Thought's On Yesterday's Presentation

The group did an amazing job yesterday! My favorite part had to be when we were outside, and Jimmy "got hit" by the car.. in any other situation though, that just wouldn't be funny!! It could have been bad, since I read that it was never actually practiced before then.... :) (It was also that way with the graffiti artists up on the roof of the parking garage.. if I would have come across this at another time, it wouldn't have got the same reaction either.. but it was perfect in the context.) Good Job! In the same way that my group, the freeze group, was able to get the class a little out of their comfort zone, and do something they normally wouldn't, I enjoyed the play in 3 lines that we had to come up with. There was a competitive aspect added, that made it more enjoyable, and we didn't have much time to come up with it, so it made it exciting!

As I was walking across the street later that day, I thought the car coming was going to stop, but as I stepped out into the street, they DIDN'T.... and I had to leap back out of the way! I was so angry! It certainly WASN'T funny in that context, the same way it had been earlier... Its amazing how certain things can cause different reactions depending on how they are displayed. By this I mean, if they are displayed as entertainment, then we can find humor or excitement or horror in many things that otherwise wouldn't be funny, exciting or we would puke or not be able to watch in our everyday existence! I guess that is why the movie and entertainment industry makes so much money.. it is a way for us to go to places we normally wouldn't ever go, and be able to find different emotions in things we wouldn't otherwise!

Great Presentation!

Novel

A cruise ship carrying 1000 people was attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia. A pair of small boats carrying a few pirates each approached, fired eight shots each, but the ship made it to its destination safely.

Newser.com 12/2/08

Irony

I was thinking about the presentation today, and how there is a little irony somewhere in each of our days! I have been so frustrated all quarter spending extra time in the library, because my home computer has gotten virus after virus. With the amount of money my fiance and I have spent on fixing the problems, we could have probably gone and bought a new computer by now... We just got it back from the shop a couple days ago and I was surfing a little today after class. Isn't it amazing how we get online pop-ups offering to help you get rid of online pop-ups advertisements???! Then THIS goes back to the presentation on advertisements too! They are around us everywhere, in every aspect of our lives. So after spending 2 hours on the computer looking at absolutely nothing at all... I realized that there were many other things that were much more productive that I could have been doing instead! Spray a little grafitti, and it is just all tied together with what the groups have talked about in class! Its great to see the topics people have chose, show up in real life.

Skills!

Thoughts..

After watching the couple of presentations given on graffiti in class, it changed my thinking a little bit. Normally I would think of graffiti as something "wrong" or something that "those kids" do, something that shouldn't be done or vandalism. The second presentation had me remembering a day when I was younger and I was walking in Seattle with my family. Along our way, we came to a wall that had art ALL over it, it was COMPLETELY covered and it was so amazing! You could tell it was created by multiple different artists and they were able to come together and make this amazing piece of art on something as simple as a wall. I wish I was more artistically gifted so I could go "tag" some walls.. I wish I could be so amazing that it could take your breath away by just looking at it. I found some, that I thought were wonderful that I wanted to show. I would choose hidden places, where if you see it, you are one of the few that witness it, and I think that would add meaning to the art...

Graffiti Poetry

"It is poetic in that words connoted, denoted and outright symbolized take on and exhibit meanings intended and non-intended by the author.

Text becomes texture and vice versa. The act itself is loaded with poetic significance. What begins as merely a name being manipulated through letters and flung against a surface becomes perceived as a scream. An action, a license to seize. What begins as prank ends as poetry.

It is a science in that the action/signal is both calculated and methodical. In many ways the tradition is formulaic but like all traditions, data passed down is expanded or reduced thusevolving the form. The effort requires both improvisation and precision. Like a musical instrument, anyone can pick at a piano or guitar and make musical sounds, but few can claim that they are masters of any musical instrument; anyone can pick up a can of paint and write on a wall, but not many can say they are masters of the sciences required to produce graffiti. Time and exercise create proficiency. "

Buford Youthward

Kabakov

I wanted to know a little more about Kabakov and so when I googled him and looked through a few websites, this is what I found! His instructions on how to become an angel with wings!

"You need to make two wings from white tulle fabric, using the same sketch that is appended to the project, and also leather straps for attaching these wings on your back and fixing them in place. After this, having stayed alone in your room (this condition is fairly important, for both the productivity of the impending activity, as well as for the avoiding undesirable reactions on the part of other people in the family) you should put on the wings, and sit completely without anything to do and in silence for 5-10 minutes, after which you should turn to your usual endeavors without leaving the room. After 2 hours you should repeat the initial pause again. After 2-3 weeks of daily procedures, the affect of the white wings will begin to manifest itself with greater and greater force."

