Thoughts Regarding Irony in the media

Today in class the "Acting Group" presented. I found their presentation to be really interactive, fun, engaging, and astute. 

Not only is the media riddled with parodies and ironic news tales; but, in general, everyday life is! Here's a list I found of random, everyday actions with irony fueling them all: click the link below

Everyday Irony We All Face

Yeahhhh, isn't it ironic, don't ya think? .... ok now I have to make a video since the song is stuck in my head...with any luck, I'll take you down with me...ENJOY!

30 seconds of me

Enjoy some Everyday Words about Everyday Life :) 

http://boxstr.com/files/4248934_jgdmy/12-3%20Recording.aif

Thoughts Regarding My Final Project

In the aftermath of my final project, I find myself continuing to reflect on the validity and outcomes of such an endeavoring. I was a member of the group who attempted to make notice of the bombardisment of advertisements in our society - and the negative impact on people's lives such media has.

The signs throughout campus were a first and foremost, fun. It was fun to make them, as I enjoy creating art - especially meaningful art, fun to post - watching people's inquisitive and curious faces while we climbed, taped, and displayed out signs, and fun to look at throughout the day - knowing we were making a statement at a positive aim. 

More than just being a fun activity though, looking at media in a new light opened my eyes to - for lack of a better term - "the light".  And now I can't help but feel a sense of agitation and aggrevation when I see advertisements directed at consumerism, and other values I don't share. I want that time and mind space back which was robbed from me with a blaring announcement or advertisement posting. 

I liked how we went about conveying to the everyday people on our campus this need for awareness. The posters were discrete - only a person who had happened to be staring at the tv screen would have noticed the signage. The signs, themselves, didn't direct attention, they offered another means of mind-space diversion: but one with an important message: STOP. THINK. 

But what about, you may ask? About what the blaring "boob tube" is really saying, displaying, and actualizing you, as a consumer, to do. Instead of watching the silly add, our posters demanded the individual to THINK. Something most people nowadays avoid. Myself, included. 

My only hope is that our presentation adequately displayed this common frustration we all felt at the lack of awareness on the viewer's/bombardee's (made-up word, but a good one at that) part. As well as the harassment and injustice we are all faced with on a daily basis. 

I had a great time working on this meaningful and FUN project. I hope you all got something out of it too!

Fireworks: Art in Everyday Life

I was in Fireworks, a gallery which sells practical, everyday tools with funky artistic twists. While browsing the shelf I realized that this store objectifies art in everyday life. The owner has made a purposeful choice to sell useful everyday objects, but which also will bring joy in their attractive nature. 

It, for me, redefined my definition of everyday tools. Thus, when picking up the hammer off the shelf which is crafted to be both functional and serve as art, combines two previously disparate notions. Art is not practical. And the practical is not art. Something so simple was able to break this barrier for me, negating a theme which society preserves time and time again. I got the sensation to slow down and enjoy the art of using this device. 

Just shopping in an everyday store, picking up everyday objects. And realizing how art can be practical and the practical can be artful. I don't know if I would have appreciated these details had I not taken this course. My journey through the store, and now through life can be mirrored in our first blog, it seems. To sit for twenty minutes. To find the realness in life. And, life's little offerings of art. Only by seeking awareness, and slowing down, is one able to grasp these flickers of real life. 

 The creator of Fireworks, Michele Manasse, furthers this idea in her company's "about us statement": "The medium is not as important as its ability t0 be functional and entertaining. Thus, "celebrating art in life"

Impossible is nothing

Wind Piece I

Take a Maple Leaf.

Release it to the wind.

Take your body. 

Release it in the wind

Go find the leaf.

2008 Fall

Coffee

Random thought of the day: coffee doesn't affect me. I drank a tripple Americano the other day and then went home and took a nap. Now, I don't know how many of you are affected by coffee. But, for those of you who are, I'm green with envy. If only, if only the beverage some call "the elixir of life" would pick me up, spin me around, and send me flying towards productivity. Alas, tired I shall remain. 

I suppose, then, I could move on to more potent forms of energy solvents. Rockstar? Redbull?The "Ten Hour Pick Me Up" one? Which is best?

And, isn't it interesting that today's times brings on this wave of drink which negates sleeping. It's interesting to see the changing times. I wonder if in ten years from now we'll be reading academic journals full of data stating the misjudgment of the FDA to make said energy beverages legal. Perhaps they haven't found out anything wrong with them for now...but down the road, when we're walking zombies barely able to raise the cans to our mouths for lack of sleep, I guarantee a recall. Until then, bring on the high!

Much Can Be Said In Three Lines

Novel #1: No Place for Palin

"Alaskans saw a meaner Sarah Palin." "She can sort of redeem herself by going back to where she was." "To many Alaskans, that's not what they wanted." 

The Seattle Times, "A changed Palin returns to a changed Alaska A7

Novel #2: Changing Times: Get on Board Already, America

New ban on gay marriage. Turmoil and legal confusion over who should have the right to wed. I just don't know. 

The Seattle Times "Hundreds Protest Gay-Marriage Ban" A4

Novel #3: Say What, P.I.?

Illegal sex for hire. Provide a working phone number and pay a fee using a valid credit card. pimps and prostitutes. 

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer "Craigslist Sex Ads Reined In" A13

And one more for good measure (and because it's fun!)

Novel #4: The Over-dramatization of Football

Shadows crept across the field. They knew too well the task ahead of them. "There's nothing else right now that matters"

The New York Times "A Record Rout, But Little Time To Enjoy It"

Hands down the most fun I've had blogging this quarter. I would attribute this to the fact that I didn't have to actually come up with any of my own ideas, or original thought. I was able to just simply arrange the sentence structure of others' musings, in hopes of creating a satirical look at the news. 

My novels are definitely shorter in length. All news should be done in three lines. It would save time. "Palin heads home. Gay Marriage Made Illegal...again. Predators on Craigslist. Jets Won." That's basically the gyst of it. Now you don't have to read the Newspaper this Sunday. You're welcome.