Catfish can't be trusted

Catfish

What to say about catfish?  A movie about love?  And how creepy it is to be mislead by an elderly woman? A movie about the pitfalls of the internet?  

It starts with the main character, Nev.  Nev meets a girl, Abby, on Facebook after she sends him a painting of one h nothing to is photos that was put into a New York City newspaper.  Nothing to be suspicious of yet right?  It’s pretty cool actually.  Someone out there, saw your work and sent a painting of it to you?  Everyone likes gifts.  Why wouldn’t Nev?  So they start talking.  Eventually, Nev gets involved with Abby’s sister Megan.  They meet through Abby.  Eventually this progresses to the point of sexting and what appears to the audience as a real relationship. 

However, as time continues on, Nev uncovers some discrepancies with Meg that wedge the sliver of suspicion.   She sends a sample of ‘her’ music to Nev, and it’s discovered that the music sent was actually taken from a YouTube video.

It turns out that everything was fabricated.  Megan wasn’t real.  Abby wasn’t actually painting the pieces that were sent to Nev.  Even Megan’s friends were all constructs.   Everything came from the mother of Megan and Abby.  Why?  Because she wanted to escape her life as an older woman taking care of her husband, two mentally challenged step-sons, her daughter and a job. 

I’m not too sure how to feel for the woman.  She manipulated Nev, exploited her daughter Abby, and probably broke a few copyright laws. However, at the same time, she really didn’t hurt anyone, and she had a fairly good reason to find some kind of escape.  So, what can you do? Nothing more than a wag of a finger, in my opinion. 

There is another larger issue at hand, however.  How much can we trust the internet?  I wrote a while back about ‘whither the individual,’ how privacy affects how we communicate on the web.  We pull back; we don’t say everything that we want for fear that someone will read it, and there will be repercussions afterwards.  I believe that Nev experienced what happens when you overextend yourself on the net.  What seemed real and intimate was actually all a farce.  

Why "Exit through the Gift Shop" makes my blood boil

Art for the common man.  You don’t have to go to an exhibit, or a museum, or a gallery.  To see this art, all that’s needed to get our art fix is to walk out into those city streets and keep a sharp eye out. Of course, I’m talking about graffiti art.  An artist’s creation of expression placed in everyday places for everyday people to view.   The artist wants to be heard, and display a message for everyone to see.  The motivation doesn’t lie in money or benefits, but the simple fact that the artist wanted to because it’s important to them. 

 

Artists that hold the spotlight in Banksy’s Exit through the Gift Shop include Space Invader, Shepherd Fairy, and Banksy himself.  Each has their own style and message.  Space Invader pastes his Space Invader characters across cities.  Shepherd Fairy posting his ‘Obey’ posters on walls, billboards, everywhere.  However, in my opinion, Banksy’s works have the most to say.  At one point in the film, Banksy sets up a mock blow up Guantanamo Bay prisoner in Disney Land in protest of the treatment that goes on in the infamous prison.  Furthermore, Banksy sets up a gallery showing and paints an elephant the same design as the wallpaper of the gallery.  Essentially, stating that people are blind to what’s right in front of them. 

To these artists, it’s about expression. 

However the artists aren’t the protagonists in this film.  No the main role goes to Thierry Guetta, a merchant from LA who loves to film everything.  Eventually Thierry gets involved into graffiti art through his supposed relation – Space Invader.  It escalates to Thierry meeting Banksy himself.  At that point, Thierry had a very encompassing view of what the graffiti art movement was about. 

Now I had no problem with this Frenchman from California.  I really didn’t.  Until he tried to make art himself toward the end of the film. All those styles Thierry was exposed to, as well as ones he had picked up from books, were manufactured, commercialized, into his own gallery showing.  Thierry hired artists to create for him – having no talent himself.  His show was a success.  Thousands of people came to his show Life is Beautiful.  Shortly afterwards his pieces would sell for thousands of dollars apiece.  Now where is the message there?  Was Thierry really ‘all about the movement’ or was he in it for the money?

It looked like it was about the money to me.  As an artist myself, Thierry complete lack of style, originality and even tact, burns me to no end.  He made money off of others’ skill and creativity…

But maybe that righteous fury that the film evokes is the point?  There’s speculation that the film is a mockumentary.  Something Banksy created to send another message to the world.  To show how wrong commercialized art really is.  To juxtapose creativity, originality and style with cheap knock offs that don’t have any meaning what so ever. 

Status Report - Grades

Vectorize your Bitmaps 'X^)

So I did this already in my digital media class.  taking a picture of my bag seen here...

 

Then using the trace tool  I was able to break the image down to vector shapes based on the color tones in the image.  For the project they were simply rearranged and given text to be incorporated in the piece.  I call it Autumn.

Vectors Illustrator

Nevermind!  For times sake I had to change my target piece to the android logo done by 

~Psychopulse 

My version came out different but I like it.  I used the pen, shape, sunflare, and gradient tools.  Making it look like this... 

 

Hope you enjoy!

 

Vector Shapes

My Vector Logo that I will be practicing in Adobe Illustrator with is a piece called Glacien by imrik on DeviantART.com.  imrik does work in rallying artists to produce work and raise awareness for climate change on http://www.gaia10.us/.  His vector art is beautiful and represents the beauty of the earth that we're trying to save.  We'll see if I can emulate him at all.

 

Whither the Individual

In the last two decades, the internet has had one of the most profound effects on society in history.  With it, people find an outlet for their creativity and opinions, as well as a hub for endless information.  This didactic relationship of producing and receiving between the user and the net has made it possible for users to meet through their own content.  Websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and DeviantART have been created with this concept in mind – users generating content and uniting through that.  Connectivity is the word of the day on the internet.  However, while increased connectivity and speed of information flow is seen as a enormous technological leap, negative backlashes to such fast communication are apparent.  A big concern is privacy. 

With technology on the rise the effects of such creations are beginning to be recognized, but perhaps not fully understood.  The Internet is a powerful medium with which modern participants interact with continuously throughout their day; additionally, the economy only feeds into this mass-craving for interaction on the internet and others who use it.  In 1992, the first smartphone, IBM’s Simon, was created, capable of sending and receiving email, fax etc. along with all the functionality of a normal cellphone.  Presently, the industry for smartphones has exploded with multiple brands and numerous capabilities.  Among these capabilities is internet connection to social networking sites such as facebook, twitter, myspace… This functionality of using the internet while mobil has made the user inseparable from the net. 

One of Marshall McLuhan’s famous quotes stated “the Medium is the Message.”  This means that it is the use of technology and its effect on culture/society that is the real message, not the content of the technology.  What is the message of a constantly connected user? 

One message is psychological.  Imagine the possibility of losing all of your privacy – everything you said could be scrutinized by a stranger.  Essentially that is what happens on the internet.  Our cyber profile, all our comments and public info, can usually be found by simply plugging in a username into to google.  This can be done by our potential employers, our parents, our neighbors, anyone.  For instance, should a person type into google “DustedInPastels,” my username, one would find quite a bit about me.  There would be my limited view facebook page (if your weren’t my friend), my deviantART page, this blog, my Xmarks account, an old fanfiction.net account, and slew of reviews and comments I’ve written.  So simply from google, what could anyone know about me at any given time?  My name and picture for one.  Beyond that Facebook would go further and present someone my interests, likes, dislikes, books I’ve read, Movies I’ve seen etc.  DeviantART would show what I’ve made as well as my favorites of other artists’ work from the site.  As a “cyber person,” I have an identity that is viewable to the general public, but how does that effect me?

Some say that when a person joins social groups and displays his/herself online there is a certain loss of ego where one must restrain how much of themselves they express.  This is has truth to it.  An article written by Sandra Davie on Asiaone.com describes a woman, Cecelia Lei, who was fired from her work at an electrics company for complaining online about her boss.  While the name of her supervisor was never used nor was the name of the company, Ms. Lei was dismissed after the company read remarks about her “Hitler” like boss and his “Nazi-style” management.  When she was questioned about the remarks, she stated that what she did in her private life was none of the company’s business.  This isn’t an isolated incident either.  In 2008, backup lineman to the University of Texas Long Horns Buck Burnette was booted from the team after Obama’s election for a racist remark he posted on his facebook status.   While he apologized in length afterwards, unfortunately the damage was done. 

Occurrences of people being penalized for remarks made online are all too common when so much of our expression is constantly posted online. The message, by McLuhan’s definition, is a more wary user of the internet.  I’m sorry but that picture of you passed out with a beer in your hand with permanent marker all over your face probably shouldn’t be posted if you’re applying for a job.  It will be seen. 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y#Communication_and_interaction

http://www.asiaone.com/Business/Office/Learn/Story/A1Story20080511-64480.html

The Users

In this day and age of information and technology, it becomes easier and easier for the users of the web to add their own voice to the mix. All you need to express yourself is a computer and maybe a few programs on the side and then boom. It's up on the site of your choosing.

Because of this sweep of average internet user create material, the 'amateurish' style has started to creep into the entertainment industry.  A few that come to mind off the top of my head: The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activities, Cloverfield,  District 9... The list goes on. Additionally, we see the same style in TV shows and Ads.  I'm thinking of any reality TV show and the baby E Trade commercials. This very raw way of filming hasn't been a bad thing, in fact its been a refreshing change from the synthesized and smooth flash and bang of a lot of media.  I believe that this new genre of media style will only grow and improve as time goes on.  As new technology becomes available and younger generations take their place among the working world, this style will live on through those who made their own web material in their teens.

Personally, the social media sites that I'm interested in are those that create something like flickr and youtube.    However, my favorite is with out a doubt deviantART.com.  A social network for artists to post their work, receive feedback, even sell prints of their pieces.  More can be read here: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/217859
I have a few of my new digital works up there including the one I posted earlier on this blog.

Will Facebook last forever?
I don't know.  Its easy to say that no one does it as good as Facebook does at the moment, but most are catching up.  Slowly.  Yet, at the same time Face book is very smart.  They have integrated themselves across the web.  How many sites have you been to that have that little blue -F- at the bottom to post something you've seen onto facebook? So for the foreseeable future, Facebook is here to stay because it's everywhere. Who knows how long that will last.


