Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
update on creative gallery
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Creative Gallery Rough Draft 1.2
Stardate 50476.3
Captain Kathryn Janeway entered her quarters in a state of utter exhaustion. It had been a hell of a week. The Borg had been in full force and it had taken the better part of the last four days to extinguish the small part of the collective that had intercepted Voyager. It was time for a long deserved - and needed - soak in a bubble bath. To the Captain, this sounded like Heaven, especially since she would be expected to wake in a mere five hours to once again take over the head of the ship.
"Thank goodness for coffee," she thought. "Oh my, it will be close to a stretch of the imagination if I can actually make it to bed before I fall asleep. I think I remember falling asleep in the tub the last time I was able to do this. No time for that tonight. I better be careful..."
Janeway took advantage of her time in the bath until the water began to chill down. She stepped out and made her way over to the towel rack to dry off. After getting completely dry, she slipped into her nightgown and turned off the light while walking into the bed chamber area of her quarters. As she was turning down her blankets on the bed, the lights flickered.
"Huh, that's odd. I wonder what's going on..." she said under her breath. There was a whoosh and the covers tucked themselves back up to the top of the mattress.
“Hi-ah, Kathy!”
“Captain to the bridge, intruder alert!”
“Oh, Kathy, you know they can’t hear you right now. I’m hurt that you’d even try…”
“Well, Q, I never know when you’re going to slip up. Now show yourself.”
Snap and he appeared. He looked like his usual Q self to Janeway.
“What do you want?” she asked with a bit of disdain in her voice.
There was another flash. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, the scene around her had changed dramatically. It looked as if they were standing in the middle of an old farmhouse based on the American Great Plains. She knew right away that she must be in the Q Continuum.
“Why, in all the universe, did you bring me here?” she asked, exasperated.
Q gestured over to a crib on the side of the adjoining room. In it sat the very alert baby that Janeway had watched Q and his mate conceive the last time they had been together.
“You are Junior’s godmother, Kathy. You agreed to that the last time we saw each other. Well, a part of the job of the godmother is to babysit on occasion. I need you to do that for me now, mainly because nobody else will do it. I’ll be back in a few…”
“A few what? Hours? Days? Minutes? I have a ship to run!”
“Oh, I know,” he said with a smile, “I won’t be gone long and you can get back to your precious ship. Daddy just needs a little break.”
With that and a wink, he disappeared, leaving Janeway to her own devices with a toddler Q.
“Well, well, little one. What shall we do with ourselves? You’re not, by any chance, ready for a nap are you? No, probably not. That would be asking entirely too much,” she sighed.
The baby just looked up at her and gave her this little grin that turned into a giggle that turned into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
“What is going on? He acts like I’ve sprouted horns or something,” she said as she looked around for her reflection. There was a mirror on the wall behind her. When her eyes fell on it, she gasped. Where her nose had once been, there was now the trunk of an elephant and on her forehead were the deep ridges of a Klingon. She was mortified, more by the nose than the Klingon forehead. She thought that looked pretty neat. She turned around to the still-laughing baby and grinned which made him laugh even harder. She hadn’t thought to open her mouth to the mirror, but when she did, she was met with green teeth and a serpent’s tongue.
“Okay, little man. This is starting to be a bit much. You had better change me back to the way I was now.”
He just giggled some more. This went on for the next two and a half hours. She went through changes from every species she’d ever encountered and some that she’d never heard of before. The most disturbing for her was when the boy had her looking like a Borg. She’d had enough of those creatures for one lifetime, she didn’t need to be one (or just look like one), too.
Just as Janeway was beginning to lose her cool with the little tyke, an amazing thing happened. Q returned!
“Q, turn me back to my original self right now! I’ve had about enough of this…”
“Ah, now you know why only a godmother will watch him for me. Very well. You know, this is only a phase he’s going through. Most everyone does, only at a much older age. He’s very grown up for his young life.”
He turned her back into the Kathryn Janeway that she was used to being. When that was finished, he looked over at the crib and smiled a huge grin.
“He’s sleeping! He never takes a nap mid-afternoon. You plum tuckered him out, Kathy. I’m going to have to keep you on my babysitting short list.”
