Final Project Draft: Narrative Creates Technology.

Not to say that narrative creates all technology or anything, but rather that we have come to a point to where it can. The innovation of the human species is wide and varied. We develop in the range of the machine, medicine, culture, and so on with the techniques and methods that were created and then improved upon. Among these high points would also be literature, the written word. The imagination that brings about the buildings we live in and the types of food that we eat also chronicles the journey thus far, as well as projecting to where it might go. Science determines part of this through logical deduction and evidence. We are given an understanding of what we know and what we don’t know, what can and what can’t happen. And to take a step beyond the boundaries of the fully-explained, there is science fiction.

Science fiction, originally known as scientific romance, was created on the simple premise of “What if…?”, a process no different from an inventor who develops machines to do all our work. Your factory and your classic H.G. Wells tale could therefore have similar history, if at least at the conception process. Actually, the question of “What if we had machines to run the world and our very lives?”, would be more George Orwell’s style. Scientific romance gave us ideas, theories to be considered – first amusingly, and then more seriously – such as the existence of non-terrestrial beings. The influence of a book of sci-fi, or science fiction through any other media, is that it’s scientific a theory, a possibility as to what might be. And for the most part, that’s all it ever was, an idea with no firm ground or evidence to back it up. Not until recent times, that is.

The reason for it lay in the evolution of human culture itself. Whether by design or by accident, it developed from the use of industrial factories to the wave of machines devised to handle the menial labor, our basic tasks, in the area which we call Modernism. From that point, the use of machines has catapulted us further ahead, to where we have a veritable universe of data and information, capable of projecting concepts on paper only as though they existed in reality, leaving form to follow function as it is created in reality. This is Post-Modernism, the map that creates the territory before the land is secure.

Now, as stated before, I submit that in recent times especially, science fiction is one of the ground works in innovation, the narrative which drives us to develop a sort of technology along those lines. Scientists could have come across any of these ideas promoted by sci-fi writers on their own and developed them. It just so happens that they didn’t, and that some of the ideas never existed until someone else thought them up. And after the fact, science has been applied to prove or disprove the theories, and see if any of them are possible. To start with, let’s talk about Isaac Asimov. Science fiction writers tend to write about how the world might be in the future, and he has done so through many short and long stories, some of the most famous ones involving robots.

Of course, we have robots, don’t we? Plenty of them. In a sense, the definition could even be stretched to include the massive factory machines and people who behave like machines. But Asimov considered the thorough approach as to how robots might develop as thinking beings, as humanoids. This was quite a long while before anyone else considered the idea. The robot, developed as our mechanical servant, fringing on the human aspect, but never exactly human, even with considerations to I, Robot, The Caves of Steel, and the rest of Asimov’s books which were either centered on the use and overall development of the intelligent robot, or at least touched base on them in passing, creating a universe built upon the foundation of words alone.

Truly, we had machines before, but we weren’t actually trying to make robots. They’re a completely different set from the factory floor, although it was all still a commentary on the idea of machines overrunning humanity. In The Caves of Steel, there is a specific point in the novel depicting a riot where a number of people destroy a robot, in complaint that it’s trying to replace them. This is no different from workers protesting the loss of jobs to a row of automations. Science fiction is self-referencing. Many of its inceptions are developed specifically to warn us of what might happen in a future where we follow this sort of path. Nevertheless, the inspirations continue to drive us. At this time, there are already automated robots for the exploration of volcanoes, deep sea areas, other planets, and so on. It is possible to create an entirely-functional humanoid robot body with our current level of technology and people have been doing it. What lacks, what seems to be missing thus far, is the actual intelligence that removes the robot from the simple artifice. This too is being worked upon, the artificial intelligence. Sadly, it doesn’t exist yet, and that’s why we haven’t followed in Isaac Asimov’s footsteps yet. Still, the idea is that people are trying, simply because he wrote an idea in a book.

