So much to see, so hard to find

I decided to try this little exercise, too, and I discovered that it’s actually really hard! Like so many of you, I tend to use the same sites – MyBama, Facebook, YouTube, Blogspot, Shutterfly, and a few others – over and over and over again and don’t spend a whole lot of time exploring all there is out there on the web, even though I know there’s tons of cool stuff out there just waiting to be found. So I’m really pleased with all the stuff you guys found and I have to say that I struggled with this “assignment.” So kudos to you guys!

With that said, here are some sites I particularly like.

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com

Since I’ve brought this site up in class a number of times, I’m sure it’s no surprise that it tops my list. I love this site’s general tone – intelligent, smart-ass, literate. It’s a very text-heavy site, so it would be easy for the design to be really poor, but I think they’ve done a good job in making it easy to read and use. While the recaps can be long, I like the fact that they are broken up into fairly small textual segments (makes me think hypertext) because reading on a computer can be hard for most people, myself included. The forum design is clean and easy to navigate. I especially like the design changes that have taken place over the last couple of months as the site has been incorporated into the Bravo channel’s family. I like the pictures that are now up and I like that they didn’t totally throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak, and have kept a number of the distinctive pre-Bravo design elements.

http://www.okaydave.com

This site makes me feel so bad about my own website. I’ve been looking at this site a lot as inspiration and trying to emulate some of what I see here, but it’s not working the way I’d like. I love this site and really love looking at Dave Werner’s work. This is what an online portfolio should be – a very intimate, very up-close look at his work. Very polished and professional. I’m so jealous I could spit every time I look at this site! But, in truth, it actually motivates me to do better in terms of my own web design.

http://www.levitated.net/daily/levTremaFieldWhite.html

I learned how to use Flash (though I would still consider myself a novice) in 2004. It’s very cool and it’s really not that hard to use once you get the hang of it. However, it’s very time-consuming to make even a short, simple piece. So it’s kind of nice to look at some of the little pieces here and realize that you don’t have to make something really big. Some of the littlest Flash pieces pack a big punch.

http://www.whedonesque.com

While this site is not much in terms of design, it does what it is designed to do and I like that it is a collaborative site that members add information to. The goal is to provide a central hub for news and information on the Whedonverses (the “universes” created by the television writer Joss Whedon, creator of the legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The coolest thing about this site is that Whedon himself posts periodically and he’s very passionate and eloquent when posting about his work and his core concerns, particularly women’s rights issues. I love a man who’s such an unapologetic feminist!

http://www.vh1.com/
I decided to check out Vh1’s website because I haven’t been there recently and I wanted to see what it was looking like these days. I love a lot of stuff on Vh1 – lots of trashtastic pleasures like Rock of Love and Best Week Ever and I Love the…(whichever decade, part whatever)! Plus, my best friend is an executive at Vh1 and we talk a good deal about her work and she’s always sending me the latest update about new shows and specials to check out. I was pleased with a lot of things I saw on this website in terms of design. While there’s a lot on this page, surprisingly, it doesn’t feel overly cluttered and I think that is because it’s got a coherent and cohesive look in terms of colors and design motifs/themes.

5 interesting web pages that aren't the usual social networking fare? I'll try not to be unfair and use slashdot or bash.org, since I've already used both in this class as examples.

1. xkcd This is by far the best webcomic online. I'm not even going to justify it. Read it, fear the velociraptors, and pay attention to the xkcd warning.
"Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors)."

2. STEAL THIS FILM I just think the site design is cool. Enough said, next.

3. Pandora: the Music Genome Project Pandora is internet radio, but better. Their experts judge music by thousands of criteria. All you do is tell them what music you like. They provide similar music, which you've probably never heard of. It is good. Enjoy.

4 Google Ok. I didn't want to do this. But I'm afraid I have to. I'm including Google because I feel it's been left out of our discussion. Everyone's favorite search engine is the most powerful force in "Web 2.0." By the way, Web 2.0 doesn't exist. It's just AJAX, or, more specifically, one line of code that allows the user to change content on the page they're loading without refreshing the page. It isn't a big deal. But Google IS a big deal. While my high school economics teacher and Steve Ballmer(watch for flying chairs!) may claim that Google is just a bunch of fluff, that's bull and we all know it. Google really is defining the way we think about the internet. They have the best search engine ever. Their corporate philosophy is "Do no evil." They provided us with goodies like Google Earth. They bought YouTube. Their corporate headquarters offer free gourmet meals, along with 10% of your time being devoted to your own projects. Google is by far the coolest company on earth, and they're doing what it takes to stay on top. I mean, look at Google Labs sometime. It's pretty incredible, no?

Some may accuse them of being evil, or of knowing more about the average Joe than the CIA, FBI, and Joe's wife combined, but Google hasn't brainwashed us all yet. Or have they?

5. StumbleUpon A word to the wise: if you start Stumbling, you will never do homework or go to class again. What is StumbleUpon? I'm cheating, as it's not really a webpage. StumbleUpon is a toolbar that you can install into your Firefox or, god forbid, Internet Explorer browser. You click the Stumble icon, and StumbleUpon takes you to a random page. Except it isn't really random, it's based on your interests and previous ratings of sites. Bored with facebook, myspace, and all that? Just Stumble, and you could be reading a life-changing article, or maybe witnessing an amazing flash animation. I found the end of the internet while stumbling, along with instructions on writing, and an explanation on imagining the tenth dimension. But I'm also posting this about 37 hours late. I blame StumbleUpon.

