Not Dead Yet

Still not sure what to turn this blog into - especially since my audience generally consists of my parents (currently living with them), my sister (too busy being a senior in college to update her own blog), and my aunt (I suppose I should just call you more often?).

Edited to add: Laura, I apologize. Are you still reading too?

Anyway, for now I'd like to share an article I found through LinkedIn:

http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2012/11/02/why-e-book-distribution-is-completely-and-utterly-broken-and-how-to-fix-it/

There's plenty of good points made, although people have been analyzing ebooks for quite a while now and making many good points - some of them contradictory.

I guess the main idea to focus on is that the ebook is something new. It won't work like print books or online music sales, though both can be used to inform how we shape the market of this new product.

And I agree that DRM often causes more problems than it solves - and that proprietary formatting is little more than an egotistical, unnecessary complication. How would you like it if you could only buy movies made specifically for your brand of DVD player and television? Or if you could only get gas from the dealer that sold you your car? Or - so long as we're making comparisons - could only get books that were compatible with/sold by the furniture brand that made your bookshelf?

Pottermore

Any Potter fan would expect the answers to two questions before any further discussion of this site: Where were you sorted? And… What wand did you get?

So let's get these out of the way. The wand first (you need a wand before you can be sorted, after all):

My wand is blackthorn and unicorn hair, 10 inches, unyielding. And yes, this means something— there's a test to determine this result, and explanations of wand woods, cores, lengths, and descriptions that can be unlocked. Which brings me to… no, I promised. Questions first; then discussion.

So for the second question— yes, the rumors are true: I was sorted into Slytherin. There's actually quite a long introduction to the common room, which leads me to my first concern: Is it a good idea to have unique content only available to a quarter of the users? Especially if there isn't an equal amount available for each house— and there doesn't seem to be. Steph was sorted into Gryffindor, and her common room intro was short, basic, and gave no information not available in the books. I was sorted into Slytherin, and my intro was long, fascinating, and gave little details  not available in the books. I don't know Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw's intros. Are they as long as Slytherin's, and Gryffindor is just short because readers are already familiar with it? Or do they vary in length?

Another comment on houses: Slytherin has won the first house cup. That's actually part of why I held this review so long, to see how the cup was handled.
Points are awarded for unlocking information, collecting things, winning duels, and successfully brewing potions. Unlocking information and collecting are once-offs; once it's done, it's done. The only way to lose points is to mess up a potion.
Normally, the hourglasses recording house points can be viewed in the great hall at any time— but in the last few days before the cup was awarded, they were hidden.
The reward for winning? Slytherin will be allowed into book 2 early. Yes, I may be gloating a little bit.

Over all, I think it worked pretty well. Hiding the point count was a surprise, but now that I think about it, probably a good idea. Instead of people obsessing over exactly how the other houses were doing, they could simply focus on earning as many points as possible in the remaining time. I haven't dueled anyone, so I couldn't tell you how that works (though spell casting is more difficult than it looks), but I did contribute to the effort with a few potions. At first glance, they appear time-consuming, but they're not really. Spend a couple minutes on one screen, wait half an hour to an hour, then spend a couple minutes on another screen. The countdown can run in the background well you're doing other things, and therefore can actually make a good timer ("I'm allowing myself to goof off for one hour— so I'll start this potion, and then may read a book until I need to finish it, after which I'll go back to work.")

I do have a second concern here, though: collectibles don't regenerate. Neither does the money, and it can't be earned, either. I see the logic behind this: Pottermore is about expanding the book experience, not power-gaming. But what about ten years from now? I have this account, and I'll want to go back to it occasionally, maybe even every time I read the books. So what happens in the long run? What am I supposed to do with the site when I've found every collectible, unlocked all the information, and spent all the money? I can reread the new pieces, sure. But if the site does nothing else, it could be come nothing more than a tedious way of accessing a free encyclopedia. I couldn't even brew potions— not after running out of money to buy ingredients.
Still, who knows? Maybe this will be fixed somewhere down the line. Maybe in later books, I will be able to sell the potions or earn money some other way. Maybe after completing book 7, the whole journey can be reset. We'll have to wait and see.

Now back to what I was going to say about the wand, and could say equally about the sorting: these tests are impressive. They are involved enough that I believe they actually are judging something, but not so obvious that you can equate answers directly with the possible result and cheat. They are multiple choice, but the number of possible answers ranges from 2 to at least 7. There are many questions. And they are not the same questions from one person to the next— again, making it hard to figure out the system and cheat.

Now for the overall: What is Pottermore? Was it a good idea? And is it the start of something new?

What is it?
Well… it's Pottermore. It's certainly unique; it's easier to say what it is not. It is not a social site. It is not an online game. It is not an online book. Pottermore is a framework, a part of something. It is incomplete without the books, but combined with them, it is a fun experience. It's like reading the books with matching ambiance, while the author peaks over your shoulder and occasionally explains details or reminisces about bits that were cut.

Was it a good idea?
Yes. But…
Is it the start of something new?
Probably not. This works because of sheer volume. There are so many books in this created world, so many fans of them, so much that the author wrote and created outside of just what was in the books, so much that was kept secret before the site's opening. It's a perfect storm. So I'm not so sure it's as big for the publishing world as I had hoped it would be.

Still, it's pretty fascinating. I'm a total Potter fan, I admit it.


******

Unfortunately, this does affect publishing.

A Fresh Start

I started this blog intending to cover my time at Emerson - hence the name, Where It Began. But there's no real reason to stop now, so I plan on continuing. I may be done with grad school, and I may or may not stay in Boston (despite the blog's address) but I am still, essentially, at the beginning. Or a beginning, anyway.

