Shar's Tiefling

No Wandering Cleric

2008-03-05T03:22:00.000-08:00

This seems relevant, somehow.
Gary Gygax passed away today.
Just last night, I was discussing with my father about getting in touch with him to see what he could tell me about the game. I mean, on one hand, I wouldn't have expected a reply, but still.
And then I stop and realise, that not only do I owe my research topic (I don't know what I would have done for my thesis instead) but my identity as a gamer, my faith, hell even my love of movies which really got started with that Shar-bedamned D&D movie.
I've just yet to figure out exactly what this has to do with my thesis, because I have an inkling it does... just not how.

Coming Undone

2008-03-03T01:51:00.000-08:00

So, the essay. The damn creative research essay. Basically, the application proposal expanded and re-handed in. I honestly cannot tell you what theory will inform my thesis, because I'm still researching it. One week in, and we're meant to know? Fraggit.

Slowly getting through Got Game. Which has some interesting point, and on the whole, tries to be helpful to the gamer cause. However, it makes some rather glaring and harmfully stupid generalisations, ie, gamers see life as a game with unlimited "return to last save" points. Uh, I really don't think so. Other than that, I don't think I want to sit down and report until I'm finished.

Bought: Shelly Mazzanoble's Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress, despite my misgivings - I know it's written for girly girls. However, I also know that v4 is meant to accomodate female players (we'll simplify the game and at the same time say we're attracting girl gamers? Hello insult. Yes, I really, really am quite insulted at the implications.), so I'm guessing I should add it to my stash.
And Henry Jenkins' Fans, Bloggers and Gamers. Because it looked like it heaped everything I needed into one small package and the library doesn't have it.

700 words down on the essay. And my jaw hurt (and is swollen), my head hurts, my neck hurts and the pain meds... well, I'm holding off on those until I really need them. Ie, post-op. Fragging wisdom teeth. Needless to say, I'm not in the mood for this essay, or the reading for concepts and theories. Just not.

Over On The Wizards Boards...

2008-02-18T03:41:00.001-08:00

I think I kind of get it...
The whole "dumbing down" (so-called) of D&D and the reaction to this isn't really in direct reference to the rules. It's in reaction to who these rules are going to attract.
It's like the players are trying to close ranks against, shall we say, outsiders. From where I've been sitting, being a player/gamer holds a certain sense of pride. Geekdom is not a dirty word. Casual gamers are... well, a lesser breed, shall we say. They play, but they don't quite get it.
I've spoken to some people about this in the past, and there does seem a general idea that digital gaming created a whole lot more of these casual gamers. Rules and systems were no longer that much of an issue, because the computer was pretty much doing all the thinking for you.
Therefore, when people start recognising systems like, well WoW has been tossed in there, then the little alarm bells go off. "Here come the casual gamers - duck and cover!" In short, here come the players we don't want playing our game. I'm not entirely certain why this is. Maybe because the game is precious to us, and we don't want it changed to attract the... the "others". Or maybe because gamers have a bad enough rep out in the "real world" as it is, and this just isn't going to help matters. I don't know. I really don't know.

And then there's what I've discovered is termed "grognardise" - "It seems the term has been mutated on these boards to represent a person who likes how a previous edition did something and complains about how it works in the current/future edition." There's also a vague idea that this is what's killing the settings (Eberron has died its proverbial death? I'm not sure if that's helpful to my thesis or not.) It's not, couldn't possibly be, the beautiful destruction the rules are wreaking on them. I have to side with the "grognards" here at this point in time. Changing something so that new players don't have to wade through backstory is not really an argument. I came to the Realms eight years ago (they began 20 years ago) and had no problem with the backstory. That was actually the drawcard. It's numbing to watch it disappear.

I don't mind being miserable about it. I can always pretend that we're still back in v3.5 and that the Realms is still functioning like it does in my head. I do mind reading these boards, though. It's squirmingly uncomfortable, watching people gripe back and forth. Flame wars, anybody? Not a happy place to be, and very hard to figure out what anything means...

D&D v4 Concerns and Criticisms Board

The Next 8 Months of My "Life"

2008-02-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

A few hours ago, it all made sense, finally.
Now... not so much.
All I know is, between my two supervisors and myself, we managed to turn my thesis on its head. Again. First, I was doing D&D and how it influenced computer games. Then, I was doing D&D and its history. Now, I think I'm doing D&D and its audience, and somehow, sometime, someone mentioned fandoms. I hadn't been going to touch this, except I accidentally started a rant which was apparently relevant. It did, however, get me a thesis title. Yay for rants.
The term hasn't quite started yet, and I'm not going to get too hasty and excitable about getting books from the library just yet. However, the vague horror of realising that I now need to go and find and buy v1 and 2 D&D books is starting to sink in.
History: find the history of D&D, ie who wrote which version when and what that entailed and who it was being marketed to and how. I can do that.
Influence: try being asked by two really intelligent women who are about to oversee your life for a year what you meant by "influence" and if you could use another word. It's not easy. My answer was a full two minutes of silence and an eventual groan. It basically got nutted out to : the game changes over time to attract a range of (intentional) target audiences. (basically, I have to go and find all those articles I read vaguely without realising I was going to have to make it academic months ago) What aspects of the game has changed, how do the target audiences get redefined... do supplementary books cater to, or define, a smaller player community than the main game does?

I know a great deal of people are happy with the changes being made in v4. I also know there are some people who aren't. For a few months, I was too busy to really pay attention, so I got the shock of my life when I discovered the changes intended for the FR setting, and also discovered a nice little cache of people who really really aren't happy, to the point of already speculating when Wizards will realise its ultimate mistake and release v5. Hence, I am led to start looking into fandoms and the possession these rabid (yes, that includes me) players have over their beloved game.
This is really kind of simple, and I haven't really looked at it much, but my first impression is that the new mechanics are making people happy, but the roleplayers are tying themselves in knots of unhappiness. Which is kind of related to the above fandom point, about having a possession and love for something, and a sense of belonging and having it pulled out from beneath your feet, painted purple and then thrown over your head. It also made my supervisors send me out into the world with an extra addition to my mission: discover the difference between the roleplayers and the rollplayers (and along the way, please unearth the history of the word "munchkin".... I'm serious.) and if the middle ground has perhaps gotten bigger. And something about the whole... doing vs being, aka male vs female gamers.
Unholy frag. That's a lot of material and ideas.

Somehow, that's all got to fit into a nice little exegesis, because there's a couple of feature articles I'm meant to write as WELL. It seemed like a nice idea at the time. Liz seems to suggest general audience pieces and I tend to agree, because it's damn hard to find and pin the specialist demographic. I'd really like to write one about the violence of female players (via their characters) because everyone thinks we're lovely figure-out-the-problem-in-peaceful-flowery-mannered-ways players. Otherwise... I just don't know. There are so many topics. And I only get to choose three.

*rubs head* And this is better than it was yesterday...

Killer Queen

2008-02-17T01:29:00.000-08:00

Everyone's all worried about how computer games are violent. At least, this is what "Got Game" is pointing out to me. They do, nicely, point out that despite the anxieties of the movie "Mazes and Monsters" (I'm tempted, yet not nearly enough) that there have been no D&D related deaths ever. They think.
But, given I'm meant to be doing a comparison between D&D and video games... I do wonder about the violence thing. Sure, cg violence can be pretty graphic, courtesy of FPS and other such things. I don't think it can really be taken quite seriously, though. At least, I don't think that if you shoot someone they will somehow be reduced to bits of kibble on impact. Unless its a grenade or something. And, maybe I've missed something in some game somewhere, but you don't really get to be all that... inventive with computer game violence. You shoot, you hack, you keep on running to wherever it is you're going. You don't get to think, hey, I really want to kill person x in y fashion. It also usually seems to have some sort of reason for being. You don't shoot the monsters and you die, that sort of thing.
RP, on the other hand - now that can get well and nasty. For the most part, in combat, its the same as in computer games - you have to kill it because you really don't have a choice. What you can do, however, is decide, "let's knock this guy out and take him captive."
Not so bad. Until "taking him captive" becomes "carving his eyes out" + "casting inflict moderate wound" + "cast heal moderate wounds" + "do it all over again". And it's being done, not because you have to, but because you want to. Good roleplayers are inventive, so they'll keep coming up with new ways, and sometimes with a lot of detail.
And this is not to say that violence is restricted to males players. In fact, the most cruel and violent characters I’ve seen were being run by female players, and it ran the spectrum from random, exuberant displays of village-scale destruction, to calculated, cold torture of individuals, all for no reason other than that it could be done, and was deemed well within character. Given that these players view these (female) characters as extension of themselves, “not bound by the laws I am.”

It’s just a thought, really.

You’ll excuse me now. I have an addiction to feed that was only helped by having no less than *six* ff alerts on my email this morning. Sweet hallelujah.

The Final Countdown

2006-11-02T05:44:00.000-08:00

Here we are, at the raggedy edge.
I finished up my publishing assignment, an essay/journal on nanopublishing. Cherish the day when you can get King Kong, deviantART, Neverwinter Nights, Dungeons and Dragons, and Empire Magazine legitimately into an essay.
Having gotten BloodRayne into another essay, and NWN and Morrowind into a presentation earlier. I think I'm on a roll.

Also finished my short story, and managed to wrap it evenly beneath the 10% over the word limit mark. Normally they end up so stilted... so I can hand that in tomorrow and not worry about going in next week. Shiny, cos NWN2 is out on Wednsday.

I'll do up my pwp journals tomorrow for submission and then its onto the last CIT essay, which has me somewhat terrified. Kid you not, I'll end up working everyday next week, which was supposed to be my breather before going to somewhere near the fulltime mark. Frak CIT. Just... frak it.

