CSI, a real piece of… art?

CSI – Candid, Sincere, Introspective? Oh Please No.
 

Grissom: Make sure you document these skid marks.
Greg: (Smiles to himself) He said skid marks.

I have just one question – when are we going to run out of young, pretty, blonde actresses to kill, mutilate, and rape on crime shows? 

These shows are cancer for the brain, like sniffing giant sharpies for 45 minutes straight (not counting the 15 minutes of commercials, in which I wouldn’t be surprised if the viewership were in fact sniffing sharpies). 

Yet when I stop and think a bit (I promise just a little bit), a part of me wonders whether I’ve seen anything more honest than CSI.  I go to art school, and, to be blunt, most of the work produced in the art world, in general, drools with insincerity.  If I could describe the current state of art in one word it would be – “regurgitation.”  

CSI then might very well be the best example of a social study into the current state of society.  If I want to know what its really like to take heroin, do I ask a heroin addict or a scientist?  If I am a sociologist in the far future, studying American culture, I think CSI would intrigue me far more than, say, a Stan Douglas art film.  CSI is honest because its goal is to sell not to tell.  Why it sells, in fact the very reason that its goal is to sell, says more about our world than any piece of art ever could. 

 

csi

Entertainment

This is a compilation of violent scenes from films. This video is meant as a rhetorical critique regarding the amount and varying degrees of violence being filmed as a means of entertainment. I wonder if a violent scene, even if used with purpose (as, ironically, was my intent for this very video!), serves nothing but to perpetuate and encourage violence itself. I wonder what it says about the state of our society that we not only view these films, but encourage the production of them.

Be advised that this video is extremely violent, watch it at your own discretion.

The following is an excerpt from a previous discussion with a friend…. there is far more and this friend did punch many, many holes in my argument, but I will just post a general glimpse of my inner confusion in relation to this topic.  I do not know what to think, but I do know that I do not think violence in film should be banned.  That said, after making this video and thinking about it, I am not sure if I would ever myself create a certain type of violent film…. or watch and be blindly entertained by violent films in the same manner.  The research that went into the creation of this video made me physically sick. 

I think a problem with cinema, in general, is that it portrays people in black and white, good and bad… and once somebody is “bad” it is somehow okay to smash their head in with a baseball bat. Isn’t it a little odd that often the “good guy” kills far more people than the bad? You don’t think there’s something wrong with applauding death, no matter the circumstance? Furthermore, I think their is a transference of those ideals to everyday life; black and white, us and them, and i think that is dangerous, because it gives “us” justification to kill, an obvious example being war. I’m sure you and I aren’t pro-war, but the fact is nevertheless wars occur. I love that you trust people, but I don’t know if I do, so much around me says otherwise.

It seems that the nature of film encourages us to give more credence to the reason than the fact. Is that right or wrong? I don’t know, but it’s interesting to me…. our evaluation of reason will constantly change, but what is will never leave us. 100 years ago people truly believed that segregating First Nations people into reservations, and filtering their children through residential schools would help ease our cultures together…. now what do we believe? All I know is that it is true that killing is wrong, and if I show it, even if I believe my audience will know better, even if I believe my intentions just, I will never escape the fact that I am showing it.

Just because something is fantasy, it does not mean it cannot affect us or affects us less. Ifanything, I believe it can affect us more! Because as we enjoy these things we absolutely let our guards down. For example, there are hundreds of stories in the bible, parables, that are clear cut fantasy, yet people obviously take those lessons to heart; a metaphor can be more powerful than fact. Further yet, the creator is a person in himself – what does it mean when people choose to fantasize about things like, for instance, “Natural Born Killers?” Is it okay that we are giving people a way to express abusive behavior? Just because you would never do these bad things we see, and I know you never would, is it okay to laugh/be entertained by it? What if somebody is entertained by watching simulated, fake, staged child pornography, is it okay for them to watch that under the condition they would never act on it? How about that genre of extreme torture porn?

