A Day In the Life

                  Media are all around us, and we all use them every day.  Like most people in today’s age I consume lots of media.  Due to the rise of the internet, and my heavy use of it, most of the media I make use of is found somewhere in, as the saying goes, the series of tubes, that makes up the internet.  It’s a miraculous thing, every bit of traditional forms of media: newspapers, videos, music, etc.  all of that can be found in staggering amounts at just the tips of all of our fingers, and it’s definitely one of the reasons why I love it, my entire day and almost all of my media interactions are interconnected through technology.  And I am not alone “By 2008, 75% of American adults used the Internet.”(45)

A remix of a speech given by Ted Stevens referring to the internet as a “series of tubes”.

                My day always begins the same way, with my alarm going off, and me getting in the shower with no media at all, except for my laminated power tools.  After that though, I immediately turn on my laptop and load up three things: my email, Facebook, and reddit.  Facebook and email don’t give me much media, occasionally someone will post an interesting link, but other than that there isn’t much going on, especially early in the morning.  It’s become more of a habit at this point than actually wondering what is going on.  Reddit on the other hand is absolutely brilliant for finding any kinds of media.  But I usually don’t have much time to browse as much as I’d like to before it’s off to class.  When I leave one of the first things I grab is my iPod and headphones and I start listening to music to make the journey from my room to the dining hall, and then to class that much more interesting.  I’m always somewhat disappointed that artists don’t get paid very much.  “A $0.99 iTunes download generates about $0.33 for iTunes and a standard $0.09 mechanical royalty for the song publisher and writer, leaving about $0.57 for the record company.”(99).  With the rise of the internet though artists can sell their own music much more easily, as Trent Reznor has shown with the two albums he’s released since leaving Interscope.

Music video for one of my favorite bands, Opeth.

My top 10 Artists

                On occasion I will venture over to the website Last.fm which is a modern form of radio.  Stations are set up by various things; there is a recommended station, which will play music that the site thinks you will like based off what you listen to, which is what I usually listen to, in an attempt to discover new bands that I’ve never heard of.  There are also stations for similar artists to one that you input, or just one artist, and stations for a genre of music.  It’s quite versatile and one of the few sites that I use to listen to music.  Mostly I use it for the ability to discover new artists that are similar to the ones that I already listen to.   It also lets you link charts of your top artists, tracks, and albums for the week or overall.  And offers charts of other listening data which is pretty neat to look at.  Last.fm falls under the type of station that carries “music formats unavailable on local radio, such as jazz, blues, and New Age music.”(133).

The only Textbook I've finished (courtesy of Amazon.com)

After grabbing my iPod though and turning on some tunes, I grab my textbooks, which are the few books that I actually read nowadays.  I used to read quite a bit when I was younger, but now it seems that the only things I read are things that are assigned for classes.  I feel like I do read more overall though, most likely due to the fact that I am reading a lot more news than I used to.  Almost all my reading is done online though, instead of the older traditional methods.  I think that is true of most people my age though. 

                 After my deprivation from almost all forms of media during my classes, I return back to my dorm to immerse myself in it once again.  And once again, in a style quite similar to my mornings, I open up my usual sites: Facebook, email, and reddit, as well as several forums that I browse.  As I mentioned earlier, reddit is amazing for finding media.  People submit links, and they either get upvoted or downvoted so you find things that other people found interesting.  There are many different subreddits, or categories a link can be submitted to: worldnews, politics, science, gaming, etc.  They even have one called IAMA which stands for I am a _____ Ask Me Anything, where people submit stories of things that happened to them, or of things they do or did and answer questions about the subject.  It’s this site where I am usually exposed to online newspapers, seeing the big headline news on sites like The New York Times, and the Huffington Post.  “…many readers begin their day by logging on to the Internet and scanning a wide variety of news sources…”(261), this is exactly what I do.

reddit's logo with the trademark reddit alien.

