Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 2

http://www.davidgaddis.com/piercing.html

This is the comic I chose from one of my classmates blogs. This is a very strange comic. Niether my wonderful girlfriend nor I could figure it out. Even with Busch Light by our side. It is halloween so I thought this obscure comic would set the mood but it did the opposite. It only raised questions.

The comic is arranged with Action-to-action transitions. There are no words, only pictures. Some are in color, some are not. The larger panels show much more details than the others, helping the reader follow the story.

The steam from the coffee is represented by a sort of 'fog'. I'm sure in a standard "oldschool" comic this would be represented by lines as Scott Mccloud points out in Chapter 4 of his book, 'Understanding Comics'.

Actually if the panels were cut out and placed in order, I'm sure it would be a pretty good picture.

After the lady pulls the string out of the man's chest the color changes from bright to oblique and dreary.

Happy Halloween!
Spooky!

Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 1

The comic I chose for this post is on entitled 'Over the Hedge' by: Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The strip is concerned with the changing of the seasons, particularly with the falling of leaves. The comic personifies the last leaf on a tree by giving it artful dialogue - some even in French.

http://www.comics.com/comics/hedge/archive/hedge-20081027.html

While reading this comic, I found a couple connections between our reading of Scott Mclouds 'Understanding Comics' and the strip. First, the transitions between panels are Aspect-to-Aspect. For instance, first panel depicts two characters standing under a tree - with a speech bubble sticking out of the upper right. The second panel shows only a leaf, high up in the tree. This is a completely different scene, but the panels aer related through its context. Readers have no trouble percieving the scene displayed in the first two panels. The gutter allows the mind to fill in the gap that the point of view moves from the ground to up in the tree. As Mcloud puts it, "Comics asks the mind to work as a sort of an in-betweener -- filling in the gaps between panels as an animator might..." (Mcloud 88)

Second... the second panel has no border. The first and last use the classic rectangle border. "... Panels come in many shapes and sizes, though the classic rectangle is used most often.... Most of us are so used to the standard rectangular format that a "borderless" panel such as this can take on a timeless quality." (102). I feel the creators of this comic were going for the timeless feel since the second panel has some very 'artsy' overtones and dialogue.

Pictures Texts on the Web

For this post I will be looking at a website I frequently visit.

Writing.com

The home page is cluttered, in my opinion, but it is definitely navigable. The top inch and a half is a "skin" or picture-background with text in the foreground. The text here are links to other pages in the site. There is not much balance because the heading "Writing.com" is off the the left while the links are to its right. My favorite part of the sites design in the background color - a light manilla. I learned in my special education course that manilla is easiest on our eyes and is most condusive to reading.

The body of the site is more balanced. Three columns are presented, the middle being the widest. The left column has login information, signup info, and some general information about the site. The middle column provides writing.com's "mission statement(s)" and has a blank form used for registering on the side. The right column contains advertisements for online colleges, creative writing courses, and other writing related opportunities.

I dont see how the site embodies a metaphor nor do I see it comparing/contrasting anything, but I do see a slight balance with the information. The color of it, like I said, stands out to me. The website has a lot of text, but it's a writing website so that is to be expected.
One thing that I just now noticed was that the headings are not balanced one bit. One side has 4 while the other only has one. Interesting...

Peer Review Recap, Part 2.

When working with Wiki I was surprised as to how easy the process went. Reviews others papers, posting my own, creating pages, changings fonts, and making comments worked best for me. Having to reformat my paper when putting it on the site was the most frustrating part but it really wasn't that bad. I wish more people would have commented on my paper giving me ideas on how to expand my topic. I thought this was actually easier than google docs, but I enjoyed both processes.
Pros of working with wetpaint:
Easy to use
Easy to post
Easy to edit
Esay to make comments

Con:
Having to reformat your paper.


All in all, wiki wetpaint seems like a great tool for peer review.

What others are saying...

