.:auspicious motion:.

Six Months

2006-06-28T14:42:00.000-07:00

"What do you feel like eating tonight?" "Ras Kassa's sounds good, why don't we do that?" "Mmm, Ethiopian food." "Unless you want sushi..." "Actually, when we were having this same conversation earlier, I thought of Ras Kassa's first, immediately followed by sweet sticky rice brainwaves. I almost suggested it then." "I did too! Right then! Oh, you. We are so --" "Staggeringly cool?" "Is it possible we share the same brain?"

Ok, I finally found a pet peeve

2006-04-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

... bubble packaging. Why do they make it? Because they want to pollute the environment, create some kind of artificial environment for their consumer product, use petroleum, and make me want to kill something. Like this:

TAM Live! Sitemap

2006-04-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Rockin TAM sitemap

2006-04-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

TAM Logo Prototypes

2006-04-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

In creating some new logos for the Technology, Arts and Media program, I wanted both examples to be randomly recombining. For the first, I figure that the paint spots can change color and configuration based on a pre-defined palette, occuring on each page load. Then there would be a formal logo for print material -- the idea of the splatter being the useful smattering of subjects we are exposed to as TAM students. The second logo was inspired by a friend who likes rounded squares -- the idea being that each square would hold a small section of a screenshot of student work, again randomly recombining on each load. This one just encapsulates what I think about the program: layers upon layers of communication interfaces. We often forget how much coding and hardware goes into even our most every day activities. I love the telephone pole for this reason.

Ways of Seeing -- John Berger

2006-03-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

So this reading was pretty interesting. And the following are my notes as to what I thought it was about. One of the biggest ideas was this notion that there is a spirituality given to the original artwork, even though there are thousands or millions of Mona Lisas out there, there is only ONE holy Mona Lisa. And yet, the camera changes both the reproduction and its original, by making the imagery readily available to the general public. The act of looking itself is also in some ways the act of being seen. Images are often used to convince, and so therefore have a fairly concrete purpose. However, one good question that comes from this is: is there ever an entirely fixed meaning to an image? This reading held a lot of parallels to Susan Sontag's work, In Plato's Cave, analyzed below.

Harvard's Man on Manliness

2006-03-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks to this guy, chauvinism and a touch of misogyny still runs strong in our higher education institutions. Check out the latest. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/magazine/312wwln_q4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Questions for Harvey C. Mansfield Of Manliness and Men Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON Published: March 12, 2006 Q: As a staunch neoconservative and the author of a new feminism-bashing book called "Manliness," how are you treated by your fellow government professors at Harvard? Look, if I only consorted with conservatives, I would be by myself all the time. So your generally left-leaning colleagues are willing to talk to you? People listen to me, but they don't pay attention to what I say. I should punch them out, but I don't. In your latest book, you bemoan the disappearance of manliness in our "gender neutral" society. How, exactly, would you define manliness? My quick definition is confidence in a situation of risk. A manly man has to know what he is doing. Hasn't technology lessened the need for risk taking, at least of the physical sort? It has. But it hasn't removed it. Technology gives you the instruments, and social sciences give you the rules. But manliness is more a quality of the soul. How does someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger stack up? I would include him as a manly man. But doesn't he exemplify the sort of man whose overdeveloped muscles are intended to mask feelings of insecurity? Yes, but then he stepped up to become governor of California. He took a risk with his reputation. What about President Bush? He's a risk taker, but wouldn't his penchant for long vacations be a strike against him? I wouldn't say industriousness is a sign of manliness. That's sort of wonkish. Experts do that. What about Dick Cheney? He hunts. And he curses openly. Lynne Cheney is kind of manly, too. I once worked with her on the advisory council of the National Endowment for the Humanities. In your book, you say Margaret Thatcher is an ideal woman, but isn't she the manliest of all? I was told by someone who visited her that she is very feminine with her husband. Why is that so important to you in light of her other achievements? We need roles. Roles give us mutual expectations of what is either correct or good behavior. Women are neater than men, they make nests, and all these other stereotypes are mostly true. Wives and mothers correct you; they hold you to a standard; they want to make you better. I am beginning to wonder if you have ever spoken to a woman. Your ideas are so Victorian. I have a young wife who grew up in the feminist revolution, and even though she is not a feminist, she wants to benefit from it. I wash the dishes, and I make the bed. How young is she, exactly? She's 60. I'm 73. Were you sorry to see Harvard's outgoing president, Lawrence Summers, attacked for saying that men and women may have different mental capacities? He was taking seriously the notion that women, innately, have less capacity than men at the highest level of science. I think it's probably true. It's common sense if you just look at who the top scientists are. But couldn't that simply reflect the institutional bias against women over the centuries? It could, but I don't think it does. We have been going a couple of generations now. There are certain things that haven't changed. For example, in New York City, the doormen are still 98 percent men. Yes, but fewer jobs depend on that sort of physical brawn as society becomes more technologically adept. Physical advantages are practically meaningless now that men are no longer hunter-gatherers. I disagree with that. When was the last time you did something that required physical strength? It's true that nothing in my career requires physical strength, but in my relations with women, yes. Such as? Lifting things, opening things. My wife is quite small. What do you lift? Furniture. Not every night, but routinely.

