Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Musical Theater Nerds: The Musical Synopsis

Explanation of my Post: If you aren’t familiar, a musical Synopsis goes through the plot of a musical and inserts all of the songs names, the songs are listed in bold. That’s what this piece is doing. :)
Musical Theater Nerd: The new musical Synopsis Musical Theater Nerds Unite. Google and Angie contemplate together about how the internet is a great place to find people who love musicals. As they each Stand Alone, they realize that without the internet, they might never connect with people who knew all of the lyrics to every song in Les Miserables. Angie clicks on a link to a fellow musical theater nerds blog and finds herself connecting with her New Best Friend who just happens to have the same three musicals in her Top 3 Musicals of All Time. Meanwhile, Google discovers that there are actually nerds featured IN musicals due to a compiled list: Nerds Are Hot. As Angie and Google turn away from the sites they just discovered, they begin dancing around the living room excited to have found a Haven of Musical Theater Nerds. Nerd-dom Continues as Angie and Google sing about the various sites they are encountering that emphasis how awesome it is to be a musical theater nerd. Things turn serious as they sing a beautiful love song together The Most Romantic Love Songs (in Musical Theater). At the end of the song, Angie goes to her laptop and clicks on a new link describing what a lot of musical theater nerds are like: 40 Ways. Angie feels so happy that she is finding so many awesome sites about musical theater nerds, that she starts to lose her mind. She imagines she gets into an argument with Broadway actor/writer Harvey Fierstein about the new musical she just discovered from Google Nerds: a musical comedy about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates: Dumb Idea. Harvey argues that since there are already so many musical theater nerds out there, why not try to Recruit actual nerds to love musical theater. Angie is outraged, thinking that Technology is Ruining Theater and her and Harvey have a fight that nearly comes to blows until Google interrupts Technology Brings Us Together, reminding everyone that without the magic of internet search engines, they might not hear about great new musical theater shows, or find other nerds just like them. Angie and Harvey sing Musical Theater Nerds Unite (reprise) while they look at Google to find out more amazing websites dedicated to musical theater nerds.

Blog Post 7



The first two hits google gave me when I typed in The Lord of the Rings were thelordoftherings.net and a Wikipedia page. The initial reaction to thelordoftherings.net would be annoyance at the long load time of the video depicting the swirling ring to advertise for the extended edition on blue ray. This is followed by another long load time when entering the actual site as you watch the broken sword put itself together again. Though the site shows elements from the story (ie. map, ring, sword), its primary purpose is to sell products, video games, the films on blue ray. The actual narrative of the films is not discussed on the main page; only when you click the ‘film’ tab and select an individual movie do you learn what the story is about. This site is definitely an example of a database. It lists information with no real direction. Unless a web user was willing to travel deeper into the site, they would see very little narrative and not know what The Lord of the Rings was all about.
            The second link on google was to Wikipedia. This is a very interactive site with numerous links and a thorough synopsis of the story. While the previous site was primarily a database for selling products related to the film, this site is a database narrative; it lists the information, but in a way that tells a story. This is especially exemplified in the ‘content’ section where the list of information is available in a chronological order. This site is definitely more narrative-oriented and a web user would be able to make more connections with this page and know more of the story.

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Magic: The Gathering
A Story About the Life and Struggles of a Prostitute
An analysis of the tragic tale of the world's premiere card game.

In the opening chapters of this sad story, we are introduced to the protagonist Magic: The Gathering. We learn about her personality, her traits, and the multitude of the intimate parts of her body. We then learn about her conception as the brainchild of Richard Garfield and her subjugation at the hands of him and his business partner Wizards of the Coast, the pimp of such maidens as the table top game Dungeons and Dragons.

The story then goes into more detail about the parts of her body and how you can buy these parts one at a time or in sets, whatever your pleasure. There are also a lot of detailed instructions on how to arrange these parts into a whole that satisfies your fantasies and fetishes.

The book then introduces StarCityGames.com. It is here that Magic: The Gathering experiences the majority of her subjugation. It is here that she is bought and sold most often.

Also introduced in the later passages are online videos which are uploaded by those who have used Magic: The Gathering. In these videos they discuss her merits and her faults, talk about and showcase her parts, and tell glory stories of times that they have used her for their pleasure. Players even upload videos of how they use her.

The story ends with a list of places where you can buy parts of her body at a price that suits your means. This product is for anyone who can afford her.

Friday, November 1, 2013

Stephen - Blog Post #7

Minecraft's Google-Narrative

If a Google search of "Minecraft" were arranged in a narrative structure, it would be classified as a biography, detailing the life of Minecraft, the protagonist, from birth to the present. This biography would be interesting due to the fact that the subject would still be fairly young and would have much more to accomplish, although his present accomplishments would be many and varied.

