4126-And that thought was...

John Coltrain an old love of mine. I am addicted to jazz, many types of jazz, from "straight ahead Jazz", to "fusion, acid, funk, bee bop, trans, afro cuban, latina, tribal, old school, new school, all the schools". John Coltrane was a great tenor and soprano saxophonist of the the jazz era. He's played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis who are also know for their experimental styles in Jazz. This was a time of great expression and experimentation and the outcome has cultivated a whole new genre of jazz. I am familiar with the piece "Love/Joy-Conseqences-Serenity" from the 60's it is a popular song within the experimental group. Here he experiments with the different beats, melodies and tones to create different moods, atmospheres and reactions to his music. I happen to like just about everything I hear from guys like John Coltrain, Miles Davis, Thealonious Monk, and Dizzy Gillespie. These are just a few of the greats from this rich and exciting jazz culture.

Network Criticism

Mainstream vs. independent, new age vs. old school. Branded vs. not branded. The mainstream will always have roots that spread their information through our social networks. But smartly the underground networks need to spread their perceived important information too. Thus these people use the concept of “meme” or “media memory”. The concept of basically branding something that is cool, but not, but still functional in spreading the intended message. All of these things effect the present and future of technology spreading information tools. But what are the effects of these “hostile” groups who are embracing the modern intellectual. The ideal marketplace is an unattainable fantasy and could only be achieved by the “strikingly bold or brave”. A person or company must take great risks to make a global change and stand out against their competitors. With corporations dominating the e-commerce, the support of “creative destruction” has lost its power, especially with politicians in their back pockets. These corporate giants have used political power to stop the protesting of smaller groups that disagree with the philosophy and business practices or policies that the business condones or participates in. The “Digital Utopia” of the Internet and the startups and trendies that appear to be different at first glance but underneath are just reiterations of a larger more accepted view that has already been developed and played. These overplayed themes are not capturing the culture, but rather reflecting a set of preauthorized, planned and branded ideals that do more damage to cultural networks than any “hacker” could do to a multibillion corporation.

Talking w/ Taylor on IM was interesting. Our schedules are sooo different, and w/ my injury and sickness I though it better to IM than to do lunch. Although I did really want to meet for lunch it just wasn't going to work. But we both have some common interest, and we are both born Fort Collins. She seems like a cool person. We talked about U John, and about the class. We conpaired assignments, and both bitched about doing 300 files in 2 weeks. But we also talked about our likes and dislikes in class and in life. She seems cool and I would still like to do lunch some time....

I've been thinking for a long time about how I can incorporate science and art together and when I heard about how these people were doing it in Japan I got instantly stoaked. Amodal Suspension is what it is called but this just the beginning. Amodal Suspension will open at 19:00 Japanese time (10:00 GMT) on November 1st, 2003 with a message sent by astronauts from the International Space Station. Anyhow I think this is a brilliant statement, instilation, and technological display. It also plays an International Role and a community and world wide involvement. This is very exciting I think. How can I incorporate science community, and technology in an intelligent way? Is it art? Is graffiti art? Is Photography Art? Is Painting Art? who cares about the philosophy, I just want to do it... There is too much bull shit crowding the philosophical and psychological practice of what is supposto be "art". The end...

http://www.alzado.net/amodal/press.html

After reading my blogs just now I realized I never finished posting my comments on the Geert book we discussed in class. I remember now that my computer had crashed during the process and I decided not to retype all the stuff again because of my frusteration. Anyhow, since I contributed to the discussion, as I always do, and most of the time can't help. But I think that boycots or online rebelions and protests are interesting ways to deal with the bull shit of the corporate run and government regulated technological crap. But on the other had when you are talking dealing with huge organizations, you really can't boycot, without turning off the computer and leaving society. In my own opinion, you must choose your battles wisely. It's not worth protesting over most stuff, at least I don't have the energy to do so. But it doesn't mean I will support it either. It just means I am saving my energy for the battles I choose to fight and boycot. But this is an effective way to get masses of people to boycot and protest. I think some of it might be considered by them as net terrorism though... just to be the devil advocate. Anyway I am out of energy for this one...bye...

I really enjoyed watching the patches today. I think that everyone is really pulling together this semester. I liked hearing that there were a bunch of people just helping eachother in the lab this weekend, all weekend. I missed being a part of that, but on the other hand it was nice to do most of the work at home. Thanks to Jessica for passing along valuable information about the project to me and getting me the camera so I could edit my video at home. I have found some really good friends from this class and I think that dialogue had a bunch to do with it.