Molvania

http://www.molvania.com/molvania/index.html


Check it out. Is this:

1. Humorous & benign
2. Humorous but somewhat politically incorrect? Why?
3. Promotes Western negative stereotypes of Eastern Europeans?
4. A very clever parody of travel guides?
5. All, none, other?

THE INTERNET AS PLAYGROUND AND FACTORY

A conference on digital labor. This looks good. Check it out.


On November 12 to 14, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts will host an international conference, "The Internet as Playground and Factory," which will explore the meaning and changing face of labor in the digital era. For three days, more than 90 theorists, educators, artists, legal scholars, activists, students, programmers, historians, and social media experts will join to re-evaluate what constitutes unpaid labor, value, leisure, play, fun, and exploitation in an economy that is increasingly driven by the expropriation of our online activities.

This event will commence a biennial series of conferences titled, “The Politics of Digital Media.”

Conference website:
http://digitallabor.org/

Charter for Compassion

• RT @TEDchris Special Sunday treat. We've just posted SIX talks to prepare for the upcoming Charter for #Compassionhttp://ted.com @jberrill 2009-11-01

France mulls "health warning" for fashion photos

Pretty much, the French Government wants to start putting health warnings on "enhanced" photographs of people. Yeah.

Something we are all aware of, especially relevant to us as graphic designers. Heres the link:
http://in.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idINIndia-42600920090921

For some reason it reminded me of this too:
http://www.boingboing.net/2008/07/10/iran-you-suck-at-pho.html

Oh, and this too (sorry about all the links, this last ones great though)
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/

The Day There Was No News - Video

I came across this while blog surfing, and I found the idea and concept very interesting, somewhat moving (and not to mention, a little bit humourous).
I read someones comment somewhere that this is what CNN should do instead of filling in the day with recycled hysteria. I think many news stations should take that advice...

Both of these videos do well to illustrate the old saying “no news, is good news”.

The Exponential Function

Watch the Video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

Dr. Albert A. Bartlett, Professor Emeritus of physics stated in his lecture;
that "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function"

We are living in a degrading world, eco problems is on the rise, financial crisis is nearing its end (possibly not for some countries). We all need to be aware of these problems and aim to change it or perhaps solve it. However, the question that Professor Bartlett ask is that "were we ill informed or did we fail to realize it when it seemed less important?"

We as human beings have the tendency to fail to realize the significance of problems and statistics for the long term. There were a few free-thinkers and theorist who have tried to warn us about the problems we face today and yet the media, corporations and governments accused them of conspiracy and treachery. Isn't it clear that we could have been more prepared of these problems if the media did not, per say, 'sugar coat' the beginning of the problem in the first place; did not soften the significance of the information given to us.

If we thought more broadly and analytically, would we have been able to lessen the problems of today? You decide.

Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption

Found this guy while researching, his work is worth a look; deals with excessive consumption, and some of the environmental issues regarding waste and so-called necessary "upgrades" of technology and such.

http://www.chrisjordan.com

BACK TO CYBERPUNK

This is a good introduction to cyberpunk fiction and history. Have a look.

FUTURISTIC FASHIONS FROM THE 30s

A clip that looks at fashion designers from the 1930s predicting the look of "Eve" in the year 2,000. Notice the difference between the female and male futuristic attire.

Is the plethora of new media technology (and new technology in general) responsible for anxiety, depression and a sense of helplessness?

You are welcome to be an author on this blog contact edit.l

Stereotypes: Has technology helped or hindered our understanding of our perceptions of others?

TECHNOLOGY: I WANT TO BE A LUDDITE

Wednesday August 26th. A day from hell. I pray for a real lecture room with good acoustics, a projector that works always, a big screen! Sorry for the ridiculously uninformative class. Thank you Janam for Russell Peters....we must find the one where he talks about indians and chinese working together!

Is the plethora of new media technology (and new technology in general) responsible for anxiety, depression and a sense of helplessness?

George Bush and Shoe incident: the story that wasn't told. What else do we not see?

Stereotypes: Has technology helped or hindered our understanding of our perceptions of others?

I guess we talked about: research projects - PLEASE TXT, EMAIL, CALL on monday or tuesday to talk if you haven't already!!

JOIN if you wish: I will be meeting James Brown and Tom Ryan (in class virtually) at 11am on mondays for hour long discussions for anyone who wants to join...place to be arranged.

Wednesday August 19th

Today we discussed semiotics/linguistics as it relates to film studies exploring paradigmatic and syntagmatic structures specifically related to time-based media. Film is not a language in the same sense that French is a language in that the signifier and signified have a more direct link. The word 'chien' is made up of arbitrary signifiers just as the word 'dog' is in the English language. However a real dog in a film is no doubt, a dog. (You might doubt, I suppose, if he is convincingly disguised as a cat.) Signifier/signified are almost one in the same. We learned that in India there is no good (as in positive) word for dog. Life's a bitch.

We diverged into culturally derived codes of manners, gestures, symbols, etc. i.e. the 'thumbs up' gesture, the 'nodding' or 'shaking head' sign, the 'standing chop sticks' to name a few, and their varied meanings in differing countries.

Remember: Your journal will be retrieved for grading next week!
Read your hand out on writing about film, consider project and start researching.
Make an appointment for individual meetings on film analysis paper.

If you think of anything I missed let me know!

Cheers, L

Wednesday August 12

Today we talked about semiotics, a bit of memetics, cyberpunk fiction and film, science fiction genre, images of the future, evolution, Frankenstein, Metropolis, Anime: Lain, Gundam, Neo-Evangelion, etc.  

To do:  Read Blue Velvet film analysis (O'Shaunessy Media & Society)

      Look on resources folder for Film Form: An Introduction

      Journal: Interesting things you might want to research for a paper

Optional:  What kind of giant group project...video, campaign, internet meme, ... could we    do as a class?

 

   Design a Gang Patch (for a nice gang)

LEAVE A POST!!!

Talks Rodney Brooks says robots will invade our lives

An interesting talk and discussion.

http://www.ted.com/talks/rodney_brooks_on_robots.html

The Sixth Sense

Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense | Video on TED.com

• This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environm...
• http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

Star Trek Meets Monty Python

A followup to How William Shatner Saved the World and a nice example of pop culture appropriation, contextual displacement and intertextuality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luVjkTEIoJc

Look at

Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web

Kevin Kelly on the next 5,000 days of the web

Have a look, make a comment.