Ugg...

Sorry that the posts are a bit out of order. Just pretend that the introduction is at the top, where it's supposed to be. Enjoy ;)

Final Portfolio: Visual Communication

In my opinion, visual communication is probably the more useful of all the communication methods in WOVE, since nothing can beat the power of a well chosen photograph. While writing may end up dwelling in more abstract thoughts, visual communication adds a hint of realness to your argument, a proof that what happened might actually exist. For example, sitting in the reading room next to the coffee shop in the library lie two large books just full of pictures: one deals with the Mar's explorers, while the other shows photographs of the wreckage of the twin towers right after 9/11. Both books draw you into their own world with huge, striking photography, along with some written commentary that explains the purpose and the event happening inside the picture. With both visual and written communication working together, both books tell a very compelling story.

While my pictures of the bridge that stretches across the creek on campus might not be as huge or as cool as the captured moments mentioned above, they analyze and describe the span very well. Hopefully, my written commentary along with the visual part of the communication helps you explore this Union Drive bridge.

The Union Drive Bridge

We didn't go too far for this assignment -- in fact, we choose the same bridge that we used for the mini-assignment in class! However, we chose it again for a good reason. It is an interesting piece of architecture that doesn't get noticed in light of the grandiose pillared buildings (and the Campanile), but it's still pretty to look at, anyway.

Overview in Black and White

I'll start this one off with an overview pic. This is a nice picture that shows the overall architecture of the bridge along with a bit of the background. In fact, this picture feels a bit old-school, with the antique looking lamps and the black and white look and all. If there were people in this picture, they would probably be dressed up in dresses and suits and school uniforms. The photo is framed well with the lampposts acting like walls, and the bridge itself looks classy and dignified to the observer. Maybe this could be a photo that would be on a pamphlet advertising the school?

Look at Me!

This picture was taken right underneath the bridge, and it shows an imposing close up view of one of the lampposts. Not a view that you see that often (since everybody passes over the bridge not underneath it), it has a dignified and classy look to it due to the angle. You look up onto the lamppost and immediately get a feeling that it's something special, which is interesting because the post is just one of several that dot the bridge. In absence of the others, however, it takes it's own importance. (Maybe it is important, with the monster death laser beam coming out of the light, due to the glare on the camera.) That said, there isn't anything really framing the camera, but your eyes start low and get drawn up to this lamppost, and you feel imposed due to your low vantage post. The picture also shows some close up detail of the rail and that post as well.


The Grate

This is a close up shot of the rail that boarders the bridge, as well as some of the foliage that appears on the side of it. I especially like the curvy metalwork on the top part of the rail, which contrasts with the jail bars that constitute the bottom part of the picture. These bars are meant to hold you in, and it feels that way in the picture -- you can't get to that plant easily, in any case. My eyes are drawn to the waves first, and then they drift down into the green. There isn't much bordering the picture either, but the bars indicate a boundary of some kind for your eyes.

Overview and Recap

The final picture is another bit of an overview -- again, it shows the overall footprint and architecture of the bridge, as well as the creek and the green on both sides of the span. I like this picture especially due to the rain -- in a strange way, the bridge almost looks like it is bleeding. Your eyes are first drawn between the two posts of the bridge, as you admire the leaves and branches of the surrounding foiliage. Then you notice the creek, with the waves and lines on both sides of the bridge indicating how quick the water is moving. In real life, it was fast when I took the picture, but here it seems quite a bit more tranquil. Finally, you get drawn under and through the dark expanse of the arch into the forest and creek beyond. Or maybe you noticed the white waters first and came the other way. Anyway, this picture is visually pleasing and tranquil, and it shows a side to something that you probably scramble over more than appreciate. It's a cool little bridge. Check it out sometime.

Final Portfolio: Introduction

You know, I hate introductions. For some reason, I never start off all that well. Once the first sentence is down, I usually have an idea on where to go, but plopping down that first sentence is as hard as nails to me. Sure, I could start somewhere else in the essay, maybe the body, and then work my way back from there. But if I try that, I usually have to sit there just as long before I finally get something on the paper. I freaking hate introductions.

Conclusions, on the other hand... Well, they don't come easy to me either. While I might have trouble finding a spark in the beginning, I have just as much trouble in trying to bottle up that spark in the end. I always want to add one more sentence, or paragraph, or heck, maybe another page. Maybe a couple more pages! Maybe I should splice all my pages together and form a book.

These two problems are what precisely describe me as a communicator; They exactly describe who I am. It takes me a while to warm up, to put that first sentence down. But once I have that firm start, I get involved. I want to spill all my thoughts out onto the paper, or into the speech, or take more arty photos, or make long, rambling blog posts that you can read down below if you dare. In order to do anything, I need to get into a zone; Once I'm in my frame of mind, I can go on as long as I want while ignoring everything else that happens around me. I get into my frame of mind, and it can take a bit of luring in order to get me out of it.