Ilya Kabakov (1999) Wings (How to make yourself better or how to become an angel)

Taco Bell Freeze

As a reminder, Group 4's Project is this Saturday @ 11:30am down @ Westlake Center right near the Starbucks if anyone wants to come. Remember how we showed the Grand Central Freeze in class? My sister told me about another youtube video she saw similar to that, so I found it. Enjoy! Hope to see you there!

Park

Walk an invisible dog through the park on a leash

Play fetch with him

Limbo

Draw a line on a piece of paper

Erase the line

Throw the paper away

Do "The Limbo" under the line

Fall

Choose any leaf from your yard

Follow it around for 24 hours

Google: The Splasher

Art Critic or Vandal? ‘The Splasher’ Leaves Clues

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
An example of the street artist's work is seen along Rivington just west of Allen Street.

By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: June 27, 2007

Street artists have speculated for months about the identity of a mysterious figure who has become known as “the Splasher” because he or she hurled colorful blobs of paint at prominent pieces of art on exterior walls in Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan.

The only clues left behind in the paint assaults were bold manifestoes — phrases like “destroy the museums, in the streets and everywhere” — that appeared to critique the commercialization of art.

Now it appears that there may be more than one Splasher, and those claiming responsibility for the attacks have offered additional information about themselves.

One hint came Saturday night, when several people showed up at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Chelsea during a reception for the artist Shepard Fairey, who is known for his stenciled images of the wrestler Andre the Giant. They distributed a 16-page newsprint tabloid with the title, “If We Did It, This Is How It Would’ve Happened.” The cover was illustrated by a photograph of a piece of art by Mr. Fairey that had been splattered by paint.



The publication’s opening essay said that last summer, a group of “co-conspirators and provocateurs” began splashing paint on pieces of art, many of them created by street artists, like Mr. Fairey, who have achieved mainstream recognition.



On another page, the group’s members said they had learned the location of a show held in early June by a street art collective called Faile and “subsequently penetrated their sanctum.” During that show, a member of the Faile collective said, a stink bomb was ignited.



Last Thursday, during a show of Mr. Fairey’s work in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, James Cooper, 24, was arrested and accused of lighting a homemade stink bomb. Mr. Cooper, facing arson and other charges, has denied any wrongdoing.

Last Week

Upon the rough and treacherous Red Sea, a ship was hijacked by pirates. Demanding a ransom for the ships safe return, they sailed away into the night. "Arrr Matey".

Source- Everett Herald 11-5-2008

Family Support

A 90 year old woman taken into custody last week, had been living with her older siblings in Illinois before arrest. Only problem, all 3 siblings were dead and in her basement. She's now being observed.

Source- Seattle Times 11-9-08

Motherly Love

Eva Daley, 31, sentenced 15 years to life when she decided to drive her 13 year old son and buddies to a skate park, where they killed a natorious gang rival. She claims not to have known.

Source- Everett Herold 11-5-2008

Trick or Treat or Meth?

A child in Ramsey brought home a treat bag full of Skittles, Snickers Bars, and $285 worth of Methamphetamine on Halloween. An older teen, tossed the Meth in the child’s bag as a prank. Arrested later that night, the joke's on him.

Source- Everett Herald 11-5-2008

Genius Escape...

After running through town, with 2 bags of money, stolen from an armored truck outside a bank in Monroe, Anthony Curico, 28, floated away on a bright yellow inner tube, witnesses said. It’s that simple… expect he got caught.

Source- Seattle Times 11-4-2008

Being Uncreative

-Last Clean Shirt-

.EDU car dog bark clock tape looking honk talk honk turn bus close

pedestrians stop honk turn bus shift radio siren turn shot

"don't walk" shot brake .ashes to ashes. last clean shirt "walk"

*change view* clock empty FIN.

X3

One thing that I noticed from the film, is that the scene itself was repeated 3 times, and the car while driving only took 3 turns. I think there was meaning to that number 3 being that we have multiple ways to look at the situation.

The first trip around, all we hear is the woman speaking, and since I didn't understand her, I tried to focus on her but, I looked at the street the entire time, completely ignoring the two in the car. I looked at the buses and the pedestrians and the street signs although they were all fuzzy and blurry, I still tried to make them out. You could notice the honks and the screeches and sounds of the city.

The second trip, the focus was put back on the woman as her spoken ideas were being told to us through subtitles. I didn't notice the pedestrians or the signs anymore, but I wanted to hear what she was saying and I focused all my attention to her.