One more.
One frakking more.

This Is How Liberty Dies. With Thunderous Applause.

2006-10-25T22:44:00.000-07:00

I intended to reserve this totally for uni work, but I admit that went a little awry when Galadriel came along. So.

WHAT the hell is going on? Western Australia and daylight frakking savings? I'm sorry? I thought, clearly stupidly, that we had a democratic system. So, when the majority vote in WA for daylight savings was NO, I thought that meant we wouldn't have it. But no. Some (censor) decided that they wanted it, so ignored the MAJORITY vote.

"Mr Omodei says he believes WA can move straight to a trial because he believes there is strong community support for day light savings. 'I think there's a groundswell of opinion out there in the public now that supports daylight saving,' he said. 'I don't think it would be necessary to muddy the waters with a referendum.' http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200610/s1768936.htm

The real reason they don't want a referendum? Is because the last THREE times it was offered, the outcome was no. Paranoid? Well, this is taken from the "Daylight Savings Party" homepage "The policy of the party is simple... to legislate the introduction of Daylight Saving to WA. We don't want another referendum because we think that it may be voted down."
So frak them. FRAK THEM ALL!

Nee ta ma duh tyen-shia suo-yo duh run doh gai si.

Essay Goes Round and Round

2006-10-23T01:28:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Practice 212 - Writing for Computers

Esssay, alas.
I was going to do copyright, but I was having such a hard time finding anything that wasn't "since the new reforms, blah...." and not actually finding the reforms, because the Australian Government sites are so badly maintained that the stuff is hiding there somewhere, unaccessible... and when you search it chucks up half a dozen untitled pdfs and how does that help anyone?! Besides, I was hoping to copy and paste my essay and that wouldn't work if I did copyright, yeah? Joking, Adrian, joking....

Eventually I abandoned copyright because I don't see me making the 2000 word count with no research. And I couldn't formulate an argument. So I switched to nanopublishing, and now I have an argument (not telling, its a surprise!) because I can't write an essay without one, its just too crippling. I'm hoping to get near the 2000 mark, and I'm also hoping for the 10% give or take.... hint.

And my research for that is kind of going in circles, which just leads me back here, because nanopublishing includes blogging. Biggest problem is trying to separate into topics because everything overlaps quite a bit.

I'm working on it.

Accepting the Difference

2006-10-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions.
Final Essay (1800-2000 word limit)

Accepting the Difference - Fiction's Non-Obligation To Include a Moral Core

Writers of non-fiction have an understandable obligation to publish the correct facts. Fiction is not always about being correct; it is far more interested in the telling of an entertaining or otherwise engaging story. Thus, fiction writers, while often required to adhere to laws of physics, mathematics and language, are also given the freedom to bend these rules. Fiction writers, then, should be allowed the freedom to explore ethically contentious subjects without the obligation to provide readers with a moral core to follow.

Works that present themselves as fiction should not be mistaken for factual events, even when given actual settings. The Maquarie dictionary defines fiction as something that is “something feigned, invented, or imagined; a made up story.” (451) While it is possible for a reader to become passionately caught up in a work of fiction and to believe in it, it should remain equally possible to remember that it is not a portrayal of reality. For example, it should be fair to argue that although the majority of comic books are set on a recognisable Earth, most intelligent readers of this material also realise that the presented scenarios and characters are purely fictitious. If readers can assume this much for themselves, it would be fair for a writer to believe that any facts will also be recognised as at least partially fictive. In defining science fiction, Adam Roberts reminds us that:

It is equally impossible, in strict scientific terms, to manipulate DNA to create dinosaurs in the ways required by Michael Crichton's book Jurassic Park (1993), or to design spaceships that can travel between the stars like Star Treks's USS Enterprise. But it is part of the logic of SF... that these changes be made plausible within the structure of the text. This means that the premise of an SF novel requires material, physical rationalisation, rather than a supernatural or arbitrary one. (5)

These material and physical rationalisations are accepted by the readership to be real facts as far as the novel is concerned, despite these “facts” being implausible in the real world. This presentation of untrue “facts” is not considered immoral, as the work is recognised as fiction. Writers of any work, whether fictional or not, should be allowed to expect that their readers have the capability to form their own opinions.

Fictional stories that present themselves within historical settings should still be considered fiction, not fact. Helen Demidenko's story The Hand That Signed The Paper was one such fictional story given an historical backdrop. Despite taking place in a recognisable spatial and historic setting, Demidenko made sure to note at the beginning of her novel that “what follows is a work of fiction.” (vi) “Yet rarely has a first Australian novel been more reviled,” Robert Manne muses. “Its detractors – which include not only almost all its Jewish readers but significant sections of the political intelligentsia – see in it little but moral vacuity, vulgarity, historical ignorance.” Because of its historical setting, The Hand That Signed The Paper is considered a factual commentary on the Nazi invasion of the Ukraine and is therefore considered to require a moral core. Her work is out of line with the popular “politically correct” view that portrays Jews as the victims. As Aiofe Dare determines, political correctness “is seen as a prohibitive force, impeding on our right to freedom of speech and paradoxically aims at 'enforcing tolerance.'” (7) Had Demidenko written about a fictional holocaust in a fictional setting, without the possibility of claims of historical inaccuracies, her work would most likely not be seen as immoral. The change of setting should not constitute an inclusion of a moral core if the story remains self-declaringly fictional. Demidenko herself “defends her style of writing by arguing that it is not the author's responsibility to provide 'ethical signposting' or 'to do the reader's thinking for him.'” (Gardner) The idea is simple enough – if a reader does not like the material, they are free to put it down and are under no obligation to accept it as historical facts.

In Western society it is deemed immoral to tell a humanistic story from the perspective of those considered 'evil.' However, morals of anti-discrimination are ignored in order to continually construct negative portrayals of these 'evil' groups. Demidenko's story caused controversy as it was perceived to contain “overt anti-Semitism,” and “purports to demonstrate nothing less than a causal link between the grievous suffering of one nation and the attempted genocide of another.” (Manne) It appears, though, that these themes caused outcry only because they explored the side of the story that few people wish to see, fictional or not. Dare's essay on the Nazi past in contemporary German fiction states that “the standard 'political correct' view on the past is assumed to be one which focuses on 'Germans as perpetrators.'” (2) This view ignores the suffering of the German people and their subsequent guilt over their involvement in World War Two. The preferred view is that Germans are all Nazis and thus are all evil. This carries over into popular culture, ranging from literature, film and the new rise of computer games, where Nazis and Germans are continually portrayed as monsters, mindless fools or scapegoats for fictional events designed to imitate the end of the world. However, the continued negative portrayals of the German people and Nazi antagonism must be considered immoral, serving only to create a wider sense of discrimination and misleading information. For example, the popular computer game BloodRayne associates the Nazis with voodoo, experimentation with undeath, demon worship and the resurrection of the devil. Each of these areas carries their own negative connotations within modern Western society, which are then linked to the equally negative ideas associated with Nazism. It would have been simple for the writers at Terminal Reality (game producers) to create a unique group of antagonists, as they have demonstrated with their creation of the protagonist group, the Brimstone Society. Why this has not been done is uncertain, as the game is more likely to gain advantage from a completely fictional setting, rather than suffering. However, it is widely accepted that the Nazis were evil and it appears far from immoral to continue blaming them for anything evil or negative that new writers can come up with. If a writer attempts to portray a humanistic Nazi or German, they are instead considered to be insensitive to those who suffered in the holocaust and are believed to be lacking in morals or ethics.

There should be no obligation to provide a moral core to work that is published in a society that often rejects these morals. This rejection seems more likely in works that are morally contentious, as these are the issues that are sometimes violently debated even outside of fiction. Children's television often uses fictional moments to explain social working to its viewers. Play School is one such program and in 2004, caused controversy over its depiction of a child with two mothers. As “childhood is traditionally seen as a time of innocence; in the past, representations of romantic love and eroticism were simply dismissed as irrelevant and invisible to children, as long as they remained relatively veiled or did not encompass the portrayal of an identity or lifestyle,” (Hall) a discrimination-free text depicting homosexuality was considered wrong. Other texts attempting to portray homosexual families to children have also come under scrutiny. Donald E. Hall believes that “although homoeroticism has long been a part of literature for children, it is only in recent years that lesbian and gay identities have been honestly portrayed.” Thus, with this recent exploration of homosexuality, comes public backlash. This backlash ensured that gayness was “roundly reprimanded for daring to breach its allocated, regulated ghettofications of 'serious social issue' or straightertainment.” (Pratt) While these stories have attempted to provide a moral core with a message of acceptance, areas of society publicly and loudly reject this core, preferring to leave homosexuality unspoken of - “allocated” to the background of society, where it most can pretend that it doesn't actually exist, just as German people have been “allocated” the position of perpetrators. This speaks of discrimination against sexual diversity, which can only be taken as immoral, but is the majority's preferred state of mainstream media. With this rejection of a moral core ultimately comes not only discrimination, but also a differing set of moral values.

Morals are individually defined and a writer with little chance of covering all perceptions should not be obliged to include a moral core. Demidenko's novel is considered immoral by those who believe that she is insensitive to the survivors of the holocaust. However, it is equally possible to believe that her work contains morals of accepting that evil deeds are performed by men and not monsters; that perhaps it is time to inspect what provoked such horrors and to forgive a people that is no longer responsible for them. Play School's now infamous “Through the Window” segment holds a moral of accepting all sexualities and lifestyles at its core. However, some might see it as immoral to expose young children to what is still generally perceived as a social abnormality without a proper understanding of the issue. If morals are subjective to individual readers, then no writer can appease all outlooks simply by including a moral core. Thus, fiction writers should be given the freedom to write from whatever perspective serves their literary needs, regardless of their content. Can fiction not also be used to explore different moral issues and expose readers to values different to their own, not only helping to spread diversity but also raising questions about human life?