Human beings don’t just think in terms of what is. If they did, then we wouldn’t be developed as we are. A number of them have to consider what might be and work from there. Some work at it through experimentation to discover cause and effect, and that is the application of science. The point of science fiction, ever since scientific romance, is to consider the possibility of ideas that don’t exist and attempt to create the way that they might. From there, the scientist considers the idea and any development from there makes the idea more than fiction, but reality. For instance…time travel. Completely impossible, at least by our standards. Why consider it? The truth is, it doesn’t need a real reason TO be studied, but there IS a study on the theory of it and has been for quite some time. Questions pertaining to the effects of attempting to change the past and rewrite history, the problem of paradoxes, and even a technical study of the energy requirements (You would have to gut a black hole.) for such a journey. This is the product of a scientific study, ending in theories only, but the agent of its creation – the original one to conceive the idea – was H.G. Wells.

Of course, you could make the argument that these ideas were the process of a logical deduction to take a step in that direction according to scientists. But then, what you inevitably find is that the logical step was taken by writers instead. Nobody from the scientific came to them and said, “We need an idea for a mechanical man whose function is so complex that the argument can be made as to whether or not he can be considered as human, regardless of its genesis.”, thus creating the theory before the narrative. It is the job of a science fiction writer to dream up the worlds-that-might-be. Some of these concepts, such as a journey to the moon, may intersect, but they’re ultimately separate lines of thinking striving towards the same goal, that being the future of humankind. Science fiction simply got there first and we’re moving to catch up. It is the duty of a scientist to, once our respective understandings develop themselves, determine whether or not these things are even possible. And once that begins, the inevitable process must begin. If it is possible, or at least plausible enough, how might we go about making it a reality? And then, if we have the necessary processes, should we? That’s one of the very important points that science fiction has been trying to impose upon us: The danger of a little knowledge. Because in a modern world – nay, a post-modern world – knowledge has become one of the driving forces for development.

It is a matter of fact that media has become the engine of creation. That’s why I mentioned that both books and movies create the territory before us. Media (as in TV, radio, the internet, etc.) develops in the same fashion as a fiction novel when it is used in the proper fashion. The science fiction movie has the same effect as the book, only it delivers more stark visuals to the imagination rather than relying on your thoughts alone. In this way, it instills the fact under no uncertain terms, not necessarily open to interpretation unless otherwise indicated. Therefore, you see the way a future with robots is handled by human beings, or how a dystopian world of advancement and holocaust might appear. These future worlds might never occur. Or, they may exactly occur. It all depends upon how we humans develop, versus what we might create between here and there. Of course, the world already has a few troublesome cues from science fiction floating around. This is an information age, where everybody’s name is attached to a serial number and machines are all around us. We live in modern, fabricated structures, many of us even living in copy-and-paste design apartments and suburban households. There is also a dependency factor. Do we run the machines or have they been running us? We could very well end up as external parts to their existence, since we need them to live at this point. Sound familiar? It sounds disturbingly like George Orwell’s 1984. Granted, George may not account for the post-modernistic aspect of our development, but that may just be a stepping stone towards the trap of his narrative. So far, he’s not too far from the mark. But in the meantime, there’s another similarity that I can think of that fits more precisely, which in turn is just plain scary.

Let’s take a cue from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, otherwise known as Blade Runner. This is a perfect setup. To begin with, the world as we know it is fully-capable of developing this way. There are enough nuclear weapons around to destroy life as we know it in a World War Terminus, first of all. That sets the Blade Runner stage. We also have developments in space travel and an interest in Mars, which may have once supported life. That sets the premise for a mass exodus from Earth. Furthermore, we have the technology to alter the genetic development of a species and/or even clone it. The androids of Blade Runner are not machines, as the term would immediately bring to mind. Philip K. Dick considered the possibility of creating human-like androids, due to the lacking population and requirement of people being able to handle a human face, not a cold and unyielding one. All completely possible at this point. Animals of different types have already been cloned, tested, tweaked, and reduced to a science of replication as is. The one thing, the only thing, preventing the idea of cloning humans, actual living humans or the near-equivalents that Blade Runner’s androids represent, is a morality issue. Ironically, that’s one of the premises in Dick’s book. Do the androids, our creations, have a soul? Was it right to have ever made them so human-like before, to the point that they’re ‘more human than human’? Should the world be wrapped in a nuclear chaos that eliminates nine-tenths of the population, the morality of clone creation would probably be waived.