There are many examples of children and adults directly emulating behavior on television and cinema. In Norway two children beat another child to death, it was later found that they did so because they were trying to be like the Power Rangers! In the U.S. a teenager shaved his head, and killed his parents after watching “Natural Born Killers.” John Hinkley, an adult, shot Ronald Reagan to impress Jodie Foster, or rather, a character she played in a film (Taxi Driver). You can say that these people are screwed up to begin with, but that is like saying people will kill anyway, why restrict gun access? Furthermore, these instances, and there are many more, are directly inspired by violence in film. That is, I believe that if said violent films did not exist, these specific cases would have never happened. My dilemma is – what happens if I make a violent film, and I find out that somebody, somewhere, killed another directly because of my film? Am I really going to say they would’ve killed somebody, someday, anyway? How could I forgive myself? I know I can’t live life being afraid of the actions my choices might incur on others, but I also can’t make blind choices. It’s a delicate line, I don’t have an answer.

Their was an interesting study I just read about – basically, it analyzed crime rates in the United States, Canada and South Africa between the years 1945 to 1974 when South Africa did not have television whereas both the United States and Canada had television. His results concluded that the homicide rate in the United States increased by 93 percent [and] in Canada the homicide rate increased 92 percent. In South Africa the homicide rate declined by 7 percent. I mean, there are so many things that point to violence in media as a definite problem. Am I going to disregard that, because its not a problem for me?

Shappy Happy Map a Smackey

“Sometimes I wonder if we live life by reliving life, rather than by living life.”  -Ann Landers

http://www.wefeelfine.org/index.html is a super interesting site, which is, basically, “an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.”   What it is does is “harvest” entries from blogs, and just kind of mashes them together in a plethora of ways.  It’s a lot more complex, and not as dumb sounding as I’m making it, so just check out the site if you’re even remotely interested….. and if you’re not even REMOTELY interested, hell, you shouldn’t even be reading this, because, quite frankly, only remotely interesting people (who, likewise, I expect to be remotely interested) read my blog.  nudge nudge.

It’s always so strange for me catching glimpses of people’s lives via the internet.  It’s for this strangeness that I personally refrain from joining facebook or myspace or friendster or such….  Its not that I have anything against these sites/things, its just they always inevitably makes me feel real awkward (more so than usual)… its hard to describe why!  But I’ll try….. what I realize is that when I did try using those sites in the past, when doing so I always felt this nagging itch… as if I were invading another’s privacy, albeit welcomed.  And being I value my own (privacy) admittedly more than most, it just didn’t and doesn’t feel right for me.  I submit that their are plenty of valid and good reasons to use those sites, but I can’t seem to get away from that feeling.  It is strange knowing someone without them directly knowing that you are getting to know them, if you know what I mean.

But then I realize that I’m writing this on MY blog, and I have to think about it twice.  I guess why this is okay for me and not “that” is because this seems one way and streamlined.  Everything I write is controlled, it is meant to be read, and likewise everything I read, to some degree, I figure must also be controlled.  But I won’t deny it still feels weird…. it is, in ways, kind of the same.  Oh no.  Am I becoming an old fogey?

Anyway, in keeping with the theme of wefeelfine.org, in parting, I will submit that today I am inordinately glad… just because.

 

Rikey Mikey Choke a Likey

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Here is a video I watched which basically seeks to share statistics regarding pornography on the Internet in a fun way.  What is interesting is that the video’s method of showing itself borders on pornography!  I am not sure whether the video was made to combat pornography or simply as a tongue in cheek project… but if it was made to question pornography, I wonder whether such a method is affective. 

