Sunday, December 30, 2012

Personal Addition #8 - Brief BL Reflection

Though this Buried Life project has been about putting together a list of things that we want to do; something to inspire us and keep us focused on becoming the people we want to be, I can't help but reflect on what I have already completed in life while reading through others' lists. Some things seem completely bizarre to me - "Live in a communist country" - for example. This is something I've done (not exactly by choice) but didn't ever think that people strived or desired to try. Others, "Ride a camel" , "Climb the Eiffel Tower" , "Ride a train" make me realise how much I've already accomplished, as well as just how much I have left to experience!

Reading Reflection #12

The History of Love's Alma Singer seems to be extremely intelligent for a 15 year old. (106) @Cre8tiveHavoc #RR12

She keeps trying to mettle with her mom's love life though. Has anyone ever tried to set up their single parent? @Cre8tiveHavoc #RR12

Friday, December 28, 2012

Personal Addition #7 - Snail Mail

As quick and convenient communicating over technology may be, there's still absolutely nothing like receiving mail! It is so much more personal - it takes thought and effort - and it just brings me excitement and joy. It's a little silly, really. When I know that something should be coming for me, I find myself checking the mailbox every time I happen to be by it... like an addict. My reasoning for this is probably the fact that until recently, I didn't get much in the mail. C'mon, the dog used to receive more letters than me! (Though they were from the vet...)

Anyways, I guess the purpose of my writing this is to draw attention to how enjoyable "snail mail" can be and to make sure that our generation doesn't ignore it or look past it all together. In the end, it doesn't have to be something that's extremely time consuming or a burden. I'm sure that just a simple greeting card with a little message could put a smile on anyone's face!

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Personal Addition #6 - Cornelia Bean Review

I've been meaning to go to Cornelia Bean for a few months now, but didn't get around to doing so... until last week. Two bus rides and a lot of built up anticipation later, I stepped into the doors, defrosted my ears, and really enjoyed it.



For those of you that don't know, Cornelia Bean is a loose leaf tea and coffee store on Academy Road. They sell tea/coffee accessories, some small appliances, and sweets too! Driving by in the summer, I noticed that they had some outdoor patio furniture set up, which led to the assumption of it being a cafe more than a store. My assumption wasn't a very accurate one. Either way, the very cozy log cabin feel of the bulding and the friendly staff made my experience a pleasant one. Their lined up jars of teas on the front counter made it easy to smell as many as humanly possible without feeling bad for having the worker get them all down for me (bonus!)

I ended up picking up a few treats for the family too. Their Mango Honey is delicious, pure, and local. (Great Christmas gift add ons, guys!)

I definitely reccomend checking out Cornelia Bean if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, are wanting to try something new, or if you simply want to spice up your tea collection. This is their website: http://www.corneliabean.com/

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Reading Reflection #11

Already know so much about the characters of The History of Love (78). Still waiting for the story to come together. @Cre8tiveHavoc RR#11

The writing style is so similar to Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Turns out the two authors are married! Wow @Cre8tiveHavoc RR#11

Monday, December 17, 2012

Reading & Writing Reflection #10

Twitter Fiction

Once I settled on the idea of doing very short stories, my Twitter Fiction went quite well. Through reading some examples and making a list of what I enjoyed about them, I was able to get some inspiration as to what I wanted my Twitter Fiction to look like. Something that was rather frustrating was finding enough topics to talk about. I guess having complete artistic freedom was more stressful than expected. In the end, my favourite tweets ended up being those that were silly or had some sort of twist to them. I’m not usually proud of the things I write, but in this case there are some tweets that I would willingly share with people. I tend to use long, descriptive sentences whenever I write (sorry to those that have ever had a conversation with me through text messages,) so this assignment was a bit of a challenge to do the opposite. I learned that I really am capable of summing up my thoughts in a shorter way. In some cases, the use of a thesaurus helped a lot with this.