The point I am driving at with Blade Runner is the idea of knowledge before the idea comes to development. In the book, many people are supported by the belief in a man called Wilbur Mercer. It’s effectively a religion, if not actually so. They have empathetic devices to ‘connect’ with his ideals and understandings according to the way in which Mercerism was developed. And this is the pillar of strength which people attach themselves to in order to continue life, day in and day out, on an otherwise ruined world. Now, we have the androids – our product of science – coming after the fact and telling us that Mercer was never real. He was an actor in a series of films, a fictional character with no true origin. If there is no Mercer, there is no Mercerism, right? Wrong. Because one of the main points of the book is that it didn’t even matter whether or not he ever existed. He was instilled, as a piece of fiction, to become a form of reality.

Rough Draft

So I will start off by saying I really do not know how to present a rough draft for my project since I am doing a creative project. For those of you who do not know I am doing an interactive project that has to do with the inside workings of the House in House of Leaves. The main objective in the game is going to be to try to enter and escape the House.
The journey is going to start when you get a call from Karen asking you to come explore the House, sort of like how Holloway was brought into the story. You will then be able to choose from three different main objects into the house: a gun, a camera, or a bike. The story will then take you to the Great Hall where you can choose to go down the staircase or to explore the corridors in the Great Hall. From this point on the stories all differ.
The main point when you chose the gun is going to be that you have to face an actual monster in the halls instead of the growling just being the changing of the walls. Depending on which way you chose you may or may not actually encounter the monster.
If you choose to bring the camera in you will not actually face a monster, but the growls will be the House shifting its insides. Even though there will be no monster in the picture during this scenario there are still many ways to die. One of the ways I tried to take my story in a different direction was to have the house be a medium for time to. One example of this is during the camera portion where you continue down a long hallway and are faced with harsh winds and three men on the horizon, who later you find out to be the men from the Jamestown colony.
Finally if you choose the bike the story will pretty much follow the story that actually happens in House. The main difference between my story and the actual story is that you do not survive if you do choose to go through the corridors and through the window.
I decided to write this program in MatLab, since I already have background in the language. The code will most likely be very long and redundant, but hopefully the final result will pay off.

House of Notes - DRAFT

Note that for this work, I will commonly use "Danielewski" to refer to author Mark Danielewski while using the stage name "Poe" to refer to his sister Annie Danielewski.

At a very simplistic level, it is clear that Mark Danielewski's work in House of Leaves connects to Annie "Poe" Danielewski's work in her albums Haunted and Hello. The fact that the albums have tracks titled Five and a Half Minute Hallway, Dear Johnny, Angry Johnny, and even House of Leaves should draw an obvious parallel. However, Poe's work does more than simply reference the work of her brother. The two mediums collaborate much more closely, and Poe's albums connect with the novel at both a lyrical and musical level. Likewise, Poe's music shares similarities with Danielewski's writing by reinforcing the idea that things are not always what they seem. Haunted and Hello have the potential to impact a listener's/reader's view of House of Leaves by reinforcing many of the ideas perpetuated about the novel, its characters, and entertainment as a whole by Mark Danielewski. The albums allow the reader to pick up upon subtle nuances of the world Danielewski has created via the theme of contradiction. Poe's albums do not reinvent these ideas but rather clarify them for readers of Danielewski's work.

Contradictions are a prevalent theme for both Danielewski and Poe. Poe's work is quite clever in that it commonly appears to contradict itself as well as Danielewski's work. For example, the track Five and a Half Minute Hallway may initially seem to stand in stark contrast to Danielewski's representation of the dark, mysterious, polymorphic hallway that appears in Navidson's house. Danielewski portrays the hallway and its branching corridors to be dreadful and frightening. Given that, one would expect the music of a song named after the hallway to be very moody, atmospheric, or even chilling. However, Poe takes a different route and the musical score of Five and a Half Minute Hallway is slow and mellow. It is completely devoid of the jarring noises and dark undertones one would expect.

