Well this was interesting. This has been more than kind of a crazy last semester of school for me, and I certainly wasn’t expecting quite the rigor or required level of involvement that this class calls for, even with the warnings. This is the kind of work I like to do, so I figured working … Continue reading Reflecting on DS106 →

Just posted a few of my ideas for the daily create, and I actually think these could be pretty fun. The first one I proposed was to record a dial tone using your voice in two octaves. This would obviously be two recordings overlapped. I was watching the awesome Spike Jonze film Adaptation the other … Continue reading Daily Create Ideas →

I’ve just made and written tutorials for two new web assignments that use the online tools Kumu and Inklewriter. The first assignment, the Kumu map, deals with organizing relationships on a highly customizable web. I used this tool in my Adaptation class and it was very cool. It can be creatively used to do numerous … Continue reading Assignment Ideas →

Inklewriter is tremendously easy to use, and there are excellent tutorials on the site that answer most questions, but I thought I would do a quick run through of some of the basics in case anyone is completely unfamiliar with this sort of thing. The first thing you want to do, of course, is create … Continue reading Inklewriter Tutorial →

Whatever project you decide to make using Kumu, there are a number of basic functions that are important to understand. Kumu is a fairly intuitive program. It comes pretty naturally once you get things moving. The first thing to do, of course, is to make an account on Kumu. This is free and simple. Once you’ve … Continue reading Kumu Tutorial →

Read more here.

We’ve recovered information on Harrison Slade and Groom’s potential location: Read it! We’ve also received an update from Jerry Greenlund.

I’ve just posted a personal update on the whereabouts of Jim Groom on the FOM webpage. Be sure to listen and keep your eyes peeled. Everyone: beware of the balloons.

In an note unrelated to the recent disappearance of Jim Groom, I have opened a dedicated music site. It is still in the works, but I hope it is to your enjoyment.

We have updated information on our ongoing search for Jim Groom posted on the FOM agency webpage. FOM co-founder and Vice President Jerry Greenlund has news from his searching of an abandoned Los Angeles manufacturing building previously owned by Groom’s kidnapper and previous collaborator, “Gonzo.” Senior Agent and researcher Enrique Pablovez uncovered startling information in … Continue reading Updated Progress on the Groom Search →

I feel like Michael Corleone (and actor AL Pacino) in the Godfather Part 3: living in a tired retread of a better past. They’ve pulled me back in. I set up an agency. I finally found success on the coattails of my worst enemy: failure. I learned that failure was my muse. Failure, in fact, … Continue reading On the Hunt for Jim Groom →

The one and only Jack Neff Co-founder Jerry Greenlund Senior Agent Enrique Pablovez Junior Agent Harrison Slade  

First, and most importantly, was the launch of my agency’s new website. There remains work to be done in filling out all of the necessary content, but I’m liking the aesthetic approach thus far. Failure, Our Muse, FOM Talent Agency, looks like it has a bright future ahead of it. I turned to the mashup assignments … Continue reading Week 11 Summary →

This is the short story with random words and animals assignment worth 3 points. Being a life-long writer, this seemed quite the enjoyable exercise. Then I saw my selection of words: cruelty, humanlike, align, hotly, water, regret, helicopter, dope, cursed, decade. Great stuff, right? Tough to make something like that very funny. Anyway, here’s my … Continue reading I Have to Use These Ten Words? →

This is the character resume assignment worth 3 points. Here is my admittedly sparse resume. I spent too much time doing dumb things to find success after college. My job at the Long Island Press was a downer and occupied far too much of my time. I’m not too proud of this, if I must … Continue reading The Resume of Jack Neff →

This is the create and host an interactive story using Twine assignment worth 3 points. You can find the story here. I changed this a little bit. I don’t really love Twine. I prefer Inklewriter, depending on what I’m trying to accomplish. I decided to use that for this assignment instead, which may or may … Continue reading InkleWriter Baseball: Pressure Pitch →

This is the “this doesn’t belong here assignment” worth 2 points I love movies, and I love comparing movies. Naturally, then, I would love to mash movie images together, no? Well, it was quite a bit of fun, though my particular choice perhaps isn’t as subtle as the assignment calls for. I played around quite … Continue reading Movie Mashup →

Not sure what else to say here other than I absolutely want to work on my own. No question there. Jack Neff is a lone wolf kinda guy.

