Let's mix it up iPad-style...

Did I ever tell you how much I love my graphic design class? No?

We recently got to talking about the iPad and some of the apps created for various magazines. My teacher then proceeded to show us these two videos highlighting what the iPad can do from a graphic design perspective. I was blown away.

Wired Magazine <- When going from print to the internet, an article might be taken and reformatted until it's just a bunch of words and maybe one picture. To me that is sad because the wonderful work that a graphic designer did for the print version is lost. This is Wired magazine's response to that.

VIV Magazine Cover <- Changing the way we look at magazine covers.


I really want an iPad now...


~Twethereal

Same difference...

For my Compare and Contrast essay in class I'm going to be comparing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time the movie and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time the video game.

The Game

Now I'll be honest, most of the reason I chose to do a comparison with a video game is because I get to play said video game and it counts as "studying". But I really am taking notes while I play it. Honest!

I've already watched the movie once through and I'm about 65% of the way done the game already. (Good grief, I forgot how quickly I finished the game before. I was only playing it for about five hours so far this time.)

The Movie

I think I've got plenty of evidence to write my differences paragraph, it's just things that are similar I might have a little problem with. I had forgotten just how different the two were. Did they even play the game before making the movie? I mean I like both, but I don't consider them part of the same universe. And it's funny, but even though the storyline for the game is straightforward and simple and should be cliche, I found myself enjoying it more. It's probably one of the best games I've ever played if not the best. Goes to show that you don't need to formulate a complicated and twisted plot for a story to really pull someone in.

Anyway, I'm off to get ready to see the latest Harry Potter movie, hoping it is as awesome as the trailers I've seen are.


~Twethereal

Second Media Review

So for my second media review I thought that I'd give you a little insight on my favorite TV show.

What show you ask?

Wait for iiiiiiiiiittttt...

Psych on USA Network.

Shawn Spencer (James Roday) has convinced the Santa Barbara Police Department that he is psychic. With his keen power of observation and his unsurpassable deductive skills, he and his best friend Gus (Dule Hill) start their own psychic detective agency and are hired as police consultants. Expect hilarity, plenty of 80's references, and maybe a little crime solving.

If you've never seen it, go watch it now. For some unknown reason this show tends to go under the radar. But I think it to be one of the funniest shows on TV. If you love parodies, this show has plenty of them. They are not afraid to poke fun at just about everything. The cast is fantastic and all are very suited for the roles they play. James Roday and Dule Hill in particular have a wonderful chemistry that makes them completely believable as best friends. Their relationship really makes the show. It's on season 5 now and no sign of jumping the shark in sight.

USA also has a good commercial campain going. They make original commercials starring their actors to promote their respective shows.

Here's a couple of my favorites from Psych:

If you want to tune in, new episodes of Psych are on Wednesdays at 10/9c on USA.

Anyway, I'm off to do the rest of my homework so I can tune in at 10.


~Twethereal


And on a completely unrelated note, they decided to keep my Wikipedia article. The author of The Dreamer even backed me up. So I win. Take that Wikipedia.

Wikipedia article

I wrote on the class wiki that I was going to do my Wikipedia assignment on Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, which is a video game I talked about a few blog entries back. But I did some more research on the subject of creating articles and decided to create a different article instead.

So I created an article on one of my favorite webcomics, The Dreamer.

Right now it is pending deletion, so it might not stay. I was having a hard time putting enough in there to get the article started without it being full of uncited information.

I posted it under my usual username Twethereal.

~Twethereal

First Media Review - Pantene TV ad

Completely forgot that I was supposed to write my First Media Review for class. Better late than never, right? ... Right?

If you're not in my class and have stumbled across my blog, just treat this like a review of a commercial. Or just scroll down and hit the shiny play button on the Youtube video. Whatever works.



I stumbled across an TV ad that I'd never seen before yesterday. Honestly, I think it is the best commercial I've ever seen.

At first when I watched it, I couldn't figure out for the life of me what it had to do with Pantene Pro-V, which is what it is trying to sell. But then at the end of it, it really brought it home and sealed it.

The way it is filmed is stunning and the story itself could potentially be a full length movie. You can almost feel the emotion of the girl yourself. The flashbacks during the end scene flow beautifully and serve to show how far the girl had come to obtain her goal.

This is what an ad should try to accomplish. To make you feel something and to influence you.


But in the words of LeVar Burton, "you don't have to take my word for it".

Check it out:

~Twethereal

Tour of the Post

So I got to take a tour of the Frederick News Post on Monday night for my Computer Graphics II class. That was really cool. Our first stop on the tour was to see the girl who designs the Food section of the paper among other things. She gave us a little insight into what it's like to work there and the design process. I don't know if any of you saw the article on Andy Griffith that was in the paper on Sunday, but she designed that. We also met the lady that works on the advertisments in the paper. She probably gets more design freedom than most people there.

But as neat as it was to meet the people there, the coolest part was of course the printing press. Unfortunately it wasn't running at the time (they told us they weren't running it until midnight that day) but it was still amazing. It looked like an action movie set. There were rails and pipes and conveyer belts everywhere. I really wanted to walk up the stairs into the main part of the press, but I think that would have been out of the question. Oh well.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. I don't know if I would have been allowed to, but either way I was too busy staring at everything to bother.


~Twethereal

Simply Delicious

So, I've finally joined the masses and created a Delicious account. Just by looking down the list of websites I've put on there so far you can see just how much of a kid I still am.

If I had to pick just one site as my favorite, it'd probably be deviantART. If you are an artist, or just like art, and you haven't joined yet, DO IT NOW. You'll thank me later.

