What is interactive??

According to James only humans can be interactive with one another. He said that games are not interactive because the choices and paths are predetermined. So Brittany asked him why is there a class called Interactive Storytelling then? He said he couldn't speak for the class or the teacher because he wasn't in charge of it. So I said, if interactivity can only be between two humans why do we take Interactive Storytelling, because everyone in the class is making a game, which according to him is NOT interactive. He said that the class projects didn't need to have anything digital...so I said then WHY is it a mandatory class offered by the DIGITAL World's Institute, because that would imply to everyone that your work in these classes should be digital. He proceeded to say that just because you go to the University of Florida doesn't mean you only learn about Florida. To which I responded that if you attend the Fischer School of Accounting you learn about accounting or the business school you learn about business. I suggested DWI change the name of the class since it is currently impossible to be interactive with a computer...according to the program's Director.

House of Horror

Since I was one of the three AP's for the House of Horror I was required to attend both nights. Since I was in charge I'm sure I won't receive extra credit but I'll blog about the vent anyways! The first night was the movie portion of 2 night horror fest. We worked all day setting up the Digital Worlds hallway and staircase and finished just in time to get into costume for the first arrivals. At the beginning, the turnout looked grim...we had all of 6 people attending at 7:45. Finally a large group arrived and we ended up with about 15 people for the movie night. It went well, Xingy's Chinese friends were scared during the movie and she did a great job of scaring them more! She dressed up as Sadako (the little girl in Ringu) and walked next to the audience at a suspenseful part, her friends actually got up and moved seats to be in the middle of the auditorium! Then she crawled under the seats and grabbed her friend's ankle, scaring the crap out of that person!!

The second night went much better! The game night had a turn out of about 25 people. People played Left for Dead 2 and Dead Rising 2 on the huge Reve screens. Chris had a whole bunch of fun dressed up as a scary vampire downstairs, he jumped out and screamed at the unsuspecting gamers entering the Reve. Everyone had a good time playing the games and scaring the gamers.

Overall I think it was a success!

Run Lola Run

So, I FINALLY saw Run Lola Run. Yes I'm a little late but it took a while for it to arrive from Netflix. I have to say that I'm not a fan of it. I didn't understand why or how the two got to "redo" the day 3 times. It also didn't make sense to me that sometimes she remembered bits from the previous storyline but she didn't remember everything...for example she remembered how to unlock the safety of the gun and the guy's bike is stolen in story two but she never remembered that her father isn't her real dad or that he is cheating on her mom.

Also, what is the point of the side stories? To show that life can be different if there is a tiny difference in your day? I think they are just distracting. I wanted to know the significance of the side stories and hoped they would tie in to the main plot in some way. Also, the characters that had side stories were stupid characters! There should have been a side story on the bum who took the money or the woman cheating with the father...characters that I'm actually interested in.

Overall, I didn't think the movie successfully played with the concept of time. Yes, it showed three different sequences of time that somewhat correlated with each other but they didn't explain how or why we watched 3 versions of the same story....FAIL!

TIME

Today in class we discussed the concept of time and how people are fascinated by manipulating it. Zack Morris was hands down THE coolest Saved By The Bell student, not just because he was the heartthrob or main character but he could TIME OUT time! Hiiro in Heroes can travel through time, slow it down, freeze it, and speed it up. He encounters the age old issues with the philosophy of time travel such as; you can't change the past without altering the entire course of the future, and you can't really change the past only the now which creates an alternate future. Time travel is a theme in many movies: The Time Traveler's Wife, The Time Machine, Back To The Future, Terminator, The Butterfly Effect, Hot Tub Time Machine, Groundhog Day, and 13 Going on 30.

Everyone has had the feeling that if only I could go back and redo that situation, or pause time to study more for a test, or fast forward to next week. Unfortunately the present is the only time humans can alter, and by alter I mean react, live, and make choices that will change their future.

Something that has always bothered me about time is that people always say, if the universe ends time will still persist. I think time is similar to money in that it is a human invention. If no one is around to monitor and keep time it will not continue only the cycles of the universe. Granted, how long stars, galaxies, and the universe live will be determined by an indeterminate amount of time. But who cares "how long" it will take? People care about time, the stars, galaxies, and universe don't care about time. The objects in the universe experience cycles, but time is not a factor to them...time is only important to those who keep it, therefore, if there are no beings to track it then it ceases to exist.