Fiction authors should suffer no obligation to write a moral core into their work. These are not the traditional fables, that contained “a moral to the story.” In a society that attempts to promote diversity it is most likely wrong for writers of fiction to continue to champion one set of morals and ethics over another. It is however, impossible to cover all morals in a society that attempts to embrace many different values. Fictional stories are, by nature and definition, made up. It is possible for fiction writers to create whole societies with moral codes that we would perhaps find warped, yet stories centering around these codes are considered merely entertaining – not immoral, not dangerous and not factually incorrect. Furthermore, a writer should not be obliged to include morals in his work that society will only reject and scorn. It seems that stereotypes are preferred and that anything that strays from popular view is labelled immoral for not supporting mainstream social ideologies. This comes even at the expense of moral cores that promote acceptance and anti-discrimination. If fiction cannot be used to explore morally and ethically contentious subjects from all angles, even those that are considered immoral by some, then writers are suffering no more than censorship and readers are losing some of the greatest entertainment they will know.

Works Cited

Dare, Aiofe. Contemporary German Fiction on the Nazi Past. Leeds German Undergraduate Web- journal. June 2006. University of Leeds. 2006. 8 October 2006.
<http://www.german.leeds.ac.uk/studentejournal/DareGermanLit1990s.pdf>

Demidenko, Helen. The Hand That Signed the Paper. NSW, Allen & Unwin: 1994. 1-22; 86-93.

Garnder, Dr Paul. Media Summary of the Demidenko/Darville Affair. 18 September 2006. The Nizkor Project. 13 October 2006.

Hall, Donald E. Children's Literature. 2002. glbtq. An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Ed. Claude J. Summers 23 May 2006. New England Publishing Associates. 8 October 2006.

Pratt, Murray. Intrusion, or Where to from Queer? April 2006. Australian Humanities Review. 2006. 18 October 2006.
<http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/AHR/archive/Issue-April-2006/pratt.html>

Roberts, Adam. “Defining Science Fiction” Science Fiction. London: Routledge, 2000. 1-7; 28-30.

Authoring Revisited

2006-10-19T01:04:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Final Journal, 250 words (due to class-wide abysmal marks, we are now submitting one journal on the reading of our choice, in an effort to concentrate our understanding)

Michel Foucault – What Is An Author?

In this article, Foucault argues that an author's individuality is “killed” by the unity he shares with his work. An author's name comes to signify not only the individual, but also the works attributed to that name.

Foucault states that writing is culturally understood as a device to ward against death. However, the idea of sacrifice has become voluntary by a writer's existence – in writing, an author destroys his own sense of individuality by distancing himself from his work, resulting in his absence in writing.

The critique of a work also removes the author from his position as creator. If work is only to be criticised through “its structure, its architecture” (103) then the author's relationship becomes no longer important. As such, the author's recognition as an authoritative individual disappears.

Traditionally, an author may be recognised as an individual of authority, placing in his work “an inexhaustible world of significations.” (118) In order to allow the work to function as its own discourse, this traditional idea of an author must be reversed. Thus the authoritative figure that the author once represented is forgotten in favour of the significations of the reader. As such, the death of the author is the birth of the reader.

In creating a work, an author's name ceases to signify the individual. The meaning of an author's name is created by what constitutes his work – if his works change, so too does the meaning and implication of his name. However, changes to the individual person, such as appearance, do not have an impact on the meaning of the name. Thus his individuality is killed by his relationship to his work.

Rabinow, Paul (ed.) The Foucault Reader. New York: Pantheon Book. 1984.

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

2006-10-07T05:08:00.001-07:00

.... cos we're almost there, gorram it!
4 weeks (holy frak!) left for the semester, the uni year, until freedom ensues for 3 months. Which means the icky end of things, namely major assignments.

Professional Writing and Presentation - I was trying to look at morals and ethics in fiction, with a look in at children's fiction and that playschool debacle (more info) but I found out that may not be fiction and that somewhat fell in a hole, for now. I'm working on it!

Publishing Practice - I'm thinking about writing up my article on copyright and the implications of electronic 'publishing' (because music, I think shares an equal part in this whole problem) on copyright issues.

CIT - I don't really know yet, something to do with authors as individuals, because I think that ties in a few of the readings, plus I get to use a few others from PWP. Which would be shiny.

Creative Writing - one more piece to write, a 2500 word short story in the genre of my choosing. The ideas are there. The words aren't.

But, I have now done my presentation for Publishing, which is nice, because now I have no more presentation left to do, which is awesome, because I hate the frelling things. (presentation on accessibility)

If there's anywhere I can post a powerpoint, I'd be happy to share my joint presentation on how the War of the Worlds = people are stupid and should never listen to the radio, or rather, the blurring of fact and fiction using Orson Welles radio broadcast as a case study. It has pretty pictures.

Clearly, I'd rather be in any number of numerous galaxies right now.

What Is An Author?

2006-09-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes for Teaching Week 7 (250 word limit)

This article argues the function of the author in regards to their work and vice versa. The “death of the author” can only be understood in the context of the time that saw the emergence of an author's popularity, as opposed to the focus on heroes. This follows in the ideas of secular thought and of individualisation. However, by simply writing a work, the author cancels out his individuality, while the writing becomes free to function as a discourse and thus holds power over its author.

The contents of a work also help to define an author or an author's name. It is understandable that the very nature and meaning of the name Shakespeare would be changed if it was discovered he had not written all of his attributed plays, perhaps even adding a subtle bitterness that one considered a master of literature is now considered somewhat of a fraud.

The actual content of an author's work is arguable. What defines a work? Everything that was written, or only published works? And where then fall unfinished notes? It is also argued that to be considered part of an author's work, such writing must be consistent in style. How can this be held true, though, of a fiction author who changes style in order to employ a different genre? What is written must still be considered part of the author's work. (not only written work, but of any author [painter, musician, etc] who employs a different style, even for experimentation purposes, all should really be accepted as part of that “author's” collection of work)

Reading
Rabinow, Paul. (ed.) Foucault Reader. 1984 pp 101-120

although, quite simply I would like to say the answer to the question is "me"

Siren's Call

2006-09-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

Finally, I get back to putting up my journals. I didn't forget, I just haven't been writing them. But, its a tute free week, which means I should be doing some catching up and getting in front. I have done some.
But admittedly, I've spent most of my time doing... something else. Silly me, I bought Oblivion in the middle of the semester, so I've spent the last 4 days in a chocolate fuelled expedition through Tamriel. Found about 6 Oblivion gates and closed 1. Busy fulfilling my duties with the Dark Brotherhood (hmm, assassinating is so much fun, if only I didn't break so many lockpicks)
And Neverwinter Nights 2 is out soon...
I love Galadriel (my computer) I look upon her and fall under her spell, and was never seen again.

Who We Are

2006-09-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Teaching Week 7 (300 word limit)
Aboriginality

It is a strange thing to consider that you can claim Aboriginality,or any ethnicity. It makes sense, sure enough, to apply for citizenship and to then be considered of that country, but do you ever lose your background? I don't think so. I think the most curious thing about claiming Aboriginality is the requirement of having lived the Aboriginal experience. What is that? One could say that Colin Johnson did in fact have this experience because he was treated like an Aboriginal by the wider community. But to say that he has lived the experience because he had been separated from his family and had been in jail, I don't believe covers it. I'm sure there are many non-Aboriginal people who have had this life, but that hardly allows them to claim an Aboriginal experience. It was curious that, even though Fielder stated in his lecture that he was not Aboriginal, he did identify himself through Aboriginality, as a whitefella. Fielder also noted that when he attended the rallies over the Old Swan Brewery, he already had in place ideas about the Aboriginality that he would discover while he was there. Surely this perception infers what we think that Aboriginal experience should include – which, from I recall, included rallying for the land that had been taken from them. Did Johnson undertake this experience as well?

And what then, about those people who have Aboriginal blood, but no “experience?” Personally, I have too many different bloodlines to mention, and I don't follow the culture, religion or language of most of them, but I still have those bloodlines. I still appear on a myriad of family trees.

Ethnic identification is such a strange thing. To others we are identified as one or other, and it seems often that people have to choose one background, one bloodline, probably only for the ease of identification for statistics. Hell, even migrant citizens are told to either be real Australians or go home.

Anonymity

2006-09-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Week 6 (300 word limit)

I admit that I was surprised how strongly some people feel about the use of “anonymous” or pseudonyms for publishing. To continue using Nikki Gemmel, I'm still unsure as to what the problem of her publishing anonymously is, although writing her name in a letter at the book's end does seem somewhat defeatist. I suppose that there is always a fear for authors that those around them are going to get caught in whatever crossfire their works produce. I know myself that my family would be quite surprised to read some of my material and attribute it to me. As Burke also says, an author's name immediately attaches something else to the work. More often than not, especially in terms of fiction, people (at least the ones I know) take or leave and judge a book against who it was written by. Publishing anonymously takes away these judgements and leaves only the written work itself, which is not exactly a bad thing.

