Freak Factor

You can find Freak Factor as Changethis.


This manifesto...sweet jesus, this is so true it hurts me. I read through this and man is it good.

The basic point of Freak Factor is that everyone has corresponding weakness and strengths. The man down the road who's organized and calm? He's also stubborn and less emotional. That girl over there who's "boring"? She's a responsible person. Think of your traits like a sliding scale- at one end is one personality quirk, at the other end another. As you have more of one quirk, say realism, you have less of another quirk, like positivity. In the same way, you could say that having more realism leads to more negativity. Each trait has its own counterpart. What you need to do is identify what traits you have, what corresponding weaknesses you have, and how you can amplify your strengths. Don't try to get rid of your weaknesses- it doesn't work. Focus on what you can improve, not what's holding you back.

This manifesto has nine points that enforce this general theme. Here's just three:

POINT ONE: What's Your Weakness?
Identifying your weaknesses is important. You have to know what you're good at and what you aren't good at, otherwise you'll never be able to choose what you should do in any situation. I'll use myself as an example. I am:

Physically weak.
Nonconfrontational.
Shy.
Inflexible.
Negative/Pessimistic.
Lazy (hey, check the time I posted this for evidence!)
And so on.

If I didn't realize my own weaknesses, I might make some pretty stupid descisions. For instance, I might decide to go into sports or debate. I don't like physical activity or arguments, so obviously that would be stupid. Knowing one's weaknesses helps you find your place in the world.

POINT TWO: There's Nothing Wrong With You.
I listed some of my weaknesses above. "Wow," you say, "He sure has a ton of flaws.". Here's the thing: so do you. So does everyone. But every flaw has a corresponding perk. I might be weak, but I'm intelligent. I might be negative, but I'm realistic. I might be lazy, but I'm imaginative. I might be inflexible, but I'm responsible. Like a coin, there are two sides to every aspect of your personality. Let's take a look at a friend of mine who I'll refer to as Dave.
Dave is:
Charismatic
Energetic
Passionate
Strong
Analytical
Creative

"Wow!" you say, "He sure is amazing!". Well, to complete his strengths, he's also...
Emotionally Distant
Obnoxious
Single-minded
Impulsive
Dismissive
Unresponsible

"Wow!" you say, "You're so correct, he has a set of both strengths and weaknesses!"

I knew you'd learn eventually.


POINT THREE: Don't Try To Fix Your Weaknesses.
"Wait!" you interrupt (again), "Why shouldn't we try to improve ourselves?"
Don't get ahead of yourself. This manifesto and blog are NOT about telling you not to improve. This point is about getting the MOST out of your self-improvement.

Here's a rather nerdy example. Let's say I have a party of a fighter, wizard and rogue. The wizard has such low strength compared to my fighter! Surely I should train up his strength instead of focusing on pumping his magical power! Repeat for "fighter" and "speed" and "rogue" and "defense".

See how dumb this philosophy is when you think about it? Everyone has weaknesses that they shouldn't focus on because the effort required to get those up to speed with your strengths could have been used ON those strengths to make them that much stronger! With that example, I could have a wizard with 100 strength and 100 magic power, or I could have a wizard with 150 magic power and 50 strength. Which is more useful for his job? Why would he need high strength? The same could be said for real people. Sure, I could spend five hours in the gym every day and eat salad until my canines commit suicide from misuse, but what's the point? After several years I might be a beefcake, yes, but why didn't I spend that time focusing on gaining intellect or creating something interesting? Focusing on weaknesses just makes you a jackass of all trades, and a master of nothing.



So, this is the end of the blog. The quarter is over, and the class is ending. Thanks to the TAs for interesting assignments and help and to Professor Willaims for being (crazy) awesome and making the class really interesting.

Collapsus Response

(PLACEHOLDER TEXT GOES HERE. IMAGINE IT'S AN AMAZING ESSAY AND/OR AUDIO RESPONSE)

Gaming Presentation Review

We presented an idea for a game that was based on a ton of doodles I did in high school and some characters I created, modified a bit with everyone's input. I'd like to think we got everything across pretty well, but let's see what I can think of that we did less than perfect...

First of all, I don't think we got the story of the game across as well as we could have. The concept was that there are 12 main characters who you follow through the game. The game begins with two of them unleashing an ancient evil (bear with me through the cliche here) along with a good force that were both sealed away. The evil escapes and begins to plot to take over the world...or...something. The good force splits itself up and seeks out the 12 main characters and gives them special powers. The initial two characters journey across the world, gathering allies and weakening the evil forces at work. At certain points the party either splits up or the story switches to a different character, making the player choose who to follow and giving them more variety. I felt like we could have gotten the plot as a whole across to everyone a bit better, but we were close enough.

I think it was pretty hard to discuss mechanics very well, mostly since we never really planned out anything besides plot, characters and platform. We had a skeleton idea of what the controls would be, but nothing specific. Jump, a few attack buttons, maybe a block...that was about it. Aside from the fact that not everyone in my group is a gamer (as thus didn't know the jargon/lingo/slang/nonsense I did), it was still not something we defined very well. This also made mechanics a weak point of our presentation in my opinion. We couldn't get it across very well to each other, so obviously we couldn't get it across as well to an audience.

Overall I did enjoy the project (partly because it didn't have anywhere NEAR as much crunch time as the previous two...) because I enjoy video games AND sharing ideas with others.

Heroes and Villains

Left: Fulton (villain)

Right: Lucina (hero)

Here's Fulton's animation...

The fight animation and Lucina's animation are Flash files, so I can't post them...apologies.

