Class Review, Part 1

This class has certainly been different from any other class I've had before.  Personally I have never experienced a hybrid class before and the thought both intrigued and worried me.  I have always had difficulty keeping up with online assignments, probably because I'm very easily distracted when we're on the internet.  But I suppose I figured, what better way to break such a bad habit?  I would say it took me more than a while to get into a blogging habit, but once I did I've come to really enjoy it, as well as enjoy my PWP...but that probably shouldn't come as a surprise considering the topic.  The freedom is amazing, but made coming up with a subject so incredibly difficult for me.  My final decision wasn't even one of my original ideas for a long time, but I'm much more satisfied with it than my others.  In comparison to your typical, everyday class I would say we would not have learned as much as we do in this, since we are given the time to actually go out and experience the world of blogging and writing on the web for ourselves, instead of being told about it.

After finally getting my blogs up and running, I've come to notice that not many of us are really looking into everyone's posts, let alone commenting on them.  Maybe it's just me, but I'm noticing from an almost third person perspective that it's very quiet amongst the "community" of our blogs, save for Jeff's comments he graciously posts for almost every addition to our blogs.  Not to say there isn't anyone commenting on other people's blogs in the class, there just doesn't seem to be very much of it happening on average in our class as a whole, I am also guilty of this.  Maybe it's too early for this community to come around, and maybe it requires something to give it a little nudge.

Phalcon

Hello again, as you may be unaware, I am a gamer and my online self is often portrayed by who I am in the gaming universe as well.  As such my online self, whether it be in a game or not is almost always known as Phalcon, my Gaming Handle

Phalcon from: Guild Wars, Aion, and HALO: Reach

It's a name I have gone by for many years and is common and well known among a bunch of people as someone who's full of himself and basically a tough so-and-so....I suppose I just let my shyness get kicked out of the window when I'm on the internet behind the guise of Phalcon.  I would say anytime I write on the web as Phalcon I am respectful, but not without a cocky attitude, but over time the ego has sort of devolved and I have almost allowed myself in the real world and the virtual world to meld, making me a less shy person in reality, and a much less egotistical gamer online.  Despite this meld, I think I will always look at Phalcon as something very different from who I really am, but still very similar (if that makes any sense to you at all). 


I've always believed that the creation of this second persona is my reaction to the internet equation (average Joe + anonymity + audience = asshole)  Though I'm proud to say I don't think I turned out that way at any point while gaming or talking online.  Really I just play and talk online as myself...just a portion I don;t often show when I'm face to face with people in the real world.

About Bloody Time

Well as the title clearly states, it's about time that I got to this.  A good portion of me is fairly upset over having put this off, but no use in crying over spilled milk, am I right?

As for Materiality, well it's something I have discussed with others and including amongst my family for a long time.  I come from a long line of readers, my middle name is the maiden name of my great aunt who owned a shop previously owned by Edgar Allen Poe (condiluted? Yes!  But still very awesome)  In my opinion, one cannot beat the old fashioned book.  Plain and simple, printed multiple times, probably to the point where the ink on one page is faded, etc.  I believe that when we hold the physical page upon which something was printed, we take it in very differently than we do from a screen.  Some would argue the case of a tactile sensation, others a visual, I personally believe it is related to our olfactory sense.  Without a doubt there is a smell to every single book, newspaper, even magazine we read.  If you want to go to those 3500 year old clay tablets, I'm willing to bet they have a smell too.
We are literally losing a method of observing the reality of text when it's presented in digital form via netbooks, iPods, computers, any digital media.  Don't get me wrong I'm all for them, especially considering I'm a game animation major and the computer is my medium, but as far as reading goes, I want it to tickle all the pinpricks of reality it can...so far I haven't tasted a book, but I'll get back to you on that one.