Organic Logo Comparison: as if they all agreed on fonting beforehand

2006-03-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

I decided to compare what I see in my bathroom every day. Out of these three product lines, Kiss MY Face is my favorite, not because of the logo, but because it's good stuff. The logo is interesting, though, seeing as the brand name itself is a challenge to the consumer. Are you fresh enough for someone to kiss your face? Does your moisturizer allow for rampant face kissing? This is the first of the logos that all really like the serif-fonting. This one is all caps, on this green background. I think that, seeing as they are marketing to people who really appreciate the natural and organic products, green is a good choice. It says "hey, I came from the earth more or less and I'm safe." On the KMF products themselves, the logo tends to come in other safe primary colors like red or navy blue. Overall, this is an elegant logo with a simple design.

EO is the company that makes my current shampoo and handsoap. Each is so fragrant, but not in an overt or obnoxious manner. Again, the logo says, "educated people from Boulder like me," by having a relatively simple design with the lettering that occurs centered within the square. It lets the consumer know that they base their bath products off of essential oil, which we can only assume is made from plants that got very squished in an oil-extracting machine. The color, again, is pretty basic while also being kinda hip. All of their bottles are this dark blue color, and so look very sophisticated. The blue of the logo is like a baja blue, with the slightest purple tinge and not quite as dark as navy.

Wow, another bathtime logo with this romanized serif font. Serifs, though I haven't mentioned it yet, are those little accents on the edge of each letter, flattening out the ends of the "S" like that. Looks like another concious design choice, though, as the oversized "A" and "O" bring attention to the name, without destracting the eye from elegant form. Again, this is a green, kind of a bud green--very fresh and springlike. This logo, perhaps even more than the other two, oozes refinement. Another trustworthy organic product, with the latest in natural care innovations.

