True Art

I am trying to write my Shakespeare paper, here in the library. I am having a lot of trouble starting. I need a F*ing thesis and the question is very open-ended making it hard to articulate an argument. I need to form something that is arguable, something someone would greatly disagree with. But the question is compare and contrast Macbeth and Shylock as Tragic Heroes. What the hell do i write? I have a few ideas but all have holes and are weak.

I decided to listen to some music to free up my mind and I put on "Mad World" but the cover by The Red Paintings. They are a really great Australian band. i saw them on tour with the Dresden Dolls. Their thing is they have painters work on a canvas during their set. As the songs progress the painting gets more detailed. It's really something to watch. They have a very odd light show and also have these people dressed as robots moving robotronically. It is very hard to decipher if it is an actual person or a robot (the costume design is very thorough). By the end of the set I realized they were part of the show, part of the art. The band plays their beautiful music (some of it lol), they have painters create a work of art within 35 minutes, and they have performace art as well. In my schovonoistic mindset I have grown into I thought about the artists getting with women after the show. I am sure the lead singer does well, but then i thought about the human art. I highly doubt they get approached after a show with star struck teens eager to spend some personal time. And I thought to myself, that is true performance art. That is true art. When it is not for the end result, not the product or benefits but the actually doing. The creative process.

These papers do not matter. In years from now it will not matter if i get an A on this paper or a B+, but how I do this will affect me. My habits and routine, my depth of passion, my perseverance. I am still scared and anxious and I have no idea where I am going with this paper but I have to shake that. I have to bust this paper out and get it done. i really do love writing papers but sometimes they get to me. They really take a chunk of my soul with them. I give 100% of myself and always feel i put my heart on the line. If you reject a paper of mine, you reject me.

Paris, je t'aime

I just watched paris, je t'aime. Which I think translates to Paris in love or something to that effect. It had a trully amazing concept. The movie was made up of 20 5 minute short films. Each done by a different writer/director/cast/crew. The thing that united all the films was that it all took place in Paris and was about love in one way or another. It opens with a short about a miserable man who can not find love anywhere. He sizes up couples who pass him as he watched through the mirror in his car. He looks at them approaching then follows them through his rearview mirror. A woman approaches whom he is very attracted to, when he turns to look at her in the mirror, she is not there. lol At first I foolishly thought to myself "what is she a vampire or something" but what happened is she fell by his car, out of his view. They wind up having a conversation, as she rests. Very simple plot and everything but it was quite delightful.

Out of the twenty I distinctly remember only a handful. My two favorite involve teenage love and early twenties love. The first takes place at a riverbank. Three young french boys sit by the river. Two of them call out to every woman who passes. They spit out typical pick up lines getting turned down more severly the harder they persist. The third boy sits there quietly eating his sandwich. It's evident he is not gay because he make eye contact with a Sihk girl to his left. They shy smile but he does not speak. The friends continue to oogle the women who pass. They girl gets fet up and leaves. As she walks away she trips over a rock and cuts herself. The teenager immediately comes to her aid. He helps her up and picks her bag from the dirt. Later on when talking with her grandfather about the situation, upon being thanked he responds "it was only natural." The other boys who were yelling to women didnt even flinch when the girl fell. They even laughed and made a joke or two. That is the difference between hormones and romance. After Francois (the romantic) helps Zarka with her wounds she leaves to go to the mosque. Francois does something that i could never do. Something I wish society deemed acceptable. I feel like so many courtly love traditions have been worn down over the years. In women's attempts to play hard to get or merely to protect themselves...any form of uninvited pursuit has been greatly frowned upon. In the film, he goes to the mosque and waits for her. When she comes out they speak and she introduces him to her grandfather. The three walk, and speak kind words. But I feel now, these days in New York, I would never pursue a woman like that. If I gave a woman my seat on the bus or if we shared a moment somewhere, and I did not get her number, it would be odd to show up somewhere she made reference to. Perhaps that is just me and I am off on social norms but that is my view of the current world. I am ever trying to not be a 'creep' but in this day and age following your impulses deems it so. It's really annoying. There was a time when it was acceptable to go to a woman's window sill uninvited inorder to woo her. Now, things are just differnt. Everyone is so sensative and scared of global warming, terrorism, egg whites. The power of the unknown is consuming and we are all prisoners of fear.