“Oh, joy,” she said. “Well, you know, it really wasn’t all that bad. He didn’t hurt me or anything. It was just disconcerting to have an elephant nose, Klingon ridges, and a Borg ocular implant. All at once, no less.”
“Yes, I can see where that would be strange. Well, as promised, it’s time for you to go back to Voyager. Thank you so much for that little break.”
“You are very welcome,” she said as she realized that she was back in her quarters. She looked at the time. None had passed since the whole ordeal began. “Oh, good,” she said with relief, “I can get my full five hours in,” as she climbed into bed.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Creative Rough Draft
Janeway goes into her quarters after a long day fighting the Borg. She wants nothing more than to relax in a bubble bath and then go to bed before she has to get up in a few hours to start all over again. Thank goodness for coffee. As she is finishing getting ready for bed after her bath, her lights flicker, then go out. She asks the computer what is wrong. It doesn’t reply. All of the sudden, the lights come back on and there stands Q. He smiles and, as always, calls her Kathy. She wants to know what in the universe he wants with her this time. All of a sudden, they are no longer in her quarters, but in a farmhouse on the Great Plains. She knows right away that this means that they are in the Q Continuum, the area of existence occupied by the Q. She wants to know why he has brought her here. He walks over to a crib and points in. He is showing her the baby that he made with another Q in the episode “The Q and the Grey.” Janeway is the child’s godmother. Again, she asks why she was brought here. He says that he needs her to babysit, as nobody else will do it. She is furious, but how can she say no to her godson? When Q leaves, Junior starts to make things happen. Some funny, some worrisome. Janeway has to deal with trying to keep the child in line for three hours while Q does who knows what. When the time is up, Q takes Janeway back to her universe, where the star ship Voyager is stranded in the Delta Quadrant. She is finally able to go to sleep.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
forking story
http://creativestoryreedy.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-person-in-world.html
Monday, November 2, 2009
thinking about creative project
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After today's class, I've been given a few really good ideas about what to do with the creative portion of this class. One of the ideas is the use of detournement. I could write my own piece of fanfiction. I think that would be a really fun experiment.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
comment on draft
Monday, October 26, 2009
Fan Fiction Paper Draft
Fan fiction (or fanfiction, fan fic, fanfic, FF) is a phenomenon that is not new, but is growing in popularity. What is fan fiction? Fan fiction is a practice where fans take already existing material, such as characters and settings and make their own stories out of them.
As said, it is not new. It became a popular occurrence in modern days with Star Trek magazines. (It has been known to be around since as early as the 17th century.) Fans would write in to fanzines (fan magazines) and share their own stories concerning characters such as Spock and Kirk. Some of these stories were slash stories, where same sex characters – sometimes, for example, Spock and Kirk – would be in romantic relationships. More on fan fiction lingo later.
My favorite type of fan fiction has to do with the television show, “Star Trek: Voyager.” There are thousands of examples of this on sites such as FanFiction.net. The site features fan fiction from books, movies, games, anime, television, comics and more. There is also crossover fan fiction on this site where fiction, say from the television show NCIS mixes with the characters of the book series Harry Potter, as an example.
Legality
Fan fiction brings up questions of legality. It doesn’t seem to be illegal as long as there is no monetary gain for the fan. This practice brings into question the use of copyright.
According to Wikipedia.org, “Copyright is a form of intellectual property that gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain. Copyright applies to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete and fixed in a medium. Some jurisdictions also recognize ‘moral rights’ of the creator of a work, such as the right to be credited for the work. Copyright is described under the umbrella term intellectual property along with patents and trademarks.”
According to www.chillingeffects.org, “even if there is a valid copyright, there is still the question of whether that copyright was infringed. In order to prove infringement, the owner must show that the fan fiction author copied all or part of the original work (either through direct or indirect evidence), and that the copied elements are protected.”
On the U.S. Copyright Office site’s Frequently Asked Questions section, the question “What does copyright protect?” is answered as such: “Copyright, a form of intellectual property law, protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.”
This brings to question, what is intellectual property, and does fan fiction fall under this category? Intellectual property is creation of the mind. Laws having to do with intellectual property are diverse. According to Wikipedia.org, “Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions.”
