Imma do the things that I wanna do

I look back at my use of the internet since I was a wee lil' 8 year old, and realized that my main purpose of using the internet was for social purposes. Remember the days when people still used and paid for America Online? I do. I especially remember not even being able to instant message people, because my dad unfortunately signed me up for "Kids Only" settings. So I had to resort talking to my friends through e-mail and chat-rooms. Ah...memories.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that what seemed like a useless form of entertainment at the time, now serves as a permanent form in memory. Why? Because my use of the internet and the social tools out there have made major and not so major impacts on my life. I can still remember some conversations that took place 5 years ago through IM. Some of these conversations back in the day would have to take place face to face, but I resorted to having these conversations online. I can still remember unnecessary "drama" that took place between my friends that came up in the first place because of MySpace.

My generation pretty much grew up online. We most definitely part of the "Content Nation". It's fun to think of what we were able to experience as a result of social media, but at the same time it's still a whole new frontier to take on as there are no mistakes from previous generations to learn from. The Star Wars Kid we talked about in class is a perfect example. Another incident is about this one teenage girl a couple of years who committed suicide over a cruel prank played on her on Myspace. It's really no question that social media has brought both positive and negative consequences into our lives.

One good thing about YouTube? Music videos. Like this one from Weezer...

Group Videos

So I'm really upset that I wasn't able to go to Friday's class and see everyone's videos! I was really looking forward to seeing what all the other groups were doing and how their hard work paid off. I know me and my group worked hard on our video, "Beauty". I'm really proud of my group and our video, and I wish I got to see everyone's reactions and their feedback!

Xtra Cool Interview

Hey y'all. I really dig this website where it lets you make movies for free (Mostly). Check out my group's video:

This is adorable.

So, I never like most people haven't seen or heard of this Youtube video until tonight's episode of The Office. (Pam&Jim married! Yay!) So I had to look up this video, and I can't enough of it. I think it's hilarious. I don't see myself doing this at my wedding, but never say never.

Group progress

So far me and group, Amelia and Kai, are making pretty good progress on our digital story. We have decided together on a question, "What is beauty?". We feel that everyone has a different definition of beauty and we want to illustrate it. We keep changing the exact storyline, but we have some definite ideas in place. Namely, we want to compare models and celebrities to everyday people. By doing this, we want to put down the general defintion of "beauty", and show that everyone makes up the meaning for themselves. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder"...kind of what we're aiming for. I was able to meet with Amelia today, and we're hoping this weekend to all get together and film footage for the video this weekend!

My blog critique

As for my use of media, I could probably take more advantage of what's out there. My blog could stand to use some more images here and there instead of blocks of words and paragraphs. I know yesterday I posted a link to a video from Dirty Dancing, but I'm not sure exactly how to embed a video.

Again, when I look at my blog, it's mostly just a vast amount of text with no visual or appealing images which I could definitely use more of.

Right now I'm using a selected template design from the site, but I eventually want to figure out how to put the site into my own design or find sime outside HTML to use. Right now, the text and the colors work, but I still want to find something more creative and exciting. I would say my blog is pretty conventional. I kind of landed upon the title "rants and ramblings", but I'm considering changing it. Also, I need an About section!

Select your dream kitchen...

I have a confession to make. One of my favorite things to do when I was younger was to peer through IKEA and JCPenny catalogs and pick dream furniture for my dream home. I revisted this interest as I came across a 2006 nominee for Visual Design. IKEA lets you browse and circle through "dream kitchens". I have to say I became entranced and played around with this site for a good ten minutes. Check it out.