Of course, if the author is meant to provide a sense of authority on their chosen topic, be it fiction or non-fiction, I can see where anonymous publishing can be harmful. But then, I do have to wonder how much of this harm really lies with the author, or with public assumptions. We are hurt that a man writes about the experiences that his sister/mother/spouse have been through only because we wanted it to be a woman's perspective. I suppose that this runs along the same lines as the idea that authors should be obligated to provide a moral core to their work – absolutely not. The reading public should be able to (should be made to, even) think for themselves every once in a while.

The Emergence Print Culture

2006-09-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts, 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes, week 5 (I think... tute free weeks muck up my count) (250 word limit)

This article argues that the emergence of print culture aided in changes to modern Western culture. Such a change could be considered in the eventual rising of literacy rates, although Eisenstein also argues that the advent of print did not cause an instant increase in literacy. Later, printed books are seen as a feature that helped divide genders and age groups, as books catering for the differing tastes of these groups become more prominent. This also led to changes in schooling, with an introduction of a peer group learning system, based on the reading abilities of each age group. The introduction of printing technology and therefore widespread knowledge helped to make changes to the holding of power in society – the church was no longer the sole keeper of knowledge and thus began to lose its grip on the power that it held. Moving out of a time where books were constructed by scribes, there is an increase on the skills required to make books – editors, publishers, printers, so on. The use of cross-skills increases as those whose professions lie in such places as engraving, medicine, astronomy and so forth, lend their knowledge to the printing industry to produce books that cover these areas. The emergence of printing also means that a cultural language needs to be chosen, defining which version of a language becomes the “official” printed version, and which must become dialects.

Reading

Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. “Defining the Initial Shift; Some Features of Print Culture” The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early – Modern Europe. Cambridge University Press, 1979. 43-159

It is quite strange to be studying the emergence of print culture in one class, then moving on to the implications of current printing method in another, and then going straight to the class that is talking about the future of print... all in one day. Very confusing, because half the time I can't keep track of which class is teaching which part, or what I've read where. Alas.

Fact? What Fact?

2006-09-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal Teaching Week 5 (300 word limit)

What an awful prospect. While amusing, the Wag the Dog movie was also quite terrifying. Where do I start on conspiracy theories? In relation to the debate on spin, I suppose the greatest question that the movie raises is, wouldn't it simply be easier for the President to face up to the charges. Hiding behind the fabricated war not only causes a whole range of other problems, but also gives the public a reason to think that he has something worth hiding. Perhaps to face the music would be to gain a politician a little more respect for actually doing the right thing for once. Who will ever know?

It is amazing to realise the extent to which certain media has the public attention and trust. News is such an official channel that it seems unlikely that anyone would question a war that news channels (papers included) are declaring is happening. In reasearching Orson Welles' War of the Worlds incident, it does become clear that the presentation of an event is everything to the public. The authority of the news, of the spokespeople, the grainy appearance of film (or marred clarity of a radio broadcast, enough to prove that the broadcasting area is under attack) all works to define for the public what is real.

I think that there is some sense of cynicism regarding the news today, some realisation that most stories are in fact taken from a side and the whole story not given. However, television still holds more credibility than other news channels, as the public can see what is happening.

Take the emergence of the internet and it's ability to circulate news “as it happens,” even faster than television channels. The announcement of Steve Irwin's death, for example, was considered by many to be someone's idea of a sick joke when it was circulated on the internet. It was only television news broadcasts that convinced these people that it was, in fact, truth.

Reading
Movie, Wag the Dog.

The Commodification of Nature

2006-09-07T22:04:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities, Texts 212 - The Implications of Modernity
Discussion questions generated for tutorial presentation for teaching week 5.
Answers (as required for submission) attached.

Question 1 - What are the ‘Three natures’? What do these imply about the ways we process nature, especially in terms of ways of seeing? Is it possible to experience first nature?
We can think of the first nature as being a primal nature, the wilderness as it is and was before being altered by human consumption. While he defines the latter two natures, Cicero does not outline what the first nature is, does not even name it as being “first nature.” It is left for us to assume, from the definitions of second and third nature what exactly the first may be.

Cicero defines the second nature as a nature altered by humans to make it more habitable, which can include roads, houses and agricultural land. We may understand that the second nature can be culturally understood to retain its element of “nature” in that these changes are required to make the world “natural” for human existence.

The third nature brings the natural world and art together. It is the alteration of the natural world, not for basic existence, but for aesthetic pleasure.

Since ways of viewing nature are culturally mediated, it is impossible to experience first nature Even if the observed natural landscape is untouched by humans, the act of viewing and processing it instantly alters the way it is viewed. Upon observation, first nature becomes third nature, and the primal land is seen as ‘landscape’ – it is framed within cultural expectations of nature. As Cicero says “we start talking about the grandeur of mountains... first nature has now been subsumed and managed culturally (and arguably has ceased to be a pure form of first nature, slipping into a version of the second.)" (4)

Question 2 - How did gardens (and landscaping in general) shape the ways that people view nature?
Landscaping helps to make the distinction between the first and third natures. It is only through the alteration and management of the natural world through landscaping and gardens that we can understand what the “primal” is. For example, mountains, which still remain largely untouched by human interference, are viewed in the same ways that a landscape painting may be. They are reduced to the grandeur and majesty of the natural world, culturally mediated through the frame placed around them.

It is through the understanding that gardens are the property of an individual or organisation, that ownership of nature itself can be grasped. Landscaping, after all, is little more than human alteration (and thus mastery) of the natural world, far more than second nature. The creation of houses and roads entails the destruction and removal of the natural world, whereas landscaping means its manipulation and continued existence. It is not only proof of human power over the natural environment that exists prior to human alteration, but human power of the living, through the maintenance of introduced elements.

Question 3 - Gardens and theatre have influenced each other’s development. Why were gardens (such as Vauxhall and Ranelaugh) designed the way they were? What function did they serve?
Those entering such gardens were automatically positioned to see the scenery around them in a certain way – that as desired by the creators and owners of the gardens themselves. These perspective illusions were created through the use of what would have been considered conventions of theatre.

If we also consider the idea that the world is a stage, then we can see that certain gardens were used as stages, and the patrons within were nothing more than actors in the play. This can be seen through the construction of gardens that had their own amphitheatre spaces, and areas that could clearly view others while not being a direct part of them. Social relations could be played out within the garden setting, and viewed for all as a sort of “play.” Some garden areas were, and still are, used for actual theatre settings. King's Park, for example, uses its botanical gardens as a stage for A Midsummer Night's Dream. Gardens allow the use of nature in theatre without the need for a use of set pieces.

Scenes of nature were also presented to garden patrons, through the use of painted scenery. Further than this, gardens presented an idea of nature – were a stage on which nature was placed, on which it acted and was presented to those within it. It made the transition between first and third natures, making the wilderness an art form that can be appreciated by humans within their cultural positioning.

Question 4 - What is the fourth nature and where can it be seen?
One version of the fourth nature could be the simulation of the natural world through human constructions. This could be for the replacement of a natural world that is slowly being overtaken by human consumption. It is second nature taken a step further: it is not simply that altered nature is ‘natural’ for human existence, but rather that nature must become and exist as the manipulated, most likely through complete decimation of the actual natural habitat.

We may see it in examples even around Perth – the Convention Centre, built to look like a gum leaf from above, the Bell Tower which is meant to imitate the appearance of a swan, and many more besides. The emergence of such a nature could have come about as the world moves into a more technological stage that retains no place for the natural environment, but instead a human longing for the wilderness that once was.

Reading
Hunt, John Dixon. Gardens and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architecture. Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992. 3-16, 49-73.

The World Is A Stage

2006-09-04T01:49:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Idenities, Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes for Teaching Week 5 (250 word limit)

This article argues that gardens and landscaping play an important part in the way we view the natural world. Cicero outlines three natures, although he does not specify what the first nature is. From his definitions of the second and third natures (an altered nature fit for human survival through the construction of roads and buildings & the construction of gardens and landscaping) we must understand that there must exist a first nature which is implied to be a “primal nature,” or the land untouched by humans. Threatening aspects of nature (such as mountains, sea, etc) are removed to the “sublime” where they can be identified artistically (“grandeur of mountains) – so that primal nature moves into the definitions of the second nature and is thus culturally managed. Gardens make the physical world pleasurable and also determine the “current” culture's way of seeing nature. The connection to theatres encompasses the idea that the world is a stage and that all are performers in a play. Hence gardens began to be constructed in the same way that theatres were – not only stages but areas from which to view the “performance.” Such garden constructions also strengthen notions of space as a form of power, as the owner may force his visitors to partake in the play through the composition of their garden. He could also choose who observed who through the garden arrangement, which favoured a particular space as the proper viewing position.

Readings
Hunt, John Dixon. Gardens and the Picturesque: Studies in the History of Landscape Architechture. The MIT Press: Masachussets, 1992. 3-16. 49-73.

Small Things

2006-08-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Practice 212 - Writing for Computers
Weekly Thoughts for Teaching Week 5

Finally, we are away from that awful C-2-C book. Hell, as much as I dislike reading off a screen, the web-articles are far easier to read, and what's more - THEY MAKE SENSE!

I hadn't really given much thought to what nanopublishing is, but I have to say that I'm disappointed that it's not as interesting as it first sounds. And I'm not the only one. My nanotechnology-studying friend was very put out when he discovered nanopulishing is not some wonderous culmination of his field and ours. Who can blame him?

The first reading kept coming up as Not Found, so I can't really place a comment on that one right now. Yes, Adrian, this one seems to have disappeared as well. Or maybe I'm just typing it in wrong, either way wouldn't really surprise me.

