Weeks 9 and 10 – Part 2: Every action counts

Eadweard Muyridge’s photography made me realize that not only does every moment count, but every action within every moment also counts. First of all, I had no idea that when a horse runs there are instances when all four legs are in the air at the same time. After seeing the above picture I realized that when a horse gallops, it actually GALLOPS! This picture also does a beautiful job of illustrating just how many minor moves cause the action of a horse galloping. It makes me think about my own life and makes me more aware of the fact that every little thing I do or do not do makes a difference. It would be interesting to see different moments in my life photographed like the above. I wonder what I would see in the pictures and if they would open my eyes to things I cannot see when I look in the mirror for example – metaphorically speaking that is. Further, when the photographs from different instances are laid out together, in chronological form as in this image, they tell a story. It might be a very simple story, but it is a story nonetheless, and this highlights the fact that it is not only every moment in life that counts, it is every part that makes up the story of that moment. My resolution is to create mental images of moments in my life and reflect on them as if they were photographed and clearly laid out in front of me. Thank you much for this valuable life lesson through your art Mr. Muyridge! 

Signed: Non-Analog

Weeks 6 and 7 – Part 2: Students’ Locatives

The class where we were asked to get into groups and come up with our own forms of locative narrative was super interesting. While providing an opportunity to really get familiar with the material and actually understand what locative narrative comprises of, it also allowed for much creative thinking and allowed ideas to be shared. Sharing ideas within groups was a great experience, and although it seemed like a daunting task in the beginning, I think most people quite enjoyed it by the end. Moreover, listening to what other people formulated in the presentation part of the class was a very eye-opening experience for me. It allowed me to see how much of an influence a person’s faculty, program, courses and peers/colleagues have on the way he/she thinks. The ideas within each group were very diverse, and what I thought of was how each person’s ideas would have been integrated had the groups been different. As far as the ideas that people came up with, I was very impressed. They were very creative, and it was obvious that they were collaborative efforts, like in a communal narrative, in which some very potent ideas were employed. I definitely saw some people who will follow in the footsteps of Bruce McDonald and make Ryerson proud!

Week 12: Fragmented

Let me start this post by saying that I feel extremely proud about the fact that Bruce McDonald, producer of “The Tracey Fragments,” graduated from Ryerson! 

“The Tracey Fragments” is very out of the ordinary. I have never seen any other movie like it before. I find that the split screens and fragmented scenes fit very well with the character of Tracey. She is a completely lost and broken girl, and the way in which the movie is made is a reflection of her character. You get glimpses of her in every scene, and she says and does things that made me really question her, but every scene does not provide an answer to the questions and worries I have about Tracey. Similarly, the movie gives you bits and pieces – fragmented clips that together tell a story. The split screens are distracting and made me think that I knew more than I was supposed to know. They increased my level of engagement with the film and bothered me at the same time. The fact that I watched it on YouTube added to the effect of the already fragmented film and characters. It was frustrating, but yet interesting, because I tended to pay attention to where my mind was focusing as I watched it, and tried to figure out why I made the choices I did. I watched some Tracey Re-Fragmented videos on YouTube as well, and this, along with the comments that people posted below every video on YouTube really helped clarify the meaning of the film for me. 

I <3 Digital Culture

I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about just how much potential there is in the digital world that we live in. If it wasn’t for YouTube, I would never have had the experience I did watching the clips of “The Tracey Fragments” and “Re-Fragmented.” The user interactivity feature on YouTube not only allows for a space where great discussion can occur (and of course, not-so-great discussion as well) but also allows for people who watch the videos (which is so easy and ever-so-convenient) to develop a greater understanding of what the videos mean and how people perceive them. I am a frequent user of YouTube, on my laptop as well as on my Blackberry, and I am so grateful for the technological advancements I am privileged to integrate into my life. I feel completely naked without my Blackberry, my sister says I go through withdrawal whenever I do not have it within arms reach (so I guess the term “Crackberry” does have some relevance). I love Google, YouTube, and am sucked into the entertaining potential of Facebook every time I have something more important to do. I am an avid consumer of digital culture, and (although I do see the flaws with it), I love it. 

