I was just mulling over the new media lecture with the thought of superheroes in mind. New media allows you to reinvent yourself. In social networking sites you can be who ever you want to be, (think paedophiles and emo kids.) Iron man literally upgraded himself. Batman just had an ace utility belt. Does this mean theyre really superheroes, or just geeks...

PANIC ON THE STREETS OF HATFIELD.

I thought my blog was mediocre to good, alas, I have just seen a few other blogs. Inadequate springs to mind.

So I thought I'll waffle on a little more....

Bill raised an interesting point about whether violent films/video games. How do we know when something is exploiting violence, or when something is about or questioning violence? Itchy and Scratchy is a good example, because its pretty plain within the context of the Simpsons that it is satire.
It's a bit of a difficult one, and I'm no philiosopher. My favourite film may be Pulp Fiction (average to low violence by todays standards) but I really don't see how people can watch films like the Saw series and say they find them funny!? What on the earth is funny about gratuitous torture and relentless brutality?! Maybe this is just a reaction to my own personal response and average threshold, but I honestly cannot fathom the minds of those that find humour in such things.
Perphaps it relates to the idea that it is easy to watch these things in a safe environment, from a distance. People crave the darker side of humanity, but don't necessarily wish to explore it in their lives, so can live it out in these films and games. Especially the likes of the single view pointer games. They are indeed marketed and the general working population, and always have been ever since the publication of the Wild Boys of London. But there's a certain interest in watching these sorts of things, otherwise sadomasechistic porn wouldnt be such a huge internet hit. I can't count the number of times I've been over at a 'gathering' and someone has logged onto the internet to show us all woman having sex with a horse or pumping a football up in her arse. They watch it through their fingers, but they just love to feel disgusted and repulsed.
I feel like I've tailed off a bit here, so excuse me whilst I review my notes...

Ahem..

I have noted, that there are two ways of seeing things...
1. Identification - to be
2. Object cathaxsis - to possess

This is really interesting and one I can totally identify with. When it came out, I went on a date to see 300 at the Imax (how romantic) and when I came out, I was filled with all the rage of the Spartans. It was a bit bizzare actually. But in a good way. It's the same after watching Walk the Line. Not just because Joaquin Phoenix is positively gorgeous, but you build up a relationship with the character and want to change them and 'posses' them as though you were a part of the story. Actually, speaking of which, in year one of primary school, we had to write a weekly diary of the weeks events. After watching the Little Mermaid, my weekly entry consisted of ...'When I grow up, I want to be a mermaid.'.... along side countless pictures of what can only be described as one legged people. Men get a James Bond complex, but he'd never last 5 minutes in the real world methinks. Far too chauvenistic.

In order to hopfully boost the grade of my abysmal blog, I am going to go over a few of the past lectures, with some additional points I either rendered unnecessary, or could not be arsed to include.

One lecture/seminar that particularly interested me, was the number on violence within the media. Im pretty sure that the most heinous things done to others ect. are done by people in 'real life' not people in films ect. However, when you hear cases like that of Jamie Bulger, you do begin to wonder... I didn't know too much about the Columbine massacre untill today, and it was fairly worrying to hear how obsessed the perpetrators were with the game 'Doom.' Your average people however, do not go out and murder countless innocent people due to an obsession. Its deffinitely too much for me to say how resposible video games were to the loss of these lives, but these were two very obviously sick people.
It's similar to soaps fasing out recreational drinking and smoking because it will normalise it and even glamourise it. This is simply ridiculous.

Apologies for the rather rude post pertaining to December 5ths post. I was thinking some more about this, and the idea of cartoon characters having the ability to defy gravity was quite an interesting one. Perhaps this is why I look at them with such distaste. I'd like to think of myself as a (wo)man of science. Facts and figures are my thaaang. Not people rushing off cliffs and continuing as if to defy gravity. IT'S NOT RIGHT! That's the beauty and the conundrum of character creation. You have to create these types of spectacle, with all the structral and aesthetical integrity as though to defy gravity etc, yet working with it.
It makes sense to me anyway....
Stop motion animation is another little gem of the modelmakers world. It's such an old, simple process, yet one that people adore, and will always come back to. Its the whole retro fandango. The best bit of Wallace and Gromit is looking for the animators thumbprints upon the models - in Thunderbirds it's seeing the strings that operate the arms and legs of the puppets. Old skooool. It's what we like.

