Author Archives: HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106

DS106 Radio Session

I was able to make it to the 1st night of group radio listening. I have listened to vintage radio shows before, so I did have an idea on what to expect. We listen to “Do androids dream of electric sheep” It was a great story. They made great use of the sounds to let you know where the characters were at any given point. They sounded different in the car then they did in a big empty space. There were footsteps and paper shuffling. I was unable to make it to the 2nd installment of the story and listened to it on my own. In the 2nd half of the story a famous painting is described and then the painting is used a reference to explain and describe the scene. The painting used was Edvard Munch “the Scream”. The music and sound effects did a great job of painting the scene as gritty and post-apocalyptic sci-fi.

On Wednesday we listened to 2 shorter programs. The first was “A Logic named Joe”. It was cartoonish and silly but with a sense urgency. It made use of cartoonish transition music. You got the idea that the characters were in quite a pickle but in a fun way. You could tell when they were on the phone with a person by the way they distorted the other voice slightly. At one point a kid is slapped and you just have to catch it with the sound effects since they don’t out right say it.

The other program was more serious in nature with less music. It was called “Report on the Barnhouse Effect”. Some ties the scenes faded into each other and other times there was transition music. The radar sound effect noise sounded like old school call waiting beeping. The sound effects were not silly like in Joe. They were much more serious. The music was simple and eerie chords. It really built suspense. Near the end a gun (I think they might have said pistol) was being fired and it was machine gun sounds. I laughed because the sound did not match what was described. (I grew up with a parent in the military and married a veteran of the armed forces) The sounds used really carried the story along providing information.

Spooky Dialogue – Creepy Dr O

I used some audio from Dr Oblivion and had some fun with it. The words I isolated and played with are AI, do, need, and or take them. I layered this in with sounds from Freedsound.

This clip I made makes me think of a poltergeist. Take them! Not sure what Doctor Oblivion wants to take but there it is.

Missed Information

MsMapex: “#tdc4408 Message in the sky! …” – ds106 Social

The Daily Create 4408

Message in the sky!
I was trying to think of something funny or clever. Then I thought of miss communication. In the story the brave little tailor is excited about killing flies and the towns people think he is bragging about giants. I think the tailor would definitely pay for this sign.

Radio Show Ideas

I would like to have a radio show with Dr Ravioli, Marie E. Pearl, and Lady Alice Smythe. They can discuss mopeds, world domination, and why a cat would marry a lobster. Marie can be trying to pet Ravioli constantly and being neutral on all topics. Alice and Ravioli can argue about mopeds. Alice insisting, they are terrible and Ravioli singing their praises. Marie can just keep agreeing with both points of view. Alice can try to constantly to one up the cat while Dr Ravioli ignores her because he is a cat. Marie can lecture about being nice and then sort of fade into the background. Ravioli can throw his life experiences into the mix to prove what point he is making since he is the oldest. We could throw in a conversation about AI and weather that would improve mopeds or not.

Another Idea for a radio show would be Dr. Ravioli talking to any of the robot characters trying to convince them to be turned into a moped.

All the AI enthusiasts do a radio show to raise money for the cause. I noticed there are several AI developers on the characters list and a televangelist. They could do a recruitment show.

Radio Bumper – Weird and Wonderful

I had a lot of fun making my radio bumper. I wanted a sound that was scratchy. Like the transmission was not coming in clear. I wanted it to reflect the independence of the station itself. I loved that I could play around with the order of my phrases. I ended up putting them in a different order then I reordered them. I didn’t anticipate how much I was going to love playing with sound. I can see why people become sound engineers now.

It needed a picture, and my little evil brick is readily available and a good size.

I used sounds from freesound.org to go with my audio recording of my voice.

Week 1 Summery

I decided to go back and give you a summary of week one.

