Heartbeat: Postmortem

We wanted to create an experience that didn’t involve traveling through the wilderness. And although we were inspired by Firewatch, we wanted to build an environment that was familiar, yet disconnected. The story follows an ordinary office worker named Greg. While working in his cubicle, thinking about the last conversation with his wife, Margaret, he gets caught in an explosion. After this, the player is sent into a dreamscape, in which they escape from with the encouraging voices of his lover. Greg wakes up from the coma, representing by the exiting of the dreamscape, seeing Margaret the hospital bed he awoke in. Our team comprised of Analisse, Fu and Michelle. In respective order, mainly doing asset modeling, audio, and mapping along with the narrative. And of course, we all dabbled in code, helping each other out occasionally.

We had planned a lot for this game, which led the eventual “killing your baby”, as we couldn’t make create that idea with the allotted time. Still, we had plenty of successes. For starters, the game was a good review for all us and a great way to learn new ways to code, which Michelle in particular, is very proud of as she worked on the lights in the maze. Secondly, we really got our narrative through, something we were striving to achieve, especially with Margaret being the one leading the player throughout the maze. Thirdly, Analisse brought the office to life with her assets from Maya and, I quote, “was a really good refresher ‘cos I forgot everything.” Fourthly, Fu gained experience editing audio clips on Adobe Audition, which surprisingly required lots of editing despite being short clips, but that’s what made it all the more important. And Lastly, Michelle was able to find fitting ambiance and music for the game.

One thing we had struggled with was showing the narrative of our game. We solved this with the adding of Margret’s voices in the red section of the maze to lead the player through it and the narrative text at the end and beginning, but, as we talked about it after our presentation, the meaning for the game and reason for it was still kind of left undone. Even after the ending where the player would fall off the map was something that was left alone without any thought.

Another challenge we encountered was actually having everyone working on the project. Michelle tried her best to lead the group, wanting to have everyone input on some matters but learned that in some cases it’s better to just push through with your ideas. We had a discord set up where I’d post messages of what needed to be done, things we should probably take away since there was insufficient time to finish, which is why a lot of the ideas were thrown away, but we still did our best to show our narrative through text, which would have been much better being voiced aloud. Even though we also added Margret’s voices for clarity, it would have been good if there were more of a smooth entry from the beginning so the player could recognize more clearly that Greg and Margret were two characters. This must be why giving voices to your characters is important.

Initially, from brainstorming, we wanted to create an office environment and a broken down building for the maze section. This was one of the goals that we didn’t achieve and left the map with a lackluster appearance. We did like leaving the office section blank because it left an eerie atmosphere, but as for the rest of the sections, there could have obviously been more texturing and modeling so the spaces weren’t so rectangular, but following more of a wonky line down a dreamscape.

On one of the office desks, the one that was more humanized than the others, there is a picture of a family. We hoped to have signified some sort of idea that that desk was the character the player was playing as. However, we don’t believe to have accomplished that and should have something that would have triggered like a memory perhaps or Margret’s voice and the laughter of their children to connect the player to that other character.

We had larger plans for the office environment actually and the whole layout of the map Instead of making it a single square place, we had wanted to make it a building where the player would travel through, guided by the ceiling lights. The only shared aspect from that first concept is the immaculate white walls and floor. They would then travel into a darker, destruction-filled environment with signs of the aftermath of an explosion. The space wasn’t supposed to be fully red like what we had in the final game, but the red within it was to be red in order to suggest danger or an emergency. After the player escaped, they would walk out of this building and see it from the outside and discover they were in a void the whole time and soon light would overtake them, leading them back to the real world. This was something we kept with the added falling down the space. It may have worked better if we had a model wake up in shock back in the real world to still have that connection from the dreamscape.

One of our biggest takeaways from this project is to stop thinking so big before we even have the basis of our game set up. Even then, it would be good to have each person focus on a big chunk of what we planned since a lot of that was all over the place, which led to a lot of our concept to be left in the dust. Another takeaway is to think more about the reason for the game when creating a narrative instead of just thinking it because it’s something common. This was one of the downfalls of our game, leaving the narrative flat.