I realize this is contradictory of my most recent post on the class blog but I guess I am expressing the hypocrasy of the duality in technology here in contemporary America.

Second Life Presentation

This is my Second Life Presentation. I apologize for the Ken Burns Effect on every slide! lol I can not for the life of me remember how to take it off. I knew how to do it a year ago but it has slipped my mind for some reason. So now we have a zoom on every single slide! I tried to vary it up with some video of me/my second life character, and some still frames. I hope you enjoy it.

Reading Response 2

Chapter 1 of Smart Mobs

In Chapter one I learned how Rheingold and his associates derived information from people. They ask. So simple. Some of the answers they get from people sounds completely rational and other quite off. One statistic was completely comprehendable. To me at least. Perhaps not to other un savvy persons. Or an out of touch person like my father who has no idea about texting. But anyway, an 18 year old man told them he "sent and received a few dozen messages everyday" (Rheingold 3). Now this is probably a pretty cool kid, because I send and receive probably 15-20 a day. But girls, girls man. They are very into texting. I personally know people that can have a conversation that takes up 100 texts. Can you believe that?

The most ridiculous thing is on the following page where a motorcycle gang was formed through texting. Apparently one of the members wanted to leave the gang so she could study abroad. The leader didnt like this and ordered 4 of the members to beat her up. This ended in arrests. First of all which is so ridiculous on so many levels because are you being serious? How did you not expect to get caught? You are using a traceable means and secondly "REALLY??!!" I mean these people never even met before. I found it funny that a few of the members didnt even own a motorcycle. Such a joke.

One thing I agree with is : "Getting a mobile phone grants teenagers a degree privacy and right of assembly previously unavailable, which they use to construct a networked alternative space that is available from where ever they are" (5).

An idea i completely disagree with is that cell phones have ANYTHING to do with social tardiness. They attack the issue of teenagers being more tardy to social events and this being linked to celluar phones. The writer is under this delusion that people feel "there" because they are talking to the people at the event through texting. This is crazy. People are late because of social norms. The norm use to be "be on time." Now it is the opposite. If a party starts at 9 you get there at 10:30, 11:00 earliest. If we it is a formal event, maybe a half hour. So 8 o'clock, they arrive at 8:30. It is because you are presenting the illusion you are cool and have somewhere better to be. This event isnt THAT important. It's the whole playing hard to get, having the power thing. It has NOTHING to do with texting lol. Our generation is changing from people older than us, and the norms adjust.

Reading Response 1

The introduction to smart mobs is very interesting. Rheingold reminds me very much of Thomas Freedman in his book "The World is Flat." They share this vision of the future. This foresight. And they are so passionate and intelligent it seems undisputed. Everything they write seems like it will definitely happen or is already in the works. I find few areas of skepticism in their writing.

So SHIBUYA CROSSING seems to be the initial catalyst in Rheingold's writting of this book. The thing that surprises me the most is his consciousness to this as early as the year 2000. I mean I was only a freshmen in high school, but back then I was not conscious of the emerging wave of technology.

So what he thinks is that in that "within the next decade, the major population centers of the planet will be saturated with trillions of microchips" (Rheingold xii). He believes groups of people using these tools will gain new forms of social power. Who ever finds the most effective way of business will profit.

One problem is that with all these new powers, we are guaranteed to lose old freedoms. I personally don't think this is a bad situation though, for the most part new things seem to be better and more efficient. I will hold on to that thought though, until a situation that tests that arises.

Read the post below before you watch this.

I have written a detailed post about this movie we made last semester. Read that before you watch our film, it will give you some background and lineage of certain things.

