DIY: Make your own Internet buddy!

I uploaded the photos of my project to my computer, so that you can get a visual of the process behind the creation of my final project. Enjoy!



In order have a stable base to put my laptop on (to keep the weight of the computer from collapsing into the box I would use for the body frame), I took two container lids and inserted a roll of cardboard in between. After applying lots of glue at both ends, I painted the surface a happy yellow (it was the only paint I had at the moment) and voila! A "neck" :)



A sheet of cardboard wasn't going to be strong enough to support a laptop, so I took an old hardcover book that we never read anymore (it was a Where's Waldo? book, except my baby sister had circled where Waldo was on each page...), taped down the sides and the binding, drilled a hole through the book, and using a screw, attached it to the container lid. I also added a few globs of glue for good measure.



To make the body, I took an empty cardboard box and cut it so that it would fit properly on office chair I was going to use to transport "Prairie" to class. (Sorry about not rotating the pictures...will edit these pictures after I finish my final paper for tomorrow.) This is the front view.


Side view


Back view



I made a few holes in the other end of the container lid and marked each hole with red paint, so that when I stamped the surface onto the "body," I would know exactly where to insert the screws to attach the neck to the body.



Once the neck was fully secured...



...I took the chair...



...and set the body on the chair to make sure it was secure. And it was!



I had accidentally put away most of my materials and the yellow paint by the time I took this picture, but this is a glimpse of what my workstation looked like. Messy and fun.



This was the last step. I took some of my clothes, stuffed it with newspaper to give it shape, and gave my project a computer mouse for a hand. I wish I had taken a final picture of my project, with the laptop screen and everything, but for now you'll just have to imagine Prairie's face sitting on top of that yellow platform, streaming live to the class via iChat.

Did I mention the mouse was fully functional? I simply strung the usb cable through the arm, up the neck, and into the laptop. The armrest on the chair was wide enough so that the mouse could have a surface to move. I was pretty excited that it actually worked!

So that's how my project came to life. Of course, for most relationships forged through the Internet, sometimes this is as real as it'll ever get. You can imagine all you want and piece together an image of your new friend with the information they provide, but unless you meet them in person and go beyond the computer screen, that genuine human element will always be lacking.

Telestai

If you, dear reader, were at my Arts 50 final project presentation today, you should know that all of this was in fact a fabrication.

In continuation with my critique of the Internet as a flawed resource for building communities, albeit successful and wildly popular, my dear friend "Prairie" does not actually live in Queens, NY...in fact, she is a fellow student at my university who lives just a few minutes away from me. The tricky thing about the Internet is how easily disbelief is suspended, and how many people can so easily believe anything they wish to believe.

In my presentation, I created a "human" model of a friend who I had met through the Internet. Using a cardboard box, an ordinary office chair, my clothes, newspapers, a glue gun, nails, house paint, and LOTS of duct tape, "Prairie" was born--except she had a laptop for a head. Through the Video Chat feature on Mac computers, I was able to introduce her to my entire class in real-time.

Initially, I was afraid that something would go wrong. With something as fragile and risky to rely on like time, I couldn't afford to make too many mistakes. Prior to hauling my project to class, I made a mental note of the possible worst-case-scenarios I could face, and prepared alternative means to continue with (should something happen during my presentation). Of course, right as I finished loading the project into my car, the base that served as the "neck" I would rest the laptop on snapped off. With t-minus twenty minutes left until my presentation, I couldn't afford to go back to my apartment and glue-gun the pieces back together. I crossed my fingers and hoped desperately that after re-assembling the neck on to the body frame, the structure would hold my laptop for at least five minutes. Five minutes, that's all I asked...

I came to class early to make sure that everything would run through smoothly, technologically speaking. As an audience, I know how frustrating and time-consuming it can be watching someone fumble with blocked websites, delays in downloading, etc. Fortunately, I only needed to bring up this blog site and make sure that Prairie was logged on to her computer at the same time I was, so that we could Video chat at the same time. Everything was good to go until two minutes before class, I got a text message that made my heart sink down to my ankles:

"Got a flt tire. Im running L8 but Im close to my apt so Ill be there asap!"

