Intro Page - You Can't Sit With Us

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been personally victimized by Regina George. If you’re not raising your hand, you’re doing it wrong. If you’re wondering who Regina George is then we’ve got a lot of work to do.

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A Brief Synopsis of the movie Mean Girls

Cady Heron (pronounced like ‘Katie’) moves from Africa where she’s lived/been home-schooled her whole life to a small town in Illinois. She is soon introduced to Janis Ian (accused lesbian) and Damian (too gay to function) who give her the scoop on the school, including but not limited to, the reign of the Plastics.

Regina George is a lot of things: she’s flawless (John Stamos told her she was pretty), she has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus, she does car commercials in Japan, and her hair is insured for $10,000. But most of all, she’s Queen Bee of the Plastics aka the ‘Army of Skanks.’ Gretchen Wieners (her father invented Toaster Strudel) and Karen Smith (she asked me how to spell orange) are just her little workers.

Through the course of this fabulously written (by Tina Fey) film, Cady gets in with the Plastics as a joke but ends up becoming one. A lot of life lessons are learned (i.e. butter is a carb, foot cream makes your face smell good, your first cousin is your first cousin, etc.) and a lot of lives are changed. Cut, print, check the gate, moving on.

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I’ve had quite a few obsessions in my life, in fact, I think I have a new one every day. But two things have always been, and forever will be, at the top of my obsession list. So without further ado, I present to you a website devoted to the combining of two equally powerful sources, Mean Girls and Harry Potter.

You are very welcome.

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The Project

We live in a digital age. I don’t know that anyone could have foreseen the weight digital media holds in our lives. In his book titled, The Language of New Media, Lev Manovich describes five key principles that helped bring about this new digital media: numerical representation, modularity, automation, variability, transcoding. Throughout this website (and virtually every other website you’ve ever visited) his principles are very apparent.

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You Can't Sit With Us #7

I decided to take a different route with my page options. I chose quotes from the movie Mean Girls and used them as titles and I’m very pleased with my choices. I know we’re not required to mention the intro page, but I liked the title so much I decided to briefly mention it anyway.

-Intro - You Can’t Sit With Us

One of the many famous one-liners from this film. What is to be said here will appear in my next blogpost.

-Army of Skanks

Here I will introduce to you the Plastics, in all their glory. Each member (and honorary member) will be briefly introduced, complete with photo and a few attributes. When I first introduced my project idea I promised Mean Girls media in other contexts. For the sake of keeping things organized I will limit these “other contexts” to one context - Harry Potter. So, side by side with the Plastics, I will introduce to you the members of Harry Potter’s “army of skanks” and honorary members. Members of Harry Potter will be given a Mean Girls alias.

I could be totally off by saying this, but I think this concept falls under the category of Modularity in the Manovich text. Modularity is the “fractal structure of new media.” New media objects can and are often put together into larger objects but they still maintain their individual identity (separate parts of a larger whole, if you will). “Every element can always be accessed on it’s own.” In placing Harry Potter characters into a Mean Girls setting, I believe I am achieving Modularity....in some sort of way.

-The Rules

On this page I will discuss the “rules” that are to be followed in order to be a initated into the army of skanks. Just in case any of you would like to be considered (I might even throw in an application for skankery on this page). And you should just know, that they don’t accept people very often so if you get accepted it’s like, a really huge deal.

In the Manovich text he also talks about Variability. Variability includes taking an image or text and adding variation to it. In this scenario, we are talking about memes. Any photograph can be manipulated into whatever anyone wants it to be. In this age of new media, everything can be customized. Manovich says, “New media also allow us to create versions of the same object that differ from each other in more substantial ways.” I will be using memes in some (if not all) of my pages.

-Burn Book

Here I will be transferring quotes from Mean Girls to situations in Harry Potter. I know you probably think I can’t possibly make an entire page of this, but you could be wrong. There are countless - countless I tell you! - scenarios that are easily transferable. A lot of these are memes so I’ll be using those but others I will write myself. I’ll give you one example.