Work from Previous Class

After spending all this time on my Second Life Presentation has made me remember a movie we created last semester in another technology class. Technology in the Classroom. We were charged with the topic of creating a movie at least 5 minutes long. We sat down and decided to create something comedic since it was our first try. If we did drama it could possibly turn out bad, and nothing is worse then trying to do something serious and it coming out laughable. We were to show it to the entire class so we thought a comedy was reasonable. We took it beyond that though. We decided to do a mockumentry. A mockumentary is pretty much a parody of something in a documentary style. If you notice we have interview sessions. We all had a place in our hearts for Poker, so we decided to do a parody of the World Series of Poker. If you do not know, the World Series of Poker, is the biggest poker event of the year. It is held in Vegas, at Binion's Casino. We put a spin on that title, and since World Series also applies to baseball, we went with the absurd theme of stealing from a random sport, and thus: The Stanley Cup of Poker was born. Initially, we intended it built up the tournament to the extremes and then have every1 realize it was just in our dorm room, but it didnt really work out like that. All in all it was a lot of fun, my first chance dealing with "actors" and some funny stuff came out of it.

Second Life Presentation

So, I have been working on my second life presentation all day and I am very excited about it.

Right now I have about 5 minutes and I hope to get to about 8. It's been a lot of fun because I

have used a lot of different aspects. I am using Jpeg pictures, music, my personal audio

commentary, and video as well. So this is going to be rather entertaining. I do not have my tripod

with me so it is unsteady at times which is annoying, but I'm sure it adds to the raw feel of the

video. It will seem real. I have the rights to the music because the band playing are close

friends of mine and the pictures are from flickr. So far everything is legal. lol. Which normally

does not happen in all my videos. But I am going to get back to this so bye for now.

In Accordance with One World (Free Hugs Campaign)

The power of optimism. The power of connection through the internet. Before all these things like Second Life and Maple story youtube dominated people's connections. People would speak through video responses. And once and a while a great video united people. It didn't have anything to do with Britney Spears or a cat farting, it was a purely joyous video that got millions of views. I am speaking of the Free Hugs Campaign video.

This post is in accordance with the post "One World."

I feel the reason these two videos became so incredibly successful is because there is a disconnectedness in the lifestyle we are growing accustomed to. For many of us, the only way we can communicate with our closest friends is through text messages, voice on a cellphone, or instant messaging. These videos find a way for us to come together. To create and collaborate. This video is nothing but optimism at its best, and I think it is a great way to speak in ways 'One World' can not.

My One World Contribution

This is something I did a long time ago but still think is very cool. Something anyone can do whenever and be united with thousands of people.


One World is something that was started on youtube. MadV, one of the most viewed members decided to use his popularity to start a productive movement. He decided to send out an open invitation to anyone who wished to respond. The message was, anything you wanted. The point was to unite us all, and come together. This is not a big deal, it is particularly too sentimental for me. But what happened, was a huge mass of responses, people all over the world voicing their message. Hundreds of thousands of people watched and it became the most talked about and responded to video on youtube. I made one as well.

There is another video that i am going to post, which i feel goes hand in hand with MadV's One World movement. Please check it out.

Blogs opening new doors

I never knew blogs could be catalysts. But this story is a testament to that being true.

I want to praise blogging for a moment. And i am going to do that in a round about manner. A few nights ago I was searching for an image to save as my desktop background. As a side note (to this tangent) I only select the best backgrounds. My selection process includes scouring google images for an action shot from a favorite film.

So last night as I looked through Scarlett Johansson images I found a picture that peaked my interest and I clicked on it. The link brought me to a page called Cinephilia. The text began: "Truth be told: I do not get Brian De Palma. Which I think is very different from not liking Brian De Palma. He is a cinephile of the highest to degree, to be sure. But there is something absolutely missing from his films." at that I was in love.

I had mistakenly found myself onto someone's blogger page, and it was quite delightful. As I continued to read I became more and more pleased. This was a true lover of cinema, and even further a well educated woman who casted a very critical eye. She was very hard on the director's and their work, but it was fair and just. It was fair to say I liked her from the start.

It seems this person, has commented on some 100 films, all recent. I started by reading what movies I had already seen. To build her credibility. To see if I agreed. For the most part, I agreed, her vocabulary and mannerisms extremely sophisticated. It was not too hard to follow but she definitely possessed an insight I desire.

I am praising blogs because they have brought me to a place where I can learn more about technical terms and read an urbane critique of films I love. Without blogging, I could never have seen a this part of the world, and definitely not communicate. This is the link.

