P. Skelly's Abstract and Bio

media://hack
Media://hack examines “Project .hack,” a Japanese-originated global multimedia franchise spanning anime, manga, novels and video games.
In a Sophie document/book, “media://hack” breaks down the elements of “Project .hack” and determines what each form contributes to the overall story, and how the various types of media converge. It does this by analyzing the various media that “Project .hack” consists of and either revealing or demonstrating the ways in which those media contribute to the overall story.
The project is targeted toward anyone with an interest in the convergence of media or contemporary Japanese culture.
“media://hack” is a cross-disciplinary project at the University of Southern California from the School of Cinematic Arts’ Institute for Multimedia Literacy and College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, developed by Patrick Skelly, a senior majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures.

Project type:
Interactive…
Analysis???

Project creator:
Patrick Skelly

Advisors:
Virginia Kuhn (IML)
Anne McKnight (EALC and Converging Media)

About Patrick Skelly:
Patrick Skelly is a senior majoring in East Asian Languages and Cultures, specifically Japanese, with a minor in Global Marketing.
Born and raised in St. Louis Park, MN, Skelly has always had an interest in entertainment and storytelling.
He has been exposing himself to entertainment media by working at both the Daily Trojan newspaper, where he is a columnist and staff writer, and Trojan Vision Television, where he is an executive producer, editor and host, among other positions.
After graduating, Skelly plans to get into the entertainment industry, most likely in television. Later, he plans on becoming an entertainment mogul, working with TV, film, video games, comics, music, books and art.

Bio and Abstract

Dustin Johnson - BA Critical Studies USC School of Cinematic Arts '08

Johnson has done a bit of everything from music creation, graphic illustration, photo manipulation, and web development to motion graphics and compositing, video editing, 3-D animation and 2-D vector animation as well as familiarization with SEO, CMS, and other broad-spectrum Web 2.0 applications. His strongest emphasis has always been visual storytelling through both photography and cinematography. Over the past ten years he’s been fine tuning his skills with both film and video, working professionally on freelance corporate and special event gigs while volunteering as a student director of photography on projects within USC's cinema school as well as many independent projects. In 2006 he became a founding member of an informally incorporated new media consulting agency currently dubbed AeneA Media.

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Cinematography Articulated

Cinema from both a theoretical and post theoretical perspective is analyzed as a form of communication. Despite its polysemic nature, scholars and artists alike try to deconstruct films into a semiotic language for the purpose of more meaningful study or more controlled and emphatic expression. The dilemma has been from a variety of perspectives the fact that although cinema emits a strong feeling that it can be understood as a language, it rejects denotation and definition in exchange for vague patterns, undefined conventions, intertextual connotations, and generic associations.
Cinematographers to the best of their ability have some understanding of the visual language in terms of the ways in which they are able to use their technical skills to reproduce patterns of style that can be applied to different syntaxes to act as a visual language, suggesting that whether or not audiences receive their interpretations the same way, there is some unspoken consensus among cinematographers that over time, patterns in cinematography emerge, almost like slang, stereotypes, and clichés that can be used to intensify a variety of ideas on screen. This project will attempt to recreate, from a cinematographer and theorist’s perspective, the way in which theory and practice interact with cinema to create a codified language.

Ash's Bio and Abstract

Ashley Hsieh
Critical Studies, Cinematic Arts: B.A., 2008


Ashley Hsieh has a major in Critical Studies, Cinematic Arts and a minor in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. In Spring 2006, Hsieh had the opportunity to study abroad in Beijing, China at Peking University.

While Hsieh was in China, she developed an interest in East Asian cinema. Her study abroad experience as well as Professor Hyung-Sook Lee’s seminar on East Asian Transnational Cinema and Stars inspired her interactive thesis project on the relationship between local and transnational in Hong Kong.

Hsieh not only enjoys film analysis but also film production. She has written and directed a number of short films. Additionally, she has interned at many film and television companies including MTV Networks and Fox-Walden Marketing. She has gained experience in development, casting and creative marketing. In the future, Hsieh plans on working in entertainment industry and wants to be a film producer.