Another fun week with video, this time delving much further into my character, Jack Neff, than I had in the past. A number of the assignments from this week, especially the interview, started to flesh him out a bit more and make me understand him. I won’t lie, I like that the weird Nixon/Hunter S. … Continue reading Week 10 Summary →

Here’s my peculiar interview with Jim Groom, full of Monty Python Jokes and dark, ominous answers from yours truly. Enjoy!

This is the how to tutorial assignment worth 3 points. If you’re not drinking scotch or bourbon, you must be (or better be) drinking beer. More specifically, you’d better be drinking a real beer. Nothing with the word “light” counts here, folks. We’re looking for full-flavored craft brews. Real quantities of hops, malt, and brewer’s … Continue reading Jack Teaches How to Pour Beer →

This is the I am me assignment worth 4 1/2 points. This is an altered version of the song John Wayne Gacy Jr. by Sufjan Stevens. Only the lyrics from the first verse remain from the original song. The rest, even some of the guitar licks, have been changed for this version of the song … Continue reading A Song for Jack →

This is the sound to visual assignment worth 3 points. I was messing around with visualizing the collaboration I did with Spencer’s character, Donnie Rawley, and I really liked the calm, striking visual effect I was able to get with these filters on Movie Maker. I think it fits perfectly well with the “zen” feel … Continue reading What Makes a Good Story is the Rhyme →

This is the narrative ambiance assignment worth 4 points. I took this monologue from the horror video game Alan Wake by Remedy Entertainment. Just to be clear on a few things, the Stephen King quote ends after the line “the poetry of fear.” The rest is the monologue from the game. Also, where the original … Continue reading My Name is Jack Neff. I’m a Writer. →

Fun week working with video. I got to watch one of my favorite beers poured in reverse. I also learned that reversing video isn’t an option on Windows Movie Maker, and that’s dumb. I added visuals and guitar accompaniment to my Black Bird self trio, which was nice to see finally completed and played with. … Continue reading Week 9 Summary →

The radio show was undeniably a mixed bag. I had a ton of fun with what I was able to make, but I am definitely disappointed that I couldn’t work with my original group and get to hear my show aired. I don’t want to delve in too far, but I quickly became frustrated in … Continue reading Radio Show Reflection →

First thing’s first: I apologize for the title. It makes me gag a little bit too. I was stuck and I just couldn’t resist. I’m a huge Hitchcock fan and have seen Notorious on numerous occasions, so I immediately knew where I was going  with what scene to pick. For as awesome as the shot … Continue reading Video Essay-A Notoriously Amazing Shot →

This is the favorite actor/actress highlight reel assignment worth 3 points. Robert DeNiro is so angry. And he loves repeating himself. This is a pretty cool collaboration from one of America’s greatest actors, taken from my favorites of his filmography. I’m just now realizing that other than the Godfather Part 2, all of the films … Continue reading DeNiro in All His Angry Awesomeness →

This is the sound to visual assignment worth 3 points. I’ve wanted to do more with my Blackbird self trio since I recorded it and people seemed to take a liking to it. I decided I would finally record the guitar accompaniment and set it to simple visuals. I found an awesomely simple black and … Continue reading Black Bird Visualized →

  This is the play it backward, Jack assignment worth 2 points. This was actually much more cumbersome that I originally thought. I figured Windows Movie Maker would have some feature for reversing video files, but alas I spent 20 or so fruitless minutes getting angry until Google told me it was a useless effort. … Continue reading Slow-mo Beer Pour →