Applying a Critical Lens (dreaming of the days when I have become a teacher)

Last night, searching through youtube I came across something very interesting. My favorite band (and Jason Webley, very interesting man who opened for them...plays the accordion, and i will add, he plays it rather stylishly) covered "Living on a Prayer" by Jon Bon Jovi. I thought this was an interesting selection because The Dresden Dolls (my favorite band) don't strike me as Bon Jovi fans. So, the video began and several things made me want to turn it off: at first there was no visual image, then they just started to play and the quality was bad, and the video quality was not clear ...But then it happened.

Something that I think is exceptionally cool. They stopped playing. And the three of them proceeded to analyze the lyrics of the song. What was happening (in my eyes) was a visual critical paper. They presented their argument, their thesis, and then they provided examples to support their thesis. I thought this was extraordinary. They looked at this song critically and reflected upon it. I love artist's social commentaries on other performer's work. So here is the video, watch it, it is brilliant.

Similarly, in the classroom, (when I eventually become a teacher) I would show my students this clip and then tell them to do the same thing. I would assign them to look critically at a song, analyze and interpret it, and give a visual response. I think that is a very cool assignment, I know as a student I would love to do it.

Criticism

In my reading endeavors I have come across a constructive way to live. To not complain or criticize: "Don't complain about the snow on your neighbor's roof when your doorstep is unclean." Basically anytime you confront someone and criticize them you put them on the defensive. They will always justify their actions and rarely if ever see their own faults. When something goes wrong it is best to think of it as water under the bridge. Lashing out at them will relieve my feelings but it will make the other person justify them self. It will make them condemn me.


One thing to say this but I am going to try and actually apply it. Sounds like common sense but rarely do people live like this. They normally criticize and condemn. Any fool can criticize-and most do.

By the way most of this is me paraphrasing or quoting. Not like I am dispensing any advice at all.

A taste of my youtube page

This is before I started directing films, I dabbled with editing (i-movie part of i-life 06').









I like to think that I tell a story here. That I have not merely put a string of clips to music. That it is a music video for the song. That the actions unfold telling a story about the lyrics. Even further, the actions tell an intimate story between the two of them: a romance, and a struggle. A parting. Maybe I could be over romanticism, or maybe it's the wine, but I feel very strongly about this video and I hope you enjoy. It has close to 2,000 views and I've had people put it on their myspace profile so I guess some are pleased with my work.

Hiding behind a digital mask

Before I begin speaking of today's events I need to tell you about certain aspects of my life.

I LOVE MOVIES. ok, I am obsessed with films. I watch one almost every single day. I have netflixx 3 at a time so I get them at a pretty fast demand. Last semester I watch almost 2 movies a day (when possible). My life is surrounding myself with great art. I feel like watching a great film is a culturing experience. That you learn something and become a better person. I do not watch movies like Beerfest or anything that Lindsey Lohan would be in. I watch Hitchock, and Tarantino, The Godfather, Seven, Requiem for a dream. I watch movies that teach you about life. So digressing from my obsession...

Today I was online and someone I did not know im'd me: "hey." I responded with the same. She informed me that through a friend she saw a picture of me on facebook and she thought I was cute. She told me I seemed cool and wanted to talk to me, that she liked my movies.

Now I was taken back because, well this stuff use 2 happen in 7th grade, this stuff happened back then when your friends were screwing around with you. They'd pretend to be a cool girl that liked you. But we are 21 now!

Do i believe it? No! The cynic in me is still weary (since when are girls the aggressor). But I entertain the thought and continue speaking. She tells me that her favorite movie is Eternal Sunshine (my favorite movie) and that she loves Charlie Kaufman (my favorite writer). Now things are starting to get hairy cause either I have found my soul mate or some1 I know is not playing cautious, spilling out all they know about me in the first 5 minutes. I ask her if she has seen Adaptation and she says no (which confuses me cause how could u know Kaufman and not see his 2nd best work, liar or not the response should be yea). So she asks for a description and I give a brief one. She tells me is going to have to netflixx it (red flag #2).

