Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
After Converstaions
The things that i would like to take from my conversations would probably be some confidence in my idea. After explaining how I planned on taking my project, most of my partners told me that it was interesting. As to how to make my piece more literary-oriented or how to make it less depressing I find myself on my own.
what will your last piece be?
funny,serious, life-changing, important, moving, profound
I fell like once it is done my piece could illicit humor, or possibly a feeling not unlike profound. Pragmatically, I think viewers will find my animation pointlessly frustrating or dark or mildly entertaining.
My idea is of a Maze, with the viewer trapped inside. Choices move the viewer about in a confusing manner and all options should seem equally hopeless. I'm having trouble making options not serious enough or so serious that it gives off a different message then I'd like. I think that after a viewer is done being bamboozled by the game and think about the options and how they are juxtaposed they may contrast it to their own views and be enlightened. Not inventing a new system of government or nirvana enlightened but maybe a "huh" type deal.
what will your last piece be?
funny,serious, life-changing, important, moving, profound
I fell like once it is done my piece could illicit humor, or possibly a feeling not unlike profound. Pragmatically, I think viewers will find my animation pointlessly frustrating or dark or mildly entertaining.
My idea is of a Maze, with the viewer trapped inside. Choices move the viewer about in a confusing manner and all options should seem equally hopeless. I'm having trouble making options not serious enough or so serious that it gives off a different message then I'd like. I think that after a viewer is done being bamboozled by the game and think about the options and how they are juxtaposed they may contrast it to their own views and be enlightened. Not inventing a new system of government or nirvana enlightened but maybe a "huh" type deal.
On Monstrum
I learned with this project how to make a lot of frames out of a small number, to better know what I want my end result to look like to make the beginning and middle steps more streamlined. I learned more about timing and using amounts of frames better, which I seem to learn some of every project, and also I did a lot of work with symbols inside symbols. I tried to make something only possible through animation, that couldn't be captured by normal writing. I completely abandoned my original idea about internet grazing and focused on a monster of adjectives that looks like a cloud, but probably represents multiple images to viewers.
If I had two or three more days to work on the project I don't know what I would do. I might speed up the start or sped more time on the monster's origin, on a blackboard or a journal of an angsty youth. I spent a lot more time then I planned on this piece at first but to make everything look like I had envisioned I needed to put forth more then I expected. I hope my long project is not shorter then this one.
I would decide what I wanted to have happen a lot sooner were I to tell past me what to do differently with this project. I spend time making my monster but it had words that were backwards and vertical so I thought it might be hard to read. I tried to make my stick figure look more realistic in his movements and wasted a lot of time.
If I had two or three more days to work on the project I don't know what I would do. I might speed up the start or sped more time on the monster's origin, on a blackboard or a journal of an angsty youth. I spent a lot more time then I planned on this piece at first but to make everything look like I had envisioned I needed to put forth more then I expected. I hope my long project is not shorter then this one.
I would decide what I wanted to have happen a lot sooner were I to tell past me what to do differently with this project. I spend time making my monster but it had words that were backwards and vertical so I thought it might be hard to read. I tried to make my stick figure look more realistic in his movements and wasted a lot of time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Autopoiesis
In the article ar is decribed as, "that human activity that can confound the basic sense we make of things so that we see things in a manner we might otherwise never have considered." While this can apply to some art it isn't the definition of art. All the post-modern and experimental art seems to try to subvert our assumptions of what art is or our beliefs, but I think a well made pot or painting of some fruit also count as art.
I was fairly confused throughout the reading as to the implications of what was said. The definitions of what was being done never seemed to be definite. The first sentence,"Novelty is intrinsic to semiosis, the complex processes by which meaning is differentiated in signification.", broke down to "Producing meaning involves importance and new-ness", in my mind. Art is described to show the viewer a representation of something and through that, the new ways in which that thing are related to the viewer.
Concerning how novelty and semiosis and creativity tie in to identity, I don't think this is an easy question to answer. I guess that identity can be how one sees themselves in relation to other things; be they religions, social groups, other indivduals, and by making art that reinvents how you see things it changes how you see yourself?
I was fairly confused throughout the reading as to the implications of what was said. The definitions of what was being done never seemed to be definite. The first sentence,"Novelty is intrinsic to semiosis, the complex processes by which meaning is differentiated in signification.", broke down to "Producing meaning involves importance and new-ness", in my mind. Art is described to show the viewer a representation of something and through that, the new ways in which that thing are related to the viewer.
Concerning how novelty and semiosis and creativity tie in to identity, I don't think this is an easy question to answer. I guess that identity can be how one sees themselves in relation to other things; be they religions, social groups, other indivduals, and by making art that reinvents how you see things it changes how you see yourself?
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Rough draft for Research Paper
I choose to look at some of Neil Hennessy’s digital poetry for my research paper. Here are a few factoids that I found to better illustrate the man. Neil Hennessy graduated with both bachelors of mathematics in computer science and bachelors in English Literature. In his poetry Hennessy seems to draw on the two fields equally. In Neil’s biography he is described as a poet, new media and performance artist, as well as a pataphysician. Pataphysics, I soon-after learned is a pseudophilosophy that is dedicated to studying what lies beyond metaphysics. Pataphysics was originally coined as ‘the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments.” It is in essence a parody the theory of modern science and is often expressed in nonsensical language.