I'm not sure whether this chap is enjoying a cheeky cigarette, or holding a cane. But hey, isn't that the beauty of it all?

In my haste to post, I have neglected to say anything informative or interesting. So I shall try to disect my aversion to the Japanese way of animating. It's true that one tends to like the familiar and safe, which is quite possibly why I prefer the Disney visual. I grew up watching the Lion King and Snow White. The manga/anime version such an extreme extrapolation of the human form, that I find  it somewhat unsettling. The figues follow too close a formula so that they all have a similar look.  Not only this, but the lead protagonist always tends to be a little girl, which I just find a bit weird.

Maybe I'm just out of touch with new trends. The storylines are far more creative, however there's still the old failsafe moral at the end.

RE-E-WIND



We're going to take it back a few pegs and do some patch up work for all the inadequate and missing posts of this wonderful blog.

First I shall begin with what I can remember of Bills most recent installment of enlightenment...I vaguely recall that it was themed what I will vaguely refer to as the history of animation/progression of animation technology/east animation versus west.

I've never been a particular fan of oversized heads, enormous mouths and legs eleven. I strongly dislike anime. Very Strongly. The storylines may be interesting, however the graphics leave alot to be desired and I think the surreality in older cartoons, is superior.

Betty Boop creeps me out. Whats with the large head?

Bill finished off by traumatising us all with a clip from Bambi. I've never really paid too much attention to the aesthetics of these films, but thought it would be interesting were the graphics done entirely in the style the background is created in.

INDEPTH UPDATES ARE COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU
(before Thursday)

"Well" I hear you cry, "What did you get out of this weeks lecture?" I'm tempted to say 'fuck all' but that would be rude, so I shall instead say... "I found the lecture very heavily orientated towards the animators and found difficulty in relating anything mentioned to my practice." Also, I hate loony tunes. Something about them just gives me seeeeeeeerious heebie jeebies.

HIS SUIT WAS BETTER CUT THEN ONE OF FRED WESTS VICTIMS

After a lecture I found overly orientated towards the gaming community an a technical hitch, I was not to excited at the prospect of a seminar going over the same old drivel. However, as the kids these days would say, it was ACE.
There are so many different things to talk about relating to violence in the media, that I am not entirely sure where to start. Untill decided, I shall reacount some of the seminar content...
For years, I have seen this picture knocking about the place, but I never knew where it came from...

Thankyou Ivan! It came from a short surealist film by Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel entitled 'Un Chien Andalou.' I'm not entirely sure was relevent to the violence theme other then this scene, but it is testament to its makers that it can still make a room full of twenty somethings cringe and as a fan of surrealism, it was pretty bloody good.
I remember Catherine mentioning something about a film in which someone, is told to bite the curb as their head is kicked in. There were a few reports of people doing this back home, and it makes my legs turn to jelly every time I think of it. The scene didn't contain any sound of the incident, but then it doesn't really need to. Teeth and eyes are just one of those things... Also reminds me of a friends pal, who was held down as his legs were driven over in a car... there are some seriously sick people around.
The media makes it seem as though there is a spiralling number of paedophiles, rapists, and murderers year on year, however, if you look back several hundred years, my suggestion is that things are suitably improved. I certainly know which era I'd rather live in - I mean, people used to go to public executions in this country for a laugh. I know you have the fruit loops who revel in watching the decapitation of Ken Bigley and suchlike, but as I said, a marked improvement.
I'm not really someone who is impressed by violence or marvels at horrendously gut clenching films, so I find people who revel in it, a bit bizzare. Things like tours to see Fred and Mary Wests house (which incidently is no longer there as far as I know!) and Jack the Ripper tours just boggle my mind a bit. Not in the way that aeroplanes boggle my mind (I know, it's to do with lift, but still- its mad!!) but in the way I cant quite fathom what is so interesting or grasping. Humans are capable of incredible cruelty we know, but I'd rather live in lala land thanks.

Ace. Look at that. I worked out how to put a video on this allll by myself. It seems the people on this course are as flakey as myself as I have failed to obtain anybodies notes. This is essentially just an excellent song, but is also highly relative to our theme of science fiction, with many a reference to the genre.
Earlier today I went onto the students failsafe that is wikipedia to peruse their list of science fiction films. It turns out, that what with genre cross overs ect, the umbrella of science fiction is a lot larger then I first imagined it to be. This is no bad thing. As I sit here watching the Fifth Element, rubbing my hands together at the thought of Mila Jovovich, it has suddenly occured to me how camp and tacky alot of the films can be. I don't say this in a derogatory way at all. There is nothing quite like a bit of tack, but interpretations of the future are so touched by the era they are created in, that they never seem anything but hyperbole of the current situation.