Of all the days, right? Luckily, I was third in line for my presentation, so I had a good 10 minutes to hope that she would get to her computer in time. About five minutes after class began, I got another text message:

"Im here!"

I had told the TA, Marc, of my dilemma, and warned him that I might have to be moved down the list so that Prairie could have time to set up the webcam...but praise God! Everything worked out and with just a few minutes to go, I was set.

I'm not a very good public speaker, and tend to get nervous very easily. Sweaty palms, red ears, the whole nine yards. With all of the silent chaos that had happened in the span of half an hour, my level of nervousness was multiplied, resulting in me talking like one of those announcers at the end of medicine commercials who can say a paragraph of information in 0.265 seconds: "Serious risks associated with this drug include glaucoma, increased body temperature, tingling in arms and legs, fatigue, seizures, and occasionally, death..." It was a good thing my professor told me to slow down in my speech, because I was so nervous I didn't realize I was speaking so fast!

I enjoyed making this project, and it was even more fun having the class interact with Prairie as though she really was someone that lived somewhere far from California. Initially, I had planned to use my friend in Paraguay to do a real-time video chat with, but with the time + language difference, it was more practical to simulate an Internet relationship with someone I knew I could count on 100% to be available between the hours of 1:30 and 3:30 on December 12, 2007. On this blog, all of the activities we did and times we "hung out" are fabricated and slightly exaggerated, although it is a small example of the thousands of people around the world who do begin online friendships--whether it be through gaming (in such group-based computer games, like CounterStrike or World of Warcraft), sharing images on a public photo-based community, or other social networking sites like Facebook.

Last week, one of my classmates presented a blog in which he made up different comments by random users, and challenged the class to discern which users were real and which users he had created. The majority of the class believed that half of the users were genuine...when in reality, my classmate had invented ALL of these different personas, pouncing upon the critique of how easily people will believe what they read on the Internet. To my understanding, much of my classmates did believe that Prairie was someone I had never met in person based on the information they read on this blog and what I told them. Beneath the murky waters of the Internet lie millions of untold secrets and bits of information about who is really on the other side of your computer screen.

I hope that my presentation wasn't too misleading...but at the same time, if it was, then I suppose it was a success :)

Web 2.0

According to Tim O'Reilly, founder of the American media company, O'Reilly Media:

Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform. Chief among those rules is this: Build applications that harness network effects to get better the more people use them. (This is what I've elsewhere called "harnessing collective intelligence.")

And to use a Web 2.0 medium to define itself, Wikipedia says:

The phrase Web 2.0 can refer to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social networking sites, wikis, and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing between users.

Basically, the Internet is changing the way society interacts with each another, resulting in a redefinition of the human relationship.

Cool huh? Now I have to go post pictures on my Flickr page so I can show Prairie the cake I ate yesterday for my friend's birthday, then I'll probably check my Facebook, Myspace, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and school Webmail. It's going to be a busy night so I'll update more tomorrow!

So I've been talking about my BFF all this time, and silly me, I've forgotten to show you what she looks like!



As you can see, she's kind of crazy sometimes. I guess that east coast weather can really get to you, huh?

I still haven't met her in the three years we've been friends, but video chatting with our Macs makes it seem like I don't really have to meet her in person. And we're both cool with that. I think it'd be kind of weird to see the person I've become friends with through the Internet as a real human being. Not to say that I think she's like a robot or anything, but I'm so used to her as this person I only correspond with through e-mails, IMs, video chats, and Facebook messages that being able to actually meet her...well, that's a whole other story! The nice thing about having a friend like Prairie is the convenience of being able to interact at any time, without the stress of face-to-face relationships all the time. I bet if we lived closer, we'd probably end up having to make time for each other, instead of just talking and listening when it's convenient. It's a little unconventional, but I guess it just goes to show that true friends don't always need to be physically there to be the people you're closest to.