The third trip, the focus was put on the driver. He was still quiet, yet we were allowed to see into his mind just a little. He was given a voice that maybe otherwise he wouldn't have had. Without the 3rd trip around, we would miss the full picture.

This film was odd, yet appreciable. I did feel a little claustrophobic watching it, and I wanted to hop out each time when they got out of the car, but it started over again. I did appreciate that our vision was limited to what they saw. We weren't allowed to wander, but forced to sit in the backseat and listen and take the ride with them. Interesting!

Andy Warhol

I have seen this piece of art, along with many, many other photos of Marilyn, hanging on my Aunts wall for years and years. It was the one that I always looked to first, and I have always loved it! I started reading this book, and I wanted to know a little more about Andy Warhol, so I Googled his name, and found this picture! I love when I can connect new things to old things. I have a deeper appreciation for learning when it is tied to something already a part of me.. if that makes sense! :)

I also saw a quote on one page I went to, that I have heard somewhere before... I think my mom talked about this quote a loooooong time ago! I like the simplicity of it, and how he makes his point so understandable which makes him even more so relatable.

"What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A coke is a coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the cokes are the same and all the cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it."
– The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (From A to B and Back Again), 1975

Thoughts..

After posting, I realized I should give some insight into what I had done. I took a mixture of words that were written in my class notes to make the slide show below. Some examples of the words are Materialism, Madness, Dreams, Manifesto, Nadja.... Can you tell which is which?!

I also wanted to comment on the clip from To Kill a Mocking Bird that we watched at the end of class Wednesday. It flustered up some feelings in me, which was maybe the point, but you know that sensation when a CD skips, and you let it go just a little longer, hoping that it will stop... you tough it out hoping that in the end there will be the pay off of hearing the song? You maybe fast forward a little, and if it still doesn't stop skipping, you change to the next song right? Have you ever had an entire CD that skipped? Every song I went to once skipped around 10 seconds or so into each song.... I ended up throwing the CD out my window I got so annoyed, trying to wait it out!

As I sat there in class, my foot started to tap at a faster and faster rate, and I felt my heart start to beat a little faster (that may have been because the volume was SO loud), but regardless.... I wanted to THROW THAT VIDEO OUT THE WINDOW, like I had my CD! haha... I did appreciate that when you would listen to each part long enough, you could almost hear a different word forming, and then another and the movements were semi-interesting...... but that's it! I had a difficult time with that film... I needed a drink of water after I ran out of the class room! :)

Aleatory

Frozen Cheesecake

I have been trying to come up with ways to look at my "everyday" differently. It is actually fun to try and see events and normal things in a different light, and just mix it up a little!

The last couple days, my boyfriend and I have both been pretty sick sneezing, coughing and so on. We decided to take it really easy, and he did this little project with me!

Just like in kindergarten, we had Opposite Day, where we would try to react the complete opposite way of what we normally would. It makes every situation completely different than what it would have been otherwise....

My Example:
I went to work at Claim Jumper yesterday, and they told me that my shift had been cut. Normally I would have been pissed that I had gotten ready in my uniform and drove all the way there... but I resisted my complaining, and said "Thank You" to my boss with a huge smile! I then called my boyfriend on my drive home to tell him how happy I was that I wasn't going to make any money that day! We ended up having the funnest night together. We walked the dogs without their leashes. Earlier that day, instead of putting the cheesecake we bought in the fridge, we decided to freeze it instead. When I got home we sat together on the floor instead of the couch, eating frozen cheesecake, watching a Spanish soap opera on TV (which we totally didn't understand) instead of the normal Sports Center that is always on!

It was a day that would have never happened if I would of had to work! I urge you to try something like this..... mix up your everyday... it's actually quite moving!

:)

Un Chien.. WHAT???!

I was SOOOOO taken back when I saw this film called Un Chien Andalou. I don't understand what was going on! I tried to have an open mind, but I think I missed the underlying meaning or something... Maybe I would have been able to look harder for one, but after I watched an eye ball be sliced open by a razor, completely out of the blue, I was too nauseated to really even concentrate! (See picture above!)

I thought back to a reading we read, ( I believe it was in the Manifesto of Surrealism) where it talked about how being "mad" or "crazy" really wasn't a bad thing, because you weren't limited within your imagination and your own creativity. I can't help but to think that the creator of this film was just that.... MAD! He did not limit himself at all, letting this film go here and there.. and all over the place! I don't think I personally would be able to be that abstract and make something so respected and known, like this film. I do NOT want to ever watch it again, but I am going to do some research on the film itself to try and understand what I was looking at and perhaps what I was supposed to take away from it.......

