Skip to content

Category: reflections

Published on

This project was less of a doozey than the last. I managed the baseline criteria: make the audio of appropriate length; use three audio tracks; adjusted the bass and treble mix of the audio tracks and went splice-happy. No licenses were used, since I generated all the audio. I used a script of two original texts: a poem from high school, and a reflection paper for my German drama class. Those (along with a ‘translation’ of both pieces to be used for the audio revision) are my source texts which I manipulated for this audio project. I recorded some strumming and chord progressions modelled around “I’d Like to Walk Around in Your Mind Someday” by Vashti Bunyan. (I justify here fair use because firstly, the song is used in an educational context; and secondly, the song was not copied in its exact original form without modification.) Altogether, I think the project well-met the baseline criteria, as I have just outlined. I will later approach aspirational criteria. read more

Published on

The Notorious Entertainment website emphasizes the name of the company front and center as well as the logo in the top left corner. The organization of the home page involves a scroll downwards, which is ushered by the downward facing arrow. As you scroll, it is revealed what the entertainment company offers as its main 4 features: DJ, Lighting, Entertainment, and Company. These features are not just listed, but appear one after another through a smooth transition, over a darkened picture representing that aspect of the company. The picture gives a shadow-like feel indicating a sense of depth and curiosity to learn more about these key features. The order in which the features are listed (in order above), is pretty accurate in terms of what is usually in highest demand and what is most popular for Notorious to offer. Contrast is offered through the use of white, Sans Sarif, crisp text on a solid black base background. This really emphasizes the bright text and vibrant images beneath the titled features. The feeling that is evoked is a sense of modern, edgy, forward-thinking vibe that would be wanted for an entertainment company. In terms of alignment, there is the scroll down on the first page of the key features as well as the menu bar which includes Home, Music, Live, Media, About and Booking pages. When the window is made more narrow, the menu bar disappears on the page and one must click a drop down menu in the top right corner to access the other pages. Because the page contains a lot of black blank negative space, the little text that appears on the home page is inviting enough to allow users to easily read and navigate the webpage. In other words, there is not a lot of clutter on the home page, which makes it easier for viewers to find their way around the website without being overwhelmed or confused.

Published on

I chose Netflix because I am on it a lot, but also I have noticed over time that they change their website design quite often. Their current website is definitely more visual based, trying to let the shows/movies speak for themselves. Netflix emphasizes their logo at the top in red letters over black, the big image featured in that viewing, and of course (because it is a business) their Netflix originals by making them appear first and the biggest. Then shows and movies are sorted into categories that all are separated by a small white header and then a horizontal line of different images. In each row of each category, all title images of the show/movie are all the same size and all lined up perfectly in a row. No image (except the Netflix originals) are bigger than that one size. Even the category headings aren't that big because the page is more important the images, but those titles do still stand out because they are aligned on the left side of the page and are written in white capital letters over a black background. All the colors on the page are very vibrant and glossy. Netflix keeps their website design simple so that we spend most of our energy looking at the movie titles and images instead, which each have their own individual ways of trying to catch our attention. To keep from the page looking cluttered, you have to click on each show/movie for more information about it. read more

Published on

For lack of a better website, I chose to look at the Urban Outfitters site since I frequently shop there. What grabs your attention the most when navigating to the main page of the site are the giant images of the featured clothes and any sales. The first thing that caught my eye was a large panel advertising 30% off all rompers and jumpsuits, rather than the actual navigation bar which appears above the panel in smaller, plain font. It is particularly interesting that the Urban Outfitters logo is very small and minimal on the page as well. read more

Published on

The website theeverygirl.com is an online blog platform to inspire the career driven female.  It is essentially a lifestyle guide for the everyday women.  The webpage emphasizes minimalistic design choices.  White background with black sans serif text create a striking webpage with similarly simplistic with colorful images lined across the screen.  Blog entries are arranged in blocks two to three wide across the page.  Their is a small navigation bar containing all of the topics as well as social media and contact links, but the page is more suited to scrolling as it is arranged chronologically.  Blog titles are in serif font and their larger size as compared to the titles in the navigation bar as well as the title of the website and logo draw attention to the content. read more

Published on

I chose to review one of the most commonly visited websites from my computer; ESPN. Going behind the scenes of the code, I quickly realized how organized this HTML/CSS can really be. We discussed in class this idea of adding code as you go that will override the most recent command, and this code looks like all of these revisions were made ahead of time, due to the lack of redundancy across commands. They also made use of a color coordination system that made navigation must more fluid, and allowed me to recognize some of the commands we covered in class on Tuesday. Overall though, reviewing this code terrified me. The simplicity of the website layout made me feel like the coding would be totally approachable, and I found it to be the exact opposite. Even with a simple layout design, the large number of Links that ESPN relies on made the code three times as long as I anticipate. At least now when I begin to do my own website design I will have some sense of the workload going into it.

