The Online Me

The Places I go online
I think I’m slightly more computer literate than the average person, or at least id like to think so, a bit of a geek really, so I tend to venture into many different places on the internet. I used to go on quite a few different forums, most of which were computer game related ones, but at the moment I only have one I really look it. I play a few different games online, go on various video streaming websites like youtube and go on msn messenger quite frequently.

Online gaming
I do very much enjoy online gaming, the idea of having 30 or so people all running round the same area from all over the world, doing whatever the game consists of, weather it be shooting one another (my favorite), casting spells or placing your troops strategically to attack and enemy and all the while able to talk to/hurl abuse at one another is an awesome idea. I myself have made quite a good few friends through online gaming.
I started off playing a first person shooter called halo, got fairly good at it then somebody in the game asked if I was in a team and it went from there really. At the time I didn’t really know what team (more commonly know as a clan) in online gaming was. I played with my new teammates regularly and simultaneously talking online using microphones made it easy to chat and to get to know one another. I have 3 really good friends that I was introduced to through this means and now meet up with them regularly.
Why I enjoy it
As it is one of my favorite hobbies it should really be quite clear what I enjoy so much about it. The enjoyment you get In competitive online gaming, which I no longer do, but did used to when I was in a team, that would be comparable to that of a football team. You are playing with the same people on a regular basis, training together, you then enter a competition cup or a ladder on a clan ranking website.
In a ladder it’s a constant ongoing fight for the no 1 spot and continues indefinitely.

Cups are help every month or season or whenever the clan ranking website wants too. A lot of the time its dependant on the demand from the gamers. These are organized just like a football knock out tournament.
When entering a cup progressing and doing well, there is a lot of satisfaction when you perform well, beating a highly spoken of player, improving your skills, win or come in the top 3 and people recognize who you are. The feeling of being needed on a team or when other teams are asking you to join it is somehow very pleasing on a simply human psychology level, this can be linked to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs –

When playing non-competitively I still very much enjoy it. It’s most likely the sense of freedom and self-satisfaction when you perform well.

Forums Browsing
I only use one forum but on this forum I’ve become an administrator solely through posting, knowing the forum users, playing online games with them etc I do enjoy browsing it, it’s a great source of news that is posted by like-minded people, so it always holds my interest. This is how the online community idea springs into action. Just through posting and reading, replying to users you develop relationships with one another, making new friends etc
It’s a great source of technical expertise from certain users. So if I’m ever in need of pc help or problems with consoles I can always seek help on there.
I think the main strength of a forum is discussion and community. Discussion is always fun and interesting, viewing other people’s opinions, arguing varied points trying to work out which is right or wrong, if it is necessary. If it is a topic you know nothing about you can learn from it.

Information Stores
When ever u sign up to a forum or for an account with a video streaming website they always ask for your details. Such as email address, a password for the site you are signing up to. Sometimes but not always they will ask for your full name, address and maybe even your preferences to certain products.
Whenever I sign up to a website and they need personal information if it isn’t necessary I just fabricate some silly address or email address. The places that have my details stored are a couple of forums, a few clan gaming websites, hotmail and amazon. Other places that are not exclusively online are Halifax, Huddersfield University. It doesn’t bother me personally that a lot of these places have my name and address, only when I get junk email or junk mail through the post. There is the idea of a big brother complex always being watched and someone always knowing where you are, which does conflict with the idea of freedom, but for now I think the level of information that is stored isn’t really too threatening.

Alias and online representation
When people sign up to a new email account a lot of the time they don’t use their name, like bill.gates@hotmail.com. More often they tend to choose some sort humorous alias. Unfortunately my email address is very boring, my name being Ashley Connolly had the imagination of a designer to choose the email address con_ash….very creative!
It’s found more often in online gaming that people choose various aliases. In trying to think why people do this, I could only imagine how boring it would be if you were to enter an online gaming server and see names like, bill, tom, dave, jack, rather than seeing names like reaper, monster, neon, cyberdog, tristar, crushingstep. On that note I suppose it’s pretty boring of me to play as Ash when I play computer games. You also find a lot of people choose to have the name of popular iconic computer game characters.
One reason someone would choose an alias would be to try and scare other players in the game. Using names like Sniper Killer, and Beast, as if they are somehow what their name is, as if they are trying to be someone they are not. This brings us to online representation.
From the friends that I have met in person after getting to know on the internet, I found that they do act the same online as they done in real life. But I can imagine that some people can act very differently online.
Me myself I do have to admit occasionally I like going onto an online game server and jus doing silly things, like getting in the way of team mates, maybe even killing team mates which disables playing the game temporarily, typing in stupid (sometimes offensive) messages. This is all just to provoke a reaction in the name of amusement.
For some people the internet is a great way of making friends, if someone was unconfident or if they considered themselves ugly, they would much prefer the internet for meeting people. They could represent themselves in they way they would want to be seen and also they would also be meeting people they would definitely have one thing in common with, which is always a good place to start when making friends.

