The Guild + Dr. Horrible

I'd never seen the Guild before, but I really like it. I've always been kind of on the outside of hardcore RPGers; a lot of my friends are really into it, but I never got involved because I know I'd never be able to stop. So this is really amusing; I think we should keep watching it. =)

As for Dr. Horrible, I have seen it before because I LOVE Nathan Fillion & NPH. Like, a lot. I didn't really like it the first time I saw it, but I couldn't really hear it. I definitely liked it better this time. Also, Joss Whedon's the bomb. Never watched Buffy (don't like vampires) but I'm in love with Dollhouse and Firefly. Dollhouse is another show that brings up technological advancements and how they might affect us as people. So yeah.

I don't know that these would have made it on TV. Part of their allure, particularly Dr. Horrible, is that it's kind of a secret, almost a cult. It's something you see in the music world too--the consumer likes something they feel is kind of a secret. If it had been commercialized, I don't think it would have been the same.

Videos For 9/24

Water Printer: This was pretty cool. It's not, you know, life-altering or for the betterment of humanity, but it's pretty darn cool. And I'm into things that are cool for the sake of it and not for some convoluted holier-than-thou reason.

Sand Beasts: This is one of those convoluted holier-than-thou things I was talking about. These things are also pretty darn cool, but saying you want them to be able to live in colonies and roam freely is complete and total crap. They aren't ALIVE. They WILL break at some point. They cannot reproduce. They will fall apart eventually and leave a mess somewhere that no one will ever get around to cleaning up because some weirdo made some cool looking toys and left them all over the desert. They have no brains, minds, souls, or anything resembling a life, and they won't appreciate, know, or care if they're "free" or not. This is the kind of hoity-toity delusional nonsense that annoys me. I'm very into taking things for face value. It's cool, but please oh please do not try to make it more than that.

Bingo: If I saw this as a child and I wasn't afraid of clowns, I would be by the time it was over. Also wouldn't ever want to go to the circus again. Reminded me of the Sims.

Ryan: I liked this one better. It was the kind of thing we'd watch in classes way back when I was a film student. It's a neat bit of storytelling, and even though it's a bit experimental for my taste normally, I enjoyed it.

NMR: Intro II

--From the first few paragraphs I can already tell I like this one better. The language isn't half as snotty or hard to understand.

--History of new media

-SIGGRAPH & Ars Electronica since 1970's

-The field began to really take shape in the 80's

-1995 art schools in the US began to integrate new media programs

--Other countries are slower to accept different types of new media and therefore think about them more critically

--Art & new media worlds are opposites for many reasons (bottom left pg 14)

--Parallelism between texts by artists & computer scientists, computer technology & modern art

--8 Ideas of What New Media Is

1. It is not cyberculture--focused on culture

2. A useful theoretical category

3. Digital data controlled by software

4. A combination of cultural conventions and the software

5. A stage in a new technology's development.

6. Something that gives us the ability to create or process data faster

7. a translation of the avant-garde into computer code

(Side note: The grammar in the titles of these sections is TERRIBLE.)

Noah's Lecture [In-Class Since I Couldn't Get To The Other One]

--Noah's journey

--Went to a school like Gallatin

--Started working at Gallatin

--Art vs. research ==> Research to create art?

--Graduate degree @ Gallatin

--Tenured professor @ UMaryland

--Left Baltimore to go to Brown for MFA in fiction

--Decided to make the collection of new media writings because there wasn't anything like it

--Took seven years

--1st Person, 2nd Person, 3rd Person

--Expressive Processing ==> Actually wrote, the others he edited (http://www.amazon.com/Expressive-Processing-Fictions-Computer-Software/dp/0262013436/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253217177&sr=8-1)

--Wants to play the Sims 3. I can get on board with that.

--Wolfram ==>Search engine

Videos For 9/17

Jeff Han

--It's cool. I didn't know it was the actual thing they used in Minority Report. It's an interesting interface, but I don't really see it being useful for the everyday consumer. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will be people who will buy it, but I think it would be a waste of money for the average person.

Jeff Han Spoof

--While funny, it also addresses the major issue I have with technology like this: it's creepy. While stuff like this can prove to be an excellent tool, there are always people and instances where it oversteps its bounds and becomes creepy.

Danyl Johnson

--Kid's got chops. Not much else to say about this. I hate these manufactured pop shows that make "superstars" that no one in the industry actually wants to touch.

Fluteboxing

--Now this I can wrap my head around. This is cool. I sent this already to a bunch of my friends. I love it when people can be creative within more "traditional" bounds, like using a classical instrument in a new way.

New Media Reader - Intro 1

--Murray says that the "digital" medium is singular, and equates it to film: one medium that just draws on many aspects

--Borges & Bush: does an inadequate job of explaining who these two are and why I ought to care about them, because I've got no clue what they've to do with anything, other than they seem to be sci-fi writers

--"All creativity can be understood as taking in the world as a problem."

--They're pretty much saying that engineers & scientists etc. take in the world and try to solve their problems systematically; are they implying that this isn't art? That they are only there to destroy (re the arrow metaphor)? That systematic thinking is therefore destructive?

--I really dislike and resent the idea that print as a whole is a dying medium, but this guy seems really gung-ho about it. Then why bother writing a book?

--...yeah, I just really dislike this guy. He says that technophobes are not completely irrational, but you can tell from his tone that he still thinks they are.

--Maybe my main issues with this guy are that, from his tone, he seems to think that anyone who disagrees with him is wrong and clearly an idiot and also that computers are more... transcendental, somehow and not just a tool. Because that is what I think technology is. The computer is equivalent to the wheel, in my mind, and a tool is only as good as what you use it for. Fire's a miraculous thing, but burning down a house... not so much. Computers are great for data processing, photo editing, spreading information, but I think artificial intelligence and "cyborgs" are a terrible, horrible, god-awful idea. Technology is a TOOL, and nothing else.

Home

My doggie is sitting by my feet. My mother is making dinner. And someone not me did my laundry. Going home for the weekend is nice.