This aspect of the nonsensical in Neil Hennessy’s piece “JABBER: The Jabberwocky Engine” was what choose me to pick Neil as my topic. The program is a box filled with moving letters. When the letters collide a calculation determines if they stick together or not. The calculation is an algorithm based off the English language and creates the words by the rules that most English words follow. The newly-formed words can then combine with other words to make compound fake words.
Hennessy writes that JABBER realizes a linguistic chemistry with letters as atoms and words as molecules, but I see JABBER as something a little different. In my mind JABBER feels very much like looking through a microscope at a Petri dish full of single celled organisms. Instead of the building blocks of matter they are the building blocks of life, mainly because the way they squirm around looks life-like to me. The way the letters and words evolve and feed off one another is very similar to the way atoms tussle for control of electrons and combine to form new elements, but language has always been a living thing in essence. Hennessy wrote that each time the generator is initiated the result is a different dynamic nonsense word sound poem.
“Puddle” is an animated poem by Hennessy that is so simple and short I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in our class. In fact I believe Maria’s word-poem was extremely similar to it. The poem begins with the word puddle alone on a screen, then a stream of i’s fall through the ‘u’ to make the word piddle, which I thought was the best aspect of the poem and then was depressed that my favorite part had to be about urination. The ‘i’ then changes to an ‘a’ making the word ‘paddle’, and acts as a paddle to propel the word forward until finally the ‘a’ changes to an ‘e’ making the word ‘peddle’ and the ‘e’ then moves like a bicycle peddle, causing the word to glide off screen. The meaning of this poem seemed to be the same as the meaning behind all of our word-poems, to play with animation and language. The viewer is meant to see the words, associate them to their meanings and be entertained by how the words act inductively.
(Epitome,, Absurdism, dada, language poets)
The Obfuscator is a writing program that Hennessy has written that takes writing and creates longer words around the existing words to it to create new meaning and new poetry. I think that the explanation Hennessy gives for his program’s applications and purpose were humorous as well as insightful. Hennessy boasts that his program can make the sentences unwieldy, plodding, and needlessly complex. The purpose of the program is clear, to add meaning and words to existing meaning and words.
Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll both inverted conventions in language to create works where meaning was prevalent and absent. While both these authors wrote in ways that deviated from the norm, their works were highly entertaining and purposefully structured. I believe that is the primary difference between non-sense poetry and Concrete poetry, which I like to refer to as no-sense poetry. Where both subjects can contain white spaces with words randomly floating, nonsense lacks any coherent meaning, which invites incoherent meaning, while experimental poetry rejects the conventions of meaning. If a coherent sentence with easily ascertainable information were to be fire, nonsense would be ice, and experimental poetry would strive to lack temperature in any way. It would be non-temperature.
[[I know I spend too much time writing about what his projects are and not about how they mean or what they do, other then that any feedback would be appreciated]]
This aspect of the nonsensical in Neil Hennessy’s piece “JABBER: The Jabberwocky Engine” was what choose me to pick Neil as my topic. The program is a box filled with moving letters. When the letters collide a calculation determines if they stick together or not. The calculation is an algorithm based off the English language and creates the words by the rules that most English words follow. The newly-formed words can then combine with other words to make compound fake words.
Hennessy writes that JABBER realizes a linguistic chemistry with letters as atoms and words as molecules, but I see JABBER as something a little different. In my mind JABBER feels very much like looking through a microscope at a Petri dish full of single celled organisms. Instead of the building blocks of matter they are the building blocks of life, mainly because the way they squirm around looks life-like to me. The way the letters and words evolve and feed off one another is very similar to the way atoms tussle for control of electrons and combine to form new elements, but language has always been a living thing in essence. Hennessy wrote that each time the generator is initiated the result is a different dynamic nonsense word sound poem.
“Puddle” is an animated poem by Hennessy that is so simple and short I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in our class. In fact I believe Maria’s word-poem was extremely similar to it. The poem begins with the word puddle alone on a screen, then a stream of i’s fall through the ‘u’ to make the word piddle, which I thought was the best aspect of the poem and then was depressed that my favorite part had to be about urination. The ‘i’ then changes to an ‘a’ making the word ‘paddle’, and acts as a paddle to propel the word forward until finally the ‘a’ changes to an ‘e’ making the word ‘peddle’ and the ‘e’ then moves like a bicycle peddle, causing the word to glide off screen. The meaning of this poem seemed to be the same as the meaning behind all of our word-poems, to play with animation and language. The viewer is meant to see the words, associate them to their meanings and be entertained by how the words act inductively.
(Epitome,, Absurdism, dada, language poets)
The Obfuscator is a writing program that Hennessy has written that takes writing and creates longer words around the existing words to it to create new meaning and new poetry. I think that the explanation Hennessy gives for his program’s applications and purpose were humorous as well as insightful. Hennessy boasts that his program can make the sentences unwieldy, plodding, and needlessly complex. The purpose of the program is clear, to add meaning and words to existing meaning and words.
Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll both inverted conventions in language to create works where meaning was prevalent and absent. While both these authors wrote in ways that deviated from the norm, their works were highly entertaining and purposefully structured. I believe that is the primary difference between non-sense poetry and Concrete poetry, which I like to refer to as no-sense poetry. Where both subjects can contain white spaces with words randomly floating, nonsense lacks any coherent meaning, which invites incoherent meaning, while experimental poetry rejects the conventions of meaning. If a coherent sentence with easily ascertainable information were to be fire, nonsense would be ice, and experimental poetry would strive to lack temperature in any way. It would be non-temperature.
