multinodal narrative

          Asterios Polyp is a graphic novel from 2009 starring a character of the same name. Right off the bat, this novel starts with the main characters house burning down while Asterios is watching porn. Our first introduction to the character is that he is much sharper and more refined then anyone and everyone around him. Nobody has been able to challenge Asterios intellectually, presenting his character as a high brow man who earned his positions, but seems to have lost his ambition somewhere along his ascent.
          There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor in this novel, we don't learn that the narrator is Asterios dead twin brother until a handful of pages in, and that the most complex thing about Asterios is his sex life.
          The art direction is this novel is very unique. Depending on who is speaking or narrating, Asterios takes a different art style, either his flat 1 sided self, or a broken image of geometric outlines, or something between those. The way the text is delivered and the way the characters are designed are both very unique to this novel, and those two reasons alone are enough to keep me reading through this novel.

in class newsworld

1. Are there any prominent symbols in the story that you read? If so, what are they and how are they used?

         In Newsworld there are a few 'symbols' being used here. Im going to refer to the term 'symbol' here loosely, based on that most of this story was a first person perspective constantly making reference to a past even, or relating a current event to something in the past.
         One of the looser 'symbols' would be the symbol of fleeting youth. The narrator makes constant reference about things going back to how they were, The narrator makes a point that "...how easy our childhoods can be turned off..." when they visit the theme-park after hours. This symbol is being used to show what its like to look back on fond past memories without the nostalgia goggles on and see the reality of the memory rather then the way you remember it. A more literal, and obvious, symbol talked about in the story, is the San Francisco earthquake being used as a visual representation on the 9/11 twin tower attacks.

2.What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the work with which you were able to connect.

         One connection I made with this story is the connection of looking at a current event or situation and finding some way that, that event connects with a former past memory or event.
         In the story where the kids start to feel nostalgic about something that happened only a year ago. I think everyone can connect to a current situation feeling like a former situation. The deja vu of nostalgia is a totally different feeling after you hit 15 though. I remember being nostalgic over cartoons i would watch when i was ~8, but that feeling of nostalgia is completely different then being a college senior reflecting on you first day of high school.

3.What changes would you make to adapt this story to another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make?

          If I was to make any changes to this story to adapt this to another medium, I would replace the first person perspective thoughts, into some minimal character dialogue. Other then some dialogue tweaks, I would merge the group of kids, into maybe one or two characters that to flesh them out a bit more, add some depth to the characters.
          I would change this story from a written text, into a short length animated film. Aside from the changes listed above, I would reformat the story into a script, and simplify the scenes into a high school classroom scene, a day scene of the theme park, and a night scene of the theme park.

in class trump image

What are the effects of this photo?

I think this image summarizes what trump supporters think about his campaign for presidency, if you don't like him, deal with it, cause Trumps da bes and hes gon' win. I’m aware of the ‘deal with it’ meme, but i feel that this image is a bit more tongue in cheek then some of the other memes with the ‘deal with it glasses’. I think the effect of this photo accurately reflects Trump's own opinion of his campaign, don't like it? Ill kick you out of my country and you can deal with it there.

in class dream

I always get this recurring dream of myself running towards something or someone, but i cannot get any forward traction anf it feels like im just slidding my feet in place. Most of yhe time in this dream im also running from something, i have this sense of anxiety and that i cannot run as fast as i need to, either yo escape somewhere or to catch up with someone. As a sort of loop hole in the logic of my dream, i can run faster when running backwards. When running forward i get this loose grip feeling with my forward momentum, but running backwards allows me to grip my heels into the ground and haul ass to whereever im off too.

From what i can recall, i never actually arrive anywhere or with someone, i typically wake up in the midst of my traction struggle. My guess as to where these recurring dreams come from is the never ending amount of homework givin at this school and the anxeity that comes with falling behind in homework.

McLuhan

One of my observations about media is that media isn't just a self informed outlet for general or guided knowledge, it has become a mass outlet for anything with a trending buzzword. People (as a whole) no longer look up minute nuances for themselves, everyone reads into what their friends are complaining about online and take that sole source as factual. I can't remember the last time i heard the word “media” outside of school that wasn't social media. I’ve found that I can't send friends links to articles or something, without it having to have hundreds of shares or likes for that friend to be interested enough to read the whole article.

I feel that this shift in the way people share information with each other is a generation thing. We’ve shut out world issues, politics, etc because we have become too focused on having fun and justifying everything we do online. It's beautiful, yet disastrous. It’s almost poetic that this generation is so self involved in itself that it's stayed out of touch with global issues that don't get a “top 10 things only millennials understand” buzzfeed article. Assuming this social media demographic doesn’t shift, I feel that this generation will stay out of touch with real issues until someone makes the article “10 things millennials did that screwed up the planet for everyone else”.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Writing as a Marketing Director for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I would start my marketing campaign with defining my target demographic. In this case i would be aiming at young adults age 18-30 as my igeal age group. For my target demographic I would start my campaign with tons of web based social media ads including a snapchat story page, facebook profile, twitter account, youtube ads, ect. Outside my target demographic, I would also campaign a more broad advertisement on TV and radio.

With this current generation being more internet savvy then the last, I feel that a stronger online presence would result in a better opening box office. In an addition to the digital based social media advertising push, I would also create a campaign for printed advertisements. The screenplay follows a burnt out writer, so i feel that a physical printed campaign could draw parallels between the content of the screenplay and the advertisments. I also think that with a more traditional printed advertisement campaign, the older 35+ audience would be able to relate more with the advertisement campaign and not feel alienated with a online only advertisement campaign.

Taking role as the marketing director, I feel that the strong online presence, coupled with a clever print advertisement tie in would be the best way to promote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Right off the bat I would like to say that this movie is just absurd.

Within about ~15 minutes of the film, our two leading characters are asked if they want to pay to have sex with a group of dirty  all-male travelling performers. Coincidentally, that's when the movie becomes entertaining. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, from what I can make of it, is a modern rendition/remix of hamlet.

After watching the film, I was left feeling a bit uncomfortable. I wasn’t quite sure what i just watched, and how much of it was theatrical satire, artistic direction, or some sort of homage to the original Hamlet screenplay. I did enjoy watching the two actors perform off of each other. I found that the scenes where our two main (side?) characters had to interact with each other to be the only ones that held my attention long enough to compensate what was going on, and figure out its relation to Hamlet.

At the end of the movie I started to get into this rhythm of questioning both what had just happened on screen, and my reaction to whatever was going on. I feel like that pattern of thought was the director's intention to give us the existential questions about the way we perceive things, and how we perceive what told to us vs what we actually see and understand.

This movie was absurd and then next time I watch it will be the last.