The Futurist Cinema, and The Futurist Manifesto -- Marinetti

2006-03-09T13:05:00.000-08:00

Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and his boys were perhaps the first to espouse publicly their love and adoration for technology, speed, and violence in the form of these Futurist publications. This was 1916 and 1909, and the speed of the times was expressed by a rejection of the past. Futurism was about technology in its own way; man's triumph over nature through cars, aeroplanes (allow me a spelling from the past), and cities built on industry. Marinetti says that we are done with the book, just like we're done with the pacifist ideal and cathedrals. Instead, the cinema could take over as the dominant creative force and newly indepentdent expressive medium. What would this be like? How is this accomplished? Marinetti argues that "THE UNIVERSE WILL BE OUR VOCABULARLY" for illustrating for the audience anguish, anger, comedy. Flying chairs, gazelles, and mountains would be used as image-based analogies. Marinetti would also place such objects out of context, and even play with multiple projections, discussing anything from "flirts, fights, and marriages of funny faces" to early moving-word art. Of course, the Italian creative genius would play a significant role in how these methodologies would change the world through their use of cinema. As for The Futurist Manifesto, it rings of the same ambitious, boyish tone of the Charolastra's manifesto, from Y tu Mama Tambien. Basically, they want to live hard and fast, glorify war and scorn women. I'm not even really sure who they think their enemy is. I understand the need to rebel, but then you have it leading to Fascism. Pity, that. A lot of people had to die for some similarly-minded dudes to prove to the world that nationalism, imperialism, and patriotism were paramount above the value of human decency. Because there were some beautiful ideas worth dying for, because feminism was an "opportunistic or utilitarian cowardice." Most of the Futurists died during the first and second World Wars, coincidentally. Futurism's impact can be seen today in Cyberpunk, in Surrealism and the Dada art movement that came later, and even in the metalization of the body in manga and anime. Go Transformers!

"Sound Chips"

2006-02-20T00:16:00.000-08:00

How to view my work until I can figure out how to fix the last bug:

Are you on a fairly modern machine with speakers connected to the internet via DSL, Cable, or T1? Yes? Ok, good. Proceed to #2.
Turn off your sound. Mute it. Trust me.
Now, follow this link in a new tab or browser window: auspiciousmotion.org
Once you've got my animation loaded and ready to go, you'll know (takes a moment -- it's 2.54MB). It's crazy and reminiscent of early Kandinsky. Ha. Is it loaded? Yes? Move on to #5.
On my animation (called "Sound Chips," in case that wasn't clear) click each wiggy, colorful thing until you've got all 7 shut off and there are no more animations going. Don't worry, you can try a couple times for each if you don't get it right away.
Turn your sound back on to a normal level, whatever that is for you.
Now on "Sound Chips" you can mix and match your own artwork/digital symphony of sound. Play. Enjoi.
Post about it/respond with your comments, suggestions, and general holla's right here!
Let me know if you have any trouble.

Some thoughts on "Sound Chips," a synaesthetic piece I made for my TAM Capstone course:

It's an instrument.
Made from the idea of a color wheel, in painting. In the traditional sense, you mix pigments together to get new ones. In this piece's instance, you mix sound that corresponds to a color to create craziness.
The complementary colors (pink and green, yellow and blue) are too strong to be together, in my humble opinion. Which, if you think about it, is sorta as it should be. Very little canary brings out the sky...
White - to - black represents sounds heard almost as a part of our daily environment
Looks pretty rad altogether with the sound off
I wonder if anyone will check their cellphone when I start the grey vibrate sound?
An unexpected feature: clicking any part of the movie clip causes it to stop -- try clicking on the mario clouds to stop the "sky blue" sound
It took on this very natural compostion in thirds, because of the position of the sound chips
The animations are trying to mimic or complement the sound
These are all sounds from an electronic age, but which part? There's a convergence here of modern and more modern, new and super new.
This is about.... Making a crazy messs with sound because that's what happens with color sometimes. Ahh! Attack of the Pink! In other words, you gotta reduce for good art. Simmer.

This crap can't be recycled!

2006-02-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

An observation: used stuff (clothing, shoes, couches, bicycles, skateboards, see-through human anatomy models, and crazy building materials) comes with a lot less packaging, if any. Conclusion: I like used stuff. And I would like to make it easier to get. Wouldn't that be nice? This is a call to figure out good things to do with your used stuff -- ask friends if they want the things you don't, post on your local Craigslist, go to a consignment shop and get some scrilla, make something so wild even you can't believe it exists... Thank you.

Life shopping: Idealistic but confused?

2006-02-13T12:20:00.000-08:00

Mon mamman sent this to me. Are we 20-somethings justifiably called Yeppies?