Online language
Interestingly through the use of the internet and online chat, forum use etc users have adopted their own short hand way of communicating with one another. This is often known as leetspeak.
What tends to happen is people replace words for other words and use acronyms frequently, another example is that people add the letters “0rz” or 0r” onto the end of other words. I’m not sure if this would come under leetspeak but people also experiment with the capital letters in words, particularly alias, where rather than having there name displayed as Kronic, they would have kRoNic. I suppose it makes it a bit more interesting and eye catching.
Here is an example of leetspeak, with the translation below.
“omg wtf that guy is a proper haxzor, lol ima gonna pwnz0r him”
“oh my god, what the fuck that guy is a proper hacker, ha-ha I’m going to dominate him”
Here are a few acronyms often used –
Omg – oh my god, rofl – rolling on floor laughing, lmao – laughing my ass off, Lol -laugh out loud, wtf – what the fuck.
The word own is also often used to describe domination of an opponent in an online game. It has a fair few variations such as
Own/ pwn – present tense. Ownt/owned/pwnt/pwned – past tense.
More information can be found here-
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/children/leetspeak.mspx
It’s quite impressive that this short hand language has stemmed solely from users across the net. So the internet has its own language, you can buy online space and domain names, it’s as if the internet is some self sufficient and self-contained world of its own. The question is what will be the next big development in the internet, web 2.0? who knows!

Advert and Music video design - Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze

Recently we looked at music video design and effects used. We looked at such work by chris cunningham, who has done some incredible music vids. Here are some fo my favourites.


Michel Gondry
Daft Punk - Around the world - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMpsnDxNbqQ
Foo fighters - Everlong - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4st-qTHhfc&mode=related&search=
Chemical Brothers - Star guitar - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBgf2ZxIDZk

Spike Jonze
I then remembered some other good music videos by Spike Jonze like beastie boys sabotage (very funny). So i had to check out the old youtube. here are some good vids.

Beastie boys - sabotage http://www.youtube.com/beastie%20boys%20spike%20jonze%20sabotage
Tenacious D - wonderboy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at1T7YRQ_1I&mode=related&search=
The Chemical Brothers - Elektrobank http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVrA2mtrHUM
(starring sofia coppola who directed Lost in translation)

His biorgraphy of work can be found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Jonze






unfortunately the computer im on is being immensely annoying and wont allow me to link to play the videos directly so u will have to go to the links! :o

Processing week 10

Interactivity using buttons




Just as an experiment i tried creating buttons which change the colour of the background. Unfortunately i couldnt upload the application so it is just an image, but i assure it does work! heres the code if you dont beleive me...you cynical swine... :]

code -
void setup()

{
size(100,100);
framerate(100);
}

void draw()
{
println(mouseX);
println(mouseY);


//button 1 blue
fill(0,0,255);
rect(20,20,10,10);

if(mouseX<30 && mouseX > 20 )
if(mouseY<30 && mouseY > 20 )
if(mousePressed == true)
background(0,0,255);

//button 2 red
fill(255,0,0);
rect(70,20,10,10);
if(mouseX<80 && mouseX > 70 )
if(mouseY<30 && mouseY > 20 )
if(mousePressed == true)
background(255,0,0);

//button 2 red
fill(255,255,0);
rect(20,70,10,10);
if(mouseX < 30 && mouseX > 20 )
if(mouseY < 80 && mouseY > 70 )
if(mousePressed == true)
background(255,255,0);

//button 4 green
fill(0,255,0);
rect(70,70,10,10);
if(mouseX < 80 && mouseX > 70 )
if(mouseY < 80 && mouseY > 70 )
if(mousePressed == true)
background(0,255,0);

//button 5 centre

fill(0,0,0);
rect(45,45,10,10);
if(mouseX < 55 && mouseX > 45 )
if(mouseY < 55 && mouseY > 45 )
if(mousePressed == true)
background(random(255),random(255),random(255));

//? for button 5
//PFont font;
//font = loadFont("arial.ttf");
//textFont(font, 12);
//String s = "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.";
//text(s, 15, 20, 70, 70);
{
}
}

Processing Week 8

Etchasketch with image

This time i use the etchasketch coding and arrow key parameters and place the image of an actual etchasketch in the background.
N.B. the file in the background "onlineetch.gif" has to be within the saved sketch folder inside another folder called data. My folder path - C:\Uni stuff\creative code\week 9 etch a sketch and drawing interface\etchsketch\data

coding -
int x = 100;
int y = 100;
PImage myimage;


void setup()
{
size(230,190);
//background(128,130,140);
myimage = loadImage("onlineetch.gif");
image(myimage,0,0);

}



void draw()
{
stroke(0);
point(x,y);

}

void keyPressed() {
if (keyCode == LEFT) {
x = x - 1;
}
if (keyCode == RIGHT) {
x = x + 1;
}
if (keyCode == UP) {
y = y - 1;
}
if (keyCode == DOWN) {
y = y + 1;
}