When I write papers, I usually do it all in one siting. Sure, I go back and edit, trying to make the rambling argument make sense. But when I edit, for good or bad, I usually don't change a whole lot -- maybe a word here, a sentence here, perhaps a bit of clarification. I don't even do much outlining, since the outline I made constrains my argument. It makes me want to hit every point without much detail, and I guess I like that detail. It's what I try to put into my writing. Sometimes I succeed.

I usually try to put down my thoughts in a quiet room. Sometimes I need to go somewhere else in order to escape the video games and the loud, cruddy MTV. Maybe thats why I like to pour out my thoughts late at night, when my roommate is asleep and the worries of the day are put to rest. It's when I can concentrate best with no annoying distractions. The cool darkness adds its own reflection underneath my big loft, and that air is perfect for laying out my soul.

Visual communication is what I most improved upon, I think. I tried to overlay my blog posts with a few pictures, just so the reader can get the drift and the direction. I've noticed that a pictures purpose varies with it's context -- sometimes, the picture takes center stage and states your thoughts in one tidy frame, and sometimes it's a bit of scenery on the side that draws you into the written word by proxy. Written communication was always my forte, the thing that I was best at when it came to getting my point across. Maybe electronic too, but that's just written plus visual.

I know that this course really changed me for the better, in a way. It seems to me, however, that the best way to learn these skills are to go out and do it, and then listen back to see if the message got through. Thats where, of course, the assignments came in. I liked the blog entries and the radio broadcast the best, however, since both involved playing around with technology. The oral assignment was great, since I stepped up and worked though the editing process, although we all did our fair share. Actually, as I look back, everything but the plain old writing stood out for me. It gave me a taste of another way to get my point across. But I am far from a perfect communicator, of course. I still have a lot of crap to learn about my communication and my life. But I definitely grew a bit in that crucial skill.

Final Portfolio: Electronic Communication

I have really discovered something the last few days, although it's a relatively well known fact: the internet is full of trolls. I'm not talking about the ones that hide under bridges and eat children (well, maybe some of them), but the ones that purposefully try to annoy posters and belittle your beliefs. The internet may be a great way to get out your beliefs, but it's also a great way for these guys (or girls) to really get under your skin. One major reason for this is that most posting on the web is more or less anonymous, so it's a lot easier to state some radical and crazy beliefs without knowing who said what. Not only is this really annoying, but it also kills real, insightful conversation; Eventually, everybody takes an extreme side and just snipe at each other over stupid issues.

Free speech is a great ideal on the internet, but that doesn't mean that you have the privilege of being a jerk. The best way for electronic communication to improve is for everybody to respect their peers and stop all purposeful sniping and flaming. To be perfectly honest, this will never happen, just like it doesn't happen in the real world; But it's another great ideal to strive for. Kind arguments are more likely to win over your enemies than name calling any day.

I enjoyed writing my blog entries. I enjoyed broadcasting my views and writing interesting articles. I especially like the informality that most blogs bring to them, since I never liked stuffy writing. I enjoyed everything possible about this assignment, actually, since I like the more intimate writing that came with that project. I know that the internet might be a hectic place when it comes to putting out your opinion, but I would like to brave it anyway. Heck, if anything else, I might get a good discussion out of it.

Final Portfolio: Oral Communication

T0 be perfectly honest, I have never been great with small group work. I usually like to work alone, where I don't have to fight with another person in order to get the project done. I also work a bit quicker when it's just myself as well. However, the groups I worked with on these past group assignments have been actually pretty fun for me, particularly the last task. The first group assignment was rather easy for me overall, since besides picking pictures the electronic and written component was up to the individual. The second group I was in I was fairly uninvolved, aside from explaining some of the Powerpoint slides. However, I had a great time with our most recent assignment, where I was given a cool task in editing the radio broadcast. I also had fun interviewing the various people around the memorial union, since they were all there for different reasons, holding different personalities. Out of all the group assignments, only this last one felt like, well, a group assignment to me, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I may enjoy solo projects more overall, but eventually I'll have to get more involved in these kinds of project groups -- after all, in the real world this is a skill you need in order to hold any job! I guess it's something I have to grow into a bit more.

Final Portfolio: Written Communication

The essay I am about to post is about the FIRST Robotics regional competition that occurs every year down in St. Louis. I had a blast at these competitions, as you might notice during the essay, and the event in question is the year which we won the entire thing, the only time our team was able to pull this feat off in it's history. This written essay is supposed to convey the experience of actually being there and seeing the sights; I tried to put a level of detail in about the entire competition, which is something that written word can do particularly well. Short stories are a great way to get across you message and truly describe a place (even if you can't see it), so enjoy the show and have fun reading!