We got snow week one. 1st day of classes was canceled. My kids had snow days! yay so fun. I had just moved back home after not being able to live in my house for over 6 months due to a water leak. I got food poisoning on Wednesday (I think it has been a bit). I found videos on how to use WordPress and got my blog up. With the kids not having school, moving back home, and me being unwell was a perfect storm for my husband to have extra problems associated with his PTSD. It was a rough way to start classes. I knew me starting school would be difficult for him to handle. While he tries to be supportive, he needs help daily. I now take care of him. We are working with the VA on stuff.

At first, I wanted to keep all this on the downlow. Because I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me. I have a lot going on. But as we enter week 4, I realize how much this is going to come up in my work as an artist. My story doesn’t need to be a sad one. My story is what I make it not what people assign it to be. Yes, Week one was a shit show, but I managed to get my blog up with colors and organize it. This is my origin story not my story of defeat. Things are just beginning in a new way.

My assignment to watch a movie was fun. Since I have children, I was like I am going to watch a grown-up movie. I had attempted to watch Blade Runner several times in my life. This was my chance It is required for school. Here is my review.

Blade Runner – Film Review – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

To summarize week one, I learned I could do hard things on the computer and this class will challenge me every week.

Bonus points if you can figure out how old I am.

IS that a Cabbage? – Audio Reflection

When talking about the importance of sound I can’t help but think about sound stages where they produce the sound effects for movies. The sound of bones breaking is celery. The sound of head wounds? Cabbage stands in for the head. Their goal isn’t about making a realistic sound but in giving you the sensation that the sound creates for you. They give you what you think it should sound like not what it actually does sound like.

Moon Graffiti by The Truth Podcast tells an interesting story about what if the moon landing ended in failure. It relies heavily on what you think something should sound like during the moon scenes. I really like how they did the sound of the footprints on the moon. I heard the sound and instantly thought of the ripples in the sand at 6:15.

The way they did the audio of the astronauts speaking to each other tells you where they are without having to outright tell you. You can hear the scratchiness of the radio used for them to communicate. I love the camera sound effect at 6:41. You can hear the sound of the bulb charging. They drag the high pitch sound of the flash bulb charging to add to the suspense and eeriness of it all. You hear it again at 7:05 which bookends the picture sequence. You can just feel the dread in the air. They wonderfully stick to using tones and minimal music to create that sense of stillness and dread. At 8:11 you hear their footsteps and know they are walking. They set up the footstep sound at 6:15 so you will know what steps sound like on the moon. It moves the story along with having to have the characters announce everything they are doing. 11:56 appears to be when they start the time jump. They fade out the audio and make the music louder. At 12:05 you hear gasping, and you realize we are near the end of the astronauts’ oxygen. The program does a good job of letting you know that 2 hours have almost past in the story. You feel the moon rather than see the moon. Having to imagine it all puts you there more. It gives you more empathy to the characters.

Here Jad Abumrad explains his love of radio. More than that he talks about how radio connects you as the host to your audience. In some ways a radio show is like reading a book. The book has words describing sounds and you imagine them. With a good radio show they use the sound to paint the picture of what you should be seeing. like the footsteps on the moon. It is more than just a book on tape. A book on tape is still using words to describe sounds radio is more.

I couldn’t find the words to make a good segway into the next video. I love stories. They are magical, healing, teaching, warnings, sometimes living and breathing their own life. I love finding people that feel the same way. Stories are not a waste of time. There is a right place and right times for certain stories. I try to remember, when doing my projects for DS106, to ask myself “what is the story I want told here?”. Enjoy this last video clip.

Daily Creates – x 3

here are 3 daily creates I have done this week. My creative week starts on Saturdays.

The Create on Saturday was to replace a team member on the boat. I added one instead.

Behold Grumpy Cat going for a ride! tdc4404

MsMapex: “Grumpy Cat went for a ride. #t…” – ds106 Social

For The Daily Create 4405 A poem about Lemons was required. There was a list of words that were off limits.

