Project #1: GRL RMXD

I am having difficulties for reasons I can't quite figure out posting my final Flash video project on Blogger, which I am unfamiliar with...please bear with me as I attempt to solve this problem...I promise this will be corrected (in some form or another) before noon today...thank you for your understanding and patience.

-- UPDATED --

After tinkering for a bit with things, I've figured out my previous posting problem and am able to place my project online. I hope my meaning was as clear as I envisioned.

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GRL RMXD - Artist Statement

I have always enjoyed Jamaica Kincaid's works...when I first read "Girl", I heard it simultaneously in my head in much the way I've attempted to portray it here. Words starting slowly, then coming faster and faster with instructions piling one atop another until the words no longer make sense and they form a kind of white noise running in the background of a person's life. To compare and contrast that sensation I chose to underlie the text and the progressions with a soundtrack of actual static, increasing in pitch and volume as the commands began to overtake one another. The ending silence is mainly to assert that it is the mother who is creating and controlling the chaos, in addition to starkly underscoring the point where her instructions are interrupted finally by the voice of her daughter. I also wanted to highlight certain lines of the text, this being one of the most important to me because of the emotional impact of the mother's final, doubting question.

At the same time I wanted to reinterpret it and make it something of my own by adding and subtracting various elements (natural to the poem and otherwise). Maybe I was more than a little influenced by our readings from the DJ Spooky treatise in this, which is partly why I chose to call it GRL RMXD, because it is girl and it is remixed and thus it becomes something almost different.

Images were chosen based on their illustration of random lines of text, their ability to be converted to an interesting black-and-white/inverted image, and their antiquated feel. The font is based on a somewhat crooked typewriter, which I chose because it hearkened back to the 1930's and 1950's (mirroring the images I chose of classic homemaking). Color choice is solely black and white to indicate an outmoded and rigid worldview.

I wanted the text to standout, for the words and letters themselves to take on a persona and a voice based solely on their appearance. To that end the position and punctuation of the text are of foremost importance. I wanted to gradual disintegration of syntax and grammar to represent the gradual wearing down of individual will.

Having just starting working with the Adobe's CS3 this year, I'm still familiarizing myself with the various programs and options...I realized after finishing the work that Adobe After Effects would have been an easier and better choice for text animation but I'm unfamiliar with the program and would have to learn. This semester I would like to work on learning After Effects so that I can utilize it in future creations.

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Final Project: GRL RMXD

Project #1: Storyboarding in the Roughest Possible Way

Okay...I'm going to animate this in Flash, each block of text will be an animated section...typography and color choice will be the same (black and white because of her mother's black-and-white world view, in addition to hearkening to an older age, as will the typeface itself)...I have a few images of 1950s homemaking ads and some video image I've converted and inverted into black-and-white and negatives that will play intermittently on the background underneath the animated text...I'm going to put a soundtrack of white noise (AKA static) that will increase in volume up to the end, where it will shut off and the two white-faced texts (the daughter talking directly to her mother and her mother's response), will come onscreen...those are the thoughts thus far.

In the beginning the text will come across slowly with enough time to read; then it will come across in a chunk; then without proper punctuation; then with no spacing and with all the letters run unintelligibly together to mimic the vocal patterns of this lifelong harangue...I also moved lines out of linear structure and will remove words and lines, alphabetic components and the like towards the end...

So, yeah. That's the basic outline thus far. I'm calling it GRL RMXD (Girl Remixed), because it's a mashup and remixing of Jamaica Kincaid's work.

GRL RMXD

Project #1: Pre-Planning

Having missed our Tuesday course, sadly enough, to attend a loved one's funeral...I also missed the clarification on parameters for this project...so I'll wait to post further thoughts on the specific implementation of this work until catching up on what was missed.

However. That being said. Anyway.

I have already chosen the material I'll be working with...I thought I would rework and score Jamaica Kincaid's poem, "girl", which I think directly lends itself by format and tone to a multimedia transposition. I had originally thought to rescore one of my own, but nothing sprung as readily to mind as Kincaid's work. As I gave in to the impulse and re-read the poem, I found myself thinking of multiple possibilities for scoring this piece, so I decided to head my instinct and use this poem.

I imagine I'll probably be making mad use of Adobe's Creative Suite in working with this...and, if allowed by the parameters of the assignment, I will probably incorporate video capture of how I have scored this for performance. For the visual text itself, I will most likely incorporate other visual symbols in addition to alphabetic words. I may create icons to represent specific thoughts and concepts highlighted within each directive, and I may present several different representations of this piece.

