Needless to say, NO NEW POST!

I'll see you tomorrow. We're in the home stretch, peoples!

Another Lucky Day (Happy Thanksgiving!)

Dear All,

I've decided not to make you post to the blog for this week. Instead, just do the readings and work on Project #3. Happy almost Thanksgiving, y'all!

To Animate=To Bring Something To Life

Both animators and bio-artists bring the inanimate to life, albeit in very different ways. My question here pertains to The Tissue Culture and Art Project (TCA), a high profile bio-art group based in Australia. For the 2004 piece Victimless Leather--A Prototype of Stitch-less Jacket Grown in a Technoscientific "Body," the TCA grew living cells on a foundational structure in the shape of a small coat. According to their website,

This artistic grown garment will confront people with the moral implications of wearing parts of dead animals for protective and aesthetic reasons and will further confront notions of relationships with living systems manipulated or otherwise....Our intention is not to provide yet another consumer product but rather to raise questions about our exploitation of other living beings.

Engaging with at least 1 quote from Oron Catts's "The Art of the Semi-Living," answer the following questions: What does Catts mean by "semi-living"? Do you think that the TCA's piece Victimless Leather (check out the picture above) encourages discussion regarding the "exploitation of other living beings" or is itself an example of the exploitation of a living being? If you need more information on Victimless Leather, take a look at http://www.tca.uwa.edu.au/vl/vl.html .

The Revenge of the Mummy Complex

Agrippa (A Book of the Dead) is an art project collaboratively created by the cyberpunk author William Gibson, the artist Dennis Ashbaugh, and the publisher Kevin Begos, Jr. To answer this week's question, begin by reading the following web page: http://agrippa.english.ucsb.edu
Be sure to click on "more" so you can read the whole description.

Click on the "simulation" link and play the representation of Ashbaugh's idea for fading ink (an idea that proved too difficult to implement). Then, read Gibson's poem, available here: http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/source/agrippa.asp

OK. This is question #1:
What meaning can you make out of Ashbaugh's original idea for disappearing images (keeping in mind Gibson's poem)? Use at least 1 quote from the poem in order to make your argument.

Here's question #2:
Read Bazin's "The Ontology of the Photographic Image" (1945), included in the course reader. What is the "mummy complex"? Although Bazin wrote this article decades before the Internet was invented, do you think he would say that the Internet satisfies the mummy complex? Why or why not?

Betty Boop and the Colonialist Spectacle

Ok. So, the copy place made a huuugggeeee mistake: only copying every OTHER page of the reading. Yeesh! Ack! This is terrible. So, obviously no reading assignment due for Tuesday.

Instead, watch the Betty Boop film I've embedded here. It's called Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle and was made by the Fleischer Brothers in 1932. Then,
1) give your thoughts on the film's presentation of race and/or gender
2) respond carefully to another student's answers to question 1). Please use your critical thinking skills to position your fellow student's argument in relation to your own. If you are the first person to post, answer question 1) and then post your answer to question 2) a little later (once others have posted).

Bear in mind a couple of things when you write your analysis. First of all, Betty Boop was a very popular cartoon character who appeared as "white" in her other films. And second, The Royal Samoans and the dancer Miri--who appear in the beginning of the film--were supposedly authentic performers from the Samoan Islands, an archipelago in the South Pacific. A much less important factoid is that my favorite Girl Scout cookie took its name from the Samoan Islands, which export coconut products.

Keep up the good work, everyone. Come to my office hours if you have any questions about the next assignment.

The Aesthetic of YouTube

Hi everyone! Here's what I'd like you do. First, read http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/11/youtube_and_the_vaudeville_aes.html . Then, read the Tom Gunning article in the course reader ("An Aesthetic of Astonishment: Early Film and the (In)credulous Spectator"). The syllabus has the wrong title for the article, by the way.

Next, choose a YouTube video that works well with the aesthetic of vaudeville and the aesthetic of attractions. Respond to BOTH of the following:

Using 2 quotations from the Jenkins article, explain how your video expresses the aesthetic of vaudeville. Using 2 quotations from the Gunning article, explain how your video expresses the aesthetic of attractions. Use specific aspects of your video as evidence to support your argument. Please include the URL of your video, as well.

For your viewing pleasure, here's the video Jenkins talks about in his article:

Your Lucky Day

Hey, folks. This is your lucky day: there's no blog post due for this week. Please spend your time completing Project #2 and doing the reading assignment. Just to repeat: DEFINITELY DO THE READING ASSIGNMENT. Not only is it essential to Project #3, it is critical for Tuesday's class. During lecture, you will do a brief written response that will be handed in and graded by your TA.

I wish you the best of luck for Project #2. Seriously, I want everyone to ROCK IT!

Is Your Reality My Reality?

Alexander Galloway makes the distinction between realisticness and realism. What is Galloway's preferred definition of realism in gaming? Apply Galloway's definition to Reality TV. Would Galloway consider Reality TV a form of realism? Why or why not? Be sure to use quotes from the text to support your answer (and yes, Project Runway is indeed my favorite reality show).

