Archive for the ‘umwsum12’ Category

 

Radio Bumper

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

This is my first shot at the DS106 Radio Bumper. For some reason, when I was creating the bumper I couldn’t stop thinking about the Looney Toons. I found the opening theme on Frogstar.com and added the theme in as an opener. I then clipped several different songs to create the message in the bumper. I complied all the clips together in Audacity.

Having an assignment like this that is so open to creative interpretation is amazingly fun, yet at the same time, frustratingly hard. You want to create something awesome and memorable and you have to narrow down which resources you use and the multitude of ideas that you have brainstormed. I played with the idea of adding in clips from Doctor Who, The Simpsons, and Star Trek. I toyed with the idea of a musical interlude, different sounds, and different song choices. This was the final cut and I had fun manipulating it until I was happy.

While I was making this bumper, I was trying to figure out how the Looney Toons figured into DS 106. Yet, I thought of all the fun and craziness that accompanies the Bugs Bunny and all his co-cartoons. It definitely makes sense now and has it says in the Tiny Toons theme, “Expect the Unexpected” which seems to be a guiding philosophy at DS 106.

So in the words of Porky the Pig, “That’s All Folks!”

Deadly Text

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Texting has taken over the social world. About 5 years ago mainly teens were texting, but now everyone is texting. Let’s be honest, when we are driving down the highway we see people texting and driving, some of us do it ourselves. In high school, I signed a pledge to not text and drive. More than 100 students at my school signed it and I definitely followed the pledge.

Doing this assignment was very hard at first. I didn’t know exactly where to get my sounds or how to edit it together. Finally it all came together. I went onto FindSound.com and found some sounds that dealt with closing doors, driving, receiving a text, texting back, a crash, screaming, and sirens. I opened up Windows Video Maker and edited all the sounds together and made my story.

This assignment was fun to do, but I also wanted it to be a lesson. Texting can wait when you are driving, especially because thousands of people have died because of it. Just because you think that you are a “pro” at texting, doesn’t mean this can’t happen to you. Think about it, it a text really worth losing your life.?

For more information and facts about texting and driving, click here — Texting and Driving

To sign the pledge, click here — “It Can Wait

I hope you enjoy this story, learn the dangers, and understand TEXTING IS NOT THAT SERIOUS.

For More, Click Here. –>>[Sound Effect Stories]<<--

My Opinion on “This American Life”

Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

I like how Starlee Kine started off interacting with Glass and not just talking about her own views. Glass asked her a question and  she instantly asked him a question, instead of talking solely about the show without his input. In Part 4 of Glass’ serious, he talked about how you have to interact with the person to make it interesting and not boring with only one opinion. And one of the mistakes that people make is not interacting.

Secondly, Glass’ stated in his series that you have to get “tough” and make it good. Starlee wasn’t saying nice things about the reruns, but that is what made it fun. If she talked about the good and only the good, it would have been very boring.  Then there is Trent, he come off as very goofy to me during the interview. But he did one thing that Glass’ said that you should do, and that is talk in a normal voice. Trent did just that, you could tell he wasn’t trying to “show off” by sounding like someone else.

The marriage part was very interesting to me. Mainly, Robert and Tamar’s story. I was so interested in their stories because Glass stopped  in the middle of Tamar’s story so that we could hear Robert’s story and see how they were different. At that moment, I was like “woah” and when they tell their stories that are TWO different stories. The way that was set up was great.  Glass used comparison rather than letting them tell the story together, and made it so much more interesting.  Then when he revealed that to the couple that they told the story differently, it was funny how they basically blamed each other. Glass did a good job at making a regular story GREAT.

The part that talked about the comparisons with Rosa Parks, in my opinion was horrible. Sarah Vowell did what Glass’ said NOT to do. It seemed as if she had a sequence of words underlined, and she as very mono-toned.  She didn’t do a good job with getting rid of the boring things to make it interesting. It sounded like she as bored reading, and she really bored me.  The only thing she did do well was add in actual speeches or conversations. That was they only thing that gained my attention.