Maybe we're always at the beginning of something.

Coming up:
review of Pottermore
the job hunt
A's wedding
...and who knows what else


Meanwhile: we're live!

Entering the Real World

"A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you"

That's what my fortune cookie said when Anie and I went out for dinner to celebrate the end of grad school. She says she may go for a PhD someday... but I don't plan to. That means for me, this is the end of being a student. That's always been a part of who I was — even when I took a year off between undergrad and grad, I still wasn't really past being a student; I was just on an extended vacation.

So now it's time for the real world. And it's scary. And exciting. And completely new... I have no idea what comes next, but I'm about to find out...

heh

Awkward...

So last night I could smell woodsmoke coming in my window, a welcome change from the gas/alcohol/cigars I usually smell.



Apparently the laundromat burned down.


random

How To Make Chele's Head Explode in 5 Easy Steps

1. Drop her apartment number from her paychecks, so that the postoffice complains.
2. When she tries to go to her work email to look for payroll's contact info, lock her out.
3. When she goes to the company website for the employee manual, make sure only the table of contents loads.
4. When she finally gets a number for payroll from the IM support team, tell her they can't help, because she needs to change her own address in a new system that uses the email's log-in, then transfer her to IT.
5. Fix her email, but not the system she needs to change her address, and give her a number to call back that's out of service.

You know, if it were still April Fool's, I'd understand, but that was yesterday. I hate Mondays.

Internet Quizzes = Endless Entertainment

So I found a new internet quiz (through a facebook post of course) and, being as skilled at procrastination as I am, decided to take it.
This one calls itself a political compass and has come up with the argument that instead of measuring politics on a left-right line, one needs a full chart. The economic scale is on the x axis and the social scale on the y axis. I got this:

Economic Left/Right: -3.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.90

...which really didn't tell me much, until I clicked on the comparison chart: 

...well, NOW we know why I have so little interest in any politicians, don't we? If this is even accurate, which... who knows.

I do seem to be in good company though:

Side note: this looks fun

This is my Church...

I went to a pretty cool talk after mass this past Sunday- the topic was "How does one reconcile disagreement with the institution and remain Catholic?" The speaker was Bishop Geoffrey Robinson (who wrote Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus), and it was organized by Voice of the Faithful and hosted by the Paulist Center Boston. It's nice to finally find an active Catholic community where I don't have to feel uncomfortable at every other phrase spouted out of someone's mouth. This is the Church as it should be, a future for the Church that is not based on the increasingly law-obsessed newer priests coming out of the seminaries.

"For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
- Hosea 6:6

"There is nothing on this earth so ugly as the Catholic Church, and nothing so beautiful."
-John Henry Newman

podcasts

I just have to say this again... yes! Finally, people who will listen to me. And who I may listen to and learn from.

iPad Thoughts, part 1

So... I'm going to start collecting notes/thoughts here.

Which means, if you're not interested in the comparison of tablets, go ahead and ignore me.

What I want in a tablet:

• Plain text editor with regular expressions (color-coded html a plus)
• .epub reader
• wireless
• good battery life
• good quality video
• sketch feature/stylus
• pdf reader/editor
• (games)

How iPad meets these criteria:

• Textastic?
• iBooks (non-Apple ebooks can be added through iTunes on the computer, then synced to the ipad)
• wireless
• Apple's claim - ipad 2: 10hrs; ipad 3: 10hrs [CNET test - ipad 2 (airplane mode): 14.2 hrs; ipad 3 (airplane mode): 12.8 hrs]
• high-res screen in ipad 3; still no flash
• no official stylus, but several companies have styluses that work with the ipad; only complaint people seem to have is no pressure sensitivity
• Well look what I found!
• tons of games

Other possible tablets:

• Eee pad Transformer Prime - lighter than ipad, smaller screen, 18hr battery life
• Sony - wedge shape to reduce glare when flat on table, SD card reader, some complaints about screen brightness, 8-9 hr battery life
• Samsung Galaxy - bigger screen, thin, 5-8 hr battery life
• Nook Tablet - no. The nook is an ereader; I have one of those. I want a full tablet.
• Kindle Fire - see what I said about nook.

Note: Apple, by far, has the most available apps. Finding a text editor with regex seems difficult no matter which tablet I get.

Actually... I thought there was going to be a part 2 to this, or maybe even a part 3, but I may have just talked myself into the ipad...

Home Alone

So with two roommates off...somewhere (early spring break?) and the third at AWP, I have the apartment to myself! It's a wonderful feeling. I can watch what I want, play my own music, wander anywhere in the house without worrying about us tripping over each other or blocking each other's shower times.

This seems as good a time as any to make an attempt at restarting this blog. I know it's been forever (again) but here's a quick summary:
1. New Year's! Yay! Party at Megan's (and we tricked/kidnapped Kristin into coming). Odd though, that there's so many couples in my group of friends now. Changes the dynamics a bit.
2. Farm! Yay! Great seeing everyone, and going for a long walk. Found a new spring, checked lingering damage from Irene, and begged the trees not to bloom (they're a little confused as to what season it is - and with the weather we've been having, I can't blame them).
3. Boston! Yay? Well, not so much, but Boston and I are at least getting along a bit better than last semester.
4. Classes: Translation, Textual Editing, and Web Development. Web Development=Yay!
5. Mark Does Stuff came to Boston. I was there! Double Yay!

Okay, summary over. See, that wasn't too bad, now, was it?

Mom & Dad - see you soon!

Double Dare