Author: crushing

I definitely thought that using Google Maps as a medium for storytelling was an interesting choice. It behaved like an interactive fiction in a way, even though the reader really couldn’t directly effect the direction of the story aside from perhaps exiting the site before finishing. Yes, you could jump ahead five chapters and the story, but that would have really defeated the purpose. Why jump ahead at the expense of the backstory? It’s certainly an idea I’ve kicked around for the final project, but I’m not quite sure I could tell a story that would be as engrossing as this one.

I found the visual element of 21 Steps engrossing. The bird’s eye view allowed me to see really everything that was situated around this man, which is something a first person view simply can’t provide. I also thought the snaking of the line through the map as the main character meandered his way through life was neat. Instead of just jumping from place to place, I got to see the path or progress of the character, which really made me feel like more of a part of the story than I might have otherwise.

As someone who has enjoyed playing video games in the past, I have to say that I enjoyed “Arteroids” more than I probably should have. Of course, I was naturally reminded of the classic arcade game Asteroids, but this offering provided me with much more than I was expecting. The concept of words shooting down other words sounds dorky in its own way, but I found the game to be a little deeper than that. I think what really made me appreciate the game more was being able to read the poem in the settings menu. When I could see the whole body of text, it allowed me to appreciate the thought behind it as well as actually begin to understand what exactly I was shooting at.

As far as gameplay is concerned, I found it to be quite simple. Some may think that the trick is to maneuver around the screen a bit, but I thought it was easier if I remained stationary and spun in circles. Had I known that accuracy was taken into account for the final score, I might have been more selective about my shots, but live and learn I suppose. The sound effects amused me quite a bit and my roommate gave me a funny look when he saw what I was giggling at. Sigh. When I cranked up the difficulty, the game actually went up a few notches in terms of enjoyability for me. I’m not one for challenges, but the high speed of the hurtling words allowed for a lot longer period of gaming for me.

In the end, I wasn’t completely convinced this was a work of “literature”, but like I said, when I saw the full poem, I was able to appreciate the context a little more. I have to say that this game was a lot more fun for me than Nelson’s “game, game…you know the rest”. The only thing that could have pushed it over the top would have been to hear “time to meet your maker” when I died. I have to hand it to Nelson, that was excellent.

I still get some phantom pains on occasion. Comes with the territory, I guess. After all, nine plus years of year-round competitive swimming will really wear your arms out. My shoulders just don’t function like they once did. Looking back, I’m not sure which I burned out first, my mind or my body.

Anyway, I remember the one moment when I knew my right arm would never be the same. I arrived at practice and coach informed us that our session today would be an all-butterfly one. That’s the stroke where you move your arms in a curved motion above your head. After about 75 minutes of this, my right arm just had this shooting pain moving down from my shoulder to the tips of my fingers. I knew my body well enough to know that something was seriously wrong and pulled myself out of the next set to talk to the coach. He told me to stretch it out, but it was no go. I was done for the day. I visited the family doctor the next day when I couldn’t get my arm to reach above my head. I must have looked odd with my khaki pants matched with only an undershirt. He ran some range of motion tests and it was determined I had a torn rotator cuff. Splendid. Two surgeries later, I was back in the pool, finishing out what would prove to be my last year of competitive swimming.

I thought that this was a rather interesting way to compose a memoir, or at least I think that was the purpose of the piece. It seemed like each listed body part had it’s own little story for her to share with the reader and the accompanying artwork really drove him the whole “oh, that’s what we were talking about” idea. I wasn’t quite sure if I’d be able to get to every single part at first, but when I found that there were links within each page to other parts of the body, it actually ended up going by quite fast. An odd dynamic that I stumbled upon was the fact that a few pages like “shoulders” were divided into two paragraphs that each had their own distinctive and unique tone. The first paragraph would be a straightforward story while the second paragraph would deal with things like “mutilation” and self-exploration.

I also found the cabinet page to be of note. It serves almost as an author’s message and tells you that there are some hidden parts to the story, some that you may never find even if you’re looking for them. I was reminded of the interactive fiction unit that we did; the idea that I have to explore the world that the author created and that I wasn’t exactly going to be helped every step of the way. I was on my own if I wanted to explore her memoir.

I’m not sure how I feel about McCloud’s book. For awhile, it was difficult for me to wrap my head around. I’m no conossieur of comics or anything, but I’ve read a few and never really thought about them as anything more than just a cartoon on paper, as he states is the common perception in the beginning. I find that if I take my entertainment too seriously, it loses it’s, you know, entertaining qualities. If I have to think about it, it’s not going to be as much fun anymore.

Chapter 2 took awhile for me to wrap my head around. I almost felt like putting the book away after sitting through that painful Magritte exposition at the beginning. I eventually saw his point, but if felt like he was being difficult on purpose, and perhaps he was. After I got past his introduction, I found that the 2nd chapter was the most enjoyable of the parts we had to read. I get that just about anything we see is made up of icons to further connect with the audience on a basic level. If we see a reflection in ourselves in the images alone, it will be easier to connect with actual characters that remind us of ourselves or situations that we may have come across in our lives. At least, I think that was his point. That’s the concept I came away with at the very least.