MsMapex: “#ds106 The Lemon Poem egg sha…” – ds106 Social

#tdc4406 I found Therapeutic. I had no idea what the daily create was looking for. When this happens, I usually say well I am skipping this one. I look at what everyone else has made. Then I sometimes get an idea. I have put together an imagine that represents some of the many thoughts that run through my head daily. I used old pictures of my children to represent different emotions, thoughts and my family in general. It is my baggage. It takes “half” of “me” to make sure everything runs. #tdc4406 #dailycreate #ds106

MsMapex: “I had no idea what the daily c…” – ds106 Social

Now I feel this is a simplified version of my thoughts. I have a lot going on right now.

The old pictures of my kids make me laugh. They really do illustrate some feelings/emotions quite well.

I should have added an evil brick.

OH, wait there is one! Tabitha is 7 and felt inspired.

Week 3 Summery

This week started off great. I had established a routine and was enjoying the daily creates. I had started draft pages for the assignments on my blog. I was organized! I was not going to be rushing at the end of the week to get it all done.

Then I fell.

I was walking to my car Tuesday night after class at about 7:25 pm I tripped on some uneven bricks and fell. My heavy backpack added to my instability, and I was unable to catch myself. I scraped my forehead on the brick walkway. In addition to the head injury, I also hurt both my knees and my right hand. It has made getting my work done quite difficult this week. I could not type Wednesday or Thursday. I was able to start typing Friday with many breaks. I am on Doctor’s orders to rest but I would rather not have to do 2 weeks of schoolwork in one week is all my classes, so I do what I can.

I did manage to do the reflection on design thoughts before I got hurt.

https://ds106.hurkledurkling.com/blog/reviews/design-thoughts/(opens in a new tab)

For some reason my UMW choose the week 3 email to go to junk. I just found it today (Friday). I had found a week 3 assignment list on the DS106 website that I was using. It was incomplete compared to the actual list. I may go back and re-do my design thoughts. I will have to see how much my hand can handle.

Here are links to my daily creates I made posts for in my blog.

Outsider Art – The Daily Create – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

Daily Create Colour it in – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

Cat on a Toilet – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

#tdc4397 #ds106 Bark like a dog – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

I did 4 but I had a personal goal of trying to do all of them. that will have to wait until my hand is better.

I was able to do the demystifying AI assignment.

Koala wearing a knitted hat – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

Koala in a Knitted Hat – Part 2 – HURKLE-DURKLING Thoughts for DS106 (hurkledurkling.com)

I am having to really edit my thoughts with the sore hand. It is a challenge.

The four seasons visual assignment was fun. I decided to connect it to my character Lady Alice by showing where she grew up.

Four Seasons – Wyoming

Photo Blitz

Photo Blitz

my second assignment for the week.

PSA Evil Bricks!

It was a difficult week, and I did the best I could under the circumstances. I really enjoyed the process of making the PSA assignment. It was great using my accident as inspiration for my work. It was great making it something to laugh about. Now to get on with Week 4 work.

PSA Evil Bricks!

On Tuesday the 30th of January I was the victim of an evil brick. I tripped walking to my car after class just before 7:30pm walking to my car. It hurt me. I Want to bring awareness to the issue of good bricks turning to a life of crime and violence. I chose to make a billboard Public Service Announcement to help spread the word.

Bricks are everywhere! As humans expand their habitat, we also expand the habitat of bricks. With age comes the increased risk of bricks becoming evil. Young bricks have an increased risk when installed incorrectly. We as humans can do better and be better.

I made this using Adobe illustrator, Adobe Firefly, Microsoft paint program (whatever comes with windows) and picture I found on the internet of Arrington Hall.

The brick path image needs to be cut down, but I have reached my limit on the use of my right hand. When I fell, I caught most of my weight on my right hand and left knee. I scraped my head on the bricks when I fell. I fell on the path in front of Arrington Hall on the path to the parking lot. I learned you can yell expletives, and no one will care on campus. I also learn I do not scream as I fall just yell in anger. My heavy backpack only served to destabilize me and smash my head to the ground. I luckily did not get a concussion. I think I fell because I was getting sick and did not get sick because of my fall. I am on antibiotics and under doctor’s orders to rest. I could not type at all Wednesday or Thursday due to the swelling in my hands.

This is my head close to 24 hours after the accident(above).

Be safe out there walking is dangerous!