Okay, it looks like all the tech is in place. There’s no reason any of you guys can’t take control of your own media transmissions. Doing it alone is good enough for proving the concept. But to build something that will make the kids say “Zoinks” a collaborative effort is indicated.
I’ve got about eight more weeks before I’m going to disconnect from broadband access for an undetermined spell. I’d love to connect with some folks who might share some sort of vision of what is possible and what is at stake here to try to make a wee bit of magic between then and now.
I think you know where I’ll be or how to reach me. If not, please leave a memo in the comments.
Kurt Vonnegut’s elements of a good story include (among other elements): time (stuff happens over time, from beginning to end), characters (whose status is determined by a number of factors), space (setting/environment), and action/plot (stuff happens, characters interact, fall in love or not, fight evil or not, prevail or not, etc). Rushmore is one of my favorite movies of all time (not including Dazed and Confused. As Wooderson says just keep L-I-V-I-N.). The hero of that movie, Max Fischer, follows the “Man in Hole” storytelling arc (as illustrated here by the awesome Maya Eilam. Max starts out in trouble because he is failing out of Rushmore. At the same time, he’s savvy and crafty and creative and energetic and can-do in every sense. He orchestrates his world, and when he can’t (cause we can’t totally control our world), he grows. I love Max because he is creative and an underdog. He is the maker of his own story. That kid embodies so much sadness and drive and goodness. Of course he has to win in the end, even if that winning end is bittersweet.
Today’s Daily Create 145. I was in a drawing mood so I decided to try more than once on this Bugs Bunny drawing. My own twist is that it is Friday night and I’m having some wine with dinner. Surprisingly, I think my last Bugs Bunny head is the best one. I’m guessing practice and the relaxation of wine just helped me along.
After a great week of blogging and learning, I had a rough patch these past few days.
I moved into my brand new house that had belonged to a UMW sports team for 8 years. The house took a beating and now we have a hoard of construction workers, plumbers, painters and electricians banging away at all hours. My room is unlivable, but I’m still living here. They’re fixing the entire main floor, basement and renovating the bathrooms, so long story short: I’m high on paint fumes and can’t shower very effectively.
Also, I just got internet today. Thank you, Cox internet service for sending me an installation kit with nothing in it to install. Also, thank you Verizon for taking 2 hours and still, I walked out without internet. Now I’m on a limited internet service for 2 weeks, which is when I will return the device and get all of my money back, and hopefully have a real system set up. Aye, carumba.
So, my apologies to my lack of interaction this week, I’ll make up for it tomorrow with some fabulous posts and responses to the work I did.
Inspired by Jeff McClurken, I’m going to attend Camp Macgic Macguffin this summer as a virtual participant in ds106. I am already behind, but with school ending this week I hope to tackle more activities soon, as well as to involve my son. Self-directed learning in community, here I come. Mad props to Bunk 4.
Here are a few of my early responses to The Daily Create, and following those are screenshots of my new (in-progress) pad on the ds106 Minecraft server.
The Daily Create 137
The Daily Create 138
@chadsansing’s beach house & mine
@chadsansing’s beach house & mine
I’m thrilled to find two other NWP teachers in my bunk, and it’s been great to “meet” and see the work of familiar tweeps at play. If you want to practice digital story-telling this summer and learn how it feels as a learner, I say join in!
Today’s Daily Create assignment was to Bugs Bunny. At first I was intimidated on drawing a character or something that symbolizes life. Drawing something technical, such as a electronic circuit or building diagrams is what I love to do. Luckily the wise folks at DS106 included a link to YouTube with a video from the master animator himself Chuck Jones on how to draw Bugs Bunny. Grabbing my trusty Mitsubishi Uni Kuru Toga mechanical pencil (the ultimate geek tool) and went to work. I am pretty impressed with the out come. The video is incredibly informative and for my first try I am pretty happy with the results. After sketching Bugs I scanned the drawing and found out my scanner is creating lines in the captured picture. Lacking time I just added a tint to the picture to create a wood grain effect that make it look better and I was happy with it.
I arrived at camp a little late, so I’m feeling behind and a little overwhelmed. While everyone is skinny dipping in the lake tonight or making out in the poison ivy, I’ll be catching up on videos, articles, daily creates, and so on and so forth. My bunk mates seem pretty cool and friendly, which helps.
You were right about camp not being as awkward as I thought it would be. I dipped my toe into Minecraft today. I’m looking forward to playing that more. I’m also looking forward to becoming more adept at toggling between the Minecraft window and TeamSpeak window. I feel pretty clumsy, but also motivated by the small amount of progress I made.
Ok. Ok. I’ll say it again. You were right. I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad I didn’t wait until next year to sign up like I had planned. I wanted to learn more about WordPress this summer. I wanted to get into Minecraft this summer. Camp Magic Macguffin is letting me do that and with other people. Things aren’t quite as intimidating when there are other folks around. There are other people to flouder with. There are other people to help guide me through the road blocks. So yeah… I’m excited about camp.
Watching Michael Wesch‘s lecture “From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able” (part 1 and part 2) was a great return to some thought provoking material for me. I had the fortune of meeting Wesch briefly and seeing an earlier version of this lecture … Continue reading →
This is a fairly literal attempt to draw the shape of the story to one of my favorite all time films, Cool Hand Luke (1967) according to the Kurt Vonnegut approach:
In the beginning, since he is drunk and feeling no pain, Paul Newman’s character is doing pretty good at chopping parking meters, although we have no idea why he is doing this. Of course, his track plummets in finding himself in jail. But it is there, among the various characters, that his spirit rises, although he is beaten up in the fight with Dragline (the young but always tough George Kennedy), Luke’s fortune just keeps arcing as his spirit of a fighter is respected by the other prisoners.
Although they are given the grunt work of clearing roads and tarring, it is Luke’s leadership that leads them not only to an early finish, but a bit of a relief of a sideshow when Joy Harmon’s character sexily attends to a dirty car.
Things could not go more in the I range when Luke’s mother die, but sinks lower when he is placed in “the box” as some sort of an example. There we ride the peaks (one of these is the egg eating scene?) and valleys as Luke seems to easily escape but almost as easily ends up brought back to jail. It’s that last one, when the guards make Luke repeatedly dig and bury the same ditch, and essentially (seem) to break him when he asks god for help.
Yet, he is not broken since he (and Dragline) escape one final time- will they break free? No, and they are caught and shot at a church- I place this not so far below because maybe it is an end to the cycle that the prison would give Luke this next time (?). And his stature only grows more in respect after he is no more, when Cool Hand Luke becomes a legend even bigger than a big man. How much more G can you get for a guy who always does things on his terms.
Just sing along with Luke
I made this in Brushes on the iPad, importing a still image of Luke’s glazed eyes while eating one of 50 eggs. I used different layers for the axes, curves, text (I have the hardest time getting it to brush and not move the canvas), and even tossed in a little bit of a background layer to put behind the text.
Camp is now over (see the final story. If you are craving an experience like this, head over to ds106 and see how to participate. For more on the Summer of Magic Macguffin, see.....
