Elliot Fong

Media Interests/Habits (1/22/24):

I often enjoy anything in the Star Trek franchise (which I'm sure it obvious by now), as well as 60-90's movies (e.g. Universal Soldier or Total Recall), TV shows such as Grimm, Fringe, Da Vinci's Demons, etc., and video games like Baldur's Gate 3 and Slay the Princess. The reason I enjoy fiction is because it's a fantastical world where, as the writer, anything is possible. From time warps to demons and angels, if it's yours, you can do whatever you want. In a way, it's like playing God (which is a dangerous line of thought but hey we only live once). Although, as for Star Trek and the 60-90's movies, they have a more personal meaning to me as it's media that I shared with my dad. A lot of my media taste comes from him, and I enjoy all of the things he's introduced to me. Personally, I just love fiction that has supernatural or futuristic elements (real world stuff isn't really my thing).

P1 Pre-writing

Topic Ideas:

1.) The change between Lt. Cmdr. Data's personality by adding the emotion chip. Odd topic, yes, I know, but Data has always been a character I heavily related to and honestly them giving him an emotion chip changed the goal he was striving for. I would like to analyze that and rate how I believe how good it was executed.

2.) Shorter TV show episodes. It frustrates me that TV shows now only have an average of nine episodes, but not as a watcher, as a writer. Personally, I believe intricate stories need more legroom than nine episodes.

3.) Reboots. I feel like there hasn't really been any original stories for a long while in the world of TV/Movie media. A majority of it has been a reboot of something made long ago and I would like to see why there's so much.

The Anthropocene (1/22/24)

I find it intriguing to see a genuine and different point of view to things I consider mundane. Especially seeing it through his memories and how he connects it to things of his past. It's refreshing, like looking through a colored lense.

Introduction:

Memoir: The author describes his recovery from labyrinthitis.

Research: He did research on books he reviewed and his illnesses.

Reflection: He reflects on his past in the introduction when he talks about his time with labyrinthitis

Lascaux Cave Paintings:

Memoir: He mentions the early artworks of his children.

Research: He did basic research on the Lascaux Caves (contents, form, context, etc.).

Reflection: In mentioning his children's early work, he states how art has always been there and just like our ancestors many years ago, we still create the way they did. He connected it with hand stencils and Paleolithic human art.

Velociraptors:

Memoir: He mentions his childhood and him and his brother watching Jurassic Park.

Research: In Velociraptors he used research originating from John Ostrom, a paleontologist due to Michael Crichton consulting with him for Jurassic Park.

Reflection: He does extensive research on Velociraptors (contrasted against his childhood idea) and ultimately decides he still finds them cool, but the one's he's seen have never existed.

The Anthropocene Reviewed Podcast (1/31/24)

Content/Form: This podcast episode is about the temporal range of humanity. Now, what caught my attention the most was the information that the sun would become a red dwarf, and in the process, devour earth. As for types of audio material used in the episode would be music, sound effects, and voice. The podcast itself is structured with a brief personal statement in the beginning, then the subject, and how he came to set his sights on this particular topic. He also added personal anecdotes throughout the podcast.

Para text: I used Spotify to listen to this podcast (an app I rarely use) and the description of the podcast is pretty much the description of the book and basically framed the episode as a review like all the other episodes. There were random business ads and I didn't use a transcript, as for images, the only one I saw is the thumbnail for the episode. 

Listening Experience: I listened to this episode while at my desk in my dorm room, and as for what I was doing, it's writing this. Well considering I only listened to this particular episode, one sitting, and before this I was in an Ancient Greek History lecture listening to the professor (and some music afterwards). To listen to this, I used my phone and one earbud (because I lost the left one yesterday, rest in peace). 

While I normally abhor listening to something opposed to reading (despite my raging dyslexia), I can say his voice and music kept me focused far more than his writing style. Hearing someone somehow kept my attention to which normally it doesn't. Now, did I understand him? As much as someone can with an auditory processing disorder (I know. What don't I have.). As for feelings, none, but that might be due to having a conspiracy theorist dad who often talks about the apocalypse. In my overall opinion, multimodal manages to keep my attention which is great considering I have the attention span of cheese.