Mean Girls Quote:

Let me tell you something about Janis Ian. We were best friends in middle school. I know, right? It's so embarrassing. I don't even...whatever. So then in eighth grade, I started going out with my first boyfriend, Kyle, who was totally gorgeous but then he moved to Indiana, and Janis was like, weirdly jealous of him. Like, if I would blow her off to hang out with Kyle, she'd be like, "Why didn't you call me back?" And I'd be like, "Why are you so obsessed with me?" So then, for my birthday party, which was an all-girls pool party, I was like, "Janis, I can't invite you, because I think you're lesbian." I mean I couldn't have a lesbian at my party. There were gonna be girls there in their *bathing suits*. I mean, right? She was a LESBIAN. So then her mom called my mom and started yelling at her, it was so retarded. And then she dropped out of school because no one would talk to her, and she came back in the fall for high school, all of her hair was cut off and she was totally weird, and now I guess she's on crack.

Transferred to Harry Potter:

Let me tell you something about Hermione Granger. We were best friends years one through five. I know, right? It’s so embarrassing. I don’t even...whatever. So then in my sixth year I started going out with my first girlfriend, Lavender, who was totally gorgeous but then she stopped talking to me. And Hermione was like, weirdly jealous of her. Like, if I would blow her off to hang out with Lavender, she'd be like, "Why didn't you call me back?" And I'd be like, "Why are you so obsessed with me?" So then, for the Quidditch party, which was an all Gryffindor common room party, I was like, "Hermione, I can't invite you, because I think you're into me." I mean I couldn't have a girl who was into me at the party. Lavender was going to be there. I mean, right? She was INTO ME. So then she conjured some birds to fly at my head, it was so retarded. And then I got injured playing Quidditch and when I woke up Lavender wasn’t talking to me and now I guess Hermione is my girlfriend.

Yes, I did write that. And you’re welcome.

-The Hot Gossip

Here I will include interview and up-to-date news on Mean Girls cast members as well as Harry Potter. I will also give you an update on their character’s lives (most likely made up by myself). This will include video footage of cast members. Transcoding is a great principle to be used here, seeing as it is like a transcript of an interview. Kind of.

For your entertainment: Here are more options for page titles. It took me quite some time to decide on just five.

Too Gay To Function

You’re Wearing Sweatpants

That Vest Was Disgusting

That Was One Time!

Half a Virgin

Fugly Slut

Do You Wanna Go to Taco Bell?

All-Carb Diet

The Projection Room Above the Auditorium

Hoop Earrings

She Asked Me How to Spell Orange

I Heart Aaron

Is Butter a Carb?

I’m a Mouse, Duh

I Have a Fifth Sense

Candycane Grams

Ugh, Lipgloss

A Cool Mom

Insured for $10,000

Weirdly Jealous

Why Are You So Obsessed With Me?

So Fetch

It’s October Third

A Regulation Hottie

Get In Loser, We’re Going Shopping

Personally Victimized

Your Face Smells Like Peppermint

Say Crack Again

We Should Totally Just Stab Ceasar

Brutus Is Just As Cute As Ceasar

She Doesn’t Even Go Here!

Wide-Set Vagina

Home-schooled Jungle Freak

Wednesdays = Pink
You Can Go Shave Your Back Now
Soak Up Each Other's Awesomeness
Boo, You Whore
Ohhh, Kevin G!
Damn Africa, What Happened?
You Smell Like A Baby Prostitute
I Wanna Lose Three Pounds
I Just Have A Lot Of Feelings
The Limit Does Not Exist
Whatever, I'm Getting Cheese Fries
Yeah, But He's My First Cousin

Blog Post #8: Homepage Text

Welcome to the Tardis.

If you have never experienced the exciting universe of Doctor Who, This site is the perfect introduction for you. Doctor Who is a British Television series which follows the adventures of a time traveler who visits new planets, solves interesting puzzles, and combats various aliens. This site is divided into five parts, all of which help to demonstrate the significant involvement from the community of fans that surround the series. These are Music, Artwork, Videos, and Characters.

Each section is a demonstration of the beautiful works of creativity both by members of the fan-base and by the writers of the show itself. Each page is also a good example of the principles described by Lev Manovich in his text: "The Language of New Media" In particular the way in which the digitization of art, music, and ideas has led to a situation in which someone with relatively small access to resources or creative skills is still able to reproduce interesting products that showcase what they as an individual are excited about.