[[I know I spend too much time writing about what his projects are and not about how they mean or what they do, other then that any feedback would be appreciated]]
Response to Feedback on Short Project
This blog is dedicated to Adam Koebel, without you none of this would have been possible.
I had technical difficulties with my project so I did not receive much feedback, but the feedback I got was appreciated. I was glad that my monster was recognized as what it was since it is made up of a mass of adjectives rather then having any shape. The suggestions I got were to lengthen the tween so that viewers can see it better. I plan on doing this by giving several shots of parts of the monster. I don't want to show the whole monster at first because from what little i know of monster movies, not being able to see the monster makes it scarier. But since its made up of words I probably should buck those conventions.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
New Medium, New Perceptions
“Innovative practice has pioneered not only new media but also new ways of perceiving through a given medium, a practice that has localized art not as a way of representing but as a way of making.” Page 173 of Digital Poetics by Loss Pequeno Glazier.
After reading the article I choose this quote because it ties in with the most things I have actual experience with, which frees me in part from baseless conjecture. Some new ways of perceiving through a given medium are webcomics, which have shifted in a way that I think most of the poets we have read in this class wish to see. In the early days of the Internet comics from the Sunday funnies were taken, scanned, and put online. The product was un-innovative, ignored the possibilities offered by the medium, and were frankly a little stale. Soon though, the properties unique to the World Wide Web caused a revolution. The idea of the infinite canvas, the idea that the space on a webpage can be whatever dimensions you want it to be, was utilized, bearing works that couldn’t be read in print because they would be very ungainly physically, but also because without the medium the art lost the ease and accessibility that helped shape it. On page 175 of the article the “alt tag” is brought up as a facet that electronic poetry could take advantage of. The webcomics that are my personal favorites all utilize the Alt tag, or hover text. In a webcomic it provided the perfect spot for a second punchline, invisible while the comics is read, and only a mouse movement away from being revealed. Also on page 175 under ‘Enabling new tools for intelligence”, is the concept of community produced works. MS Paint Adventures text-based adventure webcomic that utilized this concept in a very raw way. The artist started a comic by drawing a single panel. On his website he set up a comment box and whatever viewers wanted the next panel to be of, he drew it. The experiment then led to another comic where he used comment input to create the single panels, while he had an overall story arc that he made sure the panels more or less followed.
Through interactivity and user-controlled navigation a lot of web-pages feel less like pieces of paper, and more like virtual worlds to explore. I like the idea of Wiki trees, the concept of creating topologies of your favorite websites and sharing them online to other users with their own trees. The content is the same as if you had typed in each individual site’s URL but the end result is a unique piece that can be viewed as a whole or as the sum of its parts. New videogames like Spore or Little Big Planet allow for users to create levels as they play them and then makes those levels available to other users to play and explore. This user generated content not only is free for everyone, but can buck the typical narrative. A platformer game can become a murder-mystery, or a racing game can have fantasy elements added. Because the content is free, the levels are viewed completely differently then content developed by the company that produced the game. Gamers make the levels themselves and like the boy in the article they twist conventions, like a platformer being tweeked into a murder-mystery. The ways of perceiving comics and videogames has changed due to the medium shift towards a global network that all can be involved in the creation of.
After reading the article I choose this quote because it ties in with the most things I have actual experience with, which frees me in part from baseless conjecture. Some new ways of perceiving through a given medium are webcomics, which have shifted in a way that I think most of the poets we have read in this class wish to see. In the early days of the Internet comics from the Sunday funnies were taken, scanned, and put online. The product was un-innovative, ignored the possibilities offered by the medium, and were frankly a little stale. Soon though, the properties unique to the World Wide Web caused a revolution. The idea of the infinite canvas, the idea that the space on a webpage can be whatever dimensions you want it to be, was utilized, bearing works that couldn’t be read in print because they would be very ungainly physically, but also because without the medium the art lost the ease and accessibility that helped shape it. On page 175 of the article the “alt tag” is brought up as a facet that electronic poetry could take advantage of. The webcomics that are my personal favorites all utilize the Alt tag, or hover text. In a webcomic it provided the perfect spot for a second punchline, invisible while the comics is read, and only a mouse movement away from being revealed. Also on page 175 under ‘Enabling new tools for intelligence”, is the concept of community produced works. MS Paint Adventures text-based adventure webcomic that utilized this concept in a very raw way. The artist started a comic by drawing a single panel. On his website he set up a comment box and whatever viewers wanted the next panel to be of, he drew it. The experiment then led to another comic where he used comment input to create the single panels, while he had an overall story arc that he made sure the panels more or less followed.
Through interactivity and user-controlled navigation a lot of web-pages feel less like pieces of paper, and more like virtual worlds to explore. I like the idea of Wiki trees, the concept of creating topologies of your favorite websites and sharing them online to other users with their own trees. The content is the same as if you had typed in each individual site’s URL but the end result is a unique piece that can be viewed as a whole or as the sum of its parts. New videogames like Spore or Little Big Planet allow for users to create levels as they play them and then makes those levels available to other users to play and explore. This user generated content not only is free for everyone, but can buck the typical narrative. A platformer game can become a murder-mystery, or a racing game can have fantasy elements added. Because the content is free, the levels are viewed completely differently then content developed by the company that produced the game. Gamers make the levels themselves and like the boy in the article they twist conventions, like a platformer being tweeked into a murder-mystery. The ways of perceiving comics and videogames has changed due to the medium shift towards a global network that all can be involved in the creation of.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Big Project
For my big project I was thinking of doing something that involved a maze. My flash trail just expired so I will have to plan out my work more because I can only work on campus. I wanted to convey the feeling of being trapped, but with the idea that there is a way out. It is different then a cell where you are trapped, you know it, and you know there is no way out. I don't know if I am going to have a character trapped yet or if I will make the viewer feel trapped. I thought of using a maze and also about a way to make the animation moving or powerful. This project might have words leading the viewer or simply have writing along the wall of the maze. Probably the second one. I feel like I am having trouble using animated writing to its full potential opposed to just animating things and having it include writing.
I think the most helpful thing I could have from anyone would be help concerning how to make links in our flash animations. I am pretty sure its possible and am going to look online later but if you know how to do it already my life becomes that much easier. Besides learning how to put links into animations, I also would learn a little about steering viewers emotions and thinking so that my works can have the effect I intend them to.
I think the most helpful thing I could have from anyone would be help concerning how to make links in our flash animations. I am pretty sure its possible and am going to look online later but if you know how to do it already my life becomes that much easier. Besides learning how to put links into animations, I also would learn a little about steering viewers emotions and thinking so that my works can have the effect I intend them to.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Block
I choose the ontology perspective, which is concerned with the qualities of an existing medium. This subject seemed extremely relevant to the ideas proposed by the class. After looking up ‘ontology’ and finding out it meant ‘of being’, which I did not find exceedingly helpful, so I was left to make sense of the existing qualities of network and computer media as opposed to traditional mediums. The article stated, “symbol structure, from 0 to 1 (on/off) to complier languages to the programming language, makes up the complexity of the medium.”(p41) I found this concept much more helpful in understanding the aspects of computers that need to be evaluated to determine the difference between them and paper through the ontological perspective.
The article put forth that“…interactivity, multi- and intermediality, synaesthesia, ect., have their histories. But every medium imprints its signature into the code; consequently, every medium creates something new, even if it works with preexisting codes.”(p42)This reminded me strongly to a specific class discussion that we had. The question if animated literature could be truly innovative was put forth for groups to debate. This was in regard to concrete poetry but the answers the group I was in are highly applicable to the argument put forth in the article which went along the lines that, “…there is much in computer and net art that can be traced back to historical ideas, so that from an aesthetic point of view nothing really innovative results. Another viewpoint was that because of the materiality of the computer that it is able, fundamentally, to transform language and thus literature as well-links and programming can be used to transform a text into an ‘intelligent object’.”(42)
The conclusions from my own group were largely identical. New media draws upon older styles and mechanics so that nothing purely new can be made. But at the same time anything created differs from older objects and so embodies qualities that are new. At first I felt a little cheated when the views in the article were not wildly different from my own, eye opening, nirvana inspiring. But besides being worded much more nicely the ideas in the article, while being moderate in temperament, focus on how computers differ from, say, television.
Television can show words moving, shifting, changing, and emoting, but the computer and coding offers some properties that animation alone cannot duplicate. The network and link aspects of computer works add facets that are unique to this medium, allowing interactivity, personal navigation, and connective-ness. Another thing I was fascinated by was the emphasized computer-media quality of intelligence. The animations the class has been working on have been done in CSS flash which is good, because it is teachable in a semester. But I now realize that the most unique and groundbreaking pieces of computer poetry I have seen incorporate the properties of the symbols of computer media, coding. Animation can have flames move and dance but only computers can have that flame react in different was to different user actions or randomly to other properties.
The article put forth that“…interactivity, multi- and intermediality, synaesthesia, ect., have their histories. But every medium imprints its signature into the code; consequently, every medium creates something new, even if it works with preexisting codes.”(p42)This reminded me strongly to a specific class discussion that we had. The question if animated literature could be truly innovative was put forth for groups to debate. This was in regard to concrete poetry but the answers the group I was in are highly applicable to the argument put forth in the article which went along the lines that, “…there is much in computer and net art that can be traced back to historical ideas, so that from an aesthetic point of view nothing really innovative results. Another viewpoint was that because of the materiality of the computer that it is able, fundamentally, to transform language and thus literature as well-links and programming can be used to transform a text into an ‘intelligent object’.”(42)
The conclusions from my own group were largely identical. New media draws upon older styles and mechanics so that nothing purely new can be made. But at the same time anything created differs from older objects and so embodies qualities that are new. At first I felt a little cheated when the views in the article were not wildly different from my own, eye opening, nirvana inspiring. But besides being worded much more nicely the ideas in the article, while being moderate in temperament, focus on how computers differ from, say, television.
