How your media preferences define you as a person.

What is it that defines a ‘nerd’ or a ‘loser’ in today’s society? Most people would say it depends upon who you ask, but I’m talking stereotypes here. The original definition of these was something along the lines of anti-social people who were obsessed with ‘unhealthy’ things like comic books or science. In the 80's video games and comic books became fairly mainstream (at least compared to what they were like before), but in the 90's they, along with table top RPGs, books that weren’t either bad mystery, or written by either Tom Clancy or John Grisham, and cartoons (exception Beevus & Buthead, Simpsons) became ‘nerdy.’ Just about the nerdiest hobbies you could have were reading Fantasy, playing non sports video games, and Dungeons & Dragons. However, if you liked MTV, rap, sports, dating, and partying, you were probably cool or on your way there. Unfortunately for those who like simple social classification, this stereotypical mode of analysis didn’t always work out. Take me for example, I like to think I was fairly popular in high school, (at least my junior and senior years), and I certainly partied a lot, enjoyed the occasional tune from artists such as Outcast and Cash Money Millionaires, and thought MTV was ok, but I was also very much a fan of epic fantasy, read a lot, listened to punk rock and oldies, and played the occasional game of D&D (although not as much as I would have liked due to lack of players in the area). Most of my ‘popular’ friends didn’t know this about me, due to the fact that such subjects rarely came up in conversation, but when they did I didn’t lie about them (ok I might have thrown in a “used to” every once in a while in front of a pretty girl) so I occasionally received some weird looks. In college it seems everyone’s a little more opened minded, but I was not surprised that some students still harbor these old prejudices because after all, most adults do too.

Recently, my cousin and I went and saw The Ring on the recommendation of some of our friends. We were surprised by the quality of the acting and the genuine scariness of the movie. Neither of us had ever really been scared by a movie before, but this one freaked me out so much I almost covered my eyes several times.

The funny thing about it was, the plot of the ring was the standard plot for almost any horror movie, complete with suspenseful music, dead teenagers, mysterious phone calls, supernatural forces, an unknown villain, and a surprise ending. However during the movie, I couldn’t predict a single thing, the acting and production was so well done that the movie struck me as something different from the average scary movie right away. The weird camera angles and flashing images combined with good but not-to-famous actors to create a horror movie so unlike any others that it was actually frightening... very frightening.

I'm posting this one long response paper in place of two, I hope that's ok.
Every once in a while it seems an author or screenwriter hits on a story that has no end, or at least is so long it seems like it will never end. Sometimes this is intentional, as is the case with Dragon Ball Z, the popular anime series that loves to drag out every little action from powering up for a fight to training for a day. Other stories, like Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time series just seem like they last forever due to natural circumstance. The story just wouldn't be as good if it ended any sooner. In contrast to the writer of the DBZ script, Jordan doesn't intentionally drag anything out, he moves fairly quickly along his plot, he simply has a huge plot to cover. Both the Wheel of Time and Dragon Ball Z leave the reader/watcher feeling annoyed anticipation, wondering what will happen next for extended periods of time is frustrating to anyone, but the waiting is for completely different reasons. While DBZ, gives steady one-a-day episodes, several episodes at a time often consist of preparing for a minor fight, or endless walking or flying to get from one point to another, all of which could easily be cut out with no detriment to the plot. On the other hand, The Wheel of Time is exciting and full of consequential happenings on every page, but due to the length of each novel it sometimes takes Jordan in excess of two years to write the next one (the first one was released in 1990 and the series is still not complete). Granted, like every novel it has its slow points, but these are few and more than compensated for by all the action sequences and dramatic interaction between characters. Both DBZ and WoT are stories on the epic proportion; the plots respectively span worlds and nations and both explore other dimensions of reality. Both use “magic” in a sense, personified by martial arts powers in DBZ and the One Power in WoT, and both have multiple protagonists involved in the battle between good and evil. Obviously, because DBZ was made for a younger audience, and lacked in funding during some of its original air time, its character development, dialogue, and plot are no where near as complex or well-done as the Wheel of Time, but the basic plot, with its world-spanning battles and incorporation of mythological and purely creative characters, does retain a certain charm, and definitely keeps new viewers in suspense, although battles that last 20 episodes (Freeza) are a little much.

