Textual Media

The first thing I noticed when I started to read The Color of Television were the symbols within the text and the side comments.  I decided to follow the symbol which is the same for BioHazardous Material because I was hoping it would take me somewhere more interesting than what would appear at the surface to be a routine life between Harry and Lorraine.  Another reason I chose this icon was because at first the story reminded me of Space Odyssey 2001 back in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  The biohazard symbol brought to my head the voice of the robot repeating "Danger Will Robinson."  Another reason I was brought back to this show is because it describes and there is an illustration of the old tubes that used to go into Televisions before cable and satellites. As a result a wierd sense of nostalgia emerged.  It is also ironic, because Space Odyssey 2001 looks into the future while The Color of Television looks back in the past at technology before super computers and references to Stalingrad. 

Eventually I got to a scene where Saul (I assume the son perhaps?) strips a woman.  He strips her down to her bare bones.  Saul is insane and acts more like a beast than a man.  Just as a beast would tear off the muscles from the bones.  It is also mentioned that he eats a cockroach.  In combination with the judgement statements that are made in the margins of each page and Saul’s behavior towards a woman coming on to him in a shop, I drew the following interpetation:  Saul is a representation of the modern reclusive male.  Men today, including young men, have become infatuated with the internet, chat rooms, online dating services, and XXX sites.  As a result, many men become frustrated in "real life" situations, such as courtship or other social relationships, because they don’t know how to act because technology including television and mostly computers have isolated them.

Ultimately the color of television, just like the 18 varities of eyes that can be purchased, is just an illusion of reality.

The Color of Television is another story in the line-up of novels/stories we have come across this semester that is a collection of one or two or maybe more stories put into one medium.  This one is via the Internet.  There seem to be two plots going on in this website.  One seems to be in a blue colored font, the other in a reddish, burgundy color.  One page has paragraphs that feature both colored fonts.  As I read the first page, I noticed how the two didnt’ quite fit together, and then wondered if perhaps they each represented a different story, and if they were intertwined within the website like that.  As it turns out from the more I read, this was proven to be true.  What caught me on to this was that I noticed when I’d click on a link, it would take me to a page, but wouldn’t necessarily take me to the top of the page.  I found this out when I accidentally scrolled up and noticed there was more text.  So as I kept on reading, I was conscious of where in the page I was brough to.  Even then though, the further you read, it doesn’t promise that everything matches up the way you like it.  I think the author has done this as a way for us as the reader to become interactive readers.  That is to sit and think about why they have done this.  I was a bit frustrated while reading this, however, because of the fact that it didn’t seem to sync together well.  Also, I was overwhelmed by the different possible links to click on.  There were a few on each page at times, and each one took me to a different place.  I didn’t know where to start when I came across these situations. 

In Pax, I was a little stumped as to what we had to read.  Naturally, I began to click around and found that when I would click on certain things — such as a flying body — I would then be presented with something to read on the right hand column.  By clicking on different people, you were able to meet them.  You were given their name and told a little bit about them.  If you were to again click on the same person floating in the background, you would get another blurb that I’m assuming is said by the character that is being presented.  The large, faint words in the background is also pretty interesting to look at.  The word is never quite there, but the letters at one point or another are there, so your mind is somehow able to make sense out of the words that are being shown.  This is definitely an interactive text because it relys on the user to click on the characters floating around.  After we do this, we are able to see a little bit about them.     

On the textual subject of The Color of Television and Pax, I found that they both resembled the other textual media that we have studied.  The on that I choose was The Color of Television; I choose it because of the color format.  Plus it did not have a lot of different links on most of the pages it mostly dealt with color combining. 

The page’s links to each of the writers and builder of the site through their email addresses.  The graphic structure was gracefully done with colors that were soothing to the eye which made the text readable.  There was enough gutter pace to enhance the flow of the page with a clean well organize appearance and present that the pages edges with an infinite appearance as in Understanding Comic.  It forced the reader to interact by making clicks because there was no automatic sequencing.  The page content was consistent with its format because most of the material was about group member’s personal lives.   It also had a great deal of dead in the text much like Calvino. 