Television can show words moving, shifting, changing, and emoting, but the computer and coding offers some properties that animation alone cannot duplicate. The network and link aspects of computer works add facets that are unique to this medium, allowing interactivity, personal navigation, and connective-ness. Another thing I was fascinated by was the emphasized computer-media quality of intelligence. The animations the class has been working on have been done in CSS flash which is good, because it is teachable in a semester. But I now realize that the most unique and groundbreaking pieces of computer poetry I have seen incorporate the properties of the symbols of computer media, coding. Animation can have flames move and dance but only computers can have that flame react in different was to different user actions or randomly to other properties.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Alpha Thoughts
I had an idea for the short animation project. I feel as though I am a grazer of information. That being a grazer is diffrent now then it once was. The net offers a venue for grazing on such a wider scale then before and I was thinking of it earlier and your idea/joke to Nick's hypothetical phone menu adventure struck a chord with me, and the orchastra choose to follow suite. I Stumble with many modes and that it what I plan on writing/animating about.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Conversation Plan
For this project, Martha and I plan on researching and presenting different sides of the debate over the ethicality of genetic research. Specifically, we will probably focus on stem-cell research, as it seems to represent a more real possibility for the near-future than many other areas of study (and therefore a more pressing and controversial issue), although we also considered investigating the ethics of various eugenic practices (trying to eliminate genetic diseases through gene manipulation, choosing the "best" genes for one's fetus, etc.). We think that these are also very interesting topics, though we're not sure if they fit the parameters of this assignment (whether or not they're really "current").
The research we will need to do will include, obviously, the different arguments on whether these scientific advances are really positive or negative. We will also look up some of the science behind whatever sub-issue we choose, so we are better informed of the facts.
We thought about having our two "voices" talk over the phone, with the classic zig-zagged line down the middle to indicate who is saying what (as well as using font shape, color, etc. to better illustrate the speaker's character). We also talked about taking pictures of each other's reactions to each statement (confusion, outrage, disgust, etc.) and having our words appear in front of our reactions. We can figure out the reading speed easily by trying a number of different fps speeds and seeing which is most readable, both to ourselves or to others we show it to for feedback.
The research we will need to do will include, obviously, the different arguments on whether these scientific advances are really positive or negative. We will also look up some of the science behind whatever sub-issue we choose, so we are better informed of the facts.
We thought about having our two "voices" talk over the phone, with the classic zig-zagged line down the middle to indicate who is saying what (as well as using font shape, color, etc. to better illustrate the speaker's character). We also talked about taking pictures of each other's reactions to each statement (confusion, outrage, disgust, etc.) and having our words appear in front of our reactions. We can figure out the reading speed easily by trying a number of different fps speeds and seeing which is most readable, both to ourselves or to others we show it to for feedback.
Research paper plan
Neil Hennessy is the writer I wish to research, because after searching a slew of poets on Wikipedia, Google, and several of your suggested sites I link-hopped to ‘poems that go’ which lead me to JABBER: The Jabberwocky Engine. It is a program that makes up words. It was fairly neat and additionally it seemed extremely experimental to me, so I looked up Mr. Hennessy and found he had indeed written other works for me to draw upon.
I would like to research Neil Hennessy’s other works to see if he incorporates any themes. I find myself interested in the nature of nonsense in experimental poetry. To me the two seem to have a close connection, each blurring the other in experimental poetry.
I would find it helpful if you can think of any good examples of nonsense as a subject in papers or poems, that would help. Nonsense isn’t really a poet or movement so I would like feedback as to how much of the paper you think I should devote to this poet or the idea of nonsense. Like if I should write a paper on nonsense including Neil as one of my of my examples in a paper about nonsense in experimental literature or if I should write a paper on Neil with nonsense being one of the aspects of his works that I explore.
According to the calendar the first draft of this paper is due 11/11, so by then I should have one or two nights of gathering as much information as I can of the type that will best suite the theme of my paper that by then I will hopefully talked to you about by then. I will use the 22nd and 29th of October as days to use the library to find articles on nonsense in poetry and literature, and if I’m lucky, in experimental literature. I’ll look for Neil’s other works and other works that contain elements of nonsense. After the first draft is due I can work on revising and I will probably work on the paper when I get feed back on it and then I will work all night the first of December when I freak out that it is due.
I would like to research Neil Hennessy’s other works to see if he incorporates any themes. I find myself interested in the nature of nonsense in experimental poetry. To me the two seem to have a close connection, each blurring the other in experimental poetry.
I would find it helpful if you can think of any good examples of nonsense as a subject in papers or poems, that would help. Nonsense isn’t really a poet or movement so I would like feedback as to how much of the paper you think I should devote to this poet or the idea of nonsense. Like if I should write a paper on nonsense including Neil as one of my of my examples in a paper about nonsense in experimental literature or if I should write a paper on Neil with nonsense being one of the aspects of his works that I explore.
According to the calendar the first draft of this paper is due 11/11, so by then I should have one or two nights of gathering as much information as I can of the type that will best suite the theme of my paper that by then I will hopefully talked to you about by then. I will use the 22nd and 29th of October as days to use the library to find articles on nonsense in poetry and literature, and if I’m lucky, in experimental literature. I’ll look for Neil’s other works and other works that contain elements of nonsense. After the first draft is due I can work on revising and I will probably work on the paper when I get feed back on it and then I will work all night the first of December when I freak out that it is due.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
NeveR reactions
My flash of the word never accumulated a few comments that were interesting to me. Someone commented on the darkness of my animation, that I had not considered untill then. I realized I did have the word never basically just fighting other words. Another interesting comment was about the meaning behind the never turning into a clock and the temporality of never.
If I had more time I was going to add another scene where never had to get away from 'join us' and I had origanally made die have spikes and tendrils. I also had a scene planned where never fought 'always', and then woke up next to 'ever' and had a thought bubble with 'always' in it.
Everything I learn about flash is new to me, but a book or maybe some screenshots of some of the more complex uses of flash might help me. In reguards to writing more expressive animated writing the component of the class that ties in with this is when we critique eachother. I understand that there is no secret that if we knew it we would be more expressive writers. The readings we do help me understand how to be more expressive in specific ways.