Welcome to the Hong Kong Express: the relationship between local and transnational in Wong Kar-Wai’s Chungking Express

Project by Ashley Hsieh


Welcome to the Hong Kong Express is an interactive, experiential website that explores the relationship between the local and transnational in Hong Kong as represented in Wong Kar-Wai’s film Chungking Express.

As the viewer enters the website, they will watch a brief video on the history of Hong Kong. The video will then ask the viewer to decide whether or not the elements in Chungking Express reflect the erasure of Hong Kong local culture or if it is merely reflecting the transnational, modern culture present there.

Throughout the website, the audience will be able to navigate and explore different spaces – a bar and a hotel. Within these familiar spaces, meant to make the viewer feel more connected to the project, the viewer will look for “hot spots”. These hot spots will lead the audience to pages that critically analyze scenes and themes from the film.

At the end, after viewing the hot spots, the audience will choose whether they believe Chungking Express erases local culture or merely reflects a modern, transnational culture. The viewer will then realize that both choices play a role in shaping the history and culture of Hong Kong.



Project type:
Experiential, Interactive Research Project

Advisors:
Dr. Virginia Kuhn (Associate Director, IML)
Dr. David James (Professor, Critical Studies)

Tiffany's Bio and Abstract (Draft-ish?)

Bio:

Tiffany Ikeda is an Economics major at the University of Southern California. A Southern California native, Ikeda’s broad interests are influenced by the dynamic diversity of the West Coast. Interested in learning more about the world around us, Ikeda is specializing in Cyber Security and completing a minor in the Natural Sciences; her current research examines coupled tectonics and pluton emplacement in the Sierra Nevadas.

Ikeda has worked as a computer technology teaching assistant for three years at Mount St. Mary’s College and at USC. She is a strong believer that technological adeptness is a necessary skill to remain competitive in the workforce, and enjoys helping her students learn how to use software to incorporate multimedia into their presentations and projects. Applications covered in her classes include PowerPoint, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, and even the enterprise resource planning program SAP.

Ikeda has been accepted to law programs at NYU, Columbia, Duke, and USC, and plans on specializing in Cyber Law.


HAPPINE$$: An Economic Perspective

HAPPINE$$ draws upon concepts from economic theory and social psychology to examine how everyday personal and social decisions affect self-reported levels of happiness. Adapting traditional experiments from these two fields of study, the project allows the user to be an active participant through their own multimedia experiences.

Throughout the project, the user has the ability to navigate and play with various experiments that highlight the discrepancies between anticipated and experienced utility. Participation in these experiments if followed by a thorough explanation of the significance of this experiment to understanding the broader concept of how we view our own decisions and its impact on happiness.

The goal of this multidisciplinary project is for the user to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the application of economic principles to well-being, and thereby foster more knowledgeable personal decisions-making.

Rachel Kerry's bio and abstract:

Hey guys! Ok, I changed some stuff. Not sure how it works. Let me know!

Bio:

This semester, Rachel Kerry will graduate from the University of Southern Calfornia with a BA in theatre. Her main emphasis is in acting and performance art. Last spring she studied at New York University's Playwrights Horizon Theatre School where she was part of an ensemble of actors who created When Things Stopped, a stage adaptation of Dorris Lessing's novel, Memoirs of a Survivor that incorporated multimedia, dance, and text on stage. She has also studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney, Australia and interned with the Los Angeles-based Center Theatre Group. After this summer, she plans to see where the wind will take her.

Abstract:

What does it mean when love affects the very fabric of your reality? A mysterious figure known only as "#3" weaves verbal spider webs around the stage. Two high-school aged girls tap into the unsettling passions of youth. Surreal tableaus melt onto the stage, characters begin to warp, and the audience experiences a dark, visceral ride.

Seven Fragments explores the dreams and delusions of individuals shattered by matters of the heart. Poetic text, story and character, mask performance, live music, and digital media animations integrate on stage to create a unquely unified multimedia production. As new developments in technology reshape today's notions of theatre, the artist's voice evolves. Challenging tranditional models of performance, the actors have developed their characters not only through story but through the imaginative interpretation of visual media. Seven Fragments is an exploration of the new transitions in the creative process made possible by multimedia.