Publishing myself on Twitter made me a little uncomfortable at first. I have never used it before, therefore I was unfamiliar with how everything worked and felt strange about sharing my writing with others. It made me think twice about what I would and wouldn’t want the public to see, which really controlled what I tweeted. Once I understood the concept of Twitter, I had realised that I could really get creative and use it to my advantage. I found myself wanting to tweet things from my everyday life (as most people do,) follow things/people I’m interested in, and simply go outside of the box. My perspective of Twitter changed drastically over the course of the week. I originally thought that Twitter was just for joking around, posting stupid things, and making sure that people know exactly what kind of sandwich you’re eating at 12:34 on a Thursday and what it looked like before you consumed it. As great as those things are, I didn’t even think that Twitter could be used for intelligent things. There is so much extra information and things one could learn from the Twitter feeds of others that I never knew about (some cool contests too.) This was in fact surprising to me, and shows me the potential of Twitter/social media in general.
I read the Twitter Fiction of my classmates – mostly VSS as well as some extended stories. I think that the VSS interested me more because they were quick, entertaining, easy reads that often had twists or unexpected endings.  When it came to following an author from the Twitter festival, I chose @elliotholt. Elliot Holt’s writing really impressed me! She went as far as to make 3 extra Twitter accounts for each one of her characters, and retweeted their tweets in the correct order to form a story. She said that the process was rather tiring, and I can definitely see how that would be true. Her extra effort was appreciated, and I found the story to be quite captivating, which made me interested in finding out the verdict. Something that I really enjoyed is how Elliot Holt tried to get her readers involved. She had asked them whether the mysterious death was a suicide or homicide, and left the subject open to discussion.  This shows just another way writers today can use social media to share their talent and get the audience’s input while doing so. I really enjoyed using class time to read Twitter. It was a nice way to spice things up and keep me awake during the first period of the day. Sometimes I’m in a bit of a sleepy daze during reading periods, so it was a nice change.

#TwitterFiction

1. She used to tell me stories of the past. How she met my gfather, her adventures as a young girl... It fascinated me, yet it was all untrue.

 2. "Trust me," he said. His eyes were focused on mine, gleaming like a child's on Xmas morning. I agreed, though it didn't feel right. #vss

 3. He got down on one knee. She'd been waiting for this moment her entire life. Stubborn shoe lace dealt with, he stood up and carried on. #vss

 4. She licked her upper lip, the salty taste of sweat filling her mouth. -30 pounds later, she felt indifferent. #twitterfiction

5. The girl's bloody scream echoed in my mind. I forced my legs to run in the sound's direction. The spider was killed and peace was restored.

6. "Mom?!" I shouted loudly across the large store. The isles seemed to have no end, much like tunnels. How am I supposed to find her now?  

7. "What do you like about bagels?" asked Johnny's mom with a chuckle. "The hole," he replied. "It's just as empty as I am," said the 9yo. #vss

8. While making polite conversation with my date I came to the realization that I have more chemistry with the waiter. #vss
9. Walk up the steps, throw the coins in, greet the bus driver... "You have beautiful eyebrows," he says. "Umm... Thanks?" #vss #twitterfiction

10. "Hey guys, I love this song! What is it?" "I don't know, it's your iPod. Share an earphone." #vss #twitterfiction #twisters
 
11. Waking up to the earthy, familiar scent is her favourite way to start the morning. #coffee #vss #twitterfiction
 
12. Belt in hand, the old man forcefully grabbed his son by the arm. Skin red and stinging, the boy fearfully carried on in silence. #vss
 
13. The roads were hectic, the snowstorm only making me more anxious. Everything could go wrong in a glimpse of a second.
14. "There are no words to describe how much of an impact you've made in my life," she admitted. "Don't leave me." #vss #twitterfiction
 
15. Cigarette in hand, she pushed the stroller towards the liquor store. The baby was the consequence of one of many bad habits. #vss
 
16. Grabbing some frozen yogurt at the movie theatre. He hands the cashier a card. Aww, how sweet. He's trying to pay. He yells, "SCENE points!"
 
17. There's something so beautiful about the billowing grey smoke being released from the old factory, I thought while driving by in my hybrid.
 