-OVER AND OUT- 

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 11: Taking Shrek apart

For someone like myself who is not familiar with visual art and animation at all, an image like this is extremely captivating. It is a completely foreign concept to me. It completely takes poor Shrek apart in my eyes… creates this alien looking creature – well, even more alien looking than what I already know him as. The idea from the lecture on Waking life that “the history of animation (like the history of film in general) is rich with technical experiments and works of the imagination that question the standard assumptions of mainstream practice” seems so far away from me (Wells, Romancing the real – as qtd. in class slides). When I watch animated movies I do not think about what it took to bring the characters to the form in which I see them. It is weird, because I am well aware of the fact that it took a lot of effort to bring these characters to life, but I have never pictured them half-completed before this. It does, however make a lot of sense that the process of animation and the technology that is utilized have seen much advancement over the years, just like pretty much everything else in our world. I can imagine how these developments can be viewed from two angles, a positive one and a negative one, similar to the way in which other digital technologies that I am more familiar with also have pros and cons. I assume that with developments in animation, the pros outweigh the cons (I would think so anyways), because that is how I perceive other advancements in the world. I believe in development and progress, and although there are some drawbacks to how fast things are changing, I think it is only natural that we continue moving forward; and it is best to embrace and move with the changes rather than to desperately try to stand still and resist them. If it gives me better Shreks, I’m all for it!

Signed: Non-Analog

Weeks 9 and 10: Every moment counts

I absolutely loved the video we watched in class about the man who took a picture from the same position by his store at 8:00am every morning. I do not know what this video is called or where to find it, but it is amazing! The person he shows his albums to is shocked and taken away by the number of pictures at the same time. The shopkeeper set up his camera in the same place facing the intersection outside his store everyday, and took the pictures at exactly 8:00am. The video even shows him looking at his watch before he takes the picture. There is so much captured in those simple pictures, it is unbelievable. It is literally the history of that intersection and of the people who passed through it everyday. The collection of pictures shows change, development, motion, movement, and progress. The whole collection tells a very intimate and detailed story about that intersection at 8 ’o clock every morning, and further, each picture tells a story in itself. I was almost convinced to start doing something like that myself, but I realized it would take a lot of dedication and would require me to be in the same place at the same time everyday, which at this point seems impossible. I will, however, keep my mind open to this idea as I am very inspired and somewhat touched by it. It gives a very sweet and genuine feeling about the importance of time and place. It really makes you realize that every moment counts. Additionally, it draws attention to just how fast paced and busy our lives are, and it makes me want to stop and “smell the roses” more often in my day to day life. We should all take a moment or more every so often to just stop in our tracks and absorb the life that is around us. 

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 8: Intrigued by “The Pillowbook”

I was totally intrigued by this picture from the moment I saw it on the screen in class.
It is so beautiful, so warm, so deep, so intimate and so thought provoking. The quote, “a picture says a thousand words” really comes to life through this picture.

The two people in the picture seem to be so comfortable and so in tune even though they are not even looking at each other. There is a certain chemistry between them, and it is hard to pin point exactly what kind of chemistry that is. There is respect and love and trust and gentleness evident among other things. The lighting makes the picture very warm and almost cozy, but immediately steers you away from the coziness because of the passion in the picture. I do not know if it is the exotic nature of the picture that makes it seem so full of passion and intrigues me right away, but there is something very fiery about it. The tones definitely play a role in this.

It is a very sincere picture. This comes across through the expression on the faces of both, the man and the woman, and their deep involvement in the tasks at hand. It is very natural and believable, and does not give off an air of pretence. It does not look like it was posed. The sincerity adds immensely to the chemistry and the passion between the two people.

I intend on finding out more about this picture. No matter how many times I look at it, I never get fed up, and it brings about the same intrigue in me every time as it did the very first time I saw it in class.