Matt's Bio and Abstract

Biography:
Matt Gerhardt is a senior at the University of Southern California, graduating in May 2008 with a BS in mechanical engineering. Born and raised in Redondo Beach, California, he discovered his love of both multimedia and engineering at an early age, something he has carried to this day.

Gerhardt has worked at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy for two years as a peer mentor, assisting other students with their own multimedia projects. His summers were spent working as an intern at the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, applying what he has learned in classes to real-world environments. His multimedia skills include Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and Final Cut Pro.

Abstract:
Aspects of engineering are all around us; we interact with them everyday. The reasoning behind why these interactions occur, though, isn’t necessarily evident.

“Enlightening Engineering” aims to reveal the man behind the curtain, by utilizing a Rube Goldberg machine to explain different aspects of engineering and science. A Rube Goldberg device is a large, complicated machine that uses multiple, semi-arbitrary steps to accomplish an exceedingly simple task. In this case, the task at hand is to understand engineering.

There are two components to this project: the machine itself, and a website. The machine will be on temporary display in the IML building. The website expands on the machine, providing the necessary facts about the machine to give a greater understanding. Multiple options are given to the viewer; they will need to use the knowledge they have learned to keep the machine ‘operating.’

This project is targeted towards high school students, as an educational tool.

Casey's Bio and Abstract

Cubism and Cinema: Paralleled Explorations of the old "New Media"

In 2007, the PaceWildenstein Gallery in New York presented an idea that added a twist in the study of Modern Art History. Film, an art medium rarely mentioned by art historians, could have had an integral role in the development of cubism, the modern art form developed by Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso around the turn of the 20^th century.

“La Bande Picasso” was a group of not only artists, but also film enthusiasts, and though it is not the primary influence of the art form, the similarities between early film and cubism are definitely viable, if not unmistakable.

This thesis goes beyond the period of Picasso and Braque and explores the art movements that arose from Cubism, such as Futurism, Orphic Cubism, and even Surrealism, and how these newer movements also paralleled cinema. The studies of motion, mechanization, and composition on a static surface were outright goals of Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Léger and the Italian Futurists. Certainly, it is no coincidence that the “moving picture” had played a role in the development of these movements’ ambitions.

The study concludes on the reversal of inspiration, when the inspirer becomes the inspired. Cubist film, such as Fernand Léger’s Ballet Méchanique is an example of film, which helped inspire the development of cubism, now draws upon cubism to create a truly abstract film.

“Cubism and Cinema” is developed by Casey Levental, a senior Film Production student at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Multimedia Literacy.

Casey Levental

Casey is a Film Production student at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. He has been an IML Honors Student since its inception, and also holds minors in Business Administration and French.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Casey has lived in Toronto, Ontario; Vancouver, BC; San Francisco, California and Denver, Colorado. In the fall of 2007, he spent a semester living in Paris, France to finish his minor degree in French, a language he has spoken since preschool. As a Production student, Casey has learned industry-standard programs such as Avid and ProTools, and is currently a Sound Designer on a senior film, set to be completed at the end of the semester. As a director, he has made around ten short films of his own.

On the side, Casey is an avid musician. A classical pianist since the age of five, he has also delved into jazz, rock and composing. He is a founding member of the USC Trojan Men, the university’s all-male a cappella vocal group. Music is a constant passion of his, and he hopes to include it in his future plans. After graduation, Casey intends to work in "the industry", and plans to study intellectual property and entertainment law as a fall back career.

Alexis' Bio & Abstract

Alexis Lindquist is a Cinema-Television Critical Studies major at the University of Southern California. Hailing from the Quad Cities Area in Illinois, Lindquist was able to become active in the arts at an early age through Quad City Arts. Her early experience with photography, documentary filmmaking, manipulating graphics in photoshop, and multi-media presentations fueled a fascination with new media. After teaching herself HTML coding, Lindquist began working as a lab assistant for a class on Dreamweaver in the Internet Technologies Program at USC and building websites for business professionals in Los Angeles. Shortly thereafter, she was commissioned as a photographer and videographer in the Digital Media Department at the prestigious Camp Laurel in Maine. Currently, Lindquist contributes to the new media department at Warner Brothers, Telepictures Productions. In the future, Lindquist plans to incorporate multimedia into all her career endeavors. She is interested in real estate and fiction writing as hobbies and intends to focus her career on the frontiers of new media and the film industry.

