F+or 4.5 stars, I did the Narrative Ambiance assignment, which asked us to: Take a favorite poem, inspiring quote or passage from a book (or even a movie monologue, if you like!) and record yourself reading it. Then set it to original video you’ve recorded with some kind of music or sound effect in the background. … Continue reading Eleutheromania

Some of the other Daily Creates were pretty awesome and led in some pretty interesting directions, but this was the best. Its like the Daily Create creator (who is the Daily Create Creator? Now I’m wondering. Well anyway…) knew that it was going to be a magnificent sunny summer day. Because here’s what it asked … Continue reading My Actual Favorite Daily Create

How to Read a Movie I won’t lie: I thought this would be dull. Analyzing movies sounded a lot like analyzing books, which is just about my least favorite activity even though I love reading them. I spent all of my secondary education dreading English classes precisely because I did not want to pick apart … Continue reading A Nerd Goes to the Movies

So I’m terrible at taking selfies. I totally admit it. Actually, I’m pretty bad with a phone camera in general, which is why I struggled with getting my family’s only non-phone camera to behave for me for the first couple weeks. Therefore I was totally into Tuesday’s Daily Create, which asked us to C64 Yourself … Continue reading This isn’t a course on selfies…right?

The second Audio Assignment I chose from the DS106 Assignment Bank is Poetry Reading, a 2 star assignment that requires you to: Poetry is meant to be read aloud. Select a poem – it can be a personal favorite or one you find randomly – and read it aloud in a way that itself makes it a story. … Continue reading More Sylvia Plath

The Song Itself Before you read anything else, listen to this song. You’re not going to understand if you don’t. Close your eyes for the full effect. Lyrics For reference, here are the lyrics from bobdylan.com: Crickets are chirpin’, the water is high There’s a soft cotton dress on the line hangin’ dry Window wide … Continue reading An Interview with Myself

Its strange to think, but one year ago I had no idea what college was like, and two years ago I didn’t know what college I would end up attending. Just applying to college is a stressful process fraught with complications, and in the midst of the process I didn’t have much time to reflect … Continue reading Colleges

Monday This week I’m writing my Weekly Summary like a diary throughout the week, so I can finish it when I finish my work. The video indicates that Professor Polack won’t be available on the weekend, so I aim to finish as much as I can by Friday. I know very little about audio media, … Continue reading Week 3 Weekly Summary

Yesterday (happy belated July 4th!) I started my week off by reading the Summer Week 3 work for DS106, and coming across this unfamiliar term: nuggest. The internet was no help, so perplexed, I tweeted Professor Polack: @youcanimagethis What is a "nuggest"? Saw it on Summer Week 3, https://t.co/a93B2uk9qA. Confused. Thanks. — s. gupta (@sguptaauthor) July … Continue reading Nuggest?

I just love that today’s Daily Create was about a defining moment. Its very fitting, considering that it’s Independence Day, when we celebrate the country’s defining moment. Well here’s mine: @ds106dc When I got my early acceptance to #UMW & realized I was happier than if I'd gotten into W&M or anywhere else. #tdc1639 #ds106 … Continue reading A Feel-sy Daily Create

Once again, I completed all the work for this week, this time with better time management now that I know the time commitment expected from this course. I began the week off with the wonderfully-zany “Octopus Encounter” Daily Create, which was to caption this perplexing image: I tried several captions before Tweeting out: @ds106dc "Hey, … Continue reading Week 2 Weekly Summary

For 2.5 stars, I decided to do the “Minimalize Your Philosophy” Design Assignment. As per usual, I utilized Drawings in Google Drive. But since this assignment was relatively easy, this time I took more screenshots than ever before. I almost considered turning them into a gif for the benefit of the internet.  Hopefully they will … Continue reading Whining about Wanderlust, Part II: Its My Philosophy!

Inspired by the excess of whining in the Vignelli Canon, as discussed in my recent post reflecting on the reading, I decided to do a funny take on the Animated GIF assignment Splain That Dystopia In Six Slides, for 3 stars. A funny take with a point though: we can’t take design TOO seriously. People still need to read. … Continue reading Designers Dystopia

For the Create A READ Poster assignment, worth 3.5 stars, DS106 students are challenged to make a poster urging people to read in the style of the posters made by the American Library Association. I immediately thought back to an unexpected discovery I made once. Apparently Marilyn Monroe loved to read. Just Google “Marilyn Monroe reading” … Continue reading Books are a girls best friend

I didn’t quite understand what a gif was until earlier this week, but even then, I felt intimidated by the gif assignments. I clicked on the link to a good example of the assignment I wanted to do, but I ended up finding another assignment (no idea how that happened) that sounds even better. For 3.5 stars, … Continue reading My first gif!