A part of me admires the idea of a pornographic movie that could question the very medium it employs… but a part of me also says, wait – Can a pornographic movie or a violent movie or a sexist movie or a racist movie, even if made as a satirical, ironical gesture, really serve any other purpose than to inevitably further what it questions in a roundabout way?  I realize that such things intend to shock us, the viewer, into realization… but what happens when such shock wears?  Where do we draw the line?  The proliferation of such into the imagination of the whole….it seems a devolution.  We are constantly affected by what we see, whether we like it or not…. think about cigarettes in cinema for example….even if I put a cigarette into the hands of the most despicable character, even if I show him dying in grotesque manner, the cigarette is still glorified in some manner…. and so it is with the gun or the abusive or the discriminatory.  Even if I film or show the most atrocious act, in some manner, the filming of it, if done well, makes it beautiful…. and I think sometimes there is a  subconscious transference.  So perhaps the answer is to make a truly bad movie about bad things… but then no one will watch it!

at the same time, I realize flaws in my logic… I understand the other side… and, almost absurdly, it makes just as much sense! Maybe more!  Its funny…..there is so much information… and everything can be made to seem feasible… and because of this, it seems I’m often paralyzed into inaction; really, it is a brilliant form of control, that gives the controlled the pretense of control through the facade of knowledge…. to think too much, and do too little.

“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.” -Socrates

 

10 Things I Realize Taking Transit & google map

1. Falling asleep on a sunny day is mandatory.

2. Old woman either smile at you constantly or hit you with their sticks.

3. When I sit next to someone, because their are no empty seats, but then empty seats materialize I never know what to do.  Do they want me to move? Or will they think, “hey, why is he moving? Do I smell?”

4. Some people have lost their sense of smell, and are determined to make everyone aware of it during the busy morning commute.  I have now perfected the art of breathing through my mouth.  The funny thing is, after awhile, you actually sort of like it. Like a guilty pleasure.  You don’t want to inhale… but you do!

5. If you are with a girl, your chances of strange men talking to you out of the blue increase by twenty. If you ARE a girl, my sympathies.

6. People who don’t give up their seats to people who actually need them are assholes. But sometimes you are not sure whether to give up your seat, is this woman old enough?  Will she be insulted if I offer her my seat?  

7. Some of the greatest conversations occur with fascinating strangers.  The interesting thing is, for the most part, you know you will never talk to these people again… so perhaps, in a way, you are most yourself with them.  And no, I am not the guy from #5.

8. When you first get on the bus, and its empty, you don’t want anyone to sit next to you.  When its absolutely full, and no ones sitting beside you still, you desperately do. 

9. People who stand like pylons on the left side of the escalator are assholes. People who don’t make an effort to make space when the bus is full and others are trying to get on are idiots. But sometimes, especially in foreign cities and new places, you are exactly that person. And then its funny.

10. The larger the group the stupider the people.

 Oh, and heres a link to my google map: google map

 

Oh Beautiful Day!

What a glorious day! Off to the beach, hooray! hooray! So I’ll keep this post short and sweet… first a, I think, fitting quote to ponder:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Nelson Mandela   

 I love this quote! Let me try to explain a small bit of the reason why, 

It seems so easy to be impartial, to not try, to be “cool,” detached, to pretend not to care… to really drift into complacency… there is comfort in the mask.  But, I think, when you really go for something, allowing yourself wholehearted belief – to really commit, consequence be damned –  the moment that follows is so beautiful, so magical, so profound, it aches…. its worth it.  when you take a chance, jump, you know? 

Its scary to proclaim, “this is what I want, this is what I believe in,” flat out, straight out, no facades, no outs, and run aimlessly, perhaps recklessly, for it… and I don’t think we can always do so, but when we do, I think that is one of the greatest things in life.  Theirs this idea that failure is somehow bad, but … I wonder, to actively try and fail… is their anything more courageous? To embrace it?  Imagine how freeing that would be… to just BE.  And I don’t mean embracing something, like, say, insecurity or arrogance, so much so that either disappears…. but really wearing it on ones sleeve.  I say be insecure! I say fuck up!  I say lose!  Beauty is in the inconsistency, perfection in the imperfect…. every single thing and person I have ever loved in my life, thinking about it, I have never loved for what I thought I would love them for… its always been some almost ineffable quality… the good and the bad, with no division.

