rose marshack : whyamistillawake.com

In answer to the previous post comment,

Flash is popular because it’s easy to use and you don’t need to know how to program in order to use it. You can make very shallow, gratuitous (but arguably beautiful) animations without knowing anything.

So back in the late 90s, early 00s, people were using flash all over the place and it made the web look much nicer than just plain tabled and framed html. If you used flash, things moved; circles got bigger, etc. It was vector-based, too, so it was small, quick load-times, and looked great. And every computer came with the flash player loaded, so everyone could watch words fading in and out and circles rotating.

Back then, the only people creating web pages were designers and programmers; content-creators (i.e. heads of companies and normal people) had no experience with the web and were just trying to understand what types of things should be on the web. So flashy, flash-driven shallow designs (like the kind you also find in processing) were ubiquitous; it was because there was nothing else available. Hired web designers didn’t know much about the company, and they shouldn’t; they were busy learning flash and dreamweaver.
Now, however, we have CONTENT. Everyone, even non-programmers AND designers, can create content. Everyone knows why the web exists. So there’s no need for crappy shallow spinny graphics; there’s more of a need for content and upkeep.

Unfortunately the rest of the world does not move as quickly as web innovators, so you still have company owners and ‘those who call the shots’ looking for Flash programmers so their sites “look modern.” It’s in job descriptions everywhere. It will be a couple more years before they realize that flash templates are available for under $100 all over the web, and that gratuitous animation is irritating - what we want to see is quick and constantly upgraded content (not something you usually see in flash-driven sites). Content management systems (CMS) are way more useful because content-creators can add information quickly and efficiently, without having to buy additional software authoring suites, and without having to pay someone $100 an hour to make circles and text fade in and out.

Now, Flash still has some very important uses. It is wonderful for web-delivered education / edutainment content; children’s games like you find on pbs and nick. I’ve made some educational game content using flash; it’s nice because again, most people have it. If I could use anything to make games, I’d probably use director, because I’m more familiar with the programming (and I am a programmer) but not everyone has shockwave player, which is necessary for viewing director-created content. The flash actionscripting environment used to be so disgusting that any self-respecting programmer wouldn’t take two minutes to try to figure out which catacomb of the authoring environment to hide their “on mouseUp” script, but I hear it’s much better now.
The one thing I hate most is if I’m on the web and I’m looking for content (which I usually am) - either for art information, or more likely, for something to buy - and I have to watch something slide in or fade in, or rotate in.. with tiny words sliding and fading in… it makes me insane. I’m on the web for content.

my 2 cents.

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So far there are only 3 students signed up for the “Ubiquitous Game” class and about 15 for the “Flash” class. So I made a flier. We’ll see.

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In searching for examples of interconnectedness I found this, which is amazing:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9280/coarise5.htm

“A simple example: For the average person living in a competitive world, success does not stop at merely the social phenomenon of success, with all its trappings, but includes clinging to the identity of being a successful person, which is a ‘becoming,’ or life state (bhava). Occasionally the feeling of self will manifest as thoughts of “I am a success,” which in effect means “I have been born (jati) as a successful person.” However, such success, in its fullest sense, is dependent on external conditions, such as fame, praise, attainment of special privileges, admiration and recognition. Birth as a “success,” or “being successful,” depends not only on recognition and admiration from others, but the presence of a loser, someone to succeed over. As soon as a successful being is born, he or she is threatened with fading, obscurity and loss. In this situation, all the feelings of depression, worry and disappointment which have not been properly dealt with by mindfulness and clear comprehension will become accumulated in the subconscious, and they will exert an influence on subsequent behavior in accordance with the Dependent Origination cycle.

Whenever there is the arising of the self-concept, there is an occupation of space; when there is occupation of space, there must be a boundary or limitation; when there is limitation, there must be separation; when there is separation there must be the dualism of ’self’ and ‘not self.’ The self will grow and extend outwards through the desire to attain, to act and to impress others. However, it is not possible for self to grow indefinitely according to its desires. The expanding self will inevitably meet with obstruction in some form or other, and desires will be thwarted, if not externally then from within. If one has any sensitivity to the esteem of others, opposition will arise in the form of one’s own sense of conscience. If there is no suppression of these desires and they are allowed to express themselves fully, opposition will appear from external sources. Even if it were possible to indulge every desire to the full, such activity is weakening. It only serves to increase the power of craving itself, together with its attendant feeling of lack. Not only does it increase dependence on externals, but it increases internal conflict. When desires are unfulfilled, tension, conflict and despair are the natural result.”

Hopefully this explains why the awards are kept in a closet!

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Wow - does this mean we have to move now?

Rick and I won the “Lifetime Achievement Award” (for Poster Children) at the Local Music Awards tonight!! Thanks to Buzz, WPGU, the217.com - that was something else! We are in the company of past winners Mark Rubel, Chef Ra, and Ward Gollings - people for whom we have a great deal of respect. I told the awarders that we were honored and speechless!

It is just such an incredibly NIFTY thing to have happen to us - I mean, I suppose we did give up a good deal of money to press up Hum, Lovecup and Steakdaddy Six albums, and we did take local bands on tour with us… housed tons of other national bands …taught other bands to do E-CDs and webpages… spoke lovingly of our fellow C-U bands and colleagues while on tour, anytime we had the chance - and we lived by the DIY ethic - but all that is so natural and so healthy and made us so happy over the years! It’s a funny thing to be rewarded for. But it’s really nice.

I said, “Rick where should we put the award?” and he said “We can put it with our other awards.” I realized that we do have some others. We have them laying in closets, under shelves, etc. It’s just like Doc in the Cars movie. Trophys are just Empty cups.

Life at work has been rough. I’m never sure if I’m teaching enough. The students seem happy - most of the time. It’s the toughest time of the semester right now. Everyone’s losing steam. All I need to do is to keep people engaged and learning for another month or two, and then in the summer I can fill up my mind again so I can disseminate more knowledge.

And when it FINALLY gets warmer I can practice my FUCKING CARTWHEELS outside! HURRAY!!!

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