Published on

I chose to inspect Google Play Music's site for this activity. The sight is minimal in organization and background color. The theme for Google Play Music that distinguishes it from Google Play Movies/Books/etc. is the color orange. Important links, prices for music, and the logo are all orange while the rest of the background is white and grey. This kind of calls back to the reading we did earlier in class where a piece of advice was to use a grey color for the font instead of black to make it easier on the eyes to read. Album and single cover art are largely displayed on the page with the titles, artist, and price located directly below the art. The user can navigate to their library or the store on the left tab and, while in the store, can navigate to the top charts and new releases in the top tabs. There is also a genre filter located next to the top tabs. Account settings are located in the bottom left corner. The left tabs and account settings stay where they are if the user tries to scroll down the page to look at different songs. Bringing your cursor over to the album cover art causes it to darken in hue and bringing it over to the title or artist causes the text to underline indicating a hyperlink. read more

Published on

This was one of the more difficult projects I have been presented with thus far in my compositional career. As an architectural studies student, I am combated with obstacles within the physical realm every day. With that, I must develop new ideas and approaches in order to make that problem unidentifiable to the masses. This idea is very similar when considering audible composition.  The problems are very clear to most, but very few people possess the skills to present refined versions of those problems as successes. read more

Published on

For this project, I chose to read a poem that I’ve recently written titled “Consuming Agriculture.” The three audio tracks that I used are the spoken track, a track of white noise, and the experimental music I found on the Free Music Archives website (http://freemusicarchive.org/genre/piano/?sort=track_date_published&d=1&page=9). The name of the artist I used is Dora’li, and the song is titled “1” on the album Unreleased Tracks. The song is in the public domain, presumably with a CC0 license, as the bottom of the page says, “The Free Music Archive offers free downloads under Creative Commons and other licenses.” read more

Published on

While reading the text “Future Ex Buys Pajamas”, I had imagined the tone of voice in my head to be an excited narration of a trip to Paris. Paris seemed mystical and high-end, and I realized the tone of the narration and the plot of the story unfolded together. I didn’t realize the full extent to which the tone of the words being spoken, played a role in painting a picture in my head as the story progressed. I only had this realization after hearing the audio recording and being completely taken aback by the monotonous voice and melancholy background music. The man’s voice sounds a bit muffled and a bit seductive. At first I thought he was just beginning the narration in this low monotonous voice, but then it just continued and I got a little bored. read more

Published on

Bresland's audio version of "Future Ex Buys Pajamas" was very different from the text version. Ignoring the minor content changes, the tone of voice was not the same as the one in my head. Bresland's tone was sort of eerie; it made the essay so suspenseful compared to the original. The ending of the audio essay seemed a little more conclusive as well, as the music trailed off, whereas in the text version, the essay just kind of ends abruptly. Overall, the audio version just feels more complete. It makes me wonder why audio essays/podcasts aren't more popular, but   from experience, I've found that it takes longer to listen to essays/books/etc than it does to read, which is probably a big factor.

Published on

I read Future Ex Buys Pajamas before I listened to Future Ex Buys Pajamas and I think think this sequence of delving into the work is rather important.  The first paragraph of the textual version leaves be believing that Bresland, if we are to believe that he is the narrator, is a highly ironic, cynical, but interesting man.  In these first few sentences, I don't perceive anything markedly strange about our narrator, other than that he likely screams "American" or "tourist" to his fellow airplane passengers.  In some sense, I empathize with his remarks about not understanding French, that everyone seems very French, and that he is in this unfamiliar part of the world.  His observation of lingerie shops does not strike me in any obscure way.  If you have ever walked into Victoria's Secret, you see this same sort of emotional response on the husband's/significant others of wives/femals who are dragging them around the mall or, those men who need a gift for that certain someone.  No, that first moment that makes me go "hmm" is when he begins to show signs of unworthiness and confusion that he is somehow a victim. read more

Published on

Future Ex Buys Pajamas was an interesting enough short story.  I didn't know, at first, what to expect from Bresland, as I've never encountered his work before.  His trip, however morbid it begins, does not seem like it will be bad.  He just seems very American. read more

css.php