By creating such a drastic contradiction, Poe forces the listener to truly consider House of Leaves and the point Danielewski makes. When the song's lyrics are considered, a parallel can be drawn easily enough to Navidson's trek back to the house proper after the rescue attempt on Exploration #4. Stranded at the bottom of the Spiral Staircase, Navidson has to try his best to journey out of the labyrinth. Considering the height of the staircase based upon Tom's dropping of a quarter, Navidson realizes his situation is essentially hopeless. However, he moved onward regardless. Rather than succumbing to fear or even madness, Navidson prevails by focusing on his family. His thoughts of Karen save him as he remembers her "as vividly as possible. In as much detail. Eventually [he] went into this daze and the hours began to melt away. Felt like minutes." (323)

While Navidson has a rather optimistic take on the matter, it should still be clear that it would not be physically possible for him to walk a distance greater than the diameter of the Earth on the small amount of food and water he had available. Rather, Navidson's thoughts literally transformed the hallway into a much smaller, shorter rendition which allowed him to reach Karen. While a reader might be tempted to give the whole matter up to coincidence and luck, Five and a Half Minute Hallway completely nullifies that possibility. While stuck in a "hallway that keeps growing", Navidson did not give in to hopelessness. Instead he achieved some degree of inner clarity in thinking about Karen. He was able to convince himself, just like the song's lyrics, to continue for just a little bit further. Navidson's level of peace melds perfectly with the song's folksy quality and is suggestive of tranquility. Thus readers/listeners come to understand that while the song contradicts the hallway, it is only superficially about the hallway to begin with. Instead, Navidson's journey is the true focal point of the track. The song does not allow the reader to miss the nuances of the house which prove that it, much like the song itself, is not entirely what it seems and can be altered by the mindset of the individual within.

Poe's contradictions do not stop there and indeed they become even further invested in themselves as the album progresses. The track House of Leaves initially seems to be a song which matches with the novel perfectly. Only after further consideration can it be seen to possibly contradict. Just as Danielewski layers the narrative throughout the novel, Poe likewise layers the meaning within each of her tracks. Nothing can be taken at face value without deep consideration.

The track initially seems like a perfect fit for the book since the entire feel of the song is extremely dark. The score is slow and deep, with occasional high-pitched elements screeching forth at seeming random. The composition would seem quite fitting for a horror movie and thus likely mimics the feeling that most readers would assume the house to give off. However, the song is not merely an instrumental and in the background another track plays. Similarities arise again; Danielewski has a story inside of a story in his novel House of Leaves while Poe has a song inside of a song in her track of the same name. The song is Dominique, a French song by The Singing Nun. Dominique clashes profoundly with the track House of Leaves. It has a very upbeat, almost jovial tune about it. When listening to it, once can almost imagine a Frenchman walking down the street in the middle of the 20th century with a spring in his step, humming the tune. The lyrics themselves are even positive. It is about the man Dominique who goes from sinner to believe, lonely to in company, starving to fed. Essentially, Dominique believes and good things happen. (Song Facts)

The instrumental for Poe's track fits quite well in relation to the house depicted by Danielewski. By the same token, Dominique mirrors Navidson himself during his previously described escapades surrounding Exploration #4. However, the two contradict one another sharply. As the track plays out, the parts of Dominique being played in the background are frequently overpowered by the dark overtones of House of Leaves and the cacophony it can generate. Again, though, it serves to emphasize the same point as Five and a Half Minute Hallway. Navidson was against the odds as the house attempted to overpower him in his return to Karen. By having faith, this time in himself rather than in a higher power like Dominique, he was able to overcome. By layering contradictions on top of one another, Poe again forces the reader to understand the nature of the house and the factors which allowed Navidson to persevere where others, such as Holloway, failed.

Another track, Dear Johnny, establishes no direct contradiction of its own but instead chooses to focus on a contradiction Danielewski himself uses in the novel. A superficial reading of the novel might lead one to consider Johnny's predicament as his own fault. After all, Johnny's life has become dominated by putting together Zampano's work with The Navidson Record. To regain his life, Johnny simply has to stop working with Zampano's material. However, this is yet another facet of the novel which cannot be simply taken at face value. Instead, a deeper inspection is required to see that Johnny's mental state will not allow him to stop working with Zampano's material. He has no choice but to persist because he believes that, to some degree, he is a product of The Navidson Record that, in a monumental contradiction, he is not creating it but that it is creating him. In reference to Zampano's material, Johnny actually claims that "... this thing has created me..." and goes on to say "... I am nothing more than the matter of some other voice". (326) He even takes such an idea literally when he says Zampano is "trapped inside me, and what's more he's fading..." (338)

Johnny's ideas may seem little more than nonsense, especially to readers who refuse to believe that his mental state is anything other than normal and healthy. To such individuals, the possibility for Johnny to simply walk away from Zampano's work may still exist. Poe's work with Dear Johnny refutes there being any possibility for Johnny to move against the act of re-creating The Navidson Record. Not a typical song, it consists of just over two dozen words that form a message to Johnny, ending with the demand of:

"Bring me to the blind man who
Lost you in his house of blue."