YouTube - Red Light, Green Light

Live footage from the "Red Light, Green Light" flashmob my Arts 50 class did a few weeks back. YouTube clip courtesy of Jessica Lee (thanks!).



I especially like 1:06 when a student replies to a comment made by another student that I couldn't really hear. "I don't know, I'm stupid!"

Black Friday

It's Friday. You know what that means!



Unfortunately, my goal of beating Prairie's score failed. And by fail, I mean crash and burnnnn.



18,757! My lowest score yet. Prairie was really nice about it though and thought that maybe because my week hadn't been so great, my Tetris game was being affected. Perhaps. Either way, it was another fun night and time well spent.

Tonight, we talked about how much we both love the color green and boys with weird names like Topher. I also met her roommate, and the three of us had a great time talking about life. It was like having a sleepover and gossiping with your best friends, except not in person...if that makes any sense.

Anyway, I'm tired and I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend, so I may not update as much. I might not even have too much time to talk with Prairie, but I hope she understands and doesn't think I'm ignoring her!

Review: JJ Bakery - Irvine

When Marie Antoinette famously said, "Let them eat cake!", the girl knew better than to withhold these moist, fluffy delicacies from the people (albeit the context is all wrong but for now, let's suspend some disbelief).



Asian bakeries always do it right. It's all about presentation--from the aesthetics of their baked goods to the homey layout of the shop, I've yet to come across an Asian bakery I didn't like. JJ Bakery in Irvine is no exception, conveniently located near the UCI campus. The walls of the store display rows of tantalizing treats, each decorated, garnished, or sprinkled to perfection. For a friend's birthday, we got a pretty normal vanilla fruit cake. But oh, I was wrong.

THIS WAS NO ORDINARY CAKE.

When the golden cake box top was lifted to unveil the hidden treasure within, I was surprised by its unusual rectangular shape. Cakes must always be circular, right? Wrong! A cake is a cake, and its unique shape only served to enhance its appeal. I took a bite, and I was sold. A soft, creamy center sandwiched between two golden layers of vanilla cake heaven. Subtlety at its best. It is often said that "simplicity is key," and those bakers at JJ Bakery have mastered this art.

I've yet to try the other baked goodies they offer in their store (such as individual slices of green tea cake, chocolate pastries wrapped in cellophane, their traditional Chinese yellow custard dessert), but this blogger will definitely be back for seconds. And thirds. And fourths, fifths, sixths...

I felt like going to Antarctica, so I did.

It's been a while since I last updated. Sorry blog readers!



Today Prairie and I went to Antarctica. Well, not physically, of course! We took a virtual tour (click here) for fun. We started off in Christchurch, New Zealand, packed up our virtual suitcases with all of our necessary gear and flew down to McMurdo Station in Antarctica.



This is an aerial shot of McMurdo. Pretty!

We hung out at the station for a bit, but there wasn't too much to see so we went straight to the South Pole.



This is us "landing" on the ice. Prairie was wondering if the ice made the landing more slippery, and if so, how those planes managed to keep from sliding on the ground forever. I guess we'll have to actually go to Antarctica to see how it works...

The rest of the visit was a little boring so we stopped clicking through the tour. The whole trip lasted about five minutes or so. It was fun hanging out with Prairie and visiting two different continents in one day! Next time we might try to visit the Louvre or something. Until next time, toodle loo!

(Note: All pictures courtesy of http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/vtour/)

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Not only did I bomb my English test, but I forgot about my math quiz this morning, lost my car keys, and to top it all off, my milk went bad so I couldn't even eat my cereal! It's a good thing Prairie was on AIM so I could have someone to talk to. I tried venting to my roommates, but they're always so busy or they don't understand my problems. It's not that I don't like them, of course...it's just that I feel more comfortable confiding to Prairie because she always seems to know what I'm going through. After talking to her for a bit, I calmed down a little and wasn't as stressed out as I was before. I'm glad I have someone like her in my life! A true BFF :)

Tetris Time!

Tonight was Tetris night. Every Friday around 7pm, Prairie and I like to play Tetris and try to beat each other's score.