 

 

Reina: Postmortem

Following the narrative I’m writing in my novel workshop class, my game lies in a world of superheroes, where people have supernatural powers due to life-threatening situations or those powers being inherent. This world isn’t exactly just black and white, especially when people with these powers are most of the time are observed with extreme scrutiny by the government – even if they are on the “good” side, wanting to help others with their powers through whatever motive they have. Because these superhumans hold so much power and, as a result, hold much potential to become a dangerous individual, a Villain, they are viewed with disdain and most of all fear. With progressive government officials holding power and a new wave of superhumans wanting change, the global Organization of Heroes, Aegis, was established. However, not everyone was pleased. In the shadows, a group of individuals who wanted a more radical change with their newly found powers gradually grew in power and soon came out as a powerful group of Villains. Of course, there were other sorts of devious individuals that rode this wave, although not with the same intentions, but for their own desires – most seeing themselves as a superior breed of human.

So far I had written an opening chapter of Belisama, an ex-villain, hero working under the Aegis branch in Old York and wanted to tie in Reina’s story before she met Bel. This was the initial thought I had before further planning on what narrative game I was bringing to my IF project. In such a distinct world with rules that don’t concede with ours, anything is bound to happen. Reina, for example, is not human, but a homunculus, a man-made human. After being given a new life and identity when the organization that was running immoral experiments in secrecy was caught and arrested, with Dr. Marth’s instructions, the only person that she trusted, Reina escaped to a furtive location in Old York and spent her days deteriorating in a rundown apartment while doing her best to care for a smaller life, a Pomeranian named Muffins. At first, I wanted to create a loop at the beginning of the game in which the player had to get out of in order to proceed to the next part, which was meeting Belisama. But after finishing the World Bible and additional playtesting, I decided to treat the game more as an introduction to the characters, giving hints to the world and to Reina’s character.

The main part of my goal wasn’t successful then, but I had found inspiration brainstorming about Reina and, in turn, more about the world these characters reside in. I found my writing successful in being humorous, although a bit dark, so it was good writing practice for the kind of vibe I wanted the story and the world to be. And I think I had done well in the smaller things like choosing a visual for the background and a soundtrack that would set the mood of the narrative. As for the branches and choices, I had done a pretty good job setting up hints for the world by displaying ordinary cereal advertisements that featured a particular hero and even the news from the television.

However, with many good things come with its own share of bad things. Because the game was viewed more as an introduction, the characters don’t feel as fleshed out as they would’ve been and; therefore, the game fell a bit flat as there was no big connection or motive to the characters that the player could’ve connected with. Although I liked my writing, it was too much text in a game and the question of “Would the player even read this?” comes forth. Not going through with the loop variable was a mistake, but that was because I didn’t have enough time left to work with what kind of story that would build, so instead I stuck to branching choices and endings. On the topic of these branching choices and endings, I shouldn’t have made them cut short so quickly and then send the player back to the beginning because of the sense of loss that brings. There were also tense issues where I didn’t stick to one tense which even confused myself at times. Writing in the third person for the narrative game was also an apparent difficulty as I was building the narrative.

If I were to build this game again, I’d most definitely work on not having chunks of text crowding the screen and maybe even start with changing the tense to the first person to see how that goes. In addition, I would also like to stretch out the branches more and making the ending have more impact. And although this game was more of an introduction, perhaps I’d merge the two next time, the other half being the encounter with Belisama. I spoke a lot of the negatives for this project, but really that signified how much I could improve on for future games I create or even a remake. It’s important to playtest your game in order to understand how they feel when playing it. Where endings cut off oddly or when there are huge walls of text – it’s all part of the process of creating a game.

