NING

To visit my Ning social network, Fairness Awareness, click on link. Fairness Awareness is, an online community for people who share the same values about our part in purchasing fair products. We have provided information on products that are fair trade, sweat-shop free/humane, cruelty free, certified organic, charitable, and others. We have also included a space for members to share their favorite planet-friendly products and trade information and ideas. It is our goal to group together like-minded and eco-aware people to promote sustainability and a better planet.

Generative Topic from ASPECTS

Some research and or independent projects that could be used for some assignments would be:

- The documentation of "special occasions" (eg. weddings, babies, etc.) what is the importance of documenting such significant moments in time? Create a time line of significant "special moments" in your life. Would you want to share to everyone all of these moments why or why not?

- Looking at relationships: Father and Son. There are several examples in which the father seems to aggressively encourages his son by telling him to "Go fast" and "Push!". Do you feel/ react the same way? Do you think that the father was overly stern or did I misinterpret the footage. What are your thoughts? How could you change the audio, context, etc. to portray a more positive/ negative impression?

- Exercise in drawing. The shadows that are viewed in the footage is a good example of using shading techniques, perspective and study of shape and form.

- Create a time capsule of your own personal memoirs. Unveil it over a long period of time... call it " a work in progress". 

- How does the point of view of the camera effect the audience/ viewer? Would the footage have been perceived differently otherwise?

- Would you consider facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. a form of voyeurism? How would you define voyeurism? Positive, negative connotation? Create a piece that defines voyeurism based off of your own definition. 

Brent Watanabe: Thrift Store Tape Series

In ASPECTS, Artists of the West Coast V. 2, I looked at brent Watanabe's piece called, Thrift store tape 3. Briefly, the piece is described to be made up of discarded home videos, whose memoirs are lost, stolen, traded, or sold. Viewing the piece first without commentary on, I found my that my note had emphasis on the journey of these videos. The origin from which they first came from. How did they get to where they are? Who and why were they discarded? The juxtaposition that Watanabe uses also creates an eerie voyeuristic point of view. The thing I noted was the relationship the viewer has with the camera and the point of view looking in, but then being snapped backed into reality when you hear the voice of others.

Bill Arning provides the commentary on Watanabe's work and also notes how the artist uses minimal manipulation, whereas most new media artists tend to over manipulate. Arning also comments how Watanabe allows us to view, "people's leftovers" in a public area and that someone made the conscious decision to let go of the footage and memories in hopes it would disappear. Finally, Arning further discusses the voyeuristic tendency in Watanabe's work and applies it to our modern times, for example, blogging. I found this to be ironic and amusing.