Project 3 – The Brony

Brony.
Both a slur and a term of endearment.

The term “Brony” is a mash up of the word “Bro” and “pony”.
It is used to identify anyone who is a fan of the TV show “My Little Pony”, but who does not fall under the show’s targeted demographic (little girls).

Yes, that’s right, there are adults (grown men, even) who are fans of the show My Little Pony.
And not just “fans”, mind you. These people border on OBSESSED.
Why exactly the show has garnered legions of such unexpected followers seems to be a difficult thing to nail down. The most common reason cited seems to be the combination of cute characters and witty writing. That, combined with the show’s pedigree (creator Lauren Faust was responsible for the extremely popular cartoon “Power Puff Girls”, which also enjoyed a fan base of adults, despite its obvious kiddy themes)
ensured it would be a hit… but “hit” is a bit of an understatement.
The show has essentially gone viral.
What started as a simple sharing of a quirky video online via popular English image board 4chan has quickly exploded into pandemonium and obsession rivaled by the likes of Star Trek’s “Trekkies”.
People around the world have jumped on the Pony bandwagon, with dedicated online communities that have documented every character, place, and event in the entire My Little Pony world (as well as created their own fan made additions).

I’ve gone in search of Bronies here in Tokyo Japan to find out if I can find out what the broad appeal is…

So essentially, it’s cute, witty, and fun. Something made for kids, but that has something adults can find entertaining, too, not unlike a Disney movie. That would surely account for the ease of which the show is able to seduce new fans at such alarming numbers.

The loyal legion of Bronies can even go militant when the mood takes them.

On January 21, 2012, a fan favorite character by the name of Derpy Hooves, who had hitherto been a background bit player, was finally given speaking lines in the show.

The pony, who had been accidentally drawn in the background of an early episode with two googly eyes, was an endearing inside joke between the series creator and the fans, making cameo appearance in the background of episodes in an almost “Where’s Waldo”-esque fashion. When it was revealed that the beloved character was going to be given a speaking part, the fan base erupted with delight, claiming “victory for the Herd!”

However, not everyone was pleased with the debut. The voice the character was given was rather… “retarded” sounding.

Many people took offence to the combination of this and the character’s name, “Derpy”, which is often used as internet slang for someone who is acting mentally handicapped. After being inundated with requests from activist groups, the creators decided to change the character’s voice for the DVD release of the episode, to present her in a less negative light… the fan outcry was swift and massive.
Petitions were raised in the thousands to have the original voice returned to the character. In the end, the creators agreed to a compromise: they could not change the original voice for the already released DVD, but they would use it for any future episodes in which she appeared.

Once again, cries of rejoice were heard throughout Brony kind.
For they had achieved that which no one thought possible or probable: grown men had banded together to save a mentally disabled non-existent pony-character on children’s TV show meant to be watched by little girls.

Storify VS WordPress

Alright, that’s it.
After seeing how much of a mess WordPress made out of my last attempt to use Storify, I think I’m going to keep the two separate.
If you want to see the Storify page, please follow the link here-
http://storify.com/kaomoji
(though it’s mostly just for storing the material I’m using for my final project)

… you know what, maybe I’m just not getting it, but I like to have a degree of control over what I post, and Storify just isn’t doing it for me.
Actually, maybe it’s Word Presses fault? (I find it rather infuriating that something that would work for one site, like simple embedding via HTML, won’t work here).

Call me old fashioned, but it seems like the over simplification of user generated content websites is detracting from a better internet.
I don’t mind if sites make it simple for people who want things simple, but at least give those of us who want something more an option!

Activity 3 – My Little Savages [Storify]

1. Share
   My Little Savages

   ettelenn

   Sat, Mar 26 2011 21:30:26
   What the hell?
   So linking things from Storify will only only embed the video and nothing else?
   That’s hardly worth it…
   *sigh* there was supposed to be something about this being my first introduction to the My Little Pony phenomenon, but I guess it will just be better if you go directly to the Storify page itself…
   http://storify.com/kaomoji 

Activity 3 – The Unloading Of Storify

Collecting material on my Storify to use for my Project 3… probably should have put them here earlier.