18. At the party. Drinking to look cool. Drank too much, acted like a fool. #vss #twitterfiction
 
19. His watch glistened in the light. Rolex. Freshly stolen from the men's locker room. He's from a well off family, no one would assume. #vss
 
20. Identify the body - cold, dead. White sheet lifted. Not my brother. #twitterfiction #vss
 
21. He was silky to the touch; fur white as snow. She wished he was with her, and not just all over her black pants. #cats
   
22. The world would continue spinning with or without her. This thought was encouraging her to make a lethal mistake. #vss #twitterfiction
 
23. Shivering with cold sweat, he made his way across the dark alley. Paranoia had him watching his back, while fear helped him hold the knife.
 
24. Nothing like the warm, pleasant feeling of the blanket cocoon that's your bed. This feeling is intensified 100x with the morning alarm. #vss

25. "It's not you, it's me," she said and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. The mark of red lipstick was all he had left of her. #vss

26. Her plaid pj bottoms and UGGs combo didn't give me the impression of carelessness. It was laziness she seemed to portray. #twitterfiction

27. The new city made her feel disoriented and out of place. Why did they have to move again? #twitterfiction #vss
 
 
28. Music playing, candles lit, romantic bath for two. He forms a Santa beard with the bubbles, I knew this would fall through. #vss #twisters
 
29. Concentrated, serious, ready for battle. It's war. No, it's the mathematics exam. #twitterfiction #twisters
 
30. Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who fell in love. The love was considered invalid since the joker was not brave enough. #vss

Monday, December 3, 2012

Personal Addition #5 - Winnie the Pooh


Above is a video of the Russian version of Winnie the Pooh. The little song is one that my parents and I still often recite when going on walks. Growing up, I had watched the cartoon quite often. In the last few years, I found out that Winnie the Pooh is actually related to the city Winnipeg - it was named after it. Now living in Winnipeg myself, I'm wondering if this was some sort of foreshadowing of my life.

Winnie seems to be wondering as well.
http://goo.gl/GwrgK

Personal Addition #4 - Holiday Spirit

 
Work/homework/my dad’s birthday aside, a good chunk of my weekend was dedicated to doing festive things. This included baking cookies, painting mini snowmen figures, and my new favourite, holiday card making. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve never been into giving store-bought cards for any occasion. Instead, I spent hours upon hours working and putting together the ideal card for a specific person. What was different about card making this time around was the fact that the cards were mass produced. I had incorporated different paper, packaging, and fabric I had lying around the house or saved for future use. In the end, the cards turned out lovely (if I do say so myself,) but it felt more like an artsy craft rather than an artistic, time-consuming challenge. The company of friends helped too! It was an activity during which we could catch up and chat, and seemed much more productive than watching She’s The Man for the tenth time. I’m very excited about being able to give out more cards this holiday season, and about the fact that I’ve recycled things that most people would throw out and created something useful.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Writing Reflection #9 – Twitter Fiction Check-In


At the time this photo was taken, I had approximately 10/30 tweets. My original plan was to write an extended story, which I spent all my class time planning and putting together. Very last minute, I had realized that this story wasn’t a very good one. It didn’t have much substance to it and was difficult to put together in tweet form, especially in such a way that the tweets flow from one to another while still making sense as individual ideas. Around this time, I got to read some of my classmates’ work and was drawn to the VSS. With the VSS, I got to cover many different topics and use humor whenever I wanted. I’m glad I made the change because I now feel much more confident about my work, and in the end, I got to experience both forms of writing. I already had all of my images chosen for the extended story, so I got to incorporate one of those in my VSS (refer to grocery store tweet.) Otherwise, I simply created them as I wrote my twitter fiction. Something that I have yet to check off the “to do” list is character development. I’ve been finding it a little challenging with the VSS, but hopefully it’ll all work out in the end. Another challenge I had is fitting an entire story within the 140 character limit. I had used my phone to check the number of characters in my tweets as I was writing them, but had to cut out many words and use slang once I got to the posting portion of the assignment. This editing is represented by the red ink in the picture above. I’m not sure whether this was a result of human or phone error, but it was simply another obstacle I had to face. On the other hand, something that has been very easy for me is finding a significant “so what” in almost all of my tweets.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Personal Addition #3 - PostSecret

I wish my life was like the movies... Full of happiness, romance, & adventure.
 

