Avatar me!

A Whole New Erin! (Isn't it perfect? Boy, the complex a girl could get!)


Voki even allows you to add voices to your avatar! More from the virtual side of the interweb! (although I will have to work on being able to embed the animation!

Create: Creation online: avatars

Recent study of Romanticism began an interest in online avatars. To check out how they work I have created a few, with just the basics.

This one for example is from meez.com and only took a couple of minutes to create. Like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, this avatar was created using left-overs, or pieces created by others. And now I can participate in a whole virtual world via my avatar.

To create an avatar you can follow these simple steps:
1) Go to meez.com and create a profile. (It is attached to an email address.)
2) Begin to chose! (This was the hardest part)You can choose different body shapes, sizes, hair, eye, and skin colour as well as what clothes to wear, etc. The best part is that most of the options are free. (Note: not only does this tie to Romanticism but it also ties to our discussions of economics and how to make money off of "free". Here people are charged money for extra clothes, options and accessories for their avatars.)
3) Now you are already to go and explore the world of Meez! you can make many friends and do lots of cool things! Have Fun!


I have also begun to explore the worlds of Yahoo! Avatars and Voki, while looking into worlds such as second life and avatarist.com. 

Miniature Book Clubbing

Books to be explored by our miniature book club:

Catherine De' Medici: And The Protestant Reformation (European Queens)
by Nancy Whitelaw

This book is only 160 pages and promises to be an interesting view of a world changing event through the eyes of a key character there.  Alternatives on the same subject and book include "Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France" (464 pages) and the novel "The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: A Novel" (416 pages).

I would love to read the confessions book, because it is always interesting to see people from great historical events brought to life. Also, although we went through to Protestant Reformation in class we didn't explore much about the aftermath in the political level, especially the following clashes with Catholicism all over Europe.

Romanticism: Revisted

Romanticism has always been one of those movements that I was dimly aware of in the back of my mind, but really had never paid much attention to because some of the other changes in the world that had occurred at the same time frame, I found a wee bit more interesting, for example the founding, disunion, and subsequent union of a nation, among other things. However, exploring the movement through some of its more famous authors and works, and then connecting it to current movements of the internet has brought an interest to this subject.

Romanticism focused on an "appreciation of nature, creativity, individualism, imagination, and beauty" (Romanticism). While many romantic artists focused on all things bright and good in the world, such as William Wordworth and his poetry, others, like Mary Shelly, choose to explore the darker side of human potential. Similarly, the internet does many things bright and beautiful, but it too explores a darker side to life.

Communism and Socialism: a whole new world

History is a fickle thing. The problem with history is that it is written by people who are, well, human, and therefore imperfect. It was also experienced by people who will put their own lenses on things, it is entirely impossible not to convey some sort of feeling about a subject matter. But perhaps the most important thing to remember about history is that because you are human, as you study history it is not always easy to imagine a society in which you do not live or a society whose rules you do not follow.

As we have begun to look at Socialism, I am having this trouble. I was born in a time virtually with out socialism or communism. The Berlin wall had fallen four years previously, and the USSR dissolved two years previously. To me these things are ancient history, and it is difficult to imagine an actually world in which they worked. Similar to how hard it is to imagine a world where, if I had been born into it, I would not have gone to school, and it would be normal to be married with four children right now. (Ok maybe not four, but that's close right?) And so as the class begins to look at socialism I experience a whole new world.