If I had more time I was going to add another scene where never had to get away from 'join us' and I had origanally made die have spikes and tendrils. I also had a scene planned where never fought 'always', and then woke up next to 'ever' and had a thought bubble with 'always' in it.
Everything I learn about flash is new to me, but a book or maybe some screenshots of some of the more complex uses of flash might help me. In reguards to writing more expressive animated writing the component of the class that ties in with this is when we critique eachother. I understand that there is no secret that if we knew it we would be more expressive writers. The readings we do help me understand how to be more expressive in specific ways.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Perplexing
In the first paragraph four movements were referenced. I know a little about Cubism and Dada, and I have at least heard of Futurism, but Vorticism I have never experienced. I also noticed that, at least to me, the style of art that the paper addresses is very much like the Concrete movement. The Concrete movement was mentioned earlier in one other readings in passing and I looked up what it meant and then proceeded to complain about it not making much sense to me why you would want your art to lack all symbolism and have to stand on its own as a hunk of wood or an oddly shaped piece of writing.
Lo, “This insistence on the ontological status of what had been considered representation as equivalent to the status of real being was theorized in the work of a number of artists and writer within the various groups an circles in avant-grade society…There is no homogeneous synthesis available from these dispersed and disparate positions.”(page 2) I thought that this description was very similar to the concrete movement, which confused me because it was stated that the different ideas couldn’t be lumped together under one idea. Although I could easily be wrong. The wording in this article was difficult for me to understand, being rife with words I didn’t understand and referring to artists I have never heard of. I didn’t comprehend that the Throw of the Dice was depicted in my first read-through because of its French name but more-so because after the lengthy description I assumed The Throw of the Dice would look so much more complex. I don’t know why.
I did like the brief history that I could glean from this article though. The idea that there were revolutionary writers who moved the spacing between the lines of their poems around had not occurred to me as real-ly before reading the article. But once I thought about it, it was obvious that deviation from the norm had to have started somewhere.
From this reading I got a few ideas for meta-writing. Writing about writing (not journalistically of course) seems a bit cliché or campy (je ne sais quoi) to me. But after reading about how writing can be an end in of itself, I want to write in loops or perhaps cross-referencing stories inside each other. Or maybe single sentences that do not need to be read into. Wait the sentence idea has already been done. And my cross-referencing idea sounds a lot like Cloud Atlas or any frame story I guess. At least I feel inspired.
Lo, “This insistence on the ontological status of what had been considered representation as equivalent to the status of real being was theorized in the work of a number of artists and writer within the various groups an circles in avant-grade society…There is no homogeneous synthesis available from these dispersed and disparate positions.”(page 2) I thought that this description was very similar to the concrete movement, which confused me because it was stated that the different ideas couldn’t be lumped together under one idea. Although I could easily be wrong. The wording in this article was difficult for me to understand, being rife with words I didn’t understand and referring to artists I have never heard of. I didn’t comprehend that the Throw of the Dice was depicted in my first read-through because of its French name but more-so because after the lengthy description I assumed The Throw of the Dice would look so much more complex. I don’t know why.
I did like the brief history that I could glean from this article though. The idea that there were revolutionary writers who moved the spacing between the lines of their poems around had not occurred to me as real-ly before reading the article. But once I thought about it, it was obvious that deviation from the norm had to have started somewhere.
From this reading I got a few ideas for meta-writing. Writing about writing (not journalistically of course) seems a bit cliché or campy (je ne sais quoi) to me. But after reading about how writing can be an end in of itself, I want to write in loops or perhaps cross-referencing stories inside each other. Or maybe single sentences that do not need to be read into. Wait the sentence idea has already been done. And my cross-referencing idea sounds a lot like Cloud Atlas or any frame story I guess. At least I feel inspired.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Water, Water
‘The Pros and Cons of Being a Mermaid’ by Dana Mezzina and Sean Donohue was a multimedia piece. The title flows and swirls into a coherent sentence on the main page. The poem is navigated by moving bubbles in the corners of pages. I didn’t understand at first how to find the cons of being a mermaid. The pros of being a mermaid are attracting hot sailors and having a pretty tail while the cons include the possibility of dying in a net and the uncertainty if mermaids can have sex. I think that as the reader I was supposed to feel the aquatic motion the swirling letters convey and consider the want of being a mermaid pragmatically, citing developed reasons for and against an idea that is generally considered the thought of a child. I think the navigation back and forth from pro and con allowed the reader to feel the shape and weight of each side of the argument. On the one hand I would be able to swim constantly, on the other I might be allergic to myself is an idea that is never written but easily extracted. The flowing style of the words could also stand for the stream of consciousness the individual considering their options might have.
‘Untitled’ by Gerry Loose, but for the purposes of this paper I’ll refer to it as ‘Water Wort’ was not a multimedia piece. Instead it is a series of aquatic plants with several adjectives preceding them. The adjectives all have the word ‘the’ in front of them, so that they can be read individually or so that the plant can be a series of things. The last line of the poem is the plant water wort by itself with no adjectives. Because of how the poem is structured and the impromptu name ‘Water Wort’, I think the message of the poem hinges on the water wort. Because the water wort has no adjectives I feel as though the reader is supposed to come to the conclusion that the water wort might lack any qualities that the author considers worthwhile or mentionable. Other plants are larger, smaller, whorled, or spiked, whereas the water wort is all-and-all uninteresting in every way. On my first reading I took the piece as a statement on being mundane. My second read through made me think that perhaps the numerousness of the adjectives made them superfluous and that they might be unnecessary, where the water wort is unburdened by the shallowness of other aquatic plants.
