I decided to further characterize Bethany (and indulge myself) by looking for a house for her on Zillow. Since she is based in Chicago, that’s where I opted to search. She really doesn’t need a lot of space, especially since its just her. I could see her eventually getting a pet, so a pet-friendly establishment was a plus. While Bethany is only a receptionist for a funeral home, she does have the extra cash flow from Smithy, so the price wasn’t anything I was too worried about.
I found this stunning apartment that I know Bethany would LOVE. Located in downtown Chicago, the one-bed/one-bath setup is just enough for her. The brick and hardwood fixtures are breathtaking, and the balcony would be perfect for her morning reading. There is enough space in the living area for a small office, which Bethany will use for all of her after hours work.
While the bedroom is a pretty stark white, Bethany would fill the room with life through a huge rug and lots of wall art. There is still some personality in this room, though! A wooden beam runs through the ceiling, bringing some much needed warmth to this part of the house.
As one of the assignments for this week, I created two ID cards for my course character, Bethany Smith.
For this card, I used an ID making website and then saved the PDF. It was a little hard to use as the website was quite laggy, but I think it turned out nice!
Bethany’s ID Card for her job at the funeral home.
For the library card, I just searched for the Chicago Public Library card and erased the example name and signature on Photoshop. After that, I added back in Bethany’s name and signature using the text and paint tools, respectivley.
Her library card, because of course she’s a reader!
In the blog posts about Technopoly, I appreciated that the author mentioned that Neil Postman was “a prophet … one who warns.” This was a sentiment that I was trying to reflect in my film review of Black Mirror season 2, episode 1, but I wasn’t able to say it as concisely.
As part of the viewing of tech noir, I watched Black Mirror season 2, episode 1 entitled “Be Right Back.” I haven’t watched Black Mirror before, so instead of choosing an episode that I thoight was interesting, I chose a random episode to review. The short description on the episode reads, “after learning about a new service that lets people stay in touch with the deceased, a lonley, greiving Martha reconnects with her late lover.”
What struck me initially about this episode was how closely it already follows our own society. Ashe, the aformentioned “late lover,” seems to be hooked to his cell phone. Martha tells him multiple times to put it away, especially while the two are in the car.
Ashe dies in a car accident, which is heavily implied to be the result of distracted driving. Martha attempts to process his death, only for one of her friends to sign her up for a service that filters all of Ashe’s online activity through a program that will allow her to “talk to him” again. I’m struck by how human this action seems while also feeling so alien. Martha’s friend was only trying to take care of her, but just prevented Martha from being able to process Ashe’s death. Even during the times where Martha is afraid of the program, which will be referred to as “not-Ashe,” she manages to overcome the fear to keep some semblance of her partner alive. Even when not-Ashe is just a text bubble on her computer, her desire to talk to him surpasses her need to interact with the real people in her life.
Eventually, not-Ashe is upgraded to be something/someone she can talk to in a phone call, and then into a “living” being. Only a few hours after not-Ashe is delivered and setup in her house, Martha initiates sex with him. Whether she was looking for connection or just trying to satisfy a desire with something close to her partner, the decision is interesting. On a larger scale, the presence of intimacy with future tech is something that many are interested in, and the inclusion of that in this episode was appropriately uncomfortable. Not-Ashe had to download porn in order to understand how to have sex with Martha, and while this was offputting to her, she did not stop.
This episode was aired in 2013, long before AI chatbots flooded social media. However, the similarity of not-Ashe to the various celebrities you can now “talk to” on Instagram is interesting. I wonder if it will be possible to take these chatbots to a further level, and how that may effect us. At the end of the episode, Martha is overcome by how close and also how far not-Ashe is from the man she lost. She walks him to a cliff and encourages him to jump off. The episode doesn’t have to address what would happen if she killed not-Ashe, who is decidedly not-human, as he pleads for his life at her suggestion. As we continue towards the future predicted by this episode of Black Mirror, it will be hard to ignore the legislation that comes out of it.
Transcription: Well, the review is not bad, mentioning some key points of the episode’s plot and themes. The comparison between the episode’s concept and AI chatbots is interesting, showing a connection to real-world technology. However, consider tightening up your writing to make it more concise and to the point. Also, maybe dial back a bit on your detailed opinions regarding Martha’s choices. We get it. You find it uncomfortable. Keep refining your analysis and keep an eye on how technology in Black Mirror reflects our own society’s trajectory.
Talk about a week where my brain felt fully juiced! Getting started with The Daily Creates was certainly difficult at first, especially having to be okay with creating art that wasn’t polished due to the time constraints. However, I found myself beginning to look forward to seeing what kinds of new things I would be asked to make each day. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t still have trouble with TDC, though!
Along the same lines, I had a ton of fun creating my course character. I’m interested to see how our work with our characters will continue throughout the rest of the semester, as well as how they’ll interact with the class. The writing process was tough at first, but I got a lot of inspiration from a character name generator. It spit out “Bethany Smith (Smithy),” and I just had to make my character a good girl by day/mob boss by night with that kind of name! Being able to create a collage to further create a 3D person was quite fun as well! I haven’t done “creative writing” in years, so this was a welcome break from typical writing expectations.