 
I made this PostSecret a couple of years ago and happened to stumble upon it again today. It doesn't seem to be much of a confession now, but at the time it meant a lot to me. I'm not going to start going on and on about how movies give us unrealistic expectations of life, love, ourselves, etc. because I feel like that is a topic that has been discussed one too many times. Instead, I'd like to explain the way I see things. For me, movies are much like books by being an escape from reality. Just like books, movies are fictional stories that the viewer can often relate to. Yes, there can be some truth in these stories, however they're usually glamorized and over exaggerated for entertainment purposes. Despite all of this, I still find myself living vicariously through the characters and getting attached to them. Maybe that's the point?

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Reading Reflection #7

Book: WRECK THIS JOURNAL

Author: Keri Smith

Pages Read (but not completed): all

The first thing I noticed about the book is that it was “dedicated to perfectionists all over the world” which definitely applies to me. As much as I love being spontaneous and trying new things, flipping through the pages of WRECK THIS JOURNAL made me realize that I’d probably have a lot of difficulty doing many of the tasks assigned for the wrecking process. I have a feeling that I’d be much too focused on making the book nice, which completely defeats the purpose of letting loose and making a mess while doing so.

Despite this, I do think that the book is a really cool idea. It is quirky and made me giggle (whether the author intended this or not.) Some of the tasks were a little much, which makes me wonder whether anyone actually does them (“shower with the journal” for example). I also wonder whether anyone has finished all of the tasks… or if this journal is one of those things that never comes to an end. (It asks you to list more ways to wreck it, so it could potentially go on forever.)

Here are some of my favourite pages that I’d like to share with you…

“Scribble wildly using only borrowed pens. (document where they were borrowed from.)” – I feel like this is one of those things that would be rather entertaining to go back to and read/look at. For once you’d get to be the unprepared pen borrower and you can get creative and take the challenge further than expected. (For example, only borrow pens from bank tellers or library staff. Make them question what you are doing with their writing utensils.)

“*Note: If found, flip to a page randomly, follow the instructions, then return.” – I’m curious as to whether a stranger would really do this. I guess it all depends on whose hands the journal ends up in. Imagine finding a masterpiece or something that is just extremely odd in your book and how interesting that would be. This got me thinking a little bit… What if you share the journal with some friends or even your class? People could take turns taking the journal home and do whatever interests them. It could be a group effort! (Kind of like the silly story writing when one person writes a sentence, folds it over, and passes it to the next person to do the same. In the end everyone is laughing due to the lack of sense it makes, but it’s still enjoyable.)

“Collect fruit stickers here.” – I know someone that did that on the inside of their locker door. It makes for a lovely collage, and gives purpose to fruit stickers (outside of the grocery store, that is.)

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Weekly Reflection #6

Question #1

This question is rather difficult to answer considering the fact that I only vaguely know what I want to do with my post-high school life. I am certain that university and travel will be playing a large role in the matter, however I’m not too sure as to how I can connect these things to my blog. An obvious way of looking at it would be considering the relationship between my blog and my final grade in the course – which will then affect my post-secondary education in terms of scholarships. My blog is a direct representation of my work in this course as well as my personality, so keeping the blog up to date, interesting, and intelligent should lead to success in the course. This can help me keep up a high average, which should then help me obtain some good entry scholarships as well as apply for ones that are not automatic. My hope is that the money saved through these scholarships could be used towards exploring and traveling the world. This has the potential to open up my eyes to new things and help me grow as a person.

Question #2
Comment 1:

http://sjkennedy95.blogspot.ca/2012/09/blog-post_6015.html?showComment=1351089179877

Comment 2:
Comment 3:


Question #3
The first comment I posted was on Sarah’s blog. As soon as I read the word “Hogwarts”, I knew the post would be one I’d enjoy. The picture stood out to me because of the contrast between the dark background and bright candles, which was probably another factor that initially captured my attention. After having read the post, I realized that this six word memoir was different than most that I’ve previously encountered. It was silly and humorous, and left me feeling like I got to know a new part of Sarah. This impressed me and I decided to leave a quick comment telling Sarah just that.