5 Interesting Sites

Postsecret.com is a great website for anyone that is bored or finds humor in little things. Postsecret.com is a community where people send in secrets they have anonymously to a website, and then those secrets are posted online accompanied by some sort of image which really makes the secrets come to life. Most of the secrets are for comedy, but some are serious. It’s very interesting so check it out!
ABC.com is a site I go to at least once a week. All of my favorite shows are on ABC so I always check out the web to see what happened in Desperate Housewives or Brothers & Sisters if I missed an episode. I can watch entire episodes without commercials on this site and that is a plus in my book. Also, the layout is not too symmetrical and not too crazy either. It is pleasing to navigate around.
Addictinggames.com always finds me somehow whenever I am bored to death or want to practice my online beach volleyball skills. This site has hundreds of games and will keep you busy for hours. The layout of the site is not too exciting as it simply lists games and provides a thumbnail graphic for each game, but the site isn’t supposed to grab your attention. It is supposed to hook you up to never-ending Internet games.
Bored.com is a great source for interesting sites. This place will hook you up to instant fascination if you end up being bored enough to go to Bored.com
Yahooligans.com is a blast and will make you an instant comedian. You will be the hit of every party, and your friends will think of you in a whole new light. An example of the quality of this site is this joke- “Why should you never take a shower with pokemon? Because he might pikachu!” If this isn’t pure comedic genius I don’t know what is. So what are you waiting for? Go to Yahooligans.com now!

Top Five

1. deviantART - This website is one I've mentioned before. The main page displays recent contributions ('deviations' as they are called on the site), the most popular deviations, and prints for sale (options for prints include: canvas prints, photo prints, mouse pads, coffee mugs, coasters, postcards, refrigerator magnets, jigsaw puzzles, and calendars). I encourage you to take a look at it when you have a spare minute or when you're just trying to avoid doing homework.

2. IMDB - This is a great place to look up information about box office hits, upcoming movies (through the year 2010), classic films, your favorite actors and characters, and films-in-progress. You can also watch trailers and clips. However, this site is not exclusive to the film industry; you can also find pages dedicated to your favorite tv shows and actors, and even some philosophers, authors, poets, et cetera.

3. Brainy Quotes - This site is an endless source of insight in the form of thousands of quotes from authors, poets, comedians, actors, artists, philosophers, religious figures, scientists, athletes, professionals, and musicians. You can browse through the plethora of quotations by the first letter of the author's surname, the subject of the quote, or the author's occupation or livelihood. At the bottom of the main page there is a list of the most visited authors among whom are: Aristotle, C. S. Lewis, Nietzsche, JFK, Emerson, Oscar Wilde, Winston Churchill, Einstein, Voltaire, Benjamin Franklin, Shakespeare, Martin Luther King Jr., Lord Byron, Virgil, and Mohandas Gandhi. One can also find the quote of the day on the home page. Today's is "Faith is spiritualized imagination." - Henry Ward Beecher. The site is not very aesthetically exciting, but it is easy to navigate through and it is a good source of information and entertainment.

4. Reference.com - Exactly what it sounds like. Users can browse through entries from encyclopedias, dictionaries, and thesauruses. Most of the entries come from the Random House Dictionary or The American Heritage Dictionary. Great for when you're doing a research paper and you're looking for a synonym for a certain word. Very easy to use.

5. TIME - A good news website that is easy to navigate and provides information about the latest news in politics, religion, health, science, business, technology, and entertainment. The site also provides an opinions page that displays the opinions ordinarily seen in the magazine. It also features a page dedicated to blogs authored by TIME magazine employees, and multiple pages for TIME's famous lists (e.g. People of the Year, Pictures of the Year, Best Websites, Cartoons of the Week, Crimes of the Century, etc.)

Alright, so this assignment didn't really sound all that exciting, but I had fun hunting down this cool looking websites. Most of them I log onto regularly anyway, but I had to do a little bit of searching. Anywho, here they are....(in no partiuclar order)

1. http://www.inrainbows.com/ Aside from being set up by the single best, modern, British rock-band, the website is pretty ballin. The color scheme is the first thing that someone would probably notice, as it is pretty far out. When you think about it, the rainbow design is pretty much a nescessity beacuse of the album name (In Rainbows). Anyway, the website is very minimal; very little text and very few links. I love it.
(P.S. Buy the ablum)

2. http://www.fordvehicles.com/ Yeah, its a motor company website. But its so cool! The site utilizes a lot of flash and java stuff. The colors are pretty normal, but they way that they're put together gives off a pretty welcoming vibe. I like how the focus of the webpage is aligned to the left side, while the right side is blank. (P.S. Fords are better than Chevys)

3. http://www.bungie.net/ Bungie is a video game company and their website focuses mainly on their greatest accomplishment....the Halo game series. The site is pretty interesting with the blue grid background. The main column of links and stuff is centered in the middle, which is not as cool as if it were aligned left or right, but it makes everything pretty symetrical. But the site really gets cool when you get into account profiles. Check out mine: http://www.bungie.net/Account/Profile.aspx I really like all the pictures. (P.S. Halo pwns)

4. http://www.apple.com/ Okay so Apple computers are complete macs (hahaha). Apple is always find new and creative looks for their products and their website is no different. The colors are pretty subtle and stick to the company's theme or whatever. The site is cluttered with links and info and text; the main page mainly contains advertisements and a few links. The bar across the top offers easy navigation and looks cool. (P.S. Windows Vista blows)

5. http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/ I think someone probably already linked this website, but its no wonder why; the site pretty much rules. The main page always has an awesome picture from its gallery on the main page, which contains a short introduction. The black background combined with the white text makes everything pretty easy to read. (P.S. Download some awesome wallpapers)

Five Cool Sites

I am on the internet a lot, but it is usually one of three sites: Facebook, MySpace, or MyBama. There are a few other sites, however, I sometimes like to visit.