So, does fan fiction fall under the legal umbrella of intellectual property? Fan fiction actually falls under the legal category “derivative work.” This is because it displays some originality of its own, but it is derived from some form of copying of an already existing work. “Copyright infringement liability for a later work arises only if the later work embodies a substantial amount of protected expression taken from the earlier, underlying work. The later work must take enough protected expression (it does not matter how much unprotected material is taken, for the latter is open to the public) for the later work to be ‘substantially similar’ to the earlier work,” says Wikipedia.
Authorial Opinion
There are some authors that are okay with fans making derivative work off of their creations, but there are some that are not. Some are known to feel that as long as the works are not for profit, they should be held under the fair use doctrine. The fair use doctrine is something, according to Wikipedia.org, “that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review.”
Fair use is looked at under four terms of definition. The first term is about whether the action in question is being used to help further the creativity of the public or if it is just about making a profit. The second thing is whether or not the information is fictional or non-fictional, and does it rightfully belong to the public domain – “facts and ideas are separate from copyright – only their particular expression or fixation merits such protection” says Wikipedia.org. The third issue is about the amount of information from the old or original copyrighted work that is incorporated into the new. And, according to Wikipedia.org, “The fourth factor measures the effect that the allegedly infringing use has had on the copyright owner's ability to exploit his original work.”
If the fan fiction is in compliance with these four issues, then it should fall under the fair use doctrine of the United States Copyright Law.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the ever popular Harry Potter series, finds the idea of fan fiction to be flattering. Stephanie Myer, the author of the Twilight Saga, also looks on fan fiction in a positive light. She even adds links to her site that lead off to fan fiction. There are some authors, though, like Anne Rice, who look on fan fiction in a more negative light. She has actually asked certain fan fiction web sites to take down the work done about her characters and narratives, for example, about the vampire Lestat from Interview with the Vampire and The Vampire Chronicles.
Fan Fiction Writing Sites
Fan Fiction was originally written in magazines (fanzines) as stated above. This was really popular with Star Trek and Star Wars, for example. In the new technological age, fan fiction has since been moved to the Internet. There are actual websites just for fan fiction. It is also becoming more and more popular to utilize the technology known as blogs.
Trekfanfiction.net, one of my personal favorites, is all about Star Trek, as the name implies. The problem with this particular site is that the subsection for Star Trek: Voyager is not up to date. However, on the site fanfiction.net, the Star Trek: Voyager fan fiction stories are as new as October 2009. That is pretty up to date.
Some other sites dedicated to fan fiction alone are: fanfiction.mugglenet.com and www.harrypotterfanfiction.com. Both of these sites focus on the fictional world and characters of the Harry Potter series.
Other sites that are used to share fan fiction are blogs, such as: blogger.com, xanga.com, livejournal.com, and others. These sites are used to provide interactivity in the fan fiction writing process. As Wikipedia.org says, “Recently fan fiction has seen greater use of the forum or LiveJournal blog format. Built around message board systems, stories are posted on threads with feedback interlaced and immediate. This style of fan fiction is more interactive but also can be a distraction since the stories and comments are between each other. These communication methods make fan fiction sites and blogs useful affinity spaces as writers are able to take readers' feedback and improve their skills and abilities as writers. This informal learning is a side benefit for many fan fiction authors, some of whom eventually attempt or go on to writing professionally.”
Lingo
People who use these web sites are prone to use special fan fiction language. This is not unreasonable to consider since most subcultures in society make use of special lingo. For example, the use of the word “canon” takes place in fan fiction circles. This is a common way to refer to original source material that fan fiction is drawn upon. The word “fandom” refers to the specific subgroup of fans who like a particular genre, or story, or show, or what have you. “Fanon” is a term that “refers to people who enjoy a specific story, character, game, etc., and actively interact with others; that is, a group of (however scattered) such individuals who share interest in the same media,” according to Wikipedia.org. I’ve already discussed fanzines, which can be in print (printzines) or on the web (webzines).
Fan fiction is also full of acronyms and abbreviations. Some of these abbreviations are well known, such as POV – or Point of View. There are others that are not as well known. AU stands for Alternate Universe and AT stands for Alternate Timeline. There are many such acronyms and abbreviations.