So far, Prairie's been in the lead with 843,975 points. Every week my score has been getting higher though...we'll see if I can beat her next week!

After we played Tetris, we drew Graffiti on each other's walls for a bit and sent each other "Grow-A-Gifts" on Facebook.



She sent me a blueflax a few weeks ago. Yesterday, I got a Grow-A-Geek from her in honor of my English test on Monday. So kind of her! I'm going to send her a sunflower tomorrow.

It was a really fun day!

I love Spam

Not those annoying e-mails titled "Ringtones.net" or "Congratulations! $500 JC Penney's Gift Card!" but those salty pink blocks of deliciously processed pork shoulders. Koreans love this stuff. We use it in kimchi chigae (a spicy kimchi stew), diced and mixed in with our omelettes, or fried in thin layers and eaten straight up with rice. But how to revamp this slab of saliferous satisfaction for even more gastronomic enjoyment, that is the question. Luckily, I have a few answers!



Why not take an old favorite like Spam musubi and turn it into a pleasing hor d'oeuvre? Instead of wrapping it sushi-style, cut the Spam into fun shapes using a miniature cookie cutter mold and lightly fry the pieces--just enough to get an even browning over the surface, but not crispy. I made a batch of sushi rice using sugar and rice wine vinegar, rolled them into balls, drizzled a bit of teriyaki sauce and set it on top of strips of unsalted nori (seaweed laver). Spam is full of sodium in itself, so don't get too crazy with the sauce now. Moderation is key.



If musubi ain't yo thang, try something a little more familiar like this Spam pizza. (Those cookie cutters came in handy for this recipe as well.) Since I was short on time, I used a ready-made Boboli crust and topped it with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, and Spam stars. Pop it into the oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees, and bada bing bada boom. You've got yourself a quick, college student-friendly meal.



I modified this recipe for Spinach Cheese Swirls from puffpastry.com, Pepperidge Farms' ingenious website dedicated to the light and flaky pâte feuilletée. I didn't have any Muenster on hand, but I did have plenty of Spam. Its bold, salty flavor complemented the neutral tastes of the spinach and pastry perfectly. A great appetizer for family get-togethers or potlucks.

Now I love processed meat, but even for me there is such a thing as too much Spam, as a friend helped me realize with her Spam Jello concoction:



Yep.

After seeing--no, smelling--this pink gelatin, I had no desire for Spam for at least a day. Fortunately, I got over it and made Spam fried rice later that week.

Say hello to my little friend

Plato once said, "Friends have all things in common."

This couldn't be truer of my friendship with one of my closest friends, Prairie. Even though she lives on the other side of the country and I've actually never met her in person, we've been good friends for three years and going! We met through a mutual friend on the Internet, and our lives haven't been the same since. We share the same tastes in music, sports, hobbies, clothes, etc. It's like having a best friend that I've never met!

Tomorrow we're supposed to hang out, so I'll post on that later. Adios!

Now back to the good stuff.

Of the entries I've written so far, only one has actually been about food. I should change my name, because this Korean hasn't been too epicurean lately. But what better way to make a comeback than to do a recap of the most food-centric day of the year?



The only thing I love more than the Thanksgiving meal itself is the time I get to spend at home with my family. Even though I'm usually put to work with cleaning, cooking, or running to the market to pick up some last minute items, being away at college has made me appreciate my family so much more. I guess the age-old adage, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," really is true!



I know turkey is a Thanksgiving staple, but my mom's honey-glazed ham steals the show every year. The way the brown sugar caramelizes to form a crackly outer layer over the moist, juicy fare within...oh succulent slab of meat, you slay me!



My aunt is known for her fantastic dips. She takes these overlooked appetizers and turns it into ooh-and-aah-worthy bowls of heaven that almost make you forget about the main course to come. The avocado dip (top) is a deceptively simple mixture of avocados, tomatoes, and red peppers, with salt and pepper to taste. Her shrimp ceviche (bottom) is a bit more complicated, with shrimp, tomatoes, cilantro, and several other ingredients I couldn't quite identify (and she refuses to tell me, lest she give away her secret). Both complemented the saltiness of the plain tortilla chips excellently.



