Journey

Ok I guess for this blog post I’m just going to say how excited/intimidated I am for this portion of the class. I’m really excited because McGonical’s book is just making so much sense to me which ill get more into in my next blog post. But one of her theories that has been most interesting to me in these early days of game play is enjoying failure. The reason this class intimidates me is probably because I’m really terrible at modern video games. If there’s more than one joystick on the controller chances are my brain and hands will be in a knot in less than a half hour. But yesterday I had the opportunity to play Journey with Zach and Kevin, and I understood enjoying failure. This game was amazing and beautiful on so many levels, but with my lack of experience playing video games I was so lost. I spent a lot of time running around in circles and unintentionally annoying anyone trying to help me with my terrible motor skills. It should have been frustrating to me, but when I finally got the hand of something it was that much more rewarding. Even Zack and Kevin would get extra stoked watching me finally succeed or figure something out that they knew all along. I also had some pretty epic fails that they hadn’t seen anyone do before which also made me feel triumphant. I now understand that this class isn’t about being the best, but rather enjoying the journey. 

Wonder Woman

            Hello again! I had the idea to talk about women and graphic novels and comics for my first blog post, but I couldn’t really think of anything to say until today. In class when Shannon was giving her presentation I caught a quote I cant remember who said it (accidentally wrote my notes on a paper I turned in -_-'), but it was referring to Wonder Woman and how comics portray women as “exactly what they shouldn’t want to be” and that they are “just sex objects for men to masturbate to.” This was very insulting to me because I would love nothing more than to put on a spandex suit, look hot, feel empowered and kick some ass! I tried to calm myself down for a minute and step into this mans shoes to understand why someone would say this other than ignorance. Even now comic books are looked at as more of a male thing. Maybe this guy wasn’t thinking that maybe somewhere a woman was identifying with the hero. I like to think these stories are written for women with the intention of making them feel welcome to the hobby and the skimpy clothes are so men will still read even though they are not identifying with the character. I’m hoping that in the future more comics about women pop up and maybe even some have female writers equal male writers. GIRL POWER!

Also if anyone is looking for comics about badass chicks, I just got the adventures of Fiona and Cake. Seriously guys Fiona is the shit I would definitely give it a read! (lemme know if you find any good ones too!)

Happy remainder of Wednesday!

The Rhythm of Anarchy

Hey guys! Just got done reading V for Vendetta and I really liked it. I haven’t seen the movie in a really long time, but all I can really remember was being really confused most of the time. For this reason I liked the novel better, I also liked how they really got more in depth with the characters it made me feel more connected to the story and feel the mood better than I did watching the movie.

Other than just enjoying it more than the movie, it did a great job just as a graphic novel. I noticed panels were generally constrained and organized like in Maus, but panels with V were more rhythmic. First of all they give V a few pages where he just takes up the whole page and his character seems to flow from panel to panel like on page 183 we start out far and are to the left of him but then it zooms in on him in a counter clockwise motion until we have a full face. His panels also seem musical because of the way his speech bubble are more squiggle and loose. It suggests a sing-songy, whimsical way of speaking. It also helps to suggest this because he sings and dances a lot and has his piano and jukebox. There was a lot of sound in the book in general. I really heard the broadcasts and the people talking over it and it further drew me into the time and place.

Overall great reading experience I hope everyone enjoyed this weeks read. It really didn’t feel like an assignment. =]

Maus

Sup everyone! I don't know about all of you, but I really had a rough time reading Maus, and not because of the heart wrenching story. What really bothered me about this novel was… I guess I would say the quality, or maybe just the fact that it wasn’t Blankets. :P  But seriously, some of the things in Blankets that I really loved and that really inspired me just were not present in Maus. For example Blankets had some great panels that made you really connect to the story and hear, feel, see, smell, taste, etc. Like on page 156-157 when they’re watching the news and the phone rings, the ring letters show up slowly over top of the news until you can’t see it anymore. I hear the ringing on top of the TV noises and I can also tell where Craig’s attention is. It also did a great job of moving my eye and my thoughts with the panels. This was a main annoyance in reading Maus for me. Not only was I often confused, but it was done in Blankets so I felt like I was on the journey with him. I did consider that maybe this was done on purpose. Perhaps Spiegelman did not want us to feel what his father felt, but maybe more the vibe he got from his father about it. Maybe the way his father told the story was disconnected and the more important theme of this story for Spiegelman was for the reader to understand his father. I am also open to the fact that I may have just not understood the story and that’s just fine too hahah!

Thoughts?

Blankets

 Hey guys! For my response to Blankets, I wanted to ask a fat question. I’m not a very religious person, but I’m also not opposed to it either. I understand having a relationship with God or believing in a higher power. To me it makes you who you are and gives you purpose, or direction, or meaning, which is amazing. Maybe some day I’ll find something to feel so strongly about. Anyway, some things about his religion and the things he experienced made me feel uncomfortable. I really didn’t like the idea that when we die and go to heaven (a place that’s supposed to be perfect) we lose our relationships. I know when I die I’ll just be so excited to see my family, but if we lose our relationships that will mean nothing. I might feel this way because I don’t have a great devotion to a God, but I can’t help thinking about my Gram. She attends church every Sunday, prays, and has an amazing relationship with God, my uncle died when he was only 22 and of course it devastated my Grandparents. I would just feel so terrible if my they died and were so excited to finally see their son, and it just doesn’t matter.   I just wanted to hear some other opinions about this or another religious issue in the text. =D

Graphics and Gaming Intro

Coming into this class I was really familiar with manga, and it inspired my dream to become a graphic novelist when I grow up. My experience reading McCloud was very eye opening and it’s allowing me to look at comics and mangas differently. For example when we were looking at the panels from the Romeo and Juliette manga I just realized how much work was put into those pages. Reading manga in high school was just a good story with cool artwork, but now I can see how these stories made me feel connected and engaged.

Also after reading “ The Arrival” I became more aware of how to read images. I’ve had a lot of experience with novels with just words, but never read one with just pictures. Now that I’ve experienced both I have more of an understanding of how to put them together. When we looked at the panels of the woman chopping in the kitchen I realized you truly hear what’s going on and smell the food in the kitchen. I think it’s amazing how pictures with very little detail, sometimes with no color, and just a few words can create such a vivid reading experience. Allowing the reader to fill things in for themselves and letting them feel their own feelings while only gently being nudged by the writer makes it feel like you’re really going on the journey the author creates for us.