<script src=”http://storify.com/kaomoji/my-little-savages.js”></script><noscript>%5B<a href=”http://storify.com/kaomoji/my-little-savages&#8221; target=”_blank”>View the story “My Little Savages” on Storify</a>]</noscript>

OOP

Time to catch up on everyone’s blogs!
*listens to ALL the soundclouds*

[UPDATE]
ALL the soundclouds listened to!
(everyone that had a project 2 up, mind you)
I left some comments on everyone’s posts… but I just hope everyone approves my comments in time.
(._. )

Time to work! … or not

>finish work Saturday
“Right, time to head to school to finish my project 3!”
>get to school, find computer lab closed up
“… ohhhh crap.”

Long story short, I’m hoping I’ll have enough time Monday to get everything done?

[edit]: lol, got this message from youtube (I tried leaving the computer running overnight to upload my interviews)-
“Bronie interviews April 13, 2012 7:57 PM

Failed (upload aborted)“

… awesome.
>:[

Project 2 – Audio News Piece [Transcript & Audio]

William Yeow, a student of Temple University Japan, has recently put on an exhibition showcasing his art work. What puts Will’s exhibition apart from your average university art student was that, instead of a mere collection of paintings and drawings he had done over the course of his studies while attending Temple University, he had gone through the complete process of designing an entire video game. Characters, story, world, levels, in-game encounters, everything from a design perspective required for the production of a video game, normally the job of an entire team of experienced design specialists working together over the course of several years, with millions of dollars worth of resources behind them, he managed to accomplish all by himself… and all for fun.

Will, who was born and raised in Singapore, attributes his over-the-top work effort to a driving dedication to get into the video game or anime industry.
Will now works almost exclusively in digital media, but says he originally started like most art students, in traditional paint and pencil work, and had no interest in pursuing a career in anime or video games. He says a school friend of his introduced him to the concept, and thus began a lifetime pursuit.

Will: “I’ve been doing art academically in school since middle school, and I continued through high school, and now I’m doing it as a university student. But at first when I started, up until high school, actually, it was not digital and it was not related to anime, games or manga. It was a lot more traditional: painting, drawing, pencil, pen, things like that. About halfway through my high school years, there was this guy in my class who was just really good with drawing on Photoshop. So I just looked at his stuff every once in a while and it was always like, wow, you know, teach me how to do that. So he taught me some Photoshop shortcuts, and that really got me into it.
So then I just got started with digital art. So basically I did the same thing: painting and drawing and stuff like that, but on the computer, and with a pen and tablet this time. And after that, I just decided, you know, hey I’ve been interested in manga and games for years, so why don’t I go into those mediums? Work on them seriously and see where that takes me.”

When asked where he came up with the idea to create his own game, he stated it was just a matter of convenient coincidental timing.

Will: “I was actually taking an upper level art class that semester, and that art class actually gave me the freedom to do a big project throughout the semester and it was up to me about what I would actually do. So at that time I was already set on going into the game or anime industry, so I decided, hey, I have this exhibition coming up, and I knew at that time that I have this exhibition I’m working towards, so I was thinking of what I could use as sort of a centerpiece which is actually what has happened with the exhibition here. So I decided to challenge myself and, hey, I’ve done character designs a few times, I’ve done stories a few times, concepts for stories, but why don’t I just put it all together and try and make something as real as possible.”

Will stated that his hopes for the exhibition were that he might possibly be noticed by a game or anime design school, or better yet, a game or anime company, and thus be able to get a valuable foothold in an industry that is notoriously difficult to get started in.

Will: “With the kind of content that is exhibited here, I intend to aim towards a job in character design and illustration obviously for games and anime.”

With the fact the Will has gone above and beyond what was required of him, and with the degree of dedication he has exhibited, there is little doubt that he has a bright future ahead of him.

Activity 2 – Interview transscript

Will: I’ve been doing art academically in school since middle school, and I continued through high school, and now I’m doing it as a university student. But at first when I started, up until high school, actually, it was not digital and it was not related to anime, games or manga. It was a lot more traditional: painting, drawing, pencil, pen, things like that. About halfway through my high school years, there was this guy in my class who was just really good with drawing on Photoshop. So I, uh, just looked at his stuff every once in a while and it was always like, wow, you know, teach me how to do that. So he taught me some Photoshop shortcuts, and that really got me into it.
So then I just got started with digital art. So basically I did the same thing: painting and drawing and stuff like that, but on the computer, and with a pen and tablet this time. And after that, I just decided, you know, hey I’ve been interested in manga and games for years, so why don’t I go into those mediums? Work on them seriously and see where that takes me.