Mechanical Reproducibility/Biocybernetic Reproduction

Hey peeps, since I'm posting the question a little later than I usually do, I've decided to give you until this Tuesday at 3 pm to post your response. Congratulations on turning in Project #1, y'all. OK, here goes:

According to Mitchell, "If mechanical reproducibility (photography, cinema, and associated industrial processes like the assembly line) dominated the era of modernism, biocybernetic reproduction (high-speed computing, digital imaging, virtual reality, the Internet, and the industrialization of genetic engineering) dominates the age that we have called postmodern."

Inspired by Mitchell's argument, you decide to remake Fritz Lang's 1927 film Metropolis for our present-day age of biocybernetic reproduction. You plan on taking some liberties with Lang's original plot in order to translate it from the era of modernism to the era of postmodernism.

Answer the following questions:

1. Summarize Mitchell's argument regarding the differences between mechanical reproducibility and biocybernetic reproduction.

2. How would you remake the scene below to visualize biocybernetic reproduction? How does your new vision for the scene represent our current age of biocybernetics?
In this scene, the beautiful and morally upright Maria has been kidnapped and used to animate a robot, who is given her face and figure. The robot is usually called the "false Maria"; she is as bad as the original Maria is good. Focus on the part of the scene that shows the process of animating the robot. Don't worry about the German intertitles; the main thrust of the scene can be understood without them.

Note: this isn't a question about updating the scene with better special effects. This is a question about rethinking the scene in light of biocybernetic reproduction.

Week 5: The Mechanical Bride

Hello everyone! Just a little reminder: Project #1 is due Sept. 30 in class. Everything needs to be in hard copy--don't try to turn in a thumb drive or a disc. Please look at the project prompt and think deeply about what I've said in class the past 2 weeks to make sure you have followed the directions.

I'm looking forward to seeing your projects; people have been coming up with some REALLY creative ideas. I'm glad that so many people have made it to my office hours. Keep up the good work!

OK. For this week, you're reading selections from The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man (1951), Marshall McLuhan's analysis and critique of advertising images. Here are my questions for y'all (answer both of them):

1. What is the relationship between McLuhan's argument and the image on the book's cover (visible on your right)? Use at least 1 quote from The Mechanical Bride as evidence to support your point. Note: please do more than repeat the title of the book.

2. McLuhan offers us a portrait of advertising in (primarily) the late 40s. If you were to write a new book based on McLuhan's model, what title would represent advertising in the late 2000s? What image would you put on the cover of your book? Why? Describe the image, which should function as a symbol for advertising in contemporary America (just as, for McLuhan, the mechanical bride is a symbol for advertising in the 40s).

Extra points for anyone who can post the image and not only the description (you can insert your image as your blogger profile picture and it will be visible to the right of your post).

Week 4: Haunted Media

First of all, this is your lucky day:
I've decided to give you an extra week to complete Project #1. The new due date is Tuesday, Sept. 30 (in lecture). Please use this extra time to do a really bang-up project. I want to see you folks do well in this class!

And now, the question of the week:
In the introduction to his book Haunted Media, Jeffrey Sconce articulates two key metaphors of electronic media--the metaphor of living media and the metaphor of flowing media. Choose one of these two metaphors to discuss in relation to a media practice of your choice. Your answer should have two parts. First, explain what Sconce means by the metaphor you have chosen (using quotations from the text to facilitate your explanation). Second, apply this metaphor to a media practice that illustrates Sconce's idea. Do not limit yourself to forms of media that Sconce mentions. You may choose anything from video games to ipods to photography.

Week 3: The Aesthetics of YouTube and UbuWeb

Watch a video of your choice on youtube.com and another on http://www.ubu.com/film/index.html (the latter, by the way, is a wonderful resource for avant-garde and experimental film and video; just click on one of the names listed on the site, click on one of the artist's pieces, and finally, click to play!). Keeping in mind Wasson's discussion of the "dynamics of size, colour, shape, clarity" and proximity that affect our perception of screen images, compare and contrast the AESTHETICS of both sites. How is the presentation (and not the content) of each video similar? How is it different? How do the websites themselves affect the way you view the videos? Please be as specific as possible. In the course of your discussion, integrate 1 well-chosen quotation from either Wasson's or Huhtamo's article.

Here's one of my favorite YouTube videos, artist Pipilotti Rist's I'm Not the Girl Who Misses Much:

Week 2: no worries

Hi, folks! So, the class list is in flux--students adding, some dropping, as these things go during the first 2 weeks. To avoid confusion and to give y'all a break, I've decided not to make you do a graded blog post this week. Don't forget to complete the reading; we will discuss the 2 articles on Tuesday!

In lieu of a graded blog post, here's what I'd like you to do: post a brief profile of what kind of media you like. You know, what kind of films you're into, what kind of music you listen to, any media artists you're obsessed with--I'll leave it up to you. Think of this as a virtual introduction. Like every blog comment you do in this class, don't forget to sign your first and last name.

I'll start: I love makeover shows, Degrassi Junior High (old and new), Japanese and Czech animation, video art, Strangers with Candy, and the old post-punk band The Fall. Here's one of their videos starring artist/fashion designer Leigh Bowery as the man with polka dots: