Cultural Attendance Blog #2 - Comedy Show in Washington DC

           I attended my first comedy club showing in Washington DC. The reason I attended was actually because my sister was one of the comedians participating. It was a sort of audition where there would be 10 comedians each performing for a few minutes. If they performed well they would perform in front of a bigger crowd next time. My sister passed the audition round and it was a great night. 

             My sister Elahe Izadi is actually a reporter as well as a comedian. For years she has done this and managed to partake in both of these paths of her life. I learned through her that it is possible to follow more than one dream and I look up to her for this. My sister’s performance was great and I realized how much work she actually puts in for both of her jobs. 

           I need to obtain the same work ethic as her if I want to do everything I’ve planned to for years. I want a stable job and at the same time I want to construct graphic novels for a living. These are my callings and this event made me want to obtain the same greatness that my sister achieved. All of her friends, coworkers from her reporter job, and family members were there just to see her perform and it was heartwarming to see the crowd laugh at her jokes. She often appears on Msnbc for her reporter’s job and takes on a complete different demeanor and attitude. If it means accomplishing my goals I will work as hard as my sister does. 

       I’ve never really cared for stand up comedy and I just went to support my sister but this event was surprisingly enjoyable for me and my family. I would like to attend more of my sisters’ events to support her.

Video on my sister: http://elaheizadi.com/media/

Game Design Blog #11 - Competitive Battling

          In the world of Pokemon (our world of Pokemon not the game world of Pokemon) there exists another community of Pokemon players devoted to something called competitive battling. This scene is devoted to playing the Pokemon games seriously and as a sport. Many see these competitive players and think that battling Pokemon is an easy task but this is not so. Competitive battling is basically a Pokemon battle taking place between different players of the games battling each other.

          In every Pokemon generation after the third generation Pokemon were given stats known as EVs, Natures, and IVs. These are what play huge factors in competitive battling. Natures give a Pokemon a boost in one stat and decrease in another. These are random when a player receives or catches a Pokemon. EVs are known as Effort Values and when battling other Pokemon, each Pokemon gains an Effort Value in a certain stat when they defeat a Pokemon thus receiving a boost in that stat. IVs or Individual Values are automatic boosts each Pokemon receives in stats. It is ideal for a Pokemon to have perfect IVs in every stat and gaining a Pokemon with these stats is very time consuming. 

         Judging from the explanation alone a lot of time, patience, and luck goes into raising Pokemon for competitive battling. Many individuals wonder why Gamefreak would go to the trouble of including all these features but the simple answer goes back to why they released the Pokemon games in the first place. They wanted to have players interact with each other through trading and battling. 

In terms of actual battling competitive player Giancarlo Parimango “You have to be really good at reading your opponent’s mind. You have to ask yourself, ‘if I was battling myself what move would I go for next?” 

           Competitive battling is very complicated and is not meant for casual players. It is very time consuming and if one were to be interested to getting into it they would have to be in it for the long haul. The Pokemon community is very famous to having very many different sub cultures and this helps the players find a community for each person.

Resource: Magdaleno, Alex. "Inside the Secret World of Competitive Pokémon." Mashable. 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://mashable.com/2014/02/20/competitive-pokemon/>.

Cultural Attendance Blog #1 - Malala's Pakistan

On September 4th 2014 I attended a lecture by professor of History Dr. David Gordon called “Malala’s Pakistan - On the Edge of Two Worlds”. The lecture basically detailed the history of Pakistan’s government and gave incentive for students and other individuals to read Malala’s book called I am Malala. When I attended the event I expected there to be only students in attendance but there were many individuals in their 40s to 60s in attendance to hear the lecture and to my surprise when Dr. Gordon asked how many have read the book the majority of individuals in attendance had completed the book. 

It was interesting to see how many different groups of individuals were in attendance and it opened up my eyes to how diverse the group was. After the presentation I went to talk to Professor Gordon about my Iranian background and to my surprise he had huge knowledge about my culture and religious group and was very kind when speaking to me about this. 

The presentation gave me more education about Malala and what she had to go through while bringing change to the world. Malala was shot in the face for fighting for what she believed in and luckily she is healthy today and being protected in Britain. If she were to return to Pakistan should would most likely be captured by the corrupt government and viewed as a villain by many. In the United States and other countries she is viewed as a hero fighting for the right to education. She recently won the Nobel Peace Prize and this is a huge accomplishment for someone her age. After attending the lecture I am most certainly motivated to obtain the book myself and read through it to see how a brilliant mind was able to overcome so much adversity. 

Game Design Blog #10 - The Nuzlocke Challenge

In the Pokemon community there are many who consider the regular games to be way too easy. The Pokemon series is not known for being a hard one. Many argue that the series is easier to get into because of how easy it is to play. Others want more of a challenge after playing the same games for so long. 

This was the thought process for a webcomic artist known as Nuzlocke. Nuzlocke was bored during finals week at his college and decided to play an old copy of his Pokemon Ruby. Thinking the game to be too easy he imposed two self-restricted rules on his playthrough. He was only allowed to capture the first new Pokemon he saw in each new area and if a Pokemon fainted he had to release it thus making the Pokemon not usable for the rest of the play through. The results were what he did not expect. He found himself caring about his Pokemon team and using Pokemon no normal players would use. He wanted to share his experience so he made a now well-known web comic known as Pokemon:Hard Mode. He posted them on 4chan and these users have dubbed it the Nuzlocke Challenge. 