Our team was on the edge, hushed and scared as the rest of the Family Dome screamed with delight. Mr. Law looked his usual concerned, semi grumpy, semi pumped self down there on the edge of the field; Our student drivers had a calm, cool look on their face that masked their hopes and fears. Our robots job was to push a few balls into the goal along the way to hanging on the ten foot high bar that loomed over the rectangular field, but could it get there in time? It wouldn't tip over like before, would it?

While the final preparations were taking place, I was hanging around with the rest of the Linn-Mar robotics team, trying to keep a firm footing on the rubber mat covered ice which was the Family Dome's ice hockey rink. The announcer enthusiastically introduced all of the players in the last match on the field in front of us, the final set piece on the long road that started when we started hacking together some aluminum bars, black plastic computer boards and a heck of a lot of copper wiring back at home. It was a long road indeed. We had only six weeks to build the robot that was on the bottom left corner in front of us (or was it the bottom left corner? I can't remember now!), a process that had started mid January amid snow and a bit of angst. We constructed our machine in the back workshop of our high school, a cluttered environment with spare (and sometimes broken) pieces of metal works lying around. The workshop, in fact, was only one of many different places that we built and tested our robot – a computer lab nearby served as the programmers paradise (a place that I had stayed often), and a huge old storage area was a practice field where we got to test our contraption. Well, when we could get the thing away from our hardware guys.

Getting the bot away from the announcer on the field of our final match would also take some work. He worked his way around the symmetrically cluttered arena, hyping up the teams while waving their flags and pumping up the huge sea of faces in the bleachers. There were around fifty-fives teams involved in this regional competition, and many of these teams had brought their friends and family to go root them on. The amount of spirit in the place was crazy, with team flags being waved, people walking around in capes and robes, a copious amount of body paint in some places, and a few noisemakers from time to time to keep the groups alert. The team pit areas on the half of the arena not taken up by the play field was similarly decked out, from banners and trophies from previous winning teams to video displays and twitching bots being adjusted and modded. All of the bot teams were as nice as they were enthusiastic, since we both borrowed and received parts from many teams, some that we might even contend against. It was a mighty fun time even if we were losing, but it was quite intense when you were playing in the final match like we were about to do.

FIRST was the organization that suppled this experience to us, started about ten years ago by Dean Kamen to get high school kids more interested in science and technology. Dean is an inventor, the guy that came up with the Segway, an all terrain wheelchair that can go up stairs, and long, uninteresting speeches that seem to go on forever whenever he opens his mouth. Anyway, every year he and his lovable gang of nerds (including Woodie Flowers, the aging hippie like mad scientist figure) comes up with a game that has several tasks that our lovable robot must do to gain points. The game this year was to deposit balls into bins for human players to throw into this PVC basket, after which the robot could cap with a huge air filled bouncy ball to double the amount of points given by the balls in this basket. Nearing the end of the two minute match, the robot then had to get up two foot high steps and hang onto a bar ten feet of the ground for a massive amount of points – a daring feet that only a few bots could accomplish, ours proudly being one of them. The robot that we had slaved on all this time ended up as little more than a giant arm, built to do nothing more than a giant pull-up. This was the bot that had succeeded in so many matches so far in the two bot on two bot games that had made up the competition, and it was the bot that was going to win this championship and bring us back our first regional win trophy.

The announcer finished his spiel and got off the floor. The buzzer sounds with it's cheesy little trumpet call, and the robots start magically moving towards their prey. The audience screams with excitement, and my team members clutch at each other nervously, hoping that Murphy's Law doesn't take precedence and ruin our chances for a win. Our group, like many in high school, was a bit cliquish, with the software folk and the hardware folk usually hanging around each other more often than not, but we were still a unified team at our whole. I mostly worked on the software aspect of the robot with many of my acquaintances, spending long nights trying to get the robot to do something as simple as follow a line on it's own or even just go straight without assistance. The robot drivers had no control the first fifteen seconds of the match; therefore, getting the bot to do these things themselves was essential. After a bit of experimenting, we were able to get the robot to go up one step and up the other by itself, although it was still risky business, since if our robot tipped over like many times before we were little more than dead weight on the field. We prayed together now that this program might pull off as the robot learched forward.