The Language We Don't Talk About: Hearing Time and Place in Film Scores delves into the world of musical color, specifically in relation to the creation of the sensation of a time and place in cinema. It is an in-depth exploration of this aspect of film music and its relationship with American culture. This project argues the musical color in film scores has become a national language. To challenge this point, a pedagogical flash website will provide users a myriad of interactive experiences to test their own score “literacy.” It is targeted for any film listener (even the blind) with basic explanations for casual theater-goers and links to detailed research for scholars.

Frontline: Growing Up Online

Here's something that might be of no relevance to your thesis, but I think we're all interested in it: PBS's Frontline had a whole show last night dedicated to what the heck kids are doing online these days.

"FRONTLINE takes viewers inside the private worlds that kids are creating online, raising important questions about just how radically the Internet is transforming the experience of childhood," says the show's press release.

Link

Cameron Parkins - Walden III

Walden III: Digital Utopianism and the Virtual World

Digital utopianism has long herald the rise of the virtual world, a mythical place that would theoretically eliminate the ills of meat space, identity and class inequality in particular. In recent years, what was once an idea (sometimes loosely executed) has become a reality, with people all over the globe signing on and living in, specifically to Second Life. With the rise of the virtual world in our midst, how then has it performed in relation to its philosophical lineage? To specify the question further, how does it function in terms of its cross-cltural pervasiveness?

Walden III is an attempt to understand and further these questions. Based in both International Relations and Digital Communications theory, Walden III attempts to understand whether virtual worlds can overcome the confines of cultural imperialism, providing global citizens a new arena for identity creation and cultural exchange, or fall into the same trappings of traditional Westernization.

Creator Bio

Cameron Parkins is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, He will be graduating in May 2008 with a BA in International Relations and a minor in Cinema-Television: Critical Studies.

Beyond his academic pursuits in global politics and film studies, Cameron has taken a keen interest in copyright law, specifically in relation to new methods of thinking regarding digital technologies. For the past 6 months he has worked as a Cultural Program Assistant at Creative Commons, a San Francisco based non-profit that works on progressive approaches copyright.

Outside of this, Cameron also is an active musician and blogger, posting new music and opinions to www.superhumanoids.com, a group he plays in with his close friends.

Paul Gee Bio

BIO

Paul Gee is a senior at the University of Southern California, studying towards a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications with a minor in 3d Animation. As a graphics employee for Heat Seeking Multimedia, Mr. Gee worked extensively with image editing, compositing, motion graphics, and 3d Animation software. As well as being versed in new media technologies, Gee’s skills stem from an extensive background in classical arts, primarily two-dimensional art (but including experience in sculpture and music). As a 3d animation student, Gee has acquired knowledge and understanding of traditional animation techniques and principles, as well as current computer graphics software. Upon culminating his college career, Gee plans to utilize the skills he has gained through his education in art, animation, and graphics to pursue a career in 3d animation.

Matt Lee's Abstract and Bio

Rivenscryr:
Shadows of “The Tempest”

“All the World’s a Stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
– William Shakespeare, As You Like It

What is a play? In the spirit of the dramatic literature tradition, most would simply define it as dialogue between characters, as their sole exposure to the world of a play has been study of the written work. And while this is a part of the theatrical experience, one cannot fully understand a work of theatre by simply reading the text.

As Shakespeare alludes in this well known quote, there is a link between life and theatre, each a reflection upon the other. Both are inherently multimedia experiences, and reducing either down to a textual component is difficult, at best.

Rivenscryr bypasses this issue by exploring of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” through the memories of the invisible character Sycorax, whose actions prior to the play have a profound effect on the others. Set in the virtual world Second Life, it is an interactive experience, allowing a viewer to travel through a remnant of the island, encountering fragments of the past.

About the Content Creator:

Matthew Lee is a 4th year student of Theatre and Interactive Media at the University of Southern California, with skills in 3d modeling, sound design, storytelling, and image manipulation). In addition to student projects, he works on the Center for Public Diplomacy’s Virtual Worlds project, exploring and engaging in virtual societies to increase awareness of potential uses, and facilitating others’ participation in virtual space.