Where did you get the idea to create your own game? (not a REAL game, but as if you were going to make a real game. Because that was a lot of effort, obviously).

Will: Part of it was because I was actually taking an upper level art class that semester, and that art class actually gave me the freedom to do a big project throughout the semester and it was up to me about what I would actually do. So at that time I was already set on going into the game or anime industry, so I decided, hey, I have this exhibition coming up, and I knew at that time that I have this exhibition I’m working towards, so I was thinking of what I could use as sort of a centerpiece which is actually what has happened with the exhibition here. So I decided to challenge myself and, hey, I’ve done character designs a few times, I’ve done stories a few times, concepts for stories, but why don’t I just put it all together and try and make something as real as possible.

Where are you hoping to go with all of this?
Will: With the kind of content that is exhibited here, I intend to aim towards a job in character design and illustration obviously for games and anime, and, uh, yeah, something along those lines.

Can you explain the meaning behind the name of your exhibition, “MomeFactory”
Will: The ‘Mome’ part actually comes from the chemical name ‘mometasone fluid’… which was a nasal spray that I was using from many years ago which I then reused for my email address. So, actually, on my name card right now, in fact, my email address is still the same, still ‘mometasonefurue@hotmail.com’ and taking the very first two syllables, I combined it with the word ‘factory’. So the ‘mome’ part actually expresses individuality, my own kind of prerogative to be able to do what I want. But then the factory part is recognition of the fact that if I work in a bigger company, that I’m not just an artist for my own, if I worked in a bigger company, like an anime or video game company then I can not always do what I want, I have to make stuff for a larger purpose (which is where the factory part comes in).

Activity 3 – Bronies explained

So my idea had been to cover the internet phenomenon known as “Brony-ism”.

The term “Brony” is a mash up of the word “Bro” and “pony”.
It is used to identify anyone who is a fan of the TV show “My Little Pony”, but who does not fall under the show’s targeted demographic (little girls).

Yes, that’s right, there are adults (grown men, even) who are fans of the show My Little Pony.
And not just “fans”, mind you. These people border on OBSESSED.
Why exactly the show has garnered legions of such unexpected followers seems to be a difficult thing to nail down. The most common reason cited seems to be the combination of cute characters and witty writing. That, combined with the show’s pedigree (creator Lauren Faust was responsible for the extremely popular cartoon “Power Puff Girls”, which also enjoyed a fan base of adults, despite its obvious kiddy themes) ensured it would be a hit… but “hit” is a bit of an understatement.
The show has essentially gone viral.
What started as a simple sharing of a quirky video online via popular English image board 4chan has quickly exploded to pandemonium and obsession rivaled by the likes of Star Trek.
People around the world have jumped on the Pony band wagon, with dedicated online communities that have documented every character, place, and event in the entire My Little Pony world (as well as created their own fan made additions).

I’ve gone in search of Bronies here in Tokyo Japan to find out if I can find out what the broad appeal is…

Online polls, or How I learned to love the data bomb

Shocked by the fact that virtual idol Hatsune Miku made the #1 spot for requested singers at the London Olympics?
I wouldn’t get too worked up about it. This is actually the second time she’s won an online poll that she shouldn’t have been involved with.

In 2010, Japan Rail announced they would be holding an online poll to determine what the name of their new bullet train should be. Fans of Hatsune Miku instantly realized the color scheme JR had chosen happened to match the virtual diva.

A campaign was launched to have every fan bombard the voting site, and within days, the number one contender was none other than Ms. Miku.
Unfortunately for the fans, JR realized something was up, and so disqualified the top contender (they ended up taking the third place name, “Hayabusa”).

Regardless, the point is, thee unsecured online polls should not be trusted.
But then, not even the secure polls are exactly safe.

In 2009, the Time Top 100 online poll was rigged by 4chan hacktivists. A complex program was worked out to make it so the top person of note for the year 2009 was none other than site founder, Chris Poole, who goes by the screen name “moot”.
Not only did they manage to secure his spot at the top of the list, but they also managed to rig it so the next 20 people were also exactly who they wanted to be in specific order. The reason for this being, when the first letter of each finalists name was strung into a row, it made up the sentence, “marble cake. also, the game”.

The sentence, at first glimpse, seems like gibberish. However, for those in the know, it was actually a clever nod and clue as to who the culprits were, as the sentence was actually a couple of memes used on 4chan.

Anyway, the moral of the story is: don’t trust anything on the internet.