4126-And that thought was...

2003-11-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

So I ditched class today to study for my Art History Exam. Sorry John, but I had to. But the most exciting part of my day was at the end. I was hangin with Jared and we decided to go to see Wynton Marsalis >in clinic session< it was cool. First the CU buffalo chips Jazz band played. They were really good, then Marsalis took the stage to talk about music making. We listened for about 1/2 the program, then Jared got too squirmy and we had to go. I think I saw Jesse in the croud up front, I recognized his hat. Marsalis was down to earth and funny. His philosophy in learning music is very simple, but requires the student to be an active learner, and demand musical education. Overall I was glad to attend, I wish I would have had enought money to go see his quartet play, but Jared would have only been able to last 1/2 of it, plus it started at 7, which is close to the little guys bed time. Oh well maybe next time...

2003-11-05T22:31:00.000-08:00

My files have been a reflection of me; they are comprised of reflections and influences of my life. Each file has a reason and meaning for its existence. There is a lot of original video footage, some raw, some edited. There are audio collections that are original and audio from friends or Internet sources. I am especially intrigued by sound effects that reflect nontraditional sounds like sounds collected when Galileo was crashed into Jupiter. Yet, my son Jared is an influence and our Halloween party also had a reflection on music I selected for demonstrations. I have become more interested in choreography of the presentation so I am in control, and do not get delayed and side tracked. Text files are lacking compared to my audio and movie files. But I think that text is hard to integrate into these situations. But the good thing about text files is that they are small. The smallest files usually. So maybe that is where I need to improve. But I like original material, but I also want to keep it more general and simple. Overall I have collected over 400 files but I have put a limited and more selected sample about 200 on the server. This project helped me go through many miscellaneous videotapes, plus it helped me explore different areas for audio. My mom would love to thank you, if she could. She has enjoyed many of the quicktimes I have made of Jared.

2003-11-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

from my list (spectre) I got interested and started reading Judy Malloy's articles and papers that have to do with Women and art, specifically digital art. She has a new book and I am interested in getting a copy of it "Women, Art and Technology". She seems to address how hipocracies in the technological world ignore female contributions as equal to male in the digital art field. I have found this to be very true. People think we can design cuz were women but when it comes down to being proficient in computer technologies, we are disregarded as not nearly as knowledgable as our male counterparts. I have found this happen to me in various ways. My opinions on technological issues are often challenged and disregarded as not my own. Men seem to gang up on women who assert their knowledge in the field of technology, and often resort to degrading comments that have detremental effects on this group of female artists. For example, when I had an altered opinion about Unix and linux from our teacher John, Bryce and Jesse they all jumped my ass to prove my point wrong. Which was not done. I stated that day that Linux is like Unix and was based on it, but open source. Where as everyone said they were sooo different and that I did not have any understanding of it because I did not see those differences. You all were trying to intimidate my intellegence rather than point out your opinion respectfully, with supporting evidence. But no worries, I am over it but it is just another example how women are marginalized in this and all socities. But it is not all the men who are fucking with us. It is stupin women who continue to insult their own intellegence, and belittle their actual knowledge. Women need to stand up and take charge of their knowledge so that we can all contribute to further and benifit our existance.
that's all folks...

2003-10-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-10-20T23:46:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-10-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

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....

2003-10-12T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2003-10-08T20:05:00.000-07:00

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...

2003-10-08T20:01:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-09-30T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well as you all have heard by now, I hurt my knee. This is especially embarrasing because Jared my son said before it happened "mom, are you sure you can skateboard, you can ride your bike." I insisted that I knew how to skateboard, remembering the old days. I was ok and even cruising until that big crack in the pavement took out my board leg and gammed my pushing knee into the pavement. I held back the tears so Jared would not be discouraged in his own learning to skateboard, plus I looked like a total idiot. But in the end Jared said, "I told you to ride your bike mom, you can't ride a skateboard like my dad can." And he's right...

Enough of that, this injury is making me even more reliable upon my computers, email and instant messaging. I appreciate people who communicate electronically and use it as a daily means of communication (all day). I think it is convenient, easy and fast, as long as those participating are responsive in a timly manner. Anyway, this is a Hydrocodn enduced post...sorry to be so s p a c y.......

2003-09-24T15:21:00.000-07:00

Courtnee and I spent the afternoon chatting through AOL IM. It's been quite funny but I have been chatting with a lot of people in class through im. I do feel that it is not as personal, and we are easily distracted from eachother as the phone rings or other within our computer space interact with us. But on the other had it is a fun way of communicating with eachother and it allows for some extra freetime. I would like to find out more about Courtnee, but I am sure I will get the chance in class.

2003-09-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sarah and I are hangin... we are working on image upload, but my computers are giving her a hard time. I wish we had the camera working so we could watch the video I gathered sunday of "Bob Bob" the bumb I hung out with on Colfax Ave. It made me feel good that she said I was brave. But I think you have to be brave and daring in order to get good stuff. Limits are where good art happens for me.