You could click on all the images, but not much of the text; the index page had four elements: 2 graphic and 2 textural elements.  Three of the four home page elements took you to the: http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/cotv/bios.html ((link­_1”), while the other link took you to: http://iat.ubalt.edu/moulthrop/hypertexts/cotv/cotv01.html (“link_ 2”).  The link_1 went to the Moulthrop and Cohen’s contact page.  Embedded in the page was several smaller graphic art work or symbols that the reader could click.  The only place that symbol went was to link_1.  Then you saw the top graphic flash the color red and the bottom one flashed the color green. Their contact page trapped you with only two outlets and that was to email the developers because the dialogue graph at the bottom went to an error page.  This reminded me off Mystery House Taken Over where I got trapped and could not get out. 

The link that took you to a textual page was the centered in the page with gray coloring, but it took you on a surprising trip to richly colored text forming boarders around each other.  The colors complemented the text that it was next to and was neatly formatted.  It had some links in the text but not many but they went to other text, however, all the symbols that I clicked went to text with a message.  The text pages begin with flashing colored boxes and ended with a gray flashing bar.  The text colors could be joined together to form new textual messages the clue was in matching the colors.  The word links went to text that told a story and had the word their somewhere, or some symbol to represent the message such as when you clicked on color and flashing colored bars were on both sides of the text. 

It was not until I got into the text portion of the site that I recognized that the site displayed textual similarities as Bust Down the Door with roll, changing, and flashing message at different parts of the story.    

  Ok, I checked out the color of Television and Pax and these were different than what we’ve see so far, although Pax was somewhat similar to the statue game.  Except that you are given several possible characters to choose from.  However before I get into that I wan to mention that as of yet The color of television overwhelms me I don’t know what to follow or think yet. There are multiple stories on each page and side tracks explaining the text or simply quotes from unknown sources, the bible, literature, etc.  I read the initial story but could not find my way back to that particular story but i did find the fellow who ate a cockroach, ick! doing eye replacement surgery later on.  (Ick again) I can handle the ick, it’s just going to take a little more time in this exploration. I spent a little while with that but I needed a change of pace, and was happy to see that Pax was game-like, I like that kind of involvement. 

Pax stands for peace in French I beleive and there were many ideas dealing with war politics and peace.  I read the instructions first so i would have a good idea what i was dealing with.  I beleive this was made by one of the same writers of the last hypertext The color of television.  Though it was very different except for the inclusion of multiple stories.  I soon found people who’d thoughts I enjoyed.  My favorite little jokester was Susi K which I later found out stood for something else.  She was sarcastic and young.  I also liiked Butcher’s insights he was introspective and deep but with a hint of cynicism.  Another I often chose was Mirabella who was an introspective type. 

There was a soldier, scientist, doctor, a president and the oddest was Agnieska R.  Agnieska, I’m assuming is Polish or something because there is a Polish girl I work with named Agnieska. Though most likely she was Russian because the Author had said something about Russian ideology and causmonauts. She said nothing ever, but sometimes she just repeated the last thing that was written, no matter how many times I chose her, nothing original.  I thought maybe she doesn’t speak english but wouldn’t something appear?  The four different sessions had different feeelings a time progression in a twighlight zone type death?  Many simple statements came from numerous characters.  I enjoyed exploring the characters but often wished I could get more distinct characteristics from them.

They both seemed rather kaleidascopic especially pax because te themes change and it depends on when you choose a character.  The color of television was like a combination of Hegirascope and Afternoon a story.  That’s all the insight I have at the moment.  I look forward to discussing them in class. ;)

They had taken photographs of each other almost all of the time- immediately reading this line, I paint an image of white sand, tough by the coral and ridges produced by frequent runners….Runners in love, runners that frolicked during happier times. It is them, the divorced couple, that protrudes through my mind. This was my beginning lexia- this was my first time coupling and meddling with the text.

The sea is amazing, not too far off to exclude the dreamer or the wanderer, but distant enough to attract us.

I wander, naturally to this word “sea”. “…and, almost always, there is the sea—or what the sound gives us of the sea—in the distance. It took the place of perspective for us, benign and ever changing.”