English VS Singlish

2006-02-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

Decided to see where "next blog >>" would take me and found a very accurate account of what Singaporean English sounds like. Oh, how I miss the island. -=Narcissism=-: English VS Singlish

Synaesthesia Research: more fun than 256 web-safe colors

2006-02-08T14:37:00.000-08:00

Synaesthesia is, literally, the convergence of senses. From the Greek roots syn ("union") and aesthesis ("sensation"), synaesthesia describes a phenomena where sound corresponds to colors or tastes. Some people, known as synaesthetes, actually experience this involuntary convergence where touching something gives a taste, hearing something produces a color in the mind, and colors actually create sounds when seen. This is a condition for 1 in 2000 people, so it is not altogether uncommon. Synaesthetes often can't imagine life without their converged senses! Hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD can also produce this biological-neural effect in people. Despite perhaps its unusual psychological characteristics, synaesthesia is often employed in art. Poets and writers aren't the only ones who describe musical sound as yellow and thought as green. Visual artists employ the technique of synaesthesia as well, increasingly so in the Digital Arts. Even Aphex Twin, a popular electronic dj/artist, is said to have synaesthesia. While having the condition may help those in composing and creating art work, many artists use concepts of synaesthesia even if they've never actually seen a color associated with a sound, except in their imagination. The Italian Futurist, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti as well as the Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky, used synaesthetic systems in their work.

Creating my Own Line of Breakfast Cereals

2006-02-08T11:52:00.000-08:00

Identity Breakfast Cereals

Super Sneaky Ninja Puffs -- Bright white ninja shapes, to blend in with milk. Don't make a sound when you eat them, but are a Hi-Ya! in terms of flavor.
Yar! Pirate-Booty -- chocolate treasure chests, neon green marshmallow parrots, bran peg legs, oat-ring treasures, and white marshmallow skull-and-crossbones. Packed with Vitamin-C so you don't get scurvy.
Italian Mafia Crunch -- double-breasted suit shapes, fedora shapes, money AND body bag shapes, and a variety of weapons, like brass knuckles, all made of soy protein, rice, and corn. As a prize: handy police and judge bribes and blackmail. Collect all four!

Grand-Narrative Cereals

Jesus Cereal -- Mary, Joseph, the baby and elder Jesus, and all the main characters (i.e. apostles) as marshmallows, and lots and lots of whole grain oat Bibles. Optionally accompanied by Lucifer's Brand Chocolate Milk, which is Chocolate-Flavored to mask the taste of blood from the over-worked large-scale dairy cattle.
Art (with a big "A") Objects -- Comes with all major pieces of Art since pre-history all the way through modern times. But since they're all so small you have to buy the accompanying Art History Cereal Guide, which is only $99.99, to know anything about the cereal. And study it every night. In fact, you can't even mention the cereal in conversation unless you've read the Guide cover-to-cover.

That's all for now. I'll add to it when I think of more.

Modernist Painting by Clement Greenberg: Modernism Out Like Trout?

2006-02-07T14:14:00.000-08:00

If modernism for art means self-sustaining, self critical, and looking no further than the object itself... If modernism says that good painting wouldn't be a photo-realistic form, since photography can do that... If modernism is about the medium and really seeing it, as in the flatness of the canvas... ...Then I would argue that we're moving out of modernism. The post-modern, as we discussed in class, would be a state where everything is defined by each other (other influences and traditions). This means a sculpture with illustrative, drawing characterstics. A performance piece of art with digital references or aspects. Outsiders know as much as the insiders, if not more, whereas modernist painting could only be completely appreciated by those who practice the form. In this post-modernist art world, there is no one right answer -- an apropos reaction against the rule based system of modernism. For heart-stoppingly beautiful sound and image digital art, check out James Patterson's online work Dirty Scrubber as part of Abstraction Now. I think this is not only a great example of synaethesia, but also some pretty post-modern digital stuff. Yeah, I said stuff. You got a problem with that? Well, take it back to the modernists and you all can jump in a lake.

