EVENT PAPER

Paper Fashion Show

 

This year I decided to participate and volunteer in the paper fashion show. I didn’t really know what to expect going in to the experience. I had been numerous times to the paper fashion show and always enjoyed it so I figured that volunteering meant giving people wristbands, ushering people to their seats etc. I was mistaken and what was about to unfold would be a mix of confusion, anxiety, and tons of fun. I ended up helping teams backstage, these people that did this all the time had a death wish. The show from the spectator’s point of view was seamless. Music played when it was supposed to, the models were ready and waiting for the cues, everything was perfect. Backstage was a whole different story. Models were yelling, teams were yelling back, fixing last minute snags in the dresses with scotch tape and glue, half naked bodies flying past you. I had no idea what I signed up for. I thought that I was going to be utilizing my design skills to volunteer. Little did I know this turned out to be like my older sisters 9^th grade slumber party gone terribly wrong. As I ran around panicking not really knowing what I was doing I realized that it was actually pretty fun, beneath the absolute craziness that was happening all around me people were enjoying themselves. They had time to have quick little snippets of conversations in between last minute alterations. The whole back stage became a living thriving organism and it was fun to be a part of that! In the end I really didn’t do anything too crazy or critical to the process of the teams, but it was nice to know that I was a part of the madness that was bustling backstage while everyone else was enjoying the show. 

Site Architecture

Here is the layout for my personal portfolio site. The site itself is going to be visually very simple. The tricky part of this site is going to be incorporating the script and j.query into the pages without getting too crazy and mixed up. It should be a fun project to tackle though and hopefully I come out with a better understanding of script!

EPILOGUE (thank god)

I can honestly say that for the most part I hated this book. However! that does not mean that I didn’t learn anything. Often times when something clashes so much against the way that you think and live you learn because you see how the other side lives. You see the thoughts of the enemy so to speak. I understand that it is a bit of a stretch to call someone an enemy but in most sense of the word that is exactly what the author of this book is to me. I must agree with the author in certain points, i.e. when he talks about how things like facebook has turned us into public performers putting our emotions out for the world to see. However as much as I don’t enjoy people ranting and raving about how happy they are we have Peyton Manning, or how they wish that the occupy movement would move, it is their perrogative. It is their decision and as much as I hate to hear about it sometimes, it is part of our freedom. I will respect that as long as we have that ability, unlike the author.

splash

Chapter 9

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I understand what the author is trying to say when he says that the path that we are on as a society is one that is not beneficial. However I do not understand how the author doesn’t see the connection between sites like wikipedia and national newspapers. Media shows what the people want to see, that is how several news stations with the same story can have such different headlines and readers. True it is much easier for the reader to edit a wiki article, but it isn’t much harder to hire the right writer to write for your paper. To put the correct spin on the story that they have at hand. They author sometimes gets so busy bashing technology and the stupidity of those who use it he forgets to make a good argument by showing a fair debate. The author lacks the skills to support his own argument so he just brushes it under the rug and it is pretty obnoxious.

Against the Machine Ch.7

I found it hard to read what the author was saying, he sounds like that annoying friend you have who just got dumped by his girlfriend for being a know it all and hasn’t realized it yet. It particularly set me off, when right after Lessig’s statement he says: “Before you [try] to figure out what he is saying…”. What an arrogant jerk! He does a flat out case of the straw man technique when he argues Lessig’s idea of democracy. Completely distorting the argument and then uses violent comparisons to try to sway the reader one way. I do not completely disagree with the author in this chapter, he just makes it very hard to like doing so. I understand what he is saying about project zero and how that can be dangerous to our media and society. However he starts to ramble again and comes out sounding like a conspiracy theorist, I do believe that we are watched a lot more than we believe. I know that it is worsening, even as I write and publish this post to “The Net 2.0″, but Siegel paints a picture of a police state, where society has crumbled.

     I understand that Siegel is a passionate man about what he believes, but he still sounds like an asshole. If you are going to present an argument, and you believe whole heartedly that you are correct, you do not need abusive language, and extreme metaphors to convey that you are the right one. Siegel does, which makes it hard to sign on to any thing that he is saying, he is much more focused on comparing his opponent to kitchen appliances than he is winning the argument. “writers distributing their thoughts to great numbers of people without bothering to care about truth or accuracy of what they were writing…” How does this guy not see that he is a total hypocrite. I did agree with Mathias’ point, it was very honest and eloquently stated, and then Siegel screwed it up. The other thing that I realize that Siegel never addresses is your participation in it. I know he talks about popularity throughout the last couple chapters, but he never in my opinion addresses it head on. We as individuals have a choice on whether or not we feed in to these institutions. Siegel was so busy comparing American democracy to Stalin that he forgot we have a choice, many of us complain about social media being intrusive on our lives as a status update. We ourselves can be hypocrite at times, but all we need to do is wake up and realize that we do in fact have that choice. 

Against The Machine Ch.4

Against The Machine: Chapter 4

 

The initial concept of the reading was pretty interesting. From how I read it, it was fascinating that both men came to a very similar conclusion using exact opposite modes of thinking. The idea that the internet’s sources can only be understood in relation to the internet is pretty wild to think about, I’m not sure whether I agree with that yet or not.

The author’s description about conformity and how it relates to growing up was almost beautifully accurate. The comparison between that process and what the internet is trying to create is flawless. It’s almost scary when you think about it in this light. After I read this I was browsing the web and it made me feel much more like a marketed product. Every single site that I visit is tailored to me in some way. It’s interesting to contemplate from an ethnographic stand point what the internet is doing, and where it will be moving in the near future. How intrusive or stream-lined, from whatever you viewpoint is, will the internet get.

I tend to side with the philosopher on the point that “all things excellent are both difficult and rare. I am a fan of the process, as you well know from my site. In Gladwell’s thoughts you go from un noticed to success and skip all of the work.  His concepts sound more like an infomercial that will most likely end in “just four easy payments of 9.95!” When the author discusses Daniel Bell’s theory it hits a powerful punch against Gladwell’s idea that we are the audience and not individuals. Later on they discuss the idea and amount of thought that went into the design of the tipping point. They broke it down into a formulaic science experiment. After fully reading the chapter I have a much better understanding of the concept that the internets sources can only be understood in relation to the internet. It is a never ending topic to think about but one that has value. We obviously know the big examples of these sites. Our facebook’s and youtubes, but for me, where it gets even more interesting is how far down it goes. The level of catering, and “chaining yourself” for the audience.

Against the Mac…

Against the Machine Ch. 3

” What Lasch could not have foreseen was the effect commerce and the technology of the internet would have on the way people present their inner lives in public. The 1960′s may have accelerated the collapse of the private realm into the public realm; that era of self expression and shifting boundaries in all areas of life may have famously made the personal the political. but the Internet’s vision of ‘consumers’ as ‘producers’ has turned inner life into an advanced type of commodity” This statement is so true it is terrifying haha, look even at the smallest way that we interact with the world around us. Everything that we do interactively is catered to us, we don’t even have to think about what we like or enjoy anymore. We trust exactly what the programs tell us we like, they suggest us friends, tell us what music we should like, what kind of news we like to read, even what is relevant to us as an individual. The worst part, we sometimes buy into it, it works! Imagine that, we turn into mini marketing firms for the products that we enjoy and the music we like. I’m aware I sound like a ranting cult leader, but it is the truth and we know it! We expect performance, in our own lives and what we are viewing on scree, many times their is thin line between the two. The next speaker in the book had some pretty interesting view points as wel. Jon Pareles argued that this space filler of content that has surfaced on the internet is a somewhat new art. One man’s home video’s are another man’s fine art, so to speak. These meaningless posts, rants, videos, or what have you are on the internet everywhere. It’s our excuse as grownup to “express ourselves” we as society have turned into a silly performance art piece. I tend to agree with the author as he talks about they youtubers of the world looking for a quick fix of stardom, it is crazy to see even now how you tube has changed the music and pop culture scene. Look at Justin Bieber, sending a video to his aunt on youtube has turned him into the most recognizable pop icon since Michael Jackson. 

against the machine ch.2

I really enjoyed the author’s views and opinions on blending “the forbidden and the familiar” into our daily lives. It is scary when you actually take a moment to step back and think about what you are being exposed to on a daily basis, what we are being conditioned to think is normal. You start to realize that purchasing a book on ebay is contributing to desensitizing us to shocking material. I’m not talking about the act of purchasing the book, but the ads for “hot horny singles ready to fuck” that pop up on the side of the screen while you are browsing for books. You may be looking for a psychology of sexuality textbook and because sex is in the search term, an advertisement is populated on the page asking if you want to be a part of a gang bang. Crazy I know, but what is even crazier is, like the author explains because these elements are so interwoven in our daily life, and addressed in business like product terms, we rarely even bat an eyelash when these ads pop up. Sure we might snicker or become bewildered, but they don’t shock us like they should. I did not agree as strongly with the author in the next section, specifically when he stated that creativity has bee passed to the hands of merchants and financiers. As a designer I understand that sometimes something as beautiful as creativity can be bastardized into turning a paycheck. That is necessary though, we are just like all other artists, we must “sell out” to live or live comfortably, however we are still creating! We are the ones making the decisions, and at least for myself I am never satisfied with creating. When I am working with a client I am always working on something on the side for my own personal enjoyment, to keep my design sanity so to speak. As far as the discussion of WELL system I believe that what they are actually saying is, someone saw the potential to put a price tag on something and they did it. Is that wrong? To some people yes, to the ones getting paid obviously not, but it wasn’t in my opinion created inherently for profiting, that is what it turned in to. The Mandel case is particularly funny to me because we have all been in that situation. You have a bad breakup, sleep with the wrong person, get too drunk at a party, whatever the situation may be. Then the next day you are seeing pictures, hearing things you did, being slandered by an angered ex lover, all for the sake of them getting attention. People are enamored with the idea that other people care about their lives, and what is worse, WE DO! Facebook is living proof, but the only reason that we do care is because we are behind a screen and we can stop listening whenever we want, just like the only reason we might buy a pass for a porn site, or purchase some shoes on amazon, or try a trial of netflix instant watch, they are all options that are there, we can stop whenever we want to and no one is going to judge us for indulging in our activities except for our internet history.

¡ESQUELETO!

Here are some pictures of sketches as well as examples of pictures that will be used in the actual site itself. Please give some feedback, I’m pretty lost about how I want it to look, but fairly positive on how I want the site to function.