A Response to Twitter

This is a short response to Twitter. It's cool for cool people, but not for me. YET.


Like Tumblr, I used to blindly hate Twitter as well, and for the same reason, it looked stupid, hard to understand quickly, and it seemed only good for popular people or celebrities of some type. However, Twitter was even farther out in left field for me than Tumblr. If I did not sign up for my Intro to Computer Mediated Communications class, I most definitely would not have taken any interest in Twitter unless I got famous in some way. I was always under the impression that it was just a popular person thing.


After a couple months of using Twitter, I began to see the relevance of it. It definitely is not just for important people and others of the like. It's also a great way to communicate with your friends. Same as Facebook. You can even connect the two together, so when you make tweets, they will show up as posts on Facebook, killing two birds with one stone, even though there's only one bird here. (Hahahaha, get it, because Twitter has a bird logo? Greatest pun ever.)


Anyway, Twitter ended up not being a complete waist of time. I also follow a couple of people that inspire me to do greater things, such as the voice actor Steve Blum or animator Max Gilardi or even singer, song writer Al Yankovic. Twitter is a great social tool.

A Response to Skype

This is a response to the computer program Skype. I take it for granted so much.


The program Skype, for those that don't know, is a program that allows you to chat with your friends or acquaintances you know. Way back in the day, I got a Skype account, but never had anyone to chat with, and didn't think much of it. Later, when I gained more friends, it became more relevant. I started to type to them all the time when out of school. Then, I learned that it also has a voice and video chat option. I was completely blown away at the time. It was a genius invention that I was glad I had on my computer. In college, it lost it's relevance, because all of my friends were close by, so I didn't really have a use for it anymore. The account sat unused for a while. Then, when I started to play online games and gain more friends through that, I found that they also had Skype accounts. Eventually, the use of Skype became almost completely necessary for us as a group to play games such as League of Legends. We all talked, strategized, and attacked as a team all with the help of this program. Just recently, I took a step back and thought about all the stuff I take for granted. Most of the things happened to be on my computer and my computer in general, but the biggest chunk I thought about the most was Skype. I knew people all over the states, even in Australia and Sweden, all because of games, and Skype made it possible to become real friends with these people. I've had many fun times with these people all because of Skype closing that gap between us. I love Skype. I wonder if they have a donate button on their site... They at least deserve some money for what they've done.

A Response to Tumblr

This is a response to the website Tumblr. Blind hate turned into love over time.


When I first heard about Tumblr, I thought it was just another blog site and there was nothing to get excited about. One day, I decided to give it a legitimate look, but I ended up leaving it because I was too lazy to put time into learning how to use it. I let it it be for a long time. Then, this semester, I gave it another look, but this time, it all made sense to me. Besides the crazy amount of it that's just reblogging, a way of sharing other people's blog posts, I enjoyed using it. I started to make my own, dedicating it to posting all of my voice acting stuff. Demos that I do, random comic voice overs and so on, all of that goes there. Then, when I wanted to dub something that is semi popular, a tumblr posted comic called Woonastuck, I started taking the necessary steps to do so: looking for another voice actor to help me, telling the author about the plan, etc. After contacting the author and after she made a post about my looking for another voice actor, I was bombarded my some of her followers asking to audition. I was already gaining followers. I didn't think gaining followers would fee that good. Seeing comments pop up, having some of my stuff reblogged, it was all a collective feeling of bliss and happiness. Soon, I will choose my other actor, or actress I should say, and we will start recording the comic. Once it's out and I notify the necessary people, I'm sure I will gain a lot more followers. To sum this up, Tumblr is a great place to put your stuff, and if others like it, you can get noticed pretty quickly.

A Response to League of Legends

This is a response to the game League of Legends. LoL is best, huehuehue!


League of Legends is a MOBA game, meaning multiplayer online battle arena. There are 3 game types, Summoner's Rift, Twisted Treeline, or Dominion. In the most common type, Summoner's Rift, two teams of 5 champions fight each other in order to eventually destroy the enemy's nexus, the base at the opposite end of the map. Over the course of the game, you battle in lanes filled with "creeps" or little minions that come from your nexus. You kill these minions for gold to spend on items to make yourself stronger, and once you are stronger and feel up to the task, you can start to poke and jab or even full on fight your enemy on the other side of the lane. But you have to be careful for other champions on the opposite team roaming around in the jungle and the river. In those respective areas, you cannot see them until they come out from it, and when they do, they are probably trying to team up and get the jump on you to kill you. This surprise attack is called a gank. So this goes on for about 30 minutes or so, and then things start to get interesting. Team fights become more frequent, 5 on 5 battles all over the area of the map, and the gold from the kills starts to rack up. Sometimes the fights are really intense and drawn out, but whenever I play, it always seem to end up with one team completely stomping the other team. Meaning, one team "feeds" the other team kills, and the kills give you a lot of gold.


