Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood

     Oryx and Crake introduces an idea that I previously mentioned, that of which is DNA modification that can be done at the will. What is interesting within this book, to me, is that the act of doing this produces a result that is considered "alien" rather than just being a genetically modified organism. Although the process of eliminating flaws within human DNA is meant to bring out the best in what the human could be, it actually ends up being the downfall of our main protagonist, which I thought was an interesting turn within the story.

     The use of genre writing in the book, I think, is more important than the overall literary aspects. I think that within all books, the genre writing is where the story comes from, while the literary writing is just a foundation used to help tell the story. Although neither of these are strictly individual of one another, being that genre writing is an aspect of literary writing, genre writing is what creates the bulk of an interesting story within the whole literary aspect. I do not believe that this distinction is incredibly necessary to know when creating a story or when crafting a world that you want others to believe, but knowing the difference will definitely lend itself to the artist that will be utilizing their traits. 

Lilith's Brood - Octavia Butler

     Considering many of the events that have taken place within recent time, Lilith's Brood relates, at least a little, to many of the issues that we see today within our western culture, being that many people believe that the simple majority of people should determine how all people should govern. Another idea, one that is unrelated, that is touched upon is one of mingling with an alien race. Considering the amount of minds that are upon this planet, it is again no surprise that this concept has at least grazed our thoughts, especially today when ideas and information are so easily sharable. 

     Turning back to the detriments of majoritarian culture, I believe it is all too possible for it to lead to an incredible amount of chaos. Because a lot of the controversial issues that influence the laws created under this culture are heavily opinion based, or even religious within our culture, they have a huge possibility of simply being wrong, at least under the standard of human decency. The premise of the book, that being the idea of allowed human self-eradication to occur is the same as doing the murder yourself, is a bit far fetched to me. Because of this idea, the aliens within the book start a war that puts human against human, which is an odd way to prevent this "self-eradication." Personally, I believe that because the humans have nearly nothing to do with the aliens that caused them to turn against one another, they should have been left alone. Whether it be better done sooner or later, I believe the idea of letting some things solve themselves out, especially if the outcomes is completely unpredictable. 

Jamie Lozada - DISRESPECT Commercial

DISRESPECT Commercial

Game Design I - 2016

Andy Welihozkiy

The video says it all, folks.

Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson

     I've heard / listened to a few stories of the stereotypical hacker who has been somehow dragged into some very strenuous adventures. I believe Snow Crash is one of the more interesting tellings of this tale. Following the experiences of Hiro constantly kept me on edge, from beginning to end, which made me enjoy the book quite a bit. 

     In this world that Hiro lives in, a world that is much more technologically connected than we are, even today, I feel I can almost say it gave me insight as to what could be in store for technological advancements as they surface. The most terrifying thing that feels very possible would be the transfer of viruses from data to humans, as in the possibility of sharing a fate with Da5id. Considering the amount of DNA information that can be manipulated by computers nowadays, corrupting someone's system seems incredibly probable and may even be somehow incorporated into heinous activities once its uses are fully realized, if they get that far. 

     Ultimately, though, the reality the Snow Crash takes place in, I felt, seemed quite distant, despite the rapid technological advancements previously mentioned. Much of the chaos that has ensued within the book, I believe, would have, or at least should have, been considered as a potential threat. Although, I do understand that it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to take into consideration all negative side effects of creating a system that can give its owner so much power, I think many of these issues would have been prevented by the people like Hiro who would definitely exist within the time period these events may take place in.

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness was an interesting read that I felt tackled a few concerns that are present within many people that are within our society. I enjoyed the book in that our main character, Genly Ai, acted as our interpreter; we saw these unfamiliar events through a familiar medium, with that medium being another person. Many of Ai's experiences and reactions to the events that occurred throughout the story were made much more relatable through this, especially the issues present in the book that relate to a bit of my day to day life. 

One of the issues the book touched upon was the idea of gender identification. On the first planet Ai lands on, he discovers that its citizens are genderless and only have a specified gender two times per month. Not only that, but they may choose which gender they wish to be depending on the relationship they are in. While reading, I mostly thought of this as an odd, yet intriguing concept. In hindsight, though, this concept of not belonging to two very distinct groups, although removing some of the issues that may exist in having those two groups, presents its own issues. Many people today wish to identify as gender fluid, or as the opposite gender, as well as having some other interests. Having the two groups of genders today present a whole lot of expectations. Many of these expectations are a bit hindering on their respective genders, but they also allow us, as a culture, to be able to predict at least a little bit of how some people may react to certain things. Removing these two genders, many of these "expectations," or stereotypes disappear. When the categories are gone, the characteristics become less specific, leaving room for a bit more confusion in some behavioral expectations. 

Bloodchild - Butler, Octavia ; Assessment

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read?

     Throughout the entire story, I was unsure what perspective the story was being told through. My biggest clue was the fact that the creature telling the story had more limbs than a human would and that their species if called the Terran (which I thought was a pretty cool name for a species). Reading the story unfold through these creatures was interesting because they lived in a world that contained humans and they killed some of these humans for food, which is something I'm not used to happening in a story unless it is human on human violence. 

     Aside from unique perspective of the story, a lot of the issues seemed to erupt from our character not exactly having developed enough to take on the responsibilities of being an "adult." Having to have killed an animal "at least half" of his size, while not having ever killed something, and being escorted to the Doctor's office by his mother, this character is still a bit dependent on his parents. I was able to appreciate some of the character development that occurred within the story and, despite the difference in species, I was able to relate to some of the struggles our character went through.

2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss the elements of the story with which you were able to connect

     The biggest element of the story I was able to connect with was our character having to complete a task of which he had never done before. Although he was able to ultimately complete the task of killing an animal half his size, he showed a little bit of fear when his mother told him to do it. Although cliche, this experience of fearing something you've never done before and then overcoming that fear by completing the something related a lot to some of the challenges I've faced, especially as of late here in College.

3. What changes would you make to adopt this story into another medium? What medium would you use? What changes would you make? 

     This story seems to be one of drama with a few action/gore elements. Personally, I would increase the amount of action and gore while retaining some of the drama and tension between family relations to try and make a heavily driven story video game. I open to the idea of increasing the action in the story to allow for more gameplay within this game, or increasing the ability for the story to branch off into smaller sub stories to allow the character to develop, like a video game from TellTale where a story is being told through gameplay that is mostly just making decisions. Being able to control the reaction our main character would have to some of the things being told to him would make this story pretty interesting.