Each act had several of the point that Glass’ made in the series of videos. Some where good and some where horrible. But with all of that it showed me what to do and how to do it. First off, Don’t be too boring and make things interesting. Secondly, Never give up, you get better by doing more work. Thirdly, it’s hard to find a good story, but when you do make it suspenseful. Lastly, “ Failure is a part of success.”

BUMP the Bumper louder

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

This assignment had to be one of the best assignments ever. I listen to the radio a lot and sometimes I like the bumpers more than anything else. Most bumpers are very catchy, and they don’t have many words in them, which makes it easier to remember. Although, this was one of the best ones, it took me a while to be confident enough to record it.

I feel that mine is very cheesy, but I had fun doing it. I first tried to write down something to say, but it didn’t seem right. As soon as I started recording the bumper, it all came together. All I did was play some background music and let words flow. I knew the background music had to be something “uppy” and would make people dance. So I chose to use Rihanna’s “We Found Love” (Yes, I am a Rihanna fan).

Hope you like it and I hope you find it catchy = )

For more. Click Here. –>>[A DS106 BUMPER]<<–

Kavon’s Adventures 2012-06-22 14:20:22

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

sounds-from-friday-afternoon

You Can Call Me Al-vin…

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

Take a mainstream artist and chipmunk them

I love those crazy woodland critters that can sing better than me. I have listened to many songs that have been chipmunk-ed. So I was highly excited to see this assignment. In Audacity, I changed the pitch of the song and voilà! I was done.

I love so many songs and couldn’t think of just one to chipmunk. Eventually, after careful consideration, I chose You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. Everything about it was just perfect for this assignment. Even if the singing is high-pitched, this song is still a favorite of mine.

Chip’anna

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

I chose to do a Rihanna Chipmunk version. Yes, I LOVE Rihanna to bits, and I know all of her songs One of her songs I love the most is “Only Girl (In the World).” This song is very upbeat and a lot of people know it very well. Along with that, I knew that the chipmunk version would sound great to this song.

It was very easy and fun to do. I just opened the song on Windows Media player, clicked EDIT, and changed the pitch. I made the pitch very high, and it turned into “chipmunk” mode. I didn’t know how to upload that to my blog, so that is why I chose to upload it on SoundCloud. I hope you enjoy it!

This right here is the original song…

 

This is the Chipmunk version that I did ….

For More. Click her –>>[Mainstream chipmunkd']<<–

Six Seconds Mashup

Wednesday, June 20th, 2012

Take six very short fragments from six different songs and ensemble them into a single piece.

 

To start off in Audio, I decided on the “Contest that nobody could win.” I love guessing games and especially musical guessing games. I clipped sections out of six songs and mashed them together in Audacity, which, is quickly becoming my favorite program on my computer.

Saying nobody could win seemed harsh to me, but I was so lost in which six seconds and which six songs to choose. Eventually, I scrolled through iTunes and saw a clump of songs by the same artist. I loved each song individually and decided, why not? So, guessing will be easy and there really isn’t a specific phrase it spells out. The only theme in this mashup, other than the artist, is the sections of song all (sort of) have a pronoun.

In my family, writing well is very important. Any piece of paper, text, email, or dialogue should be grammatically correct or else… I always liked pronouns. They are very social parts of speech. Pronouns remind us of someone or a group. He, She, We, They, even It all evoke an image in our heads. Pronouns are important and should not be ignored, but they are often taken for granted.

Behind Door Four…Design and More!

Tuesday, June 19th, 2012

Hi Mom, Hi Dad! :)

(**yes, I know they will REALLY see this! I’ve shared my web address with them!)