The path I ended up going down focused on two female characters from the story, Lolly and Nausicaa (sp?).  It seemed that no matter what I learned about or what stories I read, I ended up at the same page in the end. The page said something like: “It all comes back to that in the end, doesn’t it? Love or death. The lady or the tiger.”  I believe I came across this page no less than 5 times during my journey. I wasn’t annoyed by this fact, but rather a bit encouraged. It made me feel that I was exhausting certain branches and that this “choice” was central to my afternoon experience.

I didn’t learn much about the main character at all during my playing experience. He seemed more interested in providing the backstories for the 3 other characters I ran into, Lolly, Nausicaa, and Wert. I read a great deal about what all 3 had been through in their lives and I have to say the 2 women had a great more “color” to their stories. My 2nd time through was more pleasurable than my first attempt because I actually was able to follow a story in a sense. Each page flowed into the next and I was driven into a world where these characters existed and interacted. I can’t say I felt like I made progress (I never did quite reach a true “ending”), but I did feel that at least I got more of the story this time around.

My journey ended when I got to a blank page that did nothing no matter where I clicked. I was frustrated because I got no closure out of it, but in reading some other posts, I suppose I’m not the only one. I don’t know if that was totally the intention of the author, but it makes sense to me. After all, I learned about history and my story did not have much to do at all with present or future actions.

Seeing that it came with a manual upon installation, I was both frightened and relieved. Frightened because anything that recommends a reading of the manual presents itself as complicated. Relieved because the fact that I thought I had a manual to fall back on in the event I got confused was nice. However, when I opened the manual, I found that it really only had the basic tools mapped out along with an about the author and some copyright info. Real helpful…

Upon first opening the game, I elected to read the instructions as opposed to just diving right in because I assumed if I just started without rhyme or reason I would just end up in a corner or hole with no idea of what to do. The instructions confused me at first because I think the language he used did not sit well with me. I still am not quite sure what he means by words “yielding” something. Is that supposed to mean they take me somewhere? Why not just say it that way? I don’t need him to be “playful” here because all I want to do is learn how to play “afternoon”.

Once I began playing it for the first time, I was amazed. I could not believe that practically any word I clicked on took me somewhere different. As said in class, this was almost like “Hegirascope”, except ANYTHING on the page was eligible to take me somewhere different. That, and not having to worry about a time constraint was nice, too.  Also like “Hegirascope”, I was not quite sure how the pages corresponded to one another. The order made sense in terms of being led to something similar in the realm of what I clicked on, but there didn’t seem to be a solid story anywhere that I could find.

These were just my initial thoughts and I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more about it in class.

Heading into the assignment, I was nervous about what exactly lay in store for me. Mapping out an entire CYOA book seemed like a monumental task. As a child, I remember reading some of these and never reaching every single possible conclusion. Now I was supposed to figure out every single pathway?

I know I got  lucky. My book, “Dinosaur Island”, had a measly 13 possible end scenarios. I saw other books with more than 30 and some with more than 40. That seems absurd. How do you even cram that many endings in to a 120 page book? Anyway, I know this assignment wasn’t hard for me  because I got a beginner’s book, but I feel for those far less fortunate than me.

Writing the paper gave me a chance to look back and really think about all I learned while reading. What did “Dinosaur Island” teach me? Absolutely nothing. A few of the “altruistic” decisions led to my death while some of the selfish ones led to me not only surviving, but making a ton of money on top of it all. There was no discernible pattern in terms of what kinds of decisions led to positive or negative endings. In short, writing the paper really made me think that “Dinosaur Island” was one lousy CYOA book.

I get it. Art is not supposed to come out and to tell you the message or point as that is for the beholder to decide. Olia Lialina’s “My Boyfriend…” certainly adheres to my schema of art. The opening line is the same for all, and we all eventually arrive at the same ending, but there are multiple twists and turns along the way that lead the reader on a journey through art and short lines of dialog. When I arrived at the end, I found myself wondering why I should care about any of what I’d just seen or if it was even possible to feel an attachment at the piece. No offense to the author or anyone who fell in love with the work, but I just didn’t get it.

It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part. I went through her virtual tour on three separate occasions before attempting to piece things together here on the blog. I didn’t want to come across as some stubborn kid who doesn’t “get” art, but I feel that’s still where I ended up. Her artwork didn’t strike me as anything special and the lines of dialog didn’t seem related. With an example like Hegirascope, the disorder made sense to me because everything seemed to have its own path. With Lialina’s work, I felt like there was some main idea I was supposed to come away with, but never did. It’s almost like dying in the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, I felt like a failure when I got to the end.