In this class, we look at changing pictures or using images with the help of various computer programs in order to get our messages across.  It’s something that I’ve always envied in people who are skilled with Photoshop and the like, but now I feel like I can claim to have some skills with these programs.  The best part is being able to show people a website that I made and that is actually online with working animations and links.

Now, back to the email…one thing I don’t feel skilled in is actual art. By this I mean, I’m not extremely good with painting, mostly because I’m not patient enough. My drawing is decent and I haven’t ever attempted any 3D types of art like ceramics.  This email from my mom had images of a man who is either pretty handy with Photoshop or really creative and good with a paint brush.  This man paints himself to match his surroundings.  The last image that I will post is the best, good luck finding him.

I haven’t actually decided whether or not I think this man is actually painted or if he edited after. Every piece of information I’ve seen regarding him indicates that he really does paint himself. If that’s true, it really is incredible.

It’s like EyeSpy

And now this is the really hard one to see…

If you need a hint, look near the front wheel.

Like I said, if this isn’t trick photography or photoshop, then this man is truly an artist. Granted he is a bizarre one, but it is really cool!

In this movie, people essentially live alone. There is little to no interaction and instead, they rely on the virtual reality world for their relationships and life.  I haven’t seen the movie but I did come across several billboards for it that made me double take.

I think there can be some interesting messages found in this advertisement.

In a world where no real human interaction is necessary and everything is simply virtual, people seem to avoid the hard parts of life.  This can be seen as spineless.  Instead though, the billboard shows a metal spine.  Is it contrary or is it a replacement thanks to technology for the spine that living a real life would give you?

Resources:

IMDB

Mike and I were discussing this after class today and he mentioned something that caught my attention – the Dada movement. Essentially, this movement was a protest against the horrors of World War I.  People came together to reject the ideals of those causing the war and the reasons, such as nationalism, behind the battles.  In doing this, they rejected all other aspects of the culture, including its art.  They demonstrated this publicly and created their own non-art.

The most noteworthy person in this movement was Marcel Duchamp who is most known for basically grabbing a urinal and proclaiming it as art.  He called this the “Fountain.”  He also added a mustache to a copy of the Mona Lisa with some choice words as well.  The piece that I like best is his Tu m’. This one could actually be considered art and is intriguing to look at despite its name implying ‘You bore me.’

Although my views are not as extreme as the Dadaist because you won’t find me proclaiming that a bicycle wheel on a stool is art, I enjoy the message that they have proclaimed.  I think we need to be critical of what we accept as art. I honestly don’t see what makes this…

so special. Sorry to bust on Malevich, but I’m not really seeing how this is worthy of a place in an art museum.  Give me a compass and I can draw an off-centered black circle too.  I agree that you can find art or aesthetically pleasing things in aspects of life other than art museums, afterall, one of my earlier posts used images of beer through microscopes as art.  The term is loose, but I am not afraid to draw the line and call out certain ‘artists’ or at least question their ‘works of art.’

Resources:

About Dadaism

WiseGeek

One of the most recent and extremely popular forms of technology is the text message.  We no longer have time to call people on the phone and most kids in the generation younger than us, don’t even know what it is like to call a friend’s house and have his mom answer the phone.  Our reliance on this new, quick and impersonal technology has handicapped our interpersonal communication skills.

Are we even present in our daily conversations? Half the time  people sit in groups and instead of talking to each other, they are constantly texting. I’ve been guilty of this too, not gonna lie.  On top of that, this type of talking can barely count as english.  Texting and IMing has created it’s own language to make the typing go even faster. Some of the shorthands are just ridiculous and probably take longer to actually figure out than typing the original phrase would.

There are the obvious benefits of having such amazing technologies – the world is smaller and nothing is out of reach.  However, what impact is it actually having on the way we live? 20 years ago, would I be have the ability to share a stream of consciousness/dialogue with my classmates? Would I have needed to or even wanted to? For me, nothing will ever beat the classic face-to-face conversation.

‘They Rule’ takes a look at who is in charge of American companies – who’s holding all the cash and who they are most closely tied to.  The intertwining is phenomenal but not surprising.  The clever maps designed by other creators subtly challenge the ruling class of America.  The more popular maps, like WITHIN 2 PHONE CALLS FROM BUSH, even poke fun at this ruling class since it quickly connects Bush to McDonald’s instead of an organization that would make more sense in politics, like the UN.

Despite this fun and artistic aspect, the overall tone of the website comes off as bitter or cynical.  I’m not saying this is bad since the practices of those in power should be scrutinized and questioned, but it was more unexpected for me.  The way Josh On crafted this website, his final message and intent manage to sneak up on you.  It is actually a pleasant surprise.

Before our technology became advanced enough to make a handful of soybeans taste like chicken, vegetarians would have to make do with just that handful of soybeans.  Now you can get a vegetarian version of chicken and be basically fooled by the taste.  I’ve experienced this in the dining halls here at UD and, however much that thing on my plate tasted like chicken (well, like dining hall chicken so much lower standards that actual chicken), I could not get over the fact that there was zero meet in it.  What was it?  It could be similar to the ‘unchicken‘ found at certain KFCs.  Surprised? So was I.  The place is Kentucky Fried CHICKEN not Kentucky Fried Tofu.  It makes me question whether creating such a synthetic product can still be considered organic enough to fall under the guidelines of vegetarianism.  When you are taking vegetables or vegetable bi-products and altering them so much that they start to taste like the animals that you have made a conscious choice not to eat, it really makes me wonder if this still counts?