                After that I usually check the several webcomics that I read: XKCD, Cyanide and Happiness, SMBC, Nedriod being the main ones.  Daily webcomics are awesome.  I’ve always loved comics, ever since I was little.  The Sunday comics were the only piece of the newspaper that I ever read when I was young.  My dad would take the rest of the paper, and I’d take the colorful little section.  But now instead of getting comics in print, I can get them online.  “…comics endure as part of popular and alternative culture.”(323).  With the rise of the internet comics are everywhere, there are tons of daily, or weekly webcomics to be found and read.  I think I have over eight in my bookmarks that I read. 

Cyanide and Happiness: Comic #2195

                 Then I usually relax with some gaming.  Recently I have gone back to playing QuakeLive, a remake of the old Quake 3 Arena.  I love it for the fact that it is for one, free, and two, it has that old school game feel to it.  I can’t play new First Person Shooters.  They all feel too clunky to me.  There is a much higher focus on realism than fun.  In the new games, the screen shakes all around when moving, and the character moves slowly but realistically, and gunfights are short due to the fact that you die in only a few hits.  In older FPS games, such as Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, or Quake, your character could move incredibly fast, especially when using a technique known as trick-jumping or strafe-jumping, where you move your mouse side to side in a special way while jumping and strafing to gain up massive amounts of speed.  Things were less realistic, but more fun, as far as I’m concerned.  Team Fortress 2 is one of the few recent FPS games that keeps the non-realistic gameplay that I like.

Get Quaked video done of some of the best Quake players.

                The rest of my day is spent lazing around, browsing the web, listening to music, and playing games until I feel like it’s time to do work.  I usually settle down at night turn on the TV for one of the few shows that I watch and start on my homework.  If there’s nothing on, I usually just turn it to Comedy Central.  They almost always have something interesting on, either some standup or a movie.  There are a lot of reruns though, but I usually don’t mind, since it just helps me concentrate on my work more easily.  Nick Swardson and Daniel Tosh are both good standup comedians that I like to watch when they are on.  Both have their own shows on Comedy Central now as well that I like to catch when they are on.  One of my favorite shows though, is Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which I first found on Comedy Central, but is an FX show.  It’s one of the few sitcoms I watch where “character development is downplayed in favor of zany plots.”(158).  Which Always Sunny fits that description incredibly accurately. 

Video of some of Nick Swardson’s standup.

                The only movies that I really watch are the ones that I see on TV.  My roommate has a fairly extensive collection of DVDs though, and every now and then I’ll watch one, but it’s not a frequent thing.  Most of my entertainment is found online so movies are definitely not my highest priority for entertainment, but when there are good ones that come out I do enjoy going out to the movie theaters with my friends and seeing one in theaters.  I most often watch movies with my friends which proves what the book says “…movies have acted to bring people together.”(213).  But I still don’t watch them that often.  The only form of media that I use less than movies would have to be magazines.

               Overall most of my media experiences are through the internet and online versions of traditional media.  But due to the increased availability of the internet as well as speed the internet is gaining an increased importance in our lives and for media.  There is just such a variety of things to be found, remixes of some of the weirdest things, stories, news, videos, music, and everything else that you can imagine. 

PCWorld

PCWorld October 2010

Thesis
PCWorld gives general information on various things tech oriented such as good deals on computers, comparisons of E-Readers, and looks at myths surrounding the tech world, such as if Interner Explorer is really as unsafe as everyone says it is.



Brain:
The NEOCORTEX is used a lot due to having to read.  There are also a lot of things you have to think about such as deals on computers and if you really need these electronics.
The LIMBIC brain is used through the various pictures, mostly in ads, but also in articles.



Five Facts:
1) It's first issue was in March of 1983.
2) PCWorld offers a lot of free trial downloads from their website.
3) Expensive HDMI cables are no better than cheap cables.
4) New Intel and AMD Processors automatically overclock themselves.
5) According to Symantec's Security Threat Report:  Firefox has the most vulnerabilities for 2009, followed by Safari, IE, and Google Chrome with the least.

Trends:
CONVERGENCE is a trend utilized by PCWorld, not only is it available in print, but their website is also quite extensive and features a wide variety of information.  The magazine also supports the growing trend in technology with articles on Smartphones and other devices.  The things they promote also go into the TECHNOLOGICAL SHIFT, and a PERSONAL SHIFT from personal to participatory.