Our robot doesn't bother with any of the chaos of foam balls and moving metal around it; quickly, efficiently, it moves towards it's goal. Six wheels propel the machine forward, the middle two wheels set a bit lower on the robot which makes it rock back and forth as it crosses the torn up carpet. It hits first edge with a large thud, and the motors spin heatedly to get the piece of metal up the step. The bot shudders and shakes as it slowly forces its way up the ramp – to an observer, it might seem like the robot was simply trying to chew through the obstacle. Not now. It passes the first step, it passes the second... and the second buzzer sounds. The drivers stumble towards the controllers, and our arm goes up. We hold in silence as the robot slowly guides towards the large iron pull up bar. It latches! Pneumatics kick in, and the bot uses its gigantic aluminum muscle to hoist itself up. Then something completely unexpected happens. Our opponents robot attempts the first step and stumbles onto its side. There is nothing that the opponent alliance can do. Victory is assured.

Within seconds the whole group is in a huge huddle, hugging and moshing as the rest of the stadium raises the roof. After a few months of craziness, we finally succeed and claimed our rightful trophy. The air of the stadium is jubilant, and I can remember the entire place vividly in my mind today. I had went there with the team all four years I was in high school, and it is a lovely place that brings back strong memories of FIRST. The team spirit is overwhelming there; the other teams robot designs innovative and sometimes stylish; the merry participant's cheerful and active; the competition both frightfully fierce and positively friendly. I will definitely go back there someday to visit as I am in college. This is an awesome activity to be in.

No Money on Free Parking

Apparently there isn't much greenery in Fairfax anymore. According to David Plotz, a reporter for the New York Times, the little grass that exists in front of immigrants houses are being paved over to make room for transportation. Unfortunately, the other locals don't take kindly upon that.

In "A Suburb All Grown Up and Paved Over", Plotz talks about the necessity of the immigrants situation, and how the suburb surrounding them (mostly made up of richer, larger home owning whites) doesn't like the new development. According to the neighbors, the pavement takes away the little amount of greenery that the area has left (which is ironic, since the rest of the foliage has already been paved over to put in shopping malls and housing subdivisions already). After talking a bit about this problem, however, the article goes off on a related tangent. The author analyzes the rapid growth and immigration that is happening to the county, and he likens the whole ordeal to a mid-life crisis the county itself is having. The article is finally ended with Plotz reflecting that things are promising if the worst reaction to this aging process is a little squabble over a bit of grass.

The author projects a confident, well informed vibe all over this story. In the beginning, the text seems a bit condescending and ironic, as Plotz points out that Fairfax's culture and history owes a lot to the automobile (and most of the neighborhoods are named after the beauty they desecrated). In the second half of the article, however, the author starts to reflect over the diversity of the community. The tone here changes to more of a storytelling mode, where Plotz outlines the modern history of the county. Facts are used there (with a couple percentages and fractions), and these facts paint a more positive tone. Diversity, as he argues, is changing the community for the better.














The argument seems ethical, and the facts seem solid. The world view advertised is a rosier, "Lets all get along" kind of view, and the writing at the end seems positive and upbeat. Plotz is on the side of the immigrants here, and I agree with him. the newcomers are getting the most out of the property and land that they own, and they have a necessity in their actions that the old guard doesn't quite understand. I love nature, however, and it's pretty sad that you have to destroy some of that to get by; But I think this is a necessity sometimes, and after the immigrants find some wealth, hopefully that greenery will return someday.

And While We are on the Subject of Labyrinths...

While I was thumbing through People magazine like I normally never do (I wasn't looking to advertisements to blog about, no way), I came across this Toyota ad. (Sorry about the blurry picture, by the way. I had to scan it in.) In this ad, Toyota's new SUV the RAV4 -- which I suppose is an attempted l33tspeak way of saying rave -- is placed right before a huge, foreboding maze of city buildings. The caption is impossible to read in the photo, but this is what it says:

No matter how lost the city makes you feel, it's comforting to know the RAV4 is engineered to handle it all. With Vehicle Stability Control, 166 hp and an EPA 27 MPG hwy rating*, solving the city has never been easier. Learn more at toyota.com/rav4.

Vehicle shown with optional equipment. *2008 EPA-estimated 27 highway MPG for RAV4 4-cylinder 2WD models. Actual mileage will vary. c2007 Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.S., Inc.

The tone of the advertisement is dark, with plenty of shadowy buildings in the labyrinth. The maze paths themselves are lit in order to create contrast against the walls and the dark sky. The SUV itself is given prominent space right in the lower middle of the page; Your eyes are first drawn to the maze, then to the convenient solution sitting on the road right below it. The context and purpose of the ad is simple -- cities are large, complex challenges, so why don't you take them with a powerful, safe, and environmentally friendly car? Heck, even David Bowie would flee in terror from this thing!