And what about what others think?  Understandably, their are people who prey on judging and treating others negatively, feasting on a certain false sense of importance that usually follows… and it would be naive of me to say, forget them! …because, after all, haven’t we all been in that situation, trying desperately to win over a critic, sometimes even at expense of a friend?  All I can say is, a person who is quick to judge, with no concept of negotiation, is, in fact, completely under control of the person they are judging…. they exist entirely reactively.  And then, sometimes people are just different – and thats okay.  Live and let live!  Embracing failure is realizing that I’m not going to be agreed with, I’m not going to be understood, but I’m gonna put myself out there anyway, and let be – the very magnificence lies in the risk.  In the end, we’re all dead, why not live the way we ought to?  

I think, in general, barring extraordinary circumstance, we choose to be happy.  One can either take charge or wait, take control or be controlled.    We have to ask ourselves which position we would rather be in…. for most, or at least for me, its an easy answer theoretically, but a very hard thing to follow through.  

Being the best person I can be, will only make the people I care for better… how can that ever be bad? The world is filled with fear and complacency, because fear begets fear….. how can I then, with good conscious,  give into my own fears of rejection?  I realize then that doing nothing is absolutely something! How can I be a part of that?   I think I would rather be ridiculed, than further such a cycle.

 Its funny, sometimes when I put effort into something, when I try hard, when I am passionate, people look at me strange – “don’t you have anything better to do?”  Shouldn’t it be the other way around!? its absurd – to apologize for caring, for trying.  Sometimes the world seems absolutely backwards.

anyway, gotta go, haha, not so short, huh? maybe sweet?  I think I repeated a lot of ideas I’ve talked about before, but whatever.  Luckily, I type like the wind.  Smile! Hope y’all have, had, or are having a beautiful day!

 

   

I Believe! Hallelujah, I BELIEVE!

I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re skeptical.

-Arthur C. Clarke

Good people, today, in a stroke of fate, I read an email from a friend telling me to follow a certain link. That link led me to an astrological profile.  Now, if you know me, you know I was already kind of intrigued by the idea of astrology to begin with…. or at least amused!  But, good God, the addiction has been reawakened!  Re-inspired!  In the past 10 minutes I have learned more about myself than I had ever wanted to….  It is the funniest most surreal thing, and oh so strange! 

Below are some links to astrology sites, I dare you to follow them!  DOUBLE DARE!  Let me know if they give you any insight!  I say hey, you say hey..  I know a naysayer would argue that all astrology writers do is find something everyone can vaguely relate to, but I kid you not, I glanced at the profiles for others signs, and they are absolutely NOT me! But when I read my own, it is god damn eery!  I’d be very interested in seeing what the “success rate” is.

My favorite line is, “for them, everything about life is Big with a capital B”… Hells yes!

Do I believe in destiny?  I think i do.  People like to say, “oh if destiny exists, why do anything? Why don’t I just sit around and do absolutely nothing?”  And to this I say –  try.  Just try.

http://www.novia.net/~aaronk/ast/leo.html

http://www.astrology.com.au/12signs/leo.asp

http://www.ncbuy.com/entertainment/astrology/leo-about.html

http://www.eastrolog.com/astrology-zodiac/leo.php

  

Urinal.

The artist himself may not think he is religious, but if he is sincere his sincerity in itself is religion. - Emily Carr

It interests me that throughout history where religion has been, art also has always necessarily followed (whether it be Russian propaganda films, Byzantine icons, or the Sistine Chapel).  I am not a religious person, in the sense that I do not subscribe to any one conventional “religious” system, but strangely, I would still consider myself “religious.”  That is, I have strong beliefs… even if I am not always fully aware of them; I have conviction, even if I am not always sure how to act.  Emily Carr wrote that “the artist himself may not think he is religious, but if he is sincere his sincerity in itself is religion,” and I relate strongly to that.  Religion is not in a word or a symbol, a painting or a speech, it lives always in one’s own beliefs.