I enjoyed my interactions with Dr. Oblivion, too. I find him a little unnerving, but I could say that about all AI! I think his voice adds another level to his persona, and I like being able to feed him prompts.
Looking back on this week, I know better how to manage my time in this class going forward. I think the first week of the semester spoiled me, and the workload this week surprised me. I also need to get in the habit of commenting on others’ posts, as I don’t feel like I did enough of that this week.
I decided to work on the 256 Points Assignment this week. I used Procreate to make a portrait of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Terminator. It was an interesting process as I didn’t have a brush small enough to work pixel-by-pixel, so I instead had to create blobs and then erase them down in order to get the shape I wanted.
I had so much fun developing my course character, Bethany Smith (aka a gangster named “Smithy”). As such, I opted to participate in one of the visual assignments but collage Bethany instead of myself. I used Pinterest’s Collage Maker, and had so much fun developing this character further!
Bethany Smith was born in Agusta, Maine on June 6, 1996. She had a good childhood, full of family dinners and stellar report cards. She surprised everyone by not applying to any colleges, and moving to Chicago with her high school sweetheart, Colin. They married soon after, but her picture perfect life seemed to end there. Colin died on a hunting trip or a ski accident or during a hiking trip with his best friend two years after they were married. She surprised everyone even more when she started working at the same funeral home that “took care of Colin.” Bethany never struck anyone as the type who would work somewhere so morbid, but she seems to love it! It gives her plenty of time to read her books (romance, especially anything with vampires or monsters) and her bosses are pretty lax on the cell phone policy. If you ever ask her for advice, she’ll tell you that “the kindness I to others show, that kindness comes to me.”
Bethany has always been unassuming, but it has only become worse since Colin died. She keeps her mousy brown hair cut above her shoulders (she hates when its in her eyes). She’s 5’5″ with a slim build and dark brown eyes. She tends to favor jeans and pants, and can rarely be found in a t-shirt as she likes feeling “put together.” She has a light dusting of freckles, and acne scars that are slowly fading. One of the signature parts of her style is her green nail polish, because she feels like it makes her features pop. Lunch most days is a salad or leftovers, and after work she might enjoy an Old Fashioned or two. She doesn’t go anywhere without her phone. She is glued to it, whether she is at work or anywhere else. She can be found making hushed phone calls and viciously texting, but swears “its nothing.”
Smithy, on the other hand, was “born” September 29, 2011 at 1:06pm. She knew her Dad was up to something, but he had been going on a lot of “work trips” recently and “working late” more nights than not. One day, she went to bring her Dad some lunch and walked in on a scene she would never be able to forget. Her Dad was dead, bent over his desk in a pool of blood. While she knew it was wrong, she had to look at her Dad’s computer before calling the police. Through his emails and phone records, she realized that the man she knew as a good father and loving husband was one of the East Coast’s most powerful mobsters. Whatever had happened to her Dad was clearly targeted, but the police ruled it a suicide. Smithy used what she found on the laptop to slowly begin to build her own empire, using her connections to the crematorium to take care of anyone who causes her trouble. No one knows who Smithy is, and no one knows what Bethany is always so preoccupied with.
Water Bottle: more than often, it’s empty. I just like to have it with me. Decorated with stickers from various events and bands.
Laptop Charger
Pencil Pouch: hand embroidered by me, rarely used anymore. However, it feels wrong to go anywhere without a writing utensil.
Laptop: slowly dying, also covered in stickers.
iPad: my most recent birthday gift, one of my only posessions that isn’t covered in stickers/pins/keychains/embroidery/patches or anything similar.
Earbuds (wireless): I can only wear my left earbud right now because of my piercings.
Carmex Chapstick: should be taken out of my bag, I don’t even use Carmex anymore.
Hand Sanitizer: probably don’t use this as much as I should, but I enjoy having it with me.
Decongestant: helps with my migraines sometimes.
Earbuds (wired): these are for my laptop, and unlike my wireless earbuds, I can wear both of these. These were always my favorite design back when wired earbuds were the norm.
Dongle: just in case all my wireless headphones are dead.
Frog Wallet: I keep most important things in my sticky wallet on my phone, but again, it feels wrong not to have a physical wallet.
Apple: most of the time there is some kind of snack in my bag, today it was an apple.
Mini-Vasaline: my current preferred Chapstick.
Hand Warmers: a Christmas gift from my roommate, one of my most valued posessions this winter.
Crecent Wrench: major contributor to my backpack weight, but needed for work. Used almost every day in the scene shop while I work with the lights.
Giant Receipt: found this in my jacket pocket after picking something up at the store and shoved it in my bag.
Zine Materials: cut up magazines and such for a zine making project in DGST 201 (Tinkering, Hacking, and Making). Won’t remain in my backpack, though.
“Lady Bag”: exactly what it sounds like and contains everything a lady such as myself might need (Ibuprofen, pads, mints, eye drops, ect).
My Bag: purchased for senior year of high school, which was entierly online. Some embroidery done by me, many patches sewn on by me but designed by others. Buttons and keychains galore- you can always hear me coming.