I know this kind of sucks as a post after not really posting anything for about two weeks, but hopefully you'll find at least one website that you find interesting in my list. Believe it or not, some of them are actually normal.

~Twethereal

To infinity and beyond...

And from the title you thought I was going to talk about Toy Story, didn't you? Admit it.

As a huge sci-fi fan, I've often wondered what the future will look like. Will there be flying cars? What will we all be wearing? Will smart phones and iPods and the like be thrown out in favor of holopads? Will people even have incentive to interact with eachother at all? Or will they be self-involved in their digital world? This is all speculation on my part though. I have no doubt that I won't be alive when the world finally reaches what I'd qualify as "futuristic".

So for today's blog entry I decided that I'd rack my brain through every sci-fi world I could think of and choose what would fit my ideal look for the future.

And what did I come up with?

I don't know how many of you have played any RPGs for the Playstation 2, but one of my favorite games design-wise is Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. The intro to that game is gorgeous.
Here are some shots from it:




And here, I'll even insert a Youtube video of the intro so you can see it for yourselves. Aren't I generous?

I don't know how comfortable I'd be with everything floating around me, but that would still be my first pick.


So I'll pose the question. What do you want the future to look like? It can be anything. Maybe you want it to look like Cloud City from Star Wars. Maybe you want it to look like the world of Tron. Perhaps you'd like to live a more simple life like in the movie Time Machine. Or maybe you've just seen a really beautiful piece of futuristic artwork that looks like your idea of an ideal future.

Comment below and tell me what you hope the future looks like.

~Twethereal

Insert speech bubble here...

I figured it was about time I updated my blog with my first "real" post. I thought a lot about what I'd write about. I wanted to pick something cool that would interest people that read it. So you're just going to have to settle for something cool to me that's interesting probably only to me. That's a compromise, right?

So what is this topic you ask? That would be what I and probably a few others know as the Webcomic.
Still with me? Good. A webcomic, for those of you that don't know, is just what it sounds like: a comic that you find on the web.

Still want some clarification? Fine. You know how the newspaper comes with that colorful page in it that sometimes makes you laugh and other times makes you wonder if the creator bought their exhausted sense of humor secondhand on eBay? Yes, the one labeled "Comics" at the top. Well imagine if that comic creator thought their comic was good enough that they didn't want it just to reach the comparatively small reach of the average newspaper. That person might say "Hey, if I posted my comic on the internet, I'd get a whole lot more viewers". And then the webcomic is born.

Now not all webcomics are just in comic strip form. Not all of them are even meant to be a comedy. A great deal of them look more like what I'd consider a graphic novel. In fact, most of the best comics I know are like that and most of them are good in their own right.

The best thing about a webcomic? It's free, you can access it at any time you want as long as you have an internet connection, and if you miss an update of it, you can just go the archive and look it up.


And now is the portion of the blog where I'll list links for your further enjoyment. Not that you asked, but not like it was going to stop me from posting them either way.


Free Webcomic Hosting Sites:

Smack Jeeves
Comic Genesis
Drunk Duck   (I have no idea where these names come from, I'm just the link provider...)
KeenSpot
Comic Fury


Webcomics that are worth following:

Jonas from Phoenix Requiem

Phoenix Requiem - My favorite webcomic. Kind of a supernatural Victorian-esque graphic novel style comic, if that makes any sense. Sarah Ellerton is a fantastic writer and a excellent artist. If you want to read her first webcomic Inverloch, which is of the fantasy genre and also definitely worth a look, follow the link here.

Alan, Bea, & Ben from The Dreamer

The Dreamer - A 17-year-old girl has dreams of the Revoluntionary War. Kind of a historical romance if you will. I've met the creator of this one and she's a nice person as well as a terrific storyteller.

"Freckle" and "Rocky" from Lackadaisy

Lackadaisy - The art for this one is gorgeous. There's so much detail and I can't stop looking at it. I'll refer you to the wikipedia page on the comic for a synopsis on it. I'm not exactly sure how to explain it.

VG Cats - A comic about video games. Sometimes not my cup of tea, but other times it makes me crack up pretty bad.

Well I'll end it there, otherwise I'll keep you from doing more important things like eating and such. Leave a comment below if you have ever heard of webcomics or have a few that you like to read.

Now I should go to sleep. I don't even know why I'm updating this so late...

~Twethereal

A place to start...

I never know what to write in these things, but here goes nothing...

My name's Bethany. I'm 21 and am in college studying to be a graphic designer. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, on to the fun stuff.

Some might call me eclectic and I suppose I can be. I just happen to be interested in a wide range of things. I grew up in a very supportive family that always indulged my creative side and my love of movies, books, and the realm of the imaginative. Anyone who had seen my collection of toys as a kid would have been very confused seeing everything from My Little Pony to Star Wars action figures. Anyone seeing my room now would be confused as to why a 21-year-old, legally an adult, still has said action figures and has obviously not gotten over her love of all things "immature". But I've always thought it was silly that some things are labeled as "childish" anyway. Way to suck the fun out of everything guys. Way to go.
I love music, playing video games, browsing the Internet, and have dabbled in just about everything you can think of. My favorite things tend to change based on the week and my attention span sometimes in minutes.

So yes, I think "eclectic" fits the bill quite nicely.

What will you see in my blog? Whatever catches my interest. You can count on a lot of it focusing on the arts (whether it be graphic design or music) since that's what I'm most interested in. I've already got a few ideas floating around about what to start with. I'll keep you posted.

~Twethereal


And if by some chance I haven't scared all of you off, feel free to comment or follow my blog. I'll try to keep you entertained. :)