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 6 and 7: Through new eyes

Murmur, Toronto was one of my favourite texts.

Locative media involves so much detail about the setting of the story, and I find this to be unlike any other kind of text.

I especially like Murmur, Toronto because Toronto is where I live, and many of the places, or at least the areas are very familiar to me.

Professor Tschofen’s slides explain that,

Locative media are:
Immersive: they exist in real public places that require participants to rely on the senses, powers of observation, engagement with material tangible reality.

Social: Mobile public art can be used as a force for community building and change.
  
Exploratory: Locative projects literally demand of their audience that they look deeper, listen more carefully, venture outwards, and assume a stance of curiosity and openness.

Engage story and history: Many of their projects are representations of how people occupy and use urban public space, offering an evocative portrait of the past and current life of the city, its residents, and visitors.

The piece by Donna Kakonge, on the corner of Dundas and Kensington in Kensington market did all of the above.

It is immersive because the Saigon Pearl really does exist in that location. I felt like I recognized the name and the store sign immediately when it appeared on my screen. Many people who have been to China Town in Toronto a few times will be able to recognize this location.

It is social because it shows a very realistic view of the restaurant. This allows someone who has been there to recognize it easily, but at the same time shows the restaurant from a different point of view. People are accustomed to seeing it amidst the hustle and bustle of China Town, but here it is singled out, and this provides a different feeling of the restaurant. Also, just the fact that it is on a screen causes a very different effect from that of real life.

It is exploratory because as long as you can hear the girl talking, you are immersed in her story, and with the image of the restaurant right in front of your eyes, the tendency is to imagine her story unfolding based on her words and the image that you see.

It engages story and history because it tells you a story that you most likely have never heard before, and gives you a story about the Saigon Pearl that you will most likely remember if you ever visit this restaurant, or even pass by it. For people who have already seen or been to the Saigon Pearl before, it allows them to see the restaurant through a completely new and different light.

Locative narrative is very fascinating, and I found even more so with Murmur Toronto because it allows me to see the city from a completely different perspective – through new eyes.

-Over and out-

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 5: Cruising

“Cruising” by Ingrid Ankerson and Megan Sapnar is a very interesting film text. It is short and sweet and tells a story while allowing audience interaction. The audience interaction feature allows the viewer (who is also a reader because of the text that forms part of this short film), to engage with the piece and consume it at his/her own pace. The speaker’s voice is also an important feature because her tone and pace is very fitting with the title, images, and the theme of this piece. It is as though her voice is cruising along with her, and makes this film text very believable. I felt like I was on a journey “on the edge of Wisconsin” with three girls. I did not feel like I was part of their journey, but I felt like I definitely could have been sitting in the backseat of the car they traveled in with the narrator – not as part of the story, but a first hand witness to it. I found the inclusion of the line about Joanie putting on a line of pink lipstick very intimate, and found that it worked especially well because it was placed before “we’d get to know each other really well.” I can see this film text being used as an advertisement that would play before the feature presentation in a movie theater. It would be a good ad. Very simple, yet engaging and interesting at the same time, because there are a number of meanings and associations that people could draw from it. I will picture myself in this film text whenever I am driving in Wisconsin.

Until then!

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 4: Information overload

“Everything can be read, every surface and silence, every breath and every vacancy, every eddy and current, every body and its absence, every darkness every light, each cloud and knife, each finger and tree, every backwater, every crevice and hollow, each nostril, tendril and crescent, every whisper, every whimper, each laugh and every blue feather, each stone, each nipple, every thread every color, each woman and her lover, every man and his mother, every river, each of the twelve blue oceans and the moon, every forlorn link, every hope and every ending, each coincidence, the distant call of a loon, light through the high branches of blue pines, the sigh of rain, every estuary, each gesture at parting, every kiss, each wasp's wing, every foghorn and railway whistle, every shadow, every gasp, each glowing silver screen, every web, the smear of starlight, a fingertip, rose whorl, armpit, pearl, every delight and misgiving, every unadorned wish, every daughter, every death, each woven thing, each machine, every ever after.”