Week 4 at Camp MacGuffin was Design Week! Learned lots and accomplished a lot, but still lagged by a day or so. So here’s an overview of what the last week held for me in ds106:

I started by researching Creative Commons and copyright. Although I already knew a lot about copyrights, from my time spent as a department manager and copyright manager at Kinko’s…although that was many moons ago now. Creative Commons (CC) was new territory for me and I found it exciting! I chose to license my photos and other image work on Flickr, as well as my this website and its contents, under a the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license, so that others can share, use, and alter my works, as long as they credit me for the contribution and do not use the work for any commercial purposes. I was a little late blogging about CC in Copyrights, Creative Commons, & Immortality mostly because I was hung up on creating the CC promotional poster and I wanted to incorporate it into the CC post, instead of posting it separately. I spent WAY too much time trying to figure out how to make the background of the logo transparent, but I finally figured it out and I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

This week’s theme was design. After researching and refreshing my artistic knowledge of design concepts, I went on a Design Safari, scouting for real-world examples of the different design elements. I published the examples and an explanation of each concept individually. I mainly did this so I could feel like I was making SOME progress without waiting until the end of the week to do one comprehensive post. Fallout in Fredericksburg shows symbolism in design and Domineering Downtown Dwelling is an example of dominance. I found these two as I reviewed the dozens of images from my photo shoot excursion to Fredericksburg a week or so ago. Mother Nature’s Mountain Rhythm and Memorial Minimalism in Design showcases rhythm and minimalism respectively. These images were both captured in the Virginia mountains, at two different scenic overlook stops along I-64 on Friday.

Two of our Design Assignments for the week were given to us. Okay, it was a choice to pick 2 out of 3 on a list, but I discarded one, because, well…Minecraft is kinda my worst nightmare. I spent a week or more fumbling around, unable to even move my little guy around. After some help from the oh-so-patient and helpful Martha, I finally got enough of a hang out it to move around, place blocks/items, and blow things up, but flying is dangerous! I got hung in a tree once and several times, I’ve gone flying and can’t get down! I even solicited assistance from my 13-soon-to-be-14-year old son, Austin, who was just THRILLED to know he could teach ME something. Almost. I think I know enough to participate when necessary now. I’m just NOT a virtual world kinda girl!

Anyway, back to the Design Assignments. In addition to the CC poster from  Copyrights, Creative Commons, & Immortality, which was one of the mandatory design assignment choices, I reviewed another ds106 assignment from DS106 Inspire in Designer Breakfast with a Berry Splash. After getting the required ones out of the way, I went to work looking for the additional ones I’d do this week. I settled on Apocalypse Anyone?, The Big Picture Captioned Courtesy of Maroon 5, and my absolute favorite assignment yet…What People Think I Do as a Proposal Manager! I shared this with Facebook as well as my colleagues at work and it was a HUGE hit! Now I’m entertaining Alan’s suggestion that I get it printed on a die, so I can roll it and let fate decide which side of me they’ll get that day! :)

The Design Safari sorta replaced The Daily Creates this week. I didn’t get any time to devote to Daily Creates, much to my disappointment. Maybe I can circle back and do some of the ones I missed out on! Or, maybe…the Camp MacGuffin Directors will give us a “freestyle” week to focus on the types of art we enjoy most! Hint, hint…? ;)

I’m having a lot of fun figuring out the capabilities of this blogging thing. This week I figured out how to link text to other sites ALL BY MYSELF! So, please, feel free to click around and see where it takes you!

I’m not looking forward to the next 2 weeks, as we explore audio assignments and radio, but maybe I’ll find some fun in there somewhere.

Until next week…

 

**Update: I can’t believe I forgot to mention that I MADE CAMPER OF THE WEEK! Much to my surprise I might add! Check out the badge on the right corner of my blog! :)

 

 

Fallout in Fredericksburg

Monday, June 18th, 2012

Metaphors and Symbols in design are a simplistic way to communicate in a “universal” language. When using symbolism, it is not always necessary to use words. For instance, with street signs, one is not required to know how to READ words on the signs, but rather to know what the shapes, colors, and symbols or icons mean. Same applies the other public informational or directional signage, like the photo of the old Fallout Shelter sign I found bolted to the side of a building in historic downtown Fredericksburg, Va.

 

I have no idea how long that sign has been there, except it looks like it’s aged awhile! I find it interesting that the capacity is cited as 210! Fallout Shelters are designed to protect inhabitants from radioactive debris from a nuclear event. Thus, the sign incorporates the radiation symbol large and bold to identify its location. Maybe that should be my destination during the Zombie Apocalypse!