Now, as for the "how to write a better weblog," it seems pretty practical, not only from a journal writer's point of view, but pretty much from any writer. Although, some of it would clearly work better for articles than it would novels. One of the first things that Mahoney does is to show the difference between professional and amateur writers and I have to say that I prefer to read somewhere between the two examples. That New York is magnificent in the spring is all good and fine, but not living in New York, I would like to know what makes it so magnificent. Not that the amateur example really demonstrates this, but it shows that there is some level of passion for the city. Much better than a cold statement that the professional offered. As for "patience, readers, all is not lost," well, I'm yet to find reassurance. Yes, it's not just the internet that has shown degeneration of language skills (just the other night the news reported that "a woman from blah was attacked by another woman with a man. I'm sure they didn't mean the second woman attacked the first using the man as a weapon, but that's what it sounded like) but it does have a lot to answer for. I know my own writing skills go considerably awry while I'm writing this and the point is I can't be bothered going back and changing it later. Hands up who else can.

The third site seemed all dedicated to blogs, which just takes all the interest away. We were supposed to be looking at the categories listed on the right. Yeah, they're listed all right, about 3/4 of the way down the page. By then the magnitude of blog links really puts me off. I don't read blogs. I have almost no interest in them. The only blogs I read are those of a precious few friends and I mostly figure if they have something worth telling me, they're going to say it to my face. Have you ever come across anything so frustrating as trying to search for something (article, image, etc) and keep finding your google links taking you to blogs, through which you have to wade for hours only to find that the material is fairly insubstantial? It's not like I actually expect anyone to read this.

I'll try the first site again later, and hope.

Time of the New Moon

2006-08-30T05:44:00.000-07:00

Unit: general

So. It's a tute free week, which means lectures as well, so no going to uni for me. Or, so I thought, except that there was a creative writing assignment (3 150 word character sketches) due this afternoon, so I had to take that in. Who makes assignments due in the *week off*? I wouldn't have argued if it had been due last Friday. Also, I have discussions for the CIT presentation my group is to make next Tuesday in class. It's about gardens. I haven't gotten around to doing the actual journal for the reading yet... which I will have to do before next Tuesday, or my tutor is likely to get very upset.
I was going to start researching for my pwp tutorial, in which I am looking at Orson Welles and that War of the Worlds incident. It amuses me so much. I think I'm going to take blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction as my topic, but I'm as yet undecided.
Nothing else much to report on the academic front.
Oh, there's a meeting for the honours program sometime soon, of course, on a Wednesday, which means I have to take the day off work. Unhappy. It's not enough that the university should put me $7000 into hecs debt, nooo, they have to reduce my weekly wage intake too. Gorram it.

Oh yes. There has been a slight overhaul to the blog. You know, change in background, name, etc. Everything that was originally here was done on a spur of the moment 5 minutes in the first class and I have since tired of my useless attempts at wit. Let us say that the newness is good, and the full dark of the night of the new moon is a nice time for Sharrans to carry out their sneakiness. I feel somewhat more settled now. And no, it has nothing to do with anything involving dice...

Write or Wrong?

2006-08-24T05:59:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Week 4 - Helen Demidenko and The Hand That Signed the Paper

Ah, Demidenko and The Hand That Signed The Paper. I mentioned it to my family and got a rather mixed response. But that aside.

The Demidenko case brought up some interesting points about what is right and wrong in the writing field. For a start, you do begin to wonder how a book is judged in competitions – was she awarded the prize because the narrative was felt to be a “true story?” (although listed as fiction) I myself know that as a writer of fantasy, I generally submit work knowing that it will certainly not be the winner of any prize, because fantasy seems to create a disdain amongst “real writers.” But to judge a book on the popularity of the genre seems absolutely insane, especially when the actual quality of the writings submitted is ignored.

One of the arguments that arose in my household concerned what exactly “Demidenko” did wrong through her impersonation of an ethnicity not her own. I can understand how the material of her book could be quite damaging to an ethnic group whose viewpoints are not the same as hers. But at the same time, plenty of authors adopt a pen-name for the same reason – to become someone they're not. I use one because I often don't feel comfortable attaching my name to some of the subject matter in my poems. What does that make me?

However, I, and all the writers I've spoken to, disagree with the notion that fiction authors have an obligation to provide a moral core to their work. Very simply, that's just another form of censorship and cultural conditioning. That aside, the adult readers should be able to think things out for themselves and make their own moral decisions concerning the story they have read. So here, I do not believe that Demidenko has done the wrong thing by writing from a point of view that personally justifies the character's personal involvement in the holocaust.

Reading
Demidenko, Helen. The Hand That Signed The Paper. Allen and Unwin: NSW. 1994. 1-22, 86-93.

Every Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

2006-08-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

Unit : Cultural Identities in Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Reading Notes for Week 4 (250 word limit)

This article argues that oil paintings are a visual text that can be used to demonstrate ways of seeing that were present in the modern era. Oil paintings, more than other forms of art, portrayed these ways of seeing because its techniques made for far more realistic paintings - could more accurately show “life as it truly was.”

Berger demonstrates how capitalist obsessions were ingrained into the oil painting and thus into our way of seeing the world. He uses The Ambassadors as an example of how wealth was portrayed in oil paintings. This did not only have to be monetary wealth, as the use of the lute and up-to-date maps show. Knowledge is power.

In general, only those things that could be owned and that implied ownership were included in paintings. Thus, landscapes were not generally painted as they were without the boundaries of ownership. The exception is in the portrayal of people with the land they owned.

Paintings also constructed certain narratives about the people that they portrayed. For instance, oil paintings' ability to show skin tones made images of women more “realistic.” The woman then becomes the sexual object of the (mostly male) gaze. This would then make the purity of some painted women questionable, simply through their sexual portrayal through painting.

Constructions of social class can be found in images of the poor, who were shown to have their hopes pinned on the upper classes, which the same upper classes would have endorsed - as it is most likely that they themselves commissioned the paintings.

Reading
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation & Penguin Books. Norwich, 1979. 83-113

Only 11 Months in a Year

2006-08-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Pracitce 212 - Writing for Computers
General

I don't actually have much to say about chapter 5 of that horrible book, because this time it actually made a bit of sense. I think that might have something to do with the fact the chapter had something like 5 authors. They clearly require all that brain power. But no, the technological ideas they were presenting made a lot of sense and was even almost interesting. Although, I have to ask, if this technology has been in the works since 1975 (although work only resumed in 1991 - still a substantial amount of time has passed since then) and is so miraculous, then why haven't we heard more about it? And other than that, the chapter really just passed me by. Thank the gods that I don't have to read the next chapter until some time in October.

Now, speaking of October... I somehow muddled up all the months and thought October was next month. Which normally is not that much of a problem, unless you stop and take our review assignment into consideration. Normally, its due at the beginning of October, but if we want it published, we need to submit by the end of September. Silly me, thinking October was next month... thats right, I started the assignment for the published submission date which I thought was sometime this week. Wouldn't have been a problem if there weren't two submission dates, because then I just would have gone on until my diary threw it up at me. So now, I've gone and gotten out a new release dvd, and turns out 1) I don't quite need it just yet and 2) I'm going to have to buy another one in a month. I sigh.

Reading
Cope, B & D Mason. “Creating A Viable E-Text Market” C-2-C, Creator to Consumer. Common Ground Publishing. Victoria, 2001. 123 - 135

Fictive Reality

2006-08-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal Week 3 (yes, getting in early this week) based on readings and lecture.

So, what exactly is the difference between fact and fiction? Increasingly, I am finding that there is very little separating the two. Going on from literature studies last semester, and the proposals of CIT throughout the last two years, you could say that even reality is nothing more than a fiction, a cultural construction.

Eventually, through study, this becomes a pretty normative mode of thought, to the point that none of us can watch movies for enjoyment anymore, alas. But, I was surprised to realise, when I was finally made to stop and think about it, that the blurring between fact and fiction in cultural narratives is far more obvious than CIT subtleties. For sure, we've all looked at photos and argued over whether or not its real or staged, but then the question arises as to why it was staged. Its disturbing when you realise that it wasn't simply to portray a pretty picture, but used as a mode of propaganda. The readings refer to the arguments arising over Capa's Death of the Republican Soldier photo and its authenticity. Stopping to wonder why on earth it could possibly have been staged, it doesn't take long to realise that someone somewhere wanted that picture and the narrative behind it for some (devious?) reason.

Relate this then to writing. Last week we looked at the impact Norma Kuhri had on racial stereotypes. But why? It was all just an act anyway. You have to question how easy it is to become something you're not. And then, gods, you go back to cultural studies and remember that its all just an act in the first place. Man, woman, Australian or not, none of those means anything unless we want it to. And we use all of these things, these pre-existing narratives to imply, such as the Private Lynch incident built around the narrative put into larger perspective by Saving Private Ryan.

Readings
You know what? I can't be bothered finding the publishing exacts for the sole purpose of this blog right now. I read two things and went to a lecture. That will suffice.

Just Can't Take This Anymore

2006-08-15T02:39:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Practice 212 - Writing for Computers
Ramble about chapter 7 of that damnded C-2-C book.

This is why I only commented on chapter 4 before even thinking about picking up chapter 7. (yes, its a weird reading schedule, but I'm mostly sticking to it) I am biased by now, most like, but this book irks me something nasty.

Let's see what benefits this chapter would like to offer. Authors will become responsible for the appearance and layout of their own books. Add to this the fact that anyone will be an author and, oh dear, what horror. Let's face the fact that not everyone has a good idea of what actually looks good. The majority of writers I know are just that, writers, and would admit any form of design work is beyond them. The one exception is my graphic designer co-author, whose dual abilities far outstrip my own and make me cry. But therein lies the point. Most authors are not also graphic designers. Most would not know how to make their stuff look good and let's face it, we do judge a book by its cover. You need only think of those god-awful websites that exist now to understand what I mean. (You know the ones, bright blue writing on brighter blue backgrounds, with flashing fuschia/yellow headings) Imagine if they got to design their book. You just know some fool masquerading as an author will get it into their head to make their pages pink and their writing green. The horror.