Actually, I'm suprised that they didn't mention possible GPS/map finding equipment in this ad, because thats what I would actually want if I'm going to take on Chicago or New York. Why would you need all that horsepower in the city, for instance? Why would you care that the thing has a 27 MPG hwy rating if you will most likely never go faster than 27 MPH in the maze? The ad itself is most likely targeted at younger, suburb grown people (or those who never had to take on city driving), since those who have lived in NYC all their lives probably can deal with the urban jungle. In all actually, it doesn't really matter what specific car you would drive in a metro area, anyway. A small sedan can navigate the streets as easily (actually, probably easier) than a huge honking truck.

Uselessly big cars are overrated anyway, in my opinion. I will probably be in the target zone for this ad in a few years, but as long as there is something cheaper available, I don't really care. Let the stockbrokers have their gas guzzlers, and let me have a simple car with a nice speaker system that can get me from A to B easily. That is all that I need, at least for now.

Night on the Campustown

For such a large campus, it seems to me that we have a relatively small Campustown. Not that we don't have some good places to hang out at south of campus, it's just that there isn't a whole lot to see if you don't want to get drunk off of your seat over the weekend. Sure, we have a few coffee shops, a bunch of Asian food restaurants (probably the most I've ever seen in one particular area, not that it's bad or anything), and one OK pizza place, but the rest of the area seems to be taken up by bars and such. The streets and buildings themselves don't look all that bad, but it could definitely use a face lift. Luckily, it seems like the city of Ames agrees.

There might be some interesting talk in the article, but it seems to be just commentary more than anything else. If anything, the news story seems to deal more with wishes than actually doing anything, although I can see their problems. It would be a big project. The businesses that would set up shop would get very little traffic over the summer, and there would be a large amount of capital involved too. It wouldn't be easy, but there has to be a way, huh?













I would first try to clean up and remodel the place -- not only will it remove a bit of the "place for drunks" stigma, it would make it more inviting for businesses to set up shop. Next, renovate any empty buildings to make them easier to rent for new businesses. A big advertising campaign will be needed to get entrepreneurs to notice these new improvements too. Heck, handing out flyer's to business majors would be a great idea. A couple former students starting up a pizza place would be awesome for everybody involved!

Yeah, there might be a stigma of drunkenness to the place, but that would change gradually as new, unique businesses are let in (although it will always have a bit of that reputation -- after all, it is a Campustown next to a major university). Since the new shops won't get too much business over the summer, the product that they sell will have to be good (and popular) enough to make enough money during the school year. Ideally, whomever finances the project would pitch in with financial incentives and advertising costs, although this might get a bit expensive overall. (You got to spend money to make money, you know?) If things are successful, then eventually the place will change around, and successful businesses will lure more entrepreneurs in to claim a slice of the new financial pie. Of course, a person (or group) that could finance such a task would be hard to find, but I never said it would be easy, huh? Maybe donations by students could help? The University itself? Other local businesses? The city of Ames? Who knows?

This would be a great project for those with the will to do it. If the College of Business gets involved, then we could get some real student involvement too! Hopefully, with a bit of love and care, we can get Campustown back up and running for all of us who don't like to get plastered downtown every week or so.

Cy in Chains

There has been a lot of talk about the chains currently covering campus lately. Quite a bit of the student population seems to be against it, arguing that it breaks up the beauty of central campus and that once again, the campus government (henceforth known in this post as the "Man") is screwing up their land. Stephen Schmidt, one of our political science professors, equates the chains put up around campus "...like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa". Heck, a Facebook group about the subject already has over a thousand members and growing! The "Man" seems to disagree -- they say that the fences are to prevent people from trampling the beauty --,although the uproar is enough that they are planning to renegotiate where they will be plopped down, or even at all.

So where do I stand on this big issue? In all actuality, I don't really care all that much -- I thought the fences really didn't look all that bad amongst the foliage (they don't curtain every walkway!), and the ones that do get in my way are easily jumped over by my manly long legs. I can see where this is a big issue for some people, though, since there is a bit of a "The Man's trying to tell us where we can walk!" vibe to the whole story. In my mind, however, there is no real evil villain in this picture; Both sides are trying to preserve our common space in their own specific way. Nobody is going to yell or taser you if you take a nap on the grass. It seems to me that as long as you respect your surroundings and don't make any big mud holes in the middle of the green, then I think you will be fine.













It all comes down to respecting our environment, although the issue is more complicated, like most big issues usually are. Cow paths, on one hand, do look pretty ugly -- but they are a sign of life on the campus, a sign that students do go to learn and live in the place. My old roommate said once that the paved pathways throughout our school were originally cow paths themselves (which pretty much explains some of the stranger trails that you can follow around!) I don't mind the cow paths much as long as they are quick little shortcuts through a small area; If there was a big trail going north-south through the center green, then there would be a bit of a problem.

So yes or no on chains? I err on the side of no, since they can be a hassle to get around (or over), even if I don't mind the ascetics. Here is my only real comment; don't get too mad at the administration over this -- they are just trying to preserve our shared space too!