}



Etchasketch attempt 1



trying to impersonate an etch a sketch using mouse key commands

coding -
void setup()
{
size(500,500);
background(150,150,150);
}

int x = 200;
int y = 250;

void draw() {
fill(0);
rect(x,y,3,3);

//point(x,y);
}

void keyPressed() {
if (keyCode == LEFT) {
x = x - 5;
}
if (keyCode == RIGHT) {
x = x + 5;
}
if (keyCode == UP) {
y = y - 5;
}
if (keyCode == DOWN) {
y = y + 5;
}

}





If Line Statement -




This is a funky feature i found when using simple void draw along with an if statement affected by the the up,down,left and right arrow keys.
coding is -

void setup()
{
size(500,500);
background(255,0,0);

}
// Click on the image to give it focus,
// and then press any key
int x = 250;

int y = 250;

void draw() {
line(250,250,x,y);
}

void keyPressed() {
if (keyCode == LEFT) {
x = x - 10;
}
if (keyCode == RIGHT) {
x = x + 10;
}
if (keyCode == UP) {
y = y - 10;
}
if (keyCode == DOWN) {
y = y + 10;
}

}

Processing

my face drawn in coding using simple "line(x1,y1,x2,y2);" function.
i did add some simple ellipses within another ellipse with point at the centre for eyes, but it reduced the images stylised strength.


the coding can be found here - http://www.ashthegreat.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/facecodeblog.txt


Here i attempted to incorparate some for loops.



size (550,500);

for(int i=2; i<20; i++)
{
println(i);
fill(255,i*20,0);
rect(i*25,25,25,30);
}

The use of random


size(250,250);
background(0,0,0);
rect(random(250),random(250),random(250),random(250));

randomly placing the rectangle and having a random size.
the back ground colour and rectangle color can also easily be randomized by using

size(250,250);
background(random(255),random(255),random(255));
stroke(random(255),random(255),random(255),random(255));
fill(random(255),random(255),random(255),random(255));
rect(random(250),random(250),random(250),random(250));

BLOODY MAD FOR IT!!! :D

Film title design

"SAUL BASS (1920-1996) was not only one of the great graphic designers of the mid-20th century but the undisputed master of film title design thanks to his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese."

He has been desiging film titles since the dawn of time from The Seven Year Itch (1955), to the very well known Goodfellas (1990). His last film title sequence was Casino (1995).


He has also designed some very famous logos such as:-

Identity for United Airlines -

Identity for Minolta -

source - www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass
his mighty portfolio can be seen her - www.imdb.com/name/nm0000866/

Pablo Ferro

Another film title designer. Designed such film titles as the highly acclaimed Clockwork Orange and Napoleon Dynamite one of my favourite movies, and it does have an awesome intro, which unfortunately i couldn't find a video of but i do have a clip from the movie.

.....gotta learn that dance......
all of his film title designs can be found here www.imdb.com/name//nm0274998/

Kyle Cooper

Kyle has done a more famous and recent movie title sequences than the above.
the most famous would be Spiderman 1 and 2 with some really nice animation, Superman returns, mission impossible, zoolander (another favourite of mine) and seven

seven title sequence


"Andrea Codrington relates that Cooper’s work first garnered major attention in 1995 with his creation of the extraordinary title sequence for the horror thriller Seven, which is credited with bringing about a renaissance in innovative film title design. Seven’s titles were touted as short films in their own right--not merely a “design solution” but a metaphorical representation of the film as a whole"
i love this intro, interesting audio visual contrast. AWESOME! :D
He also created the title design for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence. Being an avid gamer i know that the metal gear series are more like movies than games, very cinematic and storyline based so its unsuprising that film tilte designers are beginning to deisgn titles for single player games.

all of his workings can be found here www.imdb.com/name/nm0178204/

Neckcns

Neckcns is a Graffiti artist/graphic designer. we were shown some of his work and sketch book in our first week of uni and it has some impressive typography. he particularly likes 3dimensional lettering.

his website is www.neckcns.com/
and his sketchbook can be found at www.neckcns.com/blackbook

Joshua Davis

We were given a group of names and asked to research them, one of which that stood out for me was Joshua davis.

"Joshua davis pioneered web design in the early 1990s and is now a master of the medium through his commercial work for Kioken in New York and experimental projects such as PrayStation for which he won the Prix Ars Electronica 2001, the prestigious digital art prize.
If it wasn’t for Joshua Davis, the internet would not only look completely different, but function differently too."
source - www.designmuseum.org/design/joshua-davis

It seems he has worked for everyone from BMW to Kanye West and Canon to Nokia.
He's website making machine.
here is a one of many posters he made for a music company called ming dynasty www.mingdynasty.tv

He has an incredible portfolio which can be found here - www.joshuadavis.com/

Banksy

Banksy is a british grafitti artist unfortunately his website doesnt have a great deal of pics, so i suggest u buy the book "wall and piece". He does really interesting, some amusing, some controversial, street grafitti mostly with political undertones. Here are some examples -

you can find more at www.banksy.co.uk