The second comment I wrote was on Elijah’s blog post. Adding on to the Harry Potter theme, he discussed the fifth novel in his reflection. What I found rather neat was his comparison between the novel and movie. I have never read the books myself, but Elijah’s post made me think about doing just that. I also have to give Elijah some credit because he spiced up his reflection by finding something to discuss besides his questions and predictions for the book. I find that my work can get a little dry when I just follow the plan, so seeing what Elijah did was a bit of inspiration to go outside the box.
The last comment I posted was on Taylor’s blog. This post was not Harry Potter themed, but instead it was something I could really relate to. Tay discussed the future and career paths, which is something that is currently going through most of the minds of the grade twelve students. This subject is haunting me a little bit in the sense of not knowing what path I want to take or how I want to get there. Just like Tay, I don’t want to make the wrong choice and wind up being unhappy. I also considered becoming a teacher myself, but I don’t feel like I have the right qualities to be doing that, and I don’t think that it’s something I’d enjoy. I feel like sometimes it can be nice hearing that people are “in the same boat” as yourself, so I left Tay a comment mentioning something along those lines.

I left comments on whatever posts caught my eye. They were things I could relate to or topics I’m interested in. A good comment tends to be one that starts discussion/a train of thought and is a bit lengthier than a couple of words. As long as it’s appropriate, humor can be used for the sake of entertainment.  Constructive criticism is always helpful to the author of the blog post as it may lead to improvement. A bad comment is one that has no point, is unpleasant, and/or doesn’t make sense. We are human and typing/spelling errors do occur, but quickly proof reading before clicking “Send” could save us a lot of trouble and explaining in the long run. Commenting benefits both the viewer that’s leaving comments as well as the person receiving the comments. The viewer gets to express his/her opinions, share ideas, and ask questions for a better understanding of the post, while the receiver gets feedback on what he/she is doing, provides the audience with some explanation, and may potentially receive some praise.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Personal Addition #2 - Intro to Seriously... I'm Kidding

I haven’t had cable at home for about a year now. It was never put to good use by anyone besides my dad, who would turn on the weather channel or the news and doze off within ten minutes. Correction: it was never put to good use. This is why when I’m in need of some relax time (especially before work), I tend to surf the Internet for some videos, funny facts, entertainment, etc. Lately I’ve been finding myself watching a lot of Ellen’s videos on Youtube, mostly because it’s a nice way to unwind without spending an entire hour committed to one episode of a show. She is also extremely funny and tends to leave me in a positive and appreciative mood, which is always a plus. This was probably the reason as to why immediately picked up her novel Seriously... I'm Kidding when I spotted it a few weeks ago at Costco. Let’s just say that I was pleasantly surprised! (Stay tuned for a reading reflection with reasoning.) 
http://goo.gl/2eINP
 

P.S. I've only recently learned that there is a technical term for folding over the corner of a page in a book. It's called "dog-earing" and I decided to share this newly learned wisdom with you because I feel as though as it relates to Creative Writing. The fact that I love dogs may have had a bit to do with it too.

Reading Reflection #2

Book: The History of Love

Author: Nicole Krauss
Pages Read:  35 – 64

The first thing I noticed while reading this chapter is its layout. Rather than being in paragraph or story form like most, the chapter was in point form. The points ranged from 1 – 34 and each had a title as well as a few paragraphs either telling a story or explaining the title itself. Once in a while, there’d be no explanation, but an entire story simply found within the title. I found this to be extremely successful since a new family was introduced in this chapter. I felt like I learned much more about these characters than one would expect to in a single chapter. I owe that to the author’s stylistic choice, which allowed her to jump from topic to topic quickly; covering many topics in a short section of the book. It was also rather clever, in my opinion, because it made the chapter so much more eye catching and interesting which is a crucial thing to do in the first few chapters. Since the beginning of a novel is usually trying to build some sort of basis for the plot, there’s potential for it to be a little dull and uninteresting. This chapter seemed to do just about the opposite by capturing the reader and creating excitement for what’s to come.
While reading, I found myself trying very hard to connect the newly introduced family to Leo Gursky, the protagonist of the previous chapter. There are currently two separate stories being told in the same novel, and due to the fact that I’ve previously read the little summary on the back of the book, I know that the two stories won’t be separate for much longer. After some examination, I noticed that there is an evident connection and significance when it comes to literature in both stories. In the first, Leo Gursky is a writer himself, while in the second, Elma’s mother is obsessed with books – translating them into different languages and basically putting all of her life and attention into the novels she is working with.