The impact the Nuzlocke Challenge had on the Pokemon community was astounding. Many fans of the comic partook in the challenge and made their own webcomics. The Nuzlocke Challenge had thus developed it’s own community and the challenge is well-known by many Pokemon fans. People on youtube.com have also recorded themselves doing their own Nuzlocke Challenge spreading the popularity of it. Others (such as myself) partake in the challenge on their free time. Many add their own rules to the challenge to make it harder or easier and it is all up to preference. The same two rules are still intact. The original webcomic although vulgar and comedic did teach a valuable lesson to Pokemon fans everywhere. The lesson that it taught was “there is no victory without loss.”

You can read the original comic here: http://www.nuzlocke.com/pokemonhardmode.php?p=1

Resource: "What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge?" What Is the Nuzlocke Challenge? 1 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. <http://www.nuzlocke.com/challenge.php>.

Capstone Progress Blog - Achieving the look I want.

Style is an important aspect to take into account when constructing a graphic novel. You have to make sure the style works well with the type of story you are writing. I have discovered the style I want to use with my sprites for my graphic novel. By enhancing real photos to make them appear more sprite like I am able to make the contrast between the sprites and the background mesh well together. I am using the fresco filter in Adobe Photoshop to make the real photos like as if they are from a video game to match that sprites that are meant for video games. I am still learning about everything Photoshop is capable of and I am sure I will continue learn about what this program has to offer the creative fields. 

With the feedback I received on my storyboards I am on track to finally completing my novel. Funny enough the feedback I received helps me to reduce the work load I have to do. I have a history of wasting panels to have a character say one line but with the help I received from my director I now have learned to make the panels more concise and have characters deliver more information on a single panel. This will also help me from not repeating panels. A big part of creating a graphic novel is to make sure the reader does not have to continue shifting their eyes between panels every 2 seconds. It would be too much to process and make the reader feel as if they are in a hurry. As I continue the project I am continuing to learn much more about the kind of work and thoughts one needs to take in. I am relived to hear that my story is fine and well crafted and it gives me more confidence and motivation to finish this work I am crafting from my mind. I am not on track to constructing a novel that I have always wanted to craft. 

Game Design Blog #9 - Twitch Plays Pokemon

        There are fans of the Pokemon franchise who have stuck with the franchise since they were children. There are fans of the Pokemon franchise who strayed away from the series after the first generation or the third generation. There are some things in the franchise that still bring these two groups of people in harmony though. 

        On February 12 2014 a random twitch user going by the name Twitchplayspokemon developed a program that would work with the video streaming website twitch. This program streamed Pokemon Red and allowed twitch users to put in a command in the twitch chat that would control the actions of the player in the game. This phenomenon became known as Twitch plays Pokemon. Whenever a twitch user typed in the commands left, right down, up, a, b, start, or select the protagonist on the screen would act according to those commands. Over 1 million people participated in this experience and Twitch plays Pokemon became its own subculture and fans became creative with this phenomenon. 

         There was a lore that was developed with the quest and twitch users had many reasons for why certain events transpired. A good example would be the protagonist’s Pokemon Pidgeot. The Pidgeot in the game was referred to by the fandom as “The Messiah” or “Bird Jesus” for its incredible battle strength and basically commanding dominance in the whole run of the game. The fact that the fandom could create a compelling lore for the game despite having little control of the player’s actions is astounding. The creator of the game has said he has “interest in continuing the event through each generation of Pokemon.” Other live streamers have implemented the program he made into other games such as Minecraft or the Super Nintendo RPG Earthbound. Twitch Plays Pokemon is an inspiring event that many fans of the series and even individuals who use the internet will view as a historic event in the Pokemon franchise. Currently the website is streaming Pokemon Stadium 2 implimenting the same formula as the original Twitch Plays Pokemon.

Resources: 

Suszeck, Mike. "Twitch Plays Pokemon: Creating an oral history in real-time."Joystiq. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.joystiq.com/2014/02/26/twitch-plays-pokemon-creating-an-oral-history-in-real-time/>.

"TwitchPlaysPokemon." Twitch. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon>

Progress on my Capstone Project - Storyboards finished and Enhancing my skills

As the date for capstone presentations slowly approaches I find myself pressed for time on getting everything in order. My progress on the project however is currently on schedule and I am good to go for now. I need to start working more and I have quit my job to allow myself to have more time for this project. This project is the gateway to many better job opportunities so I devote my time to that. 

I have finished my rough storyboards for the project and I await the review from my director to see what I need to improve on. The sprites have been enhanced to look more crisp for my project and each character that appears now has a sprite of their own. The sprites size has increased so they won’t look blurry when I craft the graphic novel. An issue I have had with sprite comics in the past is that my sprites usually look blurry when I put it onto a Photoshop canvas but now I have eliminated that problem with the help of Adobe Illustrator a program in which I have no prior experience in. 

This project has already expanded my horizons by allowing me to gain more experience with more software which I need to have knowledge of in the work field. The programs I learn the more job opportunities open up for me as a person in the field of Communications. I now need to make some sample pages so I get a feel of what my actual novel is going to look like. I need to use the Photoshop filters to make the backgrounds look like they belong with the sprites. I plan on taking actual photos of the backgrounds and with Photoshop I am planning on editing those backgrounds to appear more sprite like as to much the cartoonish appearance of my sprites. Thanks to my existing knowledge on how to use the Photoshop program I am able to execute this method with minimal problems. As I am on schedule I hope to continue to be on this path and enhance my repertoire of skills for the work world.