Final Reflection

So this past Monday we got our assignment for our final reflection paper... I definately don't think I will have a complete draft ready by this coming Monday! I am STUCK right now. I don't know what to write about, there are so many things, I've tried outlining specific ideas, but the topic of authorship is still so broad that I can't narrow it down. This is the first time all year that I have been this clueless as to what I'm going to write about, which is bad, because it's already Friday and a complete draft is due in about 3 days. I've honestly sat down for about an hour and a half everyday since we got the assignment and tried to think of what to write. I got as far as the first sentence and that's it. I guess some people call this "writer's block", but I'm not even sure if that's what this is. It usually doesn't take me this long to get into my "author" mode. After discussing authorship all semester, I thought I knew what I considered an author to be, but now I'm not so sure because I can't even get it out in writing. Is anyone else having the same problem with this paper?

Mix Tape Reflection

For the mix tape project, I decided to make a cd with songs for my boyfriend. After thinking about it for a while, I decided that I wanted to make it about the "twists and turns" that our relationship has been through. The cd starts out with a love song that is kind of slow. Gradually, it "slopes down" into more sad/angry songs but the pace gradually speeds up. This section is supposed to symbolize our rough times. A couple examples of these songs are "I Should've Cheated"by Keyshia Cole and "Crazy Over You"by Eminem. Then finally, the songs on the cd increase back up with "make up"songs like "Sorry 2004"by Ruben Studdard.

I very much enjoyed this project and never thought that I would ever have been able to do it for a class. I love music, so anything that has to do with it doesn't seem like work to me, it's fun. The only thing that I didn't like about the project were some of the "rules" that we read. For example, the rule that said that we shouldn't use 2 songs by the same artist back-to-back. I understand that in a way, but the way that I used 2 songs back-to back seemed to work. I used 2 songs by 50 Cent, but both of them were duets. So I think that because there are other artists on the songs with him, it's okay to bend the rules.

Cut-Up

In class last Wednesday, we made "cut-ups", which are basically pieces of text that are chopped up and rearranged. I've never really heard of doing this before this class, so it seemed pretty weird to me to be doing this. There are different ways you can "cut-up" a piece of text, I tried a couple. The first time, I folded a paper I wrote up into quarters and cut along the folds and then rearranged the quarters. No matter how I arranged the pieces, the new text made absolutely no sense, so I tried this same technique with a different piece of text (a page from the book Parrot in the Oven). This made even less sense than the first attempt. So finally, I decided to try cutting up a page from the book in a different way, I cut each paragraph out and just rearranged them, that way seemed to flow much better and wasn't completely crazy sounding.

Here's an example of the use of the "quartering method" (a page from Parrot in the Oven):

"Magda and Pedi wen see anything so won-site sides of the couch, lying on the
couch. And of the blanket against ut the whole room: the was fanned
out on a pily cherub angels on the her as she lay there, hehe glass-top coffee
table, line of black mascara leaming in the sunlight one eye. I went over
any mother spent so much fled and turned her faceping together, and what then I
sat down och energy tearing apart. And watched them. I like a place
I was meant there's no way of explain that I had come back to or wanted to, but
I knew being away. My home. and the bright walls of as closing in
around me, re lying asleep, on oppo-me, that I'd never again each crunching
their enddrous as my two sisters their chest. Magda's hair it wasn't just
them, below, unteased. I watched squiggly TV, the lump mouth half open, a
thin frame of the painting, taking from the corner of my mother's animals, wiped
it, and she snuf-This room was what me away. energy cleaning and keen
Dad's cushioned chair my father spent so much won't say why, because and it was
wondrous, I why, even if I could to be. A place, I felt as my eyes got
drowsy after a long journey of the room glowed around the light in the room"

Rhythm Science

Well....Rhythm Science.... After reading the book by Paul Miller, aka DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid, I'm pretty sure I'm more confused on the whole DJ-ing thing than I was to begin with. I never considered myself to be especially savvy when it comes to technology, but I felt like I knew a good amount about music technology and how it works. However, now, I feel like I have no idea what thoughts and technology are needed for DJ-ing. I never considered it as complicated as Rhythm Science portrays it. This book was especially difficult for me to read, even though I am a huge music/hip-hop fan, because I'm not the best at visualizing things that aren't there, or don't exist yet. For example, in his book DJ Spooky says, "Sampling is like sending a fax to yourself from the sonic debris of a possible future" (p.77) WHAT?!?!? I know we talked about it in class, so I understand this quote a little better, but on my own, I would've never been able to come up with the conclusion that we did. I guess this book was intentionally written in this way by DJ Spooky, so that the reader would have to work and analyze in order to understand what he was trying to say (which, for the record, I'm still not sure what it was).

Sampling Project Remixes

Here's a "remix" I created from Casey's sampling project. I didn't change much about it, just added a few more pictures and some colorful text to express how the RIAA is in the middle of music production and listening.

Here is another "remix" I created of one of my classmate's (Mandy) sampling projects. I tried to create a visual argument about how copyright has changed from her original image about authorship.

Sampling Experience Reflection

The most recent assignment for our class was a sampling experience. We needed to use images from either the Internet, or actual pictures, to create an argument about copyright. Our challenge was to create the same argument twice, only using different sources. For the first sample, we were free to use any images we could find, copyrighted or not (protected by "fair use" I believe because it was for a school project). The second sample, however, could only contain images that were in the public domain (either the copyright on the image expired, it was licensed under creative commons, or the images were our own property).

As I'm sure most of my fellow classmates did, I found the second sample more difficult to create than the first. Having the freedom to use any image I wanted for the first sample, really allowed my argument to come through and speak for itself. I must admit, the second sample was not as difficult as I imagined it to be, however, only because of creative commons. If it were not for creative commons, I'm pretty sure I would still be working on it and would've ended up using images from clip art, or simply drawing the whole thing. Creating a visual argument without having access to the proper images, because of copyright law, is either impossible, or extremely time-consuming and unsatisfying.

My visual argument was supposed to convey a community of new technological creativity that is being held captive (hence the prison bars) by copyright law. I believe that much of the new technology that is/has been created is our generations form of creativity (including computers, communications, music, and entertainment). With all of the extensions of copyright and lawsuits led by monopoly companies, creativity is hindered. People are afraid of being punished for being creative, and some of these people are just not willing to take that risk. It brings about an ethical question: How much regulation can be enforced before we are no longer willing to be creative at the expense of freedom?

Sampling Projects

This sampling project so far has been less difficult than I expected it to be. However, I have only got through the first one where we can use copyrighted material (due to being extremely sick for the past week). I feel a little bit behind on everything in class, but am trying to catch up on all of the readings and on my project. I'm afriad that the second part of the project where we can only use "public domain" materials will be much more difficult. I mean, how am I going to search for these images online? I'll probably just end up using some of my own digital photos. Anyway, like I mentioned, I'm a little bit behind on the readings for this week, so I don't have much to blog about them right now. Hopefully soon though!