On one hand, if you are going to be a vegetarian, then be a vegetarian. Don’t fake it and invent that meat taste from something that is acceptable for a vegetarian diet.

On the other hand, if we have the scientific techniques to give these environmentally conscious people the option to still enjoy a carnivorous flavor, then by all means we should.  It’s similar to the way that lactose intolerant people can still enjoy a milk flavor without having to ingest dairy.

Like my project, I’m not going to firmly say that it is right or wrong but I’m also not going to let you sit back and not consider what’s really in a veggie burger.  There’s no ground beef under the sesame seed bun on a vegetarian’s plate, but their taste buds may never know the difference.

Considering the above quote, do you know what you’re looking at? I’ll give you a hint, I bet most of you actually love it and probably have it in your house. Well, I don’t think I’m going to tell you what’s going on just yet (a ploy to make you read on? maybe).

This post was inspired by my nerdy side actually.  By that, I’m talking about the many engineering friends that I have who always claim that they could never do the artsy things I’m involved with thanks to Art 307.  I beg to differ. In the very end of the Digital Art reading, I highlighted the quote that started this entry.  I found it intriguing that by this author’s definition, digital art doesn’t necessarily have to come from artists – it can come from scientists, researchers or almost any field.

Obviously, the engineers that I know fall into the fields that aren’t ordinarily artists. One day, though, a friend of mine who is doing research here at UD decided to show me his lab. His exact words were “you should come see the reaction…it makes pretty colors, you like that!”  Admittedly, I do like pretty colors and I’m sure anyone who has taken high school science knows that chemical reactions can often result in something that is visually pleasing.  This same friend then showed me some pictures from his lab, ones that he had taken. I had no idea what they were over, but they did resemble images that you can find in art museums – abstract views of colors and shapes.  I don’t really remember what the chemical was, but the pictures were electron microscopic views of the substance he was working with.

Now, don’t get too excited, that’s not what the above images are. Before I tell you, let me first ask, do they look like art? Would you maybe hang one of those on your wall?  Whether you said yes or no, I can tell you that someone would since the website where I found these images gives you the option to buy them in poster form.  I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to learn that these are images from microscopes.  They’re an everyday product, magnified with an optical microscope.  I don’t think I would commonly consider a microscope to be found next to an artist’s paint brush, but in the world of digital art where almost anything seems possible, honestly, why not?  Digital art simply utilizes some form of technology to make something beautiful (or at least in the eye of the creator).  It opens up so many possibilities to artists and it reveals the creativity that can be found in other fields which wouldn’t readily be considered as ‘artsy.’

If you’ve stuck with me this far, I think  you deserve to know. The original pictures are actually images of different beers under that optical microscope.  Who knew that beer could make something look so beautiful?

Resources:

Molecular Expressions

If you look into the evolution of the laws guiding movie ratings, it is easy to see that what is acceptable for younger and younger ages is becoming increasingly more lax. The MPAA used to not allow the word “fuck” in anything PG but now you can find up to four “fucks” in a PG-13 film (see ‘Rating Process’). Have teenagers become more immune to this word making it okay? Whatever the reasoning for the change, all media forms have followed this trend.  TV programming is extremely crude after a certain time at night, just watch adult swim one day and you’ll understand.

That’s actually where this whole blog comes from.  As a Mass Comm major who will hopefully find a career in media and as a current DJ on a station subject to FCC rules, the “do”s and the “don’t”s of the media are important to me.  What can I say or what do I have to ‘bleep’? The rules constantly change and aren’t actually set in stone so it is usually better to play it safe. However, while I play it safe, the creators of Family Guy manage to get away with this…

Hilarious and awful all at the same time, yet it makes the point and rules of the FCC quite clear. If you wouldn’t say it to your conservative Grandmother, you probably shouldn’t say it in a general audience setting. Well, fuck that!

Resources:

FCC

FCC vs. F-word

The Death of the Grown-Up (pg 93)

I considered this during our discussion concerning “Reports of my Death.” It was hard to fathom that people lacked so much attention, that they would have to fake their own death in order to feel loved.  When you consider that receiving attention and emotion fulfillment as necessary human needs, this digital outreach becomes less far-fetched.  It has been claimed that satisfying these emotional needs, is just as important as satisfying the basic physical needs such as eating.  Attention, both giving and receiving it, is seen as a form of nutrition. It goes along with the idea of needing physical contact or a certain amount of hugs a day (4-12).

The reading from class suggests that people are not having this need for attention filled with their normal lives, so they turn to the internet. The internet has replaced many aspects of our physical lives by giving us an easier and more accessible outlet that is always at our fingertips.  In “Reports of my Death,” the web replaces traditional obituaries or word of mouth. Sites like facebook or any blog have replaced the need to talk to anyone face-to-face on a daily basis. Match-making sites have even replaced the traditional need to date people in order to find love.  All of these examples fulfill different levels of the attention that we seek and they can all be used without ever leaving your own room. As long as digital attention from a lifeless screen is similar enough to physical attention from a real person, than this new trend should pose no real issues for human beings. However, are the two synonymous?  I think not but the suggestions in Howard Swains’ article beg to differ.