There are other absurd details but I will rest here. I mean is this someone I know hiding behind a digital mask or is she sincere. I don't know anymore: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite" (Blake).

Prejudice on Second Life

Ok, I am certainly not a second life veteran (so some of you may completely disagree) but I noticed something today. Something I was very surprised to see. I was on orientation island trying to get some new clothes when my house mate Bill came down and looked at my screen. There were about 25 people in a very close vicinity. Bill is not a member of Second Life but he is educated he has had several conversations about it. And to tell my story I need to tell his story 1st.

Bill told me about a couple that met, built a relationship, romanced, and then married each other all through Second Life (got married in person, not in SL). I don't know how I feel about that but i certainly feel that it is great you can not care about appearance and go solely on personality and connection. These two truly fell in love with each other, not being seduced by security or money or position in life.

He went on to tell me that the guys avatar was this really tan good looking guy and the girl was this statuesque blond. In real life, both were over weight and resembled nothing of their character. I laughed that off and thought what an interesting story that was.

So back to Bill peering at my screen. "No one is unattractive" Bill interjected. "What?" I replied. There were women with mini-skirts and men with muscles but not one normal looking person. Everyone was dressed to the 9's, decked out in the craziest fashion. I will defend this with the fact that there were mythical looking avatars not resembling people, but the next fact completely puts a spin on the whole story.

Even in Second life people are prejudice. Judgment and segregation does not escape you anywhere in this world. I was talking to people asking them questions, and they were answering back, as usual...Then Bill and I embarked on an experiment. I MADE MYSELF FAT. I took my height all the way down, and I made myself as fat as possible. And guess what? Was there a difference in how people treated me? YES! The very 1st person I addressed said "yea, what fatty?" then as I returned to the female in the mini-skirt and the tan man, neither of them responded to me. PREJUDICE ON SECOND LIFE.

This is evil

All I wanted to do was get some more money on second life so I followed what the book said and went to money tree island. And I clicked on the tree and did some surveys. I blew through most of them but right b4 i finished I realized I was about to order a credit card.

This stuff is dangerous you really have to pay attention to what is going on. I dont like that. This second life thing is kinda fun but i dont know it is a little too real for me. I mean there should be a line between games and real stuff, you shouldnt be able to get in trouble while playing games but that could have led to bad things. There might have been certain charges i would have been required to make. i am a college student this stuff scares me.I don't know I might tune this 2nd life thing down i don;t know.

Getting use to

I think I am getting use to Second Life. I have been reading the book but all it does is tell you about second life. I feel like it doesn't really tell you how-to. I am a kind of person who needs the how to, but luckily everyone is very friendly. I have been learning a great deal just by asking. My name on second life is Quintan Quinnell.

Second Life

So after visiting a friend of mine in the library I have been inspired to create my Second Life account. I am very excited, everything has just been very hectic. I never know what to do and I get so anxious over what I have missed/ am missing, that I always wind up falling even deeper behind.

I first learned about Second Life last semester in ENG 307 when a grad student (T.A.) named Ray showed us over ther projector. It seemed like a lot of fun, but I never physically moved myself to join. Now, months later here I am.

Freaking out

Ok I am freaking out. For some reason I can not get into this class. Everything seems so foreign. And the weird thing is I'm really good with this stuff. I am sooo far behind and everything is passing me by. I keep having to do certain things and if I come across the most minor road block I quit. It is terrible. About the only thing I am up on is the reading, but besides that this is really annoying I feel so far back. Anyway I am going to give this another try.

Getting to know me better

Hi, I thought I would provide a few links to some places that would give you some insight to who I am. So I will start with my youtube and myspace accounts. A little background: I started out making goofy skits with my friend back in freshmen year and over time it has evolved into a deeper obsession. So now I write and direct films in my free time (summer). So I encourage you to watch them (DERAILED, and HINDSIGHT). I hope you enjoy.

Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=neo345aol
Myspace (made for my 2 short films): http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=228295988

Facebook: http://cortland.facebook.com/profile.php?id=733735033

Hello

Hi, my name is Phil Giordano and this is my blog created for PWR 209. Here is a short video introducing myself.