Spreading the Knowledge Like It's Contagious!

I went to my cousin's house on Monday night to celebrate her birthday with her. I showed her all of the cool stuff that we have been learning in class like Twitter, Skype, and making movies with xtranormal. My cousin is a Twitter nut, so I didn't teach her anything she didn't already know. I had her download Skype and now she is cursing me because she is obsessed with it! In return, she showed me how to use zamzar to convert youtube files to mp3 files. The group presentation in class today was very similar to that concept of getting music without downloading it through a p2p sharing network. All you have to do is search a song that you like on youtube. For example, I used Paramore's cover of "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon.

1. Under Step 1: Click URL. Copy and paste the url into the box provided.
2. Under Step 2: Select what type of file you want to make the file into. For example, I made the song into an MP3 format since that is the universal music file.
3. Enter your email address: Zamzar will convert your youtube selection into an MP3 file and they will email you when it's available for you to download.

As you may have noticed, this site is capable of converting files of all sorts. It's pretty handy and my cousin said she's never had any problems with it. Since I like to embed videos, here is the Paramore cover that I mentioned earlier:

In-Class Assignment

In class, we learned how to make these little movies:

A Lazy Sunday Interlude

I usually don't like to read reviews. I would rather read, listen to, or watch something for myself if I want to know an opinion; friends are also reliable sources. When your homework assignment is to read a review, you just have to suck it up. I didn't care for the review by Jan Baettens although it was more appealing to the eye with its colored background. Call me what you will, but I can only read so much criticism on a Sunday. As I learned being a rugby fan, "Sunday is the Lord's day,"; He also can't play rugby because he wears illegal headgear.

I digress.

My favorite portion of David Blakesly's article is: "Remediation (pronounced REmediation) is the process whereby computer graphics, virtual reality, and the WWW define themselves by borrowing from and refashioning media such as painting, photography, television, and film. Remediation works both ways also; as digital media gain in popularity, for instance, television remediates the windowed world of computing."

On a non-academic level, myspace seems to be more like facebook and facebook is more like myspace. I think that someday they will merge into a MyBook of FaceSpace. Maybe not FaceSpace, that sounds like something that you are reminded of when people from other cultures get all up in your space.

More digressing. This time I slipped out of my academic voice. Mind the discourse!

I think it's good that television is mirroring the world of the internet and websites. Not everything is always user-friendly, so when things look familiar, people are more likely to be drawn to it. When I am explaining how to navigate a website to my sister (as I was this morning), I will often say "It looks like the place where you log in for your email." Through this common ground, we can function together as a team. If something were entirely foreign and alien, people like my sister would be in even bigger trouble. The sense of familiarity makes things less intimidating and they make my job as the family techo-ambassador a lot easier.

I feel like I should post a picture so I can practice what we learned in class on Wednesday!

Teddy Ruxpin, My Childhood Friend

I love Teddy Ruxpin. Do you?

My Visual Essay

Since Youtube was being a crabby jerk, so I had to upload it to facebook instead. Enjoy watching my Techno-Literacy Evolution! If you want to watch it in HD (Yes, please!), all you have to do is watch it directly from my facebook page by click on this fancy link. You do need to have a facebook account to view it, so it may prompt you to log in first. If you don't have a facebook account, you are stuck watching it in standard mode, which is a little blurry. Wah-wah.

Deleted Scene from my Visual Essay

I'm totally a youtube bandit now. Before I decided to do an iMovie, I was going to do my visual essay in a website using either MySpace or something similar. I took this video a few weekends ago and thought it was worth sharing with the class. Professor Rhodes was surprised that I still have these books. At times like these, I'm glad my mom never throws anything away.

Twitter > Blogging

I have been neglecting my blog. I'm a bad blog-mother. In my defense, I have been tweeting more often than I used to. I find that microblogging is much more effective than regular blogging. Plus, I can microblog from my phone or iPod, so it is more convenient. Blog, your days might be numbered. As I was tweeting about this, Gin suggested that I should post my last 10 tweets. I liked her idea, so here it is!

1. This is one of those moments. Those moments that make @katnotcat avoid eye contact with me. Hello, Monday! SSDD I see! Wonderful. 12:54 PM Feb 1st from txt

2. Learning how to use iMovie for my project. @LadyGreyGin and I are gonna join Steve and Josh by making movies too! Hooray for Macs! 9:19 PM Feb 3rd from web

3. Grey's Anatomy, you are my muse. 9:05 PM Feb 4th from web

4. Strawberry Fields Forever Bubbly In My Head If I Had Eyes. (The Beatles, Colbie Caillat, No Doubt, and Jack Johnson collide!) 10:32 AM Feb 5th from web

5. Pizza hut. Colton CA 9:13 PM Feb 6th from txt

6. Congrats to Bryan! 11:42 PM Feb 6th from web

7. I'm thinking about @MMCoursol today. Wishing you the best, Megan. Jaclyn and Kevin love you! (I speak for him now, haha.) 8:43 AM Feb 7th from web

8. I'm at Rite Aid and I'm the 17th person in line. GOSH! 2:21 PM Feb 7th from txt

9. I'm about to eat breakfast, do homework, then go to school. Goodbye, day; tonight is Lost! 7:42 AM Feb 9th from txt

10. I hope tweets count as blogging, but I'm thinking it doesn't. Although, I could make the argument that it is MICROblogging! #ENG 658 about 1 hour ago from web

I would like to point out that I totally messed up the #ENG658. Darn you, space bar, for sabotaging me!

Here is my in-class visual essay. This is my first youtube video upload! Hooray!