KilroyWasHere's New Writeups

WALL-E (idea)

2009-02-04T00:56:13Z

A Non-Comprehensive List of Comparisons Between WALL·E and Cave Story

So like about half of America, I saw WALL·E last summer and, to put it mildly, was rather blown away. To put in perspective just how blown away I was: I can count on one hand the number of movies I've watched more than once in the theater. Most of these were things I got dragged to with a group of friends, family, etc., after having already seen it; rarely, there would be a movie I enjoyed so much I watched it twice.

I saw WALL·E four times.

After about the third time, I started getting this niggling feeling in the back of my head that WALL·E was reminding me of something. I was a bit perplexed--as you know if you've seen WALL·E, it's a fairly unorthodox plot. Finally, though, it came to me:

Cave Story!

Check the node for more details, but…

Miscellaneous CMC (essay)

2007-05-29T23:53:32Z

Back to computer-mediated communication

Naturally, different methods of interactional CMC range far beyond the three main registers previously outlined. As many of these methods are private, newly developed, and/or relatively unpopular, though, research can at times be hard to find.

Virtual worlds have traditionally been used by a relatively small proportion of the Internet community, but their starkly unique context has made them a tempting focus for sociological and linguistic studies. David Crystal notes the unusual syntax of text-based virtual worlds, which rely on narrative prose and imperative commands. On a completely different note, Deuel examines the linguistic qualities of sexual encounters in MUDs, or Multi-User Dungeons. More immersive forms of virtual worlds, such as the Second Life program, have great potential…

The register of Internet forums and chats (essay)

2007-05-29T23:38:27Z

Back to computer-mediated communication

The register of fora

Electronic fora (or forums) date back to USENET and the earliest days of the Internet, but have not been quite as thoroughly examined as other, equally popular CMC registers. Nevertheless, their public, asynchronous nature has led them to be the topic of various linguistic studies.

Like email, fora 'posts' or 'entries' have a subject line; however, the linguistic rules governing how this line is used differ greatly from email. Grice's maxim of Quantity is still followed, but instead of necessarily being as accurate and unambiguous as possible, fora subject lines tend to be more "idiosyncratic" and "ludic", adopting an almost journalistic style to attract readers.* As with non-listserv email, the wide range of fields and tenors that fora can cover make it…

The Officers of Di-Phi: A Sestina (poetry)

2007-05-29T23:16:29Z

(Written for the White and Blue, Di-Phi's annual literary magazine.)

The highest office in Di-Phi is the Joint Senate President;
he (or she) runs the weekly meetings, though the President Pro Tempore
will take his place if he's absent. Both rank higher than the Critic,
(who's in charge of each week's topic of debate), who in turn outranks the Clerk.
He records minutes for each meeting in the Di Chambers, where the Sergeant-at-Arms
sits, ready to expel Senators, though he really only outranks the Historian.

Of course, any Senator worth their pin could tell you that the Historian,
Clerk, and whoever else never really use their rank per se; all that matters is that the President
has chief authority in the Di and Phi Chambers, caretaken by the Sergeant-at-Arms.
Even the President, though, is legally bound by the Constitution and By-Laws, which the…

The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies (thing)

2007-05-29T23:15:26Z

"My God, how they talked!"
Thomas Wolfe, Look Homeward, Angel

The debate and literary societies of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Think of it, if you will, as a cross between a fairly tame fraternity and a Model UN club. Except cooler.

History

The Dialectic Society was founded in 1795, the first year of UNC's operation, as a literary society in the same vein as Princeton's Whig-Cliosophics and Columbia's Philodemics. Such organizations were a primary means of socialization between students at the time, as extracurricular activities were few (particularly in Chapel Hill, a city essentially built around the university). With the higher education system of 18th-century America more focused on memorization and recitation than expressing original ideas, these groups were also critical fora for students to employ their rhetoric and debate skills.…

Language and e-mail (essay)

2007-05-28T20:08:31Z

Back to computer-mediated communication

One of the most commonly studied registers in CMC has been that of electronic mail, or 'email'. It is, in many ways, a register that is the most similar to regular writing: it is fairly asynchronous, static and "long-term in character", and used more often for the sharing of factual information rather than socialization. Nevertheless, its unique combination of field (topic the medium is used for) and tenor (relationship between the medium's participants) combine to give it a fairly distinct register.*

All emails have a set space for a header or subject line. This line, as it is meant to be an indicator of the email's main content, is unusually obeyant of H.P. Grice's maxims of conversation. Messages that violate the maxims of Quality (e.g. spam emails with misleading subjects), Quantity (blank subject lines are frowned upon; lengthy…