A relationship, the writer and his affinity, his struggle and disgruntled relationship with the sea, foretells the relationship he has with his memory- memories of his wife, their love, like the dreamlike escape of happier times on the beach.

A photograph should have captured such a time, but was it real? Was it genuine? The meaning of one PLACE appears relevant to this particular lexia- its meaning to an individual, and the apparent frustration it has as it correlates with the temperament of one memory.

I click on PLACE, and am taken to another location entirely. He is romantic. Romanticizing the faint pictures of his love life, tainted by salty relations, much like the cold water that soaked his very toes against the shores of a distant beach. He wishes to have gone back to that love- that memory of conversing happily with a beach- what should have been, was not. Or so was it? It is sad. I am sorry for him. “No matter how scrutinized these pictures now I cannot find the truth,” (from the previous lexia). The truth of his marriage is faulty, washing back and forth like the crashing waves on a shore- it was here, and now it is gone.

 

The faded memory dances off his heart, playing with his emotions. For that reason, I click on DANCERS.

 

Though not of much significance, I was brought to another location. “There isn’t any story here. It’s as Tolstoy said, the genuine drama occurs on the upward or downward slopes, never at the apex. The controlling myth of her marriage was Snow White.”

So it’s settled- his marriage was a myth- not an ounce of truth, only what his memory or imagination allowed. The term dancer and place all form a network of interpretations of the text- One that can almost be formed into a sentence: His memory of a particular place danced in his head much like the graceful yet made-up dancers of a nutcracker production- it was ALL a production; soon, he finds that the truth of this memory is merely a myth. (the term myth having linked me to “Even so, as manufactured myths go, this one is accurate.”…. All of the terms (place, dancers, myth) and the texts that follow compose a story of faded love, past memories, questioning truth, and remembered images.    

I must say that this story has me very confused.  Once you get to the end of one part of this CD, you must randomely click on words until you see a lexia that you have not read before.  Im not sure if these are simply a bunch of short stories mixed together, or if they are all connected to the first story; the one about Wert and Peter.  In any case i chose to start at the lexia that is titled "monsters".

At the beginning of this section we hear some very vulgar and descriptive language from Peter.  Once we arrive at this lexia the narrator, who at this point is Nausicaa i believe?  In this lexia we learn about the insecrurities that Peter has as a man, and they misunderstandings he has of normal male behavior.  He is unable to understand why certain men value property, ownership, commerce, and power.  Peters mind simply does not work in that way, that is why he fears Wert, because Wert does think in this way.  Wert is aware of how the world REALLY works, and knows how to make it work for him.  In tnis lexia is the first mention of Dataquest.  Though i know this is some kindof voice automated system that is later learned to attempt to gain information about the injured boy in the car accident, im still very hazy on exactly what it is used for.  For that reason chose to click on this word "Dataquest" to see where it would take me. 

After clicking "Dataquest" i was directed to the page titled "scars".  This page directs us a small writing about a plastic surgeon who could have fitted Lolly’s last "dick biting" victim with a prosthetic penis, i think that is what this page is about.  Instead this unfortunate soul decides to mark himself in ways that will thwart other females from finding him attractive.  Putting what i believe are described as large rings and hooks into his left ear, perhaps im completely off base.  The next word i chose to click on was the word "spinners", as in the types of earings that this unfortunate man has been putting into his ear. 

Clicking on "spinners" directed me to a page titled "Obligations".  In this Lexia it appears as if Lolly is sitting down with a male patient, perhaps this is why it is called obligations, since we have learned that Lolly does not particularly like to deal with men.  She is asking her gentelman patient, or perhaps scolding him, for his prior statements.  She is comparing men with women, in terms of how they understand authentic speech, telling the man that reciting poems will draw attention to what authentic speech should be.  We can see that she is annoyed with this man, but we are still not sure she is capable of biting off his penis.  The next word i click on is "dazzle".

By clicking on "dazzle" I am directed to the page that should have come after "monsters" if i were simply clicking on the Y button.  The new page is "self-destruction".  This page takes us to a random place, a place that talks about the plot of Daughter of Frankenstein.  How Frankenstein comes to live with an old blind man and his daughter.  The daughter treats the monster with kindness, but eventually the villagers hunt him down and murder him. 