The line forms a command, issued to Johnny to bring forth Zampano. Of course, since he died Zampano himself cannot literally be presented. However, the line can be understood to mean that bringing someone to Zampano is the same as bringing his work to light. The track essentially acts like a voice in Johnny's head, telling him to finish his work. However, in this case the lyrics alone are far from settling the matter. Rather, the instrumental score solidifies Poe's case. Much like House of Leaves, the song features strong, dark undertones. It also features occasional high pitched effects, such as whistles. A piano appears sporadically to add an almost haunted feel to the track. Most importantly, a gong rings out in the background at set intervals. The overall effect achieved by the gong is to supplement the dark atmosphere with some degree of profoundness; it signifies that something deep and important is taking place. Given the musical score, the command posed by the lyrics becomes something more. It becomes an ultimatum.

Johnny's inner mentality is not just suggesting he should continue Zampano's work. It is not even ordering him to finish it. Instead, it is giving him absolutely no choice in the matter with the implicit threat of worse consequences should he choose otherwise. By focusing on the contradiction that exists between Johnny's point of view and the actions of a rational person, Poe forces the reader to understand Johnny's plight. He is not completing The Navidson Record out of any true desire of his own to see it completed, beyond the possibility of containing it, or to honor Zampano. Instead, he works on it because in the recesses of his mind the decision is not his to make.

Surprisingly enough, one of Poe's most contradiction-laden tracks comes from her Hello album. The track, Angry Johnny, presents the listener with contradictions in every form possible. The track is melodic with soft, almost sensual vocals. While the tone alone would not likely make anyone listening believe the song to be laced with happiness, it would also not indicate that the song is about murder, which is precisely the case. The easy, smooth track that could be found in a jazz lounge is mixed with lyrics on the various locations, mindsets, and composures for committing murder.

The music video for the song adds yet another dimension to the contradiction. Poe is shown on a bed amidst various objects suggesting romance: pictures, hearts, flowers, and chocolate. Such visuals support the jazz room-like quality of the music, and as such they clash just as strongly with the song's lyrics. It is not until after three minutes into the song that the lyrics are sung with a more aggressive tone and visuals such as a skull with a candle are used to remind viewers of the true meaning behind the song. While that meaning could easily stand alone, it also correlates strongly to Danielewski's depiction of Johnny.

Repeated throughout the song is the line "I want to blow you... away." The initial connotation the listener is likely to develop is sexual before the line finishes, denoting murder. Poe draws a connection between sex and murder; one turns into the other. It makes another contradiction since, at least in a pure sense, sex would suggest love while murder lends to hatred. The connection is not an empty one, however, especially when considering Johnny and Lude. Before being overwhelmed by The Navidson Record, Johnny's life is a menagerie of drugs and one night stands. He and Lude both revel in their ability to sleep with dozens of women a month and getting nothing out of it beyond carnal pleasure. Regardless, when Johnny considers a list compiled by Lude of women he slept with in a month, he adds his own notes on their past, all of which he assumes to be horrific. Included are comments such as "hiding from a stalker", "had her first abortion when she was twelve", and "date raped last year". (265) He assumes all of these women to be emotionally damaged.

The encounters Johnny and Lude have with women are nothing more than that, encounters. There is no substance to them beyond sex and thus no relationship ever develops. While it would certainly be a stretch to say that Johnny typically ends up hating the women he sleeps with, on many occasions he wants no further encounters with them and, suffice to say, many of the women feel the same about him. For instance, after his night with Amber and Christina, Johnny notes "...Amber chuckled a little and kissed me a little more, but in a way that told me it was time to leave." (37) Indeed, it seems as though the best result from any of Johnny's "relationships" is mutual apathy.