As for publishers, well apparantly anyone would now be able to become a publisher at no cost. Right, so, my university degree is redundant and I don't even have it yet. On the flipside, at least I will have a publishing degree and, I hope, some measure of publishing training. And for all those people who don't? Not only will we let them be their own graphic desginers, but publishers also. The absolute horror.

Where is the professionalism of this industry going? According to C-2-C models, straight out the window. As an arts student, I think we have a big enough fight for recognition and credibility, without all this shit making it so much the harder for us.

And what, I ask, happens when writers (note, not authors, because that takes something special) choose to market their work (note, not books, because they're not books unless they are physical holdable books) as something its not? There is a big enough debacle over truth and fiction as it is marketed now. Who will be held accountable? And how will it be prevented? At least now publishers (some of them are not doing so well, I admit) are the gatekeepers.

Think of the horror that will befall us.

Books are books. You have e-books, which aren't really books, but they're e-books because they're electronic versions. But d-books because they are digitally printed? No. No, no, no, no.

I began reading this chapter feeling like I've seen this bit before. Then, it occured to me. The authors didn't correspond with each other over the content of their separate chapters. There was no overseeing editor. They wrote the same damn chapter in at least 10 different versions, through lack of communication and professionalism that should be in place in commercial writing. Apparantly they would prefer a book industry that has removed all of the trained publishers, editors and graphic designers. Which is just [censor language]

I hate this book.

Admittedly, I didn't finish chapter 7. I couln't read it any more. COULDN'T!

Time and Space in the Modern Era

2006-08-14T04:33:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts 212 - Implications of Modernity
Week 3 Reading Notes (250 word limit)

This article argues that concepts of Time and Space have changed over time, with current uses put in place by the “Enlightenment Project.” Harvey makes reference to the 'time-space compression' concept. By this, Harvey means to make a point of the 'shrinking world,' or the fact that it takes less time to go further.

To demonstrate this compression of the world (vastly through the evolution of telecommunications) Harvey makes reference to the evolution of maps and the art of cartography from the medieval period, through the Renaissance and the Enlightenment period, to the present (post-modern). He notes that in medieval times, the external spaces of the maps were seen to be heavenly spaces inhabited by the external authorities.

The Renaissance period and the new voyages of exploration saw that map-making now included the wider world, and began to indicate a finite globe, as opposed to a medieval concept of an infinite and flat existence.

Later maps had their fantastical and artistic values removed, and were instead replaces with “fact.” Maps were to provide and understanding of property rights, territory boundaries, etc.

Time came to be understood through the construction of the chronometer, which could measure the flow of time. With this comes the concepts of interest rates, hourly wages and all those things which are crucial to the capitalist system. Clearly, new ideas concerning our place (both spatially and time-relative) are vastly important to the modern (capitalist) way of life. As the ideas evolved throughout the Enlightenment's modernisation project, the reordering of time and space meant that it no longer reflected God's glory, but human liberation as a free and active individual.

Reading
Harvey, David. "The Time and Space of the Enlightenment Project" The Condition of Post-modernity: An Enquiry Into the Origins of Cultural Change. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989. 240-259

Authorial Identity

2006-08-13T22:07:00.000-07:00

Unit: Professional Writing and Presentation 212 - Fakes, Frauds and Fictions
Journal for Week 2 (300 word limit)

I admit that I first thought authorial identity was concerned with the perceptions audiences brought to the reading arising from who the author is. Things like, you expect a certain style or level of quality from a particular author. In fact, it turned out that it would include this and something more.

Authorial identity comes to equally mean that readers come to trust in the author wholly, because of the authority that they have. (Is it then surprising that “author” exists in “authority?”) This leads on to the book scandals that occur through the misleading of the reading public over the true identity of the author. I'm not sure this would occur quite so dramatically in a purely fiction demographic, as the author does not really seem to exist in the same “world” as his/her book. However, in the marketing of the non-fiction, the author truly does become the voice of authority. It seems that this is especially the case in terms of biography. It had never occurred to me that an author would reconstruct their history in order to write a book, because I guess the short of it is, why can't they just write their story and call it fiction? Well, because scandal sells, for a start. Seems a pretty sloppy way to go about marketing your book though, on scandal rather than proper quality. It is also disturbing to note the kind of racial divisions that can be widened by such books, and its all very sad if its all based on a lie to earn the author money.

Studying publishing, I find it intriguing that publishers do not hold themselves accountable, even though I would have expected that they would look into the truth of these “non-fiction” books. Who chooses to market the book as truth? It is something I would have though the publisher would get a good say on, and yet they hold no responsibility. Very odd.

I Love My Rogues

2006-08-13T04:12:00.000-07:00

Unit: Creative Writing 212-2 - Genre Shortfiction
Crime and Fantasy Genre, week 3 readings.

I intend to focus mainly on the points raised in Forensics in Fiction, as they translate into other genres as well. However, in terms of the crime genre. Well, its rather strange, but I do not find crime very interesting to read. Strange because I do find it compelling in the television format. In particular, I enjoy Criminal Intent (of the Law and Order franchise) and I think that this perhaps comes from the fact that Criminal Intent plays with the conventions of "true" crime fiction. For those not familiar with the typical Criminal Intent structure, the show begins with a series of scenes showing the audience how the crime is set up, all the way through to its realisation. It is only after this that the detection process is begun, always relating back to what came before. Clearly, the writers have been able to retain enough information to keep the audience's interest for the full running hour.

Death and the Compass fulfills the codes of crime fiction, as readers are given clues along the way that they may choose to attempt to solve for themselves, before reaching the end. My half-hearted attempt didn't really serve me well, but on looking back over the text later, I could see the clues that would have helped. The suspense is maintained and the resolution.... well, it doesn't really fulfill the reassuring purpose of crime fiction, but it is fiction. (Remebering that crime fiction finds its popularity in being able to reassure readers that the "bad guy" is always going to be caught. It also reinstates the state apparatuses that keep society in its place. In short, our existance is pretty much made clear and confirmed in crime fiction.) The Killers doesn't work very well here. Most of this problem arises from the fact that the narrative is begun from the point of view from two hitmen. It is questionable that a crime is committed, and there is clearly no resolution. If we understand crime fiction as a reassurance that the criminals will be caught, then The Killers fails. The criminals get away, and clearly plan on carrying out their crime later. There is nothing resembling any detective work. In fact, The Killers feels completely unfinished. As this was a Hemingway piece, I was rather surprised, given his apparant popularity. (The only other Hemingway text I have read is an excerpt from Hills Like White Elephants, which in contrast was well written.)

Forensics in Fiction focuses on how research is used to create a plausible fiction narrative. I believe that such research has to work well, as crime is one of the sub-genres of "the realist" genre. Audiences of realist fiction are looking for the nitty-gritty, the feel that "this is what really happens." To have crime fiction that doesn't sustain this would be to undermine itself. This should be obvious, to anyone who stops and really thinks about it. And most writers at some point do stop and think about it. Science fiction will not work if the scientific terms they use are incorrect (like Star Wars' infamous reference to parsecs as a measure of time as opposed to length) the magic of myth is broken. Even fiction has to be plausible at some level. I have quite a lot of trouble writing to the crime and science fiction genres because of the level of intricacy required with facts. I simply don't have the patience, or, quite often, the interest required to sustain that patience. However, I think that it is a common misconception that fantasy texts require no research in order to make them work. Fantasy is my preferred genre and I know that this is not true. I've spent hours at the state library researching animals that my characters can magically turn into. My co-author spent even longer reading up on climates and geography in order to make our map work properly. So, it came as no suprise that this reading reinforced the need for "truth" in fiction. It keeps the illusion and makes us believe (not simply want to believe) that whatever we are reading is in fact happening somewhere.

I think that its absolutely no mystery that I'm a writer first and a maybe-publisher second.

(And the other connection between crime and fantasy fiction? Thieves. I love the little buggers. Who can survive without being able to pick locks, I will never understand. Granted, we lose out on many things, such as being able to actually hit things and do much (any?) damage to them, and almost dying *alot* but there is just something compelling about fantastical thieves.)

Readings

Borges, Jorge Luis. "Death and the Compass." Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings. Penguin Books. 1981. 106-117
Hemingway, Ernest. "The Killers." The First Forty-Nine Stories. London: Jonathon Cape, 1968. 224-233.
Lord, Gabrielle. "Forensics in Fiction." Writing Queensland. Sept. 2004. 6-7

Woe Once More

2006-08-13T02:49:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Practice 212 - Writing for Computers
Thoughts on reading chapter 4 of C-2-C.

The more I read of this book, the more I find myself hating it.

