Blog 6B

If you start the audio 15-20 sec before the video it matches up

Blog 6A

My review of MacLeod's "How To Be Creative"

Blog 5B

If you play them over each other they match up

Blog 5A

I was originally drawn to the first image because of the horse and elephants with the ridiculous spider-like legs. Overall it’s a very interesting image, you have the guy down in the bottom left corner he seems to be holding up the procession by brandishing a cross. Also the elephants have some pretty strange and interesting cargo on their backs, the fact that one of the items is glowing with a bright gold light certainly grabs you’re attention

            I chose to zoom in where I did because that area just caught my eye after I’d taken everything else in. There’s just so much going on in the picture that I feel like that part is kind of easy to overlook. Between the giant crazy animals and the stuff they’re carrying there’s definitely enough other stuff in the image to grab you’re attentionl I still can’t tell exactly what it is but it looks like a person about to hand something to another person but I can’t really tell.

            Honestly I have no idea why the artist chose to “frame” this image the way he did. Frankly I have no idea why anything that’s in this image is there. The only possible explanation I give for the original framing is that it’s a much more interesting image when you’re not just zoomed in on those two people.

            I believe the VISUAL INTENSITY of this image is high because of the use of shades of bright gold and a couple instances of nudity. LINE AND SHAPE have heavy influence, well at least line does, in the legs of the creatures, all of which lead your eye on a certain path. There are also strong DEPTH CUES present you can definitely tell what’s supposed to be close or far away based on it’s size and clarity

Blog 4B

The first track is my review of Scott O'Lone's song, the second track is my review of Keiren Astall's song, the third track is my review of Joseph Buccini's song

Blog Assignment 4A

"Brainwashed" by Seth Godin, can be found here
    
     When Seth Godin talks about acknowledging "the lizard" he's talking about that little voice in the back of your head that says "you can't do this" or "people will laugh at you" when we want to do something different. Godin says we must acknowledge this voice because once we've acknowledged it we can ignore it and get on with creating something meaningful.

     Another section of "Brainwashed" that "speaks to me" is Make Art. I like this section because it really expanded what I think of as art, and I love art, mostly for the reasons that Godin mentioned: that it doesn't follow an instruction manual, it's simply the human act making something new.

     I think both of these sections apply to this blog that I have to write for the class. Acknowledging the lizard applies to me because, for every project, I always find myself thinking "what if people think this stupid" or "what if they're laughing at me behind my back" and that's very inhibiting to your creativity to do. Make art applies to the blog because that's exactly what we're doing. Every exercise we create a new work of art. As far as this blog goes, I think these exercises are both worthwhile and worthless. On one hand they help us exercise our creativity and give us experience in using the tools of our future trade and on the other hand it seems sort of redundant to try to grade someone for creativity because it's all subjective. However we have to graded for something and right now this is all we have.

Blog 3B

The first soundscape I will be critiquing is by Becca Amato, you can find her blog here.
The second soundscape I will critique is by Corey Nabors, you can find his blog here
The last soundscape I will critique is by Brendan Gilday, you can find his blog here

Blog Assignment 3A

            The song I have chosen is “Careless Whisper” originally by Wham in 1984 and covered by Seether in 2009. “Careless Whisper” is kind of a moody song about regret, the singer regrets betraying the trust of the person who he’s singing about. As a result the music is both dark and soulful. Wham’s version of the song has a stereotypical 80’s pop sound and I suppose you could say Seether’s cover has a stereotypical grunge metal sound. The two versions use almost the exact same lyrics and rhythms despite having vastly different intensities and instrumental organization. Despite their completely different styles, both versions are great songs.

            Wham’s version of “Careless Whisper” has an obviously 80’s pop sound through the use of background synths and jazzy vocals and saxophone. In fact, the saxophone intro is similar to something you’d hear in an elevator or while on hold with customer service. The lyrics are smooth and soulful reflecting the 80’s pop sound. There is emotion in the singers voice but not to the point where it’s excessive. The musical quality also screams 80’s with it’s catchy rhythm, moderate intensity, fairly slow speed, and use of synths in the organiztion. Also you can tell the tracks age simply by the recording quality of it. It’s pretty clean for the most part but it doesn’t have that freshness quality that modern recordings have.

