The first assignment for 351. one of the first times I've written (obviously a very short piece) a main female character. on the whole, it's pretty cliche.
She hadn’t been afraid her whole life, but at the same time, her fear had no distinguishable point of origin. In a sense, she had been afraid for as long as she could remember. This fear was certainly intangible; although even to call it irrational would seem to be an overstatement. There was no reason for her fear to exist, so in way, there was no reason for it to cease to exist either. Whenever she was alone in the house at night she found herself routinely opening every door, turning on every light, and then methodically locking down the whole house room by room to be sure it was empty. She never really knew what she was looking for, but looking for it was the only thing that could even partially quell the entirety of the fear, that of it finding her first. What made it infinitely worse was that she could never ask anyone for help. The great wisdom of human logic: “it isn’t real” was of no use to her. It was incredibly real in the way only fear can become real; completely confined to the limits of an individual. For hours at a time it would consume her waking mind; fighting herself, fighting it, and never being able to tell the difference. In the end, her war died with a breeze through her window in the middle of the night. She woke up and knew that it was as close as it had ever been, but she also knew that it was as close as it could get. She hadn’t defeated or destroyed her fear but had instead harnessed it. A strange energy to be put to whatever use she saw fit.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
an early take on augmented realities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6yantixZ5c&ob=av3e
Apparently I cannot embed this video, but watch it anyway. I could say that any video in itself is an augmented reality, but Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have, I feel, taken this idea to a different level. The organization of the visual aspect of their music calls up an interesting question; how do you work a musical group based on cartoon characters, but then make that group rely heavily on the contributions of guest (real) musicians? This is not the first time that the Gorrilaz have tackled this problem, but what is interesting about this particular video as an augmented reality is the interaction between creation and creator. In this case Shaun Ryder, who collaborated on the song with Albarn and Hewlett, has been given the role of "soundsystem" to the Gorillaz. The metaphor is not incredibly complicated; the relationship of artist and art is not one of a god lording over his subjects, but more of a dynamic of push and pull. True, without Albarn and Hewlett the Gorrilaz would not exist, but without the Gorillaz, who would Albarn and Hewlett be? Speculation is pointless, what I am trying to get at is that this relationship has evolved to become something that neither party can easily be separated from, if at all. But there is also a third part of this dynamic, the audience. What is transferred to us from this interaction? A message maybe, or perhaps stimulation on some level, certainly not code-able to words, but necessary none the less. We get a unique opportunity to shape, on some level, where the creative flow will take the artist and her art, but we ourselves cannot render what she can. Still; it is not the artist that gives us what we need, she only gives her creation what it initially needs, then the transfer takes place.
This relationship is all very parasitic of course. It took me a long time to get a handle on what Serres refers to as "noise", "static" or "interruption". Now I think I will simply call these things the audience.
Apparently I cannot embed this video, but watch it anyway. I could say that any video in itself is an augmented reality, but Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have, I feel, taken this idea to a different level. The organization of the visual aspect of their music calls up an interesting question; how do you work a musical group based on cartoon characters, but then make that group rely heavily on the contributions of guest (real) musicians? This is not the first time that the Gorrilaz have tackled this problem, but what is interesting about this particular video as an augmented reality is the interaction between creation and creator. In this case Shaun Ryder, who collaborated on the song with Albarn and Hewlett, has been given the role of "soundsystem" to the Gorillaz. The metaphor is not incredibly complicated; the relationship of artist and art is not one of a god lording over his subjects, but more of a dynamic of push and pull. True, without Albarn and Hewlett the Gorrilaz would not exist, but without the Gorillaz, who would Albarn and Hewlett be? Speculation is pointless, what I am trying to get at is that this relationship has evolved to become something that neither party can easily be separated from, if at all. But there is also a third part of this dynamic, the audience. What is transferred to us from this interaction? A message maybe, or perhaps stimulation on some level, certainly not code-able to words, but necessary none the less. We get a unique opportunity to shape, on some level, where the creative flow will take the artist and her art, but we ourselves cannot render what she can. Still; it is not the artist that gives us what we need, she only gives her creation what it initially needs, then the transfer takes place.
This relationship is all very parasitic of course. It took me a long time to get a handle on what Serres refers to as "noise", "static" or "interruption". Now I think I will simply call these things the audience.
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