Johnny constantly fantasizes about finding a perfect person and, in true dramatic fashion, deludes himself into thinking that he has fallen madly in love with whatever woman happens to catch his eye on a particular evening. Love never truly enters the equation, however, and in the end Johnny seems to care nothing for the other person once they are finished sexually. While no literal murder has taken place, Johnny's constant streak of sex essentially leads to the death of his own ability to consummate a serious relationship. It essentially leaves him as a hollow person who is relatively unhappy, despite any temporary pleasures he may experience. It may even be the reason why he and Lude tend to hook up with emotionally traumatized women who are not likely to want to develop a relationship in the first place.

By forcefully establishing such a strong contradiction throughout Angry Johnny, Poe exemplifies how Johnny's constant sexual exploits never lead to love like one would expect. Rather, love is ideologically murdered and replaced by emptiness. It lends a new depth to Johnny's character that a reader may otherwise miss and simply assume Johnny must be a happy individual who is doing exactly what he wants.

Just as Danielewski and Poe are siblings, their works are siblings to one another. House of Leaves, Haunted, and Hello all portray the same messages, often achieved via the same means. By constantly using contradiction throughout her work, Poe is able to draw attention to some of the more subtle messages found within Danielewski's writing by forcing him or her to consider the circumstances and details which relate the two pieces and which allow the contradictions to make sense.

Works Cited

Danielewski, Mark. House of Leaves. New York: Pantheon Books, 2000.

Poe. Haunted. Atlantic Records, 2000.

Poe. Hello. Atlantic Records, 1995.

Song Facts. http://www.songfacts.com/lyrics.php?findsong=2053 - Dominique English translation.

chapter nine

.... i was researching HOL and i found this...its a footnote tree of chapter nine...just click on the picture..i think its interesting (i found it in a article from pittcat)

Project Proposals, etc.

I have now read and commented on your project proposals. These are (as you'll be reminded if you look at the syllabus) graded, as with any other formal blog entry. Those of you who posted both an original and a revision (on time) are guaranteed at least a B. Those who had something highly detailed all got an A. Those who didn't post revisions got lower than a B. All of them have potential -- some of them, though, will require a lot of focusing before they'll work well.

I'm moving on to other issues (freshman papers) for the next couple days, so if you have questions or problems as you work on your drafts, you could follow up blog posts with an email. I will be around for most of Monday for anyone who needs to meet me (although my open times are rapidly filling up).

I plan to promptly read and comment on your drafts (that is, I'll have them all commented by Wednesday, hopefully early on Wednesday). My second goal is to catch up on the backlog of papers from when I was more or less bedridden. What I'll probably do is email all of you grades and very brief comments. Please accept my apologies in advance for the brief comments, but if I commented them properly I might not be done until finals week, which seems like an even worse idea than just giving you short comments.

Final Project Proposal

I am actually really unsure what I should do my final project on so to be safe I am going to use one of Professor Johns' prompts as my guideline. I am going to choose Prompt #2, which is the one about Jimmy Corrigan. Like the prompt says I am going to research the significance of the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1983 and start from there. Right now I am unsure of where I am going to take this idea but I am sure during my research i will find plenty of ideas to build on.

Revised Project Proposal

Instead of rewriting my project proposal and posting it as a comment to my original proposal, I'm doing this instead. Eventually it will also end up as part of the actual project.

Gdansk

10 points to Adam for correctly remembering, self doubts aside, that Gdansk is named Danzig in German. For anyone curious, even when Germany lost a great deal of Prussia after World War I and Poland was reinstated as a nation-state, the Treaty of Versailles did NOT return Danzig to Poland. Instead, it remained the "Free City of Danzig" under control of the failed League of Nations.

I think it's safe to say that Germany wanted Danzig back. When the Wehrmacht began aggressions against Poland in 1939, regarded as the beginning of World War II, one of the first things done was to bombard Danzig. When the Soviet advance eventually lead to the capture of Danzig in 1945, the city was almost entirely destroyed. It wasn't until after the Postdam Conference that Danzig was returned to Poland and was once again known as Gdansk.

It has something of a violent history, to say the least.