The first section of the story would be explaining Minecraft's birth and his family. It would discuss his father Markus "Notch" Persson and his family, Mojang Computer Entertainment. The conception scene would be detailed, although it would be kept appropriate for younger audiences. This section would also give all of the necessary background on Minecraft, so that people new to him would understand in detail who he is and how to properly play.

The second section would be the first few years of Minecraft's life. As he moved from PC to other platforms, he tried very hard to find players, and succeeded. Before long, he was one of the "popular games". He developed an extremely large player-base that continued to grow. He also went through numerous updates in an attempt to keep up with the current gaming trends.

The third section would be Minecraft's graduation from the "indie game" category and his progression into the big leagues. As he grew up, more and more people took notice and started to play. His updates became more frequent, allowing more and more features for users. This would also be a place where responses from interviews and forums would be posted, giving the reader exact quotes explaining how people feel about Minecraft.

The fourth and final section would lead up into the present, where Minecraft has been praised with a multitude of awards, downloaded by millions, and continues to grow. It would discuss his plans to move forward onto other systems, including the upcoming next generation consoles. The story would end with an encouraging note, letting readers know that anyone can accomplish great things. It would leave the reader waiting for the next installment about Minecraft's life.

Blog Post Six



            The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were epic fantasies written by professor J. R. R. Tolkien in 1937 and 1954. These books tell the quests of small hobbits that occur in a fictional world called Middle Earth. In 2001, director Peter Jackson began to bring Middle Earth to the silver screen with the making of The Lord of the Rings trilogy into movies. These movies starred Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Austin, etc. The trilogy as a whole would be nominated for 30 Oscars and win 17 of them, including Best Picture and Best Director. In 2012, Peter Jackson continued to bring to life Tolkien’s epic with the making of the prequel, The Hobbit, into a movie trilogy as well.
            The Lord of the Rings trilogy depicts the quest of a hobbit named Frodo Baggins as he journeys to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring of power created by the dark lord Sauron. The Hobbit is about the adventures of Bilbo Baggins as he goes on a quest with 13 dwarves to regain their homeland from the clutches of an evil dragon.
            This website will depict Tolkien’s masterpieces through the eyes of people. It will show the countless memes and youtube videos that are related to the story and culture of Middle Earth. This will show the lens of how people appreciate Tolkien’s work humorously and artistically.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Blog Post Seis


Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that was developed by Richard Garfield and produced by Wizards of the Coast, the same company that makes Dungeons and Dragons. In 1991 Peter Adkinson, the CEO of Wizards, was working with Garfield on another game that Garfield had developed. Adkinson wanted to make a portable game that could be played during the down time at gaming conventions. When Garfield brought the concepts of the trading card game, which he had been working on as a student, to Adkinson he published the game. Neither of them fully realized how popular the game would become.

Magic went through its first release in 1993 and now there are literally millions of people who play, both the physical rendition and the online version.

Magic is constantly being updated with about four sets released every year and each set containing around two hundred new cards. Once a year a new set comes in that will make three of the sets from two years ago obsolete and unusable for standard play.

There are many different game types, like commander, and archenemy, that get their own specific cards printed as well as a plethora of other ways to play just with the normal cards.

Magic: the Gathering cards exemplify the five principle of new media in a variety of ways. Most cards have a numerical representation for the online version for example. This site will discuss the various aspects of the game as well as how it applies to the Manovich's principles of new media.

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Not Just For Gays Anymore: Musical Theater Nerds

A Musical Theater Nerd is not just a person who loves musicals; it’s a person who is obsessed with musical theater! A Nerd knows the names of practically every musical ever produced; knows not only the big name Broadway stars, but many of the ensemble members as well; they tend to perform musical theater numbers at karaoke night; and they may have a shrine or two in their homes dedicated to everything musical theater! A true Musical Theater Nerd knows all the best shows by heart including: Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Next to Normal, The Book of Mormon, Rent, etc. They have their favorite Broadway performers: Nathan Lane, Bernadette Peters, Sutton Foster, Aaron Tveit, Kristin Chenoweth, Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli. Because of their familiarity with so many varieties of shows, the Musical Theater Nerd has a song that they can sing about any situation happening in their life. This website will be a musical playground for theater lovers and theater virgins alike and will hopefully create new Musical Theater Nerds. The site will be a digital curation based on new media theories by one Lev Manovich, a professor of Computer Science at City University of New York. Manovich’s theories are made up of five principles which are: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, and transcoding and these ideas will be shown throughout the website. So, let me introduce you to the wonderful world of a Musical Theater Nerd. As Neil Patrick Harris sang in his opening number of the 2011 Tony Awards, “it’s not just for gays anymore!”