Affordance Design

So I was wondering… what if there was a bright red button in a dungeon. This would take place in a fantasy world and I wouldn’t really describe it as medieval, but there is magic, swords, elves – all that pizzazz. This party of four, in particular, are traversing the dungeon as they usually do – fighting skeletons, beating up slimes, taking precautionary actions against potential booby traps and most importantly, searching for treasure! How else are they going to make a living?  In this world, dungeons are littered all across the world, and although this kind of thing would be feared, it became the main source of jobs and income. The Guild would need people to explore and discover dungeons and people to collect the goods from it. Of course, it would be up to the higher ranking members to do the former, while it was up to the lower ranking members to the latter. Which is exactly what this party is doing now. Except, they have encountered something in the Rank E dungeon (the lowest rank) that isn’t normally here, thus, sparking a moment of excitement in their mundane lives. It was also part of their greed that if they didn’t report this first to the Guild. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to take credit of this new alarmingly red discovery. However, as strong – ahem – …. seasoned? poorly seasoned dungeoneers, they did not forget the basics of livelihood. First, the halfling of the group, senses if there are any traps with his better-than-average hearing and nose, a normal nose.  He motions to his party with a thumbs-up, saying that, “Yeah it’s just an ordinary room, I don’t smell gunpowder or anything unusual. Could be traps though.” The Swordsman, determined to carry “knightly” duty, decides to take it upon himself to check for traps… by throwing his goddamn sword. The mage, after decking the swordsman, concentrates and gathers her wisdom, in search of an answer of what this disturbingly red thing could possibly be. She presumes it to be something of demonic origins because of its blood red color. Incapable of finding the answer with her own knowledge, she prays to her goddess, Google, for the answer. “Oh… I see. This thing is what people of that world call… a butt-on.” The halfling voices out a complaint, asking if it were pronounced the same way as a “button-on-a-shirt button” because he knows many others who have once pronounced it that way (including himself). In the end, they settled on the pronunciation, “but-tawn”. Whoever watching these four right now would probably be having a good laugh at their turmoil. I say this as a shrouded figure in an unnervingly blank, white room laughs boisterously. After understanding that this red “but-tawn” wasn’t like at all a “button-on-a-shirt button”, they fully step into the room towards the red button for further investigation. Although they aren’t entirely sure what Google meant, a “but-tawn” apparently involved a downwards motion, so the biggest of the four, the resident pretty-big friendly giant, wielding a sword twice of the halfling’s height, brandished said sword and began to swing it down, in a way one would chop vegetables, but horribly wrong. The mage manages to stop him in time with a movement debuff, explaining that it could mean a simple tap. With a single finger, she taps the “but-tawn”, but nothing happens. The swordsman, watching closely from behind the begins to fidget in place, fighting a sudden compulsion to slam his hand on the red “but-tawn”. The halfling, unable to even see the “but-tawn”, stares dully at the swordsman’s twitching hand, wondering how in the world did they pass him as a swordsman. While the pretty-big friendly giant’s sword still is in motion, slowly but surely, towards its final destination, the red “but-tawn”. “Maybe I should tap it a little bit harder? More taps?” mumbled the mage. Hearing this, the swordsman awakens from his stupor and yells out, “I CAN DO HARDER!”, slamming his hand onto the red “but-tawn”, and releasing all anger and frustrations accumulated in the seventeen years of his life. They successfully “press” the “but-tawn”. The four of them now stand in the room, notwithstanding the fact that the pretty-big friendly giant is still in motion, they wait for something  – anything – to happen. A minute passes and the halfling speaks up, “So – “, but is immediately cut off by the sound of popping followed by tiny pieces of colorful paper raining over them as a sort of screen rolls down in front of them. A message appears and the mage hesitantly reads it aloud, “Congratulations. You now know what a button is.” The other two are speechless, although the halfling still can’t see for Google’s sake! Someone give him a stool or something! The mage reads the second message that appears, “By the way, it’s pronounced – “. Or at least attempts to because the second she tries, she’s interrupted by an earsplitting CLANK by the pretty-big friendly giant, which was in actuality his giant sword clashing against the button and the metal it was encased in. The message disappears and the screen rolls back and up into the ceiling, leaving as quickly as it came. The tiny pieces of colorful paper are still scattered around them, a reminder of what had just occurred. The four of them, although the kinda-big friendly giant is a bit clueless as to what they experienced, walk lifelessly, excluding the kinda-big friendly giant, and report what they had discovered in that Rank E dungeon to the Guild, which eventually coins any button-y objects as a “but-tawn”. The four now seasoned dungeoneers vow to never utter a single word relating to that event ever again. But from time to time, the swordsman uses a miniature,  commercially manufactured button as a stress reliever.

