Avatars & their Creators

Avatars are interactive self-portraits that people can create based on their personal preference.  Some create only one avatar while others create several avatars.  Some like their avatars to represent their personality while others create avatars that are complete opposites of who they really are as humans.  In Profiles from Alter Ego: Avatars and their Creators, the author uses three different examples to demonstrate the vast contrasts between the avatars and their creators. 
The first example is an avatar who represents strength and immortality while its creator is a man with several disabilities.  Despite his many discapabilities, this character can do things in the virtual world that he would not be able to do otherwise.  He can do things such as riding speeder bikes, fighting monsters, and hanging out with friends at a local bar.  The interaction between him and his competitors bring them together.  The second example is an avatar who is a big, black, and male elf whose creator is a small, Caucasian woman.  She feels that as a female online-gamer, she would be treated differently than if she had a male avatar that other gamers would respect and ultimately form relationships.  The third example is a hot, blonde avatar whose creator is a Caucasian, male student.  Even though he isn't a good player, he is able to customize his avatar in various ways such as changing her hairstyles everyday and giving her a beautiful, hourglass body figure.
All three examples use their virtual identities to their own different advantages.  They all agree that image in the virtual world enhances the game and brings people together on one playing field no matter what you may look like in the real world.  Even within a classroom, people can use different avatars for things such as class discussions where they can communicate strictly via online.  No one could know exactly who was who; only by the person's avatar would a person tell.

Topic: Finding, Narrowing, & Generating Questions

The DK Handbook defines topic as "a general area of interest" such as computer game violence, children's education, automobiles, racism, women's rights, etc.  A topic starts out broad and eventually has to be narrowed down by research.  There are a few ways to choose a topic.  They include asking yourself some questions, talking to others, and going online.  Before starting research, a topic must be narrowed down.  A narrowed topic is usually linked to a particular isssue or controversy of some sort that will be of interest to a certain audience.  The best way to do that is using you initial, broad research to find possible areas that might be useful, surprising, or provocative to your audience.  It is also important to keep an open mind when narrowing a topic because the wider you look for information on a specific topic, chances are you will be surprised by what you find which can cause you to be more engaged resulting in a stronger argument.  Other strategies for narrowing a topic include brainstorming, freewriting, and clustering.
In addition to narrowing your topic, you must also generate some questions in order to have a better sense of what you need to find to write a strong paper.  By generating questions, you will be able to see things such as areas of research you might not have considered otherwise, possible ways for shaping your purpose, questions your audience might have that you need to address, and specific research directions you need to take.  Those questions may be questions of fact, definition, interpretation, consequence, value, and policy.  By using these research questions, you can generate as many other questions on your narrowed topic as you can.  Just let the questions come, and don't judge them because one question might lead to another.  The more questions, the more you will have a sense of what further research you need to do.

English 103

When I found out I had to take English 103 Accelerated Comp, I didn't expect it to be that much work.  I figured we would just read a couple stories from the 18th century, write a couple papers, take some tests, etc.  It actually turned out to be way better than I expected.  For instance, after every class we have to write a blog either about the reading or a certain topic discussed in that day's class.  I have never done a blog before.  I've always read blogs, but I never actually took the time out to create one of my own.  So I thought that was pretty cool.  Also, every English class I've had, we've always read stories about something I never really cared about.  In English 103, we get to watch music videos on YouTube and have group discussions on certain issues that could not be discussed in high school.  So I really enjoy that aspect of the class.  Unfortunately, we do get alot more work than I expected such as a 1500 word paper (and that's not even the biggest one this semester), but wer get to write about a politcal cartoon or a particular advertisement that draws people attention.  So that somewhat eases the load a bit because we're writing about something that we're interested in.  I've only been in this class for about two and half weeks so far, but I am actually looking forward to the rest of the semester and seeing what else there is in store for us to do.

Fat Is an Advertising Issue

The title says it all.  We've finally entered that dimension of tight shirts, mini skirts, and skinny jeans.  But the clothes themselves are not the issue; instead, it is the people inside them and how our society view these people and young women in particular.

A wirter and pyschotherapist by the name of Susie Orbach was asked for her help in creating a Dove campaign for real beauty, an online advertising campiagn that focuses on girls and women who, at one point viewed themselves as good-looking human beings, but since then have lost their self-esteem due to many beauty advertisements that say otherwise.  What this Dove campaign does is that it gives a behind-the-scenes look at how these beauty ad campaigns have transformed these ordinary women into extraordinary supermodels via copy and paste.  She supports the idea of Dove's proposed campaign for real beauty and becomes heavily involved in the project.  While Dove's campaign is certainly making some noise in the cosmetic world, it still leaves some questions for as to whether or not this campaign can really change the perspective of those women who still have those insecurities.