I don't want to think too much on the specifics at this point (I don't want to get irrevocably headed in a wrong direction), but I have a firm idea of what I want to do and how I want to see/read it...now all that remains is making sure my take on this project is kosher.

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"Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

Wash the white clothes on Monday and put them on the stone heap; wash the color clothes on Tuesday and put them on the clothesline to dry; don't walk barehead in the hot sun; cook pumpkin fritters in very hot sweet oil; soak your little cloths right after you take them off; when buying cotton to make yourself a nice blouse, be sure that it doesn't have gum on it, because that way it won't hold up well after a wash; soak salt fish overnight before you cook it; is it true that you sing benna in Sunday school?; always eat your food in such a way that it won't turn someone else's stomach; on Sundays try to walk like a lady and not like the slut you are so bent on becoming; don't sing benna in Sunday school; you mustn't speak to wharf flies will follow you; but I don't sing benna on Sundays at all and never in Sunday school; this is how to sew on a button; this is how to make a button-hole for the button you have just sewed on; this is how to hem a dress when you see the hem coming down and so to prevent yourself from looking like the slut I know you are so bent on becoming; this is how you iron your father's khaki shirt so that it doesn't have a crease; this is how you iron your father's khaki pants so that they don't have a crease; this is how you grow okra far from the house, because okra tree harbors red ants; when you are growing dasheen, make sure it gets plenty of water or else it makes your throat itch when you are eating it; this is how you sweep a corner; this is how you sweep a whole house; this is how you sweep a yard; this is how you smile to someone you don't like too much; this is how you smile to someone you don't like at all; this is how you smile to someone you like completely; this is how you set a table for tea; this is how you set a table for dinner; this is how you set a table for dinner with an important guest; this is how you set a table for lunch; this is how you set a table for breakfast; this is how to behave in the presence of men who don't know you very well, and this way they won't recognize immediately the slut I have warned you against becoming; be sure to wash every day, even if it is with your own spit; don't squat down to play marbles you are not a boy, you know; don't pick people's flowers you might catch something; don't throw stones at blackbirds, because it might not be a blackbird at all; this is how to make a bread pudding; this is how to make doukona; this is how to make pepper pot; this is how to make a good medicine for a cold; this is how to make a good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child; this is how to catch a fish; this is how to throw back a fish you don't like, and that way something bad won't fall on you; this is how to bully a man; this is how a man bullies you; this is how to love a man; and if this doesn't work there are other ways, and if they don't work don't feel too bad about giving up; this is how to spit up in the air if you feel like it, and this is how to move quick so that it doesn't fall on you; this is how to make ends meet; always squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?

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12.10.2008 NOTE -- This blog was moved to a new location after comments were added...here's a screen cap of the comments, which unfortunately refused to be moved with the blog...

Response #1 - "Notation and the Art of Reading" by Karl Young

Young makes reference to many examples of notation, but the three that stood out as the most clearly delineated were his historic examples: notations recorded by indigenous Mexicans circa 1500, those in practice in China since the first pictographic representations and those employed in Tudor/Elizabethan England before the advent of standardized English punctuation and spelling.

In the first example, Young mentions Aztec practices in particular, most notably the pictographic nature of their printed word which appeared almost as a mandala and less as a script. He references the use of these works as aids to storytelling, being a physical talisman to the effects of memorized mythos and poetics. One scenario he creates is that of a storyteller placing a book in front of his audience in order to provide them with a physical branding to the words and songs being performed. Widespread bookbinding practices (such as the screenfolding technique), are very interesting because essentially they create books whose structure is malleable, subject to no set order or structure and open to the at-will manipulations of the audience.

Chinese writing is very graphic in origin, with each character (or zi) representing a plethora of thoughts, experiences, personages and impressions and as such having a physical as well as a mental correspondence. As he points out, this is largely irrelevant in today's information-obsessed culture, although this plays a huge role in the recording and performance of poetry. Young also points out the interrelated nature of poetry, painting and music within Chinese culture (incidentally - added to which the practice of playing Chinese go makes up the four virtues), as well as the common use of non-conventional writing materials and sources (such as stone carvings and calligraphic poetics). One kinesthetic aspect of Chinese writing in particular is in the melodious tonal implications of specifics characters in specific environments. In addition to being so graphic, Chinese is very much a verbal language and needs to be spoken to be appreciated and understood. Another example that I particularly enjoyed was of the shifu tattooed over the entirety of his body with poems by Po Chu-i.