 

Game 101 (thank you Carmine for a fun semester!)

Game # 1 Card Game

(The first image is a very low-quality photo of the group in class card game and the second photo is my meme card-matching game)

I’m not really sure why I made a meme matching game, but since I like to meme-y, this was the first thing that I thought of and no one could stop the ball from rolling and escalating. It was fun drawing memes and making people laugh, while also introducing a mechanic of matching using words.

 

Game #2 Board Game

For this game, Plight of Cookiedom, I made four different characters with their own passive skills and ultimate abilities (activated by a card part of the drawing deck). I also made a huge scuffed board that was influenced by 100% Orange Juice – well this game has elements from this game and the Touhou Dankmaku! game. So yeah I made a bunch of cards to affect the flow of the game. There are two sides, the Demon Lord is on the Chaotic side while the Hero and Sage are on the Lawful side (although the Sage is treading between the boundary of chaotic and lawful) and lastly, the winged beast (definitely not a mouse) is neutral. Each player needs to collect a certain amount of cookies. If there are more than one on the Lawful side then the amount they need in total rises, although it’d be a fun mechanic if the Sage could be on either side. The winged beast is the only character that can’t steal cookies but can only steal by traps, which when landed on, the player will hand their cookie to the player who placed the trap (the winged beast is the only one who can trap).

I really liked making the illustrations for each individual card and it was a fun learning experience making a board game and the actual board (oh god).

 

Game #3 Board Game but for ADULTS (kinda)

 

First off, I made the characters in photoshop (this low-quality picture doesn’t do it justice so here’s the image

I focused on the backstories (reasons for participating in the battle royale) of each character to create their skillsets. I think I mixed like a Hunger Games and Japanese Battle Royal together and made this (definitely was not thinking of PUBG nor Fortnite). Hunger Games because of the whole sponsor thing, that’s a whole mechanic in my game where players complete missions (basically just entertaining them in certain ways) to get rewards. The map is very open to change as the blocks and buildings aren’t attached to the board but changeable. When players enter a building, they roll for loot and depending on how big the building is, there’s only a certain number of times loot can be rolled. The direction of the player also matters a lot in calculating surprise attacks. I would like to work on the loot a bit more, but I do like the iconic pan.

 

Game #4 Scratch-

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/219772018/

This was an experience and I’m pretty proud of making this and was even thinking of doing some more scripts for a bonus stage, which was going to be some Touhou boss (if you’ve never seen that https://youtu.be/p7Kc-r4Evuc?t=28s I wanted bullets to shoot from the boss like these, that’s not a boss but it gets crazy)

I first started by making the character, the girl in the start menu and then made the cat bugs in scratch. Since the view is from the top, if there wasn’t a start menu, I think people might’ve thought it was like an orange cat betraying the homeland or something. But they would be really confused by the entrance of the dog, which was just used because I liked it a lot.

This was a really fun experience “coding” and I’m gonna go prepare myself for my next years coding class ;_; if you are teacher coding that’d be amazing if I could get you as a teacher!

Bridge 4: Graffiti Interviews + Reflection

Interview #1

M Today is March 6, I’m Michelle Tu. I’m with my cousin Carina Ng. Tell me about yourself – no actually just talk about the school you go to.

C I go to Laguardia high school – in Manhattan  and – (oh god I’m awful at interviews)

M Do you see like – oh yeah, you were going to say your major ?

C no. I mean I’m an art major, there.

M Yeah so do you any graffiti in your school ?

C I mean I guess you would count, like, marker drawings on the bathroom yeah I see that.

M have you done graffiti yourself? Any sneaky vandalism?

C No, no. I don’t have a sharpie on me ever.

M So what do you think of graffiti itself?

C I think it’s a cool artwork. Clearly, a lot of graffiti artists use a lot of time to hone their skills, so I think it’s legit.

M do you think the act of vandalism and the art they’re portraying give it an even greater purpose?

C I think that like, if that’s what the artist intends. To be honest, I don’t agree with vandalism – I could see like why people would dislike vandalism because if someone drew on my store and I had to clean it up I’d be pissed off, but as an art form it’s pretty cool.

M Do you know Banksy?

C No, I don’t know any of those

M He does a lot of graffiti art and it’s really expensive and I’m like woah, I never knew graffiti could be so expensive.

C Is it like mural painting?

M No it’s usually like a very powerful message portrayed by really simple graffiti on a wall somewhere.

M So what would define graffiti as?

C I mean, I guess it’s kind of vague, but like I feel like graffiti has a certain style, like the bubbly letters and the lightning – like the arrow stuff – and more like street art and in places hard to reach, which is sort of like the big point of graffiti.

M In your school do you only see in the bathroom stalls?

C I mean would you count drawings on desks?

M Yeah! Because like I used to do that all the time in Laguardia. Don’t tell anyone.

C I saw it on my desk

M Wait really?

C I saw it on my desk sitting there – yeah in Mr. Moore’s class

[conversation goes on pretty interesting tangent]

M So do you see any like strange stuff on your lockers in school?

C Only like when people take sharpies and write on your lockers – like your friends

M Oh yeah! One of the pictures I took – because in our school we have to share lockers, which is kinda really bad. So there was this message that said like “Fix this shit it’s jamming the locker.”

C Oh my god that’s so passive aggressive

M Yeah and what happens if they see each other. “It was you who jammed the locker wasn’t it? Let’s fight.”

C Let’s go.

M Now, the last question, if you could mark, graffiti or vandalize somewhere in the school where would it be?

C I would do it on the staircase, it’s risky because the security has cameras, I saw it by through the window, but like on the eighth floor would be a good chance to do it.

[small tangent]

C Yeah but you know how you can look under by the stairs on the eighth floor?

M Yeah yeah

C There was actually someone who used masking tape to make, I forgot what it said, but they had to do it upside down because you couldn’t reach there since it’s too high. And you’d be able to see it because people keep going in and out and they’d be like “Woooah”.

M Was it like a nice message?

C I think it was pretty pointless. It was something random.

[references the tangent]

M Yeah I thought you’d choose like the bathroom stall or something because that’s a very popular place to do it (what did I even say here I can’t even hear myself??)

C Yeah but like it always gets painted over. That’s why I don’t find the point of people drawing on it.

M Or maybe they do because they wanna rebel.

C I mean yeah, they’re always rebelling in the bathroom. They’re always like “Down with the principal!!”

M Oh my god seriously?

C Something like that.

[conversation gets a little spooky]

M -And that concludes this interview. Goobyee-

Interview #2

M Today’s date is, I don’t even remember what was it again. It’s March six (I want to point out that I was recording interview one and two on the same day). I’m with my friend Alyssa. Tell us about yourself Alyssa.

A I’m a nineteen year old, illustration and psychology major from Queens.

M Hey I’m from queens too!

A Queens is the best.

M You right it is the best. So have you ever vandalized anything?

A The bathroom stalls at our high school.

M Oh yeah I was talking to my cousin about that and she mentioned the bathroom stalls too.

A Yeah I think that’s the extent of my vandalism (forewarning: it’s not)

M What’d you do?

A Honestly, I don’t know. I think I was angry at someone and I wrote “they suck” in the locker room.

M That’s the most like, soft vandalism.

A Oh! The penis wall (at this point the whole idea of a formal interview has been cast away) was right next to my locker so I added to that.

[interesting small tangent about the penis wall]

M So how’d you define graffiti?

A I guess writing or drawing on a public space that is not yours.

[small tangent about fake graffiti]

M So what do you think of it as an art form?

A I think that it works well as an art form in some spaces, but then we have artists who make it white-collared – the ones who are like “ooo, let’s bring graffiti to the MoMA or the Met. That kinda thing –

M Oh, I’ve never seen that stuff

A -like Banksy

M Oh I’ve seen Banksy’s stuff though

A Yeah his art is so much. But graffiti street art is like “oh no those people should be arrested” but Banksy should be awarded. So it’s like that dichotomy of like who’s worthy?

M I think it’s like the message behind Banksy stuff? (Now that I think about it, street art can also be like this though)

A I think it’s just because white people love Banksy (I’m sorry if anyone gets uncomfortable here). Oh we don’t know who Banksy is, but they love him.

[small conspiracy tangent of Banksy and 5pointz]

M Have you seen graffiti in our school? Or like any types of vandalism?

A I don’t think so, maybe I’m not paying enough attention.

M Right by my classroom for this project, there’s like graffiti all over the lockers on the floor.

A Oh I forgot about the lockers.

M Yeah it’s always on the lockers.

[tangent of her not only vandalizing bathroom stalls, see I told you she did more and also somehow about Boston]

M So what kind of stuff did you see on the lockers?

A Mainly stickers. My locker is way up in the middle of nowhere where they’re all broken and no one goes there. It’s mainly like seven-year-old stickers partially rubbed off.

M That’s so cool I wish I had gone there to record it.

A No they look like trash.

M Oh okay shit. Because some of the stickers I saw had a date on it and it was like one from 2011 and 2008 (pretty sure I got the dates entirely wrong here).

A Some people advertise or like self-promote. They have a sticker of their company or name on it and they just stick it places and it’s like “ooo, is this vandalism or self-promotion?” – probably both.

M Yeah it is – wait a minute – and they don’t have to pay either. There’s like this one locker that just has their Instagram on it.

A Oh yeah I’ve seen that!

M Yeah it’s like right by our (old) studio.

A Or people just put like their handles “follow me” and it’s just like their Instagram. Self-promotion is the main type of vandalism in our school.

M Yeah wait I think we’ve figured it out, just self-promotion and it’s just like some graffiti artist trying to make it big on the lockers.

A You’d think there’d be more graffiti seeing that it’s an art school.

M I know in like the laser printing building they have like this graffiti room.

A Maybe it’s too encouraged. It’s so encouraged that people don’t wanna vandalize.

M “Well I’m not really vandalizing anymore soo-”

A “-So it’s no fun.” They have to rebel by not vandalizing.

[me reaching enlightenment]

M And now the last question, if you mark, graffiti or vandalize anything in the school where would it be?

A Hmm… It’s really juvenile, but I’d go to the main, like the elevator to the Keri (?) hall dorms and put a giant penis on it. (And on that day I learned of my friend obsession with drawing penises).

M WHAT, I think the penis wall actually got to you.

[tangent on the penis wall]

A -that’s what I’d want. I wanna bring the penis wall here, but I’d want it to be the Keri dorms elevator because I’m angry. They live so close I’m bitter.

M Oh yeah that too.

A That’s why I’m bitter. [sassily smacks lips]. They live like ten steps away from the building – I live like an hour away.

M Same.

A Bitter teen.

M So thank you for being here –

A You’re welcome.

M -for this interview. That is all.

Interview #3 (forewarning that the interview cuts into text-to-speech because it was late night and both of us couldn’t talk)

M Alright it’s almost – alright it’s not almost it’s 12:02 and I’m with my friend sandy. Introduce yourself.

S Hi, I’m Sandy Zhou and I go to the School of Visual Arts.

M Okay so, have you ever vandalized before.

S I have never vandalized before.

M Like graffiti or?

S No

M Really?

S Mhm

M Wow you’re such a good student. I’d would draw on my desk all the time.

S I’d be the one erasing the drawings.

M So what is graffiti defined as to you?

S Just arts/doodles within public view usually breaking a rule.

M What kind of vandalism or graffiti do you see on a daily basis in school and around that community?

S There isn’t much graffiti or vandalism around the school since it is usually a permissioned wall and artists paint on it.

M (If I could talk more and instead of being sneaky) Wow that’s really cool, I don’t know if our school does that, but they should totally do that more.

S What do you think of it as an art form, like in museums and as a high end art? Graffiti works are also from talented artists but, they are usually painted in areas that are not allowed which makes it undesired by most. (She mostly was neutral with graffiti being a high end art, and I should have asked her what she thought about graffiti being super expensive then)

M Do you think graffiti done in an art school makes it more meaningful?

S If (my) school were to provide classes for graffiti, it would make it more known to people that it is another form of art to express ourselves and for the term to not be just known as vandalization on public areas.

M And if you could vandalize, mark, graffiti anywhere in your school where would it be?

S It would be on a hallway where everyone walks through everyday and they can pass by the art and observe it.

M Damn, I dunno, I thought you’d actually vandalize. What a good student. Thank you for this tts (text to speech) interview.

S You very welcome.

M Any last words before I end the interview?

S I love Michelle Tu.

M Ok ok ok-

==========================
For my second interview with my friend Alyssa, I opened the interview with the question “Have you ever vandalized before?” and I should have known, her being the rebel and “emo kid” she is, that she would have immediately started talking about silly shenanigans from high school. Although we were probably supposed to keep the interviews formal, all my interviews except the restricted third one with my friend Sandy done at 12 in the morning (but that’s besides the point because I’m sure if we could talk it would have also gone onto strange tangents maybe – most likely). It’s hard to stay neutral when conversing with a friend because you might find yourself naturally agreeing with them and when seeing potential and value behind their points – to be able to stay neutral means to take an observing and calculating stance as a researcher, but a good interviewer would dig more into the interviewees’ perspective, which might mean, metaphorically or not, nodding along or playing devil’s advocate in order to find out more. However, the joy of interviewing multiple people is that you find out different perspectives with the (well almost) same questions. It’s almost like a science experiment with its constants and independent and dependent variables. Because the interview with my friend Alyssa went downhill so fast (or maybe not, maybe it was actually uphill), we went on some really fun tangents that I didn’t really transcribe, but they were mostly about a comparison of our high school, Laguardia, and Parsons and the real highlight of the interview, the conspiracy of Banksy having some furtive connections with extremely powerful and wealthy patrons in the high-end art society, which I’m sure (kind of sure) that this was case, since it’s pretty much how many artists started like Jackson Pollock. After discovering about the reasons for his rise in the art world, it made effortless to see it happening to other artists especially if they had a quirk or idiocracy, such as Banksy’s rebellious and anonymous nature as a graffiti artist. So I think it’d interesting to research the origins of graffiti to becoming, not fully, but considered also as an art form, to the level of being displayed in museums.

Pre-Trip Assignment

Michelle Tu

February 22, 2018

Pre-Field Trip Assignment

There was a time in the past around the late 1700s through the early 1800s where guns were a necessity and it was a given right for any American to bear arms. However, things have changed drastically from that time to now the modern age of technology and other advancements. The potential danger of guns disrupts the peace of America. Especially because of the abrupt shootings that occur around the country in schools or in locations with mass crowds of people. Although there have been laws implemented to increase the security and authenticity of selling and buying guns in the US, such as the Gun Control Act 1968, pushed by President Lyndon B. Johnson after the assassination of President John Kennedy, that restricted the purchase of guns to those under the age of 21, the mentally ill and prohibited felons. It also banned imported guns, but those that were manufactured from out of the country had to be labeled with a serial number. This shows how lax our laws on gun control are despite the additions of more restrictions over time, which have little to no effect on the mass shootings that happen frequently in the US. How many shootings will be enough for the Congress to push for real gun control? This is why in the past years, along with the increase in shootings, there also have been many protests against the use of guns. There has been much activity amongst our generation to raise more awareness for the cause, which is ridiculous to say because how more awareness do those with authority need? I’ve seen many students speak out on these matters in front of large audiences because they were either indirectly or directly affected by shootings and I applaud them for doing so. For believing in the change that happens with the joined hands of others.