Im must say that I am very bewildered at this entire story.  I could not see the connections very well, or what some lexia had to do with the other.  Monsters, Scars, Obligations, Self Destruction, these are the connecting lexia that my four word choices have given me.  How they are related to the title is very difficult for me to say.  Perhaps it refers to Lolly extending her meetings with clients to deep into the afternoon, perhaps after noon is when all the bad things in the story begin to happen, i really have no idea, I just could not get a grasp on this story and i am very frustrated with it.

A Mid-day Mystery

Upon entering this world of "Afternoon" I am swept up into a sea of memory. The imagery is very lucid yet somehow there is a detachment from this arrangement of dreams. At times there is an undeniably random feeling to the links as one thinks what has this to do with the other? It is similar to dreaming with awareness, flowing together like trains of thought. It is like being in another’s head with separate memory from your own and trying to understand how the narrator/writer is navigating through these imaginings.

I am drawn to the moments of awareness of itself as a text, that the story suddenly becomes secondary to the writer allusions to context or purpose. There are several moments within this fragmented story where it seems to be the voice of the writer, either intermingling with the thought pattern or secluded from it. What drew me to the page entitled ""Anchoring Devices" was its separateness, like an explosion of the writer’s memory. As though he got so caught up in the free association of the narrators’ images that he could not help getting caught up in his own mind.

Suddenly, Michael Joyce is thinking and speaking of where pieces of the story or it’s foundation arrived from and there is no transition which announces his entrance to the compilation. This makes one question whether there are other memories coming from him. Are these interspersed quotes from the author to clarify the meaning of the text or are they Nasicaa’s or the main character? This adds a written historical background to the story and perhaps a sort of mystery to the rest. He is discussing interactivity and anchoring and some of the writers and theorists on the subject somewhat matter of factly but there are connected memory throughout. The allusion he makes to this conference sperring the idea of the crystal bowl of candies, he connects this momentary lapse to an image which appears a couple times through the story, and the strange memory suddenly belongs to the history of the story. He becomes another character in this way, and he leaves us pondering his image of the "dazzle of the ocean."

We are taken from here by entering and following the proposed lineage of these lexias to "Blowup" which is supposedly a description of the characters from this movie which is mentioned several times. The imagery is of solitude, an "industrial landscape" and the "absentedness" of life. Although presumably he is describing the movie, it all seems to describe the characters within this narrative as well. The word "sterile" to describe the horizon and "electric blue veins" imagery seems medical in nature; alluding to the accident and medical workers and the character’s lives are absent yet "also broken by occasional moments of passion." Like this one perhaps? The language is lonely and painful yet passionate and the similarities explain its connection to this detached memory train that we ride. The colorful imagery is contrasting to the "pastel grey-brown smokestacks" and seems an imaginary representation of the hum drum lives "shot through with color" or passion. He even invites two of the characters Albers or Werther in as examples of how this memory of film relates to his experience.

From here we enter the lexia entitled "Always" I think no matter what we choose. This lexia is extremely short but describes his memory of films and how they relate to the happenings in the world and in his experiences. I found that I could go to different places depending upon which director I chose or by linking to "Death valley days." However, inevitably I chose to follow "Fellini" followed by the word dreams as this is what he taught. This travels to a wondrously self aware fantasy called "then I woke," by the narrator’s voice in which he describes his detachment and shock in the hopes that he will awake and all will be well. Though unfortunately, "it isn’t over yet, by any means, this story. No dream. Mother long gone." This line is fragmented like his feelings about the event which is haunting him, a dream from which he cannot awaken no matter how long he tries to avoid it’s reality. The line before this almost seems to have come from the writer, it seems to describe this text as much as it describes the main character’s journey to solve this mystery. It says that "there is no mystery" you should "backtrack" and perhaps, "take other paths." This line seems very descriptive of the patterns and possibilities this cyclical story enables.