Writing this bastard essay we have been set, I had an interesting thought (unrelated to my essay of course..) on sci-fi films set in the future, and I'm almost certain it's something Ivan has mentioned before. It goes thus; futuristic films are not about the future, but about the present. Suck on that all ye lesser mortals.

Fainting in the hall and hitting my head, and then the revelation of a raging case of tonsilitis was not enough to keep me from yesterdays lecture...but as a result I didn't pay so much attention to the content and had to go home before I passed out and the seminar began. Feeling super nauseous as an alien rips its way through a mans chest is a bad combination. I do not recommend it. I shall post once more upon the arrival of some notes more reliable then my own incoherent scrawl.

Farewell Ivan...Hello Bill...

This weeks lecture was themed on new media, and being somewhat technologically retarded, I must admit - this was not my idea of gripping stuff. I've had 2 phones in the last 6 years, and only graced a playstation once, so alot of the content floated gracefully some 2 feet above my head. However, watching the old methods of composing a film contrasted with more recent creations was pretty interesting; things have come a long way from the early twentieth century. When cross cutting and body snatching is what youre accustomed to seeing, it looks incredibly amature and simplistic to watch something as though you are a member of a theatre auditorium.
Not only this, but the scope for consumer creationism! Mobiles are no longer just for phoning and texting! (My housebrick included!) Honestly, I've never seen anything more imaginative then a happy slapping filmed on a mobile phone, but I'm sure it exists. Many a time I have confused MP3 players and phones, and even if I can't figure out how to use them, I can appreciate their technological brilliance.
All this talk of technology, I should probably turn my laptop off. It hasn't been turned off since I arrived at Hertfordshire and I'm told that's not good...

So I got thinking about this anomalous reigon, and one thing hit me much harder then anything else. The one thing in life my nan loves more then Cliff Richard and dripping sanwiches is the ladyboys of Bangkok. I'm pretty sure it's only because she thinks they're glamorous women (seeing how scandalised she was upon learning Dusty Springfield was a lesbian) but this only goes to show how convincing they are - hell, they're more convincing then me. But they dance around this grey area we were told about during the last lecture.

It's a really interesting area of discussion, because gender and sexuality is such a subjective yet constantly defined issue. Infact, it's so immense, I'm going to stop right now before I do myself a mischeif thinking about it.

SOMEONE looked like a massive dick today. Being the only one in my seminar group not to have seen 'Blade Runner,' was pretty embarrasing, but good olde 'Littley' brought it over and I feel altogether more enlightened now. Hey, I'm new to this...
I'm not going to lie, todays lecture was not electric but it feels as though a small part of me has died now that Ivans lectures cease to run. Thursdays will never be the same again. The lecture was pretty interesting however. The anomalous zone as I now know it to be called, is a minefield! I shall prepare something altoghether more witty and profound and post back.

Intertextuality....is the shaping of 'X' meanings by 'Y', the relationship betwixt two texts, 'in' jokes, the influence of one thing on another, something remiding you of something else - hold that last thought. I wonder if t would boost my grade to tell Ivan he reminded me of Brad Pitt....

"You're the guy that killed Mozart!" - my own personal snippet of intertextuality from the celluloid GEM *cough cough* that is 'The Last Action Hero.' It's a sect of dialogue directed at one of the actors refering to one of my favourite films - 'Amadeus' which ironicly doesn't really refer to much historical reality.
Gone are the days of 3 hour lectures on cell biology and the integrity of the stuctural elements of 2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazone, and I've never loved character creation more! Grease! Pulp Fiction! Planet of the Apes! This is what deadbeats napping in lectures dream about. This has to be one of my favourite lectures thus far; fun, entertaining, thought provoking and interesting! Even the lecture...who knew Dracula was meant to look like a penis? Neeless to say, I got thinking about this. Being a lilly livered jessy, I found the pre 1980's draculas bloody scary, not only that, but they had the skin crawling qualities of a mangey dirty old man staring down your top and rubbing his thighs - Robert Pattenson and the breed of vampires we see these days, seem to induce this type of behavior in myself. How times have changed from rapey sexy, to sexy sexy. I thought it was quite bizzare and fascinating the way the vampire aesthetic has changed so much.
I can't say I can this of too many uses of intertextuality at this precise moment in time, but I shall be sure to post them as I do. God bless potato farls. Here are a few I enjoyed.....
 David Cerny's representation of Saddam Hussein floating in a tank of formaldehyde is paying obvoius homage to Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibitity of Death in The Mind of Someone Living.' We are still in unnaturally close proximity to one of lifes many widow makes, staring death in the face - only this time it wears a different guise. It's a bit cheeky and naff, but I like it. Sort of.