On with the Show

Fleetwood Mac has not always been the Fleetwood Mac that shot to success in the late 70's. The band started out as a British-American Rock band in 1967. Within the bands first ten years they lost all of their member but Mick Fleetwood, the drummer. They did not reach success until they were Christine McVie, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and Mick Fleetwood. This is the Fleetwood Mac that most know and love. The Fleetwood Mac that brought us songs like; "Don't Stop", "Landslide", "Dreams" and "Go Your Own Way".

Like any other Rock and Roll bad they had their ups and downs. From cheating lovers to drugs and alcohol. These elements provided music lovers with some of the greatest songs of all time. Perhaps the most interesting story of Fleetwood Mac is that of Stevie and Lindsey. Stevie and Lindsey met in high school and joined the band together. Lindsey told Mick that he would only join the band if Stevie was also joining the band. This shows his dedication and love for her. But, like any great love story does, their romance took a turn for the worse.

The very thing that brought Lindsey and Stevie together ended up destroying them. The success got to their heads and Stevie ended things with Lindsey. This break up produced songs like "Silver Springs" written by Stevie, a woman scorned and ready to haunt you with her voice and "Go Your Own Way" Lindsey's response to Silver Springs telling her to go ahead and shack up, he didn't care anymore. Through the break up of Lindsey and Stevie the band stayed together. Even after Christine and John divorced they stayed together. These breakups gave us some of the best songs in Rock and Roll and one of the best albums the band has produced, "Rumors".

As the drugs and love tried to tear them apart they vowed to stay together when as a band they wrote "The Chain". The band being the chain that would never be broken. Eventually the chain was broken when Lindsey left the band because he did not think Stevie was healthy enough to go on tour. The years following Lindsey's exit lead to Stevie's solo career and John and Christine's exit. Mic Fleetwood continually fought to get the band together but was never able to get all five members back at the same time until now.

The band just kicked of their 2015 North America Tour, "On With the Show". The show is sold out in almost every venue, because there is nothing like the five of them being back together. The band was able to overcome heartbreak, drug addiction, betrayal, cancer and much more. This website is dedicated to that great band that is finally back together and the history that gave us the great music.

Lev Manovich in his text, "The Language of New Media" discusses the changes of media. He gives us five principles that helped to bring about New Media. This new media allows us to share information, ideas, art, etc. in ways that Fleetwood Mac probably never though possible. In 1975, they never would have thought that their music would be available on the internet or that people would be making websites about them. Lev Manovich discusses why these changes are important and what they do to make our technological world better for everyone, including bands like Fleetwood Mac. 

It's all about a...

Zelda, as with most video games that started when it did, is all about a girl. Princess Zelda. So of course the main character is a guy named Link( If you've ever gotten this confused and called Link Zelda don't worry you're not the only one. But more on that will be discussed on the Memes page.) Zelda has gained a following of fans for many different reasons, it's music and story lines being two of the biggest. However, Zelda's fans haven't stopped at simply enjoying what Nintendo produces. By means of New media we've taken an already fantastic series of games and built a community around this similar interest. This website seeks to study the effect easy access to community-based internet sites has had on Zelda, and it's community, using the theories of Lev Manovich.

In his book "The Language of New Media" Manovich compares the invention and progression of the computer to the invention and progression of Cinema and how both have changed the societies they were introduced into. He discusses five main principles on New Media in his book and how it either builds on the bones of what came before it, or breaks away from the past into a new form of perception and communication. I will be discussing four of those five principles here.

Blog Post to the Eighth Degree

Felis Catus is the scientific name for the common household cat. They belong to the mammalian family because they give live birth, have hair, and produce milk for their young. Cats are K strategists since they produce only a handful of young and provide parental care. 

Cats are superb predators which prey mostly on rodents, birds, and other small animals. Their claws allow them to climb trees with ease. They are well known for almost always landing on their feet. This is due to their tails that provide them with excellent balance. 

It was originally thought that cats were first domesticated in Egypt. This is not true. There have been cat bones and human bones discovered buried together in Cyprus around 9,500 years ago. Scientists believe cat domestication began in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East.

Many cultures have revered cats. One of the main ones is Egypt. There are many paintings that depict cats. One of their gods, Bastet, was often drawn with cat-like features. Japan views cats as lucky especially the "Maneki-neko" which is image or statue of a cat with a waving paw. These are usually very decorated. The popular icon, "Hello Kitty," is fashioned after this welcoming cat.

