All good things must come to an End

Probably my last post (not sure what I would add after this). Looking back at this class, it was been one of the most educational yet entertaining classes I have taken. The concept of realness seemed vague and intangible at first, but through this class we have tackled various aspects of it. While we have barely touched the subject, I still feel we have covered so much. I now have new ways to look at reality, new criteria to judge the world by, and a broadened my views. I guess a reflection of the class wouldn't be complete without a nod to our last big assignment: this blog. As with every assignment, it has its own sense of realness. There was no cookie cutter way to make a blog work, no easy way to meet the requirements. You had to genuinely find content and apply it to class. However there was just as much a fake element to this as well. I mean, here I sit dating half these posts as if I did them months ago, and have been updating it regularly.

What Comes Next

So at the end of Decoded, I had a lot more respect for Jay-Z. Yesterday was his birthday, and for his birthday he released a short documentary on his work in making the Barclay's Center. Reading his story, I wasn't sure if it was credible. He could have easily exaggerated the story to make himself sound better. However after watching this documentary, I really do feel his book is accurate. I am sure he really did work for his success. What is more impressive is that he doesn't simply make it to the top and sit. He still works for things he believes in. Several times in this video to people mention how it is bringing jobs to the community. Not only that but several people address him with the utmost respect. He's not just the guy who was put in charge. He is seen as the guy who belongs there. The man with the vision, and the mind-set to get it done. I feel like this video shows him following up on the kind of person he was in the book, and gives both the book, and Jay-Z much more respect in my eyes. Also the subway scene where he talks to an elderly woman was extremely surprising. He wasn't arrogant, or egotistic  but rather humble, and respectful. I would have never guessed that through his stage presence. I can definitely say, Jay-Z is the real deal.

Making Waldo

This last project has been a blast. We got to vandalize school property FOR A GRADE. This project had so much flexibility. At first I was clueless on what to do. Never really thought about "If I was to suddenly turn to street art, what would I put up?" Eventually the Waldo idea came to me, and my group ran with it. It was tons of fun. Trying to hide Waldo's everywhere, printing a giant Waldo, taking pictures of observers, all of it. The making of the website was more of a chore, especially with the manifesto and sources. However, with the freedom of the project, the medium by which we showed it must also be free. A simple word document, or 1 video wouldn't have been able to show all the different parts, the meaning behind it, and our reflections  While making the website wasn't a smooth process, it came out nicely in the end.

http://findingwaldo.wix.com/finding-waldo

IMPROVising

One of my favorite types of comedy is improv. Improv, when done well is hilarious. Stand-up is funny, but it's so practiced and tailored, it doesn't have the same effect. Improv is spontaneous, and to be good at improv, one has to be a really funny person in real life. Those spur of the moment, on the spot jokes are what make someone truly funny, not how well you can practice 1 or 2 routines. To me, improv has a sense of realness to it. It isn't practiced, or censored. There are no parts cut out of it, or bad jokes that are skipped. Its real funny situations arising from real funny people.

Liar Liar

Every year England has a "World's Biggest Liar" competition. Participants are required to come up with a story on the spot and make it as believable as they can. While it sounds like a terrible competition, it mostly comes down to who can tell the best story. The winner is not a sneaky, weasel-faced, scumbag. Instead it was a nice pleasant old man, who simply told a great story enthusiastically with great charisma. This made me rethink "On Bullshit." In class, we agreed that lying and bullshitting are not the same, nor are they mutually exclusive. I mean here there is a lying competition that is simply who can make the best story. Is it testing your ability to bullshit? In that case, are all authors just really good bullshitters?

Wiki Link

In a Land Far Far Away

So my previous post was about pictures of real life Disney princesses. Well apparently it has been taken one step further. ABC has a show called Once Upon a Time that is about what would happen if all our favorite characters were dropped in a town without any of their memories. And I ask you: why? Why take perfectly good innocent fairy tale characters and make them real? From what I've heard, the show shows that in real life, the characters aren't great people. You rarely actually like any of them because of personality, and every episode seems to have more and more bad stuff happen. Long story short, I won't be watching it any time soon. But it does raise an interesting point: is this simulacrum? I categorize it as a simulacrum (it's a show) of a simulacra (real life people based on cartoons). I bet Baudillard would enjoy figuring out how that one works.

Is This a Dream? Is it Real?

Re-watched the movie Inception the other day. Now here's a movie worth watching twice. I love how you don't find out the story in order. You find out about some of the first events (Molly's death, and Cobb's exile) towards the end of the movie. But besides that, the movie does take an original look at reality and our perception of it. Where the Matrix choose to simply have a false reality (ours), and the real world, Inception has multiple layers, all seeming real when inside of them. Ultimately, the story leads to Limbo, a dream-state where time doesn't pass, and you can be trapped forever. With each layer seeming real while inside, once you realize that there are layers, how can you tell when you are out? Molly is utterly convinced that the real world (was it the real world?) is just another layer and commits suicide to escape into an outer world she believes exists. In the end, there is no definite way to know. If Cobb made the totem in a dream, it would spin exactly how he would want it to in the real world, rendering it useless entirely. In the end, he never does wait to find out if it's a dream or not. What it comes down to is that he is happy. And if the only way he can be that happy is in a dream, why not dream?

On a side note, the movie has one an amazing soundtrack.
Hans Zimmer does it again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imamcajBEJs