About the Author:
Matthew Lee

“…life isn’t about beginnings, but random encounters, and how you shape the world…sometimes the scrawniest weeds do better than the finest pedigree roses.”
– Matthew Lee, The Vivarium

Matthew Lee is a 4th year student of Theatre and Engineering at the University of Southern California, with skills in a number of areas, including 3D modeling, sound design, multiplayer environment design, storytelling, and image manipulation.

His previous work includes a multimedia investigation on the history of music technology, and “Cante Florezca!”, a student produced game in which a player nurtures a flowering plant to create a musical score.

Lee’s past experiences have been rather varied, his engineering background giving him familiarity with programs such as Solid Edge, 3D Studio Max, STK, AutoCAD, and Autodesk Inventor, with Adobe Creative Suite and Flash learned through multimedia.

Lee’s expansion into Second Life (an Internet based virtual world), began with working on the build team for the 2007 SL Relay for Life, a reinterpretation of the American Cancer Society’s premier event combining traditional design with new elements in the online social platform.

Currently, Lee works with the USC Center for Public Diplomacy’s Virtual Worlds project as an in-world designer, responsible for both building interactive environments in Second Life and running in-world events. In this capacity, he has worked alongside members of the MacArthur Foundation, the US Department of State, the Brookings Institute, and the International Criminal Court.

Xing's abstract and bio

abstract:
Cerebellar Conditioning in Mice
Presentation of experimental research in field of classical conditioning in mice with focus on changes in cerebellar proteins.

Mice subjects undergo training with the administration of an electrical shock to the eye (unconditioned stimulus) and an auditory tone (conditioned stimulus) to elicit involuntary eye-blink response (conditioned response). Learning takes place as cerebeller connections are modified over numerous trials, and changes in proteins of the deep nuclei of the cerebellum are studied to compare effects of learning in trained mice with the absence of learning in control animals.

Delivery in the form of a website created using Dreamweaver, with detailed explanation and illustration of all steps, from Introduction and Methods to Results and Conclusion, through a combination of media clips, drawings and text. Provides comprehensive introduction to goals of research and previous findings in this area, as well as supplementary information on issues such as animal testing, occupational and lab safety, and personnel training. Intended to allow insights into activities taking place in the lab, building specifically upon this particular experiment and its nitty-gritty details, and accessible to a reader with basic background knowledge of neurobiology. Most useful for undergraduate or graduate students conducting research in a similar field.

bio:
Chen Xing, Singapore
Neuroscience, B.A. University of Southern California
Background in cellular, molecular and systems neuroscience, with knowledge of basic computational, cognitive and research design concepts in neuroscience. Taken undergraduate courses in neurobiology, gerontology, neurological disease, neuropsychology, as well as graduate-level courses in advanced neuroscience and cognitive neuroscience. Will be completing her degree in May 2008 with classes in computational neuroscience and computer programming.

Previous lab experience: Summer 2006, in a molecular biology lab dealing with STAT proteins, at Biopolis, Singapore, in the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Following that, Fall 2006 in the Finch lab, under the Gerontology department at USC, analysing gene transcription levels of the Ncf1 subunit of NADPH oxidase in LPS-infected mice. Spring 2007 at Peking University, Beijing, China, to truly understand what it means to be of Chinese heritage. Studied at Cambridge University, UK, Summer 2007, to learn about art history and social welfare issues.
An artist who delights in portraying the atmosphere, buildings and culture of cities that she visits, through evocative pen drawings.

She is currently applying to graduate school programmes to obtain her PhD in Neuroscience, to study the neural correlates of vision.

Lab techniques:

Surgery in mice, perfusion, sectioning
Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, ELISA
PCR, primer design
Extraction and purification of DNA, RNA and proteins
Western, Northern and Southern blotting
Taking care of HeLa and macrophage cells
Plasmid recombination
Microarray analysis

Software skills:

StatView, SPSS, Oligo, Opticon Monitor, Eyeblink 5.0 (used in classical conditioning training, created using LabView)
Dreamweaver, Photoshop, FinalCut Pro, Logic, Excel
will be learning shortly: C++

Sonia's Bio and Abstract

BIO

 Sonia Seetharaman is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She will be graduating in December 2008 with a B.S. in Biophysics and a concentration in French.

