Personas

Tonight in class we touched upon the topic of having a virtual identity and how some feel the need to have multiple personas, introducing the concept of identity fragmentation. Most were uncertain what they wanted to post on their blogs, finding themselves automatically censoring potential material they had to offer because of the fear of being judged or for perhaps not following whatever few parameters this semester-long assignment has imposed on it. I came to the realization very quickly that I have not been this way inclined at all. Yes, upon my introductory post I may have suggested some apprehension on my part for having to start a blog, but the worry stemmed more from the fact that I would have to regularly update it rather than how others (and particularly my classmates) would choose to perceive me from the content I shared.

Think I'm a loony for being a fan of the latest generation of My Little Pony (Friendship is Magic)? Good for you. Think I'm awesome for being a Zelda enthusiast? Kudos! I see absolutely no reason to hide or ignore potential interests that may be disagreeable or unseemly to others in an autobiographical blog. Whatever is a significant event or has some form of impact in my day will very likely see itself being posted here, regardless of whether it appears relevant or not in the grand scheme of things. In this virtual form, you will see what composes 'Vanessa Hood' in the rawest elements - my interests, my opinion, my life. It's a new year - it's time to stop sitting idly by and grab the bull by the horns. Lead the charge!

In regards to today, I have been entirely preoccupied with a personal project. I have alluded to or mentioned it by name in previous posts, but I've never once actually explained what 'Red Rogues' is. In a brief summary, Red Rogues is a collaborative project between Skye Braham and Vanessa Hood; chronicling the adventures of a trio of sky pirates as they traverse the world, treasure hunting specifically for profit as they seek to establish an infamous reputation for themselves. They get into much trouble and mischief, looting for fun and landing in many a sticky situation. Red Rogues saw its inception in September 2009 and was originally designed to be a fan-fiction for the Sega Dreamcast title 'Skies of Arcadia'. It grew so fast and had so little to actually do with Skies of Arcadia that it became its own original work juggernaut. My passion has always been for writing, so Red Rogues marks my first major foray into the art of writing a fiction novel. Skye Braham (who is, to be said, my best friend) has always been a drawing enthusiast and has been constantly improving her craft by documenting our stories in the visual art form. It is truly something beautiful to be able to create and share a world with another person on equal grounds. Her artwork and dedication to the project is not only highly appreciated, but serves as an excellent motivator to keep writing and work hard to ensure that our collaborative creation will someday find its way to the bookstore shelves. It has always been my dream to write novels - so it is without saying that this project will be my primary focus for the entirety of 2012. Everything else is secondary, for better or worse.

The two images that you see above are my first ever attempts at creating 'Character Biography Templates' - each will have a visual of the character and some important (though not entirely inclusive) facts on the kind of people they are. You may have noticed from their names - Vanessa & Skye - that they are exactly the same as their creators. Despite sharing the same first name and a similar likeness in appearance, they are entirely different people otherwise. I don't know about Skye, but I certainly wouldn't be kosher with getting into fights and stealing from people for leisure sport! I am currently working on the character template for the third main character in Photoshop CS4. That is on my main list of priorities to be done tonight.

To show how truly spontaneous (and totally inspired) this blog can really be, tonight I will dine on overstuffed Chef Boyardee ravioli. For desert I will eat a brownie with vanilla ice cream. Truly the markings of a rebel, right there.

Have a great night, all! Don't be too stressed with how others might perceive you... in the end, the only opinion that really matters is your own. Take pride in who you are.


Edit: In my conquest of encouragement and happy babbling of Red Rogues, I completely forgot to mention the other main event that transpired today! Look what I (finally) received in the mail! New pony shirt!

Octavia Nouveau by anjila (Red Bubble)

It seems at this point that I am starting a collection of pony shirts. I will most likely not get any more beyond these two, because my next order of business (as I'm sure Skye will agree) will be in designing our own Red Rogues T-shirts. Nothing would be cooler than an artistic representation of myself on a shirt! This shirt of Octavia joins the one seen below in the "I Feel Awesome Wearing This" catalogue of my wardrobe.

Fluttershy and Butterflies by Northern Dash (Red Bubble)

The fun has been doubled! A second bidding of a pleasant night-time to you all. <3

The World Is Saved: Gamer Music Video

Pretty much the anthem of my childhood. While I do not play games nearly as much as I used to (unfortunately, I simply lack the time, and now I've reached the point in my life where I am working on creating my own worlds to explore), they will always be part of my life in some shape or form. This video is a beautiful reminder of some of the experiences I had playing games with friends or by myself in the past. Some people might see video games as a waste of time, but I see them as an amazing interactive art piece. They all tell their own story (whether they're entirely cohesive or not is another point altogether).

