TU Graduation T-shirt design

My t-shirt design is for Towson University's 2010 graduations. My avatar is making a scary gesture called BOO.

The back of my T shirt design has the Towson University URL on it. My avatar has different hair in this picture because otherwise it is too long and covers the URL. The URL is wwwnew.towson.edu

First Impression of SL

This is certainly a new experience for me as I had never heard of Second Life prior to enrolling in this course. I'll be honest that so far, my impression of SL is that this is going to be a bit overwhelming. It is so foreign to anything I have ever experienced. I hear that this is a typical reaction and that it will pass as one becomes more familiar with it. It does seem like it could be a lot of fun though, so I will continue to play around.

I do feel that the environment itself is really cool and I am looking forward to being able to building stuff. I am especially impressed with how detailed and stunning the graphics are in the background. Some of these environments are absolutely beautiful!

Exercise 2: SL T-Shirt for TU Event - SHOOTING BEAUTY

'Shooting Beauty' was scheduled to be screened tomorrow evening, Thursday, February 11, 2009, at 7:30 pm in Van Bokkelen Auditorium. Unfortunately, due to Snowmageddon's Revenge, the university has closed. Now I am not sure if our screening will ever happen. ASTU (Anthropological Society of Towson University) was supposed to screen this last semester, but something happened and it got pushed back. Here's hoping it gets pushed back again. This film looks absolutely amazing.

(click image for larger view)

The film is about a fashion photographer who spent over a decade teaching people with disabilities about photography. The trailer nearly made me cry; it looks to be a pretty emotional film.

Check out the trailer on vimeo:
http://vimeo.com/2754536

Check out the Arts Calendar for more information: 

http://www.towson.edu/artscalendar/filmslecturesdebates.asp

-Maiha Kimono-

Discussion 1: Initial SL Reaction

It is very hard for me to describe my initial reaction to Second Life. I don’t really remember it. I first joined SL about two years ago – I can’t even remember exactly. It was when I first discovered TU was in SL. I thought, ‘Hey! This looks cool, let me join!’

I made my avatar, using the Harujuku (spelling?) avatar, which actually is not available anymore. I spent days on end on the intro island. I had so many issues trying to figure SL out. I couldn’t get my avatar to move. I kept getting stuck places. I was having issues flying. Then I tried to drive a car. That failed miserably. I eventually got off Orientation Island and moved around a bit. I found the London College of Fashion ‘campus’ at some point. I took a class there when I studied abroad in London.  I wandered through TU’s Island. Logged back on a couple times and then decided to give up. SL wasn’t for me.  Plus my old computer could not handle the program very well. I deleted my account and gave up.

I rejoined last spring for my first IAMD classes at TU, having to make a new avatar since I had deleted my old one. This time around, I actually understood what was going on when I got in there. I watched a lot of tutorial videos for our class assignments. And I finally started to get it figured out. I have found a number of cool, exciting places, and even though up a research project, combining my studies in anthropology and interactive media, and I am very excited about it.

-Maiha Kimono- 

Exercise 1: Maiha Kimono SL Avatar v. Kelly B. in real life

Maiha Kimono the avatar is lightly based on the look of an anime character. She frequently will wear ninja gear inspired by real life anime shows.

Maiha is a graduate student studying Interactive Media Design. She is interested in anthropology, creative writing, photography, media studies, graphic design, web design, music, fashion, social media, how people interact using social media and how the real world connects us to the virtual world, vice versa, and how it affects our lives in both.

In real life: grad student; bachelor’s in anthropology; semi-professional photographer; creative writer; a passion for fashion. Also slightly obsessed with anime. Take that as you will.

-Maiha Kimono-

Exercise 2: T-shirt design (correction)

So here is the correction (front and back) advertising TU's upcoming music events.

Exercise 2: T-shirt design

Here is my avatar's new shirt.

Of course I just noticed that this shirt was meant to advertise a TU event...so there will be another design posted shortly :)

New semester of Simulation Design - ART475 and ART615

So begins a new semester for Simulation Design at Towson University. This semester we have 2 undergraduates and 1 graduate student involved in the course. This small seminar of students will be using this blog to document, record and reflect on the work they create in Second Life this semester. It is my hope this content can later be published in the form of a small book using the self-publishing company blurb. As students in the course you may choose to create a book as well after we have finished the course this semester.
Bee