Meme Generator Tech Tip

The meme generator I used for this meme was called ImgFlip. This tool was really easy to use, and before I even opened the website I knew what meme I wanted to make. Ironically, the exact meme image I wanted was the first one listed on the site, so that made making this meme even easier. The inspiration for this meme was from Spring Break giving me a ton of extra time to work ahead on this class. In result, my chances to watch Netflix went way down, but I think that was a reasonable trade off. I have now effectively finished enough points to finish this class early, and I am so glad that I can focus on my other classes for the rest of the semester. This was a really fun class overall, and I wish the best to everyone else working through this class!

Typing Game Tech Tip

The first typing game that I played was called Ninja Cat. This game seemed fun in concept, and I only played it on the easy level. The tutorial went okay because it just explained that you had to type the letter under the dinosaur to kill them with a shuriken. This worked when there was just one dinosaur coming at me one at a time, but when there were six dinosaurs surrounding me, the whole game started to lag a ton. This was a really unpleasant playing experience since I could not actually play the game at this point. I am not sure this issue was just caused by my computer or what, but I would definitely not be able to increase my typing skills with this game.

The next game that I played was called Type For Your Life. This one was pretty cool and a much better experience than the last one since there was not nearly as much lag. This had a guy jumping up a building, through the clouds, and into space. Before he could jump, you had to accurately spell the word underneath him. Once I got into space, the turnaround time for spelling each word correctly greatly got reduced, so in space is where I finally lost all three of my lives. Since this game pushes you to slowly get faster at typing to save your character, I think it would help me get better at typing faster and more accurately.

A game I would suggest not on this site is TypeRacer. This one is really fun for me because I get to go up against other people that can type quickly. You also get to see your progress in the form of a little racecar against all of the other racecars. This one also does not let you progress in the race if you do not type accurately, so this one easily forces you to work on your speed and accuracy if you want to do well in the race. In result, this is one that I would recommend out of all of the ones listed.

Typing Test Tech Tip

The first typing test that I tried was KeyHero.com. This site was really cool because it gave you a fairly long quote to type, and it tracked for you how many words per minute you were typing and your accuracy. This site also gave a nice visual as to what you typed as it tracked every character typed and highlighted it either green or red to show how accurate you were and what speed you were going when you typed it. I was able to get up to 80 words per minute, but when I looked at the high scores, I saw some people were typing at 200 words per minute which is crazy!

The second typing test that I tried out was called TypingTest. This one gave you 60 seconds to type as much of a passage that it generated. This one did not give me as much feedback as KeyHero did, but I was able to see what I was typing, so I readjusted and corrected myself. I also got about the same speed on this test as the last one, so it is nice to see that I am at least consistent.

I have tried to increase my typing speed. I first took a typing class in middle school that was really helpful, and from there I greatly improved. Past that, at one of my previous jobs, I often opened up a speed typing site when there were no customers to try and increase my typing speed and accuracy. Games like that helped pass the time, and I think I did slowly get faster. I really do think becoming faster at typing is useful in today's modern society. Since most of my work is done online nowadays, the faster I am at typing, the faster I am at getting my work done. Especially for this class where everything is typed, typing accurately and quickly has helped reduce how much time I have spent on each assignment. In addition to schoolwork, I have a job where I am a programmer, so again, everything is typed. The faster I can type, the faster I can test out new methods for making some code work.

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part B

For the second half of the Dante's Inferno unit, I found "The Giants" story to be the most interesting. This one stood out because of the mention of Nimrod. He was responsible for the construction of the tower of Babel. I learned more about the tower of Babel than I have before, so I thought that was cool. I did not realize Nimrod was giant sized which was why he was with the other giants. In the second half of this unit, I found it odd that mythical creatures were included in the nine circles of Hell. Examples of the mythical creatures found are centaurs, minotaurs, and, of course, giants.

I think the description of Nimrod was pretty fascinating. First off, we are informed he is a giant which is not clear at first because of the dark conditions. He was compared to a tower which I think is ironic since he decided to build a the tower of Babel. In addition to this sin, he only speaks gibberish. His head is also compared to the size of a pine cone which would not have made much since if there was not an explanation in the author's note. Since the note had a link to a picture of the pine cone, it was much easier to visualize how big Nimrod's head actually was in the story.

Bringing in mythical creatures like giants is such a cool way to make stories larger than life, literally. In my writing, I would really like to be able to bring in magical creatures. This would take some planning because a world has to be created where a creature like this makes sense. Otherwise, the magical creature would stick out like a sore thumb. Descriptions like in this story really help the reader truly imagine and see the immense scope of the creature. The more descriptive I can be in my writing, the easier it will be for my readers to understand how my creatures look like in terms of the story.