Cats have become an integral part of pop culture. They have been used in cartoons such as "Tom and Jerry" and "Sagawa." "Garfield" is a whole comic strip dedicated to a cat. "America's Funniest Home Videos" is known for having segments of the show featuring funny cats. Cat videos have saturated YouTube and other video websites. Who can resist those funny cat videos? I know I have wasted quite a bit of time watching hilarious videos about cats.

This ties into the Manovich text I will use to add meaning and analysis to this website. Manovich's main idea is to make a record and comment on the change before, during, and after the age of computers. He believes there have been drastic transformations to our culture and daily lives as a result of advances in technology. 

There are phrases and words that didn't even exist fifty years ago. It's now common to say "Google it" or "Hashtag." Most of our parents and grandparents have no idea what we are talking about if we use these phrases. We have become a society where information is just a click away. No more having to go to the library and sort through cards to find information. We can now just look it up on our iPhone or tablet.

The shift to computers has resulted in "media as the message" which means the actual medium is an integral part of the information conveyed. This is especially prevalent in websites where hyperlinking adds multiple layers of information. Manovich believes five principles are an important part of the technological age. These are numerical representation, automation, variation, modulation, and transcoding which will be discussed further in relation to the content of the rest of this website.

Don't Stop thinking about your project.

For my final project I will have a page for:

• Memes
• Band Members
• Videos
• Interviews/News

Memes:
I will include memes because they are a prime example of New Media and variability. Variability is the principle Manovich explains as taking a simple image or text and adding your own variation to it. Fleetwood Mac fans have done this well with song lyrics, most of the time by taking the lyric and changing it to fit the picture they are using in their meme. Memes are also a good example of the principle viralness. If you create a meme that people can relate to, they can then reblog, repost, and share this meme making it gain popularity. I don't think that any Fleetwood Mac memes have gone viral, but it is still an important principle to discuss.

Band Members:
On this page I would like to give a biography of each band member including pictures and videos if necessary. Each band member has a different background and when they put those differences together they were able to make great music. In order to apply a Manovich principle to this page I will include photos of the band members. Photos are a good representation of the art in the digital age. I am going to strive to find pictures of the band members that are either edited or fan made in order to show how you can use new media to make a photo.

Videos:
This is probably the most important page for my site, Fleetwood Mac is a band so it is necessary to show their music. Videos are a great way to display music, whether it be an actual music video or a fan made video. I intended to include both on this page. Videos are a representation of the principle the medium as the message. When Fleetwood Mac writes a song they have a message they want people to hear. In order to spread that message they have to produce a medium, a song. Music videos can then be used to further portray the message they were trying to send through their song.

Interviews/News:
On this page I would like to include videos of interviews, news reports, blog updates about Fleetwood Mac. They are currently on tour so there is a lot of buzz about them on the web. I think this page would be a good spot to talk about the principle transcoding. Transcoding is basically taking something like an interview or a news article and putting it on the web, making it available to more people via the internet.

Blog Post the Seventh

I would first like to discuss memes. Memes exhibit variability. Variability is when a certain object has basic elements to it, but the user can add their own flare or creativity to this object. In the case of memes, there is a basic format whether this be a specific image or the type of font used which everyone follows. Each user can however add their own saying to the meme. This makes it so their is a wide variety of sayings on the same meme. Automation can also be used to describe this. Automation is basically a website or other page generates a template and then you can add to that template. There are meme generators that give you the basic meme and the correct font, all you do is type in what words you want to put on it.

Videos show the principle of viralness. When something goes viral, it becomes extremely popular and many people are sharing the item with others. This chain of sharing continues until eventually it dies out. Youtube videos are a great example because they become popular then many people share them on Facebook or other social media sites. This chain continues until the video loses it's popularity and just becomes a regular video. Videos also show variability. There can be several parody videos of the same show or movie, but they all have their own twist on the topic.

Fan art is a great way to illustrate the principle of art and the artist in digital culture. The idea of art and the artist has to do with how the image is rendered. Art can now be made with computer programs or edited with computer programs. Many images now are taken with digital cameras and edited on the computer. The other thing is that the artist and the art can be manipulated by someone else. People take images like a picture of the Fantastic Four and put their face on one of the characters. This changes the piece of the original art drastically. The art and the artist are changing all the time online. They do not always stay the same. Online fan art is represented by numerical representation. This means that the image is made up of code based on 0's and 1's.