In addition to her coursework in both theoretical and applied science, Seetharaman has taken an academic interest in scholarly multimedia, using applications such as Adobe Flash , FinalCut Pro, and Adobe AfterEffects to animate, visualize and present academic subjects. She is currently working on an interactive, interdisciplinary research project on the concept of the garden in Western Europe.

Seetharaman has also worked as a peer mentor with the Institute for Multimedia Literacy at USC, teaching and helping other undergraduate students to use multimodal approaches in an academic realm. In the summer of 2007, she was a volunteer with the PBS production Wired Science, a television show which uses visual media to present recent technological innovations. Seetharaman hopes to apply these experiences to future jobs by utilizing visual as well as textual approaches in scientific study, in both the research and educational communities.

To Be or Not To Be: A Study of Duality in Science and Religion 

Duality is an inherent concept in the human mind. When we create, we create in twos; everything has an opposing counterpart. To Be or Not To Be is a presentation of this fact, which manifests in both the practicalities of science and the intricacies of religion.

The project is a visually engaging presentation of dualities that have occurred in various sciences and religions. The user navigates through a series of short videos, which elucidate the complexities of each duality presented. The information, while thorough, presents the material in a way that is relatively easy to understand without alienating the user through complex mathematics or the like.

After the user has navigated through all of the information, they are presented with the final conclusion, but not before answering various questions relating to the researched areas. The conclusion brings to light, through the user’s answers, the common thread which unites these diverse dualities and the nature of human cognition. 

 

A Few Logistical Issues

All 440/444 students should register/login to the IML portal (the screen of which opens on all the lab machines) and we will post work there. For now, the abstracts and bios will go there--soon we will have space for the beginning of the thesis projects. The thesis project parameters will be posted here below.

Also, don't forget tomorrow's open house: 3:30 - 5:30 pm in IML lounge. There are PRIZES as well as food and drink.

Finally, please register for the 24/7 conference (and if anyone can volunteer to help out, extra brownie points):

If you have any issues/concerns/questions, feel free to contact either of us....

Virginia & Anne
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Honors in Multimedia Scholarship Program
Senior Thesis Project Parameters


As you know, the certificate of honors in Multimedia Scholarship carries with it a mandatory thesis project that demonstrates the facility you have gained over your time in the program. Although you have (or will have) guidance and approval from both your IML and subject area advisor, the parameters for a passing thesis project are important for you to consider while you are creating it. Although there is no direct correlation between a written paper and a multimedia thesis, your project should cover the sort of scope that is roughly equivalent to a 50-page research paper.

The whole of your senior class sequence at the IML is devoted to carrying out this project, which must include the following considerations:



• Conceptual Core:
- The project’s controlling idea must be apparent.
- The project must be productively aligned with one of more multimedia genres.
- The project must effectively engage with the primary issue/s of the subject area into which it is intervening.

• Research Component:
- The project must display evidence of substantive research and thoughtful engagement with its subject matter.
- The project must use a variety of credible sources and cite them appropriately.
- The project ought to deploy more than one approach to an issue.

• Form & Content:
- The project’s structural or formal elements must serve the conceptual core.
- The project’s design decisions must be deliberate, controlled, and defensible.
- The project’s efficacy must be unencumbered by technical problems.

• Creative Realization:
- The project must approach the subject in a creative or innovative manner.
- The project must use media and design principles effectively.
- The project must achieve significant goa

Welcome Back!!!

We hope you all had a fabulous break and are now ready to work hard on your stunning projects! Your faculty team is hard at work acquiring the resources you will need to finish and get your pieces onto a group web site so all the world can see how smart you are. We are also planning the thesis show and, should any of you like to participate, please let us know.

Please check this blog often, since we will post numerous updates and logistical information here as it becomes available. To that end, feel free to post items of interest and/or advice on platforms and the like. We are a team in this endeavor!

There will be a spring "meet and greet" event next week on Wed (1/23) for all Honors students--you can instill horror in the younger group and show your battle scars. Oh, and also, there will be food and a raffle for prizes. The event is from 3:30 to 5:30 in the IML lounge. We hope to see you all then.

Your fearless leaders,
Virginia & Anne