saravia's blog

As I started reading the articles reviewing Cathy's book, I was a bit confused. They all focused on the "advertisement controversy". I didn't even notice it and so I'd say it was necessary or unobtrusive use of a brand. I thought the ending was not fitting for what is supposed to be realistic.
I am for real ads in literature, movies, and video games as long as they don't turn the works into infomercials. It makes things more realistic than using fake brands. Has anyone ever played a Nascar video game with no ads? I doubt it because ads are part of the Nascar experience. Teams are named after their sponsorships.
If Cathy's Book is guilty if anything, its of advertising San Francisco too much. Every landmark from the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, and Haight-Ashbury Street is used as setting. I recently went to San Francisco and I think she includes too much info on the city itself. I think what people like about mystery books is that the stories can be universal but Cathy kills that with the many descriptions of the city. What I did applaud her was her for mentioning the World Famous Bushman, who hides behind a couple branches and scares tourists who don't notice him.  read more »

Galatea and Twelve Blue are interesting games in that they are interactive and unique to every user. The first time I played Galatea, it ended pretty quick, within 5-6 commands. I was thinking to myself that maybe I played it wrong or something. I tried it a second time using the Hug ending. It seemed as if there's a lot of fluff in between. When I say there is a lot of fluff, I mean that there was a lot of unnecessary commands in between. In general, I didn't get too much from it. I did not identify with the character nor did I feel part of the story.
Twelve Blue is similar but much more annoying that Galatea. There is no linear structure or discernible plot. The messages just seem too abstract for me to enjoy or even make sense of. I just thought it wasn't focused enough. Just from the authors description, it makes you wonder about it's nature before playing. Michael Joyce describes it as  read more »

I just finished playing a few levels of Doom. It immediately reminded me of games like Zork and Photopia except way better.Playing those earlier games, you can see the evolution of video games. Doom is easier to get through and easier to control your character. The objectives are simple, you have to kill anything trying to kill you and get through the level.
I remember not being allowed to play "violent" video games like Doom and Duke Nukem when I was younger. But, looking at them now, it just looks silly. Violence can be so much more graphic in video games these days. Doom's violence is beautiful and old school. It's enough violence to get the message that you just blew the head off a monster but not so much that it's disgusting.
Another thing that I liked is the minimum amount of directions. You start out with a gun and a couple of clips. Your character is essentially dropped off in a location and it's up to you if you want to go around and kill every single monster, find every hidden door/secret, or just rush to the next level. I also liked that my game play is being judged and scored. I first argued that video games must have a score to be considered a video game.  read more »

For the first part of her lecture, I had no idea what she was even talking about with the relationship of databases, literature, and SQL.

The next part of her lecture was interesting when she was talking about narratives and nature. She said that narratives are vital for humans. Mothers tell their kids stories to guide their emotions. I thought this couldn't be more true. Other than this, one thing that we really enjoy is telling and hearing stories in many forms (movies, books, making and hearing music, and just day to day conversations). I think narratives are also important for human relationships.People always say communication is key for good relationships.  read more »

Eliza immediately reminded me of the bots on AIM but instead of being somewhat helpful, is completely useless. It's weird to see where AI started and what its become.

The program itself seems like garbage now since I've experienced better versions. But I could imagine how innovative it must have seemed at the time. I liked the comparison to the Lumieres first film. At first, I tried to act like a patient would by telling Eliza about a problem. It just regurgitated every statement back at me in a question form, but in the not so philosophical way which made me think it had broken down. It did. For a few minutes I dropped F-bombs and combinations of the sort while only getting "I don't understand" responses. I think hypothetically, one could call it a therapist of some sort. I mean, I did take out my frustration and aggression on it.  read more »

After watching Helvetica and noticing its overwhelming presence in advertising, street signs, and other stuff, it's made me a little obsessive in find it more. Before this documentary, I hadn''t even notice fonts/typography in ads.
I think it couldn't be more appropriate for ads to use Helvetica. The font itself is supposed to be to one the more crisp, clean, and visually appealing fonts. It's characteristics make it ideal for ads. If it works for a successful companies like McDonalds, Urban Outfitters, and American Apparel why wouldn't everyone else follow?
Helvetica is also regarded as the most basic font, the default font. I like that American Apparel chose their logo in Helvetica because their niche in the apparel market is that they sell basics. All of their clothes are free of logos, designs, and anything that would distinguish it and reduce the clothes to a brand name. I guess it also works for McDonalds, since it is the basic ingredient for obesity and heart attacks. Ha.  read more »

I was at first confused when reading Krazy Kat. I was so excited to be reading comics for homework that I overlooked that they were from different dates. Initially, I thought the comic was looping over and over again. But even after I noticed the dates, it seems like there is only one story within the whole series of Krazy Kat and every time it loops, there is only a little change from the last time.(I hope that's clear).

So, the general story is that Ignatz throws a brick at Krazy Kat while Offissa Pup tries to catch him in the act and throw him in jail. And in each instance, something happens differently while still fulfilling the same general story. For example, in one dated January 25, 1939 Ignatz is arrested by Offissa Pup but the jail hasn't been drawn completely. In short, the series is in a loop where it goes A->B->C->A->B->C.  read more »

I was at first somewhat skeptical of this course and its content. As a lifetime "gamer", I've always focused more on graphics, beating the game, and finding ways to cheat. So after playing Passage, I was obviously a little disappointed. This "game" featured probably the worst graphics I have ever seen, no true end, and I could not find any ways to cheat. I felt cheated, a feeling I hadn't experienced since I last tried to play any version of Madden on the All-Madden difficulty level.

To be honest, I did not enjoy playing Passage. It felt like a waste on time. That is, until I read the comments of the designer. The game isn't clear in conveying it's message, if one exists. I wasn't sure if I was just being closed-minded or what, so I asked my girlfriend to play it. I told her nothing about it. She just thought it was one of those prank games where you focus on a stupid maze and a ghost pops up and screams really loud (if you don't know what I'm talking about, please look it up on YouTube). She, like me, thought it was crap. After explaining it to her, she still wasn't having it.  read more »