Circa-16th century English literature was a mish-mash of spellings, punctuations and meanings. As Young points out, it was common to have more than one spelling of the same word on the same page of text. He also states that the rough material nature of these books added a certain physicality to the reading. Additionally, these works were meant to be consumed, pondering and performed (perhaps as an evening entertainment for the family or at a social gathering). Many of the poets and authors of this time were also clergymen or other members of the educated elite and as such wrote works that were meant to be read or preached. Combined with the highly individualized interpretations of spelling, rhythm and punctuation, this implies that each work would have a different incarnation based on the person reciting the piece and the audience present.

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On a side note, I've been thinking a lot lately about how the use of such a detailed writing system as our alphabet is both a blessing and a curse, in that it simultaneously allows and enforces the preservation of thoughts in a highly literal fashion. As such, it allows for great detail to be captured, but at the same time it seems to bog down literature into minutiae, if that makes any sense. I don't know - it's something I've been realizing for the first time lately and as such it's still kind of an unformed thought.

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And, on another side note, it was interesting to see Karl Young's take on recreating a Chinese style using English poetry, because I have been working on something similar for a while (although mine is in a completely different direction than Young's). It's interesting to see what someone else has been attempting.

Being Online Autobiography

I think I might be considered a bit too old to be a digital native, although I grew up with computers in the home. My father was a computer technician/programmer with Pharaoh Computers in the early 1980's (before the bottom fell out of that business), and one of my first memories is gluing together all the little bits and pieces of the motherboard on the large mainframe computer we had in our basement. I was often told that if I wasn't loved so much, I would have been killed for that.

But, basically, we always had computers around the house, although I was way behind the curve in obtaining other technologies (like cell phones, my first of which was purchased last year). Now I have my iPod and my cell and all those other goodies...

I used the internet a lot growing up, mostly because my father used my siblings and I to test things. He taught us BASIC and how to navigate DOS and the like, and we were some of the first people to sign up for AOL when it became available back in the early '90s (my first screen name, in fact, was Lilith for all the obvious symbolic reasons).

One of the most horrific moments of my childhood (aside from gluing the motherboard), was when I was playing around in DOS without paying attention and deleted a necessary boot file for our family PC when I was 14. I was so horrified of what my father might do upon discovery that I grabbed a phone book and began dialing computer specialists listed in the yellow pages...the first person I actually reached, a man named Alan Judy, knew my father and knew what lay in store for me, so he talked me through over the phone restoring the computer. I met him for the first time in person 4 years ago and he loves reminding me of that fact.

Now I mainly use the web for communication, information gathering, acquiring information/items and publicity.

• I blog on my own website and for WVU Study Abroad, in addition to sharing my photography and writing online on my site.
  
• I use Myspace and Facebook as social networking tools (many of my friends live in other countries, so they're very useful).
  
• I use the Internet to look up submissions guidelines for poetry and photography symposia/publications/exhibits, to research hard-to-find or newer information that may not have made it into print form yet.
  
• I teach ESL and I use a Yahoogroups listserv to communicate about pop culture tidbits and to share other types of information with my class.
  
• I subscribe to daily Chinese and Japanese podcasts, in addition to regularly downloading philosophical/linguistic/political/historical podcasts from a variety of sites.
  
• I use the internet to follow blogs like the DCist, the Shanghaiist, Plastic.com, the Huffington Post and the like.
  
• WheneverI come across a new artist or friend, I generally do a web search for them as well.
  
• I get my news online from mainly the BBC and from other smaller sources.
  
• I use a few pen-pal sites to help improve my Chinese and Japanese, in addition to using interactive websites daily for several of my courses (Chinese and Macroeconomics mainly)
  
• I watch tons of Netflix tidbits late at night in hotels while traveling (and, if I'm being honest, sometimes during the middle of the day between classes).
  
• I read some web-published 'zines and comics.
  
• I use JSTOR and the like to read academic articles and do research.
  
• I get a lot of music and movies online (I don't have cable or anything else.)
  
• I buy things online much more than I do in stores.
  
• I use Altavista Babelfish, like, every two hours.
• I listen to some webcast radio stations, like KILI from the Lakota Nation.
• Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
  

All told, I probably spend about 4-5 hours a day online...I know, that's a lot. But I am always online even when I'm writing in order to research or clarify, in addition to the fact that I work for NAS department here helping with photography and their website (in addition to being tapped by an educational consultancy, Helianthus, to help corral their upcoming online networking forum)...so, yeah, I am constantly connected. I'm NEVER without my laptop and actually have to make it a point to get away from the computer and electronic things for a set period of time each day so I don't just meld into a virtual world...or develop some kind of illness from spending all day sitting down...

So, there. My "Being Online Autobiography". I am online way too much.