it's aLIVE!

Well, the time has actually arrived. It is the end of the semester, the culmination of all we've learned. Cheers to everyone because I'm sure your MEmorials are great.

Here is the final link to mine.

Can't wait for pizza night, and to see y'all one more time before Christmas break begins tomorrow. (I think I'm actually getting slightly teary-eyed)

déjà vu anyone?

I was excited to begin this weeks reading for several reasons:

1. I was back to Reading Images, a book I have thoroughly enjoyed (it matches seamlessly with my field of study)
2. The topic was discussing 3D imagery, specifically sculpture and video (moving pictures) which is rather appropriate to my MEmorial.
3. It was the end of the book, and I always feel some weird satisfaction whenever I finish a book (I could be finishing a children's picture book and I'd still have the same feeling)

Upon reaching the midpoint of chapter 8, however, I became slightly bitter at not coming to any new realization. I wanted the sky to open up and produce rays of pure genius for my MEmorial. The entire chapter was dedicated to review. The few new points, which were really just adaptations, were items we had discussed in class. Early on in the semester Jan asked if what we were learning about still images could be applied to moving pictures, and we all agreed and discussed how to adapt the rules of modality, given and new, etc.

The most interesting point became in chapter 9 (which I'm not sure I really consider a new chapter, more of a conclusion) when K&VL discuss regrets they wish they had pursued further.

"We have become increasingly aware of this [that the work has just begun] and have tried to write out grammar not as one which describes fixed 'rules' and a stable 'system', nor as one which seeks to capture the detail of everything people can and do do in visual communication, but as a flexible set of resources that people use in ever new and ever different acts of visual sign-making."

This was an appropriate decision on their part to make this text an overview, or guidebook, to people to adapt to their specific needs. I know I have learned much and look and evaluate images and my design work differently. Had they dug much deeper into the specifics, I think readers would have become bogged down in the nitty gritty and not grasped the basic concepts. Heavens, there are enough basic concepts to grasp as there is, lets not confuse students by adding more noise to the spectrum. This was a successful book in my opinion. Were they to bring out another book that specifically discussed new points about sculpture in gross detail, I would be appreciative, but until that point I am going to run with what I am given.

My MEmorial will be an in the round installation sculpture on the grounds of the American Legion in Anderson, SC. After the vandalism of the dough-boy statue, I have decided to erect a new statue, a digital one that cannot be torn down. My plan is as follows:

• Behind the current remains of the dough-boy statue I am going to place a large granite stone with a rounded top, similar to that of a tombstone.
• On the stone I am going to project digital images of children who are standing, and their feet will be missing, to be lined up to the remaining feet of the former monument.
• Because the majority of my audience is going to view this from their car as they drive by, I am going to hijack the radio frequencies when cars drive down the highway in front of the property. The song "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" will be heard being sung by children.
• The monument will only be seen at night to give an eerie feeling to the area, as if it is haunted by the fallen soldiers.
  

I had hoped to have the images taken for my web presence before class this week, and I was planning on driving there today, but the rain has made that impossible. Because of that I cannot start my website, so I'm going to describe it...and you'll just have to use your imagination. I am going to design a flash website that begins by having the background of the site appear as a watercolor. Then the statue (or lack there of) will appear from the bottom. Afterward the stone will grow up behind it, it will change color to mimic night, and the images will begin to flash onto the stone.

After considering making a Photoshop mock up, I felt that the rendition would look cheap and unbelievable. If I were to make a real proposal to erect this statue, as an artist I would draw up the plans myself. I want this to be believable and as though I were really planning to follow this through, so I am going to attempt to watercolor my proposal. My flash skills are a little rusty, so we'll see what happens (gulp).

agree with disagreement

This week campus has had an interesting visitor. Brother Micah has made his return to Clemson to preach at students about how they are all going to Hell. I have not personally met him (or seen him, but he is on y'all's side of campus, so maybe you have witnessed him) but from what my student's have been telling me, he just stands outside yelling at people.

This is not his first trip to Tigertown. He was here last year with the same convictions, but this time is making me a little more angry than his former appearance. What good does he hope to accomplish? I'm assuming his hopes are that all us wicked sinner students will suddenly see some light, repent of our sins and bow at his feet asking him to lead us to Jesus. But unfortunately, his tactics are doing nothing more than reinforcing nonreligious peoples preconceived notions and is placing him on a long list of televangelists with bad hair that get nowhere in the hearts of nonchristians.