Principles:
TRADE OFFS: PCWorld does reviews of many pieces of technology.  They show the pros and cons and try to convince the consumer to either buy or not buy it.

Techniques:
SIMPLE SOLUTIONS: Saying that certain programs or pieces of technology can make certain aspects of using technology or your life easier.
PLAIN FOLKS: Reviews of things by people working at PCWorld.
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE: Comparing items by doing tests on speed, price, and other attributes.

Media Blog 4: A Brilliant Freeware RPG

Exit Fate

Exit Fate is a small freeware game that I came upon about a year ago and absolutely loved.  It's made by one guy in the RPGMaker program, but I found it to be very enjoyable.  As far as the graphics go it can be compared to other 2D sprite based JRPGs from the older days of the '90s, although there are still a few of them around.  The music in the game is taken from other RPGs, and part of the fun is trying to recognize what game it was originally in. 

Combat is very simple.  It's all turn based, with the character with the most speed going first.  If you've ever played any game like this, it'll come right to you.  The game does a good job of telling you how to do things and what you need to know if it seems to be something that's not intuitive.

Here is a video of a combat scene from later in the game. 



Combat in the earlier portions move much faster, but if you're not patient, this game probably isn't for you.
There is a lot of dialogue between characters to read, and the gossip from the townsfolk which may give you hints or tell you something about the game.

It also features a tactical battle mode in various parts of the game where you control armies to defeat an enemy. These can be frustrating at times, but often give nice rewards for getting a perfect score. Characters also boost an army's capabilities so it's recommended to get as many as possible.

There are many characters to add to your party, in fact there is a total of 75 characters, each with their own dialog and story.  Many of them are minor and are obtained through some small side quest, some can be quite unexpected when they join, and others are obvious or given through the story.

The game is of course, free, and rather enjoyable if you like these sorts of games.  I would definitely recommend checking it out at http://site.scfworks.com/.  He also has another game available called Last Scenario, but I'll get into that another time.

Media Blog 3: Strike the Earth!

Dwarf Fortress is a game that I've enjoyed for a while now, but that many people find difficult to play.  It could be described as "The Sims on Steroids".  The gameplay is complicated and limitless, while the graphics are almost nonexistent.  Here is a picture of the graphics in their original state: 

The infamous BoatMurdered

There are many graphical mods though that will improve how the game looks, three of the more popular ones can be found in the Lazy Newb Pack.

Don't let the graphics fool you, Dwarf Fortress has a lot to offer.  The fun in the game comes from simply how much you can do and how intricate it is.

You start off with 7 dwarves which you can assign skills, and from there you must survive and build your fortress.  As the fortress becomes larger and more succesful you begin to attract migrants who wish to join your fortress.  Eventually you may even attract the king of your civilization who will then declare your fortress the new capital city.

There is no end to the game though, you can continue forever.  Even after a fortress has been destroyed you can form a new party of dwarves to reclaim the land.  The motto of the game is "Losing is fun", this comes from the very odd ways that fortresses have fallen.  The famous BoatMurdered suffered from rampant elephant attacks, other fortress fall from demons from the depths of the earth, and other fall from dwarven ingenuity when a mistake is made and the fortress ends up flooded with water, or magma. 

It can be hard to get started, but luckily there are many tutorials:



The maker of the above video, CaptnDuck has a full series of videos to explain everything that you need to get started, in addition there is also the Dwarf Fortress Wiki.  Once you get started you can find that the game is very fun to play.  It's the fun of The Sims but with more combat, alcohol, beards and digging.  Who wouldn't like that?  Plus it's free!

Midterm Refelections: All the way to Halfway Reflections

1.) After studying 21^st century media for eight weeks in this class, what have you learned? Please be specific.

 I've learned a lot of little interesting facts about the media and the history of media from the Media and Culture book, but I probably won't remember a lot of the dates and numbers.  What I will, will be how to analyze media, the techniques that are used to get us to agree with the producer/buy a product.

2.) What is the most important thing you have learned about yourself as a critical reader, a writer, and a thinker in this class so far?