• First, there is www.google.com. I use google to help find just about everything. Just yesterday I "googled" articles for a research project I am doing, and later, places to eat. The design is simple. It is pretty much just a white background with some colorful letters spelling out "Google". It is very easy to use: just type in whatever you are looking for, and in seconds, you have pages of results.

• Another site I really like is www.addictinggames.com. I visit this site a lot when I am bored, or, as with most of my time spent online, if I am procrastinating. All of the games are free, and as the name implies, very addicting. There are multiple categories to choose from, my favorite being the strategy games.

• Since our last blog assignment, I have been going to www.bash.org. It is a very entertaining site. Once again, I mainly visit this site when I am putting off working on a project or homework assignment.

• Another fun site is www.blogthings.com. As I wrote in my last post, it is an online quizz site. For the most part, it is just a fun way to waste time. My favorite ones are the silly "What kind..." quizes. For example, "What kind of breakfast food are you?"

• My last one is www.bored.com. Another procrastination site, this page has links to all sorts of games, quizzes, jokes, pranks, and music. I recently checked out the "Dumb" category and found some pretty funny dumb laws. For example, in Alabama it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time. Hhmm... who knew?

Websites

Five websites I use besides MySpace, YouTube, and Wikipedia:

Yahoo! - I use yahoo for my personal, non-school related email. I also use it as my primary search engine, to check out new movies, check the weather, and look up driving directions. Yahoo has just about everything I need.

Clipaday- clipaday.com is another video website I like to use besides YouTube. It mostly offers humorous or extreme videos. It doesn’t have near the amount of videos that YouTube does, but it has some good ones that YouTube doesn’t.

eBay- I am a bargain shopper, so I love to look for things on eBay. I have saved so much money by buying things off of eBay.

DCI- dci.org is the homepage of Drum Corps International. I am a huge drum corps fan, so I use this website frequently to try and stay up to date with my favorite corps. The website is very well-designed and useful. It has links to direct you to all the Corps homepages, as well as videos, pictures, and news updates.

911Tabs- 911tabs.com is like the Yahoo of guitar tabs. I just type in a particular band or song and it will search for all the existing tabs for that band or song. It even gives you the ratings that the tabs received to help you choose which one you would like to try. It is very user-friendly and well-designed.

My Five Favorite Websites

I am constantly on the internet. Whether it is for school or recreational use, I pretty much spend about half my day on the internet. I have been exposed to a ton of different sites, and I have come up with five of my favorites (not including YouTube, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc.) These are not in any specific order.

1. Yahoo! Sports is probably the website that I use the most. It pretty much provides me with most of the sporting information that I need (since I want to be a sportswriter). If you are interested in sports, I would like to point out that my favorite columnist on there is Dan Wetzel. The organizational quality of the website is very good, and it makes it easy to navigate. My favorite part about it is the ability to establish a Yahoo! Account, and then register your favorite teams. Then whenever you open up the Yahoo! Sports mainpage it shows all of your favorite teams on the right scoreboard. It is extremely useful for the fast access to scores from your favorite teams.

2. Scout.com and Rivals.com
These are essentially recruiting databases for college teams. Since I'm a sportswriter and avid watcher, I constantly find myself using these sites to get updated information about college football and college basketball recruits. They become much more useful if you want to pay to subscribe to their sites. This opens up videos and hundreds of articles about all the different high school players. Rivals.com also puts out a weekly update on the rankings of the different players currently in college. It's always nice to look at and see some Crimson Tide players in there.

3. Gamefaqs.com
Yes, Game FAQs is one of the better video game sites out there. My favorite features include the polls, contest, reviews, forums, and gaming help. If you need help on a video game or want to see what people are saying about video games, then this is definitely a site to use. It is also registered as my homepage because I love their polls and contests.

4. mugglenet.com and Veritaserum.com
Since I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, I am constantly looking for new information about the books and movies. These sites are both great because they provide polls, news, forums, trivia, and just about anything else that you can think of. If you are a fan of the books or the movies, you should definitely check out these sites.

5. Lids.com
As some of you may have noticed, it is hard to find me not wearing a hat. I have a large assortment of them, and I constantly find myself needing more. Stores just don't provide a large enough selection for my taste, so I turn to this website. Lids.com has just about every kind of hat that a person could ever need, and it earns its place as my favorite online shopping website

I also like:
www.amazon.com
www.espn.com
www.edsbs.com
espn.go.com/dickvitale/index2.html

These are only some of the many websites that I enjoy.

Five Websites

My use of different websites is pretty limited. The main ones that I use are sites that I check to see if anything has changed; for example, Facebook, MyBama e-mail, and electronic banking. There are a few others that I like at though.

1. www.holliesquotes.com

This website is a quote database. Made by Hollie, a recent graduate from the University of North Carolina, it contains thousands of quotes and has been up and running for about five years. It is extremely easy to navigate, with links on the left hand side detailing the different types of quotes to choose from. Each page is set up essentially like all the others; same color scheme, layout, etc. This creates a form of consistency and helps the reader keep a connection with all of the pages. Aside from the well -organized layout, the contents of the page are, in my opinion, exceptional. Quotes range from miscellaneous sentiments about love and friendship to lines from T.V. shows like Dawson's Creek and Grey's Anatomy. My absolute favorite aspect of the site is the "Quote of the Day" feature, which as it's name suggests, is a link that provides a new quote for everyday.

2. www.regscoffeehouse.com

This website is the homepage for the radio show Reg's Coffee House. It serves as a partner for the show and includes posts of recent play lists and even the option to listen to past shows online. Similar to Hollie's Quotes, I think that the set up of this site is well organized and easy to follow. All of the options are listed across the top, including Reg's Bio and a photo gallery. The center of the main page displays a few of Reg's thoughts over the week, which I enjoy because it gives the viewer a deeper look into a few of his favorite songs for the week. Overall, I think that this site serves as a great companion to the radio show. It provides all the information given on the show, plus more, and is presented in a clear and understandable manner.