Transparency?
In regards to social media, transparency is to social networks as Anti Communism is to the 1950's.  Seriously, it's seems crazy how everyone, including the president ("Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this Presidency" ~Barack Obama), is all for transparency.  People, who are already overloaded with information, are asking for more.  
Yes, I see the point.  If something isn't transparent, then the message is corrupted somehow.  However this can't be true.  People are selfish and I found the bit on different types of currency fascinating (http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/the-illusion-of-transparency-in-social-media.html).  


How important is transparency in the real world?
I believe that the value of open information is growing.  We as a society are becoming so used to having an endless amount of information at our fingertips.  It's an easy switch to wanting that in our non-digital lives. 

McLuhan Photoshop Final Post

Professor,
I posted my final photoshop project earlier and missed the progress post.  Really sorry, I just misunderstood.   We talked about it in class.

A Downpour of Apps

Hi,
Today I'm putting up my most recent work.  Much like the last post, this is related to McLuhan's writtings.  My piece, done in photoshop, is about how our modern society seems to be so obsessed with the concept of the app. 

The app is everything when a company designs a smartphone nowadays.  The app seems to be an easy way to make a phone do pretty much anything and companies, such as Apple, Android, and Blackberry, only make more and more for us. 
So the figure I drew on the bottom of the image is being crushed by a rain of apps coming down from the 3 big phone manufacturing companies.  I used the pencil and paintbrush tools for the clouds and figure and the distort picture editing tool to angle the apps to look like they were falling. I think it could be better but it's good enough and meets a deadline.  Hope you enjoy!

New Mediums, New Messages

This post relates to Marshal McLuhan's "the Medium is the Message."  This revolutionary work delved into how new innovations altered society and human thinking.  "The medium is the message." McLuhan explains that a 'medium' is any extension of ourselves (aka technology) and the 'message' is the affects of using it.  Using one of McLuhan's examples from the text, automation, the use of machines for manufacturing, eliminated jobs that were previously done by hand, but generated more jobs in that someone had to create the machines in the first place.

Now, I know, one would think that what was produced from these "extensions of ourselves" are the messages.  Unimportant.  I doesn't matter what is made, whether that be a car from a factory, a phone call from a cell, or a email from a computer. What does matter is how these mediums change how we relate to each other as a human beings.  

For homework, I was told to give three examples of mediums of my own. My line of thinking went toward mobile communication.  Think about it.  How many times do we refer to our cellphones in a single day? To some people, I know their life is tied to that little piece of plastic and metal in their pocket.  

So my first medium is...

 Text Messages 

While the content of this medium can be anything within the realm of written word, pics, videos, and audio, the actual message, by McLuhan's definition, has had a great impact. 

Texts, within the past decade, have become the fastest easiest way to reach someone no matter where they are, what they're doing or what time it is.  Because of texting, I believe a kind of social expectancy has arisen that you have your phone on you at all times, in case a friend or family member needs to reach you.  It's even considered rude if you don't answer with a certain amount of time. God forbid your phone dies...

My second Medium...

        Smart Phones

Content: Phone calls, texts, internet connectivity, etc... meaning more functions than I care to write. :)

The message of the smart phone is even bigger than texts.  The smart phone is the first attempt to combine a computer and phone together.  With internet connectivity coupled with phone calls and texts, there is no reason for you to ever be out of the loop with your friends; in addition, you have the mind boggling vast amount of information the internet readily supplies while you're no where near a computer.  I believe this leads to impatience when wanting to know something as well as becoming more easily distracted in our day to day lives.  It's so hard to stay in the 'here and now' when cyberspace is at our fingertips...

My third and final Medium... 

 Mobile Video Chat


With written messages so popular in text, emails, facebook, and instant messaging, face time with an actual person becomes almost rare in proportion to the amount of people we interact with in a day, digitally and otherwise.  Because of this, it's so easy to become impersonal, detached, in how we communicate. Safely hidden behind a computer screen or cell phone, interactions become incredibly limited.  Now, with Apple's new FaceTime on the iPhone 4, phone calls become actual face to face conversations.  This tech is new and hasn't come anywhere near close to reaching everyone yet, but could the message be that people become more personal in their conversations over the phone?  No way to hide when you're actually looking at the person you're talking with.   

Welcome!

Hey!

I'm Mike Snyder.  I'm a Sophomore studying Communications concentrating in Advertising.   Also, I'm minoring in Fine Arts, Global Studies and I plan on picking up a Spanish minor soon.  If three minors seems like a lot... it is.  But, it all works. With my Major and the Fine Arts minor I want to pick up the certificate in Art and Design.

After college, my dream job is become the Creative Director of an ad agency somewhere; whether that's New York or another city, I don't know.  I have a pretty big history in art and I want to apply that in a profession.  Being a Creative Director, sounds like a great way to make art a career without being that really depressing stereotypical starving artist.

Guess that's it for now. I'm excited to learn a lot of new things in this class that would be useful and interesting.

Mike