A6 Project

I posted this to the 102 Facebook already, but no harm in putting it here, too!
http://youtu.be/Wl8SPloFUlc
The pacing is a bit off, and the idea changed a bunch, but that's just further proof in my mind that I essentially have the same relationship to my animation as Frankenstein does to his creation. Granted, my animations don't go around killing my loved ones, but they do sometimes become my masters.
Hope you guys enjoy this! I had an awesome semester with you all, and I hope to see you all around in the next few years of TO. :)

A6 Project

Here's the link to Paradise Lost, the video game!

http://www.stencyl.com/game/play/16045

A6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7duMBMq_tnw&feature=youtu.be
I recorded my A6...hopefully it's not too bad.

A6 Project

Here's a Shakespearean version of "Call Me Maybe." My rendition is called "Kill Me Maybe," based on Hamlet.

Lyrics:

I feel like crap, I’m not well  

Don’t ask me, can’t you tell
That I’m depressed as hell,
So get out of my way

He traded my dad for a wish

Ophelia, blow me a kiss

You know you want some of this
But now you're in my way

Laertes was holdin’

A sword and we were duelin’

Hot words, blood was flowin’

Didn’t mean to kill his daddy

Hey, he’s my uncle,
And this is crazy,
But he killed my father,
So kill me, maybe?

It's hard to look right,
At you Mommy,
Since you married that scum,
So kill me, maybe?

Hey, I just slept with you,
And this is crazy,
But you broke it off,
So kill me, maybe?

And all the other boys,
Try to chase me,
Even my own friends,
So kill me, maybe?

You took your time with the kill

I took time summoning will

You got away with it all,
But I’m still in your way

I lie and fake what I feel
My insanity’s real
You act like it’s a big deal
I must be in your way

This kingdom’s rotten
They’ve really forgotten
That my mom’s a dirty sinner

Am I no longer her baby?

Hey, you’re my uncle,
And this is crazy,
But you killed my father,
So kill me, maybe?

It's hard to look right,
At you Mommy,
Since you married that scum,
So kill me, maybe?

Hey, I just slept with you,
And this is crazy,
But you broke it off,
So kill me, maybe?

And all the other boys,
Try to chase me,
Even my own friends,
So kill me, maybe?

Before I hated my own life
I wasn’t so bad
I wasn’t so bad

I didn’t feel so bad

Before I hated my own life
I wasn’t so bad
I wasn’t so bad

I didn’t feel so bad

Hey, you’re my uncle,
And this is crazy,
But you killed my father,
So kill me, maybe?

It's hard to look right,
At you Mommy,
Since you married that scum,
So kill me, maybe?

Hey, I just slept with you,
And this is crazy,
But you broke it off,
So kill me, maybe?

And all the other boys,
Try to chase me,
Even my own friends,
So kill me, maybe?

Before I hated my own life
I wasn’t so bad
I wasn’t so bad

I didn’t feel so bad

Before I hated my own life

I wasn’t so bad

And you should know that

So kill me, maybe?

The song & video (mostly just my face) should be uploaded....On Youtube!! Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxOxEoOz5W8

The Being's Hovel

Here's my model of the being's hovel.  In this version, yes, its under the house.  And no, there wasn't a sign there that welcomed newcomers to the hovel.  PS, sorry that the "water" looks like crap.  It's some type of liquid glass that soaked right through the plaster base...oops.  The rest of the plaster turned out alright though.

A6 Creative Project (Continued)

And for your convenience. English versions of our letters!

Mother,

Which would you rather: to be the bastard child of an absent king or the powerless son of a mother whose name floats around men’s mouths? My power is only in my words if I am not able to ascend to royal lineage, yet the men whom I try to make see the truth mock me for what I attempt.

I have to listen to Antinoös as he shames you for what I believed to be great cunning. If nothing else I do think I have your mental strength and wit, and thought it brilliant when I heard rumors float around of your unweaving shroud. My steadfast, loyal mother, using her cunning to stop the country as she awaits the return of my father - this is the pristine image I had of you.

But then I was a child, and now I am a man. I must think of the crown that should be mine but is out of reach. I must think of my nation that is left leaderless while you play games. I must think of a royal house that is without king, without guidance, without happiness. We are lacking in too much for me to stand around and just wait, mother.

I am no longer a child, and heretofore I must make decisions as well. You have done well, but stalling is not the way to ensure a prosperous country. It is now time for me to grow and ensure the growth of Ithaca. Thank you for all you have done, Mother, but it is my time now.

Yours always and in good faith,

Telémakhos


Mother,

I enter our dining rooms and am ashamed to call this place our home. These men come and take our food and wine then spit in the face of our hospitality with their brutish nature and rude words. Are you blind? Do you not see that they are here for the throne and and your beauty care so little about you?

And sometimes I wonder if you care so little about me, as well. You hear the people whisper on the streets, wondering whether I am the song of the great Odysseus. I cannot help but wonder the same thing. For now I have the title of Prince, but how long will that last?

If you take one of these men as your own, then it is only expected that you will begin your own lineage. Maybe there will be a daughter, but also sons to line up in order to posses the throne after their father who will be the rightful king. And then where will I be, mother? When this new husband’s son tries to take the throne that was once my own good and loving father’s, I will be nothing but the bastard child standing in the way of the rightful prince.

I have faith that you love me as much as you declare, but for now I am unsure. Please think of the lineage you wish upon this kingdom when you enter the halls filled with men unworthy of the crown who will bear children that are just as unworthy of being the sons of this kingdom.