I am a little ashamed to say that the use of post it notes was not too successful during this reading period. I only used one or two, focusing on the reading instead. My stubborn ways must be destroyed!

Personal Addition #1 - Fireworks

"Cosmic Fireworks" by Jeanine Malaney
image from http://goo.gl/1U7g7
This piece of artwork combines three of my favourite things - watercolour, the sky, and fireworks. I have to give the artist, Jeanine Malaney, a lot of credit because she combined them in such a beautiful way. She managed to create contrast between the white of the canvas/watercolour paper and the paint itself in a very realistic way, which is rather difficult, as I've learned from personal experience. I love the way she let different colours run and blend with one another, causing a smoky and neat effect. This painting is proof to me when it comes to just how flexible one medium can be.

Something to think about...
Why are we so fascinated by lights exploding in the sky? Fireworks seem to have the ability to make just about anyone quiet down, stop, and stare. Though we mostly use them for entertainment purposes these days, some research (thank you, http://goo.gl/VbqoA) tells me that they originated in China and were often used for ceremonial and religious purposes as well. This is quite interesting to me because it seems like there are so many things that society does and sees on a day to day basis, while not considering what influenced these things or where they came from. For example, did you know that body modifications and piercings were once used as sacrifice to the "higher spirits" or God(s)?

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Blackout Poetry - Opportunity

Theme: Advice for the Future
"not ready for endless opportunity A new beginning
Oh don't worry, it's something to celebrate"


Blackout Poetry - Expectations

"do not expect to be suc-cessful but hope That the future continues moving in a good direction"

Blackout Poetry - Passion

"Between all the years, find time to become one who follows his heart"

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Reading Reflection #1

Book: The History of Love
Author: Nicole Krauss
Pages Read: 3-34

The first question that arose in my mind as soon as I started reading the novel is “Why is Leo Gursky so obsessed with his death?” This old man seems to only focus on the moment he’s going to lose his life, making sure that he is prepared for any possible situation that may occur. What surprised me is the fact that he doesn’t appear to show even the slightest bit of fear towards the subject. I personally have so many concerns and questions about the afterlife, and am not even near being ready to have them answered so I am having difficulty understanding how Leo could be so careless.
 Something that I found a little unsettling is the fact that Leo tries to go out of his way to be seen. “Sometimes when I’m out, I’ll buy a juice even though I’m not thirsty. If the store is crowded I’ll even go so far as dropping my change all over the floor…” (p. 3) The idea of that alone doesn’t seem very severe, until combined with the fact that Leo lives an extremely lonely life. A tone of sympathy is definitely used towards Leo and is rather successful, making me feel sorry for the poor man.

As the story progresses it is mentioned that Leo is a writer and the reader learns quite a bit of his history. Most of the things he does in his day-to-day life, Leo connects to his past and/or his interest in writing. Since there is an obvious emphasis on these topics, I can conclude that they are rather significant and predict that a large portion of the story is going to develop around them.
**This was my first reading period of the course and I found that it zipped right by due to the fact that I was very into my novel. This led to the use of only a few post it notes since I simply wanted to continue reading with no interruptions. Despite this, I do believe that the post it notes have a lot of potential to be useful, especially when it comes to remembering key thoughts and ideas. I find that writing things down helps my memory in general, and it’ll be very convenient once I do get into the habit of using them.

Reading Reflection #5

Book: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer

Oskar Schell's iPhone
Applications

1. iCreate: An app that allows one to unleash their inner inventor and keep track of their ideas. Oskar can use this to organize his many inventions to ensure that he doesn’t forget them.

