Inspiration Round Robin 11-21-10(Edit)

Since I was given an extra week, due to Mrs. Lykins' illness, I was able to actually think of something over the weekend.

Over the Internet, I watched two of Tex Avery's "Of Tomorrow"cartoons.

Car of Tomorrow(edited[I watched the unedited version])

TV of Tomorrow

So, since then, I was able to make a "Video Game Console of Tomorrow". Video Game Consoles already use USB ports and are compatible with CD, DVD, and Blu-Ray. But what if we went out there and make a video game console that tries to capture that "Of Tomorrow" feeling?

Introducing the Robertronics MPC, or the MultiPurpose console.

The MultiPurpose Console has a CD/DVD/Gamecube/Wii/Blu-Ray slot, Wii Sensor Bar, four front USB ports for PS3 controllers/keyboard/mouse/etc., three top slots for the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis cartridges, an alarm clock, and a laserdisc player. Under the Alarm clock, there is an SD slot, UMD slot, Gameboy/Gameboy Advance slot, and Game Gear slot.

In the back, there are two speakers, Audio ports including one for a Microphone. There are four more USB ports, a Firewire 400 port, two Firewire 800 ports, an antenna screw-on, 9-pin AV plug, AC Adaptor port for the main console, and AC adaptor for the laserdisc player.

And to boot, the console would also have a 4 TB hard drive.

The launch price point would be...to be generous...$3,000 at its launch date.

My inspiration(s) 11-19-10

My main inspiration is video games. Video games are a part of my childhood and a part of my life in general. I like video games, because some of them are fun. One of my favorite video game companies is Capcom, creators of the Mega Man and Street Fighter series of video games. I especially like some of the character designs in some Japanese-made video games. In fact, in Mat Powers' class NEWM-S355, I've made a couple of flash games based on a character inspired mainly by video games.






This character's name is Violet. She carries some inspiration from Capcom's Bionic Commando games with the "Steam Arm" and from Mega Man a bit. The video game I have thought up around this character is mainly a 2D platformer.

I'm sorry if this blog is a bit last minute, but I didn't look at Oncourse today until now. Apologies for being late.

Response to 11-15-10 class

Today, we discussed our identity projects. They ranged from something simple as a speed drawing to a customized Rubik's Cube. The one to which I responded the most was John Hester's identity project, because it's linked to video games, which I like very much. I disagree with his preference for playing as the bad guy in certain sandbox video games, because I don't like playing as criminal scumbags. Except for maybe Wario.

We also discussed anonymity in the internet, altruism, and how text can actually be scary. Some of the students said that imagination makes text scary, but I'm a follower of the mantra "A picture is worth a thousand words", which is why I'd connect most with Kathryn Thacker, because she's also an artist.

At the end of the lecture, we were assigned an Inspiration Round Robin, where we have to make something out of someone else's source of inspiration, and then inspire someone else to make something. Hopefully, I can do it right.

Who do I think I am? 11-13-10

For my "Identity" project, I made a cardboard picture frame with a picture inside it. On the piece of paper, I used posterboard to create four circles. I used those circles to make a "color wheel", put only showing the three primary colors: Red, Blue, and Yellow. Under Red, I have "Artistic", because I feel most passionate with drawing or sketching something. Under Yellow, I have "Intelligent", because I feel that I wouldn't be in IUPUI now if I weren't. Under Blue, I have "Autistic", but in order to tell you the significance of the metaphor I chose, I'll have to show you what the picture frame looks like in person, since I don't have a digital camera, and my cell phone's camera photos get heavily pixelated when magnified. Let's just say that it involves being an "octopus in the forest".

Providing that I remember to bring the frame to class, I will show you the project on Monday.

Response to 11-8-10 Class

Today we had another field trip, this time to Herron. We visited the "Notes to Nonself" installation. There was a roofless wooden shelter into which we could go. Luckily, it was sturdy enough for my weight. I was worried that it would collapse. We saw the forest motif and then noticed a papier-mache octopus in the middle of the installation. We later found out that the installation was about "identity".

The skulls prevalent in the installation symbolized death, and in the case of identity, it could mean death of the self, since "nonself" could mean "being part of the collective" or "assimilation". The octopus could symbolize the inability to blend in with the crowd. It could also symbolize the individual.

I read the pamphlet and it mentioned that this was inspired by Buddhist philosophy. I guess that would explain the "non-self", but after looking up "Buddhism" and "Non-self", I don't think I quite understood the concept as well as I thought I did.

We also discussed "final project" ideas, though we discovered that it wasn't a conventional "final project", since it has the same possible points as a regular blog. I had two ideas: either three ways to help debit/credit card users and/or three inventions to help monitor health. Beth then announced the assignment for this week; it involved identity and who we thought we were. Hopefully, I do a good job on this.

Overall, it was an interesting exhibit and an interesting class.

Bliss 11-7-10

Saturday November 6th 2010
from 12:21am-3:30am

My three hour block involved me drawing in one of my sketchbooks. I drew four pages. Each page has at least one original character on it. I have drawn original "cartoon/anime" characters over the years. I decided to redraw a couple of them to see how they look with my current drawing skills. I have to say, I've improved a lot since about 7-8 years ago, since most of my old drawings are from that time period. I hope to get a job within New Media that involves drawing, so that kinda added to my practice.

I know that it's way too late to do a three hour block, but I'm kept busy most of the day by my parents, my sister, my pets, and my "addiction" to my computer(which needs a new laptop battery REALLY SOON). Sometimes, I do end up working on other assignments from other classes. Also, I have this habit of staying up on weekends and on break, sometimes to absurd hours, unless I'm going somewhere. I don't usually draw that much during school time, but now that I did this "assignment", I think I'll be more willing to at least put aside time to do so, or at least try.

I thought that having a "bliss time" is kinda relaxing to the mind and body, and there is little stress. Though I'll admit, I surf the web most of the time, so I guess that counts as my "bliss time" too. Surfing the web counts as "playing" in my book...but so would playing video games, but I didn't use three hours of that as my "class time", because video games aren't usually "productive".

I think we should all take SOME time to do what we want more often.

No, I'm not trying to cancel class more often. I meant, in general.

Reaction to 11-01-10 Class

For this blog, I had to answer the following questions about the "skip day" we had today.

What is your initial reaction to having a professor essentially assign a skip day?
+I was actually quite surprised that the professor actually assigned a "skip" day, because I hadn't expected to have a "skip" day today. I was also very happy that I got to go home early that day.

Is it really a skip day?
+I'm not sure if this counts as a "skip" day, per se. Sure, on one hand, we do get to have a break from having class in the classroom, but on the other hand, we still have to post a blog and we still have to come up with a final project idea. The other problem is that I'm not sure about whether the three hour block has to be constructive or just "fun". I understand that I could do WHATEVER, but now I want to reflect on whether I'm too hard on myself by asking all these questions about parameters of an assignment and what not.

Is this a good idea in your opinion? Do you feel disrupted? Were you planning to skip today anyway?
+This might be a good idea to take a break once in a while, though it was kinda unexpected as I stated, so it was a bit disruptive at first. I wasn't planning on skipping class, because I know that attendance is almost always mandatory unless there is inclement weather or school-mandated break.