show the reader that the poem was continuing among them. However, I would have to say that my main reason for changing up the idea of the narrative was the fact that I didn't want to use a poem. Frankly, I wrote that poem six years ago, when poetry was still something I was mildly interested in. Now, I don't aspire to be a poet and I can't believe I ever did. I realized I couldn't feel good about the project unless I felt good about the writing at the heart of it, and it didn't matter how easy using something I had already written made the project for me.

I decided to rework my idea. I knew I still wanted to use the hands idea, incorporate some of the ideas that Adam and Jenny had brought up in class, but add elements of time and somehow, I guess because when I think of hands, I always picture my husbands, also add the element of a relationship...? I kept thinking about how....

A Story of Hands- The Beginning

So my original idea for our project was to take a poem I had written (called Hands, about hands) and to incorporate that poem into a way of reading that was interactive for the reader. What, I wondered, can we do with our hands that is interactive? That would translate well to the computer screen? (Hand holding, grabbing, touching, poking need not apply.) I thought back to a game every child has played before. Two fists are presented, and the player is asked to choose which fist houses the "surprise" (usually candy). I thought I could use this as a base for my project and instead of a candy surprise, the reader would be awarded with another verse of the poem. When I presented this idea to Adam and Jenny in class, the idea was mostly well-received with some helpful critique. Adam wondered if the reader would know how to play the game without instructions (and also suggested that I write the title of the poem across the knuckles of my hand model for the title webpage.) Jenny wondered if the reader would know when the poem was over, or that they should continue playing to get more for that matter, and also made some suggestions along the lines of exploring the surprise factor of finding something else (a ring for example) instead of candy in the hand.

For the time being, I decided to stick with my original idea, but did decide to take into consideration Jenny's suggestion that I somehow let the reader know when the poem is over.

Who really cares, though?

My biggest issue with blogs seems to not be not having anything to say (I’ve been known to talk to a wall for hours if it will listen) but really, wondering who really cares. I could go on for hours about how “real” MTV’s The Real World really is (I’ve done the research to back this up) but honestly, I can’t think of a single person who would want to read about it. Is this how everyone feels? Or do some of you think that this is the beauty of blogs, because if there is even one person out there who does care as much about it as I do, then they’ll finally find someone else who understands? I guess all things considered, it’s a small risk to take.

With that said, however, I’ve stumbled across some great blogs that are fascinating and funny and wonderfully full of interesting information that make them fun to read… and I’ve come across some that are basically page after page of someone’s loud and forceful opinions. (In these cases, I always think that the person with the opinions must not have a lot of friends with who to share these opinions.) I don’t mind a well-searched argument or persuasion to the contrary, but really, four pages of “Bush sucks!” or a whole argument on why margarine is better than butter… this is what I find head scratching when I try to imagine who really will care what I have to say.

And on that note, I think I’m done for now. I much prefer being given the blog topic. It makes me feel more… secure.

Well, I wasn't a pet person...

I was not a pet person. It was as simple as that. I guess the problem would be then that I married one. And dated him for four years before that. So you can imagine, I’ve run through quite a few reasons not to get a dog. I didn’t want to tie myself down to an animal before kids. It would be cruel to get an animal when both of us are at work all day. We don’t even have our own backyard (we live in a condo), so where was this active puppy going to have room to run? These worked for awhile, but once the wedding was over and the newlywed phase started to feel normal, he was on me again. I finally agreed to LOOK ONLY at our local SPCA about two weeks ago. Big mistake. Because Harper was there in the puppy nursery, nine weeks old, with a big spay scar on her little baby belly and although I might not be a pet person, I’m not heartless. She came home with us that day, and we haven’t had a life since.

She’s a boxer mix and even though the SPCA said they didn’t know what she was mixed with, around the time our ten year old neighbor exclaimed “A baby pit!” we had heard it enough that we finally had to accept it. We’ve gotten a crash course in raising a dog, from volumes of literature on boxers and pit bulls, to the best feeding schedule and treats, to crate training vs puppy pads. The lessons that really stick with me though, are these:

Puppy teeth are like needles and not only will they break the skin, they’ll break the blood vessels under the skin, resulting in your arms looking like you have heroin for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They might say that puppies are as hard as newborns, but given the fact that newborns actually sleep for longer than 20 minutes at a time and stay put when you put them down (and have no teeth to chew) I might venture out and say that puppies are harder. But even when they are making your life ten times harder and more complicated, you can love the furry ball of needle teeth more than you thought possible. (I think this is why they were designed to be so cute.) The maternal instinct kicks in right away because you are 100% responsible for their well-being. Case in point- Saturday found me opening Harper’s jaws and prying out duck poop without a second thought. With my bare hands. And I used to say I wasn’t a pet person…