2003-09-09T18:03:00.000-07:00

On monday I was misunderstood by the entire class when I made the statement that "art is for the rich". I believe this statement, and although you may not understand where I am coming from, this is my opinion. Van Gough was supported by his brother Theo who was a successful businessman. Theo helped to buy Van Gough a home and his financial assistance to Van Gough was sought to be part of his depression. Theo helped support Van Gough and thus helped him to be able to have time and money for art supplies. Gauguin even helped Van Gough with artistic supplies. Money has an important role in everything we do and with out it you can not survive in this society. Today to do art you have to have money for supplies and you have to have time to create it, which equals money too. Although Jesse pointed out that people do make their own pigments but still there are bonding agents and other materials that are needed to create art. And for his friends that are on welfare creating art with no money, well someone is helping to support them it's called the rest of us who pay taxes. But does money devalue art? I don't think so, but I do think it plays a role in what people create. A lot of artist don't just want to waste their supplies they want to create something that will accomplish their artistic goal, and a lot of those goals have to do with money. Selling the art is good for the artist because it allows them to buy more material for the creation process, but it does put limits on what is accepted from that artist, and bought from that artist. From my own experience art is an expensive luxry that is accessable to only those with money to afford supplies and time to do it. I am grateful for my financial ability to have participated in creative endeavours but I do realize that dollars are supporting those endeavours and I am trying to find out how to get that percieved projected expectation about successful art out of my head so I can get down to pure creative immaginative expression that has no worries about the end product.

2003-09-09T16:36:00.000-07:00

Electroacustic music, very cool. I liked this mix a lot better than the ambient noise mix. It actually seemed to have some melody to it which made it easier, almost enjoyable to listen too.

2003-09-06T22:27:00.000-07:00

Amanda, it is your entire fault. Ever since we did our dialogue online instant messenger I have now been chatting with my friend Leah. She is in Art School in NYC. We used to work together at Delta Translation and now she is going to some art school possibly Pratt. Anyhow we became good friends and had kept in touch for the last few years when she moved from Denver to NYC through instant messenger. I hadn't really been in that messenger world for a while (2yrs) and just happen to stumble back into a new and refreshing dialogue with an old friend. What is even more coincidental is that she is doing digital art for the NYC museum of Science planetarium, where I am now volunteering at the DMNS, and at Fiske Planetarium doing digital art. She has always been into performance art, and projection of multimedia. I told her about Hopkins view on digital art and she is totally psyched. I passed on Geert Lovink forum on art and she is now interested in going there. It is strange how our separate paths have crossed several times and continue to keep our friendship meaningful, interesting and real. Who knows maybe I will get the chance to go to this conference and to hang with my friend Leah.

2003-09-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

So my family and I went to the faculty art show last night and I was quite disappointed to say the least. I found only a few of the faculty had good work displayed that peaked my interest and made me think. The digital work was the most interesting to me, except for some photography. I was disappointed in Mark America's video, it was not that interesting and the same images kept repeating too quickly. Neoscences was the most interesting digital art piece, and I really began to get a feeling about how people perceive fine art in a different realm from digital art. But I began to see it as just another medium and tool for art. Just like paint and a canvas, a camera and fixer or a collage of junk into some funky sculpture. The computer can go further than this though because it can interact with you and you can interact with it or even other people. Art can become collaborative, and expand with more ease. I am more interested in collaborative art because I personally need to work on people skills and working with others. I think that human interactivity and relationships are very important in art and in networking, which seems to be the key to successfully creating art digitally.

2003-09-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

It had been a while since I have done instant messaging with anyone. As I logged into the old aol I used my old settings and noticed that some of my long lost friends were still there as if it was still 2000. Strange. then chatting with someone I had just met in class (Amanda) it was interesting to say the least. The "IM" text writing skills started to reboot in my head though. I got to know Amanda and her so called addiction to IM a little better.

2003-08-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

Anbient noise, something that a mom is usually used to living with. This noise was particulary annoying because of the volume at which it was played. I have exelent hearing, which may be the reson I am extremely sensitive to loud noise. The sounds themselves were interesting and common for the most part. Trains passing by, cars and people shuffling around in the city. Phones, showers, computers, television, all of these items and most others make some sort of ambient noise. In this case it was seamed together to create a mood among the listening audiance. I thought about doing an ambient noise collection from within the mountains and nature. I was thinking about the ambient noises that I heard living in my more rural neighborhood. I also thought about doing some yoga, but then I tought as soon as I started you may stop the noise and I look a fool. I was also concerned becaus I would only be able to do that right in front of the speakers, and the noise was already annoying enough. The noise did make me feel uncomfortable and feel like moving around and stretching. It goes to show that I was still able to cope with the noise and ready to go on with every day life have you, but I would get a huge headache probably.

2003-08-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

I know I took the easy way out. I got lazy and decided that I would rather play with Jared than edit code for a personal blogger. It only took me 3 minutes to set up this simple blog and I am ready to ramble on about art and other nonsense.

2003-08-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

This is a test of the blogger system.