In my opinion, the ad campaign can be very marketable as it will be very effective in the public eye.  It gives the public a sneak peak of how these supermodels and celebritites are being transformed to these "beautiful" and acceptable creatures.  This ad does a good job in revealing what is actually being done in the studio.  It is almost like they natural image and beauty is not good enough in today's society because people won't find that natural beatuy attractive.  I have always found natural beauty to be a very attractive quality in a woman.  Anyone can have fake dentures or have plastic surgery done to themselves, but the real beauty lies within the hand of the Creator.  He ultimately decides what we look like, and it is our responsibilty to take care of his great work.  Drawing is one of my favorite things to do in my pastime.  My passion for art goes beyond life itself.  In fact, I love art so much that I have a chosen a career field of that genre because it is the only thing I will devote the most time, effort, and energy to.  If someone were to take one of my completed pieces and start erasing and resketching it, it would make me mad because it is insult to my work.  Apparently, the picture is not good enough for anyone only because one person says so.  But it also depends on the perspective, and everyone views life and beauty in different ways.  You have to look beyond the surface and look at the inner beauty of the masterpiece.  There you will find the true definition of real beauty because, in my opnion, that's as real as real beauty is going to get.

Photo Sharing, Watching YouTube, Don't Smile for the Camera, and Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America

Technology is constantly becoming more advanced in our society.  From 3-D Television to different social media and texting, it can become very difficult to that generation who has not grown up in this age of technology.  In David Pogue's article "Photo Sharing Even the Folks Can Handle," the author discusses his ideas for building a simple, photography web site specifically engineered for those who do not have the patience to go through and download and print their pictures.  He delves further into his ideas by researching various web photo sites while comparing and contrasting the different sites.  In the end, he finally finds three services that individually do not satisfy his desires of the perfect photo sharing but collectively fulfills them.  He concludes that all sites are free and simple no matter how old you are.  Michael Williams' article "Who We Were: A Snapshot History of America", he takes a more historical approach and talks about the evolution of photography and the first camera.  We have come a long way from using "gooey, wet plates and the need of for a portable darkroom."  Nowadays, we can capture a photo with the snap of a digital camera and cellphone.

In Michael Strangelove's short article "There Is No Shame in Watching YouTube," he reiterates the title by saying there is no shame in watching such comedic videos such as "David after the Dentist," and the Star War Kids.  The reason why is that we enjoy watching those people on the videos that reflect us as individuals as well as our emotions.  In those videos, we experience our different triumphs, tragedies, pasts, and futures.  We also make fun of animals and other people as well as ourselves.  The best thing about it all is that we are not alone: the whole world is watching and laughing with us.  YouTube is designed to be about you.  It is designed for those of us who want the world to experience what we feel.  Whether it be a comedy or a tragedy, YouTube is a form of expression.

Chapter 14: Representing Reality; Envision in Depth

This chapter discusses images and visuals and how they truly represent reality and the world that we live in and also how they define us.  The argument that is being debated is that whether or not photographs truly capture the "truth" of an event or is it used to persuade ourselves and others into seeing and believing what we actually want our lives to look like when in reality our lives are not that wonderful and exciting.

Photographs can be interpretated in a variety of ways.  In one of the photographs in the chapter, an elderly woman is standing in front of a local church praying.  One might interpret this image as an innocent woman praying to her almighty Creator. After reading the text, the person will realize it is rather the opposite that it is a devastating image of the horrific earthquake that took place in Haiti on January 12, 2010, resulting in 230,000 lost lives.  This particular image exhibits the pathos effect; it appeals the emotion as well as sympathy of the viewer.  Another picture shows a large group of people piled in a dumpster.  This image suggests that because they are in a dumpster, these people are homeless and are in need of a place to stay.  These photographs, along with others, can be interpretated in so many ways and give us a metaphorical snapshot of the world that we live in.

The section in the chapter, "Snapshots of the Ordinary", focuses on the simple, ordinary snapshots taken by normal, everyday people.  The first photograph shows how cameras and technology today can not only capture ordinary images, but also the extraordinary.  The images displays three cameras being held in front of a boy's face, each one showing each one of his eyes and his mouth.  Each camera is of a different digital media : a digital camera, a Blackberry cellphone, and an iPhone.  This particular shows how technology today can capture normal features and distort them in different ways that reality could not, and that is basically the idea of a photograph.  It is designed to distort and configure an instantaneous moment in life in a way to imply what we, as humans, want our life to appear to others-and do it in less than one fourth of a second.  It is amazing what pictures can imply and how they can be interpreted.  One might look at a collection of home videos of a family who, according the different videos, appear to be a perfect happy family with their children laughing, dancing, and being cute on camera. But, we know that is far from reality, and those moments are not always captured on film.  Of course, precious moments like those are where we bring out the video camera because it is those moments that we want to take away from our negative culture,and they make us feel good.  We want to create the illusion, or myth, of that perfect family that everyone loves and adores.  As happy and content as those moments make us feel, they can be a disservice to our memory.  Unfortuntely, those moments of our family where they are living their everyday lives can be hard to recall and tend to be forgotten, and that is the lfie that we actually lived.  As we continue to gain those "Kodak" moments of life, we also lose the true story of our lives.

In the article featuring Patrick Cox's "Amerca 24/7", the author goes around the country capturing digital images and photographs of everyday Americans at their various professions.  He mentions that our family albums are our most prized possessions, and after doing a survey with a local fire department chief about residential fires, he concluded that the three items people attempt to recover from the fire are their family members, their pets, and their photo albums.  We treasure these photos because as we get older and with so much going on in the world, we tend to forget the great memories in life and the people that we shared them with.  These photos, in a way, capture our true essence of who we really are and define our true character.