This game is a great game for one good reason: even if I'm playing and my team gets stomped, if I'm playing with the friends I usually do, it's fun anyway. This is definitely a game that is 100 times better when playing with friends. So get a friend or 4 and try it out sometime! Just watch out for trolls and Brazilians. (I'm being serious. Brazilians are douche bags in online games, hence the huehuehue. It's a laugh. Try saying HUEHUEHUE as loud and obnoxiously as you can. So annoying.)

A Response to Battlefield 3

This is a response to the game Battlefield 3. Shoot 'em up.


Oh Battlefield 3, where do I begin with you? Lets start with the single player campaign. Not really much of a story. It's a pretty predictable ending too, also filled with quicktime events. Not that quicktime events are always bad, but in this game, they are indeed bad. Anyway, you are any old military man, and wouldn't you know it, you've been blamed for treason. You recall the events that got you to the dark, dank, interview room in the for of levels in the campaign, each very different from the next, besides the large chunks of run and gun, which are actually still enjoyable. Anyway, you finally recall everything there is to recall, you realize the main bad guy is in town and about to nuke New York, so your buddy and you escape to the subway to kick his ass once and for all. Which, after a subway car battle, some sewer shooting, and a car chase that ends in you beating the bad guys head in with a brick, you definitely kick his ass. However, your entire squad is deal, but you've saved a million lives. Good job!


Now for the real meat of this game, the multiplayer. The multiplayer has almost 100 different weapons, each with attachments to put on them to fit your game play style and how you want to shoot. Then there are the classes, so you can choose exactly what you want to be doing in the game, whether that is healing your teammates and bringing them back from the dead, or showing the enemy's presence on the radar with your MAV. There are so many different ways to combat your enemies and fight back, however, the game is not perfect. To be fair, the only things making it a slightly annoying game to play are the instances where your team is trapped in the spawn area or when the enemy is exploiting the glitched weapons. Despite all the bad that can arise from a game to make you rage quit, my roommate Adam and I still come back to it almost every day. This game is good, and a great change from all the Call of Duty, even though it's essentially the same thing, just more played out and fine tuned.

A Response to Voice Acting

This is a response to voice acting in general. My favorite pastime.


Voice acting, if you didn't know, is one of my favorite hobbies and something I would love to grow into a profession. I cannot describe how fun it is to step out of yourself for a while and act the personality of a character. It is more difficult than you might think, mostly because of the developers of the project you might be voicing. You might be one of the best actors in the world, your acted emotions may be pure, and you might even be able to manipulate your voice to sound like how you please. However, if the developer does not think you "Fit the character", then you don't have a chance. Sometimes even the best does not fit. Like for example, if Steve Blum tried to audition for the little awkward teenager with his usual voice, chances are, even his fame would not get him that part, unless the developer is a HUGE fan, in which case, I guess I would be out of luck for that part.


One thing that people can get mixed up with voice acting, or rather assume of it, is that it's all silly voices and spastic emotions, being silly for every line. It's not. You have to actually act to get a part. You can't walk into an audition, do a goofy voice and dance around and expect to get the part. If that's all you're going to do, go make internet parodies.


However, that is actually a good place to start, on the internet. Before you can do anything serious, you have to have a couple demonstrations of your voice in other works if you hope to get as far as say, working for Funimation. If you don't have a good demo reel of your work, you might as well give up.

A Response to "Digital Nation"

This is a response to a video called "Digital Nation" It's very digital.


Yet another video I've seen a couple of times. Although I do like the guy narrating the video, so it's always pleasant enough to watch. This is basically the same as the other video, it even comments on it and brings in clips of it from time to time, further proving his point of the digital age is growing larger and larger with every passing year, becoming a huge, unified digital nation that will soon envelope the entire world.

The narrator repeatedly switches between the good and the bad of the coming digital nation, talking about how our kids will be changed and how that could be good or bad depending on how we as future parents handle them, how our relationships with each other will change, seeing as how a lot of us communicate mostly through electronic means, and so on.