Genes?

Personally, I believe that getting your DNA sequenced is based on what you want out of it. Some want to track their ancestors or make a claim on inheritance, but I see it as history. Not a complete history of course since technology cannot totally identify everything, but one where you can get a basic picture of where you descend from. DNA also doesn't always bring positive news to your life and those who are impacted by it.

Outside sources include Dr. Alondra Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council, and Harold F. Linder, professor at the Institute of Advanced Study and author of The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome.

Outside voices in the literal conversation would be Dr. Alondra Nelson and Plaintiff Deadria Farmer-Paellmann.

Self-Reflection Memo (2/10/24)

I believe my strongest element of project one are my metaphors and uses of description when explaining things. Although, one challenge I faced was trying to figure out how I can deliver what I want to say in a way people will understand my view and problems with the chosen topic. For the next project I would like to get better at peer reviews and giving good advice to those I'm reviewing because I feel like I was lacking in that this project. As for what you can focus on about me, I would say grammar since I am terrible at it. To wrap this up, I would give myself an 85 because while the writing was good, I feel I could've talked about this and gone more in-depth way longer than I did, but as a tired college student I went with the basics of my argument. I also feel mine isn't the most interesting topic to others, but I guess that's based on who you are.

Metacognition is not Cognition (2/11/24)

"Metacognition requires that writers think about their mental processes."

I chose this sentence, despite how simple it is, because I never really thought of it. Then again, I didn't know what metacognition meant, but as a writer I suppose I never really processed that I did this. To me, it's like breathing because I never stop writing (I mean I have the word app on my phone) but reading this made me realize that there is much more to writing than just spitting out words. While it's as simple as weaving to me, to others it might not be, and I guess I never really thought about it.

Preliminary Project Description (2/20/24)

Will DnD still be here in the future?

To be candid, I was simply curious about whether in-person/board games would be here in the future due to all the technological advances and the fact that most things are becoming virtual. Seeing society progress often makes me think of Star Trek and how paper books were considered a rarity, and a majority of games or stories could be conducted in holodecks. I suppose the reason this is worth exploring to me is because I want to see the future of entertainment and how it will change with society, but in specifics, I'm focusing on DnD simply because it's an amazing game that I believe will lose its charm if it becomes fully virtual because then it'll be no better than any other RPG. 

Sources: 

Why board games are quickly regaining popularity - The Washington Post

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robwieland/2023/05/23/onedd-is-dead-long-live-dungeons--dragons-2024-edition/?sh=476af75e407d

https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/14wyylt/the_future_of_dd_shes_not_wrong/

Dungeons & Dragons Announces 2024 Releases, New Monster Manual to Come Out in 2025 (comicbook.com)

Dungeons & Dragons timeline | Timetoast timelines

Interview Potentials: My friends from the DnD club. It will most likely be a normal interview with questions but perhaps similar to a podcast or if I'm too lazy than an article/transcript. The reason I would ask them is because they have been in DnD far longer than me and know way more, and mostly I'm interested in hearing their side to it.

Project Two

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F132c4E34CLxzBFiFoeXiSXSAMucJVp3oGt7swXdwck/edit?usp=sharing

Rubric (4/15/24)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V5-9AgWHKoMSd5EZNtPIGzmX8SmQgoTazd6iZJT3v-M/edit?usp=sharing

Project Three (4/29/24)

Rough Draft/Revision Notes: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VI3IzYaVUbDSdQgSuw1GTQjaybiqRKfZke5Yy10jr0M/edit?usp=sharing

Schedule Possible: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MNujK_3k_qm2dgTdmYY7L007AHwcA0SJs5h9e3DWNAs/edit?usp=sharing

Annotated Bib: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wdBwyg-uQn4d-a_1rupqNxsZ0pwEPg9HxRdtA9Ms2tQ/edit?usp=sharing

PPT/Experimental Inquiry: Project Three Official.pptx 

Artifact: Outfits!!