This section from Michael Joyce’s hypertext, “Twelve Blue” made me feel extremely overwhelmed. I was on a busy floor of the Ryerson University Library when I was reading this text, and all of a sudden I felt like it was forcing way too much information into my brain. The serene blue background and blue text made me feel like this piece pulled me down and submerged me into a deep body of water. With each section I read I felt like I was drowning deeper and deeper into the water. This was probably because I was very confused about what was going on in the text at this point. When I got to the above section I literally felt trapped within the blueness and as though I was being overloaded with information. (I probably had this reaction to the text because I had a full day of classes and had many tests and assignments to do that week, so was very tired and filled with information already.) The fragmented style and what seems to me to be disconnection of this section made me read it extremely fast, and by the time I was done I was so overwhelmed that I closed the window and wrote this:

Information overload

Sitting in this room

In one of about a hundred seats
 
Toes wiggling in my boots

As I tap my perfectly shaped nails on my thighs wrapped in black tights.

Chose my thighs so as to not let the sound of my nails tapping on the desk disturb those around me.

Staring at my computer screen, not so much because I am paying attention to the content that stares back at me, but rather staring blankly

Thinking, oh no, don’t allow it to seep into this brain. And then a word slips in, and then oh no again, stop! Block it out…

Worried, trying to hold myself together

Clasp my hands together instead of allowing my nails to frantically drum silent beats on my thigh
Let it not happen. May my body and mind stay intact.

Feeling the stuff inside fighting for space…

Pushing the surface, trying to escape, for each tid-bit is suffocating, suffering, because it has no room, no air, no space.
 
It has traveled to the rest of my body
Making my shoulders and back feel heavy, and my arms… I don’t seem to have enough control over them.

The stuff keeps prodding through my skin.

I don’t want it to show

Please, let there be no visible distortions in my face. Thank God for my big hair… it will hide the stuff that’s trying desperately to push out of my head.

I am a bubble of fear

But let this bubble not burst here

Let this information overload not be a complete disaster

 

-Over and out-

Signed: Sarah Gaikwad

aka Non-Analog

Week 3: Who puts the avant garde in avant garde?

Sarah’s Tristan Tzara Dadaist poem:

Pros Think To offence minutes and Tuesday up and four the ice, and comfortable after forth, it’s there I’ve easy. You explained back have to a (really and defence find) and I down or five seasons get find playing not the found it,” play in he. “I between feel out 30.”

Can I now call myself an avant garde poet? Is my “poem” above deep? Does it push boundaries and provoke thought? If I told you I was given the avant garde poetry award of the semester in my Narrative in a Digital Age class for this poem would you respect it? What if I told you my university presented me with an award for this piece? Would you appreciate it then? How about if I say that with this entry I won an international poetry contest? If someone you admire introduced this poem to you would you give it some credit then? If my poem was displayed as the main exhibit in a famous art gallery and you were told it provokes deep thought and speaks to the meaning of life itself, would this convince you that it is worthy of your respect and praise?
Where do we draw the line when it comes to the avant garde? How do we distinguish between the avant garde and just plain fooling around? What does it take for something to be recognized as the avant garde as opposed to rubbish?

I love the avant garde, I think it is absolutely fascinating and well worthy of appreciation. However, I do not understand, and possibly never will understand what makes something worthy of the avant garde label. I find that the minute you throw in the term “avant garde” people automatically “get it.” They pay attention to it, they wonder about it and they admire it. I think folks are more fascinated with the avant garde label and what society’s perception of someone who indulges in the avant garde is. People want to be accepted and do not want to feel left out or ridiculed for not “getting” the avant garde. The reality is that literally anything can be titled avant garde. Either you like it or you do not. I would like to propose that instead of following society’s suggestions about the avant garde, we all decide for ourselves which compositions we feel are worthy of being called avant garde and which are not. Go on – take this opportunity to find something you would like to grant the avant garde award to today!