Firstly, how presumptious is this? The authors' clearly believe that the C-2-C models they are proposing are the Gods' gift to this world. I wouldn't be surprised if they thought they could end world poverty through e-publishing. (Good luck to them on that front) During the hypotheticals in chapter 4, e-publishing was touted as a means to an end of East Timor's internal troubles. Certainly, the communication and language dispute is an important one, as language does indeed make the culture that uses it, and the introduction of computer systems that can breach the language barrier would go towards helping the issue. But, as far as I was aware, this was not the only problem being experienced by East Timor. How on earth does e-publishing help to resolve the political issues of a country in a situation such as East Timor? I think the authors really need to step back and realise that online printing is not really the most important thing in this case, because they are hailing their idea as one that will miraculously change East Timor into a completely harmonious, completely technologically functioning country (without meaning to offend or sound quite so presumptious myself, I simply cannot think of a better way to word that right now)

As a writer, I was quite alarmed by the idea that "authors and their readers are delighted to have an opportunity to interact around the creation process." Excuse me? You mean to say, readers directly influencing the creation of a book? No, I don't like that line, and the cover needs to have more blue in it, that kind of thing? ... what? It's like the current hype of J.K. Rowling recieving fan mail begging her not to kill off her main character. It's her baby and she can and will do what the hell she wants with it. I am not a fan of her work (it could even be said, I am in fact anti-Potter, although such things have calmed considerably...) however, I still find it ridiculous that readers think they should have influence over what she writes. I'm sorry, but by the time they find out whether or not the characters in question are dead or not, they will have bought the book already and she will have achieved what she wanted. Too bad. What is the point of being an author if you don't want to be the writer? And I have spoken to several writers who share my view. If readers don't like your version of events, well, that's what fanfiction is for. Again, this points to the complete disintegration of the art that is writing. And it is an art. It takes time and love and care, not just some fancy electronics and some overzealous fans. Honestly.

Now, what about the technological problems? I study at what is named the University of Technology. You can ask any student here about that title and they will most likely shake their head at the sheer irony. The University of Technology can't even get their stuff working properly. Don't even get me started on the uselessness of the online tutorial enrolment process. How on earth is an international digital publishing scheme going to stand? I shudder to think. And what about the idea that museums will no longer have inventory? What happens to archivists? And onwards goes that argument. Humans and their skills (often loves and passions) are being replaced by cold technology. In the post-modern world, where you are defined through the occupation you possess, technology spells complete destruction of the existence of human life, for right now the very point of life is to work. We are simply undermining ourselves. This is an old and very worked argument, I know. However, I and others believe that it is still a valid one.

Readings
Cope, B & D Mason. “Emerging Business Models” C-2-C, Creator to Consumer. Common Ground Publishing. Victoria, 2001. 101 - 117

.... eh?

2006-08-08T02:51:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Practice 212 - Writing for Computers
Thoughts on reading chapter 2 and 8 of C-2-C.

Well, I haven't really all that much to add. These two chapters really just go into depth about what chapter 1 was talking about. Except, it dragged on. I think they found six different ways to talk about marketing. I think. I'm not entirely sure because I found it an extremely hard 40 pages to read.

As the book was published using the technique they have so glorified, what does this say? Well, first off, that academic readings are hardly about to get easier. But then, you have to wonder... the chapters are all written by different people - what is the constant between them, other than their topic? Is there an editor present? Perhaps there should be. Never mind the grammatical mistakes. (such as saying there instead of three, and repeating a bullet point) Sloppy writing, didn't I say that (not using those words) last time I commented on the reading?

It will be good for writers... how? From their little pie chart, authors will still be payed the same, a measly 10%. Hardly an incentive. Publishers will get to focus more on ... well, what I'm not entirely sure. Surely, the role of a publisher is to *publish*, yes? Apparantly not, which leaves me wondering what the hell I've decided to spend the rest of my life doing. (There is an upside to this whole digital publishing thing, [notice however, it is simply relegated to an in-bracket notation] in that I'm not sure I really want to leave Perth. Sure, there isn't much here, but its home. This is where my life is. This is *not* where the work is. See the problem? Digital publishing could cut out this problem, but at the moment I'm still doubtful.)

These chapters also openly admit that digital printing doesn't have the quality of offset printing. It doesn't quite make a case for the digital printing process, which somewhat mystifies me, because surely you want to argue for your cause. (maybe they did and I missed/misinterpreted it. It was a hard going 40 pages.)

But enough. I have more to worry about, like how I am to get the full reading, pre-reading notes and reading notes done for CIT before Thursday. And wondering when my PHB2 will be in, because I want it, dammit! They said this week... see the dilemma created by having to order in books? You want to do this *every time* you buy a book? No, I didn't think so.

Readings
Cope, B & D Mason. “Australian Book Production in Transition” C-2-C, Creator to Consumer. Common Ground Publishing. Victoria, 2001. 41 - 75
Cope, B & D Mason. “The Book Now - Creative Destruction and the Rebirth of an Industry” C-2-C, Creator to Consumer. Common Ground Publishing. Victoria, 2001. 195 - 213

Subjectivity

2006-08-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Unit: Cultural Identities in Texts 212 – Implications of Modernity.
Notes from reading The Individual, Self and Subject. (approx 250 word limit)

This article argues that subjectivity cannot be fully explained. Mansfield instead sets out to outline the arguments and differing understandings of the term "subject."
Varying philosophers and thinkers are used as the focus of these thoughts, and are all linked together.
"Subjectivity refers to an abstract or general principal that defines our separation into distinct selves that encourages us to imagine that our interior lives inevitably seem to involve other people." (Mansfield, 3)

Freud believed that subjectivity grew with the human body as it experienced life and interaction with other beings, namely parents. These encounters alert the being to the fact that it is separate to those around it - an individual.

For Foucault, subjectivity is invented by the dominant systems that occur in the social organisation - invented so that these organisations may better control and manage us. The society is taught that the organisation of the world depends on the division of the human race into fixed and polar categories, ie sick vs well. Subjectivity is then not the result of the free expression of interior truth, but instead an exterior motive in which we are led to think about our individual selves in order to present ourselves according to the rules of society.

According to Descartes (I think, therefore I am) knowledge of the world had to wait until selfhood was made philosophically secure. As Kant theorises, in order to have contact with the exterior world, the human requires an awareness of self. (in order to make the distinction, relate to Freud's theory)

Ideas of individuality emerge as key issues during the Enlightenment period - however, it has been complicated and interrogated by the culture of the 20th century. (Most philosophy on subjectivity remains within streams of thought presented by the thinkers of the 18th century)

Reading
Mansfield, Nick. Subjectivity and Theories of Self from Freud to Haraway. Allen and Unwin: 2000. 1-24.

Oh, The Horror

2006-08-05T02:10:00.000-07:00

Unit: Creative Writing 212-2 – Genre Shortfiction.
Notes and thoughts, from readings of Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl and Horror. (unable to access The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe)

Horror: “is often used interchangeably with terror to describe the intense emotions produced by objects of fear, whether they be uncanny or sublime, repulsive or threatening.” (Botting, 123)

Horror fiction (which, as explored in Literature Studies 212 and very possibly in another Botting work, Gothic Excess and Transgression) is gothic by its very nature. Thus, you would expect to find that it uses the gothic themes – such as those of liminal spaces, doubling effects and subterranean spaces. Botting goes on to say horror's “object remains uncertain, lost among a general blurring of images.” This would be the employment of liminality, as such spaces exist neither here nor there, but rather in the middle. Liminal spaces, then, create a sense of unease through their refusal to be placed into defined opposites. In terms of Horror, Botting uses Dracula as an example of a narrative – undeath occupies a liminal space which clearly creates a sense of unease to the living.

Horror fiction itself evolves with the changing times. Wheras vampirism appeared once to be an exploration of Victorian taboo - “indeed, the strange and uncanny sensations that Harker experiences in castle Dracula are linked to a general eruption of familiar and culturally repressed ideas... vampires release repressed natural energies.” (Botting,128) However, come the 19^th century, vampirism becomes linked to scientific experimentation. Dracula is no longer a religious agent, but one whose powers are now chemical energies. (think here something like Ultraviolet, in which vampirism is a genetic mutation engineered by scientists)

Oates' Goat-Girl is then an inhabitant of the liminal space between human and animal, which Botting also explored. (using E.F Benson's The Horror-Horn as an example) “animality and sexuality conjoin to shroud a recognisably human form with the regressive features that are perceived as diabolically human. The conjunction of human shape and animal characteristics evokes horror: it is a being that refuses to remain a symbolically established place and, shifting between animal and human features, confounds what should be a definite and absolute distinction.” (Botting,129)

The horror arising from the Goat-Girl seem not to come from her animalistic appearance, but rather the human behaviour that is attributed to her. Simply, animals cannot be human. Her agelessness also appears to give some sense of unease to the narrator. The Goat-Girl's inability (or refusal?) to grow older almost grants her a sense of immortality, perhaps standing in for the ideas of undeath, blurring the concepts of linear living and dying. There are also uncomfirmed hints throughout the narrative that suggest the Goat-Girl is the child of two humans, namely the parents of the narrator. The horror here would be the suggestion that animality can be born from humans, further blurring the lines between what is human and what is animal.

That the Goat-Girl loses her daytime shyness during the night and becomes something stronger and more terrifying also lends to the horror/gothic code. After all, how many horror stories take place in the day, or how many gothic creatures take their strength from the night/moon? There is something in the darkness that terrifies man, and appears here to be the source of the horror's strength. It is by the night that the Goat-Girl takes her most human attributes, no longer content to remain in her paddock frolicking, but coming closer to the house with “her defiant posture, her glaring pale eyes,” (Oates, 500) and an apparent hatred of those that dwell within the house.

Readings
Botting, Fred. “Horror.” The Handbook of Gothic Literature. Ed. Marie-Mulvey-Roberts. London: Palgrave Macmilliam, 1998. 123-131
Oates, Joyce Carol. “Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl.” The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales. Ed. Chris Baldick. London: Oxford UP, 1993. 498-501.

Resistance is Futile

2006-08-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

Unit: Publishing Pracitce 212
Notes and thoughts, from readings of The Future of the Book.