The reason that the authors of these pieces chose not to use the more traditional approach is that I think their messages are greatly aided by the nontraditional aspects of their writing. Both of the pieces could conceivably be written in the traditional manner but I feel as though ‘The Pros and Cons’ would loose a lot of the ascetic feel of being underwater and the waffling feel of the thought process. ‘Water Wort’ would have to go into detail about different kinds of flora, or offer more information on what the piece is supposed to be invoking in the reader opposed to being more inscrutable and allowing the reader to draw almost any conclusion from it.
Both of these poems can be understood by anyone. Knowledge of mermaid mythology or botany does not add or subtract a significant amount of meaning from either poem, which I appreciated. I think that the ‘Pros and Cons’ piece works as an experiment in animation and provoking readers to take a fanciful hypothetical to be seriously considered. I think that ‘Pros and Cons’ could have expressed its idea more fluidly with different navigational buttons. The pictures that made up the imagery behind the poem ‘Pros and Cons’ greatly added to the effectiveness of the piece in my opinion. The pictures were all real photographs of women and sharks or water; there were no drawings of mermaids, just real imagery that implied the idea of mermaids. ‘Water Wort’ worked very well if I understand its purpose, which would not surprise me. Even though ‘Water Wort’ was purely textual while ‘Pros and Cons’ is mostly visual, they were both good examples of experimental literature that makes the reader think. Also they both dealt with water.
‘Untitled’ by Gerry Loose, but for the purposes of this paper I’ll refer to it as ‘Water Wort’ was not a multimedia piece. Instead it is a series of aquatic plants with several adjectives preceding them. The adjectives all have the word ‘the’ in front of them, so that they can be read individually or so that the plant can be a series of things. The last line of the poem is the plant water wort by itself with no adjectives. Because of how the poem is structured and the impromptu name ‘Water Wort’, I think the message of the poem hinges on the water wort. Because the water wort has no adjectives I feel as though the reader is supposed to come to the conclusion that the water wort might lack any qualities that the author considers worthwhile or mentionable. Other plants are larger, smaller, whorled, or spiked, whereas the water wort is all-and-all uninteresting in every way. On my first reading I took the piece as a statement on being mundane. My second read through made me think that perhaps the numerousness of the adjectives made them superfluous and that they might be unnecessary, where the water wort is unburdened by the shallowness of other aquatic plants.
The reason that the authors of these pieces chose not to use the more traditional approach is that I think their messages are greatly aided by the nontraditional aspects of their writing. Both of the pieces could conceivably be written in the traditional manner but I feel as though ‘The Pros and Cons’ would loose a lot of the ascetic feel of being underwater and the waffling feel of the thought process. ‘Water Wort’ would have to go into detail about different kinds of flora, or offer more information on what the piece is supposed to be invoking in the reader opposed to being more inscrutable and allowing the reader to draw almost any conclusion from it.
Both of these poems can be understood by anyone. Knowledge of mermaid mythology or botany does not add or subtract a significant amount of meaning from either poem, which I appreciated. I think that the ‘Pros and Cons’ piece works as an experiment in animation and provoking readers to take a fanciful hypothetical to be seriously considered. I think that ‘Pros and Cons’ could have expressed its idea more fluidly with different navigational buttons. The pictures that made up the imagery behind the poem ‘Pros and Cons’ greatly added to the effectiveness of the piece in my opinion. The pictures were all real photographs of women and sharks or water; there were no drawings of mermaids, just real imagery that implied the idea of mermaids. ‘Water Wort’ worked very well if I understand its purpose, which would not surprise me. Even though ‘Water Wort’ was purely textual while ‘Pros and Cons’ is mostly visual, they were both good examples of experimental literature that makes the reader think. Also they both dealt with water.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
The Art of Immemorability
This reading is unlike the previous readings we have done. ‘The Art of Immemorability’ is something I would expect to find in a journal of academic standing. It is different from the others readings we have done in that it is entirely in prose, there isn’t a single poem to be had. The reading was highly informative and lucid, explaining the myriad connections between poetry, the written word, Greek plays, the alphabet, and the march of progress. This reading shared a lot in common with previous writings as well. I assumed the paper would be purely informative after several pages but in the parting words a message revealed itself. The reading states that poetry has moved away from what it once was and that now poetry needs to move forward in physicality, temporality, and dynamism.
I found this reading easy, despite the many new terms I had to look up. I felt as though the author really tries to make the article engaging and interesting. I liked how the statements and ideas offered by the author had tons of background information so that I didn’t just have to take what was said at face value. The article explained how the different time frames in which poetry was written affected the medium. Additionally the medium of the language affects what is produced and how. The writing made me think a lot of the poem “Arcadia” because I think they had a similar subject. The reason the article gives for why poetry should be experimented with is the fact that poetry has not been static historically and that it needs to stay current with hyper-literate world. The writing acknowledges resistance toward modern poetry, but reassures us on the top of page then that “change is not corruption”.