David Bowie Takes on Jim Henson.

(SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE)

Oh, Labyrinth. When I looked at the possible films that we could review for this assignment, nothing jumped out at me more than this little feature. I went in figuring that it would be a dorky (but still pretty fun) 80's fantasy movie, and believe it or not, I was completely right. Besides, it had David Bowie in it -- how the heck could it NOT be awesome?

Anyway, the story is about an especially whiny teenage girl (Sarah, played by Jennifer Connelly) who wishes away her baby brother to the goblins. As it turns out, these kind of wishes do come true every once in a while. Realizing her mistake, she jumps into Bowie's little fantasy world to find her brother (and hopefully gets over her whiny emo like behavior while shes at it). All along the way she is taunted by Mr. Ziggy Stardust himself, who pretty much acts like you would expect him to in the film (and he never wastes a moment to pop in a show stopping number while hes at it). Anyway, her quest takes her through an increasingly crazy fantasy world, populated by the somehow familiar distant cousins of the Muppets. Anywasys, she goes through adventure and toail, picks up some wacky friends, gets her head about her, and finally faces down Jareth (Bowie) for the fate of her little brother. It's very touching.


The Labyrinth itself is very dreamlike. Nothing ever happens the way you would suspect, and there is plenty of crazy obstacles for Sarah and company to get past. Her colleagues include a cowardly dwarf (who Conelly finds near the entrance to the place, trying to keep down the epidemic faerie infestation), a gentle giant monster (who can't speak a word of any known language coherently), and a noble bridge guarding fox (who I wanted to see tossed right into the Bog of Eversmelling Bad. Never happened, though.) Her challenges are varied; she will have to get through tricky labyrinth guards, a shaft full of crazily grabbing hands, the aforementioned bog, spooky forests, meat grinding tunnel cleaners, and these weird imp guys that like to toss around their own heads while singing. She doesn't have time for this crap, though; Her true goal is Jareth's goblin castle, and if she doesn't rescue her baby brother in 13 hours she might have a bit of explaining to do back at home. (I SWEAR, he just happened to turn into a little goblin kid!)

It might sound ridiculous, but it's actually quite a fun movie. The denizens of the maze (thought up and designed by Jim Henson, who also directed the movie) are pretty interesting, and they all have their own distinct personalities (they even crack a joke or two). The labyrinth itself is pretty imaginative, and every area that our heroine goes through, again, has it's own personality and flair. The place and the characters are what really give this flick it's charm; without them, it would just be another boring fantasy quest with an annoying heroine and some awful 80's rock/dance/sing along numbers. Yep, even though the songs were written and performed by Bowie himself, the score itself is pretty freaking crappy. The songs all sound very 80's, and while the kids that this movie was targeted to won't mind much, I certainly did. All of the music, for instance, has that distinct 80's synthesizer sound which dates it immediately, and Bowie looks like a 80's rock star through and through (go figure).

One final little thing on Bowie; he plays his role of strange, semi creepy villain pretty well, although I was hoping that he would go a little more over the top then he actually did. (He song and dance numbers were pretty lame, though.) Although he was a pretty memorable villain, he didn't really save the whole ending sequence, which I thought was pretty cruddy. Just falling off of a platform after the heroine rejects you? At least Sarah could have pulled a 300 and kicked him off of the world while yelling something really cool. Yeah, that would have made this movie awesome.

But I guess I'm just rambling now. This isn't a movie for everyone, but those into campy, fun, sometimes over the top fantasy adventures will have a blast. For me at least, it was so weird (and sometimes just bad) enough to make it a worthwhile experience.

Google: the Blog

Blogs are the popular thing to do on the net these days (as evidenced by the fact that we have to make our own and keep it updated!) The activity actually isn't very new: personal sites have existed long before anybody ever thought up the name, but social networking sites made it easier for newbies to jump in on the fun. Without Myspace, Facebook, Blogspot, and LiveJournal (to name a few), we would constantly have to wade through HTML and such to get anything posted (although the option is still there for those who want to dive in). In reality, all that these networking sites above did was to take a galaxy of random places on the web and smash them together with a common, streamlined site layout. It made it easier to contact and link up with your friends and acquaintances, but at the price of a bit of conformity. Still, there isn't a whole lot that separates blogs from just random personal websites after you take away the hype and the built in networking aspects.

In this light, corporate blogs don't make a lot of sense on the surface. Major corporations already have elegantly designed net-homes that can give more information than you would really care to read about their said services. The major drawback to these pages, however, is that they are rather impersonal; they are monoliths to the masses, rather than the closer intimacy of a personal website. I'm guessing this is why many companies are creating their own blogs; They can get out their message with more personality and intimacy than their main site. The blog that I looked at is Google's official blog, which is hosted by Blogger (a service that our own personal blogs are hosted on).

