The YouTube Group Project

I thought I'd talk a bit about the YouTube Group Project. The last time I had a group project like this, I found myself carrying the bulk of the work and salvaging the pieces during the presentation. So I was definitely nervous going into this assignment.

Due to a stroke of ill fortune turning good, I became partnered with the other Alex in the classroom. While at first we weren't having an easy time deciding on a video to base our project on (our interests weren't quite aligned) we were able to decide on something comedic and went from there. Alex was familiar with the video we chose, he had seen it before, and he showed it to me. After thinking for a little bit, I decided that this was indeed a good video to present on.

For this presentation, I must admit that bulk of the workload at the start was carried by my partner. I ended up missing class due to illness, and during that time Alex began working on a PowerPoint presentation to use alongside our video. This idea hadn't begun to occur to me and yet he had already completed the framework for it by the time we met on our own time to begin collaborating.

This PowerPoint helped us to carefully pick and choose pertinent examples to highlight in the video. As we began breaking apart the video, and assigning ourselves to different sections to cover, I still felt like something was missing. While flipping through the course pack, I revisited Gurney's piece on "Recombinant Comedy" and found how perfectly it fit to our choice of video. I'd argue that this was a pretty smart element to add to our presentation, and one that I didn't notice many (if any) other groups utilize.

Our presentation came together and we managed to give a good show. The group project for this class was remarkably more rewarding than my last.

The Red Wedding

This past Sunday, Game of Thrones aired its ninth episode of the season, entitled ‘The Rains of Castamere.’ As anyone that has read the books predicted, the Internet exploded with reactions to the wild, shocking events of the episode. I wish I had had the foresight to setup a hidden camera to record the reactions of those I was watching with (like so many of my fellow readers). Watching the expletive laden reaction videos has me thinking about the second community paper I’m working on, wherein I compare and contrast two websites. One of the websites I’m looking at happens to be one of the most popular destinations for fans of the novels/television series.

Tower of the Hand has a number of things going for it – insightful essays, detailed family trees, brilliant theories – but perhaps its most useful feature is the ‘scope’ toolbar. This is the very same feature that allowed this cultural shockwave to hit. Simply put, anytime a unique I.P. first visits the website, the content’s scope is set to “No Books Read,” and “No Seasons Watched.” Anything that might reveal a spoiler from one of the seasons or novels a user has not viewed or read on their own will automatically be hidden. And this is extremely important in keeping such a shocking moment, known to readers (and now viewers) as The Red Wedding, a secret.

The paper won’t really allow me enough space to properly address the genius of this feature, nor the bewildering circumstances of how and why the Red Wedding impact was able to work, so I figured I’d indulge my passion here. Tower of the Hand recently reported that they had record numbers of visitors ever since the episode aired but they’ve also been garnering astounding numbers since the moment the show began to air. And yet, thanks in part to the ‘scope’ toolbar and perhaps perversely passionate fans the secret was kept.

These books have been slowly released for nearly two decades. The author set out to tell a story that purposefully thwarted the traditional narrative and culture’s expectations for the hero’s story. It’s a decidedly dark - some might say realistic - fantasy novel and its willingness to not use take the easy storytelling route worked to make these shocking moments so impactful. And keeping these moments fresh for new readers/viewers has always been a priority of the true fans.

The events of the Red Wedding happen around 60% of the way through the third novel in the series, which was first released thirteen years ago. I won’t spoil what happens but I’ll just say that the moment is so unbelievably shocking that it has the author on a publicity blitz now, hitting the talk shows to talk about fans’ reactions. This is a feeling I’m dying to have.

Here he is on Conan:

Headphones

Here’s the thing about headphones, the mere presence of them seems to put random strangers at ease. Few people stop consider if there’s actually any audio coming through those little buds. Their guards go down, and they forget that you even exist.

Headphones have proven very useful while gathering observations in the Sweetwaters coffee shop.

Thus far, I’ve heard a set of parents counseling their potential (perhaps future? I couldn’t quite be sure if the youth had already committed to Eastern or was simply on a tour) son about the benefits of campus life and some of the downsides. Nearby, two professors talked about an upcoming faculty event. Meanwhile, across the way, a gaggle of co-eds commanded the massive gathering table, laughing uproariously.

It was a neat thing to pay silent spectator to these very human, everyday moments. And then as these patrons left more filtered in to take their place. The cycle began anew. Only this time the two customers nearest me began sharing far too many annoying details about their lives that I did finally begin playing some music. That’s the other good part about headphones; they make for a quick escape route.

Observations are going quite well, it’s only this business of actually compiling them into a coherent thesis to generate a paper that eludes me. I might try focusing on how the coffee house (located just east of the legendary water tower within the new section of storefronts that did not exist perhaps three years ago) plays host to a wide variety of people for a number of reasons. Studying, gossiping, inking leases, I’ve seen it all so far. But that doesn’t really provide a lot of mileage.

Or I might play with the evidence that the staff seem to genuinely enjoy their time spent at work in the coffee house. I’ve seen them end a shift and then return less than an hour later just to hang out while their coworkers continue working. On one such occasion, a barista returned with three bowling pins and then began juggling them. He put on a show for his coworkers and the patrons, even balancing one on his face before we began to applaud. It must be the caffeine.

Only that would almost seem cruel. I get the sense, as a former general manager in the industry (albeit not coffee), this establishment can’t be making all that much. I’ve found myself wondering how much longer they’ll stay open. It seems to me that they’re one slightly closer Starbucks (with a drive-thru) from closing their doors for good. While I have seen some curious, even entertaining moments, I’ve also more often been one of only two or three customers in the store for hours at a time.

Could I be writing a paper about a community shuddering its last dying breath?

On Revisions

I've come to the disturbing realization that my current manuscript has an unsatisfactory ending for at least one of the point-of-view characters. My girlfriend recently read the entire novel as it exists today, near 700 pages and only missing the final three chapters, and her criticisms confirmed for me something that has always been gnawing on my self doubt: it's just not strong enough for every major character.

Some characters have enormous payoffs (albeit rather dark): Jaycen Tallart's story of a young thief stealing to build a better life for his family ends with the murder of his sister, the very person he had worked so hard to provide for; Wer dan'Nun and his race of people enter into a wary alliance with the "bad guys," making sure that the reader won't know who to root for. But others, like Raquel in particular, are far too dark or simply just fall flat.

Another 50,000 words will be needed, with perhaps 20,000 of some of the existing content in need of cuts or dramatic revisions. Oh joy...