The Mirror Stage: Lacan as the Michael Jordan of Psychology

2006-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Since this was such a tough reading for many of us in History and Theory of Digital Art, I'm going to go through and summarize what I understood as part of the seminar discussion. Photos are the Ideal-I. This means they, along with your reflection in the mirror, represent not the actual-I (who you are) but instead who you want to be. Infants start out thinking that everybody knows the things they know, but as they see their reflection in the mirror (along with other experiences like crying for food), they begin to see that there is a difference between themselves, others, and their surroundings. But when they see themselves in the mirror and realize that there is a mirror-self, the infant leans forward and tries to become one with the reflection. This is the symbol for Jacques Lacan's chapter, and for much of his psychoanalysis. From this moment on, the individual begins to develop a fractured sense of self stemming from this difference. I am different than my Ideal-self. Even body parts get severed from the whole body as media, the ultimate mirror, tells us how each should look, dress, and behave. There's an opposition between the self you are, and the self you think you should be. Somehow there's a total vision of you out there that isn't you. And you'll like this part: we have the ability to become insane because of our sophisticated reality, unlike animals. And yet, self-awareness is an illusion. That's because there will alwayys be a lack, an incompleteness for the rest of your life because you can't join with your mirror image. The Gestalt is that we were born a year early (damn! Should'a gestated longer!) and we percieve a fragmented self that the mirror contradicts. You look whole, but you aren't. Or as Lacan puts it, the Innenwelt (innerworld) and the Umwelt (outerworld) each perform a separate identity in terms of behavior. That bit actually leads to other modes of thinking within Critical Theory that behold the self as different than the other. Multicultural studies and feminist work have both used this as a foundation for the marginalization of the other. It all comes back to that mirror for Lacan. Leaning into the mirror symbolizes a never-ceasing yearning for perfection. The innerworld and outerworld is split, and thus the dehiscence (or splitting of a seed pod into two parts) of humans occur. All of the answers are within ourselves, but we can't see them (or at least very rarely).

In Plato's Cave: Are photographic images giving form and coherence to the mystery?

2006-02-07T13:09:00.000-08:00

In Plato's Cave, by Susan Sontag, references the idea that we're all just cave-dwellers looking at shadows on the cave wall thinking it's reality. She characterizes photography in the same way: a very limited and often ceremonialized or commodified view of life, not to be mistaken with fact. I was reminded of a couple relevant examples during this reading:

People are often over-enthusiastic to the point of hyperventillation to share travel photos. Sontag notes that "it feels like knowledge... Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or aquire." [my italics] Hey! Look! This is me, in Thailand, and there's my friend Mark, and wow was that beach rad. In truth, that was me 5 years ago and has little to do with the me you see now. I don't own that spot in Thailand (but I wish I did, which is why photos take on that commodified quality).
Wedding photography. I knew a wedding photographer who made bank creating stories out of the images he captured at weddings for clients. Sontag confirms this, "For at last a century, the wedding photograph has been as much a part of the ceremony as the perscribed verbal formulas." Meaning that taking photos of your wedding is as much a tradition as having special outfits (in the Western world, white for the bride and tuxes for the dudes). It's an amusement, as Sontag says, and comprises some kind of defense against anxiety that I found really interesting. Don't worry, honey, if you don't remember the reception, we've got pictures!

A lot of this article seems to resonate with a particular moment in the movie, Waking Life, where two women discuss their baby photos. The point is, you have to create a story to connect yourself with that image of yourself as a baby. Since cells completely regenerate every seven years, you're already a new person a couple or a few times over when you tell that story. Without the narrative, we aren't even connected on a biological level to the baby in the photo. "When it was over, all I could think about was how this entire notion of oneself, what we are, is just this logical structure, a place to momentarily house all the abstractions. It was a time to become conscious, to give form and coherence to the mystery, and I had been a part of that. It was a gift. Life was raging all around me and every moment was magical. I loved all the people, dealing with all the contradictory impulses - that's what I loved the most, connecting with the people. Looking back, that's all that really mattered." -- Waking Life

