Another Crazy Vid

Strings outline below.

Is this creative, or does he have too much time on his hands?

Found via TheNextWeb

Strings Outline

Here's the outline so far.  If you have a brilliant idea, post it below.  We'll continue discussion tomorrow.

1. I. Peace

1. A. Characters Introduced

1. 1. Billy, the only one who has hair

2. 2. Otto, has a wrench

3. 3. Deric MacGrave, extremely thin

B. Talks about normal life

1. 1. Spend days playing in streets

2. 2. Rules/guiding strings

3. 3. School, self-writing blackboard

4. 4. Market

5. 5. Our songs

2. II. Rules for Breaking/Market Vandalized

1. A. Billy is guided by the Strings to vandalize the market (Couldn’t control himself, enjoyed destroying the market)

2. B. Wakes up next day and looks for Deric MacGrave, finds him on the street, broken, with X’d-out eyes. He had fallen

1. 1. 1st miss rule

3. III. Nothing test

1. A. Billy is terrified, decides to stay in bed all day.

2. B. Later, Otto comes in to find Billy. Billy is guided to yell at Otto.

1. 1. 2nd miss rule

3. C. Otto says he is going to tell the Blackboard. Leaves, Billy runs after him.

4. IV. Twisted School

1. A. Billy follows Otto out into the street

2. B. Otto trips and neck snaps on his own Strings. His eyes roll up to X’s.

3. C. Billy drags Otto to the school to see if he can help.

4. D. Writes Question on Blackboard.

5. E. The Board gives a Twisted Drawing in response.

6. F. Billy throws Otto’s body into Blackboard, breaking it. He finds a recording machine…

5. V. End of the Line

1. A. Billy decides to solve his own problems.

2. B. He climbs his Strings.

3. C. Finds nothing, just his Strings tied to a bar.

4. D. Realizes he had been controlling himself all along.

5. E. He has grown out of his strings.

Video Games for the Uninitiated

These links have been bouncing around my bookmark folders for a while, so I thought I'd share.

• Game Explanations for Beginners via Popmatters is a cool overview of the basics and history of gameplay.  The author gets a bit philosophical towards the end, and his jokes are aimed at established gamers, so I'm not sure who his audience is...
• Samorost 2 is an odd amalgam of adventure and puzzle genres.  The game isn't difficult, but the art is amazing.  (After a quick Google search and 30 minutes of play I bring you Samorost [the Original].  Also cool.)
• Reading's good, too!
• I am not an avid gameplayer, but I was completely blown away by World of Goo.  The same author wrote the story, created the art, composed the music, and designed the program.  Great design tour here.
• More to come as I dig.

Link to Your Story Ideas

Mixed Ink

Claymation Would Take a While...

but this wouldn't:

Levi Weaver "You Are Home" from Paper Beats Rock on Vimeo.

Just a thought.

Third Hour Final Unit

During the last three weeks of this session we will be pulling from everything we've done before: critical analysis of texts, cultural analysis of works, integration and synthesis of works from different eras and cultures, and explication of literary devices.  "How will we do this?" you ask?  By answering an apparently simple question:

What do Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Wilfred Owen's "Dulce Et Decorum Est," H.G. Wells's The Time Machine (and The Days of the Comet, and The Island of Dr. Moreau, and Conrad's Heart of Darkness), the Danse Macabre, 1984, punk music (The Clash!), Twitter, Wikipedia, The Wisdom of Crowds, The Starfish and the Spider, DIY, Internet piracy, and podcasting have in common?

Our answer can be as simple and complex as we want, but it will take our understanding of all these cultural phenomena and works and the skills we've acquired this year to pull off a solid answer.

Now that's a cumulative test.

Third Hour Essays

I hope the overview in class was clear, but in case it wasn't, here's a primer:

• Heading your paper (link to AP site).  The link also provides an example of in-text citations, margins, and headings.
• MLA format guide at OWL at Purdue.  Most of you will be using the "book" and "online periodical" sections.
• Works cited page (click to make larger):

• Keep in mind that the entire document should be 12pt Times New Roman, double-spaced.  To make sure: after you finish your paper, save it, hit ctrl+A, right click the text, then hit "Paragraph."  The line spacing option should say "double", and the spacing before and after should read "0".  Hit "OK," then (with the text still highlighted) check the text size and font boxes to ensure they read "12" and "Times New Roman," respectively.  If not, or if they're blank, fix them.
• 
• You're all set!  Send me a copy tonight if you want me to look it over, but don't depend on me to do your final editing.  I won't have access to a computer all night.