Thursday, October 30, 2008

More thoughts on Project 4

As of this moment, I still like the idea of creating a collaborative narrative. I have seen narratives like these form on message boards online and create some wildly humorous outcomes. I like the idea of this, and being the moderator of it, I could set up a theme that it has to focus on. Perhaps something like fantastical mid-evil times, Halloween, Star Wars, etc...

At this very moment I am leaning towards a collaborative text that has a Star Wars theme. I don't particularly know why, but I think a creative and humorous outcome could be achieved. I would start out the project, and then with a number of friends we would take turns adding sentences/paragraphs/dialogue to the narrative. I already know I would speak with two of my roommates about this project, and also my best friend. They all enjoy Star Wars, and they all enjoy poking fun at the cheesy one liners and overall poor acting (especially in the prequel trilogy). I'm not sure what initial theme I would put on it, but it would probably be pretty outrageous. If I have the time, maybe I could put together a video with screen caps of luke/anakin and other characters with their respective lines in the narrative and sync it with some star wars music.

The working title : The Star Wars Project (lame I know)

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Response 6: A list

As i sit here thinking about a list all I that comes to mind is are things I like and dislike.

Things I like:

1. Good movies of Epic scale and imagination, like LOTR for instnace
2. Travelling
3. Good Food
4. Exercise- Though I don't do it enough atm
5. Hanging out with family and friends
6. Reading for pleasure

Things I don't like:

1. Assholes that think they are better than everyone else
2. People that are Two-faced-guess they're kind of assholes too
3. Forced Reading
4. Hypocrits
5. take your pick

I'm not entirely sure how this list will help me with project 4. An idea that comes to mind, is a small group of people form a list like the one above, and then write a story, one sentence/paragraph at a time that follows a character around for a day who has to deal with all of these "likes" and "dislikes", it could be amusing if some of the people like each others dislikes and vice verse.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Project 4 Thoughts

Project for is an interesting one to say the least, and I am most intrigued by the idea of a collaborative project between a group of people to tell a narrative. Dr. Baldwin mentioned writing the first paragraph and then having people add to it. Thinking along the same lines I thought of perhaps starting with a sentence, and have people add their own sentence continuing the story.

I like the idea of seeing where it starts, and watching this narrative take it's own journey from beginning to middle to end. Now the problem is how to accomplish this feat...

Project 3 Meta-Text

Part 1: Analysis of the Religious Text

First of all, the 23rd psalm is probably one of the most well known and prominent psalms in popular culture simply for the line : "As I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death.."

That was the reason why I wanted to see how the shannonizer manipulated this text. To see how God would change the psalm, and to see how the Seuss voice would change it...

In my supreme and unqualified opinion I think the shannonized versions of this religious text has caused the meaning (however one interprets it) of the original to be completely lost. The "God" Shannonized version maintains a certain religious tone, but it is completely nonsensical. At least to me. With regards to the Seuss version, it has to be one of the most rediculously weird pieces of text I have ever read. Not only does it make no sense whatsoever, it is more absurd that Dr. Seuss is in his own text. Maybe that is part of what the shannonizer does, it puts a very exaggerated voice over your text. No one can claim that Dr. Seuss was this absurd.

Part 2: Analysis of my own Travestized Text

I decided that I wanted to write something, anything. I was having one of my rare moments of creativity and felt the need to exercise it out. I don't claim that its good, and I don't know if I am actually going to finish it. I just wanted to get it out on paper. As I was writing I decided that it might be interesting to use it for part of my project 3. I played around with a variety of text editors, and decided to use the Travesty algorithm. I decided to use this because it was the one that left the most coherent text after altering. Many of the other text editors completely destroyed any story like qualities my text had and were simply gibberish.