3. http://www.azlyrics.com

This website is one of the many online search engines used to look up music lyrics. It is the one I use the most and find most useful. The process is pretty straightforward - the letters of the alphabet are presented across the top, all the viewer has to do is click on the letter of the artist in question. Once a letter is chosen a list of artists and bands with that letter are given. After selecting an artist, a list of their albums is presented with each song following underneath. Once you click on the song title, the lyrics are there. The site contains a vast array of songs, and I have hardly ever not been able to find the lyrics that I needed. This website may not be the most interesting one out there, but it serves its purpose well.

4. http://www.tv.com/

This website does for television shows what az lyrics does for music. Like the others, I find its set up to be arranged well and easy to use. It functions as an informational source for almost any t.v. show made. Each show has its own page that contains episode summaries, quotes, mistakes, and reviews. All of these facts allow a viewer to catch up if he or she has missed an episode or review an old season before the new one begins. It even has videos to watch and its own blog for the viewers to contribute to. This website remains one of my favorites as it continues to be accessible and updated frequently.

5. http://www.bored.com/

This websites contains thousands of links for bored people to busy themselves with. The choices range from games, to online pranks, to quizzes and trivia. As its name suggests, this website can keep you busy for hours. The layout is easy to follow, as each different section has its own box that has the different activities listed in it. Each activity has a brief description beside its name, which helps the viewer decide if he or she wants to click on it or not. Overall, the website has some pretty funny stuff on it, although it can be a bit corny at times. It ensures that there is something for everyone with all the choices it has, and it serves as a decent way to pass the time if you ever find yourself that bored.

So there they are; not extremely interesting, but I like most of them.

Five Favorite Websites

As a word of warning, not all of my sites are amazingly cool looking or interactive sites. Most look decent, are organized very well, and keep me informed on various subjects (books, games, and movies)

www.blizzard.com
-Yes, I am a Blizzard gaming freak. I have played and beaten every WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo to date. So I like the main site to Blizzard. While it is not simply amazing in its presentation or architecture, it is organized and keeps me updated on games being developed by Blizzard, and it has links to all Blizzard game websites. Some of which these websites, such as the StarCraft II website, are really cool.

www.square-enix.com
-For the same reasons I like the Blizzard main website, I like Square-Enix website. While Blizzard games are really cool, each entry in the Final Fantasy series is an epic. I like to keep up with the most recent Final Fantasy games, seeing just how far technology and the series has come in the past 15 years. (The original Final Fantasy was on Nintendo if I recall?) The site is well organized and looks decent.


www.digitalblasphemy.com
-This is a site I believe every person should visit. It has some of the coolest looking wallpapers and screensavers for a computer. The site itself is not set up in a novel way, but it is very well organized. You have to join to see some of the really cool stuff, but even a passerby can look at and download a lot of neat wall papers.

www.starwars.com
-Oh yes, you knew someone was going to do this. I am a StarWars fan. I have every movie (most on VHS), and I have played many of the video games. (Knights of the Old Republic and Battlefront are the best) I also really like their site. The opening page looks pretty cool and it allows any person who comes upon it to access anything they could want in StarWars. From the movies, to the video games, to the Fan based 'expanded universe', to the books, etc. The list goes on and on. If anyone is a StarWars fan, they should consider peaking at this website from time to time.

www.space.com
-I have always been fascinated by the stars and the idea of space travel. So this is one of my favorite sites because it keeps me updated on everything that is happening in space. From satellites, to shuttle missions, to NASA-ESA joint missions (such as the Cassini-Huygens mission to Titan), this site keeps me informed on everything. It is very well organized and looks decent. Like all my other websites, it may not look amazingly cool, but it has high marks in everything else that I think matters (organization, updates, variety of material, links to other interesting and related sites).

And those are my top 5.

Vampire Freaks!

-Are you a mallgoth, cybergoth, emo, metalhead, or punk? Well, if you are, then there’s an online haven just for you. And if you aren’t… who cares? You’re mainstream-VampireFreaks.com provides a cyber community dedicated to self-proclaimed “gothic industrial” peoples. It can best be described as the vampire version of Myspace.com. The site has over a million registered members and receives about three million page views a day. This online community is quite successful (considering its name), and attracts a diverse group of vampires.
The idea of a social website for the vampire world may seem silly, but it actually makes a lot of sense. There are no such creatures as vampires on Earth, but there is a following of people who portray the lifestyles of vampires. These people obviously will be rejected by mainstream society and not be considered “normal”. Because most people don’t consider themselves vampires, the vampire population is small. I would also assume that all of the vampires in the world don’t live in one location, so that would mean that a vampire would have a hard time being around a good sized population of other vampires. Being a follower of this vampire cult must be lonely.
In today’s world no one has to be truly lonely. All anyone has to do is acquire an Internet connection, and they can be connected to everything: information, people, music, movies, pictures, etc. This website, VampireFreak.com, is definitely a perfect way for a vampire individual to be around other vampires just like themselves. The lonely vampire registers, creates a profile, uploads a picture, gives some personal information, and then an entire vampire community can reach him or her. Being in such a small population such as the vampire one would cause its members to need to interact with one another, and VampireFreak.com lets them do just that.
Members of VampireFreak.com range from the ages thirteen (the minimum age allowed) to over forty. Men and women are both part of this community, and profiles state that users are located in places such as Poland, France, Texas, and China. This website has brought together a vast number of vampire followers and let them talk with each other, see each other, and feel more at home with themselves by seeing so many others just like them.
Jethro Berleson created VampireFreaks.com in 1999, as his own personal homepage, and over the next eight years it has conglomerated into a website with over a million homepages for vampires across the world. Browsing through the profiles is very interesting. The pictures alone of the users are very bizarre and creative, but the text found on the profiles is even more out of the ordinary. The user PlutosKiss describes the Earth he lives in as a “Rancid oven”, and another user displays tattoos of pentagrams on his profile background. While these profile examples may promote the VampireFreak title, a lot of users list mainstream bands, and shopping as their interests. A lot of the users on this site are just like anyone else but with a Vampire twist. I am sure Jethro is happy at how huge his creation has become, but he is probably even happier that so many vampires and industrial gothic people can come together in one place and thrive upon the community they have just like any other community.