The Future of the Book looks at just that – how the book will be available to us in the future. The short of it is that e-books are the future (hands up who didn't already know that) although, there is talk of being able to order books in hard-copy, and that a single copy will be printed out just for little-old-you and sent to you. Other than that, its just a matter of writing what you will, setting it to a particular template and publishing it. That's the gist I'm getting, anyway.

I have to admit that I don't really like what this chapter is outlining, for several reasons. Let's start with the fact that I am taking a publishing major in order to become a publisher, and already it looks like that occupation is becoming obsolete before I've even completed my degree. Seems and odd thing to make apparent to your students, but I guess we're ready for the truth of the future now.

Secondly, as a reader/book buyer/ I don't really like e-books. Okay, so it was cheap, and it meant that instead of buying the entire Sherlock Holmes collection for Lit 212 last semester I could just download the chapter I needed. On the other hand, by about page four I wished I had the story in print, rather than on the screen, because my eyes started getting a little fuzzy. Yes, I printed it out and finished reading it, but then that just goes on to say – it didn't look that good as a book. It was not aesthetically pleasing. Which didn't bother me so much, given that it was only a required reading for the unit and not something which I actually wanted to read. But I love books. I love the smell of them, and being able to curl up beneath a blanket with them. How books appear is important to me. To have one looking like nothing more than (and in truth, was nothing more than) a printed word document... I die a little bit inside.

And the alternative to this is to order the printed book and await its arrival. Well, what if I want that book now? I have some spare time between assignment, so I'll go get that book I've been waiting months to read, but damn, I have to wait until it's printed and shipped out to me, so I miss my window of opportunity. It happens, and as a student, it happens a lot. Of course, I don't expect to be a student for the rest of my life, but neither do I expect to have reams of time on my hands after university.

This goes on to say, what about bookshops? You know, places where you go, and you can sit in a corner with a book and go through it. I could spend hours in bookshops, looking through various books. No more, it appears. And what about libraries? Should we just start calling them museums?

I have an almost perfect case for this. My dungeon master gave me, and all of my campaign group, a good number of the D&D core books, something along the lines of 50-odd books, as pdfs. While it is certainly nice to have access to all of the books without having to spend on buying them, they are difficult to keep reading on screen after a few minutes, even though the pdfs are good quality (most of them) Never mind the fact that if my computer is off, or I'm not with it, I can't actually get to those books. And let's not even start on trying to share a pdf between 5 people on game night. So, I went and bought a copy of the Player's Handbook, because this is the one I really needed. Being able to wander in, pick it up and pay for it, thus making off with my gorgeous PHB was exactly what I wanted. I would have been really annoyed if I'd had to wait to buy it, just because I had to wait for a one-off to be printed for me. But wait... I did have to wait, because I wanted the PHB2 as well, but sadly they had sold out. So, I've got my name down for the next shipment, which will be in next week. So, I know what I say when I say I don't like having to wait for the book I want, when it could have damn well been there in the first place. Having to do this constantly, for every book I want to buy, well (censor language)

In terms of anybody being able to now author a book, I see this as a sad demise also. All the popular literature... I sigh. The quality of writing is in sad decline. I'm not about to go naming books I think should be burned for being a complete mockery of the art of writing, but let me say, placing the plot of an entire book on multiple happy coincidences should not take place, EVER. Alas. (I'm not saying that I think my writing is superior to everyone else out there, but I like to think that at least I attempt, very hard, to make it good writing.) Now, we're still talking about books that have publisher's approval at the moment. Think what it will be like if just anyone could send a book to “print.” Unhappy days.

There's also the matter of author protection. It's hard enough now, with everything ending up on the internet anyway, but you could imagine that copyright infringement will be so much the easier when its all there in digital form already. At least right now, someone has to put in the effort to scan/type the book again. (or steal it from the author/publisher/editor's computer)

But of course, none of this will matter. Because its all happening anyway. Eventually, we're all just going to be living through our computers, we're going to be borg. No more human interaction (hmm, maybe not so bad, but why be all vampiric if you can't actually be a vampire?)

Reading
Cope, B & D Mason. “The Future of the Book.” C-2-C, Creator to Consumer. Common Ground Publishing. Victoria, 2001. 17 - 37

Science Fiction, Double Feature...

2006-08-05T02:07:00.000-07:00

Unit: Creative Writing 212-2 – Genre Shortfiction.
First seminar writing

Okay, so not quite a double feature. More like the first 10 minutes of a movie, but I have the song (opening credits of The Rocky Horror Picture Show) in my head at the moment.

So, creative writing doesn't look to be as bad as I thought it was going to be. I did really well last semester (much owing to someone who was willing to thoroughly work over my writing assignments for me) but I thought I was going to be stuck with a tutor who doesn't like my style of writing this semester. But, fortunately, that tutor is not taking us and instead I (and the rest of the class) has permission to write fantastical fiction if we so wish. I'd like to try out the horror genre, actually, but we shall see how that goes.

We pretty much just looked at how science fiction works as a genre, and all the codes and conventions that you would come to expect from it. Thus, we were given the first 10 minutes of Blade Runner to watch. In all, we decided that it could fit under the detective/crime genre just as well as it could sci-fi. The short of it though, we had to write an appropriate character sketch of Deckard (Harrison Ford's character) in 10 minutes. Here tis. (simply my interpretation of the character, who remains the property of his creator)

Bright lights flickered through the window, reflecting against the shine of water on his brown coat. Or, at least, you could think it brown, just like his hair, but the neon blues and reds that washed over him made it hard to tell.
Hard, watchful eyes moved from a damp paper – used in a futile attempt to keep the rain away – to the vendor over the street. Lines of set anger and resignation softened a little as he realised he was finally being beckoned over, but returned with a scowl as he contemplated the short journey through the rain.
Nevertheless, he plunged himself into the street, his very defiance of the rain warding him more than his soggy newspaper or the masking umbrellas everbody else carried.
He was not one of that flock. He was the brown against the black, the weathered lines of experience amongst the faceless, the defiance against a crowd of the same.

Regression

2006-08-05T02:04:00.000-07:00

Unit: general

My tutors all seem to have a morbid fascination with journals this semester. As far as I can tell, this blog is supposed to be my journal/reading notes compilation for PP 212. Or, that's what its going to be.

At the same time, my notes for PWP 212 are required typewritten, so while they're on the computer, I may as well chuck them up here as well. CW 212-2 has no reading note requirement, but I think I'd rather keep them, so ditto for those. CIT 212 only requires a reading note journal, but hey, why not make it 4 out of 4. While I can be bothered anyway.

Don't get me wrong at all. I love my course. I often begrudge all the readings that are required, and the time it takes to do them, but I do find them fascinating when I get into them. Especially those that include theories of the gothic (sadly the literature course I was supposed to take was cancelled, so no more gothic for me) so CW 212-2 looking at the horror genre for a short time is going to go down nicely. Implications of modernity... maybe not so much, but hey, subjectivity and Freudian theory has its moments.

So It Begins

2006-08-01T04:14:00.002-07:00

Day 1

Days go on for too long if you get up too early, I've noticed. I mean... I spent the last 8 or so weeks sleeping in until 11ish, so I guess I adjusted to days only being 12-13 hours long. Now, you get up to go to uni (or work first, as it may be) and find out that there are in fact more hours... I think I'm up to 12 already and there's another 5 left before normal bed-time.
It's all university's fault.

It means I have to take the early shifts at work, then run home to get changed and then catch the bus (notice, I was late for the bus today, which is a great way to start the new semester) and kind of fell into class all breathless from the stairs, of which Curtin has an unhealthy obsession.
Two hours of discussion on how things like print media affect the personal conscience and so forth... now I'm doing a tutorial presentation on gardens and landscaping and I'm sure she'll explain how on frelling Terra that relates to the modern psyche at some point otherwise I'm gorram frelled. Which may happen anyway.

Because...

Joy of all joys, the university of technology (the irony) can't schedule anything properly and I have a class overlap for my next two.

May I say now, how much do I hate the architecture building? I don't think anyone here likes it, and my friend described it as an Escher painting, which isn't exactly what you want in a (non) functional building. Five minutes late (for the second time today) because I got lost in the useless maze that is architecture and I'm into a class containing 6 people who don't know each other and don't seem to much want to yet.

Before being able to explain why to my tutor, I have to up and leave the class some 30-45 minutes early in order to make it to my next class. This basically consisted of running out with a promise of "I'll email you to let you know my situation," much to her amusement, I believe, then running down more stairs, then up *even more* stairs (unhealthy, unhealthy obsession) to get to class number 3, this time 15 minutes late.

At least this time I get to explain what's going on.

Except, now my head is in bit of a dizzy spin because I've just run from a class entitled "Fakes, Frauds and Fiction" and that's exactly what's written down here for my new class. So, momentarily, I'm not exactly sure where I am or what I'm doing. (some people will tell you this is a normal state for me, but I would like to protest. It's never this bad)
And lo... now I am told that one of my publishing assignments is to write a blog. Which would be all fair and good except for one thing.

I loathe blogs.

The thought of them makes a funny feeling in the back of my neck.

But, here it is. Do what you will with it. I don't really care what you think of it, just like I never really cared what *everyone* (everyone in this context excludes the people I actually know and care about) ever thought of me. Now, that might seem an odd thing to say given that I believe I'm being marked on this, but it just makes my point about why I just don't like blogs... people's opinions, which seems to be the function of blogs... I just don't care. Contradictory? Yeah. I still don't care.

I'm just here to do what I do, and right now what I do is apparantly alert the world to how my degree is going. Right now, its going shiny.

First day down... 11 weeks and 2 days to go...

Alas.