One of our classmates says how it is not fun to write with rigid, structural rules. I agree with this to a certain extent. To what extent that is, I'm not entirely sure but I do know that we need the rules. The rules should be second nature. That's why we're studying them, isn't it? Once they become second nature our style will, in turn, flow. If we didn't have these rules, there would be nothing to classify good writing. Revising is one of my favorite parts of writing. The fun part, if you will. When I write something, it almost never comes out perfect at first. It's when I re-read and revise that I start having fun. Twisting sentences, playing with words - simple amusement that I adore. (Especially while under the influence - but that's neither here nor there).

Allow me to quote another classmate, "I think Stunk and White's book was only more effective in actually stating and reinforcing the basic rules of writing, it would be a good book for reference while writing if you were unsure of what word or punctuation to use at a certain point."
I agree with this because I think Strunk and White has a ton of useful information that is easily accessible for anyone. Nevertheless, Williams is much more effective in it's application. The detail and examples William's gives have much more depth and coherence than that of Strunk and White.

Yet another, (In regards to Strunk and White) "I found arrogance in the writing. I was turned off when these authors put down writers who don’t follow their strict rules. Through discussions in class and close reading, I came to change my opinion. To me, this book now seems to be a conceited way to list personal annoyances rather than truly helpful writing style tips."
I wouldn't go as far to say the book is conceited, but I did pick up on a hint of arrogance. These are old white guys writing a long, long time ago so I can understand where the "its my way or the highway" tone comes from, but they should have given some consideration to great writers who don't always follow the rules. But, on the same account, you need to know the rules before you can bend or break them so maybe this book is supposed to be conceited in nature.

And another, The Williams text expects that you have some previous knowledge and offers some insight into the short comings of other writers so that you can avoid making the same mistakes that could make your writing unclear, disjointed, etc. " The beginning of this quote rings true to me because if I was to read Williams' book when I was 17 or 18, I would have immediately put it down. This book requires some experience and knowledge of writing. Very useful, yes, but not for a beginner. I like how Williams points out shortcomings of writers because I saw my own writing being reflected in his descriptions. Some helpful tips were picked up from Williams and I'm sure it's a book I will not sell back when the semester ends.

Comparing S&W with Williams

William’s book is comparable to Strunk and White in that it covers many of the same concepts. The difference lies in their presentation. Strunk and White offer rules, while Williams offers principles. Williams goes into much more depth and uses many more examples whereas ‘Elements of Style’ is very cut and dry. In my previous blog assignment I discussed Strunk and White’s rule about the active voice. Strunk and White say to always use the active voice and never the passive voice while Williams says you can use the passive voice; you just have to know when it will work. Williams only briefly touches on the ‘However’ rule, but I think he feels the same way. Using ‘however’ too much can be redundant. Strunk and White suggest “nevertheless” and I feel this is a good alternative. The “omit needless words” rule is explained much more clearly in Williams’ book. Williams explains what/when/where words can be omitted and why you should consider omitting them. Strunk and White simply tell their readers to omit them.
I think the advice offered by Williams is much more useful but, at the same time, much more difficult to comprehend. Strunk and White is nice because of its quaintness and direct nature but doesn’t go into much detail as to why the rules are the way they are. Therefore, Strunk and White’s advice is useful but not as effective as Williams whose advice is both useful and effective in its application.

Revising with Williams

Section V: Violations - "The following behavior is subject to disciplinary action under this Code. An individual, a group of individuals or a student organization may be charged with any of the violations. In cases where a violation is committed by an individual member of a student organization, the entire organization may be held responsible, in addition to the individual member, when those members not directly involved participate in the activity by encouraging, witnessing or condoning the act in any manner.

After reading Williams 'Style: Toward Clarity and Grace', I would change the first sentence to read, "Under this Code, the following behavior is subject to disciplinary action." I would make this change because the main point of this sentence is the disciplinary action, not the Code. Also, there should be a period after, "a group of individuals," because there should be a period after every word in a series except the last one. The final sentence is very unclear to me. I think Williams would prefer to have it read, "In cases where a violation is committed by an individual member of a student organization, the entire organization may be held responsible when those members not directly involved participate in the activity by encouraging, witnessing, or condoning the act in any manner." '...in addition to the individual member' is implied and is unecessary for this statement.