Yours always and in good faith,

Telémakhos


Father,

I want to wish, but I don’t know what to wish for. Some days I wish you were home with my mother, and then I realize I am not even sure if you are alive. Then I wish I knew if you were dead, but I know my mother and grandfather would be petrified. The saddest thing it all? Even if you are dead, I cannot grieve for you because I don’t know you.

I am glad for your victories in battle, I am glad that we were victorious in the Trojan War. I am glad that you were a hero in that conflict. I am sad that you are not here to recount those adventures. I am sad that I cannot identify with you at all. 

Even though deep in my heart I know you must be dead or you would have returned by now, I cannot help but be irrational. I cannot help but continue to wish in my heart that you will return one day. Every time a visitor comes to Ithaca I pray that it will be you father. I pray that you will run to us, mother and me, and pull us into your arms. I pray that we can be reunited once more. 

I pray that my birth can be legitimized and I can be free of the questions that I ask every day. I want a companion, and I long for you every day. I miss you, and the effects of your absence from the thrown are a constant reminder of the void in my life. And although I hate to say it: I love you. 

Yours Always, 

Telémakhos

Father, 

I no longer know who I am writing these letters to. But I will tell you that for now, something inside me believes that you are somewhere on this earth. You, the great Odysseus, are alive and ready and desperate to return home to Ithaca. 

I pray this is the case, for you do not know how your kingdom needs you. I beseech you, even if you no longer care for your family, come save us! Think not of me, your lost son, of your father, or even your wife. Merely think of all that our family has fought and died for. We rule Ithaca, but every day that rule is being put into question. It is being questioned by the suitors who parade about our house like mongrels! All of this is a cruel and sad way of living life, but it was what we must accept. For you are not here to defend us.

I implore you to return here to Ithaca. WIthout you I certainly cannot fight these men, and if no one can stand up to them, then there is no way that we can ever defeat them and take back our kingdom. Ithaca is ours father, and I hope you will not allow it to be taken over by a band of cruel thieves.

Lovingly Yours,

Telémakhos

Father,

I have nothing left. I am less than a king, but more than a prince. I am more than a boy, but less than a man. I am always caught between two things, and so much of my identity, so much of who I am and could be is caught in you. There is so much I have been confused about ever since I was a boy, and I know that is partially because you are not here with me.

But my biggest concern is how I am going to fit into the dynamic that is being created here. My mother, your wife, has tried her best, but it is not a woman’s job to fight against men. Men. So many men who plunder our reserves, treat the home of kings as if it means nothing. But these men, while they are cruel and disrespectful, will be difficult to defeat. Especially for me.

I must confess, that I have no idea what to do. Should I act, or should I not? I do not know how to fight like those men, and it is certain that they will not take me seriously, why would they? I am just a boy to them, a boy who is to inherent the rule of a ruined kingdom. I am not the man you were, I am not a warrior. But it is not my fault, because no one taught me to be. I am desperately searching for an answer, but again I am stuck. 

I am stuck between my question and answer, stuck between your life or death. I never exactly what I should do, but I feel as though I should do something. Father, with our without you this kingdom is not going to fall. I hope that it will be me that can do something, but I pray the gods intervene. I pray for mercy from the heavens. I feel as though a change is coming, and I hope you are a part of it.

Always Yours,

Telémakhos 

Mother,

I wish to comfort you during this time, during your time of need. But in all honesty I am not sure what my purpose is. Do I act as my father would? Do I savagely take back the kingdom of Ithaca from these thieves? Or do I stay a quiet and passive prince. I feel like  a sheltered little boy, mother. It’s as though you do not want me to face the realities of our situation. 

These men are here, they are thieves and they are attempting to steal all that we have. I want to defeat them, but what does that make me? What does that make us. I am first and foremost your son, but if I save you are not I a hero? Does not that make me a king? Does that not make me your equal in more than one respect? I do not wish to suggest an atrocity should occur, but I know no other way to reconcile this. 

Tell me what I should do mother? Should I be the one to help you finish your shroud like a husband would? Should I not save this kingdom? I am unsure of what options are left to me. Please, I am begging for your guidance, do not leave me in the dark.

Love,

Telémakhos

A6: Letters from Telemakhos

Telemakhos, the young prince from Ithaca, is often powerless before he sets out on his own journey. Barbaric men are abusing the hospitality of the royal family while they try to get his mother to marry them, there is gossip that he is a bastard child, and he is now a man in society with no proper royal role or prospect for marriage. His age is the stereotypical moment for identity crises and soul searching, but he has it worse off than any other kid because of the pressure from everyone else around him. Therefore, Telemakhos can do little but keep quiet at most points.

That made us decide to explore the realization and recognition scenes from when he DOES speak. What is going on in his mind that finally makes him decide to finally speak up? This included when he addressed the people of Ithaca on the troubles inside the royal castle, verbally sparring with Antinoos and when he spoke to Athena. Telemakhos is a character that has a lot to say, but very little opportunity to do so. If he could speak whenever he wanted, his place in society aside, what would he say? We believed he would express anger and love, faith and distrust, fear and determination and a range of emotions fitting for a character that is reserved most of the time but so articulate and intelligent when he does speak. Above all, we believed that Telemakhos is a lot stronger than anyone in Ithaca realizes, and wished to give him the respect and due credit he deserves.