(5B) A (very) small look at Fight Club

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(5A) Perception

The image I began with is interesting to say the least. It is an image by Ben Goossens of an owl sitting on a book on a chair in a sort of nature room. I found the concept, aesthetics, and the execution of this piece very intriguing so I decided to write about this image.

The original image has the cloudy walls as a background with the owl and chair as a main centerpiece that the eye is immediately attracted to. When I cropped the image, the space was shrunk, the chair moved into the background with the wall, and the own became the solo item in the foreground.

The main, driving lines in the first image are the corners of the walls. They all seem to be pointing to the center of the piece where the owl is. They point to the most important object and are the artists way of directing our vision. When cropped, the main lines become the back of the chair, and because they are so bold, they take away from the owl.

The chair, its shadow, the window, and where the walls connect all give us visual anchors of the depth of the picture. Our mind takes all of those things and can grasp the size and relative depth of each object. When cropped, we loose all of that. Our minds have no idea how far back, how big, or even what the background is. The clouds could be the actual outdoors from the looks of the second picture.

The first shot is a medium shot while the cropped image is much more of a close up of the beautiful, elegant bird.

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(4B) Song Assignment

This is my song, yo. Deal with it.

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(4A) Brainwashed....?

I was assigned to read this article, written by Seth Godin, this week in my Media 203 class. And honestly, I am not sure that I agreed with the majority of what was said. This article was a typical "stick it to the man" type reading. That because we are taught high school math, we have been "trained to be a compliant cog"  and are being "brainwashed." I would completely negate that opinion; math teaches us persistence, how to think critically, organization skills, memorization abilities, and the list goes on. Take away math, then you take away science because "hey, thats not using your imagination, that's just reading facts." I don't believe all high school teachers are "out to get" students and make them learn geometry just to go home and have a good laugh about it. I believe that those skills are essential and for many people, develop into a hobby, passion, or job. Now I am not saying that numbers and science rules over art and music, but a balance must be found. And getting rid of Algebra is not that balance.

But alas, let me summarize two points of this article. Unless I shouldn't because it was on a syllabus and that would just be submitting to the man and giving up my brain. 

No, but in all seriousness, here are some summarizations for you.

Acknowledge The Lizzard

When we get nervous, we tend to stay quiet. We are scared to show our inner selves, our art, our emotions, and who we really are because we are scared that people won't like it. I call this self-esteem issues, and we all have them. We all are scared of what other people think whether we admit it or not. Enter, alcohol. Just kidding.

But our buddy Seth here thinks that that nervousness has been pounded into us by "the man." That because we obey our teachers in school and follow instructions, we are giving in. Now I am all for being creative and embracing individuality but that is just ridiculous.

Ship

I do like this one. Seth explains here that the most important quality one could have is the ability to get things done. To stop picking daises and prancing around the bush. To have determination, drive, and the ability to close. I agree that this is an essential thing to posses, especially in the media field. Because the ones with the jobs won't always be the most talented, but the ones who get their selves out on the field and get stuff done. 

I do like these little exercises that are assigned on the weekly. They make me think critically of the world around me, evaluate what I think, and challenge my actions (or lack thereof). Which in turns makes me a better student and artist. They are very interesting articles that I would never find or read if it wasn't for this class. Keep them coming.

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(3A) I Got 99 Problems...

watch this---><---then watch this

Covering a song has become a normal thing to do in the music industry. Artists do this either because they think they can ride off the song's popularity, convey the song in a better or different fashion than the original, or because they have respect for the artist and song and want to show it. 

Jay-Z recorded "99 problems" in April of 2003 and released it short after. It reached the charts in the US as well as the UK. In 2010, Hugo Chakrabongse covered the song in 2010 with Jay-Z's approval. Both songs have very a very different sound and some lyrics, but the same chorus. 

The easiest thing to notice is the difference in musical quality.

Jay-Z's original song has a sort of hybrid rap rock type feel. A strong drum and beat driven rhythm dominate the song with some grungy guitar chords thrown in. His raps have an in your face flow to them, and give off an underground concert feel. The intensity of his song seems always at a peak, with constant sound effects in the background and beats out the wahzoo.

Hugo's cover of the song has an excessively laid back flow compared to Jay-Z's fast paced rapping. A picking banjo and a very consistent bass drum are his weapons of choice. And his voice has reverb that makes it almost seem more whiny and almost dream-like. This slower folk song does not loose the same rebellious feel that Jay-Z introduced. Lots of background noise and effects give the song the same grungy feel found in the original.