2. English/French Dictionary: Improve your English/French skills with the definitions and translations of this app. Oskar can use this towards his studies of the French language as well as to improve his vocabulary span by learning new, complicated English words.

3. NY Maps: The 2012 edition of New York Maps is better than ever! Oskar can better familiarize himself with the city and get directions to the homes of all the people with the last name Black, making his adventure slightly easier.

4. Notepad: An app that allows the user to write down ideas, memos, and jot down quick thoughts. Oskar’s grandpa a.k.a. the renter can use this to communicate with Oskar without wasting paper.

5. Hamlet: The famous play written by William Shakespeare is now available in app form! This will help Oskar learn his (few) lines and actions for the school play.

6. New York Times: New York’s best newspaper in app form. Oskar can fill himself in on the current news and correct the grammatical errors in the paper, just like he used to with his father.
 
7. iTambourine: An interactive app to help one master an instrument that dates back to ancient times while improving rhythm. Oskar can shake his iTambourine to calm himself down in times that he has “heavy boots” or feels nervous.
 
8. Astrofax: New and improved Astrofax is an app that provides the reader with over 10,000 facts about space and astronauts. Oskar can improve his knowledge on these topics (which he’s greatly interested in) with the use of this app.
 
9. Juicy Juice: The public’s favourite juice brand now has its own app! Oskar can use this to look up nutritional facts, get updated on new flavours, and locate stores that sell his go-to beverage.
 
10. Black Pages: A more specific version of the classic “Yellow Pages”, Black Pages provides the user with the contact information of all the people in the city with the last name Black. Oskar can use this to track down the people that may help him find the missing lock for his key.
 
11. Walkie Talkie: A telephone-like app that mimics the traditional walkie-talkie and connects to walkie-talkies for communication purposes. Oskar can easily talk to his grandma with this app, especially late at night when he is having trouble sleeping.
 
12. Snail Mail: An app that allows the user to keep track of incoming and outgoing letters and parcels. Oskar has been sending many letters since his father passed away, and can keep track of them and check their status with this app.
 
13. Grandpa’s Camera: A photo viewer that allows the app user to create albums from the iPhone camera as well as other photo-taking devices. Oskar can transfer the photos he takes from his grandpa’s old camera to his iPhone and create albums of his adventures.
 
14. Beatles Music: A wide range of songs and old videos of the world-renowned band The Beatles. Oskar can consider this app a part of his Beatles memorabilia collection.

iPhone Appearance

Oskar's iPhone is white to match his all white wardrobe. At 93%, the phone is almost fully charged since Oskar is a responsible boy and would most likely be rather OCD about keeping the battery at a rather high percentage. Oskar's iPhone case is a map of Central Park since the place is extremely significant to him and connects to his father. The park is a place that Oskar spent hours upon hours exploring - digging up objects in hope of finding the right one and finishing an expedition game that his father created for him. (map based on http://goo.gl/ySY6G)

Digital Footprint


My doodle consists of different forms of technology that many of us are familiar with and rely upon on a daily basis. This technology is used for communication, entertainment, as well as educational purposes and is not restricted to the internet alone. I doodled different examples of websites, programs, and things one would encounter while using a computer, mobile device, etc... These things are all connected with an electrical cord which leads to a plug. This could be a symbol of the large amounts of electrical energy we use, which would be a part of a different kind of footprint - an ecological one.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Rambling Autobiography

http://goo.gl/RC1cI

Hey, I'm Jane. Coincidentally enough, my last name looks a lot like my country of origin. It's also a type of rabbit in Russian. I chew half pieces of gum because I find the full ones to be too much of a mouthful. My most comfortable footwear is often referred to as "granny bowling shoes". When I was young, my cousin stood on a balcony and used a watering can to soak me while telling me to grow like a flower. I have extremely high standards for myself. I use the word "chicken" as a pet name for my dog... you are what you eat. I can't go a few hours without putting on lip balm. My most evident passion is tea. I can walk for hours upon hours... it's my favourite mode of transportation. I am one of 7,071,909,976 people in this world, however, I aspire to be much more significant than that.