Liberation

Posted on by jesse

It would seem that so many people have found what you could call liberation through virtual worlds such as Second Life. This platform gives the user the ability to fully customize their avatar. The possibilities are limitless. Like one individual said in the video, “People treat you the way you look.” This is unfortunately sad but true. With Second Life, people can change the way they are dressed, their gender, skin color, ethnicity, race, or species at the click of the mouse. They can change it as often and as much as they like. This gives the users the ability to create their own version of their selves that they feel more comfortable with and portrays who they really are more accurately. For many, this can be a life-changing experience. Especially for those with disabilities! This is truly freedom from the bondage of our natural bodies.

Aside from the avatar aspect of Second Life, the platform is special in many other ways. I had no idea before using it that it had it’s own in-world economy and a unique currency with a fluctuating exchange rate! Users can build, create, and design items in the game that can be sold for in-world currency. Users can even find a paying job inside the virtual world!

I am very amazed at how much Second Life is capable of. It is like discovering a whole new world that you never knew existed. I am happy for all the individuals who have experienced the freedoms and liberties that come with it’s use and I can’t wait to explore it more.

Size Matters!

Posted on by jesse

I want to start off by saying “100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People” is probably one of the most interesting books I have ever read. It’s a blessing when you are very interested in and intrigued by a textbook. It is so much easier to absorb the information and get as much out of it as possible! The section where the author is discussing the use of fonts covers several different reason why fonts matter and what they do for reader retention.

First off, the simplicity of the font allows the reader to easier recognize patterns in letters, words, and sentences. A lot of what we are doing when we are reading is actually just pattern recognition! For example, cursive can take longer to read because it may be harder for someone to recognize patterns compared to arial. It is also believed that if the font is harder to read, than the reader tends to perceive things such as written instructions for tasks to actually be harder to accomplish than if the font were more easily readable.

The author also states that we should keep font size in mind. They explain differing perceived font sizes due to the x-height of the font. This is the height of the lowercase letter x. This can vary between fonts and make them appear to be different sizes when they are actually the same point size. Lastly, the author touches on contrast. It is always important to make sure that your text contrasts well with the background. The book gives us a couple pointers such as the fact that black text on a white background promotes the best readability. I have learned tons of new things since I started reading this book. Super neat! One thing the book doesn’t cover though is the fact that different fonts can send different messages. The following YouTube video talks a little bit about that.

“Caffeine” Production

Posted on by jesse

This was originally a video I had created for a different project in a different class, but it fits the bill! I asked myself, “What motivates me?” While there were more important things such as fatherhood, happiness, financial stability, and so on, I have to remember that none of those things would even be possible in the first place without caffeine! Therefore, I made a few tweaks to this video for this project. Here are the storyboards for it. There was no script since there wasn’t actually any dialogue.

Storyboard 1 of 2
Storyboard 2 of 2

Inspirational Education

Posted on by jesse

Here are three documentaries that I found to be inspiring. The first is titled, “The God Delusion”, by evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins. In the film, Dawkins sets out on an adventure to document the absurdities of religion as we know it. He interviews preachers, priests, televangelists, creationist activists, and more. I think I have Richard Dawkins to thank for what I would call a revelation. It is his works that helped me get to where I stand today as far as theological views are concerned.

Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion

Another documentary I loved, was Neil Degrasse Tyson’s take on Carl Sagan’s “Cosmos”. I spent countless hours watching this series when it first came out. I do remember receiving harsh backlash from religious groups, which I found interesting. It wasn’t just the content of the series that was intriguing, it was also the way it was delivered. Neil Degrasse Tyson was very inspirational in his presentation. Even at 30 years old, he made me want to run out and pursue a degree in astrophysics. It wasn’t until today that I discovered he actually made another follow up to it as well in 2020. I will certainly be checking that out!!!

Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: Possible Worlds trailer

I couldn’t come up with a documentary about an inventor, artist, or leader that I had seen off the top of my head, but I did watch one recently about multiple different world leaders. It was a documentary about how the Russians interfered in the 2016 election. I found it very informative and it inspired me to stay more up to date on politics and current affairs. I’d also be lying if I said it didn’t inspire me to want to join the CIA, but let’s be realistic here.

HBO’s Agents of Chaos trailer

The Name’s Jesse!

Posted on by jesse

Allow me to introduce myself! Jesse Seward is the name and content creation is the game. I do have a motto that I live by. It may be somewhat cliché, but it’s the best words that anyone could ever live by if you ask me. If everyone lived by these words, the world would be a much better & safer place. “Do unto others as you would have done unto you”. This may be a verse from the bible, but I am far from religious. In fact, I’m a full-fledged atheist. However, that doesn’t mean that the bible doesn’t have a few good lessons to learn from it here and there.

I sat here brainstorming for a few minutes, trying to think of who my heroes in real life were. Then it dawned on me. I shouldn’t be trying to think of political, historical, or war-time figures. I should be looking closer to home. My biggest hero is my girlfriend. She is the best mom I know, not only to her own son, but to my daughter as well. She has done far more for me than anyone else ever has and I couldn’t even imagine what life would be like without her in it. She is beautiful, strong, intelligent, driven, dedicated, and just a good person. As good as they come. I love her very much!

I’ll share something a bit personal here. I feel like I have made many great achievements in my life. One of them being my position at the company I work for. However, I think I must say without a doubt that the greatest one I have ever achieved was getting clean. I was heavily addicted to methamphetamine when I was younger. I was a very smart kid in school before I started hanging out with the wrong crowd and veered down a bad path for a good portion of my early adulthood. It took getting in trouble with the law, becoming a father, and a lot of rude awakenings to finally whip me out of that lifestyle, but I did it. Not many who went that route can say the same. It was probably the hardest thing I ever did, and I lived to tell about it. Today my life is completely different. You wouldn’t even guess that about me if I didn’t mention it.

As far as things I most value in friends, I must say honesty, integrity, and loyalty.

What type of documentary would be about me, you ask? Why, expository I’d say!

Live from South Park!

Posted on by jesse

Coming at you live from South Park! I sat down to make a cartoon version of myself today. An avatar. What better tool to do that with than the one provided on the official website for the show, “South Park”? This is by far one of my favorite shows. It definitely has a lot of adult humor, but it’s right up my alley. I was thrilled when I learned that I could do this. Not only to be able to recreate myself in a cartoonish fashion, but to be able to do it in the image of one of the iconic shows from my childhood. I haven’t watched South Park in a long time. Therefore, doing this really brought back some good memories from my childhood. Some nostalgia, if you will. I can remember countless weekend nights when I was a kid, having friends over, eating a bunch of junk food, playing video games, and playing the South Park tapes we rented from the Blockbuster store. Oh man. Those were the days.

I have to say that when I first started taking these classes, I wasn’t too keen on the whole VR and avatar thing. I think I’m getting more into it now though. At first, I was reluctant to try Second Life, but I will be following through on it this time around.