I know it's an obvious one. Don't judge me for it.

Oh my deary me... trying to be an uber swot, I thought I'd look up some journals or papers written on seimiotis. Took me a while to realise I was reading 'The Journal of Semitics...'

In todays lecture, we also discussed NOISE. This is the concept that the less NOISE, the more focus there is placed upon the subject in question. Therefore, I have elected to detract from the demented ramblings of my blogging, with a nice NOISY hospital scene. Do please enjoy.

With regards to this afternoons lecture, I'm torn between thoughts of mind numbing boredom, or being completely and utterly fascinated. Also, I had the brainwave of possibly doing my iMap on a toilet roll.... Anyhow, during the lecture we were discussing the sliding scale betwixt iconic and abritrary signs. Putting up the word 'CAT' and such like, got me thinking about a short story I read years ago. I may be a bit sad, but not so dull as to type the whole thing out - 't'is ''No is Yes' by one of my dearly beloved childrens authors - Paul Jennings. In short, it's about a doctor/scientist who uses his daughter in a communication type experiment. He teaches her (as the title may suggest?!) that 'no' is 'yes', that 'salt' is 'sugar' etc. SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! Eventually the family home is set ablaze - but the daughter, Linda is saved. As our doctor lies in his burning abode, Linda is asked by the fire fighters whether there is anyone left in the house, and she of course says 'no.' Sad story, but pretty cool all the same. It makes you think about language which never used to interest me. Maybe I will learn esperanto. They don't even have regional variations in dialect....'ay oop chook?'.......pardon?

So I was thinking about all this 'reality' malarky. If reality is truth and actuality, then what are dreams? I was thinking about a film I saw YEARS ago, and it took me a while to remember the name of it, but I eventually stumbled upon it, and I'd definitely recommend a gander.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgpfMxYFSmE

Brainwave, courtesy of Casper the Freindly Ghost....

Seeing is believeing.....

Being a virgin blogger, I wasn't too sure what to write in my first post - profundity isn't really my thing. However, I thought I'd explore some interesting points raised in the seminar following Thursdays lecture. We got chatting aboout Tod Brownings 'Freaks.' I think the thing people find so hard about this number is its brazen sense of reality. It's too real. Its not a work of prosthetic magnificence, it's cold, hard, unfeigned reality. Rumour even has it that the author F Scott Fitzgerald happened to be sharing a canteen with the cast, and upon seeing a pair of siamese twins eating lunch (together) fled the premises to liberate the contents of his stomach. 78 years down the line, people are a little more accustomed to seeing various genetic and physical anomalies, however with sensationalist programme titles like 'Real Wolf Kids' and 'Half Man, Half Tree,' these people are still obviously viewed as 'freaks.' Reality shocks people.


We accept you, one of us! Gobble! Gobble!

It's the same and yet the polar opposite with some of the hyper realist scuplture and wax works one sees knocking about. Real size. Real skin tones. Real hair. Real everything - apart from the fact it's not.......... It's so real, it transforms into something completely and utterly surreal. Ron Mueck has done some truly astounding work with hyperrealistic sculpture.

There's something derangedly creepy about this one in particular. Maybe it's the hairless beligerence.

 Warping the scale of something as familiar as a face takes it to a completely new level. A new town even. The portraits are both beautiful and insanely grizzly, blood, saliva - nothing can hope to escape Mr Mueks attention. You notice pores and hair folicles, compare features in a different way. It really has a remarkable effect jarring with everything you thought a body should be. It's so real, its SURREAL! Oh! The irony. Once upon a time on my quest as a medical student, I had the privallage of taking part in a disection lab. There is nothing more real, and unreal, than being in an enormous formaldehyde scented room filled to the brim with dismembered corpses. It  all seems to be a bit of a viscious circle!