bash.org

I'm not sure how relevant this it to our class discussion, but it's very fun and interesting. And it's probably relevant, on some level.

http://bash.org

A quick word of warning, there are no content filters on this site, and much of the humor is very crude and is possibly offensive. You're reading it at your own risk, even if at my recommendation.

I introduce you to bash.org...one of the most amusing websites on the internet. What is it? Well, the short story is that it's a quotation database. But not just any quotes. All the quotes are formed online, in IRC, chatrooms, or where ever people happen to be discussing things. Most of the quotes are cases of cleverness, idiocy, or just amusing excerpts of conversations that various people online are having. If you've ever read the phrase "Aight, I put on my robe and wizard hat" online, you're witnessing quote number 104383 in action. This quote is in the top 100 bash quotes, and it's somewhat of an internet phenomenon. The top 200 quotes on the page are all pretty funny, even when you're reading them for the 8th time.

I'll leave with one of the milder quotes from bash:

[Thumb] do you know of any major organizations that are similar the CDC?
[Lucent] who?
[Thumb] center for disease control
[Lucent] i said WHO
[Thumb] what? i'm asking you
[Lucent] World Health Organization

"deviantART: where ART meets application!"

While surfing the net for this blog post, I found an interesting site called deviantART. At www.deviantart.com, members can publish their individual artwork and get feedback and constructive criticism from other members. The comments one can post about certain contributions can be considered evaluations and critiques of said contributions. As in most cases, the critiques are not always objective, and are sometimes fallacious. However, this site is good because it makes art more accessible to the public and allows for freedom of expression in its contributors. On the main page there is a running counter of all the contributions to deviantART. The site receives about 60 per minute and, as I write, is in the 40 millions. The website itself tries, as best as it can, not to over-censor the content its users publish so as not to hinder artistic expression. The things one can post on the site run from illustrations and paintings to graphic art and photography. Membership is free and does not require that you contribute anything, but does come with posting and publishing privileges. One can, however, simply browse the site and the artwork on it without being asked to join. This is a site worth your while, whether you are killing time surfing the internet or have an interest in keeping up with artistic technique and progression.


http://www.deviantart.com/

Online Quizzes

I was searching for a blog to write about and came across blogthings. Not exactly what I was looking for, but I think it is interesting. It is a site full of quizzes ranging from silly ones such as "What Color Crayon Are You?" to wanna-be serious ones such as "Should You Live With Your Boyfriend?" I remember taking these kinds of quizzes in middle school just for fun, and I admit, I took a few before I wrote this. I found out I would be an evil pumpkin face and my karaoke theme song is "Margaritaville." I can't help but wonder, though, do some people really take these things seriously? I mean, if I were thinking about moving in with my boyfriend, an online quiz would certainly not be the place I turn to for advice. Are there people out there that really go to these quizzes to find answers to questions like "Should You Break Up With Him?", "Is He a Keeper?", or "Are You Pregnant?" Come on now, seriously? This last one just amused me, so I had to take it for fun... good news! It turns out, I'm probably not pregnant, but I should see a doctor to confirm! Thank you Blogthings!

Check it out if you get bored:
http://www.blogthings.com/quizzes/
Enjoy,
Rachael

Behind the Screens

Okay, so I’ve been thinking a lot about the question of whether technology makes our lives better, easier, happier, more fulfilled. The techie side of me wants to believe that technology helps us, takes us a step closer to a higher level of human endeavor. That’s the Star Trek side of me and it’s a very strong influence on my thinking, perhaps because I’ve been watching Gene Rodenberry’s beautiful vision of a better future for humanity since I was a very little girl (actually, since I was in utero, as my Mom devotedly watched first-run episodes of ST:TOS while pregnant with her eldest child). And Rodenberry’s vision was of a future in which technology enabled connection – warp drive spaceships and transporters propelled humans into new galaxies and onto new planets and, in the process, those humans met and, often befriended, the alien races that inhabited them. Technology literally brought humans (and humanoids) together.

However, anyone who knows science fiction knows that the Star Trek vision of the technologically advanced future is a utopian one, and there are plenty of dystopian visions that have long haunted those who imagine the future and its possibilities. I’m currently really caught up in Battlestar Galactica and that series’ central conflict – between humans and their rogue robot creations, the Cylons – embodies some longstanding fears regarding technological advances. The idea that our own technology might turn against us and consciously and methodically attempt to annihilate or enslave humanity is one that’s been at the heart of much fantasy and sci-fi and the question at the core of one of my favorite novels, Frankenstein. We have to be careful, lest we create monsters.

But robots and transporters and warp drives are all still but gleams in the eyes of dreamers. Our technology, while advanced, is still a long way away from being able to create an artificial intelligence capable of instigating genocide on the human race. Still, I think it’s worth asking what dangers lurk in our hard drives and how our ever-increasing dependence on technology is affecting our behavior and lives. That’s why I wanted to focus on technology for this writing class and it’s what is driving much of my own research. And, as someone who tends to have a positive and open-minded attitude toward technology, I find it necessary to make myself take the other side on occasion just to keep myself honest. Yes, technology is cool. It’s fun. If we keep at it, one day we’ll have those transporters and warp drives (okay, maybe I’ll draw the line at Cylons!) and our lives will be all shiny and wonderful just like in Star Trek. See, there I go again being optimistic. Time for a little healthy skepticism.