My First Taste of the 'Weaver

When I was in undergrad, I took a class called Professional Communications with the lovely Julia Jasken. Julia wasn’t a day over 29 and though she has taught college courses before, she had never taught that particular course with that particular curriculum at my particular college. The course combined resumes and professional letters, along with website design and a limited Photoshop introduction. It was, to put it mildly, far too much to pack into one course. . Julia could be found crying in her office most days after class. I suppose it was overwhelming, being only one of her to so many confused students. We all had seemingly never-ending questions and technical problems, she later told me that it was rare we got back the first step in what she had planned for that day’s class.

One of our assignments was to design a website for a member of the English department faculty. My partner and I chose the one professor who knew less about designing a website than we did. Dr. Panek was the kind of person who might have referred to it as the “world-wide interweb”.

Strangely enough, the site is still up and you can visit it here: http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/english/faculty/lpanek/leroypanek.htm
although it is not much to look at. I cannot believe we spent months on this. To our credit, this was back when Dreamweaver was still owned by Macromedia and every single thing we attempted to use to for was a struggle. I’m often reminded of that class in this class, and seeing what Dreamweaver can do now, watching Professor O’Grady swim along in her lesson plans with only a small snag or snare, looking at that old site and knowing what a piece of crap it is… Well, it all helps me to be not so scared of this wildly advancing era of technology and see it for what it really is… and advancement towards something better.

The Garden

http://web.nwe.ufl.edu/~jdouglas/reader.pdf

This is easily the most basic and understandable piece of writing I have seen on the topic of hypertext narratives. What J. Yellowlees Douglas has managed to do in this piece is clearly explain, point by point, what hypertext can do that print narratives cannot. (This is also the title of his piece.)

So, according to Douglas, what is an interactive narrative?

• "non-sequential writing with reader-controlled links"


• representatives of the most revolutionary form of hypertexts-as examples of hypertexts which most directly challenge our definitions of what the act of reading entail

What are some common characteristics of a an interactive narrative?

• most have no single beginning


• cannot be held


• often contains "places" or "paths" that the reader can choose from

In addition, according to Douglas, all interactive narratives must contain:

• interruptibility – participants should be able to trade roles during the interaction, as speakers do in conversation, and not simply take turns in occupying the more active or more passive roles in the interaction


• fine granularity – participants should not have to wait for the “end” of something to interact, with true interactivity being interruptible at the granularity level of a single word


• graceful degradation – participants can still continue the interaction without interruption
  even if non sequiturs or unanswerable queries or requests enter into it


• limited look-ahead – goals and outcomes in the interaction cannot be completely predetermined at the outset of the activity by either of the two parties, with the interaction created “on the fly,” or coming into being only at the moment gestures, words or actions are expressed


• an absence of a single, clear-cut default path or action – participants in the
  interaction cannot have definite recourse to a single or “default” path, one available to them throughout the interaction without their having to make any active decisions for action


• the impression of an infinite database – actors in an interaction need to be able to make
  decisions and take action from a wide range of seemingly endless possibilities

Very good read, very interesting, and a good jumping off point before starting interactive narrative design or study. Douglas also discusses The Garden of Forking Paths, specifically Malthrop's online narrative of it. (Which I was unable to locate. Anyone?)

Of Forking

http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/theory/canete2/garden.html

This site, aptly titled "Navigating in the Garden" is interesting because while it doesn't display the story in hypertext narrative form, it discusses it as such. The author states that "Rather than over accentuating a specific writing technique, Borges couches the concept of hypertextuality within his own linear narrative." I find it fascinating that Borges was writing about something that didn't even exist yet... that is, not in the form that it now exists, with websites, and hotspots, and links, and browser windows.... And yet, you cannot read "The Garden of Forking Paths" without considering how brilliant Tsun's great grandfather's novel would have been if it had been able to be displayed in this way. It was the limited choices the reader had in the linear work that made the novel seem so "incoherant" to those who read it... Like the author of this site states, it was impossible to read the story in any other way than by turning the pages, proceeding from paragraph to paragraph according to the authors preconceived organization of the work, and then close the book. But the web, the hypertext narrative as my generation knows it, makes this preconceived organization unnecessary. The story can unfold as the reader wants it to.