I don't analyze into the meanings of things.  I've always just sort of taken things at face value.

3.) What’s one thing you would do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

 I would stay on top of the blog posts instead of leaving everything until the last minute.  I spend too much time enjoying media.

4.) What’s one thing you would like me to do differently this first half of the semester if you were to take this class again?

 I'm not quite sure I get the point of the personal blogs.  The class blog is good though.

5.) Please comment on the usefulness of the power tools, our course blog, your personal blog, our in-class quizzes, our films, and our book(s) as learning tools.

 The Power tools and quizzes are excellent.  I like these, and the 6-box quizzes.  The two combined teach us to analyze media and to look at it in ways that previously we would not.  The courseblog and book notes are good.  It's an easy way to submit homework, and are good to keep track of what we have for homework.  The personal blogs I don't really like.  I've never liked blogs though, it seems like there are many of them on the internet that are just a few posts, or are people talking about their lives, rather than an informative topic.  I think blogging is like writing, you need to have an interesting topic, and an audience to write for, and a certain skill in writing, or talking in the case of a video blog is required.  The movies shown in class have been good so far.  Movies are always enjoyable and break up the monotony of the day.

Media Blog 2: Quaking it up

A while ago I was introduced to Quake Live, since then it was become one of the few games that I go back to continuously when I am bored and want some fast paced action.

Quake Live is a reinvention of the old Quake 3 Arena, which was originally released for Windows in 1999.  The older graphics can be seen in the picture to the right, but that is no indicated for gameplay.

While the graphics may be lacking, the gameplay is solid.  Unlike a traditional FPS, you do not spawn with a gun, at least not one that can do any damage.  The gun you spawn with can only kill someone if they are already heavily injured.  Instead, you must pick up weapons, ammo, armor, and other powerups and items quickly in order to hold your ground.  Gameplay is fast-paced, and if you stand still for any length of time, you are likely to be shot down before you have a chance to realize what happened.   This fast paced gameplay is one of the things that I like about the game.  It is unlike anything currently seen in popular FPSs like Halo, or Bad Company 2.

For the most part the game is completely free.  There is a subscription service which offers the ability to host your own servers and a few more game modes, but if you just want to play in your free time, the standard version offers plenty of gameplay.
Also due to it's low end graphics, the game runs entirely in your browser, either in windowed mode or fullscreen, allowing you to play on any computer anywhere.

The game grabbed a huge amount of popularity quite quickly, mostly due to the legacy the Quake games have had, before this came out, there were still people playing Quake 3.  And there have been some amazing contests between players who truly know the ins and outs of the game. 
Watching some of these people play is an amazing experience. 
Even without knowing much about the game, you can't help but be impressed.

Media Blog 1: Transformice, Amazingly Addictive

 Transformice is an addictive flash game released in June of 2010, and it has become amazingly popular since.  It went from two servers: a French and single English  to having five: a French, two English, a Russian, and a Brazilian server.


The premise of the game is that you are a mouse, and together with your fellow mice you must gather the cheese and get it to the hole. 


With cheese, you can buy hats to wear to make your mouse more unique, or use it to make custom maps for other mice to play.

               Image courtesy of the Transformice Wiki



Of course there are obstacles, this is where the shaman comes in.  On most maps, the shaman will be responsible to build things to allow the mice to get the cheese and score.
On some maps, it is possible for the mice to get the cheese without the shaman's help, and the shaman can either make it easier, or choose to make it more interesting by adding his own obstacles.

The game itself is largely addictive, and since the introduction of a map editor where users can make their own maps, there is almost always something new to play.

The game features a somewhat realistic physics system, but every now and then it will glitch and the laws of physics will be disregarded, which the players have termed "French Physics".  Oftentimes they make the game much more entertaining, as boards suddenly fly into the air unexpectedly.  Such glitches have given rise to one popular entity known as Anvil God, where many rotating anvils are placed near each other and flail around.

The game is quite simple, but is very addictive and fun, and I'd recommend checking it out, even for a few minutes.  Any questions can be directed to the Transformice Wiki.