BFA Show

The BFA show in the BGSU galleries is full of great artwork. Since I have worked in this gallery, I have seen a lot of different exhibitions and this one has been one of the best I have seen. It is a little crowded, but I can see why so many pieces have been excepted.  It is hard to choose which pieces of artwork I liked the best. The pieces that had a “grand” appearance stuck out in my mind. Particularly the art work by Brynn Hurlstone and Melissa Brown in the Wankelman gallery. The detail in the glass work in Brynn’s piece was very intriguing. Having the little bit of light shine through the glass helps you to see the details inside of the pieces. The display of the artwork was something different as well. The giant wall the takes over that individual room that includes little pieces of artwork helps to engage the viewer  The stairs in front of the wall I did not feel went well with the piece as a whole. The stairs seemed very rigid compared to the smooth surface of the glass.

Melissa’s piece, I thought, was very intriguing also. I have taken glass classes before so I know how much work goes into making these different pieces of artwork, so this makes me appreciate it even more than I used to.  I think her pieces give people a new way to look at and interpret the glass.  I feel that they would also be really intriguing as water fountains as well.

Another piece that stuck out was Alyson Moutz and Erine Cline’s type made from glass. It took me a little while to figure out how the letter forms were made, but after I did I thought they were designed very well. I thought it was interesting to see someone take such a different view of a letter form.

There were a lot of other pieces in the gallery  that I thought were pretty amazing. The ones that stuck out most to me, I guess, were the big and bold pieces that pretty much said “look at me.” They were the ones that took on their own environment inside the galleries. I think overall everyone did a great job on everything and I am excited to see what our class is going to bring in Spring of 2009.

A Website That Will Change the World

As I was browsing through other peoples blogs, I noticed a few people talk about the shootings occurring at schools. This gave me an idea to create a website that would give ways to protect yourself in those kind of life threatening situations. It would be an informational site that would have certain techniques that you could use to defend yourself in bad situations such as in a school shooting, in an alley, or even medical help (CPR, etc).

Another idea I had before I started reading the other blogs was a website that gives ideas that can help change peoples general attitude towards other people. It would give a daily piece of advice to help each other such as holding the door for someone, donating to different charities, or lending a hand to help someone lift something. These acts would be towards strangers only. In this website people will be able to blog about different experiences that people had when someone assisted them with something or suggesting new ways to assist to someone. It would be like the movie Pay It Forward.

I had two other ideas that I thought might be intriguing. One idea was to create a website that people can post blogs about miracles that have happened to them. Times when they lost all hope and something small or big happened that changed their world. This website relates to the website above, but it is relating to create hope in the world and that all is not lost.

The last idea I had was creating a website of places that could change your life. Places to see or go and experience that are life changing. It would have brief information about the different places and people can blog to tell about their experiences at this place and how it made an impact on their life.

Game Design Advancements: Good or Bad?

The chapter that I choose from Heller’s book was on Game Design.  From personal experience, I know that a lot of students in college play video games. Some people cannot go through one day without being involved in one. I myself have recently partaken in a game called Paper Mario in which I played on the Wii. Video games these days have become more developed than ever before. It is hard to say what they will come up with next seeing how advanced our gaming systems already are. Take the Wii for example, an interactive game counsel that encourages movement and interactive play.  These systems always seem to be advancing to a new way.  The question is who is behind all of these innovative designs?  What does it take to become a game designer?

In the book “Becoming A Digital Designer,” Heller addresses the rise of the gaming industry. The game industry is so popular that is moving past the motion picture industry when regarding revenue says Heller. This leads to the assumption that people are jumping for the opportunity to become game designers and to partake in this advancement. The only problem with this is, not everyone can become a game designer (of course). In order to be a good game designer, one has to know exactly how to keep someone interested in playing the game. You need to know what kind of characters will keep someone interested in playing the games (Is this why there are so many games based off of well-known movies?). “If you can create a game that keeps a group of eight-year-olds actively engaged for half an hour, not only will you have done their parents a big favor, you may have just discovered a career.”  Not only is there some comedy in the statement “keeping kids busy”, but there is some truth here too. The idea of a person becoming a game designer is hard because of the difficulty of keeping young kids entertained for more than fifteen minutes.

The gaming industry today is something quite interesting to look at.  It has become something that a lot of people are involved in.  In the beginning, it used to be a way to occupy kids and keep them busy for a while. Now, it seems that everyone is getting together as a group to play.  It has become more of a social event and encourages ranges of ages to come together and play.  I have a cousin who is about 40 and he gets together with other family members as well as friends to play.  The people who play with him range from around 9 to 45 years old.  This is definitely a wide range of people playing together (the sad part is his 9 year old son can beat him in the game). What is also interesting is how it connects to all of the people outside of the realm of one’s home. In the beginning of the gaming industry, one could only play against a computer and its environments. Now there are ways to set the game up over the internet and play with people all around the world.

One downfall about the advancement of the gaming industry is how costly it has become. People have to invest tons of money in order to purchase the required equipment as well as any games they would like to play.  The way the new systems like the Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 are, in order to get the smaller system you have to spend at least 400 dollars and it only includes a controller and a lousy game to start with.  Granted, I don’t know much about the gaming systems and what is included in each, but when you have to spend the 400 and then 50 to 60 dollars for each GOOD game after that, it can get a little costly. I enjoy paying video games as much as any other person, but when you add everything together it seems a little ridiculous.  What happened to the old games where you did not have to spend a ridiculous amount of money to buy one. Yes, they are not as interactive with society as they are now, but I am sure the games that are out now can be reduced a bit. What about all the rest of the people that cannot afford spending 700 dollars to be entertained? And what happens when a new system comes out? We have to pay another 400 dollars for the new one?

Hola!

Welcome to my site. I am a fun and interesting person to hang out with. I love Palm trees, the beach and anything that has to do with either. I dream to be one day live by the beach and design for the resort industries on the coast. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! I won’t bite, I promise!