What concerned me most while working on this piece was that very question of belief.  I am at a point in my life where conviction seems a tricky, fickle thing – but an absolutely necessary thing nonetheless.

Just recently, during a media history screening, a film called “Armageddon” was shown.  I found it strange how so many people left, and of the few who did remain, many of them did so only to laugh derogatively at the movie.  I can understand this, I too felt an almost instant sense of…. superiority.  But why?  When judgment comes so easy, it is usually a sign that ignorance is near.  If it is wrong for a “common” person to quickly pass something off as “artsy,” how is it right to pass of another as “commercial?”  Perhaps it is a question of semantics, perhaps not, but I honestly feel that their is worth to be had, knowledge to be learned, in everything, regardless of intent.  An open mind is acceptance, it is strange that in an art school there seems to be so little of it.

“Bad art is always more tragically beautiful than good art because it documents human failure.”

I understand that the backlash is against certain conventions, and blind, ideologically irresponsible decisions (made in the film)…. but, I think, what people fail to recognize is that very reaction is itself convention.  We are spurred by a collective unity.  In this way, “art” is no less a mindless system of thought than, say, Religion or Commercialism, Consumerism or Communism (the “bad” kind).  Like these things, art too seems to have a system of almost taboo arbitrary codes; ways we should think, talk, look, act. What I strive to remember is that this collective identity of “art” has, in fact, absolutely nothing to do with art – Being an “artist” has always been after the fact.

There seems to be a misconceived notion that conviction, belief, and confidence require solidity and foundation… while they ARE a necessary foundation, they should not borrow the connotations of that word.  Belief should never be nailed to the ground, conviction never cemented, rather, they should be in constant negotiation.  Uncertainty is the Mother of all things beautiful and pure. Belief, conviction, confidence – these are things that should be founded on an ocean of constant change.  When judgment is passed without question, judgment should be brought to trial. 

In my piece, formalistically, all in all, there are 10 religions referenced (Christianity [Holy Cross], Judaism [Magden David], Sikhism [Sword, Dagger and Shield], Taoism [Tai-Chi, Yin-Yang], Buddhism [The Dhammachakka], Hinduism [OM], Islam [Crescent and Star], Indigenous Religions [The Quartered Circle], Confucianism [The Trigram], and Jainism [The Swastik Chakra], centered around an outline of Michel Duchamp’s, “Fountain.”  Below is an idea for where I would like to put it and how it would look (though I would be open to other suggestions.)  The only thing I am concerned about is whether the detail within the circle is too fine…. in which case I could take away one of the duplicates and enlarge it (though that would omit Toaism…)… I’ve attached the alternative as well.

 

pop what?

I came across these little “news” blurbs… two are insane, and one is kind of insane but in a kind of cute way… maybe. I’m not sure yet.  I find myself befuddled and appalled at my own enjoyment. It fascinates me how easily I am distracted.  

 I am posting these things because I find it interesting how easy it is for people to relay pretty much anything between one another now…. and even more interesting what they do in fact relay and then pay attention to.  I mean, Jesus, the first video has 16 million views… think about that for a second, its really basically a void of uselessness, but 16 million people were interested enough to spend time watching it…. me and perhaps you included.  Its weird, people.  Admit it. Seriously.

 

at first I thought this was a joke…. then I felt bad… then vaguely scared.  I understand where the guy is coming from, but it is intense: “SHE’S A HUMAN!” 