My favorite video game series, as you may have guessed from the blatant praising in a previous post, is The Legend of Zelda.

Thanks for the memories. <3

Busy Busy Busy!

So much to do, and seemingly so little time to do it! I've found myself in quite a predicament as to be caught up to my eyeballs in school work, every day, no matter how much I tackle each project with an iron resolve. I don't know if I'm sleeping too soundly because though I'm sleeping for longer than I used to, I've been absolutely exhausted these last few days, and nothing seems to remedy it. I feel that I must literally drag myself through stubborn willpower to get anywhere and to even pay attention in class, which is unlike me. I'm sure I'll get over it, though - everyone has this mood/feeling eventually, right?

This week has seen the introduction of Pride & Prejudice in my English class. It has been a book I have always intended to read (I saw the movie adaptation a few years ago), so it's been very enjoyable to finally get around to it. Though I already know what is to happen, it is a lot of fun to imagine the characters and their environments in my mind. I cannot help but read "Mr. Bingley!" and/or "Mr. Darcy" with faux British enthusiasm. I'm about a third into the novel, now. Another entry will likely see some more P&P.

 

I had the opportunity to reconnect with some old online friends of mine on Tuesday, after having not spoken to any of them for near two years. These were all people I had met during my time as a staff member of a site named Wiipals/Nintendo Worlds/NintendoPals [It has hopped between the three names; it is currently Nintendo Worlds] and I would play games online with them. These people happen to be especially adept at Mario Kart and participate in online tournaments. They're insanely good players and really hard to play against, but the competition makes it fun! I was able to play Mario Kart 7 (the new handheld version for the 3DS) online with them on Tuesday night, and was able to place between 1st and 8th place. I honestly never had any idea what my final position would be - it all could change in an instant! Thanks for the fun, guys. I certainly missed interactions like that. :)

I completely forgot what else I was going to include in this blog, so instead I will leave you with the following spontaneous closure: I am presently devouring a roast beef sandwich, and it is delicious. Have a great Thursday!

Beginnings Anew

 A scene from MLP:FiM, as depicted by Suirobo

So the weekend has come and gone and I actually do not have much to report on it, other than to say that I took it easy and did not invest myself in any major projects or assignments. On Saturday I watched the newest episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic; it was an episode about Applejack heading off to the rodeo in Canterlot to win both blue ribbons and the prize money for her hometown of Ponyville. Applejack goes missing and it's up to Twilight and the rest of the gang to find out what happened to their country pal! A simple plot (it is a kid's show, after all...) but was one of the most enjoyable episodes of season two. It just keeps getting better and better. The show's production team also must adore their fans, because a former background pony (whom the fans named 'Derpy Hooves') was actually given a spotlight and a voice! The internet was pretty crazy about that over the weekend. I'd be more "OMG" if Octavia was given a highlight, personally. :)

 

The other show I spent some time viewing last week was Game of Thrones. I've heard nothing but heaps of praise for the series since it's inception, but I only just decided this last week to invest some time into watching it. I have only seen the first four episodes so far, but it's really good! I can see why it's so popular. The quality of the show is so good that I do feel inspired to go out and read the series its based on, 'A Song of Ice and Fire' by George R.R. Martin. I am an absolute sucker for medieval fantasy pieces, and this is no exception. A definite recommendation if you're into that genre!
 

Remember a few days ago when I mentioned that my game pitch was the most popular in the Game Strategy & Design tutorial, and I now have to head a team of six into designing/creating it? Well, it's happened again! In my Theatre class, my parody playlet on the classic Romeo & Juliet tale turned out to be the most preferred in my group (we had to read through each others' playlets and decide whose we thought was the best and should be performed). That's twice now that ideas of mine were chosen to be produced! It's both exciting and nerve wracking, because one of the primary responsibilities besides being the visionary is to lead these projects to success. Romeo & Juliet is being directed by another member of my group, so that lessens my leadership role in that somewhat, but I am still the playwright and acting as Romeo in the piece. Our production will be performed on March 19th, 2012 - so we have approximately two months to produce it, with absolutely zero class time devoted to it!

All of that and I still haven't even breached the subject of Red Rogues yet. I suppose that would best be saved for another post - it's important every day of the week, but especially on Sundays! I'll let you all know about that later. :)

Happy Monday, all! Best of luck through this week!