The only word I can think of to describe the travesty version of my text is "trippy". It still retains much of the same story as I wrote, and yet it seems completely foreign as well. Like its in the same world, maybe in a different time dimension, or time warp. For example, it seems like some parts of the story are repeated, but each time it is a little bit of a different situation, or different details following the event. Either way it is definitely and interesting creation, that maintains some sense. It would be interesting if they could develop a version of this that left complete endings instead of arbitrarily cutting the text off after it has reached the predetermined character limit. This was probably my favorite of the three, because it felt more personal and gave the most interesting product in my opinion.

Part 3: Analysis of the English>Arabic>English Translation of the first few stanzas of the Raven

It's interesting to use the google translator because it gives you some insight into how foreign languages work. How in some alphabets and languages may not have an equivalent english form, so therefore google uses something in its place. Its also interesting because every now and then Google Translator gives you an anomaly, something that seems so bizarre you can't help but think that it is a mistake.

I decided to use the first few stanza's of the Raven because it is probably my all time favorite poem. The tone and the rythem of the poem are simply astounding.

I enjoyed how some of the phrases were changed. From "Darkness there, and nothing more" to "There are dark, no more, no less". It does alter the rythem of the poem, but at the same time it makes me chuckle. My favorite part of the translation, which is one of those bizarre parts from above is this part: from "rapping, rapping at my chamber door" to "gently rap, hip-hop music in my room door". It really illustrates the age of the language in the raven, as google translator thought that rapping referrred to hip-hop music. Its's these anomalies that make google translator an imperfect program (i.e. one you wouldn't trust to do translation home work with), but an interesting and amusing tool, that has created some very unqique versions of famous text.

Project 3

The first part of this post will be my series of algorithmic texts and their originals.

A Second Post concerning project 3 will follow and will be the metatext.


1. The first text, is a religious text that has been put through the god shannonizer. I have also decided (based on the reccomendation of one of my group partners) to put the religious text through another voice, in this case Dr. Seuss.

The Original:

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul:He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

The "God Version"

The Lord is my voice; Thou shalt have done so? bury therefore thy lips are like a thread of blood according to death, my brother. Yea, they were smitten, and wash thy staff, hearken to lie down before me and the LORD, that betwixt me and thy womb, and thy God of my bone and my daughter! And I will fear no evil: Alas, and mercy shall not want. Be fruitful, I my name of mine enemies; am I will dwell in vain; Thou preparest a pomegranate split open, I will dwell in vain; for His name sake. Yea, it was very good. He restoreth my voice; Thou annointest my life, and said: I will make thess swear by the days of my voice; Thy rod and I delivered thee out of Zion.

The "Dr. Seuss" Version

The Lord is fun to sing if you chew, though I do not like a mouse is my little bed. They come along humming, they comfort me.Thou preparest a shame! Say! Say! And cheese? Try them! Try them! What a mouse is my little car with paddles and mercy shall follow me to sing with heads in the bottle's on a mouse. Yea, though I will fear no good.. Say! No! I do tricks with oil; I do not like my head with heads in the paths of the presence of mine enemies;Thou annointest my little car with oil; My feet stick out of sour gooseberry jam! That's what that Zummers call it a puddle paddle battle in the moon, though I do not like my little car with heads in the Goo-Goose, though I walk through the bottle's on fifty hippo-heimers!


2. The text that follows is the opening of a short story I am writing. The story itself is not yet complete, but I thought it would be interesting to see what happened to it when it was altered by the travesty text on level 6 with an output of 2500 characters.

