Post - 3 Bit Strips Comic, Life of Pi

The scene within Life of Pi that I chose to do was when Pi discovered Christianity in Munnar while on vacation. This scene is very important to the plot development of the book, as throughout the story Pi relates a large part of his survival to his belief in god and that he watched over him. The meeting between him and Father Martin also helps to show the relation and unity between the 3 religions focused within the book.

P.S. Sorry about Pi's teeth being green, I don't know how to fix that!

Post 2 Methods of Development Part 2

   4. Comparison: The only game series that I think is similar to the MGS series is the Assassin's Creed series. This is one of the only game series that is in anyway related to MGS is what I said in the last M.O.D, stealth. Within both games, you must utilize sneaking, camouflage, and being unseen to advance in the story line and kill whichever target is crucial to the mission. Though Assassin's Creed's level of stealth is not nearly as immersive and crucial as in MGS, it is one of the only games in which it has some sort of meaning within the game and level upon which you play at, while in most games just to run in and slaughter everything is usually the best and easiest way of going through things.

   5. Specific Example:
Point: MGS can teach patience and how to control your rage through extremely difficult gameplay.
Specific Example: When I first got really into MGS (only 2 years ago), I was really impatient and stupid, so MGS may not have seemed the best buy for me in the early stages of playtime. I bought MGS 2 and MGS 3, and boy was it annoying. It was the first time I played a game where it required me to be patient and plan ahead, to really think about what I was doing. It was hard. I had heard about it, but when first going through, everything about the game was bad, except the guy controlling it, I would die constantly, get stuck, die some more, until finally through sheer luck I realized I needed to get something I had passed about 6 times to advance. But throughout the games I slowly improved, made plans, and was finally really enjoying it. So I got angry less and less, and was patient in my game. So by the time I finally got around to MGS 4, there was no real problems for me. MGS had helped out in teaching me patience and how to control my anger.

   6. Contrast: There are a lot of games that have almost nothing in common with Metal Gear Solid, but throughout this post the game series that I believe is the most dissimilar with MGS is the Call of Duty series, (the later installments). The latest games Call of Duty has made, are so similar to each other that it can be said they are 2 parts of the same game. They are now entirely fictional, one of the only similarities with MGS, and like I said before, the easiest path in each campaign is to run and gun, no thought required. Back in it's early days, Call of Duty produced games that actually weren't just a rehash of it's last game, and could actually pose some kind of difficulty to the player, (I know this from experience). This is totally unlike MGS , which as I mentioned before, is very challenging and requires complex thought. The only other similarity I see between these games besides fiction, is that they both use guns as weapons...

Post 2 - Methods of Development Part 1

For the second ISU post on Methods of Development, I will be examining the video game series of Metal Gear Solid (MGS). Six methods of development that apply to the video game series are

1.     Historical Reference: Throughout the 3rd instalment of the series, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater, it is taking place during the Cold War. The main antagonists of the storyline are Russian communists, and you are an American operative trying to stop them obtaining a highly mobile missile launcher that would swing the odds of the Cold War highly in the favour of the Soviet Union. The historical reference is obviously towards the Cold War that occurred between The Soviet Union and The United States of America that happened in the span of time immediately after WWII to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The historical reference clearly helps develop the storyline for the game, and it is not limited to this game only, all other instalments have historical reference, mostly to terrorism in the middle east, but some add-on towards the Cold War reference in MGS 3: Snake Eater. 

2.     Division: The game series MGS is divided up into 4 main instalments, with some of them having small expansion games. The first game, Metal Gear Solid, begins the series by introducing the protagonist for the series, Snake, and later on in the game, Otacon. They destroy the nuke launcher Metal Gear Rex and escape the island upon which it is based, Shadow Moses. The second instalment, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, sees the introduction of a new protagonist Jack, codenamed Raiden, after Snake supposedly dies sinking a new Metal Gear. Inevitably, Raiden destroys the new Metal gear and saves the day. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, sees Snake's predecessor Big Boss A.K.A. Naked Snake stop the communists from acquiring a prototype Metal Gear. Finally, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Snake in his final days stops a huge conspiracy within the American government being controlled by an incredibly powerful group, the Patriots.

3.     Classification: The game series MGS is classified in one of it's on specified game genres, tactical espionage action. It says so right on the box. All 4 games are this supposed tactical espionage action genre, and as far as I know, no other game or series shares this classification. And the reason for this is that no other game is really like MGS. Within MGS, you can't just blindly run in guns blazing, that's a surefire way to get killed! Though some parts of the game do demand violence, most of it is sneaking and using the general video game guard's stupidity to your advantage. Stealth is your best friend in this game, a rare statement for games these days.

Post 1 - Short Story Review

The short story that I have chosen to review is "Fat Farm", under the theme of regret. I believe that an excellent media text that has a thematic connection with the short story is the rendition of the song "Hurt" by Johnny Cash.

Within the song's lyrics, Cash reflects upon his life, wondering about what he should have done, and if he made the right decisions throughout his life. Through the lyrics "The needle tears a hole, The old familiar sting, Try to kill it all away, But I remember everything" means that he realizes what he has done, and no matter how much he tries to forge, he knows that the regret will always be there. Just as with Cash, Barth can never forget how shallow and uncaring he was, and it will burn a hole in him, and all his clones, for the rest of their lives.

 A second set of lyrics that I think really connects with the story is the set " Beneath the stains of time,the feelings disappear, you are someone else, I am still right here." This set of lyrics means that though life has continued to go on, he has stayed the same man, and not a good one. The people that he love have moved on with their lives, and Cash regrets that he didn't move along with them. This relates because the only thing that Barth seems to love int the story, other than himself, is a girl named Lynette. But by the end of the story, he regrets what he keeps doing to her, and that he keeps her back as she tries to move on with her life.

 The final part of the song that I think connects with the story is within the chorus "what have I become, my sweetest friend, everyone I know, goes away, In the end." This relates extremely well with the ending of the story in my opinion. Cash realizes that he is not sure of who he is anymore, and realizes that he is alone in the end. Barth, after 2 years on the farm, is in the same position, when the clone of himself comes, he questions what he becomes, and knows that in the end, no one will be there for him.

 
 "Hurt" - Johnny Cash


Bibliography:

Cash, Johnny. "Hurt." American IV: The Man Comes Around. Universal Music, 2003. CD.*

Author N/A. Regret. Muncie Voice, 2012. 2012.


*This is the citing of the formal album of the song, not the web page upon which it was linked.

Test Post - Greetings!

Hello, and welcome to The Mind of Evan, A blog that I created for my English class to post on assignments, ISU's etc. This is my first time blogging, and I have no idea what I'm doing. More post will follow in the future, but for now I'm done.