Experimentations in New Media

Though many of these stories are unique and challenging, but several them feel like exercises. It's as if they stretched to see what was possible and decided because they could do it, they should. I can deal with ones and zeroes flung carelessly enough across the screen to make me flinch for fear that one will hit me in the eye and I dealt with the garrish colors of Urbanity to see the tragic third part (12:00 get up 1:00 go slow... 9:00 no time for love), I just couldn't see the point of Star Wars one letter at a time. Sure the idea of seeing something created isn't necessarilty bad but the novelty wains after the third word or so. I'm reminded of that experiment where if you randomize the letters within a word but keep the first and last the same, it's still legible. (Or Soluhd I say lglebie?) Anyway, it's extremely painful to try and read because you can't process the word at once. Furthermore, I don't feel it's that innovative. Maybe if it were parsed into thoughts, syllables, something more it would be different but I don't feel it's a very meaningful breakdown.

That being said, there were several great pieces. Pieces like Red Rudubg Hood blur the distinctions between story and game. The whole piece reminded me of flash games of the "Point and Click" genre. Though often infuriatingly hard (anyone else tried to play 'My Diamond Baby'?) they often have a central story to tell. My favorite work, however, was The Fall of the Site of Marsha. The Fall of the Site of Marsha uses html webpages, the foundations of internet, to tell a story. Though the woman's demise into insanity isn't really anything new the idea that it is marked by changes in her website is. Not only is this being told through new media, but I feel like something different is being said about the harassing nature of the internet. If you've ever been to a website like Something Awful or Fark, this is the type of thing the people there would crucify. I kind of feel like this is the aftermath. I love the way they take new media to broach a new topic.