I sat down comfortably, balancing the pile of papers in my lap. I had begun the week by printing out all 96 pages of the Vignelli Canon, imagining it would prove an invaluable resource for the week’s work and any future designing. The introduction seemed to indicate a very open attitude toward design, with Massimo Vignelli … Continue reading

  @ds106dc P.B.G. Hills = Pimmit Biker Gang Hills #tdc1636 — s. gupta (@sguptaauthor) July 1, 2016 I’m starting to feel like there’s an ongoing theme with the Daily Creates and our individual neighborhoods. Maybe its because we’re mostly home for summer in this session of Digital Storytelling. Then again, maybe its just today and yesterday’s … Continue reading When the Daily Create becomes Extremely Relevant

For 2 stars in the Design Assignment category, I did the Favorite Movie Quote Assignment from the Digital Storytelling Assignment Bank. The image is from the movie Gone with the Wind, which has been on my mind recently, probably in part due to my response to the “Name that Movie” Daily Create. In this image, Scarlett O’Hara dances … Continue reading Two Terrible People of a Kind

@ds106dc Circa Civil War, she went from belle to survivalist, w/ a tumultuous love life. Very popular film. #tdc1635 pic.twitter.com/HvVz1OntCV — s. gupta (@sguptaauthor) July 1, 2016 I thought this Daily Create needed its own post. I was intrigued to find that unlike most of the other Daily Creates we’ve had recently, it centers not … Continue reading Answer to my Daily Create Riddle, and Backstory

I was debating whether or not the Daily Creates ought to go on my blog separately, instead of as one big blog post, but I figured I would have to because I need to discuss the most recent Daily Create. Like, I NEED to. You’ll see. For now, here’s another cool Daily Create, from earlier … Continue reading Starting the week off right with Daily Create No. 1

As suggested in Dr. Polack’s guide for this week, I chose the Truthful movie poster assignment from the Digital Storytelling Assignment Bank, in the Design section. This assignment is worth 4 stars. I just picked a movie at random from a list of favorites I suggested to a friend. The movie I chose was Deliverance, a somewhat-disturbing R-rated … Continue reading A Fun Take on a Traumatizing Movie

I started off thinking I would take a darker take on this Digital Storytelling class assignment, a visual assignment called the “Make Your Own Spubble”. I took an old photo of myself, taken by my friend Dil a couple years ago (during which she had an obsession with so-called “emo” culture), which she had turned into greyscale … Continue reading Decided to Not be Dark for Once

Even though we got several resources to draw photography tips from, I decided to focus on the ideas provided in TEN: Ten Ways to Improve Your Craft. None of Them Involve Buying Gear by David duChemin after I found the ebook available online for free. His writing style is very visual and intuitive, and I highly recommend … Continue reading A Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood

Summer always worsens my persistent cabin fever and wanderlust, especially for the seaside with its unique charm. I don’t know if I can wait until August for my “Vitamin Sea” after scrolling through all these beautiful pictures on Pinterest! But at the moment I am trapped inside, working on my projects for Digital Storytelling. Which … Continue reading I Need Vitamin Sea: Whining and Collage-Making

I completed all of the week’s assignments, but I struggled with the sheer amount of wok provided. I realized I have tendency to be perfectionistic, especially in my photography. For instance, I delete many of the photos I took. In the future, I will try to overcome that tendency. I am somewhat confused as to … Continue reading Week 1

   

For today’s Digital Storytelling Daily Create, there were endless possibilities…but I didn’t have time to come up with any of them because I was busy with my other assignments/otherwise busy life. Then it didn’t matter because the clouds came out anyway. So I settled for “making” an old photo of mine turn into the perfect sunset … Continue reading Is that “dramatic” enough?

My response to the Daily Create challenge to “Morph Into Jim Groom”. At first I thought it was a little bit of an odd challenge, but it grew on me. He’s a pretty cool looking guy. And interesting too. If you’re too lazy to Google who he is, let me just say he sounds pretty darn … Continue reading I Am Clearly Jim Groom: Adventures in Old Fashioned Photshopping

My take (no pun intended) on the Selfie With Your Pet Assignment from the Digital Storytelling Assignment Bank  involves my gorgeous hunk of dog, Arthur. Originally he was named for the lovable aardvark Arthur from a children’s book and TV series of the same name. But almost every time I mention his name, someone suggests he must … Continue reading King of the Dogs