Online memes, videos, and fan art are all examples of numerical representation and transcoding because they are made up of 0's and 1's.

Five for Figh--Zelda

My website will have five pages: intro, memes, music, fan-fiction, and Zelda video game walkthroughs.

I chose to include meme's because they are a classic example of digital media, and there are some excellent Zelda meme's that range from inside jokes only the Zelda nerds would know to more general true to life things that anyone could relate to. And they usually come in a humorous package which is most of the fun of memes.

Music may actually be my first page just because it is such an integral part of the Zelda games. Two of the most popular Zelda games are "Ocherina of Time" and "Twilight Princess" and while they are far from the only games in the Zelda series that use music they are two of the games where the music has become very well loved. so loved, in fact, that fans have taken the basic rhythms and tunes of the original songs and reworked them into techno, medleys, and more. Which I think is also a very good example of modularity because fans break down the original songs and rebuild then into something that's new, but still recognizable as a Zelda classic. 

The next is fan-fiction. This one is one I'm still on the line about. It does show how gripping Zelda is to its fans because they like it enough that they want to write in it and share that writing. And I think fan-fiction fits into new media principles under the idea of transcoding. Although fan-fiction is not the only aspect to this, I believe fan-fiction is one of the things that highlights the cultural layer of Zelda, while the video games stay mostly on a computer layer. The game itself is man vs. computer and- unless you're playing Link in Super Smash Bros- doesn't really pull in a community on its own. It's not until you start getting things like fan-fiction and memes, etc, that a community starts to be built around a common interest, in this case Zelda. 

The last is Zelda video game walkthroughs. This was also a topic I was kind of on the line about. However, I've chosen to include them because they are an integral part of the Zelda video game. There are written walkthroughs for when you get stuck or just want to find extras like heart pieces. There are also video walkthroughs that, in a weird way, kind of tie into automation. In automation, a ground work is laid and things are set up so that the human can intentionally be removed. With Zelda walkthroughs someone will record themselves playing the game and post it on the internet. After they have laid this groundwork anyone who wants to "play" the game, but doesn't want to play the game can watch the game of their choice with the click of a button. Or, many buttons really cause an uncut walkthrough can rarely be done in one video. 

Post #7: Website Pages

Besides the intro page, I intend to have pages for Music, Videos, Characters, and Artwork. The selection of these four topics was done carefully to focus on the fan-based production of the Dr. Who television series, which I feel most lends itself to many of the ideas discussed in the Manovich text.

The first section, music, was selected because the show relies heavily on a supportive soundtrack, largely consisting of character motifs. The way that a song (especially one without any lyrics) can be produced and marketed in such a way that it makes a connection with a character on screen is a very interesting aspect of the way that this show functions. The music, when made available to the fans, undergoes even more change, often it is remixed, added to, or simply performed in different ways. I think that most of the topics I have chosen could be associated with Manovich's discussion of viralness, but the ability to send out, in digital form (Numerical Representation) the music used for the show, creates a system by which the fans may edit and adjust it however they want to.

The second section, Videos, is meant to target the large amount of speculation, criticism, and reaction to the show in the form of home-made videos. The amount of such videos is extremely high, and range in quality, both of content and of production, from very good to terrible. Every season there is an uproar within the fan community surrounding the season finale, especially if it means that the main role, that of The Doctor, is going to be re-cast.

The third section, Character, is going to focus on the representation and development of each of the characters (or species in some cases) in the Dr. Who Universe. This section will include aspects of the way in which the character developments have changed in terms of the audience's reactions, as well as their development throughout the show. Major revisions or upgrades to the ideas of characters such as those common to the Doctor and his companions, but also such as the revisions to the Cybermen in Nightmare in Silver will make up a discussion of the changing nature of the content.

The fourth section, Artwork, will focus on the fan-made production of artistic content, including that which goes beyond the imagery of the show itself in order to provide a commentary or revision of some kind. This has been done, for example, in the form of depictions of romantic relationships that don't actually exist in the show, but which fans would like to see happen. In addition to the traditional forms of artwork, I would also like to address the issue of costumes that are developed for comic-con or cosplay events, as many of them are of good quality and an interesting nature.