The Melting World

Oh, what a beautiful string of four diamond days we have had: sunshine, fluffy white clouds, and 70 degrees (and resultant sun-burned shoulders). Life really flies into the blue sky when such miraculous weather happens. We who last through long winters probably have a heightened sense of love of the green grass and the tulips […]

Happy Friday! I am so happy to see Friday here as I have many ideas for the weekend. I want to start collecting film takes for my two upcoming media productions which I will need to build for my New Media Studies class. Since we have a lot of liberty in interpreting the assignments, I […]

I made a very short test film production (a bit over 1 minute) as part of my New Media studies class…check it out: it’s here! Just click on Artest: test production (the bright blue square)… Ciao!

A woman helping to build a traditional Ainu house, called a chise: the walls are made with sa-sa (bamboo) leaves. I think the “sa-sa” name matches the way these bamboo grasses sound when the wind blows through them.

Students putting on ‘Ainu’ dress (actually made for the tourists to try on). Tuesday my world culture seminar (all four students!) went to the nearby Ainu Memorial Museum run by the Kawamura family. We learned the Ainu language has over 80 words for bear, an animal who is probably the most important spirit-god in the […]

And here’s a recent pic of sunshine boy

Andre ate about a quarter of a moldy pot pie ordered from a natural foods store before he realized something was odd…this is the other bad pie that luckily noone ate…replete with mold. Yech!

Hi all just wanted to post a pic of my son which I find hilarious. This is about six months ago….

I definitely think both push and pull and blend of the old and new occurs in the world, including art movements. As mentioned elsewhere (God knows where) so far I like Jay Bolter’s idea of remediation (revolt and imitation as interactive forces in change) in his book, Writing Space (2001). Please check out this MUST-SEE […]

R. Mutt was the pseudonym Marcel Duchamp used when exhibiting a porcelain toilet in NY in 1917…unleashing an uproar in the art world with his later written protest to the Society that rejected “R.Mutt”‘s work. This link shows you a picture by Alfred Steiglitz of R. Mutt’s “Fountain.” I like the detail provided here that […]

I agree that there are complex intricacies of power and how those who are oppressed become numb (or accepting) of what is happening to them, to see it as ‘normal’ and to even self-regulate and peer-regulate continued oppression. Too often, these days, I think I blame the ‘rich powerful white guys,’ but I think Foucault’s […]

In response to the idea that Apple succeded due to great products: Like my classmate, Doug, who sees advertising directing consumers choices (and as perhaps somewhat of a techno-cynic, since I tend to question the success stories of most companies as a result of successful marketing more than anything else), I have to take a […]

And , yes, don’t worry–if you thought I might be getting too nerdish (my word) in that last entry–I have managed to glance away from my keyboard today, and through the rain, I noticed the leaves on the tree outside my office window are starting to fill in the spaces between the branches. Proof: In […]

In my current class, Cultural and New Media Studies, we have begun to explore the theoretical frameworks people tend to use when they discuss the relationships or the collision-intertwining of humans and technologies. It is all quite overwhelming and academic and so, from my class notes, and my own interpretations, I wanted to sound out […]

From my classmate, Bonnie: “Brian Jungen’s Prototype for a New Understanding takes Air Jordans and turns them into masks and sculptures depicting North-West Coastal characters. View the collection here. My comments: Bonnie, Thanks so much for the link. I loved the way this artist turns a popular culture artifact on its head. He, like many […]

This week, I rented a documentary film about the 1969 Woodstock Festival. I couldn’t imagine being there with 500,000 people on a pig farm, as I am not a fan of mud, porta-potties, or of large crowds, ever since I was made permanently clausterphobic when Tracy Earl sat on top of me in a tree […]

Well, okay, okay it did snow yesterday I admit it, but the optimist in me must focus on the fact that the tree outside my office window is sprouting teeny weeny leaves. And okay, okay, I am still wearing a hat and wool trousers every day, but the grass has turned into a courageous green […]

I have been badly neglecting my blog of late, so forgive me. This is because I found something else to focus my energies on during this two-week break from my graduate studies. The problem is I have become so obsessed with my new project that I have even forgotten to relax during the weekend or […]