Author: czuskin

Second Life is an upcoming virtual world that is becoming more popular every day. People can log on and make an alter ego, where they can control their every decision. You can do anything from go shopping with actual money to be physical with other virtual people.

According to Urban Dictionary, Second Life is defined as, “A virtual world in which a desperately lonely person can adopt an alter ego and live out an utterly pointless existence every bit as mundane as their non-virtual life. The “noughties” version of Dungeons and Dragons but without the trolls and orcs. A baffling and ultimately sad indictment of how people interact today.” Although this definition is funny and interesting, Second Life doesnt necessarily have to be for loners. It can be useful for shy or busy people, who dont have the communication skills or time to go out and experience the real world.

MTV did a documentary on this new way of life. I found it interesting how serious the users take it. According to secondlife.com, Second Life is, “Second Life^® is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.” I do think that Second Life can be a positive experience for some, I in no way think it can replace your “First Life.”

When watching Bust Down the Doors! I thought that the music, movement, and the pacing of the text worked together to build tension in the reader. Initially, I was expecting each iteration to have different music, but I think the same music throughout the piece made the text more dramatic and unexpected. Of course it was easy to have the general idea of what was going to happen next, but the reader never really know who the next scenario was going to involve.

Because each iteration was different, each story line had a different effect on me. Hayles writes, “In the endless cycle created by these possibilities, the user becomes implicated within the recursive cascading processes of interpretation, at once reflected in the work and reflecting upon it, that give meaning to interpretation.” (p. 122-123) The words flashing on the screen do not have much meaning to them at first glance, but after understanding what is being said and attaching emotions, comes meaning. For example, I was more entrenched with iterations that included “you” or “I”. These iterations had me unsettled, while other iterations that included “they” or “her” or “she” or “he” made me feel concerned for them, but not overly empathetic.

The iteration including, “They open the door while you sleep,” especially made me disturbed.  I put myself in the position of lying in bed alone, awoken by two people that were going to take me outside to hurt me. I would think that this scenario would make many people anxious, as it is all too common in today’s society.

Another iteration that affected me included myself as the intruder. “We open the door while they sleep,” was also disturbing, but in a completely different manner. I imagined me and a friend, or perhaps a relative, taking someone hostage that has hurt us in the past. Unrealistic, of course, but a lot more thrilling.

As the iterations continued, I could not tell whether the pace of the text or the music sped up. If it did, then this would probably cause the reader to read faster and more franticly. I also could not tell if the word size increased. Hayles writes, “Although the work appeals to hyper attention through its speed and context, deep attention is required fully to comprehend the work’s narrative strategies and the synergistic interplay of text, music, color, motion, and animation, to say nothing of how the similarities and differences between tempos relate to one another, as well as the nuances, connotations, and implications of the two different languages.” (p. 128) The pace, music, and size of the text made it difficult for me to read. It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth iteration that I fully understood and read all of the words.  

Everytime I see someone on crutches or with a cast on their leg, I am thankful that I have strong, healthy legs. Broken or damaged legs remind me of when I was in elementary school. Everyday at recess, my best friend and I would go on the swings. We would pump our legs to get the swing as high as they would go and then jump off. If we landed painlessly, we were disappointed. We wanted a cast and crutches so badly. I have heard how horrible crutches are, so I am now thankful that all of my attempts to break my own legs failed.

Although I was eager to read something else from Michael Joyce, I was soon unmotivated to read through the entire story. The story line was difficult to follow and the characters were hard to distinguish. After reading for a while, I soon wondered when it would be over. Although both “Afternoon” and “Twelve Blue” are not my cup of tea, I would choose “Afternoon” as the better text.

I did, however, enjoy the language used in “Twelve Blue.” My favorite page was when Joyce wrote, “Everything can be read, every surface and silence, every breath and every vacancy, every eddy and current, every body and its absence, every darkness every light, each cloud and knife, each finger and tree, every backwater, every crevice and hollow, each nostril, tendril and crescent, every whisper, every whimper, each laugh and every blue feather, each stone, each nipple, every thread every color, each woman and her lover, every man and his mother, every river, each of the twelve blue oceans and the moon, every forlorn link, every hope and every ending, each coincidence, the distant call of a loon, light through the high branches of blue pines, the sigh of rain, every estuary, each gesture at parting, every kiss, each wasp’s wing, every foghorn and railway whistle, every shadow, every gasp, each glowing silver screen, every web, the smear of starlight, a fingertip, rose whorl, armpit, pearl, every delight and misgiving, every unadorned wish, every daughter, every death, each woven thing, each machine, every ever after” (p. sl8_11) Joyce made everyday things into something of significance. I found myself rereading this page to get a grasp on everything that was mentioned.

I was also pleased with the figurative language used in this text. “The trimmings she saved and cast out on the water like pollen, all the pretty colors. They would sink like barren nymphs for the fish to bump with fleshy lips, float for birds to pluck away and decorate the muddy basket of a nest.” (p. sl4) The similie and descriptive language makes me visualize the seen being described. Joyce continues, “Samantha played music in her room, so loud it floated down upon the water like settling fog. The marsh shone with rainbow feathers of oil. Already the water chestnuts were choking the channel.” (p. sl4) This page was my second favorite to read, as the scene was sad, it was also peaceful.

Although I think “Afternoon,” by Michael Joyce, is a good story, I find it difficult to read. When I began to read the story the first time, I used random words to follow the story line. This began confusing to me, so I hit “enter” repeatedly to better understand the story. It was more clear, but I still had a difficult time keeping track of the dialogue and characters.

I especially did not care for Werther. I think he is rude and inappropriate. He and the narrator must be really close for him to put up with his behavior. Wert first asks if he can sleep with his ex-wife and then makes derogatory comments to the waitress.

As I got deeper into the story, I was hoping for a good, solid ending. This never happened. The story would either end strangely or it would never end at all. This was disappointing to me, as I prefer texts to come to a good stopping point.

My CYOA adventure book entitled, “Grand Canyon Odyssey,” affirmed how many possibilities the journey could include. I had never read a CYOA book before, so I was surprised by all of the different outcomes. Some conclusions were far more interesting and complex than others. There were positive conclusions, such as me living on a plateau for the rest of my life researching miniture dinosaurs, while some outcomes were intense with me and my friend Dalia getting sucked into a whirlpool while rafting down a river. I was also gunned down by a sharpshooter on horseback, attacked by a mountain lion, and trampled by a stampede of horses. While all of the conclusions of the CYOA book were extremely different, they were all interesting and entertaining.