Most of Jay-Z's inspiration for this song was based on racial inequality. When we look at the lyrics, the second verse depicts a scene where he is pulled over by a cop and when he asks why, the cop responds "you were doing fifty five in a fifty four." What he was trying to say through this exchange of words is that the cop is being racist and pulled the man over for no legal reason, just simply based on the fact that he is black. This racial discrimination is something that Jay-Z talks about a lot and is often the basis for many of his songs.

Hugo inspiration for his newgrass version of the original gangster rap song came to him when he was listening to the original song itself. "He raps," Hugo told the reporter of Hot News, "but there's a melody implied in it." Wow, what a great vocab word Hugo used there, melody, I bet he took Beth's class. 

Both versions of this song own a little place in my heart that can never be replaced or interchanged. I like Jay-Z's version for his originality and passion, while Hugo's smooth and rugged vibe is a rare find. But if I had to choose one that I "like better," I would have to go with Hugo's slick banjo cover. 

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(3B) My Unbelievably Exciting Soundscape

Last week, my class was assigned a project to create a soundscape that expressed emotion.

Out of all the exciting, horrifying, suspenseful categories I could've been assigned, I got Boredom.

So, ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my excessively boring soundscape and the picture that inspired it all

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(1B) Ways to get breakthrough ideas

Mitch Ditkoff recognizes the fact that this world revolves around innovators. Around people that take the familiar and make it more economic, affordable, usable, versatile, efficient, whatever have you. But how does one do that? How can one get themselves in that creative state where their juices are flowing and they are truly thinking out of the box. Ditkoff believes that there are actions we can take to get us in this state of mind. Tangible acts that can be put into words and sentences. Fourteen sentences, if fact. And he has them to share with us.

FASCINATION

Mitch’s first point in this paper is the idea of fascination.  That things make us think for a reason. What I find interesting, others won’t. And I will still have no idea why some people are fascinated by ancient history. But that’s ok, that is his point and I fully agree with him. Fascination knocks on the doors of our brains all the time. We must tap into that curiosity and use it to push ourselves forward into further research, discovery, and inspiration.

IMMERSE

If we just put half of ourselves into a task, it will only be half done. If we put half of our brains to a thought, it will remain half an idea. Ditkoff exposes one of our problems that surfaces in the form of multitasking. Even as I am writing this blog, I have some background music on, I’m halfway in a conversation with my roommate sitting across the room, I am occasionally responding to texts, I am fighting the temptation to watch my roommate play XBox. Now, that being said, am I fully immersed in this paper? Admittedly, no. Would this be a beneficial environment to do some serious work or thinking in? No. Yet this is what most college students do, put half effort into their work. And that is exactly what they get back, a so-so result.

TOLERATE AMBIGUITY

We have all heard the very inspirational quotes about failure. “You don’t fail until you give up,” “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” But how much truth is there to these oh so corny quotes? Mitch would argue quite a lot of truth. In fact, he says that “failing” is something we must get used to. That not knowing something is inevitable and we should use this as motivation instead of an excuse to stop. I very much so agree with this statement. If people were to give up when they were confused or when they didn’t succeed on the first time, we would live in a much dumber world.

Go on failing. Go on. Only next time, try to fail better. 

Samuel Beckett

What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you? In what ways might these trends shift in

the coming years—and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?

Technology seems to be moving at a ridiculous pace. This years computers are eighteen times faster than last years. Your laptop can’t make you coffee? That’s so old school. Oh, you got a new iPhone 4? Have you heard about the new features of the iPhone 5 that is coming out in a few months? 

Innovators are taking the current standard of computers and technology, and constantly looking for ways to make them better and faster. They are looking for ways to make them better than their competitor and more marketable to the largest amount of people.

Electronics are evolving on a exponential graph, and it looks like they will only continue to do so. So why should anyone care about this? Well for one thing, it means less money in our pockets. But it also a prime example of a competitive marketplace that is growing a blazingly fast rate due to great, revolutionary ideas.

If every market, college, job had this kind of competition and motivation to outdo the next guy in line, the results would be unthinkable. We get lazy, unmotivated, bored, content, and we lose the vigor that is necessary for real change and inspiration. If you want to have breakthrough ideas, you need to find ways to stay motivated.

“One day soon the Gillette company will announce the development of a razor that, thanks to a computer microchip, can actually travel ahead in time and shave beard hairs that don't even exist yet”

“If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG”

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