 

No comment neccessary really.  What’s notable about this one is that it is actual “news.”  Its funny what “professional” news programs are resorting to to keep viewer’s attention.  Hey, I get it, no one wants to listen to actual news ALL the time.  But sometimes I think that is becoming too convenient an excuse…. it feels like we’re a generation feeding on redirection, placebo.  Heres a quote from a later article:

 When it was suggested he take his antics to the US and party girls Paris Hilton or Britney Spears, he said: “I reckon I’d be too high class for them.”    Corey said he had been asked to host hundreds of “informal” parties, but talk of being offered $10,000 to host nightclub events had so far come to nothing.    He had no regrets about refusing to take off his sunglasses in an interview with A Current Affair’s Leila McKinnon – an exchange that seems destined for classic status.    ”I reckon it’s hilarious and so do my mates,” he said.    Asked if his new fame had helped his chances with the ladies, Corey said: “They either want to get to know me or they hate me, there’s no in the middle right now.    ”It’s fun, it’s awesome. I’m famous, I like being famous.”              

Here a guy apparently saw a girl on a NY subway…. basically its a glorified missed connection, but he set up a website and everything, and apparently the two of them met.  Kind of a nice, really, also kind of creepy. I’m not sure which, I guess it depends on how it all turns out.  This link has an interview with the two of them: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3843059   

Lastly, here is an article that just made me say, “wow” out loud.   Its about twins who were separated at birth and unknowingly, um, married each other.  Yeah.  http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/01/11/twins.married/index.html  

I don’t know what I’d do without the internet.

9 times out of 10 people will pick the shortcut, the fastest possible route – see the microwave, the car, the television, the supermarket, the airplane.  The internet.  That’s what technology is all about – convenience, speed.  I think we forget that sometimes the means is as important as the ends, and every step we sacrifice, I think, cheats us of something really worthwhile.  Theirs this concept that one somehow always gains by doing things faster, but a minute is a minute is a minute, nothing is really lost, only negotiated.  We are so bloated, blinded, by the result, we forget that their is magic in the journey.  People like to call the internet an “information pipeline,” and I find that quite fitting.  The thing gushes and flows, giving whatever you want, whenever you want.  

It’s ironic that a little bit of the spontaneity, the adventure, of the now is relinquished in the ever persistent search of it.  I sometimes wonder if all this searching, all this information, serves merely as a distraction; perhaps it is just subterfuge of the mind for the mind.  After all, we pick what link to follow, we choose what article to read.  Are we getting more intelligent?  Or more ignorant?  Are we honestly searching, or, in fact, digging our heels further and further into our own established beliefs with minor gives and evolutions?  After all, there is strength in numbers, and our confidence in ourselves can only be strengthened by similar confidences – to know that somebody else cries “yes!” to our yes is comforting, empowering.  Yet, similarity sometimes breeds only more similarity, we see this in our family, in our friends, and in our cultures. 

People will argue that the internet signals the proliferation of choice, but I don’t know if I agree.  I don’t know if I agree, because I think groups tend to, in the long run, assimilate one another; monopoly, in an ideological sense, is almost always inevitable, and the same runs true with ideas; an original thought is not an original thought, it is an accumulated one.  A “pipeline” implies a source, what happens when we centralize it?  Cultural tyranny?  In the long run, what happens when everything is shared? Dilution or saturation? What happens to choice?  What’s happenned already?  The choice between democrat and republican, socialist and capitalist,  hell, mac and pc, google and yahoo, hd dvd and blu-ray, lcd and plasma, Mcdonalds and Burger King, Telus and Rogers, CNN and BBC,  you have to ask yourself, are these really choices?  I know they are choices, relative to each other, but is that enough?  I’m honestly not sure.  And, in the face of the internet, this scares me.  This scares me because the world is becoming more connected, differences are fading.  I know their are positive to this, such as minimized racism, perhaps greater potential for sympathy, but their are also negatives, because difference is uniqueness. Difference is choice.  Then again, perhaps a little sameness is what this world needs.  I don’t know.