Bibliography

The Giants, Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Image Information: Giants by Gustave Dore, Wikimedia

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part A

For this week's choice from European literature, I chose Dante's Inferno for the unit to read. I have often heard of Dante's Inferno and the many circles of Hell, but I have never gone to read through the story. This led me to choosing this unit out of curiosity. The idea of Fallen Angels has always intrigued me, so the title of this chunk of the story immediately stuck out to me.

In this story, the setting is immediately set as they approach a castle that is radiating red light. We soon learn that this redness is from the eternal fires from down in Hell. This creates an eerie setting as the main character is guided close to the city of Dis. Painted in our description, we see that the castle is surrounded by a moat and the walls are made of thick iron. Thousands of fallen angels inhabit this place. I think this detail is important because mentioning the fact that angels and not humans live in this place help add to the suspense being created by the scene.

The next part of this tale is the main character and his guide getting stopped by the angels. They are not allowed to enter this fortress. Since they were stopped by the angels, this adds to the ominous feeling that the reader observes coming from these beings. Why were they the first to question why these two travelers were wanting access? I think it is odd that they got stopped trying to enter this place. I think that entering should have been a much easier objective whereas leaving could have been the more difficult part of their journey.

The guide did his best to talk his way through the guards, but this was all to no avail. All of these elements of confusion and mysterious characters add to the unsettling vibe that is created.

Bibliography

The Fallen Angels, Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Image Information: Fallen Angel, Wikimedia

Week 14 Lab: TVTropes

The story lab that I did this week was to explore TVTropes. Initially, when I got to the site, I was confused by where I was supposed to go on the site and what I was supposed to look for while there. After a few minutes of looking around, I finally found the tropes that were spoken about. I realized that in every story, there is usually a trope that is used to further along the plot of a story. A few of my favorite tropes that I found on this site were the death glare, beware the nice ones, and a love triangle.

I think the death glare is really funny if used in a comical setting. When I saw death glare as a trope, I initially though of April from Parks and Rec. She is constantly giving out death glares and trying to be intimidating. Sometimes it works, but most of the time, I think it loses its effectiveness which I think is funny.

Another trope that I enjoy in stories is beware the nice ones. I like this one because I think this comes as such a surprise. Often, the watchers do not expect such a nice character to blow up. Honestly, this usually is not the fault of the nice character. They are often pushed too far, and all the emotions they have been suppressing while trying to stay nice come out all at once. I think I kind of relate to these characters, so I appreciate when this problem is brought to light. Hopefully, people get out of this trope that they should not push people past their limits.

The final trope that I always fall for is the love triangle. Love triangles just create so much drama, and I always end up picking a side. This is almost like a game in the story, and I end up rooting for my favorite character out of the two vying for the main character's love. I usually go for the good guy in the story, but often in these dramas, there is often good and bad to each person.


Image Information: TV, Pixabay

Reading Notes: Fairie Queen - Britomart, Part B

The tale of two knights really brought in action to the story of Britomart. This interaction was different than the rest because this was finally the big reveal. Britomart had to fight her future husband, Artegall, as he was bent on getting revenge on Britomart for winning a competition and stealing his place. Artegall and Britomart did not realize they were the people they were looking for, so the fight ensued. This fight began with Scudamour, as he was rife with jealousy since he thought Britomart took his beloved Amoret. In this fight, Scudamour was quickly dismounted from his horse, so the real chunk of the action was between Artegall and Britomart. Britomart was forced off her horse to fight with Artegall. Actions phrases like "recoiled," "thrusting forward," and "wheeling round" helped bring the fight to life in my mind. 

The climax of this fight for me was when Artegall got a hefty blow on Britomart's helmet. This knocked the helmet off of Britomart's head, and her face was exposed. The description that followed really slowed down the action and increased the importance of this event. I felt like I was watching  this scene happen in slow motion with the helmet falling off and Britomart's golden hair falling out.  This was a really interesting writing effect that I would like to somehow replicate in my own action writing. Scudamour and Artegall saw her face and hair and were immediately phased. They apologized for their actions, and this interruption was enough for all of the misunderstandings to be explained.

The descriptive words in this story were used in a very effective way. Beginning with words to describe the different movements of the action and fighting taking place to the specific details of Britomart, all were used appropriately to direct the reader to what was important in the scene. I hope to figure out how to narrow my scope when writing stories.

Bibliography

Two Knights, Stories from the Faerie Queene by Mary Macleod, with drawings by A. G. Walker (1916)

Image Information: Two Knights, Pixabay