Ruling Class and Ruling Ideas

2006-01-26T14:16:00.000-08:00

It's generally apparent that the stories we tell as part of the mass media of our culture as a whole come from artists, authors, directors, commentators, etc. of the ruling class. I think that these stories contain within them the ruling ideas that describe and maintain the ruling class, generally comprised of the wealthy or bourgeoisie (you can only pass this class if you can spell that word on an exam, by the way). These stories and ideas are self-enforcing. You want to be a baller? Well, you'll need ice, rims, fresh digs, and possibly some hos. You want to be president of the United States? Well, you'll need to be an American-born male, middle-aged, Christian (preferably and historically Protestant), come from some kind of background that would work well with your career as a politician, be fairly handsome, and don't forget -- you have to be white. And heterosexual. Just a few formalities and you're in the door! Whether we're aware of it or not, the Ruling Ideas of our society are all around us, most being much more insiduous than simple wealth and political power. It encompasses a whole system that includes social injustice and a cycle of violence. But that's not my question, since Marx and Engles so clearly gave examples of this struggle. Instead, I'm wondering how ideas on the periphery, such as independent culture and music, get so easily co-opted by the ruling class? And if these ideas are conceived by "indie" folks, then are those people part of the ruling class?

Artwork in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

2006-01-26T11:07:00.000-08:00

While getting a prescription filled at CU’s Wardenburg Apothecary, I was stunned by a tiny reproduction of the Mona Lisa in black and white, not more than a centimeter tall, gazing with a still-mysterious smile from the top left hand corner of the page. She was followed by some official-looking ink blobs – identification or serial number for the page, maybe? It was a form you signed saying you received your prescription and you also would name your first born child after a pharmaceutical product of your choice. Ok, I’m kidding about that last part. But truthfully, I don’t know why I’m signing half of the documents I do, just don’t tell my lawyers. The point, merely, is that Leonardo DaVinci must be rolling over in his grave many, many times over, as in this age of mechanical reproduction, his famous work is reproduced in such a cavalier manner.

One Hundred Years of Influence -- Right Now!

2006-01-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

Laurie Anderson
Diane Sieber
Anita Borg
dooce, a blob
United Colors of Benetton
!!!
wikipedia
Lost in Translation
Pelé
plus c'est la même chose, plus ça change
Eric Mason
Asterix and Obelix
Keith Harring
craigslist.org
Shepard Fairey
wooster collective
Arundhati Roy, she is a stunning activist and artist
John Steinbeck
situated laboratories
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author of One Hundred Years of Solitude
the Velvet Mafia
the O.Unit
Berlin, München, Köln --- Germany
Singapore, Republic of Singapore
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines
New Zealand
Sardegna
George W. Bush and Co.
Dianthe Harris and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Frances Charteris
The Simpsons
Tamala 2010
Stella
Sex and the City
Princess Mononoke
James Pearce
Kenzo
Eduardo Kac
Jamie Kennedy
Xicanista, a blog
The Little Prince, a book
The Alchemist, a novel
Technology for Community
Telle Whitney
spies
ninjas
hostage negotiators
Kofi Annan
Matthew Weedman
Giesela Brunner
die Flecke Famile, alle
Brokeback Mountain
Boulder Pride and the CU GLBT...RC
meowi-potato
the third flatiron
anything west of 9th
Bezerkely Slam
CSS Zen Garden, a digital gallery of slammin' graphic design
sushi and/or Leonidas Truffles
The Joy of Cooking
post secret, creepy art online
Deborah Keyek-Franssen
tea, loose leaf especially
french press coffee, or Peet's
Yoko Ono
Shakespeare
teoma.com, a different kind of search technology
hippocrit.com, Joel Swanson's fancy-pants works webspace
ise shrine, rebuilt every so often respectin' nature

O-Unit!!!

2006-01-19T14:45:00.000-08:00

Ninja Magazine: Super Sneaky Vocab AND Handy Tips for Assasination *Published only in black ink on black paper, hitting newsstands in time for Valentine's Day