To that end, I’ve got a few articles that I came across over the last couple of weeks in the New York Times that raise some questions about some of our current uses of technology.

The first one, “E-Mail is Easy to Write (and to Misread),”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/jobs/07pre.html?em&ex=1192248000&en=15cb9ed482ae7136&ei=5087%0A showed up on October 7, 2007 in the Job Market section of the Times. I’ve long been concerned with the issue of e-mail as a communication tool and this article articulates some issues I’ve been talking to students about for some time.

The second, “Generation Q,”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/opinion/10friedman.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Thomas%20L%20Friedman was Thomas Friedman’s op-ed column on October 10. It’s not so much technology-oriented, but he suggests that what he sees as the passivity of current 20-somethings is at least partially enabled by the Internet. He makes the point that real activism requires us to engage with the real world, not the virtual one. Not sure how I feel about this – I certainly think there’s a vast sound of silence all across the country these days – but not just among 20-somethings. And I’m not convinced that online activism is impotent. But I’m intrigued enough to want to think more about this.

Finally, “The Fakebook Generation,”
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E5DB1730F935A35753C1A9619C8B63&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Contributors was a piece that appeared on October 6, 2007. The author, a recent Ivy League graduate, asks a great question about halfway into the piece about whether Facebook “enrich[es] adult relationships.” She’s right that those of us who use Facebook have been using it to essentially create these “stories” of our lives, narrating every event, momentous or not as if our lives depended on it. And yet, as she notes, it seems that this tool designed to bring people together has only “made us more wary of real human confrontation.” I wonder if that’s true. It seems I prefer to “talk” to people via computer than either on the phone or in RL. What does that say about me? About all of us who feel the same way?

In thinking about each of these articles and really pondering the disturbing questions they raise, I’m beginning to think that we hide behind the computer screen and we are becoming, not the brave and daring pioneers who man the USS Enterprise, rather we’re becoming cowardly, too afraid to face our own human fellows, much less new life and new civilizations. Are we burying our heads in electronic sand?

My Sports Blog

I figured this would a great time to bring to your attention that I run my own sporting blog on Sportingnews.com. It's basically on Alabama Athletics. I basically just provide an objective view on things that are going on for (right now) Alabama fans. I post one or two times weekly, and I would really like for you all to check it out.

The address is:

www.sportingnews.com/blog/nleibengood

-Nick

Post Secret

I decided to write about a blog for this post, but I was not sure which one, so I went to Google and typed "blogs" in the search bar. The result was pages and pages of websites and links to almost anything that mentioned the word "blog." I decided to go with an article from the TIME magazine archives titled "5O Coolest Websites: Blogs." The list included blogs on sports, celebrities, food, and even motherhood. Each link has a brief description of the site under it, and I eventually went with the blog under "Confessional Art" called PostSecret, which was described as being "a fascinating public airing of private thoughts . . written on homemade postcards." What I found turned out to be, in my opinion, interesting, entertaining, and at some times shocking.

The blog was created by Frank Warren; however, he is not the main contributor to it. The posts found on the blog are from people around the country that e-mail their deepest secrets to Frank, who decides if these secrets are worthy enough to be put on the blog. The secrets are presented in three ways - video, audio, and virtual postcards.

The postcards are updated every Sunday and are the easiest of the three to view. Each postcard displays a different picture that was specially designed by the secret teller.
The secrets on the cards range from humorous to somewhat upsetting. For example, one jokingly reads "my mom's mullet always embarrassed me," and yet another grimly states "I wish the drugs would stop working . . . so I could cry again.

The most fascinating aspect of the site, and what makes it relevant to our class discussions, is the fact that EVERYTHING is posted anonymously, even the video and audio. This reminds me of our study of identity online. By posting their secrets online, the users unknowingly create an identity for themselves online, and in a way give away part of their real life identity. By allowing every secret to remain anonymous, Frank gives the users a place to vent and get things off their chest without actually telling those that know them.

I think the idea of anonymous posts is intriguing. It allows bloggers to put their ideas out there and get feed back on them without actually involving their name. I think that in some cases it is a better alternative than creating a fake user name; an anonymous user is more truthful than someone who has completely altered their true identity by creating a false one online.

All in all, I think this blog is definitely worth looking at. Here's the link - postsecret.blogspot.com

Urban Dictionary

I decided to share the site known as “Urban Dictionary”. Most of you have probably heard of it, but I figured I would share it anyway. I think that urban dictionary is great. It has multiple definitions for pretty much any slang term or phrase there is. If you hear something in a song or on t.v. and have no idea what they are talking about, you can go to Urban Dictionary’s website, type it in, and have the definition in a matter of seconds.

I feel like this website is relevant to our classroom discussions because it shows how our technology is advancing. People don’t need to know just the contents of Webster’s anymore. Speech has evolved into something just as complex as the technology we use today. If you don’t think you are up to date on the current lingo, just go to urban dictionary and catch up. Also, it can enlighten people on what they are listening to in these oh so popular rap songs. Some people go around quoting these songs not knowing exactly what they are talking about when they use these quotes. People might start deciding against listening to some of the music they had been listening to if they found out what the rappers were really talking about. This is where Urban Dictionary steps in.