On a side note, over and over throughout my years of schooling I've been so impressed with how the lessons in two seemingly unrelated courses would overlap. For example, in 10th grade, when I was learning about dominate and recessive genes in biology, we were using in grids to chart the probably of say, brown eyes vs blue eyes depending upon the parent gene. In math around that same time, we were also using the same grids, albeit numberically, the chart the probability of certain numbers. Anyway, the other course I am taking this semester is "Experimental Forms". Many of the works we are reading in this course were designed by the authors so that they could not read conventionally. In fact, in my last class, we discussed "Encyclopedia" and many of the student admitted to reading it backwards or from random places in the middle as it made it easier. Interesting...

Paths

http://www.geocities.com/papanagnou/cover.htm

Okay, I'm not proud to admit that I had to play with this site for a bit before figuring out exactly what was going on. "Is it trying to make sense?" I asked myself. "Will it make sense in a certain way? Can I make it unfold that way?" The answer? It does make sense, if you've already read the story. Because while at first glance, this site has The Garden of Forking Paths reading as "incoherant" (just as Tsun describes his grand grandfather's novel in the story) but you come to see that through different screens, it splits the story into many different sequences, orders, and outcomes. Just as the book within the story did. This site is maze or labyrinth of the story, created from many different chunks of text, and if the reader can get through, the big picture will click. Just like an actual labyrinth, when you become too lost, you have to stop and start over at the beginning all over again. Many times while exploring this site I had to click back to the home page (always available as a "back key", at times I even forgot for a moment and thought I was clicking to the previous page as I think the designer wanted us to") and start over again, trying to figure out if the same choices would take me to the same places or if it would just keep changing, over and over and over again.

My only suggestions? I'd like to have seen a map of the ENTIRE site, so that I could have read the story in it's entirety if I had wanted to. Because if you stumble upon this site without knowing the whole story, the meaning is somewhat useless.

253 works for me...

The third interactive site I looked at was http://www.ryman-novel.com/, a site dedicated to an interactive novel titled 253 written by author Geoff Ryman. Why 253? The novel is about an underground London train and its 253 passengers. (7 cars on the train x 36 seats per car + 1 driver = 253 passengers.) Much like the television show Lost, this novel is told through each passenger’s story. By clicking on the car, you are taken to a “car map”, where all of the passenger’s names and seat numbers featured. Once clicking on and learning about a particular passenger, you can select another passenger, consult the journey planner, or visit another car’s map. And, just like Lost, while at times this novel might read as one big unsolvable puzzle, numbers do make sense here. Each passenger story runs approximately 253 words long.

While I thought the concept and execution of this online novel was very creative, I’ll admit that here, just like with the tea narrative by Joe Davis, I was a little disappointed with the aesthetic quality of the site. I can’t hold this against either author though, because words are their thing, not necessarily decorating them. However, in both cases, an illustration or even the use of bright colors would have done wonders in contributing to the overall effect of the narrative.

One in 8 million...

http://nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/index.html

This interactive narrative site, part of the New York Times newspaper website, profiles 8 random New Yorkers with professions ranging from a wedding wardrober to a urban taxidermist. As the narrative plays, black and white photographs of the subjects at work flash in the background. What makes this site really work, however, is that the narratives are told by the subjects. As you listen to the corner druggiest or the bridge bicyclist tell their stories, you realize that they do so in their own voices. The pictures might paint an accurate description of what these people do, but hearing the voice creates an experience. Very tastefully done site, with a new story added each week.

What would I add to this site? Not much. Replacing the black and white photographs with black and white slow motion video might allow for a more dramatic presentation, but it doesn't get in the way of experiencing what these people have to say.

Precisely my cup of tea...

I've spent the last few days scouring the internet for creative and original online narratives. I started my search the way I presume 75% of the class did. I Googled "creative online narratives" and clicked and linked and clicked and linked until I finally came to something I felt was worth mentioning. It is: http://www.telescopictext.com/

This online narrative about making a cup of tea is by Joe Davis (or, as you'll find as you click your way through the the narrative, Joe Michael Lambert Davis) and I like it for the way it quite literally unfolds. It is a simple piece, and even completely unfolded is still simple, but something about the way Davis, (a self-proclaimed illustrator, filmmaker, animator and dreamer,) takes a piece that completely consists of sentence "I made tea" and manages to transform it into a piece that has hardly begun with the sentence "Yawning, and smearing my eyes with my fingers, I walked bleary eyed into the kitchen and grabbed the kettle, unhooking it from the switch, and filled it" makes a writer like me appreciate every little nuance in every little surprising added adjective. My only advice for Davis would be to possibly add some color or images. Simple is good, but something might be needed here to keep it from falling into the danger zone of TOO simple.

One down, two to go....

So here's the thing...

If you ate this blog it would taste like mint.