Simplicity is Google's image on the web, so it's no real surprise that their official blog is clean and uncluttered as well. Google's blog isn't any more distinct, in fact, than the multitude of the other sites hosted by the blogger service -- which is a cool little bit of humbleness that makes the journal seem a more realistic and friendly. The articles posted on the site may be a little more formal than most bloggers, but this is offset by the quirky little stories that make it seem a little more homelike. For example, two cool, personal stories are on the front page right now; One a recipe for making Buttercup Squash Soufflé, the other a warm tale about two unexpected baby deliveries that a couple of Google's employees got wound up in.


Google's corporate policy is "Don't be evil", which is a policy that sums up it's blogs world views. While the articles sometimes drift into corporate speak, the text is bit less formal than it could have been otherwise. Most of the articles are about technology that Google has designed, developed or are still working on (which obviously makes sense). Luckily, that's not all that they type about -- there are plenty of articles about the activities that their employees are doing outside and inside of the company. (They deck out their offices with caffeinated soap and binary clocks, or so one article suggests). You can't post comments on their articles, however, which disappointed me; It would be cool to interact with the company on this same personal level.

The Google blog might be a little more formal than most of the sites it shares it's bandwidth with on Blogger, but it still works just like it's brothers -- it gives its information with intimacy and personality. The clean white layout gives it an inviting edge over the cluttered, uglier look of some of it's competitors, and the more relaxed atmosphere of Google's culture really shines through. It's really not bad for a site mostly updated (or so it seems) by middle and upper management types. Overall, it is a well created blog (heck, well enough that I added it to my bookmarks), and it's a neat way for Google to better get out it's message.

When the Levees Broke...

Zep's a good band, aren't they?

Many of my favorite songs by Led Zeppelin are off their forth album. You know, the vinyl/CD that have a few little known, obscure songs like Stairway to Heaven, Rock and Roll, Misty Mountain Hop... OK, every song on this album is a classic rock hit. The best of the bunch (outside of Stairway, my all time favorite song) would have to be When the Levee Breaks.

The song is a sonic masterpiece. The first thing that you hear is an echoing drum and top hat beat (played by John Bonham, the drummer). After a quick few seconds, the song breaks into full force with mega-heavy riffs by Jimmy Page (the guitarist) and a crazily haunting harmonica melody by Robert Plant (the high pitched singer). The harmonica in this song is interesting; the sounds made seem almost like echoing train whistles, almost like a fleet of locomotives going north. The verses are sung in the old fashioned Blues style (A-A-B), and seem to be about a levee. (Apparently, its in danger of breaking.)

As the song sludges on, the guitar and harmonica get even more intense, almost epic sounding. Drums fill in the areas that are not covered by the whirlwind of noise, along with giving a strong back beat to the fiery guitar (and harmonica) solos and the pleading, biting vocals. Everything seems ghostly, almost. Things pick up again near the end, with a big drum roll by Bonham -- and then things get strange. The sound itself starts swirling around, as if in some gigantic blender. Finally, once you had all you can possibly take, the song plops you out into an almost electronic sounding finish. And then you can finally breathe a sigh of relief.














So what does this song have to do with a place? Well, surprisingly a lot; this is actually a cover of a Memphis Minnie song about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. According to National Geographic, they had a lot of rain down in the Mississippi delta that year (like TEN TIMES as is usual annually!) Anyways, the article states that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built many levees to hold back back the river back then, and the Corps stood by their work, thinking that it would be enough to hold back the river. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to hold back the massive amounts of fluid that would come by that year. After the levees were razed, the Corps forced the local Blacks to rebuild the engineers shattered failures, many of them at gunpoint. This is the place and event that the song is about.

Zeppelins interpretation of Minnie's blues number seems to evoke the chaos of the flood. The music sounds crazy, chaotic and hard, much like the storms and rushing water (and slave camp like conditions for the workers) really were. The lyrics in the non blues sounding verses deal with getting out of the place, and these lyrics are more pleading, frenzied than the relatively quieter bluesy sections. It's quite a hellish place that the music takes you to.

Anyways, the reason I probably like this song so much is the hard blues rock feel that it has with it (as well as its epic sounding qualities, as I mentioned above). The music states it's emotion and purpose well, and in my humble opinion, is probably one of the deeper and more gripping Zeppelin songs. (Of course, most Zep songs are about how great women and Hobbits are, in all fairness.) For me at least, it is a great pleasure to listen too.

EDIT: Just in case you wanted to listen to the song itself... The music is set to pictures of the devastation that Katrina left behind, and I think the combination is very moving. This song really took a whole new meaning two years ago.