All this rolls down to is we need to be careful about the next coming generation. We need to raise them to appreciate the technology but also teach them how to live without it. We also need to keep our distance from technology from time to time, even now. There are days where I will realize at midnight that I have been on the computer for the entirety of the day and have not left my apartment. Those days make me feel bad, physically and mentally. Even if it's doing homework or something, I do need fresh air and a walk or something and I know it. I also enjoy it as well. So in the next decade, just be careful with technology and don't let it completely envelope your life.

A Response to "Facebook and Philosophy"

This is a response to the article "Facebook and Philosophy" I'm a Disney Princess


Right off the bat, the writer of this article tell you that "The things that happen on Facebook are pretty meaningless". I was not shocked to hear this, but even so, it hit me hard. It made me think about all the pointless things I do on Facebook, even though I didn't actually think of them as pointless. Even now, I think everything had a meaning. As I read further, I found his comment was actually going somewhere. Everything on Facebook does have a meaning. It's different to all of us. If you saw me on Facebook take a "Which Disney Princess Are You?" quiz, what would you think? Maybe you'd think I'm doing it sarcastically and laugh it off after a couple comments from my friends on the subject. However, my thoughts on why I did it can be different from what you think. If I were to take that quiz, I would do it seriously. I would seriously think, "If I was a girl and had the opportunity to be dubbed a princess, judging from my personality, who would I be most like?" Most of those quizzes are basically simplified personality quizzes anyway, so taking them is interesting. I've actually made my own personality quiz for a project. It's a lot more complicated than a Disney Princess quiz, but I still take the same joy of taking both the quizzes none the less.

A Response to "How Far We've Come"

This is a response to the song "How Far We've Come" by Matchbox Twenty. This song... *tears*

To be fair, I'm biased when it comes to Matchbox Twenty. I grew up with them, as well as other amazing bands that sound the same. But I do not care. These sorts of songs are inspirational to me. But enough fanboying, let's get down to the song.

Every time this song plays, I close my eyes, even for just a couple seconds, and play a story out in my head, the same one every time. I see myself walking around aimlessly in a deserted town, looking for hope. And I find it. People emerge from every corner of every building, we all gather in the middle of a four way street. Then, an unnamed entity comes out of the sky as it turns to a dark crimson. We all cower a bit, but then, we all join together and stare the sky down, as if we know the future and that we are all still here. The confidence in ourselves as a species rises, and of course, that is enough to stop any evil being in the sky. It disperses, the blue in the sky returns, and we all cheer. After, there is a montage of building anew. We start over. The human race evolves even more, we discover new planets, and so on. A very positive message from the imagination center of my brain.

However, when I come back to reality, everything slows down, I mellow out in my chair, and contemplate what I'm doing with my life until I'm satisfied. If I'm not and I'm not doing anything important, I get up and do something about it, like any other self-respecting human being. Matchbox Twenty reminds me that even if we can see the end, it's good to take the time to look back at our accomplishments as well as our failures, learn from them, and continue on, and maybe better ourselves to the point we all don't die out. I refuse to have a miserable, meaningless existence.

A response to "Growing Up Online"

This is a response to a video called "Growing Up Online" Man, I hate some of these kids. Parents, you're no better.

The video we watched in class a while back titled “Growing up Online”, which I've seen maybe 10 times in my life now, has got to be the most frustrating thing to watch. The kids and parents interviewed were the worst possible people to talk to. Growing up online is not actually as bad as they put it out to be. Take my brother for example. He's on his iPad all the time, chatting with his friends, video calling, just having fun all the time. Though when he first got it, it would take some effort to pull him away. Now, he's a more active part of the family. Some say all the technology and such can drag your kids away from your family, but on the contrary, it brought my brother and my parents closer together. They hang out all the time on their phones and such while watching their favorite sitcoms almost every night. He's really grown.

As for the video, there was a certain high school senior that I wanted to teach a lesson. He does not read, claims he doesn't need to read real books anymore, and he uses sparknotes for all of his english reading assignments. He has to have the shortest attention span ever. Either that or he is just lazy as hell or hasn't even tried to read a book since middle school. These are the times when I do hate technology. It will create these kids who do not respect culture and just want to be online all the time and breeze through life. I wish I knew of a way to reverse this or at least teach kids like him they should appreciate certain things. That and to suck it up. It's a book. Come on.

A response to "Having Your Say"

This is a reading response to a section of an article called "Having Your Say" Yes, I will. Thank you!

This article focused on the history of free speech and writing to the public with expectations of having an audience and how that has evolved into our modern era. The article spoke of a place in London called Speakers' Corner where, in 1872, their government set the spot aside specifically for public speaking to take place. In that spot, Karl Marx, George Orwell, William Morris, and many other recognizable people spoke out loud to the public, spreading their visions and ideals to the masses from a soapbox.