My aunt also makes a mean baked yam. Cooked to perfection, and deliciously orange every year. Who needs marshmallows with yams like this? Like they say, don't mess with a good thing.



After the ham, this was my favorite dish. Okay, technically creamed corn is considered a "side" and not a dish, but if you only gave me a vat of this to eat for dinner I'd be happy. My mom took this recipe from the Summit House restaurant in Fullerton (how she managed to score the actual recipe card is beyond me). Corn, butter, sugar, and lots and lots of heavy cream = bliss.



Penne pasta with littleneck clams in two sauces: arrabbiata and alfredo, in case you only wanted one. Or the other. Or both.



My meager contribution to the menu: a Chinese-chicken salad, done Korean-style with dried ramen noodles and sliced almonds instead of fried wontons. I made a dressing using a recipe off of Simply Recipes, and tossed it with sliced raw cabbage and romaine lettuce. The romaine was an afterthought, because more people came than expected and I had to increase the volume of the salad somehow (and I had already used up my head of cabbage). It got the job done, at least.



A fruit platter and another shot of the salad.

After a long day of cooking, basting, broiling, boiling, and frying, what better way to end the day with...more cooking! Yep, even after dinner, the kitchen ain't closed.



Rather than wasting a good turkey, we boil the bones to make stock for soup.



Add a few vegetables and leftover turkey meat, and voila! Turkey soup for the rest of the week!





Not only did we stuff our stomachs with food on Thursday, but the other four senses were indulged with these lovely bouquets of flowers our friends and family brought.

Hope all of you out in the Internet world also had a blessed Thanksgiving. There is much to be thankful for!

Flashmob: The End.

Considering it was our first flashmob ever, I think we pulled it off relatively well. Of course there were a few logistical items we could improve on (i.e. telling more people in advance, thinking through the "what if's" and potential problems that we could face, how we could adapt to a new situation), but since introducing an element of abnormal behavior to upset the social norms as our intent, I'd say it was a success!

Flashmob #1: Red Light, Green Light

I couldn't get any pictures of this, but it was the most successful of the five Flashmobs. Maybe it was because the timing corresponded with when class let out and students were flooding the Humanities bridge. It was fun for the thirty of us who were running-stopping-running-stopping all the way to the Admin building, but even better to see non-participants participating. They'd even yell "Red light!" or "Green light!" to throw us off. Funnily enough, we were the ones trying to throw them off by interrupting the normalcy of their day.

Flashmob #2: The Applause









The point of this flashmob was to follow a random person and applaud them. The first few people were definitely weirded out, but the others had some great reactions. Note the expressions of these victims above. It was a nice mix of "Back away from my car," "What's going on?" and "Hey, this is so amusing I have to take a picture of it on my cellphone!"

Flashmob #3: The Line






Anonymous supporters cheering us on. Thanks!



It was a nice break from the all the running around we did in the previous flashmobs. We formed a huge line that meandered around Ring Road, into the bookstore, through Starbucks, etc...basically, wherever the unlucky person we chose to follow decided to go. Some more non-Arts 50 people joined our line, which was pretty neat.

Flashmob #4: Free Hugs (or High Fives)






Between a rock and a hard place. Too bad there's only one way to get off this bridge!



Despite the good intent of these hugs, it's not so appealing when you're hugging people after running around campus for thirty minutes and all they can feel is the sweat on your back. I think if we had done this one first, with more students milling around Ring Road, the awesomeness of it would have doubled at least. Maybe even tripled!

Flashmob #5: ATM Attack




Flashmob students pretending to be normal students


We'd slowly surround the unsuspecting victim in silence and/or whispers to make them uncomfortable, then applaud when they completed their transaction.





Execution could have been a little more organized on my group's part, but interestingly enough, we didn't evoke any crazy responses from the people we targeted. I thought they would've been more timid or angry, but mostly they were pretty apathetic about these strangers that could potentially steal your credit card number and identity. I guess that's what happens when you live in a city like Irvine.