Final Project Proposal

I would like to do a final project that is an interactive novel. However, I will include a "human" line and "cyborg or computer" line and incorporate various thought processes involved for both a human and a machine.I’ll be presenting ideas represented in Blade Runner and I Robot. The “adventure” in both the human line and robot line will introduce the audience to dilemmas that can arrive from both conscious thought and “robotic” or programmed responses.

Final Project proposal

I would like to do a project focusing on house of leaves and movies. I would like to further research some of the movies referenced in the book as well as movies that I thought of while reading the book and discover whether or not there are a deeper connection between the two works then just the obvious similarities and differences. I would also like to research some of the inspirations for the book house of leaves and see what conclusions can be drawn about why one inspires the other. The last part I would like to incorporate into my project is what the internet community has to say about the house of leaves and the different movies that may have been inspired by the book or the book by the movie.

I still have to work out all of the particulars about what exactly I want to do but I definitely want to examine the films that relate to the book.

Final Project Proposal

I've had a lot of trouble coming up with ideas and have had a stressful week so honestly I haven't thought too much this but i think my idea works.

The thing that interested me most in the class (Other than Johnny's rants) was the idea of interactivity so I want to explore what it is, what constitutes it, etc.. My main focus will be with reality TV though (hopefully thats fine). Whether or not shows such as American Idol and others can truly be interactive or if we really have no control over outcomes (or if they really make a difference). Like I said I haven't given it a ton of thought so I haven't done enough research to say for sure which is correct, but in my opinion I think it can be interactive. We can choose winners, contestants, prizes, and more. I know of a few websites like realityblurred where I've read various articles on this in the past that I'm sure I'll be able to dig up. Other than that all my sources will obviously be web-based since interactivity with tv is relatively new thing and I don't believe there's any books out about it.

Final Project Proposal: Scientific Management

I will expand on my blog post about scientific management and how it is involved in my work as a Master Electrician. I will document how scientific management affects the preproduction process for every show.
My final project will not completely be an essay. I plan to include samples of actual paperwork from preproduction meetings as well as paperwork that I prepared for the workers that I was in charge of. I will also including samples from productions in which I was a laborer and how I changed the process when I was the manager, similar to how Taylor describes the work process before he started applying scientific principles to each work situation.

Final Proj. - Inverted Choose Your Own Adventure

As I discussed in class, there have been two things that really caught my attention during this semester. One, a quote from Haraway: “Single vision produces worse illusions than double-vision or many headed monsters”. The other was the Choose Your Own Adventure, “Cup of Death” by Shannon Gilligan This interested me because it made me get involved and feel as though I was part of the story. My intention is to try and combine these two interests and make one of the greatest final projects in the history of final projects . . . Actually, I just hope I pass it and not fail miserably.
With the structure of Choose Own Adventure books so unique, I thought I would toy around with it a little more. Relating to the part of the quote “… many headed monsters”, instead of starting with one story line and branching out, I will start with many different ideas of what the quote could mean (along with other ideas from Haraway) and slowly link them all together into one final thought and conclusion about her ideas. It will be an inverted structure of a usual Choose Your Own Adventure story line.

Final Proposal: Kubrick Films

Stanley Kubrick is considered a lot by the book House of Leaves. Mainly by two of his prominent films; The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey. By watching the films 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Shining, I can understand better why Danielewski included these films in his book. I want to understand why he included the “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy” lyrics from 2001: A Space Odyssey. I want the readers to understand my views and how I understand the movies references in the book. I want to watch the movies and figure out the similarities and differences in the book and movies. I want to go even further by researching the films and finding out more about what Kubrick was trying to create when going about the films. The counter example would be that the films The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey does not have to do with the book House of Leaves at all. I want to show that there is a connection somehow. I have not seen the movies yet, but as I can tell from researching this the films are kind of like the book in a way of how it twists and turns.

Final Project Proposal

In class, Jake had mentioned something to the effect of about how fictional media plays a role in reverse engineering of technology from that work of fiction (I forget his specific example). That got me thinking about how star trek has things that have caused the same thing like with the cell phone and I elaborated on that in class so I would like to do my project on that. My thesis statement so far is: The world of Star trek manages the threats of a technologically advanced society, conveys its narratives (within the series), influences the technology that’s developed today and questions societal norms.