Now a days, anyone on the planet with an accessible connection to the internet can speak their minds. Blogs, video blogs, life journals, and so on are all for people to vent their ideas to, whether they be about society or just an artist wanting to share her works with the world and receive comments. When you think about it, there are so many people out there, we couldn't possibly see everyone's blogs. That's where the popularity contest comes in. If you have a job doing something people recognize or even if you are frequently doing something silly that people enjoy reading or watching, you will gain followers bit by bit. Once your audience is big enough, suddenly when you have an opinion, it matter. It spreads like wildfire over sites like Twitter and Facebook and all forum sites. If it's on a serious subject, you might even be contacted for an interview. With a little recognition and some likability, anything is possible on the internet.

A response to "Born Digital"

This is a reading response to an article titled "Born Digital" No, we aren't robots. Yet.

This article introduced an interesting new term to thing about: Digital Native. It refers to the generations that have and will start out in this new digital age and will never know a life without some form of digital technology. People like my brother for instance. On his tenth birthday, he got his first cell phone, and apparently, so did every other kid in his class at the time. This was strange not only because of his age, but also because I did not get one until about a month later, and at 15 years old. At the time I was pretty ticked, but looking at my brother now, it seems to strange to see him with his phone out or his iPad twenty four hours a day and seven days a week.

I can remember way back in elementary and middle school when all the technology I cared about was my Gameboy and my Nintendo 64. I didn't have to be around them all the time to have fun though, I did have friends to go out with and such. There was a time when my brother wanted to go out all the time with his friends. Now that he has his iPad, he hangs out with his friends online, whether it be on facebook, skype, or whatever. He is always talking and having fun with someone, not in person, but at least he is socializing. I do think we are a little too attached to things like our smart phones, computers, and all other fancy technology. Soon, no one will remember what life without this technology was like in the past. We will be forever immersed in the Digital Era.

A response to "New Media - A Critical Introduction"

This is a reading response to an article titled "New Media - A Critical Introduction".

This article had a lot of different points to talk about, but the one subject that interested me the most is the newness of social media. Whenever something new comes out, regardless of whether its a social game, a new way to share media, what have you, the article states that more often than not, they try to advertise their selves as the new and coming media that will change the field and be the next groundbreaking thing. Through my experience however, it's usually the same old thing with new aesthetics; shiny bows and ribbons hiding the fact it is practically the same as everything else that is already out in the field being successful.

At this point, I do not thing any new social sites like facebook or twitter will arise and change anything. We might have hit the peak in that respect. The one chunk of social media I'm not so sure about yet is social games. Things like Farmville and whatever else is out there on facebook and iPhones being so popular. At this point, I think Farmville has run it's course. The new thing is Castleville, or something else with a “ville” at the end. Either way, these social games all have their hook, and they tend to have the same hook that “The Sims” does. There are objects and places in the world to be upgraded to something better and new, and you're the only one who can do it. With the help of friends also playing in your world and helping you collect what's necessary, you build your world piece by piece. Eventually, when everyone has hit the max level, the game has no replay value and is abandoned. But at that point, developers such as Zinga have already come out with a new game of similar likeness and it's ready for everyone's time.

A response to "The Young & The Digital"

This is a reading response to an article titled "The Young & The Digital". Specifically language on the Internet. Oh JOY!

The topic of this article seemed interesting enough when I first read the title, but after I had begun to read, I felt I already knew where this was going. Sure enough, I became a bit bored of reading this article. I stopped reading seriously and skimmed after about half way through. Not that the author didn't do a good job, but I know this information already, except for a couple facts and tidbits.

Internet language is different everywhere you participate in the spectrum of the Internet. If you are typing an email to your peers, your language will be adjusted to be more professional, whereas playing an online game with friends, you will type quickly and comfortably, if you already are not using a microphone and skype.


Language and speaking on the Internet can be frustrating to read at times when you get to more public places like Youtube. The comments on videos sometimes make me want to find the person responsible and smack some sense into them. I'm joking, but I would still like to ask why they do what they do. However, I already know half the reason. Even with a username people can send messages to, a username is close enough to anonymity to feel like you can get away with saying whatever you want, when you want on the Internet. Therefore, whenever reading anything that isn't a personal email or a friend typing to me, I take every bit of type on the Internet with a grain of salt. Sometimes the whole shaker, but I get by.