Take Me Back, Nancy Drew!

First let me say that I would never want to be a participant in an Edgar Allan Poe story, specifically "The Fall of the House of Usher." While I can respect Poe's works as timeless horror stories that are well known and frequently analyzed, I can also recognize that his style is not my particular cup of tea. I don't watch scary movies, I hated telling ghost stories around the campfire, and on halloween I am always the friend dressed as a fairy or a bunny amongst the mummies and zombies. Let me put it this way: Nancy Drew books gave me nightmares when I was 11 years old. But after reading Poe, Miss Drew wasn't looking half bad.

So it's pretty clear that I am a HUGE fan of happy endings. If I was forced to be a participant in "Usher," my first hope would be that the ending would be happy. However, I feel a happy ending to a story like "Usher" would completely demolish the fearsome quality the story possesses. So out of respect, I would not change the ending.

After much thought about preserving a good horror story I have decided that I would change where Madeleine was buried. I think that if Roderick and the narrator had buried her in a place that was inescapable in the first place then there would have been no chance of Madeleine later reappearing. Instead of both the Usher twins dying, only Madeleine would have been guaranteed dead (and let's be honest, she had one foot in the coffin from the beginning). The worst part of the story for me by far was when Madeleine reappeared to Roderick and the Narrator. My alteration would eliminate this part, thus saving me from days of nightmares.

Fortunately I am not and never will be a participant in this frightful tale. Unfortunately I will never be able to forget the image that appeared in my head when I read the ending of "Usher." I hope you're happy Poe.

I'm tryna find the words to describe this world without being disrespectfullll...

I'm just going to say it: I was a skeptic. When I found out that I was in an English class that would be dealing with what I thought at the time was just a video game for grown-ups, I was extremely uneasy. The only image I had seen of SL previous to my English 103 class was the portrayal of the world on a crime scene investigation show. That show had made it seem like this dangerous and shady place, which made me feel a little less than secure. Now after having been through the world myself and exploring the different educational and recreational activities you can participate in I know that my initial assumptions were incorrect. However, the problem is still evident.

The biggest problem SL faces as a communications technology is the unappealing light it has been portrayed in in Hollywood and the resulting image "non-SLers" gain from these shows. I know first hand because I was one of them. I think a lot of people are hesitant to join worlds such as SL because they are afraid that they too will end up with a stalker or worse. There are a lot of skeptics out there, and I think that unless Linden Lab makes more effort to put SL in a more positive, less "serial-killer" type light then it will slowly begin to die out.

So please Linden Lab! Get on this! God forbid millions of successful 30 somethings lose their escape from the hectic business world! They NEED Second Life!!

Big Gurl goes to Heritage Key

Big Gurl in the Tour Balloon

This past week I downloaded the second virtual world ever to reside in my computer, Heritage Key. After naming my avatar, Big Gurl, and adding the program to my applications, I entered into the HK world. I was immediately aware of the vast difference in graphics between HK and SL. Everything in HK was frequently re-rezzing itself and it was all gray and boring. It simply was not up to the caliber of SL. Once I got over the dreadful scenery, I noticed my avatar's appearance. It was worse than the graphics. I looked like a middle-aged, chain-smoking, has five kids under the age of eight mother. Being used to the typical tall, thin and clear-skinned avatar of my SL account, I instantly set to work on changing Big Gurl's "look." After literally 30 minutes of toying with the shape of her face and the height of her hair (by the way, who thought of those adjustments??), I was barely satisfied. Big Gurl had blonde hair, was taller and thinner than the haggard mom she started as, and had somewhat of a cute outfit on. Still, the appearance adjustments were not even half the quality of those in SL.

Then I began to walk. Walking was a joke. I could barely go three steps without getting caught in that awkward "i'm a newb" half flying-half falling position. When I tried sitting to escape that stance, this is what happened to me:

Needless to say I was embarrassed. I tried to stand up and this is what happened:

I was getting more and more frustrated, especially since two other avatars, one named Viv Trafalgar and the other, I believe, was RightasRain , had entered the room. They definitely knew I was a first time HK-er. One of them asked me if I knew I was in the floor. Humiliated, I replied yes. In vain, they attempted to help me out of the ground, but I wasn't able to un-stick myself until i tried sitting and standing up multiple times. I did finally get out of the ground, but that was not the end of my issues. My cute appearance had evaporated, leaving me with green legs and a gray torso and face.

Basically, Heritage Key was awful. I was really disappointed with its performance, and I wasn't even that impressed with King Tut's tomb. The program repeatedly logged me out, so by the time I arrived at the tomb I was too frustrated to take any pictures. Thank god we only have one assignment in this subpar world.