Mandatory Cell Phones on Campus? Hmm...

Heres an interesting article that I found while I was browsing Drudge Report -- apparently, one university (Montclair State) is making it mandatory that you must buy their cell phone when you enter their college. This 'school phone', which is Sprint operated, costs $420 a year and is required for all students on the campus to have. You cannot talk long to your friends or family on the device (it only comes with 50 talking minutes a month), although it comes with unlimited text messaging, along with "unlimited campus-based data usage, and student activated emergency GPS tracking".

This is an interesting idea, to say the least. To be positive, I can see where it would be useful. One of the students mentioned in the article state that you can check your email on the thing; another student says that he feels comfortable with it. Heck, you can even call home sometimes to ask your parents for more money, as the article jokingly states.

Anyway, heres what the cell looks like:

It's sounds like a cool idea.

Except for the fact that it costs FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY BUCKS.

420 * 4 = another $1680 that you have to pay Sprint (according to the article, the university gets no take in this) just to go to school. A fee that goes right to a corporation! Great!

If this wasn't mandatory, it would be a great idea. The phone itself (and all it's school specific features) would be a good deal to those students that don't already have their own cell. If the phone was free to students (like it is over at Farleigh Dickinson University) it would be a good deal. For those that already have a chosen Razr by their side, this is not a good deal.

The phone also has GPS (although it's student activated) which can be used for emergencies. Again, a nice feature, as long as they don't make it mandatory to have the GPS tracking always on. Then we start having some major privacy issues (I don't want the school to know my whereabouts all the time!)

If Iowa State starts a program like this, I wouldn't like it at all. (But they are not, so no big worry right now). Colleges should try to keep the cost down for their students (lower costs mean more paying kids, you know), and adding fees going to a third party doesn't help out that much. But I guess it's up to the students going to the school to decide if they like this plan or not.

Assignment 2 (Consolidated)

--Everything was pretty broken up when I posted before, so I decided to put everything in one easy post, to make it easier if you haven't graded it yet.--

The Union Drive Bridge

We didn't go too far for this assignment -- in fact, we choose the same bridge that we used for the mini-assignment in class! However, we chose it again for a good reason. It is an interesting piece of architecture that doesn't get noticed in light of the grandiose pillared buildings (and the Campanile), but it's still pretty to look at, anyway.

Overview in Black and White

I'll start this one off with an overview pic. This is a nice picture that shows the overall architecture of the bridge along with a bit of the background. In fact, this picture feels a bit old-school, with the antique looking lamps and the black and white look and all. If there were people in this picture, they would probably be dressed up in dresses and suits and school uniforms. The photo is framed well with the lampposts acting like walls, and the bridge itself looks classy and dignified to the observer. Maybe this could be a photo that would be on a pamphlet advertising the school?


Look at Me!


This picture was taken right underneath the bridge, and it shows an imposing close up view of one of the lampposts. Not a view that you see that often (since everybody passes over the bridge not underneath it), it has a dignified and classy look to it due to the angle. You look up onto the lamppost and immediately get a feeling that it's something special, which is interesting because the post is just one of several that dot the bridge. In absence of the others, however, it takes it's own importance. (Maybe it is important, with the monster death laser beam coming out of the light, due to the glare on the camera.) That said, there isn't anything really framing the camera, but your eyes start low and get drawn up to this lamppost, and you feel imposed due to your low vantage post. The picture also shows some close up detail of the rail and that post as well.

The Grate


This is a close up shot of the rail that boarders the bridge, as well as some of the foliage that appears on the side of it. I especially like the curvy metalwork on the top part of the rail, which contrasts with the jail bars that constitute the bottom part of the picture. These bars are meant to hold you in, and it feels that way in the picture -- you can't get to that plant easily, in any case. My eyes are drawn to the waves first, and then they drift down into the green. There isn't much bordering the picture either, but the bars indicate a boundary of some kind for your eyes.

Overview and Recap


The final picture is another bit of an overview -- again, it shows the overall footprint and architecture of the bridge, as well as the creek and the green on both sides of the span. I like this picture especially due to the rain -- in a strange way, the bridge almost looks like it is bleeding. Your eyes are first drawn between the two posts of the bridge, as you admire the leaves and branches of the surrounding foiliage. Then you notice the creek, with the waves and lines on both sides of the bridge indicating how quick the water is moving. In real life, it was fast when I took the picture, but here it seems quite a bit more tranquil. Finally, you get drawn under and through the dark expanse of the arch into the forest and creek beyond. Or maybe you noticed the white waters first and came the other way. Anyway, this picture is visually pleasing and tranquil, and it shows a side to something that you probably scramble over more than appreciate. It's a cool little bridge. Check it out sometime.