The first page I came upon which caught my attention and had some juicy material upon which I could run with was the lexia titled [yes3].  In this lexia, the narrator in this section, Peter, and Wert discuss a nurse at the local hospital named Lolly.  This lexia is important because it show’s Wert’s character for who he really is: a jackass.  The foul language that is used provides a further taste of the bitterness found within the story.  The way they describe Lolly’s "dyke" activities illustrates the contempt the characters have for each other throughout the story. It this is contempt and lack of trust between all of the characters that block Peter from finding out the truth about his son’s death…if it really happened.
At this lexia, I clicked the word "jealousy".  Jealousy is the bedfellow of contempt so it was logical to follow this train of thought.  The first thing I noticed was that the next lexia was titled [yes6]. Then I began to realize that perhaps "yes" was the truth that no one really wanted to admit.  On the first page, the following passage takes place: “I decided to provoke him. <And an occasional dick?> I ask <Sounds like some jealousy there>." The character questioned never gives a direct answer and instead redirects the focus.  The first line on [yes6] is: “<Are you sleeping with her?> he asks.  There are candies in a crystal dish in front of me. I pick one and unwrap it carefully.” Again the character in question, who is the narrator this time, stalls and diverts the focus.  The last line was incredible because it was so thick with meaning.  The candies represented the truth which the narrator seeks but also the lustful nature of some of the characters throughout the play including his wife, Wert, Lolly and Desmond.  The crystal dish was symbolic of the fragility of life.  The wrapper represented the layers of superficiality that had to be taken off.
I selected the word sleeping which took me to the next lexia titled [Lovers].  It is unclear who the narrator is on this page, perhaps the therapist or Lisa, the wife.  Both Wert and Peter are described and it is stated that is their differences that make them attractive.  Wert is described as self-centered, rash, raw, young and energetic like a “sinner.”  Peter is described as more dense and complicated.  What is odd is that by the end of this page, the narrator admits she would sleep with both of them.  This raised the question that maybe the accident and unraveling of the circle of characters was a punishment by fate or God.
I clicked on “sinner.” Next page was titled, [Touching Myself].  The narrator continues comparing her lust for both characters of Wert and Peter.  She compares it to masturbation because with Peter it is familiarity and with Wert it is compulsive.  A key insight to this particular narrator is the line, “I am certain they both believe they have me.  They share that sense of the man’s cliché: wife and whore, and I am the woman without complications.”
This whole set of lexia revolves around the title of “YES.” Even the last page titled, [Touching Myself] links back to a page with the heading of [Yes].   The yes plays two parts in this series.  In one aspect the Yes is the truth underneath the layers, even under the bedcovers, lies, and denials of the characters.  The yes, ties in to the lust aspect for obvious reasons but also because some of the characters can’t say no and commit unsavory acts.

I chose to begin this sequence at the lexia entitled “White Afternoon”. Here, the narrator talks about the scene of the ‘accident’, which is a key event in “afternoon”. In fact, it seems that the whole storyline of “afternoon” revolves around this accident, which may be why the author chose to entitle this lexia with “afternoon” as part of it. All of the words here link to the lexia entitled “4 what I see”, except for the words “Him” and “boy”, which link to the lexia entitled “speak memory”.

"Speak Memory" is a dialogue between two people which does not seem to make much sense, although it does appear that these people could be talking about the nature of hypertexts. The title of this lexia could possibly fit the text here, because both of these characters are speaking to eachother. All of the links on this page lead to the lexia entitled “Winter”.

“4 What I See” is another lexia which explains what the author sees at the scene at (presumably) the same accident as in “White Afternoon”. Here, the narrator (which is probably the same one from “White Afternoon”) describes in detail the skidmarks that have resulted from the accident, and how he/she finds things that seem odd about the aftermath of the accident. The title of this lexia seems to fit with the content of this story, as the author is describing what he/she sees around them. All of the links here link to the lexia entitled “5”.

"5" is another description of the accident scene. The title seems to suggest that it comes in sequence to “4 What I See”, and it certainly seems that way once you read the context of the lexia. This is probably the same narrator as from “White Afternoon” and “4 What I See”. Here, there are many links within this lexia. Everything links to the lexia entitled “staghorn and starthistle”, except for the word “Cigarette”, which links up to “yes”, “Footprints”, which links up to “2/”, “Sequin”, which links up to “o”, and “Woman’s”, which links up to “tit”.