            Seether’s cover of “Careless Whisper” is at a completely different end of the spectrum. Apart from the melody and actual words of the lyrics it’s almost completely different than Wham’s version. Seether’s version has raspy, sometimes screamed or yelled lyrics, which is direct contrast to Wham’s smooth lyric style. Also, I tend to feel more emotion coming from the singer in Seether’s cover because of the more impassioned lyrics. Also, the musical quality of Seether’s cover is radically different from Wham’s. Seether delivered a very high intensity and used a much different organization, favoring guitars and bass over saxophones and synths. However, the rhythm and speed remained virtually unchanged.

            In terms of which version I like better the choice is easy, Seether’s cover. I know there are a lot of people out there who say the original versions of songs are always better but I have to disagree. Wham’s version is great in it’s own right, it pulled of the 80’s pop sound very well. However I appreciate the hard rock/ nu metal style of Seether more. That’s not to say I don’t like 80’s music, I was raised on 80’s rock, I just feel more of an emotional connection to the modern version. The loud raspy vocals evoke more of a reaction from me than smooth jazzy vocals and I prefer the sound of a screaming electric guitar to a saxophone any day. That said, Wham’s version was very successful, it reached the number one spot in 25 different countries and was number one I the US for three weeks, far outdoing Seether’s cover which peaked at sixty-third on US Billboard’s Hot 100.

Blog 4b my song

This is the song I made for lab project 2

Audio for soundscape

 

couldn't get the instructions to work so here is audio for soundscape, play over the picture slide

Soundscape slideshow

Soundscape done by Lucas Slykerman and Dalton Kleman

Response to "Finding Your Howl"

link to Flaum's story here

Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas”

Mitch Ditkoff’s “14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas”-here- is exactly what it sounds like. A list of fourteen ways to cultivate breakthrough ideas. Ditkoff starts off by talking about how innovation is so highly valued these days, especially in the buisiness world. He continues by bringing up the two classical schools of thought on creativity. The western idea, best summarized by the quote "I think, therefore I am" and the eastern idea "I am, therefore I think". Ditkoff's first point is about fascination, what he describes as the process of an idea grabbing your attention. And once you become fascinated by something you need to take the time to let that fascination grow inside you. Point number two was titled immersion. The idea of immersion, according to Ditkoff, is the concept of completely involving yourself with one idea instead of multitasking, this allows you to more fully develop that one idea. The third point was that you have to tolerate ambiguity. What Ditkoff means by this is that ideas aren't always a linear process that falls into place you have to become accustomed to "your ducks not lining up" to have a breakthrough idea. Ditkoff's fourth point is that you need to make new connections. He argues that you won't get breakthrough ideas by associating with the same old people, you need to connect with new people to cultivate breakthrough ideas. Point five is that you have to fantasize. No, not in a perverted way. Ditkoff argues that some of the best ideas come from entertaining the "seemingly impossible" this allows you to innovate because everyone else thinks it cant be done. The sixth point is to define the right challenge. Ditkoff argues that that half of finding the right answer is finding the right question, to have a breakthrough idea you have to answer a breakthrough question. The seventh point is to listen to your subconscious. Ditkoff points out that after awhile, our conscious brain gets wore out and we need to learn to let our subconscious take over and work on the problem, this is a crucial component to developing breakthrough ideas. Take a Break is Ditkoff's eighth point. he argues that the more you obsess over an idea that you're stumped on, the less likely you'll be to solve the problem. You need to take a break and let your mind relax. Ditkoff's ninth point is that you have to notice and challenge existing ideas and trends. He argues that breakthrough thinkers make it big by "challenging old patterns and reconfiguring them in new ways". Point number ten is that you need to hang out with diverse groups of people. You need to associate with people that we usually don't associate with, like people outside our career field. Ditkoff's eleventh point is brainstorming. He argues that you need to brainstorm with a group of people to come up with the best ideas, Ditkoff then cites several famous pairs such as Bill Gates and Paul Allen of Microsoft. Point twelve is to look for happy accidents, to not right off something just because it wasn't the outcome you expected. Ditkoff's thirteenth point is to use creative thinking techniques. Ditkoff compares these creative techniques to jump-starting your car, saying that they may be that little something you need to get going. The fourteenth and final point is to suspend logic. Ditkoff argues that to birth a truly breakthrough idea you have to suspend the concepts of judgment and evaluation because your idea might not always make sense at first but given time it could develop further. I believe that for the most part these are valid suggestion for generating new ideas. Three points that particularly caught my attention were #8 take a break; #12 look for happy accidents; and #14 suspend logic. #8 is especially useful to implement because it helps keep you from burning yourself out, in fact I practiced it during this assignment. #12 is good because it helps you to realize that some of the best ideas come, not just from being thought up directly, but also from someone recognizing that an apparent "accident" is actually a great idea. I feel number #14 is important as well because a lot of the time when an idea is in it's initial phases we are too quick to dismiss because we judge it for what it is, not what it could be. That if it were given time it could become the best idea we've ever had, better even than captain and cola(just kidding). I chose to complete the prompt from point fourteen: What I can do this week to suspend practicality, logic, and rationality in service to birthing my big idea is to entertain those thoughts about it which seem ridiculous at first, that I would normally be quick to dismiss for impracticality, or irrationality and give them time to grow and develop. 