I’d definitely include some books on this subject, though I don’t have any specific ones picked out yet. I did a PittCat search on this subject the other day and I got a ton of results that hopefully are helpful to support my thesis. I also intend to use material from Bill Joy and maybe Lyotard.

Final Project Proposal

As I said in class, I would like to do something involving video games. Now I wasn't quite sure about what to do with the project but after reading another project from a previous class, I think I have a good idea. What I would like to do is compare and contrast the effects of video games from the Nintendo era to now with the X-Box 360 to playing Zork. By effects I mean the narrative of the game, game play, reactions and interactivity of these games. Also I would to examine the effect of being able to see what a player is doing say on Halo 3 or Assassin's Creed as compared to just reading text like while playing Zork. I think that I still have some very rough edges here and any comments or ideas would be helpful.

Now my thesis is something along the lines of this: Modern day video games give the player more of a choice in what they do while still using the predetermined narrative and story lines. Also, interactivity while playing such games is higher then playing games such as Zork due to the fact that we can see what we are choosing to do. a counter argument to this would be: Video games today do not give the player a choice. They force the player to follow the prompts and go and do what they have already predetermined.

Interactive Essay

Ever since I brought up the idea of an interactive essay in class I have been thinking of ways to make it work. Seriously, for some reason I have become really excited to work on this thing. My essay will start out on the broad topic of technology and then break off into two choices so far (biology, narrative). From Narrative it will break into one of two example narratives (narratives in music, written narratives) and at this level you will be able to choose from two narratives(the odyssey, house of leaves). Then it is basically on to some sort of discussion about concept albums and how they relate to narratives and technology depending on which choices you make. The prospective concept albums thus far include:[Poe:haunted, King Diamond:them, conspiracy (both make up a larger story), Ahab:call of the wretched sea, Mastadon:leviathon, Dimmu Borgir:in sorte diaboli, and my most important one (which is actually a 24 minute song and not a full concept album) Symphony X"the odyssey")]. I have actually thought a lot about this and have a fairly comprehensive decision tree (that grows with every good idea).

Final Proposal - AI and Nova

My goal for this final project is to expand my interest of science to this class. I want to delve deeper into Lyotard’s essay. Lyotard mentions that philosophers are wasting their time discussing answerless questions (if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound), where philosophers should be focusing on the advancement and continuation of human thought. As of now we have some ideas in artificial intelligence, but we are very far away form creating a continuation of human thought after our sun’s nova. I want to discuss where we are at with AI (i.e. robots, sensors implanted in brains that can give direction to a robot arm), the forces that we will need to overcome (i.e. how powerful the nova will be etc) and what kinds of super materials are known now (various carbon cables, metal alloys etc.).

A counter argument could be that looking for a way to advance and or continue human thought is hogwash because we will never be able to pursue it. Or, these answerless questions are baby steps in the learning how to think at such a level where this idea of continuation could be plausible. Also, with the invention radio and television, we have been broadcasting our thoughts and ideas throughout the universe, so we already have the technology to continue human thought, even though itself (radio/tv waves) will never evolve or anything.

Final Project Proposal

For my final project I will write a paper about the collection of interactive videos on youtube, and using our discussions of the definition of "interaction" I will explain whether or not they can actually be considered to be interactive, probably using one specific set of videos as an example. My focus will be to give a insight as to why these interactive videos are becoming popular and how they are affecting our society, if at all.

I also liked the idea of making your own interactive video to put on youtube so if I have enough time I might try to do that as well, relating to either House of Leaves or a national occurance, depending on whether or not something in the news or on tv peaks my interest.

Interactive Fiction as a Final Project

For my final project I decided I want to do an interactive story that takes place inside Navidson’s house. I will let the user choose between 2-4 different main objects to take into the house, and due to that the house will change according to what they pick. I think this would work well as an interactive story because the house changes around the personality of whoever enters or whatever they are thinking, this is shown once when Karen is thinking about Navidson and he appears. I will use this to create a form of interactivity for the user.
To make this story I will use some sort of programming language that I have background in, most likely MatLab. In this program users will be given multiple choices and the program will change around what they choose to be there next step.