"What is Style?" Part 2

Peer Review Recap, Part 4

Looking back at past readings, looking forward to the essay about the movie-making process

YouTube/Low-bridge videos: Are they good? Are they bad? Are they writing?

Peer Review Recap, Part 3

There are obviously clear patterns as I take a look back in time to parts 1 and 2 of the peer review recap. It's safe to say that my classmates agree that sometimes you get clear, concise, thoughtful comments that actually help when revising your paper. They would also agree that sometimes you get useless comments, jotted without much thought at all, by someone who wants to make sure they get credit. At the beginning of this process, I would have expected nothing different. When it comes right down to it, it depends how much effort you really put into editing. The same way you can neglect to leave any helpful comments on a paper that you can edit on google docs, you can breeze through a paper that you're holding in your hands and not make one mark with your red pen. I think what you wanted us to get out of using these online peer review forums is that "times-are-a-changin'" and paper copies of just about anything are soon to be obsolete. We not only need to be open minded to the idea of using them, but capable of actually using them effectively. What have I learned about myself you ask? I've learned that while I still can, I'm going to instill in my students the value of doing things without the use of the newest technology before editing a paper with a pen becomes laughable.

Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 2

The comic that I chose to re-analyze can be found at the following link:

http://www.drewweing.com/pup/04pup.html

One aspect of this comic that wasn't addressed in the blog that I found it in is the length of the panels. Specifically, the length of the third panel in comparison to that of the fifth. The third panel is about three times longer than the fifth but there's not a whole lot more detail to the drawing comparatively. However, the time in which the cat spends thinking about what "Pup" is thinking is expressed in the length of the panel. The panel wouldn't seem abnormally long if the last panel weren't much smaller and pushed to the right (the comic starts aligned to the left). Prior to reading The Invisible Art, I never looked at the panels themselves as being able to have a significant impact on the comic and its meaning.

Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 1

After poking around the net for a while for a funny comic I just decided to use one of McCloud's. You can check out "Junk Bar" here:

http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-19/mi-19.html

The first thing evident about this comic is the shape. I doesn't just read from the left to right side of the page and then down to the next line. I would describe the shape as more "snake-like." McCloud says "we seldom change direction except to re-read or review passages. It's left-to-right, up-to-down, page after page" (105). This particular comic doesn't allow the reader to choose the direction of the story, per say, but it does offer some variation that draws the readers attention.
The second thing I noticed about this comic is the number of similar panels in a row and the strategically placed gutters. In reference to the amount of time a reader may spend looking at a panel where a pause is being represented, McCloud poses the question "But if the creator of the scene wanted to lengthen that pause, how could he or she do so?" to which he answers, "One obvious solution would be to add more panels" (101). The top row of panels has three of Frank in virtually the same position, which tells me Stu didn't give Frank "The usual" immediately after he asked for it. On the sixth row (from the top) of panels, you see a gutter between Frank and the mysterious color man, let's call him. On the seventh row, that gutter is gone. This may not have to do with time but it certainly means that mysterious color guy has been engaged at least non-verbally by Frank and Jimmy, as opposed to before where he was separate.
Lastly, mysterious color guy wouldn't have a name if it weren't for his one distinguishable characteristic: color. McCloud states that "The surface qualities of color will continue to attract readers more easily than black and white..." (192). I'm sure I could try and determine what the mysterious color guy symbolizes, but that would take too much effort. I know for sure that he sticks out just for the simple fact that he's in color, and the others aren't.

Picturing Texts on the web

The site I chose to analyze is http://mgoblue.com. I frequent this site to get all the latest Michigan football happenings, as well as keep up with the men's and women's hoop squad. They just recently changed this format of the site to bring it into the 21st century and it definitely has a better sense of balance. Before, all the important links were aligned to the left and the entire right side of the sight was sort of empty. Now there are headlines, features and pictures to the left, schedules and poll results in the middle, and videos and external links to the far right. As a result of spreading things across the page, not as much scrolling up and down is needed to view all the information on the page. As far as comparison and contrast are concerned, there is much of both. Right off the bat you notice the contrast of numerous shades of blue, accented with white and maize colored links. Different categories are listed side by side across the top (under the advertising, of course), which basically gives each division equal status, since none of them are higher or lower than another on the page. I don't see any metaphor being embodied but maybe they updated their site because they updated their head coach... it's obvious one update has worked more in their favir than the other.