9/12 Piles of Paint

I truly enjoy Exit Through the Gift Shop. The movie is a complex work with many different ideas present in the same scene. The question left at the end of the movie, is exactly how did this really happen? Who was responsible for it coming out in the manner that it did? At what point did Banksy turn this into his experiment? Does Banksy directly lie to us in the film?

To say that the movie was a hoax would be to call it a lie, which the movie is not. I think that the factual elements of the movie are true, but we are experiencing the vision of an ironic genius at work and some of that slight of hand makes its way into the movie. I think like the fake bills made by Banksy, the film is real art, but also an illusory counterfeit. I think that Thierry portrays a character of himself in the parts of the film that were shot after the decision to base the film around. Thierry is a grotesque version of a artist who, although apparently lacking originality, uses his extreme determination, various connections and commercial instinct to reach monetary and popular success. 

The most interesting thing about film is its sense of irony and tightly woven nature. The two main characters, Banksy and Thierry, are literally the perfect faces for what the represent, street art and pop art. Banksy is literally a black shadow with and indistinguishable voice. That this just came together unintentionally seems a stretch.

9/2 Music

I've never been the biggest fan of music videos. Mostly because they seemed so empty in comparison to the music. Rarely do they move me the way the music does and don't really add much to me, just keep ones eyes busy. There are plenty of exceptions. One of my favorites is Blockhead's The Music Scene. The video is art by itself, and pulses to the music. The video really adds to the song. It fits at every point and continues to explore the same themes and metaphors as the song. It talks about the commercialization of art, the appreciation, the over analysis, and the copying of art and music and how things can build something impressive and loud and shiny, but will ultimately fail under it own inertia and lack of rejuvenation and how the true spirit of music is not found in the perception or repackaging of it.

Also, the video is really trippy.

8/31 KFC

I've got a pretty decent resume of positions. I've worked in a wide range of food, from authentic family eateries, to large, up-scale banquet, as well as a tutor, an office assistant, and a teacher's assistant, but nothing could compare to the horror of the fast food chicken. The hours were horrible; some days I'd only work for 4 hours. The food was not all that great after eating it for a week and the smell was hard to remove from clothing. My co workers were ok, but some of the customers were the very bottom of the barrel of humanity. Seeing such pitiable wrecks disgusted me and still does.

8/26 Those dirty french

I chose an article from the New York Times about an explosion that occurred in a French nuclear waste treatment plant. France is one of the most nuclear nations in the world. Over 75% of its electricity is generated from nuclear fission. The explosion took place in southern France. It was not a nuclear explosion, but an industrial accident. Authorities are conducting test currently, but all evidence so far seems to say that no appreciable amount of radioactive material was released to the environment. Fission is a dangerous toy to be using to boil water, but until fusion power becomes available, it is here to stay as the big brother to alternative fuels. The safety of reactors is very high, but transportation and disposal facilities are less so, and the tsunami in Japan has reiterated the immensity of natural disaster. The acticle is ment to be soley informative. It does seem to downplay the danger a more serious explosion could have been.





http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/world/europe/13france.html?_r=1&hp

8/24 or we really are that stupid?

The exclusion of Ron Paul from media coverage is the point being brought up in the clip. Ron Paul is being underrepresented and treated by joke by main stream news sources. This is in spite of his decent showing in the polls. I very much believe that the behavior towards Paul is a planned and concerted effort by the few corporate interests that own the media and the majority of our public officials. It is because of his outspoken attacks on the method of politics and government decision. The media and a large portion of those in government office do not want any change; that will only shed light on their corruption and incompetence. It is an attempt to discredit those that might try to get our political system out of bed with capitalistic greed.

Blog 9/9 Or how poor are we?

The big problem with the possibility of a post office failing is the wide spread damage on the American infrastructure. Damage to that could be catastrophic to the economy. The points made in the video basically  just go over the fact that the post office doesn't have viable business model. I believe that government aid should go to creating and stabilizing infrastructure. I think education and health services should not be for profit business, that goes against the spirit and methodology of both professions. The inevitable question is then where does the U.S. get the money for this? I personally believe we should cut subsides for large business and for agri-business and make drastic revisions to welfare and unemployment.

Blog 8/21- The prelude

Born in Holyoke, MA, I was raised primarily in Savannah, but also spent a number of years in western Massachusetts. Savannah is real relaxed for the most part but is small enough that I wanted to leave. I am a double major in physics and mathematics. I am considering changing mathematics to chemistry, based on investment -reward concerns.

I love hip hop. Always have. I prefer better hip hop and lyrical artists. I'm also a big fan of film. I'm a bit of snob in what I'll call a good movie. Pi, Fight Club, 2001 A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, and Requiem for a Dream are all favorites. I read a lot. I like to read most kinds of fiction, my favorite being good sci-fi and fantasy. I also enjoy reading more classical forms of literature. I would recommend Dune, War of the Flowers, Eye of the World, A Brief History of Time, On the Origin of Species, The Rebel, and Candid. 

In my spare time I have a job at Lenox mall for thirty hours a week. I have a dog, and a snake. I'm trying to learn to program in Python. That is for marketability and my desire to create a game. I'd like to write a novel or three one day. I'm also a poet.