Everyday Speech

I wanted to re-read a section from The Everyday book we have been going over in class. I wanted to look deeper into the Everyday Speech by Maurice Blanchot. The title itself was what intrigued me in the first place. The Everyday: What is Most Difficult to Discover.



Without seeing a question mark, I already assumed it was talking about what is the most difficult part of the everyday. It doesn't ask this as a question. It is simply stated. The conclusion starts with "Is not the everyday, then, a utopia, the myth if an existence bereft of myth? We no more have access to the everyday than do we touch this moment of history that could, historically, represent the end of history."



Take a moment to let that stew in your brain....


I had to take.. well... 2 weeks and I am now coming back to it!


Reading this again, automatically I say we DO have access to each of our everyday's! I have much control over my day to day life. I can "touch" today, and make a mark on each day, depending on what i do and by doing what I WANT to do. I have very much access to each of my days, and I have a say in what happens in each of them. A lot of the times, my everyday is not a "utopia" in any sense of the word either.... I do not agree at all with the above quote.


I sat some more, and I realized that I am looking at the idea of "the everyday" in a very basic way. For example I am only looking at the surface level things that I actually have control over. I have no say in that today will go by hour by hour, minute by minute and second by second. That is a fact! I have no say over that. Nor do I have a say in whether or not today is a significant day to anyone else. Today will be only that. Today. Today could be the first day. Today could be the last day. I can't "touch" or mess with that. Today will go by, and it will be looked back upon as a piece of history. It will be part in making up MY history, and EVERYONES history! That is huge!

I'm learning so far in this class to let my mind wander a bit, and not look at things in the most common way, but try to understand ideas and thoughts in a somewhat deeper and heavier way. That is a quality in people that I have always admired, and I too can be like that is some respect!

The End! (or beginning...)

...

I interpreted the photos in my slide show below as if they were snapshots from a dream. I used Dream Moods Dictionary as inspiration in the explanations! Enjoy!

Journey to Bothell

My Opposite Accident

I had a sudden urge to go buy Dance Dance Revolution to play on my Wii a few hours ago. :)

This seemingly uneventful journey to WalMart turned into a could-have-been-pretty bad accident..

It was dark. I walked through the parking lot making my way towards the cross walk. I looked both ways and waited for a couple cars to pass before I crossed. I watched the last one pass as I started to walk, then turned my head the other way making sure another wasn't coming, and I kept looking that way as I started to jog across....... Not realizing that the car that had been driving by had come to a STOP.... I continued my fast pace a few more steps, trying to hurry and I RAN FACE FIRST, RIGHT INTO THE VAN!

As if a trip to WalMart isn't painful enough.. the left side of my face, my shoulder and my pride are all a wee bit sore... I am sooooo embarassed!

I did a lot less damage to the van, than the damage the van could have done to me!

Here's a look-a-like of the guilty party..... haha...

20 Minutes of Nothing...

It sounded so easy at first. I was about to put in Dirty Dancing to watch for about the 500th time in my life, when I thought about this prompt and decided to do that first. I glanced at the small clock on my phone, and sat down on my couch. I started to pet my little puppies as they climbed up into my lap. I decided that I should probably walk them first, so that they wouldn't bug me for attention while I was doing nothing, so I did just that.

I came back inside and started my time over, looking at my phone to see the time so I could keep track. I sat in the same place on the couch and looked out the window at the two little kids playing with their ball, and I laughed as the little sister threw it happening to hit her big brother on the side of his head accidentally. He started to pout, and didn't want to play anymore, and this made her start to cry uncontrollably. I smiled, at the situation, and realized that I really wasn't doing nothing, I was being amused by the outside world. I closed the blinds and started my time over again.

I fought the urge to pick up the nail file sitting on the table as I sat there on my couch. The sunlight was shining through the cracks in the blinds. I started to day dream about my vacation a few weeks ago to Florida with my boyfriend and how wonderful of a trip it was. The sun made me want to go back to the warm beaches we spent most of our trip, or go to another Gators football game like we had. That trip is one of my favorite memories, and it was wonderful to give my self time to think about it. My mind wandered from topic to topic, from idea to idea for the remaining minutes, and before long I had sat there for right around 1 hour doing nothing. I was shocked how fast the minutes flew by!

I don't think it is possible to actually DO NOTHING, but the attempt was actually a nice change of pace, because I wasn't forcing anything. I didn't have an agenda. Instead I was able to let my mind wander as it may and it was nice to relax and day dream a bit.......