Hero/Villain Review 1: Jason Butler
Hero: Mr. Sun
Villain: Malicious Moon

Both of the characters are fairly basic. They're both made of simple shapes and colors, giving them a bit of an affinity. However, the fact that they use yellow and blue contrasts them, as does their constantly different facial expressions. The colors both characters use are also different in brightness and value- Mr. Sun is much brighter and lighter, while Malicious Moon is darker and duller.
There weren't any shadows, although I do remember mentions of Mr. Sun never having shadow on him, since he's the SUN. This does separate him from his enemy and makes him a more obvious hero. There were also no symbols, and there was not a clear mood.
Both characters moved essenially the same, with no overlapping movements or weight.
Overall I don't have much to say, since there were no individual character animations posted.

Hero/Villain Review 2: Eric Miller

Hero: The Trash Compactor
Villain: The Mogul

These two characters are much more contrasted than the previous pair. The hero, The Trash Compactor, is mostly a dull grey and rather boxy in his design. The villain, The Mogul, is dark purple and much sleeker. The Trash Compactor's duller colors contrast with the Mogul's more vibrant ones.
The lighting around both characters are also different. The Trash Compactor is mostly in the shadows, since he fights on the streets. The Mogul is more in the light, since he seems to be the leader type instead of the street thug type. The constant lighting may also give him a vibe of being more refined, especially since his opponent is covered in garbage cans.
The characters also move differently. The Mogul's movements are much smoother and stylish, while the Trash Compactor seems more focused on efficiency than looking cool, as I would expect from a guy who wears garbage cans.

Hero/Villain Review 3: Logan Hayes
(Not up at time of post)

This American Life and Superpowers.

This American Life


Superpowers are AWESOME. This is something everyone has known since they were kids. Everyone wants to be special, and what better way to be special than to be able to do something no other person on earth can? Well, in this blog I'm going to take a look at my favorite superpower and why I want it.
I feel like I can better explain this via text rather than via an audio blog, since I'm much more articulate when I don't have to rerecord my blog every time I eventually make a verbal misstep with my fast speech rate.
Oh, and I get to be as verbose as I damn well please with text.

This is Patrick Stewart.
This is also Professor Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X. His superpower is telekinesis, the ability to manipulate the world around him via the power of his mind. He also has a host of superintellectual powers, but telekinesis is the one I'm going to focus on.
Telekinesis has always been one of my favorite powers- I've always been the smart-yet-weak kid, and telekinetic characters showed that strength of mind can be just as good as or better than strength of body. The telekinetic character is one who appeals to the pen, not the sword.
Telekinesis is not just something that appeals to my primarily mental worldview. Telekinesis is also a power that has a million uses and has a million different archetypes associated with it. You've got Professor X, the archetypal wise, calm telekinetic, and then you've got the sadistic or rash pyrokinetic character. There's a slew of different types of characters that go with mental powers they possess. Telekinesis is a power that can have almost any character molded around it. A character with regular telekinesis, the ability to use their mind to create force and manipulate things, leads to Professor X, the mentor. The character that controls fire leads to the Human Torch, a more irrational and impulsive character.
Aside from the diversity of the connotations of mental powers, there's the practical side of having telekinesis. There are a thousand and one things I could do with telekinesis. Being able to move things around me is incredibly practical and has many mundane uses. This is why I choose telekinesis- I am NOT a superhero. I would want a power I can use constantly in my average life. As awesome as the ability to shoot lightning from my appendix or something would be, what the hell would I use it for? Sure, once I eventually find my icy-spleened nemesis I would be incredibly thankful for my powers, but how often is that going to happen?

So, overall, I would want a power that, while incredible and extraordinary, still has a use in the ordinary and the normal. Being a superhuman does not mean I'm no longer human- I'm just a bit more than that. Think of it as being the B+ to humanity's B.





So, if I did an audio review and wanted to be Aquaman, would I get bonus points for having a straight face the whole time?

Video Jokes!

Joke 1: "Big Blonde Women"
Joke 2: "Blondes and Puppets"


Seeing as both videos had the same plot and characters, they're somewhat similar. However, there are still differences.

The first joke mostly uses a voiceover to tell the story, while the second joke uses dubbed dialogue. The first joke has fewer actors and brings attention to the three main characters (ventriloquist, blonde and puppet). This use of space contrasts the second video, which has the blonde in a crowd of people for a good part of the movie. Both videos make use of the rule of thirds when the blonde and ventriloquist confront each other, however. This use of space focuses the viewer's eyes on the two opposing characters.
The first video uses shape to contrast the two main characters- the blonde woman is large and fat while the ventriloquist is much skinnier and appears smaller. The second video uses the positioning of characters for the same effect when the blonde berates the ventriloquist to make her seem much larger than the ventriloquist. She's standing while he's (I'm?) sitting, she's looming over him while he cowers, and so on. This didactic information makes the audience view the blonde as a more powerful character and the ventriloquist as weaker.
Aside from the visual differences in the videos, the second video does have some differences in execution and story. First of all, there are more than three actors and a puppet, giving a better crowd effect. Eric's script also called for the puppet to actually be alive, which is by far the biggest difference, giving the video an unexpected twist and a rather slapstick ending (which is stupidly hard to see because it's very dark...). The second video does frame the joke much differently, however. The video is presented as someone telling a story to someone else, instead of just being an event. This allows for cuts to the storyteller and his audience for commentary and Greek Chorus-style dialogue.

Overall I think we did pretty well and both videos are well-made...of course, I might be a bit biased since they ARE my own...and they AREN'T THE DAMN TRAIN JOKE.
Seriously, like half the videos were the train joke.