A common mistake in movies which use new technology is the tendency to overuse the technology to the detriment of other areas like plot or acting. This mistake was made in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a movie which used cutting edge digital animation to give audiences astounding visuals and unheard of realism in an animated film, but seriously lacked in the areas of plot and character development. Loosely based on the Final Fantasy games made by SquareSoft, the movie did not come close to the depth of their story lines and the broad scope of their worlds. Instead, the movie was simply a showcase for new technology, leaving many fans of Final Fantasy disappointed. In contrast, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, which also used new digital technology to animate its armies and battle scenes, stayed true to the story line of J.R.R. Tolkein’s famous novels and shone with quality in every area from acting, to costume and set design. The difference between these two films is that FF:SW used a movie to exhibit a new technology, while LotR used a new technology to help make a movie.

Response #3

It's happened. My curse when it comes to video games has finally kicked in for Grand Theft Auto III. I have lost interest. Talking to one of my suite-mates in Beaty this week, I realized that I lhadn't as much as picked up a playstation controller in a while. When I first bought my Playstation 2, I was so excited, but now I am going through a phase in which I don't even think about it. One of two things will happen: either I won't ever get interested again, or (more likely) my interest will renew itself in a few weeks. This same thing has happened to me during several long games like Final Fantasy VIII, Myst, and Rainbow Six. Every time I eventually come back to them, so hopefully I'll become more interested by GTA 3 soon.

test

Response #1

When I first played Grand Theft Auto III, the one feature that jumped out at me was the almost unrestricted freedom to explore Liberty City. The main character can go anyplace on the streets, on top of buildings, in buildings (unfortunately, only a few), and anywhere else he can conceivably get by jumping, ramping cars, and exploring hidden alleyways. There are tons of side-quests and things to do besides follow along the actual storyline, including the simple pleasures of stealing fast cars, battling police, and killing random people on the street.
The only unrealistic restrictions I can find are the inability to enter many of the buildings, and the fact that your character finds water extremely lethal. He can jump, grab people out of cars, and use a variety of destructive weapons, but the nameless protagonist of GTA 3 can't swim. Other than that though, anything goes in this revolutionary game.
The only other game I've played with freedom comparable to GTA's is Betrayal in Antara, the old RPG game put out by Sierra on PC a long time ago. In that game you could also deviate from the storyline and explore the world at your leisure, interacting with characters in towns that had nothing to do with where you were "supposed to be" according to the story.
My first experiences of GTA 3 comprised of sharing a few beers with friends while taking turns killing pedestrians, blowing up police cars, and generally causing utter mayhem in liberty city. None of us were extreme video gamers, but there was something about messing around on this game comparable to watching football. This is the first game I've heard of that preps and jocks and others who generally only play video games in private (if at all) can feel perfectly cool playing with six or seven of their friends. GTA 3 is something completely new and very successful, I'm sure games in the future will become more interactive in suit.

Response #2

Before beginning The End of Books-or Books Without End by J. Y. Douglas, I had never heard of hypertext. As the subject of her novel, Douglas presents hypertext as a new medium comparable to television and radio, although it is still in the infancy of its development. However, if the reader has never been exposed to hypertext, especially to sources like afternoon and Victory Garden, which are commonly used by Ms. Douglas, The End of Books is hard to comprehend. Unable to contain myself, I searched for free hypertext and began reading Michael Joyce's "On the Birthday of the Stranger." When I first tried to navigate this hypertext short story, I could make no sense of the seemingly random sections of text the links took me to. While the individual sections were well written, I could discern no pattern, no continuity, between one link and another. Coming back to the site after reading more of TEOB, however, I began to make sense of the links, and discovered a system of navigation where I can at least always get to a new section of text. I realized that the blocks of text are mostly scenes from different points in the day of the stranger's birthday, although every once in a while I'll read something in first person from the view of a woman, or in third person about a woman, so I still haven't figured out everything yet. Now that I have a pattern to follow, I am growing more interested in the story and finding it an enjoyable and interesting read.