-Over and out-

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 2: Tweet much? Tweet too much?

- Do you realize just how public your tweets are? The Tweetleak video from http://www.defaulttopublic.net/tweetleak/index.html demonstrates the extents that a tweet can reach. When someone tweets about something on Twitter, it sometimes seems as though they do not realize that there are really no boundaries when it comes to www (the world wide web). People do not realize the potential of their tweet once they hit enter on their keyboards.

That little piece of information, that thought, that in-the-moment emotion or idea no longer belongs to you. It belongs to whoever wants it, and anyone can do anything with it. But wait, that’s not all. Not only have you lost control of your tweet, you also have no control over your username attached to it. That tweet can forever be associated with you, and it can reach places you would never want it to reach. It is possible that it can reach places that you will not be able to reach yourself. Your tweet is much greater than you can ever imagine. It is faster than you can ever be. No matter how hard you try to keep track of it, it will always be at least one step ahead of you. So, be careful dear tweeter what you tweet. As long as you have no problem at all with what you have to say reaching any and every corner of the world, go ahead and tweet away. If, however, there is something on your mind that you would not want every single person in this world to know about, tweet you not! If there is even a slight chance that you would be uncomfortable about your tweet – whether it be the fact that you wouldn’t want your mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, partner, friend, teacher, boss or ex ever knowing that you composed that tweet; or whether it be the fact that you think that someone, somewhere in the world would be upset about your tweet which could lead to negative implications, refrain from twittering. Do not assume that just because you can hit delete, you can decide when your tweet is completely erased from history. As mentioned before, your tweet is much faster than you. It will not wait for you. In that split second that you post your tweet, you lose control of it. Right there on twitter.com, in the “Terms of Service,” it tells you that “[y]ou are responsible for your use of the Services, for any content you post to the Services, and for any consequences thereof.” It also lets you know that “[w]hat you say on Twitter may be viewed all around the world instantly. You are what you Tweet!” How many twitter-ers actually read that? Take this seriously. My advice to you is this: Pretend that the world is your audience and Twitter is your stage. That being said, happy tweeting!

-Roger that!-

Signed: Non-Analog

Week 1: Goodbye print, hello digital!

The comedian, George Carlin, in his piece, “The Modern Man” (see link above), does a very nice job of briefly summarizing what it means to live in today’s digital world. All the technology and advancements that have been developed over the years have a great impact on the way modern lives are carried out. The whole meaning of life and the daily activities that we partake in have changed. One of these changes has occurred in the literary world. Because there are a million and one other things to do, people do not read as much as they once did. The consumption of print books is at a constant rate of decline. Steven Levy, in a Newsweek article suggests that “[b]ooks aren’t dead. (They’re just going digital.)” I definitely agree with this claim.
People do a lot of online reading these days. In this post I want to focus on the online news trend and the effect it has on the consumption of print news.
Many read the news online or on their Blackberries, iPhones and iPods, and other smartphones. This way they can take the news with them, in the palm of their hands, wherever they go. The convenient online availability eliminates the need for print newspapers, which saves money, space, effort and the environment! However, there are still many people who feel the need to hold a physical newspaper in their hands and read the news, simply because it is a habit that they do not want to let go of. In an effort to maintain a place in our digital age, many newspaper companies now have employees who hand out newspapers directly into people’s hands downtown Toronto. Not only does this increase the amount of readers (because it is much easier to have something handed to you than to go to a newspaper box andpick it up yourself), it also increases brand awareness since the people handing out these newspapers are dressed in the brand colours, as well as sport banners. Print news companies who are faced with the challenge of slowly dying need as much awareness as they can get. An evening newspaper (T.o.night) started this custom of hand delivering their newspaper, and other brands were very quick to follow. This just goes to show how much effort and marketing has to be put into the distribution of print these days in order to maintain readers.Gone are the days when having a paperboy on his bicycle flinging the newspapers at your door every morning was enough! We are now consumers of the digital world!
-Over and out-
Signed: Non-Analog