The Original

“It’s cold tonight, so I will try to make my long tale of sorrow as brief as possible. Come closer, friend. I wish to remain to remain in the shadows. Better to remain inconspicuous in these dark times.”
“The night my story begins was similar to this one; cold and damp, and an aching chill settled deep into my bones…”
A heavy gloom wormed its way in between the narrow lanes of the old Victorian neighborhood. The residents could feel it weighing on their hearts and minds. An intense and unexplained depression overcame them as they traveled through the wrought iron gate that dominated the entrance of the moderately sized neighborhood. It was a strange feeling to be feeling upbeat and happy only to have that positive energy zapped away as you crossed the border to go home.
It was around 10:30 in the evening, and I was walking back home from a local diner that I worked at about half a mile into town. It had been a good night at work, I was coming home with fifty bucks in my right front pocket, and girl’s phone number in my front left. You could say that there was a certain bounce in my step that night. Nothing could bring down my good mood, or so I thought.
I pulled my parka closer around me and picked up my pace. As I started to climb the last hill before my neighborhood I saw the top of the Iron Gate appear on the horizon. As I got to the top of the hill I noticed a thick fog that was weaving its way in and out of the dark iron columns. As I crossed my last thought was “how strange it was to see fog at the top of a hill…” I hadn’t gone three paces beyond the gate when my vision faded to black…


The Travesty Version

“It’s cold tonight, so I thought. I pulled my last thought iron columns. As I crossed the evening, and I was walking back home with fifty bucks in my front left. You could feel it weighing on the shadows. Better to go home. It was “how strange it was to see fog at the top of the dark times.” “The night. Nothing chill settled deep into my bones…” A heavy gloom wormed its way in between the hill before my neighborhood. The residents could bring down my good mood, or so I will try to make my long tale of sorrow as brief as possible. Come closer around me and picked up my pace. As I crossed my last hill I noticed a thick fog that was a strange it was around me and picked up my parka closer around 10:30 in these dark iron columns. As I got to this one; cold tonight, so I will try to make my long tale of sorrow as brief as possible. Come closer, friend. I wish to remain to remain inconspicuous in the evening, and an aching could feel it weighing on their hearts and minds. An intense and unexplained depression overcame them as they traveled through the wrought iron columns. As I got to this one; cold tonight, so I thought. I pulled my last thought was around 10:30 in the shadows. Better to go home. It was a certain bounce in my right front left. You could say that I worked at about half a mile into town. It had been a good mood, or so I thought. I pulled my last thought was to see fog at there was a strange it was a strange it was weaving its way in between the horizon. As I got to the top of a hill…” I hadn’t gone three paces beyond the entrance of the hill before my neighborhood. The residents could say that dominated the gate when my vision faded to climb the last hill before my neighborhood. It was weaving its way in between the horizon. As I started to climb the last hill I noticed a thick fog that was weaving its way in between the narrow lanes of the dark times.” “The night my step that was to see fog at the top of the dark times.” “The night. Nothing could feel it weighing on their hearts and minds. An intense and picked up my parka closer, friend. I wish to remain in the narrow lanes of the old Victorian neighborhood I saw the top of a hill…” I hadn’t gone three paces beyond the gate when my vision faded to black… “It’s cold and damp, and an aching could bring down my good mood, or so I will try to make my long tale of sorrow as brief as possible. Come closer, friend. I wish to remain inconspicuous in the shadows. Better to go home. It was to see fog at the top o


3. Finally I really liked a previous post in my blog of the first few stanzas of the Raven being translates. In this case I chose to do English>Arabic >English

The original:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-Only this, and nothing more."Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrowFrom my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-Nameless here for evermore.And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtainThrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-This it is, and nothing more."Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,That I scarce was sure I heard you"- here I opened wide the door;-Darkness there, and nothing more.


After the translations
Once at midnight dreary, while I pondered, and weak and weary, For more than strange and surprising volume of forgotten traditions, While the first header, some napping, suddenly there was eavesdropping, As some one gently rap, hip-hop music in my room door. " 'Tis some visitor," I'm stammering, "In my circle tapping on the door Only this, no more, no less. " Oh, I remember clearly that it was dark in December, Die each chapter of the shadow of indifference to the floor. I wanted very much after; - you might seek in vain to borrow My Books of the freeze between the grief of sadness for the loss of Lenore -- For the first of them rare and radiant angels named Lenore -- Did not name him here forever. Sadly, Hariri is uncertain each stolen from the purple curtain Filled me with excitement I did not fantastic terrors never felt before; So far, my heart is still beating, I stood repetition, " 'Tis some visiting invocation at the entrance door of my room Some visitors at the entrance to the late invoke the door of my room; -- This is nothing more and nothing less. " Is a spiritual grown stronger; then no longer hesitant, "Sir," Lee said, "or Madam, truly appeal to your forgiveness; But in fact, I nap, so gently you came knocking, This came faintly you tapping, tapping at the door of the room in my country, I am sure you heard the rare "- here I opened the door wide; -- There are dark, no more, no less.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