And then it hit me. Our discussion last week of our MEmorials filled me with ideas, but all the choices we had discussed would lead to a similar outcome as Brother Micah. If I send out postcards to each person that visits an anti-southern site or video, that's going to do nothing except annoy those that get the postcard or e-mail and reinforce that person's dislike of all things related to the south. As I continued to mull over possibilities throughout the week, I decided to take a very Church-y approach to my topic (which seems to fit well with my chosen MEmorial because of how influential the Church has been to its history). I have sat through many sermons discussing the plank in one's eye parable. Attaching that to my MEmorial, I should try to fix the South before I can hope to change the attitudes of those outside this area starting with placing my MEmorial in Anderson (which is where I have spent much of my life). I want to create an electronic memorial on the former site of the American Legion statue that was stolen a couple of years ago. I want to create a holographic symbol that projects from the feet of the missing statue discussing the manners and traditions that make up southern hospitality and culture.

I'm not sure exactly how I want to do this, but that's where I'm headed...to Anderson...to battle the rednecks head on with education. It's gonna be like dumping salt on a slug :)

meet maggie: mood maker

Have we seen a softer side of Ulmer? Up until this point the discussion has been fairly impersonal and very much based on research. In chapter 6 however, Ulmer lets his hair down and I think I like it. His showing a tinge of vulnerability reminds me he truly is human and not some computer-like philosopher spitting out quotes and facts.

Which came first: my feeling (even if I could not name it) or the theory? The dilemma is structured like the fetish: intellectually I know that nothing I do will improve the world. Emotionally I believe that my actions make a difference for the better ("I know, but still...)...Can I do this? Can I inhabit the theory of narrative as if it were the narrative itself? More than the narrative, as if knowing the theory put the narrative directly into experience? I know that the fairy tale and the wish it expresses are the safe house of the Utopian impulse. What may we learn about consulting from narrative? (p 164)

This is something I really struggle with and is much of the reason I chose not to tackle an abject topic for my MEmorial. When I experience a punctus, I am very unable to keep myself unbiased. As much as I like to claim that I am unemotional, who am I kidding? I get all worked up when it comes to a soap-box topic of mine. It is my task as a egent to remain unbiased, but I don't know that I would be able to stand back an thrust out an "abject hypothesis concerning the politics of the homo sacer" (p 157). Alas, I am an emotional being. I do, however, think I could take the approach of discovering mood (p 154). Mood implies emotion, something I really understand and relate to.

If our class were an Egency, could we elect positions? Like in an advertising firm there are titles like Creative Director, Designer, Productions Specialists, Marketing Guru, CEO, etc. Could the same thing be done for an Egency? Can I elect myself the mood-maker? That would be a fitting position for me, to map the emotional train that is a disaster. Being visual by nature, I like the idea of using a MEmorial "to map and participate in mood construction, tracing the series of pain." As a team of egents, our class could each take a direction to pull a complete disaster profile together, allowing our many personal and academic strengths to fully flesh out an amazing MEmorial.

what i learned from television

I have admitted before that I have really struggled trying to understand some of the chapters in Ulmer's book. Call me unintelligent or feel free to appoint me a better smarter-sounding label that still means that I am rather obtuse....can I at least get a A for effort?

Anyway, Chapter 5 in particular was very difficult. Usually I highlight points that I understand or may find useful when writing my blog. Chapter 5 has no highlighting from page 120 until you reach 134. All the pages are gray in my mind. I can't remember a single thing that I understood or could piece together as a single corresponding thought. I'm sure the chapter makes sense, but I never could get the pieces of this reading puzzle to fit.

As much as I would like to write that I found some profound gem on page 134, I really am just digging myself into a hole. This video is a clip from Big Bang Theory that discusses mimesis. I got the biggest kick out of actually discovering a new word that I learned off television. That was my profound discovery. Out of the twenty or so-odd pages in chapter 5, that's what I got out of it...a lesson on Nebraska football and kite fighting. All this being stated, I am really looking forward to class this week in hopes that we will be discussing some of this information to I can try and make some form of basic sense. I hope your blogs on chapter 5 are thorough, because they are going to have to be my teacher.

apple butter

Here is my final video project. I hope it makes you hungry :)

camera!

Hey Y'all. At the end of class last time I was talking about the camera I bought, and so I'm posting a link to show which one I choose. I wasn't really sure what I wanted, just something good for the money. The guy I spoke with at the store was very complementary of this JVC model. I was originally looking at buying a Sony, but after the guy told me I was going to have to buy a special SD card for the camera just to use it, I was pretty sold on the JVC...especially after I found out the SD card was going to cost me something ridiculous like $60.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9185865&type=product&id=1218049843479

Here are the reasons why I like this camera:

1. Huge internal hard drive: no need for an SD card, but there is a slot in the top of the camera to add an additional card for extra memory. And that means nooooo discs or tapes!
   
2. Easy to use features.
3. Small and Compact.
4. Pretty good sound quality.

I hope this is helpful...I had told several of you that I paid about $300 for the camera, but I bought an extra card with it. The real price is $270.