Some sub-genres of fan fiction are: Alt, crossover (already discussed), dark, alternate pairing and “shipping,” lemon and lime, slash and het, and songfic, to name a few.
Conclusion
Fan fiction is an ever growing phenomenon. I don’t think it is wrong. I just think that there needs to be a measure of responsibility shown by the fans. As long as they do not infringe on the copyright laws, this should be considered a legitimate form of artistic expression.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
thoughts on essay
I need to work on going through all of the ideas Sandy emailed me, which I believe will be very helpful. Then, I will need to write a good essay based on these ideas.
This is a link to a diagram we did in class about my project
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXoYCCyiDxXAZGc4NmdwbWtfMjRnd2s1czljYw&hl=en
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Annotated Bibliography
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXoYCCyiDxXAZGc4NmdwbWtfMjNocGtxa21yeg&hl=en
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
authorship
I think authorship is an important subject. Authorship is what it sounds like, authoring.
According to http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authorship, authorship is “2: the source (as the author) of a piece of writing, music, or art.”
In my project, I’m concentrating on the written form of authorship. Traditionally, the author of a work writes the piece, and then has total control over all aspects of it, including characters and settings.
With new media (or multimedia writing), the idea of authorship takes on a whole new set of hats, so to say. For example, in fanfiction many people author stories based on already created characters and settings. Is this negatively affecting the authorship of the original creator? I posit that fanfiction is a positive example of art, even though it is based on someone else’s work. I feel that, even though there seems to be a bit of contention about the legality of such practices, new art based on old art should be considered a compliment. I don’t feel that the authorship of new fanfiction is false, but, rather, a process that should be celebrated.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Research Proposal
One would think this was a copyright infringement problem. However, it doesn’t seem to be. There is enough of a difference concerning the projects. Plus, the fans are not writing for money. They are just making their own stories out of already existing characters. However, there have been some lawsuits about fans writing about certain characters for money. Where does the line get drawn for intellectual property?
What I also want to do is look at the issue of authorship and the idea of different modes of multimedia writing that this practice uses. These different modes can be blogs or other websites built especially for fanfiction writing. For instance, there are many different sites out there on the Internet that can cater to this sort of thing. One of the first ones was LiveJournal.com which was created in 1999. People also use other blogging sites, such as BlogSpot and Xanga.com. Not only do fans use blogging sites to write their stories, but they also have specific websites like FanFiction.Net that are all about fan fiction, as the name implies.
Another option is to look at all of the fanfiction lingo. I found a wiki site dedicated to just this and found it very fascinating.
"Fan Fiction." Wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction. September 10, 2009.
FanFiction.Net http://www.fanfiction.net/ September 11, 2009.
"Glossary of fan fiction terms." Wikipedia.org. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction_terminology. September 10, 2009.
"Harry Potter Fan Fiction" http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/ September 14, 2009.
Monday, August 31, 2009
For Sept. 1, 2009
Are literary works of art always original? It seems that it is possible to believe that this is not the case. For example, is Nabokov's Lolita about the same Lolita as Heinz von Lichberg wrote about before hand? Bob Dylan is also known for borrowing from other art forms for his songwriting. This is true of most art forms. Is it considered plagiarism? The author posits that all forms of art today would not exist (especially considering cartoons) if “borrowing” wasn’t involved. We go on to be told that these cartoons, The Simpsons for example, would not be in existence if the creators did not borrow from The Honeymooners.
The author talks about something called public commons, where something is owned by everyone. This would be considered something like the air we breathe, or the roads we drive on. He also says that as copyright is concerned, there should be freedom to expand upon ideas to create new art. As said above, cartoons from earlier television shows or novels or such.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Memories
I use the web now basically for entertainment purposes. I Facebook everyday and always check my various email accounts. I might go so far as to say that I'm addicted to these things. I also have a private blog over which I write up about my days, thoughts, and feelings, basically making it a diary of sorts. Then there is Instant Messaging. I use that to stay in contact with friends who are far away. The guy I talk to on it most is in Washington, DC, for example.
The web is also how I survive the world of college. I do most of the research for my papers on it. The web is very helpful in that respect.