I hate being around a group of people and not knowing what they were talking about or watching a t.v. show and not getting a joke. I normally go home and type in all the slang terms they used that I didn’t understand into urban dictionary and figure out what they were talking about. Urban Dictionary not only has slang terms, but also has explanations of references people use in t.v. shows. For example, I was watching a show the other night where a guy was being scrutinized about everything he was doing until he finally just snapped and screamed “leave Brittany alone!” I knew what he was referring too, but if someone had never seen the Chris Crocker videos on the internet, then they would never know what the joke behind that was. If you were to log onto Urban Dictionary and type in the phrase “leave Brittany alone”, it would bring up an explanation to the phrase and show how it was used.
I think Urban Dictionary is very useful and entertaining. If you would like to visit the site, just go to http://www.urbandictionary.com

Online Music Identity Theft

So I was navigating the information superhighway when I suddenly remembered this homework assignment. So I went to google.com, just as I always do whenever I am searching for an article, and typed in these three words, Online Music Identity. I found an interesting tale of identity theft that began with simply sharing music online.

For those who want to read the article, check here:
http://www.komotv.com/news/archive/4179946.html

For those who want to know why the article is relevant to our blog - read on.

I recognize that online identity theft is a rare occurrence and it is not anything to be paranoid about while cruising the web or downloading/uploading files. What I found interesting about this article is how much was stolen from these people just because a few crackers (there is a differenc between hackers and crackers) hacked into the Jackson's home computer. Apparently, this family did most of its business, such as paying bill, on the internet. The Jackson's also stored much of their personal information, such as bank account numbers, cell phone accounts, etc., on their computer.

I can remember ten years ago, hardly anyone used the internet to handle bills or taxes. A comprable amount also did not store personal information on a computer. Now, such business and storage transactions are commonplace on a person's computer and the web.
Why are such actions important? They reflect a change in society that is based from technological advances in the computer industry. Now that computers have a variety of uses, people are beginning to use them for more of their day-to-day business - from paying bills, to watching movies from Netflicks, to shopping at Amazon.com and eBay.

Society's increased usage of computers and the internet to do its business also makes identity theft more of a problem. My question is:
As computers become more advanced, will society's use of computers and the internet
increase despite the chance of identity theft and the increasing damage it could cause?

P.S. No I am not trying to say ban the internet, burn computers, or the anything of that nature. I actually love the internet and a fast computer. I am merely raising a question that has important impacts to society.

Yeah...

I guess it will be kind of cool writing a collaberative blog page thing together. See everyone in class today.

"The Growing Importance of Blogs"

Hey, guys. I found an article on the web that relates to what we were talking about on Friday. Here's a link for it if you're interested: http://www.southernct.edu/organizations/rccs/news/blogs.html. This article was written by Terrell Ward Bynum, and speaks to the significant impact blogging has had on our society in recent years. In it, Bynum discusses some pros and cons of the blog, or 'Web Log'.

"Some blogs...can be very influential if the persons who create them are interesting personalities with important or provocative things to say... [and] can be effective means for people to promote themselves and their pet interests; and some people find them to be psychologically fulfilling tools for self expression."

I found this next little story particularly interesting in that it shows what a tremendous influence blogs can have on world events:

"During the 2004 United States presidential election, Gov. Howard Dean was the first presidential candidate to make very effective political use of a blog devoted to his campaign. Bloggers from all across America flocked to his blogsite, making comments, volunteering to help with his campaign, contributing money to his cause. Dean surprised himself and all his political opponents by raising over 50 million dollars and becoming the Democratic front runner until the primary elections were held."

The next excerpt could be considered a pro and a con:

"...some blogs have become “news sources,” publishing stories like newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. Some of these blogs are very partisan, publishing highly “slanted” stories as if they were genuine news. People working for these blogs began to call themselves “reporters,” and some were even allowed into the White House Newsroom with nationally known reporters from the major networks."

To me, this suggests that if you're going to get your daily news from a blog, you might also want to consider comparing it to and/or contrasting it with another news source to see if there are major differences, and to make sure you are getting your information from a reliable news source.

In the final paragraph of his article, Bynum relates a story from March of 2005, in which news bloggers in California leaked inside information of the Apple Computer Co. When they were taken to court, the bloggers claimed to be reporters and demanded to be protected by laws which state that a reporter does not have to disclose information about a source. The courts are now grappling with the question of whether or not to treat these bloggers as reporters protected by the shield law. Whatever their decision, it promises to be a landmark one that will affect internet users for years to come.

Sky

Boobs, Bubbles, and Business!

Hey! Well, we get to post our first posts!

I have no clue what to write about because I am composing this blog on such short notice, but I think I have decided to tell you guys about some new music that is dominating my iPod's repeat feature. And they are...

1) "Everything" by Michael Buble
2) "Bubbly" by Colbie Caillat
3) "Misery Business" by Paramore

You might not have ever heard of these artists, or you might be sick of them. But I don't care! These songs all have different sounds that are unique to the artist. Michael Buble's "Everything" resurrects the music of the late, legendary Frank Sinatra. With his smooth, deep tone, Michael's voice grabs your attention the moment you hear it. Listening to "Everything" is like going back in time and becoming lost in a more relaxed world. Its simple, upbeat melody immediately lifts your mood. Definitely check this song out, but don't be surprised when you catch yourself frequently humming the tune throughout the day.
Browsing on Myspace Music one night, I came across a song called "Bubbly". The song's relaxed nature drew me in at once. Most of the songs I hear today blast verses at me, blare choruses, and then replay the less-than-ten-word-chorus that I've already endured eight times, but Colbie's "Bubbly" does the opposite. When you listen to the song, its subtle, down-to-earth lyrics will actually make you want to listen to the words, not ignore them. The song is so very personable. The lyrics, written by Colbie herself, describe the feeling everyone has experienced when they are around someone they adore. This song is perfect for anytime you are with your boo.
Unlike the first two songs I have reviewed, Paramore's newest hit "Misery Business" screams punk rock! Frontwoman and singer Hayley Williams belts out a delivery accompanied by the band's three other members resembling a Riot! Her edgy voice is bold, but not too screamo. She keeps her sound controlled and just punk enough to make you feel like punching someone in the face. The song is about a girl who "Never meant to brag!" about snagging boy she has long been waiting for. If you are looking for an upbeat song that will pump you up and more than likely make you feel like a badass (with a little fem-twist), then "Misery Business" is your pick.