I found this reading easy, despite the many new terms I had to look up. I felt as though the author really tries to make the article engaging and interesting. I liked how the statements and ideas offered by the author had tons of background information so that I didn’t just have to take what was said at face value. The article explained how the different time frames in which poetry was written affected the medium. Additionally the medium of the language affects what is produced and how. The writing made me think a lot of the poem “Arcadia” because I think they had a similar subject. The reason the article gives for why poetry should be experimented with is the fact that poetry has not been static historically and that it needs to stay current with hyper-literate world. The writing acknowledges resistance toward modern poetry, but reassures us on the top of page then that “change is not corruption”.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Mandala: Dilemma
I read Mandala: Dilemma after being rejected from the online options. I usually dislike poems that are so simple, because the ideas are given emphasis by standing alone, but the attention placed on the few words are too much for the substance to uphold. Instead it just seems flimsy and needing to me. But Mandala: Dilemma surprised me by making me think quite profoundly on the nature of writing, which is the exact reaction I think the author intended. The piece is a circle of words, so it can be started to be read anywhere, but I read the piece as ‘-the pen is mightier than-‘, which then repeats itself infinitely.
The saying ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ has a very definite lesson. The dilemma in Mandala: Dilemma is that the pen is then mightier than the pen as well, which is a sort of logical fallacy. I didn’t think that I could find five hundred words in such a short piece, but I had tried to use ‘Untitled’ and ‘Outward Bound’, but one didn’t make much sense to me and the other made me feel betrayed after I realized it had nothing to do with pets returning home after an arduous journey. I will not lie to you; I did think it had the word penis in it the first three times I read it. But the poem breaks just enough conventions in my mind to be interesting but also remain accessible.
I actually had to do some researching for this assignment in the form of a Google search for the word mandala after I deciphered the circle-text and realized I still didn’t understand much. Turns out mandala is Sanskrit for circle and in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, their sacred art usually take the form of a mandala. The mandala was used as a spiritual teaching tool for focusing the attention of adapts. Keeping the title in mind on my second read-through, I found a plethora of new meanings. The nature of the circle changed from that of a witty play on a popular saying into a question about the Tao of writing.
I think it is fairly self-explanatory why the author didn’t use a more traditional style for this poem. If the poem were to be read from left to right it could not convey the infinite loop that the author is trying to convey. At best it could go on for a very long time, or it could have something in parenthesis that states it goes on forever. Neither of these options is as powerful as the simplicity of the circle and the connotations the title draws along with it. The cyclical nature of the poem draws many questions to mind, like if there are two pen’s in constant struggle or if every pen is defeated by another pen or if all pens are bested by a pen in some way.
I thought about the layout of the poem and came to a consensus with myself that the circle was right in being alone on the page. Any other writing would not only detract from the circle and seem more important but it would upset the flow and make a general nuisance of itself. In fact I felt very appreciative to the poem for being so likable. Now I can feel confident that when I dislike the vast majority of experimental poetry I can find solace in the fact that I liked one so I do not hate them all and it is clearly it’s fault and not mine.
The poem speaks to me about the power of creativity as well as the power of time. The pen bests the sword but another pen bests that pen. And ideas will always contest and triumph over each other. I really like the meanings I was able to draw from the piece and I don’t think that there is one right answer for what the poem is saying. In that respect it is even more reminiscent of a religious tool, in that it was a question for me to find my own answers from myself rather then a argument for one point of view.
The saying ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ has a very definite lesson. The dilemma in Mandala: Dilemma is that the pen is then mightier than the pen as well, which is a sort of logical fallacy. I didn’t think that I could find five hundred words in such a short piece, but I had tried to use ‘Untitled’ and ‘Outward Bound’, but one didn’t make much sense to me and the other made me feel betrayed after I realized it had nothing to do with pets returning home after an arduous journey. I will not lie to you; I did think it had the word penis in it the first three times I read it. But the poem breaks just enough conventions in my mind to be interesting but also remain accessible.
I actually had to do some researching for this assignment in the form of a Google search for the word mandala after I deciphered the circle-text and realized I still didn’t understand much. Turns out mandala is Sanskrit for circle and in the Hindu and Buddhist religions, their sacred art usually take the form of a mandala. The mandala was used as a spiritual teaching tool for focusing the attention of adapts. Keeping the title in mind on my second read-through, I found a plethora of new meanings. The nature of the circle changed from that of a witty play on a popular saying into a question about the Tao of writing.
I think it is fairly self-explanatory why the author didn’t use a more traditional style for this poem. If the poem were to be read from left to right it could not convey the infinite loop that the author is trying to convey. At best it could go on for a very long time, or it could have something in parenthesis that states it goes on forever. Neither of these options is as powerful as the simplicity of the circle and the connotations the title draws along with it. The cyclical nature of the poem draws many questions to mind, like if there are two pen’s in constant struggle or if every pen is defeated by another pen or if all pens are bested by a pen in some way.
I thought about the layout of the poem and came to a consensus with myself that the circle was right in being alone on the page. Any other writing would not only detract from the circle and seem more important but it would upset the flow and make a general nuisance of itself. In fact I felt very appreciative to the poem for being so likable. Now I can feel confident that when I dislike the vast majority of experimental poetry I can find solace in the fact that I liked one so I do not hate them all and it is clearly it’s fault and not mine.
The poem speaks to me about the power of creativity as well as the power of time. The pen bests the sword but another pen bests that pen. And ideas will always contest and triumph over each other. I really like the meanings I was able to draw from the piece and I don’t think that there is one right answer for what the poem is saying. In that respect it is even more reminiscent of a religious tool, in that it was a question for me to find my own answers from myself rather then a argument for one point of view.
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