Ode to Jimmy

Today's entry initially was going to be about progress on my pitched game and how my English tutorial had the class acting out parts of Othello, but then a really special tube arrived in the mail today for me and it traveled all the way from Kenedy, Texas. For some clarity, I have this really great online friend that I have known for many years, and he has always been exceptionally supportive of all my endeavours (no matter what it is). We have epic discussions from the absurdly outrageous to the absolutely banal, and no matter what our conversation is about, it's always delightful to interact with him.

He knows that I am an intense Zelda fan, so to go out of his way and get these posters for me really means a lot. They're so awesome, and a lot larger than I was expecting! Going to have to find some space to put them on my walls. Thanks a ton, Jimmy. <3

The other main event of the day is that a friend of mine is coming over to record more of our collaboration Let's Play. For those who don't know, Let's Plays are essentially video game walkthroughs recorded by a capture card with voice-over commentary. We are currently working on Namco's 2004 Japanese RPG Tales of Symphonia, which was released exclusively for the Nintendo Gamecube. We are nearly the end of our epic 40-50 hour quest, encompassing all of the main story and sidequests. The latest episode is episode 27. Here is an example of what we do (WARNING: Spoilers for those who have the intention of playing Tales of Symphonia and haven't already):

My voice acting is laughably bad, I know.

So a video-game centric entry for today. It pretty much is consuming the entirety of my day (whether by creation or playing pre-existing, nevertheless) and I am completely okay with that. Hope you are all having a colorful cel-shaded day, just like me! Peace!

Game Strategy & Design: Pitching the Game

Today was the day that our game pitches were due. When I arrived in my tutorial, I assumed that we would be forming groups and then pitching the idea to our individual members, but no! Turns out we had to present to the entire class our game, and out of everyone's ideas the top two voted would be designed and built! My, that made me nervous, didn't expect that at all. I went up and gave an honest effort in providing details about my potential game, in two seconds titling it 'Under Siege' because I had not come up with a name by that point, and afterward sat back down and listened to all the other pitches.

Surprisingly, my game was the top voted in the class! As it was my idea, I have become the team leader that has to organize and coordinate everything for the programmer, art designers, and music/sound designers to do. I have now suddenly amassed a ton of responsibility and work to do in this semester, based on one class alone. It will be stressful, but I'm quite excited for it. I have wanted to work in this field for almost my entire life. It will be great to finally get some experience. :)

My reaction to the news.

Off to get more homework done; hope everyone has a great night!

Introduction

Whoever would have guessed that starting up a blog would feel daunting to some people? I certainly did not expect myself to be among that group, but I am most certainly feeling some apprehension now. I think the nervousness more stems from the fact that I have never been interested in creating a blog before, and now I am required to by my FA 245: Arts & Technology class. I have this fear that I will not be diligent in updating frequently because I do not find myself to be much an interesting person. Alas, only time will truly tell.

Hello to those that are reading from the class, by the way!

So I guess a short introduction is in order. I am Vanessa Hood, a second year student at the University of Victoria. I am majoring in Writing, though my recent fascination with programming may cause me to switch to Computer Science. At the end of the semester, we'll see which path I end up taking. I was born in Maryland and that makes me a natural American citizen, but I acquired my Canadian citizenship in October 2011. It feels fantastic to have a dual nationality, and I feel honoured to be an official Canadian in this beautiful land. Before ending up in Victoria, I had a five year stint in Nova Scotia where I graduated from High School. I absolutely love the Maritimes, and definitely feel a connection to there; I always find myself traveling in that direction for the summer.

She Who Wanderlusts is a random title that sort of came to me as a spur of the moment thing as this site prompted me for a name; I decided to go with wanderlust because I do have a strong desire to travel and I never can seem to settle in one place for too long. Nova Scotia was my record with five years; it will be most interesting indeed if I ever do find a place to settle down for longer than that.

I apologize in advance if this blog turns into an advertisement for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Red Rogues, and/or my Game Strategy & Design projects. I will try to be slightly more diverse than that, though it would be a most funny and appropriate 'artistic autobiography' if it did turn out to be only those exact things. Those are, after all, the only things I'm majorly invested in at the moment.

I hope everyone in Victoria enjoyed the snowstorm that we had today - very much a rarity here! The rest of the country may call the Islanders and Vancouverites whiners for complaining about the snow and temperature, but they don't seem to understand that this essentially never happens here. That means that most drivers do not have snow tires... that makes it a lot more dangerous and concerning. Every school in Victoria, including Camosun College, closed today. Except for UVic, of course. That's Murphy's Law, right there.

But yes, welcome to this blog space. We'll see how it progresses over the course of the next few months. :)