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Even among those who are proficient with computers, citing the name "slashdot" is a geek alert. Located at http://slashdot.org, the name itself is a geeky joke. If you don't get it, try saying the name out loud. If you still don't get it, please remove yourself from the internet and study that url until it makes sense. With the subtitle "News for nerds, stuff that matters," Slashdot exists as a source of news about technology, math, science, and actually anything else that happens to be interesting. Slashdot is different from the traditional news site in that it relies on submissions from users which are filtered through Slashdot's editing process, and at least in theory, the result is interesting news.

However, reading the articles on slashdot is hardly what makes it interesting. The format of Slashdot allows users to comment on articles, and to comment on the comments of other users. Reading these discussion threads is all-too-often much more interesting than the article in question. The Slashdot community predominantly consists of Linux users and advocates for open source software(possibly; no one REALLY knows how many users use which operating systems), many of whom are programmers as well. This leads to in depth discussions on various programs, philosophies of software companies like Microsoft(a company that is well-hated by /.ers), and of course, endless inside jokes.

That's what makes /. so fun, actually. At first, it can be hard to pick up on, but /. has its own culture, full of references that make non/.ers' heads whirl. For example, in this article about Italian research that may lead to artificial life, comments include a Russian Reversal and the obligatory, "I for one welcome our glowing green overlords." Of course, no /. discussion would be complete without some contrarian attempting to ruin everyone's fun, a couple Douglas Adams references, and at least one association with programming languages or Unix commands. None of this may seem funny to the Average Joe out there, but to nerds, it's a glorious cestpool of humor.

However, reading /. will occasionally be tedious. The elitism of the users can be overbearing. In the Linux community, the most common response to a problem someone identifies in Linux is "Fix it yourself." Since most Linux users are also C++ programmers, they commonly assume that everyone can and should write the code that makes their operating system work, and they're unhesitatingly critical of those who don't. That kind of haughtiness transferred to a discussion on an article can be annoying to read. It's very common for /.ers to completely disregard MySpace, Facebook, and other such sites on the internet entirely, and many /.ers absolutely hate the term "Web 2.0." Arguments about Google, Microsoft, and Apple are common, as one camp of users sees Google and Apple as the shining gateway to the future, another thinks both are overhyped, evil corporations, and everyone on /. hates Microsoft and Steve Ballmer(watch out for thrown chairs). But as long as one doesn't get too into the discussion, /. is usually safe for the average nerd.

In this blog, I've completely failed to mention the /. interest in the RIAA, Russians, Polonium 210, privacy, copyright law, and many other topics. But I think you get the gist, and if you visit the site, you'll see what I mean.

Class Blog

Hey everybody!

I think it will be interesting to see how this blog goes. We tried to have one in one of my clasess in high school, but it didn't work out very well. I think this one will work better though! Anyway, I'm excited about using it to get to know everybody and to create our own little online community! See you in class!

Sara

Class blog? Indeed.

Fun stuff right here. It should be interesting to see what everyone contributes to this bad boy. Can't wait. See everyone in class.

-WK

Identity Protection

I do not go through YouTube a whole lot, but I do surf the internet for general information. Well I was looking up something on Cyber Identity I came across an article at this site:
http://www.gsa.gov/gsa/cm_attachments/GSA_DOCUMENT/13-MexicoCIdentity_R2GVIV_0Z5RDZ-i34K-pR.htm

It was written by a Dr. Raymundo Herrera. He suggests that basically everything on the net sent between people should be encrypted because online communication as it is now has no real security. He states that there should be a central server that assigns these encryption keys to users so that they can keep track of which keys are being used and by whom. Further, he states it can help other users keep messages confidential if they send their messages encrypted with the wrong recipients key. The key won't be able to decrypt the message, so the original user knows he sent the message to the guy.

You guys can read the rest. It is my opinion Dr. Herrera's ideas are overkill for their intended purposes. First, not many of the people who use the internet would want to take that much time to send a message or access information (and some do not know enough about computers to be able to handle all the encryption and decryption necessary). Second, a central server keeping track of everyone will let governments know what people are speaking about online. The internet, to me, is supposed to be a place filled with information and where a person's identity is ambiguous except to just a few other users. And last, while the legal ideas are good, if someone does not want to worry about the works they post online being taken, they do have options. They can chose not to put their work online, or if they do, make sure their work appears in a special window where certain commands, such as copy and paste or print page (or any similar commands), are not allowed to function.

It is my opinion, while Dr. Herrera's ideas are good, they are overkill for the job and have a great potential to go beyond simple identity protection.

-Chase

Happy Blogging!

Hey Guys, I just wanted to say that I think the idea of our own blogging site is awesome. I'm really excited about it. To me, it's like a way of getting to know one another better and another way of being closer outside of the class room. I can't wait until we get this site going; it's going to be one of a kind. Happy Blogging! Mercedes

OmegaPatten

Hey Guys,

Well I guess I'll start us off. We had been talking about online identities, and I think Ryan mentioned Lemonette. Have any of you heard of OmegaPatten? He is essentially a cult icon for his renditions of some popular songs.

Here's a link to his rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tUrTa8AAsSQ

Here's his YouTube profile:
http://youtube.com/profile?user=omegapatten

Take notice to the number of subscribers, friends, and comments (check the video for comments)

There used to be a facebook group for him, but I think it got deleted.

Anyway, it's pretty funny, so I hope y'all enjoy it.

-Nick