Inspirational Person #3

Another person who's work influences me is Ken Levine, the designer of "BioShock". BioShock is a first-person shooter game for the Xbox 360 and Windows computers. BioShock was revolutionary in terms of design and game play. The design was unique because all of the locales were designed in the 50's Art-Deco style. Game play was unique because it introduced the concept of "plasmids" which are biological modifications the players can subject themselves to inorder to become more powerful. The main storyline of BioShock is based heavily on the idea of conscious and subconscious decisions that you think you're making as the player of the game. About midway through the game you realize that you only think you are acting consciously and that you are actually being subconsciously controlled by the man you thought was helping you, who is actually controlling you through use of a mind control experiment that you are the result of. 

Inspirational Person #2

Another of my inspirations is actually a group of people, they are the trio of musicians behind the scenes of the virtual band the "Gorillaz". Their names are: Damon Albarn, Del the Funkee Homosapien, and Dan the Automator. The "Gorillaz" were formed in 1988 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. Four albums have been produced by the "Gorillaz" since their inception. The "Gorillaz" have heavy electronic, hip-hop, and rock influences. Much of the "Gorillaz" work features tension and release. The music starts off with a repetitive beat that continues for a while before the tension is released by something new.
Some examples of this are the songs Kids With Guns, Rock the House , and 19-2000. These songs rely on tension and release all throughout them, the melodies at different points and continue to build tension until it's released.

Inspirational Person #1

One person who's work greatly influences me is Atsushi Inaba, a producer for Platinum game studio. Inaba was the producer of one of my all-time favorite video games, MadWorld for the Nintendo Wii. MadWorld is a rare breed of game. It features completely over-the-top violence, to the point of comedy, and was designed with heavy emphasis on contrast and affinity. The affinity is created by the entire game being black and white except for the blood of your enemies, which stands out bright red against the background and that is the contrast. The result is a unique game that is a welcome change to this age of sequels and movie rip-offs that we live in. MadWorld features in-game commentating of a rather blue nature. The dialogue between the two commentators is rife with profanities and sexual subtext. This feature adds to the complete over-the-top hilarity that is MadWorld.   

 

This is a link to my TA's blog

My Brain

Sweet Website

Here is a link to a sweet website