Bridge 2: The Art of Walking and Pedestrian Podcast

1/29 2:50 pm After leaving Parsons’ building

Feeling alright today, 2 classes one after another is tiring especially on a Monday why did I do this to myself again, but I’m glad to be going home afterward at a time that isn’t like seven. Todays pretty cloudy and gloomy, but in New York, gloomy really isn’t a thing unless you mean busy, bustling swarms of people and in somehow all black. There were a lotta people at the entrance of course definitely not smoking at the doors, yep. On this path, everyone’s just goin’ their own way – especially because of the stations right around the corner and straight ahead. I remember walking around in this area and there was this person walking down with their eyes focused on their phone and this guy pops out of nowhere – probably waiting for this poor victim (?), and has a conversation with them. It was interesting because usually everyones just so busy in their bubble doing their own stuff. I really admire the people who try to livin’ up the city.

 

1/30 2:50 pm By Blick Arts Supplies Store

Thank god it rained last night and not today so thank god (otherwise I would’ve been pretty upset only because I just don’t like the rain cos it makes the city seem even yuckier), just had my games 101 class so that was fun. It’s pretty cold and windy today as usual and I just got out of class uhh the building by Blick (I’ve done a lot of laser cutting stuff there it’s fun I kinda like it here cos there’s fewer people and it’s a peaceful walk to my station – that’s at union square. So yeah not much people hanging around here, but there’s pizza here around the corner – and some ramen place and this Thai place my friend took me to for my birthday – shout out to Joyce. So yeah that area is mostly just foodstuffs, people around there are just inside eating pizza or chilling outside the store sometimes with the plate of pizza.

 

 

1/31 11:40 am Main Building 65 av.

Since I can’t walk the same path, I’m just gonna walk to the other station at 14th street that means like one stop extra on the train. It’s pretty sunny, but its still cold uhh I’m feeling alright [laughs] I don’t think there’s ever a day where I’m feeling fully hyper, but yanno it’s those good lil moments in life that make your day – that being said I wish I can hang out with my friends soon. Going home on this path is pretty long – actually for like half of the first semester I was walking all the way from the station I’m goin’ to right now thinking the distance was shorter – I mean I guess? All you have to do it walk down, but it’s a whole block. My favorite place in this area is the biscuits and bath – fun looking at people who just pass by overloading in happiness, also there’s this chipotle place at the corner. Oh yeah, and my friends’ dorm is right ahead. There’s like 3 people packed in one room, so it’s a good thing two of them are besties.

 

 

2/1 11:40 am By Union Square/ Coffee Shop

Seminar is so boring oh god I don’t know how I’m going to survive, I literally slept every 3 minutes and woke up stayed awake for 2 minutes and slept again – the cycle of life repeats. Well to be fair, I also slept for only 2 hours that day [laughs], because I was working on video editing on After Effects till like five am. I like the area here, I mean, not only because it’s right by my station, but I had a lotta good memories at the market in Union Square. And if I walk around Union Square, there’s my favorite Petco and Barnes n’ Noble. In this area, it’s people going in two directions, towards the station or towards the market and out. It’s fun watching all kinds of people looking at the whole assortment of stuff, hell, even I’m entertained in doing so. On a side note, I almost got run down by pigeons. They all just flew out from the bushes to eat something off the ground – it was pretty scary, I even ducked a little trying to run off.

 

2/2 2:50 pm By Union Square/ Coffee Shop

Its cloudy and cold which really sucks, I hope it’ll be sunny and warm soon so I don’t have to wear my jacket. Feeling really tired today because I stayed up again doing my seminar homework (the reading just took me a long time because I was trying to comprehend this guy’s pretentious words). But surprisingly, I wasn’t even tired really and my friend my questioning how I was even alive when I got home. Since I’m supposed to go on different paths anyway I decided to avoid the pigeon area an circle around Union Square. The market was up and there were a lotta people there checking out the stuff (I also wanted to see but I wanted to walk a different route this time). Someone was smoking and sped up and tried to walk ahead of him.

Just another day in the job – doing assignments ?