A Draft part of Project 3

Along with the previous algorithmic texts I am considering using a religous text edited by the God Shannonizer. Here's an example

The Original:

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:He leadeth me beside the still waters.He restoreth my soul:He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name' sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,I will fear no evil: For thou art with me;Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies;Thou annointest my head with oil; My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

The Shannonized Version

The Lord is my voice; Thou shalt have done so? bury therefore thy lips are like a thread of blood according to death, my brother. Yea, they were smitten, and wash thy staff, hearken to lie down before me and the LORD, that betwixt me and thy womb, and thy God of my bone and my daughter! And I will fear no evil: Alas, and mercy shall not want. Be fruitful, I my name of mine enemies; am I will dwell in vain; Thou preparest a pomegranate split open, I will dwell in vain; for His name sake. Yea, it was very good. He restoreth my voice; Thou annointest my life, and said: I will make thess swear by the days of my voice; Thy rod and I delivered thee out of Zion.

I am also working on my own piece of poetry that I will send through the algorithmic text editors to see what I can come up with.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

10/13 Google

Google has become so large and ingrained within our daily lives that people have created different ways of using it, manipulating it, or just plain having fun with it.

Google bombs was highly amusing to me as I remembered when the Bush>Catastrophic Failure bomb first came to light.

Googlism, was also very neat, however my name apparently isn't out there that much. Maybe later in life I can change that.

Google fights was another thing that I played around with. I decided to have Obama vs. Jesus. Jesus barely won with a score of 181,000,000 to 187,000,000. This was highly amusing to me, and really illustrates how popular this presidential election has become.

Another amusing google fight, was Harry Potter vs. Christianity. Again pop culture wins versus religion with Harry Potter almost doubling Christianity's score.

Google Whack is an certainly an interesting concept. I gave a couple tries, however was unsuccessful in producing a one entry display. I'll have to give more of a try this weekend.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

10/9 Poem Translations

I decided to use the first few stanza's of Poe's The Raven. I wanted to see if the pacing and the rhyme remained after going through translations.

Here's the Original

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door-
Only this, and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;- vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow- sorrow for the lost Lenore-
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore-
Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me- filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door-
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door;-
This it is, and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"- here I opened wide the door;-
Darkness there, and nothing more.

And after English>German>English

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many quaint and curious volume of forgotten Lore,
While I nodded, almost Napping, suddenly came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
" 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door --
Only this and nothing more. "

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each of dying ember wrought its mind on the ground.
I wish that the eagerly Morrow; - I had unsuccessfully tried to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow, sadness for the lost Lenore --
For the rare and radiant girl, the angel named Lenore --
Nameless here forever.

Silken and the sad uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Excited me-me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, even the beating of my heart, I stood repeat
" 'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door --
Some visitor entreating entrance late in my chamber door; --
This is it, and nothing more. "

At the moment my soul was stronger; reluctant then no more
'Sir,' I said, "or woman, really, I beg your forgiveness;
But the fact is, I was Napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so it was easy to intercept, the interception in my chamber door,
That I was nearly sure I heard you "- here I opened wide the door; --
Darkness there, and nothing more.

Seems pretty similar

This was English>Hindi>English

Once a midnight blue, while I, weak and tired pondered, but
Forget the many a strange and curious lore section, over
When I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
Some have a gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door as.
" 'Some visitors Tis," I, "tapping at the door of my room muttered --
Only this, and nothing else. "

Ah, I cleaned this bleak in December, remember
And each separate dying ember on the floor, his ghost wrought.
I eagerly wish of the morning; - I sought in vain to borrow was
My books from the stagnation of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore --
Which is rare for first-and radiant angels named Lenore --
Here forever anonymous.

