Clueless, Minecraft, and The Semester So Far

BLOT: (25 Sep 2010 - 03:12:39 AM)

Clueless, Minecraft, and The Semester So Far

Sarah needed a relaxing movie, so I suggested Clueless. I used to watch it kind of often down in Evergreen. I'd be lying if I said Alicia Silverstone wasn't part of that, but I think it was mostly because the more-Beverly Hills than Beverly Hills setting was so "alien" to my day to day life. Practically sci-fi to me. Oh, and it has Paul Rudd before he was Paul Rudd (you know what I mean). What's not to love? Anyhow, I used to watch it lots and then went a decade or so without seeing it again. It was kind of neat seeing a few of the things I missed, or at least did not quite "get" in the way they were intended. For instance, the way the title is reflected by nearly every character misunderstanding a certain situations, something I definitely noticed, but I don't think I noticed how intentional it all was. I still enjoy it. Don't know if I could ever watch it as much I used to, but hey, times have changed.

My other big time-waster has been Minecraft, which I suppose a growing number of have heard about. Picture a little LEGO* man running around in a world that has night and day, and during the day he is kind of free to punch blocks out of place and pick them up and dump them somewhere else. At night, though, the zombies and the creepers and spiders come out and so he has to also build defenses. And some of the LEGO blocks are actually ores that can be smelted into metals, or pieces that can be crafted into tools, and you play on what is probably the largest game world in gaming history (as far as I know, the game world will grow horizontally for as long as you want to keep walking, it just takes up more and more space/memory, though I have dug as far down as I can and as built as far up as a I can, apparently). Everyone has their own sense of utility from the game. Some play it out as a survival scenario. I was much like that, and still am, though my defenses are well enough now that I can go for days in-game without seeing a baddy. Some play it as a resource management sim, and dig deep and far to get all the metals they can. Most, I think, play it like LEGOs from the inside. Things like "brick" and "clay" are just bywords for "reddish block" and "whitish block" in their construction of giant "pixalated" art. I have an idea for a large scale project. Two, actually. I'll post as I do them.

And this brings us to the last order of catch-up, my school semester. It is *waggles hands back in forth with an ambiguous shrug*. I have had a handful of assignments. I think they have went well, overall, but the only one I have graded was a low grade. Lowest I have had since undergrad. The class has been given the option to make up some points, based on a lot of misconceptions and confusions, and I have already submitted the re-do, but I would like to see some more positive grades, frankly. Something upbeat. Ah well. Next week I have to continue a lit review, and do a learners' assessment for a project. And, prepare a presentation on Africa, including a stand-up poster-board sort of thing. Too bad I work on Sunday, which was when I planned to do it. And I think that is most of it. The two weeks after that will be rough, because another couple of big assignments drop, and this will have me with a half-dozen notable assignments over a four week period with no real break time, followed by the one of the biggest assignments of the semester (no, I'd say the biggest) and then it will be blissfully empty. There will be a couple of sizable wrap-ups, but nothing like the late-middle section.

Alright, time for bed. I have the day off tomorrow, kind of, but school work will need to be done.

* The LEGO comparison is possibly a little overused, but in many, many ways, it sums it up.

TAGS: Me in 2010

BY WEEK: 2010, Week 38
BY MONTH: September 2010