Each and purple silk curtain sad uncertain rustling
Thrilled me - filled me with fear spectacular never felt before;
So now, my heart is still beating to, I repeat, stood
" 'Some visitors at the entrance door of my room entreating Tis --
Some visitors late on the entrance door of my room entreating; --
That's it, nothing else. "

At present, my soul, strong growth, so now no more hesitation,
"Sir," I said, "or Madam, I really implore your forgiveness;
But the fact I, and so gently you came rapping was napping, is
And you very faintly tapping, tapping at the door of my room, come
I that I "Would you believe that was rarely heard - here I opened the door wider; --
Darkness is there, and nothing else.

This is actually pretty different, and it loses some of its rhyme and meter.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Response 5

For response 5 I used a spoof news article that I wrote last year. I then used the shannonizer with god as an editor and came up with this.

Student’s attempted theft of Judah have no real harm was very good. “I always told her. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thus saith the situation under control. She seemed like a pomegranate split open, or something more sinister is believed it was a pomegranate split open, he said to have a friend of spices. The two were smitten down before me. “Luckily the next door neighbor saw what was very good. Bail is believed to my thigh. “She always told her behavior was very good. “I always told her behavior was very good. And the smiter and towards children of the 911 call reporting an attempted theft of the incident. Thou shalt not covet thy womb, and by the accused. Thou shalt not hold him guiltless. I thought that thou after my son of heaven and the LORD will not covet any time”, said when interviewed. Bail is thy feet, she wanted to my lord the congregation shall at this is set for $500,000. Maybe it was very good. Surely thou art my daughter! And the border of all kinds. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's. Two nations are ongoing, behold, and by unnamed bystander. “I never though she is that thou after 6:00 pm the name, while the king? And I will not take the next door neighbor saw what was very good. Whether the avenger of the earth, she is believed to remain anonymous said: Let my voice; for the fish, she just wanted to death. And I think she thought I know not commit adultery. -Reuters Morgantown City Police department had the Morgantown, she just wanted to my name of the accused was very good. Thou shalt not covet thy womb, while the daughters. But if the LORD, she wanted to cover up her behavior was very good.


I think it turned out pretty well. However, as with many of these algorithmic texts, they sometimes don't make a whole lot of sense. All in all, it turned out well and made a spoof news article a little bit more humorous. I played around with the god and the edgar allen poe as editor, butthe GOD version just seemed more funny.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Metatext and Project 2

Well, I ended up scrapping both of my original idea's for project 2. I decided, instead, to create a short movie with pictures and movie clips of my own (some old, some new), that documented a journey of one fictional evening to find something comedic.

In my minds eye this turned out really well. I had all of my own pictures and some videos that I thought were humorous interspersed. along with some text ushering the viewer from one location to another. It was coming together really well, but then I started to hit the dreaded technological snags.

These mainly had to do with sound. I had some areas of my clips where I wanted the sound from the video to be heard, where others I didn't want the sound from the video. This was a cause of endless frustration to me. I'm sure it's a simple fix in Windows Movie Maker, but I was unable to do it. The only options I saw either wiped out sound from the movie clips altogether, or not at all.

I was also concerned about length. Through putting it together it was reaching 4-5 minutes in length, and I was worried about file size, and whether it was actually going to be worth sitting through (somethings that may be amusing to me, may not be to others). So I cut it down, to a little less than three minutes. However, because of this it may be too short. I don't know, time will tell.

However, sound issues are there, in the last video clip my camera picked up people talking next to me which I would really prefer not to be there, as it isn't relevant, nor appropriate. Therefore, I am going to upload the current version of my project, but I also hope to get some technical help with Movie Maker, and I may upload an "extended edition" this afternoon after I get done with my class that will have sound issues fixed and won't worry about length.